It’s that time again, that’s right, Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips across America and around the world. Art Sorce, at 128 years of age: the world’s worst sports handicapper, Mark Mancini, and you. You can email us, again, at [email protected], sportsfredaol.com. We’re taping this at 1 o’clock on Friday afternoon. UCLA plays Central Florida three and a half hours from right now. Art Sorce, it’s going to be an up night for the UCLA at 4:30 Pacific Time from right now. Art Sorce. Are the Bruins going to be on the top of the mountain, or are they going to fall back? What do you think, Art Sorce?

I like them beating Central Florida. I don’t know. I feel I’m trying to get the spread down to four and a half because it started at six and a half, went to five and a half. I might have to buy a point here and there because, you know, at the end of the game, it comes down to UCLA making free throws. And that scares me a little bit. But they have been playing better. Donovan Dent’s playing great basketball right now, and if they’re ever going to play well, it even looks like they’re playing a little defense. I don’t know if, if Cronin’s, like, finally in love with his team for the first time in six years. But I just have a feeling about the Bruins tonight. It’s been a wild early run of the NCAA tournament. I watched the St. Mary’s-Kentucky game. St. Mary’s had them at the end, and then they went to overtime and got beat by seven, and I lost that one, so it’s hard to figure out.

St. Mary’s lost on there. They were up by three with, at the buzzer, Kentucky hit like a 40-foot shot bounce.

There, isn’t that the worst way to lose a game – right?

I don’t want to disrespect the state of Florida and get a flood of bad emails here, but where the hell is Central Florida?

It’s in Orlando.

I mean, we have Central Florida, we have,

Disneyland.

But South Florida’s in Tampa, and that’s not very far south in Florida.

Where’s Western Florida?

Just east of, uh,

So, Mark, who is Mick Cronin going to blame if they lose?

Well, he’s going to blame Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love; he’s got to figure out someone to blame. But can you imagine if they get beat? I mean, this could be,

Well, wait a minute, you know? Let me just state this. He is one of the worst coaches out there in my mind. But somebody close, North Carolina,

Hubert Davis.

Up by 19, and they had a way to lose. What do you think?

Do you think they may change the locks to get into the offices at North Carolina? That was a tough one that really was. And I’m going to tell you what I tuned in yesterday while Duke was having a first-half snooze. And I looked at the score, and I said, they have to have that transposed because they were down by like 14 points at halftime. And you know, there’s a lot of things that are going on. I mean, it’s I’m happy to see some of the mid-majors, some of the, like, for instance, High Point University; big victory. And I mean, I’m happy to see some of these, you know, these teams that nobody’s heard about, come out and have a game or two. Where they can, you know, rest their laurels for the rest of their life. They can say we won a national, you know, a big game in March Madness.

All right, well, I’ve got Gonzaga, I’ve got Duke, and I’ve got Arizona. My three wagered bets.

Arizona looked real good earlier today.

I wonder who Bobby Hurley has?

Bobby Hurley’s out of a job.

Probably UConn.

He might need to be an assistant coach for them.

Yeah, but Danny Hurley’s again at Connecticut. He won the consecutive championships two and three years ago. Bottom line, you talk about Hubert Davis. Remember five years ago, it’s the Bruins against North Carolina, that was the year the Bruins had to play the extra game. That’s how bad they were during much of the season. They go all the way to the Final Four, and they’re beating North Carolina most of the way. And now it’s closer and closer. And Cronin refuses to put his best defensive guys out there. And North Carolina wins in the last couple of minutes of the game. So he lost to Hubert Davis, so perhaps Cronin is the world’s worst coach. So North Carolina fans, if you’re listening right now to the Fred in the Fantastics, there’s a worse coach out there. Just remember that you can email us at [email protected], [email protected].

Hey, just so you guys know, that performance last night by one of the diaper dandies, as Vitale would call him, A.J. DeBonza at BYU. That was pretty impressive. This Darius Acuff Jr., another freshman that’s really, really, really good. And I think this Arkansas team, I also think that St. John’s might make a big entry in this tournament.

What about Kansas? I take rehab still for my broken hip, and the great therapist, she was a gymnast at Kansas.

Danny Manning’s still around there.

What

Danny Manning?

In that time period, you know, Art? Do you think Kansas will go very far, or no?

I like their ability to shoot, Fred, and anytime you’ve got a shooter’s chance. And their coach is an excellent coach; they play at a great conference. There’s five teams out of that Big 12 that I think are all legit, you’ve got Iowa State, you’ve got Houston, Arizona, yeah, Texas Tech, that’s a potential.

Let’s come back and talk some National Basketball Association, God forbid, right here on Fred and the Fantastics, all right back on Fred and the Fantastics, with Art and with Mark. And you can email us at [email protected]. Now, Art, you have a problem getting these. Well, not more than I have, or more than Mark has, but just to keep your head straight, what legal medicinal product do you take right here on Fred and the Fantastics?

It’s the actual professional formula of Prevagen; it’s fantastic. It’s one of the nootropics that helps you keep everything in line. You know those times when you go upstairs to get something, and you say, What did I come up here for? And you’re walking your way down the stairs, and you go, Oh, that’s right, I remember. This kind of alleviates that situation, and I think anybody that needs some help as we get a little bit older, and you want to have your cognitive faculties, look into the Prevagen products.

All right, if you don’t have your cognitive properties, you’re perhaps going to buy an NBA club at $7.1 billion to $10 billion. Let’s talk about that. All I can say is this: I don’t watch the NBA more than five minutes per game, if that. And I grew up really, baseball was my first, college basketball was my second, the NBA was third, but there’s no way you can follow it. Because you know, teams are losing on purpose, you know, teams don’t really care. Looking for a draft pick that they really want, you know, the players don’t really care at this point, they’re getting paid so much dollars. Art. $7.1 billion to $10 billion for an NBA club; would you pay that?

Makes no sense to me at all. First of all, I do know they have a wonderful worldwide audience, because I know nobody watches up here in this country. But they seem to be very popular in China, very popular in Europe. But I’m real worried because I finally got onto a team this year that I like, the Detroit Pistons. And now Cade Cunningham, their star, has got a collapsed lung. And you know, they’re 50-17, they’re looking great, and you know, Lakers are playing great basketball now, they’ve won eight straight. I mean, things are all aligning for great playoffs. And I’m finding out that the NBA is, amidst all the problems they’ve had with the gambling and this and that, they’re worth more than the Dodgers and the Red Sox and the Yankees. An expansion franchise could get $10 billion.

What would Bob Short think about that? I mean, think about what? $65,000?

Do you think Cade Cunningham will be back in two weeks, like he says? How about two months?

From a collapsed lung?

Yeah.

That’s a very, very highly interesting prognosis.

How do you get a collapsed lung, anyhow?

How do you, Art? Do you have any idea? How do you get a collapsed lung?

I think he got an elbow in the chest.

Oh, as simple as that?

Yeah, that’s what I heard.

Oh, I thought it was something internal.

But the guy had a sharpener for his elbows, I heard also.

[email protected],

Fred, what was, what was? I should have bought the Kansas City Omaha Kings when they were available.

Tiny Archibald, line one,

Otis Birdsong, line two.

Okay. Most valuable players so far in the NBA. And you’ve got to understand if you don’t see

Luka, Luka, Luka, 60 points last night, he was draining it.

He’s not MVP; 60, you have to play 65 games to get the MVP, and the big guy,

Wembanyama?

From France. Now. I could be incorrect. I used to play where you got a step and a half, or it was, it was a penalty,

Four steps, now it’s the, it’s the Galaxy step, not the Euro step,

Not the Euro step, it’s the Galaxy step, as Art indicates. So, does he ever not step? And he’s 7’3 going in?

Let me tell you something; they have OKC’s number so far. I don’t know how they do it.

Clippers number two.

Yeah, the team, that team’s going to be very interesting. Wembanyama, I mean, how about that touch from 25 and 30 feet? I mean, it’s just, it’s magnificent to watch. But, you know, I think of all the great basketball coaches. John Wooden would be like, he would be cringing if he saw a seven-foot-six guy shooting a 30-foot shot.

Unbelievable. You know, I was going to mention Leonard from the Clippers, and of course, he’d been playing very, very well. But then you knew there was going to be an injury, and now he’s out, so it’s like, does he ever go? I mean, when’s the last time he played 65 games?

Do you think there’s a curse on the Angels and the Clippers?

Perhaps. Although the Angel curse is worse,

Donald Sterling curse.

They die.

Yeah, that’s a good point.

I wonder how much it’s going to cost them if they die.

Losing is not so bad as dying.

Dodgers Stadium for their home opener.

What was that, Mark? I missed it.

How much is it going to cost you to get in Dodgers Stadium?

That’s a $1,000 ducat, in my opinion.

Talking about bucks. And, of course, the Dodgers charge you up the kazoo, the CBA, and the Players Union of the World, the WNBA, they probably agreed, although it’s not in writing yet. And apparently, the minimum salary now for the WNBA player: $300 million. Mark. Do you have any idea what it was before?

$300 million?

No. $300,000.

Oh, I was going to say, Boy, they did sign a good deal.

Do you have any idea what it was before?

Yeah, I think it was less than $100,000, wasn’t it? Like $50,000?

It was $66,000.

Yeah, you know, Fred,

That’s life-changing.

It is. You got all these collective bargaining agreements coming up; WNBA, and now you got the NFL Referees Association. Is the NFL going to step up and make full-time referees so these guys can actually focus on their jobs? And then you’ve got the baseball gig coming up at the end of this year, so you’ve got some real money being talked about. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens. Then we’ve got the Tom Brady situation in broadcasting, another situation where you know, is he going to be able to call games for Fox while he owns a franchise? Is there, you know, something there that works? I mean, what do you guys think about that?

There’s nothing that works if he owns the Raiders, nothing, and not only that,

It is a conflict,

And now he owns the Raiders, and he hates the Ravens. So now there are two clubs that Fox is going to have to think twice about putting on the main game.

And I don’t think he speaks very highly of his ex-owner, too.

He might be in select company. The city of Pittsburgh hates Baltimore, too.

Yeah, but the bottom line is, does this mean that Fox will show the Patriots and the Ravens fewer times as the main game? And I think that is the case. They have to.

The only thing he has going for him is he’s broadcasting for Fox, and that’s usually an NFC team.

Yeah.

But there are interleague games in the NFL all over the place. So over the next few years, he’s going to do some Raven games, he’s going to do some Patriot games. And I mean, we’re going to really find out about his professionality right there. Because, I mean, that’s where the NFL is going to tune in, they’re going to listen, they’re going to watch. And they’re going to make a decision. But there seems to be rules for certain people in sports and rules for other people in sports.

Yes, I agree, I totally agree.

Mark, your comments about anything in the wonderful and wacky world of sports.

Well, I’m getting excited. The Pirates will be on National TV Thursday on NBC to open up their season in New York. Skenes against Peralta. I look for big things out of the Bucs this year, man,

They got a good starting rotation, I will say.

They got the bats, too.

Bubba Chandler, Mitch Keller, Skenes. They got a chance. Here’s the problem, here’s the problem. The Dodgers, they did the top 100 players in Major League Baseball positionally, not pitchers. The Dodgers have eight of the hundred.

Yeah, well, we’ll see in October.

And I believe the top two of the top five.

Now, let’s do math on that. There’s 30 teams in baseball’s top 100, so the Dodgers should have three out of the top 100, if everything was averaged. They have eight, as Art just indicated. So, three times, almost three times as many players in the top 100 as they did.

And I have a theory if you have five or more, you’re going to the playoffs. If you have six or more, you’re going to the World Series. If you have seven or more, you win the World Series. Which they’ve done two years in a row.

I understand that the Italians only lost one baseball game, USA lost two, so, and the USA was stockpiled and loaded.

The Dodgers over and under this year by, you call it Fred, call it Mark,

No. The USA today has got them at 98. I think they’ll win more than that.

I got 104.

Okay, that’s about right.

I say 90, maybe 89, I don’t think,

89?

Well, wait a minute, Mark. They won 93 games last year; they had more injuries than any team has ever had.

45 different starting lineups,

25 different. You know,

I just think, I think the division, I think the division is so tough, it’s going to be interesting.

Yeah, those Rockies, they really bring a lot to worry about.

I didn’t say the Rockies, I never mentioned the Rockies. I said the other four clubs.

I think Arizona can do okay, although they’ve traded away.

Giants got the best infield in baseball, if they’re all healthy,

The best infield in baseball,

You think Arraez can play? Wait a minute, Mark. You think Arraez can play second base? He’s got two batting titles; you think he can play second base? I’m going to repeat.

Tito Fuentes is on line three.

You think second base is sort of a pretty important defensive position. Do you think he can turn the double play as well as some of the other second basemen? Why did the Padres have him at first base if he could play second base?

You better dial up Bill Mazeroski quick.

Any final comments on Fred and the Fantastics?

Here’s what I love: watching Juan Soto and Luis Uriah’s bat when they do their little shakes and shimmies after the pitch comes in. Have you guys noticed that?

Yeah,

It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, but hey, let’s give credit where credit’s due. Venezuela. And they’re going to go to the White House because, you know what? They’ve got to deliver two tankers full of oil so we can put gas in our car,

Yeah.

Well, they’re in the 51st state, so I’m sure they’ll go to the White House, and we’ll go from there. For Art, for Mark, for Mario, thank you guys and gals for listening to Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips. Bye, everybody.