Hi everybody and welcome to Fred in the Fantastics on BLEAV and PodClips with Laura, with Mark, with Art, and with you. We’ll talk this, that and anything and everything, and the wonderful and wacky world of sports. And I want to start talking about college basketball, later NBA, and then we’ll talk about the four big NFL playoff games this week. Believe it or not, folks, John Wooden retired 50 years ago, in two months, March, 1975. 50 years. Laura, you’re a big UCLA fanatic. Can you believe it’s been 50 years and John Wooden retired from UCLA?

I don’t know where the time goes, but it’s certainly, there’s, they haven’t got, they certainly haven’t come close to equating, if not even come close to even being to his stature. And certainly, UCLA hasn’t since he left.

Well, wait a minute, they won in 1995. They won in 1995. They won once in 50 years, that’s fantastic, don’t you think?

Not that close!

And they’ll never win well with, with Cronin. Well, okay, Art. Let me ask you a question. Historically, name the schools, right now in your mind, who’d be the royalty of college basketball?

Well, you’d have to start with Kentucky, then you would, well, UCLA would be number one, then it’d be Kentucky, then North Carolina, you got to throw Ohio State in there, maybe Cincinnati.

Duke.

Definitely Duke. Recently? Wow, that’s a tough one.

Villanova. Villanova recently?

Yeah, I put Villanova in there with Coach Wright. he did a great job. Gonzaga I mean, Arizona. Those are the teams,

Laura? In your mind, would you add some?

Oh, recently, I’d add, I’d add Gonzaga.

Yeah, I’ll make. I’ll make a prediction, though, and I’ve made it before. Mark Few will never win a national title.

No.

And it’s not because he’s not a good coach. You’ve had chances before and I just think at this point. Well, although they would, they said the same thing about Dean Smith for all those years that he would, he’d never win one, but I don’t think Mark Few, would ever win one, and you know when, when Wooden was coaching from ’48 to ’75 at UCLA, they started with 24 and they went to 25 schools in the tournament. They added one extra school from the western part of the country, and so then they went to 32, and so you only had 32. You only had to win five games, it’s awfully tough to win six or seven. Well, that’s part of the reason I think that things have changed. But whatever the case might be, I think the collegiate way of doing things in the tournament, much better than the collegiate basketball way, is much better than the collegiate football way. And whoever wins between Ohio State and Notre Dame, they’re gonna change the process next season.

Well Fred. Yeah, you brought up the, talking about the college basketball, and Artie running down all these teams and everything. The best conference growing up for me. And in. We’re all in the same age group give or take, except Artie 128. But,

Don’t be rushing me down the road.

You know I love you, you know that I love you as much as I love Laura, and Fred, and Mario running the board. But to me, the Big East was the standard of college basketball by far

Syracuse, yeah,

Because none of these conferences had six, seven schools. That would beat the hell out of you.

And Georgetown,

Georgetown was tough,

Even the University of Maryland and Georgia Tech You’re right.

This was a juggernaut to get through the Big East.

I was a huge Valvano fan, I was really, I sure, liked him.

Raliegh Massimino.

Raleigh was, Raleigh was amazing. And, you know, another team we left out? ULV had a nice little run in there for a while.

Yeah, Tarkanian.

And you know, something I had Jerry Tarkanian on many times on my shows throughout history. And he said that they treated big schools a lot better than they treated little schools. And then he made a one time on the air, he said. If UCLA is caught cheating, they’ll penalize Fullerton State, Cal State, Fullerton. So, but you know what? Looking back, he was correct more than he was incorrect about that. And it’s, it’s still going on. Because what happened this year. Michigan wins the, the NCAA football thing and all kinds of problems. Harbaugh runs away and they get, they fire some coaches, but there’s no real probation or anything. Nothing hard, that they still kept their crown. So I think Jerry Tarkanian was right on so many issues, looking back.

What would the computer thing have with Jerry Tarkanian’s team that destroyed Duke and John Wooden’s team of the UCLA days? That would be a heck of a battle.

Since we’re talking college basketball, Art, you played at USC in the late 1970s and right before you, Gus Williams played there, and he passed away this week, a fine guard. And you know, yeah, there was, and there was one year. I think 1972 was the first year that freshman could play, but anyways, in 1972 USC only lost two games all year. They were like 24 and 2, but only one school from each conference could go.

We got to go to the tournament.

And so UCLA beat him twice. because the UCLA Bruins,

I talked, I talked to a good friend of mine, Billy Boyd, about that a lot.

Billy Boyd, yeah,

His dad was Bob Boyd, the basketball coach, and he goes, that was one of the best college basketball teams of all time. There’s only one team they couldn’t beat, and that was the, you know, the UCLA Bruins. They had Moe Layton, they had a bunch of good players on that team, as I recall. But see, that shows you the difference between sports then and sports now. And you know, I think everybody getting in the tournament is kind of neat, though, in a way. But I’ll tell you,

But what does the regular season mean?

That’s what I mean. That’s my problem, because it basically takes, takes and nullifies how important the regular season is. You know, if you get hot at the right time,

Yeah, well, and not only that. How about to transition? And already I gotta eat crow on this because I didn’t think this rookie last year, Wembanyama, was gonna amount to anything. And he’s amazing,

Let me, let me make this point about what, how crazy the world of sports is. We’re taping this friend, the Fantastics of Friday afternoon. Friday night, UCLA plays at home against Iowa. Now, folks, you know about the fires in Southern California?

Yeah,

They’re playing in Westwood, where the fires aren’t far away. I used to live four blocks from Pauley Pavilion. They’re playing tonight against Iowa. Meanwhile,

And they had to fly, and they had to fly cross-country from Rutgers for this game.

Yeah, but meanwhile. Meanwhile, the women who are 17 and 0 are now playing at Long Beach State. Now. Explain that, please explain.

Why wouldn’t they have the both games like on the same night? It gives the fans a chance to watch the number one team in the country?

If you’re gonna play the game, if the women have to go to Long Beach State for safety sake, then the men have to go to Long Beach State.

Thank you.

They’re only gonna draw 4,000, even if the fires weren’t going on here in Southern California, they’re gonna draw a thousand tonight, maximum. Fred’s angry, Fred will come back, we’ll discuss Ohio State and Notre Dame will discuss the four NFL playoff games straight away on Fred and the Fantastics.

All right, we are back on Fred and the Fantastics with Art, with Laura, with Mark and with you. You can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com.

We’ve got four NFL playoff games this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Let’s discuss the Saturday games first. Art, which game you want to discuss first?

From Saturday, let’s go the early game, which is gonna be four o ‘clock Eastern on ESPN. ABC Houston invades Kansas City. We’ve got DeMeco Ryan’s against Andy Reid. Eight and a half chiefs are favored, forty one and a half is the over-under. Wow, Kansas City, basically, with three weeks of rest. I mean, they either come out flat as a pancake or they come out healthy. I think Kelce’s gonna have a big game 31, I’m gonna go over, they’re gonna make 35-21. When you go with Kansas City,

Art attests that he likes Kansas City. Mark, Who do you like?

Well, as much as I’m not a big Andy Reid and a Travis Kelce and that other girl he’s dating.

Taylor Swift,

Taylor Swift, I’m not really into that. I could deal with Patrick Mahomes, but I think he has enough to beat the Texans. The Texans just, they just don’t have enough. And it just seems like it’s setting it up for the big game where Kansas City will host the AFC Championship, so I like Kansas City.

The Texans, of course, have some question about if, if the mix -and -plays that’s gonna make a big difference. As far as that is concerned, Laura, Who do you like? On Saturday, the first game, the Texans have a shot or no?

Well, I I think I’m actually gonna supplant Mark as being the worst sports handicapper. I’m voting with my heart and I could never, ever vote for Kansas City, although I am a Swiftie. I love Taylor Swift.

Wow. Oh,

I like her too.

But I think the Texans, I think the Texans are gonna give them the game,

You know, by the way, you are a Swiftie

Yeah. Don’t mess around with Swifties.

Artie. He’s not getting chips from the Rams with that shirt on.

I will get, I will get, I will guarantee you. She will be at the Arrowhead on Saturday,

Even if Goodell has to give her a ride on his plane.

She has her own plane!

All right, Art. How about the second game?

You know, I think she actually has two planes.

I bet you she does.

She does, yeah.

We got that, we got that ballclub, those Commanders from Washington who were like, just Jayden Daniels, what it, what a ballplayer.

Love it!

Goes to Detroit, late game on Fox. Eight o’clock Eastern time, five on the West nine and a half, nine points, whatever it is. Fifty-five and a half over under, everybody’s talking about a high, high scoring ballgame. This is my upset, well, my second upset of the week. I think the Commanders will cover the spread. They’re gonna either win 30 to 27 or lose 30 to 27.

So you’re taking the points?

Yes, but I have an outside chance to win.

Mark, can’t wait for your response to that. Go ahead.

1991, the ‘Skins won 11 games, they’ve already won 12, and that year they won the Super Bowl. The Lions are oh and three in the playoffs against the ‘Skins. I’ll have to bust out the Riggins jersey. I’ve been to one Super Bowl and that was the Super Bowl where Fulton Walker had the 99-yard kickoff. And everybody was a Dolphin fan. But Theismann and Riggins wore him down.

In the Rose Bowl, Yes,

In the Rose Bowl, I worked that, I worked the western sideline of it,

Yeah. $20 tickets,

Let me ask you guys a question. The, the media passes for those games probably worth something. Did either of you keep the media pass?

I got a bunch of passes.

I don’t have a media pass, but Fred, I was walking around with two other friends, I still keep in touch with one of them that I went to school with. Guy ran up to us. He said, Hey, I got three tickets for the Super Bowl. This is honest to God truth, on my father’s soul. Give me $60 for the three tickets. We each gave him 20 and we saw the Dolphins and Redskins.

If you look at the old NFL films. Highlights when Riggins on fourth and one pops off the left side and rumbles in for the key touchdown. I’m running along the sideline because I had a few shekels on the Redskins that day. And I’m down there and I’m like, Yes, yes, go, go, go. So after the game, Ringo comes up to me, right, and he goes, Man, he goes, you were as pumped up as I was there. I said, I had a couple hundred bucks on you, big guy.

Laura, Detroit cover here of USA today Jared Goff, Jared Goff. The fans in Detroit are going crazy for Jared. Of course, the Cal graduate and the Ram former player who’s gonna win that one? Do you think the Lions can cover?

I love, you know, I’d like to see the Commanders win, but I don’t think I think the Lions are gonna win the game. I mean, I just think they’re, they’re just a more talented team. I think they have more pieces, they’re playing at home, so there’s a big advantage there in a dome, so they don’t have to worry about the snow. I think it’s gonna be a good game, I think it’s gonna be close. I think, as I said, I think the Commanders have played great. I love Jayden Daniels, so

The only thing that scares me and I agree, I think Detroit is a better football team is a) their injuries, and b) the fact that if Jayden Daniels gets the ball last, the way they’ve played this year in last-minute situations, I just think he’s got, he’s got some magic, I don’t know where he comes from,

You know what he’s, what’s good with what the NFL is? We talk about talent, we don’t necessarily talk about character. And one guy that I want to see being thrown out of Pittsburgh is George Pickens. He’s rolling the bus over everybody there, that guy needs to be shown the door.

I agree.

Mark, Who wins the game?

The ‘Skins win? I bust out the Riggins jersey and then I come back next Friday and we’ll talk about it.

All right.

If they win, if they win, will the Rams be hosting the NFC championship game?

Yeah,

If they beat Philly? 

Yep, the Rams are are hosting.

Wow.

Let’s hope for no winds next week again, one more time they’re supposed to. According to meteorologists, the winds are supposed to come back Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Monday, of course, Martin Luther King. Can you? Can you believe that he got shot on April 4th, 1968? So 56 years ago, this April, the 4th, he will have been shot. And then, of course, two months later, Robert Kennedy was shot June 4th, 1968,

Your birthday’s coming up too, Fred.

50, 56. Yeah, yes,

Like you said earlier, Laura, where did all the time go? I mean, that’s like, I feel like the compression of time is get to be my age. It’s like a day, you know, it’s gone, like an hour, yeah, then a week is like,

You know what’s gonna get lost in the shuffle Monday, with everything going on that day, with the Inauguration, the college,

What Inauguration?

that you got that thing going, you got the college thing. You got the Penguins playing, the Kings,

The National Championship.

Yeah, the Martin, Martin Luther King Day will get kind of lost with all these fires and stuff, I would imagine.

Laura. How many, how many hours at the Inauguration are you gonna watch?

Zero.

So you’re gonna be with with Mrs. Obama?

Zero

I know, I know this, if I watch 15 seconds, it’s 15 seconds of wasted time.

Okay, let’s get back to the good stuff.

The stuff we can agree on.

Let’s talk about the, the final game, the final game on Sunday. The Ravens, the, the Bills, two great quarterbacks, so you can, you can make the case that they’re one and two as far as MVP right about now. Artie, Buffalo at home versus the Ravens. I like the Ravens a little bit. Who do you like?

I like the Ravens, but I, but according to what I’m hearing from my sources, up in Buffalo, they’re gonna get a lot of that lake-effect snow and I think it’s gonna be a big. Let’s put it this way, Derek Henry is gonna have to really run the ball and carry the load along with Lamar Jackson. I just think it’s gonna be a nip and tuck game, I don’t think it’s gonna be. I love the under 51.5 if it’s snowing, it’s gonna be real tough to really matriculate the ball. So I would have to say, your championship game in the AFC is gonna be Baltimore at KC next week. And I also think it’s going to be Washington at the Rams, or I think Washington might host that game against the Rams

No. No, there’s 60, Rams.

Yeah, I like Baltimore, I like Baltimore, and I like the under.

Yeah, Laura Baltimore, or the Bills?

Like I said earlier, I like Baltimore. I think Bills have a history of breaking their fans’ hearts. I don’t think Baltimore is gonna be bothered by the snow. I mean, they have their own snow in Baltimore, so I don’t think it’s gonna be, although it’s not quite like Buffalo, I’ll get you that. But um, I like Baltimore, I think they’re on a roll, um, I think Buffalo’s a little, there. Look, I just don’t think their defense is gonna be able to handle Lamar Jackson and all of the antics. He, like you don’t. Even I don’t know how you defend him. I mean, it’s, it’s got to be just impossible to, to figure out.

Before we go. We talked in the first segment here on Fred and the Fantastics, and it’s been so long since John Wooden 50 years of retired from UCLA. Let’s start with Art. I just want to ask you a question of media in the year 2025. Do you think the L.A. Times, or the Daily News, or any local newspaper will do a complete story of John wouldn’t coming up in March of this year because it’d be exactly 50 years since he retired.

I say, No, I’m gonna tell you why, real quickly. Because there’s no more sports editors like the great sports editors they used to have at the Herald-Examiner and at the L.A. Times. I used to work out with Mal Florence many years ago at the Spectrum in Valencia, and he always talked very highly of all the sports editors. And it’s just a completely different world now. And in the L.A. Times is not a newspaper. I mean, to me, it’s, it’s. There are no newspapers in Southern California, in my opinion, because I get already

Laura, do you subscribe to any newspaper locally?

I do, I subscribe to the L.A. Times and I subscribe to the New York Times, and I have a whole bunch of them, but I. The L.A. Times is more like a compilation lately of articles from AP and other sources. I like Yardbarker. I mean, I think they cover a lot of different sports and they have interesting stories. I like The Athletic.

Well, it’s awesome.

From the New York, New York Times got The Athletic for sports. I think they’re, I think that’s great

When the New York Times got the Athletic, that really changed the way I profile that newspaper now. I actually read it now because I like the articles they present.

But let me just put it all together. Do you think that any of these newspapers or publications will do something on John Wooden, 50 years exactly after he retired?

No.

I know I was gonna chime in on the Derek Henry, but before I get into that, talking about the newspapers. I was wearing a beanie the other day, it was a California Angels beanie, and a guy had no clue, he said. Did the Angels just change their name? Obviously, people aren’t inclined with sports today, they just kind of see who’s in first and who’s in,

California Angels baseball.

Yeah, it’s like, unbelievable, but getting back to that, Derek Henry, let me tell you. I didn’t grow up with Jim Brown. And I don’t want to disparage the ’60s and ’50s with some of these teams, maybe there was five, six teams. To me, the best running back I ever saw was Earl Campbell, and Derek Henry reminds me, a healthy Derek Henry reminds me of Earl Campbell. It’s gonna take seven, eight guys to bring him down in the Buffalo game.

And that’s a business decision. If you’re a safety or a corner and he’s coming at you full speed, I’m gonna tell you what that’s. That’s like taking on a Mack truck.

All right in 15 seconds. Mr. Tequila, Art Sorce What’s going on?

Oh, Fred, I’m just trying to survive. I had a really bad cold the last three days and I always say this. But this is my favorite weekend of the football year because you’ve got the National Championship game, you got the four divisional championships and I’m pumped up. Are you ready for some football?

Laura? What are you, in 15 seconds What are you thinking right now?

And I’m definitely ready for some football and I’m definitely ready for L.A. strong Rams to win. And for our community to come together, and for all those people that have had problems with the fires and have to evacuate. We’re all, we’re with you, we’re all together and that’s the main thing.

Yeah, and Mark, the world’s worst sports handicapper, 15 seconds.

Well, in about 30 days, we’re on the road to bringing the World Series into Pittsburgh. I was talking with the Pirates today, the Mitch Kellers, the Jared Jones, and,

Did they get Pete Alonzo and you didn’t tell me?

And the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking for a quarterback. For Mario, for Mark, for Laura, for Art, thank you for listening to Fred and the Fantastics and stay tuned for much more. Bye, everybody.