Episode 244
Unveiling the New York Dragons: A New Era in Football
Host Chric Caputo leads a discussion introducing of the newly established New York Dragons, a team participating in the Entertainment Football Association, as articulated by their general manager, Peter Schwartz. In our discussion, we delve into the intricacies of this innovative league, which aims to provide a thrilling arena football experience while fostering a deep connection with the local community of Long Island. Schwartz elucidates the team's strategic vision, emphasizing the recruitment of local talent and the incorporation of entertainment elements to enhance the spectator experience. Additionally, we engage with John Santamaria, who provides insights on the current state of the New York Islanders as they navigate the complexities of the NHL season. The episode encapsulates the intersection of sports, community engagement, and the pivotal role of local support in the success of these endeavors. Throughout the conversation, we aim to provide our audience with a comprehensive understanding of the evolving landscape of sports in the region.
Show Details
Host Chris Caputo leads a compelling discussion centered on the introduction of the New York Dragons, a professional arena football team participating in the newly formed Entertainment Football Association. Chris Caputo, the host, engages with Peter Schwartz, the general manager of the Dragons, to delve into the origins of the team, its community-focused approach, and the unique aspects of the league. Schwartz emphasizes the importance of local engagement, highlighting that the majority of the roster will consist of players who hail from Long Island, thereby fostering a deep connection between the team and its fan base. The conversation reveals the strategic vision behind the Dragons, which seeks to create an entertaining and interactive experience for spectators, commencing with tailgating festivities and culminating in post-game concerts. Schwartz further elaborates on the league's structure, which is designed to ensure sustainability and community involvement, contrasting it with the challenges faced by other indoor football leagues.
Takeaways:
- The newly formed New York Dragons will prioritize local talent by predominantly featuring Long Island players and coaches.
- Peter Schwartz, the general manager, emphasizes the importance of community involvement for the success of the Dragons' new arena football team.
- The Entertainment Football Association aims to provide affordable family entertainment alongside fast-paced football action at Nassau Coliseum.
- The league's business model is designed to ensure sustainability, learning from the financial failures of previous arena leagues.
- Peter Schwartz revealed that the team name 'Dragons' was chosen based on overwhelming fan support during a name submission campaign.
- The Dragons' inaugural game is set for June 14th, offering interactive fan experiences including tailgating and concerts.
Transcript
The views expressed in the following program.
Speaker B:Do not necessarily represent those of the.
Speaker A:Staff, management or owners of wgbb.
Speaker B:Live from the WGB studios in Merrick, New York, this is Sports Talk New York.
Speaker A:Good evening, everyone.
Speaker A:And from the studios of WGB here in Merrick, New York, this is Sports Talk New York.
Speaker A:I am your host, Chris Caputo.
Speaker A:Tonight I'll be taking you all the way through till 9 o'clock.
Speaker A:I am without my partner tonight, Mike Gwydon, as he has some family obligations that he needs to take care of.
Speaker A:So I'll be bringing it to you from 8 to 9pm we have a pretty good show for you tonight.
Speaker A:We have a couple of guests that we're going to bring on, but bunch of things going on in the world of sports.
Speaker A: -: Speaker A: -: Speaker A:And that's our line for tonight.
Speaker A:So we have a pretty big show tonight.
Speaker A:We're going to be talking some stuff in the world of sports, but more specifically here on Long island there are some up and coming things coming.
Speaker A:So our first guest tonight is going to be Peter Schwartz, who happens to be running a new arena football league and helping out the Long island team here.
Speaker A:So the first thing I'm going to do is introduce Peter.
Speaker A:He's on the line.
Speaker A:So, Peter, thanks for joining us.
Speaker A:Chris Caputo here tonight.
Speaker B:Hey, Chris, how are we doing?
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker A:Okay, great.
Speaker A:So Peter is the general manager of the newly formed New York Dragons of the Entertainment Football association, which is a unique arena football experience.
Speaker A:So for our listeners out there who really haven't heard that much about it, can you explain a little bit about how this league came to fruition, which right now has four teams, I believe?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So there's another league similar to this based a little bit further out west in the United States called the Arena League.
Speaker B:So Doug Freeman, who is our founder and owner of the Entertainment Football association, wanted to build something similar to that.
Speaker B:So he did reach out to the person who created that league, and his name is Tommy Benizio.
Speaker B:So they, they came together and they created this very similar league to that one here in the Northeast with four teams.
Speaker B:With us, the New York Dragons, and also a team in Connecticut, a team in Massachusetts and a team in New Jersey.
Speaker B:And so it's very similar to the other indoor football leagues.
Speaker B:There's a little different twist to it.
Speaker B: inal New York dragons back in: Speaker B:This is a Sempon seven game with no kicking.
Speaker B:It's a very high paced game with a 20 second play clock and no huddle.
Speaker B:So you're going to see a lot of action during the course of our game and really the way it's set up, and this is why it's called the Entertainment Football association, is that the day is going to start outside in the parking lot of the Coliseum with selgate party interactive games, the music, food trucks, that kind of thing.
Speaker B:Then our game will start at 6:00 and then after our game the players will sign autographs and then we're going to have a little mini concert in the Coliseum after our games are over.
Speaker B:So it's really going to be a whole day of fun and football and entertainment for fans when they come to see a Dragons game at Nassau Coliseum.
Speaker A:Sounds pretty interesting.
Speaker A:So I know this team kind of formed a little while back.
Speaker A:The, the commissioner right now is former Buffalo Bill Andre Reed, correct?
Speaker B:That's correct.
Speaker B:Former Bill's wide receiver, Pro Football hall of Famer.
Speaker B:He is the commissioner and kind of again, you know, kind of modeled after the Arena League.
Speaker B:And their commissioner is Tim Brown, another Pro Football hall of Famer.
Speaker B:So it's a very similar league to the other league in the Midwest.
Speaker B:So Andre Reed is a big part of our league as a commissioner and involved in building the rules and got a chance to meet him at our first press conference back in January.
Speaker B:He's very, very much involved and we'll get out to all the different markets once our season starts in June.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So we're joined by Peter Schwartz, the general manager of the New York Dragons.
Speaker A:So the team comes about and eventually they want to come up with a name and I believe there was, you know, they wanted to get some people's input.
Speaker A:What made you guys go back to the Dragons?
Speaker B:Well, at the end of the day, it was a no brainer.
Speaker B:We did have an online, not a contest, but we asked fans on the league's website to submit their names, their name suggestions for our team.
Speaker B:While this was going on, we did have some internal discussions as to should we be the Dragons if enough people want it to happen.
Speaker B:The only issue was, was the name available?
Speaker B:So we did the online submissions and an overwhelming number of people wrote in, you know, New York Dragons and Some even wrote Long Island Dragons.
Speaker B:Some submitted names that had dragons in it, like sea dragons or sound dragons, Dragon Fire.
Speaker B:So there were a lot of good ones.
Speaker B:There were some other good ones too, like Long Island Sound, Long Island Wave.
Speaker B:So at the end of the day, once we confirmed the name was available, and a lot of it was on my shoulders because I felt if you were bringing a team back to the Coliseum, it should be the New York Dragons if it was available.
Speaker B:And that's what we did.
Speaker B:I've always told people the best job I ever had in my life was the eight years I spent as the radio announcer for the original New York Dragons.
Speaker B:And now that we're back and I'm in charge, I felt it was a no brainer at the end of the day.
Speaker B:So what we did then is then we had to come up with a logo.
Speaker B:So I told our graphic artist and Winston did a great job with it.
Speaker B:I said, take the old logo and put it on steroids.
Speaker B:And then we have the logo that we have now and we have a couple of really good alternate logos as well.
Speaker B:So I'm really happy with the way the whole thing turned out.
Speaker B:And now we've got, for about a month or so, we were just operating as the new Long Island Indoor Football Team.
Speaker B:And now we have a name and we are the New York Dragons.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:They have the identity.
Speaker A:So one of the things I've heard, and I know you're probably not allowed to announce some of this stuff, is that there's probably going to be a lot of local coaches and local players on this team.
Speaker A:Is that true?
Speaker B:So my, my vision for this team, when I started talking to the league about the general manager position and what my, you know, my hopes were, I said, you know, in my mind, you know, we need to have this team be a local team, a team that really belongs to the community.
Speaker B:We just lost the New York Ripside lacrosse team that played in the Coliseum for four years.
Speaker B:And it didn't make any sense to me, at least the last year.
Speaker B:There wasn't a season where they had more than one player from Long Island.
Speaker B:The last season, last year before they moved to Canada, the New York rich side had zero players from Long island on the team.
Speaker B:Made no sense to me.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:They get hot fed from lacrosse in North America and there were no players from Long Island.
Speaker B:In fact, the coaching staff was all from, you know, Toronto, the Toronto area.
Speaker B:Most of the players were from Canada and there was really no connection with the community.
Speaker B:The players weren't around during the week to do clinics or anything like that.
Speaker B:So when they started talking to me about the new football team, I said, this has to be the community's team.
Speaker B:That's the only way to make this work.
Speaker B:So my suggestion was, and they went along with this, is that we hire a local Long Island High School coach or a coach that has roots on Long island, and that most, if not all of the 18 man roster should be former Long Island High School or college players.
Speaker B:So they agreed with me that that was the right way to do this.
Speaker B:And the coaches that I interviewed for the job were all in agreement that this was the way to go about it.
Speaker B:So we did this week hire a coach.
Speaker B:We're going to announce it on March 25th.
Speaker B:And the objective is, again, most, if not all of the 18 people on the roster will be Long island players.
Speaker B:And again, the biggest reason for that is to create community excitement.
Speaker B:If you're a former player from Garden City High School and you went on to play in college, now you're back home, you got a full time job, but you still have that itch to play pro football, well, now you can play pro football for your hometown team down the road in the Coliseum.
Speaker B:Same for any community on Long Island.
Speaker B:If you're a former star at MacArthur High School or East Meadow High School or, you know, Wata or you know, out in Suffolk county, if you're Half Hollow Hills or you're Fayville, whatever it might be, and you were a former star there and now you're coming back and you're playing for the Dragons.
Speaker B:Well, it's going to energize that community to want to come out and watch you play.
Speaker B:So a lot of Long island sports centers around the fact that we're all about our own and we want to see our own play and succeed.
Speaker B:And now we've given these players a chance to do that right in their backyard.
Speaker A:Okay, again, we're talking with Peter Schwartz, the general manager of the newly formed New York Dragons, of the Entertainment Football Association.
Speaker A:So in addition to this job, which I'm not going to say if it's part time, full time, taking up your whole life or whatever, you also are an anchor at wfan.
Speaker A:You also host the Sports Bash on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Speaker A:But what is, how did you, how did this gig come about for you?
Speaker A:I know you did some play by play for them, but where did this all come about?
Speaker B:Well, it is a full time job.
Speaker B:So I now have this full time job as general manager of the Dragons.
Speaker B:And also still, you know, working at WFA on the weekends, as you mentioned, my Sports Bash podcast that I'll be doing a couple of days a week.
Speaker B:So at the end of the day, while I'm a general manager and, you know, and getting a football team off the ground, at the end of the day, I'm still a radio guy, so I'm still doing that.
Speaker B:I was actually approached in late December.
Speaker B:Somebody who I used to work with in the old Arena Football League called me and asked me if I had heard that there was a new team coming to the Coliseum, and I had no idea.
Speaker B:They connected me with someone from the league.
Speaker B:They brought me on as a consultant to help them launch the team at a January 15 press conference at the Coliseum.
Speaker B:As the event got closer, one of my jobs was to get as many people to come to the press conference as possible.
Speaker B:They originally said, you think you can get like, 40 or 50?
Speaker B:And our final number was 91 that came to that press conference that day.
Speaker B:At first, they weren't going to consider me for the GM job because I really didn't have much of a sales background.
Speaker B:So the GM job in arena football is kind of like a GM in minor league baseball, where you don't really have too many football decisions.
Speaker B:In this case, one, hiring a head coach.
Speaker B:Everything else is dealing with corporate partnerships, season tickets, group tickets, community relations, that kind of thing.
Speaker B:But as the event got closer and my guest list kept going up and up and up, they started to consider me for the job.
Speaker B:And about five minutes after that press conference was over, a league executive and the owner pulled me out of the room and brought me down the hall, and they offered me the general manager job.
Speaker B:And within a couple of days, we had hammered out the agreement.
Speaker B:And I could not be happier to be in charge of this team.
Speaker B:I'm excited about the staff we put together in our front office.
Speaker B:We've got a great group, Director of Operations, Sean Wachter.
Speaker B:We hired Director of Business Development, Marilyn Rich, who's got a lot of experience in pro sports.
Speaker B:So we are excited to get that going.
Speaker B:We can't wait to announce the coach and continue marching towards our home opener June 14th.
Speaker A:Okay, so June 14th, the home opener, you'll start, I believe, a week earlier.
Speaker A:We have teams in Danbury, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Speaker A:And where's the New Jersey team playing out of?
Speaker B:They're based in Morristown, New Jersey, at Men in Arena.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And our team will be right here at the Nassau Coliseum, which, you know, has been home for the Nets G League affiliate and kind of looking for something else.
Speaker A:And this will be something for the summer for people to come out.
Speaker A:And as you said, there'll be a little tailgate beforehand.
Speaker A:It said maybe something about some celebrity meet and greets and then, you know, some football and a concert.
Speaker A:Sounds like a pretty good night.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker B:Back in the day with the original Dragons, we had the autograph signings afterward.
Speaker B:It was a fun day.
Speaker B:And one of the other things I'm really excited to bring back, and this was a big part of the Dragons years ago, is we had a lot of youth football teams from Long island that would buy group tickets and they would get a chance to play on our field in the hours leading up to our game.
Speaker B:So we're going to do the same thing.
Speaker B:We've already heard from a number of youth football organizations, and that's really one of our callings right now is that if you have a youth football organization that wants to play a game on our field on a Saturday in the hours leading up, you just have to reach out to us on our website, www.nydragonsfootball.com or you can message me online and we could set it up where you can have a group outing at our game.
Speaker B:And it's the greatest thing to see these kids of all different ages playing on our field in the hours leading up to a game.
Speaker B:And then they get to stay, obviously, for our game and watch the Dragons play at the Coliseum.
Speaker B:So that's one of the things that I'm really excited about, getting involved is getting the youth football community involved in our team again.
Speaker B:Again, the interest has been overwhelming since we, you know, launched back in January, but then also announced our name a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker B:So it's very, very exciting to see what the reaction has been from the community so far.
Speaker A:Sounds pretty fun.
Speaker A:So let me just ask you this.
Speaker A:There have been some concerns with the Arena Football League that you were talking about in the that's mainly based out in the Midwest.
Speaker A:Do you guys worry or try to learn from some of the mistakes that have gone on?
Speaker A:There's been some financial instability, some team foldings, maybe some lack of support from league office.
Speaker A:Do you guys take maybe some of the, the issues that they've had of discontinuing operations and bring that into what you're starting?
Speaker B:100%.
Speaker B:This league was formed with a tremendous vision, business wise, tremendous vision, tremendous business plan of coming into it in key markets that they've identified as markets that are that either have historical connections to the sport or in markets that they don't currently have professional sports.
Speaker B:And that's what they've done here with the Entertainment Football Association.
Speaker B:So by setting up a business model where a team is actually built to survive, as opposed to overspending and built to go out of business, there's a real strong feeling that this is going to be a tremendous success.
Speaker B:And plus, again, it's not just about football.
Speaker B:It's all the entertainment components that come with this.
Speaker B:And tickets are very affordable for families.
Speaker B:It's a lot of fun.
Speaker B:If you're on Long island and you don't like schlepping out the MetLife Stadium to go see the jets and the Giants, this is right in your backyard and, you know, the players.
Speaker B:This is really a game where the players are going to get a chance to play for the love of the sport.
Speaker B:You know, they're not going to make Aaron Rodgers money playing for us.
Speaker B:There's no secret about that.
Speaker B:But it is a chance to play professional football in your backyard.
Speaker B:As far as expenses, the league is set up where, you know, there's a system in place for your local businesses to help support the team and drawing fans and getting that support from the area.
Speaker B:So I think they've taken a lot of looks at what's going on wrong.
Speaker B:Especially in recent weeks, there's been a bunch of teams that have dropped out of the af1 league, and I know a lot of people that are involved with that league, and I hope they're able to make it, but they just lost another team last night in Arizona.
Speaker B:So I hope the other leagues can be strong luck that the entire sport of indoor football is only as good as all the leagues together.
Speaker B:So hopefully that the Entertainment Football association becomes the strongest one of all of them with the business model that we have.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I think that's what people are looking for when you have some of the other leagues a week before their championship game, a question of whether or not the game's going to even happen.
Speaker A:So I think, you know, if people come out and they get a good experience and they see that this league lasts, you know, year after year, I think that's a great thing.
Speaker A:How about the Coliseum?
Speaker A:What made you guys choose that and how is that working out?
Speaker B:It's home.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:You know, for me, it's been.
Speaker B:I've been going to the Coliseum since I was, you know, 10 or 11 years old when I went to my first Highlanders game.
Speaker B:And, you know, I've been to so many events in that Building and worked for teams in that building, including the old Dragons.
Speaker B:And it's not like I made the decision to go there.
Speaker B:That decision was made before I was hired.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But it's a no.
Speaker B:It's a no brainer.
Speaker B:It's still a great place to watch a game.
Speaker B:It's got history, it's got history of arena football.
Speaker B:It's convenient for people.
Speaker B:You know, we hear a lot of people complaining about, you know, what it takes to get to an Islander game at UBS Arena.
Speaker B:But the Coliseum is still, is still there with massive parking lots and great sight lines, and we're going to have a lively atmosphere in our building for our home games.
Speaker B:And as someone who grew up with that building, I couldn't be happier that we've provided another sports team that can play there.
Speaker B:And hopefully there's more.
Speaker B:Hopefully, even with the Sands Project coming up, if they could figure out a way to keep the Coliseum as part of that complex and they could attract some other niche sports like G League basketball, like us with arena football.
Speaker B:Maybe we bring, maybe they bring an indoor soccer team in there.
Speaker B:Maybe there's a minor league hockey team that comes somewhere down the road.
Speaker B:I think it's just so important for the island to still have the Coliseum because the UBS arena is beautiful and I love going to Islander games there and seeing concerts there and all that stuff.
Speaker B:But there are still a lot of events that are too small for that building where the college, you know, the Coliseum is the right size.
Speaker B:Even if they downsized it a little bit more, it's the perfect venue for some of these fledgling sports and niche sports that would love to bring their thing to Long Island.
Speaker B:So I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker B:I'm obviously more excited that this would be at the Coliseum than it would be anywhere else, because the Coliseum is home again.
Speaker A:We're talking with Peter Schwartz, the general manager of the New York Dragons of the Entertainment Football Association.
Speaker A:We appreciate his time.
Speaker A:I know he's got double duty tonight.
Speaker A:Peter, one last thing.
Speaker A:I know you, you can plug a little bit of your, your sports bash and stuff like that.
Speaker A:When you get the ability to get somebody in front of you, and I know it's going to be a little bit different with the, with the football, but when you're able to get somebody in front of you, let's just say Andre Reed or something like that, do you get a little awestruck at times, you know, interviewing people that you grew up idolizing?
Speaker B:No, I don't.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:A lot of that to be Honest is kind of like in my past now.
Speaker B:When I first started getting involved in sports 35 years ago out of college, that was a thing for me.
Speaker B:And right off the bat I used.
Speaker B:I've interviewed all my favorite Islanders growing up and Jet players and things like that.
Speaker B:That to me is kind of old hat.
Speaker B:And I don't say that with any bravado.
Speaker B:I just, you know, I've been doing this for 35 years, so I've gotten to meet a lot of people and there's actually, actually the more awestruck I get are probably people that are not involved in sports.
Speaker B:Like, I think if I had a chance to meet Billy Joel, I would probably be more awestruck meeting Billy Joel or Bruce Springsteen or maybe an actor or an actress.
Speaker B:But when it comes to sports stars, I mean, I pretty much met just about anybody I need to meet in my life.
Speaker B:But if, you know, if someone should set me up with, you know, lunch with Billy Joel, I think that would be pretty cool.
Speaker B:I think I'd be a little nervous doing that.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can hit Mike Del Judas.
Speaker A:I know you've had him on in the past.
Speaker A:Hit him up.
Speaker A:Maybe you guys can go out to lunch.
Speaker B:Mike's a good friend of mine.
Speaker B:He's been, he's been on my show a couple of times.
Speaker B:So one of these days I'm going to ask him for that big, big favor and see if we can hook that up.
Speaker A:That sounds like fun.
Speaker A:Again, we had on today here Peter Schwartz, the general manager of the New York Dragons.
Speaker A:Again, people can go to which website or how can they get in touch to be able to get some tickets.
Speaker B:For this so people can get more information and actually, you know, put a deposit down for season tickets on our website, www.nydragonsfootball.com.
Speaker B:you can go on there.
Speaker B:You can put a deposit down and a Dragons representative will be in touch with you to finish up the order, let you pick your seats and get ready for the season.
Speaker B:You can also find me on X Schwartz Sports and on Instagram @petershwartzports.
Speaker B:And of course the dragons are online on xydragonsfb.
Speaker B:Both X and Instagram nydragonsfb.
Speaker A:Alright, it sounds like fun.
Speaker A:June 14th, first game.
Speaker A:We're gonna have to come out and take a look and see how this runs.
Speaker A:I appreciate your time tonight and hopefully we'll be in touch in the future.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me on and thank you for the opportunity to talk about the Dragons and we hope everybody can come out to the Coliseum and support us in our second inaugural season of New York Dragons football.
Speaker A:Sounds good.
Speaker A:Hopefully you can find you can relax that night and not have to update at WFAN if you have a choice.
Speaker B:Oh, that's already.
Speaker B:Listen, my plan first, I work at Fan on Saturday mornings, but I'll be off that day.
Speaker B:There's no question about it.
Speaker B:My plan is to make sure everything is going so well that I can just sit in the stands of my family and watch the game.
Speaker A:Sounds good.
Speaker A:Appreciate it, Peter.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker B:You got it.
Speaker B:Take care.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:That's Peter Schwartz of the newly formed Entertainment Football Association Arena League.
Speaker A:The New York Dragons will be playing at the Nassau Coliseum starting up this summer.
Speaker A:Sounds like a pretty interesting initiative.
Speaker A:And, you know, Peter gave us some, some good insight as to what's going to be going on.
Speaker A:If you're looking for something to do, it's kind of similar to like the Saints did at the major indoor lacrosse there.
Speaker A:So if you watched some of that stuff, you know, they had a lacrosse team.
Speaker A:But as he said, unfortunately the players were not even from Long island, nor were the coaches.
Speaker A:And you know, you have the G League for the Long Island Nets there, which is a New Jersey, excuse me, a Brooklyn Nets affiliate.
Speaker A:So it's a nice way to go out and watch a semi professional game.
Speaker A:These guys are professionals.
Speaker A:They do play, you know, with some affiliate for the, for basketball.
Speaker A:But it's going to be interesting to see once they do name a coach in a couple of weeks, you know what that brings about because as he said, it sounds like it's going to be a high school coach.
Speaker A:So in that sense, now you have a guy who in the off season is now working as a professional football coach.
Speaker A:And then maybe you have some guys that played at some of these local high schools, a Plain Edge, a Bethpage, a Garden City that comes back after a high school and a college career and wants to play.
Speaker A: -: Speaker A:If you want to talk anything, doesn't have to be arena football.
Speaker A:We can talk Mets, we can talk jets, we can talk Giants, we can even talk Knicks and Nets.
Speaker A:After our break, we're also going to be talking to John Santa Maria about the New York Islanders as they get close to the end of the season and made some trades at the trade deadline.
Speaker A:But yeah, again, we'll take your calls tonight.
Speaker A:This is Chris Caputo.
Speaker A:I am by myself tonight.
Speaker A:Mike Goudone out with some family emergencies.
Speaker A:But it was interesting to talk to Peter.
Speaker A:Peter also works at WFAN as an update guy.
Speaker A:But this team is going to be playing at the Nassau Coliseum, which at this point we're not sure if there's an initiative to try and make that Coliseum into a casino.
Speaker A:And at this point it's really only used for a couple of games a year for basketball.
Speaker A:So this will at least give them, I guess maybe seven to ten times a year on a weekend where maybe somebody can use this, see if it works and see if people show up and then maybe this turns into something bigger.
Speaker A:My biggest problem is right now there's only four teams and you're really only playing, you know, three other teams.
Speaker A:So you have to play everybody, you know, home and away a couple of times.
Speaker A:So that's going to be interesting.
Speaker A:Next week we are going to be back on the air.
Speaker A:It will be a two hour show instead of a one hour show and it's going to be Selection Sunday.
Speaker A:So we will be talking a little bit also after the break about some college basketball as next week.
Speaker A:We'll have a lot of that breakdown after the bracket comes out.
Speaker A:But one other thing I want to talk about that has come out recently is the ability for players to A, play in two different sports, which hopefully we will have an athlete who played in college for two different sports on at some point soon, you know, like a basketball and a football or something like that, or B, play two different positions in the same sport.
Speaker A:So I'm going to start with this.
Speaker A:One of the debates that has come up is will Travis Hunter of the Colorado University of Colorado Boulders be able to play more than one sport in college?
Speaker A:Excuse me, in the NFL.
Speaker A:So when he goes to the NFL, he could be a wide receiver, he can be a cornerback, which is very similar to what Deion Sanders did, and also maybe do some kick returning.
Speaker A:And you know, I think that, that it's going to be interesting because he's going to be a top and that could be a guy that maybe the Giants take.
Speaker A:But are the Giants taking him as a wide receiver, as a cornerback, or would they possibly let him try to play both?
Speaker A:And the second name that kind of comes up is Shohei Ohtani.
Speaker A:So Shohei Ohtani would be a comparison because he's a designated hitter for probably four out of every five games and then on the next day he also starts as a pitcher and also is a hitter.
Speaker A:So you have a guy who's trying to excel at two different parts of the game.
Speaker A:And I think that, you know, that comparison is a little bit tough.
Speaker A:So I think Right now, Ohtani is in a completely different league.
Speaker A:I think it's one of the toughest things to do, is to hit a baseball.
Speaker A:You know, most of these guys, if you get a hit three out of every times at bat, you're going to the hall of Fame.
Speaker A:This guy's doing it, you know, at a pace that's way beyond that, hitting home runs, stealing 50 bases.
Speaker A:So I think his elite level hitting and base stealing is big enough.
Speaker A:The fact that he can also pitch, and I know he's coming off some surgery, so maybe he's not going to pitch and he's not going to pitch as much this year.
Speaker A:But just the fact that this guy is that good of a pitcher, and if you look up his numbers, he is a really good pitcher, and he's done it for a couple of years here, and he did it over in Japan.
Speaker A:But Ohtani, I think, is in a completely different league than what Travis Hunter is.
Speaker A:Travis Hunter is trying to play different sports now.
Speaker A:Travis Hunter is very talented, but he's still in the early stages of his career with so much to prove.
Speaker A:And for him to go out there and try to excel in the NFL at two positions when he hasn't really mastered that at anything but Jackson State and also at University of Colorado, I think that becomes an issue, is that he's trying to do too much before he gets there.
Speaker A:And I think he should just concentrate on one area of the ball, and I don't know if that's going to be on offense to catch or if that's going to be on defense to try and break up some passes.
Speaker A:Now, one of the things we'll get to after the break is we'll talk about, you know, who does it better, and also if one of them was to switch sports, who would be able to do it better.
Speaker A:But I really do want to finish on the note that Shohei Ohtani is an amazing hitter, elite level, and he's also a great pitcher.
Speaker A:Don't try to compare yourself, Travis Hunter, to playing both sides of the ball as a wide receiver and cornerback as being as versatile.
Speaker A:To Ohtani, it's just not an analogy that you want to go to.
Speaker A:And I think what you need to do is prove yourself at one of the two positions before you try to master both.
Speaker A:So that's just my take.
Speaker A: -: Speaker A:We're going to take a break.
Speaker A:When we come back, we're going to talk some Islanders and maybe some St.
Speaker A:John's with John Santa Maria.
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Speaker B:You'Re listening to Sports Talk New York on Long Island's wgpb.
Speaker B:And now back to the show.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A: And welcome Back to WGBB: Speaker A:It's sports talk New York here on Sunday night.
Speaker A:Chris Caputo here by myself, my partner Mike Gadone, not here tonight.
Speaker A:We had in the first half hour Peter Schwartz talking about the Arena New York Dragons.
Speaker A:And at this point we're going to bring in John Santa Maria.
Speaker A:John, I know you've been touring Long island as a high school play by play PA announcer and also doing some college stuff.
Speaker A:So what's going on right now for you?
Speaker C:Oh, man, what a week.
Speaker C:We had six games.
Speaker C:I did six games over a span of four days, four at the pa, two on play by play, both of those with Mike Adona, actually.
Speaker C:So it was great.
Speaker C:We had a great playoffs with the Catholic League boys and girls.
Speaker C:Congratulations goes out to St.
Speaker C:Anthony's for winning the Catholic boys championship this year, the Long Island League.
Speaker C:And then they won the st yesterday.
Speaker C:So Sal Organo getting it done again.
Speaker B:Yep, sal and the St.
Speaker B:Mary's girl.
Speaker C:And then the St.
Speaker C:Mary's girls won the girls division.
Speaker C:They fell short in the state championships in Nazareth yesterday.
Speaker C:But Kevin Weitzka definitely got a good thing going on over there.
Speaker C:He's only graduating two players on his roster.
Speaker C:So he's going to have a nice core of that team coming back.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's got a bunch of sophomores on a team that puts up a lot of points and they really gave it to St.
Speaker A:Anthony's in their final.
Speaker A:And Sal Organo doing a great job, former coach at New York Institute of Technology and now really ripening it and getting it going at St.
Speaker A:Anthony's Absolutely.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:And that team was, I'll tell you something, I've been doing the Catholic League playoffs, the semifinals, championship.
Speaker C:This is my third year now.
Speaker C:He's fallen short a couple of times.
Speaker C:This core was due.
Speaker C:But I'll tell you something, St.
Speaker C:Dominick's has a really good thing going on in basketball.
Speaker C:A lot of excitement coming there.
Speaker C:And I know Isaiah Wilson's very excited about the future as is Paul Bianco, the girls coach.
Speaker C:So they're going to be a team to look out for next year.
Speaker C:A lot of excitement up in Oyster Bay.
Speaker A:All right, so we transitioned to the New York Islanders, who at the trade deadline kind of did something Lou lamarillo doesn't really do, and that's actually to get rid of some players, but I don't think he did that much in this case.
Speaker A:It was Brock Nelson who they were able to send him to the Avalanche and bring back Callum Ritchie in a first round pick.
Speaker A:Sounds like Richie is going to be a prospect.
Speaker A:What did you think of the Islanders deadline moves?
Speaker C:Well, the way it went down, it seems that Lou didn't want.
Speaker C:Didn't want to do this.
Speaker C:That is the vibe.
Speaker C:I heard what he said yesterday about the team getting younger.
Speaker C:Listening to some of that stuff, part of me feels like he didn't want it to happen.
Speaker C:He believes in you.
Speaker C:Look at the Devils.
Speaker C:I always make embarrassments that he let all those guys play till their retirement, essentially.
Speaker C:And I think if Brock Nelson was willing to say that would have happened, I would have been fine with that.
Speaker C:But you know what?
Speaker C:That was a hole you were not going to get back anytime soon if you did not do it now.
Speaker C:So kudos to him for going out of his comfort box at 80 years old and he did for that.
Speaker C:The best for the franchise now, whatever happens the rest of the season and in the long term.
Speaker C:Here's another thing with that, with the draft pick.
Speaker C: t a very strong draft for the: Speaker C: these contenders traded their: Speaker C: he teams in the mix without a: Speaker C:So you knew it was not going to be a pick for another year.
Speaker C:I think people knew what was coming in this dress, so they were quick to move this pick for whatever reason.
Speaker C:So there were quite a number of teams without them.
Speaker C:So it was going to be for a year from now, which is fine.
Speaker C:You'd rather have the extra picks.
Speaker C:But I think what everybody could say is the Islanders will be picking in the first round this year, and I think that's important.
Speaker A:We're talking with John Santa Maria about some New York Islanders news and updates.
Speaker A:And you know, at this point, John, The Islanders have 20 games remaining, three points out of the final wild card spot, but they still have five teams to catch and they're five and five in their last 10.
Speaker A:Is there any hope or thought that the Islanders might actually Try and make that move for one of those last spots.
Speaker C:I mean, you don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker C:There's going to be, as I'm watching actually Columbus play the Rangers.
Speaker C:At the moment.
Speaker C:The Blue Jackets are about to beat the Rangers, so that'll put them up in the standings.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:You don't.
Speaker C:You don't know.
Speaker C:I mean, I look at the same thing last year too, when they made the playoffs as a three seed in the Metropolitan.
Speaker C:The Eastern Conference has not been really strong.
Speaker C:There's Carolina, there's Washington, there's the Devil.
Speaker C:Then there's everybody else and Florida.
Speaker C:Yeah, the Atlantic.
Speaker C:Then you got the Atlantic, Florida and pretty much probably, I would say everybody else is.
Speaker C:There's really not.
Speaker C:It's a little bit more deeper in the West.
Speaker C:The Central is definitely very, very, very competitive.
Speaker A:Very competitive.
Speaker C:The Pacific Candy as well too.
Speaker C:But I feel like there's not the same type of strength.
Speaker C:And we saw that last year when the hours of the three seed playing Carolina, everybody below them was not very good.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So it could happen.
Speaker C:The key thing is Lou Amro did not trade away draft picks to win now.
Speaker C:Yeah, he traded something.
Speaker C:Worried about the future and maybe to stay competitive.
Speaker C:And I believe he wants Kyle Palmeri to finish here.
Speaker C:And I think Kyle Palmeri wants to finish here.
Speaker C:Having some insights because of he's made some appearances at a couple local charity events, stuff through people I know.
Speaker C:And that's the fact that he wants to stay in Long Island.
Speaker C:He wants to finish his career.
Speaker C:I don't think he wants to move.
Speaker C:I think the only way he would have accepted a trade is if it was back to New Jersey, to the Rangers.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Which is interesting.
Speaker A:I was going to bring him up next.
Speaker A:I mean, you look at Brock Nelson, the guy signed as a high schooler, played over 900 games with the Islanders.
Speaker A:So even that, you know, at his last home game, they won the game and he was involved a lot in that game.
Speaker A:Was had to have been emotional for him knowing that he's probably heading to the west coast only to be traded somewhere else.
Speaker C:Yeah, you would think you knew.
Speaker C:I think some of these players know it was coming.
Speaker C:I think the difference was Kyle had a modified no trade clause.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker B:Brock did.
Speaker C:Brock didn't.
Speaker C:So he could have gone anywhere.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And then as far as the rest of the guys, I think Pageau and Andrews Lee would have probably been stunned if they got a call that they were traded.
Speaker A:Yeah, I didn't think they were going to trade Lee, but I really did Think Palmieri might be one of those ones.
Speaker A:But as you said, sounds like Lou wants him to stick around and be that guy that is almost a lifer.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I think, and I think with him too, you know, you could get him in a team premier League deal.
Speaker C:The thing is this salary task going up, Brock Nelson's going to want to get paid.
Speaker C:I think Kyle Palmeri knows where his values at.
Speaker C:He's willing to take a team friendly deal.
Speaker C:Brock has rightfully earned another decent contract.
Speaker B:So good for him.
Speaker C:Let him go out and test free agency and earn it because he will probably get it.
Speaker C:But there's no guarantee Kyle Palmeri was going to get that kind of money.
Speaker C:So if he settles for a team friendly deal on July 1, that's fine.
Speaker C:If he walks away, that's another story.
Speaker C:But I think that part is more likely to not happen than will happen.
Speaker C:I think, I think they'll work something out.
Speaker A:So the Islanders have some game in hands on some of the other teams ahead of them.
Speaker A:After tonight, the Rangers play, you know, two more games than them.
Speaker A:They're obviously trying to go after Columbus and Ottawa.
Speaker A:You know, I think there's a shot where maybe the Islanders get hot.
Speaker A:But one of the problems I was looking at the Islanders schedule is they're really not for the most part playing a lot of the teams maybe a game here against Columbus at some point.
Speaker A:But in the next few weeks they really don't have games against teams that are within the next seven or eight spots ahead of them.
Speaker A:So it's going to take some help from other teams for them to get there.
Speaker A:But I guess the biggest part is the island has got to start to win a bunch in a row and they're going out to the West Coast.
Speaker C:Me, it started with a win last night, but you can't be win one, lose one win to lose two.
Speaker B:You get, it's like you got to.
Speaker C:Streak in the other.
Speaker C:You got, you got to have a good stretch.
Speaker C:But what's going to happen too is with the schedule, when you think about it too, these other teams still have.
Speaker B:To play each other.
Speaker C:So what you don't want to happen.
Speaker C:And in some ways watching what Columbus just did to the Rangers, it was a 7:3 final.
Speaker C:You don't want these games getting into overtime.
Speaker A:No, no, you're right.
Speaker A:That gives points.
Speaker C:So you'd rather whatever happens, let it happen in regulation.
Speaker A:Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how some of those points start to play out later on.
Speaker A:But the islanders right now, 29, 26 with seven overtime losses are not, you know, getting killed on the differential.
Speaker A:They're minus 12 on goals.
Speaker A:So it's not like they're the worst team as far as giving up goals.
Speaker A:It's just that the games that they're losing, they're losing close games, and they just got to put a couple of extra shots in the net.
Speaker A:It was interesting.
Speaker A:I don't know how much you thought of it, but for the first time in many, many, many years, an Islanders goalie was credited with a goal a couple of games back.
Speaker A:I'm not sure if you saw that, John.
Speaker C:Yes, I did.
Speaker C:That was probably one of the weirdest plays I've ever seen.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:So Steven Samkos was trying to just clear the puck.
Speaker C:It's just one of those bat.
Speaker C:One of those bounces.
Speaker C:That went pretty cool stat for him, but I still would have enjoyed it more if Siralka was the one who did it down.
Speaker C:But good for him.
Speaker C:That's something you'll remember.
Speaker C:That's a puck that goes in the souvenir case.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:For those of you that don't know, the puck went off of the goalie last, and then one of their defenders tried to pass it to another player who missed it, and the goalie was out of the goal.
Speaker A:So the empty net goal for a goalie goes to Sorokin, since he was the last to touch the puck.
Speaker A:So we talked a little bit of the Islanders, and I think, you know, I kind of guess they did what we expected them to do at the trade deadline was not too much, but maybe get themselves a first round draft pick and also get them maybe a guy who in the future is a prospect that could do something for them.
Speaker A:Because we've always talked about not being much down at Bridgeport.
Speaker A:Let's switch gears a little bit.
Speaker A:I know you go to a bunch of.
Speaker C:I'm sorry.
Speaker C:Really.
Speaker A:Go ahead, finish up.
Speaker C:I want to add one thing on.
Speaker C:Richie.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:I definitely think this is somebody from what they're saying is that he will be in camp with them next year, and this is somebody who they will give a chance to.
Speaker C:To make the team, but they think he's pretty close.
Speaker C:He's actually played a couple NHL.
Speaker C:He scored his first goal against the island earlier this year in Colorado.
Speaker A:Great.
Speaker C:So, I mean, there is a chance he's probably closer to the NHL than he is.
Speaker C:It's just a matter of.
Speaker C:There's no reason to do it right now, but I think he will be in training camp and potentially can make the roster in October.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And you Know, even some of the other teams, like the Bruins trading Brad Marchant, there's another type of Brock Nelson type trade where a guy is with them forever.
Speaker A:They, you know, they get rid of guys.
Speaker A:So it's not.
Speaker A:Islanders are not the only team, you know, willing to get rid of a veteran to think about the future.
Speaker C:So, yeah, that one was more of a surprise.
Speaker C:That one was honestly more of a surprise because the Bruins still, they're still mathematically in it, but I think they know their roster is a little bit more older, in my opinion, than the Islanders.
Speaker C:So I think you got to cash out while you can.
Speaker C:And that's what I think they ultimately felt with Brock.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think they were trying to hit gold later as opposed to now because this is just not the year for them.
Speaker A:So let's switch gears for a minute.
Speaker A:I know you've gone to a bunch of games this year.
Speaker A:This is a magical season at this point.
Speaker A:And maybe it goes even further for the St.
Speaker A:John's red storm.
Speaker A:And a lot of that is happening at Madison Square Garden, which is normally known to have a lot of highlights and get ready for the playoffs for the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks.
Speaker A:But this year, the Garden is owned by St.
Speaker A:John's University.
Speaker C:I went to the game last Saturday against Seton hall.
Speaker A:Before.
Speaker A:You did double duty before.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:I had a stand.
Speaker C:Stand in the aisle.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:On the Long Island Railroad.
Speaker C:And sorry, MCA listeners, I did not get checked because the conductors couldn't get through.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker C:You would think it was.
Speaker C:You would have thought with that many people on the train, you were going to think it would know.
Speaker C:You would have thought it was St.
Speaker C:Patrick's Day.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker C:You don't get.
Speaker C:No, you get.
Speaker C:A lot of.
Speaker C:Knicks fans come from all five boroughs.
Speaker C:Ranger fans come from everywhere.
Speaker C:But no, no, no.
Speaker C:This was stunning.
Speaker C:It was.
Speaker C:It was hype.
Speaker C:It was a great environment.
Speaker C:A lot of alumni are there, a lot of current students, a lot of families of, like, students who are part of the different organizations.
Speaker C:I have former students of mine who were in the band, actually, and one of their moms reached out to me because she knew I was at the game.
Speaker C:So there's a lot of interest in this band.
Speaker C:Could you.
Speaker C:I mean, St.
Speaker C:John's got the raw draw of the time to be each tournament for Thursday at 12 o'clock.
Speaker C:But could you just imagine if that was a night game, what that crowd would look like in the.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A: seed always gets the Thursday: Speaker A:So by getting a one seed you've almost put yourself in a tough spot, but it'll still be, you know, you'll get the business executives and maybe you get the college student that doesn't want to go to class.
Speaker A:But you won't get the same atmosphere you would if it was at night.
Speaker A:But I will tell you, if they win that game, whatever they, Whoever they play, you know that 8, 9 matchup Friday night's going to be rocking at the Garden.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker C:And I was even thinking of this, too.
Speaker C:They get placed in that east region of the NCAA tournament, it could be a province, the Sweet 16 in the Elite Eight at Prudential Center, Newark.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they could.
Speaker C:They could be.
Speaker C:Prices are going to skyrocket.
Speaker C:If St.
Speaker C:John's wins, they could be.
Speaker A:Placed in Providence for the first and second rounds, which, you know, to not have to leave the east coast would be.
Speaker A:Would be great, especially for the alumni.
Speaker A:But I think the interesting thing is.
Speaker A:And then we'll get to some basketball.
Speaker A:But, like, people are coming out of the woodwork that maybe, you know, you wouldn't see at Carneseca Hall.
Speaker A:And now all of a sudden, they had to move games from Carneseca hall to Madison Square Garden.
Speaker A:You're seeing a lot of St.
Speaker A:John's fans that maybe when you went to games last year, you didn't see there.
Speaker A:And I think that's kind of the buzz.
Speaker A:And that also happened, you know, in the last few years with the Knicks.
Speaker A:People start showing up at Knick games that maybe didn't go before Jalen Brunson was there.
Speaker A:So I think this kind of has kicked in a little bit more of the.
Speaker A:Even less than average St.
Speaker A:John's fan.
Speaker A:For people to get out there and support a local team.
Speaker A:You actually have a college team that's doing something that you have a chance to support.
Speaker C:And you know what, too?
Speaker C:You also have.
Speaker C:And I was talking about this at the.
Speaker C:At the Catholic playoffs, obviously at the Catholic playoffs.
Speaker C:Rick Pitino's a graduate of St.
Speaker C:Dominic's yes.
Speaker C:There is a lot.
Speaker C:There is a lot of Rick Coutino fans in Long Island.
Speaker C:There's a lot of people who support him, probably back to when him and Ralph Willard, which is Kevin Willard's dad, who worked under him at Louisville long before he became the Seaton Oil head coach.
Speaker C:So there's a lot of Rick Picino connections within this area, and I have relatives who live in Westchester.
Speaker C:There was no illness, bitterness to him leaving Iona.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Understand that that program's in very good hands.
Speaker C:From Timmy Clues down.
Speaker C:So it's between all those guys.
Speaker C:They are.
Speaker C:They're New Yorkers and the same.
Speaker C:Even getting a little bit off topic.
Speaker C:But still, when you look at the common denominators.
Speaker C:Tobin Anderson is also the head coach I owe now a long time successful coach in this area.
Speaker C:Did some great things in St.
Speaker C:Thomas.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:There are people.
Speaker C:Our guys, Trez and Gadon will tell you we saw St Thomas dominate the ECC when we were doing games around there.
Speaker C:And I was his biggest fan when he won Mazda at 16 seed a couple of years ago.
Speaker C:And it was such a good look for this area.
Speaker C:And what Rick is doing at St.
Speaker C:John's now, there's a lot of excitement everywhere.
Speaker C:There's K2IC.
Speaker C:Like the talk is about the excitement is.
Speaker C:And that's.
Speaker C:That's Rick Patino.
Speaker C:That's what he's doing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, you see some of the.
Speaker C:Stuff with Rick Casino.
Speaker C:He's got these kids playing.
Speaker C:They should have went.
Speaker C:They should have went to the NCAA tournament last year.
Speaker C:But that's a whole other.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Discussion.
Speaker C:But he's got the program in the right path.
Speaker C:It's just a matter now of maintaining it.
Speaker C:He has shown he can keep up with nil.
Speaker C:St.
Speaker C:John's is willing to do this.
Speaker C:So R.J.
Speaker C:lewis, they can maintain this.
Speaker B:Their wall.
Speaker C:The only thing they really don't do well is and it could hurt them in the NCAA tournament is shoot the threat.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And the foul shots.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:RJ Lewis, player of the year.
Speaker A:Zubi Ejafor, Kadari, Richmond.
Speaker A:I mean, these guys, Devion Smith, Simeon Wilcher, Aaron Scott, these guys have all come to play every night.
Speaker A:And we all know, Jon, it starts on the defensive end.
Speaker A:These guys are not going out there and just trying to light it up on the offensive end.
Speaker A:They get their offense from their defense.
Speaker C:I've never seen a team off that get as many offensive rebounds the way St.
Speaker C:John's has this year.
Speaker C:That has been the most impressive part of this whole team.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So when I look at some of these other teams, I look at Auburn, I look at Florida, Alabama, they're all playing each other in the sec, Tennessee, Texas A and M.
Speaker A:These guys, their strength of schedule is going to be through the roof because every night they're playing a top 25 team.
Speaker A:You look at St.
Speaker A:John, strength of schedule 68 out of non conference, strength of schedule 167, I believe.
Speaker A:And you could, you know, argue probably different ways that they probably, no matter what happens in the Big east tournament, still wind up a three seed.
Speaker A:But they, you know, with, with winning, the Big east might push themselves into a two seed, but I would say a couple weeks ago they were a week five and now have pushed themselves into a strong three, maybe a two.
Speaker C:And I was worried a close win against Seaton because they did not play well.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh, that was rough.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It was not a well played game on both sides, but it's a better team.
Speaker C:Won the game.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So what I was thinking about too, and I said this years ago when conference realignment became what it is and now it's happening again with how much changed the Big east.
Speaker C:And this is where this works for Snake Eyes.
Speaker C:They're never going to be able to compete with NIL money that all those other SEC schools.
Speaker C:And so you, you can't even compare.
Speaker C:But they are in a league that's primarily focused on basketball.
Speaker C:Basketball is number one.
Speaker C:So you're going to get the proper NIL money for the basketball program.
Speaker C:That's where this is going to work.
Speaker C:I'm not seeing it quite work yet as a couple of the other schools, but they also don't have the budgets.
Speaker C:Look at how down season hall is this year.
Speaker C:It's a harder place to keep kids, especially when you're in New Jersey and your top tier talent's going to get looked at by SEC schools.
Speaker C:So not everybody's able to keep up financially.
Speaker C:Look at Ed Cooley.
Speaker C:He left Providence to go to Georgetown.
Speaker C:Georgetown probably has a little bit more money in that burner in the back pocket, especially from donations, than a Providence, folks.
Speaker C:So that conference will never win the Stranger's schedule, but they will always stay dedicated to what they know they can handle.
Speaker C:And that's have a successful basketball for them.
Speaker C:And that goes for every all 11 teams.
Speaker C:And I even count UConn because their football program is independent.
Speaker C:Football's like second, third on their list, right?
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So it looks like for St.
Speaker A:John's this year they got about $4 million for the nil.
Speaker A:And you know, I think the big name is Mike Rapoli, who, you know, started out with Vitamin water, has now gone on to other things, including horses.
Speaker C:He's the one now, remember with him, he's the one who pushed for Mike Anderson to get fired.
Speaker C:He said he wasn't donating money anymore.
Speaker C:If Mike Anderson, he's the reason.
Speaker C:He's a big part of why Rick Pitino is here, because he was one of the ones who spoke that we're not supporting Mike Anderson.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:And now he's supposedly going to Be donating a billion dollars next season to, to boost the Johnny's.
Speaker A:We'll see how, how that happens.
Speaker A:But, you know, that's the guy.
Speaker C:And they're getting another practice.
Speaker C:They're getting another practice facility on the campus.
Speaker C:I worked some of the women's games this year and they said, I don't know, have you been there lately?
Speaker C:You know, the garages and then they have that other parking lot.
Speaker C:Apparently that's going to be practice facility.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Hey, they need that stuff.
Speaker A:You know, you need to be able to bring guys in, not only give them money, but show them that they're going to be playing in a nice facility, working out nice.
Speaker A:And I think this is a good start.
Speaker A:And as you heard Rick Pitino say, he's not going after high school players.
Speaker A:So don't think that somebody on St.
Speaker A:Anthony's will ever step foot at St.
Speaker A:John's University.
Speaker A:This is going to be guys who are going into the transfer portal and guys who are junior college players.
Speaker A:And that's how he's going to build this roster.
Speaker A:Because as he said, you can't win national championships with high school kids.
Speaker A:With freshmen, you're just not going to do it.
Speaker C:And I think in this area too, you've been around the high school game just as much as I am.
Speaker C:And we talked about this last year on the show after I finished the Catholic playoffs.
Speaker C:When you get to the city level, I mean, what's St.
Speaker C:Anthony's beating St.
Speaker C:John's prep was very nice.
Speaker C:That's a very nice accomplishment.
Speaker C:Well coached team.
Speaker C:But you will never be able to compete with the type of athletes the basketball players are in the five boroughs.
Speaker C:There was a kid last year, she should be still at Christ the King.
Speaker C:She's a junior, for example, big tall girl.
Speaker C:They said Arie Emma was already looking at her only as a sophomore, so that the city kids are the exception.
Speaker C:But if you're that good and you're going to play and make an impact on a program, they're probably not going to get looked at around here.
Speaker C:They're going to go to bigger schools, right?
Speaker A:Agreed.
Speaker A:They're going to go to that school who wants a kid for a year, maybe is going to get paid really well and then try to go to the NBA.
Speaker A:So we'll see what happens.
Speaker A:St.
Speaker A:John's will play Thursday and if they win, they'll be the first game of the semifinal on Friday and then in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker A:Should be probably playing local as a two or three seed, so should be fun.
Speaker A:We appreciate the Time, John, I know you got a big week coming up with everything at your other jobs and we appreciate the time here tonight.
Speaker C:Yeah, it was great.
Speaker C:A lot of exciting things, especially next Sunday when those brackets gonna happen.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:And we are, John, gonna have a two hour show.
Speaker A:I'll kind of give you a heads up.
Speaker A:One of our guests is going to be Charlie Ward, a Heisman winner and Knicks point guard.
Speaker A:And we're gonna also have a segment in here, John, where we're gonna talk about NCAA buzzer beaters.
Speaker A:So we're gonna have on some people that hit NCAA buzzer beaters maybe 20 years ago, maybe 10 years ago, maybe a couple years ago.
Speaker A:Oh man.
Speaker A:So it's going to be a two hour show.
Speaker A:We're also going to have on some college coaches that made the tournament.
Speaker A:So if a team made the tournament like one of the teams today, we've contacted their coach trying to get them in.
Speaker A:So we're going to try and get some college coaches once their bracket is revealed.
Speaker A:We're going to have them right on the show an hour, two hours later just to get their reaction who they're playing.
Speaker A:So it should be a fun show.
Speaker B:Looking forward to that one.
Speaker C:It was great to be on tonight.
Speaker A:Thanks again.
Speaker A:That's John Santa Maria talking St.
Speaker A:John's and New York Islanders hockey.
Speaker A:So we had a good show tonight.
Speaker A:We got a couple of minutes left.
Speaker A:You know, I did want to get back to some of that stuff which you know, we were talking about two way sports and people that play two sports and you know how they do it.
Speaker A:So next week we're going to have on Charlie Ward who won the Heisman at Florida State but also played basketball for four years.
Speaker A:So it'll be great to have him on to talk what he did there.
Speaker A:But also, you know, he was a point guard for the New York Knicks for nine years, 10 years.
Speaker A:So it'll be interesting to hear his perspective on being a two sport athlete.
Speaker A:And also the NCAA tournament.
Speaker A:We're also going to have on James Forrest who played at Georgia Tech University, hit a game winning shot in a game against usc back probably 30 some odd years ago.
Speaker A:And we do have some other coaches that we're going to have on the show once they are named for the NCAA tournament.
Speaker A:It's going to be a great two hours.
Speaker A:Mike and I will be together enjoying that.
Speaker A:I want to chime in a little bit before we finish on the NCAA tournament.
Speaker A:I think the 1 seeds are definitely going to be Duke, Houston and Auburn.
Speaker A:And the fourth one could go to Alabama if Florida drops a little bit.
Speaker A:But this is going to be great and I hope that you guys can watch some college basketball this week.
Speaker A:There are some really good teams out there.
Speaker A:Michigan State has played unbelievable lately and they're head and shoulders above anybody else in the Big Ten right now.
Speaker A:St.
Speaker A:John's is going to be the wild card as to where they fall.
Speaker A:Texas A and M is great.
Speaker A:Michigan's been pretty good.
Speaker A:Kentucky's been okay with Alcalipari this year.
Speaker A:But there's definitely some teams that are going to sneak in.
Speaker A:Enjoyed watching teams like Drake, you know, Lipscomb, those type of teams.
Speaker A:And we're going to be interested to see where Yale falls.
Speaker A:So Yale, as you may know, James Jones has been on the show.
Speaker A:They're the number one seed in the Ivy League.
Speaker A:They're going to play on Saturday at 11 o'clock.
Speaker A:If they win, they come back at 12 on Sunday.
Speaker A:And if they win that, we expect to have James Jones on the show between 8 and 10 to talk about who they would play.
Speaker A:They're in a pretty good spot because they only have one loss in the league.
Speaker A:They're 27.
Speaker A:That would make them 227 and possibly put them in a 12 seed or an 11 seed.
Speaker A:So that would be pretty good.
Speaker A:There's going to be some teams that are sitting there on the edge, including teams like Villanova that needs to make a run, Xavier, Baylor, San Diego State, Boise State.
Speaker A:And some of those teams are going to be left out.
Speaker A:I hope that in the future they do not increase from 68 teams up to maybe 76 or more.
Speaker A:I like it the way it is.
Speaker A:It's nice to know that maybe somebody might get left out and it's nice to see some of those buzzer beaters.
Speaker A:So as I said, next week we are going to have a two hour show talking NCAA basketball.
Speaker A:We'll have Charlie Ward on.
Speaker A:We'll also talk NCAA buzzer beaters and it'll be a bracket breakdown.
Speaker A:We want to thank our guests tonight, Peter Schwartz and John Santa Maria for coming on.
Speaker A:Brian Graves helping us out producing on the other side of the glass.
Speaker A:We'll see you next week here on WGBB Sports Talk New York.
Speaker A:I'm Chris Caputo.
Speaker A:Have a good night.
Speaker A:The views expressed in the previous program did not necessarily represent those of the.
Speaker C:Staff, management or owners of WGB.
