Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain

Softy and Gas appeared in a New Yorker article today talking about Howard Schultz. I'm sure it isn't hard to guess which way they leaned. It's hard to support someone who sold out the city so quickly. John Canzano writes for The Oregonian. He's done great work uncovering all of the Pac-12 dirt recently (as if there wasn't enough already). So where does the Pac-12 go from here? Jordan Morris has been out over a year, but made his triumphant return to the Sounders saturday night against Cincinnati, scoring two goals in the season opener. He re-lives the weekend, and talks about how much it means to be back on the team. Softy called him Jordan Miller during the interview, and hears from Brian Schmetzer, which leads to a conversation about awkward on air moments at KJR.

Chuck Powell steps in today to fill in for Dick Fain who is still on vacation. The Dawgs suffered a painful loss to the worst team in the Pac-12, and possibly the worst team in the Power 5. It's telling when even the coach calls out the team for not being tough enough. The team finally cracks the top 25, and started to buy the hype. Maybe this is a good wake up call for them. Bryce Harper is a day into his time in Philly and he's already trying to recruit Le'Veon Bell to the Eagles. That town loves a hero, and he's doing his best to become one already. Unfortunately for him though, it won't work. These big contracts never work. Mariners starting pitcher Marco Gonzaales calls in from Spring Training. How did he feel about all of the off-season moves as a veteran who wants to win? Some mock drafts have the Seahawks taking a tight end as their first pick. That seems unlikely. They're more likely to go after a defensive end.

ESPN released a list of free agents that every team should sign, and for the Seahawks, they've named Ndamukong Suh. Would this be a good fit for Seattle? It's that time of year again for Bill Krueger to get fired up about baseball. We've yet to get his take on the roster overhaul so this seems like as good a time as any, plus his thoughts on Felix this year, the pitch clock, Bryce Harper's contract, the designated hitter in the NL, and more. Textimonials react to the first two hours of the show.

Chuck, who is filling in for Dick today, spent all of last week with Bucky Jacobsen in Peoria. It's the most intriguing Spring Training in years with a massive influx of new talent on the roster at the Major League level, and a few young promising prospects. What are is overall takeaways after watching the club in action. On Fun with Audio, Mike Francesa tries to share opinions on the 2019 draft, another unfortunate "bulging disc" on air slip up, Chuck Todd is furious that Bryce Harper isn't coming back to Washington and instead playing for Philly, and Islanders fans "honor" Tavares as he returns for the first time. What exactly happened to the Dawgs last night? Tony Castricone, the voice of the Dawgs, the Mouth of Montlake, discusses what went wrong, and if it's a sign of things to come.

Dick Fain continues his vacation, and today, Softy is joined by Hugh Millen. After all these years, Softy has never asked Hugh about his Combine experience. It's story time. Obviously the Combine is getting underway and Kyler Murray, being watched by everyone, measured slightly taller than expected. Is this going to be enough for the Cardinals to take him number one? How does he compare to Russell Wilson? Softy wonders why they don't measure guys from the eyes down anyway, because really what matters is guys' eyes being high enough to see. Hugh and Softy haven't had a chance to react to the idea of Russell Wilson playing in New York because Ciara wants to be there. It goes about as you'd expect.

It's been a day now since we found out that Mike Hopkins was left off the list of 15 finalists for Coach of the Year. Mike DeCourcy joins us every Thursday at 4 brought to you by Zeeks Pizza. He reacts to the snub, and more. Washington has come a long way in both football and basketball over the last couple of years, but specifically in football, the school hasn't yet reached the top echelon with Alabama, Ohio State, etc. What does Washington need to do to reach the next level? It's a special edition of Textimonials with all questions being for Hugh Millen. A bet from over a decade ago resurfaces.

As an employee of KJR, a scout for the NFL, an employee of the AAF, and an all-around fan of football, it's no surprise that Tony Softli is at The Combine in Indy this week. With Kyler Murray measuring a little taller than some expected, are some of the concerns about him diminished at this point, and will the Cardinals take him as the first pick in the draft? Hugh reminds Softy that he's owed $1,000 from a bet they made over a decade ago, so Softy reminds Hugh that he'd eat a microphone if Russell Wilson ever amounted to anything. How exactly does one safely eat a microphone? It's obvious that the best way for the Dawgs to garner more respect around the country in both football in basketball is for the conference to do better, but things clearly aren't going well. What does the Pac-12 need to do to turn things around? Donald Watts is in basketball heaven with so much high school and college action to watch right now. We get his impressions from the players in the Hardwood Classic, plus his thoughts on the Dawgs this weekend. Is there any chance of a Cal upset?

Softy's back from Maui, but now Dick is there. We've got some guests lined up later this week and next to co-host, but for today, Softy flies solo. If it wasn't clear already, after hearing from John Schneider at The Combine today it's obvious Earl won't be back. Richard Sherman seems to be suggesting that he might be interested in playing for the Niners. San Francisco does seem to enjoy taking the Seahawks' leftovers. With Sherm gone, Earl now gone, and Kam done, the LOB is over, and regardless of how they all left, they'll all probably be around once their respective careers end, but who is the most beloved of the three? The fifteen finalists for the Coach of the Year in college basketball were announced today and Mike Hopkins somehow didn't make the list. Aaron Torres, writer with Fox Sports joins the show ot discuss the list, the Pac-12, and everything college basketball. Early results from the Legion of Boom poll are in, and Kam is the overwhelming favorite, somewhat surprisingly.

Early results are in from Softy's Twitter poll on the most beloved Legion of Boom member, and Kam Chancellor is blowing Sherman and ET away with 82 percent of the vote, but why? One would have expected his holdout to seriously impact the level of love fans have for him. We take your calls, letting you explain why Kam is so beloved. Petros survives food poisoning to join the show, discussing the continued Pac-12 woes, Robert Kraft, frustrations around LeBron, and more. Textimonials continue the conversation about Kam and the beloved LOB.

The Combine is about to get underway in Indianapolis, and GM's, scouts, and NFL reporters have all converged in one location. The News Tribune's Gregg Bell is one of those reporters who finds himself in Indy this week. He talks about what he's learned from hearing John Schneider speak earlier today. Speaking of Schneider speaking, we roll back the audio of his press conference earlier today, plus a few tidbits from other GM's around the NFL. Q13's Aaron Levine had a chance to actually sit down one-on-one with John Schneider, and he shares his takeaways from the interview.