Oh No Ohtani (Hour 1)

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That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We have a full house today, the regular crew rockin' and rollin' all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. We got Moist Mike, we have a very tan Stuart Kovacs, and also Clay Harbor is gonna be joining us in studio today, the former NFL tight end at the top of the hour. We have two games of March Madness already in the books on this opening round Thursday. Duquesne just upset BYU, and if you listen closely, you could hear my bracket already going into the paper shredder because I had BYU going to the Sweet 16.

And Tom Izzo, this time of the year, he knows how to win. He found a way to blow out Mississippi State today where that game was off to a very strong start for the Sparty party. Then it got close at halftime, and then Michigan State did a phenomenal job in the second half as Michigan State defeated Mississippi State by a score of 69 to 51. Other games in play right now, Creighton had a first half scare, but now they are pulling away from Akron, 1155 to go Creighton up 59 to 44 over Akron. Arizona at the half of 41 to 35 against Long Beach State, 116 game right now, North Carolina and Wagner, that's all tied up at 13 with 1320 to go.

So we will have an eye on all the college basketball games throughout the day. We'll keep you updated and we'll tell you as all the mayhem and the madness does unfold, I'll quickly just give you my Sweet 16. Not that it really means anything because you know, I'm actually optimistic this year, even though I already lost the Sweet 16 team already, because every year on the first day of the tournament, I'll get like 13 or 14 picks right out of like the 16 games, whatever it is. And I'll go, man, this is going to be my year I win the bracket. So, so far since I picked against Michigan State and I picked against Duquesne, maybe I want to start off slow.

You know, it doesn't matter how you start, it matters how you finish. That's going to be the philosophy of this NCAA tournament. My Sweet 16 this year, I have UConn, I have Auburn, I have BYU, they're donezo, and Iowa State with UConn going up against Iowa State, UConn advancing to the Final Four. North Carolina, I have Grand Canyon as a 12 seed, Baylor and Arizona, UNC against Arizona with Caleb Love getting redemption, Arizona going to the Final Four. When we get to the south, I have Houston, the Duques, Kentucky, and Marquette, Houston going up against Kentucky, Kentucky going to the Final Four. And then I have Purdue, Gonzaga, Creighton, and Tennessee, Gonzaga going up against Creighton, Creighton going to the Final Four, UConn defeating Arizona, Kentucky defeating Creighton, UConn and Kentucky in the championship game with Danny Hurley squad going back to back.

So that's a little March Madness flavor. We'll keep you up to date all throughout the day right here on the Zach Gelb show. We have to start where we ended the show yesterday. And yesterday, right in the final segment of the show, we got this story of Shohei Ohtani being associated with some gambling scandal that involved his interpreter who has now since been fired. There was a report out there that there is an opt-out clause in Ohtani's contract that if his interpreter gets fired and some other people in the organization as well, he could opt out. Ben Verlander said that is not true on the interpreter part, nor would he opt out, even if they fired one of his best friends, who ironically is his interpreter.

So there's a lot of speculation going on right now. The two big questions that I had yesterday was, well, what was the interpreter or Ohtani gambling on? And then also was the money stolen or was this just Ohtani being a good friend?

So that's how we'll set things up. All we know right now is that Shohei Ohtani from his account had two wired payments of $500,000 each totaling a million. See, that's why I took one math class at Temple University and they went to this offshore bookie is the better way of putting it. Now, yesterday, and ESPN did a deep dive into this.

They put out a very good article. At first, the report coming from the interpreter was, I have a gambling problem. I'm addicted to gambling and I was sports gambling and a bunch of sports, which were not major league baseball. They were not major league baseball. That was made clear. And Shohei Ohtani wasn't happy with me.

He found out about this, but because we're so close and practically best friends, he offered to pay off my debts. That was the first story. And then the interpreter or Ohtani's camp retracted that story and said that isn't true. And Shohei Ohtani is actually a victim and this money was stolen. So let's start there. But before we start there, I find it laughable today that major league baseball isn't already investigating this. But even though I find it laughable, I can't say I'm surprised.

I can't say my jaw is hitting the floor because this is the incompetent regime of my dear friend and a man that loves me so much. And I know he can't stand my guts in Rob Manfred because during the pandemic, I was very annoyed with Rob Manfred, the commissioner of major league baseball. And a lot of time I was spent in my basement on a national radio show because we weren't allowed in the studios. And I was in shorts and a t-shirt.

Some days I was in t-shirt and boxers because I was not on camera then. And I called Rob Manfred every name in the book because I was annoyed that he was spitting in the faces and he was allowing us to be just spat on by the owners who were all crying poverty during the pandemic when most of them are billionaires. So it got back to me that Rob Manfred was familiar with my work and the commissioner is not a fan of yours truly. But that does not make me incapable of giving Rob Manfred a compliment when it's deserving.

Like for example, the pitch clock, I have given Rob Manfred his words of extolment for implementing the pitch clock. But outside of that, everything I've usually said about Rob Manfred has been true. And this dude may be a good negotiator, which I didn't really see that during the pandemic, but that's his kind of reputation.

He's great in negotiation worlds and legal and all that stuff. But when it comes to crisis or even when it comes to public speaking, Rob Manfred just finds a way to stumble all over himself, drool all over himself and just make himself look like a buffoon. So when we're looking for leadership today for Major League Baseball, when there's all these things that are being accused of, of the game's best player right now and the most recognizable player, what is Major League Baseball doing? Well, even though Shohei Ohtani played in a game today and after the game, there were reporters right outside of his locker and there was Dodgers representatives from their PR staff that said he will not be talking today.

And basically all Ohtani said was, have a good day everybody. Major League Baseball right now is waiting for reactions and they're not being proactive. And the reaction right now is accusing Ohtani of a lot, whether it's true or false and whether it's assumptions or facts, that's a totally different story. But you have in some way your biggest star associated with a gambling scandal. And whether he gambled or not, and there's no evidence that he did right now, is irrelevant because this is a sport that still will not allow Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame when he was a manager and he was gambling. So there has been many stories and there's been a lot of conversations throughout the years regarding gambling and Major League Baseball. And here you have this incompetent, dopey, bozo, buffoon of a commissioner who's basically saying nothing to see here right now.

This doesn't have anything to do with us. And Major League Baseball as of now is not investigating Shohei Ohtani. I'm not saying have a rush to judgment. I'm not saying throw the book at Shohei Ohtani right now. I'm not saying suspend him. I'm not saying drop the hammer on Shohei Ohtani. But Rob Manfred, can we do a little due diligence here? Can we start an investigation? And can we start looking into this matter instead of sitting on your hands in your comfy office and probably just watching the March Madness NCAA tournament today? This is the biggest name in the sport. This is the biggest attraction in the sport of Shohei Ohtani.

He is the game's most popular player. And this buffoon of a commissioner is basically saying when everyone else is reacting to it, yeah, there's nothing to see here right now. So there's no reason for us to investigate. So let's get into some of the talking points of this scenario. As I've made it clear, Major League Baseball, bare minimum, at least needs to pretend like they care in case that this story does make a turn for the worse. With how juicy this story came off yesterday, I don't think it is as juicy as it is being reported today. Now, there are some things that could change that. And I'm looking at this from a sports standpoint, not a litigious standpoint. When the feds are involved, that's still a juicy story.

And that could still go wrong in a legal matter. But I'm talking about when it comes to Shohei Ohtani being on the field or not. Here's the biggest question. Did anyone gamble whether it was Ohtani's interpreter or was it Ohtani? Did anyone gamble on Major League Baseball? And what we were told from the guy that was running the sports book or the offshore sports book, and then also Ohtani's interpreter who said he knew the rule. He knows you could bet on other sports. You just can't bet on Major League Baseball.

And his bets are on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. So when it just pertains to me being a baseball fan, me not being a legal expert because I would never pretend to be one, or the seriousness of that issue and lawsuits and jail time and all those things, I'm saying just from being a baseball fan, if Ohtani or the interpreter were not gambling on baseball, this story loses a lot of momentum and steam for your boy. Now, here's the other part.

And this is the part that doesn't really add up. Why did the interpreter who was very honest and spoke to people, why was his initial story that I have a gambling problem, I racked up a ton of debt, Ohtani found out about it, and he was not happy. And since he was a loyal friend, he offered to pay off the debt.

And then I promised to him that we would never be in this situation again. If that was the case, now there could be some legal things involved in that. But if that's the case, I think most human beings when it pertained to a baseball perspective would just be, okay, I respect Shoei Ohtani for being a good friend and helping out his interpreter who he's become extremely close with. But that wasn't the end of the story because then the Ohtani camp comes out swinging to ESPN and they go, that's not true. The interpreter allegedly was stealing money from Shoei Ohtani and Shoei Ohtani knew nothing about this. Now, in the Major League Baseball world, you could gamble, you can't gamble on Major League Baseball, but you have to make sure that you're legally gambling. So you can't be going to an offshore sports book or sending money that way and gambling that way.

So there's still something there. But if that first part of the story was just true, and I don't know if it is or isn't, that Ohtani was just helping out his friend who racked up a ton of debt. Once again, it's a non-story. But since the camp now has switched sides here and are painting Ohtani to be the victim here and the interpreter stole money from him, now I'm starting to say the Ohtani camp doesn't even have their story straight. And this isn't adding up and it allows us to just ask the question, what was the interpreter, the fall guy, and did Shoei Ohtani ever gamble? And was he involved in any of the gambling? And once again, it goes back to if you can't believe one part of the story, then why should I believe the part of the story that they weren't gambling on baseball?

Now, maybe I'm naive here. I'm going to believe that they weren't gambling on baseball. But I can't definitively say that Ohtani wasn't gambling. Now, I will acknowledge that I guess the guy who was running the Offshore Sportsbook, he gave a quote that said, I've never met Shoei Ohtani. I never talked to Shoei Ohtani. There were accusations that he was using Ohtani's name to help his business because he was getting money from Shoei Ohtani.

So he kind of played into that. But supposedly this was just the interpreter. I could sit here and when I just kind of read this situation from afar, my brain doesn't make me think that they were gambling on baseball.

And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I don't know who was gambling. That's the thing. I don't know if it was the interpreter. I don't know if it was Ohtani. And maybe it was a mixture of both.

But that's going to be a question that we need answered. And if you can't trust someone on that, then it does make other things difficult to trust people on. But here we go for the Dodgers, two games into the season. And the Los Angeles Dodgers are now embroiled in a gambling scandal. And Major League Baseball is involved in a gambling scandal that involves the biggest player and the biggest name and the biggest star in the sport. Once again, as long as Ohtani isn't gambling on baseball and the interpreter wasn't gambling on baseball, from a baseball perspective, I don't think there is going to be enough to really force a punitive action that's serious to Shoei Ohtani. Like if Ohtani has a gambling problem, and I say that if, and let's say he was gambling, but he was gambling on things that weren't baseball, then it is what it is.

And hey, feds are involved in those things that can go down. But when it comes to will Ohtani be on the field or not for the rest of the season, the biggest question as far as Major League Baseball should be concerned is if he gambled on Major League Baseball games. And from what we've read and seen so far with you, believe it or not, I'm going to believe that they have not, whether it was the interpreter or Ohtani, gambled on Major League Baseball games. But either way, Santer, it is kind of laughable to me still when we could speculate and we could talk about things, but still Major League Baseball has not been feeling the heat yet. And there's been a lot of it where they have to say, OK, maybe we should just start a preliminary investigation. Which is just crazy to me. And even if it's like a sham investigation, kind of like what the NFL did with Ray Rice.

At least pretend like you care. Yeah, like what the NFL did with Ray Rice. Now, the problem with that is if things come out that the MLB did not uncover because they weren't fully looking into it because they didn't want to besmirch their biggest star internationally.

And then something comes out after the fact, then there's the cover up is worse than the crime. The way I look at it, the MLB needs to go out there and say, OK, maybe we should just start the MLB needs to go out there, investigate. And even if they don't find anything like a smoking gun, you got to you got to give like a significant suspension, 20 games, like not like half the year, 20 games suspension. We mean business, but it's still a small portion of the season, 30 games, something like that. Well, could Major League Baseball offer immunity to show a Otani for speaking the truth, just like what they offered to all the Astros players, which led the Astros players off the hook because the Astros players and that was not a serious Otani rewriting on herself.

So no, but that would be interesting. The reality is they have to do something right. They have to whether it's an investigation or they have to suspend Otani because whatever it was that he did, whether he was the one gambling, whether it was on baseball or not, whether he was just helping a friend or whether he was stolen from either way, there is the appearance of impropriety. And that is what baseball has to and that's what all sports have to avoid is the appearance of impropriety. So no matter what you believe may or may not have happened, there's at least enough of a connection that he paid directly to an illegal bookie in a state that does not allow for illegal bookies that he has to get punished.

And if he doesn't get punished, then Rob Manfred has to be out. And personally, I don't care about that part of the story. That's just my difference of opinion with you here.

I know legally that could become a big deal and there could be punishments and other things as well. I don't care that Otani is paying for the interpreter. I don't. Even if it's to this offshore sports book, all I care about was, was Otani gambling? And if the answer is no, then was the interpreter or Otani if the answer is yes, that Otani was gambling, gambling on Major League Baseball. On the surface, that is all I care about in regards to this story, because if Otani or the interpreter was gambling on baseball and it would have been smart to bet a lot against the Angels the last few years, that becomes the biggest fear turning into reality that every commissioner has when they accept all this money from gambling sites to help out their sport. All right, this is the Zach Gilp Show on CBS Sports. Ready if you want to react to the show, Otani scandal, I guess we could say. 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227.

When we come on back, we got some teams under pressure for this NCAA tournament. Down payment tax and delivery may be required. See store for details. Yo, next round is about to start. You ready? Yeah, yeah. Just shopping for a car in Carvana. For real?

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Call 562-314-4603 for details. Alrighty, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio, the real start of the NCAA tournament underway. No offense to anyone that was in the playing part, the first four, but this is the first actual day of the NCAA tournament. Let me ask you guys, because you guys get here a little bit earlier than I do. Stu also works on the Jim Rome show and Sam's there's just a very diligent producer and he always likes to be prepared. So the company ordered a copious amount of pizza today, I was told, and they were serving that pizza at noon Eastern time. Now I trolled into the office today, like one o'clock and I thought to myself, maybe there'll be a few slices left.

I know the other day when they brought in like 10 burgers and chicken sandwiches from Shake Shack, that went away in five minutes. And yes, Stu, you missed this one. The Shake Shack was offered to Sam, Sam, because I don't know what Zach wants. So just put in the newsroom. Zach will go get whatever he wants during the break.

I go out in the break to the newsroom. There's no chicken sandwiches. There's no burgers. There's no French fries. There's nothing.

Not that I wanted to have it anyway, but it is what it is. And Stu, just for the record also, like the time that they offered the food and put it out into the newsroom. Less than five minutes. Less than five minutes. Usually food goes quickly, but not that quickly. There were vultures. It was crazy. It was crazy. It was like you had a hungry pack of wolves that haven't had anything to eat in three days and you just threw like a piece of steak.

It was gone instantly. So when they said they were getting so much pizza, I thought to myself, I had like probably 20 pies. And when you say you're bringing in food, there's probably going to be more people coming into the office and some of the people that usually stay at home will end up popping into the office. Like there's people today in this office. I'm here every day. In football season, I'm here six days a week.

All right. And now in the non-football season, five days a week. I have never seen so many people in the newsroom today over a few slices of pizza that were getting brought out. So I go into the area where they're serving the pizza at one o'clock. No pizza to be found.

Actually, the 20, 25 boxes that they ordered were all lined up next to the trash stacked one after another after another and two separate columns of it so they could get thrown out. So did you get any pizza? Because you were here at noon Eastern. I did. I went during the first break of the Jim Rome show. So around like 12, 15 Eastern time, 12, 20.

And then it was already like halfway gone. Plain. They playing pepperoni and vegetarian. Okay. Gotcha. And Sam, let me ask you what kind of pizza did you get if you got any pizza at all?

Because I don't know. You looked a little hungry today when I saw you. So I was on the phone talking to somebody, so I didn't actually hear what your question was. Okay. Did you get any of the pizza today?

Of course not. You weren't here like at 12, 30. I was.

Well, I was here like 12, 15. And by then the pizza was already gone. The pizza was put out at 12. I didn't see any pizza. Where was the pizza still in the back?

It was in the back. So I walk in here and I put my head down. I go to my computer. I get my work done. If the pizza's not right here on one of the desks right in front of me, I don't know. Okay. So Santa's not very active.

He doesn't walk at all. And there was also, I didn't get an email announcing the pizza. Usually they'll put a whole email out there. I didn't get an email.

Well, maybe then the person that was organizing this, who is a very nice person, or also was the same person that brought you the Shake Shack the other day. Oh no, I have the email. You're lazy. You don't pay attention.

I didn't read the subject. I just saw, it says something about March Madness viewing party. So I was like, I'm not going to go view March Madness.

I have TVs here. God forbid you should be a company guy. Come on. I'm just saying you got to read the email. If I read the email, you should read the email.

Like yesterday, Spike sends us out an email to a bunch of the talent and they go, can you fill out this brief questionnaire about March Madness? Here's the link. The email was out there for six hours. I read the email. There was no link. So I respond to Spike and I go, would be helpful if you actually included the link in the email and Spike responds back. He goes kind of crazy that this email was out for six hours. And Zach was the only one out of the 15 people that were on the email asking us to do something that took literally four seconds to fill out, or maybe five at most, you know, a bunch of like click options that I was the only one that realized that there was no link in the email.

But anyway, the one thing I was going to say and Stu, you could answer because you were being a good company guy. You were also focusing on your stomach. Look at Stu right back from vacation, right into the free pizza as well. Did they have garlic knots? They did not.

Who said I saw? I didn't see any garlic knots. See, that's a bad job because if you're ordering pizza for a group setting, I think you also have to order a group setting worth of garlic knots. I think it just, it goes together like Shaq and Colby, right? You know, whatever duo you want to, Montana and rice, pizza and garlic knots.

I just needed to have happen. Interesting. But you don't, I'm only saying for a group setting. I mean, I, listen, I enjoy garlic knots, but I would say the percentage of times that I get garlic knots when I get pizza is about 5%. 95% of the time that I get pizza, there is no garlic knots with this. So I don't associate garlic knots with pizza at all. Group setting only. Yeah, but I'm not saying when you go to your local pizza joint and, and you're going around the sampter snob and the pizza tour and all that, like get in two slices.

In a group setting, you have to order garlic knots. That's my take of the day. Anyway, right now, Creighton 75, Akron 60, Arizona 62, Long Beach State 41, UNC 40, Wagner 26. Don't worry, Ack, I'm going to do five more minutes and you'll, we'll get to your update and you'll update us on all the scores. The scores are the whole part of the update. I know. And then by the way, did you hear Duquesne today won 71 to 67 over BYU and Michigan State 69, 51 over Mississippi State.

I missed those. Oh, okay. Well, you got to it in Ack's award-winning update coming up at about three and a half minutes or so from now, but. It's just a pet peeve. I apologize because everybody does it right before. It's fine. Ack, I have known you for basically my entire life. No.

And with all due respect, I love the man. Rome does it as well. Everybody, like everybody, everybody I've ever worked with does that.

I'm like, why do people do that right before the update? You want to do it, do it like later. Okay. All I am going to say, the views of Richard Ackerman with the name that he just mentioned do not reflect the views of the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I just grouped in everybody.

That's all. Jim, I understand you are the franchise of this network. Jim, I would never take a shot at you and I am the biggest Jim Rome fan on the planet.

I didn't take a shot at him, I just included him in that group. Anyway, as we enter the NCAA tournament, Purdue is by far and away the team under the most pressure. After losing last year to a 16 seed in Fairleigh Dickinson with Tobin Anderson at the time and they were a one seed is disgraceful and they've had other shortcomings in the NCAA tournament. Here they are a year later and I don't think it helps them when Virginia was a one and they lost to UMBC as a 16 that the following year, Virginia did win it all.

Purdue bare minimum has to get to a final four. If they don't get to a final four, a lot of people are going to be slamming the Boilermakers and I think a lot of the attention and pressure is on Matt Painter. But really, I think more of the pressure also needs to be placed on Zach Edie because I do find it, I don't know, just intriguing, interesting that you have guys like Jay Will that have been saying on ESPN, Kaitlyn Clark can't be considered a GOAT or a great player until she wins a championship.

And then you have Zach Edie, who may be the most recognizable player in this tournament just because of his size. And oh yeah, by the way, he's the reigning national player of the year and he's probably going to have that in back to back seasons, was unanimous first team All-American once again, Zach Edie needs to get Purdue to a final four. And not only that, you look at their Midwest region, Purdue has question marks, Tennessee, even though I love Dalton Connect, Rick Barnes has question marks, Kansas without their leading scorer for the entire tournament. Creighton is up, but Creighton even last year when they went on a run, it had a disappointing end with them going down to San Diego State.

So this is a wide open region and a wide open part of the bracket. Purdue needs to get to a final four. Other schools that are under pressure, I think Kentucky is under pressure. You know, there's been a love-hate relationship with Kentucky this year. Some weeks, wow, they're poised to go make a final four run. Other weeks, what the heck is going on with John Calipari going into this tournament, especially with the way that Reed Shepherd has played and has played recently, there is a big buzz with Kentucky. And you have a lot of pundits in the media, a lot of fans picking Kentucky to go to the final four. I have him going to the final four.

I think Act just raised his hand. He has him going to the final four. Stu, do you have Kentucky going to the final four?

Stu? And them going to the elite eight. Elite eight, okay.

So pretty far, yeah. So you still have them going on a decent run. I have them going all the way to the national championship game. And I hate it already, because I think everyone has UConn and Kentucky in the national championship game, Act included. So do I. I have UConn winning it all.

Act, who do you have winning it all? Kentucky. Oh, so you're going with Kentucky. I just said, I'm going out there.

I'm putting myself out there. I'm going with it for a variety of reasons. Number one, I think everybody else is taking UConn or Purdue or North Carolina or Arizona. And look, Kentucky is just like UConn a year ago, where UConn had had some early tournament disappointments in previous years. And if they just get going, they could do some damage. Now, there's a lot to like about them. More expected on this Kentucky team, though, than UConn last year.

There's a lot to like about them, and there's a lot to dislike about them, as you said. But the fact remains, if the light flips on, they have an enormous amount of talent. And then the other two schools that I think have a good amount of pressure on them, and I'll stay in that south region, Marquette. It's been a while for Shaka Smart. I know he's done a nice job at Marquette coming over from Texas, but we've now had a bunch of years since the great VCU run with the Havoc and that great run that they did have to the Final Four.

But now it looks like he's getting Kolik back for this game, which is enormous. Marquette disappointed last year. They got to go make a deep run in this tourney. And Tennessee, too. If Tennessee is going to get to their first-ever Final Four, it's got to be this year. We already talked about that Midwest region with all the uncertainty, but you will now have a superstar and an All-American first-teamer in Dalton Connect, who joined us earlier in the week, who started out junior college, then transferred to a school in Colorado, lower-level school, and then found his way to Tennessee. And in year one, SEC Player of the Year, first-team All-American, and is on the verge of being a Top 15 pick in this upcoming summer's NBA draft.

Now, one school that I did not talk about, and I'll throw this to Ack. Now, UConn, like you just said, everyone is picking them, or most people are picking them. The overwhelming majority are picking them to win it all. Is there pressure on UConn when everyone's picking you, or is it okay, you won the championship last year, if you just have a good showing this year, like Elite Eight Final Four bare minimum, you're not going to get slammed if you lose? I think it's got to be at least the Final Four. I mean, this is a team, they might be better.

They are. The one thing that I think goes against them this year, where if you wanted to cut them a little slack, they had more guys that were in their program for longer last year, such as Andre Jackson, like those types of guys that ultimately left. But look, Cam Spencer is playing his fifth year of college ball, his first at UConn. You do have an All-American, the starting five. You do have Donovan Klingen, who's going to be a high pick.

So there's a lot to like there. But again, that team last year, I think there was more people that that grew as time went on. I don't think that... It's quite the same bunch, but they are uber talented, if not more so than last year. I think they're a better team this year. There's obviously higher expectations going into this tourney than last year. And not only that, they remind me a lot of the, I'm not talking about style of play, but the Villanova team that won the second national championship under Jay Wright, where some people looked at their draw. The second under Jay Wright as opposed to the second overall?

Yes. Because they won three at Villanova with the Rolly Massimino. We don't have to relive all the history and all that. When Bob Gelb, my father, was producing Rolly Massimino's radio show.

Yeah, no, no, that's fine. When Jay Wright won his second national championship, because that Villanova team blew out everybody on their way to the Final Four and then winning the national championship game. For me with UConn, I think they could blow out everybody, even with the tough draw, because out of all the number one seeds, they have the toughest road in that East region. Yeah, I think the one thing that also helps UConn in this scenario is winning last year, I think, was a big weight lifted for Dan Hurley. I don't want to say he's more relaxed now, but there's that tightness. Because he's still a maniac. But yeah, I mean, you can get that tightness because you want something so badly, and when you've finally done it, you still want it again, but it's not like a life or death thing.

And maybe that's a wrong way of putting it, but I do think there's a certain weight that's lifted, and you can go a little more free and easy, if you will. We'll talk a little bit about the Chicago Bears when we come on back and the locker room dynamic that will happen with Justin Fields out, and inevitably Caleb Williams coming in. Former NFL tight end does a bunch of work in the Chicago area now. Clay Harbor is going to join us in 20 minutes in studio. But first up, I think enough time has elapsed where maybe Ak will issue a mea culpa for giving the scores about seven or eight minutes ago. But here he is standing by with his award-winning update, getting you set and prepared for everything that's going to happen today in March Madness.

Here he is, the great, and I mean great, Richard Ackerman. Shopify helps you sell everywhere, from their all-in-one e-commerce platform to their in-person POS system. Wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify has got you covered. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout, 15% better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms, and sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify magic, your AI-powered all-star. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US, and Shopify is the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries. Plus, Shopify's award-winning 24-7 help is there to support your success every step of the way.

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So just remember, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Creighton takes care of Akron 77 to 60, Michigan State's party party. Tom Izzo dancing to the second round. They defeat Mississippi State 69 to 51. BYU, very slow start. They made it close at the end, but could not defeat Duquesne. Duquesne wins 71 to 67.

And the game's in play right now, 722 to go. Give Long Beach State, coached by Dan Munson, some credit for showing up in the first half. Remember, he was already fired weeks ago as their head coach, then wins the conference tournament and then gets a 15 seed. They were trailing at halftime 41 to 35 to two seed. Arizona, Arizona is a two last year loss to Princeton. They're coached by Tommy Lloyd, but now Arizona starting to pull away with 720 to go. They're up 70 to 53 at halftime. UNC taking care of Wagner 40 to 28 and a potential very early, but upset Bruin between Morehead State and Illinois. Brad Underwood's squad is a three seed. They just won the big 10, but Morehead State is up 17 to 13 so far. Still to come later today, Oregon, South Carolina, Nevada, Dayton.

You have Colorado State, Texas, Oakland, Kentucky, McNeese up against Gonzaga, South Dakota State against Iowa State, St. Peters against Tennessee, NC State against Texas Tech, Sanford against Kansas, Drake with the DeVries family, going up against Washington State. And that will conclude our official day one of the NCAA tournament. This portion of the show is sponsored by the new Hyundai Tucson available with complimentary class leading Blue Link Plus.

Now it's easy to use your phone to control your Tucson. Let's hear from Caleb Williams yesterday at his pro day. This is Caleb Williams if he's expected now with Justin Fields getting traded to the Steelers for a conditional six that could turn into a four if Caleb Williams expects to be drafted by the Bears at number one. I wouldn't say it's my full expectation. Obviously things can happen. Things can change throughout this time. I think it's around 33 days or so, 30 days until, you know, April 25th. And so, you know, a lot can change.

You take it day by day and handle and control what you can control. So that's a professional answer. I don't expect them to say anything else. I'll give you the hot take of the day. That's not really a hot take.

If you can't detect sarcasm, Caleb Williams, a thousand percent, lock it up. He is going to be the number one overall pick in this draft. And then the questions become, all right, who do the commanders take at two? Will the Patriots trade the pick at three? I think they end up taking a quarterback.

And then is anyone going to be willing to come up to four as Monty Osenfortz has confirmed that teams have been calling and they're open to doing business. It does not mean that they're going to trade the pick, but they're going to open up the door for all possibilities to happen for the Cardinals who do currently sit with the fourth overall pick. So here's my biggest question with Caleb Williams. I think bare minimum, he's going to be a very good quarterback.

He has potential to be a generational star in this sport. But you had a locker room, especially led by DJ Moore, who was so adamant that they wanted to keep Justin Fields. And it's one thing when the quarterback is already in the building to say, I would prefer Justin Fields to be the quarterback. But it wasn't only DJ Moore. It was others that kept on saying it over and over and over again.

And I'm paraphrasing here. But DJ Moore said something along the lines of Justin Fields is better than all these guys that are that are in the draft. He doesn't see what those guys have in the draft that Justin Fields does not have. So I just wonder when you hear about some of the sensitivity with Caleb Williams, is that going to be a problem walking into the locker room right away? Because if I had to hear for two, three months, an entire team say maybe not how they didn't want me, like they didn't directly say they didn't want Caleb Williams, but they were saying they wanted Justin Fields and it could be spun into, well, they didn't want me. And now not only am I their quarterback, but I'm the most important person in the organization.

I'm being touted the savior. Will Caleb Williams be affected by that? And will there be any players that are maybe still caught up in their feelings that still have clout in that locker room that are saying, man, Justin Fields should be the guy. And what happens if Caleb Williams gets on the field and let's say four or five weeks into the season is a little underwhelming or is having a difficult time transitioning from college into the NFL. I just wonder if there will be any issues that do pop up in the locker room.

Here was Bears Corner, Jalen Johnson on the Up and Atoms show with Kay Adams talking about Caleb Williams coming into the Chicago Bears locker room. You just humble yourself coming in the building. I thought it's one of those things where I thought you can't, like you said, you can't bring that Hollywood stuff into the building, especially now with guys who played this game.

I thought I had a high level for consecutive years in the league. It's just something that we're going to see through. And it's like, nah, that, what you did in college, the Hollywood, it's like, nah, that you got to prove yourself, that stuff like that doesn't matter.

So I think truly just learning who he is as a person and learning him deeper than just all the Hollywood stuff you see, but actually trying to learn and get to know him. And then from there, knowing what pushes him, if it is trash talk and trash talk makes them crumble. And I mean, I thought we got to push that button because people in the game, they're going to push that button. So just depending on whatever it is that he needs to be pushed out of, like, that's our job. And that's our duty as his teammates to make him better to strengthen his weaknesses. Football is a relationship sport. Football is also an ego sport. And we know that Caleb Williams is coming into the Bears locker room as the savior. That's the perception, but it does not mean that the players view him as a savior.

And they also, a lot of them preferred to have Justin Fields as the quarterback. So we know that Caleb Williams cares a lot about his perception off the field. He cares a lot about being a star and being right.

An icon as well. And sometimes people can handle that other people, it ruins them. Like look at Russell Wilson in the last two, three years, he's cared more about being an icon and being right.

This star off the field than a star on the field. And it has derailed his football career. As long as Caleb Williams says the right thing, like he still has to go in there with the alpha mentality. He still has to go in there with an ego. But as long as he could get on the same page with his teammates and he is not insufferable and he takes accountability, unlike Zach Wilson, who threw right the entire, would not put accountability on the offense or himself for his shortcomings two years ago.

And that led to his benching. This may not be a big deal, but I do wonder the most where the relationship will be with DJ Moore and Caleb Williams. Cause DJ Moore's a stud. They also just brought in Keenan Allen as well. But it was clear that DJ Moore made his opinions abundantly clear that he preferred Justin Fields. And I wonder what that initial, that initial relationship will be like with DJ Moore and Caleb Williams and how long it takes for the players in that locker room to get over the fact that Justin Fields is no longer there. And Caleb Williams is a better player. So you play well.

And I think that's the way that you gain the respect of the locker room. Clay Harper will join us next in studios at Yelp show CBS sports radio. Celebrate and save at Ashley's anniversary sale with hot buys your choice of colors starting at just $3.99. Ashley sleep mattresses starting at $2.50 plus receive a free adjustable base with select mattress purchases and shop top mattress brands like Stearns and Foster, Tempurpedic purple and Beautyrest black with 60 months special financing only at Ashley subject to credit approval.

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