Top of the morning to you on this Thursday a week away from the NFL draft and a whole lot going on, including the final day of the NHL regular season. How the heck are you? Miller and Molton. Miller Molton.com Miller underscore Molton on X. Top of the morning to you, Mark. How are you? I'm good, David. I am good. Watched a sports last night on television that I never in my life thought I would be watching. Okay. Well, I mean, one was the playing game. I watched the entire second half of the play or a decent amount of the second half because as I flipped on Amazon Prime, it gave me a list of all the things on and you were at the end of the show yesterday, unfortunately incorrect. When you said the Yankees run Amazon Prime and I told you I would look because I thought it was just a local feed and that indeed was the case. They were on peacock, however, as I was going through my streaming services and did find the Yankees on peacock and I got to keep checking. Is there a game at night? I don't know because the Yankees were on last night and the Tigers are on peacock tonight. So that's all I got for you. But then I went back to prime and I get my Paramount Plus subscription through Prime. So if I'm wrong on where these are, I apologize to the audience because they're all listed for me on the same bar through my Amazon Prime account. And first off was the basketball game. And all of a sudden I look and there's a bunch of other sports because I'm sprawling to see if the Yankees game's on and it wasn't. But then I see US open cup in soccer and then I see where I live. Naples FC taking on Orlando. And I'm like, huh. So I did watch some of that and I never in a million years thought I would be watching the US open cup soccer match that apparently was also on the CBS sports network because I had to text our old producer, Colin, who now lives in Nashville and he's a soccer geek. And I'm like, what the hell is this tournament? Is this like the Champions League? And he's like, no, it's like the FA Cup at England, which really didn't give me a whole lot of perspective. I had to then go look up what the FA Cup was, David. But now I have more information on soccer than I've ever wanted in my life. Well, what is the FA Cup? It is the FA Cup is an all England tournament for every level of club soccer. And that's what the US open cup or now the Lamar Hunt Cup is called. So the Naples team is in, I believe the USL and they were playing Orlando, which is obviously as you know, in the MLS. So, you know, it is an opportunity and David, you and I both met and I began, not even begin, but we began our friendship and relationship and eventually our show in Southwest Florida. And they have a pretty popular minor league hockey team. Orlando has a hockey team, Jacksonville has all of the hockey team and what's called the ECHL. It would be the equivalent, and now that is a double A league, but it would still be the equivalent of a game between the lightning and one of those ECHL teams. Right. And that's something that you and I have, you know, for the longest time said that, you know, that will never happen. That's why that's minor league. It is what it is and it will always be that fun, entertaining, good night out, but we don't take it too seriously. But all of a sudden when you get a, you know, a club team, you know, a double A baseball team play in the Yankees. I mean, that's the stuff they make cheesy movies about for crying out loud. Not actual TV. So I watched that. It was entertaining. I was impressed by how hard the little guy played against the big guy, even though they came up short. But then I watched the playing game. And I don't know why and I don't know how, but all of a sudden I'm yelling at Palo Vincero for shooting three pointers late in the game when he couldn't get the broad side of a farm with a basket. And I didn't really care going then, but we had Jake Chappell on yesterday. I wanted the magic to win. And they, well, they, they, they were there for a moment and then basically fell apart late. Yes, they did. Yes, they did, which they have done under this head coach on the road continuously. They have not won a play in play off, whatever you want to call it game on the road this decade. And they lost on the road last night. Good for them that they're coming home. Maybe they can qualify for the playoffs if they can beat the Charlotte Hornets at home. We'll find out tomorrow night. So yeah, a little soccer, a little play in, you know, I didn't, I didn't do anything but realize the baseball was on. I can't include myself in watching it, but, you know, I don't normally do that. Normally when there's a non, you know, to me the play in is not a big deal. And it's worked very well. The games have been competitive. I'm not knocking that part of it. I just don't, I don't get into the play. And that's, that's a me problem. If you're an NBA guy, I don't want to get yelled at for it. But yeah, I watched some things I don't normally watch last night. That's all. Good night, it's a little sports television. Okay. And you also said, and you also said when you were flipping around Amazon that that double A hockey league had some games on Amazon. I could. Again, I don't know if it was Amazon or if it was Paramount because they're mixed foot. Damn it, David, the ECHO was on. The Fort made comments in the Indianapolis Fury. Who knew? Yeah. You used to have to get a good night and catch woe, woe out of it. Fort Wayne to catch a comment hockey. So it was a good night for the play in, although the magic fell apart late. Steph Curry and the boys did it again. The old gang, the old guys, the senior citizens, if you will. Steph Curry, Dreymond Green, Al Horford. And there was a Chris Stop's poor Zingus citing in the fourth quarter. I know. But the Warriors going way back into the way back machine. You Steph Curry is amazing. I mean, he really is. I mean, he just single-handedly eliminated the LA Clippers in the playoffs down 13 points in the fourth quarter. And that's after he kept his team within 13 because he was the only one doing anything in the whole third quarter. He was supposed to be on a minutes restriction. They had to get rid of that, obviously, because they were losing. But the old guys did it, Mark. Even Dreymond with a couple of steals on Kawhi in the final minute of regulation. All right, Al Horford hit three threes in the fourth quarter. And just go watch the three Steph hits with 50 seconds to go on the tie game. And we're gonna miss him. No doubt, 70 to 12, and I'm gonna mark in a big game. It's amazing when you go through those players, David, just how old they are. I mean, Horford, Green, I mean, take Steph just put him to the side for a second. The guys, the other guys who you're talking about are for Zingus, who's older and as injured as any player who's played this decade. I mean, he has gone through so many different injuries over the course of it. His body is older than his birth certificate. And then Horford obviously has been around forever, hitting big shots and Dreymond, Green, not even half the player that he was in his prime. And then you add Steph, who has played, what, a third of the season, maybe, and comes up big in this game. So the play-in worked again. We get more of it tonight. It is what it is in that league. So play-in basketball, or I guess tomorrow night, we got nothing tonight. We get the other elimination games tomorrow night with the Hornetson Magic and Warriors and Sons to figure out who the remaining playoff teams are. But I don't know about a big night of baseball. I mean, some teams, for whatever reason, kind of screw it up, a big night of baseball, but the rays continue to win. And David, there is a clear difference in what we think are really good teams, a bunch of average teams, and still bad teams in the league. And you've got to take advantage when you play the bad teams. And after beating a really good team and sweeping them in the Yankees, the rays picking up right where they left off, beating the White Sox last night. And it wasn't just the eight runs, it was the fact that they got good starting pitching. Again, they got good bullpen pitching last night up until the game was out of hand. So I thought that was a significant win for the rays in how they wanted. They're playing every kind of baseball you want. They're playing small ball, they're getting pitching, they're getting, now they got the bullpen going because it wasn't early in the year. So I think that's a good sign for the Tampa Bay rays here early. And just stockpile those wins, baby. Stockpile those wins. And then turn around midway through, two thirds of the way through the season and see how many you got. And see if you need to make some deals or what have you. So yeah, nice to see. Nice to see it. Little long ball last night from the rays. They played small ball against the Yankees, playing a little longer ball against the White Sox. All right, they're fun, I will say. They're a fun team. And obviously when you got a junior carman era, you got someone worth going to the ballpark every night to watch. You do, I mean, that's just a fact. When the Reds were kind of trying to figure out if they were gonna be good or not, you and I were like, yeah, but I can go watch LA De La Cruz every night. I don't know how good they're gonna be, but I've got one guy. And then to me, when you're a middle team, and that's what I would consider the rays. They've got some really good pitchers, but they've got a guy that I can say, you know, and now being a, you know, this is one day when we're, if you and I lived here, it's like, well, let's go to the rays game. I can watch Junior Carman Era. I come to the plate four times tonight. I'm in. I'm in. So five in a row for the rays. Nothing wrong with that. I believe, Mark, it's the first place rays, pirates and A's. Right now, don't forget about the Minnesota twins. Oh, that's right. So it's the first place rays. So in the American League, it's the rays, the twins and the A's. And it's the first place pirates in the NL Central, right? Hide with the reds. Glad the Braves and the Dodgers can hold up their end for the big market clubs. Way to go, boys. Way to go. Yeah, unfortunately, the Marlins had a little rough patch getting swept by Detroit. Now split the first two with Atlanta. Because they were in first place for a while as well. I don't know if you would call them developments. Yesterday, we were reporting that Liv Gulf may be going away. Liv Gulf says they're not, but there are a lot of other reports out there that say there is definitely trouble. They are playing this week in Mexico. Bob Herrick will join us later in the show to talk about that. Miller and Mold. Welcome back to Miller and Mold. Text the guys what's in your mind at 21,000. That's 21000. And now here's David Mold. 21 minutes past the hour. Thanks so much for being with us. Miller and Mold, Miller and Mold.com, Miller underscore Mold on. And we'll see you next time. Miller and Mold, Miller and Mold.com, Miller underscore Mold on X. So the play in, the first part of it has come and gone in the NBA. Certain teams have been eliminated, like Miami, like the LA Clippers. All right, certain teams have advanced into the playoffs as the seven seed. All right, like Philadelphia. Like Portland. And we'll have winner go home games tomorrow night. Winner becomes the eight seed and the loser goes home. This LIV story. I mean, I find it ironic that the PGA Tours at Hilton Head this week. And it's a quote, elevated event. Mark, were there ever elevated events before LIV? Well, of course not. Well, I mean, nothing close to it. There, this is a new phenomenon that came into the PGA Tour because of LIV. You know, we've been on this as quickly as anybody. A $20 million person Hilton Head. A normal PGA Tour event has half that, oftentimes less than half. And they have the LIV to thank for a couple of years. They were running 80 player no cut events, just like the LIV was running 54 player no cut events. Mark, I don't think the LIV when it goes under and apparently it's going under. I don't think the LIV is going to be remembered favorably by sports fans and by the golf world, but isn't it basically the USFL? I think that that's a very fair statement. I mean, you wanna go way back, WHA, I mean, but yeah, it's, and you're probably right with the USFL because there'll be no merger. I mean, that's really the only thing left to find out with this is that you're right. Now they are saying they're gonna get through this year, the players have been told they're gonna get paid through this year. The executives are all scrambling to get jobs. That's your indicator. The people who work for LIV Golf, the high ranking executives that are getting paid a bunch of money to run this league are all out looking for work right now. I was gonna say Scott O'Neill was working for the gentlemen who I think owns both, he's part owner of the Devils, part owner of the Sixers and his primary owner of the commanders, Josh Harris. And he was working for him and he left that chain, if you will, that company, that umbrella. And he said, no, no, no, I'm gonna do this. Oops. Yeah, that's a tough one. Right. Right. That's a tough one. I mean, when Roll-Up left his job with the NFL to go run the PGA Tour, it certainly seems that he has safety in longevity if he so wants it in the Tour. Because you think of Brian Roll-Up right now who's running the PGA Tour, he's going to be the guy. Whether he has anything to do with it or not, but he's the guy sitting on top when Liv goes down. And apparently there is a political component to this that the reason that the Saudis have decided not to just keep throwing their money towards this has to do with what's going on in the Middle East and the price of oil and the future and uncertainty. And they had to sit down. And apparently this was the timeframe to map out the rest of the decade into 2030. And they decided, can we guarantee what the rest of the decade's gonna look like? And if not, do we really just wanna keep throwing few hundred million a year at this sucker? By all accounts, they've spent $5.3 billion thus far. And it will get to sick. Now they are, there's a memo that was, someone got their hands on that apparently they're gonna get through this year. That's what they're saying at this particular moment. If that changes, we'll let you know. But right now, according to the memo that was given to the players, all systems go for every event this year. Beyond this year, we have no idea. That's all they guaranteed. And you have to take them at their word that this year, because they could pull the plug on Monday after, Sunday night or Monday after Mexico City. There was talk the last 36 hours that they weren't even going to tee off today in Mexico City, that they were gonna pull the plug in between a pro-am and the start of the tournament. You're right, there was. I didn't see any of that other than people who were reporting. I'm sure they had a source, but that sounds to me like the executives that were losing their job may have thought that. The players never heard that. And maybe they wouldn't have, I don't know. Well, and the players who are in Mexico City have said, we've been told nothing. We've been told nothing. We're asking you the way you're asking us. But by yesterday all accounts, they received a memo that they're playing for the year. So we'll see. To me, David, let's just for sake of argument say that everything we're hearing is true and that this is the last year of live golf. What do you do if you're the PGA Tour? What are you gonna, cause now you've got all the hand in the world with Rahm and to Shambo and all of these guys. Right. And at the same time, there's a handful of pretty damn popular golfers on the live tour. Well, in one sense, Mark, you could argue they've set precedent, you know, the whole one year thing from the last time you played in an LIV event. And since Reed hadn't played in one since late August of last year, that's why he is eligible to rejoin the PGA Tour in late August of this year. But that was also, and then there was an olive branch, you know, and Kepke took it. Okay, Kepke took it. The other guys didn't. So Mark, the PGA Tour could follow their precedent with Patrick Reed, but they could also say, yeah, you know, we weren't really forgiving mood a few months ago. Thank you. We're not in as forgiving a mood now. But does it benefit them at this point to be blankety blanks? And I guess everything you said, I believe, to be accurate, really, and I agree with you. What I'm more interested in, because we, at least, you know, in the Tampa St. Pete Market in Southwest Florida, we have a lot of golf fans. I would think in Jacksonville too, but I'm not positive because I've never lived in Jacksonville. I don't know if they just care about the players and then, you know, shut the TV off, if you know what I mean. It's kind of like the freakest. And Baltimore, they watch the hell out of it. After that, they don't watch another race. Southwest Florida, we watch all of them. But what does the golf fan want to see happen to the golfer? Because, yeah, you can tell to Shambo and Rom, they got to sit out a year. You could be harsher than that, because I don't think the Olive Branch comes out for them. They refuse the Olive Branch. The PGA Tour has a long memory. I don't see the Olive Branch coming out again, David. I don't. Okay. Now, maybe the one-year thing is there, but what does the fan want to see? Do they want these guys back? Does that make golf? If you're watching golf every week, do you want to Shambo back on tour sooner than later, or are you still angry with Liv Goll? Because you have been for the longest time. If you're to Shambo and Rom right now, do you keep playing? Let's just say the PGA Tour is gonna go back to a year. Why finish out the year? Yeah, money, there's no doubt. And it's tens of millions if you keep playing. But it also means that you're gonna sit out all the next year on the PGA Tour. If you stop now, you're eligible to be back around the Masters next year. Would you keep playing? Starting five, that's next. Welcome back to Miller and Moulton. Text the guys what's in your mind at 21,000. That's 21,000. And now here's David Moulton. 22 minutes till the top of the hour. Bob Herrick will join us one hour from now. Talk about the reported demise of the LIV Tour. And oh yeah, Rory won the Masters again. Bob Herrick scheduled one hour from now. Time now for... The Starting Five, five big stories you need to know. Here is The Starting Five. We'll start with the NBA play-in once again. Orlando can't win games of meaning on the road. Last night was another example, a very winnable game for them in the fourth quarter. Nah. Maxi with 31, overcoming Desmond Baines 34. If there was a difference, it was beyond the arc. Magic only hit seven, three, sixers hit 12. Philly 109, Orlando 97. Philly enters the playoffs as the seventh seed. You get a little Celtic Sixers in the first round. We'll see when N.B. comes back for Philly. And David, you only had one Orlando Magic player who had multiple threes. That was Bane. Valovan Kero, 0 for five from beyond the arc. Seven for 22 from the floor. Don't know how many turnovers, he's six turnovers. He was awful. In the second half, he was terrible. And he's supposed to be their best player. He's supposed to be the guy they can go to. And he made bad decisions. He turned the ball over. I would put the blame more on him than anything else. Well, it's gonna be a fascinating offseason in Orlando. Don't know how many of you care. The coach is getting fired. And whether it's Tibbs or it's somebody else, it will probably be a veteran coach who has accomplished something. They're gonna have to pay a coach. But then Mark, they're gonna have to make some serious decisions about this roster. All right, Palos clearly their best player. But do you think you can get to where you need to go with him as your best player? You know, are you gonna keep sticking with Wagner there, who's gotten hurt and missed like half of each of the last two seasons? You gonna keep hoping he stays healthy? Okay, they gave up a lot for Bane. Bane's delivered. Bane's given it. 100% David, 100%. I cannot argue with that one Iota. There's no doubt there. He's been terrific for that. But it'll be interesting. My guess is they won't be super aggressive breaking this group up. My guess is they're gonna think for one more year, this group is good enough. It just needs a different voice. Cause clearly these guys, I mean, Palo has no use for the head coach. None. I got you. Also, he's not improved at the rate you need your best player to improve. He's still a young guy. You expect him to get better. And he's, you know, he can't shoot. He's not a good shooter, David. And in that league, that's tough. Ha ha ha. I would love for us to have been in the meeting at the end of the season and have you just say, listen, I just, you know, nice guy at all. We're paying him a lot of money. He's a good player. But you know, there are times he can't shoot. That's really tough. Yes. Mark, I agree. So Philly advances Orlando host Charlotte Friday. Winners the eight seed loser season is over. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors, winners of just 37 regular season games. Down 13 early fourth quarter. And the old guys said, follow us. Between 38 year old Steph Curry, 39 year old Al Horford, 30 year old Chris Stapp-Poorzingus, but his body is AARP eligible. And what, 37 year old Dremont Green? Green with two big defensive plays on Kawhi down the stretch. Steph with numerous second half threes. He had 35. He had the game winning shot tie game 50 seconds to go. Another one of those threes falling out of bounds with two guys on him, by the way. Golden State 126, the LA Clippers 121. I mean, come on. Don't you want to see Steph and the boys in the playoffs even if it lasts a week? Yeah, because that, you know, in my little bed of eight seats, they can steal a game just with him going for 50, if you know what I mean, David. And Dremont's 36 for the record. Gotcha. Golden State 126, the LA Clippers 121. Clippers are done, that's it. Bye bye, so long farewell. Now maybe the league will really punish Balmer. Ha ha ha, right. Golden State at Phoenix Friday night to see who's the eight seat, the who will play Oklahoma City. Six games in the NHL on the second to last night of the regular season. Rangers double up the lightning in the last game for both teams four to two. Tampa Bay finished with 106 points, tied with Montreal, but they're in second because they have more regulation wins. It'll be the lightning and they have a taunts. Coached by Martens and the Wee in a best of seven first round series beginning this weekend. Panthers beat the Red Wings eight to one. Florida's going to get a top 10 pick of the draft unless the lottery is unkind to them. And after the game, Wings coach Todd McClellan held one of those 30, 40 second post game scrums. And he was asked about, you know, is this a fitting end of the season? And he said, well, I don't know if I'd go there, but one team has championship pedigree and clearly another team doesn't. All right, there we go. Come on, guys, speak your mind. Rick Bonas the night before, Todd McClellan went, dude, don't hold back anymore. Come on. They might not have jabs next year, but they're going out on their terms. That's for certain, David. I mean, you got to give them credit, but you Miller and Molden give them the utmost credit for that. That's those are our kind of guys. They ain't trying to save their jobs at the end of the season. They're just letting you know how much they think you guys suck. Dallas beat Buffalo in a shootout for three stars with 112 points, Sabres with 109. I bring that up because I guess it's possible they could meet in Stanley Cup finals and Dallas would have home ice. Ottawa beat Toronto 3-1, but Ottawa knows that they're going to face Carolina in the first round of the playoffs. Nothing changed last night. Final broadcast for Maple Leafs broadcasting legend, Joe Bowen, 44 years is the voice of the Leafs. It ended last night. Who's the gentleman I sent you that might- Fallwoods. 40 years with the wins, right? Yeah, I mean, obviously Bruce Martin was there play-by-play guy. Bruce was an amazing guy. I had a good friend of mine who knew him. And when I was young and broadcasting, got me in touch with Bruce. I sent him a tape. He critiqued it. He was just a wonderful man. And I remember Bruce Martin and Paul Woods and then Bruce retired and Paul went on for many more years. And that, you know, he was my voice. When I first got into the wings, it was Paul Woods doing color on the radio and just finished this past year. What a career. Chicago beat San Jose 5-2. Vegas clinched the division title with a 4-1 win over the Kraken. And that means that it'll be Las Vegas and the Utah Mammoth in a first round playoff series. So still to be termed, who finishes second in the Pacific, who finishes third, and who finishes as the second wildcard to go get swept by the abs. Unless of course that's Edmonton. I don't think they'd get swept by the abs because Edmonton could still finish as the wildcard. There is one point separating three teams in the Pacific and then the last wildcard. Edmonton likely to start the playoffs, however, without dry sidle and Hyman. Okay, they think dry sidle will be back very early in the first round series. Regular season ends tonight. Playoff starts Saturday in the NHL. Baseball, Braves hit three homers, beat the Marlins 6-3. Braves in first at 12 and 7. Marlins fall a game below 500. Excuse me, the Rays when they're fifth straight, eight-three over the White Sox. They're in first. Boston slowed down Minnesota, nine-five. Trevor Story with a homer and five RBIs. So the Angels had a four-three lead in the ninth, one out, one on. Infield pop-up and they dropped it. And they didn't mean to. So the Yankees get a second guy on board, still have one out. And then a two RBI double and they win it. So five, four Yankees with a rally in the ninth. Arizona got a three-run homer from Castillo in the 10th to beat Baltimore 8-5. Milwaukee snapped the six-game skid. They beat the Blue Jays two-to-one. Toronto, who nearly won the World Series last year off to a seven and 10 start. Cubs get back to 500 with an 11-2 win over the Phillies. And then they beat the San Diego Horners with five RBIs. Metz have lost seven in a row. Otani with six one-run innings and 10 strikeouts in an eight-two win over New York. Pirates. You see the story on Otani. He is basically all in. He wants the Cy Young now. Like he didn't DH when he pitched last night. He is apparently taking even more of a focus on the pitching part of his game this year. So just something to watch. The guy who they put in the lineup in place of Otani, Homer. Of course he did. It's the Dodgers. Pirates with two in the first, beat Washington two-nothing. Cardinals with three in the sixth beat the Guardians 5-3. The Reds, South Stewart, two homers, six RBIs, eight-three over the Giants. And the Padres with five in the ninth to beat Seattle seven-six. Your Tigers have won five in a row mark. They're back to 500. They beat KC21. You're now the res homer for the Astros in a three-one win over Colorado. And for the first time in five years, the, don't call me Oakland, not yet Las Vegas, Sacramento A's are in first place. The A's beat Texas six to five. Golf, PGA Tours in Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage. It's a signature event. So the purse is 20 million. Justin Thomas is the defending champ. No Rory. Shepherds there. Cameron Young's there. No Rory. Big story however in golf, the future of LIV golf. Numerous reports saying that the tour is going to end at the end of this year. Fox News even reporting it all day yesterday. LIV is in Mexico City this week for a $30 million event. That gets underway today. An announcement expected of some kind concerning the tour by the tour later today. And finally NFL Dolphins GM, John Eric Sullivan says that, yeah, Devana HN is not available. We are not interested in trading him. In fact, we are negotiating a long-term extension with him right now and things are going pretty well. HN entering the final year of his contract. He had 1,350 yards last year. Since he's come into the league, he leads the league at 5.7 yards a carry. So there you have it. He's one of the three quote pillars that the dolphins say they are going to build around. And, this is just awful. The NFL has started the process mark of essentially hiring replacement officials because they're, well, vetting guys. Make sure they pass the security and all that. The contract with the officials expires May 31st. And the NFL is going forward as if they are going to go down this route again. Remember last time, the Monday night football game in Seattle? Yeah. So this is a $23 billion league, really? You can't work this out? David, and the point you made a few weeks ago with Pat Irwin to, to me is the one that I'm waiting for. The billions of dollars that the networks are spending for this league. At what point do they call Roger Goodell and tell him to get his head firmly out of, as you know what, and get this done? How are you going to give this product, which we watched not too long ago, be horrible with the officials, the replacement officials, and take the money you're taking from these networks? Hey, these networks are almost as scared of the NFL as everybody is when the folks at Augusta talk to you. Especially since the NFL's got their, you know, negotiating doors open for the future contract. It does make what's going on and watching the NFL. It does make what's going on in Washington with the NFL very interesting for their TV negotiations going forward. It is a story that Miller and Moulton will pay attention to in the coming months. Correction, the Mets have lost eight in a row, not seven. And that was the starting five. Five big stories you needed to know here on Miller and Moulton. How about them Mets? How about them Mets? General manager has the team he wanted. Almost want to play the song right now. What songs more appropriate? The Dolphin song or the Mets song? Yep.
