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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from News talks.

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Speaker 2: 'b American Sport. Eighteen to three in the NHL. Our

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Speaker 2: Stanley Cup matchup is confirmed, a repeat of last season,

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Speaker 2: the defending champion Florida Panthers against five time winners, but

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Speaker 2: not since nineteen ninety the Edmonton Oilers, best of seven

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Speaker 2: games starting on Thursday. Our time, Let's bring in our

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Speaker 2: American sport expert Leon Busby. Hey you earlyon.

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Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Jason. I'm well mate. It's great to be

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Speaker 3: back after short hiatus. Got lots to covis. So let's

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Speaker 3: get straight into today.

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Speaker 2: Why not the conference finals which led us to the

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Speaker 2: Stanley Cup in the East, the Florida Panthers four to

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Speaker 2: one over the Carolina Hurricanes. That sounds convincing. Talk us

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Speaker 2: through the Eastern Conference.

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Speaker 3: First of all, yes, as you alluded to, the Stanley

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Speaker 3: Cup's going to be repeatab last year. So at the

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Speaker 3: Eastern Conference, the reigning NHL champion Panthers easily dispecial the

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Speaker 3: Carolina Hurricane do in what they call a gentleman's sweep

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Speaker 3: four games to one. So over the series, Florida won

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Speaker 3: by an average of four goals to two, and I'm

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Speaker 3: looking quite ominous to repeat peeking at the right time.

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Speaker 3: The Panthers will be leaning on their all Stars. Sent

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Speaker 3: to Sam Bennett, who is also the league's leading goal

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Speaker 3: scorer in the postseason. The Canadian native and former Calgary

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Speaker 3: Flame has really transformed Florida's attack and it's no coincidence.

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Speaker 3: I've now punched their ticket to a third straight finals

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Speaker 3: appearance since he arrived in the Sunshine State.

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Speaker 2: Let's go to the Western Conference. The Edmonton Oilers another

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Speaker 2: gentleman's sweep here for one over the Dallas Stars in

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Speaker 2: the Western Conference. Leon.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there seems to be a pattern developing. Air of

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Speaker 3: the Western Conference. We see the Oilers back for another

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Speaker 3: crack at top in the Champs after falling short last year,

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Speaker 3: and one of the most compelling series in Stanley Cup

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Speaker 3: history go to a seventh and deciding game. Now Edmonton

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Speaker 3: also defeated the Dallas Stars and a gentleman's sweep four

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Speaker 3: games to one. Over the series. The oil is much

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Speaker 3: like the flod of Panthers, won by an average of

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Speaker 3: four golfs to two in dominant fashion. Edmonton will again

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Speaker 3: be led from the front by the NHL's Best Player

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Speaker 3: Connin McDavid, who has pretty much won every single award

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Speaker 3: except the one that he hungers for the most, the

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Speaker 3: Stanley Cup. It's also important to note, Pioneer that the

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Speaker 3: Oilers captain is soon to enter free agency and the

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Speaker 3: outcome of this final series could well dictate whether he

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Speaker 3: stays in Edmonton or moves on, as most teams would

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Speaker 3: pay a kings ransom for McDavid's services. Now, in terms

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Speaker 3: of which side will lift the Stanley Cupp, well, I'm

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Speaker 3: going to side with the Oilers this time, taking this

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Speaker 3: series in six maybe seven games to finally break the

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Speaker 3: thirty five year gout for Canadian teams, a champion championship

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Speaker 3: long over due, where I hockey is their national sport.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely well, I think yeah, I think most people would

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Speaker 2: think that was a good idea if it went back

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Speaker 2: to Canada. We'll keep an eye on the Stanley Cup

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Speaker 2: best of seven starting in the weak ahead. Can we

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Speaker 2: go to the NBA Finals? Want to get to the

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Speaker 2: Eastern A moment where the Pacers have just won the

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Speaker 2: Eastern Conference and qualified for the finals, but out West

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Speaker 2: Oklahoma City Thunder securing their place after the Western Conference finals,

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Speaker 2: Speaking of gentlemen's sweeps, Leon is another one. They made

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Speaker 2: pretty sure work of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and your listeners are weak pony. The Western Conference

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Speaker 3: champions are okay See and they dismantled Minnesota and a

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Speaker 3: gentleman's seat. And now they take on the Eastern Conference

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Speaker 3: champion Indiana pass Now the Thunder after a dominant performance

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Speaker 3: against the Timberwolves, the second youngest team with an average

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Speaker 3: age of only twenty five point five years, I had

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Speaker 3: to put in the twenty five point five to reach

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Speaker 3: the NBA Finals since nineteen seventy seven. League MVP shaped

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Speaker 3: Gilgis Alexander led Oklahoma to only their second ever finals

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Speaker 3: appearance in thirteen years on the back of an NBA

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Speaker 3: regular season best sixty eight twelve record. Now the Thunder

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Speaker 3: have the best defensive team wolf season. Even more impressive though,

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Speaker 3: in the current playoffs, is that their average margin of

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Speaker 3: victory at home has been a whopping twenty four point

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Speaker 3: six points despite their inexperience. So who have actually comes

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Speaker 3: out of the East as we know it's Indiana now

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Speaker 3: will be huge underdogs.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I actually thought I was watching Oklahoma City Thunder.

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Speaker 2: They took seven games to get past Denver, didn't they

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Speaker 2: in the semi finals? Were they just kind of warming

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Speaker 2: up against the Nuggets and getting ready for the real

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Speaker 2: point end?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the Nugget series was actually surprising because, as you know,

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Speaker 3: or your listeners would know, the Nuggets were in a

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Speaker 3: bit of turmoil would they fired their coach and GM

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Speaker 3: and there was a lot of murmurs between the players

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Speaker 3: about what was going to happen and a lot of

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Speaker 3: disruption there. But that was actually the best series of

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Speaker 3: Winter seven games. And as we know, Oklahoma got it done,

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Speaker 3: and you know, and they deserve it. I mean, they're

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Speaker 3: a young team, but I think they're building something here

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Speaker 3: which could be generational for many years to come.

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Speaker 2: Let's go out east, where in the last few moments

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Speaker 2: it has been the Indiana Pacers confirming their place Eastern

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Speaker 2: Conference winners by four games to two over the New

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Speaker 2: York Knicks. You know, I closely fought series, but as

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Speaker 2: the best team going through in Indiana.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Southeastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers. I mean, they got

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Speaker 3: their blowout win today and I think it says the

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Speaker 3: let it lie a lot about them because before the

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Speaker 3: series actually began, I was picking New York to win

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Speaker 3: in six maybe seven, but it certainly the Pacers who

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Speaker 3: have really lifted their game to another level, led by

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Speaker 3: All Star Tyres Halliburton, who earlier in the year was

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Speaker 3: voted the NBA's most overrated player. I don't think I'd

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Speaker 3: be happy being voted that anyway. He's played with a

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Speaker 3: chip on his shoulder in this series, and in Game

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Speaker 3: four he created NBA history. He recorded a triple double

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Speaker 3: which included thirty two points, fifteen rebounds in Travis sifts,

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Speaker 3: but four steals to round up a historic performance only

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Speaker 3: ever matched by Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and future

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Speaker 3: Hall of Famer Jokis from the Nuggets. However, Halliburton set

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Speaker 3: himself apart with no turnovers in the game, which had

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Speaker 3: never been done in playoff history before. He's a polarizing

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Speaker 3: player times, but it's absolutely bolling right now and I'm

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Speaker 3: not surprised the Pacers advanced. Now another stat to get

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Speaker 3: your hit around, Pony, and I know you love stats, yep.

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Speaker 3: This season, when Indiana have scored one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 3: points or more, they are thirty two and two. Either way.

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Speaker 3: If the thunder hand Pacers do meet in the NBA finals.

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Speaker 3: As we know, we'll see a first time champion. Both

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Speaker 3: franchises have never lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy before, so

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Speaker 3: in terms of a winner, I'm leaning slightly towards Okay, Sears,

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Speaker 3: I've got home court advantage. If the series does go through,

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Speaker 3: it to siding game seven.

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Speaker 2: All right, Okay, see, I hope it goes to seven.

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Speaker 2: I hope these two Gullery or other over seven games.

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Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be great?

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Speaker 3: Hey? A couple of other peace running series.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, a couple of other pieces of news.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to get your views on. Speaking of Indiana

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Speaker 2: Indiana Fever, this is the women's NBA side Caitlin Clark,

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Speaker 2: of course, who has just you know, just been this huge,

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Speaker 2: enormous star in the women's NBA. I see she's out

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Speaker 2: with an injury. This might not just affect the f

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Speaker 2: This might affect the whole woman's NBA, mightn't it.

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Speaker 3: Yes, they're sticking with the hard court pioneer. Earlier this week,

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Speaker 3: the face of the WNBA Indiana Fever, star Caitlin Clark,

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Speaker 3: suffered and led quad receps injury, sidelining her for at

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Speaker 3: least two weeks. The injury occurred during a practice session,

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Speaker 3: and a return date is unclear, as Clarke will be

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Speaker 3: reevaluated at the two week mark. To further understand injury timeline. Now,

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Speaker 3: this is a big blow for the league in terms

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Speaker 3: of the TV viewing audience and the Fever's next two games,

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Speaker 3: as arenas normally sell out when she's playing. Clark will

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Speaker 3: be reevaluated after the first week of June, but that

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Speaker 3: doesn't mean she'll return. At that point, the Fever medical

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Speaker 3: staff will determine whether she can return to action immediately

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Speaker 3: or whether she'll need more time to rehab or recover.

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Speaker 3: Clark's return date will be determined by the severity of

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Speaker 3: a quad injury, which the Fever have not made public yet.

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Speaker 3: A Grade one quad injury typically takes a couple of

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Speaker 3: weeks to recover, while a Greade two injury means the

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Speaker 3: player missed closer to a month of recovery. So thankfully,

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Speaker 3: this will only be a short term regression for both

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Speaker 3: the Fever and the WNBA. Economically, this unforeseen injury only

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Speaker 3: reinforces her star power and the so called Capelin Clarke effect.

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Speaker 2: And finally, Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. What is

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Speaker 2: going on here? Can you explain this to us?

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Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, well, the Finnish shop. In the NFL, we

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Speaker 3: have the ongoing Aaron Rodgers stager. One of the most

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Speaker 3: storied football organizations, the Pittsburgh Steelers have made headlines pony,

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Speaker 3: but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. While the expectation

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Speaker 3: is that full time MVP Aaron Rodgers will signed with

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Speaker 3: Pittsburgh solely based on a verbal agreement and handshakeed, there's

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Speaker 3: still a lot of uncertainty. Rogers are still mully over

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Speaker 3: his future, and one of the options includes retirement. If

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Speaker 3: he does play, The Steelers figure to be the last

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Speaker 3: option available to the future Hall of Fame quarterback, at

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Speaker 3: least in terms of teams he'd have interest in playing for.

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Speaker 3: A lot of people are very upset with the Pittsburgh

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Speaker 3: ownership and front office who have dragged this out to

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Speaker 3: seemingly no end and an indictment really on their proud history.

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Speaker 3: It almost feels like Rogers is holding the Steelers to

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Speaker 3: ransom as he decides on his playing career. Now, just

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Speaker 3: to complicate matters, pinting during the recent NFL Draft Pittsburgh

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Speaker 3: had no less than seven picks and baffled their fan

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Speaker 3: base when they chose to pass on Colorado Buffalo staff

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Speaker 3: quarterback should do a Standers three times when they had

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Speaker 3: the opportunity to sign them to their weak quarterback room.

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Speaker 3: Sanders late drafting was the headline of the NFL Draft,

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Speaker 3: and even more surprising were that Pittsburgh eventually signed a

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Speaker 3: quarterback for their fifth pick at number one eighty five.

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Speaker 3: It can't make sense of that. So this confirmed in

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Speaker 3: a way that the Steelers arrested all of their hopes

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Speaker 3: on Aaron Rodgers being their starting quarterback for the upcoming season,

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Speaker 3: which is troubling for the franchise and the NFL teams

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Speaker 3: have already started assembling and training. I've made to state

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Speaker 3: the obvious, but wherever Rogers goes, drama seems to follow

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Speaker 3: him around. Now in another did no pony before I

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Speaker 3: wrapped this up. It's now less than one hundred days

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Speaker 3: until the NFL and college football seasons kickoff, which I

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Speaker 3: know your son will be excited about being a huge

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Speaker 3: Minnesota Wakings fan, So I'm assuming you've already paid for

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Speaker 3: the spiritual game pass. Can't wait?

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Speaker 2: Yes, Luckily on you assume correctly. You assume correctly. I

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Speaker 2: have forked out for that and quite happy to do so.

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Speaker 2: Lovely chatting to you is always Leon Busby Stateside a

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Speaker 2: big part of our show here on Weekend Sports.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio