Free Ira Brown! - The Gonzaga Hoops Podcast

As the season of thanks and commercialism descends upon us and turkeys everywhere run and hide, we here at Free Ira Brown turn our attention to the warm waters of the Caribbean. Specifically The Bahamas, of course, as Gonzaga has made its way from the lovely climes of Spokane to the totally average, nothing-to-write-home-about beaches of Nassau (seriously, what a downgrade). It is on those pristine shores the Bulldogs will face their stiffest competition yet (no, not you, Southern Miss) with potential matchups with Oregon/Seton Hall and UNC/Michigan looming. And it’s here (well, the link below, anyway) where you can find the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, in which our heroes look (briefly) ahead to the game against the Golden Eagles and (thoroughly) to the Thanksgiving Day game against either the Pirates (always a scary proposition in the Caribbean) or the Ducks (always a good Thanksgiving dish). Who do we match up with better? What are each team’s strengths and weaknesses? Why is Southern Miss so bad at s

The French don’t have a Thanksgiving Holiday. That’s not really surprising, considering it’s a holiday celebrated by New World entities. But we here at Free Ira Brown won’t let that small, petty fact deter us from raising a toast to the return of Gonzaga’s Cagnes-sur-Mer Magnifique, Killian Tillie. For as our forefathers taught us, “Give us Tillie, or give us bad non-conference losses!” Pretty sure that’s in paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, our heroes were celebrating Tillie’s return to lead Gonzaga past a plucky, feisty, annoyingly game UT Arlington team who seemed determined to ruin the rest of our week and make us forget the dominating performance the Bulldogs put on just a few days earlier in a blowout win over Texas A&M in College Station. Those stories, plus we have the most heated pod dedication argument in recent memory (all five episodes), Heister learns what kinesio tape is and we struggle to find any noteworthy alums from our next opponent, Cal

In 2017, led by one Geno Crandall, North Dakota came into the McCarthey Athletic Center and pushed a loaded Gonzaga team (aren’t they all loaded, really?) to overtime. That 2017 team, however, did not have Filip Petrusev. Filip Petrusev does not suffer such dramatics. Nor would be there any of the accompanying hand-wringing this year from Free Ira Brown. That’s right, dear FIBbers, we’re back, and in the latest episode our heroes go deep into finer aspects of the cruise-control wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and the Fighting Hawks: Petrusev feasting on lesser fools, Corey doing a bit of everything and Woolridge being really fast. Those stories, plus we get into the NCAA and why they got it right (or didn’t) with the James Wiseman situation in Memphis, take a swim in the waters of Lake Schadenfreude (Winthrop! At home!), nod our collective heads and drinks to Kevin Pangos (and P-Maag!), try to determine whether Joel Ayayi (#A11Aboard) is the best rebounding guard in Gonzaga history and finish up with a brief ga

Basketball. Games. Actual, counts-for-real, honest-to-goodness basketball. Gonzaga is back! And to help celebrate the season-opening romp past Alabama State, we here at Free Ira Brown brought in someone who kinda actually knows what he’s talking about: friend of the pod Steven Karr (he’s on twitter at @skarrGo, which we’re told is pronounced like the snails, not a nickname for Scarlett Johansson). Steven helps our heroes preview the Gonzaga women’s season, discuss whether it’s too early to give Corey Kispert the Naismith Award now and figure out Alabama State is about on par with Michigan State. Those stories, plus we brave through Filip’s injury scare (no getting hurt!), we preview the upcoming games against Arkansas Pine Bluff and North Dakota (the Geno Crandall internal Civil War special!) and run through some pet peeves from the sporting world and elsewhere. All that and more in the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come revel in the return of actual basketball, won’t you? @f

It can be scary out there, in the offseason. No ghoulish games to look forward to, no ghastly matchups to set your mind aflutter. Nothing but the vast, dark emptiness that is the wasteland of sports without college basketball. Thankfully, our nightmare is over. Yes, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will finally come back to the court. And with them, so Free Ira Brown returns! That’s right, dear FIBbers, our heroes are back to finish off the season preview pods. A scrimmage against Michigan State? We got that. Breaking news on Oumar Ballo and how that affects us? We got that, too. Those stories, plus we take a look at each other freshman and what to expect/hope, go over the roster/rotations with a fine-toothed comb and break down our non-conference schedule. We also have a lightning round at the end, just for giggles. All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do join us in the season countdown, won’t you? @freeirabrown freeirabrown@gmail.com

Free Ira Brown Returns! That's right, four of five starters from last year's team have moved on, but Free Ira Brown is here to get you introduced to the new squad. In this ep, we take a look at the veterans, returning players and transfers, who will form the backbone of the roster.  We also go over the new NCAA rules and look back at our own personal shining moments. Thanks for listening to THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. @freeirabrown  freeirabrown@gmail.com  

Yeah. So, this is our summer pod. It was recorded before the USWNT won the World Cup, so we didn't talk about that. Also, we pick a player from the past to name the episode after, but you can tell that from the title.  We talk about the off-season moves, the inevitable departures and the welcome surprises, then we tell you, with complete accuracy, how all these young guns are going to fit together next year. Do have a beach day with us, won't you? We're a little laid back here at headquarters, so this one's a freebie patreon patrons. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! If you aren't contributing, we'd welcome any support you can muster, go to patreon.com/freeirabrown. Follow us on twitter @freeirabrown.

If you thought, after five years, it would be easier to put together an end-of-season pod; if you thought, after five years, we would keep things in the proper perspective, not get too up or down on the emotional roller coaster which is college sports; if you thought any of these things...you thought entirely and utterly inaccurately. Because, dear FIBbers, there’s no getting around it: this one hurts. A lot. But through the pain, through the sniffles and the hangovers, Free Ira Brown still manages to cobble, well, something together. In our last episode of the season, our heroes look back at Gonzaga’s loss to Texas Tech in the Elite 8 and try to figure out why a season with so much promise ended so abruptly. Those stories, plus, we look ahead to who may or may not be coming back next year, what our starting lineup for the opening game might be and we try to figure out why this loss stings more than some of the others. And finally, we try to remember it’s not all bad, as we realize, yes, Gonzaga may have lost

Free Ira Brown reacts to Gonzaga's magnificent victory over the Seminals(sp) of Florida State. We're celebrating that win and taking a look ahead to Saturday's Elite Eight Match-up with Texas Tech.

You ever get a cavity and you’re not sure how you got it? You floss regularly, you’re a good brusher, you don’t flood yourself with sugar. But sure enough, there it is, the hole in your enamel which will cause you to sit in a dental chair for 90 minutes and accidentally bite your tongue as it comes out of anesthesia. Well the same thing happened to your faithful hosts of Free Ira Brown. And after going to our respective dentists, we were asked one question: “What did you expect? You’ve had five straight years of sweetness every March.” Of course! Now it all makes sense. Five consecutive years of the Sweet 16! Why didn’t we think of that? We must have been thinking too much about Brandon Clarke (do doo do do do do) becoming the best player Salt Lake City has ever seen, Tillie dunking on Fairleigh Dickinson and Corey Kispert having his best game as a Bulldog. An in our latest episode, our heroes take a look back at it all. We also look ahead to the rematch against Florida State in the Sweet 16. Will this time a

Can you feel it? That tingling in the air? The sense of anticipation? It’s almost here. Just a few days until we’re all glued to the court to watch Gonzaga make another run at the Final Four. And to get you (even more) primed, dear FIBbers, the Free Ira Brown crew is here to help you break down the brackets. In our latest episode, our heroes take a look at the Bulldogs (you know, Number 1 seed in the West) and their path to Minneapolis. Is the west really as bad as some are making it out to be? Is the west really as easy as others are making out to be? Does it really matter? Those stories, plus Randy Bennett actually has to get on a plane, we take a look at some of the best second-round matchups across all the brackets, Adam learns where Fairleigh Dickinson is and we spend some time with the Gonzaga haters (derpy-derp). And finally, we give our preferred routes to the national title. Syracuse or Baylor? UNC in the national title game? How about Florida State in the Sweet 16? We’ll tell you how we’d like to se

The hardest things to do, dear FIBbers, after a loss like that: 1) Explain it. 2) Calm down. It’s unclear whether we did either, but we here at Free Ira Brown at least tried. Sort of. Mostly. In our latest episode, our heroes take a look back at the West Coast Conference Tournament and specifically at what went wrong in the final…well…pretty much everything, but then you knew that already. There are stats (lots and lots of stats), complaints (we’ve got a few), and an emphatic answer to the question: did Saint Mary’s provide a blueprint to beating Gonzaga? Those stories, plus we look ahead to Selection Sunday. Does the loss to Saint Mary’s affect our expectations heading into the NCAA Tournament? What teams do we want to avoid, which do we want to play? We cover it all, plus we turn our attention to a very sobering trip to Las Vegas for the Gonzaga women, who had their own loss in the WCC Tournament final, and then suffered a much more affecting loss. And finally, we here at Free Ira Brown felt it was time to

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Karr commercial to bring you this breaking news story: Sources in Spokane confirm Gonzaga forward Brandon Clarke was being investigated by police for a series of events which took place last weekend in the greater San Francisco area. The 6-foot-8 junior was accused of bullying multiple people over a span of three days in Gonzaga’s two victories over Pacific and Saint Mary’s. Witnesses described the Phoenix native as “an absolute monster,” and detailed a sequence of events which left Saint Mary’s guard Jordan Ford in tears. For more on this breaking story, we direct you toward the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, in which our heroes detail the finishing touches on Gonzaga’s fifth undefeated WCC season. Those stories, plus: it’s the most wonderful time of the year, don’t forget, and so we felt the need to bring on a special guest. Joining us on the pod is Slipper Still Fits writer and Gonzaga fan extraordinaire Steven Karr to help us kick off the postseason for both the Go

There’s no getting around it: this ended up being a painful podcast to record. Not for the content of the pod, of course -- Josh Perkins made sure the recording of the pod was going to be nothing but fun. But for the hangover. Oh, the hangover. You see, dear FIBbers, for our latest episode, Free Ira Brown welcomed back FIB Patreon and Gonzaga super fan Lissa Tripp to share her thoughts on drinking, attending all Gonzaga home games and drinking at all Gonzaga home games (spoilers: she enjoys all three). And in solidarity with our guest host, our heroes thought, “Surely it’s a good idea to drink along with our esteemed guest” (spoilers: it was … until it wasn’t). And so our thoughts on the gloriousness of all things Perkins (Baby Daddy!) and Dave Rose’s rage and Emery’s ankles, while long-winded…may make sense? Possibly? Maybe? Let’s just say you shouldn’t envy Adam having to edit this one. We’ve got those stories, plus we’re told Baby Shaq is not a house for newborns but rather a super-young, uber-exciting Mal

It cannot always be sunshine and rainbows, right? Sometimes, games won’t be as easy to stomach as we wish they were. Sometimes, we don’t get Greg and Dan and Richard guffawing their way through a 30-point thumping of BYU, or a nigh-50-point humiliation of Randy Bennett and his scowl. Sometimes, we have to listen to Bill Walton. But don’t worry, dear FIBbers, Free Ira Brown is here to help you through these dark times. In our latest episode, our heroes take a look at the good (Dickau on national TV! Double-digit wins conference road wins!), the bad (Boxing out against Loyola Marymount! Three-point shooting against San Diego! Walton!) and the ugly (Let’s all agree to ignore both first halves, OK? Oh yeah, WALTON!) in the less-than-ideal-but-not-as-bad-as-some-people-think wins over LMU and USD. Those stories, plus BYU keeps ruining things for the Gonzaga women, we finally found an award which bothered to remember Brandon Clarke exists, we look ahead to a return of our old friend Romar, BYU is in town for Senior

You ever see one of those fights, when there’s a bigger guy beating up on a little guy and you just can’t help but feel for the little guy? Maybe he or she is doing all they can but they’re clearly just outmatched and end up like the little brother being held at arm’s length by the big brother? And you just want to jump in and help the little guy? Yeah, this was not one of those times. This was not one of those weekends. This was, instead, a thoroughly enjoyable 78-point thrashing of two of the “best” other guys in the West Coast Conference.

Adam and Marty are joined by special guest and FIB superfan David Jenne while Chris honeymoons (Congratulations Buddy!). We take a long, hard look at the 30 point drubbing laid upon the BYU Cougars, marvel at the consistent domination of Rui Hachimura and anticipate the toughest weekend of the WCC season with GU facing both USF and some other team from California. We close with a top three that takes a look at things even more dull than the 53rd big game.  Thanks for downloading!

Of all the people who helped start this incredibly period of success we’ve experienced as Gonzaga fans, there’s one man whose name ranks above all else as the coolest name among Gonzaga trendsetters. Casey Calvary is a great name (who doesn’t love alliteration), Dan Dickau is fantastic (see above), but no one – and we mean no one, dear FIBbers – can hold a candle to the man, the myth, the Aussie: Axel Dench. That’s right, Free Ira Brown is back, and in our latest episode, our heroes welcome a Gonzaga legend. The great Axel Dench joins us to discuss his role in paving the way for 20 years of sustained excellence, how he got to Gonzaga and how to eat on $16 a day. Oh yeah, we may or may not fanboy over his role in Star Wars, Episode III. He has his own action figure! Those stories, plus: Bulldogs good. Broncos bad. We run through the plethora of fun stats and records set in Gonzaga’s demolition of Santa Clara, and how we completely accurately called this game. We also look ahead to BYU in a completely timely, n

Normally, we’d have something here about how Gonzaga put to lowly WCC foes to bed, and try to make it somewhat cute and/or funny. But this time, we have a sincere message: congrats to new Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez. It only took 10 years (about nine too long if you ask us), but the baseball writers finally got things right. Which has nothing to do with Free Ira Brown, but seemed worth mentioning nonetheless. But fear not, dear FIBber, the pod is back with its usual shenanigans. And in our latest episode, our heroes review the wins over Loyola Marymount in LA and over the Pilots our home-away-from-home, Portland. Those stories, plus we dip our toes into the Triple Tower lineup, have a moment with Heister, wonder if it’s time to start worry about Zach’s shooting and curse BYU’s women. We also take the time to protect ourselves from the flailing hands of Nick Emery, the middle-aged hands of TJ Haws and the hulking hands of Yoeli Childs in our BYU preview. We also play Santa Clara this wee

They say it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We can debate the axiom’s merits, but thankfully for us Gonzaga fans, what isn’t much of a debate is this: the Bulldogs finished the weekend a bit stronger your friends here at Free Ira Brown. Yes, dear FIBbers, we’re back, though admittedly not at full strength. In our latest episode, our heroes attempt to recover from the weekend in time to bring you a breakdown of Gonzaga’s exciting win in San Francisco. We exalt in Brandon’s brilliance, Baby Daddy’s outstanding second half and Tillie’s best game this season. Those stories, plus we played Pacific in one of the least memorable games in recent…uh…memory, we look ahead to the games against LMU and Portland this weekend, Gonzaga’s women set another new ranking record and Zykera Rice is pretty awesome. And finally, in honor of whomever those people were who called the San Francisco game, we revisit some of the phrases/actions/habits of announcers which drive us crazy (spoilers: Chris and Marty do not see eye