Credit Union Exam Solutions Presents With Flying Colors

Speaker: Hey, everyone, this
is Mark Trakel with another

episode of With Flying Colors.

I'm here with John
McKechnie and Jeff Basino.

How you guys doing?

Speaker 3: Very well, thank you.

Speaker: Good.

Very good.

And we may or may not be joined
w- by Alonzo Swan, who's having

some technical difficulty.

As we get into our 60s or later, sometimes
hitting the right buttons isn't right.

But I think so Alonzo may be
joining us here, and we'll if

that happens, we'll let you know.

But guys it's been a few
months since we last chatted.

A lot going on in credit unions, but
in case a listener isn't aware of

our previous podcasts or what y- you
do, could you give a, an elevator

pitch on what it is you're doing
and what you used to do at NCUA?

John you go first.

Speaker 3: I am, have been in
the, around the credit union

movement for almost 40 years now.

I started out with CUNA
in their advocacy world.

And in 20- 2005, I en- I joined NCUA.

I was asked by Chairman Jo Ann Johnson
to join the team as their head of

congressional and public affairs, which
I was in that role for five years and

happened to be, I think, the five most
exciting years in the industry's history

with the crisis, the financial meltdown.

And then since 2011, I have been out
in, out and about in DC in a private

practice trying to help credit unions
navigate the DC landscape, both

on the Hill and at the regulator.

To say it's never a dull moment
would be an understatement.

Speaker: Never a dull moment,
and a lot going on now.

And Jeff yourself.

Speaker 2: Never a dull moment.

I met John when we were at CUNA.

I got out of there a
little sooner than he did.

I was fortunate enough Bill Clinton
appointed me to the NCUA board.

A couple years later, George W.

Bush appointed me to the
Federal Housing Finance Board.

In the meantime, I've had my own firm.

I represent a handful of trade
associations as well as a

handful of credit union clients.

And John and I are still friends,
which tells you we obviously

did it right 40 years ago.

Speaker: Yeah, I just
got a text from Eliza.

I was looking at that, but yeah,
you did it right 40 years ago.

But the FHFA, that's
where Pulte's at, right?

Yes,

Speaker 2: it is.

Speaker: So and he's ready to
take over for, … Now, look it,

I raised my hand there somehow.

I gotta lower my hand.

So- Yeah.

So that means you're ready to
be head of all the stuff secret.

Speaker 2: It would certainly be a bit
of a stretch to say that the people I

worked with when I was at the finance
board would become head of national

intelligence, but, if that's the way-

Speaker: Yes.

Yeah.

I … When that popped up, I
thought that's interesting.

I'm gonna have to ask
Jeff what his take on the-

The nexus is.

But anyway so I w- you know there's
the big fraud case that's going on.

There's there's two board members
hoping to maybe get back in.

There's one board member hoping to
get out, and a third board member

we think might be getting in.

What what do you say we talk about the
NCUA board and all those tentacles first?

Speaker 3: Let me take a stab
at part of that and I know

Jeff can fill in the blanks.

The n- the…

John Cruz, who is a deputy assistant
secr- treasury secretary has

been nominated by the president.

There's a very good likelihood
he gets a confirmation hearing

before the end of June.

Congress is leaving for the recess
on June 26th, and it sounds like

he is going to get a hearing in the
Senate Banking Committee June 25th.

At least that's what several sources
on the Banking Committee have told me.

Those hearings are not publicly
announced until a week before, so

we haven't seen it noticed, but
it, I think it's gonna happen.

I certainly expect him to be confirmed.

I expect him to do well at
the confirmation hearing.

There's also a possibility that
the president's CFPB nominee,

a guy named Brian Johnson, also
may be heard at the same time.

And frankly, if you're John Cruz you
might like that dynamic because I think

99% of the questions at the hearing,
especially the hostile ones, are gonna

be directed to the other nominee.

The CFPB is a much more contentious
and controversial agency for

the reasons I think we all know.

So if that happens, I think John
Cruz will get some attention,

but not as much, I think, as his
his co-panelists at that hearing.

Let's just say that.

And then of course, after he gets
the hearing, the next step would

be getting a vote out of the Senate
Banking Committee and then finally

a vote on the Senate floor probably
sometime in July, I'm guessing.

Speaker: So obviously-

Go ahead, Jeff

… Speaker 2: I was gonna say not, John
doesn't leave many holes to fill in.

He's usually pretty
precise, and he is here.

The two things I would add, number
one is is that obviously, once

I think he gets a hearing, he's
gonna get through pretty quickly.

As John's point about CFPB
is absolutely correct.

I remember my confirmation hearing when
I was on the finance board, there was

the director of the Mint and then three
Fed governors on the panel with me.

I think I got two questions,
and I think that the same thing

would happen to John Cruz.

I wrote a piece and then sometimes
always, concerned of who you would

bring with you as your chief of
staff, your policy advisor, or

whatever we wanna call it nowadays.

And obviously that person is gonna have
to have, or hopefully will have some

type of background or at least some
knowledge of credit unions, because

frankly, even though Cruz comes with a
pretty extensive background, none of it

is directly related to credit unions.

The ideal thing would be he comes
with someone or brings someone

who's got that background.

The other thing is and Mark, I don't
want to steal all your thunder because

this may have been the other thing, is
I've read at least a couple stories that

the court case in that Slaughter versus
Trump may come down as early as tomorrow.

Which would really s- set something up
that would be interesting if the court

decides to side with the White House
basically that would theoretically open

up two more seats again, theoretically a
Republican and a Democratic seat on the

board because they would then be given
the authority to fire Todd and Tanya.

But a lot of things going on, a lot
of moving parts right now and I, I

know that we don't get into elective
politics as much, but I think one of the

things on the Republicans' mind for at
least the rest of this year, if you're

in the Senate, is while I do think
they will probably hold the Senate,

there's always a chance they don't.

And so if you're sitting on that side
and you're a Republican, you want to be

thinking, "Let's get as many as our folks
through as we can," because frankly, if

the Democrats control the Senate in 2027,
I don't see many nominees getting through

Speaker: That's all g-
that's all good intel.

I didn't realize that, that,
that case was coming upon us.

Yeah.

I know we'd always said
June-ish, but, w- here we are.

M- Mark,

Speaker 3: There have been
several media reports this week.

We're recording this, what,
is this Sep- the 17th, right?

17th,

Speaker: yep.

Speaker 3: Yeah there's, there
have been media reports circling

June 18th as a very possible day.

This term of the Supreme
Court ends June 30th, so-

Speaker 4: Yeah

… Speaker 3: there's a hard stop there.

But Jeff's right.

There's a lot of chatter.

This, it's picked up quite a bit.

I actually know somebody in s-
coincidentally know somebody who is at

the Federal Trade Commission, who is…

That's the agency where the person
who was fired by the president

has sued, which brought this
case before the Supreme Court.

And this person at the FTC while
they dr- they're not guaranteed to

have special inside knowledge, they
don't, they probably don't get a

call from John Roberts saying it's
coming, but this person's agency

general counsel thinks that this week
is the magic week to get a decision.

I don't know what's gonna happen.

Nobody does really.

As you say, that, that very well
could decide the fate of whether

of board members Harper and
Otsuka get reinstated or not.

There's a lot of issues.

I think we all know that it's been a very
contentious time for President Trump and

agency appointees of the Democratic side.

So we'll s- we'll have to
see what's gonna happen.

But if there are vacancies, then I just
wanna see a full NCUA board, frankly.

I like the business as usual.

People say business as usual is a term
that makes something sound mundane.

I want mundane right now.

Speaker: Yeah mundane would be good.

Y- so the decision comes in and it
supports Trump's action, and that

means Otsuka and Harper are not coming
back, and j- and maybe that means that

in, in Cruz there could be two more.

The other side, which is the long shot-
Or believed to be the long shot is that

the court decides that Trump was wrong,
and then Harper and Otska could come back.

As a- and they came back for one-

Speaker 3: One day

… Speaker: board meeting, right?

And they were in and out based on things.

So you could see things, you could
see things happening, quickly there.

And then NCUA had their, 27% reduction,
and you've got a lot of people that

left and, there's always conjecture.

I know the executive direc-
the current executive director

who took my place, Larry Fazio,
has been eligible for a while.

The- there was always that thing
when you're in the executive

level is, do I wanna break in
another board member, right?

And it's … so you could have
two, two two coming back in that,

that are feisty and ready to go.

You got- could have Cruz wanting to
lead that group with two Ds, or you

could just have Cruz, and staff over
there has gotta be going, "Okay which

way is up and which way is down?"

And I see Alonzo is gonna be
joining us here in a second.

But, there's that other side of the
coin where the board could the board

could go in a different direction.

Hey, Alonzo, welcome.

Welcome to the show.

We'll catch you up here in a second.

Speaker 4: Okay, Mark.

Sorry about that.

Speaker: No, no problem.

Speaker 3: Mark, I was gonna
also … You re- reminded me, NCUA

scheduled a board meeting for next week.

That's right.

First one since April.

And that presumably could be Chairman
Kyle Hauptman's final board meeting.

And I have to say he's … I know there's
a lot of smoke in the atmosphere, and

there's a lot of, been a lot of angst.

I think Chairman Hauptman though
has kept a steady hand on the wheel.

I think the agency has functioned.

I was, … I saw him in front of the House
Financial Services Committee for an annual

regulators testimony, and I thought he did
a very comprehensive job of talking about

how the industry keeps on keeping on.

So I think we all ought to at least
pause for a second and give him

kudos for a job well done there.

It can't, could not have been
easy circumstances for him.

Speaker: No doubt.

And was that the presentation where
he used the kids' books as props

as far as education and everything?

I thought that … I
didn't even see the speech.

I saw that picture, and I
thought that was genius.

Speaker 3: He he did a good job.

Speaker 2: And I don't wanna cut
Alonzo off here, because I know he

just joined, but I would, I could say
you got a second John's thought there.

Kudos to him and kudos to Sarah Kanapa
Bangas, his executive director…

or I'm sorry, his chief of staff.

The two of them have done really yeoman's
work in what is not an easy situation.

Speaker: And that's, and that goes
to, bringing someone in Sarah, who

knew the industry- … is something
that Cruz probably should do.

So Alonzo we talked about all the
NCUA board permutations while, While

your technical glitch was worked out
give a quick update about what what

you did at NCUA and what you're doing
now in the credit union world, and

we'll get back into the flow here

Speaker 4: Absolutely.

Spent 31 years with NCUA.

Obviously started out as a
examiner, worked my way up.

Actually was integral when we introduced
and implemented Aries and that got me

to Washington as the basically the help
desk for the country, and then setting

up to make sure everything went right.

Went from there to E&I working to the
e- examination and insurance department

director of a couple offices, and then
back to Chicago, and finally wrapped up

in- as the Atlanta regional director.

And for the last 13 years I've been
having the time of my life being

a credit union strategist for the
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

Mainly in a quick nutshell, initially just
in, for lack of a better term, recruiting

credit unions to the benefits of joining
the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta,

and also just trying to make sure we
had a better regul- relationship with

our regulators, insurers, and everybody
else in that mix, and also with the

trade organizations as well, just to
make sure they could spell FHLB Atlanta.

Speaker: Very good.

Very good.

So we hit the NCUA board.

Another thing that's in the news,
I recently did a couple different

podcasts on it, was the Jackson Area
Federal Credit Union conservatorship,

which turned into a fraud.

And I'm gonna toot my own horn, when
it got conserved, I looked at the

real, the numbers real closely and saw
that they only had 27% loan-to-assets,

but were borrowing a bunch of money,
and they were the only credit union

in the country with those stats.

And I thought, "I bet you there's
fraud here- … because cash

doesn't need to be this high.

Why do they need the cash?"

It was because the cash was gone.

I recorded that podcast and I got a
watcher of the YouTube version who

said, "Hey, have you looked at NCUA's…

NCUA updated the call report.

Now they're showing $90 million loss,
and the deficit's about 79 million."

And I said thanks for the heads-up.

I'm gonna pull that down," and I
recorded a follow-up podcast to that.

And I'm gonna be answering some questions
that Frank Diekmann just sent me

relative to that on, on, on his website.

But Alonzo Jeff, John, a loss of
$80 million, one way to look at that

is a lot of the reorg money that
they saved is already gone, poof.

Alonzo with you being an RD, me being
an RD, things that pop into my head

is, NCUA's an insurance company,
they're not fraud auditors, right?

You're gonna have situations where the
supervisory committee doesn't do the

job, the auditor doesn't do the job,
and you have nefarious characters,

and everybody starts pointing fingers
saying, "Hey, who's to blame here?

How could have NCUA done a better job?"

Alon- so Alonzo when I talk about
that fraud, what pops into your head?

I'm not sure if you…

we didn't pre-talk here.

I'm not sure if you'd heard about that,
but any thoughts relative to that?

And then I'll spin it
towards Jeff and John

Speaker 4: Absolutely.

I've heard a lot about it, and I know folk
over there, so that makes it even more

and more sobering for me, if you will.

The, I know the NCUA folks there.

In essence of, it, it pops up, these
things pop up and like you said, that

I, like you, I immediately knew as
soon as that conservatorship went the

only question in my mind was, how much?

Speaker: How much?

Yep.

Speaker 4: It wasn't a if.

So I knew that was going on.

Y- like you said, these things don't pop
up, but that one indicator, and this is

based on my experience, if you have a
credit union, like you said, that has

liquidity issues but shouldn't that's
a clue to dig deeper and figure it out.

I think throughout NCUA history of the
insurance fund, we've seen this thing pop

up from the Nebraska issue of the '80s.

Now I remember deposit, you know-
Yeah … and to mine, it's St.

Paul Croatian, I think it was.

Everything was good in my as, so I feel,
and you just hate that these things pop

up because it hurts the industry as well.

But, with internal controls,
I, that's all I gotta tell you.

No way to dig deeper and certified
audits to have them required for

everybody, but that's not the case.

It, it's definitely a sad case.

I just hate to see that for
the- Yeah … credit union as

well as everybody involved.

You got

… Speaker: Not good for anybody.

And Jeff y- put your NCUA
board member hat on, right?

That happens and you start getting
questions from the trades, you get, start

getting questions from the credit unions.

You pick up the phone and you
ask the regional director, "How

in the world did this happen?"

What else runs through your
head as a board member?

Speaker 2: Obviously the first
question that runs through your

head is how did this happen?

And I, and it's funny, you almost teed
this up for me because one of the groups

that I represent is the Association of
Credit Union Audit and Risk Prevention-

Speaker: Yes.

Yes

… Speaker 2: also known as ACUAR, which
used to be known as the Association

of Credit Union Internal Auditors.

And obviously so my work with them has
opened my eyes a little bit to, first

of all, the need for effective internal
audit or internal controls, as Lonzo

just said, which again, in a lot of
these credit unions just doesn't happen.

If you look at this one, you basically
had the CEO handling everything,

including even posting which really
then opens up the door for some fraud.

I do agree with you.

NCUA, as an insurer and regulator, and
with the staff cuts they've had, it's a

little tough to point the finger at them.

And this is again, one of those
cases that, I always like to say,

I use the Willie Sutton analogy as
when they asked him why he robbed

the banks, and John knows this, it's
'cause that's where the money was.

And you do that.

It's again, just to me it's a call for
better and more robust internal controls,

and I really like if a credit union has
their own internal audit department,

because a lot of them are now starting
to farm them out to external firms.

It's a nice way to go.

But the reality is it's nice to have
someone in-house whose job it is to

keep an eye on that all the time.

Speaker: Yeah.

Great point.

Great point.

And that's a good…

I didn't tee that up intentionally,
but that's a great organization and

a great, A role that you guys play
and then those people as part of that

association play in credit unions.

John from the from the public affairs
perspective- … what pops into your head?

Speaker 3: Obviously it's a
disaster from a PR standpoint.

It- unless it's handled correctly, which
I think, at this point I've heard a lot

from Mississippi sources that the word
has gotten out very quickly that your

money, your insured deposits are safe.

It's a black eye and the re- remedial
steps that, that Alonzo and Jeff just

talked about, I think are gonna have to
be implemented sooner rather than later.

But for the time being, just
stopping the hemorrhaging.

This is the triage, so to speak,
where you try to keep people, calm,

make sure they understand that their
funds are safe, make sure that the

credit union continues to function.

It's a bad situation.

I will say there's also a lot of
rumors down, running around Mississippi

that several people tried to flag
what appeared to be inconsistent or

suspicious type activity around the
credit union, and it really didn't

get heeded until it was too late.

That's a-

Speaker: I heard the same thing.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

And if that's true, that really hurts.

That's a bad, that's a very, that's a
sad indictment of a lot of different

… 360 degree blame in that situation.

Speaker: And then of course, when
there's a loss this big, the inspector

general gets to do one of their reviews.

Speaker 3: MLR.

Yeah.

Speaker: MLR, material loss review.

And that, a- and that one could get
interesting and then it comes into

what's, what type of things should
NCUA do, and then where's NCUA at on,

their staffing levels and all that.

So there's all those.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker: The pendulum part of it all is

Speaker 3: sometimes- I would just
add, Mark, on top of that, that, when

I was working on the Hill, I was a
press secretary and a newspaper editor

once said to me something I've never
got- forgotten, which is, he said,

"The best guarantee of right thinking
is the presence of the sheriff."

And I think it's a good idea to make sure
that people realize that there's, that

the sheriff is looking over your shoulder.

And if, in this case, I don't know what
the credit union supervisory committee

did or didn't do, I don't know what
happened in terms of the examination

process, but I think having a, an obvious
presence looking over your shoulder

might have mitigated some of this.

And I, I don't know if maybe
some, somebody, something

fell through the cracks there.

I don't know what happened.

Speaker: And with COVID not being on,
onsite as much, and then not having

as much staff it's the empty cop car-
Yeah … that makes you slow down and

you go gosh, there's nobody in that car."

But- … showing up does that.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker: Very good.

Alonzo, any wrap on, on, on
what we just said there as

it relates to that situation?

Speaker 4: Absolutely.

J- just to close on that and just to
hear on what John said, yeah, having

that on-site presence you can't beat it.

You prefer the local examiner, 'cause
they they can see smells sometimes that

if you go to the casino you might see
folk there that shouldn't be there.

Or you see them the CEO driving
around in a car that you're

wondering how they paid for it.

So that, those are all the things that
you ha- you get with continuity of group.

And Jackson's a pretty
good hub for examiners.

Speaker 2: Sure.

Sure.

Speaker 4: And that's the biggest
one in Mississippi, including

the supervisory examiners.

Yeah, we live and learn, but I can tell
you a material loss review there's always

gonna be a learning lesson that what I
call pointing the finger at somebody.

So somebody's

Speaker: Yeah.

And tread marks.

Yeah.

And tread marks.

Exactly.

Speaker 4: Exactly.

Speaker: Yeah.

Understand.

Exactly.

The regional director i- is-
isn't there, so that person

doesn't have to take the fall.

It's that old joke when you get a new
job they give you three envelopes, right?

And when you screw up the
first time, what do you do?

You rip open, you t- grab the envelope and
it says, "Blame the guy two before you."

And the second one you screw up, you
open it up, "Blame the guy before you."

And the third one you screw up,
you open it up, it says, "Time

to prepare three envelopes."

Speaker 4: I've heard that one.

That's

Speaker: what, that's what they told
me when I became executive director,

anyway, I fought, I walked on water by
looking for the rocks for about eight

years before I decided to join you
all in the brighter side of things.

All right, so that's enough on that.

So we talked about the board.

John, you mentioned there's some banking
legislation or some things going on.

Anything relative to
that you wanna highlight?

Speaker 3: The Senate and the House
look like they've come to an agreement.

It h- all came together quickly.

Some people didn't think it would
happen, but this is about the 21st

Century Housing Bill that while it's
not a credit union-focused bill,

credit unions do get the Credit Union
Board Modernization provision in

that legislation, which I think is
gonna reach the President next week.

And that's a, that's a good common sense.

It's not a real sexy issue.

It's not high profile.

Board modernization essentially
means that you don't have to

have a board meeting every month.

You can have one every six months if you
… I'm sorry, you have six times a year.

I misspoke.

Six times a year, every other
month or whatever, as long

as you have one per quarter.

And you have to be a very healthy
credit union to take advantage

of that, that that flexibility.

But if it is, but if you qualify, it's
gonna be, I think, real regulatory relief

in terms of, from what I've heard the
staff are already popping champagne corks

that they don't have to do all that-

prep work,

Speaker: Just like at
NCUA, they don't meet.

They- Yeah … they do
everything by a notation vote.

The, so NCUA's channeling
the way they're doing things.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

So that's a good- I think that's
a good, I think it's a good thing.

I hadn't followed that,
but that's good to know.

Speaker 3: It is a good thing.

I will also complain a
little bit on the side.

The bank's got a lot of
provisions in this legislation.

Chairman of the House Financial Services
Committee is a guy named French Hill,

who's a very well-respected guy.

His background is as a community banker.

His family's a community banking family.

He has a real focus on the
community banking industry.

He had a hearing last year, Make
Community Banking Greater, Great

Again, as a, in a nod to the President.

Credit unions really have not had as
much of a profile in that, and I think

that's a shame, and I wish we had.

And I hope we can persuade Chairman
Hill and others on the Hill that

maybe, credit unions deserve a
fresh look at regulatory relief as

well, that it's not just for banks.

I, I'm, I don't care one way or
the other if the banks get some

regulatory relief, but I think credit
uni- if they do get the amount that

they got this time, credit unions
deserve a place in that too, I think.

Speaker: Great point.

And Jeff anything on that,
That you wanna highlight?

Speaker 2: No, I think, again, I think
John's point is pretty well taken.

The banks continue to outpace
us in legislation that they get.

I don't think it's for lack of trying.

I know that, I know John has
a lot of influence up there.

I know that, people are working it.

But it just seems to be a
prevailing attitude on the Hill

and Chairman Chairman Hill.

Being a community banker it's
been something we've battled

for years, in terms of that.

But as we move forward, and again
it's gonna be interesting to see

what kind of legislation comes out.

We've talked in these podcasts
about the gridlock in Washington.

And that gridlock, if it starts
at the top, obviously it'll flow

through to the Banking Committee and
the Financial Services Committee.

So it, it'll be interesting to
see moving forward what happens.

And again not to put too fine a point on
it, but November's gonna be an interesting

time in terms of elective politics.

I'm hoping we'll have at least one or
two of these before November, but at

this point it looks like that might
shake things up, and shaking things

up always makes it interesting in DC

Speaker: Oh, great point.

It- so th- that, those are the
different topics I had and we didn't

really develop an agenda here.

But Jeff, is there anything going
on that you want to any particular

topic you want to vet here as we get
into the last quarter of the show?

Speaker 2: No, I think, again, I think
the, I think John Cruz coming over as

a board member is of huge importance.

The Supreme Court case that
may or may not come down in the

next couple weeks could be huge.

I put in a little, I put in a little
commercial for my association that I run.

Their conference is next week in Chicago.

Their keynote speaker's a guy that I'm
sure you've heard of Mark, and I know

John has, a guy named Mike Singletary.

So if you're you may not air this before
then, but if you do and you're in the

Chicago area and you're an internal
auditor, please think about coming.

Speaker: I'm gonna, this'll,
this episode's going out

Monday they can sign up late.

Mike Singletary- They

Speaker 2: can sign up either Tuesday

Speaker: And maybe is Singletary coming
out of retirement to help that Bears

defense, and what are what are you
predicting for the Bears this year?

Speaker 2: Oh, my prediction would be
pretty similar to what I did last year.

I think we can win the, I
think we can win the division.

Speaker: Okay, very good.

Speaker 2: Yeah- If you can
do it, it ain't bragging.

Speaker: It, do it what?

In exciting fashion.

If you

Speaker 2: do it, it ain't bragging.

Speaker: If you do it ain't-

Speaker 3: Can I mention something that
I wanted to backtrack on before- Yes

I, before I step aside for Alonzo,
'cause I know Alonzo's got, always

got something interesting to say.

But I was gonna say earlier I talked
about John Cruz's confirmation

hearing and how the CFPB, if there
is a CFPB nominee up there with him,

he's gonna get a lot of questions.

Having said that, I want to step
back and say, if John Cruz does

get a lot of questions, I've seen
him speak before credit unit group.

Very competent, ve- great
educational background.

Very, you can tell he's very
seasoned on the regulatory side,

had a command of things that…

And this was when he was, this
was at the the government affairs

conference back in, late February.

Before he had been nominated, he was
at the time deputy assistant secretary.

But, he's very well qualified for this,
and I think if he does step into this

role soon, credit unions are gonna
be very pleased with what they see.

Speaker: That's good to hear.

That's good to hear.

And any r- any Ravens predictions?

10 and 7, 7

Speaker 3: and 10?

I said I think last year we were gonna
have a pretty good season then choke at

the end, and I, you know- You called it.

You nailed it … I have no reason to
think that's not gonna happen again.

I'll sit there through, I'll sit through
it ev- like I do every year, but,

Speaker: Very good.

All right, Alonzo what do you got
on the Atlanta Falcons a- and/or

anything else in the credit union land?

Speaker 4: Atlanta Falcons are gonna
be good this year, but d- don't forget

I'm like Jeff, I'm a, I'm from Chicago.

I I root for the Falcons and
when I'm, when they're playing,

but I'm a Bears fan at heart.

I'm on borrowed time.

Put that in perspective because
I asked God to let me live to see

the Cubs win a World Series, so I'm
on overtime right now 'cause they

won it- … they were 1-0 since.

But Falcons are gonna do good
and looking forward to it.

They should have- if nothing else,
they're gonna be an exciting team.

Speaker: They should be, yeah.

A lot of offensive weapons, and we
gonna call them the Indianapolis

Bears pretty soon or just,
Nope … just the Chicago Bears?

Speaker 3: Don't even start

Speaker: with that.

The Chica- The Chicago land area.

Now, I never heard that before.

The Chicago land area.

That's,

Speaker 4: that's called the
New York Giants and Jets.

Speaker: It sure is.

They're

Speaker 3: not the New York Jets.

That's a sore subject.

Speaker: I don't think-

Speaker 3: I don't think

Speaker: the

Speaker 3: Dallas Cowboys play in Dallas.

Speaker: A- and last year
I was talking about the JJ

McCarthy era, which is now over.

Yeah.

With that guys, Thank you

as always, I enjoy this.

I learned a few things.

This episode will be going out
Monday, so we'll still be fresh.

And we'll do this again within
the next three months and one

more time before November.

All right, guys?

Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.

Speaker: You got it.

Thanks.

And listeners- Appreciate
it … listeners, watchers, I

wanna thank you for listening.

This is Mark Trakel signing
off with Flying Colors.