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 shooting the basketball when they play a game where the goal is to shoot a basketball?

Those stories, plus we take a quick, obligatory look back to the razing of the Roadrunners, wonder what’s wrong with Corey, pay some respect to Kayla Standish, give our thanks for all that is Greg Heister and get into a little podcasting after dark.

And finally, with the Bulldogs heading off to the Bahamas, we provide the lads with a little extra motivation with the return of the Top 3.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come eat at the big kids table with us, won’t you?

@freeirabrown freeirabrown@gmail.com 

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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 St. Bakersfield.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come celebrate the return of our French Fantastique with us, won’t you?

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 game of What If?

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come along and laugh at others with us, won’t you?

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?

@freeirabrown freeirabrown@gmail.com