Ben Criddle as Jimmer's Dog Whisperer?
BYU basketball icon, Jimmer Fredette, is taking his talents overseas and will play in Greece for the Panathinaikos, BC, for the upcoming 2019-2020 season.
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TJ Fredette, Jimmer’s brother and mentor, spoke with ESPN 960 host, Ben Criddle, to discuss details of Jimmer’s new adventure overseas, the 2019 TBT Tournament in Salt Lake City and Ben’s plea to Jimmer and Whitney to care for their dog while the Fredettes are overseas.
Entering their third year of the TBT Tournament, a 64-team, single- elimination tournament for $2 million dollars, Team Fredette will be without Jimmer himself but won’t be too far from the action as he will be a coach. Alongside him, legendary former BYU men’s basketball coach, Dave Rose, will help call plays for Team Fredette.
THE TBT TOURNAMENT 2019
Ben Criddle - “How did you convince Dave Rose to coach up this squad?”
TJ Fredette - “I just texted coach and I was thinking that it would be cool if he just came and made an appearance….honor him for the legend that he is and everything he has done for BYU basketball. When I texted him he said ‘anything you need for TBT, any kind of help you need, I’m in.’ So I was like, ‘did he just open the door to maybe coach?” TJ did ask Coach Rose to be apart of the staff and Coach Rose responded by saying, “that would be fun.”
Ben Criddle - “Two GOATS on the bench, Jimmer and Rose.”
JIMMER TO GREECE
TJ Fredette - “China was an incredible experience and we loved what he was able to do in China. Greece came on really strong with an offer and the opportunity to grow his fan base in a different country.”
“I’ll tell you what, someone sent me something online today where it was just a video of pregame at one of their games and it was unbelievable. This is going to be the closest thing he has ever experienced since playing in front of a BYU type crowd, just that energy, the atmosphere was amazing. So we are so thrilled that he is in a position to where he can play for a great team and playing for an incredible city and play in front of fans that bring the electricity every night.”
Ben Criddle - “I don’t know if you know this about me TJ but I am actually a dog whisperer, I love dogs, I am a K-9 specialist. So could you tell Whit and Jimmer that I would love to babysit their baby, their Golden Retriever…I’ll be their full-time baby sitter so I can go over to Greece with the fam, hang out, I’ll do my show from there, I’ll do it remotely, I’ll do it from there, middle of the night, it doesn’t matter. I will take care of the dog so Whit doesn’t have to worry about.”
TJ Fredette - “That’s big, Ben, I’ll let them know because that’s always a factor, they love that dog, he’s the best. George is an incredible dog. I’ll definitely let him know that that offer still stands and they will really appreciate that.”
Ben Criddle - “Yeah, I don’t know if they take that into account.”
TJ Fredette - “Oh, you never know.”
Listen to the complete interview with TJ Fredette by clicking on the link below.