IT IS WHAT IT IS - OFFSET PULLS UP, STEPHEN A SMITH SAYS THE NBA IS GETTING TOO WHITE & CAM NEWTON'S TAKE ON WOMEN!

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Ma$e, Cam’ron & Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson are back with another one!! Please rate, review, and follow the podcast for more content.  Sign up with promo code IIWII and play $5 to get $75 in bonus funds: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-itiswhatitis #UDpartnerMake sure to support the show by hitting the link in the bio and downloading the Underdog app. Use code MASE, CAM, or STAT to get up to $1,000 in bonus funds with your first deposit! Follow the show and our hosts on social media: ⁠It Is What It Is⁠, ⁠Cam'Ron⁠, ⁠Ma$e⁠, and ⁠Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson⁠ , ⁠Producer Ayooo Nick⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Come on in, nigga. Come in, come in, come in. And bring your shorty. Yo, Ola, all that, son. This is a great conversation. He'll be perfect for this conversation. Yeah. I don't, I don't do that.

What up, Brody? It's good. What's how'd you? Hey, how are you? You all right? Good to see you. I appreciate your boys holding me down on this motherfucker. They don't never do.

No. Say it on that. Yeah, man. Appreciate these boy, hold me down. They don't do no lame shit to me. They don't ever say no lame shit. They keep it a thousand.

Yeah, man. Fuck with Diboy. Nah, we appreciate you, man. You get. Take my number, putting in your phone real quick. I want to come on the show too. I'm dropping an album in April.

I bet. Say no more. I definitely want to come on this, my fucking. Why he'd be kicking a reel on this one fucking? Nah, I'm not. You already know. It's like, whoa. This is what it is.

This episode is presented by Underdog. If you're new to Underdog, the day, get $75 in bonus entries when you play just $5 with code, it is what it is. So Underdog is available right now in most days, including Florida, Texas, and California, just to name a few. So make sure you all support the show, locking your bonus and start playing today with code. It is what it is. I'm Treasure Wilson, aka Stat Baby, along with your host, Mace and Cam.

And today we are joined with our analyst Maurice Claret. Mo was good. Killer what's going on, man. It's good, bro. How y'all doing, man? Yeah, man. Brother McHan. We almost got that money today, man. Cana was this close to being late, man.

It was like two minutes. Pause. How it all worked out? First of all, I'm disgusted with myself because my... Gaining my way back. I go, I've been slacking on swimming. I usually swim four or five times a week. It got little chilly.

I haven't been swimming now. My top button ain't top. ain't snaps from now. I'm trying, pardon me, this is just a look that I'm trying to go for it really because my top button won't snap it, I can't put my tie on. So, pardon me if this is,

if y'all think I'm trying to show like chest hair, I don't got no chest here, no taco meat paws, and none of that. But, yo, Mo, you know what I was thinking about real quick? Because before the show, before the shot, you always brushing your hair, and I brush my hand, Mace think he'd a wavyish one. Let's have a wave contest in two weeks.

See who got the biggest, the most ways. I'll be lazy. I'm challenged myself to see who get the, two weeks from the day, we're doing double back and see who got the most ways. All right. Yeah, let's do it, man. Let's start tomorrow, man. Hey, Mo, and do you want to join us to everybody that tell them the rules, Cam?

All right, well, Mo's only on one day a week. If you're not camera ready, at your Eastern Standard, Tom? East. Yeah. I saw 11 a.m. Shark. You're five $500. Yeah, I heard the rules yesterday.

I know. Stets said she'd happy day in a year. It ain't a palm tree contest. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Facts, man. Facts. Yeah, she tried to throw us straight.

Yeah. I didn't have to throw us straight because he still don't got the palm tree. Oh, we already, we already, we already got things worked out, Stats. You're late to the party. This is six weeks you've been having shit worked out. This is six weeks of having it worked out. Nice. Okay.

That's what you always say every week. We got that worked out. Well, Maris is silent. Halfway worked out, but it's fine because you know what? We're all here. We're all at time. Everybody looks great.

So we have a lot of fun stuff to talk about. Right, Bace? Yeah. I like this kind of vibe, you know? Right. I will say something. Go ahead, Arise. No, before we get started, I just came back from North Carolina.

We'll say shout out, because I was speaking at Fanville University two weeks ago, and I just came back from speaking to East Carolina, and everywhere I went, you know, it's crazy. Y'all don't realize this, but nobody prior to this show called me Mo. Everybody called me Reese. And everywhere when I went in North Carolina, where there was a gas. station where I was out and about. It was like,

yo, what's up? Mo, we love seeing you on the show. So I did tell them I was going to say hello to all you all. But then shout out to everybody who I ran to North Carolina over the last month that show love to the show.

So I did want to show y'all love and tell you, I told y'all I was going to shout you out on the show. Dope, man. Yo, let me get a solo real quick, Nick. Try I go for Mo'n look. Mo' got that shit down. Yeah, that's the look.

There we go. There's a little guy that I'm going to go with Mo' like that. That's the one right there. Yeah. You get a little better then. Thank you, bro. Yeah.

All right. It's no much better now, man. Inspiration. Love it. Okay. So there's a conversation about the NBA trying to globalize the sport with more international players,

but actually alluding that to the NBA really trying to whiten the sport. So we're going to go to this comment by Stephen A. Smith, where he said, from David Stern to Adam Silver, these guys have supported these brothers, but America hasn't always done so. If there were a bunch of Cooper flags running around, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Dirk is from Germany. I'm talking about white American born. That's a rarity in terms of superstar status in the U.S. for the sport

of basketball. And then Katie had a comment as well that we'll get to next. He said, it would rather not rely on the brothers when speaking of the NBA. And even though you market NBA players who are brothers, it's because you have no choice. Maurice, what do you think of this take from Stephen A. Smith? Do you agree with that or not? Yeah, I was surprised to hear him when he said it, but I would believe him, I think it's true. And I think it comes down to people are asking,

you know, who's the end consumer of most of these games and who are you trying to sell your products to? And they try to find people that can relate to those end users are the people who are spending Sponsorship dollars. And so I think that's why they open it up to make it an international game and to create space for more white players.

But black players seem to dominate. And but these are the conversations. Like I know I heard y'all yesterday when they said they come to the show because we tell the truth, these are some of the conversations that I think they're uncomfortable for people to have. But they need to be had because like it just it almost opens up a box

or forces you to have a conversation that people think about what, you don't necessarily say because you end up thinking that you have something to lose or you'll jeopardize your brand. But Stephen A, he's a pause. He's big enough and solidified enough within the media space to at least have the conversation along with KD. I think this is pretty interesting, Mo. When you talk about what this topic is really spearheading and what's at the root of this conversation, I think after hundreds of millions, we still, not we, but it's amazing.

and high after hundreds of millions, people still feel slighted. Like, how much is enough before you feel like you're equal, right? This is just something I'm hearing. Like, in the undertone, you got people making 200 million, 100 million, right? Before it used to be, you don't get an opportunity. Now you get an opportunity. You still don't feel like you belong. I think what you're really missing, a white guy,

can't give you. I'm just going to be honest with you pause. I talked about this for the real ingredient that's missing from people is God and people that got that don't, you don't hear them arguing that. And this is real interesting

that we say this, but you know, when you're constantly distracted and constantly divided in your thoughts, I could see how people would think that, right? You know what I'm saying? Like even yesterday I said something about you know, commentators and things of that sort, you know, using their platform to really, you know,

own in and take advantage of different people. And I know there's people trying to make a big deal out of something between me and Charlemagne. I have no problems with Charlemagne. I think when it comes to like podcasting or or just expressing my views, I'm just trying to give great narrative and great objective views to everything that's going on. And I just thought that was something to add the other day. But me and Charlemagne doesn't have any issues. Shout out to Charlemagne. Shout out the M.B.

Shout out the poetic flaco. Let's keep this show going. Let's keep it clean. So what was the actual take on this makes it like? That after all this money, I don't see how that's still a conversation. For who? for black guys, black athletes. He's got a 400 year head start murder.

Yo, bro, you know, I'm my nigga, like, that's why I just want to be saying, like, yo, you finally say, yo, we gave you niggas hundreds of millions of dollars. What else do you want? It's not like I'm white, I'm just saying that. At some point,

killer, you don't let me hold a pass over your head. You like, you know, come on, murder. We'd have made eight figures now. Would you talk? No, no. Yeah, you're like, niggas have made eight figures a few times. No, I'm saying that. Come on, how long are you going to use the past over us? No, because what I'm saying is this.

When the deals that you actually negotiated for us, when you talk to other people, they're just amazing. They're like, yo, we never heard of it. It doesn't happen. You know, that's what they say. The feedback. This is worse in a lifetime. This is the deals that you'll negotiate.

So when I'm saying this, I'm sitting there saying we're in a marketplace and not necessarily this show, talking about other business that me and Mace does. He's a great negotiator. So sometimes I do be like murder. We're going to miss out because I get pushing the envelope, but sometimes they're going to push it.

You know, you slide something under the door and they get sliding right back. That's the same time what I'm scared of. When he slapped the note under the door, and niggas read it and slide it right back. That's what I'm saying. But as far as you said, yo, niggins don't got hundreds or millions, man.

200, 300, 300, a billion. You had a 400 year, has thought on us. Not only that, killing us along the way. then segregation along the way then got the civil rights movement the Jim Crowe it goes on not only that

and no just I'm not laughing about it it's just funny and you talk about not only yeah because I know I don't really get

it's the facts look I know what I'm doing when I'm doing what I'm doing I'm doing yeah I know what I'm doing now you want to sit down

and get disappointed You know, not only that, right? Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, not only that, right? And I'm very, very happy for all my Native Americans. But they get paid. Some of them. I ain't going to say all of them.

You know, they got land. They get paid for some of the casinos, not just in Nevada and Florida. Seminole. Fuck, sorry, Mo. I picked my earphone in after this take, Mo. But, yeah, they're trying to get in. some of it back. And as they should,

we ain't getting nothing. You know, it was a big thing murder when niggas was like, yo, Ken Wilden in black history you might talk about white girls giving head as reparations. And I was like...

Yeah, that was wow. But take what you can get? You know, what are you getting? Yo, my nigga. Yo, my nigga. You know, my nigga. What else are when you act like they're about to be

Former packages would be like, you know what? We figured it out, y'all. We did bring y'all niggas over here. We did ask y'all to help build the country. We did kill y'all niggins alone the way. Then we say, you know, we gave y'all your freedom. Y'all not happy with that? Now y'all want to use our bathrooms and come in our restaurants and eat where we eat.

Okay, cool. Fine. We'll let you use our bathrooms. Let you motherfuck and eat where we eat. But now you want to go to school with us? Now y'all next want to go to learn what we learn? No, murder. I'm not, I'm not gonna disagree with you

when niggas got 300 million. Just shut up. Now, I'm happy with 300 million. I'm not saying I'm not. But I'm not gonna sit here and be like, yo, that should call it even, right? We should call it even with that.

I'm not going to jack that. But back to the original conversation. Look, I've been saying this for years, yo. This ain't, for me, this is nothing new. They're just throwing the European players or overseas players in it that are not white players that are not from America. It is no secret that we have not had a bona fide superstar from America since Larry Bird. I've been saying this year after year after year.

And I like Cooper Flagg. You ain't no damn Larry Bird, not yet. And I don't know if you will be. People forget because we've seen the likes of LeBron James. We've seen the likes of Kevin Durant. that we forget Larry Burr's a three is a three, small Ford. And outside of Kevin Durand, LeBron James, you got several black small fours from Dr. Jay on there.

Larry Bird was some other nigger. And I know they marketed him against Magic Johnson to help save the NBA that Michael Joy came along and, you know, the bad boys to piss. They're doing a lot of great marketing. But he was not overhyped a little bit. He was not overhyped. Now some niggas, they try to force it on you.

Pause? No, this was not being forced on on black people or the NBA or people watching their media. This nigger was the one. It's sad that he got hurt earlier than he should have got hurt, but no, they did not force him on America or people watching the NBA. They tried to do it now, right?

And not just with white players, with black players, too. Is this the face of the league? Is he going to be the face of the league? of the league. This person is going to be the face of the league yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada and it's like yo, the fans will tell you who's the face of the league whenever they figure it out. When you give us somebody that make things say, nah, he's the one, then he'll be the one. And I think championships sometime are involved in that and the people that we're talking about possibly being a face of the league may not have a championship yet.

Or you may have somebody like Shay Gilchus Alexander who does have a championship and they be like, damn, but he's not American. But not only that, he's not white. Then only that, his name may be hard to pronounce. I've seen some shit before, and I'm not saying this right, wrong, and different. I'm just saying I've seen people saying how Janus doesn't get a lot of sponsors all the time.

You know, I'm pretty sure he has great sponsorship because of the pronunciation of his name. And they were doing a whole 30-minute special about that or just different people with hard names to pronounce in America. But as far as this topic is concerned, I agree with KD. And I agree with Stephen A. Smith. This is not nothing new when it comes to trying to find a white American.

Now, we're not sitting here talking about Luca. We're not talking about the Joker. We're not talking about Dirk Navinsky. We're not talking about Marshalonis. We're not talking about Decliffe shrimp. We're not talking about the list of all these other players that were white from overseas that came and bust ass over here. Drozhen Petrovich.

You know, I could name a dozen, if not more. But back to what the Daly said, if you could, you could. You don't have a choice on exactly. You don't have a choice. Pardon me, if you did have a choice, it wouldn't be people of color. You'd market the white person.

Because let me tell you something, I'm 20, 30, $40,000 seats around the course I? If they're family and friends, Most of the time, it's not, it's white people behind them seats. Unless you're at E-40 or shout to my niggas, Spike Lee. Unless you're those type of fans, when you see the black niggas around there. Or Bootsie. Right.

And what's the name? Tutcheon. Yeah. But, you know, just to let you know, Grant Hill told me let you know when you want to go, you could go. You know he part owner of the team. Okay. So I'm not, shout to Bootsie, Tuchet.

Everybody go to Atlanta. But when you want to go, let me know. I didn't know if you was interested. Shout out to my nigga, Great Hill. You're going to murder. When you want to go, you let me know. So you can be a part of that. Great, great take.

And then I do want to like further up, clear upcoms and stuff like that. Because you guys all had pretty much different takes. There were some similarities, but I think you guys don't agree on that. Bays, did you want to kind of reiterate some things before I get on the Tate's comment? I agree. I agree to some degree. just saying because, because this opportunity means that much, I'm more so thinking about what people do with the opportunity, right?

If the opportunity mean that much, then do better about the opportunity is what I'm pretty much echoing. So, I'm trying to think. Because to me, it sounds like this money is being paid to you be grateful, or is that not what you're saying? No, I'm saying the money, I'm saying how much do a person owe you, right? If these people down here are living from the aspect, and I don't want to say these people, like, I don't, I'm not attached to these people, but I'm trying to make a separation. If you got a class of people making $100 million, $200 million, $300 million, they're not in a class with people that are drinking canned milk, right? So that's a total different class of people. You're living the same lifestyle as the people you're arguing with.

You're not living a regular life. You're getting on private jets. You're eating the best of the food, right? You got the best trainers. You got the best doctors. Your kids go to the best schools. You live in the best neighborhood. So what you're trying to really echo and stand for,

I don't, unless your lifestyle is different, you know, you kind of don't get to qualify to speak for that issue, because that's not your issue. So last question before I move on to the second part of this. So do you think that the path it takes to get to that same level, does it not matter? Yes, it matters. It matters? Yeah. Okay.

So I want to go on to Katie's comments because that's kind of what stirred the whole thing. So he said, I just don't like the talk around the USA versus European style of how you approach the game. All I hear is AAU is destroying the game. The Euros do it right while the Americans do it wrong. It's a lot of bullshit with that. I can read between the lines on that. It's a shot at black Americans. We're controlling the sport and they're tired of us controlling the sport.

So back to some comments that Stephen A said, Marys, he basically said, the NBA is marketing black players because it has no choice. So do you agree with that? Or do you think that black athletes have consistently been the league's best talent? I guess I say yes to both of them. Blacks have been consistently the best talent to people who you come and watch the style they play, you come and watch how they dress,

what they drive up to the games or culture, everything about us, it makes us cool. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, we have a cool culture. The guys who play in the NBA are cool guys. But also, I think KD is right or Stephen is right. Like, you have no choice.

But then he's also right and saying that in order to gain control back, they're trying to say, hey, let's go get assets that we can control. You know, white guys are a little bit more, I don't want to say, I don't have another word, but submissive, but it's easier to control them if you had control of that. And that's exactly what they're saying when they say, we can't control AAU basketball. That's just like AAU basketball has been permeated and dominated by young black coaches, you know, black agents and just there's so many black people in the system that the people who actually control the business and assets of it all, they have no control over that. So they're probably going to Adam Silver and saying,

yo, let's push the game to this international game and say this is best and market that this is best. And if somebody's saying that this is the cool thing and this is the best thing going, then people start to perceive it that way. But KD saying, hey, just because you all have been, just because you've sort of, you know, written our back, you know, pause for the past 15, 20 years, and you see LeBron and KD and Steph leaving out the league and Ant Man is coming up and you're trying to get away from the job. of this world, don't act like we didn't get you all here. So I kind of see that everybody's right, but I also roll with the thought that the man with the goal, make the rules. And if you don't own a team, whether you like it or not, you're going to have to live in an environment

with the person who makes the rules, which is the owners. That's a really good take, Mo. I think even my point, I'm still working on the point and really trying to convey it, being one voice among like three or four voices that are saying something slightly different. What I'm more so speaking, another angle that I'm speaking to is that when it comes to the, let's say the American players, right, we're talking about African American players, right? And they're basically saying from another aspect is that this is the league is going in the European direction. I mean, regardless of how we want to say it, you know, some of the best players right now are European players.

So them creating the U.S. versus the European game is just so they could start shifting the faces of that league. And when you think of the players, if you think about, let's say, one player saying he doesn't want to be the face of the league. And you already know, this is the guy you would put it on. And then you got another guy that's playing with. with guns, and then he could have been the face of the league. So it's not just I don't want to deal with them.

It's more so that this might not be the best marketing for the next generation of talent. If you look at, you know, where it's going? You got guys painting their nails. You got different things happening that you have to think about if you're a brand ambassador and you have to think about it if this is your product. If the NBA is your product, who do you want representing it? Take race out of it. It's a certain character that you're looking for.

And it's not just based on black and white. And I think I hate that conversations get swept under the rug on black and white when it's really the character of the person, the integrity of the person. Like, do I want to put a billion, a multi-billion dollar league on a person that's going to be smoking weed? I don't know if I will put my business on that. You know, and that's not that one guy does. doesn't do it, but if this guy is going to be out there like that, and these are the people you got to choose from, it's a business call. It's not really had anything to do with race.

And I think sometimes we get race-baited. That's all I'm really saying. Yeah, I disagree with that. I think, and I understood what you're saying, but I think if you smoke cracking, you can help our owner win, they won't give a fuck. Lawrence Taylor was coming in practice with handcuffs on and this shit, talking about he can't find the key. They ain't give a fuck.

It's hard up. Yo, you're going to get this four sax? Pause tonight? Fuck it. Von their skeleton key. Take the shit off. Let him go do what he got to do. If you're going to help niggas win,

I don't give a fuck how much you smoke, drink, crack, literally crack or money. Owners want to win. And that's one thing that we allude to a lot is that when you're good, even like we talk about a school and shit, they'll figure it out for you. Yeah, Dowell Strawberry. Right, good.

Yeah, there you go. Dexter Manley told the nigga, after he won the Hall of Fame or whatever he was at, he can't read. Who was signed these contracts? Who was counting his money? He said, he can't read or write.

They got a college degree, masters. How? How'd that work? Because he was good enough for them to figure it out. And I just want to make sure I answer the question correctly, Stack, because when you asked it,

I had an answer, but I was listening to what Mace was saying as well. So could you ask the question with me? Yeah. So I said, does the NBA market black players, because it has no choice, like Stephen A is saying, or do you think black athletes have consistently been

the league's best talent? Both. So black athletes have been the league's best talent. And look, Larry Bird said in this where he was coaching the Pacers. Larry Burr said this is off. Not Larry Bird, the player. Larry Boat bird the coach. He said, look, and I remember this when he's coaching the Pacers.

He said, look, if we would have more white athletes, then we would market the league a whole different way. Not saying he was being racist or anything. that he was just looking at the landscape of the league. He said, you look out in that audience and how many white people you see? Now, he hasn't coached probably in close to 20 years, so I think that our audience,

as far as attending games, has been different from prior years where you may not have been able to afford to get a seat. I think that has shifted. But Labby Bird said the shit itself. He's like, yo, if the league got more white players, that's what it would be trying to do. I don't want to say the wrong thing,

but he alluded to something like that. Think about this, right? Why is it a big deal when we think about, let's say, last year in the playoffs? And I couldn't have been last year or the year before last, like, yo, it's going to be 10 black quarterbacks starting in the playoffs for the first time ever. It's a big deal. You get what I'm saying? Like, if it was regular, then niggins would be like, yo, Baltimore playing Kansas City.

It wouldn't be no big deal. they thought for years that black quarterbacks wasn't smart enough to play the position than now was a big deal. That was the thing in the 80s. Oh, we don't know the intelligence level of a black nigga to run a quarterback. What?

What are you talking about? Now in 2026, 24, whichever year it was, we're seeing him making a big deal out of 10 black quarterbacks starting in the playoffs. Which if you're like, I think back to what Mesa is saying, that shouldn't matter. It's Benzo, if you could play the position, you could play the position. But because we've been stereotyped as not being smart enough 20, 30, 40 years ago, it turns out the big deal.

You know, you have Randall Cunningham, my nigger Moon down in, and pause down there, Houston, the Houston earliest before they moved out. And that was pretty much until like the Donovan McNabs came along and so on and so forth. But it was like two black quarterbacks in the 80s. It may have been more of, I'm forgetting them, but there's a big. thing's a big deal. White thing's a big deal when Barack's the president. Oh, shit. It's amazing. It shouldn't be no big deal. But because it's black, it's a big deal. That's my opinion. But the answer to the question outright, my opinion is to yes to both the questions. It's no choice.

Because listen, let me tell you something murder. Like, same thing, right? When he's talking about what's that nigga, Jeremy Lynn. Yeah. The Asians was out. Yeah. I was going to 24-hour fitness after the game at midnight, yo. Asian people, shout to y'all, my name, salute. They were out in packs like what? We are next. And I've never seen it like that.

So sometimes you spearhead a culture, not saying white culture needs to be spearheaded, but there's no way to act like you're not going to when a white dude could beat Mike Tyson that they're not happy about it. If we're talking about boxing, like they're not going to be excited about

it. So, tell you about it. One thing I do want to ask, I was thinking about it because we were saying like when it happens to specifically black people, it's a big deal. I do think that it is our duty to preserve a lot of our history because I feel like, not even feel like it's the truth. So much of our history has been lost since the beginning of time because there were things that we did maybe first or whatever that genuinely was not documented. It was intentionally erased so we wouldn't have that history preserved. So I know people are like, well, why does it matter that it is.

like 10 black quarterbacks or this or that or this like i think it matters because there was a time where we erased all of that and it obviously being black history month i'm like it is so important for us to make sure that we i wish they could really see the window right now because they are actually jamming hey um there was a time where none of that stuff was documented for us to be able to talk about for us to be able to celebrate so i hope that we keep breaking barriers and i'm not saying that that's what y'all aren't saying but i want to add to that because i think it's so important now that we have the opportunity to do so. That's what I will say.

Okay. On to football. So Brown Jim, Andrew Berry, said the starting QB spot is up for grabs. He said, we don't have to make that decision anytime soon. I think any player that we have in that room, we would expect to compete to earn a role. Those two would be no different in reference to Shador and Dishon Watson. So, Maurice, in your opinion, who do you think has more upside for the spot? Of course, I think Shadour.

And I understand why Cleveland is doing this. You know, if you hear all the buzz around town and in Ohio, at least, everybody feels like Kevin Stefanski was a big problem in Cleveland, right? So when you're paying somebody $50 million, you're going to figure out if Kevin Stafansky was a problem. And if Deshaun Watson can, I don't know, reactivate or become what he once was, you know, when he was down there playing in Houston. So I get it. but I still view it as a distraction. And so we went through a whole season last year, what Dylan Gabriel and I forget who else ever,

Joe Flacco and all this other stuff, distracting Shador. And to me, what Shador means to the state of Ohio, to the Cleveland Browns organization, and just what he could mean from a leadership standpoint, if you gave him that position, and you sort of just like looked at Deshaun Watson

like as an expensive developmental tool to help Shador. You just sort of like cut your losses and move on from him and allow him to go flourish elsewhere. I think that's where the direction of the Cleveland Brown should go. But I'm not the owner. Obviously, I'm not the general manager. But I would take a Shador, the upside of him, the excitement of him,

him being able to feel these stands and just the city being excited about him. To me, you're going into another season and you just have all this noise about Deshaun and everything he was involved in. And Izzy Kenny beat Shador. And then every time Shador makes a mistake, and instead of letting him grow, pause, it's sort of learned through it and get a whole season up under his belt. He's now dealing with this. And so to me, this is bad management of assets.

And, like, obviously, business at the end of the day is asset management. And to me, this is just a bad decision from the general manager. Yeah, I think when it comes to the Cleveland Browns, they really should just decide what they're going to do and let that be clear. but I know because they got a new hire and their new head coach, he has an old school type of style, so he's looking to run the ball anyway. So who his quarterback is doesn't really, and as crazy as this is going to sound,

it may not mean that much to him. But if they want this organization to win, the sooner they figure this out, the better. But I'm starting to think that Cleveland Browns, the owners and the people, they probably got so much money. They don't even care about winning. Some people don't care about winning.

And this is the vibe that's starting to give. Like you said, a waste of talent. But I don't think that's how they're looking at it. They're trying to create a new culture. This is how the coach could be looking at it, the objective view. I'm trying to create a new culture. I'm not giving anybody anything. Pause.

I'm making everybody earn everything. And that's how we're going to change. this coach you around. And what you did last year, it doesn't matter this year. And being the status that Shador has and the status that of the amount of money they paid Watson, they got to let them both compete. It would be wrong to pay him all this money and then just turn the ball over to this other person. That would be a poor waste of a lot of millions. But I would love to it what y'all got to say about that. I want to give a shout to Emmett Smith.

He had to take on something similar to this, not the starting quarterback role. Just the Shador show or whatever you want to call it that's going on in Cleaver right now. And he was pissed off. Like Evan Smith, Evan Smith, pardon me, went to fuck off.

He was cursing order. And he made a great point to me. He said, you give these rookie quarterbacks a chance. Because I think what Mace said is great, too. You give Deshaar Watson, he's the one they set it off with with this $250 million, $240 million guarantee shit the way all these quarterbacks are getting money. But the way Emmett Smith put it, he made a great point.

He was saying that how, you know, and that's another point you made that was going to make. It's a new coach as well. So he probably wants to, you know, he's a new coach. He just doesn't want to say. But back to Emmett Smith, he made a point he said, you don't want to give this young man the keys and see what he can do.

Why not? We already seen what Dylan Gabriel is capable of. We've seen Joe Flacco get in and out. We've seen what Chodor could do with a little bit of time he had. He said, you do this with Joe Flacco, you gave him the keys to Baltimore. What about Bo Nix?

You give him the keys and see what he can do over and then. You give Jaden Daniel the keys over there. Caleb Williams has the keys over there. He named more people as well. I just can't think off the time of the hand. Ward? Cam Ward. Can War.

Yeah, Cam Ward. You give him the keys. You give Drake May the keys. And you sit there and say, can't drive the car, we'll give you a few years to see what happens. And he was pissed off.

And especially Cam Ward, that's a great one because they stunk it up. You know what I'm saying? He's the number one pick. Not saying he can do it by itself, but you let him see where he could do this season.

We end up seeing a coach get fired and so on and so forth. But I really like Emmett Smith's take when he was like, they're not doing Shador or right. And just, you know, in the game, out the game, let them finish some preseason game.

Don't let them finish the game. Joe Flackle starring Dylan. Gabriel's starting now. You're starting. It was just no consistency at the quarterback position. So we'll see what happens this year. Because in all fairness, like Mace just said, it's a brand new coach.

I think that's the right thing to say for a brand new coach. But it's just no stability. Because if you're asking who started next year in New England, it's not really a guess. If you're asking who started next year in Denver, it's not a guess. If you're asking who's starting next year in D.C. is not a guess.

And I know these are all different situations for different organizations. I get that. But Cam Ward was the best one may say. They gave him a whole year to see exactly where he's at. And you're still not doing that when it comes to Shadour.

Even the guy from New York, Jackson Dart. Yeah. Right. Exactly. That's, that's, that's, that's, giving everybody the key. That's what Ms. Smith is basically trying to say, exactly, man. Yeah.

Okay. So do women lose value with more kids? We will discuss Cam Newton's comments after the break. She called his thing about toxic. Got you feeling like a option. Maybe I'm my own problem, babe. She's tired of hearing out. What's up?

What's up in me? Welcome back Welcome back. Welcome back. Now let's get into our under Let her win. Welcome back. Now let's get into our underdog

mix of the day. So tonight, the Nuggets will play the Celtics. Underdog has Yokic at 13 and a half rebounds. Do you have them higher, Laura Mace? That's a interesting one because normally you have a round.

He could have that many. But I'm going to go higher. Anything with Joka, I got to go higher. I got to give them the best. benefit. How many? 13 and a half rebounds. I'm going to go lower. I think you're going to have 12. Okay. Jamal Murray's at 23 and a half points. Do you have him higher or lower camp?

Hi. When they come to Jamal Murray, he's having a really good year. I'm going to go higher. Okay. And Jalen Brown's at 28 and a half points. Do you have them higher or lower Mace? Higher. Hi. Okay. Make sure y'all down the underdog app. And you can make your picks too. So bear with me here, because this is a long quote,

but I want to make sure I read everything that he said. So Cam Newton says, women lose value with more kids. He said, I just think that the reality to that answer is women's value. Get lower, the more children that they have. And he referenced a conversation with one of the mothers of his children, explaining how he approached her situation when they were together. He said, I was telling her, the guy that you're dating or will date ain't willing to love on these five children that you have.

That ain't the guy for you. because when I came into your life, I was willing to accept you and whatever you had. He also added that not. Everyone shares that mindset, noting that some men may separate their interest in a woman from her children. And he said, there are guys that's out there that's just going to say,

them ain't my kids. I want you. So, Maurice, do you think that women lose value with more kids? And what do you think about what Cam Newton had to say? Oh, no. That's just a blanket question. I don't want to say yes or no.

but what would I do what I will say with this is that I think he was speaking from his perspective being an athlete with a bunch of money and I think like as I heard him say it and I know he got picked apart by a bunch of people like he was just speaking from somebody who probably had so much to offer

that his choice of women and everything he wants for women he can kind of pick and choose who he wants because that's the situation he's in and anybody who has a bunch of value whether you're an athlete or entertainer or somebody who makes a ton of money you would probably feel the same way too.

But everybody's different. You know, everybody, everybody doesn't, they don't care if you have kids with somebody else and they don't value a woman based upon the kids that she have. At the end of the day, it's just sex and somebody, you know,

got you pregnant, you had a baby, but it just is one of days. So I wouldn't say that they lose value, but I think what he was actually saying was based upon whatever he can choose, he would value that less than what he did with somebody else. So I wouldn't just give a blanket statement

saying that just, because a woman has kids that she loses value. But I would say everybody speaks from their own personal experience and personal perspective. Yeah, this is a real interesting statement and an interesting question when it, when it come to women, because a lot of it is determined on what does she have going for herself other than the children, right, what type of woman she is. I don't think that blanket statement, like you said, holds up in every case, I do understand that for some, for most guys that are like premium guys or

or elite guys, a lot of elite guys may think that way, right? Unless she's just amazingly beautiful. If she's amazingly beautiful, it seemed like in this generation, people look past that. So I would say stat, it depends on what generation you're asking. In some generations, that was a problem. I don't think in this generation, it matters that. you have that many children because we see guys all the time dating people who got kids by other people or some of the biggest couples already had children before they got together.

So I think that's not valid in this generation and this day and time. But there was a time when that was the truth. Yeah, I agree with Mason on that one. It was a time when they was like, oh, you're taking care of her kids too, nigger? They didn't show motherfucking kids. It was kind of like back then when niggas like, you're eating a pussy dog? Like it was frowned eating pussy.

Like it was frowned upon. I remember murder got mad at me back in day scared. What are you doing? It's like, murder is pussy. I'm sorry. Murder wasn't with that. now it's regular my bitch is my bitch is beloved my bitch is beloved my bitch is beloved

I eat the asshole old pussy all type of shit shout to my man too and his wife he was giving me a little bit too much information back to the question though it depends on I think it's like you said my blanket question I think makes answered it correctly um it depends right I know somebody with no kids, right, who loves kids.

But they just feel that they may have missed their time. They're a little older and they may not want to start scratch. Like, I tell my niggas sugar digger all the time. And my niggins sin and a couple of niggas I know they don't have kids. I'm like, yo, just stick with the dogs and shit. Think about it, right? Think about it, right? I'm not telling nobody's age.

I'm just going to give a roundabout in between. I'm not saying that it's old or even. close to it, but let's just say you 45 years old, right? And I'm not telling you, Stato, don't get scared, go rush to have a kid randomly. No rush. No years are creeping up. You got plenty of time, man. If you 45 years old today, right?

Now, if you're financially stable, it's everything else that cool, and I understand it too. But even like with me, I'm my hands-on father. I would go to every talent show, whatever's going on. You know, I stayed away from exactly going. raise and anything because my son's mother with a teacher, she had that down pack. But I'm talking about anything outside of school. My son been on more tours than rappers. You know what I'm saying?

So imagine me in 45 having a brand new baby. You're on a parent-teacher conference at 61. Like, nobody got time for that at 60. I don't want to be in parent-teacher conference at 6. When the nigger graduate college, you're 70. It might be a little late. I can't tell people with time to start and everything, but I'm happy I had my kid at the age I did

because I get to enjoy my 40s and 50s with a grown ass. I ain't got to rush back and be nowhere. He can meet me, whatever, period. But I think it mays answer it correctly. Mo, you said it correctly as well. But like I said, I know a couple people who are happy, who got a girlfriend that has a kid. Because they tell me, Kim, I like the kid a lot.

But I can leave that motherfucker whenever I want because it's not mine. So when it's time for me to go, they can keep it. This ain't me talking. I'm just saying. Blame the message. Oh, my goodness. I have a thought. I just think that Cam is kind of toxic.

Not you. Cam, even though you, I don't know, you could be, I don't know. But I think Cam Newton's kind of toxic because it's just, you're allowed to have preferences. Like, I don't think anybody should shun a man or a woman if they literally say, like, look, my preference is not to be with somebody that has a child. Like, if that's your preference, that's okay to say.

in return saying your preference and then saying it as like women lose value by having more children with different partners and then telling, you know, your baby mom, whoever she was to you that like, that man better love you based on the kids that you have. I don't, I don't really see the upside and saying that at all or even telling her that. You could literally just say, hey, this isn't my preference, but we can move forward or not. I just feel like some things are just that easy. And I know there's going to be difficult conversations, but I don't think that needs to be communicated to that person

or even just to women as a whole. Because I just feel like the more things that you say that come out that way, it just makes people look like, I know, like, to you or whoever may consider that, like, you're going to be considered a high value man or, like, crim of the crop, whatever it might be. But saying that, especially coming from a place when you have multiple children, like, I just don't, I don't get,

how that helps anything. Well, let me ask you this, stat. Yeah. A man with seven children is his value high to a woman with no kids? It says, I'm not going to base the amount of kids that he have and relate that to his value.

That he got seven kids? I can have a preference, but I'm not going to say that he's not valued because I think that a father and a mother are super valuable people. But I'm not going to say that you don't have value because you have four or five kids. I can say I don't prefer to be with a man that has four or five kids because I don't have kids.

But I'm not going to go and say... That's what I think he's speaking of. I think he just used the wrong words. Well, but this is what I'm saying. That's when do you recognize it as a problem? You can't just go around when you have certain platforms and just always use the wrong words. I think that also comes with accountability to be like, that is my preference. And I'm not going to tell a woman or a mother that she doesn't have value because she has multiple children.

I feel like that's also your responsibility by having a platform to also, and we always talk about critiquing and that's fine, but also watching how you say certain things. Yeah, I don't think these, see, when they got to be in podcasts, I mean podcasts and people not being skilled journalists, right, and growing into that journalism and being launched into journalism through superstardom from somewhere else. such as myself, such as others, you know, you had a voice before you even trained as a journalist, right? So there's a lot of things that are missing from those people. And, you know, hopefully they'll find it. Like, at least I know in my understanding, I just said this yesterday, there's things I want to get better. I remember when I first started doing this show with Killer, the first person I reached out to, I don't know if he noticed, but I reached out to Shannon Sharp. And the DM, I was like, you know, what's up? Like, you know, just introducing myself in this space,

like, just trying to learn from somebody who's done it, you know, and try to get some tips. He never responded, but, you know, maybe he didn't see it, you know. But I think everybody that's doing this can use a little bit more hands-on knowledge, pause. Yeah. I just want to say that like everybody who has a platform, everything that they say is being heard and listening to and it is powerful. And so I'm not saying like you're always going to be right. And I'm not saying, oh, just because I disagree that he's also wrong. But I do think that certain words do Matt. Because even looking to when he says, because when I came into your life, I was willing to accept you and whatever you had. Like that makes it seem as if like I don't want to put. but like bottom of the barrel, like I accepted you and what you got. That is so random. Yo, go get, yo.

Come on in, nigga. Come in, come in, come in. And bring your shorty. And bring the new girl. It's coming. Yo, all that all's a sudden. This is a great conversation. He'll be perfect for this conversation.

Yeah. I don't, I don't do that. What up, Brody? It's good. What's that? It's good, man. Hey, how are you? I appreciate your boys holding me down on this motherfucker.

They don't never do no lame shit. Wait, say that. Say that in that. Yeah, man. Appreciate these boy hold me down. They don't do no lame shit to me. They don't ever say no lame shit. They keep it a thousand.

Fuck with D boy. Nah, we appreciate you, man. You good. Take my number, putting in your phone real quick. I want to come on the show too. I'm dropping an album in April. I bet. Say no more.

I definitely want to come on this month. Yeah. It's right on time. We ain't judging. You can't. There's a new day. It's a new day. Yeah, how you say them, all those things matter.

But Chalacham Newton, because he is doing his thing, but I just think that there is a better way to relay what you're saying. That's what I would say. Okay, so last thing before we wrap, so in college these days, you guys see a lot of kids who come up with good parents and households compared. I can't even say compared to the 90s because again, I wasn't alive in the 90s, but from what I've seen, right? So, Maurice, why do you think kids who grew up in responsible environments feel the need to act a certain type of way, maybe act like they got out the mud, came from a different type of environment?

What do you think is up with that? I have no clue. And when I created a question, it was more for Mason Cam. And I can't make sense of it. And I only said because I'm around a bunch of college kids when I go on. around and do my thing or when I'm going to speak to different universities and I'm around it when I'm with young kids, but I was, I thought about the question knowing that they grew, I mean, they actually had kids and they were doing well so the kids didn't grow up like them.

And I don't know if their kids ever got caught into that way. Like my father was born one way or born and brought up one way, did they ever feel the need to feel like that they had to represent or feel like that they had to attach something, attached themselves to something that they've never done or what was their experience in general. And so I was at East Carolina day before yesterday, one of those days. And they set us a problem down there with kids growing up responsibly. And they feel the need to want to connect with the neighborhood. And so this was just me asking their wisdom, their advice and like their experience.

And the question is about how children... Basically, like, you see some kids come from good environments and like a good background. They want to act like that's not what that was or maybe not a set. that that's how they grew up and act as if it was a different way. That's crazy because sometimes I used to wish my kids would act that way. They definitely don't act like they, they... I can't lie, but I wanted my son have a little bit. Like, you know, my son, I was trying to get them to be that way, but, you know,

It just didn't take, you know. He's just like, Dad, I'm so over the struggle. It's like, he don't want to hear nothing about no struggle. He doesn't open doors. He doesn't do anything that goes with servinghood. But I had to teach him servinghood, you know. He doesn't do anything that goes with that. He doesn't like the laundry, none of that.

Yeah, look, my son, too, I'm not, mom, man, that's one thing I do teach my son. You gotta clean up after yourself. It's hard for a boy to clean up after yourself, but I do try to instill that in, but I'm not even talking about that. I'm talking about a little ditty bobby. My son is like, I love my son so much because he's, he's like, yo, his bio used to say on his Instagram,

I'm little Cam, I'm not from Harlem. I can't get you a little bit. I can't get you a record deal. In his bio. Yeah, in his bio. Yeah, that's great. I'm not from Harlem and I can't get you a record deal. And he wants his own identity and I get him.

He doesn't want to do what I did. So Mace made, my thought Mace take the other day was great. I don't even think we was in studio together, but when he was like, you know, follow my path of what I want to do, what I want you to do until you figure out your path. And I always remember a story he tells me about his son. And he brought up on the show that day about how he wanted his son to play basketball in the middle of the game.

He told him he didn't want to play basketball anymore. He's an intellectual. He's intellectual. But the part that Mace left out was when his son went up to somebody and told us and said, how you be hungry when you're not hungry? And then they said he almost lost it. You said, I'm gonna get you a match.

You said, I think you want me to be hungry if I'm already ate. Yeah. I'm gonna rush over right now. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I laugh for three days when May told me that's man. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Because I get it. You like, yo, as an athlete, especially how I was like, yo, you want that hungry, he's like, yo, how are you forcing that on me, though? You know what I'm saying? But I think that all, all, listen, man,

you all think about this, right? I think every rapper exaggerates, and not saying that they haven't rapped about what they've been through, but you didn't kill 92 people on the other seven album. You ain't throw a grenade over there. You ought to realize, man, not saying that a lot of rappers haven't been through a lot of real shit

because they have. But think about this shit, right? When a rap is saying all this dangerous shit, you're doing all this dangerous shit, but you're still a poet, nigga? Because that's what rap is. You're still doing poetry after all this crazy shit you've been through.

I remember I had a rhyme, right? Damn, how did the fucking rhyme go? I had a rhyme. I said, son, my mother got mad and my crack plighted threw it away, so I back slapped her. My mom went out and then and they said, if a nigga would, you wouldn't have never heard of Kim,

if a nigga backslap me. Niggins said, if Kim back slapped me, I said, Mom, we got into a little something. She said, she said, If you would have ever backslap me, I said, my, it's with the altercation. If you would have ever backslap me, you wouldn't have been no rap album, no nothing.

So sometimes I think, and not saying I ain't grew up in a wild neighborhood, I definitely did, but I get what you saying. You know, Mike Irvin alluded to this with his son, Tarantino, Quinn, which thing? Not Quinn, but. Tarantino. Yeah, Tarantino.

You know, Mike, like, yo, you looked in the Gator community. Fuck you're talking about. Mike don't know how hard it's been for him. Yeah, but sometimes, too, what you ought to realize, too, even this is a great question, because this is going for a minute. I'll just close it out. Say it even if you didn't grow up in enough tough neighborhood, sometimes that's the most times you gotta feel like you're tough.

You get what I'm saying? Like, oh, these niggas think I'm a gated community ass nigger. Oh, I'm in the duplex. Da, da, da. And that's sometime when them niggas really be off the wall and be going even more crazy because they feel they have a point to prove because they didn't grow up in the North neighborhood. Yeah, I think that's a super underestimation, right?

If you're thinking because this kid grew up here that he can't do that is, wow, you wouldn't get some of the murderers that we have because they came from suburbia, the real cycles. Maurice, what we do your question? No, as Ken was talking, it made me think I wonder if that's the same thing that attracts people to music, where you don't grow up in it, you're not around it, but you relate to the, well, music from the generation before when music was real and raw and all of other stuff. It just made me think if that's the same thing that kids may be searching for when they play sports and trying to identify with something a little bit more rough, rugged, raw, real, whether it's fabricated or not,

I wonder if they search it for that same thing. Yeah, I think it's just kids, but yes, kids as well. I think it's adults. I think adults be in the house. I know Nick be in the house, Nick, my nigger Nick in the control. I know when he listening to his rap music, he say nigger, when he by himself. Bitch, niggas, because he want to be into it.

You gotta pause it when you're around, nigga. Think about trying to sing a rap song about your black friends in the nigger part, come on. Yo, fuck these. Then and then they didn't pick back up. I've seen it. But when they hold by their stuff, they get all that shit off, Nick.

This, nigga. They like that shit. Yes, they living through it. I can't, I'm not gonna say Nick, but I know Nick. You know what Nick told me, man? I'm gonna say it, Nick. Yo, Nick, I'm gonna say it. Okay.

Then this is a real story. I say. Yo, Nick, nah, I'll fuck with you. Yo, you're my fucking nigga, man. He said, you can't when you call me that, it means something to me. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're my niggum, man. Yeah. That's my nigger, man. Nick of my man, bro. So, yeah.

Sometimes be like that, maw. I hope he doesn't say niggas. We used to have like if the white people would say the N word in college, like I used to like, this sounds really bad. I used to have them set up to get scared. Like I would tell the football players, I would have them go scare them just because I knew that they wouldn't expect it because you do all that. But then when you're actually around black people, then you're like scared. Like I don't I don't like all that. But back to like the struggle and like suburbia and gated community because that is very much me.

It's interesting because I don't even think much thought goes into a lot of things because even the music that I listen to even today, even though I love R&B, it's not like I don't listen to hip hop and I can't relate at all. Like one of my favorite songs, the first line is, all is my life I had to fight. I didn't really have to do that in that context, maybe in different ways, like fighting for myself. Yeah, but if it sounds good, I feel like I'm listening to it, not really thinking much thought. But it's an interesting tape from all y'all, because I know y'all probably look at people who grew up in certain suburbia is kind of crazy because I feel like we look crazy sometimes.

You're like, yeah. Can't think of a certain example, but I'm sure y'all think it a lot, even down to the movies, because I know y'all be getting on me, but all I can do is try. That's what I will say. Okay, y'all. Well, that is all the time that we have for today.

Maurice, you know, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. Likewise. Yo, wave contest, Moe. Starting them all, man. I got you here. I got y'all. Okay, thank y'all for watching.

And as always, it is what it is.