The Dumb Zone FREE - DZ 11-11-25 PREVIEW | Nico Harrison fired and Emmitt Smith on his contract and NIL

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Hear the full episode by subscribing to the show at DumbZone.com or Patreon.com/TheDumbZoneThe day finally arrived... the firing of Nico Harrison, but we still aren't happy yet. Not until all of the characters who were a part of the Luka trade are gone. Then we talk to the NFL all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, on this current era of college athletics where Emmitt could've/should've made bank ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Hey now, what you were about to hear is a free preview of one of this week's premium episodes of The Dumb Zone. If you would like to hear this program in full, along with the full archive, ah, shit. If you would like to hear this program in full with the archive of all of our past episodes, you can subscribe at dumzone.com. What would really make me happy is to know that, like in Slapshot, they feel shame. You know, and they're explaining slashing. You just go to the penalty box, feel shade. They don't. That is what brings me to what I want to see happen in the very near future.

What I want is they are not, well, if they're firing him, they have to pay him, right? And when the stars fired Ken Hitchcock many years ago. It's not going to happen, Dan. They actually retained, they used his services as a hockey coach. They said, we're paying you $4 million a year, not as a hockey coach, as a hockey scout. And you will scout for us. And he did until he got another job elsewhere in the NHL. I want them to reassign him to the front gate.

He is going to be an usher. He is going to be someone that, you know, maybe it gives you the wand when you're going through the metal, after you go through the metal detector, but it's still beeped. Now the guy's got to wand you. Although they more often than not just wave you through potential terrorist. Unless you have a vape, which all of a sudden they're all hot about. Did you get your vape confiscated? I have multiple times.

Like, they'll wand you for it. They don't care about anything else. When I went to the Naparkatsi, they couldn't find out what was beeping on me. He's like, go on. he's like he knew uh so but yeah i want him to be shamed maybe champ i want him to have to show up mab's man make him be mab's man make him be make him get out there when they have like the fifth grade girls dancing that make me all uncomfortable make him get out there and lead that so make him be chris arnold implication he's a pedophile make him be chris arnold so he has to rile

at the crowd. That's really good. Make him do what the fox says. Get out there. Put his face on the screen any time you want, like, the other team is shooting free throws, so you just put Nika's face up there. They had any balls. If they had any at all.

You could get the whole stadium rocking every free throw, opposing free throw. Because, like, they're not going to sell the team. I know that everybody's like, next sell the team. Well, that's not going to happen. but I do like a world where they're kind of scared of the fans you better get you better get ready to learn luxury tax language buddy because we're taking you for everything you've got if you're going to own this thing you now have to become

with nobody ever walks again we pay everyone we go way over the tax you owe us for all the years you owed us so now they need to hire somebody that Do you know how hard? Dennis Lindsay is a great executive. They can't hire Dennis Lindsay, like the former assistant GM, the Jazz GM. They need to hire Steve Nash or somebody that you can just immediately, you're like, I don't care, I feel good.

Turk. Haralabob obviously won't do it on account of the genocide. He's super hung up on. You asked him. I kind of did. He might be on the show next week. Okay, good. told me this morning so yeah what do you want him to do i'm initially against the dirk a dirk

gm hire just because i don't want dirt going through that yeah i dirk is beloved and i don't want to see that dirk can't be a good gm uh because i just no i agree i think a good gm is someone who's going to you know actually but steve nash has already like expressed interest in in roles like coaching like i want my steve cur yeah by the way the extension for nico was right before it was in june so right before what the season started this after the luka trade uh or was it the year before please it was year before okay june 2024 yeah no luca yeah lucca was traded november of this year february of this year that's like a vote of confidence i'm going to give you a new deal

No, it's before the trade, but right before the trade, like six months before the trade. It was February of last year. This year. Who's on first? February 2025 is when Luca got traded. Yeah, and he was extended right before the season. June of 24. So they extended him.

It's been a long-ass year, man. Yeah, I thought it was like three years ago, Luke was traded. So he got through one season, that one. The end of the season, yeah. And they fired him 10 games in it. So he, you know, his extension lasted one. one season and ten games. Yeah, I, it's an empty feeling.

I mean, it's, I'm glad, you know, glad the murderer got put away or whatever, sentenced to death, but, uh, all right. I still don't have my, it doesn't make sense this analogy, too, because now I have to watch, I still have to watch my kid with the other family. Oh, yeah. Those country songs about that. shit that ain't my truck i think it's called that ain't my truck is this about a uh did the wife take your kid and then with the step new stepdad and yeah yeah something i don't know i'm watching

day by day like that should be here that should be in this uniform everything he does yeah no it blows but this is good dan you have to just take the good as good What do you want to do? Extend the guy again? Does he get, is he on the Lakers payroll before this is all over? He may it already be. There is a world where Dumont, despite being, you know, his mom is, stepmom is the one that I'm particularly fired up about. But he just seems like a dupist criminal rich guy.

And those guys can be good owners. He's got, he's got to be replaced too. What he has to do. I can't see him ever. Is say, I'm out of the mix. I'm hiring these people, two, three people. You'll never hear from me again. Yeah, I don't want to see if they ever get to a podium again, which is...

He'll take the podium. Highly unlikely. But what I don't need is him talking. I don't want him on the podium. Well, he will be. But he doesn't need to be involved, you know, giving interviews or giving comment or he doesn't really need to be at games. And hopefully he's a smart enough business person to realize his presence is toxic. for his brand.

So if he cares about nothing else than just making money so that they can do that, then he'll stay away from the team. So is stepmom pretty mad at him? Like, hey, I gave you one thing. Just run the basketball team, who cares? And then now look what you turn it into.

I don't know if she cares because she's a big at the away game they're playing over there in the Middle East. Don't they own like a hundred million? And this was like five of it. It's nothing. It's nothing. But, you know, I think a big part of the reason they bought the team was because they thought gambling was going to be legal.

And that hasn't been going at all how they thought it would. Which is interesting because they got, they're so all over the map. Like the story yesterday is Miriam is giving money to a Republican candidate to primary, one of the moderate Republicans. Because he doesn't vibe with Israel like her. But they also give money to people. just for gambling stuff like the mayor of Southlake that was running against another South Lake lady my preacher boy that i'm in love with james tallarico in uh down in houston area he's taking edelson money because he supports legalized gambling

tangled web we weave but they don't care about the the basketball team money at all so maybe he will stick around i would think he'd just be embarrassed. Do these people not get embarrassed? Nico never seemed embarrassed. It's a weird thing to just not have that trait.

We should promote so on today's program, it is a Tuesday, but we will not have Brandon Aubrey today. Because Brandon Aubrey says to them, the Cowboys today is a Monday. They have a Monday night game.

It's their next game. So everything is moved by a day to try to get them back in their routine so that tomorrow is actually his day off. So we can either record our interview with him tomorrow and play it Thursday or go live Thursday and he'll be from the star. We'll decide what to do there. Which are both great options. Neither are as great as the option we had planned, which was to have him join us at the end of the Emmett Smith interview. Right. Also today... Let those two just kind of go to work. We're expecting any minute now, really. Emmett Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Dose, those. Dallas Cowboy, great. To

join us as well. Yeah. And I had pitched to Brandon, how about popping on during the end of that, and then you guys can talk, and he thought it was cool, but he's like, yeah, man, we're at the facility all day tomorrow, very busy. They've got to get things right. You got to get things right.

cowboys do how you feeling about their ability to get things right yeah i think we're probably cooked here bud well let's see you know there's always hope that is my strategy which i have always embraced the past the fact that hope can be a strategy before we get emmon on um because i don't know if i want to restate all this with him i listened to an interview he did a couple years ago and they they brought up like oh you're hold out and he's like i didn't hold out my contract was up. And I've never actually heard it put that way because you sign a four-year deal when you come in. I think you should definitely bring this up to it.

But he said if he played one snap, there was language that that four-year deal became a three-year deal. So if he played, then, and I don't know why that would be, but he's like, so I was on a three-year deal. I didn't have a contract. Like, Micah, as Jerry kept saying, was like, yeah, we're paying you right now to be here. You have another year on your deal. And Emmett's like, I didn't have another year on my deal. And he said that he personally called Don Shula during the time that he was allowed to talk to other teams and was like, get me to Miami. Dan Marino needs a run game.

It sounds like all the other owners, because he was restricted too. So you would have had to put together an offer the Cowboys would have had to, you know, refuse or match or whatever. But he wanted to leave. And even when he talks about it now, and they're like, yeah, but you got your money after the team started O and 2. He's like, I don't know. I think I probably was worth more.

Are you alleging the other owners colluded? A hundred percent. Kind of like. A hundred. I mean, I'm not alleging it. He was, basically. Like, nobody's going to offer me a contract. I feel like somehow they've done that throughout the years.

Didn't they collude against the... The quarterbacks recently. Well, yeah. And Lamar Jackson in particular, he was restricted. You tell me somebody doesn't want a two-time MVP guy who just wrecks the league. That's when you learn what the NFL is really about. As their quarter, like, oh, he's still got money. He ended up getting his money.

Right, but it exposes. They should have had five offer sheets for him. They're all 32 of them recalling each other. Like, what are we doing here? don't go because remember what happened was Deshawn Watson's contract got guaranteed and then a bunch of text messages and emails between GMs got out like no way what are we doing here

this is too much guys we got thumbs up over there yeah we did think Deshawn Watson's was possibly going to lead to more are we ready Okay. Well, let's welcome the NFL's all-time leading rusher to the program. He is Emmett Smith, I believe, on Zoom. They were real claps at one point, Emmett, when somebody recorded it. Said that one time? I said they were real claps at one point when somebody recorded it.

Yeah, for sure. But not today. No, you've had a lot of real claps. You've had a lot of real claps. We've got a room full of people here clapping for you today. Yeah, I can see the trophies back there clapping as well. Thanks for joining us, man. Where are you at? I am in Michigan up here in Ann Arbor at the Big House. Oh, that's right.

You're speaking tonight, right? Yes, yes. I'm up here with the Mergent and the Norkan nasal spray for the campaign, the awareness campaign of Ready to Rescue. you. Okay. So how did you get involved in this cause in particular? I know you've you've supported a number of things over the years. Why this one? Why now? Yeah, I think I like to get in cause, be involved with causes me that comes close to home or hit close to home. And this is one of those that I've lost a teammate through opioid overdose. Assistant Love had a battle

with stage four colon cancer and doing her treatment and recovery she got she found herself into a couple of opioids uh situations where we had to get emergency help EMTs over to help help her get through that situation so having the personal experience with it myself gives me the ability to talk naturally about it and truly what it what it what it what it how it impacted me but not only that but how it's impacting other families around the country as well, because it just didn't happen to me. It happened to many other families. Some families have lost loved ones to it.

And so when the opportunity was presented to me by emerging to go out and help try to curve the stigma around opioid overdoses, and I just took advantage of the opportunity. That's really cool. I learned the phrase, addiction doesn't discriminate some years ago. And I imagine you've experienced that from the highest of

highs and senior family in different situations. So the stigma, I think having Emmett Smith associated with it is a great way to alleviate that stigma. I love how you describe it because it does not discriminate. Unlike other sources, discriminate against certain things,

whether it's men, women, color, whatever you want to call religion. When it comes down to drugs and opioid overdoses, it doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't care. And at the end of the day, a lot of people are victims to opioid overdoses. And it could be something that could be eliminated or reduced. And right now we're starting to see some good signs of it starting to curve downwardly because of some of the work that we've done over the last three to four years. And so if people took the attitude that it could possibly happen,

I don't know when or where I just want to be ready just in case it does and I need somebody else to be ready just in case it does what is accidentally or whatever it may be but someone there is there someone is there to help me if I need it Narcan is not expensive right

you can get that stuff pretty much anywhere to keep on hand yeah it's not expensive you can get it over the counter you can get it through Amazon right now I think you can get it for 34 bucks for two sprays um and so which is a two dosage rather so you can utilize those things uh so it's accessible

a lot more accessible than it was five six seven 10 10 years ago and uh we wish we should have been around when we lost my buddy mark two and a yeah that's uh that's a great cause so we'll get back to that uh before we get out of here today i was just telling these guys uh that i i listened to an interview that you did recently and it was the first time that I had heard you describing your contract situation and stopping someone and saying hold up that wasn't a holdout my contract had ended and I don't think people think of it that way right I assume you took a you had a four-year deal you were three years in and now it is the traditional holdout but you set the record straight on that a little bit well you know if you go back

during times and still to this day once you're labeled some way shape or form which is not necessarily factual most people think that they hear things on the radio to see things on television that that's the facts the facts really were in my situation yes I started out with a four-year contract that reverted to a three-year contract

once I stepped foot on the football field and started any ballgame with the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie and so when I did that in the second game of my rookie season, my contract went from a four-year contract to a three-year contract, which meant that I could be a free agent after three years. This was during that time frame. And so, but during that three-year period of time, there was tremendous negotiation going on between the Players Association and the league to come up with the collective bargaining agreement. And during that time frame, they settled on four years versus three years as being a free agent.

So I was stuck in that window where I didn't have a contract but I couldn't play or I needed to get a new contract to get to four years so I could become a free agent at the end of that second contract. And in my case, they came up with this notion of having restrictive free agency for about 30 days to negotiate with the other 30 teams, if you will, to come up with a contract. And if you didn't, your rights reverted back to the Cowboys or to the team that you came from originally. And so I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place, never got an offer, which was bewildering to me. Collusion? Yeah, that's exactly what it was, in my opinion. Truthfully and honestly, if the truth was told, it was collusion. Because it didn't make any financial sense. Well, it made great financial sense to not have me in the open market.

it because it would have rose the price of every other athlete price would have risen up. Instead, collusion occurred, in my opinion, and it probably could be proven if the truth was told that they left it to Jerry Jones to handle it and manage it, and that's what happened. I know there's a lot of, there's inflation, things like that happen, but I see college, quarterback signing for the deal that you hunt you held out for a four for $13 million deal yep and I'm telling people right now man if you want to do a class action lawsuit against the NCAA players contact me I'm getting in with you because at the end of the day I want to go back to the University of Florida to get as much of that those 22 jerseys that they sell I still see the

22 jerseys walking around the day with e smith on the back I got the burger king card they probably sold to burger king bird can paid into it I got a lot of stuff down and they still hold me and I want it back. We might be talking with little reparations here, a little in-I- reparations. I mean, they didn't already went back to 2016, I believe. That's about as far as they're going back to 2016. And I'm like, no, let's go all the way back to where I could not get a job.

And if I got a job, you was putting people on two years probation and everything else. I remember a guy got suspended and the University of Florida got two years of probation because a guy paid somebody paid $700 for somebody's child support at the time. And nowadays, they're paying folks hundreds of thousands of dollars

for name, image, and likeness. And my name and image and lightness was all over the place in Gainesville, Florida. No disrespect. But all I'm saying is, I'm saying what I'm saying. I'm saying what I'm saying.