The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 02/13/2019

Episode Date: February 13, 2019

Colin is hearing the rumors about Luke Walton being fired as Lakers head coach and doesn't understand what that will solve.  He thinks the Steelers should be fine with trading Antonio Brown because they bought low on him and can sell high.  Plus, 2x NBA Champion Chris Bosh comes in studio to talk about Anthony Davis fitting with the LeBron and what it’s like to play alongside King James.  Presented by Perky Jerky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox SportsRodio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Hurd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It is a Wednesday. This is The Herd. Live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sirius XM Channel 83. Today we're on FS2. Flip over. It's good to have you in today. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you this morning? I'm great. Good morning.

If we have a little NFL news, Joy, we'll hit on this month. more in about 30 minutes heard line news. Little story today in the NFL. Joe Flacco won a Super Bowl was an MVP, sign of fat contract, never quite the same, is going to the Denver Broncos, who have Case Keenham. That's never been John Elway's guy. John L.Y. I think it's getting tired of drafting quarterbacks. He hadn't been great at that. He whiffed on Paxton Lynch. So John Elway said, I'm going to hire an old defensive guy to be my head coach. We can run the football very well. Denver always runs the football well. It doesn't matter who the back is. And we just got a veteran strong-arm This is what John Elway wants his team to be.

And Elway hadn't had a lot of success in the draft drafting quarterbacks. And so he's like, listen, I'm going to get a veteran quarterback who's had success against good teams, a winning playoff record, Super Bowl MVP, not the most accurate thrower today. He's got a little Cam Newton. I don't trust Flacco and Cam delivering the ball to tight windows, but a huge arm. And they're going to run the ball because Denver always does. That's what Denver does. And they're going to play their butts off defensively with Vic Fangio.

defensive guy, and it'll be kind of boring football. Fangio didn't have a big personality. Flacco didn't have a big personality. It's just going to be Denver Bronco football. This is what Denver played for years and years and years in the Rocky Mountains, going back to Craig Morton. I mean, frankly, even going back to John Elway. They ran the ball.

That's when they won Super Bowls. And they played defense, and that's where they're going to be. And they're going to be better. How much better? I don't know, but they're better today. Denver Broncos are a better football team today. I think with Vic Fangio coaching and with Joe Flacco quarterbacking. And Baltimore's going to get, you know, they didn't have to give up anything to get him.

I mean, they're going to give up, it says here, a mid-round pick. If you're better at quarterback and all you have to give up is a fourth round pick, that's good. That's a good day for Denver. New coach, new quarterback, cannon arm, one on the road, winning playoff record, always went toe to toe with Brady and Foxborough. I mean, Flacco's not great, not top 12 guy, but you're going to give him a running game and a defense.

You can win games with Joe Flacco. He's a much better armed talent than Case Keenham. And by the way, the Ravens create clarity. Ravens are like, you know what? We're doing the Lamar Jackson thing. Let's not have Flacco hovering around us. And by the way, my gut feeling on this is Baltimore goes out and acquires Lavian Bell. If you asked me today where Lavian Bell is going to end up, my gut feeling, I don't have any

sourcing on this. This is just my gut. Lavian Bell's going to Baltimore. and Baltimore's all in. They're going to be a 65 to 60% run team. Play great defense. Veteran coach, Lamar Jackson, ask him to throw 18 to 22 times.

He can make those throw. Not a great thrower, but can make them. So I think Baltimore is going to go after Labian Bell, and they just said today, here's our future, it's Lamar Jackson. That's good for them. And then Denver's like, we're going to go defense, veteran, big arm quarterback, run the ball.

Good for them. And that's where I think we are today. So I think Denver's better. I don't know if Baltimore is better. I know Baltimore created clarity in the locker room. It's Lamar Jackson's team. So Baltimore created that. That makes teams better usually.

Here's what we are. Even if you're limited. Detroit Pistons, we play defense. Remember the bad boys? We don't shoot as well as everybody. We're not as artistic as everybody. But we do what we do well. That's usually in sports a good thing to do.

So Baltimore's like, here's what we're going to do. We're going to play defense and run the football. Even our quarterback runs. So I think it was good for both. teams. It's so crucial to designate your quarterback. Yes. College, you can do the flip-flop thing. You can't in pros. I mean, for us, too. Like, thankfully, we don't have to go into the season talking about a quarterback controversy. If you have more than one quarterback, you have no quarterback. You know, and the other thing I like about this, I got to be honest about this, here's what I like

about this, is that I'm a fan of football. I just don't like teams that don't have a guy at quarterback. Right. So Baltimore said Lamar Jackson. I think Lamar's fascinating to watch. I've said this about Baker Mayfield. Baker's not one of the top ten quarterbacks. He's easily one of the top five most interesting to watch because of his personality. Baltimore now has a guy. And now Denver has a guy that I think they'll keep for years, two, three, four years. They got a guy. Football's better that way.

You know, nothing's worse than when you have a guy like Ryan Tannahill and you know Miami didn't truly believe in him. Right. You know they don't. You know Denver doesn't truly believe in Case Keenham. You know they don't. So I like teams to have a guy. I really believe John Elway believes this morning.

We can win big games with it. We can go into Kansas City with a run game. and a defense and a veteran coach, and we can beat Mahomes. It'd be close, but we can, you never felt that with Case Keenham. You don't feel like Denver really has a shot to get into a shootout. So it makes me happy for football. I think in general, that's better. We got clarity with the Ravens.

We got a big strong-armed guy with Denver. It's good for the league. It is a good thing. It is a good thing. And that's what happens when all these young quarterbacks come from college to the pro and can play. You move out guys. Joe Flacco, by the way, used to be, you got a Joe Flacco, that 15 years,

He never left. Now veteran quarterbacks are moving. It's fun. And it's a rare thing for a quarterback of Joe Flacco's caliber, even if he hasn't been playing great to be on the market. Yes. All right, let me shift to this. I don't know if you watched last night.

The Lakers allow the Atlanta Hawks. Hawks are 19 games under 500. They almost scored 70 points on the Lakers in the first half. What? Wait a minute. I was reading the newspaper a couple days ago. That win over Boston was going to save the season. That's what all the NBA media guys told me.

What? They proclaimed Rondo's shot against the Celtics. Oh my God. It changes everything. Lakers in the championship round. Oh. Now they got beat by the crappy hawks and blown out by the Sixers. Folks, put the palm palms down.

Report, not support, media members. Once every Laker was mentioned as trade bait, you poison the locker room. They're not going to recover. And Luke Walton is toast. That's what we said. That's what I believe. And now three games in post-trade deadline, this is what you have. The Lakers have eight days off, and you're going to see a big push now to get rid of Luke Walton.

LeBron and Luke Walton have no relationship. Magic Johnson didn't hire him. I don't think he's a great coach. I don't think he's terrible. I think his substitution patterns border on random, at best, inconsistent, at worst, bizarre, and random. But I will just remind you, football is the coaching sport. Basketball is the player sport. Is Brad Stevens a good coach?

Yes. He's currently a fifth seed in the east. Is Greg Popovich a good coach? Yeah, seventh seed. Is Eric Spolstra a good coach? Yes, he is. Ninth seed is Rick Carlisle a good coach. Coaches think he's brilliant.

He's an 11th seed. Okay? This is a players league. You want to know, Dwayne Casey won coach of the year in the NBA. Do you know where he picked up his award at Applebee's across the street because they fired him? He couldn't get the award in the building. He was across the street having lunch because they kicked him out of the building.

That's Dwayne Casey coach of the year. So if you're asking me who the most talented teams in the NBA are, I was thinking about this this morning. If you said, who are the most talented rosters in the NBA? I'd say Golden State, number one. Let's not even argue about that. And then you can argue about stuff. I'd say Houston's second.

If Chris Paul's healthy and James Hardin and Clint Capella and Eric Gordon, I'd say Houston's the second best roster. Not quite as good as last year, but number two. Oklahoma City, I've got Westbrook. I got the MVP Paul George. I got Stephen Adams. And I would give them a narrow, narrow edge over Philadelphia because Jimmy Butler, Simmons and Embed, I'm not sure.

I don't know about the chemistry. I like the players. I put Philadelphia 4. Tobias Harris, that's a really good roster. I just don't think yet their chemistry is quite as good as a Houston. I'd put Boston 5. Toronto with Mark Gassal, I may be underselling him at 6. In Milwaukee, Middleton, Yannis, I put him at 7.

Okay, that's the best seven rosters. I don't have the Lakers 8. I think you can start arguing on the Lakers' behalf from eight to about 16, and I'm not so sure they're not closer to 16 than nine or eight. And if LeBron twists his ankle, they're a 16th. So congrats on fire in Luke Walton. That's not the issue. LeBron does create, this is not a criticism, it is a reality.

If I yelled at my son for getting a D in math, that is not a criticism. That is a reality, if he gets it. LeBron does create an urgency and a stress, and at times an unrealistic expectation on a franchise that you have to win now and people have to leave and draft picks have to go to win now. That's the stress that LeBron creates. It's not a criticism. It's a reality.

I've seen it multiple times. But I will just say this. Did Luke Walton hurt LeBron's groin? Because they were the fourth seed before that. Did Luke Walton hurt Lanzo Ball who got hurt again? Oh, he didn't do those two. Did he leak all the stories that poised in the locker room? No, Luke Walton didn't do that either.

Okay, so never forget, pre-Lebron's injury, Lakers were the fourth seed in the West, the chemistry was getting better, there are only two and a half games out of the playoffs now, but go ahead, take a wrecking ball to it. Blow up the coaching staff. Go for it. That's not the answer. LeBron creates an expectation that puts stress on a franchise. Now, he is probably the first, second, third best basketball player I've seen,

but that's a reality with LeBron. And so let's blow out Luke Walden. It's not the problem. Let's trade a bunch of players and get AD. I'm not sure that's going to be great. I think it'd be good. I don't think it would be great. I've seen LeBron with Biggs before.

So it looks like eight days off, lost to Atlanta, almost gave up 70 in the first half to a bad NBA team that I'm not even sure is trying to win. I think they're on the Zion Williamson interest sweepstakes as well. But that's the world we live in. I never bought into that ridiculous notion that the win over the Celtics meant anything I told you I last Friday off, I opened up the internet, and there were all these stories about, they can play with anybody.

Save the season. Unbelievable, biblical proportions. We just wanted to feel good about the Lakers for a couple seconds. I guess. It's been a long first half of the season. It's rained so much this winter. People need sunshine, I guess. Yeah, we just wanted to smile a little bit.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Don't confuse. This is a good rule sometimes in parenting. I make this mistake sometimes. Don't confuse an opportunity for a problem.

Sometimes as a parent, I get upset. I see something and I want to lecture. And instead I think, this is an opportunity. This is a teaching moment. This is a teaching moment. People used to call my radio show when I take calls. What am I going to tell my kids?

And I always said, I don't know, they're your kids, you had them, that's your responsibility. It's a teaching moment. Whenever there was a controversy in sports, my kids are watching these games. What am I going to tell my kids? I don't know. I don't even know their names. They're your kids. Okay?

It's a teaching moment. Don't confuse Antonio Brown wanting to be traded for a problem. It is an opportunity. This is a moment for an opportunity. First of all, Pittsburgh standards are really high. The Cleveland Browns last year went 7, 8, and 1, and they're throwing a parade. The Steelers went 9, 6, and 1, and they're pissed because the standards are much higher. Players, after 5 or 6 years, you got a ton out of Antonio Brown.

Now at 31, flip him for a pick, opportunity. You bought low, 6 round, sell high. Why? This is not a problem. Lavian Bell getting nothing for him, that I don't like. That stinks. But Antonio Brown, think about this way. Say it out loud. If I said to you, hey, there's this NFL team that found this player in the sixth round.

They paid him nothing for like three years. Nothing. He ended up getting 11,000 yards and 74 touchdowns. They paid him nothing. and if I had to pay him a little. Now he's 31. Wide receivers post-30 generally start to fade. And we were able to then flip him and get a really good pick.

Oh, but what do you do at receiver? Oh, we already got one. We do the receiver thing really well. Juju Smith-Schuster. We do the receiver thing really well. Folks, here's what I know. Life, real estate, sports, Wall Street, buy low, sell high winds everywhere. You buy the property low, fix it up, sell it high.

Sixth round, 11,000 yards, 74 TDs, sold all sorts of jerseys, and now you're going to flip him at 31 because you've got another receiver who you don't have to pay as much. That's a problem? That's an opportunity. All these wide receivers for the Steelers seem to leave. Mike Wallace left, Plaxico left, Emmanuel Sanders left, Santonea Holmes left, Martavius Bryant left. They all leave and they all get replaced.

When it comes to the Chicago Bears and Lever, linebackers, they do it right. When it comes to the Denver Broncos and running backs, they do it right. The Broncos have had 10 different running backs run for 1,000 yards. When it comes to the New England Patriots and offensive linemen, they just find them. David Andrews and all-pro center, he didn't get drafted. Did you ever watch Shaq Mason in college? They take other people's bad offensive linemen, overrated guys, moving to left tackle, and they're great. And when it comes to the Steelers and wide receiver, they do that. position really well.

Like the Broncos do running back and the bears do linebacker and the Patriots do offensive line. Maybe it's a coach. Maybe it's a scout. I don't know. But, you know, Antonio Brown leaving is not a dilemma. It'd be a dilemma for Cleveland. It'd be a dilemma for Jacksonville.

It's not a dilemma for Pittsburgh. It's an opportunity. It's an opportunity. You got a receiver. You got a quarterback. You got a good old line. you've got an emerging linebacking core and you're going to flip him and get a really good pick

which you've proven you draft really, really well. Last year, once again, you appear to have had a really good draft. Don't confuse what you perceive as a massive roadblock to simply be parenting her football an opportunity. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial, calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them?

On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports. and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't

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app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

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to be a Hall of Famer 13 years, 11-time All-Star, best high school player in Texas, then he was a great college player, then he was an all-star, dominant player in Toronto, then he went to Miami and won a bunch of rings. Good dude, Chris Bosch, joining us in the herd today. Great to see Chris, who now picks up a basketball only with his kids. Listen, you dealt with those blood-clot issues that are serious, and the good news is you already had established yourself as a Hall of Flame Lowe. This wasn't like year six, where you would have left dreams on.

on the table. How did it all, how'd you reconcile all of it? You had basketball left, but dude, you'd given the game a ton and high school, college, pro, rings, you did a lot. Yeah, looking back on it, yeah, I did do a lot and I'm very blessed to be able to have those opportunities and then deliver. But yeah, I mean, it didn't make it an easy decision. I still had to, you know, consult with my family. I had to be upfront and honest about myself, just, you know, remembering that it's hard, the decision to make. and I wanted to play more basketball, as, you know, quite frankly, that's what I wanted to do.

I've given my life to it, and there were still things, you know, being selfish that I wanted to accomplish in the league, you know. Yeah, but it should be noted, when you were nine years old, if somebody would have said you're going to be the best high school player in Texas, you're going to be a Final Four guy, you're going to be two rings.

If they had a stack... Did the Final Four. You didn't get to... They went to the Final Four after I left. left, so they got better without me. People always joke about. But you had a hell of a career and you're widely respected

in the league. Let me ask you about this. And this is not a criticism of LeBron. But LeBron comes into a team and everybody's got this thing that Anthony Davis going to come, is all going to be good. And I keep saying this. LeBron has always been good playing with shooters. But I saw you, I saw Kevin Love.

It is tougher with LeBron. Yeah. He doesn't want you hanging around the rim because he wants clarity. He wants it open. Right. So, hey, Chris, go stand over there. Now, good news is you're a great shooter. Hey, Kevin, go stand over there. Anthony Davis

isn't you as a shooter. I don't know, Chris, if that's a home run, is it? Well, I mean, it's a home run because Anthony Davis is Anthony Davis. He's pretty good. And I tell people this all the time. He was the first player that I knew I couldn't guard him.

I don't know if he knew that. So I said, okay, let me get whatever I can out this league before this guy figures it out. He's a great player. He's a phenomenal talent. With talent like that, you figure it out. And that's kind of always been, I guess, my philosophy and moving into things. You can worry about it later. Does he need shooters?

Does he not need shooters? Does he need to change his game as he gets older? I don't know. But he's pretty good and he's pretty good. if they're on a team they'll figure it out. Well, D. Wade and LeBron, if you look at their games, were never a perfect fit. Yeah.

They were almost, LeBron was a bigger D. Wade, which is I'm going to attack the basket. They weren't, to a large degree, D. Wade probably plays bigger than any six-four guy ever. 100%. And LeBron can be a point guard at six, nine and a half, so he can shrink if he wants to.

So to your point, talent's talent. Could I offer this, though, that, and this is the way it is, if I had a great singing voice, I'm the late Whitney Houston. Yeah. You're my singing coach. There are times I'm actually tougher to coach.

100%. Of course. LeBron is so gifted, the Swiss Army knife, does everything well, that he is harder to coach. He was hard for Eric. He's hard for Luke. He was hard for Blatt. There's a stress that LeBron creates on the coaching staff. What do you do if you have a biblical talent?

Oh, I mean, that's, that's, if you can answer that, I think they'll give you coaching job tomorrow. You know, that's just one of the things. I mean, Mike, Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neill. These were once in a generational talents and what was the verdict on their coachability throughout a career? You know, they're always going to be, you know, you know, rumblings that they're difficult. That's just, you know, what it takes to be a great player. And being a great player, you have to push yourself. You've got to push people. And to be quite frank, nobody likes to be push all the time. You know what I mean?

So if you're not agreeing with something and there's some sort of tension, it's going to be tension sometimes. You know what I mean? That's just a part of team sports. I've said before, I think the Miami teams are the smartest teams in league history. Incredibly high functioning. Udana's Haslam, Badi, Wade, you, LeBron, Ray Allen. It's the smartest team ever assembled.

I don't think it's the most gifted. You didn't have a ton of size. No. The bench was inconsistent. Mario Chalmers drove me crazy. But it's the highest functioning team cerebrally in my life. And I do believe that LeBron works better with veterans because he's talented people don't want to be mentors. They want you to figure it out.

So he loved you guys. Is it fair to say that Los Angeles, with some quirky one-year deals and kids, it may not be a perfect DNA fit for him? Look, it's the first year. You know, even me looking at it, I knew that they weren't going to be a super really good team. They have a chance to be good. But looking at the makeup, the guys have to develop. They don't know that there's a whole other level to the NBA. When you bring a superstar into L.A. out of all places, I mean, it's going to be an atomic bomb that goes off.

And they haven't been able to really keep up with it. You can't. You know, they're pretty much learning their job on the fly. So with the young guys, there's going to be tremendous swings and ups and downs. You just have to learn about being consistent, and that's what it is about the NBA. And you have to deal with the spotlight. You know, you're in the limelight now. This is what happens in the limelight.

It's kind of whack when you find out. But it all comes down to the basketball court at the end of the day. So they have to do their job. Does Lonzo and LeBron fit to you? They need the ball. Yeah, I mean, but, you know, Alonzo. is so unselfish. You know, he's, you can tell

just getting out on the court hill. He's like the classic point guard where if you pass to him he just kicks it up, up to court. I mean, you have to tell him to be a little bit more selfish. So I think he still has more surfaces of his game that he hasn't even thought of or exposed yet. When you

played with LeBron, it was four years. You were a rock tour. You were you two in their prime. I mean, you were the stones. Yeah. Is it emotionally daunting being on a LeBron team? Is it different? Yeah, no, that's what I mean by that.

It's different. It's a spotlight. And I think... When did you first notice it in Miami? The minute I signed. The day. The day. Same day.

And then remember the next day, the decision happened. And so then it just really went. And then the next day, we had a nice parade. You know what I mean? I tell people, I tell him, like, we didn't... People didn't like us and I'm like, we didn't. playing that it wasn't like an I mean it was awesome come on they had smoke and pyrotechnics and everybody we it was 20,000 people with no basketball game going on it was like the playoffs it was crazy right yeah

i had a great time everybody there had a great time you know everybody on the outside looking in not so much but listen joy and i joyce uh spent time in miami i love miami and i can remember going to games there and i've always felt sports is better with good stories it was a fascinating story In fact, if you remember the first couple years, you guys were villains. Yeah. And then I think by, then I think kind of people joined in when you won and everybody saw the joy of LeBron and everybody's like, that's kind of fun. Yeah.

But the first year, you were a villain. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like the Warriors, too. It's like, you know, when KD goes there, ah. But then you look at it, it's like, man, it looks fun. KD. Dishes to Steph. Like, oh, that was a great pass.

It's right on the number. Steph makes it. They're just so unselfish. moving the ball. Eventually, when you see someone just out there expressing themselves and having fun and playing a team sport, you can't help but be a part of it. By the way, the Miami Heat are appropriately going to retire your jersey on March 26th. It's a home game against Atlanta. You know, we were talking about, you know, Miami is the aqua water, Pat Riley, D. Wade. Then all of a sudden, here comes Chris Bosch, Shane Batti, LeBron James, and it all came together. Tell me something about

the NBA, that fans listening, you know, I say this all the time, Chris, is that everybody wants to say, you guys make a bunch of money. And I say, can you imagine if tomorrow my company traded me to

the Bravo network? Right. And I got to move my family. Right. Like, take my audience a little insight. I know everybody looks at NBA players as rich. But this league does wear you out. I watch LeBron sometimes, and I can sense through body language.

He's been doing this, Chris, for 16 years. For sure. Do you sense, do you sense that where is LeBron do you think now? Is it somewhat business? Is it the mogul stage? I mean, yeah. I mean, I think we've been in the mogul stage

for a while. And those are thoughts that the modern athlete now is thinking about. You know, and he's definitely one of the pioneers of that. You know, after seeing Michael Jordan be a successful business person and Mike Magic Johnson, amongst other NBA greats, you know, them moving on with their lives, you know, now we're

understanding the position that we're in. And you have to do both at the same time. You have to do that and try to deliver on the court. Because if you don't deliver on the court, the product is no good. That's right. You know what I mean? That's just how it is. So it's a delicate balance that you have to figure out. But if you have opportunities, to play in the NBA and use your platform for great things, then, you know, by all means, do it. I don't think it's all the way business, but business is definitely way more into it.

Like you say, guys will get traded. Like Tyler Johnson, great friend of mine, you know, it is the business. He's on the road. You know, they're already on the West Coast trip. He gets traded. My wife asked me, what does he do? Well, he has 48 hours to report to Phoenix.

You know, point point. Called Delta Airwine. Yeah, hit him. get to send my bags. Hopefully they packed everything and, you know, I'll get the rest of my stuff in the summer. That's how it is. Yeah, you don't miss that part of it?

No, I don't miss it, man. I mean, it's road life, and that's one of the things that kind of helped me in my decision. My kids, you know, they, everything is cool now because, you know, I'm able, you know, to work, but I come right back.

Right. You know, on those trips, man, they just, you know, especially being in Miami, you're going up during the cold, weather and you know it's an arctic blast going on and it's five below you got aqua water at home yeah you know what mean you get out the pool and then you know next thing you know you're freezing so it's it's just um it's a tough dynamic to handle when you're uh living on the road man you you had a great career uh you you're you're a

man with options you could get into broadcasting you could go into the front office you could do a lot of stuff uh that's what i'm trying to do i'm trying to keep those things uh in mind um as i build for the future. But, you know, I've got some things coming. You know, I definitely want to be involved with basketball, continue, you know, to do media stuff. It's fun. You know, talking to you guys is fun, man. I've worked at other places. This place is good. Yeah. I'm just telling you. I'm not going to get into particular names of companies. Hey, man, you know, everybody's, LeBron is recruiting. That's, that might be, yeah. You see magic, magic. Magic. Yeah, magic almost got in trouble for tampering. I'm tampering right now. I'm tampering with talent. It's like, of course it's

tamper. I tamper too. We're trying to win a championship. We need players. Do you want to come? Come on, let's win a championship. That's the only way things get done. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. One of the smartest guys I've ever worked with in my life.

He would talk, I would listen. He was a six-time NFL executive of the year. Colt, Panther, Bill GM. I mean, he just built everywhere he went. He just built up... Football rosters. I won a Super Bowl, obviously, with the Colts. And he's one of the co-founders of the American Alliance of Football, the AAF,

which I watched this past weekend on CBS. And I said on the air, I think one or both of these new leagues are going to work. I think it's a new time. I think there's a lot of different reasons from legalized sports gambling to these are not adversarial relationships with the NFL. I think there's a lot of football talent in America. And I frankly think you're going to have big marketing brands. CBS is going to be.

behind this league. That's a big company. And again, I don't think the NFL, they're not, it's a spring football league. There's 33 sports networks. We're all looking for content, folks. We're all dying. The only thing that works on television anymore is live sports and some politics. So I think this stuff's going to work. Do they both work? I don't know, but AAF got a yearhead start and Bill Polion is joining me. First of all, Bill, I love talking to you. I love that you now are able to come on my show.

What was the genesis, the beginning when you said to yourself, listen. I'm going to give this a run. I think this can work. What were the reasons behind your move into this? Well, as you know, Colin, I've been talking about this for some time because I'm hearing from my friends in the NFL, we need a developmental league. We need a developmental league.

We need a place to develop coaches and players and scouts and referees and so on. We need a place to train minorities so they can get on the offensive side of the ball. and become offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches and get on a career path that leads to a head coaching job. So that's been out there for a long, long time. And when I met with Charlie Ebersole and he laid the plan out for me, you know, he said to me, you think this can work? I said, yes, it can't. None of it's going to be perfect right out of the box.

But the idea is sound, the approach is sound. And then the key to the approach was that, A, we're not in competition with the NFL. In fact, we're trying to augment the NFL, and we're trying to reach football fans, football, and don't want to go dark after the Super Bowl. And secondly, we're going to run a league that is all football. The slogan we've used, and it's a mantra, really, that we're living by is real football for real football fans by real football people. We've got all NFL people, tons and tons of experience. We've got coaches who have NFL experience, extensive NFL experience.

And so we're putting a game on the field that looks and feels and sounds like the NFL, minus, of course, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and people like that. Let me ask you this, though, Bill, would the NFL, because I think this league will be elevated more quickly if the quarterback plays solid. One of the games I watched, I'm like, oh, these guys are slinging it around. They're spinning it around. This is real football. So obviously good quarterback plays more fun to watch.

It looks like real football. Is there a possibility at some point you could go to the NFL and say, listen, you got a third quarterback. Why don't you let us play in our league? You can watch him. It's like being on an, you know, it's certainly as good as your scout teams. What about the idea of using occasional third quarterbacks on NFL teams? Would they consider that? think? Well, we've talked about it in general. They can't consider it because it's tied up with

the union and the CBA because you can't send players down as you can in Major League Baseball and in the D League. Is that an objective? Of course it is. Absolutely. And there are many players, by the way, who did not sign futures contracts at the end of their year on the practice squad and chose to come and play with us, number one, because it pays a little bit better. And number two, because they'll be finished with us by the time it's time to go back to OTAs. But back to the quarterback issue, absolutely we'd love to have that. And that's a goal, but it's not achievable just yet.

Meanwhile, we're developing our own guys who are throwing it around pretty well. No, no question. You know, it's funny about, you know, I was talking yesterday, I said, as a parent, Bill, my life and my parenting the same values and principles today that 100 years ago, love your kid, be there for them, don't worry about being cool, do your homework. I always tell my kids when you get home from school, go to bed early, get up early, little exercise, little travel, blah, blah, blah, all the basic principles. But over time, that gets more complicated with social media, all these technologies.

Well, the same thing in football, is that football, it was still Tom Brady and Jared Goff, who couldn't outrun a bar stool in the Super Bowl. And I'm seeing Mitch Trubisky running around and Lamar can run around and Kyler Murray's 5, 8 and a half. And part of me, Bill, is like, time out. Time out. What am I supposed to make a Kyler Murray? Now, in your league, home run. But the NFL, these are billion-dollar franchises. What do I make?

What is the standard? Five-eight and a half, five-nine. Is there a line you would not be comfortable if you ran an NFL team with a quarterback size? Sure. Yeah. Anytime you're below six feet, it's worrisome. Anytime you're below nine and three quarters in hand size, it's worrisome. So that person has to be an exception.

So you sit there and you say to yourself, okay, is this guy an exception? Does he have the arm strength? Does he have the athletic ability? Does he have the strength, the girth in his body, to withstand the kinds of blows he's going to take in the NFL. All of that adds up to Izzy Drew Brees. You know, is he the guy in Seattle? That's the question that everyone asks, because they're the exceptions.

Bill Parcells, I'm sure, told you, and I know told me, if you start building with exceptions, you'll end up with a team full of exceptions. And he's exactly right. But there are exceptions. and as the game goes 53 and a third yards wide, which is brand new. This is something that's new in this century, really, and almost since 2010, there's more room for smaller people. That's well put.

The dimensions have changed, so the dimensions of quarterbacks and the need there has changed. One more NFL question. Antonio Brown, great talent. Bill, you're one of the people that taught me that you had to look at age, You had to look at hand size. You had to look at the length of a tackle's arms compared to a guard's arm. Everything matters. And I look at the Pittsburgh Steelers and people think Antonio Brown's a problem and I see it as an opportunity, Bill.

Six-round player ends up giving them 11,000 yards. He's now 31, flip him for a pick. Buy low, sell high. Got a ton out of him. Steelers drafted position very well, Bill. They have for 20 years. They got Juju Smith-Schuster. I don't see it as a massive problem with Antoni.

Tony O'Brown. You grafted him in the 6th. You got a ton of production. He's 31. Move him. Do you as a GM, do you worry about the blowback that you lose a star? How will it work in the locker room? Give me both sides, the GM, losing a star and perhaps acquiring one that's hard to deal with. Well, I give you work with him because he is such a great player. And he probably has, since he's absolutely elite, you know, a few more good seasons in him. That's number one.

Number two, if you deal him, you deal him. And number three, what is the blowback? Well, the blowback is in the media. It's in the fans.

But if you make a wise choice, then you'll be okay in the long run. In the short run, you'll have indigestion and a headache as the GM, but in the long run, it'll prove to be successful. if you've made the right choice. Did you ever struggle with moving a player?

Did you ever worry about blowback ever in your three stops? No, not really. Right. Not your personality. It's not my personality. That's exactly right. I want to go back to the AAF. So there's going to be another league in a year, the XFL.

Is that competition? Is it friendly? How do you view that? Because I think one of these leagues is going to work. I think it's possible both work, frankly. I think the appetite is fairly insatiable in America for football. But how are you going to look? Because you're not competing with the NFL, but do you see the XFL as one of you lives,

one of you dies? How do you view a new league? Well, number one, we're in business. The XFL is talking. You know, there's no football players on the field. There are no football players signed. So there's nothing that we can look at and say, this is the X or Y or Z. more importantly, the thing we have to do is get the best product we can on the field,

week to week, in the stadium, on television, and let the chips fall where they may. The best thing we can do to help our brand is to grow it as quickly and as aesthetically pleasing Lee as we can. That's the answer. And don't worry about, as Tony Jundi used to say, do what we do. Don't worry about anybody else. And finally, Bill Pollyan joining us, former Colt Panther, Bill GM, the AAF, the American Alliance of Football. What do you make of what you watched in that Super Bowl?

What do you make of this dynasty? It doesn't even make sense, right? Bill, it just doesn't work that way. You don't have 20 years of greatness. What do you just make, if nobody ever, if a novice came up and said, Bill Polion, explain what we're seeing with the Patriots. How do you explain it? Well, there's two parts to it.

the first is getting there. And that, you know, you have to be a little bit lucky. You have to play in the division that's down, which they do. You know, you have to be in a situation where the ball bounces your way, which it has in the last two championship games. That's one thing. Now, when you get there, if I picked one coach, and I've been around Coach Shula and Coach Levy and Coach Walsh and, you know,

all of the great ones, if I had to pick one coach, who had two weeks to prepare, it ain't close. It's Bill Belichick by a wide margin. So when you get there, forget about it. If he has two weeks to prepare, it's over, man. You better have four weeks to prepare. There is nobody better at dissecting an opponent's weaknesses, negating their strengths,

disguising his weaknesses and managing a game in a way that puts you at a disadvantage than Bill Belichick. No one. No one in the game today and probably less than a handful in history. So that's your answer. Yeah, no, it really is amazing. It is fascinating. You know, he had a unique childhood experience. His dad was on the forefront of scouting, so he was around football.

And his mom spoke seven languages. so there's an academic intensity to Bill's life. And Sean McVeigh's got some of that as well. If you look at his childhood. He does, of course. Yes. So I think sometimes it's like the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hour rule. You know, Wayne Gretzky was just better early and more committed early.

And sometimes it's a break from the parenting to the environment. But I agree with you. Belichick, I'm fascinated by his intellect, by how he sees the world. And you know the underrated part to that stuff, Bill? He's had the same running back coach, Dante Scarnician. McDaniels. They're in a more mobile society where all these coaches are moving around. He's got about four guys he can lean on. And I think that's a big factor in all this. That is a huge factor. That's exactly right. He can lose any number of guys on defense.

The guys on offense that you mentioned, they're hard to replace. Bill Pollian, AAF. Congrats. Good luck. I think it's going to work. And we'll talk soon. Okay, buddy. Thank you. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

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