The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 08/23/2018

Episode Date: August 23, 2018

Colin says Dez Bryant's issues have been in the spotlight for years because he was a Dallas Cowboy and that's why he hasn't been signed. He thinks Urban Meyer kept his job at Ohio State because he wins and thats a lesson for everyone. Plus, Lane Kiffin joins Colin to defend Nick Saban and talk about the Ohio State situation Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is the best of the herd. with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy Taylor out, Jamie Maggio, again checking in with us today. I go out to the dinner last night with my wife. I look over at the table next to me, and there's Jamie.

Jamie, what are you doing? You can't get rid of me, Colin. Well, it's been great to have you on the show yesterday today. and we have a lot of ground to cover today. So just don't go anywhere for at least the next hour. We got a lot of ground to cover today. Here's the downside. And there are not that many downsides to what I'm going to talk about.

The downside to getting a really good job or a very public job or a high-profile job. If you make a mistake, it gets magnified. Everybody sees it. Okay. That's the downside to working at a public place, being a mayor. You know, being in a small town, being the principal in a small town. One little mistake magnified. So when you give somebody a job like that,

you got to make sure they're prepared for it. Not just the work, but the magnification of any mistake they make. Des Bryant is the all-time leading Dallas Cowboy touchdown leader. Not Michael Irvin, not Jay Novichek, not Alvin Harper, not Bullet Bob Hay. You know how many great receivers the Cowboys have had? Des Bryant's the number one all-time touchdown leader for the Cowboys at Wide Receiver. All-time. Cleveland said no thank you.

The Patriots cut Kenny Britt yesterday. They said, no, we're desperate for a wide receiver. We don't want him. He's the Dallas Cowboys, all-time leading receiver. Still can play. But every tantrum he ever had was on national television. There's a rule in the NFL. people inside the league called the Dallas Cowboy Rule.

That you can only put a team on national TV and prime time like six times. Because otherwise, everybody would always put the Cowboys on. They call it the Dallas Cowboy Rule. Every network, Fox, NBC, CBS, we would all put the Cowboys in our primetime late-night game every single week. But you can't. The rule was instituted to protect the Dallas Cowboys. So they're not playing the late game every week.

And they're not doing that to their fan base, which, you know, has work Monday and you're making them go to a game at 8 o'clock. As it is, they're on primetime maximum number of games. If Des plays for the Tennessee Titans, let's be honest. If it wasn't for the Red Zone channel, nobody outside of Nashville never watched the Tennessee Titans. Their first five games run at 1 o'clock Eastern, 10 in the morning out west. You know that 1 o'clock game, Tennessee Jacksonville, the one you've never watched ever unless you live in Nashville. They play that twice a year. They play indie twice a year.

But if it wasn't for Peyton Manning, you wouldn't even watch that division. Right? So if Des Bryant plays for them, nobody cares. Think about this. Tony Romo, when I say Tony Romo, your first thought overwhelmingly, and it's unfair, is that guy threw so many picks in the fourth quarter, Tony Romo has the second best passer rating in the history of the NFL. in the fourth quarter. He's the second best fourth quarter quarterback passer rating

in the history of the league. But all his interceptions were on television because the Cowboys are always the most watched game on television. That's the reality of what is happening to Des Bryant. There's only three quarterbacks in league history who have ever had a higher passer rating than Tony Romo. The all-time leader for touchdown receptions for the Cowboys is not Drew Pearson. It is not T.O.

It is not Bullet Bob Hayes. It is not Jay Novichick. It is not Jason Witten. It is not Michael Irvin. It's Des Bryant. And the Cleveland Browns, desperate for players, said, No, thank you. And the New England Patriots who cut Kenny Britt,

I mean, they're down to throwing to stuffed animals at this point. I don't know. They said, no, thank you. Be very careful about taking a high-profile job or hiring somebody for a high-profile job. Because any little tantrum, any little mistake will be magnified. Let me shift gears to this. I don't think I'm an overly aggressive guy physically. I bungee jumped, but I'd never jump out of a plane.

and people say Colin, you've moved all over the country. You must be aggressive. Not really. I usually stay at places for a while and then maybe move after seven to ten years. I don't think my DNA is like super hyper aggressive. I don't.

I don't like jumping off bridges, jumping out of planes. I'm not a motorcycle guy. I've been on them as a kid, but I don't want to get banged up. But there are times you got to go for it. In the NFL, I think you should watch what you spend, mostly stay away from free agents,

with one exception. That's when you have a really, really, really good quarterback in the first three to four years of his contract, and you're not paying him anything. In the NFL, the smart GMs, go for it. The Rams, the Eagles, Kansas City. It's very rare. happens to about one or two teams in the league every year.

Oh, this young quarterback's good enough to play now, and we're paying him nothing. If you're paying your quarterback under like $10 million a year, Rams Jared Gough in that ballpark, then you go get Indomacons suit. You go out and get Brandon Cooks. When Philadelphia is only paying Carson Wentz that, you go get Michael Bennett. You go get whoever you got to get. The New York Jets this morning are in discussions

with the Raiders for Kaleel Mack. The New York Jets have Sam Darnold. Go get Kaleel Mack. This is what the good teams do. If you have a young guy good enough to start now, remember, the NFL is very unique. It doesn't take 10, 12 years to go from the outhouse to the penthouse. they've got an elite safety already.

They've got an elite corner. Trumane Johnson. They went and got him from the Rams. Leonard Williams, an elite defensive lineman. Jamal Adams, an elite safety. But they were 28th in sacks. You get Kaleo Mack. You've got a Pro Bowl level guide,

defensive line, pass rush, corner, and safety. And a very good defensive head coach. Now, with Sam Darnold, you trade Teddy Bridgewater, the picks you have to give up to get Khalil Mack, you get back trading Teddy Bridgewater for picks. And then next year you recruit the hell out of the offensive line in the draft. You got to go for it.

And I'm not always a go for it guy. There are times in my life that I've been very cautious physically, very cautious professionally. And in the NFL, I'm not a big believer in big splashy free agent signings. But there is a go for it time in the NFL. And if you're the Jets, never forget, Andrew Luck's first three years, just like Sam Darnold. They had a bad old line, no running backs, weak tight ends, and marginal wide receivers. Yet, he was 22 and 1 when the Colts kept people under 20 points. This jet defense is not bad, and with Khalil Mack is pretty good.

They'll solve their one defensive problem. It's pretty good. Then you got the franchise quarterback, you got the defensive head coach, you got the defensive personnel in every unit, then you go out and you solve the offensive line. Because you got six draft picks next year, more if you trade Teddy Bridgewater potentially. So this is one of those moments in the NFL. This is why I've been critical of the Cowboys on this. Dak Prescott, you're not paying him anything, man. You've got to go out now and spend some money on a big time safety or a big time wide receiver.

I'd make that argument. You're the Jets. The story is this morning. They're talking to the Raiders about Khalil Mack. Go get him. Give up some picks. Get them back with Teddy Bridgewater. This is not baseball.

It's not the NBA. When you're bad and you don't have a star, like Memphis right now, that rebuilds six years minimum. You're not getting free agents. That rebuild in Memphis, Orlando, those are five of Detroit Piston, six, seven-year rebuilds. It doesn't work that way in the NFL. Once you get the quarterback right and you already have one side of the ball, which is close, Jets and defense, and I can make it elite with one guy, get it done. Trade Teddy.

Maybe with Teddy you get an offensive lineman and a pick. The NFL's, this is why the NFL is great. It gives fans hope. Even Cleveland right now, they get Tyrod Taylor, draft Baker, make a move for Jarvis Landry. They're going to go from 0 and 16. A lot of people think they're going to be 8 and 8. I don't think that's crazy.

I got them at 6 and 10, but I don't think 8 and 8's crazy. Jets, this is your moment. It is the NFL's goal for it stage. You got a kid that's good enough to start. He'll be spotty. He'll have issues. He'll be choppy. He's good enough to start.

Solidify your defense. Go get a star. This is what the Eagles will do. This is what the Rams. This is what Kansas City. This is what they do. The smart teams do this. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m.

Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, the IHard Radio app. So yesterday, as predicted on this show, as I predicted on Twitter, Urban Meyer would keep his job, there'd be a brief suspension, the media would freak out, and Ohio State will go on

to win a bunch of games. Obviously, he was going to keep his job. Folks, we all do this. We protect people who take care of us. And if you're really good at your job, you get away with more. You just do. Urban Meyer's really,

good at his job. He's 73 and 8 at Ohio State. He's won three national titles. He's a remarkable 11 and 3 in bowl games. There was one year he coached at Ohio State that was ineligible. He went 12 and 0 that year. He turned around bowling green, Utah, Florida, and Ohio State in hours. Four for four. Not even Nick could do that. When people are really good at their job. We give him second and third chances, and he's really good. This entire investigation was not to find information to fire him. They were seeking information to protect him and keep him. That's what they were looking for. We all do this. I've done this. Somebody takes care of my kids. Somebody gives me something. I mean, let's just pretend wild

scenario. We had an inappropriate president who had a relationship with a porn star. But the economy's good, so he got me a job. I got his back. We all do this. When people take care of us, monetarily, emotionally, take care of our family, make us feel good, we got their back. We get embedded. We protect them. Of course, Urban Meyer was not fired. Plus Ohio State, they can say we got rid of that really bad guy. We kept a guy that, you know, he's got some memory issues. That's what they said.

But we got rid of the bad guy. So they feel good today, and Ohio feels good today. And 73 and 8 Urban Meyer feels better today than yesterday. This is the way it works. It's the way it's always worked. And whether we like it or not, I've done it, you've done it. and there'll be another story in the next few months of us protecting somebody that takes care of us financially or emotionally. We just pretend bad stuff doesn't happen.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Speaking of brand, this happens all the time in America where you have like this, you know, you have this battle at the top. McDonald's or Burger King and Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and Coke and. Pepsi and you know it happens in airlines Delta and United and then something happens and eventually like one of the brands pulls away from the other brand and I thought that in college basketball a couple years ago Mike Shoshesky's been the face of the sport and here came John Calipari at Kentucky and he's getting up there and he won the title and he's beating him in recruiting and over the last three or four years coach Kay is back on top winning more Calipari

team. One didn't make the tournament, not as good in the tournament, getting kind of petty in the media when he loses to Coach K in recruiting battles. Coach K's pull away. And here you have college football. And you have Nick Saban at the top of the hill and Urban Meyer goes to Ohio State and Urban Meyer is going to catch him and he wins a tie. He's going to be. And after last night's embarrassing press conference, the second bad Urban Meyer press conference, Nick Sabin's pulling away from Urban Meyer. I think of Urban Meyer now. I think really great coach, baggage.

And I think of John Calipari, and I think really great coach vacated wins at UMass and vacated wins at Memphis and getting petty with the media. There's just that kind of, he's not quite coach K. And the gap between Urban Meyer and Nick Saban grew in the last three weeks. Nick, you get less chaos. steadier, you don't get the baggage, you don't get the constant drama. This is the second big program.

Urban's taken over, and he wins a bunch of games, and he's a hell of a football coach. But this is part of his brand, too. Yesterday, they said he's got memory issues. Hell, don't we all? But that wasn't a good enough explanation. And, by the way, even if you're a Buckeye fan, you know it wasn't a good enough explanation.

And I like Herman. And I've met his wife. I like her, too. but we have this all the time, these big brands, and here comes Burger King, and here comes Duncan Donuts, and here comes Coach Calipari, and here goes Urban Meyer, and they're going to challenge the big dog, and the big dog pulls away.

And I've never had a bigger gap in my life between Sabin and Urban Meyer than I do this morning. Sorry, but when I think of Urban Meyer, this morning, it has dinged his brand. It has. I don't even think Urban's the second best coach. I'll take Davosweeney, Chris Peterson third. This morning, I feel better about Jim Harbaugh.

Now, he is a little goofy. He drinks milk with his steak, and he wears the same thing every day, every day of the year. As Halloween, he still goes as Jim Harbaugh. It's the same thing. But I'll tell you, Jim Harbaugh looks bigger today. I don't get this constant drama around Jim Harbaugh. Lane Kiffin will be joining us in just a couple of seconds.

Let me say this. There was a picture. Can I give you something on LeBron? I want to show everybody this. So there was a picture that made the rounds with LeBron James. This is a picture, and it made the Internet. And it created a little buzz. And it was at UCLA.

and LeBron James was in the picture, and he was playing pickup games with Kauai Leonard, there in the red shirt, and then Kevin Durant next to Kauai in the blue shirt. He's the tall guy. And that gala, that gala buzz. Now, there was also a video the same day at UCLA. This was taken by somebody on our staff,

and Russell Westbrook was playing a game, and James Hardin was playing a game. This was shot by somebody in our staff. And Paul George was. playing a game. That was at UCLA the same day. Anybody notice anything about these two games? I want you to watch this for a couple. Anything, but what's the difference between that picture and that video? So let's go back to the video, or let's go back to the picture, excuse me. So let's go back to the picture. And it's LeBron James and it's Kauai Leonard and it's Kevin Durant.

Why would Why would LeBron playing that game? Colin, LeBron went to L.A. just for business. Yes, he did. And his number one business is basketball and winning basketball games is good for business.

Do you notice that LeBron played pickup games with guys who were free agents next summer? And let's go back to the video. You know who's not a free agent next year, who's locked into a contract? Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Paul George. LeBron came here for business. Basketball's his best business.

Winning basketball makes LeBron's business better. Same day, UCLA, two games. Who did LeBron choose to play with? The guys he's recruiting to join him in L.A. next year. And with that, via the coward global satellite network. I've been to Boker Raton. Boker Raton's amazing.

If you're a high school football player and you like amazing, go play for Lane Kiffin, who is sitting there looking like a head football coach. So first of all, I've got to say this. You are Mr. Social Media now. You take jabs at people, you poke them in the ribs. You've become, you have really rebuilt your brand. And you are talked about now.

all the time, all the networks. You're on this show. You're on other shows. So we have a situation at Ohio State that's a mess and it's ugly. You have been in that world lane where everybody's beating up on you and you're getting criticized by everybody. Did it affect Urban Myers just dealing with this? Did it affect your life? Did it affect your coaching?

Did it affect you? What is it like to live in that world where the world's caving in on you and everybody's ripping you and you're sitting there and all you care about your kids? what is it like for Urban today? You've been there. Well, in somewhat a similar situation, they're always different, but we've talked about that before. You know, I remember myself and Coach O'Jeron

talking about those situations when you feel like that. It's almost he used to talk about, because you can imagine he's a bench press guy that, you know, he's got the barbell and they just keep adding weight on. You know, here's this issue with the player, here's this issue with the coach, you know, here's a loss,

You know, here's losing a player in recruiting and, you know, just keeps adding weight and wait and wait. And it's like how much can you hold? And that's kind of, you know, like a CEO, that's like being a head coach. You know, it can affect you. And I think it definitely, especially early on at a younger age, definitely affected me because you start to be consumed by it because it's all around you. And especially, too, if you let your job define you, it's going to really affect you. I don't know. How could you go to work if you're Urban today and it not be part of your world? Do you think they'll just bounce back and he'll bounce back because he's been through stuff before?

Or when you're driving home and you're driving to work and you're at practice, do you think he can just overcome the snap of the fingers, be back in coach and be all good? He probably can. You know, Urban's done this a long time. And so, you know, I'm sure at times throughout the day, you know, he's thinking of it. But as far as the coaching, I would think probably doing it so long as he has, you know, once he gets back into a meeting, once he's on the practice field, you know, that he does forget about that stuff. You know, I would, you know, because, you know, you're involved in the X's and O's aspect, you know, and then you really, when it comes back is when you go to your press conference after practice is when it's going to really come back at him again probably, and then he's going to have to

go from that, put that behind him. back and try to forget about it and then go back to his coach's meetings. You won your conference last year, Conference USA. You won a bowl game in a blowout fashion. In one year, you totally turned around the program. It was one of the better offenses in the country. You're an offensive guy. You're recruiting is rolling.

And you've said, I'm in no hurry to leave here. I know that you love the water. You're from Tampa. You love Boca. And you're not, you're not, you're not, you've moved around a lot in your life. It is funny. So I saw a list the other day of overrated, underrated coaches. and I just sort of rolled my eyes.

Joel Klatte said the overrated guys was a jealousy list. And you were on the list and Nick Saban was on the list. And when you were at Alabama with Saban, every five minutes somebody's ripping Nick Saban. Forget overrated, underrated. We know he's great, Lane. You know what? I know what the world knows it. But when you are at the top of the mountain like Nick, is it, what's the downside to that?

I mean, obviously there's pressure, but you've lived in that in that heat. in that inferno of Alabama. How does Nick handle it? This is a decade long now he's been in this thing. Yeah, he does an unbelievable job of handling this situation. You know, he's in a longer version. And, you know, I've discussed, you know, the Pete Carroll era and Coach Carroll was there and had one of those.

And now Coach Saban has it. And that's just, you know, the crazy world we live in, you know, that, you know, I saw somebody showed me what you're referring to, you know, a list of overrated coaches. And Nick Sabin's on the list. of being overrated. Or someone writes Lane Kiffin and said, well, it's probably, I'm partially jealous of him, so I'm going to put him on an overrated list.

And I looked at it and said, well, most people don't rate me, you know, because they say I'm not a good coach anyway. So how do I get on an overrated list if I'm not rated? I mean, most people write that I'm not any good as a head coach. So now I'm overrated at it. So I don't know. By the way, your social media, would you be as active on social media as funny on social media, as provocative on social media

if you were at, instead of FAU, if you were at Georgia, if you were at Texas. Are you allowed now to take more risks because you're the little guy poking at the big guy? Well, I don't, Colin, I don't look at it as risk.

You know, I've said before no matter where I've been, you know, I feel like my job is to the president, to the athletic director, to our players, to our fan base. And that has probably hurt me from a personal, national standpoint of how I'm viewed because I've always tried to do what's best for the program.

You know, whether it's going to Tennessee, it had been down a little bit. So the plan was to create some energy, you know, and make a joke about, you know, going to the swamp and winning and things like that to create buzz and energy. And that doesn't necessarily help in the eyes of other presidents or other athletic directors

because I get that question all the time. Well, why do you put that on Twitter if you know some presidents, some athletes, athletic directors at other places may not like that. And I said, that's how a lot of coaches operate. That's not how I do. Those aren't my boss. Those are not people in charge of me.

Our president here hired me and wanted attention on the university. You know, our out-of-state applications in one year are up 40%. And he said himself, the only thing that changed was Lane Kiffin coming here. So, you know, I feel like I'm just doing my job for the people that hired me and not worried about other people's, you know, other people and other people's places and jobs at those places because that's not my job. By the way, Lane, you coached for the Raiders, you've been in the NFL. I have questions about John Gruden being gone for 10 years. There are businesses, Lane, that you could not be present for 10 years, but I think like Silicon Valley and football

seems to change about every two years. Let me ask you, if you were gone from football for 10 years, could you walk back into the sport and be effective? Can Gruden do that? Well, it depends. Could I walk back after 10 years or could anybody walk back after 10 years and be effective from a offense or defensive standpoint in game planning? Probably not because you would have fallen behind. Now, can you be a head coach? Sure, guys can be out of head coaching for a while and do it because some head coaches are just CEOs. They don't even necessarily know the X's and O's of their offense, defense, and special teams. So then it's easier to do because, again, you're just leading coaches and players. But, you know, if you're calling plays and you're designing an offense or defense, you know, that would be very hard to do except for in John's situation because he's almost been coaching. You know, he's spent every week preparing for Monday night football like a coach, breaking it down.

He understands how the game has changed on defense and offense. So John would be the one guy that could do it, not just from a head coaching standpoint like others, but from a. X and O standpoint, he'll be able to jump right back in. You have been at the biggest heights of recruiting. USC dominates recruiting, certainly Denver West, Alabama and number one classes. Somebody said last week, you know, it's easy. Nick Saban, you know, when you cheat, when you have all the best players, I hear this all the time.

Lane, you've been at FAUs a smaller school. You've been at the biggest schools. You're known as an elite national recruiter. A lot of people get discouraged with college football. I hear this all the time. Everybody's cheating, they're paying for players. I don't believe that to be true. If I said to you today, Lane, you've been in those battles.

Okay, you've been in those battles. If I said to you percentage of programs that you think do things that are unethical, what would the number be? I don't know an exact number, but not anywhere near, I think, the way people will talk. And a lot of that is because, and I hear it all the time, you know, someone loses, I used to sit in staffing as a head coach, and an assistant coach would lose a player to, another program and they say, oh, they cheated.

You know, they bought the player, you know, or they bought the mom, you know, or the dad or whatever it is. And they don't know that at all. It's just an excuse. So I think a lot of times people just say that to take blame off of, okay, why did we lose the player? You know, could we have done something better in the recruiting process to sign the player?

So we're just going to say someone else cheated because, you know, that makes us look better instead of really, really dissecting, why did you lose the player? So I don't think it happens near as much as people think. And like you said, you know, like you mentioned before, people saying Nick Saban, well, it's like cheating because he has better players and everyone. Well, they didn't just walk, they just didn't walk onto campus and through the doors. You know, he spent time getting him. He's the best recruiter in the world because of the time that he spends. You know, people joke,

okay, he doesn't have hobbies. He really doesn't, you know, do anything else. Well, you know, he does, he recruits. So when other coaches on Thursday night, you know, are going home or, you know, on the 4th of July are actually like, you know, doing something like a boat or fireworks, he's on the phone with recruits. Every single day, the entire off season and during the season, at night he has a list of recruits that he's personally calling himself. So he just flat out how it works everyone else. So the people, I was there for three years. So the people that say Alabama cheats in recruiting, the only cheating they do is that he just works harder than everybody else. Yeah. Florida Atlantic, by the way, 11 and 3 last year.

Did you get coach of the year? You got a bunch of votes for coach of the year. Did you win coach of the year? No, I never win that because that's other people voting on things. We didn't win that at USC when we were 10 and 2, and David Shaw won it, and we didn't win it this year going 11 and 3. Well, you were my coach of the year. And you won Conference USA, you won a bowl game.

You open up, this will be a fireworks show against Oklahoma. The bowl game was a blast because you guys would do all sorts of, clever stuff. Lane Kiffin, you're rolling. I'm happy for you. Boca Raton is an amazing place, folks. Lane, thanks for coming on the show. All right, Colin. Thank you. Have a great weekend. One more herd. The herd streams

24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. When Paul George was out there and could have gone to the Lakers or could have stayed at Oklahoma City,

he didn't even give the Lakers an interview and he said yesterday the Lakers were ticked off about that I mean L.A. was pissed at me I didn't give magic a... Which I understand. I understand. But at that point, I mean, I knew I knew I wanted to give it another shot.

I didn't want to prolong it and waste people's time. I just felt comfortable. I felt like I've been around those guys forever. That was just the field. It didn't feel like there was just like a new relationship. Yeah. It felt like these are guys that I want to compete with. Yeah.

And coming down a free agency, it was no question. I wanted to get it done with it and over with. Okay. So he chose Westbrook over LeBron. I wouldn't. And he chose OKC's history over the Lakers. I wouldn't. But let's be honest about this.

Chris Bosch is a very good player, probably a Hall of Famer. He struggled with LeBron at the end. And Kevin Love's going to make the Hall of Fame. And he struggled with LeBron. And Kyrie Irving's going to be a Hall of Famer. And he struggled with LeBron. and several coaches have struggled with LeBron. LeBron's not easy.

He's just better than everybody else. And Bill Belichick's not easy. He's just better than everybody else. And working at Apple is not easy, but it's just better than everybody else. Channing Fry said playing with LeBron. And Channing Fry's a good dude, smart dude, been around the league. He said, when you play with LeBron,

there is no room for mistakes. Because in all actuality, he could do it all himself. he could win 40 games by himself. He's done it. But I think it really comes down to a simple thing. What Paul George, you think he's a superstar, but he's from a small town, and he played at Fresno State,

and he didn't come into this league out of college as a star, he developed into one in one of the smallest NBA cities, Indianapolis. He didn't grow up hanging out in downtown L.A. grew up outside of L.A. A lot of small towns outside of L.A. and Fresno, Fresno's a small town when you compare it to L.A. Indiana is a small town.

And most Americans, if you line up comfort, money, familiarity, and solidified status are going to choose that over uncomfortable, unfamiliar, little less money, and your status is a mystery. He chose Oklahoma City because he was comfortable. He was familiar with his teammates. He made a little more money, and his status there, second best player on the roster, is solidified. It's not comfortable playing with LeBron.

It's unfamiliar territory. You're going to make a little less money. And your status, let's be honest, Kauai Leonard may be coming, is a total, absolute mystery. I would never have chosen Westbrook over LeBron. LeBron just wins more and ends up in the finals. I would never have chosen OKC's basketball brand in history.

when you retire a Laker, you're just a bigger deal. You're just a bigger deal. They write and talk about you, Mora. You win in Oklahoma City, it makes them happy. You win in L.A., and it makes a world happy. It makes a league happy. Everybody wins. But I think when you get right down to it, LeBron's not easy.

Ask Chris Bosch. Ask Kyrie. Ask David Blatt. Ask Kevin Love. And by the way, in a few months, ask Luke Walton. LeBron, the payoff was saving, the payoff with Belichick, the payoff with LeBron, the payoff working at Apple, it's better. But if you're looking for comfortable and familiarity and a solid job status,

you're not going to choose that. You're not going to choose that. Chris Bosch went from 25 a game to like on some nights. He scored zero points in one of those game sevens. And Kevin Love went from an All-Star, 25, to taking all the blame when LeBron's teams lost. You know, he came off the bench a couple of times. If you're looking for familiarity, comfortable, status solidified,

LeBron's not the choice. He never has been. Ask his coaches and ask the stars he's played with. 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. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are set to play, as Jamie reported earlier. earlier, November 23rd. And it'll be winner-take-all $9 million on pay-per-view.

Now, the price has not been set. Jamie said $24, I said about 12. Two of the best golfers, two of the biggest names, certainly in the last decade in the sport. And with that, it got me thinking about the biggest matchups I've never seen before. So let's go to Best for Last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet.

Quit holding out on us, Cowherd. It's the best. for last. What are the biggest matchups in sports that we'd love to see, but we've never seen? How about this? When George Foreman made a comeback in the 80s, the reason he made a comeback is he said he could beat Mike Tyson. It was one of the real turnoffs to me in boxing.

They never met. And the only reason they didn't meet was greed. Foreman had said, this is why I got back into fighting. Neither was a nuanced fighter by the end. They were both haymakers. George would throw a haymaker right. Tyson would throw a haymaker left. Consider two of the best knockout heavyweight boxers of all time

would have been the most watched fight at the time ever, and they never met. How about this one? If I said, what's the biggest college basketball rivalry, you would say Duke and North Carolina. Do you realize they have, met 248 times, but never in the NCAA tournament. That doesn't even sound right.

They have combined for 36 final fours and 11 national championships, but my staff told me this morning they've never met in the tournament. That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. I cannot even believe that is true. Now, I understand that the NCAA would want to separate them in different brackets. But there have been years. They're both, you know, one or two seats. They've never met in the tournament.

That's incredible. How about this, Rinaldo and Messi in a World Cup? The two greatest individual players, I didn't get to see Pele live. So they're the two best soccer players I've ever seen. Two of the top scores in Champions League history. One of them has won the last 10 player of the year awards. They've won five each. They have never met in the World Cup.

Think about that. Player of the year in soccer last decade. They're the only two winners. And they have never met in the World Cup. How about Rogers and Brady? The most talented quarterback in 25 years and the most accomplished quarterback ever. Never met in a Super Bowl.

In fact, they've both been in the same year in the AFC NFC championship but I think it was that year Matt Ryan, didn't he knock out Aaron Rogers? Brady's got three MVP's, five Super Bowl titles. Rogers, passer rating, best in league history, two MVP's. They have only faced each other once ever. All these years, think about that. You're talking combined like 20 some, 25 years.

They have met one time, I'm told, in the regular season. Green Bay won a narrow game a few years back. and here's another one that is hard it's really these are just staggering to me they do this year so rogers and brady play this year that'll be the second time november where's that game at it's in new england all right they'll be one-on-one okay Kobe and lebron one of them have been in the last 12 finals and 16 of the last 19 two best players in the last, could I say last 10 years, these are the two best players? Kobe and LeBrono, the two best players in the NBA. They've been, one of them's been in the last 12 finals.

Both players considered arguably the best player of their generation. They have never met in the finals. Aren't those amazing? Yeah, both got into the conference finals at the same time, one year. Yeah, remarkable. Never saw Kobe. So think about that. all these great players playing simultaneously, that's what was so great with Bird Against Magic.

People forget this in the NBA. You know, if you're a 20-year-old, you didn't see this. The NBA in the 70s was a mess. They had a drug problem, empty arenas. The NBA finals were on tape delay. They weren't even live. They didn't even put them on live TV. I can remember this as a kid.

The NBA finals were on tape delay after the 11 o'clock local news. The league was not dead, but it was irrelevant. It was an NFL, college basketball, college football, baseball world. The NBA was irrelevant. Magic and Larry Bird became these transformative college stars. Larry Bird played at Indiana State, the Sycamores. One other good player on the team that, I think, for an hour made the NBA. Magic played with Greg Kessler, Judd Heathcote on Michigan State.

They met, and Magic won in the championship. they both come into the league, right, in the two-year period. And they're both great, right out of the gate. Now, Larry Bird's the best shooter in the league, like right out of the gate. Magic Johnson, first year in the league. He inherits Kareem, Jamal Wilkes, really good finals, all that stuff. They really resurrected the league. The great gift of that is that they, for 12 years in the NBA championship,

either Bird was winning it, Magic was winning it, but one of them was in it. You just don't get that. You think you get it all the time. You don't. We got a little Tiger Phil, and that's where this whole thing started and best for last. You do get some of this in golf. But we didn't get a lot of Sundays at 4 o'clock Tiger and Mickelson at the Masters against each other. It was generally one was hot that week and one was not that week.

What would you spend on pay-per-view to see Kobe in his prime versus LeBron in his prime? in the finals? No, just one-on-one. One-on-one? Yeah, we're talking about the one-on-one matchup in golf. I've always thought that is the one thing. That is, you know how the big three comes in now? It is remarkable to me.

We've never had a one-on-one NBA tournament. In my lifetime, we've never had one-on-one. Talk to the executives here, make it happen. No, that to me is pay-per-view. Kobe LeBron. Now, you can't do it now. We had five-on-five. we have three on three, we're getting there.

We may do a pick and roll two on two league and then we'll go to one on one. Now, Floyd, Mayweather and Manny Pacchio, by the way, we got but neither was in their prime. Floyd was old and Pacchio had lost all his punching power. You don't get these great

matchups as much as you think. You just don't. That's, we got Brady and Peyton in their prime. We got Brady and and Peyton in their prime. We got Tiger and Phil in their prime. But in golf, It's like who's hot that weekend, who's now, very rarely. Yeah, but I mean, it did feel like eight years ago.

They were both guys that were going to a tournament and you put your money on them. But how many times the Tiger and I don't even remember, I'm not a golf addict, how many times did Tiger and Phil on a Sunday at 4 o'clock? You turn the TV on and it was those two in a major to the end. I can't remember many. It was usually one of their weekends and one of them didn't play well. Last night, a blown call changed the 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 headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo's Slice of Life 12. and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app. podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness

from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports.

I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihart Reefat. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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