The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 09/11/2019

Episode Date: September 11, 2019

Colin talks about OBJ claiming the NFL is singling him out for wearing a watch  even though they fine all players for doing stuff like this.  He defends experience after the new NFL Head Coaches go 1-6-1 in week 1.  FS1's Nick Wright defends Odell Beckham Jr against Colin.  Plus, are the Panthers telling us by their play calling that they don't believe in Cam Newton anymore?  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL'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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast imagine an olympics

where doping is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games some call it grotesque others say it's unleashing human potential either way the podcast's superhuman documented it all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast.

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 herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Wednesday. We are loaded. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

We are live in beautiful Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me in a day. Nick Wright this hour, Joel Claddle, yell and scream. Me with me next hour. Lebar Earrington in studio today as well. Joy, how are you? I'm great. You and Joel were right about that Colorado game.

We were, weren't we? I watched it on Fox, FS1. It was unbelievable. Yeah. So we start with a more somber tone today, a more serious story. Antonio Brown, the well-chronicaled wide receiver, Pittsburgh, Oakland, now New England, accused of rape in a civil lawsuit, three separate occasions, 2017 and 2018. I'll make this brief.

have three thoughts on this. Number one, I never try to predict what unpredictable people are going to do. I've never quite understood Antonio Brown. If I was as talented as him and as fast as him, I would have stayed with Big Ben and the Steelers. He was not happy. I didn't understand it. They win. They win their division. He made a lot of money. He scored a lot of touchdowns. Big Ben's arguably the best deep ball thrower in the league. And he wasn't happy. And then he went to Oakland, where John Gruden loves receivers and Derek Carr's pretty good and they were going to build the team around him. And then he did a bunch of silly stuff and the feet thing with a cryogenic, you know, stuff. And then the Instagram and he seemed to be taunting his team.

And I don't think that's smart. I would never taunt my business. I didn't get that. And with New England, I've said multiple times now, I have no idea what's going to happen. I think it'll work for a year maybe. But I guess my point is people that are unpredictable, I stay out of predicting what they're going to do. I kind of know what Russell Wilson cares about in the morning, family football. I kind of know what Tom Brady cares about in the morning, family football.

Jared Goff, Andrew Luck. Certain personalities are very easy for me to predict. With A, B, I give up. I don't understand him. Number two is, in my business, and a lot of people, there's a lot of money to be made in being first on stories. I think you're better off being right, but there's a lot of value in being first. You're a reporter. you break stories.

And I obviously hope this story is not true for everybody's sake. But I'm not going to be first on this story. I'm going to be last. I'm going to let people cover this story that are in this sphere of this story and these accusations. And then I will contextualize it. I've watched people in the media over the last two to three weeks speculate. A.B. needs mental health experts. I'm not going there.

He's a genius. He created and manipulated the Raiders. I don't think that's true. So again, I'm going to be last on this one. And there have been a handful of stories in my life. I felt the same way. I'm going to let people break the stories and figure this out. And then I'll contextualize it later.

My third thing is, A, B, if you've listened to my show for 20, 25 years, whether it was in Portland, it was in Tampa, it was at the last place. It's at Fox. I've been pretty consistent on this. A.B. is not my kind of guy. He's more spectacle. I'm more into substance. If you look at the athletes I like, I talked about Lamar Jackson yesterday. He just loves football. He appears to be coachable.

I like him. Drew Brees, football, family. I tend to like less spectacle and more substance. Not a lot of sizzle, more substance. And with A.B, I get a lot of Instagram and I get a lot of social media, and I get a lot of taunting of teams, and it's just not my thing. I'm more Julio Jones. I'm more Larry Fitzgerald.

I'm more Andre Johnson. I'm more Calvin Johnson. He's never been my kind of player or my kind of athlete or my kind of wide receiver in the NFL. Again, I hope these stories are absolutely, I hope it's resolved. I hope it's not true. But I'm not going to try to predict an unpredictable personality. I'm not going to be first on this story. and this is just another layered AB where I've never felt like he's a guy that I can grow with and talk about and wrap my arms around for the next 20 years.

A lot of short-term stuff. I like long-term athletes, the LeBron's and the Brady's where I just like the way they do their business. And so that's my thoughts on this to start our show. I want to move to another star player in the NFL. And boy, it got Chris Carter all fired up this morning. Odell Beckham. O'Dell Beckham wore a watch and it did not apparently help in the win

he got probably going to get fine by the NFL NFL, the NFL said you can't wear that, it's a hard object and O'Dell Beckham said, if it's not one thing, it's another. Exactly. Odell Beckham also said, I want to read this quote, it's always something. Yeah, Odell, exactly. Let's be honest here.

This is self-inflicted. Odell, nobody's picking up. on you. The NFL once find Brian Erlacher, and at the time I think he was the best defensive player in the league, or certainly he was a star. They find him $100,000 for wearing a hat at a media day. That feels like you're getting picked on.

Colin Kaepernick was fined money because he wore headsets before a game that the NFL did. didn't approve. Those are intense and punitive fines. By the way, Brandon Marshall, I think, got fine for the wrong cleats. Cam Newton got fined for a clip in a face mask. There have been sock fines, Alvin Kamara, cleats and socks. Uniform, i.e. uniformity. This is why Jimmy Buffett sued some ladies a year ago because they wanted to open up a pizza place called cheeseburger in paradise.

He's worth $700 million. They weren't worth anything. This is why McDonald's sues people all the time. If you come up with a restaurant that says muck before your restaurant, little becomes big, uniformity. We're not going to allow something small because obviously you would set a precedent if OBJ wears a watch, somebody else wears another watch, somebody else wear clips, socks, cleats, hats, headphones.

Nobody's picking on anybody. This is what big corporations do. It's called uniform. Uniformity. They do it with airlines with their pilots, law enforcement and firemen, do it with their personnel. Chris Carter talked about this this morning. We have this battle in America, and we're seeing it now seep into sports. And I do think there are some sports, tennis, golf, or it's about the person.

I mean, Roger Federer can do whatever he wants. Serena can do whatever she wants. These are team sports. And Chris Carter, who played team sports, doesn't like the direction of OBJ or where sports are sometimes headed. The rules apply to everyone. And this is how you see guys they gradually get into other stuff. You know, because, oh, I don't care about a $5,000 fine.

I don't care about a $20,000 fine. I don't care. It's a $100,000 fine. Why wouldn't you care? It's a distraction to your teammates. To me, it don't make sense. It just speaks to how selfish, how much individuals that they are, you disregard being on a team and what we have signed up.

We're all supposed to be going in this car in the same direction together. But to you, it don't matter. It is the constant battle now individual over team. I do think they're individual sports. Grab a tennis racket, a golf club. I'm for it. In team sports, I'm a team guy. I like winning over individualism.

And it's a constant battle now and it's not going away. Speaking of watch, here is something actually that has to do with football that you should watch this Monday when the Browns, oh and one, go on the road to face the Jets. You may want to watch this story. Baker Mayfield had his lowest passer rating when throwing to O'Dell Beckham. This is what happened with Tony Romo and Des. this is what happened with Big Ben and AB. You often see the star receiver, kind of high maintenance, demanding the football, or he's disruptive, and the talented quarterback Ben, Romo, and Baker Mayfield, therefore forcing the ball to Odell Beckham.

I'll say it again. I think Odell is going to have great moments in Cleveland. I think Jarvis Landry will be there next year, the following year, and the following. year. I don't think O'Dell Beckham, watch that, will be there perhaps even next year. By the way, the Patriots, it should be noted, they wear jewelry, too, after winning another Super Bowl in February. I'm not anti-jewelry. I'm not anti-trophy. I'm not anti-ring. You get them when you win in January and February. One more herd? The herd streams 24-0. The herd. hours a day, seven days a week within the

iHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a 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, no 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. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in 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 hard way and listen now. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Come on. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama wants you to wave at her. What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You know, this past year, anybody who ever had a milkshake with Sean McVeigh of the Rams got a head coaching job.

All the boy geniuses moved into the NFL. They are going to take over the league. And the current scoreboard on all the boy geniuses is one win, six losses, one time. Not great. The only win went to the rookie head coach that had Aaron Rogers, and even their offense didn't look very good. There is a massive difference between being smart and being able to handle an NFL head coaching job, because it's not just about schematics. It's about dealing and massaging the ego's owner.

You've got to deal sometimes as a coach with an eccentric owner, some owner that's always got its way. You've got to deal with players' personal crises and issues. I talked to an NFL coach one day, one time, who on a Friday night before they got on the plane was on the phone with a player's girlfriend about wanting a new SUV. He said to himself, that was the last conversation I wanted to have. That's the reality of being a head coach. Landmines everywhere, bureaucracy, everywhere, media responsibilities. being a coordinator is about being smart. Josh McDaniels is smart.

He couldn't build a culture. Pat Schumer is smart in New York. But is he building a culture? I don't know how smart Pete Carroll is, but man at USC and the Seahawks, he's great at building cultures. Okay? That's the difference.

This weekend, you know who did really well? Who were the five best-looking teams in the NFL? Minnesota looked great. Mike Zimmer is 63. The Ravens looked unbelievable. John Harbaugh in his 12th year. The Patriots dominated Pittsburgh. Belichick's closer to 70 than 60.

The Chiefs scored on their first seven possessions. Andy Reid is 63. And oh, by the way, although he looks 21 years old, Jason Garrett of the Cowboys, ninth year, mid-50s, dominated. The five best-looking teams in the NFL had guys whose average age was somewhere between 59 and 61. The Boyd Geniuses were one, six, and one. Because there are two different skill sets on being a coordinator, Norv Turner's great at that, Wade Phillips is great at that, and being a head coach.

Pete Carroll, Belichick, John Harbaugh, Andy Reid, they're great at that. Big difference. A position coach can sometimes be only responsible for two players, quarterback coach. A coordinator, sometimes only responsible for 11. An NFL head coach is not only responsible for 53, but he's got a crazy impulsive owner, intense local and national media. He's got to deal with both coordinators. every major player crises, it is the Grand Canyon.

It is much easier to go position coach to coordinator than coordinator to head coach in the NFL. Sean McVeigh, everybody's like, oh, McVeigh, it's not McVeigh's schematics that are amazing. What's amazing about Sean McVeigh is a kid in his early 30s can change the culture of the Rams overnight. That's his success. It's not that he's calling and play. Their offense is actually, if you watch the Rams, and I've seen every snap now for three years, it's a fairly repetitive offense. They do the same stuff over and over.

But his ability to connect with veterans, free agents, rookies, and create this culture, very pro player, yet very responsible, and team first. That to me is the secret sauce with Sean McVeigh. Not that he's smart. I tell people all the time in my business who do the hiring. Oh, I got to hire smart people. I said, are they smart enough to be good on television? Because I work at a big TV company.

I'm looking for smart enough to be good on TV. I don't want Harvard guys who are stiff on TV. And so this idea of all these boy geniuses moving in, the five old guys in the league, they look great. The experienced guys. Garrett, Harbaugh, Andy, Belichick, they look great. Young boy geniuses, one-one, because he has Aaron Rogers. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,

FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. I do not believe the world's picking on OBJ. I don't. And my takeaway is listen. The NFL is a big corporation. In corporations, McDonald's, Jimmy Buffett's corporation, IBM, they're into uniformity. And if you, my takeaway, and if you, let people wear a watch here, it becomes something else. As I said, they find Brian Erlacker $100,000 for wearing the wrong hat at a media day, which sounds absurd to me. I don't remember a ton about the story, but cleats and face mask clips and socks and Alvin Kamara, this is just what corporations do. I mean, Delta pilots. They can't have their own pins. They got, you know,

this is what big corporations do. I don't think they're picking on it, but my guy, Nick Wright loves OBJ via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, Nick, I know you are a defender often of OBJ. I relish the opportunity to hear you today. What do you make of the watchgate? Listen, it's not that I do like OBJ, but that has nothing to do with this. I like fairness and truth, and that is being missed on this story enormously. First of all, you just alluded to it right there.

No one actually has a problem with Odell wearing a white. watch. There's a rule against it. There's a penalty for it. If Odell were saying, and I will not pay the fine, then I would get it. But you violate the rule, you pay the penalty, you move on. But even in your preamble here, you couldn't really, as brilliant as you are, and you know how brilliant I think you are. You couldn't exactly articulate why it's bad. What you had to go to, and you've heard me say this before, was the feeblest argument, which is the slippery slope. It's, well, you allow this and next they'll be marrying refrigerators. Do you want that? No. You let him wear a watch. Who's to say they're going to wear pants next? Okay. Here's the deal. Odell, of every player in the league this

weekend who was targeted as much as Odell, he was the only one without a drop. Okay, so we can't criticize his performance. After the game, Baker said something a little wacky. We played that sound. Jarvis said something a little wacky. We played that sound. Why didn't we hear the Odell sound? Oh, because he didn't say anything wrong. Okay. So they lost by 30, but it wasn't because his performance. He reacted fine. We got to tick down the list because it's Wednesday and O'Dell hasn't been criticized yet.

Holy bleep he's wearing a watch. And he might wear it again. What's next? Will he check the time during the game? Could he be late? What if he doesn't adjust the time? It's ridiculous. People are looking for a reason to be mad.

Now, I would argue the reason I'm talking about this story is O'Dell, because he is more fascinating. That I agree with. He is newsworthy. He just is. His one-end catch, his personality. He's globally relevant in that space. But there are uniforms and there are, I mean, this league is, I mean, I've seen baseball

do. They're baseball teams where you can't have a mustache. I mean, you know how sports is. Historically, it's been kind of conservative with old rich guys who are conservative and they have CBAs and rules. You do get, though, that certain times there are univated. informity issues and a watch is a, it's bad, you can't. Yes, I, of course. Listen, he should be fined for it. It is against the rules and he is knowingly breaking the rules. The point I am making is

the reaction to it borders on hysterical only because it's him, which is probably why he's wearing it in the first place. Because it does help his brand. It will make him more money than it costs him, but it doesn't actually hurt the team at all. With Odell, so much of this is a snake eating its tail. Why is it a distraction? It's a distraction because we're talking about it. Why are we talking about it? Because it's a distraction.

By the way, for the argument, well, now his teammates have to answer questions about it. If I just got dog walked by 30, I'm glad I'm being asked about the watch instead of why I threw a pick six in the fourth quarter if I'm Baker Mayfield. Alvin Camara wore a $100,000 grill designed by my friend Johnny Dang. No one cares.

You know why? Because it's Alvin Camara. Maybe I'm wrong, Colin. Maybe I'm conspiracy theorist. But if O'Dell Wardle have worn that grill, which is within the rules, and Camara had worn the watch, you know what I think the story is? It's no longer about uniform violations. It's about O'Dell again.

And now it's O'Dell. Why does he wear the grill? Why? I just, we are going to find something. The only cure for O'Dell is going to be them winning games, which is why the Cleveland Browns, oddly enough, face a must-win game against your beloved Sam Darnold on Monday night. And I think they'll win, actually. So the Patriots yesterday, I saw a story. At this point, I'm not sure why anybody does trades with Bill Belichick. The Jets picked up. You live in New York, Demarius Thomas, who's been heard a lot, hasn't played a lot recently, been on a couple of different teams. You know, I told the staff this morning, it's like he's made a trade now with every NFL team. He generally picks on weaker organizations. You know, he got Randy Moss from Oakland. Chandler Jones will make a deal with Arizona.

He likes making deals with Cleveland, you know. And I looked at the Jets and I thought, oh, he just took the Jets to the cleaner. That was my initial take. How about you? Well, to the cleaners is maybe the washing fold because all he got was a sixth round pick. Yeah, I mean, he got, he did what he very often does, which is takes an asset, buys it at X and somehow sells it at 2X, even if the asset is not appreciated at all. I think the Brandon Cooks trade to me, and I don't think New Orleans nor the Rams are dumb organizations. But you look at Brandon Cooks, he trades the 29th pick or the 31st pick for Brandon Cooks, gets a year of production out of him,

then flips him for the 23rd pick. By the way, those were good trades for the Saints and good trades for the Rams. They just happened to be two great trades for the Patriots. Yeah, listen, he's better at this than everybody. And he understands that he actually is not better at drafting than everyone, because drafting is mostly guessing. Yeah. So the best way to be the best, it's like being the best lottery picker. There is no such thing, but if you have the most tickets, you're going to have the best chance at winning. He just makes sure he always has extra tickets and he has other organizations that are going to be desperate and he takes advantage of that because he's never desperate. That's by the way, that's one of your great analogies. I may have to steal that is that there

are no great lottery. I've made a small empire stealing from you so it would be my pleasure to finally have it going the other direction. I think that's brilliant actually. There's no lottery pickers. The draft is mostly a lottery, so just have the most tickets. That is, We should just stop the show. There's no reason to continue. But I have to fill time and I have advertisers. All right, Cam Newton said this. Cam Newton went to the mic, and he was talking about how this past week,

Christian McCaffrey became the focal point of the Panthers. And here's Cam Ben being funny about it. I think coach got CEMAC up for fantasy this week. I think he picked CMA for fantasy. I think that's what it is. Doggone Norvna pick CMA for fantasy, man. I should have went over and seen who he was drafting in his league. you know that's probably why we ain't doing no feet passes right because he didn't pick me for

his quarterback that's all making sense uh let me ask you though are is the message by the panthers moving more toward mcalfrey is it the same message the vikings are sending to kirk cousins we don't want to rely on you but we are paying you and it's interesting Now, we know that Cam's way more talented than Kirk Cousins, but is this messaging that Cam win this year, we don't want to be so reliant on you that when you leave, we're beholden to you. That's kind of my takeaway on the McCaffrey, you know, substance and carries.

What do you make of it? I'll be honest, before you just said it, I hadn't considered it in that context. What I read into it is this, right now, this moment, Christian McCaffrey is the best player on this team. Now, as Cam gets fully healthy, as Cam, by the way, who missed a lot of the offseason because of the surgery and then missed two weeks of training camp because of the foot injuries suffered against the Patriots, as Cam gets fully polished, if you will, he could ascend past McCaffrey. But I think right now McCapry is the surest thing they have. You mentioned Kirk Cousins and it kind of alluded to money. It should be noted.

In today's NFL, Cam is a positive bargain at quarterback. I think he's right now at $20 million a year, which is below Nick Foll's money. And the Panthers shouldn't be devastated about week one, but they should be disappointed. I'm sure you watch that game as closely as I did. Three fumbles in the first half between the two teams. The Rams recover all of them. them, Cam missed some passes, the Panthers missed a field goal. This was a game where the Rams were ripe to be beaten.

Yes. And the Panthers could not take advantage of it. Like, that should have been a week one at home win for the Panthers that propels them. Now, they're scheduled the next, I heard you're talking about Kansas City's schedule. The Panthers scheduled the next seven weeks is incredibly fortuitous for them. Yes. They have to win tomorrow night, though. You win on Thursday at home against a Tampa team where you don't know which side

James is going to be playing for. take the extended. They should be like they were last year, five and two through seven weeks. You just hope Cam is healthy through seven weeks, and then you see where they can go from there. Good stuff. Nick Wright, first things first. Also, what's right? Radio Show, Sirius XM 82. Good seeing you, bud. You too, brother. Talk to you guys later. Yeah. I really did like that analogy. I thought that was absolutely brilliant. He's got it right. The draft for New England, it's a guess. So just have the most, like the lottery, just have the most tickets. If you're New England.

other teams I don't really believe in hoarding up draft picks. Yeah. But New England's, they're not great at drafting. They're really not. Well, that's, yeah, that's what I'm saying. So the more that you have, the better chance. They've actually been very good at taking players in the league, the West Welkers, and putting you in our system.

But you look at their draft picks. I mean, they don't whiff on their first pick. They don't do much in the fifth, six, seven, throw. They're not like Seattle, where Pete Carroll, like, maybe because he coached college, has a real understanding of the draft. I mean, Pete's got more, Pete's struggled with his first pick. Pete's been great on his second, third,

fourth, than fifth picks on the draft. There's also just certain organizations that draft really well at certain positions, like the Steelers with wide receivers. And maybe that's a testament to their scouting department more so than, you know, the head coach or the system. Like, you can have good scouts and good evaluators

within your organization. But I don't believe in hoarding up draft picks if that's not how you do things. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a 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 Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast,

Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist. Care 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 Hardway.

Open your free, our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, the Cliverts I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app. Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. A watch issue. Now, Odell Beckham's come out. I'm wearing a watch.

I'm going to keep wearing a watch. And I don't care if there's fines. I'm not a big fan of that at all. I think Freddie Kitchens today is going to have to answer questions about watch management. Coaches should worry about clock management. It's not my cup of tea, but what else? I do think Cleveland will win this week. You know, here's the thing with Odell Beckham,

is that he is an Instagram influencer. That means he goes to Instagram and he can move people and he's very influential. And I get it. I'm for that. I think it's great. The problem is he's become more of an Instagram influencer than a football influencer. Last 17 games, he's been on the winning team four times. You know, there's a lot of people in the world today that are what they call Instagram influencers,

that they can move products. A lot of times you see this from the beautiful 23-year-old. She's at her pool at the apartment complex, and she's an Instagram influencer, and that's great. but that's all she does, right? Like, he is a superstar professional athlete. So as long as he real, his LinkedIn page should be football player, Instagram influencer. I just feel like the last two years it's been Instagram influencer, football player. And I think once again, he's playing to brand over team, playing to brand over week one.

Oh and one must win. I would not add any distraction. This is what I talked about, though. We are in the world of individuality, and I'm for it in a lot of sports. I'm not for it in football. I'm not even really for it in basketball because in my life, teams have won. Wilts Chamberlain's arguably the most talented player ever. He didn't want a lot of titles because he was flaky and hard to play with.

Michael Jordan was a ball hog when Michael finally relinquished possession of every ball down the stretch. Michael won. Michael actually became a very good – he was a great defender. He became a better passer. He shot less, passed more. So Michael was a great individual player, but it was when Phil Jackson convinced him to be a team player, passed the ball, Kerr, Paxson, Pippen,

that Michael won. Before that, he just averaged 37 a night and couldn't get out of the first round. So Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, these are great team players. They just happen to be individually gifted. So the other thing is, one of the things I'm proud of is, over the course of 20 years, I'm proud of my audience. Not only of the staff and everybody here, I'm proud of the, if I was a politician, it would be called my base.

my base supporters. They make more than the average talk show host base. We have a very diverse audience, men, women. I'm very proud of that. I think if you become an Instagram follower, your base is the shallowest people in the world who care what watch you wear and what you eat for lunch. I mean, if you really care about celebrities, lunches, I can't help you. It's not a great life. But if you want to appeal to that group and you can make some money on it, you know, I just think he's a football influencer. And in the last two years, it feels like he's more of an Instagram influencer than a football influencer. And I don't like it. I don't think it's good. And the other thing is, listen, I've been covering these sports long enough. I've seen this whole act like 20 times, 18, 19 times. It's ended poorly.

It ended poorly for Ocho. You know, it ended poorly for T.O. who was begging to get on reality shows. We know how this is going to end. right like we know it's not going to end perfectly it's funny about we think about the wide receiver as being a you know a little bit of a diva wide receiver position right but it's really interesting if you go back the first great wide receiver of my life was lynn swan he was kind of a quiet good team player and it was you know i think the next most amazed and i'm not going in perfect chronological order here but then it was like a jerry rice jerry was kind of understated all i knew about him as he used to run hills in San Francisco and they used to do stories on him. I grew up with

Steve Largent. By the way, the last three or four great receivers, Julio Jones, Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson. Most of the great receivers have been actually fairly quiet, very reluctant, very reticent to get involved with stuff. There have been some flashy ones, but I have found over the course of my life. The diva wide receiver, it doesn't end well. It doesn't. The classy wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones, they just keep getting those massive direct deposits.

They're beloved by teammates. They're beloved by one team. I mean, Arizona, Larry Fitzgerald could run for governor. I mean, Julio Jones, he is Mr. Atlanta. So I worry that sometimes, sometimes. OBJ is, I don't think it'll end well. He's more in the Instagram that I wish he was. By the way, the other thing I want to talk about here briefly,

so the Patriots, they made a trade for, they traded Demarius Thomas, the injured receiver to the Jets yesterday. And my first takeaway was, oh, boy, the Jets got a host. It's funny about this. Belichick has now made a trade with every NFL team. but if you look at what Belichick does a lot of, not exclusively but primarily, he picks on the weaker organization.

Akeb Talib from Tampa Bay. Wes Welker from the Dolphins. Randy Moss from Oakland. Corey Dillon from the Bengals. Jets, Lions, Cleveland, Arizona. He wanted, by the way, A, B, he couldn't get him from the Steelers.

He went and got him from Oakland. This league often talks about parity. And a lot of it's true. I mean, you have to have a good quarterback. There is a lot of parity. There is not intellectual parity in this league. Andy Reid was so smart. Remember what Andy Reid did with Donovan McNabb at the end?

He was washed up. He goes to Washington in his division. Got a second round pick for him. Belichick looks at organizations that do not have elite structure. Look what they've done with Jamie Collins. They draft him. They pay him nothing. He's about to get expensive.

They move him to Cleveland. Cleveland pays him a fortune. He doesn't work. Bill goes and gets it back this year, pays him a nickel, and he's great again. Like this, there is no intellectual parody in this league. There are just simply smarter people, the Andy reads and the Belichicks, and they just keep working people. Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search Hurd to listen live. or on demand whenever you'd like. I always believe in football that a team tells you what they think about the quarterback based on the play calls for the quarterback. So Cam Newton took to the press conference this week, the podium, to talk about the fact his team is getting very Christian McCaffrey-centric, star running back, really good.

And Cam joked about the fact that it's a lot of Christian McCaffrey and a little bit less Cam. I think coach got C-MAC up for fantasy this week. I think he picked C-Mack for fantasy. I think that's what it is. Doggone Norvna pick C-Mack for fantasy, man. I should have went over and seen who he was drafting and in his lead.

You know, that's probably why we ain't doing no feet passes, right? Because he didn't pick me for his quarterback. That's all making sense. No, I think what they're doing is actually smart, and I think Minnesota is doing it with Kirk Cousins, that if they have to bail on this player in a year, they don't want to have a huge hole. They don't want to be beholden to Cam

because he has become a very average player late in games. Sunday was a prime example. They trailed by a at home. Rams did not play well. The defense was playing well. Cam got the ball, 12 minutes left, fourth quarter, after an interception, three and out. Cam, by the way, in four minutes.

or less in a game trailing in his career, seven touchdowns, 10 picks. And I think Carolina is saying, we're going to build this on defense and running, not be beholden to Cam. I think the opposite thing is happening in Dallas with Dak Prescott. We all think he's limited. But what Dallas is telling you, have you noticed this with Dak, every year, more pass attempts. They're becoming more DAC-centric.

If you notice this with Dak, they're spending big money on the, offense. Carolina likes to spend money on the defense, feeling that maybe it's wasted money on offense. Have you watched Dallas what they're doing with the offense? All the old Iman make big money. Amari's going to make big money. Zeeq's going to make big money.

Randall Cobb, Dallas is telling you, we're going to ask Dak to throw more. We're going to spend big money on players we believe he can elevate. People have been defending Cam forever. Carolina is telling you what they think about him. We need a running game and a defense to win here. Dallas is also telling you what they think of DAC. Now, we're going to pay all these receivers because we think DAC makes them better.

And by the way, here's the other thing that Dallas did. They went out, whereas Carolina went and got an old vague veteran sage quarterback for Cam. No. See what Dallas did with Dak? We're going to get a player who just retired. We don't know how good he is. We're going to roll the dice on this.

That's how much they trusted Dak Prescott. Guy's never been a coordinator. He played two years ago. We have no idea. I think Dallas is seeing inside the room a lot of stuff with Dak, the leadership, kind of the alpha, how players respond to him. Jason Whitten told us yesterday on the show, players are into Dak in that room. And Dallas, by spending big money, by going with a young creative coordinator,

by keep a drafting and acquiring offensive pieces and paying them is telling you and more attempts every year. Dallas is telling you, we're not limited at all by DAC. We think DAC can take us to Super Bowls. Carolina, they're telling you, we got to get really, really good around Cam. We'd rather him throw it a little less, a little less dependent, more McCaffrey, less Cam. That's what I'm seeing. 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. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

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 Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in 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, SNL'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. Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.