The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Aug 07, 2020

Episode Date: August 7, 2020

Doug Gottlieb filling in for ColinWhere the Lakers will succeed and where they will failWhy Tom Brady will struggleShould the Packers sign Antonio Brown?Guest: Dodgers pitcher Dustin May Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show.

This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians,

and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it 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 iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. What up?

Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be. And however you may be making as part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottling, filling in for Colin Cowherd. John Middukov's going to join us half past the hour. Three and Out podcast. We'll get his sense of some of these opt-outs.

What it means for the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, we might talk a little golf as well. Middle Cove loves talk golf. In one hour, one hour from right now, what I believe everyone is missing about opting out in college sports. Doug Gottlie in for Colin, this is the hurt. So the Lakers lost again last night. Again.

Hey, hey, yay. The Lakers lost again last night. And what's interesting to me, and here's the Lakers who were two of 19 from three, granted LeBron James didn't play. Right? We understand that LeBron James didn't play. They've already clinched the one seed.

There is, they are in fact playing for nothing. Nothing. But you combined that they were, what was it, five of 37 the night before and then two of 19 last night. They are on the worst five-game shooting stretch of any team in the NBA this season. And it's not really close. But here's what's maybe interesting about it. What's going to happen if the Lakers lose in the playoffs is what you've heard from Colin Cowherd.

The team's just not that good. And that would be fair in far as shooting the basketball. And remember, this was not their plan A or even their plan B or probably their plan C. That's not it. Because their plan A was to have Darren Carlson as their point guard. He chose to be and stay retired. Their plan B was to have Avery Bradley and he's chosen to opt out of a chance of playing for a championship with LeBron James. Their plan C, I guess, was Rondo, who right now is recovering before he can try and be playoff Rondo 10 years after he was actually playoff Rondo.

So we can blame the point guard position or the posity of shooting on Rob Polinka not putting enough shooters around them. On the other hand, the level of and quality of defense that they have is good enough, no, no, great enough that they have the best record in the Western Conference in the NBA for the regular season. So what is it? Are the Lakers not any good and they can't shoot? or are the Lakers really, really good and they can't shoot? And I would say it's probably more of the latter than the former. This was Frank Vogel, head coach of the Lakers and the struggles of their shooting. We just haven't had practice time, so we've got to continue to work through it. And again, we have a lot of guys going in and out.

We've watched some tape on it each day, trying to learn from the types of shots we're trying to create. I thought we took less bad shots from the perimeter tonight, and that usually helps your percentages. It didn't tonight, but it did create more attacks to the basket, more free throw attempts, more points in the paint. So there's some positives there. Some positives there. We had more points in the paint. Yeah, okay. Two of 19 from three, five of 37 before.

And just the, I mean, the basic math to it when you're going to play a team, you know, like the Portland Trailblazers potentially in the first round of the NBA. playoffs. And the Portland Trailblazers are a team where Damian Lillard hit 10 threes on his own last night. Now, yeah, you can live by it and die by it. You can become two, three point heavy, which is what's happened to the Houston Rockets over time, or you go back to the Dallas Maverick for previous years. And there is a certain grittiness to the ability to defend. Lakers have been one of the elite defensive teams in the NBA throughout the season, and that's what was allowed them to be successful. And generally, that is what determines whether or not you'll win a championship, right? Like, people do miss that, yes, the Golden State Warriors would hit you for three after three after three after three after three.

But when they were truly a dominant team, they were a great, and politically speaking, a great defensive team. Which this team can still be very good. But as much as we want to make it about the three-point shooting, can we make it about LeBron James? I like what I call what I call congruent argument, right? which means if the argument is good for one thing, why isn't the argument good for something else? If it's in fact the same argument, if you like me think LeBron James should be the league's MVP,

not simply based upon his play, but his leadership and his ability to get other guys to play above their normal level, right? That is what true greatness does. Because if we look at it and, you know, Collins done it, you break down this roster, like, Danny Green's like a year or two over the hill. Kyle Kuzma's been lost this year. Lost.

He's trying to make Anthony Davis into an alpha. That's really hard to do. We mentioned the turnstile that is the starting point guard spot. You have all these, like, Contavius Colwell Pope is a guy that's always been a good player on a bad team and a bad player on a good team. That's really, if you look at his stats, anytime he put up numbers, his team was garbage. And so to get that team to be the one seed in the West, to play for a coach who had no relationship with previously, then you have an assistant coach and Jason Kidd where people thought he would be out head hunting for the head coaching job. Like, you're in the West.

The West isn't as tough as it's been because the Spurs aren't what they've been. There are no Golden State Warriors this year. Like, I think if we're honest, we would say the West is far more conquerable than it has been because, well, there aren't the Warriors. And there aren't the spurs, really. So those are the toes are two of the dominant franchises over the last decade and neither are truly competitive at the top of the West. It's a very different conference. But if you want to get down to it, I would say that because of last year at this time,

Magic Head announces resignation. They searched for and got a head coach. The people were like, oh, I don't know about that one, right? they had to trade everything in the kitchen sink to get Anthony Davis, and they ended up getting the one seat. So I think that LeBron, who's not as athletically talented as it used to be at either end of the floor, but his leadership, getting others to rise their level,

his ability to build up Anthony Davis's confidence, all of those things, all of those things. Lead me to say that I think LeBron James is the MVP of the league. On the other hand, if he's responsible for when they play well, why is he not responsible for when they don't play well? Right? Whether it goes back to last year? Because everybody said, well, last year when he was hurt, they fell apart. Yeah, well, they fell apart because he was disconnected from the team. He came in with a goblet of wine and buzzing around the team, which is a terrible look. And then when he came back with LeBron James in the lineup, they lost to the Memphis's, the four, the phoenixes of the world. the teams that were trying to be bad, the Dallas Mavericks,

and they still couldn't win those games when they matter. If he's responsible for the winning, he has the same or similar level of responsibility for the losing. It doesn't work where, well, they only win because LeBron played well. When they play poorly, it has nothing to do with LeBron. In fact, statistically, this year, there is no greater correlation between winning and losing

than how LeBron James plays. Look at his stats. It's like 27 a game and shooting, you know, know, 50 from 2 and 40 from 3 and in the 70s from the free throw line. Look at that. When they win, seven points a game more. Like more than 10 percentage points better shooting three point shots, more than five percentage points, shooting better two point field goal shots and shooting far better

from the free throw line as well. Here's Rick Buecker. Anthony Davis in L.A., his numbers are pretty indistinguishable between a wins and loss. If you look at LeBron James, his numbers are starkly different between wins and losses. And not in terms of rebounds and assists and being a distributor, it's being a scorer. I think that the win over the clippers was an aberration. LeBron James at 35 is going to have to be their closer, is going to have to be a scorer, and he's going to have to be one of their two best defenders.

Yes. I don't know if he'll have to be one of their two best offenders, but I do think that he's going to have to find a way to carry a team. To carry a team. Now, is it a perfect team? No. But I could make the same point about any of these teams in the West. Like we make it out like LeBron James is going up against these perfect opponents.

Like, let's go through the other teams in the West. the LA Clippers, they got a great depth of talent. Hey, but Patrick Beverly, it might be their heart and soul, but truth is he should be coming off the bench. Lou Williams does come off the bench. He only goes left. He's a scoring machine, but there are times in which he's ice cold. You know, he can be a little bit flaky as well.

There's a reason he's always come off the bench on the good teams he's played with in the NBA. Kauai's spectacular, but he's always banged up. Paul George has been up and down in the playoffs. They don't really have a starting, you know, center or power forward or anybody that Montres Hill doesn't scare you. They're not a great rebounding team. And the Clippers, by the way, have never been beyond the second round of the playoffs. Kauai has, but no one else has, you know, I mean, Paul George a little bit when he was in indie, but never had real postseason success.

So we're comparing LeBron and the imaginary team he's supposed to be playing with as if he's playing against. these all-time great teams when even the most talented competitor has a ton of flaws. And who else is there? Oklahoma City, who's a surprise? Dallas that plays no defense and isn't there yet. The Houston Rockets that can only play small ball. Russell Wilson can't shoot. They're playing like a small ball center or power forward. You know, they have one trick. They're one-trick pony. Let's play small. Give it to James Hardin and see what he can do. So I understand that you have the desire to freak out and blame the shooting. And on some level, that's a reasonable thing to blame it on. When you shoot so poorly that you have the worst five-game stretch of any team in the NBA,

it's a notable flaw. But in spite of the paucity of quality shooters on that team, they still have the best record in the West. and they got there with defense, with leadership, with LeBron James, with Anthony Davis. And when they're good, it's when LeBron's good. And when they're bad, it's when LeBron's bad. And if you want the glory and the respect of LeBron carried them, then he's going to have to carry them.

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. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went

down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode, with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 personal. on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Doug Gottliebendie been for Colin. So Tom Brady told Jenna Lane, who's Buccaneer's insider,

quote, it's been different having the opportunity over this time to move and to, for example, study my playbook. I mean, I haven't really had to do that in 19 years, so you forget, man, that's really tough. Like all the different terminologies, you're going, back a very long time in my career. You don't have to put the mental energy in like I did. I have to work at it pretty hard physically still. I put in a lot of time and energy in making sure I'm feeling good in order to perform at my best. But mentally, I think there's

that that's been the thing that's obviously had its challenges. Well, look, I don't hate to say I told you so. I actually love saying I told you so. I just do. I love saying I told you. And I think Tom Brady being completely honest here is telling you just how hard it is to learn a different football terminology at this age. You know, inside your brain, there's this like space in your brain for language. And supposedly, if you can fill it up with different languages by the time you're like five or six, it's much easier throughout your life to speak multiple languages. And I know many like nanny nations like, well, we had a Russian nanny, but my kid doesn't speak Russian because it's a development of a certain part of your brain. And sports is much the same way.

It's much the same way. Like, you know, Alex Smith had, I think, seven offensive coordinators in his first seven years in the National Football League when he was up and down and all over the map when he was in San Francisco. But it gave him a chance to learn a ton of terminology. maybe prepared him for the move to Kansas City and then the move ultimately to the Redskins. And now if he can make this incredible comeback with a completely new regime with the Redskins. Tom Brady, it's been the same thing. And what does that mean? Like if you're a civilian at home, I'll give you a little sense.

In basketball, the same thing exists, especially in college basketball, where certain types of screens, like there's a UCLA screen, everybody calls it a UCLA screen. That's when you pass to the wing. There's a big guy at the elbow, and the guard cuts off of the big guy at the elbow to the strong side block.

That's called a UCLA cut. What does it come from? Well, UCLA's famous high post offense that John Wooden ran, that's how you started the offense. UCLA cut. If you start at one, if a score,

starts in one corner and you have two big guys up high and that score comes and while the point guard's dribbling he comes between the point guard and the big guys and goes to the opposite side of the floor to catch it at the wing that's called an iverson cut that's because that's how they'd run isos for alan iverson and philadelphia iverson cut there are some things that are universal cover two, the cover three, cover four. There are different sorts of ways in which you slide covered for your blocking schemes. So there are things that are universal, but there are unique things where when I played in college, if a team was in a box set and somebody set a diagonal screen, he called that a Bama.

Why? Because somewhere along the lines, they must have played Alabama, and that's what they ran. And so it became known as Alabama. And when you have to relearn these things, we call that Chicago. Why? We played Chicago once. It's confusing. I'll remember when I was, when I played professional basketball my first year, I played in Russia, Perm Russia, Badam, Russia.

And I actually, I actually had a Russian tutor. So I can speak, you have a little Russian. I understand a lot, but I speak a little bit. And it's still kind of, you know, it's probably uncomfortable if you're Russian to listen to me speak Russian. But I took a Russian tutor. And every Sunday I would go over to the tutor's house. And for the first hour, we would speak only Russian. And the second hour, we would speak only English because her and her family, they didn't, had never been to America.

They'd only learned English through like the King's English, like learning through the books. so they didn't understand the nuances, especially of American English. But oftentimes when I'd be speaking Russian or trying to find a word, sometimes it would come out in Spanish. Wait, did I just speak Spanish? When I'm trying to speak Russian? And why is that? I grew up in Southern California, and the first foreign language I learned was Spanish,

and it was, you're thinking in English, translating to Russian, sometimes it comes out as Spanish. What does this matter with Tom Brady? look, Tom Brady has learned one, one language, one football language, his entire career. And so you can study up as much as you want and have, they're going to have no preseason games. No preseason games. And so when you get to the line of scrimmage and you're yelling, alert, alert, alert, all of a sudden, instead of reverting back to the Tampa Buccaneers terminology, is a very strong likelihood.

He reverts back to the Patriots terminology because that's what you've always done. So I think the, look, can it work? Yeah, it could work. They got a ton of talent around him. And, I mean, look, can he figure it out? He's Tom Stinking Brady.

Of course he can figure it out. But Tom Brady, the strength of Tom Brady at 43 years old is from the neck up. is that he's seen everything, can read everything, can pick you apart based upon your coverage, knows what you're doing, and knows where he should get with football. But all of a sudden, that becomes marginalized on some level because he has to think, wait, what do we call this? And there's no way to replicate that other than game reps.

And when you start the season in New Orleans, and then you go to Denver, and then you go to Chicago. regardless of whether or not, you know, you're going to have a crowd or not have a crowd, all three of those teams are going to get after you and going to give you different looks. And what language rolls around in your head. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. I saw this from a Packers insider Rob Domovsky. This is from a longtime scout for an NFC team.

They're back to square one. Same guys as last season. If I was them, I'd sign Antonio Brown. you just use him for one year. Let's say Aaron has two great years left. I've got to go for it. I kind of agree. I mean, that's honestly Seattle's thinking,

not just with Jamal Adams, but probably with also going after Antonio Brown. I mean, look, the simple answer is, yeah, go for it. The difficult part to it is the culture of what you've done and how you've always done it. the pending civil stuff which is out there which could cause him to be suspended even more the upsetting of the apple cart with Antonio Brown waiting in the wings to start playing week nine like financially totally makes sense skill set wise it totally makes sense but it's all

of the other stuff which leads you to pause and just go I don't I don't know I'm gonna I'm going to take a breath here. But when you don't draft a wide receiver and people expect you to, when you're one free agent signing of a starting wide receiver, a guy who caught 60 balls in a season in the NFL decides to opt out, when you're not in love with all of your wide receiving room outside of one clear star, the answer appears to be yes. If it is a no to the Green Bay Packers,

it's not a no to Aaron Rogers and finding him weapons. It's a no to Antonio Brown and all of the nonsense that comes with him. And can we stop with the Jordan Love stuff? I have friends who have radio shows on this network

who are like, dude, they clearly don't want Aaron Rogers. They want Jordan. They know what he thinks. Jordan Love is the year away from being a year away. He is a, he is a futures play. He is not a,

this is NBC buying the rights to Drew Breeze in the future. And even when Drew Breeze works for NBC, whether it's next year or the following year, whatever, it's not like he's doing Sunday night football. They already have Chris Collinsworth. You wait, you allowed him to groom him, mature, called Notre Dame games,

and eventually he's the heir parent. That's what you're going to do. but you don't even have preseason games. No preseason games where he would have taken some snaps, no none of these scrimmages, but no live football. You're not going to see Jordan Love unless Aaron Rogers gets hurt, God forbid. Or they have a great season. He plays week 17.

Otherwise, you'll only see him on the sidelines. So, yeah, I agree with the idea of Aaron Rogers has at least two great years left, maybe a third. During that time, you're going to have to find a way to get him a running game, right? Like there's been, well, they're a power running team. Look, the Patriots did that as well. Patriots knew they had to run the football more with an older quarterback. Same thing happened with the Saints.

Got to run the football. So that's what they're doing. On paper, you sign Antonio Brown. The problem is you don't know if he can get along with them. 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. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you

need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer 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 iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. We all say like, oh, look at that cutter. Look at that cutter.

But how does it actually work? You know what? Let's ask the guy who might have the nastiest cutter in baseball right now. Dustin May from the L.A. Dodgers. He might have, might have the best cutter. He definitely has the best hair. He joins us in the Herb on Fox Sports Radio. Okay, so grab a baseball and explain to me what it's two seam cutter.

That means so your fingers are on the seams, right? You're not going cross seams. That's a four seamer. How does a cutter work? I mean, for me, I kind of grip it like a four seam and I just kind of cock it kind of up a little bit. And then I just try to pull across and just kind of let the grip work. I don't really try to manipulate it too much because I don't want it to be too big. I just kind of try to throw it as hard as I can and just kind of let the grip work so it's small and tight.

Okay. I mean, you make it sound so easy. The estimated amount of horizontal movement on your cutter 17 inches, Mani Machado looked like a child when you struck him out the other night down at Petco. Why does yours move so much more than some others move? Are you talking about my two seam or my cutter? Well, okay, so there's a difference? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

So the two seamer is just a fastball, and your fastball has cutter-type movement? Is that fair? No, no, no. The two seam is what I struck Machado out with. That one goes to the right. My cutter goes to the left. So it's about putting pressure.

You put pressure on your right finger. And when you're right, I see, me, your index finger, your index finger, when you're going to make it cut to the right, and then in the middle finger, is it the problem? pressure or is it something different with your hands that makes the cutter cut to your left? So it's the grip on the baseball. So when I throw a two seam, I grip it on like the middle of the baseball with the two seams that are on the top.

And then I just throw that and it just comes out of my, the way that my arm goes is like a low three-quarter slot. So the two-seam plays really well off of that. And then the cutter, as I described earlier, I grip it like a four seam. and I just kind of like turn it up a little bit and just try to pull through it so it goes to the left. When did this, like when you're in high school, I mean, I know you're a third rounder out of Justin, Texas. I'm looking at pictures of you pitching in high school. Like how is this kind of evolved into where obviously you have to have kind of the explosive power,

but you also have this movement? When is it evolved to being like this dynamic pitch? Did you have it this much in high school or something that you've developed here in the last year? or two? No, I definitely didn't have it in high school. I've completely changed my repertoire since high school because our player development staff helped a lot. But I developed it in, well, 18 spring training is when I kind of learned how to throw the two-scene. And then, like, middle of the way through the 18 season in minor leagues and rancho is when I learned how to throw a cutter. And it just played off my two-same really well. So we thought,

but it was a good a good mix to have so we kept it when was the last time you had short hair in the back short hair would have been my junior year in high school so what was it was it a girlfriend was it your friends was it watching baseball on tv when when did you decide let's just let it go here let it get curly and let it get pluffy and let it get big and and have that big hair swag i mean honestly it was just like a thought in my head i was like i'm just not going to cut my hair it just like, I want to leave it and then kind of see where it goes and then I liked it once it got long, so I just didn't cut it. How much time do you daily put into the hair?

Daily, not too much, but when I have to wash it, probably like 30 minutes. It takes, it takes a lot of time to wash and, like, get it prepped so it doesn't look too bad. Okay, so how often do you watch? Like, I figure almost every time I shower I wash my hair, that sounds like that you don't do that. How often I, but I also don't have a ton of hair. left. Like, you got this beautiful main, you know, how often you wash it?

I watch it normally every other day, every three days. It's not really great for your hair to wash every day. So I wash it every other day to every three days depending on, like, what I'm doing that day, or if it's just like I feel like it's dirty and needs to be washed. Dustin May, joining us in the herd. Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin. I mentioned it was the two seam. You stuck out, manny with what what is that like what is that that feeling like of being on a mound and watching great hitters and you throw something that just so filthy that they have no chance what is that feeling like inside of you i mean honestly that pitch i didn't realize how much it was inside until like after the game when i was getting blown up with like mentions and stuff but i mean because i whenever i threw it i kind of like spun off and like walked to the dug out so i

I didn't really realize how far it was in. But, I mean, watching the video, it was kind of crazy. I didn't really realize. You're almost doing a self-pat. You're like, man, that was nice. Yeah, it was pretty good. What has this been like? You guys are, it's a different type of bubble, right?

A different type of quarantine. Like, you saw what happened, obviously, with the Marlins. What's it been like for you guys with this short season thus far? It's bad. I mean, we just have the safety protocols. and I mean, it's kind of like you're on your own, so you've got to go handle your own business, but don't do something stupid and go out and go out and get it.

I mean, we've got a job to do, so we've got to protect ourselves as well. So we have to be able to protect ourselves and get the job done on the field, so we don't want to do something stupid off the field to prevent that. Dustin May, joining us from the L.A. Dodgers, of course, 15 strikeout so far on this, young season. Dodgers continued to play well. They've won their last two, beat the Padres.

They've won four of their last five. Now they've got a series starting at Chavez Ravine with the San Francisco Giants. How many masks do you have? How many masks? Yeah. Do you have like one like go-to that's starting to stink or do you got? You got a bunch of rotation? How many masks do you got? I've got probably like 10 at the field that we got at the start of the season that I just kind of rotate through and throw on my loop to get washed every day so they don't really stink and then at the house I've got a lot of disposable ones and then a few cloth ones that after I wear a couple times on the cloth ones I just take to the field and throw them on my loop to get washed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't really, I don't really wear them too long before. I need to wash them just because of germs and stuff and trying to be smart about it, but that's kind of, I mean, I honestly, I have no idea how many I have. It's quite a few. Okay, fair enough. I just didn't know if you did you have like a personalized mask. Have you, have you gotten to the point to where now you have like your own personalized mask, your own like emblem? These are mine. This is what this is what I roll with. No, no, I don't have any of those. Okay, where were you? I'm trying to think where were you, it was, it wasn't the night you pitch. It was the night before you guys pitch when you guys, when you won on the throw from left field. But it wasn't, it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. Jack in left field, was it? It was Chris Taylor, right?

That was the night after I pitched. We were in San Diego, and I was sitting in the stands, and Chris Taylor threw it from left field. But I was sitting in the stands, and then as soon as he threw it, we all jumped up and ran out. You know, and then on your way out there, you're like, social distancing, social distancing,

don't hug each other. Yeah, we got to stay social distance. and we're not allowed to do high-fives. So it's kind of a different feeling, but I mean, we've got to deal with it so we can play. So it's not too bad. No, no, no, no, no, a better throw that one or Mookie's earlier in the year from right field to third base.

You know, honestly, I want to have to say the throw to home, but Mookies was more like, just like turn and throw and he didn't really have time to set up. So, I mean, I don't know. They were both ridiculous. that's hard to choose. But, I mean, I guess I have to say the one to home because it saved the run and won the game. It's pretty, it's got to be like, look, you haven't been doing this that long, obviously, in the bigs.

Like, have you, do you ever stop? Like, I'm playing with this freaky, like, freaky talented team. We are so loaded. You got, you know, you got Chris Taylor in left who doesn't, you know, he plays everywhere, obviously. You got bets throwing dudes out. You got all this talent, still, curse still getting it done. Like, has there been a. pinch yourself. I cannot believe that by the time I break through in the bigs, I'm surrounded by

all this talent. No, 100%. It's absolutely ridiculous, the amount of, just like strong players that we have and the amount of depth that we have in the organization, like, after our, like, big name guys. It's insane. Just to think how the Dodgers have built this kind of like empire that we have right now of just strength. It's ridiculous. All right. Last thing, Dustin May joining us here in the herd. You mentioned you were in the stands and they have, you know, that some of these, some places have like the cardboard cutouts. There's some places that have the stuff bears, right?

There's some that are just, you know, empty seats. Now they're starting to cover it up. As a player, what do you like, what do you like the best to see when you're on the when you're on the mound in terms of what's in the stands? Honestly, it doesn't really matter. I mean, they're not cheering, so it doesn't matter how many cardboard cutouts or fluffy bears they have in the stands. It doesn't really matter to me because they're not cheering and they're not being loud. So, I mean, it's just fans paying to be in the stands.

I mean, it's kind of cool to see, but, I mean, they don't make noise, so it doesn't really make it different. Does it make it better, make it worse? Like, what is that like? No, it honestly doesn't change. I mean, it's just a different look at the stand. For me, at least. I think it's kind of funny whenever I'm walking around

and you take like a quick look and it's like, is that a person? And it's like, oh, no, it's cut out. So, but when I'm on the mound, it's no different. All right. It's got to be also weird how much you're going to pitch against. Like you last pitched against the Padres. Your next start is against the Padres.

It's like we're playing the Padres. You're playing the Padres again and again. And again, it's got a hamster on the wheel a little bit. No, it is. We play the same teams a lot this year just because of the way that they have the schedule structured. But, I mean, hey, we're getting to play baseball, so I'm excited to play. No doubt about it. We'll keep playing it and playing it well.

Take care of that hair once every four or five days when you do wash it. Live that dream for the rest of us. And thanks for joining us. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

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Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the

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