The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Aug 10, 2020

Episode Date: August 10, 2020

College Football desperately needs leadership3 takeaways from the NBA bubbleFootball players might be safer at school than at homeWhere Colin was right and where Colin was wrongThe NFL can handle Covid much better than College FootballGuest: Joel Klatt, FOX Sports College Football Analyst 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. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was 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. 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 IHeart 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 IHeard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 Heard. with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio.

Ah, here we go. Ready to roll on a Monday with mostly good news. Live in Los Angeles, this is The Hurd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. One hour from now, where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. Plenty of both. Joy Taylor's joining me.

watched so much sports on television this weekend, especially yesterday, from golf to the NBA to baseball. Glad to have it back, but there's one sport that may not happen. Yeah, kind of after a great, great sports weekends, which we haven't been able to say in a long time. It's kind of a disturbing news, discouraging news. Yeah. So sports is back mostly. College football's in big trouble. The Big 10's met, the Pac-12's met.

You know, from the very beginning I've said, I think the SEC will keep their head down and bulldoge through it. I still believe that this morning. The SEC will work. It matters more. That's their slogan. That's their marketing campaign. It matters more.

I've been down there. I've gone to SEC games. I still believe they're going to power through it. I do not believe that's the case. I think the rest of college football probably gets canceled. And I think there's two reasons for it. I've been banging this drum for a long time. It's 2020.

College football makes over $2 billion a year just on television revenue. And they don't have a cohesive plan because they don't have a president. They don't have a CEO. How is it possible that you make over $2 billion annually as a business and you don't have a president or a CEO? Mark Emmert, you can go to volleyball matches. hire somebody to take care of football. What we are seeing from the White House to states to tiny towns to sports, leadership matters.

There is no centralized voice with football. How could there be in college football? There's nobody to run it. It's every man for themselves. If you want to know how much leadership matters in this crisis, look at the NBA. Good God. Unlike every other sport, COVID hit him in the man. middle of a season. David Stern and Kobe Bryant both suddenly died. China pulled out of a $2 billion

deal with the NBA because of something a GM for the Rockets, Houston Rockets posted. You had a massive social movement in America where LeBron James was front and center. All of these were challenges, perhaps. And yet I watched the NBA and I'm like, damn, looks good, players into it. Energy's amazing. Aesthetics are great. No positive test. Oh, Lou Williams had some fun in Atlanta. But in the end, that's what leadership looks like. College football's five power conferences, all fighting over revenue, fighting over bowl games, every conference for themselves.

It's just, I don't understand it. I grew up in my sports career in Vegas. It's a big boxing city. And so when I was like in my 20s, I'm a young sportscaster, boxing was everything. There was no such thing as UFC. But the problem with boxing was always They didn't have a CEO.

It was Don King. It was Bob Aram. It was these promoters getting rich. And then little UFC with Dana White came up. They had a president. They had a centralized voice. He was a tough guy, street guy. And they just rose right over boxing.

Was it better than boxing? I don't know. But they had a leader. College football doesn't have one. It's unthinkable. It's 2020. Fox alone. pays the sport 500 million.

You can't pay a mill to get somebody smart to, you know, keep their eye on the till. Here's the second issue. Again, it's money. The NFL or the NBA owners can write a check. NBA spending $150 million on the bubble. NFL owners can all write a check for $20 million per team and have protocols and daily testing and safety measures for trainers and players and coaches and secretaries and interns and colleges can't do that.

Everybody always talks about how much money colleges make. Yeah, Ohio State does. Oregon State doesn't. There's 130 college football programs. There's about 12 where they're just rolling in lettuce. And there's about 100 that are Purdue. You know, Western Kentucky. There's a lot of them don't make a lot of money.

And they can't just write $25 million checks. Because remember, college football stadiums are often bigger than pro stadiums. Why? Because college football needs people in the stands. They make huge ticket revenue. That's why Little Auburn, Auburn's a little tiny town in Alabama. They can have an 85,000 seat football stadium. Yet in Philadelphia, a big city, right, 10,000 less than that. College football needs fans.

They need ticket revenue. They don't have it. They got to pay for all those sports, men's and women's, and almost all lose money except football on Saturday. So I think it's great that players can. came out yesterday, star players in college football, Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence with We Are United. But good God, that feels like grabbing a small bucket as the Titanic sinks. It is way too little and way too late.

Folks, leadership is mattered. They do studies on this, why kids are generally more successful. Little boys and little girls, if both parents are around. And I have watched during this crisis, great leadership from some governors, great leadership from mayors of cities, great leadership from some of the commissioners, college football has a massive hole. College athletics has long been a house of cards. I'm not saying it's designed to make money, but it sure is hell not designed to hemorrhage it. But it is time to start over.

It is time to hire somebody to galvanize my favorite sport. I really love college football. But right now, it is a certain. circus and the tent, the doors are closed to the tent, and I don't think it's coming back for a long time. I'm crossing my fingers on the best run conference, by the way, arguably the best run conference, the SEC, I'm crossing my fingers, they'll survive it. All right, so I've been watching a lot of this NBA bubble stuff.

And as you remember, Joy and I talked about this a lot. I thought they should have just gone right into the playoffs. I mean, to me, we got a pandemic. fewer games, fewer tests. Let's get in, boom, let's get out, crowd a champ, and go home. But the NBA said, listen, you can't have these guys off four months, have them come into playoff intensity. So we're going to have some warm-up games.

And I think to myself, yeah, I get it. All right, that makes sense. Let's have some warm-up games. And they kind of rigged this thing in the NBA so somebody could sneak in like a New Orleans or, you know, a Portland. So for that, I think they've done a pretty good job. But here's my takeaway in this whole bubble. I got three big takeaways, because I've watched almost every team play.

Many of the good teams play three or four times. My first takeaway, the Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks do not care. They're number one seeds, those coaching staffs, those rosters, and those front offices, they don't care. I've watched Milwaukee get beat by the Nets. I've watched the Clippers get beat by the Nets and the Sons. They don't care. By the way, that's right on brand for the Clippers who didn't care during the regular season. I don't take anything of the bucks.

I don't take anything out of the Clippers. I think they should be favored to get to the NBA finals. I think Milwaukee is excellent defensively, has a brilliant young coach. They've got good enough players to win it, though I'm not picking them. I don't take anything from the Clippers or Milwaukee. We're planning a bubble. Home court doesn't matter. All these teams care about us being healthy.

So Clippers, bucks just don't care. My second takeaway is, oh, the Lake. The Lakers do, they just can't shoot. Sort of a problem in 2020. The Lakers have the worst field goal percentage of any team in the bubble. I'm not joking. They have the worst three-point percentage of any team in the bubble. This is why LeBron James to me is the MVP.

He is the super glue holding together a lot of odd and past their prime parts. The Lakers can't shoot. And oh, by the way, they're not very good at defending the perimeter as well. to me this is not a championship team what it is is the world's best basketball player the world's smartest basketball player kind of making it work the great lubricator in the NBA LeBron just sort of making it work but this is not a very good team I don't want to hear about the number one seed in the west it mattered to them it didn't matter to the clippers my third takeaway is I want no part of Portland I don't why if I'm in the playoffs in the west I got no interest play in Portland. Damien Lillard is the best shooter. On most nights, the best player in the bubble. They've got three, seven footers. So they match up with teams like Milwaukee in Toronto and the Lakers who have size. Gary Trent Jr., who was a nice player at Duke, always a good shooter. Yikes. Now, he looks like Steph Curry. Terry Stott's has been very good

for years, very respected. Carmelo Anthony has added harmony and scoring from the wing. Portland to me, they are going to be the greatest eighth seed in the history of the NBA. Their back court could be a nightmare for the Lakers. Gary Trentz emerged. How about Mello? They've got three seven-footers. I watched Dame drop 51 yesterday. I swear, you know, if he doesn't go to Weber State, if he doesn't play in Portland,

if he went to Duke and played for the Knicks, would we all get how good Damien and Lillard is? I mean, I said last week, is everybody watching him when he plays Westbrook? How much better he is than Westbrook? So those are my three takeaways so far in the NBA bubble. 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. 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. 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 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 a little kill?

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 it 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 on 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness, this 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. Trip 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're going 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, is 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. So Ohio

State parents came out this weekend, released a statement in support of playing. These are the parents of the players at Ohio State. I am a believer, and I am not a doctor, but it is safer for college athletes to stay on campus than go home. I'll give you an example. My daughter is going to go back to college. Now, she has two roommates. They are not athletes, nor is my daughter. Do her roommates have boyfriends? Do I trust those boyfriends in college 20 years old to wear a mask. Not really. I'd feel much safer if my daughter was a volleyball player and was rooming with two

volleyball players because I know they'd go to an athletic facility and they would be tested daily or at least twice weekly and there would be protocols and there would be an athletic department and adults monitoring them. That's how I feel and I've discussed it with my family and my daughter. As it is, she's going to go to college, have nice roommates. I'm not pointing fingers, but girls date boys in college and I don't trust the boys. I do trust the girls more than the boys, but you get my point. Here at Fox, I come to work. It is the safest environment I am at. Joy is as close as anybody gets, 15 feet away. I keep gulet this distance even in good times. The point being is, when I go home, I've got kids. They have friends. Yes, I've let a few over. I'm crossing my

fingers. I don't know where those kids have been. You just trust their parents. But I don't have to trust Joy. I know she had to go through the same protocols I had. Jim Harbaugh, coach of Michigan, came out today. He said, I'm for bringing kids back, not because of feelings, but because of facts. He said the Michigan football program has had 11 positive tests out of 900 administered, and two of those came to the school with COVID. He goes of the last 417 administered COVID tests, two positives. Of the last 353 administered. No positives, meaning the kids are safer back on campus around medical professionals,

multiple weekly testing. You know, it's nothing against athletes. But I saw this yesterday. If you send a college athlete home, is he in a big house? Does he have space? Many of these college athletes, men and women come from multi-generational living, which statistically it appears now that can be very problematic. You know, I'm not being a sports guy and I'm numb to what COVID is.

But I'm telling you in my life, I have flown 12 times. I have chosen. My kids have flown. Do I fly any airline? No, I do not. I choose airlines based on who's more responsible. I'll just say, I like Delta. They've been great. Others I don't trust.

Maybe one's an advertiser. I won't talk about it. But in the end, I'm not going to hide from it. I'm not going to hide from it. My kids are not going to hide from it. And I think these colleges, though probably not as intense or as safe as an NBA or hockey bubble, certainly beat going back to your small town around your family and friends, and you really think those college kids will all socially distance and wear a mask all day.

I'm going to go with I wouldn't have either. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. All right, Colin right, Colin wrong on the Monday. Here we go. Where Colin was right. I've been saying this. The Lakers are a championship team because they can't shoot and they can't defend the shot. they are officially the worst shooting team in the bubble.

They're shooting 25% from threes dead last. That includes every team in the bubble. They're also the worst at shooting field goals in the bubble. This is the issue. Kyle Kuzma is their number three scoring option. He averaged like 12 and a half a game and he is wildly inconsistent from the perimeter. And I'm convinced that LeBron doesn't trust him. This is not a championship team.

What it is is a team with two superstars, one of which makes everything work and glossy and refined, but at some point LeBron's lost a lot of finals because he hasn't had enough help, and he simply does not have enough help here. Where Colin was wrong. Lakers are, by the way, two and four in the bubble. Where I'm wrong is Brooks Kepka.

I think he's a top three global golf talent. He melted down yesterday, shot a four over. That was the second worst round of any. golfer yesterday, and Bryson DeChambo, who also hits the ball like an ox. I don't really buy as a top five player. I think he's fun to watch, but he was excellent yesterday, minus four. So eight strokes better than the guy, I think, is really built for majors, Brooks Kepka. By the way, I think they're both fascinating to watch, but Bryson, he didn't even, he didn't get a single break on any of his puts.

And he missed every seemingly single short putt. That's the exception. And he still had a great day and finished near the top of the leaderboard. Where Colin was right? I said from the beginning the PAC 12 would be one of the first major conferences, if not the first to bail. And the Big 10 would be right behind him. And according to reports today, the PAC 12 and Big 10 are going to bail on football.

Why did I think this? Because you know who's winning COVID on college campuses? the academics, the school presidents, the lawyers, and the doctors. And the PAC 12 and the Big 10 are better academic conferences than the SEC and the Big 12. That's not an opinion. Go to U.S. News and World Report, top 100 public universities. And the PAC 12 and the Big 10 have stronger pushbacks from the academic side of things, and they're going to shut it down.

Never forget the first conference. The shut it down was the Ivy League and the PAC 12 and Big Ten don't see themselves as the Ivy League. but they also have schools considered public ivies like Wisconsin or Penn State or Michigan or Cal. So as predicted, Pac-12 Big Ten appear to be shutting it down. Where Colin was wrong. I was so excited to watch the Pelicans in the bubble. What has happened? First of all, even in games like yesterday that were really important, they come out.

Lethargic Zion Williamson, who's had a really nice bubble the times he's played, said, yeah, we just didn't come to play. Alonzo ball has been awful. He is shooting 26%. I think his field goal percentage. That could be his three or his field goal percentage. They haven't really been intense. They haven't had what appears to be kind of a strategy.

They haven't played with a lot of emotion. And considering their youth, I thought they would be one of the teams that just came in and just outworked everybody. Instead, it's been Phoenix. and it's been the Nets who don't even have half their roster. Where Colin was right? Kyle Love played with Cam Newton in Carolina.

He confirmed last week what I had heard for several years in Carolina. They did not criticize him publicly that Cam will struggle in New England if he can't take to criticism because in Carolina it was understood. He was the franchise. Let's not talk about bad games. Let's move on. The two things I always heard about Cam from my sources in that building. He played hurt a lot, so people respected how hard he played and how often he played hurt.

But the other thing I heard is they coddled him. They babyed him. No criticism. It's about Cam. Get him the right coaches. I think that's inauthentic. I think in any relationship, if you want to grow, you got to push. You got to argue.

Sometimes publicly, it gets a little ugly. They just didn't do that. And Kyle Love said that wasn't the game plan and care. Carolina, and that's the game planned for everybody, including Tom Brady in New England. Where Colin was wrong. Well, Rockets General Manager, Darrell Mori, mocked me on Twitter over the weekend because I did not have, in my best duos in the NBA bubble, I did not have Hardin and Westbrook. Now, Westbrook's a little banged up right now.

It should be noted, yes, Houston is four and one, and I didn't have in the bubble. But I think I've got to give credit where credit is due. Westbrook and Hardin have not only been very good on the offensive end, they've played real defense. they've played real defense. In fact, Hardin currently leads the bubble in steals. And this has been kind of my knock on Hardin through the years is he's going to go down as an all-time great offensive player. But to be a great player, an MJ, a Kobe, a Duncan, you've got to give something on the defensive end. Now, Magic Johnson was not a great defender, but the effort was there.

Hardin has been really working it on the defensive end. Westbrook and Hardin. Westbrook's not a great defensive player. He played better defense. So, yeah, you guys go ahead and mock me. That hurt. That was painful, but they look pretty good. Four and one.

Where Colin was right. Jay Glazer in his mailbag, and nobody's as connected to the stars around the NFL as Glazer said, it appears that Green Bay is just going through Aaron Rogers fatigue, and that explains why they drafted no wide receivers and drafted Jordan Love in the first round. Glazer explained there's no other way to put it. Sometimes people wear people out. out. Jay wasn't mean-spirited, but it was more than a subtle nuanced take, which is they're worn out. By the way, there was a national sportscaster for years that got ripped for saying Aaron Rogers is

difficult. Who was that? Oh, wait, it was me. Glazer confirming what we believe is the truth. Aaron's a lot of work. I do think he's handled this whole Jordan Love thing brilliantly, smartly and aggressively, not passive aggressively, but he wears people out. where Colin was wrong. What happened to the Yankees? Good God, they're two and five in their last seven. They haven't won a nine inning game in over a week, and they just lost three of four to the low-budget raise,

which doesn't make any sense because the Yankees can basically buy who they want. At this point, they win when Garrett Cole pitches. For the record, John Carlos Stanton has hurt again. Can I just ask a question about John Carlos Stanton? He doesn't even play defense. How does a designated hitter get hurt as much as John Carlos Stanton, was hurt all last year, and he's hurt again this year. The Yankees blew a 3-0 lead yesterday.

A lot of talent did not have. To me, they looked like a stamp, a guaranteed lock to get into the World Series. Did not have a good week. Where Colin was right? Ben Simmons, Joel Ambide, we've said from the beginning, it doesn't work. Let's move on. It's a Hollywood relationship. It looks good.

They're fighting constantly. Well, now Ben Simmons is hurt. Oh, wait, Joel Embed got hurt yesterday. It can't, it can't be this. Listen, they're three and two in the bubble. with wins over Washington and Orlando, it doesn't work. The games don't work. They're both now, have injury issues.

Ben Simmons, as Doug Gottlieb said about 45 minutes ago, you wonder now if Ben Simmons' body is injury prone because he is tall and lanky and scores at the rim. But this thing's a mess. I've never bought into it. I still contend they're starting five and the first two off the bench are as good as any team in the east and their season's essentially over.

where Colin was right? Well, last week I went in a rant. I said if he didn't go to Weaver State and play in geographically remote Portland, would we get how much better Dame is than Westbrook? Right now, Damien Lillard is probably the best player in the bubble. He's scored the most total points. He's played the most total minutes. He's averaging 33 points and 9.5 assists.

And unlike Hardin who has Westbrook, he's carrying this franchise. I like Nurkich. I like C.J. McCullough. Mello's a good story. So is Gary Trent, Jr. Damian Lillard has the best range in the bubble. He's the best pure shooter in the bubble. He's the smallest guy in virtually every game,

but carries the franchise on his shoulders. Yesterday he had 51. And it's him. I mean, I like CJ McCullough, but it's his team. And he remains, you know, I think in the history of the NBA, and I haven't given it great thought, is he the greatest six-foot score in league history? the greatest, in offensively, is he the greatest player at exactly six feet tall in league history?

I think the answer is yes. Colin Wright, Colin wrong. 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. Okay, now there are those who have suggested I was watching another network today. Oh, Lord. They're already jumping at the other place to, we're not going to have an NFL season. It's just not going to happen. There's a lot of up. Let me give you four reasons why the NFL is a lot different than college football.

And the one is obvious. You can figure this out. They have billionaires. Every team's owned by a billionaire. Billionaires could write $25 million checks for each team if they wanted to. I mean, every team makes over $200 million a year just on TV revenue, just on that. And they're billionaires when they buy the team to qualify. So Baltimore's owner could write a $25 million just for him.

not even league help. And you're testing Lamar Jackson six times a week. He's walking through, you know, this spray and that spray, and everybody is socially distanced, and they can just pay for it. Colleges do not have, yeah, Ohio State does. Colleges don't have that kind of money. The second thing is everybody here is on the same page. The players collectively agreed with the owners on the testing and the protocol.

They had an opt-out time. Players, you know, they have what they call these, these like trackers, these watches. So, I mean, literally like, Bob, get away from Jim. Russell Wilson, get away from D.K. Metcalf. Like, they got you tracked on this stuff and where are your movements and who are you around? And if you're standing, we had Tom Telesco on the Chargers last week.

He's like, I know if I'm standing around somebody too long. You don't have that at college. Number three is NFL players get paid. They got a lot to lose. here. These players, you know, it always cracks me up when it's like players, owners, they're not enemies, they're business partners.

That's why the NBA bubble is important because the players want to get paid and should. You don't want to give the owners all the power, so players negotiated with the owners here. They share revenue. Now, you can argue the players should get more revenue. That's a different

show in a different time, but they share revenue. This is really important for the players. They want to, you know, You look at Patrick Mahomes' contract. You do get that's what like two guys a team make, big money. Most of the guys in the NFL can get cut. They don't make big guaranteed money. 90% of NFL players, they got bills to pay.

And the fourth reason is NFL players go home, often to big homes. They're often married. They hang out with their family. College kids go to tiny dorms at state-funded universities in little pie-shaped rooms. And there's kids and they make bad decisions and you don't know who's been here. Or NFL players are more mature. They're older.

They often go to moderately sized or big homes. And the reality is football players, for whatever reasons, they start families usually sooner than other sports athletes. So you go facility, you go home, you go back to facility, you go home. You've only got eight road games. And again, in planes owned by billionaires, last year, if you remember this, the flu broke out for the Patriots last year. They flew two planes. They went, okay, the billionaire said, let me get my other plane, and they flew, and you could just fly two planes. And you could, so the idea that college is pro.

And the other thing is, college has no CEO, NFL's got Roger Goodell. It matters, centralized voice. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd, weekdays and noon Eastern, 9. 9 AM Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. 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 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, Unthinker. filtered 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 Clivert 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 Podcasts, or wherever 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 a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at a podcast. I'm Sam Jette. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what you? went down and tried 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, so. Thank you 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 Hard Way 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, Keir 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 Hardway and listen now. Joel Clatt gets fired up. College football, I'm told the presidents of the Big Ten. The presidents of the Big Ten at 6th Eastern will have a meeting. There are reports earlier today that it's been decided. There was like a 12 to 2 vote. I'm not sure if that's accurate now. Joel Klat is now joining us, the voice of college football. Let's start with this, Joel.

There was a report earlier today. It was done. It's over. That's not in set and stone, right? That's not entirely accurate. That is not entirely accurate. There have been some speculation that tonight's meeting will provide some finality to the decision. Most have expected that it will be a postponement.

and a planning towards the spring for the Big Ten conference schedule and football season. But nothing has been voted on. There has not been a vote. And nothing has been set in the stone or official at this point. So stars yesterday, some big stars came out and said, we are united, we want to play. Do you believe that? As a former college football player, do you believe players mostly do want to play? Absolutely.

I would put it somewhere. I've talked to, let's see, six or seven. different coaches and all of them have taken straw poles amongst their team about, you know, who wants to play, who's undecided, and who definitely does not. And what you're seeing right now is about 85 to 90 to 90 percent of the players will raise their hand and say, we want to play. There's usually about, you know, one to three percent of the players that say, we don't know, we need more information. And then somewhere just over 5 percent of the players, maybe just under 10 percent of the players, that would just say, hey, we would rather opt out.

I think the majority, the overwhelming majority of football players are looking to their leaders, the administrators, their presidents, to provide them options in order to play this fall. And right now, it doesn't seem like that's happening. And I think that that's really frustrating a lot of these players, which is why you've seen this prominent push, in particular by Fields and Lawrence, who have become great leaders in this, to say, hey, listen, we want to play football and we stand united together. in that sentiment. So why in the course, Joy and I were talking about this, it was like, we have college football, they're making the schedule. Okay, seasons canceled. Like what happened in the last

two days? What is it? Well, I think that, so this might be a bad analogy, but, you know, listen, you love analogies. So, you know, my wife, my wife was in business to business sales when we first got married. She would sell copiers, right? And that's not, that's not an easy sale. You've got to walk in, And you've got to find the decision maker. That was the key point when she walked into a business was you got to find the decision maker. Anybody in sales knows exactly what I'm talking about. And I think what you're seeing right now is that the decision maker is finally at the table, and that's the president. So the coaches and the AEDs and even the conference commissioners can talk all they want about their efforts and what they want to do from a planning perspective and the procedure perspective in order to play.

But really this lies with the university presidents. And as the decision makers get to the table, they're not being truthful, Colin. Okay, let's be very clear about what's going on. If they were actually concerned about the health and well-being of the student-athlet, the athlete and the football player in this case, they would want to keep them within the structure, procedures, and protocols of a football season. Okay? What they're most concerned with right now is liability, and then right under that,

is the Players United Front that has started to come up in terms of a unionization of the players. That's what's driving most of their decisions, the presidents. Liability, the ever-increasing plaintiff lawyer community that's frothing at the mouth to bring lawsuits against conferences and universities. And that's what the presidents are scared of right now because the health and safety aspect, it's really not holding much water because if you're going to put a player through testing protocols, have the medical care right there. Even when things are being brought to the forefront

like these potential heart conditions that could be harmful in a long term, will it be much better to know if you had the virus than to get the care needed right away with things like an EKG rather than just going about your everyday life outside of football structure, not knowing if you had the disease,

in particular if you were an asymptomatic case, potentially being in a multi-generational home, and not knowing if you did have that underline. lying heart condition. So it just doesn't hold water whatsoever that they would cancel the season in order to benefit the health and safety of the player. If they did that in the name of health and safety, they would actually be doing the exact opposite. And that's not even getting into the mental health aspects of potential substance abuse, the fact that this age group in America, the second leading cause of death in this age group, the college age group, is suicide. We're not

talking about the loss of opportunity for hundreds of thousands, or excuse me, tens of of thousands of scholarships, I think that this decision would be the wrong decision. And it would be based out of fear of liability and the fear of player unionization. I would watch spring football. I think it's doable. I do worry about spring football is really not in the spring. It'd be January, February, early March. That's flu season.

If we don't have a vaccine, that's flu season. That's COVID. Flu is rough on kids. COVID rough on older people. You could just have a mess if we didn't have a vaccine. So I would watch it. I do think it could be problematic. What do you make of the suggestion of spring football?

Well, I think that if let's just start with this. We know right now the data suggests that the college age kid and specifically a healthy kid is under far greater danger from things like car accidents, homicide, suicide, heart disease, and even lightning strikes than they are from COVID. I would make an argument that trying to play a spring football season and doing to your body what a football season does and then trying to back that up again with a fall season in 2021 would be more detrimental to the health of the player than trying to play this fall. So with that as the background, and I've told that to you before, with that as the background, if there are plans to move to the spring, I believe that it would have to be a reduced season, somewhere in the six, seven, and maybe max eight game range. I think that it could happen. I think that it could be possible. One of the things that I've heard floated out there as an idea,

and I can't take full credit because I heard it earlier today, but is you could make matchups that were more attractive and it wouldn't have to necessarily be just playing within your conference. And so maybe we could get the USC Alabama, and maybe we could have Ohio State play, you know, Georgia or something. something along those lines to increase the visibility and marketability of a spring season. But keep in mind, the players that have any option to go to the NFL will be out. So it will be virtually like a spring season for a preseason of 2021.

Yeah, I'm okay with that if Alabama loses six or seven guys. They're still Alabama. Their backups are better than 90% of college football starters. Finally, if I had to say, guess today, Clat, I still, if I, if you, 50-50 on the SEC. I think they're going to bulldoze their way through it. But, you know, that's not informational. That's just opinion. If I said to you this morning, are we going to have college football? Who's going to play? Who's not? I do believe that at least one, probably two conferences are going to stand firm and try to do this. And it's going to be led by the SEC. I think

that the ACC will follow suit and try to get that done. And I think that the Big 12 might as well. And this is where it actually gets a little bit political because at some point, these universities and maybe even conferences are going to look to the governors within their footprint and they're going to say, listen, we're going to play if you're behind us. And we don't really care what the overarching governing bodies are telling us. So for instance, like let's say that there is a school that their conference decides to cancel the season. Right. And let's say it's in the PAC 12. One of the Arizona schools, maybe a Colorado, maybe a Utah, something like that. And PAC 12 says like, no, we're not going to do this. And that school's governor says, you know, I'm okay with you trying to play football. And they say, okay, we're going to go schedule games. I think it might be the Wild West in terms of that type of a model. But if I were to answer your question, I do think we will still have a conference,

maybe to try to stand up and try to move forward in the fall. But it's going to be awfully hard if that first domino tonight falls with the Big Ten. Okay. So I started my show today saying this. I've never figured out why college football didn't have a commissioner. For years and years, I grew up with boxing. But boxing had promoters, all self-serving promoters, trying to get rich. And then here came UFC, this young fledgling sport that had Dana White.

So they had a centralized voice. And you could argue, I can watch a 30-year-old Muhammad Ali fight. I don't think I'd ever sit down and watch a 30-year-old UFC fight. So you can't tell me UFC rose simply because it's better. That's an argument. But it did rise because it had leadership and really strong leadership and boxing didn't. So the NFL's got a commissioner and a singular voice and a union leader. Why doesn't college football have like a president?

It's a $2, $3 billion a year sport. If they had a president and these guys were aligned, you'd have an actual plan. It's just not everybody fighting for themselves. You're absolutely right. And preaching to the choir, I completely agree with you. I think that there needs to be an overarching governing body of college football. And I really believe, you know, you make a great analogy, a sports analogy, back to boxing versus UFC. I've made the analogy all the way back to our country's founding.

And after the Revolutionary War and before the Constitutional Convention, in that little, you know, gap, we basically, we weren't a country. So you had all the states behaving in different ways, adhering to international law in different ways. and we needed the overarching governing body of a federal government in order to get that done. And it happened at the Constitutional Convention. We need a constitutional convention of college football because it is far too big and too important to allow to behave this way where everybody acts in their own benefit. And that's what we have right now with all the conferences doing whatever they deem necessary for their own good. All right, the Klaster, Joel Klatt, great seeing you, buddy.

he's always well appointed. He looks so professional. That's what you bring a real professional look to our show and we certainly need it because once the camera goes off joy, it's a cats and dogs living together on this set. 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. 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. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the... 80s. 84 was a wild year. 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 Iheart 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, 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 Clifford 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.