The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Aug 12, 2020

Episode Date: August 12, 2020

College Football should privatize and break away from other sportsDamian Lillard is Allen IversonThe Lakers are in trouble in round 1The Raiders are set up for an awful seasonThe Seahawks are the Texans with a slightly better QBCollege Football is getting even more Southern and it's a problemGuest: Brock Huard, 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. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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 Iheart 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. Ah, here we go. It is a Wednesday, a strange, strange Wednesday live in Los Angeles. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live on Fox Sports Radio, and we are live on FS1, and college football is shrinking, very, very, very fast. Joy Taylor is

joining me. The Pack 12, the Big Ten are out. The Big 12 for the moment says they're in. My prediction is the entire sport will shut down within the next two weeks. Joey, how are you? Well, I'm good.

Other than all that. The rest of sports is great. It's very disappointing, to say the least. So I am more of a solution person than a complain about stuff person. I'm not really into victimhood. None of us get a fair shake, right?

Some parents are rich. Some are poor. The rich ones are weird, distant. The poor ones are there and caring, but they don't have the resources. I don't want to hear about it. I'm a solution guy, not a complaint about it, guy. So how do you solve stuff? The first way to solve anything.

Solutions is honesty. Got to be honest about yourself. Got to look in the mirror about yourself. You got to look in the mirror and say, Yeah, some of this is me. Maybe it's not my boss, my wife, the government, my taxes. Nah, some of it's me. College football.

College sports. Time to look in the mirror. College football is a business. It begins and ends with that. Fencing is a hobby. Volleyball is a hobby. That is mean. How many pro volleyball leagues you got out there?

Yeah. It's a hobby. Some are really good at that hobby. College sports is overwhelmingly hobbies. Football is a business. It makes hundreds of millions of dollars, sometimes at one school. The TV contracts are over $2 billion a year. Then there's the digital money.

It's a business. Okay? It's not a hobby. It carries everything. It pays for everything. College sports has been a house of cards. A runaway money-eating house of cards. I'm not saying college athletics is just about making money,

but it sure as hell not about hemorrhaging it. Fencing teams, indoor and outdoor track. Really? If friends and family, boyfriends and girlfriends are the only ones that show up, shrink the athletic department. Something's got to make money besides football. They're the one guy in the family paying almost all the bills. This is why I have offered a solution for, I don't know, Joy, a couple of years we've been together.

It's time to privatize college football. Let everything else figure out their own problems. College football would like to have a bubble. They can't because the profits get eaten up by everything else. Now, I do think holding a bubble in college is really. difficult because kids are part of an entire campus environment. Some have said this is all about liability and legal issues, but is it really? I mean, it would be kind of hard to sue my school if I got COVID because are we sure

you got it at school? Could you prove that? And by the way, they got kids on campus that aren't athletes, kids on campus that are athletes. Can everybody that gets COVID sue athlete, non-athlete? I don't think so. and I'm not a lawyer, but that sounds difficult. But we've got to be honest about this.

There is one sport among all, I mean, the Big Ten alone has 325 athletic programs. How many make money? I'd say the 14 college football programs do, and then there's probably about six basketball programs that make pretty good money. Not great, but okay. But, I mean, let's be honest about this. We can just complain about it over and over and over. or we can have solutions. Let's be honest.

Football's paying all the bills. It's the one sport that America watches, America bets on, and it's also got all sorts of professional athletes on their teams. When you watch an Alabama LSU game, they're 45 pros. They're just not allowed to be pros yet, because in college football, you have three years minimum on a campus before you're allowed to the professional league, the NFL. Basketball doesn't have those rules.

And a lot of kids now are just going to go overseas or go to the G League. But college sports, especially in the top programs, is just a bunch of pro athletes who are a year away from body development, from getting paid a lot and being pros and having all sorts of options. And we treat it like it's amateurism. It's a business. Your coaches are making $10 million. And the South, your coordinators are making a million and a half dollars.

That ain't a hobby. That's a profession. You've got 40 NFL players in these games, these Ohio states. against Clemson. You got 15 to 20 NFL players within a month, within an hour after the game, they go to training facilities and work out. But, you know, the bubble, the liability, all I know is, give me a solution, hire a CEO.

It's 2020. How does college football not have a president? How is that possible? It's a billion dollar business. How does it not have a CEO? The lack of leadership is disappointing. but if you had a leader, you had schedules evened out, this isn't about paying the players,

it's just about understanding what this is all about. Image, likeness, these kids are driving ticket sales, they're miniature economies, micro-economies, and until college sports can be brutally honest, that college football is a business and should be privatized, we're just going to keep going in circles. I mean, there's a reason. COVID has been very difficult,

but strong businesses are surviving. Poorly run, flawed, weak businesses are not. And college athletic departments are falling apart because they've been a house of cards for decades. All right, Damian Lillard scored 61 last night. He's pretty amazing. He's getting into the Wilk Chamberlain category of multiple 50, 60-point games on a season.

You know, it's interesting. It's amazing how important branding is. and I want to give you a player, Alan Iverson, that is culturally relevant and really a superstar, right? Still very well known. Damian Lillard, to me, offensively, is every bit Alan Iverson. But Alan Iverson had controversy in high school, so you knew him. And then he went to a national power, Georgetown. And then he went to big market Philadelphia.

And he had a different game and a different style. And then he had a big shoe deal. Then there's Damien Lillard, who, went to high school and nobody knew who he was except Weber State who offered him a scholarship there for a couple years. Then he goes to small market Portland so small that it's the only NBA franchise that wouldn't be allowed to host an All-Star game. Do you know that? They've been around since the 70s. Why have they never hosted an All-Star game? They don't have a hotel big enough in the city. I'm not joking. How does Portland never host a All-Star Games? It's great NBA

city. It's too small. And then Damien doesn't have a massive shoe deal. I mean, it's massive compared to what I get paid to wear my shoes, you know, but compared to like an Iverson. If you look at these two players, and remember, Damien's got minimum three to five years left in his prime. If you look at their stats, Iverson and Damien Lillard, they're incredibly similar. Points per game, Iverson has about two more a game. That will change, by the way, over the next two to three years because Damien's in his prime and several prime years left. assist field goal percentage, three point percentage, Damien's better playoff record,

neither great they had to carry kind of average rosters. If there's one player right now in the entire sport, you need a three-pointer. There's only two people on the planet you think of, Steph and Damien Lillard, and Damien doesn't get hurt as much. But the remote Portland Trailblazers, unheard of, Weber State,

no real controversy. He's not really a talkative guy, lets his game do the talking. And this is the downside to loyalty. He doesn't want to move. He likes Portland. The downside to loyalty, and this doesn't matter to everybody,

and it may never matter to Janus, which would be good news for Milwaukee Bucks fans. But the downside to loyalty is sometimes, you're not as relevant. What you're looking at right now with Dame Lillard is one of the greatest NBA players of all time, perhaps the greatest score. They list him at 6-2.

He's about 6 feet. I once stood around him. He's about 6 feet. I've never seen a player this offensively gifted. The other night I was watching a tape of Dame in his first year out of college, and they played the Lakers in Kobe. Dame was just insane. And Kobe Bryant, they asked him about it after the game.

And he didn't even refer to him by his name. Kobe Bryant said, man, that kid. that kid's got it all. Long range, mid-range. He's scared on nothing, man, scoring at the basket, but he's loyal. And he's not controversial.

And he's kind of done his own thing. And he's in a city that can't even host an All-Star game because it doesn't have a big enough hotel. And he's super loyal. And when you look at it, you're looking at one of the great scores, perhaps the greatest score in the history of the league at his height. This is the downside to being kind of quiet, to letting your game do the talking,

to staying in a smaller city, to not seeking attention. Not that Iverson did. Iverson was just the look, the sound, the field, the game. But you start looking at him at Iverson and Dames got four more prime years. Think about how the stature we hold Alan Iverson in. And the national stature of Dame is growing, and Dame's got four years left. Want 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 which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper 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 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 with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the look Back Added 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 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 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. One of the things I am always amazed when the media thinks social media is real. You know, you watch the Instagram models and everybody looks perfect and that's, That's not really what people look like, but you can make yourself, believe me, I've seen people do it.

They make their pictures perfect. And people say a lot of things on social media to gain attention, to gain what I would call out of boys, to be popular. But that's not what they say privately. There's a huge gap between public social media commentary and like how people really talk and how people really feel. That's why I don't do, I mean, to me, Twitter is kind of a roll your eyes, make jokes, crack jokes. I don't take any of it really seriously. So when Avery Bradley opted out, everybody was like, oh, totally support him. Privately.

It's got a year left in his contract. LeBron James doesn't have many championships left for his legacy. I don't think he's probably the happiest guy in the world. But I understand, you know, very happy, very supportive. It should be mentioned that the NBA bubble and the NHL bubble, the NHL has now done 7,000 tests. zero positives. NBA, no positive tests.

These are the safest places in America. The safest places in America. The whole country are in these professional sports bubbles. And it's going to be very interesting. The Lakers in the first round are either going to face Devin Booker or Damian Lillard. They don't have anybody to guard those guys. They've run out of guards. I mean, I guess we can once again ask LeBron to carry a franchise.

This is what we do. LeBron just make it work. The Lakers are last offensively. in the bubble in everything. That's with LeBron. At some point in his 17th year, we can't ask LeBron to do everything all the time. Yes, he's great.

So was Jordan. But Jordan went eight years between James Worthy in college and Scotty Pippen with a title. He couldn't do everything. New staff, new position, old roster. The reality is this was a big year for LeBron. Denver and Dallas are very good.

But they're babies. They're kids. They're fun to watch, though. Utah's really, really explosive, but small and flawed. Milwaukee doesn't have a number two star. The Clippers chemistry is at this point, a gigantic question mark. Boston has no size, Golden State's tanking, and Utah lost a 20-pointed game scored to an injury.

This was really an opportunity for LeBron. I've said before, I think this was the best one. Anthony Davis is healthy. Anthony Davis, who's had injury issues. LeBron's in his 17th year. They got a four-month body break. This was just perfect for them. And the Clippers chemistry, which was a little odd,

I didn't play for four months. So that makes it even weirder. It's just going to be very interesting. Avery Bradley was a real loss. And I'm not blaming people for opting out. But it's interesting. I don't think we can just keep asking LeBron to put on the cape and save the day.

That's not. Look at his record in the final. I mean, as great as LeBron is, it's like I always say about Tom Brady. As great as he is, Tom Brady is about six plays from being 0 and 9 in Super Bowls. That's with Belichick. He could also be eight plays from being 9 and 0. But this is an inches league, not feet, not yards, not miles. And I just look at the West, the guards, the shooting.

And once again, LeBron James has to save everybody. man that is asking a lot in year 17. They could really use Rondo and really use Avery Bradley, regardless of what everybody says on Twitter. 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. So I do my NFL predictions every year about this time mid-August. I do get one amendment.

If, you know, there's major injuries in the sport, I'll do that in about two weeks. but the Raiders were the one team that I got the most feedback on. I'm a West Coast guy, I should love the Raiders, right? Live in Los Angeles, and I have them going five and 11 last place. They were seven and nine last year, and people go, whoa, they got more good players. I've said this a lot. Not every first place team or not every record is real. There's a lot of fools gold based on scheduling.

Last year, six of the seven Raider wins were against teams that have or will replace their quarterback. Chicago will. Okay, last year they didn't beat a playoff team. Last year, they didn't have a win against an elite quarterback. Last year, they were 0 and 6 against playoff teams. Five were blowouts. They faced Kansas City twice and were not competitive. They beat Denver, Indie, Chicago, Detroit, Chargers twice in Bengals. Last year, their point differential was minus 106. Only the dolphins and Bengals were worse. So it was a Fool's Gold, 7 and 9. They were horrible defensively. beat no really elite teams. There you go. Chargers had major injuries.

Derwin James O-Line. That's the story. Pro Football Focus has their roster at 25th. It's not great, although they have drafted well. So that's last year. This year, let's look at the schedule, and I do believe the division will be significantly better. Five of their eight roadies, eastern time zone.

Find me the game on their schedule. They're favored. Well, the Jets game. Well, good luck. It's, you know, cold weather time for a Vegas team in the desert to go to the Jets. Sam Darnold's better than Derek Carr. Find me the game in their favorite. Here's the other thing is that we all know that Derek Carr and John Gruden feels, and I'll just use this word, tenuous.

It's not like, you know, how they, it's not like Andy Reed and Mahomes. There's a lot of love there. You know, a lot of these quarterback relationships with the coach, Brady, Bella, check, Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll, Matt LaFleur, Aaron Rogers, a little bumpy. The difference is those quarterbacks are better. So Derek Carr and John Gruden, I don't know. What would make it worse? A really bad start.

Look at their schedule. At Carolina, Saints, at New England, Buffalo, at Kansas City, Tom Brady, at Cleveland, at Chargers, Denver, Chiefs again. Anytime it looks like a break, they have to go on the road and face Carolina and on the road in face Cleveland and on the road. Those are the break games. So I think they're going to start out like two and six, one in five, and guess who's going to play?

Marcus Marietta. You tell me the last team in October that replaced their quarterback and ended up being just fantastic. It just doesn't happen much. So it's not like I just make this crap up. We sat down, we looked at it, we looked at their wins last year. We looked at their roster grades, pro football focus. We looked at last year's schedule and their wins.

We looked at the Raiders against really good teams. They got blown out. Their point differential was bad. Point differentials were real thing. Vegas guys watch point differential. You know, you can, like Green Bay last year was outgained. So they were 13 and 3 and they were outgained. Did you see Green Bay face San Francisco twice?

They weren't even competitive. The games were over at half in both of them. So 13 and 3 for the, the Packers were a bad, were a very average 13 and 3 team. That's why we predicted on this show they'd get rolled by San Francisco. Not all records equate to reality. You get scheduling breaks. I mean, this year, Baltimore is really good.

Good God, did they get a scheduling break. Last year, the Jets got a scheduling break. The Jets down the stretch last year where I think seven and two or something like that with Sam, Donald, and Adam Gays. But they didn't go west. The Jets had an incredibly easy travel schedule. This year, the Jets' schedule. is brutal. I think

Donald and Gase will be better together, and I think their offensive line is mostly going to be significantly upgraded. The receiving core is going to be better, but I don't like the Jets as much because their schedule's brutal and the division's better. So I think the Raiders schedule's tough. It's brutal early.

They don't get any breaks. A lot of Eastern Time Zone games. Last year's wins were sugar-coded and pseudo wins. If you can't compete with really good teams, you're not good. 25th best roster in the NFL.

Also, teams that relocate, which the Raiders are going from Oakland to Vegas, teams that relocate usually struggle, ask the Rams in year one. You're asking a lot of your players and a lot of your staff. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in

noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Yesterday at this time, I did my NFL predictions. Yes, and you upset a lot of people. Yeah, Raider fans were outraged. Seattle fans were not, but I downgraded Seattle two wins, and I thought about downgrading them a third over the last couple of months. I have Seattle as a wild card team only. Ram Seahawks, it was a coin flip. I just think Russell Wilson will end up winning a game. Four things about Seattle, which I think

are undeniable. The Jamal Adams trade, they gave up too much, feels a little desperate, trying to cover up for other inadequacies. Their offense is outdated, Jurassic. That's not argument. Their offensive and defensive line regression is not, it's bad. They have the lowest rated defensive London football. That's with Pete Carroll. And they're no longer elite at drafting. Way too many misses last several years. Bill Barnwell's a really smart guy does a lot of analytic stuff, agrees with me. He said the Seahawks formula is difficult to sustain. The strategy is bizarre. Pete Carroll mostly runs the football, middling average game plans, and then they need Russell Wilson to save them. In fact, the Seahawks Barnwell notes won six games last year, trailing at half. That's tied

for the second most ever since 1970. It's rare to see a team that trails at half win games. They do for one reason, Russell Wilson. What Seattle has really become to me is the Houston Texans, which is a bad offensive line and a star athletic quarterback is asked to save the day and often does, and a defense with one or two stars which hide the truth. It's not very good. That's what Seattle's become. I'm not anti-Pete Carroll, but I live in Southern California where Pete's an icon and a legend, and people are like, oh, you're tough on Pete.

No, I'm not tough on honesty. They have bad offensive line play. They have an outdated offense. They trail at halftime. Too often Russell Wilson has to save them. They're the Houston Texans. and the only difference is if you look at Seattle's record and compared to Houston, Seattle usually gets one more win.

That's because Russell's better than Deshaun and usually saves one more game. But Seattle is a team that I think Pete now has too much power. Is he near 70? Paul Allen's death, untimely, sad, has given all the power in the organization to Pete. I think he controls draft day, free agent signings. And I don't like where they're going. I think Russell Wilson is holding this thing afloat. And I think Deshawn Watson is mostly doing the same in Houston.

So college football, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 have canceled. So is the Ivy League, the Mountain West, and the Mac. But the Big Ten, the Pac-12, we watch them on TV. They're canceled. The ACC, the SEC, and the Big 12 are fighting it. They release schedules for the Big 12 today. I think all of college football will be shut down here in a week or two. But I'm hoping it's not.

I'm a huge fan of college football. One of the problems with college football, and I've been, I've been addressing this for about five years. I used to talk a lot more college football. It's become very regional. The minute you become regional as a sport, I can't talk about you as much. I'm a national guy. I'm doing a national show.

College football has become too southern. Nothing against the South. But that's where all the fans are. Northeast doesn't care. Midwest is hit and miss. Denver West. I see the numbers. I see the ratings.

It's too regionalized. In fact, this morning, with the PAC 12 and Big 10 out. Let's put a map up. These are the ACC Big 12 and SCT teams that will be playing the games we'll watch this year if we get just ACC, Big 12 and SEC. There's the map for the radio audience. It's Notre Dame and a bunch of schools in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia.

That looks like a college hockey footprint, except they'd be in the Northeast. college hockey is not a national sport. It's regional. Now, I think it's very solvable. I think you can do two things to solve this regional problem. Number one, right now, teams get 85 scholarships per team. Make it 70. If Clemson and Alabama both had 50 fewer scholarships,

those players would go to other teams in the conference. Alabama wouldn't have a third running back better than Florida's first. reduce scholarships, spread the talent out. The second thing is, create an advisory board that makes schedules. Nick Saban, Dabo Sweeney, should not be making schedules. Can you imagine Doc Rivers saying, I don't want to play the Lakers here, I want to play the Lakers there. I don't want to travel east here. When's the last time Alabama went out of conference on the road?

And the only reason they're going to do it in the future because they've taken a ton of heat from guys like me who keeps saying, Give me a break. You don't get, if you had an advisory board for the schedule, you get one cupcake, and then you go into 10 games in conference, period. Nick Saban can't say, you know, what about Towson State here? No, no, no, those are all off. You get one. And if you do plan out a conference game against a Power 5 team, every other year you've got to go on the road.

So just spread the scholarships out, 70 per team. And the NFL is a more violent game, right, than college football. significantly. They have 55 players. You get 70. You get 15 more players. And you can also, by the way, all these programs have walk-ons. You can have another seven walk-on guys

that can play special teams. But if you reduce the scholarships per team, you don't get these juggernauts who have four-star guys literally don't play. Everybody's got two good running backs, and that's it. You don't get a third great running back. And

what it does is, it means Purdue is closer to Michigan. It doesn't mean Purdue's better than Michigan. Michigan will always be better over the course of 20 years, but they're closer. And Michigan will win two of three, not nine of ten. And Alabama will be better than, you know, everybody in their conference, but they'll lose more in conference. And let's, for God's sakes, let's stop giving coaches a say in the schedules.

Have an advisory board that makes schedule. Have a professional schedule board. and everybody plays the same number of conference games. Everybody gets one out of conference game. You don't get buys before your big rival. And yet when you go out of conference, you have to play real team sometimes on the road. So show that map again because this is what college football has become. If it holds, if the Big Ten and Pac-12 are the only conferences to bail on college football this for,

that's what it's going to look like, which is just a more dramatized version of what it's felt like for the last 15 years. That's not good for a sport. When USC in Texas, when the sport was less regional, played the national championship, it got a 22 rating. That's like the Olympics. I mean, that 22 rating is like what election coverage gets, right? Like, that is massive. Ratings now are like 15, 16s. Like, that's 30% less of a rating, 35%.

And it's not like the teams are bad. Clemson's unbelievable. Alabama's unbelievable. LSU may have been the best college football team we've ever seen. And the numbers are down 35%. People that don't like the NBA complain about ratings, but they're stars all over the country. They're in Milwaukee.

They're in Oklahoma City. They're in Miami. They're in Portland. The stars in college football are all jammed down into one region. You want to become a better version of college hockey? I don't think you do. Want 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'll say.

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 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-tapped 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 on 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 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 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, Tript Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person

while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Brock Heward, I've known for a long time. Years ago, he worked at another network, and I kept telling my boss, was go get that guy.

He played in the NFL for six years, backup to Peyton Manning while he was with the Colts. And when I was high school player of the year in Washington State, it was a star quarterback for the Huskies. Now he's a broadcaster and a really good one. And he is joining me now live via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So we both love college football. We both grew up Husky fans. your family, you know, kids and you and your brother, everybody's played for the Huskies.

And I look at college football and I think to myself, listen, here's the tricky part. If you're a pro athlete, you're like, listen, I'll play. But if you are an amateur athlete, it's like, okay, wait, now, like, I'm not getting paid. And what if I'm an NFL player and we don't have all the medical answers to this stuff? Like, I get some guys opting out. I mean, you just tell me, when you were 20 years old and you had an NFL future, what would you have made, would you have wanted to play? Yeah, Colin, I would have. And it's been a long time ago, you know, 25 years ago when I was a Husky, and I would add my nephew, my nephew, Damon's son,

Sam, one of the top recruits in America is going to be a Husky. He's committed there and was poised to early enroll in January. So yeah, you're right. College football has been near and dear to your heart and to my heart for a long time. All I can say, and I tell this story not to be braggadocious in any way, but before my final year of college, I had people approach me and say, you really need a Lloyd's of London insurance policy. At that point, you know, I was projected to be a first round pick and everything else, and you should really protect yourself and really get this Lloyds of London insurance. And I just thought, no, well, first of all, I couldn't really afford it. Right. So that got to help make the decision. But secondly, I was like, if it, you know, if I'm San

Bradford and I break my collar blown and my senior year gets blown up, okay, you know, that was what was meant to happened for me. So when I was in that situation, it's a little different, but it's about the most parallel I can come up with. I made that choice that, you know, what is to be is to be. And I'm not going to control those circumstances, and I'm going to go for it. And unfortunately, I didn't have a great senior year. Our team kind of fell flat. It fell to the third round. But I would have opted in, as I think you've heard the majority of those players say they want to do, they want to play, the Trevor Lawrence is, the Justin Fields, many of the leaders in those programs, they all opted in for a reason. They want to play. They love

the sacrifice. They love the hard work and everything that comes with it. So yeah, I think 25 years ago I made that somewhat parallel decision, but if I was in those shoes today, I would want to go for it with my teammates. You know, Brock, you were joining us for the radio audience. Brock, I think college football, which I love has become

too regionalized the last 10 years. And when I see the decisions being made, it feels regional. It's the SEC and the Big 12, Texas and the South. They just want it more and they're going to bulldoze through it. I mean, it is, what do you make of what is happening, which is the academic West, Big Ten's got some academic powers as well. They see the world one way and the Big 12 and the SEC see it another.

Is that a good or a bad thing for the sport? Well, we used to celebrate differences. Right. Right. I mean, we used to, but now we're so divided in every way. I think two thoughts come to mind, Colin, as I've covered this game after playing it 25 years ago. that it's become much more hostile between upper campus and lower campus all around the country. That when I played, I never felt like the academic side was at issue with the sports side of it.

But sports has become so big, become a billion dollar industry, become so much exposure and fanfare and so much the brands of these universities. And there's a lot of upper campuses that don't like that, that don't want that, that would probably do away with football. Frankly, many of the academics folks say, no, we don't need it. I don't like how our whole brand is being defined by our football team. Others celebrate it, and certainly in the South and the Midwest and the ACC and in many of those parts, they celebrate that that brand has become such a big deal.

Secondly, this goes as the SEC goes. If the SEC plows through this and navigates through this and navigates and is nimble through the ups and the downs and the cases that will inevitably come and they push forward and play, the ACC and the Big 12 will follow. The men at the SEC in this situation says, you know what, we just can't do it. We just can't test at the rate we want to test to protect our players. We're out. Then you're going to see, I think, everybody else in college football follow suit. As a former Seahawk and a guy that follows the NFL very closely, it pains me to say this because I really, I love Russell Wilson.

And my sister didn't like sports until Russell Wilson arrived and won a Super Bowl. And now she gets my passion for sports. And I think it's brought us closer together. But I look at Seattle. I thought that Jamal Adams trade felt desperate. It was a big swing to cover up problems. The O line and D line regression is clear. I don't think they're an elite drafting team anymore.

Let's start with Jamal Adams and work our way from there. I feel like this organization has become the Houston Texans. Cross your fingers that Deshaun Watson can cover up all the issues. Is that a fair? Is that fair? I wouldn't go quite there, Colin, because you've got strength from what you always talk about ownership, GM, head coach, quarterback. And you still have many of those pillars in place. And you have what others envy, and that is stability there. And in an offseason that has been full of

so many unknowns, in an offseason that's been so cut on the field for these guys, to have stability and relationship and trust between John and Pete. And as Paul Allen's sister Jody has taken over ownership and not missed a beat, I think because of that stability to compare them to Houston or some of these other places, I think it is a miss. They have not been great drafting and developing in the last five years. I don't think there's any way you could look at the draft picks from Malik McDowell to the people at the line of scrimmage in some of the failures there and say, yeah, yeah, they were like their first five years because their first five years was unprecedented. The last five years, they've missed the mark to a degree. And Jamal Adams comes in, and you are right.

He covers a bunch of those misses and a bunch of those ills. And more than anything, Colin, he brings just some swag. He brings some confidence. He brings some bravado. He brings some talk first, which if you remember in 12, 13, 14, and 15, and with Pete, both at SC in his decade of dominance too, he wants those kind of guys. So that move was made, I think, as much off the field as it was what he's going to bring on the field. Was it desperate? Yeah, I think there was some part of desperation in it. But I think when you got a quarterback in his prime and that stability for a decade, you make a move like that. Yeah. And you know what it also made me think of, Brock, is that San Francisco is so loaded. Seattle knows O and D line play is huge,

and they're at a deficit on both of those to San Francisco. And it felt a little bit like, we've got to get some playmakers. We know we have a better playmaker at quarterback. We know we have the best middle linebacker, Bobby Wagner and football, Jamal Adams. A little bit of the Jamal Adams thing was, we're not going to win line play against our division rival. We got no shot there. So I guess instead of me being idealistic, it's like, let's take big swing. Thanks. Jamal's a playmaker. Yes, I think that's somewhat fair.

I think I would also add that the game has become about space, and you've heard lots of people say it. And it's not just San Francisco. It's what the Rams have done and gouging them in space on the perimeter. It's what Arizona did when they walked into CenturyLink Field in late December with their backup quarterback after Kyler went out and still beat them in space, that you've got to be able to play this game a little bit more creatively, defensively than they've done in the past.

And you have to have people that run and hit. Jordan Brooks, first round pick, is an undersized guy that can flat out run and hit. Jamal Adams can run and hit. The trade for digs last year, midseason, is a guy that likes to run in hit. They need more of those guys in space to win their division. And let's face it, if you don't win your division, you're not going to get to another Super Bowl. You have to win that division first. I think that move with Adams, I think that first round pick, I think some of the other acquisitions here over the last few months, Dunbar as well, the corner, those guys that can play in space or to premium,

them. And if you're going to win your division, you need them. By the way, I took up golf again because there's nothing else I can do now. So with COVID, I can go golf. I'm not going to say where you live. Your family, you've got a bunch of kids. How have you dealt with COVID? How has your family dealt with it? Yeah, it's brought us all closer together.

There's simply no question about that. There's been unprecedented family time. And, you know, we've spent more time talking and reading and walking and hiking and biking and doing all of those things. and Colin trying to celebrate it. You had a daughter that went off to college. Mine is not far. She'll be a senior next year. And just trying to, in these unprecedented times,

really capture that family unit and that family time we have. We've done more of that than certainly we ever have. And the rack race we were in for years and years and years. Yeah, well said. Brock, good seeing you, buddy. 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 I-Heart 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 huge.

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. 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 huge. 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 a win is a win a win a win I don't care what you're saying yep that's me cliver taylor the fourth you might have seen the skits my basketball in 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 Podcast, 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. Thank you.