The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for May 13, 2020

Episode Date: May 13, 2020

LeBron and the Lakers are the reason why the NBA season can't be cancelledRussell Wilson is once again being disrespected by the Seahawks and the mediaMLB & NBA should not worry about a season with an asteriskNFL has an MVP trend and it means we are in for a surprise in 2020Guests: Nick Wright, FS1's First Things FirstScott Boras, Agent for Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole and Cody Bellinger 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is 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. I mean, 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. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1.

Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Heard. is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. Live in Los Angeles, back in our television studio. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio.

Yes, once again, first time in over two months, back at FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. I feel due to sanitation and sanitization or whatever the word is, feel safer here than I do at my own home. Our company Fox Sports has done a remarkable job. There is a handful of people in tech. Joy is 10 feet from me.

Now, everybody always made fun of our set, Joy. Yep. And they said it was Colin sitting on this empirical desk looking down at the world. Well, who's laughing now, not Bill Simmons? Because this set is why we can come back. I'm up here. She's over there. And we are going to continue doing our show finally back at FS1. We want to thank our bosses. We want to thank everybody. It is amazing coming into work today. It feels, I feel fresh air. We have a lot of space. The practices and the rules we're applying now to get in the building through security, everything's sanitized, mass for everybody, social distancing. even able to, even our muffins delivered for breakfast are socially distancing. Our muffins are six feet apart, but it is remarkable.

And I honestly feel it just lighter today. I feel like we've made progress today. I'm so, so happy to be here. It's so good to see your face, Colin. It really is. I'm not even being sarcastic. This is amazing. It's like the best day.

I feel like a new person. I told you I put my heels on for the first time in two months and Twitter. I'm like literally being reintroduced to the wild. It's amazing. Yes, it is. So let me start with something. The place I used to work out is doing a lot of lists lately. That's what you do when you don't have games and we have to fill space. Content now, is it a premium? But they actually had a list that I thought was kind of interesting and it's timely too. The top 10 all time NBA players was introduced by ESPN. Number one is Michael Jordan. I'm not going to argue it. That's a topic for another show. What's interesting, though, number two, LeBron James is a current Laker. Number three's

Kareem, a former Laker. Number five, Magic, six Wilt Lakers. Nine, Kobe, 10, Shaq Lakers. Number seven, Larry Bird, rival to the Lakers, as was Bill Russell number four. This, of course, is another reason to restart the NBA season. You have to remember, the number one brand in the NBA right now is LeBron. The Lakers are number two, because the NBA has succeeded without the Lakers being relevant for the last 10 years, eight years, seven years. The Eastern Conference collapsed on television when LeBron left it. Much like the NBA lost 50 percent of its ratings when MJ left. There is no other MJ and there is no other LeBron. For years and years, think of the rich history in golf. I argued with golf purists, guys with like one handicaps.

Rory's going to be the next guy and this kid and that kid and there is no other Tiger Woods. It's why I never understood the criticism. Just hug him, embrace him and love him. He's a comet. He's a meteor. Like Michael Jordan, there is no duplication. Tiger Woods from 99 to 03 won 32 tournaments. Next closest was eight. We had a term. It was called the Tiger Slam. We never had to use it before because nobody really thought it was possible. What do you call it when a guy won all four majors? Folks, there's no other tiger. There's no other Michael Jordan, and frankly, there's no other LeBron. I don't want to hear about Kauai, who's a wonderful player, but he doesn't talk. Yannis is spectacular, but he's in Milwaukee.

He's international, and his game isn't really glamorous. Oh, there's Kevin Durant, but he can be snippy, aloof, and a little distant and moody. He doesn't feel like the face of a league just really talented. There's James Harden, but I find his game at times unwatchable. And there's Zion, who's remarkable but a kid. We don't know how good he'll be. And frankly, can that kid stay healthy? The closest thing we have to LeBron James in this league as a face is Steph Curry.

He's now sneaky old. He gets hurt a lot. He's kind of private, a family guy, and doesn't feel like he'd be as comfortable being the face of the league. When you had Jeter and A-Rod, get him on television. You're never going to have a Jeter A-Rod combination. Two great guys, two good-looking guys, on the number one franchise in baseball.

You just put them on TV, regardless of what network you are. when LeBron and the Lakers come back if in a very bumpy season you have an opportunity to get it done, you do. Don't kid yourself. This has been a rough NBA season. One year ago today, guys like me were talking about all the duos that were going to happen next year. Think of how ugly this season has been. The death of David Stern, the death of Kobe Bryant, the multiple stars injured, the China debacle. This has really been, by and large, a mess.

How do you save it? LeBron and the Lakers. Six of the 10 all-time best players in this league are Lakers. Two others, Russell and Bird, are tied to the Lakers. You don't get LeBron again. This is it. There's never going to be a high school kid good enough to walk into the NBA and drop 2010 and 8 his first game.

and oh by the way never get in trouble elevate others smart thoughtful mindful start schools that's it just appreciate him put your arms around him you're not going to get that again you're never going to get a player like michael jordan who was the best looking guy in the league and the most glamorous guy in the league and he was polished and refined because he had amazing parents and then dean smith and then phil jackson then david falk everybody supporting david stern phil jackson unbelievable unbelievable parents, Dean Smith, that's not going to happen again. There's no more tigers. Never forget this.

That Michael Jordan in 98, you're watching the documentary, that final got nearly 30 million viewers. Now think about that. That's double what our college football national championship gets. 30 million. The NBA finals didn't average over 20. 20 for 18 years. That was with LeBron. Okay?

So LeBron is the closest thing in terms of big and glamour and dominant. When I used to watch Michael Jordan play, I used to always think, man, there's a gap between Michael and number two. When you watch LeBron play and the number two is Kevin Durant or Kauai, yeah, that's a big gap. You have to take advantage if at all. possible on LeBron, James, and the Lakers. Because frankly, you're never going to get it again. The Bulls were irrelevant. They were a Midwest franchise that had won about 50% of their franchise games.

You're never going to get A-Rod Jeter to the Yankees again. Dynamic, big stars, controversial, good-looking. It just doesn't happen. So when you get it, take advantage of it. All right, I saw this story. It infuriated me. I saw this story this morning that makes no sense, but I'm going to talk about it. Cam Newton rumors of all the teams in the league, guess where the Cam Newton rumors are?

Not a bad team that could use his dynamic flare in athleticism. Not a team that doesn't really know who their quarterback is. Not a team who has a quarterback that needs to get pushed. No, here's the latest rumor today. the Seattle Seahawks would be open to adding Cam Newton once again absolute nonsense and disrespect for Russell Wilson

A Russell Wilson never gets hurt why spend a dollar on a backup two Seattle's a Super Bowl potential roster why bring in a celebrity backup and three Russell Wilson is a workaholic he doesn't need to be pushed where Cam fits of course is a in Pittsburgh, where Big Ben is often hurt. Big Ben is not a workaholic. Big Ben is always limping,

where Big Ben needs to be pushed. And frankly, the weak, the backups in Pittsburgh are not very good. I saw another rumor yesterday. This made the interweb. Seahawks rumor to have offered Russell Wilson to the Browns via a trade back in 2018. Russell Wilson for picks. Can you imagine the mayhem today if the story came out that Aaron Rogers was about to be traded to the Browns. Can you imagine what that would do, how people would be outraged? Can you imagine if Russell Wilson was rumored today to be traded or Big Ben was rumored to Cleveland? Oh my God, Big Ben would pout for a year.

Big Ben, his drama? But every time there's a rumor about Russell Wilson. Cam Newton today. Yesterday he was going to get traded to the Browns. The ESPN article that slammed him. Not a peep. Not an ounce of drama. This would literally unravel a Packer season.

This would unravel Big Ben. But you know what Pittsburgh does? That Seattle doesn't? Pittsburgh, even though Ben is hurt, even though Ben doesn't work hard in the offseason, even though Ben is overly dramatic, even though Ben struggles with a lot of teammates, the Steelers' ownership and general manager and coach

are always in his corner. And stories like this, true or not, would never get out. In the last two days, two stories we wanted to trade Russell and why not bring in Cam? Absolute nonsense. That Russell Wilson once again has to deal with this crap. They wouldn't do this in Pittsburgh,

though Cam in Pittsburgh makes a ton of sense. Big Ben needs to be poked, needs to be pushed, Big Ben gets hurt, the backs up horrible. And Big Ben and Cam, their games have a lot of similarities. Russell Wilson's game has no similarity.

He's not distracted. He's not hot and cold. He's not inefficient. He doesn't need attention. Russell Wilson was on our show recently talking about Michael Jordan's documentary. Here's Russell Wilson. He has this unbelievable competitive edge, this unmatchable competitive edge that I want to bring to the field every single time I play. When teams see me in the fourth quarter, when I'm walking on the field, they already know.

I want them to anticipate what's going to happen. I want them to feel that before I even walk onto the field. What Michael was able to do is it wasn't that he wasn't positive, but he was just positively sure what it took to be great. I think, you know, some people, you know, communicate differently. You know, to me at the end of the day, though, you have to be consistent. What makes a great player, a great player, a great leader, a great leader, or a great father, a great father, is there consistent every day? That's the guy you want to trade to Cleveland?

That's the guy you want to potentially inhibit bringing Cam in. Pete Carroll should come out today. John Snyder should come out today and either refute these stories. Be embarrassed about them, or maybe try supporting Russell Wilson, like Pittsburgh does, to the severely more flawed Big Ben. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action. with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit,

suit 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 or 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 Gains is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick 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 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. 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. What's up, guys?

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

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Shaquille O'Neal said, scrap the NBA season without an asterisk. And I want to remind you, for all of us for the next 12 to 18 months, Life is going to be an asterisk. College kids are going to graduate.

Online. Everybody's Phoenix University. Even kids at Harvard. Is that an asterisk degree? Our presidential election may be decided by over 50% mail-in votes. That favors Democrats. You're going to have to put an asterisk on that, too, right? We understand people will lose jobs, and they did nothing wrong.

It's the new world. It's the new normal. It's the new reality. Sports has always been filled with asterisks. We just don't use them very much. Tom Brady, the current dynasty and the goat at quarterback. Let's see. The NFL move Peyton Manning out of his division very early. And they had multiple scandals. No asterisk. The Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship last year. Steph and KD, the two best warrior players, out. Clay was hurt.

Golden State's first win over LeBron. Kyrie Irving played half of one game in the series, right? And Kevin Love missed all of it. We don't give asterisks. Look at the New York Yankees. They have an annual asterisk. The Yes Network. They simply can buy more players in a sport with no salary cap.

we just have to realize baseball right now is arguing about money. I think the players should cave. Not that I'm pro-owners, but I do think people that are rigid and people that are stubborn are going to lose in the new normal. Let's not worry about plans, about how it used to be. We know, I said this the other day. There's never been a great movie with a bad ending. Ever. Never, never, never in the history of movie making.

Nothing's ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture that had a really bad last 12 minutes. But there are movies that have been kind of clunky and average with great endings that get nominated and occasionally, albeit rarely, win. Our life for the next year is going to be one big asterisk. It's okay. Let's just end it well and get back to business in baseball and the NBA. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Co-host, first things first. Joy and I were saying we have not been in this studio for some time. My friend Nick Wright joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Sponsored by Mercedes Ben and the Best or Nothing has not been out of his house for two and a half months.

So he doesn't want to hear my pity and nonsense. Colin, just strolling, you know, beautiful Manhattan Beach. Now back in the studio, I'm in the heart of Harlem in New York City, just boarding up windows. but I'm happy for you, Colin. By the way, you look nice and tan. Good to see you. Yeah, I've been outside some. Anywho.

All right, let's start with this. So my former employer put up a top 10 all-time players. And we can argue about it. But do you believe that because of the documentary, LeBron's 2 and Michael's 1, and that there is some recency bias with that. And a lot of these lists now that are ending up on the internet, it's a lot of MJ 1, LeBron 2,

and not much of a discussion or a debate by most. Do you think that the documentary to some degree is shaping that or reshaping it? So I do to a degree, but maybe not the way you're thinking it. But a couple of things. First of all, credit to your former employer, I think they did a very good job with their top 10. They've got, their top nine, they have right slightly out of order. Seven should be Duncan, eight should be Kobe, nine should be Bird, West and Oscar should be 10 and 11.

Shack should be 13, and obviously they have Michael and LeBron flipped, but Shaq is 13th and they have him 10th. They're very, very close to exactly right. And by exactly right, I mean my list, which is, of course, the official default list everyone should defer to. But to answer your question, Colin,

here's what I've noticed with the Michael documentary. We've got a lot of the most adamant, ardent Jordan fans thinking a lot about LeBron during this doc. I hear a lot of... LeBron's not to talk about it. I'm trying not to bring up LeBron during the dock. And we have a lot of Jordan folks

that either call my radio show or do television shows that seem to be shoehorning a discussion about a player who entered the league five years after the dock was finished into this discussion. So I think there's a word for that.

I think it's insecurity and anxiousness about the fact that LeBron if he has not already passed Jordan as he has, that he will in short order. But, yeah, for the moment, he might get a nostalgia bump, but those bumps fade, as we see with politicians at times, get a temporary bump from a crisis, and then it fades as things go on. So, yeah, I see that somewhat, but I'm not too concerned by it. Let me shift to Shaq talking about bail on the season because of an asterisk. And to that, I say, life is going to be nothing but asterisks for 12 to 8.

18 months, and sports has all sorts of inequities, financial, geographic. It's just the reality of sports, and we don't use an asterisk. And, oh, by the way, is the world of sports better with the NBA playing now? I'm yes. And I think you just can't be too rigid, regardless of what league or sport or commissioner you are. What did you make of Shaq's comments? And the encouraging sign this week that Adam Silver and the players appear to be willing

to play at a centralized site? Yeah, listen, I think it would be fantastic for all parties involved if the NBA can resume. I think it's so much easier for professional sports to resume than collegiate sports for obvious reasons. And I do think the NBA is going to find a way to get this season in. Listen, if we end up with an NBA finals of Grizzly's Heat, we're going to say, okay, this was pandemic influence. The NBA is the one sport. where basically every single year the champion is either the one, the two, or the three seed. And if we end up with some bizarre finals, then we'll say, okay, maybe we'll remember it a little

bit differently. But I don't think that's going to happen, first of all. And second of all, I have found the discussion surrounding if this postseason happens, will it count fully very interesting? Because what you are seeing, and I apologize for bringing up LeBron again, but what you are seeing is the folks out there who have staked their claim on LeBron being overrated or his era is over or the reason he's not in the goat discussion is rings

or failures in the finals, they don't know which side to stake out on. Do I say there's an asterisk and this year doesn't count? But then if LeBron loses, I can't use it against him. But if I say the year does count, if he wins, he gets credit for it. I'm in this glass box of emotion.

And so you have folks, that want to be able to reverse engineer their opinion on this in regards to LeBron. So I will stake my claim immediately. This year counts. Everyone's got to deal with the same circumstances. It's not ideal, but as you mentioned, nothing's ideal for anyone right now. The champion this year is the champion. The team that I happen to believe benefits from this the most.

If anyone benefits from it is the Clippers, because health and rest was, of all the contenders, was the, they had the biggest question mark on, but I still think pre-pandemic, Lakers Bucks was going to be the finals. That was my preseason pick, mid-season pick, and it's my right now pick. Lakers Bucks should be the finals, no asterisk needed. Cam Newton has never been my favorite, but I do think he fits in Pittsburgh really well. For a quarterback that needs to be pushed is often hurt with a Super Bowl roster, but bad backup quarterbacks.

where I don't think he fits or is needed is Seattle. And we have two stories now in the last two days. Seattle thought of trading Russell Wilson of the Browns, outrageous. And let's bring in Cam, because, you know, Russell, oh, wait, he is a workaholic who never gets hurt and is all about team. I said this morning as I was preparing for this, rarely do I get angry with a story. Cam fits, but maybe no place less than Seattle. What did you make of the stories and rumors about Russell Wilson, Cam, and the rest? Okay, so I made a lot of it.

The first one was when I saw that Chris Sims had said the Seattle Seahawks, I read it at about one in the morning last night, that Chris Sims, I should have been in bed already, was saying that the Seahawks had considered trading Russell Wilson for Baker Mayfield. I said it's one in the morning in New York. That means it's 10 at night in L.A. Colin's a kind of old man. He's probably already sleeping,

but damn it, I want to call and make sure he's okay. Like, I am worried about him. Like, if they traded maybe your all-time favorite player for Baker, I don't know if you'd have been, I feel like you'd never gone back to your home state. You'd have just been like, I'm done with you forever. This is an outrage. You might have quit the business.

Yes. So I was concerned for your well-being on that story. Now, as far as Cam, if I were to rank, all 32 teams. If I were advising Cam, the 32nd place I would tell him to go with Seattle. They have the second best quarterback in football. He never misses time. And by the way, they don't even like throwing the football evidence by the fact they thought about trading him. So why would you go there? He'd be better off going to Kansas City because at least Mahomes, we've seen he's missed time with injuries. Seattle should be Cam's literal last choice. The

hierarchy for Cam, the top five should be New England and Jacksonville because he'd be the instant starter. They should be at the top. And then three places that have aging quarterbacks that we don't know if they'll make it through the season or we don't know what they'll be doing next season. Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and maybe my favorite new Cam Newton option, Tampa Bay. Let's just see if Tommy what old Tampa Braggia's got left. And maybe Cam can fit, because I feel like Cam fits in great with Bruce Ariens. Those should be his top five. Seattle should be dead last.

By the way, I want to circle back to the documentary The Last Dance. Now, as you referenced, I'm an older gentleman. And so I grew up with Jordan. I'm not learning anything new. It's mostly amplifying what I knew. But I've really, and I'm not a stroll-down memory lane guy. It's not, you know, I don't bring up Red Grange for football topics. It's not my DNA.

But I have enjoyed a ton of it because I like good storytellers. and there's a lot of great stories in the documentary. Can you acknowledge, though, the one thing about Jordan is that he was a unique combination of great, glamorous, blue-collar work ethos, and coastal cool, and that there is something about Jordan that is unique all-time. Most great. Kevin Durant's great, but he's not glamorous or always cool, that Jordan does have a mystique that has been earned, and can you acknowledge that, that he was special and unique?

Of course. Unlike the Jordan fans, that LeBron might one day be top ten, I don't take anything away from Michael Jordan. He's one of the five greatest American athletes ever. He's one of the two greatest basketball players ever. He is the most marketable athlete ever. He held the all-time greatest championship belt for 93 to 2016. For 23 years, that is longer than any player in any sport had ever held it,

except for probably in any of the major team sports, I should say, aside from Gretzky. Good for him. Like, yes, I got nothing against Michael. And I, and I, and so, no, I agree with all of that. And by the way, LeBron will never sell as many shoes. LeBron will never be as universally beloved as Michael was. All LeBron has to fall back on is he luckily happens to be a better basketball player, which does, you know, is relevant to this discussion.

And before I go, because I feel badly because you're back in studio, today's a great day, and I made you seem old, and I didn't mean to. Listen, you're a little older than me, but you're rich L.A. old, which means you're actually 10 years younger than your birth certificate says, so you're fine. Don't worry about it. You got 40 years easy coming. Nick Wright, first things first. Good seeing you, buddy.

Pleasure. Thanks, man. Miss your pal. Talk to you later. 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. Goulet came out with a topic this morning.

And the topic is our last three MVP leaders in the clubhouse came out of nowhere. Patrick Mahomes didn't play as. first year until week 17. Following year, he owns the league. Don't tell me you thought he was going to be runaway MVP. Nobody did. Before him, Carson Wentz was having an MVP season. Week 10, he got hurt.

He was going to win the MVP. His first season, good in September, ugly after that. Lamar Jackson last year. It was his second year. First year didn't play for the first 10 weeks. Did week 11, dynamic. But when the Chargers got a second look at him, yeah, they figured him out. So three straight quarterbacks had bumpy, didn't play, played poorly, hot and cold, kind of marginalized and then explode.

Meaning, give these kids a second chance, a second opportunity, some confidence. They can watch their film. They get a little bit of a preseason. And so there are six quarterbacks that fall into this category. it is their second year. And before you roll your eyes, Kyler Murray, Daniel Jones, Dwayne Haskins, Drew Locke,

Jared Stidham, and Gardner Minchew. Some of them put up pretty good numbers. Gardner Minchew, 21 TD, 6 picks. That's pretty good. Kyler Murray, 20 TDs 12 picks. Did you know that Daniel Jones, 24 TDs 12 picks? These guys are completing over 60% of their throes.

They all appear as a pure pocket passer to be better than them are. They're all getting more snaps. than Patrick Mahomes, and frankly, they don't appear to get hurt much like Carson Wentz. If I had to bet today, who would I bet pops this year and either wins the MVP or is in the running for it? So let me start eliminating people.

I'm going to eliminate Gardner Minshu. This is a team award. Let's be honest, the Jags are tanking. I do think he's undervalued as a player. Gardner Minshu, I think, is more talented than Case Keenham, less of an arm than Baker-Mayfield, but share some of the same qualities. So I would get rid of Gardner Minshu. I would also get rid of Jarrett Stidham.

New England has a conservative system. New England's system's not built for the quarterback, the division's tougher, and frankly, he's got no weapons and no veteran tied end. I think it's asking way too much for Jared Stidham with few snaps to walk into a tougher division, Buffalo's defense, Jets defense, and Brian Flores of Miami's a defensive coach, and to rack up big numbers. I'll now eliminate Dwayne Haskins. First of all, the Redskins are turning over their roster and have an entirely new staff. I worry about maturity issues.

He frankly just didn't play enough in college. I think it's a grow year, not an explode year. And I do think at some point in this season, Washington will make a decision on him. He's a big, strong kid who can throw accurately. I'm hopeful. Let me eliminate a kid that I undervalued. He's really better than I thought Daniel Jones. New coach, new system, new coordinator.

Also, think he doesn't have nearly the support that DAC and Dallas do in the roster or Wents and Philadelphia does. I think they have the third best roster after Chase Young to Washington, before. It's also Sequin Barclay's team. If they win, he'll be engineering it. But I do think he's better than I thought. I don't see an MVP in his future. It comes down to Kyler Murray and Drew Locke. I'm going to eliminate Kyler Murray. It's a team award. The division's ridiculous. Seattle is stacked with a Hall of Fame quarterback and coach. San Francisco stacked everywhere. And frankly, we consider the Rams to be down. They went nine and seven. and didn't get any injury breaks.

Let me concentrate on Drew Locke. Most of you didn't watch him because Denver was bad early. He started five games, he won four. He had over a two to one touchdown ratio, that with a bad left tackle. He completed 64% of his throws. And here's what I like. He's got a young tied end. That's a position in the NFL that struggles in year one named Noah Fant.

I think Noah Fant's going to be a star. Iowa does that. with NFL guys. Noah Fant Star Tide End really matters for young quarterbacks. He also has a great young receiver that you don't know much about from SMU named Cortland Sutton. He had a great first year, 1,100 yards. They drafted two wide receivers to support him, one of them my favorite in the draft,

Jerry Judy. They also, by adding Melvin Gordon, have two borderline pro-bowl level running backs. They went out during the off-season, made their defense better, Don't even worry about that with Vic Fangio. Bradley Chubb comes back off an injury, Jarrell Casey, and A.J. Bouye. And although the division has the Kansas City Chiefs, what do we really know about Tyrod Taylor, Anthony Lynn, and the Chargers going forward? They may make a quarterback change if Justin Herbert blows them away midseason.

And Oakland slash Vegas, you don't win eight, nine, ten games when you change cities. It just doesn't work that way, and they still can't stop anybody. my guess is Drew Locke is going to explode for Denver this year. A young star tight end, a young star receiver, two receivers in the draft. I don't love their left tackle situation. Bradley Chubb back, a division in which they can win double digits. They can beat Kansas City at home. And a kid who got very, very little attention last year,

because like a Mahomes, he just didn't play much but won four of five. I'm going to bet on Drew Locke. That is my bet. Way to go. I really like that job you did there, Goula. It was a good topic. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I-Hard Radio app.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about. How healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here. unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. They're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black.

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. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you

conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And with that, we bring on a sport. We're crossing our fingers return.

Scott Boris, the founder-owner, president of the Boris Corporation, responsible for over a billion dollars in baseball contracts. So, Scott, let's start with this. We have a economic reality of a 15% unemployment staring us in the face. And while we want baseball back, it did feel to me, just my opinion, a little unseemly talking about billionaires and millionaires in revenue sharing. Are you at all concerned that that stuff goes public and the optics aren't great on that discussion publicly now?

Well, good afternoon, Colin. and I hope you and your family and your staff are well. You know, the players really, and Tony Clark and the Major League Baseball Players Association, they kind of rolled up their sleeves in March because we wanted to avoid this very issue. And the Major League Baseball approached the union and the players, and certainly with the strong support of the players I represent, they reached an accord. They reached an agreement as to the union.

to how they would handle the, you know, the 2020 season. And that was a major compromise because players took really, really agreed to a 30 to 50% salary cut by doing so. But really in light of the public health issue and creating a harmony to go forward, that agreement was reached in late March. It's something that, you know, we're, as Tony Clark has stated, and certainly with the support of the players I represent, that that agreement is operative and what we will work off of in going forward in the 2020 season. But the owners now are pushing back on that and explain to my audience what the owners want now, because they initially agree to that knowing there's not going to be any fans. The owner said, we get it. They accepted your initial proposal.

Your clients did. But now the owners are pushing back. Explain where they're pushing back that you're not comfortable with. Well, in the agreement, there are dynamics that allow for considerations and good faith discussion between the union and the players and the owners about they anticipated playing without fans. They anticipated playing in neutral sites. all these things were the same condition. Matter of fact, the pandemic may have been worse considerations because of the unknowns in March than it is today. So all those dynamics were looked at, and there's provisions in the agreement that allow for evaluative processes to determine whether or not,

you know, games can be played. And so this is something that's all within the confines of the agreement. Now, in fairness, there's been a lot of speculation about plans and such that I am told from the players and from the union that those have not been presented. There's just been early discussions. I think any attempt to privatize the gains and socialize the losses, if you will, is that we have to look at Major League Baseball and look at it in the last 10 years and say, You know, the Atlanta Braves were bought for $450 million. They're now worth $1.8 billion. The Cleveland Indians were purchased for $323 million. They're now worth, you know, $1.1 billion.

If, you know, the Atlanta Braves revenues are public because they're a publicly owned company. In 2016, they had roughly $262 million in revenues. Last year, they had $476 million in revenues, a $215 million gain. And when you're a business owner as a my, you have situations in your business that are upstart, and there are situations that are difficult. And you certainly don't go to your salaried employees and expect them to basically spread the losses during bad years alone, but not participate in the gains. So I think that concept is something that by general aspect,

We've got to look at Major League Baseball is very, very successful. We're having a difficult year because of the pandemic and the players have compromised by reducing their salaries dramatically and the number of games they play to accommodate them. And I think it's something that when we look at how we harmonize the public health issue and the need to function, I think the players in the union have appropriately reached out and accommodated early in this process to avoid any issues. Could I make the argument that because of the scarcity of sports, if you watch UFC last weekend, the most bet card, the most viewed, one of the most viewed cards, we have such scarcity that baseball coming back, I could certainly argue baseball over the last 15 years of my life, has lost a little bit of social water, cooler currency in my space, the opinion space on sports networks, that with a scarcity, if baseball came back, you gave up a few more things, the value for the sport going forward would outweigh losses in the short term. There is a macro view here that baseball could be a discussion point in America,

nothing else on the table, and that it's worth losing a little bit day-to-day in negotiations for a short time, one year. I think your point is very well stated, Colin, and a, and a, and a, appropriate and accurate. You know, you'd have to ask, you know, what would a league really pay or subsidized to have their sport on television by itself essentially? And have everyone, that new generation, everyone watch it. Remember, we're with the pandemic, our goal is to keep people isolated, to keep people at home to, and have a reason for them to stay at home because they want to watch fresh content. You know, I live in Los Angeles.

And there are about 800,000 people in the industry of creating content that are not working. And there will not be fresh content for a while because of that. And so providing Major League Baseball, you may have it on prime time at nights because the fact is that the audience will want to see something that is new and real and normalizing and part of the American way of life. So I think it's a tremendous opportunity for the game to advance itself and also provide, in effect, a new level of interest among a group of fans that they did not reach prior to the pandemic. Scott Morris joining us. You would obviously, in your world, the players should do less sacrificing than baseball as a whole to do that, which, of course, a sport always has more capital than individual players or agents. I'm not going to debate that. I do wonder, getting past the financial issues with your clients, is health still a concern,

Scott, or are they looking at data points with this pandemic where professional athletes perhaps are the safest people? If you could weigh in on players' concerns about health and also one or two centralized locations, is that still a pushback? Players don't want to be away from their families for six months. So let's talk health number one and number two centralized location. Certainly, you know, we've been fortunate, you know, I studied pharmacology prior to becoming a lawyer. But you learn from medicine about models. And you learn that if you have models, you can work off them and you can learn a great deal from them.

And the one thing we know from the medical professionals that have had a chance to address and speak to the players. represent is that the age of the is very very important in this pandemic and treatment of the virus is that first class physical condition is very important having no underlying medical conditions being tested daily is important and we found that they did a study in baseball with the Stanford and USC where because of the isolation of spring training and right thereafter they did the study and the incidents of people with the virus was well less than 1%. And that was some players and some administrative people.

So we know that the isolation aspect and being in a smaller group and being around going to and from the ballpark, we know that those things are helpful because obviously you're not in the general population anywhere near as much as you would maybe be by going to the grocery store. So the other thing we have is that we have Taiwan, Korea, Japan. And we have soccer teams, the Bundesliga. We have many, many models that have been operating for 60 to 90 days. And we've gotten a lot of information about what they're doing and how they've done it. And again, we've had a survival rate of 100%. We've had a few, if any, hospitalizations.

And so we've had to isolate players who've gotten the virus. But essentially, we're seeing, as far as Jersey, jurisdictions, Arizona is now allowing for sports teams to work out in their areas long as there's no fans. And so this virus is certainly jurisdictional. It has different impacts in different areas. And I think in professional sports, we can adjust to that and really look at this day to day. And really, we have to create a harmony. We have to create a harmony between the public health issue needs and also the need for function to mitigate the social

detriments of the health issue. And mental health, isolation, people working, the economy, all of this have to be a common approach. And I know the baseball players I represent is that they've received enough medical information. They've got it from the professionals. They know that there's varied opinions.

But on the other side, I think, with their age group and what they know and the fact that they're going to get medical treatment at their facilities daily and be tested daily or so often. I think they're certainly comfortable with continuing. If I said to you June 1st, spring training starts, June 1st, two and a half weeks from now, realistic or unrealistic? Well, those decisions, of course, are really relate to the Players Union and MLB and the players themselves. But my feeling, Colin, is that when you're around elite athletes your whole life

and you're around people that are extraordinary at what they do, their routines and what they do are very, very important. And we've had an unusual interruption, unlike any time. You know, people have talked about when players didn't play during strikes, but players were out working out. They were doing things normally. They were around players playing catch, throwing, doing their routine activities. In this situation, players have been removed because they've been isolated. So for me, I believe we need more time for spring training. We need a conditioning part of this, and we need more for these players to get their conditioning

levels to a point, and before they even begin, their skill dynamic. And I'm hoping that whatever date that is, and I'm hoping it is June 1st, the earlier, the better, I think, to get these players more time so they can really. return to a performance level that they had prior to the pandemic. Are your clients working out right now even at home? Oh, yes. We have a sport fitness institute. We have our own training staff at our company, and we monitor what our players are doing weekly.

We have recorded what their practices were prior to the pandemic, and we're trying to do our best to simulate what they're, what they were doing, you know, through this. But obviously, now it's with states opening up and things, it's much easier for them to get out and do more normal things prior to spring training. Yeah. Where's your institute at, by the way, Scott? We have two of them, actually. We have one in California and one in Florida. And our main offices, of course, are here in Newport Beach.

All right. Good stuff, Scott Boros. Thank you for your time today and your patience with this stuff. I think we're all, I've never wanted to watch an Angels game more in my life, a Dodger game more in my life. So we're all rooting for it to happen. Scott, thank you. Thank you, Colin. And I think your point about sport being something about what American needs and it's normalcy. And I hope that all of us are working collectively to reach a resolve on this.

But understand. Last night, a blown call changed the game. morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok.

podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band

with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor?

It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.