The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Bucks-Raptors, Kevin Durant, Lakers, and Aaron Rodgers

Episode Date: May 22, 2019

Colin explains why it doesn't matter who wins the Milwaukee Bucks-Toronto Raptors series, why nobody knows where Golden State Warriors F Kevin Durant will be playing next season, an obvious result of Magic Johnson leaving the Los Angeles Lakers, and why he feels Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will have a good upcoming season. Guests include Kendrick Perkins, Cuttino Mobley, and Keith Thurman.   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. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman.

Multi-million dollar house, Ferrari's and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion-dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud

on the A-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world.

Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. 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 and 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The 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. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. We are loaded today and this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Packed actually today. A lot of football stuff today. A lot of NFL news. Breaking stuff is happening all over the league. Peyton Manning involved in some of it. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Good morning. Good morning. morning everybody. You know, all teams in sports, they want you to believe their team is different.

Our team is guttier, our team is smarter, we got better players. Everybody's trying to tell me and remind me and convince me their team is different. And I'm watching Toronto and Milwaukee and they're the same team. One's in Canada. One's over in Milwaukee. They're the same team. Both have one star, Yonis in Milwaukee, and Kauai Leonard in Toronto, and they bring it every night. That doesn't mean they don't have off nights where their shooting percentage doesn't dip or they miss a free throw or two. And then every night, whichever star, Kauai with the Raptors or Yonis with Milwaukee, can get a second guy to play a little over his head. That team wins.

Let's go back to game one. Brooke Lopez was great. Brooke Lopez generally isn't great. But Brooke Lopez in game one for Milwaukee had a huge fourth quarter. His hair was on fire. He had 29 points. He hit four threes. Oh, and Milwaukee won because Janice got a second guy to play over his head.

And in game two, Milwaukee Ilyosova plays really well. Plus 22, 7 of 11 from the field. plays a little over his head and Milwaukee wins game two and Kauai's thinking I need guys to step up for me then we go to game three in in Canada oh what do you know pascal siakum 25 points plus 12 big night hit some key baskets in the second half kawai gets a guy to play a great playoff game and he wins and then last night what do you know Kyle Lowry wildly inconsistent in the playoff playoffs is 25 points, 10 for 10 at the free throw line, six for 11 field goals, and Kauai gets the guy to play over his head in the playoffs, and now the series is tied at 2-2.

See, that's the difference. Golden State knows what they get every night from a bunch of guys. Steph gives you 30 now, and Clay is going to give you 20 now, and Draymond Green's going to give you incredible energy and probably give you a 15, 9, and 8 every night, and Andre Aguadual is going to give you something really good defensively late situationally, and I'm not even counting Kevin Durant who would be guaranteed money. These are the same team. Janice is driving to the arena every night in this series, crossing his fingers, hoping inconsistent Chris Middleton steps up big. Or Eric Bledsoe, who averaged 16 in the regular season and now is averaging eight in this series. And Kauai's driving from his apartment.

in Toronto, getting to the arena and crossing his fingers that Seacum, Lowry, somebody, although he never knows who it's going to be can play great. And by the way, this is why precisely why stars team up. So they don't have to drive to the arenas crossing their fingers, not really sure who's going to step up. Steph never has that issue. Even with Kevin Durant out, even with Boogie Cousins out. He knows what he's getting from Draymon.

He knows what he's getting from Clay. You know what? You know what the NBA playoffs are? They're a lie detector. That's what they are. A lot of people are telling them there are something, hey, I can be great. But are you just great for a game like Brooke Lopez, or can you be great for a series like Kauai?

Lie detector goes off. Are you really in shape or are you in playoff shape, James Harden? You tell me your clutch. Yeah, maybe Tuesday night in Sacramento. But are you clutch at the free throw line? Are you clutch in crisis deep into a playoff game? Who's really a star and just has a night like a star? These are a big lie detector test.

And Toronto and Milwaukee fans are trying to convince you they're special and they're different and it's the same team. Outside of Kauai and Janus, you're just crossing. your fingers, and it's a different number two every night, who's going to show up and play over their head and elevate me to a win? And in four straight games, the star that got that won the game, and that's why they're tied. They're the same team. All right, here's the latest rumor on Kevin Durant. He's a big deal. Now the Clippers and the Knicks are equally dangerous to sign

the Warrior Star. I was told yesterday before the show I got a text that Brooklyn's in it. And so Rich Climann is his agent and Rich Climond yesterday was talking and Wall Street Journal and here's what he said.

What you're saying is that this has not been decided. There's no hidden handshake agreement. No. With the New York Knicks? No. Nothing like that. No. All right. That is 100% undecided. And I'm waiting on Kevin, you know?

That's the truth. I think there's a feeling that this thing is like war games and everybody's kind of like... Playing the role. Yeah, playing chess like years out. But when somebody gets to the level of basketball that he's at, you can't juggle focus like that. There's so many things he's juggling too.

He's not scripting his future while he's playing the way he plays and practices the way he practices. LeBron's moved three times. didn't Cleveland going back take us by surprise? I know for a fact he didn't know he was going to Miami until 48 hours or 24 hours out. I mean, I've moved four times in my career. Three of the four, 72 hours out, I was undecided.

This move was the only one I knew in advance. And that was a lot of family stuff. But I keep hearing that he's locked in on this team and locked in on that team. So let's line up the places where I'm told he's. He really likes. And you tell me, would you have a little indecision? Let's talk about the New York Knicks. Remember, 100%.

And I've been told it's 100%. By a current player and a former player. Okay, the owner's bad with the Knicks. The roster's weak. The recent history is awful. And oh, by the way, he could make more money in Golden State than the Knicks. You don't think you're going to have some doubts about that. Well, let's talk about the Clippers.

roster, mostly guys, role players, history. Do I have to explain the history of the Clippers? Brand, second biggest team in their own arena. What about Jerry West? Okay, what about him? He's 81 next week. They're not rolling together. Okay, let's size up the Brooklyn Nets,

because that's the one I'm hearing now, Brooklyn Nets. Once again, they're a little brother, second biggest brand in their own city. They have an owner from overseas, and the netter about his eighth biggest business. And if he does attract KD, it'll be his third reboot in about six years. They have three winning seasons in 12. And oh, by the way, if they were going to land Anthony Davis, am I wrong here? They basically have to trade the entire roster. You telling me, Nick's Clippers in Brooklyn, I don't have some worries and concerns and doubts about those franchises.

What about the Lakers? What about the Lakers? Have you seen their organizational flow chart? It looks like a poorly constructed spider web. And by the way, the team, I'm assured that he's leaving. This one, there's no chance he stays. The Golden State Warriors, let me remind you of the last several years and the images. Three of them with Golden State.

Parades, MVP trophies, and rings. And that's the one you're in. assuring me has no chance to keep him. I don't really buy that. And let me throw this little wrench into it. Whereas LeBron James, somebody that Kevin Durant has at least deep respect for, admiration for, used to practice together, especially years ago. Whereas LeBron, by moving to Miami and winning titles, accelerated player mobile. mobility. Could I not argue this disastrous move to the Lakers has pumped the brakes for everybody's

player mobility? LeBron could be the guy that accelerated it and stopped it. So this idea, everybody knows where Kevin Durant's going. There's a reason this is the sixth different report on Kevin Durant's destination. And I'm not Kevin Durant, but I've made. moved a lot. And in three or four of my moves, you get the yellow pat out, pro, con, yes, no, it's hard. It is hard. And the one you keep assuring me has no shots, the one all I gets, parades, trophies, and rings. And that's the, that's the one we know he's not staying at. Because I still contend that's the best place for him. Never forget, Marcus Thompson just wrote a book on KD as close to him as any media member. Never forget what he told us.

month ago. I'm not buying it at the last moment he's sitting at a meeting with somebody and he can't be swayed. Either way, to stay or go. I just... Because that's his personality. Yeah. He could think it's done right now, whether that's staying or going. I still think later on, like, he can be swayed. Like, he's a guy. He feels everything. He sits in the room. He's present. He's got to, he's got away this stuff. We still have three or four more series if they win a championship of data to insert into this equation, right? Like, I don't know, I don't know if even if he thinks he knows the answer. I don't think he knows the answer.

I'm not buying it. So the story this morning, the Clippers are in it. What I was told yesterday morning before the show, Brooklyn and Kyrie and KD are very much in it. I was told a week ago, the Knicks were a done deal. And three weeks ago from a former MVP in the league, the Knicks were a done deal. And everybody keeps telling me, LeBron still has a chance. Kevin Durant has not made up his mind.

Coming up next, you ever see one of those studies? And it comes out, you know, like, it's not as healthy to get less than five hours of sleep a night. And you're thinking to yourself, they needed a study for that. The Lakers are releasing their own sort of study, and I don't think we need to study to figure it out. That's coming up next.

Plus Kendrick Perkins, Cotino Mobley, a great young 29-0 boxing talent. Keith Thurman stops by on our show today, fighting Pachial coming up. 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering our meeting, businessman, catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small.

The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain.

It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light. up and smile. That means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls,

we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice 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. or are you a good person because you're free? 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 hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. So I was saying before the break, you ever see those goofy studies that you see the study that comes out and you're like, what was the point of a study? I looked up three this morning.

Cell phones and driving don't mix. They did a study on that. High heels can make your feet hurt. Yeah, really, your feet at this angle walking down around for four or five hours. I've said this to my wife. I don't understand high heels. I can't stand like that for four seconds at the gym

on that little inverted wooden plank. I don't know how you do it for six hours. Oh, here's another gem this morning. Employees hate meetings. Oh, no, here's another one. cocaine and alcohol are not great together. They do studies on this stuff. And the reason I bring this up is because there are certain studies and you say,

you think? Here's a story. Sources close to LeBron James have expressed concern that Magic's quick exit appears to threaten off-season plans. You think? Let me get this straight. LeBron's camp is like, Magic quitting. and then napalming the organization on national TV, I don't think it's going to help us any when we go get top free agents.

That cell phones and driving don't mix. Listen, I want you to just think about this for a second. We got four or five top free agents, you know, Kauai, this and that. So just think about this. So you're Kauai Leonard or Jimmy Butler, and you walk into, let's say, the Miami Heat. You walk into the office. and you have to meet three people, and it's very concise.

Mickey Erison's the owner. He made his money in Carnival Cruise Lines. You can talk about that for a couple minutes. And then here's Pat Riley, who's won rings in different roles in four different decades, and is the best-looking 70-year-old man in America. And then there's Eric Spolstra. Oh, he coached LeBron. They won a bunch of titles.

And then the meetings are over, and you drive away thinking, billionaire, legend. title coach. Let's say you get on a plane and you fly to the next destination. Remember, I'm a free agent, so I'm walking into these buildings, and I spend the day in a building. So we could go over to the war. Let's go over to the Clipper Building.

So I'm Jimmy Butler and Kauai Leonard, and I walk over to Clipper Building. And the first guy I meet is Steve Balmer, the bald guy, big energy. Oh, oh, that's the Microsoft legend. And then I meet Jerry West, the logo, and Michael Winger, I don't know. I've heard about you. you're the next Jerry West. And no, there's the championship coach, Doc Rivers. So I spend like three hours talking to these guys, and I leave.

I'm like, oh, that's pretty simple. That's pretty concise. And then I go to the Warriors, and I got Joe Lakeb. I fly up to San Francisco if I'm one of these players like Kauai Leonard or I'm Jimmy Butler. I meet Joe Lacob. He's a venture capitalist, Silicon Valley billionaire. Ooh, I never met him, but, so, yeah, I'm one of those Silicon Valley guys. Oh, and then I see Bob Myers who played.

and Steve Kerr who played. I've been watching Kerr on TV for years. And then I meet like the three or four guys. Katie may or may not be there, but, oh, I've seen Steph Clay. And I get my car or my plane and I leave. It's just very simple. It's very concise. It's not confusing.

Billionaire who you may not know, but he's got a cool story. Microsoft, Carnival Cruise, Silicon Valley. Legendary guy, Pat Riley, Jerry West, Steve Kerr, right below that. and then like a cool championship coach or a cool championship player. I've interviewed, by the way, like five, six, seven, eight different times in my life. And then, it ain't going to a Laker organization. And they say, okay, Kauai. Listen, here's Jeannie Bus, the owner.

We want you to meet her best friend, Linda Rambus, who never played basketball, but they're friends and they talk a lot. And her husband Kurtz also in the building. Then we'll shuttle you over to Magic. No, wait, he quit. Frank Vogel's the new coach. Jason Kidd isn't here yet. Tim Harris is in Operations, Food and Beverage.

But actually he makes some decisions too. We'd like you to just stop by his office. Here's Rob Polenka, best friends with Kobe. We're not sure Kobe will be here, but they're on the phone all day. But here's Rob Polinka. He sort of looks like Rob Lowe. And oh, by the way, LeBron's not here today. His agent, Rich Paul, is, oh, wait, we just got a call.

They're both gone. They'll come back later. And then you get in your plane and you leave and you're like, good hell, what was that? Who did I meet? What was that? Huh? Wild.

More is not better when you're trying to bring in elite people with options. What is better is fewer, smarter, well-known, dependable, good resume. So when LeBron's camp is a little concerned about the magic situation, uh, magic created clarity. You may not like magic and you may not like Luke, but it was really easy when it was genie. Oh, I remember her dad. Magic. Oh my God, Magic Johnson and Luke Walton. That's pretty simple. In the last month, it's gone from that to a spider web and a poorly designed one.

Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. High heels aren't that bad once you get used to walking. Really? Walking like this, you get used to. I say that I wear flats or tennis shoes with my dress.

That's funny. seen you once wear them here. But they're just great over time. Well, if you thought the Raptors were done when they went down 02, you would be wrong. I told you about baby dinosaurs all year. They blew out Milwaukee last night to even up the series.

Really did blow them out. Yeah, 120. 102. Kauai Lender was injured and tired and Siakam was suffering from foul trouble, but Kauai still did damage in 34 minutes and said after the game, he will keep fighting. I feel good. keep going and keep fighting.

We have a chance to make history. I mean, it's no excuses. I'm playing basketball. And, you know, we got to win tonight. They were very impressive last night. I felt like this series was going to be a long series. I mean, I'm kind of with you. It's a similar setup, but they each have a superstar,

a strong number two, but a little inconsistent. And then you just have to hope that someone else on the team has a great night and then you see where the chips fall. They're very even teams. You know, I was thinking about you last night about the Raptors. So we're talking about Kauai leaving, right? So now Kauai right now is a little beat up and a little tired because they've had to lean on him.

How do you sell Kauai on staying? I was thinking about this. You can't go to him and say after this playoff run, you can depend on Lowry in a vodka. The big sales pitch is Pascal Seyakum is getting better and we think that. by next year, he'll be a legitimate playoff too. But couldn't I argue that Kauai kind of

falling apart? I mean, he looks tired. Yeah. That this is his biggest concern because Kauai's not dumb. He knows it's not a free agent destination. You've got to have, and you're too good now to get great draft picks. So the sales pitch to Kauai is, hey, listen, we know you're exhausted and you feel

like you're having to carry the team. But next year, you'll probably have to carry the team slightly less because Siacom is getting a little more consistent. I mean, the one thing that I do think is working in the Raptors' favor is, does he really want to go back to the West? It's warm.

I mean, you travel all year. You can live wherever you want. He's got a mansion in San Diego. He can stay there all offseason or come to L.A. and work out. I mean, believe me, I prefer the warm weather also, but, I mean, you have to look at the whole situation. He's in a great situation. The Raptors are a very well-run organization. They are in the Eastern Conference Finals right now tied to two with Milwaukee with the MVP on the other side.

It's not a bad situation. I understand there's taxes and all these other things going on, but he's going to be a legend in Toronto anyway just based up of this series. It's not the worst situation. I feel like he's leaving, but I would not be shocked if he ended up saying. It's not a bad situation for him. So Kevin Durant is back with arguing with fans on the Internet, which, you know. Oh, he is?

I mean, well, you know, he did have go back and forth with Christmas Star the other day. I mean, that's what he does from time of time. His manager, Rich Climman, though, isn't bothered, and in fact, he loves everything about it. How do you feel about that that he gets in there and mixes it up sometimes? I love it. I know enough to know that that doesn't represent anything more than what it is. And Kevin has every right to engage and communicate and have fun and bandes. because he's a 31-year-old man who's built this,

or 30-year-old man who's built this incredible enterprise for himself. We have honest conversations, but never would I call him and say, like, that's such a bad thing to do for your brand. I actually think that's a really smart way to look at it. Kevin Durant's 30. He's all over social media. We cannot define him based on a tweet. Like, that shouldn't ever define any of us,

a tweet that took you 20, two seconds to Well, I think the opinion about Kevin Durant's on social media going back and forth with fans, it kind of took a turn whenever the burner account situation happens. That wasn't great. We kind of all felt like it got

a little off the rails there. You don't need to go that far. So that wasn't the best look. But everyone goes back and forth with fans with social media. You do it, I do it. Everyone does it. It's not a weird thing to do. There's this feeling that he is so far.

above that that he shouldn't feel like he needs to go back at them. But we're all human beings. And if we're on social media, going through and see somebody say something crazy, we might just feel compelled to tell them that they're crazy. And by the way, I go on, I don't do it a ton, but I'd say every couple weeks I'll go on and I'll just be in a funny mood and I'm just being sarcastic with people.

Does it define me? Because 90% of the time I'm not on Twitter. Right. I think as long as you don't take it too seriously, I mean, we've all seen it go badly also. That's probably like the bigger concern with this. but I don't think it is a bad thing for Kevin Durant's brand. If anything, it makes him more accessible and makes him feel more human.

And that's a good thing. You don't, I don't think it's the right thing to do in this era to feel like you're untouchable or robotic or not relatable. I had a social media business manager, not at this company. Tell me a month ago. It was very interesting. We were talking about sportscasters and he said, I like when you spar with people. He goes, you don't feel distant. Right.

And I'm like, you follow it. He goes, oh, no, no. He goes, this is what I do for a living. I use people as examples. He goes, you should spar with your audience a couple times a month. Instead of being up on a castle and nobody can get into the castle, he's like, spar with people. Interact with people. They're your customers.

And I was like, that's an interesting way to look at it. Yeah. As long as you don't get in your feelings, as long as you don't carry with you for the rest of the day, which can sometimes be hard to do, then you're good. So finally, Aaron Rogers is apparently. Having fun now. Matt LaFleur and Aaron obviously been spending a fair amount of time together and getting on the same page. And the floor made a note of mentioning how good of a time Aaron is having. I think it's going great, man. He's fun to be around. You can see how much fun he has out on that field.

But we've had a lot of good conversations and, you know, I think we're growing together. And, you know, the more that we can, more time that we can spend together, I think we'll have a better feel for each time. other. He may be right. Aaron is talking a lot more. He is. The usual grumpy Aaron had had more to say in 20 seconds and I've ever maybe heard him talk before. Here he is on Game of Thrones. Tyrion says the person with the best story is Brand. Who by the way, three episodes ago said he wasn't Brand Stark anymore? No. John had a better story. Danny had a better story. Ariah had a better story. Sansa had a better story. had a better story. Varus had a better story.

Braun, a lot better story. Jamie better story. Zersey, probably better stories. He's right about all of those. I don't know what any of that means. I literally, that was, I have no idea what he just said. Isn't this, Aaron,

I'm going to put it out there right now. Strong belief that Big Ben and Aaron are going to have MVP years because they want to prove they were right. in the breakup. They are definitely going to play with chips on their shoulders this year. I'm leaning more towards Aaron winning that situation than I am Ben.

I saw am I. But I'm with you because I think it's that year where you feel like the weight of that those deteriorating relationships has been lifted. And now you're trying to like reinvent the situation and also prove that you were the one who was right in the separation. It's human nature. You always want to... By the way, we've seen this before.

Peyton Manning went to Denver. Oh, you think I'm done. Right. And we saw Brett Farr, after the Jets to the Packers. Oh, you think I'm done. And then we saw Tom Brady post a flake gate. Oh, you think I'm cheating. We have this history where you take a great quarterback

with something left in the tank, but on the back nine. And when we bail on you, Aaron gets hurt. Aaron, he's impossible. You want to prove... Mike McCarthy and Antonio Brown. You were right. They were wrong. And we've all gone to the gym a little more after a breakup.

And we get our abs a little tight. We look a little better. It's exactly what this is. I think that's what's happening as well. That is such a funny, Aaron Rogers, Game of Thrones. I fully agree with him. I mean, everything he said was totally accurate. Phanos drove me crazy.

And the wolf lady was ridiculous choice. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Before I bring out Kendrick Perkins, because I want to get to something, take a break and give Perk more time. So I just want to say this. Listen, we got to quit pandering to athletes.

These are not 17-year-olds. I don't pick on college kids. These are not even 19-year-old, 20-year-old. In a lot of instances, these are grownups. And they've got 100 million bucks. They got stacks of lettuce. Okay. So I don't try to beat up on guys, but we got to stop pandering.

So Antonio Brown is not present for the start of OTAs for the Raiders. So I got no Antonio Brown in Oakland. I got no OBJ in Cleveland. And I got no Labian Bell with the Jets. All three just signed huge contracts. All three can be difficult. All three can be distracting. Oakland, Cleveland Jets.

Do these sound like organizations that handle crisis well the last 20 years? These are three organizations that have had nothing but trouble any time a player is slightly difficult to coach. I mean, I'm sorry, but when I go to a company for the first year, I didn't take a day off my first 12 months at the other place, and I didn't take many days off my first year here. You're trying to create a culture. Cleveland's got a losing culture.

Oakland's got a losing culture. The Jets have kind of a mediocre to losing culture. I'm sorry, Lavian Bell's got to be there. Antonio Brown's got to be there. I mean, Lavian Bell, how to year off? Can you show up to seven, you know, easy OTA practices? I just, we got to stop pandering. Well, you know, they don't need to be there.

69 days ago, Cleveland trades for OBJ. He spent three days in Ohio, maybe four. Come on. We got to do better than this. And by the way, why do I like Pittsburgh this year over Cleveland? This sort of nonsense. I just saw videos yesterday. All the skill people are at OTAs with Big Ben.

The guys are all hanging out at his lakehouse. He just said, my bad against AB, got that mess off the plate. So, you know, we can make excuses for Antonio Brown. He should be at camp. It's a new playbook. OBJ should be in Cleveland. Lavian Bell should be with the Jets. Dude, Eddie, you're off.

You show a little respect for your offensive lineman, your quarterback, Lavian. And I like Lavian Bell, and I like Odell Beckham. Antonio Brown's a lot of work, but I don't think he's a bad guy, but come on. I mean, let's stop making an excuse. Well, he doesn't really have to be there. He doesn't really. All three should be there.

You got to show respect to your teammates. You've got to show respect to your staff. And these are three developing cultures. This isn't Kevin Colbert, who has won 65 games in Pittsburgh as a GM in the last 25 years. This isn't New England. This isn't even, you know, these are developing cultures. You don't have it right. You have a history of implosions.

I mean, Antonio Brown, come on. Show some respect for Derek Carr, Raiders, John. Grude and Mike Mayock in that new offensive line. Kendrick Perkins around the corner coming up next. What's Perk-Maker-Raptors, Milwaukee? And his thoughts on KD and Whereo Land, that's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. is somebody coming after me. Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small.

The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that.

Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ledecky. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me.

And that's what motivates me to win. more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. A pay. 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 Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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. 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, 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.

One of the most connected guys in the NBA, you played the Big Three Celtics, the OKC Thunder, the Cavs with LeBron, and you got a little Pelicans, Kendrick Perkins, 15 years in the NBA. So I was saying to start the show, I feel like Milwaukee in Toronto. It's the same team. I got a dude.

And both Kauai and Yonis, frankly, look a little tired because you have to rely on Kauai. I mean, first of all, let's start with that premise. I just think they're the same team. I agree. I think they're evenly matched. It could go either way. Like if these guys were to play each other 10 times, it'd probably be 5 and 5. By the way, last time you were on this show, I thought the series was over.

You told me, you said Toronto was going to even it up. Yeah. I mean, you know, because at the end of the day, I felt like game won, Toronto felt like they should have won their game. So I think they have a lot of confidence. And Toronto have a lot of experience. But I agree with you. I think these teams are evenly matched. And Kauai and Yonis both look fatig, but they're guarding each other.

And it's a lot of battling down low. And I think this is going to come down to this series comes down to the others. I mean, like on the road, Marcosal was horrible. And then at home, he was great. Kyle Larry, you don't know if you'll get two points or 30 points. Eric Bledso, I mean. What happened?

He's been a no-show, basically these holes playoffs. I mean, George Hill has been. Better. Yes, the best point going on Milwaukee team. And then you get Chris Milton, who just. went off last night, but they still lost, and then, like, see, Ackham struggled. So I think they evenly matched, but it's going to come down to the others. And, you know, the series don't start, basically, until one team wins on the road.

You know, I want to talk about this time in the NBA, because I think it's very clear that, I mean, just take the Warriors. Iggy's hurt, Boogie and Katie are out, and Steph's not 100%. Let's take the Raptors. Kauai Leonard's shot. He looks exhausted. Honest now can't hit a free throw so that he's got some mental or physical fatigue. So you look around all these teams. Houston looked tired.

Harden looked tired from having to chase Steph around. So Damian Lillard, by the way, got hurt. So when you get to the end of an NBA season, we always think it's coaching and we think it's schematics. Is it? What is it? No, it comes down to heart and will and who won it the most. I mean, you could do, you can watch all the film you want. You could scout guys.

But at the end of the day, you know everyone's tendencies. So it comes down to who's going to do the little things and who's going to grind it out. It comes down to who wanted the most because you get deep into the playoffs. And I think that's what Golden State hold the edge over everybody. They've been here before. So at the end of the day, they know how to train them bodies. They know what proper rest to get.

They've been here before. You've seen Dame Lillett. It seemed like he was just so fatigued. And you're watching Yonis right now. He's fatigued because he's never been there. this deep in the playoffs. Okay, so you played with that old Boston team. Right. Okay, KG was old.

Ray Allen, Paul Pierce. So take me to that old Celtic team. Did Doc, I always heard stories that when Doc would take those Celtics on the road, he wouldn't practice, but he didn't want to miss practice in Boston. Right. Because then everybody could see it. And I always heard Doc Rivers

took care of the old guys on that team. He took care of everybody. So the thing with Doc was that he'd rather you give it to him in the game than that practice. And we never really practiced. Even our practice, no seriously, even our practice days were like just coming in, getting shots and weightlifting. Guys who wasn't playing, you know, then they'll have to go out and maybe play three on three.

But guys who were playing heavy minutes, it was, our practice days were weights, treatments, and shots. And Doc knew this. And he was preparing us for the marathon and not the sprint. And I think that's what Doc, you know. That's what they're doing in Golden State. Absolutely. And you got to give.

And to me, Steve Kerr don't get enough credit. His coach and staff don't get enough credit because, you know, with Iggy out, Cousins out and KD out last game, he did a perfect, he did a great job of putting guys on the floor together and his rotations were on point. And Looney stepped up big. McKinley stepped up big. Cook gave him some valuable minutes, even Jurepka.

So at the end of the day, I think Steve Kerr don't get enough credit. Yeah, obviously, you know, you have Steph, you have Draymore, you have Clay. They should be the most exhausted team perk. Absolutely. Golden State should be shot and they look fresh. Right, because they've been here before, so they know what it takes. You heard what Draymond Green said, you know, we heard what Draymond Green said. He lost 25 pounds.

he lost 25 pounds towards the ends of the season. Why? Because he knew he needed to lose that weight to be able to sustain and be able to play at a high level through these whole playoffs. I want you to go back to your career. You said something interesting. You talked about its guts and its will. Were you ever in a playoff series?

And you were in a lot of them that you knew everybody on the floor was shot. Yes, I remember. I mean, it was and I was hurt. That's the sad part about it. It was game seven, NBA finals, Celtics versus Lakers, and I mean, everyone was tired. You could see it. Yeah, you could see it. I mean, you're traveling from, you know, the six-hour plane ride back and forth, back and forth, time change and everything.

So on both sides, I think, like, that game, everybody shot hard, but it's self-a-wrong-Artite. Yeah, except for Ron Artaire. So, you know, it came down the wheel. Like, you know, at the end of the day, I always say, yeah, guys look at run our test and that game, and he had 20 and 10 or whatever. But people don't understand. Kobe had like 18 rebounds. Like, and I think like six of them was offensive. Like, that's will.

Like, that's not. And he was six for 24. Shoot. He had a terrible game. Exactly. But he went, but he did other things. And it comes down to that test is your heart, your conditioning. And who wanted the most?

Like I said before. So you know, LeBron and. KD. We're showing pictures for our radio audience of Kendrick with his arm around KD and next to LeBron James. And you were always one of those veterans. You were a tough guy. Players respected you. Stars respected you. Stars would ask you questions. They listened to you. So I'm hearing all this stuff about KD. And my takeaway is, listen, man, you keep telling me he's going to the Knicks, Brooklyn, Lakers, Clippers. They all got issues. They either got a weak roster, an owner I don't trust, not much of a history I can rely on.

Like, I mean, take me inside of KD. Do you think he's got it all figured out? Right now, I think Katie's just living in the moment. I don't know. I don't think KD. You know what he want to do. But on the flip side of it,

if I'm KD, I think I would really consider going to the Clippers. How come? I think because the clippers are, they, with the new ownership, I love what he's doing. The front office with Lawrence Frank and Michael Winger.

Michael Winger are doing a great job. Doc did a hell of a job. this year with this group of guys. It may have been his best coaching job. Yes. By the way, he told me that was his second favorite team to the 2008 Celtics. I mean, because guys bought in. He said he didn't want the season in the end.

It was so fun. And to me, you look at the clip organization, even as Jerry West, the legend. I mean, you look at them in, it's like... Smart. Stability, man. And it's like, yeah, this is a franchise. And you can see Kevin Durant going on. in L.A.

You know, he could flourish and be himself, and it would be his team. And I would love to see KD. play for a coach like Doc Rivers, you know, assistant coaches and Rex and Sam Cassell and, you know, Armour Hill, great group of guys. And the way Doc draws up plays and his play call, I could just imagine the plays he would draw for Kevin by the way. And let's magic's a legend. Lights up a room. But magic, even magic, like the nicest guy in the world, kind of turned and pivoted on the Lakers this week.

If I'm LeBron and I'm watching that, I'm thinking, that was my one guy I know I could invite into a room with me and we could sell. Like, if you were LeBron this morning, are you a little frightened about the next two years of this contract before you have an option? I don't know if I'm frightened. I'm more so confused. But because for the simple fact, it's like, okay, what's really going on? And then everybody has this thing of saying, oh, Braun runs an organization. Well, I tell you what, if things go wrong this year, you can't point the finger at LeBron. I tell you that.

But I actually talked to LeBron yesterday, and he's in good spears. He's working out. And like he said, he only could control what he could control. So he was in a good mood? I mean, he wasn't in a bad move, you know what I mean? So it wasn't like he was just depressed. But at the end of the day, I was with magic on how he handled the situation, honestly. I thought he addressed the problem.

He took a lot of heat over the last couple weeks about it. And he came out and he had to protect himself and he had to protect his brand. Nobody from the Lakers did. No, no, that's fair. That was kind of our takeaway. Joe and I are like, listen, people were calling you a fool for three weeks. You literally have a billion-dollar brand. You got to protect your brand.

Absolutely. And Magic is a great guy. Everybody love magic. I love magic. I mean, you have to love Magic because he's a guy that is willing to help others be successful. If you ever meet him, he's not a guy who want to hold everything to itself. No, if he has something, a business idea, you can go ask him and he'll drop the knowledge to you. So at the end of the day, like I said, in the organization, the problem I have with some NBA organizations is that they hire,

their friends. Oh, yeah. And not, and not. Competent people. Right. And not the right people for the job. And, and at the end of the day, you know, I just hate that for magic. But we all know about Rob Polinka, his character. I mean, he, you know, it's been that way since he was an agent. And it's hard for anybody to say anything about it. Perfect ending. We got to go. Great seeing you. Thank you, Kyle. Our two next. One more herd. The herd streams 24. four hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud.

But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them?

On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. boy can do it. I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do

anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. 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, stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the state, 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, Keir, games 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. Oh, here we go. Hour 2. We're live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Ready. We're on Fox Sports Radio. And we're right here on FS1. Kendrick Perkins was great, by the way. Joy Taylor is joining me. If you Listen to Kendrick Perkins. He had a couple of gems.

And, you know, one thing I really love, Joy, like, he's at the end of these series, Kauai Leonard's tired, Yonis is tired, James Hardin looked tired, the Warriors are falling apart. It's not about, you know, all these guys, all these analytic guys. It's just about who wants it more and who can get a bucket. It's not about analytics. The Warriors are shooting fewer three nows than ever. It's just like, get a bucket. Yeah, it's who wants it and who doesn't make a mistake in the biggest moment at the end of the game. These teams are all exhausted.

And we're trying to all the matchups and the matchups. Yeah, I know when Golden State plays, for instance, if they played Milwaukee, they want to take Milwaukee's bigs off the floor. So they're going to go small lineups to take Yannis off the floor as much as they can. If I can figure out that now, I think everybody in Milwaukee could figure out what the Warriors are going to do in 10 days. It's not schematics anymore. Everybody's shot. Everybody's tired.

Kauai Leonard is you can't play that hard, that long, that many games. lean on him that much and it's over. I want to talk about this, though. We don't get many phenoms in sports. Bryce Harper, LeBron, Tiger Woods, I believe Zion is what I would classify as a phenom. Carson Wentz is a good football player. Andrew Luck's a good football player. They're not phenoms. Phenom is great earlier than you should be. Magnetism, energy, juice. We just don't get them. You get about two. a decade. I mean, that's about it. You get about a Wayne Gretzky, a Zion, a LeBron, a tiger. And I'm reading this story this morning. Zion blew up virally about five years ago on the internet.

Then he goes to Duke and he doubles Duke's ratings. He's the biggest star easily. And then he goes to the Pelicans. And I've got to be honest with you. This morning, David Griffin has a quote and he says, why are we going to trade Anthony Davis? Why wouldn't players want to play? He goes, we can be Oklahoma City with Paul George. Hold on to Davis. See what we are. Winning the lottery with Zion changes how he can buy into it every day.

Maybe he believes a little more. As much as elite talent likes to play with elite talent, I can't imagine saying any elite player in his prime looking at our situation and saying to themselves, eh, there's a better group to play for than ours. Now, a lot of that salesmanship, but I got to tell you this morning, I wake up, and this is the power of a phenom. And I look at the Pelicans and I'm like, it's kind of interesting. My whole life, I thought of the Pelicans.

That's a mess. It's a mess. It's get me out of town. It's not New Orleans. It's the Pelicans. I don't think that way about LSU football. I don't think that way about the Saints, but the Pelicans my whole life. And this shows you what a phenom is. Anthony Davis is a great player.

Did anybody ever feel this way when Anthony Davis went to the Pelicans? He's got no magnetism. He's got no juice. He didn't change the way I thought about the pelicans. He's just a great player. This shows you, Bryce Harper goes to the Nats. The Nats became a national story. All their dysfunction, phenoms reshape narratives.

Tiger goes to golf. Golf is old guys. It's grumpy guys. It's slow. Tiger is, he shines so brightly. It just tramples that narrative. It's like, oh, golf's fascinating. He swears.

was clubs. I didn't think when I used to turn the TV on Sundays with Tiger for a decade, it was boring and slow. It was juice. This kid is different. The body, the smile, the personality, the torque, the dunks, the shoe. He is just, you just do, just appreciate it. Because, you know, a lot of us forget, a lot of us forget, if I said to you, do you remember LeBron's first year? You don't. You don't. Do you remember Tiger's first year? You don't. Do you remember Tiger's first tournament. I would say even golfing purists. It's kind of fuzzy. Do you remember Bryce Harper's first at bat? This kid is totally different. And I think the greatest example, Vegas, Pelicans went from 300 to 1 to 25 to 1 to win the title. Vegas doesn't care about anything about winning money.

What Vegas is telling you is not only Zion's going to be really good, really fast, but Zion is going to attract or keep other players. Vegas has it right. Phenoms, there's a big difference between Carson, Wins, and Andrew Luck, who are great, Baker Mayfield, who's fascinating, and a phenom. The look, the smile, the torque, the shoe. That shoe, he ruptured a shoe. He broke through a shoe. That became iconic.

Fascinating player. So I saw this. A couple days ago, story came out. and I actually got texts from two people in sports that said Peyton's going to the Jets, he really wants it. And I said, no, this is, A, it's not a good fit. And I think Peyton's too smart to take over this situation. So Reggie Wayne, former teammate at Peyton Manning, was on the NFL network yesterday. And he agrees with me.

Here it is. General manager? Yes. Absolutely not. Why is that? You think Peyton Manning would. give an owner an opportunity to fire him or have a head coach backstab him and throw shade and get him fire. Peyton would not allow that.

He doesn't even have to do that. He would not allow that. But what I do see him doing is being an owner. I see him being an owner somewhere down the line. That's more a Peyton Manor move. I think he'll be the new modern Jerry Jones. I think he'll be an owner slash GM. Probably won't do as many media obligations.

But I see him being that kind of owner. I can spot on. That's exactly what I feel. First of all, most people look at the general manager job, and they see 150 people below him. Peyton Manning sees that Jets job, and you know what he sees? The two people above him. They can fire him.

Peyton Manning has crafted his life to have control and the final say. And for the record, when he has it, it almost always works. Okay, that is what he knows. Work hard, gain power and control, and I win more. John Elway gave a lot of it to him in Denver. Tony Dungey basically gave the offense to him in Indianapolis. His business dealings, he's got power and control. Most people get a GM job and see the people below him.

He just sees the one or two above him. He's not letting people fire him. Another thing, this move would help the Jets way more than Peyton Manning. Because the Jets right now are stumbling. This would clean up and button up and cinch up a lot of the question marks. It would help the Jets. I mean, Peyton Manning takes it over tomorrow. You get literally a two-year honeymoon period.

Well, Darnold, Gase, Peyton is great. What's it do for Peyton? Creates an opportunity for him to get fired. and he's built an entire legacy on, I'm really good when you give me control. Here's a couple other things to think about. So let's think about Peyton Manning and the three owners he's closest to.

So what's his history with owners? Jim Ursay, impulsive. Jimmy Haslam, Cleveland, also Tennessee volunteers, top booster. Could I say a little chaotic? And then Pat Boland in Denver, solid understated. That was a good experience. Although it should be noted, Bolin and Elway asked Peyton to take a pay cut.

He didn't like that at all. So what it shows is in all three, there's either been a moment where he didn't get what he want. The owner's a little impulsive. hasn't always Jimmy Haslam been as stable as you'd prefer. His relationships with owners, they may be friends, but he's seen the truth of it. And let me ask

you this. Who owns the who's running the jets? It was Woody Johnson. And then he was made ambassador of the UK. So now it's his brother, Chris Johnson. But would Woody come back? He would, right? Because Woody's not that

old. And then Chris Johnson would be two. And people say Chris Johnson kind of meddling. I don't get this. You got to remember, this is Peyton Manning. He has a standing offer from virtually every network to come and be, you know, a big broadcaster. He gets business offerings probably weekly. The Jets?

I mean, I will say this. Here's the part where I do think it's a good move. Now, I don't think this persuades him into taking it, but here's where I think it's a good move. Sam Darnold. If you have a quarterback and he's young and athletic and can make throws and is coachable and is really a grown-up, I can see Peyton saying, okay, I don't have to worry about that. I got the quarterback. And I do think Peyton believes Adam Gase is a really smart guy because Gase was in Denver and worked with him.

And then the other thing I like about this move for Peyton is the entry points good. It's a circus. So it's not like you're replacing, you know, Howard Stern on radio, Bill Belichick in New England, Pete Carroll in Seattle. Those are tough entry points. You could succeed and people say, well, you're not as good as the last guy. So the entry point is, that last guy I didn't know what he was doing, nothing but up. And the truth is, with the Jets next 10 years, they're probably going to win more games in the next 10 years than the previous five. So the entry point's not terrible.

And Donald, you know, I mean, this is the best time to own the Browns. I'll say that with Baker. This is the best time to be a Browns fan. compared to the last 20 years. But in the end, Reggie Wayne's right. I just don't think there's no way. I don't think I'm looking at Peyton Manning allowing himself to be fired.

I just don't see it. Coming up, Kurt Warner said something yesterday about his top five quarterbacks. Remarkable where he put Aaron Rogers. That is coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness,

professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't Don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it.

An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. 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 beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we

don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?

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

on my new podcast. Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off June 7th, and all eyes will be on Alex Morgan, Carly Lloyd, and Megan Rapino. And the U.S. women's national team

is the defending champions head to France looking to win a historic fourth World Cup. All the matches will be live here on Fox and FS1. In fact, I'm having Ali Wagner. We're having Ali Wagner on the show in studio next week. Oh, that's exciting. Yeah, great. It can't wait for it.

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So Kurt Warner came out yesterday. And you know Kurt Warner NFL Network, Super Bowl, Arizona, that stuff, right? And we've never had more great quarterbacks in this league. And that's why it's kind of pointless. You know, I'm not going to give you a top 10 list. the talent at quarterback in the NFL right now, and this is why the ratings are good. I mean, right now the NBA is having a rough year during ratings because they don't have enough stars. LeBron's not in the playoffs.

Kevin Durant's out. Stars drive ratings. The NFL is in such good shape. We got legalized gambling now in most of the country. And the other thing is the quarterback playing the NFL now is absurd. I've been watching this league since the 70s. It's absurd how many good quarterbacks are. So Kurt Warner comes out and he lists his top five quarterbacks.

It's kind of funny he's got Aaron Rogers four. I'd put, but that's not a knock on Aaron. That's how much talent there is. And I was thinking about this this morning. I think we'd all agree on this. And Joy, pushback if I'm wrong. I think there are seven guys in the league that we feel that our first ballot hall of famers

and are generally over the course of a season capable of throwing for 5,000 yards. And those seven guys would beat Brady, luck, Mahomes, Breeze, Russell, Aaron, Ben. these are first ballot Hall of Fame talents. These are really different level guys that can carry bad teams. And so you can put them in any order. I'm not going to have the ones.

Those are the dudes. I mean, Russell Wilson led the NFL in touchdown passes two years ago with the worst line in the league. And that's the guy a lot of people don't include in it. You're out of your gourd. I mean, you're out of your gourd. No running back. Bad O line. Russell's absurd.

A lot of you don't like Andrew Luck, right? You always banging on Andrew Luck. Oh, that's right. He was healthy again last year. And they made the playoffs again last year with a bunch of kids. So the quality of quarterback play. So that's just the seven first ballot Hall of Fame. I'm not even going to put him in an order. Then I think there are seven guys after that that on any given Sunday can be the best

quarterback of the week. They are dynamic. They're exceptional. Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz, Philip Rivers, Deshawn Watson, Jared Goff. Derek Carr's had a lot of those Sundays in Cam Newton. Cam can be inconsistent, but you can't deny. He'll have two or three weeks next year where he just lights up the room. So these guys aren't first bout hall famers,

but they can absolutely on any given Sunday be the best quarterback in the league. Then there are three guys this year that I think pop for different reasons. Baker Mayfield, Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold. Baker's got too many good weapons and he's too accurate. He's going to pop. He's going to throw it for 5,000 yards. Garoppolo finally has an offensive line. They've added weapons and running backs.

And Donald's finally got an offensive coach, Labian Bell. Baker, Jimmy, and Sam, you're going to say at some point this year, all right, we're looking at guys that they're going to get Pro Bowl votes for a lot of years. Okay, I'm 17 quarterbacks in, and I haven't mentioned the second highest paid quarterback in the league, Kirk Cousins. And Dak Prescott, who has won two of his last three. divisions. The quality of quarterback play in this league is ridiculous. There has never been a time when I can go 17 quarterbacks in and not mention a guy

that's won the NFC East two of the last three years. So it is a, this is why the NBA has always been fairly beholden to a couple of stars. we got 17 star quarterbacks. And I'm not counting the Cowboys guy. I'm not counting the Vikings guy. And for the record, it's very possible that Kyler Murray will walk into this league and you will not be able to keep your eyes off him. And I didn't count Tribisky, who I don't really buy into,

or Lamar, who I think is more athlete than quarterback, or Josh Allen, who had a couple of Sundays that he looked like Big Ben when he was 22 years old. This league is really healthy, really stacked, and now you can bet on it, which will extend ratings because you'll watch games even blowouts longer. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So you just talked about Russell Wilson, and we talk about a lot about the longevity of

quarterbacks, obviously, most notably Tom Brady. Brett Farr played in the league for 20 years. We count the two games and four-pass attempts as a rookie in Atlanta, so in 1920 years. And Brady 19 years, Breeze 18 could also reach the 20 year mark. Well, now Russell Wilson wants to achieve that. He told Mike Freeman, for sure it can happen. You see the likes of Tom Brady, Andrew Breeze. It's totally possible.

I can be the greatest winner of all time. I'm going to push back on that. Wilson will have to play for another 13 years. Winner? That means Super Bowls? Come on. Well, everyone defines winner differently. Maybe he's talking about winning in life, which he's certainly doing.

He's doing that. He goes home. He's winning it life. He's winning at life. I don't know if I see 20 years to Russell Wilson just because of the way that he plays. Now, he isn't one of those guys that looks like when he gets hit. It's bad because it's just the way that his body type,

and we've just seen this so much from him. You know, it's not like RG3 running around. You felt like this is not a good idea. Like stay in the pocket a little bit more. I don't necessarily feel like that with Russell Wilson, but I also think because he's so mobile, I don't know if I see 20 years with him. But who knows? The way that rehab and the diets and everything.

He doesn't take a lot of shots. He doesn't take a lot of hits. He doesn't, but he does have to run around quite a bit. He does, but if you look at his frame, not, I'm going to sound like a nerd here. Look at his frame. Short, stocky. No, no, I agree with you. It doesn't seem like when he does take a hit that it's necessarily a bad thing.

Like, he knows how to run. But eventually your speech. goes away, the athleticism goes away, and then you have to rely on skill. He is very skilled, but that's going to go away in his game. That's the difference between Tom Brady and... I love watching him playing. Drew Brees and him. He is fun, though.

Hopefully one day he won't have to run around so much. He can stay at the pocket a little bit more. So the state of the Lakers is fueling speculations that LeBron will eventually ask for a trade out of Los Angeles, but Joe Varden of the Athletic says he doesn't expect that to happen because LeBron is happy with life in Los Angeles. Kendrick Perkins told us that he just talked to him. seems happy he's working out. Varden added, I would be shocked if at any point for the remainder of his career so long as LeBron James Jr. is in high school in the greater Los Angeles

area that he would have any interest in playing anywhere else. He wants to make this work. I agree with that. I don't buy into the trade rumor, mainly because of the family situation. His kids are older now. Bronny is playing at a high level and needs some consistency. And I'm sure he wants to be there for the most important part of his basketball development. And be with his family. Family and stability and being in the same place and consistency becomes more and more important

as you get later into your career in any part of life. When you're in your early 20s, moving around and being a little chaotic and it's just kind of, it's easier to adapt to. So I never butt into the idea that he's going to want out and go where? And where's the trade offer? And what does that mean?

And then you have to start over again. And then it's just adding to the whole legacy conversation. There's a just so everyone remembers, Jeannie just did take this team over from her brother because they were running it terribly. It's not like LeBron didn't know the state that the Lakers were in before he got here. Now, nobody expected this level of chaos. So that's fair.

But it's not like he was walking into the Warriors. This was a situation, much like Cleveland, that already had a set level of dysfunction. Now, I think that LeBron thought coming here, like he did in Cleveland, they would be able to take some control over it. Well, he didn't think Magic would bail, too. That didn't help. Well, I don't think Magic thought Magic was going to bail. I think everyone thought that this was going to go much more smoothly than it did because there were a lot of great basketball minds and business minds in the room.

The problem is, is there's too many of them. So I don't think LeBron's going anywhere. Finally, Kevin Durant is obviously expected to receive a lot of offers in free agency this summer. the Knicks have been tagged as a favorite place to land. But according to Mark Stein of the New York Times, the Durant to Nick's scenario is not yet set in stone. We're starting to hear a lot about that now, but he hasn't made his decision yet.

And now the Clippers are entering the race. Stein reports within the last month, very smart and plugged in people I have consulted say that the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as an equally dangerous threat to the Knicks to sign Durant away from Golden State, and I believe it. Well, Kendrick Perkinson an hour ago, I thought laid it out.

I mean, Kendrick Perkins, by the way, Michael Winger and Jerry West, Durant has leaned on Jerry West before, and Michael Winger was a scout, Perks said, in Oklahoma City. So Perk's like, oh, I know Winger. We all know Winger. Winger's real smart. So I got Steve Ballmer, a tech guy. I got Jerry West, who Durant's leaned on, Michael Winger, who he knows is a scout, and everybody in the world knows Doc Rivers.

Clippers is, you know, I wouldn't have thought about it a couple of months ago, but the way they played at the end of the year, they beat the Warriors twice. Kevin Durant had to be impressed with that. The Clippers were a fun team this year, and I really feel like they're only one piece away from really making noise in the West. The reputation of the clippers

over the span of time, I think, is what's keeping people from thinking that they are an actual contender in the situation. It's not the same setup. It's not the same team. It's not the same organization. It's not the same owner. And everyone, I I think there are a lot more people in play,

a lot more teams in play than just the Knicks and Golden State. This free agency period is going to be very interesting. The NBA is going to look a lot different once everything is said and done. Can't wait for it. I tell you, season ends. I'm going to take a week vacation in Utah, come back, and then here we go. I love the way the NBA's, like our job, basically, for people watching or listening to our show. There's a certain calendar of events you and I can predict.

Labor Day on to February 5th, we do football. Right. mostly NFL some college. And we know the season ends. And we got a couple weeks to go to Mexico, go skiing. The staff kind of takes Fridays off. And then we come back and get a little March madness. And now we'll have the XFL.

We got NFL free agency in the draft. And then we know we get two months of solid NBA, a week ago on vacation, come back, and the world implodes with the NBA. And I just, it's just, it's just crazy. I love the way it's turned out in the NBA. It's perfect. We know it's coming.

It's a soap opera. It's building. And then we get a week off. after the season, and then we all know that week off, you're just checking the internet every five minutes to see what happens. Right, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd lie news. You know, I was saying this, I was watching Milwaukee in Toronto last night, and my takeaway is these teams, it's the same team. They both have one great star, and then everybody crosses their fingers to see what other B-minus player becomes an A player for a night. But one of the things that is not working in Milwaukee's fans, favor. Forget the loss last night. Toronto is a veteran team.

Mark Gasol is 34. Kyle Lowry's 33. Serge Abacca, regardless of what everybody tells you, is 30 and older. Danny Green is now 31. Kauai's a veteran at 27. So this is an old veteran crafty team. It's not a brilliant team. It's not a wildly talented team.

It's a veteran team. Veteran teams are smart. So that's what Toronto is. They're an old sage veteran team with one star. Well, Golden State, similarly, is just an old crafty veteran team with much better players. But the advantage that Toronto gives Golden State is, hey, veteran teams are smart enough. They may not have the talent or the depth of Milwaukee, but they'll show you how to beat Milwaukee. because veteran teams will win this series intellectually.

They may not win it physically. So two things are happening in this series that Toronto is exposing Milwaukee now that you play them over and over. Because the regular season is different than the playoffs because Toronto gets to play Milwaukee over and over and over with all these crafty veterans. First thing is, get in Janus's head, foul him, initiate contact, get him to the free throw line.

He is struggling emotionally at the free throw line. He's shooting 66% in the playoffs at the free throw line. So this crafty veteran team in Toronto is like, they don't have Golden State skill, but it's a bunch of guys that are close to 30, 30, 30 or older than 30. Golden State's just a much more talented version of Toronto and really smart and Toronto's really smart. So get Yannis to the free throw line

because he has lost his mojo and he's not confident and he is now avoiding contact. When you play him, create contact. Don't be afraid late in games. Get him to the free throw line. And the second thing they're proving is that Buck's great defense, it's big, it ain't that quick. Move, pass, move, cut, pass, which is, by the way, what Golden State does better than anybody in the league. Toronto is now making 14 threes against Milwaukee per game.

They were making nine against Philadelphia. They've added 40% threes. Why? I think Philadelphia tends to be a little longer, maybe, maybe a little more athletic, whatever it is. But Toronto's giving you a roadmap to Golden State, which is initiate contact with Yannis, get him at the free throw line, get into his head, because once he misses a free throw, it multiplies. And secondly, move, cut, move, cut, move, cut. Milwaukee can struggle to get out to that three-point line.

They can struggle with it. And it's just not good news. I think Toronto's giving. And I do think Milwaukee wins this series. I think they're deeper. I think they're a better basketball team. I think Toronto's the smarter veteran team. I think Milwaukee's longer.

I think Milwaukee's bigger. I think Milwaukee's deeper. But man, are they the perfect team to show Golden State how to beat them? The old smart veteran teams, they'll just give you roadmaps. Do this, do this, rinse and repeat. By the way, I got to show you something with Aaron Rogers yesterday. Aaron Rogers, Joy said it earlier, he can be a little cranky. I was watching an interview with Jerry Seinfeld the other day, and he goes, you know, I can just own it.

I'm a little cranky. I'm old and cranky. And there is a component to Aaron Rogers where he's a smart guy and he can be a little pushback and a little moody. And I know guys that have played with him. And I'm like, you know, Aaron's a little moody, whatever. It's not the end of the world. But anybody notice Aaron Rogers, the new Aaron Rogers, the happy. Aaron Rogers. Tell me in the last four years.

Have you ever gotten this Aaron Rogers? He's talking about Game of Thrones at a press conference. He come down to the end and Tyrion says the person with the best story is Brand? Who, by the way, three episodes ago said he wasn't Brand Stark anymore? No. John had a better story. Danny had a better story. Ariah had a better story. Sanzah had a better story. Tieran had a better story. Varus had a better story. Braun, a lot better story. Jamie better story. Zercy, probably better stories. Any Barathean, better story.

No. Look, I love the opportunity to be in the show, which most people probably don't think I was, but I was there. I love the show. But, you know, the writers are also doing Star Wars, so I think they might have been a little busy this last season. Fun, loose, happy. I'll say it again. I like the Packers to win the NFC North. I like the Steelers to win the AFC North.

We've got a new challenger, Mitch Trubisky and the Bears, Baker Mayfield and the Browns. Everybody's falling in love with those new quarterbacks go, Trabisky and Baker Mayfield. Ben, and this is just human instinct, Ben and Aaron want to prove they want to win the breakup. Ben wants to prove Antonio Brown's the reason. The 7-2-1 Steelers team went into the tank,

and Aaron wants to prove, hey, I should have two more Super Bowls. McCarthy guy was a lead weight. But I mean, you can't tell me. Aaron just sounds different. He looks different. He looks happier. I think I'm watching Peter King last week had his top 20 NFL teams. He had Green Bay at 14. For the first time in my life, people are sleeping on the Packers. I think Aaron wins the MVP. I do. And I think Green Bay wins the division. And I think they're a 10-11 win team. And, you know, I don't know if I trust him to win a Super Bowl. bowl with Matt Lafleur? I don't know. I got to watch him coach. But this Aaron feels lighter,

looser, happier, and seeking redemption. Coming up next, I'm watching sports over the last month. This could be, we have entered a new realm in sports, and I'm going to call it the bizarro sports world. It is remarkable the pivots we have seen in sports from individuals, cities, and teams that doesn't make any sense, that goes the opposite direction of sports history. And that is coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon

Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamist sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud.

But with two kings from entirely different worlds, Just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring, women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason

you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecky. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard.

Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart. Women's Sports. 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

reel. 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. Sportslice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsCise on the IHeartRadio 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, in the 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, be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're free? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app.

Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Don't skip meals, drink Soylent, complete meal in a bottle. Plant protein. limited time, first time customers have a code. Soylent.com code herd 20

for 20% off your first case. It's great to have you in. A lot of things in sports, we've got a lot of dynasties now, which means a lot of things in sports kind of are predictable, right? We know New England's going to be fine. You know, Clemson, Alabama are going to be around

at the end of the season. Yukon Women's Basketball, Duke, you know, Kentucky's. We know. Red Sox, Dodgers, once again. Houston appear to be very good. But, you know, I'm sitting here driving in today and I'm thinking, there is some craziness going on in sports.

And I guess this is why I love sports, is that years and years ago, a radio general manager came to me and said, hey, would you think about doing politics and getting out of sports? And I said, you know, I said the thing that's great about sports is night to night, just crazy stuff happens. Like, you don't even know, you don't even know what's going on. And I thought this morning, think about what's happening now, how the world in sports has been turned upside down. We have entered into a bizarro world.

Now, just think about these. The most feared player in the NBA is 6'3 and 187 pounds. Steph Curry. He just broke Shaq record for most points. in a four-game sweep. He averaged 37 a game against Portland. Not only that, but he is doing something that has not happened in the last two decades. Without Durant, Golden State, led by Steph, has come back from down 15 points or more to win in three straight games.

He is becoming, he is messing with teams' heads. The most feared guy in this league is 6-3, a buck 88, wet. Number two, the most desired free agent destination in Los Angeles is in arguably the Clippers. Yeah. Okay. Reports now have, according to yesterday, Kevin Durant, Kauai Leonard, and Jimmy Butler all interested in the Clippers. Between Steve Balmer, the billionaire from Microsoft, the logo Jerry West, who's always been tight with Kevin Durant, Michael Winger, Doc Rivers, and a hustling group of role players that beat the Warriors twice with Kevin Durant in the playoffs.

Clippers have more, according to reports, top free agents interested in them. How about number three? the last 12 years, the face of the NBA is LeBron James, and he has vanished. He did not speak at the Frank Vogel press conference. He is not in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. He won't be in the finals for the first time since 2010. And when he got hurt, you know, around the All-Star break, he literally, and it's hard to do when you're LeBron

in the entertainment capital of the world, sort of disappeared. The face of the league has vanished. How about number four? The angriest, most vindictive man in sports is Magic Johnson? The nicest guy in the league, the human LinkedIn, who was not only probably the most fun

athlete to ever play with. The most giving, charitable guy in the NBA went on television and threw his beloved Lakers onto a bus. He now named Rob Polinka as the backstabber, went

out and publicly said, that Luke Walton guy, I wanted him out of there. Decent, nice, giving, charitable, beloved, the angriest most vindictive man in sports is currently, probably won't last long, Magic Johnson.

How about this in the bizarre world of sports? One of the top Super Bowl contenders, and if you don't say that, you're a hater, the Cleveland Browns. They're currently 14 and 1 to win the Super Bowl. For the record, those are the fifth best odds in the entire national football league. That's better than Green Bay. only the Patriots, Chiefs, Rams, and Saints have better odds. The Steelers who have not trailed the Browns in the division since like the late 80s are 25 to 1.

And that's with a Hall of Fame coach, a Hall of Fame quarterback, three pro bowlers on the offensive line, a pro bowler in Juju Smith-Schuster, and James Connor made the Pro Bowl. That's just their offensive weapons. And if you don't say Cleveland is the elite, trust me on this. I say it from experience. They'll come after you on Twitter. And finally, in our bizarre world of sports, Canada's best hope of winning a title is not in hockey.

It's in basketball. Yeah. The Raptors are now two wins away from the NBA finals. only one Canadian team has made the Stanley Cup final. This is remarkable. In the past decade, do you know who that is? I think some of you in the Pacific Northwest will remember it was that great Canucks team.

The 1993 Montreal Canadians are actually the last Canadian team to win the cup. Is that right? That's what it says here. That's what my producer Andrew put on. Isn't that crazy? Canada's best hope in this bizarre world. When you say it like that, it does sound bizarre.

So think about this. The NBA, in review, the NBA's most feared player is 187 pounds Steph Curry. The Clippers now are the best NBA free agent destination in Los Angeles easily. LeBron, the face of the league, has vanished. Magic's the angriest most vindictive guy in sports. The Browns are without question, according to Vegas, a super. Bowl contender and Canada's best title hopes are in basketball and not hockey. We're living in the upside down.

We are. The bizarro world of sports. I thought Kendrick Perkins today, yeah, the bizarre world of sports. I thought Kendrick Perkins was on earlier today. And Perk's a fascinating player because Kendrick Perkins played with a big three in Boston. So he knows Doc. He knows everybody. He knows Rondo.

he knows Ray Allen, he knows Kevin Garnett, he knows Pierce, he knows Doc. So he understands the culture of the Celtics. Then Kendrick Perkins was obviously in Oklahoma City. So he knows Westbrook and Hardin and Kevin Durant, Sam Presti. And then he was in Cleveland with LeBron James and Dan Gilbert. It's like six degrees of separation. He has been with some of the most fascinating teams in the NBA. He was also with the Pelicans and that dysfunction.

And there was a picture we showed earlier of Kendrick Perkins with his arms around like Kevin Durant. Perk is one of those guys. They're like glue guys. Like everybody in the league likes Perk. Everybody trusts Perk. And Perk's tough. Perk will come after. He's a tough guy.

But he's one of those guys that veterans all kind of, they like him. I mean, he just said yesterday, he just talked to LeBron. LeBron's not giving his phone number out to everybody. but when I asked him about Kevin Durant and all these rumors in Brooklyn and New York and the Lakers and the Clippers and all this stuff Perk made no bones about it. He thinks the Clippers is a really nice landing spot.

If I'm KD, I think I would really consider going to the Clippers. I mean, you look at them in it's like stability, man, and it's like, yeah, this is a franchise and you can see Kevin Durant going there. It's in L.A. He could flourish. and be himself and it would be his team. And I would love to see KD play for a coach like Doc Rivers.

And the way Doc draws up plays and his play calling, I could just imagine the plays he would draw for Kevin Grant. Yeah, you know, the other thing we were talking about this yesterday, LeBron has had the misfortune. It's really strange. LeBron's had an interesting series of coaches. First-time coaches, young coaches, Spolstra, Luke Walton, coaches just fired.

You know, Isaiah Thomas said it the other day, of all the great stars in the NBA, LeBron's the only one I can think of. I mean, Dirk had an elite owner, Dirk had an elite coach, Dr. J, Magic, Bird, Steph, KD. When you start looking at the great stars in NBA history, the last 30, 40 years,

MJ had Phil Jackson, Magic inherited, Kareem, Byrd, McHale. LeBron's the only one that you can make an argument. He's been underserved. His star players, Bosch and Wade, Kyrie and Love had injury issues, missed key games, finals, conference finals. His coaches have never really been outside of Spolstra.

Well, even Spolster wasn't proven until LeBron got there. KD, does he really want to go, I mean, you know what you get with Doc. you know what you get with Jerry West. You know, those are dependable guys. I think Kevin Durant likes that dependability, hour three next. 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. By the way, I'm not going to follow anybody on the Twitter or the internet except Charlotte Flair from this point forward. She owns the internet. Her account is she has figured out how to do it. That's all I'm going to say. I'm not getting you.

Colin loves Charlotte Flair. No, but who is she? Charlotte Flair? She's a... Rick Flair? A wrestler. Owns the internet. Okay, okay.

Rick Flair's daughter. Okay, okay. Wow. Just... We should have her on the show. I would love to have her on the show. She's recently married, if he's not treating her right. Charlotte, I am inviting you on the show.

So am I. And I'm socially awkward, so I'm not sure how it will tell. I am inviting. She literally owns the internet. But Joy can break the ice for you. Just, listen, I'm happily married. I'm just saying, I get to ask a... Well, being socially awkward, of course you're married, but being so she can still break the ice.

Okay. But you don't, you don't understand Charlotte Flair? I, of course I understand Charlotte Flair. Okay. Yes. Just to pow, she's Zion-like. Yes, she's a star. I mean, she...

Magnetism. Rick Flair has, is Rick Flair for a reason. He's the best. Yeah, he is the best. Remember Dusty Rhodes? I know all those guys, yeah. Okay. Let's talk about Zion because Charlotte's got an obvious magnetism.

She just jumps off the internet. Her dress, her personality, very playful. You are not a Zion guy. You get hate on this. I get hate on all the stuff I say. It's the craziest thing. It's not that I'm not a Zion guy because I love watching the kid, right? And I think he has an amazing potential to be a superstar.

But to me, if you look at him, you thought you say, and we went over this about a month ago. You have Charles, Berkeley, Larry Johnson, but you're like Julius Randall. Are you better? What does he do better than Julius Randall? And Julius Randall's pretty good. He's bigger and stronger.

Well, Julius Randall's taller, and the only thing he does better is jump. Everything else, Julia Randall is pretty good at. I think he's a better passer. I think he is, I think he's more. dynamic with a ball in his hands. I think he'll develop into a better shooter. I hope so.

I hope so. Right now you don't buy it. Blake Griffin coming out. Yeah. Same talent. Jumping over people. I think Blake Griffin had a broken shot in college. I think this kid has a beautiful looking jumper.

He just needs to take more of them. And I'm a lefty, so I'm very anal about left-handed jump shots. So him, Ben Simmons. You're very... Come on to me. I got you guys. You know what I mean? We'll work on tucking that elbow in,

consistently shooting the ball at the top of your release. I don't think Carl Malone, I think Carl Malone's game to a large part was at the free throw line and thanks to John Stockland, the pick and roll. I don't think Malone was as athletically dynamic, had the torque. I don't think Randall is as strong,

is as good with a ball in his hands. I don't think, I think Zion will be a very good three-point shooter fairly quickly. Charles Barkley wasn't built with this much strength. Charles always played a little soft in terms of body size. Charles had the big butt. He could shoot. Now, Charles was a better outside shooter and will be.

Well, he worked to that, too. Charles worked to that. But I think he's a stronger. He has potential. But I'm just saying. You're telling me he's not even as good as Julius Randall. No, no, no. Julius Randall is really good.

He's a good player. He's a good player. No, he's really good. I mean, just because he's with the Lakers, you know, it's a little, because you're in one bad relationship, that don't mean you have potential to be an amazing partner. Right? I think Julius Randall is pretty good, truthfully.

Do you think Zion will be an all-star first year? Yeah. All right. So you like him? No. It's not about me liking him. I do like him. But it's just about what he's going to be showing those fans,

flying everywhere. The fans vote. Yeah. Let me go to this. Toronto, Milwaukee. I mean, come on. And these are cannon fathers. Like I look at these teams and I'm watching, this is like the third game in a row I've watched these teams and I'm like, I think Milwaukee's better than Toronto.

You see what I see, right? They're the same team. One star, you cross your fingers. Janice and Kauai drive to the arena, crossing their fingers that one other guy will play over his head for a night. That's so true. You know, if you look at the history of basketball and especially when it comes to those dynamic teams, you have at least. two guys that every single night is going to push the envelope.

It's going to cause some chaos, defensively, offensively. And with Milwaukee Bucks, I like those guys. But it's just Giannis every night. And you may get Bletso one night. You may get Middleton one night. You may get broke up. You may get these guys. I mean,

Brodden's made the most consistent one out of that whole team next to Giannis. And then you have Middleton in there mixing it up a little bit. Maybe. be, but you can't win championships on maybe I need this, maybe this guy. And then you have Toronto where it's like, Kauai,

he's never been a volume shooter. All of a sudden, they're like force feeding him. And he's worn out. You're forced, you want him to guard. So what Toronto did, what I love is they put Kauai on Giannis. Change the whole series for them. Even though they're at home

and you're supposed to win at home and a series doesn't start until a team wins on the road, that's what the whole, you know, saying is. And usually the team that wins the fifth game and the series usually goes on and wins the series. Okay, cool. But I just don't trust Toronto. How can you?

They're putting Kauai on Yonis, and it may win this series. But look at Kauai. He's shot. They're asking him. And here's the, I told this to Joy earlier. So let's say Toronto gets beat or even wins the series. Toronto's sales pitch to Kauai because they don't have a great draft pick

and free agents don't go there. Their sales pitch to him is, listen, I know you had to carry us this year, but next year, we think Pascal Seyakum will be a little bit more dependable. That's not keeping me in Canada. Like I look at what they're doing. They're doing things.

They're asking Kauai to be a volume shooter and asking him to guard Janus. but that to me is not who he is and Kauai is smart enough to figure it out. Yeah, it's funny you say that. So I was thinking about this the other day and it's just my my own theory, my own perspective,

what I think is my opinion. I want Kevin Durant going to Clippers and Kauai Lennar going to the Clippers. Right? Because the way the Lakers wanted to construct that team, it was like, listen, we can't out shoot

Golden State. State, but we can get a lot of defenders. What does Clippers have? A lot of dogs, a lot of defenders. They have Doc Rivers and they have Jay West up in their front office, right? Lawrence Frank. They have those guys. That's success right there. Now if you bring Kevin Duran in there and you bring Kauai Lennon in there, that defensive

team right there is something else. So now you can compete with, even if Golden State gets another star. Kevin Durant leaves, Gold of the Clippers. Golden State gets another guy that's averaging the 17 to the 20, two point, they can get one guy. They can get one guy. They'll still be in the hunts to win the championship next year, I think, without Kevin.

But if Kevin goes to the Clippers with Hawaii, I think it'll be beautiful. You know what's funny about this? We were talking, think about just the NBA now. Okay, and think about the eastern seaboard. Boston,

New York, Brooklyn, and I could say D.C. Okay. Philadelphia. These, these, these five historic bedrock American cities, like historically relevant, Philly, New York, all this. Take out Miami, which has aqua water, no state tax, and warm winter weather.

The NBA's a winter league. I've been told for the last 15 years, everybody wants to play in New York. Anthony Davis, according to sources, doesn't want to play in Boston. Kyrie got traded there now once out. Washington hasn't landed any. anybody.

Jimmy Butler got traded to Philly, may leave. Does everybody get what's happening? Now suddenly, as we get closer to the decision, Kyrie, according to a story, would consider L.A., Kauai wants to come to L.A. This is a winter league. In the last 20 years, find me the stars with options that chose the eastern seaboard. Right.

They don't. Right. They don't. They choose warmer weather. George could have gone anywhere. He chose to stay. Well, LeBron did go to Cleveland. Well, that's his hometown.

That's his hometown. And he did that because it was some pressure. He wanted to challenge himself to get that. I'm not saying there was another reasons. But, I mean, we keep falling for this. Oh, it's the Eastern Seaboard. None of these players appear to be fascinated with Boston, D.C., Philly. I mean, Ben Simmons spends his offseason out here with Kylie Jenner.

Jimmy Butler's in Los Angeles every 15 minute. Every time I go to Craigs in Hollywood, But Jimmy Butler. Mark Wahlberg's his best friend and Jimmy does business with those guys and golf. Am I wrong? I mean, you're a former player. Yeah, he wants to be here. Everybody wants to be here.

Why? Why do you live here? Well, my kids. Okay. But doesn't it be? No, not to be funny. I love L.A. I love the weather.

I love the lifestyle. You know, it just for me, it just keeps you in shape because you see everybody, you see the warm weather, the ocean, riding bikes, hiking. like you want to be around that. If I'm in New York, a Boston, or Philly, like, you can't do that a lot. It's depressing. And there's small states with lots of... And I'm from Philadelphia.

I love Philly. Right. My guys. But, like, it's just, you know... It's jammed up. Yeah, it's just too much. Not a lot of space. Yeah.

It's just funny. We're all into this thing about KD and this and that. Quality of life for people with options matters. Silicon Valley is the new Wall Street. Right. Silicon Valley now creates narratives in America. Wall Street doesn't. Right.

So it's just like, you know, the... longer we are a country, you know, when you first have a country, the epicenter of America for the first 75 years was northeast. And now all of a sudden people have, because of, they say, air conditioning, factories, lots of Americans have moved into the south and hotter climates. I mean, you didn't have air conditioning. You wouldn't have Arizona. You wouldn't have, you know, a lot of these states nobody would live in. Well, you got to think about it, too, right? When I came to the clip as a no 506, that wasn't an attractive place to come. And I was a free agent that, you know, I had the name for myself or whatever it is. And I could have

picked other places, but I chose L.A. just for the challenge of myself. Okay? One of the reasons, oh, because it's warm. But no one can really just no big time free agent was going to go to the Lakers with Kobe being there, because they want to beat Kobe. So that's one of the reasons why they didn't pick L.A. And then

in Golden State back early on, nobody wanted to go to Golden State because they weren't even winners. Like, why would I go up there? Okay, think about this. 80% of the top stars in the league are in the Western Conference. 14 to the last 20 champions have been in the Western conference. I think it'll be 15 out of 21. Much like college football

where the South, just imperatively, has better players. Let's just be honest about it. The Western Conference has better GMs, better owners, better scouts, better players, better history, better momentum. Why all of a sudden you tell me all these guys are heading east? No. I think Kauai's coming

west. I think Katie's staying west. I think Kyriek. Jimmy Butler's going to come west. And the Pelicans now are saying today, we're not trading, we're not trading Anthony Davis. Zion just landed west. John Morant just landed. I just, we do this constantly for two decades. Oh, this guy's going east.

East. They never go east. Yeah. Unless they're traded there. You don't want to be in that cold weather. Miami's the exception. And Miami's Miami. Yeah, but Miami, yeah, exactly.

Miami's Miami. Miami water is better than, you know, Cali's water. Oh, yeah. It's just bluer. It's like, yeah. And it's warmer. Tropical. Yeah, come on.

Like, it's not even a question. By the way, what do you make of this Laker circus? Who! That's crazy, huh? It's, Joy said this a week ago. They're becoming uninteresting. Did you ever think your team with LeBron and Los Angeles? You'd be like, I don't really that interesting.

It's just too much. It's too much dysfunction. Yeah. It's like. New York Giants. You tell on me, I tell on you, you do this, you do that. Can't be it. It's like, come on.

What are we doing? There's really nothing quite like this in sports what's going on with the Lakers. Nothing. If you think about it, a lot of this stuff goes on in a lot of organizations, not just in the NBA. I mean, everywhere. But most G. GMs can't quit and then torch the team because they're going to want to move on to another job. Magic doesn't need to be the president of another organization.

So he can come out and say, I quit right now. I'm not telling anyone. And then I'm going to say whatever I want to say. It's a very unique situation. That's crazy, right? Like literally, usually people hold their water. He's like, listen, you're a backstabber, you did this, you did that, Jeannie, these people are not, don't trust them. By the way, I'll go back to this whole thing on Kevin Durant.

Like, again, America's created and there's a power section of the country. People had less options. Now we have more travel, and people have migrated south. The weather's warmer. The economies are better. The states have fewer people. Texas, the economy there has been on fire forever. The West with the NBA.

So it's just funny, as a country gets older and people have more options and more travel options and more economic options, they generally choose warm weather. And Michael Jordan told me this from my rookie year, you're only as faithful as your options. You have more options. You can do what you want to do. Especially if you have a choice, do it.

You're going to do it, right? I want to stay in warm weather. I'm pretty sure a lot of these guys, they want to come to warm weather. Last 20 years I've been hearing. I heard, now, Carmelo went east because he engineered a trade. Kevin Durant, trade. So, I don't know.

It's, uh, it's, uh, it's Cotino Moble. It's good to see you, too. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, you haven't been a Raptors believer all year. No. And a lot of people felt like they were done.

Yeah. They went down at two. Some people felt like they were done after they lost the first game. But Toronto blew out Milwaukee last night, 120102 and even up the series to a piece. Yeah. Despite for why Leonard being injured and tired and Siakum. suffering from foul trouble, but Kauai still the damage 34 minutes and said after the game he will keep fighting. Feel good. Keep going and keep fighting. We have a chance to make history. I mean, there's no excuses. I'm playing basketball.

And, you know, we got to win tonight. Kauai's just been so fun to watch. He's everything for that. I mean, apart from the fact that I've been extra, extra right about Kauai. and Maraptors, so it's a little enjoyable for me, even though I was probably equally as wrong about the bucks. Although I did say that Yonis was going to be MVP all year. I think that what's happening with Kauai is, like I said, we kind of just forgot because he wasn't playing because of the way the exit went with the spurs.

And he also missed a bunch of games this year. Yes, yes. And he did take a lot of rest days this year. We didn't know that he was this good. It just slipped everyone's mind. Like, oh, yeah, there was a point where the conversation was is Kauai. better than LeBron because he is better on both ends of the core or he does play defense and LeBron's kind of giving up a playing defense.

But I do think the Raptors end up winning the series. Like you said, it's kind of the same situation, two, a star on each side. That would not be a good finals. Yeah. Oh, God. Would you rather see the bucks? I think Milwaukee pushes back a little. I think the Raptors would be, God, I mean, Golden State of Kevin Durant comes back has

four dependable scoring. I have no faith that Kevin Durant is going to come back to the finals. I think Golden State would hammer Toronto and 5 without Kevin Durant. If you just gave them boogie for a little size, a little size. So you think the bucks would get six? I just think Milwaukee, here's the thing. Golden State, when they face Milwaukee, it's real easy to figure out what they're going to do. They're going to put Janus at the line, and they're going to move the ball and shrink the bucks.

Because the bucks are big, and they're going to play a tiny lineup. and they're going to force Milwaukee to go small, and then it's just a blowout. They're going to try to – you can't take Janus off the court, but you can take every big except Janus off the court. I think it's going to chop them up. Toronto, I think, is a complete utter mismatch, especially if Kauai is not 100 percent, and right now he looks tired and fatigue. Either way, both of these teams are going to be fatigued going into the finals, because Golden State is going to have an incredible amount of rest nine days, and they're going to have a long series. So Kevin Durant is known for clapping back at fans on the internet, and his manager, Rich Klyman, isn't bothered by it at all.

In fact, he loves everything about it. How do you feel about that that he gets in there and mixes it up sometimes? I love it. I know enough to know that that doesn't represent anything more than what it is. And Kevin has every right to engage and communicate and have fun and banter because he's a 31-year-old man who's built this, or 30-year-old man who's built this incredible enterprise for himself, we have honest conversations,

but never would I call them and say, like, that's such a bad thing to do for your brand. I don't have a problem with anyone going back at fans on the internet. I do about once every couple weeks, yeah. I mean, first of all, I think that it's, in today's environment, you have to have some engagement with the listeners or the fans. Yeah. Because for nothing else, I think it's bad for your brand not to do that,

because it makes you unrelatable. Fans have so much access to you now, so much access to your personal life and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and just Snapchat. It doesn't end. So you have to have some kind of interaction at one point or another.

And beyond that, he has a right to. People talk crazy on the internet all day long and act like no one's ever going to say anything back to them. Sometimes you might just get put on blast and that's what he feels like he needs to do. Well, our president does, so why can't a basketball player? I couldn't have said it better myself. Finally, Aaron Rogers,

is apparently having fun. Matt LaFleur and Aaron have obviously been spending a lot of time together and they're getting on the same page and the floor made a note of mentioning how good of a time Aaron is having. I think it's going great, man. He's he's fun to be around. You can see how much fun he has out on that field. He may be right. Yesterday, Aaron went on a very lengthy rant. He did. Aaron was an extra in this final season of Game of Thrones and he was like many of, uh, the Game of Thrones fans not very happy about how it ended. Tyrion says the person with the best story is Bran? Who, by the way, three episodes ago said he wasn't Brand Stark anymore?

No, John had a better story. Danny had a better story. Aria had a better story. Sonsa had a better story. Turing had a better story. Varus had a better story. Braun, a lot better story. Jamie better story. Zerci, probably better stories. Yeah, none of that means anything to me, but... It makes my nerd soul so happy. Were those the sea wolves he was talking about?

Some of them were wolf people, yes. And then we have wolf people, dragons? Literally wolves. The main characters of the show, other people felt like someone else should have won the throne. It's very complicated. So who did win the throne? Brand the Broken won the throne. Brand the Broken.

Yes. But like as he explained, he sees everything, so he kind of planned it. But he's trying to play like he's humble like he didn't plan it. We're all nerds. We know it. It's all over. You don't have to hear about Game of Thrones anymore. So Brand won it.

Who did everybody want to win the throne? Well, everyone wanted Calisi, the dragon queen. Why? Because she's awesome. And that's because that's like what the show was kind of based around is her trying to. And what happened to her? She went crazy and burned up the whole city. So they couldn't happen.

We couldn't let that happen. That stuff happens all the time. Oh, well. Yes. That also makes people That's the narrative. Anyway, it's good that Aaron Rogers is kind of in this playful place now. It seems like he's happy.

And as we've discussed, him and Ben Rothesburg are going to try their best to win these very public breakups that have happened. So this might just be the chip on his shoulder to get him another MVP. Good stuff, Joy, with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Keith Thurman is guaranteeing he'll end Manny Pacquiao's legendary career. and he joins us next.

It's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. They call him one time. Keith, one-time Thurman, 29 fights, never lost, 22 knockouts. He has defended his welterweight title eight times. And yesterday, his next potential victim is Manny Pacquio. It is a step-up in class, first pay-per-view. So I want to go to yesterday's press conference in New York.

here is Keith Thurman talking to Manny Pachial. Boxing has come to a new error. Floyd is gone. Paciow is here. Come July 20th, he will disappear. But I'm doing a Manny Pachial what he did to Ossudela Hoyer. You can Google it if you want to. Oscar Della Hoyer never fought again.

You think I'm playing that? This ain't no game, guys. This ain't no game. Hard work and dedication. I'm here. I'm going to make a big scene. statement, you are not going to want to miss this fight, especially because it's about to be this man's last fight. Okay, he has a massive experience edge over you. All his fights are

pay-per-view. How concerned are you about his experience edge over you? Well, there's, you know, that's just on the books. That's a numbers game. I've been boxing since I was seven years old. That's 23 years in the game. I was a world-class amateur, was almost in the Olympian back in 08. I was the silver medalist at the Olympic trials. I've always competed with the best in the U.S., the best internationally. It just doesn't matter

what kind of fighter it is. I fought world champions many times, ex-world champions. And to be honest, I've never lost to a man that's been beaten four times, five times, six times, let alone somebody like Manny Pachial that's been beaten seven times throughout his career.

You know, they could say, well, you haven't fought a Manny Pachial yet. but you know you see the size difference Mani Pachowell is not a true welterweight you know I wish I was fighting Oscar Deloioia Sugar Ray Leonard you know I'm a real water weight you know I think you are bigger

I saw both you in the halls today I think you know I belong in the ring with the best water weights in the world and to me Mani Pachial it's a legend in the sport but he is not the best water weight in the world today have you watched any of his last seven fights he doesn't have in my opinion quite the knockout power he had four years ago.

Will that make you more aggressive in this fight? You know, I'm going to have to respect his power. We all know that man, he's had power throughout his career. Power doesn't die off right away. My doctor told me that a grown man keeps his power till after the age of 50, about 50, 55, it starts to diminish. So for me, I'm still going to have to respect that. But he really has one punch.

that straight left and those short arms, I just don't think that they're going to hit the button. This is a passing of a torch. This is the biggest fight in your life, right? Biggest fight so far, yes, sir. Do you feel, do you think you'll have nerves? It's a different fight. You fought before, but this is Manny Pacquiao.

You should be nervous in a fight, you know, because it's real. This is, there's nothing to play here. You know, we're not tapping each other around. You know, this is not the WWW. There's no script here. These are bombs being flown. You're nervous then when you walk into a ring a little bit. Every fight, you should be nervous because you, it's a gladiator sport.

You're stepping into the arena. You're putting your reputation on the line. There's a lot at stake. So I enjoy being a little nervous because to me it's just hitting the real button. This is a real sport and anything can happen. At the same time, I'm going to, after this week when I get back, we're going to have eight tremendous weeks of training camp in preparation. And that's where my confidence comes from,

understanding how hard I trained and how well prepared I am physically and mentally for Manny Pachio. 29 and O, they call him one time, an eight-time defender of the welterweight championship. You are a longer, bigger fighter than Manny Pachio. Does it matter how you win? To put a stamp on a fight, a knockout is different. We talk about knockouts years later.

Mike Tyson knockouts. Ali knockouts. The Ropa Dope. It's still talked about it. If it had just been pointed, it had been different. Does it matter how you beat Manny? Like I said at the press conference yesterday, I'm doing to Manny Pachial, what Manny Pachial did to Oscar Delahoya.

He stopped Oskidlo-Hoya and was Oskidlojia's last fight. Manny Pachial has a rematch clause in the contract. I'm not looking forward to him exercising that. I want to finish him off. and I want him to go back to the Philippines and be a full-time senator. You know, he's, and this is all out of respect. He's done a tremendous job in the sport of boxing. I admire him.

I look up to him. He's inspired many fighters. He's even inspired me to beat him up even more, you know. I mean, I got love for the guy. I got love for the guy. I respect him so much, I'm going to beat him out. But my love might not feel that good. Okay.

How do you think he knows you're bigger than him? You'll be heavier on fight night. How do you think he'll fight you? Well, man, he's used to this situation from being such a small guy throughout his whole career. Even when he fought Oscar Delahoya, when he fought Sugar Shane Mosley, when he fought even Floyd Mayweather, who's not a big welterweight by any means, he still was the smaller guy. So that experience, you know, and even in the face off, you know, you just can't intimidate

Mani Pakiah. You know, 60 professional fights, you know, he's been there, done that. You say, I'm going to beat you up. He looks at you and says, okay, maybe, you know. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. I see you in the ring. Who is your favorite boxer of all time?

Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali, to me, transcended boxing. They were personalities. I was just talking, was it talking to you this morning, Joy? Muhammad Ali in my life felt the look. He was handsome. He was funny. He was glib. He was amazing.

He fought different styles. He fought guys differently. My dream scenario is Tyson against Muhammad Ali in his prime, and I would have taken Ali. Who's your favorite boxer of all time? You know, growing up in the sport of boxing, you've got to do your research. You've got to learn about the Sugar Ray Leonard's, the Muhammad Ali, Tommy Hurons, Roberto Duran. But as soon as I got educated, for me personally, I love Aaron the Hawk Pryor. You know, he just really inspired me, you know.

And say what? Aaron Pryor. And Hawk time. Hawk time. I saw a documentary back in the day I might have been 15, 16 years old about his back story. What about Roy Jones? You're a Florida kid. Oh, we love Roy Jones, man.

We love Roy Jones. He was holding it down for many years, pound for pound number one at one time in his career. Yeah. But it just, I just like the fight style. And for me, it's also about the Walterweight Division. I'm a little biased as a welterweight. Well, you've defended the championship eight different times, 29 and 0 with 22 knockouts, Keith Thurman.

And by the way, it'll be in Vegas at the MGM Graham, which is a great facility. Have you ever fought there before? Yes, sir. Many times. Okay. It's great, great facility. Paperview July 20th. Mani Pacheau and Keith Thurman.

I was just at the T-Mobile Arena to watch Canello a couple weeks ago. When you get into these, do you train differently for a big fight? Bigger crowd, more anxiety. Do you train differently for like a championship fight than you would, a precursor? You know, we have a saying, you know, all you got to do is be Keith Thurman, you know, be the best that I can be, you know, train hard and leave it all out in the ring, you know. The one thing I hate the most in the sport of boxing is watching talented young individuals not perform to their fullest potential, you know, and a lot of that has to do with the preparation,

be underestimating their opponents, thinking that, you know, everybody's a yes man around them. Maybe you got this, you got this, you got this, and all of a sudden you're not running six miles anymore. All of a sudden, you know, you just lose some of the flame. You know, this is the biggest fight of my career. So there's tons of fire underneath me. I'm awake. I want to make a statement. Finishing off Manny Pachial is the end of his legacy in the beginning of mine. So I'm truly looking forward to this fight and performing to 100% and hopefully getting the knockout. One time Keith Thurman, 30 seconds left. And I don't know this and I never will. What's it like to tag a guy and knock him out? Can you tell instantly? Can you just tell?

It's like hitting a baseball. You just feel it. Well, sometimes it's like putting bread on butter. It's just so smooth. You barely know that it's even happening. You know, you throw the punch, and next thing you know, he's down and they're counting. But it's a. tremendous feeling, man. What, you ever been tagged? Oh, I've been tagged. And I've been put down, but never out. Yeah, I'll never know either feeling.

Is that your form, calling? You know, I like to start with the left and then go right. That has always been the way I end fights. The 27 I've been in. 29 and 0, 22 knockouts. July 20th, we'll be watching. Absolute pleasure. Keith Thurman one time.

Great meeting you. See you tomorrow. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the street. strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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