The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - UConn’s Domination, Caitlin Clark’s Superstardom, Nick Wright’s Life Advice, Can’t Pay Tua or Dak

Episode Date: April 13, 2024

Colin’s top takes of the week! He starts with his reaction to UConn’s dominating run to a second national title and why UConn’s program has separated from the rest of men’s college hoops (3:00) John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” joins Colin to marvel at the Tiger/MJ superstar pull of Caitlin Clark (13:00)  and break down why the Dolphins shouldn’t pay Tua and the Cowboys shouldn’t pay Dak (24:00) Finally, Nick Wright, host of “First Things First” on FS1 joins Colin to talk about Bronny declaring for one of the weakest NBA draft classes in years and why they have no problem with LeBron set up his son for the best possible chance at achieving his dream (27:00) and Colin and Nick both give their one best piece of life advice (40:00) (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

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Issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit wagering in eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. I had said I watched Yukon three times in the regular season. I said they're not only the best team I saw in college basketball. They are easily the best team I saw in college basketball. Listen, there's just not many teams in the last 20 years that look like this.

In the last 25 years, Yukon has won six titles. They are now inevitable. The last team in college basketball that I remember feeling this way about, and I think Yukon is better than this team, was that what, 2018, 2019 Villanova team, where you had Jalen Brunson, Eric Pascal, McHale Bridges. I don't think they had this team's size or this team's depth, but you had Jay Wright, three NBA players. They were really, really good. And it was Villanova. So like Yukon, they're tough, East Coast, physical. I like the refs letting them play. I mean, the first thing that jumped out to me

in this game, and Jay Wright, who's an excellent broadcaster, pointed it out, is that with Klingin, they weren't double-teaming Zach Edy. So Zach Edy was making tough shots, but they weren't allowing, and this is good coaching by Dan Hurley. They just didn't give Purdue any three-point looks. So their guards weren't doing anything. So it was a mismatch early. Yukon's guards, were getting theirs, lots of open looks. In fact, the only thing Yukon did not do well tonight was hit its open threes. They were okay. They hit some, not all of them. Other than that, Yukon does not lose when they lead at half. It was 3630, and they were 47 and O. And like the Golden State Warriors, well-coached teams come out in that first five or six minutes of the

second half, and you can tell they've made changes, alterations. And Yukon came out. And I felt at halftime, I thought Purdue's got to go on one of these 80, 10-0 runs, which is virtually impossible against Yukon because they're so good defensively, A, and B, they get so many second chance offensive rebound points, even when they miss shots, and they get good looks. Yukon does not get bad looks. They're ball screening, their movement. They come down and get great looks almost every time down the floor, and if they miss, they get second chance opportunities. So it's hard to go in a run with Yukon. And that's what Yukon does. Yukon's defense, makes your even makes tough.

Zach Eady made a lot of shots in the first half. But if you go back and look at the last four or five minutes of the first half, Zach Edy looked a little gassed. He looked tired. He was having to work for his shots and they weren't double teaming. But they're so physical. And I said this on FS1 today. I said Zach Eadie's the big, but Klingin's a seven-footer.

And everywhere else on the floor, Yukon has a size advantage. So it just kind of felt inevitable. And Yukon games all look the same. It's like they're a heavyweight fighter. First couple of rounds, they feel you out. But I think over time, it's really difficult to match their size, their depth, and their physicality. And Dan Hurley has said it.

They just wear your ass out. Yukon just wears you out. And at one point, their guards had a 29 to 12 advantage. So, you know, I think what you're looking at is the best college basketball program, men's or women's right now in the last 25 years. For a while, it was Yukon women, now it's South Carolina women. But for the last 25 years, at least in the men's game, Yukon has pulled away from Michigan State, Kansas, Duke, Carolina, Villanova,

and I don't see him slowing down with Hurley's got another 10 years minimum to coach. I think it's funny, he's intense, but unlike a John Calipari, and I'll get to that in about five minutes. He's got some self-awareness. He's got a sense of humor. You know, he can be a salesman, I'm sure, on the recruiting trail, but they just coach. Yukon's really well coach. I really feel they remind me of Villanova with Jay Wright.

The difference is I think Yukon recruits at a higher level. Jay Wright made a living out of three-star guys playing and developing into NBA players. You know, Yukon will go out and get four-and-five-star guys. What you're looking, they didn't, I didn't think Yukon shot the ball particularly well. They missed a lot of open threes. But there's, I mean, everything about Yukon, they're coaching, their size, their movement, their tenacity, their offensive rebounding, situationally. The other thing is, and I always feel this about teams, the great teams, like, make it look pretty effortless. Michael Jordan made it look like, you know, he's six, six, he's not the biggest guy on the floor, the best peer shooter.

Why does he always get great looks? Yukon gets really good looks. They're guards, highly experienced, beat you off the dribble. you down. Then they have like math advantages going to the basket. They can lob to bigs to finish. They go to the corner. They just come down and three out of four times they get great looks. And again, when they miss, they get second chance opportunities. There's just nothing else like it. And the other thing is, is that the culture, when Dan Hurley was on my show, it was a couple of Mondays ago, he said something that was really poignant. He said, Yukon attracts serious people.

And that was the New England Patriots Dynasty. Maybe it's the cold weather. You know, I don't know what it is in the Northeast, but not a lot of BS. Like Yukon, Stores, Connecticut, you're going there for basketball. You're going there to be coached. You know, a lot of these programs out there, you know, like Kentucky basketball was a lot of sizzle and not a lot of steak under Calipari. You know what I mean? It was a lot of, look at what our guys make in the NBA and look at the recruiting. But in the end, it was just, it was just accumulating rankings. It wasn't about building great teams the last five. five or six years. UConn is the opposite of Kentucky. It's not about the coach and the suits and the

salary and it's self-awareness. It's building teams. It's tenacity. It's accountability. I just, I like everything about Yukon basketball. It's old school. And you don't have a ton of size in college basketball. So Zach Eady is a handful. I mean, you know, the NBA, everybody's, everybody's big. Gar, Lucas, six, seven. Guards are big or thick. You know, threes, LeBron's six, eight and a half. He's a three. Everybody's got size, and you don't in college basketball.

So Zach Eadie just ran through this tournament. And Purdue was excellent. I think you ran into a buzzsaw. It was funny. A lot of people like Purdue in the points tonight, and I thought about it with my guys at the volume in Draft Kings. I thought about it for about an hour this morning. I was going back and forth,

And I'm like, what am I doing here? What's going to happen is Zach Edie's going to get his 20-something points. But in the end, you're going to get so many offensive rebounds from Yukon. They're going to control the glass outside of Edie. I mean, if you really think about this game, Purdue did what they wanted to do. They got both of Yukon's bigs into foul trouble, and Yukon couldn't hit open threes. I mean, it kind of went their way, and they still looked like they were absolutely outclassed. After Newton hit that three at the start of the second half, and it was 39.30, I just didn't.

feel at that point it was over. They weren't getting, Purdue wasn't getting enough good open looks on threes. You can tell this in sporting events. It doesn't matter what sport it is, but you notice a lot in football where teams getting first downs, albeit barely, they're just getting over the chain. They're barely moving the sticks. They're having to work for every first down. And over the course of time, you've got to get some easy stuff. Yukon gets good looks. A lot of open looks. And they didn't hit all of them, and they still won going away. Way to go, Yukon. You know, I've said this before. There's so much movement in college basketball between the portal and transferring and guys leaving early for leagues. I really like what Yukon stands for. It's, you know, I was there for 10, 11 years,

went to games. Everybody I knew was a Yukon fan. My daughter had a coach when she was playing basketball for a few years. And even the way they coached, you know, my daughter's like, you know, the sixth grade basketball, seven grade basketball, even the way that team coached, hard practices, all-out effort, physicality. I used to love going to my daughter's practices because just how hard they practice and how precise and detailed they were. And it's just, it's an accountability. They're principled. And I like, in a world of transferring and getting mine, Yukon stands for all this stuff that I think is really important. There's a, there's a value set of standards for Hurley, his dad, his brother, and him. Just an incredibly, to me, an incredibly likable program. They play hard,

they play clean. And I give the officials, I'm going to give them some, a tip of the cap. We see this a lot in championship games or championship fights. Officials back off and let you play. That game was really, really physical in the first half, and the referees let him play. Now, eventually, Edy creates so much contact. You know, he gets a friendly whistle from time to but he creates so much contact that they're inevitably, invariably, they're fouls. And, you know, Yukon's bigs got into foul trouble. But it could have been, they could have been in foul trouble much sooner. But the refs let them play.

You know, let the bigs play. Let them battle on the glass. Effort wins. Depth wins. Length wins. And that's where Yukon's at. I also want to, congratulations to the Huskies and Purdue. Good to see a Big Ten team.

I think it's going to get a monster number, even though it wasn't a close game. You know, the Northeast is watching. I hate that it's a 9-20 Eastern tip-off for college sports, especially. You know, for years and years, Monday night football started really late. I never loved that. But when I lived out east, one of the things I pined for was moving back west so I could watch games at a reasonable hour. So I don't mind doing this right now as I look at mine. So it's 843 where I'm at.

But, you know, it's almost midnight on the East Coast. People have to work tomorrow. Don't love that. John Middlkoff, former NFL Scout, three announced a podcast. Let's start with Caitlin Clark. I watched it on a plane. Generally, the great team beats the great player. I think Yukon is going to beat Zach Eady. I think, I mean, South Carolina's bench at one point had 30 points. Iowa's had none. So the better team. Frankly, I thought Yukon women were better than Iowa. I thought the last two games, Caitlin Clark just kept them close. I've heard Trey,

Young. She's a better passer than Trey Young. Yeah, I mean, it's, at this point, even LeBron came on X and said, listen, if you don't like your game, stay away from those people. Those people are crazy people. Between the continuity and chemistry of women's basketball, because they're all coming back, juniors and seniors, the quality of basketball is really good. I mean, but the product's good when I watch it. I thought these last two games, and listen, beside a couple times last year, it's not like I've been glued to Caitlin Clark's season. I was riveted.

I mean, that Yukon game, one, because you think she's going to lose. Clearly, you're playing Gino an all-time program, and she wield her team to win. Colin, I was tempted. They were a big underdog. I almost gambled on women's college basketball game, and it wasn't going to be a small amount, but I got, obviously, South Carolina hadn't lost, and you knew earlier, like, God, this South Carolina team is loaded with athletes. They had five new starters from last year.

It's like the Alabama of college basketball. basketball right now. But she is, what I don't understand, and I get it. Like I, I defend the guys in the NBA from the 80s and 90s who could be negative toward the newer guys. They're not talking about Steph Curry and Yanis. They're talking about the percentage of guys making these $200 million contracts that should not be making that. I'd be bitter too if I was them. You saw a lot of former women stars come out. It's like, guys, this is, I'm going to pay attention to what she does in the WNB. Not claiming I'm going to get the WNBA package here. Right. But she's the first player to get me to pay attention. Obviously, college basketball, women's or men's, their brand, Iowa brand is infinitely bigger than the WNBA as a whole. Right.

Right. So it's not, it's hard to compare. But she clearly has transcended it all. And she just, we don't feel and see this that often. Well, right? It happens every so often and especially in a sport like women's college bat is cool. Yeah. I mean, Cheryl Miller got Twitter.

million viewers back in 83. I went and looked it up on YouTube. The women's game is much better, but it is a phenomenon, and phenomenons don't grow to the sky. Like, the numbers will come back down to Earth. The games that get ratings are ones with Caitlin and the game following one with Caitlin, which retains about, you know, about 60% of the... Probably 15 million people are watching these women's college basketball games. I mean, that's an incredible accomplishment. Yeah, and the quality is just better. But I think Cheryl Miller, I can remember being fascinated with Cheryl Miller. Nancy Lieberman was great, but I don't know if I wasn't fascinated by her. She was just great. But I think Caitlin's got the magic dust. And I don't think he get it very often. I think Michael had it. I think Tiger had it. Tiger changed my viewing habits on Sunday. I mean, O'Tonnie, I'll tell you a guy that had it. I don't know how long he had it. But when Jose Konseko, all the steroid rumors came into Major League Baseball, I can remember getting off a plane in San Diego going down to the luggage carousel. go down the escalator.

And everybody's gathered around the bar. And I'm like, what does, I mean like more five deep at an airport, luggage, Jose Konseko was at the plate. And I can remember going to a Mariners game. I got great seats like A1, 2, 3, 4. And the A's were in town. Mariner games didn't sell out back then. There were 50,000 people in the ugly kingdom.

So there are, for various reasons, some people are controversial. Connor McGregor, Jose Konseco. But I think she falls under, it's magical. It just doesn't look. I mean, she did a, she missed a shot today, but she took a step back. I'm like, that's a 28 foot shot. That's, that's Steph and only Steph's range. Well, I think when Steph did that at Davidson, it was unlike anything we'd ever seen.

And obviously, he went on to become, I don't know, a top 10 player of all time. But it was clear, like I've never quite seen anything like this. And maybe this has happened in women's college basketball to some form or fashion, before, but people weren't watching. That's not being mean or anything. That's just a fact. Yeah. And for whatever reason, this girl got people.

And I mean, my mom, I'm driving around the day, I see random people walking around with Iowa T-shirts all over Scottsdale. It is, John. It's a powerful thing. I don't know what else to say. Yeah, I was flying back from Chicago. So the game started. And then at halftime, that was about the time that I could board the flight.

But I was sitting there. in the lounge and I looked over and every single person was on their phone watching and I went to grab something to eat and I just kind of looked at everybody. Everybody.

You don't see that in the NBA playoffs. You see it in the NFL where I can literally drive down the street in Los Angeles and if I could see inside houses on a Sunday night or a Saturday night with the NFL playoffs. Everybody's watching. Like every television in L.A.

Sometimes a dispassionate football town. Everybody's watching. Everybody in the lounge I was in. Two men, women, young, old. So if it got 24 million people, I would not be shocked. I think there's something that resonates with people. I mean, Tiger is a good example. When Phil Knight was falling his career in high school, right?

I mean, Peyton Manning could have gone wherever he wanted in high school. Steph Curry, remember, couldn't even get recruited to his dad's alma mater of Virginia Tech. Now, Caden Clark, I think, was a different level high school project. but like Gino wouldn't call her back. Yeah. So, I mean, clearly she feels like one of the great girls that would have been at Yukon that would have been at Tennessee under Pat Summit or at South Carolina. But she ended up at Iowa with, I don't have the scouting report on all the top colleges.

It doesn't quite feel like their squad is as good as some of these other squads from a talent standpoint, definitely from a size standpoint. So what she did is just something that we will, however her career goes on from here, it'll be something that no one will ever forget, which is cool. Like, is that what sports is about, having some fun? Well, yeah, I mean, it's what boxing needs, you know, boxing's been dying. Ali, Tyson, they just don't have anybody. And, you know, the great male athletes aren't going into boxing.

If they want to fight, they go UFC. For sure. But it's just, you don't get these stories very often. You get them, I mean, I just, I can count, you know, two hands in my lifetime. I mean, as good as Phil Mickelson is, and he drives me to a TV. but I'm a sportscaster. Tiger was different. I always said my mom, my late mother did know sport.

She was from Great Britain. She had no idea who Derek Jeter was. She knew who Arod was. That's a superstar. Sports fans, you know, they know who Josh Allen is. My mom knew who Brett Farrb was, or Peyton Manning was, or Tom Brady was. There's a big difference between,

there's a lot of good basketball, Sue Bird. I mean, there's been, like, dominant players before. It's like, yeah, Caitlin Clark's different. That's a common. That's a whole different ballgame. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

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

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back

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

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Can I give you a theory I had on what the dolphins should do after what just happened?

So the bills who I've said the overreaction that they're just going to suck, which maybe they take a huge step back, but they'll be fine. By far have the best quarterback who to me is the second best quarterback in the league and clearly one of the great quarterbacks we've seen in recent memory. Yeah. Yeah. The dolphins have a big question mark with their quarterback who turned out to be solid, but in the biggest moments these last couple years has crumbled like a cookie. Yeah. And this year, I remember talking to Veach and Andy at the combine and they said, and Veach specifically said, when you walked out on that playoff game, he's like, that's the coldest thing I've ever encountered. I was even nervous just for my own guys, even though I knew we had Mahomes versus them, but I was like, got it. And it wasn't even close. And they had no shot, the dolphins. So now, before. you give a guy a couple hundred million dollars, wouldn't you go, no excuses now,

Belichick's with his kid in Seattle, you got, who knows what New England's doing? The Jets, I mean, are three pulled hamstrings and Achilles from being everyone getting fired. And the bills lost a lot of talent. If we can't do it this year, I mean, we just had, it felt like a 20 game lead halfway through the season, and then somehow we didn't win the division and they did. If we can't win it this year, we can't pay this guy. And then, I mean, he's a home playoff game. We should win a playoff game.

Wouldn't you just play this year out? You're already under the cap. Like he's already, his money is his money this year. Why pay him this year? Let's kind of do a prove it year, a little flacco style almost. Dack and Tua, in my opinion, will be available on the market potentially next year. There's no doubt in my mind. I mean, Jerry.

I would not pay Tua right now, given everything that just happened. No, I wouldn't pay back. If you start to. I think they're hesitant to do that, clearly. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I think Tua, I think Tua is going to be on the market. next year. By the way, there's going to be a Kirk Cousins level guy in the market, one minimum,

two probably for the rest of the years we do this for a living because it's pretty clear in the NFL now. Two quarterbacks get you to a Super Bowl. A superstar, there's six. You know, Stafford Allen, whoever, Malmes. Or a really talented young guy on a rookie contract. That's it. That's the only thing that gets in. So good guys getting paid handsomely, Kirk Cousin, DECC, Tua, you can't pay Tua. So I think Tua will be on the market and there'll be a team that's like, listen, we're stacked everywhere else or competency gets rewarded. Kirk Cousins has made more money than Tom Brady playing quarterback. Competency plus. And that's what Dack and Kirk are. Competency plus. It's paid in every business.

All right. Bring in Nick Wright. LeBron James Sun is an NBA athlete. I don't think right now, he's quite an NBA player. I think they would draft him, send him to the G. League, give him a year. And Mick Cronin said the other day, the UCLA coach, he's not as quick or as fast as he was, pre-cardiac arrest. He's not quite the player. But I watched him, but I've watched him

enough, seen his hop, seen his handles. He got a beautiful jumpers. He's got a beautiful looking jumper. I like his jumper better. Right. It looks good. His for his shooting percentage is not good, but it doesn't look like there's a problem with it. In fact, I like it better than his dad's. I think his shooting is very natural,

bigger players don't generally, you know, Larry Bird, KD, the exception. A lot of times the six, four guys got the perfect jumper, the perfect look, the perfect hand size. But here's the thing. And I don't know how necessarily to explain this is that this is the worst draft, maybe as bad as the Anthony Bennett draft. So as more mothers are telling their kids do not play football, more mothers. This is in Los Angeles, I have a buddy that live. in Brentwood, he's like, I'm like an outcast for letting my kids play tackle football. I was at those sidebar to it.

I was at a card game with some Hollywood and finance folks, low stakes by their standards for sure, else I wouldn't have been able to play in it. And there was a very, very smart guy there who had enough money that he all, when I was like, how do I know this name? I didn't know who he was at the time, but I was like, I know this name. So after I left the card game, I googled his name. And I was like, oh, you almost bet. You almost bet. You almost bought this baseball team like six years ago. I won't see the, um, but he said that like, he and he was a very sharp guy.

And he was like, yeah, I don't think football should be legal under 18 years old. And I didn't agree with them, but my, I'm just echoing your point. There are a lot of people that are not letting their kids even consider playing tackle football, particularly, I think, I bet it skews higher income and things like that. But go ahead, as you were saying, about Brownie. Yet, you can get Brock Purdy in the final pick. Half the league is undrafted. Kurt Warner, Tony Romo undrafted. The NBA is a global game.

And people are suggesting they're not three sure. fire NBA starters in this draft. There's two rounds. There's almost no players after the 12th pick. It's a cheaper sport to play. Hockey and football are expensive. It's a global sport. Is that saying that the NBA is so good it's impossible to make it? Is it saying our domestic culture is broken and our players are distracted and not skilled enough? How in the world could you have a global sport? We don't have a shortage of great baseball players, great hockey players. we're having drafts like every third draft is talentless. Yeah, but so I think it's actually more the first than the second because the league is more talented now than at any point in my lifetime.

True. And so I think it is less that, oh my God, there's not good players. It's that the bar for being considered a good player these days is so much higher than it was. was and your pal Bill Simmons talks about this a lot but like the guys who are now ninth men you know not that long ago would be good starters good like good and if you look at some teams that we thought of as very good teams 20 years ago and look at who they had after their top four guys it's a bunch of huh and so that it's an argument for expansion it's an argument for adding teams to the league because the talent level right now is so high.

Like you look at the Western Conference in the NBA. Right now, we have, as we record this, the Lakers and the Warriors are the nine and the 10th. It's insane. Despite, and keep in mind. So next year, so think about the Western Conference and the NBA next year. And then I want to circle back to Bronte for a moment. So Minnesota is not going to be worse.

I don't know if they're going to be the one seat, but it's not like all of a sudden Minnesota is going to go away. I'm just going to go down the standings. Denver is here to stay. Oklahoma City is only getting better. The Clippers maybe take a step back, but if they bring everyone back, why would they not maintain about where they are?

Dallas seems to have figured out the Luca Kyrie thing. They're even playing defense in Dallas. They're playing defense. Lucas is a top three player in the league hands down. They're fine. Phoenix, yeah, okay, so Phoenix could go backwards because of the age of their guys, but it's not like they're going to be a disaster.

New Orleans is a young team. Sacramento is a young team. The Lakers, the Warriors. And then you have Memphis with Jock coming back. The Wimby is coming for everybody. And Houston was an exciting team. That's 13 teams. It's 15 teams in the conference.

So there's just the teams are so talented and so loaded. I think that's about the draft. I want to defend the Brani thing for a minute. cook. So what if this is, can everyone even the biggest LeBron James critics acknowledge the guy's all time basketball IQ wise? Can we at least acknowledge that? That the guy understands how the game is played and understands the NBA as well as anybody ever has. Okay. For folks arguing, oh my gosh, LeBron's putting his finger on the scale. He shouldn't. Why would he do it? He's hurting his son in the long run, he's undercutting.

I don't know that this is the math LeBron is doing, but it's just an idea. What if LeBron's thought process is, on this current trajectory, in today's college basketball climate, my kid is not going to get the development and improvement that he needs over the next three years to one day be an NBA player. Right. However, if I do put my finger on the scale and get a team to be at least somewhat invested in his development, then by the time I'm gone, he will be good enough to be a legitimate stand on his own two feet NBA player.

And so not that dissimilar from how Seth Curry went undrafted and then bounced around the G league for two years, getting multiple chances I happen to believe, in part because of who his brother is. And then through that development, now he's a legitimate, really good NBA player. Would that have happened if he didn't get those opportunities that I think he probably got? because of who his brother was. No. Do I think that is fair? I don't know, define fair. Is it absolutely what I think I would do if I were in LeBron's place?

Of course. If I can help my kid achieve his dream and he might not be able to without my help, of course I'm going to. And folks whining about it, people in the NBA sell second round picks for two million bucks. These are not like the hottest commodity. Like, oh my God, you're going to waste a second round pick. Teams throw them in.

Willy-nilly. Teams sell them. And so, yeah, I mean, listen, what's going to hurt Brony is he's six two. And I know Manix and Shams and other people have said he's an NBA level defender. It's just hard to be a great defender in this league at that size. I'm not saying he can't be. But I don't I don't think LeBron is doing is being unfair to anybody in this circumstance whatsoever. I think my my example that makes me laugh the most is every time you're driving and you see a plumbing truck, it always says Johnson and Sons.

Yeah, of course. I mean, this is, we can talk about it being problematic. at it. But we've only had 46, 47 presidents in this country. One were father and son, the other one were uncle and nephew. Like even up to presidential level of this country, there's nepotism. The NFL and NBA front offices and coaching staffs are rife with it. Those last names all being the same are not a goddamn coincidence. It is because, you know, the Kyle Shanahan, you know, being Mike Shathe, Shanahan's son and his part of history is Mike LaFleur with Matt LaFleur.

And then, I mean, the Brian Callahan, Bill Callahan has two sons that are NFL coaches. Like, we're used to it everywhere. And for some reason, people are not as comfortable with it in pro sports. But I, we haven't, because we haven't seen this, I guess. Because nobody's ever in the NBA played long enough for this to be a, a real possibility. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clivert Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford

and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush

got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent, episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. At this point, this is the second episode

where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so... Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I get asked this a lot by parents or young people. Can you give me advice? And I don't think advice is helpful because we all live very separate different lives. Your career and your path is completely different than mine. Mine's completely different than Bob Costas. yours is completely different than Bob Costas,

Al Michaels and Iron Eagle, is that this is not a doctor or an architect or a school teacher. There is no path to being a great comedian. Be funnier. You'll find you're on stage and more successful. Sing better will ultimately help you. With YouTube and these platforms, just be better is the answer.

So I talked to a young guy today and I said, I didn't have Twitter. I didn't have YouTube. That's better than a resume. Go show your talent. And I was saying this when it's like weight loss, eat less, move more, you'll lose weight. It's not scientific. Just Google it.

And I was saying is one of the things I tell young people when I speak to them is the only piece of advice I ever got. I'll give you an opinion. If you ask me for an opinion on something, I'll give you one. That's different. I don't give advice. And I said the only time I've read a sentence and that I've shared it with people, because it rings true to me is when I was a kid, I went to a Mariners game upstairs in the booth and Dave Nehouse, a pretty well-known, established iconic Seattle figure, wrote in my magazine, the program. The program.

Yeah. If you want it bad enough, you'll sit here. And I thought, it's like the Vegas dealer. Yep, that's it. The advice to all kids, do you want to be me? because I wanted it so bad, I'd step on people to get it. Well, and I was, so I, and I wanted it, I literally did want to be you. I've told you this story.

I called, and I've maybe told the story on the air before, I was 24 years old, literally, literally. This is, and I'm 39, right? So I'm 24. So this is 15 years ago. This is not 1986, right? This is 2009. In 2009, I signed my first contract. No, that's wrong.

2010, I signed my first contract. I was making $8 an hour, and then my contract was to do middays in Kansas City. There's not a bullshit job. It's not the greatest job. Bacanthes are two sports city. You know what I mean? For sports radio, it's a good market. Signed a contract to do middays in Kansas City for $23,800.

$4. Full time. No benefits but full time. This was, I think, like when that was allowed. And I was thrilled. It was around the same time that I started dating my now wife. Like, I was thrilled. Like, I am rolling, making 24 grand. And at that time, I called an agent and said, my pitch was this. I'm sure you wish Colin Cowherd was your client. He's not. And it doesn't appear he's ever going to be. If you would like to represent the next Colin Cowherd, you'll take me on. That's what I did. And this guy started representing me. Shout out credit to him, Josh Santry, started representing me when I was in Kansas City making 24 grand. And you know what I mean? Helped me grow and evolve. And then eventually your agent, Nick Con hired him. And I like that.

That is, so like, we grew together. Yeah. And the, what I, so, but the, I got a little distracted there because that's such a, to me, a cool story. Um, but the answer is you have to be obsessed with it. And this is what I tell my daughter, who's a theater major. I'm like, hey, any job, there, like, there's a few jobs that are, the type, the types of jobs that when little kids get asked in class what they want to be. If your job that you want is on that list,

you better be goddamn obsessed with it as an adult, or else you got no shot. No shot. If it is the type of job that people stop you on the street and are like, oh my God, that's a dream job. The only reason that everyone doesn't do it is because people don't want to make 24 grand at 25 years. That's right.

You know what I mean? And I don't want to act like every. And listen, I've been very lucky. There is obviously some natural talent associated with success, whatever it is. But I'm not denying any of that. But for a lot of people, it stops being worth it. And I don't, like, it's just like, man, this is a grind. There's not, you work weekends, you work holidays, you don't make money.

And it's just not worth it anymore. And so it has to be something you have to do. is have any chance of succeeding in it. And then once it's that, then it is, you know, I don't, I don't, you, you've always been very complimentary of my talent, but I don't actually think I am a talented broadcaster. I think I have a very specific talent, which is I'm a great arguer. I'm great logically and I'm great with, you know, figuring out debating argument points. but when I applied to Syracuse,

when I was doing the tour, I met with the dean, and the dean said, great resume, great SATs, all this stuff. You're the exact type of kid we want to have here, just so you know, you'll never be a radio personality

of too nasly of a voice. It won't work. At Syracuse, I got cut from the student radio station because I couldn't figure it out. Like, I, it wasn't like some, you know,

I look at, Noah Eagle, and obviously Noah Eagle, I get his dad's Iron Eagle, but the kid is talented. Yeah. Kids got great voice, got a great presence. Like, I'm like, oh, he's got real broadcasting talent. I was just wildly obsessed with it. Wildly obsessed with it was like, I am going to force my way through it, which is really how you get from, I went from 24 grand a year in Kansas City to the TV show on FFRA.

F S-1 in seven years from when I signed that contract in Kansas City to when the TV show launched in New York City, that was seven years. And it was, yes, a ton of good fortune and good luck and good timing, but it was just I was wildly obsessed with it, which is the number one thing you've got to be. Yeah, and that's the best advice is that when people, when parents come up and I, you know, anything that you don't want to give them. cliches, work hard, read everything, you know, be detail-oriented. And then you kind of appease the parents, you know, placate the parents. But it really is, Jake Lasers talked about this before. The people that are great in the NFL, they're crazy. They're obsessed. Crazy. Right. That's exactly

right. And it's, again, because that's a dream job. That's a dream job. Like there is no, and that's, you know, I worry, I do worry about my, my 18 year old daughter because what she wants to do is about as hard of a field as there is. She wants to be an actress. And it's like, okay, even the successful ones, like struggle for a long time and all of these things. But who am I to say, don't follow your dreams, follow your dreams? But it's like there's, if you are in the dream chasing business, you got to chase it. Like that's the, that's the quote that I like, listen, I will support dream chasing as long as you're fucking chasing. I won't support dream daydreaming. Like, oh, I want to be this.

I wonder how it's going to happen. I got to see that you are, that you want it. And the other thing, if there's young people listening, that I tell him that is different now than. you know, previous eras, is you do what is, I think, good advice, because I do give this advice, is just do it. You want to be a talk show host and you don't have a talk show. Just pretend. The way you pretended in your bedroom, now you, anyone can pretend on YouTube and make the channel private if you want. Like, I was like, it's not about getting the number of subscribers or viewers. It's about the reps. It's about when I first started, I thought I was going to be the

funny guy on the radio. And then I was like, nope, that's not the lane. I need to be ardent prick. That's the lane for me. And it'll work. And so like, the only way to do it is to do it, to actually get the reps in. And so yeah, that's the advice I give. And then make sure you do a little check every six months. Be like, do I still love this? Do I still want to do this? That's good advice. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment, rate and review. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard,

but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

This is an IHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.