The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Surprise Final Four, Rodgers Stalemate, Lamar Chaos, w/ Middlekauff

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

First, (3:00) Colin explains how the gambling explosion has juiced March Madness ratings. Then, Colin and 3 and Out podcast Host John Middlekauff discuss the surprise Final Four in the NCAA Tournament, if Mark Few would ever leave Gonzaga for a bigger school, if the Packers will wait until draft day to finally trade Aaron Rodgers to the Jets, if  Lamar Jackson needs to hire an agent to get a deal done, if Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud is a lock to go #1 to the Panthers, if Josh McDaniels and the Raiders will end in disaster, and if baseball’s popularity will increase from new rules. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates, and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #Herd #Volume #3andOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. It's the Colin Coward podcast presented by Fandul. The sports calendar is packed.

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1-8778-8-Hope, New York, or text Hope, New York, 467-369, New York. 1-800-2-4700, Wyoming, or visit www.1-800 gambler.net, west Virginia. Hi, everybody. Welcome in. In about 10 minutes. I'm going to bring in John Middilcoff, former NFL Scout Philadelphia Eagles. We got some NFL stuff. We're going to talk tournament. We're going to talk some baseball.

It's going to do about 40 minutes of guys sitting around talking sports. So years ago, when I was very, very fortunate and got a job out of college in Las Vegas working for a baseball team, the Las Vegas stars. So I did that for a couple of years, sales, a couple ofnings of play by play. And then I transitioned into working for a local NBC affiliate, KV. BC, a Valley Broadcasting Company. Late Jim Rogers was willing to hire me. I was a weekend sports guy and then a sports director.

And during that, one of the things that I'm from the Pacific Northwest, as many of you know, that was really cool for me is sports books. I'd never been to a sports book. I didn't, I'd never been to Vegas. So I hung out in sports books a lot. I thought they were the coolest things in the world. I would finish my 11 o'clock sports cast on a Friday during the football season. I would go to Palace Station on Sahara, not far from my station in North Las Vegas, and I would place bets, college football bets, have a 99-cent breakfast, meet some guys, and then I would go home, sleep in. Back then you'd wake up in the morning, and, you know, the Florida State Seminoles would be faced in the Miami Hurricanes at 9 in the morning. Now they put all the really good college football games, mostly in the late afternoon and night. But I loved sports books, and I love the guys that run them. And it was very, very, obvious. There were two things where the books made a killing and they were completely electric.

NFL Sundays and March Madness. And this past year, the NFL ratings were up. And what is significant about that? Fifty-four quarterbacks or close played. Fifty-four different quarterbacks played. So the ratings shouldn't be great, right? The stars drive any sport. But the ratings were up and the ratings are up because of gambling, the rollout of gambling in this country, which I'm a proponent of and have been forever. So the other thing that was wild to see, so when I moved to Vegas out of college, the run and rubbles, Jerry Tarkany and Larry Johnson, Stacey Ogman, Anderson, Hunt, Moses Scurry, Greg Anthony, you know, I got to cover that team.

It was wild. But I would hang out in these sports books like everybody else, eating cheap food, beer, March Madness, and the NFL. And other sports, certainly you'd have action, but those move the needle, and they still do. So the March Madness ratings have been really strong. And people tend to have opinions that work for their agenda. If you hate the NBA, you're like, see, the basketball's better. No, it's not.

There's no reason college basketball is getting these ratings. Nobody knows any of the players. I mean, if you're a Miami Hurricane fan, you do. But San Diego State fans don't know. Again, if you followed college basketball 20 years ago, the stars, the Patrick Ewing's, 25 years ago, Christian Leitner's, they came back for a third or fourth year. Now, if you go to a street and Smith and look at their All-American team, it's like four freshmen. They were in high school the year before. It's a very transitional sport, very transactional.

And then you throw the portal into it. Christ, half the league. Half that there's 360 Division I programs. Five kids per team are transferring. It is just a non-stop merry-go-round of one-and-done players in and out of universities and programs. There's no real emotional, visceral connection most casual fans to the teams. You know, the coach, maybe. You know the brand of Kansas or Syracuse.

You don't know the players. And we don't watch soccer. just because of soccer. The soccer that gets the most views has the biggest stars, the biggest brands, English Premier League. And so there's no reason for college basketball. You don't watch just for passion.

Little League World Series has passion. It doesn't get huge ratings. A lot of things have passion. The college baseball World Series has passion. It doesn't get huge ratings. We bet on two things in America. The NFL and March Madness. And, I mean, I'm watching this weekend.

I don't know any of these Creighton players. You don't follow Creighton basketball. You can pretend you do. You don't. People within 100 miles of that school, unless they went there, they don't know who plays for Creighton. So I think it's great. But it shows you the importance of that connection to betting on sports. And we're really seeing it.

I think it's been a lot of fun. But I'm not going to lie. A big part of it is you're not turning off. games, even lobsided games, because you want to see if you hit the over or the under of the line. It's the power. If you really look at the people that have left sort of traditional linear TV, if you look at cord cutting and cable, sports rating should not be going up.

You can make a lot of reasons why people are or are not watching stuff. college basketball NFL, the big winners, the big winners in the legalization of sports betting. Let's bring in John Middilkoff, my buddy, three and out podcast at the volume. With the NFL season over, all eyes in the sporting world turned everything from the NBA to college hoops to the NHL. Plenty of games to watch are even better, plenty of games to get out of the house and actually go to. That's why the best way to get your hands on tickets when you want to go to one of the these games, check out Game Time. Fastest growing ticket app in the U.S. Game Time. Offer amazing last-minute deals on tickets to your best favorite NBA hockey NCAA teams. Top of that, they sell last-minute

concert and comedy show tickets too. Download the Game Time app. Download it. Redeem code is Colin 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app. Enter the code Collins, C-O-L-I-N, 20 bucks off. Download game time today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but

encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on

10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what 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 Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

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

Thank you for finishing that sentence. 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. Here with my main man, Colin Coward, and Sunday afternoon, March 26th. We have just, you know, Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, and Duke in the Final Four, just as everyone expected. It is funny. Florida, Atlantic, Miami and San Diego State.

My first takeaway is college football over the last 20 years has largely been dominated by warm weather schools. There's more athletes. We grew up with Washington, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan. And then we've seen it slowly become the SEC in your Oklahoma's for a brief run. Texas and USC had dynasties. Now in basketball, non-traditional, the SEC and the Big 12 warm weather conferences. and now you got a San Diego State School and Miami and Laronag has been a great coach for a long time. But it does feel like a little bit like they just have more great athletes either to choose from or they convince northern kids on a recruiting trip.

You don't have to deal with northern weather, which is I think, you know, that's a very alluring thing if you grow up. I lived in Connecticut for 10 years. He just couldn't wait to get down in Naples or West Palm whenever you got to. weekend. Well, I mean, one thing, you know, in college basketball, which is so, it's different than college football in the sense that these guys, if you play for a couple of years, let's just say at Kansas and you're a rotational guy, but you're never going to start and then you transfer to a San Diego State to a UNLV, you know, to a, yeah, one of the smaller power fives. You can have a huge impact immediately. I remember when I got hired at Fresno State, I lived with

a buddy that had played for the basketball team. So we had some of the players that were on the team move us in. And they were both Power 5 transfers to Fresno State. But they had to sit out. Remember, as that rule changed, it's completely changed. It's impact the NCAA tournament. It obviously has an impact in football, but it immediately impacts basketball that next year because some of these star players on these smaller teams dominate when it matters the most. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, Texas lost, but it does help to have upperclassmen. I mean, next year, Duke and Kentucky have unbelievable recruiting classes. So they'll be the two most talented teams.

But they're going to be a bunch of 18-year-olds. And I think you can win. I think Jay Billis told me this about a week ago. You go in a lot of games in the tournament. It's hard to win five or six games with, like, freshmen. Yeah. There's a lot of situational basketball. I mean, good God, in the last, you know, two weeks,

how many games have been decided by just situational basketball, a big basket, a big timeout, you come out. I mean, this stuff is, talent's obviously a part of it. But, you know, Miami last year was pretty good. This year they're really good. And this game, I felt Texas was going to win this thing for most of the game. And then about seven minutes left, all of a sudden you look up. And here comes Miami, some experience, big shots, good stops.

So I don't know. I mean, it's not going to do great for TV ratings. But I've had the last couple years after one was canceled, the last couple of years, I think March Madness has been absolutely great. One thing I've noticed, I've talked about this on my podcast, is, and it doesn't necessarily show in the final four, but these SEC basketball teams, you know, it used to just be Kentucky, used to carry the conference or Florida. Now it's all the teams. You know, Arkansas is a powerhouse. Oh, yeah.

Football money. And it, you know, you're a Pack 12 guy at heart. I am to clearly the conference when they made their television deal, they want to do encompass all the sports. The SEC, the Big Ten, all in football. You make huge money and it all trickles down. And now they're paying basketball coaches five, six, six, six. million dollars in the SEC. Georgia paid Tom Crean years ago, like six million dollars, you know, like 70 years.

They really are trying. You look at the baseball, college baseball, I think, like seven of the top ten teams are SEC. The golf teams fly private. It's all because of football. And, you know, now with, you know, UCLA and USC going to the Big Ten, I think that's really going to have ramifications on the basketball programs because they're just going to have way more money to pay the coaches.

Well, and I also think, I've said this. I grew up, we grew up with the PAC 12, right? And, and, but I can acknowledge, I think the coaching right now in the PAC 12 is excellent. I think it's really strong. And, and I think there's some good teams. I think USC has a chance next year to be really good. But we have to be honest, the West Coast has more pro sports teams, the Big 12 and the SEC. If you look at those geographical footprints, there's not a lot of pro teams, right?

So, I mean, you know, in Los Angeles, it's hard to get 60,000 people to a UCLA football game because the following day that the chiefs are playing the Chargers in L.A. or it's the Rams and the Niners. And guys like you and I have to, we have to tell our girlfriends or our wives, okay, you get one night and the other is, you know, Sunday is the bigger sport. So I'm not going to tell my wife, I'm going to be in front of a TV for two straight days, even though I'm a sportscaster. So I just think you don't have the passion here. You don't get the drive. I think in the South and in Big 12 territory, Big 12 is a great basketball conference. SEC is now becoming a Rotting of basketball conference, great football conference. There is more passion.

It matters a lot more. It means more. There's fewer options for sports. And I mean, listen, it's just you go to Atlanta, the big city in the south. I mean, it's just all SEC grads. Yeah. Everywhere you go, there are SEC hats. You know, the last time, Gonzales.

I could beat UCLA. They ran out of gas to Baylor. It happened again in Connecticut. Clearly those two teams were better. I know you know him well. And before we dive into football, just Mark Few, do you think there ever comes a time?

I know geographically, the way he lives his life is pretty perfect up there, but just maybe Bill Self has physical issues, has step away. One of these programs call, does he get to a point where he just can't refuse or do you see him just stand there and riding it out? Oh, he'll stay.

Yeah, he's got a great place. South Hills of Spokane is beautiful. kind of looks over, you know, the timber and sunsets. And he also has a couple of boosters with private jets. He never has to fly commercial for any of the recruiting. And also, he can do it his way. He can get some three-star recruits and not get pushback on the message boards. Like, listen, Yukon right now is the best team in the tournament.

So it was funny, I was texting him. And I told him that. I said, man, they're good. They're a blizzard. They're just rolling past people. And I also think, you know, he's got. gotten a guy like Jalen Suggs or Chet Hongren, they'll be another year. They'll eventually land a kid that is even a higher-end player than that. And, you know, they'll find eventually they're

Anthony Davis. But, you know, I think the way Mark looks at it, because UCLA has made a run at him, Oregon made a run at him. It's just a good life. And, you know, a theory I always subscribe to. Don't try to get happier than happy. He's just a really happy guy there. I mean, he's disappointed as heck today, but he's done a great job. He really loves, he can hide in Spokane. He can really go hide at home, great wife. He's dialed in there. I don't see him ever leaving.

You know, I mean, one guy that can't hide, Aaron Rogers. This Jets thing, you know, it felt, I don't know why it did. Like, it was just going to happen when free agency and then when he went on McAfee would all just kind of come to fruition. And that clearly is not the case. Now, nothing is actually having. happening right now, right? There's no practice. There's no OTAs. Nothing really happens until after the draft. And really, that feels like the timeline, right? Day one of the draft,

because if they want that 13th pick and if the Jets are hesitant, because both of them feel like they're in a little bit of a staring contest, if you're the Jets, I'm not going to give you that 13th pick till the last hour when, in my opinion, I would capitulate and give you the 13th pick. But that'd probably be it. I'll give you pick 13, maybe some conditional next year, but that's it. And maybe they're trying to give some package of like a two and a two next year or something. But that's where it feels like we might have another 30 days of this before the draft. We're just kind of sitting here looking at each other.

Is that what it feels like you? And I also think, I mean, Green Bay has got their quarterback at practice ready to go. They can stall all they want. They don't need a quarterback. He's in the building. So their takeaway is we want two firsts. We're going to get a tight end and a receiver, two big needs. They could go.

The rest of the draft. after that could mostly be defense. They're going to be stubborn. And, you know, it's like I've been in enough contract negotiations in my career, probably 12, where sometimes I've had a little leverage, sometimes I haven't. But it usually wraps up pretty quickly because we both want it done. I do think, and maybe it's only 10, 15% of it, I think Green Bay is going to say, you have been screwing around with us for three years.

So welcome to you. your party. And so I think a little bit of this, because Green Bay, come on, they say what you want. I mean, I would give up a first for Aaron Rogers. I wouldn't give up much after that, maybe a conditional third. They can't be that far apart, John. They can't. I mean, nobody thinks he's worth two ones at this point because nobody knows if he's going to play for two years. He just said 90% he was going to retire three weeks ago. So that's right. Honestly, that kind of hurts the Packer. in the sense. This whole situation is just kind of a sad ending to a weird situation these last couple of years

because he had so much individual success win those MVPs. And those two flameouts are just, I mean, they're pretty historic losses, both at home, the Niners game. I mean, the Niners didn't score an offensive touchdown. And that Tampa game loss, I mean, those are just, it's just been a bizarre way to end a career that, you know, had so much problem. And had high highs, but they were mainly in the regular season. Well, also, not everybody.

I mean, you were in the scouting game. You obviously were good at it. You loved it. Some guys are lifers. You looked at it and thought, probably hard to make money here. I don't like the travel. You know, I'm guessing. I didn't like it.

I am more addicted. And so I think I've had more success doing this. What I've been part of as a podcaster, it comes more naturally to me. I can control more that I saw the addiction in Howie Roseman. Andy Reed and Brett Feach and I went, I don't know if I love it as much as those guys do. And if I'm going to be in the industry and want to go, I'm going to get capped. And it's hard to do that job if you're not an addict. It really is.

It's why Tom, Andy, Belichick, I mean, Sabin, the best are Mark Few, Mick Cronin. I mean, these guys are addicted to the game. Listen, when I got out of college, John, I got a, I was very fortunate. I got a AAA baseball play-by-play job. So I did sales and an inning of play-by-play, which became two innings and I traveled a little bit. But I thought that's what I wanted to do. And then about year three, I worked with, you know, like Ken Korak is the voice of the A's. Yeah.

It has been forever. I know Ken. Yeah, great guy. Yeah. And there were guys like that in the league and guys, you started meeting these guys and you're like, they loved baseball. John Miller. John Miller loved baseball. And I liked baseball.

but I liked football. And so, and we, this circles back to Aaron Rogers. I think he really likes football. But he's not, I don't think he, I don't think he's addicted to it. And so what's happening is all the great young quarterbacks are, you know, they're ascending and they love it. And he likes it. And you see his off-season workouts last year, I just didn't think he played particularly well. So, you know, it's like in my whole career, I've seen guys, I'm pretty addicted to this.

job. It's hard to stay at the top of anything. You can do it on some natural talent, but as you age, if you're not addicted, like Aaron, you start eroding really fast. Like I thought Cam liked football. He eroded really fast. Big Ben, his off seasons were legendarily soft, right? Beers and, as Jake Laser said, beers and camping with the kids, right?

Yeah. So I think you age really fast in athletics if you're not addicted to it. LeBron's addicted to it. He's aging gracefully. And that's why when you look at the young quarterbacks, like the Mahomes, Josh Allen contract situations, boom, handled. Trevor Lawrence, that thing will be handled quick. Herbert will get Joe Burrell. It'll just be smooth. And this Lamar situation, last week, my theory is this. These GMs on these teams are getting calls from someone. They don't know and they don't trust. They do behind the scene deals all the time with the Rosenhouses and the Tom Connons,

but there's a level of trust. They've been working for decades. You're calling me asking about trades. I don't know you. I'm not going to lose my team's second round draft pick over tampering or something. And this situation has jumped to shark now. And part of it is on Lamar. And I'm not super pro agent, not anti-Aid.

Richard Sherman with the Niners handled his contract himself and it was fine. But in this situation, they got a problem on their hand. Lamar's camp. Like they need to kind of rein this in. And if they want to get out of there, if they want this money, you can't operate trying to get $150, $200 million with this level of direction because it's not going well. Well, if you, one of the, when I watch the air movie with Michael Jordan, one of the things Michael and his mom are really good at is making these big decisions. David Falk, Phil Knight, Sonny Vaccaro, Dean Smith. Michael's mom and Michael were really good, big decision makers.

LeBron, by and large, chose Pat Riley and D. Wade and Eric Spolstra. Then the Lakers brand has enormously helped his business. But some athletes are gifted. I'll give you Carmelo Anthony. So when Carmelo was with the Denver Nuggets, he demanded a trade to the Knicks. It actually screwed him. He made it so public that the Nicks were trapped, had to give up a ton to get him. he gets to New York that don't have anything, right?

He's the, he's the $10 million chandelier in the empty mansion. And so he did, Carmelo didn't surround himself with good people that should have said, shh, don't, don't do this. So, um, Lamar's kind of the classic. He just, he doesn't have the right people around him to give him guidance. By the way, most people don't. I didn't at 24. Like, like, I get it.

Um, Michael was so great. rate, the league made sure, probably. You get the right people, right? There's a lot of greatness there. Or LeBron James, like the NBA made sure, let's steer you to the right, to the right people, right? But I feel like Lamar, all of us need guidance, especially at 24, 25. I just don't think he has the right people around him. Well, I saw Richard Sherman set on his podcast on the volume.

Check that one out. To Calvin Johnson about these guaranteed contracts. And for most players, because the guaranteed number kind of hovers between, you know, let's just say 40 to 60 million. But these quarterbacks, even low ones are 120, 140, 150. You basically play out your entire contract always because the way it works on the cap, they can never cut you. It took Matt Ryan until he's like 38 years old to finally get cut. Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, they have played their entire time on that contract that we said was terrible like four years ago. So if you just sign the $220 million contract with $145 guaranteed, the likelihood you're going to see 90% of that is really, really high.

Just Derek Carr played out his entire contract on the Raiders until they kind of messed with it last year to kind of do an extension. And then boom, he gets another $80 million. I mean, as a quarterback, you are in the driver's seat. So they're arguing it feels like over kind of nominal stuff in the big picture of what he's ultimately going to make. Yeah. And again, if he had a really good team of managers around him, he'd get it. You can't ask athletes to be great athletes and like financial wizards. I mean, look, I've negotiated 12 contracts or been part of 12 negotiations.

I have great people around me. I would get taken to the cleaners. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a litigator. So it's like I just feel like. And also, I've said this before. I said it last week. Kauai Leonard and Lamar have this sort of unorthodox personality.

They're not trusting. So Kauai uses, you know, his dentist, Uncle Dennis, right? Which is, I'm, and then, you know, Lamar used his mom. Well, again, it's not the end of the world, but I think it comes down to both are not trusting. Lamar was overlooked by a lot of people. He watched himself in high school and college be dominant and yet he falls. He doesn't trust people. Kauai Leonard was overlooked by a lot of schools.

even though, you know, he was dominating guys in an early age. And so, you know, they come into the sport. They're kind of unique personalities. They're non-trusting. They take an unorthodox agent stance or route. It's, it's, I've said this before about Kauai. I'd love to have him on my team, San Antonio, Toronto, when the culture is built. You can't build around him.

He walks into the facility, I've been told, 345, I'm not playing tonight. You can't operate like that, yeah. So he can't be your one. And I, you know, listen, I'm rooting for Lamar to sign because he makes the league better. He's a fascinating player. And I think he's a really good guy. But, you know, man, management has an advantage if you don't have equally strong management surrounding you. Looking to get more out of the NBA season?

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The no sweat first bet up to $1,000, promo code Colin, make every moment more this season with Fandul an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 plus in select states. Fandul's offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia.

1-800 next step or text next step to 533442, Arizona. 1 888 789 777 or visit CCPG.org slash chat, Connecticut. 1-8009 with it, Indiana. 1-800, 522, 4,700 to visit KS Gambling, Help.com, Kansas, 1-8777-7-0 stop, Louisiana. Call 1-800-327-50-50 or visit www.m.m.m. M.A. underscore helpline.org slash problem gambling. Visit www.md.md.mbleinghelp.org, Maryland. 11778 Hope, New York, or text Hope, New York, 467, 369, New York, 1,800, 522, 4,700, Wyoming,

or visit www, www.1,800 gambler.net, West Virginia. 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, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

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

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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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you finishing that sentence. 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. You think there's been a lot of talk, Frank's history with bigger quarterbacks in Carolina. They make the trade, obviously last week, Teppers.

Yeah. I mean, it's his team, but he's going to all these pro days. He's right by, you know, I heard you say, you know, just kind of a way to get, make sure we're bringing a huge contingency here, see how he handles himself. Clearly, CJ's a pretty high-level guy. You do the same with Bryce. Do you think they already know who they're going to take? Because that's what it feels like they're going to take CJ Stroud. But, you know, I've been in these meetings.

There's still a lot of debate going on, especially when the other guy in Bryce is a really high character guy at the highest level also and has had so much success. So I could see the conversations. You know, running right up for the next three or four weeks up until the draft. Well, I talked to an NFL GM this week who told me, Will Levis has the fewest, there's three or four key traits that you have to have and that Will Levis had the weakest of the four because he was reckless accuracy issues. This GM said of the top four quarterbacks, he has the fewest traits you really want. So take Will Levis out.

So it comes down to the final three. I think the size, fair or not, is something as a number one pick. I mean, Kyler was a little small. He didn't want to get hit anymore. Baker was a little small. Mansell was a little small. Two was a little small. We've got a history here.

You take a small guy up top. The hits land differently. So I think there are concerns about Bryce Young. I think they wanted to see CJ Stroud. They wanted to meet him and look him in the eye. And they think that C.J. Stroud has some of Bryce Young's accuracy and experience. And they kind of just wanted to see what's he like as a kid. Because I think they look at C.J. Stroud and say, well, big school with NFL receivers,

really good coach. You get hard coached, very accurate, very composed, doesn't make a lot of mistakes. CJ didn't have a lot of big interception games. I think he had one or two bad games in bad. weather in the Big Ten. So my guess would be they wanted to go CJ and say, hey, does he have enough of the Bryce Young kind of cool confidence composure? And if he does, we get three and a half more inches and 20 more pounds. Because if you look at their college stats, there are some similarity as an accuracy of delivering the football. And remember, Frank Reich's history, he's a polisher. He takes guys that can be a little wild Anthony Richardson. Yeah. And

polishes them up. But I don't think Anthony Richardson, like, he doesn't feel like a one year. I mean, he could be a two-year build. And I don't think Frank wants to wait two years to have a guy ready to play at a high level. Yeah, I think the outlier in Josh Allen has really kind of skewed everything. Most of these guys tend to be in the history of the game more Malik Willis than Josh Allen. I went to a spring training game yesterday. And it was the Dodgers against the Royals. And it's Dustin May. the Dodgers, you know, the big redhead kid who throws 98, 6, 5. Yes. And then, well, he's on the, probably the 18th hole of his career. This guy's made $350 million.

It was Zach Granke, who's a small player. And it kind of hit me like everyone's banking on May to have this long career, make all this money. But it's just potential size. He got rocked in the game. And then you see Granky, when I Googled, $350 million in his career was incredible for a large percentage of it. And small guys, if they are special, can't. and dominate. Now, their floor, like, you know, if Bryce Young's going to hit, he's going to be really good. But it's much harder for him just to be. And this is where I think people talk

themselves out of it. If it doesn't go perfect, how does he just be like Jared Gough, you know, or Alex Smith? Because there aren't just, usually the small guy isn't just solid. Look at Kyler. He was either going to be really good or he's going to stink. There's not just like slow and steady. So that's where I think the debate on Bryce is legitimate. But if you do believe he's going to be special. And there's only a small percentage of those guys. Doesn't even, just because you were special in college does not translate to the pros. You know, we have a long history of guys that are great in college that can't play in the NFL. I tend to think he's going to be an incredible player just because I heard Bucky Brooks and Daniel

Jeremiah talking about this, that we talk a lot about small guys getting injured. Most quarterbacks in recent memory that get hit, get hurt. You know, I mean, Trey Lance is big. Jimmy Garoppolo's bigger. That you get hit, you get hurt with the size of these defensive lines. and the linebackers coming into the game. So it's more about just protecting your quarterback. Herbert broke some ribs last year last year.

Well, Stafford's falling apart. Matt Stafford's falling apart. He's 34 years old. So Russell's breaking down. He's had knee surgery. He's what Russell Wilson is 33, 34 years old. So, you know, I would take Bryce Young, but I do understand the argument on the other side of the ledger on the small thing.

Though, if you hit with a small, this guy can be. And from the character stuff, you know, Kyler was questioned. coming out by the people internally. No question. Bryce's character, just like C.J.'s, is really, I think these guys are very, very well-liked from a character, teammate, football intelligence standpoint. Well, and also, Bryce was a rock star at high school at 15 in L.A. And then he goes to Alabama and he's a rock star right out of the shoot.

So, like, he's been on the spotlight forever. So I feel like C.J. Strauss' personalities a little more, um, at least, I, I've heard he's a great, has great leadership qualities, but I feel like Bryce Young is a number one pick would be unaffected completely. Yeah. Just he was the best high school. I mean, he was, I can remember talking to somebody when he was a sophomore on the USC staff. And they're like, oh, yeah, it ball comes out different. Then he goes to, you know, his just sort of spatial awareness, pocket awareness, it's way beyond.

I talk to Frank Reich. I can't give away too much we talked about. but he asked me about some quarterback stuff and I said, listen, I saw a lot of Bryson high school. What a tape. And I'm like, coach, he just sees the field different. Like his head is just all over the field.

Whereas C.J. Stroud, Lance Zerline, his dad works in the NFL. Lance does a good job for NFL.com. He said C.J. Stroud is Jared Gough. And by the way, that's not terrible. No. Not at all. And he's more athletic than Jared too.

But, you know, for sure. You know, Belichick's Coaching Tree has been an utter disaster. And Josh remade his image and had been turning people down. He was going to get a head coaching job. Takes the Raider job. Within a year, Derek's out of there. Trades Darren Waller when he gets coming back from a wedding that felt a little clunky.

I don't know if you saw that story, you know. Yes. You know, so it's just now, Darren, if you Google his stats, the last couple of years, he hasn't exactly been George Kittle or Travis Kelsey. But still, it was a little clunky the way that thing went down. Now he, Jimmy's an impressive guy, had a lot of success when his team has been well-run, Patriots, 49ers. Right. Comes to the Raiders.

Dysfunction is part of their brand. Now he's got, Waller's no longer there. Their offensive line got some question marks. I think there is just tangible pressure on Josh now of like, you're going all in with Jimmy. And even if they draft a quarterback, it's going to end up being a Will Levis or a Malik, you know, that's going to take some time. or not Malik, but Anthony Richardson, not like they're going to be ready to play. I don't see how the Raiders, now Sean Payton's with the Broncos, they're going to be much more competitive. We know the charges are good with the chief of the champs.

I don't know, man. I get why Jimmy, you got to take $35 million guaranteed, but I don't know if I see that one going well. Well, there are, you know, sometimes some people are built to be vice presidents. Al Gore was never going to be president, right? Yeah, not dynamic enough, not just not. It's very possible Josh McDaniels is just one of the great offensive coordinators.

I mean, if Sark doesn't get it turned around at Texas, he's a remarkable offensive coordinator. He may not be a head coach. Every time I watch Sark's teams, I'm always left with he recruits well. The offenses are clever. Excellent game planner. They're never quite buttoned up.

Their details are always a little. And I'm not saying this is true, but is it possible? Josh McDaniels is just an all-time great coordinator. And there's nothing wrong with that. It pays $3, $4 million in the NFL. You know? Yeah.

So I think their offensive talent's really good. But I think, you know how when Brady left the box? I think the divorce has been more lobsided than we thought. Brady's success in Tampa. juxtaposed against Bill's struggles in New England. So Josh McDaniels leaves New England. The offense falls apart. You're like, wow.

This one feels like Josh and Belichick were perfect together. And maybe they're just not great apart. It's very possible that Bill, I've seen this my whole life, like some coaches really need a strong coordinator on one side of the ball. They just do. I mean, Saban has hit a lot of home runs at OC. A lot. Nick knows what he doesn't know. And it's just possible that Josh and Bill, they're just perfect. Just perfect. And, you know, for the record, let's admit this, Josh and Bill got Mack Jones to the playoffs. Didn't they? They were pretty good two years ago. I mean, they went 10 and 7 and they probably

could have easily had 11 wins. I mean, they were really competitive that year. Yeah, it's very, and this is not a knock on Josh, but it's like, you know, we talk about the Brady, we talk about the Brady leaving Bill. You know, if Josh doesn't leave, I think New England is kind of in that Super Bowl 18 bubble, because I think Mac is kind of capable with Bill's brilliance. And I think Josh McDaniels does a really good job elevating an offense. But I'm like you. Some of his decisions, he's a little cold, which works in New England. But I remember when he was in Denver and like, everybody's like, dude, Tebow's not a first round quarterback. I mean, I can remember talking to people inside the Broncos who are like, dude, he's our fourth best quarterback in camp.

He's not even second or third. He's fourth. But, you know, Josh is very strong-headed. So I'm not sure he's a head coach. We'll see. I'm not sure he is. I got a big picture sports take. I went to a spring training game yesterday.

I went to one a couple weeks ago. It's packed. I mean, it's just, there's 13, 14,000 people at these games, young, old. The World Baseball Classic, I heard you talking about the ratings. I mean, three, four million people are watching on Fox Sports One. This is a big Fox. So they're doing bigger numbers in the NBA. Is baseball not dead?

Because it sure seems kind of popular to me. Well, I mean, look at what hockey got for, you know, broadcast contracts and nobody watches it. So baseball's ingrained in our society. It's,

you know, it's our sport. It is. It runs alone in the summer. It runs alone. Yeah. Outside, sun,

beer. It's easy. Yeah. I mean, you don't have to love baseball to like going to a baseball game with friends if you're young. The other thing

that I would say about baseball is because of the volume, all these networks now need, they need content. Well, It's the sport of content. So it's like when people bag on the NBA, if it was on the open market,

you'd have multiple bidders. You need content. And so I kind of look at baseball. As much shit as Rob Manfred gets, I sat on a plane next to a general man, a double A general manager flying from Atlanta to L.A. In the Richmond, Virginia area. And he said, we've had this clock for two years.

Game flies by. It does. It makes a tangible. difference at the park. You're out of there in 243 almost every night. And my thing is, baseball's fun. It can get really slow.

You take that out. And by the way, the defensive shift, more runners, more stealing. So, John, every sport changes. Football's been the best at changing quickly. But like, there's no perfect sport. This shit all changes.

Like, baseball was just getting too slow. had two few base runners, tweak it, and my guess is the numbers will be up. You think part of Roger Goodell, who just got another contract extension, media hates them, but, you know, the NFL's taken off like a rocket ship for the last 15 years, has benefited. You see Adam Silver. I mean, John Morant, he's got buddies pointing a gun at a PACER employee. He's doing all that.

He got, I mean, he barely got his wrist slapped. I mean, the Adam Silver experiment, you talk about a number two, might have been a great vice president. I don't know if he's a great president. You know, David Stern, was. just a much more of a foe I felt for the NFL in terms of just running his business. And it feels like the NFL is separated because the NBA and the NFL, they overlap, right?

October, November, December, January. And it's even now in March with free agencies really big for the NFL. And then the draft in April, it feels like Roger's success. He's benefited a lot from Adam Silver just, I don't know. I think he's a pretty terrible commissioner. Well, I think basketball's always been linked to sort of, it's kind of, it's It's a cultural sport. It's culturally significant style aesthetics.

Race discussions. Goodell doesn't have to deal with some of that. It's about winning and losing. It's also the sport we bet and now legalize gambling. Last year you saw it. Fourth quarter TV ratings up. People don't abandon blowout games anymore. So I think football is a little easier to manage than basketball.

And that's, I love the NBA. But, you know, there's, there's, it doesn't bother me, but it's, it's, it's, it's got a cultural significance. And its athletes have always been outspoken. And they should be if they believe strongly in something. You know, I'm, I love LeBron, who's much more willing to talk than a tire or a Michael Jordan. And I love them for that.

But, um, I think the NBA's always had its challenges when David Stern took it over. There was a big drug problem, big cocaine problem. teams teetering on bankruptcy. Stern had the deal, and Adam Silver was some really bad ownership situations. You've also had, you know, the COVID challenge, I thought Silver nailed. I still can't believe I watched games inside a, with digital fans. I couldn't believe they pulled that stuff off. So I think there's been some definite wins for Adam Silver.

You know what I also think? Because even back during the Spencer Haywood days when I was a kid John, it's always been a players run league forever. So when people say, oh, players having too much power, they did in the 70s, 80s. When you only have five starters on the floor, one or two guys literally, it's like international soccer. Rinaldo Messi, they get what they want. They want to coach fire. They get him fired. I think with the NBA, it's still really popular.

but I think part of the analytics of that sport is and it's really funneling is that there's a lot of evidence. These guys should be playing about 60 games, should never play back to back. I mean, these guys have unique 6 foot 9, 7 feet. It's harder to travel. And I think inside the league, I've talked to an agent, I've talked to scouts. There's real evidence now. Like Anthony Davis is pain free. It's like, dude, you're not playing tonight.

And I think, I think it's hard for fans to digest that. You go and pay. I mean, the other night, you know, there's a Laker game. It's like, oh, LeBron's out and A-D's out and this star's out. It's like, well, it was the sons played somebody and I'm like, well, everybody's out. But the Warriors play the Sixers and the Stars are playing outside of Wiggins, and I'm in. So I think there's an analytic thing. They're not always good, John.

Baseball, analytics, fewer. Base runners. Strikeouts now don't matter. Basketball analytics in terms of player health are signifying some real truth. 82 games is just not good for players. It's not. And so I think they're in a tough transition point with some of that stuff. There was a little, David Stern always would tell people privately. Nobody watches this until the playoffs anyway. even in the Jordan days, the idea that we just watch the regular season. No, we didn't. No, we really didn't. And now you've got a world where there's a zillion games on. There's no special.

So I think the NBA will be fine. But I do think it is a little harder because players are so powerful. It is a harder sport to be a commissioner of. Do you think the NCAA tournament whose ratings were up, let's face it, we've probably never watched less regular season college basketball. We don't know the players. Right. Do you think that's directly more for gambling?

Yes. Because I heard you talk about passion. It is just a good television product, even if you're not gambling. Then if you are gambling, it's hard to take your eyes off it. So March Madness ratings way up, NFL way up. The two things we bet in America are March badness and the NFL. We bet college football, not to the level of March. You go ask a sports book operator.

Three weeks in March and the NFL, that's what America bets. In England, they bet the England. they bet the, you know, soccer. And so, yeah, I think that's it. Anything we bet is, by the way, World Cup. World Cup had great numbers, even though the times,

I mean, there were games on at like two in the morning. Why? Soccer's another sport that is heavily bet. So I think as the rollout continues, football, March Madness, soccer are going to be the big winners and all this sports gambling rollout. So San Diego,

State, FAU, one of those two going to win the national championship? What a story that would be? I think what Yukon did to Gonzaga, nobody's done that to Gonzaga. I think they're going to roll through it. I think Yukon's the best team. Yeah, they look pretty damn good.

They killed Gonzaga. That wasn't asking. Well, Colin, have a good week. Drafts, not too far away. Enjoy the final four. Talk soon. All right, buddy. Make sure to check out the Dramon-Green show. I brought Draymond Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in

sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope, also chops up with guests like Gary Peyton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download the Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcast, only on the volume podcast network. 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 podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human.