The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Bruce Arians

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

Doug Gottlieb in for ColinThoughts on Bruce Arians stepping down as the Bucs head coachDuke vs UNC this weekendGuest: Ric Bucher Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening to the show. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Cowherd. Man, do we have a great show. Live at the Final Four. I forget to mention, I think I did.

Live in New Orleans, side of the Final Four, the National Semi-Fourn. finals, the college basketball championship, where actually historical matchup. You have Duke taking on North Carolina, my Shoshchewski coaching, without any question in his last weekend of being a Division I men's head basketball coach going against his arch rival for the very, very first time. Wow, this should be great stuff. All right, so look, we got a lot to get to. And, what is it, a short time to get there?

Yeah. But I want to get back to what happened yesterday. Yesterday, Bruce Ariens made it official. He's retiring from football. That's it, done, walking away with Tom Brady still as his quarterback. Wow. Wow. And what you were told, I'll play for you.

And if, if you enjoy buying beachfront property in states like Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, now oceanfront property, if you're one of those, if you bought the Brooklyn Bridge, I'm guessing, I'm guessing that you, uh, that you probably bought what Bruce Ariens was, was selling yesterday. Because the rest of us are sitting here going, yeah, no. Yeah, yeah, you know. This was Bruce Ariens when he's telling us why he walked away. A number of people have already asked, why are you stepping away from the chance to go to Hall of Fame

and win another Super Bowl? Because I don't give it to the Hsaint. Secession is way more important to me. This has been my dream for a long time. Guys that know me, they knew I wanted one of my guys to take over. That's more important to me than anything. a place where I could go and be welcome back and obviously I have a job now and I kind of love the title's pretty good we'll figure out what the hell it means soon but so Bruce

Ariens wants us to believe that the reason he walked away now as opposed to before Tom Brady came back the the reason is because well he wants a place place to come back to. He wants one of his guys to get. And you're sitting there going like, uh, okay, sure. Like, make sense. You want you. But how did any of that change for the worst? Or how did any of that push him towards this ultimate decision with Tom Brady? It is The Hurd on Fox Sports Radio. Doug Gottlieb seems to have dropped.

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learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Doug Gottlieb, been for Colin. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening to the show. Thanks so much. Rick Buecker will join us in a moment. All right, let's get back to the discussion we're having.

All right, so basically, you know, you just look, I feel like, I feel like, I feel like, I was listening to Bruce Ariens talk, and he sounded incredibly enthusiastic about retiring. He sounded incredibly enthusiastic about the prospects of the Buccaneers. He sounded like this was, in fact, his decision, and he felt good about it. And I don't buy it for one second. It doesn't mean that he's not happy about still getting paid to not coach football. It wouldn't be. For a position that they're basically inventing.

I mean, over, under on number of days Bruce Ariens spends in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offices in the offseason is one, and I would take the under. In the regular season, you know, you're talking about maybe once in a week he pops in. What do we need Bruce here for? But I want you, again, think of the succession of events. Brady retires. It felt a little weird because he was playing so well. They don't rush to replace him. He decides to come back.

There's a report of a rift between the two. There's a report that maybe Brady wants to play and announces he's going to retire, and he says he's going to retire because Brady came back to help his coaching staff. That doesn't make any sense. What makes the most sense is Tom Brady walked in and says, I'll come back. I miss it. But, you know, this feels like a group project,

and Bruce Ariens is the guy who misses a bunch of meetings. or always shows up late and wants to do the oral part of the presentation when I'm doing all the work. Taylor Heineke was a guest of mine. Super week. Okay, super week. And I asked him, Taylor Heineke, remember starting quarterback this past year with the now Washington commanders. And he spent three weeks with the Patriots in the middle of what's been a wild ride of a career. And I want you to think about this for a second, okay?

Tom Brady's work ethic is obviously legendary. So I asked him to tell me his Tom Brady story. This is what he said. First day I got there. It's a Saturday morning. They signed me Friday. First day was Saturday morning. I was like, I'm going to be the first one in the facility.

I'm going to make a good impression. I want to be here for a while. And I walk in, and I'm going to be the first one in the quarterback room. Walk in at 5.15. And Brady's already in there. A cup of coffee, feed up, watching film on a Saturday morning. And I don't know if people know, but Saturday mornings are usually late mornings. It's kind of a walk through, and then you travel. This guy's in there at 515 watching

film. And I was like, God, dang, this is, this is cool. Yeah, that's the guy. That's what it's like. So you got one guy who on a Saturday morning is in there at five in the morning, drinking coffee, watching film. The greatest quarterback of all time, the most successful quarterback of all time, is also the most prepared quarterback of all time. And he was working with Bruce Ariens who, it's not like Bruce is a sloppy. It's not like he doesn't know what he's doing. But it's 5 o'clock somewhere for Bruce Ariens. Do you think Bruce is a 5 a.m. on a Saturday sort of guy? And at some point in time, when you've done something one way and believe,

and it's worked one way in terms of your level of preparation, and then you think of the other guy who's kind of a wing it sort of guy. And look, I can respect that. I'm kind of a winged sort of guy, too. It feels obvious that Brady's like, yeah, I just, I can't do that anymore. I'd love to come back. I want to play some more. but Bruce runs just too loose the ship.

You know? I mean, Bruce tried to sell the world on We'd want to play smart. Like, they were the most penalized team in the league going back a year ago. Bruce Aaron's not a bad football coach, but yesterday he wanted you to believe that he's sacrificing a chance at Canton

to retire for his assistant coaches. Come on, dude. Stop it. I was born at night. not last night. Tom Brady basically pulled a Jimmy Chitwood. Remember Jimmy Chitwood? This is what he did at the town hall meeting

when they thought about getting rid of his coach. So Brady actually pulled the reverse Jimmy Chitwood. Take a listen. I don't know if he'll make any change, but I figure it's time for me to start playing ball. I play. Coach stays. He goes, I go.

Oh, we want to revote, right? Feels like Brady did the opposite. Listen, I feel like it's time me to play some more ball. One more thing. Bruce stays, I sit. Bruce goes. I'm your guy. Doug Gowleyman for Colin, this is The Hurt on Fox Sports Radio in the IHeart Radio app. Rick Buecker joins us. Let's transition to hoops. Okay, so Lakers have LeBron back and Anthony Davis. Are they both definitely playing tonight? From everything I've heard, yes, that's the plan.

This is the last gas effort. They actually could have used it the last time because they can't win the tiebreaker with New Orleans now. New Orleans haven't won the first two, but my understanding is, yeah, this is the last go. Again, I have seen this before with AD. So if you're asking me, is the plan for them to play? Yes, the plan is for them to play. We need to get through shoot around and pre-game warm up before, I would say, anything is a thousand percent.

Right. Wrap them in bubble wrap. Right. Wrap them in bubble wrap. And I hope he gets through the airplanes. One of those warm-up jumpers from the feet of the line might cause something. So we shall see. Okay.

It's going to be fascinating to see if they can solidify their spot in the play in tournament. Yeah. But here's the real question. Okay. They're obviously, if healthy, it feels like better than the play in tournament. But is what what is the legit feeling? of their ability to pull off an upset if they survived the play in tournament? Well, with Chris Paul back now and with Anthony Davis not doing the many favors

by suggesting that last year was a fluke, honestly, I don't know that they helped themselves or that AD helped themselves because if Phoenix was going to coast or think about coasting past them and let them steal a game and make that series difficult, you can forget about that. Phoenix has something to prove now. And the issue is that even when the Lakers get it together and play well, and they have done that at various times for various quarters, they just don't have the ability to sustain it. They don't have the requisite ability to play focused and intense for 48 minutes.

And whether that's age or whether it's the lack of depth or whatever it might be, We've just seen that time and time again. There's times where defensively, they look good. Offensively, they look good. But they have not been able to carry that through four quarters. And the intensity is only going to ratchet up another level in the postseason. So for all the reasons that I thought that they could be dangerous over the last several weeks, and yes, they're getting AD back, and they haven't had LeBron

AD for a while, but they were a 500 team with AD and LeBron. So it's not as if there's this dramatic shift in what their ability is when they have both of those guys on the floor. I just look at it as a team that had aspirations of playing for a title. Guys came in there with the idea that they were playing for a championship. And now there's nobody in that locker room who believes that they're playing for a championship. So it becomes, well, then what the hell are we doing? doing this for. And it's really easy to let go with the rope or give in when things get tough

when you've lost sight of what it was that you were after to begin with. I offer up this is a possible solution. Again, you and I operate in the real world of sports, not the, not the, let's make the most outlandish statement of things that can never happen, right? So when I say, again, I would very much consider, I would very much consider trading LeBron if not only you get a bounty in return, but also you latch on Russell Westbrook's contract to it, right? That beat, because in order to get rid of Russell Westbrook's contract, no one's just going to go like, oh, hey, why don't you give us that contract? And here we'll give you cap relief, right? And oh, maybe we'll give you some draft picks too to help you. Like, that's not the way the world works. You know, you got to give to get. And if you're going to give away Russell Westbrook's contract, you're going to get a bad contract in return, right?

Granted, at least it expires. Is it a, is, is it a, possibility to link those two together in order to rebuild this franchise? I just don't see it because it's such a massive amount of money between the two contracts. That's a huge amount of money. And I just think it would be difficult. I would say that there is a better chance that they move Anthony Davis and that they look for some young athletic pieces. Now, what complicates all of this.

You mean like all the guys they trade away to get Anthony Davis in return for Anthony Davis? No, exactly. Exactly. It's basically it's a do-over. It's a mulligan. But that's what you need around LeBron James at this state. And LeBron is at the level where you're not trading him unless he wants to go. And you're not trading him to someplace unless he wants to be.

be there. And for all the reasons that he moved to L.A., I just don't see LeBron at this stage with Brani with another year in high school and that he's looking to move anywhere or go anywhere. Family has, the importance of family has risen in his sphere. And so I think he likes where he lives. It's certainly for his entertainment production and development company. It's the right place to be. So I don't, I don't see LeBron being party to, no matter what he said about, you know, I could see myself back in Cleveland even. I don't see him moving. I think if they, if they want to hit the reset, there's a much better chance that they try to move Anthony Davis. And as you said, get the package that they gave away to get Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook,

one of the two, because I think it's safe to say that they would be in much better shape right now if they had not given the farm away for Russell Westbrook. Is it a, does Polinka survive the purge? As of right now, yes, because of the relationship with the rambuses. This is where it gets kind of tricky, is figuring out exactly how much of what's being done is Polinka making executive orders and Polinka simply doing the bidding of the rambuses and Jeannie Buss and LeBron James. I don't get the sense that Rob is working with a free hand and making all these decisions. And he's simply taking the bullets. And there are plenty of

people who run their organizations this way where the guy out front takes all the grief. And he's actually not the one making the decisions. he gets to keep his job because he quietly accepts all of the grief. Rick Buecker from Fox Sports and Fox Sports One joins us. Doug Gottlievin for calling this is the herd. Last night, pretty good basketball game between Brooklyn and the Milwaukee Bucks. I thought huge for the Bucks, just because, like last year in the playoffs, when Kyrie was healthy, the nets were the far better team.

Yannis was amazing. Durant misses what would have been a game-winning shot. What is your takeaway in watching that? that match? I thought it was a huge psychological boost for the Milwaukee Bucks, and it is a reflection of how much they've grown since last year. We've seen it repeatedly with the best, they've playing the best teams, and they have out-executed them down the stretch. And the fact that they did it last night with Chris Middleton missing the last five minutes because of a flagrant foul penalty two when he brought down Bruce Brown. I thought it was just massive. It was KD and

Janice going head to head, Janice showing no fear, missed two free throws, missed a pull-up jumper over KD. I love the show of just seeing two guys who not only trying to win the game, but willing to go at each other, willing to guard each other. I just, I loved it. That's what I want to see out of guys that are vying for the recognition as the best player in the league. And Janice came through, came through with the big three in regulation, came through with the free throws in the end that ended up being the difference maker. And I think the other thing you saw was, even without Chris Middleton, the ability of the Bucks to integrate all of their pieces,

particularly the heart of it, Janice and Drew Holiday, is those pieces fit. They can offensively play off of each other. Kyrie and KD. can't. Watching them was reminiscent of watching Oklahoma City with KD. and Russ. It was your turn, my turn. And that is, that is, that's an Achilles heel for the Brooklyn Nets because it's difficult to find a way to make both of those guys a threat on the same set.

and it's not the case with the bucks. Likelihood that Ben Simmons plays this year? I just don't see it. I don't know where he is with his back, but the combination of him not playing all year long, that he hasn't been able to do a whole lot of conditioning. I mean, even with Steph and his sprained foot, he's in the pool, he's doing a variety of things

to try to maintain his conditioning. and he played the better part of this year. So I would expect Steph has the opportunity to come back. Having a back issue, not having played all year, and then this time of year, teams don't practice a whole lot. So his opportunity to get into real five-on-five runs and ratchet up that and the fact that it's a back issue, which are always tricky, I just don't see a way in which Ben Simmons, I almost think it would be negligent

if they tried to bring him back and have him play what, I mean, can he even get in any regular season games? And if you can't get any regular season games, I'm not bringing a guy back who hasn't played all year and throwing him into the intensity of a playoff game. Yeah, no, no, that's to me. This to me it reeks of, if you remember, when Derek Rose was hurt, and people wondered why he wouldn't play when he was cleared to play in the plus. And I think, like, look, honestly, Jamal Murray's in the same position here with Denver. Right?

Like, if this were November, you go like, all right, so you go play the G League, and then you get ready, and then we'll throw you in some games, you play a couple minutes, you slowly kind of ramp up. The problem is it's not, the basketball is a completely different level once you get to the playoffs. And to go from zero to 100, you go from zero to 50, you can't go from zero to 100. And so same question, Jamal Murray. Chance he plays before the playoffs. Yeah, I don't see it.

I don't see it. I don't see it with either guy. And again, you know, for another comparison, it's a little bit different with Paul George and the elbow. Because Paul George could be doing all kinds of leg work and conditioning work and, you know, waiting for the elbow to get right. And he's also got a couple weeks of games. Like if you can get regular season games in and play,

then you can play in the playoffs. But you can't go, hey, now I'm just, now I'm going to play. Just I'm ready to go in the playoffs. Let's go. Like, that doesn't, there's no way. No, the circumstances are completely different, and I don't, I mean, I get why you don't, you hold out hope, but I've just been waiting. I've been waiting for the announcement that Ben Simmons isn't no play this season because of the circumstances. Okay.

In the West you have Memphis is kind of sticking out their chess, right? And Golden State, and obviously you saw some of the trash talk from Draymond the other night. Of course, you also didn't have. Clay and he didn't have Steph. Yeah. Everyone I know talked to in the league says Memphis is a real team.

Like that's a real team. But is it a real playoff team? There's a different distinction there. What do you think? It's a fair question. I feel is this one, have all the respect in the world for

Taylor Jenkins and the job that he's doing. I love the composition of their team. For people that are bagging on John Morant and the fact and his MVP chances because the Memphis Grizzlies are 18 and 2 without him, I believe is not fair. It is a unique group of guys that they have the ability to compensate for the absence of Jaws. Tice Jones being the most efficient backup point guard you could ever hope for leading the league and assist the turnovers. They've got such great complementary role players, and Taylor Jenkins does such a

great job of putting each one of them in their sweet spot. It reminds me a little bit of Rick Adelman and his unique ability to do that. I think they're for real. And I think they're for real in part because I look around the West and I... Everybody's good, but everybody's got a flaw and everybody's got some sort of injury that leads you to believe they're fallible. That's exactly it. It's not like they've got to go through this gauntlet of proven tested teams in the postseason. I mean, Dallas, what is Dallas? Dallas has a bunch of new pieces, and they,

and Luke has never won around. So he's in the same boat as Jod in terms of, do you really know how to close out a series? Do you know how to win a series? And, I mean, the rest of it, Golden State is relying on guys like Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, guys who haven't been there either. And so I think they are legit.

And they got a chip on their shoulder. And I like that. And Jah has demonstrated that he's one of those guys. I was a little surprised to look at it. Like his numbers last year in the playoffs are better than any regular season averages that he has. He's a guy who can elevate his game in the postseason, and not every guy can do that. And I believe that's part of what drives this member. team. You mentioned Derek Rose

with Chicago. I think that one of the reasons Memphis plays the way they do is because they have such faith that if we can get there, we got a guy who can take us to places that we, by ourselves, can't, but with John Morant, we're

capable of doing something special. I think that inspires that entire Grizzlies team even when Jai isn't on the floor. The Celtics, it's like a tale of two seasons, right? I mean, look like a disaster for IMEAedoka early in the year. And then all of a sudden, Jason Tatum decided, okay, I'll be one of the five best scores in the league.

I'll stop missing shots. You know, they get Marcus Smart healthy, and now they're kicking everybody's ass. And then Robert Williams gets hurt, who's just a crazy athlete. And again, it's kind of one of those. He fits into how they play and who they are. They lose him, it changes.

what are their prospects when losing their athletic young center before the playoffs? I'm actually writing a piece on this for next week because I asked this question of any number of, I've got three or four scouts that I've already spoken to, and they've mirrored kind of what my feeling was. And this is with or without Robert Williams, which is, they're making the most out of what they are, but can they go to another level? Can they elevate in the postseason? And there are doubts about that.

There are doubts about them, and there are doubts about the Miami Heat for the same reason. It still comes back to, do you have the players that can elevate your team or take your team to the next level? For the same reason that I believe in Memphis with Jha. You know, can Jason Tatum be that guy every night? And if he's not, can Jalen Brown step in and win you a game or two? There are reservations as to whether they're capable of that. A lot of feeling that, and I've made the comparison, like the San Antonio Spurs, post-Tim Duncan being the best player, as those guys got older,

they were still winning 50, 55 games every season, but you knew that they couldn't take that next step in the post. season. They were just maximizing what they were on a nightly basis and had a great record because of it. Boston Celtics are seen in the same light. Buklas thing, Manu gets into the National Memorial Hall of Fame.

I... Yep. Look, people would like to crush me on this, but I believe it to be true. I think he's... I think he changed the sport more so than Dirk did. I think he's the most influential

foreign player and maybe best foreign player. we've had. Now, it's hard because Dirk was the MVP of the league and he's a great score. And Manu was with more Hall of Famers, right? They had a longer run. It's very, very different. But I like to point out, like, you know, Argentina

went from nothing to winning a world championship and winning a gold medal. He won two championships when he's in Europe. He won all those titles with the Spurs. He basically, you know, I mean, he brought kind of flopping to the NBA. And he

versatile hard to replace. I think Vladique Divots would have something to say about that. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's really the conversation there, right? Is of these foreign-born players,

like, you know, like everybody has their guy, I think he's in that conversation of most influential guy that changed this sport. Yeah, the greatest difficulty for me, and it's an edgy position by you, but there's a lot to support it.

I, unless you're around that San Antonio team and you knew Pop, you can't possibly know what Manu meant to that team. And, um, and to me, like when people say that Tony Parker is above Manu, they didn't watch those games. They didn't watch who closed. They didn't watch who had the ball in his hands at the end of games. Um, and from, the, the, the, here's the difficulty is that Manu as a result of Tony was not good coming off of the bench. So they started him, and they didn't want to play Tony and Manu at the same time because it was just a little too duplicative. When you played Manu, he was the playmaker. So they closed games with him and they brought him off the bench.

But when you come off the bench, you're playing against generally a different caliber of player. And so he never had to start and go against the best. the best, so it's hard to grade exactly what Manu accomplished. But to me, he was he truly was the playmaker and the engine and the

go-to guy of those San Antonio teams. And without question, he was the man on those Argentina teams, because I saw those, and I saw those live, and I was around that team. So, I,

the difficulty is that he made a concession. Like, I mean, he didn't care. He had no, he's one of those weird guys where he has all the confidence in the world, but he has no ego as far as his game and how he fits, what recognition he gets. But he was at the heart of those San Antonio championship teams. And again, like you talk about Dirk and being an MVP and all that. Like, I was there for that championship.

win over Miami. And that was as much Jason Terry and Jason Kid and a number of guys, JJ Barreya, stepping up and carrying the water when Dirk

could not hit a shot, particularly in the first half of the closeout game. Right. And then came along for the ride in the second. Like, I could not feel more different about

who was, was clutch between Manu and Dirk, and that sounds crazy to anybody. If I remember Dirk had, he won, was a game two, I think he almost won, like, on his own, he closed that thing out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, yeah, I mean, without question, he had his moment. He had his moments, and he's a great player. I don't want to take any way, but.

I get, I get what you say. Let me wrap up with this, okay? Scotty Brooks, obviously, a close friend of mine. I know you know him really well. And his point was always when you when you prepped for San Antonio, it was harder to prep for Manu Genoble than it was even Tim Duncan. And he was, it was that he was a, he was an absolutely a focal point. And, you know, it's just hard for people to understand because the numbers for the most part aren't there, but the numbers aren't there because he didn't play as many minutes.

And it was a different, a different role. Buk, we got to run. I appreciate it. Great stuff. And obviously it does. It feels like we're going to have an. Awesome. Awesome playoffs because there really is a lot of questions as to who's that good at that level. Should be awesome. Thanks, thank you.

Looking forward to it. Thanks, Doug. All right. There's a, come up next. We'll get to Heardline News. There's a letter which is yet to be released, which may implicate the Yankees in sign stealing. Huh. That's next time Doug Gottlieb. This is The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. If you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the sports game, what's good? This is national champion and former pro baller Chris Johnson.

Let me tell you a little bit about my new series, KJ Live. KJ Live is the only show featuring me going one-on-one with the brightest basketball minds on the planet to get the real. And when I say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall of Famers, elite coaches, and the top basketball insiders bringing you a unique perspective on all things who's culture. that you will not find anywhere else. To make your next move, your best move. And tap in with me on KJ Live, wherever you get your podcast from.

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. 10 pounds. I was having trouble

stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand-new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, This is right where you need to be.

Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-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 Jek. 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 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. 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.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

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

And that's two. different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Doug Adle been for calling this the herd, wherever you may be, however you may be listed the show. Welcome in. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm live in New Orleans, Louisiana, side of the final four, Carolina Duke.

Maybe we'll get into that a little bit. Kelvin Samson will join us top of next hour, who of course is rebuilt Houston's program. They've been the final four. This year they lose in the elite eight. But he's going to join us and should be really, really interesting and telling us we get ready for

what I think anyone who could consider a historic Final Four. Before we get to that, let's get to Hurdline News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Ryan Music, what do you got, my friend? Hey, Doug. We're actually going to give you a bit of breaking news here in Major League Baseball.

Yeah, that's right. We have a trade. A trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers sending off A.J. Pollock and receiving Craig Kimball. So the Dodgers continue to try and make little tweaks around their roster to keep this World Series window. intact year in and year out. Yeah, it's really interesting that the Dodgers kind of quietly have revamped their bullpen. Yeah. And I don't know how much people picked up on it, right?

Because with baseball, the little we paid attention to spring training because it was pushed back was just basically over the CBA. Would they get it done? And I think most of us were rolling our eyes. Like, you guys just figured out we want to see some baseball. People want to drink beer and get back to normalcy, right? but they, like, quietly have completely revamped their bullpen, haven't they? Yeah, definitely. I mean, they actually do not have Kenley Janssen anymore.

No, Kenley Janssen is no longer on the Dodgers. Correct. Do people actually know that? Again, to your point, probably not, since most of the focus was on whether or not they were going to get games in, spring training. But their bullpen currently looks like they have Craig Kimbril, Blake Trinen, Daniel Hudson, Bruisedar, Gratterol. And after that, they have several other players. They do have David Price as well. So David Price is not really going to be known as a starter anymore,

but probably coming out of the pen or as a part of a starter and a bullpen type game. So they do have David Price, which is a name from years ago that people might have forgot. Ureyes, who, of course, closed out the World Series a couple years ago. So, I mean, like, look, and Kimbril, I just think him walking by the visitor bullpen went back in 2013 when he was the absolute best in the game. Right. And Freddie Gonzalez didn't use him in the eighth inning. And like, look, that's the, that's the, the beauty to sports when you do it long enough is you watch an evolution in sports.

You watch it happen. Right. And in basketball, obviously, it's not, it's not just as simple as, well, they shoot a lot more threes now. The volume of threes. The sport is completely turned on its head. And I think we know when it started to change. I think when it started to change was with the Mavericks with Steve Nash and Dirk Novitsky and then the, and then the sons. when they started playing smaller ball,

and then it evolved even more into the Warriors playing even smaller, right? And that's how we got these small ball lineups at the end of NBA finals games, which really started with the Warriors back in the strength and number days, right? Well, in baseball, 2013 felt like the last year where a manager would stick to the, hey, I'm going to use my closer in the ninth inning. Now it's all about high-levered situations, and I think Freddie Gonzalez not pitching Craig Kimberle in 2013. That was the turning point for the idiocy of, I can only use him in the ninth.

Dude, use him when you need him the most because there may not be a ninth inning to get to. Yeah, we are going to stick with some baseball here. A story that you are just absolutely fascinated with. Brian Cashman of the Yankees was talking to the athletic and responding to a lot of the criticism that he's been receiving for the lack of postseason success that the Yankees have had in recent season. And he responded to it by saying this. The only thing that stopped the 2017 Yankees was something that was so illegal and horrific.

So I get offended when I start hearing we haven't been to the World Series since 2009 because I'm like, well, I think we actually did it in the right way. Pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off. never a great look when you're still looking back on this situation everyone knows it's well chronicled everyone has their opinions about what the astros did which other teams may or may not have been involved it's still not a great look that four to five years later that's what you're pointing to

it gives me very much the darrow morey of the rockets vibes where they were doing the report referees on how they got screwed against the warriors instead of just being like Dude, you lost move on. Now, isn't there some Yankee letter out there? Yes, yeah. So there is a letter that is expected to potentially be released in the coming weeks that Rob Manfred wrote a letter to Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and that it may allegedly have proof that the Yankees themselves could also have been involved

in some improper sign stealing over the use of an iPhone in the dugout. Huh. that would so and if and if Brian Cashman knew or even if he didn't know but I'm sure by this point in time everybody has been checked in regards to whether or not uh they had some sort of implications in this stuff that would that would be a it's a bad enough look for Brian Cashman to assume they definitely would have gone to a World Series at the at the Astros not stolen signs again remember 2017 wasn't one of the great Yankee teams of all time but I Nonetheless, okay, that's his argument, but for them to be stealing signs in a different way would be an exceptionally bad luck.

Yeah, I mean, this is clearly feels like the Yankees, as he's pointed out, haven't been back to the World Series since 2009. And it's clearly become a very sensitive subject in the sense of, you know, baseball payrolls and the fact that they've had one of the higher payrolls for a while now. and they haven't seen much postseason success despite that. And clearly it's getting to be a sensitive subject for him. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. All right, coming up next year, we're going to do.

We're going to get to basketball. So, look, I've been to over 20 final fours in my life. And the excitement, the last one I attended, Last year I covered it, but covered it from a studio in Los Angeles. Last night I said Minneapolis, it was a great crowd, great atmosphere. But these domes, they're bigger and bigger. And sometimes there's not the push ticket-wise, attention-wise, that there should be for this level event. Duke and Carolina, ticket prices through the roof.

It's a historic Final Four. Kelvin Samson nearly got back to one. How's he done this? I'll ask him next in the herd. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast,

The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert 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. On The Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.