The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Lakers fans should be celebrating, AJ Pierzynski

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Colin discusses the sale of the Lakers and why the future is only looking bright for a team that's embraced billionaire owners. Plus, Colin has seen enough: he's out on Shedeur Sanders after his speeding citation and takes aim at his fanboys. Fox Sports MLB analyst and former catcher AJ Pierzynski joins the show to discuss the heated rivalry between the Dodgers and Padres.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for The Herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHartRat Radio. app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Oh, it is a Thursday. We have so much to talk about. We are live. It is the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. We got A.J. Prisensky talking about the Padres Dodgers rivalry, which is intense. Albert Breer. Christine Brennan. It's got a new book out. I started it last night. Really interesting on Caitlin Clark.

Christine Brennan's been very, very critical of the WNBA, and I think deservedly so. So we got a lot on the docket today, J. Mack. But yesterday, after the show, there was a... And we don't normally talk a ton about this, but there was a sale. It wasn't long ago the Celtics sold for $6 billion. L.A. is a much bigger market.

They sold for $10 billion yesterday. And now what he? Laker fans aren't quite sure how to run. react and I'm here to tell you it is a great day to be a Laker fan so the group that bought the Lakers already owned a part of them

Mark Walter Group really shrewd L.A. resident all you have to do to wonder what's going to happen to the Lakers is look at the Dodgers. Scouting, research and development, facilities, patients, A-plus, plus-plus,

plus. Sharp dude. Don't know him. No people that do. They spend more money than anyone, but they are very judicious. They rarely miss. The Lakers have been a mom and pop shop for years. It's Jeannie Bus and Friends of the Family. That's cute. But this is 2025 and it's pro sports. The organization needs more juice, more financing, more eyes, new eyes, and this is what they have. They're going officially from dial up to fiber optic. Yesterday was a great day to be a Laker fan. Now, the reports are, well, Jeannie Bus will still be the governor. She will still be in the front office. Yeah, and that's what Mark Cuban told us when he sold the Mavs,

and then he didn't know about the Luca trade. That's sort of a big deal. She's not going to have any power. Now, I think she's done great in operations. She's beloved in Los Angeles, a really cool person. Having her around the organization is awesome. But this is a whole different, When you spend $10 billion to buy something, you're going to have the final say. And that's what the Lakers need. This Dodger group, I'm telling you, man, they update and upgrade constantly. They don't get money away. They could have had Manny Machado.

Nope. Corey Bellinger. MVP. Corey Seeger. They'll move off people. Since Mark Walter and his group have arrived, here's the reality. The Dodgers are first or tied for first and wins. penned, titles, world series titles.

And I hear this stuff. I hear all the fearmongers, Colin, just another oligarch, another billionaire that doesn't care about the team. You want to know the worst owners in my life? Ted Steppian, look it up, Donald Sterling, Marge Schott. None of them were venture capitalists. None of them like Mark Walter were global asset managers.

small thinkers, bad people. Not this group. When you watch the Dodgers, man, they don't miss. It's impressive. By the way, a lot of teams spend money. Yankees spend a lot of money. They're top heavy. Dodgers never are.

So even the way they finance stuff, deferred payments, they're always a step ahead. They go and get the very best people. When they took the Dodgers over, Andrew Friedman was the hot shot GM in Tampa. They went and got him. They were working on that Otani. deal. Three years, when he was an angel, three years out, they started working on that deal.

I would not be surprised if they doubled the R&D, doubled the scouting department. The Lakers have too many friends and family. I'm looking for a meritocracy, not a barbecue. This is a great day. Don't be afraid of something that's been in the building for years. Now they own all of it. Okay. I think the Lakers, the bus family owns 15% for a couple of years. Okay. The media does something from time to time, and it kind of rubs me the wrong way. They pander. And I get it. Athletes are young.

I've said this before about the NBA. I'm not going to beat up on young NBA players making mistakes. They come into the league at 18, 19, 20 years old. Okay. but the NFL's different. You come into the NFL at 22, 23. Now some guys are staying in college for N.I.L. Money, maybe 25. And at the quarterback position, I am harsh and punitive.

The media, again, tends to pander too often. I warn Cleveland about Johnny Mansell. Colin, you're overreacting. Uncle Colin was right. I warned you that Baker was good, but too immature. I was right on that too, and Stefansky eventually showed in the door. Baker now has grown up. I like this Baker, but I was right.

And I was right about the Sean Watson. Creepy, cringy. That's not a leader at that position. So yesterday, Shadour Sanders got caught speeding over 100 miles an hour. He's a quarterback. Mike Tomlin often says two is a trend. Can't screw up three or four times. Two is a trend.

Just two times. I'm not sure if I need two times when you're a young quarterback. One bad judgment turns me off. But I have now, in the last couple of months, two things that really turn me off, Wish at Earth Sanders, who I have championed, that cringy, awful, legendary draft room. Bro, you're a B prospect.

You know, your dad's prime time, who led with his ego for years, you got to have a little self-awareness. I had more than one GM say, total turnoff. Come on, it's not the end of the world. It's a bad look. And now this.

100 miles an hour. Yep. All you fan boys, go ahead. Mansell, Baker, Deshawn Watson, defended it to the hilt on your Reddit account. Sorry. Don't minimize it. Don't pander.

this is not good for a quarterback. Not good. As of today, and I've said this for years, I do not cling to opinions. New information, new opinion. I'm an airline pilot. We got a storm coming. Here's the latest radar.

I'm changing my route, not flying headfirst into it. I don't think about him the same. There was a moment I thought Will Levis about four months out from the draft had a chance. And I turned on Will Levis when he started showing up like a bodybuilder, gun show. And I had two NFL coaches, both needing quarterbacks who text me, got my number and text me. They're like, this is the exact conversation we are having in our building right now.

Two NFL coaches, head coaches. They're like, bro, we're laughing, watching this. It matters. New information. Legendary, 100 miles an hour. Judgment is 50% of being a quarterback. When you fall, do 144 in the draft and then try to match that number behind the wheel of a car. Yeah, I don't think the same.

You ignored signs with Mansell and Baker. And apparently, based on the traffic violation, Shadur was avoiding some signs, too, the ones that say stop. I feel differently today. I'm not as high on him. I'm not sure he's mature enough. Now I'm going to have to like Kenny Pickett. Jemak. Oh, boy.

I'm laughing at Kenny Pickett, not obviously the Shador situation. But Colin, it's an interesting 180 from you, my guy. Yep, yep. Going from, hey, put him in the Hall of Fame because of seven-on-seven drills in June. And now it's like, well, he was going 41 over the limit, let's say. Hey, you know me. You and I are similar this way. New information, new opinion.

I would agree. And I said, I did not like the legendary draft room. It was cringy. It's not the end of the world, but people reached out. You add these two together. All you have to do, Cleveland. Manzell, Baker. I kept saying, Baker did something.

It wasn't the end of the world. But it's something. It's a lack of self-awareness. You know, it's like your shirt off, posing with a tiger. It's like, bro, how about you play a game? Like one. before you go supermodel on us. And in the end, Stefansky and

and Andrew Barry, two smart guys were like, yeah, we just, he's putting, he's starting too many fires not putting them out. It's something. Yeah, interesting. So Dylan Gabriel, QB1, no, in all seriousness, though, regarding Shador, like a speeding ticket's not the end of the world. Not the end of the world. So it's after midnight. Sounds like it was a nice new vehicle he's got,

probably a V8, a lot of power. I guess my question, Colin, is like, have you ever worked with someone who you knew was on thin ice? And you're like, man, They're looking for a reason to get rid of that guy. He better not screw up. And he makes one misstep, and he's gone. Have you ever worked with somebody in that realm?

Listen, when you fall to the fifth round and are perceived as a first round quarterback, you are on thin ice. And when there's a perception that the owner wanted you drafted, not the GM, you are on perilously thin ice. They're not letting him practice with the ones Dylan Gabriel is. You're on even thinner ice. You can't get in trouble. You can't get in trouble.

This is not good. Do not minimize. I can assure you this. Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefansky didn't go, this is super-duper. Well, yeah. They rolled their eyes. They probably were looking at the owner like, see, I told you. But again, this is just a speeding ticket.

I'm going to remind you, Dak Prescott had an incident before the draft. Do you remember not great, had an incident. And people were like, oh, how can you do that before the draft? Like, where's the awareness? But, but, DAC, Priscott. Prescott, if you went back to, and I said this, the Dak Prescott stuff I talked about on this show, and, you know, he did drop to the fourth round for being a very good college quarterback. But Dak Prescott, from that moment on, has been one of the best leaders, period, at any position in the NFL.

I'm saying it's not the end of the world. But when you, and by the way, there were four or five incidents. I saw one piece of video against Nebraska where Chador did some stuff on the field. I didn't love, like, by the way, there are people on the internet that will find you four, five, and six pieces of video in college where he was a little into Chadour Sanders, not the greatest teammate. Right. Again, I stayed away from that, but when I watched, when I watched the legendary draft room, I'm like, oh, dude, a little. Again, if he's a cornerback, you know my rule on this. I look at point guards and quarterbacks differently.

Now I look at it now, and I'm just, this may be the last Sederer Sanders segment I do. Wow. No. Yeah, I think it is. Over a speeding ticket? Colin. Again, you're not listening. It's not a speeding ticket.

It's multiple incidents in college. It's the draft room. Just like, you know, broadcasters. If your show doesn't get ratings, you're on thin ice. You overlooked all of that during the OTAs when he was crushing. No, no, no, I didn't. I talked about it every day that it was amazing. I've never overlooked a thing.

I've always gone over-the-top positive. J-Mack, let me give you some guidance to an old guy. Okay, very few people in important positions, you're judged every day. 100%. I'm judged by management at my company, and they like me every day. Doesn't take many screw-ups. narratives change and that's after success

I mean look at think how great Brady was Belichick was drafting quarterbacks every other year just in case Goropolo second round they couldn't have used

another receiver if you don't think management's talking about I had a great agent years ago I had an agent I brought him up yesterday named Nick Con Nick Con the greatest advice

I ever got he said companies make a decision a year before they tell you I now own a company company, I make decisions six months before I tell anybody. You think upstairs in the building, they're just like, it's just, you know, his foot got stuck on the get. It's not the way it works.

I agree. This is so weird. You were in, you were a big Shador guy. I was kind of anti-they like Dylan Gabriel. Now this, and I find myself, I kind of want to defend Shador a little bit, but it's, it's not indefensible. By the way, this is a screw up by him. He knows that.

Let's not take you or I. Somebody's watching or listening to my show. Love your wife. Great kids. Support have got your back. You walk in, she's with a mailman. What? Does it not change everything?

I mean, it's not the end of the world. She's not an axe murderer. Infidelity in an instant changes everything. And it's not the end of the world. It happens all the time in relationships. It's something not appropriate. yet. Go ahead.

How does he overcome this? Again, it's not a great look. I don't think it's the end of the world, you know. I didn't say it was. I said for me, I didn't say it. For me, it's different. Now it's different. Sorry, I'm out.

Good luck. Fifth round guy. You know what? I'm going to go to a Reddit board under CC and start posting some Dylan Gabriel's demand post. Get on board the hype trade, baby. Dylan Gabriel. Here he comes. It's the herd.

We're back in a second. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

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None of the Bull. A report that LeBron James is, quote, comfortable with the sale of the Lakers. He's 40, he's played 22 seasons. And I'll say this about the new. ownership group of the Lakers, it's the ownership group of the Dodgers. That ownership group and the front office moved off Cody Bellinger, a National League MVP, Corey Seeger, a World Series MVP, Max Scherzer. They knew Manny Machado was going to go to the pod raise their rival. All right, see ya. They could have paid for all of them. They'll move off stars. If Luca doesn't stay in shape,

if Luca doesn't defend at a higher level, they'll sign him to the summer max. He'll get his $228 million. They'll move often. They will move often. Kobe Bryant, in my opinion, had too much control the last four or five years. And LeBron, in the last two or three to me,

has too much control. He's the ecosystem of the offense. And Dr. Bus loved family and friends and understood stars. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think the Lakers, the Cowboys, The Bengals have been run like mom and pop shops. Too many friends and family. Not interested.

I want the best person, not the best last name. That's what I'm looking for. So the Dodgers with this group have moved off. MVP's, not just MVP's. World Series MVP's in their 20s, 30s, young 30s, mid-20s. Don't move off guys. They don't care. They prioritize winning.

And the bus family, to their credit, has always understood the best. value of stars. They've been very good about that. You can go, you know, Kareem, now the bus family didn't have, but Magic Johnson. You know, they understood it. Shaq, Kobe, they get it. LeBron, A.D., they get it. Okay, but, but you got to get the right stars. When the Yankees signed John Carlos Stanton, when they've already got Aaron Judge in the building, duplication, you got injuries with John Carlos Stanton. That's not a smart move. That's just, that's just bad money. He struggled with his health. He's never really been as a good as you think, and you had a duplicate player who's better in the building, a power hitter.

So to me, it's not just money. They will hold Luca accountable. And by the way, the second richest ownership group in the NBA right now is the Dallas Mavericks. And they said, well, the max he could make with a Mavericks is much greater than the Max for the Lakers. And they said, no, no, no, no. He's getting hurt. He's not in shape. He won't defend. Even to Walter group. And they've got a lot more sports properties and a lot more experience. If Luca doesn't get in shape and I don't want to see another video

of leg presses. He's a pro athlete. I do leg presses. I'm in radio and television. I do leg presses twice a week. I don't want to see that video. I want to see the results. And I want to see defense. All the great Laker players in my lifetime,

Jerry West, elite defender. Kareem, elite defender. LeBron Elite, Kobe in his prime, Shaq in his prime. Gassal would defend. Anthony Davis, great defender, underrated defender. Maybe the best defender in the league the last two years. Luca?

Come on. You got to do better. Got to do better. All right. I mean, Kobe has as many all defensive selections, the staff just sent this as Kevin Garnett. I mean, Kobe was, took great pride in it. And you didn't have to send me videos of, you know, LeBron James doing leg presses or, or Jerry West, pre-Ticot or pre-Ig. He was doing like presses, okay? I don't need to see that video. Look, look, he's doing sit-ups on an off

day, not interested. Watch the games. Let me see results. J-Mac with the news. No, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. A hater. Sorry, I had to get that. Hater! Out of my throat there.

All right, let's get started game six tonight in the NBA finals. Feels like it's over. Tyrese Halliburton, they're calling him a game time decision. He did take part in yesterday's practice, which was a film session and a walkthrough with light shooting. If you're watching there on FS1,

you can see the calf kind of tightened up when he went down there in the last game. Colin, it sounds like Halliburton will not play. Here he is talking about his status. You have to understand the risks, fast directions. But I'm a competitor. I want to play. I'm going to do everything in my power to play.

And that's just what it is. I'm questionable from time to time throughout the course of the season. And they trust me to make the right decision on my body when the power is in my hands. And, you know, I'm going to try my best to do that. But, I mean, you understand. I want to be out there. And, you know, that's the plan.

It's unclear, Colin, if he was doing any running at practice. It sounds like there was some shooting. 113-106. O. Casey. Yeah, I don't hate that. Lower scoring. The only way they can win is lower scoring.

This is weird, Colin. I know it's NBA finals. To me, this is your third best option on TV tonight. USA soccer's number one. Obviously, it's a massive. USA Saturday. That's top game. And you know we can't lose that game.

Second is going to be Caitlin Clark, which we'll talk about here shortly. But for me, I don't have a lot of people saying, hey, Jay, any shot the Pacers come back. I'm on tons of text chains. People are not talking about this year. If Halliburton was healthy, the series would have some juice. His inactivity or marginal playing, it's over. They're not beating this team two times without him. This team is so good at ball pressure on the perimeter that literally the only way to beat them is with ball handling and ball movement.

and the best guy arguably in the playoffs has been Halliburton at that. So it's not going to work. Yeah, it feels over. All right, let's go to the next row. Which is the WNBA? Listen, I know you don't agree with this, but the WNBA has announced no suspensions following the fever sun, what are we calling it,

a melee, a kerfuffle, a lot of flagrant fouls, multiple ejections, an eye poke there. Caitlin Clark got decked. I don't love this, Colin. I'll tell you why in a second. I think you got to send notice. You can't just rough people up like this. Yeah.

I don't like this. There's a lot of smart people out there whose opinion I read or trust that are like, hey, it's got to be a suspension for that. It's got to be just beyond a flagrant or a technical foul. And that's a legit. We can argue both sides. But I think there's a legitimate argument for messaging. We're going to suspend you.

for that. It may not be long two-game suspension, but I think you can argue reasonably that it deserves a suspension, and I wouldn't push back. You know, not everything I'm definitive on. There are things that I'm like, yeah, either side's fine. And I think in this, if you think there should be a suspension, I'm good with that. You can argue that. So here's the other layer to this. So tonight, the fever played in expansion team, the Golden State Valky. I don't know, I don't know, I don't follow their team or any of that, but I read about a gambling guy does a write-up, and he's been following this Golden State team.

The number one thing they do is physical defense. They get in your face, listen, and the league announcing basically, oh, no suspensions, it's fine. Expect this team to go hard at Caitlin Clark tonight. I'm just putting it out there. I'm not saying there's going to be a fight or anything, but they play physical brand of basketball. Caitlin Clark better get her enforcers,

because this is going to be a theme, and I'm excited for the Christian. Christine Brennan interview later. I got the book as well. I'm very pro-Kately Clark. You know that? Colin, I am worried that she's going to become a target in this league. People are jealous.

Oh, she's our showpost. She's carrying the league. Well, I'm going to show her. I don't like some of this stuff that's swirling out there. That's fair. And it makes me want to watch the game. This game has more juice than the NBA finals. No question.

No question. You're not lying. Final story is to Major League Baseball last night. had some drama. Dodgers Padres, great rivalry. Here we go. Let's set the scene in the ninth inning. Will Smith steps up as a pinch hitter. Smith pushes a fly ball right center field. Tatis on the run at the warning track.

At the wall, this game is over. They celebrate in front of the play. A walk-off home run for Will Smith. The Dodgers went in the ninth, four to three. I actually thought it was initially caught. Yeah, how did Tatee not cat that? Yeah, I mean, for a second. This rivalry is so good.

They have played now 24 times in the last two years. 13 Dodger wins. I think it's 13 to 11, and this was a go either way again. There are so many great players in this rivalry. It is insane how much talent these two teams. We saw these teams play last year, and I remember if they play the playoff game, and the Dodgers, I remember, went with a bullpen game. and had, did they shut them out?

And I remember being just shocked, because I thought the momentum had swung in the Padres' favor. So the Dodgers just have a way of always winning the big games in this series, but it's a, it is a star-studded, 7-8-9 elite players in this series, minimum. Yeah, Dodgers now 5-1 against the Padres this season, kind of dominant. Colin, I know you don't want me hyping L.A., But between this Dodgers team that just won the World Series, probably going back, Lakers' new ownership that's going to spend to build around Luca.

You got L.A.C. as a beast out here in soccer. Why wouldn't I want you to hype L.A.? I'm flying there Sunday morning. Yes, I'm aware. The city awaits your arrival. Oh, by the way, the Rams, I can't think, according to you, are going to the Super Bowl. The Chargers and Jim Harbaugh, like, everything's coming up at Lager. We've said this.

outside of USC all the big brands in Los Angeles I mean you say what you want about the Lakers but they're not I mean they're making the playoffs the West is very hard they were the third scene in the West not just making the playoffs no it's right now Los Angeles

has really really good ownership the Dodgers the new Laker ownership Steve Balmer they've got and they've got really good ownership and a lot of cities don't Stan Cronkey obviously Spanos family's done a good

job Harbaugh and Justin Herbert and two great offensive tackles. They're spending big money now. So a lot of this stuff is how good are your local owners? L.A.'s got really good owners and really shrewd front offices. You know who at bad owners? The New York teams. The Jets owners is one of the worst in the league. Mara stepped in it recently. James Dolan firing Tibido. By the way, I read this long Knicks piece last night. Oh my gosh. This Nick's situation is terrible right now. I think we read the same piece. I don't know if we'll talk about it later, but, uh, New York. J-Mac with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. So, again, the Caitlin's Clark stuff is fascinating. And I've said this before. You can tell me you respect somebody, but you respect somebody. I don't want lip service. How do you treat them?

Do you treat them as an equal? And I've said from the very beginning with the WNBA, if you want to respect them, then judge them like men. They're great, talented, competitive, intense athletes. Stop pandering. Put the pom-poms down. Take down the protective shield. Caitlin Clark is tough.

She got a lot of Larry Bird. She is feisty. So there's a video that made the Internet. It was yesterday. and you could read what Caitlin Clark was saying, right? And she got a little blowback on that. Because at one point she said, hey, I can do what I want. And everybody took that poorly.

They're like, look, I read an article this morning. She's telling J.C. Sheldon, the NBA, the WNBA's got her back. No, she's not. That's not what she's saying. She's saying like Larry Bird did when somebody got into his face. Okay. Who's playing for second place in the three years? point shooting contest. I'm going to do whatever I want. Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley,

Shaq, I'm going to do whatever I want. That didn't mean the WNBA or the NBA has the athletes back. Folks, if you could have had this same internet lip reading quality with MJ and Bird, I saw MJ and Bird after their retirement, it was a few years ago, they met at a game in the tunnel, and they greeted each other with smiles and MFs. That's how they talked. And that is how athletes talk. Cockey and confident is the language of competition. Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Premier League, NFL, NBA.

Guys drop F-bombs at each other and golf the next week. at each other's charity. That's Caitlin Clark. Stop treating this differently than you would treat a male athlete if you could read lips with those players. Don't treat them differently. And I said this yesterday. I have never been a huge WNBA fan, but I've gone to games and I've followed it.

The quality of play over the last 10 years, go look at the stats on the analytics. bigger, stronger, faster, jump better. It'll never be a vertical league like the NBA. But this whole thing, well, you know what she said. I see these articles. She's saying, hey, the WNBA, I can do what I want. I would argue the opposite is true. The WNBA mangled her first year.

Gave her a tougher schedule to start the season. WNBA, we'd argue, doesn't have her back. Enough. Christine Brennan on the show. That's what she's arguing. What she's doing is cocky and confident and self-assured, and it's great. It's great for Caitlin. It's great for basketball players.

You'll see college kids doing it. Soccer, UFC, swearing confidence over the top is the, that is the language of competition from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, venture capital, and the WNBA. And I'm here for it. AJ Przinski. By the way, here's Caitlin Clark. She is a trash talker, much more than I thought. But you're hearing it and reading it now. Here's Caitlin Clark on her trash talking.

Everybody knows that's how I play. Like, I want the crowd behind me. Like, they love when I get into it with them too. Like, they're here for a show. And, like, that's what I try to give them every single night. That's what we try to give them every single night. And that's what makes it fun. This place is basically full.

And there's so many young girls and young boys and adults and older men that, you know, this might be their first WMBA game ever and you want to perform for them. Love it. You go. Dodgers Padres, Albert Breer, we're just starting. And Aaron Rogers is talking to somebody at FS1. It's the herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen, Kingdom on Earth. He felt down. destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long. Can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a dad. of my own experience in the middle 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. Boy, played in the Biggs for 19 years, multiple-time All-Star, a World Series champ on the city. now I'm in the White Sox just down the road from where we're at. Fox baseball analyst always outspoken.

It was a great job for Fox. And teammates with guys from Mookie Betts to Freddie Freeman. He's now joining us live, A.J. Persinski. And I've got to start. You're going to be calling the Padres Royal Saturday on Fox. There, I mean, there is palpable animosity between the Dodgers and Padres. You can see it. I mean, it's, it is jumps off the television, early innings. Did you have a team? obviously you want to win games, AJ. But was it ever personal? Was there a team you could not stand in your career? Not player-wise.

Honestly, Colin, not player-wise. Fan-wise, listen, white socks. I was a white sock. People remember me as a white sock. Cubs. It was Cubs fans. I mean, I got in a huge fight with the Cubs. People remember that.

And Cubs fans were always a little bit meaner to me than everyone else. But it was nothing against the players. Now, were there players you played against you didn't like? Absolutely. But beanball wars? Yes, what they're. They're not fun if you're getting thrown at, Colin, but they're fun to watch on TV when guys are getting thrown at. As long as nobody's getting hurt, we get managers ejected.

We got managers asking who the F certain players are, who they think they are. So this is good for baseball. And yeah, you ask about Dodgers and Padres. They do not like each other. Here's why I would be judicious if I was the Dodgers, Shohei Otani, who is now pitching. The Dodgers have more stars. They got more guys you can go after. could I not argue this is not a battle you want to get into throwing at people with the Padres?

No, but here's the thing, Colin. They have to show them they're not afraid of them. Every team walks into a series with the Dodgers, and there are teams out there that go, we can't beat them. Why are we even wasting our time? The Padres, they don't play like that. Mike Schill, Mandy Machado, Fernando Tatis, all of these guys on the Padres. They don't play like that.

We ain't afraid of the Dodgers, so we're going to show you. And they thought Andy Pahas right there was relaying signs. Dylan C's took a shot, right? So what do they do? They throw at Shoah. The problem with the show a thing is they missed, and then they got to take second chance. That shouldn't be how it goes, but the Padres want to show the Dodgers. We're not a little brother anymore. We're not afraid of you. We're going to stand up for our guys. And that's how you have to do it in today's game because you can't go out there and take guys out a second and take run over the catcher. You've got to do it by, you know, letting one get away by mistake sometimes.

By the way, before we move off the Dodgers, I've got to ask you played with Mookiee Betts. I said this a couple years ago, we pay so much attention to Otani, and we should. Betts is one of the, also one of the most remarkable athletes. His dexterity is insane. Now he can play the infield. Why is he doing that? Take me behind the scenes with Mookiee. Well, Mookie came up as a second basement.

Don't forget, I was there when he made his major league debut. And the biggest thing, I remember being on the Red Sox going, who's this little guys? This guy got power? and then we watched him take BP, and I was like, wow, this dude is legit. And they moved to right field. And he seamlessly moved from second base to right field. And then honestly, I don't know this, but I think Mookie got bored.

He's like, I played right field for years, one gold gloves, one World Series. Oh, you need me to play shortstop? I'm going to show the world I can do that too. I don't know if there's anything Mookie bets can't do. All right, I want to talk about the Red Sox have been making a habit of trading their best players to the National League West, and that's why the National League West is so great. So Rafi Devers gets moved to San Francisco. I always wonder how it plays in a locker room

when you trade the best hitter on your team and one of the 10 or 15 best hitters and you don't get high-end position starters in return. Do you think it damages a locker room or do you understand the trade because that whole situation with Devers, Cora, was not good? No, and add in Breslo and John Henry, right? and in the whole Red Sox organization.

So how does it play in the Red Sox? They're like, okay, because if you ask the players, I haven't heard a lot of Red Sox players say anything about this. That's what's been surprising to me. I've heard a lot of front office people and Alex Quora talk about it, but I haven't heard a player really say, Devers was a cancer or not a good locker room guy because the guys I've talked to, they like Rafi a lot.

So I don't know, this was personal John Henry and Craig Breslo, and they had to make a move. It wasn't a good relationship, but if I'm Buster Posey, the Giants, I know how I reacted in their locker room. They were jumping up and down for joy when they found out. We got Rafi Devers? For what?

Wait, we had to trade some prospects and offset some money, but wait, we got one of the best hitters in the game. Oh, they're jumping up and down in San Francisco. So I got to talk about the Yankees. Jay Mack and I got into this yesterday. I said, you know, the Juan Soto deal was weird because the Yankees offered him a fortune, and there was reports that Steve Cohen gave him a suite. And the suite was the difference, which is insane considering the whole thing. But you know what? People want what they want.

They want respect. And Cohen came up and said, I'll give you a sweet. And if you look at the Yankees, because there's no Soto and Stanton was hurt, it feels like to me, and Garrett Cole's out for the year. So to me, the two times they competed against the Dodgers in the series is when Garrett Cole pitched. I don't think they match up with the Dodgers. I'm not sure they match up with a pod race. We'll see in the post. See, they've always dominated.

The Yankees have always dominated the AL Central. So they'll do fine against, you know, Detroit or whoever comes out of that. But my take is this. If Aaron Judge is not hitting, this is a really top-heavy lineup. And I think now is like you start looking at that Soto thing and you're like, maybe we should have given him the sweet. But again, when Aaron's doing Babe Ruth 420, 408, but now Aaron's normal, he's hitting like, you know, average players do.

did Aaron Judge's early season streak hide the truth about this Yankees team and this Yankee lineup? I don't know if it's that cut and dry, but I will say this. When they lost to the Red Sox, they didn't score any runs. Who didn't hit? Aaron Judge. Against the Angels, they haven't scored any runs. Who hasn't hit?

Aaron Judge. And how do the Yankees have to score runs? They have to hit home runs. Last night they scored two runs, both solo homers. Look at the Yankees rankings and numbers. in extra innings. They are not good. They lose because they can't do the little things. They are built on power and home runs as an offense. That's why the Dodgers were able to beat them. Yes, they could probably get through the American League with what they have and survive because of the teams.

But if you go through the National League and you look, Padres, Giants, Dodgers, Phillies, Mets, even though the Cubs in there, they're better than the Yankees, one through 26. So that's where the problem lies. The Yankees are about winning World Series. But if Aaron Judge, isn't superhuman and he doesn't hit and they don't hit home runs in the playoffs home runs are harder to come by it's a tough road for the yankees so the mark walters group just bought the lakers they had a little piece they bought it and and i and i said to start the show listen they're smart they hired andrew friedman they have the best analytics r and d as a former baseball player 19 years multiple all stars a world series champ i know the dodgers have a lot of money so to steve cohen

what impresses you beyond just the dollars? Because we found out a couple years ago with the Mets, you can't buy a World Series. There's got to be chemistry. There's got to be balance. What impresses you about their front office and the way they're run? Well, Andrew Freeman came from the raise, right? They're the raised supersized because they can go out and get debt. They do a lot of the same stuff as the raise, but they have money to spend on debt.

And what they do is they made it a destination to go to the race. the Dodgers and every player wants to go play for them because you have a chance at a World Series every year. And if you talk to any Dodger player, they give you all the information, all anything you need, whether it's, you want a suite, like Juan Soto, one of the sweet, they'll give you a suite. You want to, they fly two planes, Colin. They're the only team of baseball that flies two planes, one just for the players and one for everyone else, the support staff. I've never heard of that. In the playoffs, yes, but for a whole season, it's crazy to me, but they give these players everything, anything they want, and they're always open for

suggestions, which I love. Hey, you want this? Oh, can we be better for this? And if you say, yes, let's look at this or that, they'll look into it. If they make sense, they'll do it. They just redid both clubhouses in L.A., right? Because why they're too small. But they're making money, and they put the money back into the product. And that's why they're great, because of the debt, they spend money, they spend money the right way. Yeah, good stuff. A. J. Persinski. I appreciate you coming on. There's a lot of stuff. The trade deadline still a ways down the line. That's why it may surprise people on the Red Sox Giants move, but I appreciate you stopping by, AJ. No problem, Colin. Thanks for having me, buddy. Good luck.

You bet. It is, I'm telling you, baseball's making a renaissance. There's just a lot of interesting stuff. And there's, you know, and I don't know this exactly or precisely, so I don't want to just spitball. But ever since the regional sports networks, which Fox sold years ago, those I always felt were really valuable for the A's and the pirates and the Royals and the Reds, there is a much greater gap between the halves and have-nots in baseball. But if I'm a network, what do I care? I got to broadcast like seven, eight teams. I don't have to broadcast the bottom half of the sport. The top half of baseball, the Mets and the Yankees and the Braves and the Dodgers and the Padres and some of these teams at the top, they got they got Phillies,

they got dudes everywhere. There is a ton of talent. Now, it is, concentrated largely on about eight teams. So what? I like watching the eight teams. The game's faster, more runs, more hitting. Great drama. All right. We are done with the first hour on the show.

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The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it.

But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in.

I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman.

Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you're. know is somebody coming after me listen to kingdom of fraud on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts this is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human