The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Lay off of Taylor Swift

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

Colin pushes back against all the Taylor Swift haters by giving facts about how often she is actually featured on NFL broadcasts He defends Lions head coach Dan Campbell by pointing which coach deserves far more criticism for his team's loss in the conference championship gameSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day in the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it is a Tuesday. All sorts of things going on. Bring the juice. Bring the energy. More Harbaugh stuff. Taylor Swift in the show.

Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Nick Wright one hour from now. It was fun on a Tuesday. He'll be feeling it. No nuance. He'll be feeling it one hour from now. You know, Jay Mack, I read this morning that Taylor Swift,

has been worth 331 million equivalent brand value, whatever that means. I don't even know how you quantify that. Taylor Swift has generated for the NFL and the Chiefs. So she has, you know, a lot of people tuning in that normally casual sports fans, which, by the way, I'm all for casual sports fans. If you're watching and you kind of like me, kind of don't, please stay watching. I'm all for casuals. I know Kevin Durant doesn't like him.

But that's a pretty big number. A decent number, yeah. say Taylor Swift and now going to go to the Super Bowl and drive up advertising rates and everything, right? Yeah. So let me start with this. There's a, there's a lot of really weird, lonely, insecure men out there. The fact that a pop star, the world's biggest pop star is dating a star tied end who had one of his greatest games ever. And a network puts them on the air briefly that it bothers you. What does that say about your life? Judge people sometimes on the silly stuff that bothers them. It'll tell you a lot of. about him. When I hear this whole thing about Taylor Swift, I just want to watch football, liar,

you're lying. That's not true. A football telecast is not just football. In fact, the commercials for four hours before the Super Bowl will be widely watched. Did you know statistically in a three and a half hour NFL playoff broadcast or regular season broadcast? Just 18 minutes are actual football. And we have the data. We have the numbers you don't turn away. There's coaches cutaways. They show fans in Buffalo on fire, commercials, reviews, 18 minutes of real football. For the record, about the length of five Taylor Swift songs. Listen to this. The New York Times measured how long she was actually on the broadcast. Do you know how long it is on average? 25 seconds in three and a half hours.

against the Ravens, it was up to a whopping 32 seconds. It was 14 Chiefs and Raiders on Christmas. 12 Chiefs in Bengals. 24 seconds, Buffalo, Kansas City. She was on for a minute against the Dolphins, but it was an absolutely awful broadcast. They should have had a concert in the middle of it. That would have been more interesting.

And why wouldn't CBS, which you know has the Grammys cross-promote the world's biggest pop star. Hey, listen, I worked at the other network. I work at Fox. I've seen us jam people on TV shows. I would never watch during football games and sporting events. Don't forget to watch this right after the game. I've already forgot about it.

Let's get back to the game. But I don't have to rush to social media. I'm okay with it. Here's the other thing that strikes me. Matthew McConaughey. All right, all right, all right. Love him. Drake on everything, Spike Lee, Knicks games, M&M, Michigan sporting events.

We celebrate it. 80s, 90s, Jack Nicholson-Laker games is cool. So, Jack! But a talented and beautiful woman is on the air, one who would never pay attention to lonely men, and it bothers them. There's a stat out there, it's kind of uncomfortable for you sad guys, that 50% of men never have real intimacy with a woman. That means the other 50% have multiple intimate relationships with women. And those ones that don't are angry and sad and lonely,

and they are often misogynistic and resent women who didn't give them the time they think they deserve. We celebrate all these goofballs jumping on tables in buffalo and cheese hats and men and men and Matthew McConaum. Anahee and Drake and Jack Nicholson, man and man and man and man and Eminem and it's cool, and can I get a selfie and I can't believe I saw. And a young, attractive, beautiful, talented woman comes on for 25 seconds. And you're bothered. Again, judge people by the silly things that bother them. This says nothing, this anger.

This says nothing about Taylor Swift. It says everything about the men bothered by it. Let me defend one guy. My wife's from Michigan. She doesn't follow sports. She had a funny line the other day. She goes, who's the cute coat for Detroit? I said, Dan Campbell.

I said, he's built like a house. She said, I like houses. I want to defend Dan Campbell. And during that loss to San Francisco, here's three things that need to be said and loudly. he had his team prepared. As an underdog, by a touchdown, they completely outplayed the Super Bowl-bound Niners and the great coaching staff there. He had his team prepared. He also, unlike what they did somewhere else, leaned in to his team's strength.

He knows what his team is. Great online, run game, power. He leaned right into it. They dominated the Niners' time of his team. possession first half. And also, and this is a cool thing if you're a parent, a coach, a teacher, he remained consistent to who he is. He remained consistent, authentic, real. He's aggressive, sometimes reckless. That never changed. Those are the best athletes and coaches. Flawed. We all are, but they remain consistent. So beat him up for his aggressiveness and beat him up for his play calling.

But let's go back and look at those three things. Prepared check, leaned into his team's strength, check, and stayed true to who he is. He's real. Then there's Todd Munkin, the offensive coordinator for Baltimore. The Ravens were the number one rush team in the league, and Kansas City was the weakest rush defense of the four teams remaining. I'm going to show you a piece of video of

running back for the Ravens, Gus Edwards, first carry of the game. It was in the first quarter, and he gained 15 yards. He's really good. He didn't get another carry until the second half. That is the strangest, aka worst game plan I've ever seen in a big game. The Ravens are defined by their physicality both sides. they are the number one rush team in the NFL all year long. They had 22 first and tens,

and they ran it on five of them, against again the worst rush defense statistically of the remaining four teams. The last time the Ravens, on a first and 10, ran the ball, the very last time, was the first play of the second half. They never did it again. inexcusable, inexplicable, insane. It makes no sense. The rest of the game, they wouldn't run the ball.

They weren't down 17. They weren't down 24. The Niners were down 2410 at home. They didn't stop running the ball. They never panicked. It'd be one thing too if Baltimore ran it a lot in the first half and then panicked. That's not good coaching either. but they literally prepared all week to not run the ball.

The criticism for Dan Campbell, it seems to me, is too harshly based just on the results. If Josh Reynolds on a fourth down catches this ball, it's not even a topic of going for it. We defend Dan Campbell. We say, well, it's who he is. But if Baltimore even had come back to win this game, my takeaway,

and your takeaway would have been, what the hell are they doing? And run the ball. If Lamar Jackson would have saved them, he didn't, but if he would have, it still would have been a bizarre coaching malpractice on display with 55 million people watching. If Josh Reynolds makes that catch,

it's like, well, that's who he is. I wouldn't have done it. And let's be honest, you wouldn't even have said that because nobody likes to admit they're wrong after. You would have said, well, I would have done it too. I mean, it's not that big of a deal. I mean, fourth down, it's who he is. We can beat up on Dan Campbell.

Team was absolutely prepared, leaned into what it does well, unlike Baltimore. And he stayed true to who he is. Here's Dan after. They were bleeding the clock out. That's what they do. And I wanted to get the upper hand back. I don't regret those decisions. And that's hard.

You know, it's hard because, you know, we didn't come through. It wasn't able to work out. But I just, I don't. I don't. And I understand the scrutiny I'll get. That's part of the gig, man. You know, again, I've said this all years. Campbell's not my favorite coach, but I like people who are honest, true to themselves,

don't apologize for who they are. And, you know, apologizes, apologies are just what politicians do. Politicians. I'm sorry for this, and I'm sorry for that, and I didn't mean to do that. I kind of like the Dana White way of doing things. And I kind of like coaches that are like, yeah, this is, how I coach and this is what I do. I have no problem with that.

People make mistakes. They say the wrong thing. They occasionally do the wrong thing. We're all vulnerable. We're all flawed. I'm okay with Dan Campbell. It's not what I would have called, but I'm okay with who he is. What Baltimore did, again, two words, coaching malpractice. All right, Jay Mack,

I just looked at these AFC and NFC ratings. Oh my God. I 56, 57 million people watched both the conference championships. It wasn't that long ago. You're from the Northeast. I remember watching the other network

and there was a show later in the afternoon where one of the hosts, a print journalist, kind of predicted, smart guy, but he predicted football, it is not going to be around long. CTE, concussions, and my takeaway was, oh, you live in the Northeast. Go to Florida.

Go to Texas. high school football, they're selling out stadiums, college football, you can't get a ticket, football, too big to fail, too much passion to go away. It is now safer than ever. But there were people that said, I'll never watch. And this is what people said. This is why I roll my eyes at boycotts. There were people that said, I am done with the NFL during Colin Kaepernick's kneeling. They didn't say they were coming back.

They threatened, I'm done with the NFL. Well, not only weren't you done, you came back and brought 40 friends. 56 million people. So you have a right to boycott. I get it. Our country's founded on boycotts. But I'm going to roll my eyes when I hear I'm not watching blank sport anymore because you don't like politics. I'd rather people keep politics out of sports, but it's not going to be that way.

But the idea, there were people that said, and they didn't say they were coming back. I'm done. Listen to me. I'm threatening. The ratings are 25% higher now than they were then. It's wild, Colin. Every sport across the board. Every sport, baseball, basketball, oh, they're all down. Emmys, all those award shows, they're all down.

TV shows. I mean, look at, remember friends in those shows used to dominate in the 90s? There's no shows like that anymore. Football's the only thing way, way up. I mean, people could write a dissertation on why that is. Okay, I'll tell you why it is. Three things next on that. Be sure to catch live.

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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 which 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,

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follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of ton-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So I was thinking about this this morning, because of Kyle Shanahan's greatness, and because of his dad's legacy, Mike Shanahan, a tremendous coach, often copied, multiple Super Bowls. finishing second

losing in a Super Bowl is just not good enough there are a lot of people in this league I've said that's before a lot of owners most of them it's not about winning it's about retaining power for a lot of people in the NFL getting to a Super Bowl you put it in their resume

they make money off that just getting there so there's two things we know the quarterback is more important than the head coach in this league and number two is However, a great offensive coach, McVeigh, Shanahan, maybe Matt LaFleur now, Andy Reid, can elevate a quarterback another half grade to a great. But even Andy Reid as limitations. Four and 12 final year in Philly.

McVeigh won a lot of games, struggled to beat the Niners, no rings before Matt Stafford. Shanahan, no rings. So this narrative, it's out there. Hey, go cheap on the quarterback, stack the roster. quarterback can be average, slightly above average. But if Brock Purdy, who I think qualifies as average or slightly above average, doesn't win a Super Bowl, gets beat in the Super Bowl, I want you to think about this.

So Kyle Shanahan and Andy Reed are considered the two top offensive scheme guys in the league. McVeigh's more of a culture guy, but he's good at that too. So Shanahan, if he loses, with a stack. roster and not just a stacked roster. A stacked Hall of Fame roster with veteran players, the kind of guys that win Super Bowls. He will have gone seven years without winning a Super Bowl. And Andy Reed will have gone 14 in Philly without a superstar quarterback not winning, and five in Kansas City before Mahomes started.

Seven plus five plus 14, 26 years. And Andy Reed and he, and he, he said. Shanahan are the two best. So if the two best can't win it with good rosters in Philly, Kansas City, a stacked roster in San Francisco, if they can't win it with good, slightly above average, average quarterbacks, what's that mean for the rest of the league? Defensive coaches, it means they got no shot. We've seen this with Andy before.

Alex Smith is good. Good. Above average. Not a superstar. And Donna McMahon-Nab, good. Not a superstar. Wasn't consistently accurate enough. So this whole narrative that, hey, just go cheap on the quarterback, keep drafting them, stack the roster.

If Andy Reed and Shanahan can't bring home a trophy, and that's Andy Reid's not in this to get there, Shanahan's not, McVeigh, the Belichicks, Vrabels, they're not there to just get there. They want to win the thing. So we have all these years, five years. in Kansas City, Prima Holmes. 14 years in Philly. Seven if the Niners don't win. Now they may.

And then it starts the narrative of go cheap at quarterback. But if you start looking at recent Super Bowl history as the league has shifted, pivoted to offense, superstar quarterbacks are winning 95% of these things. Nick Falls is a complete and utter outlier.

J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Oh, man, I kind of disagree. with that, Colin. The problem is there aren't Superstar Elite quarterback. There's just not enough of them. Just like

in the NBA, there's only a handful of guys. Well, ask yourself. There's not enough quarterbacks. So ask yourself. Last 20 years who's winning all the Super Bowls, two quarterbacks. Mahomes and Brady. Okay. Okay, there you go. And Manning had one, and Breeze had one. And so what does that mean for the other 29, 30 franchises? What does it mean

for the other, don't settle? Keep going big. Rams got to a Super Bowl. McVeigh's like, it's not good enough, and Doff is good. It means Chiefs didn't settle for Alex Smith,

who's good. That means is you can keep talking yourself into stuff. I've got all the data. Brady Mahomes dominate the last 25 years of Super Bowls,

dominate them, and then the other ones are overwhelmingly Breeze, Peyton Manning a couple, Russell and his prime, Aaron Rogers, Big Ben. These like, well, Nick Foles,

stop. It's like, saying if you got a winter in Seattle and it didn't rain in December. There's a global weather change. It rains in Seattle and December. But the idea that it's like it was automatically Brady and Mahomes, like the Patriots fell ass backward into Tom Brady. Let's admit it, right?

Sixth round pick. Doesn't matter. The chiefs guy, Mahomes 10th. It doesn't matter how you get them. Are they big, tall, good arm, move, cognitive. Where you get them is never matter. Joe Montana third round Brady 6. Where do you get one?

Patrick Mahomes. Zero people knew Patrick Mahomes would end up being the greatest quarterback ever. Well, nobody predicts greatest anything ever. LeBron was considered the best prospect. We never thought we'd be having debates on he's better than Michael Jordan. I mean, Michael Jordan was literally a notch above magic and Kareem and Barclay. But it took him a while to get there. Again, it doesn't matter how long it takes.

Only people went in Super Bowls. overwhelmingly star quarterbacks. So you would go the route of I only want to go for stars. I don't like this idea of let me try Brock Purdy, Jim McGarillo.

I think Brock Purdy fits into the classic good enough to win a lot of games and perhaps get you there. But when McVeigh is moving off golf, when Andy Reed is moving off Alex Smith, when Shanahan's moving off

Super Bowl Garapolo, the smartest offensive coaches are telling you, you got be great at that position. I mean, good God, think how good Josh Allen is, how good Lamar Jackson is. We're finally this year going to finally see how good Justin Herbert is because he has a legitimate coach. It's, this, again, don't buy in to the outlier being the rule. The outlier proves the rule. It doesn't define it. By the way, and the Chiefs traded up to get Mahomes so clear, I just texted Brett Beech to the GM last night. Clearly can't.

The city knew. They saw something. Oh, by the way, Sean Payton acknowledges he flew to see Mahomes in college. And as Sean said on this set, they kept it private. They flew in, would not stay at a hotel. You guys remember the story? So, by the way, the Seahawks knew Josh Allen. Russell Wilson had won his Super Bowl.

It was in his prime. And they flew to watch Josh Allen. So people knew Josh. People knew Mahomes were special. John Gruden at the time called him The Next Farb. Gruden called Peyton and said, you're looking, that's what we said about Fav. He's Fav.

By the way, this is what they're saying about Caleb Williams. They're saying, all these guys inside the league are saying, that's what Mahomes look like. No pressure, Caleb. Well, if you can't handle us speculating, you're not good enough to be a star quarterback. It would be much better to sit on the bench for a year like Mahomes. No pressure. Nobody's talking about you, and then you go in and crush.

And Andy Reid helps. Yeah. Well, let's start with the Niners Chief Super Bowl. rematch from Super Bowl 54 where KC1, 312. Nick Bosa talked about facing the Chiefs in the big game again this year. It's perfect.

It's perfect. And there is great as an organization, coach, quarterback, as there is. And they were down. Not looking great this year either. And they're playing their best ball now. So it's going to be a big challenge.

Yeah, I think we got ourselves. I think we got ourselves a very, 27-24 football game. Oh, this is he like the over. Interesting. I'm on the under. I look back, you can go on YouTube and watch like all the pivotal moments from that game. I cannot say it enough. Like Patrick Mahomes had a bad game. He had two interceptions. He was sacked four times. He struggled until the final seven minutes when he hit that bomb to Tyree Kill and then made all the plays. Yeah, that was a younger Patrick Mahomes. He has now defined himself over the last three to four years

as virtually flawless in the playoffs. He doesn't have to. You know, people said this weekend, well, they only scored. This is not a great receiving core. It's basically old Travis Kelsey and Rishi Rice. You're not going to score 40 points. That's not what this team. This team is about this front office, retaining Chris Jones for a year contract, and hitting on multiple draft picks in the last three years, defensively.

Also, Debo Samuel, a young player at the time, had a really nice game rushing and receiving. Niners had a lot of explosive plays. He's better now. This is the way better debacle. I don't know if you remember this flag on Kittal, for OPI at the end. I have total garbage call. I'm angry.

I was on the Niners in that game. They were close. No, it was a fan. Garoppolo missed a bomb late. It would have been a touchdown. Yeah, this Niners team is much more dynamic offensively. You have Purdy's mobility. Debo's now mature NFL player.

Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Brandon Ayuk. This is a much better Niners offense. It's a significantly weaker defense. This has a whiff of Tom Brady versus Nick Foals. and the entire world said you can't back Nick Fould. Well, but nobody is saying that. No, nobody is saying that. The Niners are favored.

Well, they barely, but nobody. Have you talked to anybody who likes the Niners? Yes. Who? I live in the West Coast. Everybody likes the Knicks. Really? Everybody.

I must have asked ten people in this building who they like, and they're all set up. Well, we're, I went to basketball last night. Everybody. How are you been against Mahomes? It's Mahomes. Well, everybody I know likes the Chiefs here. The Niners are going to be just fine. Although I will say, as we did yesterday,

five of the last eight quarters, I've watched Brock Purdy in playoff games. He's not been good. Mahomes has had 12 good quarters. All right, let's go to a inferior quarterback to Brock Purdy. That be Jared Goff, your boy. Entering the final year of his contract, reports the Lions will discuss an offseason extension.

He says he'd love to stay in beautiful Detroit. No, up to me. I love this place, and we'll see what happens as time goes. on here, but yeah, I love this place. I've loved every second of my time here and would love more. Again, I can echo what I just said. I love Dan. I love the coaches. I love the players here

and my teammates. Yeah, it would be great, but it's not up to me. By the way, what was that tone in beautiful Detroit? I texted my wife last night. She's from Michigan. Michigan's beautiful. Michigan is there. I hear good things. I've been a couple times. Detroit has

The best Greek food I've ever had in my life at the Super Bowl. I went to the same restaurant three times and seven days. Detroit has the best Greek food. First of all, Michigan is a Detroit, it's a great food city, great music city. Oh, yeah, no doubt. The Motor City, come on. It's just got a lot of culture and a lot of depth. It's downtown's gotten beat up through the years, but they put some stadiums in there.

Have you been to 8 Mile or no? No, I've been to, I have cousins that live there. So last night I texted my wife and I said, hey, you and I have a vacation. We're at this company, we're changing the control room. room and we won't be on the air in February for a week. And I said, halfway through it, instead of going to a cliche sunny place, let's go fly and see your brother and hang out and party in Detroit. Well, we have a little town outside of Detroit that they live in.

And I'm, I think Michigan's wildly underwent. That sounds awesome. Detroit and February. Charlevoix. The lake towns. Probably at least in the high 20s, right? I'll be high. Listen, they're so snarky.

I'm just kidding around me. You're warm weather guys. Got to go up north. Michigan's beautiful. Birmingham, Michigan? I mean, that's where all the ballers live, right? Well, it's the NBA players who live in. Yeah, they stay at the Townsend, one of the great small town hotels in America. I love Michigan.

And you love Ann Arbor. You are Mr. Midwest, right? That's going to be your new tagline, Mr. Midwest. I don't just fly over it. Colin. Final story. Now, this is spicy. I know it's still NFL and Super Bowl, but the Warriors, who you hyped the hell out of in the free season, are 19 and 24.

or one of the bottom four in the West, not even in the play-in coward. The trade deadline is coming up on February 8th. Golden State could be making moves. There are multiple reports out there that the team is willing to trade everyone except Steph Curry and Ramona Shelburne, who you know, reported the Warriors are not trading any of the stars

without Steph Curry signing off on it. I would trade, I would put everybody out there except Steph, Draymon and Kamingka. But the next layer to that is if, let's just hypothetically say Charlotte wants Draymond Green. They don't, but let's just say they do. The Warriors, it sounds like Dunleavy, will go to Steph Curry and say, are you okay with us trading Draymond Green? I don't think he would want that. That is a horrible idea.

They're basically saying, remember Bob Myers left this organization. He didn't want to make these moves. He didn't want to deal with this crap. He didn't want to deal with it. Nobody wants to be Jerry Krauss who breaks up the bowls and says, this is it. No, Bob Myers did not want to get rid of clay. So he kicked the can. So listen, Steph is still great.

And I think I will say this, and not just because he works at my little company, I think Draymond Green, after Steph, is the most important part of 12 years for this culture. I think he's one of the great catalysts, the best defender. Was, right? Well, I still think he's absolutely in big games, Dremon. This team is not the same when he's not on the floor. I don't know what the plus minuses are this year, but last year was not the same team when he wasn't on the floor. After that, Cominga does have moments where I think he's really athletic.

long, twitchy. I like Cominga. I think they're trying to unlock him, but I feel like they've been trying to unlock him for four years. Steve Kerr over playing time, and Kerr's kind of jerking him around. Let's not absolve Myers here. He did draft Weisman and Cominga.

But I'll defend them. Because this is such, a heady, sophisticated, older team and system. Dramon, I mean, look who's flourished here. They brought Bogot in, Andre Iguidala. The old guys they've brought brought in have worked, mostly worked.

This is a veteran. This is like the Patriots at the end with Brady. They struggled getting young receivers to work on the offense. So a lot of it is the culture they created. It's not that Cominga can't play. It's not that Moses Moody can't play. Wiseman was a miss, but if you remember, that was

a terrible draft. It was the COVID draft. It was like Ann Edwards, Wiseman, and Lamello Ball. I mean, it was like a three-player draft. So you say, well, they whiffed. The only guy that you knew was going to be good was Ann Edwards. He's unbelievable. Yeah, no, no, no, he was.

But they didn't need that position. They were looking for size. Here's my thing to you. Curry doesn't want to be the bad guy. Is there a world where Curry goes to the Warriors and says, guys, I know you don't want to screw this up. You don't want to trade Clay, Draymond, I get that. Trade me.

No. Would Steph Curry do that? No, he wouldn't. Come on. He is the soul of this franchise. I'm just speculating. You don't trade Michael Jordan. You don't trade Patrick Mahomes.

Steph's still great. You don't trade players like that. Well, they did trade Joe Montana. Well, they also had an un... I mean, if there was a player that was more athletic than Steph and could... Like, when Peyton Manning got old and it was the Andrew Luck draft, I said on the air, you got to move off him. Packers moved off Rogers. Like, you...

Again. Again, they didn't move off Aaron. Aaron mostly for two years moved off Green Bay. When you're going to darkness retreats right before camp, you're not exactly all in. Yeah. Now, you know, Curry, I am the big. Curry fan out there. I love him. You know, he follows me on social.

Listen, whatever. I feel bad for him, Colin. This is a crappy spot to be. I don't. Great wife, great kids, a bunch of rings. What are you talking? He's got a chance to be a top 10 player in the history of the sport. He is. If he can finish out his career. They're not even making the playoffs right now?

Well, I mean, you remember those Michael Jordan wizard years? I mean, you've seen LeBron's Lakers? Do those count? I thought Jordan fan. Those didn't count for Michael Jordan fans. Like, what? The wizards? Huh? What? Anyways, Andrew Wiggins should be shipped. But you're selling him at the bottom. Well, no, but again, you did get a title from Wiggins.

You got one? That Celtic series, he was valuable. What have you done for me lately? Well, I know. I would move him now, too, but you can't get greedy on it. You got Wiggins. You rejuvenate his brand and career. You get a title.

Probably should have moved off him like right now. I mean, at Camp, you would have known if he was shot. He's been shot. They missed Jordan Poole, too, right? I had to say it. I'm sorry. He's a whiff. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Pauli Fusco here with Tony Fusco. You know, as the host of the number one rated Pauly and Tony Fusco show, we get tons and tons of fan mail every day. Piles of it. In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of those letters right now and read what's inside? Yeah, listen to this.

Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports takes are the dumbest and most terrible. Wait, not that one. Open this other one. Dear Paulie and Tony, you suck more than anyone. Not that one. Try this one. Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best. There you go.

At coming up with the stupidest takes possible. You know what those clowns say. Just listen to the Paulian Tony Fusco show on the IHot Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah. 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 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two.

Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. podcast. It's a win for fans and a win for football as the USFL and XFL merger is official. The United Football League will begin play March 30th with the USFL champion Birmingham Stallions taking on the XFL champ Arlington Renegades, the United Football League this spring on ABC, ESPN, Fox and FS1. Spring just got stronger. So I'm trying to go three for three on predicting leagues. So about 15 years ago, when I worked at ESPN, I went to the upper management and I said, buy the UFC. Buy it. You can get it for a nickel. And they were like, eh, it's a little this,

it's a little that. It sold for like $6 billion. So I just said, all my friends out west, I lived in Connecticut. I'm like, all my friends out west, like famous, non-famous, regular people, they're into this stuff. My second pitch was about 12 years ago, I tried to buy into the ML. I'm like, this is finally a soccer league that's going to work. I couldn't afford it. I tried again seven years ago. I couldn't afford it. MLS valuations now are over half a billion.

They were 35 million 15 years ago or 12 years ago and ever. My third that I've made predictions, and I'm old for two on this, is spring football is going to work in America. What happened is COVID hit and it's screwed up these leagues. But now you have two major networks, spring football. I think there's a lot of reasons that's going to work. Number one is legalized gamble. Number two, smartly, it's in an eight-week period where there's not a lot going on. There's just not a lot going.

If it was in October, November, December, it wouldn't work. If it was in NBA finals, May and June, probably wouldn't work. March, April, those windows is perfect. And I also think it finally has the capitalization behind it and the marketing arms like Fox that it'll work. And I do think there's enough players. Now, the old lines are bad in spring football. They're bad. But there's some receivers, backs that are NFL guys.

There's some quarterbacks who could be on rosters. There's some skill players who are NFL players, and so I hope it works, not just because I work at Fox, because I do think UFC, MLS, I think spring football is going to work in this country. You know, we get another pandemic. All bets are off. So the numbers, I tend to try to guess numbers. I don't talk about it a lot on this show, but I try to guess the numbers for the sporting events. I could not believe both the NFL games, AFC NFC, CBS Fox got just 56 million, just unbelievable numbers.

So 93, listen to this, 93 out of the top 100 broadcast last year, TV shows, all TV shows. 93 of 100 were NFL games. One of the top 100, number 97, was just a show after a football game, top chef or whatever it's called, next level chef. So, I mean, basically, it's like state of the union, couple college football games, NFL. So what has happened in America, everything in the United States sports TV landscape. Every sport now is niche, every one except the NFL. Now, I do think college is going to grow very quickly and it's going to grow a lot over the next two to three years because of the SEC and Big Ten dominance and the TV deals and the 12-team playoff.

So if I had to buy stock on anything, I would buy college football. So why has the NFL pulled away? And I mean completely pulled away from everybody. It's not just scarcity. The NFL football's had scarcity over basketball, baseball, and hockey forever. It didn't lead by this much. But scarcity is something in a more fragmented, frenetic, caffeinated world. I think there are three reasons for the exponential growth.

Number one, and this has been about a 20 to 25 to 30-year process. It took a while. Is that as all the other leagues now, you can watch them nightly on cable and on different streaming services, I can watch every Atlanta Hawks game, every single Denver Nuggets game, every Orlando Magic game.

I can watch every St. Louis Blues game. So nothing feels special anymore except football. Number two is, in America, we are losing faith in institutions. the government, the media, the CIA, the FBI, we're losing faith.

Football is comfort food. The family gathers around, pizza, soup, lasagna, it's one of the last things we have faith in. We trust. America's losing trust, and they're losing faith. We love football. We believe in it, and it's always there for us. And, smartly, as an add to that,

They mostly stay out of politics. The media tries to convince you on a semi-annual basis that politics and sports go together. They don't. I try to convince people occasionally that there are Olympic moments or NBA moments where we're not going to die if they talk about a political moment. But mostly fans, the data is true. They don't want to hear their politics with their sports. It's an escape. And number three is, legalized sports gambling is jet fuel for football.

Nobody really bets hockey. Very few people bet baseball, basketball, maybe March madness. By and large, we watch football, 56 million watched football on Fox, and we bet football. And as the rollout continues, state to state to state to legalize gambling, these numbers are going nowhere. I mentioned this earlier in the show. I remember years ago when very smart people who worked up in the Northeast media, legendary papers, football's dying, CTE, it's going away. And I thought, oh, how precious.

You live in a little tunnel. You don't live in the South. You don't live in Texas and Florida and Georgia. You have no idea. It's not only too big to fail, we're too. passionate to let it fail. We love our football, and it keeps pulling away from everything. I don't need to blame Adam Silver or blame Gary Bettman.

I think these are smart men, but I think there's a reality out there that as we're losing faith in institutions, football remains comfort food and comfort food we can bet on, and that's a real, real thing. Okay, Nick writes around the corner. We have a little news here, J-Mack. Wow. Ben Johnson has told the Seahawks and commanders, I love Detroit.

I'm not leaving. For real? According to Tom Pellisero, I don't know Tom well, but he's a trusted source. He's very legit. Wow. He's only 37. By the way, this is a big deal.

Who was the guy that guaranteed him going to commanders? Everyone? Somebody last week guaranteed it. I mean, a lot of reporters said that was, Well, I mean, it was, I mean, I was, a couple people, like, guaranteed it. So, you know what I love about this? I have complained about this for years with coaches. Believe in yourself.

Why do you have to leave a great space? Seven to eight coaching opportunities a year. There was one great job this year. One. Jim Harbaugh got it. Commanders has potential. Rich owner, cap space, good receivers. 50% hit rate on quarterbacks.

What if Drake May doesn't work? Colin, when you're hot, you've got to bounce. You got to take the job. The Washington commanders have one of the top picks in the draft. You get to handpick your quarterback if you're Ben Johnson. What about loyalty? What about loyalty? You're only as loyal as your options, right?

Isn't that what they say? That's what Chris Rock said. Yeah, I believe he was stealing Chris Rock lines. No, but I'm saying my takeaway is, and you and I'm not you know I've moved for commerce I'm not you know loyalty's overstated but I will say this I think he's going I got Jared Goff I got a coach that loves me a city that loves me great skill people Laporta

Amaran St. Brown gives best old line in football or I hope Drake may can play what are the odds he can't 50% I mean that's what you come down to it's a math equation I know Detroit's going to be good I don't know if Drake may can play We do know they're going to be good. You looked at the schedule. First place schedule. Division getting infinitely better. Your Packers and Jordan Love on the uptick.

Caleb Williams coming into the frame. This front office has had three straight great drafts. They're going to have a fourth. And by the way, schedule's tougher. It's much tougher. It's the NFC. It ain't that much tougher. They're not playing Mahomes twice a year.

The Chargers Jim Harbaugh has got Mahomes twice a year. Put me down. Ten Mahomes games minimum in five years. That's a tough schedule. Big mistake. Huge. Loyalty. 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. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliverts Show. This is a place for raw,

unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert 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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.