The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Tyrese Haliburton

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Colin wants Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton to get the respect he's earned after a historic performance to put Indiana up 3-1 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals He believes Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers deserve each other at this point after Terry Bradshaw's recent comments about Pittsburgh's quarterback situationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We are in Chicago. It's live. It's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for joining us, making us part of your day. Greg Olson stops by today. Got to tell you, J. Mack, I know you love those nicks. But Halliburton's doing what he did to Milwaukee and Cleveland.

He's doing the same thing. He is. He is really something. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to be a little ornery today. Colin. A little upset. Season's over. It's done. Pacers, Thunder, feel the

excitement in the finals. Well, listen, this series, this series has come down to two players, the two point guards, and the most overrated player in the league, has bested

the clutch player in the league. Tyrese Halliburton, a performance for the ages. It doesn't even sound right. 32 points, 15 assists. 10 rebounds, zero turnovers, never been done in the playoffs, against the Knicks team known for defense with a legendary defensive coach. I said it yesterday. Brunson may be the better pure closer, but Halliburton's a starter, the best middle reliever,

and a closer. It's the entire package. And I don't really see this as a New York failure. It's another close game. I see it as the ascension of a rock star in the. this league. This was Tyrese Halliburton's Magnus Opus. The Pacers are now 11 and 3 in playoffs. They're 11 and 3. They're only three losses. Otherwise, they're 11 and 0. Their only three losses are game 3 losses when they lead 2-0. So they take their foot like any pro athlete would

a little off the gas. That's it. Otherwise, they're 11 and 0. And the Pacers, the front off has done a great job to surround Halliburton with players that can run with him. And it's empowering. I mean, how good does Pascal Seyakum look now? I mean, what's amazing about Halliburton, he doesn't even lead the Pacers in usage rate. That's insane for 32 points and 15 assists. And again, no turnovers. With Brunson, the great closer, A lot of times Nick players are standing around watching him, work his guy, and get that great shot, and you can feel uninvolved. I mean, Halliburton had 32 last night. I don't remember that much scoring.

I remember the pace. I remember the assists. Indy did what they do. They turned it into a track meet. And every game in which they've controlled pace, they've won. Not just against the Knicks, against Milwaukee, and against Cleveland. and now against the Knicks. I still like New York a lot.

I think they need to tweak it. I'd go Katie over Kat. But I love Indy. This is about Indy. Very rarely, if Halliburton is on the floor, do they even get bad half-court possessions? That's hard in the NBA. And that second half got a little bit sloppy,

but they're a high tempo, up and down, ball movement. Who would not want to play with Halliburton? It feels, Indy feels like one of those young tech companies that are like collaborative and empowering and you can bring your dog to work and and people want to work there forever. That's what they feel like. I mean, the fact that even one NBA player suggested, forget voted, suggested that Halliburton is overrated. I mean, again, look at Pascal Seaccom, who's always been a good player. He looks like he should be first team all NBA.

Look at Rick Carlisle, a forgotten coach. Now he looks like he's an innovator and one of the more creative offensive geniuses. And I've known Rick for years. He's always been an excellent coach and a great guy. But this is what Magic or Michael or Halliburton can do to a coach. He accentuates all your skills as a coach. The reality, too, with Indy here, New York may be better, but you could argue they've peaked. Indy's only getting better.

They have a very friendly cap sheet. They have to figure out what to do with a good player, not great, Miles Turner. They're not quite sure what to do. But this is a young and improving and ascending roster that quickly and easily disposed of Milwaukee, favored Milwaukee, of favored Cleveland, and now of the Knicks. And here's Halliburton after.

Just trying to be aggressive, trying to respond. I felt like I left the team down in game three. So it's important for me to come out here and just make plays. And, you know, guys put me in position to make plays and trying to play my game. and, man, it's a big win for us. Did dad in the building have anything to do with that? Hell yeah. Yeah, yeah.

I'm glad I'm passing the building, man. It makes it that much more sweet. And just something to remind you of how special last night was. I'm just, I'm totally taken by the fact he has no turnovers to play at this pace. Never turn it over. 30 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds in a single game in playoff history. the other players who have done it are MVP's and champions. Oscar Robertson twice and the Joker in Denver.

That's what we're talking about. And he was voted by players, a handful, is the most overrated player in the league. Again, the NBA fans in media too often celebrate dynamic. What they don't celebrate, remember LeBron used to get crushed for this because he wouldn't always take the final shot. and LeBron, who I defended, would say, other people are open.

That's what Phil Jackson finally convinced Michael Jordan to do. Get it to Paxson. Get it to Kerr. If guys are open, get the better open shot. It was when Michael finally embraced that, that he became a legend. LeBron did it out of high school. That's Halliburton. He'll drop 30, have 15 assists,

and you don't remember the points as much as the assistant. assists and the pace. Everybody on this team is playing a notch above who they are. I love Carlisle, but that's about Halliburton. Okay, so Terry Bradshaw, Fox Sports, long time, former Steeler Great, Four Rings, was asked on a radio station, we've got the audio here about his former team of Steelers potentially signing Aaron Rogers. That's a joke. He shouldn't, that is just to me is a joke. What are you going to bring him in for one year? Are you kidding?

That's not the Steelers way, right? No, man. That guy needs to stay in California. Thank you. Thank you. And chew on bark and risk to keep a gods out there. By the way, I've had an epiphany. I'll get to that in a second.

So it should be noted as Aaron doesn't have a team yet, Josh Allen, on a team with much less turnover, the Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen, in his press. better at this point, arguably better ever, more committed, is at his team's OTA. Aaron doesn't have a team. I was thinking about this morning, Aaron Rogers and the Steelers have something in common. Neither take the duty of quarterback with great urgency. Both the Steelers and Aaron have a, yeah, we'll get to it eventually.

Yeah, yeah, I'll sign with the team eventually. We'll figure out the quarterback eventually. I mean, think about San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan. They just signed Brock Purdy to a massive deal, and yet this year in the draft, Kyle says, I want another quarterback. And they draft the kid out of Indiana, a little bit of a semi, you know, Brock Pretty clone-ish, a lot of snaps in college. They're already looking for another quarterback. The Green Bay Packers, you all know this. They draft quarterbacks three years before they let them on the field.

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their left tackle. They're two quarterbacks, their top receiver, and a really good running back in Nagee. Harris. And their answer is, I think Aaron's our quarterback. We're not really sure. I mean, the Steelers have become the 66-year-old guy who's never put a penny in his 401k and is trying to convince us. Listen, I've got a plan. Believe you, me, I'm all good here. So at this point, I have an epiphany. I have been saying Aaron and the Steelers is a bad fit. I'm wrong. it's a great fit. I mean, in life, what's the rule?

You've got to find somebody that matches your energy. The Steelers at quarterback, we'll get to it. Aaron on committing, maybe later. I am here for it. The Steelers and Aaron Rogers are a little Rodman, Carmen Electra. They're a little Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr, Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob. I am here for the dysfunction. I mean, the whole time I've been like, this is a little bit of,

a weird fit. Not really. For the record, there's a reason the Steelers now are near the top in the NFL in longest playoff wind droughts. They're at eight years. Now, they're not the dolphins or the Raiders or the Jets, but they're creeping up. The most important position, and it always was quarterback. It was always a head coach quarterback league. But more than ever, it's much easier to predict who's going to win divisions, especially in the Steelers' AFC, who's got the best quarterback? And does he have a good offensive coach and do they treat the position with importance and urgency. Steelers don't. Aaron doesn't. I'm wrong. It's a match made in heaven. All right, Jay Mack, we have a lot of stuff today. Greg Olson stopping by. A really interesting story here in Chicago. So they're having

the OTAs. And, you know, Caleb has said, I want to be coached hard. Apparently, Ben Johnson is coaching him hard. So we'll get to that. I know you're a little bummed out about the Nix, but does it make it feel better that you are witnessing an all-time series by an ascending star? No, not at all. How? How? All of a sudden, there's major, like, issues with the Nix. This Brunson Towns combo through four games together on the court is minus 24. All of a sudden, the spotlight's on the Nix and it's like, whoa, do these two even work together again next year? or have the Pacers unlocked something that the Celtics did not see that the Pistons didn't see. And now it's like, well, do we keep towns or do we move them?

Like, I'm a little nervous for the next this off season. I think the Janus shatter is going to be back and play pretty quickly if they lose game five. Well, Janus would obviously make them better. I don't know if they have the pieces, but I think KD is a much easier list. And I've said this for the last three days, is that this series is actually can be great, because I don't think that I said this the last two days. The Knicks are not a championship team. They've got holes and a better team is showing you what the holes are.

It's not a gaping hole. It's that they need a catch and shoot score, KD, not a guy that needs the ball to score and moves Brunson out of the way, Kat. The reason they don't work together, A, they're poor defenders. So simultaneously, Halliburton is abusing them if they're ever both on the court. And secondly, Kat needs the ball. He's one of the few bigs that gets the ball out top. and then drives in, doesn't really need a pass or an assist.

He can kind of break it down and do it himself. The problem is then Brunson is inactive in the offensive half court set. So I think what happens when you lose. Why did we lose? That's what a good NFL team does or a good NBA team. What is it? It's not the coach. It's not Brunson.

Bronsinger lead. You've got to find something. Mitchell Robinson's actually great for what he is. Hartenstein would have been great. But Kat doesn't work for two reasons. and it's on display. You say it's the coach. I mean, they're going to have options.

The Knicks can say, hey, let's bring in KD, let's go after Yannis. Or they could say, we love our team. Let's run it back with Michael Malone's head coach instead of Tibido. I don't think that's the solution. All these games have come down to the last four minutes. And they're losing them. They blew game one. Like, you, I don't know, man.

Maybe I'm just a despondy. You don't blow out Lamar Jackson or John Harbaugh because you lose close to the bills of the chiefs. You try to find other areas to improve. You don't get rid of your foundational bedrock A plus pieces. Tibbs isn't the issue. The issue is the roster construction. Remember, Bridges has been really good. Towns solved an issue.

They needed a second score and they didn't trust Julius Randall, who, by the way, can disappear in spots. Cat is a more natural offensive player. So he was an upgrade over Randall. But it's always been steps in this league. So it's always about find the coach for your star, and then it's can you find complimentary pieces. Cat was an upgrade over Randall.

KD is an upgrade over based on styles, catch and shoot. He's an upgrade over Kat. And so you're saying, Jason, calm down. Jason Tatum's out next year. It's basically Pacers, Knicks, maybe the Pistons and the Cavs in the East, and why can't the Knicks get right back to the finals? Yeah. No need to pay.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's just been a series of smart steps. Randall to Cat and now try to get, you know, you're going to have to give up. If you give up Cat to get KD and I'm the Knicks, I want a draft pick. I want something beyond that. It's just not a, it's not because Cat is younger.

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What's the news, 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. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

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Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Caleb Williams, their USC quarterback, struggled as a rookie. They wanted for him to improve on two things. Number one, body language and number two, pre-snap procedure. So I've always been, I think body language is a really big deal. I don't care if you're a mayor. I don't care if you're a CEO. I don't care if you're a quarterback.

I'm glad this is mentioned, and I'm glad Ben Johnson cares about this. So this is according to Albert Breer. They want to improve on body language, and they want to improve on pre-snap improvement. So I think those are totally legitimate. In fact, one of the rare criticisms I had of Caleb in college, he could be moody. I saw it when he played Oregon State up in Corvallis. He eventually won the game with a great dot down the sideline to Jordan Addison,

but on the sideline, he had to be counseled and consoled by Lincoln Riley. He got a little bit moody and kind of checked out, and that's okay. He's an emotional kid. I think ideally you'd want your quarterback to be Jalen Hertz. stoic. You can be fiery, but you can't be pouty. You can be aggressive, but you can't have an attitude. And I thought that Oregon State game, it was a little bit of, hey, man, we need you to check back in. Body language matters. So I think it needs to be worked on. He came back in that game, by the way. There's the winning touchdown that Jordan Addison. Of the pre-snap concerns,

I think had he had a better head coach's rookie year in the NFL, if he had inherited Kyle Shanahan, we wouldn't talk about that. I think some of that comes with experience. I mean, Mahomes had Andy Reed. It still took him two and three years. So I think he'll get better at that. I think a lot of that was just he didn't have a very good coaching staff. And at USC, Caleb Williams, I don't think his last year at USC trusted the O line. He shouldn't have. And so it was a lot of hero ball and him ad libing. And I don't think Lincoln Riley necessarily trusted the O line. So he let Caleb Williams ad lib and call his own shots. I think he'll be fine there. What I do find with a lot of the great quarterbacks of all time. Peyton Manning's like this, they think like

accountants. Precision details, almost mathy. Caleb's a creative. He's a creative. Mahomes is a creative. And that's fine. It takes a special coach to coach a creative. It takes Andy Reid. Okay. Is Ben Johnson Andy Reid? I don't know. Is Ben Johnson a great quarterback coach as a head coach? Like Sean Peyton or Kyle Shanhan or Andy Reid. I don't know. I think so. But I know that Caleb Williams said I want to be coached hard. And this is interesting. This comes from Adam H-O-G-E, Adam Hodge, I think. So at the OTAs, the story is that Ben Johnson has been ripping Cole Comet for some mental mistakes. He also, it's interesting, according to Adam, that what appeared to be the best throw of the day, when Caleb hit DJ Moore deep down the left sideline, it was probably more like a

deep out. And Caleb came back toward Ben Johnson, the rookie coach, and Ben Johnson said, yeah, you can't do that. That's coaching. So Caleb Williams, I was expecting, I was hoping that Ben Johnson's impact would be immediate. The impact has not quite been immediate. So again, I think when you're coaching creatives. And Lamar is a creative. Mahomes is creative. Steve Young was one of the first I ever saw that I'm like, oh, Brett Farr was a bit of a creative.

They're harder to coach. Go ask Mike Holmgren what coaching Brett Favre's like. You got to embrace it. It's a fine line between John Gruden. That's John Gruden when he was an assistant about coaching Fav. It's really, really hard. It takes a great coach, not a good coach. and Caleb didn't have that last year.

You hope he has it. But Matt Hasselbeck says, don't expect miracles in September. I don't think you know right away. I mean, Troy Aikman started out really poorly as rookie year. Like, they didn't do well. Peyton Manning, you know, he, I think he might have led the league in interceptions. Eli Manning got benched for Kurt Warner. Like there's all these stories of young quarterbacks.

It doesn't start out well. At the end of the year, I think a decisional. be made on him one way or the other. And it's just fair to say, if you watch the film, he's off to a very, very slow start. Last year, J-Mack said the barrels will be the most interesting team in the league and they were for about four games. I actually do think because we now have a young quarterback with a really sharp offensive coach. And I think everybody needs a kingmaker in life. You could be a mayor. You could be a lawyer. Everybody needs a kingmaker. Bow-nicks got his. Jaden Daniels have

Cliff Kingsbury got his. Caleb had his at Oklahoma and USC. He had Lincoln Riley. He had his kingmaker. And so to pull all that talent out. Now, can Ben do it? Can Ben do it with the bears? We'll see. J. Mack with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, let's bust right in. The Atlanta Falcons had OTAs yesterday and Kirk Cousins was a no-show. very interesting, given that they have announced Michael Pennix will be the full-time starter.

Cousins made it clear he wants to be the starter. Colin, I'm not going to mince any words here. I think Atlanta screwed Kirk Cousins. They signed him to a big, flashy deal last year. He said he wants to end his career in Atlanta, and what, like a month later, they go out and draft Michael Penix. And then, of course, the Falcon sag last year, Pennix is the starter. And now Atlanta has Kirk Cousins say he don't want to be there. they have to pay Atlanta

his 27.5 million guaranteed dollars this season even if he's released. So they're not dumping it. Now Atlanta could trade Kurt Cousins to Pittsburgh, I don't know, wherever. But obviously, the team that gets Cousins, they don't want to pay the full freight. So Atlanta's in a tough spot. And I think they've brought this on themselves. I'm sorry.

I'm siding with Kirk Cousins here. Well, if, I mean, it looked really good until about late October. Remember, Aaron and Kirk Cousins were the opposite. Aaron off the surgery, old guy off of surgery, was really struggling early. Then his last seven, eight starts, you were like, oh, Aaron, Aaron's got a little spring.

Kirk was the opposite. He looked really good for six or seven weeks. Remember, I think he had a Monday night football game or something that was amazing or a Thursday night game, whatever it was against Tampa. And then down the stretch, he fell apart. He looked tired. Remember that one game against like the Chargers

were like, he can't make the outs. He can't throw outs. So he and Aaron, old guys off injuries, Aaron it took a while for him to get his step. And he was pretty good at the end of the year. I defended there. And he was pretty good at the end of the end. I thought Kirk Cousins was excellent for like six, seven weeks. Then he just, he wore out.

He didn't have energy. He didn't have his legs. So I still think Aaron can play. And now I still think Kirk Cousins can play. I think both needed another off season. Now, you know, I don't know how hard either is working right. now, Aaron's got personal stuff. Kirk's not showing up the OTS. But I do think Aaron and Kirk with like a next year off the injury can both be quarterbacks that start in this league.

Okay, yeah, okay, we think that. But what should the Falcons do? Because Kirk Cousins is under no obligation to show up. He doesn't need to. I'd probably trade him. I'd wait. At some point before the trading deadline, last year, over 50 quarterbacks played. Just wait. In the NFL, the answer to a quarterback is wait. Somebody will need a quarterback. So if you're advising, Kirk Cousins. Hey, Kirk, you should be showing up at OTAs? Uh, no. I mean, I, I, I think OTAs are a little, I think OTAs for veteran players are a tad overrated. Now, now, if you're at a new team and a new system, you know, it's not, you probably first couple years should go, but I, I don't think it's, I think Kirk knows he's going to be dealt.

Well, the problem here is that they've announced Pennix as a starter. So no matter what happens at camp, right. Penix is awful. Cousins crush. is it don't matter. We're going with the young guy. So what if, I mean, again, Pittsburgh has the Aaron Rogers thing. After that, Colin, you look around the other 2018. No, it's the worst quarterback room in the league. No question. But there's really no other spots unless there's an injury, you know, and I feel. Here's my question. Here's my question.

Made a lot of money. What's the Indianapolis Colt situation right now? So Anthony Richardson versus Daniel Jones. It's funny. They asked me, do you want to do that in her lines? headlines this week. Who do you think is going to be the starter? I think Kurt beat out those guys, sure. But if that's the case, why go get Daniel Jones?

Why not just go after Kurt Cousins? Yeah. No, it's, I mean, I think Daniel Jones is going to beat him out. Okay, we'll have to talk about that tomorrow. Next up, Colin, is the Jags. They promised Travis Hunter, their first round pick, who they traded up for, the ability to play both ways. but he won't be able to practice receiver and cornerback on the same day in OTAs.

Here's new head coach Liam Cohen explaining why. We won't put him in that situation to have him do that, although I'm sure he'd probably want to. He still meets defensively every day that he's on offense. So he's getting the mental part of it and being able to catch up on some of the communication, some of the corrections off the film from the defensive side of the ball. So he's getting a lot of the mental, and it would probably be unfair to put him out on the grass and do both and ask him to go do that and see success.

I actually agree with this. Get the reps on offense. Go to the meetings on defense. But playing wide receiver with a young quarterback, it's a timing game. Corner is not a timing game. It's a raw talent game. And he's got loads of that. I think this is actually the smart approach.

He also don't want to wear him down this early. I mean, both ways in practice right out of the shoot. I don't think that's a good idea. They're handling a good... I just, I don't know what to make of this team. Neither do I. Trevor Lawrence, like, it's just bizarre. Final story, let's go to the NBA.

Timberwolves, down bad, 3-1 in OKC tonight. They're big underdogs. Chris Finch is still not happy with the way Anthony Edwards is being defended off the ball, and he's right. Take a listen. We've seen this level of physicality, before, not only from OKC, but throughout the playoffs. Yeah, I think off ball, they were super handsy.

You know, their off ball defense was largely focused on, you know, trying to jam him up and keep him from being able to get the ball in clean space throughout the entire series. I can't remember an off ball foul that's been called after four games, which is kind of unique. So that's just a speaks volume to the credit to their off ball defense. By the way, he's right. Last night, it got really sloppy for about four to five minutes. Like really, it looked like rugby.

And I'm sitting there watching it. And also, let me defend Carl Anthony Towns. Now, he initiates a lot of the contact. He may be the most fouled player in the league because he's so long. Okay, there's a lot of Carl Anthony Towns to foul. And he's kind of awkward. And he does initiate contact. And there was a moment last night under the basket.

I think Cat was fouled four times. None were called. So I do think, like, I love the intensity and the physicality, but when coaches complain about it, they're not wrong. They're not wrong. There are, you know, like when Nick fans are saying, where's the whistle? Nick fans aren't wrong.

Historically, you'd get the whistle, even by playoff standard. So the refs are letting a ton go. I think it's fun to watch. But last night, there was a four or five minute stretch. it looked like flag football there was a lot of contact I will say the Knicks shot 39

free throws last so like they were going to the line but this whole inconsistency Finch is on it Colin here's a homework assignment tonight when you're watching the game forget what's happening on the ball watch what they're doing to aunt off the ball

Lou Dort is literally hugging him Colin both arms around him and then you can see oh let me pull the arms away he's grabbing the jury that's not basketball I don't like restricting the movement and this is the stuff they were trying to do to Jeff Curry back before he got injured. It's just, it's not basketball.

It's dumb, reductive. I think it makes it like the rockets were doing this to Curry and obviously Kerr complained. But the inconsistency is just so frustrated. Jay Mackle News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd Lie News. Greg Olson around the corner, I saw this story. Shams Sharanya thinks the NBA offseason could be the craziest ever. I do not because I think free agency is dead or mostly dead. And the reason being is the new CBA, the Supermax, everybody now moves with trades. So sign your Supermax and then eventually trade the player if he's disgruntled or unhappy. I think free agency is sort of dead, which whatever, NFL free agency isn't,

baseball free agency because there's only four teams that can afford the best players is dead. NBA free agency feels dead. The NBA now is more of a trade league. And that's fine. I love the trade deadline. But I saw here a guy like Bobby Marks at ESPN does a great job. He had the top 25 NBA free agents this summer. His tier one is shaky.

LeBron, James Harden, Julius Randall, Kyrie Irving. I actually think Josh Giddy in Tier 3 is interesting, a six, seven and a half point guard. But in my opinion, there are two free agents or two guys I'd trade for that would change outcomes. number one, Janice. If you put Janice with Wembe and Stephen Castle, Stefan Castle in San Antonio, okay, you got a championship team. There'd be no dynasty in OKC. You put Wembe on San Antonio, that's a game changer.

If he joined Houston or Cleveland, depending on what they had to sacrifice and give up, those are potentially championship teams. And number two is KD. KD is Seasol. Put them on everything. It works. Plug and play. catch and shoot. I think KD to the Knicks makes a ton of sense. And that's the one thing

that Nick fans should take out of this potential loss to the Pacers. You see what you need. Because of Brunson's ball-centric and ball usage ways, you need a guy that can late in the clock, get the ball, and score. That is KD. If you put them on the Knicks, I think you're back to the conference finals. If you put them on Orlando, Detroit, Houston, absolutely instantly a better team. So I hear about Kyrie off an AC tear pass. LeBron can be 41 pass. James Harden off another dismal postseason. Hard pass.

I mean, the only thing signing James Hardin guarantees you is you're going to get Memorial Day off that year. I mean, so I love Bobby Marks, but the Tier 1 stuff here, LeBron Harden, Kyrie feel really played out. Now, Nas Reid, I think he works on every team. Great energy, size, athleticism. I love Nasree, but he's back tier five. Josh Giddy to me is a very interesting player, a six, seven and a half, six eight point guard. Very athletic moves really well. But I think free agency because of the Supermax and his CBA, I think it's kind of dead.

And that's okay. That's fine. I love trades. Everybody loves trades. For hot water that never runs out, 15-year limited warranty, try a Navian tankless water heater. Go to tankless maidsimple.com. High efficiency, local rebates, 15-year warranty. Tanklessmaidsimble.com Navi and Greg Olson next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's Steve Kavino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Kavino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and, of course, the IHeart Radio app. Why should you listen to Kavino and Rich? We talk about everything, life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world? We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture.

Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved too. Take your phone calls, chop it up as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio. Maybe the most interactive show on planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino & Rich live on Fox Sports Radio

and the IHeart Radio app from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast and, of course, on social media. That's Covino and Rich. Hey, it's us to 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. but this one's extra special. So how do 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 notebook. 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 Smigel 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 I-Heart 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. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down. three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface.

Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. We don't get them. Often, he's a busy guy of 14 years in the NFL, great broadcaster for Fox Sports. He's got tight-end university back for a fifth year.

Of course, it was going to work. It's in Nashville where my daughter just got a job, and she loves that town. Greg Olson is joining us. It is a, oh, he's not quite ready yet, my bad. Yeah, she just, Nashville is, it's always been a good time. You guys been to Nashville? It's, oh, it's a great time. Green, a lot of walking.

They do like to party there. So if you're going there and you're just going to stay. to yourself. That's probably not the place to be. By the way, I saw a bite that I love. And Steve Sarkesian, known Steve for a year, Steve's a great guy. And he had some personal demons. He's overcome him. He's at Texas. And he does an incredible job. Steve Sarkisian had a bite. I just want you to hear this because I love what he said about the new college football due to the playoffs. The idea, I think we've all got to wrap our brain around. I, I, I don't know if we'll ever see an undefeated national champion again.

If we do, that's a really good team because it's just so difficult. And it's not so, it's difficult, yes, because of the quality of opponents you play, but it's so difficult to stay healthy that long. Exactly. And that goes back to what I've said to some degree about USC and Notre Dame. Notre Dame plays physical football. They've never had the flashiest teams. The best Notre Dame teams, it could be, it doesn't.

It doesn't matter who the coach was. Ara Parsegan, Lou Holtz. It doesn't matter who the coach was. They've always been a physical program. So USC is like, okay, now we have to play Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan. You want us to keep playing Notre Dame before we go into a playoff against potentially Georgia, Alabama, LSU, and Texas. That's part of it. These are 19-year-old kids.

And so when everybody's banging on USC about, well, why won't you play, why won't you play Notre Dame? It's actually selfish. you're trying to keep this is college these are 19 year olds their bodies aren't their brains and their bodies will change i mean you go look at college players occasionally you will get a college player at 19 and you're like oh that that looks like a pro it's usually a wide receiver it's never an offensive lineman i mean jalen carter was an outlier you're like oh as a sophomore in college that's an NFL player the reality is is that these are 19 years old 19 year old players they're brains are still developing for three or four more years, their bodies are still developing.

How many games do you want them to play? How many games do you want non-professionals? How many big games? That's why coaches like Lincoln Riley, it's not a lack of cowardice. It's like, listen, we need some spots to be home, to have rest. Like, we know we've got to play Oregon and Eugene and Washington and Seattle and Michigan. And this year, Illinois is good. in Nebraska and an Ohio state. And that's before we could get to a conference championship game potentially or the playoff. How many games do you want to beat the kids up?

So, I mean, to me, Sarks, I mean, never forget the last year before the expanded playoff, how ridiculous college football was. It was so punitive if you lost a game. The last year before we expanded the playoff, Georgia went undefeated in the SEC. regular season could not get in because they lost by a field goal to Alabama. You're out. Ridiculous. It's just too punitive.

So people, this is what I get asked more than anything. Right now, I get asked this question more than any other question, which is what do you make of all the change in college football? And I always say, well, it's like any change. It's a little uncomfortable. There's some things I don't like, but there's a lot more I like, is that we're going to get more big games because coaches aren't terrified. I mean, Nick Saban, in his last decade, his last dynasty decade in Alabama, would not play a road out of conference game. It was either home or neutral field. Do you think that's good for the sport?

That's not good for the sport. That's why I love Ryan Day last year, lost. early to Oregon and late to Michigan. One of them is an embarrassing loss, and they still get into the playoffs. So that's kind of my take on this. Nobody's going undefeated, but you're going to have to really measure your schedule.

And you've got to talk about these out-of-conference games. How many big physical teams do you want 19-year-olds to play? I don't think the answer is eight. I think you need, you know, Ohio State's, you know, I was never a big fan of Ohio State playing Youngstown State. I know, keep it in Ohio. Like, I get it. I'm like, schedule better games. But now with the playoff, I mean, who did Ohio State play in the playoff?

I got Tennessee after Michigan. And then I have Oregon after Michigan. Like, I have four more. And let's be honest about the playoffs. Okay, so go look at the playoff last year. For all of you that demand, like a USC has to. have Notre Dame beyond the Big Ten. Look at Ohio State schedule.

They go to Eugene early. They play Penn State on the road. Then they play Michigan. Then they open with Tennessee, on to Oregon, on to Texas, onto Notre Dame. These are college athletes. How many games? It's like an NFL schedule relative to the players. So that's why I'm always saying is the whole, when people, I said, somebody asked me

on the train yesterday, they said, what do you make a college football? I'm like, it's like, all change. I think NIL is great for college basketball. I think it's saving it. I think the NIL is saving college basketball. Why go to the G League? You can get the same money or more at Duke, Arizona, UCon, North Carolina,

and all the marketing because your games are on TV. If you're a dad and your son gets offered Carolina, Arizona, Yukon, to the G League, go to college for a year. You're going to get $40 million of March Madness and ACC free advertising. Go to college for a year. and the European players who are unbelievable,

like the Spanish leagues, they're now considering shuddering because colleges in this country, due to NIL, are buying their best players. So the NIL is saving college. College basketball went through a 20-year stretch. And this is nothing against Doug McDermott or Tyler Hansborough. But the player of the year would go into the NBA

and he'd be a rotational guy at best. Now Zach Eadie comes into the NBA, and you're like, oh, yeah, he was great in college. And that's because he's playing against more NBA guys. And he's really good in the NBA, all rookie team. And J. Mack, you're a gigantic college basketball fan. You cared about college basketball way more than I did. But over the last two years of you and I working together,

you kept saying to me, man, you're really into Marks Maddice. And my take was, yeah, I watched the Yukon team that had six NBA guys. It was a better product. Was it not? Yeah, I thought that was my influence on you, but maybe it was just the actual game. The interesting point on the college football is about the undefeated team. So I didn't realize how many teams in recent history had been undefeated to win the Natty. 2020, 22, 23.

To me, like being undefeated is not like a big deal. And it's going to be impossible, obviously, with the playoff. Undefeated is what a high school football power does. Modern day goes 12 and O. Or Hoover High in Alabama. That's high school. Right. Now, sometimes at the FCS level, you get that, but there's usually a loss in there for, like, what is it, a North Dakota state or something.

But you should not go undefeated in the NFL. It actually says, if you go undefeated in college, it just says you didn't play anybody. That's right. Nobody was good. Right. Even as great and dominant as Bama was, the truth was they always had a buy before, like, LSU or Auburn, and they played, you know, three Youngstown State, Citadel's or Troyes, and they never went on the road at a conference. And that's the difference. So it's some of the change for college football, I know it's a lot.

Like people worry about what about the rivalries? Well, is Auburn still playing Bama? Is U.S.D. still playing UCLA? Is Michigan still playing Ohio State? Those are the biggest rivalries. I mean, and so, by the way, USC still playing the city championship against UFC and UCLA. They still play. That to me is always, I mean, Notre Dame may be more prestigious.

But the USC UCLA game is crazy where you've had. really average UCLA teams. I can remember a really average UCLA team, I think beating Pete Carroll. So like that, that game has always had a different feel to it. So I take a deep breath. It's going to be okay.

And the truth is Fox and ESPN got tired of college football underperforming. It was like, you know, I've said this before. College football before the last couple years in the playoff, It was like a great movie with a lousy ending. Like there were so many plot twists that you love and the characters were great, but you'd have like sports writers voting on it or computers voting on it. I mean, you had a team that was great all season, Georgia can't get in.

If I recall that Georgia team that Bama beat by three that couldn't get into the playoff played a bowl game and beat somebody like, or had 45 to nothing. It was insane. College football has gotten smarter. And by the way, the players win big when there are more big games, bigger spotlight, more hype around the games. That translates to more NIL money. Like, everybody wins. This whole consternation over, oh, it's changing.

I don't know. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I just don't get bothered by change. I kind of like change and embrace it. Then again, I move my family across the country to work at this network. Well, I mean, I grew up with a PAC 12 and no longer exists. It's kind of a bummer, but I'm going to be able to make it. without Cal Washington State. I'm going to be able to sleep and eat.

We're all going to be okay. If that means Oregon's playing Michigan every other year or USC's playing Ohio State, yeah, I'm going to take it. Remember the Big East in the 80s? That was my first taste of basketball. Amazing. I miss it, but you move on. You'll find new stuff.

Greg Olson's going to join us next out. It's the herd. Hey guys, it's us. 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 Smigel 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. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Tolodano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, point game.

the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life. That is not the look of an innocent man.

Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.