The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Celtics, Nick Saban, NIL, Warriors-Mavericks

Episode Date: May 20, 2022

The Celtics are clearly the better team Nick Saban never cared about parity Preview of Warriors-Mavericks tonightGuest: Chris MannixSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the Iheart 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, Cliver 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 Cliver 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 Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com

or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. Now let's get this party started You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Ah, here we go. Live in L.A., it's the hurt. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Chris Mannix on the Celtics in about five minutes. So we were, Joey and I were talking about this during the break.

About J.J. Reddick came out and rolled his eyes at, you know, the old-time basketball players. Bob Coozy and said, you know, he's playing against firemen and plumbers and Coozie fired back. And the truth is, Cousie couldn't play in the NBA today. That's okay. Elgin Baylor probably could and Wilt and Russell. But you and I were talking about this.

A lot of the NBA, so again, I grew up watching it in the early 70s. I don't remember the 60s at all. I was a kid, like five, six years old. But I do remember watching the Lakers against the Blazers. And I remember Wilt, West, and Gail Goodrich. I remember that in the early 70s. I don't know why I remembered. I was on my bunk bed as a kid.

and the Lakers were on my black and white team. I remember that. And I remember watching a lot of Miami Dolphin Super Bowl with Washington in 1972. I remember the Cincinnati Red, 74, 75. I can name all the starting players. Those are the first, you know, you never forget your first. I can remember vividly a lot. I can name starting lineups.

You know, John Goulet used to make fun of me. I can do it all 70s baseball teams. And so to me, who can play today and who can't? If you look at basketball in the 50s, 60s, and most, the 70s. I grew up with the Sonics. They weren't vertical. Freddie Brown wasn't a jumper. Lonnie Shelton, John Johnson, Sigma, Marvin Webster could block shots. DJ was a little vertical. Seven guys in double figures. No great athletes. It was the same with the Portland Trailblazers. Sydney Wicks was a great athlete, but you know, Jeff Petrie and, you know, there was a lot of Dave

towards it. It was very much. You had a big, a back-to-the-basket big, a couple of rebounders, Maurice Lucas. And then you had a scoring guard in a small forward, and then he had a point guard who was a traditional pass first. And then you get to the late 70s and early 80s, and Dr. Jay emerged. And he didn't play like anybody. Don't ever listen to people that say Connie Hawkins and Dr. Jay are the same guy. No, they're not. Dr. Jay was a better ball handler.

Dr. Jay was the first player. I was like, wow. And then Dominique Wilkins came in in the early 80s. Wow. And you started, you know, guys had 45, 46 inch verticals. There was a kid named David Thompson that played. played at NZ State. He was very unique jumper.

But then, so to me, the 50s, 60s and most of the 70s, this is how basketball looked. It wasn't as, you know, there were guys a good dunk. And then Dr. Jay and Dominique, 80s, 90s, 2000s, it mushes together for me. It's very vertical. A lot of guys won handing stuff. Dr. Jay, Dominique, you had six, nine point guards. People, like, the Lakers didn't know what to do. Do you draft Magic Johnson?

He's a six, nine point guard. bodies were changing. It was becoming a little less positionless, not positionless. And then there's the last 10 years of basketball. It's all threes. It's positionless basketball. It just doesn't matter. Luca would be a three.

Now he's a point guard. Look at KD. Look at Kevin Durant. He can be a point. The last 10 years separates itself from the sort of mildly athletic 50s, 60s, and 70s to the first time you really watched guys that were, it was crazy slam dunk guys everywhere and that's like late 70s 80s 90s all the way to about 10 years ago and then it's the positionless I mean Durant LeBron it doesn't matter well also the three-point

shot changed the defensive side of the ball you had to defend players differently yeah big guys have to go out and the perimeter you cannot be a you cannot be a defensive liability you can't be that big guy with his with his feet in the mud just rebound and going up against the other big. Like you have to be able to go and guard the perimeter in some capacity or are you going to see games like last night? Like you have to be able to guard the three. You got to be more athletic, faster.

Like that part of the game has changed as well, not just the offensive side of the ball. People get really offended. It's really funny. People, maybe because I, you and I have moved around a lot in our career. So I'm not loyal to a town or a city or a team. I'm not loyal to it.

People, I'll say, you're not from California. Why are you like the Trojans? Because they're aspirational, because they win national championships. Because I grew up on Pac-12 football, and nobody else can get great overnight like USC. Who cares where I'm from? 90% of, I mean, 50% of L.A. is not from here. Right. Okay, who cares?

Like, St. Louis is where you're born, raised, and never leave. The coasts are where you go for the money and the, you know, the aspiration and the big stuff. You're just more comfortable with change. Yes. And so we both are. So when I, you know, I don't know, I'm never offended by when people say like 60s guys couldn't compete today. Like baseball people are so offended. Babe Ruth today would be a high school baseball player.

He was 6-2-220 with a gut. Well, I think it comes across as an insult to what they accomplished and what they contributed to the sport, which I think that just depends on perspective. I would probably be insulted. But I can also take a step back and appreciate what was built and established by. guys who played in those eras and the difference of the sport now. But this wouldn't exist. Like it needed to develop.

It needed to evolve. Things in society had to change to get to the space where we are with the game. Because it's not just the game. There's rehab that's changed. Surgeries have changed. Nutrition. Travel. Like there's more elements to why the game is looking and played the way that it is now

as compared to the 50s and 60s. Well, I mean, and also years ago, until about 15 years ago, players tapped out at 34. Like receivers couldn't run. Corners couldn't guard. Quarterbacks looked old. I mean, Warren Moon was an outlier. But now it's like when people say like Matt Ryan's 38, he's getting old.

And I'm almost disappointed in Matt Ryan. I'm like, Matt, you're only 38 years old. I mean, I look at now people executives. I just saw, what's the guy, Barry Diller, he's getting into gaming. He's like 80 years old. Like people don't retire at 65. Like there's executives all over America, entrepreneurs. 85 years old doing stuff.

Rupert Murdoch, I don't know. So it's just we eat better, the nutrition's better, we take care of ourselves, and so the careers last longer. It's a little easier to watch film now than it was in the 60s. Aaron Rogers just doesn't want to watch it. Chris Manix is now joining us. I will say Bob Coozy can still throw a fastball at 93. I thought it was one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

You know, we were getting into this. one of the reasons I like Boston and Phoenix because they do feel traditional. I grew up on the 70s NBA. Chris, you're younger than me. You probably grew up in the 80s. But it's like center, wings, committed on both ends, two-way players, pass first point guard. I think Boston is significantly better than Miami. When I watch this series, seven of the eight quarters, I'm like, this isn't close. Are you seeing something I'm not? No, first, shout out Bob Coosie because that was a great interview that he did.

Look, Bob, like Dan Shaughnessy from the Globe every so often gets a hold of Bob Coosie, and he always has these incredible quotes. So people should reach out to him more, I think. I don't know if I'll answer, but people should reach out to him more. I think the Elvis are better. I thought they were better coming into this series. They have been traditionally bad in third quarters this season. So to watch them get blitzed in the third of game.

brought me back to a darker days of the Celtics, which was November, December, where they were just awful. But game two, not that they're going to go on 62 to 27 runs like they did in the first half, but they're capable of playing at that level. They will make your best player like Jimmy Butler work. Now, Jimmy's been efficient in this series, but what Boston's going to be able to do over the course of it is where him, down and force him into inefficient numbers. Kevin Durant, under 40% in the series against the

Celtics. Yonest Tentacompo, 55% during the regular season, 45% against the Celtics. And that's got to be a big concern for Miami. They got routed and Jimmy Butler shot 61% from the floor in that game. So I think the Celtics top to bottom are a better team. And if you look at it, I think these numbers are right. Of the eight quarters they played against Miami, they've won seven of them. It was just that third quarter in game one that they just got lost it. So all signs are pointed to the Celtics. You know, Chris, I said this yesterday, and I do think Boston wins the series, and I think they'll face the Warriors, and it'll be a very, very good series, the best defensive team. I think the best cutting, diverse, offensive team, a lot of different

ways to score for Golden State, and who knows who wins. But when I said with Boston, I said, listen, I've seen the Marcus Marks-Mart, Jalen Brown, Tazam thing now for about four or five years. They're all better versions of what they were five years ago. Marcus was always a defender first. Jalen was a great athlete. Would he be a great score? Tatum was going to be the star. And by the way, Robert Williams, another classic Boston draft developed, 2.5, 8, 11.

You know, he mean, this is what they do. They're the Packers. They draft and develop. But I said, patience becomes cowardice if you wait forever. And in 35 years, their title came when they went big and swung and got KG. if they couldn't beat Miami, if they lost to Miami, Chris, to me there's a real argument that you keep Tatum and maybe Marcus Smart and you start maybe making, you break up the band a little. I got a lot of pushback for that. You know them better than I do. Is it crazy? Yeah, because if you talk to, you know, and I just came from the Chicago pre-draft combine. Like every team wants to be built like the Celtics right now, where you've got five guys who can all defend every position. The reason the Celtics are as good as they are defensively is that Marcus Smart is reasonably

comfortable defending fives and Robert Williams, when pressed, can defend an occasional one. Like they can switch everything and play the kind of defense that I think no team in the league can currently play. No team is as strong one through five with the starting lineup as Boston. So look, if they lost to Miami or if they lose to Miami, it will be disappointing. I think they're a better team in this series. But you build on this. You keep adding players to that second unit. You add depth via the draft or trades or free agency, whatever it may be. I cannot, I can't make an argument for breaking this team up in any way, shape, or form, no matter the outcome of this series. I want to go over to the Warriors Mavs game two tonight.

Boston looks to me, they look different than every team left. The cutting, the ball, off the ball movement, they are offensively what I think Boston is defensively. They've just got a lot of skilled players. Now it's pool, Clay, Steph. Andrew Wiggins was a former number one pick. And they just, there are guys that are comfortable with a ball, hard to trap, very good ball handlers. Like Boston has so many guys that are just built to play really good defense. And this was probably inevitable.

When I look at the Golden State, they've got rings and hardware. They've gotten the bag. I don't know what they do here. Draymon's expensive. And Steph and Clay, is there an argument to be made? This is their last chance. Cumminga's not ready to step up next year. Wiseman may not work at all.

What do you make of the next two to three years with the Warriors if they don't win this year? Well, I think a lot of it depends on what they do with that collection of young players. I think there is from a talent perspective, a two to three year window after this season, for that core group to be central to a championship. The benefit the Warriors have,

is that all the guys you mentioned, Wiseman, Cominga, Moses Moody, future first round draft picks, these are a wealth of assets that no team in the NBA can match. Like, again, coming from the Combine, this was a point of conversation. Like, what are the Warriors going to do with all those players in the off season? Can they engineer a sign and trade situation for a Bradley Beal? Could they possibly get Golden State, or to get Portland, rather, to get interested in Damien Lillard type of deal. They have the firepower, the assets to go and get whoever they want. And if you were able to get another all-NBA level player who is going to help kind of bridge

any gap that team might have as these guys age, I don't see why they shouldn't be a top-tier team. You mentioned the cost of it, Colin. You and I both know how much money that team makes at the Chase Center every night. Like, they print cash over there. So I don't ever want to hear the Warriors say that we can't afford player X because they are a license to print money. Yeah. You know, I said this with Cotino Mobley earlier, is that people compare Luca and Bird, but we know this historically that some stars are harder to play with. And you mean, Kobe could be difficult unless you were a big, you weren't going to get the ball much. Shack and he, I just finished Jeff Perlman's book, Three Rings, Shaq and Kobe battled. I mean,

it was, it was not easy. So with Bird, a lot of. of people could play with Larry. He didn't have to bring it up. He could elevate through passing Mikhail, Parrish. He played with guards. Larry could beat you so many different ways. He could bring it up. He didn't have to. Lucas, in my opinion, is different. He needs the ball. And there's a little hardened to it. There's a little Colby to it. There's a little LeBron to it. Do you think, and I wonder to myself, some guys may look at that and go, like Damien Lillard could look at that and go, this doesn't work for me. I'm not going to be off ball 90% of the time. Maybe I'm reaching here and Lucas better off ball, but I kind of feel like playing with Lucas is going to have a LeBron feel, you're going to kind of have to run Lucas offense.

Am I wrong? No, I don't think you're wrong. It's an interesting point. And I think the Hardin comparison is maybe more apt because if you look at ball dominance, you know, Luca Hardin kind of comparable to where Hardin was in his prime. And so if you're building a team around Luca Donchich, the key is going to be as it was with Hardin. to surround him with shooter types. And look, people can say, well, that wasn't successful in Houston. Well, no, technically it wasn't.

But there was a window there a few years when it was hardened, Chris Paul. If injuries don't happen, that team might have a championship ring to show for it. I think Lucas talents lend itself to just playing alongside like the guys he has right now, quite frankly, Maxie Kleber is a better fit in Dallas than he is anywhere else. Spencer Dinwiddie was lost in Washington. It looked like a bust in Washington. He's fit alongside. side, Luca. I think it is going to be paramount for that front office to continue to find

shooters at every position off of Luca. So if you do send help on him, he's smart enough to make the pass. He'll make it to the right guy and they'll be able to get open three point shots. Good stuff. Hey, I'm going to throw this out there. So I don't spend a lot of time in the NBA draft because in the NFL draft, Chris, as you know, you get like three and four year players. They can come in and be stars. NBA, you're getting 19 year old kids. Usually they go to bad teams. They disappear for three years. I don't know who's going to be the number one pick. There's a kid at Purdue, Jaden Ivy, that's kind of a shooting guard. I don't think he's John Morant, but he's super athletic, twitchy can shoot. Is there, when you talk to your NBA sources, is there

a number one pick? What is it? No, I was in the drawing room on lottery nights where the actual drawing take place. And I can tell you from, you know, from talking to people in there during the hour we had to stay sequestered. It's a toss up, not just between one and two. It might be a toss up between one and five at this point. I mean, there are executives that believe this draft is eight deep with guys that are comparable in terms of talent and potential. Like, it's going to be a complicated process for the teams sitting up there at the top and decide who they're going to go with. And look, it's a, it could be one of those years where, you know, you look back on five years later, you say, whoa, who is the Marvin Bagley?

of this draft. Who is the guy you drafted? You should have drafted a Luca Donchard. There's a lot of variance, I think, at the top of this draft, which is why I do think, keep an eye out on trades at the top of the draft. A team like Houston might be looking to deal. A team like Detroit might be looking to deal. I think unless you're 100% certain, if teams are getting offers of veteran players, all-star caliber players that they really like, I think they'll be more likely to listen to them this year than they have in previous years. Good stuff. Chris Manick, Sports Illustrated. Also, he's got our boxing stuff on the volume. Chris, have a great weekend, buddy. You've got a call. All right. Yeah, it's interesting. I was looking over some mock drafts

last couple days, and I saw, you know, I saw the Auburn kid play. I saw Holmgren. I saw J. Navey. I saw the kid from Duke. I like a lot. Boncherro. He's really good. But it's different because they're 19-year-olds. So you kind of project, and they're all going to bad teams where a lot of times, this year in the NFL, it was players to bad teams. But a lot of times, in the NFL, some good teams are in the top 10-12 draft, and you're like Or they'll trade up to get somebody. Yeah, the NBA

draft lottery. I was looking at the top five picks. I'm like, whoa. Whoa. It's a big rough start. It is. You know, people forget, I don't know if they forget, but if you're 20 years old, I've said this before. The only sport that was better

20 years ago was college basketball, and it wasn't close. College basketball, in the 70s, 80s, 90s, you would get Ralph Samson and Ewing and Duncan, they would come back for their junior and senior years. And they were unstoppable as sophomores. And so you were getting like,

it was like the NFL draft. You were getting grown men. Yeah, that you knew. Oh, they would walk into the NBA and be all-stars. Like now you're just kind of, and, you know, like Tim Duncan walked in and was, I don't have his numbers in front of me, but I remember the big fundamental.

You were like next to Robinson. You were like, oh, he's great now. Ewing was great now. Those days are over. That's why when John Morant comes out, the sizzle, forget if his game's complete. Just the sizzles fun. Yeah. You're like, Zion and Jop were like, I don't need a complete game.

You know, Zion wouldn't play any defense. And I'm like, trust me, I'll just take the offensive part of his game. But with basketball, you can, a lot of times at the higher level at least, you can see the talents. Like if it's there or not. Yes. Now, obviously, the irony of the. NBA is it's not the most patient sport. So they really need time to develop

these young players and we're not very patient with them. Yeah. The Purdue kid's fascinating. He's not John Morant, but he's, he can shoot a little better than J. Jaden Ivy. I saw in Big Ten. We saw him on Fox here a couple times. I'm like, that's an interesting play. And today's NBA, shoot, twitchy, athletic,

up down. Is this, is this him? There he go. Yeah. He's a really interesting. I mean, he look at him. He's an NBA player. Really look at him. And he looks like he can. carry more weight. Yeah, and they say, a lot of people are saying he's jaw, he's got some jaw athletic ability. I think he's a little better shooter. I don't think he's, um, he's not quite,

I mean, Jaws, Jaws, this is why I hate comps, because Jaws is such a unique player. Jaws'a's ability to jump and change the position of his entire body in the air. It's like he puts the game on pause and turns around. Now, I think he's a, I think he feels like a little better shooter than Jop, But I don't think he's like the distributor. Jaw feels like he's running the show. Yes. This kid feels like you could play him a little bit off ball. And Jaws extremely fast.

Yeah. This is the one kid I watched and I was like, oh, wow. Like literally you watch a college basketball game and you're like, oh, there's the pro. Like in two possessions. Really interesting. And of course, you can watch Big Ten basketball and FS1. That's where all the good games are. One more herd?

The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeard radio app. Search Her to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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, 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 Cliverts Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're 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 taun 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English.

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

We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sunday, a big-time USFL doubleheader kicks off at noon Eastern on FS1 with the Pittsburgh mallers and the New Orleans Breakers. Then at 4 Eastern, the Houston Gamblers take on the New Jersey Generals on Fox and it's all streaming on the Fox Sports app.

It is crazy, Joy. The, it's just, it's almost like, you know how we always split America and like Republicans are liberal? And everybody always wants to, like, that's the divide. Men, women, along gender, racial lines. Part of what I see in America is this willing to adapt and not going to budge. Yeah. Like, to me, that separates America. It's not, it's not the gender.

It's not the age. It's because you can find. I ran into an 80-year-old in Frankfurt, Germany last week. I swear to him was a Miami guy. He looked 60. He looked fantastic. He was a traveler. I mean, the guy had the spirit of a 25-year-old kid.

And then you'll meet 30-year-olds who I'm never going to leave my area code. The big divide in America to me, people that are uncomfortable with change and people that love it. And when I hear Nick Saban complaining about parity now, it's a total grift. Stop it. You never cared about parody in your life. And I love Nick, and I know Nick. Nick Saban refused to go on the road for out-of-conference games for a decade until people like, and I'll say it, me and others in the media started ripping him.

We're like, why is it always have to be a neutral site game? Go on the road. So this year he's going on the road to Austin, Texas, and they'll probably beat Texas. But if he cared about parity, he would have gone to, he would have gone to Notre Dame. Georgia was willing to. Georgia historically doesn't leave the South to play. Georgia was willing to go home and home. Good for them.

For Notre Dame, I love that. I totally respected that by Georgia. They're like, we can lose these games. We're going to go on the road and play in a cooler weather. And it's like, so when Nick starts talking about all this, the parody, it's a con. Listen, if he cares about parity, why have they played in the last several years? The Citadel, New Mexico State. Look at the teams they play.

This is Alabama. Chattanooga, Georgia State, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Monroe. When Pete Carroll was at USC, Pete Carroll had no interest playing that crap. Pete Carroll one time said, we want to go play Virginia Tech. We don't care if we get a home and home. He went home and away Auburn. Arkansas was a better program. Ohio State.

They didn't care. Pete wanted, Pete's not a control freak. At least he wasn't then. He wanted to be challenged. And in Los Angeles, you can't throw up West. in Carolina, nobody go to the game. USC rice, nobody's going to go to that game. All right.

So this is his ability. Nick plays multiple crap teams all the time. He's doing this, not because he wants parity. He wants to wipe the icing off the cupcakes twice a year and go get a pie before he plays Auburn. He wants to dominate. And I like Nick. But stop with the, he's been mentioning parity in the last month because of NIL because he's losing assistance, losing recruits.

He can't control players. And now suddenly, I really care about parity. You do not. Pete Carroll wanted USC to face the best team. In fact, the reason Pete Carroll left USC, he didn't tell me this, but somebody close to Pete told me this, he didn't, he wanted to compete. And the NCAA kept that Mark Sanchez team out of the championship. And he's like, I want to compete for the championship. I know I have the best team.

If you're not going to let me compete for the championship, I'm going to go to the league that lets me compete. Nick is looking to dominate. Pete wanted to compete. And so this is where all of a sudden now, Nick's comments are, oh, this parody thing. Oh, God. You can sell that 72-mile-hour fastball to your fan base. Nobody's buying that. He had to be guilted in to playing legitimate opponents on the road.

And a lot of these schools, and let me give credit to the schools willing to go on the road. LSU. was willing to go all the way out and play UCLA and got beat. Texas A&M went out to play UCLA. Through the years, Tennessee, Georgia, especially Tennessee, Tennessee will leave the region. I've seen my whole life Michigan. Michigan will go south. Michigan will go down to Texas.

Michigan will come out west. Ohio State's gotten better at that. They'll go and play any, but Bama has to be guilted in to playing a road at a conference game. They'd rather play all that Panera bread tech. You know, nonsense. That's not good for the sport. It's terrible for the sport. Terrible.

Give me all that Citadel, Florida, A&M, nonsense. And I like him. I like Nick. But don't give me the grift. Don't tell me parity's a big thing. What's happening is he is losing as he's aging, and this is a lot of Americans get uncomfortable with these changes. Players now can leave Nick anytime they want.

They can go to Auburn right across the street. They can go to Georgia. He's losing assistance. I thought last year's Bama staff was one of his weakest staffs. players more control, assistance more control. He's now losing to former assistance. Come on. Enjoy it with the news.

No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Oh, rough night for the boys last night. Celtics bounced back from their game one loss, the blowout of their own. So they even the series with the heat with a 127, 102 win in game two. And Jimmy Butler was very blunt in his assessment. of his team's performance. I mean, yeah, you do got to move on.

I don't like to move on from this because it has to hurt. They tried to embarrass us. They did embarrass us. So I think we got to realize that use it as fuel, whatever you want to say, but realize that the game can get out of hand whenever you're playing against a really good team like them, that can score the ball and get stops. So overall, we just have to be better. P.J. Tucker left the game with a knee contusion and he will undergo an MRI today. Obviously, the game was out of hand far before he got injured, but that will be a huge factor if he is not able to play.

Jimmy Bellar did have 29 points, six rebounds and three assists. No other Miami players scored more than 14 points. But the story of this game, as Jimmy mentioned, the Celtics are not just a team that is able to shoot. They play good defense. So they're not just an offensive machine. perhaps the heat could have climbed back into it if that's how the Celtics were arranged, but they aren't. They can get stops on the defensive side of the ball as well as shoot. And the heat were 10 of 34 from three. Tyler Hero was 0 for 3 from and Duncan Robinson,

who is supposed to be the three-point specialist, was 0 for 4. They pay him a lot of money and he's not playing all that much consistently. Yeah, it's been rough for Duncan because they've really needed him. They really needed him to come in and knock down some shots. and he hasn't been able to do it, and he can't be on the floor a lot because he's a defensive liability. So is Hero, isn't he?

But Hero's six man of the year. So Hero's not the best defensive player. He's better than Duncan. But Hero won six man of the year for a reason. Like he can distribute. He's going to, they called a foul on it, but he had a big time block last night. Like, he's able to get back and make some plays,

but you just, you can't do that. You can't go 10 for 34 from three and expect to stay in a game with the Celtics who went on a 17-0 run in the first quarter. You've got to get a stop and knock down some shots or the game's going to get away from you. I don't think the series is over yet, but someone other than Jimmy is going to have to step up. Maybe Bam.

Maybe it's time for Bam. Get some points. Yeah. It would be really nice. So Luca Donchich had his worst game in the postseason against the Warriors in game one, but he's still one of the best players in the league right now and is hoping to get back in game two tonight.

And during an appearance on the Rich Eisen show, John Sally compared Luca and his talent to one of the all-time greats. I would be afraid to play against Luca. I'm telling you personally, that's how good he is. And I know Larry Bird would put fear in me and everyone else, just like Luca does. I think there's obvious comparisons between Larry Bird and Luca. There's something there. The speed is one of the things that I think you initially see.

Luca's not a particularly fast player. Kind of plotting at times, yeah. Yes, but it just doesn't matter because no one can speed him up. And I think part of that is Luca's body composition is that he's just he's going to not be moved. Like he's not a guy you're going to push around

even though he is a European player who we generally think of as finesse players. So he's just a very unique player, obviously an incredible shooter and score. You know, didn't have his best game, 20.7 rebounds. The biggest thing for Luca in game one to me was seven turnovers.

You got to take better care of the ball. You cannot play a team like Golden State and turn the ball over like that. They're going to take advantage of it. And that's the game to me right there. Again, everyone else has to step up. Larry Bird was such a unique. I told you when I was younger,

all the games weren't on cable. You know, right? Like in the 70s, they weren't at all. And then ESPN came and there was more cable stuff. But it was, I remember going to a Sonics game to watch Bird. And he had one of his rare bad games. I think he scored like eight or ten. I'd have to look good.

I don't remember the exact year, but I remember those Celtic teams were interesting because the Lakers, I always thought it was really fate. Magic in Boston and Bird in Los Angeles would have worked. But when they came out, it was perfect. Magic was perfect for Los Angeles and Bird, kind of a lunch pail star, was perfect for Boston. Yeah, I don't know. They felt like the cities. Yeah, I don't know if it would have worked it.

It would have worked because they were two great players. But it wouldn't have worked as well as it did. And it certainly wouldn't have, I don't know that we would look at them with the awe and admiration that we do because they just fit into, I mean, we talk about all the time how much cultural fit matters when it comes to, especially young players.

There's no question. You've got to be in a space where you're comfortable. I mean, could you imagine winning time with Larry Bird in Los Angeles like that? That series doesn't happen. Magic felt, I think one of the reasons magic is one of the most, Magic Johnson, if he walks into the Staples today,

I've been there when he walks in, the crowd rises. Of course. All these years, he's all over town. So Magic was not only L.A. Kobe's the same way. Kobe felt like L.A. Shaq felt like L.A. Right.

Like there were dynamics that were in place that made that all blossom. Like Larry Bird and Jerry Buss. I don't know if that's a match. Exactly. I don't know if that works as well. Yeah. So, you know, everything has to kind of happen

the way it does for us to look back on history the way that we do. But yeah, I mean, Larry was a very unique player and an all-time great legendary player, but fit perfectly into that system and what Boston is and represents that. And it also built for the animosity and the rivalry that they have. It was, you know, Michael, I always thought, because at the time Michael was great, Oprah was becoming the biggest star in TV. Siskel and Ebert, remember that show?

Again, I grew up when they were the movie critics. So you had Michael. You had Oprah. You had Siskel Ebert. And you had the Cubs and the White Sox and the Bears. Chicago, Michael felt perfect for Chicago. He had sort of that Midwest workaholic, tough guy. But Chicago, if you go to it, it's really a cool city.

Chicago is, you know, a lot of these northern cities, a Seattle, Minneapolis, we don't think of as cool. They're nice cities. But Chicago's got an edge to it. It's kind of cool. There's been a lot of stars there. So Bird felt like Boston. Jordan felt like Chicago.

and Magic absolutely felt like Ella. And when you get the star that fits perfectly into that, I mean, look at John Moran in Memphis. He's the perfect star for that city and that team. So Jim Bo Fisher fired back at Nick Sabin yesterday. It was Petty Wars in college football. And Nick Saban had a lot to say about Texas A&M's recruiting class and what they did with NIL and it got heated.

And he tried to clarify what he originally said. Here's Sabin. You know, I should have never really singled. anybody out. You know, that was a mistake and I really apologize for that part of it. I really wasn't saying that anybody did anything illegal in use a name image and likeness. I didn't say that. That was something that was assumed by what I said, which is not really what I meant, nor was it what I said. So there's nothing illegal about doing this. It's the system that allows you to do it, and that's the issue that I have. You know, there's a lot of

different takeaways that we can have from this and everyone's arguing about NIL and transfer portal and blah blah blah and I'm a little disappointed in Nick Saban. He is the face of college football. Absolutely. He has a golden opportunity here to figure out how

this is all going to play out and work and how it can benefit student athletes, not just the college football players, all student athletes and the sport as a whole. And instead of doing that, he's just complaining about it. Like, I don't want to hear that from Nick Saban.

I hold Nick Saban to a higher standard than that. Things are always going to change. You started the segment talking about this. There's people who can adapt to change and people who can't. And everybody's wired differently, and that's fine. You don't have to be someone who adores things changing all the time. Change is hard. It's hard for people who like change.

But you are, when you're in a certain space, when you're a Bill Belichick, when you're a Nick Sabin, when you're a Phil Jackson, Like when you're in a different category of coach or executive, you sort of represent a sport or you're a face, someone that we immediately think of when we think of a whole sport, which is college football. I think you have a bigger responsibility to look at the change and not pile more gloom and doom onto the situation.

Well, and the other thing is, Joy, is that it's not a coincidence that many college football coaches and basketball coaches careers have ended pathetically. Bobby Knight was pathetic at the end. Joe Paterno, Woody Hayes, punched a player. Why? Because college sports creates these almost dictatorships. Correct. The college basketball football coach is the highest paid state employee. There's no pushback.

It was a knock for years on Mike Shashefsky that it could be heavy-handed. So you've seen a lot of, you don't see this with pro coaches. They don't end pathetically. They get fired. Right. But they end because they have a billionaire that controls them. So a pro coach doesn't have power. College football coaches and basketball coaches,

Calipari is the most powerful guy in the state. Saban is in Alabama. Woody Hayes was in Ohio. And so when you get accustomed to having power and start losing it, guys unravel very quickly. Oh, yeah, this is very obviously about power and leverage, which is the biggest thing that you can have in any business. And that's what the players have now. And if you remember, one of the biggest critiques of Nick Saban as a coach was his failure at the professional level. Now, I don't know that he was a complete failure, but it didn't work.

And part of the reason why was he wasn't capable of dealing with professional. players. He wasn't capable of handling grown men who have mortgages and families and kids and make more money than him and telling them what to do in a way that they responded to. So college was perfect for him and that's why he's dominated in this space. Well, things have changed

now. So I'm sure there is kind of this daunting feeling. But if you're the best of the best, it's also your job to see around corners. And this was, you didn't need to see around the corner. It was right there. It was just hanging in a net waiting for the Supreme Court to cut it and now it's on top of you. And that's why when he talks

about parody. Bamma fan will be like, nobody wanted to play home and home with us. Then you go and you buy the games and you say, Wisconsin will go there. And Wisconsin goes, okay, we're going to get beat by you, but you got to pay us some money to do it. Then you do it. Nobody wanted to play USC either. They found a way to get the game scheduled. USC was beating people by 40.

They beat Oklahoma by 30 in bowl games. They were crushing people. They figured out a way to get home and homes with people. I honestly can't even entertain. I know. I can't even entertain the conversation about parody. in college football. It's stupid. It is such a joke. I don't even, I don't want to hear a word

about it. Talk to me about anything else when it comes to NIL and Transfer Portal and whatever. There is never, ever been parody in college football. This might make it a little bit worse for the smaller schools. So then maybe we need a commissioner to kind of adjust things and move things around. But parody

has never existed. So don't tell me that this is the thing that ended it. By the way, who ended up in the final four this year? Well, let me guess. Kansas, Carolina. So is the big dog. It's such a nonsense conversation. All right. Joy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. All right, take a break. And now I answer the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Mike Check.

If you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the sports game, what's good? This is national champion and former pro baller Chris Johnson. Let me tell you a little bit. about my new series, KJ Live. KJ Live is the only show featuring me going one-on-one with the brightest basketball minds on the planet to get the real. And when I say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall of Famers, elite coaches, and the top basketball insiders bringing you a unique perspective on all things hoops culture that you will not find anywhere else.

So make your next move, your best move. And tap in with me on KJ Live, wherever you get your podcast from. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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,

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Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about cracking the A. To be clear, 84 was big to me Not just because of crack I'm down to talk about crack on day But just so y'all know I mean at this point

Mark this is the second episode Where we've discussed crack So I'm starting to see that there's a through line We also have AIDS on the table right now So Thank you for finishing that sentence And yes I don't think there's a more important year

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You know, I was thinking about this. Generally, when a team or a franchise or a program builds a new facility, the crowd gets quieter. New Yankee Stadium is quieter than old Yankee Stadium because the stadium costs a fortune. You have to charge more for tickets. That's more corporate sponsors. They don't show up. They're not as rabid. They don't get as drunk.

You know, there are people that have like social stigmas. They can't be out getting boozed up. The older the stadium, the louder the stadium. Yankee Stadium, the new one's not as loud. When I was at Oregon, Otson Stadium, when I first got to the state, it was the loudest place I'd ever heard. Then they spent a lot of money. They charge more for tickets.

You get more doctors, lawyers. They're not quite as loud as the rowdy guy from Roseburg, Oregon down the street that's licked up by, you know, first quarter. You see, Golden State's interesting because the old arena, you know, I'd been there forever. That was the loudest crowd in the NBA, like easily. So they build a new arena. And my takeaway was, it won't be as loud. It still is.

And I think a lot of that, this is my guess, tech money is young money. So, you know, a lot of the, like, if you ever go to a Michigan Wolverine football game, half the people in that stadium are over 60 because they've been good forever. So I thought the new arena for the Warriors, it would get quieter because they would just charge more, therefore the fan base gets older. But a lot of the wealth in Silicon Valley is 38 years old. And those guys, they're girlfriends, they buddies, they drink. So when I watch the Warriors of the last playoff team not to lose at home,

it is unbelievable to me that Golden State is a six-point favorite in game two. That's just the crowd. That's just telling you Dallas can't win in this arena. That's a ton of points for a team that was humiliated in game one and is very good. It also looks, at least the television product to me because I haven't been to it yet, extremely tight. Yes. Like it is a very intimate arena.

I'm looking at the game like, wow, those fans are close. I've never seen an NBA arena that I thought was intimidating. Like everything's loud, but they're pros. It's the only NBA arena where you see teams get completely discombobulated, good teams. The fact that Dallas, that humiliated Phoenix gets humiliated in game one and is a six-point underdog is like, that's the crowd. very few, I mean, maybe college it's different. College is definitely different. But you're talking about these are 28, 30-year-old men.

Nobody's getting intimidated. Yeah. But it's very rare. The new stadium often gets quieter because you charge more and the crowd gets older and affluent, but they, you know, they're not 50. I'm not going to the game and getting 16 beers in, right? All right. Hour three around the corner coming up live in L.A.

It's the herd. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not. 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. 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 tauntons 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. 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, my basketball and college football journey,

or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to The Cliford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast,

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