The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 3 - Steelers and Wilson, does Luka give Lebron more life?

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

A volatile state of affairs for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Russell Wilson - Jonas and Lavar weigh in. Has the addition of Luka Doncic helped to revitalize Lebron James' energy for more run with the Lakers? #2ProsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you're. know is somebody coming after me. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to three eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRedio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to the Heardt. herd podcast. That's weird.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, just some random tweezers are on the floor here in the studio. That's interesting. What's going on around here, man. You know? You talk about the shenanigans around here, man. Tweezers. Not quite sure.

Not quite sure, but it is the herd here on Fox Sports Radio. It's Lvara Arrington. And Jonas Knox in for Colin here on the IHeart radio app. Thanks, Colin. This show here on all of our Fox Sports Radio affiliates. across the country as we take you all the way up until noon Pacific time, three o'clock Eastern time. And of course,

the big topic of conversation today around the world of sports. Big topic. Is that giant circus tent that they put up in the Bay Area and decided to throw on some NBA events and call that an All Star weekend, which people were not thrilled with. I mean, are we calling shade at All Star weekend or is it really warranted? You know? I mean, it sucked. But here's how I look at, because we're going to hear from, you know,

Draymond Greenhead comments, Charles Barkley, pointed some fingers. This is how I look at All-Star Games. There's a reason why the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is the best All-Star Game of the bunch, because it's the one that most closely resembles what the actual product is. It's like when somebody tells you, A, man, that band's really good live. They're saying that because they sound close to what they sound like. on the album. Not a doctored up version.

Like, oh, like, heard them in person. Like, they sounded horrible. Because they're not doing things. Like, some musical acts will do things in studio that they can't replicate live. That's right. When you go and see them live, it just doesn't look the same. And it's like the NBA, the NFL, a lot of these All-Star games, they present a product that they can't do live at an All-Star event. And that's why it looks less than.

Major League Baseball, what they sound like on the album is exactly what they look like in the All-Star game. And that's why people like it and prefer that over the other All-Star events because it feels like an actual game. You can't do that in the NFL. And you could if you were Sean Taylor and you wanted to wipe out a punter in a Pro Bowl. Like, you played it in three different Pro Bowls. Yeah.

I was out there playing for keeps. I mean, it did look a lot different than it does now. and it just feels like they're presenting us a product that doesn't look anything like you would normally see. And my big issue with it is just the timing of it. I accept the fact that All-Star Games, by and large, are terrible. But why would you let this be your first weekend without the NFL as your first representation of the sport? That doesn't make any sense for me. Dang.

It doesn't. It's pretty damning, you know? And I'll just say this because I know we want to bounce off of. the bounce off of the soundbyes. I want to hear obviously what we had people listen to earlier with Draymond, but then what we didn't do in the first two hours that we're going to do here

is listen to what Charles Barkley had to say in response to it. And I'm a react off of that because I'm in alignment with what you're saying. I just feel like there's a disconnect there in terms of the fan base, the fans, and what it is that they're looking for, the personality, but I mean, I'm not going to throw shade out until y'all hear the shade come from internal.

This is what Draymond had to say about it. You work all year to be an all-star and you get to play up to 40 and then you're done. This is so unfair to Victor Wimblyama who just took this game really seriously. Shea Gildj is Alexander who just took this game really seriously. When you talk about chasing after the points records, Mello, Kobe and all these guys who've had great scoring nights, They don't get the opportunity to do that with this game All so we can watch some rising stars We're about to watch the Olympic team

Now we get the treat of watching the Olympic team Play against a U-19 team Come on, what are we doing? Kale of 1 to 10, your thoughts of the format 10 being the best? Yes. A zero. Sucks. Well, here's what Charles Barkley

Here's what Charles Barkley had to say in response to what, well, what Draymond had to say. I'm going to disagree with Draymond a lot. You know, I use the analogy like when your kids mess up the house,

you make them cleaning up and they complain and they mess the game up. That's why we're trying kamikaze stuff out here right now. So his generation messed the game up. So don't act like he's mad because they're trying to use rookies and we're doing every type of trick

to make this weekend exciting. Don't be trying to use rookies, kamikaze stuff. What he's basically saying is the stars, the legends of the game were a part of All-Star Weekend and you got to know these players you got to know who Charles Barkley was

you got to know who I mean even even move a step forward like I used an older generation early on to represent I talked about the pistons talked about the Knicks and the Rockets let's move up a little bit closer to you know the generation that was right before Draymond and all of them

and with Kobe and with Anthony Hardaway and with Shaquille O'Neill and all those guys. You got an opportunity to get to know the players and who they were and these bigger, larger-than-life personalities of people. I mean, we ain't hear Yao Ming say three, four words. Hi. Bye.

Good. Damn. We knew who Yao Ming was, though. We related to Yao Ming. We was cool with Yao Ming. Did we? No. Kind of sort of.

Kind of sort of. You know, if you were a Rockets fan, you rocked with him and Tracy McGreg. Were you in D.C. with either George Mirrissan or Manute Bull? I'm younger than that, bro. Thank you very much. What was George Miroson in D.C.? Right before I got here, it was in the, what, the late 90s? The mid-90s.

It was George Marison's career. Yeah, I didn't get, I got to. DC in 2000. Like he was probably there mid-90s, I would say. Mid-90s, right? Yeah. Maybe he saw a place there. Like, my new bowl, I was in like middle school probably. Like, golly, you try to make me old.

I was there when Michael Jordan was there. That's when I was in D.C. I was there with Jordan. Rip Hamilton was there. Guys like that. Who else was there? The big dude from North Carolina, why am I blanking on his name? Montross?

Not Montross. The opposite end of the spectrum. But he was a tall Hayward. Brendan Hayward was there. Kwame Brown had got drafted while I was there. Popeye Jones was there while I was there. Yeah, you know, there's some dudes there. But I'm just saying this new generation, I'm totally on with what Charles Barkley said. When you don't have your big guns coming out and making the All-Star game a priority, making the dunk contest a priority, making the three-point contest a priority,

when you don't see the big guns doing it with the other guys, can the underdog win? Or can LeBron James win it? Can he go out and win the dunk contest? He's deferred for years and years and years. guys that were big time players. Imagine Vince Carter said, I don't want to do the dunk contest. Imagine that.

By the way, Vince Carter was a great player for a long time, but he is known for dunk contest. Okay. Like great player. But like Hall of Famer. Yeah, yes. Same with Dominique Wilson. Bro, if you want to know how good Vince Carter was,

I was at the, I went to that. You know how many, you know how hot that ticket was when they said Vince Carter is doing the dunk contest this year Everybody went Curiously it was in San Francisco It was on the West Coast Oh different looking different looking time back then From what I hear

Bro And everybody was there That's where I first met Kevin Garnett I met somebody I met Red Man and Method man It was such a spectacle I don't know if it's still like that now Because you could And the point on Vince Carter

and Dominique Wilkins and guys like that is those without the dunk contest those are probably Hall of Fame players like those are Hall of Fame players That's the point. Yeah You bring your big guns out. So then you throw the dunk contest on top of it and it made them superstars like the human highlight real.

You're trying to figure out who's going to win. You was actually, if people remember it, you were choosing sides. Are you team Dominique or are you team Mike? You were choosing sides. It wasn't just, oh, Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan. No, man, it was like, I'm human highlight film.

Dominique was my favorite dunker of all time. Bro, he used to dunk so hard. Jumped off two feet. Bro, that double feet jump. Oh, my gosh, bro. It was so good. It was so explosive, pause. You know what I mean?

Like, but Mike just had everybody flying with him. You got to give Mike credit for carrying. Like, we say LeBron is carrying. Oh, okay. But Mike was really, like, building fans and different, like, come fly. They had a special on VHS cassette that you could buy that said, come fly with Mike. And you're watching dunk contests. You're singularly watching an event take place because of the impact that Michael Jordan was having on you as a person and as a family.

You don't have. Name a player that has that impact now. And it ain't even LeBron. Listen, LeBron is a big-time guy, big-time influence. I get it. He's not influencing the NBA to the fan base the way that Michael Jordan did when he was playing. I think that might play a large part in it as well. Well, if you were not a fan of the All-Star Weekend and get in line,

I'm not sure many people that were, there could be some changes happening. This, according to Ryan Glassbeagle of front office sports, who said the following next season NBC takes over from TNT for the All-Star weekend. There are three big changes that could be coming for the All-Star weekend. Number one, earlier start time, 5 p.m. Eastern time from where it's at now, which is 8 p.m. Eastern time. Next year's All-Star weekend is right in the middle of the Winter Olympics in Italy, so most of the Olympic events would be over by five Eastern time. There's also the thought of a one-on-one tournament with a potential $1 million prize,

and stars in the dunk contest. So this feels like the NBA has seen, okay, we really do have a problem here. Like we've tried everything. We've tried to push this off and change it and manipulate it and put it at this time. And, you know, have these. This year felt like this was a really big whiff and a big miss by the NBA. And at least next year they're looking at it going, all right, let's make some changes. Like a one-on-one tournament for a million dollars?

Okay. That's fun. I mean, it creates betting opportunities, right? Betting odds. I mean, that one-on-one stuff that was going on with the women, I liked it. It was kind of, it was pretty cool. I'll say this, and I'm not even trying to fanboy it up for Fox. I'm not, like, legitimately, I watched Daytona yesterday.

It was fantastic. The Daytona 500 was fantastic. And even that, in comparison, like, you know, they're doing the four nations face off in hockey, and you've got, you know, guys throwing down, you know, trying to, you know, trying to win it for their country and all the, it just, there were other events that were taking place that felt so much bigger than what the NBA was doing. It just, there's a lot going on. They're throwing different things at you, and it's really hard to look at that and go, oh, yeah, I want to come back for seconds. Like, there's just no, there's nothing to it that I look at after this weekend and think, oh, well, that's a bright spot for. the league. I just, I think they missed big time this weekend. But at least Steph Curry won

one MVP of the game for what it's worth. Well, there you go. Yeah. So, there you go. Yeah. If you had a one-on-one tournament take place for a million dollars, I just don't think that it's fair. I don't think that it's fair because how do you expect a smaller guy to be able to beat a bigger guy? Maybe you have to have brackets. You know what they should do? They have to have Big man versus big man and then like guards versus guards. Just have like Victor Wenbino. Wembe versus, I don't know, like Peter Dinklage, do like a celebrity like one-on-one contest.

You could have, like there's all sorts of stuff you could do. You could have, I wonder if LeBron would be up for a one-on-one, like him versus Steph Curry. I doubt it. Him versus Steph Curry for a million dollars one-on-one. If he is scared to lose, doing dunks, he going to be, he ain't going to want to deal with doing one-on-one. Now is that confirmed or is that just the assumption because he never participated?

Did he ever come out and say I was scared to lose the contest? No, he didn't come out and say that. Yeah. But you could read between the lines. Why would you not go out there and don't? Right. Like you're arguably the greatest in the game. And we're talking in his prime when he was like explosive.

LeBron James. Like why wouldn't you go out there and? and give people more reasons to say this is why you're better than Michael Jordan. Why not? I could guarantee you he was his athletic ability at a certain point in time. You would have been able to look at the way he was dunking the ball and you'd have been like, man, like I know MJ was getting up and come fly with me and all, but that dang LeBron James is taking off.

He's a freak. But he didn't do it. Yeah. I don't know, man. I decided to pass. But there you go. Multiple times. At least he did show up to let everybody know he would not be participating this year.

So that was showing up not to participate. Right. I will not be putting a uniform on. I will not be doing anything of the physical nature. Yeah. I got some ankle and some foot injuries as just some discomfort, you know. I'll do it while I'm here. I'll let you guys all know why I'm here.

So there's that. So congratulations. Hey, well, yeah. What are you? I don't hate LeBron. Dang, don't hate LeBron? It's a little lot. LeBron does everything for the game, man.

Take away LeBron. I don't know. Jason Whitlock keeps saying that women's basketball is going to get more important, more popular than men's basketball. Like, give LeBron some props for keeping the NBA still relevant right now. Whitlock's had some interesting commentary recently. A little bit. What's up, Jake?

Laverrington. Leverrington. Leverrington. It is The Hurt here on Fox Sports Radio. LeVar Erington, Jonas Knox, in for Colin. Coming up next year, though, we've got a potential landing spot. All right, we're talking about a Super Bowl champion, a future Hall of Famer, and a potential landing spot next year.

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So, Lovar Earrington, Hi. Your guy, Russell Wilson. It's my guy. Apparently, he's going to have some options. should the Pittsburgh Steelers move on from Russ? Should they?

According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Raiders do make some sense from the standpoint of... There's reports at him and Pete Carroll have mended fences. Okay. But a team to watch is also the Giants. Okay. Potentially the New York Giants could be one of the landing spots for Russell Wilson, which would make sense from the standpoint of when he went to Pittsburgh last year,

the other team that he was... he met with for sure was the giants because I think he did go on heat with them. He wanted to go into like a major, major market from what I could gather. And he settled for, are you saying he settled for Pittsburgh? Well, I mean, Pittsburgh ain't no New York. That's for certain. Who does a better steak, Pittsburgh or New York, based on that? Oh, I'm sure.

I'm sure Pittsburgh would win, but New York would certainly have some great eateries that would have great steak. So, I mean, I don't think you could go wrong, but if we're going pound for pound, I bet you Pittsburgh has a place there where it's better. But I'm biased. The Giants make sense. I still think the Raiders make the most sense. I just don't think he's going to be back in Pittsburgh.

I don't. I don't think he's back in Pittsburgh, even though he makes the most sense for Pittsburgh. I think that Pittsburgh is now finding themselves and what would be considered to be a volatile state in terms of what they're going to do for next year. If Justin Fields is your your loan starter and you better you better be looking at another

free agent to bring in there. Otherwise I think this puts Mike Tomlin in a very compromising situation. As far as Russ and I have to say definitely Russ is in a compromising situation

because I don't think either one of those teams I would say New York would be maybe the closest to being in position to possibly be competitive and win. But I think both of them are, I mean, they're tremendous risk. And obviously he's not going to go to a team where he's probably going to be a backup or not have the opportunity to start and have success. But I just don't look at any of these teams. I think that's a tremendous risk.

You're taking a tremendous risk on going to, one of those teams, which, I mean, you may not have any other choice, but I just think that going to one of those teams, which, I mean, does Russell Wilson make any one of those teams definitively better in what their circumstances are going into the season? It's a no. Yeah, I mean. It's a no. It's definitely a no. It felt like it ended weirdly in Pittsburgh. Like, there was a point there to where it was, oh, they've got their quarterback. Like, they finally got their guy. That was early. That was when he first came back. And we were having the discussion,

oh, now that's why, now we know why they waited to give him an opportunity and didn't just make Justin Fields a starter when they were four and two. Because there was a dynamic to his role in the offense to where he could throw the ball down field. He was better at that than Justin Fields. And then the final five games of the season happened. They fell off a cliff. And I don't know why is that? Again, I don't, I don't, put this all on Russ. I do not put the experiment on because the defense has not been

what it has usually been. The staple that it represents for the Steelers they have not been that. They were not that dominant this year. And so I don't put all of that on Russ. But with that being said, it's still

going to fall at the feet of Russ and Tomlin. Like that's who you're going to look at. He wasn't good enough. That's what you're going to blame it on. The play Holland was better, but it wasn't good enough. You're going to blame it on Pickens being a malcontent. It wasn't good enough. There was just a lot of things that you have questions about in terms of where does this

team go looking forward. And a lot of it is not based off of Russ. Because whatever quarterback you put in that starting position is going to have to deal with the same exact complications that Russ did. season. The same exact complications Justin Fields had to deal with during the course of this season, you're going to have to deal with. That's why the Rogers to Pittsburgh, everyone's saying, oh, that makes the most sense. No. Really? I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't either. I don't think that makes any sense. Other than, like, talent-wise, sure, he can make a difference.

I think he can make them a better team talent-wise. But the way some of these guys go about their business what does Pittsburgh really have the offer to Aaron Rogers at this point in his career is that worth the risk you got a moody you got a moody number one receiver

you got you got a running back I mean I don't even know if they're bringing Naji back but I mean he gives you what he's got but he just hasn't panned out to be one of the most elite backs so you're not you know he's solid he's solid but

You know, he's not a game changer. When you just look at that division, they're in trouble. Well, if I were to tell you, you're in trouble. Like, are they, could you see them competing for a Super Bowl? If you just went team by team of the division, obviously Cleveland would be no, because they've got an albatross locked up in a weirdo, a quarterback. And that's just, that's where they're going to be at, you know, for the next foreseeable future. Baltimore always feels like a threat.

and Cincinnati. Baltimore is going to make it hard for you and then they're just going to come up short. Yeah. But they're going to make it hard for you. They're still going to determine like you're going to, you might miss as a wild card

because they're either going to win the division or they're going to be that wild card team out of that division. But there's a threat there at least. Like when you see Baltimore, it's like, okay, you got to deal with the most dynamic player in the league and Derek Henry's there. Like there's the,

threat that Baltimore could make run. They're the best team in the AFC North. Cincinnati is a wild card because it could go either way. If Hendrickson gets away or you're not the same team when you let up who's the receiver. T. Higgins. We've got an update

on that by the way. Okay. If he which I would assume they're not going to sign him back. Well we will see. Yeah we got a little bit of them. If they sign him back and they bring back this same team then you got to discussion for who's the best team in the AFC North. But both of those teams

Baltimore and Cincinnati feel like it would not surprise me if they made a Super Bowl run. They're trending up. Pittsburgh just feels flat. I don't know. You're not, there's only, there is no middle ground. You're either getting better or you're getting worse. I mean, that's the bottom line. You're either getting better

or you're getting worse. And you can't say that Pittsburgh's getting better. You can't say they've gotten better. So that means they're getting worse. It just feels like there's something that's not the same between them and Cincinnati and yet one team made the playoffs and the other didn't. Like it just Cincinnati has got a ceiling. I think that goes towards what Mike Tomlin is able to do as a coach.

Cincinnati's got a ceiling that Pittsburgh can't reach. Currently. Yeah, I agree. And so it just feels like that's kind of weird. And the biggest thing is they're two two things. Their quarterback situation and their defense. Their defense has to be better. So this is the update on the T. Higgins situation.

This according to James Rapine, by the way, James Rapine, former intern here at Fox Sports Radio in Cincinnati with Andy Furman and Artrell Hawkins. But James, who covers the Bengals for Sports Illustrated, Nessi.com, said that the Bengals plan on placing the non-exclusive franchise tag on T. Higgins for a second straight season. League sources have confirmed. The tag window officially opens on Tuesday, February 18th. So tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern time at last until Tuesday, March 4th at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Sources say that Higgins Camp expects to get tagged at this point. He would be the top free agent if he were to make it to free agency. That isn't expected to happen.

The Bengals will tag Higgins by the March 4th deadline. And so if you were wondering whether or not T. Higgins would get a bigger deal in the market, at least at this point, it looks like they're going to tag him and try and figure out if they could do something long term. do you think somebody swoops in and gives T. Hagan? There are teams out there that need a one receiver, and I'm thinking just right off the top of my head, Green Bay is one.

Green Bay is one of those teams. I mean, there are teams out there that need receivers. So does he get swooped up and they get the opportunity to match? So Rupin points out in the article that, Well, last year there was no intention for them to sign him long term. It does feel like there's momentum and that the team is interested in signing him to a long-term deal. That there's more of a possibility of that happening this year than last year. He changed agents.

He parted ways with your guy, David Mulageta. Your guy. In December. So he's no longer with him. I know what that happened. Changed agents. And so now... Taking selfies with show at night, huh?

I mean, you know. Now at least the bangles have let everybody know. Don't go flirting. Like we would like to work out a long-term deal and they get trying to hang this out. Then if you say don't go flirting, all you're really trying to do right now is hope that nobody takes the price tag up that you're planning on offering to him. By basically saying we're going to give you this franchise tag. If nobody matches it, then you see that you're most valuable with us.

right like you're most valuable as a Cincinnati bangle so let's get a deal done and let's be reasonable about the deal versus if you put on are you you're you are able to do an exclusive franchise tag right yeah so if you do that exclusive franchise tag you're locked into the fact that this guy's going to get that average and you're you're still able to do the same exact thing which is work on doing a deal with that player right so a team could negotiate a long-term deal with him but it would cost them two first-round picks if the Bengals didn't match the contract. So they're not going to...

The point I'm saying is nobody's going to match the offer. So with that being said, it gives Cincinnati the upper hand on negotiating a long-term contract with Higgins. And by the way, if some team did want to fork up two first-round picks, Cincinnati

would gladly do that deal. Two-first for T. Higgins, sign us up. It's not happening. So he's going to be in Cincinnati, whether he sticks with the tag or he moves on or they get a long-term deal done, he's going to be there, which is, look, Joe Burrow has come out and said publicly over and over again and called out the organization, we need to do this, we've got the talent that's here, you don't want to make it a habit of letting top name free agents walk away. And so now with this T. Higgin news, they've got to keep Hendrickson.

It feels like that's the one. Got to keep him. think that's a no-brainer. And they have to improve on defense. They not only have to keep Hendrickson, they have to improve on the defensive side of the ball, just like I said, that the Pittsburgh Steelers have to do. They have to be better because you're putting up gody numbers.

Joe Burrow, all intents of purposes, should have been the MVP of the league this year. If we're just looking at achievement through stats, that man threw for over 5,000 yards. That's crazy. so when you look at what you have in Joe Burrell you look at what you have in and Jamar Chase and what you have when you have a healthy T. Higgins

you're looking at an offense that is virtually unstoppable so all you got to do is play better defense and Hendrickson outside of T.J. Watt I mean I like the fact that they kind of got a little diverse and gave it to a corner. But let's be clear. I thought you're going somewhere else with that.

Let's just be clear. I think that Hendrickson should have, what, diverse and like what, going to a white guy as one of the best players? That would be diversity. I mean, there's starting to be a little bit more diversity in athleticism and professional sports.

White men can jump. They can. Three straight years. That one can jump right there. Out the gym. Sheesh. Anyway, and Hendrickson can play some goddamn football. I know that as well.

He gets after the quarterback, and I think he did it better than anybody else out there. In fact, league and sacks. So I just think that you have two teams. To get back to the original point, you have two teams. One will come up short on you. One made it to the Super Bowl. But that's two teams that can make it very, very difficult for you. to be in a situation to make the playoffs.

How do you keep pace with a Ravens and Bengals team, all things given, the teams are the teams going in the next season? If you are the Pittsburgh Steelers, how do you keep pace in the AFC North and you don't know who your quarterback is going to be? And to that point, I don't think that you keep pace honestly with the two quarterbacks that you had this season.

On anybody's list, top three, potentially, but for sure, top five, in the AFC North, two of those top three or five quarterbacks are in that division, and neither one of them plays for Pittsburgh. That's a problem. Like, that's a real problem. And it just, they've been scrambling for years now. And even, look, the last couple of years for Rathesberger weren't all that hot. But it was still It felt like there was the potential there And it just feels like they've hit their ceiling

And this is where they are Until they can find somebody that's close to what Cincinnati and Baltimore have a court Yeah, I think the craziest thing is Is that you probably have a worse situation than Cleveland So their only saving grace is Is that I don't have to really worry about Cleveland They're going to cushion the bottom

They'll cushion the cell. So we're willing here. We're starting willingly. Like literally like we paid all this to be in this situation. Their ROI is to stink and be trash. And you lose Miles Garrett, you're going to be even more stinking trash. I just, I think that you're, you find yourself in a situation in a scenario where you're going to assume that Baltimore is going to be the lead horse in that division. and can you keep pace with them?

What team will you get from the Cincinnati Bengals? Because even though we know they have a ton of talent, they didn't start playing football until later in the season this year. I mean, they were trash early on too. Yeah. So I think if you get to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation with Cincinnati, I think it's at least the consistency that you see that comes from Pittsburgh that may play a part in them being a second-rated team,

second-ranked team that is a possible wild card team for the playoffs once again once again i think that that's kind of right now that's that's par for the course at least they got permany so you know that big fish is crazy i know everybody likes to get to reuben and the classic and all that stuff but that big fish if you go to permannies and you get a sandwich that big fish is fire man hell yeah throw you some some hot sauce on that joint add some tartar sauce. Wash it down with an icy light or a LaVar Island? I'm going LaVar Island all day with that.

But you could go with icy light. A beer will go just fine with that. Shots out to Ph.D. Weight Lodge, too, by the way. I have not had a big fish in quite some time. And I've been staying loyal to my diet. He has. So there you go. It is The Herd here on Fox Sports Radio.

LaVar Arington, Jonas Knox, in for Colin. Coming up next year, though, we've got a hint. Somebody giving a little sneak peek into the future of the end for a Hall of Fame career. And that'll be yours in the Herdline News right here on FSR. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. 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.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. 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 note.

Notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert 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 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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. honest. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A reminder, if you've missed any of this show, you can't check out the podcast. You just search, excuse me, it's not actually what you want to search. You want to search the herd or two pros wherever you get your podcast, and be sure to also follow, rate, and review it.

Again, just search two pros wherever you get your podcast. see this show posted right after we get off the air. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Greg Tooie. Hey, guys. Hi. Hit the home stretch here.

All right. As we mentioned earlier, LeBron missed the All-Star game for the first time in his career. He'd been selected as a starter for 21 straight years. Crazy. Golly. Yesterday, he was asked about a bunch of topics. One of them was the addition of Luca. And he was asked if now teaming up with Luca has affected how much longer he wants to keep playing.

Just the excitement of being able to add a caliber player like that, a generational talent like that to our franchise. It's something that's giving me energy. I'm looking forward to seeing what we could do. I think it's been, we only had, what, two games? Two games so far. And I believe he, I think he's been on minutes restriction since he came back from the cab. He hadn't played since Christmas, I believe. So, you know, as we continue to, you know, get into form, as he continues to get in form,

I think we could be really good going down the stretch but we see what happens. He sounds pretty excited. We know LeBron came out in December and said that he could play another five to seven years if we wanted to, but he doesn't want to. Do you guys think that the addition of Luca, though, will sort of rejuvenate him

to play longer than he really wanted to now that he knows he won't have to carry the load? I think the last accomplishment that he had to get in his career was playing with his son. I think he already knows whether or not he's going to walk away and Lucas' arrival isn't going to do anything to either extend it or not. I think that was the last thing he wanted to do was get his son drafted into the NBA.

He did. Play with his son in an NBA game. He did. I think everything from here on out is gravy. That was the last boxer chair. I don't know. One, two, three, four. He's got four championships.

Three and a half. All right. You got that bubble. the bubble. Yeah. Let me come up. All right. MJ has six.

Yep. If you could get a run and still two to three more championships in the next three to four years, that would be a major box to check off. Even if he did not receive full compensation of the credit of getting those championships, even if it went to little. as the reason why they won those championships, it would still go down in the record book that he has seven championships. I think there's no shot the Lakers on a title.

I don't know, man. I don't think this year, but it depends on the off season next year. They could be, I think they could be right there in the mix the next year or two if they can really fix this roster with some big men. I mean, and Luca is a major piece to that puzzle. I'll tell you that. They weren't going to get it done with AD and LeBron. So now you add Luca, that's a different type of animal there.

He can carry the team on his own by himself right now. I think the Luca move was about the future, not the present. Totally. I think this was about the, what are we going to do after LeBron walks away? And I've said it before. I think people have grown fatigued with LeBron and AD in this town. There was no buzz. The Dodgers were dwarfing the Lakers in this town.

And I think that now they look at it and go, all right, well, at least we have somebody that we can hand it off to as LeBron walks away. I don't think they hire his son in the draft if that was totally the thought process of LeBron. I just don't. Now, if LeBron retires at the end of this year,

over under 15 minutes before they waive Ronnie James. But take the under. But that's what I'm saying. You're not going to waste that draft pick if that was what your plan was. He's going to stay long enough for his son to be

solidified, I would assume, and you have an opportunity now to possibly make a push for more championships. He wants to be the goat of all time. There's a couple things he won't get. He won't get him on defensive player of the years. He won't get him on that. But he does have the chance with Luca coming to the team to get to at least tying him. I mean, at least tie it.

You know how cool that would be, though, and teasing and busting balls, but how cool that must be to say I played in an NBA game with my son. That's awesome. Let me tell you this. I'm about to go give my son that work on air hockey right now. When I get home, I'm going to whoop his ass. I'm going to be unforgiving.

I'll run up the score, too. Is it a real air hockey table, or is it like one of the little young boy air hockey table? It's a young boy, but here's a little bit I did. It's like the Fisher Price did. I put clear scotch tape over his goal so he can't score. Oh, Jonas. That's great.

Come on. It's great. What a dad are you? You are horrible for that. You're supposed to let them win at everything, Jonas. I'll try to listen. I need to put clear scotch tape on your mouth. God, damn.

All right, we'll wrap it up with this. We'll wrap it up with this. The Super Bowl guys could be coming back to Vegas. Yay. According to the Sports Business Journal, the NFL is preparing a return to Vegas in 2029. Many thought Nashville could be in the mix for 2029, as their new dome stadium is opening up in 27.

But according to the SBJ, the NFL was so impressed with Vegas as host last year, they could give them another shot just five years later. That'd be the only Super Bowl day. But here's the thing. That'd be the only way they did you say the Super Bowl game. We talk about the Super Bowl rotation, right? And most people think it's L.A., Phoenix, Miami, Vegas, maybe New Orleans mixed in. We could skip L.A.

Really? Yeah. Okay. Miami and Vegas. Miami, Vegas, Phoenix? I think about it from the weather perspective. The weather in New Orleans was fantastic. It was like 75, 77 every day.

It was good. I like New Orleans. Oh, you ain't there? After that Thursday, I'm going to go with New Orleans with the weather end. And it was an easy walk. It was an easy walk to get to the press row. I thought Atlanta was the most organized Super Bowl. And they're going to be there in a couple of years, I think.

I think it goes Santa Clara, L.A., and then Atlanta's after that. I'm always with Atlanta. It's going to be cold, though, probably. See, that's the problem with Atlanta. You don't know. In San Bernard, you never really know what the weather's going to be like. Yeah. But, you know, that's where my, you know, that's a college football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

So I always call Atlanta home. You know, always take a little bit of time, go hang out there, you know. Where else? Go with Rob Parker to Magic City and, you know. I don't do those types of things. I don't either. I'm lying. No lemon pepper lose.

I mean, lemon pepper wings is good. Damn. Garlic parm is good, too. 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. 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 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, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Rockerum stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last?

Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.