The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 3 - Tiger, Lakers, Davis

Episode Date: April 6, 2022

More on Tiger Woods returning to The MastersAnthony Davis is the big issue for the LakersGuest: Jeff Benedict Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee 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, 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. New York Times bestselling author of 16 books, a TV and film producer, executive producer of the HBO documentary Tiger. Also, The Dynasty is one of the other outstanding books, bestseller on Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. I want to bring in Jeff Benedict. As Tiger gets ready for the Masters, we assume he's going to play.

It's going to be absolutely nuts this weekend because his last win at the Masters kind of shocked the world. Well, you know him well. you covered him extensively. Are you surprised at all that he is physically and mentally ready to play in what sounded like a near-death experience in Palos Verde's California in his car not long ago? I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't say it. This is shocking. But at the same time, Colin, having matched myself in this guy's life for about five years,

he's been doing things like this his whole life. I mean, his life is one succession of stories and situations that are unprecedented and unlike anybody else. It's why I've always said that he's not really comparable to any other golfer, even when you're having that goat discussion between him and Jack Nicholas, I think it's really hard to compare Tiger to anyone. He have kids, you get older, a lot of people aren't quite as driven. Do you buy into that, or do you think Tiger is Tiger and he's just as driven as he's ever been?

Oh, I think he is as driven as he's ever been. I mean, certainly we've seen evidence of him maturing the way any other human being does when you have children and those children start to grow. obviously he's a human, he's influenced by that. We saw that when he won the last master's and that moment with Charlie was incredible and it was all genuine. So there is that, of course, but when you're talking about him as a competitor, as a professional athlete, I think there, that drive has always been there. It's really never taken a break with him. It hasn't now. I think probably more so than most athletes, he's someone that'll be hard to turn the engine off when it finally is over, but clearly it's not over for him yet.

You know, when you're, I mean, you've covered the Belichick's and billionaires, Robert Kraft and Brady. Is Tiger a lot like all the greats? Do they all have that same sort of mechanism, that jet fuel drive? Or did you find him to be rare in sort of a different jet stream? Well, I think what's different about Tiger, a lot of athletes, including the great ones, and Tom Brady probably fits into this. I mean, Tom's known for having something to prove because he has always been doubted from the very beginning. Tiger's never been doubted.

You know, he doesn't, and Tiger doesn't manufacture reasons to win. He doesn't really have a so-called chip on the shoulder. This is someone who from the time he was a child and was being coached, and nurtured and, you know, brought along by his father, I think his dad astutely understood that his son was going to encounter different things, largely due to the color of his skin when he entered professional golf. And so from the time he was very little,

he was teaching him differently than every other golfer before him had been taught. And that's why I think, I go back to this Colin, I think history is really important when we watch what happens this week And people go, can he possibly become the oldest player to ever win the tournament? My answer is, yeah, and he's already the youngest one to ever win this tournament. And people thought he would never be able to do that when he joined the tour as a young kid out of Stanford, left college early. And people actually laughed at him, literally laughed at him when he said back then that his

expectation was to win. I think Tiger has always thought that about himself. and that's not cockiness. That's a real rare confidence. I see his influence all over the sport. Brooks Kepka, even John Rahm, Dustin Johnson. You know, I grew up with bad slacks and undefined bodies. Could you argue Tiger's a little victim of Tiger,

is that the young people who watched him dominate the sport for 12 years said, I want to be in good shape. I want to be an athlete. I never thought of the sport as athletic. I do now. I look at the top seven, eight players. They're big guys. What do you make of his influence?

Maybe I'm wrong. His influence beyond winning a bunch of tournaments and making a bunch of money. You know, every once in a while in a particular sport, an athlete comes along that has a profound or transcendent influence on the game that he or she plays. There's no question that Tiger has done that to golf. He was different, you know, when he arrived. He arrived youthful and charismatic and richly confident. And he won right away. Like all of those things about him were different.

Then he became this muscular, strong, hyper-athletic golfer. By the way, he wasn't that when he first arrived. He could hit the ball a mile when he arrived, but he wasn't built the way he became. But as he became that golfer, that's when you start to see him really be distinguished from everyone else. And over time, the game has changed because of him. And now he's an older golfer. And there's a lot of younger guys behind him that grew up watching him and have tried to pattern their game after his. I could certainly make a compelling argument.

He's made a lot of golfers rich. The prizes, the purses have gone up, the advertisers have flocked in. As far as you can tell, he and Marco Amiro were close. Is he liked on the tour today? I think immensely. Look, I don't know everybody on the tour and who they like and don't like, but I think he's probably, he's not only liked but revered. And the difference is in the past, he was always feared and revered and envied.

I think now the players on the tour, they just flat out like having him there. They admire him. I mean, that's one of the gifts of time, right? I mean, people look at Tiger differently now, both on and off the tour, then they did at different stages of his life. I'm going to take Dustin Johnson at 15 to 1. He played well in March. He's got his health.

He's done well at this tournament. He's about 20 under par a few years ago. Anybody you like this weekend, can Tiger compete? I look, I was watching like I'm sure you were when he was asked the point blank question yesterday whether he thought he could win. He answered it with two words. I can. And I think he expects to win. I mean, you know, some people might think that's crazy, you know, given where he's been for the last, you know, year plus time.

But I just, I've learned over time. I'm not an expert on everybody else, but watching Tiger. I would just never underestimate what this guy can do. You also wrote the book The Dynasty, The Inside Story of Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Brady. People in New England, an area you're familiar with, often look at the new Brady and say, I don't like it.

Kind of party, Tom. And my takeaway is that's closer to the truth. He was a good soldier and a good teammate in New England. But for years, he suppressed some personality and suppressed a lot of himself. I think the Tampa Tom is more, is closer to the real Tom. He's a fun-loving guy. He's super competitive.

So when Ariens gets moved upstairs and Tom retires and un-retires, I said, I don't think he shoved him out the door, but you can nudge people upstairs and not shove him out the door. You were around Tom, his hyper, Uber competitive persona. And you watch this Tampa situation with Ariens, you know, is it, is it, why do you think he retired, unretired, any theories on it?

I just think he's competitive. And we're seeing the real Tom now. Winning is everything. Well, it's interesting that you would ask me that question on a day when we're talking about Tiger. Because there are obviously significant differences and distinctions between Tom Brady and Tiger Woods

as human beings. And clearly they play very different sports. But I think not many people would argue that we're talking. about the two goats for their respective sports. Right. And so in that, when having that conversation, I think when you think about Tiger coming back, this is again and again now. And Tom retiring and coming back so fast, I think we have to remember that, and this is hard

for us to relate to, but we're talking about two people who are the best, not only are the best in the world at what they do, they're probably. the best who have ever been in the world doing what they do. And so if you think about Colin becoming the best broadcaster ever, or me being, if I were considered worldwide like Charles Dickens, how hard is it to stop doing what you do when you know that you can do it better than anyone who's here now or anyone who's ever come before. I think that that's, I mean, at a very simple, basic level, that's part of what we're talking about here with both of these guys. And I mean, to me, like, that to me is relatable. It's human.

Yeah. By the way, the dynasty, the book Dynasty is great. Currently being turned into a 10-part television series by Ron Howard and Brian Greaser, two smart guys. I just ate this thing up. This thing is fantastic. Fantastic. And the Tiger Woods book, that is fantastic. How's that? You're a writer? And it says here on your on your resume I'm looking at TV and film producer. Boy, you're a swanky coastal elitist. What in the world's going on, Jeff? Do you like, do you like turning these books into documentaries? Do you like that process? I do. I do. Look, it's an extension. I mean, for the kind of writing I do, Colin, as you know, I don't write a lot of articles for magazines or newspapers. I just, I don't. I invest large swaths of my life in a book. And when it's over, I don't want it to be over. And so, you know, if I can tell that story on another medium, like in a documentary, which we did for Tiger, for HBO, or in the case of the dynasty, we get to do something that's even grander, it's a 10-part series. and to get to work with people like Ron Howard and Brian Grazier and our director, Matt Hammacheck,

who also directed the Tiger film. I mean, for a writer, it's a dream come true. It doesn't get any better than that. And I love these stories, Colin. I mean, the dynasty story for me was something I dreamed about doing for a long, long time. So to be able to be working on the film and be deeply involved in it is I just, I'm grateful. Hey, by the way, I was reading an article the other day on Kirk Cobain, and there was a Rolling Stonewriter who did a big article on him, and he would give... I read it.

I read it. Oh, my God, it was... I could not put it down. I thought it was one of the best rock and roll articles I've ever read in my... I think it was in the New Yorker. It was so good. Agreed. It was terrific.

Oh, so good. And it was funny because Kurt Cobain was pretty cool with the article. But when you write these books about Kraft and Belich and Tiger Woods, let's take Tiger Woods. let's take Tiger Woods. Did they ever comment to you on the book? How does it land for them? Well, it depends who you're writing about. As you know, I did Steve Young's biography before Tiger, and Steve didn't want to read it.

And he commissioned me to write it. Usually you don't, but I've been fortunate. Most of the things that I've written, I have heard from the suburb. and the people. And that's usually always been a really great thing for me. Part of it is you're trying to get people's trust, which is hard to establish, particularly in the journalism climate we work in today. And so there are a few things more rewarding when someone has allowed you to chronicle their life for a few years. And then when it comes out, you hear from that person and they say, you know, job well done. I'll never forget, one of the few magazines,

cover stories I wrote for Sports Illustrated was a cover story on Mike Shoshchewski about 10 years ago. It was the first time he'd ever let a writer in his program. And I worked with Mike on that article for half a year. And when it came out, he sent me a text. It was very, it was one sentence. It just said, now I know that I can trust you. Wow. It took Joy Taylor six years to trust me.

That's something, Jeff. You really. Okay, folks, go buy the book. Tiger Woods and did you dive into Tiger at a gust of this weekend? I love doing this. Getting books that. I just starting to read Jeff Perlman's book again on the Lakers Dynasty now that I'm watching Winning Time. There's the book. I love rereading books or going back and visiting it so much fun this weekend. Hey Jeff, you're great. Thank you so much for coming on. Thanks, Colin. Always a pleasure. All right. Boy, that dynasty book, that is just, it is so great.

Folks, these stories all come out. You can't hide anything. I can't wait for the scripted version of the Patriots. We haven't even heard unfiltered Belichick on this dynasty. We're not going to hear that until he's retired. Where do we get those stories? What do we get fully unfiltered Tom?

These productions that he's doing, it's still, like he's still playing. There's still some protections that need to be in place. I actually, it may be a paperback, but I would read the Ariens Brady book. three years of it, two, and then this, I'm interested to hear, because it's a lot of conjecture. We don't know.

I think he nudged him upstairs. You know how somebody's walking upstairs and you just kind of push him? You push people upstairs? My kids when they were grounded. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Speaking of books and shows, the Lakers lost to the suns last night. Oh, but you know what? Can we just say this? Congrats to Phoenix. Oh, yeah. I mean, Phoenix has had an incredible year.

They've had an incredible turnaround. And for everything that that ownership structure has done to that organization over however long they have been there. They're overcoming bad ownership. They are completely overcoming it. and have had, I don't know if he has stepped out of it, but the culture there seems to have changed. You know what's amazing about Phoenix,

and this happens very rarely in sports. They're great and don't have a title yet. So I get the greatness and the hunger. Like Milwaukee got a title. Their regular season, hey, take an extra day off. Have a little ice cream before bet. Phoenix is like great and nobody thinks they're great. So you're getting great.

Well, because they haven't won it all yet. It was like the Warriors, mid-season before they'd won their first title, and you're like, they're becoming great, and they haven't won yet, those are the, you're just watching an ascending product. Well, the Lakers lost to them last night,

and that eliminated them from the play in tournaments. And following the game, Russell Westbrook expressed his desire to remain with the team next season. Yeah, I mean, that's the plan, you know, but, you know, everything, nothing is promised. You kind of got to take one day at a time each day.

And like I said, all season long, you got to play the cards you dealt. Yes, we want to be able to see what that looks like, what that entails over course of it, you know, 82 game season. But we're not sure if that's guaranteed neither. So, you know, I just hope that we have a chance to be able to do so in the future. Yeah, I don't believe he's going to be there next season. No, he will not. As much as the attention has sort of shifted away from Russell Westbrook over the past couple weeks. The entirety of the season and the drama that ensued, the arguing with reporters, the animosity just in general surrounding Westbrook was entirely too toxic for the level of play

that was being given on the court. Now, obviously, those two things went hand-in-hand. If he was having an unbelievable season, that probably wouldn't exist. But they've also been struggling with injuries with LeBron and AD throughout the season. He averaged a career low, 18.5 points, 44.4 field goal percentage, 29.8 from three, and a career low and assists as well as 7.1. He's two things. He's a broken player and he's a declining player. He's also a very expensive player. He is set to make 47.1 million next season. Oh, my lord. Oh, 47 million. Forty seven million dollars, yes. Oh, yeah, yoy. This is what it is with the Lakers. I think that the structure is not there.

Yeah, I feel for Lakers fans because Lakers fans might be a little unrealistic. Well, they are. They get mad at me a lot. They might have some fantasies about their championship odds at the beginning of every season. Yeah. But I will say about Lakers fans is they have standards. And they're loyal. And they're loyal.

Boy. And they have pride. Yeah. So that's why this particular season is as bad as it can be. And I do think LeBron has to be very strategic how he moves forward. It is amazing. They brought in Westbrook knowing they'd pay him $47 million the second year, knowing his history of he doesn't play off the ball.

Like we all knew that. You and I knew that. I thought it would work better than this, but I said, you know, he doesn't play off the ball. He's got to have the ball. LeBron left the ball. again. I thought also, and I think this is a massive indictment of Russell Westbrook,

I thought he would be better because he was playing with LeBron. LeBron makes everyone better. Except Westbrook. And that is an indictment of Westbrook because LeBron has a massive amount of evidence that he can elevate everyone. When Kyrie was in Cleveland pre-Lebron, there were people that thought he was a bust. People didn't like him. He couldn't stay healthy.

There were a lot of sellers on Kyrie. Then he has LeBron. He's great. Goes to Boston. It's a problem. If you look at Kyrie's career and take out the LeBron years, there's arguments to be made. He's a massive underachiever.

That's never healthy and kind of difficult. And LeBron is a winner. And the question with Westbrook is that he's a winner. And obviously, once again, where are they outside the playoffs? Zion Williamson hasn't played a game for the Pelicans this season. There's a lot of questions about where he is going to. to play the entirety of his career, but his stepdad has high hopes that he will step on the court this season.

I expect them to play. Certainly, I do. Sure. And if you were to ask Zion, I'm sure he would probably stay the same thing. That would be a plus for New Orleans would be a plus, I guess, for Zion, you know, with the way things are right now. So back to the question, am I, you know, do I think? Certainly I do. That's on me, though.

That's purely me. But certainly we would, and I don't think there's anything else. out there that would hinder him from doing that right now. I want to pick up that other call. Well, prior to yesterday's game, Pelicans coach Willie Green gave no official update on Zion. He's saying he's getting on the floor doing what he's supposed to do, but no further updates. They have said he's progressed on the past three-on-three work, and he's being cleared for one-on-one work prior to the team's four-game road trip last Tuesday. He did post this video of him dunking, but officially he remains out indefinitely.

This is, I think, a very – this is going to be a big talk. topic as well throughout the offseason because Zion has got to get healthy. And if he's not healthy again for another year, I mean, I don't even know where you begin. You can't have a conversation about moving him. You can't build the team around him. Like this is a very crucial offseason for Zion Williamson. Don't rush him back. Just get him healthy. But if he is not available and doesn't play for a full season next year, that's going to be a problem. So Drew Locke would be the starting quarterback for the Seahawks, the season started today. Tide in Noah Fant

thinks that Locke can be the long-term answer for the team. Drew's biggest attribute is his arm, man. I think he's made some insane throws of the times that we've played together. He has all the talent in the world. I think he has all the opportunity, all the talent in the world to get it done

and be that franchise guy. I don't think the question about Drew Locke is the talent. His arm is accuracy and his maturity. Yeah, his arm's great. He reminds me so much of Jay Cutler. Never worried about Jay's arm. I worried about Jay. I don't worry it all about Drew Locke's arm.

He's got a top 10 arm in the league. He can sling it, but I got big maturity issue questions. Also, you had weapons in Denver. It's a big part of the reason why Russell Wilson is there now. And you got a 59.3 completion percentage. Folks, you have not been watching the Chargers, because unless you live in Denver, you wait until you see this offense with Russell Wilson. The Broncos, yeah.

Oh, they got players everywhere. They do. Which is part of the reason why he wanted to be there. I'm going to bet. My big bet, my futures bet is the Broncos to win the Super Bowl. That's the best odds. I think they're going to be, you're not going to believe how good they are. We've seen this.

Brady without a preseason. Stafford in the toughest division. But everyone thinks Russ is wash. Oh, God. Washed wide. He's washed in the Super Bowl trophies. Give me a break on that. I mean, can we stop that?

Well, I think the other question is, of course, the division, but I can't get too crazy about the division. I think that division, honestly, will come down to coaching and who's healthy. There's so much talent on that division. In college football, the SEC is a mile better than every conference. Who are the two best teams at the end of the year? George Obama. If you're good, you'll get through your conference.

I mean, the Rams weren't a pretty good division. Yeah, kind of. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Hey, it's Ben, host to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, along with my trusty sidekick, David Gascone, would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mather show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world where we chat with captains of industry, in media, sports and more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The CFOs that get it, get it, those that don't, don't.

Go to NetSuite.com slash heard if you're a CFO that gets it, special one-of-a-kind financing. So Rick Buechre came on earlier. I thought it was one of the quotes of the day is that with the Lakers, you have to identify a problem to fix a problem. And they don't, you know, the players all think it's just health. It's not health. All the good teams in the NBA got beat up this year. I mean, the Clippers don't have their two best players for all of the season until a week ago with Paul George. They're going to get in.

And you can blame the coach, but Frank Vogel won a title in the bubble. Frank Vogel for years with Roy Hibbert. And Paul George gave the Heald's fits. Those Indiana Miami games were great. So don't tell me Frank Vogel can't coach. The issue is they're going to move. Westbrook. We all get that. My issue is AD is a much bigger issue than anybody will acknowledge. And Rick Buecker told us in the last hour he is an issue. They found out,

and LeBron found out that Anthony Davis is not the guy. They found that out a year ago. And rather than moving Anthony Davis, they try to find somebody to come in and change Anthony Davis. The criticism I've heard over and over and over again from inside the Lakers organization is that AD does not, is not a worker, does not work hard. And it's part, and then when you get injured all the time, that raises the question, is it because you're injury prone or because you're not doing everything to get your body in premier shape. So the issue with AD is he doesn't want to play a five. That's the physical position.

He don't want to be down there. He wants to shoot. He had a terrible shooting year because he doesn't work at it. So it's a really easy issue here. It is so hard for sports executives because they don't want to get crushed in the media, but I would have moved him two years ago. And I set it on the air at the time. Nick Wright earlier on how to sum up this disastrous Laker year?

It's the greatest failure in franchise history. It's one of the greatest failures in NBA history. Every single team that was either the favorite or the second favorite to win the title has made the playoffs, the Lakers will be the first not to. LeBron this year is going to finish averaging 38 and 6, and I think it's pretty damn clear that we all have to acknowledge and admit he's no longer in his prime. And the real signal he was no longer in his prime should have been last year's playoffs, where for the first time in a decade, he wasn't dominant in the postseason. He is still clearly one of the, at worst, seven best players in the sport, but he is no longer a walking finals berth.

Yeah, and if Nick is admitting that, it's absolutely true. He's been a LeBron advocate and supporter for years. And so you have, LeBron is now not a top five player because he's just not available a lot, hurt and old. AD is not totally committed and the Westbrook contract is an anchor to say the least. So to me, as I've said multiple times, it's blow it up time. There are no tweaks here. Frank Vogel is not the issue. They're going to move him out, bring in Quinn Snyder, who has not strongly denied it.

He just sort of floats around it. I think he's a really good coach. But, you know, there's a reason he has limitations. in Utah personnel. So it's blow-up time. It's very, very hard for franchises, proud franchises to do this. You know,

when's the last time the Yankees just started over? But we've got to be honest here. And I think I'm right here. Last nine years, Lakers have had losing season seven of nine. That's with LeBron, A.D., Westbrook, and Kobe, and Mello. Big stars.

So it's time to just start over. I don't think they will. I think they're going to run A.D. and LeBron back. and it's just painful. But, you know, I've said this on Zion. I'd consider moving him. I don't think he wants to play in New Orleans. I think you could get value if he had a great first half next year.

I'd consider moving him. Always move early, not late. You're just going to get more. So I think AD out of that bubble, once he played for about a month and looked good, I'd have moved him. Then two weeks later, he got hurt. Never been the same. car shield.com

code herd car shield.com slash herd 10% save it deductible can apply save money on car repairs it's the herd This is an IHeart podcast Guaranteed human

This is an I heart podcast Guaranteed human