The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Jon Gruden, Amari Cooper, Adrian Peterson, Lakers, and UCF

Episode Date: November 23, 2018

Filling in for Colin, Mark Willard and Rob Parker discusses why it's probably Black Friday for the Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys WR Amari Cooper's TD celebration, the comments made by Washington Redskins RB Adrian Peterson, the current play of the Los Angeles Lakers, and if UCF should be getting more recognition. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching Hurd. You're listening to Foxxport's, Sports Radio. Okay, Black Friday edition, this is the herd. Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio, with Rob Parker, Mark Willard. The day after Thanksgiving, turkey sandwiches, all wrapped up, ready to go in the bag, and three hours of fun with plenty to discuss.

Rob, how was Thanksgiving? It was great, Mr. Mark Willett. How are you? I'm fantastic. What I worry about you on a weekend like this, though, I mean, how many jobs did you have yesterday, Or did you take the day off and eat, or what did you do? I worked two radio shifts, and then I did eat at Friends' house. So it was cool.

And today I had a couple of things to do as well. But I'll say this, though, when you talk about Black Friday, I don't know about you, Mark Willard, but every Friday is Black Friday for me. Well, for you, it is. For you, no doubt it is. By the way, do you know, I had to look this up the other day. Do you know why they call it Black Friday? Because this is the day or the weekend.

that realtors, I mean that retail people are in the black as far as money-wise, is that it? I think so. I think it also has to do with, I read this. It originated in Philadelphia, pedestrian vehicle traffic. Everything was at a high in a retail sense. And so that's how it got its name. But you can use it however you want, Rob. I'm absolutely fine with that.

No doubt, but it's good to work with you. My original radio partner from Fox Sports, great. It's been a little while. You're in L.A. today. I'm in Chicago, which does hold a significant piece of discussion that I want to have with you in a little bit. But let's start with the team that is actually known for its color black as well. And I got to think that it's a Black Friday for John Gruden and the Oakland Raiders, because what I watched yesterday, Rob, is I watched two things happen.

And one, it was another national display of how good the players are that he let go in Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper especially. But a few things come to mind as you watch Amari Cooper start running down the field in that cowboy victory yesterday. I think there's always a question whenever you're, like for instance, let's take this kid Nick Mullins with the 49ers. And he's had two pretty decent games coming out of nowhere, right? but you still have this question in your head where you're like, is he kind of good? Or was he just playing the Raiders and the Giants in his two games? And that's a fair question.

That's a fair question. So the same thing goes with Amari Cooper, who had really good years, and then he had also ran years with the Raiders. So you're asking yourself, is Amari Cooper not what he was cracked up to be, or was he a product of a broken Raider system? I think we're getting that answer.

I think we're getting that answer right now. now. It was not Amari Cooper. It was the Raiders. And Rob, those first round draft picks that John Gruden acquired are getting worse by the second. Both teams that he got the draft picks from are now in first place. Absolutely. And if you're a Raiders fan, you've got to say, what's going on here? Where is this organization headed? Why are you giving up good players who are not old who can help the franchise for years to come? And I think you've got a question. the whole John Gruden coming to the Raiders and what's going on. I think that that's fair for Raider fans to be disappointed,

especially when you watch on national television on Thanksgiving. Amari Cooper with the Big Day with the Cowboys making Dak Prescott look good. Now, there is a completely separate question about Amari Cooper's performance yesterday that we'll get to in a couple of minutes, and I'm really curious to get your response on that. But the John Gruden thing now, it does feel like. they're stuck. That's the problem with this rebuild, if you want to call it that. I mean, you have a 10-year deal, a $100 million contract for John Gruden.

I actually, from a conceptual standpoint, I understand what the guy's doing. Like, I understand what he came in and saw. What he came in and saw was, all right, we got Derek Carr on a big, big contract. He's probably overpaid. we have Khalil Mack who's about to ask for a big contract. He's worth it, but our defense stunk without him. So if we pay him and we pay, or I'm sorry, the defense stunk even with him. Right.

So if we pay Khalil and Derek, what else do we have? And then he's also thinking to himself first round pick from the Dallas Cowboys for a wide receiver who hasn't performed very well in a year and a half. I get what he saw. The problem is now. If what he effectively acquired doesn't end up working out, what if he's unable to hit with those first-round draft picks, what is it that you're presenting to a brand-new audience in Vegas

that, by the way, is obviously going to be completely distracted? No, that's a good question. And the other thing, too, is I think when you give a coach that kind of a contract and he's not held accountable because the team's on the hook for 10 years and 100 million guaranteed, Do you know what I mean? He doesn't have the same pressure of performing. And I think that that's a bad signal to players.

So now you're looking at him and it's easy to go. This guy doesn't know what he's doing. And if you really do a little homework and go look at Tampa Bay in the last few years there, it wasn't that great. It wasn't like John Gruden had done anything other than win that Super Bowl with effectively Tony Dungy's guys. So there's a lot of question marks. And as you know, Mark, it's all you're going to do is get one guy.

to like you, who's got the purse strings, and that's what happened in this situation. And the Raiders look like a mess. I mean, they look like they're going to be in for an issue for years to come, even moving into Las Vegas. Yeah, I just think that's what I came away with yesterday is it was not Amari's problem. It was a Raider problem. However, something else going on with Amari. And Rob, I wonder if you felt like, did you ever wait tables back in the day?

No, I was a shoe. I'm a salesman, but I never did food. All right. So I've been a server at multiple restaurants way back in the day, college, right after college, whatever, to make ends meet, seeing as this industry doesn't pay us until we've been in it for about 15 or 20 years. Exactly. There you go. Right about that. Sometimes not even that.

So I've been a server a number of times in my life. And if you go to a restaurant with me and the food is slow or if a server is a little bit off with their attitude. what you're going to get from me is sympathy. You're going to get that from me. You're going to get understanding because I've been there, and I know how that business works. I know that behind those doors that every server goes through when they're going to get your food or to put your food in.

I know what it's like behind those doors. It's intense. That's the way the environment is. In restaurants, people are yelling at each other, screaming at each other, moving fast, slipping, sliding, carrying heavy things. things, and there are a bunch of people who have to be working perfectly for that food to come out on time.

And so if something is wrong, the people at the table always blame the server because that's all they got. That's the person in front of them. Even though I will say this, if my server, and I tip the same minimum no matter what, even what's your minimum, by the way. 15% on bad, if I'm even a minimum. That's minimum. Like no matter, if you give me bad service and I'm not, I'm with you on that.

Like you might have had a bad day. I still will give you 15%. I won't stiff you or not tip you. But if they get great service, do you go up from there? Did I go up? Okay. You see what I'm saying? That's good.

That's good. Because by the way, when you don't give a tip, you're actually making the server pay for part of your meal because they're getting taxed on it. Just a little FYI there. No, no. I wouldn't do that. But a lot of people do. The reason you're going to get sympathy from me,

is because I was one of you. And that's why it blows my mind that Amari Cooper scored a touchdown and did a mimic of Markell Fultz with his celebration. Athletes usually stick together. You look at something like what LeBron is doing with the shop. Whether you like the show or not, it's only been put out, I think, two episodes. But you can see the entire point of what he's doing and what he's saying. Hey, let's create a circle here where only people who really understand what we go through are in this circle and let's talk it out.

Amari Cooper is a professional athlete. Markell Fultz is not the first professional athlete to go through a psychological block. I find it odd that another professional athlete would make fun of that because at any moment, that professional athlete could be the next to fall into the trap. No, I get it. I get it. So you looked at it as you shouldn't do it strictly because you're an athlete. You know what it takes to get to that level and then to kind of mock a guy who's going through his own personal issues. Yeah, Markell Fultz is not to be made fun of right now.

This is a sad situation. It's an unfortunate situation. It is a mental block. You're a big baseball fan. No, I've seen. I've seen second baseman knoblock and sacks. Sacks who couldn't throw the ball the first base. Mackey Sasser, do you remember that catcher?

Mackie Sasser had to tap his glove with the ball and he couldn't throw it back to the mound. I mean, can you imagine being a major league catcher? Remember Rick A. Kienkeel. Rick A. Kiel had to become a hitter, an outfielder because he was a first-class pitcher and then all of a sudden he couldn't even hit the catcher. He couldn't throw a stripe right. And you know what? He wound up being a pretty good outfielder and hit a real.

He was. And that was one of the good stories because he was able to start. play baseball and get paid a major league salary for doing something else. That's not always the way it is. I don't know where this is headed for Markell Fultz. This is year two. After his rookie deal is done, if something hasn't been figured out,

that guy's going to be out of the league. And he was the number one overall pick a year and a half ago, and it's crazy. And I just don't find, listen, there might be stuff we don't know here. Maybe Amari and Markell are boys, and there was something going on here.

I have no idea. You know what? The chances of that. Right. The chance of that doesn't seem like that would be the case. And then if it was your boy, why are you doing that? Why are you bringing attention to his issue that's going on? You know what I mean? That's affecting his career. Yeah. I just, to me, the whole celebration thing yesterday, you know, gets a lot of attention. There was a lot of it. Everybody knows these are national standalone games.

So every single opportunity a player got to celebrate, they were going to do it. I found Amari Cooper's to be lacking a little bit of class. I thought Ezekiel Elliott's and Doc Prescott's were really funny, and they're probably the ones that are going to get penalized and flagged by the league. Oh, big time, but Ezekiel, come on, $21. I know that's your number, but I think I need the $2,100 if you're going to. Come on, man, $21. But it's creative.

He still could have had $2,100. It's always the same question for me, who got hurt? And if Dak Prescott gets donated to the Salvation Army and Ezekiel Elliott donated, it donates $21 and he had it sitting there, nobody gets hurt. If Amari Cooper is putting on blast, somebody who's going through a mental defect as a professional athlete, that's crazy and that's awful. No, it's hard to argue with that. I thought the same thing when I saw it was, is this what I think I'm watching?

You know, like... It took me a second look. But with the hitch. No, but with the hitch, then you were like, okay, that's about Markell. All right. Coming up on The Herd this hour, Rob's got a new NFL MVP after the last few days. And coming up next... And you won't disagree. I don't think you're going to disagree.

Well, we'll find out, won't we? But coming up next, I can't believe who you want to bench and you're going to regret it if you do. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. With Rob Parker, Mark Willard on the herd, hope everybody had just a phenomenal holiday. If you're shopping today, I'm glad A, that you're doing it with us, but B, you're crazy. You're nuts.

You don't like to get out in the crowds on... No. On Black Friday, no? Amateur hour, man. Man. It's not even the crowds. It's the type of crowds. You know what I mean?

Like, there's nothing wrong with a deal. But people who go out of their way for, like, a big deal, it just, that's just not who I want to roll with, man. But you know what I do like? I do like sometimes just getting out with the people. I will admit that, that even if I don't do any major shopping. You're Mr. Free Clothes, of course. You know? I was shocked when they're like, you'll be hosting with Rob.

I'm like, he's not going to be a Best Buy. Are you sure? Are you sure I'm not going to be a Best Buy? at 6 o'clock in the morning. Oh, guys. Hey, your favorite athlete in all of sports is not at the start of practice today, which suddenly makes people scratch their head

about his availability for Sunday. You know what I'm talking about, of course. Are you talking about Aaron Rogers? No, no, no, no. Oh, I'm sorry. Your favorite athlete in the history of sports. Why am I not thinking of... I mean, Tom Brady, right?

Oh, Tom. Tom Brady. What am I thinking? You know how all the Tom Brady fans love themselves some Rob Parker. Oh, absolutely. After all the comments that have been made over the years, nobody heaps more praise upon Tom Brady than the great Rob Parker. Tom, is he all right?

Is he going to play? I don't know. I'm sure he is. You know, this is the Patriot. Not that he's played the last three games. I mean, he's been pretty bad. You know, if you. You know I'm right.

Come on. No, no, you're not right. Wellard, he has one touchdown in the last three games. He's been brutal. You're being a stat monster. This is one of the reasons I don't like stats. Don't read a box score and tell me that Tom Brady's not playing well. Watch the game.

I've watched the game. You're going to tell me, did you watch his last game? He didn't throw the ball well? That was one game. What happened in the other two games? They won the game, but he didn't play that well. What do you mean? He didn't play that well.

He won the game. A decline is definitely out there. Would you at least admit that? that he's declining. Did Drew Breeze play well last night? He had four touchdowns and one pick. He didn't even throw for 200 yards, Rob. He didn't need to. Okay.

Then maybe Tom didn't need to a couple of weeks ago either. Tom has one touchdown in three games. You could go through his career and try to find another stretch. Sorry, fantasy footballers. It doesn't matter. When you're 41 years old and you're not making the passes that you were making, I'm just going by the Patriots beat riders, the guys who have watched him over the years. They have a better eye than I do.

By the way, if he is declining a little bit, my response would be so what? And yeah, of course he is. He is 41 years old. But please, your point is not that he's not one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the game today, is it? He might be.

He might be. Please, Rob. He might be. Please, Rob. I'm going to send you to Best Buy if you come up with any more test like that. But I want to ask you about a different quarterback, and he's The QB you've talked about a lot over the years. What was your thought yesterday on another lion's loss at a tie game in the fourth quarter

and a pick six? What's your review of Matt Stafford? You know what? And you know I've covered this guy from the day he was drafted and most of his career until the last few years I've been in Los Angeles. So I've seen Matt Stafford at length and just about his entire career. And there's times when you look at him, Mark, where you go, man, this guy has some arm or he can make some plays.

You know what I mean, and he can play. But then there are other times where you just shake your head and you can't figure it out. And this has been a longstanding thing. And you could blame whoever you want, because there's been a lot of people who have looked at Matt Stafford and look at the stats. The stats are Hall of Fame-like.

Like he's been the youngest to do this, youngest to do that. I get all of those stats. But then again, as you said, Mark, don't just look at stats. It's the eye test as well. And the eye test tells me if you're Bob Quinn, the Lions GM, and Matt Patricia, the Lions head coach, you've got to start to really wonder. I know they owe him a ton of money.

I think it's 92 guaranteed his left or something like that. But I'm telling you, I would look elsewhere and start to think that it's just not going to happen with Matthew Stafford, despite all the numbers. I call him Stapp-Patford as well because he's very famous. for filling up stats, you know, late in games once the Lions are down by two touchdowns in the fourth corner. Although he didn't do that. No, no, no. He just had a bad, a bad interception, a pick six. He threw a pick six. I tell you what, what I see when I look at that football team right now, did you notice that Matt Stafford would snap the ball yesterday and the ball would come

out in less than two seconds almost every play? It almost looked like he was. was playing hot potato. Right. And what that felt like to me was, as a game plan, the Lions decided we can't block the bears. We can't block them. So we got to get the ball out as quickly as possible, right? So we're not going to throw the ball down field.

He completed a lot of passes, two, three yards in front of the line of scrimmage, and the lions would get two yards, and then they'd get three yards, and then they'd get three yards, and then they would put. That's what I saw in the first half of that game. And what I'm starting to wonder looking around the league is how much. What sense does it make to make your head coach a defensive guy? I don't think Matt Patricia's name should be brought up as a fireable guy right now. It's silly to me when people do that, quite frankly, after 10 or 11 games.

It's just too soon. So there's always got to be an acclamation process, whether it's college, getting your own guys in there, or whether it's the pro, a first-year head coach. to me he deserves more time. We shouldn't be talking about that. But the bigger issue to me is if you look around the league and what's happened with scoring at an all-time high and play callers who seem like young geniuses, Sean McVeigh, Nagy in Chicago, even if Garoppolo were still healthy,

I think Kyle Shanahan is one of those guys. There might be a few others. And then there are old guard guys, too. read. I know Belichick's a defensive guy, but that's been going on for two decades. To me, if I'm looking to make a new hire, I don't know if it makes sense to go get a defensive guy who wants to win the game 20 to 17 because it's just not realistic anymore. But they also held on Jim Bob Cooter as the offensive coordinator because Stafford has some success with him. So they were looking at that even when they hire Patricia. He's a holdover from Jim Carwell's staff.

Jim Bob Cooter. But I just think at this point, Mark, to be honest, I think that the Lions should really consider making a move or trying to do something different. And they've given Matt Stafford the first overall pick 10 years and then to lose the game that they lost against Chicago who had played, what, Sunday night? So they had like, basically...

Shortest turnaround in the history of the league. Am I right? Like a short turnaround. Then they lost Mitch Trubisky, who had a shoulder injury, who didn't play. So you played Chase Daniel, who hadn't started an NFL game in four years. And you're at home, national television, and a game that you needed to win to stay alive in the playoff hunt, right? All of that stuff piled up.

And you have Matthew Stafford there in that moment. And he lays in another egg. This is a franchise that's won one playoff game since 1957. Stafford has no playoff wins. He's, I believe, the record is 6 and 54 against teams that finish over 500. But how do you answer when someone says what's around him? I know you're going to bring up names like Calvin Johnson, but over the years. But he also had an Domicant Sue.

He's never had a running back. He's never had a great offensive line. In fact, Barry Sanders was even famous for the fact that he could juke people who were in the backfield waiting for him because even he didn't have an offensive line. I just feel like it's not Matt Stafford. It's the construction of the team. They look unimaginative when they call plays, and they spend money in the wrong spots.

They need to get an offensive line. They need to make carry-on Johnson once he gets healthy. And every down back like other teams do in the league and go from there. And if you do that, then I think Stafford actually could succeed. I think that they've done, they've gotten him a lot of toys. they've drafted tight ends and receivers and went out and got players

for them offensively. And here's a stat, and I know you don't like stats, but I just want to throw it out here. This is per the NFL's next-gen stats. Stafford entered Thursday's averaging 7.0, quote, intended air yards

per throw, which is how far as passes are traveling downfield. You got that? Yes. The only, quarterbacks lower than that number are Blake Bortles, 9.6, C.J. Bathard, 6.7, and Derek Carr, 6.0. That's play calling. Okay, so you're saying that's all play calling and have nothing to do.

It's mostly play calling. Matt Stafford's shown over the years. Blake Bordell's is playing. Yeah, well, Blake Bortles is, yes, it's play calling because they're like they know that their quarterback's not that good. Stafford, I think they call the plays that way because they think he's going to get killed if they leave him back there. to throw the ball downfield. He's got no line. Kaleel Mack was going to eat that guy for Thanksgiving if he held on to the ball.

I'm done. Most Lions fans have seen this act for 10 years. I just think you can hold on to him and be mediocre so that you're not, you don't totally stink, but you'll never win anything with Matthew Stafford. All right, Rob is shuffling the MVP deck. We'll get to that in a second. If you've got the dreaded stuff,

he knows this cold and flu season, try Vic Synex nasal spray. A couple of Sinix nasal sprays, and it works in seconds. your nose, last for up to 12 hours, be ready when congestion strikes. Cynix nasal spray use as directed. And let's get Eric Roberts in with the Hurdline News. No, no, no, no, turn on the news.

This is the Hurdline News. Yes, guys, we're going to start off in the NFL with some of the Thanksgiving Day games yesterday. So we're going to go from questionable play by one quarterback to, I guess some more questionable play from another quarterback. The Falcons lost yesterday to the New Orleans Saints got ran over by the runaway train that is Drew Breeze in that offense so many are questioning the you know I guess the finishing ability of the Falcons office there's tons of offensive weapons you got Tim Coleman Julio Jones Matt Ryan but not Falcons owner Arthur Blank he said are he this is actually

questioning Dan Quinn but he's he's not he says we love our coach our coach is not the problem he questions the team's turnovers that of course you know Matt Ryan did toss an interception Julio Jones had a unfortunate fumble early in the game. What do you think, guys? What's the problem in Falcons land? Rob, what's your answer to that? I just think there's a lot of things. There's something obviously wrong with the offensive coordinator

and not being able to utilize Julio Jones all the way. Last year, I think he had four touchdowns total. They just seemed to struggle. I know this year they've been able to get more touchdowns. But at some point, if the coach gets the credit for when they win and get to the Super Bowl, then he should get some blame when things go the other way. You know what? This is going to sound like making an excuse, but you want to know what the problem is with the Falcons?

What is that? Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the Atlanta Falcons at all. This is a team that obviously was in the Super Bowl two years ago. They've been a good team in the last few years. The difference between 10 and 6 and 6 and 10 in the NFL is a hair. They fumbled the ball twice in the red zone. They had receivers that fumbled the ball twice in the red zone.

We say Matt Ryan threw a pick. Guess who else threw a pick last night? Drew Brees. He also threw four touchdowns. Exactly. But Matt Ryan threw for 377 yards, and his receivers dropped the ball when they got to the one-yard line. Yeah, but it's, I'm... You say you can't get Julio Jones involved.

He had 11 catches for 147 yards. How many touchdowns? It doesn't matter. He fumbled the ball in the red zone. Their defense is one of the most banged-up defenses in all of football. And here's the real, Rob. Nobody's going to New Orleans and getting a win this year. Nobody.

It's called. upsets. It happens in sports. It doesn't mean that you can't go out and win. And what should you just roll over and say you can't win? No, but no one's going to win in that building second half of the year. It won't happen. All right, guys, next topic here. So it might be a little longer than we initially thought before we saw it. We see Alex Smith back on the grid iron. Fox's very own, Jay Glazer is reporting that it's not the initial six to eight weeks timetable or months timetable that Alex Smith will return from, you know, that gruesome leg injury. that we saw last week, but more eight to 10 months. So the Redskins might be in a little bit of trouble here with their starting QB going down long term.

I got it on good authority, someone I trust who is an actual former NFL team doctor. Alex Smith will be ready for the start of the season next year. Wow. Alex Smith will be ready for week one. Breaking news here. Yeah, mark that down. Mark that down for Mark Woolo. It's not my breaking news.

It's just somebody I trust. All right. Somebody I trust who does this for a living says Alex Smith can be ready for the start of the season, I believe him. Well, if he does, that'll be great because as gruesome as that looked, I did not believe. I don't even know. I thought his career would be in jeopardy at 35 years old and such a gruesome injury. You know, and don't you think yesterday, I think we understand who Alex Smith is now. He's not a guy that's going to put everybody on his back and go win a Super Bowl.

but he's also one of the most underappreciated quarterbacks of our generation. And when Colt McCoy goes in there and plays a football game on Thanksgiving, you're reminded again why, why, and how much worse the Redskins are off now because Alex Smith is out. Alex Smith is a fine quarterback. He is and maybe he doesn't do what everybody wants him to do. I agree with that. But if your source is right, then that's good news to hear because it didn't look like that initially. No, no, it looked awful.

Yeah, it was a bad one, guys. One more quick injury update here for this weekend coming up in the NFL. A.J. Green, unlikely to play this weekend for the Bengals when they host the Cleveland Browns. Cincinnati, man, Will's falling off. Seems like it's a yearly, you can kind of book it this time every year, right? Yeah. Something about that division feels mental, Rob. That division feels mental.

The Pittsburgh Steelers every year. look like they're about to implode, sometimes even within games, what they trail last week at Jacksonville, 16 to nothing in the second half. And it just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. They're going to win the division.

Cincinnati and Cleveland mentally will fold in the second half. Yeah, and then Cincinnati, I mean, I just cannot. They've had some good years. They've gone to the playoffs a number of times. They're 0 and 7 in the playoffs with Marvin Lewis. I just, you just can't count on them. I don't know what they are. Some weeks they look great.

Then they had the stretch where the defensive coordinator just got fired because they gave up 500 yards, three weeks in a row, which I think was the first time that had ever happened in the NFL. It was that bad. So I can't trust the Bengals. And it looks like they are. Their annual implosion is starting. All right, guys, that's the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. Heard line news. All right, you're knocking Mahomes off your MVP ballot? I just think that he lost it the other day. Monday night against the Rams. And I know he has gaudy numbers, 37 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. But when you turn the ball over five times, I just, I don't know.

And I'd have to look it up. But another MVP who had a five turnover game or probably far and few between, despite the gaudy numbers. How many times does it go? had a five turnover game and his team still scored 51 points. But he lost. That was the other part of it. I know.

Come on. I'm just saying. That was a special game. And then Drew Brees came out and what did he do? He got four touchdowns and one pick. So now Drew Brees has 29 touchdowns, two interceptions, and his team has won 10 in a row. And don't tell me he's not the leading guy for MVP now because he is.

I'm not going to argue that. I'm not going to argue. But I mean, to me, this is actually one of the better MVP races we, seen in a while because there are a lot of guys with a lot of football left who can still win this thing. I think that Mahomes can still win it. I think Breeze can win it. I think Gurley can win it.

I mean, I'm surprised you didn't. What's your Gurley take? He came out of that game. Think of this now. Todd Gurley had scored at least one touchdown in every football game this year. And then he played in a game where 105 points were scored. None for him. Unbelievable.

I agree. So do you take him? Kim out of the off your ballot too? He might. I mean, in the biggest scoring game, he was a non-factor, which was just shocking to think that he wouldn't play any role whatsoever in that game. And I don't know, was it, Mark, was it also the turf and guys slipping down? You know what I mean?

There was a lot of a lot of that. That was the reason the game was canceled from Mexico City because of the turf. And the turf at the Coliseum in Los Angeles wasn't that great. But either way, it just seemed like that. many turnovers. I looked up the last six or seven years of MVP's. Eric, you got it? Yeah, Eric has it. And listen to this as far as the numbers, Mark. Yeah, I pulled these for Rob yesterday. So these are QBs since 2010 that were QBs, I should say, since 2010. So Brady was 2017. He had 32 TDs and eight interceptions. Matt Ryan, 2016, 38 and 7. Cam Newton in 2015, he had 35

and 10, Rogers in 2014, 38 and 5. Payton Manning, 55 and 10 the year he set the touchdown record. Adrian Peterson was MVP in 2012, so no QB that year. And then the last few years, Rogers in 2011, 45 and 6, and Tom Brady in 2010, 36 and 4. So you have two quarterbacks there, right, with double digits and interceptions, and Patrick Mahomes already has double digits with five games to go. That's why I think it's going to be hard for him unless he throws 60 touchdowns, or It's something that's better than Peyton Manning. I think it's going to come down to the games, though, too. Like, you know, there are still about a third of the season left to go.

And so I think there are five guys that still have a legit shot. I'm not going to argue with you that Drew Breeze would probably get the vote and win the vote if it were today, but it's not today. Right. So I think Drew Breeze is in the conversation. Mahomes is in the conversation. Gurley and golf are both in the conversation. and despite a funky game last week, because there are a bunch of high-profile games the rest of the way,

and if they were to win them, it will knock people's socks off. Don't forget about Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers is in the five spot right now, no doubt. That was a bad loss this past week. Yeah, but I don't really, I don't even really put it on him. It was a weird loss. He had a bad interception. He threw one bad interception to Vaughn Miller.

But, you know, you look at his interception totals for the year. They're right where you're asking them to be. I think he's only thrown, what, three or four of the whole year. Which is the number you need to be around there. Like if you're under eight or so, you're in good position. You know what I mean? Look at all the guys who won the MVPs. Most of them around.

Yeah, six. He's got six. He's got 26. Okay. He's got 23 touchdown, six interceptions. His team is seven and three. They've got road games at Kansas City and Pittsburgh and Denver still left. If they were to won that game against Denver, oh, my. But that game right there,

was, they were dominating. I know. No, that was a, it was a bizarre loss. They should have won the game. Their kicker missed an extra point. Their defense couldn't hold up late in the game against Case Keenham. You notice the Chargers, they play better when they're on the road. I mean, they're always on the road. I was at the game, Mark, and you can imagine, it was Denver Broncos Central. I mean, my goodness, there was so much orange in there, and it was a home game for the Broncos.

It really was. They had gone like five weeks before they had played in that stadium again. They beat the 49ers and the Raiders, two awful teams in back-to-back weeks. And then they went on an entire month and actually five weeks because there was a buy week. They were at Cleveland. They played the Titans in London. Then they had a buy. Then they went to Seattle and then they went to Oakland.

And they won all those games. And they played some really good football. and then they come back to stub up and lose. I honestly don't think it's that. I honestly don't think it's that much of a coincidence. They've learned so much how to play in front of a road crowd. They're almost more comfortable that way. So they'll blow out the Cardinals this week because they're so bad.

And then they go on the road for Sunday night football next week at the Steelers. And that'll probably tell us what we need to know about the charges, right? That'll be a great game, and hopefully Boso will be full health by then. But yeah, I agree with you. He's still in that conversation. All right, coming up next. As I mentioned, I'm in Chicago right now for the holiday week. And something, every time I come to, you know, somewhere that's on the eastern half of the United States,

I'm reminded of something that I just don't even understand how people deal with. Baby it's cold outside. Is that it? We'll find out in a moment. That's coming up next. When shopping for car insurance, consider this. Geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 75 years. So if you're serious about savings, it's simple.

Go to Geico.com. After 75 years, they know how to save you money. With Rob Parker, Mark Willard, it's the herd on Black Friday. Hope everybody was happy, healthy, bellies full, hearts full, and then out and about enjoying either family time or great deals at the mall today, whatever it is you want to do. We really appreciate you doing it with us. Rob, give me your early part of the career. There was Detroit. Where else? I worked in Cincinnati. I worked in New York. I worked in Wilkesbury, Pennsylvania.

I worked in Connecticut when I was in college. Yes. These all qualify. All of these cities qualify. It doesn't matter east or central. They all qualify. All right. How the hell do you do it? And no, I'm not talking about the weather. Yep, okay, so you're not talking about the weather. I actually really enjoy the weather.

Now, granted, I'm not here when it's at its worst. But it's good to get a change, right? Don't you just feel like we put a sweater on? You got a jacket on? Exactly. Right? We've got jackets. We've got long-sleeve shirts, things that I haven't seen in years in L.A.

Right. And so it's kind of fun. And the weather is clear this week. It's great in Chicago. It's like 35 degrees, but it's not, you know, there was a little snow flurry the other day, but it's gorgeous. Did the kids like the snow flurry? They loved it, didn't they? We went for a walk in the snow.

It was great. Put a jacket on, put a little beanie on. Exactly. You walk around, get some really fresh air, which is something that California is highly lacking for good reasons and unfortunate. But anyway, it's not that. I love that. And you know what? I was at the Super Bowl in Minnesota.

So I know that it does get to a point where the cold is overwhelming. Like when I walked, we were in a hotel that was across the street from the Mall of America where the headquarters were for the Super Bowl media. Yep. And so it was about a five to seven minute

walk from the hotel to the mall. And the temperature was zero. And the windshield was knocking down. in the negative 20s and 30s. That was absolutely unacceptable. Like, I didn't even understand how anybody lives in that. That was painful.

This is great. It's beautiful. I walk through the city to get here to this studio today. What I don't understand, and I don't know how y'all do it, is sports in this time zone. I don't understand it, especially on a day like Thanksgiving. Rob, trying to stay awake for a Saints' Falcons game that started at 7.30 at night after you've eaten 17 meals worth of food. Right.

And you're lying on the couch and you're looking at the clock and you're like, it's not going to be over until 11 o'clock. And remember, you're in central time zone. So that game started out east at 8.30 at night. At 8.30. What? I mean, it's unconscionable. I mean, the kids, I have an 11-year-old son who wants to do nothing but watch this thing. And I'm looking at him like, dude, go to bed.

You're not staying up until 11 o'clock at night and watching this thing. And so this is not the first experience I've had with this, but I'm reminded of it every single time I come out here. I feel terrible for people who watch sports in the East. It's just too late. It is. If you remember, don't you remember when the NFL made the, Monday night football earlier, an hour earlier, which was bad for people living on the West Coast

who were still at work and then eventually they wound up. Do you remember that? Yeah. And they did that because a lot of people couldn't watch the end of the Monday night football games, which would end around midnight or something like that. People have to get up and go to work and they just can't stay up that late. It is much tougher. And now that I've lived in Los Angeles going on, just starting my third year, the thing that's great is,

is I watch these games early. You know what I mean? I could watch everything. You have an advantage on the West Coast. Yes, and you can be up for undisputed, and it's okay. By the way, I'm talking about the front end as well. I had to wait until noon yesterday for a game to start. That's a lot of hours where I had to entertain a lot of children.

Right. It's like, my gosh, let's start the game already. People can put you on a honey-do list. My gosh, people wanted to go on turkey trots and have me put on actual workout gear and go. Like what? No, I wanted to be in a fuzzy pair of sweats, get out of bed, go to the couch, and watch football. That's what I'm used to on Thanksgiving Day.

And so it's very, very unnerving to do it the Central or East Coast time way. Not easy. No doubt about it. I don't know. I'm glad I'm out on the West Coast now because I get to see everything. Well, and the West Coast is glad to have you, Rob. Thank you. We appreciate you.

All right. Coming up next hour here on the herd, Rob Parker, Mark Willard with you today on a Black Friday. We've got some NBA stuff to get to. We're going to have to get to this match. They're calling it the match. We'll get to that coming up the next hour as well. But coming up next, he played yesterday.

Not a word was said. That is not acceptable. It's the herd. Hour number two on the herd with Rob Parker, Mark Willard, Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio. however it is that you are attached to us today. We thank you and wish you a happy holiday. And by the way, a happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas,

because if you are out in the stores today, that's what they're telling you is already here. My four-year-old son actually asked me that yesterday, Rob. He said, I want to go to Christmas. He said you want to go to Christmas. I want to go to Christmas. Christmas not here yet, buddy. Is Hanukkah and Christmas close this year, or do we know?

No, Hanukkah's early this year. Is it? Yeah. Hodica's early this year. So they are not overlapping. And, but, you know, I am in a family that celebrates both. My mom is Jewish and my dad is not. Right.

So my kids will have a massive influx of stuff in the month of December. We have no idea where to put it. They'll have all kinds of gifts, right? Oh, my gosh. It's already happening. I mean, the friends were visiting out here in Chicago who's, Remember when I told you we went for a walk during the snow flurry the other night? You know where we were walking to?

The toy store. Oh, the toy store. Yeah, because the friends were like, while you're here, well, let's go get you, go pick out a Christmas present. Wow. So off we went in the flurries to the toy store to buy a Christmas present. It was like we had walked out of a little children's book or something. It was very, it was, it was very attractive.

I always think that's awesome for kids, especially who don't get to see snow often. Do you know what I mean? Oh, no, they loved it. Yeah, they loved it. They loved it. And then it, you know, then it gets cold. But anyway, I am about to make the dorkiest declaration, the nerdiest stand I have ever taken in my life. Is that true?

Now, come on. All the times I work with you, I'm sure there was a few other ones. Why? You think I act like a dork often? I didn't say that. I'm just saying it. Well, if I do act like a dork often, Rob. this one's going to take the kid.

Uh-oh. The nerdiest stand I have ever taken in my life is coming in just a couple of minutes. But I want to mention this first. So I saw a tweet earlier today. Soledad O'Brien, I think, tweeted it out. It was one of these videos that you see circulate a lot on social media right now. And she's the former anchor, right, for CNN. And she worked for NBC News, Soledad O'Brien. That's right.

But it was not a video that she shot it. It was just a phone video out and about. You see these people now that run into just these horrific racist comments, racist acts, and people will pull out their bones and, you know, take video of these people who are just willing to completely out themselves as awful and racist. And there was this woman who was telling a Latino woman, she was telling you're like, yeah, your species, your race is going to be wiped. Your species, by the way, is going to be wiped out. You're going to be wiped out, and I do not want you sitting next to me because you're not white. Okay?

What? Yeah. No, I mean, my gosh, these videos are all over the place. We're in such a unique time, hopefully at least. Anyway, Soledette O'Brien quote tweets. It makes a really good point. It goes, it's fascinating. It's one thing to get, you know, hot and bothered, obviously, about the awful things that are being said.

But it's fascinating that these people are willing to sit there and say this into a phone video. Right. She goes, because here's what's going to happen next. What's going to happen next is this person will be identified through social media. Then this person's employer is going to find out about it. And this person will be fired. And so it's fascinating that people are willing to put these beliefs out there. Well, she said that, and I thought to myself, I thought to myself about Adrian Peterson.

fascinating that he would willingly and knowingly put something out there like he did earlier this week, I still use a belt to discipline my children, after already serving a year suspension from the NFL, having a court case get launched against you, and now having a resurgence in his career, admitting this public, and having the NFL as a league and the broadcast of that game yesterday say little or nothing about it. I ended up with a very bad taste in my mouth about the entire thing. What did you think? I agree with you. And they pick and choose what it is that they want to highlight and what they mention about certain people and other people.

Those conversations just don't happen. and I think it's very selective. I think it's thought out. And I think it's wrong. If we're going to talk about someone's ills, you know, and through the course of the game, then you should talk about everyone's ills if you're going to bring it up every time that,

you know, there's a conversation about him. And you used to see that a lot about Michael Vick. There was never a game that I watched where they didn't mention the dog. Right. Yeah, the dog fighting. Dogfighting case. Do you know what I mean? Like it was mentioned every single time he'd make a good play.

They go, yeah, well, you know, Michael Vick, that was a good play. Good to see him back in the league. But you know he was involved in that dog, I don't know why you can't say. Dog fighting. Dog fighting. You had a ring. Right, right. Yes.

But then other people do stuff and there's no mention. There's absolutely no mention. And that's the wrong part. And that's why I understand why people have issues with the NFL. And it goes back to Colin Kaepernick, whether people want to admit it or not, that the league is filled with felons and guys who have beaten women and done a lot of horrific things. And for whatever reason, people are okay with that if they're playing football. But God forbid you want to help other people and do something peaceful.

It's the worst thing in the world. I always share this story. I don't think I've told you before, but it was the day after Joe Mixon was drafted. Yep. and I ran into a good buddy of mine who is a well-adjusted, nice guy who's got kids and he's a good dad. He's even coached some of my kids' games before. Turns out he's a Bengals fan living in California. And I walked up.

So he's the one. Oh, good. Yeah, yeah. I walked up to him where we're out of a girls, you know, soccer game. And I walked up to him, hey, you know, what's going on? What did you think of the draft yesterday? And he was just like, wow, you know. It's kind of crazy that they did that.

And I'm like, yeah, what did you think? And he goes, well, can he help us win? Amazing. And if anybody's ever seen that video, and if you think, because I wrote a column on the shadow league.com that they, nobody should, that he shouldn't have been drafted. I just, I have a real issue. If you watch that video and I know he's going on

and had some success with the Bengals, and I'm not against him. He's gotten his opportunity, and he's from all accounts, kept his nose clean since, but that was a horrendous video to watch. No, it was awful. Everybody deserves to be saved.

Everybody is, like, you know what I mean? Everybody should, we should be open to redemption for all. So I'm with you, though, on the draft thing. Like, I was never saying Joe Mixing, Tyree Kilford. that matter, should not be allowed in the league. But maybe there needs to be a different way in.

A different route. And I agree. Right. Then somebody's selecting them and giving them a guaranteed contract before they've even put a uniform on. Absolutely. I'm with you on that. And it is, you know, there are so many people that want the Kaepernick discussion,

the anthem discussion, they want it to go away. It's like, hey, we've moved beyond that. Well, you've got to understand that no matter what your thought is about any of these issues, it's not allowed to go away as long as the NFL and certain fans demonize somebody who is peacefully protesting or demonize somebody else who might speak out in a way that you don't like. I even think of Chris Long and the, you know, the Malcolm Jenkins of the world. Eric Reed, who had to take a long time just to get back into the league and then has been drug tested like every four hours since he got back. NFL will demonize that.

But then you've got Adrian Peterson a future Hall of Famer both missing a year and then following it up years later with a free admission that he's still using belts on kids. And I know there are a section of society that still believe in it. They still say, hey, who knows what that kid did? Or who knows what the scenario is? I'm not going to let the government tell me how to raise my kids. And that is the conversation. I know. And it's brutal, by the way.

There are certain things. And to me, child abuse belts on kids is one of them. There's no wiggle room here. There's no discussion. You can't do that. And so I'm hopeful that the NFL will do something about this. Now, here's my super... Good luck on that.

I know. I don't believe that anything is going to come of it. And the NFL picks the battles that it wants. It's the same thing. The same people who... who say, I'm just here for football. I don't want to hear about this and that. But this is the same league that made the people in the state of Arizona

vote for the Martin Luther King holiday. It's the same people. Adrian Peterson's kid was just here being a kid, right? So if you're just here for football, Adrian Peterson's kid is just trying to be a kid. And he's getting whacked by his dad, who's a super huge, strong human being with a belt. And so now here comes my very, very nerdy stance.

Okay, I'm listening. So one of my fantasy football teams has Adrian Peterson on it. You got rid of it. Well, see, now I can't do that, Rob. But you got rid of him. You won't play him. No, I can't. Now, there you go.

I can't get rid of him because if I, by the way, I did try to trade him. Okay. I tried to trade him. There were no takers. No, but I understand. I'm not going to, I can't get rid of him because these are all my best friends. and hey, we're playing for money. But you have it for where...

So I'm not going to let somebody with a different morality, you know, grab the guy and beat me. But I'll tell you what, he's not playing anymore this year. No, I... And I know that's the stupidest thing. That doesn't mean a damn thing. But I, when I'm watching football, Rob, I always state I'm here for the fun.

I'm here for the fun. I'm not here to rip people. I'm not here to criticize. My job. You get to do that. That's fine. Undisputed is here for that. Exactly.

You guys can scream and yell at each other and rip guys, even though they're doing things. You couldn't even imagine doing once in your life. That's right. Don't forget, 930 to noon, Monday, due Friday on Fox Sports 1. Can't wait. So I'm here for the fun, though. I want to take what's good out of what's on the television set. Do something with that.

I want to sit down with my son. and watch this stuff and talk about it and look at it and be inspired by it. And if I'm looking at someone out there who's playing, who I know in the back of my mind, that's what he's doing when he goes home, that's not fun. I can't do that. I can't wrap my head around rooting for that person, at least not right now,

not until he's ready for, redemption. No, I get it. That is nerdy. It's super nerdy. But I do, but I do understand it. And there are people, and we all do this. There are people, and maybe you don't root against them, but you don't root for them. I don't root for them. Exactly. And that's what it is. You don't root against them. It's just like, I'm just like, no matter what they do, I'm cool with them. I'm just going to leave them out of my life and not really like pay attention. By the way, I wonder if I can lure you in to agree with me on that point about a different big-time sports figure who's got a big game this weekend. Some NBA stuff around the corner, but that's next.

Rob, will you join me in maybe not rooting against this guy, but not rooting for him, even though I know you don't like who he's going against. That's coming up on The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD, weekdays and noon Eastern 9. on Pacific. All right, it's the herd on Black Friday with Rob Parker. I'm Mark Willard. One leftover sandwich already consumed, Rob. Very nice.

A lot of mayo and lettuce? No, no, no, no, no. I don't do much of the mayo. No? Nah. Mayo kind of creeps me out. Really? Yeah, a little bit.

It's funny. What's going on? Like, honestly, what's going on in there? You know what? I'm like that with a tomato. With a tomato. I love ketchup. I love tomato.

sauce. I love everything that's made from a tomato. I cannot bite a tomato. I can not, I'm not big on it. I can do it. We had a caprize salad the other day and I didn't hate it, but it's not my favorite. Yeah. But honestly, mayo, like, I mean, what is that? What's going on in there? I don't know. It tastes good on a turkey or turkey sandwich with some white bread and lettuce. I can put a little bit mixed with ketchup like a thousand island thing on like a hamburger or something like that. Outside of that, maybe tuna fish. But no, this is just too mysterious to me. But anyway, we'll get to the match coming up later on this hour.

What about, you know who else is now on my list of, look, I'm not rooting against you. I hope you fix yourself, but I'm certainly not rooting for you. You know who's on my list this year? Who is that? Urban Meyer. Yes. Okay. So are you with me, Rob?

Are you Team Harbaugh? coming up this weekend, are you team Harbaugh? I know he's one of your favorite people to pick on. Oh, what's he done? What's he done? First of all, I can get into what he's done, and that is turn around every program he's ever had. Okay, and if he loses on Saturday, what would you be saying?

If they lose on Saturday. I got to see the game. No, if they lose, just don't they lose. Why do you have to see the game? Because not all losses are the same. Say they don't play well. If he loses 50 to 10 or if he loses 34 to 33. They lose 50 to 10.

They lose. I'm asking you. That's not happening. No, forget about whether it happens or not. I'm asking you. No, I want you to look at your crystal ball. No, I'm not commenting on things that haven't happened yet. I want you to do.

No, I refuse. I'll give you a prediction, but I'm not going to sit here and comment on things that haven't happened yet. That doesn't make any sense. So whether or not a coach deserves, you know, or a player or anybody deserves criticism for a particular performance, you've got to see the performance. You know me, Rob, I'm a context guy. I got to know why. It's not as simple. I know you think sports has a short man.

You wins and losses. Thank you very much. I need to make a T-shirt. It does. It is true. No, because in my opinion, Jim Harbo has already beaten Ohio State one time. The rest of the world doesn't see it that way, but that's because they want to eliminate. eliminate context. The referee put the ball in the wrong place. Come on. You could do that about everything. Come on. That's too easy. Yes, you can. No, he beat Ohio State that day. No, he didn't. He did. And I'm not someone who complains about reps, but at the end of a game, a game deciding call. Like, okay, I'll put it in baseball terms for you so that you can see a little bit more clearly. You remember umpire Jim Joyce. Yes. I was at, yes. You were at that game? I was at that. I was at the game. I was at the.

that game. Okay, what was his name? Armando Gonzalez or something? Gallagheraga or something. Armando Galleraga. Okay. Did he throw a perfect game? No, he did not. He did. He did. He did. And the umpire messed it up. The umpire blew it, but he didn't throw him because the guy was called

safe at first. Even though Joyce, just it was a terrible call. I mean, he didn't do his job, but he's not credited. He's not a guy who could write a perfect game on his on a ball when he signs it for a fan. I didn't ask you if he was credited with one. He did.

I asked you if he threw one. No, no. He didn't. You tell me what's the difference between what Armando Gala Raga did if Jim Joyce makes the right call versus what actually happened. I think we got his name wrong. Who? Which one? The pitcher. No, I think we got it right. Is that right? I think that sounds right. I don't know why I'm just to. I think it's Armando Galaaga. But I don't want to get it wrong. We'll look it up. But I understand what you're saying from that standpoint. What's the functional difference in what he did?

But then you could say, I'm just saying it didn't happen. I know what you're saying. But it did. It didn't because it didn't count. He doesn't get credit for it. It didn't happen. But that's human error. That's human error.

Like Rob, have you ever gone to the bank because somebody entered your deposit incorrectly back in the day? What'd you go do? What did you walk up to the bank tell and say, so you guys stole $1,000 from me, but oh, well, you didn't credit me $1,000, so I guess I don't get it. We were right, Amando.

Gallagheragga. Yeah, we were right. Okay, I just wanted to make sure we had it right. No, you're going to ask for your thousand bucks back because somebody, another human, made a mistake. But that's correctable. We don't do that in sports. Not then it wasn't.

It wasn't. It wasn't then. This was all pre-replay, and to me, bad calls are a part of sport, but not when they're at the end of a game where literally if you make the right call, the game ends. Yeah, but you could say it about other plays that if that would have happened in the second inning, why does it always have to be the ninth inning for you to be able to say that you could correct it?

Because you have an opportunity to rally back or what have you. But what if an umpire made a bad call in the second inning that could have led to three runs and changed the course of the game? I just think it's too easy to just pick the last play to say. I know, but that's part of the deal. I understand. It's part of the deal. But when it's literally the last play and you're like, if you get this right, the game ends.

But you get it wrong and then the other team wins. There's something a little bit more final about that. I get that part. So in my mind, Harbo's already got one win over Ohio State. But anyway, I think that he's got a great chance to get another one tomorrow. and if he doesn't, we'll discuss with context then what we think. But what I simply want to know is who are you pulling for? I'm not pulling for anyone.

As you know, I'm an objective journalist. Don't stop. I don't do that. I don't get out of here with that junk. I don't what? I'm a journalist. I don't believe it. I don't pull for people.

You don't have any rooting interests ever when you watch a sporting event anymore. No, no, no. I don't. I haven't had one since 1986. I find that sad, by the way. Well, but that's what I've chosen as a career, and I do believe in journalism, and I don't have to root for people. Now, do I, if I have a friendship or a relationship with you, I could be happy for your success. And I would say this, but I don't lose sleep if the team that you're on loses and doesn't win the World Series or doesn't win the NBA finals.

But it doesn't mean if I get to know you and we're just friendly, you know what I mean, outside of work or whatever, that I could be happy for you. your success. Does that make sense? It makes sense. I don't lose sleep over teams winning and losing. I know, but I don't know if your rule is as hard and fast as you're saying that it is. No, it is. I'm dead serious. How about when Connor McGregor fought Floyd

Mayweather? Who were you rooting for? I wasn't room for anybody, but I... Yes, you were. I wasn't. I just, I didn't like the dialogue that came out of Connor McGregor, but nobody should. Okay, but I didn't, but it wasn't like... But we also don't like the behavior that comes out of Floyd. You know how many times I've been to baseball games with

friends and I'm sitting in the crowd. It's just a Saturday and I'm off and I'm relaxing and I love to go outside and all that and somebody hits a home run for the home team and all my friends jump up and high fives around and guess what I'm doing. You're sitting there. I'm sitting there avoiding people having a high five contact with me. I swear. You're sitting there like a dorky media guy. Rob, that's the press box rules. You don't need to take that into the stands. I can't do that. I can't. Why? I've been doing this job for 33 years. I can't do it. But your job is not you, Rob. You are bigger than your job. Hasn't anyone ever told you that? No, I get that. So you can have fun at a sporting event and root for your hometown teams. I can't do it. I can't do it.

I just, it doesn't feel right. That's unfortunate. It just doesn't. And you know what? They'll come a day when I'm 67, God willing, or whatever, and I retire. And I could put on the team cap that I used to wear when I was a kid. Oh, you won't even know how to do it anymore. And then I could go sit in the stands and if somebody hits a home run, I swear, that's how I look at it. And I just think that to be able to do what I do,

you can't be rooting for people. You know, you can't root for people. You know, you can't root for people. Boy, I'm never inviting you to a game. You sound like a bore. Oh, my gosh. Someone hits a ninth inning homer, and you're just going to sit there. Pros in the nose start with Lowe's.

Say 5% on eligible purchases every day made with a Lowe's business credit account 5% savings in store and online subject to credit approval cannot be combined with other credit offers exclusions apply C store for details US only it's Mark with and Rob Parker in for the herd here on Black Friday and Eric Roberts with the herd line news turn on the news this is the heard line news all right guys well we're going to start off with some college football this weekend we have the always great always great entertaining um iron bowl uh Alabama versus Auburn in tuscaloosa Alabama Nick Saban to a tung of Iloa and the high flying

Crimson Tide uh taking on the taking on Auburn guys do you know the spread for this game going into this weekend oh I think I have actually a little bit of an idea um I'm going to say that it's like 24 is it that high I was going to say like 15 and a half it's at it's at 24 and a half guys with an over under of 52 and a half points. How much of those points are from Alabama and how much are from Auburn? I don't know, but I'm assuming a large chunk would be from Alabama. Do you think there's any shot Auburn that has in this weekend? You want to say it first, Rob, it's your catchphrase.

Do you want to say it? Go ahead. You say it. All right. No way, no how. Exactly. I just, when they put a spread like that, guys could go put their mortgage money down figuring 24 and a half. they can't cover that and you know what they will cover it well you know what though Alabama has actually not been great at covering spreads this year people actually think nick Saban's playing a little bit of a game with gamblers sometimes and you know benching all of

his guys in the second half i don't think he'll do that in the iron ball i don't know who covers the spread whatever who cares i just think that uh Alabama is going to win this game and Alabama as much as being fantastic and talented and all the all the things they deserve they're also playing a different game. I don't know if anyone's noticed. Every time they're about to have a big game, they create a buy week the week before. Either an actual buy

or something like the Citadel. Right. And they very rarely go on the road, never out of conference. Nick Sabin is actually running an algorithm against college football and just has something figured out. No, I'm with you.

He knows what he's doing. He knows how to get the best, how to set up his team to be in a position. That's why you win, and he can alter it because they're allowed to do those things, right? There's not like a governing body that's going to tell you exactly how you set your schedule up. So he's figured it out, and he's always putting Alabama in the best position. He's still the best college football coach I've seen. Yeah, Alabama is actually seven and four against the spread this season, guys, but winning all their games by an average of 35 or more points. Wow. So it's been a little bit of a cupcake for him this year. Yeah, yeah. Sabin.

and Harbaugh, two best coaches in college football. Nick Saban, not Harbaugh. All right, let's switch to some MLB talk, guys. Bryce Harper, obviously, you know, the big fish in the pond this week or this season, offseason going, you know, where is he going to end up? There's some reports floating around the MLB circles. John Heyman of the Amelby Network says one prominent baseball execs thinks that either Harper or Machado will end up in some combination of the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. what do you think? I know, Rob, baseball is perking yours up here. Yeah, you know, and the money that they're talking about, Mark, about, you know, Bryce Harper getting between $4 and $500 million, like from the Phillies or this whole idea that the Yankees, and I know that they've worked really hard on staying underneath the, not the penalty, you know, salary. The cap line, yeah.

Right. They've worked hard so that they are under it, and they have money to spend. been, but I still find it hard to believe that either one of those guys are going to wind up with the Yankees. Well, all I know is whoever signs these guys to 10-year deals is going to regret it in seven years. You won't regret it right away. This is no slight to the players. They're fantastic.

I think baseball needs to do something about these 10-year contracts, though. There's never been one where the team and the fans are still feeling good about it in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th year. if they've not traded it already, it just, it doesn't make any sense. They need to do what the NBA does and cap the deals at five years. No, see, the only thing is, I think that's up for you to do. You don't need a rule for that. That should just be good business and that's what you're offering.

And if the guy's not interested, you don't need a rule to do it. Yeah, you do. No, you don't. Because they're not equal corporations. You know, that's like saying that Apple, you know, if you want to, compete with Apple if you're like Radio Shack, then just compete. It's like, well, take a look. Radio Shack's now closed. You know, if you're the twins and the Yankees, you're not dealing with equal corporations. So you need rules that keep things in fair play for fans. You've got to

remember that this is for fans. Yeah, but my only argument to you is that baseball without that in place, more teams get to win championships unlike the NBA where everybody's equal as far as the way that they basically deal with the money and what you can sign. It's the same teams every year in the NBA. But that's not because of the business structure. That's because the NBA, the game of basketball can be so affected by one guy. No, I know. I get it.

Baseball's not like that. But the team that spends the most money in baseball doesn't always win. So that's why money doesn't matter. Not always. The Dodgers haven't won in 30 years. But they've won the division like 400 times in a row. They haven't won a championship in 30 years. I understand.

A little more injury news, guys, going into this weekend's NFL action. The number seven overall pick of Laster's NFL draft, Josh Allen for the Buffalo Bills. Looks like he's trending in the right direction to start this weekend. Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills head coach, said as long as he gets through today, it looks like he will be playing this weekend. Guys, who are the Bills playing this weekend coming out of there by? Do you have any idea? Who are the Bills playing?

I've so turned off to the bill. I know. Are they playing the Sabres? Don't tell me. Don't tell me. Hold on, hold on. There was some comments made during this off-season. This is the only reason it's prevalent right now. I know who it is.

I know who it is now. It's Jacksonville. Yep. They're playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. And, of course, Jalen Ramsey, the outspoken DV, called Josh Allen Trash over the off-season. So it looks like Josh Allen will have his shot at saving his name. But you know what?

Jalen Ramsey might have been right because the other day after this morning, I think I heard that. Josh Allen heard the garbage truck and then put the cans out. So he ran down the street after the garbage man and he said, hey, am I too late for the trash? And the garbage man said, no, jump in. No. You know what?

Jaylor Ramsey had two interceptions of Ben Rathesberger last week and their team still couldn't win. It's been a disappointing season for both of those teams. That game does not need to be watched. That's my reaction to that game. I will unfortunately be watching that. He's a Bucco guy. Yeah, like you know, I mean, I'm in there.

We're in there for Red Zone Radio. We're watching them all. All right, good stuff. Yep, that's the news, guys. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. All right, the match, Kyrie, we'll get to all that in a little bit.

I was thinking about this. I wonder, and see, I'm not like you, Rob. I can be in this business and also still be a fan. But you've got to admit it's different between, being a radio talk show host and a journalist who've covered people. No doubt. No doubt. And don't get me wrong.

For guys who are radio and who do it for a living, I don't have anything against it. When you write for a newspaper, it's just totally different. Right. But you are aware that you don't do that anymore, right? Well, but I write a column that I still. So, so do why. But you're not covering any specific team anymore. No, not like that, but I still like to keep my distance.

All right. No, that's fine. You do you. All good. But I am still a fan. the Golden State Warriors, that's my squad. And I wonder if nationally people understand something while the NBA world goes through this celebration of drama,

losses, and Kevin Durant's likely departure. I heard your daily partner, my former partner as well, Chris Broussard, say, done deal. KD's gone. Right. So no warrior fan would run. root for that, but I wonder if everybody understands that Warrior

fans will be to a degree okay with that. There are two major free agents for the Warriors coming up this summer, and make no mistake, one of them leaving would hurt a lot more than

the other one leaving. And the one who would hurt is Clay Thompson, not Kevin Durant. So Kevin Durant's the final's MVP. He's probably the most effective offensive player in the NBA in the game today or certainly has been for the last two to three years.

You know, right alongside LeBron, whatever, what have you. But Kevin Durant, it's not possible for him to be Steph or Clay. And I even wonder if

by extension, almost by osmosis, that's part of why he's not happy there anymore. And Rob, you might have heard this too. I don't think Kevin was very happy last year. So, A, I don't think this is very surprising. And B, I actually, as a warrior fan, there would be a piece of me. Again, I would hope for things to work out.

That's option A. But if they don't, and Kevin wants to leave. First of all, I have to stick to my guns in that I am pro player. I am pro-free agency. If he wants to be somewhere else, he should go, and I will only give him a standing ovation for the good times that he provided. I will not rip the guy. There's no point.

And why would you rip him? He left another team to come to your team. So you got to understand that. That's why it kills me when people get worked up. They got a player from another team. And when he walks out on you, like when LeBron left Miami, you can't be mad. He walked out on Cleveland. Yeah, well, and Oklahoma City shouldn't have gotten mad in the first place.

As I said then, Oklahoma City fans should have given him a standing ovation when he returned. I know that's not the way the world works in sports, but it's the way it should work. Kevin Durant provided that organization with relevancy. They didn't win anything, no, and I get it. That's not the point. That's not the sport is not. No, sports is not just about winning. It is about winning.

No, it's not. Rob, you actually just stated that you love going to a game, even though you don't give a rip about who wins. I love baseball. I do. Right. So there you go. Sports for a lot of people, for me, that's about. bringing my son to a game.

We're going to have a good time. We're going to create some memories. And my favorite team can lose, and I'm not going to call that evening out a waste of time. So you have season tickets to the San Diego Padres, right? I don't have season tickets to anybody, but I've been to Padre Games. It's a beautiful park. I can have a good time.

It's a great park. And they stink out loud. So that's part of my point. So Kevin Durant, if he leaves, standing ovation, thanks for the time. that was fun, two or three championships while you were there. But if Clay Thompson were to leave, that would actually hurt. There's a piece of warrior fans I feel like would be interested to see if the Warriors could get back to what they were before Kevin got there, which was really good, by the way. I think if Kevin Durant leaves, they'll never win another championship, not with that group.

The window in times will have come and gone, and that's just the way it is. I mean, we've seen this guy be the MVP in the last two finals. And I'm talking about the Warriors have totally dominated LeBron James winning eight out of nine finals games. And the one game that they did win, LeBron and them shot like 70% from the – it was like an aberration. Right. The one game that they did win. So I just think if Kevin Durant was going to leave whether Draymond Green and him got into it, because deep down he does believe, and this is just, you know, the sense I get,

is that he needs to go somewhere else and prove that he can lead a team to a championship to be totally validated. I think that it still bothers him that he went, and a lot of people say, well, of course you won two championships. You went to the best team. I don't know if that's actually why he would leave. More on that coming up, we'll get to Kyrie as well with Rob Parker, Mark Willard. It's the herd.

Black Friday, it's the hurt. heard with Rob Parker, Mark Willard. Glad you're with us. If you got the dreaded stuff he knows this cold and flu season, try Vix Sinex nasal spray. A couple of Sinex nasal sprays, and it works in seconds to clear your nose. Last for up to 12 hours. Be ready when

congestion strikes. Sinex nasal spray use as directed. Rob, are you bothered by what Kyrie Irving said earlier this week? What about that he didn't want to celebrate or Thanksgiving and

Yeah, it was like bleep Thanksgiving. And run it through context, which is he was frustrated after a loss and somebody brought up Thanksgiving. He was like bleep Thanksgiving. So I didn't even know when I heard it. I'm like, is he actually mad at Thanksgiving or was he just mad in general? And I think in reading more about it and seeing his follow-up to it, it's a little bit of both. But did it – how did it grab you? It didn't bother me.

I mean, you know, this is his opinion. everybody looks at things differently, and I get it from his heritage as well, right? His mom was Native American, and it didn't bother me. That's his opinion. Everybody has their opinions about different things, and it's okay to be different. He's different. Now, you know, the world is flat or whether it was a joke or whatever. That you might look and go, okay, well, you know, I don't know where he's going with that,

but the notion that he doesn't like Thanksgiving, I don't have an issue with it. Look, I'm thankful to live in this country. There's no question about that. I am curious. I'm curious why it is considered so offensive when somebody does speak out in some sort of a way that's considered to be against the nation or against our heritage.

I have no idea because the whole country's built on the whole idea that we can do that. That's what makes this a great country is that you don't have to fall in line and agree with everything that goes on. It's okay. There were people who are protesting all kinds of things, and that's how this country was formed

and how things got changed. That was supposed to make us different. I don't get it. I'm with you. Yeah. Does everybody catch the irony? Like, okay, you love the country. What do you love about the country?

It's free. Yes. And then somebody speaks freely, and the clapback is intense. And so Kyrie felt the need to apologize. And my first thought was, don't apologize. Why does he have to apologize? Only because that's where we are in this world so that people can get off of it and move on because it's always an issue.

It's always something. And I'm with you. You don't always have to apologize. But then you get pressures from your employer and different people. get involved and now all of a sudden, oh, you can't say that. We got advertisers. We got people who don't want to do this. And, you know, and we're going to sign you to this big contract.

And we don't want people to think that you hate the country. All that stuff goes in or your agent. But it all comes to the same place. I mean, here's Adrian Peterson being like, yeah, I still use a belt on my son. And everyone's like, okay, so when's the game start? But if Kyrie Irving says, I hate Thanksgiving, it's like, yo, we're not doing this until you apologize. Can I give you the same one?

I want to give this is the one that drives me crazy. And I know people take it the wrong way or whatever. And they say they only go to the NFL game. They just want to be about football, right? I don't want to be, don't tell me about anything else. I'm just here for football. But then there's breast cancer awareness, right? It's a good cause.

But why are we doing it at football games if this is just about football? Well, why are we doing the National Anthem at all? No other job. No other job. Do you go to work? Did you stand up to the National Anthem at work? I didn't. I didn't.

Well, we didn't even do it. So I probably would have stood if we did it. But we didn't. Nobody else goes to work as a sports writer was covered a thousand events in my career. You know how many times I've stood up and done the National Anthem before? I did my job a gazillion times. But nobody else has to do that. And nobody looks at the guy who's working in the real estate office or at the bakery or anywhere else and looks at them strange because they didn't do that before they started work today.

I guess I'm just fascinated by what people think. And I'm not threatened by what people think. You know what I mean? If Kyrie Irving said F Thanksgiving, my first response would be like, well, no, why do you feel that way? and by the way, whatever he says, okay. Like, it's just someone's thought. It's just someone's perspective. It is completely on its own, in this particular case, not dangerous at all.

Not dangerous at all. Now, of course, you know, beating women or using switches and using belts on children. That sounds pretty dangerous to me. That's all okay, according to sports fans. the other way around. We got more to say on that. We're not done with your Durant points. I got to get to some of your LeBron points.

But coming up next, the match, you in or you out? This is The Hurt. Hour number three of the herd on a Black Friday. Hope everybody's Thanksgiving was just fantastic. I got to ask this, though, Rob. Mark with it, Rob Parker. What hour of the day do you stop and ask yourself why? I, when I stop and ask myself, why, like, why am I living?

Why am I doing what I'm doing? Not why are you living and not why do we celebrate Thanksgiving and, you know, we're with hopefully for everybody, family, friends, loved ones, good people, good, you know, good times. Why do we go back for thirds? Because. I mean, honestly, it doesn't feel good and we're old enough to know that by now. I know, but it's that day you just look forward to it. And you get caught up, you know, like, it's not often you spend that much time with people. You know how it is.

And so the whole focus of the day is all this food that someone that, you know, people have made and brought over. And you just go like, okay, you start eating. You're like, okay, this is good. Then you go back for seconds. Then you realize there's some more turkey or is there some chicken wings laying around. You go, I'll think I'll have a little of that. And then come to desserts. It's the weirdest dynamic.

ever because you know we start eating I mean just as soon as everybody arrives right oh yeah what it does like normal lunchtime dinner time doesn't exist

it's just one continuous shoving of stuff into your mouth the entire time so we get the cheese plate and the hors d'oeuvres and all that stuff and you're just consistently doing it it's almost like a way to just kind of break the conversation

like if you look around and you're not in the midst of a conversation you're like oh I'm going to... I might as well nibble right here. I'm going to grab some crackers. Right. So then you do that.

And then by the time the actual meal is served, you are no longer hungry. But you're like, hey, man, it's Thanksgiving. This is what we do. And this is why we're here. So I'm going to sit down and I'm going to have a big meal. And then you have the big meal. And then you're looking at each other and whatever. And it's almost just this thing.

You're obligated to go back and get seconds. Sometimes it's to like... You want the cooks to believe. that you love what they did. They worked so hard. And they put in so much effort. I agree with that. You feel compelled.

Like if you were to go and not eat, like people would be like, well, what's up with that? Right. But have you noticed? And I wonder, I know you don't have any kids. Do you notice this is a conversation that came up last night. Kids hate Thanksgiving food. Kids don't eat turkey.

They don't eat stuffing. They don't eat cranberry sauce. Right. They don't eat, you know, like, Brussels sprouts and potatoes and all these things. Kids eat like, you know, cassidias and pizza and hot dogs or whatever. And potato puffs.

Yeah, the kids, I mean, they're snacking their faces off last night at 9 o'clock because they didn't touch their meal. Right. But I went back seconds, thirds, and then at some point you're like, I've got to save room for dessert. And then I had this huge dessert.

What do you have for dessert? I'm curious. Oh, gosh, it was this brownie-swold cake thing. There were like four different desserts there, but I'm a sucker for a brownie. So I ate a ton of that, and I couldn't have been more uncomfortable. So what I do, I went back and got more.

And you know what? A buddy of mine, I was invited over to a coworker from FS1 and his wife made sweet potato pie. And she was like, before I was to cut into it, she was like, maybe I should try it first in case it doesn't taste good. And I'm like, she's a young, you know, young wife or whatever. And I'm like, nah, don't be like that. I'm sure it's great.

so I eat some I eat a little bit and then I decide okay I need to go home or whatever so I take the rest and another slice with me do you know it was delicious I ate both of them

like inhale both pieces you ate them on the way home in the car yes they were so good I didn't even get home with them food on the way home in the car always tastes better that's why when you go through the drive-thru that food never gets to the house

something about the car makes it taste better so wait you went to a Thanksgiving party that was filled with FS1 people No, no, no. It was just a buddy who I work with, and they had people over, and I stopped by their house. Got it. Okay.

I was imagining this FS1 party. No, no, no. Skip and Shannon's there. Spewing hot opinions all day. Or that kind of party. Yeah, getting mad at each other and screaming and then eating mashed potatoes. What's funny, though, and you know this is when I do hang out, like with Skip and his wife or Shannon or anything, we don't talk shop. Of course not.

Of course not. We don't talk shop. Of course not. Of course not. All right. UCF is going to kick off in a couple hours, and I got some stuff for you there, Rob. We got to get to it.

But I just want to mention this. I know you're not a golf guy. And I am. And an hour from now, the match gets started. I love that they're branding this thing, the match, almost like the catch from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark back in the day. The match. I am such a huge golf fan.

and I am so wildly disappointed by the way that this is all comes together. Now, this is shocking coming from you because I thought you would be all in anything to look at Tiger and Phil. You know what? And you know me. I've told you this story many times on the radio. When Tiger won the Masters for the first time, my wife and I were on our honeymoon. I was married back then, and it was our honeymoon. And we watched from our hotel room in Tokyo,

Japan. That's how much I was caught up in it, right? Probably we should have been rolling in the hay and maybe that's like... Yeah, exactly. Yeah, how'd you celebrate the victory there, buddy? But anyway, this feels to me, Mark, like a day late and a dollar short.

It's just, it's not compelling to me. Well, it's not even that. I understand where you're coming from there where it's kind of like the Mayweather Pachia out thing. Yes, five years too late. Why didn't you do this five years ago? Yep. But you know what? Tiger and Phil are still a draw, and Tiger is, you know, quote-unquote back.

You know, he's back contending and winning tournaments and playing pretty good golf. So I think that there's actually still time for these two to play and be a draw. But I feel like every decision about the execution of this was a little bit off. In what way? You could have gotten me to sit down and watch Tiger and Phil today. You could have. You're not watching? But not this way.

Are you not watching? No way I'm watching this. Are you kidding me? It's Thanksgiving weekend. We got family all over the place. There's food everywhere, things to do, college football games going on. Here's point A. This has to be free.

You cannot charge. And I don't care that it's only $19 or whatever it is. You cannot ask people to pull out their credit card to watch this. That was a mistake number one. mistake number two no people allowed on the course which is which was weird to me I know why they're saying that

it's like how would you effectively do that you know what I mean there's only one group so you're gonna have them all follow around and it's like yes you are actually it didn't need to be billions of people millions thousands whatever but get some ambient sound some people who will be yelling

whatever stupid stuff you to man in the middle of these swings as opposed to what's going to be just awkward silence. Will they do that or will they pump in some noise? You know what? Who knows? And by the way, I won't find out. I'm shocked that you're not watching at all. I am. Here's number three.

Some, but not all, of the money will go to charity, which in other words means a lot of the money will simply go to the pockets of two people who don't need it one bit. And then the last point is that they're adding in all of this like smack talking side bet stuff. Like isn't there already, I don't know what they put on. Somebody's put like, what is it, $200,000 on the first drive, on the first hole, something like that? Listen, the problem with all of this is not the golf. It's not Tiger. It's not Phil.

The problem is it's all tone deaf. Golf is a sport that already suffers from the fact that it's exclusive. It's not inclusive, it's exclusive. And that's a problem for golf. It's a growing problem. You want more people to be involved. That's what Tiger Woods, at his core, originally was. He was somebody who involved a bunch of people into the sport who weren't there before.

No doubt about it. people started picking up golf clubs watching the ratings. People were watching, right? That's right. And at record numbers. That's been totally lost because now what you're telling me is we want you to take your Thanksgiving holiday. You spend money to watch us throw money around that we may keep for ourselves. That is the penultimate in terms of tone death.

that is not the audience that you're looking for. They may get an audience today. I'm not even sure. It's the snooty-p-toity audience they already had. So this is just wildly disappointing to me. There's no reason you couldn't make it free. There's no reason that you couldn't make more of- sponsors to foot the bill that they would get on pay-per-view,

you know, like the numbers. Because I agree with you. I think today is one of those days. There's a building in downtown. Detroit called a Pinobscott building that's very tall and usually events like this where they're asking average Joe's to put up money

for something like this. We're always say you're better off going down to the Penobscott building and throwing the 1995 off the roof. Seriously. I mean the bummer part about it is if you just came to me and said in a very

like organic way hey do you want to watch Tiger and Phil play golf today? You on me, I'd have said yes. I'd have said yes, but not like this. Not like this. I'm not pulling out my credit card. I'm not watching you guys throw

around how much money you have to America. I'm not watching you guys pocket a bunch of it. And by the way, I'm not watching two guys try to pull off smack talk who clearly can't. I'll tell you this thing. Everything feels so contrived with the way they're talking to one another

because that's not the way these two guys are. For you to tell me that I'm feeling like this is going to be a flop. That it's not, it's not going to be what, uh, it, they, they thought they would have. And, and the other part is I thought, even with the price of it seemed, um, like they knew that they couldn't get a lot of people in on this. So they did have to be, yeah, it's not going to be a $50 main event.

Like it's not going to be like that. But, you know, $20, I think feels accessible to people. You know, everybody's got a $20 bill laying around. But to me, there's a principle there that was completely lost. I wouldn't pay $2.99 for this thing. Like, it needs to simply be, I pick up my remote, and I go to that channel, and it's there. And then the ratings might have been okay. But, you know, it's also interesting, you say, like, it might be a flop.

I don't even know what that is. I don't know what the expectations are. No, I don't, but for a golf guy like you not to be even, quasi-interested says a lot to me. That's all I'm saying from that standpoint. Because you're talking about you've got to be interested in golf. And if a guy who, like you, is into golf, isn't interested in those two guys, even on the day. I am.

I am, but not like this. Not like this. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, but you're not going to watch it. I would expect, today I expected you to tell me why you would be watching. I'm surprised you're telling me you're not going to watch. watch. No, no, we won't. You'll be in the lines at the stores today. Well, no, I'm not doing that either. You're not doing that either, but anything. As soon as we're done

here, I'm getting on a train and I'm going back to the house where we're staying and the last thing I'm going to do is go to the people who live there, our dear friends, and say, by the way, can you help me buy this golf match while you watch my kids who are all running around in the yard? Hell no, hell no. So I just think ill-conceived on this entire deal. All right, it's Mark Withan and Rob Parker in for the herd. up next. It was not that long ago. I heard you say that that team made a huge mistake. I want to know if you still feel that way. That's coming up next. 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. It's the herd on Black Friday. With Rob Parker. I'm Mark Willard. Glad you're with us. full bellies, full hearts, that's the deal. So you were talking about Durant earlier and you made a statement that you think that he still needs to go validate to other people that he can go win a championship in like a harder environment.

I kind of have a different feeling about it. And in some ways it makes me feel a little bit sorry for Kevin Durant. Like every time I look at him now, I'm sort of hearing that old U2 song. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Right. Oh, very good. I like that song. Everywhere he goes, it seems like he achieves X and then realizes X is not what he was after.

So, you know, he played for one year in college. He goes to Seattle, then Oklahoma City, becomes one of the top players in the game. As a kid, that was probably his goal. Become one of the top players in the game. or maybe even the best. And some feel like he is, at least offensively with the ball in his hands. I trust him at the end of the game more than anybody. Yeah, if you were to say pick an NBA player and do like an ISO and score,

that's who you'd choose. So that happened. And that wasn't enough. Although, you know, maybe he and Westbrook didn't get along, whatever it may be, wanted a bigger market. Who knows what was actually at the, you know, root of that? It's funny he didn't get along, but Paul George went there, bonded with Westbrook, and that team is looking pretty good right now.

Yeah, looking all right. I mean, it's not, you know, what does that say, though? Just because Paul George gets along with him, every human being is supposed to? All I'm saying is he can't be as bad as some people make Westbrook out to be. I don't think he's that bad at all. No, I know, but some people make him out to be the worst guy in the world. I don't think Kevin even thinks that. I think this was about basketball.

I don't think he felt like it was. the right basketball teammate. And so then he went and found a bunch of great basketball teammates and he won a bunch of rings and he won a couple of finals MVP's and so he's done all of that.

And yet still somehow is feeling like nope, that wasn't it either. And you know what? I've met people like this and Rob there are times in my life where I've felt like this where if you just go off to somebody and say, okay,

What do you want? What are you looking for in life? If they have a hard time answering that, that's sad. It's unfortunate. But don't you think that's most people? I think most people... No, I don't think that's most people. I think most people might have a hard time really seeing or visualizing what it is that gets them there, you know, what the day-to-day looks like.

I think if you ask most people, you know, what do you want? Why are you getting up in the morning? I think most people can answer that on some level. I'm not saying it needs to be like some concise little three-word sentence or something. But I think most people have a decent idea. But I'll admit, yeah, there are days where I'm like, huh, you know, man, yesterday I thought this was what I wanted to, you know, do. And today, gosh, maybe that's not the route that I want to choose. I think that's fine.

But if you keep seeing people say that's the goal and then the goal gets achieved and then they're like, yeah, no, I'm not happy. That's a bummer. I mean, Kevin Durant, I have this on good authority, Rob. He was not happy last year. He was not having a good time. And so you can win rings, and people can say all these wonderful things about you. None of it matters if inside you're not happy. That's the whole point.

Yeah, but some people are like that. You know, like you have people never satisfied or never happy about stuff no matter what. You would look at their life. he has a beautiful girlfriend and Taylor Rooks. He's won two MVPs in the finals. He's making a gazillion dollars. I know, but haven't we learned by now what it looks like from the outside? No, I know.

I mean, Anthony Bourdain killed himself. I agree. He's got a great life going, right? Yeah, we can't look at it from the outside and say, boy, everything's great. No, I get it. That's the mental defect I'm talking about. And I'm not saying he has a defect, but I wonder at this point what it is that really is, is driving Kevin Durant and what it is he wants and all, I mean, I just hope he finds it.

That's all I got to say about. I hope he finds it. Yeah, I just think that there is a part of him that has heard the conversations and the talk. And this is the same guy who's tweeting 19-year-old kids in their mother's basements who are putting out stuff or liking them on Instagram or whatever. But this is who he is. and he seems to can't detach himself from that stuff

and just kind of live his life and be happy. But I get it. I think that deep down it does bother him. He wants to be a guy who ultimately people look at and have some respect for what his career was and not, when you have like, and whether it's right or wrong,

when you have like Clyde Frazier saying his career should have an asterisk next to it, I mean, you could say, say, well, that's Clyde Ferd. You played in the 70s, and you can pooh him. I am going to poo-poo him. I know, but you could do it. But if you're saying that Kevin Durant, what Kevin Durant wants is for people to be like, wow,

you know, this guy was great and it's a great career. Guess what? That's already happened. That's already happening. Well, but I think his actions tell you, though, that it does bother him. Well, but I don't know that. See, again, I don't know. I'm not going to act like because I watch basketball.

I can tell you what's making the guy tick. I don't know what he's searching for. It just feels like he hasn't found it. Now, it makes big news when somebody who used to play in the NBA comes out and says, oh, he's a cupcake or, you know, this shouldn't count. And that should work him up enough to get irate about a guy who called you a cupcake? I don't know. I mean, look, the reason it makes news is because 99.9% of the NBA is not saying that.

You know what I'm saying? you talk to basketball players. These guys don't think Kevin Durant is to be dismissed. They think Kevin Durant's amazing. They think Kevin Durant is never, we've never seen Kevin Durant before. There's never been a seven-footer who can do this. So he's an all-timer. And whether you like exactly all these decisions that he's made,

they shouldn't matter because they're not your decisions to make. They're his. I just wonder what, you know, when are we going to get to the point where Kevin just is like, okay, this is where I can, you know, I can find peace right here. No, I get all that. Don't you feel like LeBron, don't you feel like LeBron has already done that? LeBron got to a point where he was just like, so look, I know a lot of you are going to talk, but he looks peaceful to me. No, I agree because I think, I think that LeBron decided I can't chase this Michael Jordan thing.

I've already lost six championships or whatever it is and no one's ever going to, whatever, and I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I think you're right. I think he did come to terms with it and just decide, I'm just going to do what I want to do and finish out my career. And if we win, we win. If we don't, we don't. And I'm good with it.

I agree with that. I think that's where LeBron is. And I don't believe Kevin Durant. I'm just talking about, I don't know Kevin Durant. But just, you know, in covering sports over these years and a feel for a guy who looks like he's going to go to a bad team like the Knicks or the Nets or whatever it is, like a bad team and try to build something and do something different after winning maybe three championships in a row with the Warriors.

I thought you'd be excited about this, though. In talking NBA with you over the last few years, what you want are more questions. You want it to not be a fait of complete. You want it to not be, oh, it's going to be the Warriors and the Cavs. Well, we've got that, don't we? We've got a bunch of questions. I don't know who's going to win the NBA championship this year. You do?

Yeah, the Warriors are. going to win. Okay. But I'm convinced to that. If this was, if this story and all this stuff happened in April, maybe I would say that they could be susceptible to, to something happening. This is November. The NBA season hasn't even started yet. Okay, but then you think he's going to leave. And then there you go. But I thought he was going to leave before the season started. I thought it was either, I did. I believe that either this year, either this year or after the first year of the new stadium, of the new arena. I did believe that. That's, yeah, by the way, that's the under-discussed part about this.

Like the Warriors are going into a whole new brand and a whole new deal starting next year, and Kevin's not going to be there for it. I don't know. I don't think this whole thing, this story has been written yet by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know that the NBA has more questions today and definitely next year than it's had the last four years. And I thought that's what everyone was asking for. Speaking of LeBron, I do have a very clear question for you on that. We'll do that in a couple minutes.

But first, let's get Eric Roberts in here. Heardline News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Heard Line News. All right, guys, I know we gave Rob his soapbox and his Matthew Stafford bashing in the first hour. It was a lackluster game for the Detroit Lions last night. A couple unfortunate interceptions late in the game pretty much did the Lions in.

But Lions running back, Lagart Blount or Blunt, sorry, is not going to throw his QB under the bus, guys. He was quoted saying, obviously he being Matt Stafford, is an elite quarterback. I think he's one of the best in the league. I don't think it's fair to put all this on him. I know. I get it. Rob is chewing at the bit to get another bite at it. I agree with him.

I get it. You're not going to do that. You're still playing. You're not going to tell Matthew Stafford. He's not going anywhere. where they owe them, I think, $92 million more. So what would be the purpose of doing that? They're not going to release Matthew Stafford today.

So I get all that. But at some point, when you give the quarterback all the credit when teams win, sometimes they've got to take the blame as well. Matthew Stafford has not lived up to his billing. I don't care. All the numbers he's put up, the Lions have not won enough with Matthew Stafford. 11, 12, 13, 14, 14. 14, maybe a couple more.

I just counted them up. Teams that if you put Matt Stafford on the open market would offer the house. Nice, and they wouldn't win anything. Doesn't know. They'd still. So what? They would die. I mean, look around at the starting quarterbacks in the NFL and tell me that there aren't a bunch worse than Matt Stafford.

Teams that do that when you look and say it's not about what other teams would want to buy. I should say other teams would want a guy that has underachieved or underwerect. overwhelms you, it's about whether or not he's lived up to the standard that you're setting for your organization. And organizations who live like that don't win anything. Biggest market in the world right now is sitting there going, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, let Matt Stafford go. New York Giants would love to have Matt Stafford. Take Matt Stafford.

The Giants could do that. And it doesn't mean that they would win anything and then they would come up with excuses. Dude, I've watched almost this guy's entire career. He hasn't won any big game for Detroit. Switching over to the MLB again, guys, a little more trade talk. The New York Mets, you know, Jacob de Grom when the NL. Sy Young this year. He was followed by Noah Cindergarde, Thor, just as good, just as capable on the mound for the New York Mets. But John Heyman, again, from Elbe Network is reporting the Mets are seriously considering trading Thor from New York.

Noah Sinigard on the trading block apparently by John Heyman. You know what? You probably heard this. There was some talk about this last year at the deadline, and it didn't end up happening. But I believe this. I do think Noah Sinigard will be somewhere else start of next year. I agree with you.

At some point, Mark, you've got to get some regular everyday players. If you could go out and get two young players who could get into your starting lineup and play every day, it's worth giving up a pitcher. You can't give up both. of them. And if you have Jacob de Grom at the top of your rotation, you're not going to be but so bad because you're not going to have five and ten game losing streets with him starting every fifth day. You know what I mean? So at some point, they're going to have to give up one of those guys and get everyday players. Where do you think he's going? Not to the Yankees because

they won't make that trade. That won't not happen. They'll probably trade them somewhere in the American League away from the national. Definitely don't want to, you don't want to trade him into a division. Nah, you couldn't do that. Send him to Washington or Philadelphia. You wouldn't do that. Don't think the fans would be too happy about that one. I'll just say this.

Watch the Padres. Just watch the Padres. Just watch the Padres. Are they going to make moves this offseason? Most definitely. Okay. Final one, guys. Final one.

It's been a little bit of a rough stretch, a rough patch for the Oakland or the Golden State Warriors. And things almost got a little worse for the Golden State Warriors up in Oakland. Steph Curry was reportedly involved in a car accident this morning. A couple cars bumped into him on the freeway up in Oakland. He's apparently reported okay, but he was not scheduled to play in the game against the Trailblazers tomorrow night anyways. He's recovered from a groin injury. But apparently he was involved in a three-car collision on the freeway this morning in this Black Friday madness probably.

When it rains and pours, things just haven't been going right for the Warriors. Thank God he's okay. And, you know, that's all you got to hope for is that everything's okay. and it didn't alter his coming back, Mark, you know what I mean, like with the groin injury that it's not going to attack on any other days. Well, I'm looking at the pictures of it right now, and yes, no injuries amongst any of the parties, so that's good. He drives a beautiful car that definitely needs some service.

And I can also tell it's kind of a dreary day in the Bay Area where the roads are wet, and we all know Californians can't drive when it rains. Even though we needed to rain. We need the rain. Yes. Thank God for the rain. But just stay home. You know the California rule.

If it drops below 60 degrees, don't go outside. Once water touches the floor in California, man, it's people's IQ drops like 25. It's crazy. That's totally true. That's the news, guys. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news.

All right, Rob, you said it. Let me hear it one more time. I want to know if you still believe it. It sounded like you even hesitated. when you were about to say it. I think I heard this on a promo for the odd couple. What? Odd couple, 4 to 7 p.m. Pacific Monday through Friday.

Get your promo in. 7 to 10 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports Radio. I don't know why they didn't go with the title I wanted them to go with the Mark Willard ex-cohost show. I don't know why they didn't go with that. That would have been pretty funny. Yeah, they should have done that. Because you have both of us.

Mark Willard's ex-co-host. argue. That could have been the name of the show. It would have told people a little bit more about it, at least, than the odd couple. But that's all right. You went with the odd couple. You know, do you all good. Yes. But I heard a promo for the odd couple. And you sound like you're, you just kind of tiptoed into it because you didn't really want to say it. What I said?

You're like, the Lakers made a mistake signing LeBron James. Did I really? You did. and I want to know now if you still believe that, not that anything has been decided, but the Lakers at least have won

most of the games they've played the last three weeks or so. The games they were supposed to win. Well, listen, they have a winning record. They're only a game behind the Warriors in the old Pacific Division. Who knew there were still divisions in the NBA? I know. I thought they weren't.

But is this something you believe the Lakers made a mistake in signing LeBron J? I just don't remember the context. Context is very important for me. Oh, now context is important. You've built an entire brand of lacking context. Your statement is there are wins, there are losses. It's a short menu.

That's it. I didn't know. I didn't know that Rob Parker suddenly believed in context. No, I just don't remember the promo. But I think I was, I don't know exactly where we were talking. But I guess when I look at the Lakers, I don't know really where they're headed from this standpoint. about playing the kids and getting to learn, like at some point putting those guys out there. At one point, I was advocating that they should play Lanzo Ballmore.

You know what I mean? This is before the injury happened. Toronto, sure. You know what I mean? I'm just like, if he doesn't play now with LeBron James out there, when do you play this kid? I just didn't understand that aspect of it. I'm surprised that Brandon Ingram really hasn't blossomed into LeBron. made a big stink about how this guy has, you know, such big upside.

And I thought he was going to blossom into LeBron's number two guy. Did you not think that? Yeah, I still think that. I think, you know, it's funny because it was literally not more than five minutes ago where you're like, it's November. The NBA season hasn't started yet. However, we're all here to judge the Lakers and exactly how each one of these players looks.

It's like, wait a minute, why don't we learn repetitively? everywhere LeBron James has gone. And by the way, every NBA team that overhauls its roster takes time. It's not to be decided in 17 games. That's what they've played. I'm not going to, you know,

Brandon Ingram and his story and who he's going to be alongside LeBron James, who by the way, that's a hell of a personality to learn how to play with, that story has not been written yet. I think we're in chapter two at most. I guess we'll wait and see as we go further.

I guess you could say that. I just thought those early games, they had a chance to win all those games. They were in every single game. It wasn't like they were getting blown out. And LeBron just seemed to be a little bit more passive to me in games that were winnable. And because of the history of the Western Conference, in that last year the number 3C down to number eight was separated by two games. I just thought those games are important. You could just poo-poo them because it's November,

but those are winnable games that if LeBron would have exerted himself a little bit more, that they could have won some of those games. And later on, they would help them at some point. That's my big thing because I think if they're in the second half of the top eight in the Western Conference, it's going to be a tougher ride for them. You know, two and a half games right now separates in the West, the one seed from the 10 seats. Yeah, I believe it.

Okay, so, I mean, they're all right there. everybody's feeling each other out and you know this thing will take shape I just think look the Lakers are going to be a playoff team this year Oh I don't doubt that I never doubted that I could see them get knocked out in the first round

Maybe maybe I just think that the whole way that this is going to look in May is different than how it looks now but secondarily like the idea that the Lakers would somehow not take LeBron James or not overhaul that roster into a relevant roster when they had the chance.

I mean, this was a long run of not just futility, but boredom. I mean, the number one thing that I'm always talking about with sports teams is, you know, option A is to be good and exciting. option B, I guess, would be to be good and not that exciting. Like, think Baltimore Ravens. They're good. They're not that fun to watch, but they usually win. Not good anymore. Yeah, they're okay.

They're in the playoff hunt right now. Option C would be to be not good, but be exciting. At least you're fun to watch. And then the thing that you absolutely can't be is bad and boring. No, no. People don't. And that's what the Lakers have been. In Los Angeles, California, they've been bad and boring for five years.

No, I get that. And I'm not so sure that it was about the Lakers warning LeBron, more so than LeBron warning L.A. I'm sure it was both. I think it was LeBron who had made up his mind to come to move to L.A. And this is the lifestyle that he wanted. I don't disagree, but the Lakers are, I mean, are thrilled at the idea. The Lakers could have wanted him if he didn't want to come. come, I don't think that they could have convinced them.

I don't believe LeBron would have come to Los Angeles if that's not what he wanted. It was obviously what he wanted. All right. Coming up next, we're going to see them later on this afternoon. What exactly do they need to do to convince you? That's next on the herd. All right, it's the herd. Don't be that guy in the room with the long, sloppy looking untucked shirt, untucked shirts.

I may default the perfect length. Go to untucket.com. See for yourself why GQ called them perfection. Use the promo code herd for 20% off all purchases. Untucket.com. How many more shows do you have today, Rob? Just one more. I'm doing the odd couple tonight.

Oh, is that all? That's it. Undisputed first this morning. Three hours with the herd and you. And then me and Jonas Knox tonight. He's filling in for Chris Bussart. Okay. So Jonas will be.

filling in on the former Mark Willard co-host hour on Fox Sports Radio and Jonas is not a former co-host of mine although I know him well. So that's good. I don't know if you and I have talked about this before. What's your perspective on UCF?

I know that they finally got some love after complaining and saying that they won. Didn't they put up a banner or something last year? Well, they they gave their coaches national championship bonuses. I think they gave out rings. They are referring to themselves as the national champions.

But I'm more interested in this year because the hard part of this argument is you can't seem to have it without people thinking that if you're on team UCF, they think you're saying, oh, UCF could beat Alabama. I'm not saying that. I don't really care what I think would happen if UCF played Alabama because. it's irrelevant what I think and it's irrelevant what you think. Yeah, but I think there's something wrong with pretending you're the national champion when you're not. Why? I just do. I just, that's not how it goes and you're not the national champion.

I don't care how many games you won. I don't care any of that. You want to give your coaches bonuses for doing a great job and being undefeated. Knock yourself out. But they didn't get a bonus for being a national champion. No, they did. They're not a national champion. No, but they did get the bonus.

They gave out phony bonuses. It doesn't matter. The money cleared. It doesn't. They're still phony. Who would walk around with that? I don't think the coaches. I don't think the coaches feel like it was phony.

I think they went and bought themselves a nice car or something like that. That's nice. It's a phony acknowledgement. I wish I would go around and saying, oh, yeah, I'm the sports writer of the year of the four people who write sports in Burbank, California. Well, if somebody else, if a different outlet wanted to give you money for that, wouldn't you take it? I'm not saying that they should not take the money.

But I wouldn't go into a kid's house and recruit and say, last year we won the national champion ship last year. So if you're doing all that, then what is silly? It's silly to acknowledge that. Who's qualified to say any of these things? I am. I'm qualified to say it's silly. Didn't somebody give you some sort of sports writing award in Detroit a few months ago?

Yes, I was the sports writer. year for the NA National Association of Black Journalists. And who the hell put them in charge? Like there's a bunch of black people who didn't have any vote in this at all. It's an organization that's been around since the early 70s. And they identify and recognize people who are worth the merit. And they decided that after. So they anointed themselves.

Right. So why can't UCF anoint themselves? Because that's not the way it works. It would be like, it's the same thing. It would be like me saying, I'm the black journalist of the year. journalist of the year on my own. I just think it comes off. You shouldn't be patting yourself on the back or giving yourself an award or accomplishment.

That's for other people to do. Of course you should when the system is awful. And that's what college football is. So drop out of the system if you don't like it. Well, that's actually what they're trying to do. What UCF is trying to do, A, in addition to having enrollment go through the roof, which has happened, what they're trying to do is be a squeaky wheel and potentially have them. that change the game or at minimum change their conference.

If you actually look at what they're attempting to do, they've done a wonderful job of doing it. It's not all that different than what Lane Kiffin does on Twitter and has people talking much more about Florida Atlantic than they ever have before. But what's frustrating about this for me is every time someone wants to argue against UCF, they'll say, hey, go do this. And then UCF does it. And then as soon as they do it, they go, no, no, no, no, no, that doesn't count.

Hey, go beat someone good. Okay, how about Auburn? Hey, go beat a ranked team. Okay, how about if we blow out Cincinnati? And then it gets roundly dismissed. And you'll say, oh, big deal, Cincinnati. When Michigan beat Michigan State, ooh, nice win. Notre Dame at one point beat.

I can't even remember who it was, 24th ranked team in the nation. Wow, nice win, Notre Dame. UCF does it and people go, eh, it's just Cincinnati. You got to have the rules add up. They've already beaten some good teams. A, B, how do we really know what they would do on the big stage? We're only acting like we would know.

Sports has surprises all the time. But then C, most importantly, why is this and only this in all of sports about who? who we think will win as opposed to who does win. Sports, if you simply want to say, oh, we know what would happen if they would play Alabama. Well, we know what would happen if anybody would play Alabama. So why don't we just give them the national title right now, call it a day, save a bunch of injuries? Well, that would be like last year the Houston Rockets saying that they went to the NBA finals.

No, it's not. Yes, it is. It's like you're proclaiming that you would have won that series if Chris Paul didn't get hurt. You're focusing on what they did last year and what their words are. I'm focusing on the fact that they're undefeated again. They've won like 20-something football games in a row, and you still can't find anyone to give them credit. What credit do they want?

They're undefeated. They would like a chance to play on the big stage. But should they be, who should you move to put them in, as I guess would be my question to you? No, the obvious answer is that it needs to expand to more teams. No, but that's not the system that we have today. So we're not going to do that just because you have a little team down there in Florida and you think that they should get a chance.

That's not how it goes. But there's a lot of football left. And based on how it goes, I would be open to UCF being in the final four. What if Michigan loses tomorrow? What if a bunch of the one lost teams are losing? Then Ohio State is going to go. That's ridiculous. A team that got absolutely housed by Purdue and you're going to talk about UCF.

If they beat Michigan, that's the number four team? If they beat Michigan, why? Because they had a horrible, horrible loss. That's why. All right. It's the herd. It's been an absolute blast. Go do your fourth show later today.

Yes, sir. All right. 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. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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