The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Kawhi Leonard Will Be an All Time Top 10 Player, LeBron vs Giannis MVP Race, Nick Wright, Rob Parker, Bill Polian & DeMarcus Ware.

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

On today's episode of The Herd, Colin makes his case for why Kawhi Leonard should be viewed in the same light as Kevin Durant. While also stating that if he wins a 3rd Championship this year, he deserves to be looked at as a Top 10 Player of All Time. Nick Wright joins the show to disagree with Colin's take on why LeBron James deserves to be the leagues MVP, while he makes is case for The Greek Freak; Giannis Antetokounmpo. Rob Parker also joins the show and speaks on the possibility of a great comeback story for Cam Newton, if his arrival in Foxborough leads to success. Bill Polian and Demarcus Ware also join the show to give their insightful thoughts on the upcoming NFL Season. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor.

It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that doesn't. It does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to The HARD podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1.

Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching Hurd. Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Wednesday live in Los Angeles. Angeles, it's the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

Nick Wright in 30 minutes, Hall of Fame, Executive Bill Polion in an hour and 15 minutes. DeMarcos, where are the Cowboys? Former Cowboy will be joining us on a Wednesday. Busier than we probably should be, considering the scarcity of sports, and Joy Taylor is

joining me. Joy, how are you today? I'm great. Well, we're almost back. Almost. Baseball's close. basketball is a couple of weeks away less than that actually. These are a couple days. Yeah, so we're ready to go. Let's do it. Let's do it. So I saw

a story this morning. I'm not going to call out the writer. It's woefully off, but it is interesting. I think you can really, and this happens in life too. If you're brutally honest and you just wrote down either for yourself, your business, your favorite team, three sentences

to describe them over the last 10 to 15 years. just three brutally honest sentences to describe yourself, describe your favorite football team, your favorite college team or your favorite, the business you're currently in. It'll tell you all about it. You don't have to go on and on and on and on. So this article comes out and it says,

it says the Cowboys are wasting the luckiest quarterback run in NFL history. Says the writer, finding two generationally talented quarterbacks, Romo Dack. Between the fourth round and undrafted free agency, within a span of 13 years is the football equivalent of winning the lottery. Generationaly talented, he misspelled marginal. Let me just say this. Is that the Cowboys are exactly where they should be in the NFL with my three-sentence rule.

Now, let's first address this. Outside of Tom Brady in New England and Eli Manning in New York, every fan base thinks they've underachieved in terms of Super Bowls. In New Orleans, they're like, one? Peyton Manning Indy, one? Farvin Rogers are that good and two? Outside of New England where I think Patriot fans are like, we squeezed every last win out of that.

And I think New York Giant fans were like, we got the lesser of the Peyton, of the Manning brothers, and we got two out of that, we're good. So almost every franchise thinks they should win more. New England, the Giants, Eli Brady, that's the exception. Secondly, I'm done talking about DAC, but let's just talk about Tony Romo. Tony Romo burned really bright for about an hour.

Tony Roma had three great years. That was it. 2011 to 2014. And in 2014, DeMarco Murray had 2,000 yards rushing. He was the MVP of the team. I like Tony Romo. He's been a great broadcaster, and I used to defend him constantly. But the guy had three great years.

That's it. He was raw early with too many picks, and he was injured late. Does that sound like a super bowl? Bowl winning franchise? Nah, it doesn't. Now, have the Cowboys gotten value? Don't get me wrong, value out of the quarterback position. Romo undrafted, DAC fourth round.

Well, yes, absolutely. But value isn't Peyton Manning. There's a reason you pay what you pay for a Mercedes. You're not getting value on it. I mean, I think it's worth it. You're not getting a steel on it. It's not going to be a Mercedes is not undrafted. Mercedes is not third, fourth, or fifth round.

So let's go back to my three-sentence rule. You are what you can be described in in three sentences. For the last 15 years, if I said this about the Dallas Cowboys. Now, this is going to be tough, but I said about the Dallas Cowboys, a vanity-driven owner who made himself GM bailed onto Hall of Fame coaches, but have gotten great value at quarterback. That sounds like an interesting team,

certainly viable, that mostly gets in their own way. That is exactly what the Dallas Cowboys are. That's what they are. They're interesting. They're viable. Bet you they've won a playoff game or two. But boy, that they get in their own way.

If I describe New England, best smartest coach in NFL history, best quarterback in NFL history, and the weakest division for 20 years. That screams dynasty. If I described Houston, or let's say Cleveland, chaos everywhere, revolving door of coaches and executives, and have passed on more than one Pro Bowl-level quarterback in the draft. That says to me, what a mess. Houston, to me, is always an interesting one.

Because when you think of Houston, my three words or sentences would be good coach trying to be a GM, several superstar players, including a quarterback, average division. And you know what Houston would be? Well, they're winning games. They're fun to watch. But it feels like there's a ceiling. That's exactly what Houston is. This is not about Romo and Dack and finding back.

Value is great, right? Like you'd love to be able to get your quarterback, you know, at a discount. But if he's really great, you won't be able to. You're going to have to pay for Wentz and Brady and Mahomes and Breeze and Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson eventually. So getting value at quarterback is fine. What I really want is elite ten. talent. And Romo had three brief great years, and DAC is good, not special.

So the idea that the Cowboys have blown it, have wasted opportunities, have squandered it. Well, they have, but it's not about the quarterback. It is, again, about a franchise that has bailed on two Hall of Fame coaches and a vanity-driven owner who made himself GM. So the NBA bubble, the NBA bubble, we're getting very close to games. James. And I think this is going to be very interesting, and I want to talk Kauai Leonard. We all acknowledge Kauai Leonard is interesting. He battled with Popovich. Everybody works in San Antonio. He didn't. He goes to Canada, acknowledges early. It's really cold. I'm not staying here.

But then wins the championship with a bunch of kind of B guys. And then instead of choosing LeBron and dominance, he goes to the Clippers. But Kauai Leonard has figured something out. He figured it out in San Antonio, whereas they got old. They still won. He figured it out in Toronto where they had issues, but man, they had good ownership, a good GM, and a nice coach. And that's why he chose the Clippers. In Los Angeles right now, the Clippers have the better owner, the better GM, the better head coach,

by many and Doc Rivers, more titles, and the better roster. But it's funny how often the media misses the mark on player moves. Like LeBron to Miami was roundly criticized. It was a great move. It's the best move LeBron ever made.

He upgraded an owner, GM coach. Going back to Cleveland was actually a terrible move. Why would you bail on Mickey Eris and Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra? That's a terrible. move. But the media like the story. I'm coming home. You play the music. We all cry. It's a great story. Prime example. The Raptors got heat for getting Kauai. Well, that's one year acquisition. It didn't matter. It's Canada. They like hockey. You win one championship in Toronto. You're good

for two decades. Jimmy Butler gets heat every time he leaves. But he left. Minnesota, they got worse. Chicago they got worse. Philly they got worse. He chose Pat Riley. Eric Spolstra, A to A plus with both. That's why Kauai is fascinating. If I said to you today, Kevin Durant and Kauai Leonard, I think most of you think Kevin Durant's a much better player and will be viewed historically as a better player.

But what's funny about Kevin Durant and Kauai is, I think they're a lot closer than you think. Both have two titles. Both have two MVP's in the world. those finals. Both have had injury issues and both are multiple time all-stars. Now, Durant has many scoring titles, but Kauai Leonard may be the single best player in the NBA the last couple of years if you need a bucket. But here's the difference. Kevin Durant left a great owner, a great GM, and a great coach, and a great number one teammate. He downgraded in all

of those. Kauai Leonard is a lot sharper than we think. He upgraded in everything because the Clippers, not the Lakers, have the rock-solid owner, Steve Ballmer, with unlimited money. They have Doc Rivers who's won a title, like Frank Vogel, but Rivers is considered the better coach. They've got a front office that includes Jerry West and Michael Winger. in five years, and I think Kauai is going to win the championship this year,

and Kauai is going to be the MVP of the finals. Three months from now, it's going to be Kauai with three titles, Kevin with two, Kauai with three finals MVP's, Kevin Durant with two, Kauai the healthiest he's ever been, Kevin Durant still recovering, and Kauai going forward. with the better number two teammate, Paul George, more stable, better front office, better owner, better roster. We always struggle when players move.

We're always like, well, who did they join? LeBron could not overcome a bad owner initially. Michael Jordan needed to get the coach right. is that in about three months, that Durant Kauai Leonard mismatch, I mean, KD's up here, Kauai is down there, three months, it's going to be a lot closer than you think. And my argument's going to be in five years,

Kauai will be seen as the superior player. Because he's figured out through his NBA journey, you've got to choose the owner, you got to choose the GM, You got to choose the coach as much as the roster. Coming up, there are certain things in life you can say, and you completely lose me. And Camp did it again yesterday. 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 IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Who went Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. At this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed, correct.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapy. Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the Hardway.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? this is cliverteller the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out look quarterback on office blue 42 a rep my mama want you to wave at her what where she at hey miss parker Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Whether you're working from home or working on your fitness, you need noise, isolating, Bluetooth, seamless wearing, stylish, RACON wireless earbuds. Get 15% off now, buy raycon.com slash h-E-R-D. So years and years, this is a long time ago, this is about, let's see, I've been here five, ten years ago. I went to buy condo. And I went to my realtor at the time was her name was Liz. And she said, I said, how is it? She goes, oh, great location. And she goes, it's beautiful.

And I'm like, so why is it still in the market? She says, been on the market for a year. I'm like, I don't understand it. She says, you're going to love it. And I'm like, well, I don't understand it. You know, the country was doing fine. The economy was fine. It wasn't stagnant.

So I go, and I go into it. And Liz opens the door. And I'm like, good hell. She had Greek art everywhere. It was a maze to walk from the door to the bedroom. I mean, you had to like take, you couldn't. And I'm like, well, the water, she can't sell it. This is beautiful.

It's in a great location. But she's hoarding. Like, you clean it up. I'm a minimalist. I don't have a lot. My wife met me. She's like, you have two pair of shoes. You have no clothes.

And I'm like, I have the clothes I need to wear. She goes, you know, everybody I've ever, you know, people have clothes and shoes. I'm a minimalist. I've never had a second car. I don't like stuff. So when I walked into the condo, I said, oh, I'm going to make a low offer because nobody's going to, nobody's going to offer on this because it's all cluttered, like memo, clean it up. She had big Greek art everywhere. I'm not nothing against the art, but you couldn't find your way from one side of the house to the other.

It was a small, about 2,000 square foot condo. One of the things I love about what is happening in sports, we're getting rid of all the crap. I love it. NFL preseason. Out of here. It's been terrible. It's terrible for players. They make per diem.

That's it. It's terrible for fans. You get charged full boat for a ticket. You couldn't give that thing away. NFL preseason. Out. There's one piece of art out of the condo. Three awful out-of-conference road games.

Nick Saban complains. Our fans don't show up for all our home games. Stop playing Citadel three times. Out. 100 Major League baseball games. Out. Last 20, NBA baseball. regular season games.

Ow, we know who the best teams are by game 65. Why injure players? Like, we know who the best teams are by game 65. Memphis ain't great. Lakers potentially could be. All these college athletic programs. Nobody watches, nobody in the stands, expensive road trips. Out, out, out, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.

Like, this is all, like, to me, I look at this and I think in my entire life, even during tragedy in America, there's always good from bad. to me, we're just cleaning the condo up. We're just getting rid of stuff we don't need. NFL preseason's useless. 162 baseball games. With the phones we have in America now, I mean, believe me, it's easy. I mean, I find myself last night, I have to put it down.

I have to put it away. I'm sitting there reading it, reading it, reading it. And I'm like, God, I, you know, I've watched everything on Hulu. With phones, you've got to make games matter. You've got to have urgency. That's the strength of the NFL. That's why I don't love a 17th game. I don't love more playoff teams.

It's good for my business, but what makes the NFL special is there's not a lot of wasted art in the condo. And not a lot of extra crap. Like, what you see is what you get. The game matters. You have to watch. And right after Thanksgiving, the games even mean more. And so all this stuff, everybody looks around. If we can just start the NBA in Christmas, get rid of these awful.

college games that nobody watches and dump junk, get rid of dump the NFL preseason, sports has never been better. We are making moves now that are long overdue. I am here for it. I'm a minimalist in my life and in my sports. And I think we'll look back years later if these leagues conferences have the courage of their convictions and the owners finally acknowledge, you know, my players don't get as banged up. When we don't play four preseason games, sports will never be better. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Patrick Beverly has reportedly left the NBA bubble. He left last night to attend to an emergency personal matter, and he does plan to return to the Clippers as soon as possible. He's the second member of the Clippers to leave the bubble in Orlando. Montrez-Harrel also left a few days ago due to a family.

emergency. So still very early. Obviously, we haven't gotten into games yet, but. Howell, what's the quarantine thing? So if they leave. So if they leave campus for extenuating circumstances like this, they'll be required to quarantine for four to 10 days upon return. So Beverly will need to pass a coronavirus test every day he's off campus in order to have a four-day quarantine when he comes back instead of 10. First game, their first game is July 30th against the Lakers. And what are we today? July what? 22nd. So if he's back in two days, they're fine probably.

Three days. He's back in two days and he's passed and he's had a negative test for those two days. So you need one or two negative tests. No, every day he's gone, he has to test. And if he gets, if he's negative every test every single day when he comes back, he only has to quarantine for four days as opposed to the 10. All right. So he has to get tested every day he's gone.

They're getting tested. Everyone who is around this bubble is getting tested every single day. But it's working. They had 360 guys tested. No, no positive. It is. But reporters as well. Reporters have to have to take a test the nose swab or the mouth swab every single day.

On top of taking their temperature every single day, they have to scan in, put in their temperature, put in their similar to our questionnaire that we do to get into work here. They put it into an app and then when they scan in, you know, you have the Disney braces. Right, right, right. They scan in if they put their information and it'll light up a certain color and then they're free to go in. But they have to test every single day. Yeah. By the way, I've been tested three times.

I haven't tested twice. and negatives. Yeah, yes, obviously. Now, now, the first two tests were the long, and then you wait it, you know, or no, the first test was long. The second two tests I've taken, I knew in 15 minutes. And it wasn't, it didn't go, the swab didn't go nearly as, didn't touch my eyeball. It was quick and then they, you sat there for 15 minutes and they gave you an answer.

Yeah, I mean, the testing, the testing situation, obviously. Gotten way better. Has it? I think it's gotten easier. Yeah, I think it depends on where you're getting tested. First time I got tested, I had to wait. Because some people are waiting like nine to ten days to get their results. I don't understand how that works because how is it even valid?

I don't even, I'm not going to a special place. Like, how is my test better than that test? I'm not going to some, you know, like super private. Yeah, no, I went to a concierge doctor to get mine. All right. I went to an emergent care. I don't know. I mean, I just, different parts of the country, the testing is insane.

So I don't know why the NBA and the NFL and everyone else can figure out how to do it. government can't. Last two times I've done it, it has been literally just in out. And it's not even the swab's not even, it's like. I will say though, I was,

I was cautiously optimistic about how this was going to go. And obviously we're very early into the bubble. But it seems like they are taking it, like they are not playing any games. The NBA is. You can't. To the safety and testing and quarantining. Listen, the players may not like this, Joy.

This is a benefit for the players. Do players, you may. You just sometimes that we all know in life sometimes. You got to suck it up for like two months to get what you want. Right. You want this season to end because then you'll have leverage in the CBA. You do not as a player. By the way, this is Adam Silver.

He wants these players to be viable. He's been the players commissioner more than David Stern was the owner's commissioner. It's the best case scenario for everyone. Yes. For the owners, even if the owners are going to have leverage in the CBA, it's the best case scenario for everyone to get through this season. Get it. Get it finished.

Get it in the books. and then move forward and figure out how you're going to actually play outside of the bubble an entire season with all the teams. Yes. But they're doing an excellent job so far. I think they are. So in the NBA MVP race, Yana seems to be a lock to win for the second straight year. But Magic Johnson thinks LeBron is more deserving of the award this year. He tweeted LeBron James is definitely the MVP this season.

He's almost averaging a triple double with 25 points 10 assists and basically eight rebounds per game. His defense has been amazing and there's no better leader in sports. Magic great tweets. I love Magic Johnson's Twitter. He's right, though. I mean, he is. The statistics, obviously, Yonis has great numbers as well. So that's kind of the argument for Yonis this year is that they are, they do have the best record in the league.

And he has better numbers than he had last year when he won the MVP. But again, like I said yesterday, the narrative or the criteria for who wins the MVP changes literally every single year. So why would it not change this year? it's like they're constantly moving and bringing it closer and moving it further away, the finish line. If you have to learn a new, if you have to change positions with an entirely new roster and your number one in the West,

why are we even having a discussion? He has now, he leads the league in assists. He's like, he's like, wilt one year decided. I want to lead the league and assists. I just feel like for this year,

if you're looking at what Janus and LeBron are dealing with, it's, I mean, why wouldn't Janus put up better numbers this year? He did great last year and he's in essentially the same exact situation he was in last year. So of course he's going to put up better numbers. Isn't that the idea? Like if you're going to get better.

LeBron is overcome more. Right. To put up his numbers than Janus. Yes. That's not even arguable. And again, it's not taking anything away from Janus's performance this year. New coach, new roster, new position. Just overcome more.

LeBron is the MVP. Finally, NFL training camps are set to open within the next week. And teams will be facing some roster restrictions. Multiple reports indicate that NFL teams are expecting to have 80 man rosters at the start of training camp. That's down from 90 in a typical year. So that's bad news for any unsigned, undrafted, free agents. It's bad news for any veterans who were looking to get on a roster this year or any,

you know, rookies that are drafted later and later rounds. They're going to really have to have great performances in these camps or they're going to get replaced by those veterans who are waiting that have tape. It's going to be very interesting for, for NFL, teams. I found this actually kind of shocking, not in that they want to limit the amount of players that are there, but what's the situation

for replacing players if they are, if they do test positive? I got into this discussion the other day with a friend. We were at the beach on Monday, took the day off. We were talking about this. I said, you know, every one of these sports, I mean, the NBA may be doing it right, bubble it. And the NFL is not going to do that. And the NFL's

a contact sport. Is that what if the NFL just did play two weeks, two weeks off. You play, so teams would play two, two weeks off. Now, that sounds ludicrous. But what it would allow is, at least for about a month, as as cases ramped up,

you'd have like 14 days in between games. I think the NFL is going to happen, but I think it's going to look so much different than it's ever looked. And I think they'll just kind of figure it out and kind of bulldoze their way through it like UFC. But I wouldn't be shocked if the NFL didn't say, you know what, what's the hurry? Are Super Bowl's in a warm weather site?

Let's just have, let's add two to three buys, per team. So if you do having a contact sport, you're not going to do the. I mean, the bubbles really figured it out. Nobody can do. But the bubble is so, there's so. I mean, what facility could even handle? That's right.

That's right. Exactly. So you can't do a bubble because the NBA needs it work to work about six weeks. The NFL needs it work for. Well, six weeks and the amount of personnel is is dramatically lower than the NFL. So your point is the right point, which is you can't do a bubble in the NFL. Right. So if you're going to do it in a contact sport,

I wouldn't be shocked if the NFL doesn't do. We just extend the season five to six weeks. I think that the NFL is going to learn a lot from MLB because they are coming back and they are not in a bubble. Now, whereas it's not a contact sport, you are still going to be in locker rooms together. You are still going to be around each other. So I think that they will actually learn more from MLB

and how that works than the NBA. Because I mean, the bubble is just a completely different scenario than what the NFL is doing. The bubble may end up being the way to do it. I mean, UFC bought an island. I mean, that's kind of, it's kind of a bubble. It probably is the way to do it, but you have to be able to have a facility that can hold the people that you have in your league or in your sport. And there is no facility on earth that exists that can house all the NFL.

No positive tests and UFC's working. They've bubbled it. One bought an island and. But UFC is what, 20 fighters at a time plus their limited staff? Even with that, they're like, we're just going to go out of the country to an island. It's essentially a bubble. And it's working. It's only going to work for a sport that has that limited amount of athletes.

That's right. That's why football is going to be, it's going to be really interesting. They better be nimble, which they generally have been through the years. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. So Nick Wright thinks I'm crazy on this.

I said before is we judge players when they leave. Who do they join as players? And the question is, who do you join as an owner? Who do you join as a GM? Who do you join as a coach? Jordan couldn't overcome certain coaches. LeBron hasn't been able to overcome. Let's be honest with LeBron.

In the four years in Miami, one coach, one GM, four finals, two titles. In the other 13 years, he's had seven coaches and seven executives in one title. And brought to you by Mercedes-Benz the best or nothing. Nick Wright joins us. So I said, Kevin Durant, I think, downgraded in the owner's, GM coach thing and top teammate thing. Kauai Leonard, I think, is set with

Steve Ballmer, Doc Rivers, Paul George, Lou Williams, quality front office, and I think in five years from today, Kauai's going to have four or five finals, three or four MVPs. Oh my God. And Kevin...

Three or four MVPs. You're out of your mind. I'm sorry to interrupt. It's your show. You've gone crazy. All right. First of all, as far as Kauai Leonard, and up, one could argue, he has gotten worse as far as franchise, GM, and coach at each place. You go from Popovich and the Spurs, the best in the league, to Masayu Jiri, Nick Nurse, who's about to win coach of the year, and a team that won 60 games without you. And now you're at the Clippers. And listen, Doc Rivers did coach in a finals back when W was president, so maybe some of that will still rub off on him. I don't know. I do

know that he had Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and they never even made a conference finals. But this, this is unbelievable. And I appreciate you give me the opportunity to defend Kevin Durant because you did a vintage Colin Coward thing. You did two vintage Colin Coward things today already. It shows only 32 minutes long. One was, you were like, I'm a minimalist. I'm a minimalist when you were talking about buying what I assume was your third or fourth piece of real estate of the week. The other one was when you said, you said, listen, oh yeah, Kauai and KD, they both made a bunch of all-star teams. Well, one guy's made 10, the other guys made four. So if Kadi Leonard makes the next five all-star teams, he'll almost catch him. Do you know where Kauai

Leonard ranks in NBA history and points? I'll answer it for you. You don't because no one does because the rankings only go through 250 and he ain't in the top 250, Colin. I got three names for you. Wesley Matthews, Marvin Williams, and Jeff Teague. Those three all-time greats have all scored more points in their career than Kauai. I've got three more names for you. Jared Dudley, amazing unselfish player, Lance Stevenson, and dynamic playmaker Dwight Howard. Those three players all have more career assists than Kauai.

He's 29 years old. He's not a young guy. Before we start saying he's going to be better than Kevin Durant, can he match Joe Fulks, no disrespect to the Katawa Clipper for first team all-MBAs? Just pump the brakes, please. I mean, it's just KD misses one year and you forget who he is. Well, when Kauai wins the title this year on a third different team.

Yeah, when he wins the next six. Okay, yeah, we'll see. We'll see. He's got to win the title first. He's got to actually win the title first. So I was saying this yesterday, when you've been title starved and you get a little taste of it in Kansas City, you just gorge. You binge.

So I got Chris Jones now is like, at five parades, seven. And I'm like, did Belichick retire? Is Lamar Jackson not playing? What if Drew Locke is amazing? Now, the highest paid quarterback hasn't on a Super Bowl since the early 90s. Could we slow the Kansas City Dynasty down a tad? A little bit. Well, luckily, Mahomes will never be the highest paid.

He doesn't have a cat hit that hits 40 million for seven years by then. salary cap be 30 million. The fact that you included Drew Locke, I'm going to just assume that was a senior moment. We're going to throw that out. But listen, here's the thing about the NFL, Colin. Dynasties are regular occurrences. Every decade ever has had them. The 60s had a dynasty. There were the Packers. The 70s had a dynasty. They were the Steelers. The 80s had a dynasty. It was the Niners. The 90s had a dynasty. It was the Cowboys. The Alts had a dynasty. It was the Cowboys. The Alts had a dynasty. It was the Patriots. And by the way, Within those years, you had kind of many dynasties. The Dolphins made three straight Super Bowls and won two in the 70s.

In the 80s, the Giants made two out of five years, one, two out of five. In the 90s, the Broncos went back to back. Like, dynasties in basketball and football always happened. So I heard you mention Baltimore. Baltimore is unbelievable. It would be nice. You know, listen, Lamar's 19 and 2 in his career in the regular season as a starter against everyone except for that guy who he's 0 and 2 against.

He's yet to win a playoff game. Meanwhile, Mahomes has had the lead with one minute left in every playoff game he's ever played in. So I'm not exactly terrified about Baltimore. Drew Locke, I, okay. And the Chiefs, if you had to pick a team that's going to win a bunch of Super Bowls, of course you'd pick the Chiefs of one more note. I heard you mentioned no preseason, limited off season. The last time we had this, 2010 going into 2011, what happened?

The Packers, Super Bowl champions in 20s. 2010. Nobody has an off season. 2011. They go 15 and 1. The lack of an off season helps teams that are bringing back starters that have continuity. The chiefs have that more than anybody. Reasonable argument. Okay, let's shift to this. I'll give you LeBron to finish up.

If I ask you tomorrow, no more sports for you, I want a farm report. And you did it brilliantly. I would be like, ooh, that's a MVP-level broadcaster. LeBron is now asked, hey, just be a point guard. Avery Bradley won't play in the playoffs. Rondo won't. A new coach, new roster, new best teammate, play a new position, and he leads the league and assists.

I don't even think the MVP race is close. He's had so much more to overcome than Janus or a Hardin. But I hear you're not LeBron MVP guy this year. No, Janus is the MVP. Here's the deal. LeBron rightfully should have. seven league MVP's. In year three, he finished second to Steve Nash. That was when the whole media was just nuts over Nash. It was Nash's second. That was an absurdity. And he, the Derek Rose MVP was

obviously the media was angry because LeBron went to Miami and Steph's first MVP, LeBron's first year back in Cleveland. He should have won all three of those. But this year, Janus deserves it. Yonis is averaging as many points in as minutes as he's playing, 30 points and 30 minutes. He's He's been the best defensive player in the sport, even better than Anthony Davis. And yes, LeBron has been asked to do so much, but he also does have AD alongside him. Now, I think it's as it goes along, Karim Abdul-Jabbar won finals MVP separated by 13 seasons. LeBron's going to have top two MVP finishes separated by 13 seasons. It speaks to the longevity of what he's accomplished.

But Janus deserves to win the MVP. Let me add this, though, Colin. I don't know if it's good for him. And by that, I only mean this. If the Bucks don't win the title, the back-to-back MVP's will start to be used against Yannis. If the Bucks don't win the title,

Janus is next man up. What the media did to LeBron and he ended up leaving Cleveland, what the media did to KD and he ended up leaving OKC, they will do to Yonis. If you are that level of player and you don't break through with a championship, it starts being used as a negative. So he's going to do something only Akeem and Jordan did.

LeBron should have done it in 2013. He got screwed by a couple of the voters, which is when league MVP and defensive player of the year in the same season. But if he finishes it off with a NBA championship, then there's no question who the best player alive is. If he doesn't, people will start tearing him down maybe unfairly. But that's what he is in store for over the next eight weeks as we determine what Milwaukee can do.

I thought you were very good today. You brought a lot of energy. Didn't like the senior moment shot at me. But, you know, you get a little bit of gray hair. That's what you get. Nick Wright, first things first. Sorry. See you later, man.

All right, Nick, good stuff. Bill Polly and Hall of Fame front office guy. I'll be joining us next hour. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George's,

Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed, correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite things. Careers, Care Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Geico, 15% credit in your car, motorcycle, and RV policies. Go to go by geico.com to learn more. Switch by October 7th and you get 15% off. So, Nick Wright thinks I'm crazy on this, but it's funny that I think in five years, because I think Kauai Leonard's going to win the finals this year, the Clippers are going to win it,

and Kauai is going to be the MVP, and it will be his third title on his third different. team and he's the MVP. How do I not consider him top 10 player of all time? Well, he doesn't play every night. You've never said that mattered. When does that matter? You never said that mattered. Well, he's not top 250 in points. You never said that mattered. Carl Malone's got way more points than Michael. You never said that mattered. Karim's got more points than anybody. You don't even think he's the best center. Many of you say it's wilt or Shaq or Bill Roe. Russell. Bill Russell didn't even score. Well, he didn't pass the boy, not a great assist guy. Jordan was? I mean, Magic's a way better passer than Michael Jordan, but nobody believes that magic's better than Michael Jordan. I mean, I think it's closer than people think.

But I guess my point is, you keep telling me it's all about finals and championships and the ability to make the big shots and the big stops in games. All right, I'm listening. If Kowai Leonard wins this year, he won in San Antonio as a baby, he was the youngest guy to ever win finals MVP. Youngest ever, younger than Michael, younger than LeBron. He goes to Toronto, Canada, hockey country, wins with a team. None of us thought would win myself included. Joy thought it.

That was it in the whole world. And then he goes to Los Angeles to the Clippers, the Cleveland Browns for 30 years, and he wins this year. How is that not a top 10 player? you keep telling me what matters. Winning. Make the stop. Hit the bucket. Bitter in big spots. That's why Jordan's better than LeBron, right? Because LeBron's got way better numbers.

LeBron's going to blow Michael Jordan away in terms of games played, total points, total assist, total rebounds, total final appearances. LeBron's going to crush Michael and everything. But Michael hit the big shots. He was the MVP and he won it. If that's it, what do I do with Kauai Leonard? I'm telling you right now, I think right now, today, Kevin Durant's better than Kauai. I think it's way closer than everybody thinks. They both had injury issues. They both have two MDPs in the finals.

They both have two titles. Kevin's a more profound score. Kauai is a much better defensive player. Much better defensive player. That's something. So, again, we know offense in the NBA is more important than defense, right? Like, we know that. Okay, and that's Katie gets the advantage, more All-Stars.

He's been an elite player longer. But you start telling Dirk Novitsky and Kauai Leonard, who's better today? If it's just points, it's Dirk. I'd say, if Kauai Leonard wins the finals, he's not better than Dirk Nevitzki? What? Huh? So, you know, fans want to be heard. Okay, these big ears I'm listening.

You keep telling me, the only reason MJ beats LeBron, it's not stats, not numbers, it is, who was better in Crunchtime? And I think that's a valid argument. Michael in Crunchtime was unbelievable. He was unbelievable. LeBron and Crunch Time has often been unbelievable, but not as consistently unbelievable. So LeBron is second to MJ. Well, Kauai is going to be the first guy ever to go to three teams, three championships, three MVPs. And he's still got seven, eight years left, potentially.

Okay. All I'm going to say is we tend to be prisoners of the moment. I try not to be. Sometimes I am. Fans are very much prisoners of the moment. You tell me what I'm supposed to say. Where do I put Kauai in a month, in two months? He is holding the trophy for the third time as MVP.

for the third coach, the third team, the third owner, the third GM, the third franchise. Where are we supposed to put him? Seems like to me that's a top 10 player of all time, because you've never said it's about playing back to backs. You've never said it's about points. You've never said it's about assists. Now, I do think the assists is what makes LeBron the best player. A lot of guys that score, but LeBron's ability to elevate everybody is really what makes him the first or second best player of all time.

I'm just, I'm going to hold, you want to hold me accountable. I want to hold you accountable. Three finals, three titles, three MVP's a top 10 player. Say hello to Casper, the company with outrageously comfortable products, but not outrageously expensive products. Go to Casper.com. Everything to build the dream bedroom. I'm holding Nick Wright accountable.

I'm going to break it. No more old guy shots. I'll tell you that. Bill Pauley and Rob Parker around the corner. More herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, here we go. It's hour two. We're absolutely packed live in Los Angeles. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

proud of everybody here in our staff. We have kind of made it through without any games for like four or five months. It's not been easy. We're getting really close. I've been watching UFC and MLS last couple of nights. Baseball is right around the corner. In fact, don't we have a game Thursday?

Yep. And NBA is about nine, ten days away. It's getting very close. You know, Joy and I were talking, Joy Taylor, for the radio audience, we're talking during the break, is I've never. worried that, like, if you don't like me, that's okay. You have a right not to like me. Like, I don't like all sorts of politicians. They don't care about me. What you should worry about

is, you know, make sure the people that do like you feel that you've got their back. So when people rip the NBA, go to their Twitter account and find their last 30 NBA posts. If there are 30 negative posts, who gives a rip? They don't like the sport. And there's a lot of people that don't like the NBA. I do. I grew up with it. I love it. Sometimes it drives me nuts. Sometimes the players, I roll my eyes at their decisions, but it's stylish, it's fun, it's player-driven, it's unique, it's flashy. It's all the things like football's not, but I think there's, I like those things too. You know, I watch mob shows. I don't want to be a mobster. I watch serial killer shows. I don't, I, I wouldn't want to have to chase a serial

killer. I like stuff that I'm not. I'm not stylish. I like style. I like watching people who are stylish. So it's funny about Kauai Leonard. For all the people that criticize the NBA, Kauai Leonard, is absolutely the guy you should love. Doesn't do politics. All he cares about is basketball. He's not stylish. He just goes, works hard, grinds, goes home,

hangs out with his family. He's one of the reasons he's not as loved. He doesn't fit into any of these boxes. He doesn't talk politics. Hell, he doesn't talk. He didn't have a flashy shoe deal. He's not stylish. He's like the anti-harden.

So to me, if you bang on the NBA and go, you know, I wish guys just played the game. That's all Kauai Leonard is. He is just a hooper. He doesn't care about anything else. That is it. And it's perfect because the Lakers have always been glamorous and flashy. And the Clippers have always had, you know, kind of discount tickets.

And they're a working, you know, working class if you can afford the NBA. But the Clippers have always been a little bit more working class than the Lakers, which is, you know, Lakers are Hollywood and they're glamour and they're uptown. It's movie stars and agents. You know, the Clippers are like for people that have like normal jobs that want to go to the NBA but can't afford a $900 seat. or a $1,300 night for their family. Kauai embodies the clippers. He's just head down, grind it, basketball, no politics, no style.

Let's get it done. So if you don't like the NBA and you wish players were more like NFL players, meet Kauai Leonard. That is exactly what he is. And he doesn't fit into the box. It's not style. You know, most guys in the NBA, they've got a style, they got an agent, they got a Twitter, he's got none of it.

He's got like none of it. It's like there's nothing about him that screams NBA. He's like a football player. that plays NBA. Odell Beckham's an NBA player in the NFL. Kauai is an NFL player in the NBA. He's always kind of hurt. He grinds.

He's not really into politics. He shows up and he's a tough. He'll guard the toughest guy. He's coachable. Despite the Popovich stuff, he's coachable. He was very coachable in Toronto. He's very coachable in Los Angeles. I want him to go, I mean, I guess my point is in Kauai.

If he wins the championship this year, The only reason we are not considering him a top 10 player because he lacks stuff that nobody's ever asked for. We never said you had to be stylish to be an all-time great. He's not. We never said you had to be political or talk or be overly verbal. He's not. We never said you had to have a bunch of points. If that was the case, then we'd all talk Carl Malone all day.

Okay. So, Kauai is just doing what you tell me you like. No politics, win games, hoist titles, play your butt off, and go home and care about your sport. Exactly that. Why don't you like him? Well, he really is the ultimate Hooper. If you think about it, if he does win a championship or a finals MVP with the Clippers, being with three very, very different organizations as well.

A Canadian one? Yes. The ultimate coach-controlled one. Yes. And then the number two kind of shaky, now relevant brand in the NBA. Now relevant, now stable, but traditionally a disaster. Yes. It's just going to be unbelievable.

And everywhere he goes, he wins at the highest level. everywhere and he's the best player on the floor he's the best guy to get a basket and the best guy to get a stop you know just because people don't this is what russle wilson faces he doesn't fit into the box you want rossil wilson's a little short he runs a little too much he's a little you know optimistic slash corny sometimes he he doesn't he doesn't fit into the box you want and we struggle when athletes they don't well i mean they all should look like joe montana well they did mostly for a long time but i mean big ben Get a razor.

Six-six runs around. We initially with Ben, with Cam, they don't fit. Now, Ben's better than Cam. But Russell Wilson's always been. Doesn't quite fit into the box. Steve Youngface this, by the way. Steve Youngface. Steve was left-handed.

Steve played first in another football league, like the USFL. Like he didn't go college to the pros. He went college. He went to another league. He was left-handed. He didn't play at a traditional power. He ran around more than he threw initially. we didn't know what to do with Steve Young.

Steve Young was unbelievable. He was Russell Wilson left-handed. Steve, and he replaced Joe Montana, so we never gave Steve Young credit. Steve Young, one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the history of the league. Russell Wilson and Steve Young, they don't fit into the box. Kauai doesn't fit into a box. What also kind of speaks to what do we actually evaluate

when it comes to athletes and the best athletes? Is it really just their play on the court or on the field? I want winners. bunch of intangibles or outside factors that play a role in how we evaluate it. I want winning. All I want winning. That's what everyone says. But when you think about it, they don't.

When you start looking at the actual facts and numbers and winning and all the championships and finals MVPs and consistency and availability and all those things, is that really what you're evaluating? Or are you talking about the school he went to and his performance in college and his style and flare and interviews and all those things do influence how we do. I love. LeBron, Brady, Russell Wilson, like winners. Urban Meyer, Saban Belichick, win games. I don't care about anything else. I don't care about your style. Well, winning certainly elevates it, but you do become attached to personalities as well. It plays a role. Speaking of Steve Young, I like Jimmy Garapolo. I think more than most of you. I don't think he's Mahomes, but I think he's really good. But when you argue against me on that, the one thing you have that I can't argue out of is, Kyle Shanahan basically took the ball out of his hands during the playoffs multiple times. Literally said we're not throwing with you. And I'm like, all right, if Kyle Shanahan is taking the ball out of Jimmy Garoppolo's hands, and he's not as good as I think. And Steve Young, speaking of him, was talking about Jimmy Garoppolo and the next phase he has to eclipse

or standard he has to hit going forward. there's something about Kyle and him that you felt through the playoffs a lack of trust and whether it was true or just perception it doesn't matter at some level and that that's the number one thing that if I were Jimmy that I would be focused on is making sure both truth and perceptionally that Kyle trusts me and is willing to put the ball in my hands at any time at any place you know in any form and continually that's the thing that this season's really about to me is Kyle and Jimmy and Jimmy earning Kyle's trust. And Kyle might say I trust him 100%.

I don't doubt that. But the perception is another piece of puzzle. We want to see that out in the play calling in key moments. And it's really interesting about this. There are a lot, and I'm talking about winning teams and playoff teams where I don't feel the coach totally trust the player. I think Sean McDermott likes Josh Allen. I think he takes the ball out of his hands in key spots and thinks he's going to win

with defense. Matt Nagy does not touch Trubisky, trust Trubisky. Gruden, I do not believe, totally trust Eric Carr. Mike Zimmer doesn't trust Mike Kirk Cousins at all times. Mike Vrable clearly didn't trust Ryan Tannahill with the ball in the playoffs.

Shanahan and Garoppolo. And these are winning teams, some are playoff teams. I mean, I'll ask you this. When you watch Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, why don't they let Russell Wilson have a bigger say in the offense? Why are they so run-centric? Is it a Russell, the second best quarterback in the league, doesn't feel like trust to me.

I watched the Green Bay Packers draft. This is not a shot at Aaron Rogers, but they drafted a blocking tight end, a running back, three interior offensive linemen and a quarterback. Feels like to me they're pulling the ball out of Aaron Rogers' hands, not putting the ball in Aaron Rogers' hands. So it looks like to me, to me there's five relationships in the NFL that I honestly believe that the coach totally trust the player, that he's. He will throw down the play sheet. I think Andy Reed and Mahomes, Doug Peterson Wentz, Harbaugh,

Lamar, Bill O'Brien-Dashon, and Peyton and Breeze. They will call any play, anywhere, any time, throw deep from your end zone and a troas. Now, no defensive coach is there. None. Four offensive and a special team guy, John Harbaugh.

But it's funny when you talk about, well, the coach doesn't really feel like he trusts the course. quarterback, five of them in this league. And I think, I think last year, I think Harbaugh and Lamar, I didn't see that until about Thanksgiving on. I think Lamar was so great for the first seven or eight weeks that Harbaugh came to the conclusion. The kid just makes plays. I'm going to give it to him. But I don't feel that Seattle always trust Russell Wilson. I don't, I don't think Gruden always trust John Gruden. I don't think Mike Zimmer always trust cousins. I don't think

He doesn't. I don't. You know, and I didn't put Brady and Arians because I've never seen them play together. I didn't put Dak and McCarthy. I've never seen them work together. But I think it's rare that a coach is like, all right, third and nine from our, you know, deep in our own territory. Go for it. I don't think you see a lot of it.

I don't. And you don't see it ever from defensive coaches. You just don't. All right. Bill Pullian is an NFL Hall of Fame executive. He is going to be joining us next. Don't go anywhere. Good hair day for me.

You're on radio as you tune in. Really good hair day. Top five ever. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documentation. branded it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the look back. Back Added podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we

get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search, learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This week, Fox Saturday baseball is back. The Cubs clash with the Brewers. at one. The Dodgers Battle the Giants at four, and the Yankees face the World Series Champion Nationals at seven. Celebrate the return of baseball with a special triple header. Saturday

only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Mookie Becks is probably the first or second best player in baseball, Mike Trout and Mookie Betts. And so the Dodgers, they bring in Mookie Betts, right? This is going to be the year to showcase him and they get 60 games. I have a Mookie Bet story coming up. You do? The update, yes. Good news?

For Dodgers fans, yes. Okay, that's good. I thought this feels like a team that can get to the World Series. They've been very good. They haven't given you the title. They've been very good for, I think the one in the division, what, five straight years? But they just can't get past that spot. Bill Polly, in 32 years as an NFL executive.

He is a Hall of Famer. He got to three straight Super Bowls with the Bills. He won a championship with the Colts. He made the Panthers in year two, a conference championship game team. And he is joining us from beautiful Cape Cod. He's about the third guy that's joined me from Cape Cod via the Coward Global Satellite Network. And they're all happy because it's like 80 degrees and it's beautiful in Cape Cod. Let's start with this.

The preseason is going to get scrapped. Now, Bill, as a sportscaster, I've never thought it's fair to fans. You've got to pay big prices for preseason games. I don't love it for the players where you get per diem more than salary. I don't love it, but I get it. Does it bother you as a GM to potentially going forward, not have none this year and potentially reduce significantly? Well, the significant reduction going forward bothers me, Colin,

because in a normal year, and this is anything but normal for our country in every way. So let's scrap this year. In a normal year, you would want at least three preseason games to get your team ready to get your guys ready to play football. and most importantly, to give the younger players and the undrafted free agents a chance to show what they can do. Absent a preseason game this year, those young players will get very little chance to show what they can do. So that hurts the future growth of your team. So we need, if they settle it to going forward, I'll grit my teeth and say, okay, you can make that work.

But anything less than that, no, not in the long run. You know, Kansas City's talking now, you know, they were so championship star forever. They got a little taste of it this year. Now everybody's talking dynasty. And, you know, you actually had a mini dynasty in Buffalo. You just kept facing teams like the Cowboys. But when you were building it, there's, there are, you know, there's liabilities. They're concerns.

You have to deal with a different set of problems when you get great. what would worry you about Kansas City over the next four or five years going forward? Well, number one, the cap. But Patrick's contract helps that greatly, really helps it greatly. Number one issue is the cap because when you get good, everybody wants to get paid. And you just simply can't pay everybody. It's that simple. That's why the cap is there.

That's what it's designed to do, is to rob good teams of good players. Right. and spread them out around the league. So that would be number one worry. Number two worry would be other key players besides Patrick and Jones, and Kelsey would be the guy that I would think about right immediately. If Kelsey were to get hurt or isn't available, that really bothers me because he is such a weapon.

He makes all the rest of the passing game going. Patrick's in a class by himself. but Kelsey makes all the rest of it go. The other thing is the defense has been patched together excellently by the general manager, Brett Feach and Andy and Spaggs, but a lot of them are veterans sort of spare parts. They don't have a long lifetime. So you're going to need to replace those guys with players of similar talent going forward if the defense is to stay great.

And you're not going to win with Patrick alone. You've got to have, in order to win the Super Bowl and to get to the Super Bowl, you have to have a very good defense. And they do right now. But you're going to have to keep feeding players into that. You know, the Brady thing to Tampa is fascinating because Tom is very intense. He comes from a very detailed, efficient system with the best coach ever. And now Tom, who's a pretty obsessed, detailed guy, intense.

guy goes down to chill out Bruce Ariens, Ebor City, Tampa. And I've always said this bill. It's very easy to take an intense guy and ask him to chill out a little bit. That's Tom Coughlin. Tom, chill out a little bit. It is different to ask a chill guy to deal with intensity for 20 weeks of the NFL season. And I keep going back to Tom is older. He's got his ways.

He's going to bark. He's very intense. And I don't know if all those young Tampa guys in. coaches if it works? Is he going to overwhelm them and tick some people off? Are you concerned at all about that?

No. Nobody is going to tick the top guy in the place off. They're just not. And everybody will fall in line. He's the goat. So whatever he says goes, that's true of a normal NFL starting quarterback. Imagine the greatest of all time.

So forget about it. They're going to follow his lead. Bruce is in his own way quite intense. I've been with him. I worked with him. So when you're around them every day, you recognize that he's all coach and he'll get it done. But he's such a great quarterback coach that he will work with Brady and do what Brady feels he can do well. That's what Bruce does best. He's going to put him in his best light.

So I don't anticipate any problems along those lines. the history of these things tells you that when a player an elite player changes teams at the end of his career after he's had a long run with another team he normally has a great bounce back year that year with a new team and then father time enters the equation so i expect tom to be dynamite this year by the way it's interesting for you so you dealt with jim kelly unbelievable talent Peyton manning unbelievable talent is as a general manager. Is it different having a superstar quarterback in the building? Does it change the mood, the vibe? Are there eggshells? I mean, you had Payton. Intense. Jim Kelly. Tough guy. What's it like in the building? There are no eggshells. There's nothing but rose petals. And here's the example. We're getting on the bus in 2011 when Peyton isn't with us. And a player and a coach separately said to me, you know, we'd get on this bus every Sunday morning, every game day morning. And when 18 was here, we knew we had a 50-50 chance to win no matter who the opponent was.

We don't have that anymore. That's what that guy gives you. He gives you hope every single week. No matter what goes wrong, no matter who else is hurt, it doesn't matter. That guy gives you hope. There are no eggshells, nothing but rosecreddles. It's great to have them. So the DAC negotiation was very public.

And I'm sitting there thinking, in most normal organizations, Bill Pollian doesn't want a year-long public, you know, negotiation. And it's just not what anybody wants. You want this stuff to be like Mahomes or Carson Wentz. Boom, overdone, we can stop talking about money. Do you think, and the Dallas Cowboys are run so differently than everybody else, but do you think in the end of the day that DAC, I mean, let's be honest. No state tax. Cowboys. Good old line. Zeke. Amari. They offered him $106 million.

Did he, in the end, should DAC have just said, you know what, I've gotten pretty much everything in this league. They're going to pay me $106 million. I'll sign for $5, not four. Or do you defend the player? And Dak's saying, I won you a lot of games, and I haven't made any money. I'm going to get the years right on this. Where did you fall on that? Well, you should have gone to law school because you just made both cases. exceptionally well. The fact of the matter is that this is really a tough call. But I think what the cowboys are doing is saying, hey, we're about 95% of the way there. Dak won't budge. Let's let Mike McCarthy coach him for a year and have Mike come back and tell us at the end of the year, I can win a couple of Super Bowls with this guy, or maybe we need to go in another direction. I think

this is Mike McCarthy's call in the long run after he's had a year to work with Dack and Jerry's had a year to see him work with Jack and see what the team looks like at that point. I don't think it's, I think this is a win-win for everybody. Dax's making $31 million. So that's $29 million more than he made a year ago. And Mike McCarthy gets to coach him and install an offense and see how DEC does it. You know, Bill, it's interesting. So you built Buffalo, and then you build Indianapolis.

And you got Carolina to the NFC championship in their second year. And there's a handful of teams in the NFL. They have the young coach and quarterback. Arizona's got the young coach and quarterback. And now Carolina's got a new coach and Teddy for a few years. And you see about four or five of these organizations where right now it's more promise than results in productivity. If you could sit down with a team like in Arizona that thinks they have the coach and thinks they have the quarterback, what are the first couple of steps?

I'm a fan watching and I'm like, I think we have the right guys, but everybody's really young and I'm proven. When you went into Buffalo, in Carolina, in Indianapolis, what were the first two or three steps to build the culture to ensure it lasts a long time? Number one, have the right coach. Marve Levy, Tony Dungee, Dom Capers. Absolutely the right coaches under every circumstance. That's how you build the culture. Two, build the defense. If you have the quarterback and you have the coach,

the next thing that you need is a defense that can take you all the way. Number three, build the offensive line. Because you have to be able to run the foot. in order to win big, and you have to be able to run the football in short yardage and goal line if you're going to go all the way. So you have to have the offensive line, and then you have to have a back or backs who can convert in short yardage and goal line. Get a kicker who can kick under pressure because when it's all said and done, when you go to the big game, kickers win championships. So those are the next things that you have to build. The coach will bring the culture.

The organization has got to commit itself to bringing the right players in to create a 53-man unit that goes with the coach and goes with the quarterback. And that's the hardest thing to do. It's hard on two fronts. Number one, you have to be right in selecting the personnel. And number two, the organization has to commit to it, not be satisfied to have, oh, this is a great year. there's a lot of buzz about us and we're selling a lot of tickets. That doesn't mean anything in the long run. If you're going to win the Super Bowl, it's a long, hard slock.

It took us five years from Stark to the Super Bowl in Buffalo. It took us, well, it took Carolina, went off the rails after we left, and it took them about eight more years to finally get there. And then with the Colts, it took us five years to get to the Super Bowl. So it's, it's, it's a, it, it isn't done overnight. and all those other things have to be in place. By the way, you're about a 40-minute drive away from Belichick. You're up in Cape Codd Bill's right down the road.

Have you seen Bill lately? I haven't seen them. We saw each other in January at the Hall of Fame Committee meeting where we selected the additional members to the Hall of Fame who unfortunately will not go in the next weekend but next year. And we had a nice talk, and we worked together in evaluating the old-time players who were considered for the Hall of Fame. So that was a great meeting, but I haven't seen him since.

He's on Nantucket, which is a long boat right away from where I am. Yep, I've been to both. It's heaven on earth up there. Bill, it's absolutely, you know how much I like you. Thank you so much for stopping by our show today. My pleasure, buddy. Appreciate it. All right, Bill Poldian.

Boy, when I was at ESPN, I learned a lot from Bill. Like, I would just sit down and grill Bill. Just tell me why this matters, this matters. One of the thing he talked about is that Pete Carroll's a great coach. He doesn't pay attention to the offensive. line. It drives me nuts. Drives me nuts about Pete Carroll. Bill O'Brien, I like. Doesn't pay attention to the offensive line. Drives me nuts. Pollian's like, got to build an offensive line. You know, I always said this league simple. Take the coach away. You obviously can't win with a bad

coach. Get a quarterback, protect him, and get theirs. That's it. Give me pass rushers, protect my quarterback, get my quarterback. The rest of its commentary. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. is the herd line news. I think that's the first time I've heard anyone put emphasis on getting a good kicker. I mean, that's why a few years ago Tampa drafted a kicker and everybody's like, that's a terrible pick. I'm like, you have nine linebackers on your roster.

Do you have to draft another linebacker if you're, by the way, Tampa has been lousy in special teams for years. You can go to New England's dynasty. How many games did they win with a kick? I mean, kickers put points on the board. I've never understood this argument with fans. In basketball, find guys who put the ball in the basket. The leading scores in the NFL are often kickers.

Why would drafting a kicker be a bad call? And if you can get a generational kicker that will be with your team for two decades. Belichick has drafted kickers. Adam Vinuterry. Like, I don't know. By the way, the guy at Baltimore, best kicker in the league right now. Justin Tucker.

Yeah, Justin Tucker. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. You literally go to games not having to worry about P-A. He does sing opera, too. He does sing opera. I don't understand fans who say you can't draft the kicker. Belichick did. You need a good kicker.

You absolutely do. So Yonis surprised everyone back in April saying he did not have access to a basketball hoop during quarantine. Well, it turns out that Yonis was just messing with us. He admitted Tuesday that was not true, and he only said it to try and get a little bit ahead of the competition. I knew they were lying. Well, not they, but Janus. Yonis, now, look, I don't know who's going to underestimate Yonis and the Kumpo to begin with. So I don't think anyone was like, oh, Bucks will be easy.

Yonis hasn't been practicing. I don't think anyone's really looking at it like that, but it is kind of funny. Now, that said, you and I have been kind of curious as to how some of these really top-level, top-paid guys. Chris Middleton. haven't had access to courts or like gyms. And it seems like that was maybe an effort thing. Obviously everyone's situation is different. You don't know everyone's family situation.

But in four months, they can't find a who. If you are capable of working out or getting to a gym and you haven't been and you are one of those guys who makes, you know, high-end money and you have access to different kinds of facilities and things and haven't been, it might be a little bit. bit of an effort thing in that situation. But it wasn't for Janus. He was working out this whole time. He did have access to a gym and he was just playing. So you guys would take him lightly and he could dominate. He's averaging 29.6 points for game. 13.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists obviously favored to be the MVP, even though I think it should go to LeBron. So the Lakers had been great away from Staples Center this season with the league best 26 and 6 record on the road. And their team is trying to keep that success going.

by looking at their time in Orlando. It's just an extended road trip. Anthony Davis said that's how he's approaching the bubble, just like he would any normal away game and is keeping his same game day routine. So the routine thing, I think, is always very interesting when it comes to athletes. Athletes are very routine people

because you do have to play a lot of games on the road. You're playing away from your home facility, away from your family, but you are doing that constantly. So you have an away game routine, you have a home game routine. For me, I've become a very routine. person because when I was working on undisputed, I had to get up at 3.20 in the morning.

So during the week, keeping a routine, make sure you get to bed on time, it just helps you to perform better. You got to eat certain things. You can't, you know, you can't have alcohol during the week. Like, that's, it's very similar to that. Like, I got very attached to my routine. Anything that threw me off from my routine, I'd be like, not that I'm not going to be able to do my job, but it does affect you mentally. So looking at all this as an away game, because essentially everyone's playing away games. Like, there is no home court advantage. The mature teams are going to figure this out real quick. Lakers are an old veteran team. This should be a piece

of cake for that. I think it's, I think it's I think it all depends on mentality because while I do think that you're right, being having more experience under pressure, which is a very pressure-filled situation, will be an advantage to older players. But then you have to consider older players are usually the ones with

families and the ones with other businesses and a lot of things going on outside of the bubble. Whereas the younger players don't have all those distractions. They just need to lock in and focus on being in the bubble and staying present. So I think it's going to be mentality all around for every team in this situation.

They're starting scrimmages today that you can actually watch, which I will be participating in. So sports are creeping back because it's a few hours away. So the Dodgers are trying to keep Moogie Betts in L.A. for a long time. Bets and the Dodgers are reportedly close to a massive

contract extension that could be done in the next few days. So the deal is said to be for 10 plus years and worth between 350 and 400 million. Well, he's great. And they've been funny. Dodgers have passed on a lot of big contracts.

They passed on Machado long term. They passed on Bryce Harper. They passed on Zach Grinke. So this would be, that tells you what the front office thinks of Mookie Betts. That tells you they think he's the best or the second best player in baseball. Well, it's also kind of interesting because, you know, a lot of things can change money-wise. So this is a huge deal, massive long-term, huge deal to be signing during this time. But I know Dodgers are such a great.

I think they draw four and a half million. And let me tell you something. I've been to about six, seven Dodger games since I've been here. That thing is a financial term style. They are selling. Oh, my God. That is a cash cow, man. Those garlic fries?

Oh, Lord, everything. They are just food, they got bars everywhere. That place is built. You can watch the game and eat all over the fun. The only thing about going to Dodgers games is it's a full day commitment with the traffic. Getting in and out isn't great. That's why I helicopter into all my favorite. Oh, yeah.

I mean, really, because you're going to be in significant traffic, getting there and leaving unless you leave early. But it's a great experience, and having Moopy there will obviously be huge for them. They face the giant Saturday 4 p.m. Eastern on Fox. Yeah, that is a commerce ballpark. They have figured it out. Views, food, drink. I do the ice cream in the helmet.

Everybody does. And then garlic fries. Is that disgusting? No, it's not at all. You got to eat like that four or five times a summer. It's called being human. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Line News. Rob Parker shockingly agrees with me on something. That's next, The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness, this month. I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

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This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. By the way, Rob Parker, who's a adjunct professor

at USC, he's doing very well for himself, a co-host of the odd couple. He joins us here at least once a week. Rob Parker joining me, once again with the new sports coat. Probably cost him a nickel via the Coward Global Satellite Network. We don't agree on much, but I'm going to throw this out. I said if Kauai

Leonard in two months, three months, is hoisting a trophy, then you keep telling me all that matters is championships. He's going to have three MVP's, three teams, three titles. I think you can make the argument he has surpassed Kevin Durant as an all-time player. Nick Wright said, I'm nuts. Am I? No, you're not, because along with Kevin Durant's a great player. But if you're Kauai Leonard and Colin, think about this, if you were able to go and win back-to-back championships on two franchises that had never won Jack, Toronto,

and then the clippers, he also ran clippers, you were able to win back-to-back championships and make that kind of a difference. And then when in three different places where you were the big guy, you were one of the big guys in this, it would put you legendary status in the NBA. It really would.

And then think about this. You spurned LeBron. You didn't go to the Lakers, and you went to L.A., And you won in LeBron's house. You won as a, you know, in the Staples Center in L.A. This is what's supposed to be LeBron's time in L.A. Oh, yeah, this would be huge if he wins a championship.

You know, it's interesting. I said everybody considers LeBron's low point the decision. But I can argue when he went to Miami, he upgraded owner, GM, coach, and star player. I thought his biggest mistake was leaving Miami to go to Cleveland, which is a downgrade in coach, in GM, in roster, in owner. I think too often we fall in love with a story, and we love the story of LeBron going back to Cleveland, but he left Pat Riley, Dwayne Wade, Eric Spolstra,

no chaos, great owner. I thought it was the biggest mistake of his life, you. I think L.A. will be if he doesn't win a championship here, Colin, to be honest, because all the players who are great players have come here and been able to win a championship in Los Angeles. And if he comes up over four years here and it's more disappointment, and again, the Clippers are now the big basketball team in town. To me, that looks bad.

The thing about Miami, you're right about all those other, about all those pieces that went along. But let's be honest, he failed in Miami. And I know people say, well, he won two championships in four years. How did he fail? He failed. Don't you remember the big party and press conference? Not two, not three, not four.

Do you remember that? He really believed that they were going to win all these championships. And then they lose to Dallas, which they shouldn't have. LeBron played poorly. And they won two out of four. They didn't do Colin anything special. Had they won a three-peak or something like that, or one-all-four would be totally different.

I think Miami was a disappointment. Yesterday, Cam Newton is starting to kind of wear me out, going third person. I don't love that. You know, he's talking about Cam this and Cam, that, and I'm like, oh, boy, you're going to an organization in New England where the only expectation is you not only get to a Super Bowl, you win it. I think Cam should under promise, over-deliver. I think that's always the best way to do business as a broadcaster, as a politician, as a quarterback. I worry that Cam is building this up. He said this week, he said, boy, I'm going at next all year.

And I think, oh, boy, first of all, I've never doubted that he's tough. That part I don't doubt. And I don't doubt that he cares. But should he just bring it back down? Because frankly, you're replacing the best player ever at that position. I get it, Colin. And I think that's a fair take on your part. But I do understand where Cam,

coming from. He's a former National Football League MVP. Remember that year. He threw 35 touchdowns, ran for another 10, got to the Super Bowl. His team was 15 and 1. This is not a guy who has played poorly because he was healthy and just didn't perform. He was banged up. He was hurt. And he's young. People are parading that Tom Brady's going to take the Tampa Bay

Bucks to the Super Bowl. And Tom Brady's 45 years old. And Tom Brady still having sodium-free bacon and decaf coffee for breakfast. I mean, you know, so Cam is looking at it going, what? I'm 31 years old. I'm not older by any stretch of the imagination. He's a big, strong guy. He feels good. And you know what?

Everybody's dogged him out like he's terrible and he can't play. I see why he's pushing back. And you know what, Colin, if he goes to New England and they win the division, and make the playoff run and it's better than the playoff run that, say, Tom Brady has, I don't think they're going to make the playoffs, but if they make one in Tampa Bay, people will look at Bill Belichick

for what he was able to do and look at Cam for a great comeback story. This is set up for him if he's healthy and plays well. Imagine replacing Tom Brady and doing better and going forward, you know, going further in the playoffs than Tom Brady. Yeah, that's interesting. By the way, I haven't asked you this,

a couple of minutes left. And we don't know what we're getting with college football. NBA's back, baseball's back, MLS back, NASCAR back, golf back, UFC back. It looks like to me right now, college football doesn't know what they are. Are you for or against college football kids coming back to campus and playing? I'm against it only from this standpoint. If the student body can't come to campus, then how in the world could you ask football players? That's my only thing.

at USC this coming semester, I have a class that I'm teaching. And Colin, I'm teaching it virtually online. I'm not teaching in the classroom. So the kids are a part of the university. If the kids aren't in class, staying in the dorms and going to school, how in the world could you ask football players to come to college and play as if they're independent of the student body? I don't think that's right.

That's a good take. I like that. Rob Parker, by the way, how much of that suit costs? You got to ask because you are. Only a couple of hundred, but this is a beauty right here. It fits like a glove, Colin. I can see you in this. You know, pink is not necessarily my best color.

I think it looks very good on you. You're also a sports writer as long as a TV personality and a college professor. So you look good in jackets. You are teaching America's youth. You should be in a jacket. I should. This is the way adults dress, okay? Good seeing you, my friend.

always thanks calla hey joy hello yeah yeah he makes a good point i i'm such a college football fan you know i i do think everybody is beating up on college football and um you know college football doesn't have good leadership folks they don't have a commissioner okay six teams last year in college football made over 100 million 13 made over 90 million they don't have a commissioner the problem of the ncdbara isn't that mark emmerton incompetent the The problem is college football is too big not to have a commissioner. Why did UFC surpass boxing for about a 10 to 15-year stretch? Because they had Dana White.

They had a commissioner. They had a leader. Boxing had multiple weight classes. They had multiple promoters. There was no centralized body. This is why conferences have commissioners. College football is too big not to have a commissioner. So you can blame.

You got five conferences. all with different sensibilities. It's a little bit like boxing, is that there's a reason UFC caught him. UFC had a centralized leader, a centralized voice in Dana White, and there was one direction. Boxing splintered everywhere.

That's what college football is. The South thinks this, the Big Ten thinks that, and the wacky pack 12 thinks this. Hour three, DeMarcus, where next? One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hard Radio app.

Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, here we go. It's hour three. We're live in L.A. This is The Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

So Joy Taylor is joining me. She just said the NFL, who was that? The vice president of the NFL said something this now. Brian McCarthy. He works the NFL offices. He works in PR for the NFL. Just tweeted out of the picture and said, for those wondering, yes, it is league-wide fans

that NFL games this season will be required to wear face coverings. Oh, it's not a problem. I mean, we should have assumed that, of course. Outside of, I wear a mask, not in my house, not in my car. I wear it at the gym. I don't wear it jogging, although I put it around my neck if somebody's there. I don't find it to be that difficult. I said something about five months ago in the air.

You were with me. I said, 2020 is going to be a difficult time for rigid people. Yes. If you're rigid, it's just not going to be a good year. This is the year of curveballs. You just got to be able to handle it. And if you can't, you're going to be struggling. It's also been a tough year for I'm right about everything, Guy.

Yeah, because I always love this. Well, Colin, you're woke. And I'm like, I'm not saying woke doesn't, you know, there aren't, we haven't gotten, I just watched a sensational piece of video on YouTube yesterday about a professor that, you know, the younger generation is more easily triggered on stuff. that actually is okay when you're young to get into arguments and fights. And it creates certain advantages to you. That's not new, by the way.

Yeah. That happened in the 60s and 70s. But the reality is people are confusing, woke with, oh, crap, we got to do it a new way because, like Drew Breeze, a prime example, 70% of Drew Breese's teammates are black. And when there is something that matters deeply to them and you are an older player and they're young and growing and you're older, and they say, dude, put your arms around this. We need you. Well, then you should.

That's not being woke. That is, oh, wow. The employees that most matter to me want my support on something. And they don't ask for much because, Drew, you're the highest paid player by a mile on the team. We need your support. It's not woke. Drew's like, oh, wait, yeah, they do need my support. That's not woke.

That's like, are you saying that Drew Brees now was just being fake and he didn't really? Look at it differently. I think Drew Brees was like, oh, well, okay. Not everybody gets everything at the same time. Like, there have been things in life. I've said this before. Obama and Hillary Clinton were anti-gay marriage 12 years ago. Then they turned the tell, and said, oh, society's changing, and people love each other.

They didn't get woke. They got educated. Well, I mean, woke is only an insult if you consider learning new things and updating your opinion to be a negative. Like, like no preseason. Preseason has been a rip-off. for fans, you pay full price for two extra games that you could not sell if you wanted to, and the players don't get paid for the preseason. Right.

They get a stipend. It's terrible for the fans. The NFL just got woke. It's like, now, now, there are times I've seen stuff and thought, oh, boy, roll my eyes at that. But the reality is this is just not a good year for rigid people. Like, nothing's the same. It's just, it's the world. Also, you can, you can update your opinion based off of new information,

especially when it comes to this virus. Nobody has the answers, right? And even people that we are looking to that have the answers, they change their answers for us based off of new information that they get. It's like people are like, oh, well, the CDC said in February, well, it's not February, it's July. By the way, the reason the death rate is going down in America is because all these doctors and these hospitals and these nurses

have been dealing with this for seven months and they're figuring out new therapeutics. Do you know when people first went in there, they put them on ventilators on their back. They now don't do that. Hospitals turn people on their stomachs. Don't often use ventilators. Ventilators weren't helping.

Smart people digest and consume information. When you consume information, you change opinions. It's okay to say, wow, what happens, though, in 2020, half the country, and it doesn't matter if there's stubborn liberals and there are stubborn conservatives. If you read, you change your opinion all the time. But that's so difficult, Colin. Why can't I just see a meme? You know, it's like if you consume information, A, you get smarter, and then you change your opinion.

And B, stuff does change all the time. Like business and social issues and companies. We didn't even have a Silicon Valley 25 years ago. And it runs the country. It runs the country. We didn't even, 25 years ago, it was like, you know, Steve Jobs, Apple, there was a handbook, of companies. Now it is bigger than Wall Street. Like, that's just,

am I supposed to ignore it? Like, it controls, do you know the Dow Jones is basically, if you go look at the stock market, everybody's like, oh, stock market's up? No, it's not. Six companies all in Silicon Valley. They're up. That in grocery stores. Everything else is flatter down. I mean, I think it's just we're out of space where you don't have

to be right about everything. And if you were wrong about something, you can up in your opinion. It's not an insult. It doesn't make you a bad person. It actually makes you a great person that you're open and willing to learn new things because there's new information out there. You wouldn't want your doctor using an outdated procedure from 1970 because that's what he used to do. Why is that insane to update medical information as it comes? When it comes to this virus, you're not allowed to update any new information. I was on a plane a

week ago and it was a smaller plane and the pilot said to me, said there's a storm up here. We're just going to kind of swing around it. No, go through the storm. That's our original plan. The radar an hour ago said, But it's like, it's okay. The NFL's saying, listen, we're not going to have as many fans. You're going to have to wear a mask. All right. If you like the game, go to the game. Now, I would say this.

I think the NFL is way better on television than at the game. College football, I think, is better at the game than on TV. Because there's so many college games, 130. The quality of the production in the NFL is so good. There's 30 cameras, every game. I think the television experience for the NFL is better than the in-person experience. for the NFL. In college, the bands, the student body.

Well, there's more of a tradition. Yes. And I think college football is better there. NFL, it's better home. So, I mean, if you don't want to go and don't want to wear a mask, don't. It's still a great product. But, you know, the idea that if I take a mask of the NFL game, I refuse. It was a virus. It's contagious. So you can't go to the game

if you won't wear it. All right. Like, I'm not one of these boycott guys, because in the end, I don't want to boycott my way out of entertainment. Like, I want to go to what I want to go to. I want to. By the way, I'm going to boycott NASCAR. Ratings are up. I'm going to boycott the NFL Kaepernick. Rating's last four years are up. Like, if you can boycott your way out of having any fun. I mean, boycott all you want. I just ask that you, you search for the basis

of your boycott. What is it actually upsetting you so much that you feel like you need to boycott something that is actually truly a part of your life, which is why I told you before. Like there will be people who don't watch NASCAR. There will be people who don't watch the NFL or whatever it is, the boycott crowd. They weren't really fans. to begin with. We haven't had sports all summer. I can't wait to watch scrimmages today from the bubble. Yeah. Like, it's going to be on my phone all day. That's what I'm watching today.

Just know that Joy Taylor will watch more football than you this year in baseball if you're a boycott person because she loves sports. If you truly love something, I'm not boycotting something. I'm not boycott. By the way, please boycott going to games and watch on Fox. By all, please boycott the baseball players kneeling and watch the games on Fox and boycott the

football games because of the mask and watch it. I can't boycott my way out of entertainment. If I like stuff, if I like stuff. What am I going to do? Okay. I want to talk about this. I got to talk about Kauai Leonard a lot because, you know, it's a LeBron show. I mean, he runs the league. But the Clippers and Kauai Leonard, do you realize they're favorites to win in Orlando? What would a third title with a third team mean for Kauai's legacy? We all acknowledge Kauai Leonard is interesting. He battled with Popovich.

Everybody works in San Antonio. He didn't. He goes to Canada, acknowledges early. It's really cold. I'm not staying here. But then wins the championship with a bunch of kind of B guys. And then instead of choosing LeBron and dominance, he goes to the Clippers. But Kauai Leonard has figured something out.

He figured it out in San Antonio. whereas they got old, they still won. He figured it out in Toronto where they had issues, but man, they had good ownership, a good GM, and a nice coach. And that's why he chose the Clippers. In Los Angeles right now, the Clippers have the better owner, the better GM, the better head coach viewed by many in Doc Rivers, more titles, and the better roster.

But it's funny how often the media misses the mark on player moves. Like LeBron to Miami was roundly criticized. It was a great move. It's the best move LeBron ever made. He upgraded it owner, GM, coach. Going back to Cleveland was actually a terrible move. Why would you bail on Mickey Eris and Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra?

That's a terrible move. But the media liked the story. I'm coming home. You play the music. We all cry. It's a great story. Prime example. The Raptors got heat for getting Kauai.

Well, that's one year acquisition. It didn't matter. It's Canada. They like hockey. You win one championship in Toronto. You're good for two decades. Jimmy Butler gets heat every time he leaves. But he left.

Minnesota, they got worse. Chicago they got worse. Philly. They got worse. He chose Pat Riley, Eric Spolstra, A to A plus with both. That's why Kauai is fascinating. If I said to you today,

Kevin Durant and Kauai Leonard. I think most of you think Kevin Durant's a much better player and will be viewed historically as a better player. But what's funny about Kevin Durant and Kauai is, I think they're a lot closer than you think. Both have two titles. Both have two MVP's in those finals. Both have had injury issues.

And both are multiple-time all-stars. Now, Durant has many scoring titles, but Kauai Leonard may be the single best player in the NBA the last couple of years if you need a bucket. But here's the difference. Kevin Durant left a great owner, a great GM, and a great coach, and a great number one teammate. He downgraded in all of those. Kauai Leonard is a lot sharper than we think. He upgraded in everything because the Clippers, not the Lakers,

have the rock solid owner, Steve Ballmer, with unlimited money. They have Doc Rivers who's won a title, like Frank Vogel, but Rivers is considered the better coach. They've got a front office that includes Jerry West and Michael Winger. In five years, and I think Kauai is going to win the championship this year, and Kauai is going to be the MVP of the finals.

Three months from now. It's going to be Kauai with three titles, Kevin with two. Kauai with three finals MVP, Kevin Durant with two. Kauai the healthiest he's ever been. Kevin Durant still recovering. And Kauai going forward with the better number two teammate, Paul George, more stable, better front office, better owner, better off. We always struggle when players move.

We're always like, well, who did they join? LeBron could not overcome a bad owner initially. Michael Jordan needed to get the coach right. Is that in about three months, that Durant, Kauai Leonard, you know, mismatch. I mean, KD's up here, Kauai is down there. Three months, it's going to be a lot closer than you think. And my argument's going to be in five years, Kauai will be seen as the superior player.

Because he's figured out through his NBA journey, you got to choose the owner. You got to choose the GM. You got to choose the coach as much as the roster. Former cowboy and Bronco, DeMarcus Ware, is right around the corner. Yeah, I think Kauai is going to be holding that. I said this to Joy earlier.

Kauai is going to be holding that thing in two and a half, three months. It's going to be his third championship, third franchise. And you're going to tell me, well, Duran's better. Didn't you tell me Duran had to go join the super team to get any? If it's all about winning titles, it's all I hear from you guys. Oh, it's about winning titles. It's not about points. Or we talk about Carl Malone.

It's not about assists. Or we talk about Magic Johnson. We talk about winning big games, MJ, six for six. If Kauai gets a third, And Kevin Durant's off in Brooklyn, still rehabbing. You know how recency bias works. Like we kind of fall in love with the last thing we see. What are you, just ask yourself this if I'm wrong.

What are we going to be saying in three months? Because the clippers are going to win the championship if Kauai is holding that. Third one, he's like, what, 29? What are we going to be saying? Top 10 player ever. Second best player in the league to LeBron. Some of you, you'll be wrong, but you'll say he's a better player than LeBron. He's not, but you can't be below second.

Yannis got two playoff series wins. Can't be below Yonis if that's the case. Sorry, he can't. He may not be cooler stylish, but you can't say that if he's hosting a third straight championship. And I think he's going to be. In fact, I don't think the clippers, I don't think it's going to be that tough. I think they're going to roll through this thing. I really do.

I think the clippers are going to roll through this thing, at least until the finals. and then I think Boston or Milwaukee's a pushback. But I think the Clippers, remember in this bubble, players do not want to waste one night. They want to get in, win, get home. They're going to sweep teams. They're going to 12 games this year. The Clippers had everybody healthy.

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An additional 15% off a great price. 15% off. Go to buyraycon.com slash herd. Buyraycon.com slash H-E-R-D. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. DeMarcus Ware is an amazing story. So he went to high school in Auburn, Alabama.

And yet Auburn didn't offer him a scholarship. And Alabama didn't offer him a scholarship. So then he goes to Troy. And how good do you have to be that he was the first, first round pick in the history of Troy? The Cowboys got him in the first round from Troy. The games aren't even on television. But he was overlooked a long time. Then he goes to Dallas, all-time sack leader, played for 12 years, nine-time

Boulder, Hall of Fame level guy, made quite a life for himself. And he is joining us now. He just got done fishing 15 minutes ago via the Coward Global Satellite Network, the great DeMarcus Ware. So do you do a little, did you do, what did you do trout fishing? Is that what you did? Sandbass. It was sandbass.

There's no trout down here for sure. But I did sandbass. I caught about 24, 25. I'm going to play those suckers up and eat them tonight. How about that? Let's start with this. So you were a first round pick. So you made good money to start in the NFL.

And then you negotiated with Jerry. And you also got a big deal for $75, $76 million, something around there. Dak Prescott was a fourth round pick. He didn't get big money. And now he only gets a franchise tag. Do you think it's possible? There's a little resentment, a little bitterness, because he didn't get paid all those years he was winning his division.

And now he just gets a franchise tag. you think it's possible, Dacus saying to himself, I've made Jerry Jones a lot of money, and I got one year. How do you think it falls for him? I think that a guy in his position, you always just think about, okay, well, I made the playoffs a couple of years.

I got the Dallas Cowboys back on the map. I know I haven't won a Super Bowl, and then all of a sudden I see Patrick Mahomes deal, $500 million. I see a couple of other quarterbacks, $100, $150 million. So it's almost like, what is my worth. I work so hard to get to this point. Now I need to, I wouldn't say break the bank,

but I need to have some savings. I need to create some type of wealth. And I mean, there was a very, very lucrative offer that Jerry Jones gave that. But maybe he thought that he was worth more than that. But to me, when you get into winning those championships, that's when you can start putting that stamp on things when you get to that point. And, you know, I can't wait to see what's going to happen this season. By the way, Jerry, you signed a $78 million deal with Jerry, so you negotiated with Jerry. Is Jerry Jones a tough negotiator?

He's a very tough negotiator, but one thing you have to do is be very, very honest with him. He's going to be honest with you about how much you're worth, where you are on the team, and what he's trying to bring in to win championships. It's different. When you're the franchise quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, No matter what, if it was Romo, if it was Bledso, and so on and so forth, everybody's gotten paid.

And you're part of that etching your name in that Dallas Cowboys star for five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten years. So you want to make sure that your money is stable when that happened. So I just think that, you know, that being franchise is going to create a lot of, you know, talk this season. but, you know, hopefully everything goes well in these states focused. It's interesting. After two decades in New England, Brady goes to Tampa. And you went cowboys to Broncos. And regardless of what position it is, you were a cowboy.

You're a pro bowler. And then you wake up one morning and you're against them. And it's a different uniform, a different city, a different culture, a different coach, a different GM. Tell me the first year in Denver and what Brady will experience. How difficult is it? You know, it's not just, hey, I put pads on and go play. You have to learn a new culture, a playbook. How hard was it for you?

It was a very, very big challenge. Think about it. You played your whole career in one place and you think you're going to retire there. And all of a sudden you've got to change not only your colors, but your teammates. You got to change where you live. You got to take your family in a whole other place. And I can see here where I'm getting an awesome sack. I love sacks, by the way.

But I just think that everything changes in the best players take advantage of those situations. And that's what I did. I was able to go there and win a Super Bowl. I was able to get those teammates that I needed to be that champion. So for me, at first, I thought that if I put that orange jersey on, the quarterbacks would be able to see me a lot easier because it's almost like I was a deer in the headlight. But it wasn't the case. It was changing the name of the jersey, changing, not your name, but changing the color of the jersey,

a different atmosphere, but you're still a gladiator in the stadium. And when you're gladiator in the stadium, you want to compete and you want to win football games. Yeah. You know, it's funny about this. When you look at Dallas and you look at Denver, they're run very differently.

Dallas is very glamorous, very glamorous. And then Denver's kind of more like Pittsburgh Steeler feel. Like a lot of the news is private. out in the mountains. You don't hear a bunch about them. As a player, what did you prefer? The kind of the glamour that came along with the Cowboys or sort of like football-centric Denver?

You know, I wish that both of those can be merged together and have the football-centric part where you get that awesome 12th man, you get the 30-degree football weather, and you get the fans with their shirts off yelling, and it's a great advantage. But then you want the off-the-field stuff, the business aspect that the Dallas Cowboys bring to the table,

the wow factor that the Dallas Cowboys bring to the table. And when you can have both of those at one time, this is when you have the total team. But you usually don't get that. You get the quiet team that's winning championships or you get the flamboyant team that, you know, that's not consistent, just being honest with you. No, no, I get that.

Listen, in Dallas, you had good teams. You didn't get over the top. And I think there's a lot of things I like about Jerry Jones. Were there times in Dallas, though, that you thought, you know, we could probably do better staying out of the newspapers? I thought that every training camp, I mean, training camp was one of the hardest things. I mean, I'm coming from Troy University where there's one recorder, there's one video guy, and you only see that. His name was famous Amos, by the way, and that's all you had. But during training camp, when you have to fly to Oxnard, which they're not doing this year,

and you have the huge, they call it the Jerry Jones circus, sometimes it can become a distraction. But the thing is, what that also brings to the players is a lot of off-to-field marketability. And that's why Jerry Jones right now, when you think about feeling 100,000 people in one stadium, he can do that. and when you can play very well there, it helps you out and build a platform, which I have right now. Yeah, and you've done well for yourself. You're a Dallas gym and a fitness trainer and done well for you and your family, obviously a beautiful home.

So I've never been a big fan of the preseason. I think it's a rip-off for fans and a rip-off for players. I just don't like it. And the other thing is every pre-season is the same. I'm crossing my fingers that none of the star players get hurt. So the NFL this year, no preseason. You can be totally honest now. Did you like or hate the preseason?

What did it mean to you? I hated the preseason. I like the OTAs. I like the mini camp. And I hated training camp, but I knew we had to go through it. Because that's where you get, when people say the blood,

sweating tears, the team camaraderie, who's going to be the leaders and the identity of the team is built in the offseason. It's not built during the preseason. The preseason is getting rid of, you know, letting the fans see what we're showcasing. from all the hard work we had in the offseason, which they hadn't had an offseason.

So with them saying that we're going to get rid of these four preseason games, I feel like now we need to think about these four weeks as the OTAs, the mini camps, the training camps that they have for only four weeks, packing all of that into four weeks. So they usually have about three months. Now they're packing into four weeks. So hopefully they're able to knock a little rust off because a lot of players that can't work out without COVID, right?

They can't go to the gym. They can't hardly see their teammates. They've got to stay six feet away. They've got to wear masks. I mean, so on and so forth. But now they've got four weeks to get everything in place. By the way, I think if I've said this before, I'm mid-50s. And I work out every day.

And I'm, you know, I'm 51. I'm 55. So I work out every day. You're a pro athlete. When you were in your prime, I think if I was a pro athlete, I'd be, like, I can play. You know, if I get COVID, I get COVID. You know, 50% of people are asymptomatic and they're not in the shape I'm in. But that's how I view it. When you look at the NFL right now and go back to your 27, 28 years old, would you be worried about COVID? Would you not be worried?

Would you feel kind of bulletproof because you're such, you're in incredible shape? I would say I would be an incredible shape. I would think about not only myself, though. I mean, I wouldn't say that for me. I was like, yeah, I'm in great shape. I'm not worried about COVID. Any other younger players won't be worried about COVID, but what about my family? You know, grandma wants to come to the house. Granddad wants to come to the house. Uncle's and nephews or, you know, your kids, I would worry about more of my family, them getting COVID and then them not being able to cope with it. I wouldn't worry about myself because I will be at my healthiest state, but what about them? That would be my only word.

Yeah. By the way, now that you have your gym, you're in Dallas, how often, you know, You played for 12 years and you played in the trenches. And people often talk about, I'm a big believer in going forward with football. I want fewer practices, better safety measures because I love the sport. And I want guys to look like you when they're retired. So you play 12 years in the trenches. When you wake up in the morning, DeMarcus, how do you feel? Right now, I feel great.

My last year of playing, I couldn't even. And it took me about an hour in 30 minutes. I'm not going to joke with you. It took me an hour and 30 minutes to take a shower, walk down the stairs, get in the car, and drive the work and get out of the car. It took me an hour and 30 minutes and it was only a 20 minute drive. And I couldn't move after every single football game. It was one of those things where I said, you know, if I don't stop right now, I need to hang up the cleats.

Yeah. And I'm glad that they've changed so much. much from not having the two-a-day practice, padded practices, having the special team practice for 45 minutes. So you're out there for almost four hours practicing. There's a lot more shelled practices, a lot more mental reps that they're adding in there for the longevity of the and the safety of the players. And it's all about the safety of the players. They're gladiators. They're going to get out there in the stadium and they're going to perform and do what they need to do. But you can also get beat up during the OTAs and mini camps and training camps.

and then you can't make it through a whole season. Right. Well, you look great. You're in great shape. You're going to eat your fish. What's it called again? What's it called? Sand bass.

Sand bass. I actually have my meal right here. We're moving and shaking, man. We're moving and shaking. It's great seeing you. Look fantastic, bud. Appreciate you joining us on the show today. All right.

Thank you so much for inviting me on. You bet. You know, it's funny, Joy. We were talking about this about don't be rigid. I can remember working at ESPN. And this is about 12 years ago. So I'd been there four or five years. And the NFL was starting to eliminate head hunting.

You couldn't hit quarterbacks. And I can remember being on the air. And people would call and argue. Wear a dress. I'm like, time out. Time out. First of all, wearing a dress is not that easy. No question.

Rodman and Moore very well. And I used to always say, time out. Do you love football? Do you love the game? why would you want, why would you not want all players that retired to look like the Marcus Ware? Like this idea that you're, you, you haven't validated your manhood unless you're willing to get hit in the head.

Like I, there's always been this pushback on the NFL, but I will say this. I think fans have really figured it out. I think they really, I think fans really struggled for a couple years. Oh, you can't hit this. I think fans have figured it out. The game is, nobody watches for defense. They don't. Nobody watches for hits.

With the explosion of betting in fantasy football, we watch for points, receivers, quarterbacks, we do not watch. I've always said this before. If I told you right now, a game in 6 to 3 or 2625, which game do you pick? Of course. We've never watched football for the hits. But I also think that, you know, the information, you know, updated information that we got about the CTE and the effects of, you know, these hits on these guys' heads and concussions and the long-term effects of that,

not just your body, which is going through a lot, but your head, like, it became very obvious that this was not a choice that it was something that had to happen. Yeah. Like football is better when less hitting at practice, only games that count, get rid of preseason. It takes a while to figure it out. I mean, the NFL is very well run, but I think they're figuring out is that how much better does it look optically? when I bring DeMarcus Ware on and it's like, God, he looks great.

Mom's watch that and think. Well, yeah, I mean, it trickles down, right? That's why you can't have steroids or H.D.H or these performance enhancing things at the professional level because it's eventually going to trickle down into the amateur level and then down to kids. It's how it works because everyone's trying to get to that level. Never forget who decides who plays football. Mom. DeMarcus Ware played 12 years.

Look at how good he looks. moms decide if their sons can play football. Not dad. Mom's the ones like over my dead body. Because women control the family because they control wealth. Anyway, so the point being, women, if mom says he's not playing football, then he's not playing football. Yeah. So you want players, get hit less, walk out with money.

You know, I've argued this for years. You shouldn't have to, the NFL does guarantee some money. But if the owners turn the telescope and said, Remember, a few years ago, they stopped hitting in lower levels of football. People are like, oh, you've got to learn how to hit. No, you don't. No, you don't. You don't have to hit at seven years old.

If you shrink the window of hitting in football from freshman year of high schools when you first can hit, and then you have more guaranteed money and guys are out of the league by 31 because they have their money. The hitting window is 14 to 30. it used to be the hitting window was from like seven and players signed another third or fourth contract because they didn't have guaranteed money the hitting window was from seven to 37 yeah a lot of kids play flag football now until they reach high school so what you're doing fundamentals if you can shrink the hitting window from 30 years to 15 you look like demarcus where when you're done because he signed a big deal most of it guaranteed he said it was take a meal an hour in the old

days, you sign another four-year deal because you didn't get enough money. Well, it's a collision sport. We call it a contact sport. It's really a collision sport. You're running full-speed into your garage door 15 times a day and see how you feel. That's what it is. Yeah. All right, got to take a break. Herd line on the other side, I'm told.

It's just, we just start talking and stuff. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

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Do you remember when Diana Ross double-taped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

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

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Listen up, fellas, write tools for the job. You want to keep your eyebrows, nose hair, ear hair.

And I want to keep everything up to date, it's called Manscaped. 20% off free shipping, too. Manscape.com code herd, H-E-R-D. all the LED lights you can see everything you want to it's called manscape that's the company got a big box full of stuff about a month ago joy with news turn on the news this is the herd line news so the bucks added some elite pieces to their offense tom brady and gronk and tight and oj howard expects the team to live up to all the heights this season you look at us and line us up versus any office in the league right up there with the top of them i mean you know so I mean, you know, it's only time to tell how good we are. But I think when you put us on paper, we're one of the best in the league, if not the best. It's that thing on paper.

They are pretty good on paper. They are good on paper. Tom Brady, Ronald Jones, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Bronc, OJ Howard, Cameron Brate. Prophopoful focus ranks their offensive line is 13th best headed into the season. That sounds like a Super Bowl to me. It's going to be really good. Can you stop? You know they're going to be good, though.

They have the fifth best odds. According to Foxxbat. What does that tell you? Plus 1,400. Who's got the better odds? Kansas City, Baltimore, who else? I don't have them in front of me. But Kansas City.

Hold on. All right, fifth best in the league. So New Orleans must be ahead of them. So it's Kansas City. New Orleans is their second behind New Orleans to win the division. I'm not saying they're not going to be good. I have actually pretty high expectations for them this year. They're going to be a playoff team.

What if Brady lights it up and wins like MVP? And New England's just a bunch of nothing. It's going to look great for him. You listen, heat, don't get your sense. Peyton Manning chose Denver for a reason. He knew it would elevate him. He wouldn't have to carry him. I will say we talk a lot about their divorce. And Tom Brady was definitely, he was definitely winning the Belichick divorce.

No question. But Belichick is a little patient, you know, he's a little more time to get over it. I just don't like, no, he's got Cam Newton. I don't like New England's offensive personnel. I just don't like it. I'm with you too. I'm just not, I'm not firmly in the camp that Tom Brady has won the divorce yet. They're both like with their new people showing off.

And we'll see which one goes the test of time. That's where we are. I'm going to tell you. If Cambring's 10 games with that skill group, that will be impressive. They do not have a number one receiver or a number one tight end. What's a disappointment for you this year for the Buccaneers? 500.

That's disappointing? Yeah, I mean, if they were coming back with. this unit for the second year, I'd be like, that's an 11-win team. But I think September could be rough. I mean, God, no preseason at all. So I look at them in the 9 and 7, 10, and 6, a little spotty early. And then by Thanksgiving, you're like, holy crap, they are Kansas City and the NFC. They're just lighting people up.

High expectations. So Cam Newton obviously will be facing a lot of pressure to adapt to the Patriot Way in New England. And Stefan Gilmore has some advice for Cam to get him acclimated to the new system. There's one thing I know about, you know, playing in New England. You have to be mentally strong. You have to be very hungry. Everyone's get treated the same. There is no superstars, no nothing.

So if there's something don't go right, someone's going to get on you and we're going to correct it. So no egos, you know, it's a team. That one common goal is the win. And I feel like the Patriots does that well. I think that's why Cam fits this year because generally that's not really Cam's personality, right? Like, he's a star. He is a certifiable star, whether you like how he plays or like how things have gone from the past couple years or not. Can't deny he's a star. And that's not what works in New England. Right? You have to buy into the system, like he said, it's not about

you. Gronka said it. Everyone gets treated the same. Yeah. It can be very frustrating. But this is kind of a temporary situation. And Cam is out of character when it comes to that. Like he's, he's got a lot to prove. He's coming from an underdog place. He has this mentality that he wants to Well, Cam's 31. He's 31. And let's be honest, he has not been unbelievably paid in the context of other quarterbacks. So does Cam want to make

more money for the next six years? Yeah. So generally stuff works. If both people want it to work. Belichick doesn't want to be... I would say this with Belichick. If they finish 6 and 10, it's not going to hurt Bill's legacy. But I think Cam wants to win because, you know,

it's funny about Cam. When you look at Cam, you're like, you think, oh, because the injuries. He's a kid. No, I just think he's just had an unfortunate string of injuries. I don't think of Cam as old at all. I don't know where that there's so many narratives around

Cam Noon that it's like if you just slow down like just just hold on. He's injured a lot. He's very tough. Yes, he's a personality and he's flashy and all those other things. If that makes you uncomfortable, like that's a separate situation. It has nothing to do with his actual play. Like he was a league MVP, number and overall

pick, national champion. He's had an incredibly successful football career by any measure. Just the last couple years have been rough. And now he's in a completely new situation. But I think because he is coming from an underdog situation for the first time in his career, it fits New England's Patriot Way very uniquely this year. So Patrick Beverly has reportedly left the NBA bubble. He left last night to tend to an emergency personal matter and does plan to return to the Clippers as soon as possible.

He's the second member of the Clippers to leave Orlando Montrez-Harrel also left due to a family emergency. He will, Beverly will have to pass a coronavirus test every day. He's off campus in order to have a four-day quarantine inside the hotel instead of 10. Because if a player leaves for extenuating circumstances, he'll be required to do a quarantine for four to 10 days upon his return. The Clippers first game is July 30th against the Lakers. They do have a scrimmage today. And it's televised, you said? Yes.

So all the scrimmages are now televised? They are televised them on NBA TV or if you have the league pass, you can watch. So I'll be watching the heat one later today. How about that? Yeah. So, I mean, they aren't televising the scrimmages. Their first game is on the 30th, which is a few days away, with enough time that if he came back within the next few days, you'd be able to quarantine and play. Obviously, they're concerned about him for the long term, along with Montres Harrell.

But this is the thing that concerns me about the Clippers, because I'm with you. I think that they have the most depth. I picked them at the beginning of the season. I think they're in the best situation to win the championship this year. But this is the type of stuff that can change how things go. We have no idea what these situations are, why they've had to leave their planning to come back. Who knows what's going on? the chipping away at the depth of these certain teams is going to play a role in how this goes long term.

Obviously, we have months and months to get this sorted out with them. They're the only team, though, that could lose a star for a series and win a series, and I think easily. If you told me they lost Paul George, tweaked an ankle and lost him for a second round series, I would be like, although in the series, I don't think anybody else in the league can say. Do you think the Lakers good? No, no. If they lose Anthony Davis, it's too LeBron-centric. I think this team is so deep. I mean, God, they really, not only they built a good roster,

they built it to beat LeBron. They got four wing players to defend them. They could each do 12 minutes on him. I mean, they're really good, really good. Their game starts in seven minutes, their scrimmage. Oh, it does? Yep. So, all right, watch the guys.

Sports are back. I know they are. Baseball's back tomorrow. A game tomorrow. We made it, Colin. We made it. I know. And the best thing about the NBA bubble is nobody's got the virus.

Yes, they've done a tremendous job. Yeah. to run his job with the players, reporters, everyone's getting tested every single day. Lots of protocols in place. I hope fans realize this has been fluid. You're having to, baseball literally had, they were negotiating games and salaries and percentages and stadiums.

This is, I think, I'm amazed by all of it. It's incredibly complicated. I mean, it's tip of the cap to all these leagues. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for. dropping by. The herd line news.

So we had Nick Wright today. He was funny. Bill Polly and, oh, boy, he's got a lot of good stuff. Rob Parker in a new sports jacket and DeMarcus Ware, who looks just fantastic, having played in the NFL for 12 years. He's in great shape. Look who's got a fancy pants over there. That's a very, he's got a nice little outfit over there. Most people are just crazy.

They have suits and stuff. You don't wear suits. I'm not a suit guy. I have to wear him on Sunday NFL Fox. Don't like it. Never been it. You know Larry David who created Curb Your enthusiasm? Yes, big fan.

I went one night and he was at a dinner and he came up to me. Only thing he said is, you don't look good in a suit. Take the tie off. He goes, Colin Carrey doesn't wear a suit. I want Larry David to give me fashion tips. That's what he said. He goes, you don't look right in a tie. You're not a tie guy.

And I'm like, tell my bosses, totally agree with you. I'm not a tie guy. And you don't wear one now? No. Oh, I have to now. Oh, you have to. Regret it. Regret it. Resent it. Resent my bosses for it. Third.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on. 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild...

I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to be.

the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.