The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Kawhi; Top Five Of All Time and Zion Has The "It Factor"

Episode Date: July 23, 2020

On today's episode of The Herd, Colin points out the undeniable charisma of a young Zion Williamson, which arguably makes him the biggest draw of the league. Cam Newton shows Colin that he can in fact do things "The Patriot Way". Colin's feels that Wilt Chamberlain deserves a 30 for 30 and says that he is actually the most accurate comparison for LeBron James, while managing to double down on his "Kawhi Will Be Top 10" by upping to a Top 5 Player of All Time with a NBA Title this season.Danny Kanell, Rick Bucher, John Smoltz and Ryan Hollins all join the show to give the thoughtful opinions on the matter as well. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 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.

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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. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Thursday. about ready to go baseball games today this live in Los Angeles is the hurt wherever you may be and however you may be listening

iHeartRadio Foxboroughs Radio and FS1 I just had a buddy in Italy this morning said oh I love the show and I'm like in Italy oh yeah lists everything you guys do it's amazing it's amazing you know the global possibilities the global reach I just did an interview in in Melbourne

Australia last week. They're big fans of the show. I just can't even imagine that. I don't even know what's going on. I mean, we do a great list, I guess. Did they have YouTube? I mean, I'm sounding completely ignorant here. YouTube is global, right?

Everybody knows that, right? Yeah, I mean. But there are restrictions on what TV you can watch. We can't watch British TV. There are certain things that are stopped. They can't just get free NFL games over there. There are things that are restrictions. I've never been to Australia.

It's on my list. maybe I'll hit them up and ask them. I don't know. They said they watch the show, or maybe they listen. You know? You can listen online. So does XM serious, does that reach the cars in Australia? That's how I sound so stupid.

I don't know. You're asking me questions. I don't know the answer to either. But it's just so funny, a buddy this morning text me in Italy. Oh, can't wait for the show. What does that mean? You're watching the show? I don't know.

Maybe there's like an illegal stream. Oh, that would be him. He's very illegal and streamy. So I want to start with this. You can develop a lot. of things. A quarterback, you can develop an arm. One of the reasons I thought Zion was going to be a really good player when people said, we can't shoot. I said, timeout, time out, time on. He's like 18 years old. You can develop into a great shooter. Don't worry about that. Very few guys come into the NBA and

they're great shooters. I mean, in baseball, you can develop a number two pitch and a number three pitch. You can develop almost anything as long as God gave you some genetic gifts, strength size, you know, athletic ability. Here's what you can't develop. Charisma. You've got it or you don't. And I can see fakers every day. Some people just have charisma and they have it.

And Zion's got it. I like a lot of it. He has no current timetable to return to Orlando. He went home for a family emergency and the NBA is freaking out. And they should be. Zion's the number two draw in this league right now. And I'm not joking. LeVrons won, Zion's two.

He's the number two drawing this league. The NBA could have chosen any team to start the bubble. Westbrook and Harden. The Celtics. I mean, Janus. They chose a rookie who played like 30 games. That's who they chose. He broke summer league records.

They made an exemption for him in the rookie sophomore NBA All-Star game. They made an exemption for him. The league's got the research. He's the second biggest star in the league. I knew he could develop a jumper. I never hold that against basketball players. They're kids. God, they went to class.

Now you just spend all day in a gym. Ray Allen didn't break into the league that good of a shooter. He was an athletic kid who scored at the rim. He became the great Ray Allen the shooter. But Zion's charisma, smile, style, power, Duke. shoe controversy, you can't teach it. You cannot develop it.

You name the players in any professional sport in America that have become superstars, and it's been developed in their late 20s, early 30s. There's none. Michael Jordan was selling shoes early. Tiger Woods was a star at 16 years old. LeBron was a star in high school. Bryce Harper, cover a sports illustrator.

By the way, winning doesn't make you a superstar. Tim Duncan put people to sleep. Shoe deals don't make you superstars. Spencer Dinwiddie has a shoe deal. So does John Wall. So does Lanzo Ball. It's it. Dr. Jay,

Magic, Michael, LeBron, Zion, Tiger, Mahalms. You don't develop, there's a million agents out there trying to make their clients bigger. But that charisma, the it thing, you can't develop it. You got it or you don't. Shoe deals don't make it. There are a lot of guys with shoe deals that aren't superstars. Winning does it?

I'll give you an example. Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis. Zion went to Duke. He was out of the tournament real quick. Anthony Davis went to Kentucky, which is about as close to Duke as college basketball has. Unlike Zion, he went all the way through the tournament. And he won.

and he had a nickname Unibrow. And people were saying he's a best college player in a decade. Nobody was saying Zion was the best college basketball player for a decade. And Anthony Davis goes to New Orleans. Nothing. No TV ratings. Leagues not scheduling games for him. Shoe deals.

Nothing. Even now, he's LeBron's Robin. That's Zion. this is an American superstar. It's not going to be a shoe deal. It's not going to be his winning. That kid walks into a room. The smile, the look, the style, the power.

He's not in the bubble. They don't know when he's in the bubble. And I got news for you. They scheduled opening day with Zion, Christmas Day was Zion, and the bubble game was Zion. And he's not here. And they're freaking out. And I remember I had a conversation about five months ago

with Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner. and the NBA ratings were down. And I was emailing. Anybody in the world could email Mark Cuban, he emails you right back. I mean, you'd think for a guy that owns 100 companies, he'd be busy. And I said, hey, Mark, it's Colin, blah, blah, blah. Well, he knew that because of my email address. And I said, I think the ratings are down.

I think you're wrong on your reasoning. I think it's because all the stars are hurt. Like KD was hurt and Steph was hurt. And he goes, Colin, do you know how few people in this league move a quarter of a rating point? He's like, I think it's one or two. And for all the talent in the NBA, it doesn't have more than two players, maybe three with Steph, that literally change a television rating. And that's in a sport that is star-driven.

Because not that many basketball players have charisma. Or showman. Michael was, Magic was, Dr. Jay was. That's about it. The list is really short, and it's amazing that a 19-year-old who's played 30 games already has it. And once you have it, it's hard to lose it. All right. So I saw this baseball starting today.

Baseball games going to break that stuff down, breaking down bullpins next hour. By the way, top of next hour, going to make a lot of you mad. And I feel so strongly about this. I'm quadrupling down on something. I feel so strongly about it. And you're all going to be furious with me in 45 minutes from now.

But I want to go to this. The Dodgers yesterday signed Mookie Betts. Mookie Betts is a great baseball player. played for the Boston Red Sox. People think Mike Trout's the best player, Mookiee Beck's second best player. But when Mike Trout signed a deal with the Angels, I said, that's a bad deal.

$450 million. The Angels don't drive the revenue for that. They're going to have to now not be able to spend on the big setup man. They won't be able to get a number three starter. They're going to have to lose in free agency to probably a really valuable middle infielder. I didn't like the Mike Trout deal. But I thought Mike Trout to the Dodgers

or the Yankees would have been a great deal. The reason this is a great deal, and the Dodgers don't spend a lot of money. You would think the Yankees throw bad contracts and big contracts at people forever. But the Dodgers don't. Manny Machado, passed. Bryce Harper contract, passed. Zank Grinky, passed. Clayton Kirshaw is it.

Mookie Betts is number two. But it's a great contract because the Dodgers lead Major League Baseball in attendance by a long shot. And if you've ever been to Dodgers Stadium, man, they have got it figured out. the food, the drinks, the alcohol. It is a ATM, man. It is a bank. They have figured out how to, when you walk through that gate, you're bringing out your credit card. And you don't feel ripped off.

And you don't feel it's a bad deal because it's 75 degrees. The stadium is beautiful. They always win the division. It's really a very charming experience. And it's like going to Dodger games in Los Angeles is just part of living here. Five million people. They lead the, and their revenue on an annual basis. is $556 million.

So what if you're paying Mookie Betts $30 million a year? So what? The Angels revenue is $200 million a year less than that, and they pay Mike Trout $5 million more a year than it's an issue.

Like big contracts in baseball. The Dodgers have been throwing bad contracts and big contracts for people for 25 years. They haven't had a losing season since 92. But when the red signed Joey Votto and the Mariners signed Robinson Canoe. And when the Padre signed Mani Machado, and when you start looking at those,

those are bad contracts. Because they then limit what you can do. In baseball, you can't win a World Series with a bad bullpen. You can't win a World Series with a bad middle infield. You'd almost always have to have a legitimate number two and three starter. Mookie bets to the Dodgers is a great contract. Garrett Cole to the Yankees, those are great contracts. They're nightmare contracts for anybody else.

completely limiting. In fact, with the Dodgers and the Yankees, the only question is from the ownership groups, do you feel like spending the money? You got it. You know, buying a Lamborghini by a school teacher is horrible financial judgment. Buying a Lamborghini for a CEO of a hedge fund, you could justify it. You got $14 million coming in the year, $9 million bonuses. You can justify it. I'm not a Lambeau guy. I think they're kind of cheesy, saw one on the row the other day. But, you know, whatever, you can justify it. Most of major. League Baseball is closer to the school teacher budget than they are to the hedge fund budget. And when I look at the Mookie Bex deal, I'm like $350 million, $30 million a year, 12 years,

Mookie Betts, have you gone to a Dodger game? And they're just filing wallets into that stadium, $4.5.5 million a year. They figured it out. They got nothing but money. It's part of the culture like the Yankees in New York, from the cable deal to the attendance, to what they charge, to the parking. It makes complete, utter, total sense. And the Dodgers have shown a reluctance

to just hand over big money deals. There's a reason they did. This makes total sense for arguably the best player in baseball. And the season starts today, and Dodger fans are going to get a chance to look at mooky bets a lot over the next four months. Coming up next, you know, I'm critical of Cam Newton. I finally got the Cam I love.

I finally, Cam Newton did something yesterday. I was like, there you go. There you go. My favorite cam moment in a long time 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 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 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? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jette. 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 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.

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Got to sign up by October 7th, though. Go to geico.com. So Cam Newton is arrived officially in Boston. Listen, New England's not going to change the culture for a quarterback that's been 500 the last four years. And they're not paying anything to.

They're not going to change their culture. Why should they? They're the gold standard. Cam's not. Cam's a fantastically stylish and talented player, but they're not changing their culture for him. And this is a big deal for Cam. This is not a big deal for Belichick.

He's got the bust made. He's a Hall of Famer. He's the best coach ever. Nobody's ever. It doesn't matter if he goes 0 and 16. Has no effect on him. He doesn't care about Cam's MVP. He doesn't care about Cam's one Super Bowl.

He's been to nine. Belichick doesn't care. If you think at this point in his career, Belichick's going to be wildly flexible on his culture. He's just not going to be. I mean, I think Bill's always evolving, but there are limitations. to what people are, right?

It's been established, best football coach of all time. But this is a big deal for Cam. There was no market for Cam. And that's why he's basically playing for league minimum. There's no market for him. He's got five strikes against him if this doesn't work. Number one strike is he couldn't win with Belichick. Number two is he's got him become a 500 quarterback.

Number three is, man, he's got two major surgeries in the last couple years. Number four is Ron Rivera took his backup, not interested in him. Sean McDermott. He would have been a great backup or a fit in with Josh Allen Buffalo, not interested in him. And then there's also, you know, number five is, you know, Cam comes with some calmness. He's, you know, the style, the ego, the, there's a little bit of that that a lot of coaches historically are not into. But this is a big deal for Cam. Because he didn't have a market going into this.

There are just so many great young quarterback. in the NFL under 27 right now. And we got three more coming in the next draft. Like, nobody's going to roll the dice. And the guy that couldn't work with Belichick, two major surgeries, 31 been hit a lot. They're just not. There's a surplus of unbelievably focused, driven, aspirational, talented.

I mean, you got, we could have three in the AFC West. We could have three with Gough, Kyler Murray, and Jimmy Garoppel in the NFC. West. You could have six out of 18. teams in the Western Division that have stars for the next 12 years. College is just a conveyor belt now of great young talent. Even guys that we, like Josh Allen, ah, boss. Playoffs.

Lamar Jackson, uh, project MVP. Patrick Mahomes, ah, big 12, best quarterback ever. So this is a big deal for Cam. It's got to work. Got to open the market back up for him. It's got to be joyful. It's got to be winning. It's got to be positive.

And he walked into Boston yesterday. and this is the Patriot Way. Pam, I'm so sorry to do this to you. You're live right now with Channel 7. I'm sorry, I know you didn't want to talk. Anything that you can say to Patriots Nation right now. Again, you're live with Channel 7. No disrespect to nobody, but I'm extremely ecstatic.

But I'm not talking. That's pretty much, you know. When can we expect you to say a few more words? for us. Who knows? Excited to be here in Boston? Go past. Thank you. That is discipline. That is the Patriot Way. This is a big deal for Cam.

It's a big deal. Okay. New England, they have the standard. Cam's got to reboot and reset his standard. It's got to prove to people. Those were injuries. I'm healthy. I'm good. I'm flexible. I'm nimble. I can work in this system. Superman? There have been 11 different actors that have played Superman. Nicholas Cage is going to be the 12th. Superman gets replaced all the time.

Lamar Jackson could be the next Superman. Patrick Mahom feels like the next Superman. Russell Wilson last several years feels kind of like Superman. I mean, Aaron Rogers was the goat. And now it looks like in Green Bay and he's healthy. Looks like they're going to become a power running team. And that's what Matt LaFleure, not a Hall of Fame coach. So it matters.

This is important for Cam. And that is the Patriot Way. Dory Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Patrick Mahomes has had a very impressive first three years in the NFL. Yes.

But he still thinks he has a lot to learn. He said there's still so much I can improve. The mental part of the game, you learn more and more every single year you're in the NFL, especially at the quarterback position. I'm going to keep trying to learn as much as possible. I really only have been playing quarterback for six or seven years. It's not like I've been playing for a very long time at the position, so I'm going to do whatever I,

can to try and get better. By the way, Nicholas Cage was going to be Superman a long time ago. I messed that up. Yeah, I was, I gave it a quick Google. I messed that up. But the point is, there's 11 different supermans. Anyway, let's go back to this. I love the last Superman.

But, yeah, I feel you. They go through a lot of superman. Well, Mahomes does have to improve the line of scrimmage because he admitted he just started learning how to read defenses last year. This is why I keep saying. Russell Wilson is the best football player in the world. Mahom is the best quarterback. But what Russell Wilson adds right now that Mahomes is building into is Russell Wilson walks to the line and completely manipulates a defense.

Well, yeah. I mean, he has the experience. That's right. That's why we've said this on the show. I think, I mean, it's not like he's going to explode into a different level of quarterback. But Mahomes has another gear. Yeah. He's got another level to reach.

And he's not there yet. You can't do it quickly. Like, it doesn't matter who it is. Luck, Russell, Aaron. It just takes you about three full years. starting and the light goes on when you when you now are not just making great plays you are manipulating the defense before the snap you're manipulating where yeah the way that he's manipulating defenses now is just through pure athletic skill yes is incredible obviously but when he's able to do

that without doing the running around and the no look passes and side dishes and all those things i i just think i like hearing this from him because one of the fears and there wasn't a whole lot of criticism about the long-term contract. But one of the hesitations in these long-term contracts is that you feel you get comfortable. I mean, you know where you're going to be, you know what money you're going to make. You just naturally as a human when you get into a comfortable situation, enjoy the comfortable situation.

So you have to continue to stay motivated and find new ways to improve upon yourself. I mean, he's a league MVP and a Super Bowl champion and a Super Bowl MVP in three years in the NFL. It's incredible. But you have to level up. right if you want to become a legend and i like hearing that from him yeah i mean i think we always spend way too much time talking about like arm baker mayfield's arm is fine his maturity is not and you can't overcome with the world's best arm if mahomes was immature and had bad judgment it doesn't matter

you're just crazy guy with great arm he's been through three head coaches and yeah but i mean it the point is the reason you become a star in this league we've got short guys we got tall guys we got athletic guys. We got super athletic guys. The common threat isn't any of that. Mahomes has a great arm. Brady's got a good arm. Manning had a wobbly arm.

Baker's short. I mean, Russell's short. Aaron Rogers isn't big. Ben's huge. It all comes down to this. Judgment, maturity. When I hear all these young guys talk, I'm like, oh, they got, you cannot overcome immaturity and lack of judgment.

It doesn't matter how great you are. Yeah, I think it's that. and they all have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. Yeah, that helps too. Even when they've reached greatness. So Cam Newton and Julian Edelman are getting some work in together. Cam posted a video of the two of them working out recently. This is the first footage the public has seen of the duo since Cam signed with the Patriots.

Okay, time out. So we get a little workout video. I know how you love workout videos. I love workout videos, especially slow-mo workout videos. Right. I mean, well, Cam's not going to do anything that is not a, stylistic. So catches the ball up.

Your heartbeats a little faster because he caught the ball. That looks like Los Angeles. That doesn't look Foxboroughy. It probably is Los Angeles. Is it UCLA? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was saying Palm Trees. UCLA is just where every athlete in the world works out at UCLA.

I like this, though. You know, Julian Edelman has a little bit to prove this year as well. Obviously, he is. His drops have gone way up. He's trying to prove that he doesn't need Tom Brady to be successful. and I like this combination to the two. Obviously Tom and Julian have a good relationship and he loved him.

But I'm so excited for Cam in New England. God, I need football. None against baseball and basketball. No, no, no. But you know what I was thinking about this morning when it comes to football? Because we have so many great storylines and just interesting things going on in the league this year. Usually in our

business, when football starts to approach, we get excited. But there's also like a little a little tinge of anxiety because the football football season is a lot. I mean, it's, it's every single day for five months. Right. Right. No days off. No days off. Which is a blessing, obviously, but it is like, we can see it coming. And this year, I'm like, oh my God, I can't wait. I don't care. I want to watch football every single day. Well, it's tax season for us. Like the accountants know, but for six weeks, you just, there's no vacations. Right. You're just going to stay home and,

you know, restless nights. Football for us is our tax season for five months. It absolutely is. So finally, NBA scrimmages started last night in the bubble. Look good. They look good. What a blessing to watch an NBA scrimmage. I've never been happier to watch an NBA scrimmage. I thought the quality was pretty good. It looks wonderful. After the first game, though, the Wizards players said it was weird to play with no fans

in attendance, and it was awkward at first to hear everything happening on the court. And head coach Scott Brooks also thought that the lack of the usual crowd noise kind of affected these teams play. And they didn't seem to get comfortable until the second half, which is understandable. This is a completely new environment, right? So it's going to take a little bit of getting used to. I think after a few weeks, it's just going to be their new norm. I got to give the NBA credit the optics of it.

I think there's a little bit too much room on the baseline. It looks empty there. Well, that's usually where you would have a bunch of reporters. Right, right. So I wish they'd moved that up about three feet. It looks, I wish they would tighten the baseline a little optically. I think probably for player safety they want that space there. Is that what it is?

Yeah, but maybe you put like some logos or something there. something there. It looks really empty. But other than that, I think optically it looks great. And I thought the quality of play was pretty good. It was a little shaky in the first half for every scrimmage, I feel like. But then it started to pick up and which is completely expected. They haven't been on the court and forever.

I think it's going to work. I do. I think it's going to look good. I think it's going to get ratings. I love, I mean, just being able to sit there and watch heat basketball was, I mean, honestly, really, it was like a blessing. I was so grateful. There's been so much going on.

And it's been so overwhelming for everyone to just. like sit down and watch sports was... Well, I've never slept better in my life than the last six months, and I was telling my wife this. It is so hard to come up with three hours of content. Like, we are just racking our brains. I think we've done a really good job as a staff, but during the football season, I walk in and I eliminate topics.

Right. I'm like, now I can't do that, that, that. I am just, we are going two and a half hours every morning just trying to figure out something else that is marginally compelling to the audience. I go home every day, I take an hour nap. I'm at bed at 845. I've never slept better in my life. And I watched that last night.

I'm like, I think the bubble's going to work. I think it's going to work. We're all pooling for everyone in the bubble, but I think the NBA did an amazing job. I do too. I'm really impressed with all the leagues and everything that they've been able to put together. Adam Silver took a lot of heat from me and others. I think they did it.

I think the NBA deserves a lot of love here. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. Danny Canal brought to you by Mercedes Benz, the best or nothing, joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network, former NFL quarterback, college football, CBS sports headquarters.

All right, I saw the Cam video, and I got to be honest, Danny, I loved it. Cam was like, I'm not going to talk. I'm not going to say anything. And I said, listen, this is a big deal for Cam. There was no market for him. If he doesn't work, and he and Belichick don't work, there's going to be a lot of people that are going to marginalize him, Danny. They're going to be like, and it's too much ego. He's all beat up. And I kind of thought that airport thing yesterday, I was like, that's a sign.

like that's a sign that that's how I took it that Cam's ready to roll and do the Patriot way thing your thoughts totally agree I mean this is a great sign if you're a Patriot fan that he's going to come in and that he just wants to go to work because what of his critics always said about Cam enough of the talking enough of the distraction enough of the ballots and hats and hats enough of the bandanas just go out in the field and give me the Cam Newton that was the MVP of a few years ago And I think that's what Patriots fans want to, you know, try to see on the field. And I think that's great advice. I mean, I think it's always best to let your actions do the talking.

And then if you go out there and ball the season and your scored touchdowns and right back at the top of the AFC East again, then you can show more of your personality. But the Patriots don't know Cam Newton the way the Caribbean fans knew Cam Newton. They're just meeting him. So I think it's a great first impression. and I do think it is him falling in line, so to speak, with that Patriot way. So, you know, it's interesting. I watched the NBA stuff last night, and it worked to me. It just worked.

I can watch it without fans. It's no big deal. The way the NBA set up, the theater set up, I was like, well, I can totally enjoy this. I totally get it. NFL, no fans. What do you make of that? I don't know how it's going to work for me. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I don't know either. is the big question mark. I think it'll feel weird. I mean, I think it'll feel like watching a practice. I mean, what do we always complain about in the preseason when we have those four preseason games? Yes, some of it is because we're not seeing the stars play the entire game, but I also think it's lack of atmosphere. The stadiums are half full. There's no energy. I go back to college, you know, when I was covering college games or even playing in college games. What do we say? Noon kickoffs. Well, they're a little lethargic. It just doesn't have that same energy. You take away any energy whatsoever.

And I think it takes away a lot of the excitement, the energy that you see in an NFL broadcast. And even on top of that, Colin, I think competitively you'll see a shift because if it is quiet and there are no fans and there's no crowd noise pumped into the stands, you will hear things as a player that you couldn't with a crowd full of people. For instance, if the quarterback is called play over and over, whether they're in the no huddle or they're in the huddle, The defense will be quiet because they'll be listening. They'll be saying, all right, if we can hear all this, let's see what intel we can gather that's going into the playbook. So I think that's going to be something that's going to take an adjustment for period. And same thing with a quarterback.

He'll be listening to the defensive checks that you probably never could hear before. All of a sudden with that crystal clarity, it's going to bring in another dimension of competitiveness that players and coaches will have matched with no fans. You know, there was a story this week, Steve Young, smart guy. we both know him came out and said, Kyle Shanahan doesn't trust Jimmy Garoppolo. Like that's the next step for Jimmy Garapolo. So does that mean to you having played in the league,

does that mean buyer's remorse? What does that mean when Steve Young, which I think was accurate in his assessment, says Kyle doesn't trust him. What does that mean? I would agree. I don't think he has full trust in Jeropo just yet, but I don't think it means they have buyers remorse.

I think they're, you know, look, he brought him to the Super Bowl. I mean, there's not a lot of coaches that would complain about that. I think it's, hey, we expect you, Jimmy Garapolo, to take the next step as a quarterback, the next step where we can trust you in any and every situation to call any play that we want to call. Because I do think Kyle Shanahan pulls back the reins at times, not the entire season, not for entire games. In critical situations, I think there are certain things he wants. to accomplish or wants to try. And he says, I just don't know if Jimmy G is there yet.

I think that's that trust level that you want to get to. And I think they will get there. I think it takes time to develop that trust and to get that extra out of a quarterback at the line of scrimmage. You might want to put more of the playbook on his shoulders on game day. But you're just holding back like, hey, we don't want to confuse them. We don't want to throw too much at them. Those are the types of interstals that I think Kyle Shanahan would love Jimmy Garapalou,

just to take that next step. And we've heard these whispers. It almost makes you feel like Kyle Shanahan is giving these people this information so that Jimmy Garapolo gets the message and does take his game to the next level. You know, it's interesting. I saw Greg CoSell had a comment yesterday. He was on Cleveland Radio. And Greg CoSell said, Baker Mayfield has a great arm.

He's a much better thrower than Kirk Cousins. So this thing's going to work with Kevin Stavansky because Stifansky had, you know, Kirk Cousins and Baker's are way better to throw with the football. And I do think Baker has a fine arm. I think there's very few world class. I think there's like three great arms in the league. I mean, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rogers, it just looks different. Maybe Big Ben in his prime.

And then there's a handful of not great arms, but most in the league are pretty, pretty close. So as a former quarterback, I just think it's interesting. Take me to Kirk Cousins and take me to Baker Mayfield, Danny. You're a scout. size them both up. What is Kirk Cousins as a quarterback? I'm not talking judgment.

What is Baker his skill set? What do you see with both? I see Kirk Cousins as, you know, average arm strength, above average intellect, above average football IQ. I think he has above average character, leadership skills, that he's going to be a leader of men, the guy that, you know, hey, you'll trust on the field that he'll be. that he's going to be prepared every single week.

And you don't have to worry about what he's going to say the media. What is he going to, is he going to pop off to the other team? Something that's going to cause some sort of distraction, that word that coaches love to use. Clearly doesn't have the top tier arm strength. I think Baker Mayfield has, does have better arm talent. He's more athletic than Kirk Cousins. And I do think he brings a confidence level that Kirk Cousins doesn't have.

Some throws that Kirk Cousins might shy away from. I'll take that throw, give me that throw. But where he lacks is that football IQ, and some of that is not his fault because he's been through four coaches in three years and he's still catching up. He doesn't have that fluency with his system that other quarterbacks do.

I think that matters. But I also totally agree with you that maturity and is issue. You can't like every Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever your quarterback talks to the media, there's probably a little bit of, oh no, I hope Baker does say something, or is he going to say something on the field or to an ex-coach, something.

And those things have to stop for Baker Mayfield to really reach his full potential and to gain the trust of an organization to say, you know what? We are going to attach ourselves to you for the next nine, ten years the way that the chiefs did to Fatsch Mahomes or the way these other long-term deals. He's got to prove himself that he has grown up and that he can take on. that character leadership hole, which to this point has been very inconsistent. Yeah, to say you're being kind. It's been a disaster, in my opinion. Danny Cannell, former NFL quarterback, CBS Sports, seven years with the Giants, Falcons, and Broncos.

Good seeing you, buddy. You too, man. Danny Connell, who I text. I text him regularly. I'm just throwing stuff out there. So Damien Lillard finally said it, the Portland Star. Finally gets it. Damian Lillard gets it on LeBron James. That's next. 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-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so... Thank you finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, 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. 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, Keir Gaines, is we have. 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, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? quarterback on office blue 42 hey wreck my mama want you to weigh better what

where's she at hey miss parker listen to the clipper show on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast so like many of you I like documentaries and I love sports documentaries and it's a great way I mean the the MJ documentary was my favorite sports documentary of all time

but, you know, it encapsulizes in a short amount of time, a legacy. And it's hard to, I mean, I watched every bit of Jordan. And I didn't discover a ton of new stuff, but it gave me the insight to the relationships and the struggles. And it made me appreciate Michael Jordan more. Although there wasn't a ton of new information. We all, you know, I'd watch the Jerry Krause nonsense and the Dennis Rodman silliness. But it did give me an insight to really how much Michael struggled everything. And I've always thought the one-third-one.

for 30, ESPN does these documentaries, the one they've missed on, because I've watched virtually every one. Some are great, handful are great, most are solid, a couple boring to tears. But I've never figured out why nobody's ever done a documentary on Wilk Chamberlain. Wilk Chamberlain is the greatest physical specimen in the history of the NBA. It's not even close. I'll give you a stat. Wilts the only guy in the same season to lead the NBA in points and rebounds, and he did it six times. Wilk Chamberlain one year decided in the 60s as a center. He was leading the NBA and everything.

He's like, I'm going to lead the league and assists. This is the 60s. He's a center. He had 702 assists. He led the NBA. He led the NBA nine times as a physical specimen in minutes played. One year, he actually led the NBA in minutes played, and he averaged more minutes than games are long.

I'm not making that up. He played every minute of every game and then played overtime. His minute average was more than actual game time. There has never been anything like Wilk Chamberlain. Ever, there's nothing like him. Not Michael, not Russell, not Bird, not Matt. Nobody's close. Nothing close to him.

There's never been a 30 for 30 on it. And he was glamorous. And he was weird and he was flaky and he was amazing. No 30 for 30. 30. What's going on? I don't understand it. You're doing stuff on guys who ride bicycles and do jumps. I don't get it. I've seen 18 of them are boxing. No wilt 30 for 30. Andre the giant. I see wrestlers. No will. The reason I bring this up is yesterday, Damien Lillard was talking or a couple days ago. And one of the things he said, it was a Dan Patrick show. He was talking about who he would

give to the MVP. And Damien Lillard said, listen, they're both great. But like in year 17, LeBron leads the league and assists. And I thought to myself, it's wilt. Is that we always compare LeBron to Michael Jordan because of the two best players ever, the goat. And I've said there is a Magic Johnson to LeBron where he makes everybody better. Like Michael didn't make everybody better. Magic and LeBron make everybody better. The water boy, the assistant coach, the guy off the bench, everybody with Magic was better.

You played with Magic. It was your best part of your career. But LeBron really is wilt. LeBron is willed. He's the second greatest physical specimen ever. LeBron did not have a single injury of note for 16 years and was leading the NBA in minutes. That's unheard of. It's just at this level of competition with the athletes today to not have injuries for 16 years makes no sense.

And now in LeBron, in his 17th year with a new roster and a coach says, I'm going to change positions and be the best in the world at the thing we want our point guards to do. Ask yourself today. You're a general manager of an NBA team. Russell Westbrooks are going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame. If I said LeBron or Westbrooks are point guard next two years,

you'd take LeBron. And Westbrook's a first ballot Hall of Fame, first ballot Hall of Fame point guard. I mean, I may have my issues with him, but I'd vote him into the Hall of Fame. I wouldn't even, it's over. I'd vote him now today. If he quit today, I'd vote him in.

this is amazing. LeBron has, what you're looking at here is, you know, there's going to be several chapters of the LeBron book. He's great, the chosen one. One of them is, I always said the second chapter is physically, it makes no sense. He was the fastest and the strongest player simultaneously in the NBA for years. I mean, remember when he used to chase people down and get those blocks from behind? He was a power forward.

That's what, you know, that's what, you know, he's the only player in my life, LeBron James, the only player in my life can guard the center, can guard the point guard. I think one of the most amazing things LeBron James ever did, he got into a playoff series. I think it was a second round playoff series against Chicago. Derek Rose was the MVP. And LeBron said, I'm going to guard him in the fourth quarter.

And Derek Rose was therefore atrocious. Derek Rose literally evaporated. Michael Jordan struggled to guard little tiny quick Alan Iverson. LeBron's bigger than Michael, 35 pounds heavier, three inches taller, and said all guard small, explosive Derek Rose, and completely shut him down. We've never had that. That's never existed in the history of the NBA.

So, you know, here's some of the funny Wilt stats. He's got the top four scoring averages of all time. Not Michael. Wilt's got all of them. He wants to average 50 and a half, 38, 44, and 37. only NBA player to lead in points and rebounds in the same year. He did it six times. Here's the other one.

Wilt had a hundred point game. We know that. He had five, 70 point games. Wilt had 32, 60 point games. Kobe's next. He had six. Folks, there was no three-pointer then. How?

It doesn't make any sense. So when I look at LeBron, I see Wilt. And I think Damian Lillard really capsulizes what I thought, this is why I'd give LeBron the MVP. 17th year, if you're asking Janus to play point guard, and he then leads the NBA and assists. LeBron's become a little bit of a victim of LeBron. And Jordan was like this, too, is that you start watching Jordan's documentary, and it's like, you know, his bad games, he has 28. Like his flu game is a down game.

Remember what Jerry Sloan said after the flu game? I didn't know he had the flu. He was the best player on the floor. I didn't know he had the flu. I mean, we look at the flu game. We're like, you guys have flues all the time. Jordan was still best player easily on the floor. I always tell the story.

I saw Michael Jordan in Portland, his last game in Portland. And Portland was pretty good. They had Bonzie. Well, they had good players. He was the best player. I think he had like 35 best player on the floor. And Michael was just limping to the end. I mean, the career was over.

And I was sitting the second row behind the basket with my friend Brian. And that women were still, like, fawning over him and talking to him out of bounds. He played for a bad Wizards team. And every single young player on the floor at 25, 26 for Portland, Portland was a playoff team. Portland had good players. Michael was easily the best. Easily the best player that night. So people forget they kind of marginalized Michael's ending in Washington.

Team was bad. Michael could still get you 40. Hour two next. You're going to hate me. Want 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

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

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

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you 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.

Then you're 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,

Keer 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 Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

What's up guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. 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, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue. 42. Hey, Red, my mama want you to weigh better.

What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Ah, here we go. It is our number two. We are live in Los Angeles. John Smolts in 15 minutes. Baseball opens today. This is the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. So I'm going to say something here in about 90 seconds, and a lot of you are just going to gasp and not believe I'm saying it. But I'm doubling, tripling, quadrupling down, and more for the next three months because I totally believe it.

Joy, how are you? I'm good. I'm a little nervous, but I don't know. I don't know what you're about to say. Very, it can be very controversial. Very controversial. So I got into this yesterday. is that we tend to like people to fit into the boxes.

And if they don't, oh, whoa, it's remarkable that it's taken like six years of Russell Wilson being ridiculous until everybody now is acknowledging, oh, God, he's ridiculous. He's the best or second best quarterback in the league. Like now everybody's in on it. I've been saying this for years. I'm like, just because he looks different, plays different. I saw Steve Young go through this entire thing. And Kauai Leonard is very unique.

He doesn't talk. He's got no style. He's great. He's got no shoe deal. And he literally chose the clippers over the Lakers. He didn't get along with Popovich. They sent him to Canada. His laugh is weird.

He's different. He's not like glamorous Michael Jordan or talkative verbal LeBron James. Or smile every time you saw him, Magic Johnson. He's not like our stars. He's much closer to John Stockton, who hated the media. But as of this morning, So I am really in on this thing. So as of this morning,

there are, he's starting to get into clubs that nobody else in the league is in. Now, the NBA's got, you know, 13 guys a team, you know, 30 teams, thousands of players in its history. And I have said, if Kauai Leonard in two and a half,

three months is holding up a trophy, is holding up the championship trophy, he's a top 10 player in the league all time. I'm going to say it today. He's a top five player. It's a top five player of all time. Here's why. You tell me it's championships.

You tell me this is winning matters. Okay, winning matters. As of this morning, he's in this club. This is a very elite club. In the history of the NBA, you've been a finals winner and MVP with two different teams. Kareem, LeBron, and Kauai. Now let's just talk about that first.

second. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest big man in the history of the league. He's the leading score in the history of the league. He created the shot that is without question, the most unstoppable shot, the skyhook, in the history of the league. You couldn't block it. The second guy is LeBron James, first or second best player ever. The third is Kauai Leonard.

So I would say this is a fairly elite club. Think about how many great players there are. Michael Jordan is not in that list. Magic Johnson's not in that list. Larry Berg, Jerry West, Tim, all the great players. He wins this year. He's in that club. So here's another club.

The super elite club where you've been a finals MVP and a defensive player of the year. Not a lot of guys in the NBA are great defenders. There's about five, six, seven guys every year in the league that are really good defenders. Michael Akeem and Kauai Leonard. So that's that club. So you dominate the finals. You're the best player in the biggest game. games, you're also the best defensive player in the year.

By the way, wasn't that always the thing with Jordan? You needed a stop. You needed a shot. That was Michael. But we're not done. Now we're going to go to the VIP Elite Goat Club, where you've been the best player in the finals, MVP, a defensive player of the year.

And you've been an MVP in the All-Star game, which is the world's best basketball players, and you're the best one there. Michael and Kauai. Brough, how many more clubs you want? more clubs you got to be in. You notice who's in these clubs? The 10, 12 best, all the guys he's in the clubs with, Michael, Kareem, LeBron, Akeem, those are all top 10, top 12 players. How many more clubs you want? Now, people get into this. Well, Nick Wright yesterday. It was very sad,

yelled at me. He doesn't score enough points. Hey, Colin the scoring days. Nick Wright yesterday. Do you know where Kauai Linder 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 Kwai.

So scoring now is the barometer. Do you know the top 15 all-time scoring list in the NBA includes Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Dominique Wilkins, and Paul Pierce? So it's scoring now that matters. By the way, Mello is 17th. And nobody likes Mello. He's 17th. Think about that.

There's about 15 guys a roster. Mello's 17th all time. So scoring is it? Elvin Hayes. I apologize to the Elvin Hayes fan club, but I don't think scoring's that big of a deal. I mean, you've got to be able to score. So what I'm saying is,

And he's 29 years old, meaning he's on a path to surpass Michael and LeBron. If he wins this year, he's going to have a third title, third team, third finals MVP, all-star MVP, defensive player of the year. There's only one player in the history of the league that has more than three finals MVP. So there's only one, that's MJ. So he's going to have three of those. If he wins this year, he's one of the five best players in league history. MJ, LeBron, Magic, Kareem, Kauai.

Those are the five best players ever. If he wins the title and his MVP, look at the clubs he's in. He's in the clubs with all these guys and a chemo Eman. Well, well, he's scoring. It's never been, we don't talk about Carl Malone on this show. We don't talk about Dirk and Elvin Hayes and Moses Malone. We don't talk Dominique Wilkins.

We bash me Mello. It ain't a scoring league. That's not what you tell me matters. You've never said that matters. What matters is you're the best. best player on the best team, and they go to you. Who, in your opinion today, if I said, who's the best, get a bucket, get a stop guy in the NBA?

And it's not LeBron. Now, Yonis, maybe to get a stop guy. And you could argue LeBron is to get a bucket guy. But I would argue the best get a stop and get a bucket guy in the league right now is Kauai Leonard. That was MJ. That's what you tell me matters. Get a bucket, get a stop.

MJ. Folks, we're three months away. Top five. What about Colby? Kobe was never the get a stop guy in the NBA. Kobe didn't have all those clubs. Kobe's not in those clubs. And Kobe had the best coach.

Think about this. If this cat wins with the Clippers, he'll have won finals MVP, youngest ever with Popovich and his rigid system. Then he goes to Canada. Hell, Canada can't even win in hockey anymore. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since the early 90s. That's their sport. They can't even win in hockey.

He goes to Canada and wins. and then he's going to go to the Clippers who have never gone to the conference finals and have been around forever. And you don't think he's a top 10? I'd put him right after Kareem. Am I nuts? Am I crazy?

You start joining all these clubs, and I see who's in the club. If you were in a club with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, I figure you're pretty rich because that's a club you're in. And I'm not in it, and they're in it, so I'd say you're one of the richest people in the world. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett are in a club.

I'm going to guess it's a rich guy club. You give me a club with LeBron, Michael, Jordan. I see all these clubs in Kareem. That's a top five all-time club. Rich is kind of an understatement there. Yeah, beyond rich. That's the, that's the Uber wealthy. I thought we consensus decided that Kauai was the best player in the league last year.

He's two. Really close. I saw him against Yonis. No, I think LeBron and. The LeBron was injured last year. I think last year with Katie, LeBron injured, winning the championship that Kauai was the best player in the league last year. I've been operating off of that. Yeah.

What I just said, outrageous. No, it's just outrageous because it feels like it's too fast. It's too fast. And Kauai doesn't fit in that box. Doesn't talk, not stylish, weird laugh. By the way, he's the only guy in the league now that lives on the mid-range jumper. His game isn't even. Oh, it's beautiful.

Oh, it's unstoppable. We've said this before. It's the only guy in the NBA, two guys have ever looked like Michael, Kobe offensively and Kauai defensively and offensively. That's it. There's nobody else when I look at Michael, Kauai gives me Michael's strength,

Michael's dexterity, Michael's defense. He's not his gift that is Michael is offensive. Michael's hand size where he can like palm the ball and do things. Now he's not, I mean, Michael's better offensive player. That's not, let's not argue that. Right. But there's a lot of Michael in Kauai. There's a lot of Michael.

We heard that all. Body, straight, hands, toughness, resilience, focus. I think Kauai is amazing. And if he does win the championship, it's going to be tough to argue against that. I just drop that one right there. I feel good about it. People are going to be outraged. Don't even care.

Feel fantastic about what I just said. I really do. I think it's going to happen. I said this yesterday. I think they're going to walk through the playoffs. and Clippers are going to walk through it. If everything stays as is. None of these players want to waste a game.

This is not one of these like where we're on the road. We've got a 203-0 lead. Players are going to like show up, win, get it done, get the hell out of the bubble. This guys don't want to be sitting around playing extra games. They just don't. By the way, there's no distractions. You're in the bubble. So the better teams are going to win the games because you're not distracted.

You're not, you know, you're not hanging out with your family. LeBron plays a game, goes home with his family. listen, you just basketball is everything. So the better teams are going to win more quickly. There are going to be a lot of sweeps and a lot of quick series in this thing. And I would argue this. Some guys just aren't into it and some guys are really into it. Well, that's the same in any business.

Like, that's why we've heard so many stories about guys not being having access to courts and not being able to find places to work out. I mean, there's a separation between people that live for what they do and just like what they do and what it brings for them. And you're going to see that extensively. in the bubble. John Smoltz baseball season starts today. He is joining us next. 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. This week, Fox Saturday baseball is back. The Cubs clash

with the Brewers at 1. The Dodgers battle the Giants at 4 and the Yankees face the World Series champion nationals at 7. Celebrate the return of baseball with a special triple header Saturday only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. By the way, the Kobe fans are saying you said Kobe was never get a stop guy he made all defense nine times no I said Kobe was never the get a stop guy he was never defensive player he was never the guy in the league to get the stop that was never Kobe he was a he was a good defensive player in his prime for about half of his career but that's my point kawai is the get a stop guy in the NBA right now because I saw what he did with last year I saw what he did with uh Janus in the playoffs he's just

like no no I'm going to end that that that's not going to work Kobe was never that. The fanboys coming out of the woodwork. You never said, nobody said Kobe couldn't play defense. He wasn't the get a stop guy in the league. He wasn't. Duncan was more of that guy. That wasn't, that wasn't.

And I do think LeBron for a short period was that guy. He'd guard Derek Rose. He'd guard your forward. He'd guard anybody. Michael was the get-a-stop guy. John Smoltz, World Champ Hall of Famer, joining us from the MLV Network in New Jersey via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

Baseball season starts today. All right, the Mookie Betts deal. Dodgers actually don't, John, they don't just hand those things out. They had Machado. They wouldn't pay him. They had Bryce Harper. They got out of that. Zach Grakey, they let him go to Arizona.

This is not an organization, despite their attendance in revenue that hands out big money. They did for Mookie. Why? What does he bring? The others did not? Well, he brings stability, star power, and on and off the field. Look, he's a guy that has a rare combination that I said that baseball needs. They need the power guy that can run, that can play deep.

defense that can steal bases. And that's what you're getting in Mookie Betts. I mean, he's, he's a very connected, streaky offensive machine. And not to mention his defense speaks for itself, too. So he's truly the five weapon. They've gotten the other side of their town, the greatest player in the world, and Mike Trouts. So now the Dodgers can boast, they've got player 1A, really. I mean, that's how good Mookiee bets can be. And I think the storyline is going to be year in and year out. Mookie Betts and Mike Trout talk in California. And don't be surprised that Mookie Betts doesn't win an MVP or two along the way during

this contract. Now, what does this do for Aaron Judge? Compare what Aaron Judge does. Now, again, really likable guy, big power. You know, he's Paul Bunyan-esque with that size. Is Aaron Judge in that kind of category of talent for the Yankees? He is. But the one thing that, you know, you get a little.

concerned. He's going to have to prove he can go through a full campaign without being, you know, injury prone. That's the one knock on his size and stature in the game. He's one of my favorite players to watch play baseball. We don't see many players like him, built like him. And unfortunately, he's run into a few years of just some injuries that need to go away before he's going to get that monster monster deal. You just can't even fathom the numbers he's going to put up in his ballpark because it's tailor-made. I mean, there isn't a ballpark. He can't hit a ball out of out of any part of the ballpark. But I want to see him be healthy.

I want to see him play a full year and see what he can do because his skills, although be it, you know, people ask me, who would you pick between Mookie Betts, right fielder and Aaron Judge's right fielder? And I said, honestly, it depends on which park they're playing in because if they're playing in Finway, you know, Fenway, I'm taking Mookie bets because he's another center fielder that can cover that incredible right field oddity that they have. If they're playing in Yankee Stadium, I'm taking it. can Aaron Judge.

And that's really how close these guys are, but how different they are from their body type. And I just want to see them stay healthy. So yesterday, I was watching some highlights. The Astros got three guys got thrown at, got hit by a pitch. And I think to myself, all right, we're going to see some of this, right? We're going to see some of it. Were you ever comfortable, John? I mean, what they did is viewed by baseball as players as really egregious, like next level,

knew the pitch is coming. Would you have thrown at somebody? If somebody would have asked you to throw, would you have needed to be asked to throw at an astro? Like, where would it land for you that they literally were cheating, knowing what John Smoltz was throwing, and that absolutely punctures your momentum, limits your numbers? Where do you land on this?

Yeah, so I was a type of player that was very conscientious of throwing a ball and what damage I could do to somebody. And so unless my manager, which rarely happened, was telling me that I had to do something for the protection of our players, which is really more of what my era was about, protecting your teammates when they got hit. I definitely wouldn't hit a guy because I couldn't get them out. And this scenario you're posing is certainly one that, you know, we anticipated in a full season what was going to happen to them from the backlash that they got. But I don't think, again, enough people know how to do it right. These pitches that we're seeing here can be easily described as it wasn't egregious, but anything that happens with the Astros is going to be looked upon as somebody did it on purpose

because of the scenario that's set out, sent out. If pitchers know how to command the baseball, which I argue not a lot of them do, then you're going to get these mistakes that hit the Astros and right, right, right or wrong, you're going to basically say they did it on purpose. From a standpoint of an organization going into a season, having done what they did, that would have to come for me from the manager and then you execute it and you're done. You don't keep doing it. Yeah.

So what is the feeling in baseball? So it's always been, you know, in a long season, either the pitchers or the hitters dominate April in May. And, you know, for veteran players, they need more time. Now, this is not a marathon. This is a sprint. We're starting in the heat of July. So inside baseball, do you think pitchers or hitters have a slight or significant edge in the first part of this 60 game slate?

Yeah, it's a great question that I've been really trying to ponder in far as, you know, what information are we getting? It's hard to follow what these inter squads are like. All I know is if you're the Yankees or you're the nationals, you're tired of facing your own pitchers, which are pretty good. I think the hitters actually are going to have a little more advantage than typically that would happen in the start of the season, the pitchers would have an advantage. The weather you said is so important for hitters and the ball traveling. I mean, the ball is going to jump.

And so pitchers typically are going to need a start or two to get accustomed to the up and down and just the adrenaline rush of pitching in a game that counts. And so I'm going to give the hitters a slight advantage. I did not think this was going to be the case three months ago. I thought the hitters would be at a bigger disadvantage because what you're going to see early on is managers trying to figure out how to manage the first week of the season, meaning do they try to steal wins? Do they access every one of their bullpen guys? See, the limits that were put on baseball over 162, you don't think you could have now, meaning

relievers going three in a row, whereas a no-no in 162, I don't think you can say that now. I'd have a reliever pitch three games in a row, knowing that the season's shorter. So so many more components come into this with the strategy that can be employed to win a baseball game, especially from teams that typically didn't have a chance when the season started, in theory, over 162 is going to make this so exciting. And I would be very leery of the teams, like the Marlins, like the Royals, like the teams that we just kind of discarded into a rebuilding season, you know, there's only going to be a handful of teams that really don't have a chance in the 60 games, but everybody else sure does. Yeah, I saw an over-under.

the other day, like Fox bet, and I couldn't believe how many teams were between like 30 wins and 35. I mean, if you finish, you know, six games out, that's like significant this year. So I think it's going to be playoff baseball feeling very quickly. It is interesting with no players, no fans, excuse me. So as a pitcher, you're on the mound. And, you know, you come out with your best stuff, but you get into these middle innings and you're really scrapping. And I think to myself, God, if I was at home at Yankee Stadium and I've, you know, I've thrown,

I got not much left in the tank. That juice of the Bronx could get me through a tough inning. That juice in Atlanta, that crowd. Or am I wrong in that you guys are on the mound? You totally tune out fans. They've never gotten you. You've never punched a guy out based on energy. Like I do think for a pitcher,

I can't imagine being at home in front of 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium or 32,000 at Fenway. And that juice doesn't help you rear back and give you a little something. and that's all gone now. Absolutely. I think you're going to see personalities really come into play that affect the player and those confines you're talking about. For example, not to pick on players or use them in an adverse way,

but a guy like Stroman for the Mets, an energy-type pitcher feeds off the crowd, feeds off the moment, he uses all of that, or a hitter like Tim Anderson, who loves the flare and he had a fantastic year. Those guys are going to have to manufacture that because it's not going to be, be there for him. And so the guys that are disciplined, a guy on the opposite spectrum, like Klob, he's very emotionless on the mound, that's not going to bother him. He's not going to use that. He doesn't use that. So I'm intrigued to watch the players that are going to be so motivated internally that nothing else is going to take away from their discipline. Like the guy we're seeing right now

in Clayton Kershaw. He doesn't need the crowd, but he feeds off the crowd too. So you have this hand-in-hand kind of battle of how do I, here's the thing to look for. In the second or third week of the season, players on teams that were expected to win or maybe not fall five or six games out, what happens do players drift? Do they lose focus? Because the environment of 60 games and no fans, these are the kind of things that are going to be a challenge for a lot of players who are trying to go into this with no experience. I know for me as a player, I had a hard time my first three years playing in front of 1,500, maybe 2000,

the county stadium. I heard vendors. I heard noises. I drift. I thought of things on the mound. I should never have thought of. I learned how to put that away. But as a veteran, after 20 years, I would have learned in this environment, challenge myself with little games,

little goals that I had each game to be able to stay locked in. I needed to challenge myself. That worked for me. Other guys might have a benefit from no fans with the pressure being off in a city where there's so much expected like Philadelphia. I think the Phillies might thrive, not because they don't have a good team, but because the pressure for them to have a good team with their fan base, they have the greatest fan base that is against the visitor, but can turn against the home player if he doesn't get it done. That's not going to be there. So maybe guys have better years in cities like that. It's funny. I don't really, John, it's so funny that I grew up and the Braves were terrible,

but they had really interesting players like Jeff Burroughs and Ralph Gar. I mean, they had good players. I forget your, I forget that your early years, because I think of John Smolts and I think of packed houses and World Series. You played on a crappy team or too early. You did. First three years. We were bad. Terrible.

Matter of fact, I remember going in my first, you know, when I just got there, I was trying to find out all the places to go. I went into a comedy shop. to just kind of kick back, and every joke was about the Atlanta Braves. And it was awful. It was funny at first, and it was awful. It's like, that's about us. And so, you know, you learn how to deal with those environments.

Athletes are creatures of habits. This is a challenge because the creature of habit has been thrown away. Rules that they have to buy by, buy, of course, uncomfortable places you're going to be that you're not used to be. And then once you get in that between those white lines, there is a difference between the great ones that can focus with no fans there and the ones that can focus with 40, 50,000. And that is going to be a challenge. Good thing that they had these times and these inner squads to get used to it,

because it would be very eerie if they had to just jump into something that they've never done like. They've never done this before. A champ in 95, Hall of Famer, John Smoll, at the MLB Network in New Jersey. Good seeing you, bud. Appreciate it. I'm looking forward to this year, and we'll talk again.

Thanks again. All right. Yeah, when I was a kid growing up, the Braves were awful, the Giants were awful, the Padres were like 60 win awful. Then my Mariners came into the league and they were awful.

When I was a kid growing up, the Reds were great, the Royals were great, the A's were great. But the A's had Charlie Finley, who was the cheapest owner. Like literally, he put the games on a college radio station.

It is fun. When you think of the Braves, you know, for 20 years, they were so good. were awful. I watched those. Jeff Burrow, was it, Hank Aaron on bad teams? I'm just rambling here.

It's interesting that he said he could hear the vendors, though. You're everything. Well, you're not going to hear vendors. This is going to be vendors. There doesn't be no vendors. You know, again, I'm watching those Dodger highlights where they've tarped off the fans and they got the cards up that look like people. These leagues are doing a great job. These TV networks and these leagues, they're really, I've been watching the MLS. looks good.

I mean, it's better with fans, but they pipe. Yeah, but nobody's arguing that. Is it going to be consumable? Is it 70% of what it was? Yes. It's 70% to 75% of what it was. And when you create that with the scarcity and my hunger for sports,

you're going to have good numbers. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, well, we have three really good stories for you, I didn't tell you about the last one yet. So Washington has announced that they are going forward.

They're going to call their team the Washington football team. This is not the final rebranding. It's just the name they want to use pending the adoption of a new name. So people were complaining, like you're going to change the name. Why are you still calling yourselves the Redskins? So this is just in this space, this is what we're going with this year. Yes. So it's not the final rebranding.

They're going to continue the process of retiring their former name. and hope to be entirely rid of it on physical and digital spaces by the season opener. So they are moving away from the name. They're going to keep the same color scheme of the burgundy and gold. Love the color scheme. The logo on the helmets will be replaced with the player's number, which I think is actually a really good classic. I like that.

There's nobody in the NFL that's what Alabama does. Who does that right now? Alabama used to. Who does it now? Well, the charges are doing it this year, aren't they? With a tiny bolt. I think it's kind of cool. I like it.

Penn State's got boring uniforms. I like them. I just think it's simple. Like it's very classic looking. And it kind of fits the, you know, the city. It's, it's, it's, it's going to do that this year. So this is going to be for this year. They're going to use these uniforms and helmets.

These uniforms and helmets for the 2020 season. This is not, I got to tell you, it's not terrible. I like it. I kind of like it too. They're going to continue to seek the feedback of players, alumni, fans, and sponsors in the community for a new team name that it will be used in the future. Does anybody do this in college? I don't know why I've watched so many Alabama football games.

I'm trying to think. Am I wrong on that? No, I think there is a team in college that has the numbers in the helmets. I don't think this is a bad look at all. If anyone's listening, let us know. Alabama does. So Alabama uses numbers on helmets. Yeah.

Yeah, okay. By the way, it kind of looks similar because it's obviously crimson. I think it's a good look. Yeah, I like it. And it's the right move to make right now because if you're going to change the name because it's offensive, then don't keep using the defensive name. Well, Cleveland has no logo at all. And Pittsburgh has one on just one side.

I mean, yeah. I've been calling them to Washington. football team for years. So it's no adjustment for me. So more news, the NHL expansion franchise in Seattle has revealed its name. So I wasn't aware that they were getting in an NHL team. I didn't know. Now it's next year's season. Yes, it's next year season. It's going to me for the 2021-22 season. The team will be called the Seattle Cracken, which I thought was a rum. It is a rum, but the rum is named after the sea monster. Which is a Cracken. So they also, this is the promo video, which I think looks amazing.

It's really good. It's very compelling stuff. Dark sky is Seattle. Yeah, it's a set of the tone. It's very Seattle. It's a little windy, a little rainy. Very November in Seattle looking. Let's see. Definitely cold. Oh, that's the coast of Washington. Yeah, it looks really good. So they've

tweeted it out. You can see it on at NHL Seattle underscore. So yeah, so they'll be called the Seattle Cracken. They also released the logo, which is a light blue made to look like the tentacles with a red eye. The team calls the eye of the beast. Do you have that?

Yes, I'm sure we have that coming up. It's probably at the end of the... It's a great promo video. Right? It's really good. Yeah. I don't know it. You're a Seattle guy. Okay, so... There's that it. There's a logo. Yes. See, kind of goes up. Then you get the red eye.

That's pretty good. That's pretty... Oh, look at that. That's pretty strong. Very dramatic. That certainly beats the Boston Bruin. I'm all boring bee. So it's made it look like the tentacles. The red eye is the eye of the beast. The team's color scheme is dark blue, light blue, black and red.

That's pretty good. That is strong. I think it's really good branding for Seattle. I do. I really like it. Now, they're going to play where? They're going to play at the Renovated Climate Pledge Arena. Well, what, the renovated, is that key arena?

I know the basketball arena downtown. Yeah. For the 2021-22 season. So the Cracken is, it's like a locknest monster like sea creature. All right. It's mythical. Yes. There is no cracking.

Well, I don't know. I haven't spent much time. There's a lot of stuff down there. There's a lot down there in the ocean that we don't know about. So I actually am not going to, I am not going to go on the factual side of yes, there is no cracking. I haven't spent enough time out there to know. Well, there's a lot. There's a lot of stuff in the ocean we don't know about.

Yesterday, Demarcus Ware came and he said he got 25 fish and I'm like, what do they call? And he's like, sand bass. That's a made up thing. It's not. I'd never heard of sand bath. Sand bass. You've heard of that. My brother loves the fish.

I don't like fishing. I can't be out in the ocean. Sports fishing is fun. No. I am a sit on the beach or sit on the boat and drink and enjoy the sun and the music person. I am not into all that work. I'll eat it, though. Cracking with a K.

Cracking with a K. Yeah, so very exciting. Finally, we are your, we are News Central for Mike Tyson comeback. And we've got it. Mike Tyson has an opponent. for his highly anticipated return to boxing. According to Yahoo Sports, Tyson will face Roy Jones Jr. In an eight-round exhibition match,

it's planned for September 12th at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The director of the California State Athletic Commission confirmed that Tyson has a hold on that date, and he had a Zoom meeting with the two fighters to discuss the exhibition. Tyson hasn't fought since 2005, and Jones hasn't fought since 2018,

so not that long ago. but they're not even the same weight category Tyson's 54 and Jones is 51 They will potentially be wearing headgear And we'll use bigger gloves potentially 12 ounces This kind of sounds too sticky for me Not into it?

Not into it You're not gonna watch? I'll watch But not enthusiastically Who would he have had to fight for you To be engaged to that level? Like Tyson Fury? Yeah, yeah I'd watch that

But that's not a good move for Tyson Fury If he beats on Mike Tyson, we don't like that. And if he loses to Mike Tyson, that's a disaster. That's the kind of drama I want. Roy Jones, it must be 40 pounds less than Tyson. Well, they're going to have to make some adjustments, obviously, to make it happen. So they're going to use gigantic fake kid gloves and dung head gear. I don't know. I feel like getting hit with the 12-ounce glove from Mike Tyson's still going to feel like getting hit from Mike Tyson.

This is really a disappointment for me. Really? Really a disappointment. I'm still into it. I'm going to watch. Yeah. I think I would watch. You're going to watch.

A joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Most men start losing their hair by the age of 35 years old. That's sad. I've got lots. Mostly, it's a disheveled mess, but still have some.

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Go there right now, forhims.com slash Colin, that's C-O-L-I-N, full refund of price paid available for the first 90-day supply. and check it out. These are not, you know, gas station counter supplements. Discrete, covert. A couple of questions online. No pharmacy lines. No awkward in-person doctor visits for him. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

Ryan Hollins played the NBA for a decade. Got a podcast now and a funny one. The opinionated seven-footers with Ryan Hollins and Brendan Haywood. He is joining us now. Vee the Coward Global Satellite Network. Let's get right to it. I'm going to throw it out there, dear Ryan. Kauai Leonard.

And I think the Clippers win, and I think he's finals MVP. He wins his third championship with his third team, one in Canada, one in San Antonio, rigid system, one with the Clippers. And he has also been defensive player of the year. I think he is a better all-time player in three months than Kevin Durant. And I think he's a top five all-time player. Let's start with the all-time player. Am I nuts? if he does something that's never been done.

You know what, Colin, you're not completely nuts because when I throw up my all-time list, I go, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Karim Abdul-Jemarvart, forgive me. I don't mind if Kareem flips anywhere in there, but my number five is wide open. That could be magic, that could be Larry.

But when you're going to take a good look at Kauai Leonard, he would have led two teams to championships, Not been a part. Okay, we're not going to count San Antonio finals. Finals MVP is pretty nice early in his career. But if you're going to look at this situation and say that he left two different organizations in one, obviously maybe you say you had the complaint and say he beat a hobbled Golden State team.

He did. But on the way there, he knocks off Joelle Embed, Ben Simmons, and a number of guys on the Eastern Conference that was incredibly tough. And Kauai had last year's championships on his shoulders. If he does it again this year, he's going to. had to go through LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and when he gets to the finals, I get it. Janice out to the coupo isn't as well established, but that is a feat in itself. I think you're going to have to start putting him in these all-time conversations.

Now, Colin, listen, I'm not quite 100% on giving him a seat at the table automatically, but these discussions are going to be right there because pound for pound, these are arguably one of the most impactful seasons we've seen. And last year's run, might I add, his numbers are comparable with Michael Jordan, Hakeemann, Elijah one and Kobe Bryant. So listen, Kauai Leonard, that boy is special.

If he does it again, we're going to have some conversations, Kyle. Yeah, because I think most people consider Kareem the best center, Magic the best point, Michael the best two, LeBron somewhere in the forward position.

There's a forward spot available on the all-time team. And I, if you start looking at it, I think to myself, he's a much better defender than Larry Bird. It's not even close. I think he's more flexible

defensively than Tim Duncan. Okay, let's take Kevin Durant. So let's just take Kevin Durant. So Kauai wins his third title this year, three different teams, All-Star MVP, defensive player of the year. Is he better than Kevin Durant? Colin, he exceeded Kevin Durant last year.

Kevin Durant has never taken his team, not a 72 or 73 win Warriors team, his team and won a championship. Now, arguably, you can look at it and say, Kevin Durant, yeah, he won. He wanted the basketball. He did everything from a strategical standpoint. You could never double-team Kevin Durant in those championships. When you looked at what Kauai Leonard did, he was double-team. He was triple-team.

And not just on the offensive end. As you brought up earlier, Colin, he was an impact player on the defensive end. When you scouted the Golden State Warriors and you said, Kevin Durant, all right, he's so good. We've got to get the ball out of his hands. Who are you going to leave? Steph? No. Clay.

No. You couldn't help on a player who was all. ready prolific. Well, I love what KD did. I love his accomplishments. He has not done in his career what Kevin Durant, excuse me, what Kauai Leonard had went out and did last year, achieving his own championship. And if Kauai does it again this year, oh, he's, he's leapfrog, KD. Katie's got to go show me sudden with Kyrie Irvin over there in Brooklyn, brother. Come on, Kyle, and talk to me. Well, no, I, listen, we've been talking about this. I'm all in on it. This is not a contrarian take, is that when you start doing all-time teams,

I've got my point guard, my two guard, my center, and I've got LeBron somewhere. I've got a forward spot open. And I've always said, well, I would do Larry Byrd because he was the best shooter in the league during his prime and the second best passer. And my team needs a three-point shooter because that's not Michael or Magic specialty. But you start looking at it. If I have LeBron who can shoot threes, I don't care about that. Here's what's interesting. If you just laid out the numbers, nobody would argue with this stuff.

What is it about Kauai? We don't want to embrace him. What is it about him? From playing against Kauai and covering him in the media, he's quiet, Colin. You can't get two words out of him. He's not going to come out and remind you how great he is. He's a guy that you start reading his scouting report, and we would say, well, he's strong. He's six, eight.

He guards all five positions. He goes right, left, and he's an assassin in the mid-range. He can create his own shot. Okay, does he want the ball the last two minutes? Yes. Can we double him? Ah, it's tough to double a guy who works from the top of the key and the three-point line. So in all reality, he's not a loud personality.

LeBron James is going to come out and remind you how great he is. Kevin Durant, you know, he's going to take some Twitter wars. And I have no problem with KD and his burners. But Kauai's just not a guy who's going to remind you. You know, I've heard stories of Nike and Gatorade and other people trying to say, hey, Kauai, we need to promote you. We need to put you as one of the faces. of the league in Kauai is kind of, ah, it's still pulling teeth.

So he's coming along with the clippers. He's done more commercials, more PR, more media. That's what we like to see. But he's not a personality that's going to remind you. And Colin, even think about Michael Jordan. You know, Michael Jordan and the promotion behind Michael let you know how great Michael was on top of what he was doing on the court. Yeah, it's good stuff.

Ryan Hollins, I'm not going to give away where he's at, even though we know where he's at. But I'm not going to give it away. I'm going to give him some, be discreet. Good workout, a fairly famous place increasingly in Los Angeles. Good seeing you, buddy. Thanks, Ryan. Hey, appreciate it.

Hey, I'm loving their hair. Joy, don't let it go nowhere. Joy, we're loving the hair. Good stuff. We do, too. No, I mean, you start, you know, if you take all the arguments and stuff out of it and you just lay stuff down, you're like, okay. Like, remember, when Kobe won his championships, Shaq was considered the better player. like he led San Antonio.

He led the Raptors. He will lead the Clippers. And these are Canadian basketball teams, the second biggest team in Los Angeles. Like if you just start, get all the emotion out of it, you start adding up all these clubs he's in. He starts getting into your starting five.

I'm not sure. Burden Magic didn't play defense like that. They didn't. And for the record, Kauai is 29. He's got eight years left. We're just starting. Folks, he's just not conventional, and we struggle with that, hour three next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. 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 crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. They're 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 Clifford 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.

Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Ah, here we go. It's hour three. We are live. in Los Angeles.

It's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. High Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. I just got a picture Joy Taylor. I did not know. Cracken is the new NHL team. They have a new hype video out, which is really dark and moot.

It's very Seattle. It's very Seattle. And I just looked at the Space Needles, got the Cracken flag up, the Space Needle. Have you ever been to the Space Needle? I've not, no. I love Seattle, though. It's really...

Great city. I've been there a couple times. It's a really, so I grew up and it was all lumber, Warehouser was a company, and then Boeing, those were the two big companies. And like if, you know, like you got, if, if, let's say the economy was bad, companies would order fewer airliners, the economy would be very unstable. It was nature and plane building. Yeah, it's very, it's very wet there, but it's very green, which I did not, I don't,

I don't know what I expected, but I did not expect that. And then it transformed as I've. age to Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks. Three of the biggest companies, global companies. And so now it's just been on like 25 years of really good economies in Seattle with no state tax, which is obviously very attractive to a lot of businesses. So it's really become a Seattle has changed from a kind of sleepy wet town to it's like L.A.

North. It's got like it's got great restaurants, great restaurants. It's an artsy vibe. A very Paul Allen Rock and Roll Museum. It was when I was a kid growing up. I grew up two hours from Seattle. It was the big city. But it wasn't that big of a city.

It was like Boeing. That was it. That was the big company in town. I like how all their teams have kind of the same theme. Motif kind of, yeah. Yeah. Crackens. Like Pittsburgh has that all the same color scheme.

Yes. You know, Seattle kind of has that too. Blue, green. It's a beautiful state. It is wet. I'm not going to deny that. There's a lot of rain. Yeah.

A lot of rain. And it's just, it's not heavy. It's just there. All the time. It is. I covered the Seahawks Rams game up there and anticipated. That's right. I anticipated it raining and it did.

Yeah. But I was prepared for it. I had a nice little hat. Where did you go to dinner that night, the night before? I don't remember where I went. Metropolitan Grills, very popular. No, I don't remember where I went. Seafood's great.

I did get seafood, though. I like going to the little fish market. Pike Place Market? It's unbelievable. It's really pretty. That's go there every time. I'm this Chamber of Commerce for Seattle. No, they've got a hockey team.

It's going to be called the Cracken, and they got a cool video. So Rick Bueker in 15 minutes, I'm going to give him my Kauai theory. You people think I'm making it up. I'm not making it up. I've been thinking about this. You just don't like his laugh. Now, I admit, Kauai's laughs is a little goofy, but the dude's going to be a top five player ever real quickly. Also, we're playing two truths and a lie about baseball at the end of the show.

But first, NBA scrimmage has kicked off yesterday. It was fun. look good, by the way. News came out, no timetable for Zion's return. And it really got me thinking about what makes this kid so special, really? You can develop a lot of things. A quarterback, you can develop an arm. One of the reasons I thought Zion was going to be a really good player

when people said, we can't shoot. I said, timeout, time out, time out. He's like 18 years old. You can develop into a great shooter. Don't worry about that. Very few guys come into the NBA and they're great. shooters. I mean, in baseball, you can develop a number two pitch and a number three pitch. You can develop almost anything as long as God gave you some genetic gifts, strength

size, you know, athletic ability. Here's what you can't develop. Charisma. You've got it or you don't. And I can see fakers every day. Some people just have charisma and they have it. And Zion's got it. I like a lot of it. He has no current timetable to return to Orlando. He went home for a family emergency, and the NBA is freaking out. And they should be. Zion's the number two

draw in this league right now. And I'm not joking. LeBron's one, Zion's two. He's the number two drawing this league. The NBA could have chosen any team to start the bubble. Westbrook and Harden. The Celtics.

I mean, Janus. They chose a rookie who played like 30 games. That's who they chose. He broke summer league records. They made an exemption for him in the rookie sophomore NBA All-Star game thing. They made an exemption for him. The league's got the research. He's the second biggest star in the league. I knew he could develop a jumper. I never hold that against basketball players. They're kids. God, they went to class. Now you just spend old day in a gym. Ray Allen didn't break into the league that good of a shooter. He was an athletic kid who scored at the rim.

He became the great Ray Al and the shooter. But Zion's charisma, smile, style, power, Duke, shoe controversy, you can't teach it. You cannot develop it. You name the players in any professional sport in America that have become superstars, and it's been developed in their late 20s, early 30s. There's none. Michael Jordan was selling shoes early. Tiger Woods was a star at 16 years old.

LeBron was a star in high school. Bryce Harper, cover a sports illustrated. By the way, winning doesn't make you a superstar. Tim Duncan put people to sleep. Shoe deals don't make you superstars. Spencer Dinwiddie has a shoe deal. So does John Wall. So does Lanzo Ball.

It's it. Dr. Jay. Magic. Michael, LeBron, Zion, Tiger, Mahalms. You don't develop, there's a million agents out there trying to make their clients bigger. But that charisma, the it thing, you can't develop it. You got it or you don't. Shoe deals don't make it.

There are a lot of guys with shoe deals that aren't superstars. Winning does it? I'll give you an example. Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis. Zion went to Duke. he was out of the tournament real quick. Anthony Davis went to Kentucky,

which is about as close to Duke as college basketball has. Unlike Zion, he went all the way through the tournament. And he won. And he had a nickname, Unibrow. And people were saying he's the best college player in a decade. Nobody was saying Zion was the best college basketball player for a decade. And Anthony Davis goes to New Orleans, nothing.

No TV ratings. Leagues not scheduling games for him. shoe deals. Nothing. Even now, he's LeBron's Robin. That's Zion. This is an American superstar.

It's not going to be a shoe deal. It's not going to be his winning. That kid walks into a room. The smile, the look, the style, the power. He's not in the bubble. They don't know when he's in the bubble. And I got news for you. They scheduled opening day with Zion.

Christmas Day was Zion and the bubble game was Zion. And he's not here. And they're freaking out. And I remember I had a conversation about five months ago with Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner. And the NBA ratings were down. And I was emailing. Anybody in the world could email Mark Cuban.

He emails you right back. I mean, do you think for a guy that owns 100 companies, he'd be busy? And I said, hey, Mark, it's Colin, blah, blah, blah. Well, he knew that because of my email address. And I said, I think the ratings are down. I think you're wrong on your reasoning. I think it's because all the stars were hurt. Like KD was hurt and Steph was hurt.

And he goes, Colin, do you know how few people in this league move a quarter of a rating point? He's like, I think it's one or two. And for all the talent in the NBA, it doesn't have more than two players, maybe three with Steph, that literally change a television rating. And that's in a sport that is star-driven. Because not that many basketball players have charisma or showmen. Michael was, Magic was, Dr. Jay was. That's about it.

The list is really short, and it's amazing that a 19-year-old who's played 30 games already has it. And once you have it, it's hard to lose it. All right, so I saw this baseball starting today. Dodgers yesterday signed Mookie Betts. Mookie Betts is a great baseball player. Played for the Boston Red Sox. People think Mike Trout's the best player. Mookie Bets, second best player.

But when Mike Trout signed a deal with the Angels, I said, that's a bad deal. $450 million, the angels don't drive the revenue for that. They're going to have to now not be able to spend on the big setup man. They won't be able to get a number three starter. They're going to have to lose in free agency to probably a really valuable middle infielder. I didn't like the Mike Trout deal, but I thought Mike Trout to the Dodgers or the Yankees would have been a great deal. The reason this is a great deal, and the Dodgers don't spend a lot of money. The Yankees throw bad contracts and big contracts at people forever.

But the Dodgers don't. Manny Machado passed. Bryce Harper contract. Passed. Zank Rinkie. Passed. Clayton Kershaw is it. Mookie Betts is number two.

But it's a great contract because the Dodgers lead major league baseball in attendance by a long shot. And if you've ever been to Dodgers Stadium, man, they have got it figured out. The food, the drinks, the alcohol. It is a ATM, man. It is a bank. They have figured out how to, when you walk through that gate, you're bringing out your credit card. And you don't feel ripped off,

and you don't feel it's a bad deal, because it's 75 degrees. The stadium is beautiful. They always win the division. It's really a very charming experience. And it's like going to Dodger games in Los Angeles is just part of living here. Five million people.

And their revenue on an annual basis is $556 million. So what if you're paying Mookie Bet's $30 million a year? So what? The angel revenue is 200 million a year less than that, and they pay Mike Trout $5 million more a year,

then it's an issue. Like big contracts in baseball. The Dodgers have been throwing bad contracts and big contracts for people for 25 years. They haven't had a losing season since 92. But when the red signed Joey Votto and the Mariners signed Robinson Canoe, and when the Padre signed Manny Machado,

and when you start looking at those, those are bad contracts, because they then limit what you can do. in baseball. You can't win a World Series with a bad bullpen. You can't win a World Series with a bad middle infield. You'd almost always have to have a legitimate number two and three starter. Mookie Betts to the Dodgers is a great contract.

Garrett Cole to the Yankees, those are great contracts. They're nightmare contracts for anybody else. Completely limiting. In fact, with the Dodgers and the Yankees, the only question is from the ownership groups, do you feel like spending the money? You got it. You know, buying a Lamborghini by a school teacher is, horrible financial judgment.

Buying a Lamborghini for a CEO of a hedge fund, you could justify it. You've got $14 million coming in the year, $9 million bonuses. You can justify it. I'm not a Lambeau guy. I think they're kind of cheesy, saw one on the row the other day.

But, you know, whatever, you can justify it. Most of Major League Baseball is closer to the schoolteacher budget than they are to the hedge fund budget. And when I look at the Mookie Bex deal, I'm like $350 million, $30 million. a year, 12 years, Mookie Betts? Have you gone to a Dodger game?

And they're just filing wallets into that stadium. Five, four and a half, five million a year. They figured it out. They got nothing but money. It's part of the culture like the Yankees in New York. From the cable deal to the attendance,

to what they charge, to the parking. It makes complete, utter total sense. And the Dodgers have shown a reluctance to just hand over big money deals. There's a reason they did. This makes total sense for arguably the best player in baseball.

And the season starts today, and Dodger fans are going to get a chance to look at Mookiee bets a lot over the next four months. Can't believe I talked hockey today as well. Cracken will do well in Seattle. Seattle, it'll do well. Downtown Seattle is not, it's a great state, beautiful, you know, Sound, Pacific Northwest, the Puget Sound. But in the winter, it's dark and, like, having something to do.

It's not a great downtown in terms of entertainment. So the downtown area closes pretty early. So, like, they need stuff at night. When the NBA left, downtown Seattle got really boring. I mean, isn't it great and kind of interesting how strongly can be affected by good branding and a good name? Yeah. Like, that promo video, I mean, I'm not switching allegiances to the Cracket. But it would make you, if you lived in Seattle, you'd want to buy tickets to it.

Yeah. And it's a great name. fits the whole thing Seattle's got going on. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah, it'll work. It'll work there.

It's a cold weather city and the NHLs during the winter. And downtown Seattle needs stuff to do. The Sonics gave you stuff to do in downtown Seattle because it's cold, gloomy, and wet in downtown. Not a, not a fit lot to do. Many of the great restaurants in Seattle are not downtown. It's a big burb state. You got Redmond with Microsoft and the Starbucks people. A lot of those Amazon live out in Bellevue.

Mercer Island. So the downtown can get real sleepy. They like need a franchise in the winter downtown to drive people in. I think it's great. Rick Buecker is around the corner. Rick Buecker is coming up next. Don't go anywhere. 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-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 Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick 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 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. 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. 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, 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 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 42. Hey, rep, 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 Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

You okay with feeling older, neither am I. Check it out. MDrive for Men.com. MDrive for Men.com. By the way, I just tweeted. So Fox Sports, our baseball starts Saturday, and we're using, I don't know if it's called CGI. We're putting fans in the stands.

And it's incredible technology. And people just are freaking out. They don't know what to do with it. And I think it's great. In fact, I suggested this to my bosses about five months ago. I said, I don't know, you guys, you know, your connections to movies in Hollywood. Why can't you CGI,

fans in there. Just make it, you know, the bottom line is the critics of television don't understand. We're television production companies. That's all we are here. Make up and hair and you do get acting is like cut, do it again, and again

40 takes. Well, sports is sports production. We're adding all sorts of things to a game to, you know, enhance it better lighting, more cameras, slow-mo. You're not getting raw sports. Well, the rules the game changed to make it a better television

product. The leagues literally go, let's change the rules to make it better on television. We control sports. We pay for it, a lot for it, but we largely control what you see. Well, because fans at the actual game, obviously, they're part of the game. Like, they're crucially important, but most people watch sports

on television. 98%. That's what drives all the revenue for all these leagues. And so our job, anybody's job. ESPN, NBC, make it look good on television. ESPN's got the soccer. We got the soccer. They've got these, those ads are not really there. They've got big blue and green screens.

This is my first time seeing this. There is it right there. Yeah. So you fill in the stands. I think it looks great. I think it looks great too. Listen, they're just old fogies, especially baseball fans. Oh, you change.

Our job is to make this look good on TV. They aren't real people. This is terrible. Let's make it very static and cold. It's not authentic. Or Spartan. In my mind, I know they're not really there. Doesn't matter. We're a TV production house.

I love it. I think it looks great. Well, I think it's fantastic. Better beats nobody in the stands. Yeah. I think, again, I think what all these leagues have done is remarkable. When people go to a concert, they smoke dope. Why? Enhance the experience. You don't go there for the raw concert. You smoke weed. Everybody goes to a concert in Los Angeles. Go to the theater. Smell it. Everybody's stone. Smoking dope. What does that have to do with this?

I'm telling you, when you go to watch a concert, don't you elevate the experience? Don't you have a cocktail? I'll have a couple. Sure, of course. Why do you do that? What about the authentic music? Oh, you don't want the...

Oh, so you're saying, like, the fake fans in the stand is the equivalent of getting high at a concert. You go to a concert when you go to Coachella. I've never been to Coachella. I haven't either. A lot of weed out there. I've heard there's drugs there. Why?

To elevate the experience, to lubricate the experience, to alter the experience. So in sports, we're supposed to just do raw. pitch ball hit ball no crowd we're just elevating it that's CGI is weed I think it's awesome you know what

you're all about analogies and you took it there I'm with you Rick Buecker who's just he doesn't even want to be on the show now he doesn't want any part of this via the coward

global satellite network he got what I was saying you got what I was saying right Colin you're the only one that can go from Geyser to Gons in 60s That was impressive. Okay.

So by the way, I watched the NBA stuff, Bukes, yesterday. And I think the league's done a great job. I think it looks good. It really looks good. So go ahead. The basketball product is not looking particularly good. But the setting and the fact that we're back, and I just, you know, personally, the fact that I could turn on my two screens and I had live sports to watch on both

of them was a sense of normalcy that I haven't felt in quite some time. And look, there's going to be a ramp up here and it's going to be very fascinating. But the fact of the matter is, we just haven't had anything close to this to enjoy up until now. So yeah, you're right. I have a lot of questions, though, like the plexiglass and the social distancing and the seats apart and some people are wearing masks and some people aren't. And then you got all the players on the floor together. I'm like, okay, what's the protocol here? What are we doing? Like, what are you supposed to be doing?

It's still a little bit confusing. But the overall view of it was fantastic. Yeah, baseline looks a little emptied. Joy said they should put some ads on the baseline because it kind of, you have about 12 feet. It looks really empty there. But outside of that, optically, I thought it looked strong. I thought it was a really, really good job of the NBA.

By the way, I was saying this this morning, that you can teach a lot of things, but you can't teach charisma, and you can't teach it. Zion, to me, is already the number two drawing the league. Already. He's played 30 games. Your thoughts on that opinion?

He's not number two. He's number one. He's not the leading rebounder on his team. He's not the leading scorer on his team. His team isn't playing for a championship. And yet everybody is fascinated with Zion Williamson. I assume you're putting LeBron at number one. but I feel as if LeBron to some extent has jumped the jump the shark.

We like what's brand, what's new and shiny, and that is Zion. Now, there was a time where this would make me angry, as angry as someone making a big deal out of Yanosanta DiCompo hitting unguarded practice threes. But I learned from you, Colin, that it's not about how I think things should be, but how they are. And the reality is that Zion fascinates people with what he is and what he could be.

I have concern and wonder if this is the best thing for the league because I don't know about his longevity. He's not the best player on his team. He's kind of the shiny object. But the reality is he is the most fascinating player in the league right now. I just don't, without some, Steph, without KD, without, and even if they were in the league right now, I just don't know

that anybody trumps the fascination of what is Zion going to do. So I had a take today and getting some pushback. I said, you know, you've never told me that points matter in the NBA. If they did, I'd talk Elvin Hayes and Carl Malone and Moses Malone. This is about winning at the highest level and being the best player on the floor. And if Kauai and Leonard goes to a third franchise from the system of San Antonio to Canada where they can't even dominate hockey, to the Clippers who were a joke for 40 years. And he wins a third title, the third MVP, to go along with an all-star MVP, a defensive player of the year award.

I am now running out of space. He is in my top 10. And I would argue that most of us in our all-time starting five go Magic Michael, LeBron, Kareem. And then we argue about the other one, Bird, Duncan. And I start looking at Bird's career and I look at Kauai's and what it could be in three months. I'm telling you, Rick, if he wins a title third team, he's, I, he is strong consideration for my top five. Am I nuts on this? what I appreciate about you in most cases Colin is that you are reactionary but not overreactionary

this might be one of the craziest ideas that you've ever had the man has never even I'm glad I heard the road that you took to get here because when I first heard that you were proposing this I was like how how did he get there how do you get there he's not he's never won league MVP. He's not going to win it this year. How can you be a top five all time if you have never been league MVP? Okay, it's great. Okay, that's a great question. Because nobody's ever said that matters. If it mattered, we wouldn't give Russell Westbrook MVP because he had a good rebounding year. And Michael Jordan would have more than five and LeBron would have more than four. We've never said MVP gets you in this club. We've said rings, titles, defense,

dominance go-to guy. That's what you tell me matters. Yeah, well, they do. All those things matter, but you got to have a league MVP in the book, too. I mean, there's got to be at least one in your bag. And by the way, you didn't mention Kobe Bryant in that top five consideration. And certainly, I would put him there before I would put Kauai Leonard in the top five. Okay. How about top 10? Maybe. But look, he wasn't necessarily clearly the best player on the team that won the championship in San Antonio. He won a championship in Toronto against a team that lost two of its best three players in the finals. And now he's going to be winning a championship in a pandemic with a shortened season

and who knows what ultimately are going to be the factors that bring home a championship. So I just feel like there are circumstances surrounding each one of his championships that I'm just, I'm not ready to take that leap and put him in the top five. Could he ultimately get there? Does he have the game to get there? Absolutely. But has he earned it to this point? I, you know, maybe he slips into the top 10.

I'm not even sure he's there quite yet for me at this point. All right. Okay, so I'll take it to another level. if he wins the third MVP and the third finals, three different teams. Yes. Is he above Durant? I suppose. I need to see how he wins it.

But if he's the finals MVP, can he be above Durant? Yeah, I can make an argument that he would be above Durant because clearly the best player in Toronto, clearly the best player on this team, particularly if he's getting finals MVP. So, yeah, we could make that argument. But ultimately, if you're going to put him in the top five, doesn't he have to be bona fide the best small forward in the game? And there's a lot of competition. I mean, are the best small forward ever? And are you putting him past LeBron James?

Are you leapfrogging LeBron James in that category if he wins a third? Okay, so this is a great point. My entire life, that was true. but it is significantly more now a positionless league. True. Okay, so, so Kauai is the, I totally agreed with you, but now we're a positionless league, so it doesn't matter as much.

And the other thing is, the knock on him is load management. But that is increasingly less, it's accepted. It's part of our lexicon. It's part of our NBA life. So the things you could hold. hold against him six, seven, eight, ten years ago.

I mean, like, it's like baseball. People hit home runs or strike out. Nobody cares about stolen bases. Like, now bullpens matter more than starting. Like sports changes, and that's my reality. And my reality is he's positionless. He's one of my, he's one of the five best players. Get a bucket, get a stop in his prime.

Right. Okay. That's fair. But he's also competing against a guy in LeBron James who, created that positionaless in terms of being a point forward as he plays power forward at sometimes sometimes he's basically considered a small forward so he still have it's not like he's the first yes we are living in a positionalist game and that does change the dynamic somewhat but he's still in line behind a lebron james who got to do that and do it well first by the way he's also one of the

reasons why Zion is a number one attraction because Kauai personality wise is like Frank Gore. It's not you respect the work. You respect what he does. And I'm not comparing their their careers and their accomplishments, just the personality. Like that's one of the issues that the league is facing right now is that their best players are not captivating from a personality standpoint. And Zion in a weird way is not because of the league. But he's overtly, like his personality is huge, there's just some sort of, as you said, there's

the it factor there with him that fascinates you with what he's going to do. All right, that was good. This topic to me is fascinating because everybody rolls their eyes at this. And then when I say, Kauai wins a third, is he better than Durant? And everybody gets uncomfortable and goes, oh wait, yeah, he may be.

And we all know Durant is absolutely embarking on that top 10. He was getting very close to it. So anyway, this is good. Are you on SFY today? I certainly am. All right. You'll see Rick Buecker in less than 30 minutes.

Good to see anybody. You got it. One thing that hasn't changed this year is how much we depend on cars. Go to CarShield.com. The code is heard 10% off. Cars get beat up in the summer. Road is hot. AC goes on the fritz.

Car shield.com code Herd Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. This is the herd line news. I just love this argument. I swear to God, I love it. I really do you. People think I'm nuts. I don't do.

People, Joy, I'm not a contrarian guy. If you asked me a question about the world, I generally see the world exactly as sports fans do. Now, I am a little more perceptive, I think, than some sportscasters. I was on Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, way before. But by and large, I'm not trying to be a contrarian guy here and make stuff. That's not who I am. I don't think you see things as sports fans see them.

I don't? No. How do I see things as a wizard season? Yeah. I mean, what do you say you're America's honesty broker? No question about that. Fans are fanatics. I am America's honesty.

And often very unreasonable. Yeah. So I don't know if I would go that far. I don't think I'm America's media icon, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, of course. But, I mean, are we going to just do an entire segment of column is right? No, I've whipped on a lot of things. I just think when people are different, we don't know what to do with them.

It's absolutely his personality. That you cannot deny that that doesn't play a role. He's just a, there is no personality. I mean, I just think he's just a hooper. Like, he just is what he is. He's, he's different. And that's, that's perfectly okay. I like different personalities.

I don't need everybody to be the same. Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson in my life are the single greatest wide receiver prospects I've ever seen. Calvin Johnson, you could not defend him in college or the pros. Calvin's the nicest, quietest guy in the world. if Calvin Johnson made a little more of a scene through an occasional helmet, you know, did a dance or something,

we would hold him in higher esteem. Calvin Johnson was absurdly gifted. That's because at the end of the day, and similar to the conversation we had before Rick came on, sports is entertainment. And you've got to entertain people. You've got to have a little flair to it if you want to get it. LBJ is hurt a lot, but he's got a lot of flair to it.

I don't know that you necessarily have to. I think it depends on what sport you're in and what position you play in that sport. The NBA is a star-driven league. There's fashion shows literally with DJs and red carpets before you come into the arena. Sneakers is like that's a part of that is being stylish and loud and have playing with Flair, which I don't think that Kauai doesn't play with Flair. I love Kauai's game.

I love his game. Love his game. It's the ultimate. It's just that he's not, he's not the personality off the court that we want or demands of our NBA superstars. Yeah, he's much more football personality. Go in lunch. Are you even like baseball? Yeah, he's a baseball guy.

Go in, play, hit, go home. Yeah, you brought up Russell Wilson the other day. Russell Wilson is kind of like a baseball guy to me. Come in, work, head down. Yeah. Certain way you play the game. Yeah, cliches, boom out. Yeah.

I love those guys. So Jo Keem Noah signed with the Clippers for the remainder of the season and helped the team get their first scrimmage win yesterday. He joins a team that's filled with talents like Kauai and led by those two elite superstars. But when he was asked about his impression of his new teammates, Noah said the team has quote No prima donnas

Love that You remember he He once called the Heat Hollywood as hell During the Big Three era Well they were It was the Heatles Yes it was wonderful Listen

Superstars all around Flash fire shooting in the air It was amazing times It was a great time I enjoyed every second of it Yeah But yeah this is kind of This is kind of the brand of the Clippers

Right like they're the second team In Los Angeles They're the grinders They're the team of the people You know, it's just it's a different, it's a different brand. I really, I really like them. I really, I tell you something. I watched Believe Land last week.

There are sports cities in the country that deserve something. This team had a bad owner and a bad vibe. And Steve Ballmer has come in. And he has been a B12 shot. And they went and got old school with Jerry West and new school with Michael Winger, old school with Doc Rivers. They're a combination of new, old, fun, flashy, everything. about them. I like everything about what the clippers are doing right now. Everything.

Front office, ownership, team player, attitude, coach. I love everything about what they do. They have completely rebranded themselves, but not just in a branding fashion. Like they've literally rebuilt from the ground up owner, GM, coach, team style. I find them totally relatable. Yes. I find them totally relatable as an NBA franchise. Like I like, I like, they're just dudes. I can't wait for the season. Dude. Lakers play tonight, don't they? I think they do have a skirmage today, yes. So Zion Williamson left the NBA

bubble due to a urgent family matter. It's still been a week since his departure and the Pelicans said there is no timetable for his return, but he fully intends to come back to Orlando. The team also said that he's been receiving tests every day since he left and he is receiving negative results. So if he continues

to test negative, he could spend as to you as four days in quarantine. Yeah, so you have to test every day when you're gone. You test. negative every day that you're gone, you can, obviously, depending on the situation, come back and only have to spend four days in quarantine. So it's anyway from four to 10 if you have to leave for extenuating circumstances. They have these 15-minute tests now. I took one of them, a couple of them, and they're great. They don't even hurt. It's just like in the nose, boom, 15 minutes later,

out. I can take one today. It's no big deal. And I think that's what the NBA guys have, the 15-minute test. I mean, they must have something that's turning around quickly because they're each, not only are the NBA players testing every day, every reporter and everyone in the bubble is. Because I'm not going to some fancy doctor. So if I got it, anybody's going to get it. I mean, I got it in my little town. I don't know if the testing is that efficient yet. But Pelicans' first game is a week from today.

So they face the Jazz on July 30th. Obviously, they're going to have some more scrimmages in practice. It's between there. But, you know, we'd like to see Zion back. Obviously, this was a big, big factor in the NBA returning. But also, we don't know what the circumstances are for him leaving. So hopefully everything is okay. So before landing in Las Vegas, the Raiders proposed the plans to relocate to Los Angeles.

that was voted down. But now owner Mark Davis says he's super grateful that that happened. He said we got our ass kicked in L.A. And we went back to Oakland with our tail between our legs. And then McKibbon backtracked and tripled our lease and was total disrespect. Vegas had been after us for years, but I told him I will only talk to you if Oakland and Los Angeles don't happen. Losing the L.A. vote was probably the best thing that ever happened for us.

Well, I've always felt that Vegas, having lived there, I don't know if, like, I don't think the NBA I still, 10 years from now, is the hockey team going to be big in Vegas? I mean, when you have a team and you're suddenly great, it's like Oklahoma City. They've never been bad. It's easy to get fans. The NFL is going to work in Vegas. A, eight home games. It's not a huge city.

It doesn't have a huge corporate footprint. B, the Raiders are the team to bring to Vegas because they have a massive California footprint. And it's a 45-minute flight or a three-and-a-half-hour drive. But the third thing that I like about Vegas as well is that there's a lot of teams in the AFC, with crappy weather. And Denver in their division, Denver and Kansas City would easily bring 12,000 fans. So, like, if you were a football fan and you had,

you want to go to one road game, wouldn't Vegas almost always be the road game? Of course. For green, any cold weather franchise, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. This has been the sport to me. Vegas, I thought, deserved an NFL team a decade ago, but everybody was caught up and gambling and freaking out. NFL's going to work there.

As long as the Raiders are 500 and then you got Gruden's a rock star. This baby's going to work. This is going to work. I love it. Obviously, weaving in the business of kind of always rolled our eyes at the pushback on the gambling element of it. Like we're all just going to pretend like people don't gamble on sports. Like, okay. So obviously they're embracing that now because that was obviously the pushback in bringing teams to Vegas.

But I actually think it works for the city as well. Similar to, similar to Miami. Like when people think of Miami, like when people think of Miami, Miami, they only think of South Beach, right? So they forget that there's an entire metropolitan area of Miami, Miami-Dade, and Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach that all participate in those teams. Like Vegas has residents there, and they enjoy sports, like a lot of them. And like you said, it is a destination town,

and there are major cities not far from Vegas to get to that have established fan bases with the Raiders anyway. Generally, you want an expansion team, but in this instance, the Raiders in Vegas. I mean, I'm going to tell you right now, they're going to get 10,000 people a weekend from California. Easily. Easily.

They may get 20,000 a Sunday from California. And the stadium is beautiful. Yeah. It's like, that's a destination. That's a stadium that you want to go see. Like, you want to go see a game there. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. Okay, I'm going to play. We don't have time for best for last. Is that what you're telling me? We've gone so long? Really? Listen.

When the honesty broker starts barking, America, time just evaporates. All right, whatever. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Man, I'm just, Leah Remedy does not like Tom Cruise. Oh, I'm reading that holes. What?

All the sentences that we're going to come out under that microphone at the top of this segment that is not what I expected you to say. On my phone I'm reading a Tom Cruise Scientology. You do love Tom Cruise though. No, I'm mission input. I think Tom's really good at what he does. I'm not a Scientology is.

You know a Scientologist? Yeah, that's not really my cup of tea. I don't like, I don't like clubs. I don't like walls. I don't like you got to beep sometime. You got to be somewhere at some time in life. I'm not it. That's not my thing. I kind of roll. I should, you know. I kind of feel like Scientology is a commitment. Yeah, it's not my

It's way. It's way too much commitment for you. Yeah, I mean, marriage is just nothing but sacrifice. That thing is just, uh, no day at the beach. You throw in Scientology and marriage? What, what I got time to golf? I mean, seriously, just a bunch of restrictions and stuff. Like so much to break down here.

So Greg Cosell was on a radio station in Cleveland. I don't know why. Those people just yell and screaming stuff. But he was on a radio station. They were talking about Baker Mayfield. And here's what Greg Cosell said about Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield is a far more talented passer than Kirk Cuck Cousins, and Kirk Cousins did exceptionally well in this offense. It's so well-schemed. And I think

that that's a critical, critical piece. People look at Kirk Cousins' numbers, and his numbers are good. He's been in good schemes. He's a good player. But I think if you're just talking about the ability to throw the ball, I think that Baker, he's got a stronger arm. I think he can do more things as a passer than Kirk Cousins. So that leads you to, then why was he so awful last year? It must be the coach. So, I mean, and I'm not saying that's wrong. Was Freddie Kitchens? because Baker was terrible last year and he had good pieces. It was not an issue of arsenal, receivers,

tight end, backs. They needed a left tackle, but was Freddie Kitchens arguably the worst coach in league history? He was never even a coordinator. I know, that's what I'm saying. You know, there's been a handful of coaches that I would categorize as utter disasters. Bud Carson was a disaster,

nice guy disaster. Was Freddie Kitchens the worst head coach in league history? I mean, if Baker bouncing, his back this year. And with a rookie head coach who's never been a head coach, is Freddie, I mean, what does that tell you about the Browns? They hired Freddie Kitchens, who'd never been. Yeah, of course.

Never been a high school head coach. Yes. It is amazing that happened. Unbelievable. What's amazing is that that happened. And then we were supposed to believe that we were crazy for questioning how that was going to work. Cleveland fans were adamant.

This was going to work. And we're like, he's never been hired by a team. to be a coordinator. He was a interim coordinator in Cleveland. He'd been in the NFL. Had he even interviewed for a coordinator job?

Huh, huh, for lead job. And we had the audacity to say, it's going to be a mess. Young quarterback, cocky. We had the audacity to question whether it would work or not. You got to read that Scientology, Tom Cruise.

Sure, it's riveting. Unbelievable story's breaking right now. See you tomorrow. 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 a podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. big to me. I'm Sam Jay. 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 hard way with your favorite therapist. host, Kier 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're 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. human.