The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Pass Interference, Saints, Lakers, and Josh Rosen

Episode Date: March 27, 2019

Colin gives concerns over the NFL letting pass interference plays be reviewed, the overreaction of the New Orleans Saints, why the newest Los Angeles Lakers rumor isn't true, and what teams could be interested in Arizona Cardinals QB Josh Rosen. Guests include Nick Wright, Dean Blandino, Jerome Williams, and Nick Swisher. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Isn't it Biggie Smalls, more money, more problems? Wasn't he the guy that said that? A lot of times we get something and we think it adds to our life and it defines our life and adds precision to our life and it just creates more problems.

So the NFL owners have passed a new one. Pass interference is now reviewable. Oh, that'll make everything right. Right? Wrong. Now, here's the first thing. Coaches still only have two challenge flags.

So don't overreact. I don't like it, but coaches still only have two challenge flags. If I'm a head coach, here's why I don't like it. Now I've got my wide receiver who historically are the biggest egos on the team coming up to me, up to sideline constantly. Throw your flag. Throw your flag. Throw your flag. Throw your flag.

Throw your flag. Pass interference. Oh, boy. Also, the NFL, I think, believes this is going to solve. stuff and it's going to create more arguments. You ever heard of that thing called the Ring videotape doorbell? You ever heard of that thing? Ring videotape doorbell.

You've seen it on doorbells. It was created to spot burglars. It's a little camera. Is there to spot burglars? And make sure nobody weird is at your door. But the problem is everybody looks weird in that fish eye lens camera. And we live in a time now where there's delivery people, constantly coming to your door.

And so instead of creating security, it's created paranoia through America. Because everybody's got 10 delivery people walking up and down their door constantly. And that was created to end it and it started it. Just more problems. The New Orleans Saints pushed this. We're showing you this play for about the 8,000th time. You do realize this is not what most past interference penalties look like. It is arguable.

It is nebulous. It is grabbing, reaching, touching, pulling, which coaches coach. It's like boxing out in basketball. You could argue everything's the past interference. 95% of the NFL contact quarterback and wide receiver does not look like this. It does not. It's not obvious. It's arguable.

Go watch games throughout the course of a season. They allow clutching and grabbing and pulling. And now you think you've solved everything. No, you haven't. You're going to get those replays, and there's going to be more power to the officials. The officials are going to have more power to influence games. The Saints are doing this because they want the officials to have less. What are you going to do with a Hail Mary at the end of a game?

There's pass interference on every Hail Mary. Are you going to go letter to the law and call it a pass interference? There is past interference on every Hail Mary. Pushing, jumping, tugging. I mean, you can go back and look at some of these big, You don't think there's pass interference on that? You don't think there's pass interference on that. You can make an argument on every pass interference call.

Remember Tom Brady's Super Bowl threw the ball down the field? And Chris Hogan, look at this. Minutes before that play in the Super Bowl, Chris Hogan got shoved to the ground. But here's the problem. Is that pass interference or illegal contact or defensive holding? Because all three are different calls. Chris Hogan running down field got shoved. no call.

Oh, it's reviewable. Well, that should be pass interference. Well, it's defensive holding. You're giving officials, you're adding another instrument in the cockpit, so it's more confusing for the pilot. If you think this is going to make things easier, it's going to make things more confusing. Because there's pass interference on every single Hail Mary,

every single late game throw. And on 95% of balls downfield, I can argue that's pass interference. Now, the good news is coaches still have only two, two challenges. So they can't do it all game. But here's the other thing, is that when you look at football, the catch rule, for years and years, you and I never argued about a catch. So the NFL changed the catch rule to make it more precise. That's what they're doing here for pass interference.

We're going to make it more precise. But it created arguments for the catch rule. You think precision always ends debate. I would argue it creates more debate. It's okay to have a little fuzzy. It's okay to have a human element. It's okay to argue at the end of games. It's okay.

Players, coaches, whiff, sometimes officials do. The NFL thinks it's solving everything here. I don't even know what to do with Hail Mary's. And oh, by the way, every time the NFL, every time, there's a new rule in the NFL. name the team that manipulates it the most. New England. The tuck rule.

I mean, every rule we have, they manipulate it. You don't think New England's going to figure out ways late in games. You out coach them, you out play them, you lead, and they're manipulating it. Like the Saints think they're taking away power from refs. You're giving refs more control. You can call stuff pass interference, defensive holding, illegal contact. Those are all different penalties.

I don't love it. I don't think it's the end of the world, but I think it adds more confusion and more debate, not more precision, and Dean Blandino on later to talk about it. Let me shift to this. I wrote my first book called You Heard Me. And the basic philosophy was

there's two stories in sports, the one you hear the audience and the truth. And agents and shoe companies, and the NCAA and big media companies like this one and others, and stars and their handlers and marketers sell you all sorts of stories. But that's not necessarily true. They're trying to gain your trust, gain your money, gain your interest, gain your followers, gain your support.

So here's a story that came out yesterday that's got no truth to it. And I'm not knocking on the reporter because the reporter's excellent. Mark Stein, New York Times. He's great. Rick Carlyle. the Lakers are widely expected to get rid of Luke Walton and reportedly they are interested in bringing in Dallas Mavericks Rick Carlisle. Well, I'm sure they are, so the report is accurate.

But that means it was leaked because stories only get out if somebody wants them out. Rick Carlisle is not coming to Los Angeles. Maybe the Clippers, not the Lakers. He's not leaving Luca Donchich and Christopps Porzingis and Mark Cuban. Dallas next year could be scary good. There's no chance this happens. This is the Lakers and or clutch sports and LeBron's people leaking it. Why?

Because it makes the Lakers seem more relevant. And they're not anymore. Do you think this story leaked by coincidence on the day the Clippers clinched the playoff spot last night? Nah, bra. That's not a coincidence. The Clippers clinched a playoff spot. And what do you know?

Rick Carlisle, Lakers. Let's remain viable. and guys like Colin will talk about it, and it'll be on debate shows, and your sports centers, and it'll be, it's not happening. First of all, the two coaches up for the Lakers job. This is not an elite job right now.

It's not. It's not an elite job. Our Jason Kidd, who got fired in Milwaukee, and they got way better than minute he left, seven seed to one seed. And the other job he's up for Lakers is Cal, the Cow Bears,

which is a bad basketball job, forgetting college basketball, in the world. It's just not a good Pact 12 basketball job. And the second guy up for its Tailu, he got fired too. And I think he's a pretty good coach. But it's not like teams are lining up for him either, especially the good ones. This story leaks. Rick Carlisle, big name, respected coach, the night the Clippers make clinch a playoff spot. That is not a coincidence.

Let's steal some headlines, let's get talked about. And frankly, they did this morning on this show. But Paul George passed on the Lakers. And top coaches are not interested in this job. And the Lakers absolutely want to remain viable. And I said this last week. The Lakers have become Mike Tyson later in his career. They no longer work on their jab.

They're just big haymakers, knockout swings, a lot of whiffs, not very efficient, looking for the big knockout. But they're sloppy. They're not doing their homework. They just gave away Zubots, their great young center. The Lakers have three or four things going against them. They're arguably the second worst shooting team in the NBA to Phoenix. It's now a Shooter's League.

LeBron will be in his 17th year coming off his first real injury. Worse, by the way, than we predicted, according to a report by Joy yesterday on the show. Their top two young players, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, are now injury prone, and that is not debatable. And, oh, by the way, the front office is not considered elite. according to my sources around the NBA. Those are not fixable issues. LeBron's not getting younger. Lonzo's not going to become non-injury prone.

The front office isn't suddenly going to hire R.C. Buford from the Spurs and get great. Or Danny Ains from the Celtics. And oh, by the way, where are you going to find shooters? This story is leaked to make the Lakers seem viable. Now, they may land Anthony Davis, and that will make them more interesting. But when I wrote that first book, the whole point of it was to tell you there's two stories you're fed. The truth and the one people feed you. This is clearly leaking a story to make sure that the team that is no longer considered a really viable spot for top free agents.

Kauai, a story came out yesterday? Not interested again. Kevin Durant's not coming here. Play Thompson's not coming here. Tyree Irving, 5% chance, 95 not coming here. Anthony Davis, potentially, perhaps probably, if you can trade for them with limited assets. Two stories, one you're being fed and the truth,

and the truth here is Rick Carlisle, no way in the world would leave the Dallas Mavericks in their future and Mark Cuban for what currently is happening with the Lakers. All right, said something yesterday at the end of the show. Staff freaked out. I didn't think it was how big of a deal. I mean, don't get me wrong.

When I say stuff, it matters. No question. But I didn't think it was a big deal. Everybody freaked out. Talk about that 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 IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Good, Davian, car shopping can be confusing. A lot of different terms. True car shows you what people paid for the car you want, new or use. clarity, true price inside a true car. Good to have you in. Years ago, when the Indianapolis Colts moved off Peyton Manning to draft Andrew Luck, I said it's totally the right move.

You have to be comfortable in a divorce knowing the other person is going to be happy with somebody else. And once you're comfortable with that, you're comfortable with divorce. I said at the time, Peyton Manning's going to win a bunch of games for like three years, but Andrew Luck's going to win games for 15. I would trade Peyton Manning. for the record. Years ago, two years ago, Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo.

There were stories coming out about Belichick wanting to move off him. I said, yes. Yes, I totally get it. Brady may win you another Super Bowl, but Garopolo gives you a chance under Belichick to win five. I've never fallen in love with players. I read the business section before the sports section.

I have my whole life. I like them. I don't love them. and that's the responsibility of a general manager. Fans, your job is to love them. You name your pets after them. You wear their names on the back. You have jerseys. They're on your fantasy league.

Fans, drink beer, get crazy, be great consumers. Your job is to fall in love. Sometimes coaches fall in love. But a general manager's job is to fall in like. Okay. These are stocks. These are chess pieces. You've got to keep your owner happy over your shoulder

remain viable long term. I was for moving off Peyton Manning, though I knew he would win. I was four moving off Brady, though I knew he would win. And yesterday at the end of the show, I said this, my staff freaked out, it was nonchalant, it wasn't anything other than just a comment. Here it is. There's not many players who I would pick over Zion in the NBA right now. I know I'm getting a 15-year body.

I trade LeBron for him. Yeah, if I could. Yeah, you did sneak that in at the very, very end of the show yesterday. Okay, let me give an example. I run the Lakers. I'm the general manager. I'm not a fan, not a concessionaire. I'm not a coach.

I'm not a player. I'm in the front office. That's the people who create trades, right? They have to give it the okay. I'm going to show you a stock. So here is a stock starting in 2003. A little bumpy, bumpy. Ooh, boy, you get about nine years.

a rising stock. Then it's plateaued for a couple years. Oh, it appears to be going down. Okay. Well, I am a stock broker. That appears to be a declining asset. Let's go to stock B. The stock B, oh, it's much younger. Oh, my, that's quite a trajectory. That is quite, that appears to be a stock as a stock picker, I would tell you to add to your portfolio. Let's put those two stocks together. What are those stocks? Oh, they're LeBron Zion stocks. Now, LeBron's better than Zion. But in the history of business, when has trading a declining asset for a rising asset not been the only choice a grown-up would make? This is not a difficult task. LeBron is a declining asset, an expensive asset. He is a massive brand. The only reason you wouldn't

make this move is fear. New York Giants and Eli, Colts and Peyton Manning. By the way, Belichick was moving off. Brady. Robert Kraft stepped in. Belichick does not run on fear. Jim Ursay does not run on fear. The New York Giants increasingly do, and I believe so to the Lakers. I'm not saying this is going to happen. But Johnny Dawkins just played against Zion, and he said something,

which is really important. And it's not just that he's great, but that he's better in person. Here it is. Johnny Dawkins. Tape doesn't do him justice. He was better than advertised. Things he did in that game as a freshman to do the things he did on that stage. You automatically know he has special written all over him at our level.

On the next level, it's not going to matter. That young man is going to be great. I think he's going to end up being a Hall of Fame when it's all set and done. That's what everybody, everybody I talk to in the league thinks. Again, giants fear a mess. Colts, no fear, Andrew Luck playoffs. In Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes, 10 years, you don't move him. But year 11, year 12, he'll become a declining asset after a few hits

because they pay Patrick a lot and they can't have great offensive lines and he's going to get beat up. And in 11 years, you'll have to make that decision. Fear, you become the New York Giants. No fear, you become the Colts. No real rebuild. By the way, the Green Bay Packers moved off far of Aaron Rogers. fear-based, you're done.

You're the giants. Your organizations that are petrified to make these moves. And again, LeBron would be an easy guy to trade. Here's why. Because LeBron wasn't even loyal to Cleveland. The downside to being willing to get divorces is people feel less guilty when they divorce you. Trading magic would have been an outrage in Los Angeles. Trading Kobe Pickets.

But let's be honest. honest about Shaq. Shack was out for Shaq. LeBron's out for LeBron. You could not trade Steph Curry. The Warriors could not trade Steph Curry. There would be absolute outrage. Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant bailed on O.C. He's an easy guy to trade if you had to. Once you're willing to publicly divorce, you don't get much heat when you're willing to dump them. I'm not saying it's going to happen. And I think the Lakers are too fearful to do it. But in the lifetime of sports. Luck, Payton, Garoppolo, Brady,

young Montana, whenever has moving off a still excellent declining asset for an unbelievable rising asset not been what every smart grown-up has done. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Let's talk about those fearful giants you just mentioned. The Arizona Cardinals remain uncommitted to any one particular prospect for the number one overall pick in the draft. They are expected to take Kyler Murray that would, of course, make Josh Rosen expendable. And according to S&Y, the Giants are interested. Do you like this move for the Giants?

Yes, I'd like another quarterback for the New York Giants. I would have liked this move two years ago. So who leaks the story? Generally, when a story comes out, who leaks it who benefits? My guess is the New York Giants are leaking it because the New York Giants front office is getting a ton of heat on Eli. Right. They want to soothe the heat. And they also want to get their fan base ready for a big trade.

Arizona's got no value leak in this story. The only winner here is the Giants, which are getting a ton of heat over the last four days. And they're like, okay, they traded O'Belle. They're getting crushed. The New York media is destroying them. This is like, oh, okay. So you do have a plan. you're moving forward.

So if I was the New York Giants, I would absolutely make this move. For the record, if I was New England, I would make this move. I'm not sure if he fits in Pittsburgh, but there's a handful of organizations. Does anyone fit behind Benton-Roberzburg and Pittsburgh? You saw that way.

Chargers, I would do this move. Yeah, I think it's about five teams. Josh Rosen is really talented. Now, is he, according to all the people that I believe in the NFL, that I lunch with, that I talked to, that I text with, he tests higher than Dwayne Haskins at Ohio State. Kyler Murray depends on, as a coaching staff, what you like.

There are people that like Kyler more because he can move around. I get that. He's more spectacular on film. But if you're talking Haskins at Ohio State or Josh Rosen, most people feel they're very similar talents. And if you can only give up a second round pick for him, Joy, that's not a lot. And you can get a second round pick for Josh Rosen who went in the top 10 of last year's draft.

I feel like that's a pretty good. That's a pretty good deal. And as we've talked about Joy, Arizona paid him all the money. For three years, he's free. Right. I mean, to me, I just feel like I don't see how Josh Rosen is on the Cardinals' roster next year. Even if, how do you go from having all of this conversation about taking Kyler Murray number one overall to then being like, well, we changed our minds. You're really the guy, Josh.

Oh, I'm going to get into that later. That's a great point. It just makes no sense to me. It's just like the writing's on the wall. They're just looking for the best situation that serves them at this point. I totally agree with this. I think Josh Rosen's as good as traded. We'll get into this in a little bit.

But to your point, you can't, like what's the old saying, horse out of the barn? You can't bring the horse back in. Like the idea that you can go to Josh Rosen now and say, listen, these were just absurd rumors. Right. When Fox Sports brought me here, if one year into it, one year into it, I moved my family, I bought a house, I emotionally connected, You just said, listen, Bob Costas is available.

We still like you, but we're going through a process. I'd be like, okay, I may still be here, but I'm not all here. No, at that point, all of your investment emotionally is gone. It is now just a business for you, and that just doesn't work. You can't just turn the franchise back over to him. So it's College Hoops Time sponsored by Guinness. Happy St. Patrick State from the Brewers of Guinness. All right, Guinness.

Thanks for sponsoring us, Guinness. So just days after Duke eliminated UCF, From the NCAA tournament, Johnny Dawkins, who just played this a few minutes ago, is heaping praise on Zion Williamson. Things he did in that game as a freshman. Do the things he did on that stage. You automatically know he has special written all over him

at our level. On the next level, it's not going to matter. That young man is going to be great. I think he's going to end up being a Hall of Famer when it's all said and done. My observations in watching him in preparation for our game, you know, tape doesn't do him justice. That's the first thing that stands out.

Like, he was better than advertised, and he gets, you know, he receives a lot of, you know, notoriety. He was better. And that's rare for me. Joy, who are the last three athletes who in their teens have been called phenoms? Tiger, LeBron, and Bryce Harper. Well, Serena also. Yeah.

Okay, okay. Four for four. Why is everybody afraid to just say it? This kid's unbelievable. It's not that I'm afraid that people are saying it. And it's not that maybe Zion can't handle the pressure. But here's what we do every single year. We do it with football.

We're doing it with Kyler Murray right now. We do with every prospect that comes out in the NBA draft. Who are they? What's their projection? What's their ceiling? And it's like it's what we do and it's okay. We want to compare games so we can know what to expect. And we haven't seen them play in the NBA yet.

So we want to create this visual for ourselves. Right. Hall of Fame for someone who has never played one literal second of NBA basketball just feels a bit unfair. See, it doesn't to me. Because we're always, we're not calling Kyler Murray Hall of Famer. Tiger, LeBron, Serena, Bryce were like the chosen one. And we were always wrong.

I think the media, by the way, Sports Illustrated said that about LeBron. Those are journalists. Sports Illustrated said it about. Serena. Sports Illustrated said about Bryce Harper. I don't think we ever heap Hall of Fame on we're four for four in my lifetime of this is different. And I think he's a, no, he's, he's, of course different. He has already shown in the college basketball game that he is different. He just, just the attention alone that he generates, you cannot manufacture that. When you watch something on TV and everyone sees the same thing and we don't even have to have an argument about

it. We're all in agreement. Zion is incredible. He has made Duke likable. That alone is a feat in itself. He is an incredible athlete to watch. I just feel like it's unfair to put something like Hall of Fame on him right now. And then it goes into his career. If it doesn't end up being a Hall of Fame career, then I'm like, well, was Zion ever really as good as he was?

If Zion can't handle this pressure. I'm not saying it's on Zion. Zion didn't ask for this. And I'm sure if you ask him about it, he would say it's ridiculous because it's a little premature. Finally, the Houston Rockets want everyone to know who their MVP pick is. No surprise.

First PJ Tucker arrived with James Hardin, two last night's game against the Bucks, and he wore this shirt. Then after losing to the Bucks, Chris Paul let everyone know that it should not affect James Hardin's MVP case. James went on a historic run. You know what I mean?

Obviously, I'm biased about the MVP and whoever or whatnot, but those of you that decided on head-to-head games with a few games left in the season, Good luck with that. For our radio listeners, PJ Tucker's shirt said I'm with the MVP. Who cares? Bottom line, this game didn't mean anything. Houston's totally built for the playoffs.

No one was deciding who the MVP was based off of this game. That's not how the MVP is determined. And I don't even care that Milwaukee blew them out. Milwaukee is Derek Rose's Bulls, the Toronto Raptors, the Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics before. Teams that haven't won squat that have a young star and a young roster take the regular season seriously. Rockets are built to get to the finals. Milwaukee is the classic Derek Rose Bulls. They're taking the regular season so seriously.

That being said, who is the MVP this year? I mean, we do this conversation every single year. And I feel like this year in particular, we really haven't had a strong conversation about MVP. It usually starts at All-Star, and we just have it for months. But no one's really talking about the MVP. We had a couple conversations about it. You know, is Paul George in the mix, is James Harden?

Let's just give it to Janus. good kid, great year, both ends. I don't know how you don't give it to Yonis. And I don't understand the, I mean, I understand the team pushing James Harden as MVP, but it's Yonis, and that's okay.

And to be honest, Janice isn't concerned about it either. He said himself, he doesn't care about the MVP. He's trying to get to the finals and my championships. MVP's never meant anything in terms of championships. So it doesn't, I mean, to me. I mean, it's obviously an incredible accomplishment as an individual. But it's not something that you should be aiming for because that means that's where your attention.

Here's all you need to know about MVP awards. Kevin Durant wins MVP of the finals every year. The Warriors win without him. Without Steph this year, they're sub 500. Durant's not the most valuable warrior, and he wins finals MVP. MVP awards don't mean squat. We can't even figure out what the word valuable means. We do have some a bit of a problem.

Problem. Valuable is not great. Kevin Durant's greater than Curry. Curry's way more valuable as a member of the warrior. I just think it should change. it to best player best team. There it go. That would be a lot of B, P, B, T.

That just doesn't work. It's a lot. We can find a better name for it. But that's really what it is. It's what it's become, like best season on best team or closest to best team. We'll have to figure out a better way, a better name for it. But yeah, I agree. The valuable thing makes it a bit confusing.

All right, Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lide news. Okay, by the way, Nick Wright, apparently passed out when I said I would trade LeBron for Zion. He has regained consciousness in the last 30 seconds. But we have so many things to talk about with Nick Wright.

I worry about his health because I said it's not going to happen, but LeBron is a great brand on a declining asset. And Zion is, if you look at the history of the NBA, is going to give you 14 years of amazing. So Nick Wright has regained consciousness. He is okay. Let's get him a cold. towel and a glass of water and he's going to join us coming up next. My guy, Nick Wright,

call his first things first in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Welcome back. You know, Nick Wright and I are buddies, call his first things first. We have one big difference. I've always seen sports mostly from a general manager slash business perspective. I think, you know, Nick sees it. He's got more of an emotional perspective, which can be a huge benefit. So when I said, I look at LeBron as a declining asset in the history of the league. Probably got two more great years. Zion in the history of the league, look at the numbers,

probably has 13 next great years and is very cheap and very coachable and doesn't come with a lot of baggage, optimistic young. So let's go over the Coward Global Satellite Network to Nick Wright. All right. Nick passed out, regain consciousness. What do you make of my assertion, which I don't think is any wild, crazy, nutty thing to say if you look at the history of the NBA. what do you make in my assertion that today it would be tough you'd get yelled at, but I'd make the deal.

Okay, your assertion is fine. You want to discuss what's more valuable. LeBron for the next three to five years or Zion for the next 13 to 15. I'll listen to that. But my beef with you isn't that you come from some erudite general manager perspective and I am some fanatic emotional heart on my sleeve fan. My issue with you is your cable news-esque chicanery. you tried to pull on your audience. Show that graphic again, please. Okay. We have what we call here a Y-axis problem. This graphic says that Zion Williamson today is what LeBron James was as a player in year 13, in year 12.

For this graphic to be correct, yes, Zion could be on the uptick, but he needs to be, is he going to be as good as LeBron as a rookie? A little bit worse, a little bit better. He needs to be way down at the bottom. You understand why your stock graphic doesn't quite work? Because take where Zion is. Zion's on one Y-axis. LeBron's on a different one.

And then you just layered them against each other, like a climate change denier. Like, what are you doing here, coward? This is an absurdity. You know better than this. This is just hijinks. It's just total hijinks. But you would acknowledge, though, that a couple of things. LeBron has left Cleveland twice.

It wouldn't be like trading magic. LeBron's made himself easier to trade because he hasn't been loyal to even his hometown, one, and two, Zion is absolutely ridiculously. Bryce Harper, LeBron, Serena. You can't deny he is going to be a remarkable transcendent figure in this league. Listen, in my, in the post, let's just go from LeBron's rookie year to now. I have thought there were three can't miss, have to go number one, going to be Hall of Famer guys

that barring injury I'd bet my life on. Anthony Davis, Luca Donchich, Zion Williamson. Now, Luca didn't even go number one, but that's because the league is nuts, but I'm documented on that. Zion is a can't miss guy. He walks into the league

as what Blake Griffin walked in as, but a better defender and Blake average 23 and 12. Zion is can't miss. Zion, I did NBA trade assets on our show a month ago. I had Zion as the 14th best trade asset in all of basketball.

Thank you. LeBron, I think, was fifth. So I understand the point. I think the point that is 15 years of Zion better than three or four more years of LeBron is a fair one. I just, I love math too much to let that graph stand unopposed. Okay. You know what?

Our pen, the blue ink, got a little crazy. It leaked up. Yeah. Okay. Let's go to Rick Carlyle, rumor to the Lakers. I don't think it's a coincidence. It leaked on the night the Clippers clenched. They want to seem viable and interesting.

Carlisle is not leaving Luca Donchage. He is not leaving Christop Porzinger or Mark Cuban. I don't buy this for a second. What do you make of the rumors? Listen, it would be a coup by the Lakers. It would be great. Rick Carlisle is one of the five best coaches in basketball, and he would immediately garner LeBron's respect,

and that is obviously very important. Now, right now, to me, it looks like it's going to be Tailu. I think Tailu would be a good choice. I think Mark Jackson would be a fine choice. I think Jason Kidd would be a disastrous choice, but I don't know who the other candidates are because it can't be a first time head coach. It can't be an assistant. But whomever it is is going to have a fair shot at this thing.

We've talked to this before. There are two coaches in LeBron's tenure that, three, two coaches have been fired on his watch, let's call Luke a third. The first one was Paul Silas when LeBron was 20 years old, midway through year two. Nobody blamed that on LeBron. Another coach was not fired on his watch until David Blatt. David Blatt was an absolute dufus who will never coach in the NBA again, and they went on to win a championship that year. And then Luke, Luke, Luke got a fair shot. Luke, we will find out whether or not Luke where he stands in the NBA circles by whether or not he gets an NBA job next as a head coach.

I don't think he will. So I don't blame LeBron for Luke not working, but the next coach has to work, which is why it can't be, they can't go the Nick Nurse option, even though that's working in Toronto. It's got to be someone that you know can coach at a championship level. I want to shift to this, the pass interference rule.

We do this a lot where we think something is going to create clarity, and then we change the catch rule, and it creates more confusion. I look at the new pass interference rules. Now, the good news, coaches still only have two challenges. So you can only do so much of this. But I think like the catch rule, the league is looking for more precision, and it's going to create more fuzz, more nebulous arguments.

Because I think, Nick, my last, I was telling the staff this morning, most pass interference calls don't look like the Rams Saints call. It's jockeying for position down a sideline. It's a Hail Mary bumping and grinding. I don't like this change engineered by the saint's owners. What say you? Colin, if you're driving on the 405 and you go under an overpass and a giant boulder lands on the hood of your car.

It hadn't happened. Your entire life will never happen again. You don't buy boulder insurance. You say, man, that's terrible luck. You don't change a system for an anomalous event. This call was the worst call in a big game. in five years. It won't happen again anytime soon, and to change the system because of it is absurd and mark it down. Fans will hate it. By week five, it will be the biggest complaint

point in the NFL because the play that they used as an example as, here's past interference that was not called, that would have been called with a challenge, was a great defensive play in the Super Bowl. The Brandon Cook's breakup right before the Stefan Gilmore game ceiling interception. The NFL said, no, if you challenge that, it would turn into defensive pass interference. What you're going to have is teams get off the field on third and long, and then all of a sudden, you challenge a non-called DPI. It makes offense easier once again. It does not allow referees to set a tone on what will be and won't be called. And oh yeah, by the way, What the hell are they going to do about Hail Marys?

Because once you go to replay, it's got to be this is what the letter of the law is. That is the problem with replay in all sports except for tennis, where they do that really cool computer-generated image. And we don't know if it's real, but it's instant and we trust it, is you go from the spirit of the law, the way a game has always been officiated to the letter of the law. Oh, why not add instant replay to see if a guy beats a tag in baseball? Sounds great. what could be wrong with it. Oh, it turns out after he does beat the tag for a tenth of a second, he pops off the bag for 140 years in baseball. He's safe. Now he's out. Welcome to that world

in the NFL related to offensive and defensive pass interference. I hate this change. It's an overreaction to an anomalous event. By the way, Big Ben, I have said, I think he's passive aggressive, like Aaron Rogers. There are leadership qualities. He does not possess. I like my guys to be Russell Wilson. Tom Brady, Breeze, luck, boring. Stay out of controversies.

If you have to bark at a coach, do quickly, briefly move on. Where do you land? Two minutes left. Big Ben, looks like the Steelers are backing him 100%. Mike Tomlin yesterday. Back in him 100%. What do you make of it? what I think is Big Ben on Sundays is awesome.

And Mondays through Saturdays is a pain in the neck and a bad teammate. I don't even think he's passive aggressive. He's aggressive aggressive. He holds that his own weekly press conference essentially on the radio knowing it's right before Mike Tomlins, knowing that Tomlin's going to have to answer for what Big Ben says with no prep time for it. And just throwing, hey, you know that pick eye through that, cost us the game that the D tackle intercepted. That was my receiver's fault, actually.

I don't know why we don't run more quarterback sneaks. I'd love to, but my offensive coordinator is a moron. Like, this is, he's not a good teammate. He's not a good leader. He is an amazing football player, and he plays hurt, which generates tremendous respect from his teammates. But listen, there's no other quarterback in the league that acts like him on, on or off the field and you just got to deal with it. But in the Steelers version of Game of Thrones,

like he has held the Iron Throne and any competitors have been dispatched. It is all Ben Rathlisberger's team moving forward if it wasn't already. For the record, Josh Rose and I, Joe and I were talking about this, I said, if I came to FS1 and within a year, they're like, listen, we like you, but Bob Costas is available, and they didn't kill the rumors. And by the way, If they kept me, I don't think I'd be all in. I think at some level there would be some resentment by me or Josh Rosen. Do you think he can stay with Arizona with all these rumors? Well, I think your analogy is really interesting because a year after you came to FS1,

I mean, maybe they were after Cossus. They couldn't afford him. They brought me over instead, and you felt the heat, so you shipped my butt to New York. So I would imagine that this is a somewhat similar situation. The only way the Giants can salvage their offseason is Haskins or Rosen. Whatever it takes, get one of the two. Otherwise, the next rule change the Giants are going to propose is to abolish the forward pass.

Nick Wright, first things first. Great seeing you, buddy. You too, man. Miss you guys. Great job, Joy. Great job, Colin. Talk to you guys later. Makes me laugh.

You know, he just dispels all my opinions, but I find it wildly entertaining. I don't even care. our graph was a little goofed up. Yeah, it's a strong upward trajectory for Zion. But I think his point on it is, listen, when you get a Serena, when you get a Bryce Harper-Lebron, Tiger, I know you all think it's fake news. But by and large, we don't go and say all-time great, like, regularly. I don't. Sports Illustrated doesn't. Serena was different.

You know, she was serving 120 at 15. like Bryce was different. Zion's different. I said this yesterday. 285 pounds and like flat belly. You know, at 18 years old, I'll see like college football players that are 285 and you're like, they love mom's cooking. Okay.

Zion is 285. So he's going to now eat better, train more with the world's best trainers, unless he goes to the Knicks. And the world's best food and like I think this kid is. Unbelievable. And I trade them for all but about two guys. Hour two. 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.

Here we go. Hour 2 in L.A. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in Los Angeles on IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number two here on a Wednesday. How are you, Joy? I'm doing good. How are you? It's good, feisty first hour, a lot of laughs, a lot of fun. So the big story yesterday, the owners now are making pass interference and non-calls reviewable. Nick Wright was just on. He doesn't like it. I don't know what you do with the Hail Mary. If you're going to go letter with a law, every Hail Mary's pass interference, I don't love it. Now, the good news is

coaches still, let's not go crazy here, coaches still only have two. challenges. So I know everybody, you know, I'm driving in this morning and I'm hearing sports casters, oh my God, the games will now last five hours. No, no. You only get two reviews as a coach. So you've got to have great discretion. I do think wide receivers are going to be going up to coaches on the sideline. OBJ is going to be going up to Freddie Kitchens barking on him regularly. I'm getting hold. I'm getting held. I'm getting held. But again, a strong, powerful coach and Andy Reed, Bill Belichick, Sean Payton, are going to have to fight off the temptation to listen to their vocal wide receiver

because most past interference calls do not look like this Ram Saints thing I'm showing you. I've always had a basic belief on instant replay that the less you have in the cockpit for the pilot, the easier the plane is to fly. Every year, planes are adding more and more and more and more to the cockpit. and it's more confusing for the pilot. We've actually had a story about a certain plane and certain technology that's been very confusing for pilots. I like my cockpit to be pretty simple.

My pilots can learn it and they can fly fast and not get caught up and, you know, worried about every little lever. Same for officials. Fewer rules, the better. Same for government. Fewer laws, the better. Just protect most regular people who are good nature, nice people, helping others. then you have to have laws for the creeps, and then you have to have rules in sports for the egregious.

But most stuff's pretty easy to see. So I would always have an umbrella rule, which means two minutes left in any game in the NFL. You can review anything and overturn anything. And sports is crazy. Sometimes you see something and you're like, I've never seen that before. That happens all the time in sports. Where announcers are flummoxed, officials are flummoxed, we're all confused. it's called the umbrella rule.

And it's just like buying an insurance policy. It's like it covers everything. And I would do that. Now, Eric Mingini was on first things first this morning. He doesn't have a problem with reviewing everything. Here's his thought. I have no problem with them making any aspect of the game challengeable. I think you give the coaches their two challenges

and they should be able to use it for whatever they see fit. This is overdue. and it's not an indictment on the officials. There's a human component to it, but if that human component is affecting the outcome of the game and the coach has a challenge, he should be able to use it to get to what we all want, which is a game that's fairly played

with everybody having the opportunity to win and not lose because of human error. I mostly agree with what he's saying. I think the pass interference is a very confusing rule, because remember, I'm a corner and you're a receiver. So Joy goes out and I'm a defensive player and she's the star receiver. I can grab, push, pull and depending on when the quarterback lets go with the ball, it can be three

different calls. It can be called defensive holding. It can be called a personal foul. It can be called pass interference, which gives the official more power, not less power. It's not more precise. It's less precise. And increasingly in the NFL, coaches have been coaching defensive backs to grab, pull, box out, push, pull. I'm showing you a piece of video on FS1. That was not called a penalty in the Super Bowl.

That was not called a penalty late in the game in a Super Bowl. Referees late in games let a lot go. And now you're going to have to call Hail Mary letter of the law, I guess. It's going to be confusing. It's going to create more debates. So for that, good luck. Congratulations. But I'll say it again, the NFL had a perfect season. The Kaepernick thing went away. The quarterbacks were almost all healthy. the ratings are up across the board. The league is viable. Thursday night was improved. Sunday night was great.

The league almost had a perfect season. And I don't know why. And by the way, they overturned the catch rule into that confusion. I don't know why you'd want to add a layer. I just think it adds confusion. I thought the NFL came off a great season. I don't think you need to tweak anything. And by the way, the NFL tweaks more than any league.

And they usually tweak right. They change the PAT rule, which I said I think it's clever. I think it's smart. What I don't like about rule changes is often aiding a team that was outcoached, like the onside kick rule. If I out coach you and I out play you and I out scheme you, why should we help the lesser people? This is not like society with welfare and a safety net. Sports shouldn't have a safety net.

Winners, losers. Can't handle it? Out. Fired hired. I don't need, this is not society. Not little kids. These are grownups and millionaires. The GMs are millionaires.

The players are millionaires. The coaches are millionaires. the owners are billionaires. The announcers are half the time millionaires. The bottom line is, I think we're getting too many rules. We're seeking perfection. It doesn't exist in life. It doesn't exist in games. It doesn't exist in humans. And we're trying to get the perfect call for the perfect moment every time. And I think the catch rule is a great example. You thought you were getting precision. And it just added more debates and more layers and more arguments. I think this will be the same thing. Okay. I would like to congratulate you.

the Milwaukee Bucks. We don't talk about them on the show much. But last night, they dominated Houston, number one seat in the east. They have the MVP in their team, and they're going to win 60 games. And last night, they played Houston a very good team, and they just destroyed them. I mean, pretty good game at half. And then third quarter, I watched this, blew them out. And they were dominant. And I'd like to congratulate, officially congratulate Milwaukee for also replacing the Toronto Raptors

as the really good NBA team that takes the NBA regular season way more seriously than everybody else. And I'd like to remind Milwaukee, the last 10 years, the number one seat in the East, just two of 10 times, has made the finals. A LeBron team and a LeBron team. The rest never made it. Congratulations, Milwaukee, on replacing the Toronto Raptors

on the team that takes their regular season really, really seriously. The Raptors replaced Derek Rose and the Bulls, 2011, 2012. There was the Atlanta Hawks, 2015, the Pacers 2014, the Young Celtics in like 2016. Congratulations. The smart teams, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, rest their starters, long season. There's always a team in the team. the East, and they're all the same. They have a young star or two. They have mostly a young roster. They've never won anything, and they want desperately that number one seed. And their

fans go crazy, and their fans send me hate tweets, and you don't respect us. It's always an Eastern team. They've never done anything in the playoffs. They've got one or two superstar players. They have a very young nucleus, and they will not end up in the finals. they won't. Houston might, and they got drubbed last night, because Houston has a veteran coach and veteran stars,

and they smartly rest their players. Pedal to the medal in the NBA regular season, Greg Popovich and the Spurs were the first team to figure this out. There's no benefit. If you can't win

road games, then you're not good enough to be in the finals anyway. LeBron figured this out. The Warriors have figured it out. The Spurs figured it out. By the way, Doc Rivers, the big three in Boston, figured it out. Showtime Lakers figured it out.

Shack and Kobe figured it out. There's always, and it's seemingly always an Eastern Conference team, and they've got a great player, and they've got a young nucleus, and they've never won anything. Go look at NBA history. You don't go from not winning a playoff series to being NBA champs. It doesn't work that way. It's baby steps.

in the last 10 years, only two of the 10 number one seeds in the East have gotten to the finals, and there are two LeBron teams. One in Cleveland, one in Miami. For the record, I'm actually impressed with Houston. There's all this MVP talk. I'd give it to Janus. I think he's a good kid.

I think he's a good player. He's going to win a few of these. It's nothing against James Harden. James Hardin's great. But there's a really clear. Once again, the best player on a team, not the most valuable. The most valuable player on the Rockets is Chris Paul.

The best player is James Harden. With James Harden and without Chris Paul, the rockets are 33 and 18. But without Chris Paul, they only win 58% of their games. So they're a better team statistically when Chris Paul plays. When Chris doesn't, and they are very hardened-centric, they're not the same team. Last year, at some point last year, they were like 14 and 0 when they had played together. By the way, they led the Warriors last year. Chris Paul got hurt series over.

I think Steph Curry is the most valuable warrior. He's not as good as Durant. I think Chris Paul, who plays on both ends, really well, is more valuable than James Hardin. Hardin's a way better player. So I would give the MVP, if I don't think you're the most valuable player on your team, Kevin Durant Warriors, James Hardin, Houston.

I can't give you the MVP. league. So to me, Janice is, nothing against Chris Middleton and Milwaukee, but Janus is the best player and the most valuable player on this team. So there you go. And congrats. Last several years, the baby dinosaurs in Canada, the Raptors

have been the team that takes the regular season really seriously and their fans, they're Canadian, so they don't yell to anybody. But if they, you know, we're Americans, they'd scream at us that you're a jerk and you don't know what you're talking about. But Milwaukee has replaced Toronto as the team that takes the regular season really, really seriously. And it

just doesn't equate to NBA finals and NBA championships. It just doesn't. Joel Klatz around the corner. I think Joy agrees with me. You have to trade Josh Rosen. There's a story today. The New York Giants are absolutely interested. Remember I told you last week there were three, I was told, I knew three teams had offered the Arizona Cardinals the number two pick. And I said there are three teams with veteran quarterback. The Giants are won. The Patriots. I am not going to say that's confirmed.

So the Patriots and the Chargers. Oh, I don't even know where that came from. That was just throw it out there. To be clear, I have no information. I'm just. Okay. I'm just telling you what I have been told. So the ones, now one of them is out the New York Giants.

I've been told there's three teams confirmed that have offered the number two pick. And Arizona has said, let us sleep on it. haven't made up our mind, but Joy and I agree, you have really damaged the Josh Rosen relationship. It's just not the position you can do that. It's just not. I mean, by the way, you could say Josh Rosen's got to be able to handle it. Tom Brady's the goat. He got insecure about Jimmy Garoppolo.

Joe Montana had won four Super Bowls. He got insecure about Steve Young. Quarterback, LeBron, we've seen these great players get insecure about, you know, trades, coaches, players. You can't treat a rookie quarterback. quarterback who got the, you know what, beat out of him last year like this, have rumors swirling for two months. That kid emotionally, I bet you, has checked out to some degree on this organization. He'll still take the check if he doesn't get traded. How can you not? I'd actually be concerned about him if he didn't. Yeah, like, right. Like, you're not mad?

How would you not be mad at this? I don't know how it works. Yeah. Well, you're a grudge holder, you say. I am very petty, yes. But I'm, I'm for the slow kill, so I'll wait. What's that mean? That means I'm not reactionary when I'm crossed. Slow kill. Yes. It's better that way. All right. I mean, it's a lot to carry, obviously, but like, you know, in the long run, you know, you get back. You get the kill and you're miserable for a while.

Sure, right. So we both suffer. But, I mean, in this situation, though, there's so much mentally and emotionally that goes into being the leader of a franchise and we crush guys when they're not good leaders, but they have to be put in a situation to be the leader and enabled. It's like you say, if you have more than one quarterback, you have no quarterback. And that's the situation that they're in, though. They can kill these rumors instantly. Yeah, and they won't. And they haven't.

Joel clout around the corner. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the Ihard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves,

their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my

own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth.

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, as 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. is somebody coming after me. Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them

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Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ledecky. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win. more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning.

It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Saturday, the season's biggest free agents hit the field with their new teams. First, Bryce Harper and the Phillies take on the Braves and the Giants face off against Mandy Machado and the Padres. It all starts at 4 Eastern 1 Pacific on FS1 and the Fox Sports Act. Lead college football analyst Joel Clatt and I usually argue we may

agree on something today. Joy and I might. We might. This might be awkward for everybody. I think there might be some agreement. Okay, if I'm Josh Rosen, I'm out of here. You have had opportunities to squash these rumors for a month. Yeah. And

you haven't. And I don't care if I remain in Arizona. Meaning like Arizona has had. Arizona could have squashed these rumors. I totally agree with you. If I'm Josh Rosen, I'm like, get me out of here. You bet. Do you think it's repairable? No, I don't. I don't think that they cannot select Kyler at this point. Have Josh be their quarterback and that relationship have any basis and trust. And I think that's ultimately what you really need at that position between not only the head coach, but also the front office is some level of, now I don't think it can ever be 100 percent, but some

level of Colin trust. And I think that is fractured. And I don't think it was malicious necessarily from Arizona's standpoint because they've got a player that they feel like is a great fit for them that they can select in the draft. But at this point, I believe it's beyond repairable. And for that reason, I think that they're going to have to move him. And I think it would behoove them to move him a little sooner than later because they're holding out for a one. I don't think they're going to get it. They're going to get a two, a second rounder for Josh Rosen, but Arizona's not going to get a one for him. Great.

You select them with the 10th pick. That's your problem. Not theirs. You know, speaking of the other team. But there are some teams out there that I think he would fit with, and I think he will succeed ultimately with. Okay. Ralph Vakiano or Vachiano of S&Y, whatever that is.

Don't the Mets play on that, right? Something like that. Yeah, I wouldn't watch that. I watch the Yankees. So anyway, they're saying the New York Giants are trying to acquire Rosen. They should be trying to acquire. They got to fix that position. Does he fit there? I think he does. I think he would probably do better long term. If he went to a place where he could learn from a guy that has had a long veteran career. I'm thinking of a Rivers or a Brady.

If he could go sit behind that and maybe it's Eli, I just, Eli seems like it's so much one foot out door that I feel like that would be more of a competition rather than come here and get groomed. You know what I'm saying? Like the difference between going and being Josh Rosen behind Eli versus being Josh Rosen behind potentially Philip Rivers or a Tom Brady speculating here. Like I think he would fit better in a development mode for at least a year. Okay. So you have a mock draft on your quarterbacks.

You think for a little taken in the first round. And for the record, so do I. Okay. Because, yeah, everybody, this is just the way the world works. We overvalue quarterbacks. And last year, all of them worked. So there's a certain momentum that exists now in the NFL, that all five got, even the guys that we thought Josh Allen Lamar needed a year came in,

and they were pretty good. So explain each. Okay, so Murray, I think we've gone over. Arizona. Arizona, Murray, at number one. That's their coach and everything. The fit, everything, it just works in that spot. I think Dwayne Haskins fits in New York for a lot of different reasons.

One is he needs to be developed. And so behind Eli, I think for a year, he can learn. He's also an incredible person. I've gotten to know Dwayne very well. He's a hard worker. He's coming into his own as a leader and as a personality. And I think Dave Gettleman will like that aspect of him. I think he can be a franchise guy in the future.

Smart, coachable kid, I'm told. Very coachable. And a guy that got better as they had that. tug of war of style of offense, right? Urban Myers' old style and Ryan Day's new style. He was caught in the crosshairs, not in a malicious sense, but just in that internal schematic tug of war. Well, guess what happened when they figured it out late in the season? He was great. He was phenomenal. And he was great against the best defenses. He was great against Washington. He was great against Michigan. That's right. So this is like Zion. Zion's last six games are way better than

his first 20 because when you're young and talented, you make big leaps. Yes. This is what I like about Haskins. The last couple games they played the best defenses. He was great. He was great against Washington and Michigan. And not only great defenses, but they were great past defenses specifically. And great secondaries. Washington is going to have probably

two first round secondary players, Taylor Rapp, as well as their cornerback Byron Murphy. I had a GM in the NFL tell me. The concern is they do a lot of underneath routes at Ohio State drag routes that can elevate a guy's stats. But he said, Haskins makes about three to four

throws a game enough that you think he can make throws. Ohio State doesn't ask him to make a bunch of NFL throws because they have fast receivers underneath, dump it off. Okay, your third guy, none of us watched play. I mean, I did, but most fans didn't. It's the Duke kid going to Washington. Daniel Jones. Okay, he's, again, great coach. Safe. He's a really safe pick, right? He's a cut cliff guy. He's a guy that he's very smart when it comes to the schematics of football. He's got good presence. He can win from the pocket. He can control the game from the pocket. He's also, my estimation better than Drew Locke because Locke is a fastball thrower, whereas Daniel Jones, he can win with a lot of different styles of throws. He can layer the football into areas

in front of the safety and over the linebacker. He can win with anticipation, whereas Locke tries to just throw a fastball. And then the last guy on the list, Colin, for me, is Will Greer. He's a little, I got a lot of attitude with Will Greer. A lot of attitude. I don't know. I had a little transferred. Oh, here we go. I don't like guys who transfer. Oh, this is your sword to die on this year. I went to eastern Washington. I never transferred out of there. Well, that's because you didn't have any other opportunities.

You weren't good enough, okay? You know what talent offers you? Opportunity. And he had an opportunity to transfer due to some poor decision-making of Florida. He overcame that, grew up. He's much more mature now than he was early in his career. Here's the thing about Will Greer that you just need to know. One is NFL circles are much higher on Greer

than the pundits are. So you don't hear and read a lot about Greer from the people writing articles and doing mock drafts and creating lists. And the reason is, is because they kind of write him off, right? He's behind Ryan Finley in some of these mocks and lists and so on and so forth. But when you talk to NFL personnel, they will tell you that they love his maturity, they love him on the whiteboard, that what he does and proves on the whiteboard proves that some of the things that he did in college was more specific to their system than it was what he wanted to do, i.e. hold the football in the pocket a little bit too long. He is an NFL. He is a good player.

Yeah, he is an NFL. I'm not denying. I watched West Virginia actually play a lot this year. He is an NFL quarterback. By the way, his two toughest opponents, not toughest defenses, but toughest opponents, he was his best. He threw for almost 900 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions when he faced Texas and Oklahoma. Now, granted, Oklahoma's defense was a wet paper bag, but when they needed him to play great, he did.

Okay. By the way, Patriots. who are they? I'm about to say something that, again, this is obvious. They are obviously, they have 12 picks. They're picking a quarterback. At some point, or they're trading for one.

Okay. Just roll it out. Gut feeling. Rosen or one of these guys? I would say gut feeling one of these guys. Rosen? One of the. One of the quarterbacks in the draft,

whether it's Will Greer, like I have him in the first round, or someone in the second or third round. My gut is they won't spin. what ultimately someone's going to have to spend for Rosen, which is the second rounder. I think that they value their picks more so than more organizations. And organizations, you know, throw out whoever you want are going to be able to say, throw the second at Arizona, let's get Rosen, and I just don't think New England will do that. They view those, I mean, they covet those picks.

They trade first round picks all the time. Why? Because they covet those second through fifth round picks like gold. And I don't think they're going to give one up for Rosen. All right. I'm going to give you an opportunity to say something ridiculous here. Odell Beckham now plays with Baker Mayfield. I mean, sign me up for playoff tickets.

Baker, Baker, Baker, the touchdown maker. My man, I know you watch. I'm going to need playoff tickets this year. I'll be out there. Browns for life. And I grew up in Denver. For the record, Baker Mayfield called me his good friend the other day on Twitter. Yeah, he was, it's this thing that kids do.

It's called sarcasm. I don't know. It felt like maybe a little sarcasm, but not fully sarcasm. Maybe you woke up feeling a little dangerous. You never know. I think Baker, deep down, would come on this show in a second. Yeah, I mean, listen, he would do that in a heartbeat just to embarrass you. No, no.

That's why I do it. It's a lot of fun. Baker, come on. Come on. He has been on the show. Yeah. And what happened to his career afterwards, skyrocketed to the moon. Unbelievable.

Literally came on the show an hour later. He was winning awards. Are you taking credit? A little bit. Oh, you are unbelievable. This kid played in the middle of Siberia. An hour later after my show, he's signing deals. He was signing deals way before you.

If we're doing facts only, call him out, get him. Hey. I mean, I got to agree with him. Yeah. I'm not saying it's a result. Oh, wait, wait, boy, wait. But butterfly effect.

I come on this show and you are always backing up Colin. Yeah. You think Colin May Baker? I'm not saying. I agree with Colin when I agree with him. And when I don't, I tell him I don't do that. I'm not saying I made Baker Mayfield. I did him no disservice being on the show.

Your clown take made Baker because he was able to come on here and eviscerate you, which was gold. And I do not agree with his take, actually. I argue with Colin endlessly that Baker should have started from the beginning of the season. Yeah, that was a little off on that one. All I'm saying is, do you think Cleveland honestly now? Let's just look at. Your Baker animus aside.

Don't you think Cleveland is at? least a coin flip to win that division? Well, what does that mean? That means that a coin They're as good as Pittsburgh right now. Pittsburgh might have the tradition, but I think Cleveland's got the better roster. Cleveland's got some

really interesting offensive pieces. I am not denying that. They're running backs are the best three running back group in the NFL. It's unbelievable. Yeah, they're also coached by an intern. No, no. Maybe you've watched football lately. Coaching matters.

You know what's interesting is that when they fired their coach last year finally, and that coaching intern got his hands on the offense, they were finally good. Those are just facts. I mean, when Freddie actually got his hands on the offense, weren't they finally good? Didn't they finally start winning games? This guy you're calling a coaching intern? Wasn't the intern the guy who went to a thousand as the head coach? He should be an offensive coordinator then.

It's a big difference between calling the plays and having to run a locker room. It's like me. A lot of guys talk on this thing. I'm running the whole thing here. Freddie is not running the locker room. You know who runs the locker room? Baker. All right.

Baker, you're welcome anytime if you would like another elevation of your career. If you'd like another push toward the stratosphere, here's the couch or chair. All right, that's Joel Kla. I want to see if come on just a... Well, you guys... I mean. I take it in two seconds. Oh, my.

One second. By the way, we got kind of a relationship. You guys, everybody in the outside thinks it's ugly. Baker and I jab each other. We never punch each other. It's a lot of jabbing. That's kind of one-sided, though. Again, your take was so horrendous.

All he has to do is smile and be sarcastic and he wins. All right, your mic's not working. Let's go to Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So the Lakers are widely expected to fire Luke Wallen after the season. And now, according to Mark Stein, they were reportedly interested in bringing on current Mavericks coach, Rick Carlisle.

I don't bet they are. Stein made it clear, though, that the Lakers likely won't have a chance. Carlisle received a raise and a one-year extension through the 2022-23 campaign before the season began. And it's pretty obvious that the Mavericks are in a better spot moving forward, at least for the... moments than the Lakers. You're bailing on Luca Donthage? Forget Porzingis. You think I'm, I mean, Luca.

No, I'm not bailing on Luca. No. No. He's a 25. He's going to be an MVP candidate for the rest of his career. Starting a year two for the next 15, Luca Donchage is an MVP candidate. And by the way, pass, length, size, score, like good, coachable. I mean, I'm sorry, you're not bailing that. You'd be stupid. And Rick's not dumb.

No. And look, a lot of different. names are getting thrown out there. Jason Kidd, Carlisle, last week it was Doc Rivers. There's going to be a ton of names thrown out there as soon as all this goes down. And the bottom line is it's Tailu.

I mean, it's just the one that makes sense. You have no time to have an adjustment period with LeBron James. Whoever comes in has got to be a championship level coach, which Tailu is, and has to be on the same page with LeBron. And there was this assumption that Tailu and LeBron James have this awful relationship, which I don't

think is true. And you're going to be a lot of. And you're going to be on the same thing. And in a win now this instant situation with LeBron James. All of the other pieces that need to be put around, that's on the front office. But the first thing that has to fall into place is the coach, and I just don't see how you have one minute to waste on trying to get the head coach and LeBron on the same page. So speaking of coaching, new Cardinals coach, Cliff Kingsbury, is bringing a strategy he used at Texas Tech to the pros with the Cardinals. So to help his millennial players get their

social media fix. Kingsbury is planning on allowing cell phone breaks during team. meetings. Here's why. Cell phone breaks. That's what it is now. They're itching to get to those things. 20 to 30 minutes, we'll get a good run in and then take a little break and come back and finish it up. You start to see kind of hands twitching and legs shaking and, you know, they need to get that social media fix. So you let them, let them hop over there and then get back to your meeting and refocus.

Does Belichick do that? I mean, I'm... I actually think it's... very smart. And everyone's going to get all bothered by it because another millennial thing is really just freaks people out. But I mean, this is a thing. People's attention span is very, very limited.

And I don't necessarily think it's just for social media. I mean, people are on their phones all day long. You said you made it one of your New Year's resolutions to be on your phone less. Hour or day. You have to trick yourself and train yourself into breaking a habit. Being on your phone all the time is a very strong habit. If you ever tried to take a phone away from a kid that plays on it all day, it's impossible.

And New England forces players to break the habit. Everybody can't be New England. And I wish that people would stop saying that because there's only one New England and I've got news for everyone, so everyone listening. It's never going to happen again in history of sports. Just accept it, enjoy it for what it is. It's never happening. I'm a Patriot fan.

I love this news. Tom Brady, Tom Brady had Bill Belichick. It's never happening again. The culture may remain, but this dynasty is not going to be repeated for multiple reasons, including social media. It's not going to happen. So this idea that you have to do things the way that New England does it in order to win a championship is nonsense because the last time I checked they did not win every single Super Bowl in the last 20 years. And it's not going to happen again. Not even close to almost all of them. Not even this much close to all of them. I think New England is just laughing. They're like, there's another team I can cross off the list. I have incredible respect for New England and what they've done. All I'm saying is everybody can't do it that way because there's Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and they're together and neither, no other team in the league. Warren Buffett only buy stocks of value. You know kids, not everybody can. do it that way. Well, you could try to do it that way. You can try. Do you have Tom Brady? Is there another Tom Brady available out there in the market? There's some good players out there.

Tom Brady? You think Baker's already Brady? Look, I don't think it's a bad idea. Baker's pretty good. To give young players a brain break every 30 minutes to reset and then move on to the next thing. I need a brain break when I come on this show. I'm ready to punch you right in the forehead. This is going off the rails. Finally, and this was something light. You might have to change your bore for, Colin. What? Because Andrew Luck, he's shown a little personality.

What? The world's flipped upside down. What? What do you do? What do? What do you do? What do? What do?

And now Andrew Luck is disco dancing. Andrew Luck and Mike Trout wouldn't get into an outdated disco battle. So why would they choose an outdated sports drink? We wouldn't. They wouldn't. So they took two boring guys and did an ad off the boring guys. I think this is actually brilliant. I actually don't think that I wonder how much how much practice

Andrew Luck had to do to nail those moves I think this is a brilliant ad they took the most the greatest boring guys in their sport It even looks like he trimmed up the beard a little bit too Were you a disco dancer in your day Colin? Not great no No you didn't have a disco No

No I was not And I can just stop right there All right enjoy the news Well that's the news And thanks for stopping by The Hird Lye News. A tough guy in the NBA, Jerome Williams, for a lot of years. What does he make all these millennials?

He'll be joining us next. Dean Blandino last hour. Nick Swisher 2. Baseball starts tomorrow. It's The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the Hard weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. The junkyard dog played for a decade in the NBA, played collegiately with Alan Iverson. His name is Jerome Williams.

The smile tells you everything. He's a happy dude. It's great to have you on the show, finally. It's great to be here. I want to talk about a lot of things. One I want to talk about Zion Williamson. People think I'm not. Somebody said yesterday, Paul Pierce, top 50 player.

I said, I'm not so sure he's not a top 20, 25 player. Is it too hot of a take to say he's a top 50 player right now in the NBA? He's definitely a top 50 player right now. At 285 with the athleticism, the agility that he has, around the basket, the skill sets, I'm definitely giving them top 50. Because if you look at the power forwards in that section, You know, you're looking at Dremont Green, Harrison Barnes. They don't match up with him.

No. Does there anything that worries you, Jerome, about him? The thing that worries me about Zion is the fact that he is 285 with that type of athleticism. When you get into the NBA, you're guaranteed to gain 10, 15, 20 pounds of muscle. Because you're just eating better. Oh, of muscle. Of muscle. Just from the workout standpoint, from the regimen of going, you know, preparing your body for the grind.

as we talk about in the NBA. Right. And that's what scares me because when you look at LeBron James and where he went from high school, from a 235 to 270, 2.65, ooh! You're going to add another 30, you know, potentially 40 pounds on the Zion? Because one of his strengths is quickness, you'd worry about quickness leaving. You worry about quickness.

You worry about agility. You worry about injury with that type of, you know, you'd worry about quickness. You know. On your feet. On your feet, your legs in terms of the jumping, 82 games plus playoffs. These are the type of things that worry me. He will translate. He will translate for sure. See, because I think the NBA game's more open.

College is congested. I think he's built to score. He's a 25-point game. I mean, it looks like to me he's built the score in the league. He's built to score because he does it in multiple ways. His jump shot's going to improve. It's already gotten better this year. He's quick off the floor to the offense rebounds that I know all about.

And he's got great touch around the rim. He does. You know, he comes back from injury. He's shooting 70% from the field. Yeah. I'm saying, hey, this guy's on the elevator up. I want to talk about Westbrook. You played with Alan Iverson.

Yes. And Allen and Westbrook are similar in their relentlessness, similar in that Iverson was just faster than everybody. You're an Iverson guy. Man, I got to put on my headband for this. Okay. And then there's Westbrook, who is relentless? Yes.

I criticize Westbrook. People think I'm a hater. I say, don't hate the dude, but some parts of his game I hate. Are any of my criticisms fair? They are fair in the sense that I, as an NBA veteran and fan of the game, I'm paying to see Russell Westbrook. Right. Because of the intensity, because of the dog.

He is the leader of the dog pound. right now in the NBA for me. However, the decision-making and the Rocky Road at times... He's a roller coaster. It gets me on edge because I expect more. I expect more from a guy who's capable of triple doubles any given night. I think one of the things, like LeBron's game has evolved, Kevin Durant's games evolved, James Hardin's games evolved.

I think one of my things about Westbrook is, here's his game, here's his personality, and it's not changing. And I think he can wear teammates out. Like this many years in the league, he should evolve a little as a teammate, no? As a teammate, I can see why the guys rally around Russell, because of the fact that on the grind of it, we understand that this player is, we want to be in a foxhole. with Russell Westbrook. 100 miles an hour every night. 100 miles an hour, going to chew you down,

going to go after the best guy on the other team, not going to care how big, how small, and he's going to play with his heart and soul. As an NBA veteran, like I said, the only problem with that is, I'm on this Rocky Road. It's tough.

I'm on this Rocky Road, and I want to win. And I know I can win with this guy if he's got his best. Was Iverson like that, Rocky Road? Alan Albertson was not a Rocky Road. You know, he was a consistent dog, and we consistently knew the amount of shots he was going to take. He used to tell us, hey, if I pass it to you and you don't shoot and you pass it back. I'm shooting. I'm putting it up.

Right. So. You felt he was consistent. That's consistent because we understand, right? We understand what's going on. And also, you've got to think the chemical make up a lot of those teams. Philadelphia 76ers were built with role players around him. Right.

So they all accepted their role. This is not the same quite here. It's not the same. It's not the same. So two different scenarios with two different answers. Paul George chose to stay with Westbrook. Reports now, Kauai is leaning towards staying with Toronto. If you were in this league today with all the money, you're a great player,

You're an A player and could join LeBron or you could stay and make more guaranteed money in Toronto, Oklahoma City. Jerome, what would you do? What would I do? I would be the guy that was loyal to me because Oklahoma was loyal to PG. Kauai Leonard. Same thing in Toronto. This guy has gotten the most care and concern ever in his career in consideration of what he says he went through in San Antonio. to the difference in Toronto, you know, not playing on back-to-back nights,

resting the leg, just making sure he doesn't. They've given him 15 nights off. 15 nights off in terms of really just load management. They don't want this guy hurt, and they're proving it. And when you prove that to a player, in his mind, does he want to go somewhere new? You got my back. And have to, you know, deal with this process. He has learned that he does not, he is not pressured by wins and losses in Toronto.

You know, that's an interesting point. If Kauai goes somewhere to be the star, it's one thing. But Toronto is basically saying, this is a long-term investment in you. Take 15 games off. That's a good point. And they built through the draft. And they're winning with that. They're okay.

They're good enough to win because what did Kauai bail on in San Antonio? You don't care about me physically. You don't care about me. That's an interesting point. Finally, Milwaukee Bucks, I think they're fools gold. They'll win a series or two. But there's always a team in the East that cares really seriously about the regular season. Toronto last few years, Atlanta, Indiana, Young Celtics.

That's right. I think Milwaukee wins a series or two. I don't see them as a finals team to you. I don't. I don't see them as finals. I mean, look at Brogdon out. You need all your guns blazing. And you can see this with Toronto.

They rest Van Bleet. Kyle Lowry, able to take games off to make sure he gets back healthy. It's a repeated process in Toronto because they're not concerned about the number one seed. They were for years. They want to get to the finals. And this is how you do it. You have to rest your players. You have to have them 100% in the playoffs and you have to be a full roster.

You can't have a piece here that's coming off an injury and it doesn't work. By the way, fans don't understand this. 82 NBA games. You fly in town, it's three in the morning. You go to your bed at the Ritz. You get up at 9.45 for a shoot-around. You go back, have a salad, take a nap, and you're doing that. That's 45 games a year.

Then you get into the playoffs. It's a grind. It is a – I've talked to NBA coaches. They're like, it's a grind for everybody. It's a grind for trainers. It's a grind for coaches. We don't complain, though, because this is our business. This is what we do.

Junkyard dog Jerome Williams, Deccate in the NBA. Georgetown, Hoy, a great seat. Great meeting you. Nice meeting you, too. Dog, Pam. All right. Next, Dean Blandino. Changing Rules, Pass Interference, Hail Marys.

What are we going to make of it? Next. Want 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. Hour three. We're live.

It's give me a great hour. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. In Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. By the way, cold and flu season, trivix, Naisal Spray, A little squirt, 12 hours when congestion strikes. Try Vic, Synex, nasal spray. Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number three.

Today we've had good arguments. Gerald Williams just stopped by. See, he buys into this whole Westbrook thing, which is, it's the, you know, it's the roller coaster thing that drives me crazy. It's not that he can't have talent. I just, I know I can't speak for your relationship with Earl. I can speak for my relationship with Anne, my wife, is I just like consistency. Well, everyone likes consistency. Like her flaws, I don't have any, but her flaws, I get them every day at home and I appreciate,

I know exactly what they are. So you're consistently in denial. That's a good way of putting it. And I think that is a real thing. Like in any relationship, I think if I was in Oklahoma City, I was Billy Donovan and I was Sam Presti, with him I would get, it's like, what am I getting today? Because sometimes he's in a great mood and he's all in. Other times he's in a bad mood and he walks into that arena.

He's got something going on. He's bounced. He's got a chip on both shoulders, and he's difficult. So when people, most NBA guys I talk to an exact say, it's not that you're wrong on Westbrook. We like him more than you do, but the inconsistency in any relationship can be maddening. And that's always kind of my point.

I covered Rashid Wallace. Rashid was absolutely the best, I think I've told you this, best NBA player I ever covered, and he would drive you nuts. He had no idea what you're getting. And when he was great, he was Kevin Garnett. And when he wasn't, but he was something less than half of Tim Duncan.

And so, by the way, former VP of officiating Dean Blandino is going to be in studio in 15 minutes. And he's going to, we're going to talk about this instant replay stuff. Nick Swisher, by the way, baseball starts tomorrow, World Series champ, Nick Swisher in 40 minutes. He's basically a human version of a can of Red Bull. Nick is going a thousand miles an hour and he will join us. You know, a lot of times, and this is the way sort of it works, a lot of times we get something and we think it adds to our life. But it really just creates more problems. The NFL owners have passed a new one.

Pass interference is now reviewable. Oh, that'll make everything right. Right? wrong. Now here's the first thing. Coaches still only have two challenge flags. So don't overreact. I don't like it, but coaches still only have two challenge flags. If I'm a head coach, here's why I don't like it. Now I've got my wide receiver who historically are the biggest egos on the team coming up to me, up to sideline constantly.

Throw your flag. Throw your flag. Throw your flag. Throw your flag. Pass interference. Oh boy. Also, the NFL, I think, believes. this is going to solve stuff and it's going to create more arguments. You ever heard of that thing called the Ring videotape doorbell? You ever heard of that thing? Ring videotape doorbell. You've seen it on doorbells. It was created to spot burglars.

It's a little camera. Is there to spot burglars? And make sure nobody weird is at your door. But the problem is everybody looks weird in that fish eye lens camera. and so instead of creating security, it's created paranoia through America. The New Orleans Saints pushed this. We're showing you this play for about the 8,000th time. You do realize this is not what most pass interference penalties look like.

It is arguable. It is nebulous. It is grabbing, reaching, touching, pulling, which coaches coach. It's like boxing out in basketball. You could argue everything's the pass interference. 95% of the NFL contact, quarterback and wide receiver does not look like this. It does not. It's not obvious.

It's arguable. Go watch games throughout the course of a season. They allow clutching and grabbing and pulling. And now you think you've solved everything. No, you haven't. You're going to get those replays and there's going to be more power to the officials. The officials are going to have more power to influence games. The saints are doing this because they want the officials to have less.

What are you going to do with a Hail Mary at the end of a game? Are you going to go letter to the law and call it a pass interference? There is pass interference on every Hail Mary, pushing, jumping, tugging. I mean, you can go back and look at some of these big plays. You don't think there's pass interference on that? You don't think there's past interference on that. You can make an argument on every pass interference call. Remember Tom Brady's Super Bowl through the ball down the field?

And Chris Hogan, look at this. Minutes before that play in the Super Bowl, Chris Hogan got shoved to the ground. But here's the problem. Is that pass interference or illegal contact or defensive holding? Because all three are different calls. Chris Hogan running downfield got shoved, no call. Oh, it's reviewable. Well, that should be pass interference.

Well, it's defensive holding. You're giving officials, you're adding another instrument in the cockpit. So it's more confusing for the pilot. is if you think this is going to make things easier, it's going to make things more confusing. Because there's pass interference on every single Hail Mary, every single late game throw. And on 95% of balls downfield, I can argue that's pass interference.

But here's the other thing, is that when you look at football, the catch rule, for years and years, you and I never argued about a catch. So the NFL changed the catch rule to make it more precise. That's what they're doing here for pass interference. We're going to make it more precise. But it created arguments for the catch rule. You think precision always ends debate.

I would argue it creates more debate. It's okay to have a little fuzzy. It's okay to have a human element. It's okay to argue at the end of games. It's okay. Players, coaches, whiff. Sometimes officials do. And oh, by the way, every time the NFL

every time there's a new rule in the NFL. Name the team that manipulates it the most. New England. The tuck rule. I mean, every rule we have, they manipulate it. You don't think New England's going to figure out ways

late in games. You out coach them, you out play them, you lead, and they're manipulating it. Like the saints think they're taking away power from refs. You're giving refs more control. You can call stuff past interference, defensive holding, illegal contact. Those are all different penalties. I don't love it.

I don't think it's the end of the world. But I think it adds more confusion and more debate, not more precision. Let me shift to this. I wrote my first book called You Heard Me. And the basic philosophy was there's two stories in sports, the one you hear the audience and the truth. and agents and shoe companies and the NCAA and big media companies like this one and others and stars and their handlers and marketers sell you all sorts of stories. But that's not necessarily true.

They're trying to gain your trust, gain your money, gain your interest, gain your followers, gain your support. So here's a story that came out yesterday that's got no truth to it. And I'm not knocking on the reporter because the reporter's excellent, Mark Stein, New York Times. He's great. Rick Carlyle, the Lakers are widely expected to get rid of Luke Walton, and reportedly they are interested in bringing in Dallas Mavericks, Rick Carlisle. Well, I'm sure they are, so the report is accurate.

But that means it was leaked because stories only get out if somebody wants them out. Rick Carlisle is not coming to Los Angeles. Maybe the Clippers, not the Lakers. He's not leaving Luca Donchage and Christop's Porzengis. And Mark Cuban. Dallas next year could be scary good. There's no chance this happens. This is the Lakers and or clutch sports and LeBron's people leaking it.

Why? Because it makes the Lakers seem more relevant. And they're not anymore. Do you think this story leaked by coincidence on the day the Clippers clinched the playoff spot last night? Nah, bro. That's not a coincidence. The Clippers clinched a playoff spot.

And what do you know? Rick Carlisle, Lakers, let's remain viable, and guys like Colin will talk about it, and it'll be on debate shows and your sport centers, and it'll be, it's not happening. First of all, the two coaches up for the Lakers job are Jason Kidd, who got fired in Milwaukee, and they got way better than minute he left, and the second guy up for its Tailu, he got fired too, and I think he's a pretty good coach, but it's not like teams are lining up for him either, especially the good ones. This story leaks.

Rick Carlisle, big name, respected coach, the night the Clippers make clinch a playoff spot. That is not a coincidence. Let's steal some headlines, let's get talked about, and frankly, they did this morning on this show. But Paul George passed on the Lakers, and top coaches are not interested in this job.

And the Lakers absolutely want to remain viable. And I said this last week. The Lakers have become might as well. Tyson later in his career. They no longer work on their jab. They're just big haymakers, knockout swings, a lot of whiffs, not very efficient, looking for the big knockout, but they're sloppy. They're not doing their homework. They just gave away Zubots, their great young center. The Lakers have three or four things going against them. They're arguably the second worst shooting team in the NBA to Phoenix. It's now a shooter's

League. LeBron will be in his 17th year coming off his first real injury. Worse, by the way, than we predicted, according to a report by Joy yesterday on the show. Their top two young players, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, are now injury prone, and that is not debatable. And, oh, by the way, the front office is not considered elite, according to my sources around the NBA. This story is leaked to make the Lakers seem viable. Now, they may land Anthony Davis, and that will make them more interesting. But when I wrote that first book, the whole point of it was to tell you there's two stories you're fed. The truth and the one people feed you.

This is clearly leaking a story to make sure that the team that is no longer considered a really viable spot for top free agents. Kauai, a story came out yesterday? Not interested again. Kevin Durant's not coming here. Clay Thompson's not coming here. Kyrie Irving, 5% chance, 95 not coming here. Anthony Davis, potentially, perhaps probably, if you can trade for them with limited assets. Two stories, one you're being fed and the truth.

And the truth here is Rick Carlisle. No way in the world would leave the Dallas Mavericks in their future. and Mark Cuban for what currently is happening with the Lakers. All right, new NFL rules. Dean Blandino, joining us next to offer some clarity. That's coming up. 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 IHeart Radio app.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games,

from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants. answer. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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. 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, Keer 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth.

He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering our meaning, businessman, catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in America. in history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going from the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't.

Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile. That means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals.

At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. News, quick, quick, easy way to do it. to save money, go to Geico. 15 minutes could save you 15%. Geico.com. See how much you could save. All right. Dean Blandino, former NFL senior vice president of officiating, just my opinion,

but since you left, the league's not as well officiated. And I've said that when you're not here, not just when you're here. All right, here's something that bothers me. You know, we think of the NFL as this brilliantly run organization, but I do feel sometimes that they're bowing to pressure. Gail Benson, Saints, popular franchise. pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure change the rule

and yesterday my takeaway was what was the hurry dean to change the pass interference rule yeah I think what the NFL did yesterday is they won the press conference right they won the press conference but as we all know that's not that's only part of it now

similar to last year when they put the helmet rule in last minute now we've got to figure out all the unintended consequences and vet out where normally the competition committee has months to go through this, think about it. Obviously, the play happened in the NFC championship game. No one wants to see that type of mistake affect a game,

but is replay truly the fix here? Or is it officiating on the field and making sure they have good direction? They're coached up. They know what pass interference is, and they're going to make the call when it has to be made. I would, I always, one of the things I've repeated a couple of times today, I don't want my pilots having to learn a new cockpit every year. I want fewer rules, rare changes.

NFL's always been very nimble in terms of changing. Could I make the argument last three years since you left? There's just too many changes. I think it's been, even when I was there, and we really pushed back on this, you don't want to change 10, 15 rules changes a year. The game is in good shape. Now you add layers upon layers upon layers.

Officiating is hard enough. Oh, God. Games never been faster. It's never been faster. There's no huddles anymore. There's no, there's more plays, there's more scoring, there's more scrutiny. And now we're going to add, okay, you've got to learn 10 new rules every year. We're going to throw it at you at the last minute, kickoff formations, helmet rule, all of these things.

And it's made officiating almost impossible. And by the way, the technology now fans can see every mistake because literally there's 80 cameras. Exactly. You have the convergence of more cameras, better slow-mo, more rules, harder to officiate, game is faster. You know, again, I'll go back to the plane analogy. It would be like planes are harder to fly. There's more in the sky.

And we're changing the cockpit and pilots are getting older and slower. It's like at some point that's when you have crashes. Okay, let's go to the pass interference. Here's what I worry about. Because coaches still only have two challenges. So you can't do it all game. Pass interference is dicey. Because I showed a clip in the Super Bowl earlier where Chris Hogan's running down the field.

and he gets jammed against the Eagles. Now, that's not pass interference because Brady still had the ball. Exactly. But nothing was called on that. Do you see the catch rule was created to create precision and it created more fuzz? Correct. My question is, what do you do with the Hail Mary? If you're going to judge it by letter of the law, they're all past interference.

That's the key because you have the letter of the law and then you have how the practical guidelines, how it's officiated. right the bang bang play because the official can see it in real time only sees it once the bang bang play where it all occurs around the same time that's not past interference well now are we going to overanalyze it to the point where the defender got there a split second a frame early that is now past interference and guess what that's a 40 yard foul are we going to go to that degree the end of the game the hell mary you always tell officials it has to be a complete egregious egregious flagrant so here's the funny thing pass interference you're is the largest penalty in American sports.

It can be a 60-yard penalty. So it should be, in my opinion, officiated with great discretion. Okay, so I am all for allowing a ton of pushing because it's just like anything else. If you go five miles over the speed limit, you shouldn't end up in jail. You shouldn't be that punitive. It's the most punitive call in American sports, right? So it could be a 60-yard penalty. what would you do in a Hail Mary?

And once, by the way, you call one Hail Mary P.I. Now you've set a standard. And now, well, wait a minute, you called that one at the end of that game. And that's my concern. I think you have to have a standard look. It has to be clear and obvious. Even the non-Hale Mary, it has to be clear and obvious. The thing is, look, the play in the NFC championship game was obvious.

The majority of pass interference calls are not that obvious. Totally subjective. They're not that obvious. And when you go to slow-mo, Dean. No question. You grabbing me like, Joy and I run next to each other, she hits my arm. But in slow-mo, when you see my arm. Exactly.

Band, it's like, oh, that's an obvious. You've got a rule on the contact. When it occurred, did it occur? Did it restrict the receiver's ability to make a play on the ball? And we're just talking defensive pass interference. Now offensive pass interference with all the hand fighting that takes place? Was it a push off? Did the defender initiate the contact?

Did the receiver? Now you're asking a replay official? inside two minutes to initiate those reviews on those types of plays. Can I ask you, have you heard from any officials this morning? You know, I haven't yet. I'm starting. I'll start to get those text messages. I think the on-field officials, it won't change what they do.

I think the replay officials, you have 17 crew, 17 replay officials that are sitting there now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're in the rule book right now, boning up on their pass interference rules. Is there a rule you would like to see implemented or alter? because you're for fewer and less changes. Is there one you would... Yeah, you know, for me, I'm all about making it simpler. And I like, I don't like a lot of conferences on the field.

I don't like a lot of stoppages in the game. I would look at let's make replay simpler and let's take away some of the reviewable categories. Because look, replay was created to fix the egregious mistake. And it has morphed into, we are looking at plays... For perfection. Exactly. And it's an impossible standard.

Here's the other thing that one thing you cannot deny, and I think in football more than any other, momentum is a real thing in sports. Replays kill momentum. No, no question. It gives defensive players in football time to rest. You go watch an NBA game and a player comes down the lane, dunks on somebody else. The crowd goes crazy. You go to a three-minute replay? You've stolen.

Fans should matter. rest should not be available because of technology. We always worked with our replay officials inside two minutes that you're not there to fix every potential mistake because you can give a team a timeout. You can create an advantage, momentum, all of those things. So a four or five yard pass, okay, maybe it's incorrect. Leave it alone. But you do worry about becoming overly technical and now are we going to have four, five, six

stoppages? I hope not. I don't think there will be. But the potential's there on pass interference plays inside two minutes. Okay, I go back to this. This is my crazy rule. The umbrella rule is that I just have one rule. Two minutes left in a game.

You can review anything if it's egregious, not the coaches. The league can, this probably happen, you know, every once, twice a week. The league can say, Ram Saints, missed it, review it. Yeah. Not the coaches. You can't throw a penalty flag. It's called the umbrella rule last two minutes. And it would be a stoppage of play guy upstairs goes, bang, bang, bang, we get an egregious.

Is that crazy? Yeah, no, it's not crazy. And look, we're doing some things, you know, in the Alliance of American Football, they have a sky judge. That is exactly what the sky judge is there to do. In the egregious mistake at the end of the game, Saints Rams, or it's a player safety, where the safety of the player is concerned, they can buzz down, communicate with the crew, wirelessly in their ear. Hey, that's a flag. Put it down. And I think that's reasonable.

I just feel like we have to figure out the way to do that seamlessly. and not interrupt the game unnecessarily. Former NFL senior VP of officiating. Dean Blandino could see you, buddy. You too. Don't beat the guy in the room, the long, sloppy-looking untucket.com. Code Herd-HERD, 20% off all purchases. Joy Taylor with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. So the Cardinals haven't made a public decision about what they're going to do with the first pick in the draft. Kind of. Well, yeah, an official public decision. They are widely expected to take Kyler,

Murray, which of course would make Josh Rosen expendable. And according to S&Y, the Giants are interested. I do, I think Joel Klatt said this earlier. It maybe wouldn't be the best position for Josh Rosen. But better maybe than the one he has? I mean, yes, it would 100% be better than the one he has because if they draft Kyler Murray, then he's never playing there again. He's officially a backup.

But just as far as if you're going to go and sit behind a aging quarterback, Eli Manning is still, they're still not really. 100% moving off of him yet. So he's not really going to get the grooming that he needs to get if he's eventually going to become the starting quarterback. Obviously still a better position than Arizona.

But either way, I don't see how Arizona doesn't move off of Josh Rosen at this point. I said this before. I'm not a big fan of deceit. But I think you were better if you were Arizona to just lie about this. And then if you don't trade Josh Rosen, you still have a great relationship. And if you do, who cares?

slide about OBJ, Nick Sabo said he'd never coach Alabama. But to just let it sit there with Josh Rosen, he's hearing all of it. Well, I'm sure they've had conversations with him about it. But to me, I think that's even worse. I think you just say, hey, we're unsure what we want to do. And yeah, we're looking at Calder Murray and other options. And if we may end up moving you or we may end up keeping you. So at least you have, at least you know if you're Josh Rosen, this is the position that I'm in.

I don't know that that conversation hasn't been had just because it's not See, I would lie to him. I would tell him we love you and we're never trading you. But that's not true because... I know. No, I absolutely hate when organizations do that because it always comes out later on. It's like, oh, you know, the front office said we're not trading you. That's nonsense.

Why would you say that? It makes no sense. Of course you could trade him. Any player could be traded at any time. I'd say I'm not going to. I'd say I love you. I'm never going to trade you. Don't believe any of these...

That's ridiculous, though. That's not realistic. Well, I know, but Nick Sabin said I'm never going to college football and he did. And it was okay because nobody cared five minutes later. You know, Miami definitely cared. 100%. There are a lot of people in Miami still very upset about that Sabin era, I can assure you. There's no point in just blatantly coming out and saying something that you cannot stick to.

You're backed in a corner. I don't know. I think lying sometimes is very opportunistic. I cannot stand when organizations do that. It actually makes no sense at all because they're not bound to that word at all. And then just it makes you look ridiculous because they absolutely probably are trading him. It's called Toops Time, sponsored by Guinness. Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Breast's Day from the Breast.

of Guinness. So just days after Duke eliminated UCF from the NCAA tournament, Johnny Dawkins is heaping praise on Zion Williamson. Things he did in that game as a freshman, due to things he did on that stage, you automatically know he has special written all over him at our level, on the next level. It's not going to matter. That young man is going to be great. I think he's going to end up being a Hall of Famer when it's all set and done. My observations in watching him in preparation for our game, game. You know, tape doesn't do him justice. That's the first thing that stands out. Like,

he was better than advertised and he gets, you know, he receives a lot of, you know, notoriety. He was better. And that's rare for me. 285. And he's just going to get bigger and stronger. I don't understand these people nitpicking him. There are people out there that are talking about this, this, this, and I'm like, folks, college basketball, Duke has four NBA players. He makes the other three look invisible on Most nights. Physically, it didn't even look like anybody else. I'm not, look, people are going to have their reservations about him because of his size,

and it's a skill game now. Obviously, size still matters. Right. But. His skill's pretty good. Yeah, and he's only going to develop. He's only going to get better. I mean, we saw our graph earlier.

It's only to the sky from here. But my only thing is I don't like putting things like Hall of Fame or the next MJ. Or, like, it puts this incredible amount of pressure. sure on a young kid who's not necessarily backing away from it. I think that he can handle it. I don't think that it's that he is asking for it or any of that. But Hall of Fame? Can we just pump the brakes for five seconds?

But didn't we put that on LeBron and he's handled it? I'm not saying that he hasn't. He's handled it in an incredible way. But we say these things and then when players don't, I'm not saying you and I, but the public when players don't necessarily reach the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Well, for the record, I do believe he's a Hall of Famer.

I think he's a Hall of Fame talent. I mean, the only player I can remember in college I watched, Patrick Ewing. You're like, oh, yeah, that's, I mean, he's just too big and strong for everybody. Patrick Ewing was, and I can't, and I've told you, I've only had two quarterbacks in my life. I felt that. Luck and Elway. And there's been a million quarterbacks that I've loved. Sam Donald, I love, not Hall of Fame.

I think it'll be a winning quarterback. So I think about once a decade, I just go crazy and go, that's all time. You just have a phenom and you can just say it. I think that I'm just like, okay, when I saw LeBron, I'm like, like, first year, I'm like, I'm like, 20 points out of high school? This guy's going to be an unbelievable. I think the kids, I think he's so exciting. You only get one of these guys a decade.

He's going to change life for whatever team he goes to, for sure. Finally, the Houston Rockets want everyone to know who their MVP pick is. PJ Tucker arrived with James Hardin last night. The game against the Bucks and wore this shirt. It says, I'm with the MVP. Then they lost to the Bucks. And Chris Paul let everyone know that this should not affect Hardin's MVP case. James went on that historic run.

You know what I mean? Obviously, I'm biased about the MVP and whoever or whatnot, but those of you that decided on head-to-head games with a few games left in the season, good luck with that. I think I care less about the MVP than everybody else. This year, the MVP does not feel as exciting as it has been or it's not been discussed or debated as much as it has in past years.

Maybe it's just because it's really been between Janus and Hardin for most of the year and Hardin already won it. The only award I care about all year is best picture at the Oscar. Like that one every year I'm always excited. Ooh, what's the best picture? But outside of that, I'm not an award. You don't get an award. I'm just not an award.

I mean, the MVP is a huge honor. I know. Like the Westbrook MVP year was an incredible watch. I mean, Hardin deserved the MVP when he won. I mean, it is something that is discussing fans care about. I just think this year it's kind of been, it's just felt it doesn't have the buzz that it had before. And also, the MEPs haven't been translating into finals winners.

So it's like it's very much a regular season award. And then you get into the conversation in the postseason, like, well, does you really deserve the MVP? It is a regular season award. I think it should go to Yonis. It's not a knock on the historic run that James Hardin went on this year. But Yonis's team is just doing better and they're losing players and still winning. And this game has nothing to do with it.

This game wasn't going to fight for MVP. It just Yonis is going to be the MVP. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Baseball season, Nick Swisher, the human can of Red Bull,

will be joining us next. All sorts of baseball stuff around the corner. Don't go anywhere. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Saturday, the season's biggest free agents hit the field with their new teams. First, Bryce Harper and the Phillies take on the Braves and the Giants face off against Mani Machado and the Padres.

It all starts at 4 Eastern, 1 Pacific on FS1, and the Fox Sports app. By the way, I haven't tried Butcherbox. Go to butcherbox.com slash herd. High quality grass-fed organic stuff. All right, baseball season starts today. 12 seasons in the Major League Baseball. An All-Star, a World Series chant with the Yankees,

the human can of Red Bullies, Mr. Energy, Nick Swisher. Let's bring him on. Come on, Nick. A lot of energy. You got kids now. I'm telling you, like Mr. Mom at home. How are you? You doing the ballet class?

I got all the dance moves down. I mean, I'm there. We got horse riding, you know. Little daughters are the best. Yeah. Right now is a good time for me to be at home right now with the girls, man. I'm having a great time. Okay.

Let me ask you. Now, Manny Machado goes to the Padres. They're not a World Series team. Mike Trout, a lot of money angels, not a World Series team. Bryce Harper goes to the Phillies. They picked up David Robertson. They got Bryce Harper. I think Andrew McCutcheon, Segura.

So Philadelphia is actually a real team. Here's my, so that I get. Here's what I don't with these 10, 13 year deals. Six years into this thing, Bryce Harmer is a big home run swinging dude. He could be out of his prime year six or halfway through the deal. But the other thing I worry about, Bryce is a sensitive kid.

He's got a big personality. And if he gets hurt, he goes no one for 27 slump. Philadelphia fans are ruthless. Everything you're saying right now is probably going to happen through the 13 years he's going to be there. I love him, but he goes into slumps. Sometimes.

And he could get injured because he plays absurdly hard. Which is great for Philly, right? A blue collar place, right? Who brings guys like that in, who want that sort of atmosphere, right? You saw what happened last year with Gabe Kapler when he had a couple fumbles earlier in the year,

right? He took it on the chin. The fan said, okay, we got your back. We're all going to do this. this together. Philadelphia as a sports town is booming right now. And I think with the addition of Bryce Harper and that 330 million dollars, bro. Okay, but 330. Okay, here's the other thing. And A-Rod admitted this. Robinson Canoe, when you get this massive contract, and I think I would be this way, you feel a certain pressure to deliver every night. I think a lot of these contracts are tough on players. John Carlos Stanton goes to the Yankees and he just felt like I got to hit 40 yaks.

50 maybe. So my takeaway is, I think, I mean, Mike Trout's going to be Mike Trout. But I think Machado and Bryce Harper being power hitters, of course. Is it possible they're going to come in and feel like I've got to deliver bombs? 100%. Right? Especially a guy like Manny Machado that's going over to the San Diego Padres, right?

Where it's a young team, number one minor league team in baseball, right? They've got the most prospects. And they've got that young core that's coming up. He not only has to deliver on the field, he has to deliver off the field, right? And what I mean by is being a mentor, helping the young kids, teaching these guys how to do it. Is that him?

When you sign a 10-year deal, that's what it says to me, right? Because you are moving forward. You want this guy to be the face of your franchise. And by the way, as bad as it was last year for Manny, I think he learned a lot. I think he was humbled, and I think this year is going to be great. Not only for him, but I think for the Padres. Yeah, no, I think Bryce Harper is going to succeed in Philly.

I don't think he'll be there in 12 years or whatever the contract is, but I do worry. 13, bro. Home run hitters, it'd be different for Mike Trout. Mike Trout's a leg guy. His thing is he runs. He covers ground. He can single and double it.

He's got power. But Mike Trout doesn't feel the pressure day-to-day to deliver bombs. Right. There is something about home run hitters and big contracts. It messes with your heads. Yeah, sometimes. And I think they're going to learn. I think at the end of the day, these players are who they are.

And these organizations made huge moves to bring them over because they want to move forward. They think these guys are the guys that are going to take them to the promise land. And by the way, if you're talking about the Phillies, well, they got players. That's a good possibility, right? They're co-favorits to win their division. Of course. Again, they went and got a closer.

Yep. Got my boy D-Rob, David Robertson, who's doing a tremendous job over there. Yeah, I think McCutcheon's out of his prime, but he's still a solid player. But he's a leader, right? And if you're going to build championships, you not only need talent on the field, you need to somehow be able to find that puzzle that works in the locker room. 162 games in 183 days with these guys, right? Like, you don't get to pick your friends during the season.

And I think for baseball, you can get that camaraderie. You can get that motivation moving forward. You get a group of guys moving in the right direction, man. That's a powerful thing. Okay, but Machado goes to the Padres. Now, a lot of people are just saying he's selling out. Now, I could make the argument to defend Mani Machado. If it was about money, you wouldn't play in California because of the taxes.

Okay. Seriously, you'd go to Seattle, the Mariners, no state tax. You'd go to Texas, no state tax. You'd go to Florida, no state tax. would you, Nick Swisher, you love the game. What are you doing to me? I know what you're going to do to me. You're going to put me in a corner.

I know exactly what you're going to do. What are you talking about? What do you got? Would you, you're the Yankees, you're on a loaded roster. Somebody goes, triple your salary. Can I send you to a AAA team in a lousy team? Would you go play for the money? Like, okay, okay.

This totally goes against everything that I stand for, right? But at the end of the day, what are you doing as a ball player, right? You are trying to provide for your family, at least for myself. As a man, that's what I was trying to do. I was trying to do my best to provide for my family and maybe even my kids, kids. Guys like Bryce Harper, guys like Mike Trout, guys like John Carlos Stanton, what these dudes have done have created generational money. And I think as an athlete, man, why wouldn't you want to shoot for the stars? I'm not judging you.

I don't know, man. Being able to say it was a World Series champ is one of the, the nearest and dearest things I hold to my heart. Yeah, but once you get one, go make money. Well, I got one. By the way, I wasn't judging. My thing is I would want to, I tell Joy this all the time. I want to win.

Right. But now, Kevin Durant, you can make the argument. He's like, I got my money. I got my name. I got my ring. Now I just want to do what I want to do. Right. And he's earned the right to do that.

No, yes, you're right. And so of you. Yeah, no kidding. No kidding, swish. All right. Let's talk about your beloved Yankees. I saw a story the other day. You know how I feel about this. I'm not anti-analytic.

But I think there's a divide between analytics and man-aletics. Right. I'm not reducing my players to numbers. Correct. Cody Bellinger, I know you don't match up all the time, but you want... But you want him in there. You were a divisional round MVP. You want to launch you in the NLCS.

Yes, sir. I read a story the other day where the Yankees have gone so analytics that there's guys down the hallway, breathing down in the runway, breathing down Aaron Boone's neck. Come on, man. Okay, so I can only say this from experience, right? That's what I read. That's not my just going out.

And I'm going to clear the air because I was there last week, right? I was there for the last week of spring training. I get the honor to be there for the first week of camp and the last week of camp. And it's such a great thing for me because that place is, it feels home to me, right? So if you're talking about the analytics and the difference between the players, I think if there is any riff, it is between being able to have the analytics guys, give the players the information.

Because as an athlete, if you say, you come to me and you've never done what I've done, and you tell me, hey, you've got to stop doing this, you got to start doing this. It's hard as a player because he's going to look at you and be like, wow, man, it's not that easy, right? And that's where your analytics come into play because you think everybody's just a number.

And that's not the case, right? I think the Yankees have a great shot at winning this whole thing this year, the energy, the vibe in that locker room with those guys. The Red Sox last year, big believers in analytics. Correct. But their manager did a lot of going with my gut moves. Which on this side, we normally question that.

But in his case, and by the way, I think you buy a lot of equity in a clubhouse defending your player. I agree. This is where I disagree with baseball analytic guy. Baseball's different. It's 162 games. Right. I have to curry favor in that locker room. You know, Billy Martin used to always say,

I got to keep the 12 that hate me from the 12 that love me. He said, 10 hate me, 10 love me, five are undecided. Well, you saw what happened with the 76ers this season so far, right? If you lose the relationship and any more now where analytics is going, as a manager, that's the one thing that you should prioritize is your communication. To be able to have those relationships in the locker room. Because then when you have to give somebody the hard talk, like, hey, you're not going to play this game.

Then the respect is there. You have to gain the respect. And I think that's what Cora did over there in Boston last year. And those guys, they love him. And they're just a dynasty maybe in the making. Okay, opening day, do you remember yours? Oh, man. I can smell it.

Just the best. One of the best days of the year. No doubt about it. Opening day. Opening day. Because in my mind, it's the ability for ballparks to shine and to show who they are. because a lot of these teams don't get those huge crowds each and every day. Did you get a home run on opening day?

That was my second day in the big leagues right there. But did you see that lack of goatee right there? I couldn't even grow it in on the sides right here. That was your game. Yeah, that was my second game I played is my first home run in the big leagues. And look at the salad right there. Bro, look at those weeds. Just rushes.

Anyway, yeah, for myself, I think it's such an amazing day because everybody's in the same boat. Were you nervous? they're going to win the world. I was nervous a lot. What do you mean? I think for my dad, he always taught me that if you're not nervous, you're not living, right? So in a big Yankee game, you were a little. 100%. God. I felt like I was alive, you know? And I think that's for opening day for everybody, man, because everybody feels like they're going to have a successful season. By the way, football just introduced a bunch of new rules.

If I said to you baseball, I see, I'm hearing a lot of these. You can't use three relievers in an inning. Yeah, there's a lot of new rules that people need to catch up on. Is there a rule you would change? Yeah, I think so. And if I'm thinking about it, I think I would want to try and, I want to bring back the collisions, right? At the plate. Yeah, at home plate, I'd like to be able to see guys have the ability to break up double plays. I'd like to bring back a little bit of the, I guess, a little bit of the excitement.

Well, there's nothing wrong with physicality. No. But in baseball, it's not like that, right? There's no contact in baseball. Not anymore. Correct. I want it back. I'm kind of the same way.

Right? A little something different, right? Spice it up a touch. I don't want to change the game because in my mind, in my mind, I think we have the best game. You know, the only rule I would change is the defensive shifts. I would just say, got to play your position until bad on ball. And the reason I feel that hockey has a crease rule, NBA, three in the key,

NFL, you have to be spots. Right. I don't think it's selling out anything. Bottom line is, until the ball's hit, stay in your spots. Nick Swisher, season tomorrow. Great, great seeing you. Thank you, my friend. I love seeing you.

You're always welcome back. Thank you. It's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

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