The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Russell Wilson, Russell Westbrook, Mike McCarthy, and the Warriors

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

Colin explains why he feels Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson should be the highest paid, why the can't stand MLB's archaic rules, his thoughts on former Green Bay Packers HC Mike McCarthy's comments, Oklahoma City Thunder G Russell Westbrook's historic 20/20/20 performance, and why he doesn't talk about teams being able to turn on a "switch" for the playoffs. Guests include Nick Wright, Marques Johnson, Reggie Bush, and Ric Bucher. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice 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.

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed.

you just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com Or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching

heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. I'm back on a Wednesday. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. It is great to be back. Joy Taylor is joining me in an absolute pack show. Nick Wright. We'll be joining us later this hour. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Welcome back. It is great to be back. Hope you had a nice few days without me. I want to thank Doug Gottlie. everybody enjoying everybody and the staff for filling in, hung out for a couple days. Don't get those rare vacations with my wife much, had a lot of fun.

A couple margaritas, some sunshine, little boat, fishing, all that stuff. And here we are. Let me just say, when you're single, a guy thinks he has power. I can do what I want. I'm single. I can go out tonight. I can go to bed when I want. But you don't have any power.

you're just a guy. Power is when you marry a strong woman like Tom Brady and Giselle. And she has a point of view and she's got a power brace and you become a power couple. J-Lo and A-Rod's a power couple. A-Rod's never been stronger. Tom Brady and Jazeel, Russell Wilson and Sierra are now a power couple. Guys tend to think they have power when they're single. Power is when you marry somebody, conjoined with somebody,

who also has a strong point of view, who holds you accountable, who tells you things you don't want to hear, who forces you in a daily basis to think about others, who whispers in your ear, you deserve better, demand more. Russell Wilson is demanding the Seattle Seahawks make him the highest paid player. He deserves every penny, by the way, and I think he will sign a mega deal. But this is the new Russell Wilson. The more Tom Brady spent with Giselle,

Tom demanded more respect from Bill Belichick. It is now Brady's team as much as Belichick's. It was all Belichick pre-Giselle. This is no longer Pete Carroll's team. This is no longer the Legion of Doom or Boom. This is Russell Wilson's franchise. Sierra is going to make sure it is. Russell,

Sierra are an American power couple. I stand by my story six weeks ago. told by an entertainment agent, they were going to be wanting to spend more time in New York, maybe playing football there, but spending more time there. She's got a real career. I think he'll sign a deal, and Seattle knows they have to, and I would give up five first round picks to get him.

I think he's one of the most underrated players in league history. But this is now a two-person power couple. Agents don't love Seattle. It's geographically isolated. It's either if you're in L.A. way up there or in New York, It's an agent way out there. Every great mariner seemingly leaves. The NBA left.

It's geographically way up there. Russell Wilson, he's going to get it. He earned it. He deserves it. And he and CR are going to demand it. This is now our franchise. If we're going to stay here and be geographically isolated in not a mega entertainment capital, we're going to be the highest paid quarterback couple in the league.

By the way, he set a deadline. That's very off brand for him. He's always been a team guy, right? Every time he comes on the show. I love him. Comes on the show often. It's my favorite quarterback outside of Brady maybe of all time. When he comes on the show, a lot of people say, well, he can have cliches.

He doesn't on our show. He's very talkative. But generally, it's about the team. It's about us. It's about we. It's about this is about him taking over the franchise. This is Russell Wilson's team. By the way, deserved it last year, third and passer rating.

Breeze in Mahomes, 35 touchdown seven picks, which is absolutely remarkable, considering they still don't have a great offensive line. But guys think they tend to have their most power when they're single, and you've got none of it. You don't have any of it. You're just a dude, a million of you. Power is joining up with somebody who also has a career and a point of view and is smart and is beautiful and is strong and challenges you and tells you repeatedly, you deserve more than that boss. is giving you. And you deserve more than that team is giving you. Russell Wilson's always played nice. Those days are over. It's his franchise. It's his city. He could do a Robinson Canoe. They're briefly in leave.

But if you're going to make sure you're going to keep him and not go play at a mega entertainment capital, replace Philip Rivers with a chargers, be in Los Angeles, go to New York and replace Eli Manning, you've got to make him the highest paid player in the league. Good for him. Deserves every penny of it. Let's shift gears to this. Actually, it was a touching moment last night. Russell Westbrook, not my favorite NBA player. Did 20, 20 and 20, 20 points, 20 assists, 20 rebounds. Not very many players in the history of the league could do that. Russell's one of them. And it was a tribute, he said after the game to Nipsey Hustle, who was sadly brutally murdered Los Angeles native.

Well, Westbrook, friend, fan of his music and friends. And after the game, Westbrook doesn't talk a lot, doesn't get, let you inside his personality. He's pretty private guy. He came out and said, this is for Nipsey.

So that's cool. And this is not the day to pick on Westbrook. An emotional night for him, 2020, 2020. Didn't love him waving off the coach, doing his things. I think he's too into stats, kind of the anti-warier. But it was a nice night.

But I will say this. I've never argued this. is what he can do. Right? We all know that, right? I know he's talented, and I know he can do the triple doubles. But rent is now due. And this team's been awful for two months. They have not one back to back more than one time since the All-Star break. There are 8 and 15 since the All-Star break. And Russell's shooting a lot now, like a lot. And Paul George is kind of disappearing and Stephen Adams isn't getting numbers. Rent is due. The collections are coming.

last night was an emotional moment for Russell Westbrook, and he deserves appreciation for that. And he is an all-time unique player. I mean, if somebody 20 years from now said Russell Westbrook, I would be like triple double, unique, relentless. I mean, those are all the words. But the NBA is a really long season. And the NBA media spends five months trying to find stories,

and Westbrook is the best undercard in the sport. He's a constant story with his relentlessness, his play, his triple doubles, his personality, his rigidity, all of it. He is the best undercard fighter. But the main event and the pay-per-view in the NBA is the post-season. That's when everybody watches. That's when the ratings quadruple. And he has not been good in the main event. He has not been good on pay-per-view.

And rent is due, and collections are coming, and it is time. And there's only five teams in the NBA. with multiple all-stars. There's five. All those teams in the NBA, there's five. And there's going to be one that probably gets swept out of the first round. You've got a Hall of Famer and Russell. Paul George is an MVP candidate.

Stephen Adams, a hell of a third player. Grant can play. And they're going to get waxed right now. Eighth. They're struggling. It's not about Westbrook's ability to put up massively impressive, unique numbers. That is not it. And I actually liked that he took off the body armor last night, let us in a little bit.

It was a human being because he's often just been a human doing. He gives us volume and stats. I like that. And we should acknowledge that. And I will acknowledge that. It's a real human moment and it's awesome. But we are now about 10 games out of the playoffs. And that is the main event.

And that is pay-per-view. And that's where the warriors stand into that ring and blow everybody out and knock them out in the first, second, third round. And so that time is coming. And I think for Russell Westbrook, I'd like to see a little less on the numbers and a little more on Paul George. Because I've seen this movie before. Hangover 1, triple double MVP year.

Everybody watched it and was kind of blown away how great it was. And then Hangover 2, not as many people watched it, and I felt like it was repetitive. And I'm getting triple doubles. I don't care as much. This is becoming Hangover 3, which is nobody cares and it's repetitive and it seems like not to matter much. And to be honest, there are some nights with Westbrook, he's not even on the call sheet.

Like he's supposed to let Paul George do the speaking roles and stuff. That's going to be really important because Billy Donovan is never called into question. and the NBA is a league where they fire coaches unfairly and regularly, good coaches. This is the only league where the coach of the year winner is often fired within the year. And yet Billy Donovan is never even suggested to be in trouble. And he won't be after they get knocked out of the first round potentially again. Today they face the Warriors. And the reason is Westbrook's hard to play with.

He is relentless. and sometimes Relentless is really hard to play with. Great night, happy for him. I thought it was a very human touch with an Nipsey Hustle. And not many people in the history of the world of basketball can do it 2020. I don't have the numbers in front of me. I imagine Wilt did it a bunch. You know, Wilt was different.

Wilt was... He's the only second player to go 2020 for a triple double in NBA history since Wilt in 1968. Yeah, I saw a little bit of Wilt. I'm old enough. I saw a little bit of Wilt. I didn't see great wilt. I saw old crazy headband wilt, who was harder to play with Laker Wilt.

Old, old, old Laker Wilt with Jerry West. But in the end, we all know what this sport's about, this long regular season that we're all kind of, let's get through it. And Westbrook's a headline on that undercard. But here comes the main event and here comes pay-per-view. And that will define this season. reason for all the great players.

All right. I don't know how many of you've noticed. We have a lot of interesting stories today. You know, when you take like, one, two, three days off, plus a weekend, it's like five days you're not talking sports. I mean, I talk to myself all day. But, you know, mostly, you know, irritating and annoying to my wife. Five days, not talking sports.

There's about 700 things I've got to get to today. And there's something happening that is the most remarkable thing I've ever seen in any American sport. I've never seen it. I think it's unbelievable. I will get to it before the end of the hour, plus Hurtline News, plus Nick Wright. Coming up next, though, you know, sometimes your dad when you were a kid would just remind you that he was your dad. You know, my dad didn't do it a lot, but the one time he told me to grab the hose and bend it because he was going out to move the sprinkler. And as a little kid, I undid it when he got to the sprinkler and he got soaked. My dad reminded me that he was the dad and I was the seven-year-old boy. I remember it to this day.

That was like 60, 50 years ago, right? A group of people in sports reminded us whose boss. That happened yesterday. And that's coming up. Plus Nick Wright. 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. 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 Slice 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, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own

experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fantine, 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 Hard Way. 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 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 WMBA 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 feel on. 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 IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. 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. Welcome back. Good to have you in. When you do this career long enough, there are topics you get really tired of.

There's one topic I will not do anymore. I'm just tired of it. And the topic is this. And I see other shows that other networks do it. And I just won't do it. If my staff says, hey, let's do this. What I'm like, I'm not going to do that topic. That topic is, I put it in the topic cemetery down the road.

The topic is, hey. and you'll always see the shows that do it'll have it on a bar at the bottom of the hey can this blank really great team flip a switch for the playoffs the answer is yes always they always can Michael Jordan's Bulls got bored and the showtime Lakers got bored and Shaq and Kobe got bored and the Warriors get bored I won't do the topic yes great dynasties in the NBA after a couple of championships get bored and they can all flip a switch The Golden State Warriors, the last three times they've played pesky Denver, the number two seed in the West, they've beaten them by 14, 17, and 31.

It's a reminder that my dad had to do about twice a year. Remind me he was dad. And Denver, you are adorable. You are just adorable. You're like Toronto. Historically irrelevant. You have a really good coach. You have a deep roster. You play your butts off every night. And the regular season matters a ton. And then every time you play, Golden's State, they just clover you, and it's not competitive. And Golden State's the greatest offensive team in league history. I'm not saying the greatest team. I think Jordan's Bulls were probably, if you use some of the old rules and some of the new

rules, I think Jordan's Bulls were just stronger and tougher physically. And at their best, the 95 Jordan Bulls would beat this team. But this is the best offensive team I've ever seen. It's the greatest collection of offensive talent. Last night, it was Boogie Cousins, their fourth best. offensive player dominating. They're filthy good and they'll flip a switch. And the KD distraction, is he going to play here? Is absolutely no distraction? Nor was his technical last night. Their biggest obstacle is apathy. It's boredom. Same with the Showtime Lakers. MJ's Bulls had a year. They

lost an expansion Toronto once or twice. I will no longer do flip a switch topics. They're just tedious, dumb, and not thoughtful. They're in my topic cemetery. Last night is the classic example of, oh, hey, guys, Denver's in town. Denver that thinks they're going to end up as the number one seed. All right, let's bring it. 15 minutes in, you're like, okay.

Okay, Denver's an adorable story. And Denver will win a playoff series, just not against Golden State. So, yes, they can. They can flip a switch. And they did, and they'll do it throughout the course of the season. But it should be noted several times this year, the Warriors went out and got beat by 30 when they didn't have anything to prove,

because basketball is about showing up. I had a coach telling me years ago. He goes, I could take an average roster. But if they played hard every night, you can win 42 games. You can win 40. You can go 500 on effort because the good teams, they're not giving you great effort. They're picking their spots.

The Saturday TV game. game. And he goes, if you play them Monday after the Saturday TV game, you get a team that just does not care. And sometimes you can even pick them off. The Michael Jordan Bulls lost a lot of home games, not a lot, but notable home games after big TV games. The Warriors did what the great teams do, and they're great. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So Shaq isn't always known for being the most humble player, but he, He is showering praise on Janus during yesterday's episode of The Big Podcast. Jack said the Greek freak is better than he was.

He's better. And that's why I gave up my Superman title then. But you know what? He works hard. He's a humble kid. He works hard. He doesn't just come and show up and expect people to say, oh, hey, I do this. I do that.

I'm the next. Now, this kid actually works. He's earned it. He's earned it. And he's earned my respect and he deserves it. So I'm giving it to him. So that's advice. The answers to all the critics questions, you're right.

The kid was better than me. Oh, come on. He's being falsely humble. The kid's not better than Shaq. I mean, he may feel that way in his older age. He's more athletic or, you know, has skills. He can shoot from the three. Shack couldn't.

You know, there are some differences in his game. But, I mean, it's hard to argue against the dominance that was shot. I was in a bar in Las Vegas. This was, Joy, this was 86. This was 1990 2 or 3 And Jerry Tarkhanian, the late great Jerry Tarkhanian Was in the bar.

It was me, a guy named John Henderson, a sports writer who now lives in Rome, Me and Jerry Tarkanian. And everybody thought in the town that John and I hated Tark. We were just the only people had the guts that occasionally criticize him. We're sitting there. And Tark says to me, there's this kid named, this kid at LSU, this shack, he's going to change.

basketball. And I think it was 90. It could be 1990 or something like that. He said, you're not, he's, I just saw him. He's going to be to change the history of the world. And by the way, for 10 years, Shaq kind of changed the power structure of the whole league. Absolutely. That's why you're kind of scoffing at him being falsely humble because Janus is an incredible

player, but nobody is saying that Janus is changing the league. I mean, and that's not a knock on Yonis. It's very difficult to be a player that changed league. How many of them are there? He hasn't changed the Eastern Conference. I mean, at this point, he has won playoffs. You know, I'm really, I'm really rooting for Janus because he's had an incredible season. He's going to win the MVP.

And I would like for all of this attention and success to translate into the postseason, I do think they're going to make a run and hopefully, you know, cement everything that he's doing there. Maybe it's not this year. But, I mean, he's just such a run. a likable personality. He's so easy to root for. Oh, we had him on the show about a year ago. He's going to stay in Milwaukee.

He's like Damien Littar a little bit. He likes being in the place where he's the guy. Right, and he's no drama. He's already said he doesn't want to get involved in the he conversation. And, you know, that's who he is. So we talked about this a few minutes ago. Russell Westbrook accomplished something that hasn't been done in 51 years last night against the Lakers.

He finished with 20 points, 21 assists and 20 rebounds, becoming only the second only other player to finish with a 20, 2020 since Will Chamberlain in 1968 and after the game, Russ dedicated the performance to Nipsey Hustle. That wasn't for me, man. That was for my bro. That's for Nipsey, man. 20 plus 20 plus 20. Somebody I looked up to somebody that paved the way for guys like myself growing up in the inner city, man.

Having those conversations with him, I'm just truly saddened by the situation, man. Just continue to pray for his family. That was an unbelievably sad story. Like unbelievably. and it resonated throughout the NBA. Yes, I mean, really through the entire sports world, but specifically with the NBA because he was always at Lakers games. He's the Texas Tech game the other day.

So he's a very strong connection to basketball and obviously to L.A., Westbrook's ties to L.A. So, I mean, you saw a lot of players talk out about, speak out about their relationships with him, Steph Curry and Kevin Duran. And Russell doesn't let us in to Russell much. To his personal space, yeah. And it was like last night Russell was like,

I'm going to let you in a little bit on this. And it was, it is a touching thing. It was a great thing for him. And I wish Russell would do a little more of that because I think actually between his fashion and his game, he's fun. Well, I think he's, I think Russell, well, I don't think. Russell is an actual good guy. He's a family guy and has never in any trouble or anything of the sort.

And his personality is so relentless and like his energy on the court is so, I don't want to say opposite of his personality off the court, but it's just so intense that it's to show these. kind of more tender moments kind of lets you into his personality on a deeper level. But it was a special moment last night. And finally, with just two seasons left under the current CBA,

the NFL and the NFLPA, could be in for a long negotiation when they start talking. And Eagles player rep Malcolm Jenkins thinks these CBA talks could be more complex than they were in 2011. He told ESPN, I've got a feeling it won't be as simple as it was last time just because you have more players like myself

who have been through the lockout before. We have a big initiative to have a lot of the younger players come in and understand how our union works, understand what it means when it comes to labor negotiations, something I don't think that we really had a grasp on last time. So the current CBA expires after the 2020 season and there's obviously some rumblings that there's going to be a lot of negotiations. I think they'll get it fixed. I mean, obviously nobody wants a lockout. Everybody's making money. Everybody's making money in this league now. I mean, we're going to have quarterbacks making like NBA player money. Like that didn't happen.

I mean, Russell Wilson is going to make $35 million. Right. I mean, it's not so much the issues with the NFL negotiations is that the disparity between the players that are making that and the players that. The minimum. Right. It's just so large. It's a massive gap. So, you know, there's a lot that.

And that's what he's talking about, like educating the younger players about, you know, putting money away in case there is, you know, God forbid, a lockout or anything like that. But to me, one thing that the players need to get. and I don't understand why the NFL just doesn't do it, is lifetime health care. I mean, after you play for a certain amount of years, you should just get health care. It's not that hard. You're making billions of dollars. When you talk about safety in the league and you talk about concussions, you talk about making the game safer, that should just be a no-brainer.

I don't even know why that needs to be a part of the negotiations, in my opinion. Totally agree. That is my takeaway on this has always been, listen, just by Goodwill. if I know like companies can do things for employees that make me go to work and I like the employer more and like one of those things would be

listen we're going to take care of you and your family so you're not burdened by a $27,000 knee joint bill when you're 58 years old in Florida with your kids and your wife and you're hobbled would just take care of it. Like young men sacrifice their bodies for the NFL just sacrifice a little bottom line

to take care of them lifetime. I really feel like they should do it in college too. but if you've played for a certain amount of years. I think it's five years. At least an extension of it. But for sure the NFL should have it. That's a no-brainer. Joy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd-Lie News. By the way, I'm going to tell you something in about 12 minutes. It's unbelievable. I've never seen it done in sports. I'm a huge fan of it, a proponent of it. It's coming from a sport.

I don't talk about much. and it's utterly fascinating. And so is Nick Wright, via the Coward Global Satellite Network? Cahill holds first things first. You know, I was saying single guys think they have power because they can go out every night and have a good time, go to bed when they want. But ultimate power for a man is when you join

with a strong, beautiful, powerful woman who has her own identity and she tells you at night, you should demand more. And there is a certain pressure when you go, home, Nick and I were both married, that you know you have to be a little more responsible now. You and I have to be grownups and we've got families. Russell Wilson, in his own way, is saying, this isn't about Pete. It's isn't about Legion of Boom. Since Sierra has come into his life, Russell Wilson is now saying, this is my franchise.

And I'm going to, this is what I feel on this deadline, Nick. I'm going to put a stamp on it. Fellas, this is my franchise. and I'm totally okay with it. What say you? This is a classic and perfect Colin Cowherd analogy, and I think I'm evidence of this. When I met my wife,

I was a gambling addicted fledgling local radio host. Then this lady right here, come on, baby, say hello to everybody. There you go. This lady right here came into my life. Now I'm talking to you once a week. I live in New York City. I had a television show.

Change my life. And so I totally agree. First of all, second of all, The only question for Seattle is this, because I feel about Russell Wilson the way you do. I think he is one of the most underrated players ever. Last year, third in the league in passer rating, third in the league in touchdown interception ratio. Over the last two years, first in the league in total touchdown passes. Yet despite that, last season, 22 quarterbacks threw more passes per game than Russell Wilson.

In the playoff game, Brian Schottenheimer called the game as if, Blake Bortles were his quarterback, not Russell Wilson were his quarterback. So if you're going to buy the Lamborghini, don't drive it once a month now. Because if you can trade the Lamborghini for a forerunner, for a snowmobile, for some skis, because it's better on the rocky road, so be it. If that's the team you want to be, because I think Oakland would give you all the picks. I think Giants would give you their whole draft, and it'd be worth it. But if you're going to pay Russell Wilson, take him out of the garage more than once every 10 to 12 days.

let him be Russell Wilson. I think they should pay him, and I think they should use him. Nick, I'm reading a story this morning. Joanne Howard's the new betting favorite to become the coach, and I look at the list of people, and it's Joanne Howard and Jason Kidd and Jerry Stackhouse and Mark Jackson. I love him, and Jeff Van Gundy's a buddy, he's funny, and Doc Rivers. And it feels like people who are on Celebrity Apprentice.

I would like a grinder. I would like somebody like Nick Nurse that I don't know. This feels like famous people that Magic's gone to dinner with. When I see Joanne Howard's the leading candidate, it makes me go, well, how is Denver and Toronto and Milwaukee and nobody knew Greg Popovich before he was Greg Popovich? Shouldn't I be concerned that, and I got nothing against Joanne Howard, but that list of people according to Vegas, they're all famous people. Like where's the grinder on this list? Well, I think, to be fair, I think Joanne Howard has been a grinder. He's a famous person as a player,

but he has done, if you will, the minor league coaching circuit, the assistant coach jobs. He has done that. So I think Joanne Howard would qualify for what you're talking about. But the reason Ty Lou is the second name on that list and the reason that I think Ty Lou is going to be the head coach is the Lakers cannot go for the upside pick like a Nick Nurse because sometimes those picks flame out. They have to go with safe. They have to go with known quantity.

And so they don't have the luxury of saying, ah, if we get this wrong, we'll fire him after two years, bring in someone new. They've got to go with someone they know can coach, that they know can coach with LeBron, that they know can get on the same page with LeBron, because they got two, maybe three years of prime LeBron maximum. And so I think Tailu's the right call. I don't think Joanne Howard would be the wrong call, but the fact that he's the betting favorite surprises me. but the unproven first time, you know, video guy like Spow became in Miami, Spoh ended up being great. But there's risk to it. And you need time to be able to go with the risky choice.

I think they have to go with the safe choice. I know Tyloo can coach a LeBron James team do a championship. I know they can beat the Warriors. I've seen it happen. Last night, Russell Westbrook, you know, 2020, at one point waved out to coach. Listen, it was a night that was different than most nights. We know he's a remarkable talent, but Nipsey Hustle was murdered in Los Angeles, and Russell did what Russell doesn't do.

He let us see Russell and his emotions and said, I'm doing this for a friend. And Russell's not, he doesn't let that part of Russell out much. He's pretty protective of his family and his personal private life. That I get. But I said earlier, the NBA is a long regular season like baseball. It's too long. I think they should have fewer games, more urgency, and have healthier players always during the playoffs. The regular season in basketball is a little bit of the undercard.

And Russell's an amazing undercard story. But the postseason's pay-per-view. And today, they'd open with Golden State. And that would not, let's be honest, outside of Houston, that wouldn't be good for anybody in the world, okay? Not the Globetrotters, not anybody. I mean, you're not beating them, right? So taking last night away, because it was a great night,

are you concerned because you love Westbrook in his game and what he means to basketball? Do you think there is a feeling, though, the rent is kind of due during the main event and pay-per-view. That these nights are great and they are good stories, but rents do. Listen, I appreciate, I heard you at the beginning of the show, and I appreciate what you said about what Russ did and who Nipsey Hustle was and that tragedy. I mean, that was, it was an unspeakable tragedy,

and it touched the entire community for Russell to call his shot the way he did. This, I mean, I said it this morning on the show. this is Babe Ruth to the sick kid, I'm going to hit two home runs, not one home run, two home runs. To say I'm going to go out and go 20, 2020, when it has been done by one person ever and then accomplish it, it speaks to the singular greatness of Russell Westbrook. But now to your question, if in year two of Paul George, they are won and done in the playoffs again, to quote a wise man, that ain't great. However, they are right now going to open with Golden State. but they're tied for the seven spot.

If they get the seven spot, they can beat Denver, and they can be a problem for any team in the West other than Golden State. For Golden State, they would just be an annoyance. And your points are well taken, that look at the teams with multiple all-stars, Warriors prohibitive favorites, Houston, the only team that really threatens Golden State, Milwaukee 60-plus wins, Philly a real title contender, and then there's OKC. your critiques are legitimate, but I watched that game last night, Golden State and Denver, and I said Denver is the 60 win Hawks. Good night, good luck. You're finished. So like if the,

if the Thunder can get to the seven line where they have the same record as San Antonio, they can beat that team. And that would be a step in the right direction. But listen, Russ either needs to stop shooting threes or start making more. I think the critique of his game can start and end there. He's having the worst three-point shooting season he's had in his veteran stage of his career and it's really hurt them. That's totally fair. By the way, great seeing your wife. You look like a million bucks. You were kind of a scruffy vagabond radio guy. Now look at you. Look at how well dressed you are. Look at your haircut. You have. Yes, she's helped you out a lot. It was risky. Now, listen, I changed my hair. I'm in

the process of changing my hair. And you, I try to look to you for a lot of things. Once one time Colin Coward changed his hair. Didn't go so well. So I didn't know if that was going to be a good idea for me, but I'm going out on a limb for it. My wife who dresses me and also styles me, she's been pushing me towards this. So, yeah, I'm doing my best here.

I love you. You're the best. Send my best to you and yours, my friend, Nick Wright. Good talking to you. Absolutely. Talk to you later, but. All right, buddy. I've got something.

I think this is amazing. And maybe I only think it's amazing. And maybe, yeah, I'm making too much of it. And Joy, you'll think Colin's, Overreacting, just placate me. Because I think what we're seeing is amazing. I want more of it. And I've never seen anything like it in sports.

That's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced 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, 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 really really.

that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth,

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

Open your free 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 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Welcome back. By the way, I don't skip meals anymore.

I can drink soilent in the afternoon when I get home at 3 o'clock every day. I get home after a workout and I'm starving, but I don't want to ruin dinner and I don't want to eat something crappy. So I go and get a complete meal in a bottle. It's called Soylent. Go to Soylent.com. Code is Herd 20, 20% off your first case. It's really great.

Soilent.com, herd 20. I drink one of those puppies every day. Okay. So Bryce Harper used to play for the Washington Nationals, the most underachieving team in baseball. All sorts of talent can ever win a big playoff series. And then Philadelphia said, now we're going to pay them more.

And he goes now to rival Philadelphia, which I don't love these 12-year contracts. I love Bryce. I wouldn't give anybody a 12-year contract. contract. And Bryce Harper last night went to D.C. to play against the team he used to play for. And he hit a ball so hard it has not landed. It's still rolling somewhere in the burbs of D.C. Here it is. 2-2. Swing and a drive. Deep right center field. And that ball is gone into the second deck.

And Bryce Harper in his return to Washington has crushed it. And he also flipped the bat, which will probably get him thrown at today because, of course, baseball. Major League Baseball's official Twitter account, though, last night did something that's interesting. It posted the bat flip. Hashtag, let the kids play. Folks, baseball is in a battle with its own players and its old, rigid coaches, and some of its own cranky old broadcasters. They're doing a commercial for the last year.

And what is absolutely stunning and remarkable, and I love the campaign is they're not targeting fans. Fans don't complain about bat flips. Just like fans never complained about Reggie Jackson or Mark Fidrich, or Al Roboski, or Mickey Rivers, or Pete Rose. In the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s, you could have a personality. Now it gets you thrown at.

Bryce Harper years ago and D.C. had to get into a fight with his own teammate because he was pleading with his pitchers on his staff. Don't throw it, guys, because they'll end up throwing at me. Here's the series of ads running in Major League Baseball right now. They're brilliant. They're smart. But what's fascinating is they're not targeting consumers. They're in a battle against their old cranky players and managers. Play the tape on this. Play the sound on this.

World Series and the next one. I'm going to hit 50 home runs this year. I'm going to hit 60s. 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75. I'm going to hit 80 home runs. Anything you want to say? Just let the kids play. Personality, opinions, bat flips, old cranky people.

That's why the NBA gets all this free publicity. They've got stars. By the way, everybody in baseball loves Mike Trout because he plays the game the right way. Mike Trout's played six games this year. He's already five games out of first place. Bryce Harper's team's team's undefeated

because Bryce Harper adds a swag, an energy juice to a clubhouse that Mike doesn't. Mike's just a great player and a great kid. The Phillies are the four and over the first time since 1915. There's nothing wrong playing the game the way Mike Trout does. And there's

nothing wrong playing the game the way Manny Ramirez and Yassie O'Puyig and Bryce Harper play it. By the way, there's a lot of great NBA players. Alex English was great. Kiki Vandaway was great. They didn't have big personalities. But it was okay to be Charles Barkley. And it was, it's okay to have big personality.

And it's okay like LeBron to move from team to team and Kevin Durant to be finicky. And it's okay. It's part of the soap opera of sports. In tennis, John McEnroe threw rackets, Roger Federer's, all class. It's okay. We can have both. Baseball is literally doing an ad campaign, not to me or you, to fight off its own rigidity. from its own players and its own cranky managers

and some of their cranky broadcasters. Lighten the you know what up baseball. This is awesome. And this is, not only is Bryce Harper the face of baseball, he is the direction baseball should go. And Rob Manfred, tip of the cap, I love the campaign. You don't have to play like Bryce.

I'm not saying that. But you shouldn't have to be Mike Trout. Be both. I've been saying this for years, and baseball has a perfect opportunity for it because they don't wear helmets. So you can brand your stars very easily. They have so many games. They travel the entire country. I went to, have you ever been to the World Baseball Classic?

No, but it's incredibly fun. It's the best baseball environment I've ever been in. And that's when you get like the Caribbean and Cuba. Italy, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, obviously USA. and the games are like a football game. I'd never seen anything like it. I was like, why aren't all the games like this? This is so fun.

Everyone is out of their seat the whole time, chanting. It's like being at a football game. And joy, baseball's a world game. Exactly. Asia gives us players. America. It's an international game.

It should be celebrated. Stars should be elevated. And the most important thing is what you just said. Everybody doesn't have to play the game the same way. It's almost, baseball has almost an elitist air about it when it's, America's pastime. Like, why would you want everybody

to be the same? Look, in soccer is a global game. But soccer understands that if you're a global sport, football's not. Football's domestic. Our college is, it's not. But if you're a global sport, and I'm baseball, that means I'm welcoming in players from Cuba.

Have you ever thought that their style is different than ours? If you're a global sport, like basketball, basketball is a global sport. So the German player and the Spanish player and Steve Nash, the Canadian player, and then the domestic player, they come from different cultures and different backgrounds.

And some are celebratory and some are less celebratory. That's fine. Germans are not known as big celebrators. You know what it feels like? It feels like they've forgotten that at the end of the day, this is entertainment. And it's almost like,

we are above the entertainment factor. We're really just a true sport. If you go to Europe, every single country within Europe has a different personality. Like Germans are known as savers, engineers, savers. that's just, it's very intense.

I've had family members live there. They're very, very intense. And then you get the Greek culture, which is fun, and it's like a vacation. It's a different culture. It's a different sense of style and self, and it's okay. Not every place has to be the same. And not every sport, you can have different personalities. Let Bryce Harper flip his bat.

I don't know what happened about in the last 15, years. You couldn't have any personality. You couldn't have any flair. The unwritten rules. There's too many rules. Forget the unwritten ones. I can't figure out the written rules in all these sports. I don't want unwritten rules. I want fun and personality and I love the direction. It's the herd. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This 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 athletes 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 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 Sliced 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. 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, Kear Gaines,

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio 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 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 podcasts. 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. athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the

mindset that keeps them going from the WMBA 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 feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecki. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Ah, here we go. Hour 2. Show is absolutely flying. This is The Hurt. Wherever you may be. And however, you may be listening.

We're live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, F.S1, absolutely great to be back today. Spent a couple of days in Mexico. Man, I love the people, the food, the weather. What an amazing place. I got a little sun. I got a little sun. Yeah, I got a little sun.

And a lot of fun. By the way, rent a boat. It's nothing better. Well watching. Oh, so much fun. Joy Taylor is joining me, of course. First hour flew by, did it not? I did.

It's a lot going on today. A lot going on today. Good to have you in America. So it's very interesting. Mike McCarthy was fired by the Green Bay Packers, and there's a story out, and there's a lot of interesting information. He's a really nice guy.

He's an amazingly nice guy. The way the Packers fired him was incredibly cold. I won't get into that. But he said in the story that he got, 500 texts the day he was fired, and only 200 the day he won the Super Bowl from people within the NFL, which shows you what kind of guy he is. I've said this before. Everybody I know in football, he's like Andy Reid. You can't find anybody to badmouthed Andy Reid within the NFL. Goofy fans do. Nobody in the league does. You can't find anybody to badmouth

Mike McCarthy within the league. He's like a good guy and he's a smart guy and the stories are fascinating about him. But there's a quote here about, and it's a, legitimate question. He was on a podcast, and he's asked about dealing with Aaron Rogers, and he speaks in code. And if you got a divorce with somebody, but you still had mutual friends, and you didn't want to badmouth that person, you would speak in code, right? You'd make it known how you felt, but you don't want to bury somebody. So talking about Aaron Rogers, he said, quote, he's challenging, very rewarding and fun. The difficulty in coaching a Hall of Famer is keeping that connection, the efficiency and the fluency with other players on the offense.

You know, you got to remember, it's coordinating 11 men on every play. That, my friend, is code. That is code. Challenging the difficulty working with others. If I got a divorce and she was high maintenance, let's say. and beautiful. And I came out, we had mutual friends, and I said, well, it was a challenging relationship, and there was some difficulty connecting.

And let's be honest about a family. It's all about coordinating everybody's needs. That would be code for pain in the butt. Greg Kossel basically said the exact same thing Mike McCarthy did, but he doesn't have to speak in code when he talks about Aaron Rogers. He is when you watch Aaron Rogers, and it takes nothing away from his performances over the years, but he's not truly a rhythm player, Colin. He's kind of an off-beat player, an off-rhythm player.

He's more like a jazz beat. He's a second-reaction player. And very often, there are throws that are there within the rhythm of the play and the timing of the play, and he doesn't make those throws. Now, he might move around and then make another throw, but there are times against really good defenses where that doesn't work. It's tough to be consistent that way against higher-level defensive. defenses. And what has Aaron struggled with his career against better teams and good defenses? Because as Mike McCarthy, a classy guy said, in code, he's challenging and the difficulty is connecting

with other players. And the reality is it's coordinating 11 men on every play. For years and years, many of the American media members compared Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady and I always said they have nothing in common. They have nothing in common. They're not even the same personality. I mean, Aaron's fought with his family. They've called him out publicly. Brady's all about family. Aaron Rogers is Big Ben. Difficult. If Mike Tomlin ever got fired, this is what Mike Tomlin would say. He's challenging. And the difficulty with the Hall of Fame quarterback is connecting. with other players on offense, Antonio Brown-Levian-Bel. It's coordinating 11 men on every play. Aaron is Big Ben. And Mike McCarthy's too classy, but that is code.

It's a backhanded compliment. Hall of Fame player, challenging. If I was divorced and said, she was challenging and the difficulty was connecting and coordinating with the family, everybody's name. Yeah, you just slip a beautiful and successful in there. You know, you got your quote.

That's funny. Just slip a, anytime you're talking about somebody on backhand, just put a beautiful and successful in there. Challenging, Hall of Fame. Beautiful, successful. That's funny. Other people. Very funny. Okay.

So Russell Wilson is going to sign a mega contract with the Seahawks and shouldn't deserve it. You know, here is what has always been kind of a, we're all very predictable. Most people don't like change. And if you're going to do something differently in America, you're going to get blowback. When Howard Stern first came on the radio 30 years ago, 35 years ago, Howard Stern had to deal with a constant onslaught of bosses and negativity and press because Howard was doing sexual radio and people were not comfortable with it. And now isn't it interesting, everybody's trying to find the next Howard?

And morning shows talk about sex. That's all they talk about. Isn't it funny? It's the way it works in the world. We don't like change. We like conventional wisdom. conventional thinking, and if somebody comes in and does anything different, we're just totally not comfortable, but then we end up copying that years later. Russell Wilson came into the NFL

and was different. He was 5-11, and he ran around a lot. And even his college coach at North Carolina State didn't know how to hell use him. And now everybody in the league is not interesting is trying to find the next Russell Wilson. He's going to get Kyler Murray drafted, like he got Johnny Mansell drafted, like he got Baker-Mayfield drafted. If you don't do it like everybody else does it, you just deal with blowback. He's even dealt with blowback on his own team in Seattle because he's different. He deserves every penny, of course. I believe Russell Wilson, we've seen him before.

His name was Steve Young. Steve Young, like Russell Wilson, had a star head coach. So we never gave him a lot of credit. Steve Young had star teammates and played the position differently. He was a lefty and he ran a lot, like Russell Wilson, who is 5'10. By the way, both have a fascinating history. Steve Young is related to Brigham Young, and Russell Wilson's dad went to Dartmouth. Not many quarterback's dads went to the Ivy League.

When you're different, people don't like it, and they're insecure, and they don't have confidence, and they don't want to get fired. And so Howard Stern's bosses yelled at him, and you don't know what you're doing. And oh, hell, the ratings came in, and they were double what everybody else's was. And suddenly everybody's a Howard fan. And now everybody wants to copy him. And that's Russell Wilson. And that is Steve Young.

The two most underrated players in the history of the NFL. Most great quarterbacks, Troy Aikman, John Elway, we know we're great. Brett Farr, Peyton Manning, we know we're great. Tom Brady, Drew Brees. Steve Young, blowback. Russell, blowback. But you look at the numbers, they are all-time unique quarterback talents. Russell Wilson did something in 2017, which is absolutely impossible for everybody else in the world not name Steve Young and Russell Wilson.

Russell Wilson led the NFL in touchdown passes in 2017 with the worst offensive line grade-wise in the league. Tom Brady couldn't do it, Breeze couldn't do it, Aaron Rogers gets hurt, Cam couldn't do it, Ben couldn't do it. By the way, Deshawn Watson had that last year and was running for his life. Also, Wilson's incredible and deserves every penny. And by the way, has been suppressed by teammates, the Legion of Boom. Pete Carroll's a defensive head coach and a star. This guy, you just don't get it. It is remarkable how I speak well of Russell Wilson and get blowback from every place in the country, not named Seattle.

folks he's Steve Young he's Steve Young but because Joe Montana and Bill Walsh and Jerry Rice and other stars and he was a lefty and he was different and he started in a different league nobody could just wrap their arms around how great Steve Young was incredible player so Russell's going to get his money Seattle'd be crazy in fact it was funny this morning I went online out of the internet wwwW bandwidth.com and I went online and people were asking this question people I like we're asking this question. Would you give up two first round picks for Russell Wilson? Didn't somebody give up nine for RG3?

What? Would I give up two first round picks for Russell Wilson? I'd give up five for Russell Wilson? Would you ask that of Tom Brady six years ago? Would you ask that of Aaron Rogers five years ago? It's just also a gross overvaluing of draft picks. What? Is your franchise quarterback?

He is basically, you'll make an argument that Russell will be a first belt hall famer, Khalil Mack. People were outraged when you got two first rounders for Khalil Mack. And you're going to argue you wouldn't give up two first rounders for Russell Wilson? I've always said this before. The minute you get a Russell Wilson, for 13 years, you don't need to. to hit on any first round quarterbacks or on any first round picks what you have to hit on your second your third and your fourth because you're going to have to pay the quarterback of fortune

so you could actually give up every first round pick just make sure you got a bunch of seconds third and fourth and fifths and you hit on some of those because you can't pay a bunch of really good young players what exactly are you hoping to get for those first those two first round picks well you wouldn't need a quarterback I mean it just it's incredible to me I I know how much better of a player do you think you're going to get? You don't get them. Last year, last year, Mahomes, look at all his gifts. Drew Breeze, top two passery. Third was

Russell Wilson. Can you name an offensive lineman there? Can you name one of his running backs? Can you name his tight end last year? I mean, can you? And by the way, the only reason you know who Doug Baldwin is, it's because of Russell Wilson. He was undrafted. There you go. And I like Doug Baldwin, but you wouldn't know who he was if he played with

Blake Bortals. You wouldn't know who Doug Baldwin was. All right. Coming up, Marcus Johnson, five-top NBA, All-Star. Does Milwaukee Bucks TV work now? From a UCLA star, does Milwaukee Buck's TV analyst work? And I'm being told Milwaukee is going to win the NBA championship, just standing on their head. And I don't know what I'm talking about. So we're going to ask him about that. Also, I am in a position as a sportscaster of some renown. I'm rooting for something to happen in sports, and I'm not supposed to root ever. And I am. And I'm not

going to hide it and I'm going to tell you what it is in 15 minutes. 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. 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 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 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, Kear 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 Levan 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 Aihar Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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, Leila 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 feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Tomorrow, the countdown to the Cup continues on FS1 as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapino lead the U.S. Women's National Team against fellow World Cup contender, Australia.

Catch all the action tomorrow at 9 p.m. Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. By the way, U.S. ranked number one. Australia is number six. Alex Morgan is very close to a 100th goal. We are number one in the world. My next guest played for over a decade in the NBA. Half of his career he was an all-star. I was a great college basketball player in the 70s with UCLA.

I remember a kid growing up watching Marcus Johnson play. He is now a Milwaukee Bucks analyst, and I'm, of course, hated in Milwaukee because I don't believe they win the championship. And I don't think you go from very little playoffs to success, to beating the Warriors. But I got to show you a piece of video of Marcus. This is him, I think, in his backyard. Play the tape.

All right, look, my birthday was a few days ago. I turned 63 years old. I didn't do my birthday, not because I did know if I had another one in me. Then I found out I made the Knicksmith Hall of Fame as a finalist. Me and my boy, Sid to Squid Mark Creve, finalist, Netsmith's Hall of Fame.

Got to get one more in me. Here we go. Fear the deer. Fear the deer. 63 years. year old dunk machine. Let's bring him on Marcus Johnson, Milwaukee Bucks analyst.

Man alive! The hips are a little sore. Sore just watching that. Pull that thing up. Yes, sir. Let's start. The Bucks just retired your jersey. Congratulations on that. Thank you. Big honor. Yes, indeed. You were the handsome. When I remember when I was a kid, you were

the handsome UCLA guy. You symbolized UCLA basketball. You were cool. You were handsome. You were good. And you always beat my teams. Then you go to the NBA and you play and you have a nice career. Now you're doing television work. Milwaukee's a fascinating team. Okay.

Watch yourself now. Now, here's why they're fascinating. Watch yourself, Colin. Now, there's two things. There's one thing which leads me to believe they're not going to get to the finals, which is history, which is generally in the NBA, it's baby steps. Okay. Is that you go to the playoffs and you get bounced. Then you go and you win a playoff series or two.

And then all of a sudden pop. All your players, Chris Middleton, Yannis, they all develop this metal and this body armor. And it's like, okay. Let's go. So that tells me they're knocking on the championship. There's the other thing, though, that is unique. They've got the most double-digit wins, meaning they're blowing people out. And if you go look at the history of the NBA, the other five teams that beat this many teams badly all won the championship.

Right. So which team are they? The one that you're a little worried about their lack of playoff resume or the one that's beaten the you know what out of people. Are they somewhere in between, Marcus? What are they? Well, and your point about double-figure wins, I think we have 45, which is seventh most in NBA history, and every one of those other seven teams went on to win an NBA championship. It's a real number.

What it speaks to me, Conn, and look, I don't think that that's going to automatically transfer to championship medal and success necessarily, but it does speak to a team that has the ability, the unique ability to impose their will on opponents. And that's what the playoffs are all about. That's where this team fell short last year in game seven in Boston. Right. Against a Celtic team that was depleted. No, no Hayward, no Kyrie Urban, obviously.

But still, we'll have home court advantage. I think one game to clinch that all throughout the playoffs. It falls somewhere in between, but more leaning toward, I think, success. Now, I'm with you. To me, Eastern Conference Success Finals, Eastern Conference Finals, getting into the NBA finals would be just a tremendous, tremendous step for this team at this stage of their development. So stage is the interesting word. Yeah, yeah.

Because I tend to think championship teams, there was the Steph's a new guy and the Warriors were interesting. Right. Golden State was a little like Milwaukee. They popped a year faster than historically you're supposed to. Remember they, like one year they lost to the Clippers after like the second round. Next year they were the best. Sure. So Golden State, like Milwaukee, popped before.

we thought they were great. Right, right. So here's my question. We know Janice is going to get his. Is Chris Middleton ready in a game six or seven on the road, a game six on the road? Yeah. Five on the road. Is Chris Middleton ready to drop a 27-point game?

Well, he did that last year against Boston. He was a guy that averaged, I think, 27 a game in that first playoff series against the Boston Celtics last year. Now, he's dealing with a minor kind of groin tenderness. that has caused him to sit out a couple of games. I don't think it's anything that is going to cause him to miss any games come playoff time. But recently he's had a couple 30-point games, had a 39-point game in 33 minutes the other night.

I mean, the coaching staff, Mike Boodenhoes, his staff, Colin, they've done a great job of minute management with these guys. Chris Middleton, Janice, last year. They were two and seven in minutes played this year. I mean, they're not anywhere close to that. I think they just barely cracked the top 40. By the way, that's a thing. Yeah.

By the way. That's a major thing. It's a major thing in the NBA. which is get over this need to impress, like impress people in the regular season. Rest your players. So Milwaukee's doing a much better job of resting games. And they've rested their players

and still have the best record in the league. We're 58 and 20 right now, but with guys having played reduced minutes. Last year, I think we were the fifth ranked team in terms of starters and minutes played. This year we're 16th. And you got the rockets, you got the Warriors, you got the Thunder,

you got a bunch of teams, the Raptors that have all played their starters, a lot more minutes than we have. So this coaching staff has done a remarkable job of kind of the duality of purpose in terms of success, resting players, but still maintaining a high level of excellence in terms of winning basketball games. So you've got to give the coaching staff a lot of credit for that too. Shaq said Janus is better than me.

I don't think he is yet. But when you watch Janus, there's things we all see. His length is absurd. It's just like, he may be the longest player in league history. He's a nice kid. What's something if I don't watch him every night? You do as a Bucks TV analyst. What separates him? What surprises you?

How hard he works and his will to win you. And you hear that often. So a couple of stories. Last year we played against, I think it was the Blazers. He struggled from the free throw line. I think we still won the game. So I'm walking to my car. It's Milwaukee night.

It's about minus two outside, probably colder than that with the windchill. And I see this tall frame, this skinny brother with an undershirt on and shorts in that cold weather, weaving his way in and out of the crowd headed toward the practice facility. And my first thought is like, who was that fool? Then I look closer like, that's Janice. And Janice was going to work on his free throws at the practice facility because he struggled so much. The other thing is New Year's Day this year. I told Janice, I reminded him of a story.

My first year on New Year's Day, he came up to me. He's like, old school, I watch film of you. I'm going to get buckets like you got buckets. That's my New Year's resolution. So I reminded him of that, and I said this year, what was your New Year's resolution this year? And he said to be the best version of myself. And this is a 24 years old. That's a real smart thing.

Well, all I can think about is, like, I'm thinking like, how long is the club going to stay open? How long is Fork Avenue going, you know, and he's thinking about being the best. And it's genuine. He's one of the most. Right. And that's the other thing that stands out. He's one of the most genuine people. Doesn't need a lot of attention.

It doesn't seek a lot of attention. And he's just a real dude that I just love being around. A couple NBA topics. Kevin, this is a fascinating thing to me. In the history of sports, you can almost never find an example of a star player going from a well-run organization to a poorly run organization and being happy. That we undervalue the owner and the GM and the culture. Milwaukee right now is a really good culture, not just good players. Kevin Durant leaving the Warriors, if you won a third title, to the Knicks, makes absolutely no sense to me.

I don't get it. I understand, you know, players want their own team. When you hear that story, in your day, would a player have left the Lakers, by the way, in your day, the Bucks were great. Yeah. The Lakers were well run. The Washington Bullets at the time. The Sonics.

Right. What do you make of Durant leaving Golden State after potentially a third title? What do you make of that? Well, I mean, you've got a Nick team, Nick organization that is trying to elevate kind of that perception of them and management. So Steve Mills and the other people that are involved, I think it's too soon. The jury's still out in terms of where they are right now. I understand

your point. Look, I went from the Bucks to the Clippers with Donald Sterling and Don Nelson called me into his office and said, look at him, Jay, we do things differently here. I'm sitting here out here to the clippers and they do things on a whole other level that you're not accustomed to. So you've done that. And he was absolutely right. But with Kevin Durant and the Knicks,

I understand your point, but let's give the Knicks, I think, some credit, I mean, David Fisdale, who's the local guy here in L.A., played against my son when he was at Fremont High School. I love him in terms of his ability to relate to players and some of the comments about accountability and the things that he's demanding of players. I think there are a destination that could be on the rise. It's too early for me to say right now that it's a bad organization. I know historically, you know, we could probably say that, but at this point in time, I couldn't make that judgment. That's fair enough.

LeBron James is not going to make the playoffs. I doubt he makes all NBA because he just hadn't played enough games this year. He had a very good year. I'm not denying that, although I thought he took the year off defensively. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he was hurt for a big chunk. But I want you to, because in your day, who are the three biggest stars in the league in your day? Bird, magic, and...

You could stop right there. Yeah, I can't do it. Needed I say more. Okay. Bird, magic. Two guys I had to guard, like, all the time. Right. Yeah.

So LeBron's to a point. I always say he's in the mogul stage. There's the showing off I'm really good. There's the I got to win my Grammys and I got with my titles to validate. Got to win an Oscar. And then Michael Jordan Kobe last few years, it's the mogul stage. I love basketball, but I'm going to take care of my legacy and my brand and my money. LeBron today, I saw Joanne Howard's name as a coach.

Does that work to you if it does why? On the face of it, you say, Joanne Howard. Now, where does that come from? But then when you kind of do a little bit deeper dive and you realize that he, had eight years in the Miami Heat Organization under the headship of Pat Riley, which is, you know, pretty good guy to kind of be under the headship of, and Eric Spolstra, who was his coach. And you talk to some of these current heat and read things about them, James Johnson, Dionne Waiters. They always talk about Wayne Ellington, this Miami organization and how they were able to squeeze the best out of them,

starting first with conditions. So my point is that Joanne is not some guy that is coming directly from the league last year into the coach's seat. he's served as an assistant coach for five years, eight total years under Spolstra, under Riley. I think he's paid his dues, coupled with the fact. He's from Chicago. This is not some easy pushover dude that's going to take a lot of stuff, and you can't cuss out in front of the team not expect him to respond. I think if he needs to be confrontational, he will be confrontational,

but in a manner that doesn't totally upset the apple cart when it comes to LeBron James. Let's discuss, though. You saw Magic and Bird at the end. LeBron is at a point in his career where, listen, when you give a guy 500 million and you give him titles and legacy and TV shows, he's human. And I've said, LeBron's a little needier to me. And by the way, I'm needier now than I was in my 20s when I was fighting to get on the air. That neediness, do you sense it a little bit that when you coach LeBron and when you're around LeBron,

there's certain things he's just going to demand from you, which a young player wouldn't. Well, and that's why to me it's important to have someone that you go into a partnership. when you're coaching LeBron as opposed to I'm going to be the disciplinarian and crack the, that's not going to work. He's just, his stature in the league is just elevated to such. And he knows a lot. And that's the other thing. He's just a treasure trove of knowledge and just wealth of information in terms of how to win basketball game.

So why wouldn't you listen to a guy like that? Why wouldn't you not bring him into the office and figure out what's going on in his mind? Don Nelson was so good at that. He would always ask us what we saw out on the floor. And if we could explain to him in the midst of a turnover that I was trying to to make something positive happen. He was good with that. And I think that's the kind of an approach you need with LeBron James, just to be able to

communicate. Communication with these young guys and then go back to Boothinholy and the Bucs. That's the biggest key to getting the best. Knowing which buttons to push, when to push him, and you only understand that by spending time, quality time with these players and really getting to know them on a level so much

outside of the basketball court. By the way, take all the Milwaukee Bucks away. This is Ian Williamson kid. He's 285. Just your summation of what he is. Well, the thing that impresses me the most, yeah, the athleticism. He's been a YouTube, you know, social media sensation for about three years.

About three years now. So I've seen some of the craziness that he's done. But what impresses me the most, that we saw that during the NCAA tournament, Michigan State, that great second half run that he had, he has the ability to finish plays inside. It's one thing to be a great athlete. but what separates a great athlete from a great basketball player. The honest does this. You've got to be able to finish and creative finishes.

I mean, finger rolls, off the glass, floaters, whatever it takes, have that ability to finish once you get there. Sure, he can power through guys with the best of them, but his ability to finish is almost Barclay-esque. Charles Barkley was a guy at that size, that athleticism, but still could soften it up once he got around the rim. That's what's going to make Zion, I think, a tremendous score. He's not good.

It won't average 25, 27, whatever I think is rookie year. but in time he'll be one of those guys that'll be one of the top five scores. I'll tell you something that's so sound crazy. You know what worries me? I saw what he did that shoe. Here's what worries me. Ligaments, joints.

Yeah, sure. He is so explosive. I saw Tiger Woods torque ruin his back. Right. When you play at 285 with that power and torque, it sounds crazy, right? Marcus, I'm like, I worry about his ligaments.

I worry about his joints. I'm right with you. We're on the same page when it comes to that. And so I go back to Charles Barkley, who came into the league, 280, 285, but learned to pare it down to about, I think, 250, 260 after about four or five years. He was having some back issues for time.

Jack had. Yeah, learn to take some of that weight off. It's funny, Dr. Jay, you're talking about who were the great stars of my era. Dr. Jay, I left him off that list, but he would be that third guy. Yes. That was that transformative player. But I came back one year, about my fourth year in the league. I was about 230, 2.35.

And he's like, you put on weight. I was like, well, you know, I want to withstand the pounding. It's like, no, in this game, you got to get lighter as you get older. You don't get heavier because it's just too much on the skeletal. And that's before we had all the advanced. How about that? Yeah, all the advanced doctors and team trainers and skill development people. But he understood that at that 30 years old, something that I had a hard time grasping at about 24, 25 years old.

Did he blow by you a few times? But funny story. But my rookie year, I got to know Doc. We played against each other in an All-Star game in Hawaii before my rookie season. So he would come pick me up at the hotel in Philadelphia. He'd take me the lunch. on game days at bookbinders. And so we sit there, have lunch.

He talked to me about basketball, about life, but he'd always, like, forced this extra piece of cheesecake on me. I eat a piece of cheesecake. Oh, that was good. Yeah, bring markers another piece of cheesecake. And Doc, Doc, I've had enough. No, no, no, no. You love it here.

Try some more. And then he'd go out and, like, just blow by me like a fatted turkey than that night. It took about a year to realize that I needed to back off the cheesecake at lunch when I was with Dr. Jay. But I was just, you know, I was with Doc. You bet, Doc, you know. Doc offers your cheesecake. Well, I was a fan boy, and Doc was my guy.

And so you offer your cheesecake, you eat cheesecake. God, what's great meeting you. Absolute pleasure to meet you. Love to have you on again. Let's do it. Hopefully when the Bucks are in the finals. And so we'll see. Let's make a date.

We'll see you in June. And by the way, Milwaukee. There's like 15 minutes with your guy here. Stop sending me hate tweets. Marcus Johnson, Buck's analyst. Joy over the news. No, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. I think the places that you need passes for, Colin. No kidding. You need a pass to go to Milwaukee. I can't land in half the country's airports. You need a pass to go to Oklahoma City. If I ever have a plane stop at Oklahoma City, I'm a faking illness to stay on the plane. It's really strange.

All right. So early in the NCAA tournament, Tom Izzo created some buzz and he lost his temper during a timeout. And it sparked a big debate about, you know, what's the proper way for a well-competated coach to manage amateur players in high-profile situations and programs. Well, Gino Ariema recently spoke about that debate and said the majority of coaches in America are, afraid of their players. Every article you read, this guy's a bully, this woman's a bully, this guy went over the line, this woman was inappropriate. Yet the players get off scot-free and everything. They can do whatever they want. Coaches have to coach with one hand behind their back why some people have abused the role of a coach. Now I don't want to pick everything

apart that he's saying here. And Gina is, Gino is obviously a coaching icon in the sport. But I wouldn't say players get away with everything. I think in general we are much harder on players that get in trouble in any kind of capacity than we are on coaches. Like, that's... Basketball. Coaches can then... Coaches can bounce back in general,

not as forgiving with players. I will say this, though. The last line of what he says is the important line. Some people have abused the role of coach. I didn't like the visual of what Tom iso did. I didn't think the aesthetic was good going at Aaron Henry physically that way. I've gotten plenty of constructive,

loud, yelling criticism in my life. If sometimes you need to be used, yelled at and in a high pressure situation, high intensity situation like that, sometimes some screaming's involved. I'm not unaware of how sports work. I didn't like the aesthetic of it. That's it. Didn't say you should be fired and say the end of the world. But I think that in certain situations, because people have stepped over the line, sometimes you have to over correct. And we live in times where people speak out when they're offended or they speak out when they feel like something's wrong because there's an empowerment. And I think that's okay.

There's an idea that everyone's like super sensitive now. No, people have always been sensitive to certain things and offended by certain things and triggered by certain things. It just wasn't an availability to talk about it. I think that in general, the conversation just is there's multiple ways to communicate. And the bottom line is, if you have a relationship with your players, which clearly Tomizzo does, then you have more leeway. Yeah. Then you have the ability to have those kinds of conversations.

Everybody can't do that. And there's a reason why it looks a certain way to some people, and it's not actually that big of a deal. Obviously, whatever he's doing is working in this situation, because where are they right now? So the Cardinals are widely expected to ramp up their efforts to trade Josh Rosen at some point between now and the first day of the draft, as we know. And now, Washington is reportedly among the teams that's interested in Josh Rosen. According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, they are doing genuine due diligence. Now, they got Case Keenham and trade with the Broncos last month, and they're assuming that he'll have the starting job with Alex Smith expected to miss the entire season with his injury.

I mean, I guess this would be good for Washington. I don't know if this would be the best place for Rosen. Oh, would it be the best place for Rosen? No. Right. As dysfunctional as the Giants have been of late, I feel like the Giants or the Patriots are the best place for him. Yeah, yeah, there's no question that Washington would not be the best place for him. I am, from my understanding, again, I want to make this very clear.

The Arizona has been offered a number two pick by three different teams. one of them has become more public. I'm not going to tell you the other two because then I would be showing my hand. My guess is it's the Giants, Patriots, or Chargers. How did you know? What? I mean, all three.

He's going to go to a place that has an aging quarterback that he can sit a year behind or sit two years behind. Yes. And by the way, I like all three of those for him. I don't love Washington because I have dysfunction. Well, I mean, no disrespect to Case Keenum, but he's not sitting behind a Hall of Fame quarterback. If he goes to the Chargers, he's behind Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, or Tom Brady. All of those situations, he's going to learn how to be a franchise quarterback, and those are all Hall of Famers.

So finally, Johnny Mansell could be the new voice of reason. Sounds quite odd, but he offered some advice to his fellow AAF players after the news broke yesterday that it's ceasing operations. He tweeted, if you're an AAF player in the league does dissolve, the last check you got will be the last one that you get. No lawsuit or anything else will get you your bread. save your money and keep your head up. It's the only choice at this point unless something drastic happens. Listen, the XFL is going to work because it's got more money and better TV partners. The AAF wasn't fully honest about their financial situation.

By week two, they were out of money. So spring football is going to work, legalized gambling, and I think XFL is going to work. This league didn't have the financial backing that I think they led some people to believe. They were in big trouble two weeks in. Yeah, it seemed as if they had. had a legitimate structure in place. And, I mean, we were discussing this earlier. This is a long play.

There are a lot of people you have to pay on football teams. It is expensive to launch a league. You can't just look at the success of the NFL and think this happened overnight. Right. And 100 seasons. Like, this takes time. Yes. So the funding is the most important part because you have to be able to sustain and realize

you're going to lose money. You're not going to go into this venture and automatically, turn of profit. It doesn't even make sense. I mean, you have to look at any business. I mean, we were talking, you and I were talking earlier today. The WNBA for about 10 years was subsidized by the NBA. It took them 10 years to make money. And also, like, you can't compare this to major, to the minor leagues.

You can't compare it to the G League. Those leagues are attached to the NBA and MLB. Their development leagues and the players go there to rehab. It's a part of those leagues. It's an extension of that. That's not what the AAF was with the NFL, although they tried to establish those partnerships. It's sad for the players. Obviously, it's a bad situation. I don't think that, I still think spring football will work because I think that sports

are at a premium in content right now. But it is good advice for joining the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd lie news. Warm weather seasons basically here. Luckily, Tommy John has the fabrics you need to stay cool, dry and adjust. Hurry to Tommyjohn.com. Summer arrivals here. Code Herd, H-E-R-D for 20% off your first order. Coming up next, I'm rooting. I'm not supposed to root. I'm rooting. I'll tell you why I'm rooting. And who I'm rooting for. and it's bad and I know it, but I'm admitting it next. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

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 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, 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, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio 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 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 Levan 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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. 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 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 feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. 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. MDrive's a supplement. Got to use it every day. Feel stronger, have more energy.

Visit MDrive for Men.com. Refine your prime with MDrive. All right, I'm your stockbroker. A lot of questions. What do you do? You got a little extra money. You want to buy a stock. Do you buy it?

Do you sell it? Do you hold it? Here we go. Time to buy. Buy, sell. Colin will decide if he'll buy it. Sell. Roger to tell.

Or hold. Who? Hold? Buy sell or hold? Baker Mayfield and O'Dell Beckham, Jr. will miss the playoffs this season. Well, the Browns haven't won their division since the 80s, and Duke Johnson are running back now demanding a trade.

Kareem Hunt's not back till week eight. Duke Johnson may be gone, left only with Nick Chub. There's no question the offense is interesting. But tell me, do you think Freddie Kitchens is as good a coach as Mike Tomlin? Do you think he's as good a coach as John Harbaugh? He's the third best coach at best in his division. So John... Bye, bye, bye!

I don't think they're a playoff team. I think they're a much better football team around the nine-win territory. Staying in the AFC North, by Sillerhold, the Steelers will finish with a better record than the Browns. Last time the Browns had a better record than the Steelers was the late 80s. By the way, they lost Antonio Brown. They've got 10 draft picks. Who's the best team in the NFL at drafting receivers and it's not close? Pittsburgh. It's a great year for college-wide receivers in the draft. They're going to be fine in

Pittsburgh kids. They also have Juju Smith-Schuster, who is if not a one, one of the best two receivers in the league, and Big Ben will be absolutely motivated. Again, 10 draft picks, great receiver draft. Steeders will be okay, John. Bye, bye, bye, bye, yeah, they'll finish with a better record than Cleveland. By-suller-hold, Josh Rosen will win more games than Kyler Murray this season. Rosen went 3 and 10 as a starter and they were better with him in Arizona than without him. But I don't think if he goes to a team like Washington or New York, he would be a starter this year. And I think if Kyler Murray went to Arizona, he would absolutely be the starter. And they're projected in Vegas to win five games right now with Josh Rosen.

And I don't think that would fall much if Kyler Murray was the quarterback. So John, sell, sell, sell. I don't think Josh Rosen will win more games than Kyler because I think Josh Rosen is going to go somewhere. He will be traded and he'll sit for a year. buy seller hold LeBron will never win a title in L.A. Well, he's 34 years old and he just missed 55 games the most obviously in his career. Something that needs to be addressed. The Lakers have the worst record in the NBA.

I'm not joking here. In the last six years, they have the worst record in the NBA. They don't have a bunch of good players. And unlike the Steelers, they don't have 10 draft picks. And they don't have any shooters. And LeBron works well with shooters. And they'll probably land Anthony Davis, who's not known as a great shot. shooter. So John, I think LeBron will make the playoffs in L.A. And they'll be interesting, but

winning a title, I don't see it happening. Buy Seller-Hold. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will be both be Knicks next season. Well, first of all, let's start with this. There was a rumor while I was on vacation. I was still reading the internet. Brooklyn and Kyrie Irving. Listen, Kyrie Irving's a good player. Seriously, it depends on the hour where he wants to go. I've heard Brooklyn. I've heard New York. He was in Cleveland. He left that. He's in Boston. He's not happy. This idea that anybody knows where Kyrie Irving is going to play is just a bunch of nonsense. Kyrie Irving doesn't know where he's going to play. He may go to New York and end up in Brooklyn, which is, by the way, a cool part of the country. The other thing is, I'm not, I am not

a believer that Kevin Durant, like many, is gone. I'll say this again. You get bored in the regular season and the offseason and you say a lot of things. But when he's hoisting that MVP of the finals trophy in two and a half months and you walk up to Kevin Durant and he's sitting thinking, so we open a new arena in seven months and I have a chance to win four straight. I am not convinced Kevin Durant's going to walk out of the

best organization currently in American sports, not name the New England Patriots, John. Sell, sell, sell, sell. Yeah, I'm not, I don't buy this. They're both going to the Knicks and it's done. I think one's a flake and the other one's got too too good of a life to leave. Last one, Biceller Hold, Zion Wilson, will

make the All-Star team as a rookie. Well, four of the five worst teams in the NBA are right now in the East, so they have a chance outside of the Phoenix Suns. A lot of these Eastern teams have a really good chance to win the ping pong ball lottery, and that means he would end up in the East. And there's a lot of bigs in the East, Janice and Embed and Coie Leonard, and, by the way, Kevin Durant may, I doubt it, but could become an East. Also, Blake and Yao Ming, Blake Griffin and Yao Ming, are the only rookies to make the All-Star game in the last 20 years. And I think that despite what everybody else says, I think the NBA's got more good players than it's ever had.

I think it's loaded. And I think he's got more good guys. So, you know, this idea that Zion's going to walk in and be an All-Star, I think like every rookie, he's going to have about a 40-game adjustment period, figuring out the pace of the game. He's going to have a few guys fly past him and he's got to have to figure out, I got to lose a little weight. So John, I think he's going to be a great player. I think he's going to be a top 25 player in the league. But to make the All-Star team, it's hard.

A lot of good play. You go west? There's just a lot of forwards. You might be able to get a new car with your tax refund, but you can make your car feel brand new. All it needs is a great paint job. Come to M-C-O-T-O-T-E-O-T-E-C-E-E-C-E-R-E-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-E-R-E-R-E-E-R-E-R-E-RD. All right, we are flying through our show today.

Hour 3 is coming up. Rick Buechre, Bush. Don't go anywhere. It is a Wednesday. It is a Wednesday. It's the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day.

seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hour 3, here we go. We're live, baby. It's the herd in Los Angeles, wherever you may be in, however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. We are absolutely packed today. Joy Taylor is joining me.

I'm talking very fast, and I have not had Red Bull. When you go on vacation for like four days, I have a lot of energy joy. It's like I swallowed that case of M drive in my office. I'm going a thousand miles an hour The first two hours of the show Literally are on like speed dial They went 100 miles an hour I gotta have one more

I want to say this joy One more thing on Zion If I said to a buddy Who's getting married I said we have a bachelor party Let me give you the cities And I said Lubbock And Toledo and Dayton Ohio

Toledo Des Moines Fargo You'd be like All right And then I said And Vegas You'd be like Oh okay Vegas

Because there are cities that sound more fun. There are cities that sound more fun. That's kind of an unfair lineup. It wasn't a whole lot of balance there. Well, you think it's unfair until this topic. Have you seen the teams that could win the lottery? And there's a lot of those NBA franchises. You're like, yeah, Phoenix and Cleveland and Memphis.

I'm not supposed to root. I'm rooting for him to go to New York. Oh, I am too. Zion, this is where you'd held Bachelor Party. You go to Vegas. You don't go to nothing against Omaha, Fargo, Des Moines, Boise. Those are nice cities. You hold a bachelor party in Vegas.

It's more fun. Zion going to New York City is just way more fun. I like fun. Jim Harbaugh going to Michigan is better than Jim Harbaugh going to Purdue. It's just more fun. It's Michigan. Michigan's big time. Nick Saban going to Alabama is better than Nick Saban going coaching at Troy.

It's just big time. I want big time stuff. Right. And I just think as NBA fans, we deserve to have the Knicks be relevant and interesting and competitive. It's just better when the big brands, and the Knicks are one of, if not the biggest brand in the NBA,

internationally. Most valuable franchise in the NBA, shockingly, is the Knicks. I mean, not really. It's New York. Yes, and it's a good new, it's got history. Sometimes I'm rooting for bachelor parties in cooler cities.

Like a couple years ago. You're attending a lot of bachelor parties lately? Well, no, a couple years ago, the Major League Baseball All-Star game. And the company came to me and they said, hey, would you mind taking your show to the Major League Baseball All-Star game. And if they'd have said Milwaukee, I'd have said, you know, what else? But they said, it's been in Miami. And I'm like, okay, I'll go to Miami.

Because it's Miami, okay? And I like Miami. So, yeah, the two years in a row, they said it's in San Diego and Miami. I mean, I'm not going to argue with you and it's nothing against those cities. It's not even about the city to me. It's just the brand is that relevant. And New York is a basketball mecca. It just makes sense. If he goes to Cleveland, come on. You had LeBronny left twice. You had Kyrie left twice. I'm not about that.

I'm not about that. That's not how this brand rolls. I'm off Cleveland. By the way, speaking to how this brand rolls, Russell Wilson's always been a team guy. And you know I love Russell Wilson. And Russell Wilson's always been a team guy. He's my guy.

It's part of my bore four. Boring, love him. Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, my bore four. I love quarterbacks to be boring. But then he got married to a beautiful woman who's also talented and has a strong point of view. And when you marry a strong woman, a strong woman gets in your ear and tells

you you deserve better. And this is the new Russell Wilson. Here's what you're going to pay me. You're going to pay me 35 large. And this is not Pete Carroll's team. And this is not Legion and Boom team. And it's not Michael Bennett's team. Eh, is my franchise. And this is what happens when Giselle's in Tom Brady's ear saying, you deserve more respect. Tom Brady does a documentary, calls out his coach saying, I deserve more respect. J-Lo A-Rod, power couples. This is what happened. Guys think they have power when they're single. I go out every night, I can come home when I want. No, power is marrying a strong, successful, beautiful woman who is there, who's got your back,

and who creates discussions that you never thought about. And this is the new Russell Wilson. The new Russell Wilson is, you're going to pay me 35 large and it's my franchise. And he deserves, for the record, every single. stinking penny. Because if he was on the free agent market, come on now, he would be, there are about four teams that wouldn't go after him, the dumb ones. Okay. If you don't think Russell Wilson's worth it, you just don't even get football. Doug Baldwin's undrafted. Doug Baldwin's now a Pro Bowl level guy. I like Doug. But those two

wide receivers last year were like the two most efficient wide receivers in the NFL with a bad old line. Not a quarterback on the history of the world outside of maybe Steve Young and his prime that could say that. I can take a bad old line. You don't know any of my running backs. And I'm going to go 35 and 7 touchdowns to picks. Pay the man.

The Sierra is saying that every night. Got pay my man. You know it. Let's bring in Reggie Bush. My man Reggie Bush. People think I'm crazy Reggie. You're killing me over here. It went time out. Everybody single guys think they got power.

But you have... That is true. We used to think we had, when I was single, I thought I had power. And then you get married to somebody that makes you think about stuff. I got to up your game. Yeah, I had to step it up big time. Big time. Big time.

And, you know, Russell Wilson's an interesting player because, you know, he came into this league. People forget this. You know Pete Carroll. Yep. Pete went 7-9, 7-9 and I had Matt Flynn. Yeah. Okay, that was... And by the way, San Francisco with Harbaugh was building the power.

House. Russell Wilson saved Pete Carroll. Oh, 100%. Save him. 100%. Yeah. And so, but while he was doing that, Reggie, it was kind of Pete's team. It was.

And this feels like this new paid me. It definitely feels like it's Russell Wilson's team now. Largely in part because of the body of work he's put in. I don't know. You can't find a better quarterback. And earlier, I agreed 100% what you said. I would give a five draft picks for Russell. Wilson. Not two, five,

first round draft picks. Well, because you know you're going to have to pay him. Exactly. So the truth is, first round draft picks, once you pay your quarterback a ton, isn't everybody trying to draft, like trade out of the top ten? Once you get Brady. Yeah. So, I mean, to me, once you get Russell Wilson, the whole goal of this damn league is

get Russell Wilson. Get Andrew Luck, get Carson Wentz. Yep, it is. Do you know what's funny about him? When he came into the league, it's remarkable. He was five, ten and a half. his college coach kind of bailed on him. Are you, were you ever on the field with him at all with Russell?

Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, go to the games you're on the field. What do you make of him as just a player, his energy, his juice? He's just a playmaker. The guy finds ways to make plays any way possible. You know, the traditional dropback, stay in the pocket quarterback, that's not him. He finds ways to make plays happen.

and I saw that on the football field in first person, and it was special. I felt like I was witnessing greatness. And every time I turn on a football game and Russell Wilson's playing, I'm a fan. I'm watching to see what he's going to do next, how he's going to make a play, because that's who he is by now. He's just a playmaker. Like, yes, he plays the quarterback position. Yes, he throws a great football.

He is undersized, all those things, but he just makes plays. By the way, he had a game last year against Carolina. I talked about it a lot. it was absolutely an orchestra of greatness. About eight minutes left, they're down a couple. You're like, they have no chance. Russell Wilson just ran around the field, made plays, and you're just like, oh, my.

How do you do it? Russell Wilson does stuff I've never seen done. That year, two years ago, when their offensive line was terrible, and he was running for his life every time he got the football, I thought for sure one of those games he was going to leave on a stretcher because they just weren't blocking for him. There was one game where they played against the Rams.

Aaron Donald sacked him, he grabbed him by his collar and literally threw him down neck and head first. And I thought to myself at that point, if he's not already dead at some point in time before this game is over, he's not going to make it out. Because they couldn't block for him. He was running for his life. He was throwing a football down the field. And he was still productive. Oh, no, no.

Still productive. A couple of things here. Cleveland's now got an offense with a lot of stars. Duke Johnson, a very good running back, by the way, came out this weekend and said, get me out of here. I'm not saying the chemistry would be bad, but people want to be fed. When Duke Johnson says, get me out of here,

and now you're going to be left with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt potentially in week eight. Is it possible over the course of a season? You got a Jarvis Landry. In Joku, the tight end's amazing. You got a hotel. Can you have too many mouse to feed? I don't think so.

And I think this is going to be on Freddie Kitchens because Freddie Kitchens, the running back coach, he has to be different than Ferdie Kitchens, the head coach. Because now he has to command respect. And I think about Sean Payton's first year as a head coach because... Take me there. You have to become a people person, right? When you're the CEO, because you have a lot of different personalities,

especially with the Cleveland Browns, they got a lot of different personalities. So Freddie Kitchens has to become a people person. He has to understand what makes them tick, what they like, don't like, and how to, you know, make them happy and get the most out of his players. Sean Payton, his first two, three years in league, he was a dictator. And he was more of a Parcell's coach than who he is now. That was his number one coaching ally. Exactly.

And so when I look at Sean Payton, now I'm like, that would have never flew my rookie year. I remember my rookie year training camp, I thought about quitting football because that's how much of the workload he put on us. And understandably, because you're having to. you have the task of changing the face of a franchise, right? Changing the direction and the way people think about the New Orleans Saints. And New Orleans Saints now, nobody thinks about the Saints the way they used to before we got there, right? They were the a ain't back then. People would show up to the games with trash bags over their heads.

And there wouldn't be a lot of people at the games. And so he did a great job at that, too. He did a great job at that. It changed in the face his franchise. And so that's why I think Freddie Kitchen is going to have to, lean on maybe some of these guys, some other coaches who've been there, done it before, and find out how did you do it? How were you able to get the most hardy players?

How were you able to change the direction in the face of this franchise? Because he's going to have to adjust. And that's why I loved about Pete Carroll in college. He was able to adjust and he understood each player individually and he understood what we needed to get the best out of us. finally Matt Lafleur is the new coach of Green Bay Story came out yesterday

He's yet to meet Aaron Rogers Is that cool or not What do you make of that You know if I'm the head coach For Green Bay Packers The very first person I'm going to seek out Is Aaron Rogers I'm going to wherever he is

I'm going to fly to him I'm going to sit down and have a conversation with him That's what I would do And start to develop a relationship with him Because he's been used to Mike McCarthy for the last 13 years So now He's

He has a new coach a new mentality, a new personality, all these things are going to be different for him. And he's going to have to, they're going to have to develop a relationship very quickly. And so I don't know if waiting until- And by the way, once camp starts, you're sort of busy as a first year head coach. Yeah, you're trying to go through player personnel and the kind of offense you're going to put in. And the kind of- A new draft picks.

Yeah, draft picks. You got all these things on your plate. Trying to develop a relationship at that time is going to be, I imagine it's going to be kind of tough for him. Now, it won't be impossible, but I would like to take advantage of some of this free time that we have and just start to get to know my quarterback, get to know

the star of my team. Did first year Drew Breeze and Sean Payton? Did they click? Yeah, they clicked. Yeah, they did. And you know, there was an adjustment period for all of us because there were times where

we, Coach Payton, got pushed back from the players because we felt like was working us too hard. And so we, over time, we adjusted, I think we both adjusted to each other. Sean adjusted to the players and the players adjusted to him. And so I never forget, I thought one of the, you know, the best things Coach Peyton did at that time, I remember we had training camp in Jackson, Mississippi. And we had to stay there for about two months because we didn't have a home stadium.

And so we were in this hotel. and I mean this hotel was bad like it was not nice it looked it looked like a trap house like it looked like they was probably pushing some some drugs up out of there and Sean had us in a team meeting

and he said guys listen I apologize for this this will never happen again you guys deserve better and he got us out of that day and I thought to me I thought that really showed just a lot about his personality his character

who he was a coach that he really understood and cared about the players. And so that was kind of the first thing I remember about Sean Payton and about him really connecting with the players into what we needed and wanted. Good to seeing you, by the way, he's part of our, Reggie is part of our new college football show. Urban Meyer, Matt Liner, Brady Quinn, hour-long pre-game show. Rob Stone's on that as well.

Did I miss anybody? Urban, you, Liner, and Brady Quinn. Brady Quinn fires shots. Watch out. He'll come right after you. I'm ready. Good, Notre Dame guys, too. You know how they're.

I do. One of my best friends is a Notre Dame guy, Golden Tate. So we go back and forth. Yeah. Well, he just got, where's he going? Where's Golden? He's going to Giants. Oh, that's right.

He's going to New York Giants. Yeah, he just signed him to Giants. So I'm excited for him. Good seeing you. Yeah, you too. Rick Bukers around the corner. We got good stuff with Bukes today. And also, the Lakers are looking for a new coach.

And man, that coaching list is, interesting to say the least. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. St. Louis Blues, Blackhawks tonight. Discover card key matchup. Social security number. They'll find one. Thousands of risky websites. Yours is on there. They'll find it free for card members.

Sign up online, discover.com slash free alerts. Limitations apply. Hey, by the way, I was thinking about this, Joy. You know, I was down in Cabo having fun and I was on a boat and stuff. And I'm thinking, you know, it's too bad. I don't have a personal Instagram account. I have a team Instagram account and I can put personal stuff on there because there's a lot of fun stuff I did. And I think I was laughing and going, this is, you know, my daughter would just be mortified, me dancing. It's very easy to create an Instagram account.

Is it? We can solve this for you. So like do I have to sign up, do a yoga class or something? Like how do I sign up and get an Instagram account? Yeah. If you don't do a yoga class, you can't have Instagram. That's actually a rule. Because I'm thinking to do my own Instagram account and it would be just my personal life on there.

Well, from what you were telling me, what you were. planning on posting on Instagram, it might, it may backfire on you. But in a good way, in a good way. Your daughter will definitely be upset with you. Because I was going to put, I was dancing to hip-hop songs on a boat, and I'm like, I'm going to put this on there, and it will mortify my daughter. Well, I don't know. Maybe you're a good dancer.

I don't know. It's tough to be a good dancer on a boat with a few coronas. And it was rocking. Yeah. So that was a lot of wobbling going on. Let me, let me consider not doing it before I do it. toss it over a few times, maybe get a couple of approvals. But, I mean, Instagram could be fun for you.

Do you have a personal Instagram? Well, I mean, it's, yeah, it's my personal Instagram. It's public, yeah. All right. Hey, so the Lakers, here's, according to odds, this story came out in Vegas, and I usually trust Vegas. The leading candidates to get the Laker job are people Magic Johnson would like to have dinner with.

It's a bunch of celebrities. And Joan Howard and Luke Walton and Jason Kidd and David Fisdale, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy and Doc Rivers and a lot of famous people. My question is, where are the grinders? A reminder of the top three coach of the year candidates, Mike Malone, Mike Budenholzer, and Nick Nurse. Not exactly murderers' row of, guess who I ran into today at Whole Foods? You know, these are like grinder guys.

I don't know. You know, it's funny. When Magic took over the Lakers and they pursued LeBron, Magic promised. We're not going to be Cleveland here. We're not going to be the Cavaliers. We're not handing over our franchise to LeBron. But all these coaches look like coaches that would get along with LeBron.

And they brought in Rondo because they thought he would get along with LeBron. And Tyson Chandler because he and LeBron get along and the Lakers are becoming the Cavaliers. In fact, we're introducing on the show today. The Lakers have a new logo. This is the old Laker logo, but they become Cleveland West. They have handed their franchise to LeBron. Here's the Lakers new logo. They're Cleveland.

We're just going to hire coaches and bring on players who we think LeBron will get along with. In the end, you're not doing that particularly well because he gets along with shooters. Bring some here. But I'm looking at this coaching list. I don't get it. There's not a grinder on that list. I'm a grinder. You know, the more I think about that personal Instagram, the more I don't care for it.

I mean, it's like any other social media outlet. Just be responsible. Oh, Lord. When can I just once in my life not be responsible? No, that's not the career path. I'm tired of being responsible. Yeah, you're tired of being responsible? I'm tired of it.

I am worn out from being responsible. Get wild. What did you say, Greg? Go ahead and retire then if you don't want to be responsible. I'm done. What about zany me? Impetuous, crazy. One too many cocktail me.

That's the new me. I want to get bombed at lunch. one day. Yeah, Instagram. I'm tired of being responsible. Instagram also has live features. Oh, Lord, that'd be terrible. That would be just...

So your next Cabo boat trip. Okay, here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Maybe I'm being too hard. All these coaches are like celebrities. A lot of them are former players, but I don't think that's

something that should be held against them. I couldn't pick out Nick Nurse if he was at a hospital from the other nurses, if you know what I'm saying. Like, who's Nick Nurse? Mike Boodenholzer. Give me a grinder. Right, but I don't think being a celebrity disqualifies you from being a grinder. Oh, celebrities are a grinder. Is there a celebrity for being a player?

And he's putting a lot of time on the coaching circuit. Name a player who's a grinder. What? They're all grinders. They made it to the NBA. Well, they're player grinders. Well, I mean, that's constraint. If they want to be coaches, that translates over.

Steve Kerr's. It's work ethic. Steve Kerr is a former player. I like grinders. That's just my DNA. All right. Well, Shaq is a grinder. And he thinks that Janus is too.

During yesterday's episode of the big podcast, Jack said the Greek freak is better than he was. He's better. And that's why I gave up my Superman title now. But you know what? He works hard. He's a humble kid. He works hard.

He doesn't just come and show up and expect people to say, oh, hey, I do this, I do that, I'm the next. Now, this kid actually works, and he's earned it. He's earned my respect and he deserves it. So I'm giving it to him. So the answer to all the critics questions, you're right. The kid was better than me. No, he's not.

Not yet. Well, if you compare their year six stats are pretty, they're almost identical, except for Shaq attempted zero-threes. Well, it's also an easier. the entirety of his sixth season. Yonis is shooting basically 25%. LeBron could be literally mauled. The league's different now.

Well, yeah, of course. I'm just saying that that also speaks to the evolution of the game. I mean, Shaq, I think, would still be just as dominant today because he's Shaq and he's just incredibly skilled on top of being a massive force. But the game is different. But I think that's what Shaq's saying. He is what Shaq, what the evolved Shaq would be, I guess, is what he's saying. Like, in today's game,

He's shocked and he's incredibly skilled. And he's going to win the MVP this year, and he's getting a lot of love, which is deserved. So Russell Westbrook accomplished something that had been done in 51 years last night against the Lakers. Westbrook finished with 20 points, 21 assists, and 20 rebounds, becoming the only other player to finish with 2020-20, since Wilk Chamberlain in 1968. Only twice in NBA history as that happens. And after the game, Russ dedicated the performance to Nixie Hustle. That wasn't for me, man.

That was for my pro, man. That's for Nixie, man. 20 plus 20 plus 20. Somebody that looked up to, somebody that paved the way for guys like myself growing up in the city, man, and having those conversations with him. I'm just truly saddened by the situation, man. Just continue to pray for his family. He doesn't let us in much.

He let us in last night a little bit. The body armor came down. Let us into his personal life. Yeah. I mean, that's such a tragedy. What happened, Nipsey has affected so many people, just in the culture and in the community and here in L.A., but specifically also with NBA players because he was at a lot of games,

he was at Lager games, he had relationships with a lot of players. Steph Curry talked about it in the post-game press conference, and you could see the visible reaction when Kevin Durant told Steph Curry about it. Obviously, Westbrook had a relationship with him as well. So it was a nice thing.

You can see him wearing the Crenshaw shirt here, walking into the game. But, yeah, that tragedy has affected a lot of people and specifically in the NBA community also. So finally, it was just two seasons left under the current CBA, the NFL and NFLPA, could be looking at a long negotiation when they start talking. Malcolm Jenkins and Eagles player rep says the CBA talks could be more complex than they were in 2011. He told ESPN, I've got a feeling it won't be as simple as last time just because you have more players like myself.

We've been through the lockout before we have a big initiative to have a lot of the younger players come in to understand how our union works. I understand what that means when it comes to labor negotiations, something I don't think we really had to grasp on. the last time. Owners generally win all these things. Well, the thing with the NFL is there's so many players and there's such a disparity between the players that make the high amount of long money that you can sit and survive a lockout and the players that don't. You know, you've got to have everybody on one side of the line when it comes to these kind of negotiations. But I do think that players have, like as he said, a different perspective on these negotiations now because they've been through it before. so you can prepare and see it coming.

Obviously, this is a little ways down the road, but there are some things, and I'm sure the players are going to try to galvanize and demand from the owners. One of them would be what we discussed earlier, which is health benefits, which, I mean, I mean, it just doesn't even make any sense to me that that wouldn't be something that the NFL would just do. It seems a bit archaic that it's not even in place. Just based off of the initiative to make the game safer

and protect players. from concussions. It would seem like this is just something that should be not, wouldn't need to be negotiated or would be a point that would deter them from getting the new CBA done. I'm sure there'll be some other factors in it as well, but hopefully it'll go smoothly for everyone. I agree.

Enjoy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Sprague on Rick Buecker covered the NBA since 1992. Senior Rider Bleacher Report podcast, Buker and Friends, my buddy from the best. By the way, it was a high school soccer star in Cincinnati and also a world-class surfer. Somebody's been working on their Wikipedia.

Dartmouth, but Dartmouth, come on, let's be honest. Of the Ivy League schools, it's just the drinking school. Yeah, so. I'm not saying it's not. Work hard, play hard was the motto there. Listen, that's my life mantra. It's great to see you. You know, we were saying this story about Westbrook.

Take last night away. What he does, he's a remarkable, relentless athlete. but rent is due on the postseason. Regular season writers are looking for stories. He's a story provider. That's the undercard. The main event, the pay-per-view in the NBA is the postseason. If they get bounced with all that talent, I mean, Paul George is an MVP,

Stephen Adams a real player, Grant's a real player. Is there kind of a rent due on some playoff wins for him? This has been a transition year for him. So for me, no, the rent is not due. Now, a lot of it's going to depend on who they're matched up with. If they end up in the first round against the Golden State Warriors, that's a challenge. What about Denver? I think they can win a couple games.

Denver, I think they can beat. I'm not a big believer in the Denver Nuggets. I don't believe that they have a closer, and I'm not buying that Nicola Yokic is a genuine superstar player in this league. He can do everything, but if he's your go-to guy with any big, you need a guard who can get him the ball. And they ultimately don't have that. Jamal Murray is probably their best go-to closer type guy. Those are not names, and that's not a situation that I believe is going to take you anywhere in the postseason. So I think they've been a great regular season story.

I'm just not buying him in the playoffs. What do we make of kind of his, you know, he's the triple double Oscar Robertson of his time? There is a relentlessness to him. Yes. Almost a mania. There has been, and we saw it again last night. the emotional Russ Westbrook. And I can go all the way back to when they played Miami in the finals.

Watching him on the court, it was like a struck tuning fork. There was so much energy coming off Russ. And this was before the first game. I was like, there's no way he can sustain this. And indeed, that's been the issue, is that he plays at such a frenetic pace. There are times where it's not that you can play hard, but you have to be concentrated and smart.

And sometimes I just feel like he's in overdrive far too much. He has tried to dial it back this year. And I've heard through my sources, Joy, that Colin is still critical of Russ Westbrook. It's still not buying Russ Westbrook. And Russ Westbrook has tried to satisfy the Colin Cowherds of the world this year.

He's dialed it back. He's made room for Paul George to be an MVP. He did until about a month ago. Well, but that was as much Paul George falling off as it was russ. And seeing that George is compromised physically, this is where Russ, and it was the same thing with KD. If you're not getting it done, I'll do it, I'll do it.

But he has made a concerted effort this year to try to figure out how do I make the most of what I have around him. He has struggled to do that. He hasn't been great. The shooting percentages are down. But he's trying to be what the Colin Cowherds of the world have always said that he should try to be, which is more of a true point guard. And now, because he's struggling to do that, we're still going to be critical of him? No, I gave him a lot of credit pre-all-Star break.

I said, Joy was here. As my witness, I said, I'm the source. I said, I like him 16-17 shot Russell. I like him. This is what I like. Where he can do the Tyson, oh, he'll drop you fast. But Mike Tyson came into this league, came into the sport with a jab. And then he was just going for haymakers. Russell, I thought, added some nuance to his game in the first half. Played a little better defense, back off. I'm going to distribute. I'm going to be a decoy. You got Dennis Schrooter.

He allowed him to facilitate. That part of that, and by the way, then I can drop the hammer. I can just, and parts of Russell, I feel like what you said, when he scales back the relentlessness, he's really hard because you almost have to trap or double because he'll take it over if you don't. Right. So I want to shift to this. You know, I know we do, you cover the Warriors a lot. That's your home team, so you can go to their games and see everybody around the league.

Is that they're the best offensive team I've ever seen. I think they'll flip a switch. I am a believer that you never leave a well-run business for a poorly run business, regardless of how talented anybody is. One of the reasons I came to Fox that history of working. Fox News worked, Fox business work, Simpsons worked, NFL work. Listen, I had to start over, but my takeaway was, I had good bosses.

Yeah. The idea of going from the Warriors to the Knicks, I think, is a catastrophically bad business decision. And I think Kevin Durant's pretty smart. Yeah. I do not believe this. Bill Simmons is, it's done. Nothing against Bill. I do not believe that.

Am I out of my gourd? From everything I've heard, it's done. He's leaving. Yes, he's leaving. What? So here's, but here's the consideration. If we're going to make this comparison to what you've experienced, when you left and you came here, did you feel embraced there?

Did you feel valued? I did. I was more worn out by just the systematic, the giganticness of the company. I wanted to have a little more, be more nimble, more sailboat than aircraft carrier. So I had no problems with that management. I just wanted to be free and fast and nimble and do my own thing. Does he not like Steve Kerr? No, it's not a matter of not liking or appreciating what he has.

But being there, I can tell you that Kevin Durant has never been fully embraced by the Warriors faithful. The fans? Yes. And has never, I think from even a national perspective, has been given the just do that you would expect for a guy who has been been the NBA finals MVP of their last two championships. Because they love Steph so much. It's still Steph's team.

It's still Steph, Clay, Draymond. KD., thanks for coming along and helping us win these last two. He's never gotten the just desserts. And so now that he's done that, it's a matter of where can I go

and I can show I can get this done. Like I can be the centerpiece. Where am I going to be unbelievably appreciated. I can tell you one place. The New York Knicks, the New York Knicks fans, Madison Square Garden, if he so much as gets them into the conference finals for what they have not done over the last multiple decades,

he will be beloved there like he never has been at Golden State after winning two championships. Lord, it sounds needy to me. You can call it needy, or you can call it needy, can say, I want to experience something else. I mean, I could flip it and I could say the needy is, I need to be part of the Warriors. I need to be part of this thing. Or I'm going to step out there all on my own and I'm going to make it happen in New York. And look, we can, I tend to agree with you. Like, that's a dicey situation, not because of who's running it now. I believe in Scott Perry and

Steve Mills. I just never know when Jim Dolan might wake up one morning and say, I got this. Because I've seen him do it. Multiple times. He puts everybody aside and says, oh, what do we need to do to get Kevin Durant? We need to do what? And then he'll just destroy the rest of the franchise to get that one star. That's what concerns me about that. But I, I sort of admire the idea that Kevin Durant is willing to leave the Golden State Warriors, which is everything that you said they are, is willing to leave that and walk into New York. and say, I'm going to try to be the king. Finally, who would you hire as coach if you were the Lakers?

Tailu. Why? Because you have two choices. You either trade LeBron James or you accommodate LeBron James. And I know that Joanne Howard right now is the odds on favorite. But that to me signals you're not trying to win a championship right now. And if I'm not trying to win a championship right now, then why am I, messing around with LeBron James. That's really the only reason that I should have him there.

So if I'm going to have and keep LeBron James, then I need to do everything I can to accommodate what he's familiar with, how he operates, and the people who know him. I'd go ahead, I'd probably, and I've heard this rumor, I'd go and get Kevin Love to. I would, you know, you had the logo up there, I'd take that full bore. Yes, we're going to recreate Cleveland here because what's your other choice? what is your other choice with LeBron? You either build around him and make the most of it, and I'm not convinced that it's enough to get you there, but you either do that,

or you say, okay, it was a good idea, didn't work, doesn't have as much left in the tank as we thought, let's see what we can get for him. Finally, who wins the East, why? I'm taking Celtics. I've taken Celtics from the beginning of the year. To me, they have everything they need. Everything. Coach, depth,

scoring at the front court, back court. If you're a believer, and I like your consistency here, if you're a believer that the Warriors are going to turn the switch when they get to the postseason, I'm not. But if you do, then you have to believe that the Boston Celtics can do the same thing. That's what I've said all year. I think players know the urgency of the playoffs. They put their pettiness and egos aside and say, this is where I get my shoe deal. This is when people watch.

Everybody's watching now. It's not Tuesday in Denver. I think the Kyrie's and the Kevin Durans go, flip, okay, I'll be a good teammate. and this is when I think they've, I think you put your pettiness aside for seven weeks. I just can't say no to what they have. They have every element you need. Everything.

They have defense. They have depth. They have size. They can play small. They have a closer. They have experience. They have the whole kit. It's just a matter of,

do they decide to utilize it to its fullest? Are you here tomorrow? I am here tomorrow. Yeah, let's bring them on tomorrow over first hour. This was fun. I don't know what your schedule is. I'm here for you. By the way, I couldn't figure out why I always get hungry when I come on this set.

My favorite burger places have this same kind of motif here. What's a burger place? I'm not giving away free advertising. Okay, okay. Hey, by the way, we got surfing here too. Is that right? Yeah. Are we going out?

You and me? A big surfer guy. You and me? Oh, I'm not going to do it. I body surf. That's enough. I don't want to see Colin Cowherd in a wetsuit in the water. That would be great for your new Instagram.

Oh, by the way, I've got experience with that. I have a daughter. See now vets what I put on Instagram. Cringy is the word that came up a lot. Rick Bueger, good stuff. Best for last is vex. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Might not be able to get a new car with your tax refund.

Maybe you can. Maybe you can't, but you could get a new paint job. Brand new. All you need is Mako, M-A-A-C-O. M-A-A-C-D-Dream paint job during the tax season. sales event. It is great to have you in today. Nick Wright, Marcus Johnson, Reggie Bush. And Rick Buecker stopped by. It was so good to see Bukes. By the way, best for last time. Let's play the open, please. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet.

Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last. So this week, Nike released a cool commercial with Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. It talks about their friendship forever. They're now members of the Cleveland Browns. So the commercial is very strong. Let's take about a minute. Let's play the commercial. It's awesome. Grew up in Louisiana. Being a wide receiver in the NFL.

Played against his best friend in high school. Played with his best friend in college. Perfected the one-handed catch. Drafted in 2014. Made impossible catches. Ready to make history together. I mean, that is awesome. It's only crazy.

until you do it. It's pretty amazing, right? Just do it. It's awesome. It's awesome. And that tested very well. You know, Nike went out and did it. And I mean, by the way, Cleveland was interesting last year without Odell Beckham Jr.

They're probably going to be the most interesting team in the league this year, I think. I mean, just in terms of. Oh, I mean, storylines, stars, personalities, expectations, the state of the AFC North. Yeah. Now, we were able to, just because we have so many. excellent journalists on the show. There is a second commercial. Oh, boy.

We got our hands in a second commercial. This did not test as well. It was a little too real. And so Nike didn't go with this was the second. We got only we got our hands on this commercial. Drafted in 2014, made impossible catches. Traded to Cleveland.

Lost only playoff game. We'll watch the playoffs together. It's only crazy until you do it. Just do it. Now that one's pretty raw. It wasn't exactly linear in the timeline, but I get your point. You know, we just, look at us. I would put that on my new Instagram page.

I'm sure it would do well. I'm so excited. Are you really going to do it? Yeah, I was just when I was in Kabul, they're doing so many fun things, and I'm like, I don't let people into my private life. But you're not going to. be in Cabo all the time. He still lives a pretty interesting life.

But when I go to peace. What you're not going to be able to do, though, this is where I could see you getting in trouble. What? Is you're not going to be able to go to all these fancy steak dinners, steak and beer dinners with your sources. And you know what I mean? You're going to post a picture. Here's me with my steak and my buddy.

And then the next day you're going to come on the show. I mean, things you do with your family. You can share clips from the show. That's what I do. And that's your personal. one. Well, I mean, it's just mine. I don't have like a family. I want to give America more of me. That's what I want to do. And I just don't think I, I think I happen. I think you got excited about dancing on the boat in Cabo and you thought everyone should see how good I look dancing. Yeah. Because a couple coronas in, you think that you're a great dancer. Although I haven't seen it.

Maybe you've got, you know, some moves. You should be my therapist. You always figured me out before I do. That was my, that was my first major to be a, I thought I wanted to work in a, I thought I wanted to work in a, an asylum and I kind of do. You're having a good day today. Thank you. You're firing on all cylinders. We'll see you tomorrow. The herd.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. 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.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Rockerum stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an occupational a band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th.

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

Hey, Rhett. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam?

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of you. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.