The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd Full Show for Feb 10, 2020

Episode Date: February 10, 2020

Colin talks about the Tom Brady to the Cowboys rumor and why it isn't as crazy as some people think. Colin explains why he believes LeBron James is the happiest he's been, why certain trades need to take place in the NBA, and where he was right and wrong over the weekend. Guests include Doug Gottlieb, Tom Curran, B. J. Armstrong, and Greg Jennings 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 headline. 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 a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast what's up guys

this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes a 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 weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by your searching herd.

Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Monday, live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, it is our longest Colin right, Colin wrong segment so far of the year. It is great to have you back.

I feel great. I went skiing this weekend. My voice is still a little raspy. I don't know what's going on in my life. I feel like, you know, I should maybe go into acting. The Oscars last night, I feel like what's going on here? I feel about Raspi. My voice is also a little bit Raspi as well.

I think it's mountains to Miami back to mountains. I think for different reasons, yes. But I'm glad you had a great time in Utah. The Oscars were great last night. Yes. By the way, my favorite line ever, Jeff Bezos is so rich. He got divorced and he's still the richest man in the world. That's how rich he is. Chris Rock, as usual, was hysterical.

Well, folks, when I do this show for a living, I could just talk about what happened yesterday. It'd be a very safe show. It'd be a very easy show. Here's what happened yesterday. Let me give you some context. And I do that. But I also think it's my responsibility to throw out some theories, what I think could happen. And I think those make the show more interesting.

And I take it on as a responsibility. This is what I do all day. I talk and think about sports. You have jobs. This whole Dallas Cowboy Tom Brady thing, I don't necessarily think it's going to happen. But do not blow it off. Don't blow it off.

Let me give you a rule in life I know as a 50-year-old guy. When smart, talented, rich, successful people feel disrespected, they all do one thing. They don't prove a point. Tom Brady has an opportunity. This is the perfect moment to leave New England because they got no backup plan. They got nobody.

And Buffalo is better. And Miami seems to have identity. And now Adam Gays and Darnold look pretty good at the end of the year. Tom doesn't even need to be petty. He doesn't need to be petty. He can just say, you don't think I'm Kirk Cousins. You don't want to pay me Kirk Cousins money? You don't want to pay me Jimmy Garoppolo money?

successful people who feel disrespected, and we all watch Tom versus Time. What was your takeo on that? He wants to be respected. Just think about this. He's the number one brand and the Cowboys are the number one brand. Jerry's a visionary with marketing. It would be A Rod of the Yankees times five, LeBron of the Lakers times four. It's the perfect time.

They have no succession plan. New England would become uninteresting tomorrow. You also have Dante Scarnacchio retiring. The Patriots don't like to spend money on wide receivers. It's the one thing he's demanding. And what do the Cowboys have? O-line running-back wide receivers. And he wouldn't.

This is the one organization. If Tom goes to the Chargers, kind of feels like a step down. Tom goes to the dolphins. Ugh, they're rebuilding. Tom goes to the Patriots. You talk about a metaphorical, blank you.

They are the biggest brand, the richest brand, with the best O-line, the first or second best running back, and the weapons, New England, they're not going to go out and spend big money on wide receivers. And the other thing, it wouldn't just be New England would, and Belichick would win games, but they'd just be a team. They'd be fine.

They'd be Tennessee before this playoff run. Nine and seven. They'd be fine. But they wouldn't be special, especially when you're surrounded by Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson and Aaron Rogers and Carson Went and all these, you know, all these big Ben's coming back. they wouldn't be talked about. I was thinking about this this morning.

If Brady, just from a business perspective, we know he'd go to a team with more offensive talent, that's not arguable. But Tom's a businessman. If Tom Brady tomorrow morning goes to Dallas, the Patriots are on page four of the NFL newspaper. Just think of the stories. First of all, Brady Dallas would be the number one story.

Kansas City, are they going to repeat? is probably the second biggest story. Oakland moving to Vegas, right? The Raiders going to Vegas. You've got the Lamar Jackson. Ooh, next stage. Big Ben to Pittsburgh. Cam to Carolina.

Baker Mayfield on his fourth head coach. Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. Two in Miami. From a business perspective, they fall off the first and second page of the NFL story. And I'll go back to this. T.J. Hushman Zada. I'll get to that in a second.

but talented people who feel disrespected in my life always want to prove a point. Now, maybe Tom has the emotional discipline. He's more mature. But when I watched that documentary, it was all about, can you show me a little respect? Can you give me a tad? And I don't, I'm not saying it's going to happen. But when I was in Miami and I was talking to a lot of people going to a lot of dinners, Joy and I went out in the town.

You know, there's a lot of NFL people there. It's an NFL city for a week. There were a lot of people, not occasional people, saying Brady's unhappy. And he knows there's no quick fix. And now Dante Scarnicke is retired. Here's T.J. Hushmanzata Friday on this show. Next year, we're really going to find out because Brady won't be there. So we'll find out.

But he won't be there? No, zero percent chance. Zero percent chance. Where does he go? I don't know. There's too many to decipher and choose from. You said zero percent chance. Zero.

I would go one percent. I would go one percent. I would. Zero percent. Door closed. Door closed. Now, I don't feel that strongly, but Michael Urban talked about it this week. And T.J. Hushmanzada, these are former NFL guys that work out with other players

and talk to other players and talk to agents and talk to executives. I mean, put Tom in that cowboy uniform. We get shocked all the time in sports. This looks like it would work. Durant to Golden State shocked us. The AB circus shocked us. Peyton Manning to Denver shocked us. Boston bailing on Mookie Betts, the first or second best player going to the Dodgers.

Isn't that kind of a shocking baseball? I read all the articles. It was shocking. All I'm saying is, something doesn't have to happen. but I would not say 10% chance is out of the realm of possibility. I think he'll be a patriot. I really do. Don't kid yourself on this.

He would be able to, it is the only place Tom Brady can go. The only place he'd have a richer owner, a better offense, and all his issues today, respect old line receivers, would all be solved by signing. a contract. All of them. Chargers would feel like a step down. Colts is a weird fit. Miami's rebuilding. Raiders off brand. Cowboys, ask yourself, what would your reaction be today? You, not me, you. If I, in the middle of today's show, Tom Brady is a cowboy, you would be like, yeah, it kind of makes sense. Everything he wants, they have. Brand O-line backs. Recess.

receivers, money, everything they have. And if DAC's asking for $38 million, and I like DAC, and I do think they'll resign DAC, but don't tell me it couldn't happen. Don't tell me it couldn't happen. It absolutely could. All right, let's switch to this. 50 minutes from now, Colin right, Colin wrong. So Chris Haynes is a guy I trust.

Chris Haynes been covering the NBA for a long time. And he was told by a source that LeBron James is the happiest he is ever. ever been with an ownership group and a front office. And that runs sort of counterintuitive to what we, the perception of the Lakers the last couple of years, which has been magic's there. Magic's gone. Now an age, it runs this.

But it's very interesting with LeBron. And this is a very unique stage for LeBron. And I believe Chris Haynes and I trust him. And I think I know the reason why. So let's talk about the four stages of LeBron. There is the LeBron gets drafted out of high school to the Cleveland Cavaliers. So he is the phenom in the league. It's a horrible operation.

They were an unwatchable mess. They'd gone half a decade without the playoffs. They were 17 and 65. LeBron had total utter leverage. Remember those days? It's kind of fun to watch those old days. Stage two. LeBron goes to Miami.

Well, it's Pat Riley. No, no, no, no. D. Wade was aging. They were a playoff team, but a mile from being a contender. And Pat Riley wanted Glover. global relevance and domestic relevance, and LeBron gave them that. That was LeBron team. That was not D. Wade's team, and it was not Pat Riley's team.

He had leverage. Let's go back to Cleveland second time. Kyrie Irving, remember this. A lot of people thought he's kind of a bust. Dan Gilbert had flown to Miami and begged LeBron to come back. LeBron was in his prime, but at the very, very, very tail end of his prime. he had ultimate leverage. And now let's segue

to the Lakers. For the first time, LeBron's not in his prime. For the first time in his career, LeBron's career is on the clock. LeBron makes a risky move to a bad roster and a team that can't get its front office straight. Where the Jerry bus and Jeannie Bus takes over and Jim Bus and Jeannie don't get along

and who's the GM and it's magic and it's not. This is not about. LeBron being happier, although I'm sure he is. It's about LeBron for the first time needing a team as much as the team needs LeBron. And that's when relationships work. You never want to be in an uneven relationship. It doesn't matter if it's a marriage or a business. A great marriage, you need her and she needs you. And this is the first time LeBron is on the clock. He's out of his prime. He's had a big injury. This is a big risky move. And the roster wasn't great. And he has to get along and he has to make sure it works. I don't think LeBron's necessarily just happier. I think he's

vulnerable. And vulnerable people often make great partners. I think this is the easiest LeBron has ever been to work with. It's a new LeBron. He's like a pitcher off-shoulder surgery. Don't quite have the heater I used to. I'm going to have to work the corners a little bit, Oral Hersheiser end of his career. That's what LeBron is now. He was always a good teammate. Now he's a great teammate. And he understands first time, I need them as much as they need me. Coming up next, the trading deadline is over. And there is a myth about the trading deadline of what it is and what it really is. And I thought this one was unbelievably important for two moves that aren't getting a lot of play and I think they largely

defined the rest of the NBA season. That Colin right, Colin wrong. Doug Gottlieb coming up. Come up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the IHeard Radio app.

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 SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, 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 rapid. 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, is we have real conversations about. All healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver 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, 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. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find

clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized. but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more.

Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. When you're buying a car, the process can be overwhelming. Better way to do it, TrueCar, build a car, compare models, options, go to TrueCar.com. great to have you in 45 minutes from now where Colin was right where Colin was wrong

Doug Gottlie will stop by for 10 to 15 minutes talk about all the stuff including the XFL this weekend I'll get to that we have a lot to talk about in the show today generally with the trading deadline we all kind of hope for the big move but in the history of the trading deadline it's mostly been frankly about fine-tuning good teams at a piece at a piece get better defensively get longer find another wing defender. This weekend, the Clippers added Marcus Morris. It's actually a very big move. Because it now gives the Clippers, this is why the Lakers wanted to go after Marcus Morris, because they wanted to keep them away from the Clippers. The Clippers now have four different players.

They can send it LeBron. They can put Kauai on him at times. They can put Paul George on him at times, they can throw Patrick Beverly on LeBron at times, and now they can put Marcus Morris on LeBron. Now, there is no LeBron stopper. There was never a Kobe stopper. But the warrior showed you how to at least exhaust LeBron over the course of a series. They would throw a little Iggy at him and a little KD at him and a little clay at him. And after a while, you get into a third, a fourth, a fifth, a six game, and a series, that's, even with LeBron and his, prime, that's your best bet. Well, LeBron's no longer in his prime. He can't give you 44 minutes a night. I thought this was a huge move, although it feels small. This is exactly what the trading deadline is.

The Clippers went from my favorite team in the league to win it to now absolutely, absolutely a clear favorite in the West. In the east, Milwaukee went out and got Marvin Williams. Again, it's not a splashy higher. But what Milwaukee needs is another guy to drop a three. We know Janice is great. Middleton's a two to a three. So they add Marvin Williams, who's a three-and-d guy. And now Milwaukee, who I thought was the best team in the east, adds just a little, little bit more.

Another shooter, they are absolutely the favorite and should be to win the east. and the clippers, I thought, were the deepest, best team in the West, add just one more guy to throw at LeBron. And this morning, I haven't looked at the betting markets. I absolutely feel that my two favorites to get to the finals, feel lock, not mortal locks, barring an injury, there's no reason why the clippers and the bucks don't meet in the finals. They absolutely this morning added depth to already the deepest teams,

Both well coached, both have a superstar, both play real defense, both filled with young and veteran players. Here's Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, speaking of that, the Lakers didn't make any big moves before the trade deadline, but they're still trying to improve their roster. They were looking to add Darren Collison, but he is going to stay in retirement instead.

Lakers could have used Darren Collison. Yeah, so he's not an option. He's going to stay retired. So now the Lakers will reportedly have exploratory talks with Dion Waiters, who was recently just bought out by Memphis. Now, he's represented by Clutch Sports, and he used to be represented by Rob Polenka. So there's already some pretty strong relationships and ties there. Now, I like Deon Waiters. I don't know exactly what happens in Miami.

He obviously only played three games for them this year. When he was playing in those games, he shot 47% from three. We know Deon Waiters is a type of player that can come in. and take over a game at any moment. He's really kind of a wild card. He's athletic and he's offense. And the Lakers, I mean, Joy, after LeBron and Anthony Davis, right now, their third leading score is Kyle Kuzma, who was on the trade block a week ago.

So like Dionne Waiters, in a seven-game series, could you say, yeah, Dion Waders just took over game four for a half? Yeah. That's what he does. Absolutely. And that's the value of adding Dion Waders. As far as what's going to go on with the chemistry and if he's going to have any issues, I don't really think that.

again, I do not know what happened in Miami, but there was obviously some issues there. And overall, Miami is a very well-run organization with very strong ownership and front office and coaching. So I don't know how that's going to play in L.A., but I do think that now that he is on the market, it could be a situation where they bring him in. And like I said, they have the relationships there so they know him. And you're not asking him to be a seven-year player. You're saying, dude, can you come in be a role player? For three months, see what goes.

And could have huge value in the playoffs, which is what they need. Now they kind of need someone to defend Paul George and Kauai Leonard. That doesn't help that situation. But again, just a playmaker. So the Timberwolves shipped Andrew Wiggins to the Warriors for DeAngelo Russell before the trade deadline. And Wiggins is happy to finally be in a place that focuses on a winning culture. We lost a lot, you know, in Minnesota. So coming here, being part of a winning team, winning culture, it's different.

You know, losing is never fun, you know, and just being here, and you can tell by everyone's attitude, everyone's a post. You know, everything is, is everywhere, you know, that, you know, they're winners, you know, and that's something I want to be, I wanted to be my whole career and I'm here, so I'm happy. Made his debut Saturday in the 125, 120 loss of the Lakers at 24 points, two rebounds, three assists, five steals, eight to 12 shooting. Super, super athletic. You know, is it, it's very possible. I never thought Wiggins.

I thought he was going to be a really good enough player. he's not a dynamic I'm going to take a franchise over personality he can be a little not timid but a little he's not confrontational so now just dude go be a three and give us 21 a night

instead of save the franchise this could end up being a perfect fit for him well I think it's a fit just because he's he is a winner and Minnesota was always one of those situations where it's like why can't they

I mean we would talk about it all the time like why can't they just get it together. They have young talent. What's the issue here? Kevin Garnett was swimming in mediocrity for years there. Kevin Garnett, who's a forceful personality. So Kevin Garnett, who walks into a room and has things to say and is, I mean, really is, is, is in the class of the, in the last 10 years, Kevin Garnett was one of the big forceful personalities.

He couldn't change Minnesota. Right. So Wiggins, who's kind of a quiet, kind of a second type of person. personalities, a little bit of a second-tier, quiet guy. You can't ask him to walk in and save that franchise. No, which he was asked to do. Right. He's not asked to do that in Golden State.

And I understand what he's talking about, too. Obviously, Golden State is not good this year. We know what the situation is there. Like, it's just a year off for Golden State. They're going to be back next year when everyone is healthy again. But the culture still remains. I mean, again, we were just talking about the heat, just because the heat had to recover from losing LeBron James and then Chris

Bosch and then eventually, Dwayne Wade, like, that's a lot to come back from. You have to have the culture in place that it's like, okay, you have a couple years. You have equity with the fans. Nobody's asking you to panic and make big moves. He can fit right into a good culture and, you know, be around a winning organization. Finally, Patrick Mahomes got to learn first thing on what it takes to be a professional athlete from his father. Yeah. Who was a former MLB pitcher and taught his son never to dwell on what's already happened, always focus on the next play.

And Mahomes said he used that mentality in the Chief's big Super Bowl comeback. He said all that matters is the next play. I think it's just a competitiveness. and the way I've been raised my whole entire life, but I've always just been taught that you have to just play the next play. You have to go out there and compete no matter what happened earlier in the game. No matter what's happened the whole season, all that matters is the next play.

Short memory is very valuable in sports. It is. And he was also talking about during the game, people kept coming up to him and saying, like, we have more time left. We have more time left. And eventually he just got annoyed that he kept hearing it. Like, I know, I'm aware that we have more time left. This is the mentality that I think wins these big games.

I mean, they've gone through that so much throughout the playoffs. That's why I never felt like they were out of it, even in the Super Bowl. It was just no panic. You know, it's interesting. The media's job, Joy, is to add perspective to stories and context. That's the opposite of what athletes need to do. Derek Jeter, I remember one time he was interviewed in New York, and he got into a rare slump. He was like over 25 or something.

And, you know, everybody was, they came up and they were asking them about it. He goes, your job is the opposite of mine. Your job is to try to figure out. My job tomorrow is to go out and hit the ball hard four times and one will drop in. Our job is to analyze. Analyzation is paralyzation in sports. You sit down and go to a sideline and try to figure out your mistakes, man. You just got to go out and play.

I mean, shoot or shoot or shoot, right? Shooters, shoot. You have to continue doing the thing that's going to eventually lead you being successful and not think about it or get afraid or get away from it just because it's not working in that moment. And that's what I love about Patrick Mahomes. mentality and his demeanor is that even though he is an emotional guy and he's a high energy guy

and has a big personality, you never feel like he is panicking. He rides the wave of the game, the emotions of the game at the same level, much like Dak does. And when a big game like that, that's crucial. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. The Dougger, Doug Gottlie, Fox Sports Radio after my show brought to you by Mercedes. The best or nothing on a Monday. Doug Gottlieb was actually a fun weekend. I want to start with the Andrew Wiggins thing because I am a believer that environment matters for all of us.

It matters happier employees, a better employee. I think Wiggins is going to work in Golden State simply because of that. Forget everything else. Do you? Yes, yes. But I don't think it's just environment, okay? Remember, he had a reputation that for some. seated him when he grew up in Canada, played at Kansas as being a guy who he just played,

not an alpha. That's right. Not a killer. Right. And then that kind of got reestablished. And then remember, now they had Carl Towns. They had Jimmy Butler. That didn't work.

Right. He's been through multiple head coaches, different front offices during his tenure, which is not a long tenure in Minnesota. I think it has to do with environment. Fit is a big thing, right? And Steve Kerr talked about that going back to Friday. is that we think he fits here. Right. And expectations.

Remember, he signed this massive contractor Maine in Minnesota, and there were no wins to show for it. So it feels like empty stats. It's really hard to tell what your stats are in correlation the effect that you have on the game. There are plenty of players that put up big numbers in the NBA in games that don't matter, and then you put them in a real NBA game, and they can't function. Right.

I think the expectations, you mentioned Thursday, you're like, look, Canadian Harrison Barnes. I think that's reasonable. I think he should be a better version of that. I think he's more athletic. Well, yeah, there's a lot. I mean, he's a different player. But it's the idea of they don't need an alpha.

They don't need a beta. I mean, like, look, the leadership and toughness has already, the toughness is Draymond. The go-to guy is Steph. The defender. The defender and defensive leader as well as best shot maker shooter. You know, in the league is Clay Thompson. Like, he can just play.

And not carry the burden of being a franchise. player and that fits who he is. Well, I think you too, we're both parents and you, something that's fascinating about parenting is that kids' personalities are established really early. Yes. Like four years old, you're like, he's stubborn, she's sweet, she's bossy, he's a, I mean, and my daughter and my son, about four years old, they are what they are, they're just taller. And I think your first saying was Andrew Wiggins, and you really have a close connection

to college basketball, and especially Bill Self. you nailed it. He's not an alpha. This is who he is. He's a smart, thoughtful kid who wants to ball, but he doesn't want it. This is the kind of place where Kevin Garnett was an alpha, and he struggled pulling Minnesota up. Andrew's a good kid. Yeah, I mean, look, there's a lot to the Garnett thing. You know, if you remember, they had the Joe Smith contract, which was, you know, there was a special contract in the desk, and they lost three first round picks for it. That really set Minnesota back for years. there's a lot to why Minnesota hasn't been able to hit. Last year they went all in, and it didn't work. Right. And look, he's getting some of the blame rightfully so.

Carl Towns, Carl Anthony Towns has got none of the blame. There's lots of people in the NBA that think he's not a winning player because he's too smart. He doesn't love basketball, right? He loves he's very good at basketball, but does he love it? Right. You know, and the fact that he meets DeAngelo Russell at the airport, like, hey, DeAngel Russell, there's another guy who's a losing player that puts up big stats. Right.

Brooklyn doesn't miss him. Golden State doesn't miss him. It's about fit. DeJel Russell can score points, can have assist, but he didn't fit with how they want to play in Golden State. And Golden State, they want to play with a ball moves, and he's more of a ball mover. He doesn't need ball screens in order to play.

I think he'll be fantastic as their third offensive option. They still have their first round pick. They have Minnesota's first round pick next year, their own first round pick next year. This also give them cap flexibility this offseason as opposed to next off season. I think this is, and here's one last thing. We all have this imaginary idea of what Golden State should have done.

It's not like the rest of the league's like, hey, you know, Golden State, they could use another piece. Let's find a way to trade our best player to help them out. You're only going to trade for DeAngelo Russell. If one, you need a lead guard who can come off of a ball screen. Minnesota needed that. Right. And two, you have a contract that you want to part with that Golden State wants. It's called a trade for a reason.

So while you may not like the deal, tell me the better deal out there for Gold State. Golden State, it likely doesn't exist. By the way, an interesting team is, we were talking about this this morning as a staff. If you go to the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference, the first four teams in each have a pretty strong identity. You know who's taking the shot last. You kind of know what they are. When you get to the fifth team in both the West and the East, it's the Sixers in Houston.

And you're like, man, they're talented. I'm not really sure what they are. So when I look at Houston, and I could take their loss last night, but it doesn't, you know, the bottom line is. I actually think there was something interesting, but go ahead. But when I look at Houston, I see Philadelphia. And there's no identity. The GM's analytic driven. The owner wanted to sell tickets.

The coach is passive aggressive. The two stars are Uber talented. I'm not sure they fit. I look at Philly and I look at Houston. And I say to myself, really interesting, kind of an interesting mess. when you look at Houston Yeah Let's talk about the Houston team

Let's talk Houston Okay first you bring up a great point Which I didn't bring up Friday And I should have It's what is Mike Dan Tony Known for? Everybody thinks seven seconds or less right Right

And Sean Merriman Excuse me moving to the four Steve Nash two time MVP But his entire offense is based upon Screen Roll election And all of the spacing and all the movement It's changed basketball What they were able to do

spread screen role, having Amari Stodd of my role and everybody else spaced the floor. That's why he keeps getting good jobs. Right. Look, this is the eight-year anniversary of Lynn Sanity in Madison Square Garden. Remember Jeremy Lynn dominated the NBA. There was a two-week stretch where he was

the best player in the league. It was amazing. Then Carmelo comes back. They go down to Miami and LeBron's like, okay, that's the end of that. But the point was the reason that worked was spread, ball screen, got a great role, man. We've completely taken that away from Houston. Everything that Mike

Dan Tony has done used to be about pick and roll, and now you take Clint Capella, who's just a roll guy and a rim protector, and he's gone. Now, so you're marginalizing one of the great strengths of your coach, who's a very good coach. Is he good enough to win a championship

with? Probably not because he doesn't care, pay enough attention to defense. Right. But I do think that this is really clever. Equally clever is what, I don't know if you saw what Utah did. Yeah. So, what decide you could only have really one what you would call clogger in college

basketball or in the NBA anymore. One guy who's a non-shooter. Right. And what Houston has decided is... That's a big deal in the NBA. You can't have two guys on the floor that can't shoot. It's why Capella gets traded. It's why Kevin Garneet, Kevin Durant, and while Kevin Durant probably shouldn't have said it, he basically in a podcast

said, this is why I left Oklahoma City. We had no shooting. Go back and watch. They're up three games to one and Golden State put two guys at the elbow defensively. They didn't guard Stephen Adams, didn't guard Roger Robertson, they didn't really guard Russell Westbrook. You know, they didn't have to guard those guys, and there was no space. And so what Houston has decided is, hey, there's no space when we play with Russell Westbrook

because he's a terrible three-point shooter. But if we play Russell Westbrook and one of our centers like Clint Capella, now there's two guys that are cloggers. They take the clogger and ship him elsewhere. So now Russell Westbrook is the one non-shooter. You put shooters all around him. And it worked against the Lakers. It kind of worked last night, although they lost.

and Utah actually guarded him with Rudy Gobert. Derrick and shoot played off him in long arm, whatever. It's going to be fascinating to watch. I think Houston, they're going to beat somebody in the playoffs. They will. They're not going to beat somebody important, but they're going to ruin somebody's season. What is Denver going to do if Yokic, who's Yokich going to guard? Who's going to guard?

And while you say it's analytics-driven, it is, because analytics tells us that posting up is actually an inefficient shot if you're shooting over the top of the guy who's guarding you. It also hurts your rebounding. It hurts your defensive balance, a lot of different things. So I think Houston is doing the best they can as they're trying to figure out, all right, what can we do with Russell Westbrook? What can we do with PJ Tucker? Let's just completely go small ball.

The problem is that eventually you have to have a change-up, a different pitch, if you will, and they don't have it. For Philadelphia, you know, you asked me last week, and I think everyone's starting to come around to one of those two is going to have to go. And why? Because the clogger is Ben Simmons, right? Which is fine because Joel Embed can shoot threes, but you don't want Joel Embedd only shooting threes. And he can only space the floor

when you have Ben Simmons because Ben Simmons man's in the way. I think space is a huge part of college basketball, of NBA basketball, and that's what's killing the 76ers, and that's what Houston is trying to do the best they can based upon their personnel. All right, XFL, thoughts from the opening weekend with Doug, Tom Brady and Dallas. I know it sounds nuts, but people who are great who feel disrespected always like to prove a point and good God could he upgrade in so many facets

moving to Dallas if DAC wants $38 million. That's coming up. 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 happens. 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 SportsLice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, 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. 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 walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office, blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself about love. or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown

and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world has become. and lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land

while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, welcome back. Go Davien. Doug Gottlieb's joining me. Top of the hour, Colin wrong. All right, so you had T.J. Hushmanzada on Friday on the show. I was off and a labor intensive weekend. So flying down a mountain skiing

with my daughter. I mean, the two of you between you and Joy, Joy, posting these pictures. Miami. No, it wasn't Miami. She was at, she had some, you're at some party this weekend, right? In Miami. Yeah, at a bachelor party and my sister-in-law, Monica's bridal shower. The most

beautiful people in the world are on Joy's Instagram. The people, like, you don't, I can't. modeling agency. Joy's got a modeling agency as an Instagram. And none of them are models. I can't follow her because, you know, like you're at home and your kids are like, who's... I think I post as inappropriate. It's not inappropriate. Joy. Ridicously good-looking people on there.

Joy has a rule. If you've ever had a pimple, you can't be on her Instagram. And then you're like, mid-show, you're like, you know, you're on the, you're clearly roughing it up in Park City. Champagne on one hand, you know, ski pole on the other. Okay. So, but when you add TJ on, yes. We get shocked all the time in sports. We are shocked. You and I'll be texting.

What? What? Brady to Dallas. It's the one place Tom could go. And tomorrow, the Patriots are uninteresting. It would be a total facial. Oh, well, it would be a facial. I don't think they'd be uninteresting.

Like, how they would do without him would be fascinated. We'd all pay attention, right? I think Brady at Dallas would be LeBron to the Lakers. No, listen, no question. But at least the first year without him would be fascinating. how they do, right? Can Andy Dalton at this stage in his career be as good, as effective as Tom Brady? Could they use that money and sprinkle around and get talented players?

Look, I love T.J., and there's part of what I take for him. I know he's only relaying what has been said by important people to him. He also said Antonio Brown was going to come with him, and I said, that sounds great, okay, but that's a Roger Goodell decision, not a Tom Brady decision. I believe Antonio Brown will never play in the NFL again. I agree. Okay. So, but what TJ is saying is what everyone in the NFL has heard.

There's two different parts. One, if you talk to a different person close to Tom, they all have some different idea as to what he's going to do. So no one really knows. But if you took the overwhelming narrative, here's the second part, they all seem to say, I think the divorce is going to happen with the Patriots. you know, Skip has said, you know, why not you can cut Garapolo four million dollars. He's always wanted to be a nineer.

Tom Brady makes that throw on third and ten that Jimmy Garoppolo overthrows by five yards, right? I don't think that's a crazy. None of these are crazy ideas if you're a ready, made, ready to win team. But I also think that going back isn't the craziest idea because they're not that far away. I agree with that. You know, and that's right. And for people who say, well, they didn't do the right job. job to go out and get wide receivers.

Like, no, no, they had Josh Gord. They had Antonio Brown. They both imploded. They had plenty of talent. Those guys, you know, find a replacement for Rob Grunkowski is hard. It's not easy. People don't just go, hey, oh, you need a tight end. Here you go. I know you lost Grunk. So, I still believe

that at the end of the day, it's really hard at this point your career to change. And that's why, and I think that's why he stays. Yes. But I don't think Dallas, Jerry's a visionary, He's aggressive. And if Dex says 38 or I'm not coming back, sometimes you get trapped.

Yeah, I don't know if Jerry does that as much as Stephen does it. You know, Jerry, and I said this on your show Friday, is Jerry is the dad that talks tough, right? Taking away your phone for two weeks. And then your kid comes in and says, hey, dad, I need my phone because all my friends know what the homework is. And we're all texting each other what we're going to do. You're like, all right, it's in the top drawer. I got grounded for a summer by my mom. It lasted four days.

That's who Jerry Jones is, right? Jerry's, you know, Zeke who? And then, of course, he gives in like, oh, my bad, here's the biggest, here's a huge contract, which is a terrible contract. So it sounds good to say that Jerry's going to part ways with Dak. But remember, Jerry believes he discovered Dak. That's a big part of it. He's, they're kind of pot committed to Dak Prescott because they got him. the fourth round. He was the one who saved the day. They've won a lot of games.

They've won a lot of games, not against the actual good teams this year. But like, look, I would, Brady would be better for that Cowboys team, right? With that offensive line, with that running game. For a year, yes. Yes. But I, you know, he's not a cowboy. And you tell Jerry to part ways with a cowboy, like, it took him an extra year to get rid of Des Bryant. And he's still thinking about bringing Des Bryant back in. He's just, he's so emotionally tied. I think Stephen Jones might do it because he wants to win a championship. And Brady Regal and Brady would be great. But I don't think Jerry Jones approves

to that. And I still think at the end of the day, Tom Brady says, do I really want to teach everybody in an offensive room, an offense that I know? You know? I mean, the perfect example. When you play sports, everyone has something you call, well, we call that Chicago. Well, I call that Philadelphia. All right,

so now what are we going to call it? Everything you've done for 20 years has been called one thing. And remember, the Patriots offense has changed and metamorphicize itself several different times over. But they've all worked together. Working with a whole new slate of people with Kellyn Moore, who's been calling plays for all of one season,

that does not sound like a plan that wins, even if the talent says you'd be better off. All right, the XFL debuted. It got higher ratings than everything else this weekend. The two highest ratings were, I don't know, at order Fox and ABC. Those two games were the two highest games. Lakers played, Carolina Duke.

A lot of stuff. Carolina was amazing, by the way. I mean, Carolina had a 10-point lead with 207 to go and lost in over time. It was an incredible game. So what do you make of it? What is your overall takeaway? Because obviously it's a brand new business.

It's Starbucks in 1971. It's Amazon when they just sold books. It's first weekend debut, restaurant opens. I don't think it's because as long as they understand and keep the salaries where they need to be. It's still minor league sports. Now, when you say minor league sports, it's like a bad word. The G league is minor league sports. The G league has better talent than college basketball.

No question. But nobody watched the G league. Why? Because they don't have Vince McMahon. Or a good TV deal. Right, but Vince McMahon got the good TV deal. And part of it is Vince McMahon has the WWE, which he leveraged in order to get these great TV deals. I think you have a business genius and the people running the XFL.

And you have, you know, Andrew Luck's dad who also is super smart. Super. You have really smart people understanding how to keep salaries under control, a limit to the number of games, two solid TV contracts. And they're trying things. If the NFL is smart, they pick different ideas and try and implement. I talked to a TV executive this weekend, and he goes, here's what I know about the XFL. The NFL is going to steal some stuff from this.

Of course they are. Of course they are. Look, I played in the USBL. I played in the ABA 2000. ABA 2000 had this great rule where if you stole a ball that was in the back court or a pass that emanated from the back court, you got an extra point. So you'd steal a basketball. If I got a layup, it counted as three.

Not as two. If I hit a three, it counts as four. So it was begging you to be an aggressive defender. Yes, it's a press, right? And actually, the eight-second rule. the NBA has to get the ball cross court. I think one of that was the ABA had that. So it's a

great chance to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. It's a chance for these guys who are great college players to get one more chance to show themselves. And I mean, like, look, if I had the opportunity to play in minor league sports, I would. I think the genius to it is in the guys

that are running it, you know, and dictating that it's going to be on network TV to start. How it does weekend two, weekend three will tell us how long it last, but I do think it was a great opening weekend, and both broadcast partners did a phenomenal job of covering it. Yeah, no, I thought, I thought it sounded professional. I thought it looked and sounded like a professional league. Doug Gottlieb, the Dugger, Fox Sports Radio after our show. Hour 2, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Coming up next. Good stuff by Doug.

One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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 controversy, We break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo 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 Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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? Come out.

Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself. about love or relationships can then shape my behavior,

and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming.

The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Ah, here we go, hour two. We are live in Los Angeles. This is The Hurt.

Wherever you may be, and however you may be listening, we are on IHeart Radio. We're on Fox Sports Radio, and we're on FS1, and I have moved into the sweater stage of my clothing allowance here at FS1. I will be doing sweaters for the next two and a half months, and I'll segue into the nice shirts, but it is chilly. It's chilly. It's chilly everywhere. Even in Los Angeles over the weekend, it was chilly. It's chilly everywhere in America except Miami. and that's where I have lost a little bit of my voice,

but you said you've lost your voice too. Yeah, I haven't had a voice in like three weeks, though, because I was sick before we went to Miami. You know what I bet it is? I wonder if it's this, because we're around each other for three hours a day? Yeah, I mean, someone came here sick. Like, that's how it always happens. And so you got it, and then I got it.

Yeah. Because you don't feel bad. No, I don't physically feel bad. My voice is just gone. Same here. And then, you know, we talk for three hours a day. You know what I'd love if Goulet would lose his voice because I'm tired of listening to him. I am dying that Goulai gets this sickness.

All right, here we go. We call it on Mondays. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, plenty of both. And here we go. Where Colin was right. I think the XFL had a really good opening weekend. I think it's going to work. I think one of these football leagues, if you put it in the right place, the spring is going to work. The first week of ticket sales surpassed the entire season of the AAF ticket sales.

Like Doug Gottlieb said, I think they have the right ownership. I think they have the right management and Vince McMahon. Listen, it's not the NFL. although there are a handful of NFL players in this league. I thought the television presentation was legit. I thought, you know, Menefi and you got your Brock Hewards and your clats and your Menefis. And I listened to Steve Levy. These are professional broadcasters.

Pat McAfee was a bunch of fun. It looks like a league that's going to last. And remember, the WANBA has lasted 20 years because they were smart enough to put it in the summer. And they got the arenas right and the ownership group right. this is going to work. We have a 9, 10 week hole in our sports calendar, and these networks are all dying. They're dying for content.

So even if you don't love the football, you can put that on television. I sat and watched an hour Saturday and an hour Sunday. I like the micing the coaches and micing the replay officials. I thought it was entertaining. And I think the NFL is going to steal all sorts of stuff. from it where Colin was wrong. I've been given the Dodgers credit for five years

because they're not one of these goofy teams that hands out 10-year contracts. They're going to hand out a 10-year contract for Mookie Betts who's already in his late 20s. None of these things work. Mookie's a great player, but they gave up a top prospect, and you're not going to give up a top prospect in your farm system to borrow Mookie Betts for a year.

So they're going to sign him to a massive contract because he's not going to stay unless you give him a nine-ten-year deal, and he's already like 27 years old. Two years ago, he was the MVP last year. like 295, 296. I'm not saying he's not a good player, but Mike Trout, the best player in baseball, was on a fourth-place team last year. I don't buy into these 10-year contracts.

They don't work. They create apathy. They put way too much pressure on people. And even if you have a good contract, after about six years, by the end of it, you got an old guy you're paying 45 large to a year. I thought the Dodgers, they moved off Machado and Bryce Harper and Zach Granky, and that's why they keep winning, and it's a flexible, nimble payroll. But it looks like they're all in for 10.

nine or 10 years on Mookie. Where Colin was right? I said Kevin Durant without basketball is going to be a social media circus. Because that dude is going to get bored out of his mind because he loves basketball and he watches it. Well, he's on a podcast last week. He got into a beef with Kendrick Perkins. He admitted now his Twitter burner account. He's not giving it up.

He said, here's why I left Golden State. Listen, Kevin Durant loves basketball. He is basketball. And without basketball, he's a social media circus. And the one thing about Kevin, I will defend. because he's a great player. He's a little thin-skinned. Let's be honest.

Go to Twitter for five minutes. Everybody's thin-skinned. I can't say, Kevin Durant is thin-skinned. The world. Watch Twitter for five minutes. Our president can be thin-skinned on social media. Everybody's thin-skinned,

but it has become a little bit of a circus. Where Colin was wrong. Philadelphia 76ers are a mess. I thought they needed to make a move with a trading deadline. They've lost five straight road games. They're a horrible road team. And I do think they have the most talented start. starting five in the East and the best starting seven in the NBA.

And right now, they would open up against Miami and the heat would have home court advantage and Miami would beat them because Miami has their issues. But they play defense and everybody appears to get along and Spolster is an excellent coach. This thing doesn't work in Philadelphia. I've said this. Mbid doesn't like Simmons. Simmons doesn't like Mbid. Brett Brown seems to work well with Simmons.

Nobody works well with Mbid, who's a marvelous talent that you can get a caravan of picks and players for, but the Sixers once again are a mess, and I just love their talent. I think their talent is unbelievable. Where Colin was right? Well, I've been saying for years, New York has the worst sports ownership in North America. There's no place worse than New York, and what a weekend for New York. James Dolan cleaned house again for the Knicks, hired an agent who's supposed to be a good guy, and the Warriors did it, but Bob Myers was also, you know, a former player.

the Knicks and James Dolan cleaned house again. I just ran into David Fisdale, by the way, last week. Former Knicks coach, good dude. And oh, by the way, the Mets need an owner because the Wilpons got housed by Bernie Madoff. They don't have any money. They had a guy, Steve Cohen, who's worth $13 billion, and they screwed that up over the weekend.

So the Mets continue to be a mess. The Knicks cleaned house again. Everybody's always afraid of New York. Oh, my God, they've got all this money. Can somebody name a team outside of the Yankees that appears moderately well-owned and well-run, the Knicks and the Mets once again were a circus over the weekend. Where Colin was right?

Well, we kept saying Lakers do not trade Kyle Kuzma, and we were right on this. I think Rob Polinca listens to the show. I swear to God, you media people and you fans have been trying to trade Kyle Kuzma for the last 12 months. He's their third leading score. he's their only young athletic wing who you can trust. Can we let some of these guys bake a little?

I mean, you've all bailed on Andrew Wiggins. You've all bailed on Kyle Kuzma. Kyle Kuzma is the third leading score and the only what you would call asset as a young player. Listen, Toronto may be old, but they got young guys. Lakers don't have any. It's flaky guys like Dwight Howard, Javelle McGee, old guys like LeBron, Danny Green, Anthony Davis, who can be brittle.

The Lakers smartly held on to Kuzma, as we told them to do. Where Colin was wrong. I don't even understand the Toronto Raptors. They've won 15 straight games. I have no idea how. Fred Van Bleet, I honestly, is there a team? I'll tell you what it is. Is Nick Nurse the most underrated coach in any American professional sports league?

And I'm talking everything and I don't follow hockey. All I know about Nick Nurse, he won everywhere he was in minor league basketball. He won the title last year. Listen, Pascal Seyalkham's a nice player. But it's a lot of old guys. It's Kyle Lowry. It's Fred Van Vleet. I like Fred Van Vleet.

Should he be scoring 17, 18 a night? 15 game winning streak right now. And by the way, they're long, they're deep, though. Well, coach, they play hard. It's hard to get a championship team to play hard every night. Toronto does. Just say that out loud. Fifteen game winning streak in the NBA.

That's like Miami Heat, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James. That's an absurd. Shaq Kobe. Did they ever have a 15 game regular season winning streak in the regular season? That is a... Folks, that's a month and a half. They haven't lost a basketball game. Where Colin was right?

Houston Rockets. Westbrook and Hardener talented. Nobody disputes it. But now last week they had to trade Clint Capella because Westbrook can't shoot and he can't get rid of Westbrook's contract, and he does sell tickets, and he is fascinating, and he does have nights like last night where he is amazing. But the Houston Rockets, to me, are a very interesting lab experiment. They are now currently the shortest team in the NBA.

I don't trust them situationally at the end of games. I know Hardin and Westbrook are friends. I get it, and that certainly isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't solve a truth about Westbrook. He's a bad three-point shooter. and you couldn't have two bad three-point shooters on the floor. So you had to bail on Capella, who's a great rim protector, gave you a ton of easy baskets. And the rockets now are a game out of seventh place in the West.

I never bought this thing. And right now, they may win a series. They got no chance to beat the Lakers, the Clippers, the Jazz, or Denver. No shot. Where Colin was right? Andrew Wiggins' debut. Do environments matter? He's going to work.

Andrew Wiggins walked into Golden State, had a great opening night, eight for 12, three of four on threes, 24 points. He is a graceful, thoughtful, dynamic, athletic wing who is not built. His personality is not built to be a domineering alpha. But I get him at 24 years old. Time out. Michael Jordan was a selfish ball hog at 24. At 26, Phil Jackson said, what do you want to be?

a score or a winner? Can we give this kid a year to potentially work in Golden State? This is a very well-run organization. He's going to fit nicely. And again, this is not a team that's going to win this year. Next year, he's going to give you 23 a night with a high IQ, incredibly functional organization. And if the first game is any indication, he's going to be fine. Where Colin was right?

Finally, I told you, Parasite was the best movie I saw all year. I watched it on a flight and when you can watch a movie on a flight and it's great, they won Best Picture last night. It is one of the I'm not going to give away what it is, but I'm not sure I've ever watched a movie in my life

that was one thing for an hour and then another thing for the next hour. It makes a drastic turn halfway through. It is fascinating. They won every day. everything last night. It is just, it is, listen, all I know is this. When you, when you are done

watching a movie and you don't know how to feel, you're like, it was funny and then it was frightening, and then it was sad, and then it was poignant. It was all of those things for two hours. I strongly suggest you go watch Parasite. Now again, you're going to have to read the movie, but you get used to that after about five minutes. It's one of those. I'm definitely going to see it. I think it's fantastic. I went for a long walk yesterday with a buddy of mine, who was a writer in Los Angeles,

and he was back in town. He'd left for a while, and we were just talking about movies and Hollywood, and I'm like, I don't know. Irishman, Chris Rock had a great joke about Irishman. He goes, I'd like to congratulate the first season of Irishman was great. My wife didn't like Irishman. I did.

It's very, very long, but I like Scorsese and De Niro, Pacino. It kind of puts to bed, all the mobster movies by Scorsese. They were all in nursing homes by the end of it. Dead are in nursing homes. But I thought Parasite was remarkable stuff, remarkable movies. Coming up next, it was exactly what it needed to be on the things it could control. But first, Tom Curran, the number one Patriots reporter in America, in my opinion,

is going to be joining us next. T.J. Hushman Zada says, Tom's not coming back to New England. England. TJ works with pros every day. Talks to pros every day. Tom Curran next on the story that may sound crazy, but I don't think it is Brady leaving New England. Tom is joining us next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the 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 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. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The 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 line. You know these kids. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano.

You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Somebody, please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor, I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant

and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrat, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The greatest day in all of racing returns.

The Daytona 500 kicks off the 20. 2020 NASCAR season Sunday at 2.30 Eastern with pre-race beginning at one only on Fox. By the way, they should have Michelin Endurance Wiper Blades on those cars. Last two times longer available at Walmart. I'll take Joey Ligono to win. Come on, Goula, you're a NASCAR guy. You like Joey Ligoner to win. Who you got?

He's one of the favorites, yes. I don't think they generally run winchial wipers on NASCAR, but you know, hey, whatever. Hey, you got sponsors. You got segue, Joy. I liked it. And I agree. It would be safer. For everyone involved.

Exactly. Okay, when it comes to the Patriots, Tom Kern, I used to live out in Connecticut, and when I was out there, the guy that I really depended on for Patriot News was Tom Curran, 23 years covering this franchise. If he says it, it's true. He's got contact. You cover a beat for 23 years. You got contacts in the building.

He's joining us now via the Coward Global Satellite Network, cover the Patriot since 97. By the way, he's got, go to his Twitter account at Tom E. Curran. All right, Tommy. Tommy, I feel like I'm talking to Brady. There are reports out there refute it or tell me I'm nuts. What are you hearing? The report is, it came out last week, not from you, that Tom wants something north of 30,

and the Patriots have agreed to pay them north of 30. That was the report. How does that land for you? What do you know about that? That's premature, Colin. The Patriots right now, Anton Brady, haven't even begun negotiations, much less started talking about money.

So this became a source of irritation in the days following the Super Bowl because it already sets an expectation for the Patriots and really for fans in New England of what the Patriots are willing to do. And I think what's important about this is it's not really the number 30 because not only from the Patriots side does it set a false expectation of what the Patriots are about to do. From the Brady side, it sets a notion that the Patriots are needing to please him financially and that's not what it's all about, man. So let's move to that. What is it about for Tom? He's got a next. He's got a next. out worth of $500 million. He's got a trophy wall. What is this really about, Tom?

It's about this. Very simply, Colin. He wants to get to the line, be under center or in shotgun in 2020, and look across at the defense and say, you know what? I got an app for that. I got a guy here. I got a guy there. I know we can execute on this play that's going to work. And he hasn't really felt that way the last two years, especially in 2019. In 2018, it was a hard road to figure out exactly how they were going to move the football successfully. So it hasn't been a lot of fun offensively. So it's not about the money. It's about the opportunity to enjoy the football,

to enjoy the offensive side of things, to not have to throw it away six times a game or run for his life or not know exactly where his receivers are going to be. So that is the surrounding cast is as important or more important than the money. I had somebody inside the Patriot Building tell me at the Super Bowl that Nekeel Harry is a nice player, but he's not special. He can't separate. He's not changing anything.

for Tom, but they like him, but there are good, good catch radius, but there are limitations. Tom wants somebody, A, B, that can separate, that can change the game, that can make it easier. This is the knock I've always had, and I've defended Tom on this, is that Tom takes these pay cuts, and then he looks around and goes, well, where the hell is all the talent? Where are the players? Look at Kansas City. Look at Baltimore. Look at Dallas.

Is that a bone of contention for Brady? 1 billion percent. That's why when Tom Brady talks about not taking a hometown discount, that's why people say, well, suddenly it's about the money and it hasn't been in the past. No, he's not taking a hometown discount to have a repeat of things that have happened in the past. For instance, he was supposed to be paid $15 million in 2018. The Patriots gave him $5 million incentives that if he hit them all, he'd make 20. That's still low, but the incentives were so exaggeratively high, and the Patriots had seen such an outflow at the receiver position from 2016,

excuse me, 17, that they weren't able to hit those. So Brady's like, look, I'm not going to come back for less. I made 23 last year. You think I'm going to come back for 20 with you guys saying, we promise, we're going to do something special for you wide receiver. And the hard thing about it, Colin, and I wrote about this last week, the timing is so difficult. The Patriots have to thread a needle somehow

because the beginning of free agency in the tampering period, March 16th, They can't sign anybody, so they can't prove it to Brady that they're going to bring a bunch of guys in. And additionally, those guys who the Patriots might bring in, are they going to want to sign with the Patriots if they're not sure Tom Brady's staying? Yes, I think you nailed it. Threading the needle on this. We talked about this last week. Tom, when I listen and read your stuff, you're never hyperbolic, ever. But it does sound like that what Tommy wants, they don't have.

It does sound like he would leave. The only thing they have is continuity, comfort, and the ability to know that my guy on the sideline over there and my offensive coordinator on the sideline over there are better than your guys. And I'm comfortable here, and I love the defensive players, and I love the culture, and I love the priorities here. But other than that, it's going to be hard to convince him to run it back one more time after what it looked like in 2019. Finally, Tom Curran covering the Patriots for over 20 years. I can make the argument that Indianapolis between the GM, the coach, the O-line, and the tight ends really works. But I'm going to let you take this one. If I said to you, all right, Tom, you think he could leave.

Is there a landing spot that makes sense in your opinion? You mentioned one. I'll mention another one that's right there with it as 1B, Tampa Bay. You go down there, you have Mike Evans, you have Chris Garvey. You have $90 million in cap space. You have if the ability to get Antonio Brown reinstated comes to pass. And again, that is not anything anyone would count on.

You have the opportunity to have him added. That I think, you have Jason Light in the front office, former Patriots executive. Indianapolis is a great point. And look, all of these teams, they could change on a dime, the ones with a lot of cap space, Miami for instance. $90 million in caps space. million dollars in cap space good players on offense you can change that quick if you can get the

right guys good stuff tom curran uh follow him on twitter tommy curran also podcast he has a patriot's talk it drops tuesday and thursday we'll stay on this stuff always a bottom line common sense opinion on new england tom thanks again all right buddy take care all right that's journalism right that that's that's journalism another team is they're being thrown out there Tampa bay So many Patriot employees in front offices, I forgot Jason Light. I'm like, of course, he's a patriot. Tennessee's got Patriots. Atlanta's got Patriots.

San Francisco. The whole league got New England guys. I mean, could you see one in Tampa Bay? We did the jerseys. I got to tell you and I, oh, we were talking about this this morning in the makeup room. You, of course, don't need it. I have a truck, a lower a cement truck lowered in. They put it on with a hose for me.

The thing about Tampa. Mike Evans is so perfect for Tom. You just throw that ball up. By the way, when did Tom have his most success? Moss. I'm going to throw it up because Tom can read the defense. Tom's whole thing, it doesn't have a huge arm. Mike Evans is the best player in the league that nobody watches.

He's uncoverable. But again, in that division, we watched CAMs and the Saints and the Falcons. Mike Evans and Tom Brady is, that is a, Tom's back in the 45 touchdown range. And I'm not joking. But is he in the Super Bowl range? I don't know. But Tom's, I'm telling you, Mike Evans and Tom Brady would immediately be wildly productive.

They would be, it wouldn't be Moss Brady, but it would look a little bit like it at times. Joy with the News. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, we all pretty much assume this was coming, but it is now official. The Chargers announced that they have mutually parted ways with Phil.

Phillips and he will enter free agency. And a press release, GM Tom Telesco said this move puts everyone in the best position for success in 2020. But he still believes that Rivers can be a starter in the league. Rivers thanked the organization for the last 16 years and looks forward to the next step in his career. He's currently sixth all time in passing touchdowns with 397. Second most consecutive starts by a quarterback, 224 only trails Brett Fav. They got a lot of players. I'm going to tell you something.

They got a lot of players. I don't, I mean, where do you see Philip Rivers going? Oh, I don't see him going anywhere. I think it's over. And I think it was a great run, like Eli. Like, Tom Brady, if he didn't have eight rings, a lot of people would say that's over. Philip's done. It's a great career.

It's over. This is not what the league looks like anymore. The time for him to announce his retirement if he's going to? Well, I would probably announce it in a week or two. I would let the Chargers have their saying, and then I would come out and say it. But I don't, this is not about Philip. It's about who the Chargers with this roster. The bigger story is the Chargers for sure, but the idea that Philip Rivers is going to be a starter somewhere, I don't see where.

You know what I want? If I'm Tua, I'm like, I'm going to limp at the Combine. You know what? I should drop. I don't know if I'm, if anybody that doesn't, whatever rookie quarterback goes to the Chargers. They have a sixth thing, though. He might still be there. That's what I'm saying.

If Tua drops to them, I would like to see Tua go somewhere where he doesn't have to. started his first year. But they do have Tyrod Taylor. Yeah, Tyrod's up growing up. That's a good situation to be in. He's a pro. Hold on here. Hold on. You're right?

You're under control. Can I do this? This is really... Yeah, it looks good. What are you doing? There you go. No, the Chargers do have... I mean, this is why he keeps coming up about Tom possibly going there.

I don't think so. I think they want to... Listen, that old and unathletic guy, I think they want. Yeah, going... Yeah. But Tom Brady is still a starter. I can't even. Can we move the draft up to next weekend?

Whoever the Chargers get, whatever rookie quarterback goes to that roster, you could throw the ball 12 times a game. I mean, they're tight ends, they're running backs, their defense. This roster is ready to win. It's a good situation to go to. So Des Bryant hasn't played in NFL games since 2017, but he hasn't given up hope on making a comeback. He told Cowboys reporter Mike Fisher that he's more serious than ever

about getting another chance in the league and is 100% hungry for right situation. He just posted some video this weekend working out and he says he's healthy again. Stephen Jones said he got a text from Des saying that he would like to come back to the Cowboys. I will say this about Des.

This is one of my knocks on Kaepernick. Dez tells you he wants to play football. He puts a video out every week. Des Bryant is... Well, no, Kaepernick puts out workout videos too. Well, but he had a stretch where he told me he loved football and I'm like Desbril, I casually follow Twitter. Des Bryant's got

a video out every fourth day Des has a new video out. No, Des is, Des is ready to come back. Des is there in the Super Bowl talking about coming back. What about XFL? I think Des is still an NFL player. All right. I'm just saying, I always said... I mean, Des, unfortunately

had that injury with the Saints, but he was ready. And Des's body, he's had some injuries, obviously, but I think if he's 100% healthy, he would be a valuable asset to a team that is ready to win. Now is he going to go back to the Cowboys, that I don't know. Because obviously the way things ended with the Cowboys was not the best situation.

The other thing is. He was in a different place in his career, I think, like the forcing it to Des with Dak. And I don't think that would be the situation if it came back to the Cowboys. All I know what Des Brian is, the optics I'm seeing is he's big, he's strong, he's working out, and he shows me he loves football. I don't think it's nuts. I always said Tebow should have gone to Canadian football. Tebow was above it. It's like, no, no, no, no. Warren Moon played CFL football. Vince Farragamble played CFL football. There's been NFL guys. Des Bryant goes to the XFL for. three weekends and lights it up. I mean, dominates it?

Yeah, I mean, I still think Des is above XFL. But it would be, I mean, it would blow XFL up, that's for sure. He's going to want more money than XFL is going to pay him too. Right now he's not making a ton. So finally, Ron Rivera has not named a starting

quarterback for the Redskins next year, saying there needs to be a quarterback competition first. But senior VP of player development, Doug Williams, thinks that Haskins is really only in competition with himself. He said the new staff, knows that Dwayne Haskins is the starting quarterback here. The only thing that can happen is for Dway to give it back to them. He has a long way to go.

But like I told him, he was doing what we expected him to do. Hopefully he keeps going up. All eyes are going to be on him. At the same time, we've got a new coaching staff, and they're not married to him. That's fair. So it's kind of playing both sides. They know he's the starting quarterback, but they're not married to him. I do think they're going to stick with Haskins this year.

They should. They're going to take Chase Young. They're the second pick in the draft. Yeah. I think they're going to go with Chase Young. because obviously Cincinnati's going to take a quarterback which we're assuming is Joe Burrow. That's how that's going to go.

Unless they get a haul of picks for someone to move up, which there's going to be a lot of movement in this draft, I think, as well, because there's a lot of people that have a lot of draft equity who need quarterbacks. But I don't know if Haskins is the guy. I'd like to give him another year under Ron Rivera before some big changes are made.

But then again, are you going to be in the position where you have the second overall pick in the draft? Like, that's not the idea. the idea is not to be picking that high in the draft next year. So if you need a quarterback. Chase Young's a hard guy to give up. You know my rule on this stuff. Trevor Lawrence next year is the exception.

Andrew Luck was the exception. I would always trade down. I would almost always try. Washington needs about six guys. I'm not a big believer in hoarding up draftics because as we know, the draft is a crapshoot anyway. So I'm with you. If you feel like he needs a little bit more development

and they have patience now. Romavira just got there. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. They need to win this second. What if I could get a two first round picks for Chase Young and I could get him two starting tackles or they got a Trent Williams issue? To me, when you get a young quarterback, you don't need a super start.

He needs to be successful. Yeah, because let's be honest about Ron Rivera. He's not going to wait long. You're going to get about 12, 15 games and he's going to make a decision. I'm with you or not. No, but he does have this year. Yes, yes. He has one year.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hur. Lie News. By the way, the XFL debuted this weekend. I thought they did really, really well. A lot of times I watch people judge new businesses. And people that have never run a business or been part of a new business don't understand. It's not linear. Good God, Major League Baseball has been around for 100 years. They have an activity issue because of analytics. The NBA's got a ratings issue and a stylistic problem. All they do is shoot threes. It is hard running leagues. Leagues can be, I mean, the NFL two years ago had a catch rule problem that was literally the talk of the nation. It is hard to run a league. It's hard to be president.

It's hard to run a company. And it's not linear. But I did think for a first weekend, the XFL hit it out of the park. Joy and I talked about this this morning. It looked like a professional league. The camera angles, the microphones, the transparency, the kickoff rules. No, you don't have Russell Wilson. No, you don't have Devonté Adams.

No, you don't have superstar Stefan Gilmore at Corner. But you got a bunch of guys who love football. It's smartly run. It's on the biggest two domestic sports networks in America. Fox and the SPN plus ABC and FS1. It's going to work. We have a massive hole in the calendar. Everything they can control the XFL, they did.

It was fun. It looked legitimate. The microphones worked. There was a lot of great conversation. it was quirky and had cool new rules. Here's the things they can't control. Attendance. That's up to you, the consumer.

Acceptance by the media. That's up to individual media members. Quarterback quality. Well, who's out there? There are some things they'll never be able to control. Your love for it, my acceptance of it, the quality of quarterbacks that college football or the NFL gives them. But everything they could have controlled was really, really good.

The quality of the broadcasts were excellent, both on ABC and Fox, the camera angles, the quirkiness, the rules. I think the NFL is going to borrow that kickoff rule eventually. I liked it. You're not going to have the superstar players on the perimeter. There's no Odell Beckham in this league. But I was saying this with the WNBA earlier. They're two decades strong. They have made some changes.

They don't play in NBA arenas like they used to. Many of the NBA owners have sold their shares, but the WNBA is still working. It's still working. It's not the NBA. It's not built to be the NBA, and this is not built to be the NFL. Overall, though, I thought they had a great weekend. I watched an hour Saturday and an hour of Sunday.

I thought it looked great. I thought it was fun. I think it's in the perfect spot. You and I work in a business. We got a 10-week hole. Well, I say it all the time. Sports and politics are the last live thing. The last thing you have to watch live.

Everything else is streams. You can record it. Watch it later. Shows. You don't need to be in front of your time. television. So it's at a premium right now. It looks great. Everyone did an amazing job. It's a long play. And I happen to love like minor league baseball. I think it's great family environment. Yeah. Fun to go to. By the way, tickets are one quarter what they would in the NFL.

It's inclusive financially. You know how expensive it is to take an entire family to sporting events? I take, listen, I went to an NBA game in Utah. I got free tickets, but I saw what the tickets cost. Yes. It's not. It is a lot of money to go to an NBA game. I had a blast, but it's a lot of money. All right, coming up next, he's an agent. He's a three-time champion. He's B.J. Armstrong. He's next. In L.A., live. Live, it's the herd. 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, 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 rapidly. 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, is we have real conversations about

All healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is 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, Brett. 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. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please!

But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions.

Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too skinny. Carrie. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He played on the greatest team ever assembled the Chicago Bulls.

He was an all-star, three rings. BJ Armstrong is now an agent. Interesting today you drop on by, and we love having you, BJ, because the Knicks decided. to blow things up again. Not a big fan of that organization. But they hired Leon Rose, who is a well-respected community builder, very good relationship guy.

He worked at CAA, which represents me. I make a call. They're like, good dude. What do you make of the trend to have agents run teams? Golden State does it? Well, yeah, I think it is,

you know, it's a trend that's going on now in the business. And it's real funny because I was one of the first to come from the other side. as an executive to the agent's side, and now you're seeing the agents go to the other side. You know, I work with Bob Myers there at Wasserman. I worked with Rob Polinka.

Now Arn Tellem is there in Detroit. Yeah. I think it's good. I think it's good for the business. And what it says about the business now as compared to yesterday year is the importance of people skills that you have to have in the business.

And most of these agents are dealing with these problems behind the scenes, right? The teams get them for two hours or so. and then the other 22 hours, the agents are actually dealing with the problems. And the most important thing that I kind of learned when I came over to this side is, you know, I get a chance to see these kids up close in their homes, in their environments. And I think the agents now have an advantage. They have an advantage that they're actually seeing the players up close firsthand.

And I think, you know, with Leon and these people, they'll go there and they'll do a good job. But I think Bob Myers and being an agent like Rob Polenka, I think it prepares you for the task at hand because it's a different business. And the players today, you know, it's a different time. And I think having the people's skills to deal with this day in and day out is something that you kind of do every day as an agent. If you were representing Andrew Wiggins,

I like the move from a losing culture in Minnesota to a winning culture. Let's say you represent Andrew Wiggins. And now you have to sell him or do you on the fact that you're going to be the third score on many nights. What would it be like to represent Andrew Wiggins? Do you think his agent called him and he wanted to go from like a two to a three in Golden State? Well, I think the formula for the NBA and the formula for success will always be the same since 1946 from when the NBA started. And the formula is this, star players, great players have to be great.

That's a fact. But then the role players have to play their role great. I think the move from Minnesota to Golden State for Andrew Wiggins will be very important from this regard. He will be now put in his right role. He will be forced to be the third option. And when he has those nights when he plays well and he looks like the superstar athlete and the talent that he is,

that's a bonus. But Steph Curry and Clay Thompson, they are consistently will play the game at a high level game in and game out. where Andrew Wiggins, now we're not dependent on him to play at a superstar level game in and game out. But when he does, that will be an added bonus. So I think he will be in his right role. I think he will embrace that.

And, you know, look, in this league, when you say you're a superstar or you're put in that role, you have to be an exceptional, exceptional talent. For 78 of 82 games. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I think he will be in his right role. I think he will embrace that role. and I think it would be a great opportunity for him to be the player that he always, you know, should have probably be, he should have been when he first came in the league.

He is a star athlete. He is a terrific talent. Not an alpha. But he's not the guy that's going to go in, night in and night out and go and get you those 78 out of 82 games where he's going to play at that level. That's just not his personality. B.J. Armstrong, an agent of former three rings with the Bulls, the best team, in my opinion, in the history. history of basketball, also an All-Star, and a former Iowa Hawkeye. Got to say that. Oh, yes.

Go Hawkeyes. And the Big Ten. Big Ten's had a very interesting year, by the way, in basketball. So Marcus Morris, I always feel like the trading deadline, we wait for the splash. Yes. But it's really about fine-tuning. Milwaukee gets Marvin Williams, a three-and-D guy. Yes.

Makes them even deeper. Now Marcus Morris goes to the Clippers. My takeaway on this is, now they got a fourth guy. They can throw at LeBron. Like, I think this. This is why the Lakers wanted him because they knew it. So when I watch Marcus Morris go to the Clippers, all I can think of is LeBron. Am I wrong on that?

No, you're absolutely right. And what they picked up as a pro. This guy is a true professional. And when you're playing in a seven-game series, you don't want to have time to figure out as a coach or a staff if your guy is ready. Marcus Morris is a professional. And he doesn't have to play well on the offensive end to make a contribution to winning. That's what I love most about.

Because they got scores over there. They have scores. But they have a team that's built, Colin and I, and I've been saying this since day one. They're built around two things. They're built around talent and they're built around toughness. They embody everything that Doc Rivers is as a former player and his he is as a coach. He wants tough people around him. He wants people that's going to defend.

He wants to be able to grind the game out. And if you're going to win in the playoffs, you want to have a very simple formula. We're going to, we're going to go out and shut you down on the defensive end. And they're going to attack the game as if the game. is always zero zero. If we don't score and you don't score, we're still in the game. And that's what I love most about how this team has been constructed. They're constructed around we can get defensive stops. And what I also like, it's grown-ups. Paul George, Lou Williams. Yes. I got Kauai Leonard. I got Marcus Morris. This is a man's league. It is a man's league. And it's these guys that have

been in wait rooms in the NBA for seven years. And the NBA rafts swallow their whistles in May and April. They do. This is what you do. And guess what? The little, the young college, players get pushed around and nobody calls it. This Clipper team just got another tough dude that can lock you up and push you around. Now, you run the Sixers. You run the Sixers. Right. I'm a Simmons guy because I think he gets the ball to three shooters.

Yes. And Beads talented, little too social media for me and injuries. And they're not working. What do you do? How long do you let this puppy bake in Philadelphia? Because BJ, I look at their first seven. They are massively underperforming. This thing is not working.

What do you do? Well, I think you can't push the panic there because they have what every team is trying to get. They have talent. Joel Embed is an incredible talent. Now, the thing about Joel Embed, he's not playing consistently at the level that we've all come to expect from him. And that's kind of disappointing because Joel Embed, without question, should be a top five player in this league. Without question. And then you have Ben Simmons, who is another very, very talented player.

he has size, he has basketball IQ, he can do a lot of different things. Now, the one thing that they have been missing is what we call a distributor or a secondary ball handler that gets them into play, because you're going to need that secondary player or that secondary guard to initiate offense and do the things. They've really struggled with being able to control the game from an offensive perspective. And that's been their biggest downfall. Now, they are big, they are athletic. when the game slows down, I think this team will play and perform much better in the playoffs.

But right now, during the regular season, they struggle because they can't manage the game. Time and score is of the essence. That's why I've always said, you know, Ben Simmons is a terrific player. But being able to manage the game when there's time and score, especially during the regular season, is very difficult. And that's where they're missing, that's what they're missing most, in my humble opinion. But because they are big, they will have, you know, there will be less possess. in the playoffs, I still think they'll be okay once they get to playoff basketball. By the way, Lakers good enough today. I didn't like the trade of Kyle Kuzma. I kept hearing

about it. I said, listen, man, this is an old roster. You got to give me somebody who gives me 26 minutes a night. Joy went to a game last week, and Kyle does add some juice. He adds some energy. He's a young kid. I don't think he's a star. He's kind of, I think it's sometimes hard for a young player to play with LeBron. I don't blame all of Kuzma's slight erosion this year on him. LeBron demands a lot. Are the Lakers, as they're constituted this morning, good enough to win the title? Well, absolutely, they're good enough to win. You look at their roster.

They have the best record in the league. So you have to look at what they've done. You are who you are, and the Lakers have proven that they are a very good team, and they're one of the top, let's just say, conservatively speaking, they're one of the top four or five teams in the NBA. Top four I buy it. Top four of the teams. Now, once it gets to the playoff times, we'll find out when you get to the second season

if they're good enough to win the last game of the season. in. And I think that's what we're talking about here with their team. But going back to Kyle Kuzma, I think the Lakers were correct in keeping Kyle because you have to invest into your future. Kyle Kuzma is the one player that you can look at and say, you know what? He can be there beyond what we're doing in the short term, which is going for championships. They can move on and try to build something in the future if they choose to do that as well. Yeah, he and Anthony Davis are really, that is their youth movement. It ends right there. B.J. Armstrong, always great to Thank you so much. You're always welcome. Hour 3 in L.A. next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Oh, here we go. It is a Monday. It's the herd live in L.A. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, wherever you may be in, however you may be listening. Certainly appreciate you dropping by to watch. Join us. Also on Sirius XM Channel 83, Friday, by the way, is Valentine's Day. Yes. So, four days away. I watch the go 1800 flowers.com. 18 stem enchanted rose medley,

2999. When you go to the website, 1,800flowers.com, put the herd in the right side. So it's Valentine's Friday. I've got a very special Valentine's Friday. You have plans? Well, I'm working,

but then when I get home, this year, I got a little ahead of it. You can't, you know, listen, you got to get ahead of this stuff. You can't just make it up on Friday morning. Yeah, that usually ends badly. It always ends badly.

I did that a few years ago. You can't like, you can't Friday morning. I mean, it's not a date that like. You got to put effort. You can miss. Everyone knows it's Valentine's Day. Right. Like an anniversary, you know, your seventh anniversary,

guys, a space cadet. But at Valentine's Day. I don't understand how anyone like forgets their anniversary. That's always been a weird thing. Really? Yeah. I mean, you don't have to do much. You have to remember the birthday, Valentine's Day,

and your anniversary. Oh, yeah. We don't have to do much. to keep you guys happy. It's called living. I mean, I didn't say that. I'm just saying as far as things you have to remember. Joy, you guys are not always easy. We're never easy. We're not designed to be easy. All right. I've got to move off this topic. This has a sleeping on the couch quality to it, this topic right here. I am not easy. So best for last today. We had the Oscars last night, and we thought about awards.

We're at the halfway point of the NBA season. We're going to hand out our first half of the NBA season awards. I think it's fun. I think you'll like it. But this needs to be discussed. We had Tom Curran on earlier today. He was absolutely great on the Tom Brady thing. Listen, this stuff, Tom Brady's not happy, folks. The number one question of the NFL off season, where's Tommy going to play next year? Don't discount Jerry Jones in Dallas. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app.

Make 2020 year year. Start your new life as an IT pro, little as four months. Go to mycomputercareer.edu, free career evaluation today. Speaking of careers, this guy went from the NFL, 10 years, Pro Boulder's, and Worlders, a ring to broadcasting. Pretty darn good. Greg Jennings, how are you? I'm excellent.

So let's, uh, XFL debut. What do you think of it? Um, I liked what I saw. I did. There was a couple things that, number one, the kickoff. I think, um, as, as a former returner and return specialist, like that is huge for safety. Now, the rest of the game, I don't think they care too much about the safety because those were some physical hits. I'm like, man.

Oh, yeah. But having everyone wait until the ball has been received by the returner and then starting the blockers and the kickoff team. Yeah. That was huge. That's something that I could see the NFL possibly taking on. And then some of the other things, but that was the number one thing that stood out to me. I mean, football is football. You know, it's interesting.

Marquette King is obviously an NFL punter. I mean, he's the one guy this weekend. I'm like, oh, he's an NFL player playing XFL. There's obviously some NFL guys eventually. I saw a wide receiver over the weekend. I thought was pretty talented. There will be the occasional NFL guy in this league. But when you watched it, I mean, obviously,

offensive lines are not as good in this league as the NFL. You could just see size. Quarterback play is not as defined. But when you watched it. watched it. Did you see occasionally thinking he could work somewhere? Yeah. And I think this is going to be a huge play for a lot

of guys who feel like they should be on a team on a roster, but don't have that opportunity or haven't been given an opportunity to really have an opportunity to showcase their skill set against other talent

in-game scenarios, which I think is beneficial. We've been seeing Des Bryant, posting images and video and content on his platforms of route running and catching. But if he did it out here, it would be better received from general managers and ownership and execs. I don't think doing it on your own against, you know, one of the fair. Yeah, it doesn't do you any justice. So I think that we're definitely going to see some talent, some guys that are going to make some names for themselves.

and potentially give themselves an opportunity. That kid right there who caught the football for Seattle, a guy in this league who is a star receiver, you know, I'm sitting around and I'm Green Bay, and I'm like, okay, I got Devante Adams, and then I got question marks. To me, I watched some of the skill players, and I thought, I can see teams saying,

he'd be a nice four. I mean, listen, you carry six, seven receivers. There's a lot of that stuff is, are you coachable and are you healthy? By the end of a roster, you know, Greg, you were a star. You're a first round guy. You get to the bottom eight to 12 spots

in a roster. It's a lot of, can he coach him? And is he healthy? Yeah. And it's going to be the skill guys that are going to get the opportunities. Let's be honest. Yes. The offensive linemen probably aren't going to get the benefit of doubt of teams saying,

oh, well, they're going against great competition. But skill guys, you can gauge them on how they move, how they're doing, what they're able to do with the ball in their hands, catchability, how they run their routes. You can kind of see them. And if they have a defender in front of them or wherever they're, they are on the football field, you can make that assessment and say, you know what, let's try. Let's give them a shot. And then if you're right, you're great.

You probably get them for nothing. If you're wrong, you just move on. He goes back and continues to play. How relevant. I said this about 10 minutes ago. Listen, Tom's successful, and I do feel there are times Tom's felt a little bit about this. Okay, I keep taking pay cuts, and I look around, and I don't have Baltimore's receivers, of Kansas cities. I don't have the Rams. I don't have the cowboys. I don't have. And I do think

Tom sometimes looks around. I think Aaron Rogers felt this for years on defense. He's like, look at Tommy's defense. Look at Flacco's defense. And I do think there's a little bit with Tom Brady saying in New England, you know, I could go to Dallas. You see there, you see Armari Cooper and you see Zeke. There's a little bit of that in there, Tommy. Like, you guys have not, you've taken advantage of me a little. I sense a little of that with Brady. Is it enough to make him leave? Yes and no. And I lean more on no.

I lean more no because it's too late for that. It's too late to say, oh, you're going to pay me top dollar now. You'll be 43 when the season starts. So he knows Tom Brady has been smart his entire career, which is why we're talking about him as one of the all-time greatest athletes. Forget football player. athletes because his ability to win and produce. It's because he's been very strategic. He understood, well, if I take it all, there won't be enough for me to formulate or construct a team to where

we can sustain success. He gets it. And so now for him to now all of a sudden think, I'm not going to take a pay cut or I'm going to take top dollar, that's just, that's not even smart. if he in which I believe he stays in New England and he understands I am not the guy that's going to make everybody better. That's not me. But if you put a lot of talent around me and you use what my skill sets provide,

which is my smarts, I've been there, I can get us in and out, and I can still make throws. I may not make all the throws that I once did, which we all will take that, and we all see that. But he can provide and produce wins. We all see that as well with the same coaching staff, same coordinator, same culture.

Winning is everything. I think that is what's best suited for Tom Brady. Do they win without him in New England? I think they continue to win. I do. I think they continue to win. That culture is set. Like when you, one player doesn't shift your culture or change your culture, they may, I shouldn't say shifted.

They may shift it a little bit, but the culture. is set in stone. Bill Belichick. So Jarrett Stedham wins 12 games. I'm not saying Jarrett Stittam wins 12 games, but they're in the AFC East. And soon enough, we're going to have to stop saying that because the teams in that division are getting a lot better.

But I still think that they're a competitive team and that they can compete and get into the playoffs. Can you have that Tom Brady? I don't. So that, okay, that's, okay, you think they're a playoff team without Tom. If think about it. If you insert a quarterback to who, Teddy Bridgewater? Teddy Bridgewater would be my first and only choice, really.

All right. If you insert Teddy, well, I shouldn't say only choice. James Winston, he's a turnover machine. But if you insert guys like that that have talent that can get the ball down the field, that can make throws. Yeah, he's also thrown to Mike Evans, not Muhammad's. Very true. Very true. Again, they still need skill guys regardless who they bring in or the question.

quarterbacks is still going to struggle. All right. Philip Rivers. I think it's over. It's done. I don't, and I don't mean this in a bad way. Right. I think Philip Rivers has had a phenomenal career.

Yes. Some would say Hall of Fame career. He hasn't had the wins that he, that a guy like Eli Manning has had. But he's produced just Uber stats statistically. Yeah. And he's had a phenomenal career for the Chargers. However, when you look at him where he is in his career, his age and what he does with the ball.

He turns it over to, like at this age, at this stage in his career, you have to do something well. Yeah. And the one thing is you can't turn the ball over. There's like three things you can't be and he's all three. You can't be old, unathletic and turnover prone. Very true. So Brady is old and mostly unathletic, but he's not turnover prone.

No. So I think Philip is the three things that the league just doesn't allow. And by the way, the league is changing, like the end. NBA did with a three-point shot. It's changing a little bit stylistically. We are seeing, you know, the best athletes now, and this has happened in the last 12 years, in high school, they play quarterback. Yes.

So the league is changing. The rules are changing for it. So, you know, sometimes sports moves toward you, and sometimes as an athlete, it moves away. It's moving away from Philip Rivers and Tom. And no team is going to pay, I shouldn't say no team, but no team really is going to pay Philip Rivers $20 plus billion to play quarter. to play quarterback and say this is going to be our starting guy. You might bring them in as an advisor, backup guy, just in case the safety valve,

just in case if somebody goes down, then you got a guy that you know who's played in the experience. When did you know it was over? When I made the decision. But was there a route? You couldn't run? There was never, there wasn't a route. Like physically, I could still run. I could still play.

It was just mentally I didn't want to do it anymore. The practice, OTA. It was, I was away from my family, the grind of it all. It just, the situation, losing. You're in Miami. I was in Miami. It plays a huge role in those decisions. And when you look at Philip Rivers, he's lost a lot.

Yeah. And to say, oh, yeah, you can go to a team that can win. In the back of his mind, he felt like he was always on a team that could win. So you, for so many years, you were in Green Bay and you look up at the scoreboard, and it's four in the afternoon, and you led 28 to 14. What time did you look up at the scoreboard in Miami and your last year and just say, what the hell am I doing? At some point, you stopped looking at the school.

I'm being honest. I'm being honest. You don't even look at the scoreboard. You start watching to see kind of body language, and our guys really giving their all. Are they shutting it down? Oh, you felt that. Like that, those are the things you start looking at

when you're in a losing culture. Yeah. Good seeing you. You're hosting all week, Greg, is co-hosting undisputed with Chris Brousard, Parker, and McIntyre. Boy, that's some crew. Fun crew.

Love old guys. Keep your eye on Parker. He'll just take an exit off the freeway of common sense and you'll just be in. It'd be crazy town. You've got to watch out for him. Love me. Good see anybody.

Joy with the news. No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So Andre Aguadala was traded to the heat before the deadline last week, and he is very happy about where he ended up. He said, I kind of got excited about basketball again,

playing with the Warriors. We got to the finals every year. And the media scrutiny behind every single move, you get exhausted, you've had a good break, but then you kind of see where's the game's trending, and it's like, where do I fit in? And it's kind of a blessing in disguise. This is the perfect spot. I'm going to do a lot of different things.

He made his Sunday night debut in a loss to the Blazers, had 2.6 rebounds. I did not. Was this last night? Yes. I did not see this game last night. I did not see this either. I was on the plane.

But I will say I love this move for the heat. I know you do. It's very expensive. Lord. I mean, listen, you got to spend money. And they did clear some space with the trade as well. So that's fine. He's not going to get you 20 points a night,

but they don't need that. They have a lot of young players that are shooters that can do that. Then they have a variety of guys that can do that throughout the season. So it's not like you really need to rely on one game. You know what you're going to get from Jimmy Butler every night. So you have Tyler Hero. You have Duncan Robinson. Like they have a lot of young pieces.

I'm really excited about the heat this year. I think they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. 15 million a year. It'll be all right. Ty Riley's very smart. He knows how to make moves. All right. Take care of the salary cap.

It'll be all right. That's a lot of money. So the Warriors made one of the bigger trade deadline moves last week, sending DeAngelo Russell to the Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins. both liked it. I do like this move, but I saw something interesting out there this morning. Who? Who? Maybe there's a bigger target in mind. Maybe there's a little, little something else going on behind this move. Because Janus's contract with the Bucks expires after the 2021 season, and he has said that the performance of the team will greatly determine whether he stays or goes. So Wiggins, along with a handful of lottery picks, could be a good trade offer should the Bucks face the reality that, say, the Pelicans did when Anthony Davis made it.

he wasn't going to stay long. So here's the one thing if I'm a Bucks fan that worries me. And I can't explain it. The Raptors have won 15th straight. And I don't know how they're doing it. If the Raptors beat the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, that's where I think Yonis thinks, okay, I need,

and by the way, and Chris Middleton doesn't have a great series, that's when you think of Yonis, okay, I got to get to a two. The key in this joy could be Chris Middleton in a playoff series. What if Chris doesn't play well in the Eastern Conference Finals? lose and I can go get Stefan Clay as my two. Well, yeah, so we've had Yonis on the show before. He said he's saying he's going to stay.

He wants to stay. That was a while ago. Things change. And as we know, we are very screwed. We have a lot of scrutiny in the media and fans are very demanding. You have to win championships. You're not really that guy. Like, it's how we judge legacies in all of sports. I mean, look what could just happen with Andy Reed.

Like, it's very important to win a championship. And especially in your prime. Now, the Supermax deal doesn't really, it doesn't mean that much to guys anymore. I mean, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Paul George, Kauai Leonard, have all left. No, I, I, I, is it? You sound crazy. You're Yonis, and you're the best player now because Kauai and LeBron left the east. Right. And I know I'm great and I'm going to win MVP.

And Chris Middleton struggles against the Raptors and has a couple of bad games and we lose the series. And I'm great. That's when a guy like Yonis goes, okay. my number two can be step. My number three can be Clay. That, it's not on Janus. Janus has said, I want to stay. But Janus, all these stars, you know,

he's the saying, I was saying, they want to drive to the arena and know they're the man. They don't want to be the only man. Right. And he said the performances team matters. But I agree with you. I mean, and he's in no position now to say, oh, I want to leave. Like, of course he's going to say he wants to stay right now, as he should. But a lot can change.

And I agree with you. They don't win. If you're a warrior, if you're Steve Kerr and Bob Meyer, you are pulling for Toronto, or I don't think Miami can beat them, but a Toronto to beat Milwaukee because that's the only way you're getting it. I actually think, I mean, look, I love Toronto. Toronto is a great regular season team, but they've been that way for a long time. They're a very well-run organization. We know that.

So it's entirely possible, though, too. And the heat as well, they play a lot of defense. I still think that Yonis is the superstar. So it's on them. Like the pressure is on Milwaukee in the East this year, no matter what. Like they have Yonis and they're the best team. Pressure on Chris Middleton. Don't disappear like last year.

Oh, yeah, but I mean, we're going to look at Yonis though. Like even if it's not on Yonis, fine, it's on the bucks. We'll put it that way. So finally, the XFL made a splash in its first weekend. The second highest rated sporting events were XFL games. The two, I'm sorry, not second. Two highest rated sporting events were XFL games. And fans at home got a unique viewing experience.

They had live audio from the coaches and the sidelines and referees. They were discussing penalties. You had interviews from players right after they came off the field. I loved that part. Yeah. A lot of energy. And the league also experimented with the new points, the new rules for the point after. Yeah.

And two teams chose between one, two or three point conversions instead of a kick. Cardell Jones, by the way, played in the NFL. There was NFL guys. Yeah, there's NFL guys. Yeah, there's NFL guys. The perimeter players, you've got some NFL players. I thought that the product looked great, being that it was on the networks. You had great camera views.

It looked professional. I didn't think that it was, it looked like minor league football. It looked like regular football. We're going to see who the stars are. Guys will emerge, but I thought it was a great opening weekend. We were watching it,

and my brothers, all of us sitting around watching XFL. I did do. When I got on the plane, every other TV was on XFL. Oh, it was. Yeah, it was Oscar pre-red carpet show or XFL, every other TV.

Really? Yeah, because I like to see, like, what other, I mean, I'm nosy. I want to see what other people are watching. I'm totally saying. She wants something like that is on. And yeah, every other TV was on next time. How about that?

I mean, why not? I watched an hour both days and I thought, and my takeaway was the skill players, the O lines aren't as good. But the league, like Cardell Jones, he's played NFL games. And like this, the wider receivers to me in the backs, you're like, these guys could be on rosters. Look, I'll be honest. I'm rooting for the XFL.

First of all, anything, any new league that provides jobs and opportunities for guys and more stuff for us to watch and talk about, I'm rooting for. Now, obviously, there's some factors that play into this, but this is not a short-term play. There's a lot of money and a lot of investment behind this. It's a long-term play. There's nothing that you should take away too dramatically from the opening weekends. I do think as the season goes on, we'll see how the viewership goes.

But again, it doesn't matter. This particular year is not going to be what determines the future of the XFL. I'm rooting for the XFL. I'm going to watch regardless. But I thought it was a great opening weekend, and it looks great also. Yeah, Dallas isn't as good as everybody predicted, by the way. I watched them. They're not very good. That was a fun game, though.

They got their offense needs to grow a little bit. Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. So halfway through the NBA season, trading deadline is over. The Bucks and the Clippers, very good teams got a little better and should be favored to make the NBA title. We give out an ode to the Oscars.

Our NBA mid-season Oscars, our NBA, mid-season awards, and that is coming up. Want more Heard? The Heard 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. Discover matches all the cash back you earn on your credit card at the end of your first year automatically.

No limit how much you can save. More amazing of all the places where Discover is accepted. 95 places in the U.S. take that credit card. Discover.com slash yes. Limitations do apply. Well, the Oscars were last night. Chris, I didn't watch it. I was watching stuff with my wife.

You know, I'm a sportscaster and stuff. I did predict Parasite would win. That's the best movie I saw this year. Irishman's long, but it was the second best movie I saw this year. My friend told me yesterday I should watch, is it Jojo Rabbit? It's supposed to be fascinating. Fascinating story. So Parasite was the best.

But we thought in honor of the Oscars here, you know, 30 minutes from where we sit, it's the NBA halfway point. And so we do joy our NBA mid-season awards. Here we go. All right. The first award is best player in a supporting role. And the nominees are Anthony Davis, Paul George, Chris Middleton, and Russell Westbrook. Very tough decision.

How about Anthony Davis? Okay? The Lakers have the best record in the West. They're shooting for the record, and this is an Anthony Davis number. They're shooting a league high 49%. That's a really good field. percentage. He leads the Lakers in points a game. He leads them in rebounds and blocks. And I don't think there's any question. If you're going to beat those, you're going to beat those Utah Jazz, Denver,

Milwaukee, some of these teams with size, you need an offensive weapon down low. And he's provided that. He's our best supporting role. Best international player nominees are Janice, Luca Donchich, Rudy Gober, and Nicola Yokic. Man, we got some great players. How about that? Rudy Gobert's most underrated guy in the league. I'm going to give it to Janice, though. Here's a stat that will blow you away. He has 14 games where he has scored 30 points and has 15 rebounds. The next closest in the NBA is three.

He's the best defensive player. He plays hard every night. The question really with him, and I think they should be favored to get to the finals in the East, the question is long term. Can the buck surround him? They got the coach. Can they surround him with a number two and three player that can elevate them to titles? Because they're going to dominate the East as long as he's there.

Achievement and wardrobe. The nominees are James Hardin, Kyle Kuzma, Russell Westbrook, and the Houston Rockets. Kuzma has even changed his hair this year. Yeah, Kuzma's had some looks this year. He's much strong. I don't feel like we got into a lot of variety here. So I feel like we only have one choice. Let's go to the Rockets here.

The Rockets have between PJ Tucker and Hardin. And they have their own red carpet. Which I think is actually hysterical. The Houston Rockets debuted. This is actually funny. I love it. I think it's actually brilliant. So you walk into the arena and they have a little red carpet every night.

You've got to be honest. That's funny. It's funny, but it's also necessary. Like people really do pay attention to what guys are wearing. It's built over into the NFL now. It's a thing in the NFL as well. You get so much free viral recognition for a friend. If I'm an owner of a team, I want my team on social media all day.

Yeah, and I think PJ Tucker probably has the biggest sneaker collection of anyone in all of sports. So best score off of field goal. The nominees are Carmelo Anthony game winner versus Toronto, Bogdanovich game winner versus Houston, LeBron James Dunk against the Kings, and Yokic's game winner against Minnesota. SOTA. Recency bias. Let's go to Bogdanovich last night. Houston beats trails late in the game. Here's the shot. Here it is. That's a tough shot, though. On the road. Oh, my lord. On the road. These two down to on the road. That's the shot of the year. By the way, these two teams could play in the playoffs. Look at that. Is that? Bogdanovich. It almost like took him a second to realize what just happened. Look at that. Look at that. Look at the reaction by the Rockets. That's a tough one because Houston. That's an impossible shot. And you couldn't have defended it better.

Oh! Shot of the year in the NBA. That's pretty good. All right. Best New Artist. The nominees are R.J. Barrett, Tyler Hero. John Morant, Zion Williamson. Let's not waste any time.

This is John Morant. First of all, he's going to win rookie of the year. He is magnetic. He's dynamic. He's electrifying. He's just a great player. He really is. He can shoot.

He can lead. He can jump. He is fun. I am so happy that he's having the season that he's having because I don't think that people really paid enough attention to how great he was because they got out of the tournament early. But he's just so fun to watch. Here's the most important thing.

Memphis is in the playoffs today. Memphis makes the playoffs today. That's more important than any of this stuff. He's just exciting. All right. Worst team mixing. The nominees are Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers or the Trailbla.

This is a tough one. It was really split. We're going to go Rockets who are shooting 45% from the field, which is 22nd. I know. I should say Philadelphia. It's a snub for the Sixers. I still think the Sixers in the East can figure it out. This thing doesn't work right now.

They're not good in one possession games. They're two stars. Are friends, but not effective on the same court at the same time. And now they have no size. at least Philadelphia for its issues has size. Best director. The nominees are Mike Budenholzer, Nick Nurse, Eric Spolstra, or Frank Vogel. This is a tough category.

Close, but I'm going to give it to Nick Nurse because they've won, what, 14 straight games in Toronto? 15. Yeah. Okay, they lost Kauai Leonard and they have a longer winning streak. And by the way, the East is better this year. So the East is better. They lose Kauai. Now, Fred Van Vleet's having a really, really good year.

So I'm even a better player. But they've got six different guys averaging 10 points a game. That is about coaching. That is making guys in that locker room believe the hole is better than the individual. It's not easy to do off a championship. They have a good culture. Bias, I would say, Eric Spolstra, but I did have to say, Frank Vogel has done a phenomenal job off of what we thought was a setup to get Jason

kid in there. he's really done an amazing job. All right, best player in a starring role. The nominees are Janus, James Hardin, LeBron James, or Kauai Leonard. Comes down to Yonis and Kauai, but Yonis plays more regularly and I think is more important for his franchise.

And that's weird because I, listen, the Clippers, with Paul George only, I still think he could get to the Western Conference finals. I really do. I don't think they could win the West or win the title, but I think if you look at Janus, best record in the NBA, do you know this team is averaging 120 a night?

Listen, you can say what you want about the NBA defense. 120 a night? That's like the Phoenix Suns with a Steve Nash. You just can't have any bad nights. You can't have off nights and average 120 a night. All right. Our final category, best picture. The nominees are Luca ripping his jersey,

a bronze windmill dunk against Houston, Kauai's monster dunk against Boston or John Morant's behind the back pass. This is perhaps the easiest one. LeBron James, it has 26 million views. Yeah, that's one of the greatest NBA pictures ever taken. I swear to God, we could do a segment tomorrow on the 10 best... Let's do it best for last. Seriously, the 10 most iconic sports pictures of all time, this happened to the dead.

19 years ago that Kobe Bryant had a similar dunk, which just adds a completely different layer to this. There's a Muhammad Ali picture over Sunny Liston in the fight in Miami. There's the YAA Tiddle, the old football player that has blood coming down. I'm just trying to think of iconic things. There's Drew Brees with his, is it, son after the Super Bowl and the confetti coming down. I'm just trying to think off the top of my head sports pictures.

The fact that this is 19 years to the day of Kobe Bryant doing the same dunk is just adds a completely different dimension to it. It's just wild. Look at that picture. And the dunk was incredible in his 17th season. God, that is an incredible. It is. It's a magnificent picture. It's art.

That's art. I mean, obviously the Jordan from the foul line. Look right above LeBron's head. NBA. Is that like the, oh, they love that. Call me crazy on this. What if that's the new logo? Well, everyone wants Kobe to be the new logo, so that's not going to happen.

But we should do that for Best for Last tomorrow. Do you know who's on my show tomorrow? Our show? The Princess, Charlotte Flair. Oh, my God. Yeah. You did it? It's finally happening?

Charlotte Flair. That's so exciting. Best Twitter account in the universe. The Princess, the Queen, Charlotte Flair tomorrow. 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 SportsSlice comes in.

I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. 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 Podcast, 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 Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games.

This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability

that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you, you get your podcast. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of

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

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.