The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - LeBron James' career is the greatest

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

Colin reflects on LeBron James' career after breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time scoring record LeBron's greatness at this point in his career should be celebrated as the greatest ever  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Record setting day, Wednesday in the herd. Not for me for LeBron. Live in Los Angeles, it's the hurt. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, iHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. F.S.1. Quite a night. Last night, records being broken in Los Angeles.

Feel a little different. A lot of stars out last night. J-Mack is joining me alongside as always. It's a fun night. Beginning to end. Watch the whole thing. Mad team, great player. Extremely disappointing ending for the Lakers.

Collins, they don't make a move this week to get rid of some of those point cards who don't know how to throw a pass. I think LeBron's going to lose his mind there in LA. Let's talk about for the next 10, 12 minutes. Let's talk about LeBron. So this is the way sports works, right? There's winners. There's losers.

We have standings. Your first place, last place. Great as this, greatest that. I can play along. Michael Jordan had the most dominant stretch. ever. Shack was the most physically dominant player, along with Wilt. I think Magic had the greatest personality, the most fun basketball player of my life. I think Steph revolutionized the game. We don't do this in other businesses quite nearly as often. For instance, in Hollywood, who's the

best director? Well, Spielberg does the blockbusters and James Cameron. He does like the sci-fi thing. And then Scorsese does the mob flicks. They don't do it in tech either. Everybody's a specialist. He's best at this. He's best at AI. He's best at the phone. But in sports, this is just what we do. Greatest, worst, first, last. So I'll play along. LeBron James, capped it last night, has had the greatest career in the history of that orange roundball. That's the greatest career. Productivity, titles, longevity, impact. That is the greatest career in the history of a game they've been playing a long time. And it was also the earliest it was spotted.

Joe Dumas, great player for the Pistons, former GM of the Pistons, was asked back in like 2000, who was going to be the first pick in the NBA draft? And he said, if you asked every single GM today, they would take a high school kid. He's playing in Akron, Ohio. he would be as a sophomore, the number one pick in the NBA draft. That's why Tiger Woods and LeBron, that's who I really compare him to.

They were spotted at 10 and 11 years old, completely separated from their peers at 12 and 13, and were stars by 15. ESPN was televising LeBron's high school games. I mean, it would be like if Macaulay Culkin became Tom Cruise. You'd expect missteps, right? I mean, Hollywood devours 90% of child stars, and Tiger Woods has had several missteps as much as I love his game. Not LeBron. It's been masonry.

Every year, dedicated, head down, working. But, Colin, there was the decision. Really? Still got you worked up. Get a therapist. The China conversation or comment, angry about that? My guess is you're angry about a lot. 38-year-old LeBron, since 10 to 11 years old, like Tiger Woods, was spotted and identified.

And from that day forward, he has separated from his peers. Last night at Crypto Arena, boy, has the world change. LeBron was easily, in year 20, the best player on the floor. Oh, I know y'all loved that kid for OKC. but does he have LeBron's leadership? I mean, last night was a classic Laker night. Anthony Davis checked out, emotionally remote. Didn't even stand for the moment, seemed annoyed after.

That's now what LeBron plays with. Westbrook had a million turnovers, and the Lakers, in the end, couldn't defend, couldn't make a stop and lost, as LeBron was setting the all-time school. ring record. Easily the best player on the floor. It's got a Tom Cruise field to it, and since we're close to Hollywood here, Tom Cruise now is a brand. There's two things that get people consistently to the theater, Marvel movies and Tom Cruise. And there's very few things I see the

ratings that get people to a TV set with the NBA. And LeBron's one of them, the Warriors, the other. To be this great, this long, this race. This Relevant in a completely distracted era where virtually everybody not named Phil Knight was on their phone during the moment. Is remarkable. And the pressure that has devoured Hollywood stars, people in other industries, all over sports, has never gotten in the way. Simply motivated and elevated the king. It is the greatest basketball career beginning to end, and the end isn't that close. I'll get to that in a second.

Here was LeBron after. It's been like one of the great rides I see the point in a sense that, you know, your stomach drop at times. You're excited. You're yelling. Sometimes you can't hold you. You can't breathe, you, but you always want to do it again. You know, and it's been a pleasure and an honor so far in my career.

I wanted to give praise to everyone that came before me. I wanted to acknowledge that I'm a historian at a game, but I didn't want to emulate nobody. I wanted to be myself. And, you know, if you say true to yourself, I think you always feel better about the outcome, win, lose a draw in life. But it's been great.

It's been great. and I'm not going nowhere. I'm not going nowhere. Let's talk about that. So it was an authentic moment, right? He had practiced the hook shot. I saw it on my phone up to the game. He'd practiced a running hook in the lane,

as if a tip of the cap to Karim Abdul-Jabbar sitting courtside. But instead, he went with a shot he's hit many, many times, the fall away, the fade. Here it was for those who didn't catch it live. Coming to the end of the third quarter. LeBron James is shot in history. You know, it's interesting as I watch that. The struggles through all of our life change, right? You're in your 20s.

It's about, you know, finding some professional success. And then maybe as you get late 20s, early 30s, you want to find that special person. Then it's about kids. LeBron's interesting. He wanted to prove to everybody. A kid for Macron could be great. We're way past that. He wanted to prove he could win titles.

We're way past that. He wanted to prove he could have a brand and become a mogul. We're way past that. And I'm watching that last night. There's only four teams after the loss last night that are in arguably worse than the Lakers in the entire league. And that's with one of the top five players, LeBron James. Charlotte is, Detroit is, San Antonio is, Houston is, feels like they're all tanking. So this season realistically, from the very beginning to the smart people who follow this game,

I mean, nobody thought the Westbrook thing was going to work. Come on. This season's been about LeBron and the record. And he's not really a score first, although he now, ironically, is the all-time score. So like Anthony Davis seemed to be like perturbed by it. But what's interesting now, and the struggle for LeBron now is very personal. You could put him on the Warriors tomorrow. They would win the title.

You could put him on the Celtics tomorrow. They would absolutely win the title. You could put him on Milwaukee tomorrow with Janice, Middleton. They'd run away with the title. And I actually believe he could go back to Cleveland with that team with a bunch of good players, and they would certainly fight for it. The Lakers' front office will not fix this mess. They've been bad for nine of the last 10 years.

And nothing ever ends perfectly. Brady this last year got kind of choppy in Tampa. Ali, Farr, Tiger. It never ends perfectly. Nobody gets the best start, LeBron, the longest, most productive career, LeBron. And a perfect ending, LeBron. It just doesn't work that way.

This is about as elegant as it looks. that he is still a dominant score, stacking records, beautiful family, loving Los Angeles, business is humming, and there's always the butt. But this team stinks. It doesn't work. Can't turn this thing around. They got no assets. So the struggle now for LeBron is the same one Tom Brady goes through.

Man, if you put me on the 49ers tomorrow, I could win another ring. and for LeBron, I go play for nothing in some of these places and win another ring. But what does he have to prove? I think that's the struggle for greatness. Tom Brady will be able to sling it in his 50s. LeBron easily, the best player on the floor. Can't hand check. He's just bigger, stronger, nobody can stay in front of him.

He can bully ball it to 27 a night. What do you do? Here was LeBron. on the moment and the night. I write that man in the arena on my shoe every single night from Theodore Roosevelt. And tonight I actually felt like I was like sitting on top of the arena tonight. When that shot went in and the roar from the crowd, everything just stopped. And it gave me an opportunity just to kind of like embrace it and look around and see

my family and seeing the fans and seeing my friends and it was uh it was pretty cool you were watching it and you were thinking what i was thinking you could put him on like five teams and he could win more championships as he said once in miami not one not two you put him in milwaukee he'd probably get three. Greatness, that becomes the struggle. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon

Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became

bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a

dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

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

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

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As I was talking earlier, there's a lot of different impacts a lot of different players have had. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird kind of, to a large degree, saved the NBA. I mean, it would have kept going, but you forget years and years ago, pre-Magic and Bird, there were a lot of playoff games that were on tape delay after the 11 o'clock news. I'm not lying, it's true. A lot of empty arenas. NBA had a bad, negative reputation.

And then Magic and Bird came in, made us love the game again. Corporate America came rolling in. Arenas were full and the league took off. Michael Jordan made the league global. I would say LeBron Carrey. the league for 15 years when it didn't really have a direction. It needed a guide. Eastern Conference was mostly awful. LeBron got to the finals virtually every year. And then Steph Curry revolutionized it by making the three ball analytically the shot to take.

LeBron also empowered players to a new level. And that's where I think LeBron and Michael, we always talk about their differences and they truly have different games. I always think LeBron is like 30% Magic Johnson. He'll give you whatever you need. Magic Johnson plays the Sixers in a final. Karim gets hurt. He plays center, scores 42. Magic could give you 28 points. He could give you 20 assists, 20 rebounds. He could play center. He could play guard. And that's why I've called LeBron James numerous times the Swiss Army knife of basketball. He can do anything. Michael was a score and a guard. LeBron can guard all five positions in his prime. He once took Derek Rose, a tiny lightning quick guard out of a series in the fourth quarter. LeBron could do anything.

and magic could do it, but LeBron's a bigger, stronger, more athletic player. But where Michael and LeBron have a lot in common is greatness creates imitators and most fail. So pre-Michael Jordan, big guys, it could be Mikan, it could be Wilt, it could be Kareem, big guys or, or, you know, bigger players, the post usually led to dynasties. Russell had 11, right? And then Michael came in and it's like suddenly, no, we're going to lead this dynasty. the centers are mostly going to be forgettable guys. The point guards are going to be forgettable guys. It's going to be a wing player.

And he can score 60 on any night. And he took over the league for 10 years, right? Like, Magic was a point. Larry Bird was more of a center with McHale. And then here comes this wing guy. He's going to take over the league. And then all of a sudden that spawned a decade of guards who were smaller than Michael and not as gifted thinking they could shoot their way to a championship.

Marbury and Stevie Francis and Ivers. and they all failed. They all could have been better had they been truer to who their position really needed them to be, which is distributor first, score, second. But they took a lot of bad shots. They were hard to play with. Only Kobe Bryant, who was equally at times hard to play with, pulled off the Michael game. They even early sounded alike.

I mean, he was doing an imitation, and he got close, but he was never quite as good or as strong physically as Michael. Well, LeBron did the same thing. His was off the court. LeBron was empowering the athlete, that the player was more important than the owner, the GM, and the coach, and he was fond of saying it or at least illustrating it. So LeBron spawned a generation of imitators in mobility, and it hurt Kevin Durant's career. And it hurt Carmelow's career.

And James Harden bouncing around. They grow up with LeBron, play around LeBron, see this mobility and think, hey, if I go, the championships will follow. None are as good as LeBron. None have the leadership qualities of LeBron. None have the ability to see around the corner quite like LeBron. And nobody's really gotten close to it. In fact, the players now who are really running the league have done the opposite of LeBron.

They're true to themselves. Steph Curry, Janus, they've stayed home. Dwayne Wade in his career. He stayed home. Build a fortress. You come to me. I'm not going to you. So with greatness comes imitation.

and with imitation comes failure because very, very few people even come close to stacking up to Michael Jordan or LeBron. They have that in common. Their games are different. Their personalities are different. And I think that's what makes basketball great. Dirk Novitsky's game looks nothing like Carl Malones, looks nothing like Karim's, looks nothing like Duncans. I love the fact that LeBron and Michael, the two best players I've ever seen play, have completely really completely different games and mindsets.

They just see the game differently. J-MAC with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Nothing like some Jordan LeBron sparring during Super Bowl week. It's been a great week, huh? The Kyrie Irving deal?

LeBron's setting a record and the Super Bowl this week, Colin? I don't know why this is, but in the last several years, it used to be we're headed to after the show today. So we'll be on the air tomorrow with our awesome set for Fox. But it used to be you would just go for the week to Super Bowl week. But years ago, I had discussions with the guys upstairs at Fox and I said, you know, the truth is for some weird reason, Monday and Tuesday, there's always huge basketball news. I think one year Blake Griffin got traded or something. And I'm like, it doesn't really heat up until Thursday at the Super Bowl. So why rush there? Let's

stay home. And as it is, last night on a Tuesday night, Wednesday today, basketball and LeBron James takes center state. That's a good point. You know, the NFL takes that extra week off between conference championship Super Bowl. NBA would just be smart to schedule great games, trade deadline, all that stuff in that week where there's a vacuum of news. Absolutely. Yeah. All right, let's start with the NFL. Brady, oh, not Tom Brady, I'm sorry. The Chiefs and Eagles, obviously Sunday in the Super Bowl, Eagles defensive end. Brandon Graham spoke at Media Day yesterday about the prospect of facing Patrick Mahomes. Here's what he said. You got to take your shot. You can't play scared. You see when teams play that way, he carves you up. So I'll take my shot.

And if he makes a play, well, he gets paid too. Okay. Right. Brandon Graham. By the way, Andy Reid said Patrick Mahomes is about as healthy as he can be. So it sounds like Mahomes' ankle is not an issue anymore. Well, it certainly wasn't an issue against Cincinnati. You could tell he 100% whereas Jalen Hertz issue is health. I didn't think he looked like the same player. Mahomes was great. I didn't think Jalen Hertz was even good against San Francisco. So the mystery in this whole thing is Jalen Hertz. The entire game comes down to do I get the pre-injury Jalen? That's one quarterback or the post-injury Jalen Hertz who doesn't throw to his right and isn't hitting deep balls. That's a totally different Jalen hurts.

is what makes the NFL so tough to gamble on. Absolutely nobody knows. I don't care. Like if you're putting a million dollars on the game because you have inside info, nobody can know how healthy Jalen Hertz is, right? Heading into the game, like, is he 90%, 95, 100? Yeah, Mahomes is 90, but it's not going to affect his game because it didn't two weeks ago. Right.

Jalen Hertz, if you go back to pre-Jalen and post-injury, is not the same quarterback. They're not the same team. Has it looked the same. Has it? I believe we'll be seeing a healthy hurts. That's my gun anyway. All right, now let's get to Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

They had a great rivalry. This is interesting, Colin. So back in 2012, Manning had the decision to maybe head to the NFC, get away from Brady and Belichick. Well, Peyton Manning went on the Let's Go podcast with Tom Brady and said he stayed in the NFC for one reason for Tom Brady. I've never told any by this, but Tom was a big reason why I decided to stay in the A&SQ, after I left the Colts. I easily could have gone to a couple of NFC teams, but I thought, no, look, I played against Tom a bunch and the Patriots, and eventually you're going to have to play them at

some point. Even if you go to the AFC and you make the Super Bowl, you're probably going to play them. I said, you know, let me at least try to earn it in the AFC, you know, seeing them in the playoffs. And so I enjoyed those games. I enjoyed that rivalry. And so that was actually one of the reasons I decided to stay in. the AFC in Chapter 2 for me.

You know what? And the truth is, at least Peyton staying in the AFC had a chance to play Tom at home. If you go to the NFC, the only chance to play Tom would be in a neutral field. So Tom was never quite as great if he had to face Peyton on the road or go to Denver, so his reasoning

makes a lot of sense. If I'm going to have to face Brady eventually, at least give me a chance to play him inside at my place. I'm going to quote the immortal Rick Flair, a wrestler, to be the best, you got to beat the best. And I'm with Peyton Manning here. I want the challenge.

I want to face the best. I don't want to run from adversity. Derek Carr sounds like he's going to the... There's some saints chatter. He's running away from Mahomes and Herbert. Excuse me. The Raiders are getting rid of him.

But Derek Carr could go to the Jets. The Jets are open a car, but it sounds like... How do you know he's not going to the Jets? I hope he is. I hope he's disgusting. is it. I would be happy if he did. So you always want to face the best, right? No, no. I want all my competitors to be sick the week I'm on the air.

Come on. You want the time slot up against whoever the best is. Who cares? Who cares? I'm fine. I'm doing fine. Cowherd's a competitor. All right. Final story. All right, here we go. This is going to be a tough one, cowherd. So following the trade of Kyrie Irving, right? Kevin Durand and the Nets have reportedly been in talks regarding the direction of the franchise and whether they can contend. So far, Brooklyn has insisted they have no intention of trading Kevin Durant.

But according to Brian Winhorst of ESPN, some teams are unwilling to engage in trade talks with the Nets because they don't want to help them retain Kevin Durant. There's a big market for Durant out there right now, obviously. He's better than Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving had a limited market. There's like six to 10 teams that would go after Kevin Durant. I would absolutely go after him.

I mean, I'm dead serious on this. If, if, I know Chris Middleton's had some injuries, if tomorrow the buck said, we'll take KD and we'll give you Ingalls and Chris Middleton. I do it tomorrow. But Chris Middleton's had some injuries. He's getting up there in age. I think he's got a contract coming up. No, I mean, to me, the Warriors are the great example. The Bucks are a little like the Warriors.

They won without KD. They would dominate with KD. And then they probably win another title if K. AD left. But if you're Milwaukee and sitting there, Chris Middleton's a real all-star level player. And I'll throw in draft picks.

I mean, I mean, Buck, sure. What about the Celtics? Jalen Brown can bring on Kevin Durant. But it's different. Milwaukee's already won. They beat Phoenix and they didn't even have to beat LeBron in the finals. They won. They're more willing now to break the band up and go in a two or three year run.

Whereas Boston, we've been in this Marcus Smart, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown thing. We're inches away. You're going to blow it up? 35-year-old guy banged up. Like, I think Milwaukee's got the ring. Now, do a Golden State. Hey, why everybody's chasing us, we're going to add something and separate again. By the way, if Milwaukee Boston played today, it's a go-either-way series,

Durant in Middleton out, it's not a go-either-way series. It is over. we're seeing Golden State here struggle this year trying to elongate that window with all the young guys. It's not working. Maybe you take a chance. Durant's 34, 35 in September. Like, he's going to put somebody. Like, if the Golden State Warriors got Durant, boom, they're the team to beat.

We would agree. Right? Well, of course. So is Milwaukee. In Milwaukee, whoever gets Kevin Durant this week would be the team to beat. I don't think that's much of an argument. Memphis Grizzlies at Kevin Durant. But they, I don't see it happening.

Memphis is like Boston. They don't have the ring. A lot of times you have this plan. You want to see the plan through. So Milwaukee didn't want a title. Golden States won titles. I think once you get the bag in the ring, you're more willing to say, okay, what are we waiting for?

Our plan worked. We all got the ring. Now let's take a big swing and do something. Boston's still in that. We want to prove that this thing works and we're going to see it through. And that's wonderful. But Memphis, same thing. We've drafted well.

Great roster. John Morant. They may not be willing to move. They want to show everybody that we don't need to do that yet. All right. So from Brooklyn's point of view, Colin, listen, he's 34 years old. Why would you hold on to Kevin Durant?

You're not winning anything this year with him. And then say, oh, we'll trade him in the off season? That doesn't make sense. I keep reading, oh, well, the Nets, nobody's going to their games because they lost Kyrie and Kevin Durant's hurt. Who cares about that? You need to start rebuilding for the future. I think it would be foolish to hold on to Durant.

No? You're not, where are you going in the playoffs with KD this year? Maybe the second round? It depends on what I can get back. I agree. Listen, you went with a big star route. Harden Simmons, Kyrie, KD. It got you nothing.

It's gotten you nothing. Simmons, by the way, is a complete nothing burger. Oh, gosh. Nothing. People bang on Kyrie. At least Kyrie on Knights can be dominant. Simmons is a disaster. So I'll toss in the last one because you alluded to it in the open.

So Anthony Davis did not look happy last night on the Likers Ben. strangely depressed. His post-game press conference was brutal if he was angry. Colin, I've asked a lot of people already via text, he's like, what's going on? What's this about? He couldn't have been unhappy that the shine was on LeBron. That does not explain an entire arena jubilant, and he's just sitting there ticked.

I almost wonder, is there some Anthony Davis trade talk that he's been made aware of in the next 48 hours? Could Anthony Davis get shipped somewhere? By the way, it's very, I didn't bring this up because I thought it was a bridge too far. But when I watched his post-game presser, it is shockingly agitated. Here's a video. Look at him just sitting there.

He's not happy. And you know LeBron ultimately pulls the strings. What if, and this is a hyper, what if, the Lakers have looked around. There's nothing for Westbrook. We can't get any jack squat for Patrick Beverly. You know who we can get something for. A.D. Anthony Davis.

And he's always hurt. Do we take a big? Can I say big ass on the air? Big ass swing. for Anthony. Anthony Davis for Kevin Durant. Time out. What did I say in the offseason?

You were on this earlier. I was on get rid of 80 before he gets hurt again. I would trade 80 tomorrow to get pieces. Now, if you're the Nets, Anthony Davis is someone you can at least build around. Like he can take a team in the playoffs. Plus he's more of an East Coast player. Was in New Orleans, Kentucky. Absolutely.

I mean, at this point, Lakers should consider basically everything they have, every piece of ammo. Except LeBron. Yeah. This team is, there's only four teams in the league worse than the Lakers this morning. Like, stop pretending they're going to be a playoff team. They're terrible. It's LeBron and nonsense.

Move stuff. Does that make any sense? Yes. Anthony Davis, something's up. And it can't just be, oh, everybody's cheering for LeBron. That does not explain his reaction. No, it was, listen, it was all over the internet. And that was before the post-game presser.

Yeah. And you watch that and you're like, oh, he's ticked off. Something's happening behind the scenes. Yes. And something that he's been made aware of and is not happy. Now, it could be a personal thing. I don't know. Maybe there's some personal.

Totally, emotionally, completely remote. He checked out. Checked out last night. Interesting. I thought him and LeBron were tight. I mean, he only brought. Hey, listen. LeBron brought him out here to get him a title.

Okay. Let me just say this. LeBron moved off D. Wade and didn't give him a heads up. You don't think he'd move off A.D.? He moved off D. Wade, his great friend. And D. Wade's like, yeah, I didn't see that one coming. You don't think you move off A.D. in a minute. And I don't blame him.

LeBron's held up his head. end of the bargain. He remains great, a workaholic, totally focused, unbelievable shape. It's AD that's not held up his end. He hasn't put the time in. It's not personal. It's business. And, you know, Mike Muscala of OKC out-out-cored him. Outplayed him. Outscored him, outshot him. Something's up. Jay Mack with the perceptive news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The heard-line news. So I remember, I was years ago, I was over to the place. And I remember, do you guys remember this? So Randy Moss played and was great for a couple years for the Patriots. And there was a Monday night football game. Now, I'm a little fuzzy on this.

I swear it was a Monday night football game against Miami, the dolphins. I could be wrong. But they didn't target Randy Moss. I think he had like two targets. And you remember Randy Moss in New England where, I mean, he was literally uncoverable. And it was a Monday night game against rival Miami and the Patriots targeted him like once or twice. And the next day I went in the air, because I thought this is a big swing by me. But I said, something's up. It's not that he and Brady yelled her scream. He was not even in the game plan. He was clearly, those coaches decided were out. We're not target. And Randy was unbelievable. And I said on the air. I said, something's up.

And people, that was when people would email a show and call a show. It's terrible, crazy, take it crazy. And it wasn't long after that. They gave him his papers. Bye-bye, Randy Moss. So the Anthony Davis thing, where it sounds kooky, reminds me of that. I'm watching the body language of Moss. And being like, something's up here, man.

They didn't, they didn't, he's not part of the game plan. I'm watching the body language, the post-game press, of Anthony Davis, and here it was. Thanks, guys. They looked it up. Randy Moss, Monday night, week four, 2010, one target. Last game of the Patriots. Thanks, guys. And I remember, I got crap the next day.

I don't even think people used the term clickbait at the time. Clicky. I'm like, nah, that's different. That's different. That thing last night, now if it's a personal issue, are bad. But it was all over the internet, and then I saw the post game, Anthony Davis. Something's not right.

I don't know what it is. Hope it's not a family thing, but it was just really noticeable. And I, again, I thought LeBron and AD were tight. That was my interpretation. It's always been my interpretation. They like each other. I mean, LeBron brought him here.

A lot of press conferences, laughing, a lot of respect. Body language, always great. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's me, three-time Pro Bowl of LaVore Arrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called Up On Game.

What is Up on Game, you ask? Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushmanzada and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right. Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real-life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with me, LaVar Arrington, T.J. Hushman Zada, and Plexico Burris,

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

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

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

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

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're going to the Super Bowl. Take a look at our amazing set in Arizona. We will be there tomorrow and Friday right outside State Farm Stadium. We'll have great guests getting ready for the Chiefs. Eagles. Catch it all this week right here on the herd. Gigantic, very alpha set. A lot of wimpy sets out there. Flimsy, flimsy sets. This is not flimsy. It's very, it's the best. It's the very best. Big, strong, powerful. We will be on that set tomorrow.

And we will mock and roll our eyes at less substantial sets from other places. Ours is very, very powerful. So there was something that happened to the end of our show yesterday. I'm trying to get through a show without Aaron Rogers. He makes it very difficult. He keeps going down these rabbit holes and making big proclamations and saying stuff, and it's newsworthy, so I end up talking about him. I almost got to the end of the yesterday's show and I was almost through. And all of a sudden, the story popped up.

So basically, Aaron has said now he's going on a darkness retreat. He said, I got a pretty cool opportunity to do some self-reflection in some isolation. You notice with Aaron in the last few years, everything's self, some self-reflection. And then after that, I feel like I'll be a lot closer to the final decision. He's not going to have the final decision. They'll just get him closer to it. So first of all, I'm into meditation.

I'm into therapy. I'm into spending time with yourself. I think we run around when we have kids sometimes and we become like taxi drivers and Uber drivers and this practice and that practice. We just don't give ourselves time to reflect. And then, you know, the better parent, the better dad, the better person, the employee. We don't give ourselves enough time. So I try to and fail all the time. But I'm for meditation. We're not used to it from star quarterbacks in the NFL. The Hollywood crowd,

young people kind of self-absorbed trying to manifest their destiny, hippies. It'd be a lot of people you'd hear this stuff and it just would be like, oh yeah, totally, I get it. You know, star quarterbacks, not so much. So I really do think Brady and Aaron Rogers are polar opposites. So, you know, Tom's got a real close family. Aaron sort of disconnected from his. Tom's all about structure and reliability, a method to the TB12 method. There's a methodology to it and there's structure to it. And there's a repetitive nature to Tom Brady's career.

And Aaron sort of, you know, he's a jazz musician sort of making it up and riffing. He often throws with his feet off the ground. He leaves us all sort of guessing. He's disconnected from his parents. We don't know if he'll be at the OTA. We're not sure what he's going to announce his retirement. And I think the downside to that isn't for Aaron. The downside of that is those around him.

Whereas you could count on Derek Jeter, a lot of structure. Count on Elway, a lot of structure. Count on Montana, on Brady, on LeBron. you know they're totally committed so you can count on them. Anthony Davis's issues are his fault. It's not LeBron. LeBron gives you the same effort, the same dude, the same work ethic, the same commitment every night.

When you decide to be a jazz musician, ad-libbing, making it up as you go, it's not necessarily bad for you. It may be a better way of life. It is harder for those around you because they don't know what they're they're going to get in the off season. They don't know what they're going to get on Sunday. They don't know what kind of mood you're in. They don't know how committed you are. It's very self-satisfying. It's not necessarily a bad way to live. It doesn't make him more or less human, but I understand trying to find yourself. But he has always been more of a jazz musician,

whereas I know what I'm getting from LeBron. And that makes it easier to be a LeBron teammate. reason he's struggling now isn't a LeBron issue. It's a front office issue. The reason he won in Miami is because very structure-driven LeBron joined very structure-driven Eric Spolstra, Pat Riley, D. Wade, work out every morning, eat a certain way, commit a certain way. So when you're kind of, you know, ad-libbing it through life, it's not bad for you. It's disruptive to those around you who can't depend on you. I take pride in the fact I show up at the exact same time basically every day for 30 years doing this. It's not just about me.

It's about everybody else knows he'll be here then. We can build a show then. We can do prep then. We can book guests then. It's about the people around you. And I think that's the difficulty with Aaron. And I think that's the position green bay is in right now. Everybody's just like on eggshells.

Well, should we draft a young receiver? Will he be there for OTAs? Is he going to make up a decision? I've said this before. Most great. careers are based on repetitive excellence. They're based on a methodology. And it's not just for the athlete.

It's for the organization and the people around you. If you commit to me, then I can commit this draft pick to you and this money to you and this coach to you and this. With Aaron, it's hard. He's just sort of making it up as he goes. So I'm not opposed to meditation. but even in Hollywood, right? If you look at the great careers, Spielberg, Hanks, Cruz, Denzel, there's a certain commitment and dependability from them.

Merrill Streep, go to all of them. There's a structure, and that allows people around you to go, okay, this is what we get from Denzel, this is what we get from Tom. Tom's a workaholic. He's really demanding, but he's demanding every day. He doesn't change on Wednesday. Lucy Goosey Wednesday. Tom doesn't show up Thursday.

And that, I think, is the problem with self-reflection, manifesting your destiny, being a jazz musician. Everybody's just sort of all the time waiting to figure out what to do. And I think it makes it harder for organizations. This is why Mahomes was very smart. Remember what Patrick Mahomes did? Mahomes very early said, hey, I'll take less money. What did that send a signal? It's all about winning.

I'm about winning. Mahomes structured a deal that was very, very team friendly. That everybody, the GM, the owner, the coach, Travis Kelsey, everybody now knew, I can't be a ball hog on money. Best player on the team is about winning. So it sends a message. Guys, if you're about the most money, Tyreek Hill, go play in Miami. If you're about the most money, go play somewhere else.

In Kansas City, we're about winning. very early in his career. It's about winning. Brady about winning. Jeter about winning. But Colin, I guess my issue is in Hollywood, these guys who are actors and actresses, you know what you're going to get from Denzel for the four months you're shooting the film. Right. And then it's over. Gone. Everybody goes there's separate ways. You know what you're getting for Tom Cruise on Maverick, as Maverick in Top Gun 2. You know what you're getting for four or five months. As part of a team, Aaron Rogers needs to do what you're saying you do. Every day, show up and be repetitive.

This is a guy who pretty clearly doesn't understand himself. Why don't I get along with my family? Why can't I keep a relationship and get married? Like, he's not really built at this stage in his life to be part of a team, I don't think. And this darkness retreat, I was reading a lot about it. Seems like a guy who's probably going to retire. He's got enough money that even though he's owed a lot,

what do I need that for? I want to go do my thing and ayahuasca and find myself. You can't do that when you're part of a team. Yeah, but even the great Hollywood people, it's not like Denzel only commits to work four months for the movie. He's constantly writing. He's collaborating. He's deal with studios.

Like these big Hollywood guys, the Hanks, the Denzel, all these guys. We just see him in the movie. That movie is a two-year process of commitment to directors and money and producers. Denzel's all in. So it makes it very easy to work. You know, the other guy, Marlon Brando, career, careened out of control. You never knew what to expect.

You couldn't build anything around him. I heard. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer,

Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

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

On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.