The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Thoughts on the movie "Air"

Episode Date: March 21, 2023

Colin gives his takeaways after a screening of the new Michael Jordan film "Air" and why Jordan remains far more interesting than LeBron James Why Cowboys fans are delusional again    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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, S&L's Mikey Day

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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.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of the world. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind 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 Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. Loaded. In Los Angeles, it's the hurt. Wherever you may be, however, you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Tom Izzo, Michigan State Coach, Sparty, goes to the Sweet 16, joins me in one hour. Nick Wright on today as well. And J-Mack driving here in a pouring rainstorm.

No, I took a kayak to work for it. It's pouring. I will say this. The West, you know, Denver West, had a drought for 20 years. Colorado River concerns, Lake Mead in Nevada, Southern California, Arizona. It appears to be somewhat over. In California, the drought's over. It is raining like Seattle for the last eight weeks. Yeah, I'm going to get my dog a doggy raincoat because walking, he doesn't like walking in the rain, nor do I. By the way, don't tell Izo I'm picking Kansas State,

okay? That's a big mistake, big mistake. So I went to a movie premiere last night, not really my jam, Not a big fan of it. Don't like it. All that Hollywood stuff. But I went to watch Air Movie. And I highly recommend it. It's a story about the early days of Nike and Phil Knight and a basketball, a savant, Sonny Vicaro, who I know. He was around UNLV when I worked in Las Vegas with Jerry Tarkhanian.

And as Sunny is quite a character. And the young Michael Jordan story in his family. And Ben Affleck and Matt Damon do just terrific work. And I, you know, people go back and forth, you know, the Who's Better, My, Michael or LeBron. They're both the best at what they did of all time. Kobe Bryant's the second best Michael Jordan ever. And I think Magic's the second best LeBron ever. So LeBron and Michael, the two best basketball players I've ever seen. But I will say this, Michael Jordan's more interesting than LeBron James. That 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan? Fascinating. The movie

last night, fascinating. And I believe the reason is athletes today They give too much of themselves. They've got brands. I know where they stand on vaccines and politics. I know their family, what they eat, where they travel, what they fly. I didn't with Michael Jordan. I didn't know much about his mom. I didn't know much about his father before he was killed.

I didn't know that much about Michael Jordan. You don't have to show me what you're eating for lunch on Twitter. You really don't. Mystery is powerful. And that's why as we keep peeling back layers and layers. and layers of Michael Jordan, they're all interesting. Even as an owner, he was private. The Wizards.

Is there any footage of that? Michael Jordan kept to himself in his hotel room, smoking a cigar, taking a nap, watching TV. He didn't want to be bothered. Michael was insanely private, and it makes him fascinating now. Many of the great actors of all time, like Marlon Brando was fascinating. James Dean. We didn't know that much about him. Now I know everything about every actor. Mystery is a powerful thing. And here's a clip from the early days of Nike, Sonny Vicaro, Michael Jordan, Air movie.

1984 has been a tough year. Our sales are down. Our growth is down. Sonny, I brush you in here to grow the basketball business. You would have to have a pretty compelling pitch. I can tell them the one thing the other companies can't compete with. Our basketball division is terrible. I do not love it. I got it. I found him.

Who's that? Jesus? Can't afford it. I'm willing to bet my career on one guy. You ask me what I do here. This is what I do. I find you players and I feel it this time. For a rookie?

Yes. Who's never set foot on an NBA court? I need the greatest basketball shoe that's ever been made. Who's the player? Michael Jordan. I believe in his son. I believe he's the future. And his story is going to make us.

I want to fly. But a shoe is just a shoe. And to mustn't stick. to. It was really, really good stuff, really powerful. There's a moment in the movie, and I think it's true. Sonny Vicaro is in a hotel room, and he's just a classic American basketball figure who for years and years thought the kids were getting robbed, and he's part of really the reform

of college sports in America. Sonny Vicaro is a huge part of it, that players now get paid, and he thought players should have been paid. And there's a great moment when he takes that winning. National Championship shot the North Carolina game, right, for the national championship, and he breaks down the play and why he watches that play by himself in his hotel room and what that play signifies. It is a fascinating breakdown. I hope it's true that Sonny Vigero pitched to a young Phil Knight. And again, this is the movie business. Affleck and

Damon are brilliant, brilliant movie makers. But I found it really fascinating. And I thought my takeaway on this. Once again, we find the mom was the strength of a family, just like across America. Michael Jordan's mother was the backbone of that family, and she leaned heavily on her instinct about her son, and Michael leaned heavily on her. But I also thought it spoke well of Michael's decision-making. The stronger sense of self any of us have, it's much easier to choose people to support you. If you don't know who you are, how the hell do you know who to hire to elevate you?

Michael had an incredible sense of self. And that's why he chose so brilliantly. Dean Smith was perfect for him. Phil Knight, Sonny Vicaro, David Falk, his agent. He leaned heavy into David Stern. I see so many athletes with bad sneaky agents, bad friends, they support the wrong teammates. LeBron's got this quality too. Michael chose really, really smart people to run his business. Some of that is, I think, the guidance of his mom

who had such a key part in the foundation of who Michael is, another strong American mom behind the scenes of a superstar. That's part of it. But Michael chose really wisely. And I've said this. And it comes across as a criticism, but it's not. Michael was always great at elevating Michael. He wasn't always the best. That's why he struggled with ownership or struggled being an executive. That's about elevating others. Michael had a sense of who he was and what he needed to elevate him.

And that's why he's the richest basketball player ever with the greatest brand ever, the greatest career ever, and arguably probably the greatest player ever. He had a powerful sense of self and passed on by his mom who had a great sense of herself and her son. Highly recommend it. A fascinating watch. There's so many athletes out there, they make bad choices. Michael make great ones. And you should just watch it. There's these moments throughout the course of Michael's career with his mom and Michael and Sonny Vaccaro and Phil Knight. One of the best books I've ever read was the book, I think Walter Isaacson wrote the book about Steve Jobs. And it's the best book I think I've ever read business book because it was really

four books in one. You learned about tech. You learned about Bill Gates. You learned about the rivalry. You learned about Apple. I learned so much reading that book, just about technology in general. When you watch this movie, you're going to learn a lot about Nike and business and Sonny Vicaro and a great family and Michael's drive and how Nike eventually bought its competitor converse. You're going to learn so much in 90 minutes. Just tip of the cap to Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and all those who took part. I thought it was fantastic last night. multiple times the crowd was cheering. Really a heartfelt movie.

So let's segue to something we talk about maybe too much. Dallas Cowboy fans are odd. They're bizarrely dismissive of people that are really, really good cowboys that leave. And then they're overly optimistic of average cowboys who enter. I think that's called delusion. But it's so funny. So Amari Cooper leaves the Cowboys. And they're like, ah, no big deal.

Ho-home. This year in Cleveland, he had nine touchdowns and almost 80 catches in quarterback dysfunction land. He's one of the top 15 receivers in the NFL. Oh, no big deal. You guys ever looked at Dak Prescott's stats with Amari Cooper and without? In his career, with Amari Cooper, he has a quarterback rating of 103. Without it, 92.

It's a different quarterback. A quarterback to a B. With him, he throws for 297 yards. Without him, he throws for 4,000. for 223. He's a pro bowler with him. He's kind of average. He's Kirk Cousins without him.

What do you mean ho-hum on Amari Cooper? You've never rebounded from that. Dallas loses offensive coordinator, Kellyn Moore. No big deal. Mike McCarthy will call the plays. The hell are you talking about? Kellyn Moore took a season last year

where Cooper Rush started five games. They were rebuilding the O-line. They had lost Amari Cooper. They had only one legitimate wide receiver. and they were fourth in scoring. And now he goes to Justin Herbert. And then Dalton Schultz yesterday. Leaves Dallas goes to the Texans.

Oh, no big deal. We'll just draft a college tied in. What? What? Dalton Schultz has been Dak Prescott's security blanket. The last three years, he's had 17 touchdowns, top five for a tied-in in the league.

Last three years, he's had 282 targets, top four in the league. Last three years, he's had 2,000 yards, top seven in the league. Dalton Schultz is an excellent, excellent tight-in, a total security blanket. Amari Cooper's a number one ride receiver. Dax's not the same quarterback without him. Kellen Moore made you top four scoring offense with one receiver, a rebuilt offensive

line, tenuous admiration for the head coach. No Amari Cooper. And yet you're all fired up because Stefan Gilmore is coming to you. It's a fourth team in four years. He's going to be a 33-year-old corner. Fourth teams moved off him, four years. And then Brandon Cooks are all fired up for. He's been traded four times.

He's got a concussion issue. I talked to two GMs yesterday. They love Brandon Cooks. Great kid. His career gives you about 1,000 yards. Not changing outcomes. Not really a security blanket. Cowboy fans are odd.

You're bizarrely dismissive of losing Amari Cooper, Kellen Moore, Shultz. Those are Houston Texans just stole a really good tight end. Cleveland Brown stole a number one ride receiver. The Chargers stole one of the best smartest young offensive coordinators in football. No big deal. We got Brandon Cooks and Stavon Gilmore. I mean, they're fine. But I, I, Dalton Schultz in 60 career games with DAC, 15 touchdowns, 163 catches, 1,700 receiving yards for a tight end. Who you do. never heard of before he arrived there.

He goes to the Texans. No, big deal. We'll just draft a guy out of college. No, you won't. Because I got news for you. The chargers want a tight end. The lions need a tight end. The jets may go after a tight end. A lot of these teams in the first round are targeting tight ends.

And I think the Cowboys draft like 26. You're not getting the kid from Utah. You're not getting the kid from Notre Dame. And because of where your draft picks are, you're not going to get one of the top four or five tight end. It's highly unlikely you will. And the six best tied in in college ain't close to Dalton Schultz. I'll tell you that.

Cowboy fans are odd. I think it's called delusion. Bizarrely dismissive of really impactful players that leave and coaches and overly optimistic about guys who are like on their fourth team in four years. I don't get it at all. 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. 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 what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 scene, 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two.

Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. you get your podcasts. The truth is most of our grandfathers were tougher than our dads and our dads were tougher than us because we lived in a different time. And more was asked of our fathers and our grandfathers than us. Warren Buffett talks about it all the time. Every generation lives an easier life than the previous generation, despite what cable TV

is screaming and yelling all the time. We've got it much better than previous generations, and it's not close. Our health care is better. The food is better. nutrition's better, travels better. It's a better life today than it was 20, 30 years ago. It's not close. People can scream.

They're outraged. Oh, stop. It's a pretty darn good life. And so Mario Chalmers, who played with LeBron, I think LeBron, Mario Chalmers drove LeBron crazy in Miami every time they were on the floor together. Chalmers is talking about Michael, Jordan, and LeBron James, and nobody feared LeBron. Nobody fears Brawl. nobody's like damn i have to play this problem

nobody said that i don't know why right because i've seen people be scared when they actually line up to them but they're not scared thinking about that match right you hear anybody from that era talk about going against jordan there's a fear right so when you have people that fear a player and that's telling you something different already like george is that guy like everything was i want to be like right

yeah a lot of people feared Tyson Muhammad ali was the better fighter A lot of people fear George Foreman. Lennox Lewis was the better fighter. Fears overrated. The truth is, LeBron James, played in an era, this era, with less animosity. Because everybody's eaten. Everybody's getting rich.

The Pistons used to tackle you. Michael Jordan had to build up calluses to get past the Celtics who tackled him and past the Pistons who tackled him. It was a different era. This level of basketball, this era of basketball is much more skilled. The NBA has outlawed the tackling, has outlawed the hand check, has outlawed the forearm and the back of players. That's not LeBron's fault. Everybody now is rich in the NBA.

Mid-level players are rich. The richer you get, what did Marvin Hagler say? Hard to get up to run at 6 in the morning when you're sleeping in silk sheets. everybody's rich. The physicality has been outlawed because people freaked out about the malice and the palace, so they got rid a lot of physicality and intensity. The league was much more cutthroat.

Michael Jordan, McHale, Bird, Magic, they were all fighting for tiny slices of the pie. Guys make now more on their Instagram than players' stars made, Magic Johnson made in his prime as a player. Back in Michael Jordan's era, Charles Barkley, Dr. J, Larry Bird, star players got into fist fights. Like stars, not reserves, not kooky crazy guys, like stars.

Let's see Kevin Durant and LeBron James in that nonsense. Devin Booker's not involved in that stuff. Go watch the 30 for 30 outstanding by ESPN and the Lakers Celtics. There's animosity. I mean, if you lost a series, you didn't get the shoe deal. You didn't get the love. You didn't get the endorsements. average players now get rich everybody eats and so michael jordan to his credit had to build up those

calluses and that medal to overcome the celtics overcome the hand check overcome the tackling overcome pat riley's knicks and that's what he had to build up just like our dads our grandpas it was a different world now it's easy it's much easier now i i the other day i was online and i'm looking at something and uh twitter now gets so many ads on twitter and it's like there's like seven new private jet companies. Not even expensive as much anymore as it used to be. And you're like, you used to be like private was the Rockefellers and the richest people in the world.

They got regional private jet companies. It's a different world. Travels easier. Medicine's easier. They can come to your home. Concierge medicine. Thank God. Basketball's more skilled.

There's less tackling, less hand-checking, less intensity. and Michael, that's what you had to do to survive the pistons and the Celtics. You had to be more physical. And Michael leaned in to that physicality. He leaned into that toughness. LeBron doesn't have to at all and still dominates. J-Mac with the news. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Start with the Golden State Warriors. Remember yesterday I was stunned that they were. 11 and a half point road favorites, even though they hadn't won a road game in two months. Didn't they win by 12? Close game and they won by 13. Yes, this is why you don't bet the NBA, ladies and gentlemen, in March. Really impressive win for Steve Kerr and the Warriors over a tanking Rockets team.

I looked at their starting lineup. Steph and Clay are having great years. I mean, they're like the Splash Brothers of six years ago. They're going against a back court that's 21 and 22. Nobody in the Rocket starting lineup over 22 years old. Well, yeah, they got all these good young players. Yeah, the Warriors are starting fossils, basically. Yeah, Draymond Grating Company.

Here's Steph Curry after the game on how it feels to end that long road losing street. It feels good. It's one of those feelings like this is what you're supposed to do. Yeah, just to walk off the court with a couple more smiles on our faces and something to show for it. We know we have still have to play better. Like, nobody's really celebrating, you know, anything. It's just a matter of learning lessons and wins, hopefully, and get ready for, you know, another big game Wednesday. They don't get any scoring now out of their wings and their bigs.

So it's Andrew Wiggins could give you 24 a night. So their scoring now comes. Steph, Clay, Pool. That's where a majority of their scoring comes. So they're a lobsided basketball team until they get Andrew Wiggins back. Because not only is he a great on-ball defender, but he can give you 28 points on any night. They now are all about Steph, Clay, and Pool scoring. It's just all guard scoring.

And whatever they can get from Cumminga is gravy. And then remember, the Mitten, Gary Payton, Jr., expected back for the playoffs. That's a big addition for a bench that's been kind of spot. They cannot win a championship without Wiggins who may not come back. I don't think he's going to come back for the regular season. We'll see about the postseason how long it lasts. But you can't have all your scoring with your bigs or your back court. If you go look at the Celtics, Jalen Brown at Guard can give you scoring.

Tatum can give you scoring. If you look at the bucks, Yannis can give you storing, Drew Holiday can't, a wing Chris Middleton. Warrior scoring is all guards. Warriors Mavericks Wednesday. kind of a big game. I'm willing to say this, Colin, the Warriors are going to go on the road for the first round of the playoffs.

Game one, whoever they play, give me the Warriors. Championship medal going on the road, playoffs game one. Everybody's like, oh, they can't win on the road. They can't win on the road. Well, Sacramento, watch them go to Sacramento to start. It's going to be a good scene there.

I mean, Sacramento's got no playoff experience. Warriors have a decade of it. That would be a really interesting series, and SAC doesn't play any defense. Yeah. We were on the Kigs early on this show, not to pat our own back. But, Colin, let's stay in the NBA.

John Morant. He's been out for a minute. Missed nine games with the suspension. There was a league suspension. He was away from the team. Grizzlies with a big win last night. They hold on to the second seed currently. And here's Taylor Jenkins talking about John Morant,

possibly returning this week. We're hopeful for Wednesday, Taylor Jenkins said, so long as everything medically clears out. You can't simulate an NBA game, but you could try to do the best you can. So trying to get him as much full court action as possible, that was the main goal. Still think they need a number two score.

I still think there's limited. Desmond Bain is a very good wing shooter. I just think there's limitations. Now, this is the year in the West to eat. This is the year in the West to have a flaw in win. I mean, I was thinking about this this morning. The West this year is defined by who's not playing. Ad. LeBron, Luca, Kyrie, Jammarant,

KD. Andrew Wiggins, Kauai, Lenn. I mean, the West is defined this year by Stars not playing. So I have no strong definitive opinion on the West because I don't know who's going to play. If KD. came back today

and they say there's a story today he's going to come back before the end of the regular season, I'll take Phoenix to win the West. But if a day later, Andrew Wiggins came back, I would take the Warriors to beat KD and the Suns

in the Western Conference Finals. I'm just waiting to see who's going to play and who's not going to play. No respect for the Denver Nuggets. Number one seed. throughout the season. Unbelievable. Colin, quick note, I mentioned this on John Moran. $37 million at stake for him if he's an all-NBA player.

He's going to have probably eight games to cement that. At some point, we should look at the all-N-B-A guards. It is a tough landscape because a lot of injuries, but a lot of talent. And John Moran, if he's all-N-Ba, $37 million added to his contract. I don't know if he'll make it there. Final story, this was probably the best sporting event last night, the World Baseball Classic semifinals. Mexico led Japan 5-4

heading into the bottom of the ninth. Of course, O'Tani leads off of the double. Next batter draws a walk, and here's Joe Davis with the call. He can get a huge lead. I think it's been absolutely a home run. They're getting like 900,000 to a million people and more watching.

For all the people complaining about it, look at how much fun the crowd and the players are heavy. Everybody loves it. It's been electric, and of course tonight, Japan, USA, and the final. We got Otani. You got trout.

That will get a big rating. You may get a million and a half people to watch that tonight. Possibly more. Listen, there's not a lot going on in sports tonight. There's NBA. I think World Baseball Classic takes the cake tonight. Should be good. On FS1, 630 Eastern, the pregame starts.

And you know, this was pointed out to me that our pitching's not very good. So the only way America wins is basically getting into Slugfest, which is way more interesting. Offense and sports. NBA, all offense. No defense this year. So look at this. NFL. The last two USA games have averaged over 2 million viewers.

The average Major League Baseball game gets 350,000 people on our network. Seven times that for this. So stop telling me nobody cares about this. Watch the players for these countries, including ours. They're totally into it. Yeah. And we got some old, we got some old guys playing. I mean, Adam Wainwright has been around forever.

He's totally into it. So our position players, our batting order is fantastic. Our pitching's a little suspect. Offense rules in sports right now. NFL all offense. It's more fun. Base runners. I just think the crowd reactions have been sensational.

Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. So Tom Izzo coming up. What were you talking about? We were talking about this during the break. What did you bring up?

Oh, saving it for another day. No, the basketball things, Tom I'm going to ask Tom Izzo about this, is that the NIL is viewed as bad. Like, old timers don't like it. Oh, you pay the players. It may save college basketball. Because the truth is, the G-Leaks paying a guy $300,000 or $400,000 or in college two years ago, nothing.

We'll go to the G-League. You play against better players. But now, let's say you're a good young player, high school player, you can make three or 400,000 in college, and I'm just guessing for a Kentucky, Kansas, let's say three or 400,000, or maybe a half million. So Oscar Sheewey, the big kid on Kentucky, I had Casey Jacobson on my podcast yesterday. He said Oscar Sheewey made about 700,000 in NIL, and Drew Timmy was close to a million, reported. Okay. So you can make almost a million bucks for a big program to play college. Now, the players are better than the G League because it's older. But I get a thousand

better promotion in college. Marketing's the name of the game. You're only there for a year in most cases. So if your basketball kind of plateaus and you dominate lesser players, I mean, by the way, you build confidence. But you get this. The reason I know who Zion is is college basketball. It's the reason I know who these players are. I don't know. Jalen Green to the Rockets. He went G-League. I have no idea about Jaylen. I don't watch the Rockets. They're terrible. So it's like, college basketball for all the old timers that complained about the NIL, it's saving you. If my son was a one-and-done player, I'd like go to Duke, go to Syracuse, go to Kansas, go to UCLA, make 100,000 less and get $20 million in free marketing.

Do you know how much it would cost for Drew Timmy at Gonzaga? Do you know how much ads cost on CBS during that game? Drew Timmy is on television for three hours on CBS, 9 million people watching. The ads, I don't even know what the ads cost, half a million dollars for, probably $400,000 per ad. So you're getting all this free marketing. And by the way, the shoe companies, they got their shoe on CBS with Drew Timmy.

They love it. So Drew Timmy's making everybody else money while also profiting on NIA. And I guarantee you he's taking care of his teammates and they're, You don't know, I mean. We hope so. So the question this comes about is because of LeBron's son, Brani, right? He is graduated high school. He's going to be graduating high school.

They don't need money. Go get the free publicity at Duke. So, well, you know, LeBron's a big Ohio state guy being from. Go play for the Buckeyes. Apparently USC and Brony and then, of course, UCLA out here. I will never watch Brony play a game in the G League. If he's at USC, you and I'll go to a game. It'll be on television.

They'll be in the tournament. Brown's kids don't need money. but everybody, even including LeBron, needs free marketing. Michael Jordan needs marketing. They don't need money. Everybody, the richest people in the world, Jeff Bezos, Amazon, he needs free marketing. So like, Brony? Of course you go to USC or UCLA or wherever you want to go.

It's almost to me. Some of the coaching in college has been a little spotty, depending where you go front. Oh, I take college coaching over G-League. Well, a lot of those guys are trying to crack into the league, so they're working their butts off. What about the facilities, the training? They're garbage in the G-League. League. Well, yeah, if you go to a big school like Duke or whatever. Listen, if you go to even go to a Gonzaga or Duke, they got chefs there, they got swag there. These kids are treated. These basketball

players in Kentucky. Come on. That's a great life for a year. Bottom line, the play, a G-League champ would throttle a college team. So for a year you play against, but the training staffs at college, the promotion, the marketing, the chef tables, the swag. And also, you're on a college campus. for a year with a global student body and you're around other people that aren't like you and you can learn a little bit and become a little more worldly as at 19 you pivot to a professional basketball league with international travel at times. It might be tough like an 18 year old playing with like and teammates of 28, 29 year olds. That's a bit of a challenge as opposed to being around other college kids. So there are some benefits to go into college. Some. I think it's 9

to 10, I would go to college. Once college now pays you. Again, when it was G-League paying a half a million, college nothing, for a lot of families, go to the G-League. But if it's G-League pays you six and college pays you seven, now the only advantage the G-League had is done. The only advantage they have now is they have older players. It's a little more physical. But I'll tell you, when I watch college basketball this week, watch that Tennessee Duke game, it was a rock fight. college basketball. They allow far more physical play. And maybe they're looking at their sport and saying, if we allow more physicality, we don't want to be a finesse league and G League is the physical league for players. Because I'm watching the officiating in these games, they're letting a ton go in college basketball.

In essence, it almost sounds like, and I think we agree on this, NIL in a way, has saved college basketball. I think so. And remember, the old school guys did not want to know, you can't pay these players. meanwhile, it's now an enticement. A guy like Zach Eady of Purdue, I talked with Casey Jacobson about this. What does he do? Does he go to the NBA, sit on the end of the bench, maybe goes late first round, maybe early second, or does he stay at Purdue,

make a lot of money on NIL, and Purdue's going to be a top 10 team all the year next year. You could do both because I don't think he has a huge NBA future, but I would say if he goes to the NBA, he will improve faster because there are no real great centers in college basketball. That's fair. I mean, that's why a lot of these guys go after a year in college is,

you know, if you're a big, how many great bigs are there in college basketball? NBA's got a couple on every roster, except the Warriors. So, but I think the NIL has, to me, anything you fear in life, take a deep breath. Like, you know, people fear things and everybody freaked out about name image likeness money. But it allows now, the transfer portal, and NIL allows USC and LSU to literally in six months turn around their football programs. USC won four games was blown out seven times and was two plays from winning 13 games last year. And LSU, Brian Kelly walks in. They get to Arizona State quarterback, Jaden Daniels, good player.

Boom. Didn't they beat Alabama? Yeah. I mean, in one year, even Nick Sabin, his first year at Bama lost to Louisiana Monroe. It used to take great coaches. End of the second year, Pete Carroll at USC. It was like end of the second year. First year, USC Pete Carroll was six and six.

next year they went to, I think, a Rose Bowl and beat Iowa, not a national contender. Then year three. Like year two now, you're ready to go. And college basketball, I don't know. I think I'd rather go to Kentucky than El Segundo or wherever the G-team. I don't even know where they're located. That's where the Lakers facility. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

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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 what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Tom iso, top of next hour, can't wait.

Nick Wright joining us today. So, Mel Kuyper came out with a mock draft this morning. I don't do mock drafts because I'm wrong enough as it is without doing a mock draft. I don't need to be more wrong. But Mel Kuyper's mock draft this morning is the best one I've seen. He, I mean, every pick down to the final pick of the first round you could talk yourself into. I thought was very, very good. So he has the betting market has C.J. Stroud going one, and he has C.J. Stroud going one to Carolina, Bryce Young, too, to Houston. And T.J. Husman Zada has trained both currently here. And I asked him yesterday, if you were the GM of Carolina, who would you take number one, Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud?

CJ's a bigger guy. Another guy, extremely accurate, really good arm. What I like about CJ is this is off the field. Whoever the 50, and I've told people this, whoever's the 53rd guy on the roster, he's going to make them feel like they're the first guy on the roster. That's just who he is. And that goes a long way when you're the quarterback

where you feel like, oh, I may be on a practice squad or I may not play. He's accurate. He has a real. really good on him. He's smart. He understands the game of football. But these kids need to get drafted to a team that's, you want something to be functional, not dysfunctional. Yeah, I don't think any of these quarterbacks, the top four, are good enough to overcome utter dysfunction. There's no Trevor Lawrence here. There's no Andrew Luck here. There's no Caleb Williams

here, USC's quarterback. But I think Steve J. Stroud is hard for me to project because the other quarterbacks have a trait, a special trait. Anthony Richardson is a freak athletically. He's like bigger and stronger than Cam. Bryce Young, agility and accuracy, A-plus. Will Levis. Huge. Cannon for an arm. C.J. Stroud has the fewest holes in his game, but I don't see a lot of wow. He's accurate. He's big enough. He's poised enough. He seems to have good enough leadership skills. I don't see the juice or the wow. And whereas Bryce Young is clearly too small and Anthony Richardson today is too raw and Will Levis can be too mechanical, C.J. Stroud isn't too anything. And you would think,

oh, that's good news. But if you look at who has recently come into the NFL and start at quarterback, they've been high ceiling guys with perceived flaws. Lamar Jackson couldn't throw Kyler Murray too small. Justin Herbert, two mechanical, Josh Allen, too wild. Mahomes, too much risk, didn't play safe enough. They all like had huge, Kyler Murray too small, I think I said. They all had huge question marks. And they all starred.

The guys that didn't have real holes in their game, kind of a Daniel Jones, he was big enough, he was accurate, he ran pretty well. They're kind of flat. It's a lot of Kirk Cousins. So what you know in the NFL is the NFL is the greatest football league to really stand out. You've got to be special. You've got to have a jaw-dropping trait. Lamar's feet.

Herbert's size and arm. Josh Allen's arm. Mahomes is pure throwing talent. Kyler Murray's shiftyness. You've got to be special. There's got to be a wow quality. And to me, C.J. Stroud is hard to define because he doesn't. But he's really good at everything.

And I can see him going to a really good offensive coach like Frank Reich. if he gets protection and being accurate and moving the football. He's bigger than Baker Mayfield or Kyle Allen. He's more accurate than a Sam Darnold. I think he's more talented than the Walker, the quarterback they had. So you could see him going in there and very quickly being accurate, moving the chains, which he did at Ohio State. But the other thing that's very hard about C.J. Stroud is that right now,

and I have a trouble with this, is that Ohio State has become this wide receiver factory. So the receivers are wide open at Ohio State. They're not at Purdue. They're not at Iowa State for Brock Purdy. They're not at a lot of the, even the big powerhouse schools, Oregon, you don't have wide receivers wide open. Ohio State's got like three first round wide receivers. And they're spectacular.

Arguably the best receiver in the country next year will be an Ohio State guy. Best receiver in the country this year, arguably an Ohio State guy. So I don't see a lot of it and a lot of juice, but T.J. Hushman Zada says if he could pick number one, he'd take Steve J. Stroud. today. And it's not that it's wrong. He's been very, very accurate. He loved Herbert. He loved Burrow. He told us, Herbert's going to be a star. Burrow's going to be a star. And any misgivings that people had, they were wrong. So he likes C.J. Stroud a lot. You know, there has been in the history of the NFL recent history last 20, 25 years, there is a common thread, is that the

quarterbacks who play with elite wide receivers, sometimes, not all, Burrow obviously played with Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase. But sometimes it can be a bit of a disadvantage coming from a wide receiver football factory in college because that's not real. In the NFL, you've got to throw guys open. They're not open. At Ohio State, everybody's wide open because the receiving crew is insane. It's, it's Ohio State used to be like linebackers and defensive end and big tough guys.

It's now wide receiver you in the country. So when I watch it and I see all these guys doing drag route. they take an eight-yard pass and they go 70, and it shows up in the stats as a 75-yard touchdown pass. It's like, it wasn't that difficult. A lot of guys in the country at college could have made that throw. Brock Purdy at Iowa State had to throw guys open. You know, Will Levis, to his credit at Kentucky, had to throw guys open. It's the SEC.

Guys weren't open. So if you look at a lot of the guys that have succeeded in this league, you know, they came from an environment where they didn't have great protection. I mean, there's a reason. There's not a superstar. I mean, Jalen Hertz is becoming one, but he had to transfer out about it. Alabama. There's not a lot of Ohio State star quarterbacks in the NFL or Bama star quarterbacks or USC star quarterbacks. There's not because they play with such gifted

offensive linemen and gifted wide receivers. So there you go. All right, Tom Islow is going to stop by. I'm all fired up on that NIL thing. And I also, as I said at top of the show today, the Michael Jordan Air movie, you know, there's, I used to live in Oregon for like seven years. So I know Phil Knight, not particularly well, but I know a lot of people at Nike. So as I watch the movie, it was fascinating to watch all the drone shots of the Beaverton campus. You know, it was, they did a really good job of, you know, making it look like, you know, 1884. It was, they did it from the shirts they were wearing to the, the soda machines, the 7-Elevens on every corner, it really looks like 1885. But I think you'll be taken back by

it was fascinating to watch the sales pitch. So the smartest people in the world in sports apparel were at Adidas and Converse. They were kind of running the world. And Adidas was a German company. And Converse had Larry Bird and Dr. Jay and Magic Johnson. And it was fascinating to watch the sales pitch by Nike, which was this jogging company from, you know, Beaverton, Oregon out west that Jordan didn't even want. want to go out and fly, but his mom made him take a flight there, and they had by far and away

the most personal pitch. And it was, it was when you, when you really look at it, Nike, there was no chance Nike was going to get Michael Jordan. Like Michael was an Adidas kid because he liked their tracksuits. He had no interest at all flying. He never been to Oregon. He had no interest going to Oregon. He had no interest at all in Nike. He was number one, an Adidas guy, or maybe converse. No chance at Nike, but it was Sonny Vaccaro, this basketball savant, who was all through college basketball, who literally, unbeknownst to Nike, flew out, drove to the Jordan house, even though he was warned not to, and got four minutes with Michael's mom and convinced her to at least give them a shot.

Air movie, it's fascinating, fantastic, watch that hope you do two, hour or two next. 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 podcast. 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your. your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.