The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Thoughts on Tom Brady retiring

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

Thoughts on Tom Brady retiring for good and the ramifications it will have The Broncos should bounce back with Sean Payton as their head coachSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Well, I got up early at 3.30 in the morning, four around the internet. Tom Brady decided to retire, so we knew we'd have a busy day. J-Mack is joining me as always. You could do a week of shows on Brady, what he meant, what he's done. Incredible journey.

It really is. Journey over the destination. You're one of those guys, right? Yeah. Destinations are good, too, though. Destinations are good, but the journey you learn more about yourself. Let's start with Tom Brady. He has announced on social media, he will retire.

Tom always gets emotional at just the perfect times, almost always when he mentions family. So here he was this morning, feet in the sand. Good morning, guys. I'll get to the point right away. I'm retiring for good. I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I just press record and let you guys know first. So I won't be long-winded. you only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year so I really thank you guys so much to every single one of you for supporting me my family my friends teammates my competitors I could go on forever there's too many thank you guys

for allowing me to live my absolute dream I wouldn't change the thing Love you all. You know, retiring in any industry with elegance is really, really hard. In football, it's almost impossible. Grown men run at each other in full speed and drive their bodies through the other man's soul. It's hard. Injuries pile up. Teams cut you or trade you.

It's not like baseball where you get 10-year contracts. You're a shell of yourself in the last four or five years. years and we celebrate you. Thanks for the memories. Football is America's king. There's no time for romance. You're cast aside. You're hurt. You're discarded. Money rules. So does youth. Next man up. It is an 11 to 11 and a half month grind. But Brady had a 20-year dynasty with all sorts of trophies, the league chasing him, him never relentlessly giving up. Into Tampa where he won a Super Bowl in a COVID year, three years, three playoffs, and feet in the sand. That's pretty good. Setting two records in his final year. Most attempts and most completions. NFL records at 45.

And 45 is an important number. That's the one he always talked about. Tom planned to play till 45. Not shocking, it's the year he retires. Tom's been around so long, the game has changed. From defense wins championships to what's a fullback? From no social media to a post this morning on his Twitter account that'll get north of 50 million views. From no international games to ones in Germany, Mexico and England. From gambling is evil to a team in Vegas and a fan duel ad in every break. Seattle changed conferences. He played against multiple father-son duos. The world has changed. But you know what's interesting about Brady? He hasn't really. He really hasn't. Hyper competitive to the end. Obsessed with football. Devoted to it. Always wanting to get

better. He was my favorite kind of guy. Find a way guy. not find an excuse? The world changed. He evolved, but he didn't really. There was never any what-ifs with Tom Brady as he sits there with feet in the sand. There's no what-ifs. What he wanted, he sought. What he sought.

What he did, he won everywhere. He wanted Michigan. He wanted Foxborough. He wanted goofy Tampa. You know, years ago, I had an accountant. His name was Bill. He lived in Portland. Nice guy.

And he had a bunch of clients, most of them older. Some passed away. And I asked him one time, I said, what do they all have in common? It wasn't education. It wasn't their family. It wasn't any of that stuff. I said, what do they all have in common? And Bill paused and said, the happiest clients I have are the ones without regrets.

That's powerful, right? That's Brady. He wanted stuff. He pursued stuff. No passive aggressive. He'd argue. He'd fight. That's a great message.

He didn't really see obstacles. Tom saw opportunities. Like, I'll read business books once in a while. They always talk about that stuff. I'm not really sure if you can teach it. Some people wake up grumpy. Some people wake up happy. Some people wake up pessimistic.

Some people like Tom wake up optimistic. There's no real obstacles. Just opportunities. I tell my kids, you should watch the MJ documentary. And I've said this before on this show. It's amazing, right? Michael Jordan was the best player, the best looking player, the most stylish player, the best defensive player, the best everything.

And yet it was hard. Really, really hard. Fighting with owner, fighting with GM, fighting with the pistons, fighting with the Celtics, fighting with everybody, fighting with teammates, fighting with Rodman, punch the teammate. It was hard for Michael Jordan.

It's been hard for LeBron. It was hard for Brady. Being good's hard. Being great's really hard. Being the goat takes your breath away. But Brady, I think, did it with some elegance. He really did. It's almost impossible.

John Elway did it too. To leave in football in one piece, not discarded, not traded, not pushed aside for some younger player. As he said in his video, thank you. No, Tom, thank you. And I'm not going to give you advice. You certainly don't need it. But if I could whisper in his ear, say, Tom, take some time. I mean, really, personally, professionally, this took a bite out of you.

Take some time. You've earned it. All right. I also think when Tom Brady retires, there's a ripple effect. This is the way it happens when anybody that's great retires. There's a ripple effect. Now, some of you are thinking he's going to come back. Now, he's not. I'll just leave it at that. No, he's not. I was told this morning the Bucks, Jeff Darlington reported it, he's excellent. It was the Buckster retirement. That was it. My first thought was when Brady retired, maybe it was my second thought, that Kyle Shanahan, coach of the Niners went, damn it. And Derek Carr went, show me the money. It's the ripple effect. He'll have more offers. Here's the other team I thought of, though.

is that people often claim that I change my opinion. And I say that's because people change theirs. And there's new information. And when there's new information, I've got new opinions. And I've said I think it's time to rip the Band-Aid off for the Green Bay Packers. But if you ran the Packers this morning, over the last 72 hours, you look at people and teams and franchises. in the way of a Super Bowl trip.

San Francisco's Brock Purdy is not only hurt. He may not start the season. He won't be able to participate in off-season workouts. San Francisco's got a mess on their hand. Brady's always a challenge. He's now gone. Minnesota's not going to go 11-0 in close games. Gino Smith, really?

Opinions change when circumstances change. and the two obstacles outside of Philadelphia that were clear. San Francisco, they got issues. And Tampa, they got issues too. The goat retired. The only thing standing in their way, if you really look at the entire NFC, is Philadelphia. But they're going to have to pay Jalen Hertz. That means some of their expensive free agents are gone.

And they've also got two or three great players in the trenches that are very close to retirement. opinions change when things change. Thought about that this morning, driving in. Brady is now retired. San Francisco's a mess. Does Green Bay say to themselves this morning? Guys, one more year with Aaron.

One more year with Aaron. If you combine Aaron and that roster, got all their draft picks, Philadelphia's got some free agents, the Eagles, win the Super Bowl, let's say they do. Guys want to get paid. The ripple effect, it always

happens. It happened when MJ left Chicago. Anytime a great person leaves, exit changes, there's an effect. And I did think this morning, if you're Green Bay, do you go from ripping the

Band-Aid off to keeping it on, just waiting a couple days and asking Aaron if he could stop by the office? We'd like to have another discussion. All right. Sean Payton has got a new job. There are so many things to talk about today. Jason McIntyre wore that logo for a day and quickly went to another barber to make

sure we never see it again. I like his spirit. Come on. I didn't tell you. I'm leaving the show to go to basic training right after the Super Bowl. So it's been good knowing you, cowherd. Going to go defend our country. and fight for what's right.

Well, that's a great thing to do, by the way. I was, you know, I'm watching the Lakers Knicks last night, and I'm thinking, I got Sean Payton, I got Lakers Knicks. Man, it's going to be a great Wednesday show. And then we got the Brady thing dropping. We'll talk about all three coming up today. 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.

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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. 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.

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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.

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Great to have you in. You know, one more thought about Brady, and I'll come back to this circle, back to Tom, throughout the course of the day, is that I think people in general don't give themselves enough time for themselves. I tried to do it every day. Couldn't yesterday. Try to give myself 45 minutes every day to just like meditate, sit, think, get off the device, just thoughts about kids and family and life and where I'm going, what I've done. and I really seriously do hope.

Tom Brady had a really rough year, personal. We all know about that. Kids moving. A lot of opportunities. Disappointing year. I hope there's people in Tom's life and he heeds this. Give yourself some time. You have been so committed to football and family and take a deep breath.

Feet in the sand is a good place to be. So Sean Payton is the coach of the Denver Broncos. I had talked to Sean off the air Monday after our segment, and I was convinced he was staying at Fox. He changed his avatar to Fox. So life comes at you fast when the big money comes rolling in. The Denver Bronco job is complex. For the record, most great jobs are. Netflix has a guy named Reed Hastings.

He was the founder. He stepped down. Somebody else is going to be in the driver's seat for a while. Great company. Complex. Got some issues. All great jobs are. It's layered.

There's challenges. There's some problems to solve. There's some unknowns. But what's interesting about Denver's, it is the opposite of a lot of job openings. So I went to PFF at 3.30 this morning. I got up, didn't go back to sleep. PFF. I went to depth charts.

I texted two East Coast personnel guys, I know. Denver's got dudes. That's not the issue. Great young safety. Great young corner. Great young running back. A left tackle. even their shaky offensive line.

I read a preseason article that had it top five in the league before the season. They've got guards they like. They've got some unrestricted free agents. They'll have to solve it. But this is not Houston. This is not the Texans. This isn't the entire NFC South. Denver's got dudes.

They've got rich owners. And they've got a GM that drafts really, really well. Perfect jobs, folks. They're never available. Somebody gave me life advice years ago, and I thought it was really smart, and I don't remember who did, but they said, if you're not bailing water for the first six months on any job, then you didn't challenge yourself. The last perfect job in the NFL was Green Bay Matt LaFleur. Four years with Aaron Rogers and two playoff wins.

This is not like other jobs. You got players, you got personnel. Well, generally when you take over a job, it's a weird owner, an incompetent GM, a bad roster, got to find a quarterback. Now, they've got like two issues here. Not a lot of cap space for several years. And the Russell Wilson thing, he was so good for a long time. And then last year he was awful. What do you do?

Don't kid yourself. Two things are important to know here. This was a job for a veteran offensive coach. D'emico Ryan's wasn't the right fit. You need somebody who is dealt with crap. Egos. Roadblocks, maneuvering. This is not a first-timer's job.

And it's not a defensive coach's job. If you look at many of the places that have turned it around quick, McVeigh with the Rams, Andy Reed with Kansas City, Brian Daibold with the Giants. it's an offensive coach who figures out the quarterback position. And I don't know exactly about the Russell Wilson thing. I don't know him well enough to have a strong, strong opinion on him personally. But he was really, really good.

And I said all year, there's no precedent for being 104-passer rating, 106-passer rating, 103-pac-rated, 103-passer rating, the worst player in the world. It doesn't work like that. He didn't have a major injury. He's still pre-35. So if Brian Dable can solve Daniel Jones with a bad roster, I think Sean Payton can solve Russell Wilson with a good roster. I sat down for four and a half hours talking to Peyton about three weeks ago.

We talked about everything. He loved the city. What do you know about Denver? I'm like, it's a great American city. Rocky Mountain, thin air, great people, big brand. I always called it the Steelers with a mountain range. They've almost always been competent. Elway, good.

Peyton Manning, winning, Super Bowls, Orange Crush. They've always been competent. They've never been the Texans. They've never been the Lions, right, for an extended period. The owners are rich. They've got players everywhere. At every unit, there's a really, really good player. Not Niners or Philadelphia, but really, really good players.

They won five games. This morning, the over under on wins is eight and a half. It'll move to nine. Yeah. That feels right. What about Mahomes? What about it? him. Chargers made the playoffs.

Mahomes is in the division. And they don't even have a coach we like. So I don't think it's easy. I don't think they have cultural problems in Denver. They played Kansas City great late. They played well down the stretch. They don't have a weird owner. They've got a rich one. It's what Sean Payton does.

Solves quarterbacks. James Winston had his highest passer rating with Sean. Breeze became a Hall of Famer. and one Bridgewater, Bridgewater like five and one with him or five and O with him a couple of years ago when Breeze got hurt. The job needed an offensive coach.

Harbaugh and Sean Payton were and should have been the people that got strong, strong consideration. He's going to make him better. But yes, the job is complicated. You can talk yourself out of it. I thought multiple times he was in and then multiple times he was out. It's not easy.

The new guy running Netflix. You got dudes too. You got personnel too. You got money too. It's layered. You got issues. That whole streaming thing. It's hemorrhaging a lot of money.

And that whole Broncos thing. What's up with Russell? I don't have the answers. But solving quarterbacks is what Sean Payton has always done. By the way, we had Sean Payton on the show multiple times. And I asked him about fixing Russ and about how the relationship goes with a quarterback, and he talked about the plays, the week of the game, what you use, what you don't, how to make the quarterback comfortable. Drew and I would discuss, hey, at the end of the week

on Saturday, we'd be at the hotel, we'd finish the team meeting, finish the offensive meeting, the last thing we'd do before game day Sunday would be a dot meeting where we'd go through, you know, the plays in each section. Let's talk about the play action pass. I want to know your top three now after the week's finished, and I'd Sharpie these three. And I want to call those plays that he likes. And then I always wanted to know, hey, is there something you didn't like? And periodically, not often, but periodically, he might say, hey, I don't feel comfortable with that.

I don't feel like we got a good enough look with that this week. And I just put a line through it. Then we'd want to set up the look in practice where it's simulated the Chargers defense. And you want to get a rep or two where you're like, ah, I see it. It feels good. Yeah, it's what Sean does. is what the Broncos need. So it should work and pretty quickly.

He's also replacing a coach that was completely over his skis. So I'll go back to it. If Brian Daibol can get Daniel Jones and that roster into the playoffs and win a playoff game, yeah, I think Sean Payton's going to make Denver better quickly. Super Bowls, no idea. Beating Mahomes, no idea. Competent, absolutely.

J-Mac with a news No No No Turn on the news This is the Heard Line News I'm going to miss

Sean Peyton around here Obviously Yeah a little A lot of fun when he stopped by the set Good storyteller Got anybody That has information We're information junkies

on this stuff So Sean was a great guest Often teaching us more Off the Air than on He would spend 7, 8 minutes with us After a second just a lot of stuff.

Some you can talk about on the air, some you can't talk about on the air. You know what I loved is some of the stuff he would do for team preparation during the week that wasn't really related to football, something outside of football that he would bring in that really galvanize the team in New Orleans twice, things that kind of blew my mind.

Like, wow, that's like next level thinking outside of football that really got the team together. You have 55 men. young men, all from different backgrounds. Some never had money, then get rich, some have high expectations, some are needy, some are divas, some are low maintenance, some are grinders. It's a lot of psychology. And remember, Sean Payton's mentor was Bill Parcells, who was really considered, you could ask Jimmy Johnson, you could ask any great coach. Parcells was the great psychologist in the history of football. and that's where Sean learned a lot of his tricks.

So when you sit down with Sean, you can hear Parcells in his way of thinking. It's fascinating. He talked about something yesterday off the air or two days ago off the air, and I can hear Bill talking. And Sean readily admits that Parcells had a massive influence on how he views the world of football. Curious how they get their defensive coordinator. That's going to be interesting and fun to watch. What are you saying?

No names, no names. James. Let's start with the first story. Aaron Rogers. He was on the Pat McAfee show this week, saying he hasn't been thinking much of anything to do with his future in Green Bay. But despite not making a decision yet, Rogers added it. It sounds like there's already conversations going on that aren't involving me, which are interesting. Oh, boy, passive aggressive Aaron. Are you not already sick of this guy? No, I mean, this is passive aggressive Aaron. So this is what he does. This is his personality. I've said before, I like Kobe, Michael, Brady. I like confrontational. If you're mad, go upstairs, talk to your bosses. This is, this is, this is Aaron. Well, they're talking about me.

Not including me. That's interesting. This is Aaron. This is his personality. So let me ask you, Tom Brady's gone from the NFC. He's not even going to the AFC. Who's the best quarterback right now in the NFC? No, I mean, this goes back to my Brady leaves, Niners quarterback situation. cannot compete in the off-season workouts. It does make me think if you're Green Bay, front office, do you go out to lunch and say, Aaron? Aaron may drive us nuts, but good Lord. And by the way, if Philadelphia wins a Super Bowl, guys want to get paid, they're going to lose

three or four guys. They may have one or two guys retire. You know, you've got to pay Jalen. That roster is stacked. It won't be in two years. So basically, best quarterback in the NFC could be Jalen Hertz, could be Kirk Cousins. No. It ain't Dak Prescott.

No. Other names. Matt Stafford's coming off injuries. He's healthy. All you do is say to Aaron, dude. Look around. We were the number one seat two years ago. Well, but you got to get...

You went back-to-back MVP. Stay here. They're going to go get some young offensive pieces, and of course, Green Bay wants him committed in the off-season. So, you know, again, not a shock. Aaron goes passive-aggressive. There's already conversations going on that aren't involving me, which are interesting. Yeah, you know what that happens.

in business, you know? All the time. Those guys upstairs are talking about right now, you know? Getting is always. It's just not going to work. It will not work with the New York media and just, can you imagine Aaron Rogers going out for soup on a Wednesday night and New Yorker seeing him and he's in a bit of a two and five funk? You think they're going to be nice to Aaron Rogers the way they are Midwest, nice to him in Green Bay? People in Wisconsin are the nicest people in the world. You're not getting that in New York. Good luck.

Next up. We make New Yorkers sound awful. We are awful. Now, the Texans hired defensive coordinator, D'Amico Rines from the Niners. He's their new head coach. The last two guys got canned after one season. Now, we're not going to speculate about what happened with D'Miko Rions and the Broncos. But bottom line, D'Miko Rions is now coaching the worst roster in the NFL. By the way, multiple sites rank teams and their rosters going into season.

Texans were dead last going into the season. Worst owner. I don't know what word. Daniel Snyder still technically. He's going to be replaced by March. Worst owner. So worst personnel, worst owner. That is a lot to ask a young talented coach to overcome.

On the side of the ball that the league is pivoting away from. If you went and pulled 100 Texans fan, who's the best player on the team coming back next year? They have a young running back. They got the running back. Damien Pierce, I had him on my fantasy team. He's good. Brandon Cooks does not want to be there. Remember what happened at the trade deadline, like pouting?

There's just not a lot of talent. I know one of your producers is a big Houston Texans fan. I don't doubt or criticize him. D'emico's going to get a lot of money, and I get it. But he's going to get security, too. They're not firing another coach after one season. He's going to be there. And he's also going to take a quarterback.

So that's very promising. But this is a, you know, this is a hard job. The owner is weird. This is what most job job openings are in the NFL. Weird ownership situation, bad personnel, fourth best roster in the division. and no quarterback. And no quarterback. Now, you want silver lining, a little positivity.

They finished 20 second in defensive efficiency. I know that sounds awful. But Colin, you're going to be facing these two teams twice a year. Jags? We're good, but they're not world beaters. They're good. They're ascending. Tennessee Titans who do not have a quarterback currently going into next season.

They've got a lot of questions. And the Indianapolis Colts, who are equally as big of a dumpster fire as the Texans. So there's a path here if Ryan's can just give them a little more on defense, they bump up to say, like, I don't know, 10th to 15th, get some quarterback play. The scenario, they win five or six games, and they're on the upward trajectory. It's a major uphill climb. Finally, let's go to the best player in NBA history. LeBron James, put on a show last night at MSG.

I know you were watching. I didn't think he was great. He ended up with a good stat line, but I didn't think he was great last night. He had a couple of big threes. He hit one big three late. He hit a big three late, but then got a little hero ballish at the end of regulation with a couple bad shots, but he had his first triple double of the year 28, 10, and 11

passing Mark Jackson and Steve Nash to move up to number four on the all-time assist list. LeBron James, fourth in NBA history. By the way, an assist. That's incredible. Lakers couldn't stop Jalen Brunson, could not stay in front of him. Sheesh. Shouldn't he take

the last shot? Well, Tibido messed that up badly. He gave it to Randall who couldn't even get a shot off against Anthony Davis. How many points did Brunson finish with, like 38 38 or something? The Lakers could not stay in front of him. Why isn't he getting the last shot? That's a bad job by them, but that's good for the Lakers. And Colin, some numbers here on LeBron James, who's, by the way, 89 points away from Jabbar

for the leading scorer in the history of the sport. Look at this. So I do also want to point out, Colin, he's going to be number one in scoring in the history of the sport, and he's already top four in assists. Like, why would people try to diminish LeBron? Hold on. At 38 years old, currently, he's averaging more minutes per game this year than Donovan Mitchell, Damian Lillard, Trey Young, Joelle Embed. This guy is such a warrior. We need to be praising LeBron and really enjoying these final few years of it.

I think more impressive than all of that is that in his 20th year, nobody can stay in front of him. He's still, when he wants to go to the basket against a forward or a guard, he gets to the basket every time. as great as basketball players are, if you had a list of guys that can create their own shot, it's not big. Maybe it's 30 guys, 35 guys in the league.

Like, John Morant can always get his shot, Steph Curry. The fact that in your 20th year in the league, you can give him the ball, you can put a smaller, quicker guy in front of him, a bigger, stronger guy. He always gets his shot, and it's almost always a great shot. 75 to 85% of the league

will never be able to get their own shot without a screen, a pick and roll in this league. I mean, I'm watching him last night, I'm like, he's still... He's just getting whatever he wants, basically. He's a superstar. And not even transition points. Those are the easy ones.

I mean, like, half court, lane clogged, LeBron drives the lane, gets past a 6-5 guy and gets a great look for a dunk or a layout. Just for the haters, he is shooting 31% from deep. a bit of a struggle. Yeah. But again, we'll deal with that. Colin, I do want to also point out,

he was lobbying passive-aggressive stuff at the Lakers front office. Get me a trade. Get me help. They listened, got Rui Hachimura, and who had the huge block in overtime. Hachimura had his best game with the Lakers last night. Hey, Austin Reeves is coming back soon. Get excited, Cowherd.

Lakers are making a move. I'm not even kidding. This team, just remember I said it. You want to put a few shekels on the Lakers to win the West? Didn't you learn your lesson on betting? No, come on. I'm not always a gambler. But Colin, Lakers to win the West.

If LeBron and AD are healthy, just remember, they're going into every playoff series. No, I will say. With two of the best three players. I watched our local cable provider, Spectrum had a show. And after the game, I listened for about five minutes, and they weren't that excited. And I'm thinking, guys, when's the last time the Lakers didn't play well and won on the road against the decent team? They're getting healthy. I thought, I was like,

I didn't think they play. I didn't think. LeBron had a good stat line. I didn't think he was dominant. I didn't think they got kind of the interior points they get, and they won. It was one of the few times this year. The Milwaukee game in this game, I was like, that's pretty impressive. Westbrook got the memo in overtime, driving dish to Anthony Davis,

instead of jacking up bad threes. Seems coming into shape. A lot of Lakers in the future of this show, Colin. Rue was a good move. Love it. What's next? There's more. There's more coming.

Has to. Good stuff. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Two NBA insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right into the NBA Great Buy. All happening in only one place.

This League Uncut. The new NBA podcast with me, Chris Haines. And me, Mark Stein. Join us as we team up to expound on everything. We're covering, hearing, and chasing. Listen to this league uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein. 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 IHard 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, 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 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. 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. We're going to the Super Bowl. Take a look at our amazing set that's being built in Arizona. We'll be there next Thursday and Friday right outside State Farm Stadium. We'll have great guests getting ready for the Eagles and Chiefs. That's next week right here on the herd. So over 23 years, Tom Brady missed just 19 games.

15 for a torn ACL, and then there was like that deflate gate thing. Three things that jump out to me on a day in which Tom retired. Number one, durability is not random. LeBron and Tom Brady, it's not random. They live the right way. They eat right. They recover. They spend millions of dollars on their bodies, so it's not just random.

You know, smart people equal smart habits, equal smart lives. If you look in society who ages well, it's people that do everything in moderation. If they drink, it's light social drinking. They have a good safety net of friends, animals, people that make them happy, lots of love, don't eat too much, don't drink too much, don't smoke, don't take huge physical risks. You've seen people that age well and look great at 60. It's not a coincidence. I mean, obviously some people get, you know, bad luck with genetics. I totally get that. But, you know, Brady, Russell Wilson, you look at a lot of the athletes that have aged very,

very well, they are totally utterly committed to their bodies. The second thing is, you know, Brady was never about anything other than winning. you really see it in social media. A lot of athletes are status-driven or money-driven or me-driven. Tom was winning-driven, and it sounds really simple. And there's a lot of athletes like that. And I've always understood in that first contract, you know, make as much as you can. But Brady took a lot of pay cuts, pre-Giselle, post-Giselle, during-Zazel.

That's just what he did. Winning is what drove his career. And I believe this to be true. You'll make money. What you want to do is win. You win everything, endorsements, you curry favor with owners, teammates, businesses, affiliates, just win. Brady figured that out really, really quickly.

Just win everything else takes care of itself. Make the thing, the thing. Don't get sidetracked. The third thing, he won three MVP's, and in none of those years did he win a super Super Bowl. And I think that's significant. Brady this year led the NFL in attempts in completions. So he threw more than he's ever thrown the last two years and completed more passes than he's ever completed in the last couple years. And yet they were two of the most anemic offenses he was ever on. Is that balance is a real thing. We said this all year about

the Buffalo Bills. You have no balance. You are completely utterly Josh Allen reliant. Joe Burroughs good. They have a run game. They have great receivers. Patrick Mahomes is great. They got a power runner. They've got good receivers. They have a clever, clever offensive coach.

They rebuilt their offensive line. The bills are all in on Josh Allen. Everything. He plays sporty. They lose. There's no chance. So what's interesting is Tom left New England because he didn't have weapons. And then in the end, he left Tampa in football,

it was all he had in Tampa. Weapons. Not sure about the coach, the coordinator, the culture, the structure. I always had this belief with Tom is that deep down Aaron Rogers wants to stay. Deep down, Tom Brady wants to stay. People don't like to buy a new home. People don't like change. People, we're all like this.

I would talk to a psychologist once about this. There's a reason people generally eat two or three things for breakfast. They have two or three things. Because when we wake up in the morning, we have habits. And over the course of a day, our habits get loose. You thought you were going to eat well all day. You go into cookies and snacks. You thought you were going to work out.

You don't have time for it. You thought you were going to do this. But our days mostly start the same. The same habits. We shower, same shampoo, same drive to work. We have mostly the same breakfast at the same time. And then over the course of a day, our life, you know, doesn't go as planned. We don't have the discipline.

Emotionally, we're up or down. I think most, most athletes want, want to stay and do what Jeter did. And do what Steph Curry's doing. But they fire a good coach. You lose a good teammate. The owner doesn't respect you. There's a lot of reasons people change. I always thought that Tom really wanted to stay in New England, but two things happened.

The Patriots went after Stefan Diggs. and they finish second to Buffalo. If Stefan Diggs goes to New England and they land him, then all those other average receivers, that's okay, we got our ace. Stefan has 95 catches, 12 touchdowns, everybody else fills out the roster. Brady wanted a star receiver. And he also wanted a little more say and respect. And maybe he would have left anyway.

But I always felt like that was a thing. But he knew the coach was great, knew the defense was great. He knew the division was wonky. He knew the running backs were good. He knew the O-line was good. New England doesn't give up 30 points regularly. You don't have to win as he ages by shootout. I think he really wanted to stay.

And it's really a cautionary tale about the ego of Belichick. If Belichick would have relented his ego and just said, we're going to overpay for Stefan Biggs. And I'm going to give Tom a little more respect and power. I mean, Tom Brady, remember this. when Tom left New England, remember how odd it was, how respectfully he was of Cam Newton. He gave Brady a game ball as last year in Tampa, and Belichick looked uncomfortable. Cam Newton, who was a shot fighter, came to New England, and Belichick was, oh, it's unbelievable.

What a great, I was the best work at. I never heard him say that about Brady. He had a press release when he was gone, but it was like a lot of this, Tom wanted to I think all athletes want to stay. I mean, wouldn't it be great if you could grow up in a house and your mom or your dad start a company and then you stay, you go to the same drive-through restaurant, you have the same friends, you're in the same softball league. Most of us leave, not because we want to.

I left because I had to. There were no jobs. It would be awesome if you didn't have to bounce around the country. It would be awesome if you could always stay. but there's a reason he left. Belichick gave more praise to Cam Newton six months later than he did to Brady in 20 years. And they wouldn't pay for Stefan Diggs and they wouldn't spend money on the perimeter offensively as the game was pivoting to an offensive league.

The other thing is that in football, you don't have to be graded everything. I mean, Kansas City's got some issues. Philadelphia now, because they're not paying their quarterback. San Francisco and Philadelphia don't have a lot of issues. That's very, very rare. There's always a team or two like that. But the minute Philadelphia, if they win, everybody wants to get paid, they're going to lose some free agents, one or two old guys retire.

Their roster next year, likely not as good. So when you get it, like this, got to win Super Bowls, which is why I speculated, San Francisco would go after Brady because Kittles, Trent Williams, Davos, Debo, Samuels, Christian McCaffrey, these guys aren't going to last forever. A lot of injuries, a lot of years. A lot of miles on those tires. But in New England, they got really bad at something. Wide receiver.

Like really, really bad. And it put more and more pressure on Tom. And I think in the end, he made the right decision. He said, you know what I want? People generally leave. And when they do leave, it's because of one or two things they didn't get at the other place. Tom wanted to say he got it and he wanted receivers and he got it. He didn't get the culture.

He didn't get the coach. He didn't get the discipline. He didn't get the academic nature. He didn't get the defense consistently. He didn't get Dante Scarnikia. But he got more say and he got great receivers. Three years, three playoffs, and a Super Bowl two. That's not bad.

Hour one is in the books. Hour two around the corner. Peter King will stop by. Surprise guest hour three. It's the herd. 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 game. 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 IHeart 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 fans 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 taun tons 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.