The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - The NBA Finals

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

Thoughts on the NBA Finals so far It's looking like the Lakers don't want Kyrie Irving More thoughts on the PGA-LIV Tour merger   Guest: Nick WrightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Live in Los Angeles. It's the hurt. Wherever you may be. However you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. So the PGA tour and the Live Tour have conjoined. So the PGA tour did a lot of lecturing about morals and values to Phil Mickelson and Brooks Kepka and Dustin Johnson. Morals, values.

We're not sellouts. PGA tour now just join the live golf tour and the Saudi money. Looks like there's a meeting between the players and the commissioner today at 4 o'clock Eastern 1 p.m. our time. By the way. Should be interesting, huh? Let's say the PGA players protest and don't play. So what? All right, bye-bye.

Go ahead. It'll be very interesting to see what happens. A lot of high and mighty guys. I went back and looked at the Jack Nicholas Day. days, the Arnold Palmer days. See if there was any oil money involved. Yes, there was. This is a funny thing about it.

Whenever you get too high and mighty on stuff like that, is that these major corporations, let's say you're a comedian, and you're a left-leaning comedian, and some right-leaning corporation will give you a half a million dollars to come to a convention in Vegas and do a 45-minute act. you have a right to say no and stand in your moral high ground. I defend that. But if another comedian does it, don't get too upset.

Because if you're not taking the money, they need somebody to tell jokes for 45 minutes. They got to go find a comedian. And you can, so my thing is, I have no problem with people being bothered by the live golf tour. But we don't have to be bothered by it. You go stand in your moral high ground. But there's going to be a lot of people that are going to accept it and basically film Michaelson and Dustin Johnson and Brooks Kepka, among others, said, why are we the only sport where you don't take care of the stars?

We see the television ratings. I mean, every other sport gets it. I mean, literally most of our sports create salary caps because we know otherwise there would be a bidding war for Patrick Mahomes that he'd make $200 million a year, right? So we have to have salary caps to prevent the billionaires from just buying all the best players. So we know that, but even that said, he's. going to make $500 million. And so this idea to get, and again, it was just to watch, once PGA tour started lecturing

golfers on, you're a real hypocrite if you're lecturing golfers on their morals and values with Saudi money, but you support a sitting president. We're entangled with all that stuff. I saw a great bumper sticker once. I don't believe in anything. I'm just here for the violence. And I started cracking up out loud, and you start thinking about it. You're like, well, there's some stuff I believe in, but, Jews, I love your comedian example right there.

There's going to be a lot of people outraged at this golf situation. And I don't really, I don't have a strong feeling like you're just like you. Phil Mickelson could have turned down the money. Somebody else would have taken it. Okay. Turn down that act for half a million dollars to tell your jokes at a convention. Some other comedian's going to take it. you have a right to turn it down and I respect that but don't get preachy on me you don't know my

situation I don't know yours you could have lost your job you you know I mean it just whenever people go to that when you can as a politician you can do a lot to offend me I do not need to agree with you on half your policies if I think you're a decent human being you could potentially get my vote I can disagree all the time but Man, if you start lecturing me on morals and values and all that nonsense, it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got skeletons. I don't know about them yet. But all these politicians have sold their soul for something.

It's called politics. You give to get. Right? You have to at some point, as a president, a senator, a governor, give to get what you want. It's just the game of politics. And I think the PGA tour, you know, finally figured out here. We can be high and mighty, but we need our best sticks. We need our big guys because Tiger no longer gives you the guaranteed TV rating.

Nick right now joining us, let's shift gears. A co-host first things first. So I thought it's interesting. I was talking about this yesterday and you do your celebrity club stuff and your tears for players. And I said I got... Celebrity Club. What do you call it? What is it called?

Club superstars. Celebrities are who you have drinks with, you know, out. in L.A. at Javier's. NBA superstars is what we talk about in gritty New York City afternoon sports talk. But go right ahead. Okay. So I put the 10 guys in the league and I think playoff performance matters. And I said the one guy I can't quite figure out is Jimmy Butler. I don't think he's one of the 10 most talented players. I don't think he's one of the 10 most gifted. But he literally, if you said game seven, fourth quarter, who do you want in the league? I'd be like, staff

Jimmy Butler yeah there's not many more like like talent's overrated Colin Colin in our business

talent's overrated what you know what's underrated what works what gets it done and I know that sounds kind of like an old school almost malapropism but it's not

like I have heard for two months how untalented the he need are, which either means that talent evaluators are wrong or talent is not what wins or talent

is overrated. I'm going to give you a few Jimmy Butler stats, and then I want to ask you a question. Since Jimmy Butler joined the Miami Heat, the Miami Heat lead the entire NBA

in playoff wins. Think about that. Over the last four years, No team has more wins than Jimmy Butler's heat. Over the last four years, no one has more 40-point games in the playoffs than Jimmy Butler. Over the last four years, only Nikola Yokic has more 30-point triple doubles in the playoffs than Jimmy Butler. And he's doing it without stars around him. So here is what I would say.

I would say Yokic, Janis, and Steph are, if we are saying who you want, for the postseason, those guys are your top three in some order. Jimmy Butler, along with, in my opinion, LeBron, Devin Booker, K.D. and Luca, are that next group. Like, now, how do you rank them? Four, five, six, seven? We can discuss it. But how could anyone argue that when it comes to the postseason, they would rather

have Joelle Embed, that they would rather have any of those other guys who, who, have not shown the ability to raise their game in these moments. And so if Jimmy Butler is not a top five player in basketball, fine. Is he a top five playoff player? Absolutely he is. And he takes what your guy, Draymond Green, first talked about to its furthest logical conclusion, 82 game players and 16 game players. Now, the best in league history are both. Great regular seasons and raise their game in the playoffs. Steph does that. LeBron does that. Yokic is doing it right now.

Janice has done that. Jimmy, though, is the more value. If you can only have an 82 game guy like a James Hardin or a 16-game guy like Jimmy Butler, obviously Jimmy Butler's more valuable. Okay. I want to throw a football thing at you. So, it's Kansas City's the best team in the league,

best quarterback, and I think best coach built for this culture. I thought Belichick was the best coach. when you could grab players and hit players above the shoulders and the world's change. Belichick's tone deaf to offense. And I saw this story, and I made a point of it today. Buffalo has now signed three defensive linemen this offseason. At Oliver, a nose tackle, Leonard Floyd. Still can't get the O-line right.

Pittsburgh still can't get the O' line right. Belichick still can't get the offense right. and I look at this Buffalo with Josh Allen. They'd love DeAndre Hopkins. Probably won't be able to afford him. Stefan Diggs was held to 40 yards basically in a playoff game because you can double him. You can basically slide your defense over. When you look at Buffalo as a Kansas City chief,

do you even view them as a threat anymore or are they becoming tone deaf to offense? No, listen, I think their window will reopen again at some point. point in the future, but I think they missed their window with this iteration of the team in those 13 seconds. The time to get Kansas City was when they got them. They were leading a playoff game in Arrowhead with 13 seconds to go, and they let go of the rope, and last year they were worse than that, and I don't know why next year we expect them to be better. I said something on the TV show yesterday that my colleagues across the table, scoffed at, laughed at. Honestly, Colin, they were downright rude to me.

Yeah. But I think you'll agree with me. Maybe. Who is better positioned for this upcoming season? The Jacksonville Jaguars or the Buffalo Bill. Jags. So let's go through it. Yes. So last year, last year, they both won their division.

They both had a pro bowler at quarterback. They both won a playoff game and then lost a playoff game. The Jags playoff win was a stirring comeback against a very good Charger team and then a road playoff loss to the champs by seven. The Bill's playoff story was escaping against Skyler Thompson and then following that up with getting blown out at home by Cincinnati. So that's last year. Now this year, the Jags are in the best possible division you can be in with a quarterback

who is clearly ascending. The bills are maybe in the toughest division in football with a quarterback that's been, as I've said, up and down, game to game, week to week, quarter to quarter year to year. They're changing their defensive coordinator. There's questions to me about that offensive coordinator post-dable. Like, to me, the chiefs are a clear one. Cincinnati has earned the right to be a clear two. And then Jacksonville, Baltimore, Buffalo are all in a group.

but the bills have just gotten this. I mean, you know who's on the cover of Madden this year, Colin? Who? Josh Allen. He can hang that with his banners for, you know, September champs and throw the football out of the stadium. Like, there's a lot of hype surrounding Buffalo every year that they have yet to earn, in my opinion.

I want to circle back to the NBA. So there was a story of obviously Kyrie or somebody connected to Kyrie gave to Shams or Chris Haynes that he wants LeBron to go. to Dallas. Unlikely, but I thought if I was LeBron, I'd sit and listen, talk it over with my wife, glass of wine, it's interesting, play with Luca who can play 70 games. LeBron now has to have teammates that can play 70 games. Because AD doesn't, and you just get to a point where if AD goes down, LeBron at his age has to play 40 minutes. It doesn't work that way. But I will say this.

I do think Kyrie would make the Lakers better. But immediately on that story, the Lakers immediately leaked this. The Lakers maintained on Monday. Not interested in adding Kyrie. Is this genie and Rob Polinka saying, no, no, no, no, no. We're not giving you the franchise. We're slowly taking it back.

What do you think that means an immediate leak to their sources? We're not interested in the Kyrie business. Well, I think that's smart. So first, let's talk about the LeBron to Dallas part of it. It's one of those things, Colin, I'll tell you what it's It's like if I were to leak to a reporter, I want to add Colin Cowherd to first things first. Sounds great, great chemistry between us.

Can't fit it under the cap. I know you say that we have a show with unlimited budget. They're like, hey, add Colin. It'd be wonderful. That'd be fun. There's no way to make the money work there, unfortunately. Like the idea, I read this story, the initial story, and it's one of the most curious stories I've ever read. it had in there this line that the Mavs were considering trying to trade for LeBron last year when the Lakers were struggling, which is fascinating, because LeBron was literally ineligible to be traded last year.

The CBA wouldn't allow it because of when he signed his contract. They then added a line to the story that said, even though LeBron was ineligible. So what type of meeting is that? I'm just curious, hey, guys, you want to trade for LeBron? Yeah, I want to trade for LeBron. some guy in the corner with the CBAs like, I'm fellas, we're not allowed to. Like, okay, cool, meeting over. So I didn't understand

that. Then it said, the easiest way for LeBron to get to Dallas was if he was bought out by the Lakers. I don't think Jeannie, Buss, and Rob Polenka are the best executives in basketball, but I do think that if they are faced

with the choice of, hmm, we could pay LeBron James $45 million to play basketball for us, or 40 million to not play basketball for us. I think they're going to choose door number one. So there is no way for LeBron to get to the Mabs this year. So why did this story come out? There's two schools of thought here. One is, Kyrie's like, hey, I'm trying to bring you to me. Can you try to bring me to you? Like, can we can, you know, if it won't work out here,

and that, and that's where I was leaning initially. But I actually, think it's more about Kyrie trying to secure a long-term contract from the Mavericks by showing, guys, this is how all in I am. I will recruit for you. And maybe we can't bring LeBron

now, but in a year maybe we could. So I think the Lakers are smart to not want to be in the Kyrie business. I think LeBron has a blind spot for him because seven years ago they won a title together and he likes the talent. I would not bring Kyrie

to Los Angeles. But what I would say is this. A year from now, is there a scenario where I could see LeBron surveying the landscape if Brani's not one and done and he's going to spend another year in school and he's like, okay, I can pick my team, that the Mabs could be on his list of options when he has said Lucas, you know, his favorite player to watch in the league and things like that?

Yeah, I think a year from now this is possible. I think right now, Kyrie's going to be a Mab. LeBron's going to be a Laker. and that's about the end of it. He is the co-host, the star of First Things First, a show he's on now. And hopefully for a long time, despite what you read. Hopefully he's on that show for a long, long time.

Oh, are people, reading, I don't even know what you're referring to, Colin. I have no idea. I mean, they'll put anything on the internet these days, my friends. That's what I've heard. Just anything will go on the internet. And I hope someone puts on the internet. I am recruiting Colin Goward to First Things First. I am. Listen, you're going to have to take a buyout and a bit of a pay cut, but it'd be great.

You've got to move cross-country. Just come on. Love to have you. That's all. Good seeing you, buddy. See you. Bye. Bye. Yeah, the Lakers came out and basically said, yeah, we're not interested in adding Kyrie this summer. So there you go. Immediately sent out the message. We're not doing that. It is interesting, though. You know, every town, we were talking about this earlier. Like Philadelphia, to me, has always felt like an Eagles town.

They like the Phillies. They like the Sixers. It's an Eagles town. New York has often been labeled a baseball town, but in the 80s, nobody was going to watch the Yankees. I still contend that New York is the most underrated basketball city. The fact the Knicks have mostly been irrelevant for 20 years, still can't get a ticket. It's a great basketball town. Los Angeles uniquely is a baseball town, Dodgers, and a NB, and a NB,

town Lakers. The Rams are getting more popular. You could argue USC when they're hot is as popular as the NFL teams. USC is a huge brand in the city. But it is interesting in Los Angeles that to watch kind of the Lakers how the franchise, the standards are different now. That, you know, Pat Riley did not grovel to LeBron. They were bad for a year, rebuilt it, and are back. The last, last nine or ten years, the Lakers have been sub-30 wins four times and only have three winning seasons. If you take out the weird bubble year, it's basically been a disastrous decade by the Lakers standards. And I'm not this, I'm very pro-Lebron, but it's time now to come to terms with LeBron plays about 55 games. And he's really good in moments. But, you know, I think

Kyrie would make the Lakers better for a year, and I would love to watch it, but it's not a good basketball decision long term. I can think two things. I thought Dallas going for it with Luca was good, but I'd be okay letting him go. I think Kyrie would make the Lakers better for a year, but at some point you'd be doing it to appease LeBron, and you can't worry about brawny at USC. That's LeBron's thing. You can't worry about, they've got a couple years left on the contract, but they sent out that message very clearly, very quickly. We're not interested in Kyrie. There's a reason it got out very quickly.

We should also be clear. You mentioned the Lakers have been largely a dumpster fire for about eight or nine years. The reason they've been good in that time frame is LeBron. Yes. He forced them to get Anthony Davis. But he is aging and he has given you fewer games. I thought this postseason was a great example of what they are. They were swept by Denver.

Well, at the same time, get LeBron to the playoffs. He'll deliver. They got, you know, they advanced pretty far, no? I thought they had a great postseason after a pedestrian regular season, no. Wouldn't you take that again next year? Well, they beat Memphis, who didn't have their center. They got to end it.

They were unraveling with John Morant and Dylan Brooks. Got a little bit of a break there. They want to play in game. Then they beat Memphis. It sounds a lot like glass half empty, Colin. But continue. I'm just saying. But what happened against the Warriors?

What's the excuse there? The Draymond Puntch against Jordan Poole nine months ago? It was a fine year. But I'm saying there are, by the Lakers letting this out very quickly, when they leak it, not interested in Kyrie. It's them putting their foot down. Like we're not going to play this game publicly with you. It ain't happening. I like it, don't you?

Yeah. Austin Reeves or Kyrie Irving? Who would you rather have in L.A. next year? Austin Reeves. I think he's more stable. It's not even close. Yeah. I think Kyrie is erratic.

But I will say Kyrie fits with LeBron. I think it would be really interesting for a year. If Kyrie said tomorrow, Wait, how about let me... Kyrie said I'll come for one year to L.A. No, he's not doing that. But if he did, he wants a four-year deal. I'd take it.

I would take it for a year. He won't do that. But wait, you said LeBron and Kyrie fit together. Yeah. I think we need to say past tense, what is it now? Five, six years ago they fit together. Will they fit together currently with this LeBron?

I think there's some question there, no? This is a different LeBron than it was six years ago. Oh, no question. So I don't necessarily think it's automatic that they're going to fit together. Let's just remember what Kyrie's been the last few years. Erratic. Injury prone, erratic, burning sage in the locker room, anything but basketball, going a wall on the nets, being a jerk to Steve Nash.

Like, you think Darvin Ham wants to get in the Kyrie Irving business? Well, I know he doesn't. He also doesn't defend, and Darvinham wants his guys to defend. Westbrook would not defend. Darvinham struggle with that. Darwinham wants you to defend. Catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart 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, 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 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 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 Jek. 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 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. For the record, we had talked about this, the PGA and the Live golf tour of Joint Forces. I am totally comfortable with people who are upset about it based on 9-11 and how damaging that was to families across America, totally understand it. Jay Monaghan, the PGA Commissioner, talked a lot about morals and values, and now he's conjoined forces with the live group.

But it's interesting is that we all make choices, and sometimes those are difficult choices. And many of you are running to social media to criticize the decision. The Saudi government owns a very large percentage of Twitter. and China's government runs TikTok. You may want to put your phone down, right? Be very careful about lecturing. I can understand if you are outraged, but it's a global economy, and you don't know who owns this company, other companies.

Just be very careful. These devices were all on. You know, I heard about betraying the United States. well, then our government's betraying the United States, who we've sold weapons to for years, who were in relationships with. I just, what bothers me deeply is when people are hypocrites. You know, we've all worked for a boss or somebody, and they get very, very preachy, and then you find out something about their private life, and it's kind of detestable.

Twitter's owned a big chunk by the Saudi government. And TikTok, my wife loves TikToks. She gets at recipes and animal stuff. That's the Chinese government. Everybody's on TikTok. So if you want to be the ultimate moralist, then put your phone down. I don't know who Apple's in business with. I've got my phone right here for breaking stories.

I don't know every relationship Apple has. Some may bother me. J-Mac with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I don't want to depress any Lakers fans, but we are not going to address the Austin Reeves rumor that's out there. What's that? It's fake. I think it's a fake internet thing.

Okay. That, yeah, he was spotted at a bar with a big pop star, shall we say, who's having concerts out here at SoFi in August and I can't get tickets. She's huge. But it's a fake story. So all these people, my buddies are texting me, are you guys going to talk about it? Austin Reeves, come on. You know, he's just a hero to Lakers fans.

He really is. He's a hardworking kid. Great story. Got to love Austin. All right, let's get to real news. Buffalo Bills. This is the second straight hour we talked about the Bills fans. Get off my back about the Jets, okay?

The bills just acquired Leonard Floyd yesterday on a one-year deal. I know Collins's not keen on it. It's another defensive edition. But listen, Ed Oliver got an extension. Leonard Floyd, two-time Super Bowl champion pass rusher, Von Miller in the mix. They got a damn good team. Here's GM Brandon Bean discussing their impressive defensive front. We always believe in trying to be strong up front.

We really tried to solidify our O-line. And now just gives us another body. another pass rusher. Protect your quarterback. Get after the other team's QB. We faced Leonard and the Rams, and he's a great player the last three years. He's had close to 30 sacks. Well, we forget, Von Miller was lost last year, so he wasn't around in the playoffs. No, listen, I'm, I think I'd like Buffalo's GM. I like their, there are things I like about Sean McDermott, but it's the third defensive line men they've spent money on. And my takeaway is, who's your number two wide receiver? Um, I, they can't get the old line right. You're not a

Dave Davis guy? He disappeared. He had a rough year. He disappeared. So I thought there was a time was against the Chiefs a couple years. Yeah, the playoff game, he had like a billion yards and touchdowns. Oh my God, they found a number. They found a guy. Then he disappeared. So it's, I've said this about the Steelers. I respect Mike Tomlin. How many years does he get to fix the O line? They spend all their money on defense. How many years can they struggle post-Lavion Bell to get a running game that's consistent? How many years do you get? If Andy Reed, Can solve. I mean, when Sean McVey came to the Rams, their O-line was a mess. They fixed it in a year, Andrew Whitworth. Andy Reed in a year, fixed it. By the way, Kyle Shanahan, get me Trent Williams, fixed it. These offensive coaches very quickly understand the value of the quarterback, weapons, and O line. Five years, Buffalo, they're still adding to the D-line. So last year at this time, it was basically Kansas City and Buffalo. You have put Cincinnati ahead of Buffalo, correct? Absolutely. I like their moves, offensive coach. I like their off. I think they are less.

tone-depth to some of the things that are happening. Tone-depth. Harsh. All right, next story, Justin Herbert. Two seasons left on his rookie deal. But Brandon Staley, the coach said yesterday, negotiations for getting Herbert a new deal are ongoing. Herbert was asked about the negotiations saying, it's out of my control at this point.

The superstar QB led the charges to his first playoff appearance last year. We won't talk about how they collapsed in embarrassing fashion. You and I watch that game at a bar together. Yes. I think I had to leave it half time. You did. You did. You didn't commit to the night.

I left you with the Cougars there. At any rate, it was like 27-0-0, and they ended up losing. Now they got a new O.C. And Kellynne Moore. So the first, so for years and years, last two years, I know the Spanos's. I know I really like the Chargers people, the family. And I know them, and I know the front office guy, Tommy Telesco. I don't know Brandon Staley, but I know Justin Herbert, Oregon Kid.

And the last two years, I have been completely reluctant to embrace them. and I have a lot of friends with Charger tickets, because you can get really great seats to the Chargers, not as much the Rams. This is the year I'm going in. All in. Well, I'm ready to get my heart broken, because that's the only way it works as a Charger fan.

I think this team has a chance to get to the conference championship. I think Kellan Moore is... That's quite a leap, considering he doesn't have a playoff win under his belt. I think Kellan Moore is going to be the secret sauce for this team. I'm so excited to watch the Chargers this show. year. So excited. Chargers or jets? More excited. Chargers. Because I think the jets have, I think the jets, I think you're overselling a little bit of the jets. Okay. Great. All right. Let's move on to the final story. Gino Smith, NFL comeback player the year last season. Um, you know, listen, they, they exceeded all

expectations last year. Gino talked to Albert Breer about how he's always been a leader. So I was leading these guys when I was a backup. Leadership doesn't have a title. You're either a leader or you're not. Leadership to me, it's something I've been about my whole life. I just continued to do the same things. I haven't changed anything. I'm working the same way and I'm going to lead these guys the same way. And obviously there is a difference. I'm not naive. Guys will look at it different. But I think if they see you being the same guy all the time, they respect it a lot more. Let's be real. He was not a leader in New York. We know mouthiness, a teammate punched him out. We've had a quarterback come on this set and said how he showed up to some of the meetings.

Like, Gino, settle down. Okay, you had a great season. You got some money. You got paid. Is Seattle a playoff team next year? I mean, in the NFC, they should be. NFC's garbage. I went and looked at their two deeps when I was out on vacation.

Oh, that's what you were doing in Iceland, looking at the Seahawks, too deep. Well, you get to the hotel. I didn't want to go out at night. I'm just sitting around looking at two deeps. Seattle's got a lot of good players. Now, they're super young. So I always worry about young players should get back. better, but they're really young.

But man, they're, they got a lot of dudes. They don't have any holes anymore. They have one guard spot that's weak. They don't have a real hole in their team. It helps them that Arizona has fallen off a cliff, and the Rams are not good. Although you and I kind of disagree on the Rams. You think the Rams are like 500 or a playoff team? Yeah, 9-8.

I don't know if they're a playoff, but you got to remember. There's going to be seven new playoff teams. Maybe. Maybe they're six. Okay. Or five. Start naming them. Well, we got the Jets.

They're a playoff team. So there's one. There's one. Let's just get them out of the way. Detroit. We agree. Got it. There's two.

Chicago? Oh, come on. Okay, all right. Is Cleveland getting back in there? Oh, in that division? Pittsburgh. Yeah. I don't think they are, but you could argue for that, and it's a reasonable argument.

You might argue the Patriots. No way. No, okay. They don't have enough offense. I'm telling you. Oh, Saints. There's three. Somebody's going to get there

One of those teams is going to get there Washington? I'm just throwing teams at you. Sam Howell? We don't know. He's played one game. You got to give me six new playoff teams. That's why you laugh when I say Houston. Oh, stop it.

You got to have, you got... By the way, I was looking at Houston. First time, not new. The first time head coach. First time offensive coordinator, rookie quarterback. And you think there's going to be something good there? Going to win eight games.

Oh, my gosh. Didn't say play. Alps going to be viable. You know, I'm taking a flight to Vegas after the show, and I'm going to put my mortgage on the under for the Texas because you think they're an eight-win team. Are you crazy? Maybe we should do that tomorrow.

Eight wins? You have to give me. I think there's season winter. How about this? How about that? I just saw this. Uh-oh. Tight-end Dalton Shultz, formerly of the Cowboys,

currently of the Houston Texans, said today after practice. Oh, here we go. C.J. Stroud quote is a baller. after their OTA practice. Now the Dalton Schultz has given him. Did he ever say that about Dak? I never heard the ball or comment about Dak. Look at you stirring the plot here.

Dalton Schultz. C.J. Stroud is a baller. Buy up that stock for the Texans. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. It is, you and I are aligned on the PGA live tour, right?

We're kind of aligned on it. The only thing we're not aligned on? Who, almost didn't get that. Houston Texans. We're just not, we're total. But on the L.A. Rams, dude. PGA. Yeah, yeah. We agree. But you're not a moralist.

It was phony outrage. I just went back and read, I don't want to put these people on blasts. Some of the columns a year ago saying, how distanced themselves from the Saudis and the blood money and a blood brothers and all this stupidness. It's like, my gosh. It's just. Why do we allow our government?

to do things, but we're outraged if our citizens do. You should just stop right there, let the internet folks answer it. Go ahead, answer that. The government can get in bed with Saudi Arabia for eight decades. States, governments, leagues, and individuals can't. I don't get it. The English Premier League, multiple teams owned by, for years, maybe decades, Saudi money. And this is not to say we embrace the Saudi Arabian people or the government.

I'm not saying that. I'm just saying if our government can do deals with them, why can't a golf organization do deals and golfers? That was my question from the beginning. When people get real preachy, what's Phil Mickelson doing right now? Victory lap? A few.

Swimming into Scrooge McDuck style, just a bathtub full of money and laughing with a cigar in his mouth. Well, but Phil Mickelson's argument, remember he moaned, he took shot to the PGA for years. So it's easy to say it was just Phil Mickelson and money. Phil grumbled for a decade about the PGA tour, owning digital rights, not allowing players to make more money and have more options. Phil Mickelson didn't just suddenly sell his soul for the –

Phil complained for a decade. Isn't competition good in any business? Competition makes you raise your level and work your butt off? It used to be that you could be a car dealer and own an NFL or an NBA team. Those days are all over. Those days are. Marge Schott was a car dealer. Those days are all over.

There's no car dealers in the NFL now. This money, these are billion dollar franchises. There are limited numbers of billionaires. And a lot of it is money that you may not approve of. but our government approves of it enough to have relationships with them. So again, I just, there are a lot of things I am and that I'm not. Okay. But I've tried to not be as preachy as I've gotten older.

Maybe it's because I have kids and life becomes very gray, much less black and white when you have kids. And you get older and, you know, maybe you sense your mortality and you just don't want to judge people as harshly. But when I look at governments can do business with people, but I'm supposed to be outraged because Dustin Johnson does? I don't know. To me, that doesn't seem right. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk, featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport, whether you believe in analytics or the I-Test, we've got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the IHartRadio app

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. 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 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. know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. 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 cracks. So I'm sorry, I'm sorry, starting to see 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. Week 9 of USFL kicks off Saturday at noon eastern on Fox as Michigan takes on Pittsburgh. Then the action continues on Sunday as Philly battles New Jersey at 7 p.m. Eastern. Catch every play Saturday and Sunday on Fox. You know, where you and I, we had a very good May on this show. We don't like to talk about the show too much, but we're doing very well on the show. We've had six, seven straight record months for us.

And one of the things I think helps is that Jason and I are friends. We get along. We kind of married kids. We got business stuff. We kind of approach the world the same way. One of the things you and I talk about off the air, and we don't really talk about it on the air, is this like outrage factory in the world.

Everybody's outraged all the time. And I've told my wife this, I'm just not. I couldn't tell you the last time I was outraged, politically sports. So people will be outraged by the PGA and live. Go to their Twitter account. They're outraged 45 times a week. There are just people out there in society. They're outraged.

They're miserable. They're outraged all day, every day. Am I dead inside? I'm not. I don't know the answer to it. But I think what I've, what I've come to terms with is there's, there's just a lot of gray in society, and I can like certain things and be appalled simultaneously with certain things. I don't even know who I'm going to vote for president. I don't like the candidates. One's going to be in their 80s, and one feels extreme. I'm going to have to vote for one. I make sacrifices all the time. That's just part of life. I'm not an outrage guy. I think you can get click.

you can get attention, but you'll find people that are outraged by things. If you go down to 100 tweets, they're outraged 30 times a day. I'm not. You're not an outrage guy. I can get outraged. When Austin Reeves gets disrespect, you get very outraged. At an airport, if, like, people are trying to cut in line or my bag doesn't fit in the overhead bin and someone's trying to pull some chicanery, like that stuff that impacts

me directly, I kind of get upset about. But, like... Well, how upset? I don't get that upset. Like, I haven't been in a fight in a long, long, long. I would hope not. Like college, maybe, you know. That was 20 years ago.

Thank you for making me look old. But, like, yeah, there's no, if you're living your life outraged, you're not enjoying your life because you're worked up and angry all the time for no damn reason. Like, just have fun. I care about my wife. I care of my kids. I love my career. I got a couple good friends.

I'm good. Healthy, happy, and fit. Right? Those are three keys to life. Just be happy. You know, kind of work out. eat right, and work your butt off. Enjoy your job.

Like, we got lucky, though, with our jobs, right? There's a lot of people who do not like their jobs. But there are a lot of people that do, but I am just not somebody that has outraged much. And I've thought about this. I'm like, should I be outraged more? Like, when I watch politics, I can't solve it. I live in California. We're voting Democrat.

It doesn't matter. You live in Texas. You're voting conservative. When I look at political social media, you conservatives realize you're never going to turn a into a conservative, and you liberals realize you're never going to turn a conservative into a liberal. Who are you yelling at? You're not going to change anybody's mind. I'm an independent. I can be, you could swing me either way, but I'm so appalled at the far right and the far left. I'm sick of all of you. But the beauty is in sports, you can impact someone's opinion NFL last season, right? I talked

you into the New York Giants. You did. Like, you were not keen on them and you, I think, talked some people into the Minnesota Vikings. Like, we can do this in sports. We weren't outrage. Wait, we gave data and reason and common sense. So I went heavy Vikings. You went giants. And we were both right. Listen, a lot of my jet stuff is heart overhead, which usually does not work out great in the long run.

Yeah. But like you said, some of the data and the information that you can bring to the table or information you may be gathered from other sources. And they help you get to a certain place. There's not a single political candidate in the world that I agree down the line on. every policy. No, that should be, yeah. Not a single one. If I was president in the way I would I don't agree with a single. There's not a

media, I like Bill Maher. I don't agree with him half of his opinions. He entertains me. Let me ask you this. Could someone convince you that Kyrie Irving is a good fit with the Lakers? Or is your mind 100% made up? No. For one year? No, no, that's not an option. He's not doing that. He wants a four-year deal. Well, I'm not giving him four years.

But again, I can be talked into it. Well, I want to hear LeBron make the case that he wants Kyrie Irving here for the next four years. Because LeBron ain't going to be here for four years. That's the problem, right? He's not sticking around long. To gain visibility and control over your financials, inventory, H.R. E-commerce, and more. Take advantage, special financing offer, no payments or interest six months from NetSuite by Oracle. Just simply go to netsuite.com slash heard. NetSuite.com slash H-E-R-D. Our number three

and a Tuesday is next. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide, not Quite on Humor 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 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 least.

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 a 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.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human