The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD – HOUR 3 – 76ers Are Title Contenders with LeBron

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Colin Cowherd pushes back on the criticisms about the Celtics trading former Finals MVP Jaylen Brown by pointing out Boston has been better and wins game with Brown didn’t play. Plus, Fox Sports Lead Soccer PxP Announcer John Strong joins the show. He and Colin discuss the growth of soccer in the US despite the disappointing loss to Belgium and exit from the World Cup. Colin and Jason write tomorrow's headlines today for this weekend's World Cup quarterfinals action.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Search Joy 101, and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotopje is presented by CVS. I'm Jake Brennan, and on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of, or that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped, Buddy. Listen to Disgraceland on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you give your podcasts.

My first guest is Terence Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin. Have surprises? Many surprises. Welcome to the Sweet 305 podcast where the group check comes to life. What on? You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here we go, hour three. It's a good one. John Strong Fox. World Cup announcer stops by previewing England, Norway, quarterfinal match. That will be just unbelievable. Just unbelievable. I think a lot of you guys are coming around on England. Coming around. Harry Kane, Sir Harry Kane,

Jude Bellingham. I was told this morning Jude Bellingham is such a good thing. looking guy. Kim Kardashian, he's like one of the models for the Kim Kardashian, like underwear or something like that. Like you guys all, you know, skims. Oh, skims. I know what that is. I know what skims are. I may be wearing them. You don't know. That's the mystery of the third hour. You get to the third hour. I may start giving you stuff you don't even want to know about. J-Max beside himself. He didn't know what to make of that information. So the visual of you and skims. Not great on a Friday, big guy. At least I've heard of them. I mean, I'm not that out of touch. So this week, Celtics head coach Joe Missoula, you know, he opened up about the, you know,

the Jalen Brown trade. And one thing we know in America is that we do love our superstars. So whenever a superstar or a star gets traded, you know, the media fans tend to kind of like crazily overreact. And the latest example of this is the former Boston star Jalen Brown. So when Micah Parsons got traded by the Cowboys, I was on an absolute. Island in the American sports media. It was me against the world. I said, Mike is overrated. He is a splash player, bad against the run, disappeared in playoff games.

He will help Green Bay, who will lead games late. But Dallas will have flexibility, and in one year, see where Dallas is. Well, it's one year later. I love Dallas's defense going into the preseason. I love it. Between all the moves they've made, Caleb Downs, defensive front. I think Dallas right now, today. Micah's not even going to play in September.

I would take Dallas's defense early in the season and maybe late, and I was on an island. Oh, the cowboys will disintegrate. No, defense is better. They were offered flexibility. The lucidontage trade. Oh, boy, Dallas got fleeced, and I will acknowledge that they didn't get enough in return. but I warned you, I said he doesn't equal anything. He's a better Carmelo.

No defense. Conditioning and health issues are real. He will age very, very quickly. And even last year in the playoffs, it's 41-year-old LeBron James that was healthy and leading them over Houston. Where was Luca hurt again? And even despite the moves this off season, they're over, under will go down because LeBron's gone.

even with roster improvements. Here we are with Jalen Brown. So Micah was a great but flawed star. Luca was a great but flawed star. You didn't want to talk about the floss. Jalen Brown is great but a totally flawed star. He's not a top 20 player analytically, and that's what drives the bus for the Celtics in the league.

Since he arrived, since he has arrived, the Celtics have a higher winning percentage when he doesn't play. I'm not making that up. More Tatum, less Brown, better the Celtics are. And now he was Twitch streaming, deteriorating relationships, getting more vocal. That stuff matters. Same thing kind of with Micah. So Micah, Luca, and Jalen Brown, I will again be in an island.

I think the Celtics will be better next year. In fact, look at these numbers. Last year, the Celtics were nine and two when Jalen Brown didn't play. Well, Colin, that is a one-year sample. Okay, let's go to the year before. Oh, there were 15 and 4 when Jalen Brown didn't play. Oh, okay, what about the title year? They were 12 and 0 when Jalen Brown didn't play in the regular season.

The point differential last year, nine points better when Jalen Brown didn't play. Offensive, defensive net ratings. better last year when he didn't play. Go to his entire career. They win more games when Brown's not playing. Micah, great talent, flawed superstar. Luca, great talent, flawed superstar. Jalen Brown, great talent.

Guy's going to make the Hall of Fame, flawed superstar. You did it with Micah. The data's all in front of you. You did it with Luca. The data was all in front of you, and you're doing it with Jalen Brown. Paul George is a much better teammate with Tatum analytically. He plays off ball.

He's a better pure shooter. He's money from three. And they'll have more flexibility because a year in, they'll be able to move off the deal if they want to. Did you watch Paul George against the Celtics in the playoffs? When he was shooting 55% from three was absolutely efficient and a dog defensively. So you did it with Micah. You did it with Luca.

very few stars change a franchise. Messy does. Mahomes does. Brady does. LeBron and his prime did. Curry does. Micah is just a great athlete. Luca is a great basketball player.

Score. Jalen Brown is a great athlete. Really, really good player gives you a bunch of points. But he dribbles the air out of the ball. And every single number is right there. there for the taking. They're better when he doesn't play. Paul George much better fit. Now, how many games is Paul George going to play? I don't know. But if he gets to 54 games, remember, last year and Tatum was hurt most of the year, the Celtics were nine and two when

Brown didn't play. And that was often, Tatum wasn't there either. Remember, the middle and the bottom of the NBA is awful. The Celtics with their coaching, depth, formula, and system, last year there were there were games where there was no brown or tatum and they were winning overvalue the start in fact i would argue more often what you see is a great coach leaves an organization replaces them with a stiff and that team bottoms out okay so the question is where is lebron james going to know listen let's be let's be honest about this. Philadelphia is the best chance for him to win a bunch of games. I told you yesterday, if you start putting all those players in there with, and again, well, I thought you didn't like

Jalen Brown. I think Jalen Brown, LeB, Edgcombe, Maxie is just too much talent in the East, not to win a bunch of games. Okay, do I think it's going to be difficult because I think Brown and Maxie and Mb, they all want to be number ones? That's why I actually think LeBron, he's a superstar added to this team makes them better than if it was just Jalen Brown. I think LeBron would solve some close game issues, some distribution issues, because he just got such a high IQ, EQ in big games. But this whole thing about Cleveland, well, I mean, it's where the heart is. No, it's not.

He's bailed on him twice. He's broke up with this girlfriend twice. Stop telling him, oh, my God, he loves Cleveland. Not that much. Not that much. Oh, but it'll feel so good. What losing to the Knicks by 20 points a game in the playoffs will feel good because LeBron will make you a worst defensive team. Slowest player in the NBA last year was James Harden. He's a calf. You know the second slowest player? LeBron James if he goes to Cleveland.

They'll be a worst team in terms defensively and they weren't very good last year, even with rim protection. Now, will LeBron make you better in close games? Yes, Cleveland was lousy in close games. But against the Knicks, the average margin of victory was 20 points. The Knicks would blow you out with LeBron. You're going to be slower. You're going to be worse defensively. Hardin doesn't defend. Donovan Mitchell's mediocre.

LeBron doesn't care anymore about that side. You have decent rim protection, but LeBron will absolutely make you slower. Slow is not winning in the NBA. Youth, speed, athleticism is. So this whole idea about, like, Philadelphia has youth, has size, has speed, speed. You can mask some of LeBron's issues in Philly because Brown can move, Edgecombe can move, Maxie can move. They've got youth and speed and athleticism. Cleveland's slow. LeBron will solve the close game situation, but you're not going to be in close games against

better teams because you're going to be slow and not very good defensively. So Channing Fry is with me. This whole thing about, to me it's all about this. If he goes to Cleveland, and that's for comfort. If he goes to Golden State, that's camaraderie with Steph and Draymond Green. Draymond and him are very close. If he goes to Philadelphia, that's contention. And I keep hearing, all he cares about is fun. Well, what's more fun than beating the brakes off people by 20 points?

You know what's not fun? Watching somebody fly by James Hardin and dunk and you lose by 17. That's not fun. But all my friends are in Cleveland. Are they on the floor? can they defend better than Hardin? Okay. And by the way, during a regular season,

how often do you see your buddies? You're on the road all the time. You're training all the time. So Channing Fry and I believe the same thing is LeBron will make the calves better in some close game situations, but the chemistry was bad last year, the defense was mediocre. Here's Channing.

Cleveland got too many what-ifs now. After seeing what I saw, like 52-year-old LeBron, ain't going to saw them issues. They got soul issues. They got like, like, I don't like you issues. What happened if, like, let's say Braun goes there. And how does he fix anything?

He doesn't fix the guys liking each other. He doesn't fix the continuity of the game. He, again, I think he would fit, fix end-of-game situations. It's also interesting here. LeBron's really bright. He really gets basketball. He, because I think Philadelphia is the place to go. I would love to hear LeBron's opinion on Jalen Brown, Maxie, MBEed, and Edgecombe,

because I know LeBron's thinking, that's more talented than Cleveland. But what is LeBron's opinion on Jalen Brown as a teammate? Because LeBron pays attention to analytics. I remember hearing a story years ago, and I won't name the player, but there was a player in the NBA that his camp wanted LeBron's camp like to recruit him. And LeBron, I heard this through LeBron's people. LeBron's people are like, you know, this player's kind of a knucklehead and he's kind of immature and he's not a good teammate.

And that other player who was kind of a star, they kind of wanted to join forces. And LeBron was like, no. Like LeBron knows who's good analytically, who defends. Like LeBron knows the game. Like LeBron was always a huge fan of Bosch or a Kevin Love, J.R. Smith. I mean, they've become his good friends. Like LeBron, the guys LeBron likes, LeBron respects their game. So it would be interesting if LeBron, I'd love to sit down like and just, hey, what do you think of that Philadelphia?

Because I know he looked at it and goes, those are good players. But that doesn't mean it's a great team. Politics breaks all that down. 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, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straightfire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day.

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I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, Wolf Parades, leave in anything and tattoos all the things she said and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeart Radio, crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J.

And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments of the moment. to take over your entire timeline. In the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week.

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Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together. We're going to have these meaningful conversations. with the world's most fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer,

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Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My first guest is Harris Houghton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin, Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited for it. On the bouncy bed.

You have surprises. Many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305, where the group chat comes to life. What a B. It's like a way to say like, oh, my God, oh, my friend, hello,

oh, my brother. What are! Look, I never have I've ever been with my children, my children, I know. I'm so,

oh, that's my amante. That's the novellable. You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's really, there's a woman. There's no one that you

say, me would like to collaborate with this person. This is Sweet 305. Listen to Sweet 305, with Lely Pons as part of my Cultura podcast network on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Collins Soccer Spotlight.

It's brought to you by Haleyon, the official partner of U.S. soccer, and the maker of Sensadine, Tom's Volteran, Advil, and Centrum, the brands behind your everyday wellness wins. Because every goal starts with an assist, on and off the field. Learn more at Haleonassist.com slash iHard. So much fun. John's going to be calling England, Norway, tomorrow. I like England. I think most people do.

I got to tell you, England winning it Aztec, it blew me away. That's tomorrow what if I blew me away. Because Mexico is all in on soccer. They spend the money on it, and they care and they're good. And Aztec is amazing. Oh, so, you know, I want to talk England for a second. I've been saying every four years we melt down. And I'm like, folks, England invented it.

They've got the best league and they haven't won in 60 years. This stuff is hard. I will tell you, though, I look at Fray. and I look at England, and I, those are, they look different. Now, Norway is great, but they're led by one star. Argentina has a star, but I mean, that's an old roster. They're very much led by Messi. You're doing the France game.

Let's just, let's just acknowledge they're the best. Is there a team that you've done that you watch and go, okay, they could give France problems? I think Argentina is the best answer, Colin. And it's in two different ways because France have a gear that they can hit that I don't think anyone else can match. They have a top gear that no one else has. But Argentina have shown that they are experts in finding ways not to lose. You know, Cape Verde's throwing punches, no problem. Egypt's up 2-0, no problem.

They're going to find a way. And that's where it would surprise me 0% if we end up with a rematch of the last final. And it becomes fascinating because that was a final, which was exactly that. France hit the extra gear to come from behind, but Argentina said, we're not going to be beat today, and it came down to penalties. So,

you know, in saying that, I think there are a number of teams. If anyone knows how to beat France, by the way, it's Spain. They've beaten France at high-profile games each of the last two summers.

And, you know, we'll see speaking Belgium in a little bit. That could be France's opponent in the semifinal. So, you know, at the end of the day, we draw very broad conclusions about this stuff.

And you understand this as well as anyone. it's a game and it's once every four years and stuff happens in that game. But there was a specialness to France. And I think they showed it yesterday. It wasn't spectacular, but they did what they had to do. They hit their extra gear. Okay, job done. On to the next one.

Yeah, Spain controls possession. I think they have the second highest possession in the World Cup. So if you can keep the ball away from France, at least you limit their opportunities. I mean, that feels like a decent matchup to me. It is, you know, it's interesting. interesting when you look at the United States. You know, I said, I said this after the match. If we would have had our typical Premier League goalie, we lose two to one. We gave up a couple of really bad goals. We knew going in 38-year-old Timmy, we, that was the weakness. That's always been

our strength. So my takeaway was we are better dribbling, passing, fluidity were better. We're not great at goal and we were exposed. If we lost to Belgium 2-1, we would have said, this is a damn good World Cup. Instead, we were humiliated in the last 35 minutes, and Americans do not like to be humiliated. So I took a very positive vibe as folks. We've always had these in Casey Keller and Tim Howard. We've had these incredible goalies.

And we had a young guy that's an MLS goalie to this point in his career. Are you as optimistic in terms of, you know what, Belgium would have beaten us, but it was the way they beat us that really stings for American fans. I think that last part is absolutely the most important thing. It wasn't just the loss. It was the manner of the loss. And listen, to your point, if not for Tim Howard's record-setting heroics in 2014, the U.S. gets blown out of that game just as badly as they got blown out in the end by Belgium on Monday night.

I mean, that's, I think that's what's tough is that the U.S. team that played Belgium looked unrecognizable as compared to the U.S. team that had played the prior four games. as compared to the U.S. team that showed a different side of themselves against Bosnia and Herzegovina after the red card. And it's like, and it was from the opening 30 seconds. I mean, I've said to people that within within one minute of kickoff against Belgium, I had alarm bells ringing in my head. Something's wrong here.

Something's off. And I think that'll be the challenge going forward is to figure out what that was and how do you fix that so it doesn't happen again in four years. But it was tough. I mean, Colin, you understand as well. anyone. The arc of soccer in this country, right? And sort of what soccer is and where it's been and how it compares to other sports. We had 41 million American people watching when there was that horrific series of errors that led to the third Belgian goal. That to me is incredible and is

depressing simultaneously. That's what people saw and what they took away. But absolutely, there was something there for a moment with that team, the way they were playing, the way their country was engaged. How do we bottle that? How do we sustain that? How do we grow that going forward? What I don't want to have happen is the way that it ended against Belgium to overshadow

all of the incredible things that the prior four games were in the history of American men's soccer. That was incredible. It's just a shame that so many individuals picked that moment to have the worst game they've maybe ever had playing for the U.S. So all four of the top

teams and the FIFA rankings are still alive. France, Argentina, England, Spain. We were about 16th, 17th, and I always feel that's kind of the range we're in. I feel Mexico, depending on where we play. If we play it as teca, we struggle. If we play at home, we have a better chance,

although their fans travel so well. Next World Cup, we bring the guys back. I imagine we'll upgrade on the back end and a goalie. I think if you go into a World Cup top 12, you're a knockout stage winner, at least one time. Is there a feeling within USA soccer that the neck will solve our back end issues and goal issues? We generally do. We've been very strong there in my lifetime.

Is within the organization, within the federation, is there a feeling we can solve some of our issues in four years? I think there's a general feeling of progression across the board. I think what's tough calling in the answer to that question is that quite literally, everything over the last eight and a half years has been geared towards this moment. You know, ever since they failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and then six months later knew they'd be hosting this one. It was like everything was pointed towards this. And so there is an element now of, okay, what next? What now? Who's the coach going to be? Who's making that decision? What does the team look like in four years? What does the team even look like in November

when they retake the field for competitive games that will have on Fox Sports, the Conca Cat Nation's League? That's what fascinates me now is you've expended so much time and energy focused on this moment. And now it's over. And this is another kind of opportunity to look at it and go, okay, how do we build? Do you do the same thing as you did eight years ago? And you kind of just let's fast track some of the young kids. You know, what's MLS's role in that? Are we still trying to push our young players over to Europe as fast as possible?

Is Mauricio Poititino the right guy to continue? Does he want to continue as coach? we were always going to face this sort of bleak moment of retrospection. And like we said, it's amplified by the manner in which they lost to Belgium. But as I said before, I don't want what happened precisely Monday night to overshadow all of the really good things that are in the potential for this team. If you compare it to where we were eight years ago, if you compare this team to what it was a year ago, it's in a great spot.

It's going forward. But yeah, it's really, really hard to crack into that top 10 globally. Few nations bust into the top 10. It's not like college football where Indiana can buy their way into a national title. And I'm not being disrespectful to Indiana. The dynamics are different. You don't get transfers international soccer. You are what you are.

Let's end with this because you're doing the England-Norway game. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to give you a theory. That's something that it will also help. Now, it may not help in four years, but it will help soccer going forward as Erling Hall. Holland, he's us. Big, strong athlete who looks like a college football tight end. And there is going to be kids. I don't know how many that are going to look at him and think, yeah, I'm bigger than the kids.

And you know what? I got a bad shoulder. I got tackled in football. I don't play soccer. That Erling Holland has a really cool American vibe. Like, I've had more people come up and they're like, man, when are we going to find our Erling Holland? Nobody comes up to me in the street and goes, when are we going to find our Mbap?

We're like, yeah, we're never going to have that or messy. But Erling Holland is like, I've seen him. He plays a tight end for the Raiders. There is something about him. His size, he's good technically. He's not messy. There is something about him that speaks to me when I watch. And I think, and what if one of our six, five guys played soccer?

We had Walker Zimmerman for a while, by the way. We've had tall, lanky guys. I don't know. You're kind of taking on Erling Holland. I love Erling Holland. He's a fascinating player. Like from an on-field standpoint, he's big, he's strong. I think, yeah, he's better technically than he gets credit for because he's just such a big dude and he slam dunks on defenders.

His personality is wonderful. He's come out of his shell a bit this summer in the United States. He's loving being here. They've become the darlings. I've heard a lot of that too of people sort of loving this Norway team. Holland is very sort of Scandinavian blunt, where he's, like, yeah, we're probably not going to win the World Cup. Who cares? We're going to have fun and do our thing.

They're dangerous to England tomorrow. Because, yes, England, that was the best England performance, maybe in 40 years to beat Mexico. Yeah. They're exhausted, Colin. They just survived two miles in elevation. It's brutally hot and humid here in Miami. It's a five o'clock kickoff.

I think England are physically going to be in a tough spot. This could be a three to two or four to three game because I think these guys are a bit smoke. So I'm loving what Norway is doing. and to your point, we have 100 Erling Hollins. They're just choosing to play basketball or football or hockey instead of soccer. That's always been the thing is can we get young kids to think, actually no, I think it'd be cooler to be a soccer store.

If we can do that, now we're in business. John Strong, it's been so much fun. I mean, I hate to say this, but all the right teams are winning. England, Spain, I mean, France, Argentina, and we lasted, you know, a while. John crush it tomorrow. England and Norway, tomorrow, 5 Eastern on Fox, and enjoy that air conditioning in that Miami hotel room. It'll be hot out there tomorrow.

Love it, Colin. Thank you. All right, John Strong, the great John Strong. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Let's continue the World Cup festivities, Colin. Argentina against Switzerland tomorrow.

Obviously, an enormous game. Argentina has not looked particularly sharp, but they're able to get by Cape Verde and then, of course, Egypt. Switzerland is the toughest opponent, obviously, they've faced in this tournament. And the Swiss manager says this is a massive moment for the country. And foolishly, in my opinion, added, the Argentinians look a little vulnerable. I don't know why you'd say that about the defending champs who have the best player on the planet. Switzerland is a considerable underdog. You know how in the NFL sometimes you get like one of these, like, 85,

percent of the betting public is on the bears or whatever. This is probably going to be close to 90 percent on Argentina. Everybody's going to be backing them. Is there a world where Switzerland can pull the upset here? Well, they'll get real close and then VAR will step in to take it away. I don't know. It feels like Argentina is going to figure out a way to win. But, you know, Switzerland's one of those.

It's just really a solid. It's a solid federation. it's a solid, you know, franchise. Like every time Switzerland always feels like, I don't know, I would guess there are FIFA rankings like 13 or 12 or 9 or something. They're always really solid. They've made the quarters three or four times. I think they've made five or six straight World Cups. I think of Switzerland, I think of just a really well-run organization that's always viable.

But it has lacked the superstar kind of finisher maybe of a France or an Argentina or Spain or a Portugal. And now, Zach, our producer, is reminding me where the game is, Colin. It happens to be in Kansas City. Of course, the home of Mahomes and Reid. And, oh, by the way, there's a lot of people upset online thinking FIFA's rigging this thing for Argentina and Messi. It's almost like, you know, the chiefs at home. Do they get all the calls always, Colin? Or is that just every Sunday, Monday and Thursday?

The Swiss are 14th, according to the FIFA rankings. and the FIFA rankings in this tournament have been pretty darn spot on. So, they're, they're, Swiss is slightly better than us. And that's what it feels like to me. Swiss is a little bit better than us. Yeah, we're not beating Argentina. Better in goal for sure. All right, let's move back to the NBA because you can't stop talking about this

Jalen Brown trade. People are still in shock. And that includes Kevin Garnett, the Minnesota Timberwolf slash Boston Celtic. And Kevin Garnett has chimed in on this. I'm a little taken aback by this comment. On the Brown Trade, here's KG. I think Boston's gonna look back on this. It's like when KD left Golden State,

and then he turned around like, what the fuck? Like, there's one of the moments where you don't break a great thing up. Like, it's hard to get that mix perfect like that. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Especially for all y'all using Jiffy. You know, if y'all ain't using that real,

if y'all throwing Jiffy in there, it's going to be jiffy. It ain't that real coin mill. When you go to lock, it ain't really lock it. You know what I'm saying? If you know cornbread, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, all cornbread.

Cornbread lovers know what I'm saying. But, yeah, man, I hate, I ain't going to front. I do not, yeah, I ain't like the trade. I ain't even going to front, man. I wanted J.B., to retire as a Celtic. Yeah, he, he, the Jiffie cornbread is spectacular. I'm sure you've had it from the grocery store. But in regards to this trade, this idea of I wanted him to retire as a Celtic,

I feel like that's, that's from a bygone era. This whole retire as a, I mean, I know it was fun in the 80s, you know. But like, remember, guys, Michael Jordan, his last game was with the Wizards. Yeah. Okay? This idea that Jalen Brown was going to stay with the Celtics. I mean, even Kobe was rumored to be going to the Bulls. I mean, Jeter, Elway, Kobe.

It feels like you can count on one hand the legends that Brady ended up leaving. Joe Montana. Joe Montana. Kansas City, you know? I mean, again, Jeter Kobe, B. Jeter, Kobe, Elway. Steph, obviously, will, I would imagine retire. but it's it's infrequent.

Yeah, and I don't, you know, I know that KG doesn't love to talk salary cap, but it's just it would have been impossible to keep Brown and Tatum together beyond these contracts. It would have been impossible. It would have been possible if they were great together. They're not. One's a bad analytic player. One's much better. And they're, you know, Brown didn't want to step back and get, you know, Tatum to take over the offense.

Like, you could make, you can make two expensive stars. work. They have to be totally complimentary. If LeBron was in his prime and played great defense, he and Luca would be really good together. When LeBron was a dominant defensive player, old LeBron and Luca is not complimentary. Austin Reeves and Luca is not really complimentary. So you can have too expensive guys, but they've got to solve the other's weakness. And Brown wants the ball in his hands too much. And that Tatum should have the ball in his hands 35% of the time.

And if Brown plays with him, then he can't. Yeah. Final story, Colin, I know you've been hot on how hot college basketball is. Huge news in the sport, Colin. Two 17-year-olds, the best U.S. 17-year-old and the best European 17-year-old, both just committed to college basketball. And how about this? They signed two-year NIL deals.

Now, maybe they transfer after a year, but they will be in college basketball for two years. One of them is Marcus Spears, your former colleague's son at ESPN. And the other is Nicola Kushturaza. He's going to UCLA. Colin, rumored to be a two-year, $12 million NIL deal. Well, we know from Michigan it matters. If you can, UCLA is going to be really good. So you can complain all you want about it,

but I think this is what I love about the NIL. Young men staying for two years minimum with excellent college coaches, better than G-League coaches, making money, but also playing in the college game where the environments in college are much similar to the NBA. G League and the NBA are not the same sport. Playing at Michigan State going on the road. Playing at Illinois, planet Kentucky,

playing at Arkansas, all these schools. That's like the NBA. Like pressure, loud, can't hear screaming. Like college basketball has been demonized forever by the NBA. Not anymore. Look at all the stuff. Look at all these G-leaguers. They all go, oh, they're unbelievable.

Name a G-league star in the NBA. There's not one. Yeah, it's tough. You had a great stat that the best European players are now leaving their academies and coming to the U.S. because they can make money in college basketball. NIL has hurt the European academy system. It's absolutely dinged it.

No question. You don't want to go overseas and we'll give you $4 million. Play for us. That's more money than you're going to make overseas. I mean, Colin, college. If you could buy a stock, In a sport, obviously soccer Coming off to a great buy.

College basketball right now is on fire. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together.

I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, wolf parades, I'll believe in anything, and tattoos all the things she said and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeart Radio, crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J.

And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together in IHeart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments to take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week we're breaking down the biggest stories

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Because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan, You're just getting into the game. There's a seat for you right here. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby.

Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together. We're going to have these meaningful conversations. with the world's most fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer,

and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartum depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. Olympic champ Sean Johnson revealed why she had no choice but to be a gymnast. There was something about gymnastics that was intoxicating to me. It's given me a belief that we all have. have one of those treasures inside of us. We just have to find it.

Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My first guest is Paris Houghton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin, Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited. On the bouncy bed. You have surprises? Many surprises.

Welcome to Sweet 305, where the group chat comes to life. What a f. It's like a way to say like, oh, my God, hello, my friend, hello, hello, what are! Look, I never have

I've ever had to with my kids, my my wife, uf oof, that's, that's

the only person I know that loves Yellow Starburst islamated and there's someone you say, I'd like to

collaborate with this person This is Sweet 305 Pons as part of my Cultur Podcast Network on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The World Cup continues in mere minutes following our show. After this weekend, we'll be down to four teams. I got a feeling we got an upset on the horizon.

Well, as always, we call it tomorrow's headlines today. Belgium, Spain on Fox. What do you make of it? I was pretty confident in Spain most of this week, but Colin, Belgium just released their starting lineup, you know, the game starts in 15 minutes. And there are some changes. So tread cautiously here, folks.

The headline for Spain Belgium will be the Yamal Mahal, 19th wonder of the world. I have Spain winning this, but Colin, some Spain fans right now are a little nervous about this match, because as you said, there hasn't been an upset yet. Obviously, we're just starting the quarter final. This is it. And a lot of people like the favorites, but Spain's offense can be wonky, to borrow your word. And if you're looking for Belgium, they've been a totally different team since that Senegal game.

They're down to nothing with like five minutes left. And then they go bang, bang, and win. And then they smash us for one in a game that was never competitive. Are they surging at the right time? Kevin DeBrona is penciled in. He didn't even play against us. They're legit. Maybe the best player in Belgium history did not play against us.

He's starting today. I don't know. I like Spain. And Yamal has to show up, Colin. You know, we talk about Pulisic, not delivering. Yamal's been a bit of a disappointment. Did that fair to say? Well, he's 18, so I'll give him a little bit of pass.

He's a kid. A little pass, yeah. Tomorrow's headlines today. Can't wait for this one. England, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham against Norway. Yeah, I'll probably be texting you about this because I love one side here. I do like Holland a lot, but the headline for England, Norway will be. Holland Oates, you're out of touch.

I'm out of time. There's an 80s banger for you. I got England winning this one. I love me some Hall announced, by the way. Erling Holland should be able to, you know, do some damage against an England defense that looked rickety, okay, against Mexico. Yeah, it's a little shaky on the back end. They got to outscore you.

Yeah. And also, they have the right back with a red card two-game suspension. This will be a big one for, I believe, Harry Kane. He's the guy to watch here. We saw Bellingham dominate against Mexico. They did load up on Kane and left Bellingham some room. So what does Norway do? Do they pick?

It's like a pick your poison. You know, do you want to stop Jude Bellingham or do you want to stop? Kane, you can't stop both of them. There is the young kid Gordon, who was phenomenal. He is so fast on the outside. I think he could be a factor. So I'll go England. I think this one will be high scoring, Colin.

I'll go 3 to England and they advance against Norway. I agree. tomorrow's headlines today, favored Argentina and the Swiss. Will the chocolate melt in Kansas City tomorrow on Fox? I got a buddy in Switzerland right now. He's looking at watches for me. I was like, hey, Switzerland, they do watch as well.

What they don't do is beat Argentina. The headline for Argentina versus Switzerland will be the A, Argentina. Swiss Miss again. I'll go with Messi and company. But, Colin, this is a defending champ that they've been on the ropes twice now against Cape Verde and Egypt. And there's a weird momentum gaining.

It could be an online thing, but I think also it's transitioning in person. You know, if this game's close late, I think the crowd just goes fully behind Switzerland here. Honestly, there's a lot of dislike for this Argentina team. I saw some stats that they have somehow committed the fewest fouls. You know, there's some referee stuff going on. This team has a lot of heart. Obviously, Enzo Martinez is there with the game winner against. Egypt. I don't know how you stop

messy. That's the problem. You know, he just literally put them on his back. He said, guys, let's go. And he's the greatest of all time. So I'll go Argentina against Switzerland in a game closer than the experts think. By the way, if you have Google Maps, look up Nestle and Switzerland and their campus, the chocolate reference, you are right.

Great food country, Switzerland. They get chocolate right. Tomorrow's headlines today. Who's going to be the winner of the Golden Boot? Yeah. So as of now, It's Messi and Mbapé on top, right? And everybody's going to. Ambapet was a favorite coming in.

Holland is third, and then Harry Kane is right behind him. The headline for the Golden Boot winner will be in like a halam, out like a Lionel. Kane reigns. I think Harry Kane, he's my pick, Colin. I think England's going to the final, and I think they're going to need Kane to deliver. This is a bit of a long shot, but he's going to score all the PKK. He's so good. No stutter step.

from Harry Kane. He's just a killer. And I do think when they advance and then they beat Argentina, you get three games. I think Kane will pass everyone. And I think he'll steal the golden boot. Remember, he won it in 2018. And as you see his P.K. kicks here. Colin, he is so lethal and confident. By the way, if you read about, you want to spend some time reading about Harry Kane.

He's just an awesome guy. His story is tremendous. Didn't they have high school sweetheart? High school sweetheart? By the way, he started out like in the EPL and like couldn't. hack it. And they were like, we're going to bounce you around some, some second division teams. He's bouncing around. And then Harry Kane just took over. He's like, no ego on this guy. Just a great story, a true underdog, easy guy to root for. I'm back in England and King.

I think England's easy to root for. Raise a pint. Finally, tomorrow's headlines today. We think it's Cleveland, right? Yeah. What's the headline for the King, the chosen one, LeBron next year? You know, I think I saw a sign outside days in a row. We've talked about LeBron James on the show, and it's something like 297. He's, until he picks, we're going to be talking about him. And when he does pick, it's going to continue. The headline for LeBron James this season will be from La La Land to Lili Land.

King and Queen returned to their Cleavedom. LeBron, he's going back to Cleveland. I know you think Philly would make a great fit. I see this golden state. I'm going to call it nonsense because I, as I said the last couple of days, I just don't see that happening. So I think Cleveland makes sense. Maybe you can go home for the second time.

I don't think they're going to win a title. And I will just say this. I know Hardin opted out and they got some wink, handshake deal with him to return. But I'm just telling you, I don't see LeBron returning for like $4 million, Colin. He's just not going to do that when Max Trues is at 15. So somebody's going to get screwed here. It might be James Hardin. Would you be totally against them saying,

James Hardin, thank you for your service. You opted out. Good luck. We're going to get to get the LeBron and pay it 20 million a year. I think Hardin's the slowest player in the league and gets in the way. If you give me Donovan, LeBron, Jared Allen, Mobley, that's a team that'll win a playoffs. And then you figure out, find a defender on the wing, a Derek Jones type. I think Hardin will get in the way in this team.

I think LeBron is one of the. slower players in the league. Hardin is the slowest player in league. Let's not kid ourselves here. You put Hardin on playoff teams, what's the answer? It's like been bad forever. He doesn't deliver in the postseason LeBron. I mean, hell, LeBron led the Lakers

over the Rockets. By himself. Austin Reeves and Luca. I mean, again, he's just unbelievable talent. The Cleveland thing will be interesting. Who do you think has the better lineup if LeBron goes to Cleveland? The Knicks or the Cavs? Nicks. Fits better.

better defensively. Now, losing Mitchell Robbins and Hertz, they pick up Andre Drummond, who kind of feels a little washed. No, Knicks. I think the Knicks have a really good roster. O.G.'s great. Bridges played well.

Brunson, obviously. But I don't know if they'll have the hunger that the calves have, right? The calves are really, hey, we got swept, we got embarrassed. I've never bought into this Cleveland group. I just don't buy it. I think they have a lot of components,

but I think, listen, LeBron at this point, he just, I think Philadelphia is the play, but he probably doesn't care about that. I mean, he's not like, where I'll defend LeBron are all athletes is when they go, oh, they took the easy way. What's wrong with that? I mean, by the way, you see how many people play the lottery? Isn't that the easy way to get rich? I mean, there's, there's hard ways to get rich. And then there's easy ways.

You scratch a ticket and you win. Like, what's wrong with people playing lottery? Well, what's wrong with the easy way? stupid tax. I mean, come on. The lottery is a waste of time. That being said, I think the easy way out is the smart way out, right? Is that the smart move? Do you? Take the easy way out? Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, I just, I don't know. The people that love LeBron will still love him. The people that are critics will still be critics. Nobody's so it doesn't really matter what he does. You know, the Lakers didn't want to sign him. So if you don't want to sign me as a broadcaster,

than I have my choice. I'm not going to go to a lesser company. I would go to the best company that offered me a job. If somebody decides, Colin, you've been great. We're moving on. You're getting old. Well, it's like, what should I do? Start from the ground up or go to a, you know,

go to a legitimately capable competitive company. Like, I don't understand why athletes get punished because they want to join. I mean, high schoolers. Where do they go? How come that great European player went to UCLA? It's a top 15 program. Why do they go to Arizona? Kentucky.

Why do they go to Yukon? Because you're playing with other great players. We never criticize a kid for picking Ohio State and football or Georgia. But you had a pro athlete at the end's like, you know, I want to play with good guys. I want to play with guys. I don't know, especially basketball players. We don't care if baseball players do it or football players. Yeah.

What's up, fam, it's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from together. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game-changing performances to culture-shifting conversations, we'll give you our takes, our debates, and a few laughs along the way.

Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Joy is essential, and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101.

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These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of or that time blondeie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bundy. Listen to Disgraceland on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My first guest is Karatth Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin.

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