The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD – HOUR 3 – Yamal v Mbappe, Kane v Messi, Derek Jeter: ABS Making Baseball Better

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

Hall of Famer Derek Jeter joins the show to talk about the Yankees contending in the AL despite injuries to Aaron Judge & why ABS has improved baseball.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3-Eastern 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.

Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All-Star game coming up Tuesday. Jacob Mizorowski for Milwaukee clock this year throwing 105.5, which is not an oldie station in Las Vegas. It's how fast the ball was going. He's not playing in the All-Star game. That is freaking gas. I can remember it being a kid.

My favorite team in the 70s was Don Gullet and the Cincinnati Reds. And they had a staff of a bunch of breaking ball pitchers and Clay Carroll and Fred Norman and Jack Billingham and J. Maxwell in his eyes. but they had a guy named Don Gullet. Don Gullet through 95. That was gas. Everybody throws like 93 now. Everybody throws 93. 105.

I went and sat in a batting cage once, and I cranked it up to 80. And I was fouling stuff off, and I felt so alpha. I honestly felt like Greg Lazinski or Mike Schmidt. I was like, Dave Parker. I was like, man, I just missed that puppy. I was going to pull that thing into left field. 105. So that would be 35 miles an hour faster than the 80 miles an hour I fast.

I faced in a batting cage. And I knew where that ball was going and it made me nervous. 1.5. You know, I was a played Little League. I had a pretty good slitty. But not 105. Not 105. J. Mack with the news.

This is the herd line news. For Seamer, you know. Hold on a slitty gullet. What do we do it? I don't even know what? these words mean. When I hear Gullin, I think of that karate chop and wrestling back in the day. You just karate chop someone in the neck. Oh, they're down. But yeah, anyway, let's go to the World Cup, Colin. Spain versus France. This one is tomorrow on Fox. And La Mignon Mall, talking a little

trash, maybe. If France should fear anyone, it's us. Now, a lot of this has to do with Spain beating France in their last two meetings. And just, we've been talking about this. For the record, this is with a full strength or nearly full strength France featuring Mbapé. And again, Spain's style heavy on possession is the way to beat France. It doesn't guarantee anything. You've got to play a little keep away from then. You have to have the technical skill in the athleticism and speed to play a little keep away from France. Spain can do it, but everybody knows that's the way to beat France.

It hasn't helped so far. It's interesting. this is your classic NFL battle, offense versus defense, right? And usually people like to bet offense. Colin, I saw one stat, 79% of the bets are on France. And the line is not moving. What does that tell you, my friend? I think we could see an upset here.

And really, it's win-win for everybody. You get Mbapé, Olise, Dembele, or you get Laminia Mall. Who? Yeah, kind of. I don't want to say he's been underwhelming because he's a teenager. He's 18. I think he just turned 19, maybe today, or yes. yesterday, whatever it was.

But I need to see a little more from the young fellow, okay? If you're being called one of the best players in the world, I need to see a little more. This could be the game he takes over. I think I'm picking Spain in this one, Colin. Yeah, he hasn't been bad. We're just waiting for him to, you know, Messi's been so good. And Kane and Bellingham have been so good. Like there's a certain bar.

It's not like he's been bad. Yeah, it's not like he's been Christian Pulisic, okay, against Belgium. We're not talking that level bad. Sorry, Christian. I just had to speak some facts. All right, Colin, let's move. on to the next story, and that's NBA Summer League. And normally I would be so jazzed for the Summer League, but it's a World Cup summer.

Now, you may have missed this Friday, but Caleb Wilson went head to head with Mr. Boozer. And again, remember, this happened in college. Wilson got the better of him. Caleb Wilson dropped 35 points, a record for his Summer League debut for a rookie. He had seven threes. Yeah, now, he didn't shoot a lot of threes in college. So, you know, college is run by the coach. NBA's run by the players.

So, you know, that wasn't North Carolina's offense. I'm not going to, but he came out of chucking threes right out of the shoot. So he wanted to make an impression. Let me tell you something. He hit seven threes in his entire college career. He had seven in that game. I got bull season tickets. The boys over here already lining up to get a few nights.

Try to get in on that action. I'll just say this, Colin. He is a guy who remembers. You know Tom Brady remembers all the quarterbacks taken ahead of him? Caleb Wilson multiple times has talked about, hey, I went against Darren Peterson, and everybody thought he was the best player. Who was the best player on the court that night?

And that was back in college. And the same thing happens against Boozer. I'm just, Caleb Wilson is, that guy looks like he's the man. I know he's not going to hit seven threes every night in the NBA. But you have good reason to be excited. Boy, Chicago White Sox are playing good ball, I'm told. The Bears were in the playoffs. I told you.

Now the Caleb Wilson. I am good luck. Clipper Stunk, I moved to L.A., McVeigh, Rams, Chargers move up the interstate, Dodgers are the greatest baseball franchise of all time almost. Wow, I did not know. This is like a real thing. No, I have covered in every city I've moved to, teams get better. True.

Wow, he's just casually dropping up. When I was in Portland, the Blazers were like facing the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Oh, yeah. Zippo since I left. Was that what the jailblazers, or she'd, Wallace and those guys? Yeah, yeah. It was fun to cover. It was wild. I bet. Yeah. All right. Final story. Kyle, let's go to the NBA and Joe Missoula. He is kind of, it sounds like he's mourning the loss of Jalen Brown saying there needs to be a grieving process for losing a player and

person like Jalen Brown. Mazula, I think he said it right. Like, listen, I know Boston fans are hurt. In the long run, I think they're going to be fine. But right now, it's still a little bit a shock. I personally think that the Celtics know, hey, we're going to be just fine. But it stinks to lose a guy in the community like Brown. Again, maybe the Celtics made a big mistake. There have been teams smart teams. The Clippers have really smart people in the front office. They let SGA go. And SGA is a tremendous human. He's a tremendous athlete. Yeah. So like, you know, James Harden left Oklahoma City and ended up being a superstar that

didn't get a ton for him. Like, smart. people make mistakes. It's okay. It happens in sports. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Do you know the only player to win an all-star game MVP and a World Series MVP in the same season? It's our guest of the many remarkable numbers of his career. Hall of Famer, Derek Jeter, now with Fox Sports, is joining us in the herd.

We're lucky to get him. I got a couple questions. for you. First of all, I told you this last time I saw you. The craziest number of your career isn't all the gold gloves and the World Series stuff. It's that you hit 481 in the All-Star game, which is like a beer league number. That's insane. A lot of good fortune. But hold on a minute. Before we get started, I just want to remind you, well, first of all, you just said smart people make mistakes. Last time I was on your show, you asked me about facing Nolan Ryan. So let's just hope you got your fact straight this time. But the All-Star game, hey, let me tell you what, there's a lot of luck that's in there, but nothing better than playing in the All-Star game.

And obviously, I was fortunate to have some success. But you just enjoy. This is a celebration of the game, celebration of the sport. It's a great atmosphere here. What baseball's done over these few days, moving the draft here, just a celebration of the game. So I absolutely love being here. So I got to ask you, Jacob Mizorowski is not playing, he's banged up for Milwaukee. He threw 105.5. Now, I know you never stepped into the batters box and were overwhelmed by a pitcher, but 105, I mean, 96 is heat.

105 is cartoonish. Take me back to your career. Were there pitchers, Derek, that you really, even in the on-deck circle, you'd faced them before, but it, you do feel. you like, man, I'm going to get one good pitch here. I got to get around on it. I mean, I don't know who it would be in their prime, but did you ever face somebody that threw so hard that even you would get in that box and know, man, I have got to be zoned in on every pitch. Yeah, I think, you know, when you start talking about guys like Randy Johnson, six foot eight, I mean, he's halfway to home plate when he releases the ball. So I don't really know how hard Randy was throwing, but you got to get the foot down, man. Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez,

is when you're facing the elite pitchers, you literally have one pitch to have any kind of success. So, yeah, I mean, 105, it's hard to imagine. You know, I don't know how they're recording the miles per hour nowadays, but yeah, I mean, that's something that, you know, you don't have much time, obviously, when you're facing anyone. But 105, you look for one pitch and hopefully you get it. Okay, you're 98 Yankees, won 114 games, and then you flew through the playoffs. 11 and 2. See, I know my home. I got my homework here. I got all these

all these numbers in my head. Don't pat yourself on the back until we finish. Go ahead. So, that's the, you know, in terms of, you know, numbers, that's the best team ever. This Dodger team is stacked. They just got sweat by the debacks. So when you're on a great team,

you're going to overwhelm a lot of people. That's starting pitching on the Yankees. When you are on a team like the Dodgers or your Yankees, Dodgers just back-to-back World Series. Apathy. It's a long season. You're going to here. Here's another road trip to Minnesota.

Here's another road. Go back to that season with you. Was there ever a moment where you went into a series thinking, I got to get myself up? We just swept those guys the last time we planned. Can there be apathy that settles in during the long, regular season? I tell you what, you're talking about 1998 specifically. That group there, we had just lost in 1997. So we were hungry to get back to the World Series.

So in that particular season, we didn't really have to sit down and rally the troops. I mean, we were out to win every single day. I've never been a part of a group that had that mindset going into every single day. And, you know, we struggled a little bit, I mean, half jokingly, but we struggled towards the end of the year. I mean, we could have literally won about 130, 135 games that year. That's how dominant we were. But when you're talking about the Dodgers and a team that's going for their third straight World Series, Look, the regular season is a marathon.

And there are times throughout the course of the year, you've got to try to block out just getting to the postseason because you know everyone knows that's when the season starts. You look at the Dodgers now, they have such a big lead. So it is hard. It gets more difficult getting up for every game and every series, but they've done it as good as anyone. 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 Out. Hey, it's Ben, host of the fifth hour with Ben Mallor, and would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mallor show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world where we chat with captains of industry,

in media, sports and more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mallor on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Listen, and you're there for heart-wrenching knockouts. The world's biggest stage! And breathtaking triumph. 2026 FIFA World Cup. The knockout stage.

Every match, every moment. Listen on TSN Radio. Join the globe. On the road to the July 19th final. 2026 FIFA World Cup. Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeart Radio. Available on iHeard Radio.

I'm Munges shit together and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you and then we can test. What draw is the best for your brain? That's incredible. A suppose to his brain.

Here are some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four to five year acceleration. And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bones smashing. That doesn't work. To make it look more defined. They say it works.

I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. your podcast. Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of the unhoused, stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We The Un-House is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator and host,

and for years I've created a space where the un-housed and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed Un-House parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. Wheatian Houses a two-time Webby and Signal Award-winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Gio Wichor, a street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Wey and Howes on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it? well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohine, Taoadol, Julyette, Lee, Gay, La, citizen of Cherokee Nation.

Are you guys big Chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be, and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, I've defended baseball. I keep saying the raise lead the American League East. They're a small market. The White Sox small payroll have been great this year. Milwaukee for several years, smaller payroll, been very viable. The Mets stink.

So my take is money matters, but it's just like in our life. Money matters, but what do you do with it? Do you spend it? Do you invest? You're smiling there. The Mets do kind of stink. I know you're a broadcaster now, but it's not great, Derek. But the point is, I think we talk too much about money in baseball. The Dodgers really, honestly, needed two or three miracles to win game seven. I mean, Toronto outplayed him and out hit him in the series. I think we talk too much about payroll disparity. Does it matter? Are we, is it overstated? Well, you know, look, I don't think it's overstated. I do believe. if you are spending money

and you have a high payroll, for the most part, it assures that you're going to be competitive and you're going to be in a playoff race. Yeah, there's instances where you have guys or teams that spend a lot of money that just have one of those years. But I think it assures that you're going to be in the pennant race.

What it does not assure you is that you're going to win a championship. It is hard to win a championship. You have to go through several rounds of the playoffs. And when you get, I used to say it during my career, the hottest team, I mean, the best teams make it to the postseason, the hottest team wins. You have to get hot at the right time. And yes, you need a lot of breaks, too. I mean, but there's a reason why the Dodgers, year in

and year out, have that chance to win a championship, and it's because their owner spends money. You know, I always thought part of the greatness of Joe Torrey is that he was a player's manager, but I always compared him to the stepdad or dad you never wanted to disappoint, is that so much of his greatness was the ability to connect star players and the pressure you, you know, you know, you you go through in New York. So the culture that Tori created was as important as the great players like yourself. And I want to talk about the Mets. It's not a talent. I mean, Lindor has been hurt. I know you're, I'll beat up on them. I'm taking shots. I shouldn't. But it does feel like there's a cultural thing missing. It's not money. It's they want to win. They've had smart

people there. There's something in the soup, in the juice or something. What is it that they have this kind of talent and they struggle? You know, I'm not exactly sure about that. I mean, the Mets were just in the NLCS a couple years ago, so it's not like they've fallen off a cliff for the last 20 years. They've been very, very competitive. This particular year, I mean, it's mind-boggling. I mean, they've gone out, they've spent money.

It just seems like a lot of times when one person struggles, everyone struggles. When one person gets hot, everyone gets hot. And it seems like, you know, the Mets, they've changed a little bit of their culture there. You know, you got rid of Alonzo and Nimmo and, you know, they brought some new guys in. Sometimes it takes a little time for guys to adjust. But I don't know enough about the inner workings of the New York Mets to comment on it. But it is a bit surprising because I know there is a lot of high optimism going into spring training. People thought the Mets were going to be in it to, you know, challenge the Dodgers and get to the World Series.

But it just hasn't gone that direction. So when an Aaron Judge gets banged up, Ben Rice steps up and puts up huge numbers. the Dartmouth kid. I remember watching Ben Rice. Are we surprised or was this understood in the Yankees ecosystem that Ben Rice was going to end up being this? I don't know. You never want to put ceilings on guys when they're playing and when they're coming up. But I think, you know, the adjustments that he's been able to make this year and the production that he's had offensively,

I think it's probably caught a few people off guard. But he's in the conversation for most valuable player in the American League up into this point. And what he's been able to do, even when Aaron's been out, has been pretty impressive. I mean, yeah, he went through a little time where he struggled, but that happens to every player over 162 games. But he's fun to watch. He continues to get better and better. And, you know, the thing I like to watch is he's having fun. He's got a smile on his face.

He's enjoying himself. He hit another triple. I think it was yesterday. But he's a big reason why the Yankees, yeah, I know they were scuffling. little bit, but he's a big reason why I still believe the Yankees are the favorite in the American League. Okay, this ABS system, I have said for years now, Rob Manfred can take some crap on this stuff, Derek, but he has made four or five adjustments. They've all worked. They're all great. I thought the ABS would get a little bit of pushback, and it would be what it's done, it's unveiled

the truth. And, you know, it also shows me how well the batters know the plate. It's remarkable how often they do this and within an inch and they're right. If you would have had this, would you have used it a lot or did you always feel like, yeah, the hummus are pretty good. They know what they're doing. It's interesting. You know, when I was playing, I felt as though I knew the outside corner as well as anyone. The inside corner would confuse me a little bit because sometimes I'd lean out there.

But I think, you know, there's times throughout the season when you're seeing the ball well, extremely well and you know what a strike is and there's other times when you're scuffling a little bit and you have no idea so we've seen guys challenge pitches and pitches have been right down the middle you've also seen guys that have that have been successful like by an eighth of an inch so i love it i think the fans love it i think it makes uh you know it's sort of bringing that type of tennis atmosphere into the game where they showed on the scoreboard so like you said there's been some changes in the game that i think the fans really appreciate and and look if it's going to bring more fans to the sport than I'm all for it, but ABS has been a huge success. Yeah, I went to a

Cubs game not long ago, and I got to tell you, the fans are into it. It's like an added, L, it's a little bit of a game show within the game, and fans think it's great. It also shows you who knows the strike zone. It absolutely does. Okay, that's pretty good today. I got to admit it, Derek. You were. You were. You were. You were. That's pretty strong. I've got to be honest with you. I appreciate you. But 480 is what you said. Did you say 480 when we started this? 0-481 Yeah, so you screwed it up. There you go.

You spoke too soon. There you go. Great job, Colin. You know the outside part of the plate and your All-Star number. Excellent work. Good to see you, buddy. You too. See you soon.

All right. The great Derek Jeter stopped by the show today. Isn't that ridiculous? He was 13 for 27. And that's facing, by the way, aces that you don't face normally. you're getting you're getting randy johnson stuff you you watch randy johnson highlights you never face these guys that's an insane number i have like a list of his career stats i mean he's like six most hits all time

i mean they're all-eighty-one all-star game average and a lot of times the all-star game if i recall a lot of times you'd play in stadiums you know it's derrick jeeters one of the first guys up leadoff got you're getting shadows that first at bat in the all-star game early you may have shadows in the you're not seeing it. Bringing my A game today. All right. Unbelievable. I got a buddy giving me crap about Jeter.

He's got a good memory for certain things. I don't love all the memories, but it was very good memory in Chicago at the Hurd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Listen. And you're there. for heart-wrenching knockouts. The world's biggest stage. And breathtaking triumph.

2026 FIFA World Cup. The knockout stage. Every match. Every moment. Listen on TSN Radio. Join the globe. On the road to the July 19th final. 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeart Radio. I'm Munga Shat Together, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever for all of us. I learned about some rad science.

I can make a brain for you and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain. Here's some hard truth. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four to five year acceleration. And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined.

They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of the unhoused. stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We the N-House is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator, and host. And for years, I've created a space where the unhows and their advocates can tell their own stories.

In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhouse parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. Whedian Houses a two-time Webby and Signal Award-winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Gio Wichler,

a street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Weythian Housed on the IHard Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The Declaration,

which is full of these beautifully rendered, you know, sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it? Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel.

Gohin, Taoadon, to like I et al-Legé, citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big Chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be

and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Man. No, I'm going to do NFL executive.

came out with the top 10 quarterbacks in the league. This was scouts executive coaches. So this is a thorough opinion piece, you know, anonymously. But they, you know, for our radio audience, I'll just give you a, it's only, only two of the ten have won a Super Bowl. So you and I, you know, fans will say, well, they didn't win a Super Bowl. Justin Herbert's never won a playoff game. Dak Prescott's only one on a playoff game. That's not how general managers look.

at it. That's the final result. It's the process. It's the season. It's your traits. It's your leadership. I think Dak Prescott is on this list overwhelmingly because of toughness, leadership, intelligence. I don't think he's on here because he throws the prettiest football. He's not here because he wins playoff games. I think Justin Herbert. Leadership, toughness, traits makes the list. So it's Allen 1, Mahomes 2, Stafford 3, Burrow 4, Lamar 5, DAC 6, Justin Herbert, Drake May, Jared, Gough, Caleb Williams. I've always been a Gough fan. I don't have big problems.

I think Sam Darnold's got to be in there somewhere. You know, what is his record? 39 and 6 or 36 and 9, the last, you know, two seasons overall. It's hard not to put him in there. And has had great passer rating numbers in terms of analytics. I don't really care. Are you great? I always look at quarterbacks this way.

two possessions left. You got to score on both of them. Who do I want? You've got two, don't have to have two touchdowns. You got to score on back-to-back possessions, at least one touchdown. There's a couple of minutes left.

You're going to get two possessions. I'm going to get two great possessions. The other team knows you're throwing the football. The other team's going to bring a pass rush. You don't get the number one this or the number one that you have a, you know, you have a good team, you have a good coach. A couple of possessions left. Can you make big plays? Alan would be my one. But I, you know, I look at this list right now.

I'm not quite sure what to do with Lamar Jackson. I don't know. His legs had been a huge part of his career and he was slower last year. Joe Burrow can move and he's not making the playoffs, but I still think he's somewhere in the top seven or eight. Jalen Hertz, I would not put him in the top 10. If you cannot see the middle of the field, I'm not putting you in. I think Brock Pretty's talented. Brock Purdy's got a durability issue. I'm sorry. So, you know, again, I think Caleb Williams should be higher. I'd probably move Drake May down a spot or two. I think Sam Darnold's got to be in your top 10. But if you ask players inside the NFL, so this survey didn't have players. It had coaches, GM, scouts,

executives. It didn't have players. Christian McCaffrey, who played with Sam Darnold, earlier, had talked about, you know, the first couple of practices with Darnold. When I first met him in Carolina, from the jump, I was like, this guy's a dude. And the more and more you see him at practice that you see the throws make, you understand why he's a top pick in the draft. And then you're around them more. You're like, this is one of the best players I've been around, period.

And it's because of how talented his arm is. He's way more athletic than people give him credit for. And he's really good at taking what's given to him and doing his job. Yeah. So I'm just, I'm writing down now if you told me, and I would consider everything. I would consider your traits, your ability latent games. Are you durable? Do I trust you with the football?

You know, that was always the knock on Sam Darnold, like a little bit reckless. I loved Andrew Luck. He was reckless. Tom Brady threw a pick six on a Super Bowl. I don't like safe quarterbacks. One of the things that Darnold does, yards per attempt, I think he's first or second in the NFL the last several years. There is no dink and dunk to Sam Darnold.

He is like Andrew Luck. To a fault, he will throw it in traffic. He'll throw it downfield. Donald has some stinkers. There's no question about it. And you could say, well, well, Darnold's had the last couple of years, Kevin O'Connell, Clint Kubiak, tell me the great quarterback all time that didn't have a smart guy pulling the trigger in coaching.

I mean, Dan Fouts had Eric Coriel, Joe Montana had Bill Walsh, Belichick, and Brady, Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes, Don Shula, Dan Marino, Shanahan and Elway, Stobach and Tom Landry. Find me the great quarterbacks with lousy coaches. Give me a break. Sam Darnold had back-to-back years that were amazing with Kevin O'Connell and Mike McGovern. Donald. Mike McDonald's a defensive guy, young guy, and Donald tore it up. So, yeah, I just don't think the league quite knows what to do with Sam. I'm not saying Sam's top three quarterback in the league. Top 10 right now, he's in his prime. Remember, he entered the league very young. Sam's got about

five more years of prime. He's a, in fact, I don't have the numbers in front of me. I think he's younger than a lot of guys on this list. He wouldn't think he is, but he is. Because the Jets thing, you know, it seemed like it was a decade dying in New York under the United. that mess of a franchise, that gray cloud that rains every day of the year. But I guess it says here on this list, it's like purdy receive votes or something. Honorable mention. Whatever. So I got my list. Tomorrow, here, I got my list. I'll give it to you here, Ryan. You know what's refreshing about Alexi Lollas? And he does like to pull. people in the ribs, which, you know, I'm not against that.

But I will say it's interesting to watch, I mean, Stu Holden played the game, Alexei Pallis Lawless played the game, Carly Lloyd played the game. These people played the game, and they were critical of Pulisic. It's always easy to go, well, Colin, you didn't play the game. And that's kind of a week out. But whatever, there is some value, obviously, in playing the game, but our American players who have not been as maybe great as Pulisic overseas, you know, they were critical of him. And it's been interesting to watch the pushback by people on our American players. I don't read my stuff, so I don't know what people are saying, but I know on players,

people have been critical of like Alexi or Stu Holden or Carly. Well, people don't understand the pressure. And my take is it's every four years, you've got to be good in the World Cup. You know, for years and years. A. Rod can get criticism if he struggles hitting in the playoffs. Barry Bonds early in his career may have a bad playoff series. That's the reality of baseball players. I mean, one of the great things about Derek Jeter, you know, his career average and his

playoff average were almost the same thing. You've got the same Jeter every day. With A. Rod, he had some series in the postseason where it's like, whoa, he looks like a double A guy at the plate. He's all in his head. He's not hitting well. He gets dropped in the order. Not that he's not great, but that is how we judge our athletes.

I mean, the reason Michael Jordan is a legend is six for six. If Michael was seven for 12, he wouldn't have the same legend being six for six. Seriously, Magic Johnson got the nine finals. Jordan, though, was perfect. Magic got to 30% more finals. Apparently that has no value. So Pulisic, you know, your soccer stars can have a bad copa. They can have a bad, you know, club team season.

they can't be bad in the World Cup. Here was Alexi earlier on Pulisic coming off a disappointing cup. Christian Plissick is going to be fine. He was put out there and put himself out there as the face of this national team. I think he is still well on his way to becoming possibly the best American male soccer player ever. But the reality is that in the most important moment, not just in a World Cup, but in a home World Cup, he didn't show up. a lot of people it affirmed or confirmed what they feel is that he is at times weak and weak in body, weak in mind, and that manifested during this World Cup.

Yeah, I don't think that's outrageous. He was timid. He was giving up possessions too quickly. It was weird. You're at home. It's a pickum. Balagan was back. You know, I don't think, I think I have a pretty good thermometer on

like when the media is totally unfair or too soft or too. And I thought it wasn't vicious. It was like, bro, nine of these World Cup matches for you either can't play or you leave early. And I got one goal and two World Cups and you're our best playmaker ever. I don't think that's harsh. Now, he did get banged up. And I'm not going to guess on injuries and severity of injuries. I'm not going to go there.

But before the injury, we were disappointed. It wasn't post injury. It was before the injury. We were disappointed with the outcome of his cup performance. So I thought all of it was fair. Little hard maybe, but I mean, it's the World Cup. You ever read The Guardian or the London Sun or whatever? I mean, you read these international headlines and papers.

They are vicious. They are brutal. Our media is not. Our soccer media is a lot like our NBA media. They're kind of player-friendly on average. Not always, but on average, I'd say it's pretty player-friendly. NFL media, college football media. much rougher on the players.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.