The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - LeBron James RETURNING to Cavaliers with Kyrie? Messi's BRILLIANCE, World Cup quarters PREDICTIONS | Nick Wright

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright reacts to Rich Paul's whiteboard of potential landing spots for LeBron James and debates where the GOAT should play next season. Will LeBron return to the Cleveland Cavaliers with Kyrie Irving? Are Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors still in play? What about Joel Embiid's Philadelphia 76ers or Giannis Antetokounmpo's Miami Heat? Then, Nick reacts to Lionel Messi's heroics for Argentina before previewing the quarterfinal matchups between England and Norway, France and Morocco, and Belgium and Spain. Was Cristian Ronaldo to blame for Portugal's exit? Finally, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome in. What Driving Nickwright episode 476. This episode of What's Right and Nickright is presented to you by Boost Mobile. And we again ask that you all if you can subscribe to the pod on YouTube, iTunes, or Spotify. If you're watching on YouTube, I am wearing the Blue Duck family's favorite piece of clothing that I have, the retro Wimbledon polo in honor of Wimbledon. being up and running as we speak because of the World Cup to Monza.

Good to see you. I have not been able at all to talk any Wimbled. And I haven't really been all that dialed in, to be honest with you, because today, Wednesday, July 8th is the first day in, what, a month that my eyes aren't just bleeding from watching nonstop soccer. I mean, this has been, I miss it already. There's only, I technically, there's eight games left in the tournament, but one of them's a third place game.

So there's only seven really meaningful games left in the tournament. And there's only, yeah, there's only six days of soccer left. There is Thursday and Friday, there is one game each, Saturday, a doubleheader, then mid next week. I think Tuesday and Wednesday or Wednesday, yeah, Tuesday and Wednesday, we have both semifinals. and then next Sunday the World Cup final and then it's gone for four years. So imagine between right now and four years from now how much time Christian Ballistic has to rest. Like that guy should just be absolutely diet. Rejuvenated.

Good to see you. Has the weather taken a turn in Los Angeles or are you just going counterculture wearing a giant fleece in the middle of July? in LA. This jacket is not nearly as like warm or insulated as people might think it is. It's pretty it's not it's not super hot. I even have a shirt on up underneath this. But yeah, um, yeah, I mean, yeah, it is it well, you know what? I'll take your word on it, be that it's not quite as warm as I thought it was. Because it looks like something a polar bear would be comfortable in and you're just mid July in Los Angeles and yours rocking it. Um, all right. We're, we are going to do some.

World Cup today. But we're going to start with LeBron. Before we do that, straight to voicemail, brought to you by Boost Mobile. Joker delaying his extension to next year, hmm, that is at least a little interesting. But last year when he didn't sign the extension, the understanding was, well, no, it makes total sense

because he can get more money by waiting one year. It was obvious he was going to delay. Now, yes, in theory, he can get an extra year by delaying, but there's obviously some risk to it. I'm just saying file this under the, hmm, at least not nothing. Shohei hits home run number 300 and the Wimbledon semifinals are set center versus Jokev. I can never pronounce his name versus Ferry and Coco in her first Wimbledon semifinals. Also a reminder this week, we do have a mailbag. you can, pardon me, email us, mailbag questions, what's right at, what's right mailbag, pardon me, what's right mailbag at gmail.com.

But DeMonsei, let's get to it. LeBron and Rich Paul's whiteboard. Yeah, so last week, Rich Paul unveiled the potential teams that LeBron could be pulling up to her that is interested in. We have the picture for you guys. The top contenders were 76ers, the heat, the Timberwolves, nuggets, and of course the cabs. outliers, the Warriors, Mavs, Celtics, Spurs, and the Knicks. And Bob Myers is pitching the 76ers. The Shams is reporting Philly and Cleveland, Miami are the top three. So a lot of teams.

What do you think about it? Well, first, leave this whiteboard up, and let's just really dive into it for a moment. And let's kind of go from the outside in. All right? So top left of the whiteboard, it just says Stefan Dre. So a couple things there. You know, if I'm Steve Kerr, my feelings are hurt a little bit. I'm like, damn, man, coach you in the Olympics.

Like, I don't even get the name written on the whiteboard. And that to me is a signal to the Warriors. If you want to be in this, you got to do a lot more. You've got to, you know, I'm almost, I feel very confident in saying that if the Warriors had acquired or were able to acquire Anthony Davis, they would be more prominently featured on the whiteboard. So that's them. The Dallas one is hilarious. Dallas's little section says Dallas and Maasai.

So that's Maasai Ujiri, their new team president. Underneath it, it does not say Cooper Flag. It does not say Kyrie Irving. And even though I think Kyrie could be a major part of LeBron's ultimate decision, and more on that in a second, it says oil, Gulf, Macau, and Africa. So Macau is the Vegas of Asia. It's like a little territory that's kind of China but kind of isn't. And the people that own the Mavs have casinos there.

So Dallas, and oil is obviously oil money in Dallas. What that says is Dallas would purely be like a long-term wealth. play, not a basketball play at all. Then it says Brad and Tatum, that's the Celtics whole draw. Again, Derek White's like, come on, man, I'm a pretty good two-way player. Now, if we, again, just go to the teams that don't have really a blowout on here, Spurs just say Spurs and Knicks just say Knicks or NYK. So those teams are not real options.

and if the spurs were a real option, oddly, they kind of took themselves out of it by signing to By his Harris. What do you mean? Just the team and there being no like dots or bullets on it. Well, just like the Spurs and Nicks are just set. I don't even know if you have to, like, they're just good teams. Spurs, Knicks. Right. Well, oh, you're saying he doesn't have to explain it.

No, I just think, did we? Yeah, we didn't talk about this part about how. Rich Paul said he was going to go to the Knicks if they didn't win the championship, which. So I mean, Knicks fans, be honest, you kind of wish you didn't win the champion. I'm kidding. I know Knicks fans. That's not how you feel. You'll hear about that later.

It is kind of, had I known that LeBron was going to spend the final couple years of his career in the city where I live and I could go to all those games, I don't think I would have been rooting so hard for the Knicks in the finals. I got to be totally honest with you. But the Spurs and Knicks are not realistic options. And I don't think the Warriors are the only team we listed there that is a realistic option, but probably not as presently constituted. So let's go back to the whiteboard if we could. So there is the Sixers piece of it. Maxie, Edgecombe, Jalen Brown, Embed, with Maxie with a nice little star next to his name.

That is, I think, what a lot of people believe, the best basketball fit. Now, that team would not have a lot of depth, and that team, you know, the only other centers on the roster are Hock Pordy, Adam Bona, and Embed obviously is the biggest injury race. you know, of anybody on this board. Now, they did sign Anthony Simons for like no money. They did sign Dean Wade. And so I think those are, those are nice signings. And you would feel with LeBron, that's seven solid guys. The eighth man would be Hawk Porty.

So maybe you do have enough depth. it i'm very interested in how any of that not that this should be de monseille the defining decision or the defining you know peace but i'm very curious how any of that would land with jalen brown if jalen brown did not like being one b to jason tatum's one a he all of a sudden would be find him say it again one C maybe even D oh oh I don't think it's one C I think he's just certain nights just flatly number four just it nights where imbid is out there and healthy it's like that's maxi's team plus imbees there oh yeah the greatest player of all times on the team and hey we have the greatest fourth option in the NBA his name's jail

Brown. Like that, that is, that's a, that's just a very interesting new reality, uh, potentially for Jalen Brown. Do you, if there was no emotion attached to it, if there was no nostalgia, nothing about, you know, how LeBron should finish his career, if it were purely and solely about basketball, do you like Philly the most? Um, yeah. Yeah, I would, I would, they're pretty stacked. I don't see how any other team, I definitely don't like the Warriors. And all the other teams, I guess, are improbable.

But yeah, I'd say that's the best fit, but. So I think Philly is, I agree with folks. Why would he what? Go ahead. Why would he not be the best with the Celtics? Why does that not work? Well, I don't think right now the Celtics have, first of all, I don't think right now the Celtics have a better, both of them without LeBron, right?

I don't think right now the Celtics have a better roster necessarily than Philly. That's first of all. Second of all, I don't think he's really considering the Celtics. I think that there is too much history of a real rivalry. And like I, now, I get it. Same thing with the Warriors. Yeah, but. No, the Warriors.

Well, the Warriors was a real, real rivalry. That's a great point. But I don't think there is no one on the Celtics that is anywhere close to Draymond and Steph for, you know what I mean? The relationships he has with Draymond and even the relationship he has with Steph. There's no one on the Celtics like that. That's fair. But so, okay, so Philly, I think does make a ton of basketball sense. it's just hard to imagine him finishing his career with,

I don't want to call it a random team, but a team that he was never connected to. Now, with that said, back in 2018, Philly is where I was saying, I was encouraging him to go. Philly is where, when he picked the Lakers, where I wanted him to go and I thought he should go. but speaking of random team to finish his career,

we'll skip over the heat for now on the whiteboard and go to the Timberwolves, where it just says Aunt Mello McDaniel Gobert. That would be just an unbelievable social experiment, pretty stunning to see, and a really weird team. Like just flatly, an odd team that needs a forward and he could add maturity and leadership and, you know,

all of all of that stuff. But I don't think they're a real option. They also, you know, again, they're in a similar spot of Philly of you'd love their starting five. And then DeSumu, Terence Shannon Jr., and then waiting on Dante Diven Chin, Chin, you know, to get back from injury, but it would still feel like they are very thin at Biggs, much like Philly. Now Gobert is a hell of a lot more durable than Embeded, obviously, very, very different players. I don't think Minnesota is a real option. I don't really want to spend

a ton of time on Minnesota. I don't think they are, it would be absolutely gobsmacking if LeBron finishes his career with the Timberwolves. On top of that, Keep in mind what Rich Paul has said is that this, at no point as Rich Paul said, this decision is 100% going to be about the best place to win a championship. He wants to win a championship. He wants to compete for a championship. But what he has said is this is going to be about happiness. And he's also mentioned a lot about golf.

So I just don't think Minnesota is where we're going to see LeBron finish his career. now the nuggets are a different story in that I do wonder how happy LeBron would be playing with Joker in a very positive way like just in my opinion the two best passers arguably since Magic Johnson the two of the highest basketball IQs ever and a team that could desperately use LeBron, flipside being, man, oh man, they are really trying to make the entire plane out of Aaron Gordon on the defensive end of the ball.

And so I, now, Josh Tronkey, who's his buddy, owns the team, and Jared Dudley, who's his buddies on the coaching staff. That probably helps, but I also don't see Denver as all that plausible, which brings us down to a couple teams, along with Philly. The heat and the cabs. The heat on the whiteboard simply say Mitchell, Wiggins, Janus Bam, I don't, I think the heat would be fun.

I think they would be interesting. Again, it's a team that's like, okay, that's starting lineup. makes sense and then it gets very shaky, you know, the moment after that, Jovich is a, you know, has regressed a bit. Bobby Portis has passed his prime. Tim Hardaway Jr. has been kind of, you know, is bounced around the league for, you know, on minimums or near minimums. And that's really the team. Now, you would have Spoh, you would have Janus, but Janus is at this point, not the most durable guy in the world.

And you would wonder if that team would have enough shooting, right? I was just going to say their offense would be pretty crazy. It's just, correct. It would just be a bunch of guys attacking the rim and not a lot of spacing. Yeah. And then you have the Cavs, which the Cavs thing is the most interesting. Can we go full school? I forget.

Can you guys remind me? what does i see i can't see because of the graphic and i forgot what it is um the top right what that says hold let me see if i can the i apologize i had this we did this on tv and i forgot it as well then the what it oh it says cobi says dan plus something in cobi uh let me see if i can regardless if you guys can decipher that and put that in the doc it would help me out it's it also say it again okay don't worry about it um i forget who it says it's guys connected to the team and guys in the front office as reasons he would want to be there weems who is his high school teammate who now works

with the calves that's a positive um and uh it says Mitchell Harden Mobley Allen and then I think this is interesting and this might be more um oh chris grant and coby altman got it okay those are the people that says top right and then it says no garland with a minus sign because garland's a clutch guy garlands the guy lebron likes and garlands a guy they traded away so here has been you know it's been a 15 minute lead up to this point that i wanted to make going through the entire whiteboard de monse i think he is going to go with the caps. I think that another team could swoop in and find a way to sweeten the pot

from what the team's going to look like to make him change his mind. And I think the way the hang up right now, I would imagine for LeBron is thinking long and hard about the fit alongside James Harden and about whether or not he is potentially finding himself in a spot very similar to what he accepted but didn't love with the Lakers, which was, okay, so the face of the franchise number one option, Luca slash Donovan Mitchell. Fine, so be it. I'll take a backseat to them. But then number two option is a place. that I'm better than, but because they can only play one way, I have to take a secondary role to them as well, and that's Austin Reeves slash James Harden.

And then all of a sudden, I find myself again in this Swiss Army knife role. I'm not really dictating the offense. How fun is that? Plus, again, Austin, I believe in Austin Reeves long term and, you know, very, very, very different player than James Hardin doesn't have the accolades of Hardin, but also doesn't have the playoff baggage of Hardin. But much like Hardin is, you know, hasn't played his best ball in the playoffs for, for Austin's much smaller sample size. So I think Hardin is the hang up there. Which is why, if I were the Cleveland Cavaliers, as I am hoping that some, the lake, the Warriors

don't find a way to trade for Anthony Davis or the Sixers don't find a way to convince LeBron this is your best fit. I would be on the phone daily with the Dallas Mavericks and saying, listen, we're going to sign James Harden. He opted out. We're going to sign James Hardin to some type of deal. You have two years, $82 million left. on a contract with Kyrie Irving that doesn't really fit your timeline. You want to give the car keys to Cooper Flag anyway. What is the type of draft compensation you would like us to attach to James Harden? Plus, probably at a contract a little bit cheaper than the one you're going to be paying Kyrie Irving

to give you a little financial relief, a little future draft equity, maybe way down the road when you know LeBron's not going to be on the team anymore. We can attach it for the year. Donovan Mitchell is going to be making $76 million on his new deal. Maybe you won't think we're going to be good.

But how can we turn James Harden into Kyrie early? That's what the Cleveland Cavalier should be trying to do. And now listen. People would love that. It would be kind of a perfect ending. And it would give LeBron and Kyrie the finish. never got that Kyrie has since said he regretted. Now, that team, you would really be asking Evan Mobley and Jared Allen to do a lot of defending. And LeBron, because as bad of a defensive

back court as Donovan and Hardin are, at least Hardin is strong and big. Like Donovan and Kyrie back court is tiny and bad defensively. But they would be such a dynamic. offense, particularly with LeBron, you know, making a lot of the decisions, that team obviously can win the Eastern Conference, obviously. And then you roll your dice on who comes out of the absolute war zone in the West. And, and I keep saying this, and I will say it one more time. I do not believe LeBron is making this decision, assuming that next year, this coming year, is his final year in the NBA. I think he is making this decision acknowledging this next year might be his final year in the NBA, but there is a very good chance he's playing two more seasons.

and going to play a smooth 25 years in the league. And I think looking at Cleveland and saying, give me two bites at the playoffs with this group of guys and see what we can do. I think is interesting. And I think that if Cleveland were able to pull off a trade for Kyrie Irving, I think that makes it,

far more doable. And go ahead. If they didn't get Kyrie Irving, don't you think it would be like somewhat of an understanding if LeBron James ended back up on the Cavs? Like I don't think it would be him being on the Lakers and being the third option to Luca and AR. Do you think they would naturally like kind of,

it's Braun back in Cleveland? Yes. If that move didn't get made. I do think that. No, no, no, no. I do think that, but I'm just talking about, but then all of a sudden,

James Hardin really has very little utility. Like Hardin just doesn't, is not, for all of his playoff issues, Hardin is a pretty reliable, very good regular season player, but the ball's got to be in his hands. And so if all of a sudden the ball's out of Hardin's hands, it's just, you know, it's a big salary spot and a big ego and all of that for a guy that can't do the chameleon role like LeBron did. So it's just not getting the most out of that player's value.

I also think it's possible that LeBron signs with the Cavs and they move hardened during the year. But again, hard to have a team be jelling and ready to take off in the postseason if you make a massive mid-season trade. So right now, I have a. I think the Cavs are the favorite. I think the Warriors would have to find a way to trade for Anthony Davis to really get back in the mix. And I am not dismissing the Sixers.

I think the Sixers would be weird. But if he was going to go to the Knicks, because it's big market championship drought, the Sixers, whose championship drought is only 10 years shorter than the Knicks was, I guess is kind of like, the JV version of going for the similar reasons going to the Knicks. So I'm not going to dismiss the Sixers. All right. I want to get back to the World Cup. But first, let me remind you guys.

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Call 1-800-9 with it. In Arizona, Ohio, Virginia, call 1-800-My reset. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. And a reminder for all you guys again to like, rate, subscribe, review to the pod. All right, DeMonse, let's talk a little World Cup here. after a sneak of a win from Cape Verde, Argentina escapes with another win by Egypt by scoring three goals and 13 minutes to go up three, two. So you had Argentina with the largest slice of World Cup title by. What are you feeling about that now?

Oh, I actually, here's the reason for Argentina having the biggest slice, and I still would have them with the biggest slice, is not because necessarily, I think they're the best team. but it's because they have the clearest path. And Spain and the three best teams in the tournament are Argentina, France, and Spain. And you can argue that of those three teams, Argentina's played the worst. I'm not as concerned about that. Because Spain and France are on the same side of the bracket. And just to get there, by the way, Spain has to get through.

a Belgium team that just played the best game it's played all tournament. France has to get through a Moroccan team that the only team that's beaten Morocco in the World Cup the last two years of consequence is France. Morocco has beaten everyone else they have played that matters, or at least drawn with them, and Morocco's a legitimate top eight team in the nation, in the world. so it's just the path is so much clearer for argentina has argentina looked unbeatable far from it flip side though is this they were down two at the 75th minute and yeah you didn't feel great about it but you did not think they were dead and that's because they and i have been hesitant to say

this because I am maybe sometimes when it comes to historical rankings, I go, I almost go counter to the mainstream in, I think people are too dismissive of the historical legends, and maybe I pay a little too much reverence to the historical legends that I didn't see play. But I have been pretty firm that the messy Ronaldo debate while fun, it's figure out who you thinks the best of those two guys over the years, and then they can start competing with Pele for greatest ever. I no longer feel that way. I think Messi's pretty clearly the greatest soccer player ever,

and somehow he is still the best player in the tournament, and the scariest player in the tournament. And amongst his teammates, maybe the most beloved player in the tournament, in the tournament. And so you have this perfect storm of any time you're playing Argentina and you have a lead or you are in the game. I think for the opponent, there is a in the back of their head, oh man, is Messi going to do it to us? Messy's probably going to do it to us. What's messy going to do. And for the Argentina teammates, I think a lack of getting rattled because they're like, we've got messy plus an extra gear they can get to of. We can't let this be Messi's last game.

We don't, we can't let him go out like this. And it's just all. And then on top of all that, DeMonsay, then you also have Messi doing unbelievable shit. Just, just doing truly like God level stuff. And so, I just think they're going to be such a hard team to be and their path they have had of the eight teams left, the easiest path here. They do have of the eight teams left, the easiest quarterfinal matchup. And then in the semis, they either play England and England team that for 60 years in the Euros, which is, if you're not a huge soccer fan, the Euros is the World Cup for just Europe. It's the biggest, it's a every four-year international soccer tournament just amongst the European nation. So it's the biggest trophy a

European nation can win is the World Cup. The second biggest trophy by far is the Euros. England's never won the euros. Last two euros, though, with this, a very similar group of guys in 2020 and 2024, they went to the final. They lost in 2020 NPKs. I think they lost, I'm going to check real quick, in 2024 NPKs as well. No, they just lost 2-1 to Spain. Pardon me.

That game, when were the goals scored in that game? I was talking about this this morning, and now I forgot. Oh, yeah, no, it wasn't in BKs, but they gave up the game-winning goal in the 86th minute. So, England, which went to the semis of the World Cup, a couple World Cups ago, hasn't won a World Cup in 60 years, has never won a Euros. So everyone on the English team, if that's your game in the semis, it's the biggest game in all of their lives. Meanwhile, if you're messy in Argentina, you're like, yeah, I mean, we played in a shootout in the World Cup final.

We were down 2-0 in the 78th minute a few days ago. They are not going to be nervous. And I have no idea who's going to come out of the left side of the bracket. Spain hasn't allowed a goal yet this tournament. That seems pretty good. Spain hasn't lost a match in 90 minutes in like 36 games. France seemingly, except for his Paraguay, can score three or four goals anytime they want. That seems pretty good.

France, in the last three World Cups to Monzae, France, they have played 19 games in the last three World Cups. Two of them were meaningless final group stage games when they've already clinched the group. So I'm going to throw those games out. You know what? Like the U.S. is game against Turkey, A, where you clunch the group, you don't need it, throw it out. Those other 17 games for France in the last three World Cups, they have 16 wins and one draw, which turned into a loss. And that was the World Cup final against Argentina, a three, three loss and penalties. France won the tournament in 2018.

I, yeah, won the tournament in 2018. lost in the final in 2022, and then this year they've been absolutely unbelievable. And so I'm not arguing that Argentina is better than France. I'm simply arguing that France has a brutal game tomorrow that I'm going to in Boston. France, Morocco. Morocco, on the other hand, in the last two World Cups, the only game they've lost, of consequence, is to France in the semis last year. And Spain has a Belgian team. We already talked about that.

So I just think Argentina's path is pretty open. And what Messi is doing is incomprehensible to describe. score a goal in six straight knockout round games to now have like, I don't have the like, I think he now has, you know what, I'm just going to, I'm just going to look it up real quick. Hold on one second. I want to get this right. Because Messi now has the record for most goals in World Cup history by a lot. But that is a record that he has set almost out of nowhere. He was not some like all-time great World Cup performer.

He had won a golden ball, but he was criticized by people in Argentina, even when he won the golden ball, the year they lost in the final. And this was the one thing that, like, wasn't on his resume. He hadn't raised a trophy for the national team. And now over the last five years, they just, they win Copa every time, and they've won the World Cup. but you at the start of so he scored one two three four five six he scored six goals oh no i hold on let me count this again sorry this is bad podcasting but i got to do it one two three four five six

seven goals in last year's world cup in this year's world cup he scored three in the first game we're at 10 two in the second game we're at 12 and then one in each so he has scored 15 goals in the last two world cups which is a total of 12 games he has 15 goals in the last 12 world cup games prior to this world cup starting the record for most goals in world cup history was 16 by Miroslav Glosa. Messi has 15 in his last 12 World Cup games. I which means because he has 21 now for his career. He only had six total goals in his four World Cup games prior to this one.

It's just in his last 12 World Cup games he has scored and And this is right, right? Yeah. He has scored in every game, except for the group stage game against Poland in 2022. He has scored in six consecutive knockout round games. It's just what he's doing at 39 is impossible, but we're watching it. And it's why I think they can win the tournament.

You have more goals if he had those penalty kicks. All right, let's do some. Do you think that somebody else should kick them? So that's an interesting one. No. Because here's the deal. You very well might have one of these next few games come down to actual penalty kicks, like end-of-game penalty kicks.

Yep. Messy's got to be one of your five there. and if you, I don't think you can screw with his head by having him removed as your go-to penalty kick guy. I also think it is absurd pressure to ask anyone else on the team like, hey, we're replacing messy with you. Go knock in these penalty kicks. But he has missed two in a row badly and both in big spots early in games. All right. So you want to talk VAR for a second?

Yeah, so VR took off an Egyptian goal. Have we lost the plot with the replay here? So you guys know how I feel about this. Replay is a good idea in sports that is never a... Everyone starts with good intentions with replay. We are going to use it only to correct clear and obvious errors. and then people can't help themselves. They want to use it for anything and everything.

And it makes officials on the field worse. It makes the viewing experience worse. It does not. It can cause as many problems as it solves. And I have been consistent on this for my entirety of my broadcast career. just get rid of it entirely. For every one, oh my God, that was such an obvious, clear mistake by the reps. It would be so easy to fix with replay.

For every one of those, we have three. What the hell are they? What? They're going back 20 seconds. They're saying where replay is robbing us of these great moments, I'm not convinced they are actually getting it right. It is making referees feel like they have a safety blanket, so they're not quite as good. Referees across all sports have the ability to set the tone on what they're going to call and what they're not going to call early in a game,

and then keep that standard throughout the game. replay has no no regard for that it is it slows it not only slows the game down literally but it also takes frame by frame pieces of evidence to determine what did or didn't happen in a full speed sport a full speed sports it doesn't make the product better and it is it does it does doesn't actually make more things right. And this is the example I have used forever. I will use it again and again and again. But for all of, oh, I'll switch it to basketball for a moment.

For every basketball game that was played for a hundred years. And for every basketball game that is played currently, that is not televised. if I am holding the ball or if I go up for a shot and you block it and it goes out of bounds for all of history and in every park

or high school in America that is out on you in 99.9.9% of basketball games played in human history I go up for a shot you come over and block it out on you. Due to the advent of replay, we have learned that actually, technically, if you slow it

down enough, a lot of those shots while you blocked it, the last thing it touched was the tip of my finger, which makes it out on me. And my contention is switching that to out on me is not getting it right. It is using replay to get it wrong. You're like, oh, well, now we can see it. And this, if, if everywhere the game is played, it is, everyone agrees, it's not like it's a subject of argument that this is my ball. And then the technology changes it to your ball. That is not getting it right.

For every baseball game ever played for a hundred years, and every baseball game that is played that is not televised. if I try to steal second and you catcher throws the second basement and I beat the tag I'm safe if because of replay we see that after being safe a half second after the tag was applied for a tenth of a second my body was not touching the bag even though I was over the bag the whole time but I literally like was hovering over for 10th of a second calling me out does not make it right it makes it wrong and in every soccer game that's been played for a hundred years and every soccer game that is played that is

not on television if I steal the ball from you on near my own goal line and the referee does not call a foul and then I drive the length of the field and score a goal. That goal stands and realizing that 16 seconds prior when I stole the ball and the refs saw it and let it go, turning that into a foul is not getting it right. just like if you're a Croatian fan if there is a cross into the box and I am on sides and I run for the cross

and in route to the ball getting to me it doesn't change course it doesn't veer it doesn't bounce it grazes off a teammate of mine's hair while I'm making my run for the ball for every soccer game in history

and every soccer match that is played that isn't on TV, that's a good goal. And using technology to realize it actually grazed somebody's hair which technically makes you off sides is not getting it right. So in a quest to get things right, we have made the officiating less consistent.

We have slowed the games down. We have stopped rewarding as much the better condition teams because there's more stoppages and more times to get rest. There are all these negatives and you are not getting more things right. So I just hate it.

And I hate it across sports and I have been very, very consistent on that and maybe this World Cup will get people on my side. I just really, really can't stand it. And I feel, listen, I feel for Egypt. They did get another goal right after that, and so I'm not certainly would have gotten that third goal they got if the second goal hadn't been called off.

I don't know, but I feel for Egypt. All right, I want to talk about Ronaldo in a minute, but first, World Cup quarterfinals are here, and nothing beats singing a game live in person. That's why I want to give the sponsor of today's video, Seat Geek, a huge shout-out. The over 35 million download Seat Geek is the number one. rated ticketing app. There are more than 70,000 events listed on seat geek, including concerts,

sports festivals, and more. Guys, I talk to you all the time about using seat geek, but I told you guys that this week, I'll pull it up right now. This weekend, I mean, I ended up getting my heart broken, but I got my ticket to Brazil, Norway on seat geek. Like, you know what? You can see it right there. You see, hopefully nothing pops up on my phone. It's not supposed to do, but Brazil, Norway, right there. that the nick spurs game five of the finals my actually you know what my seat geek the little log is pretty darn good we got spurs at nicks march first got from seat geek thunder at lakers in lax april seventh what game was that why was it was like visiting you to monta i don't even remember did i or did i buy you those tickets those were your tickets that wasn't that was dig i was like

wait i wasn't in l a i bought those tickets for you i see that thunder lakers april 7th nick It's at Spurs, game five in San Antonio and then Brazil, Norway, right there. All that on Seatgeek, and I use my own promo code, by the way, more on that in a second. Seat Geeks got your back. Each ticket's rated on scale of one to ten so you know you're getting a good deal. Look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad, plus every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And of course, I've got a code for you guys.

You can use code right 10, W-R-I-G-H-T-10 for 10% off your next set of tickets at Seatgeek. That's 10% off any tickets with promo code right 10. So make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. Thank you to my friends at Seatgeek. Reminder to like, rate and subscribe. All right, De Manzai, let's go to the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Spain is moving on to the quarterfinals after a goal in stoppage time, sending Ronaldo and Portugal home. Portugal started Ronaldo throughout the tournament, who was obviously getting older.

It sounds like you might have had some disagreements with that and maybe thought that he was holding his team back a little bit. Your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, listen, I... Ronaldo is one of the greatest players of all time. This is undeniable. But Ronaldo is not only older than Messi, but was far more reliant on athleticism

and being just... a great raw natural athlete than Messi was, and so he hasn't aged quite as well. Plus, he is older, like in fairness. You add to it that he doesn't pretty clearly have the humility and relationship with his teammates that Messi has, and it created quite the sticky situation, particularly when Messi still at least is the best player on his team, and Ronaldo's not even close. to that. And Portuguese, if Rinaldo had, if either Carlos Martinez, Roberto Martinez, pardon me, the manager, had the courage. But again, I talked about this before, hard to bench a guy who's

the most famous person in your country in 400 years. If he either had the courage to change his role, or if Rinaldo had the humility to be like, hey, all that matters. is if we win the World Cup. I'm going to get the credit. And it's going to be on my resume. It's the only thing missing. You know, a lot, the reason we have such a great team now is because I inspired a whole nation over the last 20 years

into, you know, doubly recommitting to soccer. So I get triple credit anyway. You know, feel free to, if you want to start me, take me off. Or better yet, have me be the ultimate super, sub where I can come on at the 60 minute mark, go all out for the final 30, or once we get into the knockout rounds, you can put me on in the 75, 80 minute mark, and I can be there for extra time if we're there. Plus, I'm still a nails PK taker, just the greatest penalty kick taker ever. And I thought Roberto Martinez was going to do that after he took him off during

the Croatia game. I was like, oh, okay, there's the sign. There's the sign that he's able to do it. They won in part because of it. It's not what happened. And so his legacy doesn't go backwards, but it is a tough dichotomy for him that he was really hurting the team and Messi's carrying his. And this is like a lifelong debate between the two fan bases and the two guys and

they alternated Ballandors and all of that. And so I don't want to. I don't want to overstate what this means for him legacy-wise, but this was the best team he ever was on, and he heard it more than he helped it, and that's just a bummer kind of final chapter. Go ahead and ask your follow-up here, DeMose.

Yeah, LeBron and Ronaldo are the same age. Does he walk away before it gets to this point, you think, LeBron? So here's what I think really helps LeBron. to where it won't ever get to this point. Not only is LeBron as great of an athlete as Ronaldo is, LeBron is probably the greatest natural physical athlete ever. But here's the other place it really helps.

Basketball court's so much smaller. I know that sounds silly, but I'm very serious about it. Like, you know what I mean? Like there's just so much more running and movement and everything in soccer. And basketball is such a smaller court. And it's so much more about burst, you know, and those things that LeBron can, he can, his age doesn't show quite as much. And he is, he started in, LeBron at his peak was just so far in a way, just from a raw athleticism standpoint, the greatest specimen the league had ever seen, that even as he declines, he still, a better than average athlete across the league.

And so all of those things make it to where, you know, I've said it for, I'll say it again. I think LeBron could play to 50 and not be bad. I think he could just do old man Jason Kidd stuff as long as he wanted. I don't think he's going to do that. And maybe if he did try to play to 50, he would prove me wrong. But LeBron also already showed, LeBron is right now closer to, like, LeBron at 41 is a higher ranked in the world basketball player than Ronaldo at 41 is soccer player, right? Like LeBron right now call him the 12th best player in the league,

and Ronaldo is nowhere close to the 12th best player in the, you know, in the world. And despite that, LeBron already showed a willingness to take on, at least temporarily, a lesser role. He did it with the Lakers last year, something that if Ronaldo had taken, you know, kind of a page out of LeBron's book with the Laker team, with the Portugal team this year, I think maybe it goes a little differently. All right, you ever notice how everything keeps going up, rinse going up, streaming services going up, favorite burrito spot charging you extra for Sal's, it's outrageous. Not with Boost Mobile. With Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the. Will this go up soon game? Why?

Because Boost Mobile has unlimited. Talk, text, and data plan at a price that'll never go up. In fact, it's the same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that will never go up only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigs, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan. All right, Damanzi, I lied before. I said, you were correct that we need to do the Rinaldo thing. I said, let's go to the quarterfinal preview. Now, let's go to the quarterfinal

preview. So my apologies before. Yeah, so we are at the quarterfinal. France faces Morocco tomorrow. Spain faces Belgium Friday. Saturday, we got Norway versus England and then we got Argentina versus Switzerland. What are the top storylines that you have your eyes on for the rest of the tournament? Yeah, listen. I'm going to go on reverse. order. I would be stunned if Switzerland beats Argentina. Now, it would have been stunned if Cape Verde or Egypt beat them and they were, both of them had them on the ropes. But I think Switzerland, shout out to Switzerland, four straight World Cups where they've made the round of 16 or further. Here, there are only four nations, De Manzai, that have made it to the round of 16 or further in

four straight world cups. France, Argentina, Brazil. and Switzerland. And so good for Switzerland for being in that group. Yeah, I didn't expect it either, to be totally honest with you. This also, however, is the furthest they've gotten since the 50s. I, you know, they needed a shootout to win against Columbia.

That was a, you know, a fun zero zero game. That, I think Switzerland, into the road here. Norway, it's just, Erling Holland has 62 goals in 15. four games for Norway. Never seen anything like it in my life. No one has. The fact that over a 50 plus game sample

for the national team, he is averaging more than a goal a game. It's just, it's unfathomable. With that said, and Odegaard's a really good player. As shocking as it was that they beat Brazil, it would probably be more shocking if they beat England.

But tell you right now, English fans, you're going to be scared. As long as that game is close, you're going to be scared that Holland is just going to rip your guts out like he did to Brazil. He's just a remarkable, remarkable player. But England, I think, got over the hump of that Mexico game, and they should win their game. Spain, Belgium is pretty simple in this regard.

Spain is not lost in 90 minutes and 35 matches, they haven't allowed a goal of this tournament. They, the, the, the level their defense is playing has allowed them to, not coast, but control these games without Lamin Yamal really having a good tournament yet. And I'm really interested in what Spain looks like if Nico Williams comes back, which he might be too banged up. And then, uh,

if you all gets going, but Spain should beat Belgium. They should beat Belgium. Belgium though, if they do the same thing they did against the U.S., which is have DeBriana and Lakaku and maybe even Dooku, some of those guys on the bench to where it's like, hey,

if we're tied at the 60 minute mark, we have our old awesome guys cut ready, rear and ready to go. That's, that's an interesting. wrinkle. And then there's France, Morocco, the game that I'm going to, the game that Morocco has been thinking about for the last four years. And France played Morocco in the World Cup semifinals last time around. They scored immediately in that game, then held on for Dear Life

to a 1-0-0 to a 1-0 lead and then scored again, I think like in the 85th minute to put it away, to win 2-0. Hakeemie's the greatest Moroccan player ever. he is trying to make the case for, you know, one of, if not the greatest African player ever, as far as player to represent an African national team. Didier Dragba is on that list. I'm leaving, you know, I'm leaving some guys off just, but he is making his case. I am curious what the Moroccan defense, how, if they can take a page out of Paraguay's book, but be a little more in. mucking the game up, parking the bus, frustrating France, but then being better on the counterattack because of Akeem.

It's what Netherlands was afraid that they were going to do against them in the round of 32. And it is, that is the game that even though I think France is the second biggest favorite in the quarters, the game that I think has the best chance of, an upset. The odds are the four favorites win. But I think France, as we would say on the show, is on sneaky upset alert. I will be there, which is why we're doing this show today. And that also, reminder for you guys, mailbag, if we're going to do a mailbag later today,

but so you can send in questions for future mailbags, what's right mailbag at gmail. If you send them today, we won't get to them for this week, but we will get to them in future mailbag editions. That will be coming out on Friday. Next week, the schedule is going to be potentially a little different as well, so this is also why you should subscribe to the pod. And then pretty soon we'll be back to our morning episodes, because first things first goes back to its normal programming late next week after the semifinals of the World Cup. So a huge thank you to Seatgeek, to Boost, and to Hard Rock Bet. Huge thank you to DeManzai and to Blue Duck and to the volume. We will be back later this week for a mailbag episode.

Talk to you guys then. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.