The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Wins & Losses – Clay Travis chats with Colin Cowherd

Episode Date: September 2, 2019

Subscribe to the Wins & Losses podcast right here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wins-losses-with-clay-travis/id1464161769This week on Wins & Losses, Clay Travis is joined by fellow Fox Sports Radio host Colin Cowherd. The two discuss Colin’s upbringing in the Pacific Northwest and how he initially became interested in radio. They dive into his time at Eastern Washington, and the numerous jobs he took as a kid. They also talk about how he got his break through into the business, calling minor league baseball games in Vegas, while also doing sales, and his journey from there that eventually led him to ESPN and now his current position at Fox.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming till. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There's a recipe for getting your car running just right. And eBayMoters.com has all the ingredients you need. They have over 122 million car parts and accessories in stock, all at the right prices. Now that's tasty. eBay motors.com. Let's ride.

There's a recipe for getting your car running just right, and eBaymotors.com has all the ingredients you need. They have over 122 million car parts and accessories in stock, all at the right prices. Now that's tasty. eBaymotors.com. Let's ride. Whether you upgrade your car because you need to

or because you want to, eBay Motors has all the car parts you need, over 122 million of them from new rims to seat cushions. at the right prices. eBay motors.com. Let's ride. This is Wins and Losses with Clay Travis. Clay talks with the most entertaining people in sports, entertainment, and business.

Now, here's Clay Travis. Welcome in Wins and Loss's podcast. Appreciate all of you who are listening. If you enjoy Colin Cowherd, who we're about to talk with, I guarantee you'll be likely to enjoy many of the other conversations weekly. It's only on. the podcast, so we hope you're going to dive in and enjoy it. We bring in now, without any further ado, Colin Cowhart. You can find him on FS1. You can listen to him all over the nation on Fox Sports

Radio, and you can find him on Twitter at Colin Cowherd. Colin, appreciate the time. How are you? I am great, Clay. A lot happening in our world, politically, sports, media, tech. It's all just going fast, fluid, isn't it? It's amazing how everything is happening almost all at once, and it's even difficult to foresee what's going to be the case in five years, 10 years, anywhere down the road. But it's been going on like this. It feels like for a frenzy for a little while. And one of the things we like to do on wins and losses is find out how you ended up where you are right now.

So you right now have what I think is the most listened to sports talk or radio show in the country. There may be other people who would try and claim that crown. But I believe, based on the numbers and the data that I've seen, you have it now. and so before we get to how you are managing to succeed today, I'm curious, where did it all start? Where did you grow up? What was your background like before you got into television and radio? Small town America. Look at a map of the continental United States. I'm upper, far left, on the beach. You know, mom worked in the school. Dad was a local optometrist in a small town. And I just knew at a very early age. My dad was a workaholic.

my mom was sort of British and reticent, and my sister was five years older, so she wouldn't let me hang out with her. I was by myself a lot, and radio was my friend. And I think at a very early age, I listened to a lot of AM radio, a lot of baseball announcers, and I just kind of fell in love with it, and I wanted to be a baseball announcer, and I would go out in my yard again, rural, he didn't have a lot of neighbors, and I would play basketball and call the play-by-play and play football. I mean, I'm not joking when I say this. I'd fill out lineup cards in baseball, and I would spend hours in the yard playing wiffleball by myself and broadcasting the games and keeping a box score. And I think that's really helped. That's why I'm pretty good at just

ad-libbing. I've never needed a prompter. You know, I just spent my childhood doing that. And, you know, from there, at a very early age, sporting news, Sports Illustrated, read anything I could get my hands on. And I think if I have, you know, if there's, if there's one kind of magic potion for what I did, it was focus and determination. I knew what I wanted to do. I never wavered. I was all in. If I failed at this, I failed. And, you know, I was just really determined. And then there was divorces in my family as a kid early. And I don't know if you've ever gone through anything like that, but there's a, there's a sense of fear of self-reliance. Like, if you don't make it, there is no, there is no dad's pension for you. Like, this was it. My mom and dad were

divorced. I had to work two jobs to get through college. So I think that fear really kind of catapulted at me was kind of like a red bull in my career just to work tireless hours, stay completely focused, absurdly, obsessively determined. And I think if you do that in any business, your chances of succeeding are elevated. And I think, I think my story is not uncommon. I think there's attorneys, you know, there's lawyers, there's athletes that have my story. You grow up in some dysfunction and chaos. You feel like if you don't succeed, it's not going to work. And I was just a really focused, driven kid. What jobs did you have while you were in college?

Well, I did play by play. I worked in the school cafeteria. I worked radio TV department, sports information department. You know, my mom would send me $10 a month, razors and cookies. I worked summer jobs and saved my money at a state park. I worked in a whale-watching boat. I worked at a greasy spoon restaurant when I would go home from college. So, I mean, every dollar mattered. I mean, a $20 bill to me was living.

Got on meal plans, cheap ones, could only eat two meals a day, not three. I mean, everything. You know, everything was about, you know, putting money away. I didn't have the option or the backing. This wasn't because my parents lacked devotion. It was just my dad was divorced. My mom didn't make a lot of money. And I was kind of on my own to some degree.

Now, in hindsight, it was a great benefactor for me. We all worry about once we do well and our kids live a lifestyle that lacks that fear, where they have granite countertops, where they get to go. to Disneyland three times a year, or there is a beach house. But, you know, I just worked, you know, again, I worked at greasy spoons in state parks and just like everybody else did. And then I got my first break in college. I went to the baseball winter meetings, recommended by somebody at my college, a professor. And I went, there was 400 people interviewing for three jobs, and I was given the Las Vegas stars hired me, a AAA affiliate of the Padres.

They would give me one inning of play-by-play if I would do sales. And that started at all. And then a local owner of a TV station, a minority owner, like 3% owner, was a huge baseball fan. It had heard me on the air, and they had a sportscaster opening, and he said, give this kid with a weird name a chance. He's got great energy, good storyteller. And then I was off and running. I got a job at the NBC affiliate in Vegas, KVBC, had a very good sports director, Scott Reynolds, who now anchors in Louisville, was a terrific mentor, very patient. almost could be a college professor.

Like he's done very well for himself, but he was just a great, he taught me television. He taught me local TV and editing and how to anchor and how to treat people. So I got a lot of breaks. I got some breaks. I worked with good, smart people, had good bosses. And then from there it was Tampa, Tampa to Portland, Portland, ESPN, ESPN to Fox. All right, so I want to go back for a second. You said you worked on a whale watching boat.

What was Colin Cowherd Wellwatcher extraordinaire like? What was your job on the whale watching boat? You would do that in the stormy seas of Grays Harbor County, Westport, Washington. Jeff McCory was a wide receiver on the football team. I was the quarterback. His dad owned a – he was a pilot for United Airlines. And in his spare time, a second job, he loved a commercialing a fishing boat. And he would take Jeff and I out occasionally.

I only did it about five times. There was whale watching. And, you know, people would come down in the winter, and you go whale watching in Westport, Washington. You had to go over the bar by the jetty, which was a very rough part. Almost fell off the boat once. So if you were squeamish or, you know, fearful of clouds, rough water, that was not the job for you, but you would spot whales and, you know, people would come down. They pay money. They go on a whale watching trip. It's kind of fun, actually. You know, you see these whales 12 feet from the commercial fishing boat.

You know, I went to Mexico about a year ago with my wife, and we did the same thing. It's really fun. But that would, you know, that was just one of those jobs. I don't even remember if it paid or what it paid, but you just had to stay busy. Again, $20 bills, when I went to college, $4,000, I made about $3,000 in the summer. So you just, it was, you know, hand-a-mouthed, man. What I made, that fed me. You went to, you mentioned playing sports, I think, in high school. What sports did you play in high school? I was, basketball was my best sport. I actually, my last year made an all-conference team. I was a shooter. I wasn't very good, but it was a small high school small conference and quarterback the high school team for a year not very good at

that either um then i got at team sports once i got out of college and started doing tv and stuff like that i was more of a runner and a lifter and i like to ski and do that stuff water ski but you know i was always just kind of a small town jock not great not special you know good enough in a small town to memorize the playbook and be the quarterback good enough in a small town i was probably the best shooter on my basketball team. Not special. I run still today and, you know, weekend warrior, but, you know, nothing memorable. So you go, I think it was the Eastern Washington, right? How did you pick there as where you were going to college? Well, I didn't have a lot of money, divorced, and it was $4,000 a year. My dream school was the University of Washington, but I picked Eastern

because my high school basketball coach, Jim Kahn, had coached as an assistant. coach there, like in a previous decade, and he knew the basketball coach, and you knew the athletic director. Ron Raver was the athletic director. Joe Folda was the assistant coach. And he said, listen, I got some contacts. Why don't I make some calls? And at least you'll walk in, and maybe I can get your job in the athletic department,

you know, moving around paper. And so I went in there, and the athletic department, the athletic director, they called me the Westport kid. You know, I had a little bit of a job, made a little bit of money, had some contacts, and it didn't cost very much. It was like $4,200 a year. So, but I had an automatic job in the athletic department. I had my summer money I made at the state park or on the fishing boats. And in the end, it was a really good fit for me.

You know, I was an aggressive kid, really driven. So, you know, the radio TV department, to this day is very small. But, man, Clay, I went in there, and I was going to be Bib Scully, man. I was like, give me the headsets, I'll go anywhere. And by, like, my sophomore year, you know, they were putting me on the headset, and I doing 15 baseball play-by-play games a year. I would never have been given that opportunity at the University of Washington or at Missouri or Syracuse or these great broadcasting schools. But at Eastern, you want to do the game, kid? Here's the mic. Go.

When you went down to Vegas, and you got a lot of people who listen to this that are young and they're interested in getting into the sports business, you said there were a lot of people interviewing for this job. You got one inning and you also had to do sales. What do you think made you distinguishable enough to get that job and get that first opportunity? Well, the first guy that hired me at the baseball winter meetings was Don Logan. He is still the president of that organization done well for himself. And years later, I asked him that question. You know, I was just, you know, you kind of walking down memory lane, I was on the phone call,

probably about 15 years ago from today. And I said, you know, Don, I just called him out of the blue. I said, you know, you were a real seminal person in my life. And, you know, I got emotional. And I was just like, I just, you know, I want you to know that any success I've had, been part of. And I said, not to be vain, but why did you hire me? And I, and Don said, listen, everybody in line was petrified. You came up here and you were like, yeah, you're stupid if you don't hire me. I'm going to work my ass off. I'm going to put in more hours. I'm going to sell.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about on healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to earnies. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American, soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic.

I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals

or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience at all? with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogan and Tabramos on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. I'm going to blow you away, and he goes, I literally turn to my assistance after you left, and I'm like, well, he's raw, but he's going to be a tour to force. Like, this kid's not going to come to Vegas and shrink. Vegas is a big city. There's a lot of, you know, money and gambling, and they're like, he's the most aggressive

kid. We'll teach him how to sell, but at least I know he's got the aggressive personality. Like, you can close doors on him. He'll just keep knocking on the door. And Don said, you were aggressive. And we knew you didn't know anything. We could teach you how to do things, but we couldn't have a guy that was, you know, a snowflake, petrified of the room of the moment. So I think that was, in the end, that got me the job. Be sure to catch live editions of Outkick the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, 3 a.m. Pacific. There's a recipe for getting your car running just right. And whatever you're cooking up in the garage,

you'll find what you need at eBay Motors.com. They have over 122 million car parts and accessories in stock, all at the right prices. And that can help you turn your ride into something really tasty. The parts you need are just a click away at eBay motors.com. Let's ride. I'm always upgrading my car. Not because I need to, because I want to.

Today, it's custom rims from my ride. Tomorrow, it might be a new driver's side seat cushion. And eBayMoters.com always has what I need. They've got over 122 million car parts, all at the right price. That's perfect for me, because I'm a car guy. Are you still in the garage? It's two in the morning. Almost done.

Okay, I'm a car fanatic. eBay Motors, let's ride. There's a recipe for getting your car running just right. And whatever you're cooking up in the garage, you'll find what you need at eBaymotors.com. They have over 122 million car parts and accessories in stock, all at the right prices. And that can help you turn your ride into something really tasty. The parts you need are just to click away at eBaymotors.com. Let's ride.

You're listening to wins and losses. I'm Clay Travis. He's Colin Cowherd. When you get that job, how much do you think it mattered that your initial job? in sports mirrored in some way some of the things that I think you'd be curious about later in your career, which is you're there on the business side and you're there on the content side, right? So from the get-go, you've got to go out and sell at the same time that you're doing this play-by-play, which I think makes you aware of the money behind your content in a way that, frankly, a ton of people who work in sports never even really grasp.

Well, I think it's big. My first girlfriend in Vegas was named Lori Heron. She was, you could probably look it up on Google. She was really, really super, probably smartest. She was so smart. We used to play Jeopardy. She'd run through the board. And until it got to a sports topic, then I'd finish that.

Lori Herron, she was Missed South Dakota at one point, and I met her in Vegas, and she was a salesperson, about once every couple years, really bright, really done well for herself. And she was in sales, and I was in sales. That's how we met. And when I got into radio, she said, you know, don't be one of these idiots on radio. Like, be good to salespeople. Like, understand we're working for you. And I've never forgot that.

I really think all the time about my bosses at Eyehart or Fox. I am not here to be subversive. A lot of sports writers, I don't even have to mention names, are subversive. They're anti-management. I've always worked with management. You know, my takeaway is they're trying to make money off me. Why be a jerk? Why not lubricate the situation?

Why agitate it? So I've always worked well with my GMs, and in turn, I've gotten good contracts. Over the course of time in my career, I've gotten a lot of beneficial relationships. A lot of things augmented because I get along with management and sales. I guess sports writers have a different sort of take. You know, sales is evil, but when you work in radio, sales is, you know, you're on the sidewalk, man. And you're doing live remotes at a bar because the bar's paying your bills. Yes.

So, like, you and I, like, you know, radio's different. There's a different sensibility to it. So I think I've always had a sense because I started in sales. My first girlfriend was in sales, and she was always in my air like, you know, some of these DJs, she would deal with DJs. Like, they just don't get it. You can add a hundred. This was like 30 years ago. She goes, I can make another $100 grand a year.

Just don't be a dope when you have to meet clients. Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned that because I would say my kind of eye-opening moment in the world of understanding sports came when I was doing local radio in Nashville. And at the time, I was making $45,000 a year for a three-hour daily show. And I went out on an advertising call for a hair doctor guy who does hair implants. And he signed just for me to do live ads a $50,000 ad buy for the next six months. And I remember sitting there watching him sign that contract. and thinking to myself, he just signed for me to do live reads about hair replacement therapy more than they're going to pay me for the entire year. This is mind-blowing to me, right?

This is one advertiser buying six months of ads that's going to cover my entire yearly salary plus more money on top of it. And I said, I got to figure out the business model here because I'm good at talking, but ultimately you can only get paid as much as people are willing to pay you to talk. And in order to do that, you can't just be a dumb talent person who shows up and does their job. You've got to figure out the business that underlies whatever you're doing. Yeah, there are a lot of journalists that don't see the value. And frankly, some journalists don't want a connection, don't want to be pressured. But radio is different.

Radio has always been different. It always will be different. Audio is different. Podcasting, digital. I don't consider myself. I mean, am I a journalist? Well, I have sources. I call sources every day.

So I guess that's part of journalism, but I also consider myself a businessman and a salesperson. And that's just, you know, I'm not embarrassed by that. So you said you go from Vegas, you start doing local television, then you go to Tampa. How do you make the transition into radio? When did you realize, hey, I know you said you do play-by-play of games, and that was kind of your initial dream. But when did you realize, hey, I might be pretty good at radio? Well, right, talk radio wasn't a thing yet. I did a nightly calling show, I think, for about six months on a bad a.m.

But I went to Tampa, and I got the weekend sports job. And one of the local sports radio watched me on the air, and I, you know, I always had a little bit more of an ad-living local anchor style. And he called and said, hey, would you consider doing, you know, sports talk radio? And I said, yeah, I've actually wanted to do it. It's more freedom. It's more time. you can have more depth on topics.

So he brought me in, and I did it with the late columnist named Hubert Mizelle, a wonderful, wonderful man in the South. Hubert, I think one year one national sports writer of the year, he was just a wonderful guy, became a good friend. And so I did it for about six months, and then I got a break. A man named Rick Scott, I got up the year one day. I don't know if I've ever told you this story, and a guy named Rick Scott called, He was a, lived in Seattle, he was a sports consultant, a sports talk radio sports consultant,

and there weren't a lot in the country 25 years ago. So I got off my shift, and my boss, I forget his name, Rob Bob Gardner may have been, said, hey, there's a call for you from a guy named Rick's. So I went into a cubicle, and Rick Scott said, you don't know me, but I'm a sports talk radio consultant. And I remember him saying this. he said, you have a chance. He goes, you don't know it, but you need to quit television. He said, you have a chance to be Rush Limbaugh in sports.

And I hadn't really heard a lot about Rush Limbaugh. I knew who he was. And he said, kid, he goes, you got something. And I'm in town visiting. And I turned you on. And I called your boss and I said, who's that guy? And that gay, I don't know what that did, but I remember that day, it all changed. I thought, I'm getting tired of TV four minutes.

It just takes forever to produce a four-minute show. I don't like reading the teleprompter. I'm not a particularly great reader of the teleprompter makeup. I wanted to do something different. And I grew up loving Vin Scully and loving Larry King. I liked radio and Paul Harvey. And so I just said, in that moment, I decided that radio was going to be bigger to me than TV, but I just didn't tell anybody.

So not long after that, I left Tampa. Portland hired me, and I said, I'll come if I can do radio. And I think my first day in Portland, even though I made more money in TV than radio, I really consider radio my future. ESPN at the time, local TV was shrinking in terms of... Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live there. them listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and for more follow timbo slice life 12 in the ticot podcast network on ticot welcome to my new podcast learn the hard way with me your host and your favorite therapist care games and in recognition of mental health awareness month i'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests i'm talking tripp fontaine ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood,

pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever-Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes,

Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs.

without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, IZAD, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Leverage in terms of time, in terms of importance. Local sports was kind of dying. And I think Portland was when I really said, okay, this is my new dream. I'm not going to do local sports.

I'm going to do sports talk radio. And this was, let me think, this was like 23 or 4 years ago, 23 or 4 years ago. So I want to go back for a sec to that first job you get in, and these are fascinating stories, and I love to unpack them a little bit. And one of the things that I argue on this is I enjoy talking to everybody

and asking them what their salary was when they started in sports or wherever else they were. Because I think a lot of kids coming out of college now have outlandish expectations almost immediately about the lifestyle that they're going to be able to live. What did you make when you took that minor league baseball job back in Vegas? First year, $7,800, it was below the poverty line. My second year, $11,800 at the poverty line. Third year, I got a local TV job with it, so I was in the 30s. And at that point, I was dating that girl I had talked about from South Dakota.

She was a salesperson did very well. We started living together, so I didn't worry about money. It was the first time, you know, I just wasn't literally putting $3 of gas in my car because I did it all through high school, all through college, first two or three years out of college. And so, you know, seven, eight years of doing that, you know, it's, you know, it's just, I'm not saying I lived a Spartan existence. Others didn't live, but it's tough. And that was the first time about my third year in Vegas. It was like, okay, this is, I remember one time she had a cabriolet.

Remember those cars? Oh, yeah. The Volkswagen Cabriolet, and she was a beautiful girl, and I remember she picked me up one time, and we were in a cabriolet. She just bought a cabriolet. And I remember for the first time in my life thinking, man, beautiful girl, Vegas, 80 degrees, top down. I've got 30 bucks in my pocket. I thought I was Pablo Escobar. I was running a kingdom.

So first time in my life, I was like, man, I'm really living it. So, you know, those are very fond memories. Everybody, it's Harvey Levin, you know TMZ.com and our television shows for breaking news, big stories all over the world. Well, we are now doing it in a podcast. We're doing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday where we're going to dig deeper into the stories that we break and follow on the website. So you can check out our podcast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Check it out, the TMZ podcast now available on Spotify. This episode is brought to you.

you by AT&T Fiber, and we just want to say we know there's nothing better in the world than getting a great deal. Like getting upgraded to a better seat on a long flight, or getting a free dessert when you're a restaurant regular. Even that free latte you get when you fill up your punch card, a deal just makes it taste better. And now, as an AT&T wireless customer, you can get an exclusive deal on super fast internet from AT&T Fiber. You'll get faster upload speeds and a great deal with AT&T fiber. That means smooth gaming, reliable video calls, and a quality work-from-home experience. It might not be as tasty as a free donut with your coffee, but it is pretty sweet. You can learn more at ATT.com slash fiber offer. Limited availability in select areas. Restrictions apply.

Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms, outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path that could lead to adventure. And they see you. Their fearless guide is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org.

Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. So you go to Portland and you're starting to think maybe this pivot to radio could make sense. When do you think you got good in radio? Because this is something else that you have to get a lot of reps. There are people who are better than not on radio the first time they sit down, and all that matters. Your ceiling can matter. Your floor can matter. But when do you think you really kind of started to hit your stride as a radio performer?

Well, I got on the air at 22, and I always felt it was 32 years old where I thought I'd develop my own voice. At 22 to 28 to 29, 30, I was 20 percent Bob Costas, you know, 8 percent Jim Rome. I was a little later, maybe 28, 29. I mean, I was, you know, 6% Scully, 9%, you know, a local sportscaster or two I liked. I was just, and I was 50% me. And then I just started, you're on the air so much that you just become you. I was literally just on the air, local TV, local radio, on the air, and you just kind of develop your voice. And I remember thinking in my 20s, you know, there's stages.

Like in my 20s, I didn't think about national. I just wanted to be a great local guy. And then in my early 30s, 32, 33, you know, I would listen to people that were more prominent than me. And I would think, yeah, I think I'm, I can plan that space. And I can remember, this is 22, three years ago. I remember in my mid-30s listening to syndicated sports talk radio. I was now doing it. I was just starting to do it like a lot.

And I remember thinking, I think I'm better than blank, blank, blank, blank. Like, I'm not sure if I'm good as that guy, but I'm better than ding, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yep. And that was about mid-30s where I was still doing local, but, you know, you know, I'm not Bob Costas at this point. I'm not Joe Buck. I'm not blank, blank. But I would look at these big sports companies, and there were a lot of people that I were like, they're fine. But I'm far, I'm funnier, I'm quicker, I got better stories.

I'm a better story teller. You know, I just kind of felt like I was putting it all together. And then it was about that time I started getting my tape. I picked up a big agent. I started getting calls from like Philadelphia or L.A. for a local news job. And then I got the big call, which was, I think it was like 38, 39 years old, where I got a call one day. I'll kind of segue into a story here.

I got a call. I'm trying to think who called me. It may have been Rick Scott again. I think it was Rick Scott again. The guy who found me in Tampa and Rick Scott, you know, he'd call me every other year, every year. He said, the best. Sports radio opening in the history of the industry is now available.

That's an awesome pitch. That's his pitch. He goes, I'm going to recommend you for the job. And I said, where is it? And he goes, I can't tell you because the guy on the air is going to remain on the air for about four months. So my initial feeling, because I told Rick before, I was doing very well in Portland Radio TV. I'm not leaving for just any job. I thought it was K&BR in San Francisco because my wife at the time and I love San Francisco.

It's a great stick. And I had heard their radio morning show. I was getting very big numbers in Portland doing morning radio and I'd heard their morning show was going to be replaced. So I thought that what it was. And so for longer than that. A station would call every morning as I was doing my local show in Portland and they would go on hold and they would listen to me in a room. And I never knew who it was. I could just see the light on the switchboard on for six months.

They wanted to listen to me every show, every minute, every day for six months. And they did. And so after about six months of a lot of questions, a lot of phone calls with people, I said, I was, Rick Scott said, this company wants to fly you to the Super Bowl to talk to you. And I said, I'm not going. If you don't tell me who the company is, I'm not going. I'm over this. and he said it's ESPN and Tony Kornizer leaving.

And you cannot say a word. And I said, well, why would I say a word? I want the job. So I went there and I interviewed with John Walsh. And I was really, not to just bore your audience, but I was pretty strategic about it. So John Walsh was this brilliant, kind of the Sven Gali of ESPN, incredibly well-read, probably the smartest guy in the room. He was a New York intellectual.

And so I thought, okay, I got six days. So I read the previous three work magazines, New Yorker. And I made sure that I had read because I knew he would read that. All New York intellectuals do. I read The New York Times, The New Yorker. So when I was in that hour meeting with him in my attache case, I'd go, oh, yeah, I got a New Yorker. I just read it. And he loved that.

He was, you read that? And I said, oh, God, every month. Did you see last month? Blub-de-blah, blah, blah, blah. And he just, he lit up. And I thought, okay, I got him. And then I had to fly back to Portland Do Radio, come back, interview with Bruce Gilbert. And I knew one of the people I was a finalist with.

He was a local sportscaster in the country. And he did guy talk. It could get a little, you know, a little dicey. So when I went in for the interview, I made sure he had interviewed before me. I made sure I said, listen, I don't know who you're going to. to hire. But I'll tell you what you don't want to hire. With ESPN's brand, you do not want to hire a guy that's doing misogynistic, racy. You have a sports network. I talk sports. I do like my gambling. But, you know, all I'm going to tell you, if I don't get the job, I think a big mistake,

and I felt like he was listening to me because I knew the guy that interviewed a few days earlier was all about that. So I rolled the dice and said, I'm going to sell John, I'm going to sell Bruce, because I knew once I got the job, I was good. I would work, but the key is sometimes you don't get the job, right? You got to win the interview. So I was pretty strategic with both interviews, and sure enough, I got the call. I remember where I was laying when I got the call. I was taking a nap, got a call.

And I remember literally the color of the sheets, the room I was in, I was looking at Mount Hood through a window when I got the call. And how much negotiation was there were you basically like, I'll do it? Well, I was doing very well in Portland, but I was working 16 hours a day The money was slightly better at the major corporation Not that much better

But my hours, I had a life And so I work six hours Instead of 14 To make slightly more money So it was a no-brainer So when you get that call up And this is interesting too Because I want to go back to something you said

Which I think is really interesting You were talking about how I was an okay shooter I was just an okay quarterback everything else. I think one of the things that is so important in success in life is recognizing where your strengths are and being able to self-analyze in a way that is not delusional. And what I mean by that is there are lots of people out there who went to high school and a guy who is no good at all in basketball thinks he's going to play in the NBA until he's a senior in high school, right?

And you're like, dude, you are delusional. Knowing where your talents are and being able to self-analy. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth.

And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you. conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Hart Radio app. podcast or wherever you get your podcast. What's up fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this. series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like

Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the bar like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court. you're going to get the bomb. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your talents relative to other people is an important skill. You mentioned that you were able to listen to other people doing a job that you did and kind of classify yourself as being as good or better than they are. I think that's a big asset and attribute. Was that something that kind of came naturally to you and being able to recognize where your strengths are or how did you develop that skill? Well, to be honest with you, I think the breakthrough year for me was 32, 33 years old. And not only had I been on the air and had enough reps to develop my own style, but I think at that point in my life, what really was the breakthrough moment for me is not realizing what I am.

It was realizing what I wasn't. And at 32 and 33 years old, I knew what I could do well, but I was willing to acknowledge, okay, I don't. want to sit in locker rooms and try to be a journalist. Local TV is three minutes. It's too dumb. I'm dealing with news directors that don't get it. And I kind of realized I'm not as good as these play-by-play guys. I don't like the travel of play-by-play. I don't like the work of journalism and sitting in locker rooms with athletes who are giving you pithy answers. And I think in that early 20s and 30s, I was like, listen, I'm an opinion guy. What am I chasing all these other platforms for. This is what I do well. I make people laugh. I make people think. And I just said,

I'm not this. I'm not going to be Joe Buck. I'm not going to be, you know, this journalist. And I kind of acknowledged it. I just, and I don't know if it's maturity, but I was just like, listen, man, I'm not, I'm not elite at this stuff. I mean, I did local TV for 14 years. I was good. But I'm not a teleprompter guy. But I did feel if you put me in a room with sportscasters and you just had to tell a good joke, a good story, I would rise. And so in that early 32-33 age, I was like, you know what, man, it wasn't just about what I was. It was really what I wasn't. And I just like, listen, man, I need to surround myself, even now, Clay, when I do my show, in my room, I surround myself with people who fill in gaps that I don't do well. My staff is all guys who do stuff like tech.

I got a couple really young techie people. I got a joke writer. I have a guest book. my weaknesses, my landmines, I build a staff that solves all, you know, the fissures, the weaknesses, the liabilities in my game. What I do well, you know, you can help me polish sandpaper my rants, but I'm good at that. What I need help in is boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and that's what I hire. So you have to come to terms with, I'm not an expert at everything. Jesus, Michael Jordan couldn't hit a curve. Roy Jones Jr. and Randy Moss tried to play basketball. Didn't work. Who's great at two things outside of Bo Jackson? Like this idea that you can do everything. You can't. You know, the heart surgeon wouldn't be as good a baby doctor. Like there's a certain personality that works for certain positions. So you just, I think, once you get good at something and acknowledging, yeah, I'm not great at blank. I don't have the temperament, the patience. I don't like travel. Like play by play for me, I liked it. I hated the travel. I hated the travel. Who wants to be in Cincinnati in the summer 12 days a year?

Can you imagine being – I mean, I look at some of these baseball vouchers. Forget the play-by-play, just the lifestyle. I like to go water ski in the summer. I just knew play-by-play baseball I eliminated based on the lifestyle. It wouldn't fit – I wanted to have kids and I wanted to have my summers off. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio.com. And within the IHeart Radio app, search FSR to listen live.

What grows in the forest? Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council.

And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the... And there they go. Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry. Looks like Dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Dipers and toys are everywhere.

Ooh, but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag closed, and they're off. Ah, but looks like mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car, and there it goes. Oh, that's a shame. That mug was a fan favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just nail the big stuff. Like making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat for their age and size. Learn more at nhtsa.gov slash the right seat.

Visit nhtsa.com. Slash the right seat. Brought to you by Nizza and the Ad Council. If I could be you. And you could be me? For just one hour. If you could find a way... To get inside.

Each other's mind. Walk a mile in my shoes. Walk a mile in my shoes. Walk a mile in my shoes. We've all felt left out. And for some, that feeling lasts more than a moment. We can change that. Learn how at belonging begins with us.org.

Brought to you by the ad council. Walk a mile in my shoe. We're talking to Colin Cowher. This is the wins and losses podcast. So let's go back to you get the call up. You get the job at ESPN. How nervous were you as you prepared to replace Tony Kornheiser? Because at the time, this is kind of a pre-social media era.

They're pulling you out of what I would call the minor leagues. And I don't mean that in a pejorative sense with Portland. But you're a high-level minor league player. And I like to tell the analogy of, as I was working up in my career, you know, there's a AAA baseball team in Nashville. and I remember being there one night, this is probably a decade, you know, maybe something around that time ago. And I remember watching the guys just get heckled like crazy

and feeling a particular kinship with the minor league guys at AAA. Because at that time I was a AAA player, right? Really, I thought pretty good, but you're not sure if you're going to get that opportunity to make a play at the big leagues, just like those minor league AAA baseball players. So you take that step from doing really well in a market in Portland to suddenly you're going to be nationwide.

how nervous were you? How did you evolve? Because one of the things I've learned is what got you there isn't necessarily all the time going to keep you there. Well, it's interesting because, you know, in our business, you don't get long stretches of, you know, it's hard for you and I, it's hard for me to go to Europe. I don't get 12 straight days off. Two times in my life I've gotten six weeks off when I've transitioned to jobs. So I was local and I got six weeks off before I started at ESBM. So I really sat down, and I said to myself, who works in syndicated radio, not just sports, who works? And Rush Limbaugh was the king. And I came down and I listened to Rush Limbaugh, I thought, okay, the key to Rush Limbaugh is he only talks about two teams. I've got to figure out a way to reduce the number of teams. And so in this six-week period, you know, I just had a lot of these cigars on the porch, right?

A lot of time by myself, like, okay, how do I make it work? I'm a West Coast kid replacing Tony Cornizer. I'm not going to be popular in the Northeast. He's a Northeast intellectual. I do like college football, so I'll work in the South, which I did initially in Atlanta, and it'll work pretty well in the West because I'm a West Coast kid. But I thought, macro, I'm going to become a syndicated radio guy. So in local, it's largely about talking about three or four teams.

national, the assumption is you've got to talk about 50. But I made a decision. I wrote down on a piece of paper what I believe were the 15 biggest sports brands in the country. Yankees, Lakers, Celtics, Steelers, Packers, Cowboys. And then I had like next to it the 15 most influential athletes. And then I started crossing them out and reducing it, reducing it, until I got to about 12 total athletes and teams.

And I said, that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to talk about underdogs because ratings show that nobody wants Duke to lose. People say they want Duke to lose, but Duke loses and the college basketball ratings go down. And I always had good access to ratings because I was a TV and a radio guy. And got along with salespeople who gave me ratings info. And so I decided my brand was going to be, I'm going to root for favorites. Every other sportscaster root for underdogs. I hate underdogs.

If everybody wanted underdogs to win, why do we play the lottery? Because we all want to be rich. We all want to be favorites. So I picked about 12 teams, and I said a handful of stars, and that's what I'm going to do. So I kind of went to Limbaugh, and I thought the fewer teams I talk about, the bigger brands, this makes way more sense. And then over the course of my career at ESPN, I took a lot of research from, I always thought it was the biggest advantage of working there. They did. I had a great research department, Barry Blin, and I would take a lot of his information and ask them constantly for meetings and what's happening, what's happening, what's happening.

And what I found halfway through my ESPN stay is that millennials and younger people no longer rooted for teams. It's happened about 12 years ago. My daughters, she cares about Kobe. She didn't care about the Lakers. You know, my son cares about LeBron. He didn't care about the Cavs or the Lakers. And so younger people, and I've done well through my career with 18 to 38-year-old people, they now care more about the individual than the team. It's hardened over the rockets.

It's Westbrook over the thunder. And so I started halfway through my ESPN career, transitioning to talking about teams, more talking about individuals and players. Brady, LeBron, Mahomes, Packers, I talk Aaron. And so again, I transition with new information to just, I always think early adapters win. I think they went in baseball with analytics. They went in the NBA with analytics. You know, you and I are very similar in that regard. We're both kind of looking for the next thing.

We don't live in the rearview mirror. We're not loyal to platforms. We're not loyal to sports. And so I just kept evolving how I was doing the business. I still feel today, you know, it's so fluid. I'm still learning how to do this thing. I'm still every year I have a couple meetings with the staff. And I'm like, let's get rid of this.

Let's do more of this. That's not working. Let's make this work. So I think you have to be willing. Like, I don't want to be one of these guys that make some money and figures, oh, I know. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending.

Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action. with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit. suit of the thing. We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in

possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me. Kier Gains is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the only store at the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan.

I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us.

Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. The answers. I don't. I've literally received tweets and emails through the years from listeners and been like, wow, that's really interesting. And implemented that into my businesses. I'll take information from anywhere.

It doesn't matter if a caller hits on. something. And Twitter, I don't need to respond to Twitter. Sometimes I'll go through my Twitter and somebody will make a point and I'm like, God, that's a really good idea. That's really out of the box. Nobody in my industry does that. So anywhere I can get information to get better, I will. You know, it's interesting because I say the advantage that I had in analytics from a writing perspective was I saw immediately the site traffic when I started my own website in a way that I don't think either early on writers were paying attention to or anything else. And it's not rocket science, right?

What you get that people respond to, you give them more of it. And then you figure out how to keep giving them more and more of it. And what I would say is television has actually kind of worked this way too now. If you put on the news, you get the two or three biggest news stories over and over again, right? And I think a lot of people still do radio. Okay, there's 10 or 12 segments in a three-hour show. I'm going to do 10 or 12 different stories. And that's a disaster because people don't care about 10 or 12 different stories.

They don't. You know, there is the, I remember when I took the local Portland TV job, I replaced a really talented guy named Steve Bartlestein. Steve is terrific talent, much more talented than I was. He went on to CNN in New York, a big star in New York, and he was a big believer in, like, cover everything. And I remember my first meeting, I said, guys, we're covering the ducks, the beavers, the Seahawks, high school football, and all do opinions. That's it. And they're like, what about the feel good? And I'm like, nobody cares. I said, we're covering five things. We're going a mile deep, and that's what we're doing.

And that's always worked well. You know, people say a lot of things. I do not watch porn. It's the only thing that makes money on the Internet. You know, people, I am going to be great. 40% by the way of all Internet traffic at any given moment in America is porn. People, they love the NFL. They love major college football.

Increasingly, they love the World Cups, men and women. You and I both do. They like October baseball. They like the NBA Free Agency in the finals. Let's not, nothing against lacrosse, but, you know, this idea that, you know, every sport deserves, no, they don't. You and I are grocery stores. Going to a grocery store, I buy the same nine things. Milk, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, eggs, bread.

You know, I mean, and I look at my business like a grocery store. When I talk college football, I talk the top four teams in the SEC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Michigan, and one team out west. I'm not talking, you know, I'm not wasting my time on Kentucky. College basketball. Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, you know, thanks for flying United. You know, it's about four brands max. Anybody cares about. So play the hits.

It is funny, too, when I was at Fan House before I started my own site, the Brett far of Willie or Won't he come back from retirement. And I remember being able to look at the data because we would get the data on the most red stories. And all over social media, people are like, I'm so. sick of Brett Farv. That was the early days of social media. Why does so many people talk about Brett Farv? Why is there all this Brett Farv coverage? And sometimes you can get seduced by the elite, right? Like I think Rupert Murdoch says, be wary of trying to make the elite happy. And then I got the

data and I'm like, holy cow, the minute we put up anything about Brett Farv, people click on it so fast. It's like their mouses would break back in the day. You know, you're sitting there on the computer. And the same thing happens with social media, seeing what people are able to click through. and it's so frequently what they say they don't want, they actually do. Well, listen, I have, peeling back their heads and seeing it. Yeah, you know, I have an advantage. So, you know, we're simulcast. That's a big advantage.

So every day, the following day on cable, I can get minute-by-minute ratings. Okay. So I know what works, and I know what doesn't. So if something doesn't work back-to-back times, I get rid of it. I used to do something called hunch and lunch, and it started deteriorate, and it was too much about me and not about the audience. I bail on it. If I bail on something, it's not working. If I keep doing something, calling right, calling wrong, it provides a number every week.

So I don't have a problem looking at my ratings slash polling like a politician saying the audience doesn't like it. Listen, how arrogant would I be to say I am smarter than the audience, despite the fact they don't care, I'm going to keep jamming this product down their throat? The minute my audience is tired of something, I stop talking about it. This past year, LeBron got hurt, and I talk a lot of LeBron. But I went to Manhattan Beach. There was this workout club, and the Lakers were on without LeBron, and I was at a sports bar. And the Lakers were on. There was nothing else on, and nobody in Los Angeles at the sports bar was watching the Lakers.

And so I walked into the morning meeting and I said, guys, we're done with LeBron talk. why. I don't want to see another story. L.A. doesn't care. If L.A. doesn't care, then Kentucky doesn't care. Then Kansas doesn't care. So I'm always looking on a daily basis. What does the audience, what interests them, and the more something does, the more I play it, and then when they get fatigued off it, I move off it. Be sure to catch live editions of Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, 3 a.m. Pacific. What grows in the forest? Trees? Sure.

Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring

at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles.

They see a windy path that could lead to adventure. And they see you. Their fearless guide through this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about, and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinnwity host of the new podcast, Navigating Adoption, presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the families that live them with commentary from experts.

Visit AdoptuS.kids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Atcounselk. We're talking to Colin Cowhard. This is wins and losses. I'm Clay Travis. So you build up your career in a big way at ESPN, start to have a tremendous amount of success with the herd. You go into television again, but it's a different kind of television than the local news that you had done before. How would you assess, and now you do the simulcast, which is radio and television simultaneously, how would you assess the differences and the challenges? What makes you good in radio might not translate to television and vice versa.

What are the challenges? What are the differences that you have found in those two disciplines? Well, I feel like each medium has a different. I was in a meeting one time pitching a show to a Hollywood guy. We were talking about this. We got in this really interesting, fascinating conversation, and I forget his name, but he had a current. In fact, I think he was doing, he was producing Craig Ferguson show,

Wendy Williams Show, and he'd talked to me about possibly doing something like, this and it didn't really interest me, but we had a good discussion. And I said, I always feel like radio is storytelling, books or be smart, Twitter is clever, and TV is about being dynamic. Now, Sopranos may have dynamic storylines, dynamic characters, dynamic, you know, the show you like Game of Thrones. You know, it's dynamic in many of its elements. Television is, you know, not about likeability. I mean, Simon Cowell was not likable. He was dynamic. He made you anxious on the air. Who was he going to rip? Paula Abdul was prettier and nicer. Flap. Nobody cared what she said. It was about Simon Cowell, the performers, the audience. He left that show, same show, ratings tank. Television's about dynamic basketball players, dynamic quarterbacks, dynamic personalities, America's got talent, America's voice, dynamic radio is about storytelling.

So when I do a simulcast, I have to make my stories a little shorter and slightly more dynamic. And so, and I think we're one of the only places in the country where we're doing it radio on TV and it's working for both. And we had four, fourth straight year of double-digit growth in TV and radio. When you're doing both, if I was just doing radio, my stories would be longer. If I was just doing TV, I'd worry about being dynamic. So I try to balance both, where I still tell stories, but they can't be two and a half minutes. They've got to be 54 seconds. And I am going to be a little more theatrical in a simulcast because I have to be slightly more dynamic for the television presentation.

My voice will go up, my octave range will go up and down. I'll be a little, I'll use my hands more. I am aware, you know, there's 5, 10% acting. We're all performing. We're all wearing makeup. So I think I'm a little more of a performer on TV and a little bit. little more of a storyteller on radio. How did you decide when you, so you've built up all this success, you've had a good measure

of, of opportunity at ESPN, they want you to stay, your contract is coming up, Fox comes after you, I know you considered other different career trajectories, how did you get to that point where you have a lot of options, how did you decide to go to Fox? Well, a year before, it was cold, and I think I've told this story before to somebody, I was, my wife and I were sitting, I remember she was wearing, she was wearing this kind of see-through blue top, real beautiful, and with a white, like an undershirt, and she was, she just got her hair done, beautiful redhead, and we're sitting there having a glass of wine, and she's an artist, so we were looking at art, and, you know, she's just a really cool designer, and the snow was halfway up the window, and she turned to me, and she's really honest with me, you know, she's of any person in my life, there's not a lot of bullshit with my wife. Irish girl, you know, cut to the chase. And she said, you know, you've just, you don't have the energy at this company that you did when I first met you. And I said, I know, I said, I've lost something. And she asked me a really poignant question. I can honestly remember the moment,

big glass of cab. We both had it. She goes, are you where you want to be? And are you Are you doing what you want to do? And I looked at her, and I can get emotional. And I said, wow, no. That is an amazingly in-depth, but direct question, right? That everybody out there listening right now should ask. And I said, no and no. And she looked at me and she said, let's go to Realtor.com.

We got a big move. And that night we went to Realtor.com. I said, I want to move to L.A. I had a friend Jamie Horowitz who had left ESPN. I asked him what his future was. He was kind of a free agent at the time. And he said, I'm either going to go into production or go to Fox. And I said, oh, I love Fox.

Because I grew up on the West Coast, so I watched a lot of Fox. And I always kind of respected sort of how they build brands. And, you know, everybody always doubted Fox. They doubted the Simpsons. They doubted, you know, Fox News. You know, the Fox Business Channel. Everybody always doubts Fox. You know, stuff works.

And so I was like, wow. So we went on Realtor.com, went to Manhattan Beach, where I had friends, and we started looking at schools, and we started looking at houses. And that was like January after a snowstorm. And then we had to wait for stuff happening, and I just couldn't take my mind off it. It just couldn't take my mind off it. And then I made a move with an agent. I went out and found the best agent. I thought in the country, Nick Kahn.

I met him in New York. And I said, Jacobs, I met him at a little. Chinese restaurant in New York and I said I want to change my life. And that was represented by CAA and they said, okay, there's a new company. And I said, okay. So a bunch of stuff had to kind of get put in place. And at the time, FS1 had these two Canadian guys. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about. on healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the only store at the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo.

On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get to. the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great

run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Very, very nice guys, very funny guys, doing their thing. But it wasn't kind of working. And so I just kind of waited.

It was the summer. It was the summer. And then I flew out to Los Angeles. I was still working at the other place. And I had talked to my agent, and I said, I want to meet these guys, and they wanted to meet me, and they made a pitch. Rick Shanks was in it. And it was a very complete pitch.

They talked about insurance, how I would be paid. I could have a corporation to mitigate some tax issues. And I reached across the table. It was in June, and I shook Eric Shanks's hand, and I shook Jamie's hand, and I said, you got me. Let's go to work. So then I had another, now I had to figure out how the hell under contract at the other place. And you had how much time left under contract?

Well, I had six months, but ESPN was in a cost-cutting mode. So my agent was able to get them, my agent, I'd made it my mind. And then I told them eventually, I don't know, a month later, in fact, you could Google it. They let out a press release that said, you know, John Skipper was like, congratulations, great career, we really appreciate it. And then it got bumpy at the end. They were pissed. They came back, made another offer. And, you know, there's this controversy of, oh, Colin was, you know, fired this and that.

I'd already accept the jobs. It was already done. And, you know, and so, and that's a lot of it. I had like six weeks off until I started at FS1, which was my second six-week break, and I hung out at the beach, body served. And for the first time in my life, took a deep breath and enjoy life in my professional life. So that was a long story. I hope I'm not boring. Your podcast numbers are plummeting right now. I tell these stories. All right. So last question I want to get into, or last couple of questions here, your process for getting your show ready. So for people out there, I mean, I'm sure most people

listening know this, but we talked about the simulcast. You drive into the Fox lot in L.A. At what time you wake up, you go in, you get your meetings done. What is the process by which your three-hour show, which is both radio and television, comes to life each day? 513. Get up, shower out the door by 533, 20-minute drive, 20-to-21 minute drive to the lot, get in, put my contacts in, grab a hot coffee, go down, 555, 6, until about 815, 820, do prep. Go in, get my hair done, a little light makeup. What is your prep consist of?

So from that 6 to 815 process in the morning on the West Coast, which is like 9 to 1115-ish, I guess, on the East Coast, what does that prep consist of? The prep consists of about 7 to 8 people in a room, a little bit like a sports bar with smart guys, no drinking. and I come in with my thoughts on stories. I've got a guy that's a funny guy, two stat guys, two producers, and anybody can have an opinion. I talk out loud. I write notes. People say, I'll say, hey, hey, but you listen.

Give me Andrew Lux numbers, his third year in the NFL. I'm writing notes. I've got a couple pens, yellow, markers, this and that, double underline things I want to pop on the air. You know, yellow things, transition. commentary. I've got my own little way, my own little maze of verbal cues and visual cues I have. And then we just sit there and for about two and a half hours, we just kind of do a show before a show. I kind of believe that you have to take the audience somewhere every segment. I don't have to make you happy.

Can I make you laugh, make you cringe, make you think, but I got to take people somewhere. I hear too many sports radio guys that turn it on and they're just, you know, shooting the bull. They're not as funny as they think they are. They're not as captivating. They're not going anywhere. I believe if you give me eight minutes, I owe you. You're going to work. I owe you eight effing minutes of hard work.

I'm not mailing it in. I owe you. You've given me an opera. You've come into my store. The least I can do for you, the consumer, is to have eight minutes of thoughtful commentary. something. Take people somewhere. Tell them a story. So we don't go into a segment not having an idea where we're going. We may sound like sometimes I'm just ad-living. Robin Williams sounds like he's ad-living. Robin Williams knew he had a 42-minute set, knew where it would start,

the middle and the end. Never forget. You know, David Letterman didn't write those jokes. He's performing jokes written. So the art of it is, I'm just ad-living here for three hours. But, But to me, to do a simulcast radio and TV, if you don't have prep, if you don't take the audience somewhere, they can't simultaneously coexist and work. Now, when you have a show, and this is interesting, do you have, like, for instance, I'm going to do lock it in, and we do lock it in every Monday to Friday. And for people out there who don't know how television works, we have an A block, which is the open of the show before we go to break, we have a B block, and we lay out the entire show. So we know exactly where we're going for the entire hour. Do you know where you're going all three hours of your show by the time you sit down in the chair? Yeah.

And it's been laid out just like it would have been when you did speak for yourself or when you did Sports Nation. Yeah, I kind of know where I'm going. Now, what I do is I do all my prep and then I tell my staff, I say, okay, I generally know my lead. And then I tell the staff, you put them in order. You guys are producers. You tell me what you guys think are the most interesting to the least interesting. So I let my staff do that. I'll do the prep.

I usually say, this is the lead. In fact, the first two stories of the day, the first 10 minutes, I'm usually like, this is what I feel strongly about. Then I kind of let the staff tell me, you know, they'll give me a list. I never ask about guests until I'm leaving the meeting, like who's on the show today. And then they'll tell me, you know, they'll place the guests based on my rants and where we're going. I'll let the staff do that. But, yeah, I've got a pretty good sense where I'm going.

Now, I always tell everybody, we love breaking news because I think my team does a really good job on breaking news. My ideal show is I have a show for about an hour and a half, and an hour and a half in there's breaking news. Because I just think the juice of that, the energy of that is fun. You know, instead of just doing a three-hour show, which I knew, I like doing an hour and a half of prepared stuff. And then, oh, God, Andrew Luck retires. And then my staff scrambles, we get guests, the show is raw. I love that. I can do that.

I just don't think you build a show like that. You can't hope for that. But that will happen 15 times a year, and I love that. That's often our highest ratings, breaking news, and my staff is just, you know, they're just paddling like mad below the surface. I'm trying to be cool and collected, and we're booking guests, and they're in my ear, and Drew Brees online too, and oh, my God, we got a reporter. That's a lot of fun.

It doesn't happen a lot. You can't rely on that, but I love that. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio.com. And within the IHeartRadio app, search FSR to, listen live. All right. Last couple of questions here that I'll let you kind of think about where things are going for the forward future. I'm Clay Travis. This is wins and losses. We're talking

with Colin Cowherd. How big is gambling going to be? Where is FS1 and Fox Sports in general in your mind headed? Well, I think gambling is just going to grow as long as sports, as long as states, don't overregulated. We've seen some of that with poker. The conservative states, you know, and I don't mean like politically conservative, the ones that are heavy regulation, you know, concern that, you know, gambling is a disease and they'll be addicts and they overregulate it, those states won't succeed. You know, the states like perhaps Jersey that just says, hey, some will win, some will lose, here's the games, go bet them. It'll flourish in those states. It'll continue to grow. I don't know if it's a gold rush, but it's, I'm already

seeing, I'm already able to monetize a couple of different things in that space. So, I think it's going to grow. I think you and I have always had a real interest in it, and I think you and I will do both very well. I don't think everybody will. We're also in a company, Fox, which is much more entrepreneurial. It's the most entrepreneurial place that ever worked. It's got the best management I've ever worked for.

Very, very supportive. So I think it's going to grow. FS1 is, and listen, we're going to have our fourth straight year of double-digit growth. Right now, the part of the company that's growing faster than anything else is our shows, faster than our games. Listen, there's not a lot available on the market now. Most of the good stuff has been gobbled up. And so I think it's trying to keep our shows growing.

You know, cross your fingers on the XFL. If that helps, that's certainly an eight to ten weeks spot for you and I that's kind of dead. So XFL could help for us. And maybe, you know, this conference or that conference or this sport and that sport comes available in the next two years. And you go out, we're certainly a smaller company now in terms of scale based on selling our movie division. But I think we're nimble.

Bigger is not always better, but faster is always better than slower. I think we're really fast, really nimble, good turning radius, and we'll move quickly and gobble up what's available. And I think we're in a good spot. Again, we're not this monstrosity, this behemoth. That's not what we are anymore. But I think we are much faster and more nimble. And I trust our management to buy the right things, promote the right stuff.

And I think we're in a good space. It's Colin Calhard. This has been wins and losses. Last little bit for you because we've got a lot of young people who listen that are interested in sports. But I think a lot of your lessons that you have learned over life apply regardless of what you do for a living. Let's pretend that there's somebody listening to us right now that just graduated from college. Your number one piece of advice to that young listener would be what? Well, I'm always reluctant with advice. I give opinions because my life isn't your life. I mean, God, you went to law school. You live on an island. So my advice may not work for somebody else. My strongest opinions are be aggressive. Be kind. Everybody will come back around. Just because you can do something, fire somebody, doesn't.

doesn't mean you should. Be good to people. Word gets out. Everybody I met 30 years ago, I meet them again, way up, way down. Work your tail off. Be aggressive, perhaps not to a fault, but it's better to knock on one extra door than one too few. And be willing to learn, be willing to be coachable. People want to hire young people. They're cheap. Don't pretend like you know it all. Be coachable. Hell Brady's coachable. Be coachable. Be coachable. You don't know it all. And the one piece of advice I would give to everybody in our business, God, I feel strongly about this. Half a dozen times a year, you probably do this. I just did that in L.A. about three months ago. Don't let, not America. Crazy town, it's overreactionary,

produce your own content based on your values, your principles, and your intuition. Do not go to Twitter. and think that everything they, what are your buddies talking about? When my buddies and I would go for a run and they stopped asking about Kaepernick, I stopped talking about Kaepernick. The rest of Twitter talked about it to this day. Like, don't listen. That's not a slight, nobody, none of my friends who are in business where most of my friends are are on that thing all day.

It's overwhelmingly Hollywood and media people. So, you know, don't, you know, my daughter, asked me something there a day. We were talking about the difference between brands and followings. She goes to Arizona State, and I said, you could get, the girl that looks great in a bikini and puts it all over her social media will get more followers. But nobody wants that as a brand. No corporations hire in her as a brand because they hire her. You go to her social media and she's naked on her Instagram. I said, don't be consumed with followers. Be consumed with your brand. What are you telling people? Who are you?

Like, what do you stand for? Don't worry about your... I don't give a rip how many followers I have on Twitter, but I have a brand I'm going to play, too. And, you know, my daughter and I got into this conversation, and I'm like, you're too caught up in followers. She goes, nobody's making a billion dollars on YouTube outside of Ninja. Don't listen to that crap.

Show me the tax returns. Like, worry about building a long-term, thoughtful, decent, empathetic, curious, interesting brand. That may not have the most followers. and trust your intuition. Don't trust some random guy on an angry bird what he's declaring daily on Twitter. That is a perfect ending to this podcast.

That is great advice. He is Colin Cowherd. I am Clay Travis. This has been wins and losses. If you like it, give us a rating. Share it with your friends. And if you like this conversation, you'll probably like a lot of the other conversations as well.

Colin, I appreciate the time. Continued success. And I appreciate all the good advice you've given me over the years and the time you've spent with me and doubtless many others who are listening to this as well. Well, you've given me a lot of advice too, I don't. Appreciate that. That's Colin. I'm Clay Travis. This has been wins and losses.

Be sure to catch live editions of Outkick the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, 3 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you. you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic. On the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help me. make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle. middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest

playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart Podcasts. Guaranteed human.