Will Cain Country - Cain On Sports: Craig Carton On The NFL Draft and NHL & NBA Playoffs

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

On this edition of Will's Friday sports episode on The Will Cain Show, Will sits down with the host of 'The Carton Show' on FS1, Craig Carton. They break down the NFL Draft, as well as what to expect in the NBA and NHL Playoffs.   Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail]   Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show!   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for $5.00 plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. I don't know if you call this crystal balling or living in an alternative future. But let's pre-record our reaction to the NFL draft before the first round of the NFL draft. It is the Will Kane Show, which streams live every Monday through Thursday at 12 o'clock Eastern Time at Fox News.com, the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. And as you know, it's always on demand at Apple or Spotify.

If you're listening to us now, just go hit subscribe or leave a five-star review or leave a comment if you would. And if you're watching us on YouTube, just hit subscribe and you'll get every episode of the Will Kane show. NFL draft last night, although this is being recorded on Thursday before the NFL draft. and I'm sorry, if you need to go, I will understand. But before you go, I'll let you know my mood today. It is very dependent upon what happened last night. These are the things that I want to see from the Dallas Cowboys. I've broken down every mock draft.

I've played every mock draft simulator. The Cowboys have three picks in the first three rounds, 24, 56, 87. And before it is all said and done, I need these positions covered. Offensive tackle, offensive center, running back, defensive tackle, and linebacker. Will, you just named five positions. How are you going to do that with three draft picks? Exactly. So let's narrow it down on the ones where I need a starter.

I need a starter at offensive tackle, offensive center, and running back. So here's what I would like to happen. With the first round now behind us, you'll know today if I'm excited or I am disappointed. I think the tackle I have to get excited about is Tyler Guyton, from Oklahoma. As we go into the weekend, the running back that I am excited about is Jonathan Brooks, running back from Texas. And the center, I'm much more open to. Zach Frazier, West Virginia, or wait until the third, fourth round, and get yourself. The center from Wisconsin, the center from Penn State. I need these positions covered. The only other guy that I will

get excited about, because I'm different than my guest today here on the Wilkins show. I don't need sexy this year. I need big men. The only one I get excited about is defensive tackle from Texas, 380-pound Tevandre Sweat, the Longhorn to stop the run for the Cowboys. That wouldn't work for my guest today. My guest today is the host of the Carton Show. It's on FS1. It's from 7 to 930 every morning. Long time, legendary broadcaster in New York City, now hosting a national show on FS1. I think Craig Carton is entertaining, he's fun, and he certainly knows a lot about sports. And we're going to break down what he's excited about or would be disappointed about for his New York Jets in the NFL draft last night. Plus, we get into a conversation about who's a Hall of Famer, Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, who's a Hall of Famer?

And is he afraid of Dak Prescott plus a little NBA playoff talk with Craig Carton here now on the Will Cain Show. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms and have helped raise $7 million. Visit go.com. forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuilding efforts. Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson.

Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at foxtruecrime.com. Craig Carton, the host of Carton Live on FS1, 730 to 9 a.m. every morning. Join me now on the Will Kane Show. What's up? It's good to meet you, Craig.

I've watched you for a long time. I appreciate it. Likewise. We're actually on 7 to 9.30. So unless I got a memo that missed my mailbox, which will be fine. It's an hour or less, but all good and been watching me from a long time as well. I cut an hour off the show. It's all good.

Thanks, man. I didn't mean to cut an hour off the show. But I'm glad to have you ever in the Fox family. I didn't get a message from management that your show has changed time slots. So we're good. We're good. all right we're doing this together we're sitting together on thursday afternoon and it's not ideal because i would love to be talking to you after the nfl draft but you're a big new york guy

um i think i have it correct i think you're a jets guy if i remember correctly um so let's do it this way i'm obviously a big fan of the dallas cowboys when we wake up in the morning what will you be most excited about what will you be most disappointed about when a it comes to the Jets? Wow. I think the Jets are going to go after this kid from Georgia named Brock Bowers, who's kind of the prototypical NFL tight end now. And look, I'm like Pavlov's dog.

Like if you hit the buzzer, I'm going for it every time you hit the buzzer. So I like sexy. And sexy to me is not an offensive line. And sexy to me is a kid who can get down the field and catch the football. So I always want sexy. Now, I'm not thinking that makes them a better team. in comparison to getting an offensive lineman. And I think it's down to two guys.

I think there's a kid out of Notre Dame, him Joe Alt, who's just like six-foot-eight beaith of a guy who would be a left tackle for the Jets to protect Aaron Rogers. Or you go sexy, and that's his kid, Brock Bowers, out of Georgia. Either way I win, but I wake up much happier if we get the kid who can catch touchdowns and convert third downs. I don't fall in love with big, thick dudes on the offensive line. It's a good, it's probably a good rule in life.

I don't fall in love with big, thick dudes. I have to. I have to fall in love with big thick dudes. I think, I have to, I think. I have to fall in love with the offensive line. I think the Cowboys have to do that. I honestly will be disappointed. They don't do that.

Draft a big offensive tackle because, I mean, they've been decimated. They've lost two starters in this offseason, a center and an offensive tackle. So if they don't come out with that from the pick number 24, I don't know what I would be excited about. You've got potential as well. I mean, the three rumors for the Jets are offensive tackle, much to your disappointment. The Tide-in, as you point out, who's not just prototypical. I mean, like he's kind of a game changer.

Everybody acts like he's a unicorn. Like, he's the type of Tide-in that doesn't come along as the best tied-in every draft, but once every five-year-type situation. But, you know, you could also – I've seen a lot of people talking about receiver. So, you know, I don't know if one of the big receivers falls down, one of the big three receivers falls down to the Jets, but you'd be excited, right? I mean, if you got Romayadunzee from Washington,

some receiver. I don't think any of the big three are going to get down. Assuming the Jets stay at number 10, obviously there's always that potential for a team. You know, to make a move, there's a guy that they really covet. But what I'm interested in you is you're a cowboy fan. And there's this image a lot of people have that the Cowboys just win a lot, right?

And Saddow's Cowboys. You know, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmett Smith, win, win, win. It's been 28 years. You're only about what, 32? Like, you've never seen the Dallas Cowboys in a Super Bowl. And this has been a terrible offseason for the Dallas Cowboys.

You didn't sign any free agents. You lost three or four guys that were really good on the team. And your owner came out and said, and I love Jerry Jones. It's my favorite owner in the NFL. I wish he owned the New York Jets. But he just came out and said the checkbook is closed.

We're not spending any money. So you got bigger problems than who you're drafting towards the end of the first round. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. I mean, you buried some fake news in there, but it was complimentary fake news. No, I'm old enough. I'm 49. I was there for all three of those Super Bowls in the 90s.

I went to them. And by the way, Carton, like, you know, I am a fan. I think you're really, really good at what you do, but your Cowboys' hatred hasn't escaped my attention. Like, I know who I'm talking to. You've drugged them through the mud more than one occasion, so just a forgiving soul. But yeah, man, I mean, it's been forever. And I don't know that you would love the Jerry Jones to own New York Jets because at some point, you know, you have to say, are you the hype machine or do you deliver actual results on expectations? And I think there's a earned entitlement.

I think it's earned. And so entitlement's not always a bad word. There's an earned entitlement to the Dallas Cowboys. They should be, you know, three Super Bowls in the 90s. But for the Steelers, the team of the 70s, arguably perhaps still a team of the 70s. And it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing, even more embarrassing because there is a wealth of talent on this roster. I don't think they're overhyped in terms of talent.

So I can't explain it. I kind of think it's a little bit of a rot from the character of the team. We're not the Carolina Panthers, obviously. There is talent there. As much as DAC is maligned, because that comes with the job, right, being the cowboy quarterback, doesn't matter what your name is, you're going to be maligned. if you don't win a Super Bowl every single year. But, you know, I'm with

you to a point. You've earned it to a point, but then there does come a point in time where if you're living off the ghosts of yesterday year, it's one thing of those ghosts were here 10 years ago. All right, it's maybe a half a generation right of fandom, but your

ghosts are almost 30 years old. Like, at some point, you can't live off Roger Stalbach anymore. You can't live off Troy Aigman. That's where you're three decades in. And consider this, the Jets have more playoff wins than the Cowboys do in that time frame. That's not good.

Trust me. No, that's not good because I was about to say, I'm not going to take this from a Jets fan. Like, I have a forgiving soul, but not, not, only so much from a Jets fan. I mean, you guys, you guys have become the laughing. You're not the laughing stock, but you're in the bottom five. of like kick them while they're down, they're down a lot. Hey, the Cowboys, it's a weird thing. Like for a stretch there, yeah, I had to live with like, yeah, I'm not the Panthers,

but I'm 8 and 8 under Jason Gary. But now it's even more weird because like it's objectively good to be 12 and 5, three seasons in a row, right? But then losing the first round of the playoffs, not good. Yeah, and that's the rub on it, right? You know, it's a long season, it's a grind, it's four plus months, and you have 12 wins three times under Mike McCarthy with Dag Prescott. And then there's that bugaboo for you guys, which is January football and the inability to get past that second round you can get to an NFC championship game.

And ultimately, that's where legacies are born and made. Like, so you can be a great quarterback. You can be a Hall of Fame quarterback all based on regular season success. And, you know, Dak Prescott's on his way to potentially being that type of guy. But there comes a point where you're no longer judged on, hey, how many games did you win in September and October? it's you got a great wide receiver you have a great running back you have a great this or great that what's the disconnect between how did you go undefeated at home and then get blown out by the green bay packers this past year and that's the disconnect i think and then we have one of the most loyal

fan bases a lot of front runners also to be fair but the largest fan base in america both and an owner that has always represented himself as kind of a swashbuckling pirate you you know, I'll spare no expense to bring this city a champion again. And you have gone almost 30 years without it. And now you're hearing the rumblings of checkbook is closed. You know, I got to get rid of some guys to sign this guy. It's very uncowboy-like. Right.

And it makes me happy to be honest. It's uncaboy-like according to the reputation that was solidified in the 90s when they signed Dion. But the truth is that they haven't been spenders for quite some time. They just aren't. And there's a legitimate question to ask about why. Oh, salary cap, salary cap. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but every team has a salary cap.

The Cowboys just don't spend. They're going to spend every dollar in the cap just a matter of how they spend it because there's a notion out there right now that, oh, well, we can't afford to pay the quarterback, the wide receiver, the second wide receiver, the other star linebacker, etc. And yet I open my eyes and I go, wait a minute, the Philadelphia. Eagles just did it. San Francisco is doing it. The Bengals do it to a certain extent. So you're not playing by different rules. Everyone plays by the same rules. You're just making different choices and other teams are making. Trust me. There's a mutiny in the fan base right now towards the

Cowboys. Hey, speaking of Hall of Fame, do you think Matt Ryan is just retired? Do you think Matt Ryan is a Hall of Famer? NFL MVP? I mean, a Tom Brady miracle comeback. away from being a Super Bowl champion. I don't know. I mean, Eli's a Hall of Famer because he won two. Matt Ryan has the stats, doesn't have the championships. Is Matt Ryan a Hall of Famer? Not for me, no.

And I think we've watered the Hall of Fame down. And I still have this romantic notion of what the Hall of Fame should be, you know, basically being a kid growing up as you, I'm sure, a huge sports fan. Matt Ryan's a really good quarterback. There are other MVPs who are also not in the Hall of Fame. My former radio partner, Boomer Assison, is one of them, where you can make an argument when he retired. His stats were top 10 in every category.

Why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? Much like Matt lost his only Super Bowl appearance. So there is at least a precedent for him not to get into the Hall of Fame. My gut is that he gets in because we've watered down the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame used to mean the very best of the best, period stop. And while Matt Ryan was a very good quarterback, and this is not a knock on Matt Ryan, this is the reality of at no point in his career, Would you have ever considered him the best quarterback in football, not a single year, right?

So how am I going to take a guy who at no point was ever thought of as the best quarterback amongst his peers and now convince me that he's a Hall of Famer? And I think the Hall of Fame should be a special building. And I think we've watered it down by mandatory minimums as far as how many players get in, not just football, all sports. And I think it, well, it's still special for that guy and the, fan base that rooted for that guy, whomever he may be. But the Hall of Fame is not what it used to be. And it doesn't represent what it also used to represent. So I'm actually with you. And I bet you that our definition of what it takes to be a Hall of Fame quarterback might

be similar. I remember I had this debate on ESPN. And what happens in a lot of these debate shows on ESPN, if I'm being honest with everybody, it's not manufactured disagreement. People think that. Or at least, it's not supposed to be. I can't speak to every talent. But it's not manufacture disagreement. But there is a lot of semantic games that are played. So, like, we're arguing in the end over the definition of a word. But I argued one time what it means to be elite. Like, the difference between elite and great. And I would say, like, I think elite is top, I guess it would be top 10%. So are you, in the NFL, that means, are you a top three quarterback? You know, 30, 32 teams, let's basically put it, three

quarterbacks. And I would think a Hall of Fame is you need to have an extended stretch of being elite. Yours is a little strict if you say the best quarterback, and you probably don't mean just one guy. But you need to have a five-year stretch where we can look at and go, oh, you were definitely elite. You were definitely top three. And I think a harder debate than Ryan will be Matt Stafford.

Like, Matt Stafford will have the Super Bowl that Ryan didn't have. But I don't know, according to what you just said and what I said together, there was ever a five-year stretch where it's like, oh, Matt Stafford's for sure consistently a top three quarterback in the NFL. Yeah, no, I'm with you. And then that argument then begets the secondary argument, which is which guy's a compiler, meaning he lasted long enough, was healthy, long enough to put up stats that are hard to argue against.

Stafford's a great example. Without that Super Bowl, he's got no shot of getting into the Hall of Fame, in my opinion, and yet he's compiled significant stats from the standpoint of yards and touchdowns and all the things that people look at to judge quarterbacks against other quarterbacks. he also didn't win a single playoff game in Detroit, where he spent the majority of his career. Look, and I take Eli Manning. You know, Eli Manning is the guy for us in New York.

That's the most hotly debated guy when it comes to the Hall of Fame. And one, you know, just, you know, you know, caveat to that is he's getting into the Hall of Fame. It's a no-brainer. He's a first bout Hall of Famer, but not based on regular season. And this is why I get back to the legacy conversation. Right. Eli Manning's getting to the Hall of Fame because he was a two-time Super Bowl. MVP period stop, right? If you look at Eli Manning, the regular season quarterback, it's a

ho-hum yaw. He ain't that good. He's certainly not a Hall of Famer. He wasn't a top 10 quarterback, and the word elite is interesting in regards to Eli because I remember the question about Eli Manning. He was asked one summer at a training camp, are you an elite quarterback? And he said, you're damn right, I am. And we were like, no, you're not. Like, we've watched you play a lot. and he had these two magical runs you don't take it away from him in the biggest moments with the most amount of people watching

and that's enough to get into the Hall of Fame now people will question well then why isn't Jim Plunkett in the Hall of Fame great question I don't have an answer for it but going back to the original premise here which is I lean towards what you said one year alone cannot get you into the Hall of Fame

if you give me a solid four or five six year play with consistency where you want of the top three or four, let's say five quarterbacks in the game, I think then you are certainly building a Hall of Fame, a resume. And I don't think you have to have a championship to win. Like Dan Marino is clearly one of the five greatest quarterbacks. You could argue, I'm sure, in the history of football, he only went to one Super Bowl. And it was early in his career.

And obviously, he didn't win it. So no one's going to argue that Dan Marino isn't a Hall of Famer. I just think we're at a place now where the game has changed, the stats by proxy have now changed as well so quarterbacks are putting up bigger numbers they are playing a lot longer because the game is now put rules in to protect them from the significant injuries quarterbacks of the 70s and 80s and early 90s suffered specifically concussions also injuries to the lower body you know preventing you know hits but below the waist against quarterbacks so I think we we do have to evolve a little bit in our thinking but my my good has always been this you know i don't care how old you are whether you're a 10 year old boy or a 40 year old man or

older you know what a hall of famer looks like and a hall of famer should be a guy where we all just universally agree yeah no doubt that guy's a hall of famer and matt ryan's not one of those guys so i want to ask you something um even though you're a jet fan i mean you've you've done new york media forever so i think you can you'll have a perspective on this this ties into eli I rooted against Eli twice a year for well over a decade. And I was Cowboys Giants. And I was never afraid of Eli. I respected Eli like I thought, okay, they'll be fine quarterback play.

But I wasn't afraid of Eli. What I'm curious about is, this is going to force you to kind of see things through Giants' goggles. But like, how do you feel about DAC? I don't mean like I want Craig Carton, the National Sports Talkers analysis of DAC. I mean, like, as you have watched, I mean, the Jets and Cowboys have played a handful of times, but the Giants have to do it twice a year. Like, as a fan of Dak, and I am a fan of the guy and the quarterback. It's a weird thing as well where I actually have confidence in Dak.

Like, part of me is like, you should be afraid of Dak. He will destroy your team. It will be him that does it until he doesn't. And then he, and it often is, yeah, against really good teams or in the playoffs, he all of a sudden does it. But I'm curious from the perspective of like a guy that covers the Giants and they're going, oh, they've got to play the Cowboys. Are you afraid of Dak Prescott?

No. No. Afraid of the Cowboys, collectively. They've been better than the Giants a lot over the last, you know, 10 years. You know, Dax's what is his eighth year. He doesn't scare me. Dak makes all the throws the NFL quarterback's got to make. But, you know, Patrick Mahomes scares me, right?

If I'm playing against Patrick Mahomes. I'm afraid of Patrick Mahomes. I'm not afraid of Doc. Because I know in the biggest of games, he's the guy, going to make a mistake. He's the guy he makes every throw. If the pocket is perfect, if a wide receiver is wide open, 100 out of 100 times, he's going to hit him, period, stop again. But at no point that Dag Prescott ever put the fear of God into me, where I was like, even as a non-Giant fan, but an objective observer who watches every giant game because of my job,

at no point was I like, oh, man, Giants have to see Dag Prescott. Now, was I afraid of other guys? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, was I worried. worried about C.D. Lamb in the last couple of years, and prior to that, all the great players that, you know, we talked about earlier, yes. But Dak Prescott, well, I do think he is towards the bottom half of the top 10, maybe even 11th or 12th, worst case scenario. And I think if he were available to the right price,

you'd have a dozen teams waiting in line to talk to him to bring him in because he's better than, you know, half the quarterback's in the league. But he doesn't make me fear him at all. He's a competent quarterback. are you afraid of micha parsons no micha parsons has become really yeah yeah micha parsons i thought took a major step backwards this year because he fell in love of himself and there's this new generation of athlete where the microphone in front of your face is more important to them than being the best football player they can be micha parsons could be the best defensive player in all football and he

was on his way towards that and then he decided to compare himself to Lawrence Taylor. Silly comparison, of course, with the greatest linebacker of all time. And to me, you've got these young guys who are amazing talents. You'll have every bit of the skill they need to become Hall of Famers and champions, but they're in love with themselves. They're in love with the sound of their own voice, being on camera, having an Instagram following, doing podcasts, and yap, yap, yap, yap, yap,

and talking. The focus has got to be playing. And I'm not saying you're not allowed to have a podcast or have an opinion on world matters and what's going on in the league that you play. And it's all well and good. They have every right to have the podcast like I do, right? But at the end of the day,

if you're running to the microphone an hour after an embarrassing loss to the Green Bay Packers, that tells me that that's your focus. And as a fan of the sport, I want you to play football. I want that to be your focus. And unfortunately, Michael Parsons is in a situation now.

where he wants to be a celebrity, not a football player. I actually think it's fairly similar to Dak. Like, I think you should be afraid of Michael Parsons, but I also have to acknowledge that in the biggest moments, he hasn't made the play. In the playoff game, he hasn't made the play. He has everything he could. And I don't think the comparison to Lawrence Taylor is crazy.

I think he has every ability and is shown at moments. I'm like, the only God that that reminds me of is Lawrence Taylor, but I need to see it consistently and in the biggest moments. Let me just say this. It's crazy. I'm not a Giants fan. I'm not even an L.T. guy. Preparing Michael Parsons to L.T. is crazy.

He did his third year. He just finished his third year. Exactly. It's crazy. You're talking about the, and again, I'm not an LT guy. It is, it's, that might be the craziest thing you've ever said into a microphone. No, it's not. It's not.

And I think history will validate me when this whole thing is done. I actually believe in it. Hey, I want to talk about a few other things. Let's do like a freak-out meter here. I'm going to start with the less interesting, well, for the nationwide public. I know you did a segment yesterday where you said nobody cares about the NHL. But let's talk about the NHL and NBA playoffs, freak out. And this will validate your point.

I have nothing to talk about it in the NHL playoffs outside of the Dallas Stars. But I actually think it is interesting. It should be interesting wider that here we have a number one seat. They're incredible. The stars are incredible. Now they're playing a defending champion Vegas Knights who done this thing that is happening in hockey where you could put a guy on long-term injured reserve, then you can beef up your salary, get new players, and then bring the guys back from injured reserve, and there's no salary

cap in the playoffs. And I don't want to be the guy that belly aches about the rules or how you found the loophole in the rules. But, I mean, the stars are down 02, and I'm in full freak out. yeah i mean you should be right um look i'm not a huge hockey guy i am i am aware of that rule it's been in place for a while teams have taken advantage of it to hide guys you know the roster and all of a sudden hey look who's available for the playoffs right so from a purest standpoint it's not right um you know i started this thing many many years ago in the radio new york

and it's very simple nobody cares about hockey boomer when i worked with boomer sison and that was a way to allow him to say something about hockey. I respect hockey as a sport. I love watching playoff hockey. I don't think I watched three minutes of regular season hockey. This year, I know the Rangers are up to nothing against Washington. I'm aware of that. You just told me the stars are down 02.

I couldn't have told you that. You didn't know. I'm trying to sit down here. Wait, wait, wait. I am aware that ruled out. You do the Rangers? I'm not even a hockey fan, but I would be a ranger fan. My family are ranger fans, yeah.

NBA, Knicks or Nets? Oh, diehard Nick fan. If the teams I root for, the Knicks have been my favorite team since I'm five. And they're the one team that if I could pick one of my teams to win a championship first, it would be the New York Knicks. We'll get to the NBA in this moment. But where'd you grow up? I mean, your accent, obviously, you're a native New Yorker, but where did you grow up? grew up about 20 minutes outside of New York City in a place called Westchester County,

a little town called New Rochelle. I know Westchester. Yeah, the Dick Van Dyke Show. I know both. Settled by French Huguenots. Yeah, so I lived in New York. Oh, a little history lesson here. You know, I lived up there for way too long, 15 years.

So, yeah, I figured you for Long Island, and I don't, because you're Jets guy. And, like, you, I've always liked the, okay, you are a Jets, Nets, Mets guy. Are you Mets or Yankees? That's where it gets a little, not to prolong this, it gets a little complicated for me. I grew up as a diehard New York Mets fan, Mookie Wilson, my favorite player of all time. And then in 2009, while the Mets were having a tough season, I opened up a church. And the name of the church was Mets fans for Yankees. and I adopted the Yankees because they were playing the Phillies

in the O'9 World Series, and I hate Philadelphia. So I adopted the Yankees because I wanted the Yankees to beat the Phillies in the World Series, and then it just became easier to root for the Yankees. So I'm a fraudulent Yankee fan as Fagasy as it gets, but in the moment, I'm a Yankee fan. What I do every March, I now do like when couples do the gender reveal with the balloon and the powder and all that stuff, I do a fandom reveal every March in which I pick either the Yankees or the Mets.

And now for the third consecutive year, I've decided to be a Yankee fan. But my fandom is complete BS. So a minute ago, I thought you're going to be arrested for polygamy. This is one of my sports rules. You don't get two teams. Like, you just don't. Okay, I'm sorry. but what you revealed yourself is you have an open marriage with you have an open marriage with the Mets you're not you're not with them both at the same time you just flirt back and forth year to year between the Yankees and the Mets exactly exactly right yeah but I always have liked the whole like stereotype of Jets Mets Nets Islanders that's why I was going into this is like your blue collar long island New Jersey Staten Island guy

and then, you know, your Manhattan guys, and I think probably your Westchester guys are, you know, giants, Yankees, Knicks. And I recognize that the Knicks and Nets don't fit cleanly because the Nets were, you know, overtly New Jersey for so long. But you kind of have mixed and matched, Carton. You're kind of picking what you want in there. So I thought you might be an Islander's guy because you're a Jets guy. Yeah, no, and it's weird. So there's New York City, right? the islands on one side, as you know, West Chess was on the other side of it. So the Nets did not exist in my, you know, 70s and 80s as a kid growing up,

the Nets were an irrelevant entity did not exist, partially because, of course, they were in New Jersey. And the NICs were just, you know, the dominant team, right? So it's also a generational thing. So the Giants have been around so much longer than the Jets. If you're a New Yorker, an old-school New Yorker, for me, if I'm a second-generation New Yorker, you know my dad was born in 1937 he was a yankee fan and back in the day you had choices right new york giants baseball team are you a jacky robinson brooklyn dodger guy or a yankee fan and then you by default we're a new york giants fan right there was the jets didn't exist uh throughout the 30s 40s

50s and into the early 60s i i went jet solely because my dad was a giants fan i just want to do the opposite of him because I didn't want to root for the same team. And yes, I should probably see a therapist about that. And it was a terrible decision because I had not enjoyed a Super Bowl in my lifetime. But I decided just to combat my father in my fandom. And he wasn't a big basketball guy. He was a baseball guy and more of a football fan than anything. And that's the only reason I picked the Jets as a kid. I was born in 69. So obviously I didn't get to see the Joe Namath, New York Jets. My first memory is seeing the Jets play a preseason game. game against the Redskins, as they were then called, at Shea Stadium where the Mets used to play.

But while they were building the Mettelands in New Jersey, but the Jets was merely to get into fights with my dad about, no other reason. You're probably a New York sports historian, so you might know the answer to this. What happened to all the baseball New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodger fans? Like, did they become Yankee fans? They don't. Do they root for the Dodgers in L.A.? Do they root for the Giants in San Francisco?

no so it's interesting they didn't go to the yankees because they were the mortal enemy and the Yankees you know it was such a dominant franchise when all three franchises existed a lot of them waited for the Mets to become a team and then immediately joined the Mets because they were by proxy and by default nationally fans and Jackie Robinson had a lot to do with that more than any other individual player especially in the minority community it was about Jackie Robinson which makes a lot of sense. A lot of fans did follow their fandom out to L.A. and became Los Angeles Dodger fans. And then when the Mets came along in the 60s, it was easy to stay National League and then root for this upstart team, you know, the New York Mets. But those

National League fans did not go to the Yankees because there's the Yankees that stood in their way of championships. Because you're talking about really good baseball teams back then who couldn't get past the New York Yankees and some of those dominant, you know, Hall of Fame, teams. All right. That's your sports history moment for the New York area. Let's go back to the freak out. Now we'll move to the NBA.

You're a big Knicks fan. You're in a good spot right now, up 2-0 on the Sixers. I'm a Mavericks fan. I don't know what to think right now. We're 1-1 with the Clippers. I don't know. I don't know what to think.

I mean, Clippers. It's kind of interesting, Craig. I mean, the super, there's a, we talked about Super Team, there's kind of actually a lot of super teams right now. Like the Clippers are one of them. I look at them sometimes, I'm like, wait a minute, Hardin and Westbrook and Paul George and Kauai Leonard, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous.

But a lot of, I mean, the Suns on paper are a super team. So there's a lot of these where you've got three or four superstars. The Mavericks aren't one of them. They've got two superstars. But, you know, no matter how good you feel about the Knicks or how kind of like weirded out I am and where we are right now at the Mavericks. My biggest complaint about the NBA is it's kind of anticlimactic. I'm

probably rooting to get to the semifinals, maybe the conference finals. I think you're rooting to get to the conference finals as a Knicks fan. I don't think either of us are really holding out a rational hope that we're going to win the NBA title because it's going to be when it's all said and done the nuggets of the Celtics. Yeah, look,

I agree with that, even though the Celtics did lose last night through the Miami Heat, which was an embarrassing performance by them, giving up 23, three-pointers, and making Tyler a hero look like, you know, the second coming of Larry Bird. The Mavericks, you know, the Mavericks obviously are a flawed team like most teams are. And I thought the Clippers did them a major, major favor by bringing Kauai Leonard back for game two.

Like, they ran you out of the building in game one. And as good as Luca is and as great as Kyrie Irving is as a basketball player, there was no answer. They were down like 30, like right out of the gate. And you're like, where the Dallas Mavericks at, right? And then Kauai Leonard comes back, hasn't played in three weeks. and because he's so good when he's healthy, we've got to start feeding him the rock,

and that's taking away possessions and shots from the guys that were on the court who obviously dominated the Mavericks in the first game. Look, I don't care who wins that series. I'm with you. They're not winning an NBA championship. I think if either one of them, whichever one of them gets out of the first round,

they have a legitimate chance, you know, to make some noise in the second round, but not good enough, I don't think. I would take the Clippers as a better team over the Mavericks right now. So the Clippers beat Dallas. I'd give them a better shot in round two. Then I give the Dallas Mavericks.

You know, Luca Donchuk plays hero ball. And Tim Hardaway, senior, who's one of my co-hosts during the NBA season, his son plays for the Mavericks. And he's a Hall of Famer, obviously. It's frustrating for him to watch the Mavericks play because if you watch their half-court offense, it's Luca just yo-yo in a basketball.

And then if you can't get a shot, there's like four seconds left on the shot. And then he passes it. Now it's too late to do anything. The team that bothers me the most out west, though, is the team you mentioned the Phoenix Suns. So the Phoenix Suns go out there. They get Kevin Durant when Mattisheba takes over ownership.

Let me make a big splash, show the fans. I'm going to spend, spend, spend, and bring them one of the great players of a generation. They acquire Bradley Beale. And you're like, wow, you got three generational scores on the court together. Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant, and they stink. They're not a good basketball team. And the team roles are probably going to sweep them and win the series. And then we could start talking.

You're talking about NFL legacy. What's Kevin Durant? Hasn't won a title without Steph Curry, left there famously, went to Brooklyn, never got out of the second round, forces his way to Phoenix. You could even write last year off because he got there so late. No success last year. They're going to get eliminated in the first round this year. And here's the guy who would be the first to tell. how great he is and he can't take a team into the conference finals and never has really since

his rookie season without Steph Curry. So I think there's a lot of teams out there all playing for second place at West. The East is more interesting because you don't trust Milwaukee. Indiana proved that to you in game two when Dame Lillard did not have the same type of game he had in game one. And you could all of a sudden find a Nick Pacer's second round. Knicks will win that one. And now I know not to be afraid of the Boston Celtics. So if you gave me a Nick Celtic matchup and the Celtics played the way they played last night, Knicklebockers in seven, let's go to the NBA finals.

Did I say you on that or not? What an ingenious. He took the bait on me saying the Mavericks won't win it all and just ran with it. But I also had said the Knicks aren't going to win it all, but he wouldn't take debate on that. By the way, my takeaway from this is, oh, I wonder if there's some insight and some discontent in the Hardaway family about Luca Donchich. Is that all Tim Sr.? Or is that coming from Tim Jr. as well? Which, by the way, Luca is a hero, so he can play hero ball.

So I'm fine with that. And he's matching well with Kyrie. And I know you've got to go in a minute, but I can't let you go without saying, you're welcome for Jalen Brunson. By the way, the single greatest acquisition as a free agent in my franchise is history. Remember, we traded for Mello, so that doesn't count. Amari Stonemar changed things to help us get Mello, you know, 15 years ago. But thank you, thank you, thank you for not recognizing how good Jailen Brunson can be. And he begged you to stay in Dallas.

And I'll tell you what, I know you're, I guess you're no longer in New York. and it sounds like you don't look forward to coming back all that often. But if you ever want to watch Jaylon Courtside in a Nick uniform, you just let me know I'd be happy to bring it to a game. I do. I'm there every weekend. I'm in New York every weekend. Invitation accepted. Courtside anytime. And by the way, speaking of pounding the ball and holding it into the last second, I think Jaylon leads the league. I think he leads the league in like dribbles

and holding it the longest in the shot clocks. So, I'm going to read it's been fun, man. Thank you so much, Carton. Careful, I'm going to accept that invitation. So just be careful. I appreciate you being here on the Will Cain Show, man. My pleasure. All the best to you and your whole crew.

Thanks so much for having me. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Craig Carton. And again, as I mentioned, check him out on the Carton show, FS1, 7 to 930 every morning. All right, let's get ready for rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. and I'll be plugged in all weekend to the NFL draft. Follow me on X at Will Kane or Instagram, C. Wilcane. I'll try to live it out loud with you, the NFL draft.

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