July 18, 2025 • 41 mins
Jason Fitz & Geoff Schwartz are in for the guys and talk about T.J. Watt getting an extension from the Steelers making him the highest-paid non-QB in the league, Caitlin Clark pulling out of WNBA All-Star Weekend due to injury and how much it will hurt the league, Fitz's violin skills, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the best of two pros and a couple
of Joe with Lamar airings and a rating win and
Jonas Knox on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
DJ Want went out and got himself paid, no doubt
about it. And the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be
a talking point. The question is, are they actually going
to be a great football team? What is all of
this for?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm not sure we actually know the answer.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
He's Jeff Schwartz on Jason fittsbor hanging out on Two
Pros and a cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio. Jeff, Like,
the funny thing is, I've been saying this, I feel
like for a couple of months because all we do
is keep talking about Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers and
Aaron Rodgers, and like there's an unavoidable thing here, right
the Steelers are going to be this massive talking point
all year.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And just like as we started the show today, I said, like.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
The NBA has built a whole empire on talking points
that are more meaningful than the game half the time,
and I feel like that's what we're looking at. Like
at some point, great you get TJ. Watt back on
a mega deal. It needed to happen. Great, you go
out and sign Aaron Rodgers, you had to have a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
All of these things make sense.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But I guess I struggle to figure out how all
of these things make Pittsburgh any bet better than the
third best team in their own division. And why are
we talking about this much hype over a team that's
probably going to be the third best team in its
own division.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Well, it's, first of all, it's Pittsburgh, right, So hype
is always going to be there. But I think you're
I think the thing that for me, you know, it's
very important as a team to understand two things right.
You want to build in the short term and long term, right,
and those sometimes you know, to conflict with each other.
And I want to see your plan right, And so
the other's plan very clearly is we're going all in
(01:41):
for this season. It's a veteran group. They've signed older players,
they traded for older players. They built their roster around
Aaron Rodgers and the defense and Watt and Hayward and
Ramsey right, and they traded for DK. It's it's all
veteran and this is the Pittsburgh Steelers, right. The super
(02:02):
Bowl or bust for them, and I think they've calculated
incorrectly that they are chasing a short term fix, which
is we're Pittsburgh. We always win nine or ten games,
We're always competitive. Which are which are? Which are good
qualities to have? I'm sure a lot of fan bases
would love your Raiders fan. Correct me if I'm wrong.
They're like, I'm sure you would love to have Pittsburgh.
(02:24):
I I I think you would love as a Raiders
fan to have that stability. But the stability in Pittsburgh
is feels like to me, the worst place to be
in the NFL, which is not good enough to win
a super Bowl, not bad enough to draft young quarterback.
And Pittsburgh's plan to me, feels very foolish. You're going
(02:46):
all in an older players, which almost never works in
the NFL. They break down, they get hurt. That's the
unfortunate part about the league, right, one hundred percent injury rate.
The older you are, the more you get hurt, and
the harder it's to come back from that injury. They
have almost no sort of young core to build around,
and they've done that purposely right because they want to
(03:07):
try to win a super Bowl now and they're not
winning a super Bowl. That's that's the miscalculation. Their calculation
is we're gonna get the get in the postseason and
then make it happen. Look at the look at your division,
look at the rest of the league. You're not better
than Buffalo, Baltimore, the Chiefs, You're not better than probably
the Chargers and Broncos. You're just not better than a
lot of the teams in you know, in your own conference.
(03:30):
And it's all in for nothing. And the next year
you're gonna sit around and go, well, we're okay, we're
a year older. Now we're where's our young core of
our team, our base of our roster. We don't have
a quarterback again. Now we get draft one of course,
and they've been more aggressive in the draft than previous regimes.
(03:52):
Is Omar Khan got a contract extension, but they don't
have a quarterback in the future. They they've yet to
address that. They tried with Pickett. They drafted the old
quarterback in the first round that year. Very telling on
the talent of that draft. This draft should be, it
should be more quarterback friendly. I just don't like and
don't think the way they're building their roster is a
(04:13):
successful process, and I think they'll end up with the
same place they're always in, which again I mean, is
that what you want? Is that really where you want
to be as a franchise.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
The other hard part about it is what does all
of this do for the noise around Tomlin?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And you know, maybe the organization doesn't listen to noise,
Maybe none of it matters.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Maybe all of us, instead of sitting in front of microphones,
overblow it every single year.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
But that's all possible.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
There is just this part of me that man, where
there's smoke, there's fire, and every year just gets louder
and louder. And the only thing that really quells that
noise are playoff wins. And so I'm looking at this
team and you know, I hate ranking things. I think
ranking trying to come up with the ranking is so
subjective and impossible. I like to just put things instead
(05:00):
on shelves. Like when you walk into a bar, you're like, hey,
I want top shelf vodka.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
They're on a shelf together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Then the well vodka is all on a shelf, like
you understand where these things fall. So to me, if
you're gonna go all in, it's because you are a
top shelf team that is sitting on the same shelf
as the leader of the.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Lead in your conference.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
To your point, the Buffalo is the Kansas City's the
Baltimore's of the world. They're sitting on a completely different
shelf than where the Steelers are. To me, I don't
think that they even belong in that same conversation. They're
on the next shelf down, and that's a good shelf
like that.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
But when you go this all in, and I think
the result is more than likely going to be either
the same as it's been.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Or maybe even a little worse.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
When all of that comes together, then we're gonna be
sitting here in February and everybody's.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Gonna say, oh, it's just time for Tomlin to move on.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And then you turn around and think, Okay, now you're
resetting the entire organization because you went wrong on a
fool's goal plan to try and go all in on
a year where all in doesn't get you good enough.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Correct, And that's where the long term thinking has to happen. Right,
It's hard to thread a needle between here's our short
term plan, here's our long term vision. Their long term
vision doesn't seem to be there. The long term vision
is we're going year by year, which, again, for an
organization like Pittsburgh and the success they've had over the years,
it's very tough to sell your fans on like, hey, guys,
(06:21):
we're gonna kind of have a year when we pull
back a little bit to get better moving forward. You can,
you can still have a pullback year and be a
little bit competitive and give your fans hope. But the
issue again is again, what is there. What's their plan
next year? I don't know they're playing this year, So
(06:43):
try to win obviously, Okay, I mean sure, we all
try to do that, but it doesn't mean it's gonna
happen and we all agree on that. I could give
you all the franchises at the top of the NFL
and tell you their plan for the next few years.
All revolves around the quarterback. They have the pictures. They
don't have a quarterback for the future. Rogers is Rogers
is not as bad who want him to be. It's
also not what he was, you know, three or four
(07:03):
years ago. So the best to get from Rogers, I
think is just average, and and maybe average is good
enough to get you to the postseason with the with
the roster you have. But I just there are long
term plans non existent. And I think for a team
of like like Pittsburgh, the best teams in the NFL
both are done at the same time long term, right,
we think about the long term and the short term,
(07:25):
and Pittsburgh is so short sighted right now the way
they're their roster.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I also think to your point when you mentioned a
step back and result in hope, right, hope in the
NFL comes in the form of a young quarterback. I
just when you have a guy that's young that you
think is going to be the difference in your franchise,
you can even as a fan base, you can sort
of handle terrible years. Like Buffalo had a couple of
(07:51):
weird years in the beginning with Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
It was fine because they had Josh Allen.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
They didn't work, Like I don't think Bengals fans are
sitting here panicking the way frankly they should sometimes at
how much Joe Burrow is being wasted.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
But that's okay because they got Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like, even if you're a Titans fan right now and
your team has been an abject disaster and forgotten in
the car. In the process of the NFL, you got
cam Ward, now you got every like. So it's hard
to sell hope in what even could be a step
back here if you're a team that's always nine and
eight or ten and seven and you still don't have
a long term answer at the quarterback and you don't
really at that position, and you don't really have a
(08:27):
clear path to how you're going to get better than Baltimore.
And that's like when you're just constantly looking at the
Ravens and Lamar and saying, well, they are they're better today,
and they're set up to be better for a minute,
and that organization has something that this organization doesn't have
because they have a quarterback they know they can bank
on for the next ten years. It's just it's a
(08:47):
really weird spot for the Steelers to be in. And
because of who the Steelers are and who the job
that Mike Tomlin has done, we just expect that they'll
be able to make chicken salad out of you know what,
and I I just don't know long term that that does.
Eventually everybody gets exhausted with chicken salad.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Well, we I mean to be fair, we know what
it's gonna be like long term, it's not gonna be
good unless look, we can eat our words. Obviously, if
they go out and get a quarterback in this next class,
it's it's it's it's shaping up to be a huge
quarterback class, just based off of mock drafts and look
around college football, so they can easily get you know,
put themselves in a situation to draft at eighteen, like
(09:26):
they always do, end up with a good quarterback. I
mean again, it's those are things that are all possible.
But in all my words, obviously, if that happens, but again,
what do you what are you building around?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Though?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Who are the pieces? Dk Metcalf is interesting because I've
asked everyone this when we're talking about DK Metcalf, what
what is DK's best moment as a as a wide receiver?
Do you do? You you watch a ton of football?
What's the top of my head?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I don't, I don't, I mean, I don't.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well, the big moment is when he caught Boodha Baker
from behind right. Otherwise he is a fine wide receiver.
He's made one I think was All Pro team, Pro
Bowl Team in two thousand in the COVID year. Otherwise
he's just been like okay, like he's he gets a
thousand yards every other season, he's only had a thousand yards
and three of us six seasons, it's not he's not.
(10:16):
Is that who you're building around? Offensively? Yeah? The offensive
line you know of an offensive line nerd like myself
was good. It's a it's a good young offensive line,
like like there's some real talent there. But I mean
that partly doesn't excite Steelers fans. But where's it like
after the season and let's say the old guys are
just done right, like Cam Hayward probably is last season,
(10:37):
you know, slags near the end, Ramsey? Who are the
young even Patrick Queen is getting older? Who are the
young guys you're building around? If you're Pittsburgh, they're kind
of just not there. So you're going all in on
this season when you're not gonna win a championship and
then you don't really have young guys to backfill. You've
you know, like you've sort of you've you're going all
(10:58):
in this window without thinking about the few in my opinion,
at all, and it's really going to cost them.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So let me ask you this, he's Jeff Schwartz. I'm
Jason fitz Wren on two Pros to a Cup of
Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I want your kind of mindset on this as a
former player and somebody that's around the league so much.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
What are you.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Supposed to do? And this is a philosophical question. I've
had it with Buck Rising at a.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Couple of times on Fox Sports too. But like TJ.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Watt needed to get to paid. There's no doubt about it.
Like you have a great player, you reward a great player.
But this is the same conversation in particularly when we
look at Russiers like Miles Garrett getting paid isn't really
going to result and wins for Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
They suck.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
They always suck, and you know, at some point that
doesn't mean you don't sign resigning great players like you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
I'm a Raiders fan.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I'm watching Max Crosby basically, you know, just waste his
career not winning any football games in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
And of course Vegas needs to pay.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Max Crosby because you're not gonna find another Max Crossby
in the draft. But you're also not winning a lot
of games with the Max Crosby He's like, how do
you find the line between you know, paying the guys
that you have in building for the future all at
once when when you're stuck wherever you are, whether it's
in the sea of sucker, in the sea and mediocrity.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, it's a fair question. So you know a few
reasons why you sign these players, right, And Crosby I
think is a really good example for this, because I
think Pittsburgh has sort of more and we know they
have more veteran kind of I think leaders and than
the Raiders do at the moment. But is you a
need to have someone in the building who is the
(12:30):
culture tone center, right, who everyone respects and who everyone
looks up to, right, And it's worth and you want
the production with that as well, And Crosby's giving you
that production. So it's TJ. Well, you need that in
the building. You just have to have that veteran and
you pay for that guy. And I think you pay
more for guys who you who you are homegrown, who
(12:51):
have you drafted, you've developed, that bleed your colors, right,
So for Matt Scrutsby, a great example like you to me,
you you need those guys on your roster and you
try to build around them as you get going. The
Steelers arguing for them is that they sort of have
Cam Hayward right, like, they don't need maybe a second
person for that. But at those positions, those impact positions,
(13:16):
pass rusher off to tackle, now, wide receiver, I think, cornerback,
you need dudes there to play. So even if you
think this is an overpay, and it might be, it's
only a three year deal, it's probably only a two
year deal, quite honestly. So you need those guys in
the locker room. You need guys that the players can
(13:36):
look up to, that players look and say, this is
the way to prepare and to win and and to
and also sometimes when you've been through the hard struggles
as a player on a bad team and you become
good like that, having that perspective can help other players
right as well, So you have to do it as
and also to the thing I think is important for
(13:59):
the health of just your roster building is right now
that people are questioning the Cowboys, what is Michael, Well,
you're not paying mucha Parsons, like, what are you doing
if you're a player on that roster who's up for
a deal, You're like, what why don't we pay Michael Park?
Like do I want to be here if we're not
going to pay that guy? Like are they going to
pay me? What's happening right now? And when you take
(14:20):
care of your superstars, then the players that are young
that they look at and say, hey man, you know,
I kind of want to stay here, and maybe it'll
take a little bit less because I want to stay
and we're building something here. Free agents look at you
and think, oh, well, well they pay their superstars, they'll
probably pay me too if I do well there like this,
like all those things matter when you build a roster.
(14:41):
You want people to want to come there. You want
to be a place that that develops players and pays
those guys. Those end up being off in the core
of winning teams. And then you want the locker room.
You want to you know, to have that guy in
the locker room as well. So I get why all
these deals happen. It makes good roster building sense for
them to happen.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You mentioned Michael Parsons, and that's the next portion of
this that's really.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I don't know if you saw this, but Parsons actually
did an interview with the Undertaker. I didn't know the
Undertaker was out here doing like on form interviews with
NFL players that were deep and meaningful, but he was.
He was out here talking to Mike about getting paid.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And what was stunning to me is Jeff like.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Okay, look, we all know that the Cowboys seemed to
do business the wrong way. It always gets done. So like,
I'm done sitting here saying, well, they're not going to
be Like my god, I was on radio, you know
when everybody said that Zeke wasn't going to get a
long term deal. That's how many years we've been doing
this with the Cowboys. They always signed people, They just
signed people late. They're the anti Eagles and that process.
(15:42):
But it was pretty stunning to me because Micah flat
out admitted that his people went to the Cowboys and
wanted to do a deal a year ago, and the
Cowboys basically weren't interested. They had other priorities to handle.
And so I look at all this, I'm like, man,
all that happens every single time that somebody else gets
paid is that the value drives up, and so the
Cowboys continue to sit here and let Parsons sort of.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Dangle in the wind and they'll get it done.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
But it's just what every time we sit here and
talk about why the Cowboys aren't who the Cowboys should be.
I think about moments like this when you've got a
superstar player sitting there with a former ww WE superstar
talking openly about the fact that there are too many
interferences in trying to get business done and he just
wants to get paid and keep doing his job with
the Cowboys.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
It just gets so much more expensive every time someone
gets someone gets a contract for Parsons, and you you
got to get these deals done before it gets too expensive.
And again you have a player like Parsons, a homegrown
player you've drafted who's a game wrecker. I mean, I
mean they should have paid him the second they had
the opportunity to pay him. And look, maybe there's a
hold up there. We don't know what happens in the locker.
(16:46):
We don't know what happens behind the scenes. Maybe he's
a bad locker guy, maybe he's a bad leadership guy.
We don't know these things. I'm just speculating on why
he went. Besides, but every deal gets me he could
have They could have gone him for thirty five thirty
three years. So now we're gonna have to pay forty
one forty two years. I mean he's worth it, obviously,
it's what the next contract up is. But the Cowboys,
(17:09):
maybe they've realized that we're not as good as we
think we are in we want to trade them for
two first round picks and rebuild. I mean that's certainly
a possibility here, But dracking their feet it's cost them
a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Hey it's me Rock Parker.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk, featuring
the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the I Test, We've got all
the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do
your sofa favor and listen to Inside the Parker Rob
(18:00):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Big news for the WNBA this weekend.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
We were just.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Talking about it.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Talks a lot of football this morning, obviously, but w
has got All Star Weekend this weekend, and that's an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's an opportunity to get.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Casual fans to come in and just sort of check
these things out. I always make the argument that all
pro games and championship games are really for casuals to
try and grow your sports. So all pro events having
Caitlin Clark be a part of them are a big deal.
And that is not going to be the case this
weekend as she continues to battle injuries in a year
that has been a tough one for her on the
injury front. And now all I keep thinking about is
(18:38):
just the opportunity lost because the overwhelming narrative, and I
don't think it's an incorrect one, is that the ratings
and the interest in the event will plummet without Caitlin
being part of it, whether it's the skills competition or the.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Three point contest.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
But it all just sort of speaks to what I
think has become difficult right now because to me, Jeff,
I've been pretty lucky in my career to cover a
lot of w for a lot of years, so the
fact that it's becoming really popular right now is an
easy transition for me.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
That's great, But there's this weirdness.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
With it where I feel like there are the subsets
of WNBA fans. There's the people that never watch it
that have just decided it sucks even though they never
watch it. There's the people that tell you it's great
even though they never watch it so they don't know
what's going on. And then there's a group of people
that are just really big fans. To me, I look
at all of this as like a cool, exciting opportunity
(19:34):
time right, like Caitlin. The more eyeballs that come in
for Kitlin, the better for everybody involved. But it feels
like it's become way more contentious than all of that,
and it's not that simple. And now everything with Caitlin
has layers, and the w has layers, and it's it's
an argument waiting to happen constantly.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
So I'll tell you my background the WNBA. So I
did not follow it very religiously until Sabrina and nesqu
was drafted by the Liberty. So Sabrina went New Oregon.
Her year at Oregon was cut short and fortunately by
COVID that Orgon team probably win a championship. Unfortunately, it
was just a bummer of a way to end. And
I've always enjoyed watching her play at Oregon, and she was,
(20:11):
you know, almost like Kayln Clark before Clark, right, I
mean the three points, shooting, the passing, not as dynamic
of a scorer visually, but obviously I think she averages
like nineteen points a game, incredible score, passer, all those things.
So I started watching a little more and mostly just
for her, like when she was on and it wasn't
on National until V as much, right, and obviously now
(20:31):
we know, and then I just started watching for Kaylyn Clark.
I like watching her play. She gets me to a TV.
She's fun to watch, even when she's not scoring a lot,
which she has not been doing. Now she's averaging nine
assists like she's having an incredible passer. Right. The Fever
score a ton of points. They're fun to watch. They
(20:51):
they move the ball, they shoot threes like they they
when they're rolling, they're averaging in the nineties, you know,
like they're fun to watch. Its fun basketball to watch.
So my background is probably as yours when it comes
to learning about you know, how the WA functions, and
and the one thing that stands out to me, and
no surprise, officiating is awful. It's really bad. And I'm
(21:13):
not saying that you have to fix it for Kaitlyn
Clark exactly, but you have an opportunity with the player
who's this popular, to really change fundamentally change your league.
And some of it has already happened. Right, they have
private planes now, right, they move games to bigger arenas
Caitlyn Clark. They just played the Connecticut son who were
like three and eighteen in the garden in Boston, Like
(21:37):
these events are huge national events when when Clark is
playing and the answer is not to change the game
to make her stand out, but it feels like they're
actively rooting against Kaitlyn Clark. At times the league is okay,
Like for example, they put out yesterday advertisement for the
(21:59):
All Star Game has said Page Beckers is the first
rookie to start at All Star Games is twenty thirteen.
Keti Clark started also gnamed last season. Like those are
the mistakes. I just don't understand. If it's like you,
why are you not acknowledging the Superstar Kaitlin Clark. They
just make these mistakes to me that I do not
(22:21):
understand why. They just don't seem to put enough attention
to promoting the most popular players. But I get it.
There are plenty of players in the league that are
better than Kitlyn Clark. You won't find me arguing otherwise,
especially this season. She's not playing as well, but there's
no one as popular as her. There's there's no doubt
about They're going to lose the good lose viewers for
the game this weekend. It's gonna be very noticeable when
(22:42):
the when the ratings come out. Every game that she
has a national television even when she wasn't playing this
past weekend against the Liberty, got like three million people
to watch, and the league just seems to have not
embraced that the level that I would expect. Deficiating stinks.
It's bad she gets zero calls. I'm not saying that
she should get the calls, but dude, she gets beat
(23:06):
up in games like she gets pushed, grabs, shoved, knocked down,
and foul calls never happen. I don't know why, but
that is the league. It's a very physical league, and
fifth it does feel like though there's just not enough
attention from the league office to how big of a
star she is. And it might happen over the years
and they get to that direction. But I don't know
(23:29):
if you feel that same way as I do when
it comes to just the attention given to her and
how I just don't think they're tabolizing on this opportunity
as much as they should.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I think it's the league. I think it's the players.
I think it's the super fans, like I think everybody.
At some point, people transcend and it doesn't matter if
they're the best to me, Like it doesn't matter if
Taylor Swift you mentioned earlier, you want to go to
Taylor Swift, Like Taylor Swift doesn't have to be the
best singer in the world. She's the most popular singer
in the world, like, right, I mean that's I think
(23:58):
most I don't want to get swifties up at mimenties,
but I think most you know, was.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Very entertaining for her beats, like everything's like it's fun,
like you, it's fun, like going and watching her perform
looks like just a fun time, which I think a
lot of us will pay not maybe too grand a
ticket for fun, but will pay for three and a
half hours of fun. Like I think we all pay
for that.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
One hundred percent, and then there's opportunity for everybody else involved.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And that's the thing that like, I just.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Can't wrap my head around why it feels like so
many teams, players super fans the league, Like, I mean,
the league is not easy to work with. The WNBA
has never been easy to work with. And I'll say
say that loudly and proudly. I mean, my first radio show,
five days a Week was with Sarah Spain on ESPN
at the time, and we were national and the day
(24:47):
I started with Sarah, She's like, we are gonna talk
about the WNBA And that was that was back in
twenty seventeen, right, And so from that moment we we
fought to try and get WNBA players consistently on our
radio show as guests, and the league didn't help make
them available to this to this day. I mean, I
tried last year to cover a bunch of w NBA
events and the W basically went to Yahoo, where I
(25:08):
make the primary portion of my income, and the W
was like, no, we don't want anybody in the to
get coverage opportunities that hasn't been covering the sport for years,
and I'm like I have like the w makes things
really complicated to cover.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
They are not an easy media partner.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
That they get it.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I don't get it either.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I didn't know that. But that's that's just it's disappointing
here because again they should be capitalizing on this opportunity
as best they can. And and you know the last
for me quickly, like the reaction to the jokes of
the SPS from some people like good, Bad and Different.
(25:49):
You got four jokes on a national television program by
a comedian about your league, like you might not have
liked them. I get it, mocking Caitlin Clarke for the
you know, the wallf House joke, you know, the Britney
Hicks joke about about uh, you know the oh, you know,
like you don't even know who the WNBA stars are. Okay,
(26:09):
I get they might offend you, but can you imagine
saying this three years ago, that that that the SP's
you got, like I think it was into being four
w NBA jokes and they're like, lighten up a little bit.
It's good for the league to have to be mentioned
in this like even if you don't like the joke itself,
like come on, man, don't take yourself that seriously.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And when you when you clap back to it the
way so many people have, what you also do is
you give fuel to the rest of the people that
are looking for a reason to tear it all down.
Like that's the other the other part of it. If
you're coming in and you're saying, oh my god, how
could they make these jokes? Well, now what you've done
is you've really empowered the people that are just desperately
waiting for a reason to tell the world how.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Elitist the w A you know what I mean like
it it's it's a tough situation.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And I'm I'm I know gently that I'm talking about
some of my friends in that situation. Like I just
I think you just have to step back and say, yeah,
all right, cool, Like you know, I hate to keep
going back to music stuff, but I will say, like,
if every time somebody made fun of what they think
country music is, the entire country music community would turn
(27:16):
around and pitch a fit about it. Eventually it all
becomes part of the mockery. Like all you can do
is just tipic cap, like you had a roast comic
hosting the.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Sb's and he was roasting people.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I don't know what anyone expected, and I agree with you,
Like it's just there is this opportunity that comes with attention,
and attention gives you the opportunity to make new fans,
to convert people. You want to make people that never
pay attention into fans. You want to take basic fans
that convert him into super fans. There's a conversion opportunity
whenever you have a megastar.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And that's what Caitlin Clark is.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
And instead of conversion opportunity, I feel like they're just
a ton of people trying to push everybody away from
it and whether it's you know, there are better players,
like I don't think right now most kids give a
damn about what NBA Superstar in the seventies was actually
better than SGA, Like it's a meaningless argument. Who cares
If somebody loves SGA, let them love SGA. If somebody
(28:13):
loves Caitlin Clark, it doesn't mean that they need suddenly
a lecture on the history of the greatness of the
w Just let them fall in love with where the
sport is and maybe eventually they find the history. Maybe
they don't, but who cares you played football? Like does
a current NFL kid that's growing up to become an
NFL fan? And maybe all they love is Patrick Mahomes
and maybe they say Patrick Mahomes is the best.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Quarterback of all time? Do they need a lecture about
Joe Montana in that moment? I don't think they do.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
But the NFL media wouldn't go after them for saying that,
you know, like, and it feels like there's just this
active campaign to like discredit Clark from people that cover
the league. Dude, So you know when Caroline pet comes
(29:01):
out two weeks ago and says Indiana is more dangerous
without Kaitlin Clark, like you, I would anyone say? Would
would anyone in the NBA media? And I have an
issue with them as well. NFL look all their issues,
But when anyone say the Chiefs are better without Patrick Mahomes.
Last season, when the Packers missed Jordan Love for two
(29:22):
years and Milik Wilson went two to zero, did anyone
come out and say that the Packers are more dangerous
without Jordan Love. No, that's a ludicrous thing. To say
that's and and over a point was like the offenses
moves better, which it doesn't. It does, It just doesn't.
Nothing works better without Clark. The numbers prove it. They're
four and six without either eight and five with her,
(29:44):
they scored fifteen less points and have less rebounds and
less assists when she's on the game. They just got
blown up by the Liberty two days ago. Look lifeless.
It goes back to back, but still, uh, I like
it's these I just don't. I don't get that mindset
of just trying to find every way when you're a
(30:04):
legend of the league and Peck knows what she's talking about.
She's been a winning coach, right like she knows the
league very well. Just to have that come out and
say things like that to me, I don't get that
mindset of not embracing Clark at all, when again, you
don't have to go out of your way to say
things like you can say she's not playing well this
season offensively, she's certainly not. You can say she's a
(30:26):
very popular player and all these nice things about it,
but also knowledge how poorly she's playing offensively this season,
and talk about the turnovers all things are wrong with her,
But to say things like they're more dangerous without Clark
in any way you try to cut that, it's a
ludicrous thing to say because they're absolutely not more dangerous
without Caitlin Clark. And it's these continued sort of comments
(30:48):
and from people that are respected within the league that
I don't get that mindset of saying things like that.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cuple of Show with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
I want to learn more about your your excellent violin playing.
That's that that can I so I have, dude, I
am the least musical person. I have no rhythm nothing.
When I was my parents tell the story a lot
of when I was in like fourth grade, we learned
to play the violin in school, in elementary school, and
we just were like we learned how to like pick
(31:28):
like Mary had a little lam like nothing crazy right,
and my parents said that they choked that like I
couldn't even do it correctly for the concert, Like I
was just up there just like just everyone was on
rhythm and I was the kid like in the back
who just no idea what I was doing, just zero
clue how to play violin.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Le's not like a semester trying to learn to play
violin just never happened, no chance. I mean, look, I
couldn't play offensive line. I mean, we all have our skills, though.
I My mom starts taken piano lessons when I was
really little.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
We had a piano in.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
The house and a neighbor came over to give her
lessons when I was four and my mom my mom
and dad have no musical background. They just like music,
but they're both toned off, and so my neighbor would
come over and try and teach a lesson and my
mom couldn't figure it out, and I would crawl up
on the bench after the lesson, and by year I
could play what he was trying to teach her, and
so my parents were like, Okay, he has a propensity
(32:25):
for it. So they took me to UNLV at the
time to try and get me piano lessons, but they
didn't have any piano teachers available, so they said, why
don't we put.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Him in violin for six months? And that's where it started.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I was four when I started playing, and for the
first six months I was the worst. Like I started
with Suzuki, which is like this easy way to teach kids,
and you're supposed to go through a book in six months,
and it took.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Me like a year and a half to get through
book one. Like I was terrible. I was the worst.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Like the teacher was like, please, God, make him stop.
But I was a really stubborn kid and I was like, no,
I like this, I want to figure it out. And
then once it clicked, I went through like books through
ten in the next six months after that, like it
was automatical. So by the time I was eight, I
practiced eight hours a day. I got into Juilliard when
I was ten. I played Carnegie Hall when I was ten,
Like I was a little child prodigy violinists, like my
whole my whole life growing up, and we didn't My parents,
(33:15):
you know, tried hard, but they never had much. So
I was a public school kid while going to Juilliard
while balancing eight hours of practice to day, so like
it just the grind was my entire life. So it's
it's funny that I think that's part of the reason
I love working with athletes.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
In general.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
It's because like there is a commonality to you know,
when nobody's watching, what are you doing, and how much
work you put in to try and get good at
what you do, and you know, there's a It was
my whole life, my whole whole life, I practiced eight
hours a day, and when I got to Juilliard, I
was the lazy one because other kids had tutors and
they practiced at twelve, you know, they practiced twelve.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Hours a day. So you know, certainly a wild journey
for me.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, there is a lot of you know, the practice
part of it is, uh, there's there's a lot to peak.
That's a lot. I mean I fight this now just
as a sports parent. Like we have a lot of
family friends that they spend a lot of hours in
the with their kids, you know, doing sports, and it's like,
(34:13):
I'm like, it's a lot, Like I know there's a
payoff at the end. Again, we don't I haven't gone
that direction yet, but I got friends that, you know,
their daughter is doing four hours of gymnastics at night,
like nine years old. It's like, oh, it's feels like
a lot, but I get the payoff at the end, obviously.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It's a hard thing to like because when I first
when I moved to Nashville at the time, you know,
I moved with some buddies and we kept getting and
losing our own record deals, and we all thought we
were going to be famous. But I remember when I
got my first call to do a fiddle gig, and like,
I was a violinist kid that just started playing fiddle
because there's better money in it. And when I started
I got my first call, they were like, great, so
(34:51):
if you could play mandolin on this song and acoustic
on that song, because that's Nashville. Everybody plays a million things.
And I was like, wait a minute. I spent my
whole life learning how to play this. I didn't know
you wanted me to also play this and that, Like
it's such a different classical music is such a different
commitment level that I was behind, Like I am still
behind it. But it's funny, like I never because I
didn't grow up a fiddle player, Like I didn't grow
(35:12):
up playing Devil went down to Georgia and Orange Blossom
Special like little kids do. And when I started playing
fiddle gigs, I took seventies rock guitar solos and just
tried to rip apart, like how did they play Hotel California?
How did they play you know, like Aerosmith's stuff, Like
like I just I took guitar solos because the way
I looked at it is like there were twelve year
olds out there that could play better fiddle than I
ever would. But it's it's funny to me that, like
(35:35):
you talk about sports, like I grew up in a
very specialized world and.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Now music is less specialized.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
And it's funny that in sports it feels like it's
all of my friends growing up were playing fifteen sports
and now they're so many kids are es centrally focused
on one or two Instead, it's like the two roles
have flipped.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Yeah, the thing that you know, I am Vietna lely
against like specialization at that at young ages. I think
that's crazy. I mean I didn't do that, and a
lot of my friends is that we're professional athletes, didn't
do that either. Yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of
crazy how that has become a thing with with sports now.
And it's hard because you know, I feel very fortunate
to obviously have the background of playing in the NFL
because A lot of times I want to tell these
(36:13):
parents like like sorry, but like you're you're five six,
like your your your wife is five to two, like
your kids not playing Major League baseball like I. But
I don't. I don't want to tell them that. I
don't want to ruin their their you know, there is
their existence of of being a pair at sports parent.
But you know, genetics matter. You know, things change in
high school, when when players get when when kids mature
(36:35):
right in either direction. So you know, it's a difficult
discussion to have with with how much time and effort
you should spend with your child playing sports.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
So, dude, in fifth grade, I remember this so distinctly.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Again, I'd already gotten into Juilliard and I'd already played
Carnegie Hall at this point, and I distinctly I was
so obsessed with football on Sundays. It was my favorite
thing in the world. And I remember going to my
mind and dad and being like, I want to play
Pop Warner football, Like I just I really want to
try this, And my mom just flat out looked at
me and she's like, my mom's like five to five
(37:08):
and my dad's like six foot and they're both skrowny people.
And my mom looks at me and she's like, look
at the two of us, what part of this like
makes you thinking you're not going to play football? And
she was like, look, you're already grade at something. I'm
not going to let you sacrifice something you're great at
because you want to try football when you're just going
to get murdered doing it.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
And that's my mom. Like my mom was always very
My mom.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Was the type to walk in the room if I
was practicing and just take it out of my hand
and always say, if that's the best you can play
the damn thing today.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Put it away. Like my mom's very direct.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
But I always respected that because I think I would
have totally gotten off track on what I ended up
being great at just because I wanted to play a
little bit of Pop Warner football. And I know my
athleticism now is a grown ass man. I never should
have played football, right, I know this. I accept it.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah, to think that the hard I think the hard
part of the parents is not wanting to like to
like squash, you know, the wanting to play sports and
wanting to be a part of a team and wanting
to put the effort in. Right, you don't want to
tell your kids no for those reasons sometimes, But I
(38:12):
understand where your mom is coming, especially if you're good
at something else, right, is you don't want to to
use up any sort of time doing something that you're
not good at and it might not have a future.
So it's a difficult part about it. I think I'm
being a parent, like you want your kids to have
fun and play sports and be involved in the community.
But sometimes it's like you said, your your mom tells
you like, hey man, it's not for you.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Oh. My friends tell me all the time.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
I'm the worst my friends with kids because like I'll
go to a dancer title for one of their kids
because I want to be a supportive buddy, you know,
And it's like, you know, she's she's eight or nine
years old, she's doing her best up there, and I'm like, yeah,
I was already a chillier. Like it makes me the worst,
I know it, But I go to these things. I'm like,
your kid doesn't have talent. I don't know how to
tell you this, Like your kid's just not good.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
Oh, because they think they do. They ask you like
can can Mike yes.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
People think that they're like American Idol is living, breathing
proof that parents need to be more honest with their
kids sometimes at some point like somebody and I think
parents are the delusional ones too.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Like half the time, you know, a parent.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Will sit there and be like, oh, you should really
listen to my kid, and then I listen and I'm.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Like, yeah, your kid sucks. I don't know how to
tell you this, but like your.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Kid is not musically talented, like your kid's tone deaf,
and it's like but then the.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Parachs are like no, no, no, no, no, they're good.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
It's like, ah, man, I'm sorry, your kid's not going
to be famous. Like if you're asking me, look, we're
all wrong sometimes, but man, your kid doesn't have that
it factor.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Like somebody's got to be honest with people.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Thankfully, I have not had anyone ask me those things
about their parents that their kids about, like football and
baseball Whatnotuh wow, so wow, I guess. I guess it's
maybe different in the in the music world. Also, people
that you think, so I don't really have that question
about whether they could make it, anyone can make it
(39:50):
or not.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I always loved when people will come up after a
concert and like, you know, when when the band was
lucky enough to have a bunch of hits and we're
touring all over the world, and you know, people will
come up after a concert and the thing that I
heard more than anything in my life was, oh, man,
you know what, I played the violin in fourth grade.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
I should have stuck with it.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
And I'm always like, yeah, yeah, because if you'd have
stuck with it, like, there's no like I've always.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
I'm very very blessed, I'm very very lucky.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I worked my ass off and I was given a
set of talent that I don't understand why I was given,
and I'm very honored to have it. But whenever somebody's like,
oh man, I should have stuck with it, it's like, yeah,
because if you'd have practiced forty minutes a.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Day for a few years, you'd be where.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
It's a weird conception with music where just because it's
like NBA players complain about the fact that the coverage
of their sport is skewed because so many people can
play rec league basketball music, is that times a thousand,
Because so many people can sit down and play a
chord at the piano, They're like, oh, I.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
Could have been a musician.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
It's like that's a lot more than that.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Yeah, i'd imagine. So again, I'm the least music account
of person ever, so I couldn't even tell you like
where to be given on that. But yeah, I mean
it's talented and sometimes luck plays rolling it, but yeah,
you have to have that baseline of talent to be successful,
and it feels like it with music. You can tell
pretty early, right if someone has it or they don't.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Yeah, I mean the earlier the better too, because like,
as you get older, you learn that you're dominant to
one hand or the other, Like you learn that you're
right handed, can't do anything with your left, and most
good musical instruments require you to be.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
As ambidextrous as possible.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
So the earlier you start, that's why little kids that
start when they're four are more successful than kids that
start with their twelve, because when you're twelve, you're like, well, I.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Can't do anything with my left hand, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
So
This is the best of two pros and a couple
of Joe with Lamar airings and a rating win and
Jonas Knox on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
DJ Want went out and got himself paid, no doubt
about it. And the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be
a talking point. The question is, are they actually going
to be a great football team? What is all of
this for?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm not sure we actually know the answer.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
He's Jeff Schwartz on Jason fittsbor hanging out on Two
Pros and a cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio. Jeff, Like,
the funny thing is, I've been saying this, I feel
like for a couple of months because all we do
is keep talking about Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers and
Aaron Rodgers, and like there's an unavoidable thing here, right
the Steelers are going to be this massive talking point
all year.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And just like as we started the show today, I said, like.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
The NBA has built a whole empire on talking points
that are more meaningful than the game half the time,
and I feel like that's what we're looking at. Like
at some point, great you get TJ. Watt back on
a mega deal. It needed to happen. Great, you go
out and sign Aaron Rodgers, you had to have a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
All of these things make sense.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But I guess I struggle to figure out how all
of these things make Pittsburgh any bet better than the
third best team in their own division. And why are
we talking about this much hype over a team that's
probably going to be the third best team in its
own division.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Well, it's, first of all, it's Pittsburgh, right, So hype
is always going to be there. But I think you're
I think the thing that for me, you know, it's
very important as a team to understand two things right.
You want to build in the short term and long term, right,
and those sometimes you know, to conflict with each other.
And I want to see your plan right, And so
the other's plan very clearly is we're going all in
(01:41):
for this season. It's a veteran group. They've signed older players,
they traded for older players. They built their roster around
Aaron Rodgers and the defense and Watt and Hayward and
Ramsey right, and they traded for DK. It's it's all
veteran and this is the Pittsburgh Steelers, right. The super
(02:02):
Bowl or bust for them, and I think they've calculated
incorrectly that they are chasing a short term fix, which
is we're Pittsburgh. We always win nine or ten games,
We're always competitive. Which are which are? Which are good
qualities to have? I'm sure a lot of fan bases
would love your Raiders fan. Correct me if I'm wrong.
They're like, I'm sure you would love to have Pittsburgh.
(02:24):
I I I think you would love as a Raiders
fan to have that stability. But the stability in Pittsburgh
is feels like to me, the worst place to be
in the NFL, which is not good enough to win
a super Bowl, not bad enough to draft young quarterback.
And Pittsburgh's plan to me, feels very foolish. You're going
(02:46):
all in an older players, which almost never works in
the NFL. They break down, they get hurt. That's the
unfortunate part about the league, right, one hundred percent injury rate.
The older you are, the more you get hurt, and
the harder it's to come back from that injury. They
have almost no sort of young core to build around,
and they've done that purposely right because they want to
(03:07):
try to win a super Bowl now and they're not
winning a super Bowl. That's that's the miscalculation. Their calculation
is we're gonna get the get in the postseason and
then make it happen. Look at the look at your division,
look at the rest of the league. You're not better
than Buffalo, Baltimore, the Chiefs, You're not better than probably
the Chargers and Broncos. You're just not better than a
lot of the teams in you know, in your own conference.
(03:30):
And it's all in for nothing. And the next year
you're gonna sit around and go, well, we're okay, we're
a year older. Now we're where's our young core of
our team, our base of our roster. We don't have
a quarterback again. Now we get draft one of course,
and they've been more aggressive in the draft than previous regimes.
(03:52):
Is Omar Khan got a contract extension, but they don't
have a quarterback in the future. They they've yet to
address that. They tried with Pickett. They drafted the old
quarterback in the first round that year. Very telling on
the talent of that draft. This draft should be, it
should be more quarterback friendly. I just don't like and
don't think the way they're building their roster is a
(04:13):
successful process, and I think they'll end up with the
same place they're always in, which again I mean, is
that what you want? Is that really where you want
to be as a franchise.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
The other hard part about it is what does all
of this do for the noise around Tomlin?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And you know, maybe the organization doesn't listen to noise,
Maybe none of it matters.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Maybe all of us, instead of sitting in front of microphones,
overblow it every single year.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
But that's all possible.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
There is just this part of me that man, where
there's smoke, there's fire, and every year just gets louder
and louder. And the only thing that really quells that
noise are playoff wins. And so I'm looking at this
team and you know, I hate ranking things. I think
ranking trying to come up with the ranking is so
subjective and impossible. I like to just put things instead
(05:00):
on shelves. Like when you walk into a bar, you're like, hey,
I want top shelf vodka.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
They're on a shelf together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Then the well vodka is all on a shelf, like
you understand where these things fall. So to me, if
you're gonna go all in, it's because you are a
top shelf team that is sitting on the same shelf
as the leader of the.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Lead in your conference.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
To your point, the Buffalo is the Kansas City's the
Baltimore's of the world. They're sitting on a completely different
shelf than where the Steelers are. To me, I don't
think that they even belong in that same conversation. They're
on the next shelf down, and that's a good shelf
like that.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
But when you go this all in, and I think
the result is more than likely going to be either
the same as it's been.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Or maybe even a little worse.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
When all of that comes together, then we're gonna be
sitting here in February and everybody's.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Gonna say, oh, it's just time for Tomlin to move on.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And then you turn around and think, Okay, now you're
resetting the entire organization because you went wrong on a
fool's goal plan to try and go all in on
a year where all in doesn't get you good enough.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Correct, And that's where the long term thinking has to happen. Right,
It's hard to thread a needle between here's our short
term plan, here's our long term vision. Their long term
vision doesn't seem to be there. The long term vision
is we're going year by year, which, again, for an
organization like Pittsburgh and the success they've had over the years,
it's very tough to sell your fans on like, hey, guys,
(06:21):
we're gonna kind of have a year when we pull
back a little bit to get better moving forward. You can,
you can still have a pullback year and be a
little bit competitive and give your fans hope. But the
issue again is again, what is there. What's their plan
next year? I don't know they're playing this year, So
(06:43):
try to win obviously, Okay, I mean sure, we all
try to do that, but it doesn't mean it's gonna
happen and we all agree on that. I could give
you all the franchises at the top of the NFL
and tell you their plan for the next few years.
All revolves around the quarterback. They have the pictures. They
don't have a quarterback for the future. Rogers is Rogers
is not as bad who want him to be. It's
also not what he was, you know, three or four
(07:03):
years ago. So the best to get from Rogers, I
think is just average, and and maybe average is good
enough to get you to the postseason with the with
the roster you have. But I just there are long
term plans non existent. And I think for a team
of like like Pittsburgh, the best teams in the NFL
both are done at the same time long term, right,
we think about the long term and the short term,
(07:25):
and Pittsburgh is so short sighted right now the way
they're their roster.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I also think to your point when you mentioned a
step back and result in hope, right, hope in the
NFL comes in the form of a young quarterback. I
just when you have a guy that's young that you
think is going to be the difference in your franchise,
you can even as a fan base, you can sort
of handle terrible years. Like Buffalo had a couple of
(07:51):
weird years in the beginning with Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
It was fine because they had Josh Allen.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
They didn't work, Like I don't think Bengals fans are
sitting here panicking the way frankly they should sometimes at
how much Joe Burrow is being wasted.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
But that's okay because they got Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like, even if you're a Titans fan right now and
your team has been an abject disaster and forgotten in
the car. In the process of the NFL, you got
cam Ward, now you got every like. So it's hard
to sell hope in what even could be a step
back here if you're a team that's always nine and
eight or ten and seven and you still don't have
a long term answer at the quarterback and you don't
really at that position, and you don't really have a
(08:27):
clear path to how you're going to get better than Baltimore.
And that's like when you're just constantly looking at the
Ravens and Lamar and saying, well, they are they're better today,
and they're set up to be better for a minute,
and that organization has something that this organization doesn't have
because they have a quarterback they know they can bank
on for the next ten years. It's just it's a
(08:47):
really weird spot for the Steelers to be in. And
because of who the Steelers are and who the job
that Mike Tomlin has done, we just expect that they'll
be able to make chicken salad out of you know what,
and I I just don't know long term that that does.
Eventually everybody gets exhausted with chicken salad.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Well, we I mean to be fair, we know what
it's gonna be like long term, it's not gonna be
good unless look, we can eat our words. Obviously, if
they go out and get a quarterback in this next class,
it's it's it's it's shaping up to be a huge
quarterback class, just based off of mock drafts and look
around college football, so they can easily get you know,
put themselves in a situation to draft at eighteen, like
(09:26):
they always do, end up with a good quarterback. I
mean again, it's those are things that are all possible.
But in all my words, obviously, if that happens, but again,
what do you what are you building around?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Though?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Who are the pieces? Dk Metcalf is interesting because I've
asked everyone this when we're talking about DK Metcalf, what
what is DK's best moment as a as a wide receiver?
Do you do? You you watch a ton of football?
What's the top of my head?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I don't, I don't, I mean, I don't.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well, the big moment is when he caught Boodha Baker
from behind right. Otherwise he is a fine wide receiver.
He's made one I think was All Pro team, Pro
Bowl Team in two thousand in the COVID year. Otherwise
he's just been like okay, like he's he gets a
thousand yards every other season, he's only had a thousand yards
and three of us six seasons, it's not he's not.
(10:16):
Is that who you're building around? Offensively? Yeah? The offensive
line you know of an offensive line nerd like myself
was good. It's a it's a good young offensive line,
like like there's some real talent there. But I mean
that partly doesn't excite Steelers fans. But where's it like
after the season and let's say the old guys are
just done right, like Cam Hayward probably is last season,
(10:37):
you know, slags near the end, Ramsey? Who are the
young even Patrick Queen is getting older? Who are the
young guys you're building around? If you're Pittsburgh, they're kind
of just not there. So you're going all in on
this season when you're not gonna win a championship and
then you don't really have young guys to backfill. You've
you know, like you've sort of you've you're going all
(10:58):
in this window without thinking about the few in my opinion,
at all, and it's really going to cost them.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So let me ask you this, he's Jeff Schwartz. I'm
Jason fitz Wren on two Pros to a Cup of
Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I want your kind of mindset on this as a
former player and somebody that's around the league so much.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
What are you.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Supposed to do? And this is a philosophical question. I've
had it with Buck Rising at a.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Couple of times on Fox Sports too. But like TJ.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Watt needed to get to paid. There's no doubt about it.
Like you have a great player, you reward a great player.
But this is the same conversation in particularly when we
look at Russiers like Miles Garrett getting paid isn't really
going to result and wins for Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
They suck.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
They always suck, and you know, at some point that
doesn't mean you don't sign resigning great players like you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
I'm a Raiders fan.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I'm watching Max Crosby basically, you know, just waste his
career not winning any football games in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
And of course Vegas needs to pay.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Max Crosby because you're not gonna find another Max Crossby
in the draft. But you're also not winning a lot
of games with the Max Crosby He's like, how do
you find the line between you know, paying the guys
that you have in building for the future all at
once when when you're stuck wherever you are, whether it's
in the sea of sucker, in the sea and mediocrity.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, it's a fair question. So you know a few
reasons why you sign these players, right, And Crosby I
think is a really good example for this, because I
think Pittsburgh has sort of more and we know they
have more veteran kind of I think leaders and than
the Raiders do at the moment. But is you a
need to have someone in the building who is the
(12:30):
culture tone center, right, who everyone respects and who everyone
looks up to, right, And it's worth and you want
the production with that as well, And Crosby's giving you
that production. So it's TJ. Well, you need that in
the building. You just have to have that veteran and
you pay for that guy. And I think you pay
more for guys who you who you are homegrown, who
(12:51):
have you drafted, you've developed, that bleed your colors, right,
So for Matt Scrutsby, a great example like you to me,
you you need those guys on your roster and you
try to build around them as you get going. The
Steelers arguing for them is that they sort of have
Cam Hayward right, like, they don't need maybe a second
person for that. But at those positions, those impact positions,
(13:16):
pass rusher off to tackle, now, wide receiver, I think, cornerback,
you need dudes there to play. So even if you
think this is an overpay, and it might be, it's
only a three year deal, it's probably only a two
year deal, quite honestly. So you need those guys in
the locker room. You need guys that the players can
(13:36):
look up to, that players look and say, this is
the way to prepare and to win and and to
and also sometimes when you've been through the hard struggles
as a player on a bad team and you become
good like that, having that perspective can help other players
right as well, So you have to do it as
and also to the thing I think is important for
(13:59):
the health of just your roster building is right now
that people are questioning the Cowboys, what is Michael, Well,
you're not paying mucha Parsons, like, what are you doing
if you're a player on that roster who's up for
a deal, You're like, what why don't we pay Michael Park?
Like do I want to be here if we're not
going to pay that guy? Like are they going to
pay me? What's happening right now? And when you take
(14:20):
care of your superstars, then the players that are young
that they look at and say, hey man, you know,
I kind of want to stay here, and maybe it'll
take a little bit less because I want to stay
and we're building something here. Free agents look at you
and think, oh, well, well they pay their superstars, they'll
probably pay me too if I do well there like this,
like all those things matter when you build a roster.
(14:41):
You want people to want to come there. You want
to be a place that that develops players and pays
those guys. Those end up being off in the core
of winning teams. And then you want the locker room.
You want to you know, to have that guy in
the locker room as well. So I get why all
these deals happen. It makes good roster building sense for
them to happen.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You mentioned Michael Parsons, and that's the next portion of
this that's really.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I don't know if you saw this, but Parsons actually
did an interview with the Undertaker. I didn't know the
Undertaker was out here doing like on form interviews with
NFL players that were deep and meaningful, but he was.
He was out here talking to Mike about getting paid.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And what was stunning to me is Jeff like.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Okay, look, we all know that the Cowboys seemed to
do business the wrong way. It always gets done. So like,
I'm done sitting here saying, well, they're not going to
be Like my god, I was on radio, you know
when everybody said that Zeke wasn't going to get a
long term deal. That's how many years we've been doing
this with the Cowboys. They always signed people, They just
signed people late. They're the anti Eagles and that process.
(15:42):
But it was pretty stunning to me because Micah flat
out admitted that his people went to the Cowboys and
wanted to do a deal a year ago, and the
Cowboys basically weren't interested. They had other priorities to handle.
And so I look at all this, I'm like, man,
all that happens every single time that somebody else gets
paid is that the value drives up, and so the
Cowboys continue to sit here and let Parsons sort of.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Dangle in the wind and they'll get it done.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
But it's just what every time we sit here and
talk about why the Cowboys aren't who the Cowboys should be.
I think about moments like this when you've got a
superstar player sitting there with a former ww WE superstar
talking openly about the fact that there are too many
interferences in trying to get business done and he just
wants to get paid and keep doing his job with
the Cowboys.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
It just gets so much more expensive every time someone
gets someone gets a contract for Parsons, and you you
got to get these deals done before it gets too expensive.
And again you have a player like Parsons, a homegrown
player you've drafted who's a game wrecker. I mean, I
mean they should have paid him the second they had
the opportunity to pay him. And look, maybe there's a
hold up there. We don't know what happens in the locker.
(16:46):
We don't know what happens behind the scenes. Maybe he's
a bad locker guy, maybe he's a bad leadership guy.
We don't know these things. I'm just speculating on why
he went. Besides, but every deal gets me he could
have They could have gone him for thirty five thirty
three years. So now we're gonna have to pay forty
one forty two years. I mean he's worth it, obviously,
it's what the next contract up is. But the Cowboys,
(17:09):
maybe they've realized that we're not as good as we
think we are in we want to trade them for
two first round picks and rebuild. I mean that's certainly
a possibility here, But dracking their feet it's cost them
a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Hey it's me Rock Parker.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk, featuring
the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the I Test, We've got all
the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do
your sofa favor and listen to Inside the Parker Rob
(18:00):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Big news for the WNBA this weekend.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
We were just.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Talking about it.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Talks a lot of football this morning, obviously, but w
has got All Star Weekend this weekend, and that's an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's an opportunity to get.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Casual fans to come in and just sort of check
these things out. I always make the argument that all
pro games and championship games are really for casuals to
try and grow your sports. So all pro events having
Caitlin Clark be a part of them are a big deal.
And that is not going to be the case this
weekend as she continues to battle injuries in a year
that has been a tough one for her on the
injury front. And now all I keep thinking about is
(18:38):
just the opportunity lost because the overwhelming narrative, and I
don't think it's an incorrect one, is that the ratings
and the interest in the event will plummet without Caitlin
being part of it, whether it's the skills competition or the.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Three point contest.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
But it all just sort of speaks to what I
think has become difficult right now because to me, Jeff,
I've been pretty lucky in my career to cover a
lot of w for a lot of years, so the
fact that it's becoming really popular right now is an
easy transition for me.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
That's great, But there's this weirdness.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
With it where I feel like there are the subsets
of WNBA fans. There's the people that never watch it
that have just decided it sucks even though they never
watch it. There's the people that tell you it's great
even though they never watch it so they don't know
what's going on. And then there's a group of people
that are just really big fans. To me, I look
at all of this as like a cool, exciting opportunity
(19:34):
time right, like Caitlin. The more eyeballs that come in
for Kitlin, the better for everybody involved. But it feels
like it's become way more contentious than all of that,
and it's not that simple. And now everything with Caitlin
has layers, and the w has layers, and it's it's
an argument waiting to happen constantly.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
So I'll tell you my background the WNBA. So I
did not follow it very religiously until Sabrina and nesqu
was drafted by the Liberty. So Sabrina went New Oregon.
Her year at Oregon was cut short and fortunately by
COVID that Orgon team probably win a championship. Unfortunately, it
was just a bummer of a way to end. And
I've always enjoyed watching her play at Oregon, and she was,
(20:11):
you know, almost like Kayln Clark before Clark, right, I
mean the three points, shooting, the passing, not as dynamic
of a scorer visually, but obviously I think she averages
like nineteen points a game, incredible score, passer, all those things.
So I started watching a little more and mostly just
for her, like when she was on and it wasn't
on National until V as much, right, and obviously now
(20:31):
we know, and then I just started watching for Kaylyn Clark.
I like watching her play. She gets me to a TV.
She's fun to watch, even when she's not scoring a lot,
which she has not been doing. Now she's averaging nine
assists like she's having an incredible passer. Right. The Fever
score a ton of points. They're fun to watch. They
(20:51):
they move the ball, they shoot threes like they they
when they're rolling, they're averaging in the nineties, you know,
like they're fun to watch. Its fun basketball to watch.
So my background is probably as yours when it comes
to learning about you know, how the WA functions, and
and the one thing that stands out to me, and
no surprise, officiating is awful. It's really bad. And I'm
(21:13):
not saying that you have to fix it for Kaitlyn
Clark exactly, but you have an opportunity with the player
who's this popular, to really change fundamentally change your league.
And some of it has already happened. Right, they have
private planes now, right, they move games to bigger arenas
Caitlyn Clark. They just played the Connecticut son who were
like three and eighteen in the garden in Boston, Like
(21:37):
these events are huge national events when when Clark is
playing and the answer is not to change the game
to make her stand out, but it feels like they're
actively rooting against Kaitlyn Clark. At times the league is okay,
Like for example, they put out yesterday advertisement for the
(21:59):
All Star Game has said Page Beckers is the first
rookie to start at All Star Games is twenty thirteen.
Keti Clark started also gnamed last season. Like those are
the mistakes. I just don't understand. If it's like you,
why are you not acknowledging the Superstar Kaitlin Clark. They
just make these mistakes to me that I do not
(22:21):
understand why. They just don't seem to put enough attention
to promoting the most popular players. But I get it.
There are plenty of players in the league that are
better than Kitlyn Clark. You won't find me arguing otherwise,
especially this season. She's not playing as well, but there's
no one as popular as her. There's there's no doubt
about They're going to lose the good lose viewers for
the game this weekend. It's gonna be very noticeable when
(22:42):
the when the ratings come out. Every game that she
has a national television even when she wasn't playing this
past weekend against the Liberty, got like three million people
to watch, and the league just seems to have not
embraced that the level that I would expect. Deficiating stinks.
It's bad she gets zero calls. I'm not saying that
she should get the calls, but dude, she gets beat
(23:06):
up in games like she gets pushed, grabs, shoved, knocked down,
and foul calls never happen. I don't know why, but
that is the league. It's a very physical league, and
fifth it does feel like though there's just not enough
attention from the league office to how big of a
star she is. And it might happen over the years
and they get to that direction. But I don't know
(23:29):
if you feel that same way as I do when
it comes to just the attention given to her and
how I just don't think they're tabolizing on this opportunity
as much as they should.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I think it's the league. I think it's the players.
I think it's the super fans, like I think everybody.
At some point, people transcend and it doesn't matter if
they're the best to me, Like it doesn't matter if
Taylor Swift you mentioned earlier, you want to go to
Taylor Swift, Like Taylor Swift doesn't have to be the
best singer in the world. She's the most popular singer
in the world, like, right, I mean that's I think
(23:58):
most I don't want to get swifties up at mimenties,
but I think most you know, was.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Very entertaining for her beats, like everything's like it's fun,
like you, it's fun, like going and watching her perform
looks like just a fun time, which I think a
lot of us will pay not maybe too grand a
ticket for fun, but will pay for three and a
half hours of fun. Like I think we all pay
for that.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
One hundred percent, and then there's opportunity for everybody else involved.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And that's the thing that like, I just.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Can't wrap my head around why it feels like so
many teams, players super fans the league, Like, I mean,
the league is not easy to work with. The WNBA
has never been easy to work with. And I'll say
say that loudly and proudly. I mean, my first radio show,
five days a Week was with Sarah Spain on ESPN
at the time, and we were national and the day
(24:47):
I started with Sarah, She's like, we are gonna talk
about the WNBA And that was that was back in
twenty seventeen, right, And so from that moment we we
fought to try and get WNBA players consistently on our
radio show as guests, and the league didn't help make
them available to this to this day. I mean, I
tried last year to cover a bunch of w NBA
events and the W basically went to Yahoo, where I
(25:08):
make the primary portion of my income, and the W
was like, no, we don't want anybody in the to
get coverage opportunities that hasn't been covering the sport for years,
and I'm like I have like the w makes things
really complicated to cover.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
They are not an easy media partner.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
That they get it.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I don't get it either.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I didn't know that. But that's that's just it's disappointing
here because again they should be capitalizing on this opportunity
as best they can. And and you know the last
for me quickly, like the reaction to the jokes of
the SPS from some people like good, Bad and Different.
(25:49):
You got four jokes on a national television program by
a comedian about your league, like you might not have
liked them. I get it, mocking Caitlin Clarke for the
you know, the wallf House joke, you know, the Britney
Hicks joke about about uh, you know the oh, you know,
like you don't even know who the WNBA stars are. Okay,
(26:09):
I get they might offend you, but can you imagine
saying this three years ago, that that that the SP's
you got, like I think it was into being four
w NBA jokes and they're like, lighten up a little bit.
It's good for the league to have to be mentioned
in this like even if you don't like the joke itself,
like come on, man, don't take yourself that seriously.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And when you when you clap back to it the
way so many people have, what you also do is
you give fuel to the rest of the people that
are looking for a reason to tear it all down.
Like that's the other the other part of it. If
you're coming in and you're saying, oh my god, how
could they make these jokes? Well, now what you've done
is you've really empowered the people that are just desperately
waiting for a reason to tell the world how.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Elitist the w A you know what I mean like
it it's it's a tough situation.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And I'm I'm I know gently that I'm talking about
some of my friends in that situation. Like I just
I think you just have to step back and say, yeah,
all right, cool, Like you know, I hate to keep
going back to music stuff, but I will say, like,
if every time somebody made fun of what they think
country music is, the entire country music community would turn
(27:16):
around and pitch a fit about it. Eventually it all
becomes part of the mockery. Like all you can do
is just tipic cap, like you had a roast comic
hosting the.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Sb's and he was roasting people.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I don't know what anyone expected, and I agree with you,
Like it's just there is this opportunity that comes with attention,
and attention gives you the opportunity to make new fans,
to convert people. You want to make people that never
pay attention into fans. You want to take basic fans
that convert him into super fans. There's a conversion opportunity
whenever you have a megastar.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And that's what Caitlin Clark is.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
And instead of conversion opportunity, I feel like they're just
a ton of people trying to push everybody away from
it and whether it's you know, there are better players,
like I don't think right now most kids give a
damn about what NBA Superstar in the seventies was actually
better than SGA, Like it's a meaningless argument. Who cares
If somebody loves SGA, let them love SGA. If somebody
(28:13):
loves Caitlin Clark, it doesn't mean that they need suddenly
a lecture on the history of the greatness of the
w Just let them fall in love with where the
sport is and maybe eventually they find the history. Maybe
they don't, but who cares you played football? Like does
a current NFL kid that's growing up to become an
NFL fan? And maybe all they love is Patrick Mahomes
and maybe they say Patrick Mahomes is the best.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Quarterback of all time? Do they need a lecture about
Joe Montana in that moment? I don't think they do.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
But the NFL media wouldn't go after them for saying that,
you know, like, and it feels like there's just this
active campaign to like discredit Clark from people that cover
the league. Dude, So you know when Caroline pet comes
(29:01):
out two weeks ago and says Indiana is more dangerous
without Kaitlin Clark, like you, I would anyone say? Would
would anyone in the NBA media? And I have an
issue with them as well. NFL look all their issues,
But when anyone say the Chiefs are better without Patrick Mahomes.
Last season, when the Packers missed Jordan Love for two
(29:22):
years and Milik Wilson went two to zero, did anyone
come out and say that the Packers are more dangerous
without Jordan Love. No, that's a ludicrous thing. To say
that's and and over a point was like the offenses
moves better, which it doesn't. It does, It just doesn't.
Nothing works better without Clark. The numbers prove it. They're
four and six without either eight and five with her,
(29:44):
they scored fifteen less points and have less rebounds and
less assists when she's on the game. They just got
blown up by the Liberty two days ago. Look lifeless.
It goes back to back, but still, uh, I like
it's these I just don't. I don't get that mindset
of just trying to find every way when you're a
(30:04):
legend of the league and Peck knows what she's talking about.
She's been a winning coach, right like she knows the
league very well. Just to have that come out and
say things like that to me, I don't get that
mindset of not embracing Clark at all, when again, you
don't have to go out of your way to say
things like you can say she's not playing well this
season offensively, she's certainly not. You can say she's a
(30:26):
very popular player and all these nice things about it,
but also knowledge how poorly she's playing offensively this season,
and talk about the turnovers all things are wrong with her,
But to say things like they're more dangerous without Clark
in any way you try to cut that, it's a
ludicrous thing to say because they're absolutely not more dangerous
without Caitlin Clark. And it's these continued sort of comments
(30:48):
and from people that are respected within the league that
I don't get that mindset of saying things like that.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
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Speaker 4 (31:07):
I want to learn more about your your excellent violin playing.
That's that that can I so I have, dude, I
am the least musical person. I have no rhythm nothing.
When I was my parents tell the story a lot
of when I was in like fourth grade, we learned
to play the violin in school, in elementary school, and
we just were like we learned how to like pick
(31:28):
like Mary had a little lam like nothing crazy right,
and my parents said that they choked that like I
couldn't even do it correctly for the concert, Like I
was just up there just like just everyone was on
rhythm and I was the kid like in the back
who just no idea what I was doing, just zero
clue how to play violin.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Le's not like a semester trying to learn to play
violin just never happened, no chance. I mean, look, I
couldn't play offensive line. I mean, we all have our skills, though.
I My mom starts taken piano lessons when I was
really little.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
We had a piano in.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
The house and a neighbor came over to give her
lessons when I was four and my mom my mom
and dad have no musical background. They just like music,
but they're both toned off, and so my neighbor would
come over and try and teach a lesson and my
mom couldn't figure it out, and I would crawl up
on the bench after the lesson, and by year I
could play what he was trying to teach her, and
so my parents were like, Okay, he has a propensity
(32:25):
for it. So they took me to UNLV at the
time to try and get me piano lessons, but they
didn't have any piano teachers available, so they said, why
don't we put.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Him in violin for six months? And that's where it started.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I was four when I started playing, and for the
first six months I was the worst. Like I started
with Suzuki, which is like this easy way to teach kids,
and you're supposed to go through a book in six months,
and it took.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Me like a year and a half to get through
book one. Like I was terrible. I was the worst.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Like the teacher was like, please, God, make him stop.
But I was a really stubborn kid and I was like, no,
I like this, I want to figure it out. And
then once it clicked, I went through like books through
ten in the next six months after that, like it
was automatical. So by the time I was eight, I
practiced eight hours a day. I got into Juilliard when
I was ten. I played Carnegie Hall when I was ten,
Like I was a little child prodigy violinists, like my
whole my whole life growing up, and we didn't My parents,
(33:15):
you know, tried hard, but they never had much. So
I was a public school kid while going to Juilliard
while balancing eight hours of practice to day, so like
it just the grind was my entire life. So it's
it's funny that I think that's part of the reason
I love working with athletes.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
In general.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
It's because like there is a commonality to you know,
when nobody's watching, what are you doing, and how much
work you put in to try and get good at
what you do, and you know, there's a It was
my whole life, my whole whole life, I practiced eight
hours a day, and when I got to Juilliard, I
was the lazy one because other kids had tutors and
they practiced at twelve, you know, they practiced twelve.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Hours a day. So you know, certainly a wild journey
for me.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, there is a lot of you know, the practice
part of it is, uh, there's there's a lot to peak.
That's a lot. I mean I fight this now just
as a sports parent. Like we have a lot of
family friends that they spend a lot of hours in
the with their kids, you know, doing sports, and it's like,
(34:13):
I'm like, it's a lot, Like I know there's a
payoff at the end. Again, we don't I haven't gone
that direction yet, but I got friends that, you know,
their daughter is doing four hours of gymnastics at night,
like nine years old. It's like, oh, it's feels like
a lot, but I get the payoff at the end, obviously.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It's a hard thing to like because when I first
when I moved to Nashville at the time, you know,
I moved with some buddies and we kept getting and
losing our own record deals, and we all thought we
were going to be famous. But I remember when I
got my first call to do a fiddle gig, and like,
I was a violinist kid that just started playing fiddle
because there's better money in it. And when I started
I got my first call, they were like, great, so
(34:51):
if you could play mandolin on this song and acoustic
on that song, because that's Nashville. Everybody plays a million things.
And I was like, wait a minute. I spent my
whole life learning how to play this. I didn't know
you wanted me to also play this and that, Like
it's such a different classical music is such a different
commitment level that I was behind, Like I am still
behind it. But it's funny, like I never because I
didn't grow up a fiddle player, Like I didn't grow
(35:12):
up playing Devil went down to Georgia and Orange Blossom
Special like little kids do. And when I started playing
fiddle gigs, I took seventies rock guitar solos and just
tried to rip apart, like how did they play Hotel California?
How did they play you know, like Aerosmith's stuff, Like
like I just I took guitar solos because the way
I looked at it is like there were twelve year
olds out there that could play better fiddle than I
ever would. But it's it's funny to me that, like
(35:35):
you talk about sports, like I grew up in a
very specialized world and.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Now music is less specialized.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
And it's funny that in sports it feels like it's
all of my friends growing up were playing fifteen sports
and now they're so many kids are es centrally focused
on one or two Instead, it's like the two roles
have flipped.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Yeah, the thing that you know, I am Vietna lely
against like specialization at that at young ages. I think
that's crazy. I mean I didn't do that, and a
lot of my friends is that we're professional athletes, didn't
do that either. Yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of
crazy how that has become a thing with with sports now.
And it's hard because you know, I feel very fortunate
to obviously have the background of playing in the NFL
because A lot of times I want to tell these
(36:13):
parents like like sorry, but like you're you're five six,
like your your your wife is five to two, like
your kids not playing Major League baseball like I. But
I don't. I don't want to tell them that. I
don't want to ruin their their you know, there is
their existence of of being a pair at sports parent.
But you know, genetics matter. You know, things change in
high school, when when players get when when kids mature
(36:35):
right in either direction. So you know, it's a difficult
discussion to have with with how much time and effort
you should spend with your child playing sports.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
So, dude, in fifth grade, I remember this so distinctly.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Again, I'd already gotten into Juilliard and I'd already played
Carnegie Hall at this point, and I distinctly I was
so obsessed with football on Sundays. It was my favorite
thing in the world. And I remember going to my
mind and dad and being like, I want to play
Pop Warner football, Like I just I really want to
try this, And my mom just flat out looked at
me and she's like, my mom's like five to five
(37:08):
and my dad's like six foot and they're both skrowny people.
And my mom looks at me and she's like, look
at the two of us, what part of this like
makes you thinking you're not going to play football? And
she was like, look, you're already grade at something. I'm
not going to let you sacrifice something you're great at
because you want to try football when you're just going
to get murdered doing it.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
And that's my mom. Like my mom was always very
My mom.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Was the type to walk in the room if I
was practicing and just take it out of my hand
and always say, if that's the best you can play
the damn thing today.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Put it away. Like my mom's very direct.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
But I always respected that because I think I would
have totally gotten off track on what I ended up
being great at just because I wanted to play a
little bit of Pop Warner football. And I know my
athleticism now is a grown ass man. I never should
have played football, right, I know this. I accept it.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah, to think that the hard I think the hard
part of the parents is not wanting to like to
like squash, you know, the wanting to play sports and
wanting to be a part of a team and wanting
to put the effort in. Right, you don't want to
tell your kids no for those reasons sometimes, But I
(38:12):
understand where your mom is coming, especially if you're good
at something else, right, is you don't want to to
use up any sort of time doing something that you're
not good at and it might not have a future.
So it's a difficult part about it. I think I'm
being a parent, like you want your kids to have
fun and play sports and be involved in the community.
But sometimes it's like you said, your your mom tells
you like, hey man, it's not for you.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Oh. My friends tell me all the time.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
I'm the worst my friends with kids because like I'll
go to a dancer title for one of their kids
because I want to be a supportive buddy, you know,
And it's like, you know, she's she's eight or nine
years old, she's doing her best up there, and I'm like, yeah,
I was already a chillier. Like it makes me the worst,
I know it, But I go to these things. I'm like,
your kid doesn't have talent. I don't know how to
tell you this, Like your kid's just not good.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
Oh, because they think they do. They ask you like
can can Mike yes.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
People think that they're like American Idol is living, breathing
proof that parents need to be more honest with their
kids sometimes at some point like somebody and I think
parents are the delusional ones too.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Like half the time, you know, a parent.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Will sit there and be like, oh, you should really
listen to my kid, and then I listen and I'm.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Like, yeah, your kid sucks. I don't know how to
tell you this, but like your.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Kid is not musically talented, like your kid's tone deaf,
and it's like but then the.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Parachs are like no, no, no, no, no, they're good.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
It's like, ah, man, I'm sorry, your kid's not going
to be famous. Like if you're asking me, look, we're
all wrong sometimes, but man, your kid doesn't have that
it factor.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Like somebody's got to be honest with people.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Thankfully, I have not had anyone ask me those things
about their parents that their kids about, like football and
baseball Whatnotuh wow, so wow, I guess. I guess it's
maybe different in the in the music world. Also, people
that you think, so I don't really have that question
about whether they could make it, anyone can make it
(39:50):
or not.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I always loved when people will come up after a
concert and like, you know, when when the band was
lucky enough to have a bunch of hits and we're
touring all over the world, and you know, people will
come up after a concert and the thing that I
heard more than anything in my life was, oh, man,
you know what, I played the violin in fourth grade.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
I should have stuck with it.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
And I'm always like, yeah, yeah, because if you'd have
stuck with it, like, there's no like I've always.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
I'm very very blessed, I'm very very lucky.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I worked my ass off and I was given a
set of talent that I don't understand why I was given,
and I'm very honored to have it. But whenever somebody's like,
oh man, I should have stuck with it, it's like, yeah,
because if you'd have practiced forty minutes a.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Day for a few years, you'd be where.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
It's a weird conception with music where just because it's
like NBA players complain about the fact that the coverage
of their sport is skewed because so many people can
play rec league basketball music, is that times a thousand,
Because so many people can sit down and play a
chord at the piano, They're like, oh, I.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
Could have been a musician.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
It's like that's a lot more than that.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Yeah, i'd imagine. So again, I'm the least music account
of person ever, so I couldn't even tell you like
where to be given on that. But yeah, I mean
it's talented and sometimes luck plays rolling it, but yeah,
you have to have that baseline of talent to be successful,
and it feels like it with music. You can tell
pretty early, right if someone has it or they don't.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Yeah, I mean the earlier the better too, because like,
as you get older, you learn that you're dominant to
one hand or the other, Like you learn that you're
right handed, can't do anything with your left, and most
good musical instruments require you to be.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
As ambidextrous as possible.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
So the earlier you start, that's why little kids that
start when they're four are more successful than kids that
start with their twelve, because when you're twelve, you're like, well, I.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Can't do anything with my left hand, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
So
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Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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