January 19, 2018 • 48 mins
Clay Travis doubles down on needing Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, wonders why people hate Brady's dynasty but liked Michael Jordan's, an appearance from Lance Taylor, the Woke Report, and more!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of out Kick the Coverage with
Clay Travis on Fox Sports Radio. It's the Friday edition
now Kick the Coverage. Appreciate all of you waking up
with us across the country and coming to hang out
as you prepare to roll into the weekend. And obviously
as we roll into the weekend, there are a couple
(00:21):
of different things out there that that are worth discussing,
and almost all of them have to do with the
a f C in the NFC Title Game, And so
I've been thinking a lot about these games over the
course of the past couple of days. I've been sitting
around trying to decide how I'm gonna gamble on them,
what picks I like, and I'll give those to you
in our three. Not that I've been on that much
(00:43):
of a role when it comes to betting on the
NFL playoffs, especially last weekend when I had the Saints
uh plus plus five ended up getting a push on
that crazy ending. But I'm also thinking what is the
best outcome for the NFL and four fans, And my
easy read here is that we need the Patriots and
(01:08):
Tom Brady in the Super Bowl desperately in order for
that game to be relevant in a couple of weeks.
But then also the other side of me thinks, if
the Patriots aren't there, then it gives hope two pretty
much every other NFL team, because if your team has
(01:30):
a crappy to mediocre quarterback and even has a quarterback injury,
maybe they could still make the playoffs, and then maybe
they could still advance in the playoffs to the super Bowl.
By which I mean, of the four teams remaining right now,
three of them have what would be the worst quarterback
(01:52):
situation to make a Super Bowl since Brad Johnson and
uh Rich Gannon played back in the I believe it
was the two thousand three Super Bowl. That's the worst
matchup in the twenty one century on both sides at
the quarterback position, Rich Gannon versus good old Nobody's gonna
(02:14):
put him in the super Bowl. But man, he made
the Tampa Bay people happy, Brad Johnson. So if you
think about that, every year since then has effectively been
one the Super Bowl has by a guy who's either
a shore fire first ballot, no nonsense Hall of Famer,
or is perpetually debate whether or not he's a really
(02:38):
good quarterback. In Joe Flacco. The worst quarterback to win
a Super Bowl since all the way back in two
thousand three is Joe Flacco, and frankly, Joe Flacco's postseason
record is incredible, but he's the worst quarterback since two
thousand three to win the Super Bowl. And frankly, the
worst matchup since two thousand three between quarterbacks in the
(03:00):
Super Bowl was Joe Flacco against Colin Kaepernick. And so
it's possible, and I don't think it's very likely, but
with the hand injury and the continuing drama about how
much of an impact that might be, it's possible we
could get Blake Bortles versus Nick Foles or case Keenum.
(03:22):
Now I'm not excited about that prospect, but I do
think it would at least kill the narrative which has
existed for roughly fifteen years of you have to have
an elite level quarterback in order to get to the
Super Bowl probably and certainly in order to win it.
(03:42):
And it might also kill the Patriots dynasty because then
as you enter the twenty eighteen football season, a lot
of people, myself included, might think, okay, is forty one
year old Tom Brady still alongside of Bill Belichick, the
presumptive favorite to win another title. Because of the Patriots
(04:04):
lost at home to the Jags, it would be a
significant blow to their overall resume as we enter twenty eighteen. Now,
I still think they'd probably be favored, but there would
at least be some more questioning, especially if Brady didn't
play very well. All of that really kind of rushing
(04:24):
around as we come up on the Sunday games, the
a f C and the NFC title game. We also
have to toss in that the NFL is in the
midst of an absolute collapse in viewership. This past weekend,
the divisional round playoff games, there were three great games,
three games that went right down to the wire. Falcons Eagles.
(04:45):
Matt Ryan's throwing into the end zone. The ball is
literally just barely going through Julio Jones hands. Otherwise the
Falcons probably win that game. We know about how incredible
and probable the ending was for Saints Vikings, and in
terms a pure entertainment, did anybody foresee a forty two
Jags win over the Steelers. The only game that stunk
(05:09):
was the Patriots dismantling in the Tennessee Titans three of
the four games were really good. Do you know many
people watched? Twenty three million less people watched the divisional
round games of the NFL this past year. This year
as composed to compared to last year, down six in viewership,
(05:32):
despite the fact that the games are outstanding. The NFL
right now is totally under siege and they need a
great Super Bowl and they need some really good a
f C and NFC title games in order to bounce
back from what has been a devastating year of viewership.
And I think a lot of it has to do
(05:52):
with mixing politics and football. But you guys know that
that that's my opinion, and then obviously other people out
there have different opinion that don't necessarily agree with that
opinion of mine. But what's better for the league, what's
better for the average fan? I think it's Brady going
up against either the Vikings or the Eagles. I don't
(06:15):
think it really matters that much who wins the NFC,
because you're gonna have that underdog, You're gonna have that
favorite in the in the Patriots, and it doesn't really
matter which of those two teams goes. I think, personally,
if the Vikings advance. It makes for a more entertaining
and exciting week because the storyline of the Minnesota Vikings,
who haven't won a lot in terms of being in
(06:36):
the super Bowl, certainly not in terms of championships, being
able to play that game at home is one that's
tough to escape. It's pretty exciting. We'll be live from
the super Bowl for a week. I think the environment
at the super Bowl will be infinitely better if the
Vikings are there, So I'm rooting for the Vikings to
win because i think it makes the surrounding environment of
the super Bowl just better. Now the Eagles wouldn't be
(06:57):
bad either, because the Eagles have a huge loyal fan
base and they haven't won anything either. But being in
the city where you hope you can pull off an
upset potentially over the Patriots will be fantastic. But I
think the absolute lack of interest that would exist over
a Blake Boardles versus Nick Foles or case Kingdom super
(07:18):
Bowl would be deafening, especially with two weeks to talk
about it. Whereas if Brady's coming back and Belichick's there
and the Patriots are going for their six Super Bowl,
I think it would be a hell of a storyline,
and I think that probably benefits the NFL much better
in the short term. But my question is that this
is kind of breaking it down on a short term
versus long term basis. Is it actually better for the
(07:41):
league long term if they get too non traditional quarterbacks
superstars going head to head, because for the next several years,
it'll start the season off and you can think, hey,
even if we don't have Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson,
or a Matt Ryan or a Ham Newton or Drew
(08:01):
Borees or Tom Brady, my team still has a champion,
a chance to win a championship, not just to make
the playoffs, but a chance to advance once we get
to the playoffs and actually win the Super Bowl. I
think that's somewhat valuable because the NFL used to be
the mantra of on any given Sunday, except it's turned
into a little bit of a version of the n
(08:23):
b A. The NBA, to me, is almost impossible to
watch in the regular season or even until the high
rounds of the playoffs if you actually want to have
uncertainty as to what's going to happen, because you know
that the teams with the best players are head and
shoulders above everybody else, So what's the point of paying
attention until probably the semifinals of the NBA at the
(08:47):
absolute earliest, Otherwise you know exactly what's gonna happen. And
I think the NFL is starting to fall victim a
little bit to that, because if you look at the
last fifteen years, you've got six or seven teams every
year with great quarterbacks with a chance to win the
Super Bowl, and everybody else is just trying to figure
out whether they've got a great quarterback. They got a
(09:07):
young guy and they're trying to figure out how good
he is or they stink, and they're trying to get
in position to draft a quarterback so they can figure
out whether or not that guy is gonna be good
or not. And obviously there are a lot of teams
right now that are gonna be desperate for quarterbacks. I
saw one of the most recent mock drafts had I
think six guys going in the first round as quarterbacks,
(09:30):
and I was like, holy cow, everybody out there is
desperate right now. In the first four you can probably
think about pretty easy Josh Allen, Sam Donald, Josh Rosen,
and Baker Mayfield, but this draft also had Lamar Jackson
and Mason Rudolph all going in the first round of
the NFL Draft. That's how desperate people are right now
to find quarterbacks. And that's because right now it's a
(09:51):
quarterbacks league. Now. If Nick Foles and Case Keenom one
of those guys gonna be in the super Bowl, that's
a big upset. But if he goes into the Super
Bowl and he gets drilled Brady, nothing changes about the
overall storyline of the NFL. Whereas if the Jags go
on the road and beat the Patriots, then the storyline
changes completely because you've got Blake Bortles, the most hated
(10:11):
man in the NFL, who's never done anything wrong, going
up against Folds or Keenum. Is that good for the league?
Which way are you rooting? Even if you hate the Patriots,
are you rooting for them to advance to the Super
Bowl and win the a f C Title Game? I am,
I am I I just I don't want the Jacksonville Jaguars,
helmed up by Blake Bortles to make the Super Bowl
(10:32):
because I don't want to talk about a Bordals versus
Keenom or borders versus Folds Super Bowl for two weeks.
I think we need Brady there. It's like the line
from a few good men, you want you need me
on the wall. You want me on the wall. That's
what we need. That's where we are right now with
the Patriots. We need the Patriots on that wall. We
want them on the wall. Otherwise, there's not a lot
(10:54):
there not a lot of sexiness in this NFL matchup.
If the Patriots Bill Belichick Tom Brady are not advancing.
We think you think about this Brady hand injury. I
don't know. I just always think that there's nothing to it.
But Vegas might think there's something to it. The line
and just the last short amount of time has dropped
in the last twenty four hours, dropped from the Patriots
(11:16):
as a nine and a half point favorite to a
seven point favorite. That's a pretty significant line move. Lots
of money coming in on the Jags. I can't wait
to see what's gonna happen. I'll be honest with you
on Sunday. Be sure to catch live editions of ioul
kick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am
Eastern three am Pacific on Fox sports radio and the
I Heart Radio apps a confidence show, I put up
(11:38):
a poll question. You guys can go vote in it
if you would like. And I do think it's kind
of a fascinating question because people say, oh, I hate
you know so frequently, Oh I hate um everything about
the Patriots. I can't stand to see the Patriots. So
there's no way that I ever want to see the
Patriots win. And then the ratings reflect that that's not
(11:58):
true at all, that people act releague can't get enough
of the New England Patriots because they love to hate them.
So my question, are you rooting for Brady Belichick and
the Patriots to make the Super Bowl even if you
hate them? Because of Bordles versus Foles keenum super Bowl
would suck. I'm actually surprised by this. Sixty of you
(12:18):
say you are not rooting for the Patriots. Now, I
think a large percentage of this is just people not
answering the question, really, and because effectively, what we could
other way you could ask that is are you rooting
for the Jags to win this game? And if the
answer is yes, that you're rooting for the Jacks to
win this game? I wonder if that's going to be
different than the poll results. Let me bring in the
(12:41):
crew is a good or bad for the NFL if
it's Blake Bortles versus Nick Foles or case Keenum in
the Super Bowl Jason Martin, I'm torn um because I
can't cheer for New England. I just I just can't
cheer for the Patriots to win football games. But cheering
against them in the Super Bowl is a blast. It's
always on, especially when the other option is a pretty
(13:02):
milk toast Jacksonville team nobody really has an opinion on yet. Now,
there are some great characters. This is something that maybe
we would have to start to take note of, certainly
while we're in Minneapolis, if Jacksonville were to pull this upset.
There are some great characters on this team, especially on
this defense. Jalen Ramsey just having him at media day.
Nobody for the Patriots ever says anything. Jacksonville's defense would
(13:24):
do nothing but talk and there would be a lot
of fun stories coming out of that. But nobody sees
the Jags yet as the Seahawks on a national level.
On the other side, if we don't have the sexy
quarterback match up, if it's Keenum and Bordles, or if
it's Fulls and Bordles, then we start having to pay
attention to a lot of other players. That could be
better for the league, because it has certainly become a
(13:46):
quarterback narrative driven league, even though there are a lot
of fantastic players that don't move Vegas lines all that
much but are nonetheless extremely important. And maybe if we
were paying more attention to everybody on the field, that
would be better for the NFL long term, because then
when you have quarterback injuries, people wouldn't tune out the
way that they certainly did at least at some part
(14:08):
of the ratings drop would have to go with a
lot of the injuries and some of the quarterbacks, with
Aaron Rodgers and some of the things that have happened there.
So I'm torn because I can't cheer for the Patriots,
but at the same time, having them in the Super
Bowl is advantageous because it gives you that evil empire
to root against. I think the league desperately needs the
Patriots to win on Sunday Night against the Jags. I
(14:29):
just I think that if you get a Blake Bortles
versus Nick Foles and case Keenum storyline, it's gonna be
a disaster because a lot of people, whether they are
being honest or not, watch the Patriots to to try
to see them lose, and they are the evil Empire,
they are the death Star. People want the Patriots to lose,
(14:50):
and there would be a little bit of excitement over
them losing in the a f C title game and
not going to the super Bowl, but that would pale
in comparison when you suddenly realized, wait a minute, it
there are two weeks now where we talk about the
Jags and Blake Bortles going up against either the Eagles
and and Nick Foles or the Vikings and Case Kingom.
(15:11):
You kind of know what the storyline of this game
is gonna be. Likely. It's gonna be the upstart nobody
believed in him, NFC champ, whether it's the Eagles or
the Vikings against the blue blood dynasty of the Patriots,
and that's at least somewhat entertaining. I don't think there's
that much entertainment about Jags versus either the Eagles or
(15:33):
the Vikings. What about you guys out of l A.
Don't you think that the NFL desperately needs the Patriots
to win. Yeah, Brady would be really good for the
casual Super Bowl viewers. You always talk about that guy
at the Super Bowl party, Clay, who doesn't know much
about sports. Yes, so, because there's like like a hundred
I always think this is interesting. This weekend, the NFC
(15:56):
and the a f C title game will have around
I'm guessing forty five million people watch, right, That's a lot.
That's a big audience. It's a massive audience for this
weekend for the a f C in the NFC title game.
The Super Bowl will have a hundred million or more.
So think about like everybody who's out there listening to
me right now. I bet there are very few of
(16:17):
you who are not gonna watch at least a few
minutes of both the a f C and the NFC
title game. Think about this guy out there or girl
who's not gonna watch either the a f C or
the NFC title game, and there are fifty five million
of them, and then it's gonna come rolling in for
the Super Bowl. That's always amazing to me. You not watch, Oh,
I'm not willing to watch the semifinals. I'm not willing
(16:39):
to watch the a f C and the NFC championship
get crowned. But fifty over fifty five million people suddenly
show up for the Super Bowl, and that guy or
girl doesn't know much about the NFL, but they know Brady,
they know Belichick, they know the Patriots. Because of the
last twenty years basically of the NFL, they don't who
(17:00):
case Keenum is. They have no idea who Blake Bortles is.
They may not even know that Jacksonville has an NFL
franchise because the Jags have never been in that that
important of games, at least not going all the way
back to So that that to me is the people
that they are worried about that the NFL is worried
about producing, and they're particularly worried about producing that audience
(17:22):
in a year where their ratings are down double digits,
where even as good as their NFC and a f
C divisional round playoff games were last weekend, they were
down twenty three million. Fewer people watch the NFL last
week as opposed to the year before, compared to the
divisional round playoff games. That's a big issue. So you're
with me, Dani, like they need on that wall. They do,
(17:44):
But on the other hand, it's not as good for
us hardcore NFL fans, because we do want to see
some new stars step forward. Now, with all due respect
to Patriots fans, I'm so sick of seeing Tom Brady's
face on the screen, so I would like to see
some new blood. I think I don't remember, and I
(18:05):
would love to know if they were, if it were
happening right now, what the response would be. The last
team that was as dominant as this new England Patriot team,
in my opinion, was the late nineties Chicago Bulls when
they won six out of eight championships. Now, I know
the dynasty of the Patriots has been longer, but if
they win their sixth, they're equaling. Tom Brady is the
(18:28):
Michael Jordan's six that he won with the Bulls, right,
And I think that six Super Bowls will probably never
be equal, that's my guess, probably never be equaled by
any other quarterback in the history of the NFL. Like
I think Brady is already competing against himself. Basically that
if he can get to six, I don't know and
(18:49):
and and seven or whatever his final number is going
to be. I don't know that anybody else ever gets there.
And I think you guys probably agree with me that
he's competing now against his own legacy as opposed to
against anybody else. And but I do wonder I had
the sense, and I'm old enough. A lot of people
listening to us crazily aren't even old enough to remember
(19:11):
what that was like. But in when Jordan and the
Bulls won their sixth title, when he pushed off Brian Russell,
I'm sorry, Salt Lake City, and he stepped back, and
he drained the jumper in Game six to win his
sixth NBA championship in eight years. I have the sense
that the vast majority of the country was rooting for
(19:32):
Michael Jordan's and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. That is, we
wanted to see them when we wanted to see that
dynasty continue. Most people would have loved to see Jordan's
ride off into the sunset after making that jumper and
never have come back and played for the Washington Wizards,
and our final memory of him being him going out
(19:54):
on top at the absolute apex of his career as
a champion. Now, I don't think his legacy was impacted
that much by coming back and playing for the Washington Wizards.
I don't think that the long range, most people even
will remember that Washington Wizard's tenure for Michael Jordan's. But
I do think it's interesting that everybody seemed to be
(20:16):
rooting back in the day for Jordan and the Bulls,
and I don't think anybody's rooting for the Patriots and
Tom Brady. Now. Maybe that's because of the spy Gate controversy,
Maybe that's because of the flight Gate and this idea
that the Patriots are just right on the edge of,
if not beyond, the rules of the game, which there
(20:40):
were certainly never any suggestion of about the Chicago Bulls.
But I also wonder whether the dislike for the Patriots
has to do with an era where everything moves so
quickly and the Patriots have been so consistent. In other words,
think about the way we cover story. It's almost impossible
(21:02):
for a story to last more than a day on
this show. How often do we open one show on
let's say, like Thursday show with the story and then
open on Friday with the exact same story. Not very often.
We've got a president right now who can create stories
amazingly every single day. I mean, people are talking about
(21:25):
what Donald Trump said about immigration still some but he's
also got a porn star controversy now. I mean, and
and who knows what will happen today later in the
day that will also now become a story. There are
so many stories that all happened so quickly. I wonder
if people would have tired out of the Chicago Bulls
if the Bulls have been playing in this era. I
(21:48):
think that the era of Dynasty's was more embraced back
before the news cycle got so accelerated. Does that make
sense to you guys out there, because people weren't rooting
against Jordan's, people weren't rooting against the Bulls. I was, yeah,
but you're in You're an exception the vast majority. Like
(22:08):
right now, I'm saying, are you rooting for Brady and
Belichick and the Patriots to make the Super Bowl even
if you hate them? Because the boardles versus fulls Keendom
Super Bowl would suck. Nearly sev people are saying that
they are rooting against the Patriots to make the Super Bowl.
When Michael Jordan's and the Bulls were playing the Indiana
(22:29):
Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals in Game seven and
the vast, vast majority of people in the country. We're
not rooting for the Indiana Pacers to upset the Bulls
in Game seven and advanced to play against the Jazz
as entertaining as Reggie Miller was, as much as you
might have liked the Pacers leaving aside Indianapolis, where I'm
(22:52):
sure everybody's rooting for the Pacers. That's normal, you root
for your local team. Everybody was on the side of
the Bulls. I and I wonder whether that would change
if the Bulls were around now, because I don't think
the hater gene had really taken off yet. When I
was a kid growing up all the way through high school,
(23:14):
really in the pre Internet era, there weren't haters, like
the hater gene didn't really take off. The Internet kind
of has allowed the hater gene to flourish for people
to combat excellence. Think about it in your own life.
It was so rare that anybody criticized the Bulls or
(23:36):
Michael Jordan's for anything during the apex of the Bulls
absolute domination of the NBA. Now, Lebron is the quintessential
like getting ripped guy. But there's also a lot of
people out there who hate the Warriors. They don't like
Draymond Green. Oh, Kevin Durant's a turncoat for making the
(23:57):
decision to leave. And obviously the Patriots and Tom Brady
are universally disliked. I think the only like, if you
did a map right now of who were people rooting
for the Patriots or the Jags, the Jags would win
like forty seven or forty eight of the fifty states
(24:18):
right now. And it's not the Jags winning because the
Jags are a particularly likable group of people. It's just
because they are playing against the Patriots. What do you
guys think in general about my thesis there? You're saying
like you're always trying to play the devil's advocate, or
oh I hated the Bulls, people like the Bulls. That's
(24:39):
just not Truely, don't believe that at all. Everybody roots
against Dynasty's. They might want them in the everybody quietly
at home, but they hold against him open phone lines
right now, were you rooting for the Bulls or the
Jazz in everybody out there listening to us right now?
(25:00):
And by like and again, I don't want to hear
from Pacer fans or Jazz fans because obviously you're going
to root for your favorite local team. Jordan's was like
a seventy five or eighty percent people rooting for the Bulls.
I want to go to l A. Are you with
me here, Danny g that the vast majority of people
back in we're rooting for Jordan and the Bulls to win. No, Clay,
(25:22):
I'm not. I mean, you guys are totally listened on
this one. No, this is one where I'm tried so
many teams. If you if you rooted for any team
in the Eastern Conference, you hated Michael Jordan's, You're not.
I'm gonna put this poll out. You're gonna lose. Its
(25:43):
gonna be seventy five percent rooting at least for Michael
Jordan's and the Bulls. Polls are skewed because you have
all your ball washers voting in favor of whatever you are.
You guys are totally now. I'm so, I'm so powerful.
People are afraid to disagree with how powerful you are.
(26:05):
I am powerful. But the idea that you read my mentions,
the idea that people out there just are going to
agree with me because I'm me, is the most laughably
absurd thing out there that Twitter and social media is
the king of No matter what you say, people are
gonna disagree. I remember I've said this for a long time,
like early on in Twitter, when I was like, man,
(26:27):
there are a lot of losers out there. I went
on Twitter and I was like, man, I love cobbler,
and somebody's like, you suck. Cobbler sucks. And I'm like,
wait a minute, who doesn't like sugar mixed with fruit
mixed with bread? If you don't cobbler, like you are
an awful human being. But like you can come on
and say the most innocuous thing imaginable, you know, like
(26:49):
it's fun to jump into swimming pool and people will
be like, I hate swimming pools. The beach is really fun.
I guess if you like sand in the sun. You know,
Like it doesn't matter what you say, somebody out there
is gonna be immediately like I could give you any opinion.
I can give you any opinion right now, Like what
is the most popular thing in America today? Like, if
(27:09):
you had to go to war over what is the
most popular thing in America today? What would that be?
What are the most people like money? Money, money is like, Okay,
if I went on Twitter right now and I was like,
it's good to be rich, somebody would immediately say, no,
money's overrated. It doesn't matter what it is. That's what
(27:31):
I'm talking about, the hater generation. Social media has allowed
it to flourish because anything that's good, there's somebody who
has to be the j Mart of the world and
be like, oh, it sucks. It doesn't matter what it is.
Like I can come on and say, like, Jordan's sucks. No.
If you compare and to Tom Brady in two thousand eighteen,
(27:59):
there are infinitely more people who were rooting for Jordan
and the Bulls Dynasty for them to win their sixth
title than are rooting right now for Brady to win
his sixth title with the Patriots. It's not even remotely close,
not even remotely close. You guys argue with each other
for a minute while I put this pole question up.
Just well, actually we're going to break all right, so
I'll put the pole question up. You can find me
(28:21):
on Twitter at Clay Travis. You can also weigh in
eight seven seven nine six six three six nine Do
you dispute this? Do you dispute the fact that there
are infinitely more people that rooted for Michael Jordan in
than are rooting for Brady and the Patriots in eighteen. Yeah,
I agree with that. Do you agree with that? Jason Martin?
You're gonna play Devil's advocate here too. I'm taking phone calls.
(28:46):
Jessica Cooper, were you even alive in Yes? What year
were you born? Oh? Eight eight? So do you remember, Yeah,
that was the that was the height of my my,
my glory days. Now you were like a child star.
Then you should out for like a hundred people. Who
were you rooting for Jordans or the or the or
the Jazz? I mean, like, I I liked Jordan's, but
(29:08):
I mean I was a fan of, you know, a
Western Conference team. So my my argument is that if
you were a fan of any Eastern Conference team, you
hated Michael Jordan because it meant you had no chance
to get into the finals. I disagree completely with that.
I think people at people appreciated excellence back then, and
you didn't judge your team for not being excellent like
you do now. You were like, hey, it's just Jordan's
(29:30):
Jordan's League. Be sure to catch live editions of I
would kick the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six
am Eastern, three am Pacific, joined now with my guy
Lance Taylor, ninety four five jocks down in Birmingham at
the Lance Taylor on Twitter LT. You were a big
NBA fan back, I know in the Jordan's era Bulls teams,
and what we've talked about so far to start the
(29:52):
show is an interesting question. Why did in just about
everybody root for the Jordans Ara bl to win their
sixth title against the Utah Jazz. On my poll, about
seventy of people admitting that they were rooting for Jordan
and the Bulls to win, whereas about now about seventy
(30:12):
of people are rooting against the Patriots to win their
sixth title. Is that a function of the difference in
sports in eighteen or how would you distinguish white people
like Jordan's and don't like Brady why they liked the
Bulls and Phil Jackson and don't like Belichick and the Patriots.
I just think there was something about Michael Jordan's um
(30:34):
And here's the thing, like it's kind of weird because
I'm on the other side of it, and I would
just grew up a huge Lakers fan, and maybe because
the time was kind of passed in that n NBA
Finals where Michael Jordan kind of dominated the l A
Lakers and Mike and Magic Johnson. I just was never
a bulls guy, and I pulled against him. I pulled
for the Sonics against him. I pulled the Jazz against him.
(30:55):
It didn't work as much as I pulled against him. Uh.
I respect greatness, but I do get fatigued and look
and being right here in the middle of the sec Um,
I see it with Alabama, and I understand why the
rest of the country pulls against Nick Say, but in Alabama,
and uh, it's one of the reasons I'll be pulling
against the New England Patriots on Sunday. Again, I respect it,
but I mean it is insane when we're talking about
(31:17):
a team in the NFL and three of the four
teams playing this weekend had losing records last year. But
one of those teams that is playing in the New
England Patriots, has been the seven consecutive conference championship games. Um,
that's that's impossible. It is a remarkable achievement. Do you
think that if Jordans were playing today. Let's say that
(31:38):
like the Patriots had been the franchise that was going
for their sixth title in and Brady had been that
age that Jordan is and Jordan was playing now, and
the Bulls were in the position that they are now.
How much less would people be rooting for Jordan's now,
just becauseen is a lot different than because you say,
(31:59):
like a lot of people love Jordan everything else. But
I think what would happen today is, first of all,
if Jordan's just disappeared for two years after his dad
got killed, the Internet would have been a wash in
incredibly details and conspiracy theories and everything else about the
fact that he was getting suspended from the NBA, which
may have actually happened, but certainly it would have been
(32:19):
almost impossible to cover up a story like that in
any kind of way. Jordan being out gambling all hours
every night would have been on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, the
fact that he got divorced and had all these mistresses
all over the country. He would have gotten Tiger Woods.
How much less popular would Michael Jordan been than he was.
(32:42):
I'm glad you brought up Tiger Woods, because I think
that's the ultimate example of the Tiger Woods was a
guy that everyone loved, and you know, once the flaws
were shown and we saw some cracks in the foundation,
everybody piled on. And I think it's the exact same
thing you would see with Michael Jordan, because you're right,
Jordan had his vices big time. I mean, I think
everyone would agree has their vices. But Michael Jordan, we
(33:02):
just remember the smile and the Gatorade commercials and Nike
and he was just the all American guy that could
do no wrong. Um. But in today's society, we find
out what is wrong. And that's what's kind of amazing
about Tom Brady. And I know you said this about
Lebron James in the past, um, And I kind of
go back and forth with Lebron. Again, I respect greatness.
Sometimes I like Lebron and sometimes he bothers me because
(33:23):
he's so sensitive. But a guy like Tom Brady and
Lebron James, those guys don't get in any trouble and
we really don't see the vices. I mean, Tom Brady,
the biggest vice he's got is his ridiculous diet. Um. Well,
he has the bridget Remember he had the kid out
of wedlock. With Bridget moynihan if you want to be
really like aggressive about going after him, right, and then
he ended up with Gazelle. The limitations, what was that
(33:44):
a decade ago? Yeah, it's a long I was along
and over that, I think, But I mean, yeah, look,
he asked you this, if you were Tom Brady, even
being married to Giselle, how much trouble would you get at? Oh,
I mean the fact that he goes to bed every
night at eight o'clock and doesn't eat tomatoes and like
sleeps and hyperbaric chambers and all the stuff that he
does to try to make sure that he can play
football forever. I mean, I think Giselle said he loves
(34:05):
football more than me, which is, by the way, a
pretty incredible quote to have out there because a lot
of wives would be like not comfortable saying that. But
I think that's true and and and I think you're right, Like,
by and large, if you look at Brady and Lebron,
what's the worst thing you can say about either of them?
You can say about Brady? Okay, fifteen years ago he
had a relationship with I think it was Bridget moynihan,
(34:27):
and he left her and they had a kid together
and they didn't get married, and like, okay, maybe that's
a little bit scandalous that he ended up with another woman.
I don't even know what the most scandalous thing you
can say about Lebron is. I guess maybe every now
and then he gets busted sliding into girls d ms
on Instagram. Um, I'm trying to think, like, obviously, like
you said, he's very sensitive to criticism, but by and large,
(34:49):
Lebron and Brady both have many less skeletons in their closet,
at least that we know of. Then Michael Jordan does,
I mean, I think that's fair to say, right, yeah, there,
there's no doubt about it. I mean, that is child's
play compared to these stories we've heard about Michael Jordan,
no doubt. And so I wonder what the vibe would
be on Jordan's if he were playing now in eighteen
(35:13):
as opposed to getting away with what he got away
with in And also everything about Jordan we were not
cynical for he was the first for so much, he
was the first athlete to really become a brand, you know,
Air Jordan, Gatorade, McDonald's, like the way that he sold
products was new to us, and so we weren't cynical
(35:34):
about them. Like nobody when an Air Jordan came out,
even if it was a crappy Air Jordan's, nobody was
able to go on social media and crush it like
they crushed Steph curry shoe right like, because we've been
there and seen the shoes, and so he was the first,
and we weren't cynical about, Oh, this is an athlete
trying to make money by selling us stuff. We were like, Oh,
(35:55):
this new Nike commercial is awesome. Oh look at this
McDonald's commercial where Larry Bird and Michael Jordan's and Magic Johnson.
I think it was are having a contest to shoot,
you know, to play horse, right. I mean it was
also fresh and so new, Whereas now everybody's having to
push back against that whole idea of an athlete as
a brand, you know, if you were one of those
guys though. And I think one of the things is
(36:17):
I think people get upset because they feel like they
get sold a bill of goods with the Tiger Woods
or a Michael Once you find out and that's a
good point, Like Michael, it's not just that Tiger Woods
cheated on his wife. It said he cheated on his wife,
and everybody saw her when he would win a major
and come off the golf course and kiss her and
like his kids are there and everything else. Everybody's like, oh,
(36:38):
that's a great all American family, and they feel like
they were sold a bill of goods. I don't ever
remember seeing Michael Jordan's wife anyway in the public, just
like you don't really ever see Peyton Manning's wife, Like,
I mean, how many times have you seen her? I
feel like the Tiger Woods they tried to sell him
as the all American family. That might be a little
bit also because golf is the most conservative of all
(36:59):
the sports. So you know, the guy who's the average
golfer making decisions, he's more conservative than probably the fan
of any other sport would be. See, I would like
to be the athlete that doesn't have any expectation, the
great athlete like Charles Barkley. I mean, when Charles Barkley
would be so much more Yeah, it's a great Barkley
would be so much more popular now. He was ahead
(37:19):
of his time. And I'll tell you another guy. I mean,
you think about Joe Namath back in the day, it
was cool that Joe Namath was hanging out with mobsters
and he had a million girls, and you know, he
was doing different things. Uh So, I mean I would
be I would rather be one of those guys that
was already flawed, that was accepted that people actually gravitated
towards because they had kind of a dark side. Yeah. Well,
(37:40):
also the other answer there is just don't get married.
Because Derek Jeter got celebrated for sleeping with everybody who
was famous under the stars. I mean, I think they
couldn't do it now because Twitter would lose their mind.
But remember, like a decade ago, ESPN did an entire
baseball field of the hottest girls that Jeter had dated,
and that was actually figure out which I mean, who
was your number one on that list? Mika Kelly was incredible.
(38:04):
He dated Jessica Alba, didn't he, Like, I mean, the
girl from the girl from Friday Night Lights whose names
escaping me? Minka Kelly, you said, Minka Kelly. Yeah, I mean,
like the the list was, I mean, it was an
incredible list. But it's funny if you're a single guy
and you do that, everybody's like, man, Jeter is awesome.
(38:25):
The minute he gets married and gets caught with any
other girl anywhere, then he's the biggest dog on the planet. Right.
It's funny how the rules like are you know, as
long as you're a single guy, you can get away
with anything. Um, But the moment that you get or
divorced for that matter, like even if you even if
you don't stay married, if you get divorced, like everything's
fair game. The minute you get married and get caught
(38:46):
like out to dinner with anybody, it turned like remember
a Rod. A Rod got caught like just walking down
the streets with some girl holding the hands, and it
was like, oh my god, a Rod's the worst human
being ever. Um. And uh now he seems to be
making up for it with Jlo, who doesn't age. But
still it's a it's an it's an incredible kind of
dichotomy there. So, having said all this, the reason we
led into this debate is my argument is the NFL
(39:09):
desperately needs the Patriots and Tom Brady to beat the
Jacks because otherwise we've got Blake Bortles against Nick Foles
or case Keenum and the NF the Super Bowl is
just gonna be awful. Potentially. Are you with me that
the NFL desperately needs the Patriots, Brady and Belichick in
the Super Bowl? Yeah? I think they do obviously for eyeballs.
(39:29):
I mean we're talking about Blake Bortles, a guy that's
one less than of his games in his career. Um,
So I don't think the Jaguars, I mean, you look
at it, they can't even sell out their venue, um
with with the team that's now in the a f
C Championship Game. So yeah, I don't think there's a
lot of people that would be excited about the Jacks
playing in their first ever Super Bowl. Um. I'm caught
on the other side again, I've got New England fatigue.
(39:51):
I respect greatness, and maybe it would be better if
New England gets there and the winner of Vikings Eagles
everybody in the world pulls for, you know, the winner
of the NFC again in New England. Um, I think
that's I think that's the best storyline. But so let
me ask you this, why does everybody hate Blake Bortles? Like,
because we talked about this yesterday on the show and
I'm I'm guilty of this too. When I watched Blake
(40:12):
Bortles play. When I was watching them play against the Steelers,
I was rooting for him to throw like four straight
interceptions on four straight passes. I wanted him to blow
up in a negative way. And then after the game,
I was sitting back and I was like, why am
I rooting against Blake Bortles? What has he ever done?
He's never really had any statement, He's never done anything
off the field. On the field, He's just kind of
(40:33):
the quintessential mediocre, not very good quarterback in the NFL,
of which there are tons of them. Why has he
become so unlikable? You know, I don't know. It's a
It's a great question because if you google his girlfriend,
I think you would respect him immediately, lindsay do. I
mean she's got she's got incredible boobs, and as a
boobs guy, I mean, I'm a huge fan. I know
(40:54):
you're that guy. Um, but we pulled for the underdog
typically in America, And I mean, this is the ultimate
Dr Doog situation right when you come when you combine Bordles,
Keenum and Folds, these are guys that have got five
career postseason touchdowns going against the guy that is making
his thirty six career postseason start and Tom Brady, I
mean Blake Bortles, and I think we discredit what he
(41:17):
was able to do in two thousand and seventeen. Look,
there were some ups and downs, but Clay, the bottom
line is he was four and oh head to head
this season against Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, two and oh
against Ben Roethlisberger. He beat Joe Flacco, he beat Russell Wilson.
I mean, I just think we really have discounted his season.
And the Jacksonville defense has been fantastic for that's been
really good as a rookie. UM. But yeah, I just
(41:39):
don't know why we hate Bordles and we should be
pulling for the underdog. I mean, this is David verts Goliath. Yeah,
if this were the n C Double A tournament, everybody
would be rooting for Blake Portals and he would be
a lovable underdog. But instead, kid exactly saw what eight
nine years ago exactly, and it's the same thing we're
(42:00):
Gordon Hayward almost banked in the shot there, which has
been one of the most incredible wins of all time.
You know he's coming down the court. Um, But it
would it would be an incredible moment. I think in general,
if for either case Keenum, Blake Bortles, or certainly Nick
Foles to beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, or
for Bordles to beat him in the a f C
Title game, yet I feel like I would hate to
(42:21):
see that and and and it is everything that that
we say we like about sports rolled into one of
those three guys. Yet I think most people are like, yeah,
I don't really want to see that. Well, I think
you're a little skewed because I've got a feeling that
you're gonna be laying the seven. Oh I'm a I'm
all in on the Patriots. Yeah, yeah, and see and
I'm an idiot. I mean I should know this before.
(42:41):
I mean, Tom Brady's eighteen and three all time at
home in the playoffs, You're playing a Jacksonville team that's
playing with the house money, just getting to an a
f C championship game, And um, I think I'm gonna
I'm gonna be taking the point here. I think I'm
gonna play the Jacks. What about the other game, Vikings
and the Eagles, which side do you like? Well, you know,
I tried to get a price on Vikings to win
the super Bowl before the New Orleans game, you know,
(43:04):
I would have gone completely gray, um letting out that game,
and I didn't get it before. Um. I've just got
a feel in Minnesota's gonna win this whole thing, and
Case Keenom scares me to death. Um, but I just
think their defense is that good. Um. I think it's
gonna be another difficult game, but you know, I just
gotta feeling Nick Foles will implode in this situation. The
Vikings defense will win that game. I like the fact
(43:24):
that it's dropped to three by it down to two
and a half. If anybody will ever let you buy
off three again in the NFL. But I kind of
like the Vikings. I like the Jags, and uh, I'm
sure the Patriots will win though, but I think more
than likely we will have a New England Minnesota super Bowl.
Good stuff, my man. We will talk to you. By
the way. What do you think about my guy Jason
Martin not making it into work with the quarter inch
(43:45):
of snow on the ground? Pathetic? You know, we had
one of our producers and we had less than that
where we are, and he didn't make it. In a
couple of days ago, I guess anybody has an excuse. Um,
I guess in today's you know, soft society, if anybody's
sends out the email hey look, use good judgments. Yeah,
if you don't think you can make it in. I
think that's a free pass for a lot of people
(44:07):
out there, no doubt at all. Lands Taylor, go follow
him on Twitter at the Lance Taylor You can listen
to him Five Jocks Down in Birmingham, good stuff, A
woke report every single morning from the six pm Sports Center,
which Bell Hill and Michael Smith. Okay, so this is
(44:30):
one day in and I think they say your first
couple of weeks in jail are the worst, and I
certainly hope so. Because this was not a very good
television show. The problem is this woke port has a problem,
has an issue, and that it really wasn't very woke.
It was just not good television. They talked about Tom
Brady's hand, They talked about Lebron James and the Cavalier struggles.
(44:52):
They talked about the NFL Draft. They brought on Michael B.
Jordan for an interview about Black Panther. They also had
Chadwick Boseman, who's actually playing the title care Earlier this week,
Michael Smith referred to it as, quote, we're chopping it
up with Michael B. Jordan's coming up, unquote. It was
just a never ending parade for an hour of on
site field report split screen. They had the guys who's
(45:13):
starring in Black Panther on to talk during the six
o'clock Sports Center, So they're basically just using this six
o'clock distin center now is an advertisement for Marvel movies.
Uh yeah, but I mean I think they do that
pretty regularly, and they even did it before s C six.
They would have stars on. I don't know if Michael B.
Jordan was all over ESPN doing the car wash yesterday
or not, but they've had two stars of that movie
(45:34):
on this week, so clearly it's in their best I
haven't ever watched this show, but it is. I've been
told the worst show that ESPN has ever done. Was
it a bad show? It was terrible? Uh? Like I said,
split screen interviews from all four NFL practices, all the
NBA arenas with people you know, you know, some of
those field reporters you don't know others. It's not particularly interesting.
(45:56):
Neither one is particularly good at asking questions. They have
malchi Or in studio with an early mock where he
made news yesterday and it was all over ESPN. That's
saying that the Browns are gonna take Josh Allen number one,
that he's by far the best quarterback that's coming out.
That became a huge story, and that kind of makes
me think it's a not legitimate. It's badly lit. It
was focused on being different rather than being good. Look,
(46:18):
there are two smart people, but neither one as a host.
Jamal stumbled through questions a few times. Neither drove the bus.
There was dead air, they didn't know when to start talking.
There were odd camera cuts. One caught Jamal in the
middle of her laptop during an interview, not looking at
the camera, not paying attention to the guest. There were
shots that were actually out of focus that snapped into
(46:38):
focus when they realized the zoom was off. And it
wasn't some artistic move, it was this camera's in the
wrong spot when we cut to it, which is incredible.
Michael B. Jordan was put on the screen and they
were talking about him right before they put him on.
In the next segment they were previewing it. He was
on Twitter on his phone, not even looking at him,
and they were screaming at him, Hey, look up, look
(46:58):
up like on the screen. He didn't know they were
previewing the interview with him. Nobody cued him into that.
He figured it out about two seconds before they went
to break. Jamal Hill discuss the six to ten picks
in Mel's mock draft, while the graphic on screen only
showed one through five, so a total mismatch of information.
She didn't even run down one through five. She immediately
(47:19):
said let's talk about six through ten when that wasn't
on the screen, and then she would say things that
were very analytical, like there's some big interesting names here.
So again they had problems filling air that wasn't word
for word on the script. And then in their final
segment they do what's called in It's a Good Day
Deal and they used that yesterday to congratulate Antoinette Harris,
(47:39):
who was offered a scholarship by Bethany College and in
a I A school, she becomes the first woman to
earn a scholarship to play football. That's not a kicker,
she's a free safety. I actually thought cool. I hope
she's good. It means people are gonna pay attention to
Bethany College on ESPN this coming year, but they congratulated
her to end. Here's the overall thought from day one,
(48:00):
this show sucks. It feels like it should be on
at midnight because it's so desperately wants to be cutting edge,
but it's in the six pm time slide where you
really just need a good host that can ask these
guests that are on screen for two or three minutes
good questions. It tries to move relatively fast, but it's
terrible because it's awkward and neither one of them is
in the role that they should be in. There is
(48:22):
your woke port for this Friday. Only twenty nine more days.
This is the best of out Kick the Coverage with
Clay Travis on Fox Sports Radio. It's the Friday edition
now Kick the Coverage. Appreciate all of you waking up
with us across the country and coming to hang out
as you prepare to roll into the weekend. And obviously
as we roll into the weekend, there are a couple
(00:21):
of different things out there that that are worth discussing,
and almost all of them have to do with the
a f C in the NFC Title Game, And so
I've been thinking a lot about these games over the
course of the past couple of days. I've been sitting
around trying to decide how I'm gonna gamble on them,
what picks I like, and I'll give those to you
in our three. Not that I've been on that much
(00:43):
of a role when it comes to betting on the
NFL playoffs, especially last weekend when I had the Saints
uh plus plus five ended up getting a push on
that crazy ending. But I'm also thinking what is the
best outcome for the NFL and four fans, And my
easy read here is that we need the Patriots and
(01:08):
Tom Brady in the Super Bowl desperately in order for
that game to be relevant in a couple of weeks.
But then also the other side of me thinks, if
the Patriots aren't there, then it gives hope two pretty
much every other NFL team, because if your team has
(01:30):
a crappy to mediocre quarterback and even has a quarterback injury,
maybe they could still make the playoffs, and then maybe
they could still advance in the playoffs to the super Bowl.
By which I mean, of the four teams remaining right now,
three of them have what would be the worst quarterback
(01:52):
situation to make a Super Bowl since Brad Johnson and
uh Rich Gannon played back in the I believe it
was the two thousand three Super Bowl. That's the worst
matchup in the twenty one century on both sides at
the quarterback position, Rich Gannon versus good old Nobody's gonna
(02:14):
put him in the super Bowl. But man, he made
the Tampa Bay people happy, Brad Johnson. So if you
think about that, every year since then has effectively been
one the Super Bowl has by a guy who's either
a shore fire first ballot, no nonsense Hall of Famer,
or is perpetually debate whether or not he's a really
(02:38):
good quarterback. In Joe Flacco. The worst quarterback to win
a Super Bowl since all the way back in two
thousand three is Joe Flacco, and frankly, Joe Flacco's postseason
record is incredible, but he's the worst quarterback since two
thousand three to win the Super Bowl. And frankly, the
worst matchup since two thousand three between quarterbacks in the
(03:00):
Super Bowl was Joe Flacco against Colin Kaepernick. And so
it's possible, and I don't think it's very likely, but
with the hand injury and the continuing drama about how
much of an impact that might be, it's possible we
could get Blake Bortles versus Nick Foles or case Keenum.
(03:22):
Now I'm not excited about that prospect, but I do
think it would at least kill the narrative which has
existed for roughly fifteen years of you have to have
an elite level quarterback in order to get to the
Super Bowl probably and certainly in order to win it.
(03:42):
And it might also kill the Patriots dynasty because then
as you enter the twenty eighteen football season, a lot
of people, myself included, might think, okay, is forty one
year old Tom Brady still alongside of Bill Belichick, the
presumptive favorite to win another title. Because of the Patriots
(04:04):
lost at home to the Jags, it would be a
significant blow to their overall resume as we enter twenty eighteen. Now,
I still think they'd probably be favored, but there would
at least be some more questioning, especially if Brady didn't
play very well. All of that really kind of rushing
(04:24):
around as we come up on the Sunday games, the
a f C and the NFC title game. We also
have to toss in that the NFL is in the
midst of an absolute collapse in viewership. This past weekend,
the divisional round playoff games, there were three great games,
three games that went right down to the wire. Falcons Eagles.
(04:45):
Matt Ryan's throwing into the end zone. The ball is
literally just barely going through Julio Jones hands. Otherwise the
Falcons probably win that game. We know about how incredible
and probable the ending was for Saints Vikings, and in
terms a pure entertainment, did anybody foresee a forty two
Jags win over the Steelers. The only game that stunk
(05:09):
was the Patriots dismantling in the Tennessee Titans three of
the four games were really good. Do you know many
people watched? Twenty three million less people watched the divisional
round games of the NFL this past year. This year
as composed to compared to last year, down six in viewership,
(05:32):
despite the fact that the games are outstanding. The NFL
right now is totally under siege and they need a
great Super Bowl and they need some really good a
f C and NFC title games in order to bounce
back from what has been a devastating year of viewership.
And I think a lot of it has to do
(05:52):
with mixing politics and football. But you guys know that
that that's my opinion, and then obviously other people out
there have different opinion that don't necessarily agree with that
opinion of mine. But what's better for the league, what's
better for the average fan? I think it's Brady going
up against either the Vikings or the Eagles. I don't
(06:15):
think it really matters that much who wins the NFC,
because you're gonna have that underdog, You're gonna have that
favorite in the in the Patriots, and it doesn't really
matter which of those two teams goes. I think, personally,
if the Vikings advance. It makes for a more entertaining
and exciting week because the storyline of the Minnesota Vikings,
who haven't won a lot in terms of being in
(06:36):
the super Bowl, certainly not in terms of championships, being
able to play that game at home is one that's
tough to escape. It's pretty exciting. We'll be live from
the super Bowl for a week. I think the environment
at the super Bowl will be infinitely better if the
Vikings are there, So I'm rooting for the Vikings to
win because i think it makes the surrounding environment of
the super Bowl just better. Now the Eagles wouldn't be
(06:57):
bad either, because the Eagles have a huge loyal fan
base and they haven't won anything either. But being in
the city where you hope you can pull off an
upset potentially over the Patriots will be fantastic. But I
think the absolute lack of interest that would exist over
a Blake Boardles versus Nick Foles or case Kingdom super
(07:18):
Bowl would be deafening, especially with two weeks to talk
about it. Whereas if Brady's coming back and Belichick's there
and the Patriots are going for their six Super Bowl,
I think it would be a hell of a storyline,
and I think that probably benefits the NFL much better
in the short term. But my question is that this
is kind of breaking it down on a short term
versus long term basis. Is it actually better for the
(07:41):
league long term if they get too non traditional quarterbacks
superstars going head to head, because for the next several years,
it'll start the season off and you can think, hey,
even if we don't have Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson,
or a Matt Ryan or a Ham Newton or Drew
(08:01):
Borees or Tom Brady, my team still has a champion,
a chance to win a championship, not just to make
the playoffs, but a chance to advance once we get
to the playoffs and actually win the Super Bowl. I
think that's somewhat valuable because the NFL used to be
the mantra of on any given Sunday, except it's turned
into a little bit of a version of the n
(08:23):
b A. The NBA, to me, is almost impossible to
watch in the regular season or even until the high
rounds of the playoffs if you actually want to have
uncertainty as to what's going to happen, because you know
that the teams with the best players are head and
shoulders above everybody else, So what's the point of paying
attention until probably the semifinals of the NBA at the
(08:47):
absolute earliest, Otherwise you know exactly what's gonna happen. And
I think the NFL is starting to fall victim a
little bit to that, because if you look at the
last fifteen years, you've got six or seven teams every
year with great quarterbacks with a chance to win the
Super Bowl, and everybody else is just trying to figure
out whether they've got a great quarterback. They got a
(09:07):
young guy and they're trying to figure out how good
he is or they stink, and they're trying to get
in position to draft a quarterback so they can figure
out whether or not that guy is gonna be good
or not. And obviously there are a lot of teams
right now that are gonna be desperate for quarterbacks. I
saw one of the most recent mock drafts had I
think six guys going in the first round as quarterbacks,
(09:30):
and I was like, holy cow, everybody out there is
desperate right now. In the first four you can probably
think about pretty easy Josh Allen, Sam Donald, Josh Rosen,
and Baker Mayfield, but this draft also had Lamar Jackson
and Mason Rudolph all going in the first round of
the NFL Draft. That's how desperate people are right now
to find quarterbacks. And that's because right now it's a
(09:51):
quarterbacks league. Now. If Nick Foles and Case Keenom one
of those guys gonna be in the super Bowl, that's
a big upset. But if he goes into the Super
Bowl and he gets drilled Brady, nothing changes about the
overall storyline of the NFL. Whereas if the Jags go
on the road and beat the Patriots, then the storyline
changes completely because you've got Blake Bortles, the most hated
(10:11):
man in the NFL, who's never done anything wrong, going
up against Folds or Keenum. Is that good for the league?
Which way are you rooting? Even if you hate the Patriots,
are you rooting for them to advance to the Super
Bowl and win the a f C Title Game? I am,
I am I I just I don't want the Jacksonville Jaguars,
helmed up by Blake Bortles to make the Super Bowl
(10:32):
because I don't want to talk about a Bordals versus
Keenom or borders versus Folds Super Bowl for two weeks.
I think we need Brady there. It's like the line
from a few good men, you want you need me
on the wall. You want me on the wall. That's
what we need. That's where we are right now with
the Patriots. We need the Patriots on that wall. We
want them on the wall. Otherwise, there's not a lot
(10:54):
there not a lot of sexiness in this NFL matchup.
If the Patriots Bill Belichick Tom Brady are not advancing.
We think you think about this Brady hand injury. I
don't know. I just always think that there's nothing to it.
But Vegas might think there's something to it. The line
and just the last short amount of time has dropped
in the last twenty four hours, dropped from the Patriots
(11:16):
as a nine and a half point favorite to a
seven point favorite. That's a pretty significant line move. Lots
of money coming in on the Jags. I can't wait
to see what's gonna happen. I'll be honest with you
on Sunday. Be sure to catch live editions of ioul
kick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am
Eastern three am Pacific on Fox sports radio and the
I Heart Radio apps a confidence show, I put up
(11:38):
a poll question. You guys can go vote in it
if you would like. And I do think it's kind
of a fascinating question because people say, oh, I hate
you know so frequently, Oh I hate um everything about
the Patriots. I can't stand to see the Patriots. So
there's no way that I ever want to see the
Patriots win. And then the ratings reflect that that's not
(11:58):
true at all, that people act releague can't get enough
of the New England Patriots because they love to hate them.
So my question, are you rooting for Brady Belichick and
the Patriots to make the Super Bowl even if you
hate them? Because of Bordles versus Foles keenum super Bowl
would suck. I'm actually surprised by this. Sixty of you
(12:18):
say you are not rooting for the Patriots. Now, I
think a large percentage of this is just people not
answering the question, really, and because effectively, what we could
other way you could ask that is are you rooting
for the Jags to win this game? And if the
answer is yes, that you're rooting for the Jacks to
win this game? I wonder if that's going to be
different than the poll results. Let me bring in the
(12:41):
crew is a good or bad for the NFL if
it's Blake Bortles versus Nick Foles or case Keenum in
the Super Bowl Jason Martin, I'm torn um because I
can't cheer for New England. I just I just can't
cheer for the Patriots to win football games. But cheering
against them in the Super Bowl is a blast. It's
always on, especially when the other option is a pretty
(13:02):
milk toast Jacksonville team nobody really has an opinion on yet. Now,
there are some great characters. This is something that maybe
we would have to start to take note of, certainly
while we're in Minneapolis, if Jacksonville were to pull this upset.
There are some great characters on this team, especially on
this defense. Jalen Ramsey just having him at media day.
Nobody for the Patriots ever says anything. Jacksonville's defense would
(13:24):
do nothing but talk and there would be a lot
of fun stories coming out of that. But nobody sees
the Jags yet as the Seahawks on a national level.
On the other side, if we don't have the sexy
quarterback match up, if it's Keenum and Bordles, or if
it's Fulls and Bordles, then we start having to pay
attention to a lot of other players. That could be
better for the league, because it has certainly become a
(13:46):
quarterback narrative driven league, even though there are a lot
of fantastic players that don't move Vegas lines all that
much but are nonetheless extremely important. And maybe if we
were paying more attention to everybody on the field, that
would be better for the NFL long term, because then
when you have quarterback injuries, people wouldn't tune out the
way that they certainly did at least at some part
(14:08):
of the ratings drop would have to go with a
lot of the injuries and some of the quarterbacks, with
Aaron Rodgers and some of the things that have happened there.
So I'm torn because I can't cheer for the Patriots,
but at the same time, having them in the Super
Bowl is advantageous because it gives you that evil empire
to root against. I think the league desperately needs the
Patriots to win on Sunday Night against the Jags. I
(14:29):
just I think that if you get a Blake Bortles
versus Nick Foles and case Keenum storyline, it's gonna be
a disaster because a lot of people, whether they are
being honest or not, watch the Patriots to to try
to see them lose, and they are the evil Empire,
they are the death Star. People want the Patriots to lose,
(14:50):
and there would be a little bit of excitement over
them losing in the a f C title game and
not going to the super Bowl, but that would pale
in comparison when you suddenly realized, wait a minute, it
there are two weeks now where we talk about the
Jags and Blake Bortles going up against either the Eagles
and and Nick Foles or the Vikings and Case Kingom.
(15:11):
You kind of know what the storyline of this game
is gonna be. Likely. It's gonna be the upstart nobody
believed in him, NFC champ, whether it's the Eagles or
the Vikings against the blue blood dynasty of the Patriots,
and that's at least somewhat entertaining. I don't think there's
that much entertainment about Jags versus either the Eagles or
(15:33):
the Vikings. What about you guys out of l A.
Don't you think that the NFL desperately needs the Patriots
to win. Yeah, Brady would be really good for the
casual Super Bowl viewers. You always talk about that guy
at the Super Bowl party, Clay, who doesn't know much
about sports. Yes, so, because there's like like a hundred
I always think this is interesting. This weekend, the NFC
(15:56):
and the a f C title game will have around
I'm guessing forty five million people watch, right, That's a lot.
That's a big audience. It's a massive audience for this
weekend for the a f C in the NFC title game.
The Super Bowl will have a hundred million or more.
So think about like everybody who's out there listening to
me right now. I bet there are very few of
(16:17):
you who are not gonna watch at least a few
minutes of both the a f C and the NFC
title game. Think about this guy out there or girl
who's not gonna watch either the a f C or
the NFC title game, and there are fifty five million
of them, and then it's gonna come rolling in for
the Super Bowl. That's always amazing to me. You not watch, Oh,
I'm not willing to watch the semifinals. I'm not willing
(16:39):
to watch the a f C and the NFC championship
get crowned. But fifty over fifty five million people suddenly
show up for the Super Bowl, and that guy or
girl doesn't know much about the NFL, but they know Brady,
they know Belichick, they know the Patriots. Because of the
last twenty years basically of the NFL, they don't who
(17:00):
case Keenum is. They have no idea who Blake Bortles is.
They may not even know that Jacksonville has an NFL
franchise because the Jags have never been in that that
important of games, at least not going all the way
back to So that that to me is the people
that they are worried about that the NFL is worried
about producing, and they're particularly worried about producing that audience
(17:22):
in a year where their ratings are down double digits,
where even as good as their NFC and a f
C divisional round playoff games were last weekend, they were
down twenty three million. Fewer people watch the NFL last
week as opposed to the year before, compared to the
divisional round playoff games. That's a big issue. So you're
with me, Dani, like they need on that wall. They do,
(17:44):
But on the other hand, it's not as good for
us hardcore NFL fans, because we do want to see
some new stars step forward. Now, with all due respect
to Patriots fans, I'm so sick of seeing Tom Brady's
face on the screen, so I would like to see
some new blood. I think I don't remember, and I
(18:05):
would love to know if they were, if it were
happening right now, what the response would be. The last
team that was as dominant as this new England Patriot team,
in my opinion, was the late nineties Chicago Bulls when
they won six out of eight championships. Now, I know
the dynasty of the Patriots has been longer, but if
they win their sixth, they're equaling. Tom Brady is the
(18:28):
Michael Jordan's six that he won with the Bulls, right,
And I think that six Super Bowls will probably never
be equal, that's my guess, probably never be equaled by
any other quarterback in the history of the NFL. Like
I think Brady is already competing against himself. Basically that
if he can get to six, I don't know and
(18:49):
and and seven or whatever his final number is going
to be. I don't know that anybody else ever gets there.
And I think you guys probably agree with me that
he's competing now against his own legacy as opposed to
against anybody else. And but I do wonder I had
the sense, and I'm old enough. A lot of people
listening to us crazily aren't even old enough to remember
(19:11):
what that was like. But in when Jordan and the
Bulls won their sixth title, when he pushed off Brian Russell,
I'm sorry, Salt Lake City, and he stepped back, and
he drained the jumper in Game six to win his
sixth NBA championship in eight years. I have the sense
that the vast majority of the country was rooting for
(19:32):
Michael Jordan's and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. That is, we
wanted to see them when we wanted to see that
dynasty continue. Most people would have loved to see Jordan's
ride off into the sunset after making that jumper and
never have come back and played for the Washington Wizards,
and our final memory of him being him going out
(19:54):
on top at the absolute apex of his career as
a champion. Now, I don't think his legacy was impacted
that much by coming back and playing for the Washington Wizards.
I don't think that the long range, most people even
will remember that Washington Wizard's tenure for Michael Jordan's. But
I do think it's interesting that everybody seemed to be
(20:16):
rooting back in the day for Jordan and the Bulls,
and I don't think anybody's rooting for the Patriots and
Tom Brady. Now. Maybe that's because of the spy Gate controversy,
Maybe that's because of the flight Gate and this idea
that the Patriots are just right on the edge of,
if not beyond, the rules of the game, which there
(20:40):
were certainly never any suggestion of about the Chicago Bulls.
But I also wonder whether the dislike for the Patriots
has to do with an era where everything moves so
quickly and the Patriots have been so consistent. In other words,
think about the way we cover story. It's almost impossible
(21:02):
for a story to last more than a day on
this show. How often do we open one show on
let's say, like Thursday show with the story and then
open on Friday with the exact same story. Not very often.
We've got a president right now who can create stories
amazingly every single day. I mean, people are talking about
(21:25):
what Donald Trump said about immigration still some but he's
also got a porn star controversy now. I mean, and
and who knows what will happen today later in the
day that will also now become a story. There are
so many stories that all happened so quickly. I wonder
if people would have tired out of the Chicago Bulls
if the Bulls have been playing in this era. I
(21:48):
think that the era of Dynasty's was more embraced back
before the news cycle got so accelerated. Does that make
sense to you guys out there, because people weren't rooting
against Jordan's, people weren't rooting against the Bulls. I was, yeah,
but you're in You're an exception the vast majority. Like
(22:08):
right now, I'm saying, are you rooting for Brady and
Belichick and the Patriots to make the Super Bowl even
if you hate them? Because the boardles versus fulls Keendom
Super Bowl would suck. Nearly sev people are saying that
they are rooting against the Patriots to make the Super Bowl.
When Michael Jordan's and the Bulls were playing the Indiana
(22:29):
Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals in Game seven and
the vast, vast majority of people in the country. We're
not rooting for the Indiana Pacers to upset the Bulls
in Game seven and advanced to play against the Jazz
as entertaining as Reggie Miller was, as much as you
might have liked the Pacers leaving aside Indianapolis, where I'm
(22:52):
sure everybody's rooting for the Pacers. That's normal, you root
for your local team. Everybody was on the side of
the Bulls. I and I wonder whether that would change
if the Bulls were around now, because I don't think
the hater gene had really taken off yet. When I
was a kid growing up all the way through high school,
(23:14):
really in the pre Internet era, there weren't haters, like
the hater gene didn't really take off. The Internet kind
of has allowed the hater gene to flourish for people
to combat excellence. Think about it in your own life.
It was so rare that anybody criticized the Bulls or
(23:36):
Michael Jordan's for anything during the apex of the Bulls
absolute domination of the NBA. Now, Lebron is the quintessential
like getting ripped guy. But there's also a lot of
people out there who hate the Warriors. They don't like
Draymond Green. Oh, Kevin Durant's a turncoat for making the
(23:57):
decision to leave. And obviously the Patriots and Tom Brady
are universally disliked. I think the only like, if you
did a map right now of who were people rooting
for the Patriots or the Jags, the Jags would win
like forty seven or forty eight of the fifty states
(24:18):
right now. And it's not the Jags winning because the
Jags are a particularly likable group of people. It's just
because they are playing against the Patriots. What do you
guys think in general about my thesis there? You're saying
like you're always trying to play the devil's advocate, or
oh I hated the Bulls, people like the Bulls. That's
(24:39):
just not Truely, don't believe that at all. Everybody roots
against Dynasty's. They might want them in the everybody quietly
at home, but they hold against him open phone lines
right now, were you rooting for the Bulls or the
Jazz in everybody out there listening to us right now?
(25:00):
And by like and again, I don't want to hear
from Pacer fans or Jazz fans because obviously you're going
to root for your favorite local team. Jordan's was like
a seventy five or eighty percent people rooting for the Bulls.
I want to go to l A. Are you with
me here, Danny g that the vast majority of people
back in we're rooting for Jordan and the Bulls to win. No, Clay,
(25:22):
I'm not. I mean, you guys are totally listened on
this one. No, this is one where I'm tried so
many teams. If you if you rooted for any team
in the Eastern Conference, you hated Michael Jordan's, You're not.
I'm gonna put this poll out. You're gonna lose. Its
(25:43):
gonna be seventy five percent rooting at least for Michael
Jordan's and the Bulls. Polls are skewed because you have
all your ball washers voting in favor of whatever you are.
You guys are totally now. I'm so, I'm so powerful.
People are afraid to disagree with how powerful you are.
(26:05):
I am powerful. But the idea that you read my mentions,
the idea that people out there just are going to
agree with me because I'm me, is the most laughably
absurd thing out there that Twitter and social media is
the king of No matter what you say, people are
gonna disagree. I remember I've said this for a long time,
like early on in Twitter, when I was like, man,
(26:27):
there are a lot of losers out there. I went
on Twitter and I was like, man, I love cobbler,
and somebody's like, you suck. Cobbler sucks. And I'm like,
wait a minute, who doesn't like sugar mixed with fruit
mixed with bread? If you don't cobbler, like you are
an awful human being. But like you can come on
and say the most innocuous thing imaginable, you know, like
(26:49):
it's fun to jump into swimming pool and people will
be like, I hate swimming pools. The beach is really fun.
I guess if you like sand in the sun. You know,
Like it doesn't matter what you say, somebody out there
is gonna be immediately like I could give you any opinion.
I can give you any opinion right now, Like what
is the most popular thing in America today? Like, if
(27:09):
you had to go to war over what is the
most popular thing in America today? What would that be?
What are the most people like money? Money, money is like, Okay,
if I went on Twitter right now and I was like,
it's good to be rich, somebody would immediately say, no,
money's overrated. It doesn't matter what it is. That's what
(27:31):
I'm talking about, the hater generation. Social media has allowed
it to flourish because anything that's good, there's somebody who
has to be the j Mart of the world and
be like, oh, it sucks. It doesn't matter what it is.
Like I can come on and say, like, Jordan's sucks. No.
If you compare and to Tom Brady in two thousand eighteen,
(27:59):
there are infinitely more people who were rooting for Jordan
and the Bulls Dynasty for them to win their sixth
title than are rooting right now for Brady to win
his sixth title with the Patriots. It's not even remotely close,
not even remotely close. You guys argue with each other
for a minute while I put this pole question up.
Just well, actually we're going to break all right, so
I'll put the pole question up. You can find me
(28:21):
on Twitter at Clay Travis. You can also weigh in
eight seven seven nine six six three six nine Do
you dispute this? Do you dispute the fact that there
are infinitely more people that rooted for Michael Jordan in
than are rooting for Brady and the Patriots in eighteen. Yeah,
I agree with that. Do you agree with that? Jason Martin?
You're gonna play Devil's advocate here too. I'm taking phone calls.
(28:46):
Jessica Cooper, were you even alive in Yes? What year
were you born? Oh? Eight eight? So do you remember, Yeah,
that was the that was the height of my my,
my glory days. Now you were like a child star.
Then you should out for like a hundred people. Who
were you rooting for Jordans or the or the or
the Jazz? I mean, like, I I liked Jordan's, but
(29:08):
I mean I was a fan of, you know, a
Western Conference team. So my my argument is that if
you were a fan of any Eastern Conference team, you
hated Michael Jordan because it meant you had no chance
to get into the finals. I disagree completely with that.
I think people at people appreciated excellence back then, and
you didn't judge your team for not being excellent like
you do now. You were like, hey, it's just Jordan's
(29:30):
Jordan's League. Be sure to catch live editions of I
would kick the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six
am Eastern, three am Pacific, joined now with my guy
Lance Taylor, ninety four five jocks down in Birmingham at
the Lance Taylor on Twitter LT. You were a big
NBA fan back, I know in the Jordan's era Bulls teams,
and what we've talked about so far to start the
(29:52):
show is an interesting question. Why did in just about
everybody root for the Jordans Ara bl to win their
sixth title against the Utah Jazz. On my poll, about
seventy of people admitting that they were rooting for Jordan
and the Bulls to win, whereas about now about seventy
(30:12):
of people are rooting against the Patriots to win their
sixth title. Is that a function of the difference in
sports in eighteen or how would you distinguish white people
like Jordan's and don't like Brady why they liked the
Bulls and Phil Jackson and don't like Belichick and the Patriots.
I just think there was something about Michael Jordan's um
(30:34):
And here's the thing, like it's kind of weird because
I'm on the other side of it, and I would
just grew up a huge Lakers fan, and maybe because
the time was kind of passed in that n NBA
Finals where Michael Jordan kind of dominated the l A
Lakers and Mike and Magic Johnson. I just was never
a bulls guy, and I pulled against him. I pulled
for the Sonics against him. I pulled the Jazz against him.
(30:55):
It didn't work as much as I pulled against him. Uh.
I respect greatness, but I do get fatigued and look
and being right here in the middle of the sec Um,
I see it with Alabama, and I understand why the
rest of the country pulls against Nick Say, but in Alabama,
and uh, it's one of the reasons I'll be pulling
against the New England Patriots on Sunday. Again, I respect it,
but I mean it is insane when we're talking about
(31:17):
a team in the NFL and three of the four
teams playing this weekend had losing records last year. But
one of those teams that is playing in the New
England Patriots, has been the seven consecutive conference championship games. Um,
that's that's impossible. It is a remarkable achievement. Do you
think that if Jordans were playing today. Let's say that
(31:38):
like the Patriots had been the franchise that was going
for their sixth title in and Brady had been that
age that Jordan is and Jordan was playing now, and
the Bulls were in the position that they are now.
How much less would people be rooting for Jordan's now,
just becauseen is a lot different than because you say,
(31:59):
like a lot of people love Jordan everything else. But
I think what would happen today is, first of all,
if Jordan's just disappeared for two years after his dad
got killed, the Internet would have been a wash in
incredibly details and conspiracy theories and everything else about the
fact that he was getting suspended from the NBA, which
may have actually happened, but certainly it would have been
(32:19):
almost impossible to cover up a story like that in
any kind of way. Jordan being out gambling all hours
every night would have been on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, the
fact that he got divorced and had all these mistresses
all over the country. He would have gotten Tiger Woods.
How much less popular would Michael Jordan been than he was.
(32:42):
I'm glad you brought up Tiger Woods, because I think
that's the ultimate example of the Tiger Woods was a
guy that everyone loved, and you know, once the flaws
were shown and we saw some cracks in the foundation,
everybody piled on. And I think it's the exact same
thing you would see with Michael Jordan, because you're right,
Jordan had his vices big time. I mean, I think
everyone would agree has their vices. But Michael Jordan, we
(33:02):
just remember the smile and the Gatorade commercials and Nike
and he was just the all American guy that could
do no wrong. Um. But in today's society, we find
out what is wrong. And that's what's kind of amazing
about Tom Brady. And I know you said this about
Lebron James in the past, um, And I kind of
go back and forth with Lebron. Again, I respect greatness.
Sometimes I like Lebron and sometimes he bothers me because
(33:23):
he's so sensitive. But a guy like Tom Brady and
Lebron James, those guys don't get in any trouble and
we really don't see the vices. I mean, Tom Brady,
the biggest vice he's got is his ridiculous diet. Um. Well,
he has the bridget Remember he had the kid out
of wedlock. With Bridget moynihan if you want to be
really like aggressive about going after him, right, and then
he ended up with Gazelle. The limitations, what was that
(33:44):
a decade ago? Yeah, it's a long I was along
and over that, I think, But I mean, yeah, look,
he asked you this, if you were Tom Brady, even
being married to Giselle, how much trouble would you get at? Oh,
I mean the fact that he goes to bed every
night at eight o'clock and doesn't eat tomatoes and like
sleeps and hyperbaric chambers and all the stuff that he
does to try to make sure that he can play
football forever. I mean, I think Giselle said he loves
(34:05):
football more than me, which is, by the way, a
pretty incredible quote to have out there because a lot
of wives would be like not comfortable saying that. But
I think that's true and and and I think you're right, Like,
by and large, if you look at Brady and Lebron,
what's the worst thing you can say about either of them?
You can say about Brady? Okay, fifteen years ago he
had a relationship with I think it was Bridget moynihan,
(34:27):
and he left her and they had a kid together
and they didn't get married, and like, okay, maybe that's
a little bit scandalous that he ended up with another woman.
I don't even know what the most scandalous thing you
can say about Lebron is. I guess maybe every now
and then he gets busted sliding into girls d ms
on Instagram. Um, I'm trying to think, like, obviously, like
you said, he's very sensitive to criticism, but by and large,
(34:49):
Lebron and Brady both have many less skeletons in their closet,
at least that we know of. Then Michael Jordan does,
I mean, I think that's fair to say, right, yeah, there,
there's no doubt about it. I mean, that is child's
play compared to these stories we've heard about Michael Jordan,
no doubt. And so I wonder what the vibe would
be on Jordan's if he were playing now in eighteen
(35:13):
as opposed to getting away with what he got away
with in And also everything about Jordan we were not
cynical for he was the first for so much, he
was the first athlete to really become a brand, you know,
Air Jordan, Gatorade, McDonald's, like the way that he sold
products was new to us, and so we weren't cynical
(35:34):
about them. Like nobody when an Air Jordan came out,
even if it was a crappy Air Jordan's, nobody was
able to go on social media and crush it like
they crushed Steph curry shoe right like, because we've been
there and seen the shoes, and so he was the first,
and we weren't cynical about, Oh, this is an athlete
trying to make money by selling us stuff. We were like, Oh,
(35:55):
this new Nike commercial is awesome. Oh look at this
McDonald's commercial where Larry Bird and Michael Jordan's and Magic Johnson.
I think it was are having a contest to shoot,
you know, to play horse, right. I mean it was
also fresh and so new, Whereas now everybody's having to
push back against that whole idea of an athlete as
a brand, you know, if you were one of those
guys though. And I think one of the things is
(36:17):
I think people get upset because they feel like they
get sold a bill of goods with the Tiger Woods
or a Michael Once you find out and that's a
good point, Like Michael, it's not just that Tiger Woods
cheated on his wife. It said he cheated on his wife,
and everybody saw her when he would win a major
and come off the golf course and kiss her and
like his kids are there and everything else. Everybody's like, oh,
(36:38):
that's a great all American family, and they feel like
they were sold a bill of goods. I don't ever
remember seeing Michael Jordan's wife anyway in the public, just
like you don't really ever see Peyton Manning's wife, Like,
I mean, how many times have you seen her? I
feel like the Tiger Woods they tried to sell him
as the all American family. That might be a little
bit also because golf is the most conservative of all
(36:59):
the sports. So you know, the guy who's the average
golfer making decisions, he's more conservative than probably the fan
of any other sport would be. See, I would like
to be the athlete that doesn't have any expectation, the
great athlete like Charles Barkley. I mean, when Charles Barkley
would be so much more Yeah, it's a great Barkley
would be so much more popular now. He was ahead
(37:19):
of his time. And I'll tell you another guy. I mean,
you think about Joe Namath back in the day, it
was cool that Joe Namath was hanging out with mobsters
and he had a million girls, and you know, he
was doing different things. Uh So, I mean I would
be I would rather be one of those guys that
was already flawed, that was accepted that people actually gravitated
towards because they had kind of a dark side. Yeah. Well,
(37:40):
also the other answer there is just don't get married.
Because Derek Jeter got celebrated for sleeping with everybody who
was famous under the stars. I mean, I think they
couldn't do it now because Twitter would lose their mind.
But remember, like a decade ago, ESPN did an entire
baseball field of the hottest girls that Jeter had dated,
and that was actually figure out which I mean, who
was your number one on that list? Mika Kelly was incredible.
(38:04):
He dated Jessica Alba, didn't he, Like, I mean, the
girl from the girl from Friday Night Lights whose names
escaping me? Minka Kelly, you said, Minka Kelly. Yeah, I mean,
like the the list was, I mean, it was an
incredible list. But it's funny if you're a single guy
and you do that, everybody's like, man, Jeter is awesome.
(38:25):
The minute he gets married and gets caught with any
other girl anywhere, then he's the biggest dog on the planet. Right.
It's funny how the rules like are you know, as
long as you're a single guy, you can get away
with anything. Um, But the moment that you get or
divorced for that matter, like even if you even if
you don't stay married, if you get divorced, like everything's
fair game. The minute you get married and get caught
(38:46):
like out to dinner with anybody, it turned like remember
a Rod. A Rod got caught like just walking down
the streets with some girl holding the hands, and it
was like, oh my god, a Rod's the worst human
being ever. Um. And uh now he seems to be
making up for it with Jlo, who doesn't age. But
still it's a it's an it's an incredible kind of
dichotomy there. So, having said all this, the reason we
led into this debate is my argument is the NFL
(39:09):
desperately needs the Patriots and Tom Brady to beat the
Jacks because otherwise we've got Blake Bortles against Nick Foles
or case Keenum and the NF the Super Bowl is
just gonna be awful. Potentially. Are you with me that
the NFL desperately needs the Patriots, Brady and Belichick in
the Super Bowl? Yeah? I think they do obviously for eyeballs.
(39:29):
I mean we're talking about Blake Bortles, a guy that's
one less than of his games in his career. Um,
So I don't think the Jaguars, I mean, you look
at it, they can't even sell out their venue, um
with with the team that's now in the a f
C Championship Game. So yeah, I don't think there's a
lot of people that would be excited about the Jacks
playing in their first ever Super Bowl. Um. I'm caught
on the other side again, I've got New England fatigue.
(39:51):
I respect greatness, and maybe it would be better if
New England gets there and the winner of Vikings Eagles
everybody in the world pulls for, you know, the winner
of the NFC again in New England. Um, I think
that's I think that's the best storyline. But so let
me ask you this, why does everybody hate Blake Bortles? Like,
because we talked about this yesterday on the show and
I'm I'm guilty of this too. When I watched Blake
(40:12):
Bortles play. When I was watching them play against the Steelers,
I was rooting for him to throw like four straight
interceptions on four straight passes. I wanted him to blow
up in a negative way. And then after the game,
I was sitting back and I was like, why am
I rooting against Blake Bortles? What has he ever done?
He's never really had any statement, He's never done anything
off the field. On the field, He's just kind of
(40:33):
the quintessential mediocre, not very good quarterback in the NFL,
of which there are tons of them. Why has he
become so unlikable? You know, I don't know. It's a
It's a great question because if you google his girlfriend,
I think you would respect him immediately, lindsay do. I
mean she's got she's got incredible boobs, and as a
boobs guy, I mean, I'm a huge fan. I know
(40:54):
you're that guy. Um, but we pulled for the underdog
typically in America, And I mean, this is the ultimate
Dr Doog situation right when you come when you combine Bordles,
Keenum and Folds, these are guys that have got five
career postseason touchdowns going against the guy that is making
his thirty six career postseason start and Tom Brady, I
mean Blake Bortles, and I think we discredit what he
(41:17):
was able to do in two thousand and seventeen. Look,
there were some ups and downs, but Clay, the bottom
line is he was four and oh head to head
this season against Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, two and oh
against Ben Roethlisberger. He beat Joe Flacco, he beat Russell Wilson.
I mean, I just think we really have discounted his season.
And the Jacksonville defense has been fantastic for that's been
really good as a rookie. UM. But yeah, I just
(41:39):
don't know why we hate Bordles and we should be
pulling for the underdog. I mean, this is David verts Goliath. Yeah,
if this were the n C Double A tournament, everybody
would be rooting for Blake Portals and he would be
a lovable underdog. But instead, kid exactly saw what eight
nine years ago exactly, and it's the same thing we're
(42:00):
Gordon Hayward almost banked in the shot there, which has
been one of the most incredible wins of all time.
You know he's coming down the court. Um, But it
would it would be an incredible moment. I think in general,
if for either case Keenum, Blake Bortles, or certainly Nick
Foles to beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, or
for Bordles to beat him in the a f C
Title game, yet I feel like I would hate to
(42:21):
see that and and and it is everything that that
we say we like about sports rolled into one of
those three guys. Yet I think most people are like, yeah,
I don't really want to see that. Well, I think
you're a little skewed because I've got a feeling that
you're gonna be laying the seven. Oh I'm a I'm
all in on the Patriots. Yeah, yeah, and see and
I'm an idiot. I mean I should know this before.
(42:41):
I mean, Tom Brady's eighteen and three all time at
home in the playoffs, You're playing a Jacksonville team that's
playing with the house money, just getting to an a
f C championship game, And um, I think I'm gonna
I'm gonna be taking the point here. I think I'm
gonna play the Jacks. What about the other game, Vikings
and the Eagles, which side do you like? Well, you know,
I tried to get a price on Vikings to win
the super Bowl before the New Orleans game, you know,
(43:04):
I would have gone completely gray, um letting out that game,
and I didn't get it before. Um. I've just got
a feel in Minnesota's gonna win this whole thing, and
Case Keenom scares me to death. Um, but I just
think their defense is that good. Um. I think it's
gonna be another difficult game, but you know, I just
gotta feeling Nick Foles will implode in this situation. The
Vikings defense will win that game. I like the fact
(43:24):
that it's dropped to three by it down to two
and a half. If anybody will ever let you buy
off three again in the NFL. But I kind of
like the Vikings. I like the Jags, and uh, I'm
sure the Patriots will win though, but I think more
than likely we will have a New England Minnesota super Bowl.
Good stuff, my man. We will talk to you. By
the way. What do you think about my guy Jason
Martin not making it into work with the quarter inch
(43:45):
of snow on the ground? Pathetic? You know, we had
one of our producers and we had less than that
where we are, and he didn't make it. In a
couple of days ago, I guess anybody has an excuse. Um,
I guess in today's you know, soft society, if anybody's
sends out the email hey look, use good judgments. Yeah,
if you don't think you can make it in. I
think that's a free pass for a lot of people
(44:07):
out there, no doubt at all. Lands Taylor, go follow
him on Twitter at the Lance Taylor You can listen
to him Five Jocks Down in Birmingham, good stuff, A
woke report every single morning from the six pm Sports Center,
which Bell Hill and Michael Smith. Okay, so this is
(44:30):
one day in and I think they say your first
couple of weeks in jail are the worst, and I
certainly hope so. Because this was not a very good
television show. The problem is this woke port has a problem,
has an issue, and that it really wasn't very woke.
It was just not good television. They talked about Tom
Brady's hand, They talked about Lebron James and the Cavalier struggles.
(44:52):
They talked about the NFL Draft. They brought on Michael B.
Jordan for an interview about Black Panther. They also had
Chadwick Boseman, who's actually playing the title care Earlier this week,
Michael Smith referred to it as, quote, we're chopping it
up with Michael B. Jordan's coming up, unquote. It was
just a never ending parade for an hour of on
site field report split screen. They had the guys who's
(45:13):
starring in Black Panther on to talk during the six
o'clock Sports Center, So they're basically just using this six
o'clock distin center now is an advertisement for Marvel movies.
Uh yeah, but I mean I think they do that
pretty regularly, and they even did it before s C six.
They would have stars on. I don't know if Michael B.
Jordan was all over ESPN doing the car wash yesterday
or not, but they've had two stars of that movie
(45:34):
on this week, so clearly it's in their best I
haven't ever watched this show, but it is. I've been
told the worst show that ESPN has ever done. Was
it a bad show? It was terrible? Uh? Like I said,
split screen interviews from all four NFL practices, all the
NBA arenas with people you know, you know, some of
those field reporters you don't know others. It's not particularly interesting.
(45:56):
Neither one is particularly good at asking questions. They have
malchi Or in studio with an early mock where he
made news yesterday and it was all over ESPN. That's
saying that the Browns are gonna take Josh Allen number one,
that he's by far the best quarterback that's coming out.
That became a huge story, and that kind of makes
me think it's a not legitimate. It's badly lit. It
was focused on being different rather than being good. Look,
(46:18):
there are two smart people, but neither one as a host.
Jamal stumbled through questions a few times. Neither drove the bus.
There was dead air, they didn't know when to start talking.
There were odd camera cuts. One caught Jamal in the
middle of her laptop during an interview, not looking at
the camera, not paying attention to the guest. There were
shots that were actually out of focus that snapped into
(46:38):
focus when they realized the zoom was off. And it
wasn't some artistic move, it was this camera's in the
wrong spot when we cut to it, which is incredible.
Michael B. Jordan was put on the screen and they
were talking about him right before they put him on.
In the next segment they were previewing it. He was
on Twitter on his phone, not even looking at him,
and they were screaming at him, Hey, look up, look
(46:58):
up like on the screen. He didn't know they were
previewing the interview with him. Nobody cued him into that.
He figured it out about two seconds before they went
to break. Jamal Hill discuss the six to ten picks
in Mel's mock draft, while the graphic on screen only
showed one through five, so a total mismatch of information.
She didn't even run down one through five. She immediately
(47:19):
said let's talk about six through ten when that wasn't
on the screen, and then she would say things that
were very analytical, like there's some big interesting names here.
So again they had problems filling air that wasn't word
for word on the script. And then in their final
segment they do what's called in It's a Good Day
Deal and they used that yesterday to congratulate Antoinette Harris,
(47:39):
who was offered a scholarship by Bethany College and in
a I A school, she becomes the first woman to
earn a scholarship to play football. That's not a kicker,
she's a free safety. I actually thought cool. I hope
she's good. It means people are gonna pay attention to
Bethany College on ESPN this coming year, but they congratulated
her to end. Here's the overall thought from day one,
(48:00):
this show sucks. It feels like it should be on
at midnight because it's so desperately wants to be cutting edge,
but it's in the six pm time slide where you
really just need a good host that can ask these
guests that are on screen for two or three minutes
good questions. It tries to move relatively fast, but it's
terrible because it's awkward and neither one of them is
in the role that they should be in. There is
(48:22):
your woke port for this Friday. Only twenty nine more days.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.