June 7, 2018 • 35 mins
Clay talks LeBron taking less money for a better chance at a ring, Jon Morosi drop NHL Stanley Cup & MLB knowledge, and it's Steve Harvey Vs. Doug Adler (tennis announcer)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Why not take less than your max contract. I know
everybody out there has been talking about who has the
salary cap room to go sign Lebron James and that
he's gonna be worth thirty eight million dollars a year
or whatever that a forty million whatever the max contract
he can sign is. But I mean this, doesn't Lebron
(00:22):
James have enough money right now? Hasn't he over the
course of his career and all of his endorsement money,
made enough money where now as he approaches thirty four
years old, that the number one driving force behind his
decision making should not be who can pay him the
max salary other than ego, which, by the way, why
(00:47):
does Lebron James need his ego stroked? At this point
he knows he's the best player in the world. How
many more years is that going to be the case?
I don't know. I don't think there's more than two
or three more years where he's gonna be able to
form at a truly elite level. Why not go and
take less money than your worth and go to a
(01:07):
team that you can stack to be able to compete
with the Golden State Warriors for the title. I don't know.
Why no one else is discussing this. Furthermore, if you
consider yourself as Lebron James does, to be the best businessman,
sometimes that means investing in yourself for the long range,
(01:30):
as opposed to taking the money that's available in front
of you right now. If you believe you're truly good
at what you do, you shouldn't go out and take
the low ball offer that seems like it makes sense
just because it's the most available money in the meantime.
(01:51):
By that, I mean this, why not find an owner
that you can have a great private relationship with and
if you're an own or why not tell Lebron James, hey,
my goal is to win a championship. How about you
take seventeen million, free up the cap space to bring
in another great player, and as a result, when your
(02:13):
career is over, wink wink, nudge, nudge, nod nod, I
will give you the opportunity to buy into this franchise
and work on becoming an owner. Learn what that process
is like at a reduced rate, so that one day,
when you find a franchise you want to try to buy,
you have the ability to sell the stake that you
(02:35):
have here back to me for more money than I
sold it to you. I've been on this for a
little while. Again. If I were the owner of an
NBA franchise, I would sit down with Lebrian James. I
would say, Okay, you're worth forty million dollars a year,
whatever the dollar figure is going to be on his
yearly contract. If you pay play this next several years
(02:56):
for me for fifteen million a year, I'll sign you
to a forty five million dollar contract and then I
will give you a reduced buy in to buy a
substantial share of my company for seventy million dollars. I'll
give you a higher share than you would ever have
been able to do, and I'll make that money back
(03:17):
up to you after you retire. How does anybody catch this?
Every NBA franchise is value is a work of art
in some way. In other words, you don't know exactly
what it's gonna be worth until it goes on the market.
So if you had ten percent of your NBA franchise
(03:39):
that you were willing to sell to Lebron James, how
is once he's retired, the fact that you are giving
him a lower than market rate for that ten percent
going to actually be stopped by anybody in the NBA.
I think this potentially is the way that a smart
(04:01):
businessman would make a decision about where he goes next.
Don't focus on who can pay you the max contract,
focus who on who is willing to set you up
right now with a team that's good enough to win
a championship and surround you with as much talent as
possible while simultaneously setting the table for your future. Now.
(04:22):
Maybe partly that's what he's gonna do if he's going
to join the Lakers. Maybe that's Lebron James saying, you
know what, I'm trying to build for the end of
my career. Here's the problem for Lebron James. As soon
as he's not good at basketball, nobody's really gonna care
about him anymore. And I think that's what Lebron James,
who desperately needs to be loved, is most afraid of.
(04:43):
Who is the best, most significant NBA athlete in terms
of how much attention he gets and how much of
a difference he makes on the national scale, Who has
been retired and still maintained his relevance. The only person
I can really think of is Charles Barkley, and that's
because he's so incredibly good at television on Inside the NBA,
(05:07):
and you could say Kenny Smith and you can say
Shaquille O'Neil, but really it's Barkley because he's on that show.
As much as Lebron James uh whines about it, I
think he loves all the attention that he gets, particularly
on social media, particularly with every quote that he gives,
every and every glance that's analyzed by him. We're looking
(05:29):
to the way the cameras caught him at the end
of Game one. I think Lebron wants to maintain his significance.
I think that's why he has made the decision to
get political. I think Lebron desperately wants to maintain his
or his relevance, and his crew has convinced him, oh,
you need to be like Mohammad Ali. Even though Mohammad
Ali was in the middle of the Vietnam War and
(05:51):
was actually saying things that were controversial. Lebron James hasn't
said anything controversial or particularly perceptive. But I think this
is his desperate game ambit to remain relevant after his
career is over. I don't really think it's gonna work
because I don't think there is an easy person to
point to and say, oh, this guy continued to captivate
(06:12):
the American sporting public after his career as a basketball
player was over. It may be that Charles Barkley is
the most relevant former pro athlete in all of America, period,
but I don't think there's a route right now if
I'm advising Lebron James to maintain high level of relevance.
(06:32):
I do think he can end up owning a basketball
team like Michael Jordan's. I do think he can end
up being a successful executive in the world of business.
But I don't understand why everybody is focusing on him
having to make a max contract now. The best advice
I could give Lebron James has take less money, go
(06:52):
to another team and try to win a couple of
more championships. Remember Lebron, if you think about his career
interesting league, He's won three titles. He's gonna be three
and six in the NBA Finals when this sweep or
this five game loss is over. Think about Lebron's three titles.
He's been really fortunate that he's won both the game
(07:15):
sevens he's played in if Ray Allen doesn't hit that
big shot against the Spurs and the Heat lose that series,
and if any number of plays don't go differently in
that three one series come back against the Golden State Warriors,
the Calves don't win that series either, And we're probably
(07:35):
talking about Lebron James being one in eight in NBA Finals. Remember,
it's not as if he has a lost series that
his team has been close to winning. All six of
the series that he has lost have ended in six
games or less, and several of them have ended in five.
(07:58):
So Lebron James has won the two series that went
to game seven, that's to his credit. But he's a
lot closer to being one and eight in the NBA
Finals than he is to being five and four or
anything close to having a winning record. So why isn't
anybody saying to him, Hey, let's figure out a way
(08:20):
for you to win a couple of more titles. Take
less money and do it. And I say this again,
money is not the end goal once you become really wealthy.
I'm not really wealthy, but I can make decisions now
where I don't have to just take the most money.
I can do things that look appealing to me or
(08:42):
challenging to me. Now, when you don't have very much money,
I understand that, Oh, I'm gonna go take whatever job
pays me the most money. But as you age and
lebron is gonna be thirty four this year, you'll learn something.
Sometimes it makes more sense to take less money and
bet on your future. Sometimes you may well leave a
(09:03):
lot of money on the table just because you're not
happy with the situation that you're in. I was reading
an article yesterday in the Wall Street Journal the guys
who founded What's App that was bought by Facebook. They're
so unhappy with their relationship in Facebook that one of
them walked away leaving nine hundred million dollars on the table.
(09:27):
The other one walked away leaving six hundred million dollars
on the table. To you or me listening right now,
that sounds insane. But if you're already a billionaire, what
is making ten percent more money worth in terms of
your life goals? Is the difference in a What's App
(09:47):
founders life gonna be substantially changed if he's worth nine
billion as opposed to if he's worth ten billion. At
this point in time, Lebron James has to be worth
seven or eight hundred million dollars. He may be worth
a billion dollars. Is an extra hundred million dollars which
(10:07):
he may be able to reclaim in a smart financial transaction.
Buying into an NBA team really worth giving yourself a
lower chance to win a championship at this point, Uh,
let's bring in John Morosi. I guarantee you John Morosi
is feeling better. Um, you got the NHL going on tonight.
The NBA is basically over. If people are deciding, you
(10:29):
know what, I'm desperate for sports, I'm gonna pay attention
now to the NHL Stanley Cup Final. Vegas Golden Nights
are hosting the Washington Capitals. What should they know about
tonight and potentially Game six? Because Vegas has favored to
win this one. Do you think the Caps get a
gun done tonight or do you think we go back
to Washington? Well, good morning, Clay. I think that we
(10:50):
will see a Game six on Sunday evening. I believe
Vegas wins this game. Of course, they have lost three
straight after winning Game one. Um, hockey is such a
unique game, Clay, and and the way this series has
played out really illustrates that Game two, you have the
amazing save by Brain holding on Alex talking the waning
(11:12):
moments where if Tux scores that goal, who knows, maybe
Vegas goes on to win and overtime after tying to
score there. And then in Game four, which ended up
being a lopside in the final score of six two
in favor of Washington. Uh, there was the early play
on which James Neil hit the post when it looked
like he had an open net to shoot at. Obviously
(11:33):
things moving pretty quick at the moment, so it's it's
not as though it's his fault. But the point is
that if if he scores there, it may change the
entire momentum of that hockey game instead six to win
from Washington. So uh, It's been a series that, even
though it's three one in favor of the Capitals by
some analytical metrics, Vegas has actually had the better of
(11:54):
the play over the entirety of the series, but Washington
had the lead in the only spot the matters, which
is the scoreboard. And I think tonight what tonight signifies
for me, Clay is the possibility of one of the
all time great players in history of the National Hockey League, Gonxilvetchkin,
uh putting his hands in the Stanley Cup for the
very first time. It could happen tonight, which if it does,
(12:15):
that's a certifiable moment because all the times that he
came up short against Sydney Crosby and the Penguins in
the playoffs, Um, that can all end tonight. Uh. Any
question lingering about his overall greatness again, that would end tonight.
So UH if you think about the sports world and
all all the stories of vindication that we see after
(12:36):
all time great players finally win the big one, well,
that that can happen in uh, in the National Hockey
League this evening. If if Alexiovetkin and the Capitols win
the Stanley Cup. When you look at this matchup, how
much nervousness do the Washington Capitols feel if they lose
tonight and then have to go back knowing that if
they lose that when they're going back on the road
(12:57):
for Game seven. Now, I know they won Game seven
on the road against Tampa Bay. If I'm not mistaken,
I know they came back from an O two series
deficit early in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Columbus
Blue Jackets. But given the history of the Caps, this
actually becomes a kind of nerve racking game in some way,
because tonight I think the Caps are kind of playing
(13:17):
with house money, because if they lose, their thinking, oh,
we're still up three two, we went on the road,
we lost, we got a game back at home. But
I think as Game six got closer on Sunday night,
they would start to get a little bit apprehensive, particularly
if they didn't come out early and get up and
uh and they were realizing that they might have to
worry about giving up this three one series lead and
(13:38):
go back for Game seven. So I kind of think
this game tonight is is a fascinating one to pay
attention to. Totally agree. That's a great point on your
part about the psychology here that this Capitol's team has
obviously been different from their predecessors in in the way
they've handled the big pressure moment and their ability to
come back from three in the last reason and defeat
(14:00):
the Tampa by landing in the Eastern Conference Final. So
they've they've proven a lot to us, uh, just in
recent weeks here. But it's a very fair point that
you make and and psychologically, it's gonna be a really
interesting evening for Washington. I think one thing that that
I'll I'll tell you Clay that that I would compare
between hockey and in baseball, and having covered the playoffs
(14:24):
in both, is that in baseball you never here coaches
or players talk about effort level, especially in the playoffs.
It's just not the way that sport operates. Because baseball,
of course is unique, it's it's really the one of
our major sports that you that you do not play
better by playing harder, by trying harder, sometimes that actually
(14:45):
is kunter productive. It's similar to golf in that way.
I think maybe in some respects. So in hockey, though
you hear all the time. If I go into the
losing dressing room or talk to the losing coach in
the playoffs, they will free when they say, well, we
weren't desperate enough tonight, they wanted it more. And so
(15:06):
that that psychology play is not just a talking point
or someone's fun for us to debate you're on the
morning radio show. It's it's actually a very tangible quality
to the way this game is played tonight. If if
Washington plays either tentative or nervous or overconfident, and and
does not stick to its system, then they can lose
(15:28):
his hockey games to night and all of a sudden,
the momentum of the series has changed in favor of
a team that's very comfortable being the underdog, and in
fact has succeeded all year as the underdog. Whereas I think,
if if they come out tonight, and if they feel
like they're the more desperate team, with of course three
days off since the last game, they've got plenty of rest,
there's this is one of those games clayed to go
(15:50):
either way, it would not surprise me at all of
Vegas comes out and and put to their best game
of the series. It also wouldn't surprise me if if
Washington scores first, if all of the Vega competent they
smell it and and they are on the verge of
the competent, they finish it off this evening. So I
still think though it's more likely Vegas wins this game,
but pay very close attention to the way both teams
(16:11):
come out, their energy level, and also the way they
stay within their system or not. Here early in game five,
we're talking to John Moros e j O N M
O r O s I. You can find him on Twitter.
Let's go to the in Major League Baseball and get
a couple of hits here, because this is also your
other area of expertise and you typically join us in
this hour on Thursday to talk about baseball. N L
(16:32):
West UM a lot of talk early in the year. Oh,
the Dodgers are not playing very well, they're in trouble.
You got the Giants now making a little bit of
a noise. It's wide open. Everybody's within four and a
half point four and a half games of the lead.
It seems to be right now, by far, the most
competitive division in baseball. What do you think is going
(16:53):
to happen as we come down the final hundred games.
There's still a hundred games left, so the answer is
a lot can happen. But sixty games in, it's a
lot different than it was thirty games in, when it
seems like a lot of people wanted to write off
the Dodgers in particular. Who's gonna end up winning this division?
What's the play down the stretch? Great question, Clay I
would still say the Dodgers have the edge. The Dodgers
(17:15):
as we begin play here today, two games back of
the d Backs and the Rockies, who are tied UH
this weekend, and actually they're they're playing UH in Denver
this weekend, so UH regionally tullified the game there on
Fox on Saturday, So that's well timed that there's a
series between those two teams. But I think that the
Dodgers have the better the best run deferential of of
(17:37):
all the teams in the division, and that can kind
of tell you a little bit about the overall strength.
I think sometimes run deferential when when it is a
little bit out of step with with the way a
team's record looks, it could be a little bit of
a hint about where that particular division is trending or
where that team is trending. So the Dodgers having the
best run differential in the division tells me a lot.
(17:59):
They've played utter of late seven and three in the
last ten games that they did lose last night there
in Pittsburgh. So I'm still a little bit worried about
the back part of the rotation, especially as long as
Clayton Gersha is out. But that being said, you're worried
about everybody's back into the rotation, especially in that division
um where where the Giants are still waiting on the
returns of of of Jeffson Marja and Johnny Quato, the
(18:22):
Diamondbacks are waiting on Robbie Ray, and there's their rotation
has been a little bit up and down, although a
little a little bit better over the last ten games,
So there are real concerns for every team that's involved
in this race. I just think that the Dodgers probably
have the most natural depth, and they've just played better
since Justin Turner's come back, So I think that with
(18:45):
the existing task, I think the advantage goes to the Dodges.
But I'm with you, Clay and saying this is probably
gonna be the most competitive division race in baseball here
in the second half of the season. How good is
Max scherz are playing right now? He's ten and one
has a sub to E r A. He just finished
and I wasn't even familiar with this phrase. And immacul
at inning, which means that I believe he basically got
(19:07):
everybody done. And you get not strike out three players
on nine pitches, basically you are flawless as a pitcher.
How good has he been? And what does he look
like going forward in terms of his impact, particularly if
you get in the playoffs and you start thinking, Okay,
this guy could get me two wins. If he's playing
like this, you have to feel really good about your
(19:28):
odds of being able to advance, even though I know
National fans they haven't exactly been able to do it
so far. Right, A very good point and and to
me play Max Scherzer is an all time great. I
think we should all take a step back and positive
and really reflect on what he's doing right now because
at the moment you look at where his numbers are
(19:49):
leading the majors and strikeouts once again, uh ten and
one I believe it last check is his record. Um,
he is on his way to what I believe is
going to be his fourth career CY Young, So that
will break the tie that he's currently got right now
with the likes of Pedro Martinez, Sandy Kofax, and Clayton Kershaw.
(20:11):
I believe only four or five other pictures in the
history of the game, including Roger Clemens, including Steve Carlton,
Randy Johnson have won more than four or four or
more Cy Young's. So if he wins the Cy young
this year, and I think probably even if he doesn't,
he's going to the Hall of Fame. And it's important
for us to realize that that, as I pointed out yesterday,
(20:34):
eight years ago, he was he had just been sent
to the minor leagues by the Tigers with an e
r A above seven to get his mechanics figured out.
So it's a good reminder that even the all time
greats stumble and and Max stumbled eight years ago and
really didn't know what the fix was until he'd sort
of discovered it, uh in the in the bullpen and
(20:55):
really refined his mechanics. That way, he is an all
time great because he never stops wanting to tinker with
the way that he is approaching the game, working on
a new pitch. And I think sometimes play we see
it in all sports. Players get comfortable a little bit
and whatever whatever methodology they have that brings them to
(21:16):
the to the success they've enjoyed, such as if you're
a if you're a perennial All Star, you know, if
you if you made a few All Star teams and
you think that maybe you could go to the next level,
if you introduce a new pitch or change your arm
ang a little bit, but you're afraid to try because
you don't want to lose the success that you've had already.
You don't want to mentally get to a different spot
(21:36):
all of us. Oh my gosh, where's my arms? A
lot now I'm all out of whacking, and I probably
should have just spent content with what I had already.
Max has never made that decision. He has always kept
trying to innovate, and he has such a profound trust
in himself that allows them to innovate and and keep
trying to experiment in a way that is really refreshing
and inspiring. So I think Max fantastic guy. I've always
(22:01):
joved by conversation with him over the years. Just a
great person of a great family. So throw it for him,
and again we are watching an all time great Max Scherzer.
And by the way, Clay, you and I are going
to get a chance to to to watch a player
who unifies our our favorite sports in the fall because
Kyler Murray signing with Oakland, but of course he can
still stay as an amateur in football. So the plan
(22:22):
for Kyler Murray is gonna sign with the A's, but
he's gonna try to play a quarterback from the Sooners there,
even though he's gonna play some min league baseball. We
think this summer, of course, as he tries to succeed
Baker Mayfield as the as both the Sooners quarterback in
the highest Wood Trophy winner this faul in Norman. What
would you tell your son, as the final question, you've
got kids? Uh, if you had a son who was
as gifted of an athlete as Kyler Murray is, And
(22:43):
like you said, we we love college football obviously, both
of us. You're in an arbor, big Michigan guy. I
love my wife's of Michigan grad. I love basically everything
about college football. But it's also dangerous and uh, there
is the possibility, certainly that you could be injured on
any play, maybe even a career ending in jury. Uh.
Certainly there are guys who have been unfortunate in that respect.
Kyler Murray number nine, I think overall, pick five million
(23:07):
dollars guaranteed Oakland A's coming out and making a big
play for him. What would you tell your son if
he came to you and said, I've got this money
out here. I also love college football. How do you
balance the decision making here between passion and money. Well,
it's a great question. I think this if if a
young man has advanced as far as Kyler Murray has.
(23:28):
In other words, this is not the original decision of
when your son is ten, eleven, twelve, do you play
football or not? Uh one, Once he's gotten to this
point and he's he's spent the time there on campus.
Of course he originally began in Texas and have transfer
there to to Oklahoma. UM, if you feel that you
owe it to your teammates and owe it to yourself
to complete the journey and and be accountable as an
(23:51):
athlete to to to finish off your your collegiate career,
and and and seize upon that opportunity. I think as
long as you are obviously now getting your your guaranteed
money in baseball, UM, and then you could look into
insurance obviously for your for your own standpoint, I know
that in many cases where where players have taken on
insurance policies. And frankly, the fact that you're getting the
(24:15):
money via the via the baseball as signing bonus, one
assumes you could apply that money towards the towards the
premiums on the insurance policy and for your football career
if if if you have to, if you're worried about that,
you can then sort of put that right into the
UH the insurance in that regard. I think as long
as you're smart about in that regard, and then you're
protecting and taking the UH the necessary precautions from an
(24:38):
insurance standpoint, I have. I have no issue at all
with him with him playing if it's his dream, if
he wants to do it. I'm also over the school
of thought play that you look at baseball. I remember,
I've heard pictures and players that didn't play in the
World Baseball plass because they're afraid of get injured. But
Madison bumb Garder was one of them. In the last
year he hited himself on an a TV. So injuries
can happen in any different setting. And I think if
(24:59):
you're if you're smart about it, and you're you're knowing
of the risks. I I have no issue with with
the young people that want to continue to try to
pursue a football career, or in the case of Kyler Murray,
play that one last year. That feels like you maybe
owe it to your teammates and your institution. Do that
and then move on and play baseball after that. Good
stuff as always, John Morosey go follow him on Twitter
(25:20):
at j O N M O R O s I
and we will talk to you next week, my pleasure, Clay.
A great time here, my friends. I think we touched
on so many different sports. I love it, love out
conversation rest of the week. If you like somebody, it
doesn't matter what they've done or what they've said, you'll
justify it. If you don't like somebody, no matter what
(25:40):
they said, you will criticize them for it. And this
is the society that we live in today. Very few
people do what I think I do, which is fairly
and impartially called balls and strikes, and don't swing one
way or the other very aggressively. Now, sometimes that means
both sides of the political equation or man at me.
Sometimes it means different fan bases are mad at me.
(26:03):
But I think what I uniquely try to do as
be as straightforward and as honest with you guys every
day as possible. So we've got some audio clips for you.
I want to play them. I'm gonna allow you guys
to react. I think this likely is going to turn
into a big story because of the double standard involved.
Last night, Steve Harvey went on to talk about the
(26:24):
Calves and the Golden State Warriors. Steve Harvey is the
host of Family Feud celebrity Family Feud is coming back soon.
He is a comedian, and he is also a Disney employee. Well,
all of that makes sense when you put him on
with Stephen A. Smith, except for one thing. Oh yeah,
he happened to call all of the Golden State Warriors
(26:44):
guerrillas as in the animals last night. And let's play
this audio for you right now. Issue what the Golden
State Warriors? Anything you can do to derail them? No,
you can't stop. Do you got a outscore? You can't
stop all them boys. They got too many guerrillas on
the teams. They come into plate Man, they got eight
(27:04):
hundred pound gorillas on their team, so they come in
to play, alright. So, uh, Steve Harvey specifically and directly
calls all of the Golden State Warriors guerrillas. That would
be a bad thing if, for instance, Brian win Horse
had come on and he had said, hey, what do
(27:25):
you think about these Golden State Warriors? Can the calves
stop them? If Brian win Horse had said no, they've
got too many guerrillas on their team, then he would
be fired immediately and it would be a major national story.
Context wouldn't matter, It wouldn't matter. As some people on
Twitter argued, Oh well, he's saying that in a positive way.
(27:46):
He's comparing black athletes to guerrillas in a positive way. Okay, well,
and I'm not even gonna get into Roseanne yet. Instead,
I'm gonna play you this clip which happened. Now it's
been a couple of years ago. I think you might
remember a guy by the name of Doug Adler who
calls games for called tennis matches, or used to for
(28:08):
ESPN until they fired him. Doug Adler's crime during a
Venus Williams tennis match, he used the phrase guerrilla effect
as in guerrilla warfare, not even the animal. ESPN said
it didn't matter, they fired him. Listen to this phrase.
This is a first serve in Venus is all over her.
(28:32):
Venus move in and put the guerrilla effect on all right,
Guerrilla as in guerrilla warfare, you charge, you fight. She's
charging the net guerrilla tennis using it, not in the
context of being a guerrilla, but in the context of
(28:52):
the way you fight a war. How in the world
can you justify the two different treatments here? Now? Esp
e N has tried to scrub this Steve Harvey audio everywhere.
They scrubbed it out of their Sports Center clips, they
scrubbed it online. They are trying to track down all
these different audio clips and video clips and eliminate them.
(29:14):
But I want to bring in you guys. I also
I'm gonna open up the phone lines here momentarily. I'll
take your calls to start our three. But to me,
here is what is at play. All right, let me
talk about Roseanne for a minute too. I can distinguish
between what Steve Harvey said here and what Roseanne tweeted,
because I believe Roseanne when she called Valerie Jarrett a
(29:37):
planet of the apes monkey or whatever she said, that
was intended to be pejorative and was intended to be racist, right,
it was intended to be an insult and demeaning. You
can at least argue here there's a distinction in the
comedic uses of two different Disney employees that Steve Harvey
is intending to give a compliment to the Golden State
(30:01):
Warriors by calling them gorillas. You can at least make
that argument. I don't think it would matter if a
white guy said this. If again, I just want you
to think about if Brian Windhorse had gone on and
said the Calves had no chance to stop the Golden
State Warriors because they had too many guerrillas out there,
people would lose their mind. If Roseanne Barr had not
(30:23):
tweeted anything at all inflammatory about guerrillas and had gone
on to promote ABC and they had asked her. Stephen A.
Smith had asked her whether the Calves could beat the Warriors,
and she had said, no, the Warriors have too many
guerrillas on their team. I don't think people would give
the benefit of the doubt there and say, oh, she
was trying to give a compliment to them. Okay, But
(30:45):
I don't think there is any way imaginable that Disney,
the same parent company that fired Doug Adler for using
the phrase guerrilla effect, can in any way argue that
what Steve Harvey did he is not worse than what
Doug Adler did. Doug Adler didn't even do anything racist.
(31:07):
He just used a word that sounds like another word.
He was a homophonic racist. He just happened to use
one word, gorilla that sounds like another word, while calling
a black tennis players match. Because if he had said
this in any white tennis players match, nobody would have
even blinked, Nobody would have even noticed. So can anybody
(31:29):
justify how in the world Disney, which is the parent
company of both Steve Harvey and Doug Adler, can fire
Doug Adler for using the phrase guerrilla effect and be
trying to cover up for Steve Harvey for calling all
the Golden State Warriors guerrillas. Jason Martin, I'll start with you, okay,
(31:51):
So I don't think that you can just talk about
those two issues. I think that you including Roseanne's important
because I think if you replaced Roseanne with Steve Harvey,
we would have the same discussion today if it was
Harvey that had said what he said about Valerie Jerry
to what Roseanne said about Valerie Jerry, I think you'd
have another, you know, different argument there. You might have
people saying, well, you're going after her appearance and things
like that, but you wouldn't have had the racist connotations
(32:13):
that came from Roseanne and the reason why been sure
would at ABC said, Okay, Roseanne, I don't care if
you've apologized. I don't care how much you've said about
what you'll do to fix this. The problem is if
we don't do this, they're gonna be tens of millions,
potentially of African Americans who are not either gonna go
to Disney World or are gonna protest outside of it,
(32:34):
and nothing can affect that. We can't let anything affect
that part of our business. So when you look at
the Doug Adler thing, we agree, I would suggest, and
I think you would agree. We are the show that
brought this to the surface. We're the ones that play
everybody else for the first time. Yeah, we we played
it for the first time. We brought on Doug Adler
numerous times on this show. We reached out to the
(32:56):
New York Times loser reporter that made this in to
you know, made this into a mountain basically when it
was absolutely nothing. We proved built on Nike's old ad
campaigns for Andre Agassi. The guerrilla effect is something that's
been in the world of tennis for a long time
before Doug Adler made his comment and Doug made that
(33:17):
point to us when he was on the Steve Harvey thing.
To me is a little bit different. I don't think
that these two things are the same, just because look
the Virginia Tech story that we talked about, you know,
six eight weeks ago, whenever it was when they used
the inning stop, stop here for a second. If Brian
Winhorse says the exact same thing as Steve Harvey, yes,
(33:38):
but he's white, Clay, it's so Look, he's white. You
can't get away with that if you're white. It's that simple.
I'm not saying that's that's how you think it should be.
I'm saying that's how it is. Steve Harvey. That is
a sign Steve harveyist talking about black people. Country is broken.
This is why this country is broken right now, because
many people who are listening to us right now believe
(34:01):
that context should matter, and that if a white person
says the exact same thing as Steve Harvey, then you
can't automatically assume that a white person who says that
is racist and that a black person who says that
is not racist. In other words, this is my argument
about race in America today. We have devolved into a
(34:22):
situation where everybody wants to define racism by words, and
sometimes by words that aren't even racist but sound like
they might be racist with Doug Adler, and we can't
have constant different communication rules based on what your race is,
(34:43):
because let me say this, what if Brian Winhorst was
ten percent black, is he then able to describe the
Golden State Warriors as guerrillas? What if he's two percent black?
What if he's forty two percent black, what if he's
thirty whatever the percentages, the rules of conduct and behavior
in this country need to be applied evenly across the board,
(35:07):
regardless of what race you are, because nobody can control
what race they are. What if I get a d
N A test, I'm about to get DNA test done.
If I am two percent black, do I get to
come on and start saying, as a black man, I
believe
Why not take less than your max contract. I know
everybody out there has been talking about who has the
salary cap room to go sign Lebron James and that
he's gonna be worth thirty eight million dollars a year
or whatever that a forty million whatever the max contract
he can sign is. But I mean this, doesn't Lebron
(00:22):
James have enough money right now? Hasn't he over the
course of his career and all of his endorsement money,
made enough money where now as he approaches thirty four
years old, that the number one driving force behind his
decision making should not be who can pay him the
max salary other than ego, which, by the way, why
(00:47):
does Lebron James need his ego stroked? At this point
he knows he's the best player in the world. How
many more years is that going to be the case?
I don't know. I don't think there's more than two
or three more years where he's gonna be able to
form at a truly elite level. Why not go and
take less money than your worth and go to a
(01:07):
team that you can stack to be able to compete
with the Golden State Warriors for the title. I don't know.
Why no one else is discussing this. Furthermore, if you
consider yourself as Lebron James does, to be the best businessman,
sometimes that means investing in yourself for the long range,
(01:30):
as opposed to taking the money that's available in front
of you right now. If you believe you're truly good
at what you do, you shouldn't go out and take
the low ball offer that seems like it makes sense
just because it's the most available money in the meantime.
(01:51):
By that, I mean this, why not find an owner
that you can have a great private relationship with and
if you're an own or why not tell Lebron James, hey,
my goal is to win a championship. How about you
take seventeen million, free up the cap space to bring
in another great player, and as a result, when your
(02:13):
career is over, wink wink, nudge, nudge, nod nod, I
will give you the opportunity to buy into this franchise
and work on becoming an owner. Learn what that process
is like at a reduced rate, so that one day,
when you find a franchise you want to try to buy,
you have the ability to sell the stake that you
(02:35):
have here back to me for more money than I
sold it to you. I've been on this for a
little while. Again. If I were the owner of an
NBA franchise, I would sit down with Lebrian James. I
would say, Okay, you're worth forty million dollars a year,
whatever the dollar figure is going to be on his
yearly contract. If you pay play this next several years
(02:56):
for me for fifteen million a year, I'll sign you
to a forty five million dollar contract and then I
will give you a reduced buy in to buy a
substantial share of my company for seventy million dollars. I'll
give you a higher share than you would ever have
been able to do, and I'll make that money back
(03:17):
up to you after you retire. How does anybody catch this?
Every NBA franchise is value is a work of art
in some way. In other words, you don't know exactly
what it's gonna be worth until it goes on the market.
So if you had ten percent of your NBA franchise
(03:39):
that you were willing to sell to Lebron James, how
is once he's retired, the fact that you are giving
him a lower than market rate for that ten percent
going to actually be stopped by anybody in the NBA.
I think this potentially is the way that a smart
(04:01):
businessman would make a decision about where he goes next.
Don't focus on who can pay you the max contract,
focus who on who is willing to set you up
right now with a team that's good enough to win
a championship and surround you with as much talent as
possible while simultaneously setting the table for your future. Now.
(04:22):
Maybe partly that's what he's gonna do if he's going
to join the Lakers. Maybe that's Lebron James saying, you
know what, I'm trying to build for the end of
my career. Here's the problem for Lebron James. As soon
as he's not good at basketball, nobody's really gonna care
about him anymore. And I think that's what Lebron James,
who desperately needs to be loved, is most afraid of.
(04:43):
Who is the best, most significant NBA athlete in terms
of how much attention he gets and how much of
a difference he makes on the national scale, Who has
been retired and still maintained his relevance. The only person
I can really think of is Charles Barkley, and that's
because he's so incredibly good at television on Inside the NBA,
(05:07):
and you could say Kenny Smith and you can say
Shaquille O'Neil, but really it's Barkley because he's on that show.
As much as Lebron James uh whines about it, I
think he loves all the attention that he gets, particularly
on social media, particularly with every quote that he gives,
every and every glance that's analyzed by him. We're looking
(05:29):
to the way the cameras caught him at the end
of Game one. I think Lebron wants to maintain his significance.
I think that's why he has made the decision to
get political. I think Lebron desperately wants to maintain his
or his relevance, and his crew has convinced him, oh,
you need to be like Mohammad Ali. Even though Mohammad
Ali was in the middle of the Vietnam War and
(05:51):
was actually saying things that were controversial. Lebron James hasn't
said anything controversial or particularly perceptive. But I think this
is his desperate game ambit to remain relevant after his
career is over. I don't really think it's gonna work
because I don't think there is an easy person to
point to and say, oh, this guy continued to captivate
(06:12):
the American sporting public after his career as a basketball
player was over. It may be that Charles Barkley is
the most relevant former pro athlete in all of America, period,
but I don't think there's a route right now if
I'm advising Lebron James to maintain high level of relevance.
(06:32):
I do think he can end up owning a basketball
team like Michael Jordan's. I do think he can end
up being a successful executive in the world of business.
But I don't understand why everybody is focusing on him
having to make a max contract now. The best advice
I could give Lebron James has take less money, go
(06:52):
to another team and try to win a couple of
more championships. Remember Lebron, if you think about his career
interesting league, He's won three titles. He's gonna be three
and six in the NBA Finals when this sweep or
this five game loss is over. Think about Lebron's three titles.
He's been really fortunate that he's won both the game
(07:15):
sevens he's played in if Ray Allen doesn't hit that
big shot against the Spurs and the Heat lose that series,
and if any number of plays don't go differently in
that three one series come back against the Golden State Warriors,
the Calves don't win that series either, And we're probably
(07:35):
talking about Lebron James being one in eight in NBA Finals. Remember,
it's not as if he has a lost series that
his team has been close to winning. All six of
the series that he has lost have ended in six
games or less, and several of them have ended in five.
(07:58):
So Lebron James has won the two series that went
to game seven, that's to his credit. But he's a
lot closer to being one and eight in the NBA
Finals than he is to being five and four or
anything close to having a winning record. So why isn't
anybody saying to him, Hey, let's figure out a way
(08:20):
for you to win a couple of more titles. Take
less money and do it. And I say this again,
money is not the end goal once you become really wealthy.
I'm not really wealthy, but I can make decisions now
where I don't have to just take the most money.
I can do things that look appealing to me or
(08:42):
challenging to me. Now, when you don't have very much money,
I understand that, Oh, I'm gonna go take whatever job
pays me the most money. But as you age and
lebron is gonna be thirty four this year, you'll learn something.
Sometimes it makes more sense to take less money and
bet on your future. Sometimes you may well leave a
(09:03):
lot of money on the table just because you're not
happy with the situation that you're in. I was reading
an article yesterday in the Wall Street Journal the guys
who founded What's App that was bought by Facebook. They're
so unhappy with their relationship in Facebook that one of
them walked away leaving nine hundred million dollars on the table.
(09:27):
The other one walked away leaving six hundred million dollars
on the table. To you or me listening right now,
that sounds insane. But if you're already a billionaire, what
is making ten percent more money worth in terms of
your life goals? Is the difference in a What's App
(09:47):
founders life gonna be substantially changed if he's worth nine
billion as opposed to if he's worth ten billion. At
this point in time, Lebron James has to be worth
seven or eight hundred million dollars. He may be worth
a billion dollars. Is an extra hundred million dollars which
(10:07):
he may be able to reclaim in a smart financial transaction.
Buying into an NBA team really worth giving yourself a
lower chance to win a championship at this point, Uh,
let's bring in John Morosi. I guarantee you John Morosi
is feeling better. Um, you got the NHL going on tonight.
The NBA is basically over. If people are deciding, you
(10:29):
know what, I'm desperate for sports, I'm gonna pay attention
now to the NHL Stanley Cup Final. Vegas Golden Nights
are hosting the Washington Capitals. What should they know about
tonight and potentially Game six? Because Vegas has favored to
win this one. Do you think the Caps get a
gun done tonight or do you think we go back
to Washington? Well, good morning, Clay. I think that we
(10:50):
will see a Game six on Sunday evening. I believe
Vegas wins this game. Of course, they have lost three
straight after winning Game one. Um, hockey is such a
unique game, Clay, and and the way this series has
played out really illustrates that Game two, you have the
amazing save by Brain holding on Alex talking the waning
(11:12):
moments where if Tux scores that goal, who knows, maybe
Vegas goes on to win and overtime after tying to
score there. And then in Game four, which ended up
being a lopside in the final score of six two
in favor of Washington. Uh, there was the early play
on which James Neil hit the post when it looked
like he had an open net to shoot at. Obviously
(11:33):
things moving pretty quick at the moment, so it's it's
not as though it's his fault. But the point is
that if if he scores there, it may change the
entire momentum of that hockey game instead six to win
from Washington. So uh, It's been a series that, even
though it's three one in favor of the Capitals by
some analytical metrics, Vegas has actually had the better of
(11:54):
the play over the entirety of the series, but Washington
had the lead in the only spot the matters, which
is the scoreboard. And I think tonight what tonight signifies
for me, Clay is the possibility of one of the
all time great players in history of the National Hockey League, Gonxilvetchkin,
uh putting his hands in the Stanley Cup for the
very first time. It could happen tonight, which if it does,
(12:15):
that's a certifiable moment because all the times that he
came up short against Sydney Crosby and the Penguins in
the playoffs, Um, that can all end tonight. Uh. Any
question lingering about his overall greatness again, that would end tonight.
So UH if you think about the sports world and
all all the stories of vindication that we see after
(12:36):
all time great players finally win the big one, well,
that that can happen in uh, in the National Hockey
League this evening. If if Alexiovetkin and the Capitols win
the Stanley Cup. When you look at this matchup, how
much nervousness do the Washington Capitols feel if they lose
tonight and then have to go back knowing that if
they lose that when they're going back on the road
(12:57):
for Game seven. Now, I know they won Game seven
on the road against Tampa Bay. If I'm not mistaken,
I know they came back from an O two series
deficit early in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Columbus
Blue Jackets. But given the history of the Caps, this
actually becomes a kind of nerve racking game in some way,
because tonight I think the Caps are kind of playing
(13:17):
with house money, because if they lose, their thinking, oh,
we're still up three two, we went on the road,
we lost, we got a game back at home. But
I think as Game six got closer on Sunday night,
they would start to get a little bit apprehensive, particularly
if they didn't come out early and get up and
uh and they were realizing that they might have to
worry about giving up this three one series lead and
(13:38):
go back for Game seven. So I kind of think
this game tonight is is a fascinating one to pay
attention to. Totally agree. That's a great point on your
part about the psychology here that this Capitol's team has
obviously been different from their predecessors in in the way
they've handled the big pressure moment and their ability to
come back from three in the last reason and defeat
(14:00):
the Tampa by landing in the Eastern Conference Final. So
they've they've proven a lot to us, uh, just in
recent weeks here. But it's a very fair point that
you make and and psychologically, it's gonna be a really
interesting evening for Washington. I think one thing that that
I'll I'll tell you Clay that that I would compare
between hockey and in baseball, and having covered the playoffs
(14:24):
in both, is that in baseball you never here coaches
or players talk about effort level, especially in the playoffs.
It's just not the way that sport operates. Because baseball,
of course is unique, it's it's really the one of
our major sports that you that you do not play
better by playing harder, by trying harder, sometimes that actually
(14:45):
is kunter productive. It's similar to golf in that way.
I think maybe in some respects. So in hockey, though
you hear all the time. If I go into the
losing dressing room or talk to the losing coach in
the playoffs, they will free when they say, well, we
weren't desperate enough tonight, they wanted it more. And so
(15:06):
that that psychology play is not just a talking point
or someone's fun for us to debate you're on the
morning radio show. It's it's actually a very tangible quality
to the way this game is played tonight. If if
Washington plays either tentative or nervous or overconfident, and and
does not stick to its system, then they can lose
(15:28):
his hockey games to night and all of a sudden,
the momentum of the series has changed in favor of
a team that's very comfortable being the underdog, and in
fact has succeeded all year as the underdog. Whereas I think,
if if they come out tonight, and if they feel
like they're the more desperate team, with of course three
days off since the last game, they've got plenty of rest,
there's this is one of those games clayed to go
(15:50):
either way, it would not surprise me at all of
Vegas comes out and and put to their best game
of the series. It also wouldn't surprise me if if
Washington scores first, if all of the Vega competent they
smell it and and they are on the verge of
the competent, they finish it off this evening. So I
still think though it's more likely Vegas wins this game,
but pay very close attention to the way both teams
(16:11):
come out, their energy level, and also the way they
stay within their system or not. Here early in game five,
we're talking to John Moros e j O N M
O r O s I. You can find him on Twitter.
Let's go to the in Major League Baseball and get
a couple of hits here, because this is also your
other area of expertise and you typically join us in
this hour on Thursday to talk about baseball. N L
(16:32):
West UM a lot of talk early in the year. Oh,
the Dodgers are not playing very well, they're in trouble.
You got the Giants now making a little bit of
a noise. It's wide open. Everybody's within four and a
half point four and a half games of the lead.
It seems to be right now, by far, the most
competitive division in baseball. What do you think is going
(16:53):
to happen as we come down the final hundred games.
There's still a hundred games left, so the answer is
a lot can happen. But sixty games in, it's a
lot different than it was thirty games in, when it
seems like a lot of people wanted to write off
the Dodgers in particular. Who's gonna end up winning this division?
What's the play down the stretch? Great question, Clay I
would still say the Dodgers have the edge. The Dodgers
(17:15):
as we begin play here today, two games back of
the d Backs and the Rockies, who are tied UH
this weekend, and actually they're they're playing UH in Denver
this weekend, so UH regionally tullified the game there on
Fox on Saturday, So that's well timed that there's a
series between those two teams. But I think that the
Dodgers have the better the best run deferential of of
(17:37):
all the teams in the division, and that can kind
of tell you a little bit about the overall strength.
I think sometimes run deferential when when it is a
little bit out of step with with the way a
team's record looks, it could be a little bit of
a hint about where that particular division is trending or
where that team is trending. So the Dodgers having the
best run differential in the division tells me a lot.
(17:59):
They've played utter of late seven and three in the
last ten games that they did lose last night there
in Pittsburgh. So I'm still a little bit worried about
the back part of the rotation, especially as long as
Clayton Gersha is out. But that being said, you're worried
about everybody's back into the rotation, especially in that division
um where where the Giants are still waiting on the
returns of of of Jeffson Marja and Johnny Quato, the
(18:22):
Diamondbacks are waiting on Robbie Ray, and there's their rotation
has been a little bit up and down, although a
little a little bit better over the last ten games,
So there are real concerns for every team that's involved
in this race. I just think that the Dodgers probably
have the most natural depth, and they've just played better
since Justin Turner's come back, So I think that with
(18:45):
the existing task, I think the advantage goes to the Dodges.
But I'm with you, Clay and saying this is probably
gonna be the most competitive division race in baseball here
in the second half of the season. How good is
Max scherz are playing right now? He's ten and one
has a sub to E r A. He just finished
and I wasn't even familiar with this phrase. And immacul
at inning, which means that I believe he basically got
(19:07):
everybody done. And you get not strike out three players
on nine pitches, basically you are flawless as a pitcher.
How good has he been? And what does he look
like going forward in terms of his impact, particularly if
you get in the playoffs and you start thinking, Okay,
this guy could get me two wins. If he's playing
like this, you have to feel really good about your
(19:28):
odds of being able to advance, even though I know
National fans they haven't exactly been able to do it
so far. Right, A very good point and and to
me play Max Scherzer is an all time great. I
think we should all take a step back and positive
and really reflect on what he's doing right now because
at the moment you look at where his numbers are
(19:49):
leading the majors and strikeouts once again, uh ten and
one I believe it last check is his record. Um,
he is on his way to what I believe is
going to be his fourth career CY Young, So that
will break the tie that he's currently got right now
with the likes of Pedro Martinez, Sandy Kofax, and Clayton Kershaw.
(20:11):
I believe only four or five other pictures in the
history of the game, including Roger Clemens, including Steve Carlton,
Randy Johnson have won more than four or four or
more Cy Young's. So if he wins the Cy young
this year, and I think probably even if he doesn't,
he's going to the Hall of Fame. And it's important
for us to realize that that, as I pointed out yesterday,
(20:34):
eight years ago, he was he had just been sent
to the minor leagues by the Tigers with an e
r A above seven to get his mechanics figured out.
So it's a good reminder that even the all time
greats stumble and and Max stumbled eight years ago and
really didn't know what the fix was until he'd sort
of discovered it, uh in the in the bullpen and
(20:55):
really refined his mechanics. That way, he is an all
time great because he never stops wanting to tinker with
the way that he is approaching the game, working on
a new pitch. And I think sometimes play we see
it in all sports. Players get comfortable a little bit
and whatever whatever methodology they have that brings them to
(21:16):
the to the success they've enjoyed, such as if you're
a if you're a perennial All Star, you know, if
you if you made a few All Star teams and
you think that maybe you could go to the next level,
if you introduce a new pitch or change your arm
ang a little bit, but you're afraid to try because
you don't want to lose the success that you've had already.
You don't want to mentally get to a different spot
(21:36):
all of us. Oh my gosh, where's my arms? A
lot now I'm all out of whacking, and I probably
should have just spent content with what I had already.
Max has never made that decision. He has always kept
trying to innovate, and he has such a profound trust
in himself that allows them to innovate and and keep
trying to experiment in a way that is really refreshing
and inspiring. So I think Max fantastic guy. I've always
(22:01):
joved by conversation with him over the years. Just a
great person of a great family. So throw it for him,
and again we are watching an all time great Max Scherzer.
And by the way, Clay, you and I are going
to get a chance to to to watch a player
who unifies our our favorite sports in the fall because
Kyler Murray signing with Oakland, but of course he can
still stay as an amateur in football. So the plan
(22:22):
for Kyler Murray is gonna sign with the A's, but
he's gonna try to play a quarterback from the Sooners there,
even though he's gonna play some min league baseball. We
think this summer, of course, as he tries to succeed
Baker Mayfield as the as both the Sooners quarterback in
the highest Wood Trophy winner this faul in Norman. What
would you tell your son, as the final question, you've
got kids? Uh, if you had a son who was
as gifted of an athlete as Kyler Murray is, And
(22:43):
like you said, we we love college football obviously, both
of us. You're in an arbor, big Michigan guy. I
love my wife's of Michigan grad. I love basically everything
about college football. But it's also dangerous and uh, there
is the possibility, certainly that you could be injured on
any play, maybe even a career ending in jury. Uh.
Certainly there are guys who have been unfortunate in that respect.
Kyler Murray number nine, I think overall, pick five million
(23:07):
dollars guaranteed Oakland A's coming out and making a big
play for him. What would you tell your son if
he came to you and said, I've got this money
out here. I also love college football. How do you
balance the decision making here between passion and money. Well,
it's a great question. I think this if if a
young man has advanced as far as Kyler Murray has.
(23:28):
In other words, this is not the original decision of
when your son is ten, eleven, twelve, do you play
football or not? Uh one, Once he's gotten to this
point and he's he's spent the time there on campus.
Of course he originally began in Texas and have transfer
there to to Oklahoma. UM, if you feel that you
owe it to your teammates and owe it to yourself
to complete the journey and and be accountable as an
(23:51):
athlete to to to finish off your your collegiate career,
and and and seize upon that opportunity. I think as
long as you are obviously now getting your your guaranteed
money in baseball, UM, and then you could look into
insurance obviously for your for your own standpoint, I know
that in many cases where where players have taken on
insurance policies. And frankly, the fact that you're getting the
(24:15):
money via the via the baseball as signing bonus, one
assumes you could apply that money towards the towards the
premiums on the insurance policy and for your football career
if if if you have to, if you're worried about that,
you can then sort of put that right into the
UH the insurance in that regard. I think as long
as you're smart about in that regard, and then you're
protecting and taking the UH the necessary precautions from an
(24:38):
insurance standpoint, I have. I have no issue at all
with him with him playing if it's his dream, if
he wants to do it. I'm also over the school
of thought play that you look at baseball. I remember,
I've heard pictures and players that didn't play in the
World Baseball plass because they're afraid of get injured. But
Madison bumb Garder was one of them. In the last
year he hited himself on an a TV. So injuries
can happen in any different setting. And I think if
(24:59):
you're if you're smart about it, and you're you're knowing
of the risks. I I have no issue with with
the young people that want to continue to try to
pursue a football career, or in the case of Kyler Murray,
play that one last year. That feels like you maybe
owe it to your teammates and your institution. Do that
and then move on and play baseball after that. Good
stuff as always, John Morosey go follow him on Twitter
(25:20):
at j O N M O R O s I
and we will talk to you next week, my pleasure, Clay.
A great time here, my friends. I think we touched
on so many different sports. I love it, love out
conversation rest of the week. If you like somebody, it
doesn't matter what they've done or what they've said, you'll
justify it. If you don't like somebody, no matter what
(25:40):
they said, you will criticize them for it. And this
is the society that we live in today. Very few
people do what I think I do, which is fairly
and impartially called balls and strikes, and don't swing one
way or the other very aggressively. Now, sometimes that means
both sides of the political equation or man at me.
Sometimes it means different fan bases are mad at me.
(26:03):
But I think what I uniquely try to do as
be as straightforward and as honest with you guys every
day as possible. So we've got some audio clips for you.
I want to play them. I'm gonna allow you guys
to react. I think this likely is going to turn
into a big story because of the double standard involved.
Last night, Steve Harvey went on to talk about the
(26:24):
Calves and the Golden State Warriors. Steve Harvey is the
host of Family Feud celebrity Family Feud is coming back soon.
He is a comedian, and he is also a Disney employee. Well,
all of that makes sense when you put him on
with Stephen A. Smith, except for one thing. Oh yeah,
he happened to call all of the Golden State Warriors
(26:44):
guerrillas as in the animals last night. And let's play
this audio for you right now. Issue what the Golden
State Warriors? Anything you can do to derail them? No,
you can't stop. Do you got a outscore? You can't
stop all them boys. They got too many guerrillas on
the teams. They come into plate Man, they got eight
(27:04):
hundred pound gorillas on their team, so they come in
to play, alright. So, uh, Steve Harvey specifically and directly
calls all of the Golden State Warriors guerrillas. That would
be a bad thing if, for instance, Brian win Horse
had come on and he had said, hey, what do
(27:25):
you think about these Golden State Warriors? Can the calves
stop them? If Brian win Horse had said no, they've
got too many guerrillas on their team, then he would
be fired immediately and it would be a major national story.
Context wouldn't matter, It wouldn't matter. As some people on
Twitter argued, Oh well, he's saying that in a positive way.
(27:46):
He's comparing black athletes to guerrillas in a positive way. Okay, well,
and I'm not even gonna get into Roseanne yet. Instead,
I'm gonna play you this clip which happened. Now it's
been a couple of years ago. I think you might
remember a guy by the name of Doug Adler who
calls games for called tennis matches, or used to for
(28:08):
ESPN until they fired him. Doug Adler's crime during a
Venus Williams tennis match, he used the phrase guerrilla effect
as in guerrilla warfare, not even the animal. ESPN said
it didn't matter, they fired him. Listen to this phrase.
This is a first serve in Venus is all over her.
(28:32):
Venus move in and put the guerrilla effect on all right,
Guerrilla as in guerrilla warfare, you charge, you fight. She's
charging the net guerrilla tennis using it, not in the
context of being a guerrilla, but in the context of
(28:52):
the way you fight a war. How in the world
can you justify the two different treatments here? Now? Esp
e N has tried to scrub this Steve Harvey audio everywhere.
They scrubbed it out of their Sports Center clips, they
scrubbed it online. They are trying to track down all
these different audio clips and video clips and eliminate them.
(29:14):
But I want to bring in you guys. I also
I'm gonna open up the phone lines here momentarily. I'll
take your calls to start our three. But to me,
here is what is at play. All right, let me
talk about Roseanne for a minute too. I can distinguish
between what Steve Harvey said here and what Roseanne tweeted,
because I believe Roseanne when she called Valerie Jarrett a
(29:37):
planet of the apes monkey or whatever she said, that
was intended to be pejorative and was intended to be racist, right,
it was intended to be an insult and demeaning. You
can at least argue here there's a distinction in the
comedic uses of two different Disney employees that Steve Harvey
is intending to give a compliment to the Golden State
(30:01):
Warriors by calling them gorillas. You can at least make
that argument. I don't think it would matter if a
white guy said this. If again, I just want you
to think about if Brian Windhorse had gone on and
said the Calves had no chance to stop the Golden
State Warriors because they had too many guerrillas out there,
people would lose their mind. If Roseanne Barr had not
(30:23):
tweeted anything at all inflammatory about guerrillas and had gone
on to promote ABC and they had asked her. Stephen A.
Smith had asked her whether the Calves could beat the Warriors,
and she had said, no, the Warriors have too many
guerrillas on their team. I don't think people would give
the benefit of the doubt there and say, oh, she
was trying to give a compliment to them. Okay, But
(30:45):
I don't think there is any way imaginable that Disney,
the same parent company that fired Doug Adler for using
the phrase guerrilla effect, can in any way argue that
what Steve Harvey did he is not worse than what
Doug Adler did. Doug Adler didn't even do anything racist.
(31:07):
He just used a word that sounds like another word.
He was a homophonic racist. He just happened to use
one word, gorilla that sounds like another word, while calling
a black tennis players match. Because if he had said
this in any white tennis players match, nobody would have
even blinked, Nobody would have even noticed. So can anybody
(31:29):
justify how in the world Disney, which is the parent
company of both Steve Harvey and Doug Adler, can fire
Doug Adler for using the phrase guerrilla effect and be
trying to cover up for Steve Harvey for calling all
the Golden State Warriors guerrillas. Jason Martin, I'll start with you, okay,
(31:51):
So I don't think that you can just talk about
those two issues. I think that you including Roseanne's important
because I think if you replaced Roseanne with Steve Harvey,
we would have the same discussion today if it was
Harvey that had said what he said about Valerie Jerry
to what Roseanne said about Valerie Jerry, I think you'd
have another, you know, different argument there. You might have
people saying, well, you're going after her appearance and things
like that, but you wouldn't have had the racist connotations
(32:13):
that came from Roseanne and the reason why been sure
would at ABC said, Okay, Roseanne, I don't care if
you've apologized. I don't care how much you've said about
what you'll do to fix this. The problem is if
we don't do this, they're gonna be tens of millions,
potentially of African Americans who are not either gonna go
to Disney World or are gonna protest outside of it,
(32:34):
and nothing can affect that. We can't let anything affect
that part of our business. So when you look at
the Doug Adler thing, we agree, I would suggest, and
I think you would agree. We are the show that
brought this to the surface. We're the ones that play
everybody else for the first time. Yeah, we we played
it for the first time. We brought on Doug Adler
numerous times on this show. We reached out to the
(32:56):
New York Times loser reporter that made this in to
you know, made this into a mountain basically when it
was absolutely nothing. We proved built on Nike's old ad
campaigns for Andre Agassi. The guerrilla effect is something that's
been in the world of tennis for a long time
before Doug Adler made his comment and Doug made that
(33:17):
point to us when he was on the Steve Harvey thing.
To me is a little bit different. I don't think
that these two things are the same, just because look
the Virginia Tech story that we talked about, you know,
six eight weeks ago, whenever it was when they used
the inning stop, stop here for a second. If Brian
Winhorse says the exact same thing as Steve Harvey, yes,
(33:38):
but he's white, Clay, it's so Look, he's white. You
can't get away with that if you're white. It's that simple.
I'm not saying that's that's how you think it should be.
I'm saying that's how it is. Steve Harvey. That is
a sign Steve harveyist talking about black people. Country is broken.
This is why this country is broken right now, because
many people who are listening to us right now believe
(34:01):
that context should matter, and that if a white person
says the exact same thing as Steve Harvey, then you
can't automatically assume that a white person who says that
is racist and that a black person who says that
is not racist. In other words, this is my argument
about race in America today. We have devolved into a
(34:22):
situation where everybody wants to define racism by words, and
sometimes by words that aren't even racist but sound like
they might be racist with Doug Adler, and we can't
have constant different communication rules based on what your race is,
(34:43):
because let me say this, what if Brian Winhorst was
ten percent black, is he then able to describe the
Golden State Warriors as guerrillas? What if he's two percent black?
What if he's forty two percent black, what if he's
thirty whatever the percentages, the rules of conduct and behavior
in this country need to be applied evenly across the board,
(35:07):
regardless of what race you are, because nobody can control
what race they are. What if I get a d
N A test, I'm about to get DNA test done.
If I am two percent black, do I get to
come on and start saying, as a black man, I
believe
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