Best of Outkick the Coverage 07/17/2018

Clay Travis is joined by NFL expert Alex Marvez & Petros Papadakis of AM570 LA Sports!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of I'll kick the coverage with
Clay Travis on Fox Sports Radio. Alex Marvez joins us. Uh,
he's at Alex Marvez I said on Twitter, what is
the future of the running back position? And well, everything
eventually become new again, or Alex if we reached that point.
This has been a topic of discussion for probably the

(00:22):
last five six years, that the devolution of the of
the running back position. I know we've also had, Look,
you've had Ezekiel Elliott looks like he's made, uh the
Cowboys a legitimate factor. You had last year Leonard four
Nett come in and make a big difference for the
Jacksonville Jaguars. The expectation is se Kwan Barkley with the
Giants can be a difference maker. But we know Levian

(00:44):
Bell is a difference maker, maybe the best, most threatening
running back in terms of his ability to make plays
out of the backfield, also in the receiving game. And
yet the Pittsburgh Steelers aren't able to get a deal
done with him. Is this a harbinger of bigger issues
in the NFL? Or is leving on Bell and out
wier kind of take us into this story as best
you can. No problem. Hey, by the way, I'm gonna

(01:06):
have to mention a running back. Who do you mentioned
the elite ones? I'm going to mention Bishops Sanky, and
not just because you were a Tennessee Titans fan. Yeah.
It was the highest drafted pick, yeah a couple of
years ago, second round pick at least. But he was
the first back off the board and he's never done
anything right. And the reason I say that is for
a couple of years of their clay, the running back
class is not too good. And I think that's part

(01:26):
of where you have a problem right now, that there
weren't the Todd Gurley's in the draft, the Zeke Elliot's
that the true difference makers that came out, and I
think it it repressed the running back market. In fact,
if I asked you who's the highest paid running back
in football right now, if you know the average fan,
you know it would take him into probably right, But
it's Deavonte Freeman. If I asked to who was the
fast paid running back in free agency this offseason, it's

(01:48):
Jerick McKinnon. Think about that. You don't know he made
like five million dollars, right, I mean, what was his
salary he signed, he sent for a little bit more.
He averaged seven five a year. But remember cut off
funny money, right, and if you get injured the guarantee,
you know all the guarantees. So I guess my point
is that there just haven't been those types of great
players that have come along to raise the salary running

(02:08):
There's so many running backs that come out in the
draft each year. It is considered a fungible position by
a lot of teams. Look, some of them have placed
more importance on it than others. Okay, I get all that,
But you know that's the question is what is the
player also worth to you? Right? I mean that's listen.
Sometimes it's the right place, right time. Sometimes it's how
they fit in your team fabric. What did they provide?
Did they move you closer to a Super Bowl? Levy

(02:30):
on Bell does just that. Now here's where it gets tricky.
You know he's been betting on himself, right, and you
know at this point he's earning fourteen point five million
this year, he's earned he earned twelve point one million
in sen and you know, next year, if he gets
a deal that offers him and he listen, he may
they may have to spread it out over three years.
But you know, if he's starting to get thirty two

(02:51):
million guaranteed, thirty four million guaranteed, then he'd been on
himself in one. But the problem is at a running
back spot for a player like this with injury history,
wear and tear, is there going to be team out
there that's gonna pay him that once you know, once
that he's able to hit the market and Clay that's
the big question. Now. You know the NFL, they they're
flush with cash, their teams that have money out of
the salary camp and if they think they're one levy

(03:12):
on Bell away, they'll probably spend on him. But you know,
again a levy on bills having to get through you know,
having to be levy on Bell for another year puts
a lot of pressure on him to produce. It does. Indeed,
we're talking with Alex Marvez um of the other guys
who had the opportunity to be franchise tagged and were uh,
did not get the deals kind of worked out? What
to you stood out? Is there any lesson that we

(03:34):
can take away about the ongoing NFL business based on
decisions that were made surrounding the franchise tag. Yeah, I
think that edge rushers, you know, you know how the
volleys bidding you gotta have that guy to go again
see elite level left tackle. I think teams are starting
to rethink that a little bit and thinking, you know
what is that because the sorry, no, no, The reason
why so for a long time, if you looked at

(03:55):
the way money was being spent, quarterback at the position
is still going to be spending a high level, there's
no doubt about it. But then you went to people
who were involved in the passing game, either the defensive
end who was trying to get to the quarterback and
stop him from being able to throw the football, and
then you needed a left tackle by and large to
protect him. That's the whole story of the blindside Michael
or everything else there. And then you also went with

(04:16):
corners who were trying to stop these big, high priced
quarterbacks by being able to defend the wide receivers they
were gonna throw to. Is the rap you know, like
get rid of the ball quickly. Reads that are happening
starting to diminish the overall impact of the big time
defensive end because quarterbacks just aren't holding the ball long enough.
Is that what you're starting to see absolutely right about that.
Listen and look at the emphasis now on guards. Okay,

(04:38):
Andrew Norwell thirteen point three million dollars a year is
a free agent guard. Zack Martin six years eighty four
million dollars as a guard, Okay, and centers are cashing
in pretty nicely as well. So I think that you're
starting to see the money redistribute redistributed along the offensive
line and a defensive end. Well, listen, it's great if
you're able to have the type of in to get

(05:00):
around the corner and affect a quarterback. I'm not trying
to diminish the importance of that, but if the football
is already gone, who cares? And I think that's why
that's why you don't see that the Dallas Cowboys, for example,
bending over backwards to get to Marcus Lawrence in a
free agent contract. Now that listen, there'll be a team
that still plays the type of defense that cherishes the
four three defensive end, and it's going to be willing
to pay him that type of price, But a lot

(05:21):
of teams are getting away from it. For the Detroit Lions,
Iggy Ansa is a curious one, you know, because really
with man Patrician now and Bob Quinn there, you know,
guys from the Patriots cloth, they've never spent big, at
least in recent memory. Of Dahias Thomas would have to
be the last example of that back in the late
two thousand's. But they don't spend big on edge pass rushers.
They simply feel like they can generate pass rush with

(05:42):
the players they have. So these guys I think are
one and done with their respective teams. And astral LaMarcus
Joiner tell you what this guy got lucky because the
safety market is terrible as well, and that one's a
little bit harder to figure out. But you know what
he's able to get this year. That's eleven million dollars
as part of the franchise tag. I think might be
more than he would have made out on the free
agent market. I know the Rams really wanted to keep him.

(06:02):
Wade Phillips made a personal pitch to the team's administration, said, listen,
this guy is key to my defense. In fact, he's
really more key, quite honestly, than Robert Quinn and and
you know Alec Ogletree, both of whom got traded so
that's why I think there was a place for him.
But it's been a weird safety market. You still got
some good players out there, including those who haven't fouled
a collusion claim. How much talk I haven't spent any

(06:24):
time at all on it on this show because I
always find like Hall of Fame debates to be like
just like shoot me in the head with a nail gun.
But I do think, uh, Teo not going to Canton
to give his speeches an intriguing story and of itself.
How much talk in NFL circles do you hear about
this and what you're taking general on the Teo Hall

(06:44):
of Fame drama? You know, everyone's trying to figure out
what the real story is, you know, and talking to
folks you know about that, like, okay, t O broke.
Can he not throw the type of elaborate party that
he would want to at the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
You know? Teams pitch in to help with costs. They
don't pick up the whole thing usually, but they'll they'll
help a player out. Is t O a man without
an island? You know? Did the forty Niners just say

(07:05):
now we're not going to donate money to this. With
the Philadelphia Eagles, try to give cash to t O
after the way he crashed and burned there. Same thing
with the Dallas Cowboys. You think you're gonna get Mike Brown?
Are the Bengals to sponsor t O? You know, the
Buffalo Bills. I mean he was there for a year.
I mean, you know, or two. I mean what you know,
who's gonna pay for Who's gonna help pay for this
with t O? And there's been some sort that maybe

(07:26):
it's just he's trying to save some face by doing
it that way, you know, and just there's a money issue.
He can't celebrate the Hall of Fame the way that
he wants, so instead he's gonna go to Chattanooga and
give a call a speech at his alma mater. And
you know, listen, he can rip the Pro Football Hall
of Fame voters. He can say he's not a first
ballot guy. Whatever. There's so many others who had to wait.
I mean, think about our monk, right, I mean, you know, look,

(07:47):
the guy was at the NFL's all time receiving leader
at the time he retired, and yet he had to
wait several years to get into the Pro Football Hall
of Fame. So you know, look, t O, he wanted
to make it's all about him. It always has been
about him, and it's all about him again because the
one thing you'll remin about this class when it goes
in is the guy who wasn't there for the first time,
even though that they're going to try to pretend that
he's not around on Saturday night. Yeah, TiO is going

(08:08):
to be the guy that hovers over the Pro Football
Hall of Fame inductions. How much do you think a
teammate quality sort of this ineffable are you a good
teammate should factor in when it comes to Hall of
Fame voting and your personal opinion, Oh, it should factor in.
I mean, listen, I voted for the guy at the end.
You know, you know, I didn't vote for him from

(08:29):
fifteen to ten. I didn't vote for him to ten
to five. I thought Isaac Bruce was actually his good,
if not better than t O in a lot of ways.
Tios had his memorable moments, don't get me wrong, But
when you look at the numbers, you look at what
Isaac Bruce accomplish in his NFL career, I think a
strong argument can be made for Ike Bruce, but when
it got to the final five, you know, voted for him.
I mean, that's how that is. But a listen, part

(08:49):
of the debate in the room is about him as
a teammate, and it is things to take that does
take place on the field, you know, And and I
consider the field the sideline as well. Be rating a quarterback,
you know, you know, complaining to the point that you
want the football even though it may not lead to
team success. T O may think it does if you
throw in the football fifteen times a game, that his
team's gonna win, but at the end of the day,

(09:10):
it may not. And you know what, he's going to
point to his stats and his production above above others.
And that's the thing the guy was Listen, and I think,
honestly too, there might be a mental health picture here
that has been painted with t O that has gone
on through the years when you when you take a
big picture look at this. I mean, I actually feel
bad for the guy as much as anything. In a
lot of ways. Listen, he might go sign with the

(09:30):
Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL. What does t O have
going on in his life besides football. He's not in
the media, he doesn't have any endorsements. What does he
do all day? Really, right, I mean, it's just it's
a it's a sad thing for the guy. And you know,
now he's able to get his moment in the spotlight
once again, and you know he's he's going to be
able to he to be all about him at the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. But it's that type of

(09:52):
selfishness that I think poison some voters against him in
that Hall of Fame room. But ultimately he gets in,
and that's the whole point you get in. Not everyone
gets in on the first ballot. Sorry, it's just not
how it works. It is interesting, like I don't know
t O well by any stretch of the imagination, but
I know that on the Fox Sports sort of pilot
uh scene, And I think he's done some television with

(10:14):
Fox Sports, like t O was was in the mix
and uh I did several different pilots that never aired
with t O as part of panel discussions and whatnot.
And again, I don't know what kind of personal interaction
you have had with him, but I found them to
be like pretty quiet, you know, not particularly outspoken. He
didn't seem the the t O that I saw doing,

(10:37):
you know, sit ups in the front yard of his
house having a press conference. Uh, was nothing like the
t O that I found when you know, you were
sitting in a panel discussion discussing the issues of the day. Now,
a lot of times there's guys who tighten up when
they go from the green room to the stage to
get on and and start talking, right. I mean, it's

(10:57):
amazing how that that walk at least Fox, it's a
you know, hundred yard walk down the hallway in l A.
But the the number of people who tighten up incredibly
from the pre show discussion where you think, oh, man,
this guy is gonna be awesome. Uh, there's gonna be
so much, so many sparks here, a great discussion, and
then by the time you actually get in the studio

(11:18):
and the lights come on, it's a totally different person.
And everybody kind of gets more nervous when they are
aware that other people are watching. And maybe that's a
t O kind of situation, But I thought that he
was going to turn it on and that he would
be a different caliber of of showman when the lights
actually came on, and I thought he was kind of boring.
UM And I don't know. And look, I see him
on social media and he seems fairly active there. I

(11:40):
don't know. I think that kind of ties in with
you with your point on t O, that this guy
who doesn't really know himself. UM And I feel like
there's a lot of athletes who are in that boat
because we forget. I mean a lot of these guys
have their careers over at thirty three or thirty four
years old. And whoever you are out there listening to
us right now, a lot of people are thirty three
and thirty four years old. They don't know what they

(12:02):
want to be when they grow up. And and that's
maybe even older than a lot of these guys are.
The average NFL career is four years. You've got guys
finishing their careers at twenty six years old, and they
have no idea how to define themselves without football. I
wonder a little bit about that with t O and
whether he needs this drama to have a you know,
kind of something just to latch onto more than anything else.

(12:22):
You're right listening and t O and well, first off,
when when you talk about Fox and TV back with
those pilots. They weren't exactly coaching people behind the scenes,
if you know what I mean. Was absolutely chaos for
that network. I mean, and I'm not afraid just to
to talk about it, because I just think it was
a complete disaster. Were you were you out for the
FS one, uh the auditions, like when they had, you know,
just a cattle call and everybody was coming through and

(12:43):
kind of rotating through and doing all the discussions. They
threw me on TV as a tryout and no coaching,
you know what I mean. And I was I was bad.
I admitted they changed the script on me. They didn't
tell me that they were going to be doing that.
I'm trying to follow one thing and I'm saying another
and I'm caught off guard. I mean, they gave you
nothing at at Fox Well. I how to dress. They

(13:03):
didn't tell you with the talking points. I didn't tell
you how to put your hands in front of yourself
at the desk if you're a smaller person to make
yourself look bigger. I mean, all of these little tricks
of the trade dated absolutely zero. I mean, I I
liken it to the early days of SCTV. I was
looking for guy Caballero in a wheelchair, you know, just
for respect. It's funny, um that you mentioned, you know,
the television angle. I hadn't spent much time doing television.

(13:26):
And I've told this story I think before, but you'll
appreciate it. Uh. Fox is very much a throw you
in the deep end of the pool and see if
you can swim. And you know, if you can swim,
then then they love you. And I think I was
able to swim, but I had never I've never done
a highlight in my life. Okay, this is two thousand
and thirteen when they launched F S one. Uh. Rob

(13:46):
Stone obviously did a great job on the World Cup.
It was over in Europe for a month. He's kind
of the jack of all trades. He's amazingly talented at
television and uh. And they brought me in and they said, okay, Clay,
you know we're gonna do highlights. Uh, and we're gonna
toss to you for some of this. I was so green.
I didn't even know and this, and there's probably a
lot of people listening to us that don't know this.

(14:07):
I didn't even know that when you set at a
television desk, you have a monitor built into that television
desk so you can look down to see the highlights.
That's how green I was. I had never even said
at that desk. It's like the same NFL desk that
Terry and Howie and uh and Jimmy and all those
guys sit at. And like I was, like, I was
sitting there and I had paper they had somebody had

(14:27):
left some papers in front of them, and I just
moved those papers over and I was like, oh, wow,
there's a television monitor here. I had never done a
highlight in my life, and live on FS one in
two thousand thirteen they had me do highlights. So I mean,
you think about how how wild that is? I mean,
and I kind of I loved it, you know, because
I like challenges and and one of the things that's
cool about doing radio versus doing TV versus doing writing

(14:51):
is there all different disciplines and you've done all three
of them, and you have to kind of figure out
how something can work really well on radio and not
or get all on TV, and something could work when
you're writing a column and not work at all on
radio or TV. Because I can tell you the number
of writers I've had on radio, where like halfway through
the interview you're like, oh my god, what was I thinking?

(15:12):
I don't even know how to keep them going? Uh.
And you're good at writing and you're good at radio,
but every one of those disciplines is different. You could
be good at two or three, or you can be
good at all three. But it's relatively rare that people
can pull off all three. It's hard. I mean, it
really is, especially when when you don't have any training.
And I was a religion major in college, so I mean,
my background is not journalism, and I just I wrote
ever since high school. You know, that's what I did.

(15:33):
So you know, that's that's how that was. But you know,
and when you talk about you know, you talk about
t O. Just to flip it back to him here
for a minute, the scary part is that he actually
had TV experience from when he was in the NFL.
He and Chad Ocho Sinko were doing this show together.
And that's right. Yeah, And remember to Chad's another guy
that hasn't grown up either, And and part of it
is it just for whatever reason, like look you look

(15:54):
at Charles Barkley, you look at Shack right, and you
know they look there, there, there's ego there, there, there's
narcissist in their own way, and they but they say funny,
outrageous stuff. They have likable personalities, right, I mean just
that persona. You know, you you end up wanting to
hear what they have to say. With t O, he's
like almost so unlikable that and he hasn't been able
to transcend that with any sort of personality that appeals

(16:17):
to anybody. I mean, I was thinking yesterday, and it's funny.
I was driving my son to his therapy and I
was like, you know what I think about all these
these sponsorship opportunities that TEO is blown. He could have
he could have had t O popcorn. You could have
had t O Sharpie's. You know, the guy takes incredible
care of himself. How about a t O diet, how
about a t O workout? I mean, all of these things.
Why isn't anyone working with this guy? I mean, I
don't even know if he's interesting enough for a reality show.

(16:39):
And I think they did something like that at some
point and the wheels fell off. I mean, so I
just again, I really feel for this guy, because there's
just nothing there right now in his life. That's filling
the void that was left behind by from when he
played football. It's sad, it's really well said, um, and
we'll see what happens with t O as as the
whole thing gets closer and closer. All right, let's sehn McCoy.

(17:01):
We talked about this. It's kind of lingering out there.
I'm down in Atlanta. This was an Atlanta area story.
I don't believe we've gotten an update this week or
the last several days. What is the vibe that you're
hearing in the NFL? What's the expectation where now? What
like eight days away? I believe in the Buffalo Bills
beginning training camp. What are you hearing? Well, I'm hearing
you know, listen to the commissioner's examplest may come into

(17:23):
play here if we don't hear anything more from the police,
you know, within the next date nine days and the
commissioner's examples. I love the wording of this. They say
that basically, the commissioner can suspend you at any time
you want, under quote unusual circumstances. Okay, And this was
less vague for a reason, you know, because they want
to be able to say, okay, look, if you're under

(17:43):
a police investigation, we're not sure what to do with
you yet. Well, we don't exactly want you out there
on the field and being associated with the NFL until
you're cleared. Not the Buffalo Bills can't make that decision.
It's a commissioner that makes that decision. But what does
this Buffalo Bills organization stand for? By the way, Kim
Beagoula is your president. It is a woman, And I'm
just pointing that out. You have a player here who's

(18:04):
been accused by someone, uh, you know, and publicly and
some questions about whether or not he ordered an assault
on a girlfriend to get back jewelry, and you've heard
radio silence from this Bill's organization. When did When did
the teams start stepping up as well? A little bit
here when it comes to, you know, rebuking a player
publicly and saying how serious they take it? Do? Is
the same Bills organization, by the way, that enabled Richie

(18:26):
incognito for a number of years. So I mean listen
and Marcel Darius, although he was traded away to Jacksonville,
he also has had two civil suits filed against him
by women claiming that he gave him an STD. I
mean this, this whole thing with the Bills, that is
part of the reason the Bills have been so terrible
for so long is bringing in character people like this,
so we sit and wait and see what happens with Shady.
I mean, look at the team. I think has a

(18:47):
pretty good idea where it's going. Usually play behind the scenes.
If you have the you know, security department, that's worth
its salt. They have contacts in law enforcement. The NFL
has contacts and law enforcement everywhere around every city around
the that there's an NFL team, not to mention hubs
like you know, for example Las Vegas before the Raiders
get there. You know, I think Hawaii has this. The

(19:08):
NFL has a security person every city, major city to
try to look out for its players, to see if
there's trouble brewing, et cetera, to try to cut things
off at the past. I think the Bills have a
pretty good idea about where this is going. I don't think,
you know, I think they feel that maybe this guy
is gonna be in the clear. But until it officially happens,
we sit here and wait on Shady McCoy. But man,
what a bad look for him, bad look for the
Bills organization, and again another bad look for the NFL.

(19:30):
We're talking to Alex Marvez. You can follow him on
Twitter at Alex Marvez. Easy to follow that that name.
I'm curious, uh, as we come closer and closer to
the start of training camp, a lot of the quarterbacks, right,
whether it's Sam Donald with the Jets, whether it's Josh
Allen with the Bills, Baker Mayfield with the Browns, Josh
Rosen with the Arizona Cardinals, and Lamar Jackson with the Ravens.

(19:53):
If I got all five of the first round picks there.
Rosen came out with a new policy that he's advocating
for how college athletes can get paid. And that was
kind of the story in general about Josh Rosen was
he was going to have his be involved in a
lot of different things. But is it fair to say
that as we get to the close to the start
of training camp that Rosen, based on people you talked to,
has been has looked at the most ready and been

(20:16):
the best looking of the quarterbacks so far. Yeah, I
mean throwing against their right, but I mean, yeah, he
has looked, he has looked good during the offseason program.
You know, Patrick Peterson, the Cardinals cornerback, has gone on
record as saying how impressed he was the way this
guy operated the two minute drill. He's just not used
to seeing a rookie come in there and actually tell
the veterans where to go and what to do on
the play. You know, he's assertive already and you know

(20:38):
at the position, which is a great thing. And I
think he may end up being that guy. Listen, Sam
Bradford is someone that that's a placeholder quarterback. He's just
buying you time until the day that Josh Rosen is ready.
Well that day may come sooner than later. And look
and maybe another one of these fifteen twenty million dollar
insurance policies that you ended up cashing in. And that's
how much money, saying Bradford has said to make this season,
But for me sitting him on the bench, Josh Rosen

(21:00):
is ready to go. It's a lost season for the Cardinals. Anyway.
Let's be realistic here. This is the team that is
the longest odds of making the playoffs according to odds
shark dot com. So you know, we re realized the
team is gonna have to you know, you know, you know,
just weather the storm this year and then look to
rebound in ten. Well, this is a perfect season to
get Josh Rosen up and running and seeing. When you

(21:20):
talk about if K what about Josh Allen, his situation
is a little bit crazy now because of Shady McCoy.
If there's no Sady, you've got Chris Ivory three yards
in a cloud of dust carrying the football. Teams ain't
putting teams ain't putting it in the boxes. Sip Chris Ivory.
It's gonna put even more pressure on the quarterback position.
And if you look at those Bills wide receivers, even
with Kelvin Benjamin, there's a very mediocre group. And I'm
empy being generous there. So I think it's a setback

(21:42):
for him. One quick Baker Mayfield note, by the way,
I talked with Brown center j C. Treader last night,
and you know he really likes the guy. And I mean,
you know, listen and j C is a no nonsense
type of guys from Corn. Now, he's a really sharp guy.
You know, when he was saying to look, the guy
does put in the time, he cares. He's been a
really good teammate, and what he's trying to do now
is how and learn how to take the center snap.
It's something that he hasn't been able to do play,

(22:03):
but that's the next step for Baker Bayfield. Get that
center sapped out and we'll roll from there. Last question
for you, Andrew Luck, is he gonna be a full
go when the Indianapolis called start training camp. What is
going to be the latest on his health. I don't
think they're gonna I don't think they're gonna have him
throw a zillion times a day. I think he's gonna
be somewhat limited and they're going to increase his workload
until the regular season begins. You know, big question is

(22:24):
in these preseason games, when do we get him? Is
a week one or they're just gonna put him out
there Week three for the dress rehearsal game. But he'll
be on a pitch account and I think it may
be that way, quite honestly, for the rest of his career.
There is no reason he's thrown a zillion footballs. I
don't know what more you're gonna get from you know,
Andrew Luck. At this point about making him a better passer,
you just want him to be healthy. You know, he's

(22:44):
got the cerebral aspect of the game down pad and
now it's really up to the to the culture organization
and takes some of the pressure off Andrew. And it's
one of the things about having Frank right as your coach,
you know, running these r p o s, running these
things that allow the quarterback to get the football out
of his hand quickly. But I'll tell you when talking
a defensive player around the league, in particular Harrison Smith
and Vikings defensive coordinator George Edwards, both guys told me,

(23:05):
you want to know a way to shut down r
p o s. You hit the quarterback in the mouth basically.
And I think that's how you're gonna see teams try
to counter what you saw the Eagles doing last year.
You're gonna see you know, those types of you know,
it's what ended the read option for a lot of
these guys, a lot of these quarterbacks that we're doing.
It is when the QB started getting hit. Why, I
think you might start seeing the same thing on these plays,
even if you risk a penalty. I think you may
see some defensive players just on load on quarterbacks to

(23:28):
try to get him from stop doing it, outstanding stuff.
As always, He's Alex Marvez. We'll talk to you next week.
Be sure to catch live editions about Kick the Coverage
with Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
This is your new walk up music Petris Popadgas. Fantastic
work by Taylor Swift bringing in Petris papadgis. Hey, are

(23:48):
you wearing your new five dollar Laker shorts? With those
five yeah, yeah, god yeah, it's getting a little bit
silly because it's every day out here right now, Clay,
It's I mean, let's start the timeline. Uh, it's Chloe
Kardashian double date with Tristan Thompson and Malibu. Then it's

(24:10):
the pizza party that he doesn't show up for with
a bunch of people frying on the asphalt. Not that
it matters, but that happened. Uh, And instead he was
at a pool party. Then you had the Greek restaurant
Beverly Hills, Power Dinner with Alpaccino and Leonardo DiCaprio, And
now we have five dollar shorts and barely speaking to

(24:35):
the head coach, Luke Walton, but instead sending a proxy
with an iPad Uh to communicate with the head coach
of the team. And he still hasn't done a press
conference to announce that he signed with one of the
biggest franchises in the history of sport, so he hasn't
felt the obligation to sit and answer questions about it,
just like I don't know, didn't didn't Ronaldo just signed

(24:57):
with with somebody, Juventu, and I'm pretty sure he's going
to do a press conference. So we got all that
going on, and that's just it's only been like ten days.
It is amazing how Lebron just manages to bring a
media circle with him. So I want to start here.
Happened in Ohio, Clay and no one cared what he

(25:19):
did on a nightly basis and Akron or Miami for that,
you know, it's it's an interesting point. Is he learning
that the standard for what a story is in l
A when it comes to Lebron is going to be
different than the Miami Lebron or the Cleveland Lebron. The
reason why I bring that up with you, I think
he knew it, and that's why he's here. That's why
he came. That's all a giant business move. You know

(25:41):
a lot of these guys that make a lot of money.
Anybody who makes a lot of money can hire a
producer and a director and say they have a production company.
And that's what Kobe has done. That's what Lebron has
been doing. Elton Brand was one of the first guys
to do it way back in the day. You know,
he's just using the l A platform too for his advantage.

(26:02):
So you have lived in, born and raised in in
the l A area when you saw this, Like to me,
if you want to meet with Leonardo DiCaprio or you
want to meet with Al Pacino, You're all insanely wealthy.
You all have multimillion dollar mansions. You could bring in
a private chef and the three of you could just
hang out. You could nobody would know that you were

(26:23):
getting together. All of them wanted it to be known
that they were hanging out together. I think, what is
your why when they wouldn't have been in public? Creating
means nothing, nothing's going to happen at what even if
it doesn't will be terrible. But what what happened is
they met in public so people could take pictures and

(26:45):
talk about Lebron and they could continue. Look, this is
great for the NBA. You know, I remember when DeAndre
Jordan's of the Clippers had had Mark Cuban driving laps
around Houston. It was amazing. Slipper's daughter was on a
plane and Paul Pierson the banana boat and the whole deal.
You know, that occupied the media for three weeks when

(27:06):
the NBA wasn't playing. And they're doing it again with
Lebron in l A and it's good for that league.
So tell me this, like, take me inside you. You're
the expert on TMZ sports. I know, but why would
you have a public dinner with DiCaprio and uh and
the people start thinking of you as a Hollywood power player? No, no,

(27:29):
I I totally understand that. But what I mean by
this is when Leonardo DiCaprio leaves the public restaurant, he
is covering his entire face like, oh my god, I
can't be seen. When Lebron leaves, they got that guy
with the white light like flashing it. My thing is,
you knew this was gonna happen. Why not just walk
out like a normal dude and let them take video

(27:49):
of you entering and exiting there, like, what is the
what is the cashe there with? Again, I understand if
you're trying to have a secret meaning like I don't
necessarily want to get videotaped walking in and out of
my house. But if you're going to a public restaurant,
you know everybody's gonna see you there. You know it's
gonna be a story. Why does DiCaprio come out like
Venom from the old school Spider Man, Like he's all
in black covering his face and he gets into a

(28:11):
black car. Same thing with Lebron. I don't understand that
part of it. You clearly want people to know that
you're meeting together. Why would you then be like, oh
my god, I'm not gonna allow him to see my
face when I leave. So you're asking me to think
like Leonardo DiCaprio, Well, I just trying to figure out
like the rationale here if you My My thing was
when I saw this story, they clearly want it known

(28:34):
that they had a power dinner. But why then do
you not want your face to be seen leaving the
power dinner? It's you know, it's it's it's the charade
of of a being a public person. Please love me,
Oh my god, leave me alone. You know, own little
tiny realm. I give out my phone number every year

(28:55):
with the textos a line I call everybody an idiot
for texting me, and then I give out the number
and say don't miss the show, and we give out
the number. You know, I mean, everybody does this kind
of stuff. But it's uh, it's it's the charade or
the uh, the whole going through the motions of being
a celebrity. You know, just like if you're doing a

(29:16):
purp walk and everybody knows it's you that's getting arrested,
you cover your face with your T shirt. Oh, it
is funny even that happens. To know. That's a great point.
We're talking to Petro. How is So let's let's talk
about the Luke Walton angle here. You kind of hinted
at it when when you came on, and I haven't
talked about that on the show at all so far,

(29:36):
but I want to ask you this question in general. Uh.
We obviously saw what happened with David Blatt. We saw
what happened back in the day with uh with with
Spolst where he becomes an overnight Superstar. The minute that
Lebron goes to Miami. Shiver. Oh, totally. Then everything about
their interaction is a story. Ty Lou comes out of

(29:58):
nowhere but becomes the superstar because they're all kind of
in the p number of Lebron's greatness. The newest coach
now is Luke Walton. I find this utterly amazing. Like
Magic Johnson recruits Lebron, Lebron has no interest evidently in
talking to his coach, which immediately lets you know with
the overall power dynamic is going to be here, how
do you think Lebron and Luke Walton are going to

(30:19):
get along? And do you have any kind of knowledge
of what Luke Walton's personality is like in general? Is
this gonna be good or bad for him? Oh? I
know Luke Walton and a lot of people you know
pretty well, our buddies with Luke Walton. He's been around
the South Bay area where I live for a long time,
and he's very popular and very well liked. Now what

(30:42):
does that mean? Nothing? Uh, if Lebron likes him, I
think it's pretty simple. If they have success and they
do well and Lebron likes him, he'll be the guy.
If he doesn't, he won't And if things go wrong,
the first person that's to take the blame is Luke

(31:02):
Walton because Luke Walton was not hired by the Magic
Polinka Dynamic, and Luke Walton never wanted Lonzo Ball. I
don't think and uh, Luke Walton is probably the first
fall guy, but that doesn't mean he's gonna fall. He
is very, very likable and a good guy. So what

(31:23):
is the next Lebron James big story? You just ran
through all the litany of things that have happened. We're
in July, Like, what to you is going to be? Like, Oh,
we can't talk about this in Lebron in l A Like,
is there anything that is a story that you've got? Like,
how much time do you spend on your show right
now talking Lebron? I don't know. I mean we talk
about it. We you know, we talk about it in

(31:44):
the same way I'm talking about it right now. You
know it. We talk about the manufactured media events that
kind of surround him. We talk about the over hype.
We talk about how the hype is pretty legitimate because
it's one of the most popular, if not the most
popular athlete in the history of the Globe, especially because

(32:07):
of the way we cover the guy. Right now, you
know all his movements, so I mean we talk about
it in that regard, and also the big conversation about
whether or not he needs to win championships here to
be successful, which I think is absolutely not true. I
think he's already been successful. I think you're seeing what
Lebron in Los Angeles looks like without the basketball games,

(32:29):
and this is exactly what it is, and it's only
going to be more so. And the Laker games are
going to be celebrity laden even more than they have before.
The tickets will be less affordable for people. Uh, and
then that's going to be the story. Who what celebrity
is he gonna be seen with next? I don't know.
Maybe he's gonna take Justin Bieber and Hayley bald went

(32:50):
out for a congratulations dinner at Fanny's and Redondo Beach. God,
I'm tired of this guy. We're talking to Petrodege at
Petros and Money right, so we have yet to see
really the major collision of constellations which could occur when
LaVar Ball and Lebron James really kind of end up

(33:11):
in a story together now. I think Lavon LaVar Ball
said recently, remember he said some about Lebron's kids brawny. Yeah, yeah, right,
that's exactly right, and he said he beat him one
on one. But I mean, since Lebron has gotten to
l A, I saw where LaVar Ball said me and
Lebron could run Hollywood, which is just an amazing line

(33:33):
from LaVar Ball. How is that going to shake out?
Do you think Alonzo Ball is going to be on
the court as a Laker when we get to October
in the season officially begins. I think so, because I
don't think anybody wants him. Yeah, that's probably without any
kind of basketball actum in Alonzo Ball was overdrafted. Not
that he's not a good player, and not that he

(33:55):
wasn't an intriguing prospect, but if they redrafted, he's not
the number two pick, and I think most all people
would agree on that. And then you have the whole
dynamic of his father and the family and everything Matt brings,
and mostly that is very negative. So I think if

(34:18):
anybody wanted him, they'd have gotten rid of him, you know, Uh,
I don't think they're able to, And I mean forget
the basketball expert part of it. If you're an NBA
G M clay, do you want Lonzo ball and everything
that comes with it? No, I do not want one
Zo ball. By the way, Stewart Mandel just walking into

(34:39):
the room, here I met the SEC Media Days you.
I know you remember our fond days of creating the
greatest college football show of all time. How like at
this point, I do think it's true that there's two seasons.
There's football season and there's waiting for football season. And
a big part of waiting for football season is the
preseason and how crazy everybody goes. Are you even more

(35:02):
giddy now for the startup? Because I to me, the
SEC Media Days is kind of when you start to think, Okay,
we're not too far away to NFL training CAMPC will
open in a couple of weeks. How excited are you
for the return of football? Well, I mean, I do
it for a living. I've had I've lived a football
season every year for a long time as as a

(35:25):
part of it, whether as a broadcaster or a player.
So I guess, uh, I guess I'm excited. I mean
it just kind of happens whether or not I get
excited every year. But I do find the media days
to be uh entertaining, Like the headlines that come out
of the media days, like Jimbo Fisher expects to win.

(35:48):
It's like, yeah, I hope, so, I mean ten million
dollars a year. Uh, little stuff like that is kind
of entertaining, you know, And it's always great to see everybody.
You know, the older I get, the less nervous I
get around all the head coaches, and I feel like I'm,
you know, less being called into the principal's office than
I did when I was twenty three doing the sport.

(36:11):
So I like it. I I've come to enjoy it.
About a decade ago now, I was here and I
asked Tim Tebow if he would save himself if he
was saving himself for marriage, right, And you would have thought,
like I mean, because everybody there's a thousand media members
here and you just kind of hit on it. Nobody
actually says anything and all. That's like today today we're

(36:32):
gonna have Georgia, Old Miss Arkansas and Florida. And it's
not like Dan Mullen is gonna walk in and be like, hey,
I think we're gonna go to in ten and by
the way I've got videotape here that I'm distributing of
Florida State paying players. Right, Like, there's no actual I
don't even know what people would do if there was
actual news that came out of here. It's all like, hey,
we think we're gonna be pretty good. We used to

(36:53):
get some action with Pete Carroll, you know, he would
he come out of media day more like a political platform. Yeah,
some story would leak before it hurt him or help him,
and he'd end up combating it. And one time he
just came up to me at Media Day and started
yelling at me. But that was in the Pac ten days,

(37:14):
when the Pac ten Media Day was was in a
hotel that that almost nobody went to. I mean it
was it was a different time, but you're right, I
mean generally nothing happened. So Steve Spurrier was great here
and he would call it talking season. So Steve Spurrier
was always great with equip and then, um, I think
in some ways it's become so commoditized, Like I will

(37:37):
they have at the College Football Hall of Fame here
in Atlanta where they're actually doing the event, and like
when I finished my show here in about a half hour,
I'll go upstairs. I'll write some but I'll just turn
on the television and I'll watch the interviews, and if
anybody says anything, it immediately gets tweeted out. So it's
like I come here primarily just to say hi to
everybody and see everybody who's gonna be covering college football.

(37:58):
The actual coaches have become secondary. And it used to be.
And you'll remember this, like the coaches would be working
hard to try to get attention, and so they would
come and they would do radio row, and so they
would all walk through and you would meet everybody and
all the players and the coaches, and you get great,
you know, pretty good guests because there's nothing else going
on in a place to gather information. You would get

(38:20):
all your media guides, you would interview people, you'd find
out what was going on. The coaches might tell you
if a guy was hurt or who was going to start.
You'd get an idea for what was going to happen.
Now the information is readily readily available to somebody that
wants to watch it in Zurich, right, So why are
you there? No, that's exactly true. I'm here because they

(38:44):
just basically see I'm basically here to see everybody who
covers college football. I mean, honestly, it's like the Super Bowl.
I mean and in all honestly, I mean, that's the
whole reason for the super Bowl. It's everything that you hate.
Speaking of everything that you hate, did you watch any
the home run derby because it was actually really a
good last night. I saw that Captain America or somebody
that was dressed a lot like him one and Harper

(39:07):
was dressed like Captain America. The kid from the Dodgers, Uh,
is a really amazing story. He's not a rookie, but
he might as well be. And he's one of those
players that this Dodger front off as uh of Andrew
Friedman and far Han Ziety kind of dug out in
the same way they dug out Chris Taylor. Uh. This kid,

(39:29):
Max Munsey was great. You know, he he hit the seventeen.
He's from Fort Worth when he went to Baylor, and Uh,
I thought, I thought it was fun to watch him
go up against one of those big names and kind
of an unknown guy like a Rocky Balboa. And I
thought he had quitted himself really well. Uh. And you
know what Harper is always talking about making baseball more

(39:51):
entertaining and uh, having it be a little more flashy
and uh kind of like Gina Davis in a league
of their own. Maybe he's gonna do the splits when
he makes a catch or something. So I like seeing
him go out there and and clown around and and
be entertaining, you know. And uh, I don't really find
the actual uh logistics of the home run derby or

(40:15):
watching a guy up there doing batting practice a little
harder or whatever. I don't really find that to be
the most interesting athletic feat to watch for an hour
and a half. But I have to say that, you know,
when you watch the highlights, or you watch the end
and the guys all fest stooned in the American flag

(40:35):
and Clay Travis is tweeting the F word, you know
that it's something we all can give me. Are you
going to watch the World Series tonight? The World Series
of what? Sorry? No, no, no sorry? Are you gonna
watch the Major League Baseball All Star Game tonight? The
world said the World Series? I don't have. World Series
of porthole might be going on, the World Series of Poker.

(40:56):
I don't know. You take it on shill Ivy tonight.
I mean, yeah, I can't wait. I got I got
my DVR set already. No, I know what it's like
to be doing a show at a media day play
it's distracting. Uh No, I mean I'll watch it. I'll
watch the highlights all you know. If something happens with
one of the Dodgers, somebody will tell me and I'll
get right on it. But uh is an appointment. There

(41:17):
is no All Star game that I enjoy watching or
seek out to watch. I just don't find them intriguing
at all. How much would I have to pay you
to go watch the new Jurassic Park with me in
the theater? Yeah? Uh? How much you offering? I mean,

(41:38):
I know you have a big lucrative business and you're
always talking about your contracts and your new house and stuff.
I just signed a three year extension. And by the way,
I'm not the kind of guy to brag, but you
and UH and the A M five seventy sports l
A people out there listening right now. Uh, you're a
big part of this. And I actually texted it to you.
But the ratings in l A are up, and I

(42:00):
do think You're a big part of the reason why
this show is doing so well in l A, because
I think people enjoy you getting up and talking about
your your yoga and hating everything early in the morning
as opposed to hating everything in the afternoon. So in
all seriousness, I do appreciate you coming on. But I
took my paying me to see Jurassic Park. No, no,
I was curious what I would have to pay you

(42:20):
because I went to go see Jurassic Park. Five. You
would not for like four grand, you wouldn't go see
Jurassic I just thought I'd go real high. How low
could I go? Five? If I gave you a hundred
bucks and I was in l A, would you go
see Jurassic Park with me? Thousand? Yeah, okay, somewhere between

(42:43):
a hundred and thousand. I think that's valid. It's a
great movie, great summer blockbuster. What's this? We had this
discussion on Friday thirteen that and I know, I mean,
what's gonna happen that hasn't happened in all the other
Jurassic Parks, well, the Jurassic Park and spoiler alert for
everybody out there hasn't seen it yet. The dinosaurs are
off the island. They're now living in America there among
us um tard actyl just on the Pacific Coast Highway.

(43:06):
It's amazing. So uh so we had this discussion on
Friday because it was Friday, obviously, what do you think
the scariest movie of all time is that you've watched
like one that left you and you're like, I don't
know why I'll watched this like this, this one got
and even when you were a kid, is there one
that to you like still kind of like zaps you
when you think about it. Oh, that's a good one.

(43:30):
It's a great movie, too, very upsetting. See my argument
pretty standard. Yeah, those are my arguments to Red White
and Blonde. It's pretty bad. They're making Legally Blonde three right.
I saw Reese Witherspoon tweeted about that the other day.
So now it's legally Blonde, but there's Graham there and

(43:52):
you can't see it. Well, she's got to go back
to law school now, um, and who knows what might
happen the the name of the character and legally Blonde
l L woods L would that's a great day. Yeah,
I'm sorry, I just had to say that. I'm glad

(44:13):
that you're having fun at SEC Media Day, and I'm
glad that the show is doing well, and you're very
sweet to give me a modicum of credit. They do
call me the personal rating Spike. That's my name, that
is you're the Spike. We will talk to you next week. Spike.
Thank you and have fun out there and protect your
neck well, we'll do. Enjoy the new Laker shorts.