Fox Sports Sunday: Steve Hartman & Rich Ohrnberger Talk NBA All-Star Break, Aaron Rodgers, and So Much More!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio all.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Living the dream once again here on a fully loaded
all Star Sports Sunday. This is Fox Sports Sunday and
we are broadcasting live from the ti iraq dot com
studios ti iraq dot com. We're gonna get you there,
an unmatched selection, fast reshipping, free road ads, a protection
over ten thousand recommending installers, tie iraq dot com, the
way tire buying should be.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, Richie here we are.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, by the way, a belated happy birthday to rich Ormberger.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Of course has.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
That difficult birthday for any guy when it's on Valentine's Day,
But hopefully your happy Birtime's Day birthday went well.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, yeah, I did it, definitely did. We had a
neighbor watch the kids so we could do a staycation
and actually get some sleep for a change. When you
have when you have a couple of kids who are
elementary school age or younger, you you value, you absolutely
value sleep. So having a couple of meals without having

(01:06):
to you know, restrain a child or try to order
something that they're gonna like and have it thrown at you,
it was really really nice, very RESTful, and you know
it doesn't sound like because I stepped away from the
sports world for a full twenty four hours and then
just Red recaps, it didn't seem like I missed very much.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
No, you didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
You know, this is obviously We're gonna talk about this
new format for the NBA All Star Game later on today,
and a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Of NBA news to get to.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
But now we haven't put a rap on the NFL season,
and you know we're gonna be talking plenty of NFL
football throughout the year. That does not change. This is
no knock, you know, John Popmaro, this is gonna be
joining us. We're getting ready for spring training games. I'm
so excited about that. As you know, Rich, I spend
much of my week in Phoenix area. I'm going to

(01:59):
be heading out as a fan, right, just go out,
you know, with a couple of buddies, head out to
spring training baseball. Absolutely love it. But the NFL still
rules the sports world, and nothing changes, and we're gonna
have plenty of NFL news to get to. In fact,
let's start with a recap of what happened last week.
It seems longer ago than just last Sunday, Right, the

(02:21):
Super Bowl Game which I had predicted that the Eagles
would win by at least double digits, and.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I wasn't alone.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
I mean Bo Benson, of course, he's an Eagles honk.
He predicted a double digit victory. I know, Chris had
an Eagles victory. You held fast with the Chiefs winning
the game, But I mean, in retrospect, Rich going into
that game, we had said this about the Chiefs all
year long, as they were squeaking out victory after victory.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
This is the worst nine to.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
One team ever, worse ten in one team ever, worse
eleven and one team ever. We kept saying that in
half jest, you know, week after week after week, and ultimately,
as I sat down to watch this game, all I
kept thinking about is I know what my eyeballs are
telling me. The eyeballs have been telling me that the Eagles,
who are you know, peaking now playing their best football

(03:13):
of the year in the postseason, are just a better
looking football team on both sides of the football than
the Chiefs. I mean, in the back of my mind,
I'm like, Okay, maybe the Chiefs do have some kind
of magic where they'd underperform but just find ways to win,
especially when you've rattled off seventeen consecutive one score decisions,

(03:34):
but going and really, as I broke it down over
the two weeks, I never waivered.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I just thought the Eagles are a better team.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, and the fact that they had been to the
super Bowl just two years before, that to me was
the biggest X factor, is that going to the super
Bowl wasn't going to be this overwhelming experience like, oh,
we're at the super Bowl because he had just been there,
So I thought that was the one hurdle to be cleared.
That convinced me that, you know, both teams played to

(04:01):
their highest level. Obviously the Chiefs did not. Eagles are
a better team. But when did you sort of get
the hint watching the game that it was not going
to be the Chief's day.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Well after halftime when they didn't make any noticeable adjustments
to protect Patrick Mahomes better. The issue the entire game
were twofold one. They got behind early, so points and
getting some drives going through the air especially became an obsession.

(04:34):
You know, they attempted to throw the football a lot
in that game, and I understand, like when you get behind,
especially two scores to an offense as powerful as the Eagles.
You got to start putting the ball in there. But
the problem, and the bigger problem of the two problems,
because playing from behind is something the Chiefs are no
strangers too. They've done in the past, they've had success

(04:55):
in the past, but not protecting Patrick Mahomes at all,
I mean through the protection scheme, through just getting beat
in one on one matchups, all across the offensive line,
including the tight ends and running backs. Vic Fanjo, I
give him a ton of credit. He never wavered from
the initial plan, which was we are going to be

(05:16):
better than you with our front four. We're going to
simulate pressure, We're going to drop a lot of players
into his own coverage, and we're going to frustrate the
hell out of you.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
And it worked.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
And credit to the players, because if you don't put
players in an opportunity to win, and you don't have
good enough players, you know you can't get those jobs.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Those type of games won.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
And so the Philadelphia Eagles defense, especially that front seven,
was up to the challenge, and Vic Fanjo's defensive scheme
it positively crushed the Chiefs at every turn.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Offensively, well, I mean, you know, we went in talking
about vic Van djo as a defensive coordinator.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh and eight against Mahomes Mahomes three.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
In all all time going against number one ranked defenses
in the postseason.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
These are absolutes.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Of course, I would counter with the absolute no teams
won three straight Super Bowls. But here's another absolute that
came out of this game.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
So the Egos became.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Only the sixth team in Super Bowl history to never
blitz once the entire game.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yep, and those teams, no surprise, are six to zero.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
I mean, if you can get it done without having
to blitz to put pressure on the quarterback, you're gonna
win every time. Because if you're not winning, then you're
gonna blitz to try to put pressure on the quarterback.
So if you can go through an entire game without
a blitz, you're gonna win the game. And that's exactly
what happened in this game. There's many layers I want
to get too through the course of the show today,
but I want to zero in.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
On one guy right now, and that is Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
So I was asking all you guys last week, and
Bo's not here today. By the way, SHA's here today.
Good to see Shay hanging out, but I will ask
Bo next week. So I was asking you guys about
Jalen Hurts and his stand amongst quarterbacks in the NFL,
and statistically speaking, he doesn't compare with Lamar Jackson or
Josh Allen or Joe Burrow or you know several other quarterbacks.

(07:09):
In fact, you know I asked Bo Benson, mister Eagle,
you know if I go even if I said, well,
let's first second, just fast forward. Let's say the Eagles
win big, and let's say Jalen Hurts has a great game,
maybe even MVP of the game.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Would you trade him straight up for Justin Herbert? And
he goes yes in a heartbeat.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Now I'm going to ask you because you were in
accord with that. I'll just ask it this way. After
what we saw in the super Bowl, after what we've
seen this season, have you readjusted your ranking of where
Jalen Hurts places among current quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
In the NFL? Or that game did not change anything
in your mind?

Speaker 3 (07:54):
That game hasn't changed anything in my mind. But that's
not a slight to Jalen Hurts. I think it's pretty
complimentary to say what I'm about to say about Jalen Hurts.
He is a top ten quarterback without question, and he's
most likely in my top eight. I mean, he is
a tremendous quarterback. He's a quarterback that all but guarantees

(08:19):
you a shot to get to the playoffs every year.
I mean, think about how good that is. Think about
how many teams vie every draft it seems like the
Cleveland Browns historically, or try to acquire free agents, you know,
like the New York Jets just did recently, or you know,
they try to find the correct connection with their quarterback

(08:41):
and their head coach and they're flummixed. They keep screwing
it up. They can't seem to get the right guy. Well,
Jalen Hurts is the right guy for Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
That's a key right there. That is the whole thing,
you see. In other words, right place, right time, right Yeah.
We talk about this all the time. Some of the
greatest quarterbacks of all time, would Joe mont Hannah had
been Joe Montana had he not found.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
The coach Bill Walsh, who.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Recognized what it was that Joe Montana did best and
then insert a system to suit his skills. I mean,
and that is the thing about Jalen Hurts. Is he
a better No, Obviously, he can't throw the football like
these other quarterbacks, that is obvious. But for this team,
he is the leader of this team. And give him

(09:27):
credit because the way that team collapsed last year. You know,
we thought, you know, Sirianni had lost this team. Maybe
Jalen Hurts had lost this team. But you know, and
Sirianni deserves a lot of credit, but I think Jalen
Hurts deserves even more because I believe Jalen Hurts got
that team back on track.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Here's the quarterbacks who I would put in front of
Jalen Hurts. And I'm curious if there's anybody out there
who vehemently disagrees with me. But the list is kind
of the normal, ordinary, you usual suspects that you would assume.
It's Joe Burrow, it's Lamar Jackson, it's Josh Allen, It's

(10:06):
Patrick Mahomes, even though he just beat Patrick Mahomes in
this game. I think he's a better quarterback with a
better skill set. Justin Herbert. I put him ahead of
Matthew Stafford, all these players. I think if the Eagles
had any of those six quarterbacks, I just named at quarterback.
They would be a better team with them than they
would be with Jalen Hurts. They have a better skill set,

(10:29):
They see more, they can do more in this game
just based on that skill set. Now, are they as
winning of quarterbacks in certain cases? No, but are they
more talented? And in my opinion, if Jalen Hurts was
replaced with any of those, yeah, I think they would
be better in that system. Also, here's another thing, is

(10:50):
you start you start thinking about his comps, like as
we get further down the list, like, all right, who
are the guys who it would be about? Even if
you replace Jalen Hurts with I mean, Jared Goff has
to be in that conversation all of a sudden, Jaden Daniels.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
I might put him ahead. I might put him ahead
with a bullet, but.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
He's got to be in that conversation if you take
him over Jalen, Like Jalen Hurts is a top ten
quarterback and that's no shade Like he is he outside
of my top six?

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Yeah? Maybe is he just inside my top eight? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Okay, But does that make him a bad quarterback by
no stretch of the imagination. This is a guy who's
been to two Super Bowls over the past three years,
and he won one against arguably one of the greatest
dynasties the NFL has ever seen. So I don't think
that's shade. I think that's just an accurate appraisal of
where Jalen Hurts is at in his career at this point.

(11:45):
That opinion can change if he continues to improve.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well again, it's you know, when you're in the court
like Bart's Star.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
I mean, I'll go old school with you, right.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Bart Star won five NFL championships, including the first two
Super Bowls. No one confused Bart's for Johnny and IIIs
or Sonny Jurgenson or.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
A lot of the great throwing quarterbacks of the era.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
He never threw more than sixteen touchdown passes in a season,
but he was a guy that ran the offense and
he was the right quarterback for the Lombardy system. Tom Brady,
early in his career rattling off Super Bowls, was not
considered one of the elite quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
He wasn't making Pro Bowls, you know it.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
I mean at that point, Peyton Manny was clearly a
better quarterback.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Some people have had Steve McNair was a.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Better quarterback, you know, but later on he developed into
more of a prolific passing quarterback and started getting the
recognition later on. So look, I don't think Jalen Hurts
gives a rats ass about anyone's opinion about where he
ranks among quarterbacks. What he cares about is winning championships,
and now he has won his first championships, So congratulations

(12:50):
to him.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
All right.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
On the other side, so.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Looking forward to the Chiefs, is their dynasty over or
can it continue? In you with maybe a little tweaking,
I'm gonna ask Rich about two of the biggest names
and their future with this organization.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
This is Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 5 (13:11):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Steve Harvin, Rich Harnberger. Here Fox Sports Sunday. We are
live from the Tairaq dot com studios.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yes, we will talk about.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
The newly formatted NBA All Star Games coming up later
on today, but right now we're we're going to.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Talk some NFL because we got a lot of catching
up to do.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
In the aftermath of the Eagles domination of the Kansas
City Chiefs in Super Bowl fifty nine. So this, I mean,
it really is pretty amazing how fortunes can turn on
a single game. Suddenly I'm hearing people overreacting.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Which is no.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
I mean, I've been guilty of it myself a few
times certainly over the years.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's crazy. But the overreaction about the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Loss and the way they lost, you know, you're hearing like, well,
now you can officially take Mahomes out of the conversation
of the goat because the two worst losses of his
career were in the Super Bowl. He got humiliated twice
in a Super Bowl, so he's out of the conversation.
I'm like, really out of the conversation. Seven years as

(14:29):
a starting quarterback, seven trips to the AFC Championship Game,
five trips to the Super Bowl, three Super Bowl wins,
three Super Bowl MVPs, two regular season MVPs, and he's
out of the conversation. I'm sorry, I'm missing something there.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
I mean, I'm hearing that.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Here's another one, but two guys that want to ask
you about Let's start with any Reid people that I know
and have respected over the years. Went so far to
say it's over for a coach that, by the way,
guided his team to five Super Bowls over the last
six years.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
It is over Andy Reid. Move aside.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
That is the most ludicrous comment I've ever heard by
any person that I have respect for. I mean, you
talk about overplaying or trying to push a button or something.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Would that make any sense to you? Right now? For
the Chiefs to.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Fire Andy Reid and bring in someone else as a
replacement with the idea of losing super Bowls cannot be tolerated.
We need someone to be put in that could actually
win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
No, that would be ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
It would be a steep overreaction to what amounts to
one really bad outing for the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean,
this is a team that showed great composure amid a
very distracting two season stretch. I mean, think about what
the Kansas City Chiefs have accomplished over the past two seasons.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
After trading away Tyreek Hill. They win their.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
Second consecutive Super Bowl and during that it was the
first year of the Taylor the Taylor Swift era.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Well wait a second, they won the last two Super
Bowls without Tyreek Hill.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Excuse me, you're absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
So they got rid of Tyreek Hill.

Speaker 4 (16:20):
And then one back to back.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, I mean, if we want to include the past
three seasons, we can, but I guess, I guess over
a more narrow span, they they withstood insane distractions from
the outside media over the course of last season with
the whole Travis Kelcey Taylor Swift pairing, and and look,
as much as anybody wants to say, like hey, that

(16:44):
that doesn't really matter.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
That's all on the outside. Are you kidding me?

Speaker 3 (16:48):
One of your best players, a future Hall of Famer
on your roster, all of a sudden, has a girlfriend
who is splashing his face all around the world.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
Because of his ties to her.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
He is literally on his bye week going down to
if you remember, he went international to go visit one
of her performances. This was during the twenty twenty three season,
prior to them winning the twenty twenty four Super Bowl,
and Andy Reid was able to keep all that together
and get the job done for the second consecutive time.
And then they start this season and obviously there is

(17:23):
still a world of distractions out there. Can they three peat.
Is this going to be the dynasty that begins to
topple Tom Brady and all of his accomplishments with the Patriots?
You know, there's so much pressure. They go out and
they win fifteen games? Are you kidding me?

Speaker 4 (17:42):
Now? Don't get me wrong.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
They didn't win the Super Bowl and there has to
be some hard questions answered over this offseason. How do
we get better from here? But to suggest for a
second that Andy Reid doesn't deserve to keep his job
is ludicrous.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
I mean, they come on, this is apps absurd and
we don't know what life after Andy Reid is going
to look like. For Patrick Mahomes, I mean, it's working
right now. Obviously did not work on Super Bowl sun
I mean, that's the amazing stat of that game. The
Eagles had more points in the first half than the
Kansas City Chiefs had total yards, twenty four to twenty three.

(18:20):
You talk about domination. All right, So we're on the
same page with Andy Reid at.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Least for the near future. Let's talk about Travis Kelcey
for a second.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Sure, Okay, his demeanor on that field was completely out
of whack. You know, he'd had the one really good
playoff game. They didn't use them much against Buffalo, but
people really didn't notice the fact that the first two
passes to him, although not great passes, were passes he

(18:52):
usually would catch. Those are drops at least by Travis
Kelce's level. And then we had that weird play where
Mahomes was scrammling around, you know, fighting for his life,
actually ended up getting in a few positive yards running
and the entire time Kelsey was just watching. He wasn't
trying to block anybody, he wasn't trying to get open.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
He just watched.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
And when you see something like that happen on the
biggest stage for someone of the caliber of Travis kelcey,
you can't walk away with that and not say this
guy is checked out. You know, he's had a Hall
of Fame Curry, He's a first ballot Hall of Famer.
He's on a very short list of the greatest tight
ends to ever play this game.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
But we said this throughout the season, he's got to
be sort of.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Envious of his brother Jason, who's become this absolute commercial darling.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
And you know what, Jason Kelsey showed.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
I don't need Travis to be a star of my own, right,
I don't need to be, you know, dating the world's
most famous pop star to be a star. Right, Jason
Kelsey alone has become a star, a major star in commercials,
on the televisivision stage, in football. He hasn't needed Travis,

(20:12):
And so if you're Travis Kelcey, you're like okay. In fact,
I have some suggestions that some people have been thrown
out at me. But what was your thought of the
whole Travis Kelcey show, so to speak at Super Bowl
fifty nine.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Well, I don't think very much about it at all.
And also in terms of Jason's Jason's stardom, I think
it was associated with the fact that he obviously was
one of the best players, most important players on one
of the best teams in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
But he was an offensive lineman.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
He was an offensive lineman though, but he zoomed to
the top of the NFL zeitgeist because when his personality
was shown off, everybody is like interested in him because
he's a genuinely interesting guy and he has fun things
to say, and he's got this tremendous personality and he's
become a media persona. Now do I think that, in

(21:13):
some ways, was his stardom aided by the fact that
his brother was dating the biggest pop star.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
On the planet.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
And then all of a sudden, all of the fans
of Taylor Swift, along with their husbands or whoever, wanted
to learn a little bit more about the Kelsey family
and Jason, his brother plays the same sport. Yeah, I
do think that helped, but he is a star in
his own right. But getting back to Travis kelce I
don't think that Travis Kelcey was overwhelmingly distracted this season.

(21:42):
I don't think that Travis Kelcey. Again, I don't think
that we can judge Travis Kelce's season last year on
just one game or his effort during one play in
the Super Bowl. I think that Travis Kelcey's work speaks
for itself. I think that he is still one of
the best tight ends in the NFL, and he wants

(22:02):
to return next season. Well, I think he should, but
I think that is a fiercely independent and personal decision
that he needs to make. I mean, I was talking
about this yesterday Steve on Fox Sports Radio. Retiring is
like mourning a death when you're an NFL football player,

(22:22):
I had to go through it all football players will.
Eventually you truly feel like you're losing someone or something
so close to you that you feel alone all of
a sudden, Like it truly is that deep of a connection.
If you truly love the game, that you feel and
then when when you have to leave the game, that

(22:45):
you mourn. And so if Travis Kelsey is mulling retirement,
there's got to be a lot of emotions here. There's
got to be a lot of feelings here. In terms
of his Super Bowl performance, was it his best? Not
even close? Was it the Chiefs obviously not even close?
But am I concerned that if he returns to the

(23:05):
Chiefs roster for twenty twenty five, like this team is
markedly worse at tight end?

Speaker 4 (23:10):
No, I think they.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Probably still have a top five, if not at least
a top ten tight end, which is top third of
the NFL in Travis kelcey. And you can win a
lot of football games if you have a lot of
players of that ilk on your roster.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
All right, On the other side, I have a proposal
as an alternative for Travis kelce But first let's.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
Find out what is trending right now. Hi, Manci. Hello,
how are you?

Speaker 6 (23:39):
Oh, you know, just dandy. Happy belated birthday, Rich.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
Oh, thank you so much, thank you. Thanks.

Speaker 6 (23:44):
I am glad to hear you got some sleep. Yeah,
that's good. No, I hear you.

Speaker 7 (23:49):
I don't have kids, and I love my sleep, so
I can't imagine how much.

Speaker 6 (23:54):
More you love it.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
I can just having been through the experience it. Rich
is going to.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Now with three kids less yeah, and in many years
of limited sleep, yeah, none. It's really good to have
good sleep again. And I have when they become adults.
I know, Rich, it seems endless like it just like
ground hogs, day day after day after day after day.
Eventually it will change. They will sleep and you will sleep.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, it'll be phenomenal.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
Yes, So look forward to that, Rich, is what he's saying.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
Look forward to that.

Speaker 7 (24:26):
We've got a couple of men's college hoops games going on,
and one of them is in overtime, Number fourteen Memphis
and Wichita State, which is up Wichita State eighty two
to seventy nine with nineteen seconds to go in overtime.
Memphis is going to get the ball back here. I
know Memphis does have the ball back. I believe here,
but we're just not State is up early in then

(24:47):
oh halfway through the second half, number twenty Michigan and
Ohio State are actually tied at sixty five. In women's
college hoops, it has been number seven Yukon all over
number four South Carolina this entire game, seventy five forty
nine is a score. About seven minutes to go in
the game. The Daytona five hundred officially underway. You can
catch all the auction on Fox TV. Very early, just

(25:08):
eleven laps in. Austin Syndric is in the lead, tight,
Dylan is falling back behind. And then in the final
round of the Genesis Invitational, Patrick Rogers is officially teed off.
He was at the top of the leaderboard eight under par.
He is now even through this through his first hole,
so still at eight under par. Scottie Scheffler never doubt

(25:28):
that man. He is now just three shots back. He
is through five holes at five under par. Overall.

Speaker 6 (25:34):
Okay, back to you guys, All.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Right, Monsey, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Great Monsey beligns Superstar, Superstar, Superstar. Once again, we are
Fox Sports Sunday, and we are alive from the tay Iraq.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Dot com Studios.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
All right, let me give you an alternative for Travis
kelcey if he is still contemplating, I mean, he's making it.
He wants to come back, obviously, he doesn't want to
walk off the field a loser. But as we all know,
there's no guarantee you're going to walk off the field
a winner.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's just no guarantee.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
And only one team's ever played in four straight Super Bowls,
and that would be the Buffalo Bills, who lost all four.
So it's gonna be a tough road ahead for the
Chiefs because you know that the Ravens and the Bills
and the Bengals are all waiting for them down the stretch.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Maybe the Chargers as well.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
But if I look at the landscape from a broadcasting standpoint,
the Kelsey Brothers, based on the numbers of their podcast.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
Rule the World.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Kelsey's are hot, Yes, yeah, the Mannings are not.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
So you know this alternative broadcast of Monday Night Football
with Peyton and Eli Manning.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
I don't know if you noticed this, Rich they weren't
even on every week this year. They actually had days
where they weren't even onond.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
That's always been a part of the deal.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yes, I think it's frankly more to do with the
commitment on their.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
Side, exactly my point.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
In other words, I think Manning.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Broadcast it's played its course. I don't know about you, Rich.
I remember we were together when it debuted, uh and
that first year we were watching, right, it was curious, Oh,
how this because a lot of people were actually believing that, hey,
we're going to get two of the great quarterbacks breaking
down x's and o's. But it's sort of now just
you know, they bring on a guest and they talk
a little bit, and you're not really watching the game.

(27:29):
I mean, you know, it's sort of like, well, I
actually want to watch the gate right, you know, and
instead of you know, the bs going on with the
Manning brothers and whoever they have on their show, it's
when it's course. I mean, I think that the Mannings
are out, the Kelsey's are in. How about that? How
about if you really want to have an alternative broadcast
right now?

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Do you believe the Kelsey brothers would be more entertaining
than the Manning brothers.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
Hmm? Do I think they would be more entertaining? I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Entertainment business otherwise, why am I watching?

Speaker 4 (28:02):
I don't. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
If you think the Mannings are entertaining right now, why
last time you watched them?

Speaker 4 (28:07):
I do think they're entertaining.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
I flip, I flip around, I watch I'm I'm more
of a traditionalist when I watch football. I prefer I
prefer a normal uh broadcast. However, I will say this,
when they have an interesting guest on right where somebody
who's going to join in, I'll be like, Oh, wow,
that's you know, that's a I Sometimes it's a strange

(28:31):
guest that I wouldn't expect to appear on a broadcast,
like an actor or a comedian or something like that.
Or it's you know, a former coach or a former
player who I'm interested in hearing their thoughts about a
game that's going on. I'll flip over to the Manning cast.
So and by the way, also, I found myself enthralled
and entertained at times with the broadcast they do, and

(28:53):
the numbers back it up. I mean, they're getting millions
of people's tuning in to watch that broadcast.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Kelsey's we get more.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Well, they're hot, the Kelseys are hot, But you're asking
a specific question, do I think they would do a
better job in the answer is I have no idea.
I have no idea because it is a very specific
skill set.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, aren't they more relatable to the younger demographic?

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Well you tell me, Steve.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
I mean the Eli Manning was the last to retire,
and what was the year that he finally hung up
the football cleats.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Well that was twenty nineteen season.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Okay, I mean Travis Kelcey obviously wouldn't be able to
do this yet unless he announced his retirement.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
But you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Well, I'm just saying I'm giving him an alternatively. I say,
all right here, if you retire, along with all the
other you know, countless promotional opportunities you would get, just
like your brother Jason had his first year out of football.
We're going to give you and Jason an opportunity because
of the huge success of your podcast it's one of
the top ten podcasts in the country, an opportunity to

(29:58):
replace the Manning brothers by doing whatever you guys want
to do as an alternative Monday Night Brobs.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Why why replace them? Here's my thought.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Since the Manning brothers are successful doing what they do
and by the way they have their own production company.

Speaker 4 (30:13):
That is right.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I'm not saying the Mannings would go away now and
they could do their own stuff.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
But what if, and this isn't beyond this isn't a
leap of logic, especially in today's day and age, Like
what happened if Jason and Travis started their own production
company and then if they haven't already, I don't know,
and then they had a companion broadcast on Monday Night
football in the weeks that the Manning brothers didn't broadcast,
you know, and.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
They split up the season.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
Hey we'll do nine games, you guys do eight games,
and then we'll switch next year. And there's always an
alternative Monday night broadcast, and sometimes it's the Manning brothers
and sometimes it's the Kelsey brothers.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
I'm just saying, in this.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
World now, there has been this explosion of choices for
all of us. You can stream any show at any
time time. There's I mean a million different streaming services,
whether it be for audio or video or both. Like,
you have options. And so I think comparison is often

(31:14):
the thief of joy. And I think sitting here and
comparing Peyton Manning and Eli Manning to Travis and Jason
kelce It sort of robs you of the greater point,
which is they're all talented people, and they obviously all
have an audience, and so why do we need to choose?

Speaker 1 (31:31):
All right, well, let me ask you this.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
If Travis Kelcey were to reverse course and make a
decision that he is retiring immediately from the National Football League,
because I remember when Tyreek Hill ended up in Miami
and so well that's the end of Kansas City. Because
my reasoning was, you had to pick your poison back
in the day. Either we're going to go all in

(31:55):
to try to stop or slow down Tyreek Hill, or
we're going to try to stop Travis Kelcey. All of
a sudden, you take Tyreek Hill out of the equation,
you become one dimensional. And the Chief's answer to that
was winning back to back Super Bowls. So if they
were if he were to retire, yeah, immediately, what kind
of impact would that have on the Chiefs?

Speaker 1 (32:15):
What kind of impact would that have on Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
If Travis Kelcey were to retire.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Immediately immediately, I think first.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
And foremost, his like say he announced his retirement to day,
you know, all of a sudden, Travis Kelce's out. I
think what it would do is it would give the
Chiefs a longer off ramp from the Travis Kelcey era
and find a way to replace his production. You know,
whether it means, hey, we're going to work a trade

(32:44):
or we're going to really turn our focus towards tight
ends in this upcoming draft. If they feel like there's
a suitable replacement somewhere in college football right now who's
ready to make the jump to the pros, I think
it would be helped, is the way I would answer
that question. Because knowledge is power. If you don't have

(33:05):
the knowledge of his decision, and I think that's the
reason why the Chiefs put him on the clock. They said, hey,
you've got a month to decide. We need an answer
by mid March, which I believe is the start of
the new league year, whether or not you're going to
be part of this team. And there may be some
incentives also tied to his contract if he is on
the roster after March fourteenth, So that could be the

(33:27):
reason why they made that a deadline as well. But
I think it's only fair for Travis Kelcey to make
that decision sooner rather than later. But also I think
it's fair for the Chiefs to give him some time
to muld the decision. And so I imagine shortly after
the Super Bowl they sat down with Travis or called

(33:48):
him and said, Hey, this is what we're thinking. We
understand you're in a really unique situation where you can
play and we would love you to play, or you
can retire and you'd retire a Hall of Famer. It's
up to you. We're gonna give you until the fourteenth
of March. Please please please get back to us before then. Travis,
thanks so much, and he obliged because I think they

(34:09):
have a good working relationship. So to answer your question,
if I didn't already, I think what would happen in
the immediate aftermath of Travis Kelcey retiring would be the
Chiefs would get to work finding a way to replace
a Hall of Famers production, which is a tall task.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, good luck, And I always the reason I asked
that is I remember this after the twenty eighth season.
A twenty eighteen season when New England beat the Rams,
who win their third Super Bowl in five years. Gwank
retired the next year without him, the Patriots are one
and done in the playoffs, and then a year after
that he reunites with Tom Brady and Tampa and they

(34:48):
win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
I think that we can.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Always talk about quarterbacks and wide receivers, but when you
have a quarterback and a special tight end.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
That's your safety guy.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah yeah, I mean there there is that connection.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
I've seen it time and time again.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
When great quarterbacks have an elite tight end, it's like that.
It's like that blanket, that safety blanket. Uh, and now
all of a sudden they're gone. It can make a
big difference.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
All right.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Coming up on the other side, we got another quarterback
we're going to be talking about, and he is far
removed from any Super Bowl competition or conversation.

Speaker 1 (35:30):

Speaker 2 (35:33):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio Steve Harbin and
Rich Honberger.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Here Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
We are live from the Tyraq dot Com studios. Got
the Daytona five hundred rain delay happens almost every year.
I cover that two years in a row, was pouring
rainbow times I was there, and then we got the
NBA All Star Games.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
We'll get to that a little bit. Later on in
the show. Oh so John Balm morose, Rich, it's going
to be joining us later? Is that right?

Speaker 2 (36:04):
I hear JP is going to be a Ritchie. Hello, Rich, Yeah,
they don't know where she is. Okay, Well that's okay. Uh.

Speaker 8 (36:16):
He just texted me he's got trouble with the comrades,
So try to get him back here pretty soon.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
All right, very very good.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Well, the guy that I was I'm going to talk
about with Rich is a guy that we're sort of
waiting on, and that is Aaron Rodgers, who, according to
reports now and this probably is a little overplayed, but
you know, was begging the Jets to keep him around.

(36:42):
I don't know about begging.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
But we did say this.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
As soon as the season ended, Aaron Glenn obviously hired
as a new coach. They're, you know, they try to
get back on track, the Jets. So they're not going
to sit around and wait for Aaron Rodgers to you know,
all spring, all summer, you know, in September and finally
say yeah, I'm ready to play.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
That was never going to happen.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Jets needed an immediate answer on the future of Aaron Rodgers,
and then they pretty much made up their own mind
about Aaron Rodgers, and I think it was the right
decision that we need to clean the slate and move
on and go in a different direction. I don't know
how it's going to work for the Jets, but at
least it makes sense moving forward. I'll tell you what

(37:26):
doesn't make sense moving forward if you're Aaron Rodgers is
to sign on with a team that has no hope
of winning a Super Bowl. When you think about it,
when Aaron Rodgers left Green Bay and ended up with
the Jets, at the time, it made some sense. The
Jets were deemed to have one of the better defenses
in the NFL, and they had some young, skilled players

(37:49):
that were promising, and all you really needed was a quarterback.
And now you're going to bring in a quarterback that
was just two years removed from being the league's MVP.
So on paper, it made a lot of sense. And
then unfortunately, very first game, four plays into the season,
blown Achilles. Aaron Rodgers is out, and I think time
passed Aaron Rodgers by and what we saw a year

(38:11):
ago wasn't working. But if you're Aaron Rodgers and the
only reason that you played for the Jets was the
opportunity to get back to the Super Bowl, which at
the time it was possible. Right, A lot of people
out there were predicting, Oh, yeah, with Aaron Rodgers, the
Jets are very much in the super Bowl. Conversation seems

(38:32):
crazy now because obviously they're not.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
But why would Aaron Rodgers, let's say, sign on with
the Raiders. It doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
If the only reason he still wants to play is
to win another Super Bowl or at least have an
opportunity to get back to the Big Game. If it's
just that, well, I can make another twenty thirty million dollars. Okay,
well that's fine, but just say it.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Just just come clean, right.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
The reason I'm extending my career is is that nobody
can pay me the kind of money I can make
being a starting quarterback in the NFL. That is an
honest answer, and that would be the only reason I'm
hoping that Aaron Rodgers decides that it is over. Oh

(39:28):
we only have a few seconds here, Rich, So you've
heard my dietribe here about Aaron Rodgers. And again I
got the whole Jets thing. At the time, it appeared
the Jets could be a serious contender with a quality
quarterback like Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
But why would he sign with the Raider?

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Why would he sign with any team just to pick
up a paycheck? Wouldn't be going the opposite of why
he said it. He wanted to extend his career, which
was to have an opportunity to win another Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
I think he looked at the Jets roster when he
originally asked for his trade from Green Bay and said,
this team's ready to win. They had a top ten
defense and they had a great offense, and they needed
a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
We'll hold it right there, hold it right there. We'll
get more on that coming up. Plus the NBA All
Star Games. This is Fox Sports Sunday, all right, rolling
along here on this All Star Sunday. Fox Sports Sunday
were broadcasting live from the tire rack dot Com studios.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Tyre roight dot com going to.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Get you there, and I'm Matt Selection, fast free shipping,
free road assid protection, over ten thousand recommended installers tire
rack dot com the way tire buying should be. Actually
two major events in sports today. One is the NBA
All Star Games. We'll get to that new format in
a moment, and also the Daytona five hundred. You know,

(40:47):
NASCAR is the only sport whose biggest event is the
first event of the year. So imagine the NFL starting
the season with the Super Bowl and then playing the
rest of the schedule.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
That's how NASCAR has always done it. So their marquee.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Event, the Daytona five hundred, is the first event of
the year, which is an interesting way to play it.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
It's like the way I would equate it is Opening
Day in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
Is a big deal to a lot of sports fans because.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Where it's slated, obviously, is in a little bit of
a dead zone in terms of sports and sports interest,
and so it's really nice to have an excuse to
get out to an arena, stadium, or in this case,
a ballpark. With NASCAR, it's not shocking that their biggest
race is the first of the year, but it is
kind of an interesting way to propel you into a season,

(41:43):
and you know where they're going to run almost twenty races.
To have the one with the most acclaim happen first
is a little odd.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
But yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
The funny thing about the Daytona running into the same
weekend as the All Star Game. I really I struggle
with this because, like obviously, there's a lot of auto
racing fans out there. It's not a niche that I
ever paid close enough attention to speak intelligently about.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
But I certainly have.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
Paid attention to pro basketball closely over my entire life.
If you ask me what I'd be more interested in
watching today the Daytona knowing nothing about auto racing really
other than how it works, you know, or basketball because
All Star games are on, I would tell you that Daytona.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
Because All Star Game. It's lost me completely. It has
no bearing on my life whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
All Right, well, I'm going to try to break it
down why you might be interested in the new format.
But I'm going to say that for a moment here,
as far as Daytona's concerned, I had the good fortune
of being there in both two thousand and nine and
twenty ten when Chris Myers and I were doing our
national show together. Of course, Chris so with NASCAR, He's
been leading the Fox coverage for decades now. As far

(43:04):
as NASCAR is concerned, I will say this, when you
look at the track in Daytona and it's it's an
insane event. I mean, you do right, thousands and you
got all these campers there. It's an unbelievable scene at
the Daytona five hundred. But you never really get the
perspective of the incline of that track. I mean it's

(43:26):
unreal the banking, Like literally, Rich, if you were at
the base of the track, you would not be able
to climb up that track.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
I've been.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
It's such an incline that it's there's no way without
putting your hands.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
On the ground that you could walk up. It is insane.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
I've been at Brickyard in Indianapolis and.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
It's more than way more than that.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
But what I'm saying is like, even if it's steeper,
it's the same effect where you're you're looking at and
you're like, how do these cars even stay on the road.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Yeah, because they've got to.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Be doing speeds in act of one hundred miles an
hour just to make that term without falling inward back
toward the middle of the track.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
It's really really steep.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
You can't see it well.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
It's sort of like the undulation of the greens, like
when you watch The Masters. Yep, you know the greens
look you know, on TV fairly flat. And then you actually,
when people will talk about this at Augusta National, there
is no flat outside of the T box. There's no
flat spot on the entire course, not in the fair ways,
not on the greens. It's no flat. But you can't

(44:33):
see that on TV. It's crazy stuff.

Speaker 5 (44:35):
All right.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
I want to go back because you were just embarking
on your conversation about Aaron Rodgers the point I'm making
about Aaron Rodgers and his future in the NFL, And
yesterday I was talking to Adam Kaplan. I said, you know,
two teams that potentially might have been a spot for
him would have been the forty nine Ers if they
didn't buy into Brock Party, or maybe the Vikings if

(44:57):
they didn't buy into Sam Darnold. But appears Rock Party
will be back, and the Vikings seemingly do want Sam
Darnold will return. Those are teams that you know would
definitely be in the conversation of a possible run to
a Super Bowl. But the Raiders, I mean some of
these teams that people are talking about, why would Aaron
Rodgers do that? Outside of well, it's a paid.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Check, yeah, why would he do it? Let's put it
this way, if Aaron Rodgers has enough self confidence and
trust in his abilities. We've seen this before where a
team looks pretty desperate and then all of a sudden
they renovate the roster a little bit, they get a
competent quarterback and things start to improve or they dramatically improve.

(45:43):
We've seen that before, and we've seen it with veteran quarterbacks.
It's not unprecedented in the NFL now in terms of
Aaron Rodgers doing it at this stage in his career
with the Las Vegas Raiders or any team Frankly, who's
in that range where you know they're low on the
list of making a run into the playoffs or even

(46:03):
making a deep run into the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
Yeah, I don't think he would be very interested in that.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
How about the Steelers.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
The Steelers are interesting from this standpoint. It's a consistent.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Culture with a winning philosophy and a head coach who
has led this team to a five hundred plus or
excuse me, a plus five hundred season every year of
his coaching career. So you can guarantee at least that's
the line right. Hold that line right, and then what
can I add to it? If Aaron Rodgers thinks that

(46:34):
he can add enough to get them over the top
and endto the playoffs and maybe win a couple of
games for a change here, because recent history reflects that
the Steelers struggle even if they get to the playoffs
to win a game, then yeah, the Steelers could be
an option. Here's the funny thing about Aaron Rodgers, though,
I don't think.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
He is just going to be.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
What's the word satisfied with just any team or any situation.
I don't know if the steel are going to be
an attractive enough option. I don't know if the Raiders
are going to be. I'm curious if he doesn't take
a year and like almost like a gap year like
we've seen other.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Take another year off.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Yeah, oh, come on, now, then that he's done, Richie,
you keep hanging on to this delusion that somehow Aaron
Rodgers is still an upper echelon quarterback.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
He is not. Oh I didn't say that he is.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
He could take off another year and then return at
age forty three.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
I'm saying this.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
I'm saying if there isn't a good enough option out
there for Aaron Rodgers to take, I mean, look at
Joe Flacco. That guy came off of the couch and
he helped lead Brown's team into a playoff win.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Well how about this month yesterday?

Speaker 3 (47:46):
My point is like, if Aaron Rodgers is on the
couch and he gets a phone call from a team
who right, she said.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah, you know be Joe Flacco. Yeah, that would I
would agree. That would make some sense. By the way,
be sure to check out Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel
a ton of your great videos many of our Fox
Sports Radio shows.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Just sertch Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
You can see a whole bunch of video highlights from
our shows and then subscribe so you can always have
instant access to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube.
All right, So I'm watching NBA coverage right now. They
have this annual Retired Players Association luncheon. Ernie you know,

(48:30):
does the m scene and they're parading out some of
the legends of the game. They had Oscar robertson on.
They have Rick Barry talking right now. They also had
an immemorium, you know, legendary basketball figures that have passed
away in the last year and the last two they
showed just hit me like a ton of bricks. Bill

(48:51):
Walton and Jerry West. I mean it's just these are
people I knew. I mean, in Jerry West situation, completely idolized.
I mean he was my He was my number one
sports idol growing up as a kid because basketball was
a sport I played best as a kid, and I
idolized Jerry West, who was the biggest start of the league.

(49:12):
I mean they had Wilt, they had Gayil Goodrich, they
had all these great players, but Jerry was the guy.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
And then of course Bill Walten No.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
I hated when he was at UCLA, just hated, but
then obviously got to know Bill over the years and
absolutely fell in love with this man.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
I don't know, just it's always tough, those immemoriams.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
This sort of reminds you as you get older, especially
you're just the people you grew up with, and you know.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Rich, I hate to tell you, you're.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
Pushing level four. Yeah, you're getting close closed in. Does
that even set in with you, like, you know, as
you get a little bit older, just remember this when
you were in high school, right, because you just had
your thirty ninth birthday. So you're you're in high school
and you're introduced to a thirty nine year old. Uh huh,
they might as well will have been a hundred right.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
Oh dude, I just spoke to a middle school kid
who my wife asked him to guess my age because
he's a buddy of one of my son's friend's neighbor whatever,
and he goes a fifty five idiot.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
It doesn't it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Like when you're a kid. Yeh, everyone's old. Anybody older
than you is old.

Speaker 4 (50:19):
You know.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
So it's but listen, I hear what you're saying, and
I think it's a part of every sports fan's life.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
At a certain point you get a little.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Misty eyed about absolutely yesteryear and the pros and the
greats from your time as a kid, and that's your era.
I mean, there will be a time, and I don't
think soon, but like where Michael Jordan fans are going
to mourn a great loss, you know it's going to be,
you know, I mean, unfortunately, tragically many Laker fans and

(50:52):
Kobe Bryant fans suffered that loss and mourn that loss
a lot sooner than is really necessary or fair. But
but yeah, like it's it's kind of it's kind of
a thing, like there's seasons of sports, and as these
seasons pass, I think we take for granted, uh maybe
some of the greatness that we've gotten to observe over

(51:13):
the over the past years. Because the beautiful thing about
sports is you can remember the greats or you could
wrap your arms around the current greats, because you know,
all records are made to be shattered. You know, all
championships are made to be you know, one by you know,
a new up and comer.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
You know, dynasties are challenged.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Everything has challenged because we don't nothing's predictable in sports.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
Here here's the here's the amazing thing.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
As as mournful as I am with the passing, the
legends I grew up with tuup basketball's greatest legends whose
careers precede me watching NBA basketball, are still very much alive.
Bob Coosey is ninety six years old. Yeah, and Bob Bettett,
the first man to get to twenty thousand career votes,

(52:02):
is ninety two years old. So God bless them, God
bless them. Two of the earliest superstars, I mean superstars
of the NBA, the first two NBA players to both
make First Team All NBA ten times in their career.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
That's when they still alive.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
They shot foul shots underhand into peach baskets, and they
all wore linen suits and.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Bowler hat is what they did back in the day.
It's a much different game, all right. Coming up on
the other side, all right, let's try to make some
sense of this new All Star game format. I'm gonna
explain it to Rich because he he sort of already
dismissed it without really understanding. I think what's at stake
today and whether it's gonna work or not, we'll find out.
But we're going to try to explain what they'll do

(52:44):
as the new format for the NBA All Star now games.

Speaker 1 (52:49):

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Steve Harman and or Rich Armbager, Fox Sports Sunday. We
are live from the tire Raq dot Com studios. All right,
let me preface by saying that it is sad for
someone that remembers when the NBA All Star Game actually
was a legitimate game where the best players on the

(53:13):
planet actually tested each other to see how great they
were against the other great players. I mean that to
me alone should be enough incentive, right, I mean, you're
one of the obviously elite players in the league, and
now you're going to be on the court with all
the best players.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
In the league. This was big for Kobe.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
There's a reason why Kobe was a four time All
Star Game MVP because he welcomed the challenge of being
great going against the best. You didn't have to convince
Kobe Bryant to show up and play one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
He just didn't.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
I mean, it was as he just said, Look, this
is like a dream for me that I get to
be on the court for one game. I know it
doesn't count the standings. Ultimately, winning championships is what I'm
looking at, but for one game, I get to test
myself against the absolute best in the NBA. So he

(54:07):
didn't need any kind of hocus pocus incentive to play
well or play one hundred percent on the big stage
of the.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
All Star Game. But those days agne.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
So here's the format Rich and I want to get
before we get into your thoughts on watching this. Here's
the basic format. So you picked the same number of
All Stars. There were twenty four All Stars, twelve out
of the East, twelve out of the West.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
That did not change.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
And then, as you know, what we did in recent
years is the top vote getter, which usually was Lebron
in the West and Giannis in the East, would then
pick from either side, right, they would be sort of
the honorary captains, and that way you sort of mix
the best of West and East on both sides. That
was a gimmick that really didn't get a lot of
traction because the games were not really played legitimately.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
So what they.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Decided to do was this, We're going to have now
four teams. We're going to divide up the twenty four
players into three teams of eight, and then another team
of eight is made of the future stars.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
That's right, So these guys aren't even All.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Stars, but they're rising star rising stars, yes, they hope, okay.
So and then when they picked the teams, it was
done systematically. So you have Shack as the honorary captain
of what is called the old team. So it's the
All Stars that were selected that are the oldest All Stars.

(55:27):
So that's like Lebron and you know, the older guys,
Durant and those guys, and you put them up against
the rising stars.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
And then another team is like the international.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Players that are All Stars versus the younger American born
NBA All Stars.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
So that's the format. So they're they're thinking here.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Rich is, well, the older All Stars don't want to
lose to a bunch of non All Stars rising stars,
so their incentive is to play hard in that matchup.
And then International versus American and the format is simple.
First team to forty wins and then the winner of
the two sets will play a championship game. Same thing,
first team to forty wins. All right, so that's the format.

(56:06):
Your pluses, your minuses, your reason, as you said earlier,
of having zero interest in watching this.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
Well, all right, so you know, to give people some criteria,
Team Shack is going to be Lebron, James, Steph Curry,
Jason Tatum, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
The list goes on.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Yeah, the team guys, Team Chuck, Donovan mcmichell, Nikola Jokic,
You have Trey Young, Shay Gildess, Alexander Victor Wembin Yama,
Team Kenny, Anthony Edwards, Jallen Brunton, Jaron Jackson, Kate Cunningham.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
So Charles has more of the international team.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Yeah, and then it's gonna be I believe Candice Parker.
Who's going to coach or be the honorary captain of
the team of rising stars. Who is going to face
one of Chuck Kenny Shack.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Well, they're gonna face Shack first.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
So here's here's that's way I feel about all this.
So are those names that we love. If you're an
NBA fan and you would love to see play really
hard in an exhibition game, yeah, yeah, but they're not
going to really no, even in.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
A format where all you have to do is get
to forty points and the game's over.

Speaker 4 (57:18):
I mean, I'll be shocked if we see a good product.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
I'll be shocked.

Speaker 4 (57:21):
And you know what, I'll stand corrected. If we get
a good product out.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
Of this all star game format, I'll be shocked and
I'll stand corrected, and I'll give all of the credit
to Adam Silver and the list of consultants and players
and whoever else helped him come up with this new format,
because I think this is gonna flop.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
I think it's going to be a joke, just like
past years.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
I think the only thing that this prevents is the
video game cartoonish final scores that we have seen over
the course of the years, as the All Star Games
have had unlimited scoring. You know where both teams are
scoring in the one hundred and fifty to two hundred
range and nobody's playing any defense. I look, I don't

(58:06):
blame any professional basketball player for protecting themselves.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Oh come on, when you say protecting themselves, rich, Really,
every time you take the cord you could get hurt.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
It's the same thing in football, right, show up?

Speaker 2 (58:19):
I mean years and years at the Pro Bowl, which
was played the week after the Super Bowl, the stars
would show up, they would play hard, and is there
a risk that they could get hurt. There's always a
risk you can get hurt in every game. It didn't
stop them from testing themselves against their peers, meaning the
best players in the league, and then it just stopped.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
It's simple, and so it just either make it a
skills competition or just a bit.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Why do we have to do that? Why do we
have to lower the ball?

Speaker 4 (58:48):
Do you watch? Do you watch the All Star Game?

Speaker 1 (58:51):
When I used to? I used to change? What changed?

Speaker 4 (58:55):
When when last time you actually watched it?

Speaker 1 (58:57):
Well, I mean either last year? I want it's the NBAL.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
I haven't watched the Flag Football game in years. For
the NBA, NFL, probal It is my point. But I
did watch the All Star Game last year.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Would you think of it?

Speaker 1 (59:09):
What was awful?

Speaker 4 (59:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (59:11):
But why is it awful?

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Why do the players nowadays say screw it, I don't
want to play because I could get hurt. Really, because
you already took off fifteen games this year for load management,
and you can't show up for a freaking All Star game, which,
by the way, is the fans game. They're the ones
that decide who gets to play in the game. They're
the ones that are being catered to. You can't give

(59:33):
out a little effort for the fans, you know, for
twenty minutes on the court, to play hard and see
how you fare against the best in the game. Is
that really asking too much?

Speaker 4 (59:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (59:44):
I think I think what you I think what you're
asking for is too much.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
And here's the reason why. Because everything's changed.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
We literally as it changed.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
We were literally just having the conversation about how I
mean this is a week ago when the trade occurred,
but how Luka Donci is. Part of the reason why
the Mavericks may have traded or been comfortable trading Luco
Way is because they didn't want to sign him to
that three hundred and fifty million dollar max contract. When
you are earning some part of a third of a

(01:00:16):
billion dollars to play a sport and then somebody says, hey,
do you want to play in this exhibition game where
you could potentially get injured or not or just go
out there and goof around and just pretend.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
What are you gonna do? I look, there's no incentive anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Back back when the All Star Game meant something to
the players, it was because if you could showcase your
skills on a national scale, maybe you could get a
shoe deal. Like, if you showcase your skills on a
national scale, maybe you could have an ad campaign. I mean,
that's that's what you were vying for. You were vying
for real opportunity and real money.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
Now wait a second, there is one All Start that
had a.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Different view of in terms of effort exerted in the
All Star Game.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Let's hear from Jaron Jackson Junior.

Speaker 6 (01:01:08):
When you step on the floor, do you feel like
Friday is on the line of that All Star Game
that you have to show up and show I.

Speaker 9 (01:01:15):
Told them earlier, I said, I'm just gonna.

Speaker 6 (01:01:17):
Pick up full court Okay, we're into that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Yeah, I'm just gonna I'm.

Speaker 9 (01:01:20):
Just gonna do it just because you know, let's just
set a different tone. Yes, it's a different format. Obviously,
you're not trying to get blown out in a game
of forty in the first game. It's a shows it's
for everybody else. What you start to learn when you're
really in it. It's like, Okay, if I go too
hard and I'm not me per se. But let's say
I'm like twelve years in and I got to stretch
like I'm old dr.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
So I gotta, like I really gotta.

Speaker 9 (01:01:44):
I gotta get there, So I'm not about to be
running like I'm not about to be doing all that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Well, here's the thing for Jaron Jackson Junior.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
So he says, yeah, you know, obviously two years ago,
defensive player of the Year in the NBA, I'm going
full court now. If no one else is doing it,
if you're the only guy playing hard, then obviously he'll
back off because that he doesn't want to look stupid. Yeah,
I just I mean, look, you're making all this money,
and really you can't.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
You can't just sag.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
It's not like you're gonna play forty minutes, You're gonna
play twenty minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
I know, I know it's hard. Hang on a second,
Hang on a second. Like, let me give you an example. Say,
I don't know. You've gotten to a point in your
career where you're working at a law firm and you
made partner, and you've been partner for a decade, right,
and you are one of the best trial attorneys in

(01:02:37):
the country, and then all of a sudden, your law
firm decides once a year that you're gonna do all
of the work that the paralegals or the attempts that
get brought into the office or interns during the busiest
times of your office. They're gonna flip flop it. They're
gonna make you do some of that work, and you're

(01:02:58):
gonna do it for a substantially less amount of money.
Like I mean, compare this to any business, you know,
Compare this to you know.

Speaker 4 (01:03:07):
They they made.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
A show that was almost a parody of this called
Undercover Boss, where the CEO of a company would go
down to the fast food restaurant that he oversaw from
a national platform and he would work on the fryer
for an afternoon and he'd be like, man, I had
no idea how difficult this was, you know, And it's like, yeah,

(01:03:29):
you know you could. You could do it poorly for
one day and laugh along. And by the way, they
were probably being paid handsomely to be on that show,
just mind you. So that's just a side note to it.
But my point is this, like nobody wants to do
something that they're not properly incentivized to do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
Relaying golf. They play the Ryder Cup for nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
You're telling me that those guys gain nothing from playing
in the Rider.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
They don't get paid by by the PGA or the
maker millions on the PGA, or.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Do their endorsers pay them for the Ryder cupany and
the endorsements don't come for NBA players.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
They don't make any money off the court, on the
on the All Star Game.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Not about these guys not showing it for this All
Star Game and giving it one hundred percent effort.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
This is what they're doing to the fans to spit
right in your face.

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
And by the way, we're on the same side of
the argument. I'm just explaining to you why it's happening.

Speaker 4 (01:04:28):
I mean, and by the.

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
Way, as disagreeable as you find it, and or I
find it, or anybody finds it. The reality of the
situation is, unless Adam Silver finds a way to appropriately.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Insensivize, he's the most overrated commissioner in the history of sports.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
Everyone talks about the great Adam Silver.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
This guy is a lightweight because he handed the reins
to the players, and that's why he's universally loved by
the players of the league. He has no backbone. I
knew David Stern. I interviewed David Stern a lot of
He was a hard ass. He had it his way
or the highway. Adam Silver is the complete opposite, and
I don't think the NBA is better for it. All Right,

(01:05:08):
that's a personal opinion. Let's find out what's trending right now,
all right. Monzi Belanyas of course, is a major fan. Monzi,
do you do a care about the All Star Game?
Have you ever cared about the NBA All Star Game?
Does it bother you that the players who are making
thirty forty to fifty sixty million dollars a year, it's
too much to ask for them to give one hundred

(01:05:30):
percent effort in this mid season showcase for the NBA.

Speaker 6 (01:05:35):
Saying that it bothers me is putting it nicely. Yeah,
it's very annoying. It's very frustrating. I loved the NBA.

Speaker 7 (01:05:43):
All Star Game, especially back then when they would wear
their own jerseys and it was really East versus West.

Speaker 6 (01:05:50):
Oh, it was so good.

Speaker 7 (01:05:50):
And I remember that one year they always played defense,
but one time Shaq was taking the ball up the
court and he like put it in between his legs
and slow motions like those were the very minimal antics.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
You could have fun exactly and still play hard.

Speaker 7 (01:06:07):
Absolutely, you know, like you want to throw it off
the backboard to yourself.

Speaker 6 (01:06:11):
That's the fun we're looking for. But we want you
to play defense.

Speaker 7 (01:06:15):
The pride is out the windows there at the end
of the game, exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:06:19):
There's no pride. And I don't disagree with you that
it starts.

Speaker 7 (01:06:22):
With Adam Silver and just we talked about it a
little bit yesterday that everyone's buddy buddy with each other.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
He's so weak.

Speaker 7 (01:06:28):
But I feel like it's pride, Like I don't want
like everyone just wants to all be the same, and
it's like, no, I want you to hate each other
for just a second.

Speaker 6 (01:06:36):
I want you to hate each other.

Speaker 2 (01:06:37):
You know what I mean, like well lit and I
we're going to get into that level of frustration if
you're an NBA fan, which we all are.

Speaker 7 (01:06:44):
Which we are, Yes, but it's hard to not be frustrated. Yes,
we'll check in right now. In men's college hoops, one
game going on on FS one and it's number nine
Saint John's edgy number twenty four create in twenty six
to twenty five. Wichita State did have an eighty four
to seventy nine upset Overnumber fourteen Memphis in overtime, and
number twenty Michigan held on to defeat Ohio State eighty

(01:07:05):
six to eighty three at the Genesis Invitational.

Speaker 4 (01:07:08):
A new leader.

Speaker 7 (01:07:09):
It's Denny McCarthy who is now ten under part overall,
but Scotti Scheffler is two shots back.

Speaker 6 (01:07:15):
Who is right now world number one?

Speaker 7 (01:07:17):
Yes, Daytona five hundred after just eleven laps has been delayed.

Speaker 6 (01:07:21):
Jeff Gluck, who writes.

Speaker 7 (01:07:22):
For The Athletic, tweeted this just to give you guys
an idea of what they're expecting. He tweeted that NASCAR
is expecting it ter rain for a while, like two
to three hours after it clears, they're going to try
to dry the track. Typically takes about two and a
half hours to do that, and then they want to
get the race going.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
So President Trump was there as he was for the
super Bowl, but as soon as the rain happened, he
got out of there.

Speaker 6 (01:07:44):
Yeah his hair, he can't mess up the hair.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
Yeah, so he left.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Yeah, but he was there at the beginning, but the
rain said, yeah, I'm out of it.

Speaker 7 (01:07:51):
But are they all really just gonna sit there for
five six hours?

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
We'll do that, I GUARANTEGI what.

Speaker 6 (01:07:56):
We what are we doing? Can we just be like,
all right, see you tomorrow, wrap it up, go home.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
Both years I was at Daytona, it rained during the week.
I think one of the years that was a rain delay.
They did the same thing with the Indianapolis five hundred.
They'll sit around wait for the rain to go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
I mean, all I know this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
If I'm going in the car at two hundred miles
an hour and you're saying, yeah, I.

Speaker 6 (01:08:15):
Think it's dry, we think it's try. Yeah, absolutely what
you think.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
I'm sure you got all the moisture off there.

Speaker 7 (01:08:21):
Also, if it's cold at night, like because at this point,
isn't it going to be dark when they start.

Speaker 1 (01:08:25):
A little bit. Yeah they have lights.

Speaker 6 (01:08:27):
No no, no, no, no, this makes no sense back to you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
Yeah, I can't sell tickets for tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (01:08:32):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
I don't think well, first of all, when I went today.
The thing that really got to me when I went
to Daytona both those years is how many people camp
out all week? You got all these trailers. I mean,
the parking line is like a trailer park. They'll spend
the entire work. So the idea that they would stay
an extra night.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
Yeah, they will stay next to it.

Speaker 8 (01:08:53):
It's an entire week to drink out there. Everyone's drunk
already exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:08:58):
So then just reschedule for tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:09:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
We are live from the tire rack dot com studios,
all right.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
So uh yeah, the the all stary.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
It's a lot of frustration, and it's it's it's unfortunate
because I I don't think it has to be that way.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
But you know, I wanted to talk about this.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
You know, you heard Draymond Green uh basically said that
the NBA is boring. Uh And he cited, you know,
the three point shooting, the proliferation of three point shooting,
which by the way is the reason that guy has
four rings is because of three point shooting. But that aside,
and then the idea that it's not a very physical
game anymore, scoring his way up because teams are frankly

(01:09:39):
just playing less defense.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
I mean, that's just the way it is.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
And and I look, that's frustrating to me as a fan.
I prefer a more physical game. I obviously prefer an
inside out game. Aesthetically, I prefer that kind of basketball.
But that's not my biggest problem. My biggest problem is
just the fact that they're there's a lack of intensity
in these games. In other words, the regular season it

(01:10:05):
used to be about rivalries, right when if you go back,
you don't even have to go back to the nineties.
In the two thousands, there were still some very intense rivalries.
Rich You've talked about this during your NFL career. Yeah,
you have games they sort of run into each other,
you know, regular season games, but there are certain games
where you have a rival and the intensity, even if

(01:10:27):
it's a regular season game, gets taken.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
Up a notch.

Speaker 2 (01:10:30):
I feel like we don't have that doesn't seem to
be very many, if any, intense rivalries, right, now in
the NBA, and so what we're seeing night in and
night out is a general lack of intensity that you're
just going through the motions and just waiting until the
postseason arrives. That's the biggest problem I have currently with

(01:10:53):
the NBA is the fact that the rivalries have evaporated.

Speaker 3 (01:10:58):
Because there's no stress, there's no urgency. There's eighty two
games and maybe maybe fifty of a matter, like, if
we're being honest with each other.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
It wasn't always that way, right, No, No, not that
long ago, wasn't that way.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
I understand that they've they've diluted this product so much
that now you have a bunch of players who are
satisfied going out there and doing three quarters of the
work to maybe only two thirds of the games that
they actually appear in. And then of those games, maybe
they have to have a winning percentage that's you know,

(01:11:36):
that's above fifty percent. But they can still sneak into
the play in tournament. When there's only thirty teams and
twenty teams get to go to the postseason, it's ridiculous.
It's ridiculous. So only only ten teams get left out?

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Yeah, I mean, I mean playing around yet, right.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
Right, That's what I'm saying because technically the play in
tournament is.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
The although it's amazing because those play in games do
not appear in the record books, right, They're not considered
playoff games. So if you look at you know, like
Basketball Reference, there is no inclusion in the record books
of any of the playing games.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
Well, and which is really bizarre.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
It's almost it almost feels like it's something that the
NBA is ashamed of that they actually need to employ
to again incentivize better play. Right, Like, I'm I am
so tired of the lack of urgency of the NBA.
It makes me sick to my stomach that an eight

(01:12:40):
year old, right, my oldest.

Speaker 4 (01:12:42):
Right now is nine.

Speaker 3 (01:12:43):
So say my nine year old is an enormous Luka
Doncic or Lebron James fan or Kevin Durant fan or
Kawhi Leonard fan. You name the superstar, right, and I
bring him to the arena that that superstar plays, and
on a night where that player is healthy, has absolutely
nothing wrong with him, could absolutely suit up, put on

(01:13:04):
his basketball shoes and play. He sits down because he
wants to rest himself. It just it's just absurd. These
guys are getting paid hundreds and hundreds of millions of
dollars and they're still not appropriately incentivized to play every
game of the regular season. Look in the NFL, they're
seventeen games. I mean, are we hitting a point where

(01:13:25):
we may see a point of diminishing returns where teams
can rest players at certain points in the season too?

Speaker 4 (01:13:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:13:31):
Maybe, I mean there's gonna be another regular season expansion.
It's gonna move to eighteen games. I don't know if
that's the line of diminishing returns.

Speaker 4 (01:13:39):
I guess we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
NBA NFL regular season ratings.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
Were down slightly, although the Super Bowl was the most
swatched Super Bowl of all time, considering that game was
a blowout at halftime, that's a pretty amazing number.

Speaker 4 (01:13:52):
It's a pretty amazing number.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
I here's my problem with it, though, Like all these
other sports leagues like baseball, like the the NFL is
heading in the same direction. The reason why people care
about the regular season in the NFL is because there's urgency,
because players are stressed out that if they don't perform
well during the very limited amount of time they have

(01:14:14):
to perform well, well, then they may miss the postseason,
or they miss some bonuses.

Speaker 4 (01:14:19):
On their contract, etc. Etc.

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
There is none of that concern or worry in the NBA,
and frankly almost none of it in Major League Baseball either.
The best season in my life watching baseball was coming
out of the holdout or lockout during the pandemic, where
the players and the owners had to rush to figure
out their season. Played sixty games and it was an
absolute dead sprint towards the playoffs. It was the most

(01:14:45):
I've ever seen players try and strive and care in
my lifetime.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
It made baseball great again.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
When you look at the NBA, they these guys put
up lackluster performance, sometimes starting in the second quarter, because
if a regular season game is lost, who cares will
win tomorrow night? There's no urgency.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
Steve all right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
On the other side, there's another sport that I'll wait
a second. On the other side, there was a happening
in the NBA, and I mean a happening that should
not have happened, a happening that should not have happened.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
We'll explain. This is Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:15:26):
Steve Harbin and Orritchrberger Fox Sports Sunday. We are live
from the tai Iraq dot Com studios.

Speaker 1 (01:15:35):
So last night.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
Mac McClung became the first ever three time winner of
the Dunk Contest. So this guy shows up every year
and like, people are like, who is Mac McClung, and
why do I never hear about this guy except for

(01:15:59):
the slam down competition.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
Here is the Mac McClung resume.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
He has played four years since leaving Texas Tech.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
In the G League.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
And by the way, in four years he's averaged over
twenty one points a game in the G League.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
His NBA career rich in four years has consisted of
a total of five games. He has played five games
in the NBA in four years, one this year, and
his scoring average is zero point zero. He came out
representing the Orlando Magic, of which he played one game. This,

(01:16:38):
to me is very comparable to the only thing comparable
I can think of where somebody is that good at
one thing but not good enough to actually play in
the league is the long drive competition in golf. Right,
they had that long drive competition where they get those
huge guys and they hit the ball four hundred yards

(01:16:58):
and they're.

Speaker 1 (01:16:59):
Not PGA two players.

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
They have one stick, they can hit a golf ball
a mile, that they don't have the game to actually
play on the PGA Tour. You don't see big names
in that competition. You see a bunch of names you
never heard of. But it's like, Wow, that guy can
hit the ball a mile. That's the only thing comparable
I can think of to what is now the NBA
Slam Dunk Competition, and that they allow Mac McClung, who

(01:17:24):
is a G League player and has been for four years,
has only played five games ever total in his NBA career,
to compete in this NBA Slam Dunk Competition.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
I think that it's interesting that you bring up how
he's performing in the G League because I was unaware
of whether he was a great player in the G
League or if he was just a great dunker.

Speaker 4 (01:17:51):
Right, he actually.

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
Plays pretty well and been consistent over four years about
over twenty points a game.

Speaker 4 (01:17:57):
I'll make I'll make this comparison.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
Now, how long I mean he's he's won three in
a row, so he's been bouncing around the G League.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
For four years the league.

Speaker 3 (01:18:08):
Imagine, imagine if there was a triple A player in
Major League Baseball who we only had awareness of at
the home run Derby who was consistently winning it. But
we knew that he couldn't hit a real major league curveball,
you know what I mean, Like he just he he

(01:18:28):
can't hang, but when he has meatballs thrown over the plate,
he can drill him out of the yard.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
Good combarrasson.

Speaker 3 (01:18:34):
I mean, how impressive is that for everybody to because look,
here's the thing, the reason why people show up for
All Star Week or people show up for the Slam
Dunk contest. And don't get me wrong, this is no
I'm not trying to offend McClung. I think he's a
phenomenal athlete and I think he does this this one

(01:18:54):
thing insanely well. And by the way, at the G
League level, hanging twenty points tonight is nothing to turn
your nose up at. That's very impressive as well. But
it's not the point of the All Star Game because
he is not an All Star in the NBA. Now.
If this a game, by the way, is if his
clips were going viral for the G League All Star Game,

(01:19:17):
I think I would be more excited about it than
I am for the NBA All Star Game, because I'd
be like, look at this rising star.

Speaker 4 (01:19:25):
Look what he's doing.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
Maybe I would do more research on him, but it's
almost like it almost feels like the NBA are trying
to find workarounds that don't actually work for the fans,
and this is one that does.

Speaker 4 (01:19:36):
Not work for me.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
I think, well, I think McClung is a phenomenal athlete.
I'm not interested by the way.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
One of the five games he played in the NBA
scored twenty points. Yeah, in one of those games he
actually scored twenty points. Shay, you say there has been
some reaction around the NBA to this McClung phenomena.

Speaker 1 (01:19:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:19:54):
John Mouran came out and said Mac might make me decided.
Dounk Jannis reacted to that and said, if you do it,
I'll do it to jaw And and Zach Levine actually
responded an hour ago saying, thinking I might have to
do it again. So people are saying it, Okay, this
happens almost every year.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
Why and maybe that's a great thing. Look, Mac McClung
doesn't have to prove anything. I mean what that first
dunk over the car unreal?

Speaker 4 (01:20:13):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
But if he inspires some of these stars to get
back in the competition. Mack McClung has done his job.
We have much more coming up. Keep it here. This
is Fox Sports Sunday. It's an All Star Sunday sort of,
and we're celebrating it is Fox Sports Sunday. We are
broadcasting live from the ti iraq dot com studios, ti

(01:20:34):
rack dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:20:35):
We're gonna get you there.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
And on Matt Selection, fast reshipping, free road assid protection,
over ten thousand recommended installers, tire rack dot com, the
way tire buying should be. Uh. Yeah, it is an
All Star Game Sunday. They have skills competition still going on.
I'm not sure why, but they do, and it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:56):
Was pretty interesting. They have it by team.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
They had the Senate Tonio Spurs duo of Chris Paul
who's no longer an All Star, and Victory Webin Yama Wemby,
who is.

Speaker 1 (01:21:08):
An All Star and just a freak.

Speaker 4 (01:21:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:10):
This is the frustrating, frustrating thing about the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:21:13):
There are some great players, now, yeah, I mean there
are some phenomenal talents in the NBA. And yeah, I
actually read somewhere Chris, Chris, you made a point about
they are now blaming the NBA media for all the

(01:21:35):
negative comments.

Speaker 8 (01:21:36):
It was just one person who I follow, who usually
I respect on these matters. But I do think there
is a there's a certain take out there that I
would say is that it's not that the NBA is
in trouble, that this is actually the best the NBA
has in its play. It's just that we have become
jaded and that we have a I mean, we have

(01:21:59):
a over abundance of people, especially if you look at
inside the NBA, who do nothing but denigrate the game
that is being played on the court.

Speaker 10 (01:22:09):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:22:09):
Like I said, my problem again, it's your problem, is
basically what it comes down. If you don't like the
style of play, that's fine, that's a matter of opinion.
There's not everyone dislikes the style of play. A younger
generation has grown up with this style of play. They
like this style of play. That's not my problem. That's
not my problem.

Speaker 4 (01:22:26):
They kind of like it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:27):
The ratings aren't as strong as it was back when
we'll say the nineties, in the early two thousands, compared
to the twenty twenties, the ratings aren't even comparable, right,
But so so, the money is bigger than ever grew
up with this league, do not like it as much
as the people from yesteryear.

Speaker 8 (01:22:43):
But again, I wouldn't even understand that I would even
add to that. I was telling Steve this too. You
don't even need to go that back that far. You
can go to the twenty tens, like the early to
mid twenty tens. Before we had Golden State Cavaliers dominating
everything for about three years. But there was a plurality
of teams. When the Miami Heat had the Big Three,
you saw the Big Three. In Boston, you had the
Oklahoma City thunder Harden had just gone to the Rockets

(01:23:06):
and they looked like being a contender. The Pacers were
around there, The Golden State Warriors are coming on, the
Spurs were this, you know, still looming threat to everything.
There was at least a good ten to a dozen
teams that were relevant any given year, and I felt
every night there was something at least these teams were
playing for. And those Stars are playing every night too well.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
But now we have a league where we're just having
a revolving door of champions.

Speaker 8 (01:23:31):
Didn't even mention lob City in there, Like, you know,
there's just so many things from the twenty tens.

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
Like I mean, I mean, right now, you want the
best team in the NBA this year is okase, that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:23:41):
I mean they just.

Speaker 2 (01:23:42):
Rattled off what seventeen straight I mean, and they're not winning.
They are blowing people out. Much like that too. The
Cavaliers are so good in the East.

Speaker 8 (01:23:49):
But yet everyone you talk to out there, if they
follow the NBA, is like, yeah, yeah, it's still it's
still the Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (01:23:55):
To watch Shawty, I get they A revolving door is
not a good thing.

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
You know, you need a focus.

Speaker 2 (01:24:02):
As frustrated as it was for a lot of NBA
fans when we had the four straight years of the
Cavs essentially Lebron versus the Golden State Warriors.

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
And you know, we were just starting to remember Rich.

Speaker 2 (01:24:13):
We would sort of like, you know, can we get
through the playoffs and we get to the inevitable matchup.
But those those four NBA finals put up some pretty
respectable numbers, because now you've got Lebron versus Steph, You've
got you know what I mean, people looked forward to
that matchup. Now it's just this hodgepodge from one year

(01:24:35):
to the next, Where what do we got here, Well, well.

Speaker 3 (01:24:38):
Let me let me slow down the conversation because I
think it's sped up and we breeze past the original point,
which was the fact that it's a commentary that is
growing in steam, right, that it is the fans' fault
for not enjoying the product.

Speaker 4 (01:24:57):
Like, here's my problem with.

Speaker 3 (01:24:58):
That whole that whole idea, that whole spin, frankly is
what it is.

Speaker 4 (01:25:05):
It falls on deaf ears with me.

Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
If I go to your restaurant and I don't like
the experience, do a better job. If I go to
your burger joint and I don't like your burger, make
a better burger. If you show up and listen to
our radio show and you don't think we do a
good job, stop listening. It is not up to the
consumer to provide a great product.

Speaker 4 (01:25:29):
It is up to the MBA.

Speaker 3 (01:25:32):
Like, how dare anybody have this opinion that it is
beholden upon the consumer to make a good product or
to celebrate an inferior product.

Speaker 4 (01:25:41):
Screw you.

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
It's not my job to make sure that you have
good ratings. I mean that is, don't tell me to
eat my vegetables like I'm a grown man. If I
choose to go to the NFL because it's like, you know,
eating ice cream every time I turn on the television.

Speaker 1 (01:25:59):
Well, guess what, that's what my brain wants.

Speaker 3 (01:26:01):
I don't want to go have green beans that are
you know, fresh out of the freezer, you know, on
some random weeknight watching Oka see blow the doors off
the Clippers.

Speaker 4 (01:26:12):
Screw you, NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
Make a better product and I'll pay attention, Like, don't
tell me as the consumer that I need to do
a better job of enjoying your crummy product.

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
Well, but here's the point, is the fact that if
you're getting paid for a lesser product more money, where's
your incentive to improve the game?

Speaker 1 (01:26:35):
Exactly? Money is coming into the NBA than ever before.

Speaker 2 (01:26:39):
This league has done the best job of growing internationally.
I mean it's been well versed about the billions of
dollars that come in from China into the NBA.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
A lot of people not happy about that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:51):
But if you're the NBA, hey, I mean, no one's
going to argue about that money coming in, and so
there is no incentive. You know, you we can argue
until you know, ratings are down. Didn't seem to bother
anybody when they've cooked up these television contracts. They're paying
more money than ever. So you know, I get what

(01:27:11):
the NBA is saying is the fact that you know,
you complain constantly that the product isn't as good. Well,
guess what our sponsors. The television contracts tell a different story.

Speaker 1 (01:27:22):
If we were that bad, they would not be paying
us this money.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
Yeah, and they are yeah, yeah, Well well here's the
thing with contracts.

Speaker 3 (01:27:31):
So so okay, so you know, this is probably getting
too far down the road of like American exceptionalism, right,
but but I mean it's true, like we're we're playing
the best, most attractive brand of basketball in this country.
We have the most stars, we have the best players
on the planet. Now, you can make the argument that

(01:27:53):
you just did, and you did a good job, Steve
of laying it out, like where is the incentive for
these stars to play really hard basketball over the course
of an eighty two game season. They're overpaid, and you know,
they've expanded the postseason to include twenty teams now, so
there's not as much incentive in the regular season anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:28:12):
Completely agree with all that.

Speaker 3 (01:28:14):
But if you have a great American product and you
bring it over to China, where they don't have as
many good players as we do in the United States.
And you say, hey, here's a great brand of basketball
for you to enjoyed compared to what you.

Speaker 4 (01:28:28):
Have, Well, then of course they're going to consume it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:31):
You bring it to Africa, you indoctrinate the country with
visits from NBA superstars, You bring it to Europe, you
bring it to Australia, and then as a result, now
basketball has become more of a global sport. But out
in our country, what used to be this insanely competitive,
extremely special product that we all celebrated gleefully here has

(01:28:53):
been diluted and watered down and turned into this tangible,
sellable product that is being foisted up as better than
what you have overseas. But it is not to our
standard here. So that's the problem. Americans got a taste
of how good it could be, and then you went
global and you watered down our product. And so I

(01:29:16):
don't blame anybody like whoever this this person is, who
is spreading this this ideal that we should bow to
the NBA and thank them for making such a great product.

Speaker 4 (01:29:30):
I can't do that. It's not in me.

Speaker 3 (01:29:33):
I'm either gonna watch your product because it's great, or
I'm not gonna watch your product.

Speaker 4 (01:29:38):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:29:38):
Do I still hang in there and watch a lot
of NBA basketball?

Speaker 4 (01:29:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:29:42):
Yeah, I mean I'll turn on the NBA a bunch
of nights during the week. But can I tell you,
and I know this for certain, the reason why the
ratings are plummeting is because I don't enjoy it as
much as I used to.

Speaker 2 (01:29:53):
On the other side, I'm gonna give you what I
think is the worst take that I've heard yet about
why the All Star Week in the NBA is less
of a show than it could have been.

Speaker 1 (01:30:07):
Worst take that I've heard. Are you ready for this? Yes,
it's coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:30:10):
This is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin and Rich Harberger,
Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:30:17):
We are love from the tire Rack dot Com Studios.

Speaker 4 (01:30:22):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:30:23):
So again, as a culprit myself, I don't want to
sit here and claim that I haven't done the same
countless times.

Speaker 1 (01:30:35):
I'd be a complete hypocrite. I have overplayed stories many.

Speaker 2 (01:30:39):
Times over the course of my broadcast career. Rich has
been party to many of those. However, sometimes even I
have to take a step back and say, do you
understand what you're actually saying. You know, I don't agree
with everything that other people talk about. Sometimes I do.
In fact, sometimes they'll say something I wasn't thinking about.

Speaker 4 (01:31:00):
I steal it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
I'm like, well that was brilliant, and how I'm going
to use it as my own. That's the way it works.

Speaker 2 (01:31:08):
But sometimes I'm hearing people, I'm like, are you really
understanding what you're saying. So one of the stories leading
up to this All Star Week, because we remember last
year and it was certainly a highlight of the All
Star Week last year, was Sabrina Inescue going toe to
toe with Steph Curry in a three point shooting contest.

(01:31:31):
She was there to the end, easily could have won.
She put on a display of shooting that was remarkable
and it was a highlight. Steph appreciated, She appreciated the recognition.

Speaker 1 (01:31:44):
It was theater to watch. It was great.

Speaker 2 (01:31:49):
So everyone was anticipating that, hey, she's great, but Caitlin
Clark's next level.

Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
They made an offer to her.

Speaker 2 (01:31:57):
And she said thanks, but no thanks, because the first
time I want to compete in a three point shooting
contest is at my All Star Game.

Speaker 1 (01:32:06):
The WNBA All Star Game, So I'm hearing.

Speaker 2 (01:32:09):
Some people that are like, she ruin All Star Week,
and I'm thinking, you understand what you're saying here that
the only way to save NBA All Star Week is
for a w NBA player to show up. You have
realized how how out of sorts that is. Let me
ask you this because I maybe I'll be surprised by

(01:32:32):
the answer. Is Kaitlin Clark right now the biggest star
in the basketball universe man or woman?

Speaker 4 (01:32:44):
Is Caitlin Clark the biggest star in basketball? Man or woman?
I would argue, I would argue.

Speaker 3 (01:32:54):
Well, right now, because her season's over and she's not
making headlines every single day, not as much as when
when she was, I would say it would be Lebron James.
You could argue, you could argue Luca took that mantle
for a short time, though.

Speaker 1 (01:33:12):
She's a bigger story than Luca.

Speaker 3 (01:33:14):
Well, I'm saying overall, like when when you think about
just who the the general public is going to pay
more attention to, I would say, right now, it's probably
Lebron James, But Kayln Clark, Let's put it this way,
she makes my top five.

Speaker 2 (01:33:30):
Well, okay, can I bring Monzi into this? Conversation because
she was nodding her head. Can you open up Monzi's
mic right now? Because Manzi, we didn't actually cover this yesterday,
but I was meant to.

Speaker 1 (01:33:40):
It sort of slipped through her a couple of hours.
I'm gonna ask the question, just like I asked Rich.

Speaker 2 (01:33:46):
Is Kaylen Clark right now the biggest star in the
basketball universe?

Speaker 7 (01:33:53):
I think you could argue yes, So when when the
argument is made?

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
And I wasn't saying that their argument was wrong, but
I don't think people really understood what they were saying
a lot of times that the idea that Kayln Clark
would turn down the opportunity to compete in the NBA
three point shooting contest, that they that destroyed the NBA
All Star Week.

Speaker 7 (01:34:16):
Yeah, no, she is, in my opinion, And if you
told me that she wasn't, I feel like you have
an argument for that as well.

Speaker 6 (01:34:22):
But I think when you.

Speaker 7 (01:34:23):
Are living rent free in people's head like that, you
are absolutely the most popular NBA woman or female or
male player right now.

Speaker 6 (01:34:34):
She's living rent free.

Speaker 2 (01:34:36):
I don't all that's what I'm saying. She's the biggest,
the biggest, best, most, I mean, we're talking about Lebron
and I understand where we're going. But Lebron's forty years old.
Oh absolutely, I mean, these best days are behind him
and she is still emerging.

Speaker 1 (01:34:49):
It's amazing, isn't it? Rich though, Thank you Monci.

Speaker 2 (01:34:52):
It's the idea that you know a year ago, when
we were talking about Caitlin Clark all the time, you know,
after another great run an I one, then of course
she immediately had to jump into the WNBA, had to
shake off a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:35:05):
I thought it was fatigue early and that.

Speaker 2 (01:35:06):
She just got better, better, better better, And you're thinking,
all right, well, how long is is this going to be?

Speaker 1 (01:35:11):
Like lynsanity?

Speaker 2 (01:35:12):
You know, there was a moment where you know, Jeremy
Lynn was the talk of the NBA and then it ended.

Speaker 1 (01:35:18):
Is there any end to this with Caitlin Clark?

Speaker 2 (01:35:20):
I mean, I think they're doing a pretty good job
with her, you know, not overplaying her and just I
don't know, keeping her news because this was a big story,
the fact that she turned down the opportunity to compete
in the NBA three point shooting contest.

Speaker 3 (01:35:36):
I think that actually, I think the opposite. I think
that the WNBA has completely fumbled the opportunity to make
her an even bigger star.

Speaker 1 (01:35:47):
I think that, but has that hurt her star?

Speaker 6 (01:35:50):
Well?

Speaker 3 (01:35:50):
I think she has stardom because of all the work
that she's put in, Yeah, and then the fact that
she's handled the spotlight as well as she has. I
don't I don't credit anybody else for that because I
think and I think, I'm not arguing with the point
you're making about her being a star. I think she
is a star, but I think it's based more on
her own merit than how well she's been marketed. I

(01:36:11):
think they've done an awful job marketing her, and I
think in spite of that, she still has persevered and
become an enormous star in this country. Now, when you
say the biggest star in basketball, I don't think it
translates as well internationally as maybe we think. I think
that Lebron James is still a bigger star overseas. Kevin Durant,

(01:36:32):
I think, obviously, you know some of the players from
you know, Europe, are you know Yannis or Jokic or
Luca Like, they're obviously bigger fan favorites overseas, But in
this country, she has really captivated the audience who pays
attention to sports, not just basketball, and I think some

(01:36:52):
of it is because she's become a very polarizing character.

Speaker 4 (01:36:55):
In all of this, and I think that works.

Speaker 3 (01:36:59):
I think when you are polarizing, you are automatically popular,
and as a result, you get a boost to the
old Q rating that a lot of people don't get
to enjoy. And for her sake, like I said, she's
doing it all the right way because people will come
to her with controversial questions or controversial concerns and she's like, look,

(01:37:19):
I'm just here to play basketball and make my team better.
So I love the way she's handled all this.

Speaker 1 (01:37:24):
Well, there's another aspect to this. Let's let's talk about this.

Speaker 2 (01:37:27):
So the original idea was in rescue and Steph Curry
would be joined by Klay Thompson and Caitlin Clark, right,
all these great three point shooters, And there is a
theory the reason that Kaitlin Clark turned it down is
she's not all that confident how well she would do.
I mean, if you look at her numbers in the WNBA,
her three point percentage as a rookie was thirty four percent.

Speaker 1 (01:37:49):
That was an elite, not even close to elite.

Speaker 2 (01:37:51):
I mean even in the WNBA you have women that
shoot at a forty percent clip like you do in
the NBA, and as well as in Escue did last year.
She may have looked at that saying, well, all the
spotlight would be on me and if I fall short,
that's not good for my pr So I think that
you know, remember there was that all that talk about

(01:38:12):
the three on three league that they were going to
offer you ice Cube, you know, was going to offer
this huge deal to join the three on three league,
And we're like, that would not be a good idea
her and a half court set going against NBA players.
I mean kidding me, she would be overwhelmed. So she
I think she's she's playing a very smart game. She's

(01:38:32):
not going to put herself in a position that could
actually have an adverse effect on her popularity. And I
think there was a risk, I mean risk reward, Right,
you have to think, all right, what am I risking
and what's the actual reward? If I do well, is
it going to raise my star? No, because my star
is already there. But if I don't do well, people

(01:38:55):
will be all over me, like, oh man, did you
want to see Kayleb Clark. She was terrible in that
three point shooting and she's not gonna risk that.

Speaker 1 (01:39:04):
So I think there's a lot of gameplay going on
right now to keep her star alive. I'm sort of
with you, Rich, I'm not quite sure.

Speaker 2 (01:39:12):
As you said, the WNBA is bombed on this as
far as not embracing her and what she can bring
to the entire league. They just seem to complain about
her constantly. I saw her being interviewed where the interviewer
was on ESPN was basically trying to have her admit
that the only reason that your star is because of
the color of your skin.

Speaker 1 (01:39:30):
Yeah, And I was like, what are you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:39:33):
I mean, this is what I mean. She's become insanely polarizing. Yeah,
because of the color of her skin, because of her
sexual orientation, because the fact that she's this young woman
who was a superstar out of college basketball. And while
there were veterans in the WNBA who have been grinding
for twelve years, fifteen years, twenty years, or near twenty

(01:39:54):
years in certain cases, they were complaining like, well, where's
our stardom. It's like, well, I'm sorry, that's not how
this works. No, You don't get to choose whether or
not you're a star. Everybody else does. You know exactly
the point, that's exactly it. Being a great player, a
great athlete does not necessarily make you a star.

Speaker 4 (01:40:14):
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (01:40:15):
As you say, the public decides who the stars are.

Speaker 3 (01:40:17):
I mean, look, let me let me give you two
who have been playing alongside of each other for the
majority of their career in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (01:40:24):
You have Lebron James.

Speaker 3 (01:40:25):
Superstar, no question about it, right, Kawhi Leonard also a
finals champion, also a Finals MVP, He's won championships with
different teams like But Kawhi Leonard is not a star.
He's a great player, but he's not a superstar Lebron
James is. And now you could say, hey, it's not fair,
or you could even defend how big of a star

(01:40:46):
Kawhi Leonard is if you want to. I'll entertain the
debate or the conversation for sure, But I don't think
it's I don't think it's even deniable to suggest that
Lebron James is the bigger star.

Speaker 2 (01:40:58):
Is Shay gildess All Alexander, who arguably right now is
the best player in the league, is he a star.

Speaker 3 (01:41:03):
No, no, he's a great basketball player, and nobody's going
to deny that. But if you compare him to the
recognizability and the acclaim around say Steph Curry, I mean,
Steph Curry's the bigger star. And you could say, well,
Steph Curry can't even hold Chase Jock right now, It's like,
well that may be true, maybe that is true, but

(01:41:26):
I'm telling you right now, Steph's the bigger star.

Speaker 1 (01:41:28):
Oh easily. It's just the biggest stars in this league
are still Lebron.

Speaker 2 (01:41:31):
And Steph that's right, and the star and they sent
Tatum is not a star.

Speaker 4 (01:41:37):
No, no, he's not. He's a great basketball player.

Speaker 3 (01:41:41):
And I think in Boston he probably can't go anywhere
because he'll get mobbed. They love him in Boston. But
I mean, Jason Tatum is in a star. He doesn't
have star power. Caitlin Clark does now the fact that
you didn't sign up for the three point contest. Maybe
it's public relations. Maybe somebody and her team said, hey,
it would be a bad look for you. It's over exposure, etc.

Speaker 4 (01:42:05):
Etc. Maybe that's true, or maybe she just doesn't feel
like doing it, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (01:42:10):
Like, sometimes you have an opportunity where you go, Yeah,
that's just not for me.

Speaker 4 (01:42:15):
And I'm not sure why, but I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:42:17):
I just think back on a risk reward again, and
she's like, all right, what, I'm risking a lot because
if I don't shoot well and you could have a.

Speaker 1 (01:42:24):
Bad day shooting.

Speaker 2 (01:42:25):
I mean, she's a bad shooter, but you have a
bad day at the office. But under the spotlight of
that kind of a competition, I mean, ian Escu didn't
have anything to lose last year.

Speaker 1 (01:42:34):
I mean she was a great player in.

Speaker 2 (01:42:36):
The WNBA, a celebrated college player, but she wasn't.

Speaker 1 (01:42:39):
A star, no, and she shot the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:42:43):
Incredibly well, and all of a sudden, her you know,
star power rose didn't overnight make her a star, certainly,
but it had helped her.

Speaker 1 (01:42:51):
But she had nothing to lose if she didn't play well.

Speaker 2 (01:42:53):
All right, So she's a WNBA player, Do you expect
her to go toe to toe with Steph Curry?

Speaker 1 (01:42:57):
Come on, it wasn't a fair competition, all right, good stuff?

Speaker 2 (01:43:00):
All right, let's let's find out what is trending right now,
let's get all worked out.

Speaker 1 (01:43:07):
We do now.

Speaker 6 (01:43:08):
I I'm loving this.

Speaker 7 (01:43:09):
I also think the other side of this, You guys
are not wrong in the various reasons as to why
maybe she chose not to, But another reason it could
be really because she's trying to make the WNBA more
popular apps and she wants her first one.

Speaker 6 (01:43:23):
To be at the WNBA in Indy.

Speaker 1 (01:43:25):
Well it's it's but now here.

Speaker 4 (01:43:28):
That's a great point.

Speaker 1 (01:43:29):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:43:30):
She she is in essence really doing this for the WNBA,
really does the WNBA has done.

Speaker 1 (01:43:36):
Nothing for her.

Speaker 6 (01:43:37):
Right, No, you are not wrong. You are not wrong
about that. They really have fumbled the bag when it
comes to Caitlyn Clark. Absolutely, But you know.

Speaker 7 (01:43:45):
Like that's I'm not saying that she wasn't there thinking
of the risk reward and doing it, But the fact
that she's waiting to do her very first one in
the w NBA is just going to make it more exciting.

Speaker 2 (01:43:55):
I just find it ironic that she's doing the w
NBA favor when the league gets has done everything in
their power to diminish the impact that she's had on
that lake.

Speaker 7 (01:44:04):
Well, luckily for her, you know, the WNBA is pocket
change for her.

Speaker 6 (01:44:09):
She's not doing it to make money. She's doing it
because she.

Speaker 1 (01:44:12):
Loves like, I'm amazed she's still playing in the league
with you.

Speaker 7 (01:44:15):
I know, I know, but I'm glad she's kind of
taking time away. To be honest with you, because like
you said, they haven't taken care of her. So let
her step away. Let her step away. In women's college
hoops today, number seven Yukon did end number fourth South
Carolina's seventy one game home winning streak.

Speaker 4 (01:44:32):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (01:44:33):
Yes, eighty seven to fifty eight was the final score.

Speaker 6 (01:44:36):
Their last home loss.

Speaker 7 (01:44:38):
Was December third of twenty twenty, so they don't know
what it's like to lose at home until today.

Speaker 1 (01:44:43):
Awkward.

Speaker 10 (01:44:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's awkward.

Speaker 6 (01:44:48):
It's awkward. You know what I mean if you're a fan.

Speaker 7 (01:44:51):
Yes, Amilrim still doing it a uk He's still doing
it at Yukon.

Speaker 1 (01:44:56):
Records are unreal.

Speaker 6 (01:44:57):
Good for him, Good for him.

Speaker 7 (01:44:59):
In men's college one game going on right now, it's
been back and forth between number twenty.

Speaker 6 (01:45:03):
Four Creighton and number nine Saint John's.

Speaker 7 (01:45:05):
Creighton is on top right now, fifty three to fifty two,
about twelve minutes to go. You can catch all the
action on FS one, Whichitas State did have an upset
over number fourteen Memphis eighty four to seventy nine in overtime,
and Number twenty Michigan held on to defeed Ohio.

Speaker 6 (01:45:17):
State eighty six to eighty three.

Speaker 7 (01:45:19):
Yes, the NBAL Star festivities are going to wrap up
with the All Star Game and in its new four
team format, three games. The first one's gonna tip off
at a twenty Eastern time. Other NBA news that Shay
found very interesting, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer reports
that Mark Williams has not returned to the Hornets after
that trade that was rescinded with the Lakers. He has

(01:45:41):
not reported to the team.

Speaker 2 (01:45:43):
Well, he's been hurt most of his time there anyway,
So is there a reason.

Speaker 6 (01:45:47):
There's not a lot of details. It seems more.

Speaker 7 (01:45:50):
That he's hurt, like his ego is hurt.

Speaker 6 (01:45:54):
That's more of how I'm reading Between.

Speaker 1 (01:45:56):
The whne Let's see, he was leaving them for the Lakers.

Speaker 6 (01:45:59):
There were three Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:46:00):
Yeah, he was excited.

Speaker 6 (01:46:01):
He was excited.

Speaker 4 (01:46:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:46:02):
It seems it's more really just ego right now with
Mark Williams. The Daytona five hundred still on a rain
delay again.

Speaker 6 (01:46:11):
Why are we waiting go home?

Speaker 2 (01:46:14):
No, because they have they have to do it tomorrow'll
do it, go home, Go home?

Speaker 7 (01:46:20):
Okay, the Genesis Invitational, last one hear Maverick McNeely in
the lead. I'll buy himself by Himself twelve under part
overall Scottie Shuffler World number one, four shots back, Okay,
back to.

Speaker 1 (01:46:30):
You guys, all right, mon so, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (01:46:33):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:46:33):
By the way, don't forget after the show.

Speaker 2 (01:46:35):
Podcast is going up if you miss any of today's show.
Check out the podcast is. Search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you get your podcasts, then follow rate and review the
podcast again. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get
your podcasts, and you'll see the show posted right after
we get off the air. By the way, a programming
note Rich two weeks from today, so not next Sunday.

(01:46:56):
The following Sunday is Oscars. Oh yes, And if you
have been listening to me over the years and this
show with Rich and I together for many years, we
have a very special guest that joins us on Oscar Sunday.
And the reason I mentioned this is this is an

(01:47:17):
opportunity for you to make easy money. The man's name
is Lucky Leshu and he will in a very short segment,
just one quick segment. We rattle off I think there's
twenty four categories and we just ask him the winner
in each category. And his batting average is remarkable, not

(01:47:39):
just in the major categories, all the categories. I think, Rich,
it's safe to say, over the years collectively is well
above ninety percent.

Speaker 1 (01:47:46):
Some years he's even been better than that.

Speaker 2 (01:47:49):
But we do as a service because that's one thing
you can actually wager on. Now, Rich, I know you
are knee deep in wagering. So anytime you have, you know,
some kind of information that gives you a leg up
on the competition, so to speak, it's worth listening to.
So this is the reason we do that. It's not
a sports segment. It's strictly a service to our listeners

(01:48:14):
that if you engage in that kind of legal gambling
and when a wager on the oscars and have sort
of inside information, we're going to give it to you. Yeah,
because this guy has the leg up on everybody else
on who actually will walk away with the oscar.

Speaker 3 (01:48:29):
Yeah, Lucky Lushu is the man. He has been doing
it with you for forever. But he has been an
interview guest of Hours for a decade and he's been tremendous.
Here's what I will say is, let's put it this way.
If you've listened to any of the sports betting advice
that we've doled out here on Fox Sports Sundays or

(01:48:51):
Red Zone Radio in the course of the past football season,
and you're thinking to yourself, like, yeah, you know some
of that worked most if it didn't, Lucky Leshu he's
a lot more automatic than we are.

Speaker 1 (01:49:04):
Yeah, it's we're talking a ninety percent k.

Speaker 2 (01:49:08):
If you don't believe us, go back in some of
the old podcasts, tell me yeah, and you can hear
his picks and like, wow, that guy like nailed like
documentaries like short subject you know, all those small categories
that nobody sees anything, don't know anything. That's how good
he is. So anyway, that'll be two weeks from today. Also,
we're going to bring back looking for John Paul Morosi JP.

Speaker 1 (01:49:30):
How about spring training right now?

Speaker 2 (01:49:32):
Let me ask you a quick question, rich As spring
training games will get started next week they've already reported,
but actual games will start next week. So we heard
that Shoho Tani is on the mound and he's beginning
to you know, get himself ready to get back as
a pitcher, but after the season he just had as

(01:49:54):
a DH, which, by the way, he didn't miss any
of the season and put up historic numbers. Obviously, Is
it really worth the risk of him possibly being injured.
This guy's had two major arm surgeries already. Is it
worth the risks of him maybe re injuring in his

(01:50:16):
arm when he would be out of the lineup, even
as a d H or.

Speaker 1 (01:50:19):
An extended period.

Speaker 2 (01:50:20):
Is it worth the risk right now for the Dodgers
to go in that direction after the season he just had.

Speaker 4 (01:50:27):
You know, here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (01:50:30):
You as magical of a season as it was, there
was something missing from the story, wouldn't you agree?

Speaker 1 (01:50:39):
I agree.

Speaker 4 (01:50:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:50:40):
When you have a player who is literally rewriting the
history books.

Speaker 1 (01:50:46):
Never been done before.

Speaker 2 (01:50:47):
Stop with the Babe Ruth comparisons, folks, it's never been
done before.

Speaker 4 (01:50:51):
You you have to let him. You have to let
him compete.

Speaker 1 (01:50:54):
Yeah, yeah, you have.

Speaker 4 (01:50:55):
To let him do it.

Speaker 3 (01:50:56):
So if he feels ready, and I think you can
trust show Hey to have an understanding of what he's
capable of, because I think he's worked through or I know,
we all know he's worked through several injuries already since
he's been a major League baseball player, and he's played
phenomenal baseball all along. So I mean, granted, there was,

(01:51:17):
you know, a time where he was still getting acclimated
to the to the pros in the United States, and
there was a little bit of an on ramp there.
But since he's really gotten his feet wet, he's soared,
and so yeah, I wouldn't put any further restrictions on show, hey,
outside of what he and the team of doctors and

(01:51:38):
physical therapists who are handling the situation, because you have
to let this.

Speaker 4 (01:51:43):
Type of athlete compete, you have to.

Speaker 2 (01:51:46):
I one hundred percent agree with you. I mean, it's
worth you got to roll the dice, at least initially.
I mean, one of the reasons you gave him seven
hundred million dollars in contract was his unique ability to
do both and juster in the three years that he
was a full time pitcher.

Speaker 1 (01:52:03):
For the Angels along as being a hitter.

Speaker 2 (01:52:06):
Let's see, his record was thirty four and sixteen, Wow,
thirty four and sixteen with a sub three er and
averaging about eleven strikeouts per nine innings.

Speaker 1 (01:52:21):
Along with being a hitter. So is it worth the risk? Yeah,
it's it's definitely worth the risk.

Speaker 2 (01:52:27):
But you know, you got to trust and I agree
with you. If you're the Dodgers, whatever you want, you
call your own shots. Nobody we promise you, nobody's going
to say we want you to do this if it's
against your will. But you got to be honest with us.
If there's any fatigue in the arm, if there are
any concerns at all, you gotta tell us. Yeah, that's

(01:52:50):
all we ask, you know, just be honest with us
and we'll do what we ever have to do.

Speaker 1 (01:52:54):
But I'm excited to see him get back on the mound.
I'm excited to not wait.

Speaker 3 (01:53:00):
I think that show Heyotani brings a unique brand of
baseball to a sport that's really desperately needed a shot
in the arm, no question. And there've been a couple
of different I don't want to say failures to launch,
but superstars in baseball who haven't really created the gravity
that show Heyotani has created. You know, you look at

(01:53:21):
Bryce Harper for years and years trying to help shepherd
in a new era of younger baseball fans and more
wide interest. It didn't really pan out. Same with Mike Trout.
Aaron Judge, I mean, Aaron Judge is exciting, but he's
kind of long in the tooth. He started his baseball
career at what twenty eight, you know, I mean at

(01:53:44):
the major league level. He kind of toiled in the
minor leagues for a long time. So it's not gonna
last very long.

Speaker 4 (01:53:49):
Show.

Speaker 3 (01:53:49):
Heyotani gives you a longer on ramp to enjoy the
majesty and the towering ability of his of his game.
And I hope he's able to sustain. I hope he's
able to pitch and hit at the level that he's
capable of for a long time because he could really

(01:54:11):
reinvigorate baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:54:12):
Aaron Judge, by the way, he will be thirty three
in April's you're right about that. By the way, show,
he will be thirty one in July, so we're gonna
have to see how that arm holds up. All right, Well,
can talk about a big week ahead? And wow, this
All Star weekend continues. This is Fox Sports Sunday. I
don't know, I you ed, so we cut back an

(01:54:34):
hour once the football season is over. That was fast
that flew, buddy, I mean like wow, I was like
ready coming up and there not there is that.

Speaker 4 (01:54:47):
No, there's nothing next.

Speaker 1 (01:54:48):
But not us.

Speaker 4 (01:54:50):
There's plenty.

Speaker 2 (01:54:52):
I want to thank Moncey is always brilliant. I've been
recommending some horror movies.

Speaker 4 (01:55:00):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:55:00):
In fact, if you have any, rich I love horror.

Speaker 6 (01:55:02):
The scarier the better.

Speaker 1 (01:55:03):
And I gave her one that really good.

Speaker 6 (01:55:05):
Don't really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (01:55:07):
I have another one on our list.

Speaker 6 (01:55:08):
Yes, I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (01:55:10):
The movie. What's that actually the name of the movie. Oh, yeah,
well actually it was years ago. Strange Darling, Strange Darling.
He recommended it.

Speaker 6 (01:55:25):
It's really good.

Speaker 7 (01:55:26):
It's it's just not a typical movie and it's not
like like scary pop No, it's not old, but it's
just it's it's a different take and it's not like.

Speaker 6 (01:55:38):
Pop out spooky scary.

Speaker 1 (01:55:40):
By the way, it's only an hour and a half
it is, which is lovely.

Speaker 7 (01:55:42):
Yeah, but it's uncomfortable, it's suspenseful. It's because it's in
the acting was phenomenon.

Speaker 1 (01:55:47):
And very original, very very original. Chris doing his brilliant job.

Speaker 2 (01:55:53):
Yes, we always thank you, Chris.

Speaker 8 (01:55:57):
I'm always here and hanging on and it's trying to
go through the throws without football, right.

Speaker 1 (01:56:03):
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:56:03):
Well, I got good news for you in a second
for UFL. No, I'm not talking about I didn't look
up the UFL schedule and then.

Speaker 1 (01:56:10):
I stopped myself on the TVs. Whether you like it
or not, I know it will be.

Speaker 4 (01:56:14):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:56:15):
That's that's better than pickleball, which we had on to God.
That is painful.

Speaker 2 (01:56:20):
That is not a sport. By the way, if you
play pickleball, you're not an athlete. I'm not saying athletes
can't as a plane. Pickle ball does not make you
an athall is not athletic. No, it's not at all.
Who I work up with sweat, good for you. That's
really about your lack of conditioning that you're working up
such a sweat Plaine.

Speaker 4 (01:56:40):
Pickle or maybe it's warm out.

Speaker 2 (01:56:42):
Yeah whatever, and Shade stepping in today, Shaye, uh, great
to have you here.

Speaker 1 (01:56:47):
Hey, guys, it's amazing working with you.

Speaker 4 (01:56:49):
Guys.

Speaker 10 (01:56:49):
Are kidding me? No, honestly, I was so boring today.

Speaker 1 (01:56:53):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 10 (01:56:55):
Back to Bernie, Yeah, thank you you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:56:58):
It was a good time.

Speaker 1 (01:56:59):
We thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (01:57:00):
I do have good news as far as the NFL
is concerned. So we talk about the NFL is never
out of the news. So coming up on February eighteenth,
which is Tuesday, that is the day when teams can
start designating franchise or transition players.

Speaker 1 (01:57:19):
Okay, so that begins that process.

Speaker 2 (01:57:21):
So it's always interesting as you go into free agency
and everything else, trying to work contracts and then all
of a sudden you tab some a franchise player. Of
course they have to agree to that tag, so that
begins that process. And then rich if you can believe it.
So today is the sixteenth, am. I right, sixteenth of February.

(01:57:41):
We are just eight days away from the start of
the scouting combine.

Speaker 4 (01:57:45):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:57:46):
Yeah, eight days away at Lucas Oil Stateium in Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 (01:57:50):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (01:57:51):
They never leave Indy for that. That's an Indie event.
You know, there's been talk they're going to move it around. No, no, no,
just keep it an.

Speaker 1 (01:57:56):
Indy that works.

Speaker 2 (01:57:57):
So you know, it's all good stuff coming out as
far as the National Football League to get ready for
twenty twenty five. And then we begin the process as
we start already thinking about you know, some of the
off season moves and guys going everywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:58:11):
Talking earlier about Aaron Rodgers, is he even gonna play
in twenty twenty five, and if if he does, is
he gonna be? I just again, don't don't. I would
beg Aaron Rodgers. Don't be the quarterback of the Raiders.
Don't do that. Yeah, it doesn't serve you because you're
not gonna win a super Bowl with the Raiders next year. Yeah,
I promise you're not.

Speaker 2 (01:58:30):
They got brock Bowers and nothing else. Could he make
them a little better? Yet they're not gonna be super
Bowl contenders And you're not really doing the Raiders any
service because how long are you gonna be there? Is
there a quarterback they have that you're gonna mentor maybe
maybe if they draft let's say, uh Shudour Sanders, Okay,
maybe you know, but you have Tom Brady there.

Speaker 1 (01:58:53):
He can tutor him.

Speaker 3 (01:58:54):
Can I've gotten out of the habit of saying never,
because I'm constantly amazed by especially the abilities of great
athletes like I remember there was a long stretch where
people would say, after the back surgery or the second
back surgery or the third, hey, Tiger Woods is never
going to win a major again, and then he went

(01:59:14):
out and won the Masters on it.

Speaker 2 (01:59:16):
That's not an individual event that's he wasn't dependent on
other people.

Speaker 3 (01:59:19):
No, no, I get that, But my point being, I
don't know what the future for Aaron Rodgers is. But
if I were in his situation, I would be picky.
I wouldn't just sign it.

Speaker 2 (01:59:30):
But in any situation, I mean again, if you're San Francisco,
they apparently have decided we're going to move forward with
brock party.

Speaker 1 (01:59:39):
Is that a good decision?

Speaker 2 (01:59:40):
If the Minnesota Vikings also are, like, yeah, Sam Darnold,
forget those last two games, he was good enough, We're
gonna move forward for him.

Speaker 1 (01:59:47):
Are that Is that the right decision for those franchises?

Speaker 3 (01:59:50):
I think in case of San Francisco, yeah, that's probably
what's right. In the case of Minnesota Vikings, they drafted J. J. McCarthy.

Speaker 1 (01:59:57):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:59:57):
I think they've got to move on and kick the
tires on the front first round draft pick.

Speaker 1 (02:00:01):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting how that plays.

Speaker 4 (02:00:03):
Well.

Speaker 1 (02:00:03):
That's good news, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:00:04):
So Rich is going to give us a complete breakdown
next week of what we saw in the NBA All
Star Games. You gotta break it down play by play.
Look forward to that much more coming up here on
Fox Sports Radio.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Fox Sports Radio News

Host

Jonas Knox

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fox Sports Sunday: Steve Hartman & Rich Ohrnberger Talk NBA All-Star Break, Aaron Rodgers, and So Much More!