FOX Sports Sunday w/ Furman & Noe: 07/08/2018

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Why did he leave? Well,
we'll tell you in just about a minute. But right
now it's time to say good morning America. Yes, it
is that time. It's Fox Sports Sunday. He's Brian No,
I'm Nady Fermin and we're coming to you live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios, brought to you by Geico.
Fifteen minutes can save you fifteen percent of more on

(00:21):
car insurance VisiC. I goed dot com for a free
great quote. Harry is the one and only the doctor
of Sports, my partner and friend, the Big B. Brian No, Hello,
be what's happening the Big B? Does that make you
the Big as? It's great to be here with you
on a Sunday morning. How you doing, my friend? How
was you a week? I tell you what I worry

(00:42):
about you. I should call you more open during the week.
What's happened to fill me in? Um? You know it's uh.
There's a lot of the lovely Christina and I took
a trip to South ben Indiana. It was a lot
of fun. We were there for fireworks fourth of July.
It's really cool because my mom is moving. But it's
the house that I largely grew up in She's been

(01:04):
there for a good I don't even know, close to
thirty years, maybe thirty plus years. And she's moving to
a new home that's right down the road from my
sister but for the last I don't know, five years,
five to ten years our neighbor. This sounds like, you know,
I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. This

(01:25):
dude goes all out for fireworks. It's a legit firework show.
It's not like backyard we had some sparklers and it
turns into a fishing trip. This is the real deal.
It's legit. So we were there for that, had a
lot of fun, and then I lost the annual Mario
Kart showdown to my nephew Mini Matt. Again. I'm disappointed

(01:47):
with that. You know. I hate to sound like the
guy that's like, get off my lawn, but can I
tell you something? But she hit out a nerve right
there with the fireworks. Fireworks should be on July four,
that's number one. Number two. They should be done by
a professional organization. You go out and watch the show,
not from some guy in the backyard, but Schmaltz. Okay,

(02:07):
and more than that they start on the first of July,
and they were going through last night. It drives my
dog crazy. My dog goes nuts when he hears these fireworks.
He's hiding under the bed, under the couch. I mean, look,
you want to do fireworks, Okay, reserve them for either
July three, the eve or July fourth that night and
go to a show. Okay, let your next door name,

(02:28):
but do it. It's gonna blow his fingers off. I mean,
what is this fireworks they last a week? Come on,
I can't understand the weak thing because yeah, you get
four days removed from the fourth and you're like, all right, dude,
what are you doing? Have a grand finale? Okay, don't
save it for the weekend, just save it for Wednesday night, right,

(02:49):
I get that. Professionals around here, there's plenty of people
that everybody is Jason, Pierre Paul. Okay, they're capable of
lighting up some fireworks and keeping all of their fingers
at the same time. Alright, fine, I don't want to
see anybody get hurt. But the point that the matter
is this, if you don't know how to do fireworks
or use fireworks, there's a good opportunity. I started story

(03:09):
on the TV news the other night. Song guy had
his eyebrows burnt off and lost two fingers. I mean,
is it worth it? Why? What's what's the fun of
sitting on fireworks, lighting a little cracker and running and
running away? I mean, what's then lighting fireworksky? But I'll
watch the heck out of some fireworks. I don't like.
There was no traffic handy from that was the beautiful thing.

(03:32):
You don't have to go to I don't know, some
park or anything like to fight the traffic everybody to
get out. It's like a sporting event sometimes depending on
where you go. This just in the backyard chilling. It's
a legit show. It was great. I wonder if they
have fireworks shows in Iowa. Do they say im just
to say good morning to you, Ohiowa, Sam, of course,
but listen there is it is so fun. My mom
and I used to drive down to Missouri. We'd buy

(03:54):
fireworks for like, you know, you get three bags of fireworks,
come back up, you spend a hundred bucks, they give
you free be stuff, you get credit in store, and
then you come back and you're blown crap up all
day and all summer and it's fun. And now you
can legally shoot off fireworks in the city outer city
limits of most towns in Iowa. So um, it's kind
of a year round thing and it's legal, so it's great.

(04:14):
I'm also lighting off your own fireworks. It's a blast
and just don't get hurt all. You know. The one
thing that bonds us all together obviously as sports. You know,
we love sports to some degree. We love certain sports
more than others, whatever it may be. But you and
I and Sam and Kevin Figures with us today and
our producer Ryan, we all love sports. That's what we hear.
And finally it happened. After all these years following sports,

(04:36):
looking at sporting events, finally it happened to me. It's
kind of like a sledge hammer over my head. I
watched the sporting event. We're actually no rooting interest. I
didn't know any of the players, any of the team,
but I was mesmerized by it. You know what it
was the game yesterday were Russia yet Russia Croatia. It
was unreal. I couldn't leave the TV, said, and believe me,
I told my next door Nab but we're watching it together,

(04:58):
I said. The coverage on TV is ten million times
better than being there in person. The camera work, the angles,
it's tremendous, and and the shootout at the end. I
loved every minute of it. And I really could care
who would win that game. Really, it was a great match,
There's no doubt. And for Russia to even the score
in extra time, that was unreal because you think, all

(05:20):
the emotion, you're about to be eliminated if you don't score,
because you know, Croatia was able to score a little
bit earlier in the first overtime period. And then they
tie it up and it goes to p K's and
the guy that just hooks it left right. Can you, Andy,
whatever was the biggest screw up in your sporting career,

(05:42):
You know, just think about it on that scale, right,
There are NFL players that had major screw ups that
don't even come close to that one. You know, there
are Scott Norwood missing a field goal in the Super
Bowl was enormous. It wasn't as big as that Russian player.
It was the third series of penalty kicks and he

(06:05):
just boots it wide left in front of his enten country.
What that felt like to him? I felt like today
He's gonna be executed. Believe me, I'm telling you that's
what it was. And you saw the emotion on the
faces of these guys as the approach the soccer ball
going for the penalty kick. It was so you can't
see that sitting in the stands the TV coverage. I'm

(06:25):
telling you, it was great. It was tremendous. I loved
every minute of it and the replays. I'm hooked because
I was like in and out during the week, a
little here, a couple of minutes there. But yesterday I
could not leave the set and it was a beautiful
day outside. My wife was outside swimming in the pools,
and now I'm watching the end of this game. That's it.
I loved it. But you made the right call because
that was a fantastic match, slash game, whichever you want

(06:49):
to go with, because I know soccer guy gets a
little offended if you go with game. But it was tremendous.
It was always love it certainly was. I loved every minute,
and you know it was great because at least what
about suthing on the field the game, because they like,
I don't know how you say it exactly, but just
to put a bow on it. Yeah, whatever the third
series of penalty kicks, you know they have five. I

(07:12):
don't even know the terminology, like, but whatever that little
third stanza was. You had the Russian player just miss it,
left on his own, just wasn't even on nets. And
then the Russian goalie he got his hands on the shot,
Ricochet hit the post wed it. Oh. It couldn't get

(07:35):
more heartbreaking for Russia the way that played out. Yeah,
and you know you mentioned heartbreaking. It's funny you play
ninety minutes and you play an extra thirty minutes and
it comes down to that and be like almost like
flipping a coin. But you know what, I don't care
because their drama and the emotion is just tremendous. It
just peaks and they show the fans in the stands
women were crying. The Russian women in the stands were crying.
It was great. I loved every minute of it. You

(07:56):
know what, I'm gonna put that on my bucket list,
and you and I'd like to, oh to the next
World Cup. That's how much, that's how where the World
Cup is that the one in the desert where it's
a hundred and sixty two during midnight. Yes, and then
after that it's in the USA, Mexico and can North America.
Yeah there, you know, let's say it up, cutter, you know,
screw it, let's go to the desert. I love going

(08:17):
for it. Let's go for it. I'd love to go
I I really would. I'm not kidding about that. I'd
love to go there. But you know, we talked about
a game, certainly on the field right now, but the
big story in sports this week had to be off
the field. It was Lebron, obviously, and goalvanizing the world
of sports. Embarrassing really for baseball. No one's talking basis.
Every every sports cast. I listened to a TV news
wherever it might be, it was Lebron, and you know what,

(08:39):
credit kudos to you. You called it. You. I mean,
I don't think it was that big of a deal
to call it, but you call it. Bacus. I said, hey,
he's gonna stay in Cleveland. Maybe it was an emotional thing.
I wanted it to stay in Cleveland, but I was surprised.
I guess you would not that surprised to you happened
to call it. I congratulate you for that. Well, thank you,
Andy Ferman. Yeah, it was. It just seemed like he
was going to head to the lake or and uh,

(09:01):
that's exactly where he ended up going. And you can
some of the signs where he's not even meeting with
the Calves. He took this kind of token phone call
and then met with Magic Johnson for about three hours
in his home, and this whole thing, it just seemed
like Lebron was moving on. And you look at his
supporting cast with the Lakers, and if there's a phase two,

(09:26):
if it doesn't involve Kawai Leonard getting over there, there
better be a legitimate phase two for Lebron in l A.
Because his supporting cast right now it is not that
much better than what he left in Cleveland, right And
that leads us to the question why did he leave?
And I was trying to put down together a list
of why he would leave, and I looked up and
I read as much as I can on the internet

(09:46):
and said he and his wife Savannah, and their son's
Lebron Junior and Bryson, to do as Zouri. They said, A,
they're excited to live in l A full time because
he has two homes there. And then he said he
believes that the Lakers can't content for a championship. And
I'm saying and they better do it rather sooner than later,
because he's gonna be thirty seven when that contract runs out.
I mean really, yeah, they're not even close to a

(10:09):
championship contender right now. They need another star and and
to have a chance. Good lord, look at the Warriors, Andy,
where you have the four All Stars, Oh my bad,
and you added another one. You've got a fifth All
Star in Boogie Cousins. People are just pooh pooing this deal.
It's weird. It's like you're either like, whoa goodness, this

(10:31):
is gonna be a great signing for the Warriors, or
you're the complete opposite, like he is Andre. He's not
gonna make any impact whatsoever. It doesn't seem like there's
any middle ground. But you know as well as I do,
if it was the Lakers who signed Boogie Cousins, their
fans would be going ballistic right now, thinking he's the
second Coming. But he signs with the Warriors, and it's

(10:52):
like torn Achilles. What's he gonna do? Right? And the
good news for the Golden State is the fact that yes,
he does have the torn Achilles and he's not really
needed right now. He could rest and kind of mold
his way into that lineup, you know, maybecause right just
to show what the Lakers are up against the way
they are constructed, dude, they have no chance in the

(11:16):
playoffs none. So I don't know. I think it's gonna
be interesting with Lebron going to a new team and
the Lakers have been so starving for success. These last
four seasons have been brutal, absolutely dreadful. So I'm excited
about it. But I just I try to get into
this mindset, and I did it at the beginning of
last season, and I didn't stick with it because it's

(11:39):
hard to You've got to watch the NBA not just
for the top heavy teams. You've got to look for
the teams that are next in line once the Warriors
start to disintegrate in terms of the talent on their team,
because it's not even close right now. It's the Warriors
and everybody else. And if you look at it like that,
you're gonna get bored to tears. You've got to look

(12:00):
at who's next. You gotta watch the young seventies sixers,
how they're developing. You gotta watch the Sun's the Sons
are gonna be fun to watch all their young talent. Yeah,
Celtics do. That's a good team, you know. And you
know what And one of the things that the Lebron
I guess and his people who surrounded him were quick
to say and point out that Lebron was not that
concerned that another role STI like Kawhi Leonardo, Paul George

(12:23):
how to join the Lakers. For him to sign with
the Lakers, which is interesting right there because basically, I
guess he feels that he could carry that team on
his back. With the youngsters, Dan helped them develop. I
don't know, I just don't get it. But he said
that he wanted to be with an iconic franchise. I
guess the Lakers obviously and the Celtics are two iconic franchises.
But I think when all of a sudden done, he
wanted to go out to Hollywood to kind of look

(12:45):
at his next career. Well, he could have had an
eye on that, um. And it's interesting because that move did,
uh it It went against conventional thinking because a lot
of people were saying, well, if they don't yet two superstars,
they're not gonna get one. Because Lebron isn't gonna sign
there without somebody else, and he sure enough did so, Yeah,

(13:08):
it was it was surprising. But it goes when when
you think about a broader topic where you think about
the format in the NBA playoffs and you might really
have to consider tweaking that and go one through sixteen,
regardless of conference seed those teams because the East is
even weaker now without Lebron over there man, no doubt

(13:29):
about that. He's Brian, No, he's not a week at all.
I'm Andy Ferman. Together we call this Fox Sports Sunday
and went to live from the guy called Fox Puts
Radio Studios. By the way, you can get us on Twitter.
You've heard about that avenue at the No Show and
OI show at Andy Ferman f s our phone calls
always welcome at age seven seven ninety nine on Fox.
That translates to age seven seven nine sixty sixty nine

(13:50):
into this hour We Love Bronx talk our number two,
Bonn and Barrel betting An our number three. The Dean Altho,
Ohio sports writers who knows Lebron like a book. Bill
Livingston from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who just happened to
have retired the other day. He's gonna chat with us
and I our number three followed by nose picks. So
don't go anywhere. But is there happiness on the horizon

(14:14):
that's next? Could this be the beginning of the end.
But we'll get to that in just about a minute.
About twenty past, we call this Fox Sports Sunday. He's
Brian No I'm Andy Ferman. We're live from that guy
called Fox Sports Radio Studios. And you know what, this
kind of borders on the world of sports. And I
know it's gonna hurt people when I say this, but
I'm talking about that UFC Championship fight last night. It's
all about I mean, choreographs of the Less, the Cormier

(14:40):
and stuff. He's an audience. Everything's kind of planned and
the pre arranged. I mean, it's getting like pro wrestling. Look,
I understand it's all about promotion and people love that stuff.
And it's crazy. And this guy Less towards the forty
years old. He hasn't forced but you know, people buy it.
That's what they want, that's what they want to see.
Did you watch that fight let night? I did not.

(15:01):
I was not saying that fight live, but props to
Cormier for dropping me chich and it's unbelievable to me. Andy,
This is why there's some choreographed, staged stuff. It's because
you had a super fight last night. You had Steep
Aby who's the heavyweight champ, going into the fight against
Daniel Cormier, who's the light heavyweight champion, and there was

(15:25):
little to no hype. There was hardly any build up
to this thing. And people are like scratching their heads
that there was something choreographed with brock Lesner coming into
the octagon and talking some trash. It's needed, it's necessary
at this point for the UFC. Well, the point didn't matter.
Is this Cormier right now, and if I'm correct, becomes
just a second fighter to have the whole titles in

(15:47):
two weight classes at the same time, which I think
is a big story. But he's being overshadowed by the
fact that Lessner was in the audience that he's challenging him,
and that's what made a mockery out of it to me,
because what Cormier did is someone unbelievable in the world
of sports. Second fighter to have a whole two titles
in two different weight classes at the same time, that's huge,

(16:07):
but that story is basically pushed to the back of
the room because of brock Lester there in the audience.
So what like like that's the thing? Okay, fine, is
it great for Cormier, No, it's not the greatest. To
your point, it's beyond Cormier. It's about the UFC. And
if you've got this super fight that's getting little to

(16:29):
no hype, Dana White is no idiot. He knows that
Connor McGregor, after getting paid huge to fight money maye,
he's not exactly racing into the octagon, and that presents
a problem. And if you're a smart businessman, you would
look at that last night and the whole dynamic speaks
for itself, where you've got this super fight with hardly

(16:49):
any hype whatsoever, and it's like, well, how do we
change that? And one of the ways you change that
is to take a page from pro wrestling's book, and
when did this become such a bad thing. It's just
funny to me the reaction of oh, it's becoming like
pro wrestling, Like no one's paid attention to pro wrestling,
nobody's gotten a kick out a stone cold or the
Rock along right, and taking taking a page out of

(17:11):
pro wrestling is the perfect thing to do, is the
perfect medicine to do it, because they need that the hype.
But I'm just saying that it's a shame that they
have to go in that direction because what Cormier did
last night should be able to stand on his own.
And by the way, let's talk about it for a second.
Here has it been of that trash talk between Lester
and Cormier after the fight? Take a listen. Let me
tell you something. I want this building and watch the

(17:33):
heavyweight disasters from the beginning. McGill, change the piecing. I'm
talking for you. I think it's great. No, look, it's
entertainment at its best. That's what it's all about. But again,
you're overshadowing a tremendous accomplishment by Daniel Cormier. That's all

(17:56):
I'm saying. I understand that. But here's the deal. Oh man,
it's gonna help prop up his next match. It's not
just about overshadowing his current match, which was last night.
It's about setting the stage for the next match. Because
unless you have an element of look at this that
goes beyond the fight itself. A lot of these fights

(18:19):
just aren't drawing a lot of attention, and that's the
reality of the UFC right now. So doing stuff like this,
I am all for it. And it just cracks me
up when people are like, oh, it's pro wrestling. And
it was the twenty two year year anniversary yesterday of
Hulk Hogan joining nWo, and it's like so many people

(18:41):
loved that and got a kick out of that whole
thing with a new World Order, And it's just funny
to me as if pro wrestling some of the things
that made it so great have no part of other
sports whatsoever. It's a joke, it's valuable in other sports
to there's no doubt because that's basically itself and that's
what people love. And you know what, the majority of

(19:02):
people that follow pro wrestling, I think realize it's choreographed
and and basically they know the winner has been predetermined.
Then there's a good guy and a bad guy, evil
and good whatever it may be. People want to be entertained.
But all I'm saying this is, why does you have
seen right now have to go in that direction? And
what have that happened to the hype that you have
seen what happened to the thing? You don't have one.
You don't have your biggest two stars, which are Connor McGregor,

(19:26):
who's been odd the octagon for a long time, and
you just had going into the Hall of Fame. You
had Rhonda Rousey, who most people think it's retired. But
those are the two biggest names in the sport, and
they are nowhere near inside the octagon, right, there's somewhere
outside of it. So these other names. It's a little

(19:46):
bit like golf. You know, golf has some names that
are interesting. If you've got Jordan's speeds competing for a major,
but is it big enough to get the fringe fan involved?
If Tigers involved, people are just rushing to the TV sets.
If you have Rory McElroy, who's in the midst he's
in the running to win a major, Yeah, you got

(20:08):
hardcore golf fans watching. Do you have a ton of
fringe fans watching. That's the same thing with UFC, you
have a ton of fringe fans running to see Steve
who was fantastic, by the way, and also Daniel Cormier. No,
you don't. It had hardly any hype whatsoever. It turned
into it Oh, by the way, that's tonight type match

(20:28):
like that. That should never happen with those two guys
holding belts, but it did, and that's why they're going
with these tactics. Once again, Brian No hit it right
on the head, and I'm gonna say, what with sports
is going? The direction of sports right now? People no
longer the route for their team. People route for individuals.
It's all about individuals rather than sports. And what has happened.
Just take a look at National Football League stuff. People

(20:50):
root for their team, who route for the individual and
the fantasy football team more so than their basic team
than a roof of teams anymore. They root for individuals
to do. But I put a football games on Sundays
at times, and there are people rooting for guys that
are playing. I mean, I live in Cincinnati, So they're
looting against the Bengals because their fantasy football player is
on a team opposite the Bengals, and that's what they do.

(21:11):
That's what's right. Yeah right. I wouldn't go all the
way and say no one roots for teams anymore, because
they do. But you're right, the allegiances to your teams,
the waters can get muddied. Right, that's the way it happens.
Where then there's a story with Cleveland sports fans buying
Lebron's jersey now that he's a Laker, And there was

(21:34):
a study where twenty of Calves fans aren't gonna watch
the Calves anymore because Lebron isn't there for Lebron. Right,
they took a post there's a building in downtown Cleveland
did day Lebron announced he's leaving, they pulled his picture down.
How can you do that? The guy gave them a championship,
the first title and fifty years in that freaking town. Right. Well,

(21:55):
but as it relates to the UFC and golf, and
those are individual sports, you know, And to bring it
full circle, like that's why the UFC is taking the
pro wrestling approach and they're not all in good Lord,
you had brock Lessner come in and talk some trash
to Cormier and people are losing their minds. It's crazy

(22:18):
to me, like, think of this. We had Alex Marvez
on months ago. We typically have them on each Sunday
here Andy, he's a friend of ours, and he was
talking about all these people when I believe it was
the Patriots playing the Falcons. You gotta go back to
that Super Bowl and they're lining up to take their
picture with Rick Flair. They loved Rick Flair. You've got

(22:41):
all these I've got audio of cults players in the
locker room, you know, quoting Rick Flair while they're celebrating
a win. Like there are tons of NFL players, there
are tons of fans that happen to love a lot
of the aspects of pro wrestling. So why it would
be ac religious to incorporate some of that stuff. We

(23:04):
love trash talking, we love hype. Are you kidding me?
Do you think that nobody liked Conor McGregor throwing water bottles?
You know during that press conference. Nobody eats this stuff up. Ever,
it's ridiculous to think that it doesn't sell. Of course,
of course, and if the name of the game is
to make money, get people to subscribe to close circuit
TV and sell tickets to events, that's the way to go.

(23:26):
That's the formula to use. There's no It goes back
to the days of the late Muhammad Ali when he
would have the weigh ins, and you do that, that's
the same thing. It sells. There's no, that it's sell.
Then it's sell. Then it'll sell. Now that's what it is,
and that's what it is. I'm just saying that it's
a shame that they have to do that. Yeah, I
hear you, man, But that's the thing is, like, if

(23:49):
there's such a thing as UFC purists, we don't have
enough purists. It just seems like golf and baseball purists.
There are other purists and other sports, but there are
a lot of UFC fans that are like, you don't
need to resort to these type of tactics. Yeah, you do,
all right, don't have an over inflated opinion of yourself.
Know where things are and know that there was hardly

(24:10):
any hype for a super fight. Of course, they need
to resort to things like the one step. Further, I
think baseball needs to forget about the replaying. Let umpires
go crazy on managers, vice versa, because that was great.
Lin Earl Wheeley used to come out the attorney's cap
around him. Dirty home plate stuff. Yeah, oh yeah, I
love that kick dirt on the plate. Love that they

(24:33):
don't have a brush to make it cleaning, right. Brian
no Andy Fromwick call it fox Sports Sunday. We're on
a roll right now and this is a made for
TV match. Will tell you all about it next, but
first our guy don't want to know that Kevin figures
in it for the latest. All right, Andy will start
in then. Like you guys were just discussing. UFC lighthavaweight
champion Daniel Cormier adding more gold to his waist first

(24:56):
round knockout of Steepic on Saturday Night, capturing because first
UFC he Vweight Championship. He becomes the second UFC fighter
the whole titles in two different weight classes, behind Connor McGregor.
After the fight, Dana White didn't nounce. Cormier will defend
the title against former heavyweight champion brock Lessner at a
later date. Dat and location have yet to be determined.
We'll figure that out pretty soon. Online car shop, we

(25:18):
can be confusing not anymore with True Price from True Car.
Now you can know the exact price you will pay
for your next car. So visit True Cards who enjoy
a more confident car buying experience. News out of the NBA,
the Phoenix Suns and guard Devin Booker have signed a
five year a hundred and fifty eight million dollar contract extension.
In baseball, Saturday night, Arizona beat the Padres and beat
him badly. To five was the final score in the

(25:39):
Desert Snakes breaked up eighteen hits, scored a run, and
all but just one inning on the night. Tyson Ross
lasted just two winnings about eight earned runs for San Diego.
Phillies beat the Pirates three to two for their sixth
straight victory. Dodgers beat the Angels three to one. Y'asie
a week with a home run there wins for the
Astros Tigers. In the A's, Mark Reynolds went five for
five drove in ten runs for the Washington Nationals as

(26:02):
they steam roll the Miami Marlins eighteen to four. Back
to Andy M. Bryan, thank you so much eating and
now keV right there, hey, just what the sports needs.
Will get to that in just about a minute. He's
Brian No I meany fermin and welcome everybody to the
Fox Butch Radio Studios, brought to you by Geico. It's
easier to save fifty more on car insurance with Geico.
Got to Geico dot com. Oh call eight hundred nine

(26:22):
four seven at all the only hard part figuring out
which way is easier in less than ten minutes. Bronze
Talk will be right here. But but b we have
a phone call. Are you ready? Sure? Ryan wants to
talk to us in San Antonio with Brian no at
Andy Ferman. Hello, Brian, Ryan, how you doing? Hey? I'm
doing you man too real quick points because I heard

(26:45):
your story. If you want to hang up on me, fine,
You see. I love I love brock Lessner doing what
he did because John Jones, Chuck Modell, all the big
names they're not in anymore. Rock have to do what
he has to do to bring the sport back up.
The other thing, Lebron going to the Lakers, Uh got

(27:11):
paid boogie. I thought was gonna go to the Lakers.
I thought that's why they signed h Rondo. And that's
why Julius Randall wasn't understanding p Agent. I thought they
were using them as trade baits. But you know, he
goes the Warriors is what it is. Uh, I'll hang up,

(27:34):
Hang up ahead, hang up. I don't know what he's
going with, direction he's going in, but uh, it was
interesting to say the least. Okay, he I like how
he started off, just kind of lowering expectations. You know,
I thought it was gonna be some hot take where
we're gonna be like, Wow, that's crazy, we gotta hang
up on you. But it wasn't like that. Well, that's fine.

(27:55):
He had his like two minutes of fame, and that's fine.
You wanted to talk about the the NBA Summer League,
which right now is getting a lot of hype and
Trey Young, the kids from Oklahoma. I know he was
rejected a couple of nights ago. What's the deal with
Trey Young? I just think there's such an overreaction with
Troy Trey Young because he hasn't gotten off to a
good start. He's shooting the three. He's only six of
thirty three in the Summer League, and his field goal

(28:19):
percentage is not very good. He hit sixteen of sixty
four shots from the field, so he hasn't exactly found
the groove quite yet, and some of the shots he's
taken he's just jacking up some deep threes. But there's
such an overreaction. Good lord, it's a couple of games
in the Summer League and people are starting to talk
about him as if he's a bust already it's like
settle it down. But I think the larger picture, Andy,

(28:41):
I think it shows what some of these hot Summer
League takes and overreactions. I think it shows that there's
such a thirst for non Warriors stories and non Warriors hope.
I think there's just such a need for hope that
they will will be dethroned. And I think there are

(29:02):
a lot of reaches in terms of opinions based on
the Summer League with that as a backdrop, And I
think one of the people is hoping is Adam Silver
really a big LUs right now? The league is soul
upside and it's ridiculous, it really is. But you know,
it's great watching the Warriors play. But to me, I
mean for a fans situation, when you start the season
in October, you kind of know, and we knew last

(29:22):
year is gonna be Cleveland Golden State. Now it's probably
gonna be Golden State in Boston. So that's just the
way it is. But you know, you mentioned the Cormier
fight and the hype and the kind of correlation between
pro wrestling golf has taken a page out of that.
Golf has gone the hype route to the promotional play
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. They're now in negotiations to
play a winner take all match. But Ted Mill. People

(29:43):
love this stuff, you know, people love events. It goes
back if you remember back in the seventies, I think
was Billy Jean Smith and Billy Jean King and Bobby
Ridge and tennis and match races and horse racing. That's
what it's all about. People love events. And people have
watched this and they'll probably be a pay for TV.
Oh oh my gosh. They're gonna be selling you know,

(30:04):
TV rights and they'll be marketing sponsorship's best believe, they're
gonna be making tons of money on this. The loser
is not going to be losing financially. And I know
there's a ten million dollar purse that's being talked about,
but this is brilliant. I remember remember this Andy going
back to is right after the ninety six Olympics, you
had Michael Johnson going up against Donovan Bailey and they

(30:28):
ran a one hundred and fifty meter dash inside the
what was it the sky Dome at this time, and
had all this hype, all this intrigue, and you had
Michael Johnson act like he pulled a hammy because he
was gonna lose. And I still vaguely remember that because
it was an event. And this thing with Phil Mickelson
and Tiger Woods, it is brilliant and it's not only

(30:51):
good for those two golfers, is tremendous. And you know
what sports right now, we talked about this with the
Cormier deal. It's all about promotions in hype. For example,
every All Star game, you know, the game is secondary.
It's the home run contest is it's the promotions around
surrounding the game itself. That's what it's become right now.

(31:11):
The game is secondary to the promotional events around the game.
And that's what you go to the Super Bowl. I mean,
the game is secondary the the week leading up to
the game, really and truly, and I've bet the two
Super Bowls they have the experienced situation with the kids
and everything during the week. People just go to that
because I can't get a ticket to the game anyway. Well,
in this day and age, man, things have changed a lot,

(31:35):
and there's so many things going at once and you
have access to all of them in the sports world.
So you think about the baseball ratings that used to
be off the charts. Well, yeah, because there's like three
channels at the time, you know, it was just a
different deal. It was a different time. And now that
you have all of this access to all of these

(31:55):
sports and all of these things going on, it's like,
how do you get noticed, how do you stand out?
How are you part of the mainstream conversation. And there
are a lot of things that just don't sell on
their own. You need something else to help sell it.
And that's the reality for a lot of sports, Like
Mike Trout is unbelievable, and yet he doesn't get hardly

(32:19):
close to the attention he should get. And it's like,
go beyond that. Look at the UFC fight last night.
It didn't get a whole lot of hype. You've got
to do something beyond just doing something great within your
sport personality. You've gotta be an own gotta be your
own flavor, flavor, you gotta hype yourself up because you're
gonna get lost in the shuffle if that doesn't happen.

(32:40):
And one of the problems being the fact that you
talked about the three stations back in the day, I
think the fact that sports basically had their own arena
for what I mean by that, each season baseball basically
was like April to October, whatever it may be. They're
a LoVa lapping right now, and the National Football League
has something going on for every single month, be it
O T A S or the draft or or the combine,

(33:03):
whatever it may be. And that's Newsy. It may not
be a game, but it's Newsy. And that's certainly they've
got a lot of blotter reports, police blotter reports as well.
So it's gotta be eating up baseball. I mean, Robert
Manford right now, it's gonna be staying awake at night
looking at the ceiling in his bed, say what what
what can I do? What can I do to? I mean,
we're in the heart of baseball season right now. They

(33:24):
should be center stage the Old Star Games in two
weeks and basically people are talking about Lebron James. Think
about that. Sure, well, there are a lot of others
besides Rob Manford. Think about NASCAR when football rolls around.
Good lord, you've got races on Sundays like just to
get noticed. They should have something where I don't know,
like if you're first and second, you have an octagon.

(33:47):
That's nearby, and then you know, if the second place
guy soundly beats down and submits the first place guy,
well then we flip flop the order. You know, something
like just something that's not a real thing, but just
something beyond the trade. You have a match, rates have
two cars. You know, you gotta do something instead of, well,

(34:10):
hopefully we get noticed this week even though we're racing
the same day as this full NFL slate. It's not
gonna happen. You know what they should do. They should
have legalized wagering on NASCAR. That would help. Legalized wager
gotta help. You think anything, anything that you can do
that's still legal to get noticed. You gotta do it
because there are so many options and everybody's got a

(34:33):
d D. If you aren't doing something to get attention
that draws, that sparks a conversation, you're gonna get overlooked.
That's just where we're at today. And I'll tell you what.
Just to put a little pat on my back with
my hand here, I try to do it with our show.
I wrote to the nighttime guys. I wrote to Jimmy Kimmel.
I said, Jimmy, you and I are from Brooklyn, come on.

(34:53):
You know my good friend Shelly laza from Brooklyn, she
went to high school with me. Shelly Lazong was Jimmy
kimmel stirt, great tea teacher in Brooklyn. It was a
connection that Jimmy put us on, put me in the
noman on. But it didn't happen. It didn't. Andy, You've
got to build off that thought, because Jimmy Kimmel is
not gonna be like, all right, let's get uh you know,

(35:13):
ferminin no on the show here. That'll sell. That's good
enough on it. So what we need to do. We've
got to be able to juggle plates with our nose.
We gotta do something that he can work in, Like, hey,
they do this sports talk show on Fox Sports Radio
while we're doing something ridiculous on top of that. You know, well,
but I wrote in the letter, I said that we
may be on one of the most obscure hours ever

(35:36):
in radio. That's what I wrote him. I said, don't
you want I want to do your things while we're
on the show. You know, let's let's work on an act.
Let's work on Andy firm Alive from the guy called
Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is a bar fight without
the fisticuffs. Bronze Talk. It's freaking next Bronx Talk coming

(35:57):
right up aout eleven minutes before. At the top of
the hour, we call this Fox It Sunday. He's Brian
no On, Andy Furman will lie for the guy called
Fox Spots Radio Studios. And of course we're getting ready
for our host, the one and only the Electric Sammy
ka taking away, guys, it's time to channel your inner
New York here. We want to hear all the rationalities

(36:22):
you can spew on the hottest topics of the day
out here. Here's something we like to call Bronx Talk Radio,
hosted by the Great Sammy kah My Stogies. I love
you straight munts. Get vaccinated, you hear me? All right,

(36:43):
Let's get down to the Gobba gul Lebronza Lake a Cool,
Cool Cool gobble Gobba Cool. He's gonna need some help
to knock off the Bay Area Obama's listen. He's got
his hetchmen and guys like Land Stevenson, Javall, Prevail McGee,
but he needs a point man. Am I right? Listen?
I heard this rumor, heard a rumor? Is there any
fire under this smoke of trail Blazer Damian Lillard possibly

(37:04):
joining the Lakers. Would that be a good fete? Brian,
You tell me, I don't think so, because just do
the freaking math over here. You just signed Rondo, all right?
You got Lonzo ball from knee. No one's trading for
that guy. So what are you gonna do. You gotta
go out and get Damian Lilid? Are you gonna let
go huh? Whore you gonna get rid of? What? You need?
Nine point guards on this roster? What school points? You

(37:27):
can't get about the money? When? Where is he gonna play?
Who's he gonna play over? That's the problem. Where is
he gonna play? I wanted to see if there was
any fire with that smoke, if you know what I mean. Alright,
I don't think there's any freaking fire with that freaking smoke. Sammy,
can't think you're all wet, my friend. The only fire

(37:47):
is that dumpster fire out back. All right, let's move on, okay, boys.
Speaking of the Lake Show, TMZ Sports caught up with
l a Clipper god Patrick Beverley. Hey told TMZ that
if his quote super team stays healthy, they can be
out of the not just the Lakers. But get this
golden state you got buying this crap of what Patrick

(38:08):
Beverley is the best excuse to have a drug test.
That's right now. History onics is a walking drug violation
right now? Are you kidding me with this? If they
stay healthy, they can be better than the Warriors. Take
a look at the roster for crying out loud. That's

(38:29):
an absolute freaking joke. And I've heard through the grape vine.
Then he says, we're good. We don't need Kawai Leonard.
Are you kidding? You're taking a page from Joel em
Beads book, who said I think we're good. We don't
need anybody. We don't any stars over here, we don't
need lebron Are you kidding me? Overhead? I want to
see Patrick Beverlely. May the long star team placed, but
I pay you something else. Let Patrick Beverley wait to

(38:51):
go to the Big three. Maybe in that legal win,
do not pass, go go straight to the big three,
do not collect to one of dollars. I'm telling you that.
He also said him and Avery Bradley could be like
quote to Gary Payton's playing with each other. I don't
know about that one. I don't know. Good luck with that,
Patrick Beverley substances dream. There might be a drug test

(39:14):
around the corner. Let's get your clean and soab over here,
because you're crazy talking to dry out. All right, let's
move on. Last thing here. All right, listen, boys, glad,
we've got plenty of time for this one. We live
in the Bronx and life moves fast here. As we know.
You want to get somewhere out, but there's always some
smucking our way, slowing us down. I'll tell you who's
in the cross hairs today. Slow walkers get out of

(39:36):
my way, especially when they're texting, when they're looking down.
They should get hit by a car. That's what they
should tell you. I'll tell you what, Sammy kay, this
might be the best thing you have ever said here.
Thank you program. These slow freaking walkers get out of
the way and at least know that's just slow they have.

(39:59):
You're a little slow. Oh, the pace is okay. I
got some patience for you, as long as you're aware
and you go to the side so you let fast
walkers go by. At least have some self. But you
gotta preface this. Let me tell you this, Andy, Let
me tell you this is it very interesting. Medical research
shows that a person's walking pace, how fast or how slow,

(40:22):
is a reflection of their cognitive state. Get that. If
you're a slow walker, you slow upstance, you're all gummy
up there. So I'll tell you what I don't true
believe that. What's the true? Telling me that everybody who
walks slow is stupid and everybody who walks that, I'm

(40:44):
telling you what ridiculous. Have some freaking away not up.
This is a medical research. This is not have magnitive.
We'll tell you who really want the lebron sweep steaks
that's coming right up. But right now it's not to
say good morning America. Yes it is that time. It's
Fox Sports Sunday. He's Brian no onm Andy Ferma. We

(41:07):
are coming to you live from the Fox Spots Radio studios,
brought to you by Geico. Fifteen minutes can save you
fifty percent more on car insurance. Visit dot com for
a free right quote without a further ado. The one
and only get out the red coppet for this man,
My partner and friend, the doctor of Sports, Brian no Hello,
b great to be with you. Andy Furman has always

(41:29):
really mean that, genuinely mean that, not just saying things
to say them because you greeted me and I'm greeting
you back. But I got a quick question for you
in real brief. And I don't want to sidetrack anything,
but they're showing these commercials for the SPS and it's
gonna be hosted by Danna Kapatrick. And I just said
to Iowa Sam, I said, do you get the feeling

(41:50):
that Danna Kopatrick would just be one of the all
time complaining girl friends? Do you get that feeling? I do,
because I don't see her if something doesn't rub her
the right way where she's like, it's cool, let it go,
you know, just chill. I think she would just be like,
why did you do this? And why didn't you do that? Everybody?

(42:11):
It seems like it would be that I could be
completely wrong, could be totally false. I just get that feeling,
but you wouldn't mind having the opportunity to tell me
firsthand that she is. That's the key. I'm married man,
Andy Ferman, I'm Christine. I have no idea what you're
talking about, but she's a very pretty woman. Absolutely, But
I just get the sense that there would be some

(42:33):
drama with her if you were her boyfriend. That's not
the case. And maybe that's why she can't keep a boyfriend.
I don't know. I'm not sure. I won't tell you
this much. We have to thank you, Okay, Well we'll see.
I don't know. It just he can't keep a girlfriend. Yeah,
Maybe Aaron Rodgers is the complainer, may be ence individual.

(42:55):
Maybe he's high maintenance. Yeah, I don't want to social
life and private. Really, you don't hand wash the dishes
are that's why we have a dishwasher? How many times
I have to tell Maybe that's how Aaron Rodgers is.
I don't know. Yeah, and that's his problem, not mine. Really,
we got to move on. But right now what we
have is the real final four. I mean, I am

(43:17):
into this World Cup right now. Croatia, England first time,
the England and the what the semifinals France and Belgium.
This is huge, This is big. People are going crazy
and I'm on the bandwig and I admitted I was
late to arrive, but I think there's still room for
me to jump on the bandwig and I watched that
Croatia game just today against Russia and tell you what,

(43:37):
my heart was pounding and people don't even people tell
me I don't have our art and it was pounding. Well,
I've been all in as well, and I love the
World Cup. The World Cup is off the charts, and
there have been some just historic matches in this thing.
The Croatia Russia match yesterday was unbelievable with both teams

(43:58):
scoring a goal in extra time and then the penalty
kicks and all that drama. And also Belgium against Japan
just recently, where Belgium's down to nil, they come back
and tie it and they basically have soccer's version of
a buzzer beater was going the length of the field
for the winning goal at the very end of the match.

(44:18):
It was awesome. There have been some historically awesome matches
in this World Cup. And you know what amazes me,
at least my own self, there's only one player I
can name on these four teams, Harry Kane from England.
Why because every woman I know is going gaga over
this guy. Harry. Yes, Harry Caine. Demand Harry Caine's the guy.

(44:39):
But he's the only player I know. I mean, I
don't remember any time in my life that I follow sports,
any team, baseball, basketball, football, whatever it might be. That
I didn't know any players. I mean either root for
the team, root for the players. Here, I'm just rooting
for the sport because I really and truly enjoy watching
the drama perform. I mean the penalty kicks, it was great.
And now I'm picking a team. I'm rooting for England.

(45:01):
I'm going for England right now. You know, well, first off,
there's a soft spot in my heart for Harry Kane
because he scored a goal at the very end of
the match. Early on. We're in the group stage and
I put a heavy amount of Scooby snacks on England.
I was doing a radio appearance on Visan right and

(45:23):
they interviewed me that day, and before the interview, I
heard one of the guys saying, I'll go with England
slam dunk, They're gonna crush it today, and I'm like,
you know what, screw it. I think he's right. He
convinced me. So I put a bunch of Scooby snacks
on England and in stoppage time, my guy, Harry Kane
scored a goal to save my Scooby snacks, Andy, And
it all goes back to that. You know, it a question.

(45:46):
I never know. It's just a kind of a personal question.
If I may don't be assaulted, but I gotta what
is a Scooby snack? That's what I've always said. I've
substituted that for cash, right, so my I put money
on England. This is before it was you know, before

(46:07):
the Supreme Court said, you know, there shouldn't be federal
law state by state legislation in terms of legalized gambling.
So I used to say Scooby snacks instead of money
because it was a little bit taboo. I've been saying
that for years, So that's what it means, Andy Ferman. Yeah,
that's what I do. But you know what, Iowa Sam.
He's tapped in with pop culture and I'm not gonna

(46:30):
do a great job describing this guy. It's an actor,
Iowa Sam. But he was in a movie with Oh Gosh,
it was like The the Pines Behind the Pines or
something like that. He was in a musical um kind
of a Harry Kane look alike. Do you know where

(46:50):
I'm going with this. You're not talking about Ryan Gosling,
are you? That's what I'm talking about, Well, he looks
like Harry Kane. Looks like Ryan Gosling a little bit?
Does he looks like a very poor man's Ryan Gossips
But yeah, okay, yeah he doesn't look it, but he
does look like him a little little bit lightly. But
I was surprised by you telling me that, Andy, where

(47:12):
these women are just going there fawning over Harry Kane
like or something. Well, I mean, I don't know why
they are, but they are. I just look to each
his own, you know, I'm looking at I had one
woman in my life falling over me. You know what
I'm saying. That's the way it goes. I don't think
Harry Kane would be a complainer in a relationship. I
don't think that would be the case. I think he'd

(47:33):
be a good man, I really do. I'll tell you
what though, I tell you one relationship that's going pretty
good right now is Lebron and the Lakers. I guess,
and then we want to know, we're like, really, who
won the sweepstakes? That's what they talked about Lebron going
to the Lakers. We know the deal four years, hundred
fifty four mill. He could have got fifty mill more
if he stayed in Cleveland, and maybe the Lakers other winners.
I don't know, but it's gonna take time. We're gonna see.
I don't know, because the team he's going to right now,

(47:55):
and my heart of hearts, is not much better than
the Cleveland Cavaliers. Maybe I'm crazy, Tell me I'm crazy
on that one. Well, I don't think they are much better.
They've got some young talent. But the funny thing is
everybody looks at the Lakers who won thirty five games,
and they look at him positively. They're like, oh, Kyle Kuzma,

(48:17):
good offensive player, and Brandon Ingram can do some things.
They've got some young talent, make a trade and get
these random pieces with Stevenson going over there and Rondo
and Javaial McGee and it's just a weird roster right now.
But the point is people look more favorably on the
Lakers with their young talent because they didn't sniff the

(48:39):
playoffs and because they didn't get crushed in the playoffs.
You compare that to the Calves they're going up against
the Warriors. Do you really think that the Lakers last
season in a playoff series would have fared great against
the Warriors. So that's what I'm saying is they're evaluated
on two different stages. And we're looking at the Calves

(49:01):
who were on the A stage in the NBA Finals
against the Warriors, compared to the Lakers on the B stage,
who weren't even close to sniff in the playoffs. And
we've got these different evaluations for both rosters, and you're
comparing them against teams that couldn't be more different from
each other. It's just an unfair comparison. And I think

(49:23):
if you saw the Lakers in the playoffs in a
series against the Warriors, you'd be crushing them and be
as critical of their roster as we are about the
Calves minus Lebron. You make a great point because this
is such an odd mix because Lebron James has been
an eight consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals. He weren't
three times the Lakers where they present for Lebron. They

(49:44):
missed the playoffs five consecutive years. They finished in the
eleventh place in the Western Conference, as you mentioned, five
wins and forty seven losses. Yeah, they got some young talent.
Lonzo boiled the number two pick y gen Rondo and
they got him brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma okay, and they
signed Lance Stevenson. But I don't know. I just not
enough for a championship now in Miami. Both in Cleveland
he had Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. So I don't

(50:06):
think it's gonna happen. I really don't. So the jury
is out. So who really won the sweepstakes? I'll tell
you the Eastern Conference because next season, for the first
time in eight years, a team that doesn't have Mr
James will represent the East in the NBA Finals. So
the Eastern Conference, you could say that down trodden and
there's no real superstars there, but at least it's wide
open right now. That's the winners to me, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto,

(50:28):
win Indiana that got shots. Well, yeah, I hear you
on that. And we'll see where Kawhi Leonard ends up
because there's some trade rumors with the Sixers and he's
gonna end up somewhere because the Spurs can't allow him
to walk as a free agent next summer and get
nothing for him. They've got to move him. So where
he ends up that could make a big, big difference

(50:52):
in terms of at least who gets to the finals
if he goes to an Eastern Conference team. Right, So
we'll see there's some stuff to be sorted out with
Kauai who it's still unsettled where he's going to end up.
But I really do think Andy, it's like, you've got
to really think about changing the playoff format, seeding these
playoff teams one through sixteen. It is so top heavy

(51:14):
with the West and all these arguments to keep it
East versus West. I'm a traditionalist. I like it being
East versus West in the finals, but it's just not
as good of a product. And I don't think I
would miss it as much if it's just one through
sixteen and we get a great finals matchup. If it
happens to be to Western Conference teams, I don't think
I'm gonna be like, I'm not watching this it's not

(51:36):
East versus West. If it's a great product, I'm gonna
check it out and people will also. You know, you
mentioned as top heavy. I'm gonna tell you how top
heavy it is. Okay, but I'm gonna put an asterisk
next to what you said to kind of drive home
this point. Western Conference teams have won twelve of the
last eighteen championships. And every player, get this one, Every

(51:57):
player on the last four All NBA First team now
plays on the Western Conference team. That's how strong the
West is. It's crazy. It's crazy how strong it is.
And these arguments for keeping it the way it is
where oh, it's cyclical. You know the West is on top,
but it'll be the East in time. And how long
is that gonna take? Why would you? Why would you

(52:20):
wait the better part of a decade for it to
cycle itself out when you could, I don't know, just
change the format and poof the cycle is right before
our eyes. Why would we wait on something to possibly
line up and possibly be even in terms of the
talent distribution between the East and the West, when you
could just make a change and all of a sudden

(52:42):
not have to worry about it. The only thing I'm
excited about is maybe, maybe, as a long suffering New
York Knicks fan, maybe they could get into the playoffs
next year. Maybe. I don't know. They have no chance.
Zenus He's gonna miss maybe the entire season or the
better part of the season. Unless Kevin Knox is just

(53:03):
killing it. No, the Knicks are not going to be
in the playoffs. You s a team that's snake been.
I mean that team is. I mean, really and truly,
I've always believed that as the Knicks go at New York,
the city of New York carries the NBA. Look, I
know people could argue when I say that, and the
league is very, very strong, but I'm telling you, if
New York gets into the playoffs so goes deep in
the playoffs, the NBA explodes. It explodes when New York

(53:26):
gets into the playoffs or goes deep in the players.
That's how strong the New York franchise is for the NBA.
I mean, look, man, it's a great atmosphere. I love
the playoff atmosphere in the Garden. It's unbelievable. So the
hope isn't this season. It's next summer when Kyrie Irving
is a free agent and there's talk about him teaming

(53:48):
up with Jimmy Butler at some point or another. If
you could somehow get Kyrie Irving as the Knicks franchise
and pair him with Porzingis and you've got Kevin Knox
over there, and all of a sudden, you got something
that absolutely lutely is a playoff team if they're able
to make that happen. So I hope for their sake,
and also the NBA say because I agree with you,
it's more interesting. It doesn't. It's not like the NBA

(54:10):
can't thrive without the Knicks. It's not that type of deal.
But man, it's like a great salad dressing on a salad.
You know. It's like, man, it just makes it so
much better now that the Knicks are relevant again. And
I'll tell you something else. To me, the NBA, the
NFL better watch out because the NBA is slowly but
surely creeping up on their back. I'm not gonna say
then it's gonna be more popular than the NFL. But

(54:32):
the gap is closed. You got to admit that. Come,
it's not at all. It's ridiculous. People completely completely overstate
how supposedly close the gap is. It is like one
of our bosses, Scott Shapiro, he'll typically send out an
email right around this time of the year, by the way,
where it will have the top fifty highest rated sports

(54:55):
programs of the year so far, and it's just the
top ten is just NFL, NFL, NFL NFL and you're like,
wait a minute, This week seven Monday Night game drew
better ratings than the Western Conference Finals game four whatever,
just random stuff. You've got regular season games completely blowing

(55:19):
out the water. Some NBA playoff games. No, Like, sure,
the gap has been closed a little bit. That sounds
like it's any close. It's like neck and neck or anywhere.
And I'll close in ten years, it'll be that much closer.
I'll tell you what it close to the game of football,
in the minds of many parents, is too dangerous for

(55:41):
their kids to play. And I think you'll see a
Christian they won't watch it well, but they won't be
they'll be less players playing the game. I mean, I
think they're never going to get to the point where
the NFL quality is just bad. I'm just gonna happen.
The NBA has made a run, That's what I'm saying.
They made a run. They've made progress, like a little bit,

(56:06):
but it's completely it's it's completely blown out of proportion.
It would be like, look at the NFL standings, take
a bottom feeder, like take the well. I wouldn't call
the NBA like the Bears to take a team that's no, no, No.
The NBA is not that bad, you know, in terms
of it's a very very popular league, but in terms
of the ratings, it's not where the NFL is. If

(56:28):
you took a team that, say, they went eight and
eight and all of a sudden they closed the gap
a little bit with the first place team, and it's
like they didn't surpass the first place team, they're still
noticeably noticeably behind the first place team. So so don't
don't mistake progress for more than it actually is, you know.

(56:49):
That's all I'm saying. That's all He's Brian. No. You
want to say something to him, you can do it
on Twitter at the No Show, n O E Show,
We'll read him, or at Andy Furman FSR or eight
seven seven ninety nine on Fox that's eight seven seven
sixty three sixty nine Bonna Barrel Betting. At the end
of this hour, our number three, we'll talk basketball with
the Dean of Ohio sports Writers, the one and only

(57:11):
Bill Livingston. That follows with nose picks, and of course
spray and forget the original no rinse cleaner. The yellow
label is your guarantee. Now, it really isn't that easy
to run and hide. We'll tell you why. Next. He's
in no man's land. We'll get to that in just
about a minute twenty three past the hour. This is

(57:33):
Fox Sports Sunday. He's Brian. Ohmany FOREMANI. By the way,
we're probably brought to you by Geico. What does it
mean when Geico says just fifteen minutes can save you
fifteen percent more on car insurance? It means you probably
should have gone to the Geico dot com fifteen minutes ago.
And you know, sometimes be in the world of sports,
this heartache, this emotion, this elation and sometimes the sadness.

(57:54):
And right now we have to touch on this sand
is this story here with the twelve boys in the
soccer coach trapped in a cave in Thailand. I mean,
it's an amazing story and it's gut wrenching and at
ten o'clock Eastern time today, the first rescue could be
going on. They've already lost a diver. This story is like,
it's it's good wretching, it really is. It's crazy. Man.

(58:18):
I can't remember who was telling me this story. It
was either my mom or my sister when I was
at home visiting in South bend and I was like, what,
they're trapped in a cave? How long have they been there?
There are people diving. It's amazing what's going on with
this thing? There's no doubt And you know, what could
you say? I mean, really, what could you actually say

(58:39):
about I mean, just you pray that everything goes well.
You hope they're all saved. But the diver yesterday was uh,
he drowned. He he was finished yesterday because the waters
are coming in and it's terrible, it really is. But
I know everybody out there is is watching and praying
and hopefully godspeed and things will work out for the
best for all these youngsters, really and truly. But for you,

(59:00):
I know you've got a couple of tweets people are
commenting right now. Yeah. So, uh we talked a lot
about the fan boys last year, and you had Sixers
fan boys, you had Rockets and Celtics fan boys. Those
were the three franchises that had the fan boy market cornered. Right, Oh,
we're gonna win it all that sort of thing. You

(59:22):
know who is joining the party in a big way,
Andy Furman, Laker fan boys. They are coming out in
full four. So our guy Mark checks in. Lb J
is about to take off, leading a young squad to
challenge to come out of the West hashtag Lake show. No,
they're not not this season, dude. That roster is nowhere

(59:44):
near competing for a championship in the West. Are you
kidding me? You got one star one? The Warriors have five. Now,
it's ridiculous what they have and full full hall of
famous perhaps really and truly could be full. Yes, yes
it's and people. People act like they're way more vulnerable

(01:00:06):
than they actually are. The worst thing that could have
happened to the Western Conference, specifically in the NBA as
a whole, the Rockets having a three two series lead,
because all of a sudden, Bob Meyers is like, we
gotta upgrade this roster here, and he went out and
got boogie freaking cousins. They might get Jonas Jerebko would
be a nice role player for them. We got another

(01:00:27):
tweet here. D checks in and says, this morning, yeah
d E D yeah d E And then it's g period,
So d G like so they write in, great job
on the show this morning. Quick point. Lakers fans since
the inception of show Time and as far as the
Cousins thing Goes never been interested in bringing him in,

(01:00:51):
said it was horrible idea since he was still with
the Kings. So it's not all of us. Okay, I
could understand that. But here's the thing, Andy, It's not
like Boogie Cousins is the epitome of a great teammate.
He's a team first guy. He never has an emotional
breakdown here or they're sure there's some things to look

(01:01:11):
at Boogie Cousins and say no, thanks, not interested. But
I find it really hard to believe. If Boogie Cousins
was signed by the Lakers and he was in purple
and gold, you'd have a lot of Laker fans saying no,
don't like deciding out on it. Not a fan. I
don't think you would have too many of those people
being they'd be painting the banners right now. But you
know what, I'm gonna defend the fan boys and I've

(01:01:33):
done in the past. You know, they're passionate and that's
basically what sports is all about. You know, it turns
my stomach and I hear these idiots just running, ranting
and raving. But it's a great thing for sports because
they buy tickets, They keep the sport rolling. Did they're
promotionally minded? Uh, they're they're supportive and they they're they're
they're right there. They support sports and that's what sports

(01:01:53):
is aver did a backbone of sports. They really are.
You're very positive. When it comes the fan boys, Adam Silver.
If Adam Silver goes you're a fan the Dolphins, a
small fan boy, No, not at all. Here's the thing.
I'm a huge Dolphins fan. I'm not a fan boy.

(01:02:15):
A fan boy is someone who talks about his or
her team because a girl fan girl whatever. Unrealistic, like, oh,
the Dolphins gonna win a Super Bowl. All these people
saying they won't make the playoffs are crazy Like that
would be a fanboy comment. Im not that guy. When
it comes to the Dolphins, Andy, you're just a fan. Yeah,

(01:02:37):
a huge fan of the one more you want more?
Tweet this is funny. Check this out, Dennis. He checks
in and says, I agree. Danna Kapatrick seems unlikable, likely swears,
loses her temper, can't be satisfied with anything, just a
pain in the neck, and probably choose to I can.

(01:02:57):
I think that's hilarious. I would have to know. I mean,
not personally, but I would love to just be informed
how she is as a girlfriend, because she could be
totally cool. She just seems like a complainer. I just
get that sense. Well she probably is. I'm sure she
is a whiner to a big time. By the way,

(01:03:18):
you touched before. Thank you, Kawhi Leonard. This guy is
really in no man's land. He's demanding a trade from
the Spurs, but he's locked into his contract for at
least one more year. And speaking of the Spurs, what
about Tony Parker moving to the Hornets. He wants to
play twenty years. To me, that's an amazing number to
play twenty years in the NBA. I'm I'm flabbergast. Twenty
years with the travel and there's the running up and

(01:03:41):
down and banging on the knees. I think that's that's
an amazing number. Twenty years. But to leave the Spurs
to the Hornets, I'm I'm almost shocked that he did that,
I really am. Yeah, well, it's tough. I would have
liked to seen him and his career in San Antonio,
like Tim Duncan did. I think it's sad that Tony
Parker is gonna go to the Charlotte Horn. It's not
like he's going to an organization where he's gonna make

(01:04:03):
a run at a championship or do some things that
are really impressive from a team standpoint, not just individually.
I think it's a sad ending to a great career
in San Antonio. But beyond that, you think about how
it ended for Tony Parker. The last thing you're gonna
remember is him saying, am i quaet injury was a
hundred times worse than coies and that reportedly being the

(01:04:25):
end for Kwiet. I'm done, I'm done with this franchise.
The Spurs could legitimately not be contenders for the next
five to ten years, and you're gonna trace it back
to partially Tony Parker's comments having an effect on Kauai
not being there, Like that's the end of his San
Antonio run, no doubt about that. Will pick that up

(01:04:48):
in just about a minute. But right now, Warriors fans
listening up. Super teams don't always win. We'll tell you
why in just about a minute. But now our guy, alright, Andy,
the Sons are far from a super team. They got
a pretty talented guard in their hands. They signed Devin
Booker to a five year, one hundred and fifty eight
million dollar contract extension. On Saturday Night, elsewhere we look

(01:05:09):
on the Baseball diamond from Saturday Diamondbacks they trounced the
Padres five. The Snakes hit five home runs of the night.
Will Myers did have three home runs for San Diego
in the loss. Angels slugger Mike Trout had a home
run and losing effort against the Dodgers as the Blue
Beet the Angels three to one, Phillies over the Pirates
for their sixth straight victory. Red Sox hammerd Kansas City four, Yankees,

(01:05:30):
Cubs and Nationals all got victories and Nationals got ten
r B I from Mark Reynolds in their victory over
the Miami Marlins. Online car shopping can be confusing, not
anymore with True Prize from True Car, Now you can
know the exact price will pay for your next car.
So there's a true card to enjoy a more confident
car by the experience. In the UFC on Saturday Night,
to six was the car first off light Davyweight champion

(01:05:51):
Daniel Cormier did defeat Steve a for the heavyweight championship.
Making him just the second fighter to hold titles in
different weight classes. Can Currently after the fight, Dana White,
president of the USC didn announce their former heavyweight champion
brock Lessner World challenge Cormier for the championship at a
later dates. Back to Brian and Andy, thank you so

(01:06:12):
much seeing and now keV okay, it won't be easy.
That's coming right up. It's Brian, No, it's Andy frem
And I want to welcome everybody back to the Fox
Boats Radio studios. But brought to you by Geico. It's
easier to say more on car insurance with Geico. Got
to Geo dot com call eight hundred nine four seven
at all. The only hard part figuring out which way
is easier and be with your permission. I'm gonna go
to a caller has been holding for a bit because

(01:06:34):
they come first. No, No, you don't have my permission now. No,
it's fine, because you know there are there are, there
are backbone. They're all fanboys, they really are. I don't
wonder to what apologize for making them hold for a while.
Big Ben and Huntington Beach. Callie wants to talk to
Brian know and Andy from a little Ben how are you.
I'm great, guys, Hey love your show. Thank you for

(01:06:56):
helping me for the work day. I appreciate that. First off,
I've been a Warrior fans first game they retired Rick
Barrious number. So I've been through the trenches, through the dumpsters,
fires in Oakland and specific that's the six or seventh
because market. So I don't know why people aren't celebrating this.
More like, look, they didn't even win the conference finals.

(01:07:17):
They went straight to the championship after losing in the
first rounds of the Clippers the year before the second
round of the Spurs. So how come this isn't the
league story I'd like to hear you guys talk about.
But before you go, are you at work right now?
I'm really curious? Yeah, yeah, I am? I am. What
do you do? What can you share your occupation? I
drive a gas truck. Careful, don't let any matches. No

(01:07:42):
firecrackers either, No fireworks that guarantee that. Tell him? Tell him? Why?
Tell him? Why wasn't the big story with k D?
I disagree because it's not good for the league. It's
good for the Warriors. The NBA is a better product
with Kevin Durant not on the Warriors. I would much
rather see the Warriors Thunder series. You know, when the

(01:08:03):
Thunder had the three one lead, when Katie was still
there and the Warriors come back. That to me is exciting.
It's more exciting to me heading into a season saying, well,
between these three, four or five teams, any of them
could win a championship at the very least. You can't
say that in the NBA. So that's one of the
reasons it hasn't been talked about because it's bad for

(01:08:25):
the league. It look great for the Warriors, it's not
good for the league. Well, here's the Warrior fans who's
great for him. And he wanted to know why the
story wasn't big. Old Number one Lebron takes Shetter stage
because people didn't know where he was gonna go. Number
two people figured that Kevin's gonna resign because he jumped
Oklahoma study to go there. And number three Golden State
one without Kevin Durant. So what's the big deal. So

(01:08:45):
that's well, and that's the thing is it was an
expected move. You know, you hit on it. It's very true.
If if Kawai Leonard signed with some team in the East.
He'd be like, WHOA didn't see that coming. I thought
it was gonna be the Lakers the whole time. That
would actually be a bigger story. Doesn't mean it would
have a bigger impact. It would just be a bigger story,

(01:09:06):
no doubt. And let's go back to Kawai. Let it
for just a second. You talking about the Tony Parker situation,
when Tony said is his quad injury was worse than
Kawain and that basically lit it the fire on the
kawais I'm out of here. Remember during the All Star
break he had the personal trainers in New York City.
It was reported this week that Kawhi Leonard ran away
from members of the Spurs front office who had hoped

(01:09:26):
to check in on him during those workouts in the
training situation and he ran away. What is this guy?
Is he a flake? I mean, you got a question,
not his basketball skill level, because he's a tremendous player,
but really his mindset between the years, that's what You've
got a question. Well, he's just done with San Antonio.
That's really what it comes down to. And it couldn't

(01:09:48):
make it more obvious if it leaks that he wants
to be traded and also feels betrayed. He's not trying
to be a Spur, Like, it's not surprize thing to me.
And his camp downplays it and said, oh no, no, no,
we didn't avoid the Spurs and whatever. But do you
really think that's the case. I mean, honestly, like, if

(01:10:10):
it didn't unfold that way exactly in New York, ask
yourself this, If Kawhi Leonard wants to be traded and
feels betrayed, why would he make himself readily available to
just basically hang out with the Spurs. Why it would
be like I don't know, if you were just over
an ex girlfriend, you know, I'm done, I'm done with this,

(01:10:30):
you know, whatever was wrong with the relationship. Then all
of a sudden, she's like, no, no, hey, come on,
come on out to dinner, come on out to let's
just spend some time to You're like, no, I'm good.
You know. Like that's where Kauai is with the Spurs.
There's no doubt about that. And I mentioned the fact
that the super teams don't always win, because I think

(01:10:50):
that even though the Warriors have a super team, yeah,
there's a good chance to go to win number one,
they will probably wins. The league isn't as strong as them,
but gold going back, and I'm gonna contradict myself right now,
from nineteen eighty to nine eight, either the lake Is
or the Celtics won the NBA title. So super teams
do win, and people are going NUTCH with a competitive balance,
and they should. You know, maybe the competition was better

(01:11:13):
back then. I don't know because because there were less teams.
I believe that when there's less teams, you know, there's
better players in the league. Now there's players that probably
wouldn't have made the league back now. Andy, It's like,
that's not the reason why you have the Warriors, you know,
drubbing the league. That's not why because you have what

(01:11:36):
a couple more teams now compared to then. No, it's
just you had you didn't have as great of super
teams as you do right now with the Warriors. They didn't.
There wasn't that big of a talent disparity, but it's
a huge talent disparity. So that's what it's about. That

(01:11:58):
that's why, like, like not all eras are the same.
You could go and you referenced it where the Lakers
and the Celtics dominated the eighties. The Bulls dominated the nineties,
but it was a different kind of domination. The Bulls
never swept anybody in the finals. They were all six
games series, with the exception of beating the Lakers in
five and nine one. And some of those series were

(01:12:19):
really compelling series, right, John Paxson hitting the shot against
the Suns, he doesn't that there's game seven, right, You
look at the two against the Jazz, and those were
really close, competitive, could go either way type series. And
and that's not what we got with the Warriors. They
swept the Calves, they crushed them the last two seasons.

(01:12:43):
So it's not the same thing as other eras well.
Two years ago, it didn't they go like twelve and
oh in the playoffs, didn't even lose a game before
losing one game in the finals. Was it? They just
walked over everybody. I mean, look, they had a super
team when James, when Lebron James in Miami would Dwyane
Wade and Chris Bosh. But even that team was two
for four in the finals. But this team right now

(01:13:05):
is a super team. I mean, this team might be
better and you could argue about that. Everybody's arguing about
Michael Michael Jordan's and Lebron. Forget about that argument. The
argument should be made, is Golden Stay better than the
Celtics team with Bird, Mhale and Paris and Danny Age?
Is it better with that? Is it better than the
Celtics team with Russell havelet Check Couzy and Sam Jones?
Is it better than that team? I think they may

(01:13:27):
very well be. I think they're better than them, right,
And that just isn't compelling to me. You know, like
we could have those reguments for a day. No, I'm
telling you any it just it doesn't carry right. You
could have that conversation for a day maybe, But I'd
much rather have a competitive league where day in and

(01:13:48):
day out, you're like, man, I don't know who the
heck is gonna win a championship this season. That's what
is compelling to me, and that's what the NBA does
not have. But but you know what the NBA, and
I remember the is a kid. They used to have
the NBA standings in the New York Post and my
daddy used to bring the New York Post them every
day and it was a little box underneath the standing
said how they did it. It was a great stat

(01:14:11):
They had every team alphabetically and who they played and
how many games they've won against that team. And when
the season would start the Celtics would be like sixteen
and one. It was of eight. Believe me, I don't
know if you remember this. The NBA had eight teams
when I was a kid for in the East and
four in the West. And it was like Will chamberlains right,
and Will Chamberlain said it best day he rest in piece.

(01:14:32):
He says, we play eighty two games a year to
eliminate the Knicks because the first three teams in each
division got in the playoffs, so it was six teams
and you know in the playoffs and two teams never
got in and the Knicks never got in. That's what
he did. And the Celtics would open the season with
a record like two and two. Every year they ran
away with it by by Christmas time it was over.
Really was a good I don't know if it was good,

(01:14:53):
but some of the teams are so bad. But the
league was not even a twiggle of what it is
right now, not even a touch. Yeah, I mean, I
don't know that's all well and good. It's just it's
not a compelling product in terms of, Hey, who's gonna
win a championship compared to the NFL, Who's gonna win
the super Bowl this this season? Who don't know? An

(01:15:15):
argument for a legitimate argument to twelve teams? It's easy,
Are you kidding me? Start going through it, New England,
Pittsburgh A to Green Bay is three, Atlanta's four, Okay,
maybe the Rams five? Perhaps uh Andy? Start going through

(01:15:36):
it up Philly. Hello, that's what a super Bowl? The
Saints Carolina was an eleven win team. Are you telling
me they have no chance whatsoever? Of course they have
a chance. Look at Minnesota getting Kirk Cousins. Look at
all Look at the I almost said San Diego. Look
at the Chargers. The Chargers have a lot of talent.

(01:15:57):
They have no chance to win a super Bowl. You
can make a great argument that a good eight to
ten teams, and you could extend it a little bit
to Aaron Rodgers back healthy again, they have no chance whatsoever.
The Falcons were a playoff team they made it two
seasons ago. Where they have no chance. Of course they
have it. There are a lot of teams that have
a legitimate chance to win a Super Bowl. How many

(01:16:18):
teams have a legitimate chance to win a championship short
of the Warriors getting ravaged by injuries? How exactly? You're right,
you know, and you know what though, and and shame
on the league for not catching up to them, you know,
shame on the league. I mean, it's disgusting that they
right now we know the Warriors have a domination of
the league, and they may win the next three years.
They may win the next three years. And why Lebron

(01:16:39):
James had decided to go west in the division? He
may not. He he may not make the playoffs next
year with l a be if he doesn't be if
he does, they won't get out of the West anyway
to make a difference. Can you imagine if they didn't?
Just a chance, there's a chance, a chance, because we

(01:16:59):
know a Bronze impact when he goes to a team,
he has a big impact. But better chance, the better
chance the Cavaliers will make the playoffs well of course,
of course, But I mean the East isn't exactly a
juggernaut right like um. But that's a legitimate question right there,
which is a better chance of happening. The Lakers not
making the playoffs or the the Calves. Does that make sense?

(01:17:25):
The Calves right right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Calves making
the playoffs. Well, you look at the standings last year.
You had what two three games separating the three through
eight seeds. There's a lot of talent over there. I
still think the Lakers find a way into the playoffs,
but it's not outside the realm of possibility that they don't.

(01:17:47):
The odds are far against it, but it seems like, Wow,
you're a crazy person, Andy firm And the more you
think about it's like, there is a chance over there
in that conference. I'm with you right there, Brian, And
they got Fox Sports Radio studios. You know, it's like
having a cold beer in the middle of the desert.
We call it bottom barrel betting, and it's freaking next

(01:18:08):
bottom barrel betting right around the court. About ten minutes
before at the top of the hour. This is Fox
Sports Sunday. He's Brian No, I mean the firmant. We
are live from the Gatco Fox Sports Radio Studios. Let's
play this game. Let's do it bottom funny to sleep people,
get my money. I'll put your break to sleep. Yes

(01:18:28):
it is. It's a proud service of Geico. I got
some great news. Is a quick way you could save
money switch the Geico got to Geico dot com in
the fifteen minutes. You could save fift more on car insurance.
I got even better news. Here's the ringlet of Ryan Burr,
singer for Bono Barrel Betting. Hello, right, Hello, Andy, Hello Brian,
Good morning guys. What's going on? Well, taking a look
at the scoreboard from last week. Uh, let's let's take

(01:18:51):
a quick recap. We did a couple of things on
the hot dog eating contests. Were you guys both had
the same Uh? You both said chest and I was
gonna win, So you both got that one. Uh both
thought he'd go under seventy two, which despite what ESPN
was saying during the actual competition, he ended up with
seventy four at the end, which is absurd. And uh, Mickey, sudo,

(01:19:15):
we put over under at forty one hot dogs. She
finished with thirty seven, but she did win the women's
competition again, so one for three, uh for both of
you on the hot dog eating portion. But for the
World Cup games, Brian took both of them. Uh, Brian,
you picked correctly, Russia over Spain and Croatia over Denmark.
Andy unfortunately picked the losers in both of us. How

(01:19:37):
did you know? I'll take stop clothing, stop clothing, Mr.
World Cup? That's right, that's right. So looking at this week,
I want to know what do you guys think? Who
advances to the final in the World Cup with the
final four set? Yeah, Belgium, France, Uh, Russia and crowing

(01:20:00):
or excuse me, England and well he wont let him
go first? Yes, okay, So what's the question? Who wins
it all? Or who advances to advances to the final.
The finals next Sunday, So it won't have been place England.
That's gonna be the map. And though I hate agreeing

(01:20:20):
with him, my heart and my soul say England was
I'm rooney for England and Belgium the way they came back.
I gotta go England Belgium as well. And I hate
doing that because he said it, but I'm gonna say
it anyway. Strong choices over under thirty three and a
half fouls in the third place game combined for both teams. Wow,

(01:20:43):
that seems high. I'll go under as well. Alright, alright?
And uh the NL voting for a second basement. The
the All Star voting finals come out today. The it
was very tight for National League second baseman. These three
guys were within a hundred fifty votes with twelve hours
to go. Ozzie Albie's Hobby Bias and Scooter Jannette who

(01:21:03):
ends up getting the starting gig. Oh my gosh, I
got you know, he's gotta go with school. He's in
a nationally batting champ. He's gotta get I go with Scooter.
I want him all right, say to send the choices
again real quick. Azzi Albie's of the Braves, Hobby Bias.
Who it is Albie's had to walk off Homer within
the last week or so? Okay? And finally New Japan

(01:21:25):
Pro Wrestling Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Minoral Suzuki. Who you got
Suzukiz I'll go the other way, Okay, he's forced to
be recom he's a team of one. We'll get to
that in just about a minute. But now it's time
to say good morning America. Yes it is that time.
It's Fox Sports Sunday. He's probably no, I'm Andy Firm,

(01:21:47):
and that we are coming to you live from the
Fox Spots radio studios brought to you by Geico. Fifteen
minutes could save you fifty percent more on car insurance.
Visit gico dot com. Why for a free rate quote?
That's why. This is the power Our a k a.
The Hour of power And who's got more power in
the world of sports? To my partner, don't want it
only doctor Brian, No, Hello, b it's our three. What's

(01:22:11):
going on? Andy Furman? Pleased to be with you here.
All this Summer League hype. I mean, you've talked about
it a lot where and had to beat a dead horse.
But if you're Rob Manfred, you gotta be like, are
you kidding me right now? Are you seriously look at
exhibition games in the NBA that are getting more hype
and more coverage than real baseball games that it's not

(01:22:33):
easy to take? Well, you know, I think the bottom
line is this. I think baseball is too long, and
I think our society today we want everything like now,
we want glasses in less than an hour, we want
fast food. Everything is like we don't have we we
don't have the attention span and especially the Malilia's mandilials
that they want to go out there. What was that
are they the kids in their twenties. Okay, I got

(01:22:56):
my tongue tied over here on the cliff drop, whatever
it may be. But the point they they don't have
the time. That's what I love soccer. They don't love
the sport of soccer at soccer. They love it because
and they know in ninety minutes they're gonna go home.
There's no time out. You get there seven o'clock, you
home at nine. Well, yeah, I mean it is it's
the a D D day and age. But basically right,

(01:23:20):
I mean, you look at a kid. It's funny, man,
my nephews. My nephews are fifteen and thirteen, and it
is just constant stimulation in terms of if they have
their phone in front of them, if you know, if
a conversation tends to drag a little bit, or something
just isn't interesting, and it happens in the blink of

(01:23:41):
an eye. It could be one sentence that doesn't quite
do it for them, and they're reaching for their phone
to like, all right, I gotta get some sort of
stimulation here. That's just the way people are these days.
And if there's an at bat that drags on and
there's you know, five foul balls and there are a
lot of pool in the time in between pitches. They

(01:24:01):
just don't have the patience for it. Well, it's not
just the three and a hit four hour games that
are killing it. The fact that it's a hundred and
sixty two games that that's a problem as well. I
just think this season is too long. You know. One
of the things that makes football super is the fact
that it's once a week and it just leads up
to that drama on Sunday, the crescendo factor. Really. I mean,
you talk about a game on Sunday and it's over

(01:24:21):
with and your team losers, you can't wait for them
to get back on the field by next Sunday. That's
what it's all about. There's some truth to it. But look,
if it's a great product, you're gonna be sampling it
and you're gonna be watching it. It all comes back
to the product. Because I think of the UFC, we
don't have pay per views every single week. You know,
it seems like it, but we don't. There was a

(01:24:42):
UFC event last night, you know, Daniel Cormier against Deep
and it's light heavyweight champion versus heavyweight champion, and there
was hardly any hype and build up leading up to
that super fight. So it's not like there are pay
per views, you know, multiple pay per views during one week.

(01:25:02):
There's a lot of time in between. It's all about
the product, and it's all about does this do it
for you? And if you don't think it's a great product,
it doesn't matter how much you space it out, it's
still not going to sell. Well, I'm glad you brought
that up because I think the product of UFC is
pretty good and the Cormier situation is a great story
because now he has this what he holds two weight
class championships at the same time, you know, light heavyweight,

(01:25:25):
and now he's the heavyweight one and a second fighter
ever to do that. But now with the Brock Lester situation,
I think there's gonna be in it just because Lester
is gonna come out every time and he's forty years old,
he's gonna fight what he hasn't fighting for since six
and that that's going to create the situation. But maybe
maybe you're right. Maybe it's not the sport. Maybe it's
the hype surrounding the sport. Maybe it's less the Cormier,

(01:25:46):
it's the individuals in the sport rather than the sport itself. Well,
I mean you have to have something in addition to
the sport for a lot of fringe fans. The fringe
fan aren't consumed by the sport. That's why they're fringe, right,
So you have to have something in addition to get
the fringe fans involved. And if it happens to be

(01:26:11):
proc Lesner coming to the octagon randomly, just hey, it
was just out for a stroll at WHOA which I'm
in the octagon with the microphone in front of my face,
I guess I'll talk trash to Cormier, you know, like
that gets noticed. It's the fight game. This has been
going on for decades where fighters talk trash to other fighters,

(01:26:32):
they do things to hype up fights, and for Rock
Lesn to do that, yeah, it's pro wrestling. It has
that aspect to it. But it's needed because without that
the fight last night it didn't have hype. It just didn't.
So you need to do those things. And it's just
funny that some of these UFC purists, Yes, there is

(01:26:53):
such a thing where they're like they don't need to
resort to these sort of pro wrestling tactics, Yeah, they do.
It didn't sell before, there was no high lest Everybody
loves drama. That's why soap operas is still going on
TV today. Everybody loves that drama and this drama in
the NBA and Kyrie Irving and I call him Kaymie
or even because he has proven positive. Kyrie Irving and

(01:27:15):
Lebron James reportedly had a rough relationship from the moment
that Lebron left Miami to go to Cleveland, and Jason
Lloyd of the Athletic said this about Lebron and Kyrie's
relationship earlier this week where I'm nine two three the
fan in Cleveland listened to this. It has been made
clear to me by multiple people Kyrie never really wanted
Lebron to come back in the first place, that he

(01:27:36):
didn't think like that it was necessary. Lebron said something
to Kyrie on the court following a game when he
was with Miami, something new effective, keep going, keep keep
doing what you're doing. You never know, I could be
back here one day or something like that, and Kyrie
went locker room and basically said, we don't need that.
Like what's he talked about we don't need that. You
don't want to hear in the first place. He didn't
think Keavs needed Lebron. You don't want hi hear in

(01:27:56):
the first place. That's been told to me by many, many,
many people throughout the organization. This is proof positive that
he's kind me and he's a kid that came out
of Duke that he only played like ten games before
he got drafted. Anyone goes he was injured. Why wouldn't
he want to play with the greatest player in the
face of the earth? What tell me? Why, Ego? Because
he wanted to be a demand for his own team.

(01:28:16):
He's on the Celtics. Now he's not even the man
on the Celtics. Well he would be. He was just
injured towards the end of the season. Wasn't there for
the playoffs. But he's the best player on the Celtics.
But they positive they didn't need him to win. Right?
What did they win? They didn't. They didn't lose. I
mean they didn't flu. They didn't flull up when he

(01:28:39):
was gone. They beat the Bucks in seven and outlasted
the Sixers and gave the Calves a hard time. They
did without Kyrie alright, great, and that got him where.
That got him a deep run in the Eastern Conference finals.
They're not competing for a championship without Kyrie Irving. This
thought that they're good without him is ridic killings. He's

(01:29:01):
their best player. But here's the problem. The fact that
they went that deep without him shows me that Kyrie
O Kaimie's ego is such a factor that he does.
He says to himself, he looked dig at it went
without me. I can't be the man nineteen. I'm from
South Orange, New Jersey. I grew up rooting for the Knicks.
I want to play for the Knicks when I'm a
free agent. He's gonna go to the Knicks. Well, there's

(01:29:23):
definitely a Then there's an inflated sense of confidence from
Gyrie Irvin right like he's like I don't really need Lebron,
like we're good without this guy, or yeah, I hear
what you're saying in terms of that. But you can't
sell him short as a player just because he thinks

(01:29:43):
he's better than he actually is. Well, he's a great
player and he may very well be a future Hall
of Famer. He's a tremendous player. There's no doubt about that.
And more than that, he's a rock star now because
he's in the movies, so he's not only a player,
he's an entertainer. So he's got it both going for
him right now. But the fact that he could say
prove positive that I don't want to play with this
guy or don't need this guy, that's insane. I mean,

(01:30:06):
some of the statements that are coming off by some
of these players right now. We heard this, I mean
the Patrick Beverley thing that we had the Bronx talk
that he said his team is gonna be better than
Golden State. What are these people drinking? Was saying was smoking?
I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Here's the thing, man,
there are some players in the league that would rather

(01:30:26):
not be the second fiddle on a championship team and
they would opt to be the superstar on a non
championship team. That's true. There are some guys that have
that mentality. I think that Kyrie Irving is one of
those guys. In a perfect world, he would be the
best player on a championship winning team. Of course he
would want that. Everybody wants that. But if it's a

(01:30:49):
difference between hey you gotta be the second guy behind
Lebron while winning a championship, or you can be the
man and you come close but you don't quite win
it ampionship. Kyrie would sign up for that second option. Well,
Kevin Durant signed though, brocas he couldn't win being the
man in Oklahoma City. She says, you know what, he
was a three games to one and he couldn't close

(01:31:11):
it out. Kevin Durant went the opposite way then Kyrie
Irving would because Kyrie Irving saying I really don't need Lebron.
I'm good, you know that show and leaving there by
the way, that shows that yes, he would rather win
a championship while being the main guy, but if it
came to one option or the other, he doesn't want

(01:31:32):
to be the second guy to anybody. And if that
means sacrificing a championship to be the number one guy,
he's willing to do it. Now. Kevin Durant went the
other way. Kevin Durant was willing to join a team
and maybe not be the best player recognized as the
best player. He turned out to be the best player,
by the way, but there was a chance with his
role in joining a seventy three win team that he

(01:31:54):
wasn't either going to be the best player. He wasn't
gonna get the credit that he deserved for joining that
team and hopping on the bandwagon. But he was like,
you know what, I'm sick of this losing man. I
want to play this fun, open style of basketball and
don't don't don't get bs right. He wanted to win
a championship as well. He was tired of coming short
and and not winning one. So that's that's where he went.

(01:32:16):
But no mortality than Kyrie Irving. Let me backcheck a
lip because she sits on the keaven the rent. You
put words in his mouth, I'm sick of this lose you. No,
I think it's more like I can't win here. That's
that's the reality. I can't win. And at the heart
of that, what's included there he didn't go and join
the Orlando Magic. Oh, he joined the Warriors. Okay, So
it's not just I can't win here. Well, he's gonna

(01:32:40):
win with Golden State. So winning a championship is tied
to that. And you put a term on that, which
I agree. You called it a punk move, and I
thought it was a punk move. I'm not taking anything
away from his skill. He's a great player. He's a
future Hall of Famer as well. But the point there's this,
I'd have a lot more respect for him if he
stayed in Oklahoma's city like Russell Westbrook did, and the
two of them joined forces and with Paul George, maybe

(01:33:01):
they could win. Maybe they could win. Show me something.
You guys are up three games to one two years
ago and you couldn't close it out. What does that
tell you? Um, well, he told me that they they
were a title contending team that came real close. When
you are you have a three one lead on a
seventy three win team, you know, that says a lot

(01:33:24):
about your franchise. So the odds weren't in their favor
to win a championship, but they had some odds they
you know, and they just went a different way. But
not everybody has that same mentality as Kevin Durant. There
are a lot of players that wouldn't have joined the
team that beat them. So look, there are a lot
of different players that have different views and different desires.

(01:33:47):
And I think that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, in
terms of their mindset and what they're comfortable with is
much different. I think they're the polar opposites, right, And
then you gotta throw Lebron James to the situation one
on Earth. Why what did he see in l A Besid.
I just two homes there and maybe his family wanted
to move there. But I don't see any light at

(01:34:09):
the end of the tunnel immediately for the l A Lakers,
even with Lebron, I really don't. Well, I mean, look,
it's they're not a finished product at all, and with
Kawhi Leonard wanting to be a Laker, I'm sure that
Lebron has his eye on that. Right, They're not going
to stay as currently constructed the whole time Lebron is there, right,

(01:34:33):
So we can't make it sound like this is the
Lakers for the next four years with Lebron. That's just
simply not going to be the case. They might not
even have this roster when the season starts, right, because
there could be some kind of move made to get
Kai to get Kawhi Leonard over there, or if it
doesn't work out, it's possibly he goes over there as
a free agent next summer. So they're not a finished product.

(01:34:56):
So we shouldn't look at the Lakers as if they
are that's a good it really is. And you know what,
maybe Lebron has some input. I would think that he
probably does have some input. I think he probably wanted
to get a ray Gen Rondo with him. I think
he did because you know, for what I've read lately
about Lebron, he he wants to be not the guy
that sets people up, but he wants to be the
finish at the closer. And these guys are gonna passion

(01:35:18):
the ball and set him up, you know, guys like
Stevenson and Rondo. They'll set him up with the basketball. Look,
he's no, he's no youngster anymore. He's gonna be thirty
seven at the end of that contract in l A Right.
It's funny that magic he's doing the opposite of the Calves.
He just has a different mindset. And he looked at

(01:35:39):
what hurt the Calves, which was a lack of defense
and sometimes a lack of ball handling, and he's like, well,
that's what we're gonna focus on. We're gonna focus on defense,
We're gonna focus on ball handling. So we went out
and got Lance Stevenson got Rajon Rondo at some point.
I guarantee you the season hasn't started yet and they
can still get a shooter, but as currently constructed, yeah,

(01:35:59):
it's different than the Calves. But you get into that
season and Lebron's gonna be like, I would really like
some shooters around me because that would make things a
lot easier. You can't just do the opposite of the
Calves and thinks it's gonna be successful. I think he
wanted well, he wanted Lance because he liked the way
he blew in his ear. I think that's why he
wanted Lance Stevenson. Who knows either overlook that everybody loves

(01:36:23):
that exactly. I mean, you do to me all the time.
Brian No Andy Firm and we Gon Fox Sports Sunday.
Get us on Twitter at the Nose Show and Oi
Show at Andy Firm and FSR eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six sixty
three sixty nine one lie from the guy called Fox
Spots Radio Studios and of course find him in the
hour the dean of Ohio sports Writers, Bill Livingston from

(01:36:46):
the Cleveland Plane Dealer who just recently retired. We'll talk
to him at eight thirty eastern. Follow that with those picks,
so you can't go wrong. Stay with us. This might
change one of the longest traditions in this sport. That's
next doesn't look like they oppose this. Now, we'll explain
that in just about a minute twenty one minutes past

(01:37:07):
the hour. This is Fox Sports Sunday. He's Brian no On.
Andy Furman will lie from the guy called Fox Spots
Radio Studios by the way, bottom of the hour. About
ten minutes for now, that'll be a thirty eastern time.
The dean of Ohio sports columnists, the one and only
Bill Livingston from the Cleveland Plane Deal. Everything you want
to know about Lebron and Moore. He'll join you here

(01:37:27):
at eight thirty eastern. But right now, something that my
partner loves to do at times, and not heavily either.
We call it gambling right because you can't get away
from it. I mean you do at times. It's not
a big deal. You're not addicted or anything like that,
but you enjoy to put a shekel deer here and there?
Do you want? Yes, you know, and I think there

(01:37:48):
are a lot of people that I know they say
that they can't watch a game without having a little
money on the game, because I hear you're not a
sports fan. If that's the thing, well, I'm with you there,
But I do know this. Uh. It was that I
told to enjoy putting some coin on the game, and
I've said about that. And now it'll be a lot
easier with states given the okay for sports gambling, which
I think is probably a good thing, and it puts

(01:38:10):
more money in the state coffers. I'm all for it,
you know, I think it'll be great. What do you think? Yeah, man, like, well,
where is this coming from? Like this, I don't understand
if it's tied to something now that happened, like we've
known about this for weeks. Yeah, of course, sure. Well
here's the deal. Something new is developed. That's why I'm
bringing this up at first when it first hits several

(01:38:32):
college athletics there at the role post and I get it.
I I get why they were opposted because these kids
can be bought A team of five in basketball can
be bought on the college of pros No, because they
made too much money, a gable look and get to them.
But a college kid who can't afford to take his
girlfriend out to a movie or a pizza. Can be
bored off for a game, especially an early season of

(01:38:52):
the game. When a Big Division one opponent is playing
a school like Frostburg State and then favored by thirty
five points, they could be bored There's no doubt about that.
But now in the Big Ten, the Big ten's all
in the conference now and the Big Ten Conference has
asked the n c double A to consider developing a
national Football injury reporting system, and coaches, as you know,

(01:39:14):
for years, have concealed injuries. This is not gonna be
such a good thing. And I don't know why the
Big Ten is all in on this right well, they're
just trying to be transparent with the gambling aspect in mind.
And I'm against it as well. It would help me
if I was gambling on a game to know if
the left tackle had a bad knee or the quarterback

(01:39:34):
had a bum shoulder or something. But that's what happens.
It happens all the time in the NFL, had happened
in college football. If you know of an injury, you're
gonna target that area. If the outside linebacker has a
knee issue, is the fullback is gonna nail his knee
like that's just the way it goes, right. So I'm

(01:39:54):
against this in terms of we're talking nineteen, you know
year old kids are around there. I don't think their
injuries should be known and should be targeted. If it's
grown men in the NFL, that's a different deal. But
when you've got kids playing college football and their injuries
are being publicized, that puts them in a more vulnerable position.

(01:40:16):
So I would not be for that. I'm with you there,
I'll tell you so. Not only there's a put it
in the forefront and and maybe be advantageous to gamblers,
I think a it hurts the kids and it may
even hurt their chances to be drafted. Think about that.
You've got an NFL scout saying, hey, I love this kid,
I love the runner, but you know what, he's been
on this injured list, the list several weeks. He's got

(01:40:38):
a you know, an occurring ankle injury or hamstring, whatever
it may be. I think that there's no positive whatsoever
for the Big Ten or any other conference to go
to the n c Double A and say we want
a National Football Injury Reporting system and we're not even
talking about the coaches. I mean, I'm wanting for the
coaches to come out and start yelling and screaming the hey,
we don't want this, you know. The college for well,

(01:41:00):
there's such a such a precarious game because you've got
a game with September, and if a national power losers
in September, they're god, they finished for the year. Basically
they are. Now that's not necessarily the case. I'll bring
up some data for you in a little bit and
I just have to find it. But um, there are
a lot of teams I think five of the third team.

(01:41:21):
I'll get the figures for you, so I'm not misquoting it,
but there are a lot of teams that of the
one lost teams that made it to the College Football Playoff,
they had lost games in November. There was a high
percentage of teams in the Well, yeah, Alabama and Georgia
the two teams in the championship game with two of
them last season. So it can happen. But in terms

(01:41:43):
of this, you start going down this road of if
it's not uniform injury reports and it's just a league
by league thing, I mean, could that affect recruiting. Yeah, possibly,
if you are running back, You're like, Man, I don't
want my knee injury to be publicized in the Big ten.
I'm gonna go to Oregon instead. You know, right, maybe

(01:42:03):
it could happen that way. And I think you hit
on a good point, Andy, because initially I was prone
to disagree with you. I was, you know, you hit
on good points all the time. But I thought that, Look,
all these NFL teams are gonna know of injuries anyway,
so it's not as if these injury reports are going
to just open the door for them, like, oh gosh,

(01:42:23):
I had no idea that he had shoulder issues in college.
They're gonna know about that by time the draft rolls around.
But to your point, if this happens week in and
week out and a running back has this hamstring injury
or whatever, he's gonna be known as hamstring guy, and
it's just gonna be even more at the forefront of
your mind as a personnel evaluator in the NFL to

(01:42:47):
tie a player to a specific injury. So I think
you're right. I don't think it does the players any
favors within college, and if they're able to get drafted
going into the NFL. It could help, it could hurt
their stock. I'm gonna reach earned the kudos to you,
but you made an excellent point. The Big Ten is
the one that's banging the drums to get the ant
double A to consider developing the National Football Injury Reporting system.

(01:43:08):
But if there's not across the board by every conference,
it doesn't do any good. It's gonna be all on
none on this game. Gotta be all on one bigcause,
as you say, I'm a kid, I've been recruited by
Northwestern and Big ten has a reporting factor. SEC doesn't.
I ain't going I'm going to SEC. I'm going really well,
it's I mean, look, there are a lot of factors

(01:43:29):
to consider, and when you're eighteen and nineteen you might
look at cool uniforms compared to the injury report or
what about who knows, But I'm just saying it's one
of the things that I think some kids would consider.
If you're a league, you don't want to do anything
that's gonna put your league potentially behind other leagues if

(01:43:50):
you have an injury report and they don't. I don't
even know if it's possible for it to be like that.
But with that possibly out there, you really have to
think twice about that is a league, no doubt about that.
Probably no andy from a probably brought to you by Geico.
What does it mean when Gago says just fifteen minutes
can save you fifty percent more on car in Jurans, Well,
it means you probably should have got the Gaco dot

(01:44:11):
com fifteen minutes ago. Now the real story behind lebron
Well Bill Livings. That tells you all about it next,
but first Kevin figures for the latest. All right, guys,
we'll starting the Ottaga where UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel
Cormier added more gold to his ledger with a first
round knockout of Steve ao Chick on Saturday night. Capturing
his first UFC heavyweight championship, Cormier becomes just the second

(01:44:35):
UFC fires hold titles in two different weight classes can
currently along with Connor McGregor, who did it a couple
of years ago. After the fight, UFC President Dana White
announced Cormier will defend the title against former heavyweight champion
brock Lessner at a date and location to be determined.
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Price from True Car now you can know the exact

(01:44:55):
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True Cards will enjoy a more confidence car buying experience.
On the Baseball Diamond, Arizona beat the Padres horribly. Five
was the final score in the Desert. Snakes racked up
eighteen hits and scored a run in all but one inning.
On the night Padres started, Tyson Ross was run after
just two winnings of workI allowed eight earned runs. Phillies

(01:45:15):
beat the Pirates three to two. That's six straight victories
for the Phils. Dodgers avenged Friday Nights Laws and Anaheim
with a three to one victory over the Angels. Yasi
a week at his tent home run and that one
Astros with the victory Tigers and A's as well. Mark
Reynolds went five for five and drove in ten for
the Washington Nationals. They steam rolled in Miami Marlins eighteen
to four. Back to Andy and Brian, thank you so much, keV,

(01:45:38):
have a great day. Thank you for all you do
for us. And right now Bill Livingston coming right up
for us, Brian, No, Andy Furman, this is Fox Sports. Sunday,
and of course we'll welcome everybody back to the Fox
Boats Radio studios, brought to you by Geico. It's easier
to say fifty percent more on car in church with Geico.
Gotta Geico dot Com call eight hundred nine four seven.
O oh. The only hard part figuring out which way
is easier and in listed ten minutes, Brian No with

(01:46:00):
his pits. That's knows pits. But now the Fox Sports
Celebrity Hotline. The dean of Ohio sports columnist, the man
who just retired from the Cleveland Playing Dealer, your friend
and ours, the man of those Lebron James like a shadow,
Bill Livingston. Livy, Welcome to Fox Sports Sunday with Brian
Know and congratulations on your retirement. Well, thank you, Andy,

(01:46:21):
thanks for having me. You're the best. I tell I'm
gonna miss you a lot of people in the Cleveland area.
I'm gonna be writing one a week. Great, that's with him.
I retired, and I'm gonna do the Bridge Stone Golf
Tournament and any Ohio State home game that I want
to do. Although only Michigan looks good this year, it
sounds wonderful. Now tell us Livy how is Cleveland reacting

(01:46:42):
after this fallout for Lebron Part two? Well, I think
the majority of fans are reacting completely differently from last time,
as as have I because he came back as a
he was a different guy. He had matured. He uh
promised the championship and delivered it, which kind of sealed
the deal. I think with most fans. Uh, you know,

(01:47:03):
he he had just grown up and he had learned
how to win. He became a He had always done
a lot of charity, a lot of good works in
the area. He became very active in social you know,
being very outspoken like Kareem and Muhammad Ali and all
those guys were back in back in the day. UM
stood for a lot of good causes and in my view,

(01:47:26):
um and you know, yeah, there were drawbacks to him.
He has always had a little prima donna aspect to him,
and he wouldn't sign a long term contracts, so they
always had to try to win now. But they won
a championship in Cleveland. Hand had a championship in a
major pro sport in fifty two years. I think I
think my attitude is reflected by the vast majority of fans,

(01:47:46):
which was you know, respect and gratitude and have a
good rest of your life, just as currently constructed with
the Lakers, And we don't know, the roster could change,
maybe they get Kawhi Leonard, who knows, but as the
roster you see it right now. What do you think
Lebron ceiling is this coming season in terms of team success? Well,

(01:48:09):
I think he expects them to have some players added, obviously,
you know he in a lot of ways, the Calves
created this because in a desperate attempt to remake a
team that was going absolutely nowhere, they gave the Lakers
salary cap space to go after a guy like Lebron
when they got Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. And you know,
uh took on their contracts. Uh. You know, He's always

(01:48:32):
exerted a lot of pressure on management to give him
a complimentary cast that he thinks he can win with
and and win it all with. But he has a
home out there. He has a lot of businesses out there.
He was very good in train Wreck, his his first
movie appearance on the screen. You know, I think it
made sense for for him, uh in business, and the

(01:48:55):
Calves aren't going anywhere the way the team is right now.
You know the only thing I think that might have
said the Calves, and even that was a long shot,
was if their sheer dumb lottery luck had come through
again and they had gotten the first, first or second
pick and could have gotten a really, really good impact
player like they did with Kyrie Irving and of course
with Wiggins who whom they traded for Kevin Love. Would

(01:49:18):
you know which helped them get over the top? Bill Livingston,
you covered Dr Jay, You saw there was great seventies
sixes teams in Philadelphia. You covered Michael Jordan's. Compare those too, Lebron,
and compare them to all the compared Lebron to everybody. Really,
you take on Lebron James, Well, he's the best player
I recovered in person. I didn't cover Michael every night,

(01:49:39):
but Lebron is so much bigger and stronger than Michael was,
and he he benefits from being a generation later in sports,
with more weight training and more nutritional emphasis and more
analytics to help your you know, help you be prepared
mentally for the other team. And I always I think
he's the the best player that maybe ever because of

(01:50:03):
he could pass as well as magic, and he could
score with Michael not not as much, but he didn't
really want to either. When he had to fifty one
points in the finals this year in a game they lost,
he could, um, you know, he was walking triple double.
Now that's become more prevalent with the higher pace of
play and with a lot more shots now, but his

(01:50:26):
are he was just a remarkable multi talented player. There's
never certainly never been a perimeter player with his impact
on the game. With these reports that Kyrie Irving didn't
want Lebron to go back to Cleveland, Kyrie didn't want
to play alongside him, of course, asked to be traded

(01:50:47):
and was what what was the dynamic with Lebron and Kyrie?
With you covering the team like how it didn't seem
that bad publicly but behind the scenes, how contentious was it? Well? There,
you know there have been stories that he wasn't even
talking to his teammates Irving. Uh the last year he

(01:51:09):
was here in the playoffs. Uh. He was always one
of the most that he was probably the most difficult
player to deal with. If you called him on the
with the right question on the right day, he could
be very good. He was the best interview I ever
had with him. He was talking about doing the mic
and drill as a kid, and I was doing a
story about his incredible ability to finish at the rim
and how he got a nose and lead from looking

(01:51:30):
up at shooting all the right and left handed layups,
and his father wouldn't let him stop. Maybe not the
prettiest story, but one that he really got into. But
you know, he's I never really knew whether he was
serious or whether he was just pulling our legs with
But you know, his teammates always talked about these wild
conspiracy theories. He would float with them, and some of

(01:51:50):
them are just you know, bat bat leap crazy. You know,
the flat earth theory, and the moon landing was faked. Um,
you know, I'm assuming it is not he but he
was only a duke for eleven games in one years,
so there is that. Um, you know, I he was.
I remember I flashed back to the several times the

(01:52:12):
year they won the championship. There was they had a
very close, close sweep, and there are such things. Every
game against Detroit came down to the last couple of minutes,
and there was one of them where Lebron was driveling
at the top of the circle, and Irving was out
on the on the left wing, and Lebron motioned to
him to move to the corner and just wait for
a drive and kick, and Irving rolled his eyes disgustedly

(01:52:36):
and kind of kind of moped off to the corner
and they won the game. But you know, he that
was about the time he started talking about we have
two closers, and I certainly considered him closer one A
to Lebron's one and and thought that and wrote the
year they won the last three games when they came
back against Golden State, winning two out there. He was
every business valuable was Lebron was in those games. But

(01:52:59):
he was a jealous guy. He wanted his own team.
He was, you know, very it turned out he had
the ball. He took slightly more shots per game in
the playoffs and Lebron and had a slightly higher usage rate,
and he was pretty much immune from criticism except for
his defense. Tyler would let him do just about what
he wanted to. And there were a lot of one touch,

(01:53:20):
you know, shot shot up with eighteen seconds left on
the shot clock with Kyrie more than with Lebron. Certainly,
Olivia I gotta ask you this. They talk about Lebron's
reasonings to go to l A. They say the movie
industry at two homes out there, Philly wants to go.
But what factor actually did Dan Gilbert? That's big, Yeah,
that's big. There. Uh, there's a gulf between the two

(01:53:42):
of them that spends just about every topic you want
to mention, politics, culture, upbringing, um, you know, camaraderie with
your fellow man. I'm not a big Dan Gilbert fan.
Now he is very popular with the fans because he's
paid the money and that has been the always the
big drawback of Cleveland owners that either they didn't have

(01:54:04):
enough money like Model, or are the Dolans with the Indians?
Are are the window closed on when they could be
a big market team, like like when cable revenue took
over and made the big difference in that ballpark revenue
with the with the nineties Indians. But there there, you know,
he's a Gilbert's a big Trump supporter. Lebron can't stand Trump.

(01:54:25):
The Lebron made cracks about Trump all the time. Lebron
and the Warriors and Cavaliers in mass had said they
were not going to go to the White house whichever
team won the championship. Um, and you know there's a
big there's a big divide between the NBA and and
and the president too. It's a very progressive league and
it's a majority of African American league, and they don't

(01:54:45):
like what he says and does. Last one for you, Bill,
if you think about Kyrie Irving, obviously his preference would
be to be the number one guy on a championship
winning team. But if there was a choice between being
second fiddle on a championship winning team and being the star,

(01:55:06):
the number one player on a non title winning team,
which do you think he would choose. Well, I would
hope he would take the championship winning team, but he
wouldn't be the first player to go the other way.
A long time ago, when I covered the Sixers with
Doc and George McGinnis and guys like that, when they traded,
then Lloyd now world be free. Uh to the Clippers

(01:55:26):
who were then in San in in San Diego, and
he came into town and I for their visit, and
I think he was leading the league in scoring or something,
and somebody held up a sign that said fourteen and
twenty five or whatever. It was, and he's happy that
might be. That might be Kyrie. I would not think
Kyrie was one of the great offensive players I ever
saw as far as pure basketball. I won't criticize him

(01:55:49):
except for some you know, lack of defense, which he's
not the only superstar did that. I mean he could
hit threes, and hit pull up jumpers and floaters, and
and make the most astonishing finishes around the rim with
either hand from angles other players didn't even contemplate that
Iver saw. But he has a PSI personality, megalomania. I
think going on there, Bill Livingston has been a little

(01:56:12):
slice of heaven. I'm happy to hear you'll be running
once a week so I can still follow you there.
You're a wonderful man, Livy God bless you. Thanks for
joining us today. Thank you, Andy, always a pleasure. You're
the man, Bill Livingston, the Dean of Ohio Sports columnists
from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Brian no and the Firmer.
We are Alive from the guy called Fox Sports Radio Studios.

(01:56:33):
Nose picks coming right up, but they just can't cut
the mustard. That's next. This program brought to you by
Progressive Insurance last year over three million drivers switched to Progressive.
Call one eight hundred Progressive or visit progressive dot com
today and find out if you could save. Don't go anywhere,
knows picks are coming right up. That's Brian No I

(01:56:55):
made the firmer. We are Fox Sports Sunday. And by
the way, speaking of going anyway, don't you dare go anywhere?
About twelve minutes from now, top of the hour, that
will be nine o'clock Eastern time, Dan Buyer, Michael Harmon,
what I want to punch? They are they'll beat joining
to the top of the Many of these same Fox
Puts radio affiliate's also Serious XM eight three and the
Fox Sports radio app I heart radio apps will do

(01:57:17):
it all right. Now it's time for my guy, his
center stage, Brian No nos Picks. Let's do it here.
Are you in desperate need of gambling insights? Do not
fear for Brian no is here and now the time

(01:57:41):
is come for nose picks. Andy, Yes, we have reached
a new low with nose picks. You can't wait for
need football season to get here as soon as humanly possible, right,
I thought you, No, I can't go there because I
don't know anything about it because I don't all of it. Um,

(01:58:01):
But last week I was oh for three, Oh for three,
that's right. Now, technically I got Croatia right, but it
went to extra time, so I was technically wrong. TI
would have been the right choice. Soccer is a little
bit confusing when it comes to yeah, well no, it
would have been a loss as far as me choosing
Croatia because Tie was the right choice. If it heads

(01:58:25):
to extra time, you gotta go with tie. So I
was wrong with that. So O for three. That brings
my total over the last four weeks to one and eleven.
That's what I'm working with over here, Andy Ferman, Cleveland
Browns of betting. What's that? The Cleveland Browns of betting? Oh,

(01:58:46):
I got it, I got it, I got you. Yeah,
I am. In terms of the last month. Sure, I'm
gonna start with soccer because we got the World Cup
going on obviously, right. I like these, I actually like these. Now,
don't run to the betting window based on how I
eard during nose picks. But Belgium France the totals two
and a half goals. I like the over and you

(01:59:07):
get some value. It's plus one ten so I'd say
take the over Belgium France. They both put a lot
of pressure on opposing teams. They're very offensively sound, so
I like the over in that game. I also like
England to win their match at plus one thirty, so
I'll take the over. It with the Belgium game England
plus one thirty and a little baseball action cards at

(01:59:31):
the Giants today, good pitching matchup, bum Gardener going against Flaherty.
I'm gonna take the under. Seven and a half runs,
not a high total, but I think the under hits.
Think it's a low scoring game. With those pictures that
you've got something going there. It's tough you kind of
wavering a little bit. Yes, I'm not dying on you. Really,

(01:59:53):
I'm with you. I'm with you, okay, I like it
all right. Well, at that time of the program, you
can go your own way. Anything that's light, anything serious,
I'm ready. I tell it's up. Great news. First though,
there's a quick way you could save money. Switch to Geico.
Got a Geico dot com and in in fifteen minutes you
could say fifteen percent and more on car insurance. I'll
tell you what though, I said, they just can't cut

(02:00:14):
the mustard, and the human judges can't cut the mustard.
This is unbelievable. The judges that the Nathan's Hot Dog
Atty contest might be replaced by a digital system after
a miscount at this year's event. I mean, give me
a break. You can't count hot dogs that there's something
wrong with you. Eleven time champion Joey Chestnot how a
world record seventy four, but the judges initially count the

(02:00:35):
sixty four? What were they doing eating? What were they
How do you miss ten hot dogs? Tell me that? Please?
You know what's funny is I was watching this because
I do love the coverage. It's so tongue in cheek
and they don't take themselves seriously at all. It's really
a funny presentation. But the commentators on ESPN they were

(02:00:57):
saying that they're like, hey' is at sixty four kind
of a lower day for Joey Chestnut? And then all
of a sudden, it's like, oh yeah, seventy four. It's like,
what what happened? Happen? Do we need technology to count
hot dogs now? Has it come to that? Really? I
don't know, we might, but you know it's funny. Andy
Sometimes we think along the same lines, and I was

(02:01:19):
going with hot dog eating as well, to go my
own way. It took close the show here. How about this?
You couldn't have bet on the hot dog eating contest
in either Nevada, in Vegas or any of the new
states offering legal sports betting this year because of Gaming
Control regulations. It requires approval from Gaming Control and no

(02:01:42):
Nevada sports books have ever made the request. They haven't
been like, hey, can we get a total for hot
dogs being consumed? You know, get a seventy two and
a half line, or they've never even asked permission. This
is an American andy firm and we should be able
to bet on the hot dog eating contest in Vegas
and the states that offer legalized sports. I'm with you

(02:02:04):
right and you know what we talked about things we'd
like to do. We talk about going to the World Cup.
This is another event. I wouldn't mind going back home
to Corney, Allen and Brooklyn to see this on July fourth.
I'd like to go down with you as well. Yes, yes,
we got to get the Nathan's hot dog eating contest
checked on the before we're out of here. Yeah, we're

(02:02:25):
almost Hey, I'll wear a funny hat like the guy
who m sees the event that there you go. I'll
tell you what, I have a great day, as always
a pleasure. We'll see you next week. Enjoy the rest
of your Sunday right here. Huh. Fox Sports Radio by

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