Jason Fitz and Kerry Rhodes talk Bronny and the Lakers!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio, expectations sometimes ruins everything.
Hear me out, Like, if you've ever gone to the
movies and you don't know what movie you're seeing, you
just walk in. You can love the thing because you
didn't know what you were expecting. But if the whole
world's been telling you how great a movie is you
walk in, suddenly you're underwhelmed.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Was it really that the movie was even any different?
Or did the sales pitch just get over the top.
And I'm asking that because that's exactly what's happening right
now with.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
The Lakers and Bronnie.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Are we really in a world where Bronni going in
and having an okay summer league game deserves to be
the top headline everywhere. Yeah, but that's a problem. You
hear him laughing. He's carry Rhodes. I'm Jason Fitz. We're
hanging out with you on Fox Sports Radio, broadcasting live
from the tire rack dot com studios.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
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Tie Biden should be. We're here at Fox Sports Radio today,
like we're talking about what Jason was just saying about
the brownie situation in the Summer League, and how you know,
everybody's making this the conversation piece. This is the number

(01:12):
one topic that we can have right now to talk about,
it seems, which is it was really crazy. So here
we are, We're we're here talking about it. And I
will say, first off, watching a little bit of that
game yesterday, I didn't get to see all of it,
but obviously everybody saw the clips, and Ronnie had a few,
you know, exciting plays, a few plays that you would
say would make him you know, seems like he belongs

(01:35):
in the Summer League and have a chance to compete
with those guys and make some plays. But there's also
a lot not to like about what he did yesterday.
And I think, as you know, as America gets to
come more and more in tune with the situation called
Bronnie James, I think it would be more base off
of the negativity of it. And I think that's really

(01:57):
the problem for us as Americans, right we sit back
and try to nitpick all the negative things and not
the positive. So I'm gonna take an actual different approach here.
I'm gonna take the positive of what I saw yesterday.
And like I said, there's some things about his game
that you know, he's athletic, he can move. He had
a couple of plays where he was able to step

(02:17):
back and you know, make some defenders look silly, make
a layup, make a jump shot, you know, getting to
the rack. And his defense was a little subpar, but
I think he'll get better with that with the reps.
And so that's where we are right now with him
and what I saw. It was one of those situations
where you know it's gonna be scrutinized heavily no matter
what the situation was because of the dynamics of it all.

(02:40):
But you know, here we are now, we're sitting in
the place where he went two for nine from the field.
You know, didn't have a stellar game, But we're not
talking about their first round pick and the pick that's
supposed to be the guy that we should probably be
talking about, which is Dalton connect So I think that's
where we're gonna be for a while. And right now,
my partner, Jason isn't isn't around, So I'm trying to

(03:02):
keep this thing going a little bit. But Chris, let's
talk about what you thought about what happened in that
game yesterday.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
Well, I think MONSI did you end up watching it?
Because I caught a few minutes.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
Yeah, I caught a few minutes of it, and I
think that's something that's like a real It's not I'm
not trying to give him an excuse, but I'm gonna
say that Bronnie James was probably incredibly nervous in his
first game, whether it's summer league whatever, wearing a Laker shirt.
There is no way that that guy was not profusely

(03:32):
sweating and while not running like I would be so
so nervous because like you just mentioned everything, carry he
is going to be scrutinized no matter what. It doesn't
matter even if he had a good game, and you
know what, there were moments that he looked like, Okay,
it looks like you can do a little a little
shimmy here and there. Maybe you know, it wasn't a
great performance, but I feel that like something we really

(03:54):
have to consider is how nervous this kid was because
he knows all eyes are on him, not on Dalton connect,
not on all the other players that are around him,
because everybody played and everybody scored, and he was the
second lowest scorer of the game. No, you know what
I mean, there's other people we should be talking about,

(04:15):
but we're not.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
And you know, go ahead, Chris, I was gonna say it.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
It genuinely doesn't matter how he performed in that game,
because no matter what, we're not looking him as the
fifty first Sorry, I've completely forget blanked on the number now,
like the field doesn't matter, doesn't matter. We're not fifty
five fifty five. It could be eight, he could be undrafted,
it doesn't matter. He's going to be held to a
standard that is just completely unreasonable. As someone who watched

(04:40):
USC basketball, this is a kid who I watched almost
die on the court not long ago, and suddenly we're
asking him to play NBA basketball. I think it was
fine to take him at fifty five, like he absolutely
had the promise. I don't think anyone ever expected him
to ever be like a lottery pick before his heart attack,
but the promise was always there with him to at
least be a good basketball player. And it doesn't Yeah,

(05:03):
I keep coming back to that, is it doesn't matter
if how good he was. I was hearing people with takes.
Within the first two minutes of the game. He showed
a little bit of defense, but it didn't matter. Everyone's
already wanting to cast their lot on whether this was
smart for the.

Speaker 7 (05:16):
Lakers dumb for the Lakers.

Speaker 5 (05:18):
It became about the narrative and not the person on
the court, And that's where it kind of broke my
heart and I really started to dissociate where it's like,
we're not thinking about the human anymore. We just care
about the story, the story, the story, the story. And
it's like that's kind of where I just got a
little depressed thinking about it, because he's not going to
be allowed to be out there and develop or I mean,

(05:40):
he might be something, but I'm already hearing people talking
about can he guard current starters in the NBA, guard
people that like Luca that nobody can guard anyway. Now
you're talking about a fifty fifth pick trying to guard them.
Right now, he just has to play summer League. He
has to get his bearings. He got to his feet wet,
like we're a cart before the horse. Doesn't even begin

(06:00):
to describe what's happening here.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
Right, And the bigger issue for me is it's not
his fault. No, and so we're unfairly judging the fifty
fifth pick in the draft, which if it was in
the other fifty fifth pick, we wouldn't.

Speaker 7 (06:13):
It wouldn't be conversation, just like Jason Fitz started.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
We wouldn't. This wouldn't be the.

Speaker 7 (06:17):
Headline at all.

Speaker 6 (06:18):
And I don't I think majority of the people are
not rooting for Brownie to fail, which I'm sure there
are a few, of course, but it's I think it's
very few. It's just just like with Kitlyn Clark, Bronnie James,
the topic, people are very passionate about one way or
the other. There's there's so many opinions about it. But
I don't think it's that the opinion is we want

(06:39):
this kid to fail. That's not the opinion. It's just
how things went about making him a Laker, and people
feel real strongly about it, just like with Kitlyn Clark.
So that that is the positive thing in all of this,
is that there is attention coming to you know, Summer
League in the NBA, whether it's just a Laker game,
I mean more people are watching.

Speaker 7 (06:57):
I've never watched a Summer League game until yesterday on ESPN,
and I think you're right.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
It's it.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
We're nobody's rooting for Branny to fail. We're they're rooting
for either the Lakers to fail or Lebron to fail.
And that's again comes back to my point too. It's
just nobody will see him as the person out there.
He's just a vehicle to get us to point a
or point b on on on another topic. And I
feel sad for him in that regard.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
And the other part, the other part of that piece
is again we talk about brands, and I know we've
have a conversation about brands a lot, right the lake
of brand being the best brand or the number one brand,
and we would say a lot of people would say
and then you add the Lebron James factor as a
brand to that as well. And so when the when
they try to control and run every narrative the way
they do, it's going to be a part of the problem.

(07:45):
So this is another extension of that for me.

Speaker 6 (07:48):
But see that narrative, It's like, Okay, guys, why are
we not why are we still lying? Like what we're here?
Embrace it, Embrace the whole thing. Stop lying and just
say the truth, which is like Lebron to deserve to
do this because he has Lebron James and if he
wanted this, we were gonna do it for him. We
know his worth ethic. We can assume that it's gone
down to his kids. So you believe that Bronni has

(08:11):
the athleticism or the worth ethic to the work ethic
to like make himself better once he's put in this position.
It's just he had such a small sample size in college,
and like if we look at his numbers, what he
did yesterday is exactly kind of what he did a see,
you know what I'm saying, And so like there's I
don't think he was I think people had a higher expectation,

(08:31):
but it's like that was reality for game one.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
To me, that was reality.

Speaker 6 (08:35):
And the nerves again, I don't know how I would
I guys, that's nerve wrecking a lot.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
He played exactly like expect a fifty fifth pick to
play right.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
And this goes back to the conversation that had last
week with my normal host who's not here right now. Dan,
He's enjoying vacation right now, Nan, Team. Yeah, but we
were talking about this it was. You know, we you
have this situation where this kid's coming in and uh,
you know, Jason's back in. Everybody, I think he's back in.
We dropped him for a bit. Jason, are you in?

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Look, you start saying anything bad about Brownie and the
Lakers gonna cut you off.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
They don't want they don't want to smoke on the radio. Carrie.
It's good to hang out with you.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
By the way, thanks for your patience. Of course, it's
all worked out. And look, as we've been working out technology.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
I think he's dropped the game.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Well, here we are.

Speaker 6 (09:24):
Jason stops saying bad things about Bronnie and the Lakers,
so that this stops happening to you. Oh, Jason. Uh,
I feel that this what I fear most with this topic.
And I feel like I'm guessing here that Jason was
gonna go in this direction. How long do we keep

(09:45):
Brownie as a top topic of conversation when nothing is
gonna change for a couple of months, like we're gonna
I think this is a work in progress, right, So
it's like, are we gonna keep having the same conversation
every week?

Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah? And this is what I was saying last week.
I know I wanted them and I thought they would
be a little bit smarter about this, and this was
to hide him as much as they could right now,
especially in this time. He has nothing to prove. Everything
that's gonna happen right now would be negative. Yes, if
he played well, he wouldn't get credit for right now.
So I would have hide him a little bit and
bring him along really gradually. I mean behind the scenes.

Speaker 7 (10:20):
Would you have put him on come off the bench
in this game?

Speaker 4 (10:23):
In this first one, I don't even know if it's
about the bench. I don't know how much I would
have allowed him to play. I see, I really think
he played more minutes than he should have. Right now,
he is not gonna win anybody's, anybody's votes or sympathy
votes in this situation. Yea, even with these kids and
the guys who are in the G League, for the
most part, they're all trying to make the league. Nobody's

(10:46):
established there. You may have one or two guys that
are trying to get reps, but other than that, all
these guys are trying to make it. So now you're
going against guys that are really coming after you and
trying to get a spot. And so for a kid
that hasn't played a lot of basketball to be in
a situation like that even tougher in my opinion, right.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
Especially a kid, a kid going up against some dudes
that have done this, that have been trying to do this,
it's a tall task for him and right, and it's
like the Lakers, you could set him up for better
success from the beginning, which is what you're saying here,
Like from the get go, you could be setting him
up for better success, starting with that presser where he said,

(11:23):
I never thought of playing with my dad, Bronnie.

Speaker 7 (11:25):
Stop it, exactly.

Speaker 6 (11:26):
Stop. The Lakers should have been like, embrace it, just
say how cool it is, how cool it is that
I get to play with my dad. I never thought
it was gonna happen, But how cool is is it?
And everybody would be like, yeah, that is cool. But
instead you said I never thought this. When we all
looked at each other and scoffed, because it's like we've
been hearing your dad say this for years, exactly, so
we already knew this.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
You ain't got a lie to kick it. We already
knew you ain't.

Speaker 6 (11:44):
You ain't got a liight to we here now just
embrace it so that the conversation shifts to how cool
is it?

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Now?

Speaker 6 (11:51):
Let's let's talk about what happens from this, you know,
point forward.

Speaker 7 (11:55):
But you're right carry, why are the.

Speaker 6 (11:57):
Lakers not setting it up for success early on?

Speaker 4 (12:01):
Well, you know this, this has been the Lakers in
their tenure right now, down this part right now with Roblink.
I don't know if they have the recipe for success.
I don't think that's part of their their their their
way of hangling things right now.

Speaker 6 (12:13):
So it seems like they they're they're kind of figuring
things out as they go instead of being a little
bit more prepared. Maybe maybe you'll seeing how much attention
Bronnie has brought to game one of the Lakers Summer League,
maybe it's gonna help them kind of, uh, get more
hands on to this whole experience, to this whole you

(12:36):
know journey that is gonna be Bronnie and Summer League.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Bronnie and Summerleague. I think I think we're gonna leave
it at that, And thank you Monsif for jumping in.
I think we talked about lebron James and and uh
and Bronnie and and those guys being the cahoots. Is
Lebron James taking three million below the max a big
deal or a little bit to do about nothing? We're
gonna take a break. Heare with Fox Sports. We'll be
back after this break.

Speaker 8 (12:58):
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Speaker 9 (13:10):
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Speaker 3 (13:24):
Why should you listen?

Speaker 9 (13:26):
Picture if you will, a world where we chat with
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Explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen
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Speaker 2 (13:39):
All right, we're gonna test the technology gods and see
if we can get this going again. Hanging out we
did Fox Sports Radio. He's carry Roads I'm Jason Fitz.
We're coming at you live from the tiraq dot Com studios.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Carrie.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
We're gonna see like so far, just gonna be honest, Like,
you know, I spent a lot of my life on
the road as a touring musician before I worked in sports.
And the funny thing is we would be on these
huge tours all over the world, thankfully humble break, and
some days you would come out there and like your
gear just wasn't working.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
And I remember that, you know.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
My the tech that helped with all that stuff to
come into Man, you just got a gremlin And I'm like, well,
what does that mean? Like I feel like right now
I'm being chased by gremlins. I can't give anything water.
I don't know what's happening. It's it's a little carry.

Speaker 7 (14:17):
I'm a little agremlin. As a gremlin is a gremlin.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
Someone who's worked as a broadcast engineer, Like, there's no
explaining any of it.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh that's the but see, I'm a type a like
I'm big on I can handle anything as long as
you explain to me the why, the how, Like I
think that's the music kidd of me. That's why I
love working with athletes. Athletes the same way, right, Carrie,
Like you want you don't want a coach to just
tell you what to you know, go do this. You
want them to tell you the why, the how, and
and then it makes sense.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Right.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
So I don't handle the just because that's not an
answer for me, Carrien.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
As a as a former congressman would say, the Internet
is a series of tubes.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
There it is. I don't know what that means either, Chris,
But yeah, I'm with you, Jason. I think it is
part of the DNA right knowing you know you can
get guidance, you're gonna have the answers to the test,
but you got to give me the answer to the
test too, so I can go out and do what
I gotta do. So one hundred percent agree with you,
But I'm glad to have you back. And now we're
we're rolling for We don't we don't talk about the paths.
We move forward. Baby, let's go. Let's get it going.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Look at that? Look at that? Well, all right, so
let's talk about moving forward.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Because we were just talking about Bronni a little bit
with the Summer League. But I also think It's interesting
because everybody knew Lebron James opted out. He takes a
deal that puts the Lakers in a situation where it
saves him a little bit of money. The salary cap
you got to have like your own whole degree in
economics to figure out the salary cap. But in the NBA,
but this is gonna save luxury tax. It gives the
Lakers a little bit of room to move. I just

(15:38):
think it's kind of stunning because when I think great franchises,
I don't usually think having to save a little bit
of money like this just feels like Lebron scratching the back.
But also Carrie for what, like, what's going to come
in now and make a team like the Lakers a
great team?

Speaker 4 (15:51):
Yeah, at this point nothing, but I think I think
you know, with Lebron, and we talk about it, talk
about his brand a lot. The brand was setting himself
up to look good before this, before the stretch of
non signees happened. Right, So you come into this thing
a couple of weeks before free agency is about to hit.
You leak a story saying Lebron's willing to take less

(16:12):
if they bring in somebody. You know, bringing somebody worth
him taking less. It's like, wait, is he willing to
take less? Or is he willing to take less if
you can get somebody like it? The Verberts surrounding that.
It's so it's such a crazy, crazy dynamic because it's
a win win for Lebron all the way throughout, and
that's how his career has been down the stretch about

(16:33):
a series of wins for him individually. But again, I mean,
at the end of the day right now, he might
as well have just taken all the money because there's
nobody else out there to help them in this situation.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Doesn't it mean something that Paul George elected not to
go there, that Klay Thompson, I know you're a MAVs
fane elected not to go there. That you know DeMar
DeRozan sign and trade go into the Kings right like
you go up and down the list that the names.
Usually we as a society love to think of the
Lakers being so impactful.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
That's just wearing that jersey means something.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
But haven't we seen three very clear cut answers right
now in today's NBA, two superstar level players that it doesn't.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
One hundred percent I think the Lakers jersey is still desirable.
I just don't think it's playing with Lebron James at
this point in his career. I don't think that parts
is desirable. And I say that because if you're a
if you've been an All Star, you've been somebody that's
made a name for yourself outside of the Lebron brand.
Once you step into that arena and play with him,

(17:33):
you don't stand anything the game. If you win, it's great,
and it would be a great story, but the story
will still be Lebron winning another ring, not you. But
if you fail, you're gonna be the one that's going
to take the brunt of all the criticism that comes
with that. And so as a agents to Superstar or
Superstar is looking for a transition to possibly win again,
if you go to that situation and fail, the blame

(17:54):
will not be on Lebron. So you got to remember
that also, And I'm sure they did.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Such a smart point by you, because I also think,
look at the way we cover the league, particularly, it's
all about chips. Yeah, and this is one of my
soapboxes I stand up on all the time, Like, I
think it's absolutely asinine that we take a team sport,
and then we boil down everything individuals do to whether
or not they won a certain number of championships in
that team.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
So I can't stand it.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Like I refuse to live in a world where Trent
Dilfer is a better quarterback than Damn all though it's
the simplest dancer.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
To this carry.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's just at this point, I'm not gonna look at
Josh Allen and say, Man, that guy's a total failure.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Hasn't want us do right. But that's what we do
in the NBA, particularly, we do that.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
So if you're Paul George and man and you're looking
around and you're saying, hey, sure it'd be fun to
play with Bron, But like, if I'm playing with Lebron,
am I winning a championship there?

Speaker 4 (18:46):
Like?

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Is that a championship caliber roster?

Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think part of the problem here is that the
Lakers aren't built in the way that any of the
guys we've talked about would have made them a clear
cut championship caliber roster. So now you're gonna get all
the blame, you're not gonna get any of the credit,
and by the way, you are gonna have a great
chance at the championship where you might somewhere else like
that has to be a factor in this too.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, no, for sure, and I think yeah, that team
And the crazy part about the Lakers is they have
a collection of guys that you would feel they would
be able to compete and be one of those guys
that could win it. But the dynamic of you know,
most guys when they play with Broun, if you're young,
you're looking up to Braun as the goat, right, You're

(19:27):
looking at this guy that's bigger than life, larger than life,
and you put yourself in a position where you have
so much pressure on yourself to perform because you don't
want to let that guy down. When it's not about
letting that guy down, it's about letting the team down.
I think there's a line that doesn't get drawn in
the sand when it comes when it comes to the two.
I don't think a lot of guys can differentiate between

(19:49):
what that means and so being in that fire, being
in the turmoil of having to be that group of
guys or the other guys associated with that team outside
of Lebron to get him another ring. You can hear
those guys saying that in certain situations like we want
to do this for him, but it's not about doing
it for him. This guy is still playing. He's not
on this swan song. He's trying to win another one too.

(20:10):
So trying to break up what that means as a competitor,
as a teammate and understanding that you have to go
out and be you and not play kate to him.
Be you, be aggressive, do what you do to make
this team win. And we don't see that with guys
that play with Lebron.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
Well.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Also, you got to remember the NBA is so different
than the NFL, Like NFL free agency. There are plenty
of guys that play in the league that will tell you, hey,
you know what it come down to. It came down
to money, Like I'm gonna go where I get paid,
and I'm never gonna fault somebody from being like, hey,
I'm looking out for my business.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
I'm feeding my family for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
The NBA, the way the contracts are structured, the pay
difference really isn't there. So now if you're looking at
it and saying, well, I'm gonna make basically the same
money wherever I go play, yeah, now it becomes where
am I playing for a coach that I like and
in the city that I like, and with buddies that
I like playing with like, I think it's more of
a factor in the NBA than it is in other
sports because of the way contracts are structure.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
One hundred percent, Yes, for sure. I mean in the NFL, yeah,
you're trying to get every dollar you can. It's not guaranteed,
I mean, and what is guaranteed is is gonna be
way less than what that contract reads and says to
the world. So definitely about getting your money, and especially
early on, right. So if you're a guy that's going
into getting your first your first big win and you're
trying to make sure you're taking care for for a

(21:23):
very long time, you're gonna go take that money. And
so a lot of times you'll see players go to
teams and you're just kind of scratching your head and
saying why, But yeah, it's it's the dollar. Let me
go get that dollar. And in the NBA, a lot
of those guys have already been paid twice, two, three times.
I mean, Paul George has been paid, Klay Thompson has
been paid, who we will talk about in a bit,
and so you go to a situation, like you said,

(21:44):
where you like the organization, you feel like you can grow,
you do want to still have a chance to win
in the NBA, and they both went to like Paul
George Clay Thompson, both went to situations where they can win,
but also, like you said, playing with people that you
want to play with, and you like.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, life is different when you got hundreds of millions
of dollars in the bank. Yes, you're still playing the
game that you love. And you're like, hey, I'll never
forget The first time I ever interviewed Klays Campbell and
he had just signed with the Jacks, and I was
so excited. I had this whole list of questions about
like what he what he saw on the South and
why he wanted to go there. And the first thing
I asked him I was like, so why you know
why Jacksonville? And he's like, you kidding, Like we saw

(22:17):
the offer with my agent. We're like, yep, Jacksonville. I'm like,
oh man, the rest of these questions mean nothing, right,
So I think we just have to remember that each
one of them is different.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
You mentioned Clay.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Let's get into this because obviously you are a MAVs fan.
Has the has the dynamic in the West change. I
want to get your thoughts on him. But before we
do that, Manzi's gonna get us caught up on all
of the latest, greatest and sports news right now.

Speaker 6 (22:38):
Monz Hi, guys, Jason, you're here, glad to hear you.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
I just can't wait for you to say Uruguay.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
I'm just gonna be honest, like it sounds dumb when
I say, it, sounds awesome.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
When you do, yeah, because it's not your guys, all
of you guys, it's not your It's.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yes? Oh wow?

Speaker 4 (23:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (23:02):
But you know, naturally in America you say Uruguay, but
it's nuts Uruguay. Urdaguay did knock off Brazil last night
in the Copa America quarterfinals in penalty kicks. Brazil definitely
not expecting that one. Also, I don't think Lewis Hamilton
was expecting to win the Formula One auto racing in

(23:25):
the British Grand Prix, because Max Verstappen usually wins all
of them. No, Lewis Hamilton beat him today by one
point four seconds, his ninth win of the British Grand Prix.
At Wimbledon, men's third seed Colos Outcras won his fourth
round match in four sets. On the women's side, though
American and twelve seed Madison Keys she had to retire
from her fourth round match due to a leg injury.

(23:47):
Coming up in about an hour, two seed Cocoa Golf
is going to begin her fourth round match. And in
the NBA, in case you missed it, six time All
Star DeMar Derozen signing a three year, seventy six million
dollars deal with the Sacramento Kings via a three team
sign and trade. Chris Duarte is going to head to
the Bulls. Harrison Barnes is going to head to the
San Antonio Spurs. And last thing I'll tell you here

(24:08):
because baseball hasn't start for like an hour, guys, A
ricky card Patrick Mahomes rookie cart sells at an auction
for one hundred and seventy three thousand dollars. The rookie
cart is one of ten. It is a grade of
nearly perfect nine. Apparently it has his signature a piece
of a jersey. But one hundred and seventy three thousand

(24:31):
dollars for a rookie card.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
They beat me by by one hundred and seventy two cars.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Yeah I put I put one thousand.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
Dollars beer in. Yeah, yeah, yeah it was I thought
it was a big one.

Speaker 6 (24:40):
So close, so close, Carrie, next time, but a little
bit and you may get ahead.

Speaker 7 (24:47):
It back to you guys.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Thanks Mansi.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
He's carry road on Jason Fitz Fox Sports Radio, tire
rack dot Com studios look one hundred and seventy three
thousand dollars Like.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Okay, right, how much you're like, how much money do
you look?

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I have been there have been times in my life
that I've been so broke. I didn't know how I
was going to feed my dogs. And There's been time
in my life that I've been okay, right, I grew
up with nothing. So I'm one of those people that
because I grew up with nothing, Like we had one
box of mac and cheese for the family for the day.
That was breakfast, lunch, and dinner combined. Like we didn't
have anything. So like for me, I guard what I have.
So I'm cheap. I know I'm cheap. My friends make

(25:23):
fun of me for being cheap. I get it, like
like I happen to like certain toys cause I didn't
have a lot of toys when I was kid. So
if I see like an eighties wrestling figure, something that
I wanted reminds me of my childhood, I'll sit there
and debate for like an hour on eBay whether or
not I'm comfortable spending fifty bucks. How much money do
you have to have in the bank to go one
hundred and seventy three thousand dollars for a rookie car?

Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah A lot, A lot, Yeah, a lot. And I'm
not cheap, so to speak, but I have in my
advanced years become a little a little bit more frugal,
So I do understand that I'm not paying one hundred
and seventy three thousand four car. I know that very clearly.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
I'm gonna throw one of my dear friends under the
bus that also played the league, also a Louisville guy,
Harry Douglass.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
We together for the years. Harry's like a brother to me.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
We played with Harry.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah, Harry.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Harry wears these big earrings, these huge earrings, right, And
I was asking one day, I was like, man, how
much those earrings costs? He's like, you kidding, Claires Man,
Like Harry's getting his earrings from Claires. He's wearing fake playing. See,
I respect somebody that played in the league. He's got
a little bit, you know, he's got enough nickels that
he can lay on the bed and be happy. Right,
but he's still wearing the wearing the cheap earrings. That
that to me, carry that's frugal.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
You know what's crazy about that? Nobody would know anyway.
I mean, they expect you to have it, so they
would probably expect it to be real. So yeah, go
with the Claires. Claire's is if you sign them up
real well and you clean them and you make sure
you take care of them, you wouldn't tell the difference.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, I will say this too. Since you know Harry,
he keeps trying to convince me that he's sixty one.
My guys never seen sixty one. He has no idea
what six one is. Next time you see him, just
reminded us that he's not. I just got to remind
him that. All right, you are a mad yes, And
so I'm excited for you because you know, here we
are in a world where Clay is now headed to
the MAVs, and now we all we love these dynamic.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
Threes, Like we love trios in general.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
So the concept of Kyrie and Clay and then Luca,
it feels great for a MAVs fan right now.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Are you on cloud nine with this?

Speaker 4 (27:17):
I'm on Cloud eight. I'm on Cloud eight. I'm close.
I'm close. I love Clay, I love the pick. I
love what that dynamic h his dynamic can bring to
the team. Obviously, when you watch the finals, right, I
mean it was a lack of shooting that ultimately took
out took out the Mapicks, right, I mean they played
solid defense, really really no better than solid defense, really

(27:39):
great defense on Kyrie and Luca. They made it really tough,
and when they would spread it to the corners or
spread it to the shooters, they just weren't able to
make it. And so when you add one of the
all time greatest shooters in that mix and he's getting
those same open looks, I would like my chances with that.
So yes, I mean, obviously he's lost a step defensively,
but he still competes. It'll be a veteran presence knows

(28:00):
how to win and can be the second best, second
best scorer on a night where one of those guys struggled,
so big pickup.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
I love the kind what you said, lost to step defensively.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
But the nice thing is that he's going to be
practicing in the same room as Lucas, so he's gonna
look like a defensive superstar exactly.

Speaker 7 (28:18):
He'll look good.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
I mean, there is no but I do think to
your point, this takes a little bit of the pressure
off of Luca to be a savior every night scoring right,
And that's that's what we really saw at the By
the end of the playoff run, it just felt like
the world was on his shoulders. And I don't know
that you can effectively go through an entire playoff. It's
such a gauntlet in the NBA to go through the playoffs,

(28:39):
like having to do it that way and be the
guy with with so little help like Kyrie. Not taking
anything away from Kyrie, he played well in Spurts, but man,
what they were asking to Luca. I do like that
at some point for Clay, I'm not sure anybody right
now in my mind, because I feel like what the
Selties have accomplished is this beautiful level.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Of star power and depth.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yes, I'm not sure anybody can touch, but I don't
know that you can acquire depth easily. So if you
can't get the depth that you need easily, at least
go out and take care of getting some of the
dynamic guys that you know you can rely on night in.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
A night out.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
You know. The other part about that is, I mean
we're talking about the Clay acquisition, which is obviously the headliner.
It's great, but they bring in Naji Marshall, they bring
in Quinton Grimes. These are guys that they are little
upgrades over Dereck Jones Junior and Tim Hardaway. Like so,
like if you got a team that went to the
NBA Finals and you had a chance to win a
championship this year, and you add incremental pieces to get better,

(29:33):
I don't think you always have to get that superstar,
superstar player to put you over to hump, because that
doesn't always get you over to hump. So if you
have one of the best players in the world in Luca,
I think he needs to mature a little bit and
understand that what you just said, him feeling like he
has has to be him against the world, and that's

(29:54):
how he plays a lot of times. I don't think
he literally has to do that but he feels that way,
and so we have guys like PJ. Washington, Derek Lively,
these guys are going to get better. And I don't
even know if Clay at the end of the day
is going to be that third score. I don't think
he has to be considered that third score because PJ.
Washington has that ability. And so going through a whole
off season of you know, putting that game play together

(30:16):
and putting that pecking order together, is gonna do the
same wonders do wonders for the same.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
It feels to me a little bit like you the
fine line between improvement and doing too much. Also like
I guess I like that this is that that moment
because I'm still looking at the Bucks a couple of
years ago and remembering the conversations we were having at
the time of well, the Bucks are about to go
on a run, and how many championships can Yannis win there,
which is what we like to do every single time.
But instead the Bucks seem to get a little bit.

(30:43):
They made too many changes, things he got too weird
for him, and then all of a sudden, now it
feels like they've lost some of that momentum versus the Nuggets,
who you know essentially went out patiently, did their thing
and now are continually that's that's their path, Like they're
just gonna stay the course. They're not gonna listen to
the noise, gonna be a boring franchise that does boring
things and wins a lot of basketball games.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
And that's what it is. It's it's it's uh, it's
hype over substance, right You. If you want to sell seats,
you want to be in the at the top of
the headline, you can do those by going out and
making those splash acquisitions. But if you want to win
and be a contender year in and year out, that's
a there's a process of that, and there's a and
there's a way to go about that. You have to

(31:25):
you have to fail some to to to build some
backbone and build some chemistry and and and build a
team that's able to when when those tough times come
again through the fire, get through it together as a group.
And I think that's what you see when you see
franchises that last.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
I don't care what sport we're talking about. I think
sometimes winning is a lot like dieting. If you want
to go on like a crazy diet and lose a
bunch of weight super fast. Fine, but it's not sustainable.
You better get everything you want out of that summer
body that one year, because if you're doing it, then, man,
unless you've picked up the right habits. And then you
look at the people that are like, hey, the last
three years, I've been doing these three things and all

(32:02):
of a sudden, you know, I've changed my life. Like
those are habits you. Yes, we look at the Chiefs
in the NFL. We talk all the time about Mahomes
and Andy Reid, which is important, but also, as Field
Gates pointed out last year, if you look at their
track record in the NFL draft, they haven't missed in
a top three round pick in years, like they hit
it an alarming rate. So like there is just sort

(32:23):
of a discipline is done by doing the little things,
the boring things, the right way over and over and
over again.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
You gotta build depth.

Speaker 4 (32:30):
Yes, it's substance. You gotta have some steps substance and depth,
and you gotta have guys that fit your scheme and
fit what you do. A lot of times when you
go out and get those splash players, you have to
readjust you have to do things that you normally wouldn't do,
and so that breaks up chemistry. That breaks up other
guys that were already starting to blossom in their roles
and get better and expecting the next year for their

(32:52):
roles to expand a little bit. But then you're bringing
a big name guy, a top knots guy, and that
role shrinks again, and then those guys become unhappy being
then that's part of the process as well.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
He's Scary Road time. Jason Fitz.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Hey, Monci, what's the name of that fancy soccer tournament
that's going on right now?

Speaker 6 (33:07):
Go by Medica, Medica, Medica.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
I'm gonna say America.

Speaker 6 (33:14):
Same thing as Year Road twenty twenty four, which Martin
Weiss admitted that he thought for the longest time that
it was the same tournament.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
I was like, how there was two different names.

Speaker 7 (33:25):
He's like, I still thought it was the same name.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
Yeah, come on, Martin, come on, Martin.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
I've been saying, Copa America this whole time, and it
doesn't sound as cool.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
But I will tell you this.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
We had controversy, if you will call it, amongst soccer
diehards about the way the match ended, and I want
to get into it because it's a common thread in
all of sports. Why can no sport get overtime right?
We'll figure it out next. He's carry roads on Jason
fits on Fox Sports Radio. He's carry roads on Jason
Fitz Fox Sports Radio, hanging out with you, Carrie. I

(33:56):
don't understand why nobody can make their fans happy. And
I'm talking about overtime specifically because I'm looking at Twitter yesterday.

Speaker 8 (34:02):
Now.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
I realize Twitter X doesn't have a lot of happy
people in general. I will acknowledge that. But as we're
watching yesterday and just seeing the soccer world absolutely go
nuts when games get into the penalty kick situation, I
kept looking at it and saying, God, why is this
so hard? Like, as as an NFL player and as
somebody that has covered the NFL in college football for

(34:23):
me for years, I could tell you I hate both
of their overtimes. I'm just I'm be honest with you.
College football overtime is lame. Like you give them them
all at the twenty five over and over and over again.
They're just marching in and scoring. It feels like a
bastardized version of the game, like none of it really
makes sense to me. And then in the NFL, like
I had no problem with sudden death, but then everybody says, well,
now both teams have to get a possession, and then

(34:44):
it goes sudden death, which is just delaying. Like I
imagine an AFC championship game where Mahomes gets the ball
and runs them down the field and they score, and
then Josh Allen gets the ball and takes them down
the field and they score, and then Mahomes takes them
down the field again, Like now it's okay that it's
sudden death, Like it wasn't a ok so, Like I
hate all of these overtimes, and I just don't understand why.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
You know, we got to figure out somewhere.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
I can't imagine you carry, you're on the field, you've
worked your wholetale off, you've worked your entire life. You
get to the end of a big moment in a
championship game, and then all of a sudden, they're like,
guys are going to overtime.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
So we're gonna have the kickers kickfield goals.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
So we're gonna start at the thirty five yard line
and we're just gonna back it up. The kicker is
gonna decide who wins the superw like we would go
nuts for that.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Yeah, that would be that would be nerve wrecking for sure.
You know what, I don't know. I don't think anybody
will ever be satisfied with the result of what overtime
would bring. I mean, I think there's always not even
just two sides of the coin, which is normal, but
it's always it seems like it's three sides of the coin, right,

(35:49):
Like there's gonna be somebody that feels that it's one person.
It should be sudden death. One person should get the
ball and go down and score and that's it. Kick
touchdown doesn't matter whatever. There's peer or is there there
are peersts that believe that, and I think it again,
it does stem from experience, right, experience in the game
where it was such a great game, Buffalo Kannas City,

(36:09):
back and forth. You know, if Mahomes get the ball first,
you think that it's over, and that's kind of what happened.
But people wanted to see Josh Allen get a chance
to do it right, and I think it becomes you
become a prisoner of the moment and not trying to
actually get the best possible solution to the answer. So
I think that's what we are, and I think that's

(36:30):
us as humans now, right, Like, there's always a better
way to do something, and until everybody satisfied, is always
going to be discussion about it. Right, But for me,
I don't even know. I don't even know what's the
best way to make this thing be a happy, sudden
death situation.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Well, I mean thinking about how we all felt at
the super Bowl, right, Like, it's just the conversation about
how games end never seems to go away.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
And look, I'm not a soccer fanatic. I enjoy watching
the sport. I think it's fun.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
I'm not super like passionate about anyone of it. So
for me, standing in a bar, if I see the
word penalty kicks, I'm all in, yeah, Like, look, we're
all gonna stand and watch it, like I think, although
they only do it in the regular season, if we
get to a shootout at the end of the overtime
in a hockey game, like I love hockey, so like
standing around see the shoot.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Out, that's kind of fun for me.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, But the diehards seem to hate every single level
of it like diehard soccer fans yesterday, we're losing their
minds that a tournament could be decided.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
By penalty kicks.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
I don't know what the better solution is, because you know,
you could point out that the guys are going to
run themselves to death if they play a whole extra period,
but like, I wouldn't have any hard time with that.
The NBA does it simple, like here's the amount of
time we're gonna.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Play, and we're just gonna keep doing that till somebody wins.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
That to me makes sense, Like what, okay, Jason, what
if it was what the NBA was. You play a
five minute overtime and if they at the end of
that overtime you're tied and it goes to like a
three point contest, What do you feel about that?

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Oh? God?

Speaker 2 (37:55):
People would lose their mind, like you got your trust
three point contests their dunk contest.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
There is a half simple solution to this, and unfortunately
it's one that soccer has tried before and they found wanting,
and that's to bring back the goal what's called the
golden goal or in NHL sudden death, like whoever scores
first an extra time wins and I think I think
what's happened an extra time is usually you do see
some goals an extra time, but then the other team
immediately responds, and it's just it's very I think it

(38:22):
happened to yours this year.

Speaker 7 (38:23):
It's just very frustrating. It's very frustrating.

Speaker 5 (38:25):
And I know the arguments against it because you would
have teams just turtle an extra time, neither team wanting
to concede the golden goal. But I think that was
like twenty years ago. I think it's time we can
try bringing this back. We can still have the penalty
penalty kicks if extra time goes scoreless, but I do
think that it is time to like that. Would that
would absolutely ram up the stakes. NHL overtime in the

(38:46):
playoffs is so fun because of sudden death. Like that
would get the effect you want.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, I would.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Be all in for sudden death in every sport.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Imagine the intensity you would see in defense in an
NBA playoff game if the first bucket.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
Hills after the original NFL overtime, God, that'll be like
NBA Street.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
They'll be out tackling people. It'll be kind of that'll
be wwfas.

Speaker 5 (39:06):
Well, like sudden death, but not for the NFL overtime
though that we tried that already.

Speaker 7 (39:10):
That's uh.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
I love NFL overtime sudden death. I have no problem
with it.

Speaker 5 (39:13):
Even when the team doesn't even get to answer, doesn't
get to touch the ball, why should.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
They get to a like?

Speaker 2 (39:17):
So, look what we have now is a situation where
a team goes down and scores. Team goes down and scores.
We're still gonna get to sudden death. Like we didn't
get rid of sudden death. We just delayed sudden death.
It hasn't reared. It's ugly head right right right, but
believe me, like it's it's still there. Yeah, I have
no problem with sudden death. Like I mean, realistically, if
you're in an NHL game and I've seen this in person,

(39:38):
thirty five seconds into overtime, somebody comes down and scores,
there isn't a well shucks, guys, we didn't even get
to take the puck down to the attacking.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Zone on our side, So we'd really like that like.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
That doesn't exist, right, And you know what it's crazy
about that, Jason is I don't think any player had
a problem with that and I mean because that was
what it was, right, and then it isn't a problem
until you until you introduce something else or a different
way to do it, and you're like, oh, oh, we
can do it this way though. But before that, no,
we knew it was sudden death and that was it,
and it was fine.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Yeah, I have no problem with sudden death.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
And I thought sudden death overtime was better in the
NFL than what we have now, which is just a
delayed sudden death. It's only gonna make people more frustrated.
All right, We're just getting started. We got a lot
to get to, including a shocking pick for possibly Coach
of the Year in the NFL. We'll break that down
next on Fox Sports Radio. We are only nine Sundays
away from the start of the NFL season, but it's

(40:28):
never too early to over hype certain teams. And just
when you thought the hype around the Bears couldn't get
any bigger.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
It has.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I cannot believe I'm saying this, but according to the sportsbooks,
Matt Eberflus is the betting favorite for Coach of the Year.
What is Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. He's carry Roads.
I'm Jason Fitzkerry.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
Look. I like the Bears a lot this year. I
like the way they built.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
That roster and Kayleb Williams, somebody I've covered a lot
during my work covering college football. I think we made
that too complicated. I think Caleb's going to be a superstar.
I think he's absolutely a lock, solid number one overall pick.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
I think the Bears have a chance to win a
lot of football games.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
But if there's any one thing that I thought was
a mistake this year, it's frankly that they kept a
dead man walking a head coach. Because now if it
doesn't go great, all of a sudden, ebra Flus is
going to be shown the door. I'd be less surprised
to see ebra Flus fired then I would to see
ebra Flush make it as coach of the year.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
That's stunning to me.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
Yeah, it is. I think with the additions, with you
bringing in the number one pick in this draft, and
then you go out and you know, you really improve
that roster the way they have, the pressure is on.
So either way you look at it, this is probably
going to be a make or break year for him.
The fact that he's getting recognition as possibly being, like

(41:49):
you said, the front and runner for Coach of the Year.
I don't know about that one. That's a bit steep,
But I think the attention that comes with the picks
and the additions that they had, this is the only
place that could be. Let's give him the best opportunity
to make this thing work. And if it doesn't, like
you said, I think he will be showing the door.
But on the upside, he could be Coach of the Year.

(42:10):
So we'll find out here soon.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
What's interesting to me is the way Coach of the
Year is usually awarded. It's usually a team that stinks
that suddenly doesn't stink, right like that. That's the big
line here, Like if nobody thinks go back a few
years ago, nobody thought the Titans were going to do anything,
Titans have a good year, Mike Rabele coach of the year,
right like that, That's the way it usually goes.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
I feel like.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
There's already too much hype around the Bears for them
to be that team for that, because we do look
at the offseason editions and we do say, wow, they
have a ton of this offense.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Is loaded for the Bears right now.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
So yeah, I think the expectations are already too high
for them to be exceeded at a level that would
even put he Refluce in that combo.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
Yeah, I don't think. I don't think. I don't I
don't think the hype is I do get it. I
think a lot of people are, you know. I think
people want to jump on a train and say I
told you so, then actually be im proved wrong or right.
So that's kind of what's going on here. Obviously, they've
add that that has some aditions. They look good on paper.

(43:11):
We know that that means nothing if you've covered the
game long enough or you've been around long enough to
know that additions doesn't mean you win. And so there's
still gonna be learning curve. There's going to be a
time where you know, we have to be patient. But
I don't think we have patients with Matt in this
situation because of the track record, So he's in a
tough in a difficult position.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
I also think, frankly carry that CJ. Stroud has changed
the way we're going to evaluate rookie quarterbacks. I don't
think that's right, but I think that's what's going to happen.
So if Caleb comes in and just has a pretty
good year for a rookie quarterback. People are going to
sort of hold home that right now. Part of the
reason these expectations are there is because we saw what
CJ and the Texans did last year, and now there's

(43:51):
just this presumption, well, if you hit on that quarterback,
he can be like, like c J.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Stroud, I think that was anomaly.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
That's not the standard, that's not been That's just somebody
that came out and really I don't think it's fair
to judge Caleb Williams by that standard, but that's what's
going to happen inevitably.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
It's definitely an anomaly. And if you really want to
like get to the meat and potatoes of that situation,
nobody expected c J. Stroud to do anything. I mean,
he was the one out of all the quarterbacks last
year that people were doubting the most, and so he
comes out and kills it early on and becomes c
J strout. But you know, nobody was expecting that. In

(44:31):
this situation with the Bears, it kind of aligns with
what you're talking about right now and the expectations the
head coach we expect, you know, Caleb Williams to be,
you know, the rookie of the year and play well
and be the next CJ. Stroud as a rookie, and
so the expectations are there, and so it's gonna be
hard for him. We've seen this plenty of times with

(44:51):
you know, top quarterbacks come into the draft. We saw
it during my time playing with the Peyton Manning right,
I mean, his rookie year. He was expected to be
the best thing that I mean since sliced bread, and
he threw more interceptions in touchdown. So being pacing and
giving those guys a chance to actually blossom and be
the best they can. They're not afforded that now these days,
and so it's gonna be tough for Kleb. I think

(45:13):
I hope he He's able to navigate and play well obviously,
but we can't expect him to be CD child.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
It's funny to me too, because I always laugh when
teams come out afterwards. You hear the reports afterwards, usually
from either GMS or coaches that have been fired.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
I was really gunning for that guy. We wanted that guy.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Like after the draft is done and somebody's about how
the number of people afterwards that were sitting there saying, Wow,
we were.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
Hot on CJ all along. Shit, you were like we
were at I was.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
I was covering that college football playoff game at the
time where CJ absolutely carved up Georgia. And what was
interesting about watching that that entire process of.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Him playing so well was just the amount of us
on the sidelines.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
They were standing there saying, my guy's just making himself
money right here, because we forget that. There was this
conversation about, well, he's not athletic enough, he doesn't make
enough plays off schedule, and you know, he's just he's
a system, system court. All these stupid things people were saying.
And then he got in the college football playoff and
showed everybody what you know, they were saying. And so
to me, you're right, we just forget now that he's

(46:16):
at one great year.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
How much there was some level of doubt from some
people around it.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
Yeah, and it's it's you know again, I'm And the
crazy part about it is when you did see him
play in Ohio State, like you knew the guy was
really good. And so you have an off season of
you know, getting to the league and year you're taking
these tests and I think it was the wonder the
test he had a low score on and next thing,
you know, he's not smart enough or he's he's not

(46:43):
athletic enough, and you just start to see these leaks
and stories on you know, this guy to try to
I think save face. I think we see a lot
of that, like trying to save face. And so if
you are the guy that brings brings in that guy
with you know, a little mutant buttential and then he
becomes CJ's child. For me, always that situation is the

(47:04):
best because you want to make sure that those guys
are able to succeed and actually, you know, kind of
blast through expectations and they it looks like you found
the next guy instead of having the pressure of being
the guy. And I think there's a difference there.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
I also think the conversation about intelligence that we have
every year around the draft, and I've been lucky enough
I covered it six years of ESPN, covered it this year.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
For Yahoo Sports, And really I love the Draft.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
It's my favorite event because of what it means for
college football kids and what it means for the NFL,
Like it brings all of my favorite worlds to cover
all together. The amount of conversation about intelligence that I
think is just absolutely asinine, because I would challenge anybody
that's sitting here trying to talk about some kids intelligence
to sit down and listen to them talk about a playbook,
Like we have to remember what the skill is of

(47:57):
being able to memorize a playbook. And we saw Chase
Daniel and dani Rolobsky and a few other guys this
year start pulling out the playbooks and showing people a
real look at Hey, this was the Saint's playbook a
few years ago. Here are the variations that come into it,
Like processing information is something that any of these kids
at the highest possible level have more gift doing than I.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
Think most of us have any understanding of.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
So it just it drives me crazy when we sit
there and say, well, he didn't do well enough on
this cognitive test, It's like, what the hell does that
have to do with how he's going to play the game?

Speaker 4 (48:25):
Nothing, because we all learn differently as well, And so
just because somebody it's not good at taking a test
doesn't mean that if they're presented a problem they can't
find answer to that solution.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Well, and think about just the other side of just
life in general. When you look at it and say,
if you're a kid that's drafted, like everybody wants to
give up on price, youlling right now. If you're a
kid that's drafted, you find out, you know, at the
end of April, where you're going to live, then all
of a sudden, you might be going someplace that you
didn't even know where it was on a map. If
we're being real, now, all of a sudden, you're getting
a place, you're figuring out how to be a pro,

(48:56):
You're living a much different life. I remember one college
kid told me a few years ago it was such
a weird adjustment because his college teammates went everywhere together,
and then he shows up with the team facility where
he was drafted, and everybody goes home to their families
and everything. He's like, I don't even know how to
assimilate into this life. Like we take all of that
for granted while somebody's learning thousands of pages of plays

(49:17):
at the same time. And this is where somebody listening says,
I don't care. They make millions of dollars. Yeah, okay, cool,
but they're like still human beings that have to figure
these things out.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
And it takes some people a little longer to do it.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
It is. And I'm glad you brought that up right
because right now I'm actually working on this docu series
that I'm doing called Bust and Right, And so we
talk about labeling certain people or individuals as bust in
a professional sense, and we see that and we see
them fail on such a big scale and not having
any humanity towards that person or understanding exactly what you

(49:48):
what you just stated, like, this is an individual going
through a whole lot of things that you have no
you have no understanding of, and you just want to
see them succeed for your team or your fantasy team,
and so you you have expectations of what that looks like,
but you have no idea what this person's going through.
And so me wanting to share that with other with
with the world, to let them know that you fail

(50:10):
on the daily, on the daily basis that nobody sees it,
and you're judging somebody that has hiccups on live TV
or in front of a national audience with no compassion.
It's just it's crazy to me.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
It's always funny to me too, because systems matter, and
you know, we want to just live in this society
where the minute you put somebody into an offense, it's
going to be perfect, right, But for Caleb and everybody
else is going to have to learn this bears offense
systems matter. You know, I've always said humbly, I was
lucky enough to be one of the best at what
I did as a fiddle player in a country music pit.

(50:43):
But let me tell you, man, I can't play bluegrass
music at all, Like I am the word like, I don't.
I don't get it, I don't understand it. Like back
roads country bluegrass. I love it, it's fine, I can't
play it. And the funny thing is if you put
me on stage and you said, hey, play this bluegrass too,
I can't. And so the people walking by would say, man,
that fiddle players suck and this if you put me
the next night and you're like, hey, put him on
stage playing this rock pop country thing that we did,

(51:05):
you know, successfully with the Van Perry. Like I look around,
I'm like, all right, I have golden platinum records on
my walls that I'm proud of because I was really
good at that, and I think we forget that with
athletes too. Like, as much as we want to look
at Caleb's success and and Roma Duneesa's success and Keel
and Kington Allen success and all these different people, like
the offensive coordinator is gonna have to do a better

(51:25):
job than Luke Getzi did last year, and if he doesn't, then, man,
everybody's gonna view the players as an abject failure.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
It's a weird world to live in.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
It is it is. It's performance based, and we know that,
we know that's part of the job. We sign up
for that, but it's it's performance based on a whole
lot of levels, and it's not just that player. And
what you just said is one hundred percent true. I
mean the coaching and putting them in the best positions
to succeed is going to be the golden ticket when
it comes to the Bears and any team that wants

(51:53):
to be successful, because just because you have the talent
pool to go out there and now on paper look
like you can you can win some games and succeed,
It's gonna take a lot more, a lot more behind
the scenes, getting these guys with the right ingredients to
succeed and go out and be put their best foot forward.

Speaker 3 (52:11):
So we'll see, yeah, and succeeding.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Vegas always succeeds a coach like Iberflus is the leader
for Coach of the Year because they're getting a bunch
of money from people right now that are hot on
the Bears, and they think that's going to be the answer,
right Like we're just giving away free money to the casinos.
In the meantime, a lot of us are about to
give money to college football because there's a video game
coming out in a week that has us all hype.
But the question is, though, when you look at the

(52:35):
actual game. Texas and Oklahoma are about to head to
the SEC. Can they make a dent in the SEC?
We will figure that out. Next Toastcarry Roads, I'm Jason
Fitzwer hanging out with you on Fox Sports Radio. It's
Fox Sports Sunday. I'm Jason Fitzi'scarry Rhoads Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
Carry.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Do you remember the first time you got to play
Madden and you were in the game.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
I do, yeah. I was a twenty two year old
kid in Long Island, New York, and you know, you
start to see these the ratings and you see yourself
and you're looking at it and as a rookie. You
just see like this, this this muted, terrible version of
yourself running around out there. The jersey doesn't look like you.

(53:19):
You don't wear your knee passed that way.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
It was.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
It was very frustrating, It's what I'm trying to say, Jess.
And and then you know, you you come into that
after that first year you make the whole rookie team,
and then you're the second year, you're an all pro.
Your appearance looks a little different, you know what I mean.
So you watch those games, man, No, it was, it was.
It was. It was crazy that all my friends were
playing with it. And of course if I played the game,
I had to play myself. So it was fun.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Look, and I think this is part of just what
is very cool about the college football game. That were
you know, a little over a week away from coming
out at this point, and you know, for a lot
of these college kids, especially if you're playing at a
small school, you don't have a shot at the NFL. Like,
I can't imagine what it will feel like to open
up a video game or in this day and h
download a video game and then you know, play as yourself.

(54:05):
It's it's such a cool, incredible experience. For these kids,
it's not about the money, it's not about any of that.
For a lot of them, it's just about being able
to see themselves in a video game.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
I can't imagine that.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
Yeah, it's it's I mean, there's nothing like it. Really,
it's it's it is a dream. It is an opportunity
to also share and share that special moment with any friends, family,
and you know, to have that conversation that that you're
on the video game and you're represented as you know,
one of these little these little megabytes running around. It's
it's it's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
Now.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
It has me thinking because obviously, when you start thinking
about this game and some of the Landmark programs, EA
has done a beautiful job of teasing the you know,
top offenses and top home environments like they've done a
great job of hyping the I think is already the
most type game of all time. But it really has
me thinking about the fact that there are a bunch
of people that are going to play this game and
what they're going to get in their experience. In about

(54:56):
a week is the first real look at conference realignment,
because we're still a few weeks away, you know, from
being able to see how that plays out on the field.
But if you're Texas in Oklahoma, and I'm not even
talking about the video game, the real version of this.
If you're Texas and Oklahoma, you've been investing money, You've
been building towards this. You've been building your program, your facilities,
your fan base, your players through NIL. You are invested

(55:19):
to come in like this shouldn't. If you're Texas and Oklahoma,
You're not coming in to have an adjustment period in
the SEC.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
You're coming in to win the damn thing. And that's
easier said than done.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
Yeah. No, they're going into a situation where there's definitely
going to be some eye raising and some concern as
this journey goes. I mean, the SEC is the SEC
for a reason. They've been a powerhouse. Obviously, there has
been some change with Saban leaving Alabama, so I would
see Alabama coming back to the pack a little bit there,
But you know, Georgia still Georgia and those other teams

(55:52):
are going to be really prepared for these two teams
coming in because they're not gonna just allow that transition
to be smooth one in, an easy one. And for me,
I mean Texas, Oh, you a lot of success. They've
they've owned the Big twelve. I mean they've owned the
Big twelve for a long time, and you know they've
obviously accrued some some some some good some good interests there.

(56:15):
But stepping into the unknown, the SEC it's going to
be difficult for them. I see them having an adjustment
period but also being able to compete as well. I mean,
they have the cachet to do that.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
It's just when you think about and this is this
is because it's year one, it hits different. But when
you think about the schedule, just looking at some of
the games, I'm looking at Oklahoma schedule this year. Yeah,
they're gonna play Tennessee at home. They're gonna play Auburn
at Auburn, They're gonna play at Texas. Then they have
to they have to play South Carolina at Ole Miss.
They also have Missouri on the schedule, that's fine, and

(56:46):
then they have Alabama. Like in most years, a lot
of those games would be your featured Saturday.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
Oh my god, I can't believe we're getting this game.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, And it just speaks to how difficult this road
is because it goes from being a big twelve matchup
where I think they it was easier to be the
cream of the crop too. All Right, now you're going
to be played in an environment you haven't played in before,
against teams that are flat out gunning to just destroy
you because they want to show that you don't belong
in the conference.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
For sure, they're gonna fit. They're gonna feel a little
bit different passion and aggression than than the Missouri did. Right, Like,
Missouri went to the SEC and they've had some success.
They've had some good teams as well, but I don't
think a lot of people had high expectations of them
going there, so it would hit different. But with the
Texas and the OU and the story history that they have,
it's definitely going to be a welcome to the SEC

(57:33):
moment that's going to happen for them. You know, Year
one is definitely gonna get They're going to get tested.
But I think that's I think we'll have a better
understanding of what the success looks like and can be
with them as as the seasons progress. This person's going
to be tough to kind of comprehend. I think the
hype's going to be there, obviously, but as far as
the litany test of saying do they belong? It's going

(57:55):
to take more than a year.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
I left LSU off by the way, then of course
go to l s U. Good lord.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
But then think about Texas And now I'm going to
add one other element to this, two other elements. One
we're infatuated with trying to yell to the.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
World Texas is back.

Speaker 4 (58:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
And then the other part of this is Quinn yours
is out here as.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
A quarterback trying to cement that he should be the
top quarterback selected in next year's draft and he's going
to be a superstar. He's trying to have this huge rise,
but he's also trying to hold off Arch mannings Man,
who is the most touted.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Recruit I can remember.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
I mean, and then you start talking about some of
the reports that we've heard on Nil and the amount
of money he's getting paid to sit on the bench, Like,
I don't know, it just feels like you go in
and you have one or two bad games, Texas fans
are going to be screaming. So it feels like there's
even an extra layer pressure, not just the SEC but
also Quinn trying to hold off Arch in the SEC
is just a whole other dynamic.

Speaker 4 (58:48):
It is a whole different dynamic. Obviously, the history of
that of that name, that last name, obviously, the cachet
they have, it's going to be hard to keep him
on the bench. I'm sure there's going to be situations
where I can just see it now, where you're having
him come in for, you know, certain situations and spot
duty and getting on the field, because yeah, it obviously

(59:09):
seems to be way too good of a player to
be on the bench. I had a similar situation, and
I'm not trying to say that the Manning and the
Brom name is the same, but it is in Louisville.
And so you had our quarterback, our senior quarterback coming
back our year where we had a team that finished
in the top five ranking that year. We had Stephan LaForce,

(59:30):
who was an NFL quarterback got drafted, but we had
a highly touted freshman quarterback, Brian Brohm in the building.
And you know, Stephan was he was the highest efficient quarterback,
the highest efficiency quarterback in college football that year, and
he still didn't hold off Brom from getting any plan time.
So I can see a situation like this happening with

(59:51):
Texas as well.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Texas does have a little bit easier run. I mean
they have to go to Michigan. I'm not counting out
as part of the SEC conversation. But then they've got
Mississippi State, Oklahoma, they do have Georgia. They also got Vanderbilt,
like they got that Arkansas. I'm not putting those in
the same category, but they've definitely they've got some tough ones.
But it doesn't feel it feels like Oklahoma this year
just got the juggernaut out of the gate. And look,

(01:00:15):
this is interesting and good for the sport. In my opinion,
I love having more teams that are taking on quality teams.
It makes more interest every single Like any given Saturday,
we're gonna be interested November sixteenth, when we have Texas
at Arkansas, that game's gonna matter. And I don't know
that we necessarily feel the same about Whoever. If Texas
was playing Cincinnati and Arkansas was playing Vandy, right like,

(01:00:37):
it gives you a better quality matchup.

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
Yeah, I don't think the letdown fact there's gonna be
a problem for Texas this year. You know a lot
of times when you'll go into a week and you
know it's kind of like a trap game. You're not
gonna be You're not gonna have that luxury. You're gonna
have to be on weekend and week out. There's not
gonna be any excuses for a trap game. And I
think that also could help Texas because having that I

(01:01:00):
guess that that that pressure, that game day pressure each
each week, weekend and week out, would keep them motivated
and ready to play. So I'm excited to see what
they can do highly motivated and not being subjected to that.
That's so that's so called chop game.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
I'm also interested to see what difference playoff expansion makes
to everybody when we hit like November, right, because so
often you hit November December, and that can be a
period where people are checking out if they don't care
about the matchups. Well, yeah, top twelve teams making the
playoffs at this point are eleven of the twelve teams
making the playoffs. You look at that and say, my god,
like that is immediately right, there a reason that people

(01:01:37):
are going to be even if you already have two
losses and you're hitting in November, if your Texas or Oklahoma,
you want to be just absolutely beaten a snot out
of people. Yeah, so that you can prove to the
committee that you belong in that conversation of the top twelve.

Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
Where's Texas and Oklahoma rank?

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
Do you know?

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
Do you know Jason for the preseason?

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
I don't know. I come to Prey, I'll pull them up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
We'll see where they are in the preseason rankings. In fact,
I'll do that while Monsei's gonna get his caught up
on everything going on, because I have another question for
you about the rest of the sec.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
We'll do that after Monti gets his cover. All right, fella.

Speaker 6 (01:02:07):
So the Round of sixteen continues at Wimbledon right now.
Number one seed yah Nick Sinner. He's headed to the
quarterfinals after defeating American and number fourteen seed Ben Shelton.
Shelton did what he could, even took him to a
tie break in the third set, but Cinner came out
on top. Men's third seed Carlos Alkaraz Is advancing to
his ninth major quarterfinals appearance. He won his fourth round

(01:02:29):
match in four sets. On the women's side, two seed
Cocoa Golf is going to begin her fourth round match
any second now, so you can catch that action getting started.
But American and twelve seed Madison Keys. She had to
retire earlier today in her fourth round during her third
set due to a leg injury. In Formula one, Lewis

(01:02:50):
Hamilton has just won the British Grand Prix for the
ninth time. He beat Max first stap In by one
point four seconds. Last night in Kopa America, Uruguay knocked
off Brazil in penalty kicks, and then we also had
I'm like looking at it because there's so much going
on in soccer fellas. Columbia crushed Panama five mils. So
the semifinals for the Copa America will begin on Tuesday.

(01:03:10):
It's gonna be Adentina and Canada and then on Wednesday
Uruguay and Columbia. So that's the Copa America Semifinals starting
and you can catch all of that action on FS
one And in case you miss it, in the NBA
six time all start. Demorga Rozen signing a three year,
seventy six million dollar deal with the Kings via a
three team signed and trade. That's gonna send Chris Duarte
to the Bulls and Harrison Barnes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
To the Spurs.

Speaker 6 (01:03:31):
And we do have a full slate of MLB games
which are about to start. But everybody's flying today. And
last thing I'll tell you in case you're wondering where
is Travis Kelce, Well, he's in Amsterdam. He was at
Taylor Swift's obviously Airs tour in Amsterdam, and there's video
of him because apparently Taylor Swift performed a song from
her very first album, Mary Song, and there's like a

(01:03:52):
very sweet line and she was like looking up to
him where he was watching from the stands, and apparently
he got teary eyed. So now there's video of Travis
getting emotion at the Aras tour like all of us did.

Speaker 7 (01:04:04):
So mother is still in the air.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Guys, I feel like half my friends were at those
shows in Amsterdam.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
It is amazing. How many people I know that went
to Amsterdam. Yeah, see the Errors tour. It's absolutely wild.

Speaker 6 (01:04:15):
I mean, just go anywhere. Like if somebody's like, you
want to go to Dublin to see Taylor Swift, that'd
be like, yes, That's exactly what Mike Harmon did with
his daughter. It was her sixteenth birthday, so they went
to Dublin to see Taylor Swift.

Speaker 7 (01:04:28):
As amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
That's pretty that's pretty wild.

Speaker 6 (01:04:30):
I just went down to Englewood, Like Mine's not as
exciting Wood. I went to Inglewood.

Speaker 4 (01:04:36):
Was the show amazing.

Speaker 6 (01:04:38):
I'm still paying for the ticket, but you know, it
was so good, so good.

Speaker 4 (01:04:43):
Back to you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Shamelessly shout out to one of my dear friends, Matt Pillingsley.
Find him on social media. He's Taylor's drummer and has
been for a very long time. And I couldn't be
more proud of a great human being that is now
on We were we were going on a hike a
couple of months ago talking about it. It was like,
it's incredible to think that he's the drummer on this
generation's Michael Jackson tour.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
And that's just the realist way to say it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Like, no matter what any all listening think about Taylor
Swift's music one way or the other, Like the thing
that I would say is that they have to get
multiple hotel rooms in foreign countries so that they can
find rooms where people aren't basically bombarding the lobby to
get them in. People flock outside of the stadium for
hours just to try and hear a sound check like
it is. It is truly this generation's Michael Jackson, and

(01:05:29):
it's incredible to see the power that that tour has had.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
That's crazy to think about all the drummers that she
could have, you know, could have been, could have aligned
herself with the fact that he's there. Man, it's kudos
to him as well. I know how that works. I'm
in a music business as well, and so I do
understand the dynamic of that. So that's that's like, kudos
to him.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
Yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
We met years ago when he was playing for another
country act and I was playing for another country act,
and it's just been fun to watch. Like when he
got the Tailor gig, We're are like, oh, that's really cool. No,
I mean he's been a drummer for that long. We're like, oh,
that's okay. Yeah, It's like, yeah, she's he's been there
for i mean over ten years at this point, so
it's a it's just kind of crazy to think, yeah,
oh man, congrats, you got the Taylor gig.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
And now it's like, oh my god, you got the Yeah,
that's that's just the way that world works.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
So I got to ask you as he's carried roads
on Jason fitz on Fox Sports radio. I keep thinking
about the middle class of the college football conferences, and
particularly I'll use a couple of schools as an example here.
If you are a fan of Auburn and the SEC
or Tennessee, some years, you know, they seem to be
up right now, but some years Florida. Some years, if

(01:06:37):
you're a fan of Wisconsin, for example, Michigan State in
the Big Ten, we're talking about schools that most years
win you know, they're gonna win nine games, they're gonna
be competitive. Every once in a while they might sneak
up there, and somehow Michigan State finds a way to
get into the playoffs, and we're like, wow, that's cool.
You know, like that happens every once in a while.
What is about to happen to those schools? Because it

(01:06:58):
feels like the addition of Texas in Oklahoma, and then
the addition of USC and Oregon and the Big Ten, you've.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
Got such powerful programs coming in.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
I think that there are a bunch of schools like
Auburn that are going to have to accept a new
reality of hey, we might only win seven or eight
games most years, and we're just hopeful that every once
in a while we can pop up for a playoff
spot like that's a much different mentality.

Speaker 4 (01:07:19):
Yeah, I'll tell you this, that won't fly in Auburn,
you know what I mean that that that new reality
won't won't be won't be tolerated. So I'll say for them,
they're going to have to find a way to to
to rise above the mediocrity that they've been that they've
been under these last couple of years, because I mean,

(01:07:42):
you talk about a team that's expected to perform and
do well and the pressures of what the SEC brings
and the lord and the glory that they have had
at certain points, they that's their that's their standard, and
so it's going to be hard for them to change.
Now like a Michigan State, I I agree with you,
they've had success and they and they're one of those

(01:08:02):
teams that do you know, pop their heads out and
could be competitive and win ten games at certain points.
Their new reality is gonna be tough, and so as
a fan of that program, you're gonna have to be
patient and give those guys a little grace to be
able to rise up. Because yeah, I mean adding some
of the teams that they've added that the Oregans and

(01:08:22):
those teams that have unlimited nil support. This is gonna
be tough to compete with those guys.

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
Ye, well, I think about Wisconsin a place there. Man,
let me tell you, I have had some party days
in Madison. I played some shows in Madison. I don't remember, so, Like,
let's say, I love that place. But how is Wisconsin
football even remotely gonna be relevant? It feels like in
ten years, Wisconsin's gonna be Iowa, and Iowa's gonna be
Vandy again.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
Vandy's gonna be, you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
Know, barely still playing college football. Like it's just the
trickle down of all of this just feels like for
those programs. I mean, Camp Randall is such an incredible
vibe and experience. Will it be if they're winning six
or seven games a year, because I think that's probably
way more accurate.

Speaker 4 (01:09:03):
It's very accurate, and I think that's I think what
you just said. Though they have fun there, that is
a fun place to play. The environment is the environment.
I don't know if that changes just because of the
history there, but if they're expecting a team to win
ten games a year out of that conference with the

(01:09:25):
way they recruit in the style of play that they have.
I think expectations will have to be tempered and I
think there will be a new normal with those sames.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
So hit me with expectations for a second then, because
right now in the college football land savment, I would
make the argument that if a coach not named Nick
Saban had had the same run of not being able
to beat Georgia as an Alabama football coach, there would
have been hot seat conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
I'm not saying there should have been.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
There just would have been because the way that fan
base is, the way those boosters are us.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
But it was Saban and it was fine.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
So, like, I think the bor goes into a really
difficult situation because nobody he likes to accept anything less
than absolute perfection there, which I get. What I can't
figure out is in a playoff system, is it going
to be good enough that, hey, we've made the playoffs
four years in a row, or is it gonna Because
in the NFL, if you have a wildcard team every year,
it's rare that you see a Marty Schottenheimer's situation where

(01:10:17):
somebody gets fired. That's a wildcard winning coach, right, So,
like our program is just going to be happy getting
into the playoffs now or is it going to be
Alabama Georgia one, you know, championship, championship, championship. So A
and M is firing somebody because all they're doing is
making the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (01:10:34):
With this new landscape, it could it making the playoff
is probably going to be a big deal. And again
with the conference realignment in the beginning, I think there
will be a little grace there. It's just so it's
just such a conglomerate of teams and high profile teams
in one pot and a limit still limited situation. So

(01:10:54):
I could see it. I can see there being a
little grace there to start. But I'll tell you one
thing I mean that you know, the taking an Alabama
job is that's just one of the that's one of
the worst situations to step into that any coach could
ever step into. I mean the history there, I mean
even before Saban, you know, you had coaches that, yeah,

(01:11:14):
some of the best coaches in the world and in
the history the Bear Bryan's of the world. Right, you
have the legacy that's kind of attached to that. So
you have a Saban step in and kind of rewrite
even the name of what that entails as an Alabama
football coach. So for another coach to step into that
situation and you have to give them grace because you

(01:11:36):
can't follow in those footsteps in the way that Saban
did it. So I could see certain situations with certain
teams has that. But again, at the end of the day,
it's about winning, and it's about winning championships, especially in
the SEC and so if you're not doing that, you
won't have a job.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
Long the board feels like a sacrificial lander.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):
It does. It does.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
And like the funny thing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
To me is I got to spend a little time
with them at the National Championship game covering in for Yahoo.
And what really blew my mind, Like I was talking
to him about a bunch of players told me and
never yells. So I went to him and I'm like,
is it true you never yell? And he said, well,
I try not to ever raise my voice because I
want people to understand that you should be calm and
cool under pressure no matter what, and yelling at these
kids doesn't resonate with them.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
That's not the way I do business.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
I'm just thinking about what it's like in that locker
room when you're used to Saban and his style, and
now you've got somebody that comes in with such a
different style. And the reason I say it's a sacrificial
lamb is because Alabama can step back and say, hey,
we hired the reigning coach of the year. We hired
the best and the most qualified guy in the world.
So when it doesn't we're got in a few years,
it looks like you were smart and which did everybody

(01:12:37):
parts ways, that just feels like inevitably where this is
headed because you can't replace e Lecgen. Nobody's going to
replace Bill Pelichick, right, Nobody's going to replace Nick Staban.
There's just going to be stopgap coaches until the next
actual real.

Speaker 3 (01:12:48):
Coach comes in.

Speaker 4 (01:12:49):
Yeah. I mean, and if you're taking the stuff further,
he wasn't the number one option, right, so obviously you
know that wasn't the course of action that they want
to take. So you bringing a guy that, yes, he
is the top candidate that we could pull in and
it checks out on paper, It checks out with him
having the Coach of the Year awards, So you're one
hundred percent right, like you have you can say as

(01:13:09):
a as a school, as a university, you can say
to the boosters, this was the best possible hire. As
you see the accolades are there, and then you know,
if he fails, he fails, that's on him and it's
not us.

Speaker 2 (01:13:21):
Yeah, it's just going to be a wild adjustment for
schools like Auburn and Florida, Tennessee, all of these places
when you find out suddenly, hey, with Oklahoma and Texas
add it. You can't outspend them, right, you can't out
facility in them. They will outdo you in every one
of those. So you better be able to outrecruit him.
But to outrecruit him in the modern world, you're going
to have to outspend them.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
At some level.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
What is about to happen to college football, and what
I think is going to be the most exciting year
in the history of the sport, is going to be
absolutely wild. Speaking of football, a lot of conversations about
hard knocks, and I'm not sure how much we can
actually take away from it, but there is one glaring
question that's already been raised from it. We will tell
you about it. We will answer next He's carry Roads.
I'm Jason fitz We're hanging out with you on Fox Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:14:03):
Radio. He's carry Roads.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
I'm Jason Fitz Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio, Carrie.
I've said this a lot the last few days, so
I just have to say it again loudly.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
Hard Knocks is a joke. The show should be called
Soft Knocks.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
I'm a die hard, lifelong Raiders fan, Okay, so my
silver and Black blood is deep in my soul. And
the year that Hard Knocks covered the Raiders' training camp
was the year that Antonio Brown had his meltdown that
the entire world was covering except for Hard.

Speaker 3 (01:14:34):
Knocks, like they didn't show any of it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
So I walked away from that and I said, shame
on you NFL, shame on you for HBO, shame on
everybody for watching it, because obviously their edit power allows
them to make sure that they only show what they
want to show.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
The show should be named Soft Knocks.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
That being said, hard Knocks, this off season edition with
the Giants is actually creating some stir as. We've gotten
some insight into how they value Saquon with think of
Daniel Jones, Like I'm I for one, am a little
stunned that knowing the league does have final letter approval
and knowing teams are so secretive, I'm stunned that something

(01:15:10):
like a conversation about what the street value of Saquon
would be would actually get its way onto air.

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
Yeah, I think that was a little bit of a pushback,
a little shot back at sa Quon. You know, on
his exit out. You know, he was very open about
you know, going to a contender and being able to
show what he really had in a different uniform. And
so I think just the talk coming from him and
his camp on his way out this is another way.
This was a way for the Giants and their the organization,

(01:15:38):
the people behind the scenes, to reassure their fan base
that you know, we we made the right decision and
we want to put the power in this person that
we just paid a lot a lot of money too
to let him be on showcase and show the fans
that we made the right decision. So I think it
was a little bit of a pushback, a little bit
of a shot from a veiled shot from the organization

(01:15:58):
back at sa Quon, who kind of you know, go
tick for tack there. That's what I felt when I
saw it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:04):
That's interesting perspective, and it makes me think that one
of my Buddies always says sometimes the toughest thing to
say is nothing at all. It's the only thing you
should say, like, yes, well, where's the win for the
like I know you want to push back, like we
we are in such a society of wanting to prove
to the world that we are right. Yes, And I
just don't understand it from an organizational standpoint. Taking the
high road might not feel good and it might be frustrating,

(01:16:27):
but there's no long term ramifications for.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
It that in and of itself is actually a win.

Speaker 4 (01:16:31):
You're one hundred percent and that's the way it should be.
And I think when you put yourself in that position
to go ti tip for tat and prove your point,
are you doing this showing other free agents and free
agents and other players that you'll do the same thing
to them? And so uh, you know, for them to
be that naive and think that you know, going tip
atat with a disc, a formal disc on a player

(01:16:53):
is going to gain any traction or make you look
appealing in any way, is just the wrong way to
to to approach it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
Well, well, and what you're saying there, I think it's
important for so many people to think about for a second,
because I've learned it lucky enough.

Speaker 3 (01:17:07):
To work with a lot of former NFL players, and the.

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
Thing that you learn when you work with them is
that there is a brotherhood the guys that played in
the league. Like at a very real level, we as fans,
we sit here and say, I hate the b I'm
a Raiders fan, I hate the Broncos, but I also
like my buddies with Max Crosby and he just did
his pass Rus summit, right, And like that's guys from
all over the league helping each other get better. Because
at the end of the day, players have a bond

(01:17:29):
together with other players that really does resonate. So when
an organization goes after a player, there's a lot of
collateral damage in the way the organization is perceived by
the entire brotherhood of players that all love each other
because they've all made it to that same level.

Speaker 4 (01:17:43):
Yeah, it's the old adage of I know what you've
been through to get to where you're going. Like, players
have that have that camaraderie, right, We've all put in
the hours, we've all worked really hard to get where
we want to be and where we're trying to get
to and so there is a natural brotherhood that happens
there obviously, But at the end of the day, I
mean we talked about it early on in the show. Sometimes,

(01:18:06):
you know, taking money or going to greener pastures or
supersized supersedes that, and so I don't think it hurts
from you know, certain players wanted to go and be
paid and do what they want to do. But when
the relationship is one that's not an honest one and
one that's again a naive or immature approach to it,

(01:18:28):
that has that holds more credence than even even the
money or the camaraderie comes well.

Speaker 2 (01:18:34):
And part of that comes back to just the general
like certain locker rooms have a tremendous bond. Certain organizations
are always going to have to overpay to get people
to walk in the door because they're a dumpster fire.

Speaker 3 (01:18:44):
That's real.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
But if you want to have a great organization that's
out there, that's like, man, we had something special in
that locker room. It takes a special bond. And that
special bond is not just amongst the players, it's from
the organization of the players too. It's coaches to the players,
like believing that everybody actually cares about each other on
a human level. Is something that I think we don't
cover enough when we talk about the teams that are
successful and the giants aren't showing.

Speaker 4 (01:19:05):
That right one hundred percent. Yeah, I mean, you have
to trust the people you're going to war with. I mean,
and I know we throw that word out there. I
mean it's the war part, but it is. It's a
war of attrition. It's a war of u you know,
becoming really really really great friends and comrades on the battlefield,
but also even in the locker room, in the studying

(01:19:27):
rooms and all those things. All that stuff matters. Those
relationships are big.

Speaker 2 (01:19:31):
It's a real concept. No matter what you do, I
don't care if you build spreadsheets. If you don't trust
the person to your left and your right to help
you build the best spreadsheets ever, then the work of
the entire organization suffers. So to me, While the giants
may be wanting to put this out there, I'm not
sure it's really worth it. Carry man, it's been a
blast hanging out with you, brother. Thanks for letting sit
in the seat for a couple hours into getting to
spend a little time you.

Speaker 4 (01:19:52):
No question Jason, I appreciate you man, thanks for coming on,
and Dan, hurry up, come back, but we miss you y'all.

Speaker 3 (01:19:58):
Stick around with Fox Sports Radio all day

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