Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam talk Kyrie and Super Bowl!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listen to Fox Sports. Well, it is Fox Football Sunday,
but it's also the first Sunday in like four and
a half months where there was no football. So I
gotta start this show off by checking in on my guy. Uh,
come on you from Salamia. Okay, what the hell do
you do to pass the time today? Nothing? Absolutely nothing

(00:26):
exactly And it was glorious. Yeah, not bad, right, I
mean not like when football is on. You and I
are working hard, like our eyes are working hard, and
and and that's about it. So it's not like it's
been strenuous the last four four months. But you know,
always an opportunity to reintroduce yourself to your family. I

(00:47):
hope you took that opportunity today. No. I told my
wife last night, I said, hey, I know this is
gonna be the first Sunday without football, but I still
need that six hours of uninterrupted time that I did
you give me for the four months of of football season.
And she said yeah, right, So it was family time

(01:09):
and we spent a lot of family time together, damn right,
And it was pretty good. It was pretty good. Uh.
We're broadcasting live from the ti iraq dot Com Studios
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tire buying should be from. You know what's cool about

(01:33):
getting along in your chosen industry, whatever it is. You
get to a certain in an industry where you're not
just sort of working on your own success, but you
were in a position where you can help others achieve theirs.
And that is always something that I've loved to do.

(01:53):
That's a really really good feeling, right to give other
people a little bit of a shove or a nudge
or what have you. I can just think there have
been a bunch of these examples, but I can think
of one recently. Um earlier in the football season, young broadcaster.
I won't mention the network, but it's a network where
I I have some ties. And there was an opening

(02:15):
and a handful of LAP applicants, and I was able
to go to the person in charge and say, see
this person, one of your applicants over here, this is
a really good person. This is a person who's gonna
work really hard. You don't need to worry about the
human being, you're hiring here, no surprise eve from that
person got hired. Why Because bosses hiring managers often they

(02:41):
can see talent, they can see a resume. What they
don't know is who they're getting. They know what they're getting,
they don't know who they're getting, and that's always the
hard part when it comes to hiring. So, Mark Cuban,
what the hell are you doing? This is a city
suation where it's just it baffles me over and over

(03:03):
again that in this particular case with Kyrie Irving, you
do know, you know exactly who you're getting, and you've
decided for some reason, you're gonna be the person. You're
going to be the company that's gonna get a different person.
I'll go ahead and put my chip in the it's

(03:25):
not going to work circle, and I'll put all my
money right there, so you don't think it's gonna work.
I'm not gonna work. Of course, it's not gonna work.
Why would it work? What on earth would make this different? Um?
First of all, just to combine what Luca is with
another dynamic ball handler and score right, it works if

(03:51):
there's growth and trust, right, because on paper they should
be dynamic. But what we know of the two, especially Kyrie,
makes you say, oh, this isn't gonna work. But I

(04:11):
tell you what. The problem that the calv that excuse me,
the Mavericks have had in the playoffs is Luca gets
worn down. He is so ball dominant in a playoff series,
team one team can focus their attention on you, and

(04:32):
people always misunderstanding by what lucas scoring thirty six a game.
It's not about the point total. It's about how you
have to score those And I think that's where people
are misunderstanding. When you're that ball dominant and you spend

(04:52):
the majority of your time with the ball going against
the double teams, banging against those bodies laid in a game,
you wear down. Late in the series, you wear down.
It's just natural not to have not for that not
to be an issue. Now Luca can sit on the

(05:14):
bench for more than two minutes in a game and
be perfectly fine. So I'm thinking about it like, Okay,
now Luca can sit down at the end of the
first quarter and he doesn't have to come back in
until mid second quarter, and the Maps will now have

(05:34):
the ability to increase that they don't lose anything in
terms of scoring and and ball handling. And to me,
that's going to be dangerous. I think it's gonna be
a problem because no one person can guard either two
of those. Lucas huge, so he can shoot over anybody.

(05:55):
You can't stay in front of Kyrie, and he can
make any shot. He can get any shot. So if
you have two dynamic shot getters with the spot up
three pointer shooters that they have, look, you want to
know how crazy it would look. And I don't even
know if Luca can do this, but I'm sure he can.

(06:16):
What if Luca was standing off the ball and Kyrie
was going to the basket and he kicked it out
to Luca for just a three, stand still three oppose
to the dribble five minutes, step back three? What if?
To me, that's a problem. Here. Here's the thing, though,

(06:37):
you just did what it feels like everybody always does.
That was some good basketball breakdown that you just gave me.
My point is not about basketball, and it's fascinating to
me how many times, how many times do we need
to do this over and over and over again for
certain players where suddenly this players going to become available

(07:01):
and our brains immediately go well, here's why this works.
Basketball said, well, you know what else works in terms
of basketball, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. That works too.
How are you gonna stop those two? Oh? I know
Kyrie will stop them because he's a weirdo, that's why.
And I hate I'm not in the name calling, but

(07:23):
come on like that. I just don't understand. We do
it over and over and over again. And it's even
how like I mean, you know it took two seconds
for Lakers rumors to come up as soon as Kyrie
did this a couple of days ago, and and and
it's how the Lakers ended up in their current issue.
You grab names, you go, wait a minute, I've seen

(07:45):
that guy ball out in the NBA before. Cool bring
him here, and you completely ignore all of the baggage
and all of the things that come with a certain
person who has proven, over a long period of time,
a pattern of behavior that is unproductive. That's a better
way to say, I don't want to use name calling.

(08:07):
A pattern of behavior that has proven to be unproductive.
And for some reason, it's a really odd way of
going about business where businesses bosses, you get wooed by
what you know is in there. It's in there somewhere.
But what on earth in a rational world makes you

(08:28):
think you're going to be the one to access it. Well,
that's that's the adage. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
That's what sports, and I'm talking all professional sports, all
professional team sports, are built on. They're built on that
hope that what if? That I bet we can. It

(08:52):
happens in every league every year. That's just what it is.
Gee ms coaches, they want talent and they can. We'll
figure it out and oftentimes it does not work. Oftentimes
it doesn't, but that talent will force you to be

(09:17):
able to take that. Now, look, I'll tell you what.
Mark Cuban is an unconventional owner. Okay, guys, love plan
for Mark Cuban. He's a player's owner, much similar to
to Bomber and for the Clippers. Right. We spare no expense,
whatever you guys need, we're in. So when players know

(09:44):
that the conversation with the owner is different, think about that.
The conversation with an owner that you feel has a
cool factor and a respect factor is different then a guy,
a stuffy guy, stuffy white guys sitting in the back

(10:04):
that you may or may not see one time when
you sign and then you're going about your business. Right,
It's different with Marque. With you, I'm with you, except
for that's not the NETS owner either. The NETS owner
is not a stuffy white guy. His name is Joe Si.
He's one of these one of the richest people in
the world. He cool, cool, like he's got all guys.

(10:26):
You should go learn you know, I know, I can
tell you, dude, So people listen, should go read about
Joe Si and check out what he's all about. This
is not an owner you're looking to get away from.
If you're in the NBA, well, I think the bridge
was burned when Kyrie was forced to pick up his
player option because we know that if he didn't, which no, no,

(10:48):
NBA superstar picks up their player option. And I'll explain
that to people. It was for thirty six million, I believe,
and people are out there, we're like, well, well, why
wouldn't he pick up the player option, Because us, if
you're a superstar in this league, you're one year thirty
six million dollars pals in comparison to the four year

(11:08):
hundred and eighty million that you're looking to sign right,
you four go your player option because your value on
the open market would allow you to sign a long term,
guaranteed deal. What Kyrie was in a position where he
felt and he knew and Brooklyn was adamant about you
should probably pick up your player option, which he did.

(11:32):
He's played well. I think he's averaging what nine points
a game this year? Twenty seven points a game somewhere
in there. So he's proven that I'm gonna show up,
I'm gonna show out, and I'm gonna be here. And
Brooklyn is not trying to negotiate. They're like, now, we're cool, bro,
We're gonna just wait out this. We're gonna see what
happens when Katie comes. Let's just hold back. So Kyrie

(11:52):
is like, yo, look, I don't want to do this.
I want out. I want to be traded. Right, Okay,
we get it. Boom. Now he's gonna Now is Mark Cuban?
Will he take that shot and be like, yo, we've
seen him overpaid for far less talent. That that was
that that part that person Parsons deal. I don't know
what I don't that one was bad is happening? I mean,

(12:19):
he may take a shot, so you know, time will tell.
And and again I know where my bed is when
it comes to time will tell. I mean, honestly, this
decision ruined the rest of Kevin Durant's career. To hitch
his wagon, he does that anyway, like so he you know,

(12:41):
I get I get it, I get it. Everybody waiting
for Kevin to Everybody waiting for Kevin to lead. Everybody's
waiting for him to lead. Kevin just want to play basketball.
He's told you, I just want to play basketball, right,
Everybody waiting for him to take the team over and lead.
But he just wants to who And that's okay, man, Look,

(13:02):
when you're that good, it's something, it's okay to just
want to do that. This notion of if you're great
at something, you must become a leader, that's a false narrative.
That's a false notion. Everybody's not capable correct correct, yes, yeah,
and you can't force it. It's got to be completely authentic, right.
So Okay, more on this coming up, because there's all

(13:24):
kinds of stuff to say, including the fact and it's
kind of wild. I'll explain this when we have this conversation.
The RAMS Championship from last year's What Pops to Mind,
and I tell you why. It bums me out that
that championship happened because it busted a narrative similar to
the one that I just threw out there a second ago. Again,

(13:44):
I'll explain. We'll continue this conversation coming up next. That's
it from Salam. I'm Mark Wheller than This is Fox
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
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NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right

(14:07):
into the NBA grape fight, all happening in only one place.
This League Uncut, the new NBA podcast with me Chris
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Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark
Stein on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or

(14:30):
wherever you get your podcast. All right, that's it from
I'm Mark. Hi. How we all doing. We're live tire
rack dot com studios. Also, we could talk about how
complicated other banks make it to redeem credit card rewards,
or we can talk about how we Discovery you can
redeem your rewards for cash in any amount any time.
I mean talk about amazing. Learn more at discover dot com.

(14:53):
Slash redeem rewards terms applied. So from I'm still bummed
about the Rams Super Bowl championship last year. Here's why.
It's not about the Rams. It could have been any team. Um,
it's not in l a San Francisco thing. It's that
it's not it's not. Trust me, I'll get there. Here's

(15:14):
what I'm saying. I've always felt I'm like a big
believer in team building. You you look around at some
of the teams I really respect. Like for example, even
as frustrating as last weekend was for uh for the
forty Niners and their fans, the Eagles are a great example.

(15:37):
This has been very interesting team building through the years. Yes,
you can augment a j. Brown, but if you look
and a lot of the drafted players, the Jalen Hurt story,
the way they've built this from the lines out. I
like the way the Eagles built their team and and
and therefore I'm a fan of that process. Us I

(16:01):
have gotten to the point where I'm not a fan
of grab a star doesn't mean that I don't want
stars on my favorite teams. But you know, even go
back to the Golden State Warriors story over the last
ten years, the first championship and the fourth championship were
way more fun than the ones in the middle for fans.

(16:22):
They just are because the ones in the middle felt
like they grabbed a couple of stars and just totally
overwhelmed the league, even though that corep is homegrown. So
the Rams last year kind of busted a narrative for
me because I think that it rarely works. It does work,
not usually. And that's to your point you made about

(16:44):
Kyrie and Luca and how they may work together. You
might be right. The Mavericks, especially in this Western Conference, man,
they may fire up, get the two of the three seed.
They might be a problem. Who knows, they might go
to the NBA Finals this year. They might win it.
There's no overwhelming favorite. But I'm I'm really usually someone
who likes teams that don't do it, for example, the

(17:07):
way the Rams did it last year. Like I even
felt when the Rams were building it, It's like you're
not trying to build a sustainable winner. You're trying to
sell seat licenses, especially to a market like l A.
You're trying to grab players that they've heard of, Jalen Ramsey,
Odell Beckham, Matt Stafford. Let's just grab them all. And

(17:27):
then it worked. Now they're gonna pay the piper, and
they're gonna pay it for a long time. But that's fine.
I get it. They decided draft picks aren't cool and
they went with big names and it worked for one year.
But that's sort of what I'm getting at. Like, when
you just cobble something together that looks good in your
ESPN trade machine or something like that, my man, it

(17:50):
usually does not work. And and and so with these mavericks,
I'm gonna I'm gonna bet on the same thing. It's
not gonna work. Will I'll tell you this. Um not
being a fan of grab a star, it's okay. And
you're a Golden State Warrior fan, right, basketball? And so

(18:15):
you're saying you didn't like k D coming and winning
those two championships. Is that what you're saying, Well, I'm
not saying that, but I'm saying I like the other
ones a lot better. I'm saying I like the other
one a lot better. So you're okay, well, no, listen,
I'm not saying it's like off the table. I don't

(18:40):
even I don't even mean it in terms of like
I have some sort of distaste for it as much
as I just don't think it usually works. I get it.
But the rant of the Warriors was like, oh my god,
this is absurd. It looks like the third graders are
playing the kindergarteners and dodgeball. You overwhelmed the league and

(19:00):
it wasn't even fair, and no series was more than
all that stuff, right, but you also still had a
homegrown core that was paired with that. But my point
is larger than that. It just usually doesn't work, but
when it does. Wait a minute, trying to Los Angeles

(19:23):
Lakers doesn't listen, Listen what I'm saying. I'm asking you
a question, all right. I'm I'm sifting through what you
said and your soliloquy at the beginning of this, all right,
because my point is I'm going to get to my point,
but I need to find out how you really feel. Okay, Okay,

(19:47):
So I'm asking you as a Golden State Warriors fan. Okay,
the two championships that you guys won and you're dying
the run with with Kevin Durant. There were you celebrating?
Were you happy? Where You're like, uh, I don't. I mean,

(20:09):
we won, but I'm cool? Are are Were you elated?
Were you were you? You don't you know how hard
it is to win a championship, right, no matter who
you so you celebrate whatever you have, right when the
Miami fans were celebrating when it was uh Bosh Wade

(20:34):
Lebron Right. Sure, sometimes it's not homegrown. I get it.
It feels more organic when it is. But I don't
care who the Lakers get. Bring a chip, homie, That's
all I as a fan brother as I'm not against that.
I'm with you, so with you. When it doesn't work,

(20:56):
it feels dirty, it feels yucky, right, But the reason
it keeps happening because of the potential of it working.
Do we continue to get pieces that may or may
not turn into something? Do we get guys who may
or may not turn into superstars? Or do we try

(21:17):
to grab a superstar to elevate the ones we have already?
And sometimes they don't all go together. Sometimes they don't
work well together, But you don't know until you put
those pieces together. All Lakers uh uh um, Westbrook, lebron
A d that's not working right, it's not it's not working.

(21:38):
It's not going down right. James Harden's entire career doesn't.
He's chasing it. But if it did work, you know,
I get why it's happening, because there's success there. There's
tangible success. Paul Pierce, uh Kevin Garnett realen. That just

(22:02):
came out of the Everybody was like, oh, it can't
have it can work, and you don't know it can
work until it doesn't. So they will always continue to
try to do it. Everybody's not gonna be able to
draft and hold on the talent and wait like Golden
State did. Golden State was just riding a wave of
inconsistency highs and lows. You had the Baron Davis years.

(22:26):
You had to you know, like it just was the
ebbs and flows. And then they hit with one little
kid from Davidson, right, They hit well, and they lucked
out right out. His ankles got hurt, so they got
him from Chea. We thought he was going to be
a bus or injury. Grant Hill, remember his first few

(22:48):
years in the league he was he was not available.
Right then you get a Draymond. You get a Draymond.
It doesn't work if if if Clay and Staff aren't
Clay and Staff right, And so now you guys had
built that and we watched those guys go. Most teams

(23:10):
don't wait on guys like that because they feel the
pressure to do it now. Right Like, I'm not saying
to stop chasing. I'm not I'm not saying to stop
looking for for good players. I'm simply saying, take a
breath and build your team, because even if you get

(23:34):
the star, you still need to put a team around you.
There's gonna be Fantasy Baseball drafts all over the place
coming up here soon. Shohio Tani will be the first
draft pick in every single one of them. Year after
this when he won't be an Angel anymore because he's
gonna realize it's never gonna work there because they have

(23:58):
no clue how to build a team. You gotta build
a team with or without stars. You gotta build a team.
And sure we can bring up all kinds of exceptions,
but you know, my list gonna be longer. My list
of sports Illustrated's cover of Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash,
Palcasol and Metal World Peace. You know, damn well, oh

(24:22):
my god, look look before that, Look before that, Kobe Shack,
Karl Malone, Gary Payt Right and the Detroit Pistons who
took them down and ended the era, or the perfect
example of what I'm talking about. And very few teams,
the one out of thirty two teams gets a chance

(24:43):
to do that, right, So I would I mean, I'm
not gonna bet on that as a GM, as an owner,
like I'm not gonna bet on Look, there's only two
draft picks, right. This is in the NFL. You don't
get seven eight for sure. There's two draft picks, and
one of them, one of them can almost play another one.

(25:07):
You're just taking a flyer on outside of the top
seven picks in the NBA draft. Most of the time
you don't know what you're getting to. Five, I would
say top five. I hear you, I hear you. But
let's do you want you want to do something right now?
Because Steve Disager's gonna jump in here in just a second.

(25:27):
I'll say it right now, Dallas Mavericks don't make the
conference finals. Let's put some mony, Let's go, Let's go. Okay,
American dollar, Yes, American um. Steve Disager is a good American.
Here it comes everybody with what's trending the best? Hello, gentlemen,

(25:49):
you know your reference Baseball There pictures and catchers report
to MLB Spring training in less than two weeks. Us
A Baseball starts workouts for the World Baseball Classic in
March and air Zona. Who is the Team USA captain
Mike Trout of the Angels, who's likely going to the
Hall of Fame and literally has never won a single
playoff game Because of exactly what you said, they need

(26:12):
Trout to pitch and Otani to pitch and find others,
some other slugger who can also pitch that would probably
help them. By the way, on Fox TV, NASCAR's exhibition
opener has begun the Clash at the l A. Kalise
and this exhibition, which debuted last year, is underway there
on about lap twenty five out of the one fifty tonight,
Denny Hamlin for the moment in the lead. Martin truex Jr.

(26:35):
Is running second in the NBA. Of course, the big
trade news that's coming. Brooklyn getting Kyrie Irving well shipped
off to Dallas. Not yet official, but those are the
multiple reports today. He's going to Dallas for Spencer Dinwoodie,
a future first rounder, and others. Irving can be a
free agent this summer. He is averaging twenty seven points

(26:56):
per game for the fourth straight year. Kyrie could debut
for Dallas on Wednesday. NBA trade deadline is Thursday afternoon.
Luca don sit To the MAVs will be out again
tomorrow with the bruised heel. The Mavericks are winless without
him this year. Steph Curry of Golden State is expected
to miss multiple weeks with a ligamentare in his legs,
so he might miss the All Star Game. Toronto is

(27:17):
just one at Memphis one oh six one oh three
is the Grizzlies committed twenty turnovers about five minutes left.
New York has the lead on Philadelphia now despite twenty
seven points from Joel Embiid. We talked about this before.
With Stars sitting in the NBA den verse A SUPERB
Basketball team thirty seven and sixteen. They are sitting Nicola Yokich,

(27:38):
Jamal Murray and two others. Denver's down twenty at Minnesota
mid third quarters seventy eight to fifty eight. New Orleans
leads smid third quarter eight seven fifty eight against Sacramento.
And those are the only three games going still of
the three finals, and mentioned Toronto. We had road wins
for Orlando and Cleveland in college whops number three Houston

(28:01):
one at Temple eighty one. The NHL schedule will resume
on Monday night. And because I know you would ask,
the NFC won this weekend's Pro Bowl games in Las Vegas. Yes,
in the flag football finale, the NFC with quarterback Kirk
Cousins one at thirty five thirty three over the a
f C with quarterback Derek Kerr. Back here did Tyler

(28:26):
Huntley get in the game? Get in there? Pro bowler?
Tyler Huntley? Do you know I looked up this weekend
that tickets upper level tickets to see flag football where
thirty five bucks including the ticketmaster fels oh man, Yes, well,
I mean that's a drink in Las Vegas, so why not,
I guess. But yeah, it's just what a what a

(28:48):
weird deal, What a weird deal. But at least they're
not playing that ridiculous game air quotes, game that they've
been trying to play the last if they make the
money on it and the players are happy, you know,
it's sticking around Thursday when they had these you know,
the passing competitions and whatever that was opposite the NBA
on t V t NT that got about the same
ratings just over a million viewers each on cable. Right,

(29:14):
I wouldn't have even known where to find it exactly.
All right, thanks Steve. We're live from the tirerack dot
com studios. We could talk about how complicated other banks
make it to redeem credit card rewards, or we could
talk about how we discovered you can redeem your rewards
for cash in any amount at any time. I mean,
talk about amazing learn more at discovered dot com. Slash

(29:34):
redeem rewards terms apply. Uh yeah, anything on Pro Bowl weekend,
I mean, trip to Vegas, sure, whatever, you know. I mean,
I don't get offended by this stuff. People always get
rid of it. It's like people want to go to
Vegas and have a good time. Uh, go to Vegas
and and have a good time. I mean a lot
of people wanted to do away with this event when

(29:55):
there was the whole Damar Hamlin situation, and people were like,
you know, let's just loop that week into the regular
season and play the game and all of that. And immediately, um,
you know, the conversations with a lot of friends was like, well,
they're not going to do that because of what Steve
just said. There's a ton of money, there's a lot
of corporate sponsors, there's all kinds of stuff going into this.

(30:17):
So I'm not offended by it. But um, I'm like you,
I'm also not Uh, I'm not watching it. No, I
mean I forgot it was on man. Um. Look, hey,
it is what it is. At this point, when you
had to fifth and sixth and seventh alternate, you're doing

(30:39):
a disservice to the guys who earned to be there.
You know, I get it. It's great. It's good for
negotiations and contracts being a pro bowler. Uh, so go
for it. Hey, it's a different time, but back to basketball.
We just move on past that. We'll have plenty of

(31:01):
football to talk about. We go next week, um, which
we'll be doing the uh the follow up show right
well later a little bit later. Yeah, that's actually yeah,
we should mention that, right now that Uh, I don't
know how how we work this with the powers that be,

(31:21):
but they're gonna allow you and I to watch the
super Bowl and then we'll talk about it. So at
uh yeah, at eight Pacific, at eleven Eastern, when the
game is all done, Um, your first opportunity to uh
to kind of react to every play and every good
commercial and everything in between will be with us right

(31:42):
here on Fox Sports Radio. So I look forward to
that perfect perfect But to go back to we were
talking about in terms of, you know, going to get
a star when you combine Luca done, it's thirty four,
thirty three, thirty four points again game with Kyrie's It's

(32:03):
it's almost like a like a no brainer because that's
what they're looking at. Right. We're we're we're in a
day and age where nobody's checking for the defense, right.
The scoring is is up at at that all time clip.

(32:24):
And so when you see when you see you know
players and you see scoring up and look, I'm a
Laker fan, so it used to be you know, j
we have Jack in the box out here and used
to get two free tacos if the Lakers won, and

(32:45):
if you if you held a team under a hundred,
you used to get two free tacos. That was it,
And it was like that for decades. Yeah, Psycho Bell
hadn't given out a taco in about three years. Right, Well,
it's not that anymore. It's if the Lakers win and
they hold an opponent under a hundred and eleven, right, right, So,

(33:11):
so so now that's what that that that's just to
signal that the three point shot number one changes the
dynamic of anybody who you know, really playing trying to
play defense, and all that defense really comes into play
in the playoffs. Once you're in a seven game series

(33:34):
and you're locked in and you're playing the same team
over and over again, then you can lock in defensively,
similar to what we saw in the first round against
the Boston Celtics and the New York the New New
Jersey Brooklyn, the New Jersey Brooklyn, whatever you wanna call,
the Brooklyn guys, the Brooklyn next right, the Brooklyn Heads, right.

(33:59):
And so it's it's that situation where Okay, we have
Luca scoring thirty five thirty four points a game, and
now we've added another score who's averaging in his last
ten games thirty three points. A game. Right, that's close

(34:22):
to seventy points between two people. We're figgled the rest out.
We we'll figure I get it. Okay, Right, I have
a question about the words star. You just use the
word star when you go get a star? Uh? You
do it. I have a question about that word, which
we'll get to here coming up next with Eve from
salat Mark with It on Fox Sports Radio. Okay, yeah, yes,

(34:56):
I do you. I'm I'm I'm sitting here watching James
Harden right now. Philly's at the Knicks two forty ago,
Knicks up eight and his name came up a couple
of minutes ago with me and you and and it
literally is his entire career. How many teams? Now? What

(35:17):
was it? We got Oklahoma City, in Houston, in Brooklyn
and Philly? Is that everything? Am I forgetting anything? Yeah?
That's it? Okay, Tom a star, You're called Kyrie a star.
I don't know how many people would disagree with that

(35:38):
UM championship, right, but but like it is what it is, right,
Except I do think that there are two different Kyrie Irvings.
There was the Kyrie Irving we knew on the Cleveland
Cavaliers with Lebron James, and then there's everything that's happened since.

(36:00):
And so maybe he's not even a perfect example, because
we tend to not do this to guys who do
have rings on their fingers. But it's just it's it's
funny to me. If you put up twenty five a
night in the NBA, we've just decided that you're star,
and you're not. There are tons of people who can

(36:20):
score five points a night in the NBA, but can
you do it in the framework well and within the
framework of winning basketball. The best example of someone that
we've decided as a star who I would never even
in the height of his career he won an m
v P. I would never, at any point in his

(36:41):
career have started my team with him is Russell Westbrook
like and we can go back through the years. Steve
Francis was one of these guys. Um, we did this
for a few years with Andrew Wiggins. This is the
number one overall pick, and then all of the sudden
when he was asked to be a three or a four. AH,

(37:04):
Now that works for a championship roster. But Andrew Wiggins,
I'm sorry, it's not a star. The hell of a player,
incredibly talented. He is now found a spot where he fits.
So I'm not telling you that these people are like

(37:25):
bad basketball players. But when I hear star, I'm talking
championship centerpiece and and nobody would blink if I called
James Harden a star has been an m v P? Great,
What does that get you? I get it, I understand.

(37:46):
But people who aren't stars can't win m VP. That's
the whole point of the the award. You know what
I'm saying, Like a star doesn't mean a champion. A
star means one who can come out night in and
night out. People want to see and they're going to
put on a show. That's a that's a star. Yeah,

(38:11):
but to start that guy, but if but do you
want that guy? If that guy case some point, listen
case some point. Yeah, the Knicks best players, Julius Randall,
he's not a star. It's not a star. No, definitely
not right. But if you put Kyrie on the Knicks,

(38:36):
you add star power. Am I correct? Absolutely? So that's
what I mean, right. I get it's just name value.
It's name value, but it's also what puts people in
the seats. It's it's the star quality. If this is
what people are coming to see. Nobody's going to see

(38:57):
Julius Randall, but if you at him with Kyrie Irving,
then they're going to see because it's star power. I
get it. So when you put Luca and Kyrie Irvin together, right,
like Luca and and and and Tim Hardaway Jr. Are
a great fit. But Tim Hardaway Jr. Does have has

(39:20):
zero star power. Correct, But now you combine him with
Kyrie Irving and now you're double packing the house because
now it's like, oh, we need to go see what's
about to happen over here. Okay, so what's the goal
for any team? Packing the house depots on the team

(39:41):
now now that trust me, money man Dallas, Dallas cowboy
don't care about no no championship, but they're gonna pack
the house. They don't get the radio. Lakers got all
kinds of name value. We also got seventeen championships, tied
for the most of the league. So right, you know

(40:01):
what else is a number in the teens they're seating
right now. They're terrible, terrible, and there flows they're ebbs
and flows. They're just ebbing right now. Yeah, yeah, I know,
I I hear you on that? Okay, much more in
the NBA around the corner? Is the era over suddenly

(40:22):
a relevant question? On we go with the next episode
of Star Search. We're looking to see which NBA rosters
we can move forward in this reality show to see
who's actually gonna step up and be counted when it
comes to June. I mean, the Western Conference is a
whole big mystery anyway, So now add Kyrie Irving to

(40:45):
the mix. Can Mark Cuban and company actually get the
old Kyrie or is this a total Brooklyn Nets rope?
A dope? Put me on the side of the fence
that the Nets just pulled a fast one to be
able to get anything in return for someone who, as
I said earlier, a from a now lengthy pattern of

(41:07):
unproductive behavior. When it comes to basketball and wins and losses,
star power short points sure adds all up to nothing.
Professional sports are driven by star power. Very few championship

(41:29):
winning teams have zero stars, Am I right? True? So
when you're in markets, Dallas is a big market, right.
If Dallas was San Antonio, we'd be having a different conversation.
San Antonio is not a big market. Even when they

(41:52):
had the superstars. They had. It didn't really residently. I
mean they didn't talk, and and two of them were
from they weren't even from this country man. And and

(42:15):
it's the collection, you know what I mean. And they
kept right and it kept happening over and over. It's
like from Goody two Shoes, David Robinson at all right,
Tony Parker, Manta Genobli they speak right. So so that's

(42:35):
a market that can live without star power. Sure they
can survive there, right, They brought championships there, They got
one of the greatest basketball coaches to ever coach at
any level and pop. But there are very few markets
that can survive that. Dallas is a huge market. You

(42:58):
got the Dallas Cowboys, the biggest ran in American sports.
You gotta do something right. You got the one, You
got the next one in Luca. But in order to
cash in on that star power and a big market,

(43:18):
you need to win. So you start chasing things. You're
gonna start like Dirk brought a championship to Dallas by
himself in an aging Jason kidd Yep, he beat the

(43:39):
big three. But that's it. So now you have the
one and I know Mark Cuban is like, Okay, what
do I need to do? Then I want to take
some pressure off Luca still three years old. But at
that pop, at that kick, at that if Luca needs

(44:02):
some time to rest, right, if we don't play him
in a game, you see, you see what I'm saying.
I totally get a people still coming to see and
can we still win? Maybe again, like I get it
if the brain is gonna go to basketball, you're all
kinds are right, But the problem is is we have

(44:26):
a lengthy pattern of unproductive behavior that disallows the basketball conversation.
And that's that's what I'm getting at, Like, at what
point does a reputation does a resume? Does a lengthy
period of behavior? When does that overwhelm all of the
things that you're talking about? To me, We're there, We're

(44:50):
we're there. I mean the Brooklyn Nets. Just in the
last two years, my man, talk about star power. This
team has been a turnstyle for the likes of Kevin Durant,
Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Ben Simmons, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge.

(45:10):
I could start getting down to the bees, Seth Curry,
all of these guys. I've all been there and They've
got a sum total of nothing. They can't even win
a damn playoff series. So, like you and I are
not disagreeing, I don't disagree. You need star power, you

(45:30):
go for stars, but at a certain point, the behavior
in the production, to me, rips you of that title.
Kyrie Irving the last three years ripped himself of that title.
So I'll tell you this. Stars and star power are

(45:50):
completely different than stars in leadership. You can have all
the star power you want it if you have no leadership,
it doesn't work. That's what we're seeing in Brooklyn. Who's
leading in Brooklyn? Two guys we know for a fact
can't lead, ye, And then they went hired Steve Nash.

(46:14):
Right there, there's a problem there. Now, when you put
stars real leadership, that's when you got something. Right. Luca,
we know who's leading the Dallas Mavericks. It's Luca. He's

(46:36):
a leader. They're not looking for Kyrie to lead, right,
They're not looking for that. Brooklyn found out that that
don't work there. They found out Kevin Durant doesn't lead.
Dallas is looking for numbers, serious numbers and star power,

(47:00):
or they got both and Kyrie. We're gonna leave the
leading to Luca and we want the flash and the
pizzas from you, and guys feel more comfortable in that role.

(47:20):
When they asked Kyrie to lead, when they took when
when they when he went to Boston and you had
a young Jaylen Brown, uh and a young um what's
my kid? What's my guy's name? Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
They brought Kyrie and the lead. They found out, Oh,

(47:40):
this ain't working. Mm hmm. Marcus Smart is our leader,
so Kyrie left. You gotta be careful what you ask
of certain individuals because when you ask something they're not
capable of, then you get ill results. There's a reason

(48:04):
that Russell Westbrook is having a better year coming off
the bench than he had last year. We don't need
you to lead us with the ball in your hands
with Lebron James on the court right right. But when you,

(48:25):
like I said, when you ask stars to do something
they're not comfortable with, then there's the problem. He embraced
his role coming off the bench. He's going to win
six Man of the Year. He has more triple doubles
from the bench than any other player in NBA history.
He's only been on the bench for half a season.

(48:47):
M right, But you add that star, that star power
to a place where you can use and you can
cultivate it opposed to what they envisioned or what they
thought that what you wanted. Uh, I'm laughing because man,

(49:07):
if it weren't for the phrase triple double, what would Russell?
I get it. But it's hard. It's hard, I know
it is. But the stats, the stats, I get it,
and I understand. To me, and I'm harder on on
him than anybody like I don't to me, and I've
said this to me. Watching him play, it feels as

(49:33):
if he has the lowest basketball i Q than any
other point guard in the league. It used to be
starting point guard. He's actually better coming off the bench
because now he's not put in critical situations. They don't
have to put him in at the end of the
game unless he's hot. But he knows how to mess
up a comeback and how to boy two turnovers down

(49:59):
to turn over one off the backboard into the stands. Well,
everybody knows somebody who lives their life the way Russell
Westbrook plays basketball. He got one speed. You can't have
one speed. Look at the game. You can't walk into
a library and talk the way you and I are

(50:20):
talking right now. People would look at us and be like,
you're really weird, you're annoying. Please stop. We might have
to ask you to leave. You have to have multiple
speeds in life, and so that used to be this
thing that people complimented Russell west ole Man. He never
takes a minute off. It's like he has zero awareness

(50:41):
of anything. You gotta have multiple speeds. You gotta know
when to go and when to stop like that. There
there's no spot in life where that works, where you're
just like this is me, Um, I'm dressing in a
bathing suit every day in my life. No, we're not
at the beach. You have to put clothe the office
right now, Like, can't seriously, my man, put those away? Uh,

(51:07):
we're broadcasting live from the ti iraq dot com studios.
Tirac dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast,
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buying should be Okay, it's Mark Witherardy from Salam and
coming up next? Is it potentially all done? Have we

(51:29):
seen the last of the Golden State Warriors in their
current form in true playoff contention. Uh, we'll tell you
why we're asking that. Coming up next on Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
football fans, be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio's
Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bt MGM on Sunday mornings

(51:50):
three hours before kickoff. Yeah, tune in Sunday morning ten
m Eastern will take you live all the way to
kickoff Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app
presented by bet MGM. We're live in the Tirac dot
Com studios. Uh my, dude, how long you've been watching sports? Oh?
Probably I really got into sports probably, um, probably thirty

(52:13):
something years ago. I guess I was twelve when I
really got into it. Yeah. Have you ever heard these
words before in your life? The superior tibio fibular and
inter rosius membrane? Ever heard about that? I've never heard

(52:39):
of these things in my life. But these are the
things that Steph Curry tour last night. How many years
do we need to watch before? What the hell happened?
Where's the where's the A C? L? And amniscus? The
superior tibio fibular ligaments, and the inter rossious member rain Man.

(53:02):
That sounds painful. That's a lot of letters, buddy, Yeah,
it does sound painful. Partial tears multiple. And then to
add to the confusion, not only did he tear something
we've never heard of, we we have the always popular
he'll be out multiple weeks? Well, does that mean to
or twenty? Like? Both are multiple, by the way, both

(53:26):
are multiple? Correct, So he could be out until, you know,
maybe close to the All Star break, or he might
miss the rest of the season. I I mean, this
one's weird. And I'll and I'll just tell you, like
the first thought that went through, the Warriors are already
in that bucket of Western Conference teams that are just middling.

(53:48):
They have not been able to put streaks together. And everybody,
you win a game and you're the four seed, and
then you lose a game and you're the tennesseeed. Like
that's the way it's been going for all these teams
in the in the Western Conference. So everybody knows that
if you put a couple couple hot weeks together, you
too can be the three seed in the Western Conference.

(54:09):
And I think that's what Warriors fans and and and
many other fans have been been been sort of you know,
hanging their hat on as of late. But now with
this injury to Steph Curry, if it is five, six,
seven weeks, and if they don't play well in his absence,

(54:29):
it's not like they don't still have players, But if
they don't play well in his absence, then the Warriors
are not going to get a top four or five seed.
Then if the Warriors do not get a top four
or five seed, I don't think the Warriors are going
to win in the first round of the playoffs. They
don't play defense well enough to do that. And with

(54:50):
Draymond Green having a player option at the end of
the year, questions about Clay's future like it's low key
because it just happened on a Saturday night, But I
watched him limp off last night. You just wonder, you know,
you wonder if that might have been it. Um. I mean,

(55:13):
as great as step is, he does have that that issue. Now,
He's had a couple of good years where he was
able to stay healthy, and you would think someone who
doesn't perform or shoot our score and a you know,

(55:34):
taking a lot of contact, most of his damage is
done in space. I should say opposed to uh Dwyane
Wade right h slash where he's going to the rim
a Ja morant Um, who you would expect to wear

(55:54):
down over over the years because of you know, just
to wear and tear of going up into the middle
and going against the you know, the mountains that are
in there. Not that there's a lot of you know,
dominant big men or anything like there are big men
at all in the NBA. But Steph's not going down
in lane dunking on people. Um. But he he's had

(56:19):
had pretty severe injuries, especially starting his career. UM. And
once you start compiling injuries, then your body reacts differently
to Hilly, it just does, asked Lebron, who was an
iron man until three years ago. Right, what was it

(56:44):
the quad or the growing and then the ankle and
then like it just it just starts to because your
body you're constantly training, you constantly where your body breaks
down no matter how well you take care of And
they're in the mid thirties, I mean you're older. This
is the right and he's already a small guy, so

(57:10):
you know, I always hope for a speedy recovery. I
think sports are better with the stars available. But I
didn't look good. It did not. It did not. It
looked funky again. Maybe that's what leads to superior tibio
fibular into rossius membrane. Because I'm like, you don't see

(57:33):
guys get hit where he got hit very often. It's
kind of in the side of the knee knee bang
comes together. And Um, after talking about it and testing
it and doing all the things like the limp off
the court was significant. This was not like, let's go
get this checked out. It looked real bad and then
you're gonna get an m R I and then you

(57:55):
get the word that it's gonna be multiple weeks, and
I'd just wonder. You know, there's there there are other
chapters in this story, but I don't know what those
chapters are. Um. This has been teetering on the brink
for a long time now. Um, there's a reason that
Draymond Green punched Jordan Pool in the preseason. Um the

(58:17):
number one reason is he's odd head. But but there
is more depth to the conversation than that. The Warriors
have been trying to figure out a way to San
Antonio spur This thing you just talked about it ten
minutes ago. How do you take one dynasty hand the
baton off to the next. Um. I don't think they
really have the pieces right now in place to talk

(58:41):
significantly about what's gonna happen next. But these individuals in
that room, this is real to them. It's about who's
gonna get paid, and it's about who's got the room
and who's got the juice and all of that stuff.
And even they can all be on the same team
and get along, but at the same time, egos or egos,

(59:01):
and there are millions on the line, and it's just
it's why rock bands break up. This is just it's
just why everybody break up, right, It just get worn
the heck out. And so I already had tons of
questions about whether or not they could get this year's
team on track, and this now makes it incredibly even

(59:25):
more unlikely. And yeah, man, like slowly but surely, like you,
when the end of an area hits, you usually don't
notice right away. I'm right. I remember the beginning of
the season. I said, well, something's gotta give, right, and
they were caught in between trying to get I'm they
struggled coming out of gate. They were they were caught

(59:48):
in between trying to accelerate the progress of the young
guys combined with the old you know, leadership, and it
didn't work. And then those young guys stopped playing. I
mean they literally were giving them thirty minutes a night

(01:00:09):
and they went all the way down to seven or
nine because it wasn't working. So they had to go
with their core and it's just not it's hard to
do that. Those young guys show a lot of of
of flash and a lot of of fortitude and and
and in glimpses during that playoff run, in that championship run,

(01:00:33):
but when you got the bulk of the city, you
can't split it. You gotta let your workers work and
your clean up guys come in and clean up. And
when you're trying to make you clean up crew, you're
working crew. We got a problem. Well, I I just
think this stuff steaks up on you too. Like you
remember that playoff game between Tom Brady and the Rams

(01:00:56):
last year, Tom at the very end puts on a
come back and man, there were just tons of points.
I don't even remember what the final score was, but
Brady was putting on a show and trying to come
back in an epic playoff game and the Rams held
him off and then they ended up winning a super Bowl.
Well little did we know. Actually, if you really look

(01:01:19):
at it, that game, that loss for Tom Brady, that
was the end of the era, because this year did
he play sure, did he win a division? Get out
of here? They went eight nine? They were never for real,
they were never actually a contender. And when they right,

(01:01:39):
they got to the playoffs and just feebly we're shown
the door. And and that Bucks team this year has
got a lot of similarities to this Warriors team this year.
Middling win, some lose, some limp along, probably gonna find
their way into the playoffs, even though it's not that impressive.

(01:02:01):
And man, I'm telling you right now, only four teams,
I'm sorry, three teams give up more points per game
than the Warriors. They've always been a top five defensive team.
When they win the title. It's not there, it's not there.
Those young guys don't young guys don't play like that.
It's it's don't know if it's it can't do it
or it won't do it. But they're not doing it.

(01:02:22):
And they're gonna if they're they're gonna get bounced. Jordan
fool just got a hundred something million dollars. What you
talk about like he's gonna do him? Yep, He's just
gonna be him. Draymond can't play that type of deference
the whole season. So you're you're stuck in a situation
where you have a talented team, you have a lot

(01:02:45):
of money on the floor, and guys are looking. Guys
are looking, they're over the luxury tax. They half a
million dollars, half a million dollars over, Like this is
gonna be an expensive year for them. Yeah, which leads
me to Clay won't be there next year, Dre We
know Draymond won't be there next year. Like it's there's

(01:03:10):
a problem, there's a situation. It's decision time. He's got
you can't afford it, but he can't be what this
decision time? Steph is gonna be making sixty million dollars
a year at one point in this contract. Yeah, and
I don't know what Draymond is gonna do. He's got
an option. Jordan's pool right now. He just signed that
big extension, but it doesn't kick in until next year.

(01:03:31):
But signed Wiggins, just signed Wiggins, just signed come on, man, like,
so we get it, let's run it back. It ain't working.
I mean, Dallas just got a whole lot bet. In
my opinion, if you're not playing defense like you used to,
Dallas is gonna be a problem. Yeah. Um, we're live

(01:03:53):
in the tirag dot com studios and we could talk
about how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit
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slash redeemed rewards terms apply, and here comes Steve to
Saga with everything that is trending in the world. Hello,

(01:04:15):
Mr Hello, once again. I looked it up that Rams
playoff game they won at Tampa Bay, Brady and Company.
We're down three late third quarter, tied it up in
the final minute and then lost on a field goal
on the last play. And as far as Golden State,
they had the national TV game, remember last night with
Steph getting hurt and Luca don sitch out due to injury.

(01:04:37):
This Saturday night's National TV game is Golden State hosting
the Lakers and the Big t NT game after All
Star break is Golden State at the Lakers, and yes,
the Golden State news today that Steph Curry is expected
to miss multiple weeks with the ligamentarre in his legs,
so he might miss the All Star Game. The Warriors
themselves say quote additional clarity on a potential timeline will

(01:04:59):
be established in the coming days, So there you go.
The Nets are trading Kyrie Irving to Dallas for Spencer
Dinwoodie and a future first rounder and other picks and
players now. Chris Haynes Bleacher Report says the Nets did
receive a Laker proposal that included two first round picks,
and the Nets received a Phoenix offer that included Chris Paul,

(01:05:22):
but they go with the Dallas offer. Irving can be
a free agent this summer. The NBA trade deadline is
Thursday afternoon. Luca don Sitch of the MAVs will be
out again tomorrow with the bruised Tiel. The Mavericks are
O N seven without him. Just in time, Just in time.
So yeah, Kyrie Wednesday may be debuting against the Clippers.

(01:05:43):
We'll see. Kevin Durant could return from injury to play
for Brooklyn in the next couple of weeks. Everything's Final
in the NBA tonight, Denver sat four players, including Nicola Yokich,
and committed twenty one turnovers and lost by thirty at Minnesota.
It felt like it was thirty to nothing at the beginning,
like it was a thirty point lead the whole night.

(01:06:03):
New Orleans rip Sacramento one thirty six to one oh four,
Toronto one oh six, one oh three winners at Memphis.
The Raptors were down nine with nine and a half
minutes to go, and a big comeback in New York
for the Knicks, who defeated Philadelphia one oh eight ninety seven.
Late first quarter in New York was trailing thirty three
to twelve. Road wins for Orlando and Cleveland and College

(01:06:24):
hooks number three. Houston trailed at halftime but still one
at Temple eight one sixty five, So the Houston Cougars
now lead by two games. In the American Conference. Michigan
beat Ohio State seventy seven sixty nine. Michigan basketball is
thirteen and ten, Ohio State eleven and twelve this year.
Victories for Northwestern and Nebraska, wins for Utah and Colorado.

(01:06:46):
The NHL schedule will resume on Monday night. Their All
Star Game was yesterday. NFL had its Pro Bowl games
in Las Vegas this weekend, with the Flag Football finale
going to the NFC. Carolina's new defensive coordinator is as
you're a vow from the Broncos. The Panther has have
a new head coach and Frank Reich there. NASCAR opens tonight,
Fox TV carrying it right now, the clash at the

(01:07:09):
l A Coliseum. You know quarter mile track on the
Florida Coliseum. There's just not a lot of space there.
It takes less than fifteen seconds for a lap and
that's configuration. So Bubba Wallace is in the league, Martin
true X, you and you're running second. They're on about
lap eighty of the one. And by the way, that
hard to watch is yeah, pretty much anything the NFL

(01:07:33):
was offering from Vegas. By the way, Brown's defensive end
Miles Garrett, limped off after today's obstacle course of it
with a dislocated tow back to you. Um, I guess
we didn't learn. You know a lot of people listening
to us see from will not remember the name Robert
Edwards um Black Football Pro Bowl in Hawaii on the Beach,

(01:07:54):
torn A c L was never the set. I just
you know what I mean, Like, I'm gonna be Josh
Allen forever. If I were an NFL player offered this
Pro Bowl thing, I'm like, you can pay for my
hotel in Vegas all you want. I'm not going out
there and run around acting a fool. I'm not like
I'm gonna go play golf at Pebble Beach. I love

(01:08:15):
the job. That's how Tyler Huntley ended up in this
thing because Josh Allen was like, I'm injured. Yeah, that's it.
I'm injured. Not too injured to go play golf at
Pebble Beach, but injured. Yeah. This is uh, that's weird.
It's difficult. Um. I remember Robert that he was on

(01:08:38):
We were on the Senior Bowl team together. Oh were
you yep? And you know it was heartbreaking what happened
to him. Had a huge rookie year, yep. And it's
just it's it's hard to do things like this where
you're competing like that. So I would propose remember remember

(01:09:03):
like stuff like Battle the Network Stars or something like that,
where you let them compete against each other in a
situation where they're doing things that you know you don't
cut jump like. There's so many things that you can do, right,

(01:09:24):
like fun things, quirky little sports, just like a scavenger
hunts stuff like all kinds of justice. But look, look,
look it just sounds so funny. Tune in, Kirk Cousins
and Trevor Lawrence are gonna play hide and sake. We
did this thing um when the NFL Network was first launching.

(01:09:48):
I've spent a lot of time, a lot of programming,
uh that I helped him with for the NFL Network,
And they had this thing called Battle of the Conferences
or something like that where we went to the Cayman
Islands and it was the NFC against the a f C.
I remember Marcella's Wiley was out there head read Roy Williams,

(01:10:11):
myself j Feeley like it. We we were out there
and we competed in the two teams. One was like
a treasure hunt. We had to find this treasure that
dig it up all of this stuff. The other one
was a raft building. We had Our team had to
build a raft from these supplies, put one of our
teammates on the raft, take the raft out in the water,

(01:10:33):
bring it around the boy, come back like stuff like that.
We went sailing against each other, deep sea fishing against
each other, those type of fun entertaining that they made
it a show. They made it like a competition show.
I don't know how good live that would be to watch,

(01:10:54):
but you know what I mean, you gotta find a
certain way where these guys won't be getting hurt any time.
You're like, even flag football dangerous, totally, totally. So you know,
it's even more dangerous than the actual Pro Bowl game
that they were walking through. Well, yeah, nobody was touching

(01:11:17):
each other and there it's seemed more dangerous in this.
That was funny. Everything we play in chess with one another. UM.
I don't know. I don't know what the answer is,
but yeah, what they were doing doesn't feel like it
and this doesn't really feel like it either. Um. Coming

(01:11:40):
up next, I'm gonna say something that Eagles fans don't like,
but it needs to be said. Mark Willardy from slam
on five Sports Radio, Get read of You from Belina,
missed it, Bob Dobbolino, Malina. Oh we got damns tonight

(01:12:03):
High we got damn. Um. I don't think you're gonna
like this. I think that you're going to call this
sour grapes. But I'm over here thinking it's just a fact.

(01:12:24):
And I wonder if you think it has an actual
effect on, for instance, the spread in the Super Bowl. Right, well,
I believe that the Philadelphia Eagles have just had the
easiest road to a Super Bowl that I can ever remember, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,

(01:12:52):
I don't remember one like this. Trying hard to have
this conversation without integrating the New York Giants, but the
New York Giants are limited there in a certain spot
in their arc table we've talked about. It did a
great job. That was just about belief. Obviously, they upset

(01:13:13):
a fraudulent Vikings team, but the Giants did not even
put up a fight. They were completely outclassed in the
first round. And we've seen that before with one seeds.
I get it. But but okay, you win that game
and then your big test is in the end of

(01:13:36):
team with no quarterback. I mean, well, it didn't start
off that way. No, it didn't. And I wonder if
you're gonna go here, because here's one thing I've heard
that that that, to be honest with you, bothers me
a little bit about the football conversation. It's like the

(01:13:56):
quarterback was in there, the Eagles get credit for noting
him out. Ah, I know that, I know you're not.
I know you're not. People are not meaning that as
if you're purposefully hurting a guy. But if they don't
get pressure, if they don't sack the quarterback, it doesn't happen. Right.
But but in every game ever, there are also quarterback

(01:14:18):
sacks where nobody gets hurt. So the Eagles getting a sack,
that's great, you got a sack. That doesn't mean you
won the game. You don't win a game for getting
a sack. The fact of the matter is, whatever video
secrecies and different things you want to come up with,
how we got there. They played a football team that

(01:14:41):
spent a little bit of time with QB four and
then spend a good bit of time with no QB
at all. And again it's not I'm not here to
say the Eagles don't deserve They won the game, so
off you go to the Super Bowl. Also true, I
never in an eas year rugged. And my question is

(01:15:05):
their favorite against the best player in the NFL, the
guy who's been there three out of the last four years,
I know he's compromised a little bit, but so as
Philadelphia's quarterback, I just wonder why the Eagles are our
favorite over the Chiefs. And is it because it feels
like they're more impressive than they are right now because
of what's happened to their competition. Okay, well let me

(01:15:27):
tell you. Let me let's just take this trip. Because
when you say road to the super Bowl, you don't
just mean the playoffs. You can't. It's impossible because you
have to actually get to a place where you are
a number one seed in a conference. You do get
a bye point, right, you do play the lowest seed

(01:15:49):
in your divisional round, and you do get a home
playoff game. So when you talk about road, you have
to encompass all of that. They had the toughest division
in the NFC. Yep, no team was under five hundred.

(01:16:11):
They dominated the division. They also beat outside of their division,
the Vikings, the Lions, who are a headache. Right, they
beat the Cowboys. Oh excuse me, that's there in that's
in their division. Right. So when you're when you're looking

(01:16:34):
at the teams that they had to beat and dominate,
you're going through all these teams you get to the
Giants who were they were in their division, and you
line up against the second best team in the division

(01:16:55):
with the forty niners, and you put their starting quarterback
out and go on a steam roll that team. To me,
that's not an easy road. You just steam rolled the road. Well,
so you're you're bringing in regular season, which is a
fair point, because it's the journey. You gotta go on

(01:17:17):
the journey. Because they were set up in a situation
where they benefited from the journey that they the road
that they took. Yes, yes, and so you're right, that
is part of it. And the Eagles are fantastic. They're
a worthy NFC champion for for sure. However, the playoffs
are also a second season, and traditionally it tests you

(01:17:41):
in different ways, and I don't feel like they got tested.
So that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there. It doesn't
mean that they can't beat the Chiefs. I just think
I mean a little value. If you ask me and
where the Kansas City Chiefs are sitting, you're telling me
that I get points and Patrick points, and Patrick go

(01:18:04):
through the history of that man's career and tell me
how it goes when he gets points. I get it.
So do you think that the Kansas City Chiefs had
a tougher time, are tougher road to get to the
Super Bowl? Outside of one game? Um, they played the

(01:18:25):
Jaguars their first playoff game and almost almost lost to
the Jaguars just by yep, yep, with right right, with
their quarterback missing a healthy chunk of the game. But yes,
I like the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Giants,
I guess are a decent comp They're good teams, they
were great stories. They were good stories. Although the Jags,

(01:18:48):
I think what one like eight of their last nine
coming against saying, look what the Giants had to do
all year. Yeah, we get it. I get it. But
the game was the Bengals, and I get it. And
that's the same type of game Philly was going to
have against the Nineters. We know that for a fact.

(01:19:08):
Yes it was, Yes, it was. They're outstanding pressure and
defense put the game out of hand early. I can't
knock that to me. Not Eagles have a better team.
The the the Chiefs have the better player. They had

(01:19:33):
the better player in the league in the game. But
the the Eagles have the better team. Yeah, Well, let's
get into which one is more important, which we can
do coming up next along with the future of Derek
Carr right around the corner on Fox Sports Radio. Well,
exactly one week from now this time, one week from now,

(01:19:57):
we'll just be getting our answer who's gonna be the
Super Bowl champion? For three season in the National Football League?
And one week plus one hour from right now is
when you and I will take the microphones and give
you the extended post if you will upset Super Bowl
between the Eagles and the Chiefs. I was just looking

(01:20:19):
at a little I G live from Brandon Auk, wide
receiver of the San Francisco forty Niners, who says that
the Kansas City Chiefs are going to quote expose the
Philadelphia Eagles defense a week from today. Well, I mean
he played both teams. Of course he feels that way.

(01:20:41):
They feel slighted, right, they lost the game that they
didn't have a quarterback, So yeah, of course, right. You
always cheer for the team to beat the teams playing,
do you. Well, you know, in my opinion, you want
that you want the team to beat you to win
it all because they beat every best. But if there's

(01:21:05):
bad blood or whatever, then you want them, you want
you want to talk trash? Yeah, you want trash. Do
you want to hit him with Yeah? Yeah, I went
to the Super Bowl, was the only one winner. Enjoy
those Constellation rings, right right, like all of that stuff.
You want to be able to use that. I hear you.

(01:21:27):
I hear you. It's interesting you. I think you just
said a couple of minutes ago, what's going to be
the thing when it comes to the breakdown this weekend
between the Eagles and the Chiefs outside of all the
Andy Reid stories, Right, it's the Andy Reid Bowl. But
you said it's the best team versus the best player,
and uh, you know normally in that particular case, I'm

(01:21:50):
gonna take the best team. I'll take the team over
the player almost every time. I just man, I mean,
I got I got questions because Patrick Mahome, this this
is this is something else. Now, Like I I know
that there's all these young gun quarterbacks that we're talking about,
um three times in four years to get to this point.

(01:22:12):
I got questions with regard to his health. Um, but
if he's moving around, uh, relatively similarly to what he
can do at his best, I don't know, man, I mean,
I just I know it's just one guy, but it's
also the guy who's running the offense. I I think
everybody was sort of expecting Joe Burrow to beat him.

(01:22:35):
A lot of Josh Allen talked this year. He's a
little compromised and the Eagles look so good in the
trenches that there's some value right now to be able
to say I'm getting points and Patrick going into this weekend,
I don't know. Yeah, that the problem with in a
game like this, going against the best team versus the
best player, is that best player isn't on the field

(01:23:01):
the whole game. The Philadelphia Eagles ability to run the
ball and run the ball extremely well, it's a problem
because now you limit the possessions of that great player.
This formula doesn't This formula hasn't changed since the dawn

(01:23:24):
of football. If you can successfully run the ball, you
do two things both in your favor, right, You prolong
your drives, you eat up the clock, and you keep
the other team off the field. So each quarter, I

(01:23:50):
would say you have two are three three Each team
has three possessions. If you can limit that, you gotta
start looking at it. Like past the analytics and you
if you really look at the essence of it. Show
me a game where a team won the time of

(01:24:12):
possession in the turnover battle, I could tell you who
won the game. So if you can keep Patrick Mahomes
and that ankle on the sideline for an extended period
of time because the Chiefs cannot stop to run and oh,

(01:24:34):
by the way, you have a J Brown with who
he's a real problem. But the thing that that that
the the Philadelphia Eagles do well is they're not only run.
They have a Pro Bowl running back a Pro Bowl quarterback.
Both are dynamic runners. So you get it through different looks.

(01:24:54):
They're different looks there. So they're gonna spread you out.
They're gonna spread your defense thin on responsibility, and that's
a problem. So I just say that to say I
see why the Eagles are are are favorite because of
that dynamic and we know they've been better as of late,

(01:25:18):
but that's not really The running the ball is really
not the Chiefs for they just they don't do it. Yeah,
I I just I wonder you know they I said earlier,
uh maybe week fifteen, week sixteen, I was selling Chiefs stock.
I'm like, this team is not going to the Super Bowl.

(01:25:40):
Their defense is going to bite them at some point
in the playoffs, and I have to do something that
I've done now a few times the last few years,
which is eat my words in the playoffs about the
Chiefs defense, I don't know what it is that they're
turning on when they get to the playoffs, but I mean,
you know, to hold Joe Burrow down the way they
did that offense of twenty one points, same thing with

(01:26:02):
with Jacksonville got the fumble inside the five yard line.
Their defense all of a sudden, same thing they did
in twenty They just suddenly look a little like they
got a different gear that they hit come playoff time.
And if you pair even just decent defense with Mahomes,
I'm gonna take that every time. Like I I get

(01:26:22):
all the points people are making about the Eagles and
all the things that they do well, but whether you
want to call it a gut feeling or just noticing
the defense hitting kind of a different pitch and that
the Eagles, I think we feel like, look, they're really good,
but I think we feel like they're even better than
they are because of the quirky dominance of the last

(01:26:45):
two weeks in the NFC playoffs. I don't know, man,
I'm not saying it's gonna be easy walk over by
any stretch. But I like the Chiefs in this game. Okay, look,
I'm not I get it. And how can you go
against Patrick Mahomes? Right, how can you go? When did

(01:27:07):
Patrick Mahomes losing the Super Bowl? What happened? Relentless pressure?
Their defense right up the middle, relentless pressure. Who's on
historic pace of putting pressure on quarterbacks this year, Philadelphias.
So I'm not just throwing things out there, right, we

(01:27:30):
know what And no matter how well Patrick Mahomes looked
and how much time has been since his high angles brain,
he won't be as mobile as he would be prior
to that that injury. So now you're going they're going
to get him off his spot. That is going to happen,

(01:27:54):
and his lack of full speed mobile of the it's
going to play a part in this game. It really is.
They can get to you with four. That's a problem, yep.
For for Kansas City. Chris Jones is a dynamic he
he he's the guy he actually won that game for.

(01:28:17):
But I mean, when when you look at it at
do you in the playoffs. Do you know how many
yards to the Eagles are averaging a game on the ground. Uh, well,
their their game against the New York Gizes. They rocked
somewhere in the neighborhood about what was it to seventy?

(01:28:38):
I think they're they're they're averaging two and eight yards
a game. Hey, man, I don't care who it's throwing
the ball on the other side. That's a lot. Yeah,
they have eighty eight rushing attempts in two games. Next game, right,

(01:29:06):
but see, this is what I'm getting at. You take
a stat like that and I can't get my mind
to stop doing what it does. Yes, an epic game
against the New York Giants. On the ground they ran
for I think it was. So if you're telling me
the average two oh eight, well that means what they
got against the forty niners was all the way down.

(01:29:28):
It somewhere around like one so one forty, which is great.
Let me tell you you're right popping plus plus. You
got those numbers in a second half where you you did,
They didn't. They didn't have to. Let's do a bigger
sample size. That's only two games, all right, all right,

(01:29:50):
the whole season seventeen regular season games, hundred and fifty
yards of game rushing, thirty two rushing attempts. Again, that's
a problem. That's a problem, like that's a that's an issue,
that's a situation. So they have a history of running

(01:30:19):
the ball. They will they won't run the ball, and
the way they run the ball is the difficult part.
Dayalen Hurts has over seven hund the yards Russian thirty
seven hund yards in the air. He missed two games easily,
a four thousand yards passer easy m VP at it,

(01:30:43):
of course. So what I'm saying is styles make fights,
And I don't want to take anything away from Patrick
Mahomes and his greatness, because he is great. He's the
next one. He's and we'll talk about this probably later,
but in my opinion, he's the only one who's going

(01:31:06):
to have an opportunity two catch or even compete with
with Tom Brady. By right, if you look at the
first five years of Brady, first five years of Pat Mahomes,
it kind of lines up, right. So when you look
at the Chiefs and you know they what average uhteen

(01:31:40):
yards rushing, they give up one o seven on average.
Two teams who can't run the ball, and teams who
can't like it balances out. The problem with that is
when you're dealing with a ball dominant team. This is
Phillies rest a p this is their recipe. And when

(01:32:05):
you're dealing with the ball dominant team like that, who
knows their identity and it's not afraid to run the ball,
then it's difficult. And that's and and that's why I
think you know the odds and and things are the
way they are. This is gonna be It's gonna be

(01:32:27):
a good game. It's two heavyweights, best teams in the
league period. Yep, yep, It's everything we thought both the
games last weekend would be exactly we talked about. Yeah,
we got one. We we should get another one this weekend.
We're broadcasting live from the tirack dot com studios. Tirack
dot com will help you get there, an unmatched selection,

(01:32:48):
fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten
thousand recommended installers. Tiraq dot com The way tire buying
should be. Okay, Derek Carr, are you in? Are you out?
And what do you think of the tone that he
has used? As this process get started, we get to
all of that coming up next with me from salam

(01:33:09):
Mark Wee on Fox Sports Radio. I'd tell we are
live in the Tirek dot com studios. We can talk
about how complicated other banks may get to redeem credit
card rewards, or talk about how we discover you can
redeem your rewards for cash in any amount at any time.
I mean talk about amazing learn more at discover dot
com slash redeem rewards terms apply you interview out on

(01:33:32):
Derek Carr. If you're a quarterback needy team, that's ups
you are why? Um? I mean he has put up numbers.
He shown that he can play quarterback in his league.
There are a whole bunch of quarterbacks who have shown

(01:33:53):
they cannot. Yeah, okay, but gosh, maybe this even goes
to the conversation where having the first hour about Kyrie
and whatnot. Like Derek Carter me, it's different when you're
now going to either sign him as a free agent
or trade for him. We'll see how the Raiders choose
to play this whole thing. But Derek Carr for me,

(01:34:15):
has always been one of the main players that represents
a group of players that when a team has that
player at quarterback, They're like, well, we gotta keep him
because he's good enough to keep, and we risk total
irrelevance and poor play without him. However, if we're gonna

(01:34:37):
go ahead and sign him up for whatever million dollars
a year, we're also pretty much assuring we're not gonna
win the Super Bowl. Yeah, it depends on the price, right,
But just looking at his numbers, complete sixty his passes,

(01:35:00):
you know, outside of this year, in the last five years,
he's thrown over four thousand yards. I mean he can.
This isn't this is a tangible. If their cars on
the Jets, they're in the playoffs. You put Derek Car,

(01:35:21):
you put dere Car on the on the Washington Commanders,
they're in the playoffs, I'll buy all that, right, So
when you tell yeah, but what I'm saying is what
I'm saying is if you're the Washington Commanders, right, If
you're the New York Jets, if you're you know, the

(01:35:44):
Chicago bout, well, you know Chicago, they got some some
things that they need to work on, right, that's coming.
If you're the Tennessee Titans, yep, you're winning the division
if you have Derek Car. So when you ask me
about teams that Like, if you're the Atlanta Falcons, you're competing,

(01:36:07):
you're winning that division. If you have Derek Car, If
you're the Saints, you're winning it. If you're any team
in the NFC South, you're winning the division with their car.
That's true. Any team in the NFC South, you're winning
the division with their car. So when you ask me
about am I all, yes, yeah, I mean, look, it's

(01:36:28):
the same player. It's it's Derek Carr, It's Kirk Cousins
there there, that's exactly right, right, like Dak Prescott, uh,
Kyler Murray. This all feels like the same player to me.
And so sure, that's that's great, Like you're right there situationally,

(01:36:51):
this this team can get to the playoffs with with
this player. But I almost feel like if I'm one
of these really needy tea and maybe that's not the
case with some of them with based on their draft
position or whatever, I just I don't know, I feel
like I'd rather almost take behind. I'd take a rookie
at door number two, because what are you really what

(01:37:14):
are you really signing up for? You're like, well, all right,
you can you can make the playoffs and get your
butt handed to you by by Mahomes or Borrow or
Alan or or what have you. Are you are you
could not make the playoffs for four years and still
get your pot handed to you by all of those people.

(01:37:36):
It's called it's called tanking and a lot of teams. Yeah,
but I get it. But if you're in the NFC South,
you get a home playoff game, right, you can go
for how that go for the bucks this year? But
That's what I'm saying though. But in terms of an owner,
if I'm thinking about maximizing revenue, like I'm I'm I'm

(01:37:58):
I'm running a business, I want I want to be
able to compete, right, all the eyes are on you branding, marketing.
When you get to the playoffs. You know what you
do is you can bring somebody like Derek Carry and
would stabilizes your quarterback room and stabilizes that position. And
now you address the other things. But if you don't, yeah,

(01:38:21):
you can how many rookie quarterbacks in the draft pan out?
And how many don't? Very very very very few. So
you can hit your wagon two a quarterback uh Sam Bradford,
uh Zach Wilson, like you, you can Baker Mayfield. You

(01:38:51):
can hit your wagon to them and you'll find yourself
in the same but the Jets have done it multiple times.
They find themselves in the same position decades later. Or
you can stabilize it and have some success to building.

(01:39:17):
You tell me what you want, now, I get it.
I get it, and someone's gonna do it. And Garoppolo
and Derek Carr and sure it's all you know, Carson Wentz,
these guys, they're gonna get a deal, They're going to
be sort of relevant, their solid players. I just I

(01:39:38):
don't know. I don't know if I'd be willing to
break off what it's gonna take to get one of
these players. And plus adding this from Derek Carr, Uh,
the whole thing has gotten really weird. I know this,
and I've been through some of these situations in my
life when when you've got two sides that are like
we have got to go separate direct there's a way

(01:40:01):
to handle that. Man. I am a big believer in
believe in in in you, and then keep your head
down and work towards the goal as opposed to getting
out in the public, speaking out, trying to take down
the other side. Turning it into smear campaign stuff. I

(01:40:22):
don't know, Like from the moment this raider's car parting
of ways thing has happened. The tone that Derek has
used has just been, um, I don't know, it's been
kind of cringe worthy. Off. Yeah, well that's I guess
that's a better way of saying that when you're when
you're piste off, like I don't know, man, take a breath,

(01:40:46):
look like the bigger person. But that's easy, that's easy
to say. You've been married, right, yeah, right, yeah, there.
You've been in a contentious relationship before, haven't you. Indeed,
you've said some things you in wretched hindsight, you know. Actually,

(01:41:09):
I mean, well, anybody will regret things that they say.
But he did a battle emotion, a lot, a lot
on the line. Tell you what, you can't take the
human element of an athlete. You can't. It's there. We
see it every year. It's there. We're all emotional beings.

(01:41:32):
I get that, but I just don't think it helps you.
And of course it didn't help you in your relationship.
No hold on now, Like you know what I'm saying.
In my past relationships, it didn't help me. It doesn't
help anybody. But that's the but that's the process. The
process has got to go through the filter. If I

(01:41:53):
do this right now, is this gonna help me? Is
this gonna help the kids? It's this gonna help the situation?
The answers no, Then you gotta eat it. Well, you
can eat it after the fact, but you're not eating
it when it's happening. When when they bust into the
office and tell Derek Carr we're done with you, slap
him in the face and then send him home. You

(01:42:14):
want him to be like, you know what time, my
time at the Raiders was wonderful. It just seems well now, man,
I don't know, But what about three weeks later, what
about four weeks later? It burns? Man, When it burns,
it burns, I know. But when it keeps burning, if
you keep you ain't never been out with your boys
after you broke up, and we're gonna burn yourself. It's
been a month and y'all sitting around drinking, y'all having

(01:42:36):
some drinks, and then something spark and you're just like,
you know, I can't believe that you know, but but
but you know what you do that's the But that's
the spot to do it. Of course I've done that.
But now, but now, Derek, go get a beer, get
your boys, go get a beer and let them know.
Not the microphones. Hey man, crazy, that's how you get

(01:43:00):
in trouble. How is he gonna be in trouble? Though,
in this case, it's not about being in trouble. It's
about what you're pitching to the next team. They don't
care about that. The next team. We care about that. Man,
you look weak the next the team trust me. With
the lack of legitimate quarterbacks that are available, I hear that,

(01:43:25):
but I mean that's not gonna change That message is
not gonna change the market for him. That's you're right,
But that's the conversation I'm gonna have with my agent. Yeah, Derek,
just just hammer the Raiders whenever you can in a
public space because who cares. Because there's a lot of teams,
so they like, we get it. I mean, we are

(01:43:45):
talking about the Raiders, right, A lot of people like,
hey man, we get it. Yeah, okay, it's fair. It's fair. Um,
we can talk about how complicated other banks make it
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem year awards for cashing
any amount at any time. I mean talk about amazing.
Learn more at discover dot com. Slash redeemed rewards terms apply. Um.

(01:44:09):
You and I have talked a lot through this season
about one Kyle Shanahan, the head coach of the forty niners. Uh,
their team has been eliminated. But there's one more thing.
There's one more thing based on a testy press conference
earlier this week, that I want to run by you.
We'll do that coming up next. But it's Steve D.
Sager time. Let's get him on any year with what
is trending? Hello Steve, Hello again. NASCAR Open tonight on

(01:44:33):
Fox TV and the clash at the l A Coliseum
has just ended with Martin Truex Jr. The winner. Austin
Dillon finished second. Kyle Busch was third on the quarter
mile track on the floor the colisseum An exhibition, which
debuted last year. The Super Bowl is a week from
today on Fox from Arizona. It'll be Kansas City against Philadelphia.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee chooses the

(01:44:54):
class of three on Thursday, to be announced at the
NFL Honors in Phoenix. Alabama's new defense of coordinator is
Kevin Steele, former Alabama and Auburn assistant. Carolina Panthers have
a new defensive coordinator at zero overro from the Broncos.
Aaron Rodgers team won the Pro Am at Pebble Beach today.
The PGA event will finish tomorrow. The NHL schedule will

(01:45:15):
resume on Monday night. The Brooklyn Nets are trading Kyrie
Irving to Dallas for Spencer Dinwoodie, a future first rounder,
and others. Late night NBA games were blowouts at home
wins for New Orleans and for Minnesota. Toronto was a
winner at Memphis one oh six, one oh three. John
Moran did not play due to a bad risk. New

(01:45:35):
York came back to beat Philadelphia one ninety seven despite
thirty one points from Joel and Bed late first quarter.
New York was down thirty three to twelve. Road wins
today for Orlando and Cleveland. Steph Curry of Golden State
is expected to miss multiple weeks with a ligament tear
in his leg, and in college tubes number three, Houston
was a winner at Temple eight one six victories from Michigan,

(01:45:57):
Northwestern and Nebraska win for Colorado and Utah as well.
Back to you, alright, Steve, thanks so much, guys. He
mentions the Spencer, Din Winnie and a future first. I
was reading about the picks that the nets are getting
for Kyrie Irving. My god, dude, I'm gonna know what
my mid fifties are like before we get to this
pick nine, unprotected future first round draft pickin like, come on, man,

(01:46:30):
that's why that's why teams always giving them up, right,
They're always giving them up. Stop it. I mean the
nets what I get it. The nets are in the
spot where it's like to get out of the room,
just just get out of here. And the reports are
and I'm sure you love this, by the way, Joe Size,

(01:46:52):
do you see the report that the whole his whole
angle was just not the Lakers. That's hilarious, Just not
the Lakers. Yeah, because they would have offered a pretty
good package. I mean, I would love to see it.
I'd love to see it because you know what, that
wouldn't have worked either. It wouldn't have worked either. I

(01:47:15):
could have went to Golden State. Man, you already know that, yeah,
Raymond and uh you know, uh second round draft pick?
Come on, man, I'm just like this gonna sound weird
rooting for a team that Draymond Green is on, So
the forty Niners are probably a better example. Like I, I

(01:47:38):
I just like, when you're putting teams together, it's hard
to know who people are and what they're gonna do,
especially when millions and millions of dollars come into play.
I'm just a big fan of my team, not getting
knuckle heads, just a big fan of it. Not not
because I want to be high and mighty about it.
I believe that it works. I believe even chemistry. I

(01:48:02):
believe in when the chips are down, you want to
have people around you who are on the same page.
I believe in the team concept. Like That's why I'm
looking at this right now, and it just fascinates me
how every time someone like this becomes available, we immediately
start talking about stats. With his average thirty three game

(01:48:23):
the last ten and he's Kyrie and he's Uncle Drew,
and he knows how to shimmy shake and he can.
It's like, right, that's always been true. What has that
added up to over the last five years of this
man's life and career other than basically ruining the future
of Kevin Durant zipo zip So you know, gots me

(01:48:47):
good luck, Mark Cuban, I'm sure that you and Jason
Kidd you're him, as they say, you're the one. You're
the one that's gonna get Kyrie back on track. Good luck,
good luck. They're dangerous though. That's two bona five scores, man,

(01:49:07):
sure sure, sure talented and you know, no telling how
long Luke is gonna be out. They've lost him all
since he's been out, well right, why wouldn't you, I
mean they got nothing, but um, you know Kyrie. Kyrie
missed the game the other night with an injury too.
Something tells me he'll be healthy, really really fast though, Yeah,

(01:49:32):
oh yeah, I think you'll think he's better day all
of a sudden, Dallas. Right now and six, um, there
are nine games back there in the sixth seed, half
a game out of the five seed, one game out
of the four seed, two games out of the three seed,
but also a game and a half out of the
eleven seed. That's your Western Conference this year. Bow it's

(01:50:00):
a mess. Yeah, yeah, this whole thing is gonna get
shaken out real quick, all right. The cole she had
a hand thing is coming up next. I already know
what you're gonna say from but we need to say
it anyway. That's coming up around the bend with you
from salam Ma, Mark Weether. This is Fox Sports Radio.
All right, We're live in the Tirack dot Com studios.

(01:50:21):
This Mark Weather from salam I mean, I might as
well just let you get loose on this before I
even need to say. I don't already know what you're
gonna say. I wonder if you know what's going on
here in San Francisco. You can't shake it, can't escape it.
It's been nine seasons of forty nine football. Do you

(01:50:44):
know how many times the week one starting quarterback has
made it through without getting hurt. No, it's a good question.
One time, one time, And this year, as we know,
it was Lebron not one, not two, not three, norvor.

(01:51:08):
That's how many quarterbacks went down for the forty Niners
this year and it ended up being the death of
them in the NFC Championship Game. So when you have
facts like that, people try to turn those facts into points.
And so the point being made by many is Kyle
Shanahan gets his quarterbacks hurt. What do you say about that.

(01:51:35):
That doesn't make any sense where they all hurt in
the same way. That was his response, and a turse
one at that in the press count doesn't make any
sense that took place on Tuesday, all of the quarterbacks
a c l s out. Then he'll be like, well,
something right, something's going on. Well, I'll give you what

(01:51:58):
the response would be from. And I agree with you,
said person who doesn't make sense. But you sat here
on this show last week and said you got too
cute with your schemes. Offensively by the way, Joe Thomas
did not agree with you. But be that as it may.
You got too cute and you ended up with a
backup tight end on Hassan Reddick, and you got your

(01:52:19):
quarterback hurt. So if someone says not he got him hurt.
But he keeps putting them in harm's way, sometimes needlessly
running Trey Lance up the middle one too many times,
for example, is there even an a conversation here? I

(01:52:44):
don't know, because Jimmy Garoppolo didn't run the ball, Purdy
didn't run the ball, hit hurt Josh Johnson and hit
his head on the turf. I don't agree with some
of the like you gotta know your person now, you

(01:53:05):
gotta know who you playing against. So to to try
to pull and have a tight end chip like all
of that, you can't do that against a dynamic defensive front.
You gotta let the big guys do what big guys do.
I don't like that, but I don't know if that
pertains to any of the other injuries with Trey Lance.
I don't with um Jimmy Garoppolo, right, I don't know

(01:53:33):
what to call it. It's just it's bad luck. I mean,
when he was when he was in Atlanta, he didn't
get um Matt Ryan hurt. When he was in Houston,
he didn't get Matt shot. I've hurt. When he was
in uh uh Washington with his dad. His dad got

(01:53:57):
you know right, that's the one. So this is kind
of where you will find what I look. There are
some people who I feel are smart who will say
the Garoppolo stuff that's ridiculous. Brock Purty absurd. Josh Johnson,
we only knew him for about a half hour. Trey

(01:54:17):
Lance drawing line to r G three, Is there a
conversation there with regard to the way they run dual
threat quarterbacks? Um? I don't know. I have to study it.
I would. I would really have to look at it
and break it down and maybe there's something to that.

(01:54:40):
But the offense is put in for that, so you know,
maybe there's something to that. I don't know. I really
have to take a look at the plays and how
it's presented in all of those things. I mean, this
came up at the time when when when Lance got
hurt and uh, you know as week two. It was

(01:55:00):
the first quarter a week two. So that's the other
thing that always makes me laugh because it's like, okay, um,
you're doing this too much. It's like when he played
five quarters. I don't even know how we can talk
about too much of anything. How do we know what
the tendencies are? We only got five quarters plus. By
the way, I know one quarterback in the NFL this

(01:55:22):
year who ran more than Tray Lance and ran up
the middle more than Tray Lance. Yep, you'll see him
on Sunday. So like it's hard for me whenever, Like
you know me, I don't even like the phrase injury prone.
I don't even like it when it comes to football

(01:55:43):
because it's that you know this, there's no such thing
as not getting hurt. That now there's this there's such
thing as learning how to not get injured. That I
I get that. There's there's whether it's toughness, whether it's
learning how to function within the framework of the game.
Isaac Bruce and Torrey Holt used to be amazing it.

(01:56:03):
When they were about to get tackled. They would dive
at the feet of the defenders that were coming towards
them because it it stopped them from getting hit. They
didn't take too many hits, you know. And Deebo Samuel,
on the other hand, is the opposite this guy did.
He didn't want the sideline. He wants your chest and
he wants to go after it. And so I understand

(01:56:25):
all of that stuff. But to blame a coach because
somebody got hurt playing football, it's wild to me. I
don't think there's a basis to it. I don't. Well,

(01:56:46):
let me actually go ahead before we get out of here,
let me actually this hit me. Well, you got next week? Yeah, uh,
you might not want to do it because you have
other shows. Then no no no, no no, no no no no, alright, alright, yeah,
this is I mean, honestly, but you want to know

(01:57:07):
some what producers and whatnot want to talk about with
regard to this Super Bowl. This weekend in San Francisco
is like are you watching? Can you watch? Like, of
course people are gonna watch this a super Bowl, but
this is like that's kind of the that's the feeling
in um in San Francisco, Like can you even stomach

(01:57:30):
to watch the team that you wanted to see again
from twenty nineteen versus the team that walked over you
without a quarterback last week? Like, So, don't worry about
me spoiling a pick. But I'll take the Kansas City Chiefs.
I will say I will take the Chiefs to win
this football game. Um, I think that. Uh. I think

(01:57:54):
that Patrick Mahome is gonna have a lot of success
in the middle of the field, and I'll take Patrick.
That's that's my stance. Okay, I think I'm gonna take
the Eagles. But we got to get this out now
since we're not talking. Yeah, alright, hey guys, back in

(01:58:14):
the studio, we got a little Pro Bowl highlight. Let's
hit us spit delivered a twenty five yard crossing right
over the middle. I think Sauce Gardner forgot that this
is flag football Darren because he was reaching around the
waist and it didn't really matter because Cee Lamb got
out of the tackling into the end zone anyway. Uh,

(01:58:35):
that is the Progressive play of the day. Broguessive Insurance.
Progressive makes buddling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV and
more all of your protection in one place. Bundle and
saved at Progressive dot com. Don't you feel terrible that
you spent time with your family now today? Uh? Instead

(01:58:55):
of watching that we had a good time. That was
so Why happened? Sauce Gardner did something and Sydney Lamb
did something else and then everybody went to the play blackjack.
That That's what I got out of here, Yeah, something
like that. UM. Enjoy the game, brother, I look forward
to talking to you all right there it is. The

(01:59:15):
Chiefs and Eagles will be all over it after the
game at eight Pacific coming up next week. Until then,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam talk Kyrie and Super Bowl!