Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger talk Bob Huggins and Shohei Ohtani!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:04):
Yes, living the dream once again here on a fabulous
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be all right, Richie. So here we are on this Sunday. Yeah,
I open up. I already talking about Saturday. I was
a little reminded because Bucky Brooks was Citty in today

(00:40):
for Mike Harmon City in with Dan and we had
some heated discussion. We had a lot to talk about today,
some really wacky stories in the world of sports. But
last night was a landmark evening for the two of us. Oh,
because with all the years and we have broadcasted together,
you had never actually ventured from San Diego to my

(01:03):
home in Westlake Village. But last night was the night
your beautiful wife Anne and Denise and I the interesting
X couple. We all want to dinner. It Can I
just say something before you say anything? Because I mentioned
this to Isaac Lorncron earlier. So the four of us
did a lot of talking, both at dinner and at

(01:26):
the house after dinner, and I ventured to say that
I actually spoke the least of the four people. It's
really you and Denise dominated. But I dare say even
Anne had more to say during the course of the
evening than I did. Now would that be accurate?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Would you think it's funny you mentioned that I didn't.
I hadn't thought of it the entire time, that you
weren't speaking that much. But yeah, now that you mentioned it,
you weren't quiet certainly told a couple of good stories. Yeah.
But but Denise, let me tell you something that you

(02:07):
two that's a matched pair because because man can she
can talk too. She's a talker. She's a talker, which
I love. Obviously.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
This is why we're no longer married, because I hate
to be interrupted. As you know, nothing is more annoying
than anyone interrupting the flow of me talking.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Which was hysterical too, because there were very many times
where you would start telling a story and She would
be like, no, that is not how that story goes.
That is not how that stories go. She would start
telling this story and then you would just be looking
like son of a beast.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I was restraining myself. We had a wonderful dinner last night.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yes, it's a place that my son works at. Yeah,
and I can't say the name other than the fact
that I did give it a lot of hype and
I think you were pleased with the final product.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Kid. And that was one of the best meals I've
ever had. That that it was a.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Big Italian, a real Italian, big authentic Italian meal.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
That just blew my doors off. That was and thank
you very much. That was extremely generous. And it was
really fun watching Garrett running around, sprinting around the restaurant
working hard while we were sitting there, like it was
almost like a Roman holiday. We were being feeded it
fed grapes while he was being fed to the lions.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Also, you had a chance to see the house. Now,
what's interesting. For eight years, I actually had an apartment
in San Diego when we did our show because my
house was up in the LA area. Can you can
you describe the difference between my apartment and my house.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, there is a dramatic difference between how sparsely furnished
your apartment was for eight years. And we tried to
convince you not to because we figured your back would
eventually go out or something. Yeah, you slept on a
on a blow up mattresses, air mattress on an air
mattress with a big lump in it. Yeah, because you

(04:10):
wore out the middle of the thing. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
And this house, I mean, it's a beautiful house, and
especially the backyard. The one thing that walking through there
I was thinking about is as as we're like, you know,
your Denise is opening up the back door and we're
seeing the grill and all this stuff. Anne kept looking
at me like we need to do this.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, she said, Richard. So apparently this is how she
addresses you when she's really trying to get your attention,
Like she saw something that she saw that you like
to do with your home, and she's like, Richard.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Every time she said Richard, I heard ching chi ching.
The dollar Sid's gone off of my rap shirt. Yeah.
So it was a wonderful night. And I hadn't seen
Anne in like several years. I actually sort of. The
last time was pre shutdown, oh like twenty nineteen, pre
Penn d Yeah, probably the last time I saw.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
So we had a wonderful time. A lot of things
to do today, Rich. There are a lot of crazy
stories going on, just wacky things. I mean, we're a
little bit in limbo right now, have a couple of
down weeks before things get serious in terms of the
started training camp in the NFL. We still have a
few loose ends as far as free agents in the NFL,

(05:28):
a few free agents in the NBA. But I wanted
to start with this incredibly wacky story with Bob Huggins,
the ex West Virginia basketball coach who apparently claims he
never resigned. And the technicality is is that that statement
of resignation that we thought came from Bob Huggins actually

(05:51):
came from his wife.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
What so it came from her and not him.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Now, he claims that he went into rehab after the
embarrassing point two to one alcohol level where I mean
this scene was ugly. I mean, you got empty cans
and everything else, right, But he said that resignation did
not come from him, It came from his wife.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, I'm I'm looking. I'm looking at so I didn't
see this article before walking in here.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
But yeah, yeah, So he now claims he would never resign.
They had named an assistant coach as the interim head
coach to replace him. They accepted his resignation, except he says,
I never actually resign. That came from my wife.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Yeah. The university on Saturday released an email that was
sent from account that belongs to June Huggins, Huggins's wife
to the athletic director Ren Baker, the day the head
coach announced his assumed.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
That that was from him, maybe through her, but from him.
So they're claiming now that no, we're you're you're done.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
What's interesting, though, is I'm curious if there was a
signature line because it says please accept this. Correspondent says,
my formal notice of resignation as WVU head basketball coach
and as notice of my retirement for West Virginia University,
effective immediately. Was it signed by Huggins, was signed by

(07:20):
Huggins's wife or is that as far as it went?
That's as far as it went.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
So he says, no, there is no formal document that
says I actually resigned. So The university's response to this
is no, we're done. You're not coming back. We have
moved on from you.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
The school also said it had ongoing conversations with huggins
legal representatives, not Campbell, in recent weeks. That suggests that
former coach understood that he had resigned and had even
been discussing the next steps of the resignation and retirement
with Bob Fitzsimmons and James Rocky Gnols.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Guys represented him for attorneys. All right, let me let
me ask you this, Okay, I mean, this is again
these we have a lot of crazy stories.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
This is one of the nuttier ones. Yeah, I would
say so.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
All right, So Bob Huggins is getting along in years,
and he's already in the Basketball Hall of Fame, of course,
and he's been messed up for years. I mean, this
guy's had problems, okay, and then remember he had the
incident with the homophobic comments in which he was he
took a pay cut and then it was like a
year to year basis on its new contract. And then

(08:30):
of course this incredibly embarrassing episode that he had with
the point two to one alcohol and everything else. Look,
when you're a college coach. It's a much different venture
than being a professional coach because you really have to
be sort of setting an example for young people. There's
no way that Bob Huggins at this point has any

(08:54):
credibility sitting in the living room of a recruit to
sell them on the idea that I can set a
good example for your son, because you've proven in recent
history that you're incapable of actually doing so. I'm just
trying to figure out why would he fight because he
apparently's going to make it a legal battle to get

(09:17):
his job back.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Why would he want to do that. My guess, and
this is my only guess as to why he would
do this, is contractually there is some sort of clause
built into this contract that if he resigns, he misses
out on a certain amount of money that if he
had waited to be fired by the university he would
have received.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
But he only had the one year deal because he
had signed that new deal after the homophobic comments.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
But you can have exit clauses very similar to exit
clauses in any venue, but in a personal contract between
a coach and a university, or a coach and a
you know, a franchise, you can have an exit clause
built in where you know, maybe he's compensated an entire
year's salary or something like that. It fired, and depending

(10:05):
on the cause of the firing, or it could just
be an all cause firing, it may not matter in
what way it all ends. And maybe that was part
of the agreement when he took the pay cut. And
the fact that he did, or I should say from
his wife's email account, there was a resignation sent to
the university, it blows up that clause. So he may

(10:25):
have been sitting there thinking like, oh, well, this sucks.
There's no question. Not good getting caught, you know, driving
or operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Not good,
getting caught on radio saying homophobic slurs. But at least
I'm gonna get that exit claud pays paid out or guests.

(10:48):
By the way, that's just a guess.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
This guy's been a coach forever, literally forever, right since
his early twenties, he's been a basketball coach. Or he
just realizes that I don't have anything else I have
to coach.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
By the way, I got news for.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Him rolling Massimino long after he won a national championship
at Villanova, was coaching for years at some Division three
outcast school. Jim Calhoun, the Yukon coach, still coaches like
some little obscure school. Look Larry Brown bouncing around. Larry
Brown just got hired again as an assistant coach. He

(11:20):
still has other coaching opportunities down the road. I just
I this this whole thing. It's an And by the way,
he's a West Virginia guy. I mean, this was, you know,
his dream job to He turned to his alma mater
to be the head coach and he had a long
successful run.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
But please, yeah, he's just remember Rick Patino when everything
went down to Kentucky. Now he's back or not at
Kentucky at Louisville. Yeah. Uh, he coached out of the
country for years. I think it was.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Two years before he got the Iona job exactly.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
I think he had come from coaching international basketball in Greece,
then took Iona job and he's currently at Saint John's.
Because he's doing such a good job in his return
to the United States coaching college basket. This is that's
These are junkies.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
I mean, you've been around football coaches like this, Let
me ask it just very quickly. Yeah, when you talk
about these lifers, whether they're head coaches assistant coaches, how
consuming is it for people that are fully immersed in
coaching sports?

Speaker 3 (12:26):
It is all consuming. However, again, I don't read this
situation as that, because he is aware that he could
go coach elsewhere and he would get hired based on
his past credentials and he probably would have to take
like a year off to let the heat kind of,
you know, die down. This to me feels like, why
would you drag your name back through the mud for

(12:47):
another round of the news cycle unless there was money
attest to this contract that you're fighting to receive. I
think on his way out the door, the way things
ended with WVU probably great on his nerves because maybe
he felt like he was owed a little bit more
whatever on his way out the door, and now he's
coming after them for some money. Again, that's speculation, right,

(13:09):
But that's what this reads to me, because you're right
if he is a junkie, which he is, I think
he has nine hundred and thirty five wins as a
basketball coach. I mean, this is a guy who's been
doing this forever at a very high level. He knows
he can come back and coach at any time. The
reason why this is coming up, I would assume, is
because there's some money that he's chasing after all.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Right, we have a twist in the NBA coaching carousel.
We've been seeing all these coaches win championships recently and
literally get fired within a year or two. The polar
opposite just happened for one NBA coach. We'll tell you
who it is. This is Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball.
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
you stories.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
You download it, you listen to it. I think you
like it.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Steve Hartman and a Rich Armberger. This is Fox Sports Sunday.
We are live from the tai Iraq dot Com studios.
So job security in the NBA, as far as coaches
are concern, has been on the downside, to say the least.
Twenty nineteen, Nick Nurse wins an NBA championship with the

(14:49):
Toronto Raptors. A couple of years later, he's fired. Frank
Vogel wins an NBA championship with the Lakers. Two years later,
he was fired. Mike Budenholzer he wins the championship with
Milwaukee Bucks. Two years later, he's fired. Monty Williams NBA
Coach of the Year two years ago. A year later
he gets fired. So these are guys that have recent

(15:10):
success and they all get canned. How about a coach
who has had four losing seasons in a row, has
had six consecutive years without winning a single playoff series,
and now he is the richest coach in NBA history.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Greg Popovich or the San Antonio Spurs, got a five
year extension at age seventy four, to the tune of
sixteen million dollars a year. Again, four straight years losing records,
six straight years without winning a playoff series, and he
is rewarded with an extension at age seventy four for

(15:54):
five more years and the tune of eighty million dollars.
I've asked you this about Bill Belichick, and you've made
this infinitely clear that no coach is immune if you
suddenly start putting back to back to back losing seasons,
no matter what your track record might have been prior
to that.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
What have you done for me lately?

Speaker 2 (16:16):
And here's Popovich getting the richest deal ever for an
NBA coach at age seventy four after four st rate
losing seasons. Now would you say, and we're going to
get into the Wimby situation in a moment, is this
a wise investment for the San Antonio Spurs franchise?

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Well, if they believe that he can still create a
culture of success, then yeah, of course it's a wise decision.
And clearly that's what they believe. Same as Bill Belichick.
You are going to get a lot and I mean
a lot of leash to screw up. You're just going
to get time. You're going to get rewarded with your

(16:57):
past efforts and your ability to bring championships in playoff
berths and success in the postseason with time and wem
and Yama is a young player, and like we know
about a lot of young superstars, two things are super important.
One is consistency, having the same voice helping you through

(17:20):
the process. You see this all the time in the NFL.
A young quarterback back gets drafted, it looks like there's
a lot of potential there. But then because he goes
to a bad team like the Cleveland Browns or the
Arizona Cardinals or whoever you know, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Like,

(17:41):
you could have a situation where the player is tainted
because after suffering through another losing season or two more
losing seasons, the ownership gets antsy. They fire the head coach,
they fire coordinators, and you have different voices in the
headset of a young quarterback and it destroys him. It's
happened with Baker Mayfield. Kyler Murray is now the next

(18:01):
example of this happening to him. Trevor Lawrence survived Urban
Meyer and then had a resurgence with Doug Peterson, thankfully,
but how many times have we seen this in the NFL.
Going back to the NBA, I think that's the reason
why they did this because Greg Popovich is now tied
to what could be the future face of the NBA
if the gameplay of Wembin Yamba matches the expectations. And

(18:28):
so that's the reason why they signed this deal. They
won consistency with this young bright star.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
All Right, The comparisons between Belichick and Popovich are very
obvious because Greg Popovich, who won five NBA championships, never
did so without Tim Duncan, right, much as Bill Belichick
won six Super Bowls, but never without Tom Brady. I mean,

(18:54):
you look at the eighteen years that Tom Brady was
Belichick's starting quarterback. You know, the two thousand and eight
season excluded offs because he only played the one game
Matt Castle came in. But in the eighteen years that
he was the starting quarterback for the whole year, they
went to thirteen AFC Championship games, nine super Bowls, and
won six. In the ten years that Belichick Belichick did

(19:18):
not have Tom Brady is the starting quarterback, he had
seven losing seasons and won a single playoff game. And
that's a pretty good sample size. And we get into
this all the time, like who makes who, and so
when we go back to Popovich, essentially hiring himself because

(19:39):
he was an executive in the Spurs organization that put
himself in a position to be the head coach, timing
it out beautifully. Where David Robinson, and remember this about
David Robinson, four full years at the Naval Academy. Remember
he had to serve for two years before he actually
came to the NBA. He was a grown man. I'm

(20:00):
Duncan four years at Wake Forest. He was a grown
man who came into the NBA. The women Yama Wimby situation,
as we saw in full effect the other night, is
a far different situation. Does he have potential absolutely? Is
he going to have an immediate dominant impact on this league?

(20:20):
Most definitely not. This team is a bad team. This
is a bad roster, which, by the way, was put
together by Popovich, much as the Patriots situation has been
put together by Belichick twenty two and sixty. Is no
secret they were a bad basketball team. They are void
of talent. What we saw from Wemby the other night,
Rich is that he is a nineteen year old kid

(20:41):
who is not physically developed yet. He doesn't have a
certain level of toughness. In fact, I want to stop
right there, because I'm curious from you.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
So I'm watching wemban Yama and he is a seven
to four player that plays like a six foot guard. Now,
he showed a little crossover he made in a couple
of night passes. What he showed was he was insanely
He even talked about the fact that he was winded
in the game, that he was in condition at age
nineteen to play twenty seven minutes. He talked about the

(21:09):
physical nature of the game. I'm like, you're going against
fellow rookies and G League players. If you think this
is physical, wait till the real games begin. But the
thing that I really took away with all the skills
that he obviously has, is he's soft in terms of
a level of toughness. It's toughness something that you can

(21:31):
teach a player, you know, just sort of the idea
that you can rough it up. Because we see finesse
players and then we see physical players. And in my book,
what I want to see from my big man is physical.
If you're seven to four, I want to see physical.
I want to see someone that dominates around the rim.

(21:54):
I want to have a physical presence. He blocked shots
with his block shots are just a product of sticking
his hands up, you know, like I'm a new Bowl
did back in the day, or Sean Bradley or Markie
And it wasn't some kind of you know, ferocious you know,
do not come into my territory. Is that something that
you can take a player and sort of teach toughness

(22:15):
or is that just something that comes with your personality?

Speaker 3 (22:19):
All right, so you said a lot. Yes, I'm going
to rewind to the first part of the conversation. Tim
Duncan and Dave Robinson both had terrible rookie seasons. No,
they didn't.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
And Tim Duncan was first team All NBA his rookie season.
I'm looking at his Tim Duncan's first season the NBA,
he was first team All NBA.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
I'm looking at his stats right now, the twenty fifteen
or excuse me, the uh oh, yeah, no, you're you're
damn right. I'm looking at the end of his career
and not at the beginning of his career, thank you.
He came out of school and he was ready to play. Yeah,
so was David Robinson. They were all NBA their rookie years. Yeah,
you're right about that HM, so he got finished products
and he helped usher in a time of winning in

(22:58):
San Antonio. With both of these players, I relent that point.
Here's what I will argue, though, I look at anybody,
anybody who is going to make bold proclamations about what
Wemby will be in the NBA based on one game
in a summer League appearance, as I mean, misguided at

(23:21):
very least. And I mean I I don't think you
have any acts to grind against Wemben Yama. I'm rooting for.
I always want to see start. I think there are
certain people out there, for whatever reason, are rooting against
this kid, and I don't get it.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well that you know how a lot of that comes
from I have I make it clear I am not rooting.
I want Wemby to exceed expectations stars appealed to me
as a sports fan.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
So here's why I think you're misguided is because many times,
over the course of great careers, we've seen slow starts.
Now the two examples you point out again, I relent
Dave Robinson. David Robinson and and Tim Duncan both were
tremendous products out of college or out of the military.
In that case, ready to play at the NBA level, Right,

(24:11):
Kobe Bryant wasn't. James Harden was a six man. He'll
go in the Hall of Fame. I mean, there are
plenty examples of guys who have had slow starts to careers,
but and when they got their opportunities, really they shrunk
in the limelight and it took time for them to
mature into great players. And by the way, we're getting
too far down the road. We're basing this conversation off

(24:34):
of seeing this guy for a handful of minutes. All right, well,
let's let's slow down. I agree.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
I want to sort of break this down though, because
of a general disservice that maybe handed this young player.
But let's find out first what is trending right now.
And Moncey is back. She was here yesterday. I don't
know if you've seen this, Rich, but Monzy Belanos now
works seven days a week Frock Sports radio.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Wow, I do not, So when is your day off?

Speaker 5 (25:03):
I don't really know.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
That means there are seven days of the week. And
if you don't know your day off, that means.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
Yes, that means I work a lot. That means I'm
sleep now.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Riches now is seven day a weeker, well welcome radio.
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah doing it and it definitely makes
you forget what day of the week it is. Every day, Yeah,
you're like it being this could be Saturday, that could
be Wednesday. It turns out it's a Sunday.

Speaker 5 (25:32):
It is. It is.

Speaker 6 (25:34):
Usually when I see you too, I kind of like, oh, yes,
it is Sunday.

Speaker 5 (25:37):
Oh good by seeing people. I know a day it is.
If it wasn't for you guys, I have no idea.

Speaker 6 (25:42):
So sometimes I say it's a day and it's not.
I'm like, oh my goodness, you're right, you are right.
I gotta say this Bob Bob Huggets story. I mean,
clearly he's still drinking. I'm just wondering when did this start.
Did this start right like early? Has he been pushing
for this or did he just wake up and was like,

(26:03):
you know what, I still want to coach.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Well, I mean, the whole idea when this came came
from his wife.

Speaker 5 (26:08):
Correct, right, So let's say that's all true.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
If she finally had had enough of his behavior and
said I'm gonna call this one.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
You're done, You're done.

Speaker 5 (26:17):
Let's say that's all true. But he knew about it.

Speaker 6 (26:19):
There's no way he missed a headline with his own
name once he got out of rehab.

Speaker 5 (26:23):
You did not miss a headline with your own name.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Well, if you're at a zero point two to one alcohol level,
maybe did miss the headline.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
No, there's no way. There's no way.

Speaker 6 (26:32):
So I'm just wondering when did he start saying this,
you know what I mean, like, did you just wake
up yesterday and decide you wanted to do this? Or
has this been in the motion from the beginning because
it was your wife.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
I believe that interpretation was if he went through the rehab,
because he just apparently got finished with this latest program.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
He's been there before, by the way.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
That he was under the impression that if he fulfilled
that obligation that undid anything like a resignation, that indeed
now was his choice whether or not he could come
back this bonkers.

Speaker 6 (27:05):
Yeah, So it sounds like we also might hear about
a divorce soon. I mean, like this is as messy
as it seems. This is this is messy at home.
It's at I can't but you guys were talking about, yes,
just messy day.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
A lot of crazy stories.

Speaker 6 (27:18):
Northwestern This kind of started yesterday that there was a
former Northwestern player who spoke to the Daily Northwestern and
revealed that Pat Fitzgerald was aware of the hazing that
may have even participated.

Speaker 5 (27:36):
In some ways. I don't want to go into detail
because some.

Speaker 6 (27:38):
Of it is a little bit graphic, but this started
coming out yesterday. Apparently this player has now sent ESPN
a screenshot of the whiteboard that was present in the
locker room showing all of this that he is claiming.

Speaker 5 (27:50):
Because you know, there's a story from.

Speaker 6 (27:53):
Pats Fitzgerald, there's a story from the university, and now
the team apparently has said something and they are supporting
their which one saying that this is not what it
appears to be.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
But the suspension he got it was silly. It's a
two week suspension, but it's not during the season.

Speaker 5 (28:10):
Correct silly from the beginning.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
He's suspended when he's actually not working right right, right right,
which is you know, which is basically what many people
call And Monci, you will one day maybe take one
of these a vacation. Yeah, yeah, I would hope.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
So I wouldn't I get a vacation because truly, truly, uh,
you know, who is on vacation. Unfortunately, Francis Tioffo at Wimbledon,
he was a ten seeded American male player. He lost
his third round match in straight sets. At the end
described as plane as god awful. So there is only
one American man left standing. We talked about him yesterday,

(28:47):
Chris Eubanks. He's gonna face what's his name.

Speaker 5 (28:51):
Is that one? He's gonna face.

Speaker 6 (28:53):
That guy, Stefano's Sismus in the fourth round on Monday.
So that's the only American male. And of course Jess Pagoula,
the female American who is dominating at Wimbledon. She won
her fourth round match today, She's headed to the quarterfinals.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
One baseball game.

Speaker 6 (29:08):
Going on Nationals and the Rangers officially have a score
Washington up to one bottom of the sixth inning.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Nine month See. By the way, do you believe Rich?

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Can you believe that I was sitting with three other
people and I said the least.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Yeah, I mean by far probably now that I'm thinking
about it, Yeah, it's.

Speaker 5 (29:27):
Hard to believe.

Speaker 6 (29:28):
Isaac was hoping to run into you Rich so he
could confirm the story because he didn't believe him.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, he says he listens to this show on his
way home. So that's what I like to make sure
he was.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Let's put it this way. I think we're feeding Steve
enough wine. Maybe he was subdued.

Speaker 7 (29:44):
Ray.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
Isn't it sometimes nice, though, Steve to just listen?

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Not really, not really, No, nothing is more satisfying than
the to me than listening to my own.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
Voice and being right g you that we'll talk to
you a little bit later on.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
See I heard that.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
By the way, we're brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Progressive makes mondeling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat atv AM or
all your protection one place, moundle and say at Progressive
dot com. All right, So I made an observation in
watching Wemby. I'm just gonna shorten it all the time
in his first Summer League game, and obviously I'm not

(30:23):
going to judge or even try to predict even his
next outing base on that game, But there were certain
things I saw in his demeanor on the court that
I wanted to call attention to. But let's get back
to the hype of a wimben Yama, which people say, well,
you really have no control over the hype. The one
thing about this young man out of France is that

(30:45):
he's a willing participant. You know, sometimes when you try
to publicize a certain athlete, they don't want any part
of it. They're not going to add to it. Wemby
has been everywhere, He's done interviews, everywhere, He's done little
mini documentary features about his time in France. So he's
been a willing participant in the hype of Wemby going

(31:07):
into the NBA. But you know, we just we saw
Michelle Wee. She just you know, ended her golf career
making a thirty foot par putt. They said, a great
way for her in their career. She missed a cup
by eight shots. And it was a career when she
was very young, as young as twelve, thirteen years old.
As a thirteen year old, she made the cut at

(31:29):
the US Women's Open thirteen at thirty three, she didn't
make the cut, but all the hype for her, and
it wasn't like she had a terrible golf career, but
she was being hyped as the Tiger Woods of the
women's game. She's going to completely change women's golf and
for a variety of reasons, injuries or whatever.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
It just didn't happen. And by the way, the same
I mean the same thing was being talked about her
potentially on the PGA tour. Oh way, like they it
wasn't just LPGA. There was talk of her joining the
PGA and dominating the men's side too.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
She was fourteen, got an exemption to playing a PGA
tour of Nimis Cup by one shot. In fact, when
she was sixteen, her parents, she was an only child,
insisted that she wanted no part of the women's store.
She wanted to play the PGA tour. So, unfortunately for her,
in retrospect, some people say her career was a bust.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
Well, I mean, it wasn't awful.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
She did win a women's one major US Women's Open,
but she didn't change the game.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
This is my thing about wimbam Yama.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
People are hyping him as a guy, a generational talent
whose mere presence on the court is going to be
a game changer for the NBA. If it doesn't happen.
If he's just a good player, you know, and he
maybe wins a championship or that, but he's just a

(32:55):
good player, solid I mean, or Are we doing a
service young man.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Of course we are. Of course we are. But he's
a willing participant. It's it's impossible for us not to.
And of course he's a willing participant because guess what,
leaning into all this is gonna make him a ton
of money and endorsement, exactly as it did with Michelle
wieback at and and he's put in a lot of
time cementing his national fame or international fame. I mean,

(33:26):
I'm not going to say that I'm not going to
compare work or jobs or anything like that, but the
pressure that's placed on young athletes to perform in this
country and outside of this country is intense. Natural talent
can carry you only so far. You have to work
extremely hard. You have to sacrifice a lot of your
life to get to the level that Victor wembin Yam

(33:47):
is at. So he's put in time, he's put in work,
he's put in effort. He deserves the trappings of the
fame that he's receiving. And fame is a commodity at
this point in our country, and again outside of this country,
you can train on fame, and so I think it's
wholly appropriate to lean into this storyline, in this narrative,
and do it in a graceful manner. But earn yourself

(34:08):
some endorsement money because guess what, These careers are fleeting
and it can be injury. It may not even be
that he's he can't hack it at the NBA level.
He could blow out his knee and this whole ride
could be over tomorrow. So make that money, kid, You've
earned it. In terms of the expectations we all put
on people. Look, it's unfair, it doesn't serve him well,

(34:32):
but it's life. People get excited for good stories. Tim
Tebow was coming out of Florida. Do you think Tim
Tebow wanted to suck at the NFL level, No, of
course not. He wanted to be that. He wanted to
be Lway, he wanted to be Brady, he wanted to
be Marino. He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. It
wasn't because he didn't try. It wasn't because he didn't

(34:54):
work hard. It wasn't because he didn't commit himself as sacrifice.
And this is a guy who also, by the way,
traded on his Still is I feel I feel sorry
in a way for Tim Tebow. Like, look, it's a
rich guy, and and it's somebody who's lived a very
profitable life, and he's married to a Miss Universe. Married
to Miss Universe, things aren't bad for Tim Tebow. But

(35:16):
but he couldn't hack it at the NFL level. He
couldn't do it. There were no doubts about him going in.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
I mean, when the Bacas make him a first round pick,
they were like, you're Tim Tebow is not an NFL.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
Are you saying there aren't doubts about Victor woman Yamo. Well,
this is.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Where I'm I get to it well on the other side,
because when you talk about what does it take to
be a dominant big man, because we just saw as
good a performance by a big man in recent history
in Nicola Jokic. Sure, and why he is such a

(35:50):
dominant big man And is this a young guy Wemby
that can actually do it at that level? We'll break
it down. This is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Hartman and
Rich Arbor, Fox Sports Sunday. We are live from the
tire Rack dot Com studios. All right, we're talking about
Wimby right now. So we're coming off an NBA season

(36:10):
where a big man played big and led his team
to their first ever NBA championship. That's Nikola Jokicic, who
was almost old school. Jokicic is a guy who can
dominate inside if he has to go to the perimeter
and take a three point shot. Not only is he capable,

(36:32):
he seems to deliver when it matters most The offense
runs through him, whether he's shooting, passing the ball.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
This is old school. This is how it.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Used to be where you had a big man in
the middle. Bill Russell played this way. Will Chamberlain when
he stops, you know, shooting the ball all the time,
played this way. Even Kareem played this way. Bill Walton
played this way. Big man that could pass the basketball,
could shoot, score, rebound, play defense, you know, check every

(37:06):
single box. And now we saw that in Jokic and
helping the Nuggets win a championship. I'm watching wemby play
and his style of play, and this is not just
what we saw the other night. This is how he
has been playing the last couple of years in France
as well. He's a perimeter guy, which is sort of
the new game. This is what we've been seeing in
the NBA in recent years. Is that the big men

(37:27):
are no different than the guards. They're expected to stand
at the three point line and knock down shots. And
to me, this is frustrating. Now, I know he's only
I don't know, two hundred and fifteen and twenty pounds
for a guy seventy four, and his body will fill out.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
But I want my big to play big.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
You know, Okay, he's not physically like Shack, but when
Shack came into the NBA and just started stuffing players
with the basketball into the basket, that's what I want
to see from my big. I don't want it big
that's playing a guard position. Hey, it's great that you
have a crossover, dribble and all this kind of stuff,
But to me, I want to play big. Now, maybe
he'll develop into that kind of player. And again, he

(38:08):
as a coach that understands how bigs can dominate.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
I'm anxious to see how that's going to develop. Yeah. Well, look,
I think we're all anxious to see how this is
going to develop. But one thing I can promise you,
one thing that I can promise you is nobody knows
how it's going to go. There are a lot of
people making some bold assumptions based on one game, and
I think that is really silly. In fact, that borders

(38:32):
on again. I get suspicious when I hear people talk
that way. Are they trying to dash the future hopes
of a star being great, you know, to be a
hot take artist, to get their name attached to something,
and then say they guess right, does that give them
some sort of basketball credibility? I think that's boloney. I

(38:53):
also start thinking like, is there certain people out there
who feel like, for whatever reason, whomen You shouldn't be
given all of the fame and attention that he's been
given because of the competition he played against in France,
something that's outside of his control. I don't know, But
my point is I get really really the BS alarm

(39:14):
goes up when I watch a guy play game and
he didn't look like he didn't belong on the court,
by the way, I watched that entire game, and whmen
Yama looks like a professional basketball player to my eyes.
I mean, I have uneducated I played football professionally. I
never played in the NBA. But I can tell you
when somebody really is great, and I can tell you
when someone's really bad. He was neither of those two things.

(39:36):
But he did look like he fit in on the court.
But can I sit here or anybody sit here, even
if they know basketball like the back of their him,
been playing or coaching in their entire life, that wemen
Yama is gonna have a great or bad career based
on one summer league game. The answer is absolutely not.
And anybody telling you that is a lying to you,
lying to you.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Well again, the Spurs that made a commitment with Popovich
specifically to develop this player, Yep, this is the future
this franchise, and I guess we have to temper our expectations.
There were people that paid top dollar to be there
for his debut in that Summer League game, and they
walked away with what was the hype all about based

(40:18):
on a single game? I don't know what they thought.
This guy was just gonna, you know, score fifty points
and dunk on everybody and destroy everybody. It didn't happen.
By the way, to disprove the notion that I do
not listen to, rich Rich said something I heard that
made more sense than anything he has ever said before.
Find out what it is. This is Fox Sports Sunday

(40:38):
rolling along in another big Sunday in the sports world.
Fox Sports Sunday, we are broadcasting live from the ti
rag dot com studios tyrerach dot com. We're gonna help
get you there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free
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com of a way tire buying should be coming up

(40:59):
here in about twenty minutes, are going to be joined
by our Fox Sports Radio MLB insider, our DIF friend
John Paul Morosi JP is going to be joining us.
We're counting down to the All Star break. I want
to bring up a baseball story to start this hour
with you Rich. Now, I know the Rich and I
have done hundreds of hours of radio together locally nationally

(41:23):
mornings afternoons, and we've pretty much covered it. We've also
talked about the fact that when you are locked in
a room with any individual with the idea of having
a conversation with that individual, it's not a natural thing.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
I mean, I've said this.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
Imagine you and your wife Anne, you know, put in
a room every day for you know, four hours a day,
three hours a day, and they say, talk to each other.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
How would that go? Would you think?

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Not well not, well, it's not. It's not a natural thing.
It really isn't.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
So there have been times that I've been accused aly
of literally not hearing something that Rich had to say,
Like I would repeat something that literally he had just
said to me. Yeah. Uh, And it happens. It does
happen because sometimes you're just.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
You just kid. You can't pay attention to everything.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Yeah, you know, and because you have a thought in
your mind that you want to get across, and so
as you're formulating your thought, the other person's talking.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
And by the way, any any guys out there tune
out their wives?

Speaker 3 (42:27):
How many?

Speaker 2 (42:27):
How many times does that happen? Like you hear this?
Did you hear what I just said?

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Oh? Boy, how about this one? So tell me what
I just said, Tell me what I just saw? Boy? Yeah?
Yeah that that okay. I can get you in trouble. Yeah,
like I and I. Over the years, if you're married
or if you've been in a long term relationship, you
realize that what you start doing is subconsciously running about
a ten second tape recorder inside of your brain that

(42:55):
you can in fact regurgitate the last eleven to twenty
words you heard and then give that puzzled look like,
of course I'm listening to you.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Now you get the h Did you hear what I
just said? I go, yeah, yeah, yeah. What did I
say what I say?

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (43:10):
You know, but you bought yourself a little time to
try to, like you say, do the rewind. So that
being said, I'm listening yesterday to Rich on his morning show,
and you said something that was absolutely one hundred percent
on the mark. Okay, so good in fact, that I

(43:30):
was going to repeat it and take credit for it.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Without even acknowledging that you said it.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
That I resisted that temptation, Okay, for this moment. So
yesterday you were talking about the show Hey o Tani situation,
and now that Mike Trout is out six to eight weeks,
the angels in our free fall, the chances of them
making into the postseason have been diminished, and you know,

(43:57):
obviously without Trout are going to be highly unlikely. H
Which brings up the conversation, and we'll have this conversation
with JP coming up here shortly about the idea of
trading show hey Otani before the trade ladline, which is
coming up on August first, And you said, I don't

(44:17):
think he's tradable. And when you said it, I'm thinking, hmm.
And then you explain why, and I'm like, damn, he
is right on the money. So the argument that you
made was this, here's a guy that you can't even
gauge what his trade value is because we never had

(44:40):
a player like show Hey Otani. There's literally nothing to
compare him to. But let's say you put him out
on the trade market and you're like, okay, we want
your top five prospects. That's a starting point. Sure, So whoever,
the top five prospects in your system, at least three

(45:01):
of which need to be pitchers, because we're also getting
rid of our ace pitcher. And then on top of that,
we want two or three proven starting players. I mean,
that's that's where I'm thinking if I'm the Angels in
trying to begin a discussion of trading show Heyo Tani.
Because again, we're talking about a one unique player in

(45:22):
baseball history. If you're that team, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We're gonna gut our farm system. We're gonna get rid
of any solid players, maybe our best players with solid
depth on our team. For a player that could walk
away at the end of the season because when you
think about it from show Heyo Tani standpoint, Okay, he

(45:42):
gets traded to a team that's empty. Yeah, I'm not
resigning with you guys, So it's sort of a catch
twenty two.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
He's untradeable. He really is. That was one hundred percent right. Yeah.
I don't know why nobody sees this as clearly as
I do, but I did well. I I appreciate you
saying it because I've been hearing people talking about, oh, no,
he's gonna be traded, He's out of there, especially as
soon as you know Mike Trout had the hammet injury
and his I was like, no, there's no way, because

(46:11):
wherever he goes to is going to be stripped to
the studs. It's gonna be like walking into a mansion
on a great block and you're gonna be like, yeah,
but what's inside.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Why would he resign a team? No way, It has
gutted their future.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
They would have to completely divest from having a future
at all to get sho Heotani. They better have a
window open, like immediately to win a World Series with him.
Otherwise it is for I mean, it's a complete misuse
of your assets because he can walk. So if he
goes to people are like Cincinnati, like he'll go there,

(46:45):
you know, I mean they're naming teams. I'm just like,
absolutely not, Like he'll go to this team, he'll play
for a half season, and then he'll go to a
team that actually has a chance who can pay him
the salary he's looking to be paid. You know, he
goes to Cincinnati, are they gonna be able to compete
with the dollar bills that the Dodgers have. No, I
mean it's just and look, I mean the teams that

(47:06):
have money. I don't think the Angels are interested in
trading Shoheo Tani to the cross town rivals to Dodgers.
So this is what's gonna happen. I'm telling you right now,
he's untradeable. He's gonna be an Angel until the end
of the season. The Angels are gonna do their damn
diss the same way they have with Mike Trout to
convince him to stay there for the rest of his career.

(47:28):
Whether he will or not, we'll find out, but they're
gonna offer him a lot. It's gonna be a lot.
It's gonna be a lot of money. He's probably gonna
turn it down and chase bigger dollars elsewhere with a
better chance to win a championship. That's just my speculation.
But in my mind, there is no way he gets
traded because there will be no team on the other

(47:48):
side that trade. Whatever team tries to think about how
much it took the Padres to get Juan Soto, who
is supposed to be the next Ted Williams, who, by
the way, had years remaining on his deal.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Yeah, in other words, it wasn't like he was a
walk away guy. You knew you had him for a
couple of years.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
It was a better trade for the Padres. Yes, and
they ended up still giving the Nationals, I mean a
number of their top prospects. I think it was three
of their top ten prospects in their organization, plus some
other throw ins and some major leaguers. It was a
tremendous haul. Sho Hee Otani is going to dwarf that

(48:26):
trade request, I mean by leaps and bounds because of
what asking prices.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
First of all, you gotta have prospects. Oh of course,
I'm literally taking your top five, So top five prospects
at least three of which are pitchers, and then I need.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Some frontline plays untradeable.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
I agree, I just I don't see any team that
will do that because from show Aostany's Otani standpoint, he's
gonna come back and say, why would I re sign
with a team that is gutted themselves in order to
make the trade to get.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
And if I'm a general manager or a director of
player personnel with you know, with or baseball operations with
a baseball team, I'm not going to be the GM
who trades him for less than what his values to do,
because say he does go to another team and then
he is everything and continues to be everything that we

(49:22):
always thought to be arguably one of the best athletes
who's ever played professional sports ever, and then people will
look back on that trade him, say, and the Angels
only got what Oh my god, they got hosed, and
so that's going to be attached to me. There's no
way I would rather die on this hill. Look, we
tried to keep him in town, but our owner wouldn't

(49:44):
spend Like That's how I want to handle it if
I'm a general manager, unless they're getting obscene pressure from ownership,
like you will lose your job unless you trade Show.
Hey Otani, there is no way if I'm a director
of Baseball operations or I'm a general manager and I
try to trade for Show Heeo Tani, because either way
this thing works out, you're gonna look like a heel.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Arti Marino, who was supposedly gonna sell the Angels backed
out of the deal. I can't imagine that Arti Marino.
And we'll talk to Otani and his representatives and make
something clear. No one is gonna outbid us, no one.

(50:28):
If this just comes down to dollars and cents, we
assure you no matter what kind of offer sheet you
put down in front of us, from the Dodgers, the Yankees, whoever,
we will beat it.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Yeah, we will beat it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
This is your franchise and we will do whatever we
can to build a winner. It's not like Arti Marino
hasn't spent money over the years. Oh, it's just been
misplaced money. Unfortunately it's not worked out for him. We're
gonna get much more of this on the other side
because we got to up with a man, John Paul Morosi,
who will give us the latest on the trade talk

(51:05):
surrounding Show. Hey Otani and also I want to get
a definition from him, what is an All Star game.
This is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Hartman and Rich Arnberger
Fox Sports Sunday. We are live from the tire rack
dot Com studios. Well, it's always an honor, always a

(51:25):
pleasure to be joined by one of the giants in
his or any other industry. And he does it with
such a modest demeanor you wouldn't even know it, but
we know it. And that's why we are privileged every
single Sunday to bring on the one, the only, our
Fox Sports Radio MLB insider John Paul ROSSI, JP, how

(51:49):
was your fourth of July holiday?

Speaker 7 (51:52):
Outstanding? My friends? Everything went well. Enjoyed a beautiful couple
of days near Lake Huron here in the Great to Michigan.
And today, very fittingly, I'm coming to you live from
Comerica Park. I'm watching the Tigers in blue Jays. I said,
I wanted to make sure that I came down here
and reported to you live from the place where there

(52:14):
was a combined no hitter yesterday.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
All right, Well, whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa
I'm going to interrupt. I rarely do this, but I'm
going to interrupt you for a second. So yesterday the
Tigers had this combined no hitter, and I looked it up.
Six of the last nine Major League Baseball no hitters
have been combined no hitters. Now, you can call me
old school, you can call me the angry guy on

(52:40):
the lawn, But in my book, even if it's technically
a no hitter, not in my book, a no hitter,
to me is an individual achievement. And so these combined
no hitters technically are no hitters. Six of the last
nine no hitters in Major League Baseball have been combined.
I do not look at them as no hitters because

(53:03):
I grew up and the overwhelming majority of the history
of baseball recognizes that Nolan Ryan through seven no hitters.
What if one of those had been a combined no hitter?

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Would he get credit for it?

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Do these pitchers get any credit for actually throwing a
no hitter? Would it appear on their Hall of Fame plaque?

Speaker 3 (53:21):
I asked you, well, that's.

Speaker 7 (53:24):
A great question, and I would say this, if a
no hitter belongs to multiple pitchers, it would not It
would not be considered a single line on the resume
if you will, to where if Matt Manning, over the
course of his career were to try to chase down
Nolan Ryan for the most no hitters in the history

(53:46):
of baseball, that yesterday's no hitter would not count toward
that number. It has to belong to you entirely and
exclusively if you're going to try to catch the great Ryan. Express.
That being said, if one of the pitchers who threw
yesterday with the Tigers wound up in Cooper's down, it

(54:07):
might be noted on their plaque that they were part
of part of a combined no editor. But I agree
with you, it's not quite the same level of romance
in the achievement if it is a combined no editor.
Even though it is unique when a pitcher can share
the distinction with his teammates.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
There is something extremely romantic about baseball, and I think
we're kind of touching on that with whether a combined
no hitter is as special as a no hitting performance
from an individual. Right you know, that was the line
from Moneyball, and I think it perfectly captures what's happening
with Elie Dela Cruz. He is sensational, he's young, he's energetic,

(54:49):
he's charismatic, and he just stole three bases in a
single plate appearance and did so in doing so, stole
home JP. I mean, like, I know, we say this
all the time because it's human nature to overreact, but
he looks to me to be one of the best

(55:10):
baseball players in Major League Baseball already. Is that is
like with players like Mike Troud and show Hee Otani
and Fernando Tatis Junior and a struggling Wan Soda who
at one point was was destined to be the next
Ted Williams and some of the young players are I
is that we've talked about over a course of this
baseball season with you. Where does he rank? Because if

(55:34):
my eyes aren't deceiving me, it feels like he might
be the best.

Speaker 7 (55:38):
Right now. Rich Ellie de la Cruz is the most
exciting player in Major League Baseball now. I chose my
word very carefully there, and it just tells you how
blessed we are across baseball now that we have different
superlatives that we can sign to different players. Shotani is

(56:00):
the best all around baseball player in the world. The
best pure offensive player, in my opinion, is Ronald Lecunya Junior,
who is on face to be perhaps the first forty
homer fifty stolen bass player in any season in Major
League history. That's why I think Acunya is So You've

(56:20):
got the best all around is Otani, best offensive player
is Acunya, and most exciting player, most electrifying, entertaining player
right now is Ellie Daily Cruz. That's how I divvy
up my superlatives at this stage of the season. The sheer, physicality,

(56:41):
rich and seve of Ellie is extraordinary. He is like
when we were all playing little league and there was
the kid when we were twelve who just hit his
gross spurt earlier and was a little stronger and a
little faster and a little mentally ahead of everybody else.

(57:02):
That's Ellie. But in the major leagues and the way
that he sole home yesterday was to use a word, absurd.
He just basically stole it because the opposition was not
paying complete attention to him. And that again is something
that the best twelve year old player in your town
was able to do in little league, and he's doing

(57:24):
it right now in the major leagues.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
So An arch Ward, who was a sports editor of
The Chicago Tribune introduced the idea of an All Star
game back in nineteen thirty three, in the first ever
was held at the old Kamiski Park. The name of
the game, All Stars, has been lost on me in
recent years, obviously with the expansion of the rosters and

(57:48):
fifteen players out of this All Star Game for a
variety of reasons, including opting not to play. Suddenly you've
got forty five to fifty five players as All Stars.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
In my book, a hot couple of months or a
hot month does not make you a star. And you
remember back in the day, the Willie Mayses, the Mickey Mannos,
the Carl jus Strimskis. They were automatics on the All
Star team, whether they were having a good season or not,
because they were already stars. That's what I want to

(58:23):
see as a fan. I want big names. When I
see Alex cob replacing Bryce Elder on the All Star team,
I'm looking like who and who and so that gets
frustrating to me and why I don't have the same
interest in the All Star Game. I used to live
and breathe this game. I used to replay these games,

(58:43):
playing throwing a tennis ball against a wall, and yet
I think we start a lost back of what Ashley
defines a star in these All Star games.

Speaker 7 (58:54):
That's a fair point, Steve. In a lot of ways.
I'll back up a little bit and say this, I'm
glad for all the reasons that you mentioned that the
game no longer determines home field advantage. That was done
obviously after the famous tie in Milwaukee, to give the
game a certain legitimacy. It works in that way for

(59:17):
a brief amount of time. I think that it's a
good thing that no longer is the case because by
not being attached to home field advantage, we do get
the opportunity, to your point, to do a little bit
of the more tribute aspects of an All Star Game. Dad,
Miguel Cabrera there last year, Dad Pools there last year.

(59:40):
Those moments I think are as appropriate and as fitting
to your point as almost anything else that we do
to be able to lavish the phrase and respect on
a retiring legend. So I think it's important to be
able to do that. But I also believe this that

(01:00:01):
it's good that all teams are represented. I know that
there was some divergence of opinion on that. I have
always been someone who has appreciated that because when I
was growing up here in Michigan, the Tigers were not
very good, and I still liked being able to tune
into the game and see our Tiger representative the All

(01:00:22):
Star game. That meant a lot to us, and so
I always sort of stand up for the less competitive
and smaller markets in that regard. I also think this
that and part of this gets to what the players
Union wants it to be. There's a lot of money
to be made when you're an All Star both and
your contractual bonuses your stature and status as a player

(01:00:45):
going forward. I get what you're saying that it should
be the haven of the of the true legends. But
when you are Bryce Elder or Geraldo Perdomo, who's at
a really nice first half for Arizona, and you're not
a household name yet, this is one of the tools
that we have as a sport to give you a
bit more recognition. We are not the sport of the NFL,

(01:01:09):
where where almost every player becomes a household name in
our country. It takes a showcase like this to do
that for a player. So While I understand your perspective,
I am a little bit more generous in being okay
with more and more players getting status as All Stars
JP in.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
The NFL, all the quarterbacks, they throw team issued footballs
in other sports as well, the NBA, the game provides
all of the implements needed to play the sport, whether
it's the ball or the basket, the hoops, the nets,
it's all provided by the league. In Major League Baseball,

(01:01:51):
seeing we're seeing managers weaponize umpire checks against players. We
saw this with Elie Della Cruz and the sense on
the knob of his bat. We saw it in the
postseason between the Padres and the Mets, where Buck Showalter
had the homeplate umpire rubbing on Joe Muskrove's ears because

(01:02:11):
he said they were too shiny and Joe Musgrove was
pitching a gem. We saw a pitcher I'm blanking on
the name, but get wiped down by an umpiring crew
just recently because there was a rosin on his body.
I have an idea, and I'm curious what you think
about this. How about Major League Baseball provides all the bats,

(01:02:32):
They provide the balls. I mean, they're providing the chalk
on the baselines and the ballparks and everything else. How
about they say no rosin? I mean, like, why are
we doing this? In no other sport? Is there these
rules where it's like, yeah, you know, you can use
sticky stuff, but up until a point, you know, it's
just hard lines that are drawn. Why does baseball have

(01:02:53):
to be different? It feels like that would solve a
lot of problems.

Speaker 7 (01:02:58):
Well, Rich, it's a very fair question. The issue is
that in Major League Baseball that the balls are standards,
So the baseballs themselves are standardized within a range of specification.
But there is still the issue that it requires the

(01:03:18):
balls to be rubbed up with, whether it's mud or
some other standard elements, And obviously the ability for a
pitcher to have rosin is part of it to get
a good grip on the baseball. I still believe this.
If you hold all players in baseball, there would be
a majority who say I am comfortable with there being

(01:03:41):
some quote unquote sticky element or a very basic amount
of rosin to allow a pitcher to get a grip
on a baseball, but without rendering an unfair advantage. That
is what the substance checks and the umpired checks of
a pitcher's hand or hat or glove are all about

(01:04:05):
And even as you were asking that question, Rich, somewhat ironically,
I was looking at the field here in Detroit and
the umpiring crew was checking tiger starter Derek Scooble, and
he had to show even under his the bill of
his cap and run his hand through his hair and
prove that there was nothing sticky on his hair that
he was getting as an unfair advantage. So I think

(01:04:28):
you're right that it is a little tedious, and it
is potentially distracting away from just the pure element of competition.
But the real reason here is that the balls have
to be rubbed up for them to be able to
be used in gameplay. Based on the current specifications, there
has been some effort made in the minor leagues and

(01:04:52):
in research by MLB to use what is described as
the free tacified baseballs that been used in Japan. So
the seams on the Japanese baseball are higher and the
actual baseball leather itself is stickier out of the box.
And if you can find a way to do that,

(01:05:14):
then you might be able to eliminate the need for
the human door eliminate the need for the ball to
be rubbed up. It's a really scientific thing. And trust
me when I tell you there are multiple people at
MLB who have a large part of their job as
looking into this exact issue that you're describing.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
All right, one final thing here.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
JP Rich said something yesterday on his Saturday show that
I thought was the most brilliant point that he has
ever made. And I've done hundreds of hours.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
He has made some brilliant point he's.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
Made, most of which I never hear because I rarely
listen to what he has to say. But he made
the point yesterday talking about Show Hey Otani and the idea.
Now with Mike Trout out for an extended period of time,
the Angels seemul in a free fall. They start to
fade out of the playoff picture once again. About the
idea of trading show Hey Otani, and Rich said, when

(01:06:08):
you think about it, he's untradeable because when you try
to think about the draft, the trade capital that you
would have to give up for a player that is
unlike any player we've ever seen in the history of
the game. I mean, let's just use an example. The
Angels said, all right, we want your five top minor
league prospects, and we want three frontline players for show

(01:06:31):
hey Otani, the deal gets done, and now show Heyotani,
who's a free agent at the end of the year, says, well,
I'm not going to re sign with a team that
just gutted their organization in order to get a trade
to get me. It's almost a catch twenty two right now.
So I want to ask you, is there a reasonable
way for a team to actually make a trade where

(01:06:52):
they could get Otani and make him stay there, And
does it make any sense at all for the Angels
give up on the idea that show Aotani could remain
in the organization in the long term.

Speaker 7 (01:07:07):
Yeah, Steve, you lay out all the really big reasons
why this is a story unlike any other that I
certainly have covered in my almost two decades of covering
Major League Baseball. There's never been a player like them.
There's never been a player like Shoe Otani. A couple
things that stand out in your question and there where
things stand right now. I wrote a couple of days

(01:07:29):
ago at MLB dot Com that a trade involving Otani
is still very unlikely, even though the Angels are now
below five hundred, even though they have had this precipitous
fall from a playoff spot. I still think it's unlikely.
But I would also note that since the Trout injury
in the last several days, they have not come out

(01:07:51):
and categorically ruled out the possibilities. So I really think
that the Angels baseball operations folks will still workshop the idea,
look at possibilities, discern on which teams might be a
good partner for them, and maybe even talk about some

(01:08:13):
parameters that they would present to ownership. I just think
that ownership, because of what you're describing, will be very,
very reluctant to make this move. If you trade Otani
now and you're the Angels, the chances that you have
to re sign on this winter go from below fifty percent,
which is where they are right now, to almost zero.

(01:08:35):
In my opinion. If he walks out the door, that's it.
We're good, in my opinion, And he is already an
important part of your organization's history if you want him
to remain that way, even if he goes to place
somewhere else, how you part with him right now is
going to be very important, and the communication the respect

(01:08:57):
that's given is going to be of the utmost importan.
I think to your point, Steve, that no team can
acquire him now with the idea that they're going to
have a strong advantage in free agency because everybody's gonna
want him. One team that I think would probably have
a very difficult chance to sign him long term, but
would actually possess the kind of players to get him

(01:09:19):
right now as a rental is Baltimore. Baltimore has a
chance to win the World Series this year. Honestly, the
Reds are in that same category. You have to look
at teams that have young basis of talent in the
minor leagues that could make a trade that satisfies the Angels,
but also realize that this would be their one shot
to have them the big irony, Steven Rich And you

(01:09:41):
know this, the team that has the most prospects in
the top one hundred in Major League Baseball right now,
you guessed it, the Los Angeles Dodgers. And I don't
think there's any chance at all that the ownership of
the Angels would want to trade him up the highway. No,
right now, I just I don't see it happening, even

(01:10:04):
though we might all agree the team that this winter
that has the best chance to sign Otani is probably
the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
All right, well, JP, enjoy your day at k America,
and also enjoy the some star game coming up.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
I can't say they're all star games. Some Yeah afraid
there ye.

Speaker 7 (01:10:25):
That excellent work. We will be enjoying the game on Tuesday.
And Rich, my friend four months from right about now,
I'll be seeing you there and happy val.

Speaker 3 (01:10:33):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
Thank you for the reminder that he'll be reminded. I
enjoy your day out there, JP.

Speaker 7 (01:10:39):
Thanks guys, have a great week. All that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:41):
That is John Palmosi, our Fox Sports Radio MLB Insider,
all right, better late than ever. Let's find out what
is trending right now. We just had a lot of
questions for it was good.

Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
It was good.

Speaker 6 (01:10:53):
I'm glad you said, because I was about to ask, Okay,
so how about you trade him to a team for now,
like a team's willing to give it all away just
for a chance to win the World Series this year. Well,
and he just said, he just says yeah, which I
thought I actually was thinking Reds too.

Speaker 5 (01:11:07):
But when he said ools, I was like, Oh yeah,
they are hot. They are one of the top.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Let me ask you this, if I were talking the Reds, obviously,
the first name I want back is La Delacra.

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
That's my point. Yeah, that's my point. All of the
young ballplayers who could make up like a great team
for a decade, say that you have in your system,
are at the major league level, are going to the Angels.
If you trade for Sho, I just don't think it's possible.

Speaker 5 (01:11:33):
Yeah, it's really.

Speaker 6 (01:11:34):
He does require a lot, Yeah, yeah, he requires a lot,
a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:11:38):
So we'll see what happens with all of that. But
with your All Star.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
Some stars exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:11:46):
Just to add to that, Blue Jays closer Jordan Ramano
is the latest All Star. He's going to be replacing
Houston Astro's ace Framber Valdez on the AL team. Let's
do some scores here in Major League Baseball. We have
a battle of the best two teams, the Braves and
the Rays, and Tampa Bay is up. Isaac padea is
with a two run shot puts them up four zero

(01:12:08):
top of the third inning, and the Marlins all over
the Phillies.

Speaker 5 (01:12:12):
It's five zero bottom of the fourth inning.

Speaker 6 (01:12:14):
The Orioles have tied the game thanks to Austin Hayes
solo shot against the Twins. They are tied at one apiece.
Bottom of the second inning. Brewers are up on the
Cubs very early.

Speaker 5 (01:12:23):
One zero. They're about to start the third inning.

Speaker 6 (01:12:25):
Yankees holding on to that RBI double by Anthony Rizzo.
They're currently beating the Cubs one zero. They're about to
start the fifth inning, and Joy Manessa's of the Nationals
has homered four times in the last three days. They
officially beat the Rangers seven to two. At the John
Dear Classic. Brendan Todd ended the third round at the
top of the leader board, and he is no longer

(01:12:46):
at the top of the leader board. Cepstraca has taken
the lead at nineteen under par. Overall, there is a
four way tie for second place.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Back to you guys, all right, MONSI thank you very
very much. One quick note here, I was watching Believe
It or Not, and this is only something I would
do the actual broadcast. I didn't watch the whole game,
but the broadcast of the nineteen sixty eight All Star Game,
which was at the Astrodome, which was then a new

(01:13:15):
eighth Wonder of the world.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
It was great.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
They were showing inside the Astrodome and everything else. Kirk
Cowdy was the voice of NBC Game of the Week
and it was an NBC game and one of his
commentators was Sandy Kofax. It was only a couple of
years remove from pitching the Major League, so he was
asked to break down the pitching staff of the National
League and the American League which side had the advantage.

(01:13:38):
And it was incredible because he said, my concern for
the American League staff, and they only had eight pitchers,
is that six of them pitched on Sunday. And how
is this is the thing now where pitchers like if
they pitched Saturday or Sunday, Yep, they're immediately excused from
the game and replaced by somebody else. The entire basically

(01:13:59):
a staff, all starting pitchers started games. And by the way,
in those days, when you came into an All Star game,
you didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
Pitch like a batter.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
No, you usually got at least two innings. Right by
the way, that game ended up one to nothing. So
I don't think any of the pitchers were exhausted after
you know, pitching two days earlier and then coming in
for a couple of innings, and again this is this
is my frustration because by excusing these pitchers right now,

(01:14:29):
all of a sudden, another dozen pitchers are now labeled All.

Speaker 8 (01:14:34):
Stars, and that, to me is make an excellent point.
It lessens, Yeah, the impact of being an All Star.
It's uh, it's an ongoing struggle. I have listening to
people talk about all star teams in basketball or Major
League Baseball or Pro Bowls like they matter anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
I know they don't.

Speaker 5 (01:14:54):
They they don't, they don't.

Speaker 8 (01:14:56):
An idea was all stars, right.

Speaker 6 (01:15:00):
Not some stars, all star all right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:05):
All Star game, and unfortunately not they all all right.
Coming up on the other side, speaking of a true
All Star, we've got to figure out what's going to
be the future of a Damian Lillard. We got the latest.
This is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin and Rich Arnberger,
Fox Sports Sunday. We are live from the tire Rack

(01:15:25):
dot Com studios. All right, Remember a couple of weeks ago,
all the buzz out of Portland, Damian Lillard made it official,
I want out trade me, and the organization's response is, yeah,
we'll do everything we can to accommodate you. But understand
we're going to do best for the organization. Well, now
it has just come out of exactly what the Trail

(01:15:47):
Blazers are looking for in a deal involving Damian Lillard.
According to several sources, the Blazers are seeking four first
round picks plus two quality, proven NBA players. So that's

(01:16:11):
a six or one deal. There four number one picks
and two guys that actually approve and they can play
in the NBA, not just bench guys, with guys that
are frontline players, not necessarily the stars in your team.
So let's let's let's look at that in terms of
the Miami Heat, because everyone keeps talking about the Heat,
so you're the Heat, and they say, all right, we

(01:16:34):
want four first round picks, so we're gonna gut your
draft for basically the rest of the decade. And then
we want we want Caleb Martin and we like that
kid out of UCLA, Haimi Hawkes Junior.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
We're going to take those two guys.

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
So basically, remember, now you've already lost Vincent, you lost
Struss yep, you would be losing Hatkes and Caleb Martin,
and you would have no first round picks for the
next half decade and you're bringing in Damian Lillard. Is
that a deal that you make if you're the Miami Heat.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
Well, here's the thing. You can ask for whatever you want.
I mean, anybody who's ever been in a contract negotiation
knows this. You can ask for whatever you want. But
that's not what you're gonna get. Well, then you don't
make the deal. Well, yeah, potentially.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
I mean that's what happened to the Nets a year
ago when we heard all the noise that Durant wanted
out and they never heard a deal they wanted, and
so he started the season still in the Nets uniform.
They eventually traded him well after the season was lost
or less, and well, they got a lot of return.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
They got a lot of return. But on how that
worked for the song less than the original, the less
than the original request. Look, here's my point is you
can ask for whatever you want. It doesn't mean you're
gonna get it, because everybody knows negotiations, Oh start higher
than where they land, you know, and you could draw
the hardest line you want. If Portland says, no, that's
too rich for our blood, we'll take our chances, which

(01:18:08):
with Damian Lillard not playing which may be an outcome,
or we'll try to make them as happy as we
possibly can and get them to play with Scoot as
we look to rebuild the Portland Trailblazers. Maybe they find
that it's a pair that can work in Portland. Who knows.
My point is this, if you're Miami and you're really

(01:18:28):
desperate for Damian Lillard, maybe maybe maybe you start, maybe
you start backing down off of that original request. So
we'll see where this story goes. But you, just as
well as I do, know that the starting place of
a negotiation is oftentimes, if not always, not where negotiations finalize.

Speaker 2 (01:18:50):
Well, again, my argument against why I thought at the
time that Kevin Durant was going to get traded is
that he was under contract for extended.

Speaker 3 (01:18:59):
Years, So the same thing with Damian Lillard.

Speaker 2 (01:19:02):
He is under contract next season forty five point six million, guaranteed,
following year guaranteed forty eight point eight million, the year
after that, twenty five twenty six guaranteed fifty eight point
five million, and then the twenty six to twenty seventh season.

Speaker 3 (01:19:19):
That's four years now.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
He has a player option for sixty three point two million,
so it's not like you're under pressure to have to
trade the guy where you're in danger of losing him,
like a show Hey Otani where he walks away and
the end up getting nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:19:32):
He's under lock and key.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
He's going nowhere, Yeah, which was very similar to the
Nets situation for Kevin Durant.

Speaker 3 (01:19:39):
So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
But again they're everyone is conceding the fact that they
they're under no pressure to have to settle.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
For anything right now. Now.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
If he brings back and you mentioned the fact that
Scoot Henderson isn't the guy that they thought he was
gonna be, or that maybe that's not going to re
make him a playoff contender, then you might do with
the Nets finally did and make the trade.

Speaker 3 (01:20:02):
I I just think that this this negotiation is going
to land somewhere somewhere other than the original asking price,
like most do. And it's gonna give Miami a chance
to get back to the deep playoff run that they
just went on. And Portland is going to walk away
with a hall because Damian Lillard's worth a hal just
not that much all quite on the NFL front.

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
Not So, this is Fox Sports Sunday having a good time,
as we always do on a Sunday Fox Sports Sunday
broadcasting live from the ti rag dot com studios.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
Tyrag dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
We're gonna help get you there an unmatched selection, fast
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Tire rag dot com the way tire buying should be.
If you're just tuning in. We open the show a
couple hours ago. Speaking of our evening together, Oh yeah,
last night. I have you know, Rich and I have
done shows for years and years and years. He had

(01:20:59):
never ventured out to my home in the Westlake Village
area than Tura County technically just a little north of
the LA area. And we had a wonderful dinner last night.
Wonderful dinner. I mean, you know, you know the kind
of dinners when you go out and you know you
know it's going to be a special meal, but when

(01:21:20):
you actually like literally enjoy every bite. I dare say
that that was the kind of meal we had last night.
We had appetizers, we had main dishes, we had dessert.

Speaker 3 (01:21:31):
Even the bread was good.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
Even the bread, it was like every bite. I can
always tell with you, like when you bite into something,
there's no fake in it. I mean, if it's something
a little extra, you know, Rich Rich wears it all
over his face.

Speaker 3 (01:21:45):
I'm an expressive human being, yes you are. And I
enjoy the finer things in life.

Speaker 4 (01:21:49):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:21:50):
Well, actually the truth is I could slum it too.
I can literally eat a slice tomato off the street, yeah,
and enjoy it. But the problem is you bring me
to and I am a problem if you bring me
to a nice restaurant. I want to try everybody's meal.
You guys were very accommodating about that.

Speaker 2 (01:22:06):
I gave you half my lasagna, Yes you did, and
I scarfed that down very quickly. How creamy were those
fus God? So, by the way, I also introduced Rich
and his wife and to our backyard because I want Rich.
I want to be able to eye witness.

Speaker 3 (01:22:25):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:22:25):
I've eaten much of your barbecue over the years, but
imagine if you're at the barbecue and Denise is baking
all in the same it's got to happen. I mean,
that's like superstar, superstar. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's like.

Speaker 3 (01:22:41):
I'm thinking a couple of bon in ribbis on the
grill while the kids are playing in the pool. Maybe
one of your kids are home helping us babysit a
little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
Absolutely, and you're just having a couple of boys or
in the pool having a good time.

Speaker 3 (01:22:55):
Dirty martinis and some bone in rabbis.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
Oh, come on, finish it off with chocolg smell something bacon.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
Chocolate chip cookies. Ma oh boy, good lord.

Speaker 2 (01:23:03):
Okay, I mean, you know you only live once, right,
you got to go for it.

Speaker 3 (01:23:06):
Look, you know, And that's about moderation. As you can see.
I really do. I really do try to to just
keep it right down the middle. You don't overdo anything.

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
No, well, I thought last night I was watching you
try to control yourself, but every time you sampled something else,
it was like.

Speaker 3 (01:23:25):
Oh man, that won't be my last bite.

Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
So anyway, we had a wonderful time last night. Was
a lot of fun. By the way, we're gonna have
some big news coming out in the near future, so
stay tuned for that.

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
And I'll just leave it at that, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:38):
I want to get back to we haven't talked to
any NFL today yet, Rich and I want to talk
about your former.

Speaker 3 (01:23:43):
Team, the New England Patriots. Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:45):
And there's many layers to it. I mentioned earlier when
you know, Belichick and Brady parted ways. You know we
were gonna you know, it was going to go one
way or the other. Right, Oh, well, Belichick really made
Brady or Brady made Belichick. And then what happens In
the three years since Brady left, the Patriots record is
twenty five and twenty five, and they've had two losing

(01:24:08):
seasons out of three and the one year they had
a winning season, they lost their only playoff game. Meanwhile,
Tom Brady immediately goes to Tampa wins the Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (01:24:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:19):
So then if you take it a little bit further,
if you include the time that Belichick had in Cleveland
those five years with the five years that he didn't
have Tom Brady as his starting quarterback, it's pretty ugly.
I mean, in eighteen years with Tom Brady as his guy,
thirteen trips to the AFC Championship Game, nine trips of
the Super Bowl, six Super Bowl championships, and the ten

(01:24:41):
years without Brady, seven losing seasons and just a single
playoff win. That was his one playoff run with Cleveland
way back in the day. So at the very least rich,
the Patriots are at the crossroads.

Speaker 3 (01:24:56):
And I thought it was interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:24:57):
The Bob Kraft, the owner of the team, made it
clear that money is never going to be an obstacle,
right and if it becomes an obstacle, I will sell
the team. So that's what Bob Kraft said, which brings
to light that if you were to look at this
roster on paper. Now, I know you could say, Belichick,
you know, coaches up players that Bill O'Brien's going to

(01:25:20):
be a major upgrade for that offense because he's a
legitimate offensive coordinator. But I'm just saying, look at the
names on the roster and then compare that roster to
those of the Jets, the Bills, and the Dolphins. There
seems to be a wide margin between the content of
those three teams in the AFC East roster and where

(01:25:43):
the Patriots are right now. Would you say that is
a valid point as it stands current roster's names on
a roster absolutely there there. I wouldn't say.

Speaker 3 (01:25:53):
I wouldn't say the gap is as wide as some
people make it out to be.

Speaker 2 (01:25:57):
But how many players on the current pat roster would
you say would be ranked in the top five of
their position in the NFL?

Speaker 3 (01:26:06):
Oh goodness, gracious, not many well, defensively, there's there's a
there's probably two. Offensively, not many. Look actually none offensively none.
I'm just saying with the.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
Jets, the Bills, and the Dolphins in their layers that
are considered one of the absolute elite at their position.

Speaker 3 (01:26:26):
Yeah, in their division, they would have a hard time
cracking the top five. I'm not kidding. So look roster
to roster. The Bills, the Bills, I would say, roster
wise are much better. Yeah, the Dolphins they're much better.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
The Jets they got all those young stars.

Speaker 3 (01:26:40):
Now they're they're young, they're unproven, but they're better. Here's
what I will say, though, The NFL is about two things.
The NFL is about having an elite quarterback and a
great coach who can create a great culture. If you
have one of those two things, you can be a
very good team. If you have both of those things,
you're gonna win. You're gonna You're gonna at very least

(01:27:00):
go to Super Bowls if not win. That's why you
saw it with Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson. That's why
you saw it with Tom Brady in New England with
Bill Belichick. That's why you saw it with Andy Reid
or have been seeing it with Andy Reid and Patrick
Mahomes in Kansas City. You've got a good chance of
making a deep run in the postseason if you have
both of those things.

Speaker 2 (01:27:20):
All right, So we have seen this over the twenty
plus seasons of Belichick not only being the head coach,
but for the majority of that time the head of
player personnel as well. Take players that are on No.
One's radar and suddenly they play at an elite level.
Now you could talk about, you know, whether those players'

(01:27:41):
games were raised offensively by the presidence of Tom Brady.
That's certainly an argument when you're talking about the goat,
and Brady certainly proved that over the course of his career.
But I'll even con side the fact that Belichick can
coach up players.

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
Oh yeah, he certainly does.

Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
So here's here are two players that are on the
market right now, and we have the owner of the
team acknowledging that money is not an obstacle. But you
have Dalvin Cook and you have DeAndre Hopkins, no doubt,
and there's no question that Dalvin Cook is a superior
running back than anyone currently on the Patriots roster. And
de Hopp is a superior wide receiver to any wide

(01:28:18):
receiver currently on the Patriots roster.

Speaker 3 (01:28:20):
When healthy and available. I would agree, right.

Speaker 2 (01:28:22):
So the question though, is are those the kind of
players you could see a Belichick who's making all the
decisions from a personnel standpoint, wants to bring onto this
team right now?

Speaker 3 (01:28:34):
Yeah, I look, you've seen this many times with Bill
Belichick over the years, taking a quote unquote problem child
in the NFL, or a guy who quote unquote has
ran out of gas in his career and getting the
last remaining good snaps out of them. I mean he
did this with I mean successfully, He's done it with
a bunch of players, but Randy Moss famously. But there

(01:28:55):
have been burnouts too, Chadout, Chosinko never panned out in
New England. Albert Haworth never panned out in New England.
There's a lot of people forget he was even there.
But I mean he did it with Rob Nikovich. He
took an unknown and turned him into a star. He
did it with Wes Welker, So he's done it with
aging veterans. Don't forget about Jillian Edelman. Julian Edelman, Well,

(01:29:18):
that was a draft pick. But you get what I mean, Like,
when another team in the NFL has scrap heaped the
guy the Patriots oftentimes, whether it's a star or it's
somebody who's just you know and also ran, they bring
him in, they find a use for him. Danny Woodhead's
another one that comes to mind, and they turn them
into very productive players. That's coaching. But the problem is

(01:29:40):
you can't coach talent. DeAndre Hopkins has a lot of talent.
I mean, if we're being honest, Dalvin Cook is arguably
the best running back in the league outside of Derrick Henry. Oh,
he's in the top five.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
Yeah, that question about it, Well, let me ask you this,
because you know Bill O'Brien, who obviously Will So was
a head coach, had a successful run before things went
sideways down to Houston. How much input does Bill O'Brien
have with someone he's worked with so for so many years,
Belichick in terms of assembling an offensive roster for that team.

(01:30:18):
How much input does O'Brien have or is it all
one hundred percent Belichick making the call?

Speaker 3 (01:30:23):
Belichick has last say, but he is a great listener,
and I mean this at the coach level, and the
player level. He will take advice from people. It's group think.
It's not the authoritarian dictatorship that a lot of people
make it sound like from the outside who have no
insight as to how it works. Yes, he has final

(01:30:44):
say and essentially he takes full blame when things fail,
and he'll be praised for the successes in New England.
But Bill Belichick, if he understands one thing, and I
do think he understands this is it's not just him.
He can't do it alone. He needs great players, he
needs it's great coaches, he needs great evaluators of talent.

(01:31:04):
And he's taught many of these people a lot of
what they know. But he realized it takes many eyes
to make the recipe work. And so Billy O'Brien coming
back into the fold in New England, it sort of
feels like it's a year too late. They should not
have deputized Matt Patricia to be the offensive coordinator last year.
Joe Judge, it shouldn't have been a shared unit leading

(01:31:28):
that offense last year. I don't know. I mean, I
guess he was trying to see if it would work.
You know. Part of the reason why New England is
so unique is they'll throw spaghetti at the wall and
they'll try new things and sometimes they'll fall in their face,
and I think they fall in their face at time.
But Billy O'Brien coming back into the fold is going
to launch this offense forward. There's no doubt in my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:31:51):
All right, But to follow up, I mean, and it
starts with Mac Jones, who showed promise as a rookie
and then took a noticeable step backward year two without
a a true offensive coordinator. If this team goes seven
to ten, sure, which is possible, a lot of things
have to go right for the Patriots, especially in that division,

(01:32:12):
because I can't believe that the Jets are going to
take a step backwards with Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
I would die unless there's an injury that yeah, So.

Speaker 2 (01:32:20):
Let's assume the Jets and the Dolphins are moving obviously
in a positive direction of the Bills. Of the Bills
seven and ten. Can you ever see where Bob Kraft
finally says to Belichick, Look, Bill, I still trust you
as a coach. I still think you are getting the
most out of what we've got. But this roster that

(01:32:40):
you have put together is subpar. I need somebody else's
input to assemble this roster so we can get back
to where we all want to be a Could you
ever see Bob Kraft doing that? And would Belichick ever
accept those terms?

Speaker 3 (01:32:55):
I don't think so. I think before he would have
that conversation, knowing Bill Belichick, he would ask him to resign.
I think the conversation will go like this, Bill, I
appreciate your years of service and I do not want
to fire you, so you have to resign from your post.
I don't think he because he knows that. Ultimately, Bill
wants complete control the roster, complete control of the team,

(01:33:18):
and if he doesn't have that, the Patriot way is over.
Because if there's somebody else with equal share of ability
to if there's anybody in the building who can override
the final decision making by Bill Belichick, the mystique is gone.
It's gone. It's over. That's part of the reason why
it was so successful with Tom Brady. There was because

(01:33:40):
as good as Tom Brady was, he still bent the
need to Bill Belichick. We were all in the same boat,
rowing in the same direction with the same leader, and
it was Bill. Now, Tom was a great leader and
he was a field general in his own right. But
guess what the general reports to the President of the
United States, right, the general reports to Congress, like there
is somebody over the top, and that was Bill Belichick

(01:34:02):
in this setup. And so if you have a situation
where you're gonna divide that power to somebody, he's not
going to be interested. He'll sooner he'll I don't know
if he were to retire, but he would force you
to fire him before he would take a step back
like that because he needs complete control for it to work. Now,
you're right if they go seven to ten, and you

(01:34:23):
look back to twenty twenty, the first year without Tom Brady,
excuse a lot of injuries, pandemic, Cam Newton wasn't healthy,
Brian Horrier wasn't healthy. There's a lot of things that
went down that year. And outside of Mac Jones' rookie
year where they went to the playoffs and they got
the pants beat off them by the Bills, but they
made it to the postseason, double digit win season, losing

(01:34:45):
year last year, losing year last year. You look at
the last three years, twenty five and twenty five. Yeah,
this is a rough stretch for Bill, especially after what
it's been and what expectations have been in Foxborough for
as long as this Patriots dynasty has existed. By the way,
Bob Craft never wanted to get rid of Tom Brady,
that's correct. And also he made it very clear that

(01:35:09):
he wanted the divorce, so to speak, to be amicable,
that he wanted Tom Brady to know that he was
always welcome back, that this isn't this isn't a you thing,
It's an US thing. And I got to stand by
Bill because he's the one who built the culture. He
was here first. But I love you like a son,
that whole thing. And I believe that fences have been mended,
not only between Craft and Tom, but also between Bill

(01:35:32):
and Time. So I think everybody's in a different place
now than they were in twenty nineteen. But if they
have a seven win season, I haven't looked at the
Vegas win total, but I bet you it's right there
at seven or seven and a half. Because the Patriots
ross right now, like we were just talking about, is
inferior to the rest of their division. That's who you're
competing with. First. I would say this, if they do
have a seven win season, that's when it's appropriate for

(01:35:54):
the talks to first start about how maybe it's time.
Maybe now it's time to start looking in a different direction.

Speaker 2 (01:36:02):
Once again, We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive
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Progressive dot Com. We got more NFL news to get
to you later on in the show. But I got
a NBA story to get to and it really has
to do with the state of the league. This is

(01:36:24):
Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harven and Rich Arnberger, Fox Sports Sunday,
Welcome back. We are live from the tire rack dot
Com studios. As a guy that is obsessed with numbers
just in general, and then that got me involved with

(01:36:45):
sports numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:36:46):
Oh I thought you were talking about me. Gosh, I
got your numbers. I got a lot of into numbers.
So here's here's a couple of numbers for you.

Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
In nineteen ninety eight, when Michael Jordan won his sixth
and final NBA Championship with the Chicago Bulls, the most
watched NBA Finals game from nineteen ninety eight, total number
of viewers was a little less than half of the

(01:37:17):
total number of viewers that watched the Super Bowl that year,
a little less than half. Let's move forward now twenty
five years, the most watched NBA Finals game had one
tenth of the viewers of the Super Bowl. So from

(01:37:41):
a little less than half to one tenth. Yeah, So
you have two sports in terms of viewers at their
most prestigious event, going in opposite directions. And one thing
about Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, he's a

(01:38:03):
smart guy. He's a smart guy in terms of how
to increase business for a sport that, as I can
illustrate in so many ways, is going in the wrong
direction in terms of interest and viewership. And he's still
able to maintain that. Of course, business dealings with China

(01:38:24):
have had a big part of that, but he also understands,
I got to figure out a way to get more
people talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:38:32):
The NBA, no question. So that's his job.

Speaker 2 (01:38:35):
As the commissioner, and he does a really good job
under difficult circumstances. And there's a variety of reasons. Much
of that, obviously, is the fact that the NFL is
a runaway freight train and there's no end in sight.
So this coming season, the NBA, in an effort to

(01:38:55):
stimulate some interest in a schedule early in the season
that literally goes up against the NFL, because you know
how it is when the NFL the NBA season starts,
we really don't even think of the NBA season starting
until Christmas.

Speaker 3 (01:39:11):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:39:12):
And then this past year, the NFL decided, wow, Christmas Day, Yeah,
we're going to put up some games on Christmas Day.
Just wipe out the NBA quadruple header that day, just obliterated.

Speaker 3 (01:39:25):
The ratings couldn't even I mean you could, they weren't
even comparable. They were obliterated. The NFL has no sympathy
at all for the NBA none.

Speaker 2 (01:39:37):
In fact, they are so dismissive of the NBA that
they did what they just did on Christmas Day because
the nbaa was gonna need some pretty good numbers on
Christmas Day, and it seemed like the NFL was going
to sort of concede that day. Those days are over.
The NFL takes no prisoners. They will wipe the NBA
off the map that they could. So the NBA is

(01:39:57):
going to counter with a new event season called the
NBA Cup. It's going to be an in season tournament,
and it's going to be specifically in essentially the month
of November. Yep, So it's going to be before the
Christmas Day games. So this is going to be a
direct competition against the meat of the NFL schedule. By

(01:40:24):
the time you get to November, we're looking at the
playoffs and everything else, right, I mean, is there a
big you know, November December that is the meat you know,
getting into the postseason?

Speaker 3 (01:40:33):
This is so dumb, Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:40:34):
So the idea of this is these will be classified
as regular season games, with the exception apparently of the
championship game, which will be sort of like the playing
games where the stats don't count anywhere. And I'm trying
to figure out, if you've had little interest in NBA

(01:40:56):
regular season games, why would be more interested in essentially
what are NBA regular season gains, but labeled as tournament games.

Speaker 3 (01:41:08):
You wouldn't be This is nonsense. This is an urgent,
This is desperate. This is the NBA's The worst get
kept secret about the NBA is the owners can't stand
the players. They can't stand them. They don't look at
them as partners. They look at them as lazy bumps.

(01:41:28):
They have to pay that that are don't get me wrong,
generating them a tremendous amount of profit, but for less
and less work as the years go on and the
NBA the unfortunate reality is the powers in the players' hands.
This is an out of whack power structure. You need
to have equivalent power structure for a partnership to work.

(01:41:49):
The best you need to have it be fifty five
forty five for it to work. Okay, as soon as
it starts tipping to sixty forty. As soon as it
starts tipping to sixty five thirty five like it is
now in favor of the players, that's when problems start.
And this league is a perfect representation of when one

(01:42:12):
side gets too much power. Look, I was born in
a house that was supported by a union worker, my dad.
He went to work every day for the USPS and
he earned a great living for our family. And I
believe in the strength of unions and I think it's
very good. But at the same token, I understand the
damage that unions can create if they become too powerful.

(01:42:32):
And it's the same way when ownership becomes too powerful.
When you don't have balance, you lose sight of what
the goal is. You need to provide a great product,
you also need to have fairness in the workplace, and
achieving that requires balance. This is completely out of balance.
So now what you're having is a diminished product because
players realize they could get away with more. Look, I

(01:42:54):
mean we're gonna talk about Damian Lillard on this radio program.
Damian Lillard is taking advantage of the power and the
control of the players having the NBA. He not only
requested a trade after signing a large contract with Portland,
but he also picked one team that he wants to
go to. Do you have any idea how unfair that
is in terms of business? Now, I get it. If

(01:43:16):
you can do it and you can exert your power,
if you can play bully at the poker table and
push all your chips in on the small stack, fine,
I mean, exert your power. Don't hate the player, hate
the game. But the problem with what precedent that sets
for the rest of the players in the league is
this is going to happen again and again and again.

(01:43:38):
If you have no loyalty, you start losing fans because
guess what fans want to buy jerseys? How can you
buy a Superstars jersey if you don't know if he's
going to play on the team next year. It doesn't
matter if he's under contract or not. I mean, if
you have no interest from the players in playing a
full eighty two game schedule, then why do people show
up and pay exorbitant ticket prices to go see the

(01:43:59):
stars they love? Because guess what they won't. Why are
any of these superstars anymore enamored with the idea of
playing in a regular season tournament game than they are
playing in a regular season guess what they're not. If
Lebron James wants to show up that night in Vegas
or wherever these games are gonna be played around the
NBA and.

Speaker 2 (01:44:17):
Say the Final Four will be in Vegas, right right.

Speaker 3 (01:44:20):
Sorry, can't play, I've got a groin issue. Sure, Or
Kawhi Leonard say his team gets to the Final four
and all of a sudden he needs a rest day
and he says, yeah, sorry, I got a bad toe tonight. Yeah,
like they put him on the injury report. He gets
to skip the game just like he would any other
regular season game, and it's it's it's the same as

(01:44:42):
missing game forty seven, as it is that one of
these tournament games, there's no increased urgency, there's only desperation.
These NFL owners have to figure out a different path.

Speaker 2 (01:44:52):
Right on the other side, we're gonna explain why, and
we're gonna get a little input from Chris on this.
This does not register in terms of American sports. We'll
explain that, but first I want to find out what
it's trending right now. Now, Mancie, how excited would you

(01:45:13):
be to, I don't know, skip watching NFL football in
November to watch the battle for the NBA Cup.

Speaker 6 (01:45:23):
Yeah, it's a bit silly, Yeah, a little bit, especially
I think the time of year. Because I'm not against
the idea of it, I just don't think it was
executed right.

Speaker 3 (01:45:32):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:45:33):
Their idea is that we're really hard pressed to get
anybody watched the NBA prior to Christmas, and now the
NFL has attacked us on Christmas, obliterated us since last
year on Christmas Day, So how do we get anybody
to watch? So just take some regular season games and
just label them as the tournament games.

Speaker 7 (01:45:54):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:45:55):
It is kind of dumb because the ones who are
going to watch basketball are going to watch it, you know, like.

Speaker 5 (01:45:59):
Your fans are going to want. Absolutely, you're not pulling
anyone away.

Speaker 3 (01:46:02):
They're actually NBA fans. Yeah, you know what about the.

Speaker 5 (01:46:06):
NFL, right exactly. But you're not pulling anybody away with this.
And that's what's silly about it, because the fans that
watch your sports are gonna watch it, you know what
I mean. So it is kind of silly.

Speaker 6 (01:46:16):
But I am gonna blame Rich if the Clippers make
it to the Final four and then mister Kawhi Leonard
doesn't play because of a toe, right, I am gonna
blame Rich.

Speaker 2 (01:46:25):
Hold on, now, let me take a little detail.

Speaker 5 (01:46:29):
It's gonna happen a matter.

Speaker 2 (01:46:30):
Well, right, So Monci is a diehard, a true blue
Clippers fan. So let me ask you this. Let's say
the Clippers win the NBA Cup. Yes, so the Lakers
at Crypto dot Com formerly Staples have seventeen banners.

Speaker 5 (01:46:47):
For nbahbay I forget.

Speaker 2 (01:46:50):
As a Clippers fan if the Clippers had a banner
unveiling of NBA Cup champions. As a Clippers fan, would
you be insulted?

Speaker 5 (01:47:01):
Yes? Please do not do that. Please don't do you.

Speaker 6 (01:47:03):
Know they will No, no, no, no, we don't know that
they're gonna make that wrong choice.

Speaker 2 (01:47:07):
Well, they don't have an NBA championship banners, but yeah, NBA,
we got an MP and look over that.

Speaker 3 (01:47:12):
Lakers have no NBA Cup championships.

Speaker 6 (01:47:15):
We do put that in the New Arena. Don't do
that at stand huge.

Speaker 2 (01:47:20):
Banner takes them literally half the place.

Speaker 3 (01:47:22):
I NBA Cup chap. I mean, if you in the Cup,
you in the Cup. Sorry, even if it doesn't even
come back for the twenty twenty twenty twenty four, twenty
twenty five season. Can you even if this is a
one and done, which I assume it will.

Speaker 2 (01:47:36):
You imagine I think this was going to be Do
you imagine how this is all so staid?

Speaker 5 (01:47:41):
It's so dumb. But if they put it in the
arena with like a plaque, I would be into it. Yeah,
but it has to be at the New Arena.

Speaker 3 (01:47:48):
It can't know the huge banner. It would be so
And also I want the NBA Cup to be an
actual thing that's larger than the Stanley Cups.

Speaker 5 (01:47:56):
I would love that. I would love that, and I
really regret if it's just.

Speaker 6 (01:47:59):
A one off that would be so so funny.

Speaker 5 (01:48:02):
All right, guys, let's chick in.

Speaker 6 (01:48:04):
In Major League Baseball, we do have a battle between
the top two teams. It's the Braves and the Tampa
Bay Rays. Rays have lost seven in a row, so
they're trying to snap that. They're currently beating the Braves
eight to two. It's the top of the sixth inning.
But Atlanta does have a new franchise record.

Speaker 5 (01:48:20):
They have homered in twenty six straight games. Are they
going to be able to pull this one off? We'll see.
Top of the sixth inning.

Speaker 6 (01:48:26):
The Yankees and the Cubs are tied again at four
a piece.

Speaker 5 (01:48:29):
Top of the seventh inning, and let's see how yep,
the Marlins have scored again.

Speaker 6 (01:48:34):
So they're beating the Philly six to two top of
the eighth inning as well, Orioles.

Speaker 5 (01:48:38):
All over the Twins. They got off to a slow start.

Speaker 6 (01:48:41):
Now they are on top, eight to one, top of
the fifth inning, Brewers holding onto that one run lead
over the Reds one zero, bottom of the six inning,
Cardinals beating the White Sox two to one, top of
the seventh inning. Earlier today was reported that former West
Virginia men's basketball coach Bob Huggins, who resigned a few
weeks ago after a duy arrest, is cleaning through a
t attorney that he never formally resigned and will sue

(01:49:03):
the university if he's not reinstated. Northwestern announced that they're
going to reconsider penalties for coach Pat Pat Fitzgerald, who
was suspended two weeks without pay on Friday after new
details emerged Saturdays surrounding allegations of hazing in the football program.
Sepstraca is still at the top at the John Deere
Classic at twenty two under par overall. At Wimbledon, number

(01:49:25):
one seeds Fiatik has advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon
along with the American.

Speaker 5 (01:49:30):
Ford seat Jessic Pagula.

Speaker 2 (01:49:32):
Back to you guys, hi Monti and good luck to
your clippers.

Speaker 3 (01:49:36):
Is the upcoming Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:49:38):
No, it's gonna be great. I can already feel it.

Speaker 3 (01:49:40):
I can already feel just looking at the group play. Yeah,
for the upcoming NBA Cup And I'm looking let's.

Speaker 6 (01:49:48):
See, there was ryman reason to why these groups were
put together, and I read it.

Speaker 5 (01:49:52):
I was like, okay, this is.

Speaker 3 (01:49:53):
You have you have six groups of five. There are
three teams. Yeah, is where the LA Clippers play and
who is in their group? They will be with the
New Orleans Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston
Rockets and the Denver Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (01:50:07):
Oh well, okay, maybe not, although again trying to figure
out which team shows up. Now, I want to bring
Chris on here, because Chris is our resident expert on
the world to Socker, that's right, because Adam Silver is
basing this idea on what has been very popular in
European soccer for many, many years of football as they
know it. They're so Chris explained to us these in

(01:50:30):
season tournaments why they've been popular. And I heard you
earlier today with Dan and Bucky explain why it's almost
comparing apples to oranges what the NBA is proposing as
opposed to what is working with European soccer.

Speaker 9 (01:50:45):
Yeah, it's kind of hard because there's no such thing
as in season, like you know, Champions League, Europa League
and UEFA will overlap with the domestic leagues. But the
same format as here is being used for this international
break we're having with the Gold Cup for Conkork Euros,
even the World Cup itself it uses the same format
except for this except for two things I don't understand.

(01:51:06):
One the at large, which doesn't happen in any of
these and two that these games count towards the regular season.
That's something you're breaking to me. I didn't realize that,
and that sounds really dumb. The whole point of a
tournament like this is to be separate from a domestic
season and like making it matter for that just I
don't know how much I really like that because and

(01:51:27):
the point I brought up to to Dan Byer earlier
was that in Europe, in South America, in the world
of soccer, clubs have more than one priority and those
changes year to year. You kind of stack trophies as
you go. If you do something like say Manchester City
to this past year where you do the Treble, you
win the FA Cup, they're domestic, which is the Premier

(01:51:49):
League and Champions League. That's a major, major, major accomplishment.
It's more it's more like a blend of college football.
Plus I don't know, like golf when it comes to
there's multiple targets to hit, but I think our major
four sports have all been geared towards winner take all
on one tournament, and we and I worry about this
termin on this point too, not that that it would

(01:52:13):
take away from that. I don't think it would. It
would be encouraging probably the positive side. Who would be
encouraging for something once like say the Sacramento Kings would
love to win this NBA Cup. But the problem is
is that if you're doing that, you're kind of you're
admitting that there is a lack of parody in the NBA,

(01:52:33):
which we know. But the problem is all the other
processes in our sports are trying to reinforce parody. It's
why we expand the playoffs, it's why we have the draft,
and we reward people who do poorly there. You're basically
admitting that this cup is probably going to be more
important for those second tier of teams rather than the

(01:52:54):
first tier, which is also a problem in soccer, like
the FA Cup does not matter to the biggest teams
in the club in Europe anymore, in England anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:53:04):
It's you know, if you're a.

Speaker 9 (01:53:05):
Second tier club, if you're a lower tier it's a
great honor to keep playing deep into the tournament. But
if you're like Manchester United to Liverpool, you're not sending
your a squad so it's it's creating a mess, and
it's inheriting a problem from soccer rather than fixing the
problem I have with the NBA, which is their lack
of parody.

Speaker 2 (01:53:21):
Well, I think you said something that registered with me immediately.
In American sports, it's winner take all. Yes, we have
on target. We talked what you know. I remember the
last year that Kobe played for the Lakers. I took
my son Garrett to a practice and they're practice facilities.
They have all their Larry O'Brien trophies lined up. It's

(01:53:43):
it's insane, like all these championship trophies. So I asked
one of my friends that worked in the organization, Hey,
I know you won the those Western Conference trophies. I
was there when you got the presentation in eighth, nine, ten.
Where are those? This was somebody at a high level
in the organization. And he looks at me. He goes,

(01:54:04):
I have no clue. Yeah, I have no clue.

Speaker 3 (01:54:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:54:08):
And you you received you received rich here received a
I guess AFC championship ring when your pay Trips lost
to the Giants. Yeah, you got it in the mail,
I think, and you you didn't even know what it was.
I thought they were confused. I honestly opened that. I
was like, what the hell is this? We didn't win

(01:54:29):
the Super Bowl? And then I read the letter that
was attached with it and was an AFC Championship ring.
Look here, here's here's the thing that you're saying, Chris,
that I completely agree with.

Speaker 3 (01:54:40):
This solves nothing. It may create more problems than it solves.
And on top of it, why are players who are
being paid tens of millions of dollars if they're important
players to a franchise and the majority of them are
being played paid millions of dollars? Like I read a
headline yesterday, I should I should bring back up. I'll

(01:55:01):
bring it back up on I'll just say this real quick.

Speaker 9 (01:55:03):
Yeah, like hockey players won't touch the President's Trophy ye,
like for winning the most points. I think, you know,
if you win the most of the regular season, that should
be more celebrated when we do. But again, you brought
up the Patriots like they have the New York perfect season,
but everyone's going to remember them just for losing to
the Giants. That's just how our culture is. Like I
think maybe the time it could change it. But the
FA Cup is like one hundred and thirty years old.

Speaker 3 (01:55:26):
This is a brand new trophy. This will give you
an example of what I'm talking about. Philadelphia seventy six
ers restricted free agent forward Paul Reid Junior has signed
a three year, twenty three million dollar offer sheet. Now
it goes on to explain more, But this is a
headline that broke two days ago. Okay, twenty three million
over three years. Does anybody know who Paul Reed Junior is?

(01:55:48):
How about this? This is what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:55:50):
There were sixty nine players this year in the NBA
that made at least twenty million dollars, including Keldon Johnson.

Speaker 3 (01:55:58):
So you are going to get if the winners, the
winners of the championship five hundred thousand dollars apiece, and
what that's going to motivate them to play hard? The
answer is it won't. They don't talk.

Speaker 2 (01:56:09):
About just motivating them to show up.

Speaker 3 (01:56:12):
Dude. This is the worst idea I've ever heard of
in my life. It is motivated by the one thing
none of these players need any more of which is money.
Unless you were talking about winner take all, maybe it's
ten million dollars a play.

Speaker 2 (01:56:28):
All right, quickly, on the other side, let's figure out
a better solution for the NBA. This is Fox Sports Sunday,
Steve Harbin and Rich Ornberger, Fox Sports Sunday. We are
alive from the ty iraq dot Com studios. All right,
so we talked about this during the break. What is
a better solution to maybe some of the early season
viewership problems the NBA has instead of relabeling regular season

(01:56:52):
games as tournament games, you really think that's gonna work
in the month of November at the height of the
NFL season. Here's something I've not figured out and saw
a little of this during the shutdown of COVID. Now,
unfortunately for the NBA, they pushed it too far so
that you had your NBA Finals go against NFL games
and they had the lowest ratings of all time. But

(01:57:14):
you don't have to do that. How about starting your season.
I'm gonna do this. I'm even gonna concede something you
always talk about in that short shortening the regular season,
But how about starting your season on Christmas Day, like
that's the first day of the NBA season. And then
even if you have to shorten the season by let's
say ten games from eighty two to seventy two. Your

(01:57:36):
NBA finals are the final week of July, so you're
not going against the NFL. You're essentially going against the
dog days of the baseball season. So you will you
will have center stage to imagine if your NBA finals
are in July, forget June. No, no, no, you move them back,
move the entire season back six weeks, and.

Speaker 3 (01:57:58):
I guarantee two minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:58:01):
That people that don't want to watch middle of the
season baseball will turn onto the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:58:07):
But what happens if you make those adjustments and the
ratings don't reflect positivity, and then all of a sudden,
networks come back to you and they go, what the
hell were you thinking? Product, you have to you have
to re redo contracts with networks, and all of a sudden,
player salaries go down, and all of a sudden, all

(01:58:27):
of a sudden, Look, it's gonna be a cascade of
reasons why you can't do that. Look, this isn't inherently
a terrible idea playing an in season tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:58:37):
It not.

Speaker 3 (01:58:37):
I mean, like, there are ways to do this and
for it to work. They just honestly found like one
of the ways where it absolutely will not like incentivizing
players in the quarterfinal round by getting paid fifty grand
for showing up and participated for giving you know, one
hundred thousand to each player who makes it to the

(01:58:59):
knockout round, giving two hundred thousand dollars to the runner up,
giving up five hundred thousand dollars to the winners on
each player on each each of these teams. This is
not an appropriate way to incentivize NBA players. It's not
because they make too much money. It's like, honestly, it's
like offering couch change to a millionaire. It really is.

(01:59:21):
I mean, you're talking about money that these guys wouldn't
bat an eye. I'm talking about on the winning team
spending on a weekend in Vegas at the clubs. It's
it's it's ridiculous. It is such a poor solution to
a very complex problem. I can't believe they actually announced
it's it's drips of desperation.

Speaker 2 (01:59:44):
It really does, and that's never a good sign for
any sport you want to play at the positive, and
obviously the positive they're hoping for is that Wemba Yama
is going to be the superstar this league desperately needs
much more on that. We got NFL, We got NBA News.
This is Fox Sports Sunday doing what we do every
single Sunday here on the vast Fox Sports Radio network.

(02:00:09):
This is Fox Sports Sunday, and we are broadcasting live
from the tire rag dot com studios. Tyre rag dot com.
We're gonna help get you there and I'm matched selection,
fast re shipping, free road hazard protection, over ten thousand
recommending installers, tire rag dot com, the way tire buying
should be. All right, busy, final hour here. I have
one question for you, Rich, because we did We've mentioned

(02:00:31):
this a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (02:00:32):
We had a wonderful dinner last night.

Speaker 2 (02:00:34):
Do you do you d talks after a particularly big
feast or how does that work for you? I know
I do, like I did the idea. I ate a
lot yesterday. I mean again, I'm like you and we're
drinking a lot in the whole shebang, you know, and
you know when you're when you go to bed and
you're full, you know, and you're you're feeling it, do
you dtox for a day or you just sort of

(02:00:57):
slow down a little bit.

Speaker 3 (02:00:58):
Well, yeah, there's no there's no way you could carry
on the way we did last night, for say, I
don't know a week or a month or any extended
period of time and expect to have a modicum of
health left. You know it. Actually it reminds me of
something that you over say. You always say that I

(02:01:18):
actually think relates back to a story we haven't discussed
yet today. Everything in life is about moderation. Yes, if
you do anything to the nth degree, even good things,
it will turn out bad. There is a destructive potential
to water. As much as everybody says, oh, just drink
as much water as you possibly can, it's so good

(02:01:39):
for you. There isn't such thing as water poisoning, although
there was a.

Speaker 2 (02:01:42):
Radio show or a woman was actually poison and died. Yeah,
from drinking too much water.

Speaker 3 (02:01:49):
It's essential to life. But overdoing it, something as as
big of a necessity as water as can destroy you.
Same with salt, same with I mean things that your
body needs to live out functions. If you do too
much of it, it's going to have a negative ramification Hazing.

(02:02:10):
Hazing is one of those things, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:02:12):
So this is this Northwestern story. Yeah, Now what did
you make of this? Because you obviously have a far
greater knowledge of this than I do so.

Speaker 3 (02:02:19):
Pat Fitzgerald, the head coach and famous alum yes at Northwestern,
has a huge, huge controversy on his hand. At Northwestern,
he his football team at some point over the past
couple of years had a player who has remained anonymous
but has become a whistleblower on some of the things

(02:02:42):
that have occurred around the program involving, you know, nudity
and sexual salt and violence to underclassmen as they enter
the program. There's a lot of people who are coming
out on Twitter on social media and saying there's no
appropriate level of hazing. All hazing is bad hazing. It

(02:03:04):
should be you know, you should add have a complete
abstinence to this. There should be there's no room in
sports for this. But you know what life's about, moderation.
It's just like you always say, and I look at
hazing like I look at alcohol, like there is room
in society for alcohol. Alcohol is a social lupricint. It

(02:03:24):
creates deeper bonds. Some of my best conversations with some
of my best friends have been under the influence of alcohol.
If you drink it every day, you're going to develop
a problem it will destroy you. If you rely on
alcohol to handle some of you know, your social anxieties,
you're probably not doing yourself any benefits self medicating. If

(02:03:44):
you drink too much in one night, it'll destroy you.
But there is room in society, and moderation is key.
I feel the same way about hazing. I feel the
same way about hazeing. Some of the deepest bonds I
have in my life are as a result of going
through hardships with my teammates, and some of those were

(02:04:05):
imposed by veteran players, and some of them were imposed
by coaches, and you could characterize those hardships as hazing.
I don't mind. I don't mind a little bit of hazing.
I don't think it's a negative thing. I think it
can be overdone the same way you can overdo alcohol.
But there's room in culture, in society, in sport for hazing.

(02:04:28):
And the people who are coming out who have never
played a sport, or the people who are coming out
who maybe had had it too rough. And there are
plenty of examples of this going too far. I'm not
saying that you're not entitled to your opinion, but there
are plenty of people who will take the opposite side
of this and say that it enriched their athletic career,
It made deeper bonds with their teammates, It created a

(02:04:51):
culture of accountability inside of a locker room that would
not have been there if those hardships didn't exist. So
there is room in society for this. You just have
to find the line.

Speaker 2 (02:05:01):
I found it interesting when I worked for the Raiders
in the eighties that here was an organization so notorious
for taking players that other teams deemed uncoachable and welcoming
into the family. Here was the thing about the Raiders
under mister al Davis. They were anti hazing. There was

(02:05:24):
never any level of hazing. Instead, what they were done
is we're going to teach you the Raider way from
day one. If you're going to be on this team,
this is the way we played the game.

Speaker 3 (02:05:42):
So is that hazing. It wasn't hazy.

Speaker 2 (02:05:44):
They didn't, like, I say, like moderate hazing. Like, what's
moderate hazing? All right, So you're a rookie and you're
on the road, you carry my bags, right, I mean
that's sort of a standard, you know, rookie job. I
had to do that a little bit, you know, when
my first year.

Speaker 3 (02:06:02):
With the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (02:06:03):
Remember they had me do this so we would videotape
the game with the idea of if we win the game,
we could watch the game on the flight back. And
they had this one hundred pound chest full of equipment
that I was responsible for my first year on the
road of lugging this thing. I remember going to the

(02:06:24):
old Mile High Stadium and having to walk this up
five ramps to get it hooked up to a machine.

Speaker 3 (02:06:32):
How many times you watch those tapes?

Speaker 5 (02:06:34):
Zero?

Speaker 3 (02:06:35):
They were just messing with me to try to understand
how committed are you to being a Raider dude? And
I get it. It's and I'll tell you right now,
it's an important It's an important step in a process
to figure out who you can count on and who
you can't. Yeah, this happens in relationships. We don't call

(02:06:57):
it hazing. We don't call it hazing, but it happens
in real relationships. How many girls out there are guilty
of putting their boyfriend through something that they knew would
be uncomfortable, they knew would be kind of funny to
them but not really funny to their boyfriend, to see
if they can hang, you know, introducing him to the
you know, the the meat head cousin or brother or

(02:07:18):
uncle who who.

Speaker 2 (02:07:20):
She knows is going to give him the heart got
her do it with her new boyfriend all the time.
And he's willing participant, but he is being tested, yes, constantly.

Speaker 3 (02:07:30):
Look, we don't call it hazing, but in school sometimes
we're calling students to the front of the class to give,
you know, the the to take over for the teacher
and to lecture and give an oral report about George Washington,
about about Thomas Jefferson. And they're they're I mean, for
some people, this is the most humiliating thing they'll do

(02:07:52):
with their lives, that that a a public speaking event
is going to be one of those core memories where
they're knees were shaking, their throat was clenching, They felt
like they were on the border of tears. But it's
a test. It's something that you're putting somebody through to
reach an outcome you wouldn't have known of if you

(02:08:13):
didn't test them. That's what hazing is, all right. So
I'm not saying again not all hazing is good hazing,
all right. So there's some things that you got to
draw a hard line and say do not cross? All right?

Speaker 2 (02:08:24):
Where is that hard line? So you've been on it
at the high school level, the college level, the professional level.
Football very notorious for hazing or however you want to
label it in order to essentially emphasize your allegiance to
that team. Yeah, where do you draw the line? And

(02:08:46):
from what you understand about this Northwestern accusations, if indeed
Pat Fitzgerald the coach, had any knowledge at all about
stuff that maybe you deem crossing the line? Should a
two week suspension when he's essentially on vacation anyway? Is
that is that a punishment that fits the crime? Where

(02:09:09):
do you draw the line? So the line should.

Speaker 3 (02:09:11):
Be drawn wherever and by the way, this is a
hazy line, but the line should absolutely be drawn when
hazing turns personal, when hazing turns into bullying, when hazing
becomes pinpointed or directed at one player. Look again, this
is a little bit of a purity test. This is
a little bit of can you hang with the group?

(02:09:33):
Do you have the right stuff? This is bootcamp in
the Marines, This is this is this is what we do,
especially in physical places. This is buds for the Navy Seals.
When when you when you are trying to find out
when you're trying to divide the wheep from the chaff,
you're you're you have to put people through tough things.

(02:09:54):
And football is an an uh. It's a highly violent sport,
but it's not an individual like in wrestling. If you're
not a very good wrestler, you're gonna you're you're just
gonna be a failure at the sport in UFC or
mixed martial arts of any sort in any league. If
you're not very good at it, guess what, You're just
you're eventually going to wash out of the sport. And

(02:10:15):
it's it's gonna be on you and maybe your corner
and your team, you know, the people who support you,
they'll maybe they'll drop off too. But on a football team,
you're relying on ten other guys on the field at
the same time to help you have success. So there's
a huge level of reliance. That's the reason why there's
always so many military comparisons, and I roll my eyes
at it because the stakes are so much higher for

(02:10:37):
our military armed forces that it doesn't even compare really,
But you are relying on people in physical combat. That's
what football is, and so Like I said, there's there's
a line when it becomes bullying. There's a line when
you're assaulting people. There's a line when it becomes sexual

(02:10:57):
in any nature. I don't know why it ever crosses
that line. That's bizarre, but there is a line, and
it needs to be respected, and the people who are
at the top of those programs need to be held accountable.
That's that's the reality of being a head coach. I
don't care if Pat Fitzgerald says I had no awareness
that this was going on. You're the head coach with

(02:11:17):
the crown comes the responsibility.

Speaker 2 (02:11:20):
And by the way, this is Northwestern in which fashions
itself as like an IVY League school within the Big Ten. Sure,
sure it is the premier academic institution.

Speaker 3 (02:11:30):
But don't think for a second that there's no hazing
at Harvard. Don't think for a second that there aren't
secret societies at IVY. Trust me when I tell you
that stuff's going on in those places too. Yes, it's
it's just a part. We do it in our everyday lives.

Speaker 2 (02:11:48):
PATHA cheryl will be fired.

Speaker 3 (02:11:49):
Should he be fired? Do you think he should be fired?

Speaker 2 (02:11:51):
I'm asking you, I'm asking you First, I don't want
anyone to be fired, but I think that a two
week suspension in the off season in July is not
exactly like you said. Even if he had no knowledge,
you should have knowledge. Yes, you're my coach of the
you oversee that program.

Speaker 3 (02:12:11):
This is what I think should happen. I think that
they should call in a third a third party. They
should have a full investigation. I think that they should
They should get more than just one source, because I mean,
sometimes people have an axe to grind, and sometimes people
will make things up. I'm not saying that's the case
here with this whistleblower, but I'm saying I would want

(02:12:32):
corroborative sources. I would want to hear this from more
than one person. I would want to hear this from
multiple people. I would want to know if it was
worse than was being reported. I would want to know
who exactly was involved, if any coaches were ever involved,
how long this has been going on, did this culture
exist prior to Pat Fitzgerald taking over the football program.
I would want to know answer to all those questions

(02:12:54):
before I could effectively levy any punishment to the program
or to the head of the program. Who is PAF
five Fitzgerald. So I don't know if he should be fired.
I don't know if he should be suspended two weeks
or two months. We don't have enough information yet. Here's
what I do know.

Speaker 2 (02:13:07):
At Fitzgerald sign a ten year, fifty seven million dollar
contract in twenty twenty one that ties him to the
university through twenty thirty.

Speaker 3 (02:13:17):
That's a long time, folks.

Speaker 2 (02:13:19):
So he signed a ten year, fifty seven million dollar contract.
With that comes a responsibility. I guarantee you there's no
professor at Northwestern that has a tenure fifty seven million
dollar contract.

Speaker 3 (02:13:33):
All right.

Speaker 2 (02:13:33):
Coming up on the other side, we're still talking about Wimby.
Uh yes, Wemby. He made his debut. But there's another
NBA player similar age who may be better and more
dominant in the NBA who you're gonna tell you? Yeah,
keep it here. This is Fox Sports Sunday, Steve Harbin
and Rich Hornberger Fox Sports Sunday. We are live from

(02:13:56):
theentirerack dot com studios. I'm gonna make a prediction right now.

Speaker 3 (02:14:01):
Yeah, what is it?

Speaker 2 (02:14:03):
When this season is set and done in the NBA,
the near unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year is
going to be a big man. He's tall, skinny, but
he's going to have a dominant rookie season. And it's

(02:14:24):
not Victor wembin Yama. No, it's going to be someone
you may have forgotten about, and that is chet Holmgrid.
So two years ago, chet Holmgren was the most ballyhooed
high school player in the country, a string being of
a player who had those basketball skills that we were
talking about with Wimby. Oh yeah, crossover dribbles, he could

(02:14:47):
do all kinds of stuff. He ends up Againzaga, where
in his one season against Zaga, after a slow start,
he picked up ground, helped that team get deep into
the tournament and earned second team All American honors, and
then turned pro in his summer league debut. So you

(02:15:07):
saw Wemby the other night with his nine point two
for thirteen shooting performance in cheded Holmgren's first Summer league
game last year. He had twenty three points, seven rebounds,
four assists, and six blocks, and then he injured his
foot yep out for the season. Well, guess who's back.

(02:15:31):
Chet Holmgren's back and he's playing summer league basketball. And
I saw him the other night at least in the moment.
Based on what I saw from Wemby versus Holmgren, Hommegren
is ahead of the curve. Now he's a couple of
years old, he's twenty one. Now he is still technically
a rookie because he never actually played last year. This

(02:15:52):
is what happened to Blake Griffin. Remember he missed his
first year, didn't play, and then the next year.

Speaker 3 (02:15:56):
Was Rookie of the Year. It could be that this
kid again.

Speaker 2 (02:16:01):
Okayse He's not a great team, but they're better than
san Antonio. I think chet Holmgan is going to be
He's going to be the talk of the league. Everyone's
gonna side. Everyone's been talking about Wembin Yama, but we
forgot about the guy that a year before we were
talking about as this incredible string being seven footer that
can do so many things on the court. I saw

(02:16:23):
them the other day with Holmgren, things I didn't see
at least in that first game for Wimby.

Speaker 3 (02:16:28):
Well, here here's the thing. I know, Greg Popovich mm hmmm.
I know what he's done at the NBA level. I've
been impressed with his career as you have. I mean,
I don't know Mark Daignault quite as well, but that's
who Oklahoma City has as their head coach. I also

(02:16:52):
know that I've watched Greg Popovich over the years develop
stars and take teams to championships. And granted, some of
the stars were ready made stars, like a Tim Duncan,
but some of them weren't, like a Kawhi Leonard, who
had to learn the offensive game at the NBA level.
Kawhi Leonard was a very polished defensive player, but he

(02:17:12):
needed to learn offense. He needed to learn a midrage jumper.
He became a devastating offensive participant, and I watched that.
I watched that over the course of his entire career
in San Antonio, and I'm not saying that Dagnall can't
do that with Chad Holmgren. I'm also not gonna say
that Cheded Holmgren's going to turn into a bust, and

(02:17:34):
I'm not gonna say that he's gonna be better because
I don't know. I've only ever watched Holmgren in Summer
League games, the same as I've only ever watched Wemby
for a single game in a Summer League game. None
of this means anything, but I do know that I've
watched Greg Popovich get the most out of budding stars
in the NBA over the course of a very long,

(02:17:55):
heralded career, and for good reason, because he's a great coach.
So if I'm gonna throw if I'm gonna throw my
money behind one player to have a long and great
career just based on their coach and based on the
commitment that the organization has made to the coach, I'm
gonna throw it behind Victor Wemanyama because to me, stability

(02:18:18):
and culture are the two most important things when it
comes to a prospect. Think about how we talked about
Trevor Lawrence last year. I'm talking about two years ago
when he was a rookie with Urban Meyer. What a
disaster that could have ruined him. And you know what,
we would have probably given Trevor Lawrence an excuse. We
probably would have went, you know, yeah, like, yeah, it's

(02:18:39):
not panning out for him. But goodness gracious did he
have a bad culture that he inherited in Jacksonville. But
thank God for Doug Peterson, it helped turn around his career.
Baker Mayfield didn't get that in Cleveland. Baker Mayfield had
Hugh Jackson. That was a disaster in Cleveland. Yeah, how
many coaches did he have before he departed to Carolina
and then to the Rams and now to Tampa Bay.

(02:19:01):
I mean, yes, don't get me wrong. Maybe Baker wasn't
going to work out period. But if Baker went to
the New England Patriots, or if Baker went to the
Los Angeles Rams, if they were ready to move on
from golf and wanted to draft him instead of you know,
trading for Stafford, I mean, would the results have been different?
I would I would say, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:19:22):
Well, where I would differ with you on this argument
is this, you're basically tying a coach to the development
of a young player. Sure, sometimes their talent is so
supreme they can actually develop their talent in spite of coaching.

Speaker 3 (02:19:36):
That's true to me.

Speaker 2 (02:19:37):
We've seen great players that have had bad coaches. We've
seen bad coaches elevate their stature because somehow they're tied
to a great player, no doubt, when they had very
little to do anything with the development of player.

Speaker 3 (02:19:50):
Hang on a second, then special things happen like Bill
Belichick pairs with a Tom Brady.

Speaker 2 (02:19:57):
Right, and if anything, he had had eighty six seasons
as a coach, five in.

Speaker 3 (02:20:02):
Cleveland and won in in New England.

Speaker 2 (02:20:04):
He had had five losing seasons in six years before
the two thousand and one season. That's not exactly screaming
Hall of fame.

Speaker 3 (02:20:12):
Did he or did he not? Take Cleveland from an
absolute laughing stock to a playoff team during his time in.

Speaker 2 (02:20:17):
Cleveland took He had three losing years, then he had
one winning year, and then he had a losing year.
That was his five year run in Cleveland and his
first year in New England. They went from a team
that had a winning record the year before to a
losing season.

Speaker 3 (02:20:29):
What was his record as a defensive coordinator? Well, then
he was working under Parcel.

Speaker 2 (02:20:33):
Come on, don't tie that coordinator because you know there's
a lot of great A second hang on a secon failed, miserable,
but this one did go, but this one did not.

Speaker 3 (02:20:40):
We're talking about the greatest head coach of all time?

Speaker 2 (02:20:42):
Well, we're talking about the winniest or near winning a
head coach of allt Okay, is he the greatest coach
of all time?

Speaker 3 (02:20:48):
Your splitting hairs on?

Speaker 7 (02:20:49):
Not?

Speaker 3 (02:20:49):
Andy Reid worked on homegrown staff. Andy Reid was a
great coordinator he went on to be a great NFL
head coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, got a lot out
of those teams, and then when paired with an elite
level court back, help develop him into the pro that
he is, and that's Patrick Mahomes and he's won multiple
championships in Kansas City. Greg Popovich has a long standing
and well regarded career for building championship teams but also

(02:21:14):
developing play But he also.

Speaker 2 (02:21:15):
Had the timing being an executive with a Spurs organization,
no doubt to put himself in the position of head
coach win David Robinson and then Dunck.

Speaker 3 (02:21:24):
However, are you arguing he's a great he's not a
great coach? Is that your argument?

Speaker 2 (02:21:29):
My argument is this, you were trying to make the
argument that you question whether Chad Homeran would develop at
the same rate as a Wembam Nyama because you don't
know any dance about the five coach as opposed to
what you call a proven coach.

Speaker 3 (02:21:46):
I said, if I were asked to put money on
it to bet which player is going to have a
more stable.

Speaker 2 (02:21:52):
Well, you can put your money on it. I'm not
putting much, Okay, that's fine, And Listen, that's very different.

Speaker 3 (02:21:57):
Is a proven set to his basketball team in program,
and they just gave him a five year contract. Victor
Wena the most recent can't miss prospect.

Speaker 2 (02:22:09):
We've had a few of those. Yeah, there's Noan Williamson
was it can't miss too. And by the way, who
was his head coach over the time in in in
New Orleans. But the reason can't name it because it's
not Greg Popovich. Yeah, here is the coach. The problem
that he's only played one hundred and fourteen.

Speaker 3 (02:22:24):
Oh, there's other, There's there's other, there's other factors, the
injuries and all that. But my point is this, if
Victor wen Benyama stays healthy, which by the way, chet
Holmgren hasn't proved to be able to do as an
NBA has.

Speaker 2 (02:22:34):
But I'm saying right now in the moment, and by
the way, I'm gonna use your argument players, Zion Williams
sin was a can't miss what's holding back injury?

Speaker 3 (02:22:42):
What has chet Holmgren already had injury? Yes, okay, so
my money's on the right horse.

Speaker 2 (02:22:47):
The onlyma on his first game is he was tired.

Speaker 3 (02:22:53):
Tired, Well, he had aged nineteen. If you were if
you and he seven man, if you were harassed by
the nineties pop star, you'd be tired too. I mean,
he you saw the.

Speaker 2 (02:23:03):
Believe did she actually think anyone around him would even.

Speaker 3 (02:23:06):
Know who she is? Nobody is?

Speaker 7 (02:23:09):
I mean?

Speaker 2 (02:23:10):
And by the way, she honestly believe like I'm Britney
Spears and like anyone would acknowledge having any idea who
she is surrounded by Wemby.

Speaker 3 (02:23:20):
How would Wemby know who hurt? Who she is? Oops?
She did it guy exactly. It was unbelievable. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:23:27):
Let's find out what's trending right now. Now here's someone
the every one knows. Like if Moncey were to come
up from behind Wemby and Yama Yes to say hello, Yes,
you would not be backhand. She would she would get
the picture. I would guess, you're not going to believe
who's here? Moncey's here.

Speaker 3 (02:23:44):
She would get swung on and the arm of the
security guard would miss her by. Yeah, liked several feelts.

Speaker 6 (02:23:50):
I know I would just react and duck and not
get hurting.

Speaker 2 (02:23:55):
You know they said that she hit herself. I didn't
see that.

Speaker 5 (02:23:58):
I didn't think.

Speaker 3 (02:23:59):
I'm going to show you the video though I thought it.

Speaker 2 (02:24:01):
I mean I watched a video several times. It was
obviously that someone brushed her a sw correct. I mean,
there was no intent other than you're a very strange
woman that we have no clue who you are, and
we don't want you to touch right Wimby, right right.

Speaker 5 (02:24:18):
In front of other security of.

Speaker 3 (02:24:20):
When she push like, I'm I'm Britney Spears. Let me
get to this.

Speaker 6 (02:24:25):
Obviously they know who she was, and I can only
imagine that it didn't go as.

Speaker 5 (02:24:29):
Bad because she was a girl, because she cut through
some of the guys. You could tell.

Speaker 2 (02:24:34):
But as far as her, I'm going to show you
the hit by Wimby or hitting herself.

Speaker 3 (02:24:39):
Now watch this. I'm gonna slow it down for you.
Here we go, and this is the moment of contact you.
So here comes the arm. You see where her arm is.
Her arm gets smacked up and into her own face. Okay, back, do.

Speaker 6 (02:24:54):
You see the emotion now, because I also I didn't
notice it in just the regular vide to the left.

Speaker 2 (02:24:58):
But she's already worked her way through a couple of
like she's already pushed her way through a couple Oh no, no.

Speaker 3 (02:25:03):
Yea, let me tell you, okay, even if it was
immediately discernible that this was Britney Spears, you would have
no idea if your back was turned to her and
all of a sudden somebody who apparently allegedly was speaking
to him in an English accent.

Speaker 2 (02:25:17):
Oh, I mean you got somebody that is pushing her
way through security to get to this guy.

Speaker 3 (02:25:23):
Their reaction was which why there were no charges? Correct?

Speaker 5 (02:25:27):
Agreed?

Speaker 6 (02:25:27):
I agree with you right before you started the segment,
because I didn't know what you were going to talk about.

Speaker 5 (02:25:33):
You hit you?

Speaker 6 (02:25:33):
You teased right, yes, And I told the fellas I
was like, I'm going to say this before.

Speaker 5 (02:25:37):
He starts talking. He's about to talk about chet Holmgren.
I'm calling it. He'll be the rookie of the year.

Speaker 6 (02:25:42):
I literally said that, did you really before you started talking?

Speaker 3 (02:25:45):
Can I? Can? I? I want to.

Speaker 2 (02:25:46):
I want to get a trade proposal for you your clippers, okay,
in order to get Damian Lillard. Okay, this is your
trade Norman Palell, Marcus Morris, Senior, Terence Man a mere
coffee and the future first.

Speaker 5 (02:26:00):
Round pick to get Damian Lillard.

Speaker 2 (02:26:02):
To get Damian Littler dollar Dame, you're giving up Norman Powell,
that one Marcus Moore, Errence Man, a mere Coffee in
a future first round pick.

Speaker 5 (02:26:12):
Terrence Man and Norman Powell hurt.

Speaker 6 (02:26:15):
No, Marcus Morris, No, and a mere Coffee is young?

Speaker 5 (02:26:18):
You know he has potential.

Speaker 2 (02:26:19):
How would you see assuming that Kawhi Leonard and Paul
George have rarely been seen together on the court, right,
actually showed up for a game with Damien, like the
three of them.

Speaker 5 (02:26:29):
Actually in the game.

Speaker 3 (02:26:30):
I think they may. I think Kawhi Leonard and Paul
George may be the same person.

Speaker 2 (02:26:35):
Because I've never actually I've never been together or something.

Speaker 3 (02:26:39):
Crazy numbers. I think they're actually one guy.

Speaker 5 (02:26:43):
That's Goodman.

Speaker 3 (02:26:44):
Yeah it is. It's Bruce Wayne and it's Batman. They
are one in the same. I just made a trade
for you.

Speaker 5 (02:26:51):
I'm not against it. I'm not against it, but it
wouldn't be I'm.

Speaker 2 (02:26:54):
Not the number he could actually pull that trade off.

Speaker 6 (02:26:57):
Yeah, yeah, no, I would not be totally against it.

Speaker 5 (02:27:00):
Real quick, guys, we're talking about hazing.

Speaker 6 (02:27:02):
Yes, I've been playing my whole life sports.

Speaker 5 (02:27:05):
You know I experienced hazing. I also experience hazing when
I joined my sorority.

Speaker 6 (02:27:09):
Yes, and what they did to us, to all the
new girls we had. We had a huge story house
and we had like a like a den, like a
separate room where we have our meetings. So they made
us all, you know, spend the night together, all the
new girls, and they were like, everything's fine.

Speaker 5 (02:27:24):
We knew nothing was gonna be fine.

Speaker 3 (02:27:26):
We knew.

Speaker 5 (02:27:26):
So what they did, like I don't know. It was
like three in the morning, they had.

Speaker 6 (02:27:30):
Frat guys come and just bang on the walls around
our room where we were staying. It's scared, but Jesus
out of all of us, like it was so terrifying,
and yet we laugh about it now. Yeah, we think
about it, you know what I'm saying. Like we knew
something was gonna happen, We didn't know what, you know

(02:27:51):
what I mean.

Speaker 3 (02:27:51):
And let me ask it was the outcome of this
like something that scarred you for life? Or did it
build lasting bonds with people who you really are?

Speaker 5 (02:27:58):
You know, we laugh about it. We still laugh about it, you.

Speaker 3 (02:28:01):
Know, somezing across the line. There's no doubt, there's there's
but but to me, it's like alcohol, Yes, as long
as if you do.

Speaker 2 (02:28:08):
It, certainly, any moderation is a gold nation and I'm
sure or forced.

Speaker 3 (02:28:12):
Consumption of alcohol. I was gonna say, just like alcohol,
just like hazing. I'm sure you guys handled your alcohol
with moderation at the sorority house.

Speaker 6 (02:28:21):
Never over in for ever, of course, ever, no, no, no,
just some some people scream, maybe somebody you know, how.

Speaker 5 (02:28:27):
To use the restroom unexpectedly. But that's the worst of it.
That was the worst of it.

Speaker 6 (02:28:31):
Let's go on to Major League Baseball because the Orioles
are hot, fifteen to two against the Twins.

Speaker 5 (02:28:36):
It's the bottom of the seventh inning.

Speaker 6 (02:28:38):
The last I checked, they had seven homers in this
victory so far.

Speaker 5 (02:28:42):
The Cubs and the Yankees were tied. Then it was
the rain delay.

Speaker 6 (02:28:45):
Now they're back in a Chicago up six to four.
In the Bronx bottom of the eighth inning, the Ray
snapped their seven game losing streak.

Speaker 5 (02:28:51):
They beat the Braves ten to four. Was the final score.

Speaker 6 (02:28:55):
Cardinals and White Sox are currently tied at three apiece.

Speaker 5 (02:28:57):
Bottom of the ninth inning, and let's.

Speaker 6 (02:28:59):
See how well is it over Officially the Blue Jays
were losing, they went to extra innings, and it may officially.

Speaker 5 (02:29:05):
Be over all.

Speaker 6 (02:29:06):
They ended up coming out on top of the Blue
Jays were losing to the Tigers, Denny Jensen hit a home.

Speaker 5 (02:29:12):
Run in the ninth inning to tie the game.

Speaker 6 (02:29:13):
They officially beat the Tigers in ten innings, four to three,
and the Birds beat the.

Speaker 5 (02:29:17):
Reds one zero.

Speaker 6 (02:29:18):
So now Milwaukee is one game back of Cincinnati for
the top spot in the n L Central.

Speaker 5 (02:29:24):
Guys, it's been fun.

Speaker 2 (02:29:26):
It has been as always, Antia, I gotta share a story.
So I actually, when I was at UCLA, I had
no intention of ever joining a fraternity. But a buddy
of mine and my band dire Need the Drummer, he
and I found out about a fraternity that had actually
dissolved on the UCLA campus. And what intrigued us about

(02:29:49):
this fraternity is the fraternity house that they had lived
in back in the day was the only frat house
that was on Sorority Row. So Sorority Row is on
one side of the UCLA campus and the fraternity rows
on the other side. So we found out more so,
we called the national chapter of this fraternity to find
out how can we reinstall this fraternity at UCLA. And

(02:30:15):
so they said you had to have certain number of
members right and everything else. So we're literally walking the
campus picking out people that would never be considered for
any fraternity anywhere, right, and like, how would you like
to be in a frat? So we finally got all
the guys together. We got enough people together, and now
it's going to be the national people come in as

(02:30:36):
they're going to, you know, bring us into the frat.
And so what they told us we were going to
do was they give us these points about the fraternity
and you had to memorize them, and then you were
going to have a set amount of time to stand
in front of everybody.

Speaker 3 (02:30:52):
To say it.

Speaker 2 (02:30:53):
So we're all practicing, and we were told you were
going to have like a minute to read, and so
we really and it was you really had to know it.
You had to memorize it to get it in in
a minute. So they would bring us in one at
a time. So I was like the tenth person into
the room and I can see the other nine guys
are all there, they've all passed, and I'm you know,
I'm a big memory guy anyway, so I'm just like,

(02:31:15):
I got this like nothing. So I start rattling it
off and all of a sudden, I'm about I still
got another two or three points. They are like time,
and the guys are sitting there like, I'm like time.
They're like, yeah, you're minutes up. You didn't make it.

(02:31:35):
Oh no, I'm like, and I got the other nine
guys who've been hanging out, and I'm like doing this
walk of shit. Your excuse and I'm like doing this
walk of shame. And just as I'm about to walk out,
like now you're okay, man, we only gave you thirty seconds.
So as I got near the end and I was
going faster, they said than anybody else, they had to

(02:31:57):
cut it off to make sure I wouldn't finish. I
felt so devastated, but it worked, like yeah, and they
did it to every single person.

Speaker 3 (02:32:07):
They did the same thing.

Speaker 2 (02:32:08):
Just when they thought they were about to get to
the finish line, they would say time, and everyone else
is sitting there like, oh dude, you're the only guy
that didn't make it.

Speaker 3 (02:32:18):
I thought it was brilliant.

Speaker 2 (02:32:19):
It really worked good wellcause you felt like, yeah, I failed, Yeah,
you know, and it was obviously harmless, but it sort
of worked.

Speaker 3 (02:32:28):
Look, every team I played on made rookies sing or
made rookies perform skits for the veterans. On the team
or the upper classmen on the team and the coaches
and the staff and everybody, And it's humiliating, but like
you're doing it together as a group, and again, it
helps establish bonds absolutely. You know, you go back and

(02:32:50):
you talk to some of the guys that you were
with your rookie year, and all of a sudden, the
story comes up about the night before the rookie performance
where you're all huddled together in a conference room at
a residence in in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Like, what the hell
are we gonna do to entertain these idiots? Like it?
It's it's a bonding thing. And there's there's no doubt that. Again, hazing,

(02:33:13):
not all hazing's great. It's just it's just not all great.
But when it's when it's effectively done and it's done
with appropriate moderation, it can be a real positive to
your culture. Again, I mean, going back to what happened
in Northwestern I don't one hundred percent and nobody one
hundred percent knows what went down there. The reports aren't

(02:33:33):
looking good though. That whistleblower account is not is not
a glowing account. But if there's more to this story,
I'd like to hear it before jumping to conclusions.

Speaker 2 (02:33:43):
All right, we gotta bring us a play of the
day kind of we'll put a rap on this edition
of Fox Sports Sunday to two. Swinging the ball hit
off the end of the bat to left center field,
over and back is Harri's.

Speaker 3 (02:33:56):
To the wall gone.

Speaker 2 (02:33:59):
That's Raise Radio Network. What a year it's been for
Tampa Bay. And that is our Progressive play of the Day,
brought to by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
Get a multi policy discount by combined your motorcycle, RV, boat,
a TV and more all your protection one place. Bundle
in say at Progressive dot Com. Steve Harbin, Rich Ornberger,

(02:34:20):
Fox Sports Sunday, we are live from the tire Rack
dot Com studios. We cannot do the show alone. We
get an insane amount of help from everyone here. Chris
on the board doing the full show. Full show, Chris,
because a lot of times we see you for an
hour or two hours, and full full four incredible.

Speaker 3 (02:34:39):
How was it incredible? For Yeah, it was a unique experience. Yes,
like that.

Speaker 2 (02:34:44):
That's a very welcome, benign answer. And that's perfect unique
and insane.

Speaker 3 (02:34:48):
Pop so I don't get fined thing. It was a
it was an illuminating time period of my life.

Speaker 2 (02:34:56):
Yes, something I will never forget. I haven't even checked
my Twitter account as we thank a Mansi for her
immense contribution.

Speaker 3 (02:35:05):
Oh no, yeah, they've been talking about her the entire shows. Yeah,
that's that's pretty standard. Yeah show. Yeah, which is good.
That's a good thing. Monsi. We are second and third banana.

Speaker 5 (02:35:15):
Yeah, at least we're all bananas.

Speaker 2 (02:35:17):
Do you have any days off?

Speaker 5 (02:35:22):
I think I have Tuesday. No, no, Wednesday. Wednesday might
be a off day.

Speaker 3 (02:35:31):
That means she's not. She's working on Wednesday as well.

Speaker 5 (02:35:33):
No, no, no, I can't. I don't think so. I have
to think about hearing the Dodgers guys. It's also two
different schedules.

Speaker 3 (02:35:38):
She is also she's lying to us, and she's a
known liar.

Speaker 2 (02:35:42):
What is this about a party in the Hamptons that
you ever?

Speaker 6 (02:35:46):
Yeah, no, we weren't invited to probably like the hottest
party of the summer.

Speaker 5 (02:35:50):
But it's fine. No, it's fine.

Speaker 6 (02:35:52):
They were saying you guys were salty, and I responded,
I was like, I think I'm the salty one.

Speaker 3 (02:35:56):
I'm not being invited.

Speaker 2 (02:35:58):
Yeah, yeah, I have a story of Sharre Layer.

Speaker 3 (02:36:01):
We'll both save it for another day.

Speaker 2 (02:36:03):
And of course Bo is our brilliant producer here that Hey,
I want to ask you, guys, is anybody like committed
to watching the Baseball All Star Game?

Speaker 1 (02:36:12):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (02:36:13):
Dude, yeah, yeah, especially the home run derby.

Speaker 2 (02:36:16):
Yeah, I'm not talking about the homeown I'm talking about
the actual game.

Speaker 3 (02:36:20):
I'm gonna watch every minute of it. Yeah, I watch
parts of the game.

Speaker 5 (02:36:24):
I'll watch.

Speaker 3 (02:36:24):
Yeah, I'll watch it. I'll watch for like I.

Speaker 2 (02:36:27):
Like the introductions, although for I mean seriously, I mean
there's probably I'm looking at these updated rosters with all
the substitution. I mean, there is a good fifteen to
twenty guys right right that I would never be.

Speaker 3 (02:36:40):
Able to pick out. Am I am going to have
literally no idea. One of my favorite games, which is
name an All Star? Oh and it's and it gets
really tricky, really fast, and.

Speaker 6 (02:36:51):
You take a drink every time you don't know, yeah
who is that All Star?

Speaker 3 (02:36:56):
And you're not allowed to look at the little chevron
at the bottom of the screen. You have to just
get the picture and name that player. Yeah, I mean, look,
what's absurd is in the NFL people wear helmets, and
people know more NFL players than they do baseball players.

Speaker 2 (02:37:12):
I used to cover the All Star Game, you know,
for radio pretty much every year, and then I remember
in two thousand and four, we were in Houston for
the All Star Game, and I'm down on the field
during the home run derby, and I'm looking around and
literally realizing there are guys I have no idea who
they are that are wearing some kind of All Star jersey.

(02:37:32):
I mean, I see Jeter, and I see a Rod,
you know, I see the usuals. And then I'm like,
those batting helmets hide a lot of hair sometimes, oh yeah,
like sometimes like even more than a football helmet. I
don't know how it's possible, but like when I think
of when I first saw Miguel Cabrera without a batting helmet,
I'm like, oh, oh, his hair is kind of curly. Yeah, okay,
that's And then some guys will take off the batting

(02:37:53):
helmet and just the locks will fall out, yeah, or
they're covering Harmon Killerbrew one of the greatest home run
hitters history of baseball.

Speaker 3 (02:38:00):
He was one of my favorite players with the Twins.

Speaker 2 (02:38:03):
I never saw him without a cap and the one
time I saw him, like, like, this guy is completely bald,
Like he has no hair and he's like twenty five
years old and he's completely bald.

Speaker 3 (02:38:14):
He didn't really affect me. It was just like, my
question is when when George Jung, Yes of the Texas
Rangers thanks to the place, So are you are you
gonna be able to contain your excitement?

Speaker 9 (02:38:25):
One of my most favorite curses in all of sports
is the Curse of Colonel Sanders over in Japan, and
it stems from basically like they couldn't tell Randy Bass
from a from a statue of Colonel Sanders and that, Like,
I think this is a problem as long as baseball
has been around. For whatever reason, we just don't know
guys faces, No.

Speaker 3 (02:38:45):
I mean, Chris, are you going to be flabbergasted when
Jonaheim gets his first a bat.

Speaker 2 (02:38:54):
Is heard of him? He's the start, He's the starting
catch here. No, he's a ranger, Okay, the Nias was
a Ranger, right, He is a Texas Ranger. By the way,
you know he's having an amazing comeback. Managerial year is
Bruce Bochie?

Speaker 3 (02:39:11):
Can I ask you first place, when when when Framber
Valdez yes, comes out Framber Valdez actually probably okay, But
when he comes out, you're gonna know him by fair.
I think he's been.

Speaker 2 (02:39:25):
He did, he did, he he bowed out because he
pitched five days before the game, and he cannot be
bothered by being I'll tell you this.

Speaker 3 (02:39:34):
I'm excited. Yeah, So you're gonna be watching every minute.
I know your boys will be there huddled up with dad.
We're gonna just be taking out our baseball cards and
are what do they call him, our our non fungible token.

Speaker 2 (02:39:47):
You know, you and your wife and great athletes. I
can't wait to talk about the athletic future of both
your sons.

Speaker 3 (02:39:52):
We'll do that.

Speaker 2 (02:39:53):
This is Fox Sports Sunday,

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Jonas Knox

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