July 17, 2026 • 36 mins
Monse and Buck in for Stugotz and the guys as they react to Adam Silver's comment about Caitlin Clark being a political football. Monse and Buck talk about Lebron James and why he is drawing this decision out. Plus, the NFL wants to go to more foreign cities.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Plea's give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
What's up?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Everybody?
Speaker 5 (00:27):
Happy Friday, Hour two of Stu Gotson Company Live. I
am Manci Bolanos. He is Bluck Rising. We're hanging out
with you on this Friday. We've got Jason Stewart, our producer.
We've got iOS Sam on the ones. End two's Isaac Lowencron.
You just heard his update, Which'm gonna have a question
about golf when we talked to him about thirty minutes Again, Buck,
because I did not understand about this Bryson Deshambo standing
(00:49):
on walking over grass and I gotta I gott ask
him a question after But Buck, before we get into it,
let's real quick.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Let me tell you about FIFA World Cup.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Yeah, we got the two matches coming up this weekend.
Upgrade your FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six. Set up
build it like Beckham from living room to lawn with
the Home Depot and take the fast free delivery assists
the Home Depot Official FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six Supporter,
Subject to availability. We are going to talk about Kaitlin
Clark in the comments that Adam Silver said about Kaitlyn
Clark Buck, But I I just want to wrap up
(01:20):
what we were just talking about with Dabo Sweeney, the
head coach of Clemson, and his comments that were just
made in case he wanted to let it out a
little bit more.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
But my question to.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
You is to wrap it up because I agree with
everything you said. That is, I don't know how you
say both things in the same sentence of not necessarily
needing to win another title.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
But that he wants to win more than anybody. I
don't get how that works.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
If he is playing this game of dare of I
dare you to fire me? And let's say Clemson does
fire him. Do you think Buck, that there would be
teams lining up to talk to Dabo Sweeney?
Speaker 6 (01:57):
No, No, why the hell did anybody want to talk
to Dabo after the way that he's behaved?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Well, you know he just told you I won two titles.
I've won eleven Conference.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
J The last time he won a title, Montson, I
couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you, correct.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
I mean, I mean, it's it's not been like one
hundred years ago, but it's in it's an entirely different
world of college football that he won his titles in.
You know what I'm saying, Dabbo people, there would be
interest in Dabbo. I'm not going to act like he would.
He would be some kind of pariah that never worked
in college football again. But if I'm if, I'm a
(02:34):
program who is trying to get, who is trying to
be on the forefront of nil, who is trying to
find different ways to win within the margins. Because now
that's a part of college football, and it was always
a part of college football and college athletics generally, but
we understand that the game has has changed in so
many different ways, and at every turn, Dabo has beat
(02:58):
his chest and no, I'm not not only am I ignorant,
not only am I unwilling, I'm proudly ignorant and unwilling.
I am beating my chest at a podium to tell
you that I'm this great thing from essentially a different era.
I know that's kind of a crazy thing to say,
(03:18):
because it's I don't know when when was the Supreme
Court ruling on nil Is, Probably six years ago, maybe five,
maybe a little more than five, somewhere in that area.
So to say a completely different era of college sports
about an era that was five years ago, maybe he's
a little extreme, but like the college athletics landscape has
changed almost annually since then, and especially with as few
(03:40):
guardrails as we have. I want somebody who's who's proactive.
I want somebody who's hungry. I don't want I don't
want to complacent coach who's citing titles from ten years ago.
I cannot I cannot fathom what's going through his head.
And that, like, I don't hate Daboswinty, like may say,
it may sound like I've got some kind of grudge
towards the guy, harbor some level of ill will. No,
(04:02):
I'm just I'm just disappointed in him. It's like the
famous thing when your parents say, I'm not mad, I'm disappointed,
disappointed almost worse, I'm I'm I'm not getting mad at
Dabo anymore, because he's just he just perpetually shooting himself
in a foot, Because what happens if they don't ever
get back to the mountaintop that Dabbo keeps citing that
they've been to. He's still going to have program records
(04:24):
as far as accomplishments. He's he is going to go
down as the best coach in Clemson football history. There's
there's no disputing that. But you cannot rest on your laurels.
This is a sport.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
This is a.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
Profession even around sports, sports media. Any any level of
competitive business, whether you're talking about private equity, whether you're
talking about AI like, whatever industry you're working in right now,
it is highly competitive. You have to want it more
than the other person who's competing to do the thing
(04:56):
that you're trying to do but faster and better and smarter,
because they want to capitalize on it, they want to
cash in. And these are incredibly lucrative jobs, incredibly lucrative
jobs beyond the parks that come with being a power
for head coach and things of that nature. And Dabbo
for some reason, and he's not completely wrong in everything
(05:18):
that he's done because he is he is going to
be remembered as a success no matter how. This flames
out at the end, And it does feel like it's
flaming out, not just because of how unbelievably underwhelming relative
to expectation their season was.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
But he's in one of those situations.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
And Tony Gonzalez, I think aired when he was talking
about Russell Wilson this past football season on Amazon Prime
and he said something to the effect of Russell Wilson's
playing himself all out of the Hall of Fame, And
I thought that was a little.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Bit of an extreme comment.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
I don't necessarily know that Russ was in to begin with,
but like Dabbo, feels like a better case of no,
you're hurting yourself at every turn to your detriment, to
your legacy's detriment, because you just won't stop shaking your
fist at a cloud.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Everything you said is so on the money, And especially
now that I've seen schools not care about firing someone
in the buyout, like what I'm telling you, it seems
like he's he's daring them to fire him.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
What's Jimbo was on the table for what was it
like eighty five million dollars. Yeah, in college sports history,
like what's what's the Jimbo buyout was on the table?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Anybody can get fired at any time, right.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
So I'm with you. I don't know what he's thinking
in these comments. But we'll see what happens this season
for Clemson and their football team, and we'll see what
happens with Dabo Sweeney if he's their coach by the
end of the season. But let's pivot here back to
Adam Silver once again, except this time he had different comments,
not about his superstar in the NBA, but a star
(06:51):
in the WNBA, whether you like to admit it or not,
Caitlin Clark describing her as a political football some of
the quotes that he said that it's become a political
ping pong with her, and she's a young woman who's
trying to improve her game. This obviously has to do
with the officiating everything that's been happening lately with Caitlyn Clark.
(07:13):
And I am a fan of Kaitlyn Clark buck. I
am not a mega fan of Kaitlyn Clark, but I
am a fan of hers. In fact, I have an
Iowa Kaitlyn Clark shirt that Iowa Sam gave me and
sometimes we're twinsies and we wear them on the same day.
So I am a fan, but it's hard to watch
her antics when she starts complaining to the refs and
acting like a brat. She's having a rough year, her
(07:36):
numbers are down, and you could just she's hurt and
all of this.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
But I do feel that no matter what that.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Girl does or says, it causes an uproar of both sides,
and I don't know how that changes. I don't think
it changes with fixing the officiating. I don't think it
changes by getting a new commissioner. I think that I
think we're kind of stuck in this, and I don't
don't know how we get out of it, whether she
becomes all of a sudden her like shooting goes back
(08:04):
to being awesome beyond the arch shooting from the logo
and all that. I don't know if like winning will
change it, because it's she's so it's such a political
take with her.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
There's it's never gray with her.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
It's black and white, and it's extremely black and white.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
The So I'm I'm from Indiana, I went to I
went to Indiana. I'm a I'm a Pacers fan. IU
basketball fan. I just recently discovered that we had a
football program. The first IU football game I went to
was the Peach Bowl, the Peach Bowl semi final, and
then I went to the National Championship. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
But I'm rooting for Caitlin Clark once she joined the Fever,
(08:48):
I as a as a fan of her team and
her by extension, am just exhausted by her.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
But it's not her.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
It's not I'm exhausted by the situation, and I think
at every turn the best thing that I can say
about her is any time she makes a statement on it,
and she's had to do this several times because to
your point, it has not abated at all. It just
keeps getting louder and louder and more vicious every time.
And that's a product of the Internet and Internet discourse
and all the different things that makes sports and things
(09:20):
around sports, or politics for that matter, toxic as hell.
The dialogue, the discourse around her is exhausting and never ending.
And frankly, if I'm Adam Silver, Adam Silver's correct in
that she's being used as a political football because there
was a number and listen, it's not necessarily about one
side or the other here, But it does just so
(09:43):
happen that there were a number of I believe it
was Republican lawmakers who were petitioning the WNBA to come
out and make significant changes as far as the way
that Caitlin Clark was being treated. They feel that they
felt that she has been and this is not a
no an unpopular talking point, but it felt like a
political grift to kind of capitalize on the fact that
(10:04):
Caitlin Clark is being fouled regularly and recently Alissa Thomas
Gott suspended for the foul that was should have been
a flagrant Yeah, fist to the throat essentially, I mean
it was. There's been a lot of things that that
could be debated this way. But you are also seeing
now parties who are not actually interested in the well
(10:25):
being of Caitlin Clark or the health of the w
NBA now jumping in on the conversation because it is
politically convenient for them to do so. And I also
think that the same tact is being taken on the
other side of the conversation, which is, if you want
to make her a villain, you can make her a
villion a villain quite easily depending on if you're if
you're willing to actually listen to her or not.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Nobody's actually listening to her. In the middle of all
of this.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
People people are are having conversations around her, and then
when she speaks about the conversations being had around her,
people put that to this, put that to the side,
and just continue the shouting match on whatever side of
the argument that they were on in the first place.
Adam Silver is correct and that she's being used as
a political football. But I bet, and this would be
(11:10):
reckless speculation on my part, of course, I bet, though
if you got him in an honest moment, I bet
he doesn't want that to go away. She drives numbers
in ways that no other single player. I might argue
that she drives numbers more for her sport than any
other single player drives numbers for their respective sport right now,
(11:33):
just the wide margin between her fever games and everybody
else in the WNBA right now, as far as viewing
habits go, I bet if I'm Kathy Ingelbert or Adam
Silver or any of these people who are I mean,
in the case of Engelbert supposed to be governing their
league and doing so in just horrible, terrible fashion and
(11:54):
outright detriment.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
To her league.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
As far as I'm concerned with the commissioner of the WNBA,
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'll comment on the noise.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
I'll pooh pooh and and wag my finger at the
people who are doing the bad thing and yelling and
screaming and shouting on either side of things. But in
the in the dark, quiet moments of my private of
my private mind, if I'm Adam Silver or Kathy Engelbert,
I'm sitting there thinking, no, louder, louder, more more, because
(12:22):
it keeps interest, it keeps attention, it keeps eyeballs, not
necessarily for the right reason. But they're in the business
of visibility and monetizing that visibility, and they are able
to do so at an incredibly high rate with her,
especially given the nature of the polariz the polarization around her.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Nobody moves the needle for their sport the way Caitlin
Clark still does. That is that is one hundred percent true.
And man, I honestly didn't even think of it the
way you just put the way you just put that
out there, of them not wanting this to change, like
they don't. You're right, why do they want this to change?
This is bringing in all the numbers, all the conversations.
(12:58):
She still people are still going to see her play,
whether it's because you want to see Kitlin Clark because
you love her or you hate her, and so them
pretending that, oh, yeah, we got to fix this, when
in reality, you're probably right, they're probably not doing anything
because they haven't done anything. The officiating was something that
they could have tried to fix, I think pretty quickly
by just even speaking to these to these officials of
(13:20):
like you, cau's gotta we gotta tighten it up, Like
it seems as though they do want this to continue
to happen. And that's that's awful because eventually I do
think it's going to turn people fully away from the
WNBA Because you said you're exhausted. I'm exhausted, and I
don't I'm a fan, but I'm exhausted.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
And even having any discussion with.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
A person of Kitlyn Clark, it always gets so just
to one side or the other, and you're like, I
actually just wanted to talk about her shooting personage because
I think she's like not.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Doing so hot.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I didn't really want to start arguing like you can't
do you can't have a normal conversation about Kaitlyn Clark
our exact. I get a producer, Jason Stewart, you want
to jump in on this.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
I know you. You tuned into the WNBA because of
Kaitlyn Clark.
Speaker 7 (14:07):
Absolutely. I watched my first WNBA game because of her.
I fell in love with her and her antics and
her attitude. And now I'm getting to the point where
I can't stand it. But I do have a question
for both of you. So you know when politics, as
you guys are discussing, since Adam Silver brought politics into this,
I kind of want to make this analogy. Nobody from
(14:28):
the political theater standpoint, the people that talk about politics
make money off political content, the pundits, you know, the operators.
Nobody really wants fixes to these major problems, like nobody
really wants a fix to immigration. Nobody wants a fix
to healthcare, because then they would have nothing for their
side to complain about, nothing for their side to make
(14:51):
money talking about. Doesn't not feel like Caitlin Clark is
that in sports, most of the content that we put out,
if you put out anything care when cark it gets numbers.
That's a fact, no matter what you say, because somebody
is going to agree with you times ten, and then
somebody's going to disagree with you times ten. To the
point where as you said, you were exhausted by it.
(15:13):
But don't you feel like she's in that realm of
our sports space?
Speaker 6 (15:18):
Oh yeah, I think that's the point I just made.
Or earlier you're talking about Adam Silver, Wayne Louder, you know, like,
I think that's exactly the direction that they want this
thing to go again. Reckless speculation on my part, but
I don't think it's that hard to figure out.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's like when Jerry.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Jones is talking about bad publicity versus good publicity, and
he's for all publicity, right, Jar Jared didn't care. Jerry
wants you watching, listening, interacting, commenting, liking, clicking.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Whatever, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
As much and as often around the Dallas Cowboys as
humanly possible, because that's good for the brand. That as
long as the brand is strong, then the program can
continue to be strong, even if the thing hadn't won
a Super Bowl since the nineties. Right, And we all
treat it as if it's something that should be respected
as a professional perpetual rual contender. It's the noise around
these things. You want to keep that noise as loud
(16:05):
and as turned up as humanly possible if you can,
because that is the way to further your level of engagement.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You'll reach it ultimately your ability to monetize this thing.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
But the difference with the Cowboys, even though I do
agree with you that we always talk about the cowboys,
the cowboy.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
On a slow news day, you can always just talk.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
About the cowboys, right like you just bring them in,
and Jerry Jones loves that. But it's so different because
I've said I was like people, now I feel like,
tune into the WNBA. I wouldn't have said this two
years ago when she first joined, but I feel like
now you tune in because it's it's almost you're in
for the gossip, You're in for the trash talk. It's
like watching a bad reality TV show. It's like watching
(16:44):
The Bachelorette, like I'm gonna watch it, but I'm watching
it because it's trash television. And I feel like that's
the way the WNB is going, and that can't be
good for long term.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I don't know. I mean in trash TV, sustainable, sustainable.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
But sports is not trash television. It's not supposed to be.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
I would you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't
think the Cowboys are are trash television.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It's just I don't. I don't. I don't think that.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I'm I'm talking about the Cowboys in a gossip ye way.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Oh, I think people do tend to write. I think
Jerry Jerry loves the gossip, right, That's the whole purpose
around it. The Jerry Jones think came out on Netflix
last year or HBO.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Remember, yes, which the streaming platforms?
Speaker 6 (17:27):
Right? Which is which is Jerry gossip? It's cowboys gossip right,
like we are? I think honestly, Manci, I think sports
is at every turn trying to take a page at
of reality television's playbook, because I think that's the way
to further grow it beyond just the product on the field. Right,
Like I'm I'm being harassed because I have no interest
in watching quarterback.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Okay, it's the Netflix.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
And the quarterback that I cover, cam Ward for the
Tennessee Titans, is one of the four quarterbacks being featured.
I've never watched Quarterback in any of the three seasons
that they've done. I think I've seen an episode and
a half of Receiver the one year that they did.
It didn't really hold my attention, but that's human interest, right.
They're doing football reality television on a regular basis because
(18:12):
they understand there's another audience for that, or there's an
additional audience for that, or that's a different way for
me to keep you captive with this thing that's not
actually being played right now. But I'll still keep your
attention because I've got your football player here, and look,
you get to see him watch film in his home
and go fishing and play with his dog and all
these different things that are completely nonsense and completely you know,
(18:33):
normal human being things. And most quarterbacks are most athletes generally,
and this is not maybe I shouldn't say athletes is
in such a despairing way, but maybe it's more more
about the general population. Most people aren't actually that interesting athletes,
least of which right, because their entire existence is focused
on discipline and making sure that they don't stray from
(18:54):
the path and that they are being as studious as
humanly possible, and all these different things eating lean like
there's very little fun involved outside of the playing the
actual games involved in being a professional athlete.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Like these guys aren't that interesting to me, Joe Burrow.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
People try to turn into some into some kind of
mystical figure or something like that. Joe Burrow's boring as hell.
So I'm looking at this. I'm Brady Brady. Brady is
vastly more interesting after his wife cheated on him with
this jiu jitsu instructor or whatever the hell that was.
And that's not even a Brady interest, Like, that's not
even a personality trade of Brady's, right, it's just a thing,
(19:30):
a TMZ thing that happened to Tom Brady that gets
us all oohing and eyeing, and you know, Netflix roast
jokes and things of that nature. So I think, yeah,
every turn Sports is so willing to lean into the
reality TV element of it because then we're following storylines
that we saw in last season's series of Quarterback, and
then we'll carry that over to the season and Robert
(19:53):
salah mfing Liam Cohen on the field post game and
all these different little things that don't actually matter to
the playing of the games, but will keep us titillated
by them, because again, trash TV sustainable as hell, and
I think there's I think, if anything, the WNBA is
probably gonna lean.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Into it more.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Iowa Sam the biggest Kaitlyn Clark fan here wrap this.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Up for us.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
I am a huge fan, but I recognize what's going
on with her right now. We talked about it, Manci.
The drama for with Kaitlyn Clark might be helping the
WNBA cash in right now. They're counting their money, they
see the engagement, they see the numbers. I don't think
it's sustainable for them long term, and I don't think
it's sustainable for Kaitlyn Clark, like spiritually and mentally like she.
(20:36):
I think if this keeps going like this, she's going
to be completely dried out, exploited, just completely bitter, not
unable to focus on her craft. If this just circus
keeps continuing. And I think, honestly, Jerry Jones would probably
rather win a super Bowl. He'd prefer the gossip and
the tabloid fodder to continue. But if he won a
super Bowl, it'd be like, yeah, we can do all
(20:57):
that fun stuff. It's really it's this stuff is much
more fun and bearable when you're winning. And I've said
I said this yesterday, Kaitlin Clark with the team is
not really a factor. In fact, I think they're losing
more than their winning when she's on the court with them.
So I think if she's going to get chewed up
and spit out if things don't if she doesn't do better,
if the official officiating doesn't do better, and if like
(21:18):
they need to just shift focus off her a little bit,
her numbers need to improve. But this circus as it is,
this front of the grocery checkout line, she's on the
front page of the Globe or the National Inquirer, this
is going to eventually just corrupt her and destroy her
like as a person and as a professional basketball player.
I don't think it's sustainable. I don't think it's healthy.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
I don't think it's sustainable either. And I agree with
what you're saying Buck that, like everybody loves reality television,
I tune in because it's entertaining, but it's also something
where I can just half pay attention to. And I
feel like it's not sustainable in the long term for
the WNBA, in the sense that these people that view
you as reality television or trash television. They're just talking
(22:01):
about you on social media. They're not going to spend
money to go watch you in person. And once that
money stops coming in in that way, then it's just
a joke for social media and they're.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Going to go back to that.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
And that's what. Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe you're right that
this is the way it keeps going. But there's there's
got to be I don't know a little bit. Something's
got to change and in reality and the truth is
I don't see it changing, So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Be sure to catch live editions of Stuve Gotson Company
Live weekdays at three pm Eastern twelve pm Pacific.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
What's up everybody, Happy Friday. Thanks for tuning in to
Fox Sports Radio. It is Stu Gotson Company Live. But
you have Me and Manci Blaanhos and Buck Rising with
you as we have our last thirty minutes left of
the show.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Here Buck we we has a me.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Me and Dan Bayer yesterday about Rising discussed Lebron James
because he was at that Fanatics event and said a
whole lot of nothing about his decision.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And watch.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
In case you missed it. The video is circulating everywhere.
But I basically said a buck that this is why
Lebron is not just universally loved, because he does stuff
like this, holding us the fans and fans of his
more than anything, holding on to every word, every breath
(23:28):
that he is saying for these last couple of days
about where he's gonna go. He's he's toying with us,
he's you know, having fun with it. But in reality,
like this, to me is why he is not universally loved.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
And he is great on the court.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
I think he plays at a high level at this age,
but I can't separate the two.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
So when I look at Lebron, even though I.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Think he's great on the court, I can't not think
about what you're doing off the court in regards to
keeping us all just a waiting because you love attention.
He loves the attention, there's no denying it. But people
were not very happy with my comments Buck, you know,
aside from telling me to go back to the kitchen
or you know, calling me witch with the rhymes with
(24:11):
the witch you know what I'm saying, yeah, or telling
me I'm going to get deported.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Listen, all of that was said to me because of this.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
All right, No, no, it's great, but I don't No, no,
it's fun, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
No, we don't win to like that. We don't. We
don't condone that. We don't. We don't support that under
any service. Of course.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
No, they're they're crazy and tripping, but that I don't care.
It's like you people are tripping when in reality, it's
like you guys. I just said, this is what Lebron
likes to do, and this is what people don't like
about him.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Now, but this is what happens when you go after
sacred cows bonsing, you know. It's just it's just one
of those things I I regularly get feedback of a
negative nature, uh, in terms of the way that I
talk about the team that I cover, Because the team
that I cover is god forsaken and wretched for the
last couple of years, and so we discussed them as such.
And fans don't like to hear that their team is
(25:07):
bad and is doing things wrong, and there's a reason
that they have caused themselves all of these problems that
they've caused themselves. Now, on your point about Lebron being
universally loved, Lebron was never going to be universally loved.
The guy had no shot as far as that goes,
Because Michael Jordan exists, there's always going to be the
contingent of people who look at Michael and look at
(25:29):
Lebron and say, of Lebron, you're less than him.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Even though he is the superior athlete.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
He has had the more impressive career as far as
I'm concerned, because for him to play, he's getting ready
for what his twenty fourth NBA season. I don't think
prior to that, anybody had played a twenty third season
in the NBA. If I'm not mistaken, and he's still
I don't know, you can make an argument in a
lot of different metrics that he's still a top twenty
player by any stretch of the definition. So Lebron on
(25:58):
being universally loved was a losing battle in the first place.
I this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, and I
don't I don't necessarily I understand your perspective. My perspective
on Lebron James's I don't think he owes anybody anything.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I really don't.
Speaker 6 (26:20):
I think if he's enjoying it at forty two years old,
and he wants to, you know, lap up all the
attention and enjoy the speculation and get a rise out
of people. Because, Hey, let me make a bet before
I go on this podcast. How many times do you
think I can say trust the process before somebody thinks
(26:41):
I'm going to Philadelphia in this live audience, right, Like,
let me see how many times I could work it
in there just just for fun?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Well why not?
Speaker 6 (26:47):
And I don't that's I'm not saying that's what he did,
or I know that's what he did. I'm speculating and
things of that nature. But I don't think Lebron. Lebron,
as far as I'm concerned, does not owe anybody the
time of day at any point in time.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
He can do what he wants. He is doing what
he wants. I think he should.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
I think he should get to do what he wants
at this stage of his career. And so if that
is annoying to some people, let it be annoying like
your mentions. If you disagree with that, that's fine. If
you want to be hateful in the mentions, that's fine.
I'm not gonna sweat it. I don't care about you.
Got to know you were there, in the first place.
You know what I mean, right, don't say that's kind
(27:27):
of the way that people are responding to Lebron are
essentially Twitter mentions come to life.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I totally agree that he doesn't owe us anything. I
agree with that you have been around for so long.
And I've also said we're gonna miss Lebron when he retires.
We are absolutely gonna miss him because he gives us
reasons to talk. But for me, it's just kind of
like you're playing with us at this point. I think
he already knows where he's going. And that's where people
(27:53):
also came in. They're like, he's still deciding. Okay, I
have a bridge to sell you if you think he's
still deciding, he absolutely knows where he going. If you
want to date this back to the minute the Lakers
got Luka Dancic, that should have been the beginning of
him thinking, hmm, all right, not gonna start thinking about
my future. When they didn't give him another plus and
one year plus one, you know what I'm saying, where
(28:13):
they just it was his final year.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
He opted into it.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
That was another indicator where maybe things are gonna change.
I think Lebron wanted to be a Laker up until
five weeks ago, a month ago, and then things came.
It became very real and he had to make a decision,
but to say that he doesn't know. And then people
were like, he announced on his podcast that he's gonna
that he was going to announce it at the end
of July August.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
When did he say that? I missed that. I even
looked searched it on social media.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
I've searched it on Google, and I was like, I
don't think he ever said I'm going to announce it
at this time. But he keeps dropping little hints that
mean nothing, and so that's what I mean. And like, Lebron,
you don't have to say anything, you people people are waiting.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
But if he truly.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
Didn't care about this attention, he could have easily said
I don't have any answer yet, but I will let
you know. Instead, he keeps playing with it, and again,
you're right, it's Lebron James good.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Whatever he wants, he is doing whatever he wants.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
I'm just saying, this is what's annoying about the King himself,
and it's not gonna change.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
And when he leaves, I'm gonna miss him because then
what am I going to talk about.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
Yeah, he does have a little he's got a passive
aggressive tinge to him. Yeah, and he's always had that,
Yes that I think plays into that as well, Right,
that some people will just flat out you can cite
whatever Jordan Lebron argument that you want to, and at
the end of the day, you may just not like
the person that Lebron is because he is a little
(29:37):
bit more.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, passive aggressive.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
It's probably the phrase that I would stick with there,
whereas Jordan is regarded as you know, just stone cold, killer,
alpha male. All these different things archetypes that you want
to describe that guys at their most toxic masculine nature
want to be in these things. And Lebron is drinking
wine on the sidelines of a w NBA game or
excuse me of an NBA game, congratulating Genie buss on
(30:03):
happy international legas play right, like you know, I mean,
it's just one of those things. And like I enjoy
that part of Lebron, Like I like that. Some people don't. Whatever,
if it's not for you, tough, it's it's just that
type of deal.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
He he does.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
He does attract more negativity with his personality than I
think a lot of NBA superstars do. And I think
he enjoys getting a rise out of people more than
a lot and he can control this in a lot
of different ways. He and his team around him, Rich
Paul of course, that hit the army around Lebron, the
(30:44):
economy around Lebron could do whatever at once and trafficking
people's emotions this way, and as long as he's keeping
himself the most relevant, I mean, he is the most
relevant thing about the NBA offseason right absolutely is nobody
how the Knicks after the championship. May I as well
have just evaporated for as little as we have mentioned
the New York Knicks and Jalen Brunson and all these
(31:06):
different things other than og An and Obi. Shout out
to the Hoosiers Uh making a winning best play of
the year at the SP's the other night, I saw
Lebron dominates the discourse.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
You will always dominate the discourse.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Nobody has been better at media manipulation throughout the course
of their entire career than Lebron.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
James and his team.
Speaker 6 (31:26):
And this is just the latest edition of media manipulation
by the Lebron James machine.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
And again, I'm gonna miss it. Whenever it's over, I'm
gonna miss it.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah. Oh you know, good for business.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
What's up, everybody, You're tuning into Fox Sports Radio and
you're listening to Stu gottson Company Live. But you've got
me Moncey Bolanos and Buck Rising wrapping up our show.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Thanks to our Company Today.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Our executive producer Jason Stewart, our technical producer Iowa Sam
on the Ones end twos, and our awesome news anchor
Isaac lohencrom Thank you guys.
Speaker 7 (32:14):
The shambo got screwed.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
I have so many questions about what's going on with
the Open When where's Dan Bayer when you need him
to ask about golf?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Where is Dan Bayer?
Speaker 5 (32:26):
No, he took off because of the video that was
put out and we're getting hate, so he took off
on vacation. Buck, Let's wrap up the show here with
the latest from the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, saying that
he's not done having NFL games go international, and when
he was asked about what maybe country he would like
(32:46):
to go, he actually said that he is ten other
countries that he would like the NFL to go to,
specifically bringing up Tokyo, that at one point there was
a preseason game in the NFL, but now he wants
to go back there. As we talked about earlier in
the Showbuck World Cup soccer, that is a that is
an international sport. It is not as beloved here in
(33:07):
the US. Here in the US, the most beloved sport,
the number one sport, is the NFL.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
It is king.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
And I can't wrap my head around the constant push
of moving games out of the location where it matters
the most when it's only an eighteen season, seventeen whatever
game season.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
If it goes up, we'll see. But like they're they're.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
I know, I know.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
So we're gonna go, We're gonna bring more games into it,
but you're gonna take games away from where the fans are.
And as a Chargers fan, I was it last year,
two years ago that their first game of the season
and it was a Chargers home game.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
Was in Brazil, and I'm just like, what are we doing?
Speaker 5 (33:47):
That's that is our home game, when there's only a
limited amount in every other sport. There's so many games,
like if baseball. When baseball goes somewhere, it's like, yeah, okay,
go ahead. There's so many games NBA, so many games. Football,
there's not And I can't wrap my head around who
is this for because it doesn't feel like it's for
the main fan base, which is here in America.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
Well yeah, manci, but you're talking about two different things
there then, because and you know, I hate to contextualize
it like this, but the fans in the stands don't matter.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
How so it's what do you mean financially?
Speaker 6 (34:29):
But they are such a small part. There's a reason
that NFL stadiums are shrinking. They're building a new one.
Just I'm sitting a mile away from the new Nissan Stadium.
The Titans are hosting a Super Bowl in twenty thirty.
It's almost ten thousand seats less than the old Nissan
Stadium because crowds of NFL games are shrinking. The NFL,
(34:49):
it's probably the only sport that I feel about this way.
The NFL products better on television. It is live. The
atmosphere is in the NFL suck I've done. With the
exception of Green Bay, Detroit, Kansas City has moments, but
I think since they've won so much, they've they've gone
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Frankly, they've gone a little bit soft.
Speaker 6 (35:06):
As far as what the atmosphere is, Lambeau is always
excellent there, so they still exist. But college football as
a live product whips whips the NFL's ass up and
down like it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
The consumer.
Speaker 6 (35:19):
The main part of the audience that the NFL has
to care about, because that's where the bulk of their
money comes from, is those sitting at home, those watching
on television. It's no longer the fans in the stands.
That's gate is not a substantial component in the NFL's
bottom line anymore. So, as far as do they have
(35:39):
to consider they should they The difference between should they
have to consider and do they have to consider the
fans who would attend these games in person, well that
that consideration. Frankly, as far as their margins go, that
shouldn't be more than it is because people aren't going
(36:00):
that way anymore.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
I agree with you that the best experience is a
college football atmosphere and in person. I agree there's no
competing with that. I don't know if I agree with
you that watching a football game at home is necessarily better,
because I think that with hockey. When I watch a
hockey game at home, I lose the puck all the time.
When I'm there, it's a lot easier to kind of
keep track of the action. I feel like even soccer
sometimes it's better at home on TV versus being there
(36:26):
watching it in person. With football, I don't I don't
feel that, so I just I hear what you're saying.
But because there's such a limited amount of games, I
don't see how going to Japan Japan is going to
spend money to watch this game, Like, I just don't
see it.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Well, a streaming network will, like that's Sky, Sky News
or Sky Sports Network in the UK, That's what that is.
I mean, they have so many different avenues that they're exploring.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
Buck, thank you for joining us, Thank you for being here.
It's been so fun. The rest of you. Enjoy your weekend,
Enjoy the World Cup.
Thanks for listening to stew Gotsen Company Live podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from three to
five pm Eastern noon to two pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Find your local station for Stug Gotsen Company.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Live at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Plea's give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
What's up?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Everybody?
Speaker 5 (00:27):
Happy Friday, Hour two of Stu Gotson Company Live. I
am Manci Bolanos. He is Bluck Rising. We're hanging out
with you on this Friday. We've got Jason Stewart, our producer.
We've got iOS Sam on the ones. End two's Isaac Lowencron.
You just heard his update, Which'm gonna have a question
about golf when we talked to him about thirty minutes Again, Buck,
because I did not understand about this Bryson Deshambo standing
(00:49):
on walking over grass and I gotta I gott ask
him a question after But Buck, before we get into it,
let's real quick.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Let me tell you about FIFA World Cup.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Yeah, we got the two matches coming up this weekend.
Upgrade your FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six. Set up
build it like Beckham from living room to lawn with
the Home Depot and take the fast free delivery assists
the Home Depot Official FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six Supporter,
Subject to availability. We are going to talk about Kaitlin
Clark in the comments that Adam Silver said about Kaitlyn
Clark Buck, But I I just want to wrap up
(01:20):
what we were just talking about with Dabo Sweeney, the
head coach of Clemson, and his comments that were just
made in case he wanted to let it out a
little bit more.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
But my question to.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
You is to wrap it up because I agree with
everything you said. That is, I don't know how you
say both things in the same sentence of not necessarily
needing to win another title.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
But that he wants to win more than anybody. I
don't get how that works.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
If he is playing this game of dare of I
dare you to fire me? And let's say Clemson does
fire him. Do you think Buck, that there would be
teams lining up to talk to Dabo Sweeney?
Speaker 6 (01:57):
No, No, why the hell did anybody want to talk
to Dabo after the way that he's behaved?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Well, you know he just told you I won two titles.
I've won eleven Conference.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
J The last time he won a title, Montson, I
couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you, correct.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
I mean, I mean, it's it's not been like one
hundred years ago, but it's in it's an entirely different
world of college football that he won his titles in.
You know what I'm saying, Dabbo people, there would be
interest in Dabbo. I'm not going to act like he would.
He would be some kind of pariah that never worked
in college football again. But if I'm if, I'm a
(02:34):
program who is trying to get, who is trying to
be on the forefront of nil, who is trying to
find different ways to win within the margins. Because now
that's a part of college football, and it was always
a part of college football and college athletics generally, but
we understand that the game has has changed in so
many different ways, and at every turn, Dabo has beat
(02:58):
his chest and no, I'm not not only am I ignorant,
not only am I unwilling, I'm proudly ignorant and unwilling.
I am beating my chest at a podium to tell
you that I'm this great thing from essentially a different era.
I know that's kind of a crazy thing to say,
(03:18):
because it's I don't know when when was the Supreme
Court ruling on nil Is, Probably six years ago, maybe five,
maybe a little more than five, somewhere in that area.
So to say a completely different era of college sports
about an era that was five years ago, maybe he's
a little extreme, but like the college athletics landscape has
changed almost annually since then, and especially with as few
(03:40):
guardrails as we have. I want somebody who's who's proactive.
I want somebody who's hungry. I don't want I don't
want to complacent coach who's citing titles from ten years ago.
I cannot I cannot fathom what's going through his head.
And that, like, I don't hate Daboswinty, like may say,
it may sound like I've got some kind of grudge
towards the guy, harbor some level of ill will. No,
(04:02):
I'm just I'm just disappointed in him. It's like the
famous thing when your parents say, I'm not mad, I'm disappointed,
disappointed almost worse, I'm I'm I'm not getting mad at
Dabo anymore, because he's just he just perpetually shooting himself
in a foot, Because what happens if they don't ever
get back to the mountaintop that Dabbo keeps citing that
they've been to. He's still going to have program records
(04:24):
as far as accomplishments. He's he is going to go
down as the best coach in Clemson football history. There's
there's no disputing that. But you cannot rest on your laurels.
This is a sport.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
This is a.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
Profession even around sports, sports media. Any any level of
competitive business, whether you're talking about private equity, whether you're
talking about AI like, whatever industry you're working in right now,
it is highly competitive. You have to want it more
than the other person who's competing to do the thing
(04:56):
that you're trying to do but faster and better and smarter,
because they want to capitalize on it, they want to
cash in. And these are incredibly lucrative jobs, incredibly lucrative
jobs beyond the parks that come with being a power
for head coach and things of that nature. And Dabbo
for some reason, and he's not completely wrong in everything
(05:18):
that he's done because he is he is going to
be remembered as a success no matter how. This flames
out at the end, And it does feel like it's
flaming out, not just because of how unbelievably underwhelming relative
to expectation their season was.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
But he's in one of those situations.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
And Tony Gonzalez, I think aired when he was talking
about Russell Wilson this past football season on Amazon Prime
and he said something to the effect of Russell Wilson's
playing himself all out of the Hall of Fame, And
I thought that was a little.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Bit of an extreme comment.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
I don't necessarily know that Russ was in to begin with,
but like Dabbo, feels like a better case of no,
you're hurting yourself at every turn to your detriment, to
your legacy's detriment, because you just won't stop shaking your
fist at a cloud.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Everything you said is so on the money, And especially
now that I've seen schools not care about firing someone
in the buyout, like what I'm telling you, it seems
like he's he's daring them to fire him.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
What's Jimbo was on the table for what was it
like eighty five million dollars. Yeah, in college sports history,
like what's what's the Jimbo buyout was on the table?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Anybody can get fired at any time, right.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
So I'm with you. I don't know what he's thinking
in these comments. But we'll see what happens this season
for Clemson and their football team, and we'll see what
happens with Dabo Sweeney if he's their coach by the
end of the season. But let's pivot here back to
Adam Silver once again, except this time he had different comments,
not about his superstar in the NBA, but a star
(06:51):
in the WNBA, whether you like to admit it or not,
Caitlin Clark describing her as a political football some of
the quotes that he said that it's become a political
ping pong with her, and she's a young woman who's
trying to improve her game. This obviously has to do
with the officiating everything that's been happening lately with Caitlyn Clark.
(07:13):
And I am a fan of Kaitlyn Clark buck. I
am not a mega fan of Kaitlyn Clark, but I
am a fan of hers. In fact, I have an
Iowa Kaitlyn Clark shirt that Iowa Sam gave me and
sometimes we're twinsies and we wear them on the same day.
So I am a fan, but it's hard to watch
her antics when she starts complaining to the refs and
acting like a brat. She's having a rough year, her
(07:36):
numbers are down, and you could just she's hurt and
all of this.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
But I do feel that no matter what that.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Girl does or says, it causes an uproar of both sides,
and I don't know how that changes. I don't think
it changes with fixing the officiating. I don't think it
changes by getting a new commissioner. I think that I
think we're kind of stuck in this, and I don't
don't know how we get out of it, whether she
becomes all of a sudden her like shooting goes back
(08:04):
to being awesome beyond the arch shooting from the logo
and all that. I don't know if like winning will
change it, because it's she's so it's such a political
take with her.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
There's it's never gray with her.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
It's black and white, and it's extremely black and white.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
The So I'm I'm from Indiana, I went to I
went to Indiana. I'm a I'm a Pacers fan. IU
basketball fan. I just recently discovered that we had a
football program. The first IU football game I went to
was the Peach Bowl, the Peach Bowl semi final, and
then I went to the National Championship. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
But I'm rooting for Caitlin Clark once she joined the Fever,
(08:48):
I as a as a fan of her team and
her by extension, am just exhausted by her.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
But it's not her.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
It's not I'm exhausted by the situation, and I think
at every turn the best thing that I can say
about her is any time she makes a statement on it,
and she's had to do this several times because to
your point, it has not abated at all. It just
keeps getting louder and louder and more vicious every time.
And that's a product of the Internet and Internet discourse
and all the different things that makes sports and things
(09:20):
around sports, or politics for that matter, toxic as hell.
The dialogue, the discourse around her is exhausting and never ending.
And frankly, if I'm Adam Silver, Adam Silver's correct in
that she's being used as a political football because there
was a number and listen, it's not necessarily about one
side or the other here, But it does just so
(09:43):
happen that there were a number of I believe it
was Republican lawmakers who were petitioning the WNBA to come
out and make significant changes as far as the way
that Caitlin Clark was being treated. They feel that they
felt that she has been and this is not a
no an unpopular talking point, but it felt like a
political grift to kind of capitalize on the fact that
(10:04):
Caitlin Clark is being fouled regularly and recently Alissa Thomas
Gott suspended for the foul that was should have been
a flagrant Yeah, fist to the throat essentially, I mean
it was. There's been a lot of things that that
could be debated this way. But you are also seeing
now parties who are not actually interested in the well
(10:25):
being of Caitlin Clark or the health of the w
NBA now jumping in on the conversation because it is
politically convenient for them to do so. And I also
think that the same tact is being taken on the
other side of the conversation, which is, if you want
to make her a villain, you can make her a
villion a villain quite easily depending on if you're if
you're willing to actually listen to her or not.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Nobody's actually listening to her. In the middle of all
of this.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
People people are are having conversations around her, and then
when she speaks about the conversations being had around her,
people put that to this, put that to the side,
and just continue the shouting match on whatever side of
the argument that they were on in the first place.
Adam Silver is correct and that she's being used as
a political football. But I bet, and this would be
(11:10):
reckless speculation on my part, of course, I bet, though
if you got him in an honest moment, I bet
he doesn't want that to go away. She drives numbers
in ways that no other single player. I might argue
that she drives numbers more for her sport than any
other single player drives numbers for their respective sport right now,
(11:33):
just the wide margin between her fever games and everybody
else in the WNBA right now, as far as viewing
habits go, I bet if I'm Kathy Ingelbert or Adam
Silver or any of these people who are I mean,
in the case of Engelbert supposed to be governing their
league and doing so in just horrible, terrible fashion and
(11:54):
outright detriment.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
To her league.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
As far as I'm concerned with the commissioner of the WNBA,
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'll comment on the noise.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
I'll pooh pooh and and wag my finger at the
people who are doing the bad thing and yelling and
screaming and shouting on either side of things. But in
the in the dark, quiet moments of my private of
my private mind, if I'm Adam Silver or Kathy Engelbert,
I'm sitting there thinking, no, louder, louder, more more, because
(12:22):
it keeps interest, it keeps attention, it keeps eyeballs, not
necessarily for the right reason. But they're in the business
of visibility and monetizing that visibility, and they are able
to do so at an incredibly high rate with her,
especially given the nature of the polariz the polarization around her.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Nobody moves the needle for their sport the way Caitlin
Clark still does. That is that is one hundred percent true.
And man, I honestly didn't even think of it the
way you just put the way you just put that
out there, of them not wanting this to change, like
they don't. You're right, why do they want this to change?
This is bringing in all the numbers, all the conversations.
(12:58):
She still people are still going to see her play,
whether it's because you want to see Kitlin Clark because
you love her or you hate her, and so them
pretending that, oh, yeah, we got to fix this, when
in reality, you're probably right, they're probably not doing anything
because they haven't done anything. The officiating was something that
they could have tried to fix, I think pretty quickly
by just even speaking to these to these officials of
(13:20):
like you, cau's gotta we gotta tighten it up, Like
it seems as though they do want this to continue
to happen. And that's that's awful because eventually I do
think it's going to turn people fully away from the
WNBA Because you said you're exhausted. I'm exhausted, and I
don't I'm a fan, but I'm exhausted.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
And even having any discussion with.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
A person of Kitlyn Clark, it always gets so just
to one side or the other, and you're like, I
actually just wanted to talk about her shooting personage because
I think she's like not.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Doing so hot.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I didn't really want to start arguing like you can't
do you can't have a normal conversation about Kaitlyn Clark
our exact. I get a producer, Jason Stewart, you want
to jump in on this.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
I know you. You tuned into the WNBA because of
Kaitlyn Clark.
Speaker 7 (14:07):
Absolutely. I watched my first WNBA game because of her.
I fell in love with her and her antics and
her attitude. And now I'm getting to the point where
I can't stand it. But I do have a question
for both of you. So you know when politics, as
you guys are discussing, since Adam Silver brought politics into this,
I kind of want to make this analogy. Nobody from
(14:28):
the political theater standpoint, the people that talk about politics
make money off political content, the pundits, you know, the operators.
Nobody really wants fixes to these major problems, like nobody
really wants a fix to immigration. Nobody wants a fix
to healthcare, because then they would have nothing for their
side to complain about, nothing for their side to make
(14:51):
money talking about. Doesn't not feel like Caitlin Clark is
that in sports, most of the content that we put out,
if you put out anything care when cark it gets numbers.
That's a fact, no matter what you say, because somebody
is going to agree with you times ten, and then
somebody's going to disagree with you times ten. To the
point where as you said, you were exhausted by it.
(15:13):
But don't you feel like she's in that realm of
our sports space?
Speaker 6 (15:18):
Oh yeah, I think that's the point I just made.
Or earlier you're talking about Adam Silver, Wayne Louder, you know, like,
I think that's exactly the direction that they want this
thing to go again. Reckless speculation on my part, but
I don't think it's that hard to figure out.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's like when Jerry.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Jones is talking about bad publicity versus good publicity, and
he's for all publicity, right, Jar Jared didn't care. Jerry
wants you watching, listening, interacting, commenting, liking, clicking.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Whatever, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
As much and as often around the Dallas Cowboys as
humanly possible, because that's good for the brand. That as
long as the brand is strong, then the program can
continue to be strong, even if the thing hadn't won
a Super Bowl since the nineties. Right, And we all
treat it as if it's something that should be respected
as a professional perpetual rual contender. It's the noise around
these things. You want to keep that noise as loud
(16:05):
and as turned up as humanly possible if you can,
because that is the way to further your level of engagement.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You'll reach it ultimately your ability to monetize this thing.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
But the difference with the Cowboys, even though I do
agree with you that we always talk about the cowboys,
the cowboy.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
On a slow news day, you can always just talk.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
About the cowboys, right like you just bring them in,
and Jerry Jones loves that. But it's so different because
I've said I was like people, now I feel like,
tune into the WNBA. I wouldn't have said this two
years ago when she first joined, but I feel like
now you tune in because it's it's almost you're in
for the gossip, You're in for the trash talk. It's
like watching a bad reality TV show. It's like watching
(16:44):
The Bachelorette, like I'm gonna watch it, but I'm watching
it because it's trash television. And I feel like that's
the way the WNB is going, and that can't be
good for long term.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I don't know. I mean in trash TV, sustainable, sustainable.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
But sports is not trash television. It's not supposed to be.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
I would you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't
think the Cowboys are are trash television.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It's just I don't. I don't. I don't think that.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I'm I'm talking about the Cowboys in a gossip ye way.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Oh, I think people do tend to write. I think
Jerry Jerry loves the gossip, right, That's the whole purpose
around it. The Jerry Jones think came out on Netflix
last year or HBO.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Remember, yes, which the streaming platforms?
Speaker 6 (17:27):
Right? Which is which is Jerry gossip? It's cowboys gossip right,
like we are? I think honestly, Manci, I think sports
is at every turn trying to take a page at
of reality television's playbook, because I think that's the way
to further grow it beyond just the product on the field. Right,
Like I'm I'm being harassed because I have no interest
in watching quarterback.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Okay, it's the Netflix.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
And the quarterback that I cover, cam Ward for the
Tennessee Titans, is one of the four quarterbacks being featured.
I've never watched Quarterback in any of the three seasons
that they've done. I think I've seen an episode and
a half of Receiver the one year that they did.
It didn't really hold my attention, but that's human interest, right.
They're doing football reality television on a regular basis because
(18:12):
they understand there's another audience for that, or there's an
additional audience for that, or that's a different way for
me to keep you captive with this thing that's not
actually being played right now. But I'll still keep your
attention because I've got your football player here, and look,
you get to see him watch film in his home
and go fishing and play with his dog and all
these different things that are completely nonsense and completely you know,
(18:33):
normal human being things. And most quarterbacks are most athletes generally,
and this is not maybe I shouldn't say athletes is
in such a despairing way, but maybe it's more more
about the general population. Most people aren't actually that interesting athletes,
least of which right, because their entire existence is focused
on discipline and making sure that they don't stray from
(18:54):
the path and that they are being as studious as
humanly possible, and all these different things eating lean like
there's very little fun involved outside of the playing the
actual games involved in being a professional athlete.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Like these guys aren't that interesting to me, Joe Burrow.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
People try to turn into some into some kind of
mystical figure or something like that. Joe Burrow's boring as hell.
So I'm looking at this. I'm Brady Brady. Brady is
vastly more interesting after his wife cheated on him with
this jiu jitsu instructor or whatever the hell that was.
And that's not even a Brady interest, Like, that's not
even a personality trade of Brady's, right, it's just a thing,
(19:30):
a TMZ thing that happened to Tom Brady that gets
us all oohing and eyeing, and you know, Netflix roast
jokes and things of that nature. So I think, yeah,
every turn Sports is so willing to lean into the
reality TV element of it because then we're following storylines
that we saw in last season's series of Quarterback, and
then we'll carry that over to the season and Robert
(19:53):
salah mfing Liam Cohen on the field post game and
all these different little things that don't actually matter to
the playing of the games, but will keep us titillated
by them, because again, trash TV sustainable as hell, and
I think there's I think, if anything, the WNBA is
probably gonna lean.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Into it more.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Iowa Sam the biggest Kaitlyn Clark fan here wrap this.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Up for us.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
I am a huge fan, but I recognize what's going
on with her right now. We talked about it, Manci.
The drama for with Kaitlyn Clark might be helping the
WNBA cash in right now. They're counting their money, they
see the engagement, they see the numbers. I don't think
it's sustainable for them long term, and I don't think
it's sustainable for Kaitlyn Clark, like spiritually and mentally like she.
(20:36):
I think if this keeps going like this, she's going
to be completely dried out, exploited, just completely bitter, not
unable to focus on her craft. If this just circus
keeps continuing. And I think, honestly, Jerry Jones would probably
rather win a super Bowl. He'd prefer the gossip and
the tabloid fodder to continue. But if he won a
super Bowl, it'd be like, yeah, we can do all
(20:57):
that fun stuff. It's really it's this stuff is much
more fun and bearable when you're winning. And I've said
I said this yesterday, Kaitlin Clark with the team is
not really a factor. In fact, I think they're losing
more than their winning when she's on the court with them.
So I think if she's going to get chewed up
and spit out if things don't if she doesn't do better,
if the official officiating doesn't do better, and if like
(21:18):
they need to just shift focus off her a little bit,
her numbers need to improve. But this circus as it is,
this front of the grocery checkout line, she's on the
front page of the Globe or the National Inquirer, this
is going to eventually just corrupt her and destroy her
like as a person and as a professional basketball player.
I don't think it's sustainable. I don't think it's healthy.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
I don't think it's sustainable either. And I agree with
what you're saying Buck that, like everybody loves reality television,
I tune in because it's entertaining, but it's also something
where I can just half pay attention to. And I
feel like it's not sustainable in the long term for
the WNBA, in the sense that these people that view
you as reality television or trash television. They're just talking
(22:01):
about you on social media. They're not going to spend
money to go watch you in person. And once that
money stops coming in in that way, then it's just
a joke for social media and they're.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Going to go back to that.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
And that's what. Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe you're right that
this is the way it keeps going. But there's there's
got to be I don't know a little bit. Something's
got to change and in reality and the truth is
I don't see it changing, So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Be sure to catch live editions of Stuve Gotson Company
Live weekdays at three pm Eastern twelve pm Pacific.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
What's up everybody, Happy Friday. Thanks for tuning in to
Fox Sports Radio. It is Stu Gotson Company Live. But
you have Me and Manci Blaanhos and Buck Rising with
you as we have our last thirty minutes left of
the show.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Here Buck we we has a me.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Me and Dan Bayer yesterday about Rising discussed Lebron James
because he was at that Fanatics event and said a
whole lot of nothing about his decision.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And watch.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
In case you missed it. The video is circulating everywhere.
But I basically said a buck that this is why
Lebron is not just universally loved, because he does stuff
like this, holding us the fans and fans of his
more than anything, holding on to every word, every breath
(23:28):
that he is saying for these last couple of days
about where he's gonna go. He's he's toying with us,
he's you know, having fun with it. But in reality,
like this, to me is why he is not universally loved.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
And he is great on the court.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
I think he plays at a high level at this age,
but I can't separate the two.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
So when I look at Lebron, even though I.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Think he's great on the court, I can't not think
about what you're doing off the court in regards to
keeping us all just a waiting because you love attention.
He loves the attention, there's no denying it. But people
were not very happy with my comments Buck, you know,
aside from telling me to go back to the kitchen
or you know, calling me witch with the rhymes with
(24:11):
the witch you know what I'm saying, yeah, or telling
me I'm going to get deported.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Listen, all of that was said to me because of this.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
All right, No, no, it's great, but I don't No, no,
it's fun, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
No, we don't win to like that. We don't. We
don't condone that. We don't. We don't support that under
any service. Of course.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
No, they're they're crazy and tripping, but that I don't care.
It's like you people are tripping when in reality, it's
like you guys. I just said, this is what Lebron
likes to do, and this is what people don't like
about him.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Now, but this is what happens when you go after
sacred cows bonsing, you know. It's just it's just one
of those things I I regularly get feedback of a
negative nature, uh, in terms of the way that I
talk about the team that I cover, Because the team
that I cover is god forsaken and wretched for the
last couple of years, and so we discussed them as such.
And fans don't like to hear that their team is
(25:07):
bad and is doing things wrong, and there's a reason
that they have caused themselves all of these problems that
they've caused themselves. Now, on your point about Lebron being
universally loved, Lebron was never going to be universally loved.
The guy had no shot as far as that goes,
Because Michael Jordan exists, there's always going to be the
contingent of people who look at Michael and look at
(25:29):
Lebron and say, of Lebron, you're less than him.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Even though he is the superior athlete.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
He has had the more impressive career as far as
I'm concerned, because for him to play, he's getting ready
for what his twenty fourth NBA season. I don't think
prior to that, anybody had played a twenty third season
in the NBA. If I'm not mistaken, and he's still
I don't know, you can make an argument in a
lot of different metrics that he's still a top twenty
player by any stretch of the definition. So Lebron on
(25:58):
being universally loved was a losing battle in the first place.
I this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, and I
don't I don't necessarily I understand your perspective. My perspective
on Lebron James's I don't think he owes anybody anything.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I really don't.
Speaker 6 (26:20):
I think if he's enjoying it at forty two years old,
and he wants to, you know, lap up all the
attention and enjoy the speculation and get a rise out
of people. Because, Hey, let me make a bet before
I go on this podcast. How many times do you
think I can say trust the process before somebody thinks
(26:41):
I'm going to Philadelphia in this live audience, right, Like,
let me see how many times I could work it
in there just just for fun?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Well why not?
Speaker 6 (26:47):
And I don't that's I'm not saying that's what he did,
or I know that's what he did. I'm speculating and
things of that nature. But I don't think Lebron. Lebron,
as far as I'm concerned, does not owe anybody the
time of day at any point in time.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
He can do what he wants. He is doing what
he wants. I think he should.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
I think he should get to do what he wants
at this stage of his career. And so if that
is annoying to some people, let it be annoying like
your mentions. If you disagree with that, that's fine. If
you want to be hateful in the mentions, that's fine.
I'm not gonna sweat it. I don't care about you.
Got to know you were there, in the first place.
You know what I mean, right, don't say that's kind
(27:27):
of the way that people are responding to Lebron are
essentially Twitter mentions come to life.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I totally agree that he doesn't owe us anything. I
agree with that you have been around for so long.
And I've also said we're gonna miss Lebron when he retires.
We are absolutely gonna miss him because he gives us
reasons to talk. But for me, it's just kind of
like you're playing with us at this point. I think
he already knows where he's going. And that's where people
(27:53):
also came in. They're like, he's still deciding. Okay, I
have a bridge to sell you if you think he's
still deciding, he absolutely knows where he going. If you
want to date this back to the minute the Lakers
got Luka Dancic, that should have been the beginning of
him thinking, hmm, all right, not gonna start thinking about
my future. When they didn't give him another plus and
one year plus one, you know what I'm saying, where
(28:13):
they just it was his final year.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
He opted into it.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
That was another indicator where maybe things are gonna change.
I think Lebron wanted to be a Laker up until
five weeks ago, a month ago, and then things came.
It became very real and he had to make a decision,
but to say that he doesn't know. And then people
were like, he announced on his podcast that he's gonna
that he was going to announce it at the end
of July August.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
When did he say that? I missed that. I even
looked searched it on social media.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
I've searched it on Google, and I was like, I
don't think he ever said I'm going to announce it
at this time. But he keeps dropping little hints that
mean nothing, and so that's what I mean. And like, Lebron,
you don't have to say anything, you people people are waiting.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
But if he truly.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
Didn't care about this attention, he could have easily said
I don't have any answer yet, but I will let
you know. Instead, he keeps playing with it, and again,
you're right, it's Lebron James good.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Whatever he wants, he is doing whatever he wants.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
I'm just saying, this is what's annoying about the King himself,
and it's not gonna change.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
And when he leaves, I'm gonna miss him because then
what am I going to talk about.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
Yeah, he does have a little he's got a passive
aggressive tinge to him. Yeah, and he's always had that,
Yes that I think plays into that as well, Right,
that some people will just flat out you can cite
whatever Jordan Lebron argument that you want to, and at
the end of the day, you may just not like
the person that Lebron is because he is a little
(29:37):
bit more.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, passive aggressive.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
It's probably the phrase that I would stick with there,
whereas Jordan is regarded as you know, just stone cold, killer,
alpha male. All these different things archetypes that you want
to describe that guys at their most toxic masculine nature
want to be in these things. And Lebron is drinking
wine on the sidelines of a w NBA game or
excuse me of an NBA game, congratulating Genie buss on
(30:03):
happy international legas play right, like you know, I mean,
it's just one of those things. And like I enjoy
that part of Lebron, Like I like that. Some people don't. Whatever,
if it's not for you, tough, it's it's just that
type of deal.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
He he does.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
He does attract more negativity with his personality than I
think a lot of NBA superstars do. And I think
he enjoys getting a rise out of people more than
a lot and he can control this in a lot
of different ways. He and his team around him, Rich
Paul of course, that hit the army around Lebron, the
(30:44):
economy around Lebron could do whatever at once and trafficking
people's emotions this way, and as long as he's keeping
himself the most relevant, I mean, he is the most
relevant thing about the NBA offseason right absolutely is nobody
how the Knicks after the championship. May I as well
have just evaporated for as little as we have mentioned
the New York Knicks and Jalen Brunson and all these
(31:06):
different things other than og An and Obi. Shout out
to the Hoosiers Uh making a winning best play of
the year at the SP's the other night, I saw
Lebron dominates the discourse.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
You will always dominate the discourse.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Nobody has been better at media manipulation throughout the course
of their entire career than Lebron.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
James and his team.
Speaker 6 (31:26):
And this is just the latest edition of media manipulation
by the Lebron James machine.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
And again, I'm gonna miss it. Whenever it's over, I'm
gonna miss it.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah. Oh you know, good for business.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
What's up, everybody, You're tuning into Fox Sports Radio and
you're listening to Stu gottson Company Live. But you've got
me Moncey Bolanos and Buck Rising wrapping up our show.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Thanks to our Company Today.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Our executive producer Jason Stewart, our technical producer Iowa Sam
on the Ones end twos, and our awesome news anchor
Isaac lohencrom Thank you guys.
Speaker 7 (32:14):
The shambo got screwed.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
I have so many questions about what's going on with
the Open When where's Dan Bayer when you need him
to ask about golf?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Where is Dan Bayer?
Speaker 5 (32:26):
No, he took off because of the video that was
put out and we're getting hate, so he took off
on vacation. Buck, Let's wrap up the show here with
the latest from the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, saying that
he's not done having NFL games go international, and when
he was asked about what maybe country he would like
(32:46):
to go, he actually said that he is ten other
countries that he would like the NFL to go to,
specifically bringing up Tokyo, that at one point there was
a preseason game in the NFL, but now he wants
to go back there. As we talked about earlier in
the Showbuck World Cup soccer, that is a that is
an international sport. It is not as beloved here in
(33:07):
the US. Here in the US, the most beloved sport,
the number one sport, is the NFL.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
It is king.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
And I can't wrap my head around the constant push
of moving games out of the location where it matters
the most when it's only an eighteen season, seventeen whatever
game season.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
If it goes up, we'll see. But like they're they're.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
I know, I know.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
So we're gonna go, We're gonna bring more games into it,
but you're gonna take games away from where the fans are.
And as a Chargers fan, I was it last year,
two years ago that their first game of the season
and it was a Chargers home game.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
Was in Brazil, and I'm just like, what are we doing?
Speaker 5 (33:47):
That's that is our home game, when there's only a
limited amount in every other sport. There's so many games,
like if baseball. When baseball goes somewhere, it's like, yeah, okay,
go ahead. There's so many games NBA, so many games. Football,
there's not And I can't wrap my head around who
is this for because it doesn't feel like it's for
the main fan base, which is here in America.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
Well yeah, manci, but you're talking about two different things
there then, because and you know, I hate to contextualize
it like this, but the fans in the stands don't matter.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
How so it's what do you mean financially?
Speaker 6 (34:29):
But they are such a small part. There's a reason
that NFL stadiums are shrinking. They're building a new one.
Just I'm sitting a mile away from the new Nissan Stadium.
The Titans are hosting a Super Bowl in twenty thirty.
It's almost ten thousand seats less than the old Nissan
Stadium because crowds of NFL games are shrinking. The NFL,
(34:49):
it's probably the only sport that I feel about this way.
The NFL products better on television. It is live. The
atmosphere is in the NFL suck I've done. With the
exception of Green Bay, Detroit, Kansas City has moments, but
I think since they've won so much, they've they've gone
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Frankly, they've gone a little bit soft.
Speaker 6 (35:06):
As far as what the atmosphere is, Lambeau is always
excellent there, so they still exist. But college football as
a live product whips whips the NFL's ass up and
down like it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
The consumer.
Speaker 6 (35:19):
The main part of the audience that the NFL has
to care about, because that's where the bulk of their
money comes from, is those sitting at home, those watching
on television. It's no longer the fans in the stands.
That's gate is not a substantial component in the NFL's
bottom line anymore. So, as far as do they have
(35:39):
to consider they should they The difference between should they
have to consider and do they have to consider the
fans who would attend these games in person, well that
that consideration. Frankly, as far as their margins go, that
shouldn't be more than it is because people aren't going
(36:00):
that way anymore.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
I agree with you that the best experience is a
college football atmosphere and in person. I agree there's no
competing with that. I don't know if I agree with
you that watching a football game at home is necessarily better,
because I think that with hockey. When I watch a
hockey game at home, I lose the puck all the time.
When I'm there, it's a lot easier to kind of
keep track of the action. I feel like even soccer
sometimes it's better at home on TV versus being there
(36:26):
watching it in person. With football, I don't I don't
feel that, so I just I hear what you're saying.
But because there's such a limited amount of games, I
don't see how going to Japan Japan is going to
spend money to watch this game, Like, I just don't
see it.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Well, a streaming network will, like that's Sky, Sky News
or Sky Sports Network in the UK, That's what that is.
I mean, they have so many different avenues that they're exploring.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
Buck, thank you for joining us, Thank you for being here.
It's been so fun. The rest of you. Enjoy your weekend,
Enjoy the World Cup.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.