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October 9, 2024 33 mins

Doug welcomes for All-Star outfielder Matt Holiday onto the show to talk about the Dodgers-Padres series and how Mookie Betts has hit is way out of a post-season slump. Doug reacts to Colin Cowherd's take on American basketball and AAU. Doug chooses among deserving candidates Jason Stewart deems as most annoying today.  Plus, Frances Tiafoe appears in today's edition of "Because We Can".

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, this is the Doug Gottlieb Show. Heres in
the bonus with Doug Gottlieb.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Who what did the bonus? The Doug Gottlieb Show. This
is our podcast only hour. You are going to love it.
In the iHeartRadio app, Let's welcome in. He's Matt Holiday,
seven time All Star, three times Silver Slugger and uh, Matt,
what was your thoughts? Let's let's start Dodgers Padres. Let's

(00:31):
just focus there. Okay, let's focus there. Machado clearly out
of the base path. I thought, shouldn't Freddy have beaten
him in the back just to make it so obvious
how far out of the base path he was.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I don't know if you looked up the rule I
think you can establish because he could still reach the base,
so he can he can establish his own baseline between
first and second. If I'm not I'm not mistaken. I
don't know that for sure, but I think there's a
different rule, like if you run to first base and
you run inside the line and they hit you with

(01:06):
the ball, you're out. But I think it's the rule
is different for the other bases. So I don't know.
I'd have to I'd have to ask somebody that's maybe
more familiar with that rule. But I do believe the
fact that he could still slide into second. I don't
think that the grass cut matters. I think he was
a base runner establish your running lane, and nobody seemed

(01:30):
to I mean, everybody knew the ball hit him, and
nobody argued it, and Dave Roberts didn't argue it, and
Freddie Freeman didn't argue it, and Rojas, you know, seemed
to point like, you know, he was out of the baseline.
But I don't. Again, I think you'd have to check
the rule. But I think between first and second you
can establish your own running lane and then it's the

(01:51):
fielder's responsibility to work around you. So I think that
that's again I don't. Don't you have to check check
the rule exactly, but I think that's the rule.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Uh okay, what about this is a Rod and Jeter
discussing it after.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
The game, Machada.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
It turns out I made a brilliant play because the
umpires did not call it, so it's a smart play.
But the umpires could have called it the other way,
and that may change not only the complexion about any
but the entire ballgame.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Yeah, well, I tell you I've never seen that happen
and not be called interference. To your point, brilliant by
Manny because they didn't call the interference. But Freddie did
exactly what he could. All he could do is make
the throw. But no one saw it. And I think
what was more confusing is no one even asked about.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
It, Dave Roberts not saying anything.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
I guess I could be wrong. I don't know. I
was under the understanding that they that you could establish
your own your own running lane between first and second,
But like I said, you'll have to check the rule
on that, But I don't have Dave Dave robertson nobody
asked him about it after the game? Was there nobody?

Speaker 6 (03:02):
I think they.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
I think they meant they meant during the game that
why didn't Dave Roberts go out there and argue?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah, But I mean, did anybody ask him about it
during after the game about why he didn't or was
anybody was there any rules?

Speaker 6 (03:14):
I haven't I haven't haven't seen it, haven't seen it.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Okay, Jay Stu, you went after Mookie Bets pretty hard
on on social media.

Speaker 7 (03:22):
Why oh boy, Okay, so, uh, Mookie Bets's numbers since
twenty twenty two, so that it spans basically two full postseasons,
two series, and then the opening two games of this
round was like a ridiculous I forget the exact numbers,
but he was like one for thirty or something, and

(03:47):
he made it out to be It's like it's some
kind of slump and he's going to bat his way
out of it. And they reported that he took like
five hundred swings off the VLO machine and all this.
And my point is this, this is not your a
batting slump. This is when your team needs you the
most and the pressure is on you to perform, you
are coming up short. I would call it choking. I

(04:10):
would call it choke, and I know athletes are a
little sensitive to that word. But when your team needs
you the most to perform, your your failing in those moments.
This was between the ears. This was not a mechanical thing.
I'm guessing Matt things differently.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well, it's not so much. I mean, there's some some
truth I think to the mental side of the game
that when you put a lot of pressure on yourself
and you somehow feel like you're letting yourself down.

Speaker 6 (04:38):
It does.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
It can lead into the next at bat, which can
lead into the next at bat, which can lead into
the next game. But I do think there's an element
as hitters that when there's something off mechanically, they go
hand in hand. It's hard to have confidence when you
know your mechanics are off, and it's also hard to
have confidence when you're not getting results. So I think

(04:59):
it he goes hand in hand. Now, if his mechanism
to to feel more confident in his swing, which leads
to better results in the game, is to take more
swings off of the machine or to hit his way
out of what he feels like is a bad place.
I mean, I think that there's a lydy to that.
I mean, there's a lot of us hitters, you know,

(05:21):
over the years that have said, hey, I need more swings.
Something's not right with my mechanics, which is leading me
to not be confident when I get into the game
and my front side is moving early. Therefore I'm susceptible
to the slider down in a way, or I'm a
little bit late getting ready and now all of a sudden,
I'm fouling good pitches to hit straight back, I'm a

(05:41):
little late on the fastball, or you know, there is
a mechanical part of this that is goes hand in
hand with your brains, and so sure, I mean, we
we are all we're human. And when you're caught, when
you when you start to say, you know, if you
get to the place in your head where you're like, well,
you know, I'm not hitting well in this post then
and it becomes about the results in the postseason as

(06:05):
opposed to my process and going back to okay, why
am I one of the greatest players in the world,
Why am I an MVP caliber player every season? And
going back to the process of how how I'd get
to this point uh in the box and not worry
about what's on the line. While that's hard to do,

(06:26):
it can be done where you get in there and
get you know, you treat it like every that so
that you know the previous six months and and just
get in there and compete those those things. It's a
it's a very i think complex situation when it comes
to hitting and and they all kind of work together.
So I'm always I mean, he hit a home run,

(06:47):
the guy made an incredible catch, and then he hit
a home run last night, and he got two more hits.
So what changed, Well, he's not he didn't get a
new brain. He's not all of a sudden clutch and
he was a choker and now he's clutched because he
got two or three hits yesterday, and he would have
had a homerner that Profar jumped over the fence and caught. So,
you know, is he not a choker anymore? Is he

(07:08):
a choker?

Speaker 6 (07:09):
You know?

Speaker 3 (07:10):
So I don't really buy into that. I mean, I
think when he's confident, and he got a couple of
hits yesterday, and so I would expect he would roll
into tonight's game very confident in what he's doing and
probably we'll get another hitter to tonight. And so I
don't think he just throw guys into a vacuum of
well he's a choker, He's not a choker. He's clutched,
He's not. I don't think that that's how it works

(07:32):
in sports.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
I would tend to agree with you, Matt, Like I've
said that before about about all kinds of players, Like,
wasn't it was it Wayne.

Speaker 6 (07:44):
O who threw the one hitter against Uh?

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Was it the Phillies right, and that you guys tore
off Chris right, and he tore off his jersey right
there on the mound.

Speaker 6 (07:56):
Like it was an unbelievable game.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
It was on a Friday, and it was in the
early so nobody mentions it as one of the great
all time postings and performances. But it was an unbelieve
It was in the postseason. It was I think an
elimination game, and it was like an all time pitchers
duol And like, why is the pressure they are different
than the DS or you know, or the CS. I
don't think it is right, I mean it's am I

(08:17):
am I wrong?

Speaker 6 (08:19):
No?

Speaker 3 (08:19):
I mean again, when you're start talking about it, particularly
when you when your season is on the line and
it's winner go home, I mean, it doesn't matter what
really what at what you know, whether it's the game
one sixty three or it's you know, it's it's the
it's the wild card back when it was one game,
or it's Game five of the division series, or it's
Game seven of the the Championship series, or it's Game

(08:41):
seven of the World Series. When there's when your winner
go home situation, you know, it's it's it's about as
you know, it's as much pressure as you can possibly
apply or feel as a player knowing that your season
is on the line. And so obviously when you start
talking about a game seven of a World series, either
an NBA Finals or you know where you're you're literally

(09:03):
the trophy is on the line, then okay, maybe that
might be one step higher. But yeah, I mean, I
think when you start talking about huge games in the playoffs,
I mean that game was Roy Halliday versus Chris Carpenter.
They've came up to the minor leagues together, uh, the
best of a friends, you know, a huge game in
Philadelphia prime time and both of them were on their

(09:24):
game and and you know, just it was an incredible performance.
And Chris Carpenter was one of the most finacious competitors
that I've ever been around, and and and all the
sporting uh that I've I've been part of, and you know,
it was it was an incredible night.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Okay, I got I got one more for you, well
maybe maybe maybe two before we lose you. Matt Holiday,
join us seven time All Star, three times Silver Slugger.
You join us on the Doug otleg Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. Oh it seems like Dodgers Padres is
it has a ridiculous amount of talking, like a ridiculous amount,

(10:03):
and I have there's two different thoughts. And I don't
like doing the doubleheader thing, but like this is a conversation.
It does feel like the Padres, like I don't know
if they're in the Dodgers' heads, but like the Padres
like are better in those type of shit talking games,
like it kind of fits more, whether they're underdogs or not,
kind of fits their their thing, whereas the Dodgers maybe

(10:23):
it's a little uncomfortable.

Speaker 6 (10:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
And then I guess my other question is, like is
this like how many series have you been a part
of that there's that level of nastiness between the two clubs.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, I think anytime that you face these teams so much,
right so they're in the same division, it's a lot
like it goes back to like we played the Brewers
and the red so many times, and even the Pirates
to some extent when they had their little run, and
and you play them so many times, and I think,
I don't know if you remember, but there was a
guy named Niger Morgan with the Brewers. There was there

(10:59):
was kind of an intact, you know, he was he
was always in the middle, and he and Carp got
into it, and there was just kind of some bad
blood between the teams. And then we run into them,
uh with you know the I think it was n
LCS in two thousand and eleven or thirteen, I don't remember.
But you play each other so much, and the Dodgers

(11:19):
and San Diego are so close, and they play each
other so much, and and you know, you just anytime
you see each other that much, there becomes, you know,
sort of these relationships they get a little you know,
they start to you know, it gets a little hot,
and then you know, I look, I don't know what
Manny's intent was on the BALLI through to the dugout.

(11:41):
I watched it. It was a little firm, firmer than
most guys, but that's you know, a lot of guys
tossed the ball to the dugout. That's where the ball
boy sits. They takes the balls that are thrown out
of that game that have hit the dirt. And so
I don't I don't know what to make of that.
I didn't seem all that agreeious to me. And then
you know, obviously Flairty was yelling at Manny and and

(12:03):
I think the personalities of the Padres, I think they
thrive more with this kind of uh interaction than than
the Dodgers. I mean, Freddy Freeman and Mookie Betts and
you know, show Hey, by all accounts, are some of
the nicest guys in the league and very you know,
very very friendly with the other teams and the other players.

(12:25):
And it feels like the Padres have sort of taken
on this uh fu personality that that uh, you know,
they want to play with more of an edge, and
and they want to play pimping pimping homers and you know,
throwing their bats and and they're playing a little bit more,
i guess loud than the Dodgers traditionally play. And I

(12:46):
think it goes back to the fact that the Dodgers
that rotation is just so beat up and and you know,
they're just they're I think they're just a step down
from what the Padres are able to throw out there
as as far as starting pitching goes, and I think
the team knows it, and you feel like, you know,
even with Walker Buehler has struggled this year, and then
today is a bullpen game, and I think that the

(13:09):
Padres kind of smell blood, and it feels like the
Dodgers know that they smell blood, and they're kind of,
you know, it looks to me like they know that
they're a little out matched at this point.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
Matt, You're the best, dude. Thanks for popping on. Appreciate
joining us.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, yeah, sounds good.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 6 (13:37):
Left Get What the Fox Says, and now.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Every day, this time the Gottlieb Show in the Bonus
Podcast and play for you a portion of a previous
show on Fox Sports Radio or Fox Sports One.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
We call it what does the Fox Say.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Here's Colin Cowhert talking about an NBA GMC survey of
the state of American basketball.

Speaker 8 (13:55):
All these gms of the only flow four players, only
four play got votes to start a franchise with no
American born players, none Wembsga Jokic, and a smidge for Luca.
What about Jason Tatum? I was right on that one too.

(14:15):
This might as well just be a Colin was right segment,
not even his own team's best player. The American basketball culture,
my friends, is broken. AAU is a gross money grab.
It's more about getting players paid than actually developing players.
That's what they do in Europe. So the AAU influencers,

(14:39):
congratulations you won. You got a bunch of young basketball
players who really aren't winning basketball players. A lot of hype,
a lot of skills, cool handles. You got them paid
and made them stars, and they don't win games, and
they don't influence outcomes and they don't it's it's it's
highlights and hype over chemistry and teamwork. So congratulations track

(15:03):
Suit Tony in the AAU basketball circuit, just a gross
money grab. Congrats on everybody getting paid, including the AAU coach. Congrats.

Speaker 6 (15:14):
Look.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
As a former AU coach turned di visual and basketball coach,
I can tell you that there's a lot of truth
what he says. I don't think it's about gross money grab.
It's just about what it the like. There's a litany
of issues and in a new Aall Ball podcast I
kind of talked about it. You can download it wherever
you download this podcast. Is that I think the primary

(15:34):
issue is there's just so many options for kids, and
there's no accountability at any level because now we've done
in high school, college and AAU.

Speaker 6 (15:45):
And here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
That all these fucking idiots that don't know a fucking
thing about building a true athlete into a great teammate
don't understand.

Speaker 6 (15:55):
Okay, when you grow up.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
In in one of these countries, in Croatia, Slovenia, in Spain,
in Russia, in wherever, Okay, you play for your junior
club team. Okay, you have to go to practice, you
have to do what the coach wants, and then eventually,
if you get good enough, you elevate, usually to against
In Australia Australian Institute of Sport, you can't bounce team

(16:22):
to team to team and team. So if you're not playing,
you're not doing what they want. If you're not practicing hard,
then you're not gonna play and you're not gonna elevate
to the next levels. In America, And again I know
this because I wasn't AU coach. Like I got kids
that their parents wanted them to learn the right way. Now,
it's really hard to get them all to practice because

(16:44):
in order to do it in order to compete and
get the right kids. Oftentimes, you can't take only kids
from your area, right, you gotta get them all around.
But the point is people don't hold the accountable because
there'll be kids that I would their dad. They just
used to play and zone and try and get steals
and not run offense and just go one on one.
And if you don't, if you actually coach them and
sit them at the end of games and lose the

(17:06):
game or win a game without them, they just pick
up the shop and they go and play for the
team that you're playing against.

Speaker 6 (17:11):
That's the way it works. And we do that in
high school.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
If you don't play high school, you get in many
states you have a one time free transfer. In college,
you play for four or five schools.

Speaker 6 (17:19):
Fucking joke.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
And again I understand that many of the kids in
college they're not capable of being these kids. But it's
all part of what's happened with the NBA, with all
this player empowerment and player movement.

Speaker 6 (17:32):
It sounds really good, it's not good for the product.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
The transfer portal is poison poison to coaching, to teaching
people to be good teammates. Now again, at my level,
it's not as big of an issue because, frankly, I
have some kids that other people don't want, and they
they've been unwanted by other people, and I embrace them
and I want to make them better.

Speaker 6 (17:57):
But it's still a hard process.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
And there are gonna be guys that are not gonna
play this year, that are gonna leave, even though it's
in their best interest to stay because their parent knows
that maybe they go somewhere else. They're same problems follow them,
same problems follow them.

Speaker 6 (18:11):
So Colin is right.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
I don't think it's as much about the money grab
as much as the opportunities and the player empowerment and
the player movement and the fact that if a parent
or a kid or somebody doesn't like the fact that
you're a good coach is holding them accountable making them play. Hey,
I make made my kids play man and man defense.
We lost tournaments because of it. My own kid, okay,
I didn't play him at the end the last AU

(18:34):
game I coach. I didn't play my own kid at
the end of the game. Why could guard anybody? You
know what, Now he's in high school, he's struggling to
defend either He'll figure it out or he won't be
as good as he could be period. And then the
other part is, and I like, listen, USA basketball, we
have a group. Here's what Colin doesn't know. We have
a group of they're mostly high school seniors, summer high

(18:58):
school juniors, the seventien you. It is the most dominant
group of American born high school players we maybe have
ever had. They were beating teams this past year by
one hundred points. They're unbelievable. But some of the stuff
they're able to get away with because one through twelve
is all amazing, isn't going to translate. Whereas many of

(19:18):
those kids on the teams that got beat by thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy,
those kids, because of how hard it is, because of
their the athletic imbalance of the two rosters, Eventually they'll
catch up because their skill level will then match up
with a greater athletic level. I also think the way
in which basketball has evolved, the way in which basketball
has changed in terms of the dynamics of officiating, means

(19:42):
you have to be a better all around basketball player
and not a better all around athlete. And some of
that is a lot like what we seen in the
quarterback position. If you can't read a defense, can't throw
from the pocket. Doesn't matter which in high school in college.

Speaker 6 (19:50):
There's a lot to it.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
But I would agree with Colin from this standpoint, the
way in which basketball is coached at the youth level,
at the high school level, is not good enough to
prepare kids for ultimately the highest level.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
Let's find out who or what is annoying Jason Stewart.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
And now it's your annoying.

Speaker 7 (20:25):
Hey, Doug. So Aaron Rodgers making the round. We talked
about it at length in the in the radio show.
I want to say one thing that's annoying about it
is that there's a certain segment of our population that
is not going to believe a word he says. And
I don't really blame them. I don't blame them or not.
But you know, when he pulled the the whatever the

(20:48):
vax saying was, and he said that he was immunized
and he was caught in a lie. The problem is
when you try to expect us to believe what you're
saying now that you had nothing to do with the
firing of the head coach.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Well, I would also I would also say this, and
I know you want to get to a bigger point,
and so I respect it, but I would also say that,
remember many of the things that Aaron Rodgers has pushed is, hey,
he's kind of a conspiracy theorist guy, right, So when
you're conspiracy theorist guy, that means you don't believe what
you're being told. You believe there's something, you know, nefarious
going on in the background. So he's done himself no favors,

(21:25):
but I do go ahead proceed.

Speaker 7 (21:27):
No, that's pretty much my point. I just think it's
it's annoying that he expects everyone to believe him when
he knows that he has lost the trust of a
lot of people. And you know, I don't know what
the exact legal terminology hears, but I've read enough courtroom
drama fiction and seen enough shows to know that if

(21:49):
you do catch a witness and a lie, then it
is within the jury's discretion to say what exactly has
this witness said that it's truthful. So that's kind of
the annoying part of this. So last night Dodgers lost
to the Padres in Game three, their backs against the
Wall tonight in Game four, there was one crucial play. Now,

(22:14):
you can easily say that one play doesn't make a
baseball game, and they could have lost anyways, and I
completely concede that point. But there was one crucial play.
Man Your Machado was on first base and there was
nobody out. There was a ground ball to Freddie Freeman
on the grass. Freddy Freeman, from his knees, threw the

(22:34):
ball to second base. The ball never got to second
base because it hit off of Manny Machado's back or
helmet and deflected into left field. So now we have
a first and third situation, no outs as opposed to
a man on first situation or even a double play
if that throw makes it through crucial part of last

(22:55):
night's give games. Seeing the way that it played out,
I thought it was a bush league play. Many on
Twitter didn't. Afterwards, a Rod and Jeter weighed in on
that play. Now, keep in mind a Rod is probably
the biggest bush league player in the history of baseball,

(23:15):
so you have to take what he says with a
grain of salt, But I trust Jeter in this situation.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Machada, it turns out I made a brilliant play because
the umpires did not call it, so it's a smart play.
But the umpires could have called it the other way,
and that may change not only the complexion about any
but the entire ballgame.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
Well, I tell you I've never seen that happen and
not be called interference. To your point, brilliant by Manny
because they didn't call it interference. But Freddie did exactly
what he could. All he could do is make the throw,
but no one saw it. And I think what was
more confusing is no one even asked about it.

Speaker 7 (23:53):
That's the annoying part of this. First of all, Manny
Machado and this brilliant play thing. It takes a certain
con athlete and maybe you were one of these doug
to know the rules intentionally violate the rule hoping to
get away with it. Okay, that there's a there's a
little bit of integrity issue there, but that's not the problem.

(24:13):
Nobody stopped the game. Dave Roberts never went so.

Speaker 6 (24:16):
Far out of the base.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
He's so far out of the bass path absolutely, Now,
can you review the bass path.

Speaker 7 (24:22):
That's not a reviewable play. The problem is Dave Roberts
never went out and even argued it. There was I mean,
there was zero argument to a blatant violation of a rule.
It's just so odd. That whole thing was surreal. We
all saw it on TV that he did it on purpose,
and it's I don't know that again. I'm not gonna

(24:44):
say we lost the game because of that play, but.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
That was that one again, and maybe we need I
need to have holiday on here. Isn't that one where
if you tag you throw it, you beat him right
in the back, and when you beat him in the back,
he's on the infield grass.

Speaker 6 (24:57):
Then they realize how far out of the bass path
he is.

Speaker 7 (24:59):
That's exactly what the catchers are taught to do on
a catcher to first play, hit the runner in the numbers,
so the umpire sees how bad it was. You know,
Freddie obviously didn't do that, but it was. It was blatant,
it was on purpose.

Speaker 6 (25:15):
I don't I again, and I don't know if it's
bush league.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Okay again, I I'm I agree with you on a
rod like I just a rod's the whole A rod thing.
The fact that a Rod represents the league is fucking gross.
Like Dube was suspended twice for steroids, He's one of
the worst humans to represent the sport. Great player, but like,

(25:39):
if we're gonna have a Rod, fuck put Barry Bonds
up there too. Right, In many ways, Barry Bonds, who
was an asshole to everybody when he played, was a
better player than a Rod, equally guilty of steroids. Treat
people equally like shit, right, So that that part aside.
I actually I'm not sure he's not right here. I
don't know if it's bush League or if it's pushing

(26:00):
the lines of making them call it.

Speaker 6 (26:02):
But the fact that Dave, like, what the fuck are
you doing? Dave? What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
You know, I'm sitting there watching and I'm exactly and
I know, I'm like you, where do you know that
Leonardo DiCaprio meme where he's pointing at the TV.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yes, yes, that's me, Like, what the fuck?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
And then they didn't argue and I get and the
fact that it's not reviewable all issues with me.

Speaker 7 (26:27):
And I think the broadcast led us down in the
moment too. Joe Davis, I like Joe Davis the only
thing he actually said in the aftermath that that was
what a great play by Machado, and then Smoltz agreed.
But at that point, Doug, I mean, fuck the NFL
rules an analyst, whoever they are, for whatever network. We

(26:50):
could have really used an MLB rules analyst in that
moment to blatantly tell us that what you saw was
blatant interference and should have been called an out, and
the broadcast kind of let us down. Dave Roberts let
me down. But uh, it sounds like sour grapes. But
I would be saying the same thing if it happened
to another team. It was just such a blatant rule

(27:11):
violation and nobody drew attention to it, and it's just
it was fucking weird. So I've been talking about this
ever since this whole thing came to be, But Bronny
going to the Lakers is very interesting to me. Stephen A.
Smith thinks it's interesting too. And what does it called, guys, Sam? Maybe?

(27:33):
Maybe is it a scarecrow argument? Is it a it's
when you kind of make up the Yeah, well you
make up that there's that somebody's arguing something, and it's
it's a complete phantom argument. So this is stephen A.
He has an argument for all the people that are
saying that, uh, this is nepotism and Lebron doesn't deserve

(27:57):
to play with his son, for.

Speaker 9 (27:59):
Him to have his on a team with him, I
got no issues with it whatsoever. I have zero issue
with it whatsoever. Lebron James has earned that. Bronni James
has something to prove, fair enough, but Lebron James has
earned it. He has earned our respect, our reverence, our deference,

(28:20):
our appreciation for us to look at something that he
wants and say, excuse me, can we do that for him?
Yes we can, not just the Lakers, but NBA fans everywhere. Yes,
we owe it to Lebron James.

Speaker 7 (28:36):
And again, I don't know how many people out there
who've said that Lebron James doesn't deserve this moment. It's
very cool. I don't know how many fathers wouldn't want
to play with their son. I don't think anyone's blaming
Lebron or anything. My problem is that the point that
Steven's making hasn't been acknowledged by the Lakers or Lebron
or his agent or Bronny that if this is just

(28:58):
a staged act to get him to play the Sun,
that's fine, But nobody has acknowledged that. Stephen A is
like he's arguing against a scarecrow whatever that's called here.
But and he's also like pointing out the fact that
the Lakers have never acknowledged this arrangement. This is not
what the goal was.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
A straw man fallacy is refuting an argument different from
the one actually under discussion. Perfect right, there's a straw
man argument. Yeah, nobody's making that argument, stephen A. Which
is is it's kind of brilliant in its simplicity of
what he's doing.

Speaker 6 (29:36):
But again when you peer through it, you're like, nobody's
making that argument. What are you talking about?

Speaker 2 (29:42):
So yeah, Lebron James is like he's earned the right
to do what, Like, what hasn't he earned the right
to do?

Speaker 6 (29:48):
Then? I don't know. I read the piece, by the way.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
The ESPN piece, I forget who wrote it.

Speaker 6 (29:57):
It was uh, oh Baxter Holmes, Huh.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Baxter Homes wrote it, And yeah, I mean there were
so many quotes in there that were so good, Like
do people understand just how far away he is? And
they're actually hurting him. You know, congrats, you get to
say he's the NBA player, it's a fucking joke or
what are we doing? So you know, it's it's really,

(30:23):
it's really it's a very interesting exercise here, you know.
And I would actually make I can actually make the
argument for the Jannis's brothers only in that at least
body type wise, they fit. Whereas Bronnie James, you watch him,
You're like, dude, he's tiny. What are we doing Like

(30:44):
to be six feet tall and play in the NBA,
you have to be spectacular. There has been There's never
been a point in his basketball life that he's been spectacular.

Speaker 7 (30:55):
What else, No, that's it. So the way the lebron.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
I actually think Dave Robert and again remember this comes
from a place I like Dave Roberts. I don't know
anybody who doesn't like Dave Roberts. I like so many
parts of Dave, and I know some of the things
he's hamstrung by is that you know that there's such
a data driven organization like the Yankees or whatever, But like, dude,
you're also a baseball guy. You were an incredible base runner,

(31:24):
and to not go out and and kick some fucking
dirt and point out the fact that Manny Machado was
at least two yards out of the base path. It
is coaching mail practice. Sorry, it's coaching malpractice. It wouldn't
have changed anything, but it would have pointed out the
ineptitude of the umpiring crew, and he did not do

(31:44):
it at the time.

Speaker 6 (31:46):
That's an.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Why are we doing this because we can?

Speaker 7 (31:57):
Hey Doug, you're probably wondering why a ten player, a
tennis player from a match in October would be in
this segment. Well, this is an all timer. This guy's
name is Francis Tioffo. Maybe I don't know. I don't
know if he's gonna be good or not. Yes, he's good, Okay, cool,
I'll take your word for it. He blew up at
the line judge after his match yesterday. I think, fuck you, man,

(32:22):
Fuck you seriously.

Speaker 6 (32:23):
Man, fucking fuck me.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Fucking do that?

Speaker 5 (32:33):
What what always do him?

Speaker 6 (32:35):
Entertainment?

Speaker 1 (32:35):
You fucked the mecca, ucking were fucking out.

Speaker 7 (32:46):
Out of fucking blackness on my mecca.

Speaker 6 (32:51):
That's amazing. That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Tiafa, by the way, is American from Maryland. H I
think he was a thirteen seed right in the in
the Shanghai Masters. But that is an all time tell
us how you really feel or actually you know what
that one deserves. Lighten up Francis, Lighten up Francis, why them?

(33:15):
And play for you because we can. That's it from
the end the Modus Podcast. Check out the radio show
every day three to five East from twelve two Pacific,
The Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio app,
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Host

Doug Gottlieb

Doug Gottlieb

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