Best of the Week on The Herd

Danny Parkins fills in for Colin

 

Is LeBron James is in the news again. Does he want to Denver?

Thoughts on the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones not paying Micah Parsons yet

He talks to Mike Jones from The Athletic about what to expect this NFL season

 

Covino & Rich are in for Colin on The HERD!  The guys explain how Baseball is poppin'! There are positive reviews for the new Naked Gun movie. Plus, a star wide receiver requests a trade! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, welcome in.
Let's do this. It is The Herd. No Colin Cowherd.
I am Danny Parkins from FS one's First Things First,
soon to be expanded. First Things First, it's a thrill
to be out here in Los Angeles and for the
legend that is Colin Cowherd. We've got a great show

(00:43):
for you today on this Monday, my guy Cole Kamt
from The Bears will join us in about thirty minutes
to explain why everyone is completely correct. It's a panic
about every interception around Caleb Williams. Do I think Cole
might have a different take on that. Bruce Feldman joins
the show. My new teammate at First Things First, Chris Broussard.
Later on the Bear tons of football because we made it.

(01:05):
There's a football game this week kind of in the
Hall of Fame game. But we've got a lot of
NFL to get to over the course of today's show.
But somehow someway. Even though it is game week in
the NFL, Lebron James still finds himself in the center
of the news because I did not expect to land

(01:26):
in Los Angeles to an Instagram post from a guy
I had never heard of, who was Nikola Jokic's agent
on a yacht in France with Lebron James and Maverick Carter.
I was like, Oh, okay, Lebron world traveler. Who who
among us hasn't been on a yacht in the south

(01:48):
of France with the greatest offensive player in twenty years
as agent?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
I mean, that's a thing that could happen to anybody,
And I'm like, all right, that's nice. They bumped into
each other while vacationing having some fine wine, and then
you read the caption on Nikola Jokich's agent's Instagram post.
The summer of twenty twenty five is the perfect time
to make big plans for the fall of twenty twenty six.

(02:17):
Summer of twenty twenty five, that's now perfect time to
make big plans for the fall of twenty twenty six. Yeah,
that's gonna have some reverberations around the NBA because everybody
seems to be convinced because the Lakers invited Luca to
dinner and didn't invite him because they are not willing

(02:40):
to trade the last first round pick that they control
to go out and make a bigger move for this
offseason to try to be all in quote unquote to
win now with Lebron, that Lebron is somehow unhappy with
the Lakers, and Lebron, by the way, has done some
things to fan fuel to that flames. Because I like
to say about Lebron, we're similar in age. We're elder millennials.

(03:04):
We grew up with the Internet. We understand what it's like.
Oh I'm gonna unfollow my employer, I'm gonna tweak this thing,
I'm gonna patrol a little bit. Lebron in his camp
is very good at controlling the message and nothing that
they do is without intent, and he drives the twenty

(03:24):
four to seven sports talk industrial complex more than any
modern athlete, arguably more than any athlete ever. So he's vacationing,
He's on a yacht, this guy puts out a post
and now it becomes a story. But I don't think
Lebron is leaving LA, and it is for no better
reason than say it out loud. Lebron James Denver nugget.

(03:49):
I just don't believe it. I have a very hard
time believing. The guy who is now on his third franchise,
who has delivered LA a championship, who just got Luka
Dancic as a teammate, who they drafted his son, He's
building his forever home out here, he has all of
his business ventures out here. I have a hard time
believe believing. On that yacht they were talking about Lebron

(04:12):
James going to Denver, And for the life of me,
I have struggled with understanding why we talk about Jokic
and his future in Denver so different than we talk
about Giannis and his future in Milwaukee. Again, this was
Joker's agent talking about big plans for next summer. Well,

(04:36):
Yokic is under contract for this year, and he's under
contract for next year, but then he's got a player
option the year after that. And it's not that long
ago when Josh Cronkey, the owner of the Nuggets, for
some unknown reason floated the idea of trading Joker.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
You remember, for us as an organization, going into that
Secon and Apron is not necessarily something that we're scared of.
I think that there are rules around it that we
needed to be very careful of with our injury history.
The wrong person gets injured, and very quickly you're into
scenario where that I never want to have to contemplate
and met to trading number fifteen.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Odd choice. I think we could all agree to unprompted
bring up trading Nikola Jokich. But Yannis can't do anything
without one hundred headlines and hot take people being like
Gianis has to leave Milwaukee. When Jannis was an international
pick to a small market team who's won an MVP

(05:38):
and delivered a championship and has signed multiple extensions to
stay with the team that drafted him. Nikola Jokich has
won multiple MVPs, has one championship, was a late round,
second round pick international player drafted by a small market team.
There are way more similarities to Jannis and Jokic, but

(06:00):
no one ever talks about Yokic being unhappy in Denver.
What if Jokic's agent is making big plans for next year,
when for all intents and purposes, it is an expiring
contract for Jokic, because the year after is a player
option for Jokic to leave Denver to go to Los

(06:21):
Angeles to play with his longtime friend Luka Doncic, that
feels to me way more likely what the big plans
could be than Lebron James being a Denver nugget for
one year. I have no idea how many more years
Lebron James is playing. We say father Time is undefeated.
Lebron James is trying to shatter expectations on that cliche,

(06:45):
but to say it out loud. Test tells me it
is more likely that they're just trolling. Frankly, but that
if I had to say Jokic in LA and they
figure out a way to make that work, or Lebron
just straight signed in Denver for a year, which granted
is simpler given Lebron is not under contract beyond this

(07:06):
year as we all know. I'll still take the more
difficult path and believe that it's much more likely that
Lebron is figuring out a way to team up with Jokic,
pair him with Luca, make one more run at a
championship two years from now, and then sail off into
the Sunsets, leaving the Lakers set up to be successful
after him and having that be a part of his Lakers' legacy.

(07:29):
I won you the title in the bubble, maybe I
won you a second title, and oh yeah, by the way,
I set you up to have the best duo in
the NBA going forward with Luca and the Joker. So
we don't know where Jokic or Lebron's going. I got
a pretty good idea how this next story is going
to end, but it still doesn't change any of the drama.

(07:51):
Micah Parsons is going to stay in Dallas. But it's
lovely to see that there's thirty one teams in the
NFL and then there's just a television producer. Because as
a content guy who loves the NFL year round, I
feel like all of us, everyone who sits behind a
microphone should have to write a handwritten thank you letter

(08:14):
to Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, because love them
or hate them, we all have an opinion of how
they do business and why they are just still so
relevant and compelling despite it being thirty years without a championship,
and so over the weekend, Micah Parsons, who doesn't have
a contract, apparently has a little back tightness, but is

(08:38):
there at training camp just not really participating. Jerry Jones
because for some reason, the owner of the team needs
to face the fans at training camp with a bunch
of cheerleaders behind him, had to come out and say
whatever he was saying about the new and improved team,
and he was greeted with chance of pay Micah, pay Micah,
and then he talked to the media afterwards and he

(08:59):
was like, wow, well, the chance for paying CD were
loud er last year, and you know, we paid Mike,
we paid Dak Prescott. And then he got hurt. He
can't help himself because this is what he does. And
Dak Prescott last year said, you know, I just kind
of stopped listening to Jerry, which is a bold thing
for a quarterback to say about the guy who signs
his check. But that was last year. Ceedee Lamb. Just

(09:24):
last week, when talking about Micah Parsons and these contract
negotiations that are playing out as publicly as any contract
negotiations in the NFL, he was like, yeah, we just
don't play in those waters with the media and Jerry.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
Jones obviously playing his media game with Jerry is not
the best, is not fun, is not recommended. But as
for Micaeh, he knows what he brings to this table, honestly,
for this team, for himself, and he should get what
he deserved. And I'm not indulging any of the craziness
that they got going, but I do want Michael to
get paid soon.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
And he will get paid soon. You all know how
this ends. This is just noise. Last year, Nick Bosa
got paid and then Max Crosby got paid, and for
a moment in time, oh my god, Miles Garrett was
going to be traded from the Cleveland Browns. He wrote
a nice letter and everything, and then Miles Garrett became

(10:18):
the highest paid non quarterback in football and he wants
to be a Brown for life and for a while.
I mean, I'm old enough to remember three weeks ago
when TJ. Watt was really unhappy with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Oh man, they were far apart, they weren't going to
get it done. And then whila, it's amazing. With forty
one million dollars per year to rush the quarterback and

(10:40):
lose Wild Card weekend can do to a guy's mood,
and all of a sudden, TJ. Watt back with the Steelers, thrilled,
Micah Parsons will be a Dallas Cowboy. He will get
another contract. He will top TJ. Watts forty one million
per year. My guess is by a decent amount actually,
just given the age difference. I don't think it's going
to be forty one point two or forty two. He'll

(11:02):
probably try to get to forty four forty five million
a year put some distance between him and the other
pass rushers. And I'm sure that's the sticking point in
the negotiations right now. But I think we would be
called a media literacy test here. I think we would
all be served to actually pay attention to Jerry Jones.

(11:24):
And I know it's a bold strategy, and Ceedee Lamb
and Dak Prescott have said they're trying to do different things,
but I don't play quarterback for the Cowboys. Jerry Jones
saw how this country was enamored with the Last Dance,
and he said, I got to get me one of those.
And he struck a deal with Netflix to produce a

(11:46):
multi part story of the Cowboys, and it's coming soon
and we'll see what America's appetite is for a long
form documentary on America's team. It will not be as
popular as the Last Dance because we're not in the
middle of a pandemic, but they were popular in the nineties.
The Bulls were popular in the nineties. I'm sure it

(12:07):
will do quite well. But when the trailer came out,
there was a little snippet from Jerry Jones that I
actually was like, Ah, there it is, thank you. This
is a soap opera three hundred and sixty five days
a year. That is his business model. That is why

(12:28):
they're not in the biggest market, but they're the most
valuable franchise. They don't have the most wins or the
most Super Bowls, but they're the most valuable, most talked
about franchise. He believes, and frankly has been proven right
that the soap opera is what sells. He's the owner,

(12:50):
but he's also the general manager. But they absolutely have
a general manager in Will maclay. Like nobody believes that
Jerry Jones is scouring senior boll tape, but he wants
to call himself the general manager. No owner in the
NFL calls into local radio every week. No other owner
in the NFL does a postgame press conference every week.

(13:13):
They played it out with Dak Prescott, they played it
out with Ceedee Lamb, They played it out with Michah Parsons.
What does that do? Back in the day, we would
say it filled column inches. Now it fills airtime because
then Micah Parsons has a podcast and he weighs in,

(13:33):
Ceedee Lamb gets asked about it. That makes a news
cycle story. The fans chant something at him, that's a
news cycle story.

Speaker 6 (13:41):
And on and on and on.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Jerry Jones is competitive. Jerry Jones wants to win. He
just also wants to be the most talked about. You
don't hear the Roonies or the Maras or the mccaskey's
or anyone else doing it the way that Jerry Jones does.
But Jerry Jones's team is worth more money, so he

(14:07):
probably looks at it like this might cost me a
few million bucks, and that thanks for a Cowboys fan
who wants to maximize the salary cap. But he's like
the column inches and the airtime more than makes up
for it. Because people are talking about the Dallas Cowboys.
It's a soap opera. Three hundred and sixty five days

(14:28):
a year. Those are his words, not mine again. Thirty
one teams and a television producer, and it's been the
highest rated TV show in the NFL for the last
thirty years. Coming up next on The Herd, the guy
who has the most to gain, I would say, by
far if he won a Super Bowl. He got philosophical

(14:50):
over the weekend and I absolutely loved it. Danny Parkinson
for Colin.

Speaker 7 (14:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.

Speaker 8 (14:59):
Hey where conven you know? And Rich Fox Sports Radio
every day five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing,
we never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to. And that's why we have a
brand new podcast called over Promised. You see, we're having
so much fun in our two hour show. We never
get to everything, honestly, because this guy is over promising

(15:19):
things we never have time for.

Speaker 6 (15:20):
Yeah, you blubber list in me.

Speaker 8 (15:22):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years. Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show,
and we want you to be a part of it.
We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also
gonna talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I
are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time,
it will continue on our after show called over Promised.

Speaker 6 (15:40):
Well, if you don't get enough.

Speaker 8 (15:41):
Covino and Rich, make sure you check out over Promised
and also Uncensored, by the way, so maybe.

Speaker 6 (15:46):
We'll go at it even a little harder.

Speaker 8 (15:47):
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
There you go, over Promising, and remember you could see
it on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised
with Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Okay, I'll find about Colin Cowherd, who isn't here, who
lets me sit in his seat?

Speaker 5 (16:06):
All right?

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well, speaking of coming at each other, I know you
have a lot of practice going at Knicks lists, but
I feel like you really dislike my quarterback rankings. Brew
I feel i Arson's peak. We called him parkins Peak.

Speaker 9 (16:20):
On FtF.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
They asked me to do my top ten here I
was like, I'll just bring it on over. It was
an easy transfer. Here. I look at that and I
see a perfect, indisputable top ten. You see something different.

Speaker 10 (16:34):
Yeah, well, first of all, look, you you got the
number one, right, that's how smart?

Speaker 11 (16:39):
Positive? All right, you got the number one guy, and
you can.

Speaker 10 (16:43):
I would put Lamar to but Josh Allen's fine, He's
been better in the playoffs, so I'll give you that.
But I have to put Lamar a head of Joe Burrow.
Joe Burrow some of his injuries, but hasn't been in
the playoffs since twenty twenty two. And I love Burrow,
but I've never seen a player ride so much off
of one playoff victory over Patrick Mahomes, you know.

Speaker 11 (17:05):
And he's riding off of that.

Speaker 10 (17:06):
So I would have to switch Lamar and Burrow and
have Burrow at four.

Speaker 11 (17:10):
And then this is where it gets crazy.

Speaker 10 (17:13):
Is that the Justin Herbert that through the four interceptions
the last time we saw him in the playoff game.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Hands in fairness, Okay, okay, when still when I look
at Broke Football Reference, it's still sands more interceptions, okay,
And so look, I am with you, and like.

Speaker 10 (17:39):
Everybody loves Herbert's talent, I assume, and he was great
as early in his career, his first few years. I
assume you're saying, look, he's got a very good coach.
Even though he kind of took the ball out of
his hands.

Speaker 11 (17:51):
He's going to start winning.

Speaker 10 (17:53):
He's going to be you know, throw a fewer picks
and things like that with hardball.

Speaker 11 (17:58):
So you're projecting, and he does have.

Speaker 10 (18:00):
Top five talent, but right now I can't put him there.
I would put Jaydon Daniels. You know, my M five
to twelve is is fluid, but right now the tide
is pushing Jaydon Daniels to number five. We'll see if
holds on. Jalen Hurts. I gotta have above justin Herbert.

(18:22):
Matthew Stafford. I think, look, he's thirty seven. We know
now the back is bothering him. He's not gonna practice
this week. That's really been his problem since the Super
Bowl win a few years ago. Injuries have lessened his impact,
even kept him out of some game. So I think
Stafford just might be he feels like an old thirty seven,

(18:42):
and that's old enough as it is just by itself.
So I think Stafford is probably on the decline. I
think you got Jared Goff a tad bit high, but
you know the list. The main thing is Justin Herbert
is too high, and I don't understand it for the
life me.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Let's just say the trade was offered Herbert for Hertz.
Who says no, Philly, No, they would not.

Speaker 10 (19:10):
Now AJ Brown might not say no or divide day Smith,
but I really I think Philly says no. How you
doing the Toush push with with Justin Herbert.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
You're handing it to Saquon Barkley and you're throwing the
ball to AJ Brown. We could get rid of the
Toush push.

Speaker 11 (19:30):
Look, Herbert, I love Herbert, not as.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Much as you, thank you, but.

Speaker 10 (19:34):
I do like Herbert. Two things can be true. All
the talent in the world.

Speaker 11 (19:39):
And it's tough, right, physically.

Speaker 10 (19:41):
Tough, played through injury, but you have to be a
bit taken aback and have to give pause because of
the way he's played in these playoffs. He wasn't horrible
in the first game when they let you know, Trevor
Lawrence and Jacksonville come back.

Speaker 11 (19:57):
He didn't like.

Speaker 10 (19:58):
Throw a bunch of picks, but he just didn't anything
in the second half. But he really hasn't been great
in the biggest games.

Speaker 11 (20:05):
In the playoffs at least, so you do have to
admit that.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
No, I mean yeah, oh and two with a terrible
collapse in one and four interceptions with the other I
cannot hard I cannot argue that point.

Speaker 10 (20:17):
Those two sentences you just said, and number fifth best
quarterback in the world don't jive.

Speaker 11 (20:24):
It's a team They just don't. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
It's a team game.

Speaker 11 (20:29):
Oh that's right.

Speaker 10 (20:30):
It was Will Disley that through those four interceptions. Just
that's what Jim Harball's saying. Right the other team, the
other players gotta pick.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
It up, they gotta catch up.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
They got to catch up to get on. Just now
you're seeing me and Harball as that next level football thinking.
I said it earlier in the show Brew thirty one
NFL Teams and a Television Producer. I think Jerry Jones
gave away the plot in the Netflix documentary and he said,
it's a soap opera three hundred and sixty five days

(21:01):
a year. And when we are trying to be like,
why would they handle Ceedee Lamb this way? Why would
they handle Micah Parsons this way? I feel like that
four second clip in the trailer explained everything.

Speaker 10 (21:14):
What about you, You're right on the money.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Look it.

Speaker 10 (21:20):
Remember you know, think of your favorite sports movies. I
like loving Basketball, Bull Durham. That's maybe before your time.
But these are movies.

Speaker 11 (21:29):
They're sports movies, right, yeah, but they're not really about sports.
They're just in a sports setting.

Speaker 10 (21:37):
That's the Dallas Cowboys under Jerry Jones, at least since
they won their last Super Bowl.

Speaker 11 (21:42):
They are a drama.

Speaker 10 (21:44):
They are I've used that term to describe them soap opera.
That's in a football setting. They're not really a football franchise.
The New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Los Angeles Chargers,
those are football franchises. The Dallas Cowboys are a soap opera,
a drama, an entertainment factory like that just happens to

(22:08):
be in a football setting. And what I would say
to Jerry, because you put it out, I thought you
spelled it out well in your last segment. That's what
this thing is with Micah.

Speaker 11 (22:19):
He might pay Mike.

Speaker 10 (22:20):
He's gonna make him the highest paid non quarterback ever,
but he might.

Speaker 11 (22:23):
Go well above TJ.

Speaker 10 (22:25):
Watts forty one million dollars per because.

Speaker 11 (22:29):
He likes having that reputation.

Speaker 10 (22:31):
It will help him among other players right on other teams.
And say, man, Jerry went way above, you know, making
Micah the highest paid non QB. And but I would
say this to Jerry, making another dollar on the Cowboys
is not going to change anything for him, but winning
another Super Bowl would. And I really think the entertainment value,

(22:58):
the value of the freend keeping the Cowboys on talk
shows like this and ours and the other networks is
most important to Jerry. But they already have a sky high.

Speaker 11 (23:11):
Value as the Cowboys.

Speaker 10 (23:13):
What would change his world would be winning another Super Bowl.
And I don't think he sees it that way unfortunately,
because you know, make how much more money does he
need and how much more valuable do they need to get?
They're gonna keep rising in value no matter what. So
I just think he's approaching it the wrong way.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Chris Brossard, First things first, we'll be watching later, thank you, sir.
All right, man later, all right, talk to you soon.
That's Chris Brossard from First Things First, coming up. It's
a shame I don't have a bet yet for the
Heisman Trophy. I got a lot of futures bets already
placed for football. I need a little bit more on
my college football card. The Bear helps me fill that void.

(23:55):
Plus ever too early to bet Texas and Ohio State. Next,
I'm Danny Parkins.

Speaker 5 (24:01):
This is the Hurt.

Speaker 7 (24:04):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter, not a Empacific.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Welcome back in to the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins or
Colin Cowhard Coming up in a little bit. We'll get
to a quarterback from last year who probably deserves a
little bit more hype heading into this year, but he's
a victim of circumstance. But right now, let's go around
the NFL our Next guest covers the league for the
Athletic National NFL writer Mike Jones with us on the Herd.

(24:33):
He's covered the NFL for the last fifteen years. Mike,
thank you so much for the time. I began today's
show reacting to Jimmy Haslum's comments about Arch Manning because
he says he's probably going to stay in college for
two years. It's very rare that we have a college
prospects talked about as the number one pick before he's
really accomplished anything in college. I get it, the last

(24:55):
name on the Jersey Heisman Trophy, favorite second best team
in the country. But I'm curious, how how do you
think the league at this point views arch Manning the
NFL prospect.

Speaker 9 (25:05):
I mean, they've only seen a little flashes here and
there of him. You haven't seen him in a full
time basis. So I don't think that anybody's getting overly exciting.
Obviously there's intrigue there because of the name and the
athleticism and ability that you see, but let's wait until
we see him, you know, as a full time starter,
and you know, then I think that we'll have a

(25:25):
better idea. Obviously people have been taking notes, they have
the body of work or that he's shown, even though
it's limited, But I haven't talked to any scouts or
anybody that's like overly excited about him this early.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
So a guy who people were overly excited about, and
I would say for good reason, was Travis Hunter. And
I think he's going to break the record for most
snaps played in a season as a rookie if he
distinued what he did last year in college in the pros,
he would shatter it, and he did that in thirteen games.
The Jaguars seem to be like verymitted to playing him

(26:01):
both ways, but everyone on the outside is like, are
they really going to play him both ways? How do
you think this is going to go?

Speaker 9 (26:07):
You know, it's going to be a real interesting experiment
as we see them go out there, because, look, you've
got to see what his effectiveness is going to be. Obviously,
in training camp and the practices, he probably looks good.
You know, he's got good conditioning. We've seen him play
multiple seasons this way, but the NFL is just another
level up the physicality, the speed and everything. So I

(26:28):
think there's going to be a you know, maybe a
snap count that they have on him early on as
they try to figure out what he can handle, how
he's able to be effective, you know, as a wide receiver,
as a defensive back. I talked to scouts who feel
like he is an elite level defensive back and probably
a pretty decent wide receiver. Did talk to one that

(26:49):
thought he might be a better receiver with his boss
skills than a cornerback. But he is really excited to
see how they handle this and what his ability to
handle the workload and play and an high level is
going to be.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Like my theory on it is we are all former athletes,
regular people like you and may media. We are behind
in understanding the full impacts of sports science and how
amazing the modern athletes are. The example I users like
back in the Day or running back Hits twenty seven,

(27:23):
they're falling off the cliff. Now we've got Derrick Henry
at thirty approaching two thousand yard seasons, like it's nothing right.
Athletes have just gotten better. We see in Green Bay
they're working out Bowl Melton, trying to maybe turn him
into a two way player because of some injuries that
they had at Corner. I feel like if Travis Hunter works,
it could open the floodgates for these elite athletes and
we could start seeing more guys try to do it.

(27:45):
Or do you think I'm insane?

Speaker 9 (27:47):
No, I don't think you're insane. I do think that
everybody's going to be watching. I think there are kids
in college and coaches in college who are going to
be watching. And as you see more guys come out
and more guys able to execute at an elite level,
if there is a two way player, then sure there
will be a ripple effect throughout the NFL, And you're
definitely right. Like the science behind all of this has changed.

(28:10):
These guys have chips on their uniforms, in their pads
that they can look and see how many miles power
he's running in the first part of practice compared to
the last part of practice, in the first quarter of
a game as opposed to the fourth quarter of the game.
So they're going to have all of the science. Even
if he's saying I feel good, they'll be able to
tell if he's slowing down, if there's a drop off
or anything like that. And so all of that science

(28:33):
is going to go into the decision on how much
of a workload they give him, and it's just going
to be fascinating.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Mike Jones from The Athletic is our guest. So Trey
Hendrickson reports the camp. Terry McLaurin reports the camp. They
don't have new contracts yet. My theory is basically in
a post leveon Bell World, it's an endangered species, like
the true holdout of missing Games. So I know Chris
Jones did it, I know Jonathan Taylor did it, but
it's less now than back in the day because the

(29:01):
money is just so insane. It's so hard for these
guys to really turn it down. So I view off
season contract consternation as just media filler, like, oh, Trey
Hendrickson's upset with his contract. Yeah, it's July he's supposed
to be, or it was May he was supposed to be.
And I think that these are inevitable that they are
going to get done. What about you?

Speaker 9 (29:22):
I do think they get done. It's unfortunate for the
players that in the last CBA they negotiated and so
the teams can find them fifty thousand dollars a day,
and so that adds up. You hang out for three
days and you're like, okay, that's one hundred and fifty
dollars fine, And then it starts really getting a little
painful and you decide to come back, and we'll see
more hold ends rather than hold outs.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
You know.

Speaker 9 (29:45):
Yes, I think that eventually these two sides are talking
in Cincinnati, the two sides are talking in Washington, they'll
eventually get something done. Because obviously the pressure is there
for these coaches to win, they need these marquee players,
and so these owners will drag their feet, drag their feet,

(30:05):
But eventually everybody's gonna come to the point and get
it all done, and all this would have been for nothing.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
What do you think about the reputation that Dallas is
stacking up now about how they handle their star players contracts.

Speaker 9 (30:18):
It's the cowboy way, It's Jerry Jones, And I think
that he loves this because what does he love is
the Cowboys being on the forefront of everybody's mind and
talking about them. And he press is good press for him.
And so we've seen him do it again and again
and again, drag his feet on paying a top level player,

(30:38):
a guy who has proven himself to be very valuable,
and then the last minute he finally winds up opening
the checkbook, even though it cost him tens of thousands
and you know, millions of dollars more, rather than have
taken care of the guy way earlier. And then every
time somebody at the position signs a new contract, the

(30:59):
price tag goes up up. And so Micah Parsons is
going to wind up surpassing TJ. Watt as far as
the highest paid pass rusher. It's just a matter of time.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Let me Devil's advocate that one though, Michah Parsons should
make more money than TJ. Watt. He's younger, and Dak
Prescott had a no tag clause and a no trade clause,
so he wanted Jordan Love to sign first. He wanted
to sign for Ceedee Lamb, wanted to see what Justin

(31:29):
Jefferson would do to set the market. Michah Parsons wants
to wait for Miles Garrett and TJ. Watt, Like when
you have truly elite Tier one players at their position
with leverage, the player probably wants to wait too for
the Cowboys to get these deals done.

Speaker 9 (31:48):
I'm sure there's part of them that would just like
to get it out of the way. But at the
same time, I think that's probably part of the reason
why Michaeh Parson's like, hey, look, I'm coming to work.
I owe this to my teammates. I want to be
in the best position to be able to help us
win because he knows he eventually it's gonna get done.
And as like you said, more guys in my position
get paid, my price SAT keeps going up, and Jerry's

(32:08):
gonna wind up doing what Jerry does and make me
the highest paid player in the league. At my position,
and so yes, it's probably annoying having it hanging over,
but they know eventually it's all gonna work out for them.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Is there anything that could happen in Pittsburgh this year
where we would even say that forget hot seat, that
the seat was lukewarm for Mike Tomlin?

Speaker 9 (32:32):
I think so. I think this has really the potential
to be disastrously bad. You know. I mean this Aaron
Rodgers that we see right here is not the same
guy that we're thinking of from Green Bay. We did
see him look a little better down the stretch of
the season with the Jets last year. But if he

(32:52):
and Arthur Smith don't gel just right, if the offense
isn't clicking, what does Aaron Rodgers do when things aren't
going well? He starts pointing fingers, He'll pull back the
curtain on the ineffectiveness of the organization. People have said
for a while that as great a leader as Mike
Tomlin is, he has not evolved the practices of that

(33:14):
organization and that coaching staff and the way they do things.
And so if Aaron Rodgers, if things don't go well
and there's finger pointing and things like that, that he
is known for as of late, then yeah, things will
look bad and go poorly, and you know that seat
for Mike Tomlin could heat up because they basically just
pushed all their chips into the middle this year. Very

(33:35):
un Pittsburgh Steelers like offseason, and if it doesn't plan
out well, then you know, then we could be asking questions.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
All right, I want to get your take on my guy,
Justin Herbert. The guy's the ultimate eye test quarterback for
interceptions even though a couple were off his guy's hands
and his interior offensive line was collapsing around him. Still
bad playoff game all in two in the playoffs. But
I am just convinced from watching the guy play football
that he's a star and he's going to do great things.

(34:04):
Where do you come out on I test versus actual
results for the team For Justin Herbert.

Speaker 9 (34:10):
I agree with you that he is as talented as
they come. His ceiling is very high. My question is
everything around him. I do think that Harbaugh was good
for him last year. I think another season with him
would be good for him. The questions are just okay,
does he have enough as far as weapons around him?
Did they really improve the line significantly? Enough. You know,

(34:32):
they got Makai Beckton, but you know he was really
good last year with Philadelphia, which is an offensive line factory,
and they work together so well. Is he going to
be as effective in new surroundings? You know, does Justin
Herbert have the wide receivers to go to enough weapons?
Because the thing is they're in this division with the Chiefs,

(34:52):
and until somebody proves they can knock off the Chiefs,
you know I will take them every time. So yes,
he's super talented. He gives you everything you could ask
for in a quarterback, but everything around him is the
big question mark.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
The guy who has everything around him is Jalen Hurts,
and Philly fans get mad at me because I say,
Jalen Hurts is a top ten quarterback who benefits tremendously
from having guys that are better at their jobs than
he is at his around him. He's clutch, he's a leader,
he's smart. But for example, like Saquon Barkley is a

(35:28):
better running back than Jalen Hurts as a quarterback, AJ
Brown is a better receiver than Hurts as a quarterback,
Lane Johnson, Jordan Mylatta, Jalen Carter, et cetera. I don't
see that as a knock on Hurts. Anyone would benefit
from being in that situation. And then you add, he's clutch,
he's a gamer, he's a leader, he's smart, and that's
what leads you to bludgeoning teams on the way to

(35:50):
the Super Bowl. How do you evaluate Hurts individually amidst
the super team that's around him.

Speaker 9 (35:57):
I think he's super underrated. I mean, the dude just
makes the plays that he has to make when you
need him the most. He's got an accurate deep ball,
he can extend plays. He's a strong, powerful runner, He's
got good instincts. He doesn't force things. He just really
basically is disciplined and says, Okay, I'm gonna take what
the defense gives to me. He doesn't care what his

(36:19):
stats look like if it means that they're winning. And
he's got the best mindset that you could ask for
in a quarterback. And so I don't get the you know,
the lack of love for him, because he just proved
this past year what he was able to do, and
he just, you know, he kept doing it again and again. Yes,
he's got a lot to work with. He's got a

(36:39):
great offensive line, great weapons you know at a running back,
at receiver, a great defense. But still he makes the
big plays when they need them the most. And so
I think that he is one of the top of
his position.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
One of the top, so the top, like behind the
Big four. You would put him right next right behind
Lamar Burrow out mahomes Is. He's you say, you put
him right there.

Speaker 9 (37:02):
I think he's got to be right there. Yeah, you
know after that that those guys, I mean, he's got
the Super Bowl ring, he's got the productions against.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
The well, well, hey, he was twenty second in the
league and pass attempt that he had less than twenty
passing touchdowns.

Speaker 9 (37:20):
The production, but that's not his fault that they have
Saquon Barkley. I would hand it off to him too.
But when you ask him to put the ball in
the air and to make the plays, he makes the plays.
So I mean, who's whose fault is that that he's
not passing more? I mean he could pass more. You know,
AJ Brown, J Brown's frustrated because they're not throwing more,

(37:40):
but they just know that. Hey, like you said, we've
got an elite running back, We've got an elite offensive line.
We believe in balance and it's working.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
So for first four games of last year, they were
two and two when he was throwing the ball thirty
two to thirty three times a game, and they're like,
we're gonna start running more. And again he's really good.
But they won all the playoff games without throwing more
than twenty eight times in the game because they just
bludgeon people and then play from a lead. It's it's
a super team and he benefits from it. And I
feel like that's an okay thing to say he runs

(38:09):
their system perfectly. He does.

Speaker 9 (38:11):
And also I really am waiting for the year that
we can see him in a system consecutive years instead
of changing offensive coordinators every single year, because then I
think we'll really see him go to another level. Fortunately,
the dated this year has been there for a while,
so hopefully he has a little more continuity. But again,
the guy makes the plays when you need him. He

(38:33):
gets the job done. I'm not complaining about him.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Mike Jones covers the NFL for The Athletic Thank you.

Speaker 9 (38:39):
Sir, all right, have a good one. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Absolutely it was our pleasure. Thank you. That's Mike Jones
covers the NFL for the athletic Now, that's the craziest
jail and hurt stat of all of them. Going back
to college, it's like nine offensive coordinators in nine years.
That is ridiculous. And again it's why I always lead
with unbelievably smart, unbelievable leader. But coming up next last
year quarterback class was historic, and frankly, I think there's

(39:03):
one guy who probably should be looking around and be like,
why am I not getting a little bit more love?
Tell you who it is next, Andy Parkinson For Colin on.

Speaker 7 (39:10):
The Hurd, be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays at noon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 8 (39:24):
Yeah You Ready Friday with Camino and Rich.

Speaker 6 (39:28):
And for Colin on the Herd, I mean, am I ready?
I stay ready? I've been ready since first call.

Speaker 8 (39:37):
By the way, Friday, Friday Friday.

Speaker 6 (39:41):
It's earthly for that. I've been ready since first call?

Speaker 8 (39:45):
Roll?

Speaker 6 (39:46):
What movie?

Speaker 2 (39:47):
I mean?

Speaker 9 (39:48):
I know?

Speaker 6 (39:48):
You know?

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Do you know?

Speaker 8 (39:51):
I kind of say it? Say Keewee's Big Adventure? That
was Wayne Arnold? Who can you play?

Speaker 6 (40:01):
None? Yeah, Jason Hervey's major line.

Speaker 8 (40:04):
So flashing it back already on a Friday pump for
the weekend Covino and Rich. We're on Monday through Friday,
five to seven on the East, two to four on
the West. Just search Covino and Rich wherever you get
your podcasts. And we have our bonus show on Fox
Sports Radio's YouTube page. Over promised new episode dropped yesterday,
but always a pleasure to be here. Now every Friday

(40:25):
on our show, we do something called Weekend Hobnobin, So
we'll do that before the end of the day. That's
everything you need to watch in the world of sports
and entertainment, so you know what's going on come Monday
when everyone's hobnobin at work, all right, So we'll.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
Keep you posted on that.

Speaker 8 (40:40):
Plus we do something called Chipotle worker or WNBA player
and we give away prizes. Yeah, is the woman a
WNBA player or Chipotle worker? If everyone claims to know
the WNBA, so well, this should be easy. It's our
way too familiarize are ourself with WNBA. But at the

(41:01):
same time, give props to Chipotle workers because they do
a hell of a job.

Speaker 6 (41:04):
And who doesn't love a burrito ball.

Speaker 8 (41:06):
Yeah, we gotta get your hype for a naked gun
weekend and the first of the month. And by the way, uh,
there's a big story and a lot of chatter about
actually quite the opposite cam Ward. Maybe not a lot
of chatter and is that a good thing? So we're
gonna get to a lot of NFL today, but before
we get into what won the day yesterday? Why do

(41:28):
they hide the straws with Starbucks?

Speaker 6 (41:29):
Is that? Is that just out here in Los Angeles
as the turtles.

Speaker 8 (41:33):
Yeah, they don't want people just taking them and dumping
them into the ocean. I hate the whole I feel
like such an ass every time you guys go to
a straw, I just put them out.

Speaker 6 (41:42):
No, yeah, they hide them behind the count Do you.

Speaker 8 (41:44):
Think if they put him out then like people are
gonna like abuse the straws. It's true. A lot of
people wondering why you would even want a straw with
your coffee. It's a nice coffee. What am I gonna
everybody SIPs out of a little uh swirly straw, a
little silly straw like you do.

Speaker 12 (41:58):
It's not very very manly. Rich also uses a straw
for his alcohol at a bar.

Speaker 8 (42:03):
Yeah, so they do they do keep them behind the counter,
I think, honestly, just to conserve them and just so
people don't waste them. For people like you who go
to Chipotle, speaking of Chipotle, and steal all the forks
and knives all the time because you don't have the right.
They have good civil right and one of their thrita bowls.
When two burrito bowls are forty dollars, then I'm stealing forks.
That doesn't mean you should take three handfuls. So people

(42:25):
probably take a ridiculous amount of straws. So just hand
them out if and when you need them. So anyway,
I'm Steve Cavino. If you know the answer to that,
let us know. The number is eight seven seven for
the herd eight seven seven four the heard us eight
seven seven four eight four thirty four to thirty seven.
We love taking phone calls, so let's get involved to
stay interactive. And that's Rich Davis who posed the question,

(42:48):
and Rich, yes, Before we talk about who won last night,
I just want to say, I hope you had well,
not an astro sort of I screw them.

Speaker 6 (42:57):
Hope you had a trade lance.

Speaker 8 (43:00):
Tonight doesn't even matter, No, it does, because you were
dumping on him yesterday. Hope you had a trade l
if we're gonna talk about how he's such a bust
when he goes thirteen for twenty one hundred and twenty yards
two tuddies and they went thirty four to seven. Hope
you had a trade lance, ser tonight. It might be
the only two. It might be the only time I
say it all year. You know what fair point? So

(43:22):
give him prop props to trade lance, and props to
the people that hide straws. I honestly, I just is
it feminine not masculine to sip out of a straw?

Speaker 6 (43:31):
Who knows?

Speaker 8 (43:32):
But know what I want to talk about to start
the show today in for the herd c and our
how baseball is popping. Baseball is doing everything it should
be doing. They're marketing their stars better. They got young
kids interested again. There are a lot of young stars
that also helps. There's a lot of big familiar names

(43:52):
baseball's doing. To quote Charlie Sheen in the two thousands,
winning winning, Baseball should be winning on August for us
today we flipped a calendar, and we should be talking
about pennant races. We should be talking about how great
baseball is, right now, you know, over the last five
to ten years, I get it football still king, I
love football, but we were a little obsessed with football

(44:16):
to the point where it was August and we were
talking about preseason antics and all this when we really
should be talking about baseball, and that was baseball's fail.
Now that baseball's back, it's very clear that this should
be baseball time. There's so many reasons as to why,
and we've been speculating that for a long time. But
they made all the right adjustments. Yeah, we always talked

(44:38):
football because baseball was moving slow as the world was
changing and moving faster, and you're scrolling on TikTok and
you're so easily disinterested. Baseball was boring. But they made
the right changes. They made the game quicker. That really
did help. The fact that we had more than one
superstar in Shoheo Tani and Aaron Judge and Tease and

(45:01):
Harper and like goes on and on and on.

Speaker 6 (45:03):
Now, can I tell you the fact that.

Speaker 8 (45:07):
The fact that we had the major market teams in
the playoffs last year and it was exciting as hell.

Speaker 6 (45:15):
You heard it in our voices last year.

Speaker 8 (45:16):
The Mets, the Yankees, the Dodgers like it made it
that much more fun and it's set up for a
really exciting season this year. Well, major markets part of it,
but it also proves that if you're a small market
and play your cards right, you could win.

Speaker 6 (45:31):
The Brewers have the best record in baseball.

Speaker 8 (45:33):
Yeah, when you got the Dodgers and the Yankees battling
in the World Series, when you got some other cool
teams in the mix in the playoffs and it seems
like there's a lot of teams still in it to
win it, it makes things exciting. That's why we saw
a lot of big moves. Even our guy Tim Kirkchean,
who's been reporting on baseball for one hundred and fifty years,
said yesterday's trade deadline may have been the craziest, most

(45:57):
exciting he's ever been a part of in his career.
And then did he say, I'm Tim Kirchean, I'm Kuran ESPN.
So yeah, everybody knows it. We were all on the
edge of our seat even on this show yesterday. Oh
my god, Well, who's gonna get who? What moves are
gonna be made? Are your teams gonna win this deadline?
And it was exciting, man, and there wasn't really that

(46:19):
many giant names but like that were traded, but some important,
impactful moves were made. Yeah, the moves for the teams
that needed to make moves. We're gonna see if they
make sense. We're gonna go over some of them. But
are you saying baseball won yesterday? Baseball won the day?
Baseball is popping. They out shine to me your first

(46:42):
preseason game. Look at it this way. There's Terry McLaurin news,
there's you know, Micah Parsons's cowboy activity going on.

Speaker 6 (46:50):
This story is in the NFL.

Speaker 8 (46:51):
But to me, the baseball trade deadline and the excitement
with about what fifty sixty games to go? Hey, speaking
f TIM and ESPN, that's a bad time for them
to lose their deal with the MLB.

Speaker 6 (47:05):
We if that's official? Is that not official anymore?

Speaker 8 (47:08):
Well, it is popping again and you gotta invest now,
buy now, because baseball's back.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
It's back in a big way. And Rich is absolutely right.

Speaker 8 (47:16):
If you go back a few years, we'd be talking
football right now, without a doubt because people would be
tired and board of baseball. In fact, in radio, pull
you behind the velvet rope when you lead with baseball,
and you talk baseball, you lose most of the audience
because it's sort of a boring old guy conversation, not
anymore more. And that's what we lead with today. Baseball

(47:39):
is back, Baseball is winning. Baseball one yesterday, it's August first,
and we're talking baseball. We're not ready and eager to
turn the page. Are we excited about football? Of course?
But are we still hanging on to see where this
season goes? Absolutely more than ever, more than we have
in the past ten plus years. I said it yesterday.
September and October are going to be overstimulating. If you're

(48:04):
a baseball fan, and now you know on the heels
of football coming back, you may very well be completely
overstimulated with football starting, Pennant races playoff baseball the early
part of the NFL season. The next few months are
going to be pretty sweet. No what I want to
say that contributes to baseball popping and coming back. I

(48:25):
think baseball cards are something to do with it, believe
it or not, because these kids are going wild about it.
So let's talk about all the little things adding up,
because sometimes it could be a relationship, it could be
a job, it could be something we are like, what
do you love about it? It's like there's not one
big thing like yesterday. Yesterday with the trade deadline, there
wasn't one big star other than Suarez to the Mariners.
There wasn't really like a top tier guy in my opinion.

(48:53):
At Yeah, you might say a couple of the closers
Johann Durand to the Phillies. But I'm saying, and it
wasn't like a year where like Piazza was on the
move or Soda was on the.

Speaker 6 (49:04):
Move, or you know, like it wasn't one of those.

Speaker 8 (49:06):
No. I think we could add up all the little
things and say all the little things together Baseball cards,
that's really good on Kivo. I really think embracing the
celebrating instead of being all type butt about it. Like
when the Dodgers get a double and they do their
silly little dance on Seca Bay if he hit flesh yeah,
Or when my Mets get a hit they do that

(49:28):
little rolling of the arms hand up, or all these
teams when they score a home run they wear a
funny helmet in the dugout, they take like a selfie.
They do their little celebrations to me. I got another
one that is also a contributing factor about the Hey,
I know it's baseball and only eighty year old guys
really love us and talk about us. But we're gonna
do something called City Connect Jerseys, and you know, maybe

(49:50):
that'll help bring some excitement. People want to want to
represent a little bit. I think that's great, without a doubt.
It's moving so fast. The Yankees changed their beard policy,
facial hair policy, so jerseys, these little things mattered merch
Baseball cards, celebrations stood out to the Wieniels.

Speaker 6 (50:10):
Can I tell you something I saw?

Speaker 8 (50:12):
And Colin loves to point out baseball's poppins or on
the same page with the guy we're filling in for
the legendary Colin Cowherd, I can't help but say when
you go to a game, now, I'm not a I'm
not a bird brain. Well maybe a little, but I
don't need to be completely entertained. But when I tell
you the entrances for the closers, the walk up music,

(50:36):
all the in stadium stuff is eating actress at another level,
like when Edwin Diaz comes in for the Mets and
Timmy Trumpets is blaring city Field Now, has a light show.
When Duran who just got traded to tell me, you know,
maybe you got to thank the Savannah Bananas for that.

Speaker 6 (50:50):
I mean, do you sis?

Speaker 8 (50:52):
Dave stepped up the entertainment factor so much, and I'm
sure baseball said, hey, why are we shying away from family?
But you remember, like a year ago, who you remember
a year ago the guy that's now a Philly Johann Durant.
We talked about how his entrance for the Minnesota Twins
was unbelievable, Like the stadium shuts down and those the

(51:15):
lights go crazy. Those type of things are are right
on the right track. So I think we nailed it here.
Baseball's back and each team has stars.

Speaker 12 (51:25):
Again and big events like tomorrow Bristol Motor Speedway.

Speaker 6 (51:31):
Dude, that's going to be sick.

Speaker 8 (51:33):
Did you see the overhead of what it looks like
when you fit a baseball stadium on a racetrack?

Speaker 6 (51:37):
It looks insane.

Speaker 8 (51:38):
It's the first ever game in the state, so that's
extra excitement for all the kids out there.

Speaker 6 (51:45):
And the Field of Dreams game, the Field of Dreams game.

Speaker 8 (51:50):
They do the international play once in a while now,
so uh, international stars. But you know what Rich I
mentioned in passing Savanna Bananas. I do believe that opened
the door to Hey, baseball's fun and exciting for little
kids and families, and that could be a stepping stone
to watching the big leaguers do their thing. And in

(52:12):
related news, I don't know if you saw this yesterday,
but sources say the Yankees traded Anthony Volpi to the
Savannah Bananas in exchange for ten foot nine pitcher and
DH Dakota stilts albatron. Yes it's a good one. Yes,
they got rid of Volpi, we got the guy on
the stilts. I know it's gonna it's gonna be a
big time. You can't wait to see this, man. I

(52:33):
wasn't sure if it was official, but I saw the meme,
so it has.

Speaker 6 (52:36):
To be real. Cove.

Speaker 8 (52:37):
I don't want to discount the Savannah Bananas. Some love it,
some roll their eyes at it, but I'm not saying
it changed baseball. But you know what, you don't think
it's a nice gateway for a little kid if you
don't think in stadium production crews and there was there's
been marketing and PR boardroom meetings where it's like, hey, listen,
welcome the Savanna Bananas are doing. We need to incorporates

(53:00):
some of that. Stadiums you now they have the sausage rate.
We need Fron Johnson. You know how they have a
sausage race in Milliawaukee. Yeah, every stadium is now sort
of doing their own version of stuff like that. I
know they got the Presidents one in DC for the Nationals,
but every stadium now has some type of race. It's
no longer just the fifth inning. Guess which had the

(53:23):
balls under on the scoreboard? Great City Subway race, by
the way, I got one. I know you didn't think
of What Rich is doing is compiling a list to
figure out why and how we've come so far with
baseball and such a short period of time. Just two
years ago we would be talking about NFL, no doubt,
no diggity. But you gotta ask yourself. You and I
are big baseball fans. We grew up playing and loving baseball,

(53:47):
and then as we got older, football became king and
baseball was more of a I wouldn't say niche sport,
but more of something. We're like, yeah, and I love baseball,
but now baseball is poppin', I mean our power and
I'm even more intrigued, being that I coach faster paced.
I coach baseball now, and these kids are interested interested.
And again I give baseball cards a lot of credit

(54:08):
because they came back with all these special cards and
all these cool unboxings you see.

Speaker 6 (54:15):
On social media. You can thank COVID for that.

Speaker 8 (54:18):
Yeah maybe, But here's one I know Rich isn't going
to bring up. But that is when collectors. That is
when a lot of card collectors came back. Oh you
know what, man, there's so many great cards and I'm
a big fan. You remember how exciting that was just
to get a great card when you were a kid.
Imagine how they feel now with all the options the food.
Baseball parks have stepped up the food next level to

(54:41):
the point where it's ridiculous. And every year they're releasing
new menu items at the ballpark. When you're spending that
much money to go, you want to have a good time.
I think that also added to the fun, don't we
find ourselves talking about all the generic The only generic
food I ever have at a ballpark is a Dodger
dog because you feel like you have to. But other

(55:03):
than that, if I go to a stadium, you got
so many fun options. Dude, we just came back from Atlanta.
They have barbecue restaurants within the stadium. They have Chick
fil A's in the stadium. Stadiums are are personalized to
that city. Yeah, there's so many great fun and goofy options.
It adds to the fun. You know, baseball lost its way.
It became old and boring. It's a game. It's supposed

(55:23):
to be fun and exciting, and they're leaning more toward that.
And you know, boss Man hit us up and he said,
do you guys you named all that and you didn't
even mention pitchclock, pace of play, length of game. You know,
bat flips, tenth inning, guy starts on second base, and
extra innings.

Speaker 6 (55:40):
They are moving the game along.

Speaker 8 (55:43):
Like I like it and hate it all at the
same time, because when your team has someone at second
base automatically an extra innings, you're.

Speaker 6 (55:50):
Like, yes, and but what is the other team like?

Speaker 2 (55:53):
No, I hate that.

Speaker 8 (55:53):
And while we do love the added uh we well,
we do love the human element of sports. I'm telling you,
the next big one is gonna be those, as Danny
said yesterday, the two ball strike challenges.

Speaker 6 (56:07):
And then and then if you.

Speaker 8 (56:08):
Get them right, you get the third one because I
think even some of these umpire fights and the staredowns
and all that that's good, and the feuds Danny, your Dodgers,
and Padres hate each other, that that helps. Mets Phillies,
you know what I think helps too, though. I think

(56:29):
again having the Yankees, Dodgers, mess those teams in it,
yet still having big market teams competing, like Rich said,
that helps. But I think it helps that even though
your Dodgers won Danny g last year, they're not a
hateable team. Show Hey, Mookie, Bets Freeman. They these guys
make that ridiculous team that you have of all stars

(56:49):
not hateable. So it gets people tuned in. You want
to beat the Dodgers, but you don't hate the superstars.
There's so many superstars that you could root for that
aren't even on your team, that are likable, and Show
Hayes one of them. Well, I think that helps. I
want to I want to point out that right now.
Let's let's let's do the math. I'm a mathematician here, guys.

(57:11):
We just came back from Atlanta, even that derby, we
were at the All Star Game. Everything about it, the
way it ended in dramatic fashion. The swing off. Yeah,
you know, the swing off was ridiculous. The bombs, these
monster circus shots. These guys are hitting the exit velocity.
When you see guys like O'Neil Cruz just teeing off,

(57:31):
you're like.

Speaker 6 (57:31):
My god.

Speaker 8 (57:33):
You know, kids love that man. So it's it's back
in a big way, guys. And the proof is today.
That's why we bring it up. Yesterday with the trade
deadline and a lot of moves were made. We'll speculate
on that, but without a doubt, we'd normally be talking
about the Chargers Lions game yesterday.

Speaker 6 (57:51):
Because you're so quick to right. You're so right that, Danny.

Speaker 8 (57:55):
We've been here at Fox Sports Radio four or five
years now, almost right about that.

Speaker 12 (58:00):
We've feels like ten working.

Speaker 8 (58:03):
Yeah, we've been doing our show together for like decades now,
I promise you, what is it twenty twenty five? Since
twenty ten, I'd say every year until now. If you
told me the preseason kicked off in the NFL and
there were some you know, stories about stars like McLaurin
and Michael Parsons and Aaron Rodgers and we were leading

(58:25):
with baseball. This is the only year. Baseball's that back
in a big way. And right now this fifty ish
games left in baseball fifty ish most teams have about
fifty three fifty four games left on the schedule. So
with fifty four games left right now, the Mets and
the Phillies are within a half a game of each other.

(58:48):
The Brewers have a one game lead on the Cubs.
The Padres only trail the Dodgers by three, and they
just added Mason Miller. In the National League, you're looking
at that, that's insane. You go to the American League.
If you think the Yankees are gonna roll over, I
hate to say, because Caminos a Yanks guy. Oh you
beefed up their bullpenper If you think they're gonna roll over,

(59:10):
and just give this division to the Blue Jays, they're
three and a half games only and Jean Carlos Stanton's back.
Bro the only the only division which is bunk. I
apologize Twins fans because she sort of just sold everything. Ester,
You just you had a yard sale. That's the only
division where the Tigers got it. And then the West.
You don't think the Mariners four games that made the

(59:34):
biggest offensive moves so yeah, there's there's people that say,
over the last fifty games they think the Mariners might
be the best team. Well that's the other reason too.
You got other fans holding on longer than they've had
uh in previous years. Way more teams have a chance
deeper into the season now at the extra wild card
and everything else. So yeah, these are all the reasons.

(59:56):
I mean, we went from the fun excitement to baseball
cards to the food at the stadium.

Speaker 6 (01:00:02):
Speeding up the game. That's that's obvious.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Man.

Speaker 8 (01:00:04):
That definitely helped. People were against it, but they made
the move. We reaped the benefits, and now we're talking
about it now. Dude, the next fifty games, it's gonna
be electric. And by the way, if you're not a
fan of our show Monday through Friday, what's wrong with you?

Speaker 6 (01:00:20):
You should be.

Speaker 8 (01:00:21):
But Rich and I have a bet of who has
has the best record, the Yankees or the Mets. And
it's a thousand dollars bet, which isn't gonna make or
break anybody. But you think I want to lose one
thousand dollars to this guy. Until the Mets got cold,
I was loving the bet more because the Mets are
two games better than the Yanks out last week when
it was like five game but we raised the Stags

(01:00:43):
one hundred dollars for every extra game that they won
by So, you know, every day on there glued. And
that's another thing too, rich. I think people putting action
on games that also helps. You know, so many factors
as to why baseball is just way more exciting in
the past few years. And we the proof is today

(01:01:05):
And this is no ad, but for real, I've been doing.
We would do the reads for the DraftKings pick six.
Every so often I'll throw ten bucks on, like, oh,
a Mookie home run with a you know, a Wan
Soto more than one and a half bases and oh,
Mike Trout with a double like I'll do those, you know,
quick little bets. And I think there's so many layers
as to why baseball's back, and I think we just

(01:01:25):
named like ten of them.

Speaker 12 (01:01:27):
I should point out that our afternoon Drive show is
eighty percent NFL, so for you guys to lead with baseball,
it does point out that that baseball is thriving right now.
But the real test is going to be when there
are some real NFL games to compete with, because Rich.
It's easy for you to brush over that Hall of

(01:01:47):
Fame game last night. Yeah, I'm guessing you didn't watch
much of it.

Speaker 6 (01:01:50):
No, I watched. I watched a half. How much did
you watch?

Speaker 8 (01:01:53):
I watched like zero point zero like background, Yes, I watched.
I watched highlights, and I was like, I looked at
Trey Lance's box score and that's it. But you know what,
You're right, Danny, if it was Thursday night kickoff, that
is by far what we're all watching it. Just it
might be more of a reflection that baseball was struggling
so much that a preseason football game over the last

(01:02:15):
decade got our interest more.

Speaker 6 (01:02:16):
But not right now. I think everything really.

Speaker 8 (01:02:19):
Started to shift when the postseason started to pop last year.
It's the wild Cards, man, My postseason is so electric
last year, so many big moments. That's when it all
started to come to fuition and come together. Of course,
all the little changes were in place, but that playoff series,
that postseason last year really set us up for all

(01:02:40):
this excitement this year. That Padres Dodgers first round, the
Mets making their ridiculous run, that Alonzo home run in
the ninth inning, moments, Soto doing the Little Stare for
the Yankees, then hitting a home run, like everything about
the postseason was fantastic.