Colin Cowherd Podcast - NBA All-Star Game, SNL 50th Anniversary, Rodgers Begged Jets To Keep Him, Kevin Durant’s Legacy

Colin’s joined by Danny Parkins, host of “Breakfast Ball” on FS1!

They start with the criticisms of the NBA and NBA All-Star game and why despite all the chatter, the league is in a great place from a business standpoint, why the ridiculousness of the all star game is actually an endearing quality but why they want to see more effort from the players (3:15). 

They discuss the ever increasing number of three point shots translating to even more blowouts and why it diminishes the product during the regular season and why NIL could help with the development of domestic talent (9:00). They also break down why the NBA needs to be more comfortable with tweaking the rules to create the best television product like the NFL does (14:00), and why parity isn’t great for sports like baseball (23:45). 

They debate the level of difficulty GM’s face when drafting NBA talent when NBA prospects have almost very little exposure to other top talent at the high school and college levels (34:00). 

 They pivot to the SNL 50th Anniversary special and discuss the massive cultural impact SNL has made on the world of comedy and the huge roster of A-list talent the show has incubated, and why the critics don’t appreciate the greatness that has come from SNL (50:00). Colin talks about why modern critics seek perfection and hopes it doesn’t cause artists to hesitate to take big swings (57:00). 

They discuss Aaron Rodgers begging the Jets to stay and still being shown the door due to his ego and lack of self-awareness (1:11:00), and why it wouldn’t be crazy for the Giants to give up a first round pick for Matthew Stafford (1:14:00). 

They discuss American’s reluctance to embrace change and why Democrats tend to be far more neurotic when they lose compared to Republicans and Danny suggests an under the radar candidate that could run in 2028 (1:20:00).  

Finally, they discuss the two types of “artists” and why LeBron James is one type and Kevin Durant is the other, reflect on Durant’s legacy in the NBA and debate whether winning his rings from joining a stacked Warriors team diminishes that legacy (1:27:00). 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Our conversation with my friend Danny Parkins is
presented by uber eats. You know, I love them, get
GameDay deals all season long on uber eats. All right,
here we go. Even though I am on a little
bit of a break, about a week break, ten days,

(00:22):
I thought, you know what, I got some time here.
Danny Parkins, the co host breakfast Ball stops and we
do this about once a month and we always just
kind of spitball a variety of topics. So I'll start
with this one, and it's an annual tradition. The All
Star Game in the NBA is fairly unwatchable. It has
been for most of the last half decade. And you know,

(00:46):
people lament what is wrong with the league. I would
say two things. First, all Star games, except maybe Baseball's,
are all kind of dying. We see all these teams
every night, these players. There is no special ooh a
National League guy faces an American League guy, you know,
interleague play. The second thing, and I would defend the

(01:07):
NBA here. And I've been critical of the league. I
think it's become a kind of a monotonous three point
shooting gallery. And that will end somewhere in the playoffs
because mid range games and situational basketball and get a
bucket really becomes playoff basketball because much more half court.
It's not on the treadmill. People are defending at a
higher level. You just sometimes need a mid range jumper

(01:30):
to win the game. But the NBA eleven year, seventy
six billion dollars owners are happy, players are happy, commissioners happy.
It's not their responsibility if the broadcast partners overreached. So
my take is a lot of the complainers don't like
the NBA anyway, But the NBA its owners, players and

(01:51):
employees should be overjoyed right now with a new contract.
And the All Star Game is a rain drop in
an eleven year in rainstorm, it doesn't mean anything.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
So the All Star Game is a guilty sports pleasure
of mine. Maybe my favorite childhood memory was I went
to the All Star Game in Cleveland in nineteen ninety
seven with my dad when the NBA celebrated yeah, the
fifty greatest players of all time and unbelievable stories that
came out of the weekend. It was just it was

(02:24):
so cool for an eleven year old kid to be
able to experience all that in the height of Michael
Jordan Mania a kid from Chicago. So I love the
All Star Game. I love gambling on the dunk contest.
I love the dunk contest. I loved Vince Carter. I
loved Zach Levine against Aaron Gordon. Like I always said,
it was like my guilty pleasure. The celebrity, the pomp,
the circumstance, the ridiculousness of it, And there was a

(02:49):
social contract that existed between the players and the fans.
Those of us that did love it, it was ridiculous,
It was silly. There was you know, Shaq would try
to cross someone up and pull up for three we
did not expect high level basketball for four quarters. Go
out and do your fun, don't get injured. We got
all of it, but there was a social contract that
basically then said keep it close and give us twelve

(03:12):
minutes of basketball, give us, give us twelve minutes at
the end. And in twenty twenty they upheld that social contract.
The NBA All Star Game in Chicago. It was right
after Kobe Bryant died Teamianus against Team Lebron. Half the
team was wearing Kobe's jersey number. Half the guys were

(03:33):
wearing Gianna's number, and I think because of that they
also did the elam ending in maybe some of the
history of Chicago matter. And I have no idea. The
game was one fifty seven, one fifty five and the
fourth quarter was entertaining. That's all we want, Like, I
don't think I'm asking for a lot? Did I hear
these guys on all of their podcasts, including Draymond's. He

(03:56):
will talk about unbelievable pickup run that it's organized in
LA in the offseason. I see it on YouTube, Kevin
Durant showing up at the Drew League or at Rucker
Park and just bawling out with not NBA players and
trying and playing hard. So I don't think it is
too much to ask does it matter? Does it affect

(04:18):
the ratings or the drop in the bucket as you
call it. No, But somewhere along the way, the social
contract was broken of just try for twelve minutes and
manipulate the game to be close and play competitive pickup basketball.
I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to ask of
gazillionaire athletes. You know, I really don't.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Some of what the NBA is going through. I always
feel like by the way you get this in other businesses.
If something happens, it happens in threes, you know. And
the NBA is going through a run of ooh, ratings,
news isn't good, and the NBA All Star Game is bad,
and nobody is watching. And I think they're going through

(05:00):
this and I think a lot of it will be
forgotten because I think the Knicks and the Celtics will
play an unbelievable Eastern Conference Finals and nobody will care.
And I think Luca and Yeah and Luca and Lebron
will connect and the Lakers will get to the Western
Conference Finals and nobody will care. How much of this
is Listen, It's just the league's always been driven by aesthetics,

(05:23):
and right now the aesthetics aren't good. The game's a
little monotonous. The NBA All Star Game was ugly and boring.
Some of this is just bad pr It may not
have no effect long term, but companies go through this.
Nike's gone through it where just like bad comes in three.
How much of it's that?

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think a lot of it. And I think that
there's like two separate conversation conversations that are happening on
parallel tracks that can coexist and feel like they are
in conflict with each other, but are not. To your point,
this happens to a lot of businesses and a lot
of industries. The business of basketball is objectively very healthy.

(06:04):
The players have guaranteed contracts. The talent is insane, the
contracts are locked in the Charlotte franchise. Just when for
billions of dollars like the league is healthy. That is
the left parallel track, and then the right parallel track
is those of us that watch that love the NBA

(06:24):
can acknowledge regular season doesn't really matter. It's one of
eighty two. Playoffs are a completely different sport. I just
did the numbers on the show today on Breakfast Ball.
There are five more threes being attempted this year than
last year. And it's that's just just one year now,

(06:45):
where at seventy four point seven threeze attempted per game
on average. And you know what, that has led to
more blowouts, results that have been decided by twenty or
more points than any other time in an history. Before
the All Star Break, there've already been one hundred and
sixty eight NBA games that have been decided by twenty

(07:06):
or more points, and that makes sense. You're taking a
high variance shot. One team is a good shooting night,
one team is a bad shooting night, but three is
worth more than two. So everyone is trying to hit threes.
You have a hot night, the other team is a
bad night. You get a blowout. That's not an entertaining product.
So I feel like two things can be true. The
product is healthy and the product is not at its best.

(07:28):
Why are those two things necessarily a conflict?

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Listen, there are a lot of things. Steve Kerr pointed
this out. It wasn't that long ago when he pointed
out that AU basketball is not helping the product. It's
not it's tracksuit Tony trying to, you know, make a
livelihood of it, and the players don't benefit. And the
European system is much better. That's part of it. I

(07:53):
do think. I do think something that does help the
NBA in the near future is the nil will keep
a lot of kids in college one more year. A
kid can make four million bucks at Duke or Carolina.
Why go to a crappy team, you know, live on
a college campus. I think that'll help because the one
thing the NFL has always realized and lean into is

(08:13):
college football is free marketing. I've said this before, like
waters free medicine, college football is free marketing. For the NFL,
Adam Silver got into office and there was almost they
tried to marginalize college basketball. The players weren't getting paid.
College football players pay for three or four years and
they get tackled. It's okay, like that's I don't pay

(08:34):
my interns on my show. That's just part of you know,
sixteen to twenty years old or nineteen years old. So
I do think that will help the NBA, don't. I
think the NBA the quality of basketball is good. I
think the league is making a lot of money. I
think NBC, probably out of somewhat desperation, overshot the runway
a little bit on that contract. I don't know how

(08:55):
they make that work. But you know, they're trying to
make Peacock grow against Amazon and Netflix and Disney and
all that stuff. So but that's not an NBA issue.
I do think college basketball is an ally march madness.
I mean, good God, Caitlin Clark comes into the WNBA.
Her and Angel Reeser arguably the two most popular players.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Right. I think you and I talk baseball before on
the show, and not to not to name drop, but
theo Epstein and I had a pretty good working relationship
when he was in Chicago running the Cubs, and he's
the smartest sports executive I've ever talked to, for sure,
But Brad Stevens would be a close second. And Brad

(09:37):
Stevens is not going to give up his job right now.
But I do think that there would be something that
the NBA would benefit from, which in THEO and I
had this conversation on air and off air. When he
ran the Cubs, his job was to exploit the rules
in the interest of winning. His job was not to
put the most entertaining product on the field, was to win.

(10:01):
So strikeouts were okay. If you got a lot of
walks and home runs, three true outcome and it was
objectively not as entertaining of a product. The ball was
in play less, there was more time between pitches. The
games were interminably long. You would change pitchers every batter,
seven eight, nine pitchers would get into a game per team,

(10:24):
but that was what the numbers said gave them the
best chance to win, the same thing has happened in basketball.
With three is worth more than two, but I bring
up the baseball point was because who's spearheaded all of
the rules changes. Yeah, theo Epstein. As soon as he
left the Cubs, he's like, well, I care about baseball,

(10:44):
so I'm going to close the loopholes that I exploited.
Three batter, minimum pitch clock, bigger bases, things to incentivize
the things that he had. And if he gets a
job running the Nashville expansion team or a Vegas who,
he will then go right back to exploiting the rules
to try to win. So someone should get in the

(11:07):
league office and try to figure out because we've talked
about it before. I don't know if it's making threes
worth four and twos worth three. I don't know if
it's making dunks worth three. I don't know if it's
expanding the courts and making the three point line twenty
five feet twenty seven feet. I don't know what the
solution is. But as long as three is fifty percent
more than two and teams are trying to win, as

(11:30):
long as those two things exist, you're not going to
get less three pointers in the game unless you chase
the moddle or two or three. So that is just
like the fundamental.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Fact that what's the mascinating to me, and I've always
really appreciated this is that it takes baseball and even
the NBA a while to make changes. The NFL, which
is a runaway leader in all these sports, is tweaking
during Super Bowls. I mean they have such an underdog spirit.

(12:03):
I mean they could so easily be arrogant like baseball
and say for twenty years, just we're gonna do World
Series games at eight point fifty pm. Let's start them.
Then the Super Bowl is the opposite. They act like
their Division two hockey, trying to get eyeballs. They will
change rule and I think they'll change rules. I mean
the Super Bowl with the Eagles and the Patriots, they

(12:25):
changed the catch role. The Super Bowl suddenly juggled things.
It was six, it was a touchdown. It's like, well, right,
no off season needed, would they just changed it?

Speaker 2 (12:34):
So?

Speaker 1 (12:34):
And I think in the spirit I've always defended the NFL,
it's a really well run league. The kickoff was fine, boring,
but fine tweeted it. Pat was fine, boring tweet it.
The tush push. I think they will ultimately examine because
it's just not good. It's just boring, and again people
get all upset. Where are you punishing us? It's just

(12:58):
the way life works. I mean the bottom line, If
somebody takes an advantage and it hurts the quality of entertainment,
leagues take it out. But I do think that when
it comes to the NFL, we look at it and
we go, well, it's popular because it's once a week.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
That helps.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
I'm not denying that. But they have so pulled away
from the other sports and a lot of Danny I think,
is they really appreciate we are a television product. They're
really they're really good at that.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yes, and they mess up and then they undo their
mess up. Remember that the NFC Championship came with the
Saints with a bad pass interference call. They made past
interference reviewable, and I was like, oh, that's a terrible idea,
and it was. It was a terrible idea, but they

(13:48):
walked it back basically immediately, so they like they changed
it too fast, and then they're like, oh, we overreacted,
and then they changed it right back. And now, listen,
NFL players don't like their commissioner, they don't trust their owners,
they don't have guaranteed contracts, they kind of get ruled
under an iron fist, and so there is a trade

(14:11):
off to like, we're gonna slow play some of these changes,
we're gonna empower players to have a voice in it
and all that. The NFL does not care about any
of that. They're like, no, no, no, you're doing it
our way. These are the rules. And if you want
to collectively bargain for let's practice in July, go right ahead.
We care about television product, but no, the NFL is
king for a ton of reasons, and I'm with you

(14:31):
that is one of them. Again, you and I have
talked about this before. You've got an n season tournament.
They are changing the jerseys in the court, change some rules,
just just experiment with it. It's okay. I know they
counted the regular season for the standings, but it's okay.
It's one of eighty two. Like, let's just see what

(14:52):
it would look like for five games per team with
no quarter free just see it. Wait, I don't know
what will happen, Let's just see it. Let's four has
always been ninety six feet, Let's make it one hundred
and six feet and make the three point line twenty
five feet. Let's just see it for two weeks.

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Speaker 1 (16:48):
One of the things I like about change is you
get an answer right, like even if it's the wrong answer.
General schwartz Goff, you know, the four star, five star general,
talk about that. At one point he said, make decisions
just to figure out if it's right or wrong, like
you just inactivity, its finger pointing, its guessing. And he

(17:10):
was talking about that in regards to military either exercises
or or moves. And I feel like sometimes like when Baseball,
for instance, when Fox sold the Regional Sports Networks, the
Murdock sold it, It's one of the smartest moves in
the history of television. It was literally worth half as

(17:33):
much the next day and basically worth nothing a month later,
so they made like twenty billion. But in a weird way,
you look at it and think, man, it's really it's
really hurt the small market teams Kansas City and Pittsburgh.
What it did though, it's separated small from big teams
and now the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers, that Houston,

(17:55):
the Braves. If you're not good as a big market team,
you're just poorly runner, poorly owned. Is that in the
weird way Baseball just had a great two years. Ratings up,
attendance up, and everybody's like, oh though, and so like
when you make moves and there's mergers and their sales,
there's a winner, there's a loser. But if you're baseball,

(18:17):
if I'm Fox, I do not care about Kansas City.
What I care about is.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
What, Yeah, you and I disagree on this one because
I do. I I because again, I think that there
is a breaking point of greed that you still have
to put a good product out there. And like the
World Series was great, no doubt, but I think that

(18:44):
part of what makes the NFL awesome maybe the number
one thing. The number one thing is probably what you said,
eighteen game season. Every game matters that's probably the biggest thing.
But like a one b of that is that what
do you think twenty eight of thirty two teams when
they report for training can't believe at the very least

(19:06):
they can make the playoffs, right, right, right if the
right thing bounces their way and they can name ten
to seven, Like, yeah, baseball is not like baseball has
a serious problem in my opinion, where a third of
the league has no chance not only of being competitive,

(19:29):
but of even like being relevant when school is out,
when kids could go to the game. And then like,
if you're Pittsburgh, okay, you got Paul Skeins, your chances
of signing him are almost zero. So like I do
think that the haves and have nots of baseball has
gotten two out of whack. I know you and I

(19:49):
just disagree. Stars, big markets, TV ratings on the biggest games.
I get all of that. And this is a juvenile argument.
It's just lame that the Dodgers get everybody, Like it's
just it's it's just it's just lime. Like it's like
they get everybody because they happened to sign the last

(20:09):
great rsn TV contract before the bubble burst, and like,
don't get me wrong. They're run exceptionally well and they're
a good organization, maybe the best organization. But it's just
it flies in the face of competitive spirit that they
just get everybody because they wucked into a television contract
based on timing. So I you will disagree on that.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
And there are moments like, for instance, I think you
cannot legislate even college football playoff proved it you can
invite more teams in Notre Dame plays Indiana. Game was
over in.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Four minutes, right, like, you know, no doubt, no doubt.
There's always gonna be a.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Having women's tennis. My entire life, there's been one or
two tops globally. You Serena. She's just gonna win all
the big tournaments mostly. And I think, you know, if
you go look at you go look at the German
soccer leagues. You can go look at the English Premier League,
the Italian Soccer League, Spanish Soccer League, it's always the

(21:08):
same two teams. I mean it just I don't think.
I think the reality of sports is we spend I
read this recently, somebody said the NBA worries about problems
that don't exist, Like they said, let's cut the length
of quarters. It's like nobody's really nobody cares. It's I
think sometimes in sports one of the things we really

(21:29):
worry about is we're too caught up on parody. There
is no parody in the AFC. Josh Allen Mahomes and
Lamar Jackson are going to keep winning their division because
they have stable ownership and good enough coaches. And if
Joe Brow didn't have the cheapest owner in sports, he'd
be in that group too. So the reality is, I
mean this year, I predict almost and I'll do again

(21:51):
next year. I can predict the AFC for the next
four or five years. It's just easy. NFC is more
of a who's hot, who's less injured. But I think
in baseball the bigger danger when you have parody is
ESPN's like dropping out of baseball, like we're not interested.
Apple contract was ridiculous. Roku things a mess, I mean,

(22:14):
just nothing. If the big dogs are crushing, then the
big network sign and then that filters down to a
some degree to Kansas City or Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yes, the problem is, unfortunately we used to call them
rich hobbyists. Like the dream is that the team that
your team is owned by Steve Cohen who just doesn't care.
He's like, I've got more billions than I can count.
I do not care if I lose money on this

(22:50):
baseball team. This is an ego play, This is a
vanity purchase. There are more billionaires than there are baseball teams.
I want to own one, and I want to win.
That's the great gatest thing ever for a fan. So
revenue sharing exists in baseball, right the Yankees and the
Red Sox and the Mets and the Dodgers. They share
money with the Pirates and the Rays and the Twins

(23:11):
or whatever. And what is very frustrating to owners and
business executives of teams like the Yankees and the Cubs
is like they spend the money, like you know, like
the Pirates will just lay in the cut, take their
revenue sharing money and profit every year, as opposed to

(23:35):
like reinvesting into the business, break even and having your
franchise value go up. That's at a minimum, what should
be required of these billionaires.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Spend the money that is generated by that's the bigger issue.
It's not.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, and that's a huge issue. There are bad there.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
Are not that the big guys are eating the big
guys eating college football, the AF see the big dog
trade everywhere. What you have to do is force like
a minimum payroll like you could you very easily, based
on TV deals, would know a minimum payroll and it
goes up six to eight percent a year. That to
me is the bigger issue. I say this all the

(24:15):
time to the people critical the Dodgers. Everybody can do
what they're doing with that money. Everybody can push it
down the road. I mean, it's not like the Yankees
are going to go dry in the next twelve years.
The Dodgers are saying, basically, we'll push it down the road.
We'll give you the money. By the way, we'll do
all star teams will win more, it'll help build our brand.
We're always going to fill this stadium. So I guess,

(24:39):
I guess this is my conservative side, my Republican side
coming out. Domination is unavoidable. There are just people that
are more driven, more willful, more aspirational, hungrier, meaner, whatever
it is like, you just have to come to terms
with it. Where this is not Evergreen State College, you know,
where it's the whimsical, idealistic professors dot the campus. We're

(25:03):
dealing with billionaires, and so some of them just have
bigger egos and care more, and some of them are like,
it's a toy. It's a toy to you know, at
a convention they can brag. And so I've come to
terms with and maybe it's because I grew up in
the Pacific Northwest, where I've lost my NBA team, my
baseball team never competitive, and the Huskies are good when

(25:23):
they have the perfect coach. I've just come to terms with,
you have to be satisfied if you can, if you
have good coaching, decent ownership, and you're viable, that may
be as good as it's going to be. Because a third, no,
a quarter of all these pro leagues have expanded to
cities that can't compete. Memphis can't compete with La Boston

(25:45):
or New York or Philly. They can't and everybody in
the league knows it. But those owners wanted the expansion fee.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
There's there's definitely some truth to that. And to win
in a market like that, it feels like yes to
have White And it's one the year to draft Giannis.
You have to draft Yannis at fifty, you know, it's like,
oh yeah, tow Milwaukee got their title you drafted Gannis
at fifteen, okay, congratulations, or Oklahoma City and have the

(26:16):
best executive in the sport who, for some reason apparently
is just not interested in leaving, like SAA Brest. He's like, no, no,
I'm good. I'll just I'll just live and work in
Oklahoma City. When any team in the league if he
was like, I want to come work for you would
give him a gazillion dollars and a penthouse apartment because

(26:37):
he's clearly the best, and he's like, no, no, no, I'm
good here. Like so, like, Oklahoma City's got a shot
as long as they've got that guy. But yes, most
teams have a real equity.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
What are the things I think being an NBA executive,
So a lot of my contacts are NFL gms and
scouting directors, and so I don't think people understand. You know, SGA,
nobody predicted this. Sorry, nobody did. Right, he was a
good player, but correct me if I'm wrong. Didn't people

(27:10):
think like Kevin Knox was going to be the better NBA.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, SGA. SGA was a very polarizing draft prospect. Well
it's a real bad SGA.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
But what's amazing about NBA executives is that, you know,
college football executive. If you take out like Ohio State, Bama, Georgia,
most kids stay in school for four years. I get
so many pieces of game footage in big games. If

(27:41):
you can't, I mean, if you're take out the COVID
quarterback year where it just screwed up everything. I mean, seriously,
just take the Trey Lance, Justin Field's kid for the Jets. Yeah,
just take that. We were all exact well. I mean
I remember that year, like Harbaugh basically shut down Michigan football.

(28:02):
They were just egregiously bad. Belichick said, screw this, I
don't care. Take that out. They hit rate on quarterbacks
has gone up noticeably over the last six or seven years.
And that's the hardest position for me because so much
of its soul and toughness and leadership and intangible stuff.
It's hard to quantify. But these NBA execs, I mean,

(28:27):
you're going off You're going off nothing. I mean, you
can't do high school. You get basically you not only
get like one year of college often, but the first
twelve games are against like directional schools. You may in
your conference, he may only face one other NBA power
forward the whole year and oh yeah, he's nineteen. Some

(28:51):
players aren't emotionally equipped at that point. I'm amazed at
the hit rate in the NBA draft, which isn't very high.
I think it's one of the things that we just
don't understand. Like what if you said, what's the hardest
thing to do for any executive in any sport? NBA
general managers are drafting eighteen and nineteen year olds. You

(29:11):
ever thought about that?

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's crazy. It's I think that it.
What it is is that there is something to watching
ten guys on a basketball floor that isn't that overwhelming.
Like you and I can go to a game, a

(29:35):
high school game. There can be an NBA prospect at
the high school game and within what do you think
ninety seconds, Well, you know who it is. I do
think that there is that's one thing to the because
there because there are so many people play basketball and
so few play in the NBA, and then even the

(29:57):
guys that are in the NBA, obviously there are guys
that you ride the bench like. To be a standout
basketball player, you have to be so unbelievably good. And
I'm in football it's like, oh, is that receiver the
best deep ball receiver? But his offensive line sucked so
his quarterback never had time for the deep ball routes

(30:19):
to develop or did the quarterback not have an arm
to get it to him? Like for the receiver to
produce on the deep ball, the line has to do
its job, the quarterback has to do its job. Like
a lot of things have to happen. It's it's very
difficult to isolate and evaluate the individual performance within the
concept of a team game. In basketball, it's not that

(30:41):
difficult to be like, oh, that's the best athlete, that's
the best shooter, and then obviously you start separating degrees.
But I think, I think that that is a part
of basketball that is just inherently.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Like one of these music shows. I'm not a music exact,
but I can tell like three notes in with Carrie Underwood,
you're like, oh, yeah you could. That's on a label
that you you.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Sell that right, right, there's so I think so I
think that there is. And by the way, also, what
two rounds of an NBA draft thirty teams, sixty picks
and like fifteen per draft really do make it? Like
the NBA draft is ridiculous. Like it's like we're drafting

(31:21):
an international guy where it's a draft in stash for
contract rights in twenty thirty two, Like it's it's like
like like what is happening? Like, but it's like there's
all there aren't There are not enough good players because
it is so hard to be as good as these
NBA guys that you do really get to the point

(31:42):
where you're drafting this fact, which is why, by the way, though,
that a guy like Presty is truly amazing, like to
be able to differentiate at that level and has hit
after hit after hit, hit after it. Even if they
were top five picks, it is he still picked the
I mean, he still drafted James Harden, but a lot

(32:04):
of teams didn't. He still drafted Russell Westbrook teams didn't.
He still took SGA teams didn't. Like there's a team
out there that took Markel Foltz over Jason Tatum with
you know what I mean. Like, so even at the
very top of the draft, teams do still mess up.
So they deserve credit when they consistently get it right.
But I think that that is the thing about basketball,

(32:27):
is that there is just a there's an inherent he's
faster than everybody, jump higher.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
Than Yeah, I saw exact Lavine when he was at
Ballard High School in Washington State. It's always really like
his sophomore or junior tape, somebody said there's this kid
in Ballard. You know, I'm from the state of Washington.
So although so I went on like YouTube or something,
and I'm like, holy shit, this is this guy can
hit threes. I mean just insane hops just didn't even

(32:55):
make you know, like thirty eight inch vertical as sixteen
seventeen year old. But I think the harder part and
you really never know this, and I mean you wouldn't
know this unless you room with somebody in college. You
don't know the personality. I don't think Zach Lavine necessarily
wins games. I think a possession by possession late in

(33:15):
game sequence. He does things that drive me nuts. But
he's also productive. I think that's something that not even
Sam Presty knows is does that talent manifest itself into
being a great teammate, working hard, being great in circumstantial
basketball Like that's for SGA is just a bucket, like
it's just whatever it is. His temperature lowers, like his

(33:40):
heartbeat lowers, he's better. Whereas there are guys out there.
Westbrook's a classic example you have to draft him. He's
just too talented. I'm not sure he's a winning player,
but he is an audaciously gifted player. That's some of
that I think comes down to luck. Like there's certain
you know, it was obvious, like Kobe Bryant apparently had

(34:01):
the best workout Jerry west had ever seen. Jason Tatum
was another kid that very early on, he was way
more mature than kids his age. Everybody was like, he
just felt like a thirty two year old man when
he was like nineteen, a duke. But I do think
there's a lot of these kids that you you know,
Jalen Green, I watched him when he came in to Houston.
The first year, I'm like, yeah, he's talented, but he
doesn't even understand how to play basketball. And then the

(34:21):
second year You're like, oh, okay, that part. I think
it takes great coaching, good jamming. That's where a good
organization can help a guy.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
No doubt. And so like just I'll just use the
Chicago example, Like, so DeMar DeRozan is you know, a
chip off the Kobe Bryant block, these legendary workouts, it's
great leader, took guys under his wing, all that stuff.
The Bulls drafted this kid, Patrick Williams out of Florida
State with the fourth overall pick. Crazy talented, athletic three
and D style wing, has all the god given ability

(34:58):
in the world. And there was this big story like, man,
this guy just floats and he's kind of aloof and
like he doesn't assert himself. So Damar was like, I'm
gonna take him under my wing. I'm bringing him out
to California for an offseason. He's doing my three workouts
a day. He's going through like Damar boot camp, and
he's gonna come back a changed guy. And apparently he went,
he did the workouts, and he came back and he

(35:19):
was the same guy. Well he's just like it just
he's not an assertive guy. But he's so down he
got he signed a ninety million dollar contract. Patrick Williams
will probably make two hundred million dollars playing basketball and
never really make an impact or be dominant in any way. Failure,

(35:40):
I don't know. He made two hundred'll make two hundred
million dollars, but you don't have it. You don't have
that dog thing. Zach Levine unbelievably efficient offensive basketball player.
He was an eighteen year old kid in Minnesota with
nobody to like teach him how to be pro, and

(36:00):
then he went to Chicago where there was no one
to really teach him how to be a pro. And
he's like, I don't know. I'm making hundreds of millions
of dollars. I signed the Supermax, I've won the dunk Contest,
I've been in the three point kind of this, but
I've got a thirty million dollar house in LA Like,
White's pretty good, right if you're Zach lavive, Like, how
much does he really need to change? Because he's not

(36:21):
Kobe Bryant. You know, I think that there is just
something too these guys have. There's a there's a little
they're all crazy talented, they all make an insane amount
of money, and then there's just that like psychotic gene
that they don't all possess. And some organizations can scout
it and some organizations can cultivate it, but most can't.

(36:42):
And so that's the difference between the best and the
other ones.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
And now for our segment Hot Off the Press, presented
by our friends at Louisiana Hot Sauce. Bring the food
at your party to a whole new level with the
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Hot Sauce perfect for those who demand great flavor with

(37:11):
just the right amount of heat. I use it on
my eggs, I put it on my sandwiches, I put
it on my pizzas. I love that Danny wants to
talk about this, so I want to bring it up.
So about a month ago I read the New Yorker
and about one out of every three or four articles
just sticks with me. Yes, it's very left leaning, blah

(37:33):
blah blah whatever. It's just some of the best magazine
writing ever. And so they have a Lorne Michael's article
about those last month of the month before. It was fascinating.
So as a kid who grew up on Saturday night,
was it was just just I engulfed myself to it.
It takes about an hour to get through, but it

(37:54):
is just a great read with a glass of bourbon
next to a fireplace and is taking you to John
Belushi and the Betty Murphy's and dan Aykroyd's Chevy Chase.
So they did their fiftieth and again I did.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Not see it.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
I'll probably do some youtubing again on the internet. Tom
Hanks got kind of, you know, hammered because apparently he
did some maga thing.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
What was your interpretation of it.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
So I loved it, and I was never so I'm
kind of obsessed with comedy, and I was actually never
like lock in and watch out you every week guy.
But I got a few thoughts on this. Anyone who
is complaining about that show or criticizing that show, it

(38:56):
strikes me as like so so clueless and devoid of
understanding of the entertainment business on any molecular level that
you should have your rights to criticize and have opinions
on things stripped from you. It was a remarkable accomplishment,
just the sheer amount of talent in the room trying

(39:18):
stuff people like, oh, that wasn't a funny sketch, it's
sketch comedy. It's live sketch comedy. Like bands get to
rehearse songs and then perform them. Stand up comedians get
to rehearse material and then perform it. This is you
get one shot to do it live. So they're not

(39:41):
all going to be home runs, they're not all going
to be the iconic bits. So anybody whoever is like
that was a bad episode or that was a bad sketch,
you are inherently missing the point. Like it's not about
one hundred percent success rate, It's it's about shot attempts.
It's about you know, Lord Michael's He's like, the show's
never ready, it's just it's eleven thirty. But that's the

(40:04):
ethos of the show. So I think that like that,
any criticism of it just strikes me as like not
understanding what they are attempting to do. And then the cultivation,
like we just thought about Sam Presty, Like what is

(40:25):
even close in terms of an incubator of talent for
second place to SNL Maybe The Daily Show, like their
run is pretty remarkable of people that came through under
John Stewart, it's pretty incredible. But like the number of
people over fifty years that the Shaper Stars, Maggots, mephis

(40:51):
stars is Lauren Michaels is like the greatest general manager
in the history of general managers. I can't even think
of anyone that is even close to him, and that
should just carry such reverences. And I know people say
Will Ferrell would have been Will Ferrell even without SNL. Fine,

(41:12):
maybe the talent was there, but like, would the Blues
Brothers have happened? I don't know. They did a sketch
Lucy and Ackroy.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Chris Rock couldn't get on the air for like three
years until he created I think nat X.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Like many of the stars, but Larry David, Larry David
famously was a writer, couldn't get bits on quit, then
goes home, talks to his neighbor Kramer.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
He's like, just pretend like it never happened. Go in
on Monday. He goes in on Monday, pretends like it
never happens, gets his job back, still doesn't really get
anything up here, leaves the show and creates Seinfeld and
writes that bit into Seinfeld, like it is. They have misses.
They didn't cast Jim Carrey, you know what I mean.
They have misses, but the sheer volume is incredible, and

(42:11):
I just when you watch what Watch the Adam Sandler
I did song. It was so good, it was so
beautiful and there is something too And this isn't kissing
your ass or whatever I guess it is, but like
you're kind of like this, Like you are at the

(42:32):
top of the mountain. You have success, companies, radio, TV, money,
fame and all of it. You could just retire to
an island and stop, but you still do two hundred
something shows a year and are creative and churning out
a bunch of stuff. Adam Sandler is worth a zillion dollars.

(42:53):
He's worth a gazillion dollars, and so people are like, oh,
he makes dumb movies. He also makes like there's probably
no one comedically in my life more influential than Adam Sandler.
His comedy albums were unbelievable, and then his first four
comedies are Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, and I'm

(43:21):
Blanking on another absolute Mega one whatever it was, Bob
Barker Golfing, Yeah, Happy Gilmore. If I didn't say Happy Gilmore, Yeah,
Happy Gilmore. He's just it's an unbelievable thing. And I
went and saw him do a stand up show eighteen
months ago when he sold out the United Center fifteen
new songs. They weren't all hits, but like Adam Saylor,

(43:47):
that means that that guy is grinding and writing fifteen
new songs. He doesn't need to be doing that. And
are they all hits? No, But his Chris Farley song
is one of the most beautiful comedic things I've seen
in the last ten years. His phone Wallet Keys song,
You think about it every time you look for your

(44:08):
phone wallet and keys. Like that song at SNL fifty
is going to resonate. His song that he did for
his monologue after getting fired was iconic and has like
a gazillion views on YouTube. These guys and women obviously
are so one percent of one percent talented and still

(44:28):
given that that any criticism and I know I'm rambled,
but it just it really bothers me. Instead of just
appreciating and marveling the greatness.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Remember comedy critics like you appreciate the swings and even
the misses. The people criticizing Saturday Night Live are it's
a lot of the don't get it crowd or they
feel they're being marginalized. Well, and then they ever write
to an opinion, But I do think I always think
it's the silliest thing when you know, in our business,

(44:59):
the media critics, I just don't have a lot of
time or patience for listening to a football broadcast and
not liking what an announcer says in the third quarter
on a fumble. Do you understand how hard it is
to say three hundred things each twelve seconds and they
all be brilliant. If you can hit eighty percent, you're
just you know, Troy Aikman. Troy Aikman hits on seventy

(45:21):
eighty percent. That is as good as you can do.
And he's been doing it for twenty years. He's great
at it, and so it's and I think one of
the things about art. People forget this about Marlon Brando.
Marlon Brando had a He had like seven legendary movies
and all sorts of bombs. That's the spirit of being

(45:42):
an artist. One of the I mean, I think most
comedians think Norm McDonald is one of the truest, most
authentic stand up acts of our lifetime. I mean revered
when he passed away, like it really and I think
Gary Shandling had that as well. Shandling if you go
look at Shann's diary. He had so much self doubt.

(46:03):
Sometimes maybe it was self loathing. Whatever it is in
therapy forever. And I think the great comedians, I mean
Will Ferrell. I've watched five or six of his movies.
I think he's probably the most dynamic, even more so
than Belushi. I think he's the most dynamic comedic presence
on Saturday Night Live. And I think even his stuff

(46:24):
like people don't give the hot tub when he's a
college professor, it's one of the grossest, cringiest things. And
one of my wife and I used to talk in
that language for about two years, could not stop laughing.
It was so gross and cringey. That doesn't even get
talked about. It's Jeopardy. It's the cheerleader. So and I

(46:44):
think one of the things what you appreciate about it is,
I think what most writers who cover comedy. John mulaney
performed at the United Center. I read the next day
the newspaper article a little too critical for my taste,
but he took you through a journey of what it
all meant and the rehab stories. I think comedy critics

(47:07):
mostly land on your side, which you you owe it
to the industry to take just audacious swings. And I
mean Norm MacDonald bombed regularly at the laugh Factory in
La Joya. It just all the time, loved it.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
He loved it and he loved it and that and
that's the act of it. And these these people don't
need to be doing it, and they but they it's
just in their blood. It's just like who they are.
They love it.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Remember when ESPN came out with ESPN the Phone, George Bodenheimer,
and it lost fifty million. And I defended George and
I said time out. If it would have hit, it
would have been a one hundred billion dollar hit. It
was a fifty million dollar loss. That is that's a

(48:02):
rounded there. At that time, ESPN was making eight point
five billion annually. When you're an industry leader, when you're
Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey in his prime, you owe
it almost not just to yourself, to the industry to
take big ethan swings.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Amen. Amen. And so I I just I'm not I'm
not saying that there should be no consequences or that
there are. I don't have my preferences or the bits
don't miss or whatever like and like you said, everyone
has a right to an opinion, but I just don't
know how you could watch a three hour show that

(48:42):
opens with Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon like bridging that
level of time, and then goes into Steve Martin and
John Mulaney doing a co model, then having Bill Murray
sit at the weekend update desk and have Jerry Seinfeld
and Julia Louis Dreyfus in the crowd with Larry David,

(49:05):
and then watching Eddie Murphy do Tracy Morgan next to
Tracy Morgan. It is so goddamn funny, and then just
be like sitting there on your couch being like not
good enough. It's just insane. It's an insane opinion to have,

(49:26):
And I just I just they should be revered, it
should be revied, and I know it is, so I'm
this isn't like some sort of like wild stance that
I'm taking, but there's just nothing else like it. And
the the sheer volume of swings. It almost doesn't matter
how many hits or misses they have, it's just the vine.

(49:49):
I think I think.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Artists are different than us. I think they have different
brain types than accountants. I don't want my I don't
want my accountant taking LSD. I understand that may be
part of ayahuasca is absolutely part of Judd Apatow's voyage. Absolutely,
I mean.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Neil Brennan, co creator of Chappelle's show. Absolutely, I mean
you talked about ayahuasca all the time. Three mics, unbelievably
brilliant special blocks, incredible follow up special like, yeah, I'm
glad that that guy does hallucindogenic drugs. Yeah, I'm really glad.
Like it's it's led to some pretty incredible comedic discoveries

(50:34):
and break.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Through what I think I almost I wish people could
appreciate people this idea of perfection. I was doing a
podcast the other day for a friend and he asked
me about my show, and I said, you know, I said,
my goal isn't perfection, it's perspective. I'm not looking to

(50:58):
be perfect. I'm taking swings. I think I just owe
it to the audience to be entertaining. And have you
know Aaron Rodgers is going to the Rams and Stafford's
going to the Giants, and I think this is better
than a fifty to fifty shot. If you and I
talked about that at the bar, people would lean in like, really,
that's fascinating, that's interesting. And so I think, and maybe
this has happened my entire life, or maybe I just

(51:22):
hope that artists aren't dissuaded from doing great work because
the criticism now is so urgent, it's so vile, and
it's so accessible, and it's like, folks, you don't understand.
Like I went and watched John mullenny in Chicago, Sebastian Manakowsko,
those nights are one offs. I mean, my wife bought

(51:45):
me seats to John Mullaney. I will remember that until
I die. It was that that due to the show,
and don't dissuade artists from taking swings. I think that
this goes back to the very the very point is,
you know, I wish Jim Carrey would do more. I
wish he wasn't so reclusive. I wish he would do more.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Of course, I mean, in nineteen ninety four, Jim Carrey
gave us Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura and the Mask
one year it's the most incredible comedic year ever, and
like and he's just like, yeah, I'm gonna do the
Truman Show. I'm gonna do man in the mood and

(52:29):
by the way, both yeah, awesome man in the mood.
If you haven't seen the documentary Jim and Andy or
whatever whatever the documentary is called about how Jim Carrey
like immersed himself in becoming Andy Kaufman. That is ninety
minutes well spent, like talk about creative genius and artists.

(52:50):
But yeah, these guys. And by the way, like we were
talking about the ratings of the NBA, the ratings of
SNL are still remarkable, like it for Saturday Night that thing.
I haven't seen it yet, maybe they're out. I probably
could have figured it out. My guess is that will
be the most watched thing on American television in twenty

(53:12):
twenty five. That isn't football, Like some football will beat it,
But my guess is that SML fifty will outrate any
World Series game, any political speech, any NBA Finals game,
college football National Championship will beat it. Obviously a bunch
of NFL will beat it. But my guess is that

(53:32):
that rating will be the biggest non football event of
the year. And for them to still have that kind
of cultural influence fifty years in.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Is just insane, just insane and now for our next segment,
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Whether it's rye whiskey, single barrel bourbon, you're getting over

(54:07):
a century a craftsmanship packed into every bottle. Hop on
over to Green Riverwhisky dot com and discover a legend
in a bottle today. You know, I thought, I know
we've talked about this before, but speaking of artists, I
think if you took any NFL quarterback and said he

(54:29):
was more artists, it would be Aaron Rodgers. Aaron's very unique,
and I tend to believe that people make mistakes, but
most NFL reporters are very very good, So I'm gonna
I'm gonna trust the NFL reporter who broke this story
that basically Aaron begged the Jets to keep him. And

(54:50):
it's interesting because I think we both acknowledge Aaron smart.
You know, he's a he's a bright guy, better than
average intelligence. But he's had two franchise is catch him
off guard, letting him go. And it's an interesting thing
with Aaron. Generally, these two things coincide intelligence and self awareness,

(55:13):
and we think Aaron's smart. And twice he's knocked on
the door of the franchise and they're like they do
the Vegas Dealer, Yeah, we're out, and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa. What I find interesting about Aaron, if this
story is true that he begged to stay, is that
he doesn't get like, he doesn't get his brand, and

(55:36):
it's like, Aaron, you're not some dullard, You're not a
dim bold. You're a lot of work and you're not
nearly as good as you used to be. This, whether
you're a talk show host or a quarterback, never ends well.
Are When I read that he was begging to stay

(55:56):
or he really wanted to stay, part of it to
me was it's like, Aaron, how do you not get this?
Does that land anyway for you? So?

Speaker 2 (56:09):
I don't so. Albert Breer then reported that Aaron wanted
to stay, wanted and indicated that he wants to keep playing,
but that he was not He did not present it
like that he was begging. Rogers doesn't strike me as
a guy that would get down on one knee and
beg the New York Jets for employment. So I didn't

(56:32):
buy the behind the paywall New York Post story that
said it was like a man walking himself to the
gallows and referencing ayahuasca. It was like very New York posted,
and so I was like, I took it with a
little bit of a grain of salt. What I do
think is true is that Rogers probably went to that
meeting and stayed at his case. I was heard at

(56:55):
the beginning of the year, I played much better at
the end of the year, and what's your plan? If
not me, then who? And they probably don't have a
great answer for that right now. So I bet he
stated his case. I still struggle to find a team
that makes more sense for Rogers than Pittsburgh. People keep

(57:18):
saying Minnesota, aren't they gonna try JJ McCarthy. The are
it traded up in the first round to draft in
And if they think that if they got a great
season seasons out of Kirk Cousins and then a great
season out of Sam Darnold, I would have to imagine
that they think that the guy that they picked they
can get a great season out of.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
For very g it's time to look at this week's
Tastiest matchup, brought to you by Uber eight. I want
to quickly segue to this. I don't want to spend
too much time on Aaron. So there was a story
that Jason McIntyre deserves credit. He talked about it like
four days before anybody else did Stafford to the Giants?
And I made two calls on it, and it was

(57:58):
a real thing. It's now Stafford may just want a
new deal and an influx of money from the Rams.
That's probably it. The idea of going from Stan Kronk
and Sean McVay and indoor football to the Giants facing
Philadelphia twice a year and Jaden Daniels does not feel
appealing to me. Just chaos to non chaos. The Rams
are a really well run ship. But it was interesting.

(58:21):
So when I proposed that, it was amazing. And again
it's fans. So how many people said you cannot give
up a first round pick for Matt Stafford And I'm like,
time out, You're definitely it is a week draft. You've
been unwatchable for a decade, like you're the GM of

(58:43):
the Giants. I press you into a corner. What would
you give up for Matt Stafford in a week draft.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Yeah, I mean, I would try to make it next
year's first round pick.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
You got to give up something. I'm not gonna let
you get away with that. You gotta give me something
this year.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Yeah, then I mean I I still think Staffords is
an arguably top five pins in the NFL. I think
there's a big I think there's a big four. And
then like Matt Stafford, everyone was immediately like Jaden Daniels
is the best quarterback in the NFC, and I was like,
I don't know. I think I'll still take the thirty
five year old gum flinger like to win a game tomorrow,

(59:24):
I'll take I'll still take Stafford over Jayden and Daniels,
though Jayden's amazing. So yeah, I think that if the
Rams were open for business, they would get a first
round pick from miss Stafford, even.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
At his age, even though you'd have to renown me
do the deal, like it's he's just too damn good
in a league now it is all about the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
Yeah, And it's the type of thing that you don't
go into it blind like you'd be His agent would
be given permission to talk to the team, Hey, are
you playing? You know you're not retiring next year right now?
You're playing multiple years? Okay? Cool? Yeah, And as long
as they have a guarantee that Matt Stafford would sign
a contract extension, rework the deal to your point, and

(01:00:06):
play multiple years, I do think that he would get
a first round pick. He's awesome. He's awesome. I don't
really get why the Rams would want to be out
of the Matt Stafford business though, Like I watched your
segment so and I personally would put up with his
wife saying, goofy things.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Well, staff I think what the Rams are looking at
some of that public Cooper Cup Stafford, the Rams felt
a bit belied in social media, the wife, Cooper Cup.
It's like, guys, we're really good, we're really good owners.
We're good people here. Don't go public. So I think
that's part of it. I think the other thing you
have to look at is take Stafford out. Who are

(01:00:47):
the pocket quarterbacks that you really think can win a
Super Bowl over the next ten years?

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
Goff?

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
And that's mostly because the on line really of Detroit,
the old line is so suffocating it could move the
ball against Philadelphia's D line. The truth is, I think,
and they're also looking at we don't Matt wants four years,
they'd give him two. So I think it's they want
Matt Stafford. But I do think rent a quarterback for
a year because next year's quarterback class is much better.

(01:01:13):
Is Aaron Rodgers. I think Aaron. If you go to
Aaron's last ten games in New York with at that
point arguably the worst coaching staff not in Chicago in
the league, it was the worst coaching staff, and he
put up like really decent numbers the last ten games.
My take is with McVeigh, if you could hold those

(01:01:34):
numbers for a year, two year deal, we draft a quarterback.
And I also think Aaron has been humbled. I think
I think he'd come live in Malibu and be like,
this is a gift. I'm taking this gift.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Oh well, listen. I have no issue with understanding why
Aaron Rodgers would want to play in LA For Sean McVay,
that's not a that's not a leap. My thing is,
if I'm Sean McVay, I think Matt Stafford is better
than Aaron. He is at this at this stage. I
just don't get why the Rams would want to be

(01:02:07):
out of the Stafford business to get into the Rogers business.
Like if if Matt Stafford forced the trade or retired
or whatever, then like, okay, we can have that conversation.
But I just I get to me all these teams
that people are throwing out for Rogers, like the Nighters,
the Vikings, the Rams, is like, yeah, that all sounds

(01:02:28):
great for Aaron. I think it's much more likely that
it's gonna be like Vegas, Tennessee. Nobody like I think
that that that's where it's gonna be. Like is he
gonna just play to play and grind out six wins
or I don't. I don't believe that a Super Bowl
contender is calling Aaron Rodgers. Maybe I'll be proven wrong,

(01:02:51):
but I don't. I don't believe that a Super Bowl
contenders ready for him.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
That was this week's tastiest matchup, brought to you by
uber Eats has the official on demand delivery partner of
the nl FEL. Uber eats has the best, absolute best
game day deals all season long. I use it every
Sunday order now for Game Day. So I'm gonna throw
something out at you and this I haven't fully baked
this idea, but it's just interesting. So I was with

(01:03:16):
my wife for four days an undisclosed location and we
were just talking about a bunch of stuff, and I said,
this was my theory. I said, you know, Americans don't
like change. Forty percent of Americans never leave their zip
code and they don't like sudden change. I said, so

(01:03:36):
what Trump and Musk are doing. It may play well
to the wealthy, to the status of the top of
the Republican Party, but for most Americans, they don't like change.
It's just too much, too soon, too fast. We don't
like change. I've moved all over the country. I'm comfortable.
I think I'm an outlier. Nobody else in my family

(01:03:56):
likes it. Nobody in my sister's family likes it, or
my wife's family likes it. People don't like change. So
we're going through a lot of change, and I think
eventually you do too much of it, and people it's
a turn off. But I said, I said, I've been
watching now for several months, since the inauguration and since
the win by Trump, and I said, you would think

(01:04:19):
the Democrats lost by twelve million votes and didn't get
a state. But I'll throw a theory at you, I
told my wife driving back. I said, on average, usually
the Democrats have more women than Republicans, generally, more African Americans,
more kids who are bullied, more gay, lesbian, more, more

(01:04:45):
people that have needed assistance. And I said, those people,
when they lose, are more prone to believe the sky
is falling. I said, when conservative lose, they're like, all right,
we just need a better candidate. You know, Let's face it,
most of us grew up Conservatives were everybody's rich dad

(01:05:07):
was a conservative, right, That's kind of the way it worked.
And so I said, I said, if you listen over
the last two months to Democrats, you would think, forget
the electoral College. You would have thought it was Walter Mondale.
You would think that literally it was a thirteen million

(01:05:28):
vote difference. And I said, because I think Democrats, if
you look at the base of the Democratic Party, it
is often people who have had real struggles, not that
Republicans haven't, but there are women have not been in
as much power as men have, minorities have not been
in power, and that Democrats are overthinking it. If they

(01:05:48):
got a really dynamic, vibrant candidate in two years, it
would change everything, and you'd be like, we are number one,
this is the Party of genius, and that people when
they lose an election, Democrats when they lose the election
are just inherently more negative and neurotic about it than conservatives.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
I think that that tracks. I know a lot of
Democrats who are pretty neurotic. Yeah, you're talking to one
of them. Yeah, I think that that tracks completely across
the board. And listen. I don't know. I spend above
average amount of time online. I assume this is your

(01:06:31):
soft launch for your candidacy, because isn't that you. America
just needs to know you. You just need to be
like a rich radical centrist that gives hot sports takes
and then all of a sudden you're in right, let's
go forget Steven A. Smith. No, Colin Coward twenty eight
bring analogies to the White House.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
I have no interest in it. But one of the
reasons I love this podcast is I just throw these
half baked ideas out and my wife, I said, Jesus,
eventually all these changes are going to scare some people off,
and they're going to go back to moderates or left.
They're just this is too much activity for most Americans.

(01:07:13):
They don't like it. A lot of Americans who are
being displaced maybe conservatives, they're not all liberals at US eight.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Yeah, the story of like I voted for Trump and
now I lost my job, like no shit, like like
like like do people like that. I'm not saying like
you deserved it. That's not my point at all. My
point was like he doesn't strike me as someone that's
like doing this with like a fine teeth. Come and

(01:07:41):
it's like, like the point is chaos and disruption and
throwing so much stuff against the wall that it took
a moving target And what am I supposed to focus on?
And that's the that's the point of it. He's not
he's not really making a bunch of discernments of like
this person in this government agency happened to vote for me.
Like there's just this story I was first reading that
was like they had to undo some firings because there

(01:08:03):
was a bunch of people who worked at like a
nuclear test site. They're like, we can't fire the safety
guy at the nuclear test Good. I'm glad that you
caught that one. So so yeah, I'm not I'm not
interested in this next wave of stories of like I
voted for Donald Trump and then I lost my job.
Like he doesn't give a shit. He won, he he won.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Yeah, So just my whole theory is basically Democrats. Yeah,
they struggle their their they tend to be introspective, they
tend to be a little more insecure. A lot of
their life backgrounds they weren't in control. So when you
when you lose more control, it is really off putting,
and it throws you into this dark hole of despair.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Yeah, and and listen, I mean it's it's talking politics
is whatever. But I'll do it with you. You brought it up.
Democrats try to be all things to all people. Got
a very wide net, you know what I mean, like
like LGBT, minorities, women's rights, all incredibly valuable, worthwhile causes.

(01:09:07):
It's a little bit more complicated when there's two teams
and you're trying to be like the thing to all
things to all people, and the other side is just like,
I don't know, let's just bulldoz. Like you know, that's
that's like an overly simplistic, reductive way of looking at it.
But like, yeah, they could probably just be like we
just need a better candidate and Democrats are like, who

(01:09:30):
did we offend? Who's the Joe Rogan of the left,
and like they're out, should should we have? Should we
have done? Call her daddy? It's like shut out. Just
get a better candidate, Get a better candidate.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
That is exactly my point. We come all the way around,
and that's it. Just get a better candidate and you'll
be fine.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Yeah. Yeah, and in two years they'll probably run Hillary.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Oh Jesus boy, Okay, I want to end it on this.
I made I made the argument there are there are
two types of artists Gordon Ramsey, jay Z Lebron where

(01:10:16):
there's artistic, interpretational, artistic talent, but they're very good business man.
They can compartmentalize. And then there's the artist on the
other side, who is just all artists and cancels the
tour and seu's ticketmaster and is you know it can
struggle with bandmates and and then there's you know the
other side. There's two types of artists, and that Lebron

(01:10:38):
is very much in the Gordon Ramsey, jay Z Bono,
Mick Jagger. I'm not a businessman. I'm a business man.
Kevin Durant is sort of the wandering artist independent to
a fault. It's not about championships, it's about being the
best you and I don't. In a way, I think

(01:11:00):
he somewhat tanked his career because at thirty there was
an argument he was better than Lebron, and now he's
viewed as somebody who just can make baskets and that's
about it. Your thought, where do you? How do you?
Because I really love watching KD and I think he's
such a unique all time player. I've argued if you
did a one on one tournament in league history, I'd

(01:11:22):
take him over Michael. I think he's unstoppable at six
to eleven, just literally unstoppable. Michael would miss just one
if it was make it, take it, Mike would miss once,
and d would just keep scoring. How do you view Durant?

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
Yeah, Durant is one of the greatest offensive players in
the history of the sport, like a true basketball genius
in terms of putting the ball in the in the
hole right, like that's the objective of the game. There
are very few people in the history of the sport
whose offensive arsenal you would take over him. I agree

(01:11:56):
with him that two. Much of basketball discourse has become
rings culture dominant that we talk basketball basically three ways.
We talk about rings and championships, transactions, trades, free agency,
guys forcing their way out, the disgruntled superstar, and then

(01:12:20):
the social media drama beef stuff. We're not doing a
lot of like how a team defends the pick and roll, right,
that's not like a lot of mainstream basketball conversations. So
like that media criticism, I think is a valid one,
and he decries it, but there is also just some
truth that not all rings are created equal. That guy

(01:12:44):
didn't have any rings, and then he did a thing
that is allowed that you could say that we bear
some responsibility for because we said, if you don't win
a ring, you're Charles Barkley or your Dan Marino, and
we mock you for it, and then we moved the
goalpost on him, and then we mocked them for what
he did. But joining up with that Warriors team was weak.

(01:13:04):
It was just it just flew in the face of competitiveness.
It goes back to my Dodger's point from earlier. I
understand why it happens. I get that it's a have
and a have not world. It doesn't mean that I
have to like it, like Yannis's one in Milwaukee means
a hell of a lot more than Durant's two in
Golden State. Sorry, it just does. And so if Durant

(01:13:29):
would have won in Oklahoma City, we would look at
him so different. Even if he just had the one,
we would look at him as Joker or Yannis, these
guys that were singular entity forces of nature who didn't
have the institutional advantage of the historic franchise and the

(01:13:53):
warm weather market and the free agent destination and built
the team the quote unquote right way, and his legac
see would be beyond reproach. It would. It'd be perfect
if he would have won in Oklahoma City. But as
soon as he went to Golden State and won these
titles that fell cheap and that they flew in the

(01:14:15):
face of competitive spirit pined his legacy. Okay, he would
hate that phrase, but I can't really have a problem
with it because it was a it was a move
that just flew in the face of competitiveness.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
Okay, but let me throw that did it? Let me
be Devil's It didn't feel fair. Let me let me
be a Devil's advocate. Does it feel fair? Let's say
you're an Ohio sports fan, You're like, man, I that
is so weak what Kevin Durant did. And I would
be like, oh, Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith and all
your great players, don't they go to where they'll have

(01:14:54):
a competitive advantage over Purdue, Like no doubt. Nil is
not just the money grab for the best players. It's like,
I want to go to a team that's already.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
Stacked, no doubt, And I don't have much of an
argument against it, except in the history of the NBA,
that's not what we celebrated, like it turned the heat
into supervillains. And there was a historic pay jump when

(01:15:27):
that in that CBA that at that offseason one time,
every team in the league could afford a MAX player
and he just chose, so say you choose the seventy
win team, like it just it again, This is a reductive.
It's just lame. It's just lame.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
I always felt Kevin Durant people preached doing loyalty, and
he watched the Sonics moved Oklahoma City, so in the
back so in the back of his mind was and
it's this is all about the green. And then when
Russell Westbrook would eat up the shot clock and get

(01:16:07):
him the ball late. He and the and the organization.
Actually Westbrook was, you know, the better athlete. They worked
in a bail on Westbrook, and I think some of it.
I defend Kevin because I think he went Okay, I
got drafted by Seattle. Now I'm playing in Oklahoma City
and you you you have a point guard who can't

(01:16:29):
get me the ball until the end of the shot clock.
And so if I'm gonna move, I'm not moving to
a crappy team and a crappy city. I'm going to
the Bay Joe lacub and Steph Curry.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Yeah again, I I get it. And the team was
an unfair cheat code and he won and he got
his rings. But it would have meant more if he
would have won in Brooklyn or Phoenix or Oklahoma City.
I don't I don't make the rules. I just didn't fortunate, man.
Do I mean? Right? Every title is not the same.

Speaker 1 (01:17:02):
You agree with that, Yeah, I mean the Lakers COVID
title doesn't feel like the Celtics last year.

Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
Yeah. But also like I just in terms of Yannis's
Milwaukee title, is a call it this called again immature.
That is a pure title drafted by the team fifteenth overall.

(01:17:32):
Chris Middleton is the running mate, and he has one
of the three greatest game seven you know, cheery Championship
closeout performances ever in NBA history, where he drops fifty
and he wins a title. That one thing is more

(01:17:52):
sports pure than Lebron in the Heat. Doesn't mean Lebron
in the Heat isn't a better team, doesn't mean it
wasn't more exciting, doesn't mean it wasn't better business, doesn't
mean I would not want to go to South Beach
and play with my friends. But like Yannis's title in Milwaukee,
is just it's special. It just means a little bit

(01:18:12):
more in history, jokers in Denver, it just means a
little bit more.

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
That's fair.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
I just it just I just I think we all
kind of know that. We just you know, we don't
we don't like to admit it. It doesn't feel.

Speaker 1 (01:18:26):
Fair, that's why.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
But we all I think, but we just we just
we just know it to be true.

Speaker 1 (01:18:30):
Yeah, I think it's the Knicks one being able to
make a deal and really steal Jalen Brunson. It is
to make a deal, a risky deal to get Karl
Anthony Towns and then McHale bridges and give up a lot.
I do think like the Knicks title would. I don't
think they match up well with Boston at all. Boston
offensively just attacks Carl Anthony Towns and Brunson. But I

(01:18:52):
think one of the reasons that the Knicks are so
likable is that you know, Carl Anthony Towns has had
a lot of failures and Jalen Brunts it's a nova guy,
a second rounder there. I think there is value too.
There are certain teams that are much easier to root for,
and I don't think the Heatls or most Laker teams
are terribly easy to root for.

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
Lebron's Cleveland title means more than his LA title or
his Miami titles. Clear we all we all know that.
We all just know that to be true, and there's
a reason for it. Hometown kid. He was an underdog
in the finals, led both teams and all fives. That

(01:19:33):
I mean, that's the greatest NBA Finals performance ever. Like
that that is that is you could I would make
the argument that that is the most impressive NBA title ever,
the one that Lebron won in Cleveland over.

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
Golden's funny thing about, like there's a funny thing.

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
There is a ranking.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
The funny thing about that final. The six of those
games were blowoups, and then game seven was magical.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
Like Game seven was mad.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
It's like it's like an average movie with a great
twelve minutes to cap it off.

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
No doubt, but the accomplishment was amazing. Like what the
trophy represented was like, holy shit, Like he went home,
he won, He won as an underdog, he beat the
super team, he led in all five categories the game.
It was unbelievable. It's one of the greatest things I've
ever seen in sports.

Speaker 1 (01:20:18):
Danny Parkins breakfast Ball. We fired through an hour, our
hour fifteen. We gave you a little bit of everything.
We kind of go all over the board. But I
sometimes I just need the therapeutic.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
I love it. I love talking with you, I love
picking your brain. Good stuff, man.

Speaker 1 (01:20:37):
The volume