Colin Cowherd Podcast - Pulisic's World Cup Fallout, Inside Jaylen Brown Trade, US Soccer's Future

Colin Cowherd is joined by 'First Things First' co-host Danny Parkins on the podcast. Colin explains why he missed The Herd today off the top. Then they go into Christian Pulisic's rest comments and give their takes on the US Soccer player and what the future holds for him. Next they deep dive into the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown and why Jaylen's value across the league wasn't as much as fans & media thought. Lastly they go back to the World Cup to discuss the future of this year's tournament and which broadcast partner could land it in the next deal. How can the USA grow from hosting the World Cup and get to the next level in soccer. 

TIMELINE

03:00 Christian Pulisic & Team USA

25:00 Jaylen Brown Trade

49:00 World Cup Future 

All lines provided by @hardrockbet

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
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(01:09):
at Square dot com slash goh slash Colin, s q
U a r E dot com slash go slash Colin. So,
by the way, if you're wondering, I am healthy enough
to do a forty five minute podcast today, but my
boss has called me after yesterday's show. I played hurt yesterday.
I had a fever and the stomach virus is going

(01:30):
around the Midwest. So I went to bed last night
at seven thirty five, took thorough flu. I broke my fever.
So I'm okay, stomach's a mess. It's a Midwest thing. Whatever.
But we had this planned and I think it's it's
fitting because there's so many things I want to talk
about with Danny Parkins. So you know, listen, every four
years after we lose in the World Cup, the drum beats.

(01:54):
It's our culture, you know, it's our youth movement. But
I did think it was kind of instructive that Carli Lloyd, Stuholden,
Alexi Lawless all kind of had the same drum beat,
which is, hey, Christian Pulisic, nobody wants to hear about rest.
This isn't baseball. You don't have a game tomorrow. We

(02:18):
don't want to hear about rest. And I think it's fair,
and I'll tell you why. Pulistic's twenty seven. Messi is
a smaller athlete, has never messed a World Cup game,
and you know he hasn't been healthy one hundred percent
of the time. We know Polistics not Arling Holland he's
not a soccer version of Gronk, but he gets banged
up a lot. He's twenty seven, But there is an

(02:38):
indifference or a lack of urgency sometimes that comes off
as condescending from Polistic, like he's above it all, and
we don't like that from our athlete. By the way,
if you said that in Argentina, the Argentinian press would
savage you. If you said it in Greece or Italy
or London, you'd get crushed for it. I think my
knock on Polisic is that this is this is different

(03:02):
than the other sports is that it's every four years.
Soccer already faces a little cynicism because of the flopping,
so you kind of fake injuries all the time. So
like when you come up and say, all right, I
can still see on the pitch, you can still move.
I don't want to hear about rest. I don't think

(03:23):
that's unfair. I think it's pandering to call that unfair.
I think that's very reasonable. International Soccer commentary by Carly
Stewing Alexi.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Of course, I mean he after the game said that
he thought he maybe sprained his ankle. We expect you
to play through a sprained ankle, right right, Like I
mean if he would have come out afterwards, that he
would have ruptured his achilles. You know, no one would
have said anything, you know, but it was like, wait,
you you kicked the other guy. You kind of stubbed

(03:55):
your foot into the ground. You were hobbling around out there.
We expect you to be able to hobble that off.
And I'm not saying that I could do it, but
I am saying that world class athletes should be able
to do it.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
And this is the thing.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
I am not a twenty four to seven three sixty
five soccer person, but I really prepped very hard ahead
of this World's Cup. I take my job very seriously
with how first things. First overtime is going, like Nick
Wilds and Brew are not on the show with me,
so I'm doing the full hour with me and Dax
McCarty and maybe other soccer people that we bring on. So, like,

(04:32):
I prepped my ass off ahead of this World Cup.
Part of that was watching the five part Team USA documentary,
and in the documentary there was a whole section of
time on Polisic feeling defensive and pushing back against the
old American soccer establishment, guys like Alexi and Landon who

(04:53):
had criticized him for skipping the Gold Cup. They were like,
you've got to play in the Gold Cup. It's because
this is such huge tournament for Team USA and it's
a home World Cup, and he was like, I need
the rest and I have to prioritize rest, and they
really criticized him and he pushed back against it. And
then Polisic also, I know he's not the most media

(05:14):
friendly guy, but I think that's a little overstated. There's
also a nine part documentary just about him on Paramount
It's the Polisic Story. And then he was profiled in
GQ ahead of this tournament and he said it's just
another big tournament. Like I came out of this thing saying,
I honestly wonder if the World Cup is as big

(05:37):
of a deal to him as playing for ac Milan.
He makes his money from ac Milan. It's the biggest
American transfer fee in the history of our country. Like
it's weird to say, but I honestly felt like, do
we care, does Donovan care? Does Alexi care more about

(05:57):
wearing the crest of America than Polistic? And I know
he laid his body on the line and had the
great goal in the last World Cup against the Iran
and all.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Of those things.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
But you would never catch Messi saying it's just another
tournament about the World Cup, and so I think when
you combine skipping the Gold Cup, it's just another tournament,
asking out of both a group stage game and a
knockout stage game with non devastating injuries. These people who

(06:28):
are soccer establishments, people in America who played the game,
they did not reach this conclusion on Polisic just because
of the game against Belgium. This is years in the
making for them with Polisic, and I think it's totally
fair to question if playing for America in the World
Cup is his absolute number one priority.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Listen, I've said this about Luka Dantage his reality now
and Joe Burrows. They're both like one more injury away
from we're out of the peak. They're injury problem. Like
I've said that about Luca, He's never in great shape.
He now has three straight years of being injured. If
it becomes four, that devastatingly great. Trade isn't as great

(07:09):
as you thought. Neither Dallas or the Lakers are viable.
So and I think but one of the things that
pushes back, I would push back is our soccer culture
isn't terribly hard. I mean, we still consider playing college
soccer a big deal. Where if you go internationally to
a Morocco, the best African nation now in terms of soccer,
if you go to England and you go to other

(07:30):
places like that that collegiate soccer, it's academies and ours
is hey get a D one scholarship and it's a
little I would say it's a little precious. It doesn't
really it's And by the way, in basketball, one of
the reasons there's so many great international players that if
you serve like our great domestic players is their academy
system is better than our aau system. And I do

(07:52):
think sometimes the people that cover soccer for a living,
especially the print people New York Times, the Athletic they
get a little precious, they get a little defensive, they
start pandering. You don't understand soccer. I don't have to
be a chef to know the fish is undercooked. I'm
sending it back to the kitchen. I don't have to
be a music critic to know that guy's a hack
and that person's great, Like you don't have to be
an expert. Pholistic is twenty seven injury prone And to

(08:15):
your point, there's a sense he lacks kind of like urgency.
There's a certain esthetic and a certain commentary where I
feel like, bro, this shit matters like a lot. I mean,
I mean this, this World Cup was so successful, America
is probably going to get another one sooner than anticipated.

(08:36):
I've read that several times. This has been a ground
breaking World Cup.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, listen, it's a that's why you have There's a
lot here and I think it's fascinating. And I know
sometimes like the hottest take is the best take, but
I think there's a lot here, Like the World Cup
has been a huge success. Ratings, attendance. My six year
old asked, were a messy jersey?

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Like you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Like he's getting into it, so like growing soccer in America,
all that stuff that is happening even without the US
stepping forward. I also think the US did make progress
in this specific way. If you look in the rearview mirror,
like I think the say we're the eighteenth best team
in the world for a number, yeah, I think the

(09:24):
gap between us and like the fiftieth best team has grown.
Whereas like we've the last now four World Cups that
we've made, we've made it to the same round every time,
the round of sixteen. Yeah, but in the past we've
kind of eked our way there draws won to one
games and in this World Cup, and I know part
of it is where the host country so we got
the pot one draw. I know part of it is

(09:46):
expanded field. So there's a round of thirty two now,
so a little bit weaker competition. But we kind of
kicked the shit out of some teams. Scored three goals,
scored four goals, had the most first half goals of
any team in the whole tournament. Through the round to
thirty two. We were putting the ball in the back
of the that I do think we have separated ourselves
a bit from Paraguay and Australian teams like that. But

(10:09):
when you lose as convincingly as we did to Belgium. Right,
the whole thing was are you going to take a
step forward? We still have a huge gap between us
and the truly top teams.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yes, well it's interesting you bring that up. So here
are the quarter finalists. France, Argentina, England, Belgium, Spain. Those
are world powers. Yeah, Switzerland once again, fifth sixth straight
World Cup. I think this is the third or the
fourth time they made it to the quarters. Historically respected
Morocco is now brilliant federation apparently depths top African nation

(10:47):
and then Norway has a superstar Yeah okay, so either
superstar soccer power, respected, historical relevant European team or the
best African nation that who beat us out. And I
would say this between Casey Keller, you know Tim Howards.
We were uniquely weak in goalie. We had an MLS goalie.

(11:11):
Our goalies have always been English Premier League Casey European
guy for fifteen years. If we had one of our
usual goalies in we lose two to one. Yes, we
don't give up the second or the third goal, we
give up the first. We give up the last. We
lose two to one. We're out played. But the sense is, well,
if Belgium beat Spain, we're losing to really good people.

(11:32):
So A, you're right, there's growth. B look at who
ends up in the quarters, the best African nation superpowers.
The other thing that should be noted is participation. Remember this, Danny,
look at the world going forward. A lot of parents
don't want their kids to play football because of violence.
Basketball genetically, Let's be honest, it is a really tall person.

(11:55):
Sport Baseball to kids often a lot of standing around
and boring. He's super expensive. Soccer's fun. There is pay
to play, but it's cheaper than hockey, probably two to
three times cheaper. This will increase participation, no rues. And
my guess is although albeit or pay to play, I
think in communities, if you really saw, if the local

(12:17):
teams really saw a spectacular kid at eight, nine, ten, eleven,
twelve years old, you'd find a way to engineer it
and get him in. There's a lot of visibility now
with soccer, the academy system is broader. So I do
to think to your point, this was an absolute win.
Better goalie. We lose two to one, and we were embarrassed.
We weren't beaten. It's not that we lost, it's how

(12:39):
we lost. And it got really embarrassing in the last
thirty to forty minutes.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, I thought, Look, I mean honestly, I thought it
was kind of embarrassing from jump with how cautious they played,
Like I did not consider the fact that we could
get blown out in that game, and we did, And
I thought that that was a parent Pretty early on.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
I was like, oh my god, like it just like
the moment felt a little too big for.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Them, and it is.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I mean, Egypt almost beat Argentina and would have been
further than us, and then we would have been like,
well what about this group that is to like, why
can't we be Egypt? And I do think it's totally
fair to be like, why can't we have our earling Holland,
Like we thought it was going to be Freddie Adouo,
it wasn't. We thought it was going to be Christian Polisic.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
It wasn't.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Now people are like, there's this kid, Kevin Sullivan who's
sixteen on Philly and MLS and I'm like, I can't
keep waiting for the Great Savior to come right, and
I do think, and again I am not an expert
on the pay to play thing, but there is something too.
Our best player is Floren Balligan, who was completely developed

(13:40):
in England, Like.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yes, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
His parents are Nigerian. He came up through the English
club scene and the only reason he was able to
play for America is because his mom had him here
in birthright citizenship because she was pregnant and deemed that
it wasn't good for her to fly back when she
was pregnant. And he was like, I don't know that
I'll start if I play on England because of Harry
Kane everything that they have, So I'll go play for America. Like,

(14:04):
we got to figure out why they were able to
develop our best player and figure out a way for
us to be able to develop a couple of our
own best players.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, and and by the way they're they're you know,
if you look at France and a lot of these nations,
there is these routes to get your best players. Apparently
the Federation in Morocco. I was reading about it this
morning actually as my stomach flew was ravaging through the house.
Morocco's Federation apparently has done a really good job to

(14:34):
find connections through Europe and that's why they have so
much depth. If you watch Morocco talking about a dark horse,
like you watch them and maybe the fastest team left
Many they are like in France speed. They they they
got a bunch wings, midfielders, they move, they're hard to defend.
So I think a lot of this is Federation based,

(14:55):
academy based, and it's hurting our basketball a little bit.
I mean, who are at best the mess players Cooper
Flag and Edwards, Jason Tatum, And it feels like I
was a drop off, like like what Trey Young. I
mean the analytics don't like Jalen Brown. Yeah, so yeah,
I mean I think, I think, but I do believe
every four years there is this chorus is that we're

(15:16):
not growing. There's clear growth from participation to elevation of
skill and technical expertise. I think we're a little soft.
I think the soccer culture is a little harder in
England than Argentina than it is here. But I felt growth.
I did too.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
I felt growth, like I said, kind of looking like
we distanced ourselves from the lesser teams, which we were
a part of and I'm not sure if we grew
enough in the direction of the top teams. And I'm
going to be very interested in like because listen, poach
Tina was expensive, Like, what what do they do with him?

(15:55):
I know everybody wants him back, and I do too.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I like him.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
It did seem interesting to me that it was like
we weren't tough enough, we weren't ready to play, but
we love the manager.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
It's like, I don't know, some of that might be
on coaching, Like I don't.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Exactly know, but it seems like, but I do think
that you know, they've opened up USA soccer complexes and
training development programs, Like you spend more money on it,
you will develop better players, and you need a continuity
of program. And to your point, this tournament kind of
flipped my whole life watching the US on the international level,

(16:30):
it was like, can we score goals?

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Right?

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Like we we had four goals? We had four goals
in the twenty twenty two World Cup in total, our
in total.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
This time, it's like, okay, we can score goals.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Like if we took Tim Howard and a couple of
great American defenders from the past and put them on
this team with Balligan and some of our midfielders and
you know, forward players, we could have had a great team.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
It's just we don't have the We gotta we got
to put it all together once.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
See. I feel better about this because I'd rather say
we got to find a better goalie, then we just
don't have the technical skill to score goals. I feel
broadly great about our technical skill. It'll only get better.
This whole team comes back, probably with three to four
editions at least, but we just have to find a goalie.
I always felt like we got a goalie. I wish
we had seven guys a could pass and dribble like
they do in England. So I feel broadly very good

(17:22):
about it. Yeah, I think that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
I mean, listen, Tim Reim was too old and too
slow as like our main defensive player, right, so I
think it is probably.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
I was reading articles about like projecting the twenty thirty
men's national team roster and it's very difficult to do.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
But there are names.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
You know, Dax McCarty are our first things, first analyst
who's been great. He played a ton of MLS, he
played on the men's national team. He knows MLS. He's like, yeah,
there's a lot of really young talent, but they just
we need to hit like need we need to hit
on some stars. I mean, Belgium is sobbing in Lukaku
and it's like we would he be our best player.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
He can't. He came off the bench for them.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Weston McKinney is really good for us, but he's been
like okay on Juventus. You know, Christian Polistic a huge deal.
He led Milan in goals and assists, but Milan was
really disappointing, like they weren't. You know.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
He was like a good.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Player on a historically great team that also had a
bad year. So we do need to We have players
who are playing in Spain and Italy and Europe and
made all over, but we need we need stars. We
need to keep leveling up. We're We're not there yet.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
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want to shift to Jalen Brown. That's obviously a bit
of big story, overshadowed by the Olympics, overshadowed by the
World Cup. Obviously. So it's interesting when analytics football analytics,

(20:42):
we don't talk about a lot soccer analytics, hockey analytics
not so much. It's really been it's taken over baseball
and basketball analytics if you're not upstairs, if you're not
in on analytics all in to like a Celtics level,
you're falling behind and your viewed as sort of hacky
and jurassic. Baseball analytics marginalized the manager. Players didn't have

(21:05):
to love it, but it was really about the manager.
Now may not even fill out the lineup that going
with your gut instincts. It's like it sounds like a
bad president. Now you have to read the briefings in
the morning. You can't go with your guy, right. Analytics
in basketball isn't about the coach because they all believe
in it. It's about the high scoring player who's a
bad analytic player. So whereas baseball managers grumbled about it

(21:29):
like moneyball, you know the Art Howe moment with Brad
pitt right, in basketball, the analytics punish often the Trey Young,
the Jalen Brown, not the baseball manager. The first time
I heard about analytics, a good player in analytics was
Monte Ellis for the war for the Warriors, who people
just in it. I wasn't even like paying attention, but

(21:51):
I remember high usage rate, didn't do much of the
defensive end, didn't necessarily elevate teammates. And so the point
being is, so now you're seeing players get a little
like the Jalen Brown story is really an analytically behold enfranchise.
Nobody's more formulaic than the Boston Celtics, and Brown's a

(22:11):
bad analytics player. So in the departments of the Celtics,
so the coaching staff asks about Jalen Brown and they're like,
and he doesn't really he pushes back in analytics. The
analytic department with the Celtics is like, yeah, move him.
Tatum's camp, according to stories, is not close to it,
and the ownership guys are He's really expensive. So if

(22:33):
somebody was going to get rid of me, there'd be
several departments at Fox you go to if all four
were like, eh, Coward doesn't work in analytics. He doesn't
get along with Nick Wright, you know, to be honest
with you, he's really expensive. And the boss at FS
one in him. He said he's not that coachable. So

(22:54):
the truth of the matter is analytics to baseball marginalized
most managers. What it's doing in the NBA now is
the Trey Young's and the Jalen Browns. We're conditioned to
think they score twenty eight, they're great, and the data
now says they don't work for a shoot quickly pass,

(23:15):
quickly offense. Yeah, I think that there's also you know.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
The the CBA and this it gets confusing. First apron,
second apron. You know, bird rights. People don't like talking
about it. But in baseball you do have some owners
that are willing to just kind of spend over it,
and if they're willing to pay the tax, they can
pay it. Basketball doesn't really operate that way. And so

(23:44):
Jalen Brown, I do think is a I think it's
been a little overstated. He is an excellent basketball player. Yes,
but if he was making forty million, everybody would want him.
But because he's going to make fifty five million, people
are like, eh, we can we can replace that production
in a different way.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
So I think it is.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
It is like, yes, analytically driven, but it's also analytically
driven relative to the cap, Like that's how you have
to look at it, Like can we get ninety percent
of the production for seventy percent of the cost and right,
which is business? And I think that that is And
then you add in the personality stuff with him and

(24:23):
Tatum and all of it that you go in that
direction and listen, Brad Stevens. I've said it before, I
will say it again. For my book Pipeline to the Pros,
we talked to dozens of coaches and executives in the NBA.
He is maybe, other than theo Epstein, the smartest person
I've ever talked to in sports media, coach, player, executive.

(24:48):
He didn't like get the wool pulled over his eyes
on this one, right, like he got fleeced.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
No, he didn't, like I don't.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
I have not spoken to him about this. I haven't
spoken to him since the book. He's not that kind
of guy. But like it is a he didn't get fleeced,
And so I actually came out of this trade thinking
they actually weren't close to getting you, honest, Like I
don't like I think that the Bucks used that as
leverage with Miami to get as much out of that

(25:17):
deal as they could have possibly wanted. Like, I don't
think the league viewed Jalen Brown at that contract as
a supremely valuable basketball talent. And it is fascinating because
it might be the biggest disconnect Colin that I can
remember in basketball between media and eye test and watching
the games and analytics and understanding of the money, because

(25:40):
the media just voted him sixth per MVP. If you
would have said to me a month ago top ten
two way players in basketball, I think Jalen Brown would
have been on my list, just like removing money from it. Well,
and now he's traded for Paul George and a couple

(26:01):
of picks. Is it is a crazy story to wrap
your head around.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Well, Joel Embiid one MVP, I would argue pushback that
he didn't even fit with the Olympic team when you
put him with winning great players, most of analytically superior,
Embiid didn't really fit, like so Embiid's the classic. I mean,
I don't know what his analytics are. Paul George is
a very good analytic player. I think what's happened with
the second Apron is everybody chooses one player in Denver,

(26:29):
it's Jokic, and then what you do is build to
support his weaknesses. Jokic wasn't a good defensive player. Let's
get Aaron Gordon from Orlando Athletic springy. Now Gordon has
sorted do age and have injuries. They probably stuck with
Jamal Murray a little longer who's not super athletic, but
they they're like they fit like a glove, right. And
then in Boston they made a decision. They're like, Okay,

(26:51):
we're gonna go with one of these guys going forward.
We can get out of the Paul George contract sooner.
And he's also not going to get an extension. We're
not going to get into those talks. And the be
truth is, if you have to put it next to
each other, we're into analytics. Tatum is better analytically, the
coaches feel more strongly about him. We win when a
usage rate is here with Tatum and Brown is struggling.

(27:14):
You know, he can be a dribble the air out
of the ballplayer at times and you can't get that
usage rate. According to the Celtic staff, I mean you're
seeing stuff now. This is why it's coming out. It's
leaking the Celtic staff saying, here's the usage rate. We
win ninety percent of the times. When Tatum has thirty
three percent usage rate, we struggle to get there when
Brown's on the floor with him. It really comes down

(27:35):
to this organization is more formulaic than any and they
had to make a choice, and they chose the guy
they probably liked a little more. They felt what it
was more willing to listen to coaching, and that analytically
was superior. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yes, So I need to be very clear. I am
not shocks that they traded Jalen Brown. The thing that
is still hard for me to wrap my head around
is that you could only get Paul George and a
couple of picks for him. Like that's the part that
like I would have thought you could have gotten more
for teams that didn't have a guy like Jason Tatum
that has some redundancies with Jalen Brown, like that that's

(28:11):
the thing, Like he did just be the He was
just the best player on a team that won fifty
plus games when Tatum missed the whole year.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
He is a finals MVP.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
He does we were talking about polistic, Like he does
play like you know what I mean, Like he doesn't
sit games, he doesn't get hurt, he is tough, he
does give you effort on defense, like all of those things.
Like I just I still am surprised that you weren't
able to get more for Jalen Brown. But I think
because of the Apron and the money and all of it.

(28:40):
More teams are going in that direction. And just to
bring in another story, like I wouldn't love giving Donovan
Mitchell the contract that the Cavs just gave him.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Guy who has.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
Had inconsistent playoff performances, guy who hasn't one big, guy
who is undersized, guy who has had some injuries, and
you're gonna pay him all of that money, you know,
into his thirties as an undersized guard.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
I wouldn't love it.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
But my guess is they're like, what other top ten
player are we going to be able to get? Free
agency is basically dead. Maybe we'll trade this contract in
the future, but like we are in the Donovan Mitchell
business because we have no other path.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
You have to keep our own. That's right, that's right,
And Harden is not a guy you want to do
that with. Mobley is probably not a guy you're gonna
pay that. Whereas the Celtics fault we got two of them, Yeah, right,
we have, and so we're gonna move the guy that
the staff decides. I mean you can tell from leaks, Yeah,
you can tell what gets out how people felt about him,

(29:44):
Like you can tell coach ability. You know, I was
thinking about this the I was thinking about this last
night because, as I said, I got into bed at seven,
so I did time. It took me a while to
fall asleep that I thought. You know, I was in
Local for fourteen, ESPN for a decade, Fox for a day.
I own my own company now, so I've I've seen
a lot of this stuff where corporations all the time.

(30:06):
I've seen it a lot, not on air people, but upstairs,
like when talented people leave and the CEO of a company,
whether it was a local, TV, Fox, ESPN or even
at the volume when you move off productive people. And
it does come down to some of the stuff that
you've read leaked with Jalen Brown, Like I was reading

(30:27):
this stuff and it just it kind of jarred memories.
I thought, you know, I sometimes, first of all, companies
make mistakes and let the wrong person go.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
That could be, that could be the case case in
point Colin Coward, whatever the record, but that that is
that is out there.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
They're like, where was a mistake. That's nice? Well, ESPN
also let go of Mike Tarico, and I should say
NBC bought in. But when that happened, I remember calling
one of the top three people at ESPN. I'm like, you,
let who going to be who's your lead voice at
the company. But I don't understand what you're doing. Like

(31:04):
the NBC came in and you know, paid him a lot,
but it was like there are times companies I think,
in my opinion, make mistakes. Of course, so that that's
if Tatum gets hurt again, you're like, yeah, you made
a big mistake. Secondly, it usually comes down to these
are the discussions you hear. Remember when NBC had to
pick between Letterman and Leno. Bill Carter wrote about this

(31:26):
at the time of The New York Times. Is that
Robert Wright ran ge who owned NBC, and he comes
in the air conditioning's broke the meetings in Florida. He
walks into the room. It's a great movie, it's a
great book by Bill Carter, and he asks who's easier
to work with? Leonardman or Leno. Everybody's like that Leno.
Everybody I'm Jayleno right, Like, like Leno won the room.

(31:47):
He'd gone to NBC affiliates. I even saw him in
Vegas when I was at an NBC affiliate. Leno played
the affiliates he played to the advertisers, and the question
was who's easier to deal with? There are According to
certain reports out now, they give people felt like, you know,
the staff worked with Tatum more easily than Jalen Broun.

(32:08):
I've seen that happen twenty times in my career. That that,
and and and again, companies make mistakes. If Tatum gets
hurt again, they made a mistake. But it's sometimes it
is just yeah, the staff likes him, listens a little better,
you know, whatever it is. And so I kind of

(32:29):
feel like the stories I'm reading coming out is the
staff chose Tatum, they like Tatum.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
Yeah, and Tatum is a Tatum is awesome. Tatatum is
an awesome.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Better jump shooter, higher ceiling, more fluid. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
And they're like, we won what it was it, fifty
six game? We won fifty six games with Jalen Brown
doing it, and now we'll just have Tatum do it,
and we're going to reallocate that and like they're not
going to be the same team. They'll they'll have Paul George, Okay, fine,
they'll have Mike Conley, okay fine, But they also added
Mitchell Robinson, like one of the best offensive, rebounders, defense.

(33:06):
Like the whole thing was we need to change our
you know, our our identity and who we are and
be more diversified and you know, not do the same
thing all the time. Well, Mitchell Robinson is going to
make the Celtics look really different next year, Like they
should have a fully healthy Tatum, a better backup point guard,
and one of the best rebounders in the entire sport.
Like They're probably going to win fifty four games next

(33:28):
year and be a real threat in the Eastern Conference.
So I'm not like predicting the demise of the Celtics
over this at all.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I just I did this on the show.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
But like when it was like Jalen Brown's clearly going
to get traded, I did some mock trades, you know,
and I just put them in the trade machine, had
some fun for thirty minutes, came up with something that
I liked and put him out there. And it was
like Jabari Smith, Kevin Durant and a couple of draft
picks to Houston, And it was like Kawhi Leonard and
a couple of first round picks and send him to

(33:59):
the Clippers, and like, send him to Atlanta and give them,
you know, Nikhil Alexander Walker and Kamenga and Risha Chet
and some picks. And if you go and you look
at the comments from people with Celtic clovers.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
You're an idiot. You don't know ball like that.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
That's that's fifty cents on the dollar.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
And then they all hated the Paul George trade and
I was offering way more for Jalen Brown than they got. Like,
so I think again, Like the surprising thing is Brad
Stevens does not appear to be an outlier and how
he views Jalen Brown, like the market says, Jalen Brown
is nowhere near the sixth best player in basketball, And

(34:43):
I think that is what a lot of us, myself included, Like,
I really am still like recalibrating on like because I
like analytics, I like I like umbers, but I'm pretty
sure Jalen Brown is better than whatever calculation even with
his contract that people are are are telling me that
he's worth.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, I think we're all conditioned to think. You know,
I can remember the pushback I got for years saying
Carmelo Anthony's over right right, he won't take one step
back to take a three. He's going to age quickly
because he's not in great shape. He doesn't care about defense,
and in the end, that's right. Yeah, he aged quickly.

(35:25):
He wasn't a winning player. And I've said the same
thing about Luca. Anybody that's listened to me knows I
thought the Lakers won the trade. I said, if you'd
have thrown in Austin Reeves or given me four first
round picks instead of one, right, I would have slept
on it because my take was back to back years,
not in great shape. Increasingly, Hurt plays himself into shape

(35:49):
atrocious defensively. You have to build the right team around him,
Anthony Davis and Max Christy and a pick's not good
enough Anthony Davis, Max Christie, four first round picks and
Austin Reeves. I probably make that deal like so because Austin,
because I Austin Reeves. At that time, I didn't feel
about injuries was an issue. Yeah, So I guess my
whole point is I can remember getting a lot of

(36:12):
pushback initially on the Luca thing when I said, I
get the call on him, and I got a ton
on Carmelo. So we're conditioned to think twenty eight a game.
That's great. Now it's twenty eight a game. Are you
giving up twenty four on the other end? And are
you alienating teammates because you dribble the air out of
the ball?

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Listen, I think it's fascinating. And you just you mentioned Luca,
and I'm thinking about that team too. Like Austin Reeves
is an incredible offensive player and a great story, right,
the best undrafted player in terms of money made now
in the history of the NBA. Right, it's a great story.

(36:53):
I'm not sure that that's what I would want next
to Luca, but yes, you want shooting and spacing, no doubt.
But to me, next to Luca, you want plus defensive
players at every position, right, every you want you on
three in D guys like which I know the whole
league wants three and D guys, but like you want

(37:14):
like athletic wings next to Luca who can catch and
shoot the three, because he is going to dribble the
air out of the ball, like Austin Reeves will catch
and shoot it. But he's not a plus defensive player.
Walker Kessler is. Walker Kesler's really good. And I get
that Luca needs a center for the lobs and the
pick and roll game and all that. Like Walker Kessler move,
I understood completely, But you are now you have no

(37:36):
draft picks that you can trade, and two of your
three highest paid guys are minuses on the defensive end
of the floor.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
I would be very I'm very, very.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Skeptical of what the ceiling is for the Lakers with
that as your construction around Luka.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Doncic, Okay, I want to end on this. I saw
this was this was interesting and it's a little myopic
because I love college football and a little provincial. But
the Big Twelve got some pushback because they signed a
deal with the Monster Energy drink. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
I saw this on Twitter. I gotta be honest. I
didn't even click the link because I wasn't one hundred
search sheriff. It's real, So fill me in on the details.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
Go ahead, So Jersey patches on teams, court logos, field
markings all over the Big Twelve. Did you see how
much it cost? Monster Energy? Wasn't only twenty million bucks?
That's it, twenty million dollars and they're gonna be on

(38:40):
all jerseys, all courts, all fields. I'm like the Big
Twelve like that that is. I mean, you should have
done it for the literally I thought the volume. Maybe
I would have needed a partner, but we could have

(39:00):
afforded that.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
Like to me, the whole take, I wasn't outraged because
they sold their soul. I'm outraged because that's I mean,
if you get a stadium naming rights deal for one stadium,
you'd be.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Like twenty million for ten years. I don't know. My
take is forget selling your soul.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
You gave it away. But how valuable is the Big
Twelve these days?

Speaker 2 (39:28):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
I mean it's a right. I mean everything has gone
Big ten sec top.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
But look how many times your Jersey's fields and courts
are on television.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Social I know, So what the Big Twelve? Yeah, I
get it. I mean you're at Allen Field House a
lot for KU basketball.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
I love some of these schools, but like what, maybe
Lubbock rings more true and relevant to me than you.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
I I don't know, where would you rank the Big
Twelve among conferences right now?

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Colin Big ten sec? Because Notre Dame in Miami are
surging in football acc Big Twelve's four.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
Big twelve is four.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
It's just you know, like there's just there's not a
football power in here, TCU. I don't know it's a
good basketball I also just it is it struck me
as low to to be one hundred percent clear. Also
it struck me as like a little little tacky like
forget like the patch on the jersey, like that that

(40:40):
ship is hip? But is it literally like the Monster
Energy Big Twelve Conference? Like do I have to say?
Do I have to say that every time I say
the Big twelve? Like is that welcome back to the
Monster Energy Big twelve Game of the week? Like is
that what this is going to be?

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Like that? Just I don't know. It makes my skin crawl.
Bit no, it does. I you know it. I remember
the first time I went to a movie theater and
there was an ad and I thought, all right, well
there's a rubicon we've crossed. I guess I'll just it's
like I thought that was well popcorn. I guess it.
You know, twelve movie reviews and an ad. I'll live

(41:19):
with it. So I know I've gotten used. You know,
you get you of course you get used to it.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
It's just I just I don't know where on the
court at the press conferences, on the jerseys I'm fine with.
But if the conference is the whole conference is sponsored
by the energy drink, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
I'm sure i'll I'm sure i'll watch Ku Arizona this year.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Let me throw one more thing at you.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Yeah, I didn't have much.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
So another story that a story that sort of exploded.
We can end on this. A story that sort of
exploded is who gets the next World Cups? And a
story came out that wants to combine Spanish language, English
language and combine the next two World Cups together in

(42:09):
one big, massive payment. And it's really interesting because obviously
Netflix came in and about the Women's World Cup, and
Fox has hit it out of the park. And this
is nothing against streamers, but I don't watch, don't. I
don't love streamers and sports right now. I don't love
I really don't. I think Amazon's gotten much better than Netflix,

(42:32):
but I don't love streamers and sports. There is something
I think the broadcast networks all do a better job.
It's what they've been doing forever. They understand the kitchen,
not just the front of the restaurant. The production's excellent.
There's a feel NFL, Major League Baseball, even when Baseball
goes from like Fox to like a cable network. Sometimes
I just don't feel it quite rings as true, It

(42:54):
doesn't feel as big. But it's interesting because the next
two World Cups, the time zones change, right, one of
them's in Saudi Arabia, meaning it probably ends once again
in the Lands in the football season, which is problematic
for any company, especially ESPN and Fox and NBC. Right, so,
I don't think NBC is going to be in it

(43:15):
because of what they spent for the NBA. They're not
going to be a better It'll be you know, Disney,
it'll be Fox, it'll be Netflix, that kind of stuff.
But I thought to myself, let me throw this analogy
at you. As great as the World Cup is and
has been, football's family. You wake up with it every day,

(43:37):
you go to bed every night with it. Football is family.
World Cups are like the cousin. Every four years, you
rent a lake house in July, you hang out for
four weeks. It is awesome. You love your cousins, but
then they go away. That if I had a choice,

(43:58):
I would take NFL, college football, Major League Baseball. That that,
Olympics and the World Cup. And I'm a much bigger
World Cup fan than the Olympics, but are if you
had to make a choice as a network president, there
is something about college and pro football and baseball and
even and even NBA, like it's family. It's in your

(44:20):
living room every day or eight ten months out of it.
One is a little bit the most awesome family member
you don't see regularly, but god do you miss them
and you can't wait for it and every time they
come here like that's the best month I've had in
four years. I would choose the family, the pro football

(44:41):
in the house every day over and it would be
a tough choice because I love the World Cup. Yeah,
but I do think I'd probably land on the on
the you know, the annual stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
I don't think not a network executive, I don't think
that that would be much of a debate for an
America and network executive think you would one hundred percent
choose the NFL. If the NFL is just like what
makes this whole thing go round. It's the most watched,
you know, telecats in America. Every year it's NFL all
the way. Now this year, obviously the World's Cup will

(45:14):
crack that code that or that list, but again it's
not every year, it's it's every four years.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
You know.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
The World Cup is an amazing event, and I think
if it landed on a streamer, it would be it'd
be a huge test for them and their ability to
do it. And my guess is the technology, you know,
it's just going to keep getting better and better and better.
Why I would think that a streamer would be like
a pretty good position to do it is there's not
a lot of like game overlap. Like what I don't

(45:44):
like when sports are on streamers is if I want
to change to another channel or another games, like I
got a log out of that app and then go
to my thing like whatever. But like for single standalone events,
I think that they would be fine with it. But yeah,
I mean if for an American just through that prism,
it's clearly behind the three that you mentioned, right, and

(46:05):
it's probably behind the NBA too, just in terms of
like volume of games, right, you want, you want, you want,
quantity of live sports rights for your for your partner,
I would think it would be behind all of them
for well. And then the fact that the time zones
of the game's air in the middle of the night
and the one in Saudi Arabia that would happen in

(46:26):
like October.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Like of course that makes it way less less valid.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Well, we even see now a day game and a
night game. The numbers are half like the reality is
the next two World Cups, the time zones all shift
and they're problematic for the American consumer.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
I I do love it, though, like I don't. I
don't want to add any like it's not my money
to spend. And I've really liked the career and like
I've loved being like I haven't gotten one ticket to
one game I haven't gone to, but like I just
I just like being a part of it, just like
talking about it and promoting it and having the countdown
clocks on the show and like feeling like it's a

(47:05):
big deal to the network. It's been it's been really
really fun and just from our business, we haven't had
to talk much NFL Top one hundred list yet, Like
it's been really nice to have like a thing in
the football off season that feels big and matters and
gets ratings and that people care about. I was asking
my boss the other day about, like how are the

(47:27):
ratings for these shows, and they're like they're good, like
really yeah, absolutely, I'm doing I'm doing full hours on
the World's Cup and everyone's like, yeah, rating was solid,
rating was strong, rating went up. I'm like, awesome, great,
let's keep it up.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
No. I think one of the things when you're a
talk show host that I think about a lot is
I never wanted to work at the NFL network. Nothing
against it, no interest. I want to talk about what
I want to talk about, and there are days I
want to talk about Otani and baseball. I mean their day.
I've said this before, their days nights. I will choose
a baseball playoff game over a Monday or a Thursday

(48:01):
night football game, Like I want to watch a big
NLCS ALCS World Series game. They're just they're just these
big brands and it feels really special. Nothing against Thursday
night football or Monday night football. But I will say
this is the most fun I've ever had in June.
I do think this felt different. And when the WNBA
and Caitlin Clark exploded for a year, it doesn't feel

(48:23):
as big now she was injured, but it gave me
like twelve segments that were really fascinating. And I've always
felt like I take big chunks of time off in
July and August. And the reason is because I feel
like I'm just making up topics and like this is
the only June in the last decade where like every

(48:46):
segment has felt worthwhile, like everything's authentic. I'm interested in
every topic. That's not to say that I don't love
the NFL. But in July Camp stories, I got I
got three hours to fill I got to fill it
with something.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yeah, I mean like I make it. I go back
and forth the producers all the time. They're like, you know,
this person said this about this NFL team, and I'm like,
I don't, I don't care. I love the NFL basically
more than anything, like outside of family, but.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Like I love it.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
But like this person said that Dak Prescott could throw
for five thousand yards this year. Do you want to
do a topic, I'm like, will Dak Brest, I'm like, no,
I don't like that's I'm much more interested. And I
get that the NFL is what drives the bus and
all of those things, and it rates the highest and
the most people care about it. Again, I'm all for
every morsel of like real NFL stuff, but not having

(49:39):
to conjure up NFL topics and you know, we'll start
in a couple of weeks, but we'll be you know,
camp will be opening soon, and like there'll there will
be real things to talk about, or at least like
like normal fake things to talk about, and the will
take some vacation and then football season will be here.
I would have the World Cup every year if I good,

(50:00):
it's been fantastic. Oh no, it's or something like the
World's Cup. You know, something like the World's cupanies like well,
because the Olympics, to your point, unless you get a
Simone Biles Michael Phelps like phenomenon type thing, it's really
just like it's so splintered that like, yeah, maybe we're

(50:23):
all rooting for team USA, but we're not all like
rooting for the same thing. Like there aren't there aren't
like big events within the World Cup that like drive
culture and conversation for three or four weeks.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
When you watch soccer crowds, it's a lot of young men,
it's a lot of sports fans. When you watch the Olympics,
it does very well with older women who aren't necessarily
watching to the level of younger men sports. It's a
lot of human interest stories. It's a lot of you know,
that's what that's what The Olympics has always been sports.
I don't care about people I don't know, but the

(50:56):
late Rue Norledge made me care about them. Well, I
know the United States men's national team because it's the
same guys that were in the last one. They're coming
back for the next one. And I like watching international
soccer because it's sports. Like, it's not lose, it's not
a device, it's the athletes.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Yeah, it's a team. It's a team game, you know.
And I always marvel at the Olympic broadcast. I'm always
like I don't care, I'm not interested, and then you
turn it on and within four minutes you're like, I
really hope the person in lane three wins, like like
they do an incredible job of like this is the
human interest story. This is why you should care, this
is their backstory, and the race starts like it is

(51:33):
an incredible broadcast.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
But I don't have.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Days, weeks, months of like attachment and build up to it.
It's literally just if I choose to turn on the television,
which is very different than these team sport events.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Yeah, the you know, I always I always kind of
push back because I think the Fox coverage has been great.
I pushed back a little bit when and you know
you'll see the kind of predictable print criticism. Well, it's
very jingoistic, it's very over the top. And my take is,
let's go watch next World Cup Brazilian coverage. I'm guessing

(52:14):
it's very pro Brazil. Like, guys, if you watch the
CB seed dur in the Olympics, if you watch NBC
during the Olympics, you wrap your arms around your country.
It's okay. Like I think the coverage. We have a
lot of international voices, a lot of British voices. But
I was really encouraged, Like I really like Carly Lloyd.

(52:35):
It's do hold an Alexi, like holding Polisic accountable. There
was no pandering, Like I felt that was really a
healthy dialogue.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Yeah, listen, obviously we both work for Fox, but like,
I think that it's been really compelling stuff like and
they got star power and they got people from other
net I mean Rebecca Rebecca low is awesome, Like like
I have never met her, never spoken to it. Really
she is a great studio host who clearly knows everything
that she's talking about. She's excellent, and so I just

(53:04):
I think it's been really good. The people on site.
I like the presentation of like a desk outside the
stadium and inside. I don't know, I can just like
in terms of like scene setters of the crowds going
crazy before they're let in, and then like when you
go into the stadium, Like I know you can't do
that for every NFL game because there's just so many

(53:27):
of them.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
But I do think they're like, let's put you if
it's like Okay.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Now I'm in Atlanta, now I'm in Kansas City, now
I'm in Seattle.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Like, I think it's been great.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Can I also defend American fans. I always read this, Oh,
the United States standing in Europe is not very good.
Right now, let me tell you something. American fans have
put their arms around Moroccan fans and British fans. We

(53:58):
have been really good hosts and they been amazing visitors.
Oh yeah, but they I mean, if I have to
read another story like Americans are not liked overseas, Listen,
we are good hosts. We love showing people a good time. Listen,
we're having a backyard barbecue. Come on over. We'll show

(54:18):
you what it tastes like. I think the visiting fans
have there's a certain amount of wonderment and just you
know our big box retail stores. And I also think
our fans have been great. You haven't seen there's no
stories about us throwing stuff for being idiots, which you
often see in our domestic sports. I think our fans

(54:39):
have been I mean, I've been like proud to be
an American. I love our fans and how they've treated
all the visibles.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
I think generally speaking that stuff is like on like
a geopolitical level, and then like when you get to
like a human being level, we're not that different. Everybody
just wants to like have a good time and have
healthy kids and you know, raise their famis in a
good situation. I live in New York, so I've been
around a ton of these World Cup fans. Like Norway

(55:05):
fans are a blast. Like I said, I was at
a Cubs Mets game hanging out a bunch of Norway fans.
They're rowing, they're drinking, they're having a good time, they're
asking about baseball, they're doing whatever. They're rowing through Times Square.
My wife's family is from Lawrence, Kansas, Uh where Ku
is and you know, they were the host for Algeria
and like they were doing like instead of Rock Chalk

(55:27):
Jayhawk Rock Rock Chalk Algeria the k you hey you banned,
like learned the Algerian national anthem and went to their
training complex and was playing it for them before practices.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
So it's just like yeah, small towns, big cities.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
And then the viral videos are hilarious, Like my I
think my favorite one is the guy who discovered Popeye's
and he's like he's like he's he's like, for six dollars,
you get three pieces of chicken and the biscuit and
the drink.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
He's like, this is an amazing place. It's just unbelievably warm.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
I'm like, this video has nine million views, It's just
have nine hundred million. I'm like, that's the greatest piece
of content I've ever seen. Uh And so yeah, I
think I think I got a human being level.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
It's it's it's all. It's great. You know, Danny, we
always talk about how divided we are and what will
bring us together, and once again, it's sports.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it Listen, there was a there
was a healthy amount of like you know, I don't.
I don't think with the Balligan decision, I don't think
we were tremendously popular amongst some European countries.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Let me tell you the var replay and in Egypt
right now is not going over right. That might be
the thing that brings us together the most. You ate
va R we ain't v a awesome We all can
hate it together.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Yeah, no, listen, man, Sports is a It's a great unifier,
right you there. There is something to going to a game,
something happening, big goal, big shot, touchdown, big save, whatever,
and high fiving a stranger. It is a great sense
of community thing like being at Wrigley the Cubs sitting

(57:11):
a home run and me turning around in high fiving
a random person. Is It's an endorphin rush of community
that I don't get in a ton of other areas
other than sports. I'm sure that people get it in
a different way, but like I do, really like love
that connection with people.

Speaker 2 (57:29):
Well, I thought we were watching history with MESSI. It
doesn't matter where you're from, you're watching it. You're going,
holy shit, Yeah, this is the greatest soccer player ever.
He's in our country. They're down like that. That moment
I think encapsulates this World Cup. Like I've said, Fox,
They've gotten some breaks. England's good, Argentina's good like Earling.

(57:53):
Holland is our grond, like USA, Mexico, Canada. We're all viable,
the stars scoring and Messi's the best player. You're like it.
We kind of got We checked a lot of boxes
for the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
Yeah, other than like one more game from America, if
we were going to get really greedy and then and
then other than that, it would have been. It's been
a perfect World Cup for Fox and for storylines. I
don't remember I told you this last time, or if
it was somewhere else where I made the point, but
it's this World's Cup has felt like NFL teams with
NBA stars, like the big brands are all winning and

(58:30):
performing and playing in good games, like Argentina's been in
a bunch of good games, Spain's been in good games,
England's been in good games. But they don't get upset,
Like they almost get upset, but then they advanced. We
get into like if Cape Verde would have beaten Argentina,
it would have been unbelievable. It would have been the
biggest upset in the history of the World Cup, but

(58:50):
we would have been robbed of more games of Messy.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
So it's like we get the best of both worlds.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
We get this, like like when the two when Cabral
scored the second goal for ver Day and he ran
into the stands to find his mom and his girlfriend,
and I was like, I don't know if he's coming back.
I was like, I was like, I think his head
exploded from him, because like how shocking that moment was.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
That is such a great moment.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
But then Argentina is going to play at least two
more games, and we get to keep going with Messy.
So it's been Imbape Holland Cain Messy. Obviously, it's been
It's been amazing. It's been an easy World's Cup to
fall for because the stars that you know have been
performing and the countries that you care about have been winning.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
And the games at the perfect times. Yeah, for the
United States consumer, and that's not what you're going to
get in the next two. So it's like, folks, put
your arms around it. The next one's not going to
get these numbers. Not everybody's going to stay up late.
I mean, I'm listening to British fans. The other day,
I listened to a British it was like a British
host or a British Oh was Ricky Gervais. It's like,

(59:56):
bloody hell, it stops at nine point thirty. I watched
the first half. I went to bed, and I'm like,
you're Ricky Gervaise. You don't go to a lug nut
factory at eight in the morning. You can watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Stay in nap, stay up and watch the game. Honestly, Like,
you know, if my kid and I don't like it
was so expensive, like I I didn't go to a game.
I kind of wish I did, but I couldn't justify it.
He's he's six. He won't remember it like I went
when I was eight and I have like flashpoint memories
of it. Like but if he's still really into it,

(01:00:26):
like I'll feel like I'll probably spend the money and
fly to Spain, you know, like it's because it is
a great thing and so like the next World's Cup.
I know the times won't be as ideal, but that's
not that Also six hour seven hours from New York,
it's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
And I went to Madrid this last month. I know
May late May, I went to Madrid with my son.
I will tell you I always thought London was my
favorite city. It was like a warm London.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
Madrid people spend is awesome. I love Spain.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
I best airport I've ever been to. Best food I've
ever had. It's California without some of the California stuff. Yeah,
Like it's it's that climate. There's there's shade and trees.
I went to the zoo. It feels like a combination
of like like it's San Diego esque, Like it feels

(01:01:22):
like San Diego but not much of a police presence.
Great public transportation. Nobody eats dinner till nine, you walk
home at eleven. Everybody's safe, coffee, wine everywhere. Octopus is unbelievable.
Go to Madrid, go to Spain. Hey, I'll tell you.
You could sell me on doing a week of shows
in Spain during the next World Cup if we had,

(01:01:43):
Oh Colin.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
I don't have that kind of juice, but if you
want to, if you want to, I will call, I will,
I will do the shows from yeah, you know, and
I'll buy the ball. You want to do Madrid, you
can dispatch me to Barcelona or Seville. I'll be fine.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
I'll bite that b it for you. If you need
to be in Madrid, so you'll you'll.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
You'll do that. You'll do the Sam Sebastian game, the
afternoon game.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
No problem, you get prime time. You're Colin Coward. Just
let me hang out in Barcelona and do do the
noon kicks. That's not a problem. Whatever you need, buddy,
I'm there for you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Danny, Daddy Parkin's good talking to man.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Feel better.