March 26, 2025 • 42 mins
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred joined The Herd to chat about Opening Day, possible rule changes, potential salary cap, and Shohei Ohtani’s impact on the game
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
There we go, our two.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Rob Manfred, Baseball's commissioner is going to show up here
in a couple of minutes. Been the commissioner now for
it was about decade. You know, it's interesting they have had.
Baseball is the only sport where the commissioner has to
deal with purists. I've said this before as a talk
radio host. If you're going to bring on like somebody
(00:50):
to talk baseball for thirty minutes, you will mention the
past a lot. I mean, there may be a cofacident
Frank Robinson and a Mickey Mantle, the great Yankee teams
brought up. Nobody talks football and brings up Redgrange or
Vince Lombardi. Nobody talks NBA munch and brings up you know,
Bill Walton and the Blazers. It's just different baseball. You
(01:12):
know baseball cards. We collected him. It's got There's been
more great books written about baseball's past and football and
basketball's past, and so it's steeped in lore and tradition.
And because of that, when you are a commissioner of baseball,
you deal with something no other commissioner deals with, which
is the purests. And so Rob Manfred's mate I was
(01:33):
looking at today. I was thinking about the changes. Got
rid of the defensive shift, universal DH, the pitch clock,
larger bases, ghost runners like that. He has made a
lot of changes. And here's the thing. Arguably they've all worked,
and some of them stupendously overnight, like the pitch clock.
(01:54):
They put that. I told a story years ago. I
was sitting I was flying back from the East Coast
to the West coast, and I was sitting next to
the general manager of I think it was the Richmond
minor league team.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Nice guy.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
We start talking baseball and I used to work for
a minor league baseball team, and we were talking about
the pitch clock. They were using it in the minor leagues,
and I said, how do you think it'll play? You know,
these baseball big league guys can get stubborn, and he said,
not only he goes, it's shaving twenty minutes off minor
league baseball. He goes the GM said, I think it'll
shave thirty minutes off major league baseball. You know, you
(02:30):
got better pitchers, you know more strikes. Game will move faster,
and it has. And I the first year ratings went
up ten percent, so did attendance. And then last year
it was the best year in postseason baseball in a
long time. And sometimes leagues are also very lucky. The
NBA got very lucky that Jimmy Butler ended up with
the Warriors and Luca went to the Lakers because they
(02:51):
were in a ten year slide in the ratings, and
that's really helped. But what has helped baseball is though
Tawny going to the Dodgers from the Angels, Bryce Harper
Phillies the big story, and actually Luis Soto staying in
New York but going to the Mets actually now makes
him a polarizing player. Yankee won Soto, excuse me. So
a lot of things have worked. The Cubs just had
(03:11):
a big off season acquisition, so there's a lot of
things working for baseball that have not worked. In previous years.
It's fast, it's international. O Tani's the biggest star in LA.
The second biggest star is Aaron Judges in New York,
and the third biggest star is Bryce Harper, and he
is in Philadelphia. If these guys were planning in Kansas
City and Pittsburgh and Seattle, it wouldn't feel the thing.
(03:34):
So sometimes you just get lucky as a commissioner and
lucky as a league. But a lot of what baseball's done,
and I've said the last two years I just watch
more games, is they have instituted progressive measures to make
it better and it's working. And there was always a
saying years ago that the NBA will think of it first,
baseball will make the most money on it, and football
(03:54):
will get it right in terms of changes. But baseball,
which is always been flushed with cash, has gotten it
right and they've tried. That's the advantage of the minor
league system, right. Basketball. NBA doesn't own no ownership, they
don't have me leverage with college basketball, and NFL can't
tell college football what to do. But baseball's got more
(04:16):
influenced with minor league baseball, so they can test stuff
out at the single, double or triple a level and
see if it works, is even it doesn't work, and
enlarge the basis pitch clock and now the one thing
all pushed back on the they're thinking of, you know,
the struck ball and strike count replay on that. I
(04:37):
don't know if I love that. Everybody on the staff
thinks it's quick, it works. I'll tell you about replay.
I like it, but I think the minute you get replay,
it gets extended. It's like when you introduce technology to society,
it's not going backwards. If you introduce something, we'll monetize
it as a society, we'll capitalize on it, and it'll
never go backwards. And so I think sometimes with technology
(04:59):
and sport, once you introduce replay to a sport, it'll
just get expanded. And I've always had a theory about
the NFL. When it comes to inst replay, you get
two looks, that's it. No third it shuts down. If
you can't tell if the ref's got it right After
two looks, it's over. We're not gonna go micro film
with the library on nine looks. I'm not doing that
(05:20):
with that. Rob Manfred comes in currently in his third
term as the Major League Baseball commissioner.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And his sport now is rolling.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
It is Hummin' baby, The Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets,
the Podres. You know, years ago I had you on
and we talked about some of the concerns with baseball.
All these years later, you have solved many of the riddles.
But I just said, being a baseball commissioner is different
because there's been so many great books on baseball, and
the history is much richer than the NFL or the NBA.
(05:49):
We talk about Sandy, Kofax and Mantle. You do deal
with baseball purists, and Goodell doesn't. He didn't deal with
a lot of football purists. Has it made these moves
sometimes a little more difficult to make that you kind
of have a battle with all of them.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Look, our history and tradition is, you know, great, it's
good for the sport, is part of our popularity, but
it does make change more difficult. I think the key
for us has been to listen to our fans, our
current fans, and make changes that's consonant, you know, consistent
with what they're saying about the game.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, are you surprised Angels to the Dodgers are you
surprised by the global impact and the merchandising impact and
the ratings impact immediately.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
With Shoe Heeo Tani, Yeah, I must have been.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
I was a little surprised.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I mean, he's been a great player since he entered
the league, but the shift from the Angels to the
Dodgers has really been explosive. I mean, he had a great,
great year last year. They had added to it, and
I think the fact that the Dodgers won was really important,
but it has exploded. I was just in Japan for
(07:11):
the Opener. The level of interest and excitement their column
just absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I said this.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I pushed back yesterday Jeff Passen, who had a comment.
He was on a podcast and he said, listen the
sports humming, don't screw with it. He got a lot
of people saying, oh, we can't compete, and I laughed
because the Brewers and the Guardians and Kansas City and
Cleveland made the playoffs and those are not high payroll teams.
There is this narrative the minute the Yankees and Dodgers
(07:39):
make the World Series, everybody.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Goes whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, this is way too much.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And my take is you guys haven't had a repeat
champion in forever.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
But you do have to fight that a little, do
you not that?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Oh, here comes the Dodger Yankee money machine.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You have to battle that, don't you.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Yeah, there's no question, Colin, that is a perception of,
you know, competitive imbalance, if you'll let me use that phrase,
that it's much tougher for our smaller market teams to
compete the disparity of resources available to the clubs.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
It is very significant and you know, fans feeling.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's obviously not hurting that much because you've had so many.
I mean, the Royals won a recent World Series, the Rangers,
the Nationals won a recent World Series. Uh, the NBA
has made changes through the years. They want to keep
their stars in markets.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
They don't want to bouncing around.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
And I push back to Adam Silver, I said, Adam,
he was on the show a month ago.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I said, trades are great. I get excited.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I wanted to see O Tani with a new I
wanted to see Freddie Freeman with a new team. What
is your take as a commissioner on player movement, even
if they go to a stacked roster, does it bother
you if you get sort of an all Star team
in LA No.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Look, I mean, I think it's important for every team,
you know, consistent with their resources, to go out there
and try to put the best team they possibly can.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
On the field for the benefit of their fans.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
You know. Obviously, in terms of building a fan base,
there's an advantage to continuity of players being in a market.
You know, fans get attached to a particular player. That's
one side of the coin. The other side of the
coin is an off season where players move around via
trader free agency. Creates a lot of excitement and can
create hope in a market where it didn't exist before.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So people talk about parody, and I say, Baseball's fine
with parody. Here's the lack of parody that I see
pitcher to hitter is that the speed of pitches has
gone up two miles an hour over fifteen years. There
are more six foot six guys throwing ninety nine miles
an hour. And it's just the I can remember. I
tell the story all the time when I was a
kid fell in love with baseball in the seventies. If
(09:56):
you threw ninety four or five miles an hour, you
were a flame throw Nohen Ryan was like a Martian
one hundred.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Everybody's throwing ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Now the sport historically has moved the mound up and
down the Bob Gibson era. Should that be another change that? Hey,
the batters, even though you have more base runners, they're
more stone bases. The batters sometimes do feel rob overwhelmed.
Would you consider a slight movement of the mound?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Look, I think that the dominance of our pitching, and
you know nothing against great pitchers. We do have very,
very dominant pitching right now. It's a combination of bigger,
better athletes throwing harder, frankly, moving pitchers in and out
of the game more frequently. And it is a trend
(10:49):
that we pay a lot of attention to because balls
in play, bass hits are kind of the core of
the action that's so important to fans.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, people, the hues and the cries of a salary
cap make their way to the internet. Now you have
a very strong players union, so good good luck with
a salary cap in baseball. But if it got to
a point where with deferred payments, the big markets, the
Guardians didn't make it, and Detroit didn't make it and
(11:19):
Milwaukee did, and you got over the next five years,
you felt like, wow, Commissioner, it's a little out of balance.
Salary cap. Is it even realistic?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
In baseball?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Well, let me say a couple of things. You know,
you mentioned Detroit and Cleveland. They did a great job
last year. I think that it's important for our smaller
markets to do something more than qualified for the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Right, there's a difference.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Between getting into to the first round and going deeper
in the playoffs. So you know, the fact that they
got there doesn't really resolve the issue in my mind.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Look about say every Cats, I'd say this.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
You know, there are five major North American sports count
and soccer, four of them have a cap.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
We don't. We do.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Hear a lot about it from fans, particularly in smaller markets,
but the reality is we're, you know, two years away
from the end of the basic agreement.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
We're just not in a.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Position where we are talking about or have made decisions
about what's ahead in the next round of argaining. I
think that, you know, a lot of water is going
to go over the dam before we need to deal
with that issue.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So I have been in favor of all the changes,
especially the pitch clock and the defensive shift. I wanted
more base runners, I wanted more doubles landing, I wanted
more stolen bases, and it's all transpired.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I will push back. So my theory on all replay.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Is the minute you introduce it into any sport, it
grows and it slows the game down. And I think
your game now is faster, more succinct, and I think
it's a better sport to watch. So you guys are
doing something where you can challenge a couple of times
a game. You can challenge strike calls. Here's my pushback
because I'm four changes. The strike zone is a living
breathing thing. The strike zone for Aaron Judge is big,
(13:18):
for Otani, it's big for all two ve it's small
for Mike Trout at small.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
So it's it's kind of a living breath.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It's not like it's not like the first down marker, right, Like,
here's what you got to get it moves. Is there
an argument that you've done so much to speed the
game up that if you put it in it's going
to create length and time and restraints And listen, the
human factor's fine. We've made it this far with real umpires.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Look, let's start with your last thought. All the conversation
about the automated ball strike system should not secure the
fact that our umpires do a phenomenal an old job
calling balls and strikes. I would say this, the system
adjusts to the differences that you're talking about. In terms
(14:10):
of size, the strike zone that it calls is different
for Aaron Judge than it is for jose L Tuvey.
And in terms of time, you know, during this spring
training experiment, and this is one of the reasons we
do experiments. Challenges add you know, slightly more than ten
seconds to the game time, so it is a very
(14:33):
fast system.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
The Empire gets to call in his ear almost immediately,
so you know.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
We are cognizant of doing something that would slow the
game down after we've worked so hard to speed it up.
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Finally, Commissioner Rob Man, for joining us for a radio audience,
is that I always say that I appreciate analytics. Moneyball
is my all time favorite movie. I love Moneyball. Miracle
on Ice with Herb Brooks is my second favorite, but
money Bay. I just watched Moneyball a month ago. I
love it and I love analytics. But I prefer analytics.
(15:09):
Where you use analytics, but in the big games, I
want Aaron Judge at the player show. Hey, I just
go get a hit, go make a play. Math doesn't
make great television. How do you weigh that when you
think of things that analytics make us smarter? But I
pushed back on Adam Silver, I said, you guys are
shooting too many threes. It's really repetitive, sometimes hard to watch.
(15:33):
How do you weigh in on analytics and TV and
all those components.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Yeah, Look, I think that one of the big motivations
for the set of rule changes that we did two
years ago was we felt that analytics had changed the
game in a way that was not positive in terms
of the entertainment value of the sport. And I think
it's incumbent upon the Commissioner's office, our commissioner's office to
(16:03):
think about what's happening as a result of the application
of analytics to the sport.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
And be smart enough to come up with rule changes that.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Prevent the analytics from robbing fans of the entertainment that's
so important in sport.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I got to ask you one more thing. The golden
it bat I love the idea again. I know the
purists are not gonna like it. I like it because
to me, it gets a rock star in a big
spot to the plate. And by the way, if I
know a manager can bring up Bryce Harper again, and
here's the bottom of a lineup, I'm gonna watch television.
I'm not gonna go okay, seven eight, nine hitters, it's over.
(16:44):
I get Bryce Harper or Otani or Aaron Judge. That
one's gonna be a hard push commissioner. That's not gonna
be easy. Do you believe how long will that fight be?
And will you experiment with it?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Look, I answered a question in an interview about something
that an idea that had been thrown out in an
owner's meeting that you know, had not gotten a lot
of attention.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
The answer I gave was about the golden at bat rule.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I think people have jumped to the conclusion that, you know,
somehow that rule changes right around the corner.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
If if there's ever going to be.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Serious conversation about the golden att bat rule, it's going
to have to start with experimentation at the minor league level,
probably years of experimentation, because it is one of those rules.
While it has the positives that you have identified. There
are complications that would flow from this rule in terms
(17:45):
of the play of the game, things like, you know,
I use the golden at bat to put Rob Manfred up.
He makes it out and then it's his natural place
in the lineup. That's next. Do we really want that happening?
The player that you want to put at the plate
is on base. You know, how does that substitution take place?
Speaker 5 (18:06):
You got to think through.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
All those things, and there are a lot of complications
with it. I think the best thing to save about
the golden ack bat rule is you've got it right.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
It's a long way away, if ever, from.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Being even considered well, whether it's the games in Tokyo,
the Field of Dreams, the rick Wood Field, all this stuff.
There are more events, ever than baseball. I thought the
London Games Phillies Mets was great. It got me to
a television and at some point that's the name of
the game that's driving thirty percent of revenue is the
TV rev So commissioner. I appreciate you stopping by. The
sport's in a great place and congratulations on making moves
(18:38):
that needed to be made.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Thank you, Colin and you know, stay tuned for Bristol
this year. It's going to be great.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
All right, thank you, Bob Manford.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, so the Golden at bat is the reason I
like it, and the reason I didn't like the defensive
shift was I want stars on the TV more. If
I get Bryce Harper in a big spot. If you
go later innings and it's like six, seven, eight hitters,
it kind of deflates it. Like unless you're a diehard fan.
If I know I can use another great batter, it's like, okay,
because that's what Joe's look up when you're down to
(19:08):
Ron late. Where are we in the order? Well, if
I can move the order once a game, that's the difference.
Like that's a real thing, because most teams outside of
the Dodgers get to the six hitter and you got
no stick. You know, it's you know, it's guys that
can move, they're fielders, but they can't hit.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Dodgers. Are you know a little bit of an outlier there?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
All right, Commissioner Rob Manford, Yeah, I am for replay,
But boy, I think sometimes in the NFL college football
can be brutal, Like guys.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Mark madness can be brutal. When they slow it down.
The final minute takes like seventeen minutes.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Oh whar's me out?
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And I also think the thing about replay is so
much of sports is momentum. You know, the Michael Jordan
against the Blazers. If you have a five minute break,
Michael's not hot, like, you are punishing players who have
found their zone basket ball players or football players.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
For instance, I'm banged up.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I could use four minutes an offensive lineman for a break.
It is an advantage to a team trailing. It's an
advantage to a road team where the crowd's going nuts
and there's a four minute replay and the crowd now
settles down instead of taking a time out.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
It is an unnatural timeout.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
I mean, you want to get it right, obviously, but
there's so many replays. The players are bigger, faster, stronger
than ever. Like, so much stuff is bang bang like.
It's really tough. There's no right answer.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And when people complain about it. I am not somebody
that bangs on officials. But when enever a basketball fan
says we're not getting to the line, I say, how
many threes did you shoot? If you shoot forty three
threes you're not initiating contact. By the way, before Jimmy Butler,
the Warriors didn't get to the free throw line because
they relied on pods and stuff to shoot threes.
Speaker 7 (20:53):
Live in LA It's the hurt one More Herd. The
Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a
week within the iHeart Radio search her to listen live
or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I think Jmax is gonna have one of my favorite
stories here, one of my favorite rants with one of
my favorite coaches, Tom Izzough. So let's not waste any time.
Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
No news, this is the Herd line news or stuff
right into it.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Your boy tom Izzo went off on the transfer portal,
which opened Monday to sweet sixteen is this weekend. Here's
Iso not happy about it.
Speaker 8 (21:31):
I don't run players off if you don't have spots,
why are you doing that? So I can get somebody better.
I can get a better girlfriend because the one I
got isn't good enough. Kids got to do what they
gotta do, and they're really not doing what they gotta do.
They're doing what their parents or their agents are telling
them to do because they still got to go to
practice going the same locker room unless they leave the team.
(21:54):
And I think that's insane. I think it's disgusting, But
you know that's my own personal opinion.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
What he's basically saying is, you're opening up the portal
before the season's over and I'm in the tournament.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Calipari talked about this. I got a team.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I'm not gonna spend one minute recruiting guys for my team.
If you want to go to another program, that program
may not be playing right now and we're still alive.
I totally agree with Calipari and Izzo. This is one
of the tweaks they need to have for the transfer portal,
at least, like wait till next weekend of the following week.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Right, the final four weekend makes some sense, Right, there's
only fourteen What.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Those like listen, man, I'm he said on this, He goes,
I'm not even sleeping, Like right now, everything I have
is about these players and giving them the greatest experience
of their lives. Most will not play in the NBA.
I'm not gonna get on the phone and worry about
some guy in Wakegan who wants to transfer from a
division to program.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I'm just not gonna do it.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
Yeah, it's there's Obviously, college basketball has some flaws and
they're going to be worked out. But yeah, let's move
on to the NBA. Colin Nick, my Knicks is the
nice win last night of your MAVs. Karl Anthony Townsend
Josh Hart made history being the first Knicks teammates to
record triple doubles in the same game. Now, this is
seven seventeen times in NBA history. Cat had twenty six,
(23:14):
twelve and eleven. Josh Hart just a stat sheet stuffer sixteen,
twelve and eleven. And our staff put together some notable
occurrences of teammates with triple doubles. Russell Westbrook on this
list several times. Lebron obviously let.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Me throw something.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I'm gonna throw something at you. So there is a
Yannis is a better player than Kat, no question. Yeah
Jannis right now? Is he a better player than Kevin Durant?
And before you answer that, so what the Knicks need
is more threes and more offense. If you went and
gave up Cat, Kat is a more diverse offensive player
(23:51):
than Yannis. He's better with the line, he can shoot
a jumper, he's got a mid range, he's got a three.
Yannis is a better athlete and the better player, and
a much better defender. But because we've been thinking for
years Yannis with Brunson, it doesn't solve the three issue.
And so my take is Durant to the Knicks keeping
Cat because Durant's a decent defender, decent that to me
(24:13):
makes more sense. Jannis doesn't have a jumper, so you're
still highly dependent from the perimeter on Michale Bridges and
Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
So it's interesting.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I do think there are teams Boston where Jannis is perfect.
They don't need I mean, they'll have, you know, they'll
they'll keep Tatum if they traded Jaden Jylen Brown and
Derek White and Drew Holliday can hit a jumper and
Pritchard can hit a jumper. But it's interesting when you
look at the Knicks, how do you how do you
solve it? I think Durant's perfect is he's a late
(24:46):
in the shot clock, catch and shoot three artists.
Speaker 9 (24:49):
So we like Towns.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Obviously as an offensive player, he will get picked on
in the playoffs to the point that they make Tids
are probably gonna put him on the bench in some
pivotal spots and you'll be like, what are we doing?
He can't guard anybody. Luca literally point give me Cat,
bring him over here. I mean, obviously Lakers can't play
the next week. You know what I'm saying this The
great teams will just go right at it.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Honest, doesn't really solve their issue. He you know, I mean,
he'll make them better defensively at the rim, but the
Knicks have a scoring issue. They can't keep up with Cleveland,
Boston or okasere probably the Lakers. That's why they're losing
these games. It's not effort, it's if they get worked
on the defensive end and they need another score. And
to me, Durant to the Knicks. And also you don't
(25:30):
have to give him a five to seven. You know,
your deal can be with Durant. He's you know, he's
the kind of guy that would probably negotiate something that
you know, he's always looking for an exit as well.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
He is, Yeah, Kevin Durant. Final story Colin is interesting
NFL theory here.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
So the Giants signed Russell Wilson and Jamis Winston, but
there are reports New York could still draft a quarterback.
Russell Wilson's contract is ten and a half million guaranteed.
Jamis is his only four million guaranteed. So Jamis's caphit
would not be that significant. If a guy they like,
go ahead and toss your Syracuse boy out here early
(26:07):
second round. Hey, let's go grab calm accord. Then you've
got four quarterbacks in the room. Russ Jamis, who's the.
Speaker 9 (26:14):
Guy they like?
Speaker 6 (26:14):
It that the third string to Vito, right, and then
this quarterback McCord you can move off Jamis. Four million
dollars is not that significant, right, So we're not going
to rule out the Giant drafting a quarterback, right, even
though the quarterback room is crowded currently.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
You know, it's really interesting to me, why not why
did Russell sign? Why not doing Aaron Rodgers? And wait,
why do you sign before the draft? Fifty nine quarterbacks
played last year? Isn't there a better if I I'm
just thinking what would I do if I was Rustler?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Aaron?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Why are you signing with a team that's bad already
has Jameis Winston and made draft a quarterback?
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Well, ten and a half million dollars guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Is not bad?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Now he has made a two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 9 (26:54):
Where's he getting Listen, hey, that life. He lives that lifestyle.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
And so you see an idea of him and his wife,
like you know, they're on.
Speaker 9 (27:00):
Private jets all the time. I think you gotta take
what you can get.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
And maybe the Giants loved him, remember he was their
first interview before last year.
Speaker 9 (27:07):
He ended up going to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
If you have one hundred million in the bank and
he's got more than that on the interest alone, you're
living on four or five million bucks a year, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
But sometimes you need to see the love, and he
hasn't gotten a lot of love lately. Seahawks kicked him
to the curb. Broncos did so the Steelers are like,
you're our guy, Boom, And now the Giants are like, hey, bro,
you could start for us. He's taken that in a heartbeat.
Is there another I'll go by my missing one?
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Well, it's just like I'm Kirk Cousins. Probably should have
waited till after the draft for Atlanta. Aaron Rodgers. What
if Pittsburgh drafts Jackson Dart, Nobody's gonna want to watch
old Aaron Rodgers they're gonna want.
Speaker 9 (27:47):
To beat out Dart though.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Right, Well, let me just tell you the most popular
guy for an average football team is the backup quarterback.
Nobody if Jackson Dart plays in the preseason and starts throwing,
because Jackson can sling it. All of a sudden, Aaron's
not showing up the camp and he's kind of a loop,
and he's not a Pittsburgh guy. A real quick two
game losing streak against Burrow and Lamar. People are gonna
(28:08):
want to see Jackson guard.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
That's Kirk Cousins in Atlanta where they drafted Petis. That's right,
and Cousins is sick and he started screwing up. Well,
we got Pettis on the bench.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So my take, I'm eron. Just think about you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I'm Aaron Rodgers. Why I want to I mean, at
this point, Aaron wants to control. Aaron's got minimum net
worth two fifty now, he's lived in New York in
LA so the taxes have eaten a lot of it,
and he's got agents. But let's say it's two hundred
and fifty million bucks. He's got real estate, he's got it.
Doesn't he have a hedge fund? Owns the but he's fine.
Don't you want control? You signed with Pittsburgh. They could
(28:39):
draft Jackson because that roster it does not have.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
A lot of needs.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
They need a running back in the mid rounds, a
left tackle somewhere.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
They're gonna draft the quarterback, so that if Steelers are
drafting a quarterback.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
Lends more credence to Rogers in San Francisco got longer.
Speaker 9 (28:55):
This brock pretty thing drags out, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Dyson, last year, fifty nine quarterbacks played the year before six?
What is the hurry to sign with the Steelers or Giants?
Speaker 6 (29:07):
Rogers to sanfran doesn't make sense. I wonder the rock
pretty hold up? We keep hearing nuggets, Oh, he's gonna
get sixty.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
He's gonna get fifty.
Speaker 9 (29:13):
Maybe he's not gonna get forty five, and there's no
deal done. What is Rogers the hold up there?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I'm Aaron Rodgers, and I have his net worth.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I am sitting in my Malibu house reading Greek mythology
or Roman mythology, and I am sitting there thinking, why
am I gonna go to a team that three weeks
later drafts Jalen Milroe and Jackson Dart And if I
struggle by Thanksgiving, they're benching me. I mean Kirk Cousins
(29:46):
post surgery. I mean when you watched Aaron last year,
he doesn't move like he used to. Now he is
a pocket guy. Well, what has Pittsburgh struggle to define
over the last seven years? A good offensive competent on line?
So I just, I'm just it's almost protective. I would
not sign with Pittsburgh. I don't get it. It's one
(30:07):
of those things that sounds bigger than it is.
Speaker 9 (30:10):
The Steelers brand is still strong.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Very big brand.
Speaker 9 (30:13):
My brand in the lid sounds big.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
It's a weird fit, especially for an old quarterback that
didn't want to get hit.
Speaker 6 (30:23):
Is it like IBM with technology still a big brand name?
Speaker 5 (30:26):
You know?
Speaker 3 (30:27):
But it's nine the Elegon Valley Company.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
No, no, no, it's way down yet.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Jmack with the news, Well.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
That's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd
Line news.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Apparently the odds have changed for the NFL draft. I'm
telling you, man, these people that aren't going to draft
Shduer Sanders, good luck with that seventy four percent completion
percentage in college. Running for your life, I don't know.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noonie st nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio App.
Speaker 10 (31:05):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together We're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 11 (31:10):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course, the iHeartRadio App.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 11 (31:19):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 10 (31:23):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 11 (31:32):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says something, right.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
So check us out.
Speaker 10 (31:38):
We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say, the most
interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 10 (31:47):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, and if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covino and
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
That's and Rich is back with.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
The UFL kickoff weekend starting Friday as Saint Louis takes
on Houston at eight pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Then Saturday it's San.
Speaker 6 (32:11):
Antonio versus Arlington at for eastern, all on Fox.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
You know, we were just talking during the break.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
I took all talks or in the tournament, so I
got fifteen to sixteen teams left. I just don't have
Saint John's. The best national championship for ratings to me
would be Duke against Michigan State, so you'd get the
biggest brand and the most popular basketball conference. I don't
buy into the madness is out of March madness and
the transfer portal has hurt mid majors, so what we
(32:40):
don't watch mid majors. Nobody's watching the Missouri Valley Conference.
TV is thirty to fifty percent of revenue for these sports.
That's where a majority of people watch it. If TV
is feeding you, if they're paying for the wedding, they
get a say in the seating chart, and they like,
that's why I defended North Carolina getting in. That's you know,
if we're not talking a top five seed, if you
(33:00):
ever talking at the bottom of the barrel, all right,
it's a coin flip West Virginia, North Carolina. I'd put
it in North Carolina. It's a bigger brand. It's not
like West Virginia had twenty eight wins and had a
gauntlet and they flew through it. You know, you put
yourself in a position to be argued over. Put Carolina
in and they won their playing game. So Nick Wright
(33:21):
talked about this yesterday, about all these upsets that everybody
says they love, but the ratings are truth serum, and
once you get upsets, the ratings go down.
Speaker 12 (33:31):
Do you want an amazing, exciting first weekend and then
a not so great second weekend or a chalky first
weekend and then what should be an unreal second weekend?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And that's what I feel we got.
Speaker 12 (33:47):
I understand that it's fun when there is a fifteen
seed or a fourteen seed that makes some noise, but
you kind of want that noise to crescendo with a
great round two law rather than them getting whacked in
the Sweet sixteen by a great team.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Think about it this way. A movie. There has never
been a great movie with a bad ending.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Ever, there have been average movies that you think are
great because of a great ending, usual suspects, great ending.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Great ending is a good movie.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
There's been good movies Castaways with a goofy ending, and
nobody talks about Castaways.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
We talk about usual Suspects.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Having all these upsets early is a great movie with
a lousy ending. This movie is gonna be It's okay.
It takes a while to get into it, like a
Netflix show. You know your every Netflix show, first episode
and a half is building characters and then all of
a sudden by the middle of the second episode, while
then third, fourth, fifth, great. That's what this tournament is.
(34:51):
It takes a while to get going. We don't have
a lot of upsets, but middle and end is gonna
be fantastic. It's gonna be Michigan State Dukes, Arizona's, Tennessee,
Auburn More NBA guys.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
It's better.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
So this idea that you want to start you all.
I just love the upsets. Ratings indicate you don't you
love you It's like in the moment Oh my god,
do you I can't believe what I just want. I've
said for years, the best thing that can happen is
Duke wins in overtime or Duke wins by one. You
want Duke winning, but you want them threatened. You want
(35:25):
the up to the eleven point hunderdog to literally take
him to overtime. That's great, But then I get Duke
in the next I don't get McNee state in the
next game.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
You don't want that.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
And the numbers are absolutely, inarguably clear, and there's nothing
against mid majors, but mid majors don't win March Madness. Now,
They're not going to win a second or third game,
which they don't very often anyway, as we all know.
So this idea that mid majors are done, No, they're not.
They were never winning four games in this tournament with regularity.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
You'd get one team every other year that would make
a nice run, sometimes Elite eight most of the time.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Not.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
So what if I've said this about the nil Ohio
State goes out and says we got three weaknesses. Let's
go buy a corner from Alabama, a right tackle from Missouri.
It makes the bigger brand, stronger. The problem what you
get in college football, Like think about Harvought Michigan. So
when he got to Michigan, they didn't have a transfer portal.
(36:24):
It took him like six years to get Michigan to
be like they could compete with anybody. It took Brian
Kelly like six years. Those are great coaches six years
to like, okay, we can go toe to toe with Georgia.
Now you go to a big brand year two, you
can compete. Mean, Lincoln Riley won eleven game first year
at USC, that's not what you couldn't be. Pete Carroll's
(36:47):
first year at USC there were six and six got
beatn a bowl game in Vegas. It took you years,
even if you're a great coach to Bill. I like
sports when you can the big brands and they make
stakes like everybody to hire the wrong coach. They lose kids,
they have injuries. When the big brands can get back
(37:07):
to speed faster, like right now, LSU feels broken, they
go out and il and they buy a quarterback out
of high school, huge money.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
They won't be broken, you know.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
So Michigan, by the way, last year, oh we're not
very good they don't have a huge rebuild. Now they
go out and get the number one quarterback in the country,
they go buy him for like five million bucks's that's
better for my eyes, that's better for television.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
So I need to ask a little personal here. But
you remember when your kids were in school, there was.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Back to school night.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
Right back to school night lines up with the Duke
game on Thursday night.
Speaker 9 (37:41):
My wife can't do it, Colin.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
I could go and watch the game on my phone
and act like a lunatic like I normally do, or
just blow it off.
Speaker 9 (37:49):
What's the call? You know, I'm loaded up on Duke
in the tournament, so I can't miss the game obviously.
What's the move?
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Well, I try to always make my wife happy, so
that's usually the move. I don't want to create resentment
in that dynamic, so whatever mom wants usually wins.
Speaker 9 (38:06):
So I don't ask for much.
Speaker 6 (38:07):
Okay, Fubo, I know I can watch it, but I'm
not gonna be listening to the teachers. I don't want
anybody talking to me while I'm watching Duke. If they're
in a close game late, you know, I'm already sweating
bullets like this is this is big and there's listen
to tournament is only a few.
Speaker 9 (38:21):
Weeks calling that's it. I know we can't reschedule back
to school night for like a Monday.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
I know, yeah, discipoint.
Speaker 9 (38:27):
I know you care deeply.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
What is your back to school night in in.
Speaker 9 (38:31):
It's it's middle schools, that's all it is.
Speaker 6 (38:33):
And it's like, you know, I got I'm on a
text shame with some dads are like what are we
doing here?
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Why?
Speaker 9 (38:38):
I was thinking of emailing the principle Like listen, I wouldn't.
I'm going to be a no show.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Sorry listen, but we were. You know, we're talking about
all this marks madness. But in the NBA, fans think,
do the leagues privately know that the NBA is better
if the Knicks face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference
Finals over the Pacers.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Of course they do.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
But leagues are not engineering it. I've got news for you.
If they think about this. If the NFL was engineering outcomes,
would the two most dysfunctional teams in Pro football be
the New York Giants and New York Jets? Would the
Green Bay Packers in Buffalo and Baltimore be amazing in
(39:23):
Kansas City? Right now in the NFL, all the small
markets are dominating and the big markets outside of the
Rams and Eagles are kind of garbage. I mean, So
this idea, like the NBA is engineering stuff. Nico Harrison
made a bad trade. Blame him not to commission.
Speaker 9 (39:40):
So let me ask you.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
You know, we saw Nuggets heat in the finals a
few years ago and like listen, Yoki versus Butler, great
ratings were awful.
Speaker 9 (39:48):
Awful, nobody watched.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
What if we get an OKC Cleveland Finals? Is that
appetizing to you? I know everybody loves SGA, the free
throw mergers.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Maybe I'll give you an example. This isn't a nonsense
that you get on Reddit boards. So the the idea,
like the Celtics are a big brand, right, yeah. Do
you know who shoots the second fewest free throws in
the NBA?
Speaker 9 (40:06):
I think it's okay, see.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
The Boston's House. Why would that be because they shoot
the most threes. So if the NBA really wanted to
engineer the Celtics in the finals, do you think they'd
be shooting the second fewest free throws in the Elite
By the way, the Warriors until Jimmy Butler got there,
never got to the free throw line because they lived
on threes. So this idea, what's gonna hurt Houston and
(40:32):
okay see, Houston shooting though though it's better than it
was early in the year, is hot and cold. And
Okase is really young and those player I can tell
you right now, Okayse's gonna lose in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
And they're gonna lose for two reasons.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
They're young, and young players do not young players and
role players do not perform consistently well on the road
in the playoffs. And okay See's got a lot of them,
very deep team. The second thing is you do not
get that James Harden SGA whistle as often in the postseason.
So you're getting used to SGA. I watched the moves
(41:08):
that last not against Sacramento. I'm like, oh, they get
in the whistle, you'll get it, but about twenty percent less.
And so I can tell you right now, Okac's gonna
complain about officiating, and I'm here to tell you, go
ask Karl Malone and James Harden.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
You do not get the whistle in the postseason.
Speaker 9 (41:26):
Okay See.
Speaker 6 (41:27):
Fans are gonna say they don't want us in the finals.
Speaker 9 (41:29):
They're not giving us the whistle. No, that's just how
playoff basketball.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
They didn't want Denver in the finals or San Antonio
for a decade. But great is great. So it's you know,
you hear that. It's like the baseball argument about, you know,
the lack of parody. Baseball's got actually really good parody.
Last year, I got the AFC division winners four for four.
Why because if you don't have a good quarterback, you
(41:54):
can't win your division in the AFC, so you want to.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
I don't know who's gonna win the divisions in baseball.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
The Dodgers will and theirs, but the Diamondbacks are excellent,
great batting order, So I know I can't pick.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Division winners in baseball either. Could Tom Berdnucci.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
You can pick him in the NFL and get five, right,
just based on quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
So what is parody? Our three next
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
There we go, our two.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Rob Manfred, Baseball's commissioner is going to show up here
in a couple of minutes. Been the commissioner now for
it was about decade. You know, it's interesting they have had.
Baseball is the only sport where the commissioner has to
deal with purists. I've said this before as a talk
radio host. If you're going to bring on like somebody
(00:50):
to talk baseball for thirty minutes, you will mention the
past a lot. I mean, there may be a cofacident
Frank Robinson and a Mickey Mantle, the great Yankee teams
brought up. Nobody talks football and brings up Redgrange or
Vince Lombardi. Nobody talks NBA munch and brings up you know,
Bill Walton and the Blazers. It's just different baseball. You
(01:12):
know baseball cards. We collected him. It's got There's been
more great books written about baseball's past and football and
basketball's past, and so it's steeped in lore and tradition.
And because of that, when you are a commissioner of baseball,
you deal with something no other commissioner deals with, which
is the purests. And so Rob Manfred's mate I was
(01:33):
looking at today. I was thinking about the changes. Got
rid of the defensive shift, universal DH, the pitch clock,
larger bases, ghost runners like that. He has made a
lot of changes. And here's the thing. Arguably they've all worked,
and some of them stupendously overnight, like the pitch clock.
(01:54):
They put that. I told a story years ago. I
was sitting I was flying back from the East Coast
to the West coast, and I was sitting next to
the general manager of I think it was the Richmond
minor league team.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Nice guy.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
We start talking baseball and I used to work for
a minor league baseball team, and we were talking about
the pitch clock. They were using it in the minor leagues,
and I said, how do you think it'll play? You know,
these baseball big league guys can get stubborn, and he said,
not only he goes, it's shaving twenty minutes off minor
league baseball. He goes the GM said, I think it'll
shave thirty minutes off major league baseball. You know, you
(02:30):
got better pitchers, you know more strikes. Game will move faster,
and it has. And I the first year ratings went
up ten percent, so did attendance. And then last year
it was the best year in postseason baseball in a
long time. And sometimes leagues are also very lucky. The
NBA got very lucky that Jimmy Butler ended up with
the Warriors and Luca went to the Lakers because they
(02:51):
were in a ten year slide in the ratings, and
that's really helped. But what has helped baseball is though
Tawny going to the Dodgers from the Angels, Bryce Harper
Phillies the big story, and actually Luis Soto staying in
New York but going to the Mets actually now makes
him a polarizing player. Yankee won Soto, excuse me. So
a lot of things have worked. The Cubs just had
(03:11):
a big off season acquisition, so there's a lot of
things working for baseball that have not worked. In previous years.
It's fast, it's international. O Tani's the biggest star in LA.
The second biggest star is Aaron Judges in New York,
and the third biggest star is Bryce Harper, and he
is in Philadelphia. If these guys were planning in Kansas
City and Pittsburgh and Seattle, it wouldn't feel the thing.
(03:34):
So sometimes you just get lucky as a commissioner and
lucky as a league. But a lot of what baseball's done,
and I've said the last two years I just watch
more games, is they have instituted progressive measures to make
it better and it's working. And there was always a
saying years ago that the NBA will think of it first,
baseball will make the most money on it, and football
(03:54):
will get it right in terms of changes. But baseball,
which is always been flushed with cash, has gotten it
right and they've tried. That's the advantage of the minor
league system, right. Basketball. NBA doesn't own no ownership, they
don't have me leverage with college basketball, and NFL can't
tell college football what to do. But baseball's got more
(04:16):
influenced with minor league baseball, so they can test stuff
out at the single, double or triple a level and
see if it works, is even it doesn't work, and
enlarge the basis pitch clock and now the one thing
all pushed back on the they're thinking of, you know,
the struck ball and strike count replay on that. I
(04:37):
don't know if I love that. Everybody on the staff
thinks it's quick, it works. I'll tell you about replay.
I like it, but I think the minute you get replay,
it gets extended. It's like when you introduce technology to society,
it's not going backwards. If you introduce something, we'll monetize
it as a society, we'll capitalize on it, and it'll
never go backwards. And so I think sometimes with technology
(04:59):
and sport, once you introduce replay to a sport, it'll
just get expanded. And I've always had a theory about
the NFL. When it comes to inst replay, you get
two looks, that's it. No third it shuts down. If
you can't tell if the ref's got it right After
two looks, it's over. We're not gonna go micro film
with the library on nine looks. I'm not doing that
(05:20):
with that. Rob Manfred comes in currently in his third
term as the Major League Baseball commissioner.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And his sport now is rolling.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
It is Hummin' baby, The Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets,
the Podres. You know, years ago I had you on
and we talked about some of the concerns with baseball.
All these years later, you have solved many of the riddles.
But I just said, being a baseball commissioner is different
because there's been so many great books on baseball, and
the history is much richer than the NFL or the NBA.
(05:49):
We talk about Sandy, Kofax and Mantle. You do deal
with baseball purists, and Goodell doesn't. He didn't deal with
a lot of football purists. Has it made these moves
sometimes a little more difficult to make that you kind
of have a battle with all of them.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Look, our history and tradition is, you know, great, it's
good for the sport, is part of our popularity, but
it does make change more difficult. I think the key
for us has been to listen to our fans, our
current fans, and make changes that's consonant, you know, consistent
with what they're saying about the game.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, are you surprised Angels to the Dodgers are you
surprised by the global impact and the merchandising impact and
the ratings impact immediately.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
With Shoe Heeo Tani, Yeah, I must have been.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
I was a little surprised.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I mean, he's been a great player since he entered
the league, but the shift from the Angels to the
Dodgers has really been explosive. I mean, he had a great,
great year last year. They had added to it, and
I think the fact that the Dodgers won was really important,
but it has exploded. I was just in Japan for
(07:11):
the Opener. The level of interest and excitement their column
just absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I said this.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I pushed back yesterday Jeff Passen, who had a comment.
He was on a podcast and he said, listen the
sports humming, don't screw with it. He got a lot
of people saying, oh, we can't compete, and I laughed
because the Brewers and the Guardians and Kansas City and
Cleveland made the playoffs and those are not high payroll teams.
There is this narrative the minute the Yankees and Dodgers
(07:39):
make the World Series, everybody.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Goes whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, this is way too much.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And my take is you guys haven't had a repeat
champion in forever.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
But you do have to fight that a little, do
you not that?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Oh, here comes the Dodger Yankee money machine.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You have to battle that, don't you.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Yeah, there's no question, Colin, that is a perception of,
you know, competitive imbalance, if you'll let me use that phrase,
that it's much tougher for our smaller market teams to
compete the disparity of resources available to the clubs.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
It is very significant and you know, fans feeling.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's obviously not hurting that much because you've had so many.
I mean, the Royals won a recent World Series, the Rangers,
the Nationals won a recent World Series. Uh, the NBA
has made changes through the years. They want to keep
their stars in markets.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
They don't want to bouncing around.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
And I push back to Adam Silver, I said, Adam,
he was on the show a month ago.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I said, trades are great. I get excited.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I wanted to see O Tani with a new I
wanted to see Freddie Freeman with a new team. What
is your take as a commissioner on player movement, even
if they go to a stacked roster, does it bother
you if you get sort of an all Star team
in LA No.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Look, I mean, I think it's important for every team,
you know, consistent with their resources, to go out there
and try to put the best team they possibly can.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
On the field for the benefit of their fans.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
You know. Obviously, in terms of building a fan base,
there's an advantage to continuity of players being in a market.
You know, fans get attached to a particular player. That's
one side of the coin. The other side of the
coin is an off season where players move around via
trader free agency. Creates a lot of excitement and can
create hope in a market where it didn't exist before.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So people talk about parody, and I say, Baseball's fine
with parody. Here's the lack of parody that I see
pitcher to hitter is that the speed of pitches has
gone up two miles an hour over fifteen years. There
are more six foot six guys throwing ninety nine miles
an hour. And it's just the I can remember. I
tell the story all the time when I was a
kid fell in love with baseball in the seventies. If
(09:56):
you threw ninety four or five miles an hour, you
were a flame throw Nohen Ryan was like a Martian
one hundred.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Everybody's throwing ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Now the sport historically has moved the mound up and
down the Bob Gibson era. Should that be another change that? Hey,
the batters, even though you have more base runners, they're
more stone bases. The batters sometimes do feel rob overwhelmed.
Would you consider a slight movement of the mound?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Look, I think that the dominance of our pitching, and
you know nothing against great pitchers. We do have very,
very dominant pitching right now. It's a combination of bigger,
better athletes throwing harder, frankly, moving pitchers in and out
of the game more frequently. And it is a trend
(10:49):
that we pay a lot of attention to because balls
in play, bass hits are kind of the core of
the action that's so important to fans.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, people, the hues and the cries of a salary
cap make their way to the internet. Now you have
a very strong players union, so good good luck with
a salary cap in baseball. But if it got to
a point where with deferred payments, the big markets, the
Guardians didn't make it, and Detroit didn't make it and
(11:19):
Milwaukee did, and you got over the next five years,
you felt like, wow, Commissioner, it's a little out of balance.
Salary cap. Is it even realistic?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
In baseball?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Well, let me say a couple of things. You know,
you mentioned Detroit and Cleveland. They did a great job
last year. I think that it's important for our smaller
markets to do something more than qualified for the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Right, there's a difference.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Between getting into to the first round and going deeper
in the playoffs. So you know, the fact that they
got there doesn't really resolve the issue in my mind.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Look about say every Cats, I'd say this.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
You know, there are five major North American sports count
and soccer, four of them have a cap.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
We don't. We do.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Hear a lot about it from fans, particularly in smaller markets,
but the reality is we're, you know, two years away
from the end of the basic agreement.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
We're just not in a.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Position where we are talking about or have made decisions
about what's ahead in the next round of argaining. I
think that, you know, a lot of water is going
to go over the dam before we need to deal
with that issue.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So I have been in favor of all the changes,
especially the pitch clock and the defensive shift. I wanted
more base runners, I wanted more doubles landing, I wanted
more stolen bases, and it's all transpired.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I will push back. So my theory on all replay.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Is the minute you introduce it into any sport, it
grows and it slows the game down. And I think
your game now is faster, more succinct, and I think
it's a better sport to watch. So you guys are
doing something where you can challenge a couple of times
a game. You can challenge strike calls. Here's my pushback
because I'm four changes. The strike zone is a living
breathing thing. The strike zone for Aaron Judge is big,
(13:18):
for Otani, it's big for all two ve it's small
for Mike Trout at small.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
So it's it's kind of a living breath.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It's not like it's not like the first down marker, right, Like,
here's what you got to get it moves. Is there
an argument that you've done so much to speed the
game up that if you put it in it's going
to create length and time and restraints And listen, the
human factor's fine. We've made it this far with real umpires.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Look, let's start with your last thought. All the conversation
about the automated ball strike system should not secure the
fact that our umpires do a phenomenal an old job
calling balls and strikes. I would say this, the system
adjusts to the differences that you're talking about. In terms
(14:10):
of size, the strike zone that it calls is different
for Aaron Judge than it is for jose L Tuvey.
And in terms of time, you know, during this spring
training experiment, and this is one of the reasons we
do experiments. Challenges add you know, slightly more than ten
seconds to the game time, so it is a very
(14:33):
fast system.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
The Empire gets to call in his ear almost immediately,
so you know.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
We are cognizant of doing something that would slow the
game down after we've worked so hard to speed it up.
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Finally, Commissioner Rob Man, for joining us for a radio audience,
is that I always say that I appreciate analytics. Moneyball
is my all time favorite movie. I love Moneyball. Miracle
on Ice with Herb Brooks is my second favorite, but
money Bay. I just watched Moneyball a month ago. I
love it and I love analytics. But I prefer analytics.
(15:09):
Where you use analytics, but in the big games, I
want Aaron Judge at the player show. Hey, I just
go get a hit, go make a play. Math doesn't
make great television. How do you weigh that when you
think of things that analytics make us smarter? But I
pushed back on Adam Silver, I said, you guys are
shooting too many threes. It's really repetitive, sometimes hard to watch.
(15:33):
How do you weigh in on analytics and TV and
all those components.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Yeah, Look, I think that one of the big motivations
for the set of rule changes that we did two
years ago was we felt that analytics had changed the
game in a way that was not positive in terms
of the entertainment value of the sport. And I think
it's incumbent upon the Commissioner's office, our commissioner's office to
(16:03):
think about what's happening as a result of the application
of analytics to the sport.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
And be smart enough to come up with rule changes that.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Prevent the analytics from robbing fans of the entertainment that's
so important in sport.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I got to ask you one more thing. The golden
it bat I love the idea again. I know the
purists are not gonna like it. I like it because
to me, it gets a rock star in a big
spot to the plate. And by the way, if I
know a manager can bring up Bryce Harper again, and
here's the bottom of a lineup, I'm gonna watch television.
I'm not gonna go okay, seven eight, nine hitters, it's over.
(16:44):
I get Bryce Harper or Otani or Aaron Judge. That
one's gonna be a hard push commissioner. That's not gonna
be easy. Do you believe how long will that fight be?
And will you experiment with it?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Look, I answered a question in an interview about something
that an idea that had been thrown out in an
owner's meeting that you know, had not gotten a lot
of attention.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
The answer I gave was about the golden at bat rule.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I think people have jumped to the conclusion that, you know,
somehow that rule changes right around the corner.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
If if there's ever going to be.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Serious conversation about the golden att bat rule, it's going
to have to start with experimentation at the minor league level,
probably years of experimentation, because it is one of those rules.
While it has the positives that you have identified. There
are complications that would flow from this rule in terms
(17:45):
of the play of the game, things like, you know,
I use the golden at bat to put Rob Manfred up.
He makes it out and then it's his natural place
in the lineup. That's next. Do we really want that happening?
The player that you want to put at the plate
is on base. You know, how does that substitution take place?
Speaker 5 (18:06):
You got to think through.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
All those things, and there are a lot of complications
with it. I think the best thing to save about
the golden ack bat rule is you've got it right.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
It's a long way away, if ever, from.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Being even considered well, whether it's the games in Tokyo,
the Field of Dreams, the rick Wood Field, all this stuff.
There are more events, ever than baseball. I thought the
London Games Phillies Mets was great. It got me to
a television and at some point that's the name of
the game that's driving thirty percent of revenue is the
TV rev So commissioner. I appreciate you stopping by. The
sport's in a great place and congratulations on making moves
(18:38):
that needed to be made.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Thank you, Colin and you know, stay tuned for Bristol
this year. It's going to be great.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
All right, thank you, Bob Manford.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, so the Golden at bat is the reason I
like it, and the reason I didn't like the defensive
shift was I want stars on the TV more. If
I get Bryce Harper in a big spot. If you
go later innings and it's like six, seven, eight hitters,
it kind of deflates it. Like unless you're a diehard fan.
If I know I can use another great batter, it's like, okay,
because that's what Joe's look up when you're down to
(19:08):
Ron late. Where are we in the order? Well, if
I can move the order once a game, that's the difference.
Like that's a real thing, because most teams outside of
the Dodgers get to the six hitter and you got
no stick. You know, it's you know, it's guys that
can move, they're fielders, but they can't hit.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Dodgers. Are you know a little bit of an outlier there?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
All right, Commissioner Rob Manford, Yeah, I am for replay,
But boy, I think sometimes in the NFL college football
can be brutal, Like guys.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Mark madness can be brutal. When they slow it down.
The final minute takes like seventeen minutes.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Oh whar's me out?
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And I also think the thing about replay is so
much of sports is momentum. You know, the Michael Jordan
against the Blazers. If you have a five minute break,
Michael's not hot, like, you are punishing players who have
found their zone basket ball players or football players.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
For instance, I'm banged up.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I could use four minutes an offensive lineman for a break.
It is an advantage to a team trailing. It's an
advantage to a road team where the crowd's going nuts
and there's a four minute replay and the crowd now
settles down instead of taking a time out.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
It is an unnatural timeout.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
I mean, you want to get it right, obviously, but
there's so many replays. The players are bigger, faster, stronger
than ever. Like, so much stuff is bang bang like.
It's really tough. There's no right answer.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And when people complain about it. I am not somebody
that bangs on officials. But when enever a basketball fan
says we're not getting to the line, I say, how
many threes did you shoot? If you shoot forty three
threes you're not initiating contact. By the way, before Jimmy Butler,
the Warriors didn't get to the free throw line because
they relied on pods and stuff to shoot threes.
Speaker 7 (20:53):
Live in LA It's the hurt one More Herd. The
Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a
week within the iHeart Radio search her to listen live
or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I think Jmax is gonna have one of my favorite
stories here, one of my favorite rants with one of
my favorite coaches, Tom Izzough. So let's not waste any time.
Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
No news, this is the Herd line news or stuff
right into it.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Your boy tom Izzo went off on the transfer portal,
which opened Monday to sweet sixteen is this weekend. Here's
Iso not happy about it.
Speaker 8 (21:31):
I don't run players off if you don't have spots,
why are you doing that? So I can get somebody better.
I can get a better girlfriend because the one I
got isn't good enough. Kids got to do what they
gotta do, and they're really not doing what they gotta do.
They're doing what their parents or their agents are telling
them to do because they still got to go to
practice going the same locker room unless they leave the team.
(21:54):
And I think that's insane. I think it's disgusting, But
you know that's my own personal opinion.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
What he's basically saying is, you're opening up the portal
before the season's over and I'm in the tournament.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Calipari talked about this. I got a team.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I'm not gonna spend one minute recruiting guys for my team.
If you want to go to another program, that program
may not be playing right now and we're still alive.
I totally agree with Calipari and Izzo. This is one
of the tweaks they need to have for the transfer portal,
at least, like wait till next weekend of the following week.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Right, the final four weekend makes some sense, Right, there's
only fourteen What.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Those like listen, man, I'm he said on this, He goes,
I'm not even sleeping, Like right now, everything I have
is about these players and giving them the greatest experience
of their lives. Most will not play in the NBA.
I'm not gonna get on the phone and worry about
some guy in Wakegan who wants to transfer from a
division to program.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I'm just not gonna do it.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
Yeah, it's there's Obviously, college basketball has some flaws and
they're going to be worked out. But yeah, let's move
on to the NBA. Colin Nick, my Knicks is the
nice win last night of your MAVs. Karl Anthony Townsend
Josh Hart made history being the first Knicks teammates to
record triple doubles in the same game. Now, this is
seven seventeen times in NBA history. Cat had twenty six,
(23:14):
twelve and eleven. Josh Hart just a stat sheet stuffer sixteen,
twelve and eleven. And our staff put together some notable
occurrences of teammates with triple doubles. Russell Westbrook on this
list several times. Lebron obviously let.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Me throw something.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I'm gonna throw something at you. So there is a
Yannis is a better player than Kat, no question. Yeah
Jannis right now? Is he a better player than Kevin Durant?
And before you answer that, so what the Knicks need
is more threes and more offense. If you went and
gave up Cat, Kat is a more diverse offensive player
(23:51):
than Yannis. He's better with the line, he can shoot
a jumper, he's got a mid range, he's got a three.
Yannis is a better athlete and the better player, and
a much better defender. But because we've been thinking for
years Yannis with Brunson, it doesn't solve the three issue.
And so my take is Durant to the Knicks keeping
Cat because Durant's a decent defender, decent that to me
(24:13):
makes more sense. Jannis doesn't have a jumper, so you're
still highly dependent from the perimeter on Michale Bridges and
Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
So it's interesting.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I do think there are teams Boston where Jannis is perfect.
They don't need I mean, they'll have, you know, they'll
they'll keep Tatum if they traded Jaden Jylen Brown and
Derek White and Drew Holliday can hit a jumper and
Pritchard can hit a jumper. But it's interesting when you
look at the Knicks, how do you how do you
solve it? I think Durant's perfect is he's a late
(24:46):
in the shot clock, catch and shoot three artists.
Speaker 9 (24:49):
So we like Towns.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Obviously as an offensive player, he will get picked on
in the playoffs to the point that they make Tids
are probably gonna put him on the bench in some
pivotal spots and you'll be like, what are we doing?
He can't guard anybody. Luca literally point give me Cat,
bring him over here. I mean, obviously Lakers can't play
the next week. You know what I'm saying this The
great teams will just go right at it.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Honest, doesn't really solve their issue. He you know, I mean,
he'll make them better defensively at the rim, but the
Knicks have a scoring issue. They can't keep up with Cleveland,
Boston or okasere probably the Lakers. That's why they're losing
these games. It's not effort, it's if they get worked
on the defensive end and they need another score. And
to me, Durant to the Knicks. And also you don't
(25:30):
have to give him a five to seven. You know,
your deal can be with Durant. He's you know, he's
the kind of guy that would probably negotiate something that
you know, he's always looking for an exit as well.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
He is, Yeah, Kevin Durant. Final story Colin is interesting
NFL theory here.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
So the Giants signed Russell Wilson and Jamis Winston, but
there are reports New York could still draft a quarterback.
Russell Wilson's contract is ten and a half million guaranteed.
Jamis is his only four million guaranteed. So Jamis's caphit
would not be that significant. If a guy they like,
go ahead and toss your Syracuse boy out here early
(26:07):
second round. Hey, let's go grab calm accord. Then you've
got four quarterbacks in the room. Russ Jamis, who's the.
Speaker 9 (26:14):
Guy they like?
Speaker 6 (26:14):
It that the third string to Vito, right, and then
this quarterback McCord you can move off Jamis. Four million
dollars is not that significant, right, So we're not going
to rule out the Giant drafting a quarterback, right, even
though the quarterback room is crowded currently.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
You know, it's really interesting to me, why not why
did Russell sign? Why not doing Aaron Rodgers? And wait,
why do you sign before the draft? Fifty nine quarterbacks
played last year? Isn't there a better if I I'm
just thinking what would I do if I was Rustler?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Aaron?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Why are you signing with a team that's bad already
has Jameis Winston and made draft a quarterback?
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Well, ten and a half million dollars guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Is not bad?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Now he has made a two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 9 (26:54):
Where's he getting Listen, hey, that life. He lives that lifestyle.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
And so you see an idea of him and his wife,
like you know, they're on.
Speaker 9 (27:00):
Private jets all the time. I think you gotta take
what you can get.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
And maybe the Giants loved him, remember he was their
first interview before last year.
Speaker 9 (27:07):
He ended up going to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
If you have one hundred million in the bank and
he's got more than that on the interest alone, you're
living on four or five million bucks a year, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
But sometimes you need to see the love, and he
hasn't gotten a lot of love lately. Seahawks kicked him
to the curb. Broncos did so the Steelers are like,
you're our guy, Boom, And now the Giants are like, hey, bro,
you could start for us. He's taken that in a heartbeat.
Is there another I'll go by my missing one?
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Well, it's just like I'm Kirk Cousins. Probably should have
waited till after the draft for Atlanta. Aaron Rodgers. What
if Pittsburgh drafts Jackson Dart, Nobody's gonna want to watch
old Aaron Rodgers they're gonna want.
Speaker 9 (27:47):
To beat out Dart though.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Right, Well, let me just tell you the most popular
guy for an average football team is the backup quarterback.
Nobody if Jackson Dart plays in the preseason and starts throwing,
because Jackson can sling it. All of a sudden, Aaron's
not showing up the camp and he's kind of a loop,
and he's not a Pittsburgh guy. A real quick two
game losing streak against Burrow and Lamar. People are gonna
(28:08):
want to see Jackson guard.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
That's Kirk Cousins in Atlanta where they drafted Petis. That's right,
and Cousins is sick and he started screwing up. Well,
we got Pettis on the bench.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So my take, I'm eron. Just think about you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I'm Aaron Rodgers. Why I want to I mean, at
this point, Aaron wants to control. Aaron's got minimum net
worth two fifty now, he's lived in New York in
LA so the taxes have eaten a lot of it,
and he's got agents. But let's say it's two hundred
and fifty million bucks. He's got real estate, he's got it.
Doesn't he have a hedge fund? Owns the but he's fine.
Don't you want control? You signed with Pittsburgh. They could
(28:39):
draft Jackson because that roster it does not have.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
A lot of needs.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
They need a running back in the mid rounds, a
left tackle somewhere.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
They're gonna draft the quarterback, so that if Steelers are
drafting a quarterback.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
Lends more credence to Rogers in San Francisco got longer.
Speaker 9 (28:55):
This brock pretty thing drags out, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Dyson, last year, fifty nine quarterbacks played the year before six?
What is the hurry to sign with the Steelers or Giants?
Speaker 6 (29:07):
Rogers to sanfran doesn't make sense. I wonder the rock
pretty hold up? We keep hearing nuggets, Oh, he's gonna
get sixty.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
He's gonna get fifty.
Speaker 9 (29:13):
Maybe he's not gonna get forty five, and there's no
deal done. What is Rogers the hold up there?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I'm Aaron Rodgers, and I have his net worth.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I am sitting in my Malibu house reading Greek mythology
or Roman mythology, and I am sitting there thinking, why
am I gonna go to a team that three weeks
later drafts Jalen Milroe and Jackson Dart And if I
struggle by Thanksgiving, they're benching me. I mean Kirk Cousins
(29:46):
post surgery. I mean when you watched Aaron last year,
he doesn't move like he used to. Now he is
a pocket guy. Well, what has Pittsburgh struggle to define
over the last seven years? A good offensive competent on line?
So I just, I'm just it's almost protective. I would
not sign with Pittsburgh. I don't get it. It's one
(30:07):
of those things that sounds bigger than it is.
Speaker 9 (30:10):
The Steelers brand is still strong.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Very big brand.
Speaker 9 (30:13):
My brand in the lid sounds big.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
It doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
It's a weird fit, especially for an old quarterback that
didn't want to get hit.
Speaker 6 (30:23):
Is it like IBM with technology still a big brand name?
Speaker 5 (30:26):
You know?
Speaker 3 (30:27):
But it's nine the Elegon Valley Company.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
No, no, no, it's way down yet.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Jmack with the news, Well.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
That's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd
Line news.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Apparently the odds have changed for the NFL draft. I'm
telling you, man, these people that aren't going to draft
Shduer Sanders, good luck with that seventy four percent completion
percentage in college. Running for your life, I don't know.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noonie st nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio App.
Speaker 10 (31:05):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together We're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 11 (31:10):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course, the iHeartRadio App.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 11 (31:19):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 10 (31:23):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 11 (31:32):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says something, right.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
So check us out.
Speaker 10 (31:38):
We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say, the most
interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 10 (31:47):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, and if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covino and
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
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Speaker 3 (31:59):
That's and Rich is back with.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
The UFL kickoff weekend starting Friday as Saint Louis takes
on Houston at eight pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Then Saturday it's San.
Speaker 6 (32:11):
Antonio versus Arlington at for eastern, all on Fox.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
You know, we were just talking during the break.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
I took all talks or in the tournament, so I
got fifteen to sixteen teams left. I just don't have
Saint John's. The best national championship for ratings to me
would be Duke against Michigan State, so you'd get the
biggest brand and the most popular basketball conference. I don't
buy into the madness is out of March madness and
the transfer portal has hurt mid majors, so what we
(32:40):
don't watch mid majors. Nobody's watching the Missouri Valley Conference.
TV is thirty to fifty percent of revenue for these sports.
That's where a majority of people watch it. If TV
is feeding you, if they're paying for the wedding, they
get a say in the seating chart, and they like,
that's why I defended North Carolina getting in. That's you know,
if we're not talking a top five seed, if you
(33:00):
ever talking at the bottom of the barrel, all right,
it's a coin flip West Virginia, North Carolina. I'd put
it in North Carolina. It's a bigger brand. It's not
like West Virginia had twenty eight wins and had a
gauntlet and they flew through it. You know, you put
yourself in a position to be argued over. Put Carolina
in and they won their playing game. So Nick Wright
(33:21):
talked about this yesterday, about all these upsets that everybody
says they love, but the ratings are truth serum, and
once you get upsets, the ratings go down.
Speaker 12 (33:31):
Do you want an amazing, exciting first weekend and then
a not so great second weekend or a chalky first
weekend and then what should be an unreal second weekend?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And that's what I feel we got.
Speaker 12 (33:47):
I understand that it's fun when there is a fifteen
seed or a fourteen seed that makes some noise, but
you kind of want that noise to crescendo with a
great round two law rather than them getting whacked in
the Sweet sixteen by a great team.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Think about it this way. A movie. There has never
been a great movie with a bad ending.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Ever, there have been average movies that you think are
great because of a great ending, usual suspects, great ending.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Great ending is a good movie.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
There's been good movies Castaways with a goofy ending, and
nobody talks about Castaways.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
We talk about usual Suspects.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Having all these upsets early is a great movie with
a lousy ending. This movie is gonna be It's okay.
It takes a while to get into it, like a
Netflix show. You know your every Netflix show, first episode
and a half is building characters and then all of
a sudden by the middle of the second episode, while
then third, fourth, fifth, great. That's what this tournament is.
(34:51):
It takes a while to get going. We don't have
a lot of upsets, but middle and end is gonna
be fantastic. It's gonna be Michigan State Dukes, Arizona's, Tennessee,
Auburn More NBA guys.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
It's better.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
So this idea that you want to start you all.
I just love the upsets. Ratings indicate you don't you
love you It's like in the moment Oh my god,
do you I can't believe what I just want. I've
said for years, the best thing that can happen is
Duke wins in overtime or Duke wins by one. You
want Duke winning, but you want them threatened. You want
(35:25):
the up to the eleven point hunderdog to literally take
him to overtime. That's great, But then I get Duke
in the next I don't get McNee state in the
next game.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
You don't want that.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
And the numbers are absolutely, inarguably clear, and there's nothing
against mid majors, but mid majors don't win March Madness. Now,
They're not going to win a second or third game,
which they don't very often anyway, as we all know.
So this idea that mid majors are done, No, they're not.
They were never winning four games in this tournament with regularity.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
You'd get one team every other year that would make
a nice run, sometimes Elite eight most of the time.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Not.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
So what if I've said this about the nil Ohio
State goes out and says we got three weaknesses. Let's
go buy a corner from Alabama, a right tackle from Missouri.
It makes the bigger brand, stronger. The problem what you
get in college football, Like think about Harvought Michigan. So
when he got to Michigan, they didn't have a transfer portal.
(36:24):
It took him like six years to get Michigan to
be like they could compete with anybody. It took Brian
Kelly like six years. Those are great coaches six years
to like, okay, we can go toe to toe with Georgia.
Now you go to a big brand year two, you
can compete. Mean, Lincoln Riley won eleven game first year
at USC, that's not what you couldn't be. Pete Carroll's
(36:47):
first year at USC there were six and six got
beatn a bowl game in Vegas. It took you years,
even if you're a great coach to Bill. I like
sports when you can the big brands and they make
stakes like everybody to hire the wrong coach. They lose kids,
they have injuries. When the big brands can get back
(37:07):
to speed faster, like right now, LSU feels broken, they
go out and il and they buy a quarterback out
of high school, huge money.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
They won't be broken, you know.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
So Michigan, by the way, last year, oh we're not
very good they don't have a huge rebuild. Now they
go out and get the number one quarterback in the country,
they go buy him for like five million bucks's that's
better for my eyes, that's better for television.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
So I need to ask a little personal here. But
you remember when your kids were in school, there was.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Back to school night.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
Right back to school night lines up with the Duke
game on Thursday night.
Speaker 9 (37:41):
My wife can't do it, Colin.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
I could go and watch the game on my phone
and act like a lunatic like I normally do, or
just blow it off.
Speaker 9 (37:49):
What's the call? You know, I'm loaded up on Duke
in the tournament, so I can't miss the game obviously.
What's the move?
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Well, I try to always make my wife happy, so
that's usually the move. I don't want to create resentment
in that dynamic, so whatever mom wants usually wins.
Speaker 9 (38:06):
So I don't ask for much.
Speaker 6 (38:07):
Okay, Fubo, I know I can watch it, but I'm
not gonna be listening to the teachers. I don't want
anybody talking to me while I'm watching Duke. If they're
in a close game late, you know, I'm already sweating
bullets like this is this is big and there's listen
to tournament is only a few.
Speaker 9 (38:21):
Weeks calling that's it. I know we can't reschedule back
to school night for like a Monday.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
I know, yeah, discipoint.
Speaker 9 (38:27):
I know you care deeply.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
What is your back to school night in in.
Speaker 9 (38:31):
It's it's middle schools, that's all it is.
Speaker 6 (38:33):
And it's like, you know, I got I'm on a
text shame with some dads are like what are we
doing here?
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Why?
Speaker 9 (38:38):
I was thinking of emailing the principle Like listen, I wouldn't.
I'm going to be a no show.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Sorry listen, but we were. You know, we're talking about
all this marks madness. But in the NBA, fans think,
do the leagues privately know that the NBA is better
if the Knicks face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference
Finals over the Pacers.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Of course they do.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
But leagues are not engineering it. I've got news for you.
If they think about this. If the NFL was engineering outcomes,
would the two most dysfunctional teams in Pro football be
the New York Giants and New York Jets? Would the
Green Bay Packers in Buffalo and Baltimore be amazing in
(39:23):
Kansas City? Right now in the NFL, all the small
markets are dominating and the big markets outside of the
Rams and Eagles are kind of garbage. I mean, So
this idea, like the NBA is engineering stuff. Nico Harrison
made a bad trade. Blame him not to commission.
Speaker 9 (39:40):
So let me ask you.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
You know, we saw Nuggets heat in the finals a
few years ago and like listen, Yoki versus Butler, great
ratings were awful.
Speaker 9 (39:48):
Awful, nobody watched.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
What if we get an OKC Cleveland Finals? Is that
appetizing to you? I know everybody loves SGA, the free
throw mergers.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Maybe I'll give you an example. This isn't a nonsense
that you get on Reddit boards. So the the idea,
like the Celtics are a big brand, right, yeah. Do
you know who shoots the second fewest free throws in
the NBA?
Speaker 9 (40:06):
I think it's okay, see.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
The Boston's House. Why would that be because they shoot
the most threes. So if the NBA really wanted to
engineer the Celtics in the finals, do you think they'd
be shooting the second fewest free throws in the Elite
By the way, the Warriors until Jimmy Butler got there,
never got to the free throw line because they lived
on threes. So this idea, what's gonna hurt Houston and
(40:32):
okay see, Houston shooting though though it's better than it
was early in the year, is hot and cold. And
Okase is really young and those player I can tell
you right now, Okayse's gonna lose in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
And they're gonna lose for two reasons.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
They're young, and young players do not young players and
role players do not perform consistently well on the road
in the playoffs. And okay See's got a lot of them,
very deep team. The second thing is you do not
get that James Harden SGA whistle as often in the postseason.
So you're getting used to SGA. I watched the moves
(41:08):
that last not against Sacramento. I'm like, oh, they get
in the whistle, you'll get it, but about twenty percent less.
And so I can tell you right now, Okac's gonna
complain about officiating, and I'm here to tell you, go
ask Karl Malone and James Harden.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
You do not get the whistle in the postseason.
Speaker 9 (41:26):
Okay See.
Speaker 6 (41:27):
Fans are gonna say they don't want us in the finals.
Speaker 9 (41:29):
They're not giving us the whistle. No, that's just how
playoff basketball.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
They didn't want Denver in the finals or San Antonio
for a decade. But great is great. So it's you know,
you hear that. It's like the baseball argument about, you know,
the lack of parody. Baseball's got actually really good parody.
Last year, I got the AFC division winners four for four.
Why because if you don't have a good quarterback, you
(41:54):
can't win your division in the AFC, so you want to.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
I don't know who's gonna win the divisions in baseball.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
The Dodgers will and theirs, but the Diamondbacks are excellent,
great batting order, So I know I can't pick.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Division winners in baseball either. Could Tom Berdnucci.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
You can pick him in the NFL and get five, right,
just based on quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
So what is parody? Our three next
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