June 30, 2025 • 33 mins
The Mount Rushmore of NBA and WNBA players
Is Aaron Rodgers pulling a prank on the media?
Caitlin Clark is helping the WNBA expand
Guest: Alexi Lalas
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
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dot com, or stream us live every day on the
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
One of my favorite people, Alexi lalas Fox Sports Soccer analysts.
He's a Hall of Famer and he is joining us.
So there is a randomness sometimes to hockey and soccer
where you can outplay a team and you find yourself trailing.
What I tend to look at is possession, percentage, shots
on goal tells me the story. So when it goes
(00:50):
in to you know, anytime it goes into like a
penalty kicks or shootouts, I thought we had control of possession.
I thought we had over twice as many kicks. Forget
Matt Freeze for a second. I thought they played well yesterday.
What was your interpretation before we went into penalty kicks.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, I didn't think it was a great performance. But
to your point, I thought that the United States was
the better team on the day. When you look at
some of those statistics, because as we know, it can
be misleading, especially when it comes to soccer, where you
don't even have to have the ball, the entire game
can still find a way to win, and especially when
it comes to penalties if you are an inferior team,
which this particular version of Costa Rica was, and I
(01:32):
think they recognized it. They said, listen, we'll take our
chances when it comes to penalties. Although credit to them
for fighting back individual mistakes and momentary lapses, but overall
the US was, for lack of a better phrase, the
better team, but the better team doesn't always win, especially
when it comes to soccer, and especially when you have
this kind of great equalizer of penalties that's looming large.
(01:55):
And in this case, it went right to penalties as
opposed to going to the extra thirty men, and it's
that oftentimes traditionally has happened. So it changes the dynamic
and the mindset of the players in the moment. If
you're the best team, there's an urgency to get it
done in the ninety minutes, and if you're not the
best team, it's only ninety minutes that you have to
withstand and bend. But don't break.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So outside of Berhalter's miss good misses makes I think
this is something again. People in soccer sometimes pooh pooh
penalty kicks, and my take is it's about execution, and
the two things to me in soccer that win World
Cups is offensive execution and making sure you don't give
up cheap goals. You're going to advance out of the
group stage. You don't have to be perfect at midfield.
(02:36):
You don't have to be always great on.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
The back end.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
You can't give up cheap goals. And do you execute
on your set plays, on your corner kicks. So my
takeaway is the PK beyond freeze I thought was impressive.
I thought it really was. Your takeaway on freeze and beyond.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, penalties are interesting. And I'll give you my spiel
that I always do in that it's not random, it's
not luck. It's not a coin flip, you know, it's
it's not a situation where just anything happens. It is
a skill, it is a practice skill, it is a
necessary skill. And whether it's the goalkeeper and what he
(03:15):
or she is doing and the research that goes into
that moment, or whether it's the actually penalty kicker. And
keep in mind that you know, you can look at
it and and people that have watched the game. No,
and even if you haven't watched the game, we've always
seen it a couple of times. It is incredibly weighted
towards the kicker. Seventy nine percent of the kicks actually
go in historically, And so for a goalkeeper, you save one,
(03:35):
you're that's you know, now we're now, we're now we
got something we can work with. You say save two
and oh my goodness, we're we're in rarefied air here
and save free or more. It's just it doesn't happen
in penalty kicks. So there's a lot that's going on
up here relative to penalty kicks. But when you win,
it's great, and when you don't, it's the worst thing
(03:55):
in the world and it should be abolished.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So I got to ask you, as a as a
Hall of Famer and a defender, you have a link.
There's a certain connectivity for the guy right behind you, Alexi.
Is what we saw from Matt Free. It was jaw dropping.
I'm telling my wife, I'm like, we not only made
three stops, he touched the two others. This doesn't happen ever,
you tell me, is it instincts? Is their homework you
(04:21):
can do to People have tells like, how do you
explain what Freeze did? I've never seen three saves hand
on two others, never guessed rung. I've never seen that.
Explain it if you can. Yeah, so for people that
might be you know, just tuning in. Matt Freese was
the goalkeeper. He's been the goalkeeper through this Gold.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Cup, and yeah, we're three hundred and forty six days
away from the World Cup next summer. We don't know
who was ultimately going to be that starting goalkeeper in
that there is a competition. So for Matt Freeze, this
is a huge day and a huge moment. He talked
about the research that goes in and yeah, you have
you know, video and you're watching, you have tendencies and
you see statistically what players have done, and sometimes they
even write it out for the goalkeepers. But there is
(05:02):
also a feel that goalkeepers have and there's tells the
where the foot placement is, where the eyes are, all
of these different that the approach to the ball, all
of those different things go into the calculator and in
this case it's a calculator for a guy who went
to Harvard, and you know, it spits out, I am
going to stand still or I'm going to move here,
or I'm going to fake moving here, and all of
those different things come into play. And keep in mind
(05:26):
that the taker of the penalty kick is also thinking
those things and doing a calculation himself.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah. So Mauricio new coach, Puchattino comes out and makes
three changes before the match. Two of them scored his Tottenham.
His rep has always been he likes young players, he
likes to develop them. That's kind of his strength, and
I think one of the reasons he was hired was
(05:54):
we're young, and our and our good players need to
be very good, and our very good players need to
be great doing a work World Cup. So talk about
soup to nuts, what you've seen so far in the
Gold Cup that you're encouraged by from our new guy.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
All Right, So when it comes to Mariscio Pochettino, he's
being paid a tremendous amount of money, six million dollars
a year at Rombert to get this team to do
things that we haven't done before. You know, we've had
success in World Cups, but it's all relative to getting
out of the group and doing all those things. We've
done those things before to your point, and you know,
came on air talking about the talent that we have
(06:31):
as a generation right now and maximizing that that talent.
I think what we've seen through this Gold Cup is
a Mauricio Pochettino who has had to deal with, you know,
the polistic situation at the beginning and some of the
drama off the field. I think he got through that,
and I think he kind of established himself as a
new sheriff in town. I think at times he bit
his tongue for some of the craziness or ridiculousness that
(06:53):
he saw relative to whether it's Polistic or others and
that attitude. But I also think what you've seen is
a a coalescence of this new group. And you know,
keep in mind that the win last night, which a
lot of people watched, and a lot of people that
kind of came into the tent on a Sunday night
on Big Fox, and it was wonderful, Like I was
getting texts from all sorts of people that I know
don't normally follow soccer, so it was a wonderful, feel good,
(07:16):
feel good moment. But this team was together through this
tournament and they had a week of training in between
the games, and I think for Pochettino that was really
good in terms of this is how we're going to play.
And again this group coming together and still a relatively
short period of time, and you can see that this
particular group that doesn't have your Western McKinney's and You're
Christian polistics and a bunch of other players that we
(07:38):
have talked about consistently, and it doesn't mean that they're
not going to be integrated. But for them to have
this moment, I think it was really really important and
from we Pochettino to do it without those guys, I
think it was important message to send. And the work's
not over, so we shouldn't, you know, break our arm
patting ourselves on the back for beating a depleted Costa
Rica in a quarter final of a goal Cup. That's
been done many, many times before. But you know what
(07:59):
you sing, you're winning and if you can't find some
joy in that moment, you know, then I don't think
you're a sports person. And as you know, as a
sports person, sports are not for being rational. Sports are
for being irrational to a certain extent. So, like I said,
sing dance, celebrate that, which they did, and you can
(08:20):
see the pictures here. And then you got the semifinal
here coming on Wednesday. And if I had told this
US team you get a semi final game against Guatemala
to go to the final the Gold Cup, you would say,
sign me up right now?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Is there Tyler Adams feels like to me, will make
the World Cup. Matt Freese, you can argue, he just won.
I mean this is the last tournament before the World Cup.
That's pretty impressive. That was his moment. So freeze Tyler
Adams anybody else from this group because we acknowledge and
this is true for many countries. This was sort of
(08:53):
our B team, our developers besides Tyler Adams, and freeze
anybody else you see making the World CP roster. You know.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
So I think Tyler Adams was always going to be
a starter. I mean, he's not untouchable, but given his
experience and given his quality, so he's kind of the
the outlier here. But if you look at players that
helped their stock and dramatically, yes, Matt Freeze, because there
is a goalkeeper competition right now, and Matt Freeze got
the start during this Goal Cup, not because Matt Turner
(09:22):
is the number one and recent Pochettina went to him
and said, listen, I know who you are, and you're
my starter, and if this is the World Cup, you'd
be starting. No, because he recognizes that Matt Turner has
not been playing and has not been playing well when
he has played, which is very very limited, and so
there is a competition. So definitely, like you said, I
think Matt Freeze has put himself into the conversation. Diego Luna.
I really think, and I know I posted this morning
(09:45):
that Diego Luna I think had a really good game yesterday.
And yes, there's the grit in the fight, and you
know that you want to like this guy and he
makes you like him. But I also think that when
it comes to possession of the ball, creating things in
the attacking third, beating multiple players under pressure in traffic,
I don't think that there's anybody better other than Christian Polisic.
(10:06):
Now that's not a great thing to say, but maybe
it is in that how established he has already become.
So I think he's really helped his cause. And then
Malik Tolman, I think, right now, if the World Cup
started today, given what he's done in this tournament, has
really made a case for being that attacking midfielder, if
you will, Chris Richards, I think is going to be
a starter. But there's still a lot of questions. Even
(10:27):
with this wonderful win. There's still a lot of questions
when it comes to this US men's national team. Like
we said, less than a year away from twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Okay, okay, and finally on this if because we know
we have arguably six of our top seven players will
be on the World Cup roster that weren't here. Taking
that because I tend to believe, even though this is
eleven months out from the World Cup, I do think
performing well inertia.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
I don't care if you're a political party or a team.
Winning changes the way you think. I think, the inertia
the movement. So I do think winning this or at
least getting to the finals does matter. Judging by what
you've seen over the last four matches, three matches, and
then in your mind, taking our better players inserting them
(11:15):
into what you've seen. Do we have a philosophy, a brand,
or a style, right now that you can cling to that,
you could say this is how Maurizio, this is how
he sees the world. Tell me what we are today
with six or seven other elite players coming.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Yeah, so the integration or the reintegration of some of
those players that you have is only going to make
this team better. But I think it's been wonderful to
see the success and that's why, Yeah, I want them
to win, just you know, because I bleed America and
I want to see that. But more importantly, it's almost
a wonderful message to send an important message to send
(11:55):
to the guys that aren't here that you know what,
while you're important and you're not you're not a savior
and that and we can win games and we can
do things without you, because I think it's going to
motivate them to come in and say, you know what,
you know what stinks, just like everybody else is I'm
gonna have to work and some of the spirit and
(12:16):
some of the fight, you know, and all these words
that we use that was on display here in the
Goal Cup again the last time, like you said, from
a competitive standpoint, that we are going to see this team,
uh and certainly in a competitive tournament. I think that
that's going to be incredibly valuable going forward. And again
I'm not saying that any of those guys aren't going
to be important, important parts going forward, but they if
they come back in to a team that is kind
(12:39):
of like I said, Coalesced and this style, if you
will look it's it's not going to be put in
a time capsule for the best soccer ever played. But
again that's subjective as to what good soccer is. But
to your point, America doesn't give a crap how this
US team plays. They care that they win and that
they are doing it in a kind of raw guy,
(13:00):
strangely ugly but beautiful way that I think that resonates
with people. But ultimately, it's about winning, whether it's the
Girl Cup, whether it's end of the games leading up,
and then more importantly next summer, doing things we haven't
seen before and winning. Nobody's gonna stand on principle in
terms of quote beautiful soccer. If this team finds a
way to do great things come next summer in the
World Cup.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Very exciting Wednesday FS one coverage starts at sixth Eastern.
Will be favored over Guatemala as always my friend Alexi.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
You're great. Thanks man, You're the best. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, I was exciting, you know, I J Mack. I
was sitting there as I'm watching it, and I'm just thinking.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I mean, there's.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Obviously the eighteenth hole, like at the Masters, you know,
down the stretch of the Masters were Rory McElroy. Like,
there's just certain things that are endemic to our sports
culture that we know are great. Like I think in NFL,
overtime is not sudden death. I so it's like it
can be a little haphazard or random. I don't think
(13:59):
they're in a big match when you go to when
you go to the shootout. I don't think there's.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Anything like it.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Hockey's got in a little bit the power play. When
you got two minutes on the power play, you know
you're a man up. You trail late in a Stanley
Cup final, like you're like, okay, we got two minutes
here to score. We got to score. March Madness obviously
has a tie game late, but that is about as
good as sports.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Cats.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Yeah, I would say college football overtime and penalty kicks
for me are the best because it's equal. You get
a chance, you get a chance, the defense has a
chance to stop you. I like that fairness in sports,
and so PK's is right there for college football overtime
with me.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallero.
Mean a lot to have you join us on our
weekly auditory journey. You ask, what in God's name is
the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off
of it. Ben Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Why should you listen? Picture if you will? A world
will We check with captains of industry in media, sports,
and more every week explore some amazing facts about human
(15:05):
nature and more. Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
All right, Jmack with the news, No no.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Turns, this is the Herdline news.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
All right, Colin, Let's start with your Detroit Lions.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I think I can call him your right obviously, big
big holes to fill. Losing Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn
as coordinators, they moved on to be head coaches, but
defensively is what we're talking about. Remember, Aiden Hutchison went
down last season and they still finished fifteen and two.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
Just by losing the Washington at home in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Safety Brian Branch believes they're going through the ups and
downs last season, has been has the team feeling invincible
heading into this season?
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Now, I'll let you take that one away.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
This idea that their defense was good last year, Hey
we still went fifteen to two.
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Uh huh, Like that's just not really well.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, I think they show it. Yeah, I think they
have two really high end defensive players Branches one, Aiden
Hutchinson is the other. I mean, if you start on
a sliding scale, there's a lot of average and has
been for years in the secondary. And it's also a
division where you've got a lot of smart offensive coaches.
So the downside to being bad defensively in that division
(16:22):
is Matt Lafleur, Kevin O'Connell, Ben Johnson, a lot of
clever play callers, a lot of guys that can burn
you when you're not good on the back end. So
and some divisions historically, we look at the AFC North
and we think defense. The NFC North now is an
offensive coach division, So I'm with you. I think they
(16:44):
pull back. I also think you can't lose the best
offensive coordinator in football, hire somebody in house and think
you're going to get the same level even if they're successful.
Ben is sort of a one of one, kind of
a young McVeigh feel. So I just don't think they're
going to be quite as dynamic offensively, and they'll still
be good, not special defensively.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
I would challenge someone to find a schedule with tougher
opposing quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
Tolan.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
The first six weeks they got to face lamar Borough
and Mahomes, three of the top four quarterbacks in the NFL.
They also have to go to Philadelphia. Obviously, they've got
to go to Jaden Daniels Colin. This schedule is I
mean they got to go.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
To the Rams. That's a big game on Fox. I don't,
I don't. I just don't see it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I think I think I think you'd have to be happy.
I'd take Mitch again. There's not that many bad schedules, Yeah,
that I look at it, there are a ten to
eleven win team. But the days of twelve and thirteen,
I think they had a window and I think the
NFC for the last two years was weaker. I don't
(17:52):
think it is. I think the Rams are up to speed.
Jaden Daniels is magical. Baker Mayfield has solidified himself as
a franchise guy. I think today is of those lamps
in the NFC. The bottom half are over.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
It's over.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Move to Travis Hunter, who is hoping to be a
two way player this year, believing he can star at
wide receiver and corner, but doubt still remains whether he
can be successful well. Willie Cologne gave his opinion on
Breakfast Ball Friday.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I know how I would approach a guy like this.
I'm gonna test his armor. I'm gonna see how tough
you really are if you want to be a two
way player in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I'm gonna see if you're strong enough to be a
two way player.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
So when I'm pulling around that corner, I'm gonna test
that twelve on your chest. Right And so for me,
if I'm the Jacksonville Jaguars, he that's listen to what
the players are saying. They're curious if he could finish
an eighteen game season going both ways.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I promise you he won't.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
They will move him to one side of the ball,
and that's cornerback, and allow him to be the best
corner they be, because not only are you gonna have
to make tackles, you all have to stand getting hit too.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, I there's there are certain things you can do
in college you know that don't work in the NFL.
But I would say, like, oh, Tawny, you were like, okay,
maybe you could do that in double A baseball pitch
and hit. And yet there are these unique, once in
a lifetime athletes that can go to the highest level
(19:18):
of sports and do things you'd never imagine. And maybe
he's that guy. It wasn't one number one high school
player in the country, so it's not like he's a
late bloomer. Like he was unbelievable at sixteen, eighteen, twenty one.
Why won't he be unbelievable at twenty three and twenty
four in the NFL. I think he may be, And
I do think over the course of time, athletes get better.
(19:40):
In ten years, if I told you the NFL had
six two way players, I wouldn't be shocked. I mean,
if you had six guys, wait.
Speaker 7 (19:47):
A minute to find two way like, how many corner
like the corner? What if you do five plays? Are
you a two way player?
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
If you play thirty minimum on both sides.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
That's a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
I do think what I said before the draft calling
is he gonna is he gonna go and try to
tackle Jonathan Taylor in space ten times and then go
try to get over against the cold secondary And then
the next week you're trying to tackle Derrick Henry and
you know, and then you're going.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Out for running routes. I don't think that's feasible. I've
never thought that was past.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
I want to Sean was returning putt set. If Travis
Thunder wants to do that, go for it. But like
actually tackling people and then running routes.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I don't think anybody wants to tackle Derrick Henry for.
Speaker 7 (20:28):
The record, but certainly not. Final story, Colin is big
news for the show.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Congratulations Colin, you have been named to the twenty twenty
five class of the Radio Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You're the lone.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Sports representative as part of this year's.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
Ten person class, and it's kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Excited.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
Huh, how are you celebrating?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Well, you should agree with me, more now that I'm
a Hall of Famer, I should just get a lot
of agreement. All I ever wanted to do is a kid.
When I was seven years old, my mom bought me
a trans sister radio and that's all I ever wanted
to do was radio. I grew up in a small town.
It wasn't cable television. Radio is what I always wanted
to do. So sometimes things in your life lineup. Also,
(21:10):
thank you to all the people. This morning at about
I woke up and there was a lot of probably
about twenty thirty texts, and it's increased. I'll get to
all of them. Thank you. People are very kind. But
uh yeah, I was one of the lucky ones that
this is what I wanted to do for a living,
and it just happened to line up and I got
to do what I wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
It's listen, it's really not a surprise that you get
elected to the Hall of Fame after working with me
for a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That's a good point.
Speaker 7 (21:34):
Yeah, I mean it took a while.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's all work.
Speaker 7 (21:37):
That was allst Coward.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
There is we're seeing really it is prime as a
radio star.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
No, we've been a good life incredibly grateful for it.
All right, Alexi Lawless and Matt Hasselbeck both delivered today,
and thanks for stopping by on a Monday. Thanks guys.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
Weekdays and Noone Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one, and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Oh jmak. This is interesting. So for years and years
I was told that Aaron Rodgers and Devonte Adam very tight,
and then when DeVante Adams left to go to the Raiders,
we found out that he and Aaron weren't nearly that tight.
(22:35):
So but David Bachtiari, that's his number one friend. Interesting
anybody see the old X accounts? This morning, according to X,
David Bachtiari goes to X and says, basically, love is love.
(22:58):
Congrats to the love Jordan Love got married. Just happy.
At least one of my quarterbacks invited me to their
wedding eyes emoji. Knowing that bok Tri knows Aaron has
a little bit of a tenuous record of friendship ghosting.
(23:19):
I don't know. This goes back to a lot of
people have fake friends. A lot of people tell you
they have a lot of friends, Devontae Adams and Aaron
so close not really now. David Barkdi takes a litter
shot at it.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Did you see that Aaron Rodgers is sick of people
asking about who his wife is and what are the details?
Speaker 7 (23:43):
He's like, no, she wants to stay out of the
public eye. Like sorry, bro, it doesn't work.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Like sorry, you are a famous guy, They're gonna be
asking you a lot of questions. And Rogers is already
ticked off at the media for probing into it. Wait
till TMZ or whoever uncovers the wife. Man, if you
what do they call it when you are married for
a while and then you renew your vows or whatever,
Like if you did that and didn't invite me, I
would probably take it personally and vent on social media.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
Jeez, qub one didn't even invite me to read.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Everybody is saying it's just a joke, So maybe it is.
What do I know, Maybe it's just lamping. Maybe they're
trying to pull those of us reviewed as negative errand guys,
they're trying to pull us in.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I saw it and the staff is like, he's joking,
and I'm like, that's kind of personal for a joke,
especially with Aaron's reputation.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Look at his account, it doesn't. It doesn't really jive
with that's a joke. It just comes out of like nowhere.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
You know, all jokes just have just enough truth in them.
Ever noticed that, Like at the Oscars when Ricky Gervais
goes up there and makes a jokes about certain people,
it's just a you have truth in the joke. So
this may be just what they call like fishing. They're
(25:07):
trying to get people to overreact engagement farming. Well, no,
I can just see Aaron telling, Hey, do that so
all the haters and the media attack means so I
can turn and make fun of them. I could see
Aaron doing that as well, even though he doesn't listen
to any of us or read any of us, of course,
but it is. Do you think it's a joke or not?
Speaker 7 (25:26):
I think something's up? Yes, legit?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
All right?
Speaker 7 (25:29):
He probably feels annoying. How do you not invite me?
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I though we're voice, But I mean they're they're they're
the closest of allies. They're the closest of allies. Maybe
they're so close they're mocking all of us. Maybe that's it.
That's certainly possible. So I saw this Cooper Flag. Uh
you know, Mount Rushmore the term for the four best
ever at a sport or a position or whatever. So
Cooper Flag, the number one pick of the Dallas Mavericks
(25:54):
rising domestic basketball star, got into the Mount Rushmore topic.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
I'm Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
Of NBA players, I would say Larry Bird, Michael Jordan,
Lebron and probably Kobe and then w NBA Candas Parker,
Brittany Griner. I think Asia Wilson is on there, and
(26:25):
then I might put Cannon Clark on there just because
she's changed the game so much and it's heading in
the right direction and I just.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Love what she's not to do.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Uh yeah, yeah, I think I would have put Caitlin
Clark actually number one.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
She is not just helping revenue. Caitlin Clark is a
stimulus package. So I saw something today. Cleveland, Detroit and
Philadelphia it's been announced are going to get new franchises
now that had been discussed last year and the year before.
But it's interesting how suddenly when Caitlin Clark comes into
(27:07):
the league, bona fide star, we have three new teams
coming up Why Because it's much easier to get investors
when you can see a path to profits, and before
last year there wasn't. It's hard to get investors when
you have a history after twenty five years of nobody
really making a profit. When Steve Jobs came back to Apple,
(27:30):
it's a funny, but investors came pouring back into Apple.
Why so I've said this the people that are like, yeah,
somebody must be into this Caitlin Clark story. Folks, this
is MJ this is Tiger merchandise, tickets, revenue. Like the
NBA was not a global league. Magic and Bird made
(27:53):
it more popular domestically. Michael made it global. Michael changed
merchandising in America, actually among young men. And that's what
she's doing. She sold out her shoe line in ten minutes.
She not only sold out her shoe line, they brought
in a random NBA player to be a teammate, Sophie Cunningham.
(28:16):
She sold out her jersey.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
In one day.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
She'd been in the league for seven years, not much
of a profile. So just by proxy being close to her,
being an ally of Caitlin Clark, you'll sell out your merchandise.
That's different. I mean, that's like if you were Tiger
Wood's caddie, you were the third most known person on
the tour, Tiger Phil Micholson and Tiger's caddie. We can
(28:44):
now go back and name Tiger's caddies. Like that's a
whole different ballgame. So good stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Earlier today, the Steelers traded for Jalen Ramsey, moved off
Minka Fitzpatrick. And I've been on this for a couple
of years. Could you start spin money on offense? So
Jalen Ramsey cost seven and a half million more dollars
annually than Mega Fitzpatrick. And he's a very loose player.
He's talented, but he's as good as his environment. When
he had the structure of the Rams in McVeigh was
(29:13):
very good, though they moved off him kind of doing
his own thing, kind of an independent corner. But when
you put him in Jacksonville and you put him in
Miami structurally, culturally, much looser organizations, it doesn't work as well.
He's kind of doing his own thing. So Pittsburgh's reputation,
James Harrison talked about this last week, is it's pro
player Mike Tomlin to a fault is pro player. So
(29:35):
you know, Aaron Rodgers doing his own thing. DK Metcalf
doing his own thing. Now Jalen Ramsey kind of doing
his own thing. They move off Mega Fitzpatrick, which I
could live with because I think he is a good safety,
not great anymore, but very good. But he's a team leader.
He's low maintenance. He can handle the pro player culture
that Mike Tomlin has created. And here's Hasselbeck on Ramsey
(29:58):
to the Steelers.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
They do not care about the rest of the league.
They don't care about what anybody else does. They say, Hey,
we're the Steelers. This is how we operate. So I
don't think that's going to change. But I do think
this it looks like they're building a team to stop
the Cincinnati Bengals. It's almost like they have confidence in
what they have, like what we have can take care
of the Baltimore Ravens, like we're good. But like, man,
(30:22):
I don't know how we're going to stop the Cincinnati Bengals.
Like I do believe that there's a fear there of
like personnel wise, we don't match up well well.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Baltimore, for the record, has also upgraded their secondary so
I think Matt is right. I think if you're in
that division against Joe Burrow chasing T Higgins, you got
to stop those guys. So I do think that's true.
But it's interesting where Matt says, and he's probably right,
Like the Steelers don't care about the rest of the league.
I never buy into that. Sean McVay is acutely aware
(30:52):
of what everybody's doing. Like I don't believe, like Koke
doesn't worry about PEPSI. They keep their eye on PEPSI
Google watching Apple, everybody's watching Microsoft. Like I don't buy that. Hey,
our culture is so strong, we don't watch anybody. I
think you watch what people do. I think you watch
who people draft you. I mean, in any business, if
(31:15):
there's cultural changes, legislative changes, rule changes, you have to adapt.
How are other people responding to stuff? So, and I
think he's probably right. The Steelers do their own thing.
I've never been a fan of that. I think you
have to watch. I mean, when I started my little company,
I'm like watching other companies. What do they do, what works,
what fails? What's a trap? See around the corner a
(31:38):
little bit, don't get trapped. I don't buy that. We
don't watch what anybody else does. Nobody's culture is that strong.
I mean a prime example is Google. You know, we
always thought like Google is the most powerful company in
the world. Then AI came and like, AI is going
to replace needing Google. Now, thank god Google bought you
(32:00):
YouTube and I think cloud and other businesses. That's why
big co means Democrats sometimes struggle with this. Folks. There's
a reason billionaires keep investing because nothing lasts forever. I
thought Google search engine would last forever. If I would
have guessed a company that'll last forever, No didn't. AI
is going to replace to some degree the search engines.
(32:20):
So what happens is you got to invest in other stuff.
You have to always be growing. Amazon continues to grow.
There will be and I by the way you're seeing
it now with the TikTok shop. Everybody's on TikTok. Now
you can order from TikTok. Who does that hurt? Oh
that hurts Amazon? I want to get my sports garret fanatics.
Who does that hurt Amazon? Nobody dominates forever, so and
(32:41):
so I think you always have to keep your eye
on your competition. There's peaks, there's valleys, you hit highs,
stocks fluctuate, people in your company leave who are brilliant.
So there you go. Fine line between having your own
identity and being out of touch with your industry. Those
are two different things. You got to be in line
(33:03):
and know what other people are doing. And by the way,
what the other people are doing in the NFL is
spending on offense, not leading the league for the four
straight year in defensive spending, and they haven't signed the TJ.
Watt contract yet. This will be the fourth year they
lead the NFL and spending. We're not talking the TJ.
Watt contract. That one's around the corner. Trouble, all right.
(33:25):
We flew through Monday. Alexi Lawless, Colin Right, Colin Wrang,
Matt Hasselback, J. Mack will see you and everybody else
tomorrow
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 1 (00:27):
One of my favorite people, Alexi lalas Fox Sports Soccer analysts.
He's a Hall of Famer and he is joining us.
So there is a randomness sometimes to hockey and soccer
where you can outplay a team and you find yourself trailing.
What I tend to look at is possession, percentage, shots
on goal tells me the story. So when it goes
(00:50):
in to you know, anytime it goes into like a
penalty kicks or shootouts, I thought we had control of possession.
I thought we had over twice as many kicks. Forget
Matt Freeze for a second. I thought they played well yesterday.
What was your interpretation before we went into penalty kicks.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, I didn't think it was a great performance. But
to your point, I thought that the United States was
the better team on the day. When you look at
some of those statistics, because as we know, it can
be misleading, especially when it comes to soccer, where you
don't even have to have the ball, the entire game
can still find a way to win, and especially when
it comes to penalties if you are an inferior team,
which this particular version of Costa Rica was, and I
(01:32):
think they recognized it. They said, listen, we'll take our
chances when it comes to penalties. Although credit to them
for fighting back individual mistakes and momentary lapses, but overall
the US was, for lack of a better phrase, the
better team, but the better team doesn't always win, especially
when it comes to soccer, and especially when you have
this kind of great equalizer of penalties that's looming large.
(01:55):
And in this case, it went right to penalties as
opposed to going to the extra thirty men, and it's
that oftentimes traditionally has happened. So it changes the dynamic
and the mindset of the players in the moment. If
you're the best team, there's an urgency to get it
done in the ninety minutes, and if you're not the
best team, it's only ninety minutes that you have to
withstand and bend. But don't break.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So outside of Berhalter's miss good misses makes I think
this is something again. People in soccer sometimes pooh pooh
penalty kicks, and my take is it's about execution, and
the two things to me in soccer that win World
Cups is offensive execution and making sure you don't give
up cheap goals. You're going to advance out of the
group stage. You don't have to be perfect at midfield.
(02:36):
You don't have to be always great on.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
The back end.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
You can't give up cheap goals. And do you execute
on your set plays, on your corner kicks. So my
takeaway is the PK beyond freeze I thought was impressive.
I thought it really was. Your takeaway on freeze and beyond.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, penalties are interesting. And I'll give you my spiel
that I always do in that it's not random, it's
not luck. It's not a coin flip, you know, it's
it's not a situation where just anything happens. It is
a skill, it is a practice skill, it is a
necessary skill. And whether it's the goalkeeper and what he
(03:15):
or she is doing and the research that goes into
that moment, or whether it's the actually penalty kicker. And
keep in mind that you know, you can look at
it and and people that have watched the game. No,
and even if you haven't watched the game, we've always
seen it a couple of times. It is incredibly weighted
towards the kicker. Seventy nine percent of the kicks actually
go in historically, And so for a goalkeeper, you save one,
(03:35):
you're that's you know, now we're now, we're now we
got something we can work with. You say save two
and oh my goodness, we're we're in rarefied air here
and save free or more. It's just it doesn't happen
in penalty kicks. So there's a lot that's going on
up here relative to penalty kicks. But when you win,
it's great, and when you don't, it's the worst thing
(03:55):
in the world and it should be abolished.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So I got to ask you, as a as a
Hall of Famer and a defender, you have a link.
There's a certain connectivity for the guy right behind you, Alexi.
Is what we saw from Matt Free. It was jaw dropping.
I'm telling my wife, I'm like, we not only made
three stops, he touched the two others. This doesn't happen ever,
you tell me, is it instincts? Is their homework you
(04:21):
can do to People have tells like, how do you
explain what Freeze did? I've never seen three saves hand
on two others, never guessed rung. I've never seen that.
Explain it if you can. Yeah, so for people that
might be you know, just tuning in. Matt Freese was
the goalkeeper. He's been the goalkeeper through this Gold.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Cup, and yeah, we're three hundred and forty six days
away from the World Cup next summer. We don't know
who was ultimately going to be that starting goalkeeper in
that there is a competition. So for Matt Freeze, this
is a huge day and a huge moment. He talked
about the research that goes in and yeah, you have
you know, video and you're watching, you have tendencies and
you see statistically what players have done, and sometimes they
even write it out for the goalkeepers. But there is
(05:02):
also a feel that goalkeepers have and there's tells the
where the foot placement is, where the eyes are, all
of these different that the approach to the ball, all
of those different things go into the calculator and in
this case it's a calculator for a guy who went
to Harvard, and you know, it spits out, I am
going to stand still or I'm going to move here,
or I'm going to fake moving here, and all of
those different things come into play. And keep in mind
(05:26):
that the taker of the penalty kick is also thinking
those things and doing a calculation himself.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah. So Mauricio new coach, Puchattino comes out and makes
three changes before the match. Two of them scored his Tottenham.
His rep has always been he likes young players, he
likes to develop them. That's kind of his strength, and
I think one of the reasons he was hired was
(05:54):
we're young, and our and our good players need to
be very good, and our very good players need to
be great doing a work World Cup. So talk about
soup to nuts, what you've seen so far in the
Gold Cup that you're encouraged by from our new guy.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
All Right, So when it comes to Mariscio Pochettino, he's
being paid a tremendous amount of money, six million dollars
a year at Rombert to get this team to do
things that we haven't done before. You know, we've had
success in World Cups, but it's all relative to getting
out of the group and doing all those things. We've
done those things before to your point, and you know,
came on air talking about the talent that we have
(06:31):
as a generation right now and maximizing that that talent.
I think what we've seen through this Gold Cup is
a Mauricio Pochettino who has had to deal with, you know,
the polistic situation at the beginning and some of the
drama off the field. I think he got through that,
and I think he kind of established himself as a
new sheriff in town. I think at times he bit
his tongue for some of the craziness or ridiculousness that
(06:53):
he saw relative to whether it's Polistic or others and
that attitude. But I also think what you've seen is
a a coalescence of this new group. And you know,
keep in mind that the win last night, which a
lot of people watched, and a lot of people that
kind of came into the tent on a Sunday night
on Big Fox, and it was wonderful, Like I was
getting texts from all sorts of people that I know
don't normally follow soccer, so it was a wonderful, feel good,
(07:16):
feel good moment. But this team was together through this
tournament and they had a week of training in between
the games, and I think for Pochettino that was really
good in terms of this is how we're going to play.
And again this group coming together and still a relatively
short period of time, and you can see that this
particular group that doesn't have your Western McKinney's and You're
Christian polistics and a bunch of other players that we
(07:38):
have talked about consistently, and it doesn't mean that they're
not going to be integrated. But for them to have
this moment, I think it was really really important and
from we Pochettino to do it without those guys, I
think it was important message to send. And the work's
not over, so we shouldn't, you know, break our arm
patting ourselves on the back for beating a depleted Costa
Rica in a quarter final of a goal Cup. That's
been done many, many times before. But you know what
(07:59):
you sing, you're winning and if you can't find some
joy in that moment, you know, then I don't think
you're a sports person. And as you know, as a
sports person, sports are not for being rational. Sports are
for being irrational to a certain extent. So, like I said,
sing dance, celebrate that, which they did, and you can
(08:20):
see the pictures here. And then you got the semifinal
here coming on Wednesday. And if I had told this
US team you get a semi final game against Guatemala
to go to the final the Gold Cup, you would say,
sign me up right now?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Is there Tyler Adams feels like to me, will make
the World Cup. Matt Freese, you can argue, he just won.
I mean this is the last tournament before the World Cup.
That's pretty impressive. That was his moment. So freeze Tyler
Adams anybody else from this group because we acknowledge and
this is true for many countries. This was sort of
(08:53):
our B team, our developers besides Tyler Adams, and freeze
anybody else you see making the World CP roster. You know.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
So I think Tyler Adams was always going to be
a starter. I mean, he's not untouchable, but given his
experience and given his quality, so he's kind of the
the outlier here. But if you look at players that
helped their stock and dramatically, yes, Matt Freeze, because there
is a goalkeeper competition right now, and Matt Freeze got
the start during this Goal Cup, not because Matt Turner
(09:22):
is the number one and recent Pochettina went to him
and said, listen, I know who you are, and you're
my starter, and if this is the World Cup, you'd
be starting. No, because he recognizes that Matt Turner has
not been playing and has not been playing well when
he has played, which is very very limited, and so
there is a competition. So definitely, like you said, I
think Matt Freeze has put himself into the conversation. Diego Luna.
I really think, and I know I posted this morning
(09:45):
that Diego Luna I think had a really good game yesterday.
And yes, there's the grit in the fight, and you
know that you want to like this guy and he
makes you like him. But I also think that when
it comes to possession of the ball, creating things in
the attacking third, beating multiple players under pressure in traffic,
I don't think that there's anybody better other than Christian Polisic.
(10:06):
Now that's not a great thing to say, but maybe
it is in that how established he has already become.
So I think he's really helped his cause. And then
Malik Tolman, I think, right now, if the World Cup
started today, given what he's done in this tournament, has
really made a case for being that attacking midfielder, if
you will, Chris Richards, I think is going to be
a starter. But there's still a lot of questions. Even
(10:27):
with this wonderful win. There's still a lot of questions
when it comes to this US men's national team. Like
we said, less than a year away from twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Okay, okay, and finally on this if because we know
we have arguably six of our top seven players will
be on the World Cup roster that weren't here. Taking
that because I tend to believe, even though this is
eleven months out from the World Cup, I do think
performing well inertia.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
I don't care if you're a political party or a team.
Winning changes the way you think. I think, the inertia
the movement. So I do think winning this or at
least getting to the finals does matter. Judging by what
you've seen over the last four matches, three matches, and
then in your mind, taking our better players inserting them
(11:15):
into what you've seen. Do we have a philosophy, a brand,
or a style, right now that you can cling to that,
you could say this is how Maurizio, this is how
he sees the world. Tell me what we are today
with six or seven other elite players coming.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Yeah, so the integration or the reintegration of some of
those players that you have is only going to make
this team better. But I think it's been wonderful to
see the success and that's why, Yeah, I want them
to win, just you know, because I bleed America and
I want to see that. But more importantly, it's almost
a wonderful message to send an important message to send
(11:55):
to the guys that aren't here that you know what,
while you're important and you're not you're not a savior
and that and we can win games and we can
do things without you, because I think it's going to
motivate them to come in and say, you know what,
you know what stinks, just like everybody else is I'm
gonna have to work and some of the spirit and
(12:16):
some of the fight, you know, and all these words
that we use that was on display here in the
Goal Cup again the last time, like you said, from
a competitive standpoint, that we are going to see this team,
uh and certainly in a competitive tournament. I think that
that's going to be incredibly valuable going forward. And again
I'm not saying that any of those guys aren't going
to be important, important parts going forward, but they if
they come back in to a team that is kind
(12:39):
of like I said, Coalesced and this style, if you
will look it's it's not going to be put in
a time capsule for the best soccer ever played. But
again that's subjective as to what good soccer is. But
to your point, America doesn't give a crap how this
US team plays. They care that they win and that
they are doing it in a kind of raw guy,
(13:00):
strangely ugly but beautiful way that I think that resonates
with people. But ultimately, it's about winning, whether it's the
Girl Cup, whether it's end of the games leading up,
and then more importantly next summer, doing things we haven't
seen before and winning. Nobody's gonna stand on principle in
terms of quote beautiful soccer. If this team finds a
way to do great things come next summer in the
World Cup.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Very exciting Wednesday FS one coverage starts at sixth Eastern.
Will be favored over Guatemala as always my friend Alexi.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
You're great. Thanks man, You're the best. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, I was exciting, you know, I J Mack. I
was sitting there as I'm watching it, and I'm just thinking.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I mean, there's.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Obviously the eighteenth hole, like at the Masters, you know,
down the stretch of the Masters were Rory McElroy. Like,
there's just certain things that are endemic to our sports
culture that we know are great. Like I think in NFL,
overtime is not sudden death. I so it's like it
can be a little haphazard or random. I don't think
(13:59):
they're in a big match when you go to when
you go to the shootout. I don't think there's.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Anything like it.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Hockey's got in a little bit the power play. When
you got two minutes on the power play, you know
you're a man up. You trail late in a Stanley
Cup final, like you're like, okay, we got two minutes
here to score. We got to score. March Madness obviously
has a tie game late, but that is about as
good as sports.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Cats.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Yeah, I would say college football overtime and penalty kicks
for me are the best because it's equal. You get
a chance, you get a chance, the defense has a
chance to stop you. I like that fairness in sports,
and so PK's is right there for college football overtime
with me.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallero.
Mean a lot to have you join us on our
weekly auditory journey. You ask, what in God's name is
the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off
of it. Ben Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Why should you listen? Picture if you will? A world
will We check with captains of industry in media, sports,
and more every week explore some amazing facts about human
(15:05):
nature and more. Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
All right, Jmack with the news, No no.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Turns, this is the Herdline news.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
All right, Colin, Let's start with your Detroit Lions.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I think I can call him your right obviously, big
big holes to fill. Losing Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn
as coordinators, they moved on to be head coaches, but
defensively is what we're talking about. Remember, Aiden Hutchison went
down last season and they still finished fifteen and two.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
Just by losing the Washington at home in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Safety Brian Branch believes they're going through the ups and
downs last season, has been has the team feeling invincible
heading into this season?
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Now, I'll let you take that one away.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
This idea that their defense was good last year, Hey
we still went fifteen to two.
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Uh huh, Like that's just not really well.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, I think they show it. Yeah, I think they
have two really high end defensive players Branches one, Aiden
Hutchinson is the other. I mean, if you start on
a sliding scale, there's a lot of average and has
been for years in the secondary. And it's also a
division where you've got a lot of smart offensive coaches.
So the downside to being bad defensively in that division
(16:22):
is Matt Lafleur, Kevin O'Connell, Ben Johnson, a lot of
clever play callers, a lot of guys that can burn
you when you're not good on the back end. So
and some divisions historically, we look at the AFC North
and we think defense. The NFC North now is an
offensive coach division, So I'm with you. I think they
(16:44):
pull back. I also think you can't lose the best
offensive coordinator in football, hire somebody in house and think
you're going to get the same level even if they're successful.
Ben is sort of a one of one, kind of
a young McVeigh feel. So I just don't think they're
going to be quite as dynamic offensively, and they'll still
be good, not special defensively.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
I would challenge someone to find a schedule with tougher
opposing quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
Tolan.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
The first six weeks they got to face lamar Borough
and Mahomes, three of the top four quarterbacks in the NFL.
They also have to go to Philadelphia. Obviously, they've got
to go to Jaden Daniels Colin. This schedule is I
mean they got to go.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
To the Rams. That's a big game on Fox. I don't,
I don't. I just don't see it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I think I think I think you'd have to be happy.
I'd take Mitch again. There's not that many bad schedules, Yeah,
that I look at it, there are a ten to
eleven win team. But the days of twelve and thirteen,
I think they had a window and I think the
NFC for the last two years was weaker. I don't
(17:52):
think it is. I think the Rams are up to speed.
Jaden Daniels is magical. Baker Mayfield has solidified himself as
a franchise guy. I think today is of those lamps
in the NFC. The bottom half are over.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
It's over.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Move to Travis Hunter, who is hoping to be a
two way player this year, believing he can star at
wide receiver and corner, but doubt still remains whether he
can be successful well. Willie Cologne gave his opinion on
Breakfast Ball Friday.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I know how I would approach a guy like this.
I'm gonna test his armor. I'm gonna see how tough
you really are if you want to be a two
way player in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I'm gonna see if you're strong enough to be a
two way player.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
So when I'm pulling around that corner, I'm gonna test
that twelve on your chest. Right And so for me,
if I'm the Jacksonville Jaguars, he that's listen to what
the players are saying. They're curious if he could finish
an eighteen game season going both ways.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I promise you he won't.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
They will move him to one side of the ball,
and that's cornerback, and allow him to be the best
corner they be, because not only are you gonna have
to make tackles, you all have to stand getting hit too.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, I there's there are certain things you can do
in college you know that don't work in the NFL.
But I would say, like, oh, Tawny, you were like, okay,
maybe you could do that in double A baseball pitch
and hit. And yet there are these unique, once in
a lifetime athletes that can go to the highest level
(19:18):
of sports and do things you'd never imagine. And maybe
he's that guy. It wasn't one number one high school
player in the country, so it's not like he's a
late bloomer. Like he was unbelievable at sixteen, eighteen, twenty one.
Why won't he be unbelievable at twenty three and twenty
four in the NFL. I think he may be, And
I do think over the course of time, athletes get better.
(19:40):
In ten years, if I told you the NFL had
six two way players, I wouldn't be shocked. I mean,
if you had six guys, wait.
Speaker 7 (19:47):
A minute to find two way like, how many corner
like the corner? What if you do five plays? Are
you a two way player?
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
If you play thirty minimum on both sides.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
That's a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
I do think what I said before the draft calling
is he gonna is he gonna go and try to
tackle Jonathan Taylor in space ten times and then go
try to get over against the cold secondary And then
the next week you're trying to tackle Derrick Henry and
you know, and then you're going.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Out for running routes. I don't think that's feasible. I've
never thought that was past.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
I want to Sean was returning putt set. If Travis
Thunder wants to do that, go for it. But like
actually tackling people and then running routes.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I don't think anybody wants to tackle Derrick Henry for.
Speaker 7 (20:28):
The record, but certainly not. Final story, Colin is big
news for the show.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Congratulations Colin, you have been named to the twenty twenty
five class of the Radio Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You're the lone.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Sports representative as part of this year's.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
Ten person class, and it's kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Excited.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
Huh, how are you celebrating?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Well, you should agree with me, more now that I'm
a Hall of Famer, I should just get a lot
of agreement. All I ever wanted to do is a kid.
When I was seven years old, my mom bought me
a trans sister radio and that's all I ever wanted
to do was radio. I grew up in a small town.
It wasn't cable television. Radio is what I always wanted
to do. So sometimes things in your life lineup. Also,
(21:10):
thank you to all the people. This morning at about
I woke up and there was a lot of probably
about twenty thirty texts, and it's increased. I'll get to
all of them. Thank you. People are very kind. But
uh yeah, I was one of the lucky ones that
this is what I wanted to do for a living,
and it just happened to line up and I got
to do what I wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
It's listen, it's really not a surprise that you get
elected to the Hall of Fame after working with me
for a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That's a good point.
Speaker 7 (21:34):
Yeah, I mean it took a while.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's all work.
Speaker 7 (21:37):
That was allst Coward.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
There is we're seeing really it is prime as a
radio star.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
No, we've been a good life incredibly grateful for it.
All right, Alexi Lawless and Matt Hasselbeck both delivered today,
and thanks for stopping by on a Monday. Thanks guys.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
Weekdays and Noone Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one, and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Oh jmak. This is interesting. So for years and years
I was told that Aaron Rodgers and Devonte Adam very tight,
and then when DeVante Adams left to go to the Raiders,
we found out that he and Aaron weren't nearly that tight.
(22:35):
So but David Bachtiari, that's his number one friend. Interesting
anybody see the old X accounts? This morning, according to X,
David Bachtiari goes to X and says, basically, love is love.
(22:58):
Congrats to the love Jordan Love got married. Just happy.
At least one of my quarterbacks invited me to their
wedding eyes emoji. Knowing that bok Tri knows Aaron has
a little bit of a tenuous record of friendship ghosting.
(23:19):
I don't know. This goes back to a lot of
people have fake friends. A lot of people tell you
they have a lot of friends, Devontae Adams and Aaron
so close not really now. David Barkdi takes a litter
shot at it.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Did you see that Aaron Rodgers is sick of people
asking about who his wife is and what are the details?
Speaker 7 (23:43):
He's like, no, she wants to stay out of the
public eye. Like sorry, bro, it doesn't work.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Like sorry, you are a famous guy, They're gonna be
asking you a lot of questions. And Rogers is already
ticked off at the media for probing into it. Wait
till TMZ or whoever uncovers the wife. Man, if you
what do they call it when you are married for
a while and then you renew your vows or whatever,
Like if you did that and didn't invite me, I
would probably take it personally and vent on social media.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
Jeez, qub one didn't even invite me to read.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Everybody is saying it's just a joke, So maybe it is.
What do I know, Maybe it's just lamping. Maybe they're
trying to pull those of us reviewed as negative errand guys,
they're trying to pull us in.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I saw it and the staff is like, he's joking,
and I'm like, that's kind of personal for a joke,
especially with Aaron's reputation.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Look at his account, it doesn't. It doesn't really jive
with that's a joke. It just comes out of like nowhere.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
You know, all jokes just have just enough truth in them.
Ever noticed that, Like at the Oscars when Ricky Gervais
goes up there and makes a jokes about certain people,
it's just a you have truth in the joke. So
this may be just what they call like fishing. They're
(25:07):
trying to get people to overreact engagement farming. Well, no,
I can just see Aaron telling, Hey, do that so
all the haters and the media attack means so I
can turn and make fun of them. I could see
Aaron doing that as well, even though he doesn't listen
to any of us or read any of us, of course,
but it is. Do you think it's a joke or not?
Speaker 7 (25:26):
I think something's up? Yes, legit?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
All right?
Speaker 7 (25:29):
He probably feels annoying. How do you not invite me?
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I though we're voice, But I mean they're they're they're
the closest of allies. They're the closest of allies. Maybe
they're so close they're mocking all of us. Maybe that's it.
That's certainly possible. So I saw this Cooper Flag. Uh
you know, Mount Rushmore the term for the four best
ever at a sport or a position or whatever. So
Cooper Flag, the number one pick of the Dallas Mavericks
(25:54):
rising domestic basketball star, got into the Mount Rushmore topic.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
I'm Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
Of NBA players, I would say Larry Bird, Michael Jordan,
Lebron and probably Kobe and then w NBA Candas Parker,
Brittany Griner. I think Asia Wilson is on there, and
(26:25):
then I might put Cannon Clark on there just because
she's changed the game so much and it's heading in
the right direction and I just.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Love what she's not to do.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Uh yeah, yeah, I think I would have put Caitlin
Clark actually number one.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
She is not just helping revenue. Caitlin Clark is a
stimulus package. So I saw something today. Cleveland, Detroit and
Philadelphia it's been announced are going to get new franchises
now that had been discussed last year and the year before.
But it's interesting how suddenly when Caitlin Clark comes into
(27:07):
the league, bona fide star, we have three new teams
coming up Why Because it's much easier to get investors
when you can see a path to profits, and before
last year there wasn't. It's hard to get investors when
you have a history after twenty five years of nobody
really making a profit. When Steve Jobs came back to Apple,
(27:30):
it's a funny, but investors came pouring back into Apple.
Why so I've said this the people that are like, yeah,
somebody must be into this Caitlin Clark story. Folks, this
is MJ this is Tiger merchandise, tickets, revenue. Like the
NBA was not a global league. Magic and Bird made
(27:53):
it more popular domestically. Michael made it global. Michael changed
merchandising in America, actually among young men. And that's what
she's doing. She sold out her shoe line in ten minutes.
She not only sold out her shoe line, they brought
in a random NBA player to be a teammate, Sophie Cunningham.
(28:16):
She sold out her jersey.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
In one day.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
She'd been in the league for seven years, not much
of a profile. So just by proxy being close to her,
being an ally of Caitlin Clark, you'll sell out your merchandise.
That's different. I mean, that's like if you were Tiger
Wood's caddie, you were the third most known person on
the tour, Tiger Phil Micholson and Tiger's caddie. We can
(28:44):
now go back and name Tiger's caddies. Like that's a
whole different ballgame. So good stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Earlier today, the Steelers traded for Jalen Ramsey, moved off
Minka Fitzpatrick. And I've been on this for a couple
of years. Could you start spin money on offense? So
Jalen Ramsey cost seven and a half million more dollars
annually than Mega Fitzpatrick. And he's a very loose player.
He's talented, but he's as good as his environment. When
he had the structure of the Rams in McVeigh was
(29:13):
very good, though they moved off him kind of doing
his own thing, kind of an independent corner. But when
you put him in Jacksonville and you put him in
Miami structurally, culturally, much looser organizations, it doesn't work as well.
He's kind of doing his own thing. So Pittsburgh's reputation,
James Harrison talked about this last week, is it's pro
player Mike Tomlin to a fault is pro player. So
(29:35):
you know, Aaron Rodgers doing his own thing. DK Metcalf
doing his own thing. Now Jalen Ramsey kind of doing
his own thing. They move off Mega Fitzpatrick, which I
could live with because I think he is a good safety,
not great anymore, but very good. But he's a team leader.
He's low maintenance. He can handle the pro player culture
that Mike Tomlin has created. And here's Hasselbeck on Ramsey
(29:58):
to the Steelers.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
They do not care about the rest of the league.
They don't care about what anybody else does. They say, Hey,
we're the Steelers. This is how we operate. So I
don't think that's going to change. But I do think
this it looks like they're building a team to stop
the Cincinnati Bengals. It's almost like they have confidence in
what they have, like what we have can take care
of the Baltimore Ravens, like we're good. But like, man,
(30:22):
I don't know how we're going to stop the Cincinnati Bengals.
Like I do believe that there's a fear there of
like personnel wise, we don't match up well well.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Baltimore, for the record, has also upgraded their secondary so
I think Matt is right. I think if you're in
that division against Joe Burrow chasing T Higgins, you got
to stop those guys. So I do think that's true.
But it's interesting where Matt says, and he's probably right,
Like the Steelers don't care about the rest of the league.
I never buy into that. Sean McVay is acutely aware
(30:52):
of what everybody's doing. Like I don't believe, like Koke
doesn't worry about PEPSI. They keep their eye on PEPSI
Google watching Apple, everybody's watching Microsoft. Like I don't buy that. Hey,
our culture is so strong, we don't watch anybody. I
think you watch what people do. I think you watch
who people draft you. I mean, in any business, if
(31:15):
there's cultural changes, legislative changes, rule changes, you have to adapt.
How are other people responding to stuff? So, and I
think he's probably right. The Steelers do their own thing.
I've never been a fan of that. I think you
have to watch. I mean, when I started my little company,
I'm like watching other companies. What do they do, what works,
what fails? What's a trap? See around the corner a
(31:38):
little bit, don't get trapped. I don't buy that. We
don't watch what anybody else does. Nobody's culture is that strong.
I mean a prime example is Google. You know, we
always thought like Google is the most powerful company in
the world. Then AI came and like, AI is going
to replace needing Google. Now, thank god Google bought you
(32:00):
YouTube and I think cloud and other businesses. That's why
big co means Democrats sometimes struggle with this. Folks. There's
a reason billionaires keep investing because nothing lasts forever. I
thought Google search engine would last forever. If I would
have guessed a company that'll last forever, No didn't. AI
is going to replace to some degree the search engines.
(32:20):
So what happens is you got to invest in other stuff.
You have to always be growing. Amazon continues to grow.
There will be and I by the way you're seeing
it now with the TikTok shop. Everybody's on TikTok. Now
you can order from TikTok. Who does that hurt? Oh
that hurts Amazon? I want to get my sports garret fanatics.
Who does that hurt Amazon? Nobody dominates forever, so and
(32:41):
so I think you always have to keep your eye
on your competition. There's peaks, there's valleys, you hit highs,
stocks fluctuate, people in your company leave who are brilliant.
So there you go. Fine line between having your own
identity and being out of touch with your industry. Those
are two different things. You got to be in line
(33:03):
and know what other people are doing. And by the way,
what the other people are doing in the NFL is
spending on offense, not leading the league for the four
straight year in defensive spending, and they haven't signed the TJ.
Watt contract yet. This will be the fourth year they
lead the NFL and spending. We're not talking the TJ.
Watt contract. That one's around the corner. Trouble, all right.
(33:25):
We flew through Monday. Alexi Lawless, Colin Right, Colin Wrang,
Matt Hasselback, J. Mack will see you and everybody else
tomorrow
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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