October 24, 2025 • 41 mins
Colin gives his Blazin' 5 picks for the weekend
He talks to NBA insider Rachel Nichols joins the show to share the latest details on the FBI’s investigation, what she’s hearing from around the league, and the biggest challenge the NBA is facing right now
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Ah Right hour two live in Chicago. It's the Hurd, Big,
big weekend. I think it's going to be an upset
weekend in college football. Upset weekend in college football.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's a Herd. Thanks for watching.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Appreciate it. Rachel Nichols in fifteen minutes. What a what
a wild, wacky world we live in. I do think
the NBA is going to be fine. People will still
watch it. I think incidents like the Damon Jones, Chauncey
(01:07):
billup stuff is there are rogued Tim Donaghee nineteen seventies,
Boston College, Henry Hill, Richie the fixer Perry. You can't,
you can't. I mean this is not analogous, but you know,
it's like not everything is a large group of people.
Sometimes they always talk about this insecurity, the lone gunman,
(01:30):
the lone wolf, who is disconnected. He's a loaner. Nobody.
FBI can't predict that stuff. CIA can't predict that stuff.
That's what you always worry about security for government officials CEOs.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
It's a rando.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's a lone wolf who's kind of a loaner and
not connected. So this idea that everything is this big honeycomb,
it's this big net all connected, I just don't believe
that to be true. I mean, I've been betting on
sports forever. I can bet ten dollars anytime and that's it.
But I can also have a glass of champagne celebrating
something and that's it, because it gives me a headache
(02:08):
after one. So I don't think this is a big
net of NBA players, mob gambling athletes. Bad judgment been
around since the Romans and the Chariot races, and it's
going to continue.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, I've had a couple of good weeks. I've been
on a.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Heater four and one last week, four and one this week.
I do not like taking favorites, and I do not
like the lines this week at all. Here's our blazing five.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Let's blaze it up, fired Up. It's Collins blazon Fox,
Fars and Ravens. My favorite pick Ravens. Lamar is backed
minus six. Lamar returns.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Ravens average thirty three a game and six and a
half yards per play in the four games this year
with Lamar Jackson, and it's a must win game total
urgency for the franchise. Lamar has eaten the NFC for
lunch twenty four to three in his career. Even better,
at home, the Bears on the road defense isn't a
(03:17):
good Caleb Williams by the way, last three games, completion
percentage has dipped to fifty eight point seven percent, and
right now the Bears defense can make splash plays and takeaways,
but it's allowing six point two yards per.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Play against Lamar.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Lamar Jackson's gonna eat favorite pick of the weekend Ravens
minus six. They win twenty eight to twenty one, and
it won't feel that close. Browns hit Patriots another big favorite.
I like New England at home minus seven. Why because
four straight wins and they're averaging thirty a game during
those wins and their defense is great against the run,
(03:55):
meaning Dylan Gabriel will have to pass to beat Drake
May and the Patriots in Brable. I don't see it happening.
Cleveland's defense not as good on the road. In fact,
the Browns are zero and three on the road and
they have the twenty eight ranked rush offense. So Dylan
Gabriel is going to have to be really good to
(04:17):
keep up and beat Drake May, who has been outstanding
since Week two.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I don't think it's happening.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I like the Patriots to win by ten, twenty eight
to seventeen.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
That's eleven.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Dolphins at Felcons.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I like the over forty four and a half points.
I've been hot on overs Falcons or average in twenty
six a game, and Michael Pennix at home has a
one zero three passer rating. But they also have a
terrible red zone defense. If Miami threatens, Miami should do
well and eat in the red zone. But I like
(04:52):
Atlanta at home to score points. Jamak talked about this
fast track. They're very good. The Dolphins' opponents have come
by Dolphins and their opponents have combined for forty five
plus points in five of the last six games, and
the over under here is forty five and a half.
Their defense allows big, big plays in Atlanta at home
delivers big plays. The Dolphins defense not good. Atlanta's offense
(05:18):
at home very good. Take the over forty four and
a half points, twenty eight, twenty one thirty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
My bad of Falcons win forty nine ers at Texans.
This is a late add.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There are concerns about the Texans health at wide receiver,
but this offense for the Texans, it's the number three
scoring offense since Week four, and their defense has been
great all season. Sam Darnold and Seattle at home last
week really struggled with this defense. So their defense is
especially good at clamping down on running backs and their receivers.
(06:00):
And the Niners right now are living off McCaffrey running
and McCaffrey receiving. And the Niners are three and seven
after a win the last two seasons, So the Texans
defense is great. The Niners are still beat up. I
think it's a choppie game. I'm gonna take the Texans
(06:22):
twenty seven to twenty three.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Cowboys and Broncos finally, Denver minus three at home. I
like it.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Take the Broncos three and zero at home. Won eight
straight home games dating back to last year, and seven
of those eight have been by eight plus points. Bo
Nicks won eight straight games at home. He's a better
home quarterback. The Cowboys, listen, they beat the Jets, the
Giants and the Commanders, and Jayden Daniels wasn't healthy. They've
(06:56):
been one and three on the road. They're not a
great road team. And they have an atrocious third down
defense that will keep the ball away from Dak And
they have an atrocious big play defense. So the Broncos
are gonna win time of possession. The Broncos, who really
need to hit on big plays, have finally found a
(07:17):
defense that surrenders big plays. So I like Denver to win,
and I like Denver to cover the spread. Twenty eight
twenty four Broncos win. So in a review, I like
favorites this week, I generally don't love them. Favorite bet
(07:38):
Ravens minus six at home, Lamar returns, Patriots minus seven
at home Cleveland. Dylan Gabriel will have to throw.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
To win, and I don't see it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Take the over Atlanta at home scores and the Dolphins
defense is a mess.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Take the over.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I'm gonna take the Texans at home minus one and
a half. It's my least favorite pick, but their defense
is great, and the Niners have limitations offensively, and Denver
at home to win and cover.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think it's a fun game. I think it's a
great watch.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But Denver they are really really seeking the big play,
and this is the defense that does allow the big play.
The Cowboys couldn't say the last time I took three
favorites generally don't like doing that. It's a wonky week
for numbers.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Now I did not.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I did not take the Steelers because the number now
is down to three, not three and a half. So
the hook was the key the places I watched it's
down to three. I think it's a really good game,
and it's funny Aaron's facing at home facing the Packers again,
and I was thinking about the memories of him in
Green Bay. So he won four MVPs. He was not
(08:56):
a great playoff quarterback eleven and ten. Far was also
about five hundred, so is Jordan Love. So what I
always think is interesting about Green Bay? Do we remember
it more fondly than reality because it was so esthetically beautiful.
I've said this, Dan Marino gets to a Super Bowl
year two, never gets back, but we remember Marino so
(09:16):
fondly because it was such a beautiful, eye pleasing style.
Same with Aaron. Aaron's last twelve years in Green Bay.
So he wins early in his career, and we think
it's going to be a decade of dominance. His last
twelve seasons after that in Green Bay he was seven
and nine in the playoffs and lost multiple times as
(09:39):
a favorite. In fact, those nine losses his last twelve
years in Green Bay, and I looked us up this morning,
that was the most playoff losses by any.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Team in that stretch.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Right, So Mahomes has been to five Super Bowls and
Manning to four, and Britty was collecting rings and those
are peers, right, It's just funny In Aaron, he replaces
Farv and we're like, oh my god, is he better
than Farv? And my bet was, oh, absolutely, And they
end up both being pretty to be honest with you,
(10:12):
being pretty average in the playoffs despite a well run organization,
good offensive lines, but Farv, I mean one thing, all
back Aaron on.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Aaron did not have a lot of great defenses in
Green Bay. And then he goes to the.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Jets and they fire Sola and that defense is no good.
Then he goes to Tomlin Pittsburgh, and that defense is
no good. And the one thing Brady oh has had
really good defenses and the one thing Maholmes has now
great defenses. So to defend Aaron is that you look
at his playoff record and you're like, ah, he wanted
(10:48):
a great defense. Do you know the year he had
a great defense was the year he won a Super Bowl.
Rachel Nichols around the corner.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It's the hurd.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
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Speaker 4 (11:08):
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(11:29):
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Speaker 5 (11:41):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Rachel Nichols has been covering the NBA since the early nineties.
Fox Sports NBA analyst Rachel Nichols is now joining us
on the show.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
So you know, there's a lot to unpack.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I think I listened to three to four total podcasts
this morning last night. Like you, you cover this league regular,
so your feet on the ground. Let's talk about the
difference between sort of the active and the passive involvement
in these gambling operations. A lot of it's squawk talk
and a lot of its reality. What's the difference here?
Speaker 6 (12:14):
You see, Well, there's two kind of categories of this, right,
So we know for sure that they're accusing Terry Rogier
of being active, right that he specifically went to go
throw his appearance in the game. He walked off the
court early, he told people bet the under, and they're
accusing him of sitting and counting the money gained from
this with his friend. A week later, Janta Porter has
(12:35):
already acknowledged he has played guilty to being active, to
throwing his participation in a game and getting the under bet,
and he is a waiting sentencing on that. And then
you have guys who it's not really clear.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Right.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Chauncey Billups is named in both sides of this suit
as saying, oh, he told an associate that a bunch
of guys, including a guy who matches Damian Lillard's description,
will be.
Speaker 7 (12:57):
Sitting that night, and that was used to go game.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
Now, did he just tell someone because he was telling
a friend or did he do it on purpose to
get them to say, Hey, throw me a little cash,
I'll bet the under Damon Jones, we know, is accused
of being active in this situation, telling someone that Lebron
James was going to be sitting and then saying, hey,
bet for me and then pay me my money. We're talking,
(13:22):
you know, about twenty five hundred dollars apparently for giving
that information, according to the federal government. So there's kind
of two sides of this. Chauncey Phillips attorney, has come
out very strongly and said he would never do this
on purpose. He would never risk his career, his family.
You know, his position as a Hall of Famer or a.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Coach in this league.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
You have to assume that his defense is going to be, Yeah,
I showed up at these poker games. They paid me
to be in these poker games, but I didn't know
they were rigged. We're just going to have to soar
it through and find out did they know who knew
and is there a difference between the guys who actively
participated and the guys who may have been around people they.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Should not have been around, and how much they know it.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
Kind of though, for the NBA doesn't matter that much
how these cases shake out, because they now have to
deal with the fact that they have two active investigations.
Now they've got in the Clipper situation, They've got an
owner who is being investigated for saying, well, I didn't
know this was going on, but we have a sponsor
who was paying one of our players twenty eight million
(14:22):
dollars to apparently do nothing. You have a coach now
being investigated, you have players being investigated, and you have
ex players being investigated. That is a lot for one league. Colin,
and I agree with you. The NBA has been around
for nearly eighty years. The NBA isn't going anywhere. These
scandals are not going to take down the league. But
it is an issue with if you say crime right
(14:42):
in general, in a neighborhood, crime is going to happen.
You're never going to have zero crime, but you can't
have too much crime, right, otherwise people won't want to
come to that neighborhood. And that is what the NBA
is having to deal with right now. You have so
many different levels of the game people being accused of
mal Feesen's here.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
That is a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, the NBA did their own investigation on Johntay Porter
and Terry Rozier, and then the FBI did their investigation.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
How do they differ.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Well, Look, the NBA doesn't have subpoena power, so I
don't blame the NBA at all for that.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
They can only do so much.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
They can only get people to talk to them who
want to talk to them. They can't put guys up
and say hey, we're going to put you in jail
if you don't tell us this. So it is a
very different situation. It's why the NBA has been cooperating
with the government on these investigations. But again, the optics
of it are difficult and it is not the league's fault,
but it is the league's problem when they clear a
(15:33):
guy and then suddenly now he's facing jail time.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The Damon Jones stuff to me is because I don't
know Lebron per Se. I've talked to Lebron for twenty minutes.
Always very friendly. I know people in his circle very well. Again,
if I've been critical of Lebron, they don't reach out.
They understand the game. I always thought he surrounded himself
with the smartest guys in the league, because I think
Lebron's really bright, good businessman, bright guy. The Damon Jones
(16:01):
was close to Lebron. He was on a Laker team, unpaid,
part of Darvinham's staff, and so, you know, I mean,
Damon was a well liked guy. I think I've talked
I don't know if I've talked to him, but Damon
Jones was kind of well liked.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Lebron liked him.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I'm not sure if he was in his circle, but
you know they've hung out o.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
They like each other.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
There is a story that Damon they go to Milwaukee
and Lebron's banged up and he tells people, hey, I
want to eat here. It is that one troubles me
because it involves the face of the league and the Lakers.
If I had to rank these in order, is that
is that the chance he or the Damon won the
(16:41):
league is truly frightened about.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
Well, the Damon one is the kind of thing that
could spin out and have future repercussions. Right, because Damon
Jones was very close to Lebron. I'm not saying at
all that Lebron was involved in this. Nobody is saying
Lebron was involved in this, but he was close to
a lot of big names in this league. Damon Jones
is knocked around the league for a long time. He
was on a lot of different team He has close
relationships with a lot of guys. He had inside information
(17:03):
on a lot of different guys, and he was clearly, according.
Speaker 7 (17:06):
To the federal.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Government, he is alleged to be a very active participant
in this knowing what he was doing.
Speaker 7 (17:12):
So if that is indeed the case, and.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
He did it with several other guys, we had Cash Pttel,
the director of the FBI, go on several television shows
yesterday after that press conference and say more is coming.
He said, this is just the beginning. So I got
to believe him. He knows what the FBI is investigating,
and that is what the league has to be concerned about.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
The Chauncey Billups thing is just hard to wrap my
brain around.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Uh. He I initially thought he was in the poker
side of it, which is Leakosa Nostra. I don't know
if La Coosa Nostra is involved in the NBA part,
they are involved heavily in the poker And for the record,
I listened to two podcasts last night, one from somebody
who covers the Mob for a living, and he said,
there are Mob games all over New York tonight. That's
(17:58):
just you know, you know New York better than I do.
But like, that's just the thing he was naming, you know,
of le Sington Avenue.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
There's a play.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I mean, he was naming the areas and I'm like, okay,
so and NBA players have played cards forever.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
It's kind of part of the culture.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Do you think the league was caught off guard with
Johncey billups? I mean players have done this in all sports.
The Chauncey one for me is whoa a coach? How
is that viewed? Are you shocked by that?
Speaker 6 (18:28):
I was very shocked by it because John Cy is
extremely well liked around the league. He's known as a mentor,
a leader, a good guy.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
You know.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
The reason why he is held in such high esteem
isn't because he was such an elite he's not the
leader in the NBA in points ever, He's not like
Lebron James. He's known as being one of the best
leader of men in the NBA, and here he is
being caught up in a scandal that at the very
least shows incredible bad judgment and according to the FBI,
shows a lot worse than that. And when you talk
(18:56):
about sort of the back and forth and why these
two cases are connected, it's because a lot of the
same guys are involved in the illegal poker game as
in the betting, and that is where the crossover is
and why Chauncey is also named in the illegal betting
part but not indicted in that part because he was
with those guys, but not necessarily, according to the FBI,
purposely giving information to them. He just did give information
(19:18):
to whether he knew or not it was being.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
Used to bet.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
But this is going to continue to be a problem,
and the NBA has to hope that what happens is
is that guys understand they could go to jail for this,
and once that realization sets in, the hope is that players, coaches,
anyone involved with the league.
Speaker 7 (19:36):
Just stops messing with this. But the NBA is in
a little.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
Bit of a tough position, as are every sports league
now the way legalized betting is.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
In these betting companies.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
The NBA was estimated to make around one hundred and
seventy million dollars directly.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
From betting companies.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
It has two official relationships and other relationships with fifteen
other betting companies. Then you talk about fan engagement, because betting,
as we know, the whole point is it people watch
games they.
Speaker 7 (20:01):
Might not otherwise watch.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
Right, you know this is a lopsided game, but I
got to bet on it. I mean, it's fantasy football too.
Why do we watch so many football games we might not.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
Otherwise care about?
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Right, So the engagement factor is also huge, and that's
estimated to be two or three hundred million dollars extra
a year pouring into the league fan engagement on top
of one hundred and seventy million dollars, So it really
has become an integral part of the league's income system.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
So it's very hard to just walk away from all
of this. But it's also hard.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
To think about the fact that you have these games
going on and right underneath on the ticker is hey
bet the third quarter bet.
Speaker 7 (20:35):
What's going on here?
Speaker 6 (20:36):
Yesterday we had several television networks across covering this, people
discussing it just like.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
You and I.
Speaker 7 (20:42):
And underneath on the ticker is go bet.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Right sports networks who have their own sports book. ESPN
has its own sports book, And while they were discussing
this on the morning show, it said bet ESPN underneath.
So this is so ingrained and so available in a
way it wasn't twenty years ago. Well you're talking about
Michael Jordan going to Atlantic City. He had to go
to Atlantic City. You don't have to do that anymore.
(21:05):
And every single person involved with the NBA just has
to send a text and it's a.
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Much different game.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Well, you know, David Stern was really anti gambling. Adam
Silver was the opposite. Stern eventually came around and realized
the value. And I am a believer in legalized sports
gambling because it's a regulated market. The Terry Rose ear stuff, Rachel,
I'm sure you know this. They knew instantly. I mean
they knew within hours something was up.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
I cut off bedding for the rest of the night.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, and I do worry about Brian Windhorse said. The
league knew as a fake and injury took him out
of games. Was the NBA strong enough? Barkley talked about
that last night. So I am four and I've worked
in Vegas like I am for regulation. Remember it was
Vegas that told the NBA about Tim Donneghey, yeah right,
(21:53):
they don't want to the margins are thin. They don't
want any of this. I'll just throw this at you
when you hear tip of the iceberg. I tend to
think it's more rogue stuff. I think most players get.
Let me ask you this, when you go to cover
the NBA, do you see signage? Do you see I mean,
(22:16):
obviously these players are told you can't talk about injuries
to non locker room people, like do you have a
sense when you go cover games that it's understood the
line not be crossed with gambling and non insiders.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I think it's understood that you don't do what Damon
Jones did, which was tech someone who is a known
gambling and associate and say, hey, bet the under because
or bet against the Lakers because Lebron isn't playing tonight.
I think players know that is against the rules. However,
there is a gray area, and this is hard to regulate,
and it's hard to even manage.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
If you're a player, you tell a buddy.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Eh, I'm frustrated, I'm not playing tonight. That information is
not out there yet. That buddy doesn't work for the NBA.
He can go place bet or tell other people to
place a bet based on that information, and that's always
going to happen. And it becomes even more complicated once
we get into college basketball and college sports, because the
NCAA just a couple days ago said that its players
(23:13):
can now bet on professional sports in the sport that
they play. So what if you were a player who
is a junior or senior who has a buddy in
the NBA who was on your team, who was a
teammate just a year or two ago, who just in
a casual conversation says, eh, I can't play tonight. No
one knows that yet, but I can't play. Oh my
knees bothering me. Now that kid in college can go
bet on that inside information. This just gets very dangerous
(23:36):
and sticky, and it is difficult when you say, is
it the tip of the iceberg or is it an
ice cube? As you said earlier in the show, which
I think is.
Speaker 7 (23:42):
A great analogy.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
I think it might be an Iceberg only because there
are so many different places this could crop up, all
across the NBA, all across other sports, all across college
sports now, so I think we're going to see a
lot of different places for this to happen. And you
just have to hope again, as players see you can and.
Speaker 7 (24:00):
Go to jail.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Your entire life can be ruined over this. It is
not worth it. And you get into the addiction side
of it too, which is override some people's judgment.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, it did.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
By the way, an NBA player is liable, and they
have been told this. If they talk about an injury
to a non team employee, they are libel. They could
say it to a friend, you can't. So I mean
every NBA player in every room they walk into is
the biggest star, right, and people come up to them
(24:31):
and they just I mean, you almost have to hide
before a game and stay off your f I mean, really,
you really do as a player. So I do have
some sympathy there, Rachel Nichols, great stuff as always, on
an ongoing investigation, and we'll just we'll keep everybody updated.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
Thank you, Rach, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, it's just not Yeah, if you just say and
I thought about this. I was talking to Danny Parkins
about this on a pod last night, and he.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Kind of theorized.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He said, what if you couldn't bet unders, you could
only bet over. You can't bet this guy will score
less this guy. Look, if a guy scores more, it's
good for everybody, right, the player, the team, the guy.
But you can't bet unders. But I don't believe you
should eliminate prop bets because then it goes to the
unregulated market and it's not supervised. I want it supervised.
(25:25):
So you know, you know answers. Arno is easy with
this stuff. J Mack with the news, No, no.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
No, turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
This is the Herdline News.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
All right, kind of, let's start with Patrick Mahomes, one
of your favorite guys around the league, really cooking this year. Obviously,
he is a three times Super Bowl MVP. But do
you remember he started his college career at Texas Tech
under a guy.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Named Cliff Kingsbury.
Speaker 8 (25:52):
Well, the two of them will have a reunion on
Monday Night Football when the Chiefs host the Commanders. Mahomes
talked about how Kingsbury allowed him to play the game
his way.
Speaker 9 (26:01):
He's one of the first people I would say that
truly believed to me in playing in the quarterback position.
And so he gave me a ton of advice of
of refining me but letting me still just be me
and play to my strengths. And so a great coach,
a great person that still stay in touch with, not
as much this week, but throughout throughout my career. And
he helped me get to where I'm at today because
(26:23):
he didn't put me in a box and tell me
I need to play quarterback this way. He let me
just go out there and be myself and be the
how I play the way they got me there, And
I think that's something that's special about him as a coach.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know, very much like Andy Reid, Kingsbury was not
a great head coach college or NFL great mentor great
play designer, great play caller. We've talked about this before.
There is a skill to walk around and not be
on a headset. Most NFL coaches, college coaches, the elite
ones are walk around guys. They're not in a headset.
(26:55):
So Kingsbury is a really good football coach so far.
As a head coach, you and I have.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I'm pro Kingsbury.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Just for the record, No, I'm pro Kingsbury too.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
He loved Jaden Daniels when we broke the story last
year before before the Jade and Daniels Drake May draft.
A month before the draft, I said, Washington's taking Jadan Daniels.
Kingsbury was the one that went to Adam Peters the
GM and pounded the table and said that guy. We
can win a lot of games with that guy. And
(27:27):
he wasn't anti anybody else but Jayden Daniels was Cliff
Kingburry's favorite quarterback in the entire class, more than Caleb,
more than Drake, more than Pennix. So Kingsbury that's the
quarterback he wanted. And then last year you saw the results.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (27:42):
Just listening to Mahomes talk about Kingsbury, I feel like
in that scenario, I'm Mahomes in, You're Kingsbury back at
Texas Tech. You just tell me j Mack. I know
you're gonna do some crazy stuff, but you do you
plenty of your strengths and I like that As a coach.
I believe Colin Kingsbury will be interviewing for head coaching jobs.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I saw.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
You know, I he struggled in discipline. He is a
former athlete. Yeah, he didn't love discipline. He didn't necessarily
hold players as accountable.
Speaker 8 (28:11):
We'll see what McDaniel in Miami too.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Right, some of.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
These guys young coaches, Yeah, they just are not the
old school coaches can.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Bark and use volume and are.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Pretty punitive to players, and Andy Reid is can be rough. Yeah,
so it's I think some of these young coaches struggle
with that.
Speaker 8 (28:28):
So certainly let's move on to the Baltimore Ravens, the
biggest injury report everybody's waiting for today. You know, we'll
see what happens with Lamar Jackson. But Kyle Hamilton, who
has missed a lot of time this season, he's getting
back in the fold, which is great news. Hamilton knows
they need to approach the season one game at a
time to climb out of this one in five hole.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
You can't ignore the past.
Speaker 10 (28:51):
But you know, we're forward thinking at this point, kind
of have to be, and every game force is a
playoff game. That's how it feels and how it's gonna
have to be from here on out. Tug ourselves in
a deepot. But in order to get in the dance,
we got to really be locked in from here on out.
So we're trying to do that.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, like the Ravens, and we've said this about Lamar Jackson,
he unless you see him regularly, he is a lot
to face without seeing him multiple times. I can remember
his rookie year the Chargers faced him the first time
and just didn't know what to do, and then the
second time they had a little bit better beat on him.
So like Kansas City has seen him so many times,
(29:29):
Bags have seen him so many times. They know what
he can do and know what he can't. They know
his tells. So this is a rough ass for Chicago
new defensive staff going to Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
This is the one game on the board. I feel
very strongly.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think Baltimore wins, and from the very beginning feels
like the team that's in control of this game.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
You could get Baltimore plus one ten to make the
playoffs plus money.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I did take that. I think they're going to the playoffs.
Speaker 8 (29:57):
My thing to watch though, in this one's not necessarily
Baltimore Collins Caleb Williams, so he's had the run game
recently and he's been serviceable. What happens if the Ravens
are able to take that away and Caleb has to
win this with his arm. Do you think he's possible
He's capable of doing that on this rows.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
You know, the Caleb stuff is obvious.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
He has struggled with accuracy in the last couple starts
and last three starts he's completing under sixty percent.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It is hard.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
In order to win games like that, you have to
play bad teams or your defense has to take the
ball away. And in both instances that's what happened. They've
played Chicago's beatn kind of bad teams and they've taken
the ball away. But good teams and great quarterbacks don't
give you the ball. So I think this is a
tough spot for Chicago.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
My final story is to the NBA.
Speaker 8 (30:43):
Last night, Colin, listen, we go call him the free
throw merchant for nothing. SGA dropped fifty five on the
Pacers in a double overtime thriller. They did not cover
the spread for what it's worth. Interestingly, though, Colin, it's
only two games GA has attempted forty free throws. Now
(31:04):
both of their games have gone double overtime. Colin forty
three throws in the first two games as an NBA
record for the free throw Merchant. Here's SGA afterward talking
about the free throws.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
It's a good way to like break dice on the season,
shake the rest off, kind of like bust the lungs out,
like get my cardio back. So yeah, it's that ideal.
Four extra overtimes in two games, but we'll take it.
Two w's. And then also understanding like the beginning of
the season is just as important as the end of
(31:37):
the season. The difference in home court advantage in the
playoffs could be one game in one win.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah, I mean, I remember in the playoffs, you do
not get the whistle. In the regular season, the NBA
lets the guys play, and then in the postseason they
clamp down. So as she is going to get to
the free throw line like Carl Malone did and James
Harden did, can't breathe on him.
Speaker 8 (32:04):
Cannot breathe on SGA when it matters most Colin Well,
I give him room to operate. I don't know why,
but they feel the need, Like you know, SGA, the
free throw Merchant. It's not going to stop, folks, It's
not our number from our Steph Cohen, thirty six percent
of his points this season have come from the free
throw line.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
If this continues, it's a bad look. If you think
the gambling's a bad look for the mea, this.
Speaker 8 (32:29):
Is a bad look when all he does is just shoot.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Twenty free throws a game like stack.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Remember the Thunder won last year on average by thirteen
points a game. Yep, you know there's their games this
year look closer.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I mean so if you ask a lot of a
team to play so many games, so many intense games,
they come back off seasons are shorter because everybody's got
endorsements and everybody's they're feeling it. So I don't think, okay,
see repeats. I just think they're really good. But I
but I think we have a pattern.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
In the NBA.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I mean, two's a trend, seven years in a row.
Different And I think keep your eye in Minnesota, Denver,
Dallas Lakers. No.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, Game one of the World Series tonight, I think
it goes six. I'll take the Dodgers. They've been really
good in game ones the last couple of seasons six
and zero.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Welcome back. You know, I was thinking about this, think
about the challenges of running a business. So the NBA
just signed an eleven billion dollar TV deal with NBC.
I've liked their early coverage. Amazon and the incumbent is
ESPN and ABC. That's a very, very good business. Just
(34:04):
think about the challenges that Adam Silver right now has
either created or is facing a gambling scandal. All the
stars at the top of the league are international and
not very dynamic personality wise. And there's no dynasties now
because of the multiple aprons, you can't stack great players. Oh,
by the way, two many threes. You got four current
(34:27):
things that the NBA is facing now. I think it
will overcome all of them because a they already got
their money. It's up to the networks to make a profit.
NBC is not going to profit. NBC is going to
lose hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe a billion dollars.
ESPN will be fine. They're the incumbent and Amazon prints money.
But the truth is it just goes to show you
if you don't have the stomach for business, then just
(34:50):
be an employee at a company, because it's like Amazon.
Like Amazon's an amazing company. They are fighting lawsuits, fighting
off competitors every day. Most Americans, most people don't have
the stomach for business. I mean, the NBA now has
a LaCOSA. Most are a gambling scandal. I mean, it's
(35:12):
just ridiculous to have your name linked with an Italian mob,
whether you are or not, just in the same sentence,
it's nauseating. If you're Adam Silver. It's an international star
driven league. The top five players the last You haven't
had a domestic MVP for like six seven years, like
since twenty eighteen. People are complaining there's too many threes,
(35:33):
the aesthetics aren't good, and you know, no dynasties. Seven
years seven champs. People like dynasties. And let me give
you an example. Let me pivot to this Major League Baseball.
They've got a dynasty. Probably in about a week and
a half. The Dodgers. Ratings are up, attendance is up.
(35:53):
So baseball had all these problems years ago. The game
was too slow, you know it was. It was paralyzed
by heave your way to play the game, no shelelebrations,
and Rob Manfred, to his credit, kept making changes. Bigger bases,
(36:14):
man on second, regular season extra innings, no defensive shift,
pitch clock, and all the.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Traditionalists pushed back. They've all worked.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I watch more baseball the last two years than they
did the previous fifteen. The game moves much more quickly,
So Dave Roberts, you know on the cries and the
shoes that the sport now is too lobsided and the
Dodgers are bad for baseball.
Speaker 11 (36:42):
Baseball viewership is at an all time high. Baseball players
are better than they've ever been. We're going to have
more eyeballs watching this World Series than ever because of
the country of Canada, US and Japan and beyond. Right,
So obviously the Dodgers are not rooted baseball. It's in
a great state. And I was just kind of taking
(37:03):
a dig at these crazy people that say that what
we do, and I think we do it really well,
we're ruining baseball.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
So that was my little dig and it.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Was appropriate, and it's funny because the Dodgers aren't ruining baseball.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Look at their road attendance. It leads baseball.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
When the Yankees were stacked, the Yankees led baseball in
road attendants. And by the way, when the Yankees went
on the road, and when the Dodgers go on the road,
teams jack their prices up so they charge you more
to go see Otani and Derek Jeter and a rod
in their prime. So the audience follow the marketplace, not
(37:39):
the internet. People call talk radio pre internet. You know,
they talk radio and they write letters to the editor
and they're all angry. Don't listen to that noise. Watch
the marketplace. Ratings up, attendants up, prices up, revenue up.
Baseball is good. I mean, just think about this. It's
(38:00):
just hard to run a big business. Adam Silver's finding
it out. Rob Manfred knows Google has faced over one
hundred antitrust lawsuits since it was created. I remember talking
to Mark Cuban years ago about this. He's like, I've
got lawyers on retainer for the most ridiculous things ever.
(38:21):
And yeah, yesterday it was funny. Yesterday I go to
the gym. Hey, I gotta throw weight around, you know
what I mean, just throw iron around.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
That's what I do.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
And in like a two minutes, as I'm adding a
member to my membership, in two minutes, they had like
four fires.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
It was somebody's locked out of this room. I can't
open my locker.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
They got a phone call and alarm went off, and
I'm like, I'm gonna work.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Out club for two minutes.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
The front desk lady is literally putting out fires in
the two minutes.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
I'm talking to her.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
And it's just like, you got to be able to
handle crisis. And so the NBA right now, it's got
a crisis. Google's got one every day, every single day.
Be an employee, don't be an entrepreneur if you don't
have the stomach for it, because you could be Mark
Cuban or Elon Musk. I was told a year ago
Elon Musk his business was capsizing.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
It seems like Tesla's stocks don't okay to me. Seems
like he's doing finding up. What is it this week?
All the stocks seem like the big players are up.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I just I look at baseball. They've got a dynasty,
they're on fire. The NBA could probably use one now.
They got a betting scandal, they'll be five. I thought
one of the interesting things when I had Dave roberts On, I.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Said, you know, it's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm watching the Mariners have Cal Rawley and Julio Rodriguez
at the top of the order, and for years and
years you would have those guys the big sticks batt
in three, four and five.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
And I asked him about you know, O Tawny.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
You know, you think with his power he would be
like clean up up hitter, but now he's a lead
off guy.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
And he addressed that when.
Speaker 11 (40:04):
I was growing up as you were, same time period
showhy would be hitting you know, three or four. But
I think that the way that understated that you want
to get your best hitters as many at bats as possible.
That's how you win baseball games. That's the way the
game has evolved. And I do think that you got
to kind of appreciate that. And so I just don't
(40:24):
want to be beholden to one lineup. I think our
guys have evolved.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
The Dodgers are not a crisis for baseball. It's a
golden ticket, get one now. They are not a crisis
nor were Shaq and Kobe, Katie Steph and Klay Thompson.
There was a sense of unfairness. Sports isn't fair. Serena
was just more talented, right. It's like the Russians forever
(40:56):
had had basically professionals playing in the Olympic and crushing everybody.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
If you're looking for fairness, it just doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
I mean, I tell my kids sometimes I just love
her more than to him.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Now you gonna have to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I'm building metal and moxie for my children. Our three
is around the corner. Albert breerstops by Game one of
the World Series tonight.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
I don't know they say.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
They say Roger Center, Toronto, loudest place in the sport.
That's what they say. Dodgers will find out tonight
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 Foxsports 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 (00:26):
Ah Right hour two live in Chicago. It's the Hurd, Big,
big weekend. I think it's going to be an upset
weekend in college football. Upset weekend in college football.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's a Herd. Thanks for watching.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Appreciate it. Rachel Nichols in fifteen minutes. What a what
a wild, wacky world we live in. I do think
the NBA is going to be fine. People will still
watch it. I think incidents like the Damon Jones, Chauncey
(01:07):
billup stuff is there are rogued Tim Donaghee nineteen seventies,
Boston College, Henry Hill, Richie the fixer Perry. You can't,
you can't. I mean this is not analogous, but you know,
it's like not everything is a large group of people.
Sometimes they always talk about this insecurity, the lone gunman,
(01:30):
the lone wolf, who is disconnected. He's a loaner. Nobody.
FBI can't predict that stuff. CIA can't predict that stuff.
That's what you always worry about security for government officials CEOs.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
It's a rando.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's a lone wolf who's kind of a loaner and
not connected. So this idea that everything is this big honeycomb,
it's this big net all connected, I just don't believe
that to be true. I mean, I've been betting on
sports forever. I can bet ten dollars anytime and that's it.
But I can also have a glass of champagne celebrating
something and that's it, because it gives me a headache
(02:08):
after one. So I don't think this is a big
net of NBA players, mob gambling athletes. Bad judgment been
around since the Romans and the Chariot races, and it's
going to continue.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, I've had a couple of good weeks. I've been
on a.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Heater four and one last week, four and one this week.
I do not like taking favorites, and I do not
like the lines this week at all. Here's our blazing five.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Let's blaze it up, fired Up. It's Collins blazon Fox,
Fars and Ravens. My favorite pick Ravens. Lamar is backed
minus six. Lamar returns.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Ravens average thirty three a game and six and a
half yards per play in the four games this year
with Lamar Jackson, and it's a must win game total
urgency for the franchise. Lamar has eaten the NFC for
lunch twenty four to three in his career. Even better,
at home, the Bears on the road defense isn't a
(03:17):
good Caleb Williams by the way, last three games, completion
percentage has dipped to fifty eight point seven percent, and
right now the Bears defense can make splash plays and takeaways,
but it's allowing six point two yards per.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Play against Lamar.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Lamar Jackson's gonna eat favorite pick of the weekend Ravens
minus six. They win twenty eight to twenty one, and
it won't feel that close. Browns hit Patriots another big favorite.
I like New England at home minus seven. Why because
four straight wins and they're averaging thirty a game during
those wins and their defense is great against the run,
(03:55):
meaning Dylan Gabriel will have to pass to beat Drake
May and the Patriots in Brable. I don't see it happening.
Cleveland's defense not as good on the road. In fact,
the Browns are zero and three on the road and
they have the twenty eight ranked rush offense. So Dylan
Gabriel is going to have to be really good to
(04:17):
keep up and beat Drake May, who has been outstanding
since Week two.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I don't think it's happening.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I like the Patriots to win by ten, twenty eight
to seventeen.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
That's eleven.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Dolphins at Felcons.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I like the over forty four and a half points.
I've been hot on overs Falcons or average in twenty
six a game, and Michael Pennix at home has a
one zero three passer rating. But they also have a
terrible red zone defense. If Miami threatens, Miami should do
well and eat in the red zone. But I like
(04:52):
Atlanta at home to score points. Jamak talked about this
fast track. They're very good. The Dolphins' opponents have come
by Dolphins and their opponents have combined for forty five
plus points in five of the last six games, and
the over under here is forty five and a half.
Their defense allows big, big plays in Atlanta at home
delivers big plays. The Dolphins defense not good. Atlanta's offense
(05:18):
at home very good. Take the over forty four and
a half points, twenty eight, twenty one thirty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
My bad of Falcons win forty nine ers at Texans.
This is a late add.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There are concerns about the Texans health at wide receiver,
but this offense for the Texans, it's the number three
scoring offense since Week four, and their defense has been
great all season. Sam Darnold and Seattle at home last
week really struggled with this defense. So their defense is
especially good at clamping down on running backs and their receivers.
(06:00):
And the Niners right now are living off McCaffrey running
and McCaffrey receiving. And the Niners are three and seven
after a win the last two seasons, So the Texans
defense is great. The Niners are still beat up. I
think it's a choppie game. I'm gonna take the Texans
(06:22):
twenty seven to twenty three.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Cowboys and Broncos finally, Denver minus three at home. I
like it.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Take the Broncos three and zero at home. Won eight
straight home games dating back to last year, and seven
of those eight have been by eight plus points. Bo
Nicks won eight straight games at home. He's a better
home quarterback. The Cowboys, listen, they beat the Jets, the
Giants and the Commanders, and Jayden Daniels wasn't healthy. They've
(06:56):
been one and three on the road. They're not a
great road team. And they have an atrocious third down
defense that will keep the ball away from Dak And
they have an atrocious big play defense. So the Broncos
are gonna win time of possession. The Broncos, who really
need to hit on big plays, have finally found a
(07:17):
defense that surrenders big plays. So I like Denver to win,
and I like Denver to cover the spread. Twenty eight
twenty four Broncos win. So in a review, I like
favorites this week, I generally don't love them. Favorite bet
(07:38):
Ravens minus six at home, Lamar returns, Patriots minus seven
at home Cleveland. Dylan Gabriel will have to throw.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
To win, and I don't see it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Take the over Atlanta at home scores and the Dolphins
defense is a mess.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Take the over.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I'm gonna take the Texans at home minus one and
a half. It's my least favorite pick, but their defense
is great, and the Niners have limitations offensively, and Denver
at home to win and cover.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think it's a fun game. I think it's a
great watch.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But Denver they are really really seeking the big play,
and this is the defense that does allow the big play.
The Cowboys couldn't say the last time I took three
favorites generally don't like doing that. It's a wonky week
for numbers.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Now I did not.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I did not take the Steelers because the number now
is down to three, not three and a half. So
the hook was the key the places I watched it's
down to three. I think it's a really good game,
and it's funny Aaron's facing at home facing the Packers again,
and I was thinking about the memories of him in
Green Bay. So he won four MVPs. He was not
(08:56):
a great playoff quarterback eleven and ten. Far was also
about five hundred, so is Jordan Love. So what I
always think is interesting about Green Bay? Do we remember
it more fondly than reality because it was so esthetically beautiful.
I've said this, Dan Marino gets to a Super Bowl
year two, never gets back, but we remember Marino so
(09:16):
fondly because it was such a beautiful, eye pleasing style.
Same with Aaron. Aaron's last twelve years in Green Bay.
So he wins early in his career, and we think
it's going to be a decade of dominance. His last
twelve seasons after that in Green Bay he was seven
and nine in the playoffs and lost multiple times as
(09:39):
a favorite. In fact, those nine losses his last twelve
years in Green Bay, and I looked us up this morning,
that was the most playoff losses by any.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Team in that stretch.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Right, So Mahomes has been to five Super Bowls and
Manning to four, and Britty was collecting rings and those
are peers, right, It's just funny In Aaron, he replaces
Farv and we're like, oh my god, is he better
than Farv? And my bet was, oh, absolutely, And they
end up both being pretty to be honest with you,
(10:12):
being pretty average in the playoffs despite a well run organization,
good offensive lines, but Farv, I mean one thing, all
back Aaron on.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Aaron did not have a lot of great defenses in
Green Bay. And then he goes to the.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Jets and they fire Sola and that defense is no good.
Then he goes to Tomlin Pittsburgh, and that defense is
no good. And the one thing Brady oh has had
really good defenses and the one thing Maholmes has now
great defenses. So to defend Aaron is that you look
at his playoff record and you're like, ah, he wanted
(10:48):
a great defense. Do you know the year he had
a great defense was the year he won a Super Bowl.
Rachel Nichols around the corner.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It's the hurd.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Like, Hey, it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly
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(11:29):
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Speaker 5 (11:41):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Rachel Nichols has been covering the NBA since the early nineties.
Fox Sports NBA analyst Rachel Nichols is now joining us
on the show.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
So you know, there's a lot to unpack.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I think I listened to three to four total podcasts
this morning last night. Like you, you cover this league regular,
so your feet on the ground. Let's talk about the
difference between sort of the active and the passive involvement
in these gambling operations. A lot of it's squawk talk
and a lot of its reality. What's the difference here?
Speaker 6 (12:14):
You see, Well, there's two kind of categories of this, right,
So we know for sure that they're accusing Terry Rogier
of being active, right that he specifically went to go
throw his appearance in the game. He walked off the
court early, he told people bet the under, and they're
accusing him of sitting and counting the money gained from
this with his friend. A week later, Janta Porter has
(12:35):
already acknowledged he has played guilty to being active, to
throwing his participation in a game and getting the under bet,
and he is a waiting sentencing on that. And then
you have guys who it's not really clear.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Right.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Chauncey Billups is named in both sides of this suit
as saying, oh, he told an associate that a bunch
of guys, including a guy who matches Damian Lillard's description,
will be.
Speaker 7 (12:57):
Sitting that night, and that was used to go game.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
Now, did he just tell someone because he was telling
a friend or did he do it on purpose to
get them to say, Hey, throw me a little cash,
I'll bet the under Damon Jones, we know, is accused
of being active in this situation, telling someone that Lebron
James was going to be sitting and then saying, hey,
bet for me and then pay me my money. We're talking,
(13:22):
you know, about twenty five hundred dollars apparently for giving
that information, according to the federal government. So there's kind
of two sides of this. Chauncey Phillips attorney, has come
out very strongly and said he would never do this
on purpose. He would never risk his career, his family.
You know, his position as a Hall of Famer or a.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Coach in this league.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
You have to assume that his defense is going to be, Yeah,
I showed up at these poker games. They paid me
to be in these poker games, but I didn't know
they were rigged. We're just going to have to soar
it through and find out did they know who knew
and is there a difference between the guys who actively
participated and the guys who may have been around people they.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Should not have been around, and how much they know it.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
Kind of though, for the NBA doesn't matter that much
how these cases shake out, because they now have to
deal with the fact that they have two active investigations.
Now they've got in the Clipper situation, They've got an
owner who is being investigated for saying, well, I didn't
know this was going on, but we have a sponsor
who was paying one of our players twenty eight million
(14:22):
dollars to apparently do nothing. You have a coach now
being investigated, you have players being investigated, and you have
ex players being investigated. That is a lot for one league. Colin,
and I agree with you. The NBA has been around
for nearly eighty years. The NBA isn't going anywhere. These
scandals are not going to take down the league. But
it is an issue with if you say crime right
(14:42):
in general, in a neighborhood, crime is going to happen.
You're never going to have zero crime, but you can't
have too much crime, right, otherwise people won't want to
come to that neighborhood. And that is what the NBA
is having to deal with right now. You have so
many different levels of the game people being accused of
mal Feesen's here.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
That is a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, the NBA did their own investigation on Johntay Porter
and Terry Rozier, and then the FBI did their investigation.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
How do they differ.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Well, Look, the NBA doesn't have subpoena power, so I
don't blame the NBA at all for that.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
They can only do so much.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
They can only get people to talk to them who
want to talk to them. They can't put guys up
and say hey, we're going to put you in jail
if you don't tell us this. So it is a
very different situation. It's why the NBA has been cooperating
with the government on these investigations. But again, the optics
of it are difficult and it is not the league's fault,
but it is the league's problem when they clear a
(15:33):
guy and then suddenly now he's facing jail time.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The Damon Jones stuff to me is because I don't
know Lebron per Se. I've talked to Lebron for twenty minutes.
Always very friendly. I know people in his circle very well. Again,
if I've been critical of Lebron, they don't reach out.
They understand the game. I always thought he surrounded himself
with the smartest guys in the league, because I think
Lebron's really bright, good businessman, bright guy. The Damon Jones
(16:01):
was close to Lebron. He was on a Laker team, unpaid,
part of Darvinham's staff, and so, you know, I mean,
Damon was a well liked guy. I think I've talked
I don't know if I've talked to him, but Damon
Jones was kind of well liked.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Lebron liked him.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I'm not sure if he was in his circle, but
you know they've hung out o.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
They like each other.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
There is a story that Damon they go to Milwaukee
and Lebron's banged up and he tells people, hey, I
want to eat here. It is that one troubles me
because it involves the face of the league and the Lakers.
If I had to rank these in order, is that
is that the chance he or the Damon won the
(16:41):
league is truly frightened about.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
Well, the Damon one is the kind of thing that
could spin out and have future repercussions. Right, because Damon
Jones was very close to Lebron. I'm not saying at
all that Lebron was involved in this. Nobody is saying
Lebron was involved in this, but he was close to
a lot of big names in this league. Damon Jones
is knocked around the league for a long time. He
was on a lot of different team He has close
relationships with a lot of guys. He had inside information
(17:03):
on a lot of different guys, and he was clearly, according.
Speaker 7 (17:06):
To the federal.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Government, he is alleged to be a very active participant
in this knowing what he was doing.
Speaker 7 (17:12):
So if that is indeed the case, and.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
He did it with several other guys, we had Cash Pttel,
the director of the FBI, go on several television shows
yesterday after that press conference and say more is coming.
He said, this is just the beginning. So I got
to believe him. He knows what the FBI is investigating,
and that is what the league has to be concerned about.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
The Chauncey Billups thing is just hard to wrap my
brain around.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Uh. He I initially thought he was in the poker
side of it, which is Leakosa Nostra. I don't know
if La Coosa Nostra is involved in the NBA part,
they are involved heavily in the poker And for the record,
I listened to two podcasts last night, one from somebody
who covers the Mob for a living, and he said,
there are Mob games all over New York tonight. That's
(17:58):
just you know, you know New York better than I do.
But like, that's just the thing he was naming, you know,
of le Sington Avenue.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
There's a play.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I mean, he was naming the areas and I'm like, okay,
so and NBA players have played cards forever.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
It's kind of part of the culture.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Do you think the league was caught off guard with
Johncey billups? I mean players have done this in all sports.
The Chauncey one for me is whoa a coach? How
is that viewed? Are you shocked by that?
Speaker 6 (18:28):
I was very shocked by it because John Cy is
extremely well liked around the league. He's known as a mentor,
a leader, a good guy.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
You know.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
The reason why he is held in such high esteem
isn't because he was such an elite he's not the
leader in the NBA in points ever, He's not like
Lebron James. He's known as being one of the best
leader of men in the NBA, and here he is
being caught up in a scandal that at the very
least shows incredible bad judgment and according to the FBI,
shows a lot worse than that. And when you talk
(18:56):
about sort of the back and forth and why these
two cases are connected, it's because a lot of the
same guys are involved in the illegal poker game as
in the betting, and that is where the crossover is
and why Chauncey is also named in the illegal betting
part but not indicted in that part because he was
with those guys, but not necessarily, according to the FBI,
purposely giving information to them. He just did give information
(19:18):
to whether he knew or not it was being.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
Used to bet.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
But this is going to continue to be a problem,
and the NBA has to hope that what happens is
is that guys understand they could go to jail for this,
and once that realization sets in, the hope is that players, coaches,
anyone involved with the league.
Speaker 7 (19:36):
Just stops messing with this. But the NBA is in
a little.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
Bit of a tough position, as are every sports league
now the way legalized betting is.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
In these betting companies.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
The NBA was estimated to make around one hundred and
seventy million dollars directly.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
From betting companies.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
It has two official relationships and other relationships with fifteen
other betting companies. Then you talk about fan engagement, because betting,
as we know, the whole point is it people watch
games they.
Speaker 7 (20:01):
Might not otherwise watch.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
Right, you know this is a lopsided game, but I
got to bet on it. I mean, it's fantasy football too.
Why do we watch so many football games we might not.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
Otherwise care about?
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Right, So the engagement factor is also huge, and that's
estimated to be two or three hundred million dollars extra
a year pouring into the league fan engagement on top
of one hundred and seventy million dollars, So it really
has become an integral part of the league's income system.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
So it's very hard to just walk away from all
of this. But it's also hard.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
To think about the fact that you have these games
going on and right underneath on the ticker is hey
bet the third quarter bet.
Speaker 7 (20:35):
What's going on here?
Speaker 6 (20:36):
Yesterday we had several television networks across covering this, people
discussing it just like.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
You and I.
Speaker 7 (20:42):
And underneath on the ticker is go bet.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Right sports networks who have their own sports book. ESPN
has its own sports book, And while they were discussing
this on the morning show, it said bet ESPN underneath.
So this is so ingrained and so available in a
way it wasn't twenty years ago. Well you're talking about
Michael Jordan going to Atlantic City. He had to go
to Atlantic City. You don't have to do that anymore.
(21:05):
And every single person involved with the NBA just has
to send a text and it's a.
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Much different game.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Well, you know, David Stern was really anti gambling. Adam
Silver was the opposite. Stern eventually came around and realized
the value. And I am a believer in legalized sports
gambling because it's a regulated market. The Terry Rose ear stuff, Rachel,
I'm sure you know this. They knew instantly. I mean
they knew within hours something was up.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
I cut off bedding for the rest of the night.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, and I do worry about Brian Windhorse said. The
league knew as a fake and injury took him out
of games. Was the NBA strong enough? Barkley talked about
that last night. So I am four and I've worked
in Vegas like I am for regulation. Remember it was
Vegas that told the NBA about Tim Donneghey, yeah right,
(21:53):
they don't want to the margins are thin. They don't
want any of this. I'll just throw this at you
when you hear tip of the iceberg. I tend to
think it's more rogue stuff. I think most players get.
Let me ask you this, when you go to cover
the NBA, do you see signage? Do you see I mean,
(22:16):
obviously these players are told you can't talk about injuries
to non locker room people, like do you have a
sense when you go cover games that it's understood the
line not be crossed with gambling and non insiders.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I think it's understood that you don't do what Damon
Jones did, which was tech someone who is a known
gambling and associate and say, hey, bet the under because
or bet against the Lakers because Lebron isn't playing tonight.
I think players know that is against the rules. However,
there is a gray area, and this is hard to regulate,
and it's hard to even manage.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
If you're a player, you tell a buddy.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Eh, I'm frustrated, I'm not playing tonight. That information is
not out there yet. That buddy doesn't work for the NBA.
He can go place bet or tell other people to
place a bet based on that information, and that's always
going to happen. And it becomes even more complicated once
we get into college basketball and college sports, because the
NCAA just a couple days ago said that its players
(23:13):
can now bet on professional sports in the sport that
they play. So what if you were a player who
is a junior or senior who has a buddy in
the NBA who was on your team, who was a
teammate just a year or two ago, who just in
a casual conversation says, eh, I can't play tonight. No
one knows that yet, but I can't play. Oh my
knees bothering me. Now that kid in college can go
bet on that inside information. This just gets very dangerous
(23:36):
and sticky, and it is difficult when you say, is
it the tip of the iceberg or is it an
ice cube? As you said earlier in the show, which
I think is.
Speaker 7 (23:42):
A great analogy.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
I think it might be an Iceberg only because there
are so many different places this could crop up, all
across the NBA, all across other sports, all across college
sports now, so I think we're going to see a
lot of different places for this to happen. And you
just have to hope again, as players see you can and.
Speaker 7 (24:00):
Go to jail.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Your entire life can be ruined over this. It is
not worth it. And you get into the addiction side
of it too, which is override some people's judgment.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, it did.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
By the way, an NBA player is liable, and they
have been told this. If they talk about an injury
to a non team employee, they are libel. They could
say it to a friend, you can't. So I mean
every NBA player in every room they walk into is
the biggest star, right, and people come up to them
(24:31):
and they just I mean, you almost have to hide
before a game and stay off your f I mean, really,
you really do as a player. So I do have
some sympathy there, Rachel Nichols, great stuff as always, on
an ongoing investigation, and we'll just we'll keep everybody updated.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
Thank you, Rach, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, it's just not Yeah, if you just say and
I thought about this. I was talking to Danny Parkins
about this on a pod last night, and he.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Kind of theorized.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He said, what if you couldn't bet unders, you could
only bet over. You can't bet this guy will score
less this guy. Look, if a guy scores more, it's
good for everybody, right, the player, the team, the guy.
But you can't bet unders. But I don't believe you
should eliminate prop bets because then it goes to the
unregulated market and it's not supervised. I want it supervised.
(25:25):
So you know, you know answers. Arno is easy with
this stuff. J Mack with the news, No, no.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
No, turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
This is the Herdline News.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
All right, kind of, let's start with Patrick Mahomes, one
of your favorite guys around the league, really cooking this year. Obviously,
he is a three times Super Bowl MVP. But do
you remember he started his college career at Texas Tech
under a guy.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Named Cliff Kingsbury.
Speaker 8 (25:52):
Well, the two of them will have a reunion on
Monday Night Football when the Chiefs host the Commanders. Mahomes
talked about how Kingsbury allowed him to play the game
his way.
Speaker 9 (26:01):
He's one of the first people I would say that
truly believed to me in playing in the quarterback position.
And so he gave me a ton of advice of
of refining me but letting me still just be me
and play to my strengths. And so a great coach,
a great person that still stay in touch with, not
as much this week, but throughout throughout my career. And
he helped me get to where I'm at today because
(26:23):
he didn't put me in a box and tell me
I need to play quarterback this way. He let me
just go out there and be myself and be the
how I play the way they got me there, And
I think that's something that's special about him as a coach.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know, very much like Andy Reid, Kingsbury was not
a great head coach college or NFL great mentor great
play designer, great play caller. We've talked about this before.
There is a skill to walk around and not be
on a headset. Most NFL coaches, college coaches, the elite
ones are walk around guys. They're not in a headset.
(26:55):
So Kingsbury is a really good football coach so far.
As a head coach, you and I have.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I'm pro Kingsbury.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Just for the record, No, I'm pro Kingsbury too.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
He loved Jaden Daniels when we broke the story last
year before before the Jade and Daniels Drake May draft.
A month before the draft, I said, Washington's taking Jadan Daniels.
Kingsbury was the one that went to Adam Peters the
GM and pounded the table and said that guy. We
can win a lot of games with that guy. And
(27:27):
he wasn't anti anybody else but Jayden Daniels was Cliff
Kingburry's favorite quarterback in the entire class, more than Caleb,
more than Drake, more than Pennix. So Kingsbury that's the
quarterback he wanted. And then last year you saw the results.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (27:42):
Just listening to Mahomes talk about Kingsbury, I feel like
in that scenario, I'm Mahomes in, You're Kingsbury back at
Texas Tech. You just tell me j Mack. I know
you're gonna do some crazy stuff, but you do you
plenty of your strengths and I like that As a coach.
I believe Colin Kingsbury will be interviewing for head coaching jobs.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I saw.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
You know, I he struggled in discipline. He is a
former athlete. Yeah, he didn't love discipline. He didn't necessarily
hold players as accountable.
Speaker 8 (28:11):
We'll see what McDaniel in Miami too.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Right, some of.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
These guys young coaches, Yeah, they just are not the
old school coaches can.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Bark and use volume and are.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Pretty punitive to players, and Andy Reid is can be rough. Yeah,
so it's I think some of these young coaches struggle
with that.
Speaker 8 (28:28):
So certainly let's move on to the Baltimore Ravens, the
biggest injury report everybody's waiting for today. You know, we'll
see what happens with Lamar Jackson. But Kyle Hamilton, who
has missed a lot of time this season, he's getting
back in the fold, which is great news. Hamilton knows
they need to approach the season one game at a
time to climb out of this one in five hole.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
You can't ignore the past.
Speaker 10 (28:51):
But you know, we're forward thinking at this point, kind
of have to be, and every game force is a
playoff game. That's how it feels and how it's gonna
have to be from here on out. Tug ourselves in
a deepot. But in order to get in the dance,
we got to really be locked in from here on out.
So we're trying to do that.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, like the Ravens, and we've said this about Lamar Jackson,
he unless you see him regularly, he is a lot
to face without seeing him multiple times. I can remember
his rookie year the Chargers faced him the first time
and just didn't know what to do, and then the
second time they had a little bit better beat on him.
So like Kansas City has seen him so many times,
(29:29):
Bags have seen him so many times. They know what
he can do and know what he can't. They know
his tells. So this is a rough ass for Chicago
new defensive staff going to Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
This is the one game on the board. I feel
very strongly.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think Baltimore wins, and from the very beginning feels
like the team that's in control of this game.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
You could get Baltimore plus one ten to make the
playoffs plus money.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I did take that. I think they're going to the playoffs.
Speaker 8 (29:57):
My thing to watch though, in this one's not necessarily
Baltimore Collins Caleb Williams, so he's had the run game
recently and he's been serviceable. What happens if the Ravens
are able to take that away and Caleb has to
win this with his arm. Do you think he's possible
He's capable of doing that on this rows.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
You know, the Caleb stuff is obvious.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
He has struggled with accuracy in the last couple starts
and last three starts he's completing under sixty percent.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It is hard.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
In order to win games like that, you have to
play bad teams or your defense has to take the
ball away. And in both instances that's what happened. They've
played Chicago's beatn kind of bad teams and they've taken
the ball away. But good teams and great quarterbacks don't
give you the ball. So I think this is a
tough spot for Chicago.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
My final story is to the NBA.
Speaker 8 (30:43):
Last night, Colin, listen, we go call him the free
throw merchant for nothing. SGA dropped fifty five on the
Pacers in a double overtime thriller. They did not cover
the spread for what it's worth. Interestingly, though, Colin, it's
only two games GA has attempted forty free throws. Now
(31:04):
both of their games have gone double overtime. Colin forty
three throws in the first two games as an NBA
record for the free throw Merchant. Here's SGA afterward talking
about the free throws.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
It's a good way to like break dice on the season,
shake the rest off, kind of like bust the lungs out,
like get my cardio back. So yeah, it's that ideal.
Four extra overtimes in two games, but we'll take it.
Two w's. And then also understanding like the beginning of
the season is just as important as the end of
(31:37):
the season. The difference in home court advantage in the
playoffs could be one game in one win.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah, I mean, I remember in the playoffs, you do
not get the whistle. In the regular season, the NBA
lets the guys play, and then in the postseason they
clamp down. So as she is going to get to
the free throw line like Carl Malone did and James
Harden did, can't breathe on him.
Speaker 8 (32:04):
Cannot breathe on SGA when it matters most Colin Well,
I give him room to operate. I don't know why,
but they feel the need, Like you know, SGA, the
free throw Merchant. It's not going to stop, folks, It's
not our number from our Steph Cohen, thirty six percent
of his points this season have come from the free
throw line.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
If this continues, it's a bad look. If you think
the gambling's a bad look for the mea, this.
Speaker 8 (32:29):
Is a bad look when all he does is just shoot.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Twenty free throws a game like stack.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Remember the Thunder won last year on average by thirteen
points a game. Yep, you know there's their games this
year look closer.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I mean so if you ask a lot of a
team to play so many games, so many intense games,
they come back off seasons are shorter because everybody's got
endorsements and everybody's they're feeling it. So I don't think, okay,
see repeats. I just think they're really good. But I
but I think we have a pattern.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
In the NBA.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I mean, two's a trend, seven years in a row.
Different And I think keep your eye in Minnesota, Denver,
Dallas Lakers. No.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, Game one of the World Series tonight, I think
it goes six. I'll take the Dodgers. They've been really
good in game ones the last couple of seasons six
and zero.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Welcome back. You know, I was thinking about this, think
about the challenges of running a business. So the NBA
just signed an eleven billion dollar TV deal with NBC.
I've liked their early coverage. Amazon and the incumbent is
ESPN and ABC. That's a very, very good business. Just
(34:04):
think about the challenges that Adam Silver right now has
either created or is facing a gambling scandal. All the
stars at the top of the league are international and
not very dynamic personality wise. And there's no dynasties now
because of the multiple aprons, you can't stack great players. Oh,
by the way, two many threes. You got four current
(34:27):
things that the NBA is facing now. I think it
will overcome all of them because a they already got
their money. It's up to the networks to make a profit.
NBC is not going to profit. NBC is going to
lose hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe a billion dollars.
ESPN will be fine. They're the incumbent and Amazon prints money.
But the truth is it just goes to show you
if you don't have the stomach for business, then just
(34:50):
be an employee at a company, because it's like Amazon.
Like Amazon's an amazing company. They are fighting lawsuits, fighting
off competitors every day. Most Americans, most people don't have
the stomach for business. I mean, the NBA now has
a LaCOSA. Most are a gambling scandal. I mean, it's
(35:12):
just ridiculous to have your name linked with an Italian mob,
whether you are or not, just in the same sentence,
it's nauseating. If you're Adam Silver. It's an international star
driven league. The top five players the last You haven't
had a domestic MVP for like six seven years, like
since twenty eighteen. People are complaining there's too many threes,
(35:33):
the aesthetics aren't good, and you know, no dynasties. Seven
years seven champs. People like dynasties. And let me give
you an example. Let me pivot to this Major League Baseball.
They've got a dynasty. Probably in about a week and
a half. The Dodgers. Ratings are up, attendance is up.
(35:53):
So baseball had all these problems years ago. The game
was too slow, you know it was. It was paralyzed
by heave your way to play the game, no shelelebrations,
and Rob Manfred, to his credit, kept making changes. Bigger bases,
(36:14):
man on second, regular season extra innings, no defensive shift,
pitch clock, and all the.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Traditionalists pushed back. They've all worked.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I watch more baseball the last two years than they
did the previous fifteen. The game moves much more quickly,
So Dave Roberts, you know on the cries and the
shoes that the sport now is too lobsided and the
Dodgers are bad for baseball.
Speaker 11 (36:42):
Baseball viewership is at an all time high. Baseball players
are better than they've ever been. We're going to have
more eyeballs watching this World Series than ever because of
the country of Canada, US and Japan and beyond. Right,
So obviously the Dodgers are not rooted baseball. It's in
a great state. And I was just kind of taking
(37:03):
a dig at these crazy people that say that what
we do, and I think we do it really well,
we're ruining baseball.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
So that was my little dig and it.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Was appropriate, and it's funny because the Dodgers aren't ruining baseball.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Look at their road attendance. It leads baseball.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
When the Yankees were stacked, the Yankees led baseball in
road attendants. And by the way, when the Yankees went
on the road, and when the Dodgers go on the road,
teams jack their prices up so they charge you more
to go see Otani and Derek Jeter and a rod
in their prime. So the audience follow the marketplace, not
(37:39):
the internet. People call talk radio pre internet. You know,
they talk radio and they write letters to the editor
and they're all angry. Don't listen to that noise. Watch
the marketplace. Ratings up, attendants up, prices up, revenue up.
Baseball is good. I mean, just think about this. It's
(38:00):
just hard to run a big business. Adam Silver's finding
it out. Rob Manfred knows Google has faced over one
hundred antitrust lawsuits since it was created. I remember talking
to Mark Cuban years ago about this. He's like, I've
got lawyers on retainer for the most ridiculous things ever.
(38:21):
And yeah, yesterday it was funny. Yesterday I go to
the gym. Hey, I gotta throw weight around, you know
what I mean, just throw iron around.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
That's what I do.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
And in like a two minutes, as I'm adding a
member to my membership, in two minutes, they had like
four fires.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
It was somebody's locked out of this room. I can't
open my locker.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
They got a phone call and alarm went off, and
I'm like, I'm gonna work.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Out club for two minutes.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
The front desk lady is literally putting out fires in
the two minutes.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
I'm talking to her.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
And it's just like, you got to be able to
handle crisis. And so the NBA right now, it's got
a crisis. Google's got one every day, every single day.
Be an employee, don't be an entrepreneur if you don't
have the stomach for it, because you could be Mark
Cuban or Elon Musk. I was told a year ago
Elon Musk his business was capsizing.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
It seems like Tesla's stocks don't okay to me. Seems
like he's doing finding up. What is it this week?
All the stocks seem like the big players are up.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I just I look at baseball. They've got a dynasty,
they're on fire. The NBA could probably use one now.
They got a betting scandal, they'll be five. I thought
one of the interesting things when I had Dave roberts On, I.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Said, you know, it's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm watching the Mariners have Cal Rawley and Julio Rodriguez
at the top of the order, and for years and
years you would have those guys the big sticks batt
in three, four and five.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
And I asked him about you know, O Tawny.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
You know, you think with his power he would be
like clean up up hitter, but now he's a lead
off guy.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
And he addressed that when.
Speaker 11 (40:04):
I was growing up as you were, same time period
showhy would be hitting you know, three or four. But
I think that the way that understated that you want
to get your best hitters as many at bats as possible.
That's how you win baseball games. That's the way the
game has evolved. And I do think that you got
to kind of appreciate that. And so I just don't
(40:24):
want to be beholden to one lineup. I think our
guys have evolved.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
The Dodgers are not a crisis for baseball. It's a
golden ticket, get one now. They are not a crisis
nor were Shaq and Kobe, Katie Steph and Klay Thompson.
There was a sense of unfairness. Sports isn't fair. Serena
was just more talented, right. It's like the Russians forever
(40:56):
had had basically professionals playing in the Olympic and crushing everybody.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
If you're looking for fairness, it just doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
I mean, I tell my kids sometimes I just love
her more than to him.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Now you gonna have to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I'm building metal and moxie for my children. Our three
is around the corner. Albert breerstops by Game one of
the World Series tonight.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
I don't know they say.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
They say Roger Center, Toronto, loudest place in the sport.
That's what they say. Dodgers will find out tonight
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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