Best of The Jason Smith Show

Jason Smith and Mike Harmon open this 'Best of' edition of the show reacting to the NFLPA's executive director stepping down after it was found that he spent hundreds of dollars of the union's money at strip clubs. Then they react to an all-time throw from Ronald Acuna before discussing recent comments from Scottie Scheffler reflecting on how unfulfilling it really is to win in golf. Later, NBA insider Mark Medina joins the show to weigh in on all the latest in the NBA offseason.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Welcome inside, Happy Friday, The Jason Smith Show with
my best.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Friend Mike Harmon. Well dressed hobo. Oh no, mucho hobo
ty shirt? Not yet? Not okay, you got we gotta
wait get later in the night for muccho hobo.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
I think it's like more of like an eight o'clock thing.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Okay, Oh sorry, just think about we're just starting seven o'clock. Yes,
I'm still dressed in my work clothes. I want to
wait and put on my sweatpants before I go to
a mucho hobo who wants to go to a strip join.
We'll get to that. We'll get to that, trumps, We'll
get to that again.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's a minute.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
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Here we are back the second half of Major League Baseball.
Second half ish underway, obviously after the All Star break,

(00:55):
got tons of baseball to get to. Coming up for
the Play of the Day in about fifteen minutes. We
had an all time great Major League Baseball play tonight.
I've seen it about fifteen times. I still can't get
over it. We're gonna bring it for you for the
play of the day when this game ends. I mean,
it's this is all time on one of those lists

(01:16):
of the top types of this play in baseball history.
Like this is one of the top three or four
that I've ever seen.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
So it's not involving Tim Teep. I'm so excited. I
mean Tibo saving the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I mean, he doesn't get as much credit as he
should for saving the one guy at Mets camp a
few years ago. Like that's a big thing. Like that's
a save, Like you know Edwin Diaz, Kenley Jansen now
saying that's a save.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
We save a guy. You know, something's happening. Hey, Tebo
saved the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
But we begin with this absolute tire fire out of.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
The NFL right now last night, probably about an hour
into the show, right about an hour into the show,
and the story breaks that NFLPA leader Lloyd Howell Junior,
who's been running the NFL Players Association for the past
couple of years since the Maury Smith is no longer
running the players union, is stepping down as director. Was

(02:12):
so pretty big story, not completely unexpected because we had
the story about ten days ago that potentially, according to
sources and Pablo Tory because he finds everything out now
that the NFL and the NFLPA colluded with one another
to keep salaries down following Deshaun Watson signing his big

(02:32):
contract a few years ago. Everybody was mad, why is
Deshaun Watson?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
I was mad.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Every Harmer's man, everybody's mad. Everybody's mad. Oh, let's go.
So Deshaun Watson gets this money, and they all allegedly
decided reportedly that hey, let's make sure we keep all
the guaranteed money down because the quarterback's coming out for
contracts where Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow and Josh Allen,
guys that are going to reset the market. Trevor Lawrence

(02:57):
as well, so let's keep it down. Incredibly bad, garrassing.
When that story broke, I said, I can't believe Lloyd
Howell still has a job. You have to sweep out
everybody running things at the NFLPA, because this is absolutely terrible.
You have to sweep everybody out, right, But a few
days go, buy nothing happens. Okay, then we get the
story yesterday or early in the day that hey, you

(03:18):
know what, Hey, well, maybe the players were being advised
running backs were being advised during contract negotiations to play
up injuries and overexaggerate them because it would help them
in negotiations. Okay, Now you gotta think, Okay, this is
the final straw, and Lloyd Howell's got to be out
after this, right. This is not collusion with the NFL,

(03:39):
but Lloyd Howell's got to be out after this, right, Okay.
And last night, around nine o'clock our time, maybe eight thirty,
so eleven o'clock eleven eleven thirty on the East Coast,
it comes out that Howell is stepping aside, resigning his post.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Right.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
So, Mike and I we were talking about this last
night and you said to me, I vividly remember you said,
I think it was in the last hour of the show.
You said, doesn't this seem like a Friday night news dump?
Like this story here, like here's the NFL. It's a
Friday night news dump story. Right, We're gonna have this
Friday night eleven o'clock. This is really embarrassing. This guy's
gonna walk away Friday night eleven o'clock. So by the

(04:15):
weekend comes and it gets lost in the shuffle, And
what did I say? And I'm only, you know, I'm
off the cuff. This is what tells me being ahead
of the curve and just you know, hey, letting it fly.
What did I say to you? I said, well, unless
they're unless they're trying to get ahead of something that
could come out on Friday, right.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, you know there's always more the other shoe.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, And I'm like, okay, but I mean, really, what
they really got to get ahead of something coming out
on Friday?

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (04:37):
No, turns out he needed to resign to get ahead
of this on Friday as the reason for his resignation
came up after reports surface that an outside investigator that
was hired by the union got documents this week that
showed Howell charged the union for two visits two strip clubs,
including a seven hundred and four car service that took

(05:02):
him from the airport to one of the clubs. The
documents are union approved expense reports and receipts.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
So basically, the dude wanted to go to a strip club,
A couple.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Of times, and how he got there and what he
spent he wanted the NFL Player Association to pay for.
This is falsifying your expense. Now, how did this get
found out? This is my favorite part. So one receipt
that espn obtanking. This is a Don Van Nada special. Right,
He's been doing nothing but doing stories like this for
the past twenty years. Said he got picked up in

(05:32):
a sedan by car service at Fort Lauderdale International Airport
on Thursday, November two of a couple of years ago.
Cars first stopped at a nearby Miami Gardens address, right,
and the rashiet shows the receipt shows one other stopped
nearly eight hours later. Okay, so what it was was
carpet him up at the airport, brought him to this place,
and then brought him home eight hours later. They saw

(05:55):
that the car services exorbitant costs really raised red flags,
so they looked into it. They searched online for the
Miami Gardens address, discovering it was a seventy six thousand
square foot venue that bills itself as the world's larger
strip club full nude number one rated called Tutsis Cabaret.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Seventy six thousand square feet Smith, that's I mean seventy
six down.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
I'm trying to get in my head, like what seventy
six thousand square feet is That's like a full city block, right,
Like that's like like and I don't mean like, hey,
small town like that's like a full New York city block,
a strip club, Like, I mean, that's why that's like
going and said this is like I'm in I like,
there's like how many how many units are in this building?
Seventy five one hundred units in this building? Like that's

(06:44):
how big this thing is, seventy five thousand square feet.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
That becomes a question. I mean, like, now you're talking
about the city.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, it's its own municipality in that, But I mean
think about the the guy that was driving the car.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
I mean, that's one hell of night.

Speaker 4 (07:00):
You drop them off, you sit there for eight hours,
take it back, get eight hundred bucks, and you're felled
because of an eight hundred dollars expense.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Right.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
It's always it's like al Capone, you got busted for
tax evasion because they couldn't nail down everything else, right,
Because that's the crux of a lot of this investigation,
Pablo Tory everybody else. You've got a bunch of information
on messages exchanged between owners which are collusive in nature,

(07:29):
but don't prove collusion, right you So like skating on
that line where you might teeter over, and reasonably minded
folks would.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Go, come on, what are we talking about here?

Speaker 4 (07:41):
We're equivalent over some antics versus letter of the law
kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
But no, this is how he gets felled. Now.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
The rest of the investigation he was also part of.
There was a sexual discrimination lawsuit going back to twenty
eleven that he'd been named as part of.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
And all sorts of other things.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
But no, no, no, it's seven hundred and twenty eight dollars
to a seventy five thousand square foot I mean on a.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Per square foot basis. Boy, that's cheap. Boy, that's cheap.
Good for him, But it's the thing that costs of
his jump. And now it's not it it's not you know,
that's the one thing.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
But also they also found out he accompanied other employees
to the Magic City Strip Club. Now I don't know
Rob Parker, Rob partner, no Magic City Strip Club.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
For an outing.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Wa Wow, twenty five hundred dollars in charges, including cash
withdrawals ranging from two hundred to five hundred dollars from
a club atm they used two VIP rooms. One of
the other employees who accompanied OWL on this also submitted
expense reports for this outing right, okay, number one, this
is it's absolutely stupid. Okay, I mean this is Hey,

(08:50):
come on, man, we do stuff. We can slide this by, right, Yeah,
don't worry about I just put that through my expense report.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
This is coming through.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
This is absolutely stupid. I mean, I can't get can't
get over this. I mean, did you really think that
avention you're just gonna be I mean maybe, I guess
after you use it in twenty twenty three, something happens,
you know, but then you use it again, and then.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
You go again.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
You go, hey, okay, I can't I can't stop myself. Yeah,
you're gonna get caught with this, man, You're gonna get
at some point, someone's gonna find out that you use
you're using company resources to go to a strip club.
And even though it's the biggest strip club in the country,
it's so oh oh, but it's the biggest one.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Oh, then that's okay.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
If you just went to some small rinky dink you know,
strip club, uh, in a in a you know, in
a in a strip ball like you know, yeah, No,
I don't all about that.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
But he went to the biggest one.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
I mean, that's okay, Well we'll look the other way
on that one, Like I mean, I I mean, and
this guy, you're the executive director of the NFLPA. I'm
sure you make enough money to be able to pay
for this to go out there. But no, the hubris
and the I don't think I'm ever gonna get busted
just always amazes me that people have, especially now in
twenty twenty five, Like could you have gotten away with.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
This in nineteen eighty two, nineteen eighty five.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Of course you would have, right, But now that you're
not getting away with that, eventually you're going to get caught,
especially if you still continue to do it, you're gonna
get caught.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
Well, the bigger thing is you probably can still get
away with it in a lot of circumstances until somebody
comes for your head. Then it's gonna be the thing
that that might be the again, the crossing, the t's
dot in the eyes. All right, we have all this
other stuff is it fireable? Is it something that forces
him to resign? Was he on the giant jumbo tron

(10:29):
and a Coldplay concert? I mean, all of these things
that could come to play. But you piss Somebodey off,
or you've got some rumblings of you know, malfeasans and
improprieties on a larger scale when we're talking about, you know,
the suppression of wages when you're supposed to be the
guy fighting for the union and all this stuff.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
You know, it's just twenty three billion dollar business. This
is Hey, listen, we're gonna keep we're gonna keep guaranteed
money down. But it's gonna pay for me to go
to a strip club.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
But that's it, right because on a grand scale, we
talked twenty three bills.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Right, and the players get their cut. Man, a couple
of grand at a strip club.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
If I mean you can have a legitimate business meeting
at a strip club, I mean, oh.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, well look every movie cops have to have at
least one meeting at a strip club. No that's try
to go talk to a dancer or the owner, or
they get there to talk.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
To somebody who's a patron there.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
But he sees them get squirrely and leaves and they
have to chase him out an alley. Like clearly it's
a place that they need to visit. One every single
movie there is, we gotta go to a strip club,
and they never go at night. They always it's always
during the day when like there's one dancer and it's
it's just really depressing and they have to go win.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Really, that's what.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
It's never at night where hey, we got the big
show going on and here everything we got people coming
down there, repelling down onto the stage. No, it's always like, hey,
it's just depressing and guys are there just nursing their
drinks and we gotta talk to.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
You, gotta talk to you. Do you know? You know
jump and knucklehead Billy.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
I haven't seen jumping knucklehead Billy since he's stiffy on
that five hundred bucks.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Iota.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, well we want to know about jumping knucklehead Billy. Oh,
I can tell you about him. Hey, Billy, Hey, what
are you doing? No talking to the girls while they're working.
It's okay, we're run to cover police officers. Oh, I
got it, I got it. So, yeah, I get it.
It's an important these guys are drinks around the house.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Whatever they need.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
I mean, I it's it's I can't get over the
hubris on this bye By Howell that I'm going to
do and I have this high ranking position that that's
a big thing, and I'm going to try to do this,
and I'm and I'm gonna I'm gonna expense this when
clearly I can afford it. I can afford to do
I could have gone to any restaurant and submitted any

(12:36):
sort of business expense. But you know, here's car service.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Again.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
The car services what got him, right, because that's what
got them looking into all his expenses.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Right, Hey, the car service got him, and we're looking
into it.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
And this is, oh, so he's going to He's going
to Tutsi's Tutsi's Paradise or Tutsi's cabaret whatever it's called, seventy.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Six thousand square feet.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
We almost have to go as a show, as a
as an investigative done band, not a kind of thing.
And then we'll see if we can talk to the dancers.
Hey hey they're working here. It's like, hey, hey, we've
got questions.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Get out of here.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
And TJ clearly walking into Tutsi's cabaret. They said, vil
come and beyond venue.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Dj uh.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
I can't get over this like this is this story
just gets worse and worse for the NFL and the
nflp it because nobody looks good on this, right, you
have the collusion with the NFL. Now you have the
NFLPA and leadership that's doing this, like you really, I
mean you we're colluding to keep the salaries down so
you guys can't get paid more.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
But yeah, but I'm gonna go to a.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Strip club and I'm gonna make sure they expense that
two grand like I mean, this is this is so
they need to clean out I mean, everybody that's running
things with the NFLPA. You need to clean everybody out
and say this this and you have to go outside
to bring people in to say we have to be
able to trust someone because this is this is just infested.

(14:00):
Nobody wins on this, the NFL. That's why no one's
saying anything. It's not like there's a side that can
The NFL can't talk. That's dude, you colluded to keep
the salaries down. NFL play can't go.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, that's that.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
No, you guys colluded to keep it down. Oh yeah,
that's right, But the NFL's evil. Wait, but you just
said that you told running backs to fake injuries their negotiations. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah,
but still the NFL is evil. Wait a minute, Wait
a minute. Year, your executive directors is saying all kinds
of stuff. He's resigning and he's trying to expense strip
club visits. Yeah yeah, in the NFL is going yeah,
but look what they're doing. Yeah but dude, you're still

(14:31):
colluding to keep salaries down. Oh yeah, yeah, So why
nobody's saying anything because nobody looks good, no, and declare
to draw.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Look, in the end, this guy goes away.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
And you'll do your outside search and this time, you know,
maybe they'll look to make sure there's not some improprieties
about who the who he's working with on the NFL side,
if he's representing the players.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
For the players, they're in a tough spot because Treder
and all their leadership did them dirty. So how do
you go and find, Hey, who's the honest guy in
our locker room? I don't know, you know, they were
done wrong by their own guys, and I would be
remiss if you do a quick Google search.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
I don't recommend this on your work computer. For tootsies.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
Here's your what comes back gallery VIP packages the moniker
of the biggest strip club in America, menu the club,
and then the final line that I can't even read
on here.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
This is what the NFL is lucky that everybody's a wasted.
They might keep people out of camps. Hey, we don't
watch you report from the few days. Why dude, are
you watching the news? This story is terrible to everybody's
stay out. You know we're gonna push the season. When
are we gonna start the season November? Okay, we're gonna
November to April and then we'll.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Get back on. But what this is really bad?

Speaker 4 (15:47):
But here you got Jason, How long could you go
player to player? If you're a reporter going around the
opening of training camp before PR and the team officials
to you can't keep asking about this crowd.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
You gotta leave these guys. You can't ask coach, you
can't ask the assistant coach. You can't ask the legends
on the sideline. No, keep it moving.

Speaker 4 (16:09):
They don't have any potential intimate knowledge of this place
or any like it.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
They're gonna deny, deny.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Deny, exit out about a Fresca exit swollen Dome. The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmen. Tutsi's Cabaret.
Maybe we'll call it hey lit from the Tutsis Cabaret Studios.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Can we do or we have to pay?

Speaker 4 (16:28):
Now?

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Probably?

Speaker 5 (16:29):
Well?

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Well, I mean, what does it matter.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
It's right if they contact the sales folks and we
can work out a deal.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
I mean, that'd be one hell of a remote.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Man, I'll tell you. Be sure to check out the
Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox Sports Radio
on YouTube. You'll see a whole bunch of video highlights
of our shows. Be sure to subscribe so you never
miss our very best Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, we'll have.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
More on this developing story depending on who else we
found out visited Tutsi's Cabaret.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
But coming up next.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
As I said a few minutes ago, one of the
all time great plays in baseball history happened earlier tonight,
and a very specific kind of play. It's on the
metal stand, one of the top three plays I've ever
seen like this. You will hear it. We'll break it
down coming up next right here Jason and Mike Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Hey, it's me Rob Parker.

Speaker 6 (17:21):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk featuring
the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Whether you believe in analytics or the.

Speaker 6 (17:34):
Icast, We've got all the bases covered. New episodes drop
every Thursday, So do your SOAF a favor and listen
to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 7 (17:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio App.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
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Speaker 2 (18:13):
Tire rack dot Com is the way tire buying should be. Well.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
When you make a throw that easily goes into the
top three or top five of greatest throws in baseball history.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Ronald d'acunya, you get to be the play of the day.

Speaker 5 (18:27):
And there's a high, towering flyball to d Bryant Field.
Acunya back towards the corner, shy of the warning track,
makes the catch in de bright BIMaS tags from second
and he goes into third base.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
And they got him standing. He is shocked. He had
no idea who was in right field.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
That's Ronald Leecunya Braves Radio Network on the call. There
is so much with this play now. First of all,
Viv's completely half asked it. Getting to third Sho didn't slide,
didn't think there was gonna be any play on him whatsoever. Right,
so obviously you have to get there. You gotta slide,
you gotta bust your ass. Right, that's on him. Still,

(19:07):
despite that, he still might have been safe. Right the
tag comes up behind him, and he really might have
hit the bag before the tag hits his back.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
But that doesn't matter. This throw by a.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Kunya is unreal and he catches it. First of all,
he kind of snakes Vivas a little bit because the
way he goes after the ball, like he's near the
warning track in the corner, in the right field corner.
When he makes this catch, he's got his back to
the infield almost like it makes it look like the

(19:40):
ball's gonna go off the wall and he's gonna play it,
or it's gonna go or it's gonna go foul, most
likely to get Vivas to relax and maybe not tag
or think he's gonna keep going. But he positions himself
under the ball and he catches it, and he's already
sort of facing the infield, sort of facing back towards
the infield.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Right.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's one of those I catch it in one motion
and he uncorks an absolute dart on the fly to
third base, and a great play because you know, hey,
when you know when when you're the third basemen, you're
sitting there and the throw's coming in, your eyes get big,
you want to make the play and maybe the runner
speeds up. No, no, no, this was I'm real cool. I'm

(20:18):
putting my hands up at the last second, grab tag out,
double play, gets out of the inning. Braves go up
seven to nothing. They win this game.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Seven to three. This throw by Akunya, I mean it, Mike.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
This is up there with like the Dave Parker throw
from the Kingdome that they've been showing this week for
the All Star Game with you know, Parker passing away
a few days ago. That throw, it's one of the
greatest all times. Bo Jackson's throw from the left field
corner on the fly to home plate that gets Harold
Reynolds out at the plate that you see, like, this
is how good of a throw this is? Like, this

(20:50):
is a top three, top five throws all time that
I've seen. I've seen it twenty five times and I
still can't get enough of it.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
Yeah, I keep watching it on a loop, and then
I love the little celebrat at the end where like
he's pulled the big fish out of the water. At
least that's how I'm interpreting it. Hey, snag me one.
But it's you know, he's flat footed, it's he spins
and fires the ball back. And the fact that dude
half asked it in the third we should all be

(21:17):
thankful because otherwise it's like, Wow, that's just a hell
of a throw. But it doesn't get the spotlight that
it now will, and you know, expanding the legend of
Ronald Acunya Junior. It's good to have him back and
healthy and playing well. Twenty third RBI tonight, two for
three from the plate. But this play, yeah, it's it's mesmerizing,
just the the casual nature of the catch.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Turn.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
Let's just throw it and see what happens. And because
dude was he was dogging it. I mean, let's call
it what it is.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
There's no chance in hell this guy could throw it
that far right and he still might have been safe because.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
You look, yeah, we haven't gotten a reverse angle yet
to see whether we slapped it on him before the
foot hit.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
But no, I get your point there.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's an unreal throw. I mean, and from from where
he is all the way in the corner, which, as
you know, the one thing you were told growing up. No,
that's why your best arm goes on right field because
it's the longest throw to third base from the corner.
And Akunya is flat footed, like there's no I'm going
back and I have and I have a momentum where

(22:20):
I'm gonna step into the throw. He is absolutely flat
footed and he makes this throw on a line to
third base.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Unreal, I mean, man, yeah, no.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
Giant crow hops or or sprints or or trying to
get momentum back toward now just literally wow, just absolutely flawless.
And I wish I could get this like on a
sport Flicks card. So you got the three phases, there's
the catch, there's the first throw, and there's the tag
getting slapped on just to ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Oh it happens. It happened. I mean, an amazing, amazing throw.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. The fact that
Acunya is flat footed when he that's what really cuts
through because you go back and look, bit people are
gonna look and say, hey, because because YouTube has a
top ten outfield throws in baseball history, right, you watch
all these throws. They're all incredible plays, But how many
of these throws are the guys able to get their

(23:16):
feet under them, get some momentum and make the throw
right more seven or eight of them, and Acuna just
gets it. Turns sometime he's standing still when he catches
the ball because he's trying to deak him and he
turns and makes that kind of throw. That that's what
stands out to me about how he does this flat footed,
which is all the difference man.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
The only thing that could be better with at Smith
is if we get audio from him that he looked
at the people in the crowd and said, hey, watch this.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. Coming up next,
we could see absolute history this weekend, and the guy
that could win this tournament has made it really hard
to root for him.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
I'll tell you why. Coming up next, Jason to Mike Fox.

Speaker 7 (24:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Hello, welcome in side hour too the Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
Much up up. You can stream this show and.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
All of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four
to seven in the new iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox
Sports Radio in the app to streams live, and one
of the newest features in the app, you can select
Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets, just like
the preset on a radio dial, So be sure to
preset Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app and it'll
always pop up at the top.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Of your screen so you can lock it in and
rip the up off.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Now you're gonna have to explain a big thing's popularity
to me in a second. But you know, a little
bit more on Scotty Scheffler from a few minutes ago,
because you know, after we you know, we finished talking
before trending came up, and Alex tier said, you know,
I kind of see Scotty's point on this. Alex Tischer
has discovered sports in the last ten weeks, which is nice.
And you know, talking about how Scheffler and hey, if

(25:07):
you you know, what you do for a living doesn't
need to define you and who you are, and I
understand that, but it's specifically what he said that we
can expand in this yere a little bit because, as
I said, Scotti Scheffler now has an incredible day today,
best golfer in the world despite the fact he seems
to not love playing golf, jumps out to a one
stroke lead and made all headlines this week for his

(25:30):
press conference, which he talked about how difficult and unsatisfying
the life of succeeding in golf is. Now I'm going
to play this sound bite back for you again. This
is scheffer from the other day and kind of expand
the point to where you understand about how when I say,
if golf isn't making you happy, then stop playing it.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Take a listen.

Speaker 8 (25:48):
Is it great to be able to win tournaments and
to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf?
Yet it brings tears myers to think about because it's
literally worked my entire life to become good at the sport.
And to have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I
think is a pretty cool feeling, you know, to get
to live out your dreams, it's very special.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
But at the end of the day, I'm.

Speaker 8 (26:04):
Not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
I don't.

Speaker 8 (26:07):
I'm not here to inspire somebody else to be the
best player in the world, because what's the point. You know,
this is not a fulfilling life. It's it's fulfilling from
the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a
sense of like the.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
Deepest places of your heart.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Okay, So a couple of things to expand on this
conversation we had, Mike, is that one to sit there
and say I'm not out here to inspire the next
generation of golfers. It's just a jerky thing to say,
right because there's plenty of kids out there who would
love to be and aspire to be the greatest golfers
of their generation.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
What do you mean, what's the point?

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think there's plenty of other people that would see
a great point in having the career of being a
great golfer and realizing your dreams. Like you don't sit
here and tell you Like, what he's trying to say
is that, hey, because I've found a way to not
be in love with the sport anymore, you shouldn't be either,
you know what. Let me decide what my dreams are.
You decide what your dreams are. So that's my first
point is that that's really kind of a jerky thing

(27:00):
for him to say, and say, you know, if you're
not happy that to you, man, but don't see it.
Tell me there's no point said. So many people make
a living playing golf, whether it's on the PGA Tour,
whether it's teaching golf, whether it's whether it's coaching golf
at colleges, there's high schools. I mean, golf is a
really big bleep in industry. Mann't sit here, tell me
what's the point. It's like saying, it's like saying, what's
the point to the fast food industry?

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Come on, man, fast food keeps everybody going. Man, I
can't wait.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
I mean, don't sit here, tell me there's no point
to winning golf tournaments. It's because if that's you, if
that's what you think, that's great. But don't put that
on other people. Let other people decide what they do
or want to do with their life.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:35):
I think part of it is just you know, verbiage choice, right,
in terms of how he's going through this, It's almost
like he has this epiphany and he's now talking it
out without really having an end game, right, throwing in
the role model thing is is kind of an inspiring
golferstin all right, that happens by accident. All he needs

(27:57):
is a one line, one liner add on to make
that clear. It's like, you know, I do well. I mean,
it's cool that if it inspires, but that's not the goal.
Move on and make your next point kind of thing.
But you know, to your point, yeah, I mean it's
a multi billion dollar business. You know, you go and
you get yourself fitted for for your clubs, custom made,
custom paid, custom fitted, all of those different apparel lines

(28:19):
and everything else you got going on there. We know
people that have left the radio business and gone into
the golf apparel line, like that's what they do for
their their work now, right, So I mean you've seen
a lot of growth in the industry, go back to
when when Tiger came in and the EBB and flow
and such. But for Scheffler, I mean, I understand, and

(28:40):
as we've talked to you and I I understand you know,
the larger as existential why are we here? What we
what are we doing? Golf isn't the be all to
end all, but when you're there to promote a major,
this is probably one of those a you know, sixty minutes,
you know, make the breakfast and sit around and talk

(29:00):
about where you're at in your life kind of thing,
as opposed to sitting at the podium promoting the sport
as the final major of the year.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
And you know, and the other part is this for
him to say, as he said, what's the point, right?
I got a chance to go live out my dreams?
What's the point?

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Okay? Now? And look, sometimes you start.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
You take a career path, and after you do it
for a while, you decide, you know what, I'm kind
of done doing it.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
I'm ready to do something else.

Speaker 9 (29:26):
Right.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
I think lot lots of us have had that point
where I got to the point where I go, you
know what, I need a break from radio. I kind
of want to do something else. I did it for
a few years. I went back to radio, Like, I
get that. I completely understand that. But for him to say,
what's the point, right, and what's the point golf is
not a fulfilling life? Okay again, let me go back
to what I said a couple minutes a couple of
minutes ago. Plenty of people can can find a fulfilling

(29:49):
life playing golf professionally.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Plenty of people can do it.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Plenty of people can find a great life being a
golf pro, running a golf course again, teaching golf, you know,
being a golf coach in college. Plenty of people can
find that. You get to do two things in life, right,
if you want to get deep in existential like Scottischeffier,
you get two things in life.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
You get to do.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
You get to pick what you want to do family
wise and what you want to do professionally.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Right, those are the big things.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Right. You got family and you have professional right, you
have your family life, which could be which which is
is your your parents, your kids, your wife, your relatives,
your brother, your sister, your uncle, your aunt, whatever it is.
And then there's the path you choose to take professionally.
These are the two things you get to do in
your life, right and and these are two things that
quite honestly, you should take them seriously because these are

(30:38):
the two things you get to do if you can.
If you want to, just hey, find my way.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
I want to.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
I want to be much more family oriented, personal oriented
than professionally. I get it, man, I completely get I
think that's a great choice. If you want to be
more professional oriented, then you are family oriented. Hey, great
choice too, man, go do it. If you want to
try to find a way to balance both, which is
I mean, this is what I try to do, and

(31:04):
I think a lot of people try to find. This
is that I want to have the balance between professionally
and what I do and personally, And sometimes one takes
a little bit more presidents over the other. But this
is what I'm looking for, the balance all any of
those things, they all work. But if you're telling me
that golf is not a fulfilling life, why are you
doing it like what, you have enough money, You've done everything.

(31:25):
You've gotten to the top of your profession. You've done
everything you wanted to do right, you got on top.
You have more than enough cash. You've done it all.
If this isn't making you happy, why do you still
do it?

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Right? Go do something else that will make you happy,
and I be.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
And if that's not doing anything and being happy personally, great,
you don't need to. Man, You've made so much money
already it doesn't matter. You could go do anything else
you want. Why wouldn't you leave and go do something
else that makes you happy. If clearly golf does not
hold the thrill for him that it once did. He's
great at it, he's in his prime. We see that
it's awesome. But if this is truly what it's what

(31:59):
I mean, it's kind of tough root for him to win,
because boy, I'd like somebody to win who really burns
to win, and like, hey, this is I Like I
get the Rory McElroy. I'm so burnt out because I
put everything into winning this career Grand Slam. I need
some time away. I understand that, man, I understand being
driven and wanting to win so badly. But that's why
that's why I say, if this is where you're at

(32:19):
and it's not a fulfilling life, well again, you get
one chance, you know, you know what, one rotation around
this globe where you get to do whatever you want
to do. Go do something else that makes you happy.
If doing nothing makes you happy, great, If doing something
else makes you happy, awesome. But it's clearly that this
isn't golf. So if this is how you feel about it,
then maybe you should stop playing. I mean I kind
of feel I would. I would give anybody that advice.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
It's it's still the where from where he starts to
where he finishes is just such a divide, right when
he the tears in my eyes and what I've accomplished,
the work I've put in and everything else, and then
by the end he's unsatisfied and that and that's the cure.
Like everybody no idea what's going on in in between
people's ears. We talk about it all the time. Right

(33:04):
on a given day, right, try to be as kind
as you can because you have no idea what's what's
on the other side there and how how you're going
to be received, what that person's going through uh and
everything else. With Scheffler, I mean, there's there's obviously something
going on, some disconnect between when he's playing and he's
locked in and ready to loaded for bear versus the

(33:27):
quiet time to where maybe the stuff in the head
gets to jumble around a little bit and he's not
thinking about his golf game, he's not thinking about the
next shot and thinking about the the larger space.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, it's a tough place to be.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
I mean, lots of folks get into jobs they love
you referenced, you know, needing to step back. You know,
you have ambitions, you think things are going to go
on a certain path. Sometimes you run into a wall
and then you have to figure out how to how
to get out of that one way street and pivot,
you know. It's that kind of thing, or figure out
how to get through or over said wall. But it's

(34:02):
the thing for Sheffler right now. It's it's really an
interesting split right now. Of while we're kind of setting
him up as as I mentioned, a couple of other golfers,
including a couple of guys chasing him on the leaderboard,
are making some of those Tiger references, and you're starting
to see that in articles the way he's locked in
and and has become you know, the jaws eating everything

(34:24):
in his sight.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Uh here on the tour.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
But it's still that that conflict that's going through through
his head, right, It's it's here's all this greatness, but
now we're really thinking about his headspace and talking about
mental health and and fulfillment and everything else to where man,
it's it's it's not just box scores, is it.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
And it's and clearly you look, he's still playing, he's
still doing well, he's here everything else.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
I just feel like, yeah, you're right. He goes from hey,
here's a deep thing.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
I'm gonna going to open the door and to who
I am, and and it gets into a very condescending,
jerky type area of Okay, now I'm gonna tell you
what golf is like and how how unfulfilling it is,
Like okay, I don't need you to tell me that,
but I mean a bottom line is like, I know
it seems like I'm coming down on the guy, but
I'm like, no, I would get if a friend came
to me who was really successful at what they did
for a living and and and they said to me

(35:19):
the same kind of things like, you know, I have
a grat but I you know, it's not fulfilling. It
doesn't it's it's not something that's fulfilling. And I don't
know what the point there is to it. I would
first thing I would say is, Okay, maybe you need
a break, you know what? What do you think about
taking a break?

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (35:33):
And and and not playing for a while and seeing
if that fire is still there and if and if
and if that person went on to say, yeah, I
just you know, I just don't see the point. I
would say, all right, you know what, then you then
you should stop doing it and do something else. Be happy,
be happy with you know, like like like I said,
be happy, you get one chance at this, be happy
and go do something you've you've you've really you've lived

(35:54):
out your dream and and you've done it to a
level unlike anybody else in the history of the sport
dominant player we've seen outside of Tiger Woods in the
last twenty five thirty years, like it's really it's been Tiger.
We thought it might be Rory, we thought it might
be Jordan Speith, but Scotti Scheffler's run the last few
years has been better than than any of them, and
being at the top for three years is a pretty

(36:15):
big deal. So I would say, you've done that. Now,
you know it's get inspiration from something else and go
do something else.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Right.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
You have the means to do it, you have the
you have the ability to do it. You're young, I mean,
you you have everything going your way. Find something else
that that really lights you up, and go do that, right.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I mean, I would say, the minute.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
That radio doesn't become fun for me anymore and I
don't come in turn the mic on and I love
and I love doing it, I'm gonna try to do
I'm gonna do something else, right, I mean, and knock Wood,
I hope that day is a long way away. I
love doing what I do. But I mean, if if
you're not happy about doing something, okay, then it's okay.
You know, I'm gonna go do something else. Like when
I went to NFL Network, I wanted to try. I

(36:56):
wanted to I wanted to do TV for a couple
of years. I wanted to see I wanted to break
from radio, right. I wanted to break from doing it
every day. I had done five hours a night by
myself overnight and I said, you know what, it's time
to do something else. I really need that. And after
three years doing TV, I'm like, all right, great, I
scratched that itch. It was fun. I'd like to keep
doing it a little bit if I can, and I
did for a long time. But I really want to

(37:17):
get now. I want to get back to doing because
I want to get back to doing that again because
I really miss it. And I had three years away
from it, and I recharge, and here where you are
You and I, you know, eleven years later and we're
still rolling with this. So I mean, like I get
the point of, hey, when you need a break, go
do something else. It's not something you want to come
back to. Don't come back to do it.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yeah, I mean, and look, we put it out in
the universe. I mean you have to do such things,
I guess, And and we do it here on our
national what is it, five hundred plus affiliates and all
that fun stuff. You know, we're working to Bobby Benia day.
I mean, that's what we're.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Trying to.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. So that's
my point about Scott Scheffler, Right, that's my point about
scheffer going it.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
He's probably gonna wind up winning the British the Open.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Championship, and then said, yeah, great, I won, but it's
all rum leave and see everybody goodbye.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
But but wait, here's the clarity.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
No, no, no, out of care about I want nothing,
Leave me alone.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
I'm going home, Jason.

Speaker 7 (38:15):
Can I say something?

Speaker 2 (38:16):
Yeah, go ahead. I just have a hypothetical for you. Yeah, sure, Gus.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
Say Tom Brady won his fourth Super Bowl and then
comes out at the whatever it is parade and he's like,
you know what, I just still don't feel fulfilled and
he wins two more. Would you still say the same thing.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
I would say. I would say that, go do well.
First of I would tell Tom Brady I'm done of
him winning Super Bowl for him? Are going to do
something else? That's great? Leave no, But I mean like,
but if you're not, But I would tell him the
same thing. I would say, then what are you still
playing football for? If you're not fulfilled with what you're
doing professionally, go do something else.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Do something that makes.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
You happy that I want everybody to be happy. I
want people to want everybody to be happy. Go do
what makes you happy, especially if you have the means
to do. So not everybody does, right, Not everybody has
the means that, Hey, I'm choosing to do this for
a living, I've done it for a while, I've lost
my passion for it. Well, what would you like to
go do? Well, maybe you don't have the money, you
don't have the resources to go do it. You're in

(39:08):
a situation family wise where I can't move to a
place to go do it, and I can't do it.
But when you're young and you have the money and
you can go do something else, I don't know why
you wouldn't do it.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
I see, Alex, I would run it like like we're
talking about the two parts of his statement, Right, there's
that innight.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Wow, look at what I've accomplished kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (39:28):
So I look, everybody respects the brilliance that he's putting
out on the course. Likewise, in your Brady scenario, except
for Jets fan over here, I mean, we celebrate greatness,
but you also recognize the conflict on the other side.
And I think Jason's advice, you know, in a very
general sense, is a great one. I mean, this would
rob us of a great you know story. If he's

(39:50):
suddenly racking up a ton of these, but legitimately, if
you're not fulfilled, you know, it's just.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
He's He's got it right. Man.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
We've all experienced it, whether it's f family members, some
health stuff, ourselves, Uh, circumstances that come and bite you
in the ass. Uh just really quick that you know,
life terms turns on a dime, So go enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Exit out about a Fresca Exit Swallen Dome, Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon, and Alex Tyshert, who in the last two
weeks has discovered sports and realizes it's a great place
to have discussion and have fun.

Speaker 5 (40:22):
It is.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
And I'm on Schefter's side just because you're the best
at the sport.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
You love it, Chefter, it's Sefter. No, if you're on Adam,
I'm on Adam Schefter's side. I'm on the side of
the guy that breaks stories about NFLPA heads going to
strip clubs.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
That's the side I'm on. Wow.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
Well, I mean you are on that side, though, Ty Shirt,
So I mean that's not wrong.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
I'm on Sefter side.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
I just think honestly, you just like took it too extreme,
is what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (40:50):
Uh, talk about it.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
When the guy says, there, what what's the point? What
say that life? Okay, that's what he said.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
No, no, he literally said, because they were asking like
do you f fulfilled? He was like, I've cried, I'm
the best at this, I spent my life doing it.
I love it doesn't fill the deepest parts of my heart,
which you did touch on. But I think he's just
saying like you can be the best at something and
still feel like there's something missing.

Speaker 7 (41:12):
That's all.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Yeah, okay, okay, But obviously he's that if he says
winning a tournament, I feel good for two minutes, dude,
you should be a feel better better for more than
two minutes after winning a turn, winning a major, like
you should feel way. I mean, this is if this
is everything you work for to get there, If you
get there and do it and it's a letdown, okay, again,
I think you know, hey, why we should explore some

(41:33):
other avenues here. If if winning a major turn is
a you feel good for two minutes, I mean, my goodness, man,
I mean, pin Alonzo hit that home run against the
Brewers last year and I'm still thinking about that even
when Carlos Mendoza does ridiculous crap, like bringing the relievers
he did tonight, first game out of the break with
a four day rest, and he brings up triple A
guys to come out of the bullpen, and the Reds

(41:54):
light them up and we wind up losing, right, But
doesn't matter because I think back to Alonzo's home run
and I'm happy.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
And there was a whole in the wild card game.
She what just happened there?

Speaker 4 (42:03):
Yeah, because we also tie this and you've been with
us and we were talking about the Damian Lillard stuff. Yeah,
and that's so polarizing for some folks that just want
to denigrate everything he's about because maybe he wanted to
go back and be with his kids and wanted to
go back to a place he was comfortable.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
So suddenly he's the bad guy.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
Just because you like it more than they do doesn't
mean it's wrong.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
And I'm not doing that to slap you.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Was great for it was great for Lillard, right, it
was you know, Mark Stein joined us last night, He's
a romantic brought a tear too, was like, yeah, I
feel I feel guilty that all in the media pushed
Lillard to leave when clearly, hey, I'm happy staying in Portland.
I'm trying my bat he doesn't he you know, he's
a guy that gives you his best every night, leaves
it on the floor. But the ultimate pursuing a champion. Hey,
if it happens here, great, I'm still gonna try to

(42:50):
win every day. But I like my life balance that
I have here in Portland, and that's okay, right. This
is not David Little saying, you know, I go out
and I score fifty points, I go, what's the point?
I mean, no, no, no, oh, he wants to keep it. Wait,
there's a little bit difference between Lillard and Scotti.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Scheffler.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yeah, but again, exit out about a Fresca exit Swalling
Dome eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon, So I wanted to get more of that
debate on Scheffler and again, welcome Alex Tisher to the
world of.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
Sports talk radio. Thanks after eight years of being on
the show.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
But coming up, Wow, tey, sir, buddy way him on
the way out. You're a sports talk radio hosts man
and you don't know it what you are. But coming
up next, Harmon's got to explain one of the biggest
things going on in sports and pop culture the last

(43:44):
twenty four hours, because really, I don't get the amount
of popularity this thing has. That's next right here, Jason
and Mike, Fox Sports Radio, Greetings, Welcome inside Final hour tonight,
final hour before my vacation.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Here is my.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Celebratory diet rry pepsig.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
You notice the other things that you left in the
kitchen went away really fast, leaving that it doesn't have
to be good.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Remember those little colas that you hated? Oh yeah, yeah,
those are gone in like an hour. Oh okay, selfish bastard. Okay, okay,
all right, very good.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Uh, Final hour of the show tonight, Final hour of
the week. We're live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
We'll get back into the craziest NFL story of the
year coming up in about twenty minutes, because boy has
the NFL. This has not been a great week for
the NFL. What a blank show and now it involves
strip bars. But we're getting set for the Summer League

(44:49):
Championship on Sunday. I know Harmon's got a lot of
money and his daughter's collegiate futures bet on the Summer
League Championship on Sunday night. So good luck with that.
I know, I know feeling who's playing. I bet at all,
bet it on who. I don't know yet.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
I'm gonna wait and see see what TWA Coast underdogs
all the time.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
But are we ever gonna see any trades? We thought
we're gonna get trades? What's next to the Lakers and Lebron?
What about the Clippers now that they got Bradley Beal
Lillard back in Portland? What's a big under the radar
story of the Summer League? Getting set to join us?
Now on the hot line. Longtime friend of the show,
NBA Insider sports Keta CBSTV here in Los Angeles, Athlon

(45:32):
sports as well. He's got a lot of gigs. He's
on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina. It is Mark Medina.
What's happening?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Man?

Speaker 3 (45:40):
How are you?

Speaker 9 (45:41):
I am doing well? I mean, Jason, why are you
going on vacation before you can see the Summer League
Championship unfold? And two I thought you were gonna wait
until Lebron makes this decision about going to the Knicks.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
Okay, A, I can still watch the game even if
I'm on vacation. I mean, I'm not gonna not watch Okay,
because Harmon's got again. Harmon's got his kids college money
on the outcome of whoever he winds up betting on.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
So I gotta be there for him on that gotta
be betting on.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
Motivation in the NBA is tough in the regular season,
let alone summer league.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
Now, I will.

Speaker 9 (46:13):
Tell you this. If you thought that the Oklahoma City
Thundered didn't know how to celebrate winningn NBA championship, will
you just watch this Las Vegas Summer League team. They
might just be barely dowsing everyone with water.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Hey, look, I watched last night the Knicks loss of
the Pacers. Again, what else is new?

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Now?

Speaker 1 (46:31):
If you tell me that the Knicks are going to
get Lebron James in the next few days, maybe I'll
postpone my vacation so I can do this. Do you
notice is that going to happen with the Knicks getting
Lebron James?

Speaker 9 (46:42):
You know what, Jason, I often get your hopes up
about the Knicks, only then to deflate your feelings. Sure,
he's not going to the Knicks. I think. Unlike a
lot of compelling scripts in Hollywood, this ends in a
dud that he comes back with the Lakers in a uniform.
I think it'll likely be his final season. Maybe there
is a scenario that he rides out this season with

(47:04):
the contract and plays next season on that kind of
minimum deal so he can go to Cleveland. But if
I had a guess, I think it's fine on you
with the Lakers and joining the farewell tour while hoping
that he can also win a championship.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
But now that's a leftown. That's a letdown.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
That's a that's a real like how much you don't
both sides want to move on from each other.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
That's a letdown.

Speaker 9 (47:26):
Enjoy Jalen brunts To remember that magazine article I showed
you from Lindy is about where I said that Jalen
Brunton has the case to be the greatest Nick of
all time.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Oh it is true. No, that is true. He would
still be the greatest Nick.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
It would just be he would do it and Lebron
would put him on his shoulders and that would be
the statue they put outside of MSG.

Speaker 9 (47:44):
Oh wow, yeah, you know what, Maybe he does that
vet minimum next year. There's always the chance that he
rides out in the sunset New York.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
Look at that He's just giving you that glimmer of hope,
just to screw with you a little bit.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
All right, Mark, let's stay with the Lakers. Did the
would be trade break? Dalton?

Speaker 4 (48:02):
Connect your reparaly forever? And what the hell happened with
Bronnie James?

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Hed done? Grown up really fast?

Speaker 9 (48:09):
Hey, look, you know what, maybe this should compel lebron
James and Rich Fault a lot out of a statement that,
because of how great Bronnie James has played, he affirms
that he's one hundred percent committed to the Lakers. On
the other hand, maybe this is finally the thing that
makes a deal with Lebron James possible. Or are they
throwing a sweetener that is brownie. The teams will actually

(48:31):
think it's an asset that they're package deal. You never know,
and maybe the Nicks will like him as well.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
All right now, you guys, he's hitting you with a
club and I know right yeah, well.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
He's like bam baman the flintstones, Bam bam ba keep
hitting you. All right, now, you go across town to
the Clippers.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
You haven't been on this again on your Twitter at
Mark g underscore Medina the Clippers getting Bradley Beal a
couple of days ago. I gotta say, Mark, Yeah, Bradley
Beal is nice. But I know how the season's going
to end for the Clippers. They're going to win forty
five ish games. They're going to lose in the first round.
Because you're built around guys who are in their mid thirties.
They don't suddenly get younger and suddenly get better. That's

(49:12):
how the year is going to.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Go for the Clippers.

Speaker 9 (49:14):
Yeah, I mean, I actually, I think you're right. I
mean this whole idea that Clipper fans and the Clippers
should feel encouraged about Kawhi Leonard because he got through
a postseason healthy. I think you know, that's the same
thing as you know, landing on seventeen in Roulette and thinking, Okay,
just because I did it once, I can do it again.
The reality is we've seen Kawhi Leonard's injury history. We've

(49:37):
also seen James Harden's playoff history as well. Be on
the sidelines as well. Bradley Beale, I know, talking to
his agent, Mark Bartlestein, you know, he's saying that he's
better with his recovery. He's just looking to bulletprove his
body in the offseason. He's a lot better condition than
he was health wise in Phoenix. The Clippers are talking

(49:57):
about how they want him to be the best version
of himself and feel like he'll play a lot of
starters in minutes, being All Star all that good stuff.
I think that can play out, But the reality is
Bradley Beal's injury history is what it is. So I'm
with you that the Clippers are going to be competitive
but not great. They'll get to the playoffs in the
first round and that's probably it, and it's going to

(50:18):
be the same old story. They have Kawhi, Leonard, James Harden.
They're good, they have a good supporting cast, but it's
not quite good enough. And so I think really the
only realistic pathway for hope here is because they made
that tough but necessary decision of not extending Norman Pale,
they do have some cap space to work with, you know,

(50:38):
to make a big deal next summer. So who knows,
maybe that means Gianna Thompson Koupo comes to LA but
with the Clippers and not the Lakers, or who knows,
maybe it's Nakola Jokich. We'll have to wait and see.
But whether it's those blockbuster deals or you know, two
solid kind of deals, the Clippers are more lined up
for long term success. Success and all of a sudden

(51:01):
becoming a contender this season.

Speaker 4 (51:03):
You mentioned Giannis now former teammate Damian Lillard goes home.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
How does that resonating throughout the league?

Speaker 9 (51:10):
Yeah, I think on one hand, it's kind of a
feel good moment. I was listening to Mark Stein's interview
with you the other day, or you know, the romanticism
of reuniting. The fact that they're on better terms now
after kind of the ugly departure, that's a cool thing.
I think the other cool thing is that he can
spend this entire season rehabbing his achilles, close to family,

(51:32):
still have a presence around the team with this young
this young group of players. But at the same time,
I think he's also choosing his team that's not quite
ready to make that you know, championship contending leap. So
you know, I know one of the reasons why he
wanted out of Portland is he felt like, even though
they're making the playoffs every year, they weren't in that

(51:54):
contending status. But I think at the end of the day,
he was also mindful that even if he joined the
contender this season, he's out for next season, so that
idea of being part of a championship team's gone. And
I think the other thing is even these contending teams
have a lot of question marks on whether they're true

(52:15):
contention status. Outside of Oklahoma City, which wouldn't have been
a viable option anywhere, everyone else has legitimate question marks.
So with Portland, they're not a contender by any means,
but they do have a good young nucleus, and you know,
I was attached Summer League. One of the cool things
with seeing young Hanson in person, he's a legitimate center

(52:35):
a lot of great excitement, obviously because of the Chinese market,
but you know, they're calling him the Chinese version Nicole
Jokic for a reason. He has a great combination of
power and skill that makes me suggest that he's going
to be a pretty specially unflawer.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
And so, speaking of Summer, we're getting ready for the
championship on Sunday, right we're seeing teams get you know,
get there and what could be a game that dozens
of people watch. Well, give me a big story that
you like from the summer League that maybe not quite
getting the attention of Will Lebron get traded, Damian Lillard,
Bradley Beal. Yeah, give me something from the Summer League, like, hey,

(53:11):
you know, I really like this story.

Speaker 9 (53:13):
Yeah, well, I would say what I would just mention
about Jan Hohnson that he came out of nowhere. I
mean there was a lot of intrigue in buzz when
he got drafted. I know Jake Fisher said that some
people said that he is the Chinese version of Jokics,
but actually seeing him in person and just really galvanize
the excitement in the arena. The Blazers are playing games

(53:34):
at like seven point thirty eight o'clock at night, and
this is in Las Vegas, and usually now is the
time to go get dinner, getting early see at the
casino tables. And it was a pretty riveting crowd. The
best atmosphere I saw outside of Cooper Flagg's debut as
well as you know, coinciding with Brownie James's return. So
I would say that's the next real good story. I

(53:55):
think the other part, yeah, there's obviously the headliner with
Cooper flag and all attention on him, but I think
the cool part was how he responded to summer league
that even though none of this stuff matters and the
fact that he didn't shoot the ball well really means anything,
he was legitimately pissed off about it so much, as
trainer Matt McKenzie told me that he was upset the

(54:18):
next day after it and talking about what he needs
to do to adjust. And there was never any concern
about it because of this Summer League, but it provided
an early window that this guy really really hates to lose.
And you put that into context of the regular season
him gained tested as a rookie. I think he had
this really illustrated that he's all about the right things

(54:40):
as far as his competitive spirit and work ethic. That
was really cool to sue.

Speaker 4 (54:44):
Now, did you see the video that was circulating Klay
Thompson making seventy two straight three point shots?

Speaker 2 (54:50):
What's your record?

Speaker 9 (54:52):
Yeah? I hear there's some connecting the dots on why
that is because of there some things going on in
his life right a little bit.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
Yeah, Hey, if I was dating Megan the Stallion, I
hate you gave me the ball.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
I'm ready, I'll make seventy two in a row.

Speaker 4 (55:05):
Right here, I go go women don't weaken legs. That's
what he's trying to show. I can have both.

Speaker 9 (55:12):
Yeah, look, I mean happy happy wife, happy wife, happy
significant other, all that stuff. I think. The other thing
that we're seeing with Clay is that, let's be real,
ever since acl Achilles injury in twenty nineteen twenty, he's
never been the same player, never will be the same player,
especially defensively. But as a shooter, those things can carry through.

(55:34):
So even though his roles evolved with Golden State, his
roles evolved with Dallas, He's still a pretty effing good shooter.
And I expect that now that he's more settled into
Dallas and there's less turbulence about, you know, adapting to
playing with Luka Doncics than adapting to not playing without
Luke and all the different injuries, You're going to see

(55:56):
a much better version of Clay on the offensive end
next season.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
All right, Mark, let's end here now as we get
set for the last month before we you know, everybody
goes away vacation. You know, we thought we could get
some big trades. You're telling me Lebron's gonna wind up staying.
Are we going to see any.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
More any more? Big trades.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
We saw a lot of activity in and around the
draft and trades. Are we going to see any big
trades between now in the beginning of the season.

Speaker 9 (56:21):
Well, you never say never. I mean, I think it's
telling that even though the Milwaukee Bucks says that they've
been in constant communication with Jannis Antokumbo and nothing's changed.
You know, he's doing his Instagram Instagram live video saying
he's probably he's probably going to be back with the
Milwaukee Bucks. All that that probably still left a window

(56:42):
for other teams to be determined to give the Milwaukee
Bucks different trade packages. So if there is a major deal,
I think it's going to involve that. But you know,
if I had to put money and look, I took
her guys advice about how to gamble in Vegas last
week did not work. But if I had to put
money on, I don't think that there's going to be
major trades. All the major things already happened. Kevin Durant

(57:05):
gain trade is Houston, the surprise with the Milwaukee Bucks
waving and stretching Damian Loward, and then Damian joining Portland.
I think now it's just going to be all different
kind of chalk things about where does Jonathan Kaminge go?
Is he come back to Golden State as our actual
team that wants to sign him after not really gaining
any offers for the first three weeks of free agency

(57:27):
and then other rotation players but major things not going
to happen.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
I don't think he's on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina.
That said, Mark g Underscore Medina, Mark as always, Buddy,
appreciate you popping on with us as always. Well, we'll
talk to you soon and enjoy the weekend, enjoy the
Summer League championship.

Speaker 9 (57:46):
Indeed, and Jason, enjoy your vacation. I hear that it's
going to be with Mike Brown. Wh you guys are
going to be breaking down tape till five o'clock in
the morning. Sounds like a fun time.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Yeah, here's my tape. Okay, at the end of the game,
just give the ball to Brunson.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
There we go. That's it.

Speaker 9 (58:03):
How of a coaching advice to continued invoice James, Don.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Take it easy, buddy, have a great weekend. Two guys
to Mark, there we go.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Uh yeah, I mean, look, I would love to say
there would be a trade, but look it all goes
back to what we've talked about is that if a
star wants to trade in the NBA, he's got to
be okay being the bad guy. If you're not okay
being the bad guy, you're not gonna get traded. Teams
are gonna hold on to you and try to make
it work, and they're not gonna give up a star
because it's so hard to replace you.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
We've seen.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
If you want a trade, you can be traded, but
you have to be the bad guy. Lebron will get
traded in a second. If he says to the Lakers,
buy me out or trade me.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
Guess what.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Lakers would buy him out or trade him. They would
figure something else out, even if the buyout doesn't.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Make as much sense.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
If Lebron said buy me out, the Lakers say, wait, wait, wait, wait,
how about a trade? Okay, now, a trade would happen, right.
If Yanna says I want to get traded, you gotta
trade me, the Bucks would. But they have to be
okay being the bad guy to say this, and so
far none of them, no stars are okay with being
that bad guy.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
Lebron, give us back fifty one point six million of
what you're expected to get this year and we can talk,
but it would also be that thing like we talked
with Mark Stein yesterday, like they're not gonna let him
walk away to a contender, right because even if you
got some of that money back, what the hell can
you spend it on right now? Nothing? Confetti? Yeah, confetti

(59:28):
in your next bobblehead.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
I mean, that's it. That's all.

Speaker 4 (59:31):
Note a lot in the marketplace to go get for improving.
So Lebron'll just have to smile and get through his
season exit out by a Fresca exit.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Swallen down the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Carbon.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
Now, there's times.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
We're ahead of the curve when hey, we have a
big take and we tell you that, hey we've thought
about and done research on and done our homework.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Yeah we got And.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
There's sometimes that very flippantly we'll say something and boil
we end up ahead of the curve. That is the
case today with what we're going to talk about next
that happened in the NFL Jason and Mike Fox Sports
Radio