Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Hour 1 + Hr2 Seg 2 (Ric Bucher)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Foxsportsradio dot com, or stream us live every
night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Hello, welcome in Side Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show
with special delivery Steve Disager in from Mike Harmon. If
you work in logistics, you know nothing moves without you.
Companies need skilled people now, and Express Employment Professionals can
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at no cost to you. Visit expresspros dot com, get support,
get options, and get to work. Speaking of getting to

(00:55):
work last night, I know it was a very trying
night for Steve paying attention doing the show with schoobl
having his first start for the Dodger and all that.
Not really, are you going to be okay tonight? Blake Snell, Yeah,
getting his first start in a while for the Dodgers
is coming up in a few minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Then a Dodger fan has not actually seen they just
gave a stat that Blake Snell in his time with
LA has twelve regular season starts total twelve unusual.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I feel like every night for the Dodgers is like, hey,
we get's a superstar revealed night Tomorrow night. Jerry Royce
is gonna pitch.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
That's right, and come next month maybe Hey, O'tanny's a
pitcher again? Hey that glassnow guy is still on the rust.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Oh I don't forget about him. Yes again, Brad Penny
may start a game or two. You never know, two
nights in a row. Eric Kanye might come out of
the bullpen tonight. Can't burn out Edwin Diaz.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
As long as they play the game over with the
music and the scoreboy, Yeah great, I'm all for it.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Sure. Look this is why. Look we talk about this.
We'll get to big football story coming up in a second.
But like, look, Blake Snell, I think again, Steve Says
pitching his first game since signing as a free agent
two years ago. Uh but uh, but they're all coming back.
The starting pitching is coming back. Everything is okay, right,
that they made the move for school. Well, they had

(02:07):
to do it, they did it. Everything is good. What
I'm telling you, when you get to the playoffs again,
it's gonna be let's play roulette with that bullpen because
I know d has closed it out last night. But
I told you, this is not an Edwin Diaz year.
He has great years and he has years where, oh boy,
can we really stick with the guy another season? This
is one of those years for Daz. You're gonna get

(02:28):
to the playoffs. It's gonna be Sasaki closing games or
who knows right, who knows? Maybe are we can oral
hersheis or give us an inning from the broadcast booth.
He can come right down, and we got the fifty
five jersey ready for him. Can he come down and
give us an inning?

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, the Dodgers didn't have a bullpen to start the
postseason last year, and remember Sasaki was not a good
starter last year. It was a shock when first off,
the Dodgers were not one of the better division winners,
so they had to play the wildcard series and really
needed Sasaki to close out games or else the bullpen
would have blown one of those. As we get toward postseason, yes,
it's trending toward them having the regular four man expensive

(03:05):
rotation that you're expecting the Dodgers to have the postseason,
the one that shut down top seed Milwaukee in the
NLCS last year. But just because these guys are coming
back doesn't mean they're there old selves yet. I mean,
Blake Snell, the reason he was at Triple A with
four starts, it was just get up the pitch count
after up over seventy pitches or so, so maybe he'll

(03:27):
be able to throw that tonight. It doesn't mean that
he was blowing them away at Triple A. He was
not at a ball. Yes, once he jumped to Triple
A with the rehab starts not that great era four
and a half or five.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
How is Burt Hooton's rehab going. Is he gonna be
able to pitch? Well? Nobody can.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Nobody can touch the knuckle curve, so they're good. I
still say Doug.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Raw pitch wasn't There wasn't lance Raw. It was no, no,
but there was a Lance Raw too. I want one.
Rotson was a teammate. No, the bullpench No, I get that,
but I want to say that there was there was,
There was a Lance Rows when there was Doug Row
and Lance Row. If I'm not miss, I could be mistaken,
that could be my I have never heard of Lance

(04:08):
my seven year old, you know, remembering back.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Now we go more race route. We've skipped over Lance Lynn.
If you want great Dodger pitchers for the postseason.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, don't take athletes name Lance. Let's take Lance Johnson.
One dog's trey. Lance hasn't been doing much. Maybe he's
by the way, Lance Stevenson hasn't been blowing anybody's year.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
This has been This is going to come up in
the off season with the labor deal done after this
postseason for Major League Baseball. I understand that baseball for
many years has needed something resembling.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
A salary cap but also with a salary floor.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
But it's not like you know, you talked about it
on your show as soon as it happened. The stupidity
of people saying, oh, Scooble's acquired by the Dodgers, the
season's over.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Are you not watching baseball? Every year?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
How often is the World Series? The two best teams
always the This is not the NBA, This is not
I mean, can you imagine the Patriots all those years.
If Tom Brady actually didn't play all the playoff games baseball,
you have a rotation, you know, guys are stuck with
third and fourth starters in key playoff games all the time.

(05:17):
The Dodgers, as you have brought up, had an all
bullpen game facing elimination a couple of years back at
San Diego and still won that to stay.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Alive and make a run. We burned Brady in the
wildcard game. Now we gotta go to Bailey Zappi. Why
so we can't bring Brady back for bring him back
that early? We gotta go another game.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yes, the Dodgers won the last two World Series, and
I maintain in truly amazing fashion, one year without a
rotation and the other year without a bullpen and still
won the World Series both times.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
But the year right.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Before those two, Lance Lynn was in the rotation. The
Dodgers played their first round series against Arizona and not
only got swept, they didn't have a lead in any
of the games the entire series, and it wound up
in Arizona, Texas World Series.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Was that ancient history? What Kershaw gave up five runs
in the first thing in the game one, and that
was it. It was like, okay, so that's over. Yes,
so much for the hundred wins. So we got more
baseball on the way again, big game going on Dodger Stadium,
Blake Snell coming back. But big day in football. We
got a big NFL quarterback derby decision that was made
coming up in a few minutes. But speaking of decisions

(06:27):
that are made, even though maybe CBS wants to make
it seem like they haven't made this decision.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
That is exactly what they said that made it seem
like that the future of Tony Romo at CBS is
in flux. This according to CBS Sports president David Berson
on Tuesday. Now remember that name for a second. The
NFL on CBS had their media dates. It's here related
to the visit of Atlans.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Now, I got a good story, okay, Burston says, quote,
it's an evolving situation. We are still assessing. There is
no timetable or final decision at this time.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Now, granted it's a month until CBS is gonna use
its number one broadcast.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Percent, but we know they're not going to when when
Romo received three citations from Milwaukee County Sheriff's office, following
his traffic stop earlier in July. Right away, Tony Romo
was taken off the number one team. There was no
timetable for his return. He was replaced right away. CBS
made that decision instantly. Hey JJ Watt, it's gonna be

(07:25):
with the first team Tony Romo. We said it at
the time. He's done his last game for CBS, and
this news today just tells me what we said the
night that story broke. When CBS can decide how to
act in this situation. We have seen people get duys before.

(07:46):
We have seen them go through rehab, We've seen them
get suspended, we have seen them come back. CBS there
was no reason for them to make a big public announcement.
Tony Romo wasn't going to be on the air until
the end of this month, one time before the regular
season again maybe then right.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
Usually they don't necessarily use the number one team in
preseason one game.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
CBS had one big national game at the end of
this month, and then you weren't going to see Tony
Romo until opening week the second week of September. And
still CBS decided we're going to take him off the
number one team. No timetable for his return at this point,
can he really come back? Cane can Tony row after
being told no timetable, You're off the number one team.

(08:28):
We're moving people around right the other announcement today, you
know who's moving up to take JJ Watts spot in
the number two team for CBS. They are moving on.
They are spending every minute they can with their lawyers
whatever it is, looking around going can we get out
of Tony Romo's contract? Because CBS decided to use this

(08:48):
to get rid of him. They've decided. They could have
gone either way. No one would have blinked if they said,
you know what, Tony's gonna take some time away and
you're not going to see him till the regular season,
and he's gonna do x Y and and that's what's
going to happen with Tony Romo. Nobody would have blinked, Okay,
he he's got to go through some kind of rehab.
He's got a you know, a show that I made
a mistake. He's got to make amends for it. He's

(09:09):
got to do that. Nobody would have blinked if they
said he's not gonna be on the air and we'll
see him first week of the season. He's gonna be
away from a not gonna do the game on Sunday,
the twenty six. I think that's the date CBS has it.
But CBS decided right away to say, uh no, he's
off the number one team. We're making movements. Here's the
guy replacing him, here's a guy replacing JJ Watt. Still
no timetable for Tony Romo. There's no way he comes

(09:31):
back after this. There is no way he has done
his last game for CBS. Now, why would they do this?
Are they done with Tony Romo being an analyst because
they're upset that he's not as good as he was
years ago and they gave him a lot of money. Look,
just like in sports, all of that's true. By the way,
you get to a point where hey, will your behavior
is it enough to outweigh what go you know, what

(09:53):
goes on on the field with a lot of players.
It is even with announcers. Now we're seeing that it
probably is not. Llo's reputation has not been great the
last few years. His work, ethic, his performance on the air,
Roundly on social media, he has made fun of it.
Doesn't seem like he prepares as much as he used to.
For whatever reason, Romo is not the guy that was

(10:15):
in the looked at in the fairest of lights with
CBS anymore. So this happened, and I think CBS saw
this as an opportunity. This is going to allow us
to move on from Tony Romo. They're gonna find some way,
whether it's a payout, whether it's we don't have to
pay him because we're firing him for cause. They are
finding way, but they are dotting their t's and crossed
it because that they don't want dot in their oh's

(10:35):
and crossing their teas because they don't want this to
come back a big legal thing that hangs over everybody.
They want Romo's out of our out of our our
our line of sight right now, and then we're going
to figure out away for him to move on. And
he's done his last game with CBS. He is he is.
We told you at the time he was done, and
now you look at CBS and how they're doing things now.
Absolutely that's what's going on.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
As a fan of football on TV, I can't wait
till he is out of the number one booth because
his talent has not deserved to be in the number
one booth for any network for years now, and I
won't go to the point to say it's embarrassing. I'm
just saying it's obvious. If you compare Romo's work the
last five years to the other number one analysts on

(11:16):
the other networks, it's clear he is substandard compared to
those guys. To the point, Tony Romo still has a
quarter appearance scheduled for September twenty First, we mentioned on
last night's show, the big CBS late afternoon window at
the end of September is the game in Rio with
Dallas against Baltimore. There is no way Tony Romo is

(11:39):
going to be spending the week in Brazil with CBS
that week. So let's not only say JJ Watt's working
opening day for the network in mid September, there's no
way Romo's working at the end.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Of September for that network either. He is going to
find a new job somewhere at some point someone else
will hire him in a bit of a lower situate.
Lower uh, well, if the situation the.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Contract, If they actually can't get out of overpaying him,
they might be stuck with using him. Either with interviews
or at the desk, or or.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
They just say we're gonna pay you and you're not
gonna be on the air, and then it could get
Kyler Murray thing with Arizona. That's why it could be
wind up being a payout. But obviously, look, CBSC's a
situation where Romo was no longer great publicity for us
every time he is on the air, and look, and
I'll be the first one to tell you, excutive spend
way too much time looking at social media for what

(12:31):
the opinion of people broadcasting is. It's crazy, but that's
how it goes. Executives it don't even watch their own
networks go every time. If I dig it on Twitter
one more time and see Tony Romo trending because he
said something that we're gonna get out of the way.
So I can tell you right, this is how things
are done. And I can tell you for this is
what they're sick of. Tony Romo is no longer a
great headline in the booth for c He was a

(12:54):
great headline for years. The predicting of plays was incredible, amazing,
it was at long But now he just kind of
shows up and does this thing just like some players
peak their first year in the major Tony Romo and
then just kind of showing a couple of years. And
that's that's how it's been going for him. But now
they see, Okay, this is our way to get out
of it, and he's not going to broadcast for him again.
Now separately, okay that you have been waiting to Wait,

(13:16):
we've said about that name separately, right, And I don't
know anything about this, so I haven't talked to the
guy in now. Okay, this would be let's see twenty six,
thirty five years. But you ready for this, Okay. The
summer of nineteen ninety two, I graduated college and I
got a job as an intern at ESPN in the
marketing department in New York. So I was commuting every

(13:38):
day from Staten Island going in, working in the in
the in the marketing department, you know, pulling slides, helping
with with promotion, all kinds of stuff. And there were
two interns in the marketing department that year, me and
David Berson, really this guy who is now the CEO
of CBS Sports, And we went different directions. And there's

(14:01):
lots of people that I know in the business that
that that have big. Well he went to the executive
We went different. I went the creative route. He went
the executive route. But this guy's now he was like
what like he was like one bit away, uh, you
know from getting the top job, you know, before he
got let go earlier, and now here is at CBS
and he's running things. And I'm like, I remember just
hanging out, having me and him having lunch talking about
college football. You know, in the summer of ninety two.

(14:24):
He had just graduated from Michigan. I just graduated from Syracuse.
He was a good dude. Like, I didn't know anybody
else there. Everybody else is way older than than I was,
and we were and I was like, hey, another guy
my age out.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Okay, so that's back when Syracuse football team was about as.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Good as Michigan. That's well, yeah, that's back when that's
back when we had morvn Graves and we had you know,
getting ready for the McNab era. Yeah, no, we were
pretty good. But every time I see him talking, yeah,
I remember we were interns together, and I think about
that once in a while, Like if I had taken
the executive route and then I realized, Oh no, I
could never have done that. Now, I could never have
done that in an office. I am awful. Haven't you seen?

Speaker 3 (15:00):
I mean, there have been good executives in our careers
that we've run across, But haven't you experienced as someone
who gets to be on the air and talking about
stuff like we're talking about tonight, doesn't it seem like
as much as sports as usually the toy department executives
is a little bit less.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, except for the perks, it's a little bit less.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
There's certain executives I go, wow, I'd be a better
executive than you, and I know it, and I can
give you the names. But there's a lot of e
I go, you know what, I can't do what. I
can't do that. That's just not me. And I have
a tremendous amount of respect for people who can do
that and juggle all the balls and take all the
heat and take all the phone calls and nuance and
do deals. I'm like that. I just could not do that.

(15:41):
That is just not me.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Before we break, I have an update from Dodger Stadium.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Blake Snell is not pitching.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
He is off the injured list in pitching on the
Dodgers pitching. He faced three batters in the top of
the first and struck out all three. Oh, everything's one
to the bottom of the first, scoreless with the Roy
Hey go.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Everything is fine exit? How about Fresca Jason Smith's deed
to say you're in from Mike Harmon again. The next
time Tony Romo's on the air, it's gonna be with
another network. Maybe maybe, Like he goes to ESPN, he's
doing college football and all of a sudden, hey, he
makes his ESPN debut for Wisconsin Illinois on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
You know, if this was back in our younger days,
the next time he would be on the air was
a sit down and interview with roy Firestone on his
way back to career in television.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
You don't know the pressures are going with fifty five
million dollars. Man, I knew her mother, she was all right.
Why I just think about that scene from the end
of Jerry Maguire all the time FROYD Firestone's last great
appearance was it. I don't know the pressure people, the
pressures that go with fifty five million dollars. There, be
sure to check out our YouTube channel for the show.
Just search Jason Smith's Show within YouTube. Again, that's Jason
Smith's Show. Hit the subscribe button, then tap the thumbs

(16:44):
up icon, comment away, agree or disagree, Let us know
what you think. Again, just search Jason Smith Show on
YouTube and subscribe. Well, coming up next, Yes, a big
quarterback derby that we thought was gonna take us all
the way to the end of camp was ending today.
They can us more stuff to talk about. React to
that more next right here, Big NFL Dight, Jason Smith,

(17:05):
Steve de Seger Fox.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
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Speaker 5 (17:24):
Stuc gotts here. I have a podcast empire. It continues
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I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
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Speaker 1 (17:35):
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Speaker 5 (17:37):
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Speaker 1 (18:09):
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(18:52):
We were promised to quarterback derby, Steve. We were promised
many quarterback derbys, and now it looks like they're all
just petering out in the preseason, right before the preseason
games act. We're gonna have so many quarterback questions, right,
is Mahome's gonna be ready for Week one? That's gonna
be No, no, no, he's ready, he's coming back. He's
absolutely fine. He'll be starting week one. Okay, Well, what

(19:12):
about what's going on in Atlanta? Were Michael Pennix is
weeks away from being able to play eleven on eleven?
As long as two is healthy, he's gonna be the guy. Okay, okay?
And what about Vegas? It's not they still want to
prop up Kirk Cousins. They'll wait till later on this season,
all right, But we got Kyler Murray and JJ. No, no,
we don't have JJ McCarthy and Kyler Murray.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
And that kind of speaks for all you us about
the guy who didn't win the competition, doesn't it.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
As the Vikings have selected Kyler Murray to be there
QB one to begin the season. But much like it
is for any quarterback Derby, don't think JJ McCarthy's not
gonna play. He's gonna wind up starting. But Kyler Murray
is getting the assignment out of the gate. And first
of all, before we get into the big thing, the
big global topic about this.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
You mean he's gonna wind up starting just because this
is the NFL and Murray's not gonna be playing seventeen
games exactly.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
And the same thing. Oh, if Deshaun Watson wins the
starting gig in Cleveland, guess what you Doris Sanders is
going to start games too, right, Like, that's just how
it's gonna go. But for Kyler Murray, it was inevitable
that he was gonna get the gig, right, they signed
him in the offseason. They wouldn't sign him to take
the job away from JJ McCarthy if they were confident
in JJ McCarthy. So this is the way it was

(20:22):
supposed to go. It was inevitable. And you need to
see him first out of the gate, because if you
go to JJ McCarthy first, you're just waiting for a
couple of bad games or maybe a bad couple of
throws to say, oh, it's get Kyler Murray in there.
You need to see him first, Right, you've seen JJ McCarthy,
you need to see Kyler Murray. This is the right order, right.
It would be messy if it was the other way
that McCarthy wins it, but Murray's over his shoulder. You

(20:45):
signed Murray to do it. This is the correct order
of things. Why are they doing it now? It's been
rocky for Murray and a little bit like McCarthy's looked
a little bit better according to all reports so far.
But this shows you how much they wanted to go
to Murray and that, okay, we gotta do it instead
of letting it play all the way out till the
end of the preseason. Is that he's got to get
all the reps with the Ones because right now he's

(21:07):
splitting all the practice reps with JJ McCarthy and if
it's rocky for him, he needs all the reps he
can get with the Ones. That's why they're doing it now.
It's another smart thing to do, I could say for
the Vikings, who have done a lot of really dumb
things the last couple of years, like this is the
smart thing. It's the right order to go to Kyler Murray,
and it's right knowing that he needs the reps to
be ready to put him in a position to succeed

(21:28):
for week one.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
And I completely understand the head coaches viewpoint on this.
If these are my options, and they are. Kyler Murray
can be spectacular, he can be brilliant, he can give
you something to raise an eyebrow. JJ McCarthy's done almost
nothing like that, and he's had time in the NFL
and really continued to disappoint in the starts he did

(21:51):
get last year. So you see the guy that you
haven't seen in a Minnesota uniform yet. I didn't think
this was much of a choice for him.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Actually, no, this was something that it was not quite
a fixed competition, but it was this is how we
wanted to go right and before things get bad or
get worse, and Kyler Murray looks bad over the next
couple of weeks, he's still splitting reps, he doesn't have
as much command of the offense. Then it gets messy.
We're gonna do it now. We're gonna do it now.

(22:19):
And I'm sure they told JJ McCarthy, a, this is
not something for the entire season. This is we got
him to bring him in here. It's something a little
bit different. And then you know, be ready to get
your chance, because you know this is the NFL and
you're gonna wind up playing at some point al most
likely you're going to wind up playing at some point.
So just stay ready.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
And did you notice that he's getting more snaps under center?
Maybe he's gonna be running less. Maybe they're actually gonna,
I don't know, have a quarterback that assumes that Jefferson
is actually one of their rhyne receivers and they can
go nuts in that regard. I look forward to see
how it actually plays out or if it's just gonna be, frankly,

(22:55):
the selfish Kyler Murray that we saw sometimes in Arizona.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, now the big take is this, right? The big take? Okay,
so here's the Vikings quarterback derby is one round. I
give them credit because they made the right calls. Right thing, now,
this decision to go with Kyler Murray and to not
start JJ McCarthy, this just absolutely continues to show you

(23:20):
that the Vikings made the worst quarterback decision in the
history of the NFL. A decision that was bad keeps
getting worse and worse and worse and worse. Right, And
this is not just because well they had Sam Donald,
they had JJ McCarthy. We didn't know what to do,
We didn't see anything out of one you know what.

(23:42):
Let's just you know what let's just flip a coin,
and we made the wrong decision. That's happened plenty of
times where you have two guys you're not quite sure. Hey, oh,
if we knew what we had, we didn't. This was
the worst quarterback decision of all time. Because they had
Sam Darnald in the building. They go fourteen and three.
He's a Pro Bowl quarterback. He throws for four thousand

(24:03):
yards thirty five touchdowns. He was terrific. You know how
hard it is to get a quarterback in the NFL.
And he shows up, and it's a gift that the
Vikings get Sam. It's an absolute gift that they get
Sam Darnold. Oh my goodness, look at this. But they
drafted JJ McCarthy and for some ridiculously stupid reason that
just gets worse and worse with each passing day. They decided, well,

(24:26):
let's move on from this guy because we drafted JJ
McCarthy and we liked him. Okay, this wasn't a guy
you drafted number one overall. This is a guy you
drafted who honestly was overdrafted when they took him. Because
I watched every one of his games at Michigan for
all the wins. Yes, they won the national championship by
limiting what he did in the playoff. Okay, they never
won any games because of JJ McCarthy. He had some

(24:47):
moments at Michigan, and certainly he's got all the tools,
but this was not a guy that stands out saying
this is the guy we're gonna take care. This is
the guy. Yes, Jim Harvard did a lot of great
publicity for him, and oh, Jay, I take JJ number
one over my guy. Yeah, okay, but they decided with
the evidence on the field, with this team, with this
roster that we have, because he had a bad last

(25:09):
couple of games, the last game of the regular season
against Detroit, the playoff game wasn't great. We're going to
use this to move on to a quarterback that is
untested coming off a big injury. Now, that's bad enough.
The thing is they could have also franchised him. Let's
keep him for another year. The guy certainly deserves a
chance to walk into campus a number one quarterback, thirty

(25:31):
five touchdowns, Pro Bowl year fourth. This wasn't one of
those Pro Bowl years where it was hey, seven guys
said no, So someone with seven touchdowns and ten interceptions
gets named for it. That's not one of those Pro
Bowl years. They could have franchised. They could have kept
him for another year if they wanted to. They could
have moved on from JJ McCarthy eight. No one would
have cared. In Minnesota. We found our quarterback. We don't

(25:52):
care that we took a quarter We'll move on. We'll
trade JJ McCarthy. We'll get a first round pick for him.
He still has value. We can still do this. All
of this evidence. There were so many circuit breakers, There
were so many emergency breaks in front of the Vikings
that told them you should keep this guy. But no, no, no,
Kevin O'Connell, everybody, we were the smartest guys in the room.
We're gonna let Sam Donald walk. And not only does

(26:12):
he walk, not only is JJ McCarthy stink and not
able to stay healthy. Sam Donald goes to a new
team in his first year and wins the Super Bowl
and all of this and now and now JJ McCarthy
is no longer the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
That quick. There has never been a quarterback decision this

(26:33):
bad in the history of the NFL. And again, other
teams have picked the wrong guy. But not when there's
all this much evidence in front of you. This is
like a this is like on a cop show. A
police officer, Well, what's the evidence. Well, we actually have
video of the guy shooting the perp. We have his
fingerprints on the gun. We have uh uh, we have
we have witnesses, and the guy actually admitted that he

(26:56):
did it. We have his sworn statement. Yeah, you know what,
I think it's somebody else. We're gonna if somebody else
at the end, in the last twelve minutes of the
of our hour procedural drama is gonna wind up being
someone we didn't even know. I'm gonna go out now.
But all the evidence is right here. You've seen it all.
We have to We have a great big thing, right
Jerry Orback is very, very very insistent that this is
the guy. Sam Watterson's telling you this is the guy. Okay, okay, okay, no, no, no, no, no,

(27:17):
I see all the evidence, but I'm going somewhere up
not gonna go forward charges on here. Worst quarterback decision
of all time.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Well, I think Jerry Jones could have gotten on that
list of yours if he'd been able to draft Johnny
Manzil but that's another thing that we'll never know. And
you mentioned about all the winning that Michigan did with McCarthy,
but not necessarily because of him. I never got the
impression that this is a top ten NFL draft pick
when I was watching him play. I'm not saying he's bad.

(27:45):
It just continues to amaze me that is much talent
there is across front offices year to year in the NFL,
how hit and miss drafts are and the assessment of
what this college player can do for us at the
next level. Do we not recall that it wasn't Michigan
passing the ball thirty two consecutive plays. Famously, in that

(28:09):
late season game, they ran the ball thirty two straight times.
It was really despite McCarthy that they could control the game.
And yet you wind up with McCarthy. You kind of
are stuck with him at the moment in camp. And
I really like the decision today before preseason games are
played for exactly the reason you mentioned that all the
reps can go to someone who's a named number one starter.

(28:32):
But did you notice today that O'Connell, his head coach,
in naming Kyler Murray as his starter in Minnesota says, Hey,
it's also proven to be smart, very hard working, able
to take in a lot of info churn it out.
That is a direct attempt to kind of rewrite the
narrative on what Kyler Murray was as a known quantity

(28:54):
in Arizona.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
If Kyler Murray was still that, guess what he'd beat
a quarterback in Arizona. Probably maybe's quarterback.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
I mean, Arizona is paying most of his salary and
it's a one year contract with Minnesota and they can't
franchise him if this year goes well.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
This is that scene in Moneyball when when when Billy
Bean says to David Justice, oh you're special. Well yeah, yeah,
you know you're paying me that money. Oh no, I'm
not paying you. The Yankees are paying you five million
dollars to play against them. That's what that's That's what
they think about you, as they're paying you that kind
of money to play against that. Right, this is this
is that moment just for the Recurry is not It's
not like the Vikers. He We're able to go out

(29:28):
and get Josh Allen, right like they got Kyton available.
We couldn't go out and get Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts,
they went out. Okay, we got Kyler Murray, who was
available to anybody who wanted him. The David Justice reference.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
He sat in the chair where you are sitting right now,
and I got the distinct impression that he was not
a huge fan.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Of the movie money Ball.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
And it's portrayals, and perhaps just of him specifically and
not the A's of twenty five years ago.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah. Well, the guy playing him at a pretty sweet swing,
like I do say that. Yeah, he had a pretty
good swing the movie. Anytime they oh Justice actual video
of him, it was just like him booting a ball
on the outfield and it and the attitude and the
veteran coming. Yeah, well, good luck with that. Good luck
with that.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Well.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Art House says he could never get a job in
Major League baseball again because of that movie, how he
was portrayed, and he was on board with Moneyball. I
was like, you, I like it. No, you're the villain.
You're the villain.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
We literally just had in the news today related to that,
the Angels firing their pitching coach. It wasn't just because
they were leading the majors in walks. It wasn't just
because the Angels are the worst team in the major
leagues this year. Mike Maddox is out specifically because the
guy who was running the Angel's front office now they
turned over the front office this year as well. Says

(30:40):
the team wasn't making enough use of technology. The offense yes,
the pitching staff no, And so the pitching coach and
bullpen coach are out with the Angels. This is a
real thing, and it reminded me of when Byron Scott
was the Lakers coach, and boy did that not go swimmingly.
In fairly recent years in Laker history is there were

(31:01):
stories about analytics and I mean pages and pages of
things stapled together being placed on the head coach's desk
and him being I don't know, moving it toward the
corner of desk and say did I get it?

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, I got it. I got the report.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
You know, a person like that deserves not to have
a coaching job, honestly, because you're not making you I'm
not saying analytics is everything, of course it's not. You're
just not making use of all the avenues available to
you for evaluation and coaching.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Exit out about a Fresco Jason Smith, Steve de Sager
in for Mike Harmon. Oh, we got more NFL on
the way. But right now, Steve's gonna tell you what's
trending in the wide world of sports, as the Dodgers
have a one nothing lead over the Royals thanks to
a Steve Garvey homer. Steve with all the details on
that and more of the night in sports.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
It was just as unlikely it was a Mookie Betts
home run, a guy who's hitting two thirty this year,
and the Dodgers lead one nothing over Kansas City and
the top of the third it is Blake's on the mound,
just off the injured list. He struck out the side
for the first time as a Dodger in the first
inning and threw a scoreless second as well, with one strikeout,
so four k's no walks for him. In the early going.

(32:14):
Detroit beat the Cleveland Guardians six to four. Cubs won
eight six at the Nationals Yankees over Seattle tonight, four ones,
just three hits for the Mariners, very poor offense this year.
Marlin shut out the Pirates two to nothing in Atlanta.
The Braves shut out the Mets for nothing.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
In Toronto. The Blue Jays beat the Red Sox tonight
five to three. Toronto.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Young pitcher trey Ya Savage is called week to week
after knee surgery. Jay's third baseman, kaz Okamota, was scratch
again due to his bruce knee. The Orioles were winners
at Minnesota tonight, five to two in ten innings.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
It's now a.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Final Reds win at the White Sox five to four,
and the Cardinals shut out the Phillies to nothing. I
feel bad for the Cardinals bullpen from really day one
this season because they're relying on Ryan Stantic to get
big outs. What do you know, he actually got a
big out to set up the closer tonight, Cards to
nothing over the Phillies the final. Now, as far as

(33:09):
the games, the Lake Contests in progress, the Angels with
a new lease on life with the pitching staff leading
three to one in the fourth inning at home against
the Texas Rangers in Arizona, Diamondbacks to nothing. I believe
from Tana is starting that game for the Angels tonight,
Kirk mccaskell.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
I believe it's a thing, and Don Assi is going
to pitch tomaharn Oh, that's very good.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
You like that not only an Angel in his career.
It's what Arizona in the fourth inning to nothing over Colorado.
In San Diego, Padres got five in the second inning
and Lee Kyle Harrison and the Brewers five to one
in the top of the fourth. Tampa Bay has won
seven in a row. Raised lead six nothing at the
A's in the bottom of the fourth, and Houston's tied
one one at San Francisco in the top of the third.

(33:52):
The Minnesota Vikings did name Kyler Murray as their starting
quarterback this year over JJ McCarthy. Both will play Saturday
in their preseason game. Bear safety Kobe Bryant will miss
four to six months after knee surgery last week. The
Bears are hopeful wide receiver Luther Burden, who has a
growing injury, will return for opening day next month. Rams

(34:12):
wide receiver Pooka Nakua left practice with minor groin soreness.
The Rams hosted a joint practice with the Cowboys today.
New Rams defensive end Miles Garrett misspractice again due to
knee swelling. The Raiders said starters will play in Thursday's
exhibition opener, but rookie QB Fernando Mendoza will still get
plenty of reps as well, and Ravens defensive back Nate
Wiggins was carted off at practice with the leg injury.

(34:35):
Among the three WNBA games tonight at Indiana Fever over
New York one oh six ninety to another one hundred
point game for this team. They're averaging almost one hundred
points this year. Caitlin Clark twenty two points, ten assists.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve though Jason Smith Deeve
de Sager in from Mike Harmon. Again, we shure to
check out our YouTube channel for the show. Just search
Jason Smith's show within YouTube again, that's Jason Smith's Show.
Hit the subscribe button, tap the thumbs up, bikon, comment away,
agree or disagree, let us know what you think. Again,
just search Jason Smith Show on YouTube and subscribe. New
videos go up all the time. We love putting this

(35:08):
content out every single night. Well, coming up next, the
NBA schedule for the beginning of the season Christmas was
announced today and as a result, you have seen something
the NBA has and what they can do that no
other sport can do, no matter how much they try.

(35:29):
What is it that's next? Fox Fox Sports Radio, The
Jason Smith Show is Steve de Seger and from Mike
Harmon the NBA Schedule part of its roll out this week,
we know the defending NBA champion New York Knicks. Opening Night,

(35:53):
we'll take on the seventy six ers, we get the
Thunder and the Spurs. Christmas Day, we get the Spurs
and the Knicks. Kind of fun with an NBA is
gonna shove Nick Sixers down our throat again. It's gonna
it's gonna be like Auburn Alabama. You're gonna get this
rival al and we're gonna we're gonna create more games
on the schedule.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
It would be like that if they played each other
four to six times a year.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yes, hey, don't think that can happen. Joining us down
the hotline Fox Sports one NBA Insider Extraordinary. You can
follow him on Twitter at Rick Buker. It is Rick Buker.
What's happening man?

Speaker 4 (36:27):
Happy Tuesday, Happy Tuesday to you.

Speaker 6 (36:30):
It is kind of exciting.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
We now have some some games on the ledger. We
can start imagining what we're gonna see this season, and
certainly we're getting an idea of where the league and
the broadcast partners are putting their money, and uh, you know,
I just want to pour one out for Kevin Durant

(36:52):
and Donovan Mitchell and Cooper Flag and Anthony Edwards. Apparently
the uh, the NBA ulcers said, sorry, fellows, you know
longer on the A list, You're going to have to
go over there and get in line, and uh and
and wait your turn. Because last year all of them
were in featured games either in the season opener, season

(37:14):
opener or on Christmas Day, And from what I've seen,
none of them will be appearing in any marquee game.
So obviously the NBA is off the bloom when it comes.

Speaker 6 (37:26):
To those particular stars.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Sorry, ham am, Well, look that that's how it goes, right. Look,
just like in the WNBA where the the Indiana Fever,
every game is nationally televised, you have to nationally televise
every next game. So yeah, some other teams are not
going to get to be on TV as much.

Speaker 4 (37:41):
Man, I don't know, can can anybody in the studio?
Can you tell me? Is he licking his lips right now?

Speaker 1 (37:46):
That specifically it's going to be six months of this?
All right? What game, hall brother?

Speaker 4 (37:52):
We've already had six months I mean it's going to
be another six months.

Speaker 6 (37:56):
Maybe I hate to say.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
This is probably going to be longer than six months.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, yeah, Look, so you've seen the schedule. Now, these
first few games here, we talked about a couple of them. Well,
what what what are you looking forward to seeing the most?

Speaker 4 (38:08):
I think number one, I want to see Victor wemb
obviously obviously want to see what what what Philadelphia looks
like coming out out of the gate.

Speaker 6 (38:18):
Who's who's available and who's not Now those pieces.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
Are going to work together. I think the other part
for me, I'm really curious to see what kind of
game Victor Webbin Yama comes back with. There was a
lot of talk about him playing on the perimeter. He's
talked a lot about the game has to go through me.
I have to be more assertive with my teammates and
the way we play with all of them coming over

(38:44):
to France and enjoining some wine and baguettes with him.
You know what, what.

Speaker 6 (38:50):
Kind of influence does that have on.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
The team chemistry? That that for me, among the Marquee games,
that's probably the number one thing. I think that that
probably is going to have the most to do with who.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
We're going to see playing in June.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Is what kind of player is Victor wembin Yama going
to be coming back after the disappointment of falling short
to the mighty New York Knicks.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
I have a question Rick about the schedule on opening
day because or at night, I should say, but they're
throwing a day game in there, which really surprised me.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
So it's an.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Opening triple header October twentieth. Now, just this week Baseball
announced its postseason schedule, at least the structure of it,
and if there's a Game seven of the Alcs, it
would be on the night of October twentieth. So the
NBA is not only going to have its two games
that opening night, including Philly at New York their shoehorning

(39:44):
a day game on a Tuesday with the Celtics at
Detroit at three Eastern.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Your reaction to that, Yeah, well, I.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
Think that that I would say that that is at
least in part looking at the international market for TV
and trying to attract that. I know that Boston and
Detroit doesn't. It's not like Victor Winn, Vinatas or Nika
Dancic are involved, but I still think that that there

(40:11):
is a that there is a market there, and I
would say, you know, the Lakers owner is now also
the Dodgers owner, so they probably have some insight info
that they're going to sweep and there's not going to
be an issue with the game seven. Alcah Oh excuse me, sorry,
I thought you were I haven't seen that schedule. I

(40:33):
thought you were saying that the World Series would go
we'd go to a seventh game on that date.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
No, they just literally yesterday I think, came out with
the baseball structure.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Yeah, so away from the world champion Knicks in their
schedule and there are sixty five regular season games broadcast
on national TV. This crazy story yesterday, Rick, where the
owner of one of the big teams in Greece made
a run at Nikola Jokic and was told no, no, no, no.
So that's okay, I have an offer ready for him

(41:02):
after this year when he can make an offer to Jokic.
Is there a dollar sign? Is there a dollar? Is
there amount? Is it one hundred million dollars a year?
Is there any way that after this year Jokic gets
all kinds of money and goes to play in Greece?
Can this actually happen from not from what.

Speaker 4 (41:20):
I've been told about Jokic, and it's then it's from
people that are are close to him, which is like
his he there's been a real fire lit under him
in terms of the NBA and wanting to one lead
to Denver Nuggets back, but two really demonstrate who he

(41:43):
is as a player. There's there's always been kind of
a fun, loving aspect to Jokis, which we've seen slowly transform.
I think we've seen it the way he's interacted with
his teammates, the way he's taken more of a leadership position,
the way he's been more vocal.

Speaker 6 (42:00):
Well, my understanding is that.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
He's embraced all that. There was a point where it
was a couple of years ago where he couldn't he
couldn't wait to get out of town. I think it
might have been after they won the championship and then
the subsequent year when they got knocked out, Like he
was on the first first flight out going back home.
He missed being back home and wanted to be there.

(42:22):
But my understanding is that now he is more motivated
than ever to demonstrate, you know, what he's capable of
doing in the NBA and so, I just I don't know.
I don't think there is a figure that would would result,
because it's not it's not about the money with him

(42:43):
right now. It's about demonstrating who and what he can
be in the NBA. And that's stronger than it's ever.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Been about the never ending Kawhi Clippers investigation story. I
believe that's been going on almost a calendar year at
this point. Do you have any idea of what a
conclusion would look like. Would there be a suspension and
the trade away from the Clippers would still go through,
and would this be settled actually before the next season

(43:10):
begins on October twentieth.

Speaker 6 (43:13):
Well, I would certainly. I would certainly hope so, and.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
I would expect that the league would want to conclude
it before the start of the season so that it
doesn't drag on. It's not a distraction. The NBA is
very good about that in terms of getting things out
of the way when they're unsightly and wrapping them up
when they're unsightly. I can only go by what was
done in the Joe Smith instance with the Minnesota Timberwolves

(43:39):
when it was discovered that there was cap circunvention and
Penny's on the dollar compared to this, but it had
to do with them agreeing to a contract while he
was still under contract, or signing a contract with the
anticipation that he would get a promised contract down the line.
He was not spend it. The management was, ownership was,

(44:06):
there was a heavy fine, There were draft picks taken.
I would expect that that would be the same the
same course here, and he was declared a free agent,
so he was and he was not allowed to re
sign with Minnesota. So this, in a way, I could
see where this ends up being a.

Speaker 6 (44:28):
Boone for Toronto.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
In fact, if I'm the Raptors, I'm I'm glad that
you know no deal is going to be consummated, because
there's a world in which they might be able to
sign sign him as a free agent and then he's
on the market. I don't know what the what the
dollar amount would be, but I can't think of.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Anybody of you know, any teams that.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
Have significant cap space, you know, I mean the Chicago Bulls,
and I think there's one or two other teams, but
not teams that if Kawhi.

Speaker 6 (45:01):
Leonard is looking to be competing on the.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
Level that he could with the Toronto Raptors, not.

Speaker 6 (45:07):
Teams that he would be interested in. So I expect
it's going to cost.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
Steve Balmer a pretty penny.

Speaker 6 (45:14):
But I mean, it's again that's not going to affect
him at all.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
The big question is going to be for where the
Clippers are right now, the draft picks, how many draft.

Speaker 6 (45:24):
Picks are going to be taken.

Speaker 4 (45:27):
But at the end of the day, I fully, fully,
fully expect that they will rip up Kauhi's contract.

Speaker 6 (45:34):
And there's just there's too.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
Much evidence that there was ancillary funds offered in association
with signing him, and I could see where Look, you're
not getting any more dividends from having signed Kawhi Leonard
as a free agent.

Speaker 6 (45:53):
We're going to cut him loose.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
But beyond that, here's the reality. Steve Balmer has so
much money that I don't know that there's a penalty
that the league could place on him short of making
him sell the team.

Speaker 6 (46:07):
And I don't see any way in which they would
do that.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
So everything else is gonna be. Yeah, he's gonna he's
gonna have to suffer a penalty, but it's not it's
not anything that's going to significantly change.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
Or if it's to operate not monetary, and you can't
go in the arena or game night and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
I guess that's all right.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Yeah, look, I suppose giving his baseline seat up where
he's he's.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
Recognizable an enthusiastic fan.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Yeah, I mean I again, Okay, I suppose. But in
the big picture, you can't go to games for a year,
I don't know, I don't mean. Yeah, I guess that's
a that's a penalty for all that they did to
get Kawhi Leonard and the and the impact that it
had on their ability to build the arena and do

(47:04):
everything else. I dare say that giving up his baseline
seat for a year in order to get that done
it was a worthy cause.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Rick Buker, he's on Twitter at Rick Buker also the
On the Ball podcast, And I know you got a
big On the Ball podcast coming up. You're going to
talk about what's going on the issues facing the WNBA.
We just spent a lot of time a few minutes
ago talking about tonight and Caitlin Clark and Stephanie White
give us little teaser what some of the things you
think the w could be doing, you know, facing all

(47:36):
the issues that they are right now.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
Well, I think the biggest issue is that that they
have an absentee overlord in the NBA. I mean, everybody
kind of focuses on the WNBA and what they are
and they aren't doing. The reality is is the WNBA
is owned by the NBA owners and so thereby by

(48:00):
the NBA. And my question is, why doesn't the NBA
treat the WNBA. Why doesn't it handle it? Why does
it not structure it and have the same demands and
regulations and care for the WNBA on the same level

(48:22):
as it does the NBA.

Speaker 6 (48:24):
Because if it did, because if it did, then.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
The WNBA wouldn't have all the problems that it has
because there's just no there's no protocol.

Speaker 6 (48:34):
There's no like Djna Carrington.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
I mean, if that's Draymond Green, she's been fined and
suspended for some of the fouls that she's committed. To
this point already, Kathy.

Speaker 6 (48:50):
Engelbert no longer has her job.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
Because of the multitude of pr gaps.

Speaker 6 (48:55):
I mean, imagine if.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
Adam Silver did some of the things that Kathy Engelbert
has done, there is no way he's still the commissioner
of the NBA, and so I think a big reason
is because the w NBA, for the first time last
year they don't have to disclosed how much money they made,
but that supposedly was in the black by some very

(49:18):
very small margin. So when you think about all the
money that the NBA makes and what the owners care
about most, which is money, and the WNBA doesn't make
anything generally hasn't made any money, I just I don't
think there is a whole lot of care or attention
given to the WNBA by the NBA owners. And until

(49:42):
they do, then it's going to continue to be a
side show. And for somebody who cares deeply about women's basketball,
because I've got skin in the game, it's hard for
me to see it because it's there. They are, all
problems of their own making and all trickles down from
the top.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
That's gonna be one hell of an on the Ball
podcast again. Check it out. Get the link off of
Rick Buker's Twitter page. Again at Rick Buker, Rick, as always, Buddy,
appreciate it. We'll talk to you next week where I'm
sure the world champion Knicks will come up again in conversation.

Speaker 6 (50:15):
I would be disappointed if they didn't

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Tims see you, Rick