June 19, 2020 • 39 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon talk about MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred's rejection of the MLBPA's 70-game proposal and discuss a major sports milestone. Also, FOX Sports NBA Analyst and Bleacher Report Senior Writer Ric Bucher stops by to discuss what we might see when the NBA comes to Orlando.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Carmen at Fox Sports Radio dot Com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs R. This is the best of the
(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Today is a really big day in the world of sports.
It's an absolute huge day. Uh. It is the one
hundred day since pro sports played team sports. We have
(00:43):
now been one hundred days without professional team sports since
the NBA stopped playing because of Rudy Gobert's positive coronavirus
diagnosis and all the other sports shut down the next day.
We are at one hundred days since then. It's a
very big moment. It's it's a big milestone because we
always think about, you know, with presidents all the first
(01:04):
hundred days in office, what did they do? Where are
they at now? Hundred days is a very big deal
and so with this in mind, look, tonight is gonna
be a show, we kind of look back and see
where we're at. And I think everybody when you think
of that and go okay, now, so far obviously sports wise,
and I mean things in the country are are different
and and crazy, and we're trying to, you know, keep
(01:26):
one step ahead as much as we can with everything happening.
But I think with sports no hundred days, fans, we've
been okay, the fact a hundred days without sports, it's
been all right. People ask me all the time, what
are you talking about on the radio every day? If
you aways, what are you talking about? With no sports?
What are you talking about? And then after you get
(01:47):
the the the slow a bit, well, you know, golf
is going on and NASCAR is going on. I usually
say the same thing because I get this question probably
every three days someone I haven't talked to you in
a little while, and I'll say, okay, here's the answer.
Number one. We talk a lot about when sports is
gonna return. I mean, that's way more every day. I
think that's one thing that probably surprised us in the industry,
(02:09):
and I mean sports talk radio television more than anything else,
is that after a while that it the the novelty
of when sports is coming back, is gonna wear off
and it's gonna be all right, how long till they
come back? And what are we gonna do? But every
single day there is a new topic, there is a
new front burner story. Whether it's the NFL or basketball
or baseball or MLS, there is something that's there for
(02:33):
for us. And so that's the main thing we talk
so much about when our sports going to return. It
is a it's a nightly story. It's like watching the news,
you know. And I think about it that way, where Okay,
if you know the news going on every day, but
you still watch the news at night. Look, cable news
is is through the roof, whether you watch CNN or
Fox News or or anywhere else. I mean, look, they
(02:53):
all ratings all go great. People watch even though they
know what's going on. Same thing we we. It's it's
like watching the news when a sports gonna come back.
When a sports going to return, we talk about that
a lot. We talk about the National Football League because
we always talk about the NFL and we haven't quote
missed anything on the calendar. Yet we'd be doing the
same things now during a normal sports year. We talked
(03:15):
about free agency, we talked, we led up to the draft,
we broke down the draft, we have the normal NFL
stories coming off of that, and now the NFL is
getting to a point where the downtime for player news obviously,
but then we ramped back up when the NFL gets
ready to play. So those are the two main things
that have really kept us going for the past hundred days.
Is when sports will return and the NFL, which again
(03:38):
reminds you as as great as the NBA is, as
great as baseball is and everything else is great, the
NFL is the absolute king. And we'll we'll take you
all the way through the calendar year. So those two things,
you know, for the last hundred days, that's what's kept
us all going. And there's been no real all we
have to really dig for a topic we have to.
There's been not been a lot of that. It's been
(04:00):
a lot have been reactive. We'll be able to do
some things outside the box we'd like to do, which
has been awesome. But really for the meat and potatoes,
before you get to the dessert part of the show,
it's been when sports will return and the NFL. That's
been the meat, that's been the potatoes. Well, and and
that's it, even the you know the question of hey,
so you're still there's still sports talk radio just as
(04:20):
a as an entity in and of itself, Like, yeah,
I still gotta go to work. I'm finishing walking the dog,
and I'm gonna go plug in and we're gonna do
great sports talk because there's still a lot going on. Right,
there's a lot of smaller stories that are usually fun
to pair together that we just have to kind of
kick to the curb because you have every changing uh
(04:42):
direction moment right, jump cuts, left and right. Uh. For
the NBA and Major League Baseball, everybody popped their champagne,
and I said, until uh, those guys emerged from a
room like Moses uh in the Ten Commandments, Chuck Heston
coming out with a notary uh clamp down, I'm believing anything,
and lo and behold here we are again. But you've
(05:03):
got that, you've got the bubble, right? How is the
bubble gonna work? Talking about our day to day and
kind of watching as the world goes by is certainly
part of it. We did a little bit of the
binge watching stuff early on. We haven't hit July, so
top five and Mount Rushmore's are still off in the offing,
not for you and I but for the rest of
(05:24):
our brethren in sports talk radio. So we know that's coming,
uh and but yeah it's there. There's been no shortage
of things to talk about. It's just the you've got
to be creative, as we all always are, uh, and
be well read, well versed, and kind of figure out
which way things are blowing and react accordingly. I mean, look, man,
(05:48):
we could we could do no shortage of just society
in general shows for four hours a night. In the end,
you know, the stick to sports crowd would not be
be happy. But the reality is we're all touched connected
and sports is the unifier. So that that's it. And
the NFL keeps rolling. We're talking contracts, we're talking offseason injuries.
(06:11):
A couple of arrests, so I mean, I know for
some folks, including guys on the network, I mean, that's
a big deal when someone gets arrested. Whatever is called
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. No,
just nobody on the network has gotten arrested, just no, no,
no no. But it's a basically talked about arrest. It's
a big deal for guys at the network. Wait, nobody
has been arrested at your interpretation. No, No, the way
(06:36):
you said, tight shirt, bring it back, it's suthing like
Harmon said, I know what you meant to say. Obviously,
it just sounded like you said, Hey, you know we
talked about arrest It's a big deal for a lot
of people here at the network, Like every day, who
got arrested today? Let me wait up, who's coming? It's content?
What it's gonna mean? I'm killing in for anybody today?
(06:58):
Who Who's Who's Who? Am I getting phone called for?
Who got arrested today? Well, I mean we haven't hit
that phase of things yet, but you know, hey, that
would be a phone call. Hey listen, we're really running
out of material. Can somebody go get arrested and then
we'll talk about it, and then somebody else gets arrested
the next week and then the year after that. Can
we just just do something? Just help us? Only takes
it to a whole new level right there. No, it does.
(07:18):
I just just want to let you do It's what
it's mean. Look, specifically, I know our buddy Ben Mallor
they have the book them where they draft teams for arrests.
So I mean when you have not been arrested, but
he is not, not that got arrested. All right, Tye
shirt has it. Let's play it back. Let's play back.
Let's see what you say that keeps rolling. We're talking contracts,
(07:40):
we're talking offseason injuries, a couple of arrests. So, I mean,
I know for some folks, including guys on the network,
I mean, that's a big deal when someone gets arrested.
Whatever's just got arrested. Worse for you when it was live,
didn't it? It sounded for a couple of guys that
network like not everybody, he's getting arrested by boy, A
(08:01):
couple of guys on the top three to get arrested
on the board. Yeah, let's let's do that. Mean there's
there's top three lists for a lot of things around me,
always there. So yeah, let's put a poll up their
top three people you think would get arrested at Fox,
I get arrested. Let's waiting for you on that federal offensive,
(08:21):
Steve No, No, listen, the mailbox thing that was over
twenty five years ago. They what else have you done
that you got away with? Cannot get me on that?
And everything I've done has been at least twenty years ago.
You did it on Sundays too, Huh, Kat's right for that. Hey, listen,
it happens on a Sunday. I don't think you promote
that exactly exactly, man, uh No, but I get what
(08:43):
you're saying is that, Look, we we still wind up
going through this and then getting outside the box for
a lot of conversations has been great. It's you know,
it's you know, the meat and potato meal of sports
is not as expansive as it was because obviously, look,
we don't have we're not talking about the NBA playoffs
for the NBA finals and Major League Baseball games, which
(09:03):
make up a decent part but not nearly the part
you think of of a sports talk radio show, because
how often do you really talk about games on on
the radio. Maybe maybe of the time we talk about games.
Lots of times we talk about what's going forward, what
we think about, what's coming up, what somebody said, Uh,
what the reaction is going to be of this trade
or this move. That's kind of what we think a
(09:25):
game or a meltdown. Yeah, the the games themselves really
take up maybe twenty or twenty five percent of what
we talk about on on the air. And when when
you think about that, you know, Okay, now I kind
of get why we've been able to go through and
get through without sports And and thank you everybody for
listening and continuing to come to us, because our listenership
has been really, really good, and uh, you know, we're
(09:46):
just gonna try to keep doing what we do every
single night for you. But really, when you think about that,
you know, the game aspect of it, it's not that
much obviously nights like the Super Bowl or we're coming
off the n c A Championship. That's what we're talking about.
A game, game, game, game game all the way. But
stuff right, it's it's one out of every four topics
really is about a specific game. Yeah, I mean spotlight stuff.
(10:07):
Monday and Thursday night football obviously take center stage as
showcase events because there's usually some big implications with each
of those games. Were there live for injuries and in
the playoffs and n c Double A tournament and all that,
all those things, Uh, you and I I think break
those down, uh and and dice those up about as
(10:28):
well as you possibly can in our business. But it's
all about bringing fun, finding the outliers and the chaos
and having the arguments. Uh that that roll through. So,
I mean it's through a hundred days. What's changed? Nothing? Right,
nothing except we're not in the middle of talking about
some team collapsing in the playoffs for the NBA. It's
(10:50):
coming and you've already got a couple of one liners,
I know, for Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Uh, stuff
about Harden's Wait, I'm sure Lebron James and his hairline.
I mean, there's lots of things to talk about. It's
gonna be great Yokich and how did he lose half
a Yo kitchen three months? I mean, there's a lot
(11:10):
of stuff that will get to dial up. We'll wake
Fill Jackson up because it will be the playoffs. I mean,
there's lots to happen to want to write. How about
a Fresco Mike had swollen Dome The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmen. Look, we're getting by pretty good. But
that's what we talk about. We talked about when sports
is coming back, the NFL, whatever else we want to
and the shelf life of when sports will return. I
(11:32):
think it's shocking everybody in the industry how much interest
there is in that topic. Every single day. 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 I Heart Radio app
with us Now on the Hotline as he is gonna
(11:52):
break news with us that he is volunteered to be
the guy to man the hotline in Orlando if people
do not subscribe to social distance protost calls, specifically by
playing two on two ping pong. It is Fox Sports One.
Bleach your report, NBA insider Rick Buker, Rick, thank you
for your service and and volunteering for that task. I
appreciate it. Yeah. See the problem with that is for
(12:15):
me to be able to fill that role, I would
have to read the hundred and thirteen page manual on
what you're not allowed to do, And um, I don't know.
I think I'm gonna go with the cliff notes on that.
I like the fact that people are picking out the
the most exhilarating ones as the one you mentioned. We
(12:37):
can play singles table tennis, we simply cannot play doubles.
Um it's yeah, I don't I don't want to be
in charge of the rules and regulations because they're gonna
be making up. But as they go along and somebody's
not gonna be happy, that's guaranteed. You know. The big thing,
Rick that we've been talking about here the past few
(12:57):
nights now is as we've seen this idea for the
NBA A and the bubble City in Orlando coming to fruition,
here we go. Now here are the plans. We're gonna
have people that can monitor cars going in and out.
We're going to be able to make sure that the
players are able to be with their families, but they're
gonna be on resorts. They can play golf, but they
can't do this. Some players are very unhappy they're not
going to be allowed to be there. Some coaches are
(13:18):
worried about their jobs. If they're not allowed to be there,
they won't wind up coaching next year. There seems to
be as each day goes on, there seems to be
more and more issues with what's happening. Does the NBA
really have a lid on on how they're gonna actually
have these games in Orlando going forward? Because I look
at this and I go, boy, at some point is
Adam Silver gonna gonna pull the plug and say, you
(13:40):
know what, Bubble, It's just it's just too tough to
make it happen. We gotta find we gotta find some
other way. I guarantee you this. They are not gonna
pull the plug on on resuming games and getting them
in and finishing this season because there's about four billion
dollars on the line and the league literally would not
(14:00):
be able to function going forward. They would have to
I know I've said it before, but they would have
to blow up the collective bargaining agreement and and start
from scratch because the whole mechanism of how you determine
who's under the cap and over the cap, all of
that would have changed dramatically, and you'd have owners who
would be looking for very severe ways to recoup the losses,
(14:24):
uh if they have to give back money to the
to the broadcast partners in particular. So the reason that
we're getting a lot of this pushback is because now
we're getting definitive rules and regulations. We're finding out exactly
how they're going to do it. It's one thing, you know,
if you say we're gonna come back and play and
everybody's like, yeah, we're gonna get paid and we're gonna
(14:44):
to do our jobs and yeah, and we're gonna have
a champion. And then it's like, okay, so this is
how we're gonna do it. It's like, well, wait a minute,
I'm not sure I'm down with that. And so I'm
not I'm not that worried about the pushback. And I
think that the NBA is going to be very it's
going to be a very fluid situation. I don't think
they're gonna hold hard and fast. This is basically a
(15:09):
I think they call it a living document, you know,
where it's it's going to be organic. They're putting it together. Now,
this is how we're going to approach it. And I
think as they go forward, when they find what is
necessary and what is not, uh, that they'll they'll make
adjustments as they go along. So is everybody gonna be happy?
Absolutely not. But are we going to find some way
(15:30):
somehow to play? Yes? And at this point there really
is just from a a logistical and uh, infrastructure standpoint,
there is no place better than Orlando and and the
Magic Kingdom at this point. So to that end, Rick,
(15:51):
I mean, obviously they're also trying to recoup the hundreds
of millions of dollars lost in the preseason, um, when
we go back to China and everything. So I mean
that's going to inform some of these decisions as well.
But obviously a lot made about Kyrie Irving, Avery Bradley
uh and that contingent Uh. And certainly for Kyrie Irving,
a lot swirling out of a conversation with the Nets
(16:14):
uh from league folks you've talked to. I mean, is
this any danger to put any kind of stall on
things or is this kind of an outlier being addressed? Yeah, No,
I think it's Look, I appreciate that Kyrie brought up
what he brought up, because in order to expedite things,
not everybody had a voice, not everybody got to speak
(16:35):
their minds, and and and with the death of George
Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement really gaining momentum, Uh,
there were there were some things to consider and um,
and that's been fluid to you know, We're we're in
an age now where every conversation is relayed to the
public within minutes and and not necessarily the entire conversation.
(17:00):
Sometimes it's just bits and pieces or it's the most
titilating aspects of that conversation, and so I think things
end up looking far more calamitous than they actually are.
There are players who feel as Kyrie Irving does, but
(17:20):
I've got no indication that there are enough players who
feel that way that there's going to be a stoppage
or the league is going to have to rethink coming back.
The vast majority of the players understand that in the
short term that they stand to lose a lot of money,
and for the majority of them, it's money that they
(17:43):
will never be able to recoup because they're simply not
going to be in the league long enough to do it.
And then there are other guys who understand that if
they don't come back and play, that very likely the
owners are going to push the nuclear button. And as
one GM said to me the other day, he said,
you know, if if they have to go to that measure,
(18:04):
then it's not going to be fifty fifty when we
come back in terms of the revenue share. It's going
to be eight D twenty in favor of the owners,
because they're going to have the weight of our current
economy and the loss of billions of dollars this season.
They're gonna have all that. They generally have the public
(18:25):
sentiment on their side. They're gonna have more than enough
of that, uh, in order to get their way and
that the players understand that, and so the vast majority do. UM.
I just think I think Kyrie enjoys being seen as
a guy who thinks out of the box and is
that guy that uh And you guys have experienced it.
(18:47):
You know. We we all had our our crew, right,
we had our wingmen, and we always had that one
guy who would always go, yeah, but yeah, but what
what if? I mean, I know, I know Vegas sounds
a good idea, but you know I heard Milwaukee in
the summer they got a festival there that there's a
lot of chicks. I mean, I'm just saying Vegas sounds good,
(19:11):
but you know, I mean, it's always throwing that other
idea out there, and you're like, and he really does
it at a point where you thought I thought we
all agreed we're going to Vegas. Yeah, yeah, summer is
a pretty good time. Though. I just wanted to throw
it out there. I just, you know, I just I
just want to throw it out the Kyrie is I
just want to throw it out there, guy so and
(19:34):
especially if he thinks that like Lebron is running the show,
it's it's Lebron's crew. I just I can't help but
feel like there's a part of the Lebron Kyrie dynamic
that is still rearing its head and the way this
is gone because well, Lebron wasn't out there. Lebron was
certainly instrumental and said, you know, I want to come
back and play. We should come back and play. Uh,
(19:56):
It's just it just seems kind of to convey union
and too familiar that Kyrie would go, well in in
a minute, should we play? Should? I mean, I know
what Lebron is saying, but let's think about this a
little longer. And so look, and I don't want to
I don't want to minimize the reason that he's thinking
that way. Um, I I'm all for that. But I thought, honestly,
(20:22):
I thought Avery Bradley was the most well spoken of
anybody that I've heard that has expressed reservations about not playing.
And it was not to play, just not to play,
but not to play to utilize it as uh as
a leverage point to say Okay, NB a partner with
(20:43):
us to make things better. If we're gonna come back
and play, then show us how you're gonna help us,
uh to make things better and to make black lives
not just matter, but make black lives better. Like that
to me, you present that, I'm all on board. If
you're just saying, God, I just I don't know if
(21:04):
we should play or not. You know, we should continue
this moment of silence. I'm like, look, I'm all for
honoring the movement and Floyd, but I think it's way
more important to get past that and start getting to
doing constructive things that are going to change the dynamics.
And I felt like that's what Avery Bradley was was presenting.
(21:26):
You know. Lastly, Rick Rick Buker with us here the
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen. Well, what do you
think give us some examples of what you think we
might see in Orlando, because the players that listen, they're
gonna be playing, and they're gonna be talking to the
media before and after games, and obviously they're gonna you know,
it's gonna be a great uh time for them to
be able to with all eyeballs on them saying, look,
this is what I think we should be doing this
(21:47):
where we're going. They want help from the league too,
and the league, of course is going to be a
partner on this with them. Well, what are some of
the things you think we might see from either the
players the league some things in Orlando going that way. Well, honestly,
I really think that a lot of that is going
to be determined by the league in partnership with the players.
(22:07):
I don't think that the league, by any stretch wants
players just kind of making their own statements. It's not
the NFL, but any league wants to have a sense
of what are we putting out there collectively, And so
those conversations of you know how I mean honestly, there
(22:28):
can be all sorts of You can wear T shirts,
you can have statements, you can have moments of silence,
you can do all of that. I want to know
what are you doing in terms of the management, the
management positions in the NBA, ownership in the NBA, because
(22:49):
let's face it, the only way we're going to get
a certain degree of equality is if those who hold
the purse strings and those who make the decisions are
people of color. Because it's just an understanding and appreciation
for wanting to give people an opportunity. It's just it's
(23:11):
it's I mean, it's been inherent for a long time.
I don't I don't look at NBA owners being inherently
overtly racist, but you look at the statistics and the percentages,
and considering the number of African American players in the league,
(23:35):
the imbalance in ownership and management and coaching is still
pretty extreme. And I think it's just a matter of
people being comfortable with people who looks, sound, and and
talk like them. And so the more minorities you have
(23:55):
in positions of authority and ownership, I believe, the more
opportunity you're going to see to minorities. And I would
love that that it would be some other way and
that we would just all be conveniently open minded. But
I just I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it
over the years, and I think that that and and conversely,
I haven't seen you know, the balance of ownership and
(24:18):
management being positions to make those decisions. And I so
i'd like to because I would think that that would
that would certainly push us in the right direction. He's
on Twitter at Rick Buker. That is at Rick Buker
Fox Sports One. Bleach your report, NBA insider, and don't
forget if you see him in Orlando, He's going to
be the one making sure the right cars get in
(24:39):
and out. Don't try to sneak any cars in. Don't
try to sneak anything, and it shouldn't be there. Rick
Buker is gonna have the eagle eye. Rick has always
buddy appreciated, my friend. We'll talk to you. I will
be checking the lobby. What are you talking about. I'm
just picturing Rick, like in the trench coat and the fedora,
you know, with the with the collar like he's an
old time right and I I'll be the guy sitting
(25:02):
behind the fern. There you go. We've got creative listeners.
Someone get us a picture of Rick behind the fern. Rick,
thanks a bunch, bunny. We'll talk to you, my friend.
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 I Heart
(25:23):
Radio app. We have been hashing out the drama of
Major League Baseball all week long, and now there is
a new twist to this story, as according to ESPN,
the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday proposed a
seventy game regular season schedule. This plan was rejected by
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. So just a day ago it
(25:45):
looked like we were going to have baseball. Now here
we go again. Uh. Major League Baseball play Association said
we're sick of the negotiating. Tell us when and where?
So Rob Manford said, Okay, here's the win. Here's the way.
We're gonna play sixty games. You're gonna get full parraded
sound allery. You're not gonna sue us. This is what
we're gonna do. There's your one in where and now.
The players not only didn't like it, they came back
(26:07):
with a huge counterproposal. According to Tony Clark, head of
the MLB p A, they wanted seventy games, full pro
rated pay. They wanted spring training to start the end
of this month. They wanted to expand the playoffs of
sixteen teams. They wanted a minimum pool for playoff shares.
They wanted a fifty fifty split of TV revenue. They
wanted salary advance forgiveness. They want opt outs, they want money,
(26:28):
they want money for everything. It's all of a sudden,
here comes this counter proposal from the players when they
said tell us when and where, And I'm sorry, that's
a horrible optic. I get that. There are a lot
of things that are uh, you know that. And this
is why negotiations when you talk about labor disputes, and
it's really difficult because okay, here's what it is, and
(26:49):
here's what the players want, here's this one. But just no, no,
that it's a horrible optic to say, oh, yeah, tell
us when and where and then say yeah, no, we're
not gonna do it. Now you look bad. And this
is why, you know, people shake their heads and walk
away and say baseball just for some reason, they can't
get their act together and we can't ever just figure
out a time when everybody is working together to try
(27:10):
to grow the game. Here are some comments from Rob
Manford after his conversation with Tony Clark, because the two
of them had met, uh in the last forty eight
hours to talk about this new proposal, and Rob Manford
was a little upset when he found out Tony Clark
wasn't even gonna bring the sixty game proposal to the players.
He was coming back with a seventy game proposal. Alright,
(27:31):
so here's some of Rob Manford, and here's what makes
you want to bang your head and go, oh my goodness.
We just we we we can't move more than a
ninch uh. Manford said. I told Tony Clark seventy games
was simply impossible given the calendar in the public health situation,
and he went ahead and made that proposal. Anyway, Okay,
really it's impossible sixty Again, this is not we got
(27:53):
forty games and you want seventy games. It's sixty games
and seventy games. Really, it's ten more days. You can't
make ten more days happen. Really, you're you're gonna play now,
and you're gonna end the end of September. You can't
end the first week of October. Really, it's it's impossible.
It's absolutely impossible to add ten games. That I don't
buy that at all. It's not impossible to add ten games.
You were talking about having the World Series in December
(28:15):
and playing it in warm weather climates like Los Angeles
and Arizona. So you can't tell me you can't add
ten games. It's impossible. It's like Manford's decided, I'm gonna
take a stand on things that just look ridiculous, And
this is the first part of the things he's taking
a stand on that looks ridiculous. Yeah, I mean you
have that, you have the idea that it was d
o A on arrival, right the the seventy game proposal,
(28:37):
that there was gonna be no discussing that. Wait, wait,
with the way you said that finding me in that
Simpson's when when Wigham tells Smart Simpson, uh ms, Simpson,
your husband is d o A. Oh my god, he's dead.
Oh I'm sorry, I mean d w I. I. I
always get those two confused. Yeah, exactly right, viewing it.
(29:00):
Wait wait, wait, hi am Betty Johnson. You said my
husband's got a d w I. I gotta talk to
that guy. I gotta go to lunch. All right, So
now you haven't now go there there you go exactly.
But it's right, there's there's no discussing it, knowing this
is gonna be categorically roundly rejected. So I was like,
all right, what do you got next? I mean, some
of the other quotes that came out of this. John
(29:21):
Hayman Uh, this is the line that really just stands
out amongst all other as you'll read the best of
Rob Manfred. Uh, We're committed to doing whatever is necessary
to play hopefully by agreement. Okay, so hopefully by If not,
(29:41):
I will make you do it. I will. But that's it.
Right again, we go back to the alright, I will
strong arm you if I have to, but I don't wanna.
Don't make me do this, don't maybe come back there.
Uh So that's just the first part of Manfred. Right,
that's the first statement that you go, I'll come on, Really,
you can't played ten games. Here's the next part, and
(30:01):
this is from today. After listening to Dr Anthony Faucci
talked about the NFL, Rob Manfred said, Dr Fauci's out
there telling us football should be playing in a quarantine.
Other sports and a quarantine. Our guys want nothing to
do with that. Number two. Fouci says, we shouldn't be
playing in October, and their proposal contemplates lengthening the season. Um,
your season is gonna end at the end of September.
(30:23):
You're gonna play the playoffs and expanded playoffs from the
beginning of October. All the way through the middle of November.
So what does it matter what Dr Anthony fauc She said,
we shouldn't be playing in October, but aren't you playing
in the playoffs in October? Yeah, but you know they
want to play an extra week? Oh right, right, right right.
I look at Manfred, I go, he's just trying to
(30:44):
suit the argument towards him. Now, if if you didn't
want to play in October, hey, fouch that we shouldn't
play in October, we're not playing in October, then that
that's that's your point that I could understand. But they
don't want us play in October, but you're playing the
entire month and pass that? Yeah, I mean really, if
that's that's rob manfor to the point he's trying to
make to us right now as well, again you want
to bend your head against the wall. Wouldn't hear him
(31:05):
say something like this, Well, there's just that. I think
they've put up one of those neon signs in his
office that say nothing passed October one, and he's reading
that as the hard line as opposed to the normal. Hey,
that's playoff time, that's money time for us, which which
is funny given the gravity and the weight of the
(31:27):
television contracts that we've talked about for the last couple
of weeks, and how any of this from the NBA
side from what the NFL is trying to do. And
it all comes back to the dollars and cents, much
of which is driven by the television, uh, and the
licensing deals thereof right, you know, and NBA game pass
and an NFL game pass and all all your different
(31:51):
direct TV packages and whatever else. Uh. That is, he
conveniently forgets that whole playing in October site of things
right here. So yeah, and finding the extra ten ten days, right,
the extra ten games. Oh, I'm sorry, you actually have
to play a couple of doubleheaders. Get on the field,
let's go. So that's the first two things. Then there's
(32:13):
this part where I go, he's really just looking for
other things to say, so we can have enough bullet points.
Uh as far as uh the playing the games, maybe
you could add those ten games and play double headers.
As you said, told we're not playing doubleheaders. Our public
health guys tell us you should not put people together
for that number of hours in the day. It's not safe.
(32:34):
But the players keep ignoring those things, all right, players
normally get to the field around what time for a
seven thirty game to three o'clock, right, So you get
to the field, you're there around two o'clock. You have
hours before the game. Then you play the game. So
you're together from about two o'clock in the afternoon until midnight.
You're together for ten hours, ten hours. Now if you
(32:56):
add a double header to that. All right, so you're
playing at four third at seven, you get in the
ballpark around eleven thirty year New So you're together then
for twelve hours. So the extra two hours you are
spending means so much because the ten hours you spend together,
it's not enough playing a whole game against other people,
but the other couple of playing another game and being
at the stadium together for an extra two hours, Yeah,
(33:19):
we can't have that at all. I mean, it's uh,
he's like he's trying to cherry pick his argument, saying, well,
I can take this and really slant it and try
to make them look bad. Well, meanwhile, it just looks
like he's trying to make stuff up for reasons why
we can't play these extra games. Well, Jason, the cloak
of invisibility, as you know from your Harry Potter lore
only works for as long as a normal average night
(33:41):
sleep within eight hours. So at eight hours in one minute,
I mean, you're exposed. That's the end of it. I mean,
that's where we're at. I mean, that's that's the logic
that we're facing here. Look, there's as you hit that point,
there's there's there's a point where if you if you
go into the grocery store and you have a mask on,
you're there for fifteen or twenty minutes, and you get
(34:01):
out all right, you're safer. Then if you go into
a grocery store for two hours and you lounge around
and you touch a lot of stuff and you're all right.
Obviously that's the case. But you're talking about ten hours
versus twelve hours. It really doesn't matter at that point,
you know, I mean how many hours you're together, because
you're together, So it's it's you're together for long enough
to make an extra two hours not really be a difference.
(34:23):
But it goes back to the point I've been making
all along. When it gets to the grocery store or
any of these other convenience stores that you're going into.
The pharmacy, you name it as soon as you've gone in,
you've broken the seal. And now it's a matter of
best practices and how you take care of each other. Right,
Hopefully everybody that's coming in is not infected, that it
(34:47):
doesn't come in with a you know, be it symptomatic
and coughing around the place or asymptomatic, whatever the case
may be. Likewise, every store you go into, and I
know we had some great memes of it earlier in
the week, but got to reiterate it. You've you've broken
the seal you're in, Like other people have touched that
tooth brush that you're looking at, that tub of toothpaste,
(35:09):
maybe the hair dye, whatever the case is, maybe a
box of razors, I don't know what you're buying, maybe
the bag of chips on the shelves, whatever it is.
Odds are at least one or two other people have
touched it. Neither decided to move on or change their
spending habit and decided they'll they'll wait and buy the
snack food on another day. The point being that it
(35:31):
doesn't matter if you're there five minutes or three hours.
You touch stuff and you're in the environment, you're you're
already there, right, and if nobody else is coming in
and out of right, and it's a closed system as
it were, and it's not hey, al right, open the
doors and now another fifteen people enter in. In theory,
(35:52):
that's it right, you know, whereas the store there are
new people walking into said store. So yes, the exposure
rate is plus whatever that sentages. But in the in
the locker room, that's it right. You're exposed to your team,
your coaches, and probably the one or two pool reporters
who still are probably standing behind a giant plexiglass shield
(36:13):
to ask you questions Twitter at how about a Fresca?
Mike get Swollen Dohm The Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen.
I mean, when you see this every day, there's one
conclusion that you come to that I don't think can
be dismissed at all. Is we've talked about owners not
wanting there to be a season, right. Ken Rosenthal had
(36:34):
the report two days ago that at least eight owners
don't want there to be a season because they'll lose
less money. And that eight is a big number because
you need uh three quarters of the league too, okay
a season, and at eight you're not gonna have three
quarters and they're at least eight who don't want it,
probably more. And then at this point I look at
this story with the players and I go to the
players really want to play? I mean really, I mean
(36:57):
this is where Rob Manford should take a uh a
page from the NBA and send out that text to
all the owners and the players. If you want there
to be a season, swipe right. If not, swipe left.
Your answers will remain confidential because I can't tell you
right now that that either side wants to play, and
in either side wants to play, just say it. Just
say we can't do it. We're not gonna it's not
gonna happen, and we're gonna get back at this in
(37:18):
the spring of which would suck because of all the
team sports that are the most coronavirus friendly, Major League
Baseball is that sport. It's the one more it's more
friendly to be able to play than than the NBA,
than the NHL, than football than anything else. So it
would be madning. But if you really can't do it
and you really don't want to play, don't play. You know,
(37:41):
stop wasting our time, stop wasting everybody else's time with all, well,
here's this proposal. Let's pros because right now, I really
I don't know how badly both sides want to play.
And and when you have that, then you see this
can come out when in many different forms now played
out over the course of the the next few weeks, until
you get to the point where we can't have baseball,
we can't have the season. We're done, we're packing up,
we're going home. Yeah, that's the always the background question, Right,
(38:04):
is it just we drag our feet long enough to
just say out it just doesn't work right, And that's
the conclusion. But it still goes back to just lots
and lots of money being left on the table. The
players certainly don't want to and as a sport, you
would think, as you and I have discussed pretty much
(38:25):
since this really started to jest date and become an issue,
is it's going to rick havoc on your salary cap
and the money's and contracts going forward. Right, You're gonna
have the fights over service time and arbitration. You're gonna
have all these guys that were due money. Uh, the
(38:46):
Dodgers will never get to see and experience Mookie Betts. Sorry,
frostberg uh, and all of these other considerations that flow
in not to mention unless you're gonna just tap your
your arm like it's the bullpen call and say, all right,
we need another McGuire, Sosa get after it. I mean,
what's gonna be there to entice people back. Your die
(39:09):
hards will be there, but some of your fringe folks,
they're gonna find other ways to spend their entertainment dollar.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Carmen at Fox Sports Radio dot Com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs R. This is the best of the
(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Today is a really big day in the world of sports.
It's an absolute huge day. Uh. It is the one
hundred day since pro sports played team sports. We have
(00:43):
now been one hundred days without professional team sports since
the NBA stopped playing because of Rudy Gobert's positive coronavirus
diagnosis and all the other sports shut down the next day.
We are at one hundred days since then. It's a
very big moment. It's it's a big milestone because we
always think about, you know, with presidents all the first
(01:04):
hundred days in office, what did they do? Where are
they at now? Hundred days is a very big deal
and so with this in mind, look, tonight is gonna
be a show, we kind of look back and see
where we're at. And I think everybody when you think
of that and go okay, now, so far obviously sports wise,
and I mean things in the country are are different
and and crazy, and we're trying to, you know, keep
(01:26):
one step ahead as much as we can with everything happening.
But I think with sports no hundred days, fans, we've
been okay, the fact a hundred days without sports, it's
been all right. People ask me all the time, what
are you talking about on the radio every day? If
you aways, what are you talking about? With no sports?
What are you talking about? And then after you get
(01:47):
the the the slow a bit, well, you know, golf
is going on and NASCAR is going on. I usually
say the same thing because I get this question probably
every three days someone I haven't talked to you in
a little while, and I'll say, okay, here's the answer.
Number one. We talk a lot about when sports is
gonna return. I mean, that's way more every day. I
think that's one thing that probably surprised us in the industry,
(02:09):
and I mean sports talk radio television more than anything else,
is that after a while that it the the novelty
of when sports is coming back, is gonna wear off
and it's gonna be all right, how long till they
come back? And what are we gonna do? But every
single day there is a new topic, there is a
new front burner story. Whether it's the NFL or basketball
or baseball or MLS, there is something that's there for
(02:33):
for us. And so that's the main thing we talk
so much about when our sports going to return. It
is a it's a nightly story. It's like watching the news,
you know. And I think about it that way, where Okay,
if you know the news going on every day, but
you still watch the news at night. Look, cable news
is is through the roof, whether you watch CNN or
Fox News or or anywhere else. I mean, look, they
(02:53):
all ratings all go great. People watch even though they
know what's going on. Same thing we we. It's it's
like watching the news when a sports gonna come back.
When a sports going to return, we talk about that
a lot. We talk about the National Football League because
we always talk about the NFL and we haven't quote
missed anything on the calendar. Yet we'd be doing the
same things now during a normal sports year. We talked
(03:15):
about free agency, we talked, we led up to the draft,
we broke down the draft, we have the normal NFL
stories coming off of that, and now the NFL is
getting to a point where the downtime for player news obviously,
but then we ramped back up when the NFL gets
ready to play. So those are the two main things
that have really kept us going for the past hundred days.
Is when sports will return and the NFL, which again
(03:38):
reminds you as as great as the NBA is, as
great as baseball is and everything else is great, the
NFL is the absolute king. And we'll we'll take you
all the way through the calendar year. So those two things,
you know, for the last hundred days, that's what's kept
us all going. And there's been no real all we
have to really dig for a topic we have to.
There's been not been a lot of that. It's been
(04:00):
a lot have been reactive. We'll be able to do
some things outside the box we'd like to do, which
has been awesome. But really for the meat and potatoes,
before you get to the dessert part of the show,
it's been when sports will return and the NFL. That's
been the meat, that's been the potatoes. Well, and and
that's it, even the you know the question of hey,
so you're still there's still sports talk radio just as
(04:20):
a as an entity in and of itself, Like, yeah,
I still gotta go to work. I'm finishing walking the dog,
and I'm gonna go plug in and we're gonna do
great sports talk because there's still a lot going on. Right,
there's a lot of smaller stories that are usually fun
to pair together that we just have to kind of
kick to the curb because you have every changing uh
(04:42):
direction moment right, jump cuts, left and right. Uh. For
the NBA and Major League Baseball, everybody popped their champagne,
and I said, until uh, those guys emerged from a
room like Moses uh in the Ten Commandments, Chuck Heston
coming out with a notary uh clamp down, I'm believing anything,
and lo and behold here we are again. But you've
(05:03):
got that, you've got the bubble, right? How is the
bubble gonna work? Talking about our day to day and
kind of watching as the world goes by is certainly
part of it. We did a little bit of the
binge watching stuff early on. We haven't hit July, so
top five and Mount Rushmore's are still off in the offing,
not for you and I but for the rest of
(05:24):
our brethren in sports talk radio. So we know that's coming,
uh and but yeah it's there. There's been no shortage
of things to talk about. It's just the you've got
to be creative, as we all always are, uh, and
be well read, well versed, and kind of figure out
which way things are blowing and react accordingly. I mean, look, man,
(05:48):
we could we could do no shortage of just society
in general shows for four hours a night. In the end,
you know, the stick to sports crowd would not be
be happy. But the reality is we're all touched connected
and sports is the unifier. So that that's it. And
the NFL keeps rolling. We're talking contracts, we're talking offseason injuries.
(06:11):
A couple of arrests, so I mean, I know for
some folks, including guys on the network, I mean, that's
a big deal when someone gets arrested. Whatever is called
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. No,
just nobody on the network has gotten arrested, just no, no,
no no. But it's a basically talked about arrest. It's
a big deal for guys at the network. Wait, nobody
has been arrested at your interpretation. No, No, the way
(06:36):
you said, tight shirt, bring it back, it's suthing like
Harmon said, I know what you meant to say. Obviously,
it just sounded like you said, Hey, you know we
talked about arrest It's a big deal for a lot
of people here at the network, Like every day, who
got arrested today? Let me wait up, who's coming? It's content?
What it's gonna mean? I'm killing in for anybody today?
(06:58):
Who Who's Who's Who? Am I getting phone called for?
Who got arrested today? Well, I mean we haven't hit
that phase of things yet, but you know, hey, that
would be a phone call. Hey listen, we're really running
out of material. Can somebody go get arrested and then
we'll talk about it, and then somebody else gets arrested
the next week and then the year after that. Can
we just just do something? Just help us? Only takes
it to a whole new level right there. No, it does.
(07:18):
I just just want to let you do It's what
it's mean. Look, specifically, I know our buddy Ben Mallor
they have the book them where they draft teams for arrests.
So I mean when you have not been arrested, but
he is not, not that got arrested. All right, Tye
shirt has it. Let's play it back. Let's play back.
Let's see what you say that keeps rolling. We're talking contracts,
(07:40):
we're talking offseason injuries, a couple of arrests. So, I mean,
I know for some folks, including guys on the network,
I mean, that's a big deal when someone gets arrested.
Whatever's just got arrested. Worse for you when it was live,
didn't it? It sounded for a couple of guys that
network like not everybody, he's getting arrested by boy, A
(08:01):
couple of guys on the top three to get arrested
on the board. Yeah, let's let's do that. Mean there's
there's top three lists for a lot of things around me,
always there. So yeah, let's put a poll up their
top three people you think would get arrested at Fox,
I get arrested. Let's waiting for you on that federal offensive,
(08:21):
Steve No, No, listen, the mailbox thing that was over
twenty five years ago. They what else have you done
that you got away with? Cannot get me on that?
And everything I've done has been at least twenty years ago.
You did it on Sundays too, Huh, Kat's right for that. Hey, listen,
it happens on a Sunday. I don't think you promote
that exactly exactly, man, uh No, but I get what
(08:43):
you're saying is that, Look, we we still wind up
going through this and then getting outside the box for
a lot of conversations has been great. It's you know,
it's you know, the meat and potato meal of sports
is not as expansive as it was because obviously, look,
we don't have we're not talking about the NBA playoffs
for the NBA finals and Major League Baseball games, which
(09:03):
make up a decent part but not nearly the part
you think of of a sports talk radio show, because
how often do you really talk about games on on
the radio. Maybe maybe of the time we talk about games.
Lots of times we talk about what's going forward, what
we think about, what's coming up, what somebody said, Uh,
what the reaction is going to be of this trade
or this move. That's kind of what we think a
(09:25):
game or a meltdown. Yeah, the the games themselves really
take up maybe twenty or twenty five percent of what
we talk about on on the air. And when when
you think about that, you know, Okay, now I kind
of get why we've been able to go through and
get through without sports And and thank you everybody for
listening and continuing to come to us, because our listenership
has been really, really good, and uh, you know, we're
(09:46):
just gonna try to keep doing what we do every
single night for you. But really, when you think about that,
you know, the game aspect of it, it's not that
much obviously nights like the Super Bowl or we're coming
off the n c A Championship. That's what we're talking about.
A game, game, game, game game all the way. But
stuff right, it's it's one out of every four topics
really is about a specific game. Yeah, I mean spotlight stuff.
(10:07):
Monday and Thursday night football obviously take center stage as
showcase events because there's usually some big implications with each
of those games. Were there live for injuries and in
the playoffs and n c Double A tournament and all that,
all those things, Uh, you and I I think break
those down, uh and and dice those up about as
(10:28):
well as you possibly can in our business. But it's
all about bringing fun, finding the outliers and the chaos
and having the arguments. Uh that that roll through. So,
I mean it's through a hundred days. What's changed? Nothing? Right,
nothing except we're not in the middle of talking about
some team collapsing in the playoffs for the NBA. It's
(10:50):
coming and you've already got a couple of one liners,
I know, for Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Uh, stuff
about Harden's Wait, I'm sure Lebron James and his hairline.
I mean, there's lots of things to talk about. It's
gonna be great Yokich and how did he lose half
a Yo kitchen three months? I mean, there's a lot
(11:10):
of stuff that will get to dial up. We'll wake
Fill Jackson up because it will be the playoffs. I mean,
there's lots to happen to want to write. How about
a Fresco Mike had swollen Dome The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmen. Look, we're getting by pretty good. But
that's what we talk about. We talked about when sports
is coming back, the NFL, whatever else we want to
and the shelf life of when sports will return. I
(11:32):
think it's shocking everybody in the industry how much interest
there is in that topic. Every single day. 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 I Heart Radio app
with us Now on the Hotline as he is gonna
(11:52):
break news with us that he is volunteered to be
the guy to man the hotline in Orlando if people
do not subscribe to social distance protost calls, specifically by
playing two on two ping pong. It is Fox Sports One.
Bleach your report, NBA insider Rick Buker, Rick, thank you
for your service and and volunteering for that task. I
appreciate it. Yeah. See the problem with that is for
(12:15):
me to be able to fill that role, I would
have to read the hundred and thirteen page manual on
what you're not allowed to do, And um, I don't know.
I think I'm gonna go with the cliff notes on that.
I like the fact that people are picking out the
the most exhilarating ones as the one you mentioned. We
(12:37):
can play singles table tennis, we simply cannot play doubles.
Um it's yeah, I don't I don't want to be
in charge of the rules and regulations because they're gonna
be making up. But as they go along and somebody's
not gonna be happy, that's guaranteed. You know. The big thing,
Rick that we've been talking about here the past few
(12:57):
nights now is as we've seen this idea for the
NBA A and the bubble City in Orlando coming to fruition,
here we go. Now here are the plans. We're gonna
have people that can monitor cars going in and out.
We're going to be able to make sure that the
players are able to be with their families, but they're
gonna be on resorts. They can play golf, but they
can't do this. Some players are very unhappy they're not
going to be allowed to be there. Some coaches are
(13:18):
worried about their jobs. If they're not allowed to be there,
they won't wind up coaching next year. There seems to
be as each day goes on, there seems to be
more and more issues with what's happening. Does the NBA
really have a lid on on how they're gonna actually
have these games in Orlando going forward? Because I look
at this and I go, boy, at some point is
Adam Silver gonna gonna pull the plug and say, you
(13:40):
know what, Bubble, It's just it's just too tough to
make it happen. We gotta find we gotta find some
other way. I guarantee you this. They are not gonna
pull the plug on on resuming games and getting them
in and finishing this season because there's about four billion
dollars on the line and the league literally would not
(14:00):
be able to function going forward. They would have to
I know I've said it before, but they would have
to blow up the collective bargaining agreement and and start
from scratch because the whole mechanism of how you determine
who's under the cap and over the cap, all of
that would have changed dramatically, and you'd have owners who
would be looking for very severe ways to recoup the losses,
(14:24):
uh if they have to give back money to the
to the broadcast partners in particular. So the reason that
we're getting a lot of this pushback is because now
we're getting definitive rules and regulations. We're finding out exactly
how they're going to do it. It's one thing, you know,
if you say we're gonna come back and play and
everybody's like, yeah, we're gonna get paid and we're gonna
(14:44):
to do our jobs and yeah, and we're gonna have
a champion. And then it's like, okay, so this is
how we're gonna do it. It's like, well, wait a minute,
I'm not sure I'm down with that. And so I'm
not I'm not that worried about the pushback. And I
think that the NBA is going to be very it's
going to be a very fluid situation. I don't think
they're gonna hold hard and fast. This is basically a
(15:09):
I think they call it a living document, you know,
where it's it's going to be organic. They're putting it together. Now,
this is how we're going to approach it. And I
think as they go forward, when they find what is
necessary and what is not, uh, that they'll they'll make
adjustments as they go along. So is everybody gonna be happy?
Absolutely not. But are we going to find some way
(15:30):
somehow to play? Yes? And at this point there really
is just from a a logistical and uh, infrastructure standpoint,
there is no place better than Orlando and and the
Magic Kingdom at this point. So to that end, Rick,
(15:51):
I mean, obviously they're also trying to recoup the hundreds
of millions of dollars lost in the preseason, um, when
we go back to China and everything. So I mean
that's going to inform some of these decisions as well.
But obviously a lot made about Kyrie Irving, Avery Bradley
uh and that contingent Uh. And certainly for Kyrie Irving,
a lot swirling out of a conversation with the Nets
(16:14):
uh from league folks you've talked to. I mean, is
this any danger to put any kind of stall on
things or is this kind of an outlier being addressed? Yeah, No,
I think it's Look, I appreciate that Kyrie brought up
what he brought up, because in order to expedite things,
not everybody had a voice, not everybody got to speak
(16:35):
their minds, and and and with the death of George
Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement really gaining momentum, Uh,
there were there were some things to consider and um,
and that's been fluid to you know, We're we're in
an age now where every conversation is relayed to the
public within minutes and and not necessarily the entire conversation.
(17:00):
Sometimes it's just bits and pieces or it's the most
titilating aspects of that conversation, and so I think things
end up looking far more calamitous than they actually are.
There are players who feel as Kyrie Irving does, but
(17:20):
I've got no indication that there are enough players who
feel that way that there's going to be a stoppage
or the league is going to have to rethink coming back.
The vast majority of the players understand that in the
short term that they stand to lose a lot of money,
and for the majority of them, it's money that they
(17:43):
will never be able to recoup because they're simply not
going to be in the league long enough to do it.
And then there are other guys who understand that if
they don't come back and play, that very likely the
owners are going to push the nuclear button. And as
one GM said to me the other day, he said,
you know, if if they have to go to that measure,
(18:04):
then it's not going to be fifty fifty when we
come back in terms of the revenue share. It's going
to be eight D twenty in favor of the owners,
because they're going to have the weight of our current
economy and the loss of billions of dollars this season.
They're gonna have all that. They generally have the public
(18:25):
sentiment on their side. They're gonna have more than enough
of that, uh, in order to get their way and
that the players understand that, and so the vast majority do. UM.
I just think I think Kyrie enjoys being seen as
a guy who thinks out of the box and is
that guy that uh And you guys have experienced it.
(18:47):
You know. We we all had our our crew, right,
we had our wingmen, and we always had that one
guy who would always go, yeah, but yeah, but what
what if? I mean, I know, I know Vegas sounds
a good idea, but you know I heard Milwaukee in
the summer they got a festival there that there's a
lot of chicks. I mean, I'm just saying Vegas sounds good,
(19:11):
but you know, I mean, it's always throwing that other
idea out there, and you're like, and he really does
it at a point where you thought I thought we
all agreed we're going to Vegas. Yeah, yeah, summer is
a pretty good time. Though. I just wanted to throw
it out there. I just, you know, I just I
just want to throw it out the Kyrie is I
just want to throw it out there, guy so and
(19:34):
especially if he thinks that like Lebron is running the show,
it's it's Lebron's crew. I just I can't help but
feel like there's a part of the Lebron Kyrie dynamic
that is still rearing its head and the way this
is gone because well, Lebron wasn't out there. Lebron was
certainly instrumental and said, you know, I want to come
back and play. We should come back and play. Uh,
(19:56):
It's just it just seems kind of to convey union
and too familiar that Kyrie would go, well in in
a minute, should we play? Should? I mean, I know
what Lebron is saying, but let's think about this a
little longer. And so look, and I don't want to
I don't want to minimize the reason that he's thinking
that way. Um, I I'm all for that. But I thought, honestly,
(20:22):
I thought Avery Bradley was the most well spoken of
anybody that I've heard that has expressed reservations about not playing.
And it was not to play, just not to play,
but not to play to utilize it as uh as
a leverage point to say Okay, NB a partner with
(20:43):
us to make things better. If we're gonna come back
and play, then show us how you're gonna help us,
uh to make things better and to make black lives
not just matter, but make black lives better. Like that
to me, you present that, I'm all on board. If
you're just saying, God, I just I don't know if
(21:04):
we should play or not. You know, we should continue
this moment of silence. I'm like, look, I'm all for
honoring the movement and Floyd, but I think it's way
more important to get past that and start getting to
doing constructive things that are going to change the dynamics.
And I felt like that's what Avery Bradley was was presenting.
(21:26):
You know. Lastly, Rick Rick Buker with us here the
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen. Well, what do you
think give us some examples of what you think we
might see in Orlando, because the players that listen, they're
gonna be playing, and they're gonna be talking to the
media before and after games, and obviously they're gonna you know,
it's gonna be a great uh time for them to
be able to with all eyeballs on them saying, look,
this is what I think we should be doing this
(21:47):
where we're going. They want help from the league too,
and the league, of course is going to be a
partner on this with them. Well, what are some of
the things you think we might see from either the
players the league some things in Orlando going that way. Well, honestly,
I really think that a lot of that is going
to be determined by the league in partnership with the players.
(22:07):
I don't think that the league, by any stretch wants
players just kind of making their own statements. It's not
the NFL, but any league wants to have a sense
of what are we putting out there collectively, And so
those conversations of you know how I mean honestly, there
(22:28):
can be all sorts of You can wear T shirts,
you can have statements, you can have moments of silence,
you can do all of that. I want to know
what are you doing in terms of the management, the
management positions in the NBA, ownership in the NBA, because
(22:49):
let's face it, the only way we're going to get
a certain degree of equality is if those who hold
the purse strings and those who make the decisions are
people of color. Because it's just an understanding and appreciation
for wanting to give people an opportunity. It's just it's
(23:11):
it's I mean, it's been inherent for a long time.
I don't I don't look at NBA owners being inherently
overtly racist, but you look at the statistics and the percentages,
and considering the number of African American players in the league,
(23:35):
the imbalance in ownership and management and coaching is still
pretty extreme. And I think it's just a matter of
people being comfortable with people who looks, sound, and and
talk like them. And so the more minorities you have
(23:55):
in positions of authority and ownership, I believe, the more
opportunity you're going to see to minorities. And I would
love that that it would be some other way and
that we would just all be conveniently open minded. But
I just I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it
over the years, and I think that that and and conversely,
I haven't seen you know, the balance of ownership and
(24:18):
management being positions to make those decisions. And I so
i'd like to because I would think that that would
that would certainly push us in the right direction. He's
on Twitter at Rick Buker. That is at Rick Buker
Fox Sports One. Bleach your report, NBA insider, and don't
forget if you see him in Orlando, He's going to
be the one making sure the right cars get in
(24:39):
and out. Don't try to sneak any cars in. Don't
try to sneak anything, and it shouldn't be there. Rick
Buker is gonna have the eagle eye. Rick has always
buddy appreciated, my friend. We'll talk to you. I will
be checking the lobby. What are you talking about. I'm
just picturing Rick, like in the trench coat and the fedora,
you know, with the with the collar like he's an
old time right and I I'll be the guy sitting
(25:02):
behind the fern. There you go. We've got creative listeners.
Someone get us a picture of Rick behind the fern. Rick,
thanks a bunch, bunny. We'll talk to you, my friend.
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 I Heart
(25:23):
Radio app. We have been hashing out the drama of
Major League Baseball all week long, and now there is
a new twist to this story, as according to ESPN,
the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday proposed a
seventy game regular season schedule. This plan was rejected by
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. So just a day ago it
(25:45):
looked like we were going to have baseball. Now here
we go again. Uh. Major League Baseball play Association said
we're sick of the negotiating. Tell us when and where?
So Rob Manford said, Okay, here's the win. Here's the way.
We're gonna play sixty games. You're gonna get full parraded
sound allery. You're not gonna sue us. This is what
we're gonna do. There's your one in where and now.
The players not only didn't like it, they came back
(26:07):
with a huge counterproposal. According to Tony Clark, head of
the MLB p A, they wanted seventy games, full pro
rated pay. They wanted spring training to start the end
of this month. They wanted to expand the playoffs of
sixteen teams. They wanted a minimum pool for playoff shares.
They wanted a fifty fifty split of TV revenue. They
wanted salary advance forgiveness. They want opt outs, they want money,
(26:28):
they want money for everything. It's all of a sudden,
here comes this counter proposal from the players when they
said tell us when and where, And I'm sorry, that's
a horrible optic. I get that. There are a lot
of things that are uh, you know that. And this
is why negotiations when you talk about labor disputes, and
it's really difficult because okay, here's what it is, and
(26:49):
here's what the players want, here's this one. But just no, no,
that it's a horrible optic to say, oh, yeah, tell
us when and where and then say yeah, no, we're
not gonna do it. Now you look bad. And this
is why, you know, people shake their heads and walk
away and say baseball just for some reason, they can't
get their act together and we can't ever just figure
out a time when everybody is working together to try
(27:10):
to grow the game. Here are some comments from Rob
Manford after his conversation with Tony Clark, because the two
of them had met, uh in the last forty eight
hours to talk about this new proposal, and Rob Manford
was a little upset when he found out Tony Clark
wasn't even gonna bring the sixty game proposal to the players.
He was coming back with a seventy game proposal. Alright,
(27:31):
so here's some of Rob Manford, and here's what makes
you want to bang your head and go, oh my goodness.
We just we we we can't move more than a
ninch uh. Manford said. I told Tony Clark seventy games
was simply impossible given the calendar in the public health situation,
and he went ahead and made that proposal. Anyway, Okay,
really it's impossible sixty Again, this is not we got
(27:53):
forty games and you want seventy games. It's sixty games
and seventy games. Really, it's ten more days. You can't
make ten more days happen. Really, you're you're gonna play now,
and you're gonna end the end of September. You can't
end the first week of October. Really, it's it's impossible.
It's absolutely impossible to add ten games. That I don't
buy that at all. It's not impossible to add ten games.
You were talking about having the World Series in December
(28:15):
and playing it in warm weather climates like Los Angeles
and Arizona. So you can't tell me you can't add
ten games. It's impossible. It's like Manford's decided, I'm gonna
take a stand on things that just look ridiculous, And
this is the first part of the things he's taking
a stand on that looks ridiculous. Yeah, I mean you
have that, you have the idea that it was d
o A on arrival, right the the seventy game proposal,
(28:37):
that there was gonna be no discussing that. Wait, wait,
with the way you said that finding me in that
Simpson's when when Wigham tells Smart Simpson, uh ms, Simpson,
your husband is d o A. Oh my god, he's dead.
Oh I'm sorry, I mean d w I. I. I
always get those two confused. Yeah, exactly right, viewing it.
(29:00):
Wait wait, wait, hi am Betty Johnson. You said my
husband's got a d w I. I gotta talk to
that guy. I gotta go to lunch. All right, So
now you haven't now go there there you go exactly.
But it's right, there's there's no discussing it, knowing this
is gonna be categorically roundly rejected. So I was like,
all right, what do you got next? I mean, some
of the other quotes that came out of this. John
(29:21):
Hayman Uh, this is the line that really just stands
out amongst all other as you'll read the best of
Rob Manfred. Uh, We're committed to doing whatever is necessary
to play hopefully by agreement. Okay, so hopefully by If not,
(29:41):
I will make you do it. I will. But that's it.
Right again, we go back to the alright, I will
strong arm you if I have to, but I don't wanna.
Don't make me do this, don't maybe come back there.
Uh So that's just the first part of Manfred. Right,
that's the first statement that you go, I'll come on, Really,
you can't played ten games. Here's the next part, and
(30:01):
this is from today. After listening to Dr Anthony Faucci
talked about the NFL, Rob Manfred said, Dr Fauci's out
there telling us football should be playing in a quarantine.
Other sports and a quarantine. Our guys want nothing to
do with that. Number two. Fouci says, we shouldn't be
playing in October, and their proposal contemplates lengthening the season. Um,
your season is gonna end at the end of September.
(30:23):
You're gonna play the playoffs and expanded playoffs from the
beginning of October. All the way through the middle of November.
So what does it matter what Dr Anthony fauc She said,
we shouldn't be playing in October, but aren't you playing
in the playoffs in October? Yeah, but you know they
want to play an extra week? Oh right, right, right right.
I look at Manfred, I go, he's just trying to
(30:44):
suit the argument towards him. Now, if if you didn't
want to play in October, hey, fouch that we shouldn't
play in October, we're not playing in October, then that
that's that's your point that I could understand. But they
don't want us play in October, but you're playing the
entire month and pass that? Yeah, I mean really, if
that's that's rob manfor to the point he's trying to
make to us right now as well, again you want
to bend your head against the wall. Wouldn't hear him
(31:05):
say something like this, Well, there's just that. I think
they've put up one of those neon signs in his
office that say nothing passed October one, and he's reading
that as the hard line as opposed to the normal. Hey,
that's playoff time, that's money time for us, which which
is funny given the gravity and the weight of the
(31:27):
television contracts that we've talked about for the last couple
of weeks, and how any of this from the NBA
side from what the NFL is trying to do. And
it all comes back to the dollars and cents, much
of which is driven by the television, uh, and the
licensing deals thereof right, you know, and NBA game pass
and an NFL game pass and all all your different
(31:51):
direct TV packages and whatever else. Uh. That is, he
conveniently forgets that whole playing in October site of things
right here. So yeah, and finding the extra ten ten days, right,
the extra ten games. Oh, I'm sorry, you actually have
to play a couple of doubleheaders. Get on the field,
let's go. So that's the first two things. Then there's
(32:13):
this part where I go, he's really just looking for
other things to say, so we can have enough bullet points.
Uh as far as uh the playing the games, maybe
you could add those ten games and play double headers.
As you said, told we're not playing doubleheaders. Our public
health guys tell us you should not put people together
for that number of hours in the day. It's not safe.
(32:34):
But the players keep ignoring those things, all right, players
normally get to the field around what time for a
seven thirty game to three o'clock, right, So you get
to the field, you're there around two o'clock. You have
hours before the game. Then you play the game. So
you're together from about two o'clock in the afternoon until midnight.
You're together for ten hours, ten hours. Now if you
(32:56):
add a double header to that. All right, so you're
playing at four third at seven, you get in the
ballpark around eleven thirty year New So you're together then
for twelve hours. So the extra two hours you are
spending means so much because the ten hours you spend together,
it's not enough playing a whole game against other people,
but the other couple of playing another game and being
at the stadium together for an extra two hours, Yeah,
(33:19):
we can't have that at all. I mean, it's uh,
he's like he's trying to cherry pick his argument, saying, well,
I can take this and really slant it and try
to make them look bad. Well, meanwhile, it just looks
like he's trying to make stuff up for reasons why
we can't play these extra games. Well, Jason, the cloak
of invisibility, as you know from your Harry Potter lore
only works for as long as a normal average night
(33:41):
sleep within eight hours. So at eight hours in one minute,
I mean, you're exposed. That's the end of it. I mean,
that's where we're at. I mean, that's that's the logic
that we're facing here. Look, there's as you hit that point,
there's there's there's a point where if you if you
go into the grocery store and you have a mask on,
you're there for fifteen or twenty minutes, and you get
(34:01):
out all right, you're safer. Then if you go into
a grocery store for two hours and you lounge around
and you touch a lot of stuff and you're all right.
Obviously that's the case. But you're talking about ten hours
versus twelve hours. It really doesn't matter at that point,
you know, I mean how many hours you're together, because
you're together, So it's it's you're together for long enough
to make an extra two hours not really be a difference.
(34:23):
But it goes back to the point I've been making
all along. When it gets to the grocery store or
any of these other convenience stores that you're going into.
The pharmacy, you name it as soon as you've gone in,
you've broken the seal. And now it's a matter of
best practices and how you take care of each other. Right,
Hopefully everybody that's coming in is not infected, that it
(34:47):
doesn't come in with a you know, be it symptomatic
and coughing around the place or asymptomatic, whatever the case
may be. Likewise, every store you go into, and I
know we had some great memes of it earlier in
the week, but got to reiterate it. You've you've broken
the seal you're in, Like other people have touched that
tooth brush that you're looking at, that tub of toothpaste,
(35:09):
maybe the hair dye, whatever the case is, maybe a
box of razors, I don't know what you're buying, maybe
the bag of chips on the shelves, whatever it is.
Odds are at least one or two other people have
touched it. Neither decided to move on or change their
spending habit and decided they'll they'll wait and buy the
snack food on another day. The point being that it
(35:31):
doesn't matter if you're there five minutes or three hours.
You touch stuff and you're in the environment, you're you're
already there, right, and if nobody else is coming in
and out of right, and it's a closed system as
it were, and it's not hey, al right, open the
doors and now another fifteen people enter in. In theory,
(35:52):
that's it right, you know, whereas the store there are
new people walking into said store. So yes, the exposure
rate is plus whatever that sentages. But in the in
the locker room, that's it right. You're exposed to your team,
your coaches, and probably the one or two pool reporters
who still are probably standing behind a giant plexiglass shield
(36:13):
to ask you questions Twitter at how about a Fresca?
Mike get Swollen Dohm The Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen.
I mean, when you see this every day, there's one
conclusion that you come to that I don't think can
be dismissed at all. Is we've talked about owners not
wanting there to be a season, right. Ken Rosenthal had
(36:34):
the report two days ago that at least eight owners
don't want there to be a season because they'll lose
less money. And that eight is a big number because
you need uh three quarters of the league too, okay
a season, and at eight you're not gonna have three
quarters and they're at least eight who don't want it,
probably more. And then at this point I look at
this story with the players and I go to the
players really want to play? I mean really, I mean
(36:57):
this is where Rob Manford should take a uh a
page from the NBA and send out that text to
all the owners and the players. If you want there
to be a season, swipe right. If not, swipe left.
Your answers will remain confidential because I can't tell you
right now that that either side wants to play, and
in either side wants to play, just say it. Just
say we can't do it. We're not gonna it's not
gonna happen, and we're gonna get back at this in
(37:18):
the spring of which would suck because of all the
team sports that are the most coronavirus friendly, Major League
Baseball is that sport. It's the one more it's more
friendly to be able to play than than the NBA,
than the NHL, than football than anything else. So it
would be madning. But if you really can't do it
and you really don't want to play, don't play. You know,
(37:41):
stop wasting our time, stop wasting everybody else's time with all, well,
here's this proposal. Let's pros because right now, I really
I don't know how badly both sides want to play.
And and when you have that, then you see this
can come out when in many different forms now played
out over the course of the the next few weeks, until
you get to the point where we can't have baseball,
we can't have the season. We're done, we're packing up,
we're going home. Yeah, that's the always the background question, Right,
(38:04):
is it just we drag our feet long enough to
just say out it just doesn't work right, And that's
the conclusion. But it still goes back to just lots
and lots of money being left on the table. The
players certainly don't want to and as a sport, you
would think, as you and I have discussed pretty much
(38:25):
since this really started to jest date and become an issue,
is it's going to rick havoc on your salary cap
and the money's and contracts going forward. Right, You're gonna
have the fights over service time and arbitration. You're gonna
have all these guys that were due money. Uh, the
(38:46):
Dodgers will never get to see and experience Mookie Betts. Sorry,
frostberg uh, and all of these other considerations that flow
in not to mention unless you're gonna just tap your
your arm like it's the bullpen call and say, all right,
we need another McGuire, Sosa get after it. I mean,
what's gonna be there to entice people back. Your die
(39:09):
hards will be there, but some of your fringe folks,
they're gonna find other ways to spend their entertainment dollar.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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