May 31, 2022 • 27 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon breakdown the protest by Gabe Kapler, and Jason La Canfora joins the show to give his inside on Joc Pederson/ Tommy Pham debacle.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Well, it is Memorial Day,
Mike and I are glad to be here to get
to shoot the breeze with you about everything going on
in sports. We got the NBA Finals coming up, we
got Jason lockin for is gonna talk football with us.
But look, Memorial Day is always a day of remembrance
for the for the troops who sacrificed and given the
ultimate sacrifice so we can have the freedoms we have
(00:46):
here in the United States. And this kind of plays
into a big topic in baseball today. Memorial Day is
a big baseball day. Right, you spend time looking back
where we've been so far in baseball, where we look ahead?
Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, they're all big
baseball days. Okay, what have we seen do we believe
what we've seen, what do we think going forward? And
(01:08):
today Giants manager Gabe Kapler stood during the national anthem.
Re member. He had made a lot of headlines over
the past few days about he wasn't going to come
out for the national anthem until he felt better about
the direction that this country was going. And look, Gabe
Captain has been on our show plenty of times, right,
he came on and talked about he used to talk
about all the nutritious stuff he would have in the club,
(01:28):
out the game was a lot of fun. And this
is part of his personal blog and and and what
he believes. He wasn't gonna come out. He decided that
on Memorial Day. He didn't want it to be a
situation of him disrespecting the troops, disrespecting the flag, so
he came out for the national anthem on Memorial Day.
I assume he's going to go back to not coming
out for the national anthem tomorrow, but Memorial Day he
(01:51):
came out for it. He said Monday on his blog,
I'll be standing for the anthem. I believe strongly in
honoring and mourning our country service men and women who
fought and died for that right, so he came out
to do it. And this story the last few days
has got a lot of attention, and there's many managers
who have had his back and said I understand this.
And then you have another manager saying I disagree, Tony
LaRussa of the White Sox saying, I believe something has
(02:12):
to be done. This is all about gun violence and
and and Texas that we're still reeling from, which is
ten days after Buffalo, which we're still reeling from. It
doesn't stop. And you know, Tony LaRussa made some good points. Look,
I believe something needs to be done. I don't think
um not coming out for the national anthem is the
right thing. I spent a lot of time with Vets,
and I understand this is what I'm gonna do. And
(02:34):
you know what, both of them can be right, all right,
both of them can be right all right. Never never
forget that the United States, this is what freedom is about. Right,
This is the whole thing that you should be able
to do what you want to do. Right. If Gabe
Kappler doesn't want to come out, Gay Caper doesn't have
to have to come out. Tony Russa wants to come out,
Tony Russa comes out. If Tony Russa disagrees with Gabe Kapler,
(02:54):
he can say what he wants. Right, this is what
it should be about. We should be able to have
this story and stories like this come out without it
just being I'm right, you're raw, and there's nowhere to
meet right because certain certain times, look in sports talk radio,
when we talk about a topic, there's right and there's wrong. Right,
I'm right because Jimmy Butler should have taken that freaking three.
And I'll tell you why in a few minutes. Right, Oh, no,
(03:16):
you're wrong. He's Appotabi only right to take that three. Look,
there's right and wrong. But on something like this that
gets bigger, that's bigger than sports. It should be something
that we can Hey, we can give both sides of
this on. And I like that Gabe Kapler is doing
this because he is keeping this conversation alive that something
needs to be done right, that something needs to be
done for the children, for everybody in our country, because
(03:37):
gun violence is out of control. Something has to happen.
So I'm glad that he's done that, that he's gone
and kept the conversation happening, and and every day when
as long as the conversation is happening, I can go
to bed and wake up hoping for a miracle and
hoping that something has happened and both sides have thought
and something can get done and and everything can be
figured out, because in the end, we're all in this together,
(03:58):
and we forget that we are. We forget you know,
we're not in this. Half of us are not in
on one side, and half of us are not. We're
all in this whole thing together. Right. Everybody who has
differing views has to live with each other, across the
street from each other, sometimes in the same house of
each other. And so when I see this with Gabe Capital,
I say, good for him. I see Tony LaRussa, I
think there's better ways. Good for him. This is the
way it should be. And like I said, because of this,
(04:19):
I could wake up every day and hope for a miracle. Well,
and and that's the thing. At least at this point,
it hasn't been to my knowledge, and and I'll be
be honest, I I knew it existed. I haven't followed,
you know, any huge uh follow ups with it. You
know that I haven't seen anything to where it's become
(04:39):
uh an aggressive stance, you know, to to where it's
been politicized and and where sides have been taken here
obviously Tony LaRussa made his comments, you know, but that
but that's been about the extent of it. And in
each article and and clip that I've seen, which again
not extensive research on the topic, but it stayed in
(05:00):
the he's doing this, and then there's an immediate because
and if that's his personal conviction and that's how he feels,
then that's you know, it's his right right I want.
I can never tell you how to feel about something,
you know, anything we're talking about here on the show,
but certainly in this respect, if he thinks for him personally,
(05:22):
this will bring some level of peace that he's at
least from his position able to make a statement and
and may have a conversation that gets further. Then you know,
that's by by his rights. And what we celebrate here
uh and commemorate on Memorial Day is the way to
go um on a larger scale. You know, it's going
(05:43):
to take a lot of people, uh getting in touch
with their congress people, their senators all the way up
to Pennsylvania to to really affect and an exact change
and really a lot of voices and to to make
to make this swell. But for Gabe Kapler, he's a
(06:03):
voice trying to raise his his consciousness and I certainly
can't fault him for that. And you know, we'll see
how he goes forward. But today honoring the lives of
those lost, uh and and we all do, and certainly
we're we're honored to be here and to be able
to gab and talk about top gun and things of
(06:25):
that nature and have some fun and share some information
with y'all. 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. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me
three time Pro Bowl Little Warrington, and I couldn't be
more excited to announce a new podcast called Up on Game?
(06:47):
What is up on Game? You asked, along with my
fellow Pro bowler T J. Hushman, Zada and Super Bowl champion.
That's right, Plexico Burds. You can only name a show
with that type of talent on it Up on Game.
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me,
(07:09):
LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgeman's Out of and Plexico Birds
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcast from. Celtics were able to make
their free throws, they win the game, and the Celtics
go to the NBA Finals, And the discussion has been
all day, Hey was at a good shot by Jimmy Butler.
(07:31):
Butler went on to to defend the shots, saying, hey,
I went for the win and and that's what I
was thinking. And that's generally what you hear people saying,
backing up Jimmy Butler. Yeah, so you know, Jimmy Butler
makes the shot. He's a hero. So he missed it.
He had an open shot. All of these things are true.
All of these things are true if he makes me
as a hero. Was in an open shot? Yes, did
he get a good look. Yes, all of these things
(07:53):
are true. But here's where I tell you what a
bad decision that was. Jimmy Butler does not shoot threes.
That's the thing people think. Jimmy Butler's a great score
and because they don't look more than just seeing Oh hey,
everybody says he's good. Here's the stats on ESPN and
t n T. He doesn't shoot threes. He doesn't. He
had an outlier game two games ago where he was
(08:15):
four of eight from three point range. For his career,
he has made less than one three pointer per game. Okay,
he's at thirty percent from three point range for his career.
He's at from three point range the last three years.
He doesn't take a lot of them. He like said
he makes one a game. He's like one for four
(08:35):
a game. Jimmy Butler is about much more than taking
a three. Right, that's not the right call there. Yes,
I understand. I understand. The players like to play hero
ball and Jimmy Butler wanted to be the hero. Everybody
pumps him up as a hero. And he's a great
pressure playoff player in the playoffs. Right, he's a bit
two up and down, but he comes through with some
(08:55):
games that are just unbelievable. But that's not his shot,
right him to making a three is not his thing,
but players fall in love with I want to hit
the shot. So I can see everybody called time out
and my teammates run to me, and I can be
seen yelling and bowing up and posing. Players fall for that.
Lebron James falls for that. Instead of taking the ball
(09:16):
to the hoop, Lebron wants to take that three so
it can look pretty as he backs up down the
court with his hand in the air so he can
make a fist. And and the video of him looks
so menacing. Look, and this is what Jimmy Butler did.
This is what happens when you choose hero ball. If
Jimmy Butler was a better three point shoot, I would say, yes,
it was a great shot. If Damian Lillard took that shot,
yes I have no issue with that. But he doesn't.
(09:36):
You want Russell Westbrook taking that shot because that's what
Jimmy Butler is from three point range. You don't want that.
You want Jimmy Butler getting to the hoop and tying
the game. Because no matter what, even if Jimmy Butler
hits the three, you still have to d up if
you're the heat or you're gonna lose the game. Right
if it's a three to give him the lead by one,
you gotta d up or you're gonna lose. The Celtics
gonna hit a shot. Oh you tie the game. You
(09:58):
gotta d up or you're gonna lose because the Celtic
the shot. So you still have to come back and
play defense at one more time. It's not like I'm
going for the kill shot and the game is over.
If that was in his wheelhouse, I would have said, yes,
great shot, but he doesn't shoot threes. He doesn't do
it well. The Celtics, they would, I'm sure they're saying themselves.
Boy man, I was. I felt so good when Jimmy
pulled up for that three because he doesn't make him
(10:20):
and all you had to do had one defender. All
you do is go by one defender. He's getting the
hoop he's getting. If he doesn't get maybe he's getting
challenged the lane. Maybe the defenders already there. The defender
had already stopped off. But there's one defender. It's not
like you're going but you had to get past the
guy had the three point arc. But then you still
had a guy fill in the lane. So maybe maybe
(10:41):
you had a guy maybe he was standing in the
in the yellow defender in front of him, had one
defender in front the guy that was facing him directly, Williams,
and then you had Brown, then had already gone into
the lane. Okay, so if you go in, you're closer.
You're either one on one and you're getting to the hoop,
or you get to the free throw line, or you're
drawing somebody a few feet from the hoop and you're
able to dish off for a lamp. You have many
(11:03):
things you could do right there. It's not like the
defense was stacked all in the lane like, well, Kobe's
gonna take the shot, we're just gonna stand here and
and stopping from getting in there. Uh. He had great options,
right there was so much time left on the clock.
There are all kinds of things he could have done better,
suited to his game and what he does well, and
instead he picked, what's the lowest percentage thing I can do?
Take a three? And that's sorry. It was it was
(11:24):
how Horford that was up on him. So he would
have had to get around al Horford and then get
into the lane if he wanted to drive. He still
he still had room. He decided he had an open shot,
and he took the shot. It's not, it's not, it's not.
It's not a shot. It's not a shot, Maverick. Okay,
it's not it's not his shot. He had no tone.
(11:44):
I gotta get tone, gotta get tone. Do do do
do do do? Uh? Like I said, if it was
a better shot, it was more what his game was.
I understand it. But he took the lowest percentage shot
he could take for himself. Not just hey, the percentage
shot at this point with two players on you and
falling out of bounds as eight point six percent. No,
he took. In your repertoire, what's the worst shot you
(12:05):
can take? A three? And that's the one he took.
When I'm not saying it's the highest percentage. But you know,
in the game, in the heat of the moment, Uh,
he pulled up and decided it was his time to shine.
And that's what he's risen to that occasion for them
time and time again, and this time well front of
iron and comes up short. Let me ask you real quick,
(12:28):
what do you think of the struce over ruling? Oh
my good, that's like several minutes later, it's like finishing
a round of Jeopardy. They go to the commercial break
and then come back. I'm sorry, we took back the
eight thousand dollars you earned on the Daily Double because
you mispronounced the second name. It should have been a possessive. No,
(12:48):
you have you have to make that. That's like when
you lose a fantasy football game on a Wednesday for
a rule correction. It's like, wait a minute, it went
up as a win. I won. No, I'm sorry you lost. No,
no, no no, no, it's if you can't erect it there,
then it stays up. I'm sorry you can't. And how
do you not go back? Right? How do you? How
did How does it take you so long to go
back and look and go you know, you gotta go
back and look at that three and make sure he
(13:09):
said didn't step into How long it take you to
do that? Real? It takes you that long to figure
it out? And then oh yeah, they said they didn't
have a conclusive shot yet we all saw the conclusive shot.
Pretty but we're going we're going to the wall to
to make sure we're seeing if that three is a
three or not. I mean, look, if you do it
in the in the flow of the game and it happens,
(13:31):
you know, forty five seconds a minute later, Yeah, Okay,
I get it because you want to go back and
get it right. But oh, hey, by the way, let's
go back. We looked at that. We didn't get it
at that point, then you could let hey, let's go
back to the first half where you miss some things.
Let's go all the way back to the opening tip
when you missed this play. Why to go back? There's
got to be a point where you say, okay, you
know what. The time has passed. This is a score.
(13:51):
If we miss a call, we miss it, just like
anything else. Right, you miss a call in baseball, you
miss it. You missed the call in the NFL, you
miss it. It happens. You move on to have that happened.
I'm with Sposter on that there there's a not that
they didn't get it right. But at some point you
have to stop and go all right, what why are
we pushing so hard to make sure that this call
gets out there? You start to get into real kinds
(14:13):
of crazy conspiracy theories about does the league want the
Celtics in And you don't want that at all. So
for many different reasons, I like the fact that you
can if you can't get it done very quickly. Off
off the off the replay, then you gotta let it go.
You missed it, and you move on with the game.
Very early in the third quarter, and then uh, two
and a half minutes of game talk clock went off
(14:33):
the board before they finally made that adjustment. Very a
lot of time to overcome it. Uh, and certainly plenty
of possessions, but an egregious air. Nonetheless, be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey,
what's up everybody? It's me three time Pro Bowl Little
(14:55):
Warrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a
new podcast called Upon Game. What is up on Game?
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J.
Hudshman's Otta and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Burds.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be
(15:15):
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J.
Hudgmans Otta, and Plexico Birds on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from A
man who. I'm surprised. I think he may be joining
(15:35):
us actually from the Maryland lacrosse party, as they are
your undefeated national champions winning earlier today, uh, finishing an
eighteen and old season the Maryland Terrapists. Congratulations Jason lock
infora yes, the Terps are badass. Um. I did not
attend any of these games, but I'll take credit for him.
(15:58):
I'll take credit for the whole day season if I
have to do whatever. You know, we carifean country and
we do support the terms you know, on the whole
by and large, but we have not been to College
Park in a minute. We we I You know what, though, Well,
(16:22):
there's gonna be a baseball number eight in the country
and hosting a regional for the first time ever. But
there's gotta be a parade, right, There's gonna be lacrosse
par I don't know where you have lacrosse parades, but
there's gotta be one right, probably down Route one. That
would be down Route one College pardon, Yeah, we'd take
it straight from College Park to d C. Let's go.
Um no, look that they had an amazing season. The
(16:45):
men and the women are perennially um in the mix.
For hardware. But I'd be lying if I said I
wasn't a little more captivated by this baseball thing, because again,
Maryland is not traditional me. You know, an amazing baseball
school and here we are number eight in the country
(17:07):
and hosting a regional so oh here, right here, I
thought you were gonna say about that. I think you say,
fired up by this baseball thing. It was the Jock
Peterson Tommy fan fantasy. That is the story of the millennial,
the story of my lifetime. Um, what I want to
be the thirty you know, the whatever, the thirty thirty
(17:29):
documentary I wanted, like I want it all, Like I
originally I thought it was like a w WF thing,
Like I thought it was a promotion, like I thought
it was because I didn't hadn't seen the video of
the actual slab and so whatever. It was four or
five days ago and I'm in the car and I'm
(17:50):
hearing about all this, and I'm like, because obviously, Jock Peterson,
he's a good time boy, right, like he's he's up
for whatever. Like I really don't know what to take
seriously and whatnot. And then you see the original quotes
without seeing the slap and I'm just like, this whole
(18:12):
thing is fabricated, and then you see the actual slap,
and then I come to find out just how crazy
Tommy Fam is and Tommy Fam is crazy. Yeah, so
then it's like, oh my god, I just want to
see all of the text string Like I want to
be privy to everything these guys texted to each other,
(18:34):
and I want to be privy to their bank accounts
because from what I'm hearing, it's a six figure like
difference between finishing first and finishing the second. All over
Jeff Wilson, it's all it's probably it's probably more money
than Jeff Wilson got paid to play last year. And
it's all over this is this. I mean, look, we
(18:57):
all do fantasy leagues. I've done industry leagues. You do
industry lead. Does it get this heated in your industry leagues? No?
But I'm telling I'm telling you, I think there was
a hundred thousand dollars on the line, Like I think
the difference between that's what it was. Yes, That's what
I'm hearing. So I think the difference like that's why
Tommy Fam is loot well. And and again I think
(19:17):
Tommy Fam is one to probably lose his mind, like
much easier than most of us. But and I don't know.
I don't think he has a leg to stand on
because I really don't think Jack did anything like wrong
or remotely egregious. And this whole idea about oh and
(19:38):
then he said that like mean gift or Jeff or
whatever they call it about the padres the padres anymore,
like what what are we doing here? But so the
whole thing is crazy. But yes, I think I think
he's piste off because he lost in his mind. He
lost a hundred thousand dollars because of transactions and I
(20:01):
don't know, again not privy to their final like standing
and who won this by this many points or whatever,
but there was a lot of money at stake. Wow,
a hundred I have I haven't heard that. I mean,
we theorize some kind of monetary situation, but just try
(20:21):
trying to put the kind of kind of figure to it.
That's a whole other animal, you know, not not for nothing.
But you just can't, No, you can't do you can't
do that, even if it's not about fantasy foot not
right again, Tommy, fam, We we don't need to read
his entire listing. Go back to COVID strip clubs, stabbing,
(20:43):
just looking up to show where where some of this
stuff goes, the bad, the slide and the would be
fight a couple of weeks ago, a lot of pressure
building up there. But we certainly as as we get
to we're in free agency to O T A S.
The tionality of it all is that a word U
when we get to uh Rogers uh and Murray and
(21:06):
and then looking at well Lamar there, I mean you
know now that the week is has progressed, I mean
any any traction uh and and what what are your
feelings when it comes to voluntary? Well, what what do
you have to have in the accomplishment book to really
make it voluntary? Well, I would say this, I think
it's far more egregious for Aaron Rodgers not to be
(21:28):
in Wisconsin than it is for Lamar Jackson not to
be in Baltimore, because Aaron Rodgers has won it the
game of life and wanted the game of football. I mean, okay,
so he has sit in that green room for a
little while and he was oh, he was mad. He
was puffing and panting and he couldn't wait for somebody
(21:49):
to pick him. But that's been about sixteen years ago.
And since then, once he got a chance to play,
he got a chance to play with a franchise that
was loaded for bad there and he got himself three
quality bites at the apple with that franchise in terms
of UM extensions, including this latest one that gives him
(22:12):
basically one a hundred and two million fully guaranteed for
two years. And they draft all these new receivers finally,
and he can't, you know, he'd rather be hitting golf
balls and walking the earth like kung fu and whatever,
doing yoga. I don't know, um, whatever he's up to.
(22:33):
I think that's far more egregious than Lamar Jackson staying away,
because Lamar Jackson has been the biggest bargain in football
his entirety of his rookie contract and now sitting there
on the fifth year option that he didn't negotiate, that
he had no saying what that total was, what he
was going to be playing for, right like all that
(22:55):
was decided from up high, like the Plays Association and
the owners, and and then I just it boggles my
mind that people are like freaking out about Lamar Jackson
not being there and it's like, well, if you were
Lamar Jackson, you wouldn't be there either, Like why why
why would you be there? It's a voluntary They gave
(23:20):
you a low ball offer before Josh Allen signed his deal,
then they gave you another low ball offer after Josh
Allen signed his deal, and then they never paid you
or or put anything on paper close to what you're worth.
But you're the bad guy, like you're the one who's
(23:41):
less than or not holding up the end of the bargain.
That's that's all bs man. This is this is a
product not of Lamar Jackson. It's a product of Lamar
Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. It takes two to tango.
He's not the reason they're at this point. It's him
and Erica Pasta and the Bashadi And it takes a
(24:06):
village to get to this screwed up of a point
with the contract. So he shouldn't be there. If he
had an agent, they'd really be ruined today that this
they came to this point, because the agent would be
ripping them in the press, ripping them on social media,
really putting pressure on them in every way possible. Whereas
(24:29):
Lamar is just doing the you know, the past path
of least resistance, and he's kind of got this little
bit of a passive aggressive thing going on with them.
But he hasn't said anything negative about the team, anything
negative about the BS contract offers they've made him, anything
negative about what it took to get to this point.
(24:53):
He's just showing up for stuff that he gets paid
to show up for and not showing up for the
other stuff. All right, Lastly, Jay, Jason Lock and forward
with us here at Fox Sports Radio. Aaron Donald did
the I Am Athlete Podcast with Aaron with Brandon Marshall
and said that he is at peace with his career
if he doesn't play again. I mean he wants a
(25:15):
big contract, wants more moneys. I'll played his deally signed
in Um. Could we really be looking at the end
of Aaron Donald's NFL career? What? What? What? What's the
deal here? Well, he has the ability to play that card.
He should be playing that card, Like who can dispute
what he's saying? Hey, I put my twelve years on paper, film,
(25:40):
Uh metrics, advanced metrics. However you want to evaluate me,
I am in the top. I don't know one two
percent three of dudes who have ever played football for
a living. And my contract now looks a little bit, uh,
(26:01):
you know, cheaper than it should. And I'm a piece
with going out the Super Bowl champion. And if somebody
wants to step in and alter the equation and pay
me a whole lot more than I'm said to make
to keep playing, then I could do that too. So
he's being smart, he's being savvy. You guys are out there,
(26:26):
you guys are in so Cal. Do you think Stan
Cronki is gonna let Aaron Donald just walk away just
you know, go off into the ether without a massive
extension to think about, you know, like he paid all
that money for that stadium, he built his football Tozma Hall,
(26:50):
He did the thing for Stafford. He re ups with McVeigh,
like the Odell Beckham thing, the Von Miller thing, Like
what they're going to eventually do for Cup again, Like
do they like to do stars go running screaming out
of l A or do they get another you know,
(27:15):
like changing contract? Like no, they are a top three
spending team in the NFL and I don't see that
changing anytime soon. And they're going to want to defend
this title, and they know how important he is. So
I think at some point between now and you know,
late August, they make him an offer he can't refuse.
(27:38):
He's on Twitter at Jason locking For. That is at
Jason locking For. I'm assuming the offer will be more
than the hundred k Tommy fam lost out on with
Jack Peterson. We'll wait for that offer. J is always
fighty appreciate it. Man, have a great week. We'll talk
to you. Thanks, gentlemen, Thank you. Jacent
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night 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 Harmon at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
night on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Well, it is Memorial Day,
Mike and I are glad to be here to get
to shoot the breeze with you about everything going on
in sports. We got the NBA Finals coming up, we
got Jason lockin for is gonna talk football with us.
But look, Memorial Day is always a day of remembrance
for the for the troops who sacrificed and given the
ultimate sacrifice so we can have the freedoms we have
(00:46):
here in the United States. And this kind of plays
into a big topic in baseball today. Memorial Day is
a big baseball day. Right, you spend time looking back
where we've been so far in baseball, where we look ahead?
Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, they're all big
baseball days. Okay, what have we seen do we believe
what we've seen, what do we think going forward? And
(01:08):
today Giants manager Gabe Kapler stood during the national anthem.
Re member. He had made a lot of headlines over
the past few days about he wasn't going to come
out for the national anthem until he felt better about
the direction that this country was going. And look, Gabe
Captain has been on our show plenty of times, right,
he came on and talked about he used to talk
about all the nutritious stuff he would have in the club,
(01:28):
out the game was a lot of fun. And this
is part of his personal blog and and and what
he believes. He wasn't gonna come out. He decided that
on Memorial Day. He didn't want it to be a
situation of him disrespecting the troops, disrespecting the flag, so
he came out for the national anthem on Memorial Day.
I assume he's going to go back to not coming
out for the national anthem tomorrow, but Memorial Day he
(01:51):
came out for it. He said Monday on his blog,
I'll be standing for the anthem. I believe strongly in
honoring and mourning our country service men and women who
fought and died for that right, so he came out
to do it. And this story the last few days
has got a lot of attention, and there's many managers
who have had his back and said I understand this.
And then you have another manager saying I disagree, Tony
LaRussa of the White Sox saying, I believe something has
(02:12):
to be done. This is all about gun violence and
and and Texas that we're still reeling from, which is
ten days after Buffalo, which we're still reeling from. It
doesn't stop. And you know, Tony LaRussa made some good points. Look,
I believe something needs to be done. I don't think
um not coming out for the national anthem is the
right thing. I spent a lot of time with Vets,
and I understand this is what I'm gonna do. And
(02:34):
you know what, both of them can be right, all right,
both of them can be right all right. Never never
forget that the United States, this is what freedom is about. Right,
This is the whole thing that you should be able
to do what you want to do. Right. If Gabe
Kappler doesn't want to come out, Gay Caper doesn't have
to have to come out. Tony Russa wants to come out,
Tony Russa comes out. If Tony Russa disagrees with Gabe Kapler,
(02:54):
he can say what he wants. Right, this is what
it should be about. We should be able to have
this story and stories like this come out without it
just being I'm right, you're raw, and there's nowhere to
meet right because certain certain times, look in sports talk radio,
when we talk about a topic, there's right and there's wrong. Right,
I'm right because Jimmy Butler should have taken that freaking three.
And I'll tell you why in a few minutes. Right, Oh, no,
(03:16):
you're wrong. He's Appotabi only right to take that three. Look,
there's right and wrong. But on something like this that
gets bigger, that's bigger than sports. It should be something
that we can Hey, we can give both sides of
this on. And I like that Gabe Kapler is doing
this because he is keeping this conversation alive that something
needs to be done right, that something needs to be
done for the children, for everybody in our country, because
(03:37):
gun violence is out of control. Something has to happen.
So I'm glad that he's done that, that he's gone
and kept the conversation happening, and and every day when
as long as the conversation is happening, I can go
to bed and wake up hoping for a miracle and
hoping that something has happened and both sides have thought
and something can get done and and everything can be
figured out, because in the end, we're all in this together,
(03:58):
and we forget that we are. We forget you know,
we're not in this. Half of us are not in
on one side, and half of us are not. We're
all in this whole thing together. Right. Everybody who has
differing views has to live with each other, across the
street from each other, sometimes in the same house of
each other. And so when I see this with Gabe Capital,
I say, good for him. I see Tony LaRussa, I
think there's better ways. Good for him. This is the
way it should be. And like I said, because of this,
(04:19):
I could wake up every day and hope for a miracle. Well,
and and that's the thing. At least at this point,
it hasn't been to my knowledge, and and I'll be
be honest, I I knew it existed. I haven't followed,
you know, any huge uh follow ups with it. You
know that I haven't seen anything to where it's become
(04:39):
uh an aggressive stance, you know, to to where it's
been politicized and and where sides have been taken here
obviously Tony LaRussa made his comments, you know, but that
but that's been about the extent of it. And in
each article and and clip that I've seen, which again
not extensive research on the topic, but it stayed in
(05:00):
the he's doing this, and then there's an immediate because
and if that's his personal conviction and that's how he feels,
then that's you know, it's his right right I want.
I can never tell you how to feel about something,
you know, anything we're talking about here on the show,
but certainly in this respect, if he thinks for him personally,
(05:22):
this will bring some level of peace that he's at
least from his position able to make a statement and
and may have a conversation that gets further. Then you know,
that's by by his rights. And what we celebrate here
uh and commemorate on Memorial Day is the way to
go um on a larger scale. You know, it's going
(05:43):
to take a lot of people, uh getting in touch
with their congress people, their senators all the way up
to Pennsylvania to to really affect and an exact change
and really a lot of voices and to to make
to make this swell. But for Gabe Kapler, he's a
(06:03):
voice trying to raise his his consciousness and I certainly
can't fault him for that. And you know, we'll see
how he goes forward. But today honoring the lives of
those lost, uh and and we all do, and certainly
we're we're honored to be here and to be able
to gab and talk about top gun and things of
(06:25):
that nature and have some fun and share some information
with y'all. 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. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me
three time Pro Bowl Little Warrington, and I couldn't be
more excited to announce a new podcast called Up on Game?
(06:47):
What is up on Game? You asked, along with my
fellow Pro bowler T J. Hushman, Zada and Super Bowl champion.
That's right, Plexico Burds. You can only name a show
with that type of talent on it Up on Game.
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me,
(07:09):
LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgeman's Out of and Plexico Birds
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcast from. Celtics were able to make
their free throws, they win the game, and the Celtics
go to the NBA Finals, And the discussion has been
all day, Hey was at a good shot by Jimmy Butler.
(07:31):
Butler went on to to defend the shots, saying, hey,
I went for the win and and that's what I
was thinking. And that's generally what you hear people saying,
backing up Jimmy Butler. Yeah, so you know, Jimmy Butler
makes the shot. He's a hero. So he missed it.
He had an open shot. All of these things are true.
All of these things are true if he makes me
as a hero. Was in an open shot? Yes, did
he get a good look. Yes, all of these things
(07:53):
are true. But here's where I tell you what a
bad decision that was. Jimmy Butler does not shoot threes.
That's the thing people think. Jimmy Butler's a great score
and because they don't look more than just seeing Oh hey,
everybody says he's good. Here's the stats on ESPN and
t n T. He doesn't shoot threes. He doesn't. He
had an outlier game two games ago where he was
(08:15):
four of eight from three point range. For his career,
he has made less than one three pointer per game. Okay,
he's at thirty percent from three point range for his career.
He's at from three point range the last three years.
He doesn't take a lot of them. He like said
he makes one a game. He's like one for four
(08:35):
a game. Jimmy Butler is about much more than taking
a three. Right, that's not the right call there. Yes,
I understand. I understand. The players like to play hero
ball and Jimmy Butler wanted to be the hero. Everybody
pumps him up as a hero. And he's a great
pressure playoff player in the playoffs. Right, he's a bit
two up and down, but he comes through with some
(08:55):
games that are just unbelievable. But that's not his shot,
right him to making a three is not his thing,
but players fall in love with I want to hit
the shot. So I can see everybody called time out
and my teammates run to me, and I can be
seen yelling and bowing up and posing. Players fall for that.
Lebron James falls for that. Instead of taking the ball
(09:16):
to the hoop, Lebron wants to take that three so
it can look pretty as he backs up down the
court with his hand in the air so he can
make a fist. And and the video of him looks
so menacing. Look, and this is what Jimmy Butler did.
This is what happens when you choose hero ball. If
Jimmy Butler was a better three point shoot, I would say, yes,
it was a great shot. If Damian Lillard took that shot,
yes I have no issue with that. But he doesn't.
(09:36):
You want Russell Westbrook taking that shot because that's what
Jimmy Butler is from three point range. You don't want that.
You want Jimmy Butler getting to the hoop and tying
the game. Because no matter what, even if Jimmy Butler
hits the three, you still have to d up if
you're the heat or you're gonna lose the game. Right
if it's a three to give him the lead by one,
you gotta d up or you're gonna lose. The Celtics
gonna hit a shot. Oh you tie the game. You
(09:58):
gotta d up or you're gonna lose because the Celtic
the shot. So you still have to come back and
play defense at one more time. It's not like I'm
going for the kill shot and the game is over.
If that was in his wheelhouse, I would have said, yes,
great shot, but he doesn't shoot threes. He doesn't do
it well. The Celtics, they would, I'm sure they're saying themselves.
Boy man, I was. I felt so good when Jimmy
pulled up for that three because he doesn't make him
(10:20):
and all you had to do had one defender. All
you do is go by one defender. He's getting the
hoop he's getting. If he doesn't get maybe he's getting
challenged the lane. Maybe the defenders already there. The defender
had already stopped off. But there's one defender. It's not
like you're going but you had to get past the
guy had the three point arc. But then you still
had a guy fill in the lane. So maybe maybe
(10:41):
you had a guy maybe he was standing in the
in the yellow defender in front of him, had one
defender in front the guy that was facing him directly, Williams,
and then you had Brown, then had already gone into
the lane. Okay, so if you go in, you're closer.
You're either one on one and you're getting to the hoop,
or you get to the free throw line, or you're
drawing somebody a few feet from the hoop and you're
able to dish off for a lamp. You have many
(11:03):
things you could do right there. It's not like the
defense was stacked all in the lane like, well, Kobe's
gonna take the shot, we're just gonna stand here and
and stopping from getting in there. Uh. He had great options,
right there was so much time left on the clock.
There are all kinds of things he could have done better,
suited to his game and what he does well, and
instead he picked, what's the lowest percentage thing I can do?
Take a three? And that's sorry. It was it was
(11:24):
how Horford that was up on him. So he would
have had to get around al Horford and then get
into the lane if he wanted to drive. He still
he still had room. He decided he had an open shot,
and he took the shot. It's not, it's not, it's not.
It's not a shot. It's not a shot, Maverick. Okay,
it's not it's not his shot. He had no tone.
(11:44):
I gotta get tone, gotta get tone. Do do do
do do do? Uh? Like I said, if it was
a better shot, it was more what his game was.
I understand it. But he took the lowest percentage shot
he could take for himself. Not just hey, the percentage
shot at this point with two players on you and
falling out of bounds as eight point six percent. No,
he took. In your repertoire, what's the worst shot you
(12:05):
can take? A three? And that's the one he took.
When I'm not saying it's the highest percentage. But you know,
in the game, in the heat of the moment, Uh,
he pulled up and decided it was his time to shine.
And that's what he's risen to that occasion for them
time and time again, and this time well front of
iron and comes up short. Let me ask you real quick,
(12:28):
what do you think of the struce over ruling? Oh
my good, that's like several minutes later, it's like finishing
a round of Jeopardy. They go to the commercial break
and then come back. I'm sorry, we took back the
eight thousand dollars you earned on the Daily Double because
you mispronounced the second name. It should have been a possessive. No,
(12:48):
you have you have to make that. That's like when
you lose a fantasy football game on a Wednesday for
a rule correction. It's like, wait a minute, it went
up as a win. I won. No, I'm sorry you lost. No,
no, no no, no, it's if you can't erect it there,
then it stays up. I'm sorry you can't. And how
do you not go back? Right? How do you? How
did How does it take you so long to go
back and look and go you know, you gotta go
back and look at that three and make sure he
(13:09):
said didn't step into How long it take you to
do that? Real? It takes you that long to figure
it out? And then oh yeah, they said they didn't
have a conclusive shot yet we all saw the conclusive shot.
Pretty but we're going we're going to the wall to
to make sure we're seeing if that three is a
three or not. I mean, look, if you do it
in the in the flow of the game and it happens,
(13:31):
you know, forty five seconds a minute later, Yeah, Okay,
I get it because you want to go back and
get it right. But oh, hey, by the way, let's
go back. We looked at that. We didn't get it
at that point, then you could let hey, let's go
back to the first half where you miss some things.
Let's go all the way back to the opening tip
when you missed this play. Why to go back? There's
got to be a point where you say, okay, you
know what. The time has passed. This is a score.
(13:51):
If we miss a call, we miss it, just like
anything else. Right, you miss a call in baseball, you
miss it. You missed the call in the NFL, you
miss it. It happens. You move on to have that happened.
I'm with Sposter on that there there's a not that
they didn't get it right. But at some point you
have to stop and go all right, what why are
we pushing so hard to make sure that this call
gets out there? You start to get into real kinds
(14:13):
of crazy conspiracy theories about does the league want the
Celtics in And you don't want that at all. So
for many different reasons, I like the fact that you
can if you can't get it done very quickly. Off
off the off the replay, then you gotta let it go.
You missed it, and you move on with the game.
Very early in the third quarter, and then uh, two
and a half minutes of game talk clock went off
(14:33):
the board before they finally made that adjustment. Very a
lot of time to overcome it. Uh, and certainly plenty
of possessions, but an egregious air. Nonetheless, be sure to
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey,
what's up everybody? It's me three time Pro Bowl Little
(14:55):
Warrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a
new podcast called Upon Game. What is up on Game?
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J.
Hudshman's Otta and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Burds.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be
(15:15):
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J.
Hudgmans Otta, and Plexico Birds on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from A
man who. I'm surprised. I think he may be joining
(15:35):
us actually from the Maryland lacrosse party, as they are
your undefeated national champions winning earlier today, uh, finishing an
eighteen and old season the Maryland Terrapists. Congratulations Jason lock
infora yes, the Terps are badass. Um. I did not
attend any of these games, but I'll take credit for him.
(15:58):
I'll take credit for the whole day season if I
have to do whatever. You know, we carifean country and
we do support the terms you know, on the whole
by and large, but we have not been to College
Park in a minute. We we I You know what, though, Well,
(16:22):
there's gonna be a baseball number eight in the country
and hosting a regional for the first time ever. But
there's gotta be a parade, right, There's gonna be lacrosse
par I don't know where you have lacrosse parades, but
there's gotta be one right, probably down Route one. That
would be down Route one College pardon, Yeah, we'd take
it straight from College Park to d C. Let's go.
Um no, look that they had an amazing season. The
(16:45):
men and the women are perennially um in the mix.
For hardware. But I'd be lying if I said I
wasn't a little more captivated by this baseball thing, because again,
Maryland is not traditional me. You know, an amazing baseball
school and here we are number eight in the country
(17:07):
and hosting a regional so oh here, right here, I
thought you were gonna say about that. I think you say,
fired up by this baseball thing. It was the Jock
Peterson Tommy fan fantasy. That is the story of the millennial,
the story of my lifetime. Um, what I want to
be the thirty you know, the whatever, the thirty thirty
(17:29):
documentary I wanted, like I want it all, Like I
originally I thought it was like a w WF thing,
Like I thought it was a promotion, like I thought
it was because I didn't hadn't seen the video of
the actual slab and so whatever. It was four or
five days ago and I'm in the car and I'm
(17:50):
hearing about all this, and I'm like, because obviously, Jock Peterson,
he's a good time boy, right, like he's he's up
for whatever. Like I really don't know what to take
seriously and whatnot. And then you see the original quotes
without seeing the slap and I'm just like, this whole
(18:12):
thing is fabricated, and then you see the actual slap,
and then I come to find out just how crazy
Tommy Fam is and Tommy Fam is crazy. Yeah, so
then it's like, oh my god, I just want to
see all of the text string Like I want to
be privy to everything these guys texted to each other,
(18:34):
and I want to be privy to their bank accounts
because from what I'm hearing, it's a six figure like
difference between finishing first and finishing the second. All over
Jeff Wilson, it's all it's probably it's probably more money
than Jeff Wilson got paid to play last year. And
it's all over this is this. I mean, look, we
(18:57):
all do fantasy leagues. I've done industry leagues. You do
industry lead. Does it get this heated in your industry leagues? No?
But I'm telling I'm telling you, I think there was
a hundred thousand dollars on the line, Like I think
the difference between that's what it was. Yes, That's what
I'm hearing. So I think the difference like that's why
Tommy Fam is loot well. And and again I think
(19:17):
Tommy Fam is one to probably lose his mind, like
much easier than most of us. But and I don't know.
I don't think he has a leg to stand on
because I really don't think Jack did anything like wrong
or remotely egregious. And this whole idea about oh and
(19:38):
then he said that like mean gift or Jeff or
whatever they call it about the padres the padres anymore,
like what what are we doing here? But so the
whole thing is crazy. But yes, I think I think
he's piste off because he lost in his mind. He
lost a hundred thousand dollars because of transactions and I
(20:01):
don't know, again not privy to their final like standing
and who won this by this many points or whatever,
but there was a lot of money at stake. Wow,
a hundred I have I haven't heard that. I mean,
we theorize some kind of monetary situation, but just try
(20:21):
trying to put the kind of kind of figure to it.
That's a whole other animal, you know, not not for nothing.
But you just can't, No, you can't do you can't
do that, even if it's not about fantasy foot not
right again, Tommy, fam, We we don't need to read
his entire listing. Go back to COVID strip clubs, stabbing,
(20:43):
just looking up to show where where some of this
stuff goes, the bad, the slide and the would be
fight a couple of weeks ago, a lot of pressure
building up there. But we certainly as as we get
to we're in free agency to O T A S.
The tionality of it all is that a word U
when we get to uh Rogers uh and Murray and
(21:06):
and then looking at well Lamar there, I mean you
know now that the week is has progressed, I mean
any any traction uh and and what what are your
feelings when it comes to voluntary? Well, what what do
you have to have in the accomplishment book to really
make it voluntary? Well, I would say this, I think
it's far more egregious for Aaron Rodgers not to be
(21:28):
in Wisconsin than it is for Lamar Jackson not to
be in Baltimore, because Aaron Rodgers has won it the
game of life and wanted the game of football. I mean, okay,
so he has sit in that green room for a
little while and he was oh, he was mad. He
was puffing and panting and he couldn't wait for somebody
(21:49):
to pick him. But that's been about sixteen years ago.
And since then, once he got a chance to play,
he got a chance to play with a franchise that
was loaded for bad there and he got himself three
quality bites at the apple with that franchise in terms
of UM extensions, including this latest one that gives him
(22:12):
basically one a hundred and two million fully guaranteed for
two years. And they draft all these new receivers finally,
and he can't, you know, he'd rather be hitting golf
balls and walking the earth like kung fu and whatever,
doing yoga. I don't know, um, whatever he's up to.
(22:33):
I think that's far more egregious than Lamar Jackson staying away,
because Lamar Jackson has been the biggest bargain in football
his entirety of his rookie contract and now sitting there
on the fifth year option that he didn't negotiate, that
he had no saying what that total was, what he
was going to be playing for, right like all that
(22:55):
was decided from up high, like the Plays Association and
the owners, and and then I just it boggles my
mind that people are like freaking out about Lamar Jackson
not being there and it's like, well, if you were
Lamar Jackson, you wouldn't be there either, Like why why
why would you be there? It's a voluntary They gave
(23:20):
you a low ball offer before Josh Allen signed his deal,
then they gave you another low ball offer after Josh
Allen signed his deal, and then they never paid you
or or put anything on paper close to what you're worth.
But you're the bad guy, like you're the one who's
(23:41):
less than or not holding up the end of the bargain.
That's that's all bs man. This is this is a
product not of Lamar Jackson. It's a product of Lamar
Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. It takes two to tango.
He's not the reason they're at this point. It's him
and Erica Pasta and the Bashadi And it takes a
(24:06):
village to get to this screwed up of a point
with the contract. So he shouldn't be there. If he
had an agent, they'd really be ruined today that this
they came to this point, because the agent would be
ripping them in the press, ripping them on social media,
really putting pressure on them in every way possible. Whereas
(24:29):
Lamar is just doing the you know, the past path
of least resistance, and he's kind of got this little
bit of a passive aggressive thing going on with them.
But he hasn't said anything negative about the team, anything
negative about the BS contract offers they've made him, anything
negative about what it took to get to this point.
(24:53):
He's just showing up for stuff that he gets paid
to show up for and not showing up for the
other stuff. All right, Lastly, Jay, Jason Lock and forward
with us here at Fox Sports Radio. Aaron Donald did
the I Am Athlete Podcast with Aaron with Brandon Marshall
and said that he is at peace with his career
if he doesn't play again. I mean he wants a
(25:15):
big contract, wants more moneys. I'll played his deally signed
in Um. Could we really be looking at the end
of Aaron Donald's NFL career? What? What? What? What's the
deal here? Well, he has the ability to play that card.
He should be playing that card, Like who can dispute
what he's saying? Hey, I put my twelve years on paper, film,
(25:40):
Uh metrics, advanced metrics. However you want to evaluate me,
I am in the top. I don't know one two
percent three of dudes who have ever played football for
a living. And my contract now looks a little bit, uh,
(26:01):
you know, cheaper than it should. And I'm a piece
with going out the Super Bowl champion. And if somebody
wants to step in and alter the equation and pay
me a whole lot more than I'm said to make
to keep playing, then I could do that too. So
he's being smart, he's being savvy. You guys are out there,
(26:26):
you guys are in so Cal. Do you think Stan
Cronki is gonna let Aaron Donald just walk away just
you know, go off into the ether without a massive
extension to think about, you know, like he paid all
that money for that stadium, he built his football Tozma Hall,
(26:50):
He did the thing for Stafford. He re ups with McVeigh,
like the Odell Beckham thing, the Von Miller thing, Like
what they're going to eventually do for Cup again, Like
do they like to do stars go running screaming out
of l A or do they get another you know,
(27:15):
like changing contract? Like no, they are a top three
spending team in the NFL and I don't see that
changing anytime soon. And they're going to want to defend
this title, and they know how important he is. So
I think at some point between now and you know,
late August, they make him an offer he can't refuse.
(27:38):
He's on Twitter at Jason locking For. That is at
Jason locking For. I'm assuming the offer will be more
than the hundred k Tommy fam lost out on with
Jack Peterson. We'll wait for that offer. J is always
fighty appreciate it. Man, have a great week. We'll talk
to you. Thanks, gentlemen, Thank you. Jacent
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.