July 18, 2025 • 40 mins
In the first hour of tonight's edition of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Jason & Mike discuss Damian Lillard’s return to Portland & TJ Watt’s extension initial reactions!
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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 weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello, Welcome inside the Jason Smith Show with my base friend.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Mike Harmon, Well dressed hobo, live.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
From the Fox Sports Radio studios.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
For over forty years, tire Rack's been helping customers find
the right tires for how, what and where they drive.
Shipped fast and free, backed by free road hazard protection
with convenient installation options like mobile tire installation. Tirac dot
Com is the way tire buying should be. Well here,
we are set to go, set to kickoff the second
half quote of the MLB season. We got big basketball news,
(00:59):
we got football news. But I want to welcome back
Mike Harmon, who you probably saw. How was the Coldplay
concert last night? You look like you're having a good time.
I saw you all over the place today.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
The hell of a run. Yeah, I mean I didn't
expect to see you, but I was the guy before
the guy. But yeah, whatever you need to do with that,
have that.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It just making sure because it looked like you were
having a good time. And then you know, I don't know,
I mean, you know, apparently it was a thing today.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Evidently got of a big deal. It's the first time
Coldplay has been relevant other than that that Beatles movie
that came out.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Now, wait, how long A Viva Levita couldn't have been
twenty years ago?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
No? No, no, no, no, come on.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Viva lavin No way, Viva Viva Levita was like maybe
ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I think he might be right.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And wow, that was really fast that Alex Tischer had.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
Two thousand and eight. So was that long ago?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Wow? So right in the middle for us.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yeah, but way two thousand and eight seventeen. If we're
gonna do math.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Well, so right there right in the middle.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
There, right a meeting part of the curve in.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
The media, part of that curve. I can't believe it's
been that long ago.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
No, I mean, they bring people together in large drogs.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
But do they bring people together or do they do?
They did? I think you can. You can argue both
sides of the coin on that.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Well, the fact that he issued a statement now about
it blaming cold Play and it's cold Play chuckling at him.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
And we didn't have to be on the kiss camp.
We didn't have to be on this. It's not my fault. Man.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
It's on the back of the ticket or the digital
representation thereof that you receive from wherever you got your tickets,
saying on the back once you go.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
In man, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you get it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, anything that you can't in other words, basically it
should just say hey, by holding this ticket, you can't
sue us.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Like that's all we need to say. You don't need
any fine.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
There's a lot of disclaimers.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, I could save ink everywhere because people know by
this point, just say, hey, if you hold this ticket, you.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Can't sue us. That's all you need to know, as
anybody knows.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Okay, great, Yeah, you talk about fine print all this stuff,
blah blah blah.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
This infies us about lot of stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
That's all it is.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Well, I mean, look, I never got paid for being
part of a video game many many years ago. I
couldn't even get them to give me a free game.
So I mean, what am I gonna.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Do if you were on the kiss cam? Maybe?
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Maybe because I was in the crowd, I was the
cheering cam.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But you know what, you look at Mike Harmon, he's
the guy in purple shorts that's cheering and yelling.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Well, a couple of years ago, I went to a
game with my brothers and ended up on camera for
quite a while. It became a thing around here, mocking
me for for a bit.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
All right, very nice, Okay.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
I had nothing to do with the incident in question.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Your your brothers have anything to do with it, because
I think they might know.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
You normally just accuse them of stealing things. I don't
think they co opted any camera wells at a cold
Play concert. My brothers wouldn't walk across the street to
have anything to do with the cold Play shows.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, cold Play is. Coldplay is very innocuous. Cold Play is.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
I'm not denigrating them. I'm just telling you that my
brothers are Coldplay is.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's not something where we say, oh I have this
invenate hatred of there's this ingrained hatred.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Of cold Play. No, this is okay.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
You could like Coldplay. Okay, I'm into their stuff. I
don't like that Coldplay doesn't invoke that kind of reaction
for telling.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
You they wouldn't care to walk across the street for it.
That's how little cold Play is meant in their respective life.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And I like some cold Play, So I'll just hey,
would you walk across the street for something? I might
walk across the street.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I mean I might do that. I mean I might not,
but I might walk away that street.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
It depends how big the street is. Are we talking
Vegas streets all right? Because if Vegas streets.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Probably not. That's gonna take me. It's sent me forty
five minutes to walk across the street. Not gonna do it,
Not gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Uh So, yes, you could take your pick tonight again
waiting for baseball to start tomorrow night. We got big
headlines out of the WNBA, out of the NFL, and
out of the NBA, A story that. Look, I admit,
there's not a lot that really surprises me, but seeing
this today, I was initially very surprised.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Then I got it.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
But to make a decision this fac Damian Lillard is
going back home, and by home, I mean he's going
back to Portland as he rehabs all year from.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
The injury suffered.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Look he had, he had the blood clot as well,
he had the torn achilles. H missed the playoffs this
year for the Bucks and it was an easy exit
for Milwaukee out of the playoffs. Here Milwaukee buys him
out for over one hundred million dollars, and hey, the
narrative was Damian Lillard one of the most exciting players
in the NBA who's kind of passed his prime a
little bit, but still incredibly exciting. He's gonna take his time,
(05:32):
can rehab on his own back in Portland with his family,
and he'll take his time picking his next team. He'll
take nothing but time. Dah, this is a decision that
could be a year away. Nope, it's already made, as
he has decided to go back to Portland for three
years and forty two million dollars. Now, it's not a
lot of money, but obviously he's someone who is Now
(05:53):
you get to your age thirty five year coming off
an injury. The Blazers are gonna pay him this year
just to rehab because he's not going to play all
season long, and they're looking at what's going to be
likely a two year deal. He's also getting a no
trade clause and now he and Lebron James are the
only ones in the NBA with no trade clauses.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
He also almost all that money from Milwaukee. I mean,
you know, so he talked about with Bradley Beal yesterday.
It looks smallish. No, no, no, he's still getting a novelty
check from No.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I said when I was getting that he's getting one
hundred and thirteen million dollars. But this contract, this is
what the Blazers are on the hook for, and it's
three years and forty two million. And you know, I'm
happy for Damian Lillard. And I'm starting to realize that
not that I feel guilty, but.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
That I feel.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Looking looking back at his career, there was a lot
of players. Let me let me start here. There's a
lot of thoughts on my head. I've had a lot
of coffee in the last few minutes. So one of
the conversations day, yeah, one of the kind I used
to rule. One of the conversations that Rick Buker and
I've had for a long time, right, whether it was
on the air off the air, is about how there
are a lot of NBA players that enjoy the lifestyle
(07:05):
of being an NBA star, and the winning is not
something that they're so obsessed with. And look, this is
why players like Kobe and Lebron all cut through because
we know how badly they.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Want to win, right KD Steph Curry? All right?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Why we gravitate to these guys we talk about all
the time. We know how badly they want to win.
But not every star is like that. And you see
many stories of stars who get to the NBA and
are great players. But is winning their ultimate goal? Winning
an NBA title and then when they win, go win
one again? Or is the ultimate goal? Hey, this is
my dream to play in the NBA. I love the lifestyle.
(07:42):
Winning is great, but if I don't win, it's okay.
The old Scotti Scheffler, Hey, winning is not that big
a deal. You'll not gonna like it for two minutes anyway.
And there's a lot of players who are like that.
And now seeing Damian Lillard, who had took him forever
to leave Portland and it was, you know, kicking and screaming,
Hey dude, you gotta go.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You I'm sick and tired of talking about how great
a player you are at ten thirty at night in
the West Coast when only you know a dozen Portland
Trail Blazer fans live got to see you go for
fifty and start hitting stuff from the logo because the
Blazers are terrible and they're not on the radar screen. Dude,
you could be winning titles. Man, you could be going places.
You could go somewhere. And finally, after years and years
(08:24):
and years of this, okay, I'll go. And he goes
to Milwaukee and it doesn't go great, and it didn't
seem like he was ever really happy. His preferred destination
was Miami and he couldn't get there.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
So now what does he do? He goes home.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Clearly he doesn't care about winning, So I wonder how
much he ever cared about winning. And you know what,
sometimes I can say, that's okay, right, it's okay if
you if this is the kind of player, but you
have to understand if you're going to trade for a
guy like that, that that's what motivates him. And so
clearly seeing this with Damian Lillard, yeah, already with this
injury coming, I want to go back home. Maybe I
(08:57):
never really wanted to leave to begin with. But I
want to go back home to play and play the
rest of Mike or whatever it is it is, I
can still find a joint, but still gonna go out
and try to win every night. But am I I'm
but if I don't make it far in the playoffs, okay,
if I don't win the title, it's okay. I'm gonna
try to win wherever I can. But am I gonna
go crazy about building a winner? Or am I gonna
go and just enjoy the rest of my career? That's
(09:19):
Damian Lillard and I feel like we've we we've we've
underestimated or or misappropriated him into the into the the
the group of players where it's like, hey, you're a
difference maker, goin a championship. You of course burn to
go win. He doesn't burn to go win. He burns
to play. He loves to play, He loves the game.
He does incredible things in Portland. He's one of the
(09:40):
most love beloved players in franchise history in the area.
But he's not quite wired like the alite like we've
come up with Kobe and Lebron and Shaq and all
these guys that want to go and win and win
and win, and Steph Curry and give me another title,
and give me another title. He's just not that guy.
And I think now that we see him decide very quickly, Hey,
(10:00):
I'm okay going back home and to fight it win,
I'll win. That's kind of the guy he has been
throughout his career. Wasn't so much loyal to a frand
I found a place I like to play, and I
like playing here, and that's enough for me. And that's
kind of Damian Lillard. That's who he's always been. But
it took to get to this point where he goes
back home for us to really see it that three peas.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
You might always have that moment of clarity along the
way too, you know, to everything turn turn turn. I'm
gonna quote the birds all night now, but we we
or the Bible. I guess they took that from But
you look at the situation, right, he goes home where
his kids are, so you know that was swirling in
the background of a lot of this when he requested
the trade in twenty three. I think it was only
(10:40):
the heat that really came out and all the reporting
as a preferred destination goes to Milwaukee. How much you
know this? Now you can have the side conversation of
how much of this is Gianni's telling him, Yeah, I'm
gonna be here when you get back. So so you
had that going out. You know, maybe that's swirling yeah
over here two. But you know, in all walks of life,
(11:02):
you come into a situation bright eyed bushytwn. I got
a lot of people at work in education. I'm gonna be,
you know, a creator of young minds. I'm gonna do this,
and then ten years later it's like, boy, I'm in
for ten so I got to stay for the extra
you know, fifteen or whatever it is, until I'm fully
vested an age and whatever else to you know, you
(11:25):
come into those continuums, whatever it is you do for
your job. We talked about this a lot last night.
You can find the podcast about the Scottie Scheffler stuff,
et cetera. For Dame Lillard. You might have had that
guy that burned with desire back when he was drafted
in twenty twelve. You have a couple of big runs CJ. McCollum,
They've had a pretty good squad, and then things change.
(11:46):
You have a major injury where you're not gonna be
able to play for a year puts things in perspective
that you know you're on the back nine, as it
will to continue the golf analogy, and you've only got
a couple of years left. You're in the Western Conference,
not expecting to win anything. The fourteen million dollars seemed
like if you really wanted to go home, you might
have taken a little less and given them some more flexibility.
(12:08):
You know, six yards still getting one hundred million from Milwaukee,
but you ended up you get your closure. And it
might have been loving it and wanting to fight for
wins for a long long time, but at some point
you have that that moment where things change and you recognize, hey,
I still love the job, I still love the paycheck,
(12:29):
I still love the locker room, whatever else, but winning
maybe pushes away. We've talked with guys a long time,
right at a lot of football players, Hey, I happened
to be six seven, what are you gonna do? And
that's what telet basketball players. I was good and I
kept going. I mean, you know, you make fun of
my guys. You know, Evan Ashmeyer and other ays from
North Northwestern as they played through a couple of those
(12:50):
guys went and played made pretty good money in Europe.
Did they make NBA money, No, but they were taken
care of pretty well. Were they really good players?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah? In college they were.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Not great, But there's a market for it, and you
play as long as you can. Right, rip the jersey
off my back. And for Dame Lillard, he gets to
go home, you know, I mean, look, your girl Jennifer
Nettle sang about that with bon Jovi in his hair.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, he said, well, well, yeah, of course, one of
the best duets ever who says you can't go home.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
See now I got you. You're gonna be off track
all that because I brought up Jennifer Nettle.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Oh, I'll be singing Sugarland all that. I'll be singing
sugar Land.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
I'm gonna sing you some of the duets from the
Righteous Gemstones to take that.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
But look, not every NBA star as Kobe lebron Steph
k D Brunson. And that's okay, right, It's okay that
because it's not like I've seen him come out and
he doesn't look like he wants to win, right, Like
I could say that for someone like lamar Odom, who you.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Know, his goal was to get to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And look, he was a guy who was in every
other game guy and lots of games he you know,
he didn't try to get into the game like I
felt like he was just there to play.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Damian Lillard plays hard.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It's just he didn't burn to win like the fans
wanted him to, like we wanted Lillard to win, Like
I feel like we wanted Lillard to win more than
he wanted. That didn't burn for It's like, go somewhere
and go win a title.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Man, it'll be awesome.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
And Lillard was like, yeah, I'm gonna play hard and
try my best. But if I don't, it's okay. I'm happy.
I'm happy with what's going on. And and and you know,
we we we mix We get that mixed up sometimes
because hey, we always think, well, guys want to win
as much as we want them to win. And look,
certain sports, look football, everybody wants to win, right you
the stuff they put their bodies through, they want to
(14:28):
win every single time they set foot on the field. Right,
there's there's not that out there, but there's others because
of what you put your body through.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
But other sports there are stars and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And and if your efforts never in question, if you're
you're you know, you don't put everything on the floor,
uh everything, leave everything out there, Okay, then I can
look at you and go all right, I don't know
that you you really deserve this money, deserve this credit.
But you see Lillard play, you know how you know
how much he tries to when every time he gets
on the floor, it's just, hey, I'm not gonna sit
here and try to recruit guys to come, and I'm
(14:59):
not going to try to worry about circumventing the salary
cap to sign here and go here and play for
a title like.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
He's not made to win.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
He's not made and judged by how many finals he
gets to like Lebron does. And you know, and that's okay,
it's okay. For it's just weird for us to see
this because we we want to think that, hey, all
the stars we watch they want to win just as
much as we do.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
And that's just not the case now.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
But as you let it led, the analysis was the
the idea of he was allegedly gonna take a bunch
of time, take some time to heal. See I did
all ties together, uh and and then make a decision.
Other teams potentially interested. But that's a year like he's
not in the plans now, right, He's okay, you can
come and use the facilities, we'll get you a key
(15:45):
card and you can go hang out with the trainers.
So we'll have to put you in their schedule beyond that,
you're not banking on them for this year at all.
So if you're your roster building with the idea that
you're trying to win, well, he's not a fit. Nor
are you gonna commit that kind of money to it
for a guy that's not gonna play. Where does that
make sense? Portland feel good story. Maybe some folks still
(16:07):
have the Damian Lillard cards that they didn't burn in
the barbecue pit this offseason, and you just get to
dust that out because your guy came.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Home, exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. Jason
Smith Mike Harmon, live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
Just a little bit of a different way to look
at Damian Lillard after this big, I mean this big
sledgehammer of a headline today, deciding to go home already,
go back to Portland, Phone number eight seven, seven ninety
nine out Fox.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
We got more NBA on the way.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
But straight ahead, somebody got absolutely paid in the NFL today,
and I'll tell you why this team really has no
idea what they're doing. That's coming up next right here,
Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Hey it's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the
biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the I Test, We've got all the
bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do yourself
a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob
(17:25):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Bushup.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Up.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
We'll get to that big NFL story, that one hundred
million dollars NFL story coming up in a couple of minutes.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
But first we have to play the day. Brought to
you by Tirerack.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
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Speaker 5 (18:00):
Well.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
When you go to penalties in the Euros and you win.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
To go on to the semis, guess what on an
on baseball day you get to be the player of
the day.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
It's Smith.
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Hold up, she's missed swayed it a lot, and it's England.
They're into the semifinalist of the European Shampu.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Shit glory delight for them.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
They had to come from two goos down. They did
it the hard way, but Hardrea like for Sweden. But
that I know it's growing strong.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I know you're listening to the call, but you were
just slinging along to Sweet Caroline in the background.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
That's how it goes. That's how you know.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
He showed up here last week. He's a Neil Diamond
musical going. He showed up and then they sang along
Sweet Caroline with Wow, who knew?
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Like you know, forty years after Sweet Caroline.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, it's this little diddy that I wrote back in
the mid seventies. All of a sudden, they play it
in Red Sox games, It's on TVs and movies. Teams
have co opted it. I never have to work again.
I just get the royalty from Sweet Caroline.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
It's brilliant. Keeps on rolling in the machine, rolls on.
But this game Sweden England was an amazing afternoon watch
to nil. Sweden league evaporates. And then you have Jennifer Falk,
the Swedish goalie saves four penalty Geck saves four. Not hey,
they missed it over the crossbark like Sweden did. As
(19:30):
you heard there a couple of times, including Fulk herself,
with a chance to win the game, says four.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Here's a big deal about this is four players from
each team missed. Yeah, well you've never seen that. Usually
if there's two misses, that's a lot in the pendal.
I thought, that's a horrible penalty for a team. The
first four players on each team missed, It's like, what
is happening here?
Speaker 4 (19:53):
We had four misses? Seriously four?
Speaker 1 (19:56):
And then Lucy Browns is the one who scores for England,
and how Berman would say this, how Burn would call this.
I've been thinking about this all day and DJ Lucy
Bronze with the game winner, moving England onto the semi
finals where they hope to not finish third. DJ I
had to it writes itself, doesn't it writes, it writes itself.
(20:19):
Bronze helping them to not finish third.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Now it's really really good. Uh fight uh in this
match all the way through, and then the penalty gigs
were insane, man, I mean, you go zero for eight
the first think about that in Vegas. I'm gonna bet
miss penalty and I'm rolling over and I'm doubling it
every single one.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Double a miss here, miss here, miss here, miss I'll
own the win at the end of this penalty thing.
I gotta know when to stop, though. I got what it' stopped.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
But the Swedish goalie saved four. That's one thing to
hit the post, sail it whatever, like for saves, like yeah,
you're dominating.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yeah, oh yeah, I mean it's incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I mean I mean when I say yeah, I mean
when I say four, I mean four unsuccessful penalties converted.
I mean, it's it's just I mean that that you
never see. You may never see that again. The fort
you know, out out of first four on each team.
I really you may never see that again.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
First time in the history of the Women's Euros that
a team came back from two goals down in a
knockout match to win.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Man, I'll tell you. Uh so, congratulations England is the
play of the day. Uh So.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Meanwhile, in the NFL today, DJ Watt and the Steelers
agreed to a three year, one hundred and twenty three
million dollar extension. Right now, this is a story that
we knew was going to have some sort.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Of head to head solution because.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Wad had, you know, put a couple of cryptic things
up on social media.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
He wanted a new contract.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like this is a guy who's been one of the
top two or three defensive players in the game over
the course of the past, you know, six or seven years,
coming off a really good year last year at the
age of thirty, eleven and a half sacks, right, I mean,
he's still one of the pre eminent defensive players in
the game and he's still playing at a high level. Right, So, okay,
and I understand that you're paying TJ. Watt because you're
(22:07):
paying him for the player he is and has been,
and not the guy he's going to be. Right, we
still see the players like TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett. You know,
you get to the age of thirty, thirty one, thirty two, Hey,
you can still be dominant, but eventually, you know that
runs out you get into your mid thirties and into
your early thirties. So yeah, I think the Steelers know that, Okay,
we'll get a good year from him this year, maybe
(22:28):
we get one more. Maybe you know, he's been healthy
for the most part his entire career, so okay, but
this is a contract that was for what he's done
and what he's going to do maybe this year, right,
which I get. But it's but in the end, and
you know there's a butt coming here. But this just
shows you that the Steelers, I don't know that they
(22:50):
are really in tune with what it is to succeed
in the NFL in twenty twenty five. I really don't
look at this decision that name. Okay, here's TJ. Watt,
we want him to retire a Steeler That was their
whole big thing wanted to retire a Steeler. You know what,
first of all that era in sports, that's helen gone. Man,
(23:10):
you are holding onto something that is thirty years old.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Oh we want him to have it. You know what happens.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
You don't pay a guy that's thirty thirty one years
old one hundred and twenty million dollars where, boy, it's
really gonna suck at a year and a half, this
contract gonna really suck for us.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
You don't do that.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You let the guy go to another team, let somebody
else pay him, and in the end he comes back.
You retire his number. He retires a Steeler because he's
always been a Steeler. He plays the majority's grist. That's
kind of how it goes. But the Steelers are stuck
with such an antiquated way of doing things like this
is something that really matters, and I'm scratching my head, going,
how do they think this is?
Speaker 4 (23:44):
This is? This is gonna go? Right?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
You decided then, yeah, TJ. Watt terrific defensive players. Still
we've seen the best of him, though can't argue that
we've seen the best of him as he's thirty one
years old. They decided it was more important to them
to give TJ. Watt a three year contract at thirty
one instead of going in for the last couple of
years and going to get a quarterback and paying him
(24:08):
to come in because it's the most important bleeping position
on the field.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
They've decided it's a hey, we want to pay a.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Defensive lineman all kinds of money who's passed the age
of thirty. But hey, quarterback, we want to shop in
the bargain bin and try to make it work with
Russell Wilson all maybe justin fields because the Bears kicked
them and oh now Aaron Rodgers doesn't have a place
to go, We're gonna go no, no, forget about hey
moving up, making a bold move in the draft to
go get your quarterback of the future, getting into free agency,
(24:35):
making a trade to go win now. Like the Steelers,
it's such an antiquated way of doing that. It's almost
like they're the Lakers of the NFL, in which the
Lakers run as a mom and pop store for so long. Hey,
this is how things used to be. And look, I
was sad when when the Lakers got sold because I
liked it. They that was kind of what they were
but I also understand that's not a way that's feasible
(24:56):
to run a team in twenty twenty five. So yeah,
when the Lakers got sold, Okay, first thing you said
was maybe now it's gonna be better. Maybe now they're
gonna be run like a like a professional NBA twenty
twenty five franchise.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
I look at the Steelers say the same thing.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
You guys know what it is to run a team, right,
You guys know that you can't keep going cheap at
quarterback like it's nineteen eighty five and you're gonna sit
around and say, hey, we can win with a We
can win with Neil O'Donnell. Okay, look I watch video
and Neil o'donnald getting the Steelers to the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
We can No, you can't do it that way.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
You don't win unless you have a you have a
great quarterback. And the Steelers are one of those teams
where the standards are a little bit higher. It's not
just about hey we're staying competitive, we're winning. The Steelers
have different standards. And I watch this antiquated way they're
running things, and I just go, someone's gotta have some
kind of intervention and tell the Steelers, Hey, you don't
think it's really weird. You don't think that's that that's
(25:47):
the That's not the right thing to do to say,
here's a pass rusher over the age of thirty, here's
one hundred and twenty million dollars, and we're gonna sign
quarterbacks for absolutely next to nothing.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Really, what world does that make sense?
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Eight million of it guaranteed three year extension back to
back years. He did participate in all seventeen games, nineteen
and a half sacks two years ago, eleven and a
half this past year. You've got a roster that Omar
Khan he got his three year extension that was announced
a couple of weeks ago. So you've got your bases
in your quarterback position certainly is not pushed aside at all, right,
(26:27):
because I've got my whole tap system, the Harmon tap system.
I need a thrower, I need an attacker, and I
need a protector. You can give me whatever else you
need out of that. But if I got those three things,
I'm feeling pretty good. It's like my Big Three. See
what I did. I brought it back after the NBA
killed it. But it's the moving forward. You decided you
saw enough on tape with his resume, his history, the
(26:50):
first thing being, hey, we want him to retire here.
Probably not the best, but that's who they are, right
and it's the family biz. So they're gonna they're gonna
acknowledge that at every turn. They did with all of
the veterans in the past, and even in changes in
the front office, the Rooney family remains at the top,
so only so much change. We do this with all
(27:11):
the owners and every sport Jason that are that are
still their long term that it's it's hard to what
the proverbial teach an old dog new tricks kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Right.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
We do it with Jerry Jones. We do it in
baseball with my beloved White Sox Bulls and all those franchises.
Maybe they're finally turning the page with the Bears. But
all of that to say, they decided this is where
they're going to commit money, which means they're going to
be just good enough to be on the periphery of
the playoffs, maybe get in and then eventually lose fairly
(27:44):
quickly thereafter. You and I don't know what it's like
to have a franchise that wins fairly consistently. We just don't.
Oh no, no, no, right. The FoST thing I have
is the Mets because.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
We were in the NLCS last year and we're in
a wildcard spot this year.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
Yeah, you were in a World Series a decade ago.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
It's not a big sample size man.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
Year anniversary of a World Series that ESPN refuses to acknowledge. Okay,
So all of that to say, I don't know how
I would like as a Steeler fan. You're excited. TJ.
Watts stays right. It doesn't ultimately get to the tradeing
for pennies on the dollar and all of those things,
But it's just that curiosity of how do you really
(28:24):
feel about it?
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Are you okay with being just good enough versus going
towards greatness?
Speaker 5 (28:30):
It goes back to what we were talking about with
Damian Lillard, the rich tapestry we weave. Is it good
enough to just, hey, the check keeps going, I got
a thing to go show my wares, I get to
punch in, I punch out, and we go back to
our lives. Or do you actually want something a little more?
That's the question, and not having won twenty straight years,
(28:50):
I have no idea how the hell that's supposed to feel.
I haven't done that since a couple of years with
the Blackhawks and then the Bulls, all the way back
to ninety seven, ninety eight, ten years before cold Play
was like wow.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
And now cold Play catching straight. Yeah, Mike Harmon, Coldplay
got me. I mean, look, in no world does what
the Steelers do make sense. I mean, just think about
this for a second. What do we need need a quarterbacks?
What are we gonna do.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
We're gonna try to get one as cheap as possible.
I mean really, I mean we were.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
They were lucky enough to have to be sold on
Roethlisberger for nearly two decades, and they won with him,
and they won the Super Bowls. Yeah, they won two.
What a great time. And now that's yeah, no, we
don't want that anymore. Like, whether it's the team feels
we can win with the quarterback being a necessary evil,
you can't. It's the NFL in twenty twenty five, or
(29:42):
however they arrive at these decisions.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
None of none of this makes sense.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Not not even the Jets on their worst day would say, hey,
we don't need a quarterback. They just always go for
the wrong ones. The Jets know they need a quarterback.
They just can't pick it right no matter what, which
makes it. You know, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
The little nervous this year, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
They canna go back and get Tom Brady in.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
His prime and they would probably screw it up. Ago
Brady just can't start stop throwing interceptions. All he does,
throw it deep, throw it deep like that. At least
the Jets know, hey, we gotta go. Even the Lions
that couldn't get things done for lot, what, we gotta
go get a quarterback. Oh, they go get a quarterback. Okay,
it works out. And the Steelers try, Hey, we're just
gonna try to do this with duct tape and gum
like they're mcguiver and they're trying to jerry rig something
(30:22):
together to say, ah, you know I can I can
blow up this big bomb that's coming in by just
using a twig and and a sling shot and and
and a doctor pepper.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
How do we do it? Just trust me, Just trust me,
I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Like that's how the Steelers are trying to do it.
I mean, in no world does this make sense how
they're doing things cheap at quarterback? But yeah, we want
to give a team legend three years and one hundred
and twenty three million dollars.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Yeah, to be fair, the Lions always had the quarterback,
the running back, and wide receiver. They didn't have a
whole hell of a lot else. There were a couple
of good players that mix there in. I don't want
to denigrate careers if some of those linemen are a
few of those defenders, because they're out there and they
know who they are. But you know, Matthew Stafford was
always everybody's favorite, your favorite quarterbacks, favorite quarterback, and then
(31:06):
he still had to go to Los Angeles to win.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down The Jason
Smith Show with Mike Carbon live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Time out to find out what's trending in
the wide world of sports. But guy who's been called
the Matthew Stafford of Fox Sports Radio, he spent so
much time in Detroit before he realized, I gotta get
to Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It's Martin Weiss, and then he immediately started winning championship.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
How about that.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Nine time NBA All Star Damian Lillard finalizing a three year,
forty two million dollars contract return a contract to return
to the Portland Trail Blazers after a brief Dalliant in Milwaukee.
The dealers expected to include a player option for twenty
twenty seven and a no trade clause.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
More than forty w.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
NBA players got the Thursday for in person meeting with
the Women's national the WNBPA. It was the biggest person
player turnout union history. During CBA talks, they met for
a couple hours and ended with no resolution. Caitlin Clark
will missed a three point contest on All Star Game
in Indianapolis this weekend after sustaining a groin injury versus
(32:13):
Sun on Tuesday. Her statement said that she'll be present
for all the action and I just saw a social
media video of her walking up to I forget where
Courtney Williams plays now, but Courtney Williams this head. I
spent three hours watching your live stream as the WNBA
is doing their Opening Nights type of thing for their
All Stars.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
So she's locked in. She's locked in. Will not be participating.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Speaking of locked in, TJ Watt three years, one hundred
and twenty three million dollar extension that makes him the
highest paid non quarterback in NFA history, not for the
first time, but for the second time in his career
one hundred and eight fully guaranteed at signing forty one
million per year average. First baseman Rowdy Tules took part
in the work out with the Texas Rangers Thursday, with
the expectation he'll join the team after the All Star
(32:56):
break ends tomorrow. Colch quarterback Anthony Richardson used to have
recovered from his recent right shoulder setback as a team
prepares to report for training camp next week, and the
only first round pick who's not signed rookie Cincinnati Bengal
or might be I guess in Cincinnati bagles on his
draft rights. Then they're not paying him yet. Shamar Stewart
Texas and M Mike Elko. This is where we're at
(33:18):
with the hit the tech coach of Texas. A and
M squashed any speculation that Shamar Stewart may be potentially
seeking a return to college amid the contract dispute. So
things went well in Cincinnati, got.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
Transition and they still got to pay that guy.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
Joe, you know what are we doing?
Speaker 5 (33:34):
He's really heading flowers to TJ. Watt.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Here's the thing, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Like I had a really rough first year out of college,
like out of out of Syria, like your early twenties
is a tough age. But I had a really rough
first year. I never thought about, Hey, I could go
back to colle I could if they let me, I.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Would go back. I'd be like, no, I'm too old
now I'm twenty two. I can't go back there. You
go go back to college till my friends are going. No,
I can't do that.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
You may always make new friends, nad run the collegeine
as you walked around campus. No, I'd feel like the
old guy, like this guy graduated, okay, keep by beer
for us'd be a friend of something. I feel like
I'm just like I'm hanging out with a like i'd
be babysitting kids.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Meanwhile, I'm the same age as a lot of the
I couldn't go back to college and they said, yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Go do it, Like no, I did you do it?
And you're done and it's hard. It's hard to go back.
Speaker 5 (34:19):
You'd go back and do it now, though, Uh, you.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Know, I always thought, honestly, if I could come up
with something where you know, they do you know, fantasy
camp for baseball and fantasy camp for different sports, Like.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
You go and you learn from legends and you play
baseball and everything.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Like I said, could you do college fantasy camp where
you would you go back to college.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
For a week.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
You'd live in a dorm and you know, with roommates everything,
and you would go to classes. You go do the
classes that you want to go to, like you talk
about history or English. You know'd be like book club
or whatever it was, or or history, and those are
the classes you go to and you eat on campus
and you go out to happy hour all the time.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Like, I don't know, would that be something people would
go for? I don't know. I always thought would that
be something people's gonna go relive?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I got my my my back to school week here
man going back to college, going back to Tennessee for
a week. I got Tennessee legends going back, Gonna stay
in the same dor. I'm gonna stay, Like I wonder
if that's something people would do.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Yeah, people would pay for that. There's no y'all absolutely
patent pending. Pat And I really thought you were gonna say,
can you go and and teach people how to be
on the radio whatever? Like I think there's some folks
that are trying that.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
No, no, no, no, I just mean to go back
and live a week like it was a college Yeah, yeah, no,
And there's a market for that. You could blow off
whatever assignments you wanted to because at the end you
don't have to worry about it. You're paying for it. Like, hey,
this assignment's do Friday, and you could choose to.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Do it or not do it.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
See, and that's the best part. You just tell everybody
you're a current college pro h football or basketball player.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
I think there's something to that. Hang on, you know,
we got to get back, you know, let's put a
pin in this write back to that.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Jason Smith Mike Harmen live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Coming up next, two big time wide receivers in the
news today, two very different stories. That's next, Jason and
Mike Fox True story. This is easily one of my
wife's top five favorite songs of all time, really without
a doubt.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
Papa Roach last resort every time comes to me.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
At bit we could be talking in the car about
the most serious subject in the world and it doesn't matter.
This song come on and she goes ah and all
of a sudden, it's jammed up and she's gone so vacation.
This is my laugh one. She's banging the steering reel.
I'm like, I'm in the car right next to you.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Okay, okay, let's go all right, we'll go with list of.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
This song at a lot of anger that needs to
get out somewhere.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
No, just exciting.
Speaker 5 (36:31):
Is it something that you generate? I mean, is it
your fault?
Speaker 4 (36:35):
No? No, it I'm just saying when this song comes
on all of a sudden, yeah, becomes a different person.
It's like, oh Wowpa, roach last resort.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
But you got to figure out what's prompting that.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
I think it's just a good song.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I don't think there's any anything the Faerius to it,
you know, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
I mean, was it you tell me?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
For a long time, everybody in your family's favorite song
was Hey, can I unhatch some sort of gas lighting
plot to kill my and collect the insurance money?
Speaker 4 (37:01):
Like you love that song everybody your family.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
It's really deep. I mean, but you have to wait
until it really kicks in at the three minute mark
or you'll really miss the thrust of the song.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Help me gaslight my father, Let me kill them in
let me get the money in Chicago. Gonna do it.
Let's figure out.
Speaker 5 (37:21):
Once a month, I remind them. All Right, here's the cabinet,
here's the code, and here here's what you walk away with.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Just so you know, here's my you should wear a
shirt like in every week, like it changes.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
Here's my value.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Okay, just so you know, if you're thinking about anything,
here's what I'm worth right now. If you if you
do something to me, this is what you're gonna get.
If you're if that's acceptable to you, okay, but if not, understand, well,
but a decision.
Speaker 5 (37:47):
But if it's proven what you did to me, you
get nothing. So decision. Keep watching those true crime podcast
podcast video segments and such.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
So big wide receiver news in the NFL to number one,
the Jets killed Mike Williams. Apparently they killed Carl and
now they killed Mike Williams, the wide receiver who the
Jets signed for one disastrous year and his big headline
last year was running the wrong route during a game
and Aaron Rodgers calling him out for it, saying it's
(38:17):
a red line route. You gotta run the red line.
Mike Williams didn't run the red line. The Jets let
him go at thirty years old. Mike Williams was always
someone who teased us with his talent, really put it
together one year in the NFL, but outside of that
he was boy. You kind of hoped at some point
he would be better than it was. It never was,
and he retires at the age of thirty. He'll always
(38:39):
have the red line. Mike Williams.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
It's difficult to finish. I really thought he was gonna
come back and give you some juice for those eight
games or whatever.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
You would, yeah, catch thirty passes and be another Yeah, well,
I'll tell you. If he's healthy, boy, watch out.
Speaker 5 (38:52):
But that's just it. Good downfield threat when healthy would
have the big game out of the blue. For fantasy purposes,
you can ever count on him. You try to pencil
as your w R three.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
You were you were throwing a dart if you were right.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
But when it hit, boy, it was the thing of beauty.
I mean, because the guy made some spectacular catches over
the course of his career.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
But what did it hit?
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Like two out of every ten times you put James
in your lineup? Come on, yeah, no, that's it.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Done. You ride the lightning man, Come on, you know
how that works. And now it's another former Mike Williams. Yeah,
because remember Mike Williams, the guy that got screwed when
he was trying to go into the league early, got
some bad legal advice, then bunked up, became a tight
end for a bit with the Lions. Still got top
ten money. But yeah, now outside.
Speaker 4 (39:43):
Outside of Mike Williams.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
With more AFC West news, Rashi Rice of the Chiefs
is sentenced to thirty days of jail time for and probation.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
For his role in multi car crash last year.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
You have to think he's going to get a six
game suspension that it seems pretty boiler played at this point.
I mean, may maybe you can, you can appeal and
again we have NFL p a big news coming up
next hour, but maybe you can appeal and get it
reduced little. But I gotta think it's gonna be six
games for him out of the gate when.
Speaker 5 (40:10):
They go large, larger and let him appeal and and
go through that process to where at minimum he's got six.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
So uh yeah, there's a reason why suddenly the NFL
doing things may be a little bit more difficult. We
have that big story coming up next Right here, Jason
and Mike Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello, Welcome inside the Jason Smith Show with my base friend.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Mike Harmon, Well dressed hobo, live.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
From the Fox Sports Radio studios.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
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Com is the way tire buying should be. Well here,
we are set to go, set to kickoff the second
half quote of the MLB season. We got big basketball news,
(00:59):
we got football news. But I want to welcome back
Mike Harmon, who you probably saw. How was the Coldplay
concert last night? You look like you're having a good time.
I saw you all over the place today.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
The hell of a run. Yeah, I mean I didn't
expect to see you, but I was the guy before
the guy. But yeah, whatever you need to do with that,
have that.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It just making sure because it looked like you were
having a good time. And then you know, I don't know,
I mean, you know, apparently it was a thing today.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Evidently got of a big deal. It's the first time
Coldplay has been relevant other than that that Beatles movie
that came out.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Now, wait, how long A Viva Levita couldn't have been
twenty years ago?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
No? No, no, no, no, come on.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Viva lavin No way, Viva Viva Levita was like maybe
ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I think he might be right.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And wow, that was really fast that Alex Tischer had.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
Two thousand and eight. So was that long ago?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Wow? So right in the middle for us.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yeah, but way two thousand and eight seventeen. If we're
gonna do math.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Well, so right there right in the middle.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
There, right a meeting part of the curve in.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
The media, part of that curve. I can't believe it's
been that long ago.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
No, I mean, they bring people together in large drogs.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
But do they bring people together or do they do?
They did? I think you can. You can argue both
sides of the coin on that.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Well, the fact that he issued a statement now about
it blaming cold Play and it's cold Play chuckling at him.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
And we didn't have to be on the kiss camp.
We didn't have to be on this. It's not my fault. Man.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
It's on the back of the ticket or the digital
representation thereof that you receive from wherever you got your tickets,
saying on the back once you go.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
In man, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you get it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, anything that you can't in other words, basically it
should just say hey, by holding this ticket, you can't
sue us.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Like that's all we need to say. You don't need
any fine.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
There's a lot of disclaimers.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, I could save ink everywhere because people know by
this point, just say, hey, if you hold this ticket, you.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Can't sue us. That's all you need to know, as
anybody knows.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Okay, great, Yeah, you talk about fine print all this stuff,
blah blah blah.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
This infies us about lot of stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
That's all it is.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Well, I mean, look, I never got paid for being
part of a video game many many years ago. I
couldn't even get them to give me a free game.
So I mean, what am I gonna.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Do if you were on the kiss cam? Maybe?
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Maybe because I was in the crowd, I was the
cheering cam.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But you know what, you look at Mike Harmon, he's
the guy in purple shorts that's cheering and yelling.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Well, a couple of years ago, I went to a
game with my brothers and ended up on camera for
quite a while. It became a thing around here, mocking
me for for a bit.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
All right, very nice, Okay.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
I had nothing to do with the incident in question.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Your your brothers have anything to do with it, because
I think they might know.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
You normally just accuse them of stealing things. I don't
think they co opted any camera wells at a cold
Play concert. My brothers wouldn't walk across the street to
have anything to do with the cold Play shows.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, cold Play is. Coldplay is very innocuous. Cold Play is.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
I'm not denigrating them. I'm just telling you that my
brothers are Coldplay is.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's not something where we say, oh I have this
invenate hatred of there's this ingrained hatred.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Of cold Play. No, this is okay.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
You could like Coldplay. Okay, I'm into their stuff. I
don't like that Coldplay doesn't invoke that kind of reaction
for telling.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
You they wouldn't care to walk across the street for it.
That's how little cold Play is meant in their respective life.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And I like some cold Play, So I'll just hey,
would you walk across the street for something? I might
walk across the street.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I mean I might do that. I mean I might not,
but I might walk away that street.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
It depends how big the street is. Are we talking
Vegas streets all right? Because if Vegas streets.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Probably not. That's gonna take me. It's sent me forty
five minutes to walk across the street. Not gonna do it,
Not gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Uh So, yes, you could take your pick tonight again
waiting for baseball to start tomorrow night. We got big
headlines out of the WNBA, out of the NFL, and
out of the NBA, A story that. Look, I admit,
there's not a lot that really surprises me, but seeing
this today, I was initially very surprised.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Then I got it.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
But to make a decision this fac Damian Lillard is
going back home, and by home, I mean he's going
back to Portland as he rehabs all year from.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
The injury suffered.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Look he had, he had the blood clot as well,
he had the torn achilles. H missed the playoffs this
year for the Bucks and it was an easy exit
for Milwaukee out of the playoffs. Here Milwaukee buys him
out for over one hundred million dollars, and hey, the
narrative was Damian Lillard one of the most exciting players
in the NBA who's kind of passed his prime a
little bit, but still incredibly exciting. He's gonna take his time,
(05:32):
can rehab on his own back in Portland with his family,
and he'll take his time picking his next team. He'll
take nothing but time. Dah, this is a decision that
could be a year away. Nope, it's already made, as
he has decided to go back to Portland for three
years and forty two million dollars. Now, it's not a
lot of money, but obviously he's someone who is Now
(05:53):
you get to your age thirty five year coming off
an injury. The Blazers are gonna pay him this year
just to rehab because he's not going to play all
season long, and they're looking at what's going to be
likely a two year deal. He's also getting a no
trade clause and now he and Lebron James are the
only ones in the NBA with no trade clauses.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
He also almost all that money from Milwaukee. I mean,
you know, so he talked about with Bradley Beal yesterday.
It looks smallish. No, no, no, he's still getting a novelty
check from No.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I said when I was getting that he's getting one
hundred and thirteen million dollars. But this contract, this is
what the Blazers are on the hook for, and it's
three years and forty two million. And you know, I'm
happy for Damian Lillard. And I'm starting to realize that
not that I feel guilty, but.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
That I feel.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Looking looking back at his career, there was a lot
of players. Let me let me start here. There's a
lot of thoughts on my head. I've had a lot
of coffee in the last few minutes. So one of
the conversations day, yeah, one of the kind I used
to rule. One of the conversations that Rick Buker and
I've had for a long time, right, whether it was
on the air off the air, is about how there
are a lot of NBA players that enjoy the lifestyle
(07:05):
of being an NBA star, and the winning is not
something that they're so obsessed with. And look, this is
why players like Kobe and Lebron all cut through because
we know how badly they.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Want to win, right KD Steph Curry? All right?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Why we gravitate to these guys we talk about all
the time. We know how badly they want to win.
But not every star is like that. And you see
many stories of stars who get to the NBA and
are great players. But is winning their ultimate goal? Winning
an NBA title and then when they win, go win
one again? Or is the ultimate goal? Hey, this is
my dream to play in the NBA. I love the lifestyle.
(07:42):
Winning is great, but if I don't win, it's okay.
The old Scotti Scheffler, Hey, winning is not that big
a deal. You'll not gonna like it for two minutes anyway.
And there's a lot of players who are like that.
And now seeing Damian Lillard, who had took him forever
to leave Portland and it was, you know, kicking and screaming,
Hey dude, you gotta go.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You I'm sick and tired of talking about how great
a player you are at ten thirty at night in
the West Coast when only you know a dozen Portland
Trail Blazer fans live got to see you go for
fifty and start hitting stuff from the logo because the
Blazers are terrible and they're not on the radar screen. Dude,
you could be winning titles. Man, you could be going places.
You could go somewhere. And finally, after years and years
(08:24):
and years of this, okay, I'll go. And he goes
to Milwaukee and it doesn't go great, and it didn't
seem like he was ever really happy. His preferred destination
was Miami and he couldn't get there.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
So now what does he do? He goes home.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Clearly he doesn't care about winning, So I wonder how
much he ever cared about winning. And you know what,
sometimes I can say, that's okay, right, it's okay if
you if this is the kind of player, but you
have to understand if you're going to trade for a
guy like that, that that's what motivates him. And so
clearly seeing this with Damian Lillard, yeah, already with this
injury coming, I want to go back home. Maybe I
(08:57):
never really wanted to leave to begin with. But I
want to go back home to play and play the
rest of Mike or whatever it is it is, I
can still find a joint, but still gonna go out
and try to win every night. But am I I'm
but if I don't make it far in the playoffs, okay,
if I don't win the title, it's okay. I'm gonna
try to win wherever I can. But am I gonna
go crazy about building a winner? Or am I gonna
go and just enjoy the rest of my career? That's
(09:19):
Damian Lillard and I feel like we've we we've we've
underestimated or or misappropriated him into the into the the
the group of players where it's like, hey, you're a
difference maker, goin a championship. You of course burn to
go win. He doesn't burn to go win. He burns
to play. He loves to play, He loves the game.
He does incredible things in Portland. He's one of the
(09:40):
most love beloved players in franchise history in the area.
But he's not quite wired like the alite like we've
come up with Kobe and Lebron and Shaq and all
these guys that want to go and win and win
and win, and Steph Curry and give me another title,
and give me another title. He's just not that guy.
And I think now that we see him decide very quickly, Hey,
(10:00):
I'm okay going back home and to fight it win,
I'll win. That's kind of the guy he has been
throughout his career. Wasn't so much loyal to a frand
I found a place I like to play, and I
like playing here, and that's enough for me. And that's
kind of Damian Lillard. That's who he's always been. But
it took to get to this point where he goes
back home for us to really see it that three peas.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
You might always have that moment of clarity along the
way too, you know, to everything turn turn turn. I'm
gonna quote the birds all night now, but we we
or the Bible. I guess they took that from But
you look at the situation, right, he goes home where
his kids are, so you know that was swirling in
the background of a lot of this when he requested
the trade in twenty three. I think it was only
(10:40):
the heat that really came out and all the reporting
as a preferred destination goes to Milwaukee. How much you
know this? Now you can have the side conversation of
how much of this is Gianni's telling him, Yeah, I'm
gonna be here when you get back. So so you
had that going out. You know, maybe that's swirling yeah
over here two. But you know, in all walks of life,
(11:02):
you come into a situation bright eyed bushytwn. I got
a lot of people at work in education. I'm gonna be,
you know, a creator of young minds. I'm gonna do this,
and then ten years later it's like, boy, I'm in
for ten so I got to stay for the extra
you know, fifteen or whatever it is, until I'm fully
vested an age and whatever else to you know, you
(11:25):
come into those continuums, whatever it is you do for
your job. We talked about this a lot last night.
You can find the podcast about the Scottie Scheffler stuff,
et cetera. For Dame Lillard. You might have had that
guy that burned with desire back when he was drafted
in twenty twelve. You have a couple of big runs CJ. McCollum,
They've had a pretty good squad, and then things change.
(11:46):
You have a major injury where you're not gonna be
able to play for a year puts things in perspective
that you know you're on the back nine, as it
will to continue the golf analogy, and you've only got
a couple of years left. You're in the Western Conference,
not expecting to win anything. The fourteen million dollars seemed
like if you really wanted to go home, you might
have taken a little less and given them some more flexibility.
(12:08):
You know, six yards still getting one hundred million from Milwaukee,
but you ended up you get your closure. And it
might have been loving it and wanting to fight for
wins for a long long time, but at some point
you have that that moment where things change and you recognize, hey,
I still love the job, I still love the paycheck,
(12:29):
I still love the locker room, whatever else, but winning
maybe pushes away. We've talked with guys a long time,
right at a lot of football players, Hey, I happened
to be six seven, what are you gonna do? And
that's what telet basketball players. I was good and I
kept going. I mean, you know, you make fun of
my guys. You know, Evan Ashmeyer and other ays from
North Northwestern as they played through a couple of those
(12:50):
guys went and played made pretty good money in Europe.
Did they make NBA money, No, but they were taken
care of pretty well. Were they really good players?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah? In college they were.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Not great, But there's a market for it, and you
play as long as you can. Right, rip the jersey
off my back. And for Dame Lillard, he gets to
go home, you know, I mean, look, your girl Jennifer
Nettle sang about that with bon Jovi in his hair.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, he said, well, well, yeah, of course, one of
the best duets ever who says you can't go home.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
See now I got you. You're gonna be off track
all that because I brought up Jennifer Nettle.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Oh, I'll be singing Sugarland all that. I'll be singing
sugar Land.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
I'm gonna sing you some of the duets from the
Righteous Gemstones to take that.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
But look, not every NBA star as Kobe lebron Steph
k D Brunson. And that's okay, right, It's okay that
because it's not like I've seen him come out and
he doesn't look like he wants to win, right, Like
I could say that for someone like lamar Odom, who you.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Know, his goal was to get to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And look, he was a guy who was in every
other game guy and lots of games he you know,
he didn't try to get into the game like I
felt like he was just there to play.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Damian Lillard plays hard.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It's just he didn't burn to win like the fans
wanted him to, like we wanted Lillard to win, Like
I feel like we wanted Lillard to win more than
he wanted. That didn't burn for It's like, go somewhere
and go win a title.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Man, it'll be awesome.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
And Lillard was like, yeah, I'm gonna play hard and
try my best. But if I don't, it's okay. I'm happy.
I'm happy with what's going on. And and and you know,
we we we mix We get that mixed up sometimes
because hey, we always think, well, guys want to win
as much as we want them to win. And look,
certain sports, look football, everybody wants to win, right you
the stuff they put their bodies through, they want to
(14:28):
win every single time they set foot on the field. Right,
there's there's not that out there, but there's others because
of what you put your body through.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
But other sports there are stars and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And and if your efforts never in question, if you're
you're you know, you don't put everything on the floor,
uh everything, leave everything out there, Okay, then I can
look at you and go all right, I don't know
that you you really deserve this money, deserve this credit.
But you see Lillard play, you know how you know
how much he tries to when every time he gets
on the floor, it's just, hey, I'm not gonna sit
here and try to recruit guys to come, and I'm
(14:59):
not going to try to worry about circumventing the salary
cap to sign here and go here and play for
a title like.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
He's not made to win.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
He's not made and judged by how many finals he
gets to like Lebron does. And you know, and that's okay,
it's okay. For it's just weird for us to see
this because we we want to think that, hey, all
the stars we watch they want to win just as
much as we do.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
And that's just not the case now.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
But as you let it led, the analysis was the
the idea of he was allegedly gonna take a bunch
of time, take some time to heal. See I did
all ties together, uh and and then make a decision.
Other teams potentially interested. But that's a year like he's
not in the plans now, right, He's okay, you can
come and use the facilities, we'll get you a key
(15:45):
card and you can go hang out with the trainers.
So we'll have to put you in their schedule beyond that,
you're not banking on them for this year at all.
So if you're your roster building with the idea that
you're trying to win, well, he's not a fit. Nor
are you gonna commit that kind of money to it
for a guy that's not gonna play. Where does that
make sense? Portland feel good story. Maybe some folks still
(16:07):
have the Damian Lillard cards that they didn't burn in
the barbecue pit this offseason, and you just get to
dust that out because your guy came.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Home, exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. Jason
Smith Mike Harmon, live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
Just a little bit of a different way to look
at Damian Lillard after this big, I mean this big
sledgehammer of a headline today, deciding to go home already,
go back to Portland, Phone number eight seven, seven ninety
nine out Fox.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
We got more NBA on the way.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
But straight ahead, somebody got absolutely paid in the NFL today,
and I'll tell you why this team really has no
idea what they're doing. That's coming up next right here,
Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Hey it's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the
biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the I Test, We've got all the
bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do yourself
a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob
(17:25):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Bushup.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Up.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
We'll get to that big NFL story, that one hundred
million dollars NFL story coming up in a couple of minutes.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
But first we have to play the day. Brought to
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Speaker 5 (18:00):
Well.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
When you go to penalties in the Euros and you win.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
To go on to the semis, guess what on an
on baseball day you get to be the player of
the day.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
It's Smith.
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Hold up, she's missed swayed it a lot, and it's England.
They're into the semifinalist of the European Shampu.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Shit glory delight for them.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
They had to come from two goos down. They did
it the hard way, but Hardrea like for Sweden. But
that I know it's growing strong.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I know you're listening to the call, but you were
just slinging along to Sweet Caroline in the background.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
That's how it goes. That's how you know.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
He showed up here last week. He's a Neil Diamond
musical going. He showed up and then they sang along
Sweet Caroline with Wow, who knew?
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Like you know, forty years after Sweet Caroline.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, it's this little diddy that I wrote back in
the mid seventies. All of a sudden, they play it
in Red Sox games, It's on TVs and movies. Teams
have co opted it. I never have to work again.
I just get the royalty from Sweet Caroline.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
It's brilliant. Keeps on rolling in the machine, rolls on.
But this game Sweden England was an amazing afternoon watch
to nil. Sweden league evaporates. And then you have Jennifer Falk,
the Swedish goalie saves four penalty Geck saves four. Not hey,
they missed it over the crossbark like Sweden did. As
(19:30):
you heard there a couple of times, including Fulk herself,
with a chance to win the game, says four.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Here's a big deal about this is four players from
each team missed. Yeah, well you've never seen that. Usually
if there's two misses, that's a lot in the pendal.
I thought, that's a horrible penalty for a team. The
first four players on each team missed, It's like, what
is happening here?
Speaker 4 (19:53):
We had four misses? Seriously four?
Speaker 1 (19:56):
And then Lucy Browns is the one who scores for England,
and how Berman would say this, how Burn would call this.
I've been thinking about this all day and DJ Lucy
Bronze with the game winner, moving England onto the semi
finals where they hope to not finish third. DJ I
had to it writes itself, doesn't it writes, it writes itself.
(20:19):
Bronze helping them to not finish third.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Now it's really really good. Uh fight uh in this
match all the way through, and then the penalty gigs
were insane, man, I mean, you go zero for eight
the first think about that in Vegas. I'm gonna bet
miss penalty and I'm rolling over and I'm doubling it
every single one.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Double a miss here, miss here, miss here, miss I'll
own the win at the end of this penalty thing.
I gotta know when to stop, though. I got what it' stopped.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
But the Swedish goalie saved four. That's one thing to
hit the post, sail it whatever, like for saves, like yeah,
you're dominating.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yeah, oh yeah, I mean it's incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I mean I mean when I say yeah, I mean
when I say four, I mean four unsuccessful penalties converted.
I mean, it's it's just I mean that that you
never see. You may never see that again. The fort
you know, out out of first four on each team.
I really you may never see that again.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
First time in the history of the Women's Euros that
a team came back from two goals down in a
knockout match to win.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Man, I'll tell you. Uh so, congratulations England is the
play of the day. Uh So.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Meanwhile, in the NFL today, DJ Watt and the Steelers
agreed to a three year, one hundred and twenty three
million dollar extension. Right now, this is a story that
we knew was going to have some sort.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Of head to head solution because.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Wad had, you know, put a couple of cryptic things
up on social media.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
He wanted a new contract.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like this is a guy who's been one of the
top two or three defensive players in the game over
the course of the past, you know, six or seven years,
coming off a really good year last year at the
age of thirty, eleven and a half sacks, right, I mean,
he's still one of the pre eminent defensive players in
the game and he's still playing at a high level. Right, So, okay,
and I understand that you're paying TJ. Watt because you're
(22:07):
paying him for the player he is and has been,
and not the guy he's going to be. Right, we
still see the players like TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett. You know,
you get to the age of thirty, thirty one, thirty two, Hey,
you can still be dominant, but eventually, you know that
runs out you get into your mid thirties and into
your early thirties. So yeah, I think the Steelers know that, Okay,
we'll get a good year from him this year, maybe
(22:28):
we get one more. Maybe you know, he's been healthy
for the most part his entire career, so okay, but
this is a contract that was for what he's done
and what he's going to do maybe this year, right,
which I get. But it's but in the end, and
you know there's a butt coming here. But this just
shows you that the Steelers, I don't know that they
(22:50):
are really in tune with what it is to succeed
in the NFL in twenty twenty five. I really don't
look at this decision that name. Okay, here's TJ. Watt,
we want him to retire a Steeler That was their
whole big thing wanted to retire a Steeler. You know what,
first of all that era in sports, that's helen gone. Man,
(23:10):
you are holding onto something that is thirty years old.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Oh we want him to have it. You know what happens.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
You don't pay a guy that's thirty thirty one years
old one hundred and twenty million dollars where, boy, it's
really gonna suck at a year and a half, this
contract gonna really suck for us.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
You don't do that.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You let the guy go to another team, let somebody
else pay him, and in the end he comes back.
You retire his number. He retires a Steeler because he's
always been a Steeler. He plays the majority's grist. That's
kind of how it goes. But the Steelers are stuck
with such an antiquated way of doing things like this
is something that really matters, and I'm scratching my head, going,
how do they think this is?
Speaker 4 (23:44):
This is? This is gonna go? Right?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
You decided then, yeah, TJ. Watt terrific defensive players. Still
we've seen the best of him, though can't argue that
we've seen the best of him as he's thirty one
years old. They decided it was more important to them
to give TJ. Watt a three year contract at thirty
one instead of going in for the last couple of
years and going to get a quarterback and paying him
(24:08):
to come in because it's the most important bleeping position
on the field.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
They've decided it's a hey, we want to pay a.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Defensive lineman all kinds of money who's passed the age
of thirty. But hey, quarterback, we want to shop in
the bargain bin and try to make it work with
Russell Wilson all maybe justin fields because the Bears kicked
them and oh now Aaron Rodgers doesn't have a place
to go, We're gonna go no, no, forget about hey
moving up, making a bold move in the draft to
go get your quarterback of the future, getting into free agency,
(24:35):
making a trade to go win now. Like the Steelers,
it's such an antiquated way of doing that. It's almost
like they're the Lakers of the NFL, in which the
Lakers run as a mom and pop store for so long. Hey,
this is how things used to be. And look, I
was sad when when the Lakers got sold because I
liked it. They that was kind of what they were
but I also understand that's not a way that's feasible
(24:56):
to run a team in twenty twenty five. So yeah,
when the Lakers got sold, Okay, first thing you said
was maybe now it's gonna be better. Maybe now they're
gonna be run like a like a professional NBA twenty
twenty five franchise.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
I look at the Steelers say the same thing.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
You guys know what it is to run a team, right,
You guys know that you can't keep going cheap at
quarterback like it's nineteen eighty five and you're gonna sit
around and say, hey, we can win with a We
can win with Neil O'Donnell. Okay, look I watch video
and Neil o'donnald getting the Steelers to the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
We can No, you can't do it that way.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
You don't win unless you have a you have a
great quarterback. And the Steelers are one of those teams
where the standards are a little bit higher. It's not
just about hey we're staying competitive, we're winning. The Steelers
have different standards. And I watch this antiquated way they're
running things, and I just go, someone's gotta have some
kind of intervention and tell the Steelers, Hey, you don't
think it's really weird. You don't think that's that that's
(25:47):
the That's not the right thing to do to say,
here's a pass rusher over the age of thirty, here's
one hundred and twenty million dollars, and we're gonna sign
quarterbacks for absolutely next to nothing.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Really, what world does that make sense?
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Eight million of it guaranteed three year extension back to
back years. He did participate in all seventeen games, nineteen
and a half sacks two years ago, eleven and a
half this past year. You've got a roster that Omar
Khan he got his three year extension that was announced
a couple of weeks ago. So you've got your bases
in your quarterback position certainly is not pushed aside at all, right,
(26:27):
because I've got my whole tap system, the Harmon tap system.
I need a thrower, I need an attacker, and I
need a protector. You can give me whatever else you
need out of that. But if I got those three things,
I'm feeling pretty good. It's like my Big Three. See
what I did. I brought it back after the NBA
killed it. But it's the moving forward. You decided you
saw enough on tape with his resume, his history, the
(26:50):
first thing being, hey, we want him to retire here.
Probably not the best, but that's who they are, right
and it's the family biz. So they're gonna they're gonna
acknowledge that at every turn. They did with all of
the veterans in the past, and even in changes in
the front office, the Rooney family remains at the top,
so only so much change. We do this with all
(27:11):
the owners and every sport Jason that are that are
still their long term that it's it's hard to what
the proverbial teach an old dog new tricks kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Right.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
We do it with Jerry Jones. We do it in
baseball with my beloved White Sox Bulls and all those franchises.
Maybe they're finally turning the page with the Bears. But
all of that to say, they decided this is where
they're going to commit money, which means they're going to
be just good enough to be on the periphery of
the playoffs, maybe get in and then eventually lose fairly
(27:44):
quickly thereafter. You and I don't know what it's like
to have a franchise that wins fairly consistently. We just don't.
Oh no, no, no, right. The FoST thing I have
is the Mets because.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
We were in the NLCS last year and we're in
a wildcard spot this year.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
Yeah, you were in a World Series a decade ago.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
It's not a big sample size man.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
Year anniversary of a World Series that ESPN refuses to acknowledge. Okay,
So all of that to say, I don't know how
I would like as a Steeler fan. You're excited. TJ.
Watts stays right. It doesn't ultimately get to the tradeing
for pennies on the dollar and all of those things,
But it's just that curiosity of how do you really
(28:24):
feel about it?
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Are you okay with being just good enough versus going
towards greatness?
Speaker 5 (28:30):
It goes back to what we were talking about with
Damian Lillard, the rich tapestry we weave. Is it good
enough to just, hey, the check keeps going, I got
a thing to go show my wares, I get to
punch in, I punch out, and we go back to
our lives. Or do you actually want something a little more?
That's the question, and not having won twenty straight years,
(28:50):
I have no idea how the hell that's supposed to feel.
I haven't done that since a couple of years with
the Blackhawks and then the Bulls, all the way back
to ninety seven, ninety eight, ten years before cold Play
was like wow.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
And now cold Play catching straight. Yeah, Mike Harmon, Coldplay
got me. I mean, look, in no world does what
the Steelers do make sense. I mean, just think about
this for a second. What do we need need a quarterbacks?
What are we gonna do.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
We're gonna try to get one as cheap as possible.
I mean really, I mean we were.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
They were lucky enough to have to be sold on
Roethlisberger for nearly two decades, and they won with him,
and they won the Super Bowls. Yeah, they won two.
What a great time. And now that's yeah, no, we
don't want that anymore. Like, whether it's the team feels
we can win with the quarterback being a necessary evil,
you can't. It's the NFL in twenty twenty five, or
(29:42):
however they arrive at these decisions.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
None of none of this makes sense.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Not not even the Jets on their worst day would say, hey,
we don't need a quarterback. They just always go for
the wrong ones. The Jets know they need a quarterback.
They just can't pick it right no matter what, which
makes it. You know, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
The little nervous this year, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
They canna go back and get Tom Brady in.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
His prime and they would probably screw it up. Ago
Brady just can't start stop throwing interceptions. All he does,
throw it deep, throw it deep like that. At least
the Jets know, hey, we gotta go. Even the Lions
that couldn't get things done for lot, what, we gotta
go get a quarterback. Oh, they go get a quarterback. Okay,
it works out. And the Steelers try, Hey, we're just
gonna try to do this with duct tape and gum
like they're mcguiver and they're trying to jerry rig something
(30:22):
together to say, ah, you know I can I can
blow up this big bomb that's coming in by just
using a twig and and a sling shot and and
and a doctor pepper.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
How do we do it? Just trust me, Just trust me,
I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Like that's how the Steelers are trying to do it.
I mean, in no world does this make sense how
they're doing things cheap at quarterback? But yeah, we want
to give a team legend three years and one hundred
and twenty three million dollars.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Yeah, to be fair, the Lions always had the quarterback,
the running back, and wide receiver. They didn't have a
whole hell of a lot else. There were a couple
of good players that mix there in. I don't want
to denigrate careers if some of those linemen are a
few of those defenders, because they're out there and they
know who they are. But you know, Matthew Stafford was
always everybody's favorite, your favorite quarterbacks, favorite quarterback, and then
(31:06):
he still had to go to Los Angeles to win.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down The Jason
Smith Show with Mike Carbon live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Time out to find out what's trending in
the wide world of sports. But guy who's been called
the Matthew Stafford of Fox Sports Radio, he spent so
much time in Detroit before he realized, I gotta get
to Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It's Martin Weiss, and then he immediately started winning championship.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
How about that.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Nine time NBA All Star Damian Lillard finalizing a three year,
forty two million dollars contract return a contract to return
to the Portland Trail Blazers after a brief Dalliant in Milwaukee.
The dealers expected to include a player option for twenty
twenty seven and a no trade clause.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
More than forty w.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
NBA players got the Thursday for in person meeting with
the Women's national the WNBPA. It was the biggest person
player turnout union history. During CBA talks, they met for
a couple hours and ended with no resolution. Caitlin Clark
will missed a three point contest on All Star Game
in Indianapolis this weekend after sustaining a groin injury versus
(32:13):
Sun on Tuesday. Her statement said that she'll be present
for all the action and I just saw a social
media video of her walking up to I forget where
Courtney Williams plays now, but Courtney Williams this head. I
spent three hours watching your live stream as the WNBA
is doing their Opening Nights type of thing for their
All Stars.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
So she's locked in. She's locked in. Will not be participating.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Speaking of locked in, TJ Watt three years, one hundred
and twenty three million dollar extension that makes him the
highest paid non quarterback in NFA history, not for the
first time, but for the second time in his career
one hundred and eight fully guaranteed at signing forty one
million per year average. First baseman Rowdy Tules took part
in the work out with the Texas Rangers Thursday, with
the expectation he'll join the team after the All Star
(32:56):
break ends tomorrow. Colch quarterback Anthony Richardson used to have
recovered from his recent right shoulder setback as a team
prepares to report for training camp next week, and the
only first round pick who's not signed rookie Cincinnati Bengal
or might be I guess in Cincinnati bagles on his
draft rights. Then they're not paying him yet. Shamar Stewart
Texas and M Mike Elko. This is where we're at
(33:18):
with the hit the tech coach of Texas. A and
M squashed any speculation that Shamar Stewart may be potentially
seeking a return to college amid the contract dispute. So
things went well in Cincinnati, got.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
Transition and they still got to pay that guy.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
Joe, you know what are we doing?
Speaker 5 (33:34):
He's really heading flowers to TJ. Watt.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Here's the thing, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Like I had a really rough first year out of college,
like out of out of Syria, like your early twenties
is a tough age. But I had a really rough
first year. I never thought about, Hey, I could go
back to colle I could if they let me, I.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Would go back. I'd be like, no, I'm too old
now I'm twenty two. I can't go back there. You
go go back to college till my friends are going. No,
I can't do that.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
You may always make new friends, nad run the collegeine
as you walked around campus. No, I'd feel like the
old guy, like this guy graduated, okay, keep by beer
for us'd be a friend of something. I feel like
I'm just like I'm hanging out with a like i'd
be babysitting kids.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Meanwhile, I'm the same age as a lot of the
I couldn't go back to college and they said, yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Go do it, Like no, I did you do it?
And you're done and it's hard. It's hard to go back.
Speaker 5 (34:19):
You'd go back and do it now, though, Uh, you.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Know, I always thought, honestly, if I could come up
with something where you know, they do you know, fantasy
camp for baseball and fantasy camp for different sports, Like.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
You go and you learn from legends and you play
baseball and everything.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Like I said, could you do college fantasy camp where
you would you go back to college.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
For a week.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
You'd live in a dorm and you know, with roommates everything,
and you would go to classes. You go do the
classes that you want to go to, like you talk
about history or English. You know'd be like book club
or whatever it was, or or history, and those are
the classes you go to and you eat on campus
and you go out to happy hour all the time.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Like, I don't know, would that be something people would
go for? I don't know. I always thought would that
be something people's gonna go relive?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I got my my my back to school week here
man going back to college, going back to Tennessee for
a week. I got Tennessee legends going back, Gonna stay
in the same dor. I'm gonna stay, Like I wonder
if that's something people would do.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Yeah, people would pay for that. There's no y'all absolutely
patent pending. Pat And I really thought you were gonna say,
can you go and and teach people how to be
on the radio whatever? Like I think there's some folks
that are trying that.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
No, no, no, no, I just mean to go back
and live a week like it was a college Yeah, yeah, no,
And there's a market for that. You could blow off
whatever assignments you wanted to because at the end you
don't have to worry about it. You're paying for it. Like, hey,
this assignment's do Friday, and you could choose to.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Do it or not do it.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
See, and that's the best part. You just tell everybody
you're a current college pro h football or basketball player.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
I think there's something to that. Hang on, you know,
we got to get back, you know, let's put a
pin in this write back to that.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Jason Smith Mike Harmen live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Coming up next, two big time wide receivers in the
news today, two very different stories. That's next, Jason and
Mike Fox True story. This is easily one of my
wife's top five favorite songs of all time, really without
a doubt.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
Papa Roach last resort every time comes to me.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
At bit we could be talking in the car about
the most serious subject in the world and it doesn't matter.
This song come on and she goes ah and all
of a sudden, it's jammed up and she's gone so vacation.
This is my laugh one. She's banging the steering reel.
I'm like, I'm in the car right next to you.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Okay, okay, let's go all right, we'll go with list of.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
This song at a lot of anger that needs to
get out somewhere.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
No, just exciting.
Speaker 5 (36:31):
Is it something that you generate? I mean, is it
your fault?
Speaker 4 (36:35):
No? No, it I'm just saying when this song comes
on all of a sudden, yeah, becomes a different person.
It's like, oh Wowpa, roach last resort.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
But you got to figure out what's prompting that.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
I think it's just a good song.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I don't think there's any anything the Faerius to it,
you know, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
I mean, was it you tell me?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
For a long time, everybody in your family's favorite song
was Hey, can I unhatch some sort of gas lighting
plot to kill my and collect the insurance money?
Speaker 4 (37:01):
Like you love that song everybody your family.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
It's really deep. I mean, but you have to wait
until it really kicks in at the three minute mark
or you'll really miss the thrust of the song.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Help me gaslight my father, Let me kill them in
let me get the money in Chicago. Gonna do it.
Let's figure out.
Speaker 5 (37:21):
Once a month, I remind them. All Right, here's the cabinet,
here's the code, and here here's what you walk away with.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Just so you know, here's my you should wear a
shirt like in every week, like it changes.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
Here's my value.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Okay, just so you know, if you're thinking about anything,
here's what I'm worth right now. If you if you
do something to me, this is what you're gonna get.
If you're if that's acceptable to you, okay, but if not, understand, well,
but a decision.
Speaker 5 (37:47):
But if it's proven what you did to me, you
get nothing. So decision. Keep watching those true crime podcast
podcast video segments and such.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
So big wide receiver news in the NFL to number one,
the Jets killed Mike Williams. Apparently they killed Carl and
now they killed Mike Williams, the wide receiver who the
Jets signed for one disastrous year and his big headline
last year was running the wrong route during a game
and Aaron Rodgers calling him out for it, saying it's
(38:17):
a red line route. You gotta run the red line.
Mike Williams didn't run the red line. The Jets let
him go at thirty years old. Mike Williams was always
someone who teased us with his talent, really put it
together one year in the NFL, but outside of that
he was boy. You kind of hoped at some point
he would be better than it was. It never was,
and he retires at the age of thirty. He'll always
(38:39):
have the red line. Mike Williams.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
It's difficult to finish. I really thought he was gonna
come back and give you some juice for those eight
games or whatever.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
You would, yeah, catch thirty passes and be another Yeah, well,
I'll tell you. If he's healthy, boy, watch out.
Speaker 5 (38:52):
But that's just it. Good downfield threat when healthy would
have the big game out of the blue. For fantasy purposes,
you can ever count on him. You try to pencil
as your w R three.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
You were you were throwing a dart if you were right.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
But when it hit, boy, it was the thing of beauty.
I mean, because the guy made some spectacular catches over
the course of his career.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
But what did it hit?
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Like two out of every ten times you put James
in your lineup? Come on, yeah, no, that's it.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Done. You ride the lightning man, Come on, you know
how that works. And now it's another former Mike Williams. Yeah,
because remember Mike Williams, the guy that got screwed when
he was trying to go into the league early, got
some bad legal advice, then bunked up, became a tight
end for a bit with the Lions. Still got top
ten money. But yeah, now outside.
Speaker 4 (39:43):
Outside of Mike Williams.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
With more AFC West news, Rashi Rice of the Chiefs
is sentenced to thirty days of jail time for and probation.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
For his role in multi car crash last year.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
You have to think he's going to get a six
game suspension that it seems pretty boiler played at this point.
I mean, may maybe you can, you can appeal and
again we have NFL p a big news coming up
next hour, but maybe you can appeal and get it
reduced little. But I gotta think it's gonna be six
games for him out of the gate when.
Speaker 5 (40:10):
They go large, larger and let him appeal and and
go through that process to where at minimum he's got six.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
So uh yeah, there's a reason why suddenly the NFL
doing things may be a little bit more difficult. We
have that big story coming up next Right here, Jason
and Mike Fox
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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