July 8, 2026 • 34 mins
Does LeBron want to win in Miami or go home to Cleveland?
Jason Smith: After Donovan Mitchell signed a new deal - a year early - with Cleveland, there's no doubt in my mind LeBron James is going back to the Cavs to finish his career. Plus, is he REALLY going to go this far only to spurn Cleveland for another team?
And we played "Did Egypt Say This After Losing to Argentina?"
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:47):
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Speaker 2 (00:53):
So.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I know it's weird. I know we weren't expecting it,
but quite honestly, this allowed goal. Today we're all about
the Egypt Argentina thriller. Egypt up to nothing in the
eightieth minute, and it looks like Argentina's going home all
the said. Argentina fans were crying and then Argentina just decided, no,
we have an extra gear and we're gonna give it
(01:15):
to you right now. Three goals in the next fourteen
minutes and we didn't even need overtime. It was an
insane onslaught by Argentina. But what's become the conversation, of course,
has been the officiating and VR review. And we talked
about this a little bit last night and I said,
this is the effect of the Balligan red card is
(01:36):
that now VAR and officiating overall is going to be
more in the spotlight and it's going to be tougher
to get away with stuff. It's gonna be tougher to
officiate with an agenda when you have the VAR official
whose job is not is to say, hey, we're going
to give you some screenshots of a play. We think
it's a red card. That's not really what you're supposed
(01:56):
to do. I said last night, you're going to see
it differently, and now after today with Argentina and Egypt,
that is absolutely going to happen. But I've said in
the past, when you want change when it comes to
replay review in sports, something's got to happen, either in
favor or against an extremely popular team.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I always go back to we didn't have replay in
Major League Baseball, Yankees and Met Sunday night game, a
three run home run by Carlos Delgado that was a
home run that was ruled foul ball. What happened we
got replayed the next week, and no, we got replayed
the next week in Major League Baseball. We're gonna look
at home runs looking fair and foul. And now we
have the system that we have the fact that this
(02:38):
overturning of Egypt's goal that would have given them a
two nothing lead happened the way it did, like this
is a worse This is a worse, more egregious mistake,
spotlight controversy than flow. Baligan was right, because with Balligan
it was it was just, okay, does this rise to
the the the the status of a red card? Right
(03:00):
at least you could say that was the question. Now
we get into a little bit more into the weeds,
when it's well, we're buzzing down. The official didn't see it.
This second goal that was scored by Egypt happened when
a foul was called just outside of the eighteen and
Egypt's into the field. Egypt breaks out with the ball,
they go all the way downfield and a great pass
(03:22):
to go up to nothing. And so you're talking about now,
this foul happens, Egypt gets control of the ball and
about fifteen seconds go by. So here's a foul that
happened one hundred yards away from the goal, where twenty
seconds at least go by before they say, oh, we're
(03:44):
looking at that for a foul right now, that when
I see something like this, and I see all of
what the Egypt coaches and the players said afterwards that
FIFA wanted Messi to move on. They wanted Messi in
the next round. I can't disagree with that because that
clearly was a decision that was made simply because Egypt
scored a goal to make it to nothing. Right now,
this is a play that was kind of a ticky
(04:05):
tack play at the in Egypt's end. If you want
to call a foul, okay, right, but I thought it
was TICKI tak i' want to call a foul okay,
And I get that the referee probably didn't want to
do it unless it was a big advantage. I didn't
want to do it unless you unless you're playing advantage,
which is a call in soccer, and I get that,
and you know, sometimes officials want to go past that.
(04:25):
But at some point you got to either say, okay,
we're done with that. You can't just wait, We're gonna
let Sometimes you let the play play out for a
couple of seconds, where if it's an advantage and it
looks like Egypt is breaking out odd man break, you
blow the whistle okay because this look, this is now
advantage for them because now they have a two on
one in the middle of field. But you let this
play go all the way all the way down the
(04:46):
field and Egypt scores, and then you say, no, we're
looking at this for a foul. Like when I when
I see people say yeah, they wanted they wanted MESSI
to move on and all these things about how bad
the officiaty is and wanting and wanting a certain result,
I can't say no because I can't understand how you
let the play go that long and then you decided
to say, oh, now we're going back to look at
You only went back to look at it because they
(05:07):
had a goal. That's the only reason you went back
to look at And if you wanted to stop it
for advantage. You could have done that way before. At
some point you got to say, okay, the play is
just going on right now. And again I go back
to a beginning where it wasn't really that egregious a
foul to begin with. I mean, when that happened, I said, wow, really,
it's all a FIFA I did. Did President Trump call
(05:27):
and say, hey, wait a minute, let this play go,
Let this play go, Let it go, let it go.
Oh wait, bring it back, bring it back. We're out
of the World Cup. We need MESSI to move on.
People watching the games, coming to the games, all this out.
Let's let's let's let's make sure this goes on and
Messy and Argentina still have a chance. I mean that
that was just when I saw that play shrink in
my head and I said, wow, you think NBA officiating
is bad. Every time Wemby doesn't get called for a
(05:48):
flagrant foul and a kick at somebody and gonna push
somebody down, No, Wenby doesn't get the call. Man, that's
got nothing on on on what we've seen so far
in FIFA this tournament. Well, but every time it comes
back to Argentine, right, and the big thing about the
Balligan suspension of the suspension was oh, that's the US.
So it was the outside of the soccer world coming
(06:12):
in and invading the sanctity. And that was the thing
that really ticked me off. I'm gonna stare at the camera.
I'm gonna yell at this right now, the twenty four
to thirty six hours that I saw leading into the
ultimate US loss to Belgium, about how the sanctity of
the game had been stayed by the reinstatement of Balagan.
It's like, are you kidding me? We're talking about FIFA here, right,
(06:36):
because this is another example in this Argentinian Egyptian game
of so FIFA that you just watch it and go yeah, okay,
that's that's what they do, and all the pundits and
all around the globe of how the sanctity and the
history had been so tainted by Balligan's or statement and
(06:59):
look the nebulous article twenty seven. We can all just
kind of shrug and nod and go okay, cool here. Look,
I thought it was what we would call a softer
foul if you called it. But there is a second
Egyptian player there ready to pick up possession as soon
as the Argentinian players dispossessed of the ball, so and
(07:22):
clearly he gets into his feet. So if you don't
call it there, it's like all right, you could say, okay,
soft foul, and then it goes the entire length of
the field like no, no, no. We've watched plenty of
matches where I was like, all right, but before you've
even reached the midfield, plays blown dead time and time again.
And there were plenty of other circumstances and instances throughout
(07:44):
the game of here's a slap to the face. Oh yeah,
here's a you know that was a true WWE and
a raak of the face. I remember when people used
to do that break of the face. Legitimately, it's like
it's on the sideline. It's like it's not anything getting physical.
It's like literally the guy's he stends his arm fully
to connect with the Egyptian player's face. Like there are
(08:05):
just so many instances where you're like, wow, that's bad.
There's a four minute super cut making the round that
has been wiped off of Twitter and all socials repeatedly
throughout the day, and then a new account created to
repost it of what do you think of this and
it's all super slow bo and take from it what
you will. But there's another call where Salah has the ball,
(08:25):
he gets dispossessed, but then his feet are taken out
from under it, and that led immediately to Argentina's third goal.
So people are going, well, could we at least have
gotten a stompage in an announcement of a review there,
as well as several other instances in this game. But
when the Argentina including the FIFA president right and his
(08:47):
response of how he was sweating it out and everything
at the last game, that the appearance of improprieties and
the allegations certainly aren't going to be quieted after this game. No,
And then that's what Now this is going to be
known as the Vaar tournament. Right when you look back
and say, okay, let's look at the twenty twenty six
World Cup. What were the dominant stories and we're obviously
(09:07):
we're getting there. We're gonna find out who wins. Well, well,
the number one story is going to be Balligan, right,
This Egypt Argentina story will be another one, polistic sucking.
But it's all well that's another one, yes, but it's
all going to revolve around officiating, and that that's become
a default because you know, look, everybody's become an expert
on it. Look at it all through the NBA playoffs.
(09:28):
What was the dominant storyline officiating. It's always the dominant
storyline Now when we talk about in the w NBA
like grab a sport, it's become the dominant thing now
is officiating. But but specifically with v R and review. Now,
so many things that have tilted games or or kept
teams on the field that shouldn't be on the field.
(09:48):
This is not hey, here's a foul that's missed right
before halftime. Here's a player getting his jersey grad that
they missed. The fouls like, you can let those go.
But when it's a when it's a play that that
affects the the out directly affects the outcome of the game. Now,
we've seen now at least two or three instances where
this has happened, and it's happened very publicly with the
two biggest countries in the World Cup, the United States,
(10:09):
which is hosting the World Cup, and Argentina, who were
the defending champ with the number one player in the
world for the past twenty years. So yeah, now that
and that's going to be a good thing, is it now? VAR?
Because it's it's it's still morphing into how they're going
to use Remember this is still a pretty new technology
for FIFA in the World Cup, has only been around
for a couple of World Cups. Like now, I feel
(10:30):
good that at least going forward, there's going to be
more regimented, more more of a a a guideline and
not just whatever the VAR officials are at the whim
of because there's more responsibility. You can't just say, wow,
we took that goal off the off the board for
Egypt and Argentina moves on. Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa.
You could potentially do that if it's Morocco and Switzerland,
(10:54):
or if it is you know, Canada and Senegal or
something like that. When but when it's this big a deal,
when it's the superstar nations that are in the middle
of it, that doesn't go away. So at least I
can say, as bad as it was, it's going to
affect change and how VAR is used and adjudicated in
the game. I mean, you would like to see the
(11:15):
level of consistency, and this match really becomes the epitome
of that because you're moving forward, right like, this is
the last of this stage. As we go through, it's Argentina.
I would have you note as I was watching the
opening and all the introductions here on the replay on
f S one, you had two French officials and one
Belgian in the in the var booth for this one.
(11:40):
So I mean some some of that would they would say, well,
I mean there's two French officials there. They don't want
Argentina throwing and surviving. I mean, they don't want that.
But you can no matter what nationality of official you
put in the booth, it's going to be they don't
want that. They don't want that, but Argentina. But you're
saying these Argentina and we're talking about, you know, natural
collision down the road. You just like you just get
(12:01):
people from nations that are not in the World Cup
and don't even have soccer. You have to rank eighties,
don't have to hire or no, no, you don't even
have the sport. You know, you don't even play the sport. Okay,
we're gonna we're just gonna send our We're gonna send
our people to school. They're gonna no soccer inside and out.
They have no allegiances whatsoever, and they're gonna be in
the VR booth. Do they hold the passport to any nation?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
No?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Absolutely not, but no, like that's just it. Change evolves
over time, you know, a long period, sometimes glacially, and
that's generally where soccer is like Major League Baseball. Uh,
until the Hey, we can make a lot of money
streaming games, and then they got a little bit faster
in deciding how to make the game better and process it.
But the Internet and the immediacy that we get these
(12:43):
calls up off of Telemundo, off of Fox, Like no, no, no,
the pressure is there and and you know the old
watery roads rock pressure creates diamonds or burst pipe for FIFA,
you have to decide which which that's gonna be for you.
I really I'm watching this going what foul are they?
And I don't know. I'm like, what are they look?
(13:05):
I looked for it. In the attacking third, he touches
anybody what they look? What are they look at? And
they go all the way back to the loss possession.
I'm like, oh, come on, but that's just it. I
thought it. I thought it was a fall in real time.
But I was like, okay, they're gonna let it play. Okay, cool,
They're not calling the kind of a ticky tack. They're
gonna slow it down and say, well, look he gets
(13:25):
into him. Here, they're gonna cut to the referee phone.
He's gonna be on Calshi. Oh sorry, everything's good, everything's good,
everything's good. No, we're all good. We're all good. Yeah. Yeah,
disallow that goal. Yeah sorry, yeah, it was good, but
then it went in the nuts, so I kind of
had to disallow it. Tell you what, the breakout and
the efficiency of the Egyptian drives on a couple of
(13:45):
those possessions, man, including that one. Obviously intense and amazing. Unfortunately,
that goal did not stand.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
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Speaker 1 (14:06):
Harry Jay Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with
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Speaker 2 (14:12):
Well Dressed Hobo.
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last big domino of free agency, And of course we're
(14:34):
waiting Lebron James, who now apparently has four five, six, seven, eight,
ten whenever. How many teams that are jockeying for his
services for next season? I mean it was as many
as twenty eight. I was at twenty nine. I mean,
come on, just not the Lakers. There was also there.
There was also overseas. There was also you know, lots
(14:56):
of other places. Night End. Yeah, oh yeah, there was
our ser Some folks wanted to be the goalie of
the US team. Now, oh, I think he'd be wasted
at goalie. We would put him in midfield because boy,
we strolled at midfield yesterday. Well, you still need to
hold defensively, and he doesn't do that in basketball, So
I don't think he's gonna do that on a soccer. Well, okay,
maybe maybe more of a cam you know, a camp
(15:17):
position to play. Donovan Mitchell today agreed to a four year,
two hundred and seventy three million dollar maximum extension contract
to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ponder that at the
moment william four years to get get it getting swept
in the conference finals. Four years, two hundred and seventy
three million. Let's got sixty eight million dollars. I can't
(15:40):
do that. He's a Mets fan. Again, Why I told
you by this is still twenty twenty six. By the
time we get to twenty thirty, we're gonna have one
hundred million dollars a year guy in either the NBA
or the NFL. It's gonna happen. It's your guy that
you love to gonna happen. Just wait here, When might
be Caleb Williams? Oh, get ready? Well, I can't wait
(16:01):
for the fall. Let's go. But this tells me what
we've been telling you for the past year and a half.
If Lebron James leaves the Lakers and we knew what
was gonna happen, he's going to go back to Cleveland. Yes,
the Warriors are a great fun story. The Timberwolves jumping in. Oh,
it might be the Timberwolves. All yeah, No, I get that,
that's all fun. That's all fun stuff, right, the heat
(16:23):
jumping in, Yeah, no question about it, photoshopp him into
all jerseys. But we talked about how he's going back
to Cleveland because it's the one place he can go
to end his career where if he doesn't win, he
goes back and he just gets celebrated for what he's done. Right,
I can go back home. Right, That's the thing. I
(16:44):
feel like Lebron's journey was always going to begin and end,
and it's gonna be I'm just a kid from Akron
at the end. And he's not going back for a year.
But this is gonna be a couple of years when
he's gonna because he's still playing at a pretty high level, right,
not for just forty one, but for anybody still playing
at a very high level. So we've talked about this.
We told you it's Cleveland. We told you it's Cleveland.
Now you get the story today of Donovan Mitchell re signing,
(17:08):
where he could have pushed it to next summer and
gotten potentially another eighty million dollars, could have got five
years and three hundred and fifty three million could have
done that, right, but he left eighty million dollars on
the table to side. I don't feel bad for him
because he signed for four and two hundred and seventy
three million, sixty eight million a year. I don't feel
bad for him, but you'd have to do the Brian
(17:29):
Windhorse thing. Why would he do this? Like, why would
Donovan Mitchell do that? Donovan Mitchell is in no danger
of waiting a year and seeing his market crater. Right,
He's not Dennis Shrewder, not turning down three years and
seventy five million. Then I signed for one year and
six million, right, Okay, so do the Brian windhors Now?
Why would he do this? Why would Donovan Mitchell do this? Because? Oh,
by the way, just a kid from Akron has a
(17:51):
big decision to make and he wants to go join
a team now that he's pushing his leverage as much
as he can, because Lebron loves leverage. I'm pushing my
I want to make sure that the team I go
to is gonna be there, it is gonna be great
for a while. Not that Mitchell would have left Cleveland.
He has talked a lot about how much he loves
being there since he got there. I feel bad about
what happened I'm coming back, uh with a bad taste
(18:14):
in my mouth. I'm gonna put it all, leave it
all out on the court. We're gonna be ready, locked
in focused. That's great, swept by the Knicks. But but
why would he do it now unless it's Hey, we
want Lebron to come back. We want him to see
that this is gonna be the team he is going
to join. He's going to come back to a team that, Hey,
made a run to the Eastern Conference finals last year. Right,
(18:35):
We've been really good for the last couple of years.
Maybe we are a Lebron James away and clearly Cleveland
might be. So if he's okay taking the role that
he had with the Lakers with Cleveland, where that's a
different optic. Lebron getting pushed out in LA, that's a
bad optic to Hey, I'm gonna be the third guy, right,
Austin Reeves, guy with a headband is gonna is gonna
(18:55):
take more shots than me. He's that's a bad optic.
But Lebron going back to Cleveland saying I'm coming home
where I won, where I put Cleveland basketball on the map.
I can come back and I can be the old
head and I can be the guy that that fills
in the gap. Play a little point guard, play a
little forward, play a little five. Whatever it is that
I can do. It's a great optic for Lebron James.
(19:15):
Donovan Mitchell is not doing this, not leaving eighty million
on the table unless he's wrapped up in I want
to win. This is gonna get Lebron here. He's gonna
look like a great guy. Maybe we'll wind up renegotiating
at some point here. Maybe there's some kind of wink
in a nod. Maybe Pablo Torri will find out, Oh,
why did he turn down that money? Because in a
couple of years it's gonna get renegotiated, gonna get more money,
(19:35):
whatever it's going to be. He re signs. Now, this
tells me Lebron James is going back to Cleveland, that
everything else is just out there as a break glass
in case emergency. Could he go to Golden State and
have a fun couple of years. Yeah, playing with Steph
running up and down the floor. They get a d
it's Draymond Green. They're fighting at practice. There's fist fights me.
(19:55):
That'll be awesome, right If he wound up going to Minnesota. Wow,
Minnesota him and the Edwards of it. But he's not
going there like all these other teams. Miami would be great.
I'm going back to Miami. Pat Riley would have to
swallow his pride and gut my I gotta thank this
guy and shake his hand. I couldn't stand it. Oh
my god, I gotta thank this guy again. But Lebron
might go back to Miami just to have that moment
of pat Riley having to kiss his ass after he left.
(20:18):
So all of these are options, but there's no doubt
in my mind. Cleveland is what it is, and this
story today, there's no other reason why this was done
other than to show Lebron we're all gonna be here.
You can come here. It's good. We're gonna be good
for a while. The East is the East. You know
we we lost to the Knicks last year, but you
could put us over the top. There is no doubt
(20:39):
in my mind he is finishing with the cast. There's
a lot of shuffling of deck chairs and certainly, I mean, look,
your point guard had risk surgery. I don't know if
you he's fine. He's fine left risk surgery, and and
don't forget we won the title not even a month ago.
So we won the title. I get that, Jamie, but
now he's gotta have surgery. So we won the Open.
We want to go and the title, fight back and
(21:00):
claim the East. So you've got that opportunity of the
title that was last year. We're talking about six twenty future.
We cooked Wemby in the five, beat him up, absolutely
cooked him. No, no, you cooked their coach. We cooked
everybody cooked, We cooked the air in fire Spurs, we
cooked everybody. Brunson cooked everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Man.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Sorry, that was a fun couple of seconds. Go ahead
surgery on his wrist anyway. So you say in the
East could be open, right, You still got to figure
out what's going on with James Harden. He had a
player option that he declined that was forty three ish
million dollars. So the idea of that, and then there's
always the Bronni James part to it. I shudder because
it's not quite lining up perfectly, but let's have fun
(21:44):
with it. In the Calshi market, you referenced them earlier,
forty eight percent of what is currently a seventy four
million dollar pool. I don't know if Jannis has any
money in there is on Cleveland, Golden State, at sixteen, Miami,
at seventeen, Philadelphi at twelve. We saw him in the
golf shop, we saw him in the Akron clubs, all
(22:04):
of those things. So that's all fun and good because
we've also know that he's doing a final run documentary
of whatever this year becomes. That's all funding good, that's great,
But you're you're looking at from the expectation of Lebron James.
This goes back to the whole rich Paul Well, he's
looking for happiness and it's something we talked about. You
(22:24):
were out at the end of last week heading into
the holiday and ty shirt and eye. Jared Smith had
this conversation on Thursday of you know what is really
the endgame here, right? Happiness? Is he still trying to
chase the Jordan ghost. Maybe maybe not as outwardly about it,
but certainly maybe it's still there that he still wants
(22:47):
another win. So you know, Cleveland would fulfill potentially all
of this, right. So it's and I say it because well,
let's call what it is. There's a ton of press
and promotion going on with the Cavil Kid of Stars,
Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, will be in theaters on
July seventeenth. Now, Odysseus comes back after ten years, this
(23:10):
is only eight with the Lakers, but it sinks up nicely.
So do you think on premier day? There's a commercial
that's been cut for the Odyssey and where Lebron does
Oh and by the way, I'm home too, a journey
worthy of Odysseus for Lebron JEMs to get home. Although
it's pretty just gonna be just fly. No, I mean
it fits perfectly. But all of that, does he want
(23:32):
to win? Sure, they give him an opportunity to win,
but they're the pressure. Yeah, this is a safety but
I'm going to finish it home. But a lot of
it is still at some point with all of us
in the media, And this is where I look around,
all the hot take artists and the sycophants. What are
your expectations of him at this point? I'm happy he plays,
(23:52):
he wants to keep playing lately you're sixty, I don't
care as long as it's not from my damn team.
You don't have about it. But beyond that, am I
expecting him to carry someone to a title?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
No, But he doesn't I care then does no, But
could he be someone that again fills the gaps. Cleveland
needed another score, he needed somebody else. They didn't have
it against the Knicks, and you saw what happened and
they quit after the second game. They got down two
zip and said, yeah, we're done. It's not working out
for us. They need someone like Lebron to come in,
a guy that's won, a guy that can be that leader,
that can take the pressure off of them. All of
(24:25):
this fits. All of this fits for Lebron. We talked
about it for a year. If I like that, you
want to take the pressure off a guy that just
signed a four year, two hundred and seventy three million
dollars if Cleveland falls short, that was you know, Lebron's
going back because it's going to be easy to see
and for them to sell Cleveland on. You just need
Lebron for many reasons to go out and win right now,
(24:47):
sometimes you just need a hug. Every would be everything
I have said so far. You can agree or disagree
with it. I know I'm right, but it's okay. I'm
gonna give you this next part, and this is the
part that's gonna hammer it home. It's not been refuted
who the teams are that are in the mix for
Lebron James. Right, it's been it's been the Calves and
the Warriors from the beginning, and then you've seen the
(25:08):
Heat and the and the Tea Wolves a little bit, right,
But it's always been the Calves and the Warriors, right,
Kaves and the Warriors in the beginning. Right, Is Lebron
James really gonna go this far down the road at
the end of his career only to tell Cleveland, blank you,
I'm going to Golden State or blank you, I'm going
back to Miami. He's not gonna do that he wants
he's a clean I'm again just a kid from Acre.
(25:30):
Is he really gonna go all the way down this
road and get Cleveland excited that he's coming back again,
the King is coming home, only to say, oh, yeah, no,
I'm going to play with Giannis instead. Sorry about that.
Going back to pat Riley, who really just said some
bad things about me when I made my way out
the door. I'm gonna go to Golden State to play
with Steph. I'd love to come back, but I'm going here.
Do you really think Lebron's gonna do that that he's
(25:51):
He's gonna tell one. He started out at home, he left,
he went home, he left again. Is he really going
to tell him? No again, he's not well there though.
I mean in terms of mending fences. He and Gilbert
didn't actually really leave on the best of terms the
first time, and he still went home. Yeah, but Lebron
is He's much more Cleveland than pat Riley is Miami,
(26:14):
even though Riley's much more of a legend and a
guy in the NBA. Like I think Dan Gilbert had
to understand. I mean, all of the all of the
hatred happened the first time he left, and he already
came back, So any any residual at this point it's done.
I'm just saying after he came back. But I'm saying
we have seen that before where everybody looked around and said,
this actually works best for all of us. Let's make
this happen. You know, we got that Kyrie kid. Yeah this,
(26:37):
I mean the again, all of the basketball stuff. Just
think about Lebron and the and the type of person
he is. Is he really going to do that to
his hometown. I was surprised that the East. He's wide
open now the probably the East is not wide open.
Come on, he's got a wrist injury. But okay, we
won the time Mitchell Robinson's not there to corral rebounds. Oh,
by the way, Happy twenty five day anniversary of the
(26:58):
k Next winning the title. Twenty five days happy and
by by January, we're gonna want a trade cat again
twenty four. Sorry twenty I don't want to give another
day in Happy day twenty four, twenty four of the
of the Knicks winning the title on an all new
twenty four. So yeah, after Donovan Mitchell re signs a
year early today, one hundred percent Lebron will be a cavalier.
(27:19):
Now when that announcement comes problemlyventeenth, I'm telling you probably.
I don't know, man, that's he might. Wait, he'll be
in the suit and the whole thing. You'll like be
in the sash. I don't know, you'll have a sword
on his head. But this World Cup is still going on.
I don't think he wants anything to mess around with that.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
He's appealing to the US market. Yeah, but still, I
mean they buy sneakers. Yeah, not to the same level here.
He still got messy in England and France, and now
you got all the heavyweight. You're still this is not
you's gonna want to sir polland this is this is
not some sort of crazy World Cup where you have
you have a couple of smaller countries involved in. It's
(27:56):
like wow, okay. Then Lebron would say, yeah, fine, but
I mean that I don't know, man, that could be
a little while. What if I go into the theater
on that day of that ye a little while at
the Odyssey's release, and all of a sudden on Imax film,
there he is staring at me. Hey, in my version,
he was actually playing the Matt Damon role. Yeah, it
was incredible. Took over. I can't believe that all it
(28:18):
takes over for Travis Scott, who's in there. Evidently, I
don't know. It's a weird world.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon. No bigger story in the sports world
today Argentina's incredible comeback against Egypt. Egypt spending most of
the postgame, talking about horrendous calls that went against them,
including disallowing their second goal that would have given them
(28:50):
a then to nothing lead. That's all Egypt talked about
after the game was how bad the officiating was and
insinuating that FIFA wanted Messi Argentina to move on in
the tournament. Oh no, no, they didn't insinuate so well
they said it, and this is the game we play.
The game is called. Did Egypt say this, Yeah, let's go.
(29:15):
I'm gonna give you a quote, and you tell me
if this was something either one of the Egyptian coaches
or players said after the game. Man, let's go playing
as myself. Mike Harmon, Steve de Sager justin Frostburg, Alex
Tyshert are you ready? Ye's water wet? All right? I
told the referee this is unfair. I said, maybe he
(29:37):
is carrying a scar or has something to hide. Oh
did Egypt say that?
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Well, it was not a short conversation in the game,
so I'll say, yes, that mayor's come up.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I'm tolious about the scar. I told the referee this
is unfair. I said, maybe he is carrying a scar
or has something to hide something lost in the translation there,
I think so, but I'm in I'll say yes, all right,
all right, Frostburg. Are there any curse words that you
took out?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
No, the curse words unedited. I would if there was
a curse, I would say curse. There's no curse in
this last They may have been reacted before you know.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Okay, okay, jokes on all of you. That is a
magic Johnson tweet.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
In Arabic. No less, Yes, Egypt did say that God's good,
let's go Steve follow who had that one. Had Argentina
won by their own effort, it would have made a
big difference to us. Did Egypt say that following the game?
(30:47):
If they had won by their own effort, it would
have made a big difference to us.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I saw a whole lot of effort in the last
fifteen minutes the coach, I could see him saying that
they were ticked. Sure, yeah, I mean did you see
the amount of cards that were It was like Oprah
was the ref you get a card.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
It was like they were they were draw.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
So there were questions of whether something from the sad
and there was launch from that.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I mean, he's a former star player. I think he
has more goals or an X player. Yeah, it's very good,
very good, very good. Uh so you're so Harmon, you're
in on that? Yeah, to say you're in okay, Frostburg,
I gotta go know then, no, okay, all right, it's
my only chance. Okay, you're right, you're right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
The coach might have been mad and upset, but he's
not dumb. That was Argentina's efforts.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
So no, if they had won by their own effort, well,
he is dumb, it would have made a big difference
on us. He's not dumb. Egypt. We'll find out. Did
say that that I told you? Was there a handshake
before the game with money in a big briefcase? Oh
(32:01):
my goodness. Did Egypt?
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Yes, yes, in the briefcase, not to the coach.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
There's no way he said that handshake before the game
with money in a big briefcase. Did Egypt say that,
I'm no, I'm saying no, please be no? All right,
all right, all right, So Harmony, yes, you're a no Frostburg.
Did the briefcase say Mary Swanson? No, it said Mary
(32:28):
heart The said Mary Hartman, Mary Ferguson, Mary Hartman is
Mary Heart at the game tonight. I don't say not
at the game. Wow to say you do that right away? Well,
I've got the Dodger game. He's been looking at every night.
I look to see if Mary Heart's in her seat.
Just I just look at Mary Heart. I feel like
it's entertainment tonight.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Along she's not.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I wonder why don't I get those tickets? True?
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Okay, all right, t shirt, I will say no. But yes,
there was a case with money.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So no one the quote no confident me euros. That's
not what about we're getting heros? You said no, you
said there's not frost, but I had there from you. Okay,
that was the last one. Was there a handshake before
the game with money in a briefcase human monies? Egypt?
(33:19):
Dan houses involved. I gave the referee four thousand dollars
to call that brother, go back, you cursed. Was there
a handshake before the game with money in a big
briefcase Egypt did No, that was the bridge too far.
(33:40):
My faith in humanity is restoring.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
But see if there was a briefcase.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Now, now let's be honest, though, how much did you
guys that got with the one of you that said no,
how much did you think? Oh I think they might
have said that.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
No, really do want to say that.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Okay, the other stuff.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Every sure, but they don't have money, all right?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Did the Egypt? So we're gonna play this game again next?
That was good? Did Egypt say this as I'm watching
him and lose his mind on the sideline right now
in the replay? I think he is. I think he's
egypt all time goalscorer, I mean pass him, but I
think he game coach all time goalscorer. Now, yeah he's uh, yes,
he looks like it run through you too?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Mean?
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Well, all of Egypt's games have been relegated to True
TV now too soon, Steve King, Pharaoh King is not
a True TV exit up about a Fresca exit swollen up.
We'll play this game again, but straight ahead, boy, we
got a fresh take on the biggest basketball story the
last couple of weeks. Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
I wonder how much money they gave him. Jason
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
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
If you're listening to Fox Sports.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Radio, greetings, welcome in side hour too the Jason Smith
Show with my bes friend Mike Harmon. Be sure to
check out our YouTube channel for the show. Just search
Jason Smith's Show within YouTube. Again, that's Jason Smith's Show.
Hit the subscribe button. After you've done that, tap the
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(00:47):
let us know what you think. Again, just search Jason
Smith's show on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I know it's weird. I know we weren't expecting it,
but quite honestly, this allowed goal. Today we're all about
the Egypt Argentina thriller. Egypt up to nothing in the
eightieth minute, and it looks like Argentina's going home all
the said. Argentina fans were crying and then Argentina just decided, no,
we have an extra gear and we're gonna give it
(01:15):
to you right now. Three goals in the next fourteen
minutes and we didn't even need overtime. It was an
insane onslaught by Argentina. But what's become the conversation, of course,
has been the officiating and VR review. And we talked
about this a little bit last night and I said,
this is the effect of the Balligan red card is
(01:36):
that now VAR and officiating overall is going to be
more in the spotlight and it's going to be tougher
to get away with stuff. It's gonna be tougher to
officiate with an agenda when you have the VAR official
whose job is not is to say, hey, we're going
to give you some screenshots of a play. We think
it's a red card. That's not really what you're supposed
(01:56):
to do. I said last night, you're going to see
it differently, and now after today with Argentina and Egypt,
that is absolutely going to happen. But I've said in
the past, when you want change when it comes to
replay review in sports, something's got to happen, either in
favor or against an extremely popular team.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I always go back to we didn't have replay in
Major League Baseball, Yankees and Met Sunday night game, a
three run home run by Carlos Delgado that was a
home run that was ruled foul ball. What happened we
got replayed the next week, and no, we got replayed
the next week in Major League Baseball. We're gonna look
at home runs looking fair and foul. And now we
have the system that we have the fact that this
(02:38):
overturning of Egypt's goal that would have given them a
two nothing lead happened the way it did, like this
is a worse This is a worse, more egregious mistake,
spotlight controversy than flow. Baligan was right, because with Balligan
it was it was just, okay, does this rise to
the the the the status of a red card? Right
(03:00):
at least you could say that was the question. Now
we get into a little bit more into the weeds,
when it's well, we're buzzing down. The official didn't see it.
This second goal that was scored by Egypt happened when
a foul was called just outside of the eighteen and
Egypt's into the field. Egypt breaks out with the ball,
they go all the way downfield and a great pass
(03:22):
to go up to nothing. And so you're talking about now,
this foul happens, Egypt gets control of the ball and
about fifteen seconds go by. So here's a foul that
happened one hundred yards away from the goal, where twenty
seconds at least go by before they say, oh, we're
(03:44):
looking at that for a foul right now, that when
I see something like this, and I see all of
what the Egypt coaches and the players said afterwards that
FIFA wanted Messi to move on. They wanted Messi in
the next round. I can't disagree with that because that
clearly was a decision that was made simply because Egypt
scored a goal to make it to nothing. Right now,
this is a play that was kind of a ticky
(04:05):
tack play at the in Egypt's end. If you want
to call a foul, okay, right, but I thought it
was TICKI tak i' want to call a foul okay,
And I get that the referee probably didn't want to
do it unless it was a big advantage. I didn't
want to do it unless you unless you're playing advantage,
which is a call in soccer, and I get that,
and you know, sometimes officials want to go past that.
(04:25):
But at some point you got to either say, okay,
we're done with that. You can't just wait, We're gonna
let Sometimes you let the play play out for a
couple of seconds, where if it's an advantage and it
looks like Egypt is breaking out odd man break, you
blow the whistle okay because this look, this is now
advantage for them because now they have a two on
one in the middle of field. But you let this
play go all the way all the way down the
(04:46):
field and Egypt scores, and then you say, no, we're
looking at this for a foul. Like when I when
I see people say yeah, they wanted they wanted MESSI
to move on and all these things about how bad
the officiaty is and wanting and wanting a certain result,
I can't say no because I can't understand how you
let the play go that long and then you decided
to say, oh, now we're going back to look at
You only went back to look at it because they
(05:07):
had a goal. That's the only reason you went back
to look at And if you wanted to stop it
for advantage. You could have done that way before. At
some point you got to say, okay, the play is
just going on right now. And again I go back
to a beginning where it wasn't really that egregious a
foul to begin with. I mean, when that happened, I said, wow, really,
it's all a FIFA I did. Did President Trump call
(05:27):
and say, hey, wait a minute, let this play go,
Let this play go, Let it go, let it go.
Oh wait, bring it back, bring it back. We're out
of the World Cup. We need MESSI to move on.
People watching the games, coming to the games, all this out.
Let's let's let's let's make sure this goes on and
Messy and Argentina still have a chance. I mean that
that was just when I saw that play shrink in
my head and I said, wow, you think NBA officiating
is bad. Every time Wemby doesn't get called for a
(05:48):
flagrant foul and a kick at somebody and gonna push
somebody down, No, Wenby doesn't get the call. Man, that's
got nothing on on on what we've seen so far
in FIFA this tournament. Well, but every time it comes
back to Argentine, right, and the big thing about the
Balligan suspension of the suspension was oh, that's the US.
So it was the outside of the soccer world coming
(06:12):
in and invading the sanctity. And that was the thing
that really ticked me off. I'm gonna stare at the camera.
I'm gonna yell at this right now, the twenty four
to thirty six hours that I saw leading into the
ultimate US loss to Belgium, about how the sanctity of
the game had been stayed by the reinstatement of Balagan.
It's like, are you kidding me? We're talking about FIFA here, right,
(06:36):
because this is another example in this Argentinian Egyptian game
of so FIFA that you just watch it and go yeah, okay,
that's that's what they do, and all the pundits and
all around the globe of how the sanctity and the
history had been so tainted by Balligan's or statement and
(06:59):
look the nebulous article twenty seven. We can all just
kind of shrug and nod and go okay, cool here. Look,
I thought it was what we would call a softer
foul if you called it. But there is a second
Egyptian player there ready to pick up possession as soon
as the Argentinian players dispossessed of the ball, so and
(07:22):
clearly he gets into his feet. So if you don't
call it there, it's like all right, you could say, okay,
soft foul, and then it goes the entire length of
the field like no, no, no. We've watched plenty of
matches where I was like, all right, but before you've
even reached the midfield, plays blown dead time and time again.
And there were plenty of other circumstances and instances throughout
(07:44):
the game of here's a slap to the face. Oh yeah,
here's a you know that was a true WWE and
a raak of the face. I remember when people used
to do that break of the face. Legitimately, it's like
it's on the sideline. It's like it's not anything getting physical.
It's like literally the guy's he stends his arm fully
to connect with the Egyptian player's face. Like there are
(08:05):
just so many instances where you're like, wow, that's bad.
There's a four minute super cut making the round that
has been wiped off of Twitter and all socials repeatedly
throughout the day, and then a new account created to
repost it of what do you think of this and
it's all super slow bo and take from it what
you will. But there's another call where Salah has the ball,
(08:25):
he gets dispossessed, but then his feet are taken out
from under it, and that led immediately to Argentina's third goal.
So people are going, well, could we at least have
gotten a stompage in an announcement of a review there,
as well as several other instances in this game. But
when the Argentina including the FIFA president right and his
(08:47):
response of how he was sweating it out and everything
at the last game, that the appearance of improprieties and
the allegations certainly aren't going to be quieted after this game. No,
And then that's what Now this is going to be
known as the Vaar tournament. Right when you look back
and say, okay, let's look at the twenty twenty six
World Cup. What were the dominant stories and we're obviously
(09:07):
we're getting there. We're gonna find out who wins. Well, well,
the number one story is going to be Balligan, right,
This Egypt Argentina story will be another one, polistic sucking.
But it's all well that's another one, yes, but it's
all going to revolve around officiating, and that that's become
a default because you know, look, everybody's become an expert
on it. Look at it all through the NBA playoffs.
(09:28):
What was the dominant storyline officiating. It's always the dominant
storyline Now when we talk about in the w NBA
like grab a sport, it's become the dominant thing now
is officiating. But but specifically with v R and review. Now,
so many things that have tilted games or or kept
teams on the field that shouldn't be on the field.
(09:48):
This is not hey, here's a foul that's missed right
before halftime. Here's a player getting his jersey grad that
they missed. The fouls like, you can let those go.
But when it's a when it's a play that that
affects the the out directly affects the outcome of the game. Now,
we've seen now at least two or three instances where
this has happened, and it's happened very publicly with the
two biggest countries in the World Cup, the United States,
(10:09):
which is hosting the World Cup, and Argentina, who were
the defending champ with the number one player in the
world for the past twenty years. So yeah, now that
and that's going to be a good thing, is it now? VAR?
Because it's it's it's still morphing into how they're going
to use Remember this is still a pretty new technology
for FIFA in the World Cup, has only been around
for a couple of World Cups. Like now, I feel
(10:30):
good that at least going forward, there's going to be
more regimented, more more of a a a guideline and
not just whatever the VAR officials are at the whim
of because there's more responsibility. You can't just say, wow,
we took that goal off the off the board for
Egypt and Argentina moves on. Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa.
You could potentially do that if it's Morocco and Switzerland,
(10:54):
or if it is you know, Canada and Senegal or
something like that. When but when it's this big a deal,
when it's the superstar nations that are in the middle
of it, that doesn't go away. So at least I
can say, as bad as it was, it's going to
affect change and how VAR is used and adjudicated in
the game. I mean, you would like to see the
(11:15):
level of consistency, and this match really becomes the epitome
of that because you're moving forward, right like, this is
the last of this stage. As we go through, it's Argentina.
I would have you note as I was watching the
opening and all the introductions here on the replay on
f S one, you had two French officials and one
Belgian in the in the var booth for this one.
(11:40):
So I mean some some of that would they would say, well,
I mean there's two French officials there. They don't want
Argentina throwing and surviving. I mean, they don't want that.
But you can no matter what nationality of official you
put in the booth, it's going to be they don't
want that. They don't want that, but Argentina. But you're
saying these Argentina and we're talking about, you know, natural
collision down the road. You just like you just get
(12:01):
people from nations that are not in the World Cup
and don't even have soccer. You have to rank eighties,
don't have to hire or no, no, you don't even
have the sport. You know, you don't even play the sport. Okay,
we're gonna we're just gonna send our We're gonna send
our people to school. They're gonna no soccer inside and out.
They have no allegiances whatsoever, and they're gonna be in
the VR booth. Do they hold the passport to any nation?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
No?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Absolutely not, but no, like that's just it. Change evolves
over time, you know, a long period, sometimes glacially, and
that's generally where soccer is like Major League Baseball. Uh,
until the Hey, we can make a lot of money
streaming games, and then they got a little bit faster
in deciding how to make the game better and process it.
But the Internet and the immediacy that we get these
(12:43):
calls up off of Telemundo, off of Fox, Like no, no, no,
the pressure is there and and you know the old
watery roads rock pressure creates diamonds or burst pipe for FIFA,
you have to decide which which that's gonna be for you.
I really I'm watching this going what foul are they?
And I don't know. I'm like, what are they look?
(13:05):
I looked for it. In the attacking third, he touches
anybody what they look? What are they look at? And
they go all the way back to the loss possession.
I'm like, oh, come on, but that's just it. I
thought it. I thought it was a fall in real time.
But I was like, okay, they're gonna let it play. Okay, cool,
They're not calling the kind of a ticky tack. They're
gonna slow it down and say, well, look he gets
(13:25):
into him. Here, they're gonna cut to the referee phone.
He's gonna be on Calshi. Oh sorry, everything's good, everything's good,
everything's good. No, we're all good. We're all good. Yeah. Yeah,
disallow that goal. Yeah sorry, yeah, it was good, but
then it went in the nuts, so I kind of
had to disallow it. Tell you what, the breakout and
the efficiency of the Egyptian drives on a couple of
(13:45):
those possessions, man, including that one. Obviously intense and amazing. Unfortunately,
that goal did not stand.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm easterns seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Harry Jay Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Well Dressed Hobo.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Be sure to check out our YouTube channel for the show.
Just search Jason Smith Show within YouTube. Again, that's Jason
Smith's show. Hit the subscribe button. After you've done that,
tap the thumbs up bike on comment away. Whether you
agree or disagree, let us know what you think. Again,
just search Jason Smith Show on YouTube and subscribe. The
last big domino of free agency, And of course we're
(14:34):
waiting Lebron James, who now apparently has four five, six, seven, eight,
ten whenever. How many teams that are jockeying for his
services for next season? I mean it was as many
as twenty eight. I was at twenty nine. I mean,
come on, just not the Lakers. There was also there.
There was also overseas. There was also you know, lots
(14:56):
of other places. Night End. Yeah, oh yeah, there was
our ser Some folks wanted to be the goalie of
the US team. Now, oh, I think he'd be wasted
at goalie. We would put him in midfield because boy,
we strolled at midfield yesterday. Well, you still need to
hold defensively, and he doesn't do that in basketball, So
I don't think he's gonna do that on a soccer. Well, okay,
maybe maybe more of a cam you know, a camp
(15:17):
position to play. Donovan Mitchell today agreed to a four year,
two hundred and seventy three million dollar maximum extension contract
to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ponder that at the
moment william four years to get get it getting swept
in the conference finals. Four years, two hundred and seventy
three million. Let's got sixty eight million dollars. I can't
(15:40):
do that. He's a Mets fan. Again, Why I told
you by this is still twenty twenty six. By the
time we get to twenty thirty, we're gonna have one
hundred million dollars a year guy in either the NBA
or the NFL. It's gonna happen. It's your guy that
you love to gonna happen. Just wait here, When might
be Caleb Williams? Oh, get ready? Well, I can't wait
(16:01):
for the fall. Let's go. But this tells me what
we've been telling you for the past year and a half.
If Lebron James leaves the Lakers and we knew what
was gonna happen, he's going to go back to Cleveland. Yes,
the Warriors are a great fun story. The Timberwolves jumping in. Oh,
it might be the Timberwolves. All yeah, No, I get that,
that's all fun. That's all fun stuff, right, the heat
(16:23):
jumping in, Yeah, no question about it, photoshopp him into
all jerseys. But we talked about how he's going back
to Cleveland because it's the one place he can go
to end his career where if he doesn't win, he
goes back and he just gets celebrated for what he's done. Right,
I can go back home. Right, That's the thing. I
(16:44):
feel like Lebron's journey was always going to begin and end,
and it's gonna be I'm just a kid from Akron
at the end. And he's not going back for a year.
But this is gonna be a couple of years when
he's gonna because he's still playing at a pretty high level, right,
not for just forty one, but for anybody still playing
at a very high level. So we've talked about this.
We told you it's Cleveland. We told you it's Cleveland.
Now you get the story today of Donovan Mitchell re signing,
(17:08):
where he could have pushed it to next summer and
gotten potentially another eighty million dollars, could have got five
years and three hundred and fifty three million could have
done that, right, but he left eighty million dollars on
the table to side. I don't feel bad for him
because he signed for four and two hundred and seventy
three million, sixty eight million a year. I don't feel
bad for him, but you'd have to do the Brian
(17:29):
Windhorse thing. Why would he do this? Like, why would
Donovan Mitchell do that? Donovan Mitchell is in no danger
of waiting a year and seeing his market crater. Right,
He's not Dennis Shrewder, not turning down three years and
seventy five million. Then I signed for one year and
six million, right, Okay, so do the Brian windhors Now?
Why would he do this? Why would Donovan Mitchell do this? Because? Oh,
by the way, just a kid from Akron has a
(17:51):
big decision to make and he wants to go join
a team now that he's pushing his leverage as much
as he can, because Lebron loves leverage. I'm pushing my
I want to make sure that the team I go
to is gonna be there, it is gonna be great
for a while. Not that Mitchell would have left Cleveland.
He has talked a lot about how much he loves
being there since he got there. I feel bad about
what happened I'm coming back, uh with a bad taste
(18:14):
in my mouth. I'm gonna put it all, leave it
all out on the court. We're gonna be ready, locked
in focused. That's great, swept by the Knicks. But but
why would he do it now unless it's Hey, we
want Lebron to come back. We want him to see
that this is gonna be the team he is going
to join. He's going to come back to a team that, Hey,
made a run to the Eastern Conference finals last year. Right,
(18:35):
We've been really good for the last couple of years.
Maybe we are a Lebron James away and clearly Cleveland
might be. So if he's okay taking the role that
he had with the Lakers with Cleveland, where that's a
different optic. Lebron getting pushed out in LA, that's a
bad optic to Hey, I'm gonna be the third guy, right,
Austin Reeves, guy with a headband is gonna is gonna
(18:55):
take more shots than me. He's that's a bad optic.
But Lebron going back to Cleveland saying I'm coming home
where I won, where I put Cleveland basketball on the map.
I can come back and I can be the old
head and I can be the guy that that fills
in the gap. Play a little point guard, play a
little forward, play a little five. Whatever it is that
I can do. It's a great optic for Lebron James.
(19:15):
Donovan Mitchell is not doing this, not leaving eighty million
on the table unless he's wrapped up in I want
to win. This is gonna get Lebron here. He's gonna
look like a great guy. Maybe we'll wind up renegotiating
at some point here. Maybe there's some kind of wink
in a nod. Maybe Pablo Torri will find out, Oh,
why did he turn down that money? Because in a
couple of years it's gonna get renegotiated, gonna get more money,
(19:35):
whatever it's going to be. He re signs. Now, this
tells me Lebron James is going back to Cleveland, that
everything else is just out there as a break glass
in case emergency. Could he go to Golden State and
have a fun couple of years. Yeah, playing with Steph
running up and down the floor. They get a d
it's Draymond Green. They're fighting at practice. There's fist fights me.
(19:55):
That'll be awesome, right If he wound up going to Minnesota. Wow,
Minnesota him and the Edwards of it. But he's not
going there like all these other teams. Miami would be great.
I'm going back to Miami. Pat Riley would have to
swallow his pride and gut my I gotta thank this
guy and shake his hand. I couldn't stand it. Oh
my god, I gotta thank this guy again. But Lebron
might go back to Miami just to have that moment
of pat Riley having to kiss his ass after he left.
(20:18):
So all of these are options, but there's no doubt
in my mind. Cleveland is what it is, and this
story today, there's no other reason why this was done
other than to show Lebron we're all gonna be here.
You can come here. It's good. We're gonna be good
for a while. The East is the East. You know
we we lost to the Knicks last year, but you
could put us over the top. There is no doubt
(20:39):
in my mind he is finishing with the cast. There's
a lot of shuffling of deck chairs and certainly, I mean, look,
your point guard had risk surgery. I don't know if
you he's fine. He's fine left risk surgery, and and
don't forget we won the title not even a month ago.
So we won the title. I get that, Jamie, but
now he's gotta have surgery. So we won the Open.
We want to go and the title, fight back and
(21:00):
claim the East. So you've got that opportunity of the
title that was last year. We're talking about six twenty future.
We cooked Wemby in the five, beat him up, absolutely
cooked him. No, no, you cooked their coach. We cooked
everybody cooked, We cooked the air in fire Spurs, we
cooked everybody. Brunson cooked everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Man.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Sorry, that was a fun couple of seconds. Go ahead
surgery on his wrist anyway. So you say in the
East could be open, right, You still got to figure
out what's going on with James Harden. He had a
player option that he declined that was forty three ish
million dollars. So the idea of that, and then there's
always the Bronni James part to it. I shudder because
it's not quite lining up perfectly, but let's have fun
(21:44):
with it. In the Calshi market, you referenced them earlier,
forty eight percent of what is currently a seventy four
million dollar pool. I don't know if Jannis has any
money in there is on Cleveland, Golden State, at sixteen, Miami,
at seventeen, Philadelphi at twelve. We saw him in the
golf shop, we saw him in the Akron clubs, all
(22:04):
of those things. So that's all fun and good because
we've also know that he's doing a final run documentary
of whatever this year becomes. That's all funding good, that's great,
But you're you're looking at from the expectation of Lebron James.
This goes back to the whole rich Paul Well, he's
looking for happiness and it's something we talked about. You
(22:24):
were out at the end of last week heading into
the holiday and ty shirt and eye. Jared Smith had
this conversation on Thursday of you know what is really
the endgame here, right? Happiness? Is he still trying to
chase the Jordan ghost. Maybe maybe not as outwardly about it,
but certainly maybe it's still there that he still wants
(22:47):
another win. So you know, Cleveland would fulfill potentially all
of this, right. So it's and I say it because well,
let's call what it is. There's a ton of press
and promotion going on with the Cavil Kid of Stars,
Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, will be in theaters on
July seventeenth. Now, Odysseus comes back after ten years, this
(23:10):
is only eight with the Lakers, but it sinks up nicely.
So do you think on premier day? There's a commercial
that's been cut for the Odyssey and where Lebron does
Oh and by the way, I'm home too, a journey
worthy of Odysseus for Lebron JEMs to get home. Although
it's pretty just gonna be just fly. No, I mean
it fits perfectly. But all of that, does he want
(23:32):
to win? Sure, they give him an opportunity to win,
but they're the pressure. Yeah, this is a safety but
I'm going to finish it home. But a lot of
it is still at some point with all of us
in the media, And this is where I look around,
all the hot take artists and the sycophants. What are
your expectations of him at this point? I'm happy he plays,
(23:52):
he wants to keep playing lately you're sixty, I don't
care as long as it's not from my damn team.
You don't have about it. But beyond that, am I
expecting him to carry someone to a title?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
No, But he doesn't I care then does no, But
could he be someone that again fills the gaps. Cleveland
needed another score, he needed somebody else. They didn't have
it against the Knicks, and you saw what happened and
they quit after the second game. They got down two
zip and said, yeah, we're done. It's not working out
for us. They need someone like Lebron to come in,
a guy that's won, a guy that can be that leader,
that can take the pressure off of them. All of
(24:25):
this fits. All of this fits for Lebron. We talked
about it for a year. If I like that, you
want to take the pressure off a guy that just
signed a four year, two hundred and seventy three million
dollars if Cleveland falls short, that was you know, Lebron's
going back because it's going to be easy to see
and for them to sell Cleveland on. You just need
Lebron for many reasons to go out and win right now,
(24:47):
sometimes you just need a hug. Every would be everything
I have said so far. You can agree or disagree
with it. I know I'm right, but it's okay. I'm
gonna give you this next part, and this is the
part that's gonna hammer it home. It's not been refuted
who the teams are that are in the mix for
Lebron James. Right, it's been it's been the Calves and
the Warriors from the beginning, and then you've seen the
(25:08):
Heat and the and the Tea Wolves a little bit, right,
But it's always been the Calves and the Warriors, right,
Kaves and the Warriors in the beginning. Right, Is Lebron
James really gonna go this far down the road at
the end of his career only to tell Cleveland, blank you,
I'm going to Golden State or blank you, I'm going
back to Miami. He's not gonna do that he wants
he's a clean I'm again just a kid from Acre.
(25:30):
Is he really gonna go all the way down this
road and get Cleveland excited that he's coming back again,
the King is coming home, only to say, oh, yeah, no,
I'm going to play with Giannis instead. Sorry about that.
Going back to pat Riley, who really just said some
bad things about me when I made my way out
the door. I'm gonna go to Golden State to play
with Steph. I'd love to come back, but I'm going here.
Do you really think Lebron's gonna do that that he's
(25:51):
He's gonna tell one. He started out at home, he left,
he went home, he left again. Is he really going
to tell him? No again, he's not well there though.
I mean in terms of mending fences. He and Gilbert
didn't actually really leave on the best of terms the
first time, and he still went home. Yeah, but Lebron
is He's much more Cleveland than pat Riley is Miami,
(26:14):
even though Riley's much more of a legend and a
guy in the NBA. Like I think Dan Gilbert had
to understand. I mean, all of the all of the
hatred happened the first time he left, and he already
came back, So any any residual at this point it's done.
I'm just saying after he came back. But I'm saying
we have seen that before where everybody looked around and said,
this actually works best for all of us. Let's make
this happen. You know, we got that Kyrie kid. Yeah this,
(26:37):
I mean the again, all of the basketball stuff. Just
think about Lebron and the and the type of person
he is. Is he really going to do that to
his hometown. I was surprised that the East. He's wide
open now the probably the East is not wide open.
Come on, he's got a wrist injury. But okay, we
won the time Mitchell Robinson's not there to corral rebounds. Oh,
by the way, Happy twenty five day anniversary of the
(26:58):
k Next winning the title. Twenty five days happy and
by by January, we're gonna want a trade cat again
twenty four. Sorry twenty I don't want to give another
day in Happy day twenty four, twenty four of the
of the Knicks winning the title on an all new
twenty four. So yeah, after Donovan Mitchell re signs a
year early today, one hundred percent Lebron will be a cavalier.
(27:19):
Now when that announcement comes problemlyventeenth, I'm telling you probably.
I don't know, man, that's he might. Wait, he'll be
in the suit and the whole thing. You'll like be
in the sash. I don't know, you'll have a sword
on his head. But this World Cup is still going on.
I don't think he wants anything to mess around with that.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
He's appealing to the US market. Yeah, but still, I
mean they buy sneakers. Yeah, not to the same level here.
He still got messy in England and France, and now
you got all the heavyweight. You're still this is not
you's gonna want to sir polland this is this is
not some sort of crazy World Cup where you have
you have a couple of smaller countries involved in. It's
(27:56):
like wow, okay. Then Lebron would say, yeah, fine, but
I mean that I don't know, man, that could be
a little while. What if I go into the theater
on that day of that ye a little while at
the Odyssey's release, and all of a sudden on Imax film,
there he is staring at me. Hey, in my version,
he was actually playing the Matt Damon role. Yeah, it
was incredible. Took over. I can't believe that all it
(28:18):
takes over for Travis Scott, who's in there. Evidently, I
don't know. It's a weird world.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon. No bigger story in the sports world
today Argentina's incredible comeback against Egypt. Egypt spending most of
the postgame, talking about horrendous calls that went against them,
including disallowing their second goal that would have given them
(28:50):
a then to nothing lead. That's all Egypt talked about
after the game was how bad the officiating was and
insinuating that FIFA wanted Messi Argentina to move on in
the tournament. Oh no, no, they didn't insinuate so well
they said it, and this is the game we play.
The game is called. Did Egypt say this, Yeah, let's go.
(29:15):
I'm gonna give you a quote, and you tell me
if this was something either one of the Egyptian coaches
or players said after the game. Man, let's go playing
as myself. Mike Harmon, Steve de Sager justin Frostburg, Alex
Tyshert are you ready? Ye's water wet? All right? I
told the referee this is unfair. I said, maybe he
(29:37):
is carrying a scar or has something to hide. Oh
did Egypt say that?
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Well, it was not a short conversation in the game,
so I'll say, yes, that mayor's come up.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I'm tolious about the scar. I told the referee this
is unfair. I said, maybe he is carrying a scar
or has something to hide something lost in the translation there,
I think so, but I'm in I'll say yes, all right,
all right, Frostburg. Are there any curse words that you
took out?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
No, the curse words unedited. I would if there was
a curse, I would say curse. There's no curse in
this last They may have been reacted before you know.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Okay, okay, jokes on all of you. That is a
magic Johnson tweet.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
In Arabic. No less, Yes, Egypt did say that God's good,
let's go Steve follow who had that one. Had Argentina
won by their own effort, it would have made a
big difference to us. Did Egypt say that following the game?
(30:47):
If they had won by their own effort, it would
have made a big difference to us.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I saw a whole lot of effort in the last
fifteen minutes the coach, I could see him saying that
they were ticked. Sure, yeah, I mean did you see
the amount of cards that were It was like Oprah
was the ref you get a card.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
It was like they were they were draw.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
So there were questions of whether something from the sad
and there was launch from that.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I mean, he's a former star player. I think he
has more goals or an X player. Yeah, it's very good,
very good, very good. Uh so you're so Harmon, you're
in on that? Yeah, to say you're in okay, Frostburg,
I gotta go know then, no, okay, all right, it's
my only chance. Okay, you're right, you're right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
The coach might have been mad and upset, but he's
not dumb. That was Argentina's efforts.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
So no, if they had won by their own effort, well,
he is dumb, it would have made a big difference
on us. He's not dumb. Egypt. We'll find out. Did
say that that I told you? Was there a handshake
before the game with money in a big briefcase? Oh
(32:01):
my goodness. Did Egypt?
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Yes, yes, in the briefcase, not to the coach.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
There's no way he said that handshake before the game
with money in a big briefcase. Did Egypt say that,
I'm no, I'm saying no, please be no? All right,
all right, all right, So Harmony, yes, you're a no Frostburg.
Did the briefcase say Mary Swanson? No, it said Mary
(32:28):
heart The said Mary Hartman, Mary Ferguson, Mary Hartman is
Mary Heart at the game tonight. I don't say not
at the game. Wow to say you do that right away? Well,
I've got the Dodger game. He's been looking at every night.
I look to see if Mary Heart's in her seat.
Just I just look at Mary Heart. I feel like
it's entertainment tonight.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Along she's not.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I wonder why don't I get those tickets? True?
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Okay, all right, t shirt, I will say no. But yes,
there was a case with money.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So no one the quote no confident me euros. That's
not what about we're getting heros? You said no, you
said there's not frost, but I had there from you. Okay,
that was the last one. Was there a handshake before
the game with money in a briefcase human monies? Egypt?
(33:19):
Dan houses involved. I gave the referee four thousand dollars
to call that brother, go back, you cursed. Was there
a handshake before the game with money in a big
briefcase Egypt did No, that was the bridge too far.
(33:40):
My faith in humanity is restoring.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
But see if there was a briefcase.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Now, now let's be honest, though, how much did you
guys that got with the one of you that said no,
how much did you think? Oh I think they might
have said that.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
No, really do want to say that.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Okay, the other stuff.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Every sure, but they don't have money, all right?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Did the Egypt? So we're gonna play this game again next?
That was good? Did Egypt say this as I'm watching
him and lose his mind on the sideline right now
in the replay? I think he is. I think he's
egypt all time goalscorer, I mean pass him, but I
think he game coach all time goalscorer. Now, yeah he's uh, yes,
he looks like it run through you too?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Mean?
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Well, all of Egypt's games have been relegated to True
TV now too soon, Steve King, Pharaoh King is not
a True TV exit up about a Fresca exit swollen up.
We'll play this game again, but straight ahead, boy, we
got a fresh take on the biggest basketball story the
last couple of weeks. Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
I wonder how much money they gave him. Jason
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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