September 2, 2026 • 37 mins
Jason and Mike can’t understand why college football doesn’t take more advantage of the first two weeks of the season while there are zero NFL games. We got a big new twist from the biggest story in sports. Plus, why Lincoln Riley and USC just need to stop with all their opening day excuses!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:06):
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Hello, welcome inside Hour 3, The Jason Smith Show, with
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Speaker 2 (00:35):
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Speaker 2 (00:57):
So steaming towards.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Week one of college football, you know, zero week last week.
And now next week, next year is going to be
week one. It's going to take the place of weeks. Whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
There's games. I like that. I like zero week. I
like calling. It's a zero week. Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
But you know, we, we, we talk about being ahead
of the curve and we talk about takes being stolen
last night on the show. We talked about something that
got out today and we talked about how we said,
why does zero week in college football suck? And college
(01:37):
football has a two week span of where they can
run unopposed before we get into the NFL. And they
do not take advantage of that. Like, we get week
one of college football, and it's like a breath of
fresh air, and suddenly, whoa, we're into whatever is happening
and all the big games.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's how it looks out.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Deion Sanders in Colorado gained all the attention, you know,
three years ago. And then the NFL started basically right
after week one. Okay, hey, Monday, we talk college football. Now, okay,
tomorrow night is opening night in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And that's where.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I don't know why zero week sucks and why zero
week is just a handful of games. We had one
game involving a top 25 team, and that was USC.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well, we didn't talk anything about the game. San Jose State.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Not that they played really well in the first half.
They showed who they were or whatever. It became about
the crowd and how hot it is.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Why does zero week suck?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And why does college football not understand they have this
short window and take advantage of it? And I'm not
going to say where I saw it earlier today, but
I'm just saying this was awful.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
This was awful. I'm not going to say, but it
was awful. College football, quite honestly, should start and have
three weeks of college football before the NFL starts. They
should start and give an extra bye week. They should
start the third week of August, right? We're coming in
beginning of July. You can have a month and a
(03:06):
half of games of practice to be ready to go,
and then you could start August 21st, August 20th, have
the first.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Week of games.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Week two should be the next week. Week three should
be Labor Day weekend. And then, you know, add in
a bye if you want to, because I'm all for that.
You know, I'm all for adding byes in for for,
you know, during the college football season.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
But why not take advantage of that time where the
NFL really doesn't have any headlines anymore? Right. Obviously, yes,
whatever quarterback battles are going on. players getting cut. But
look at the stories of this weekend. The biggest story
was Joe Milton getting claimed on waivers, right? We don't
see the stars as active in the preseason as we
(03:49):
have been before. And that's never changing. Suddenly, we're not
going to go back to the NFL going, well, we're
playing all our starters during the preseason.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
No, it's not happening.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
The teams have now come to grips with the fact,
and the NFL is okay with, hey, the football beginning
of the year is going to be rough. We don't
want to lose anybody. We don't want anybody to get hurt.
So it's going to be rough. We're not going to
have guys around. Why college football doesn't take more advantage
of that, I don't get. And it's, again, just forget
about zero. Like, zero weeks should be a full week, right?
(04:18):
I'm not saying you can make it... You can't say,
let's make it a challenge week. Like Lane Kiffin says,
I'd love to have an SEC Big Ten challenge week. Yeah,
I'd love that too, but no one's going to agree
to it. But why not have a full slate of games?
You're not going to schedule one of the best teams
early on in the season.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
To have all the teams playing, to have all the
Power Five conferences playing their games, even though they're rollover games,
why not have three weekends where you can take that,
where you can take control of that? And you can
have that... that attention and almost give like a full
month to college football that you're not going to get.
We're now, okay, hey, college football, we had zero week
(05:01):
last week. And what did we have? Right, we had
North Carolina and Bill Belichick. And that was a story.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
USC won.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
The story was about fans not there because it was
too hot. Now, USC playing games hot. If you have
a full slate of games, I don't think the networks
are going to worry if, well, USC, San Jose State's
going to be played at 7 o'clock at night. instead
of 12.30 in the afternoon. You could have another team
playing somewhere where the weather is going to be a
little bit better. You can do those things. You can
even have all the games start at 3.30, right?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You can have that wall-to-wall college football, and you will
have people more tuned in that will stay with games
more during the season. It's a better time. Why wouldn't
you run that unopposed? Yet, this is what happens when
you have a sport that's not run by anybody, and
it's just conferences out for.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Themselves, right? It should be more than just, well.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Bill Belichick and North Carolina playing in Dublin, USC's crowd, and, oh,
Florida State played.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, that's it.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I mean, why are you not starting with a big
flourish with college football?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Nobody eases into a season. What other sport eases into
a season? We go, well, you had a couple of games. No,
the season starts and we play. That's kind of how
it goes.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Well, they just wanted to whet your appetite. Once upon
a time, we did have some of those kickoff classics
and challenge games and whatever. And perhaps since the monies
are certainly there around the college space and trickling down
to the players now, that maybe you can get some
of that, like Kiffin brings up, not the worst idea
(06:33):
that he's had, but since it came out of his mouth,
it just gets dismissed categorically.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
But they'll have that when the SEC and the Big
Ten wind up forming their own league. When they splinter
off in three years, it's the SEC, and it's the
big SEC or whatever it's going to be. They're going
to play their separate schedules, but we are going to
get the Big Ten SEC Challenge Week, and we're going
to get that. Okay, awesome. Wow, that's going to be great.
We'll have that in a couple of years. Lane Kiffin's
(07:00):
just a couple of years ahead.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
But in the short term, you could say that, in theory...
And this is that dangerous word that we use so
often here on the show. In theory, that you have
enough buffer at this point with the size of the
college football playoff that you should.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Be able to sustain a loss if you're that good, right?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That you give this showcase and everybody gets a ton
of money, attention, your stars get the love, whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But we're not there yet. We're not there yet.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
We're in this next phase of trying to figure out
how to eliminate some of the cream puffs, because that's
what some would argue is going to happen and slough
off as you consolidate things. And some of those games
go to the wayside. The haves have nots and big
conferences versus the other. But yeah, I agree with you
in theory that, yes, you've got this three week run up.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And why did we not have a great slate of
games last week?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Because we didn't need to. No, I think we need
some games. Listen, because it's like, I always argue with
the NFL, right? They do this thing.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's like, look at the schedule for the first two weeks.
We'll watch anything.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That looks like football. But everybody's got to play. But
they should play. College football fans are more regionalized than
anything else. If you had a big game, if you
had Alabama-Auburn, okay, people are going to watch. But you
don't have it. We got five days this week, though, Jason.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I mean, come on!
Speaker 1 (08:21):
But the thing is, if you had the entire slate
of all the teams playing, everybody's watching. My team is playing.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I am watching. Everybody's watching.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
But is everybody getting to the television where the biggest
things were North Carolina, USC in a game against San
Jose State, and Florida State? Hey, that Stanford-Hawaii game was
damn entertaining. People aren't getting the TV for that, but
they'll get there for their teams. And I don't know
why you don't. You could have easily had, you could
have three weeks of games. Sure. You start then, you
have an extra bye, whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And again, you know what?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
You can even end the season earlier if you want to, right?
If you're worried about... and this crazy-ass stuff that you
get from college football. Well, the season goes too long
and teams are playing too long. Okay, we're starting the
season a couple of weeks earlier. That's going to allow
you to finish. Most teams will finish before finals. They'll
be able to have bowl games, and now we can
finish much earlier. We can finish on New Year's Day.
(09:12):
We can finish it early if you're so worried about that.
You tried to throw in the academics have you not
recognized that with the exception of a very small number
of schools nobody gives a damn about that when was
the last time you had a guy declared academically ineligible
of course nobody cares about that but that's the fake
reason that's thrown out there by different schools administrators and
(09:32):
conferences so i can say we can take care of
that fake concern that you have by starting earlier and
ending earlier you don't even have to answer that Here's
a fake concern. I'll fix that fake concern for you.
Like Jack Burns has you on the lie detector machine.
You have a concern.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It's fake.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
But I have a real answer for your fake concern.
So now we can move on from there. That would
only make sense for college football. But while they don't
have a commissioner, how are they going to agree on
stuff like that? How is stuff like that going to
get through? Because forget about having a commissioner that would
come in, that would be able to figure out all
the issues between the conferences, right? That we figure out
(10:08):
NIL issues. We'll figure out how to do that fairly.
We'll figure out how to do the transfer portal fairly.
Kennesaw Mountain Landis ain't walking through that door.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Lifetime contract.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I like how he's killing the flies while he's getting
his contract and eight men out. But we talk about
having a commissioner because, hey, they will solve all the problems.
They will solve all the infighting between the conferences, whether
it's we'll solve, like a commissioner would solve NIL. It
would solve how do you deal with the transfer portal,
keeping it open here, keeping it open here, right? So
you'd have a commissioner that would be able to solve
(10:38):
those things. But you also need somebody that would say,
I have the vision to grow the sport. I have
the vision to go forward. And starting games here is
going to help. Having two weeks, three weeks worth of games,
that's going to help. All these things I can do,
that's going to grow the game. They don't have anybody
growing the game. They just have a bunch of conferences going, hey,
will this help us? Great, let's do it, man.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Like, this is why every time I see something with
college football, I go, man. College football commissioner would really
figure stuff out.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, I mean, they've got a toothless NCAA gumming their
way into 2026.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Not an Adam Silver commissioner who does nothing or a
Kathy Engelbert who just disappears, but actually a real commissioner
that wants to do things.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, but you're talking about some of these guys giving
up power. They ain't giving up power.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Greg Sankey ain't walking through that door going, you know,
I want this guy.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
To rule over all of it.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
No!
Speaker 2 (11:25):
No, I mean, college football could be.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
It's doing terrific, but it's one of those sports, it
could be doing so much better.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You could be doing so much better on things. Yeah,
in theory. No, in real life.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Like, I think all those things could happen in real life.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
No, because we're still playing a lot of different, they're
all under one umbrella sport, but they're playing different games.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
No, you start the college football season around August 20th.
Full slate of games, everybody is watching. Cupcakes, doesn't matter.
You'll get a couple of decent games to schedule, but
everybody's watching. The next week, cupcake games, everybody is watching.
Labor Day now, whoa, college football has got storylines.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You have upsets.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You have teams that aren't as good. You have players
you're following. Third week now, okay. And now suddenly, it
doesn't just disappear when the NFL starts because you have
a head of momentum. Hey, this guy's got 1,000 yards
passing by Labor Day. How the hell does he have that? Man,
that's amazing, right? Suddenly now you have storylines, you have
surprise teams that are 3-0, you have surprise teams that
(12:28):
are 1-2. Whatever it is, you have all of these
things now that you have built them that people are
going to continue to follow. If Colorado and Deion Sanders
started 3-0 by the time it got to NFL Week
1 three years ago... College football could say, we're putting
Colorado on at 1 o'clock Sunday. People would say, well,
I've got to watch that. I'm not going to watch
the NFL. I'll watch Colorado. That's the power that college
(12:50):
football doesn't realize they have.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, they do in spurts.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And it's also incumbent upon the lot of us to
not resort to, hey, Joe Milton got waived and didn't
get claimed. Let's do 20 on that instead of something.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Else, right?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
But you're not fighting with anything with that. Really, you're
running unopposed. It's like Tua running unopposed in the quarterback
derby in Atlanta against nobody except Tua couldn't win that.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
It's like you're running unopposed with your college football. Right,
but I'm saying in-season as we get there, right? But look,
I agree with your scheduling side. The idea that they're
going to ever elect some grand poobah commissioner to be
over the top.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean, you're in fantasy land. And I like fantasy land.
You don't think they could elect two co-commissioners and two
guys share the power? One's from the Big Ten and
one's from the SEC? Of course they could. No, those guys...
Every day.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
This will be looking like the... The old Raw episodes, like,
let's go look in the offices. They're smashing each other
with chairs.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
You could say, okay, we're going to elect two commissioners
of college football, right?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You could say this.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And you could say, for the first two-year term, it's
going to be Nick Saban.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Okay, well, SEC. But then the next two-year term.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
It would be Jim Harbaugh or, you know, whatever you
want to say. Somebody not– but somebody from the Big Ten.
Somebody who was Big Ten, someone a big.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
My man, you're just going into a two-party system again.
You can do that, right? What are you doing? You
can do that.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You could even have a rotating commissioner that's from each
of the power conferences, right? The power three conferences. The
ACC commissioner is going to be the guy this year.
Swofford's going to be it this year. However you want
to do it, man.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, but what does he get to do? What kind
of power?
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Is this like a school class president where you make
a bunch of promises?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
You'll have chocolate milk for free. It's scooby. Hey, that
would be a start. Because if all of a sudden.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You had from one of the other add-on conferences suddenly
has the power, here's what I'm trying to enact this year.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, beat it. When do we start the season? Early
in August?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
No, but everybody gets free chocolate milk.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Oh, what a great commission! I'm going to promise you
no homework.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
All right, well, that actually happens in a lot of
classes because there's laziness all around.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
But you get my point. Exit out about a fresca
at Swollen Dome. Jason Smith, Mike Hartman, live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Coming up next, the big new
twist to the biggest story of the day in sports.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Jason and Mike, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Hey, it's Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio. Now,
in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5 to
7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,
we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for
the show.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yup, that's right.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube
every day. All you gotta do, search Covino and Rich
FSR on YouTube. Again, Go to YouTube, search Covino and
Rich FSR.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up
icon and comment away.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Fox Sports Radio. A Jason Smith show with my best friend,
Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Here we go. Here we go. You're going to go
do that maze at Hollywood Horror Nights? Oh, I love
going to Hollywood Horror Nights. It's so much fun. She's
part of the bit this year. Oh, really? Obsession?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Your girl.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Really? Yeah. Yep.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Like there's an Obsession house at Hollywood Horror Nights? There's
going to be a Nikki following people around.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah. No.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh, that's awesome. That's fantastic. I saw an ad for
it earlier. That sounds great. Right?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
That sounds great. The best part of Hollywood horror is
the people that follow you around.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They get really close.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
People that walk around with chainsaws and walk right up
to you. But, oh, man, if there's a Nikki that's
going to follow and she's going to stare at you
and just give those pooched lips out and go like, hmm,
that's going to be great.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Although walking around Los Angeles, I think almost in any bar, restaurant,
or situation, you can find someone to look at you
like that.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Oh, well, you know, the kid can because the kid's
got game. But, yeah, I hear you on that. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
How's Pam feeling about that? She knows I got game.
How do you think I got Pam? I got game.
Just saying, if you're still spitting game, then we got problems.
I got game. I got game.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I mean, once upon a time, we're over across the street,
and one of our former colleagues said, hey, what up, game?
And it was actually the game. It was actually the game, yeah. Yeah,
sometimes there's game, and then there's the game. It's weird
how that works sometimes, yeah. So the biggest story in
sports today, the Angels are sold to Stan Kroenke. who
(17:37):
owns no less than 47 professional sports teams across 46 sports.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That is a nice portfolio. It is.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
It's a big day for him, and the track record
that he has had, the teams he has owned, they
all do pretty well. So it's a pretty big day
for the Angels.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It's bigger.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Because of this twist that's just happened in the last
couple of hours. As Artie Marino sells the team, and look,
Marino's tenure with the Angels, they won the World Series.
So you got to say, give them the nod for
that because Angels winning the World Series, come on, man.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
It's like how we're going to look back again. 20
years ago, man, the Bucs won the NBA title.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Remember that? Yeah, that was crazy. The Bucs won.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We're looking back, oh, man, the Seahawks won the Super
Bowl with Sam Darnold.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Wow, that was really weird.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Like, wow, the Angels won the World Series in 2002. Yeah,
so you give him the nod for that.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
And then he bought them the next year.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
But the last 24 years has not been great.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
No, he spent a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I mean, you go down the laundry list, and it
was done poorly.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Oftentimes, you know, the first blush, you and I, as
those details were announced, going, this is not going.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
To be good.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
No, but the history of the Angels is it's 2002.
They had really good teams back in the late 70s,
early 80s, the mid-80s, too. But, like, you look back
and go, okay, so 2002 was great. And then what
happened after? Marino, the first thing he did was make
beer prices go down. And I was, oh, my God,
the guy lowered beer prices. He's the greatest owner in
the world for a while. He lowered beer prices. The
(19:05):
beer prices come down. Okay, well, you know where to go.
But the 20-some-odd years, this is a team that you
can count the number of playoff games on one hand
with Trout and Otani. You're talking about the two best
players in Major League Baseball, Over the past 15 years,
the two best all-around players, the Angels had them both.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
They had them both at the same time. Yeah, they
had them both. And they couldn't win, right?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So, yes, it was a big failure for the Angels.
The team wasn't going anywhere. And I get the sale.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
New day. Angels fans are very happy.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You want to be even crazier? You know who the
Angels played that one playoff series?
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Royals yeah yeah yeah right every few years the royals
but the big twist is that mike trout has weighed
in on the angel sale how about that wait a
minute what before the game tonight against the yankees trout
said quote i'm excited you know let's be sad no
(20:06):
one's going to believe that mike trout said that how
do you know was it his burner account people know
mike john he's Does Mike Trout even have social media?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I don't think so. He doesn't strike me as someone
that's got that. He might have his own storm chasing
app that he's built, though.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
He strikes me as someone that's got his own Facebook page,
but it's locked and it's invite only.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know what, though?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I bet he does a bunch of trading card stuff
on social media because he is an active member of
that community.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
So I think he probably orchestrates some stuff there, maybe
under a full on pseudonym. After the news was broken,
he said, quote, I'm excited. The track record, it's there.
It doesn't change his desire to stay with the franchise
for the remainder of his contract. If anything, he seems
to be energized ahead of what's going on. Quote, seeing
(20:52):
the reaction from the fans and some of the guys
and the whole vibe, I think it was needed for
a fresh start. The biggest thing is getting that feeling
of getting that winning culture back and having that vibe
in the clubhouse. Well, Welcome to the party, pal. I
feel like Bruce Willis in time. Welcome to the party.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Welcome, Mike Trout. Where have you been?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Where have you been stepping up as a leader these last, oh,
I don't know, 10 plus years or so?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Where have you been?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
All of a sudden you went, oh, yeah, yeah, we
needed this vibe.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, not that it was going.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
To change because a star player is never going to
get an owner to sell a team. You've got to
be a really big star player. But where was he
when things get tough? Your best players need to be voices,
need to challenge. And I'm not saying that Mike Trout
needs to be somebody different than he is. You want
people to be who they are. But once in a while, hey,
your best player's got to step up and say some things,
(21:41):
whether it's just to get stuff off his chest. whether
it's to get people thinking about the team a certain way,
whether it's about time to get the team thinking a
different way. Maybe it's something where he needs to be
in Marino's office saying, this is what I think we need.
I'm the longest-tenured guy here. This is what's going to
get us back into competition. He needs to be that guy.
You need to be a voice. And this is the
(22:02):
first time I can remember him saying anything about the Angels. Again,
since he's been there. I'm trying to think of outside
of when they would cut to an Eagles game or
he would do the weather. What's the last time he
has said something that makes you go, oh, okay, he
said this about the Angels. I can tell you what
Aaron Judge said that steps up for his team yesterday
(22:23):
and the guy's been injured. I can tell you what
Juan Soto was said about the Mets in the last
two weeks. He's also been injured. I can tell you
what Bryce Harper has done for the Philadelphia Phillies sometime
in the past month. All the big players have all
said things. They all say things. They all know when
to pick their spots. And this is the first time
I can remember Mike Trout saying anything about the Angels.
(22:44):
Even if it's saying, hey, we need a fresh start.
This is where I raise my hand and I go, wait,
If you felt we needed a fresh start, why was
this not something that was pushed out? Why did you
not talk to the GM about this? Why did you
not talk to Holly Jolly about this? I love her
name's Holly Jolly, by the way.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Why did you not talk to her and say, hey,
Christmas movie season's coming.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
We need to do things a little bit differently. We
need to find a different way to do it. Maybe
they find a new business path, a new way to success.
Where is any of this going? contribution to making the
team better. I get that he wants to be a
guy that does his own thing and do it.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I understand that.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But when you're getting paid the kind of money you are,
once in a while, you need to step up and go, okay, guys,
I got us.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I got us. I'm going to take care of us.
And I think you just said it.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
12 years, 426.5. And that's why you don't say anything.
Not that you couldn't have gone and made money like
that elsewhere. When he was healthy, Mike Trout was, you know,
like Frank Thomas early in his career. and some others,
you're on these projections towards blowing past the all-time greats
of the game and then beset by injuries, crashing into walls,
(23:54):
all of those things start to come back on the body.
But I think maybe that's it. Just the loyalty there
of they did right by him in terms of the
contract and longevity and everything else. And so he was loyal. Now,
behind the scenes, maybe he was an active voice. Problem is,
it never got out to us. And, you know, we
(24:16):
want the outward work of leadership as well because that's
the only way you're going to affect change unless someone
really on the inside and the owner decides he really
wants to move things.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I mean, he sold this thing for $ 4 billion. That
does not include any land. Okay, let's wrap our arms
around that as well. It's the team.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Like everything else is owned by the city of Anaheim,
which will soon be bought by Kronkico and developed as
fast as they can. But in the short term, you've
paid all this money. Artie Moreno, when he bought it,
paid $ 182 million. You talk about a return of investment.
You talk about low beer prices, concessions prices. You can
park reasonably. All of those things are great and true.
(25:00):
And they drew three plus million people every year.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
So for Artie Moreno, what's broken? Yeah, you want to win,
but it's profitable.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
And you're making money hand over fist, even when you're
paying out bad contracts to some.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Of these guys.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
We'll always wonder what the truth was in those final
meetings with Shohei Ohtani and his people before he came
and became a Dodger.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Right?
Speaker 4 (25:25):
The report is he had the last right of refusal.
All right, here's what the Dodgers are willing to do
and wouldn't meet that. Why didn't they trade him? Well,
I'm still convinced it was he liked the money that
was coming from Japan for all those advertisements that he
was going to end up having to do make goods
on for that final half year, plus all the TV
deal and everything that had gone on there. And he
(25:47):
legitimately thought he could re-sign him until he didn't. But
You look at it when you're making that much money
and things are rolling well. It's like, yeah, you had
near runs in September. Oh, we almost got there. And
you can convince yourself you're.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Doing it right. Look what they did in the draft
a couple of years ago. What did they draft? Nine pitchers?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
It's an all-pitcher draft. Boy, these are really good. No,
he's not a pitcher. We're not drafting him. We're just drafting.
We're doing the opposite. All right. Fine, fine.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Where's a 30 for 30 on the Angels' nine pitchers?
Let's commission that. Let's get that going. What happened in
their minor league system? I never want to be someone
that says you need to be different than who you
are because everybody's leadership style is different. Sometimes you lead
by example. Sometimes I like to be able to talk.
I will send a message through the media. I will
(26:33):
send a message through one of our assistant coaches. I'll
talk to the player himself, right? Everybody does differently. But
when you're Mike Trout and you are this kind of
influence on the organization, getting paid this kind of money,
People look to you to lead. And I'm sorry, but
that's part of the gig. That's part of the gig.
When this is going on, the angels mean a lot
to a lot of people, right? It's an entire organization.
(26:55):
Once in a while, you need to stand up and
either ruffle feathers or whether it's to calm everybody down
or to show at least, hey, this guy has our back.
This guy's taking the pressure off us by saying something
like once in a while. We need something from him.
There's no other player I can think of that's had
the status that Mike Trout has had. I mean, up
until the last couple of years he was here. But
(27:16):
when he was the best player in baseball, like, I
don't know. I don't know of another player that was
that good, that was that far and away, that great
a player, an MVP player that just didn't say anything.
That was that quiet. I'm not saying anything.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
What did we know? Eagles fan. Loved watching the Weather Channel.
Eagles fan of the weather. And then he became a
baseball card collector. That's it. I got three things.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, that's not, hey, we need to do things different.
We need to go after some pitchers in the offseason.
I think we're good. Hey, this Rendon contract is terrible.
This is a bad guy. He needs to go.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I don't know if he thought about that. But just
certain things that you.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Would want your best player to say. Hey, Shohei, stay, man.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Stay.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I'm going to stand on top of a billboard outside
of Disneyland until you decide to stay with us. We'll
do great things, man. I let you strike me out
in the end of the World Baseball Classic. I will
never let that happen again. Where was any of that?
All the things that the team needed at different times.
And again, I'm saying that this is maybe something that
a couple of times a year. But you still need
(28:18):
something other than, well, yeah, here he's showing up every day.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, that's great.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
But when you're that kind of player, you get paid
that kind of money, that kind of talent, that sort
of goes to the territory.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Said this was needed, though. That's what he told me.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m.
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Fox Sports Radio, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend,
Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Well-dressed hobo.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
This story, I hope, dies today. I hope, like, this
is the end of it. Again, if, like we talked
about with college football, if zero week was any better...
This is just a very minor story, but instead it
becomes the biggest slash second biggest story of football so far.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
How do we not spend more time talking about the
greatness and the defensive wizardry of Bill Belichick?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Wizardry.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
The two biggest stories this past weekend, going into week two,
Bill Belichick and North Carolina win.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
He hates the world. USC had nobody at their opening game.
That's what it is. Tonight, Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Issued a statement about the USC fans. Because this whole
weekend got out of control with, look at the lack
of fans that are at this game. California, Los Angeles
fans are fair weather fans. And a whole bunch of
stuff just.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
blew up.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
That was ridiculous. Lincoln Riley puts out this statement. He says, quote,
this is USC. People are going to have an opinion.
I don't buy into the false narrative. I think that
comes from a lot of people that don't follow our program.
And most of those have never stepped foot in the Coliseum.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And that's great. That's a great thing. And I understand that.
It was unnecessary.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Just like their apology. Because all you had to do
was say, it was hot. It was 110 degrees.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
It was miserable.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
We had had a whole week of miserable weather here
in Los Angeles where you couldn't go outside because it
was so hot. My dogs never wanted to go outside.
They want to go outside and play with coyotes. They're
so excited to go outside. they didn't want to be
outside at all it was hot for the entire week
it's been hot it's the end of summer it was
96 degrees at kickoff why are you kicking off at
(30:34):
12 30 in the afternoon that's just stupid right so
okay It was hot. That's the only reason. And I've
been to games in Los Angeles. The last time I
went to a game like this, I went to a
UCLA-Michigan game about 20 years ago in the Rose Bowl.
It was the second week of the season, and it
was so miserable. I told this the other night. I
(30:55):
watched people passing out, laying on bags of ice outside.
It was miserable because it was 100-some-odd degrees.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
It was awful.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
It was the worst game experience I've ever had going
to a game. Never going back to a game again.
in the situation where It's the summer or it's early
September and the game is at 12 o'clock in an
outdoor stadium. Not doing it because the weather was bad.
It's all you had to do was say it was hot.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
If it was USC, they were playing Notre Dame. If
they were playing Michigan. Okay, people would have still braved
that weather to go out. But do I really want
to go sit and be absolutely miserable? Because that's what
you are. It's where the sweat just drips off you
like I'm in a sauna and I'm uncomfortable and it's hot.
and I'm getting sunburned no matter what I put on.
(31:40):
I'm just sweating off the SPF.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
It was hot.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
That's all you had to say. It was unbelievably hot.
That's why nobody came, okay? This is a false narrative.
People still go to Dodger games all the time. Dodgers
play at night. They get 55,000 people at night. Oh, wait,
because they play at night because they're smart. You could
have played this game later on. It would have been
much better. That's all you had to say.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
It was hot. It was ungodly hot. That's why nobody
was here. End of story.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
This doesn't mean that we have fair weather fans. It
doesn't mean no one's coming to games. Again, everybody's still
getting to the Dodgers. They still go see the Lakers.
They go everywhere. But when it's 100-some-odd degrees out, people
don't hang out outside. That's how it goes. People do
not hang out outside when it's 100-some-odd degrees. Just want
folks to know, there's still 13th. We've been talking about
the Angels a lot tonight. 13th in attendance for home attendance,
(32:28):
averaging 32,000 fans for a craptastic product, okay? Folks will
brave the elements, and they still have to care. Now,
a lot of this was the shirtless people saying, sell
the team, sell the team.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
But the point being— The next day it was sold. Yeah,
it's done. Hey, it worked. We said sell the team.
We're going to walk down the street to a business owner. Okay, man.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Sell your business. Sell your business. But when you look
at these apologies and these statements— Sir, this is a Wendy's.
We're not selling this, sir. Okay.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
How about you say, hey, thanks to the 51,000 reportedly.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
That's what they announced. That's what they announced.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
1,000.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Hey, hey. That's what they announced.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
1,000.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
They announced 51. Look at the picture of the stadium.
When you can count the fans, it's not 51,000.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Hey, there's Johnny. That's not 51,000. He said he was
going to be there, and he's waving at me. Where
are you? I had great. It was like an angel game.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I bought tickets for like 10 bucks and I sat
in the 50 yard line.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
It was awesome.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
We talk about just the, the opportunity costs and just the,
the cost in general. It's not just the dollar that
comes out of your wallet. It's the thing you choose
not to do and actively get into, uh, you know,
sitting in air conditioning, watching said game.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
What were the local ratings on.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
On, on, L.A. television for that game. Probably not too shabby.
People flipping between that and the Dodgers over the course
of the afternoon, right? We talked to Steve DeSegre. He
was doing stats.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
He couldn't calculate the number of bottles of water that
he drank.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
While he was there. And he does stats.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
He does numbers.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
I said, you couldn't come up and count the number
of bottles of water you drank?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It really was one of the greatest record scratch moments
in show history.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Go find the podcast. But all of that to say,
it's not only the, hey, what does it cost for parking?
What does it cost for the ticket? You're talking about
your time. You're talking about your physical health. You're talking
about all those things that add up to, you know what?
When they enter Big Ten play, I'll be there. When
it's not 140 degrees.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Again, if it was a balmy 70 degrees.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
At kickoff, there would have been a lot more.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Everybody would be excited because it's an exciting year. USC's
got a lot of talent back. Their defense is better.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Their top 15 team expectations are through the roof. It
was just hot, man. It was just hot.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
I think he felt the need to coach to issue
a statement because people have a lot of a liking
problem with him.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
And that they don't.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah. No, but that's the thing is that this story,
that's why I hope it dies after today because I
feel like this has so become something that this isn't.
It's become, here's a referendum on Los Angeles fans and
USC fans and Lincoln Riley has lost the school.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
They got to make a change. It's hot. Sometimes it's
just that simple. It's hot. It's hot. It's August. For
a lot of people, it's the final throws before they
go back to school. Maybe you started this last week.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
And soft shoot into a day or two, but now
you're getting to the last vestiges of summer. You're back
in the youth sports. There's a lot of things that
are going on.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Again. And it's hot.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
If it was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, if
it was when the sun was going down, if it
was at night, there'd be no problems.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Absolutely no problems.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
So that's where it is.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So if you want to blame somebody, it's, well, how
did we agree to this game at noon on a Saturday?
How did we agree to that? That's just stupid, right?
That's the stupid part. I don't know how... Either of
these teams schedule games for 1230 in the month of September.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
You should.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
330 is dicey enough. You know, I would go more, hey,
let's go 530. Let's go 536. That's probably the best time.
But at least 330 after the first half of the game,
things start to get better. The stadium gets cool right
away as soon as the sun goes down. Like, that's
the still, like, why are we playing at 1230?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Why are we doing that?
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I think it's also the heat index danger part. I
can't believe that that was a real healthy thing to
have everybody on the field where the temperature was probably
180 degrees.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
My cleats are melting. No, you mean the... No, I
mean my cleats are melting. Like, I can't believe that
was safe, but we still did it. Not good. Got
a lot of ads for peacock shows I'm supposed to watch, though. Oh,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
You know, I don't like that they give you now,
here's all the shows. I'm like, okay, you're just showing
me an amalgam of all the shows that Peacock has.
It's not going to get me to watch anything. Yeah,
but I can't read the screen fast enough. If it's
just a blip, it's like, I don't know who that
actor is. What show is it? I don't know. No,
you got to give me commercials for specific shows.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Okay, great. Give me a specific show commercial.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
It's like I'm watching TV with the original Toy Story
where Ham's got.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
The remote control flipping through. Exit out, Bada Fresca. Exit
Swollen Dome, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend,
Mike Harmon. More football coming up next, Fox.
Thanks for listening to the Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight,
10 p.m.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
To 2 a.m.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Eastern, 7 to 11 p.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every night
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Now let's get this party started.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello, welcome inside Hour 3, The Jason Smith Show, with
my best friend.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Mike Harmon. I'm standing up in the studio!
Speaker 1 (00:38):
If you missed any of today's show, be sure to
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five stars, provide a review again. Just search our names,
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, wherever you get your podcasts.
You'll find today's full show and a best-of version posted
right after we get off the air.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So steaming towards.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Week one of college football, you know, zero week last week.
And now next week, next year is going to be
week one. It's going to take the place of weeks. Whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
There's games. I like that. I like zero week. I
like calling. It's a zero week. Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
But you know, we, we, we talk about being ahead
of the curve and we talk about takes being stolen
last night on the show. We talked about something that
got out today and we talked about how we said,
why does zero week in college football suck? And college
(01:37):
football has a two week span of where they can
run unopposed before we get into the NFL. And they
do not take advantage of that. Like, we get week
one of college football, and it's like a breath of
fresh air, and suddenly, whoa, we're into whatever is happening
and all the big games.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's how it looks out.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Deion Sanders in Colorado gained all the attention, you know,
three years ago. And then the NFL started basically right
after week one. Okay, hey, Monday, we talk college football. Now, okay,
tomorrow night is opening night in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And that's where.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I don't know why zero week sucks and why zero
week is just a handful of games. We had one
game involving a top 25 team, and that was USC.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well, we didn't talk anything about the game. San Jose State.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Not that they played really well in the first half.
They showed who they were or whatever. It became about
the crowd and how hot it is.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Why does zero week suck?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And why does college football not understand they have this
short window and take advantage of it? And I'm not
going to say where I saw it earlier today, but
I'm just saying this was awful.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
This was awful. I'm not going to say, but it
was awful. College football, quite honestly, should start and have
three weeks of college football before the NFL starts. They
should start and give an extra bye week. They should
start the third week of August, right? We're coming in
beginning of July. You can have a month and a
(03:06):
half of games of practice to be ready to go,
and then you could start August 21st, August 20th, have
the first.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Week of games.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Week two should be the next week. Week three should
be Labor Day weekend. And then, you know, add in
a bye if you want to, because I'm all for that.
You know, I'm all for adding byes in for for,
you know, during the college football season.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
But why not take advantage of that time where the
NFL really doesn't have any headlines anymore? Right. Obviously, yes,
whatever quarterback battles are going on. players getting cut. But
look at the stories of this weekend. The biggest story
was Joe Milton getting claimed on waivers, right? We don't
see the stars as active in the preseason as we
(03:49):
have been before. And that's never changing. Suddenly, we're not
going to go back to the NFL going, well, we're
playing all our starters during the preseason.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
No, it's not happening.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
The teams have now come to grips with the fact,
and the NFL is okay with, hey, the football beginning
of the year is going to be rough. We don't
want to lose anybody. We don't want anybody to get hurt.
So it's going to be rough. We're not going to
have guys around. Why college football doesn't take more advantage
of that, I don't get. And it's, again, just forget
about zero. Like, zero weeks should be a full week, right?
(04:18):
I'm not saying you can make it... You can't say,
let's make it a challenge week. Like Lane Kiffin says,
I'd love to have an SEC Big Ten challenge week. Yeah,
I'd love that too, but no one's going to agree
to it. But why not have a full slate of games?
You're not going to schedule one of the best teams
early on in the season.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
To have all the teams playing, to have all the
Power Five conferences playing their games, even though they're rollover games,
why not have three weekends where you can take that,
where you can take control of that? And you can
have that... that attention and almost give like a full
month to college football that you're not going to get.
We're now, okay, hey, college football, we had zero week
(05:01):
last week. And what did we have? Right, we had
North Carolina and Bill Belichick. And that was a story.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
USC won.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
The story was about fans not there because it was
too hot. Now, USC playing games hot. If you have
a full slate of games, I don't think the networks
are going to worry if, well, USC, San Jose State's
going to be played at 7 o'clock at night. instead
of 12.30 in the afternoon. You could have another team
playing somewhere where the weather is going to be a
little bit better. You can do those things. You can
even have all the games start at 3.30, right?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You can have that wall-to-wall college football, and you will
have people more tuned in that will stay with games
more during the season. It's a better time. Why wouldn't
you run that unopposed? Yet, this is what happens when
you have a sport that's not run by anybody, and
it's just conferences out for.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Themselves, right? It should be more than just, well.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Bill Belichick and North Carolina playing in Dublin, USC's crowd, and, oh,
Florida State played.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, that's it.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I mean, why are you not starting with a big
flourish with college football?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Nobody eases into a season. What other sport eases into
a season? We go, well, you had a couple of games. No,
the season starts and we play. That's kind of how
it goes.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Well, they just wanted to whet your appetite. Once upon
a time, we did have some of those kickoff classics
and challenge games and whatever. And perhaps since the monies
are certainly there around the college space and trickling down
to the players now, that maybe you can get some
of that, like Kiffin brings up, not the worst idea
(06:33):
that he's had, but since it came out of his mouth,
it just gets dismissed categorically.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
But they'll have that when the SEC and the Big
Ten wind up forming their own league. When they splinter
off in three years, it's the SEC, and it's the
big SEC or whatever it's going to be. They're going
to play their separate schedules, but we are going to
get the Big Ten SEC Challenge Week, and we're going
to get that. Okay, awesome. Wow, that's going to be great.
We'll have that in a couple of years. Lane Kiffin's
(07:00):
just a couple of years ahead.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
But in the short term, you could say that, in theory...
And this is that dangerous word that we use so
often here on the show. In theory, that you have
enough buffer at this point with the size of the
college football playoff that you should.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Be able to sustain a loss if you're that good, right?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That you give this showcase and everybody gets a ton
of money, attention, your stars get the love, whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But we're not there yet. We're not there yet.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
We're in this next phase of trying to figure out
how to eliminate some of the cream puffs, because that's
what some would argue is going to happen and slough
off as you consolidate things. And some of those games
go to the wayside. The haves have nots and big
conferences versus the other. But yeah, I agree with you
in theory that, yes, you've got this three week run up.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And why did we not have a great slate of
games last week?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Because we didn't need to. No, I think we need
some games. Listen, because it's like, I always argue with
the NFL, right? They do this thing.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's like, look at the schedule for the first two weeks.
We'll watch anything.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That looks like football. But everybody's got to play. But
they should play. College football fans are more regionalized than
anything else. If you had a big game, if you
had Alabama-Auburn, okay, people are going to watch. But you
don't have it. We got five days this week, though, Jason.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I mean, come on!
Speaker 1 (08:21):
But the thing is, if you had the entire slate
of all the teams playing, everybody's watching. My team is playing.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I am watching. Everybody's watching.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
But is everybody getting to the television where the biggest
things were North Carolina, USC in a game against San
Jose State, and Florida State? Hey, that Stanford-Hawaii game was
damn entertaining. People aren't getting the TV for that, but
they'll get there for their teams. And I don't know
why you don't. You could have easily had, you could
have three weeks of games. Sure. You start then, you
have an extra bye, whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And again, you know what?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
You can even end the season earlier if you want to, right?
If you're worried about... and this crazy-ass stuff that you
get from college football. Well, the season goes too long
and teams are playing too long. Okay, we're starting the
season a couple of weeks earlier. That's going to allow
you to finish. Most teams will finish before finals. They'll
be able to have bowl games, and now we can
finish much earlier. We can finish on New Year's Day.
(09:12):
We can finish it early if you're so worried about that.
You tried to throw in the academics have you not
recognized that with the exception of a very small number
of schools nobody gives a damn about that when was
the last time you had a guy declared academically ineligible
of course nobody cares about that but that's the fake
reason that's thrown out there by different schools administrators and
(09:32):
conferences so i can say we can take care of
that fake concern that you have by starting earlier and
ending earlier you don't even have to answer that Here's
a fake concern. I'll fix that fake concern for you.
Like Jack Burns has you on the lie detector machine.
You have a concern.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It's fake.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
But I have a real answer for your fake concern.
So now we can move on from there. That would
only make sense for college football. But while they don't
have a commissioner, how are they going to agree on
stuff like that? How is stuff like that going to
get through? Because forget about having a commissioner that would
come in, that would be able to figure out all
the issues between the conferences, right? That we figure out
(10:08):
NIL issues. We'll figure out how to do that fairly.
We'll figure out how to do the transfer portal fairly.
Kennesaw Mountain Landis ain't walking through that door.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Lifetime contract.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I like how he's killing the flies while he's getting
his contract and eight men out. But we talk about
having a commissioner because, hey, they will solve all the problems.
They will solve all the infighting between the conferences, whether
it's we'll solve, like a commissioner would solve NIL. It
would solve how do you deal with the transfer portal,
keeping it open here, keeping it open here, right? So
you'd have a commissioner that would be able to solve
(10:38):
those things. But you also need somebody that would say,
I have the vision to grow the sport. I have
the vision to go forward. And starting games here is
going to help. Having two weeks, three weeks worth of games,
that's going to help. All these things I can do,
that's going to grow the game. They don't have anybody
growing the game. They just have a bunch of conferences going, hey,
will this help us? Great, let's do it, man.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Like, this is why every time I see something with
college football, I go, man. College football commissioner would really
figure stuff out.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, I mean, they've got a toothless NCAA gumming their
way into 2026.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Not an Adam Silver commissioner who does nothing or a
Kathy Engelbert who just disappears, but actually a real commissioner
that wants to do things.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, but you're talking about some of these guys giving
up power. They ain't giving up power.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Greg Sankey ain't walking through that door going, you know,
I want this guy.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
To rule over all of it.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
No!
Speaker 2 (11:25):
No, I mean, college football could be.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
It's doing terrific, but it's one of those sports, it
could be doing so much better.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You could be doing so much better on things. Yeah,
in theory. No, in real life.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Like, I think all those things could happen in real life.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
No, because we're still playing a lot of different, they're
all under one umbrella sport, but they're playing different games.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
No, you start the college football season around August 20th.
Full slate of games, everybody is watching. Cupcakes, doesn't matter.
You'll get a couple of decent games to schedule, but
everybody's watching. The next week, cupcake games, everybody is watching.
Labor Day now, whoa, college football has got storylines.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You have upsets.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You have teams that aren't as good. You have players
you're following. Third week now, okay. And now suddenly, it
doesn't just disappear when the NFL starts because you have
a head of momentum. Hey, this guy's got 1,000 yards
passing by Labor Day. How the hell does he have that? Man,
that's amazing, right? Suddenly now you have storylines, you have
surprise teams that are 3-0, you have surprise teams that
(12:28):
are 1-2. Whatever it is, you have all of these
things now that you have built them that people are
going to continue to follow. If Colorado and Deion Sanders
started 3-0 by the time it got to NFL Week
1 three years ago... College football could say, we're putting
Colorado on at 1 o'clock Sunday. People would say, well,
I've got to watch that. I'm not going to watch
the NFL. I'll watch Colorado. That's the power that college
(12:50):
football doesn't realize they have.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, they do in spurts.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And it's also incumbent upon the lot of us to
not resort to, hey, Joe Milton got waived and didn't
get claimed. Let's do 20 on that instead of something.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Else, right?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
But you're not fighting with anything with that. Really, you're
running unopposed. It's like Tua running unopposed in the quarterback
derby in Atlanta against nobody except Tua couldn't win that.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
It's like you're running unopposed with your college football. Right,
but I'm saying in-season as we get there, right? But look,
I agree with your scheduling side. The idea that they're
going to ever elect some grand poobah commissioner to be
over the top.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean, you're in fantasy land. And I like fantasy land.
You don't think they could elect two co-commissioners and two
guys share the power? One's from the Big Ten and
one's from the SEC? Of course they could. No, those guys...
Every day.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
This will be looking like the... The old Raw episodes, like,
let's go look in the offices. They're smashing each other
with chairs.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
You could say, okay, we're going to elect two commissioners
of college football, right?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You could say this.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And you could say, for the first two-year term, it's
going to be Nick Saban.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Okay, well, SEC. But then the next two-year term.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
It would be Jim Harbaugh or, you know, whatever you
want to say. Somebody not– but somebody from the Big Ten.
Somebody who was Big Ten, someone a big.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
My man, you're just going into a two-party system again.
You can do that, right? What are you doing? You
can do that.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You could even have a rotating commissioner that's from each
of the power conferences, right? The power three conferences. The
ACC commissioner is going to be the guy this year.
Swofford's going to be it this year. However you want
to do it, man.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, but what does he get to do? What kind
of power?
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Is this like a school class president where you make
a bunch of promises?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
You'll have chocolate milk for free. It's scooby. Hey, that
would be a start. Because if all of a sudden.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You had from one of the other add-on conferences suddenly
has the power, here's what I'm trying to enact this year.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, beat it. When do we start the season? Early
in August?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
No, but everybody gets free chocolate milk.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Oh, what a great commission! I'm going to promise you
no homework.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
All right, well, that actually happens in a lot of
classes because there's laziness all around.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
But you get my point. Exit out about a fresca
at Swollen Dome. Jason Smith, Mike Hartman, live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Coming up next, the big new
twist to the biggest story of the day in sports.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Jason and Mike, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Hey, it's Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio. Now,
in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5 to
7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,
we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for
the show.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yup, that's right.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube
every day. All you gotta do, search Covino and Rich
FSR on YouTube. Again, Go to YouTube, search Covino and
Rich FSR.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up
icon and comment away.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Fox Sports Radio. A Jason Smith show with my best friend,
Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Here we go. Here we go. You're going to go
do that maze at Hollywood Horror Nights? Oh, I love
going to Hollywood Horror Nights. It's so much fun. She's
part of the bit this year. Oh, really? Obsession?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Your girl.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Really? Yeah. Yep.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Like there's an Obsession house at Hollywood Horror Nights? There's
going to be a Nikki following people around.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah. No.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh, that's awesome. That's fantastic. I saw an ad for
it earlier. That sounds great. Right?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
That sounds great. The best part of Hollywood horror is
the people that follow you around.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They get really close.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
People that walk around with chainsaws and walk right up
to you. But, oh, man, if there's a Nikki that's
going to follow and she's going to stare at you
and just give those pooched lips out and go like, hmm,
that's going to be great.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Although walking around Los Angeles, I think almost in any bar, restaurant,
or situation, you can find someone to look at you
like that.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Oh, well, you know, the kid can because the kid's
got game. But, yeah, I hear you on that. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
How's Pam feeling about that? She knows I got game.
How do you think I got Pam? I got game.
Just saying, if you're still spitting game, then we got problems.
I got game. I got game.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I mean, once upon a time, we're over across the street,
and one of our former colleagues said, hey, what up, game?
And it was actually the game. It was actually the game, yeah. Yeah,
sometimes there's game, and then there's the game. It's weird
how that works sometimes, yeah. So the biggest story in
sports today, the Angels are sold to Stan Kroenke. who
(17:37):
owns no less than 47 professional sports teams across 46 sports.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That is a nice portfolio. It is.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
It's a big day for him, and the track record
that he has had, the teams he has owned, they
all do pretty well. So it's a pretty big day
for the Angels.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It's bigger.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Because of this twist that's just happened in the last
couple of hours. As Artie Marino sells the team, and look,
Marino's tenure with the Angels, they won the World Series.
So you got to say, give them the nod for
that because Angels winning the World Series, come on, man.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
It's like how we're going to look back again. 20
years ago, man, the Bucs won the NBA title.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Remember that? Yeah, that was crazy. The Bucs won.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We're looking back, oh, man, the Seahawks won the Super
Bowl with Sam Darnold.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Wow, that was really weird.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Like, wow, the Angels won the World Series in 2002. Yeah,
so you give him the nod for that.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
And then he bought them the next year.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
But the last 24 years has not been great.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
No, he spent a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I mean, you go down the laundry list, and it
was done poorly.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Oftentimes, you know, the first blush, you and I, as
those details were announced, going, this is not going.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
To be good.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
No, but the history of the Angels is it's 2002.
They had really good teams back in the late 70s,
early 80s, the mid-80s, too. But, like, you look back
and go, okay, so 2002 was great. And then what
happened after? Marino, the first thing he did was make
beer prices go down. And I was, oh, my God,
the guy lowered beer prices. He's the greatest owner in
the world for a while. He lowered beer prices. The
(19:05):
beer prices come down. Okay, well, you know where to go.
But the 20-some-odd years, this is a team that you
can count the number of playoff games on one hand
with Trout and Otani. You're talking about the two best
players in Major League Baseball, Over the past 15 years,
the two best all-around players, the Angels had them both.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
They had them both at the same time. Yeah, they
had them both. And they couldn't win, right?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So, yes, it was a big failure for the Angels.
The team wasn't going anywhere. And I get the sale.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
New day. Angels fans are very happy.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You want to be even crazier? You know who the
Angels played that one playoff series?
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Royals yeah yeah yeah right every few years the royals
but the big twist is that mike trout has weighed
in on the angel sale how about that wait a
minute what before the game tonight against the yankees trout
said quote i'm excited you know let's be sad no
(20:06):
one's going to believe that mike trout said that how
do you know was it his burner account people know
mike john he's Does Mike Trout even have social media?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I don't think so. He doesn't strike me as someone
that's got that. He might have his own storm chasing
app that he's built, though.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
He strikes me as someone that's got his own Facebook page,
but it's locked and it's invite only.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know what, though?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I bet he does a bunch of trading card stuff
on social media because he is an active member of
that community.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
So I think he probably orchestrates some stuff there, maybe
under a full on pseudonym. After the news was broken,
he said, quote, I'm excited. The track record, it's there.
It doesn't change his desire to stay with the franchise
for the remainder of his contract. If anything, he seems
to be energized ahead of what's going on. Quote, seeing
(20:52):
the reaction from the fans and some of the guys
and the whole vibe, I think it was needed for
a fresh start. The biggest thing is getting that feeling
of getting that winning culture back and having that vibe
in the clubhouse. Well, Welcome to the party, pal. I
feel like Bruce Willis in time. Welcome to the party.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Welcome, Mike Trout. Where have you been?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Where have you been stepping up as a leader these last, oh,
I don't know, 10 plus years or so?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Where have you been?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
All of a sudden you went, oh, yeah, yeah, we
needed this vibe.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, not that it was going.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
To change because a star player is never going to
get an owner to sell a team. You've got to
be a really big star player. But where was he
when things get tough? Your best players need to be voices,
need to challenge. And I'm not saying that Mike Trout
needs to be somebody different than he is. You want
people to be who they are. But once in a while, hey,
your best player's got to step up and say some things,
(21:41):
whether it's just to get stuff off his chest. whether
it's to get people thinking about the team a certain way,
whether it's about time to get the team thinking a
different way. Maybe it's something where he needs to be
in Marino's office saying, this is what I think we need.
I'm the longest-tenured guy here. This is what's going to
get us back into competition. He needs to be that guy.
You need to be a voice. And this is the
(22:02):
first time I can remember him saying anything about the Angels. Again,
since he's been there. I'm trying to think of outside
of when they would cut to an Eagles game or
he would do the weather. What's the last time he
has said something that makes you go, oh, okay, he
said this about the Angels. I can tell you what
Aaron Judge said that steps up for his team yesterday
(22:23):
and the guy's been injured. I can tell you what
Juan Soto was said about the Mets in the last
two weeks. He's also been injured. I can tell you
what Bryce Harper has done for the Philadelphia Phillies sometime
in the past month. All the big players have all
said things. They all say things. They all know when
to pick their spots. And this is the first time
I can remember Mike Trout saying anything about the Angels.
(22:44):
Even if it's saying, hey, we need a fresh start.
This is where I raise my hand and I go, wait,
If you felt we needed a fresh start, why was
this not something that was pushed out? Why did you
not talk to the GM about this? Why did you
not talk to Holly Jolly about this? I love her
name's Holly Jolly, by the way.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Why did you not talk to her and say, hey,
Christmas movie season's coming.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
We need to do things a little bit differently. We
need to find a different way to do it. Maybe
they find a new business path, a new way to success.
Where is any of this going? contribution to making the
team better. I get that he wants to be a
guy that does his own thing and do it.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I understand that.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But when you're getting paid the kind of money you are,
once in a while, you need to step up and go, okay, guys,
I got us.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I got us. I'm going to take care of us.
And I think you just said it.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
12 years, 426.5. And that's why you don't say anything.
Not that you couldn't have gone and made money like
that elsewhere. When he was healthy, Mike Trout was, you know,
like Frank Thomas early in his career. and some others,
you're on these projections towards blowing past the all-time greats
of the game and then beset by injuries, crashing into walls,
(23:54):
all of those things start to come back on the body.
But I think maybe that's it. Just the loyalty there
of they did right by him in terms of the
contract and longevity and everything else. And so he was loyal. Now,
behind the scenes, maybe he was an active voice. Problem is,
it never got out to us. And, you know, we
(24:16):
want the outward work of leadership as well because that's
the only way you're going to affect change unless someone
really on the inside and the owner decides he really
wants to move things.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I mean, he sold this thing for $ 4 billion. That
does not include any land. Okay, let's wrap our arms
around that as well. It's the team.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Like everything else is owned by the city of Anaheim,
which will soon be bought by Kronkico and developed as
fast as they can. But in the short term, you've
paid all this money. Artie Moreno, when he bought it,
paid $ 182 million. You talk about a return of investment.
You talk about low beer prices, concessions prices. You can
park reasonably. All of those things are great and true.
(25:00):
And they drew three plus million people every year.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
So for Artie Moreno, what's broken? Yeah, you want to win,
but it's profitable.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
And you're making money hand over fist, even when you're
paying out bad contracts to some.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Of these guys.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
We'll always wonder what the truth was in those final
meetings with Shohei Ohtani and his people before he came
and became a Dodger.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Right?
Speaker 4 (25:25):
The report is he had the last right of refusal.
All right, here's what the Dodgers are willing to do
and wouldn't meet that. Why didn't they trade him? Well,
I'm still convinced it was he liked the money that
was coming from Japan for all those advertisements that he
was going to end up having to do make goods
on for that final half year, plus all the TV
deal and everything that had gone on there. And he
(25:47):
legitimately thought he could re-sign him until he didn't. But
You look at it when you're making that much money
and things are rolling well. It's like, yeah, you had
near runs in September. Oh, we almost got there. And
you can convince yourself you're.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Doing it right. Look what they did in the draft
a couple of years ago. What did they draft? Nine pitchers?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
It's an all-pitcher draft. Boy, these are really good. No,
he's not a pitcher. We're not drafting him. We're just drafting.
We're doing the opposite. All right. Fine, fine.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Where's a 30 for 30 on the Angels' nine pitchers?
Let's commission that. Let's get that going. What happened in
their minor league system? I never want to be someone
that says you need to be different than who you
are because everybody's leadership style is different. Sometimes you lead
by example. Sometimes I like to be able to talk.
I will send a message through the media. I will
(26:33):
send a message through one of our assistant coaches. I'll
talk to the player himself, right? Everybody does differently. But
when you're Mike Trout and you are this kind of
influence on the organization, getting paid this kind of money,
People look to you to lead. And I'm sorry, but
that's part of the gig. That's part of the gig.
When this is going on, the angels mean a lot
to a lot of people, right? It's an entire organization.
(26:55):
Once in a while, you need to stand up and
either ruffle feathers or whether it's to calm everybody down
or to show at least, hey, this guy has our back.
This guy's taking the pressure off us by saying something
like once in a while. We need something from him.
There's no other player I can think of that's had
the status that Mike Trout has had. I mean, up
until the last couple of years he was here. But
(27:16):
when he was the best player in baseball, like, I
don't know. I don't know of another player that was
that good, that was that far and away, that great
a player, an MVP player that just didn't say anything.
That was that quiet. I'm not saying anything.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
What did we know? Eagles fan. Loved watching the Weather Channel.
Eagles fan of the weather. And then he became a
baseball card collector. That's it. I got three things.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, that's not, hey, we need to do things different.
We need to go after some pitchers in the offseason.
I think we're good. Hey, this Rendon contract is terrible.
This is a bad guy. He needs to go.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I don't know if he thought about that. But just
certain things that you.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Would want your best player to say. Hey, Shohei, stay, man.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Stay.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I'm going to stand on top of a billboard outside
of Disneyland until you decide to stay with us. We'll
do great things, man. I let you strike me out
in the end of the World Baseball Classic. I will
never let that happen again. Where was any of that?
All the things that the team needed at different times.
And again, I'm saying that this is maybe something that
a couple of times a year. But you still need
(28:18):
something other than, well, yeah, here he's showing up every day.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, that's great.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
But when you're that kind of player, you get paid
that kind of money, that kind of talent, that sort
of goes to the territory.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Said this was needed, though. That's what he told me.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m.
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Fox Sports Radio, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend,
Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Well-dressed hobo.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
This story, I hope, dies today. I hope, like, this
is the end of it. Again, if, like we talked
about with college football, if zero week was any better...
This is just a very minor story, but instead it
becomes the biggest slash second biggest story of football so far.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
How do we not spend more time talking about the
greatness and the defensive wizardry of Bill Belichick?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Wizardry.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
The two biggest stories this past weekend, going into week two,
Bill Belichick and North Carolina win.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
He hates the world. USC had nobody at their opening game.
That's what it is. Tonight, Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Issued a statement about the USC fans. Because this whole
weekend got out of control with, look at the lack
of fans that are at this game. California, Los Angeles
fans are fair weather fans. And a whole bunch of
stuff just.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
blew up.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
That was ridiculous. Lincoln Riley puts out this statement. He says, quote,
this is USC. People are going to have an opinion.
I don't buy into the false narrative. I think that
comes from a lot of people that don't follow our program.
And most of those have never stepped foot in the Coliseum.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And that's great. That's a great thing. And I understand that.
It was unnecessary.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Just like their apology. Because all you had to do
was say, it was hot. It was 110 degrees.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
It was miserable.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
We had had a whole week of miserable weather here
in Los Angeles where you couldn't go outside because it
was so hot. My dogs never wanted to go outside.
They want to go outside and play with coyotes. They're
so excited to go outside. they didn't want to be
outside at all it was hot for the entire week
it's been hot it's the end of summer it was
96 degrees at kickoff why are you kicking off at
(30:34):
12 30 in the afternoon that's just stupid right so
okay It was hot. That's the only reason. And I've
been to games in Los Angeles. The last time I
went to a game like this, I went to a
UCLA-Michigan game about 20 years ago in the Rose Bowl.
It was the second week of the season, and it
was so miserable. I told this the other night. I
(30:55):
watched people passing out, laying on bags of ice outside.
It was miserable because it was 100-some-odd degrees.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
It was awful.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
It was the worst game experience I've ever had going
to a game. Never going back to a game again.
in the situation where It's the summer or it's early
September and the game is at 12 o'clock in an
outdoor stadium. Not doing it because the weather was bad.
It's all you had to do was say it was hot.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
If it was USC, they were playing Notre Dame. If
they were playing Michigan. Okay, people would have still braved
that weather to go out. But do I really want
to go sit and be absolutely miserable? Because that's what
you are. It's where the sweat just drips off you
like I'm in a sauna and I'm uncomfortable and it's hot.
and I'm getting sunburned no matter what I put on.
(31:40):
I'm just sweating off the SPF.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
It was hot.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
That's all you had to say. It was unbelievably hot.
That's why nobody came, okay? This is a false narrative.
People still go to Dodger games all the time. Dodgers
play at night. They get 55,000 people at night. Oh, wait,
because they play at night because they're smart. You could
have played this game later on. It would have been
much better. That's all you had to say.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
It was hot. It was ungodly hot. That's why nobody
was here. End of story.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
This doesn't mean that we have fair weather fans. It
doesn't mean no one's coming to games. Again, everybody's still
getting to the Dodgers. They still go see the Lakers.
They go everywhere. But when it's 100-some-odd degrees out, people
don't hang out outside. That's how it goes. People do
not hang out outside when it's 100-some-odd degrees. Just want
folks to know, there's still 13th. We've been talking about
the Angels a lot tonight. 13th in attendance for home attendance,
(32:28):
averaging 32,000 fans for a craptastic product, okay? Folks will
brave the elements, and they still have to care. Now,
a lot of this was the shirtless people saying, sell
the team, sell the team.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
But the point being— The next day it was sold. Yeah,
it's done. Hey, it worked. We said sell the team.
We're going to walk down the street to a business owner. Okay, man.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Sell your business. Sell your business. But when you look
at these apologies and these statements— Sir, this is a Wendy's.
We're not selling this, sir. Okay.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
How about you say, hey, thanks to the 51,000 reportedly.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
That's what they announced. That's what they announced.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
1,000.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Hey, hey. That's what they announced.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
1,000.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
They announced 51. Look at the picture of the stadium.
When you can count the fans, it's not 51,000.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Hey, there's Johnny. That's not 51,000. He said he was
going to be there, and he's waving at me. Where
are you? I had great. It was like an angel game.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I bought tickets for like 10 bucks and I sat
in the 50 yard line.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
It was awesome.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
We talk about just the, the opportunity costs and just the,
the cost in general. It's not just the dollar that
comes out of your wallet. It's the thing you choose
not to do and actively get into, uh, you know,
sitting in air conditioning, watching said game.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
What were the local ratings on.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
On, on, L.A. television for that game. Probably not too shabby.
People flipping between that and the Dodgers over the course
of the afternoon, right? We talked to Steve DeSegre. He
was doing stats.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
He couldn't calculate the number of bottles of water that
he drank.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
While he was there. And he does stats.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
He does numbers.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
I said, you couldn't come up and count the number
of bottles of water you drank?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It really was one of the greatest record scratch moments
in show history.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Go find the podcast. But all of that to say,
it's not only the, hey, what does it cost for parking?
What does it cost for the ticket? You're talking about
your time. You're talking about your physical health. You're talking
about all those things that add up to, you know what?
When they enter Big Ten play, I'll be there. When
it's not 140 degrees.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Again, if it was a balmy 70 degrees.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
At kickoff, there would have been a lot more.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Everybody would be excited because it's an exciting year. USC's
got a lot of talent back. Their defense is better.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Their top 15 team expectations are through the roof. It
was just hot, man. It was just hot.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
I think he felt the need to coach to issue
a statement because people have a lot of a liking
problem with him.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
And that they don't.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah. No, but that's the thing is that this story,
that's why I hope it dies after today because I
feel like this has so become something that this isn't.
It's become, here's a referendum on Los Angeles fans and
USC fans and Lincoln Riley has lost the school.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
They got to make a change. It's hot. Sometimes it's
just that simple. It's hot. It's hot. It's August. For
a lot of people, it's the final throws before they
go back to school. Maybe you started this last week.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
And soft shoot into a day or two, but now
you're getting to the last vestiges of summer. You're back
in the youth sports. There's a lot of things that
are going on.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Again. And it's hot.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
If it was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, if
it was when the sun was going down, if it
was at night, there'd be no problems.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Absolutely no problems.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
So that's where it is.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So if you want to blame somebody, it's, well, how
did we agree to this game at noon on a Saturday?
How did we agree to that? That's just stupid, right?
That's the stupid part. I don't know how... Either of
these teams schedule games for 1230 in the month of September.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
You should.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
330 is dicey enough. You know, I would go more, hey,
let's go 530. Let's go 536. That's probably the best time.
But at least 330 after the first half of the game,
things start to get better. The stadium gets cool right
away as soon as the sun goes down. Like, that's
the still, like, why are we playing at 1230?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Why are we doing that?
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I think it's also the heat index danger part. I
can't believe that that was a real healthy thing to
have everybody on the field where the temperature was probably
180 degrees.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
My cleats are melting. No, you mean the... No, I
mean my cleats are melting. Like, I can't believe that
was safe, but we still did it. Not good. Got
a lot of ads for peacock shows I'm supposed to watch, though. Oh,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
You know, I don't like that they give you now,
here's all the shows. I'm like, okay, you're just showing
me an amalgam of all the shows that Peacock has.
It's not going to get me to watch anything. Yeah,
but I can't read the screen fast enough. If it's
just a blip, it's like, I don't know who that
actor is. What show is it? I don't know. No,
you got to give me commercials for specific shows.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Okay, great. Give me a specific show commercial.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
It's like I'm watching TV with the original Toy Story
where Ham's got.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
The remote control flipping through. Exit out, Bada Fresca. Exit
Swollen Dome, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend,
Mike Harmon. More football coming up next, Fox.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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