July 29, 2025 • 34 mins
The Las Vegas Raiders released Christian Wilkins for kissing another teammate? And a great discussion on the NFLPA!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh yeah, maybe it goes so fast. Hour four of
the program. Here Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon. No, Jason Smith may or may not
be back Wednesday.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I may. We got a six to six games.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Bottom, a ninth two runners on, so we'll see how
that one flows. I mean, folks theorizing that a Mets
continued winning streak would keep Jason from coming back to
the studio, which would mean more Rich Ornberger with us
here at Ornberger where you find him in the Twitter verse.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
It's going on, buddy, Sure, yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Things are good.
Speaker 6 (01:01):
As we make the final turn lap four, I'm feeling stronger, better,
even more opinionated than where we started.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
More hot take nonsense here in the final ockers, you're
gonna have to make some sense of things for me
as we look at the wonderful twisting world of Christian Wilkins.
Earlier this week we chronicled the release by the Las
Vegas Raiders, which would then prompt a flare up into
the night and a potential grievance with the Union, which
(01:33):
is a whole other subplot to all of this, with
everything going on with the people at the head of
the union, from player reps, elected officials all the way
to Lloyd Howell, who has now resigned from his post,
but put a pin in that for the moment. Reports
today start surfacing now that there was an HR complaint
(01:55):
filed by a Raiders teammate now former Raiders teammate, that
Christian Wilkins went over and kiss him on the head,
and that this prompted an HR investigation, and that might
have been the culmination of other issues with Wilkins to where,
you know, the final straw adding to the idea that
(02:15):
he was physically unable to hit the football field, didn't
rehab his injury properly, eschewed advice to have surgery. All
of that, and now this from Adam Schefter quote playfully
went to kiss a teammate on the top of his head.
And now this is circulating and you know, shades of
(02:38):
what's real, what's imagined, and where the devil is in
the details of this HR report. But certainly a lot,
a lot of questions to be answered here. And while
we know there are plenty of lawyers retained.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
By the PA, they have.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Grievances and now an extra thing on their desk as
we get ready for a new campaign.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Yeah, I'm pretty look, I I'm pretty indifferent to this
story so far.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
And here's why.
Speaker 6 (03:11):
I think that even with guarantees voided in this contract,
somebody will probably end up getting a very talented player,
you know, for relatively cheap, right, you know, because with
some of the bad press what may come make may
come an opportunity to to get a cost savings potentially.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
You know.
Speaker 6 (03:38):
Then you look at it from the other standpoint, well,
the the implications of this story, what's being accused or alleged,
and you say, wow, that's kind of that's kind of
odd behavior in a workplace for any employee or coworker
to kiss another coworker, especially when that coworker is not
(04:02):
expecting to be kissed. You know that definitely goes beyond
the workplace etiquette, right, But I mean in a league
where we've put up with, you know, convicted womanizers, you know,
domestic violence rapists, I mean, this seems like I'm not
(04:26):
saying this isn't an upsetting story for the party involved.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I'm not saying that this is acceptable.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
I'm not trying to say by comparison, this is lesser
than But in reality, I think this is going to
be a camp story.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
It's probably going to be out of the news.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
Cycle soon and everybody's just going to move on with
their lives. I unless this story gets much much weirder
from here, Mike, I think this is all going to
be resolved as soon as he finds a landing spot.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
What Zor says, the interaction was played full. Teammate objected.
This allegedly happened last week in a team meeting room,
and that's where the story is. As we said, to
your point, it's it's a league where we've seen plenty
of egregious acts and incidents.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Where the.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Whatever it is, even to the terms of prison time.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Right, go back to Michael Vick and the dog fighting
time served, time away opportunity, and he went and he
made another fortune, done a lot of good work in
the PostScript and everything else, but at the time a
lot of eyebrows raised and certainly the ire of a
lot of people across the country. Found his way back
onto an NFL sideline and under center. And now he's
(05:43):
a guy that has done a lot of good works
in the aftermath, but certainly at the time it was
a very big deal. To your point, plenty of others, right,
domestic violence issues. Ray Rice never got back on a
football field, but you know has restored he and his
wife some of his reputation in the years after. But
(06:04):
certainly it's shone a light on a whole other part.
Right now, we're waiting on suspension for Rashi Rice on
some others, and we go plenty of history in the NFL. Curious,
you know the level that it rose to that it
was an HR complaint, Just curious. Then with the timing
(06:25):
of the failed physical slash return to the duty where
you get the release by the Raiders. That's the curiosity,
I guess in terms of what else shows up in
the file, whether the teammate will come forward and speak,
or other other details that we get. But to your
point he probably gets a payout at some point of that,
(06:48):
some portion of that remaining thirty five point two million,
and plenty of coaches will be standing in line with
the GMS to run him through the paces, to try
to get him on the football field, because there's no
knowing whatever he is in the larger scale outside of
the football field, in between the white lines, he's a
(07:09):
terror for opposing lineman and quarterbacks.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yeah, yeah, Look, he's formidable.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
And this is a league where if you pose a
challenge for offenses, you're going to be compensated extremely well.
If you can't play nicely in the sandbox though, meaning
you can't get along with your teammates, or you are
an outlier in an outlier business, and I'm not talking
(07:37):
about in a positive way, well then you're going to
run out of rope eventually.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
People will stop, you know, throwing the lifesaver in the
water for you. But the first incident, especially again not
for the party involved, I'm sure that was. Whatever this
situation is. However much truth there is to this situation
with the forehead kiss that's being debated and bandied about,
(08:05):
if there is truth to that, somebody felt deeply affected
by that, and I'm sure I would have a similar reaction.
That sounds unwarranted and uncouth in all the things. However, again,
in the scale of things that we've heard and reacted
to over the years, I think this is a relatively
(08:27):
minimal one in terms of how much it's going to
affect Christian Wilkins' career. Will it follow him for a
little bit, Yeah, sure, Is he going to have to
answer questions about it, absolutely, Like you mentioned Mikey, Will
the player who remains anonymous right now, at some point
(08:48):
come out and tell his side of the story.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, that's possible as well.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
And I'm sure the team, the coach, the GM, maybe
some of his teammates are going to have to talk
about what kind of character guy he is in the
locker room with whatever team he lands in, and then
this story is going to most likely go away, especially
if he ends up having a good season. It may
get brought up on broadcasts, but it'll only last for
(09:15):
a single season, and in the grand scheme of life
and football, that's not that long. And so I think
this is one of those training camp stories that seems
really really important, Like in the in the short run, right,
you know, because there aren't as many storylines to follow
right now, but here pretty soon with the NFL news cycle,
(09:39):
it's going to start going into hyper drive and this
is going to be a distant memory in two weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, a lot of it just again goes into timing
with the release. How much this ight in? What is
there a preponderance of evidence of other instances that had
already been long down of the players talent of the player, right,
I mean special rules for special people. I mean the
one that's always the sighted is the you know, Jimmy
Johnson and his special rules. If this guy falls asleep, fired,
(10:07):
Troy Aikman falls asleep, I wake him up and catch
him up on what we just talked about, right, I mean,
it's just it's just a different process. And certainly you
were in plenty of locker rooms and dealt with myriad issues.
That's why the HR component of this is so curious
to me, though, Rich And to your point, it probably
doesn't spiral into much more and and he gets back
(10:30):
on the field and it becomes a footnote to a
lot of this.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
But in the interim, I'm sure there have been.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Plenty of instances of guys getting on each other's nerves
or pushing a line in a locker room that didn't
end up in an HR, you know, yellow fold.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
It also suggests to me, and I hate to be
a conspiracy theorist, and I know that's a dirty word,
but or phrase, but let's be honest with each other.
How often do we hear human re sources brought up
as part of an NFL conversation.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
So that's that's exactly what, right, That's what the thing is.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, raises the eyebrows, and it has everybody trying to
figure out the smell test here.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
If I'm being perfectly honest, this this, this sounds to
me like if if there was an actual HR reporting,
it may have been strongly encouraged by somebody who really
wanted to avoid his contract because maybe maybe there were
(11:33):
other less tangible things to hang on Christian Wilkins. Maybe
it was attitudinal, Maybe it was you know, just again,
how how he how well he played in the sandbox.
Maybe he was a pain in the neck to his teammates.
Maybe he was showing up, you know, for for meetings
(11:53):
ill prepared, and yeah, you could sit there and find
a guy and find a guy and find a guy.
But you know, if you you want to cut out
a cancer, but you don't want to do it at
a cost to the team, that is going to put
you in a spot, especially with a new staff, you know,
Pete Carroll and company taking over there put you in
a spot financially where you can't recoup for a year,
(12:17):
maybe two years, or recover from that.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Kind of payout. Well, then you find a different way.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
So it almost feels like to me that somebody within
the organization said, hey, are you one hundred percent sure
what you just told me happened actually happened.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Yeah, yeah, coach, it did. Yeah, And I.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
Didn't like it, and I didn't want to throw any punches,
but that's where I was at. I was about to
square off with this guy. Hey, why don't you do this. Well,
let's go through the appropriate channels. Let's talk to the
head coach and the general manager. Oh yeah, well these
sort of complaints. We're so glad that you brought this
to our attention. You know what we need to escalate
this to HR Yes, yes, yes, yes, let's create a
(12:58):
paper trail. So as you're speaking to the human resources
representative here in Las Vegas with the Raiders. We take
these very seriously. We'll have a stenographer president. We'll make
sure all of our eyes are dotted, all of our
teaser cross this way. If this ever comes up in
contract litigation when we try and to avoid a guarantee,
we can make sure that everything's been filed appropriately. And
(13:23):
that's unfortunately my suspicion brings me to that sure.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And that's the thing, right trying to figure out timing
down distant severity of issues and whether you know the
foot was pressed on the scale to tip it over
is certainly the curiosity in all of this. He's rich
Orenberger in for Jason Smith. I'm Mike Carmon from the
Fox Sports Radio studios here in Los Angeles, rich down
(13:50):
in beautiful San Diago. As we continue here at Fox
Sports Radio, I want to go to the other side
of the union stuff. Maybe I'm more curious than most
as related to the current issues that are facing them,
but also looking at the NFL as a whole as
we get ready for the Hall of Fame game, what
stands out from our early training camp reports. We'll do
(14:12):
that as we continue here. It's the Jason Smith Show
with me and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
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Speaker 3 (14:28):
Hey be sure to check out a Fox Sports Radio
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Speaker 4 (14:35):
Of our shows.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Be sure to subscribe so you never miss our very
best Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Welcome back in
Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Harmon. Jason may now
come back because the Mets winning streak is over as
the Padres walk it off, much to the happiness of
our guy, rich Orberger, who's in for him tonight. So
it gives you something positive to start your day on
(14:58):
San Diego Radio in the morning. I love it, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I think that it's so funny. My reaction when I
saw the walk off was.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Gosh, that is just the most Mets outcome you could
possibly have asked for. Although I will say this, had
the roles been reversed.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
You could easily say the same thing about the Padres.
Speaker 6 (15:24):
It's just those two franchises are kind of inexorably linked
by some of some of the most long standing bad
luck streaks you could possibly endure.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
However, I will say this, the Mets have done it.
They've won a championship. The Padres are still.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Searching, still searching.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
We'll circle back to the Padres and their interaction with
a team from nineteen eighty four and Eligend who passed
as we celebrate and commemorate the life of Brian Samberg,
who passed away a little bit earlier in the evening
at the ages sixty five prostate cancer spread throughout his body.
(16:05):
So we'll go back to one of his finest moments
from that MVP campaign, because it's always a good, good
excuse to go back to a big game and to
hear the dulce talents of Harry Carey on the call.
But we're talking about the Wilkins situation. But I wanted
to bring it back out larger scale. Rich is a
(16:25):
guy who played in the league and as friends in
the league.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
And have been around it as long as you have.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
The curious case of the NFLPA as it stands right
now in disrepair and long we've kind of looked at
it and said, well, Roger Goodell got over here, he
got over here and you're always all right, the fracturing
of the Players Association and the union for the idea
of the guys all the way across the strata, right
(16:53):
the forty million dollar guys to the guys trying to
just hang with the roster, to get a year of
service and all of those those kind of things, and
trying to get everybody on board with the different things
that are pushed in front of them. And now you
get into the books and go into the full tinfoil
hat conspiracy theory, as we did a little bit with
(17:14):
the Wilkins story and HR getting involved. I want to
know who ordered the code read on Lloyd Howell's car
service and whatever wings he ordered at the strip club
down down there at Tootsi's cause I got to imagine
there's a lot more expenses and a lot bigger dollar
amounts that are there for consulting firms and everything else,
(17:35):
but for those to get flagged. How much else was
going on that has yet to surface?
Speaker 6 (17:44):
This story is really deeply disappointing from the standpoint of
former player. What Lloyd Howell did was take advantage of
well intentioned, hardworking people who are you know, literally fighting
(18:05):
and singing for their supper on Sundays.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
And that may sound like I'm I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
Really really under informing or or I guess that's not
that's not really it under inflating the massive salaries some
of these players make, and by comparison, when you look
at what an average American takes home, Uh, there's not
(18:32):
going to be a lot of pity or weeping for
rich athletes. But I will say this, any union, the
goal of that union is to stand against more powerful
and sometimes onerous owners who are trying to take advantage
of certain situations and you know, essentially get more for less.
(18:56):
And in the NFL, unfortunately that has been the case
for years and years and years, and it's because of
a weak union. And I say that as a member
an NFL card carrying member of the NFLPA former players,
you know, we are the many because the guys who
(19:16):
are currently in the league you don't think about it
as much when.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
You're playing, but one day you're going to be one
of us.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
And the hope is while you're there, you can make
lasting change that's going to help you after your career
ends as well.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And it's hard.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
To relay that kind of advice and information without strong
leadership when you have an average career length of less
than three years.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well, and that's with a very long tail at the
end of that, right, if we do the distribution of
guys who have a game or two or a small
smattering of appearances before they're out of the league, as
opposed to some of these others that are in fifteen
to twenty years, and with that the salaries, the bank
the banked monies and all of those which, when we
(20:06):
get down to it, it's imperfect dissemination of information at
any level. But then once you boil it down to
what each individual piece of the players Association, right, what's
most important to them that's on the table, is going
to be vastly different depending where they are on that spectrum.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Well, and then also, okay, so to break this down
for anybody who has never been in a union or
anybody who's kind of unfamiliar with how the players' union works.
I was an alternate rep during my time, and it
was only for a single year, and that's because I
retired from football in effect the next season.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
That wasn't my goal.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
My goal was to continue playing and continue becoming more
and more active in the NFLPA, the player union. But
the problem is in oftentimes you have to wait behind
other veteran players to get involved, and then once you
get involved.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
You have to be re voted as a rep.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
If you switch teams, sometimes the new team you're playing
for they already got their reps, so you have to
sit out, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
So that's how it works at the player level.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Now, at the executive level, they have an executive committee
of players who come together and help make some of
the bigger decisions, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
And then you have a.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Group of board members who are voted in by the players.
And I think this happens every two to four years.
There has to be a re election, and the executive
director position is a voted on position. And this executive
director was abusing funds to go to strip clubs and
to do other things, and it's just disrespectful to the mission.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
By the way.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
Also, the group he was with, you know, was was
also at different various points interested in becoming minority.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Pieces and stuff.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Yeah, I mean, which which is deplorable behavior. Because you're
playing both sides of the aisle, you cannot possibly have
clear conscious or or or be looking at things objectively
for one side. If you're in bed with the other side,
it's just not how life works.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
And so these are these are the things that.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
We're perpetrated against the players that unfortunately will will have
a lasting effect because while the NFLPA has to go
now and search for a new executive director, the NFL owners,
many of them, have been in place for decades and
decades and decades, and so they have their plan the
next time they come to the renegotiation table with the players,
(22:59):
to strike another And the players right now are scrambling.
And that's an enormous problem and an enormous disadvantage with
an already disadvantaged union in.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
These these sort of these these sort.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Of negotiations that happen every now feels like every ten years,
but every eight years certainly with the owners as these
contracts have become longer and longer.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
And notice how in the midst of all of these investigations,
how suddenly Mike Brown, who I don't remember having really
heard a lot from him in the past, suddenly was
so verbal about the Hendrickson stuff and the Shamar Stewart
and Jerry Jones kind of saying talking about guarantees and
going extreme with some of his examples of what could
(23:45):
happen with players and all so emboldened as the leadership
of the PA gets looked at in a whole different way.
I may actually read Demorris Smith's book now, I'm slightly
more interested in his trials and tribulations of his former.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Job as in the head of the PA.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
And also, you know, there can be legitimate business expenses
at a strip club.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
You know, let's let's not conflate the two. I mean,
you can.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Go get a business businessman's lunch and talk business.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Of course.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
I mean he doesn't need crab legs at you know,
twelve noon. I mean, I think everybody, everybody should have
that option.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Hey, that buffet is a good deal. What are you
talking about, Rich?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
He's Rich Hornberger and for Jason Mike Carmon here at
Fox Sports Radio. We've got plenty of time to do
this in earnest tomorrow, but we'll do a little look around.
And Rich once participated in these fall Hall of Fame
Game ceremonies, so we'll talk about that in a moment.
But first, for the final time tonight, we take a
trip to the news desk for Steve desager. I was
(24:49):
gonna give you a nice, big welcome, but the last
time you kind of threw it back at me like
you were to kembe Mutambo and waved at.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
Me with a Shakespeare quote. Yeah no, exactly, thank you,
thank you. Everything's final in Major League Baseball, and what
a ballgame it was in San Diego. Tonight, the Padres
closer Robert Suarez gave up a tying solo homer to
the Mets in the top of the ninth. Padres score
bottom of the ninth to win Anyway seven to six
(25:17):
over New York, ending the Mets seven game winning streak.
The Mets are first in the NL E, still a
game and a half over the Phillies, who lost at
the White Sox six to two, and the losing pitcher
was Christopher Sanchez, who had been nine and two this year.
Washington sent Houston to a fifth straight loss, two to one.
From Erveld has no decision despite twelve strikeouts in six innings.
(25:37):
The Angels ended the Texas six game winning streak six
to four.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
The loss to Jacob de Grom, who.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
Had been ten and two, but tonight allowed five runs
in five and a third innings. San Francisco a sixty
five winner at sam excuse me, Pittsburgh a six to
five winner as San Francisco left twelve men on base.
Seattle beat the A's three to one that ends the
Athletics four game winning streak seven innings on the hill
for Luis Castillo, the winning pitcher. By the way, Nick
Kurtz of the A's is the AL Player of the Week.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
He had a four.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
Homer game last week. Also by the way, Baseball's trade
deadline is Thursday.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Ay you.
Speaker 7 (26:10):
Henneo Suarez of the Diamondbacks was injured tonight. Left the game,
a five to one loss at Detroit as he was
hit by a pitch on the hand. He says X
rays were negative. This is a Detroit team that had
lost six straight until yesterday's win. So the last three weeks,
Tiger's record is up to three and twelve. Detroit acquired
pitcher Chris Paddock from Minnesota. Tiger's pitcher Reese Olsen is
(26:30):
out for the year with a strange shoulder. Guardian's closer
Emmanuel Clause is on paid leave after a sports betting investigation.
Without him, Colorado scored four runs in the ninth and
one at Cleveland eight to six. There was a rain
delay at the start there of two and a half hours.
Colorado's record now twenty eight and seventy eight. Baltimore hit
four home runs and defeated first place Toronto eleven to four.
(26:52):
Ohs catcher Adleie Rushman, off the injured list, had a
two run double among his three hits. The lost to
Chris Basset, who had been eleven and four for the
Blue Jays. George Springer left hit by a pitch on
the helmet late.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
In the game.
Speaker 7 (27:04):
The Dodgers held on five too at Cincinnati, ending the
Reds four game winning streak. The Reds left base is
loaded in the ninth, the win to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Nine
strikeouts in seven inning show Heyo Tani with a two
run double, but LA's Tommy Edmund did not play due
to an ankle injury. The Dodger lead over the Padres
this month July third, was nine games. It is down
(27:26):
to four now. The Dodgers have a record since July
third of just six and thirteen. Although lefty pitcher Blake
Snell should return to LA later this week. Dodger third
baseman Max Monsey due to start rehab. Tuesday at Triple A,
Tampa Bay ended a four game losing streak, beating the
Yankees in New York four to two. Minnesota fell fell
(27:46):
behind in the top of the ninth, then a rain
delay before the bottom of the ninth. They finally come
back two runs bottom of the night. The Twins win
five to four over Boston. Brewers and Cubs were tied
for first in the NL Central. Today, the Cubs gave
team president Jed Hoyer an extension. Milwaukee beat the Cubs
tonight eight four. The losing pitcher, All Star Matthew Boyd,
who had been eleven and three wins for Saint Louis
(28:09):
and Atlanta Hall of Famer from the Cubs, Ryan Sandberg,
passed away at the age of sixty five. The Broncos
gave wide receiver Courtland Sutton a four year extension. The
Titans waived wide receiver Trailon Burke's return ban Corderyl Patterson
says he's been cut by the Steelers. The Colts gave
tackle Bernard Ryman a four year extension. Tonight, Tampa Bay
reworked the contract of quarterback Baker Mayfield. He now has
(28:31):
thirty million dollars guaranteed for next year, and an injury.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
At Dallas camp.
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Tackle Tyler Geiden reportedly will miss four to six weeks.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Though he did not tear his aco.
Speaker 7 (28:40):
Just two WNBA games Seattle won at Connecticut The Sun
four and twenty one. Now Dallas at home beat New
York the Liberty without Brianna Stewart due to a leg injury,
Angel Reached due to come back from injury and play tomorrow,
and LA's cameraon Brink due to play on Tuesday after
missing over a year with a torn acl and at
women's soccer on FS one, Columbia one at semifinal and
(29:02):
Copa America on penalty Kicksover Argentina the other semi also
on FS one Tuesday night, Brazil against Uraguay.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Back to you, fantastic stuff, Thanks Steve, We'll see you tomorrow,
rich Orburger, and for Jason Smith, I'm Mike Carmon here
from the Fox Sports Radio Studios and rich Hall of
Fame game this week, your former squad Chargers taking on
the Detroit Lions. As we get ready for actual NFL action,
It just seems like guys were reporting and starting to
(29:31):
get their dorm rooms settled. We had tales of Aaron
Rodgers talking about don't flush because it's too loud in
the dorms there at Latrobe and everything else. But you know,
you played in this game years ago. I mean, it's
good to just get after it because normally, don't We
want to see guys fight a little bit, because that
way we know they're ready, Like when that meat thermometer
(29:52):
pops up in your turkey and says, all right, it's
time to go.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Let's go time.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Yeah, I would say it's always as better to hit
a jersey color that's not your own.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
You know, that definitely helps.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
But I will say this, Obviously, playing in a Hall
of Fame game avails your team or you specifically, especially
if you're one of the expanded roster bubble players who
are just trying to make a roster. It can give
you a new opportunity, another opportunity, I should say, But
it also can avail a higher risk of injury every
(30:29):
single game you play in. Obviously it comes with an
abundance of risk. But look, don't expect to see many,
if any of the starters playing this game for either
the Chargers or the Lions.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
If they do expect just a series worth of work.
If that.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
The preseason has largely become performative in the NFL, I.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Think there is some value.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
There will be those stories that you hear across league circles.
This guy, we weren't sure about him, and then he
had that big punt return in the fourth preseason game.
He didn't even play in the first two. We were
in the Hall of Fame game and then the next one,
and then he played a little bit in game three,
but then he had this miraculous punt return. He made
(31:16):
the team as a returner, and the rest is history. Right,
He's now our best receiver. Yeah, they'll they'll be those stories.
But for all those stories, there's plenty of Yeah, the
preseason took our greatest player.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Off the field because he tore his acl.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
Or the preseason, you know, we rested all of our
starters the entire preseason because we don't believe that's a
necessary step in our process. There's plenty of that now too,
And I think we're gonna get to a point where
this league expands to eighteen games in the regular season
and drops down to two preseason games discluding.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Of course, this week's game. The Hall of Fame game.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, I think when you look at the Hall of
Fame game, the extra week has has some positives to
it in that, you know, we talk about the union
stuff and what's been legislated and negotiated with the fewer
workouts and practices and rules for the off season, that
actually getting everybody together for a couple extra days is
(32:20):
probably not the worst thing in the world, even if
all you're doing is a bunch of calisthetics.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
Yeah, I mean the reality is the more a team
gets it gets opportunities to practice together, especially preparing for
an opponent, the more used to that that process everybody becomes.
And and while training camp is tedious and it is
(32:47):
a lot of repetition of things that have already been
hammered deeply, deeply, deeply into your memory banks, it is
it is an important part of the process. I don't
know how long training camp needs to be. I would
easily be able to debate that it could be shorter, sure,
but I do think there's a need for it. And
(33:09):
I do think that as a result, especially when you're
competing against other teams that are doing the same exact
thing you are practicing, whenever they're allowed to practice outside
of the rare canceled practice.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
You need to have that.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
As part of the puzzle so that you can feeld
a competent team come game one of the season and
game one of the season.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
Even though it's weeks away.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
I mean, especially in terms of what's on the player's mind.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
That's just around the corner.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
No, it's it tick tick tick, clock is ticking. I
just remember doing my training camp travels all those years
ago in the one hundred degree days in Latrobe with
ten thousand people sweating their asses off just for a
glimpse at a couple of Ben Roethlisberger throws and such.
So the respect of that the two a days once
spawn a time, and today they were all celebrating, fans
(34:03):
and media alike that a number of teams actually put
pads on, So there was a little bit of excitement
going on in that regard as well. See I just
brought you back down memory lane there, Rich Hornberger. So
you celebrated as you will at Ornberger at Swollen Dome
where you find us. We paid tribute to a legend.
Welcome another legend back who had a big presser earlier today.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
And then singing for your supper. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
A famous fast food chain in the news for a
new partnership, and I gotta say it's brilliant. We'll do
it next because maybe I'll need some fast food on
the way home. We'll talk about it.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh yeah, maybe it goes so fast. Hour four of
the program. Here Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon. No, Jason Smith may or may not
be back Wednesday.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I may. We got a six to six games.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Bottom, a ninth two runners on, so we'll see how
that one flows. I mean, folks theorizing that a Mets
continued winning streak would keep Jason from coming back to
the studio, which would mean more Rich Ornberger with us
here at Ornberger where you find him in the Twitter verse.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
It's going on, buddy, Sure, yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Things are good.
Speaker 6 (01:01):
As we make the final turn lap four, I'm feeling stronger, better,
even more opinionated than where we started.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
More hot take nonsense here in the final ockers, you're
gonna have to make some sense of things for me
as we look at the wonderful twisting world of Christian Wilkins.
Earlier this week we chronicled the release by the Las
Vegas Raiders, which would then prompt a flare up into
the night and a potential grievance with the Union, which
(01:33):
is a whole other subplot to all of this, with
everything going on with the people at the head of
the union, from player reps, elected officials all the way
to Lloyd Howell, who has now resigned from his post,
but put a pin in that for the moment. Reports
today start surfacing now that there was an HR complaint
(01:55):
filed by a Raiders teammate now former Raiders teammate, that
Christian Wilkins went over and kiss him on the head,
and that this prompted an HR investigation, and that might
have been the culmination of other issues with Wilkins to where,
you know, the final straw adding to the idea that
(02:15):
he was physically unable to hit the football field, didn't
rehab his injury properly, eschewed advice to have surgery. All
of that, and now this from Adam Schefter quote playfully
went to kiss a teammate on the top of his head.
And now this is circulating and you know, shades of
(02:38):
what's real, what's imagined, and where the devil is in
the details of this HR report. But certainly a lot,
a lot of questions to be answered here. And while
we know there are plenty of lawyers retained.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
By the PA, they have.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Grievances and now an extra thing on their desk as
we get ready for a new campaign.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Yeah, I'm pretty look, I I'm pretty indifferent to this
story so far.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
And here's why.
Speaker 6 (03:11):
I think that even with guarantees voided in this contract,
somebody will probably end up getting a very talented player,
you know, for relatively cheap, right, you know, because with
some of the bad press what may come make may
come an opportunity to to get a cost savings potentially.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
You know.
Speaker 6 (03:38):
Then you look at it from the other standpoint, well,
the the implications of this story, what's being accused or alleged,
and you say, wow, that's kind of that's kind of
odd behavior in a workplace for any employee or coworker
to kiss another coworker, especially when that coworker is not
(04:02):
expecting to be kissed. You know that definitely goes beyond
the workplace etiquette, right, But I mean in a league
where we've put up with, you know, convicted womanizers, you know,
domestic violence rapists, I mean, this seems like I'm not
(04:26):
saying this isn't an upsetting story for the party involved.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I'm not saying that this is acceptable.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
I'm not trying to say by comparison, this is lesser
than But in reality, I think this is going to
be a camp story.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
It's probably going to be out of the news.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
Cycle soon and everybody's just going to move on with
their lives. I unless this story gets much much weirder
from here, Mike, I think this is all going to
be resolved as soon as he finds a landing spot.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
What Zor says, the interaction was played full. Teammate objected.
This allegedly happened last week in a team meeting room,
and that's where the story is. As we said, to
your point, it's it's a league where we've seen plenty
of egregious acts and incidents.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Where the.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Whatever it is, even to the terms of prison time.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Right, go back to Michael Vick and the dog fighting
time served, time away opportunity, and he went and he
made another fortune, done a lot of good work in
the PostScript and everything else, but at the time a
lot of eyebrows raised and certainly the ire of a
lot of people across the country. Found his way back
onto an NFL sideline and under center. And now he's
(05:43):
a guy that has done a lot of good works
in the aftermath, but certainly at the time it was
a very big deal. To your point, plenty of others, right,
domestic violence issues. Ray Rice never got back on a
football field, but you know has restored he and his
wife some of his reputation in the years after. But
(06:04):
certainly it's shone a light on a whole other part.
Right now, we're waiting on suspension for Rashi Rice on
some others, and we go plenty of history in the NFL. Curious,
you know the level that it rose to that it
was an HR complaint, Just curious. Then with the timing
(06:25):
of the failed physical slash return to the duty where
you get the release by the Raiders. That's the curiosity,
I guess in terms of what else shows up in
the file, whether the teammate will come forward and speak,
or other other details that we get. But to your
point he probably gets a payout at some point of that,
(06:48):
some portion of that remaining thirty five point two million,
and plenty of coaches will be standing in line with
the GMS to run him through the paces, to try
to get him on the football field, because there's no
knowing whatever he is in the larger scale outside of
the football field, in between the white lines, he's a
(07:09):
terror for opposing lineman and quarterbacks.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yeah, yeah, Look, he's formidable.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
And this is a league where if you pose a
challenge for offenses, you're going to be compensated extremely well.
If you can't play nicely in the sandbox though, meaning
you can't get along with your teammates, or you are
an outlier in an outlier business, and I'm not talking
(07:37):
about in a positive way, well then you're going to
run out of rope eventually.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
People will stop, you know, throwing the lifesaver in the
water for you. But the first incident, especially again not
for the party involved, I'm sure that was. Whatever this
situation is. However much truth there is to this situation
with the forehead kiss that's being debated and bandied about,
(08:05):
if there is truth to that, somebody felt deeply affected
by that, and I'm sure I would have a similar reaction.
That sounds unwarranted and uncouth in all the things. However, again,
in the scale of things that we've heard and reacted
to over the years, I think this is a relatively
(08:27):
minimal one in terms of how much it's going to
affect Christian Wilkins' career. Will it follow him for a
little bit, Yeah, sure, Is he going to have to
answer questions about it, absolutely, Like you mentioned Mikey, Will
the player who remains anonymous right now, at some point
(08:48):
come out and tell his side of the story.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, that's possible as well.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
And I'm sure the team, the coach, the GM, maybe
some of his teammates are going to have to talk
about what kind of character guy he is in the
locker room with whatever team he lands in, and then
this story is going to most likely go away, especially
if he ends up having a good season. It may
get brought up on broadcasts, but it'll only last for
(09:15):
a single season, and in the grand scheme of life
and football, that's not that long. And so I think
this is one of those training camp stories that seems
really really important, Like in the in the short run, right,
you know, because there aren't as many storylines to follow
right now, but here pretty soon with the NFL news cycle,
(09:39):
it's going to start going into hyper drive and this
is going to be a distant memory in two weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, a lot of it just again goes into timing
with the release. How much this ight in? What is
there a preponderance of evidence of other instances that had
already been long down of the players talent of the player, right,
I mean special rules for special people. I mean the
one that's always the sighted is the you know, Jimmy
Johnson and his special rules. If this guy falls asleep, fired,
(10:07):
Troy Aikman falls asleep, I wake him up and catch
him up on what we just talked about, right, I mean,
it's just it's just a different process. And certainly you
were in plenty of locker rooms and dealt with myriad issues.
That's why the HR component of this is so curious
to me, though, Rich And to your point, it probably
doesn't spiral into much more and and he gets back
(10:30):
on the field and it becomes a footnote to a
lot of this.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
But in the interim, I'm sure there have been.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Plenty of instances of guys getting on each other's nerves
or pushing a line in a locker room that didn't
end up in an HR, you know, yellow fold.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
It also suggests to me, and I hate to be
a conspiracy theorist, and I know that's a dirty word,
but or phrase, but let's be honest with each other.
How often do we hear human re sources brought up
as part of an NFL conversation.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
So that's that's exactly what, right, That's what the thing is.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, raises the eyebrows, and it has everybody trying to
figure out the smell test here.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
If I'm being perfectly honest, this this, this sounds to
me like if if there was an actual HR reporting,
it may have been strongly encouraged by somebody who really
wanted to avoid his contract because maybe maybe there were
(11:33):
other less tangible things to hang on Christian Wilkins. Maybe
it was attitudinal, Maybe it was you know, just again,
how how he how well he played in the sandbox.
Maybe he was a pain in the neck to his teammates.
Maybe he was showing up, you know, for for meetings
(11:53):
ill prepared, and yeah, you could sit there and find
a guy and find a guy and find a guy.
But you know, if you you want to cut out
a cancer, but you don't want to do it at
a cost to the team, that is going to put
you in a spot, especially with a new staff, you know,
Pete Carroll and company taking over there put you in
a spot financially where you can't recoup for a year,
(12:17):
maybe two years, or recover from that.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Kind of payout. Well, then you find a different way.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
So it almost feels like to me that somebody within
the organization said, hey, are you one hundred percent sure
what you just told me happened actually happened.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Yeah, yeah, coach, it did. Yeah, And I.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
Didn't like it, and I didn't want to throw any punches,
but that's where I was at. I was about to
square off with this guy. Hey, why don't you do this. Well,
let's go through the appropriate channels. Let's talk to the
head coach and the general manager. Oh yeah, well these
sort of complaints. We're so glad that you brought this
to our attention. You know what we need to escalate
this to HR Yes, yes, yes, yes, let's create a
(12:58):
paper trail. So as you're speaking to the human resources
representative here in Las Vegas with the Raiders. We take
these very seriously. We'll have a stenographer president. We'll make
sure all of our eyes are dotted, all of our
teaser cross this way. If this ever comes up in
contract litigation when we try and to avoid a guarantee,
we can make sure that everything's been filed appropriately. And
(13:23):
that's unfortunately my suspicion brings me to that sure.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And that's the thing, right trying to figure out timing
down distant severity of issues and whether you know the
foot was pressed on the scale to tip it over
is certainly the curiosity in all of this. He's rich
Orenberger in for Jason Smith. I'm Mike Carmon from the
Fox Sports Radio studios here in Los Angeles, rich down
(13:50):
in beautiful San Diago. As we continue here at Fox
Sports Radio, I want to go to the other side
of the union stuff. Maybe I'm more curious than most
as related to the current issues that are facing them,
but also looking at the NFL as a whole as
we get ready for the Hall of Fame game, what
stands out from our early training camp reports. We'll do
(14:12):
that as we continue here. It's the Jason Smith Show
with me and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Hey be sure to check out a Fox Sports Radio
YouTube channel. Search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see
a whole bunch of video highlights for all.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Of our shows.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Be sure to subscribe so you never miss our very
best Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Welcome back in
Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Harmon. Jason may now
come back because the Mets winning streak is over as
the Padres walk it off, much to the happiness of
our guy, rich Orberger, who's in for him tonight. So
it gives you something positive to start your day on
(14:58):
San Diego Radio in the morning. I love it, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I think that it's so funny. My reaction when I
saw the walk off was.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Gosh, that is just the most Mets outcome you could
possibly have asked for. Although I will say this, had
the roles been reversed.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
You could easily say the same thing about the Padres.
Speaker 6 (15:24):
It's just those two franchises are kind of inexorably linked
by some of some of the most long standing bad
luck streaks you could possibly endure.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
However, I will say this, the Mets have done it.
They've won a championship. The Padres are still.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Searching, still searching.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
We'll circle back to the Padres and their interaction with
a team from nineteen eighty four and Eligend who passed
as we celebrate and commemorate the life of Brian Samberg,
who passed away a little bit earlier in the evening
at the ages sixty five prostate cancer spread throughout his body.
(16:05):
So we'll go back to one of his finest moments
from that MVP campaign, because it's always a good, good
excuse to go back to a big game and to
hear the dulce talents of Harry Carey on the call.
But we're talking about the Wilkins situation. But I wanted
to bring it back out larger scale. Rich is a
(16:25):
guy who played in the league and as friends in
the league.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
And have been around it as long as you have.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
The curious case of the NFLPA as it stands right
now in disrepair and long we've kind of looked at
it and said, well, Roger Goodell got over here, he
got over here and you're always all right, the fracturing
of the Players Association and the union for the idea
of the guys all the way across the strata, right
(16:53):
the forty million dollar guys to the guys trying to
just hang with the roster, to get a year of
service and all of those those kind of things, and
trying to get everybody on board with the different things
that are pushed in front of them. And now you
get into the books and go into the full tinfoil
hat conspiracy theory, as we did a little bit with
(17:14):
the Wilkins story and HR getting involved. I want to
know who ordered the code read on Lloyd Howell's car
service and whatever wings he ordered at the strip club
down down there at Tootsi's cause I got to imagine
there's a lot more expenses and a lot bigger dollar
amounts that are there for consulting firms and everything else,
(17:35):
but for those to get flagged. How much else was
going on that has yet to surface?
Speaker 6 (17:44):
This story is really deeply disappointing from the standpoint of
former player. What Lloyd Howell did was take advantage of
well intentioned, hardworking people who are you know, literally fighting
(18:05):
and singing for their supper on Sundays.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
And that may sound like I'm I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
Really really under informing or or I guess that's not
that's not really it under inflating the massive salaries some
of these players make, and by comparison, when you look
at what an average American takes home, Uh, there's not
(18:32):
going to be a lot of pity or weeping for
rich athletes. But I will say this, any union, the
goal of that union is to stand against more powerful
and sometimes onerous owners who are trying to take advantage
of certain situations and you know, essentially get more for less.
(18:56):
And in the NFL, unfortunately that has been the case
for years and years and years, and it's because of
a weak union. And I say that as a member
an NFL card carrying member of the NFLPA former players,
you know, we are the many because the guys who
(19:16):
are currently in the league you don't think about it
as much when.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
You're playing, but one day you're going to be one
of us.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
And the hope is while you're there, you can make
lasting change that's going to help you after your career
ends as well.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And it's hard.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
To relay that kind of advice and information without strong
leadership when you have an average career length of less
than three years.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well, and that's with a very long tail at the
end of that, right, if we do the distribution of
guys who have a game or two or a small
smattering of appearances before they're out of the league, as
opposed to some of these others that are in fifteen
to twenty years, and with that the salaries, the bank
the banked monies and all of those which, when we
(20:06):
get down to it, it's imperfect dissemination of information at
any level. But then once you boil it down to
what each individual piece of the players Association, right, what's
most important to them that's on the table, is going
to be vastly different depending where they are on that spectrum.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Well, and then also, okay, so to break this down
for anybody who has never been in a union or
anybody who's kind of unfamiliar with how the players' union works.
I was an alternate rep during my time, and it
was only for a single year, and that's because I
retired from football in effect the next season.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
That wasn't my goal.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
My goal was to continue playing and continue becoming more
and more active in the NFLPA, the player union. But
the problem is in oftentimes you have to wait behind
other veteran players to get involved, and then once you
get involved.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
You have to be re voted as a rep.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
If you switch teams, sometimes the new team you're playing
for they already got their reps, so you have to
sit out, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
So that's how it works at the player level.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Now, at the executive level, they have an executive committee
of players who come together and help make some of
the bigger decisions, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
And then you have a.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Group of board members who are voted in by the players.
And I think this happens every two to four years.
There has to be a re election, and the executive
director position is a voted on position. And this executive
director was abusing funds to go to strip clubs and
to do other things, and it's just disrespectful to the mission.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
By the way.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
Also, the group he was with, you know, was was
also at different various points interested in becoming minority.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Pieces and stuff.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Yeah, I mean, which which is deplorable behavior. Because you're
playing both sides of the aisle, you cannot possibly have
clear conscious or or or be looking at things objectively
for one side. If you're in bed with the other side,
it's just not how life works.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
And so these are these are the things that.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
We're perpetrated against the players that unfortunately will will have
a lasting effect because while the NFLPA has to go
now and search for a new executive director, the NFL owners,
many of them, have been in place for decades and
decades and decades, and so they have their plan the
next time they come to the renegotiation table with the players,
(22:59):
to strike another And the players right now are scrambling.
And that's an enormous problem and an enormous disadvantage with
an already disadvantaged union in.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
These these sort of these these sort.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Of negotiations that happen every now feels like every ten years,
but every eight years certainly with the owners as these
contracts have become longer and longer.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
And notice how in the midst of all of these investigations,
how suddenly Mike Brown, who I don't remember having really
heard a lot from him in the past, suddenly was
so verbal about the Hendrickson stuff and the Shamar Stewart
and Jerry Jones kind of saying talking about guarantees and
going extreme with some of his examples of what could
(23:45):
happen with players and all so emboldened as the leadership
of the PA gets looked at in a whole different way.
I may actually read Demorris Smith's book now, I'm slightly
more interested in his trials and tribulations of his former.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Job as in the head of the PA.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
And also, you know, there can be legitimate business expenses
at a strip club.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
You know, let's let's not conflate the two. I mean,
you can.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Go get a business businessman's lunch and talk business.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Of course.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
I mean he doesn't need crab legs at you know,
twelve noon. I mean, I think everybody, everybody should have
that option.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Hey, that buffet is a good deal. What are you
talking about, Rich?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
He's Rich Hornberger and for Jason Mike Carmon here at
Fox Sports Radio. We've got plenty of time to do
this in earnest tomorrow, but we'll do a little look around.
And Rich once participated in these fall Hall of Fame
Game ceremonies, so we'll talk about that in a moment.
But first, for the final time tonight, we take a
trip to the news desk for Steve desager. I was
(24:49):
gonna give you a nice, big welcome, but the last
time you kind of threw it back at me like
you were to kembe Mutambo and waved at.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
Me with a Shakespeare quote. Yeah no, exactly, thank you,
thank you. Everything's final in Major League Baseball, and what
a ballgame it was in San Diego. Tonight, the Padres
closer Robert Suarez gave up a tying solo homer to
the Mets in the top of the ninth. Padres score
bottom of the ninth to win Anyway seven to six
(25:17):
over New York, ending the Mets seven game winning streak.
The Mets are first in the NL E, still a
game and a half over the Phillies, who lost at
the White Sox six to two, and the losing pitcher
was Christopher Sanchez, who had been nine and two this year.
Washington sent Houston to a fifth straight loss, two to one.
From Erveld has no decision despite twelve strikeouts in six innings.
(25:37):
The Angels ended the Texas six game winning streak six
to four.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
The loss to Jacob de Grom, who.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
Had been ten and two, but tonight allowed five runs
in five and a third innings. San Francisco a sixty
five winner at sam excuse me, Pittsburgh a six to
five winner as San Francisco left twelve men on base.
Seattle beat the A's three to one that ends the
Athletics four game winning streak seven innings on the hill
for Luis Castillo, the winning pitcher. By the way, Nick
Kurtz of the A's is the AL Player of the Week.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
He had a four.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
Homer game last week. Also by the way, Baseball's trade
deadline is Thursday.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Ay you.
Speaker 7 (26:10):
Henneo Suarez of the Diamondbacks was injured tonight. Left the game,
a five to one loss at Detroit as he was
hit by a pitch on the hand. He says X
rays were negative. This is a Detroit team that had
lost six straight until yesterday's win. So the last three weeks,
Tiger's record is up to three and twelve. Detroit acquired
pitcher Chris Paddock from Minnesota. Tiger's pitcher Reese Olsen is
(26:30):
out for the year with a strange shoulder. Guardian's closer
Emmanuel Clause is on paid leave after a sports betting investigation.
Without him, Colorado scored four runs in the ninth and
one at Cleveland eight to six. There was a rain
delay at the start there of two and a half hours.
Colorado's record now twenty eight and seventy eight. Baltimore hit
four home runs and defeated first place Toronto eleven to four.
(26:52):
Ohs catcher Adleie Rushman, off the injured list, had a
two run double among his three hits. The lost to
Chris Basset, who had been eleven and four for the
Blue Jays. George Springer left hit by a pitch on
the helmet late.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
In the game.
Speaker 7 (27:04):
The Dodgers held on five too at Cincinnati, ending the
Reds four game winning streak. The Reds left base is
loaded in the ninth, the win to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Nine
strikeouts in seven inning show Heyo Tani with a two
run double, but LA's Tommy Edmund did not play due
to an ankle injury. The Dodger lead over the Padres
this month July third, was nine games. It is down
(27:26):
to four now. The Dodgers have a record since July
third of just six and thirteen. Although lefty pitcher Blake
Snell should return to LA later this week. Dodger third
baseman Max Monsey due to start rehab. Tuesday at Triple A,
Tampa Bay ended a four game losing streak, beating the
Yankees in New York four to two. Minnesota fell fell
(27:46):
behind in the top of the ninth, then a rain
delay before the bottom of the ninth. They finally come
back two runs bottom of the night. The Twins win
five to four over Boston. Brewers and Cubs were tied
for first in the NL Central. Today, the Cubs gave
team president Jed Hoyer an extension. Milwaukee beat the Cubs
tonight eight four. The losing pitcher, All Star Matthew Boyd,
who had been eleven and three wins for Saint Louis
(28:09):
and Atlanta Hall of Famer from the Cubs, Ryan Sandberg,
passed away at the age of sixty five. The Broncos
gave wide receiver Courtland Sutton a four year extension. The
Titans waived wide receiver Trailon Burke's return ban Corderyl Patterson
says he's been cut by the Steelers. The Colts gave
tackle Bernard Ryman a four year extension. Tonight, Tampa Bay
reworked the contract of quarterback Baker Mayfield. He now has
(28:31):
thirty million dollars guaranteed for next year, and an injury.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
At Dallas camp.
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Tackle Tyler Geiden reportedly will miss four to six weeks.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Though he did not tear his aco.
Speaker 7 (28:40):
Just two WNBA games Seattle won at Connecticut The Sun
four and twenty one. Now Dallas at home beat New
York the Liberty without Brianna Stewart due to a leg injury,
Angel Reached due to come back from injury and play tomorrow,
and LA's cameraon Brink due to play on Tuesday after
missing over a year with a torn acl and at
women's soccer on FS one, Columbia one at semifinal and
(29:02):
Copa America on penalty Kicksover Argentina the other semi also
on FS one Tuesday night, Brazil against Uraguay.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Back to you, fantastic stuff, Thanks Steve, We'll see you tomorrow,
rich Orburger, and for Jason Smith, I'm Mike Carmon here
from the Fox Sports Radio Studios and rich Hall of
Fame game this week, your former squad Chargers taking on
the Detroit Lions. As we get ready for actual NFL action,
It just seems like guys were reporting and starting to
(29:31):
get their dorm rooms settled. We had tales of Aaron
Rodgers talking about don't flush because it's too loud in
the dorms there at Latrobe and everything else. But you know,
you played in this game years ago. I mean, it's
good to just get after it because normally, don't We
want to see guys fight a little bit, because that
way we know they're ready, Like when that meat thermometer
(29:52):
pops up in your turkey and says, all right, it's
time to go.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Let's go time.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Yeah, I would say it's always as better to hit
a jersey color that's not your own.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
You know, that definitely helps.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
But I will say this, Obviously, playing in a Hall
of Fame game avails your team or you specifically, especially
if you're one of the expanded roster bubble players who
are just trying to make a roster. It can give
you a new opportunity, another opportunity, I should say, But
it also can avail a higher risk of injury every
(30:29):
single game you play in. Obviously it comes with an
abundance of risk. But look, don't expect to see many,
if any of the starters playing this game for either
the Chargers or the Lions.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
If they do expect just a series worth of work.
If that.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
The preseason has largely become performative in the NFL, I.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Think there is some value.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
There will be those stories that you hear across league circles.
This guy, we weren't sure about him, and then he
had that big punt return in the fourth preseason game.
He didn't even play in the first two. We were
in the Hall of Fame game and then the next one,
and then he played a little bit in game three,
but then he had this miraculous punt return. He made
(31:16):
the team as a returner, and the rest is history. Right,
He's now our best receiver. Yeah, they'll they'll be those stories.
But for all those stories, there's plenty of Yeah, the
preseason took our greatest player.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Off the field because he tore his acl.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
Or the preseason, you know, we rested all of our
starters the entire preseason because we don't believe that's a
necessary step in our process. There's plenty of that now too,
And I think we're gonna get to a point where
this league expands to eighteen games in the regular season
and drops down to two preseason games discluding.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Of course, this week's game. The Hall of Fame game.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, I think when you look at the Hall of
Fame game, the extra week has has some positives to
it in that, you know, we talk about the union
stuff and what's been legislated and negotiated with the fewer
workouts and practices and rules for the off season, that
actually getting everybody together for a couple extra days is
(32:20):
probably not the worst thing in the world, even if
all you're doing is a bunch of calisthetics.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
Yeah, I mean the reality is the more a team
gets it gets opportunities to practice together, especially preparing for
an opponent, the more used to that that process everybody becomes.
And and while training camp is tedious and it is
(32:47):
a lot of repetition of things that have already been
hammered deeply, deeply, deeply into your memory banks, it is
it is an important part of the process. I don't
know how long training camp needs to be. I would
easily be able to debate that it could be shorter, sure,
but I do think there's a need for it. And
(33:09):
I do think that as a result, especially when you're
competing against other teams that are doing the same exact
thing you are practicing, whenever they're allowed to practice outside
of the rare canceled practice.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
You need to have that.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
As part of the puzzle so that you can feeld
a competent team come game one of the season and
game one of the season.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
Even though it's weeks away.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
I mean, especially in terms of what's on the player's mind.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
That's just around the corner.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
No, it's it tick tick tick, clock is ticking. I
just remember doing my training camp travels all those years
ago in the one hundred degree days in Latrobe with
ten thousand people sweating their asses off just for a
glimpse at a couple of Ben Roethlisberger throws and such.
So the respect of that the two a days once
spawn a time, and today they were all celebrating, fans
(34:03):
and media alike that a number of teams actually put
pads on, So there was a little bit of excitement
going on in that regard as well. See I just
brought you back down memory lane there, Rich Hornberger. So
you celebrated as you will at Ornberger at Swollen Dome
where you find us. We paid tribute to a legend.
Welcome another legend back who had a big presser earlier today.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
And then singing for your supper. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
A famous fast food chain in the news for a
new partnership, and I gotta say it's brilliant. We'll do
it next because maybe I'll need some fast food on
the way home. We'll talk about it.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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