March 31, 2023 • 30 mins
Chris and Rob tell us why the embarrassingly low Final Four ticket prices are proof that sports fans don't really want to see Cinderella teams advance that far in the NCAA Tournament, tell us why they have a problem with the NBA keeping their one-and-done rule in place and debate Tom Izzo’s assertion that certain aspects of the transfer portal are bad for college basketball.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
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(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Russa and Rod Harker. I got some harrowing statistics
for you regarding this year's Final Four. Now we all
know it is a Final four for the Ages in
(00:43):
that it's unprecedented these it feels that way. Number nine
seed Florida Atlantic, number five seed San Diego State, another
five seed Miami, and number four seed Yukon. And I'm
telling you it's worse. And I hate to say worse.
I don't mean in a bad way, but those seeds
(01:06):
I don't think rob even do justice to how unusual
this is. These first three schools I mentioned basketball powers.
None of them. You might know Miami and Florida because
of football, and even that has been a while ago, right,
(01:26):
they haven't been that good lately. In San Diego State,
God bless e from Salim God bless Kawhi Leonard. But
they're not a basketball power to say the least. And
Florida Atlantic, yeah, I don't even need to say anything,
but Florida Atlantic, all right, you kind of course a
(01:46):
blue blood and they are the heavy favorites now. But
here's the deal, Rob, the first week ind of the tournament,
when we began seeing all of these ups, people loved it.
They were all in. The ratings were the highest of
(02:08):
all times. And now, oh, my, ticket prices for this
year's final four down ninety one percent. Let me tell
you what ninety one percent looks like. Last year, the
average ticket for the final four two thousand, eight hundred
(02:30):
and eighty five dollars. This year, with the ninety one
percent decrease, the average ticket price two hundred and thirty
four dollars. And Rob, the men's ticket prices are not
only less than the women's for the Final four, they're
(02:53):
ninety seven dollars less. Now, of course, the men play
in a much larger in you there's holes. You know.
The men's venue in NBG Stadium seats seventy thousand. The
women in the American Airlines Center only sees twenty thousand,
but still ninety seven dollars less for the men than
(03:18):
the women. Rob your thoughts. I called it. I told you,
can you not make this about you? Make it. I'm
gonna make it about me because it's about me. That's
what it's called a radio show. Yeah, and it's about
me and my opinion. Yeah. And I knew that this
would happen because all those people called up. It's great.
(03:44):
Oh my god, it's better. This is what you don't
know who's gonna win? Wow? No, the ain't. This ain't
no Final four. I'm renaming it. It's the final flop.
That's what this is. The final flop with slop. That's
why people aren't buying. That's why people are watching. Nobody
(04:08):
wants to see those schools. Out of all the schools,
Yukon is the one that we have to embrace and
hold onto Yukon, but all the other schools are when
it comes to college basketball, are never was his and
has beens. Nobody wants to see this that never was Okay,
(04:29):
nobody wants to see it. My god. A friend of
mine told me he was down at the Final four
and he put two tickets to the championship game on
his windshield on the way into a restaurant. When he
came out, there were four tickets there that ain't original,
(04:49):
but it's still funny. And rob My, I mean, where
what is some of the kids from San Diego State
or Florida Atlantic or listening and you're gonna get canceled?
That's all right, the final flop. That's what they said.
Ash nobody, please, everybody out there. Could hear that the
(05:13):
sound of my voice? Do not tell me? Do not
tell me. Wait a minute, Brandon, what hat is that
he's wearing? What is that? San Diego State? Brendon? You
know what? Brandon was at the Salvation Army and saw
a San Diego State had and now he's walking around
with it like he's like like he's loving it. I'm
(05:35):
just being real today, all right, But hold on, let
me ask you this, rob And I feel you. I
feel you, But let's keep it real. If it had
been Alabama, Houston, you kind and Purdue what you knowing
the of those kids either, No, but they have some
(05:57):
better players, like at least well if they were so
good they got they got to win the game. No,
but that doesn't mean because you have better players that
you're gonna win automatically. The point is that these schools
have never been involved in this. Okay, but these schools
have never been involved. And and you everybody can say
people love a Cinderella story. They might like one Cinderella
(06:18):
Chris in the in the mix, and that makes it
intriguing and you might say, wow, that's awesome. How did
they make it there? But that's not what people want
to see. That's that's I'm just being honest. That's why
the TV wadings continue to tank. And that's why people
aren't buying the tickets. Who's going to those schools and
and and the alumni they don't have the right and
(06:40):
the alumni from those schools they can't get off from
work so they can't. All right, um, I apologize for
that last comment from my co host, but now look
that's the That is one big thing, Rob the the
blue bloods have alumni that travel. That's why they always
(07:05):
want the blogs even in college football. They want the
big schools that travel. They do true, absolutely, they got
fans and boosters and alums who you know, this is
what they do. This is not I mean, they didn't
stop when they were students. Once they got some money
(07:26):
and they could, you know, afford to travel, that's what
they do. God bless them. I think that's great and
that's a lot of fun. San Diego State don't have that,
Florida Atlantic doesn't have that. So I'll give you that.
But I am saying as a sports writer who covers basketball,
I mean obviously mostly the NBA, and and my interests
(07:49):
and my coverage and my following of college basketball has
lessened over the years as the best college age players
are in the NBA or now even the minor league somewhere.
But like I said, Rob, for me, I mean, yeah,
I know Brandon Miller from Alabama and and Sasser from Houston,
(08:11):
and you know a couple of guys. But I can't
sit here and act like if it was produe. I mean,
they got the seven four kids and you know what
I mean, Like, but nobody know that. Most people don't
know the college players anyway, and so to me, it's like,
(08:32):
or at least on television, does it matter if it's
Alabama and a bunch of players from that played for
Alabama that you don't know. They're not even a blue
blood obviously versus Florida Atlantic. Why is the big difference
to you as a fan watching on TV? I get
it with the alums that travel, but you watching on TV.
(08:54):
What's the difference. What's the difference? Because rob I have
felt like you have over the years when you know
you still Robbie. We don't have to go back too
far to know. You know, remember when there were for
the most part, recognizable players on these teams, right, but
(09:16):
now it's barely even that. When you see three of
the first four players in the NBA Draft, none of
them played in college. In next month, that's gonna show
you the state of college basketball. But back then, Robert
always felt, yes, the upsets were great for the early rounds,
but when it got down to it, you wanted to
(09:37):
see the big boys in the final four. That's what happened.
But I just don't know that there are any big
I think this Final four is proof that there are
no big boys anymore. But it's still more about and
I get the schools that you're mentioning. And while they're
not Duke in North Carolina and those kind of schools, Chris,
they still on San Diego State in Florida Atlantic, Like
(10:00):
these are uh some people would have to look up
where these schools are and and and who these like
there's no history. You know what I'm saying. I'm talking
about Florida. Atlantic. Where's that? Where? Where's that school? I'm
just saying it's in Florida. No, but where do you
know where it is? What city? Ocean? Are you? Are
(10:24):
you positive? You know? There's a school called Miami, right,
that's in Ohio? Yes, okay, yes, Miami. And you know
what the name of that school, Miami of Ohio, because
when you say Miami, everybody thinks Florida. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussar
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
(10:46):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. All right,
this is Jay Glazer. And you may know me for
the world of football or fighting or even shows like
HBO's Ballers. Well, you don't know. It's for my entire life.
I have lived in something I referred to as the
Great Depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a
new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer
(11:10):
where each week, while we talk about mental health, I
hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable
with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts. We were talking before the
show and Aaron Tores brought it up during the interview
last hour. Yeah, I said he wanted to hear Chris's
opinion on it exactly, and so according people who don't
(11:33):
know ye According to multiple reports, first by ESPN Adrian
will Jowski, it's looking like the NBA and the players
Unior are gonna reach an agreement on a new deal.
They have a deadline of midnight tonight Eastern time, and
multiple outlets are saying this is gonna get done. They're
ironing out all the details right now. But one of
the big talking points to come out of this is
(11:54):
the one and done rule, which we had expected for
a long time, was gonna get removed in this new
CBA looks like it's gonna stay in there. What A
what A disappointed negotiation has kind of been pulled off
the table as part of this new deal. I think
it's a it's a bummer, A disappointed again. The union fails.
It's membership rob g From the standpoint of there's just
(12:18):
no reason. There's no rhyme or reason why kids can't play.
If you're a prodigy, right, and you're good enough and
somebody wants to draft to then then you should be
able to go to the NBA. You can do so
many things in this country at eighteen years old, including
fight for your country. Right. Does it make sense? Absolutely?
(12:41):
And you know what's funny, Rob is we always talk
on this show, you know about the the NFL player
Union l right, the strongest and the weakest. What I
think this shows, um, and I could be wrong with this,
is just my opinion that the NBA Players Union. Obviously
they got guarantee contracts, they were doing a really good
job in this, but what it tells me is that
they're really concerned about having veteran players kind of get
(13:06):
pushed out to the side. And this is them saying
we're gonna look out for the ten eleven, twelve year event.
Hanging on at the end of a bench. Who's a
good locker room presence over these young kids who are
gonna get drafted because they got a lot of talent,
who are gonna take up a roster spot, but are
not actually ready to play because you know NBA team
they're always gonna shoot the young guy. Yeah, but but
my issue is that that's the owners should be on
(13:29):
management and the teams that pick people who aren't ready
to play. Do you know what I mean? Like, that's
not the kid's fault. If the kids not ready to go,
then they shouldn't draft him. But if a kid is
a prodigy and is great, you could go to Hollywood
and be a movie actor. You could do almost anything,
(13:49):
and they just tell you can't play basketball at eighteen
years old or right after high school. Michelle Wee when
she went to the LPGA tour, what was she? Rob
G sixteen? She was sixteen playing professional golf. One. Jennifer
Caprioti fourteen fourteen, Chris, Right, Yeah, I'm back. Obviously sorry
(14:10):
about that technical difficult, but you know what I'm saying,
I've an issue with it. I don't want to First
of all, I think Rob G hit it on the head.
The reason that players didn't go to bat for this
and fight for it is because a lot of veterans
over the years did feel like and they were, they're
better than that eighteen year old coming right out of
high school. But the team is choosing the eighteen year
(14:34):
old over a guy that's thirty five, but at this
point is better than that kid. So they are doing that,
Rob to save these veterans jobs for another year or
two or whatever. But look, I'm not like that passionate
about it one way or the other. But what I
do feel like, Rob, is that what is fair is
(14:57):
what you're saying. What's fair is that the kids, if
they're good enough coming out of high school, they can
go to them. If you're a problem, it's not it's
not a it's not a lot. You're talking about a
Kobe or Lebron or Kevin Garnett. Well, but then there
are other players, Robbers, you notice who've tried to but
that's the draft not being good enough, and then they
(15:18):
fall by the way he said. Now to me, the
answer to that is if a kid it comes out
of high school, and look, you're gonna have a bunch
of kids do this if this is the case. But still,
if a kid declares for the NBA out of high
school and he's not ready, he gets drafted in the
second round or not drafted at all, let him go
to the G league, right, he can go. He can
(15:39):
before a while they wouldn't let him go. That was
the problem which I never understood, but just let them
because in the same thing when before they change the
rule in uh college where you could go back Chris,
if you know what I mean, Like that was punishment.
That was to kind of scare them. I've scared them
to say you better not declare because if you do
it and you don't get done, you're done. And that's
(16:01):
what it was. It was just straight up. There was
no reason that they shouldn't have been welcome back to
go back to college or finish your education. And you
tried it, it's okay. And at the end of the war,
the coach goes to the NBA and horrible he gets
to go back. Now, I will say this, I think
for quality of play, it's better to have the older players.
(16:26):
You know, there's the there's the once in the generation Lebron.
Lebron's really the only guy that came straight out of
high school and was great right away. But um, I
think that's best for quality of play. But what's fair
And as you said, Rob, they can go to they
can go play baseball, they can play tennis, they can wrap,
(16:48):
they can go they can do any other thing, the military, Chris, exactly.
They can go die in the war for our country.
They can't go work in McDonald's and not go to
college and nobody cares, exactly, But you can't play in
the NBA if you're a prodigy. Come on, They let
me down with this, They let the I you know,
this whole idea of just make it fair and if
(17:10):
some of the kids, it's not gonna be everybody, but
some of the kids will get picked some won't, you know,
and some will make them go to the G League.
Put the safety in that there, and if they're not
good enough, they'll never get out of G League and
they won't even last very long in that. That's fine,
but I agree. I mean, look, I'm not being out
of shape. I don't think I'm taking it as as
badly as you might be. But I do think what's
(17:34):
fair is that they should be able to come right
out of high school. I mean that just you know,
that just seems to be obvious. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the iHeart Radio app. Search f SR to listen live.
And time is though who his team was a seventh seed,
(17:56):
they were eliminated. I believe in what they're saying. Second
game of the tournament. But Rob, you know, a lot
of people are talking about the transfer portal, some love it,
some don't. And they talked about how that is really
strengthened and bolstered some of these mid majors, which is
why we have so many upsets in this year's tournament.
(18:22):
But Izzo, it doesn't seem to be a fan of it,
and here he was talking about it on ESPN. I'm
not for it. I'm not for anything, you know. I
just think we're hurting decisions that kids make. I mean,
we got what twelve hundred by Tuesday, love fifteen hundred,
and then we're gonna get a second wave of kids
in the portal, and kids are gonna go places that
(18:45):
you know, maybe it's a little bit for the money.
Maybe it's because they're worried about beating somebody else out.
I mean, we all had to beat people out, and
I think we're losing that. Where's the competitive edge? So
and plus I don't have a lot of faith in
the NCA this waiver thing. If you got to hand
nail you get a waiver, And I just don't believe
in that because I think somebody, whether it's a lawyer,
(19:06):
whether it's agents, whether it's people, they're just going to
come up with a different reason why. You know, mental
health is a big as a big reason. I just
don't see why sitting out is such a bad thing
because of the kids that are sitting out aren't pose anyway,
or they go bro quickly, rob before you go what
(19:26):
he's referring to about the sitting out in the mental health.
If you transfer the first time, you can play right away.
If you transfer to another school, so it's your second transfer,
you have to sit out a season. But if there's
a quote unquote physical or mental health issue, or even
(19:50):
physical or sexual assault that you may have encountered, you know,
at the school or whatever, then you can play immediately.
So that's just context. But what are your thoughts? Yeah,
Tom Iszzo sounds like an old man. Damn kids, get
off my line. He wants things back the way they
used to be when college coaches reigned supreme and they
(20:15):
put their thumb on the kids, Chris, and they threatened
them with their scholarships, and they were able to leave
kids in the lurch and walk out, and they were
making millions of dollars from Nike and they didn't wear
the sneakers. That's what Tom Mizzo sounds like to me,
is he wants things to go back to where they were,
back in the Stone ages, where coaches and the universities
(20:37):
held the kids and could could do whatever they want
and they wielded the power. Hello, Tom Iszzo, is this
on Those days are gone? Those days are gone, and
you better adapt or you're gonna be a dinosaur. And
you gotta understand that things aren't back like they were
when you first started coaching at Michigan State, and that
(21:00):
kids do have a right and the same thing that
you've been doing in other college coaches have been doing.
The kids have that right. Why should you If you
were a college coach and you could get more money
and be in a better situation, guess what you did.
You've bounced. Why shouldn't the kids bounce if the circumstances
(21:21):
and situation isn't right for them. So I totally disagree
with Tom Mizzle and the idea you could pooh pooh
weather if you could hangnail. You know, you get a
waiver if you. If you say you got mental thank you.
They just let you do whatever you want. I just
to discount everything. And I'm not saying that everything is
(21:43):
on the up and up and whatever, but let's make
sure that for some people who might be suffering from
a real injury or a real mental issue or whatever,
that there is a place for them. That's all I'm saying.
So I disagree with Tom Mizzle. I do think that
Izzo's comments are self serving. I think this is just
(22:07):
like you said, it's a coach who naturally doesn't want
players he recruited leaving. And you said it Rob like, look,
if you're a coach and you sat in a kid's
living room and you looked that kid in the eye,
(22:27):
you looked his mom, his dad in the eye, and
said you sold all this stuff about how you want
to help him become a better person not just player,
how you want to build his character, how you're gonna
be there for him. You site NBA players that played
for you and how you helped them out, all of that,
(22:49):
and they're going to the school based on you, because
everybody recruiting the Blue Chippers is a great program. So
they're going based on and you and their faith in
you to do what's best and to really mold their child.
And you could leave after a year and you still
(23:11):
got four years on your contract. It's come on. The
kids should be able to leave as well, and you
can't blame the kid, So I think, Rob, I mean,
it's just so hypocritical of the coaches to be able
to break their contracts, but get mad when the kid leaves.
(23:34):
Doesn't even break a contract, but he leaves. Right if
you want to say coaches have to adhere to their contracts,
and if I if I only have if you leave deal,
When I sit in that kid's living room and I say, look,
I only have a year left, I might not be there.
That's one thing. But if you got five years left,
(23:55):
then you have to stay to five years. You want
to say that, then we can have a discussion. But
if you can leave, then certainly the kids should be
to leave. Rob, I'm open that. I don't really mind
the second time in the portal, because I don't think
you want kids, not even for the system's sake, for
their sake, hopping around all over the place. And if
(24:19):
it's a challenge here, then you lead, you know. I
think one transfer is great. Maybe the second one you
need more of a reason or like they said, you
sit out of here. I'm not that upset about that.
But the first year these kids should be able to
move on, just like the coaches. And so I do
think it is those being self serving in that regard. Yeah,
(24:42):
I just it just sounded, you know, dated and old,
and you know like this is what happens. Things used
to be great, Chris and the good old days. Well thing,
you gotta, you gotta. I'll tell you one thing. The reason,
and I said this to you before, Chris, the reason
Tom Mizel probably it doesn't have that second championship or
didn't win another one is he was late to the
(25:04):
party on the one and done. Even coach k Chris
embraced it, you know why because he would have been
irrelevant to when he wouldn't be winning if he didn't go, guys,
this isn't had anyone and done well. He went after
them later on in his career. Was it. There was
a couple of kids. Was the name? What's that kid's name?
Park Parker Um, he's had a couple saman Jackson Junior.
(25:29):
He's had a couple of Zach what Zach Randolph was
two years Uh. I want to say yeah, but you
know what I'm saying, like like, but he was against
recruiting those guys, right, no, right, and he had to
adjust to remain remain relevant, right. And that's that's my
point is you just can't go back to thinking, well,
you know, this is why we used to do it,
(25:51):
and I'm just gonna do that. No, think the game
has changed and you gotta get with the program, will
retire and what he what he says about the mental health. Look,
I think Rob, you and I have talked about this before.
First of all, you don't want to belittle any you know,
physical or mental situations. There are kids and people dealing
(26:14):
with real mental health issues. And I'm not even saying
this in regards to Isz because I do think his
comments were just self serving, but we do. I think Rob,
some of this stuff that's being called mental health, it's
(26:35):
just people not wanting to deal And I'm not even
just talking about college kids. I'm talking about pros and
just people in everyday life. Everything now is being called
mental health. And sometimes it's not a mental health is
it's just a person not wanting to deal with the
daily challenges and issues of life. Rob, if I don't
(26:58):
want to, you know, say I had, you know, a
bad day to day and I don't feel like going
on the show tonight, that's not a mental health issue.
I had a bad day and I don't feel like
going to work, But guess what, I gotta work. I
(27:21):
gotta pay the bills. And so I think, or you know,
you're just shy. Some people are shy. Some people don't
want to talk to the media because they're shy, because
they don't want to be asked challenging questions. So this
is a little off of this what Izzo was talking
about with the mental health. But I do think that
(27:44):
is becoming somewhat of a problem in society as well. Rob.
It's just that everything is not a mental health issue.
You know, Sometimes you just don't want to deal with
some of the challenges you have to face. I hear you.
But we also have to be careful for people who
are experiencing something I don't know, you know, knock on wood,
(28:06):
I'm blessed whatever, you know, Like maybe it hasn't been
a part of my life, for your life, for people
close to you, but people do go through some stuff
of course, So we need to make sure that those people,
if they are really having some sort of issue, have
some sort of uh I don't know what's the right word.
Uh No, get care. Yeah, you know the psychology man,
(28:30):
she's about to get her PhD in psychology and she
really will. Yeah, so I got I got no issue
with really health issue because they're totally with you there,
and that goes for athletes and people in general. But
I do think today we're we're putting every mental health
everything is a mental health issue. There are some people
(28:52):
that think every single person has to go to therapy.
It's not true. Some people do, a lot of people do.
But if a person that doesn't go to therapy doesn't
mean they're denying that they got some mental health issues.
Their life might not be perfect, but they deal with
their issues, and so that that's kind of again this
(29:15):
is off of what is old. It's not what he
was talking about. But I do I do think that
sometimes we're calling things mental health issues that really aren't
mental health issues. It's just you being lazy. It's just
you don't want to deal with a situation that's tough,
(29:39):
that's challenging, you know, But a lot of times, those
things can help you grow. When you're in a situation
where you're uncomfortable, that can help you grow and become stronger.
That's my life. I've been in many situations that were uncomfortable,
but looking back, it helped me become stronger. It helped
(30:02):
me be better at a certain thing because I had
to fight through that challenge.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Russa and Rod Harker. I got some harrowing statistics
for you regarding this year's Final Four. Now we all
know it is a Final four for the Ages in
(00:43):
that it's unprecedented these it feels that way. Number nine
seed Florida Atlantic, number five seed San Diego State, another
five seed Miami, and number four seed Yukon. And I'm
telling you it's worse. And I hate to say worse.
I don't mean in a bad way, but those seeds
(01:06):
I don't think rob even do justice to how unusual
this is. These first three schools I mentioned basketball powers.
None of them. You might know Miami and Florida because
of football, and even that has been a while ago, right,
(01:26):
they haven't been that good lately. In San Diego State,
God bless e from Salim God bless Kawhi Leonard. But
they're not a basketball power to say the least. And
Florida Atlantic, yeah, I don't even need to say anything,
but Florida Atlantic, all right, you kind of course a
(01:46):
blue blood and they are the heavy favorites now. But
here's the deal, Rob, the first week ind of the tournament,
when we began seeing all of these ups, people loved it.
They were all in. The ratings were the highest of
(02:08):
all times. And now, oh, my, ticket prices for this
year's final four down ninety one percent. Let me tell
you what ninety one percent looks like. Last year, the
average ticket for the final four two thousand, eight hundred
(02:30):
and eighty five dollars. This year, with the ninety one
percent decrease, the average ticket price two hundred and thirty
four dollars. And Rob, the men's ticket prices are not
only less than the women's for the Final four, they're
(02:53):
ninety seven dollars less. Now, of course, the men play
in a much larger in you there's holes. You know.
The men's venue in NBG Stadium seats seventy thousand. The
women in the American Airlines Center only sees twenty thousand,
but still ninety seven dollars less for the men than
(03:18):
the women. Rob your thoughts. I called it. I told you,
can you not make this about you? Make it. I'm
gonna make it about me because it's about me. That's
what it's called a radio show. Yeah, and it's about
me and my opinion. Yeah. And I knew that this
would happen because all those people called up. It's great.
(03:44):
Oh my god, it's better. This is what you don't
know who's gonna win? Wow? No, the ain't. This ain't
no Final four. I'm renaming it. It's the final flop.
That's what this is. The final flop with slop. That's
why people aren't buying. That's why people are watching. Nobody
(04:08):
wants to see those schools. Out of all the schools,
Yukon is the one that we have to embrace and
hold onto Yukon, but all the other schools are when
it comes to college basketball, are never was his and
has beens. Nobody wants to see this that never was Okay,
(04:29):
nobody wants to see it. My god. A friend of
mine told me he was down at the Final four
and he put two tickets to the championship game on
his windshield on the way into a restaurant. When he
came out, there were four tickets there that ain't original,
(04:49):
but it's still funny. And rob My, I mean, where
what is some of the kids from San Diego State
or Florida Atlantic or listening and you're gonna get canceled?
That's all right, the final flop. That's what they said.
Ash nobody, please, everybody out there. Could hear that the
(05:13):
sound of my voice? Do not tell me? Do not
tell me. Wait a minute, Brandon, what hat is that
he's wearing? What is that? San Diego State? Brendon? You
know what? Brandon was at the Salvation Army and saw
a San Diego State had and now he's walking around
with it like he's like like he's loving it. I'm
(05:35):
just being real today, all right, But hold on, let
me ask you this, rob And I feel you. I
feel you, But let's keep it real. If it had
been Alabama, Houston, you kind and Purdue what you knowing
the of those kids either, No, but they have some
(05:57):
better players, like at least well if they were so
good they got they got to win the game. No,
but that doesn't mean because you have better players that
you're gonna win automatically. The point is that these schools
have never been involved in this. Okay, but these schools
have never been involved. And and you everybody can say
people love a Cinderella story. They might like one Cinderella
(06:18):
Chris in the in the mix, and that makes it
intriguing and you might say, wow, that's awesome. How did
they make it there? But that's not what people want
to see. That's that's I'm just being honest. That's why
the TV wadings continue to tank. And that's why people
aren't buying the tickets. Who's going to those schools and
and and the alumni they don't have the right and
(06:40):
the alumni from those schools they can't get off from
work so they can't. All right, um, I apologize for
that last comment from my co host, but now look
that's the That is one big thing, Rob the the
blue bloods have alumni that travel. That's why they always
(07:05):
want the blogs even in college football. They want the
big schools that travel. They do true, absolutely, they got
fans and boosters and alums who you know, this is
what they do. This is not I mean, they didn't
stop when they were students. Once they got some money
(07:26):
and they could, you know, afford to travel, that's what
they do. God bless them. I think that's great and
that's a lot of fun. San Diego State don't have that,
Florida Atlantic doesn't have that. So I'll give you that.
But I am saying as a sports writer who covers basketball,
I mean obviously mostly the NBA, and and my interests
(07:49):
and my coverage and my following of college basketball has
lessened over the years as the best college age players
are in the NBA or now even the minor league somewhere.
But like I said, Rob, for me, I mean, yeah,
I know Brandon Miller from Alabama and and Sasser from Houston,
(08:11):
and you know a couple of guys. But I can't
sit here and act like if it was produe. I mean,
they got the seven four kids and you know what
I mean, Like, but nobody know that. Most people don't
know the college players anyway, and so to me, it's like,
(08:32):
or at least on television, does it matter if it's
Alabama and a bunch of players from that played for
Alabama that you don't know. They're not even a blue
blood obviously versus Florida Atlantic. Why is the big difference
to you as a fan watching on TV? I get
it with the alums that travel, but you watching on TV.
(08:54):
What's the difference. What's the difference? Because rob I have
felt like you have over the years when you know
you still Robbie. We don't have to go back too
far to know. You know, remember when there were for
the most part, recognizable players on these teams, right, but
(09:16):
now it's barely even that. When you see three of
the first four players in the NBA Draft, none of
them played in college. In next month, that's gonna show
you the state of college basketball. But back then, Robert
always felt, yes, the upsets were great for the early rounds,
but when it got down to it, you wanted to
(09:37):
see the big boys in the final four. That's what happened.
But I just don't know that there are any big
I think this Final four is proof that there are
no big boys anymore. But it's still more about and
I get the schools that you're mentioning. And while they're
not Duke in North Carolina and those kind of schools, Chris,
they still on San Diego State in Florida Atlantic, Like
(10:00):
these are uh some people would have to look up
where these schools are and and and who these like
there's no history. You know what I'm saying. I'm talking
about Florida. Atlantic. Where's that? Where? Where's that school? I'm
just saying it's in Florida. No, but where do you
know where it is? What city? Ocean? Are you? Are
(10:24):
you positive? You know? There's a school called Miami, right,
that's in Ohio? Yes, okay, yes, Miami. And you know
what the name of that school, Miami of Ohio, because
when you say Miami, everybody thinks Florida. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussar
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
(10:46):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. All right,
this is Jay Glazer. And you may know me for
the world of football or fighting or even shows like
HBO's Ballers. Well, you don't know. It's for my entire life.
I have lived in something I referred to as the
Great Depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a
new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer
(11:10):
where each week, while we talk about mental health, I
hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable
with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts. We were talking before the
show and Aaron Tores brought it up during the interview
last hour. Yeah, I said he wanted to hear Chris's
opinion on it exactly, and so according people who don't
(11:33):
know ye According to multiple reports, first by ESPN Adrian
will Jowski, it's looking like the NBA and the players
Unior are gonna reach an agreement on a new deal.
They have a deadline of midnight tonight Eastern time, and
multiple outlets are saying this is gonna get done. They're
ironing out all the details right now. But one of
the big talking points to come out of this is
(11:54):
the one and done rule, which we had expected for
a long time, was gonna get removed in this new
CBA looks like it's gonna stay in there. What A
what A disappointed negotiation has kind of been pulled off
the table as part of this new deal. I think
it's a it's a bummer, A disappointed again. The union fails.
It's membership rob g From the standpoint of there's just
(12:18):
no reason. There's no rhyme or reason why kids can't play.
If you're a prodigy, right, and you're good enough and
somebody wants to draft to then then you should be
able to go to the NBA. You can do so
many things in this country at eighteen years old, including
fight for your country. Right. Does it make sense? Absolutely?
(12:41):
And you know what's funny, Rob is we always talk
on this show, you know about the the NFL player
Union l right, the strongest and the weakest. What I
think this shows, um, and I could be wrong with this,
is just my opinion that the NBA Players Union. Obviously
they got guarantee contracts, they were doing a really good
job in this, but what it tells me is that
they're really concerned about having veteran players kind of get
(13:06):
pushed out to the side. And this is them saying
we're gonna look out for the ten eleven, twelve year event.
Hanging on at the end of a bench. Who's a
good locker room presence over these young kids who are
gonna get drafted because they got a lot of talent,
who are gonna take up a roster spot, but are
not actually ready to play because you know NBA team
they're always gonna shoot the young guy. Yeah, but but
my issue is that that's the owners should be on
(13:29):
management and the teams that pick people who aren't ready
to play. Do you know what I mean? Like, that's
not the kid's fault. If the kids not ready to go,
then they shouldn't draft him. But if a kid is
a prodigy and is great, you could go to Hollywood
and be a movie actor. You could do almost anything,
(13:49):
and they just tell you can't play basketball at eighteen
years old or right after high school. Michelle Wee when
she went to the LPGA tour, what was she? Rob
G sixteen? She was sixteen playing professional golf. One. Jennifer
Caprioti fourteen fourteen, Chris, Right, Yeah, I'm back. Obviously sorry
(14:10):
about that technical difficult, but you know what I'm saying,
I've an issue with it. I don't want to First
of all, I think Rob G hit it on the head.
The reason that players didn't go to bat for this
and fight for it is because a lot of veterans
over the years did feel like and they were, they're
better than that eighteen year old coming right out of
high school. But the team is choosing the eighteen year
(14:34):
old over a guy that's thirty five, but at this
point is better than that kid. So they are doing that,
Rob to save these veterans jobs for another year or
two or whatever. But look, I'm not like that passionate
about it one way or the other. But what I
do feel like, Rob, is that what is fair is
(14:57):
what you're saying. What's fair is that the kids, if
they're good enough coming out of high school, they can
go to them. If you're a problem, it's not it's
not a it's not a lot. You're talking about a
Kobe or Lebron or Kevin Garnett. Well, but then there
are other players, Robbers, you notice who've tried to but
that's the draft not being good enough, and then they
(15:18):
fall by the way he said. Now to me, the
answer to that is if a kid it comes out
of high school, and look, you're gonna have a bunch
of kids do this if this is the case. But still,
if a kid declares for the NBA out of high
school and he's not ready, he gets drafted in the
second round or not drafted at all, let him go
to the G league, right, he can go. He can
(15:39):
before a while they wouldn't let him go. That was
the problem which I never understood, but just let them
because in the same thing when before they change the
rule in uh college where you could go back Chris,
if you know what I mean, Like that was punishment.
That was to kind of scare them. I've scared them
to say you better not declare because if you do
it and you don't get done, you're done. And that's
(16:01):
what it was. It was just straight up. There was
no reason that they shouldn't have been welcome back to
go back to college or finish your education. And you
tried it, it's okay. And at the end of the war,
the coach goes to the NBA and horrible he gets
to go back. Now, I will say this, I think
for quality of play, it's better to have the older players.
(16:26):
You know, there's the there's the once in the generation Lebron.
Lebron's really the only guy that came straight out of
high school and was great right away. But um, I
think that's best for quality of play. But what's fair
And as you said, Rob, they can go to they
can go play baseball, they can play tennis, they can wrap,
(16:48):
they can go they can do any other thing, the military, Chris, exactly.
They can go die in the war for our country.
They can't go work in McDonald's and not go to
college and nobody cares, exactly, But you can't play in
the NBA if you're a prodigy. Come on, They let
me down with this, They let the I you know,
this whole idea of just make it fair and if
(17:10):
some of the kids, it's not gonna be everybody, but
some of the kids will get picked some won't, you know,
and some will make them go to the G League.
Put the safety in that there, and if they're not
good enough, they'll never get out of G League and
they won't even last very long in that. That's fine,
but I agree. I mean, look, I'm not being out
of shape. I don't think I'm taking it as as
badly as you might be. But I do think what's
(17:34):
fair is that they should be able to come right
out of high school. I mean that just you know,
that just seems to be obvious. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the iHeart Radio app. Search f SR to listen live.
And time is though who his team was a seventh seed,
(17:56):
they were eliminated. I believe in what they're saying. Second
game of the tournament. But Rob, you know, a lot
of people are talking about the transfer portal, some love it,
some don't. And they talked about how that is really
strengthened and bolstered some of these mid majors, which is
why we have so many upsets in this year's tournament.
(18:22):
But Izzo, it doesn't seem to be a fan of it,
and here he was talking about it on ESPN. I'm
not for it. I'm not for anything, you know. I
just think we're hurting decisions that kids make. I mean,
we got what twelve hundred by Tuesday, love fifteen hundred,
and then we're gonna get a second wave of kids
in the portal, and kids are gonna go places that
(18:45):
you know, maybe it's a little bit for the money.
Maybe it's because they're worried about beating somebody else out.
I mean, we all had to beat people out, and
I think we're losing that. Where's the competitive edge? So
and plus I don't have a lot of faith in
the NCA this waiver thing. If you got to hand
nail you get a waiver, And I just don't believe
in that because I think somebody, whether it's a lawyer,
(19:06):
whether it's agents, whether it's people, they're just going to
come up with a different reason why. You know, mental
health is a big as a big reason. I just
don't see why sitting out is such a bad thing
because of the kids that are sitting out aren't pose anyway,
or they go bro quickly, rob before you go what
(19:26):
he's referring to about the sitting out in the mental health.
If you transfer the first time, you can play right away.
If you transfer to another school, so it's your second transfer,
you have to sit out a season. But if there's
a quote unquote physical or mental health issue, or even
(19:50):
physical or sexual assault that you may have encountered, you know,
at the school or whatever, then you can play immediately.
So that's just context. But what are your thoughts? Yeah,
Tom Iszzo sounds like an old man. Damn kids, get
off my line. He wants things back the way they
used to be when college coaches reigned supreme and they
(20:15):
put their thumb on the kids, Chris, and they threatened
them with their scholarships, and they were able to leave
kids in the lurch and walk out, and they were
making millions of dollars from Nike and they didn't wear
the sneakers. That's what Tom Mizzo sounds like to me,
is he wants things to go back to where they were,
back in the Stone ages, where coaches and the universities
(20:37):
held the kids and could could do whatever they want
and they wielded the power. Hello, Tom Iszzo, is this
on Those days are gone? Those days are gone, and
you better adapt or you're gonna be a dinosaur. And
you gotta understand that things aren't back like they were
when you first started coaching at Michigan State, and that
(21:00):
kids do have a right and the same thing that
you've been doing in other college coaches have been doing.
The kids have that right. Why should you If you
were a college coach and you could get more money
and be in a better situation, guess what you did.
You've bounced. Why shouldn't the kids bounce if the circumstances
(21:21):
and situation isn't right for them. So I totally disagree
with Tom Mizzle and the idea you could pooh pooh
weather if you could hangnail. You know, you get a
waiver if you. If you say you got mental thank you.
They just let you do whatever you want. I just
to discount everything. And I'm not saying that everything is
(21:43):
on the up and up and whatever, but let's make
sure that for some people who might be suffering from
a real injury or a real mental issue or whatever,
that there is a place for them. That's all I'm saying.
So I disagree with Tom Mizzle. I do think that
Izzo's comments are self serving. I think this is just
(22:07):
like you said, it's a coach who naturally doesn't want
players he recruited leaving. And you said it Rob like, look,
if you're a coach and you sat in a kid's
living room and you looked that kid in the eye,
(22:27):
you looked his mom, his dad in the eye, and
said you sold all this stuff about how you want
to help him become a better person not just player,
how you want to build his character, how you're gonna
be there for him. You site NBA players that played
for you and how you helped them out, all of that,
(22:49):
and they're going to the school based on you, because
everybody recruiting the Blue Chippers is a great program. So
they're going based on and you and their faith in
you to do what's best and to really mold their child.
And you could leave after a year and you still
(23:11):
got four years on your contract. It's come on. The
kids should be able to leave as well, and you
can't blame the kid, So I think, Rob, I mean,
it's just so hypocritical of the coaches to be able
to break their contracts, but get mad when the kid leaves.
(23:34):
Doesn't even break a contract, but he leaves. Right if
you want to say coaches have to adhere to their contracts,
and if I if I only have if you leave deal,
When I sit in that kid's living room and I say, look,
I only have a year left, I might not be there.
That's one thing. But if you got five years left,
(23:55):
then you have to stay to five years. You want
to say that, then we can have a discussion. But
if you can leave, then certainly the kids should be
to leave. Rob, I'm open that. I don't really mind
the second time in the portal, because I don't think
you want kids, not even for the system's sake, for
their sake, hopping around all over the place. And if
(24:19):
it's a challenge here, then you lead, you know. I
think one transfer is great. Maybe the second one you
need more of a reason or like they said, you
sit out of here. I'm not that upset about that.
But the first year these kids should be able to
move on, just like the coaches. And so I do
think it is those being self serving in that regard. Yeah,
(24:42):
I just it just sounded, you know, dated and old,
and you know like this is what happens. Things used
to be great, Chris and the good old days. Well thing,
you gotta, you gotta. I'll tell you one thing. The reason,
and I said this to you before, Chris, the reason
Tom Mizel probably it doesn't have that second championship or
didn't win another one is he was late to the
(25:04):
party on the one and done. Even coach k Chris
embraced it, you know why because he would have been
irrelevant to when he wouldn't be winning if he didn't go, guys,
this isn't had anyone and done well. He went after
them later on in his career. Was it. There was
a couple of kids. Was the name? What's that kid's name?
Park Parker Um, he's had a couple saman Jackson Junior.
(25:29):
He's had a couple of Zach what Zach Randolph was
two years Uh. I want to say yeah, but you
know what I'm saying, like like, but he was against
recruiting those guys, right, no, right, and he had to
adjust to remain remain relevant, right. And that's that's my
point is you just can't go back to thinking, well,
you know, this is why we used to do it,
(25:51):
and I'm just gonna do that. No, think the game
has changed and you gotta get with the program, will
retire and what he what he says about the mental health. Look,
I think Rob, you and I have talked about this before.
First of all, you don't want to belittle any you know,
physical or mental situations. There are kids and people dealing
(26:14):
with real mental health issues. And I'm not even saying
this in regards to Isz because I do think his
comments were just self serving, but we do. I think Rob,
some of this stuff that's being called mental health, it's
(26:35):
just people not wanting to deal And I'm not even
just talking about college kids. I'm talking about pros and
just people in everyday life. Everything now is being called
mental health. And sometimes it's not a mental health is
it's just a person not wanting to deal with the
daily challenges and issues of life. Rob, if I don't
(26:58):
want to, you know, say I had, you know, a
bad day to day and I don't feel like going
on the show tonight, that's not a mental health issue.
I had a bad day and I don't feel like
going to work, But guess what, I gotta work. I
(27:21):
gotta pay the bills. And so I think, or you know,
you're just shy. Some people are shy. Some people don't
want to talk to the media because they're shy, because
they don't want to be asked challenging questions. So this
is a little off of this what Izzo was talking
about with the mental health. But I do think that
(27:44):
is becoming somewhat of a problem in society as well. Rob.
It's just that everything is not a mental health issue.
You know, Sometimes you just don't want to deal with
some of the challenges you have to face. I hear you.
But we also have to be careful for people who
are experiencing something I don't know, you know, knock on wood,
(28:06):
I'm blessed whatever, you know, Like maybe it hasn't been
a part of my life, for your life, for people
close to you, but people do go through some stuff
of course, So we need to make sure that those people,
if they are really having some sort of issue, have
some sort of uh I don't know what's the right word.
Uh No, get care. Yeah, you know the psychology man,
(28:30):
she's about to get her PhD in psychology and she
really will. Yeah, so I got I got no issue
with really health issue because they're totally with you there,
and that goes for athletes and people in general. But
I do think today we're we're putting every mental health
everything is a mental health issue. There are some people
(28:52):
that think every single person has to go to therapy.
It's not true. Some people do, a lot of people do.
But if a person that doesn't go to therapy doesn't
mean they're denying that they got some mental health issues.
Their life might not be perfect, but they deal with
their issues, and so that that's kind of again this
(29:15):
is off of what is old. It's not what he
was talking about. But I do I do think that
sometimes we're calling things mental health issues that really aren't
mental health issues. It's just you being lazy. It's just
you don't want to deal with a situation that's tough,
(29:39):
that's challenging, you know, But a lot of times, those
things can help you grow. When you're in a situation
where you're uncomfortable, that can help you grow and become stronger.
That's my life. I've been in many situations that were uncomfortable,
but looking back, it helped me become stronger. It helped
(30:02):
me be better at a certain thing because I had
to fight through that challenge.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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