July 28, 2025 • 33 mins
FOX Sports Radio Weekend host Martin Weiss is in for Rob, and he and Kelvin debate whether Luka Doncic should be celebrated for getting into the best shape of his life this offseason, tell us what we can learn from Deion Sanders' very serious cancer scare, and discuss whether it's fair to expect superstars athletes like Nikola Jokic and Scottie Scheffler to help serve as ambassadors for their respective sports in an effort to grow the game.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Pictures have been floating around over the I think you
would agree the last two months or so with Luca
whether it was just spotted here, spotted there, and he
looks so great. He looks like in shade. But now
we officially kind of have an answer to this, as
his whole body looks different. With this article that he
had that just came out over the weekend and Luca
(00:46):
himself talked about it. It was for men's health, It was
a feature on him and essentially just to get to
the gist, he says, I always work on something, always
work on my body.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
But he added motive.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
He had added motivation coming off of the injury, being
nicked up all season, only playing fifty games between the
two teams, and it also getting traded, so he had
that in these and more than anything.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
He said.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
He slimmed down, he's tone, and he says, quote just visually,
I would say, my whole body looks better. He said
that in Arka, and it does, and it does. So
I'm gonna jump out on this.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
For me.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I love what I'm seeing from Luca. I love the
fact that he acknowledged it because to me, sometimes when
people call you on your flaw, when they call you
out on your is ish, when they call you out
on your thing, it takes really a real man or
a woman to say, you know what, You're right. You
know what I mean, You're right. I am being deficient here.
I'm not being efficient here, I am slacking in this area.
(01:38):
And I liked it. Luca didn't just say no, I'm fine.
I am what I am and it is what it is,
and it's gotten me the five All NBA, First Team
All NBA. Deal with it. I dragged the team in
the finals. It is what it is. I'm good enough.
I like that he took it to heart. I like
that he took it personally, and I like that he
went to work and whether he got some advice from
a somebody like a Lebron who's in year sixty eight
(02:00):
and still looks amazing and still obviously in great shape.
Whether he just took it personally, that man, I could
get traded from the team that I thought would be
home and I thought I was untradable, and that's now
we now see that's the case, and really set the
NBA on alert. This is not the case. Anybody can
get to smoke, whether it's Luca, whether it's Ann Edwards, anybody.
If Luca could get it, anybody can get it. But
(02:20):
more importantly, I like that he's activated with this, that
he's taking it on his shoulders, that he's out here
shooting text messages. We hear de Marcus smart, he's shooting
text to DeAndre and trying to build a team, trying
to be participatory and now being a Laker as he
looks like he's gonna get the deal eventually, a four
year deal worth you know, two and a quarter one
hundred million. So I actually like what I'm seeing and
(02:41):
the fact that he's bounced back. And we talked about
this last week, I believe it was Friday. I expect
Luke and now to get a ring in the next
four years because to me, you're you realize you can
be better.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You're great, was great.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
MVP candidate all the time, kind of one of those guys,
but you can be better. And now you put yourself
in a situation to me where you got a couple
of players I don't think they're good enough to really contend.
But I do think he put himself in a position
Martin where he can really be an MVP candidate again,
because I think that's gonna work in his favor. Usually
you ain't have these criterias. You're the best player on
(03:18):
the best team, so they kind of give it to you,
even if it's like some other person where you had
a number one seed by far, we gotta give it
to you.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
And Luka Rashid the MVP votes in that scenario before, right,
And I think he's gonna get it this year because
his team won't be loaded and he's gonna ball out
and keep his team in a you know, four to
six seven seed ish and people will be like, man,
this might be the year he gets that MVP.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
But bottom line for me, I like this, and again
they got Lebron ain't gonna be here much longer, so
I think the window is now open for the Lakers.
The Lebron or the Luca era no longer the Lebron era.
And I like that he's took it personally. And I
like again that he didn't just say I've been good enough.
He went and wanted to get better. And we'll see
how hall long it lasts. But lighter, healthier, motivated Luca.
(04:02):
I like that for La.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
I mean I like it too. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
You know, there's no way not to like it, right,
there's nothing to not like about this if you're a
Los Angeles Laker fan. But I just wanted we should
all just take a moment as a country and just.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Okay, we're plotting. What are we are plotting?
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Shout out to Luka Doncis for showing up to work
this summer. Congratulations America. He did something that you and
I and everybody else here does all the time. Professional
athlete works out more at eleven. I mean, like, ultimately,
you know what the take is from this? Nico Harris
has to print this article out and pin it on
his fridge. You mean to tell me that this article
(04:44):
said that Luka Doncic said, for the first time, build
a weight routine to help them build total body strength.
Luca's been in the NBA for five years now, six
years now, right, six years now. This has also that
so when he was in Dallas, he listened to everything
the Mavericks had to say, but then when he would
(05:04):
go back to Europe would get limited information. You mean
to tell me that the Mavericks are just you know, hey,
figure it out on your own. I refuse to believe
that's the case.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Now.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I can't believe that's the case, especially an organization like Dallas,
which is scouted internationally so well, they draft, they got
people over there right now, right, there's somebody's job over
there to work Luca Dodgers out, and you know it
is somebody. It didn't work. This whole team Luca, though,
seemed like it was happening more and more and more.
You mean to tell me that now we are just
now intermitted fasting. We're just now figuring that intermitted fasting.
(05:39):
I've been doing it for the last eight months, and
people keep coming. People think I've been in the gym.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
I haven't stepped into gym once. All I do is
I don't eat before two o'clock.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
But I'm just saying this, like Nico Harrison is vindicated
off of this because if you're telling me that none
of this was happening before, that's the implication that none
of this was happening before. Then he never was going
to do it, especially if you gave him that money.
Now it worked out for the Lakers, and more than
(06:10):
likely to your point, I'm not saying this to refute
anything that you just spent the first however long, laying out.
I think all of that is true. MVP is on
the floor for absolutely championship. I mean we saw it. Yeah,
we saw fat Luca do it, so why can't skinny
Luca do it?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Right?
Speaker 5 (06:25):
You think it only be better? Right?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
But that was my initial takeaway from this is two takeaways. First,
interesting that he only mentioned Lebron's name only the writer
mentioned Lebron's name and Luca didn't mention it once. The
narrative once Luca got traded here was that he was
gonna study with Lebron. He references Michael Jordan and Kobe
Bryant in the article, not Lebron. James found that interesting,
(06:48):
but more than anything, to me, this was vindication, like
you had to get what you could because if you
paid him everything, he was never going to do this
type of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Here's where I have issue with what you're saying on paper.
I get what you're saying, and I wouldn't be mad
if it was for Luca, for Ann Edwards, wouldn't have
been mad, if it was looking for Tatum, wouldn't have
been mad, if it were looking for you know, Sga,
wouldn't have been mad. But you can't tell me we
believe a catastrophic injury is on the way for him
because he doesn't take care of his body. And then
(07:19):
you go and get Anthony Davis and then you pair
him with Kyrie Irving, six year older Anthony Davis. You
know what he's not even I'm not saying saying a
catastrophic injury. No, I'm talking about what Nico. Nico's saying.
We believe a catastrophic injuries around the corner, and you know,
we believe in all of this. And I'm my biggest
issue with it was I'm I that would have been
shocking because anybody waking up reading Luca is traded, it's crazy.
(07:41):
But if you're doing it and you're getting Anthony Davis
not a haul of picks, that to me is the
crazy part. Because he's often injured you're pairing would often
injured Kyrie.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
He's six years older. The math wasn't mathing that to me.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I'm not saying that the Hall was great, right, but
I'm saying the if I'm staring down a barrel of
making Luca Doncies the highest paid player in the NBA
or moving him, and I'm reading this article expected to
think that this is groundbreaking news right now, there's no
way as a GM on time my future to that guy.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Only.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
The other issue I have with that is, and I
mentioned this at certain points, this happens with athletes, This
happens as applicable in any walk of life.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
When you and we know this.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We talk about people who are overly talented, naturally talented,
you name the thing in life, they've been able to
rely on that talent.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Luca's been a professionals.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
He was like thirteen literally, and to me, what I
read is he's worked hard, you know, but that next
level you talk about a Kobe Bryant, that maniacal level,
he probably hadn't approached that. And I think to me
was that what was Dallas doing to get him to
that level? And maybe he couldn't, you know, maybe they
just couldn't. Maybe he needed to kick in the butt
(08:57):
of being traded to kind of take it to that
next level. But I do believe some people have to.
There are a there's an ability to take it to
another level. And you just didn't know that because all
I've ever been was good like Lebron James as hard
as he works now and we know and all this,
I guarantee you if he would say I wasn't twenty
two three four, I was working out and I was
in a gym, But that next level I had to
(09:19):
go to Miami and learn. Oh shoot, I got with
d Waite. He talks about it. I got with dv Wade.
I saw work on levels. And so I think sometimes
people have to get to another level, they have to
see it, they have to have a kick in the butt,
that something to having an experience before they take it
to the next level. Which is why Kobe is so
revered in that regard, because he seems to be somebody
at that engine from go, and I think not everybody's
born that way. And again, I don't care if it's
(09:40):
a salesperson. I don't care if it's a singer. I
don't care if it's a dancer. I don't care if
it's an NBA player. Some people, it takes a moment
when you go, oh, that's the Kobe Bryant come into
the Olympics, Lebron and mellow they all stars, first team NBA,
you know, we the guys and KD Then they see
Kobe and they go, oh, there's another level. And I
just think some times you need that. I think Luca
(10:02):
through this situation, got that. But I totally get what
you're saying. If they don't trade him, does he ever
get there? We don't know, But I get what you're saying.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
For this article to come out like this, and I
get what you're saying about the Lebron and going to
see and being at the next level.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
The problem is now the author in.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
This actually wrote that Luca jumped forty two inches at
the combine, which A didn't have any go to the
combine and beef Luka never done forty.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Inches forty two inches.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
But if you go back and watch Luca and then
bubble highlights with nobody in the stands and education reform
on the back of people's jerseys, Luka Doncis.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Was dunking the ball.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
He was going to the rim aggressively and dunking the ball,
and you could see a progression in his game to
a more on the floor type of game going year
in year round.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
He was getting.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Heavier, like he was moving physically in the wrong direction. Right,
And so that's the thing is, like you look at
sure like even a guy like Dwight Howard, right, he
was never all the way locked in super talented, but
never I think, to his own admission would tell you
that was never all the way locked in, never locked
in on diet, never, But he never like got.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Out of shape. No, no, no, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Like, if he had took it to another level, we
would have seen whatever that could have been. Maybe he
could have actually lived up to the baby shack and
all of that. But Luca, we saw it going the
other way. And I think that's where you see this
men's health article. And I was supposed to be like, oh,
look out now.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
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Speaker 6 (11:35):
Hey, We're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio. Every day
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never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
To, and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yeah, you blubber list in me.
Speaker 6 (11:58):
Well you know what it's called over promise you should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 7 (12:02):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
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Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
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little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Of all time.
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There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see it
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Speaker 1 (12:38):
All right, Rob g Man, this is Dion Sanders. Kind
of been a miia for the last three months or so.
He popped up at the Big twelve media day. We
got to see him there a little bit. Well, he's
been on and off. You see him a handful of times.
He might do something on social media, but come to
find out on a serious note, he had been dealing
with bladder cancer. Now this is where correct me if
(13:01):
I'm wrong, Rober, This is where gets sketchy. Some reports
are his bladder was removed period. Others are some of
his bladder was removed, right, Yes, part of it with
the tumor part of it with the tumb I should
tell you for sure.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
He said today he depends on depends. That's a quote
from him. No, it's absolutely a quote from him. So
he's up and using the bathroom four or five times
a night into a klostomy bag.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, and I saw the bag.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
If you follow him on the gram he uh, there's
a video of him, you know, fishing, and then he
kind of like fades pans and then you see the
bag just sitting on I don't know a bench or so.
So obviously a tough situation for him, what he's going through.
He's been through so much physically over the last decade
twelve years or so. He had a staff infection, he
(13:52):
had infection in his leg after getting some some footwork
done to the tune of where his he's got kind
of rough legs, scarred up leg and then obviously he's
missing toes on his foot and now all of a
sudden this he's had blood clots and he's just had
a lot going on physically. And one of the things
I love about them Martin is that, and it's a
trait that honestly, I want to have more of. I
(14:15):
think I'm okay with it. I think he found the
perfect balance of not telling you what's going on per se,
but also telling you and keeping a great disposition, keeping
a very you know, he's his faith in God and
his faith in you know, the power of God in
his life, and he just keeps a great attitude of
moving forward and encouraging. And I said that to say
he's not hiding things where we are. You know, some
(14:36):
people hard and then you find out they're going through
it and maybe something bad happens because they've been harboring something.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
He just doesn't overly have to share. But he even
when he does.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
When he was going through the foot stuff, he's like,
hey man, he kept his faith and I love that
about him. As he's been going through this, and he
said he's ready to coach. He's ready to go year
three Colorado, and he's up for the task. Obviously he's
going to be difficult. Obviously we're all see him the
best with this. But just remarkable all that he's been
going through. Now knowing this and given everything that's going on,
(15:08):
right you're coaching, you got you know, you got sons plural,
you got other kids that you're an adopted son if
you will, and Travis Hunter and all trying to go
into the league, and sure, I just think that's remarkable
all that he's been able to do, and again coming
off of so many other surgeries that he's had to
go through.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
Yeah, he said today, I listened to the first five
ministers of his availability.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
He said today, he's had fourteen surgeries in the last
two years. He has had more surgeries out of the
game than he did in the game, which is generally
works in reverse for most NFL players, you're going under
the knife while you're playing, as opposed to after the fact.
But and I k everything you say in terms of
(15:48):
he looked like he was in very good spirits today.
He looked like I think, I think to your point
of he keeps his faith so on, he also does
a good job of presenting a very strong front in
moments like this. And I think, not to go off
on a too far of a tangent, but like a
(16:10):
lot of people who are like twenty years old or
twenty five and under could take note and like, you
don't have to post everything every single step off the
way yep, you know. And I think that's something that
we see a lot out of a lot of people
who are younger and have grown up on the internet.
Deon Sanders, at each moment of these different health instances
(16:31):
that he's had, has both shared what happened, but also
shared in a way that projected his strength and his
ability to deal in his faith and so on.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
My secondary takeaway from this was.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
We might have to give Dion some grace here and
also shoudure Sanders from grace and ultimately it's not about
what happened today. But about the draft, I think that
if you went back to the way that we talked
about Shador leading up to the draft process and the
way that leading up to the draft process and immediately following,
(17:11):
there was a lot of how on earth My biggest question,
how on earth could they have been so wrong? They're
not having that Day one draft party if he thinks
he's a fifth round pick, right, Like that's Deon Sanders
knows enough to know.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
About the optics of what this looks like.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
You know, if your son's not going to be drafted
for seventy two more hours, and maybe you order the
catering for Saturday afternoon instead of Thursday night.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
But and I have no reason to believe he's lying.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
But what Dion said today was, you know, I was
essentially lying to my kids, telling them that the reason
I was going to the doctor so much was from
my feet, right, because I wanted my boys to focus
on their once in a lifetime opportunity to make it
to the NFL and play at a high level. And
so fourteenth surgeries in two years, you know, dealing with
(18:04):
all of this this offseason. He just recently he still
got a colostomy bag and he's going to the bathroom
four or five times a night. Tells me that this
is not something that was resolved months and months ago.
This was something that resolved weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Ago, right, and may not even be yeah, right, they
say he's cancer free, but obviously the posts right and
he's not all the way resolved. Resolved is probably the
wrong verb to you, But to me, it's like, I
went and I came on these areas and was like,
how could Dion Sanders, one of the most plugged men
who could seemingly hire just go through his contact list
(18:39):
and his iPhone and hire the next It's just a
coach of Colorado because all of them played football, all
of them Hall of famers.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
You want to name Michael, you name it, can go
get on the sideline.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
You know, it's a Hollywood Walk of Fame on the
sidelines of Colorado. How could he even so off about
the way the NFL felt about his son, because I
always thought the should door it was a probably a
second or third round pick that they got drafted in
the fifth round because he failed the interviews, right, he
failed the job interview part of it. Well, now I
(19:10):
have maybe a little bit of a better understanding as
to why the perception seemingly out of Boulder and in
the NFL was so wide. Dean had a lot more
going on than just getting his sons ready.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
For the draft.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, I mean he might have been for the first
time disconnected, or I mean, listen, two things can also
be true. Or why don't know exactly your your take
on it, or well my thought still being because of
the interview failed, because of Dion being so much, and
because of how NFL sometimes feels about backup quarterbacks and
guys who are going to be the circumstance around them,
(19:45):
the pomping circumstance.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I don't want that around.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Hey, if I'm not going to play this kid for
another two years, three years, he's I view him as
a backup, a third or fourth round pick ultimately would
be a fifth, then why do I want to bring
him his fanfare, his X amount of millions of followers
I'd have to deal with, put him in, put him
in people who might come to the stadium, and obviously
his father, what y'all doing, baby, play my son, baby?
(20:08):
You know, going through all the day. And so I
think there's an element still that people are like, I
don't want to deal with that for a guy that
I view as a backup and a year where not
a lot of guys teams needed quarterbacks. So I think
two things he could have been clearly not could have
He was clearly going through something dion and maybe not
as tapped in as he normally would be. When you're
(20:28):
dealing with cancer. The word now, I'm dealing with a
bum knee, right, is that like a torn ligament or
something like that.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
That's something he has experienced with, even a toe unfortunate
if they say, hey, we gotta cut another toe.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
He's been through that. Cancer is a whole different bag
and a different part of your body. So I do
think there's an element of what you're saying that he
had to deal with this. It may not have been
as locked in or tapped in, but I still believe
there's an element of we didn't like hole cocky, how arrogant,
how he thinks he knows it all.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
So I think that's valid. I'm not taking that away.
My thing is I think that dim probably would have
heard more about that, like about Hey, guys, this is
the current perception of how you're being viewed, right, You
know what I'm saying like I think that maybe if
there had been like I just say this, it makes
(21:16):
sense now, or it makes more sense at least there's
a plausible reason why there was no change in attitude
or change in direction, or change and approach to that,
to that perspective up until I mean after draft day, right,
you know what I'm saying. It was a day of
the draft. They are moving like it was like he
was going in the first round. Yeah, And so that's
(21:37):
why that just makes it makes a lot more sense.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I just still also think Dion has been Dion since
literally he was drafted with gold chains and you know,
the sunglasses on. And I think part of them is
like do I want to deal with that with this
kid who isn't Andrew Luck Sure, who isn't Caleb Williams.
You know, as far as that type of prospect, I
don't want that fan fear. I don't want that pumping
staf circumstance for guys gonna sit on my bench for
(22:01):
two to three years.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Maybe I think that played a role as well.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
But wishing d I think we both can speak for
both of us wishing him all the best players of
for Dion and just wishing him the best coach prime
get back on your feet and be able to do
what you do.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (22:27):
Wanted to do this a little bit the last week.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
We didn't really get a chance to so interesting conversation
that Jokic leads perfectly into. So the conversation was basically
around when Scheffler wins again, he wins another tournament. They
started to look at some of the Scott Scheffler the
numbers and he's on pace right now. Again this sounds
crazy saying out loud, but some of the stuff he's
(22:50):
doing is the same timeline as Tiger Woods once he's
got started winning and the rate in which he was
winning some big tournaments.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And so it's like the.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Same thing as Shane well Homes is on a Brady track.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
There's a long way to go, but you gotta ignowledge
the effects he is. And so Jordan Speed, who was
that guy for a hot year or two, talked about that.
He said, look, man, he doesn't like to kind of
embrace that. You know you're the man, the Mantle Jrs.
You know, big up the league He's written and within
the week before that, I think you and I talked
about that with Scotty Scheffer talking, Hey man, I just
(23:24):
kind of want to golf his bigger things. My family matters.
You know, I have things that I care about. I
want to be good. I work hard at it. I'm
a niacole about that. But at the end of the
day those this isn't as fulfilling me winning the Masters
as you know, being home and there's other things that
fulfill my life. Sure, So Jordan Speed kind of echoed
those sentiments about his friend Scotty Scotti Chefley said, I'm
(23:44):
with him.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I know how he is, I know how he operates.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
And it tied us into what just happened over the
weekend as Nicolaoki, superstar in the NBA, is once again
a champ.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
That's because he is a horse owner. We all know that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
At racing event in his native of Serbia where his
horse is the winner, and the funny memes, funny jokes,
all the stuff came out of it because everybody was
like wait wait, wait, wait, wait, wait wait, this man
has got the biggest bottle of champagne, spreading it on
the horse, going crazy, spraying himself and high five and
(24:17):
a couple of years back on the NBA title and
was like, yeah, that's cool, cool, Yeah, no, no, no doubt,
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah, I'm excited. Woa yeah, wait, can't wait to get
back to my horses.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Now we see you win his horses and they win,
and he was excited, and so he was going crazy,
and it got me to thinking. And this is why
I said, we'll take some phone calls on this one too, Martin.
Do you feel that the superstar or the head of
a league or a you know, franchise or a sporting event, whatever,
is obligated to kind of take on that mantle He's
(24:50):
so here's what I mean. Golf has been looking for
their tiger Woods. Remember he was really bad for a while.
Then he kind of popped back up twenty nineteen is
but they were, look, is it your speed?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Is it gonna be Roy McElroy, Is it gonna be
who is?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And then oh, hey can be Scotty Schuff and Scotti
Scheffer kind of saying no, I want to be good,
but I don't want all of that.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I don't want this to be my life. I enjoyed
fulfillment Elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
We go to the NBA, who's the best player, most
people will say Nicole Okic for the hand last handful
of years. We know he ain't trying to embrace all
that that comes with that. He's just kind of I
want to be really good. I want to try to
win with my team and go home and race horses,
and now I have champion horses. Naomi Issaka Hers is
a little different, you know. She was she was getting
right there to kind of be the new face of tennis,
(25:32):
and she stepped back. She knows very vocal about her
challenges and mental health, and then she became a mother
as well. Uh so she she's kind of didn't that
just didn't work out. So I say all that to say,
do you believe that you have to be that? If
you're Mike Trout? A lot of people wanted more from
him when he was kind of the guy more for me, more,
be more vocal, do more.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You're Mike Trut, you arguably be one of the best ever.
We want more from you.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
And when I thought about this, to me, there's a
few things that kind of had to happen. I don't
think you can manufacture it. I think some things just happen,
whether it's fate, whether it's God, whether it's just you know,
you embraced it in the league. And then timing of things.
I'll give you a couple examples. Then I want you
to jump in on this. The NBA is flailing. We
got stars, but we don't have a face of it.
(26:18):
I don't know what's going on. We got Kareem, we
got this person, we got all these big star but
George Gervit it ain't really working well.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Then you get Magic, Then you get Larry Bird.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Two guys who couldn't be in a different ones kind
of to himself and the others loud, smiling, wants to
be the life of the party. One goes to Boston,
hard working, blue collar on the East coast. One goes
to the West coast, Hollywood. And you got these two guys,
different personalities, different ends of the coast, different you know, styles.
One more of a passer, one's more of a score.
And it ended up being the greatest thing that could
(26:48):
have ever happened to the NBA. You couldn't oh, I
love about the headline. They just played in the biggest
national championship game. Will never see numbers like that again,
thirty some bi million people watching. So you have that happen.
And then you look at guys Lebron. His name is
James King, James, he's a chosen one. He's from Akron,
right near Cleveland, who has a number one pick Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
We don't know how to happen.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
But my point is it just happens, and he happens
to be good, and now you got the guy facing
the league. I think things have to sometimes you can't
just force it. There has to be storylines. Tiger Woods
is a person of color. He's black, is he Asian?
This he has a story, he has an interesting name,
He's Tiger. He's doing stuff we haven't seen. He's aggressive,
he's fist pump, and he's fiery out there. You can't
(27:31):
design that, you can't force that. So I believe you
can't force a Scheffler if he doesn't want it. And
Naomi Osaka, she's kind of going through mental health things
in motherhood, Yokich. He kind of just doesn't have it
for the NBA like that. I don't believe you can
force it. I think things just happen where your face,
your star, the person takes the league by storm and
we all watch and enjoy it.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
I mean, it's absolutely what happens is generally there will
be some mark or moment of firestorm, and you think
back to the last person who generated this type of feeling,
and it was Kaitlin Clark and Angel Reese. It was
the moment if you go back to the beginning of
of when this became transcended just women's basketball to now
(28:15):
becoming a national story, and it was when Angel Rees
and LSU and bounced Caitlyn Clark out of the tournament.
She did the Aaron Donald ring me move, and all
of a sudden, Joe Biden is, maybe should we should
invite the losers to the White House and the winners
because everybody tried, right, like that's the now time. Ever,
(28:38):
right now it becomes this whole big discussion. Right, so
there's a flashpoint moment. I got, like Jokic the thing
that I honestly I kind of resent because if it
is true that this is the case, then these people
are just God was cheating when he made them compared
to me. But I don't think you can be as
(28:58):
good at basketball, as you k Is are as good
at golf as Scotty Scheffler is, especially as good as
golf individually as Scotty Scheffler is to and not have
an intense and insane level of dedication drive motivation, for sure,
right that doesn't exist. You cannot get that good without
(29:19):
having that because just the drive to get up and
do it again and again and again, and that is
repetition that gets you to be able to get to
that level.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
So I think Scotty.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Scotty's statement is more, do I want to put in
the time it takes for me to be as consistently
great as I am in this while like my kid
is taking his first steps, Like that's a real thing,
especially for a guy who's won that much. But for Jokic,
I think that we just downplay the idea, like, yeah,
(29:52):
he looked really happy, He looked really really happy and
he was celebrating.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
But you know what he also didn't do.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
He wasn't fresh off of one hundred on my basketball
games of getting his ass kicked. You watch Jokis look
like one of them from the laugh to us after
a game because he looked like he's about to turn
right like or like he was fighting off a werewolf
instead of it was just the seven players are using
to defend him.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
So like, yeah, maybe after the finals he's like.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I'm tired of hell Man, And you know what, maybe
the NBA is not the biggest deal for him. I
bet you if he said this to yo kid, said,
listen all your MVPs, I'll spot to another championship in
the NBA, would you trade him off for a gold
medal for Serbia? You watch that start and five documentary
on Netflix, I bet you, and he'd do it in
a heartbeat.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Wouldn't think twice, wouldn't blink twice?
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
So he has a intense level of passion and desire, but.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
It's also too like you can have fun doing other
things without a doubt.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
And I think too, you brought to a great point.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I think there's something to we kind of we get
into it with when we have our Olympic teams and
whatever they I don't care the sport. We all get
into it and we don't care about Typically we don't
care about swimming until its the Olympics. Typically we don't
care about track and feel like that until his the Olympics.
So on and so forth. But I do feel like
other countries we forget they're kind of working here to
(31:12):
get a visa to come work, but really home is
home for them, if you give what I mean, Like
Lucas here, he's in la He's in Hollywood, but this
ain't home. Lithuania is home for him. Serbia is home
for Yokich, you know you name the player. Home is home.
I got a second home here, I got a nice crib.
Maybe I met my wife here, I met my girlfriend,
but home is home. And I think sometimes we forget
(31:33):
for these players. They're spending so much time away from grandma,
sure her mom, from my favorite uncle, for my best
friend who couldn't come with me because he's got his
own family back in Serbia or back in Argentina, or
back in Germany or back in Cameroon. And I think,
so it's not that I don't care and not that
I'm not all in, but you just mentioned it. That's
(31:54):
why those France teams have so much pride, like I
love it here, but France is home, you know, And
when they get to the those international games, they're like, man,
this is my guys, just for the country. I'm all
in and I think we sometimes forget like, no, you're
in the NBA, this better be the greatest and the
biggest thing in your life. And they're like, yo, basketball
is I love the game, but I'm away from home
(32:15):
for so long. And I think we sometimes forget that
and can understand that.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
And there's a real pride of country, the real patriotism
from their individual countries. You think, you think Team Slovenia
left weights. You think maybe if you caught Luke on
the Olympic year, he might work out in the offseason.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Well maybe you'd hope, you know, so.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
You hope, because that's the thing about Jokics, Like seriously,
when people kind of say he doesn't like you've seen
him now, has his body improved?
Speaker 5 (32:46):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
I'm not gonna sit here and say that. He you know,
looks like Anthony Edwards without a jersey on.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
But you can watch him run up and down the court.
You can watch him not get tired. You can watch
him play forty five minutes in a double overtime game,
and he's got he's the one with the gas left right.
You can watch You're seeing that, and so it's like, yeah,
he loves he loves he loves the game. Got a doubt,
but like, it's a lot more fun racing horses and
(33:13):
drinking champagne and being with your family, being head and
you're man.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to check us out live every weekday from
four to seven pm Pacific seven to ten pm Eastern
on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The
Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
us every day on the iHeartRadio by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Pictures have been floating around over the I think you
would agree the last two months or so with Luca
whether it was just spotted here, spotted there, and he
looks so great. He looks like in shade. But now
we officially kind of have an answer to this, as
his whole body looks different. With this article that he
had that just came out over the weekend and Luca
(00:46):
himself talked about it. It was for men's health, It was
a feature on him and essentially just to get to
the gist, he says, I always work on something, always
work on my body.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
But he added motive.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
He had added motivation coming off of the injury, being
nicked up all season, only playing fifty games between the
two teams, and it also getting traded, so he had
that in these and more than anything.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
He said.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
He slimmed down, he's tone, and he says, quote just visually,
I would say, my whole body looks better. He said
that in Arka, and it does, and it does. So
I'm gonna jump out on this.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
For me.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I love what I'm seeing from Luca. I love the
fact that he acknowledged it because to me, sometimes when
people call you on your flaw, when they call you
out on your is ish, when they call you out
on your thing, it takes really a real man or
a woman to say, you know what, You're right. You
know what I mean, You're right. I am being deficient here.
I'm not being efficient here, I am slacking in this area.
(01:38):
And I liked it. Luca didn't just say no, I'm fine.
I am what I am and it is what it is,
and it's gotten me the five All NBA, First Team
All NBA. Deal with it. I dragged the team in
the finals. It is what it is. I'm good enough.
I like that he took it to heart. I like
that he took it personally, and I like that he
went to work and whether he got some advice from
a somebody like a Lebron who's in year sixty eight
(02:00):
and still looks amazing and still obviously in great shape.
Whether he just took it personally, that man, I could
get traded from the team that I thought would be
home and I thought I was untradable, and that's now
we now see that's the case, and really set the
NBA on alert. This is not the case. Anybody can
get to smoke, whether it's Luca, whether it's Ann Edwards, anybody.
If Luca could get it, anybody can get it. But
(02:20):
more importantly, I like that he's activated with this, that
he's taking it on his shoulders, that he's out here
shooting text messages. We hear de Marcus smart, he's shooting
text to DeAndre and trying to build a team, trying
to be participatory and now being a Laker as he
looks like he's gonna get the deal eventually, a four
year deal worth you know, two and a quarter one
hundred million. So I actually like what I'm seeing and
(02:41):
the fact that he's bounced back. And we talked about
this last week, I believe it was Friday. I expect
Luke and now to get a ring in the next
four years because to me, you're you realize you can
be better.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You're great, was great.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
MVP candidate all the time, kind of one of those guys,
but you can be better. And now you put yourself
in a situation to me where you got a couple
of players I don't think they're good enough to really contend.
But I do think he put himself in a position
Martin where he can really be an MVP candidate again,
because I think that's gonna work in his favor. Usually
you ain't have these criterias. You're the best player on
(03:18):
the best team, so they kind of give it to you,
even if it's like some other person where you had
a number one seed by far, we gotta give it
to you.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
And Luka Rashid the MVP votes in that scenario before, right,
And I think he's gonna get it this year because
his team won't be loaded and he's gonna ball out
and keep his team in a you know, four to
six seven seed ish and people will be like, man,
this might be the year he gets that MVP.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
But bottom line for me, I like this, and again
they got Lebron ain't gonna be here much longer, so
I think the window is now open for the Lakers.
The Lebron or the Luca era no longer the Lebron era.
And I like that he's took it personally. And I
like again that he didn't just say I've been good enough.
He went and wanted to get better. And we'll see
how hall long it lasts. But lighter, healthier, motivated Luca.
(04:02):
I like that for La.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
I mean I like it too. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
You know, there's no way not to like it, right,
there's nothing to not like about this if you're a
Los Angeles Laker fan. But I just wanted we should
all just take a moment as a country and just.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Okay, we're plotting. What are we are plotting?
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Shout out to Luka Doncis for showing up to work
this summer. Congratulations America. He did something that you and
I and everybody else here does all the time. Professional
athlete works out more at eleven. I mean, like, ultimately,
you know what the take is from this? Nico Harris
has to print this article out and pin it on
his fridge. You mean to tell me that this article
(04:44):
said that Luka Doncic said, for the first time, build
a weight routine to help them build total body strength.
Luca's been in the NBA for five years now, six
years now, right, six years now. This has also that
so when he was in Dallas, he listened to everything
the Mavericks had to say, but then when he would
(05:04):
go back to Europe would get limited information. You mean
to tell me that the Mavericks are just you know, hey,
figure it out on your own. I refuse to believe
that's the case.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Now.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I can't believe that's the case, especially an organization like Dallas,
which is scouted internationally so well, they draft, they got
people over there right now, right, there's somebody's job over
there to work Luca Dodgers out, and you know it
is somebody. It didn't work. This whole team Luca, though,
seemed like it was happening more and more and more.
You mean to tell me that now we are just
now intermitted fasting. We're just now figuring that intermitted fasting.
(05:39):
I've been doing it for the last eight months, and
people keep coming. People think I've been in the gym.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
I haven't stepped into gym once. All I do is
I don't eat before two o'clock.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
But I'm just saying this, like Nico Harrison is vindicated
off of this because if you're telling me that none
of this was happening before, that's the implication that none
of this was happening before. Then he never was going
to do it, especially if you gave him that money.
Now it worked out for the Lakers, and more than
(06:10):
likely to your point, I'm not saying this to refute
anything that you just spent the first however long, laying out.
I think all of that is true. MVP is on
the floor for absolutely championship. I mean we saw it. Yeah,
we saw fat Luca do it, so why can't skinny
Luca do it?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Right?
Speaker 5 (06:25):
You think it only be better? Right?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
But that was my initial takeaway from this is two takeaways. First,
interesting that he only mentioned Lebron's name only the writer
mentioned Lebron's name and Luca didn't mention it once. The
narrative once Luca got traded here was that he was
gonna study with Lebron. He references Michael Jordan and Kobe
Bryant in the article, not Lebron. James found that interesting,
(06:48):
but more than anything, to me, this was vindication, like
you had to get what you could because if you
paid him everything, he was never going to do this
type of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Here's where I have issue with what you're saying on paper.
I get what you're saying, and I wouldn't be mad
if it was for Luca, for Ann Edwards, wouldn't have
been mad, if it was looking for Tatum, wouldn't have
been mad, if it were looking for you know, Sga,
wouldn't have been mad. But you can't tell me we
believe a catastrophic injury is on the way for him
because he doesn't take care of his body. And then
(07:19):
you go and get Anthony Davis and then you pair
him with Kyrie Irving, six year older Anthony Davis. You
know what he's not even I'm not saying saying a
catastrophic injury. No, I'm talking about what Nico. Nico's saying.
We believe a catastrophic injuries around the corner, and you know,
we believe in all of this. And I'm my biggest
issue with it was I'm I that would have been
shocking because anybody waking up reading Luca is traded, it's crazy.
(07:41):
But if you're doing it and you're getting Anthony Davis
not a haul of picks, that to me is the
crazy part. Because he's often injured you're pairing would often
injured Kyrie.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
He's six years older. The math wasn't mathing that to me.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I'm not saying that the Hall was great, right, but
I'm saying the if I'm staring down a barrel of
making Luca Doncies the highest paid player in the NBA
or moving him, and I'm reading this article expected to
think that this is groundbreaking news right now, there's no
way as a GM on time my future to that guy.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Only.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
The other issue I have with that is, and I
mentioned this at certain points, this happens with athletes, This
happens as applicable in any walk of life.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
When you and we know this.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We talk about people who are overly talented, naturally talented,
you name the thing in life, they've been able to
rely on that talent.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Luca's been a professionals.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
He was like thirteen literally, and to me, what I
read is he's worked hard, you know, but that next
level you talk about a Kobe Bryant, that maniacal level,
he probably hadn't approached that. And I think to me
was that what was Dallas doing to get him to
that level? And maybe he couldn't, you know, maybe they
just couldn't. Maybe he needed to kick in the butt
(08:57):
of being traded to kind of take it to that
next level. But I do believe some people have to.
There are a there's an ability to take it to
another level. And you just didn't know that because all
I've ever been was good like Lebron James as hard
as he works now and we know and all this,
I guarantee you if he would say I wasn't twenty
two three four, I was working out and I was
in a gym, But that next level I had to
(09:19):
go to Miami and learn. Oh shoot, I got with
d Waite. He talks about it. I got with dv Wade.
I saw work on levels. And so I think sometimes
people have to get to another level, they have to
see it, they have to have a kick in the butt,
that something to having an experience before they take it
to the next level. Which is why Kobe is so
revered in that regard, because he seems to be somebody
at that engine from go, and I think not everybody's
born that way. And again, I don't care if it's
(09:40):
a salesperson. I don't care if it's a singer. I
don't care if it's a dancer. I don't care if
it's an NBA player. Some people, it takes a moment
when you go, oh, that's the Kobe Bryant come into
the Olympics, Lebron and mellow they all stars, first team NBA,
you know, we the guys and KD Then they see
Kobe and they go, oh, there's another level. And I
just think some times you need that. I think Luca
(10:02):
through this situation, got that. But I totally get what
you're saying. If they don't trade him, does he ever
get there? We don't know, But I get what you're saying.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
For this article to come out like this, and I
get what you're saying about the Lebron and going to
see and being at the next level.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
The problem is now the author in.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
This actually wrote that Luca jumped forty two inches at
the combine, which A didn't have any go to the
combine and beef Luka never done forty.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Inches forty two inches.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
But if you go back and watch Luca and then
bubble highlights with nobody in the stands and education reform
on the back of people's jerseys, Luka Doncis.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Was dunking the ball.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
He was going to the rim aggressively and dunking the ball,
and you could see a progression in his game to
a more on the floor type of game going year
in year round.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
He was getting.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Heavier, like he was moving physically in the wrong direction. Right,
And so that's the thing is, like you look at
sure like even a guy like Dwight Howard, right, he
was never all the way locked in super talented, but
never I think, to his own admission would tell you
that was never all the way locked in, never locked
in on diet, never, But he never like got.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Out of shape. No, no, no, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Like, if he had took it to another level, we
would have seen whatever that could have been. Maybe he
could have actually lived up to the baby shack and
all of that. But Luca, we saw it going the
other way. And I think that's where you see this
men's health article. And I was supposed to be like, oh,
look out now.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Hey, We're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio. Every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing. We
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
To, and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yeah, you blubber list in me.
Speaker 6 (11:58):
Well you know what it's called over promise you should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 7 (12:02):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Of all time.
Speaker 7 (12:26):
There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see it
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen over Promised with
Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
All right, Rob g Man, this is Dion Sanders. Kind
of been a miia for the last three months or so.
He popped up at the Big twelve media day. We
got to see him there a little bit. Well, he's
been on and off. You see him a handful of times.
He might do something on social media, but come to
find out on a serious note, he had been dealing
with bladder cancer. Now this is where correct me if
(13:01):
I'm wrong, Rober, This is where gets sketchy. Some reports
are his bladder was removed period. Others are some of
his bladder was removed, right, Yes, part of it with
the tumor part of it with the tumb I should
tell you for sure.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
He said today he depends on depends. That's a quote
from him. No, it's absolutely a quote from him. So
he's up and using the bathroom four or five times
a night into a klostomy bag.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, and I saw the bag.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
If you follow him on the gram he uh, there's
a video of him, you know, fishing, and then he
kind of like fades pans and then you see the
bag just sitting on I don't know a bench or so.
So obviously a tough situation for him, what he's going through.
He's been through so much physically over the last decade
twelve years or so. He had a staff infection, he
(13:52):
had infection in his leg after getting some some footwork
done to the tune of where his he's got kind
of rough legs, scarred up leg and then obviously he's
missing toes on his foot and now all of a
sudden this he's had blood clots and he's just had
a lot going on physically. And one of the things
I love about them Martin is that, and it's a
trait that honestly, I want to have more of. I
(14:15):
think I'm okay with it. I think he found the
perfect balance of not telling you what's going on per se,
but also telling you and keeping a great disposition, keeping
a very you know, he's his faith in God and
his faith in you know, the power of God in
his life, and he just keeps a great attitude of
moving forward and encouraging. And I said that to say
he's not hiding things where we are. You know, some
(14:36):
people hard and then you find out they're going through
it and maybe something bad happens because they've been harboring something.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
He just doesn't overly have to share. But he even
when he does.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
When he was going through the foot stuff, he's like,
hey man, he kept his faith and I love that
about him. As he's been going through this, and he
said he's ready to coach. He's ready to go year
three Colorado, and he's up for the task. Obviously he's
going to be difficult. Obviously we're all see him the
best with this. But just remarkable all that he's been
going through. Now knowing this and given everything that's going on,
(15:08):
right you're coaching, you got you know, you got sons plural,
you got other kids that you're an adopted son if
you will, and Travis Hunter and all trying to go
into the league, and sure, I just think that's remarkable
all that he's been able to do, and again coming
off of so many other surgeries that he's had to
go through.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
Yeah, he said today, I listened to the first five
ministers of his availability.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
He said today, he's had fourteen surgeries in the last
two years. He has had more surgeries out of the
game than he did in the game, which is generally
works in reverse for most NFL players, you're going under
the knife while you're playing, as opposed to after the fact.
But and I k everything you say in terms of
(15:48):
he looked like he was in very good spirits today.
He looked like I think, I think to your point
of he keeps his faith so on, he also does
a good job of presenting a very strong front in
moments like this. And I think, not to go off
on a too far of a tangent, but like a
(16:10):
lot of people who are like twenty years old or
twenty five and under could take note and like, you
don't have to post everything every single step off the
way yep, you know. And I think that's something that
we see a lot out of a lot of people
who are younger and have grown up on the internet.
Deon Sanders, at each moment of these different health instances
(16:31):
that he's had, has both shared what happened, but also
shared in a way that projected his strength and his
ability to deal in his faith and so on.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
My secondary takeaway from this was.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
We might have to give Dion some grace here and
also shoudure Sanders from grace and ultimately it's not about
what happened today. But about the draft, I think that
if you went back to the way that we talked
about Shador leading up to the draft process and the
way that leading up to the draft process and immediately following,
(17:11):
there was a lot of how on earth My biggest question,
how on earth could they have been so wrong? They're
not having that Day one draft party if he thinks
he's a fifth round pick, right, Like that's Deon Sanders
knows enough to know.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
About the optics of what this looks like.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
You know, if your son's not going to be drafted
for seventy two more hours, and maybe you order the
catering for Saturday afternoon instead of Thursday night.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
But and I have no reason to believe he's lying.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
But what Dion said today was, you know, I was
essentially lying to my kids, telling them that the reason
I was going to the doctor so much was from
my feet, right, because I wanted my boys to focus
on their once in a lifetime opportunity to make it
to the NFL and play at a high level. And
so fourteenth surgeries in two years, you know, dealing with
(18:04):
all of this this offseason. He just recently he still
got a colostomy bag and he's going to the bathroom
four or five times a night. Tells me that this
is not something that was resolved months and months ago.
This was something that resolved weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Ago, right, and may not even be yeah, right, they
say he's cancer free, but obviously the posts right and
he's not all the way resolved. Resolved is probably the
wrong verb to you, But to me, it's like, I
went and I came on these areas and was like,
how could Dion Sanders, one of the most plugged men
who could seemingly hire just go through his contact list
(18:39):
and his iPhone and hire the next It's just a
coach of Colorado because all of them played football, all
of them Hall of famers.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
You want to name Michael, you name it, can go
get on the sideline.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
You know, it's a Hollywood Walk of Fame on the
sidelines of Colorado. How could he even so off about
the way the NFL felt about his son, because I
always thought the should door it was a probably a
second or third round pick that they got drafted in
the fifth round because he failed the interviews, right, he
failed the job interview part of it. Well, now I
(19:10):
have maybe a little bit of a better understanding as
to why the perception seemingly out of Boulder and in
the NFL was so wide. Dean had a lot more
going on than just getting his sons ready.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
For the draft.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, I mean he might have been for the first
time disconnected, or I mean, listen, two things can also
be true. Or why don't know exactly your your take
on it, or well my thought still being because of
the interview failed, because of Dion being so much, and
because of how NFL sometimes feels about backup quarterbacks and
guys who are going to be the circumstance around them,
(19:45):
the pomping circumstance.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I don't want that around.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Hey, if I'm not going to play this kid for
another two years, three years, he's I view him as
a backup, a third or fourth round pick ultimately would
be a fifth, then why do I want to bring
him his fanfare, his X amount of millions of followers
I'd have to deal with, put him in, put him
in people who might come to the stadium, and obviously
his father, what y'all doing, baby, play my son, baby?
(20:08):
You know, going through all the day. And so I
think there's an element still that people are like, I
don't want to deal with that for a guy that
I view as a backup and a year where not
a lot of guys teams needed quarterbacks. So I think
two things he could have been clearly not could have
He was clearly going through something dion and maybe not
as tapped in as he normally would be. When you're
(20:28):
dealing with cancer. The word now, I'm dealing with a
bum knee, right, is that like a torn ligament or
something like that.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
That's something he has experienced with, even a toe unfortunate
if they say, hey, we gotta cut another toe.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
He's been through that. Cancer is a whole different bag
and a different part of your body. So I do
think there's an element of what you're saying that he
had to deal with this. It may not have been
as locked in or tapped in, but I still believe
there's an element of we didn't like hole cocky, how arrogant,
how he thinks he knows it all.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
So I think that's valid. I'm not taking that away.
My thing is I think that dim probably would have
heard more about that, like about Hey, guys, this is
the current perception of how you're being viewed, right, You
know what I'm saying like I think that maybe if
there had been like I just say this, it makes
(21:16):
sense now, or it makes more sense at least there's
a plausible reason why there was no change in attitude
or change in direction, or change and approach to that,
to that perspective up until I mean after draft day, right,
you know what I'm saying. It was a day of
the draft. They are moving like it was like he
was going in the first round. Yeah, And so that's
(21:37):
why that just makes it makes a lot more sense.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I just still also think Dion has been Dion since
literally he was drafted with gold chains and you know,
the sunglasses on. And I think part of them is
like do I want to deal with that with this
kid who isn't Andrew Luck Sure, who isn't Caleb Williams.
You know, as far as that type of prospect, I
don't want that fan fear. I don't want that pumping
staf circumstance for guys gonna sit on my bench for
(22:01):
two to three years.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Maybe I think that played a role as well.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
But wishing d I think we both can speak for
both of us wishing him all the best players of
for Dion and just wishing him the best coach prime
get back on your feet and be able to do
what you do.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (22:27):
Wanted to do this a little bit the last week.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
We didn't really get a chance to so interesting conversation
that Jokic leads perfectly into. So the conversation was basically
around when Scheffler wins again, he wins another tournament. They
started to look at some of the Scott Scheffler the
numbers and he's on pace right now. Again this sounds
crazy saying out loud, but some of the stuff he's
(22:50):
doing is the same timeline as Tiger Woods once he's
got started winning and the rate in which he was
winning some big tournaments.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And so it's like the.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Same thing as Shane well Homes is on a Brady track.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
There's a long way to go, but you gotta ignowledge
the effects he is. And so Jordan Speed, who was
that guy for a hot year or two, talked about that.
He said, look, man, he doesn't like to kind of
embrace that. You know you're the man, the Mantle Jrs.
You know, big up the league He's written and within
the week before that, I think you and I talked
about that with Scotty Scheffer talking, Hey man, I just
(23:24):
kind of want to golf his bigger things. My family matters.
You know, I have things that I care about. I
want to be good. I work hard at it. I'm
a niacole about that. But at the end of the
day those this isn't as fulfilling me winning the Masters
as you know, being home and there's other things that
fulfill my life. Sure, So Jordan Speed kind of echoed
those sentiments about his friend Scotty Scotti Chefley said, I'm
(23:44):
with him.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I know how he is, I know how he operates.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
And it tied us into what just happened over the
weekend as Nicolaoki, superstar in the NBA, is once again
a champ.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
That's because he is a horse owner. We all know that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
At racing event in his native of Serbia where his
horse is the winner, and the funny memes, funny jokes,
all the stuff came out of it because everybody was
like wait wait, wait, wait, wait, wait wait, this man
has got the biggest bottle of champagne, spreading it on
the horse, going crazy, spraying himself and high five and
(24:17):
a couple of years back on the NBA title and
was like, yeah, that's cool, cool, Yeah, no, no, no doubt,
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah, I'm excited. Woa yeah, wait, can't wait to get
back to my horses.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Now we see you win his horses and they win,
and he was excited, and so he was going crazy,
and it got me to thinking. And this is why
I said, we'll take some phone calls on this one too, Martin.
Do you feel that the superstar or the head of
a league or a you know, franchise or a sporting event, whatever,
is obligated to kind of take on that mantle He's
(24:50):
so here's what I mean. Golf has been looking for
their tiger Woods. Remember he was really bad for a while.
Then he kind of popped back up twenty nineteen is
but they were, look, is it your speed?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Is it gonna be Roy McElroy, Is it gonna be
who is?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And then oh, hey can be Scotty Schuff and Scotti
Scheffer kind of saying no, I want to be good,
but I don't want all of that.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I don't want this to be my life. I enjoyed
fulfillment Elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
We go to the NBA, who's the best player, most
people will say Nicole Okic for the hand last handful
of years. We know he ain't trying to embrace all
that that comes with that. He's just kind of I
want to be really good. I want to try to
win with my team and go home and race horses,
and now I have champion horses. Naomi Issaka Hers is
a little different, you know. She was she was getting
right there to kind of be the new face of tennis,
(25:32):
and she stepped back. She knows very vocal about her
challenges and mental health, and then she became a mother
as well. Uh so she she's kind of didn't that
just didn't work out. So I say all that to say,
do you believe that you have to be that? If
you're Mike Trout? A lot of people wanted more from
him when he was kind of the guy more for me, more,
be more vocal, do more.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You're Mike Trut, you arguably be one of the best ever.
We want more from you.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
And when I thought about this, to me, there's a
few things that kind of had to happen. I don't
think you can manufacture it. I think some things just happen,
whether it's fate, whether it's God, whether it's just you know,
you embraced it in the league. And then timing of things.
I'll give you a couple examples. Then I want you
to jump in on this. The NBA is flailing. We
got stars, but we don't have a face of it.
(26:18):
I don't know what's going on. We got Kareem, we
got this person, we got all these big star but
George Gervit it ain't really working well.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Then you get Magic, Then you get Larry Bird.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Two guys who couldn't be in a different ones kind
of to himself and the others loud, smiling, wants to
be the life of the party. One goes to Boston,
hard working, blue collar on the East coast. One goes
to the West coast, Hollywood. And you got these two guys,
different personalities, different ends of the coast, different you know, styles.
One more of a passer, one's more of a score.
And it ended up being the greatest thing that could
(26:48):
have ever happened to the NBA. You couldn't oh, I
love about the headline. They just played in the biggest
national championship game. Will never see numbers like that again,
thirty some bi million people watching. So you have that happen.
And then you look at guys Lebron. His name is
James King, James, he's a chosen one. He's from Akron,
right near Cleveland, who has a number one pick Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
We don't know how to happen.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
But my point is it just happens, and he happens
to be good, and now you got the guy facing
the league. I think things have to sometimes you can't
just force it. There has to be storylines. Tiger Woods
is a person of color. He's black, is he Asian?
This he has a story, he has an interesting name,
He's Tiger. He's doing stuff we haven't seen. He's aggressive,
he's fist pump, and he's fiery out there. You can't
(27:31):
design that, you can't force that. So I believe you
can't force a Scheffler if he doesn't want it. And
Naomi Osaka, she's kind of going through mental health things
in motherhood, Yokich. He kind of just doesn't have it
for the NBA like that. I don't believe you can
force it. I think things just happen where your face,
your star, the person takes the league by storm and
we all watch and enjoy it.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
I mean, it's absolutely what happens is generally there will
be some mark or moment of firestorm, and you think
back to the last person who generated this type of feeling,
and it was Kaitlin Clark and Angel Reese. It was
the moment if you go back to the beginning of
of when this became transcended just women's basketball to now
(28:15):
becoming a national story, and it was when Angel Rees
and LSU and bounced Caitlyn Clark out of the tournament.
She did the Aaron Donald ring me move, and all
of a sudden, Joe Biden is, maybe should we should
invite the losers to the White House and the winners
because everybody tried, right, like that's the now time. Ever,
(28:38):
right now it becomes this whole big discussion. Right, so
there's a flashpoint moment. I got, like Jokic the thing
that I honestly I kind of resent because if it
is true that this is the case, then these people
are just God was cheating when he made them compared
to me. But I don't think you can be as
(28:58):
good at basketball, as you k Is are as good
at golf as Scotty Scheffler is, especially as good as
golf individually as Scotty Scheffler is to and not have
an intense and insane level of dedication drive motivation, for sure,
right that doesn't exist. You cannot get that good without
(29:19):
having that because just the drive to get up and
do it again and again and again, and that is
repetition that gets you to be able to get to
that level.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
So I think Scotty.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Scotty's statement is more, do I want to put in
the time it takes for me to be as consistently
great as I am in this while like my kid
is taking his first steps, Like that's a real thing,
especially for a guy who's won that much. But for Jokic,
I think that we just downplay the idea, like, yeah,
(29:52):
he looked really happy, He looked really really happy and
he was celebrating.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
But you know what he also didn't do.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
He wasn't fresh off of one hundred on my basketball
games of getting his ass kicked. You watch Jokis look
like one of them from the laugh to us after
a game because he looked like he's about to turn
right like or like he was fighting off a werewolf
instead of it was just the seven players are using
to defend him.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
So like, yeah, maybe after the finals he's like.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I'm tired of hell Man, And you know what, maybe
the NBA is not the biggest deal for him. I
bet you if he said this to yo kid, said,
listen all your MVPs, I'll spot to another championship in
the NBA, would you trade him off for a gold
medal for Serbia? You watch that start and five documentary
on Netflix, I bet you, and he'd do it in
a heartbeat.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Wouldn't think twice, wouldn't blink twice?
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
So he has a intense level of passion and desire, but.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
It's also too like you can have fun doing other
things without a doubt.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
And I think too, you brought to a great point.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I think there's something to we kind of we get
into it with when we have our Olympic teams and
whatever they I don't care the sport. We all get
into it and we don't care about Typically we don't
care about swimming until its the Olympics. Typically we don't
care about track and feel like that until his the Olympics.
So on and so forth. But I do feel like
other countries we forget they're kind of working here to
(31:12):
get a visa to come work, but really home is
home for them, if you give what I mean, Like
Lucas here, he's in la He's in Hollywood, but this
ain't home. Lithuania is home for him. Serbia is home
for Yokich, you know you name the player. Home is home.
I got a second home here, I got a nice crib.
Maybe I met my wife here, I met my girlfriend,
but home is home. And I think sometimes we forget
(31:33):
for these players. They're spending so much time away from grandma,
sure her mom, from my favorite uncle, for my best
friend who couldn't come with me because he's got his
own family back in Serbia or back in Argentina, or
back in Germany or back in Cameroon. And I think,
so it's not that I don't care and not that
I'm not all in, but you just mentioned it. That's
(31:54):
why those France teams have so much pride, like I
love it here, but France is home, you know, And
when they get to the those international games, they're like, man,
this is my guys, just for the country. I'm all
in and I think we sometimes forget like, no, you're
in the NBA, this better be the greatest and the
biggest thing in your life. And they're like, yo, basketball
is I love the game, but I'm away from home
(32:15):
for so long. And I think we sometimes forget that
and can understand that.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
And there's a real pride of country, the real patriotism
from their individual countries. You think, you think Team Slovenia
left weights. You think maybe if you caught Luke on
the Olympic year, he might work out in the offseason.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Well maybe you'd hope, you know, so.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
You hope, because that's the thing about Jokics, Like seriously,
when people kind of say he doesn't like you've seen
him now, has his body improved?
Speaker 5 (32:46):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
I'm not gonna sit here and say that. He you know,
looks like Anthony Edwards without a jersey on.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
But you can watch him run up and down the court.
You can watch him not get tired. You can watch
him play forty five minutes in a double overtime game,
and he's got he's the one with the gas left right.
You can watch You're seeing that, and so it's like, yeah,
he loves he loves he loves the game. Got a doubt,
but like, it's a lot more fun racing horses and
(33:13):
drinking champagne and being with your family, being head and
you're man.
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Rob Parker
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