March 3, 2026 • 30 mins
Rob and Kelvin explain why Bruce Pearl is crazy for suggesting that undefeated Miami (OH) shouldn’t be a lock to make the NCAA Tournament and use the Jurickson Profar PED scandal as a backdrop for a discussion as to why PED use is a bigger scarlet letter in baseball than other sports. Plus, Sirius XM NBA Radio host Brian Geltzeiler swings by to discuss what makes the Detroit Pistons so scary, why Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers are fraudulent title contenders, and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Let's go, rob G.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
You know my panties won a bunch early early this
morning about a particular college basketball coach.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Can you clue us in?
Speaker 6 (00:33):
Yes, Sir, Robert was really really upset about something that
Bruce Pearl said on Saturday.
Speaker 5 (00:40):
I was worked up, rob G.
Speaker 7 (00:42):
Yeah, you texted me why the middle of a shoot.
Speaker 6 (00:45):
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna play what
Bruce Pearl said that got you upset, and then we're
gonna update the story and let you know what we're
talking about today.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Here's Bruce Pearl on Saturday talking.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
About the undefeated Miami of Ohio RedHawks twenty nine and
zer on whether or not they deserve to be in the tournament.
Speaker 7 (01:00):
Miami, Ohiwe here's the deal.
Speaker 8 (01:01):
Are we gonna select the sixty eight most deserving teams,
or we're gonna select the sixty eight best teams. Selecting
the sixty eight best teams, then Mina Moole's gonna have
to win their tournament to qualify as a champion, because
as in at large, they are not one of the
best teams in the country, and that's gonna be a
difficult choice for the committee to make.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
Yikes Miikes is right because he got barbecue by a
lot of people of college people love set basketball. I'm
sure we'll get to with Aaron Torres in hour three.
But one person who was particularly perturbed was Miami Ohio
athletic director David Saylor, who put out a series of
tweets like he was rage tweeting shout out Kevin Durant.
Here's one of the things he said about Bruce Pearl quote,
(01:45):
you are flat out wrong about Miami Ohio basketball when
you say we would finish it last in the Big East.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
The disrespect is awful.
Speaker 6 (01:53):
You should not be near a TV studio cover in
this sport when you show your true color.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Here's the worst part. He even sleeped in.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
We went talking about Auburn. Nice work, right, And here's
the thing. This is what got me worked up about this?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Tell me what had Joe Pennies in a bunch that
you kept texting us?
Speaker 9 (02:11):
Right?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yes, First of all, Bruce Pearl, he's got a lot
of baggage he's carrying around.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
A lot of people in college basketball don't like that, dude.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Okay, so he's got a lot of people in that
situation he's rubbed the wrong way. But I'm just saying, Kelvin,
what NCAA tournament with sixty eight.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Schools in it.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Is gonna say that a team that's twenty nine to
zero doesn't deserve to be I'm like and then said, well,
it's a schedule.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Twenty nine and zero.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
You mean to tell me there's no place the only
way they can make it in the tournament is by
winning their conference? Really like, like, that's the AD's right.
It's totally disrespectful. It makes absolutely no sense. This is
supposedly coming from a basketball coach who knows how hard
it is Kelvin to.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Go twenty nine and oh, I don't care what league you're.
Speaker 7 (03:04):
Playing, It doesn't matter what it could be. My daughter's
why I'm.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Right, twenty nine and zero, right, And number two, I
did get to his son's and the coach right took
over for him at Auburn. Right, I got this census.
His son is what fifteen and fourteen, robb g something
like that. He's like under five hundred. This was like
(03:27):
sending out a message without naming his son and the
kids in that school that Auburn being fifteen and fourteen
is better than Miami of Ohio. Do you know what
I mean? Because of the competition. So let me plant
that seed so that my son and Auburn can get
a look over this fraudulent despite being a Division I
(03:49):
program that's that has access to getting into the tournament. Like,
I've never heard anything like that in my love, have you?
Speaker 7 (03:56):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Clearly, this is absolutely a I quit on the team
right before the season started.
Speaker 7 (04:03):
Let me throw my son in there.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Oops, they're almost five hundred, they're fifteen and fourteen, as
you mentioned, and all of a sudden, and when you
look at what they are, they're not great. They're it's
six and ten in the conference, so like they're gonna
have a shot.
Speaker 7 (04:16):
Really, they're out there on the bubble. This isn't.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let me throw an OLU to my son to a
school that I coached at to a school that obviously
I have ties to and still have love for.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
That's absolutely what he did.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And when in the process of doing that he bashed
another coach whose team has done what they're supposed to
do and have played very well to the tuite of
not losing in twenty nine to zero. You would think
as a coach he would respect them.
Speaker 7 (04:40):
Think as a.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Coach he would go, you know what, I got to
show some love for him. I know they don't play
in Big Ten. I know they're not in the Big East,
but they get there playing some great basketball. They're beating
whoever lines up in front of them, and they're getting
it done. And might have that to you, Rob that
not everybody who's even in bigger conferences has great records,
but can make him get in the turn to do something.
Speaker 7 (05:01):
Let's go back to the nineteen.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Ninety seven Arizona Wildcats who had nine losses and they
only and then it became the only team to beat
three number one seeds in the single tournament, meaning a
team that wasn't that great they going to run. Let's
talk about twenty eleven VCU Rams. Remember them first four.
They are the first four team that ended up reaching.
Speaker 7 (05:19):
The final four. So you don't worry about me.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
If I'm saying by the other coach, let my team
get in, let us do what we could get blown
out by sixty me we might win three games. The
point is we've double what we're supposed to do and
have a chance to get into this tournament. And by
the way, there's only really what six to ten teams
that really got a chance to win it. So the
idea that if there's sixty eight teams, every team is
(05:43):
so deserving. Every team's record has been phenomenal, every team
has had an amazing schedule.
Speaker 7 (05:48):
That is that's not true.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
It's never been the case that we've never been c
eight teams.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
The idea that he could pooh pooh Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
You know what, I get it.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
But if their schedules terrible and it doesn't matter what
they do, then they shouldn't qualify.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
They never should have been able to qualify.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
For the tournament.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Talking about two thousand and six, I very much remember
this team, that George Mason team that was that got
in or and they you know, barely got in. They
got in there, this eleventh seed, and they ended up
making it to the final four. So my point is,
if I'm Miami, Ohio, don't worry about what I'm doing,
don't worry about our record. We got a shot, we
got a chance to make some noise. We've taken care
(06:27):
of our business. How about you your son take care
of theirs.
Speaker 9 (06:31):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
If you think my panties were in a bunch, I
think Dicky V's panties were in a bunch in the
front and the back.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Because he came out with a tweet. He shout out
to Dicky V.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Dicky V is at that age now where he's just
gonna say what he wants. They can't do, can't Yes,
He's like, man, I know be catching seventeen times exactly
you didn't do to me.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
But that I'm already dealing with.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
But Dicky V, obviously you mentioned everybody has an opinion
on this thing, because it's it's unusual to hear someone
say and undefeated twenty nine OHO teams, you're not being
the tournament. Dicky VE said this on Twitter. Here it
is quote, shouldn't even be a debate about twenty nine
in oh Miami, Ohio as the weather or they shot
part of March Madness.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
If they do not win.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
The mac Turney metrics used to define who should qualify
as at large teams as one sided favors mediocrity all
cash from power conferences over excellent all caps by the
mid majors.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
One hundred per spot on, spot On and again, Bruce Pearl,
this is him throwing his program, former program, and his son.
Let me put this out there in the atmosphere, Kelvin,
with a chance that some of the voters and the
people on the you know what I mean, on the committee,
he'll be like, oh, yeah, well Auburn still played a
(07:45):
tougher schedule.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Who you know, who did Miami of Ohio? They don't
even know what state they're in, Miami, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
And not to mention too.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's not like this is the college football Playoff where okay,
we got twelve teams, right then it got sixty sixty
eighteen bro about forty eight of those teams maybe even more.
Speaker 7 (08:05):
I don't know who they are, who they wanted to be.
They're in the tournament. We all enjoy.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
We eat some chips and we watched ten games at
once and we have a good time.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
Stop acting like they're all this world beaters.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
This is non college football playoff where I can understand
if you have a team, you know that that's not
from one of the big conferences, and you're like, ooh,
a two loss, you know, Penn State or two loss
Alabama or something. Maybe they should have a shot over this,
you know, Miami Ohio football.
Speaker 7 (08:31):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's completely different than the sixty eighteen tournament in basketball.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 4 (08:47):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
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Speaker 7 (08:59):
To announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
You can now watch The Odd Couple live on YouTube
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Speaker 1 (09:07):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
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on YouTube and subscribe. Joined now by Brian gilt Tyler,
Serious Sex and NBA radio hosts, NBA TV analyst as
well Brian What's Up Man how you doing.
Speaker 9 (09:26):
I'm doing good, guys.
Speaker 7 (09:27):
How we doing excellent? Dude, doing well? Doing well?
Speaker 5 (09:30):
How are you?
Speaker 9 (09:32):
I'm great?
Speaker 7 (09:32):
Thank you? All right, let's get it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Let's get into some conversations around the NBA right now.
I want to start with uh and I'm slightly biased
here the Pistons slight now, just just slight, like.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Like he's he's a Pistons homer, So go ahead, so but.
Speaker 9 (09:49):
But you're here.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
But I'll say this, even as a homer and even
as being someone who's biased, I will say, when looking
at the postseason with this team, I'm wondering about, Okay,
Kate Cunningham, does he have to be spectacular night in,
night out?
Speaker 7 (10:07):
Is there enough there?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Tobias Hair is going to be enough for Weaponars Duran
finally grown enough? When you look at this team and
what they can be in the postseason, how high is
their ceiling?
Speaker 9 (10:16):
Their seiling is very high. Listen. They certainly have a
chance to go to the finals. What they've done and
how they've built this team is essentially it's been a
trade off. So they've brought in some players who are
excellent individual defenders at the expense of shooting quite Frankly,
they don't have a lot of perimeter shooting. And by
the same token, they can roll seven guys out there
that are all above average NBA defenders. So they're gonna
(10:40):
make it into a grind. They're gonna play a physical
brand of basketball. Kate Cunningham is gonna have to be Superman.
That's certainly going to be a part of it. But
by the way, one of the great and really good
individual defenders they have is Kate Cunningham reguards a tough
player on the other team night in night out. The
question for them is like, listen, naked hide a guy
like Duncan Robinson, but he's got to hit shot, and
(11:01):
that's the thing. He becomes a key guy here with
the way they struggle to shoot the basketball. So if
they're not getting some consistent three point shooting from Duncan
Robinson or a Kris Lavert, that's going to make it
a little tougher for them in the playoffs. Now, listen,
Robinson's track record is one of a guy that you
know can shoot up to forty percent from three, if
not more, So he becomes a very interesting guy for them.
(11:22):
With all that said, they're certainly going to be able
to keep the ball out of their own BASKETBA very well.
And one of the things that's impressed me the most
this year about them is how they've physically dominated the Knicks,
And I don't think you can sleep on that or
take that lightly. The Knicks are a big, physical team,
and Detroit pushes him around like the rag Dolls and
most teams. I don't know there's a team in the
(11:43):
league that can do that to the Knicks in the
way that the Pistons do it. So listen, and in
a wide open Eastern Conference, they've been much better than everybody.
Six games clear of the field. At this stage of
the game, they got as good a chance as anyone
to be able to go to the finals.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
It is my problem, Brian, a couple of things you
just said about the Pistons. Number One, they're the bottom
ten of three point shooting like that is a real
buggaboo going into the postseason, because somebody you gotta be
able to make some shots. That's what worries me about them.
Last year they dominated the Knicks. I think they were
three to zero in the regular season and wind up
(12:19):
losing the postseason without even winning the game at home.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
They are much better. This is the second year of
going in.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
I'm not discounting them, but there's some things that scare
me about them.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
And the other thing is, you say they got a
chance to go to the finals. You're gonna go from two.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Playoff wins in the last seventeen years to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
It just seems like a big jump for me.
Speaker 9 (12:43):
It is. But by the same Tolkien, if you look
up and down the conference, you can make the case.
If not them, then who everybody's bout?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Well, I could say Cleveland, I could say the Knicks.
I mean the Knicks didn't go I could say that.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Last year.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Last year, they year.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
They beat the Knicks during the regular season and then
they couldn't win a game at home in the postseason.
The Knicks made shots in that's in those games in
Detroit to beat them. That's all I'm saying is that
I saw this movie last They also.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
Got They also got screwed with a bad fall. You know,
Josh bout Tim Hardaway laking that game, and that adult
could have gone the other way. It was a very
close series. Here here's my point, and I hear what
you're saying, but The fact is it's going to be
based a lot upon matchups and when you take a
look at the physicality and the Pistons, listen to the
Knicks push around the Cavaliers. They do the Cavaliers. The
(13:35):
Cavaliers struggled very badly with the next and last year
in the conference there was Listen, Indiana ended up going
to the finals, but Boston was the powerhouse. The Knicks
were able to beat. The Knicks matchup well with them.
There is no powerhouse in the conference this year. And
that's why I say they have as good a chance
at everybody. Cleveland. I don't know that.
Speaker 10 (13:53):
Cleveland's tough enough. I still don't think Cleveland.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
Guards on the perimeter as well as they need to
the Knicks. Listen Nich another team. You know, their two
best offensive players really can't.
Speaker 10 (14:03):
Be on the court at the same time Layton.
Speaker 9 (14:05):
Playoff games because they're both shids defensive leagues. It's an
enormous problem for them. Boston needs Jason Tatum back and
playing at a pretty high level. I'm not sure that's
going to happen if they.
Speaker 10 (14:15):
Want to even have a chance.
Speaker 9 (14:17):
You know, take a look even Philly, Philly's counting on
a healthy Joel indeed and Paul George coming back healthy
from suspension. That everybody has got works in that conference.
And that's kind of my point. So Detroit can be
an imperfect team, and they are an imperfect team, and
they can find their way into the NBA finals if
all the matchups fall right. The point that you make
is a very strong point. Of strongest point you made.
(14:39):
There's only two playoff wins last year. Generally we rarely
see in the NBA a team ascend right to the
final just one playoff appearance of being done. You have
to normally take your lumps. I mean, the two thousand
and eight Celtics are absolutely an exception to that rule,
and it's twenty nineteen Raptors as well. But even the
Raptors before they got Kawhi Leonard got knocked around in
the playoffs. Normally you normally have to go through that.
(15:03):
But I would tell you this is one of those
years in this conference with this scene that the Pistons
have a chance to defy that.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
All right, man, I didn't know y'all want to be
so fun. I thought I was the Pistons fan. You
guys want to talk about the.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
No, no, I mean.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
The best record, so we should break it down.
Speaker 9 (15:24):
Let me talking about it.
Speaker 7 (15:25):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
I do want to ask you though, And you know,
I think JJ Reddick should be fired, I really do.
I just I know he was supposed to be Pat
Rowley because he had slick hair and he talked great
on the podcast or whatever it is. They don't play
for him, and I don't expect Lebron and and Luca
to be these all world defenders. But my god, like
(15:48):
it's the same thing over and over. I don't know
what do you do? You just is it okay? It's
only Rob Polenka because everybody last year when they went
to the playoffs, Brian, all I heard was, don't sleep
all Lebron and Luca together.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Who in the West gonna stop those two? That's all
I heard?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
And then they got knocked out in the first round.
Where are you on the Lakers and what you've seen?
Speaker 9 (16:13):
The Lakers could screw up a one car funeral procession
find ways to screw stuff up. First of all, let's
start back in the offseason with Lebron James on your team,
did you really need to do this whole offseason song
and dance? Declaring it Luca Doncicic's team. It would have
gotten there. It would have gotten there on its own organically.
And you know what, the guy that needed to declare
(16:34):
it Lucas team was not Rob Polinkin, not JJ Reddick.
The guy that needed to declare it Lucas team was
Lebron James. And he would have gotten there, but you
just have to kind of give him the chance to
get there. So they started it.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Then.
Speaker 9 (16:47):
Listen, Reddick made as the biggest rookie coaching mistake you'll
ever see in a playoff game last year where he
didn't sub for an entire you remember that all thing,
and have exhausted players down the stretch. He's in a
situation now where it's almost no it's almost no win
for JJ. It's because he's got star players that don't
mess at all. Lebron doesn't want to.
Speaker 10 (17:07):
Be there anymore.
Speaker 9 (17:08):
They don't want Lebron there anymore. Luca has got a
total attitude with everything. And listen, you're seeing a little
bit why Dallas got turned off with Lucas. Lucas cuffs
the coach. He's not easy. He doesn't play off the
ball all that well. He'll defend when he feels like defending.
So you have all those things. Here's the thing. If
you want JJ Redick fire from the Lakers, you're probably
going to get your wish because Mark Walter just brought
(17:28):
this team. They are completely overturning how this team gets run.
Very quietly. Last week, they hired Tony Bennett, former head
coach at University of Virginia, as a draft consultant. They
pretty much put JJ's replacement in the building. And that's
not going to work well. Andrew Friedan from the Dodgers
is there, okay?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Now?
Speaker 9 (17:45):
Magic? Keep in mind Magic Johnson's a minority partner with
Mark Walter. He's partners with Walter on the Dodgers as well.
You think that he's involved with an ownership stake with
the Lakers, and he's not going to have something to say.
And by the way, I'm going to tell you someone
and if he doesn't really like working with all that much,
that's Rob Blinka. This whole thing is getting over turned
for the Lakers. You're going to see new management, You're
(18:07):
going to see a new coach. Mark Wolf's going to
come in and he's going to put his stamp on
this whole thing and do it his way. They're starting
to do it already. I think they're one and done
this year in the playoffs. Yet somehow, some way, they
keep hanging around.
Speaker 10 (18:19):
And they're sitting here, very very tied.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
In the loss column for the five seeds. So as
bad as it looks, they continue to win enough games
to keep their heads above water. The problem is this,
they don't have enough good defensive personnel. I just wax poetic,
guys about how good the towards defensive personnel is. The
Lakers on the defensive end of the four for a
personnel standpoint, are the exact opposite. And you just you
can't turn around in that situation and turn lemons into lemonade.
(18:44):
You just can't. So the Lakers are in trouble here,
and I do think you're going to see an entirely
different group of people running the show as we start
next season.
Speaker 7 (18:52):
All right, man, we'll leave it there.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
I appreciate it, my pleasant guys.
Speaker 9 (18:58):
Any time, would love.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
To do it. Anytime Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Rob g we had another.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
We thought we were done with these PD suspension in
Major League Baseball. The rules have been set. They're pretty steep.
One time you get a strike in eighty games, another
time you get eight one hundred and sixty two games
and narratives.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
We have another.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Person in the in the Major League Baseball being suspended.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
That's right tough scene for Braves d h jerks in. Profar,
who at one point was considered the new hotness.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
In Major League baseb.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
He was, I mean, for real, he was going to
be the guy, the next phenom, the next Twan Soto,
the next I mean speaking another.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Guy who has popped for PDS. Your guy in San Diego,
Rob Fernando d'tis Junior, who was the face of baseball.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I mean like he.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Profar was good to be one of those ones.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
You weren't here, Calvin, But that was they said, I
had to judge Judge Tatis.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Profar, who already last year was suspended eighty games for
testing positive for a PED, tested positive again for another
PEG right less than a year, which means he is
now subject to a one hundred and sixty two games
suspension by Major League Baseball. He will forfeit the entirety
(20:30):
of his fifteen million dollars salary. He'll be ineligible for
the postseason. He'll also be ineligible for the upcoming World
Baseball Classic. All bad, all the time for Profar. But guys,
it got me thinking. We just mentioned two guys who
were both up and coming in Major Baseball. Profar Tatis
Junior got pop for PDS and in the case of
(20:51):
Profar is basically gonna derail his entire career, like that's
gonna be his calling card now forever. Tatis Junior was
on a trajectory to be one of those ones, and
now he's kind of an afterthought, partly because he does
a positive PDS and now there's always gonna be a
little asterisk next to his name. And as good as
he's been since he came back, nobody views him in
the same way.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
They don't view him the same way. He doesn't get
the juice.
Speaker 7 (21:13):
He just got the juice.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Juice?
Speaker 7 (21:17):
What you mean?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
He I mean?
Speaker 6 (21:23):
So, guys, let me ask you this question, pd use
even though it's been less prevalent now because number one,
you know, guys are smarter, and number two, they they're
the science is ahead of the testing at this point
like that you can get a lot of things without
getting caught, and that's been the way for a while.
But one thing we've noticed is if you play baseball
and you get popped, it hangs over your head forever. Hell,
(21:47):
if you don't even get popped, you're just alleged to
using because we've got guys who all you forever. However,
you play NBA, shout out, Paul George. You play in
the NFL. Nobody seems to really care too much. Why
is that, Rob Barker, that's a great question. I think
baseball's held to a higher standard. It really is, and
(22:08):
I think a lot of it has to.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Do with the numbers, like that, when the home run
record was broken, that was a sacred number. There aren't
that many sacred numbers in football or basketball, right.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
There really aren't, like not a number.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You could be like Lebron has the all time scored
the most points, but there's no number. Hank Aaron seven
hundred and fifty five home runs meant something to people, right,
And I think that that's where the numbers in baseball
matter so much that people were like, oh my god,
they ruined what I used to know as you know
(22:43):
that home run number and now it's tanked it and
the guy who has the all time home run record
shouldn't be looked at at sideways. And I think that's
part of it. Do I think it's fair? No, I
don't think it's fair because just like Rob g mentioned
Kelvin Paul George, it's fresh off of it, and in
Philadelphia they're just waiting for him to get back, like, okay,
(23:06):
nobody's gonna look at him crazy or say, do we
really want him on the team? You know what I mean,
the Sixers, Should we really count if they make a
playoff run?
Speaker 5 (23:16):
Because he was on.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
None of that conversation happens at all with Paul George.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Here's a couple of reasons why baseball allowed steroids to
run rampant and enjoyed the success of it. So to me,
what they did was they paired themselves with it. Rob,
they intertwined themselves with it.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
You mean like he ain't gambling, Okay, go ahead, I'm.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Sorry, And that could become a thing eventually.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
But right now, with the steroids, when you looked at baseball,
we saw the resurgence of the popularity.
Speaker 7 (23:47):
We know, the summer of ninety eight, the home run chase.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Fast forward a couple of years later, you got two
or three years of Barry Bonds. Everybody knows what's going on.
We're trying to turn a blind eye, but act like
we don't know. And so to me, when baseball Biden
not nicking Nixon in in the butt, you know, stopping it,
what they allowed to do was to get intertwined, wrapped
up together. So now you think steroids, you think baseball,
you think home runs going out of the park. Right,
(24:11):
Barry Bond's is hitting them just in it. I know
he's never been caught yuilt whatever, positive never suspended, but
we're seeing him hitting him in the in the cove regularly,
Like that's just not normal the rate he was doing it. Right,
And then you see, we already know Sammy so so,
we already know Mark uh uh, Markguire, so on and
so forth.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Jose can Sego came out. I was like, man, everybody
was stabbing each other in the butt.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So I think baseball again became the poster child for it.
When we we just again it was interwoven with the
with steroids, home runs, baseball, you see it kind of
they go hand in hand. I don't have a correlation
with NBA. Like, if Paul George was doing steroids, I
don't know what.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
It made it better.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
You know what, I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I don't have it.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I don't know what it did, and I'm not saying
it doesn't. We don't have something we naturally correlated to.
So it's like, hey, Steph, Curt's the steroids is like,
I don't know the themagam shoot better.
Speaker 7 (25:03):
I don't know, Paul. I'm just making I'm just saying that.
People just use that as example.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So when Paul George gets busted for there's nothing identifiable
that made him better. And I think that's why we
don't look at it the same football. I think there's
just an inherent you just figure these dudes are the
most tough neanderthal running into each other body slamming. If
they found out there on stories, you kind of go, well,
that makes sense. You're slamming two hundred and fifty pound
(25:28):
three hundred pound men slamming into each other for three
and a half hours.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
And then finally, I think the only other sports we
we do do the same with baseball, I would say
cycling and I would say track. I think those two sports.
We do the same with baseball, like what we kind
of expect it. But I will say again, we don't
care because it's for our entertainment purpose.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
But here, but here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Even in the NFL, Antonio Gates is in the Hall
of Fame, right, bust it.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
It didn't make people not want to vote for him.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
Because logically it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
We go, well, I mean, it's hard, it's what people
get suspended for, so it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
With you the legislation of it. But logically we go.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Julian Edamman with the Patriots, right, I don't look at
him and think of the juice. But he got busted.
People are talking about this. He deserved to get in
the Hall of Fame. Uh, Patrick Peterson, DeAndre Hopkins. Even
our guys, two guys who were going, Patrick Peterson and
DeAndrea going in.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Uh Sean Merriman.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
At one point, I remember that year he got popped
and then he was up for Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Do you remember that? Remember that?
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Like it was yeah, after he got off, you know,
off of suspension. And it's just weird because there were
other guys who have gotten busted in the NBA. I
think it's more prevalent than people want to admit. And
you can't really I would agree speculate, I do. I
think there are people who else? Was there somebody else?
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Rob G?
Speaker 6 (27:02):
There was a guy, was it with Sean Lewis from
the Mage? We have current guys who have been possible.
Paul George this season, Bobby Port his last season, Tristan
Thompson washed out of the league after he tested positive,
John Collins currently with the Clippers, and DeAndre Ayden.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
It was a diarmitic it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So can I so let me tell you. Let me
tell you why rob When you look at that list
that Rob G is lame name? Was there an All
Star on there?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
I mean, MG is a bigger name right now.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
What I mean aside from Paul Jordan.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
What I mean is like, that's the difference when you
talk baseball. If someone says, again, Barry Bonds, we know
he didn't test. Roger Clemens. You're talking about maybe top
three picture marks, one of the best hitters. Barry Bonds
arguably in the category best player ever. Alex Rodriguez argument
(28:00):
the best player category of the last thirty years. So
you're naming great and that's why it became bigger. If
you started rotting off Steph.
Speaker 7 (28:09):
Currys Lebron, Joki something I just said. If you're throwing
out some.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Guys Jokie, you know Kawhi, Leonard and and and and
you know Chris Paul, then you might be like, oh shoot,
because you got you can see the results. Rogers name
the bust of guys we actually are mad at because.
Speaker 7 (28:28):
We want more from so you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
The other aiden gives you know that can at least
be click capella.
Speaker 7 (28:38):
They're not.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
They're not the household names.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
But he'll you mentioned for Charle Lewis, Darius almost Hemu.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
Is a key player in the finals, even a man.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
Don't you remember when they beat up but they stopped
his name, stopped the stopped the Kobe le Lebron final.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
That was he He dude, Kirkalu and what a tunker
glue man. I'm here here's one.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
This wasn't a ped but they said it was a band.
Shout out to Chris Weber, see could see.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Well, I don't know. I think you might have been
the weed on that time. But like the weed, there
have been guys.
Speaker 7 (29:11):
Furthering my voice.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
He was a perfectly fine, good role player, like he
could play on my team.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
He was good.
Speaker 7 (29:17):
I liked him.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
He ain't many bonds.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Roger Clemments, Alexabrodriguez, David Big Poppy, who I mean, come on,
are you kidding me? Like, look at the list of people,
Manny Ramirez, like, come on, bro Andy Pettit, come on,
and these of the guys.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
Just so that's that's all that matters.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
But if to me, it would be like those guys
were already good before they got on the juice as well.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So what I'm saying those are names and and and
again I can associate it.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
People will go, well, Roger Clemens, he must have threw
it harder.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
They'll go, clearly, Mark, Mark McGuire and Sammy Zer blasting
it out the park. You know, I don't know what
that did for he knew Turkulu. I don't know what
that did for DeAndre Ayton. Whatever it is, don't do
the opposite. Never do steroids. You might be better. So
that's my point. You there's a correlation with baseball where
I can go, oh, he did.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
That, so she did name recognition in their status.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And yeah, in a correlation. Correlation to me, he did that.
He hit a bunch of home runs. David Big Poppy
hit a bunch before, but he ain't hit it like
that once, you know, once we started to see it.
Mannys was always good, but man, he started to hit harder.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
Roger Clemens was heck of a pitcher. Boy, He's throwing
it harder.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
So I think the correlation along with the numbers, I
do agree the numbers is huge, right, you're you're chasing
these historical numbers.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
I do believe the numbers has
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
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Let's go, rob G.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
You know my panties won a bunch early early this
morning about a particular college basketball coach.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Can you clue us in?
Speaker 6 (00:33):
Yes, Sir, Robert was really really upset about something that
Bruce Pearl said on Saturday.
Speaker 5 (00:40):
I was worked up, rob G.
Speaker 7 (00:42):
Yeah, you texted me why the middle of a shoot.
Speaker 6 (00:45):
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna play what
Bruce Pearl said that got you upset, and then we're
gonna update the story and let you know what we're
talking about today.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Here's Bruce Pearl on Saturday talking.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
About the undefeated Miami of Ohio RedHawks twenty nine and
zer on whether or not they deserve to be in the tournament.
Speaker 7 (01:00):
Miami, Ohiwe here's the deal.
Speaker 8 (01:01):
Are we gonna select the sixty eight most deserving teams,
or we're gonna select the sixty eight best teams. Selecting
the sixty eight best teams, then Mina Moole's gonna have
to win their tournament to qualify as a champion, because
as in at large, they are not one of the
best teams in the country, and that's gonna be a
difficult choice for the committee to make.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
Yikes Miikes is right because he got barbecue by a
lot of people of college people love set basketball. I'm
sure we'll get to with Aaron Torres in hour three.
But one person who was particularly perturbed was Miami Ohio
athletic director David Saylor, who put out a series of
tweets like he was rage tweeting shout out Kevin Durant.
Here's one of the things he said about Bruce Pearl quote,
(01:45):
you are flat out wrong about Miami Ohio basketball when
you say we would finish it last in the Big East.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
The disrespect is awful.
Speaker 6 (01:53):
You should not be near a TV studio cover in
this sport when you show your true color.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Here's the worst part. He even sleeped in.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
We went talking about Auburn. Nice work, right, And here's
the thing. This is what got me worked up about this?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Tell me what had Joe Pennies in a bunch that
you kept texting us?
Speaker 9 (02:11):
Right?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yes, First of all, Bruce Pearl, he's got a lot
of baggage he's carrying around.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
A lot of people in college basketball don't like that, dude.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Okay, so he's got a lot of people in that
situation he's rubbed the wrong way. But I'm just saying, Kelvin,
what NCAA tournament with sixty eight.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Schools in it.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Is gonna say that a team that's twenty nine to
zero doesn't deserve to be I'm like and then said, well,
it's a schedule.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Twenty nine and zero.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
You mean to tell me there's no place the only
way they can make it in the tournament is by
winning their conference? Really like, like, that's the AD's right.
It's totally disrespectful. It makes absolutely no sense. This is
supposedly coming from a basketball coach who knows how hard
it is Kelvin to.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Go twenty nine and oh, I don't care what league you're.
Speaker 7 (03:04):
Playing, It doesn't matter what it could be. My daughter's
why I'm.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Right, twenty nine and zero, right, And number two, I
did get to his son's and the coach right took
over for him at Auburn. Right, I got this census.
His son is what fifteen and fourteen, robb g something
like that. He's like under five hundred. This was like
(03:27):
sending out a message without naming his son and the
kids in that school that Auburn being fifteen and fourteen
is better than Miami of Ohio. Do you know what
I mean? Because of the competition. So let me plant
that seed so that my son and Auburn can get
a look over this fraudulent despite being a Division I
(03:49):
program that's that has access to getting into the tournament. Like,
I've never heard anything like that in my love, have you?
Speaker 7 (03:56):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Clearly, this is absolutely a I quit on the team
right before the season started.
Speaker 7 (04:03):
Let me throw my son in there.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Oops, they're almost five hundred, they're fifteen and fourteen, as
you mentioned, and all of a sudden, and when you
look at what they are, they're not great. They're it's
six and ten in the conference, so like they're gonna
have a shot.
Speaker 7 (04:16):
Really, they're out there on the bubble. This isn't.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let me throw an OLU to my son to a
school that I coached at to a school that obviously
I have ties to and still have love for.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
That's absolutely what he did.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And when in the process of doing that he bashed
another coach whose team has done what they're supposed to
do and have played very well to the tuite of
not losing in twenty nine to zero. You would think
as a coach he would respect them.
Speaker 7 (04:40):
Think as a.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Coach he would go, you know what, I got to
show some love for him. I know they don't play
in Big Ten. I know they're not in the Big East,
but they get there playing some great basketball. They're beating
whoever lines up in front of them, and they're getting
it done. And might have that to you, Rob that
not everybody who's even in bigger conferences has great records,
but can make him get in the turn to do something.
Speaker 7 (05:01):
Let's go back to the nineteen.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Ninety seven Arizona Wildcats who had nine losses and they
only and then it became the only team to beat
three number one seeds in the single tournament, meaning a
team that wasn't that great they going to run. Let's
talk about twenty eleven VCU Rams. Remember them first four.
They are the first four team that ended up reaching.
Speaker 7 (05:19):
The final four. So you don't worry about me.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
If I'm saying by the other coach, let my team
get in, let us do what we could get blown
out by sixty me we might win three games. The
point is we've double what we're supposed to do and
have a chance to get into this tournament. And by
the way, there's only really what six to ten teams
that really got a chance to win it. So the
idea that if there's sixty eight teams, every team is
(05:43):
so deserving. Every team's record has been phenomenal, every team
has had an amazing schedule.
Speaker 7 (05:48):
That is that's not true.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
It's never been the case that we've never been c
eight teams.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
The idea that he could pooh pooh Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
You know what, I get it.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
But if their schedules terrible and it doesn't matter what
they do, then they shouldn't qualify.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
They never should have been able to qualify.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
For the tournament.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Talking about two thousand and six, I very much remember
this team, that George Mason team that was that got
in or and they you know, barely got in. They
got in there, this eleventh seed, and they ended up
making it to the final four. So my point is,
if I'm Miami, Ohio, don't worry about what I'm doing,
don't worry about our record. We got a shot, we
got a chance to make some noise. We've taken care
(06:27):
of our business. How about you your son take care
of theirs.
Speaker 9 (06:31):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
If you think my panties were in a bunch, I
think Dicky V's panties were in a bunch in the
front and the back.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Because he came out with a tweet. He shout out
to Dicky V.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Dicky V is at that age now where he's just
gonna say what he wants. They can't do, can't Yes,
He's like, man, I know be catching seventeen times exactly
you didn't do to me.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
But that I'm already dealing with.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
But Dicky V, obviously you mentioned everybody has an opinion
on this thing, because it's it's unusual to hear someone
say and undefeated twenty nine OHO teams, you're not being
the tournament. Dicky VE said this on Twitter. Here it
is quote, shouldn't even be a debate about twenty nine
in oh Miami, Ohio as the weather or they shot
part of March Madness.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
If they do not win.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
The mac Turney metrics used to define who should qualify
as at large teams as one sided favors mediocrity all
cash from power conferences over excellent all caps by the
mid majors.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
One hundred per spot on, spot On and again, Bruce Pearl,
this is him throwing his program, former program, and his son.
Let me put this out there in the atmosphere, Kelvin,
with a chance that some of the voters and the
people on the you know what I mean, on the committee,
he'll be like, oh, yeah, well Auburn still played a
(07:45):
tougher schedule.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Who you know, who did Miami of Ohio? They don't
even know what state they're in, Miami, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
And not to mention too.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's not like this is the college football Playoff where okay,
we got twelve teams, right then it got sixty sixty
eighteen bro about forty eight of those teams maybe even more.
Speaker 7 (08:05):
I don't know who they are, who they wanted to be.
They're in the tournament. We all enjoy.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
We eat some chips and we watched ten games at
once and we have a good time.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
Stop acting like they're all this world beaters.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
This is non college football playoff where I can understand
if you have a team, you know that that's not
from one of the big conferences, and you're like, ooh,
a two loss, you know, Penn State or two loss
Alabama or something. Maybe they should have a shot over this,
you know, Miami Ohio football.
Speaker 7 (08:31):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's completely different than the sixty eighteen tournament in basketball.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
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Speaker 4 (08:47):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
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Speaker 1 (08:52):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
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Speaker 7 (08:59):
To announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
You can now watch The Odd Couple live on YouTube
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Speaker 1 (09:07):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR, check us out
on YouTube and subscribe. Joined now by Brian gilt Tyler,
Serious Sex and NBA radio hosts, NBA TV analyst as
well Brian What's Up Man how you doing.
Speaker 9 (09:26):
I'm doing good, guys.
Speaker 7 (09:27):
How we doing excellent? Dude, doing well? Doing well?
Speaker 5 (09:30):
How are you?
Speaker 9 (09:32):
I'm great?
Speaker 7 (09:32):
Thank you? All right, let's get it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Let's get into some conversations around the NBA right now.
I want to start with uh and I'm slightly biased
here the Pistons slight now, just just slight, like.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Like he's he's a Pistons homer, So go ahead, so but.
Speaker 9 (09:49):
But you're here.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
But I'll say this, even as a homer and even
as being someone who's biased, I will say, when looking
at the postseason with this team, I'm wondering about, Okay,
Kate Cunningham, does he have to be spectacular night in,
night out?
Speaker 7 (10:07):
Is there enough there?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Tobias Hair is going to be enough for Weaponars Duran
finally grown enough? When you look at this team and
what they can be in the postseason, how high is
their ceiling?
Speaker 9 (10:16):
Their seiling is very high. Listen. They certainly have a
chance to go to the finals. What they've done and
how they've built this team is essentially it's been a
trade off. So they've brought in some players who are
excellent individual defenders at the expense of shooting quite Frankly,
they don't have a lot of perimeter shooting. And by
the same token, they can roll seven guys out there
that are all above average NBA defenders. So they're gonna
(10:40):
make it into a grind. They're gonna play a physical
brand of basketball. Kate Cunningham is gonna have to be Superman.
That's certainly going to be a part of it. But
by the way, one of the great and really good
individual defenders they have is Kate Cunningham reguards a tough
player on the other team night in night out. The
question for them is like, listen, naked hide a guy
like Duncan Robinson, but he's got to hit shot, and
(11:01):
that's the thing. He becomes a key guy here with
the way they struggle to shoot the basketball. So if
they're not getting some consistent three point shooting from Duncan
Robinson or a Kris Lavert, that's going to make it
a little tougher for them in the playoffs. Now, listen,
Robinson's track record is one of a guy that you
know can shoot up to forty percent from three, if
not more, So he becomes a very interesting guy for them.
(11:22):
With all that said, they're certainly going to be able
to keep the ball out of their own BASKETBA very well.
And one of the things that's impressed me the most
this year about them is how they've physically dominated the Knicks,
And I don't think you can sleep on that or
take that lightly. The Knicks are a big, physical team,
and Detroit pushes him around like the rag Dolls and
most teams. I don't know there's a team in the
(11:43):
league that can do that to the Knicks in the
way that the Pistons do it. So listen, and in
a wide open Eastern Conference, they've been much better than everybody.
Six games clear of the field. At this stage of
the game, they got as good a chance as anyone
to be able to go to the finals.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
It is my problem, Brian, a couple of things you
just said about the Pistons. Number One, they're the bottom
ten of three point shooting like that is a real
buggaboo going into the postseason, because somebody you gotta be
able to make some shots. That's what worries me about them.
Last year they dominated the Knicks. I think they were
three to zero in the regular season and wind up
(12:19):
losing the postseason without even winning the game at home.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
They are much better. This is the second year of
going in.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
I'm not discounting them, but there's some things that scare
me about them.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
And the other thing is, you say they got a
chance to go to the finals. You're gonna go from two.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Playoff wins in the last seventeen years to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
It just seems like a big jump for me.
Speaker 9 (12:43):
It is. But by the same Tolkien, if you look
up and down the conference, you can make the case.
If not them, then who everybody's bout?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Well, I could say Cleveland, I could say the Knicks.
I mean the Knicks didn't go I could say that.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Last year.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Last year, they year.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
They beat the Knicks during the regular season and then
they couldn't win a game at home in the postseason.
The Knicks made shots in that's in those games in
Detroit to beat them. That's all I'm saying is that
I saw this movie last They also.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
Got They also got screwed with a bad fall. You know,
Josh bout Tim Hardaway laking that game, and that adult
could have gone the other way. It was a very
close series. Here here's my point, and I hear what
you're saying, but The fact is it's going to be
based a lot upon matchups and when you take a
look at the physicality and the Pistons, listen to the
Knicks push around the Cavaliers. They do the Cavaliers. The
(13:35):
Cavaliers struggled very badly with the next and last year
in the conference there was Listen, Indiana ended up going
to the finals, but Boston was the powerhouse. The Knicks
were able to beat. The Knicks matchup well with them.
There is no powerhouse in the conference this year. And
that's why I say they have as good a chance
at everybody. Cleveland. I don't know that.
Speaker 10 (13:53):
Cleveland's tough enough. I still don't think Cleveland.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
Guards on the perimeter as well as they need to
the Knicks. Listen Nich another team. You know, their two
best offensive players really can't.
Speaker 10 (14:03):
Be on the court at the same time Layton.
Speaker 9 (14:05):
Playoff games because they're both shids defensive leagues. It's an
enormous problem for them. Boston needs Jason Tatum back and
playing at a pretty high level. I'm not sure that's
going to happen if they.
Speaker 10 (14:15):
Want to even have a chance.
Speaker 9 (14:17):
You know, take a look even Philly, Philly's counting on
a healthy Joel indeed and Paul George coming back healthy
from suspension. That everybody has got works in that conference.
And that's kind of my point. So Detroit can be
an imperfect team, and they are an imperfect team, and
they can find their way into the NBA finals if
all the matchups fall right. The point that you make
is a very strong point. Of strongest point you made.
(14:39):
There's only two playoff wins last year. Generally we rarely
see in the NBA a team ascend right to the
final just one playoff appearance of being done. You have
to normally take your lumps. I mean, the two thousand
and eight Celtics are absolutely an exception to that rule,
and it's twenty nineteen Raptors as well. But even the
Raptors before they got Kawhi Leonard got knocked around in
the playoffs. Normally you normally have to go through that.
(15:03):
But I would tell you this is one of those
years in this conference with this scene that the Pistons
have a chance to defy that.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
All right, man, I didn't know y'all want to be
so fun. I thought I was the Pistons fan. You
guys want to talk about the.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
No, no, I mean.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
The best record, so we should break it down.
Speaker 9 (15:24):
Let me talking about it.
Speaker 7 (15:25):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
I do want to ask you though, And you know,
I think JJ Reddick should be fired, I really do.
I just I know he was supposed to be Pat
Rowley because he had slick hair and he talked great
on the podcast or whatever it is. They don't play
for him, and I don't expect Lebron and and Luca
to be these all world defenders. But my god, like
(15:48):
it's the same thing over and over. I don't know
what do you do? You just is it okay? It's
only Rob Polenka because everybody last year when they went
to the playoffs, Brian, all I heard was, don't sleep
all Lebron and Luca together.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Who in the West gonna stop those two? That's all
I heard?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
And then they got knocked out in the first round.
Where are you on the Lakers and what you've seen?
Speaker 9 (16:13):
The Lakers could screw up a one car funeral procession
find ways to screw stuff up. First of all, let's
start back in the offseason with Lebron James on your team,
did you really need to do this whole offseason song
and dance? Declaring it Luca Doncicic's team. It would have
gotten there. It would have gotten there on its own organically.
And you know what, the guy that needed to declare
(16:34):
it Lucas team was not Rob Polinkin, not JJ Reddick.
The guy that needed to declare it Lucas team was
Lebron James. And he would have gotten there, but you
just have to kind of give him the chance to
get there. So they started it.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Then.
Speaker 9 (16:47):
Listen, Reddick made as the biggest rookie coaching mistake you'll
ever see in a playoff game last year where he
didn't sub for an entire you remember that all thing,
and have exhausted players down the stretch. He's in a
situation now where it's almost no it's almost no win
for JJ. It's because he's got star players that don't
mess at all. Lebron doesn't want to.
Speaker 10 (17:07):
Be there anymore.
Speaker 9 (17:08):
They don't want Lebron there anymore. Luca has got a
total attitude with everything. And listen, you're seeing a little
bit why Dallas got turned off with Lucas. Lucas cuffs
the coach. He's not easy. He doesn't play off the
ball all that well. He'll defend when he feels like defending.
So you have all those things. Here's the thing. If
you want JJ Redick fire from the Lakers, you're probably
going to get your wish because Mark Walter just brought
(17:28):
this team. They are completely overturning how this team gets run.
Very quietly. Last week, they hired Tony Bennett, former head
coach at University of Virginia, as a draft consultant. They
pretty much put JJ's replacement in the building. And that's
not going to work well. Andrew Friedan from the Dodgers
is there, okay?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Now?
Speaker 9 (17:45):
Magic? Keep in mind Magic Johnson's a minority partner with
Mark Walter. He's partners with Walter on the Dodgers as well.
You think that he's involved with an ownership stake with
the Lakers, and he's not going to have something to say.
And by the way, I'm going to tell you someone
and if he doesn't really like working with all that much,
that's Rob Blinka. This whole thing is getting over turned
for the Lakers. You're going to see new management, You're
(18:07):
going to see a new coach. Mark Wolf's going to
come in and he's going to put his stamp on
this whole thing and do it his way. They're starting
to do it already. I think they're one and done
this year in the playoffs. Yet somehow, some way, they
keep hanging around.
Speaker 10 (18:19):
And they're sitting here, very very tied.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
In the loss column for the five seeds. So as
bad as it looks, they continue to win enough games
to keep their heads above water. The problem is this,
they don't have enough good defensive personnel. I just wax poetic,
guys about how good the towards defensive personnel is. The
Lakers on the defensive end of the four for a
personnel standpoint, are the exact opposite. And you just you
can't turn around in that situation and turn lemons into lemonade.
(18:44):
You just can't. So the Lakers are in trouble here,
and I do think you're going to see an entirely
different group of people running the show as we start
next season.
Speaker 7 (18:52):
All right, man, we'll leave it there.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
I appreciate it, my pleasant guys.
Speaker 9 (18:58):
Any time, would love.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
To do it. Anytime Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Rob g we had another.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
We thought we were done with these PD suspension in
Major League Baseball. The rules have been set. They're pretty steep.
One time you get a strike in eighty games, another
time you get eight one hundred and sixty two games
and narratives.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
We have another.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Person in the in the Major League Baseball being suspended.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
That's right tough scene for Braves d h jerks in. Profar,
who at one point was considered the new hotness.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
In Major League baseb.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
He was, I mean, for real, he was going to
be the guy, the next phenom, the next Twan Soto,
the next I mean speaking another.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Guy who has popped for PDS. Your guy in San Diego,
Rob Fernando d'tis Junior, who was the face of baseball.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I mean like he.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Profar was good to be one of those ones.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
You weren't here, Calvin, But that was they said, I
had to judge Judge Tatis.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Profar, who already last year was suspended eighty games for
testing positive for a PED, tested positive again for another
PEG right less than a year, which means he is
now subject to a one hundred and sixty two games
suspension by Major League Baseball. He will forfeit the entirety
(20:30):
of his fifteen million dollars salary. He'll be ineligible for
the postseason. He'll also be ineligible for the upcoming World
Baseball Classic. All bad, all the time for Profar. But guys,
it got me thinking. We just mentioned two guys who
were both up and coming in Major Baseball. Profar Tatis
Junior got pop for PDS and in the case of
(20:51):
Profar is basically gonna derail his entire career, like that's
gonna be his calling card now forever. Tatis Junior was
on a trajectory to be one of those ones, and
now he's kind of an afterthought, partly because he does
a positive PDS and now there's always gonna be a
little asterisk next to his name. And as good as
he's been since he came back, nobody views him in
the same way.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
They don't view him the same way. He doesn't get
the juice.
Speaker 7 (21:13):
He just got the juice.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Juice?
Speaker 7 (21:17):
What you mean?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
He I mean?
Speaker 6 (21:23):
So, guys, let me ask you this question, pd use
even though it's been less prevalent now because number one,
you know, guys are smarter, and number two, they they're
the science is ahead of the testing at this point
like that you can get a lot of things without
getting caught, and that's been the way for a while.
But one thing we've noticed is if you play baseball
and you get popped, it hangs over your head forever. Hell,
(21:47):
if you don't even get popped, you're just alleged to
using because we've got guys who all you forever. However,
you play NBA, shout out, Paul George. You play in
the NFL. Nobody seems to really care too much. Why
is that, Rob Barker, that's a great question. I think
baseball's held to a higher standard. It really is, and
(22:08):
I think a lot of it has to.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Do with the numbers, like that, when the home run
record was broken, that was a sacred number. There aren't
that many sacred numbers in football or basketball, right.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
There really aren't, like not a number.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You could be like Lebron has the all time scored
the most points, but there's no number. Hank Aaron seven
hundred and fifty five home runs meant something to people, right,
And I think that that's where the numbers in baseball
matter so much that people were like, oh my god,
they ruined what I used to know as you know
(22:43):
that home run number and now it's tanked it and
the guy who has the all time home run record
shouldn't be looked at at sideways. And I think that's
part of it. Do I think it's fair? No, I
don't think it's fair because just like Rob g mentioned
Kelvin Paul George, it's fresh off of it, and in
Philadelphia they're just waiting for him to get back, like, okay,
(23:06):
nobody's gonna look at him crazy or say, do we
really want him on the team? You know what I mean,
the Sixers, Should we really count if they make a
playoff run?
Speaker 5 (23:16):
Because he was on.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
None of that conversation happens at all with Paul George.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Here's a couple of reasons why baseball allowed steroids to
run rampant and enjoyed the success of it. So to me,
what they did was they paired themselves with it. Rob,
they intertwined themselves with it.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
You mean like he ain't gambling, Okay, go ahead, I'm.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Sorry, And that could become a thing eventually.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
But right now, with the steroids, when you looked at baseball,
we saw the resurgence of the popularity.
Speaker 7 (23:47):
We know, the summer of ninety eight, the home run chase.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Fast forward a couple of years later, you got two
or three years of Barry Bonds. Everybody knows what's going on.
We're trying to turn a blind eye, but act like
we don't know. And so to me, when baseball Biden
not nicking Nixon in in the butt, you know, stopping it,
what they allowed to do was to get intertwined, wrapped
up together. So now you think steroids, you think baseball,
you think home runs going out of the park. Right,
(24:11):
Barry Bond's is hitting them just in it. I know
he's never been caught yuilt whatever, positive never suspended, but
we're seeing him hitting him in the in the cove regularly,
Like that's just not normal the rate he was doing it. Right,
And then you see, we already know Sammy so so,
we already know Mark uh uh, Markguire, so on and
so forth.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Jose can Sego came out. I was like, man, everybody
was stabbing each other in the butt.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So I think baseball again became the poster child for it.
When we we just again it was interwoven with the
with steroids, home runs, baseball, you see it kind of
they go hand in hand. I don't have a correlation
with NBA. Like, if Paul George was doing steroids, I
don't know what.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
It made it better.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
You know what, I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I don't have it.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I don't know what it did, and I'm not saying
it doesn't. We don't have something we naturally correlated to.
So it's like, hey, Steph, Curt's the steroids is like,
I don't know the themagam shoot better.
Speaker 7 (25:03):
I don't know, Paul. I'm just making I'm just saying that.
People just use that as example.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So when Paul George gets busted for there's nothing identifiable
that made him better. And I think that's why we
don't look at it the same football. I think there's
just an inherent you just figure these dudes are the
most tough neanderthal running into each other body slamming. If
they found out there on stories, you kind of go, well,
that makes sense. You're slamming two hundred and fifty pound
(25:28):
three hundred pound men slamming into each other for three
and a half hours.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
And then finally, I think the only other sports we
we do do the same with baseball, I would say
cycling and I would say track. I think those two sports.
We do the same with baseball, like what we kind
of expect it. But I will say again, we don't
care because it's for our entertainment purpose.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
But here, but here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Even in the NFL, Antonio Gates is in the Hall
of Fame, right, bust it.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
It didn't make people not want to vote for him.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
Because logically it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
We go, well, I mean, it's hard, it's what people
get suspended for, so it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
With you the legislation of it. But logically we go.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Julian Edamman with the Patriots, right, I don't look at
him and think of the juice. But he got busted.
People are talking about this. He deserved to get in
the Hall of Fame. Uh, Patrick Peterson, DeAndre Hopkins. Even
our guys, two guys who were going, Patrick Peterson and
DeAndrea going in.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Uh Sean Merriman.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
At one point, I remember that year he got popped
and then he was up for Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Do you remember that? Remember that?
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Like it was yeah, after he got off, you know,
off of suspension. And it's just weird because there were
other guys who have gotten busted in the NBA. I
think it's more prevalent than people want to admit. And
you can't really I would agree speculate, I do. I
think there are people who else? Was there somebody else?
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Rob G?
Speaker 6 (27:02):
There was a guy, was it with Sean Lewis from
the Mage? We have current guys who have been possible.
Paul George this season, Bobby Port his last season, Tristan
Thompson washed out of the league after he tested positive,
John Collins currently with the Clippers, and DeAndre Ayden.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
It was a diarmitic it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So can I so let me tell you. Let me
tell you why rob When you look at that list
that Rob G is lame name? Was there an All
Star on there?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
I mean, MG is a bigger name right now.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
What I mean aside from Paul Jordan.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
What I mean is like, that's the difference when you
talk baseball. If someone says, again, Barry Bonds, we know
he didn't test. Roger Clemens. You're talking about maybe top
three picture marks, one of the best hitters. Barry Bonds
arguably in the category best player ever. Alex Rodriguez argument
(28:00):
the best player category of the last thirty years. So
you're naming great and that's why it became bigger. If
you started rotting off Steph.
Speaker 7 (28:09):
Currys Lebron, Joki something I just said. If you're throwing
out some.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Guys Jokie, you know Kawhi, Leonard and and and and
you know Chris Paul, then you might be like, oh shoot,
because you got you can see the results. Rogers name
the bust of guys we actually are mad at because.
Speaker 7 (28:28):
We want more from so you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
The other aiden gives you know that can at least
be click capella.
Speaker 7 (28:38):
They're not.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
They're not the household names.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
But he'll you mentioned for Charle Lewis, Darius almost Hemu.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
Is a key player in the finals, even a man.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
Don't you remember when they beat up but they stopped
his name, stopped the stopped the Kobe le Lebron final.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
That was he He dude, Kirkalu and what a tunker
glue man. I'm here here's one.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
This wasn't a ped but they said it was a band.
Shout out to Chris Weber, see could see.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Well, I don't know. I think you might have been
the weed on that time. But like the weed, there
have been guys.
Speaker 7 (29:11):
Furthering my voice.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
He was a perfectly fine, good role player, like he
could play on my team.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
He was good.
Speaker 7 (29:17):
I liked him.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
He ain't many bonds.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Roger Clemments, Alexabrodriguez, David Big Poppy, who I mean, come on,
are you kidding me? Like, look at the list of people,
Manny Ramirez, like, come on, bro Andy Pettit, come on,
and these of the guys.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
Just so that's that's all that matters.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
But if to me, it would be like those guys
were already good before they got on the juice as well.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So what I'm saying those are names and and and
again I can associate it.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
People will go, well, Roger Clemens, he must have threw
it harder.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
They'll go, clearly, Mark, Mark McGuire and Sammy Zer blasting
it out the park. You know, I don't know what
that did for he knew Turkulu. I don't know what
that did for DeAndre Ayton. Whatever it is, don't do
the opposite. Never do steroids. You might be better. So
that's my point. You there's a correlation with baseball where
I can go, oh, he did.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
That, so she did name recognition in their status.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And yeah, in a correlation. Correlation to me, he did that.
He hit a bunch of home runs. David Big Poppy
hit a bunch before, but he ain't hit it like
that once, you know, once we started to see it.
Mannys was always good, but man, he started to hit harder.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
Roger Clemens was heck of a pitcher. Boy, He's throwing
it harder.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
So I think the correlation along with the numbers, I
do agree the numbers is huge, right, you're you're chasing
these historical numbers.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
I do believe the numbers has
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