August 10, 2026 • 39 mins
Former NFL offensive lineman Ephraim Salaam is in for Rob, and he and Kelvin discuss the real reason why Bill Belichick wasn't present at this past weekend's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, debate whether or not the Dallas Cowboys are poised to make a deep playoff run this season, and explain why the DiJonai Carrington controversy is illustrative of a bigger problem in the WNBA.
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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):
A lot of people went to the Hall of Fame.
A lot of people had great speeches, made you emotional.
Some people had more jokey jokey ones like Adam vinit
TERI was out there being a comedian. Even took shots
but show love mostly to want of Bill Belichick.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, the one person he took a lot of shots
at was Bill Belichick. In case you missed it, here's
a snippet of what Adam Vinnitieri said during his Hall
of Fame acceptance speech, taking shot at double B.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Take a listen, Bet mcviez here in the crowd today.
Great to see you, brother. The only person who enjoyed
holding my balls more than my wife.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I would repeat those last few statements about coach Bill
Belichick as well. Thank you for demanding excellence every single day.
Your preparation, discipline, and attention to detail shaped far more
than my football career. Unfortunately, Bill couldn't make it here today.
There's a lot going on at UNC right now.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
He may be on a.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Recruiting trip right now, looking for the next Lawrence Taylor.
I thought it was because training camp had already started,
but in truth, it's because he's judging his girlfriend's cheerleading competition.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
All right, listen, thanks to Adam VINITTERI can I kick it.
That's right and shout out to the kickers. He now
has brought up the conversation everybody's having again. And wait
a minute, now that I think about it, why wasn't
Bill Belichick in right? We had this conversation months ago
when the announced the finalists folks who were going to
be in Trine in the Hall of Fame, and we
do Bill Belichick had a chance to be and he
(02:02):
was not, did not get the forty votes that he needed.
And right there, controversy and shoes. We have a bunch
of conversations, but out of it and Cherry because he
brings them back up, starts the conversation again. If that
should have been Bill Belichick? Because he should have been
their first ballot Hall of Famer. Right when you mentioned
all the stuff he does in football, all the titles
he has as a head coach, not to mention the
(02:22):
assistant to coaches when he was an assistant coach, defensive
codonator with the Giants, of course, should add to them
there as well. The conversation begins, why was he there again?
And I gotta go back to this. Look, you are
a human being. You played in this league, but you're
a human. I'm a human And one of the things
I think sometimes people forget is that on paper, two
plus two should be four, but dang it, it ain't
(02:44):
always four. Because you get people who say, all right,
Bill Belichick, former writers, former players, former all these people involved,
folks who already in the Hall of Fame, And they say,
do I believe you were a good coach? Honestly I do.
Do I believe you deserve to be up in the
Hall of Fame? Yes, But what I'm not going to
do is put you in first ballot when I have
(03:04):
issues with how you coach, or I have issues of
how you led your team, or I have issues of
the indiscretions with your team, with spygate. Of course, with
the flake gate, with all these types of things. Some
of the players you picked up, all the news you
heard about Aaron Ndaz, yet you still chose to get
them because you said, dang, screw all that he can play.
And I think all of those things came back to
(03:25):
bite him in the butt, even though if we all
know he is a dynamic coach, we all know that
he created a culture there. Guys came to that team,
they locked in, they got focused, and they were able
to compete. Whether they were guys who had were through
the farm system, if you will, drafted and brought up
like a Tom Brady, or if they were just guys
they wouldn't got mercenaries. Everybody capitulated, everybody jumped in and
(03:46):
understood that way and tuned up a bunch of rings,
a handful plus one. And at the end of the day, though,
I think people said, I'm gonna get you in. I'm
gonna vote you in, but not this year so you
can have something, some type of bla image on your
record that shows yeah, we know you were good, Yeah
your teams are great, but we're not letting you in unscathed.
And I think that was a reminder over the weekend
(04:10):
just of that that, hey, we we can't stop you
from getting in the sense that it would be ridiculous
and none of us will have votes ever again, because
you know, if we continue to go down this line,
but we ain't gonna have you in first ballot, we're
not gonna have you full proof without a chink in
your armor. And I think that's what it is. I
think it's ridiculous in a sense that if he's in,
he's in, especially him, this isn't a questionable guy where
(04:31):
another stack comes up and we go, oh, you know,
that's a good point. I didn't think about that, or
oh when you do put it that way. Bill Belichick's
been in since like oh eight, so now that he's
not in first ballot, to me, is ridiculous to play
that game because he's in or he's not. If he's in,
to put the man in, you can talk all the
smack you want. I didn't want to put him in,
but I did because this I know he's in, but
I want to make sure I do say that I
(04:52):
don't like some of the stuff he did, But if
you're not gonna put him in, then don't or if
you are eventually, which is stupid, then just put him
in the first time.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
I'll tell you this, And we've seen this happen a
couple times, most notably too right. There is no question
that t is quite arguably the second best or third
best receiver ever to play. When you look at his numbers,
you look what the competitive spirit he brought to a team.
Why didn't he get in the first ballot because he
(05:22):
rubbed people the wrong way? Yep, he did things his way.
It didn't always align with other people. And so this
is their way of bringing you down a notch, taking
you down a peg. And I think when you talk
about Bill Belichick and all the things he's accomplished, but
the shroud and the cloud of controversy around him, that
(05:43):
win by any means, even if we you know, spygate,
deflate Gate, a lot of gates going on, the gates
opening gates closed, right, this gate closed on first ballot,
Hall of Fame, right, But the gates into those Super
Bowls he won, which may or may not be one
(06:04):
through things that people would frown on, you know, cheating.
And so this is the only way the voting community
can punish or take a stand against something now, not
saying they know he's probably going to get in next year,
but they didn't want it to be.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
This year.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Coming you're eligible, you get in your record is one thing.
But the fact that you rub people the wrong way,
I mean he rubbed. If you listen to the players
who leave there, they respect him because he's a winning coach.
But if he had that demeanor and he treated players
(06:49):
the way he treated him and didn't win, then we'd
be talking about his worst coach in the world. The
fact that you got one of the greatest quarterbacks, if
not the greatest quarterback to buy into your system for
twenty years almost that helped the Belichick way be a thing.
And I think about it like this, Tom Brady is
(07:10):
Tom Brady. He's been who he's been. I think one
time he got Patriot of the Week or something like that,
and all of the time he's been there leading that team.
I remember towards the end he finally got the Patriot
of the Week ball and it was a big thing.
Imagine if Tom Brady was like, after year six, I'm good,
(07:31):
I don't feel appreciated, I'm going somewhere else, then what
would Bill Belichick's legacy be so I think a lot
of the success that Bill had is tied into what
Tom Brady was able to do, because right when he left,
he went somewhere else and got someone else a super
Bowl Championship trophy. And Bill Belichick didn't make the playoffs
(07:53):
and has struggled and now is out of the league.
So I think all of that comes into account. But
the arrogance of the press conferences, the way you treated
members of the media, the way you treated some players,
and the way you scoffed at, you know, turn your
nose up at the governing bodies of the NFL. I
think this was the voter's chance to say, hey, let's
(08:15):
bring him down a peg, right, let's bring him down
a notch, and they'll probably let them in and the
same thing they did with To now. T O chose
that next year not to even go to the ceremony.
I'm gonna do it in my hometown. I think it
was at his high school or something like that. And
I understand that. I understand exactly why To was Matt
because everything he's done in terms of numbers, in terms
(08:36):
of winning, in terms of being there as a teammate,
and people who were teammates with t O will tell
he was a great teammate. Right, don't let the media
and the outside voices tell you what type of person
he is. To flip, the complete opposite is for Bill Belichick. Right,
if you listen to some snickering that come out in
the book and this and everybody's taking shots at him,
(08:59):
that'll let you know, like you bought into the system
because you were winning, and you were winning in that system.
Because Tom Brady bought into the system. Gronk was the
only person that got to have a personality.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And be himself.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
True, he was the only ones that got to step
out and be himself with no recourse.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I want to throw this at you and answer this
on the other side. For me, twofold one, I just
think when we do this and Rob g knows I've
said this before on these types of conversation conversations, it
gets to me. It gets a little tricky because you
know who's eligible next year, Ben Roethlisberger, and it's like,
all right on talent alone on the field, I think
(09:37):
he's a Hall of Famer, do you? Of course, yes, right,
But once we start doing the whole like other stuff.
Antonio Brown again on paper. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
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Speaker 1 (10:50):
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Speaker 1 (11:02):
We talk about the Rams. We talk about obviously the
raigning champs and the Seahawks, and we we we talk
about obviously the teams in the a f C of
the top dogs with the big time quarterbacks. But there's
a team that is saying, hey, quietly, we made some moves. Quietly,
our offense has been really really good, and don't sleep
on us.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, that would be none other than our Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh is that where you are this year?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Last year with Giants, They're gonna win it confident, but
uh maybe. Up until two hours before showtime, the expectation was, hey,
we might do a segment what's all with the Cowboys
because Cede Lamb cannot stop talking about George Pickens and
getting paid, Like I wish that Alex would ride for
me the same way that CD Lambe. You know that
(11:50):
Rob Parker one said yeah, he should ask for a
raid and they said no, he's a Yeah, it's tough
out there, Thanks Rob. I just got my raise, but
that sucks, man, I can't believe it. But at any event,
that's what we thought we were gonna talk about. That's
pretty funny. And then lo and behold right before showtime,
the Cowboys and Quinn Williams reaching agreement on a three year,
(12:11):
one hundred and six million dollars deal, making him one
of not the highest, but one of the highest played
defensive linemen in all of football. So guys got his
thinking like, hey, Dak's back. Ceed lambsays, you got the
best wide receiver pairing in football. The old line's pretty good,
the running game is pretty good. Quinn Williams is obviously
handsomely paid. He's pretty good. They're saying Caleb Downs was
(12:33):
the best player in the draft last season. They got
him falling there, Why not the Dallas Cowboys in twenty
twenty six?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Exactly? Excuseless, That's what I'm gonna calling me from excuseless maning.
This is the year no excuses. Right. You could say, oh, well,
last year we had a new coach, schottenheim Er, you know,
and this that, well, this ain't year one, and Dak
Prescott's already come out and said this is a super
Bowl caliber team. And you look at last year they
were seven nine and one, obviously not the season they
(13:01):
want it, but when you look at what they were
able to do offensively, you're talking about ranking first in
the NFL passing yards per game, seventh in points per game,
and then of course we know this team has loaded
with weapons on the offensive side of the ball. You
got see Ceede Lamb is the number one, and then
you got of course Pickings. He's like a number one
on another team, but he might be getting number two.
(13:21):
And he was being spectacular fourteen hundred yards last year
and was a second team All Pro. So I'm looking
at this as you already offensively, which you have. Dak
Prescott at this point can run the offense with his
eyes closed. But it's all about the defensive side. They're
kind of the NFC version of the Cincinnati Bengals. Right,
both have prolific wide receivers. One quarterback I think is
(13:43):
better than the other, but Dak Prescott has been really
good throughout his career. It comes down the playoff performance.
But the defensive side of the ball has really jacked
up both of those teams. So they trade for Rashaan Geary, right,
they get him. We just talked about Quentinn Williams, who
eleven and a half sacks, spectacular man, clogging up the
middle and getting after the quarterback. They got Sam Williams
they re signed him. I should say they got Kobe
(14:08):
Durant as well through free agency to help, of course,
with some of the takeaways. I mean, they have done
and that's just the half of the movies. You talk
about drafting Caleb Downs as well, and Malachi Lawrence too,
So they've got a bunch of talent on this team.
And to me, I look at it as well. I
don't want to hear any more excuses. I don't want
to hear Jerry Jones talking like this. He from telling me, well,
(14:29):
if we only had this and if I only had that,
I don't want to hear it. You've got everything you need.
You got some defensive players. Now, the offense looked like
it could be just as potent as it was last year,
maybe a hair better. I don't want to hear it.
Cowboy fans, we don't want to hear it. Go get
it done. Because the only team we all agreed Lisa
on paper looks like they should be great in the
(14:51):
NFC is the Rams, right, I think they're the prohibited favors.
If you're the Seahawks, you say, hold on, we smacked
him up. In the NFC Championship game. Sam Donald had
the game of his life. Don't sleep on us with
the ranting champs. Okay, so you put respect on their name.
Outside of that, NFC North are NFC North looks to
me like it's gonna be a bunch of really like
good teams, but no bohemos. We'll see if the Bears
(15:11):
can keep going, Can the Lions bounce back? Can Kyler
Murray all a sudden resurge with the Vikings and the Packers?
Are they just gonna be again? You know, win ten
to eleven? But yeah, you don't really feel them as
a threat. So there's really no other team in the NFC,
the NFC, you know South, You're not really looking at
them as some bohemics as well, especially we don't know
what's going on with Baker Mayfield and the Bucks. So
(15:33):
my point is, you get to the NFC Championship game
against the Rams, says them, hey, and at that point
let the Chips fall what they may. You got a
chance to get to the Super Bowl. But what I
don't want to hear from moving forward is excuses you've
righted up this defensive side of the balls best you
can in one offseason. Obviously, if you had a couple
two or three years. You could do more, but off
one offseason. And again they're similar to what the Bengals
(15:55):
have been trying to do. Get some defensive pieces, get
some guys that can keep a lead up. When Joe
Burrow gets you, you're up ten and you still don't
have to lose. When he's thrown four or five touchdowns
and he doesn't have to lose those games. So to me,
they seem like they're similar AFC NFC teams between the
Bengals and the Cowboys. But that's all viewty from. I
just don't want to hear it anymore. Your quarterback couldn't
(16:16):
get more veteran, your receivers couldn't get more posing, You
picked up pieces, you got a second year with your coach,
Now get it done. All that sounds great.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
You just went on a dire tribe of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
This is their year.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
They're coming out of that rojects, they're coming out of
the NFC. Or well, you just gave him all the
points why it did it should right? He made the
same for them. Yeah, made the statement and you backed
it up with giving all the facts and all of that.
The one fact you but that's neither go. Well, I
mean it felt like you had the Dallas Cowboys to
(16:53):
that point. You're forgetting one major thing and you two
rob they are the Dallas Cowboys. And you can say, well, Eve,
from what does that mean? It means it's been thirty
plus years since a Dallas Cowboys team has done anything
of note. Now, They've had stack rosters, they've had all
(17:17):
the talent, they've had offensive weapons, they've had a great defense,
they've had all of these things, but somehow managed to
Dallas Cowboy. And I'm not talking about the Dallas Cowboys
of the nineties, all right, I'm talking about the Dallas
Cowboys that most people alive now who are fans of
Dallas Cowboy don't ever remember them running Super Bowls. They
(17:40):
just heard about them. So when you're talking about what
they have and on paper.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
For no other team.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Is on paper useless than the Dallas Cowboys. And I
say that because they they've had multiple years on paper
where they seem like the best and don't even win
their division. Now, do they have the strongest team right
now in terms of on paper in their division? Of course?
(18:15):
Are they better than the Rams? Absolutely not. Philadelphia is
going to have something to say, we don't know what
iteration of Philadelphia we're gonna get. Is this the running
team or is this the new figure it out? Let's
make Jalen Jalen Hurts a big time quarterback. But when
I look at Seattle and that defense and offensively, they're
(18:39):
only getting better. When I look at Detroit, they're not
going to have another year like they had last year.
When I look at Green Bay and the big question
mark in the NFC for me is the Chicago Bears.
For all intents purposes, word out of training camp in
the Chicago Bears, Caleb Williams looks sensational completing passes. If
(19:02):
he can get his completion percentage from around fifty six
percent up to around mid to late sixties even, you know,
fringing into the seventy percent completion percentage, similar to what
Josh Allen did after his third year going into his
fourth year in the league. Then we got action. So
(19:25):
there's a lot of things on paper. The Dallas Cowboys, yes, offense,
they got better on defense, they won the draft with downs,
they should run away with this thing. But then you're
looking at, okay, what iteration of the New York Giants
is going to show up? Is the hardball effect going
to have a real effect? There will the contention on
(19:49):
the discord between teammates in terms of political issues?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Will that matter?
Speaker 5 (19:54):
Is Scatable going to backflip himself into an early injury
in the year.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
There's a lot of questions surrounding I don't the two
together Jackson dar Scatable cannot It's a lot You need
it grown up in the room. You need it grown
up in the room, right? You need you do? You
need a grown up in the room.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (20:15):
And what is Mulick Nighbors going to look like? Because
on paper, the Giants have a sensational young defense. Got
talent there? Uh story coach, who's who's used to winning?
Now you have talent on the offensive side of the ball.
Who are they going to show up? And then Washington
the Commanders, right is Jaydon Daniels? Is he going to
(20:36):
be what we thought he was h after his rookie year?
His rookie year. Is he going to bounce back off
of you know, just tremendously hurt season and underperforming as
a team.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
What does that look like?
Speaker 5 (20:52):
So on paper, yes, the Dallas Cowboys, they have all
the answers and then we have to start playing real football.
And then we look up halfway through the year it
is like, well, we they we thought they were gonna
be who they were gonna be. Rob, because Rob is
the one who you know, his Cowboys flag.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
He put it with the Yeah, who else were you
with over the years? Roger?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
With the Jetropolitans.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Flip flopping? That was tough.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I was with the New York Giants because I thought
Jackson Dart was going to start the whole season, and.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
So essentially you're you're used to picking losers. Wow, I'm
just asking. Look, I'm okay, I'm a friend of the show.
I'm here, I'm a I'm a guest. I'm trying to
figure out.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
How you writing with the Falcons? Is that true? Right?
They drafted me.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's an excuse. No Raider fan was gonna be writing
with the Raiders every week.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Good luck with that. No, you don't. You never asked
me who I'm writing with? Who are you riding with
that I'm riding with the Rams? I think, Okay, give.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Me somebody who's not obvious that you think is.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Going to be.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
But you ask me who I'm riding with? So okay,
I'm picking them to win the Super Bowl. That doesn't
mean anything. Who's the team that you are saying, Hey,
this team is one. I think they're gonna make a
runn They're gonna make the playoffs that nobody's talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I think the Chargers. They won the playoffs last year.
What I'm telling you is they have not gotten over
the hump. Correct. Yes, their quarterback is terrible.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
They have not who They have not gotten over the hump.
So for me, I look at what the Chargers are doing.
You got some CJ. Stroud moments out there, and oh
good lord. When the one thing I do know better
than anything is it is almost impossible to win games
and you don't have any offensive tackles.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
That's true.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
The fact that they made the playoffs and they had
essentially Rob and Alex playing offensive tackle to me shows oh, okay,
this is going to be dangerous because if this kid
can actually get some real protection, which he had none.
It was unbelievable. They were down to guys. They were
(22:56):
just hey man, no, that's true.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
He was basically going to hike and running like we
saw that for me, when I tackle this and he
still didn't produce.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah, but you got to understand what was happening prior
to that. Right, Remember, he had the worst coaching staff
ever disagree with. We sat every week talking about Stay
and what is happening? Why is this even? Why is
he still a coach? So the first four years of
(23:25):
this young man's career, although he had more passing yards
than any player after four years, ever, there was nothing
to show for it because the leadership in the room
was off. Now the leadership, right another hardball is different.
And so now if you can combine that with actual
(23:46):
offensive tackles, which they do have good ones.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
We have all pro ones. Now we got something special.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Now you look at that team and say, yeah, that
team can be a playoff team, but how far can
they go in the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
That's what I mean. Listen some people. I've heard people
say it could be an LA super Bowl charges rams
in La.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Oh that'd be nice, Oh that'd be good. I've heard
some thoughts about who we got to bribe for that
to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Rob Parker and kelvin Washington weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
All right, so we still got to get to this,
rob g. We talked about it with Mike kill a
little bit. Inside the w NBA. There's a whole lot
going on, a lot of commotion, and so specifically when
you have the issues that are between Dijon A. Carrington
and also Stephie Cunningham and I mean, my gosh, think
(24:46):
pieces everywhere, thesis. I don't care the sours dissertations. I
mean they're coming from everywhere, and a lot of people
have a lot to say about really the last seventy
two hours or so.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, Unfortunately, dejon Day Carrington doesn't want to clarify what
she meant by it because in case we're living in
a rock. Of course, over the weekend she had a
hard foul on Sophie cunning Iam. You just mentioned it
got her across the net head and neck area. It
gets reviewed upgraded to a flagrant too. She gets ejected.
She doesn't speak to the media after the game, Carrington,
that is, but she went and posted on her threads
(25:21):
white privilege tags Indiana fever. So of course you mentioned
think pieces, Galower, everybody's got a thought on it. What
are you talking about so on. She only responded to
one of the think pieces That would be from Emmanualaco.
He goes on a ninety second rant, upset about her
use of the term white privilege in this specific instance,
and his discussion was what happened on that foul and
(25:46):
your subsequent objection had nothing to do with white privilege.
Here's how she responded on X. I've never once claimed
that the assessment of the foul was white privilege. That
was your assumption. Try exercising your critical thinking skills. I
know you studied psych Furthermore, I'm the last thing from
ignorant or assini when it comes to speaking on white privilege.
(26:07):
Do your research on that one. I actually went to
school one of the top universities, might I add to
educate myself on this exact subject. I would never use
that term as a rhetorical weapon, knowing the historical and
social way it holds, without having the proper evidence to
substantiate it. People, of course commented, well, then what did
(26:28):
you mean by it?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Cricket? Since then, so I have to play to your point,
rob Gie. She didn't really address specifically, you know, when
she said white privilege, then she said what she didn't
mean by that, I'm gonna jump out on an assumption.
What I believe she meant by that aphrom. I don't
think she was saying white privilege is that I got
kicked out of the game. Because if we do enough research,
you know, Sophia Cunningham was kicked out of a game
last year for a similar thing, and people were kicked out.
(26:53):
You named the league, you want NBA, you want WNBA,
people get kicked out of games. That's par for the course.
So I don't believe it she was saying for that.
If I'm I'm taking her for her wordy from what
I believe she was saying is that had I did
this on a Megan with GM mackay or or you
know one of the you know Kid Jackson, the Asia Wilson,
(27:13):
a black player in the WNBA, if I did this
to one of them, Chelsea Gray, would this be a
talking point. And I think that's what she's saying. If
I filed Chelsea Gray hard file, we might get a
little push blackform push back, and for I might even
get kicked out.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Of the game.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Who WNBA tonight might talk about it, but it won't
make the shows. It won't make the rounds. And I
think what she's saying is the privilege of if I
do a hard file on you, Sophie Cunningham, on you,
Caitlin Clark. Now it's the biggest thing. It's racial. I
don't like white people. All of a sudden, it's become
a thing, and now everybody's talking about it on every
social media, everybody's got think pieces. And I think that
(27:52):
is what she's saying. If I have to read between
the lines and you know again, because she didn't specify
to Robie's point, So I don't think it was singularly
saying I filed you, I get kicked out. That's white privilege,
because I think if you again, the same exact person
who she filed, Sophie cunning had, was kicked out of
a game last year. I think she's saying, you can't
even do hard files and basketball anymore. That's what we did.
(28:14):
Bill Lamber filed any and everybody, including you name at
all time, Grace, doctor j Larry Bird, Robert Perry, Michael Jordan,
everybody got to smoke. Now, at one point, did we
say he's racist? Draymond Green stumped Sabonis right in the chest.
You didn't say he was racist. You might have said
he was a dirty player, but you never said he
(28:34):
was racist or it was all racial and all those
kind of things. So what I think she's saying is, dang,
I foul old girl hard. Didn't mean to hit her
in the head, but I filed her hard. It happens.
But now it's all of this, I'm racist. I don't
like white people. It's the biggest thing. When if, again,
if I hit a black player in the WNBA, will
we be having these conversations. And I think that's what
she's saying, And I think there's some validity to that
(28:54):
be in the sense that five hard files happened every
single game, and you know, picked the NBA, high school, college, NBAWNBA,
and we don't make a big deal about this, And
I think that would be again Kelvin reading between the lines.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Okay, well, I'm going to disagree with you there, and
I'm not going to read between the lines, especially when
you've drew the lines, You've created the lines. We wouldn't
even this wouldn't be a think piece or talking point
or any of those things. If she didn't immediately after
the game go on to threads and put white privilege,
(29:30):
we wouldn't even be having this conversation, So what are
we talking about. It wouldn't be a topic. It would
half the people wouldn't even known that there was a
hard foul and she got kicked out of the game.
That's the whole point. Because she went and put white
privilege on and then tag the Indiana fever. That's why
(29:52):
this is a talking point. That's why we're even up
here talking about it, right. So what's lost in translation
is if she did mean, if I would have done
it to another black player, we wouldn't even be talking
about it. Well, we weren't talking about it until you
said what you said, And that's the whole point. Don't
(30:14):
go on and respond to people making comments to your
comments telling them that they don't know how educated you
are and they don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
What you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
When you yourself created this, you start, you went on
and put white privilege. If you didn't say anything, if
you would have wrote hard file as a hard file
and kept it pushing, this wouldn't be a story. And
that's the problem I'm having with the WNBA as a
whole now, right, not just the players, but from the
(30:51):
leadership on down. There's too much non basketball conversation happening
surrounding the WNBA.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
He who's dating, who, who's married to?
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Who? Transgender? This, it's so many things that are happening
that's pulling away from the game. Casual fans like I'm good,
I'm just gonna let me watch something else.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah. No. So Rob and I have talked about this
quite a few times. I completely agree with that, but
I do think the problem is where we are societally
with how we address things. So, for instance, what I
mean is if you roll out a highlight of just
pick a player, right, let's just say it's Angel Rees
for this topic, Well, the first thing, she ain't Kaitlyn Clark.
(31:38):
It has nothing to do it. She just made a
nice lay up. She ain't Kaitlyn Clark. No, no, no, no no,
and oh oh, and things obviously, as you know, they
turn racial. Then I got to come in, not literally
me be so I got to come in defend her.
And then you got to say, and it's gotten to
where it is so toxic and it makes no sense
when it's just again, it'll be just the highlight of
a three, a rebound, a block, a still again winner
(32:00):
and everything in the comments. It is amazing how toxic
and divisive it has become. And it's to me it
makes no sense because it's just simply sports. But to
your point, now, any player says anything, I like pizza,
not fried chicken. It's a thing. I like this, and
even political things. My point is why it's become If
(32:22):
someone says it, it becomes heightened. Now right now, it's
become a big thing, and it's on and on and on,
and I think that's how the league has covered even
more so than just simply the league. Like the league itself,
I don't think I've been critical of them. Rob g
knows this. I don't think they've handled things right. I
don't think they were prepared for prime time. When Caitlyn
Clark came, Andrews came, eyeballs came, scrutiny came, criticism came
(32:46):
all of that. I don't think they were ready for that.
But I do also think there's people Mike Hill touched
on this with US moments ago. There are people who
are not fans of the WNBA who you would think
they're the biggest fans with the amount of time they
scroll and look for things to comment to troll on
and make everything political. It is a mind boggling thing
(33:08):
when they don't really like the game like that, they
don't really watch the game like that, but they love
the interaction. And one thing I've learned over the last seven, eight,
ten years, Ephraim, you know this cloud is a new
currency and people. Boy, I told Rob g this. There's
somebody I know personally who over the last five or
six years, when a certain administration took over, he started
(33:30):
to become a little different. And then he started to
troll things. And again, it could be a video, just
a bucket and he'd be like, oh she would Kaylyn,
and he just started trolling to the point I was like,
what is this? And I asked him one day, I said, hey, man,
what like And he said, oh man, it's crazy. I'm
doing numbers. And his whole point was he realized, if
I mentioned Angel Reese on a Kaitlin Clark thing, Kaylyn
(33:53):
Carr hits the Ajan Rees can never if I mentioned
Kaitlyn Clark on the names of Rees thing, I'm gonna
do number. And we've gotten to where people are willing
to just do whatever, start whatever, rile everything up just
to cross chaos because I got a ten thousand likes
on this thing, or I got you know, oh, then
somebody put my comment on the blog. And that's to
me part a large part of where we are problem
(34:14):
with the WNBA because it's not the NFL. It's not
the NBA where you have this standard of people been
watching and enjoying it for decades at that rate. Right now,
it's hate watching, it's trolling, and it's ruined it. As
you mentioned, for the people who are just fans, or
people who just want to experience, or people who want
to become new fans, it becomes exhausting.
Speaker 5 (34:33):
Yeah, you shouldn't be up there asking coaches about their
opinion on trans athletes playing in the league. That's not
what right like during the.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Season, even before the game though, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
This is what I'm talking about. What are we doing?
There used to be something called media training, right Anyone
who wanted to get into media went through certain trainings,
especially athletes coming from others, you know, retiring from the sports.
They used to have media training. That is no longer
(35:07):
a thing. Anybody can be in the media. That's what
social media has done, that's what streaming has done. That's
there is a reason why there's so much divisiveness now,
there's a reason why things can get misconstrued. There is
a reason why opinions now vary and swing like a
(35:29):
pendulum because everybody has a voice, and everybody doesn't need
a voice.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Everybody has a microphone now, right, And.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
So these are people who never have been media trained,
who who just decide, I want to give my opinion
on things. And look, everybody has their opinion and all
of that, but when it reaches to the masses and
things starts stirring up, that that's that's rage bait.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Right.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
People are now looking for high takes and things to do,
to push buttons because like you said, those give you numbers.
And what that does is it throws off the system.
It throws off the system. And when the system is
thrown thrown off, then there's turbulence in every turn. And
(36:16):
the WNBA hasn't gotten a handle on this. Too many voices,
is too many things being said, and now every little
thing is scrutinized, and every little thing is taken you know, two, three,
four or five six different left turns, and now you
don't even know what we're talking about, the fact that
(36:37):
this young lady comes on and puts white privilege out
there and then sits back. She lights the match, throws
it in there, and then sits back, and let's let's
us talk about it right like that's you would have
been taught as a look, I'm gonna give you.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I know, we gotta go to break. But I was
playing the game.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
We were playing the Kansas City Chiefs, I believe, and
Trent Green was a quarterback, and I was with Houston,
and Trent Green had peel back and hit one of
our defensive linemen illegally clip him, took his legs from
underneath him, and he knocked himself out, and our d
(37:18):
lineman was standing on top of him, pissed because he
literally could have you know, broke his both his legs.
And then after the game, Trent was put in an
ambulance to take it to the hospital, you know, because
he was out. And I was sitting next to the player,
and they let the media come in right before our
(37:39):
head of media and could come over there and grab him,
and every single camera went right to him. Turn it
on live, what happens? How do you feel about what happened?
And Travis, he stood up and he said, you know something,
he shouldn't have said it. Then our media guy came in, okay,
(38:03):
and then he took him away. Then he came back
and made a statement, these are the situations that are
happening on the daily with the w like things like this,
These fires are being set and we're out here fanning
the fires and all of that, Like, how can you
make a statement about how intelligent you are and you
(38:25):
know what this is, and you know what that is,
and then all you do is put white privilege and
then step.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Back and intextualize what you're saying.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
You step back and tell us that, oh, y'all don't
know what I'm talking about. I'm educated on this, y'all not.
Why would you why would you even put that out there?
What are we doing the only you're right?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
But this is the thing though, from I think there's
been a collective of three four years of this, like
at building where players again players, I think the w
NBA and I think even the media nobody knows how
to handle it. No one was prepared for how radicalized
the WNBA would be.
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):
A lot of people went to the Hall of Fame.
A lot of people had great speeches, made you emotional.
Some people had more jokey jokey ones like Adam vinit
TERI was out there being a comedian. Even took shots
but show love mostly to want of Bill Belichick.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, the one person he took a lot of shots
at was Bill Belichick. In case you missed it, here's
a snippet of what Adam Vinnitieri said during his Hall
of Fame acceptance speech, taking shot at double B.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Take a listen, Bet mcviez here in the crowd today.
Great to see you, brother. The only person who enjoyed
holding my balls more than my wife.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I would repeat those last few statements about coach Bill
Belichick as well. Thank you for demanding excellence every single day.
Your preparation, discipline, and attention to detail shaped far more
than my football career. Unfortunately, Bill couldn't make it here today.
There's a lot going on at UNC right now.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
He may be on a.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Recruiting trip right now, looking for the next Lawrence Taylor.
I thought it was because training camp had already started,
but in truth, it's because he's judging his girlfriend's cheerleading competition.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
All right, listen, thanks to Adam VINITTERI can I kick it.
That's right and shout out to the kickers. He now
has brought up the conversation everybody's having again. And wait
a minute, now that I think about it, why wasn't
Bill Belichick in right? We had this conversation months ago
when the announced the finalists folks who were going to
be in Trine in the Hall of Fame, and we
do Bill Belichick had a chance to be and he
(02:02):
was not, did not get the forty votes that he needed.
And right there, controversy and shoes. We have a bunch
of conversations, but out of it and Cherry because he
brings them back up, starts the conversation again. If that
should have been Bill Belichick? Because he should have been
their first ballot Hall of Famer. Right when you mentioned
all the stuff he does in football, all the titles
he has as a head coach, not to mention the
(02:22):
assistant to coaches when he was an assistant coach, defensive
codonator with the Giants, of course, should add to them
there as well. The conversation begins, why was he there again?
And I gotta go back to this. Look, you are
a human being. You played in this league, but you're
a human. I'm a human And one of the things
I think sometimes people forget is that on paper, two
plus two should be four, but dang it, it ain't
(02:44):
always four. Because you get people who say, all right,
Bill Belichick, former writers, former players, former all these people involved,
folks who already in the Hall of Fame, And they say,
do I believe you were a good coach? Honestly I do.
Do I believe you deserve to be up in the
Hall of Fame? Yes, But what I'm not going to
do is put you in first ballot when I have
(03:04):
issues with how you coach, or I have issues of
how you led your team, or I have issues of
the indiscretions with your team, with spygate. Of course, with
the flake gate, with all these types of things. Some
of the players you picked up, all the news you
heard about Aaron Ndaz, yet you still chose to get
them because you said, dang, screw all that he can play.
And I think all of those things came back to
(03:25):
bite him in the butt, even though if we all
know he is a dynamic coach, we all know that
he created a culture there. Guys came to that team,
they locked in, they got focused, and they were able
to compete. Whether they were guys who had were through
the farm system, if you will, drafted and brought up
like a Tom Brady, or if they were just guys
they wouldn't got mercenaries. Everybody capitulated, everybody jumped in and
(03:46):
understood that way and tuned up a bunch of rings,
a handful plus one. And at the end of the day, though,
I think people said, I'm gonna get you in. I'm
gonna vote you in, but not this year so you
can have something, some type of bla image on your
record that shows yeah, we know you were good, Yeah
your teams are great, but we're not letting you in unscathed.
And I think that was a reminder over the weekend
(04:10):
just of that that, hey, we we can't stop you
from getting in the sense that it would be ridiculous
and none of us will have votes ever again, because
you know, if we continue to go down this line,
but we ain't gonna have you in first ballot, we're
not gonna have you full proof without a chink in
your armor. And I think that's what it is. I
think it's ridiculous in a sense that if he's in,
he's in, especially him, this isn't a questionable guy where
(04:31):
another stack comes up and we go, oh, you know,
that's a good point. I didn't think about that, or
oh when you do put it that way. Bill Belichick's
been in since like oh eight, so now that he's
not in first ballot, to me, is ridiculous to play
that game because he's in or he's not. If he's in,
to put the man in, you can talk all the
smack you want. I didn't want to put him in,
but I did because this I know he's in, but
I want to make sure I do say that I
(04:52):
don't like some of the stuff he did, But if
you're not gonna put him in, then don't or if
you are eventually, which is stupid, then just put him
in the first time.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
I'll tell you this, And we've seen this happen a
couple times, most notably too right. There is no question
that t is quite arguably the second best or third
best receiver ever to play. When you look at his numbers,
you look what the competitive spirit he brought to a team.
Why didn't he get in the first ballot because he
(05:22):
rubbed people the wrong way? Yep, he did things his way.
It didn't always align with other people. And so this
is their way of bringing you down a notch, taking
you down a peg. And I think when you talk
about Bill Belichick and all the things he's accomplished, but
the shroud and the cloud of controversy around him, that
(05:43):
win by any means, even if we you know, spygate,
deflate Gate, a lot of gates going on, the gates
opening gates closed, right, this gate closed on first ballot,
Hall of Fame, right, But the gates into those Super
Bowls he won, which may or may not be one
(06:04):
through things that people would frown on, you know, cheating.
And so this is the only way the voting community
can punish or take a stand against something now, not
saying they know he's probably going to get in next year,
but they didn't want it to be.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
This year.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Coming you're eligible, you get in your record is one thing.
But the fact that you rub people the wrong way,
I mean he rubbed. If you listen to the players
who leave there, they respect him because he's a winning coach.
But if he had that demeanor and he treated players
(06:49):
the way he treated him and didn't win, then we'd
be talking about his worst coach in the world. The
fact that you got one of the greatest quarterbacks, if
not the greatest quarterback to buy into your system for
twenty years almost that helped the Belichick way be a thing.
And I think about it like this, Tom Brady is
(07:10):
Tom Brady. He's been who he's been. I think one
time he got Patriot of the Week or something like that,
and all of the time he's been there leading that team.
I remember towards the end he finally got the Patriot
of the Week ball and it was a big thing.
Imagine if Tom Brady was like, after year six, I'm good,
(07:31):
I don't feel appreciated, I'm going somewhere else, then what
would Bill Belichick's legacy be so I think a lot
of the success that Bill had is tied into what
Tom Brady was able to do, because right when he left,
he went somewhere else and got someone else a super
Bowl Championship trophy. And Bill Belichick didn't make the playoffs
(07:53):
and has struggled and now is out of the league.
So I think all of that comes into account. But
the arrogance of the press conferences, the way you treated
members of the media, the way you treated some players,
and the way you scoffed at, you know, turn your
nose up at the governing bodies of the NFL. I
think this was the voter's chance to say, hey, let's
(08:15):
bring him down a peg, right, let's bring him down
a notch, and they'll probably let them in and the
same thing they did with To now. T O chose
that next year not to even go to the ceremony.
I'm gonna do it in my hometown. I think it
was at his high school or something like that. And
I understand that. I understand exactly why To was Matt
because everything he's done in terms of numbers, in terms
(08:36):
of winning, in terms of being there as a teammate,
and people who were teammates with t O will tell
he was a great teammate. Right, don't let the media
and the outside voices tell you what type of person
he is. To flip, the complete opposite is for Bill Belichick. Right,
if you listen to some snickering that come out in
the book and this and everybody's taking shots at him,
(08:59):
that'll let you know, like you bought into the system
because you were winning, and you were winning in that system.
Because Tom Brady bought into the system. Gronk was the
only person that got to have a personality.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And be himself.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
True, he was the only ones that got to step
out and be himself with no recourse.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I want to throw this at you and answer this
on the other side. For me, twofold one, I just
think when we do this and Rob g knows I've
said this before on these types of conversation conversations, it
gets to me. It gets a little tricky because you
know who's eligible next year, Ben Roethlisberger, and it's like,
all right on talent alone on the field, I think
(09:37):
he's a Hall of Famer, do you? Of course, yes, right,
But once we start doing the whole like other stuff.
Antonio Brown again on paper. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Fox 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 6 (10:02):
Steve Gott's Here. I have a podcast empire. It continues
to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me
out of the house. It's called Stegts and Company Live,
which is available in podcast form right when the show
finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports.
(10:25):
A lot of phone calls.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I love you on your show. It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
A lot of interaction, guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
expect from Stu Gottson Company and Stegotson Company Live. So
listen to Steve Gotson Company Live and our will original podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Gotson Company, and God Bless Football Taylor's livelihood.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Depends on it.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
You do it today and you can check all of
those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
We talk about the Rams. We talk about obviously the
raigning champs and the Seahawks, and we we we talk
about obviously the teams in the a f C of
the top dogs with the big time quarterbacks. But there's
a team that is saying, hey, quietly, we made some moves. Quietly,
our offense has been really really good, and don't sleep
on us.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, that would be none other than our Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh is that where you are this year?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Last year with Giants, They're gonna win it confident, but
uh maybe. Up until two hours before showtime, the expectation was, hey,
we might do a segment what's all with the Cowboys
because Cede Lamb cannot stop talking about George Pickens and
getting paid, Like I wish that Alex would ride for
me the same way that CD Lambe. You know that
(11:50):
Rob Parker one said yeah, he should ask for a
raid and they said no, he's a Yeah, it's tough
out there, Thanks Rob. I just got my raise, but
that sucks, man, I can't believe it. But at any event,
that's what we thought we were gonna talk about. That's
pretty funny. And then lo and behold right before showtime,
the Cowboys and Quinn Williams reaching agreement on a three year,
(12:11):
one hundred and six million dollars deal, making him one
of not the highest, but one of the highest played
defensive linemen in all of football. So guys got his
thinking like, hey, Dak's back. Ceed lambsays, you got the
best wide receiver pairing in football. The old line's pretty good,
the running game is pretty good. Quinn Williams is obviously
handsomely paid. He's pretty good. They're saying Caleb Downs was
(12:33):
the best player in the draft last season. They got
him falling there, Why not the Dallas Cowboys in twenty
twenty six?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Exactly? Excuseless, That's what I'm gonna calling me from excuseless maning.
This is the year no excuses. Right. You could say, oh, well,
last year we had a new coach, schottenheim Er, you know,
and this that, well, this ain't year one, and Dak
Prescott's already come out and said this is a super
Bowl caliber team. And you look at last year they
were seven nine and one, obviously not the season they
(13:01):
want it, but when you look at what they were
able to do offensively, you're talking about ranking first in
the NFL passing yards per game, seventh in points per game,
and then of course we know this team has loaded
with weapons on the offensive side of the ball. You
got see Ceede Lamb is the number one, and then
you got of course Pickings. He's like a number one
on another team, but he might be getting number two.
(13:21):
And he was being spectacular fourteen hundred yards last year
and was a second team All Pro. So I'm looking
at this as you already offensively, which you have. Dak
Prescott at this point can run the offense with his
eyes closed. But it's all about the defensive side. They're
kind of the NFC version of the Cincinnati Bengals. Right,
both have prolific wide receivers. One quarterback I think is
(13:43):
better than the other, but Dak Prescott has been really
good throughout his career. It comes down the playoff performance.
But the defensive side of the ball has really jacked
up both of those teams. So they trade for Rashaan Geary, right,
they get him. We just talked about Quentinn Williams, who
eleven and a half sacks, spectacular man, clogging up the
middle and getting after the quarterback. They got Sam Williams
they re signed him. I should say they got Kobe
(14:08):
Durant as well through free agency to help, of course,
with some of the takeaways. I mean, they have done
and that's just the half of the movies. You talk
about drafting Caleb Downs as well, and Malachi Lawrence too,
So they've got a bunch of talent on this team.
And to me, I look at it as well. I
don't want to hear any more excuses. I don't want
to hear Jerry Jones talking like this. He from telling me, well,
(14:29):
if we only had this and if I only had that,
I don't want to hear it. You've got everything you need.
You got some defensive players. Now, the offense looked like
it could be just as potent as it was last year,
maybe a hair better. I don't want to hear it.
Cowboy fans, we don't want to hear it. Go get
it done. Because the only team we all agreed Lisa
on paper looks like they should be great in the
(14:51):
NFC is the Rams, right, I think they're the prohibited favors.
If you're the Seahawks, you say, hold on, we smacked
him up. In the NFC Championship game. Sam Donald had
the game of his life. Don't sleep on us with
the ranting champs. Okay, so you put respect on their name.
Outside of that, NFC North are NFC North looks to
me like it's gonna be a bunch of really like
good teams, but no bohemos. We'll see if the Bears
(15:11):
can keep going, Can the Lions bounce back? Can Kyler
Murray all a sudden resurge with the Vikings and the Packers?
Are they just gonna be again? You know, win ten
to eleven? But yeah, you don't really feel them as
a threat. So there's really no other team in the NFC,
the NFC, you know South, You're not really looking at
them as some bohemics as well, especially we don't know
what's going on with Baker Mayfield and the Bucks. So
(15:33):
my point is, you get to the NFC Championship game
against the Rams, says them, hey, and at that point
let the Chips fall what they may. You got a
chance to get to the Super Bowl. But what I
don't want to hear from moving forward is excuses you've
righted up this defensive side of the balls best you
can in one offseason. Obviously, if you had a couple
two or three years. You could do more, but off
one offseason. And again they're similar to what the Bengals
(15:55):
have been trying to do. Get some defensive pieces, get
some guys that can keep a lead up. When Joe
Burrow gets you, you're up ten and you still don't
have to lose. When he's thrown four or five touchdowns
and he doesn't have to lose those games. So to me,
they seem like they're similar AFC NFC teams between the
Bengals and the Cowboys. But that's all viewty from. I
just don't want to hear it anymore. Your quarterback couldn't
(16:16):
get more veteran, your receivers couldn't get more posing, You
picked up pieces, you got a second year with your coach,
Now get it done. All that sounds great.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
You just went on a dire tribe of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
This is their year.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
They're coming out of that rojects, they're coming out of
the NFC. Or well, you just gave him all the
points why it did it should right? He made the
same for them. Yeah, made the statement and you backed
it up with giving all the facts and all of that.
The one fact you but that's neither go. Well, I
mean it felt like you had the Dallas Cowboys to
(16:53):
that point. You're forgetting one major thing and you two
rob they are the Dallas Cowboys. And you can say, well, Eve,
from what does that mean? It means it's been thirty
plus years since a Dallas Cowboys team has done anything
of note. Now, They've had stack rosters, they've had all
(17:17):
the talent, they've had offensive weapons, they've had a great defense,
they've had all of these things, but somehow managed to
Dallas Cowboy. And I'm not talking about the Dallas Cowboys
of the nineties, all right, I'm talking about the Dallas
Cowboys that most people alive now who are fans of
Dallas Cowboy don't ever remember them running Super Bowls. They
(17:40):
just heard about them. So when you're talking about what
they have and on paper.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
For no other team.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Is on paper useless than the Dallas Cowboys. And I
say that because they they've had multiple years on paper
where they seem like the best and don't even win
their division. Now, do they have the strongest team right
now in terms of on paper in their division? Of course?
(18:15):
Are they better than the Rams? Absolutely not. Philadelphia is
going to have something to say, we don't know what
iteration of Philadelphia we're gonna get. Is this the running
team or is this the new figure it out? Let's
make Jalen Jalen Hurts a big time quarterback. But when
I look at Seattle and that defense and offensively, they're
(18:39):
only getting better. When I look at Detroit, they're not
going to have another year like they had last year.
When I look at Green Bay and the big question
mark in the NFC for me is the Chicago Bears.
For all intents purposes, word out of training camp in
the Chicago Bears, Caleb Williams looks sensational completing passes. If
(19:02):
he can get his completion percentage from around fifty six
percent up to around mid to late sixties even, you know,
fringing into the seventy percent completion percentage, similar to what
Josh Allen did after his third year going into his
fourth year in the league. Then we got action. So
(19:25):
there's a lot of things on paper. The Dallas Cowboys, yes, offense,
they got better on defense, they won the draft with downs,
they should run away with this thing. But then you're
looking at, okay, what iteration of the New York Giants
is going to show up? Is the hardball effect going
to have a real effect? There will the contention on
(19:49):
the discord between teammates in terms of political issues?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Will that matter?
Speaker 5 (19:54):
Is Scatable going to backflip himself into an early injury
in the year.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
There's a lot of questions surrounding I don't the two
together Jackson dar Scatable cannot It's a lot You need
it grown up in the room. You need it grown
up in the room, right? You need you do? You
need a grown up in the room.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (20:15):
And what is Mulick Nighbors going to look like? Because
on paper, the Giants have a sensational young defense. Got
talent there? Uh story coach, who's who's used to winning?
Now you have talent on the offensive side of the ball.
Who are they going to show up? And then Washington
the Commanders, right is Jaydon Daniels? Is he going to
(20:36):
be what we thought he was h after his rookie year?
His rookie year. Is he going to bounce back off
of you know, just tremendously hurt season and underperforming as
a team.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
What does that look like?
Speaker 5 (20:52):
So on paper, yes, the Dallas Cowboys, they have all
the answers and then we have to start playing real football.
And then we look up halfway through the year it
is like, well, we they we thought they were gonna
be who they were gonna be. Rob, because Rob is
the one who you know, his Cowboys flag.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
He put it with the Yeah, who else were you
with over the years? Roger?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
With the Jetropolitans.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Flip flopping? That was tough.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I was with the New York Giants because I thought
Jackson Dart was going to start the whole season, and.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
So essentially you're you're used to picking losers. Wow, I'm
just asking. Look, I'm okay, I'm a friend of the show.
I'm here, I'm a I'm a guest. I'm trying to
figure out.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
How you writing with the Falcons? Is that true? Right?
They drafted me.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's an excuse. No Raider fan was gonna be writing
with the Raiders every week.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Good luck with that. No, you don't. You never asked
me who I'm writing with? Who are you riding with
that I'm riding with the Rams? I think, Okay, give.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Me somebody who's not obvious that you think is.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Going to be.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
But you ask me who I'm riding with? So okay,
I'm picking them to win the Super Bowl. That doesn't
mean anything. Who's the team that you are saying, Hey,
this team is one. I think they're gonna make a
runn They're gonna make the playoffs that nobody's talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I think the Chargers. They won the playoffs last year.
What I'm telling you is they have not gotten over
the hump. Correct. Yes, their quarterback is terrible.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
They have not who They have not gotten over the hump.
So for me, I look at what the Chargers are doing.
You got some CJ. Stroud moments out there, and oh
good lord. When the one thing I do know better
than anything is it is almost impossible to win games
and you don't have any offensive tackles.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
That's true.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
The fact that they made the playoffs and they had
essentially Rob and Alex playing offensive tackle to me shows oh, okay,
this is going to be dangerous because if this kid
can actually get some real protection, which he had none.
It was unbelievable. They were down to guys. They were
(22:56):
just hey man, no, that's true.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
He was basically going to hike and running like we
saw that for me, when I tackle this and he
still didn't produce.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah, but you got to understand what was happening prior
to that. Right, Remember, he had the worst coaching staff
ever disagree with. We sat every week talking about Stay
and what is happening? Why is this even? Why is
he still a coach? So the first four years of
(23:25):
this young man's career, although he had more passing yards
than any player after four years, ever, there was nothing
to show for it because the leadership in the room
was off. Now the leadership, right another hardball is different.
And so now if you can combine that with actual
(23:46):
offensive tackles, which they do have good ones.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
We have all pro ones. Now we got something special.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Now you look at that team and say, yeah, that
team can be a playoff team, but how far can
they go in the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
That's what I mean. Listen some people. I've heard people
say it could be an LA super Bowl charges rams
in La.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Oh that'd be nice, Oh that'd be good. I've heard
some thoughts about who we got to bribe for that
to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Rob Parker and kelvin Washington weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
All right, so we still got to get to this,
rob g. We talked about it with Mike kill a
little bit. Inside the w NBA. There's a whole lot
going on, a lot of commotion, and so specifically when
you have the issues that are between Dijon A. Carrington
and also Stephie Cunningham and I mean, my gosh, think
(24:46):
pieces everywhere, thesis. I don't care the sours dissertations. I
mean they're coming from everywhere, and a lot of people
have a lot to say about really the last seventy
two hours or so.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, Unfortunately, dejon Day Carrington doesn't want to clarify what
she meant by it because in case we're living in
a rock. Of course, over the weekend she had a
hard foul on Sophie cunning Iam. You just mentioned it
got her across the net head and neck area. It
gets reviewed upgraded to a flagrant too. She gets ejected.
She doesn't speak to the media after the game, Carrington,
that is, but she went and posted on her threads
(25:21):
white privilege tags Indiana fever. So of course you mentioned
think pieces, Galower, everybody's got a thought on it. What
are you talking about so on. She only responded to
one of the think pieces That would be from Emmanualaco.
He goes on a ninety second rant, upset about her
use of the term white privilege in this specific instance,
and his discussion was what happened on that foul and
(25:46):
your subsequent objection had nothing to do with white privilege.
Here's how she responded on X. I've never once claimed
that the assessment of the foul was white privilege. That
was your assumption. Try exercising your critical thinking skills. I
know you studied psych Furthermore, I'm the last thing from
ignorant or assini when it comes to speaking on white privilege.
(26:07):
Do your research on that one. I actually went to
school one of the top universities, might I add to
educate myself on this exact subject. I would never use
that term as a rhetorical weapon, knowing the historical and
social way it holds, without having the proper evidence to
substantiate it. People, of course commented, well, then what did
(26:28):
you mean by it?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Cricket? Since then, so I have to play to your point,
rob Gie. She didn't really address specifically, you know, when
she said white privilege, then she said what she didn't
mean by that, I'm gonna jump out on an assumption.
What I believe she meant by that aphrom. I don't
think she was saying white privilege is that I got
kicked out of the game. Because if we do enough research,
you know, Sophia Cunningham was kicked out of a game
last year for a similar thing, and people were kicked out.
(26:53):
You named the league, you want NBA, you want WNBA,
people get kicked out of games. That's par for the course.
So I don't believe it she was saying for that.
If I'm I'm taking her for her wordy from what
I believe she was saying is that had I did
this on a Megan with GM mackay or or you
know one of the you know Kid Jackson, the Asia Wilson,
(27:13):
a black player in the WNBA, if I did this
to one of them, Chelsea Gray, would this be a
talking point. And I think that's what she's saying. If
I filed Chelsea Gray hard file, we might get a
little push blackform push back, and for I might even
get kicked out.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Of the game.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Who WNBA tonight might talk about it, but it won't
make the shows. It won't make the rounds. And I
think what she's saying is the privilege of if I
do a hard file on you, Sophie Cunningham, on you,
Caitlin Clark. Now it's the biggest thing. It's racial. I
don't like white people. All of a sudden, it's become
a thing, and now everybody's talking about it on every
social media, everybody's got think pieces. And I think that
(27:52):
is what she's saying. If I have to read between
the lines and you know again, because she didn't specify
to Robie's point, So I don't think it was singularly
saying I filed you, I get kicked out. That's white privilege,
because I think if you again, the same exact person
who she filed, Sophie cunning had, was kicked out of
a game last year. I think she's saying, you can't
even do hard files and basketball anymore. That's what we did.
(28:14):
Bill Lamber filed any and everybody, including you name at
all time, Grace, doctor j Larry Bird, Robert Perry, Michael Jordan,
everybody got to smoke. Now, at one point, did we
say he's racist? Draymond Green stumped Sabonis right in the chest.
You didn't say he was racist. You might have said
he was a dirty player, but you never said he
(28:34):
was racist or it was all racial and all those
kind of things. So what I think she's saying is, dang,
I foul old girl hard. Didn't mean to hit her
in the head, but I filed her hard. It happens.
But now it's all of this, I'm racist. I don't
like white people. It's the biggest thing. When if, again,
if I hit a black player in the WNBA, will
we be having these conversations. And I think that's what
she's saying, And I think there's some validity to that
(28:54):
be in the sense that five hard files happened every
single game, and you know, picked the NBA, high school, college, NBAWNBA,
and we don't make a big deal about this, And
I think that would be again Kelvin reading between the lines.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Okay, well, I'm going to disagree with you there, and
I'm not going to read between the lines, especially when
you've drew the lines, You've created the lines. We wouldn't
even this wouldn't be a think piece or talking point
or any of those things. If she didn't immediately after
the game go on to threads and put white privilege,
(29:30):
we wouldn't even be having this conversation, So what are
we talking about. It wouldn't be a topic. It would
half the people wouldn't even known that there was a
hard foul and she got kicked out of the game.
That's the whole point. Because she went and put white
privilege on and then tag the Indiana fever. That's why
(29:52):
this is a talking point. That's why we're even up
here talking about it, right. So what's lost in translation
is if she did mean, if I would have done
it to another black player, we wouldn't even be talking
about it. Well, we weren't talking about it until you
said what you said, And that's the whole point. Don't
(30:14):
go on and respond to people making comments to your
comments telling them that they don't know how educated you
are and they don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
What you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
When you yourself created this, you start, you went on
and put white privilege. If you didn't say anything, if
you would have wrote hard file as a hard file
and kept it pushing, this wouldn't be a story. And
that's the problem I'm having with the WNBA as a
whole now, right, not just the players, but from the
(30:51):
leadership on down. There's too much non basketball conversation happening
surrounding the WNBA.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
He who's dating, who, who's married to?
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Who? Transgender? This, it's so many things that are happening
that's pulling away from the game. Casual fans like I'm good,
I'm just gonna let me watch something else.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah. No. So Rob and I have talked about this
quite a few times. I completely agree with that, but
I do think the problem is where we are societally
with how we address things. So, for instance, what I
mean is if you roll out a highlight of just
pick a player, right, let's just say it's Angel Rees
for this topic, Well, the first thing, she ain't Kaitlyn Clark.
(31:38):
It has nothing to do it. She just made a
nice lay up. She ain't Kaitlyn Clark. No, no, no, no no,
and oh oh, and things obviously, as you know, they
turn racial. Then I got to come in, not literally
me be so I got to come in defend her.
And then you got to say, and it's gotten to
where it is so toxic and it makes no sense
when it's just again, it'll be just the highlight of
a three, a rebound, a block, a still again winner
(32:00):
and everything in the comments. It is amazing how toxic
and divisive it has become. And it's to me it
makes no sense because it's just simply sports. But to
your point, now, any player says anything, I like pizza,
not fried chicken. It's a thing. I like this, and
even political things. My point is why it's become If
(32:22):
someone says it, it becomes heightened. Now right now, it's
become a big thing, and it's on and on and on,
and I think that's how the league has covered even
more so than just simply the league. Like the league itself,
I don't think I've been critical of them. Rob g
knows this. I don't think they've handled things right. I
don't think they were prepared for prime time. When Caitlyn
Clark came, Andrews came, eyeballs came, scrutiny came, criticism came
(32:46):
all of that. I don't think they were ready for that.
But I do also think there's people Mike Hill touched
on this with US moments ago. There are people who
are not fans of the WNBA who you would think
they're the biggest fans with the amount of time they
scroll and look for things to comment to troll on
and make everything political. It is a mind boggling thing
(33:08):
when they don't really like the game like that, they
don't really watch the game like that, but they love
the interaction. And one thing I've learned over the last seven, eight,
ten years, Ephraim, you know this cloud is a new
currency and people. Boy, I told Rob g this. There's
somebody I know personally who over the last five or
six years, when a certain administration took over, he started
(33:30):
to become a little different. And then he started to
troll things. And again, it could be a video, just
a bucket and he'd be like, oh she would Kaylyn,
and he just started trolling to the point I was like,
what is this? And I asked him one day, I said, hey, man,
what like And he said, oh man, it's crazy. I'm
doing numbers. And his whole point was he realized, if
I mentioned Angel Reese on a Kaitlin Clark thing, Kaylyn
(33:53):
Carr hits the Ajan Rees can never if I mentioned
Kaitlyn Clark on the names of Rees thing, I'm gonna
do number. And we've gotten to where people are willing
to just do whatever, start whatever, rile everything up just
to cross chaos because I got a ten thousand likes
on this thing, or I got you know, oh, then
somebody put my comment on the blog. And that's to
me part a large part of where we are problem
(34:14):
with the WNBA because it's not the NFL. It's not
the NBA where you have this standard of people been
watching and enjoying it for decades at that rate. Right now,
it's hate watching, it's trolling, and it's ruined it. As
you mentioned, for the people who are just fans, or
people who just want to experience, or people who want
to become new fans, it becomes exhausting.
Speaker 5 (34:33):
Yeah, you shouldn't be up there asking coaches about their
opinion on trans athletes playing in the league. That's not
what right like during the.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Season, even before the game though, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
This is what I'm talking about. What are we doing?
There used to be something called media training, right Anyone
who wanted to get into media went through certain trainings,
especially athletes coming from others, you know, retiring from the sports.
They used to have media training. That is no longer
(35:07):
a thing. Anybody can be in the media. That's what
social media has done, that's what streaming has done. That's
there is a reason why there's so much divisiveness now,
there's a reason why things can get misconstrued. There is
a reason why opinions now vary and swing like a
(35:29):
pendulum because everybody has a voice, and everybody doesn't need
a voice.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Everybody has a microphone now, right, And.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
So these are people who never have been media trained,
who who just decide, I want to give my opinion
on things. And look, everybody has their opinion and all
of that, but when it reaches to the masses and
things starts stirring up, that that's that's rage bait.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Right.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
People are now looking for high takes and things to do,
to push buttons because like you said, those give you numbers.
And what that does is it throws off the system.
It throws off the system. And when the system is
thrown thrown off, then there's turbulence in every turn. And
(36:16):
the WNBA hasn't gotten a handle on this. Too many voices,
is too many things being said, and now every little
thing is scrutinized, and every little thing is taken you know, two, three,
four or five six different left turns, and now you
don't even know what we're talking about, the fact that
(36:37):
this young lady comes on and puts white privilege out
there and then sits back. She lights the match, throws
it in there, and then sits back, and let's let's
us talk about it right like that's you would have
been taught as a look, I'm gonna give you.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I know, we gotta go to break. But I was
playing the game.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
We were playing the Kansas City Chiefs, I believe, and
Trent Green was a quarterback, and I was with Houston,
and Trent Green had peel back and hit one of
our defensive linemen illegally clip him, took his legs from
underneath him, and he knocked himself out, and our d
(37:18):
lineman was standing on top of him, pissed because he
literally could have you know, broke his both his legs.
And then after the game, Trent was put in an
ambulance to take it to the hospital, you know, because
he was out. And I was sitting next to the player,
and they let the media come in right before our
(37:39):
head of media and could come over there and grab him,
and every single camera went right to him. Turn it
on live, what happens? How do you feel about what happened?
And Travis, he stood up and he said, you know something,
he shouldn't have said it. Then our media guy came in, okay,
(38:03):
and then he took him away. Then he came back
and made a statement, these are the situations that are
happening on the daily with the w like things like this,
These fires are being set and we're out here fanning
the fires and all of that, Like, how can you
make a statement about how intelligent you are and you
(38:25):
know what this is, and you know what that is,
and then all you do is put white privilege and
then step.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Back and intextualize what you're saying.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
You step back and tell us that, oh, y'all don't
know what I'm talking about. I'm educated on this, y'all not.
Why would you why would you even put that out there?
What are we doing the only you're right?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
But this is the thing though, from I think there's
been a collective of three four years of this, like
at building where players again players, I think the w
NBA and I think even the media nobody knows how
to handle it. No one was prepared for how radicalized
the WNBA would be.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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