July 24, 2019 • 38 mins
It's the Best of the Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker! Aaron Torres is in for Chris, and Aaron and Rob explain why they're both picking the LA Clippers to win the 2020 NBA championship, discuss why the birthday boy Barry Bonds is the true Home Run King - despite what Bud Selig says, and debate the difference between Anthony Davis forcing his way out of New Orleans and Paul George forcing his way out of Oklahoma City.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Bruso and Rod Harker. Today was a big day
in Los Angeles, not for the Lakers but for the Clippers,
and it was an understated press conference, which I expected
when you talk about Kawhi, Leonard, Paul George and basically
(00:45):
the step child to the Lakers in the city, it
just is there's nowhere around it to Clippers have never
won anything. They've bounced around to town to town, San
Diego back Buffalo, I think are right, were once the
Buffalo Braves and all kinds of stuff. So they've been around.
But they had the sunshine today because they were winners.
(01:08):
The Nets and the Clippers were the two biggest winners
in the free agent free agency this pass off season,
and they got two big stars. What jumped out about
the press conference to you. Was there anything other than
the idea that the Clippers, And I know it's hard
for people to fathom and grasp and hold on too,
(01:28):
but they have a chance to win. They have a
chance to win a championship. In fact, I'm standing out here,
I'm gonna be out in the wilderness by myself, and
I'm telling you that the Clippers will win the NBA
Championship this year. You think you're in the wilderness on that, Yeah,
to win it. Who who is saying otherwise? Who is
saying no, I'm not saying people are saying they have
(01:50):
a chance. I don't know how many people are saying
they're gonna win it. I'm gonna tell you the next
two NBA champions go ahead, Clippers this year and the
Brooklyn Nets next year to the next two years. Yeah,
you hear me, I'll tell you this. I don't know
(02:12):
that I trust. Ain't nobody saying that out there, nobody
in sports talk radio America. Well, I don't know that
I trust Kyrie. I do. I've seen him play against
the Warriors. I saw him average twenty eight points. I
saw him knocked down big shots in big games. He's
the kind of guy who could get to the basket
at any time that you need in big games. He's
(02:34):
played in those games, and with Kevin Durant as the lead,
he will be perfect. I'm telling you it will be rejuvenated.
That team will be great. And this team because I
love what the Clippers did a year ago. I love
that they traded Tobias Harris, their best player, and they
still won forty eight games, and they still went to
(02:54):
the playoffs, and they beat the Warriors in Golden State
in Oakland, the healthy Kevin Durant twice, including coming back
from thirty one points on the road when they could
have easily rolled over and said, why do we want
to go back home and play a game six to lose.
We could just give it up here and be all
over well. And that's why I like them as well,
(03:17):
because that's the ethos of the entire organization. Mental toughness
they talk about. They don't quit. The term that they
use rob I don't know if you've heard this, Blacktop
versus Big Top, and I don't know if you have
heard that or not, but Big Top is the other
team across town. They're the ones with you know, a
circus like atmosphere, and the Clippers are they want guys
(03:38):
that that play like they're on the blacktop. And Patrick
Beverley is that I love that guy. I love He's
one of my favorites. And you know what, you remember
when Lonzo debuted in the NBA and deat him up
on the valves? Yeah right, I'm like, Wow, we don't
see that anymore. He's an old school guy and he was.
(03:58):
He had to earn his way to the NBA. Earn it. Yep,
nothing wrong with that. Montrez Harrold's second round pick. Love
that guy. Lou Williams, love that guy. Listen. I agree
with Jock Rivers won a championship already. I thought last
year was his best coaching job. I agree one hundred percent.
(04:19):
And I think that Kawhi. Now to what I was
saying a minute ago, this is the ethos of the organization.
We're not flashy, we're not the big top, we're not
the circus. We don't talk, we don't subtweet, we don't
uh you know what does this Instagram post mean? Like,
I don't even know if Kawai has Instagram. They just
get to work, They play ball. Loijah does he you
know Kauhi yeah, I don't think he does. I don't
(04:41):
think he knows what Instagram is to I don't even
know does he even have a Thanks Kauai, I appreciate
that stuff. You're embarrassing me. Uh does he even have
the smartphone yet? Or does he still do the flip phone?
I know that was like a big point of contention
a few years ago. He's got enough cash to do
that now. I mean, he's got like a thirteen million
dollars home, so he's doing fun. All right, Let's not
act like living in a bandbox or studio apartment or something.
(05:03):
But I just think that I'm with you in the
sense that I like this team, but I like the
kind of mentality that they have. I now think that
Kawhi Leonard is the face of that kind of like
I said, Ethos, that mentality of were tougher than you,
were more physical than you. We want to play defense,
which I think is a huge thing that nobody talks to.
(05:24):
Look at their team, They're going to be a hell
of a defensive team, and they have those guys. We
saw Jannis destroyed the Eastern Conference, destroyed the NBA, and
then all of a sudden, Kawhi Leonard guarded him, and
what happened in the Eastern Conference Finals. All of a sudden,
he shot thirty He was shooting over sixty percent from
(05:46):
the field, went down to thirty five percent when Kawhi
guarded him. That ain't by happenstance. Absolutely, And remember that
Milwaukee won the first two games of that series and
didn't win another one. Oh, I remember, I remember, and
it speaks to Kauhi who he is. I mean, I
remember I was actually in Vegas from a bachelor party,
but I remember speaking of Magic City Monday. Yeah, yeah,
(06:09):
we may have had a few Magic City type experiences
there really, but yeah, we were actually teased for later
in the show. We were supposed to go to Mayweather's
Club that weekend, but you know, one of the Knights
got a little bit hazy and whatever. We didn't make it.
So your wife didn't have a heart attack that you're
gonna have. Some women don't want their husbands to be
Do you even have a bachelor party? No, she knows,
(06:30):
she had her own. She had a bachelorette So I
think they did, like a little magic Mike thing. You
don't have a problem with that, did you? No, guys,
don't have a problem. It's only women who have the problem.
Said yeah, no, and she's cool. I mean, do your
thing have fun. Well, they are right not to get
too far off track. But Clay Travis, our buddy from
the Morning Show, always says, this is the place where
your man is going to get into least trouble is
(06:52):
at the strip club, because if he goes to the
regular bar, you know, two for one happy hour could
be you know, you might meet an I little single girl.
The girls as you reference off the top of the show.
I don't know how we got on this subject. But
they're there to work, they're there to pay bills, they're
there to go to college. They just want Rob Parker
to help him get through school. That's all I care about.
They really don't care about me. Didn't want to loot
(07:13):
in my pockets. Dad. They're like, is that a lot
of money or you just you know, no, that's a
corn cob. I just have okay, whatever, different strokes for
different folks or whatever. But so I was watching game five,
Game six of the Eastern Conference Finals get Back on
(07:33):
Track here in Vegas, and it was just it was incredible,
where the light bulb just flipped, and I'm trying to
I'm having Trus said that. I'm trying to figure out
what was I thinking. I wanted to ask you real quick,
we're gonna talk Clippers, but Lakers. Were you as unimpressed
with the moves post Anthony Davis as I was? Because
(07:54):
I sat there and I felt like, when you know,
we talked about everything that we like about the Clippers,
but I felt like the Lakers when they didn't get Kauhi,
they scrambled. I'm not a Boogie Cousins guy. I'm not
a Rondo guy at this point in his career. I
didn't like those moves at all. Yeah, I'm with you.
Everybody says, oh yeah, the Lakers did an unbelievable job.
(08:14):
After the fact, I just I don't buy intechree. I
just those are pieces parts that were laying around, and
here's the other part. Just be honest, while all the
other movements going on and everybody's being snapped up, why
are these guys left, Why are they available laking the game?
Why they were waiting? They couldn't have been waiting around
to see if the Lakers we're gonna get Kawhi, because
(08:35):
then they wouldn't be room for them. Sure, so why
would they Why were they available? I don't buy that
at all. Of course, Boogie Cousins on one leg, right,
Shan Rondo's running out of sort of report from ESPN.
They were like, there's no interest in Boogie Cousins, no zero,
there was no market. So all of a sudden, remember he,
uh did the Lakers to go to the Warriors? You
remember that? Of course, So all of a sudden, now
(08:57):
he's going to the Lakers. Come on, man, But the Clippers.
I love what they did. They have a smart, rich owner,
they have a great coach, they have they have something
already in place. You know what they have though, They
have an identity. Yeah, that's what they have it. And
you know, you look at the Lakers, what are they?
How do the pieces fit together? You don't know yet exactly.
(09:19):
You know what you're gonna get from the Las Anthony
David's gonna wind up being like Kevin Love and Chris
Bosh standing on a perimeter, standing out there, or is
he gonna be sitting on the bench with a you know,
cast on his leg or something like that. He's played
seventy games, I think twice in his He's missed fourteen
or more games in five of his first seven there
you go seasons. So everybody can say, oh, why are
(09:40):
you hating? I'm just those are facts. I agree, those
are Those are facts. Clippers, though, man, I am impressed
where they're going. I love that it was understated. And
you know what, Alex, it wasn't one of those over
the top let us bang out chess and go not two,
not three, not four, not three, and fireworks and all
(10:03):
this other stuff. You don't do that. No, they didn't
brag and say we're gonna now we dominate and win
the next five championship. None of that. That doesn't fit
with who they are and with what Kawhi and Paul
George are. Totally. It's the understated superstars and the understated
(10:23):
franchise that got something done even after giving up their
star player. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at
seven pm Eastern, four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app Rob Parker. Of course, the Baseball
Hall of Fame Voter Hall of Fame inductions last weekend.
(10:46):
I think we got to talk about a guy that's
not in the Hall of Fame though, and I actually
kind of want your opinion on that too. But it's
Barry Bonds. Barry Bond's fifty fifth birthday today. That's a
big one. Double nickels, the double nickels for the home
run Kid, or at least I guess by technicality and
the record books he's the home run King. Some would disagree.
We're gonna get to that in a minute. But first,
(11:09):
Barry Bonds, the historic moment. Let's remember that and Bonds
picture seven fifty six bomb stones old there is out
(11:33):
on top all the all time home run was tell
me that you didn't get goose bumps? I did? You did?
Great call, there's nothing, but did you hear that crowd?
Of course I heard the crack of the bat. It
was it was unbelievable. That's one of those moments that
you remember watching and it was unbelievable. That video or
(11:54):
the audio, by the way, it was courtesy of Fox
Sports net Um. And of course it was an iconic moment.
Like you said, it's a great call, iconic moment. Barry
Bonds in the record books, home run King. There's just
one problem. As we celebrate his fifty fifth birthday today.
As you said, the double nickel rob bud Sea League.
So this story came out last week. Bud Sea League
(12:16):
was on Dan Patrick and Dan Patrick Aston point blank?
Do you consider Barry Bonds to be the home run king?
This is what Bud Selig said, Who do you consider
the all time home run king? Well, I've never really
answered that, but but I will say this to you
my mind. Even though Bonds holds a record, and I've
(12:38):
said records are records. I think you know how I
feel about Henry Eron. So Henry Errn's the all time
home run king in your opinion? Yes, I just I'm sorry.
This is where Bud Silley strikes out. Seriously, how could
a commissioner with a guy who set the record and
(13:00):
whatever you want you want to say Bonds took hgh
whatever fine never tested positive during his playing career, just didn't.
It's a fact number two. How dare Bud Sealick say
he's not when you open up the baseball record book,
he is number two? Bud Sealik. So the World Series
(13:22):
that the Yankees and Red Sox won win, Big Poppy
and David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez and Jason Gimbian and
Roger Clemens? How come those count? Did those? How come
those count? Aaron? Could somebody explain to me why we
just pick on the Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy So?
Why do we just pick on them? Can I want
(13:45):
me to go deeper? Go ahead? Also the managers that
they put in the Hall of Fame. Tony LaRussa manage
steroid guys that helped him win, but it didn't stop
him from getting into Hall of Fame. Why doesn't his
wins aren't there? How come they're not? Tell Joe Tories
in the Hall of Fame? Can I go on? I mean,
it's just preposterous. Take away to Yankees championships, take away
(14:08):
to Red Sox, take away Joe tories wins, take away
Tony Larussa's wins. If you're gonna do this, you can't
pick a couple of people. And we know it. He
used to own the Brewers. He loves Hank Aarons. Hank
Aaron was a great player. He's not an ot the
home run king. Barry Bonds is. Well, here's my question.
(14:30):
When you it's exactly what you said to open up.
When you open up the record book, whose name is
at the top of the list. It's Barry Bonds. And
by the way, when did Barry Bonds play when Bud
Sealig was commissioner? Right, you could have stepped in then
you could have stopped him. And I know and listen,
if you listen to these conversations with Bud Sealig, you
know that he does his whole thing where we couldn't
(14:50):
get steroid testing in through the union, and there's all
these reasons that it didn't happen. But you were commissioner
when he was pursuing this record, when he passed this record.
If you had such a problem, you could have stopped him,
and you didn't. And don't forget for people who have
short memories that Mark McGuire and Sammy Social saved baseball
(15:12):
after the strike when they came back the whole country people,
do you remember the cut ins when those guys were
coming up the bat during I don't care what game
you were watching, Am I right? Think they cut in
on every yet bad? What are you talking about? And
to act like Bonds Bonds won three MVPs in Pittsburgh
(15:32):
before he even went to San Francisco and he wind
up winning seven. Here's the Barry Bonds quiz. I want
everybody to take while you drive in or listening whatever.
How many times in his career did Barry Bonds hit
over fifty home runs? How many times? One time? Thank you?
I only know that because I heard that Dan Patrick
(15:53):
interview live and it was a referenced in the interview.
I couldn't believe it when I heard that, because everybody
thinks that once he started taking HGH, he was hitting
fifty home runs every season. The one year was the
year A to seventy three. That's it. I know he
never hit over fifty other than that one year. So
all I'm saying is, you can't pick and choose. That's
what If we had tested every player in the Major
(16:15):
league during the major leagues during that era and Bonds, Clemens,
and Sosa maguire were the only ones who tested positive,
then I'm with you. I guarantee you. If you were
to go back and somehow we could do DNA and
figure out who was exactly, we would find out that
seventy five put it son of the league probably was
(16:35):
either on it or tried it. Sure, here's my question,
and I hate to be smirched the good name of
an old, old man. How do we know Henry Aaron
wasn't doing anything? Like where do you draw the line
where Barry Bonds bad guy? Like you said, are we now?
Is Roger Merris the single season home run king? How
do we know he didn't do anything? You don't know exactly.
(16:58):
And here's the other part two that that people just
when you talk about this, I want people to do
their homework and do their research. More pictures have been
caught on steroid and the Jews, the hitters, So most
of the time Barry Bonds was probably on equal footing
(17:19):
because guys were using it. We are petted Clemens, right,
all these there's a whole list the Mitchell Report, Aaron.
There are one hundred and fifty hundred and seventy five
names of guys who tested positive or or admitted to
use who we don't They don't even have their names.
Some of those guys were in the Hall of Fame.
It's a joke, it really is. And if you can't
(17:42):
look at Barry Bonds when he played and not think
he's one of the greatest players you ever saw, he's
the greatest player I ever saw. He could steal, he
could he could field, he could hit for power. For average,
one year he had over two hundred and twenty five walks.
He was to get one or two pitches a game
(18:03):
to hit and one would be in a he sud
in um covey cob covey, cove in the water. I'm
with you. I just wonder. I just keep thinking to myself.
Do people still not recognize him as a home run kid.
I don't know if it's just a bud Sea Lake
thing because of his relationship with Hank Aaron, But it
was a bizarre comments. I mean, I actually read the book.
(18:24):
I actually read Bud Seeley's book. I found most of
it interesting. I was actually believing or not a huge
baseball fan. When I was a kid, Ken Grifie junior
my favorite athlete, and I shown up in Connecticut, it
was Ken Griffy. Hum never if he if it's Griffy, Yeah,
that's that's but um, you want to be in if
in Cincinnati. That was doing. He had four good years.
You know those years were wasted because, for lack of
(18:46):
a better term, he probably wasn't one of the guys
taking something by the way unrelated. I see Randy Johnson
around my neighborhood from time to time. Yeah, he's just
hanging out and does his photography whatever. But don't talk
back to me or class. Yeah, and get that out
of my face. Huh. You knew he wasn't gonna last
in New York the second he saw that. And so
(19:07):
with the Sea Ling stuff. He's very outspoken about his
relationship with Hank Aaron. It is personal. But I just
draw the line in. You can't, like you said, you
can't pick and choose what you wanna enforce, what you don't,
What records stand, what records don't. Who was clean, who wasn't.
Who do you think was clean, who wasn't. That's where
my thing is. Steroids. There wasn't testing for a good
(19:30):
part of Bonds' career, even when he even when they tested,
he didn't pat he didn't he wasn't positive. I'm with you, Ed,
Bud Sealing was the commissioner. It's like he retired thirty
years earlier and he's watching from the couch. See. This
is the part that I and here's the other part.
If you're gonna say that, Bud Sealing, then baseball should
refund people their money who watch bonds. All of that
(19:52):
money should be refunded. If you're telling me it didn't
count and it's not real. Huh right, sure, okay, and
the Yankees should return their champ ships. So should the
Red Sox and any other team that won during that
era who had a player who was suspected, busted whatever
word you want to use. Should you want to do that? No,
the only players they pick on on the home run hitters.
(20:15):
And and I get it, Hank Aaron was a hero
to a lot of people. But you can't have it
both ways. I'm sorry, Hank is not the home run
king anymore. He's not. And for people to try to
act like he is, and well, I still recognize Hank Aron.
I think that's child I think that's childhood. And you
know this because you were in baseball clubhouses throughout the eighties,
(20:36):
nineties whatever. There was amphetamines, right like amphetamines, gouge deal.
I mean there was also even before the kind of
quote unquote steroid craze that came in with Jose Canseco
and all them in the late eighties, early nineties, mid
nineties whatever. People have been taking stuff forever I mean,
it's a lot to play one hundred sixty two games
(20:57):
middle of the summer. It's hot, you're travel its not good,
and it allows you to stay on the field. Of course,
it's a it's a it's it rejuvenates you, it freshens you.
It doesn't eye hand coordination, the whole idea. That's why
pictures use it because you know what I mean, they
need to be fresh to be able to go back
out there and throw ninety or one hundred miles an hour.
(21:18):
So this whole notion that if you it's a magical
elixir and if you take it, you have to have talent.
There's plenty of guys who got busted in the minor
leagues who never made the major league. You know why,
because they weren't good enough. If they if they were
good enough, if if if the steroids or HGH made
you that they would have been in the major league,
they'd never made it. They were not good enough. So
(21:39):
this whole notion that bonds uh isn't a home run
king is one of the worst takes. And for bud
Selick to go on and say that it is bad, well,
in fact, it's really bad. His friendship with Hank Aaron,
that shouldn't matter, and he goes, WHOA, No, it's in
the record book. That's the record. What are you talking about?
Since when, real quick, you are a Hall of Fame voter,
(22:01):
I would assume you vote for all these guys. Yes,
I do. The only guys. I don't vote for guys
who got busted after they changed the rules. Okay, so
before that, it would be like the state of California,
all right, for people who drove, say in the seventies,
and they sent you tickets home. Not you you're too young,
but say they send me tickets and said, we're giving
(22:23):
you tickets for driving without a seatbelt because we knew
back in the seventies you didn't have you didn't wear
a seatbelt. Sure, that's exactly what it is, you know
what I mean, Like, I'm penalizing you because I know
you were doing something when we weren't looking for that.
That makes no sense. Yeah, is there anybody? So who
would be the guys that got busted after like a
rod Manny Many? Yeah, Um, I'm just curious. Yeah, Paul Merrow,
(22:49):
Sure those guys got busted after the fact. So those
are the guys who you have to take a look
at My only thing is you have to there's an
eye test, and there's nobody who was marginal who got
in because they do you know what I mean, because
they had they used HGH one season. You could say, oh,
that guy had had a really great one year over
(23:10):
two years. That's not that's not going to get you
into the Hall of Fame. So you haven't voted for
Brady Anderson yet that one season. There's guys who have
had seasons like that, even way before that. Go look
up Davy Johnson. Davy Johnson played with the Atlanta Braves
and like U seventy three or seventy four, he went
from the year before with the Orioles, I think it
(23:31):
was the Orioles he had five home runs. The next
year in Atlanta he had thirty nine or thirty seven
home run He went from five to thirty seven or
thirty nine. What wouldn't you take a look and goal
how that happen? Didn't Brett Boone have one of those
years too? Yet forty eight you have one and maybe
that was a year. Like I say, you feel refreshed,
you feel rejuvenated. It allows you to to yeah, to
(23:54):
be on the field, be on the field and feel
good every day and I get that. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard
and Rob Parker week days at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific, the Clippers introducing Paul George and of course
Kawhi Leonard. But there was also another story that caught
my eye and Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden
(24:17):
State Warriors, was asked about the Anthony Davis demanding a
trade with a year and a half left on a
contract that he signed, and I guess they, you know,
talked about whether or not it was a good or
bad thing for the league, and he said it was bad.
And Rob g has the exact quote from Steve Kerr
(24:38):
on this. That's right, Steve Kerr talking on the Warriors
Insider podcast. He said, quote, it's a real problem that
the league has to address and the players have to
be careful with. When you sign on that dotted line,
you owe your effort and your play to the team,
to the city, to the fans, and then once that
contract runs out, is completely within your rights to leave
(24:58):
as a free agent. But if you signed the contract,
you should be bound to that contract. If you come
to an agreement with the team that Hay is probably
for best for us to part ways. That's one thing.
But the Anthony Davis stuff was really groundbreaking. Hopefully not
a trend because it's bad for the league. One hundred
percent correct. Steve Kerr is probably the straightest shooter in
(25:20):
the NBA. I'm dead serious. I'm talking about whenever there's
some sort of controversial or something going on, he takes
everything head on. He's a he's a realist. He's honest.
When Kad got hurt, you know, well that was he ducked.
But what's saying that he didn't think that he could
get hurt? Now, remember it was something about um, they said,
(25:41):
you know, should he have played? He said, well, you know,
I can't answer. That's by meyers and the doctors. And
that was all that one he did. Size. Yeah, it's
just that one, do you know what I mean? But
normally he's out front and he's honest, and people can say, well,
players get dumped and traded all the time. I'll come
to players can't take their own bull careers in their
(26:01):
own hands. Because there's a league, and there's competitive balance,
and there's stuff that if you're going to in the
last part of your contracts, say when Carmelo Anthony was
with the Nuggets and he goes, Okay, my contract's up
in four months. I'm not resigning with you. If you
guys want to trade me to try to get something
(26:21):
for me, I'm telling you I'm not resigning it. That's different.
Thank you for giving us the heads up. You're not
going to negotiate with us, we should do something else.
I get that he had a year and a half
left on a contract, all right, And when you do
stuff like this, this is what people don't understand. The
reason there's a draft, The reason that you sign a
(26:42):
deal for years and it's binding, is so that you
can have some sort of consistency. If it's just like
everybody should get to go do whatever they want, then
we don't even need a draft. You should be able
to come out of college, come out of Yukon, great school,
which you know, except for the basketball scandals. But come
(27:03):
out of Yukon. How dare you talk about Genoa. I'm
just out there. I want to talk about geno Orium
and you should come out and take your resume and
you're reel and say Hey, I played at Yukon. I'm
I'm grew up as a Nick fan, or I grew
up as a Celtics fan. I want to play for
the Celtic. It's only because of the collective bargaining that
you have to go wherever they tell you to govers
(27:23):
And my only point is it's not good because if
you're New Orleans, is this gonna happen to you in
four years with Zion? Are you gonna go through this
where there are cities and teams that people don't want
to play for that now will have this happen to
them time and time again because people are talked out
of it. Michael Jordan went to the Chicago Bulls. I
(27:46):
got news for you. The Bulls were awful, terrible. They
had one jack nothing. They would have laugh for Bulls,
That's how bad they were. Did he go all of
Chicago go, I'm gonna play for that sad sack organization.
I don't even want to go to the Lakers or
the Knicks or whatever it was back then. He played
(28:09):
it out, He played with the players that were to air,
and he wound up turning it into a juggernaut, a
dynasty winning six championships, not losing. Everybody doesn't have to
do that. I'm not saying I'm against free agency and
people moving, and neither Steve Kerry said that in this right,
I'm not. I am bothered by what Anthony Davis did
(28:30):
with a year and a half left. If he gave
them the high sign and said, hey, contracts up in
three or four months, I'm not going to resign. You
want to move me, I understand it. That's fair. But
to do that and put pressure and force an organization
to have to trade you and then and I blame
(28:52):
New Orleans. If I was a gem or the ownership,
I would have never traded with the Lakers. You would
have had to go to the Lakers somewhere else. And
remember Green Bay did the same exact thing to Brett Favre.
Where did he originally want to go? Do you remember Minnesota?
In the division? He wanted to go to Minnesota and
(29:12):
they said, no way, no, how are we sending you
to Minnesota, where they sent him to the AFC to
play with the Jets, and then he went on his
own to the Vikings the next year. Same thing with
Kawhi Leonard Oh, the Spurs should just trade him to
the Lakers. That's where he wants to go, and and
all that know where they trade him to NBA Siberia.
(29:34):
And I just mean it from because it's cold and
Toron with Drake like Christa. I'm just saying they sent
him all the way to Toronto because they weren't going
to give him to the Lakers. They We're gonna put
Kawai in a situation. And why reward a guy who's
dumping on you or leaving you in the lurch. I
(29:55):
would never do that. I would take a lesser trade
to not give him exactly what he wants if he's
done me wrong. And that's the only thing that I
agree with Steve Kerr Well. And to bring it to
another story today, I think that's what's so scary about
the Paul George situation because what the Paul George situation
said to me. And I think Anthony Davis was bad
enough two and a half year or one and a
half years, like you said, the Paul George situation with
(30:18):
two years left on his contract a year after he
signed it, the Thunder made the playoffs. When a guy
like that is demanding a trade, that's terrifying. To me,
if I'm an owner, if I'm a GM, if I'm
a coach, if I'm a role player, because what that
says is everyone is a free agent at every time
and it's just a matter of whether they're going to
(30:38):
cash in that chip or not. That to me, I
think it's terrifying what Paul George did. And by the way,
I'm with Steve Kerr one hundred percent. Anthony Davis signed
a five year, one hundred forty five million dollar contract
that he signed. It wasn't like he was forced to.
But when you signed that contract, it comes with responsibility.
They don't just hand you a check for thirty million
(30:59):
dollars a year without any responsibility. You gotta be the
face of the franchise. You gotta be the leader. You
gotta be there when things go bad. I was saying
about this today. Rough Imagine if you know, a couple
of weeks ago, I got married. Imagine if ma thank
you well. Imagine if first time I got I got
in a fight with my now wife. I just said, yeah,
you know, it's not really going well. You know it's
(31:21):
it's not going well. I'm gonna I'm just gonna go
over there now. Like, no, it doesn't. It doesn't feel
a minute. Did you have tapes of my marriage or okay,
I'm sorry. Oh so you're the Anthony davids a marriage,
the first first sign, first sign of adversity. You were
married for five years. But that's what I'm saying, well
longer than Anthony Davis, so, but that's what I'm saying.
When you sign a contract, there are obligations and you
(31:41):
don't just get to leave because the team isn't good
or it's not going the way. But the thing that's
crazy is they were actually good. They had swept That's
what I'm Portland the year before the playoffs and the
playoffs and they were They were moved at a squad,
they had a team which came out of nowhere all
of a sudden. He didn't want to be in New Orleans,
which I always think has to do with Lebron and
(32:01):
and Clutch Sports and those guys working behind the scenes
to try to help Lebron. It's always about Lebron, not
about Anthony Davison. Yeah. I agree, and I but I
to get back to the Steve Kirk comments. I just
think it is such a bad precedent for these players.
So i'd a thought today, Rob tell me if this
is crazy, is if you publicly demand a trade. This
(32:23):
is because this is my thought, right, all these guys,
they want to get traded, they want to go where
they want, they want their check. That's my problem. You're
getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a week, tens
of millions of dollars a year. Anthony Davis didn't even
play this year. This is my thought. You publicly demand
a trade, you automatically become deactivated and you don't get paid. Well,
(32:46):
the players Union want to go for it, but my
point is this is you can't. Just it's bad enough
when you are a guy that the team is counting on.
You demand a trade, but you still expect to sit
there and get paid. That's not how the real world works.
I agree with that, but it'd be hard to do that.
I'm just saying no, and I get it. My thing is,
I just wouldn't automatically trade somebody because I agree, and
(33:09):
I end up the hard part is, and I do
agree with I do believe in this. I don't want
somebody who doesn't want to be around like like you know,
like you see a situation with guys, they're like the
girl wants out of the relationship, but the guy won't
let it go, you know, like I don't want to
be with it. If she doesn't want to be with me,
why would you want to Why would you want to
try to make her stick around? Does that make any sense?
(33:32):
Of course? Yeah. But it's also to go back to
the marriage analogy, like at a certain point, you gotta
fight through stuff, you gotta fight through adversity. And that's
my issue with Anthony Davis. Like he said, they made
the playoffs last season. He's the face of the franchise.
He's supposed to be the reason. Paul George, you just
made the playoffs in Okase and now you want out
six months later. The only thing is I don't. I
(33:53):
don't I look at the Paul George a little different.
I really do, from the standpoint that he wasn't the
old casey face of the franchise even though they'd signed him.
And I agree with that. And he's an older player,
and he got an opportunity to go home and play
in and now if he went to me, if he
wanted out and went to what y'all would consider a
(34:15):
lateral move if he didn't have any ties to the
Lakers or Los Angeles. There's a there's a little bit
more to that in that he'd left Indiana, and then
I applauded him when he stated, Okay, see you remember
I had a chance to come to the Lakers, and
he didn't do it, and then he got into this
situation where this is presented to him. And I understand
(34:36):
your point is well taken. I look at Anthony Davis
differently because Anthony was the face. Anthony was the face
of that franchise. They drafted him. He was supposed to
turn the franchise around. Paul George was a player who
came from somewhere else. My bigger problem with Paul George, though,
is you could say he was the number two guy,
Westbrook's face of the franchise, the whole organization. As soon
(34:59):
he was the pin, you pull the pin out and
the you know, the everything deflates. The whole organization falls apart.
He's not the face of the franchise, but you have
to trade Russell Westbrook at that point you have to
start over. Billy Donovan's not gonna be back after this year.
That's my problem with Paul George. You can say he's
not the face of the franchise. It's still completely altered
the entire organization. Yeah, but they wouldn't want to decided
to get rid of Russell Westbrook after that. I mean,
(35:21):
you can't keep rebuilding. He's thirty years old. No, I'm
just saying. I mean they decided to pull the plug
on the whole thing, and hopefully people there got refunds
and uh, you know on season tickets, because I would
be like, this is not what I paid for. You
don't want to pay to see Chris Paul No, I
don't want to watch. It's unbelievable, like where that is
and where that franchise is, And people are like, oh,
(35:41):
dare they should buy him out? They go to the Lakers.
You're gonna buy it one hundred and fifty six million
or whatever it is that's left on that deal. No,
of course, not close, no way, no, you know it.
That ain't gonna happen. So I'm with Steve Kerr. I
thought the A A D thing sets a bad precedent,
and I think that if I'm New Orleans, I'm already
(36:02):
is Zion gonna be poisoned after a year or two
when people say, hey, look what happened to you, Zion.
You know, if you would have gone to the Knicks,
that Jordan deal would have been one hundred million. You know,
you went to New Orleans, it was only seventy five million.
You don't think that that plays in his head that
he's losing money by being there, because that's a perfect example.
(36:23):
Don't you think he would have made more money if
he was on the Knicks. I think he got basically
the biggest rookie contract ever for a shoe deal by
a couple of shekels. I'm not buying that you really
believe that. I think you would have gotten more for
the Knicks. What do you have gotten? That's my point?
So why should you play in the town where you're
making less to do the same thing. So you're saying
this is the end of small markets as we know.
I don't if people keep doing this, If this is
(36:44):
the way we go, this is something that's gonna have
to be changed. And what I think that if I'm
the commissioner, the only way you can do it is
either limit how many Max or Star contracts you can take,
like you have to classify guys in the groups and
you can only have two what I would call a classification.
(37:06):
You would be deemed one ABC and D contracts and
you can only have two. So the whole thing of
Lebron A D and them trying to get Kawhi would
have never been able to go because they already had
two eight A deals. What if you do see what
I'm saying. Yeah, but what if you drafted really well
like the Warriors, and you want to keep Steph Clay.
Your own players are different? And that's because that's the
(37:26):
way they pay. I'm talking about when you add players
who were not drafted, because that's how they even grandfather in.
You could pay the teams that draft players can pay
them more than if you go move. Every time Kawhi
Leonard has moved, he lost forty million dollars going from
the Spurs to Toronto. Then going from Toronto them up
to the Clippers, he lost fifty million. He lost ninety
(37:49):
million dollars because he made those two moves, so they
penalize you. He would be making ninety million more if
he would have stayed it with the Spurs. So I
think they have to do something like that.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Bruso and Rod Harker. Today was a big day
in Los Angeles, not for the Lakers but for the Clippers,
and it was an understated press conference, which I expected
when you talk about Kawhi, Leonard, Paul George and basically
(00:45):
the step child to the Lakers in the city, it
just is there's nowhere around it to Clippers have never
won anything. They've bounced around to town to town, San
Diego back Buffalo, I think are right, were once the
Buffalo Braves and all kinds of stuff. So they've been around.
But they had the sunshine today because they were winners.
(01:08):
The Nets and the Clippers were the two biggest winners
in the free agent free agency this pass off season,
and they got two big stars. What jumped out about
the press conference to you. Was there anything other than
the idea that the Clippers, And I know it's hard
for people to fathom and grasp and hold on too,
(01:28):
but they have a chance to win. They have a
chance to win a championship. In fact, I'm standing out here,
I'm gonna be out in the wilderness by myself, and
I'm telling you that the Clippers will win the NBA
Championship this year. You think you're in the wilderness on that, Yeah,
to win it. Who who is saying otherwise? Who is
saying no, I'm not saying people are saying they have
(01:50):
a chance. I don't know how many people are saying
they're gonna win it. I'm gonna tell you the next
two NBA champions go ahead, Clippers this year and the
Brooklyn Nets next year to the next two years. Yeah,
you hear me, I'll tell you this. I don't know
(02:12):
that I trust. Ain't nobody saying that out there, nobody
in sports talk radio America. Well, I don't know that
I trust Kyrie. I do. I've seen him play against
the Warriors. I saw him average twenty eight points. I
saw him knocked down big shots in big games. He's
the kind of guy who could get to the basket
at any time that you need in big games. He's
(02:34):
played in those games, and with Kevin Durant as the lead,
he will be perfect. I'm telling you it will be rejuvenated.
That team will be great. And this team because I
love what the Clippers did a year ago. I love
that they traded Tobias Harris, their best player, and they
still won forty eight games, and they still went to
(02:54):
the playoffs, and they beat the Warriors in Golden State
in Oakland, the healthy Kevin Durant twice, including coming back
from thirty one points on the road when they could
have easily rolled over and said, why do we want
to go back home and play a game six to lose.
We could just give it up here and be all
over well. And that's why I like them as well,
(03:17):
because that's the ethos of the entire organization. Mental toughness
they talk about. They don't quit. The term that they
use rob I don't know if you've heard this, Blacktop
versus Big Top, and I don't know if you have
heard that or not, but Big Top is the other
team across town. They're the ones with you know, a
circus like atmosphere, and the Clippers are they want guys
(03:38):
that that play like they're on the blacktop. And Patrick
Beverley is that I love that guy. I love He's
one of my favorites. And you know what, you remember
when Lonzo debuted in the NBA and deat him up
on the valves? Yeah right, I'm like, Wow, we don't
see that anymore. He's an old school guy and he was.
(03:58):
He had to earn his way to the NBA. Earn it. Yep,
nothing wrong with that. Montrez Harrold's second round pick. Love
that guy. Lou Williams, love that guy. Listen. I agree
with Jock Rivers won a championship already. I thought last
year was his best coaching job. I agree one hundred percent.
(04:19):
And I think that Kawhi. Now to what I was
saying a minute ago, this is the ethos of the organization.
We're not flashy, we're not the big top, we're not
the circus. We don't talk, we don't subtweet, we don't
uh you know what does this Instagram post mean? Like,
I don't even know if Kawai has Instagram. They just
get to work, They play ball. Loijah does he you
know Kauhi yeah, I don't think he does. I don't
(04:41):
think he knows what Instagram is to I don't even
know does he even have a Thanks Kauai, I appreciate
that stuff. You're embarrassing me. Uh does he even have
the smartphone yet? Or does he still do the flip phone?
I know that was like a big point of contention
a few years ago. He's got enough cash to do
that now. I mean, he's got like a thirteen million
dollars home, so he's doing fun. All right, Let's not
act like living in a bandbox or studio apartment or something.
(05:03):
But I just think that I'm with you in the
sense that I like this team, but I like the
kind of mentality that they have. I now think that
Kawhi Leonard is the face of that kind of like
I said, Ethos, that mentality of were tougher than you,
were more physical than you. We want to play defense,
which I think is a huge thing that nobody talks to.
(05:24):
Look at their team, They're going to be a hell
of a defensive team, and they have those guys. We
saw Jannis destroyed the Eastern Conference, destroyed the NBA, and
then all of a sudden, Kawhi Leonard guarded him, and
what happened in the Eastern Conference Finals. All of a sudden,
he shot thirty He was shooting over sixty percent from
(05:46):
the field, went down to thirty five percent when Kawhi
guarded him. That ain't by happenstance. Absolutely, And remember that
Milwaukee won the first two games of that series and
didn't win another one. Oh, I remember, I remember, and
it speaks to Kauhi who he is. I mean, I
remember I was actually in Vegas from a bachelor party,
but I remember speaking of Magic City Monday. Yeah, yeah,
(06:09):
we may have had a few Magic City type experiences
there really, but yeah, we were actually teased for later
in the show. We were supposed to go to Mayweather's
Club that weekend, but you know, one of the Knights
got a little bit hazy and whatever. We didn't make it.
So your wife didn't have a heart attack that you're
gonna have. Some women don't want their husbands to be
Do you even have a bachelor party? No, she knows,
(06:30):
she had her own. She had a bachelorette So I
think they did, like a little magic Mike thing. You
don't have a problem with that, did you? No, guys,
don't have a problem. It's only women who have the problem.
Said yeah, no, and she's cool. I mean, do your
thing have fun. Well, they are right not to get
too far off track. But Clay Travis, our buddy from
the Morning Show, always says, this is the place where
your man is going to get into least trouble is
(06:52):
at the strip club, because if he goes to the
regular bar, you know, two for one happy hour could
be you know, you might meet an I little single girl.
The girls as you reference off the top of the show.
I don't know how we got on this subject. But
they're there to work, they're there to pay bills, they're
there to go to college. They just want Rob Parker
to help him get through school. That's all I care about.
They really don't care about me. Didn't want to loot
(07:13):
in my pockets. Dad. They're like, is that a lot
of money or you just you know, no, that's a
corn cob. I just have okay, whatever, different strokes for
different folks or whatever. But so I was watching game five,
Game six of the Eastern Conference Finals get Back on
(07:33):
Track here in Vegas, and it was just it was incredible,
where the light bulb just flipped, and I'm trying to
I'm having Trus said that. I'm trying to figure out
what was I thinking. I wanted to ask you real quick,
we're gonna talk Clippers, but Lakers. Were you as unimpressed
with the moves post Anthony Davis as I was? Because
(07:54):
I sat there and I felt like, when you know,
we talked about everything that we like about the Clippers,
but I felt like the Lakers when they didn't get Kauhi,
they scrambled. I'm not a Boogie Cousins guy. I'm not
a Rondo guy at this point in his career. I
didn't like those moves at all. Yeah, I'm with you.
Everybody says, oh yeah, the Lakers did an unbelievable job.
(08:14):
After the fact, I just I don't buy intechree. I
just those are pieces parts that were laying around, and
here's the other part. Just be honest, while all the
other movements going on and everybody's being snapped up, why
are these guys left, Why are they available laking the game?
Why they were waiting? They couldn't have been waiting around
to see if the Lakers we're gonna get Kawhi, because
(08:35):
then they wouldn't be room for them. Sure, so why
would they Why were they available? I don't buy that
at all. Of course, Boogie Cousins on one leg, right,
Shan Rondo's running out of sort of report from ESPN.
They were like, there's no interest in Boogie Cousins, no zero,
there was no market. So all of a sudden, remember he,
uh did the Lakers to go to the Warriors? You
remember that? Of course, So all of a sudden, now
(08:57):
he's going to the Lakers. Come on, man, But the Clippers.
I love what they did. They have a smart, rich owner,
they have a great coach, they have they have something
already in place. You know what they have though, They
have an identity. Yeah, that's what they have it. And
you know, you look at the Lakers, what are they?
How do the pieces fit together? You don't know yet exactly.
(09:19):
You know what you're gonna get from the Las Anthony
David's gonna wind up being like Kevin Love and Chris
Bosh standing on a perimeter, standing out there, or is
he gonna be sitting on the bench with a you know,
cast on his leg or something like that. He's played
seventy games, I think twice in his He's missed fourteen
or more games in five of his first seven there
you go seasons. So everybody can say, oh, why are
(09:40):
you hating? I'm just those are facts. I agree, those
are Those are facts. Clippers, though, man, I am impressed
where they're going. I love that it was understated. And
you know what, Alex, it wasn't one of those over
the top let us bang out chess and go not two,
not three, not four, not three, and fireworks and all
(10:03):
this other stuff. You don't do that. No, they didn't
brag and say we're gonna now we dominate and win
the next five championship. None of that. That doesn't fit
with who they are and with what Kawhi and Paul
George are. Totally. It's the understated superstars and the understated
(10:23):
franchise that got something done even after giving up their
star player. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at
seven pm Eastern, four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app Rob Parker. Of course, the Baseball
Hall of Fame Voter Hall of Fame inductions last weekend.
(10:46):
I think we got to talk about a guy that's
not in the Hall of Fame though, and I actually
kind of want your opinion on that too. But it's
Barry Bonds. Barry Bond's fifty fifth birthday today. That's a
big one. Double nickels, the double nickels for the home
run Kid, or at least I guess by technicality and
the record books he's the home run King. Some would disagree.
We're gonna get to that in a minute. But first,
(11:09):
Barry Bonds, the historic moment. Let's remember that and Bonds
picture seven fifty six bomb stones old there is out
(11:33):
on top all the all time home run was tell
me that you didn't get goose bumps? I did? You did?
Great call, there's nothing, but did you hear that crowd?
Of course I heard the crack of the bat. It
was it was unbelievable. That's one of those moments that
you remember watching and it was unbelievable. That video or
(11:54):
the audio, by the way, it was courtesy of Fox
Sports net Um. And of course it was an iconic moment.
Like you said, it's a great call, iconic moment. Barry
Bonds in the record books, home run King. There's just
one problem. As we celebrate his fifty fifth birthday today.
As you said, the double nickel rob bud Sea League.
So this story came out last week. Bud Sea League
(12:16):
was on Dan Patrick and Dan Patrick Aston point blank?
Do you consider Barry Bonds to be the home run king?
This is what Bud Selig said, Who do you consider
the all time home run king? Well, I've never really
answered that, but but I will say this to you
my mind. Even though Bonds holds a record, and I've
(12:38):
said records are records. I think you know how I
feel about Henry Eron. So Henry Errn's the all time
home run king in your opinion? Yes, I just I'm sorry.
This is where Bud Silley strikes out. Seriously, how could
a commissioner with a guy who set the record and
(13:00):
whatever you want you want to say Bonds took hgh
whatever fine never tested positive during his playing career, just didn't.
It's a fact number two. How dare Bud Sealick say
he's not when you open up the baseball record book,
he is number two? Bud Sealik. So the World Series
(13:22):
that the Yankees and Red Sox won win, Big Poppy
and David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez and Jason Gimbian and
Roger Clemens? How come those count? Did those? How come
those count? Aaron? Could somebody explain to me why we
just pick on the Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy So?
Why do we just pick on them? Can I want
(13:45):
me to go deeper? Go ahead? Also the managers that
they put in the Hall of Fame. Tony LaRussa manage
steroid guys that helped him win, but it didn't stop
him from getting into Hall of Fame. Why doesn't his
wins aren't there? How come they're not? Tell Joe Tories
in the Hall of Fame? Can I go on? I mean,
it's just preposterous. Take away to Yankees championships, take away
(14:08):
to Red Sox, take away Joe tories wins, take away
Tony Larussa's wins. If you're gonna do this, you can't
pick a couple of people. And we know it. He
used to own the Brewers. He loves Hank Aarons. Hank
Aaron was a great player. He's not an ot the
home run king. Barry Bonds is. Well, here's my question.
(14:30):
When you it's exactly what you said to open up.
When you open up the record book, whose name is
at the top of the list. It's Barry Bonds. And
by the way, when did Barry Bonds play when Bud
Sealig was commissioner? Right, you could have stepped in then
you could have stopped him. And I know and listen,
if you listen to these conversations with Bud Sealig, you
know that he does his whole thing where we couldn't
(14:50):
get steroid testing in through the union, and there's all
these reasons that it didn't happen. But you were commissioner
when he was pursuing this record, when he passed this record.
If you had such a problem, you could have stopped him,
and you didn't. And don't forget for people who have
short memories that Mark McGuire and Sammy Social saved baseball
(15:12):
after the strike when they came back the whole country people,
do you remember the cut ins when those guys were
coming up the bat during I don't care what game
you were watching, Am I right? Think they cut in
on every yet bad? What are you talking about? And
to act like Bonds Bonds won three MVPs in Pittsburgh
(15:32):
before he even went to San Francisco and he wind
up winning seven. Here's the Barry Bonds quiz. I want
everybody to take while you drive in or listening whatever.
How many times in his career did Barry Bonds hit
over fifty home runs? How many times? One time? Thank you?
I only know that because I heard that Dan Patrick
(15:53):
interview live and it was a referenced in the interview.
I couldn't believe it when I heard that, because everybody
thinks that once he started taking HGH, he was hitting
fifty home runs every season. The one year was the
year A to seventy three. That's it. I know he
never hit over fifty other than that one year. So
all I'm saying is, you can't pick and choose. That's
what If we had tested every player in the Major
(16:15):
league during the major leagues during that era and Bonds, Clemens,
and Sosa maguire were the only ones who tested positive,
then I'm with you. I guarantee you. If you were
to go back and somehow we could do DNA and
figure out who was exactly, we would find out that
seventy five put it son of the league probably was
(16:35):
either on it or tried it. Sure, here's my question,
and I hate to be smirched the good name of
an old, old man. How do we know Henry Aaron
wasn't doing anything? Like where do you draw the line
where Barry Bonds bad guy? Like you said, are we now?
Is Roger Merris the single season home run king? How
do we know he didn't do anything? You don't know exactly.
(16:58):
And here's the other part two that that people just
when you talk about this, I want people to do
their homework and do their research. More pictures have been
caught on steroid and the Jews, the hitters, So most
of the time Barry Bonds was probably on equal footing
(17:19):
because guys were using it. We are petted Clemens, right,
all these there's a whole list the Mitchell Report, Aaron.
There are one hundred and fifty hundred and seventy five
names of guys who tested positive or or admitted to
use who we don't They don't even have their names.
Some of those guys were in the Hall of Fame.
It's a joke, it really is. And if you can't
(17:42):
look at Barry Bonds when he played and not think
he's one of the greatest players you ever saw, he's
the greatest player I ever saw. He could steal, he
could he could field, he could hit for power. For average,
one year he had over two hundred and twenty five walks.
He was to get one or two pitches a game
(18:03):
to hit and one would be in a he sud
in um covey cob covey, cove in the water. I'm
with you. I just wonder. I just keep thinking to myself.
Do people still not recognize him as a home run kid.
I don't know if it's just a bud Sea Lake
thing because of his relationship with Hank Aaron, But it
was a bizarre comments. I mean, I actually read the book.
(18:24):
I actually read Bud Seeley's book. I found most of
it interesting. I was actually believing or not a huge
baseball fan. When I was a kid, Ken Grifie junior
my favorite athlete, and I shown up in Connecticut, it
was Ken Griffy. Hum never if he if it's Griffy, Yeah,
that's that's but um, you want to be in if
in Cincinnati. That was doing. He had four good years.
You know those years were wasted because, for lack of
(18:46):
a better term, he probably wasn't one of the guys
taking something by the way unrelated. I see Randy Johnson
around my neighborhood from time to time. Yeah, he's just
hanging out and does his photography whatever. But don't talk
back to me or class. Yeah, and get that out
of my face. Huh. You knew he wasn't gonna last
in New York the second he saw that. And so
(19:07):
with the Sea Ling stuff. He's very outspoken about his
relationship with Hank Aaron. It is personal. But I just
draw the line in. You can't, like you said, you
can't pick and choose what you wanna enforce, what you don't,
What records stand, what records don't. Who was clean, who wasn't.
Who do you think was clean, who wasn't. That's where
my thing is. Steroids. There wasn't testing for a good
(19:30):
part of Bonds' career, even when he even when they tested,
he didn't pat he didn't he wasn't positive. I'm with you, Ed,
Bud Sealing was the commissioner. It's like he retired thirty
years earlier and he's watching from the couch. See. This
is the part that I and here's the other part.
If you're gonna say that, Bud Sealing, then baseball should
refund people their money who watch bonds. All of that
(19:52):
money should be refunded. If you're telling me it didn't
count and it's not real. Huh right, sure, okay, and
the Yankees should return their champ ships. So should the
Red Sox and any other team that won during that
era who had a player who was suspected, busted whatever
word you want to use. Should you want to do that? No,
the only players they pick on on the home run hitters.
(20:15):
And and I get it, Hank Aaron was a hero
to a lot of people. But you can't have it
both ways. I'm sorry, Hank is not the home run
king anymore. He's not. And for people to try to
act like he is, and well, I still recognize Hank Aron.
I think that's child I think that's childhood. And you
know this because you were in baseball clubhouses throughout the eighties,
(20:36):
nineties whatever. There was amphetamines, right like amphetamines, gouge deal.
I mean there was also even before the kind of
quote unquote steroid craze that came in with Jose Canseco
and all them in the late eighties, early nineties, mid
nineties whatever. People have been taking stuff forever I mean,
it's a lot to play one hundred sixty two games
(20:57):
middle of the summer. It's hot, you're travel its not good,
and it allows you to stay on the field. Of course,
it's a it's a it's it rejuvenates you, it freshens you.
It doesn't eye hand coordination, the whole idea. That's why
pictures use it because you know what I mean, they
need to be fresh to be able to go back
out there and throw ninety or one hundred miles an hour.
(21:18):
So this whole notion that if you it's a magical
elixir and if you take it, you have to have talent.
There's plenty of guys who got busted in the minor
leagues who never made the major league. You know why,
because they weren't good enough. If they if they were
good enough, if if if the steroids or HGH made
you that they would have been in the major league,
they'd never made it. They were not good enough. So
(21:39):
this whole notion that bonds uh isn't a home run
king is one of the worst takes. And for bud
Selick to go on and say that it is bad, well,
in fact, it's really bad. His friendship with Hank Aaron,
that shouldn't matter, and he goes, WHOA, No, it's in
the record book. That's the record. What are you talking about?
Since when, real quick, you are a Hall of Fame voter,
(22:01):
I would assume you vote for all these guys. Yes,
I do. The only guys. I don't vote for guys
who got busted after they changed the rules. Okay, so
before that, it would be like the state of California,
all right, for people who drove, say in the seventies,
and they sent you tickets home. Not you you're too young,
but say they send me tickets and said, we're giving
(22:23):
you tickets for driving without a seatbelt because we knew
back in the seventies you didn't have you didn't wear
a seatbelt. Sure, that's exactly what it is, you know
what I mean, Like, I'm penalizing you because I know
you were doing something when we weren't looking for that.
That makes no sense. Yeah, is there anybody? So who
would be the guys that got busted after like a
rod Manny Many? Yeah, Um, I'm just curious. Yeah, Paul Merrow,
(22:49):
Sure those guys got busted after the fact. So those
are the guys who you have to take a look
at My only thing is you have to there's an
eye test, and there's nobody who was marginal who got
in because they do you know what I mean, because
they had they used HGH one season. You could say, oh,
that guy had had a really great one year over
(23:10):
two years. That's not that's not going to get you
into the Hall of Fame. So you haven't voted for
Brady Anderson yet that one season. There's guys who have
had seasons like that, even way before that. Go look
up Davy Johnson. Davy Johnson played with the Atlanta Braves
and like U seventy three or seventy four, he went
from the year before with the Orioles, I think it
(23:31):
was the Orioles he had five home runs. The next
year in Atlanta he had thirty nine or thirty seven
home run He went from five to thirty seven or
thirty nine. What wouldn't you take a look and goal
how that happen? Didn't Brett Boone have one of those
years too? Yet forty eight you have one and maybe
that was a year. Like I say, you feel refreshed,
you feel rejuvenated. It allows you to to yeah, to
(23:54):
be on the field, be on the field and feel
good every day and I get that. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard
and Rob Parker week days at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific, the Clippers introducing Paul George and of course
Kawhi Leonard. But there was also another story that caught
my eye and Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden
(24:17):
State Warriors, was asked about the Anthony Davis demanding a
trade with a year and a half left on a
contract that he signed, and I guess they, you know,
talked about whether or not it was a good or
bad thing for the league, and he said it was bad.
And Rob g has the exact quote from Steve Kerr
(24:38):
on this. That's right, Steve Kerr talking on the Warriors
Insider podcast. He said, quote, it's a real problem that
the league has to address and the players have to
be careful with. When you sign on that dotted line,
you owe your effort and your play to the team,
to the city, to the fans, and then once that
contract runs out, is completely within your rights to leave
(24:58):
as a free agent. But if you signed the contract,
you should be bound to that contract. If you come
to an agreement with the team that Hay is probably
for best for us to part ways. That's one thing.
But the Anthony Davis stuff was really groundbreaking. Hopefully not
a trend because it's bad for the league. One hundred
percent correct. Steve Kerr is probably the straightest shooter in
(25:20):
the NBA. I'm dead serious. I'm talking about whenever there's
some sort of controversial or something going on, he takes
everything head on. He's a he's a realist. He's honest.
When Kad got hurt, you know, well that was he ducked.
But what's saying that he didn't think that he could
get hurt? Now, remember it was something about um, they said,
(25:41):
you know, should he have played? He said, well, you know,
I can't answer. That's by meyers and the doctors. And
that was all that one he did. Size. Yeah, it's
just that one, do you know what I mean? But
normally he's out front and he's honest, and people can say, well,
players get dumped and traded all the time. I'll come
to players can't take their own bull careers in their
(26:01):
own hands. Because there's a league, and there's competitive balance,
and there's stuff that if you're going to in the
last part of your contracts, say when Carmelo Anthony was
with the Nuggets and he goes, Okay, my contract's up
in four months. I'm not resigning with you. If you
guys want to trade me to try to get something
(26:21):
for me, I'm telling you I'm not resigning it. That's different.
Thank you for giving us the heads up. You're not
going to negotiate with us, we should do something else.
I get that he had a year and a half
left on a contract, all right, And when you do
stuff like this, this is what people don't understand. The
reason there's a draft, The reason that you sign a
(26:42):
deal for years and it's binding, is so that you
can have some sort of consistency. If it's just like
everybody should get to go do whatever they want, then
we don't even need a draft. You should be able
to come out of college, come out of Yukon, great school,
which you know, except for the basketball scandals. But come
(27:03):
out of Yukon. How dare you talk about Genoa. I'm
just out there. I want to talk about geno Orium
and you should come out and take your resume and
you're reel and say Hey, I played at Yukon. I'm
I'm grew up as a Nick fan, or I grew
up as a Celtics fan. I want to play for
the Celtic. It's only because of the collective bargaining that
you have to go wherever they tell you to govers
(27:23):
And my only point is it's not good because if
you're New Orleans, is this gonna happen to you in
four years with Zion? Are you gonna go through this
where there are cities and teams that people don't want
to play for that now will have this happen to
them time and time again because people are talked out
of it. Michael Jordan went to the Chicago Bulls. I
(27:46):
got news for you. The Bulls were awful, terrible. They
had one jack nothing. They would have laugh for Bulls,
That's how bad they were. Did he go all of
Chicago go, I'm gonna play for that sad sack organization.
I don't even want to go to the Lakers or
the Knicks or whatever it was back then. He played
(28:09):
it out, He played with the players that were to air,
and he wound up turning it into a juggernaut, a
dynasty winning six championships, not losing. Everybody doesn't have to
do that. I'm not saying I'm against free agency and
people moving, and neither Steve Kerry said that in this right,
I'm not. I am bothered by what Anthony Davis did
(28:30):
with a year and a half left. If he gave
them the high sign and said, hey, contracts up in
three or four months, I'm not going to resign. You
want to move me, I understand it. That's fair. But
to do that and put pressure and force an organization
to have to trade you and then and I blame
(28:52):
New Orleans. If I was a gem or the ownership,
I would have never traded with the Lakers. You would
have had to go to the Lakers somewhere else. And
remember Green Bay did the same exact thing to Brett Favre.
Where did he originally want to go? Do you remember Minnesota?
In the division? He wanted to go to Minnesota and
(29:12):
they said, no way, no, how are we sending you
to Minnesota, where they sent him to the AFC to
play with the Jets, and then he went on his
own to the Vikings the next year. Same thing with
Kawhi Leonard Oh, the Spurs should just trade him to
the Lakers. That's where he wants to go, and and
all that know where they trade him to NBA Siberia.
(29:34):
And I just mean it from because it's cold and
Toron with Drake like Christa. I'm just saying they sent
him all the way to Toronto because they weren't going
to give him to the Lakers. They We're gonna put
Kawai in a situation. And why reward a guy who's
dumping on you or leaving you in the lurch. I
(29:55):
would never do that. I would take a lesser trade
to not give him exactly what he wants if he's
done me wrong. And that's the only thing that I
agree with Steve Kerr Well. And to bring it to
another story today, I think that's what's so scary about
the Paul George situation because what the Paul George situation
said to me. And I think Anthony Davis was bad
enough two and a half year or one and a
half years, like you said, the Paul George situation with
(30:18):
two years left on his contract a year after he
signed it, the Thunder made the playoffs. When a guy
like that is demanding a trade, that's terrifying. To me,
if I'm an owner, if I'm a GM, if I'm
a coach, if I'm a role player, because what that
says is everyone is a free agent at every time
and it's just a matter of whether they're going to
(30:38):
cash in that chip or not. That to me, I
think it's terrifying what Paul George did. And by the way,
I'm with Steve Kerr one hundred percent. Anthony Davis signed
a five year, one hundred forty five million dollar contract
that he signed. It wasn't like he was forced to.
But when you signed that contract, it comes with responsibility.
They don't just hand you a check for thirty million
(30:59):
dollars a year without any responsibility. You gotta be the
face of the franchise. You gotta be the leader. You
gotta be there when things go bad. I was saying
about this today. Rough Imagine if you know, a couple
of weeks ago, I got married. Imagine if ma thank
you well. Imagine if first time I got I got
in a fight with my now wife. I just said, yeah,
you know, it's not really going well. You know it's
(31:21):
it's not going well. I'm gonna I'm just gonna go
over there now. Like, no, it doesn't. It doesn't feel
a minute. Did you have tapes of my marriage or okay,
I'm sorry. Oh so you're the Anthony davids a marriage,
the first first sign, first sign of adversity. You were
married for five years. But that's what I'm saying, well
longer than Anthony Davis, so, but that's what I'm saying.
When you sign a contract, there are obligations and you
(31:41):
don't just get to leave because the team isn't good
or it's not going the way. But the thing that's
crazy is they were actually good. They had swept That's
what I'm Portland the year before the playoffs and the
playoffs and they were They were moved at a squad,
they had a team which came out of nowhere all
of a sudden. He didn't want to be in New Orleans,
which I always think has to do with Lebron and
(32:01):
and Clutch Sports and those guys working behind the scenes
to try to help Lebron. It's always about Lebron, not
about Anthony Davison. Yeah. I agree, and I but I
to get back to the Steve Kirk comments. I just
think it is such a bad precedent for these players.
So i'd a thought today, Rob tell me if this
is crazy, is if you publicly demand a trade. This
(32:23):
is because this is my thought, right, all these guys,
they want to get traded, they want to go where
they want, they want their check. That's my problem. You're
getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a week, tens
of millions of dollars a year. Anthony Davis didn't even
play this year. This is my thought. You publicly demand
a trade, you automatically become deactivated and you don't get paid. Well,
(32:46):
the players Union want to go for it, but my
point is this is you can't. Just it's bad enough
when you are a guy that the team is counting on.
You demand a trade, but you still expect to sit
there and get paid. That's not how the real world works.
I agree with that, but it'd be hard to do that.
I'm just saying no, and I get it. My thing is,
I just wouldn't automatically trade somebody because I agree, and
(33:09):
I end up the hard part is, and I do
agree with I do believe in this. I don't want
somebody who doesn't want to be around like like you know,
like you see a situation with guys, they're like the
girl wants out of the relationship, but the guy won't
let it go, you know, like I don't want to
be with it. If she doesn't want to be with me,
why would you want to Why would you want to
try to make her stick around? Does that make any sense?
(33:32):
Of course? Yeah. But it's also to go back to
the marriage analogy, like at a certain point, you gotta
fight through stuff, you gotta fight through adversity. And that's
my issue with Anthony Davis. Like he said, they made
the playoffs last season. He's the face of the franchise.
He's supposed to be the reason. Paul George, you just
made the playoffs in Okase and now you want out
six months later. The only thing is I don't. I
(33:53):
don't I look at the Paul George a little different.
I really do, from the standpoint that he wasn't the
old casey face of the franchise even though they'd signed him.
And I agree with that. And he's an older player,
and he got an opportunity to go home and play
in and now if he went to me, if he
wanted out and went to what y'all would consider a
(34:15):
lateral move if he didn't have any ties to the
Lakers or Los Angeles. There's a there's a little bit
more to that in that he'd left Indiana, and then
I applauded him when he stated, Okay, see you remember
I had a chance to come to the Lakers, and
he didn't do it, and then he got into this
situation where this is presented to him. And I understand
(34:36):
your point is well taken. I look at Anthony Davis
differently because Anthony was the face. Anthony was the face
of that franchise. They drafted him. He was supposed to
turn the franchise around. Paul George was a player who
came from somewhere else. My bigger problem with Paul George, though,
is you could say he was the number two guy,
Westbrook's face of the franchise, the whole organization. As soon
(34:59):
he was the pin, you pull the pin out and
the you know, the everything deflates. The whole organization falls apart.
He's not the face of the franchise, but you have
to trade Russell Westbrook at that point you have to
start over. Billy Donovan's not gonna be back after this year.
That's my problem with Paul George. You can say he's
not the face of the franchise. It's still completely altered
the entire organization. Yeah, but they wouldn't want to decided
to get rid of Russell Westbrook after that. I mean,
(35:21):
you can't keep rebuilding. He's thirty years old. No, I'm
just saying. I mean they decided to pull the plug
on the whole thing, and hopefully people there got refunds
and uh, you know on season tickets, because I would
be like, this is not what I paid for. You
don't want to pay to see Chris Paul No, I
don't want to watch. It's unbelievable, like where that is
and where that franchise is, And people are like, oh,
(35:41):
dare they should buy him out? They go to the Lakers.
You're gonna buy it one hundred and fifty six million
or whatever it is that's left on that deal. No,
of course, not close, no way, no, you know it.
That ain't gonna happen. So I'm with Steve Kerr. I
thought the A A D thing sets a bad precedent,
and I think that if I'm New Orleans, I'm already
(36:02):
is Zion gonna be poisoned after a year or two
when people say, hey, look what happened to you, Zion.
You know, if you would have gone to the Knicks,
that Jordan deal would have been one hundred million. You know,
you went to New Orleans, it was only seventy five million.
You don't think that that plays in his head that
he's losing money by being there, because that's a perfect example.
(36:23):
Don't you think he would have made more money if
he was on the Knicks. I think he got basically
the biggest rookie contract ever for a shoe deal by
a couple of shekels. I'm not buying that you really
believe that. I think you would have gotten more for
the Knicks. What do you have gotten? That's my point?
So why should you play in the town where you're
making less to do the same thing. So you're saying
this is the end of small markets as we know.
I don't if people keep doing this, If this is
(36:44):
the way we go, this is something that's gonna have
to be changed. And what I think that if I'm
the commissioner, the only way you can do it is
either limit how many Max or Star contracts you can take,
like you have to classify guys in the groups and
you can only have two what I would call a classification.
(37:06):
You would be deemed one ABC and D contracts and
you can only have two. So the whole thing of
Lebron A D and them trying to get Kawhi would
have never been able to go because they already had
two eight A deals. What if you do see what
I'm saying. Yeah, but what if you drafted really well
like the Warriors, and you want to keep Steph Clay.
Your own players are different? And that's because that's the
(37:26):
way they pay. I'm talking about when you add players
who were not drafted, because that's how they even grandfather in.
You could pay the teams that draft players can pay
them more than if you go move. Every time Kawhi
Leonard has moved, he lost forty million dollars going from
the Spurs to Toronto. Then going from Toronto them up
to the Clippers, he lost fifty million. He lost ninety
(37:49):
million dollars because he made those two moves, so they
penalize you. He would be making ninety million more if
he would have stayed it with the Spurs. So I
think they have to do something like that.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!