May 24, 2025 • 34 mins
Rob and Kelvin explain why this ongoing soap opera between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese is turning sports fans off from the WNBA, debate whether Caitlin Clark or Shohei Ohtani is the more popular athlete in America, and argue whether the Indiana Pacers took Game 1 or if the New York Knicks gave it away.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Can I say this, I'm just gonna I'm gonna pull
a curtain back. I'm just gonna be honest. Okay, And
I'm that serious when I say this, what's going on
with the Caitlin Clark, Angel Reeves or whatever.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
This is the reason not to watch the.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
WNBA because we came there to watch basketball, right Kaitlyn
Clark was doing stuff where we were like, oh my god,
look at the three, the logo threes, Oh my god.
It was about the basketball, and instead, you know where
we are now. It's a bad episode of basketball wives.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
That's what we have. I'm not interested in that. I'm not.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Everything is a big deal. They're supposed to be ready
for prime time. They don't want to be criticized by
the media. Oh my god. They don't want to be foul.
Now I don't know what it is. Are you gonna
play basketball? Or is everything petty and personal? I don't
get it. They've been dying for this stage, dying for
(01:39):
their messiah. She showed up, she moves the needle. The
ratings aren't upticked, the attendance. How many times am I
gonna tell you she's the Harlem Globe trotters by herself
Calvin everywhere she shows up, she's the piper. And it
(02:02):
ain't rats following her mice. It's fans paying fans other
places against five six thousand people. She's selling out the building.
And now it's always something other than basketball? Really, is
that where we are? I'm dead serious. I'm not interested
(02:25):
in it. Soap proper, a basketball soaproper, I'm not. I
came for the basketball, and if it's not gonna be basketball,
why in the world would I be interested in this.
I don't know about you, but I'm out on the
WNBA out out until they get back to basketball.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So I don't mind what Angeur Reese and Caitlyn Clark
have going, right, I think that is absolutely It's what
you need. It's fun. We talk about it in most sports, right, competition.
I don't even care if it's tennis or golf. And
you got you got guys going at it, competing for championships.
Ladies going at it, competing for championships. That's what makes
stuff great, makes it compelling. However, I will say this,
(03:15):
you have to be careful. Somebody told me something a
long time ago that stuck with me. They said, you
gotta be careful because the thing that you can become
known for and liked for can also be the thing
that becomes your demise. And I give you an example
of that. I always use this example. I say, Rob G,
you've been hanging with us Crazy Steve? And Rob G says, yeah,
(03:36):
I love hangling crazy Steve. You never know we're gonna
get into man's wild crazy times. I love crazy Steve,
Steve the Sager. Why I didn't want to put him
out there. I didn't want to put Steve the Saga
out there.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I just called him by other than Steve the Saga.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then you say, hey, man, why don't you hay
with crazy Steve anymore?
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And he says, Man, crazy Steve is too crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Man.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Every time I hang with it, we get in trouble. Man,
stuff's going on, police.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And my fear for the w NBA, or at least
a concern I should say, is that this becomes too gimmicky.
Where now you go hardy know now who's gonna be
this one? Every little file is a thing. So while
I would love the competitiveness, I love the rivalry, I
love kind of the drama. We love that in all sports,
and I think it's a necessity and I think it's
something the NBA missed for quite some time. Just be
(04:21):
careful that it becomes sticky. Oh that's just here's the stick.
That's just what they do. And you want to make
sure it's basketball.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
We have to do our part as media and relax
to take something from your guy, Aaron Rodgers, are e lax,
Relax because that was just simply a hard file from
Caitlin Clark Changel Reese. It was our foul, good, good
basketball file. And for that to be a thing when
if that was in the NBA or college men's college basketball,
it wouldn't be a thing, and maybe even women's college
(04:50):
basketball wouldn't have been a conversation except for the two
would involve. So we have to be careful too, as
a media. We have to be careful too as referees
in the wnbas as missioners in the WBA, to not
blow everything out of proportion.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
They got it, it got chippy.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That should just be oh, they got chippy in a
competitive game, So what who cares?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Happens every night?
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Pick the sport, and so we have to be careful
that we don't dramatize and make everything a thing as well.
But as far as the firiness, the chippiness, uh, and
the competitiveness, I welcome it. I love it, but it
can't become a thing where they're selling me that on
too much, or that we dramatize and making the headlines
everywhere that one simple hard file happened, because the real
headline should have been Kayler Clark went crazy. They won
(05:31):
by the most points they've ever won by, believe, in
their franchise history, and it was a blowout, and she
was hitting threes all over the place, had a triple double.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
That should have been the headline.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
But instead the headline is a hard file, which really
wasn't that heart of a file so well.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
But that's why exactly my point is that.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
That that we came for the basketball, right agree what
is this like? Seriously, and when you do this, you
will turn people off because you'll only reason that they
started watching women's basketball because she was playing it differently
than all the women that played it. It wouldn't be
(06:08):
they ignored the WNBA for thirty years.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Let's up, come on, are you kidding? Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I think it's without a doubt her being the Stephena
Curry if you will, and then you know, yeah, you
know Stephena Curry. And then also because of the injuries
and her and drama and great basketball I was playing
played at the collegiate level that then transferred to the WNBA.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
So I think those are great things. But now you
want to carry it forward.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Have competitive games, right, Actual games that are back and forth,
buzzer beaters or close games or you know, within an
eight point get margin and you feeling like, well, this
is a good game to watch. So if you're angreel
Rees and her crew, we gotta get back to the
drawing board. We can't even getting blown out by thirty
five forty because you know, then all of a sudden,
we were way out of this thing and it's just
Caitlyn Clark dominating. So love the competition. Yes, we like
(06:53):
a little sauce in little drama and are mixed in
their little spice. But that can't become the only thing
that can't become the state. It can't because it will
turn a lot of people off.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
If that's what this is gonna be and everything's a
big deal and everything is personal, it just can't be that.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Let me man this real quick for a break.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Angury specifically is gonna have to watch this because she
she they're both very emotional, they both they they're very fiery.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
But I just don't I think anger rees.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I don't want her to get lost in the sauce
and get back to just playing ball as well, which
I think she tried to do in the second half.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
They just got blue out. But just you know, playball.
Do you be? You can continue to be who you are.
I got you. You don't want that.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I'm with you, and and they're both talented players.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Play play Because then if you're Angur, Oh what's she
gonna do tonight?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Is she gonna push somebody down?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
She's gonna you don't want you don't want that to
where it becomes people watch to see, Oh, is she
gonna have attitude?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Slam? Somebody. You know, you don't.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You don't want that because she's a heck of a
player in her role. Defense, it's rebound aggression, fire up
her team, that's her role.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
It'd be nice for her to make a few more
basket You heard, you heard what I said. You heard,
you heard rebound blocks energy.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Okay, I'm just saying that even I know she's focused
on that.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Okay, I'm just trying. That's highlights around here. You and
you want at.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Least know that I looked at the stat line when
it comes to shots, right, Okay.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
I just wanted to.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Say that that's a little like you got to know
how to like skip that part.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Skip. You gotta do that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
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 3 (08:36):
Kelvin, I'll let you start on this thing here because
this will be one of your low points on The
Odd Couple.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Yeah, just be careful.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I just want you, okay, I want you. You know
you want to have a long career here too. Okay,
So go ahead, Rob g set this up so Kelvin. Yeah,
you you you were where you were going. We had
some conversation, right Roger.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
We already know.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I saw the bad take on that, and I was
glad I didn't work that night.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
That was obviously at night I wasn't working.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Okay, Well, just to give you a pull the curtain
back on what happened in the odd couple group chat,
Rob Parker, of course, you know I'm a.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Reporter, but anything baseball related.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Trying to show I'm going to make sure you act
like a public relations officer.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Wait a minute, do I send you stories? It could
be about any sport? Do I put in the group chat? Yes?
You do?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Okay, So I don't just put baseball no, no, but
you hardcore pr with.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Bad eight fifty seven am.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Quiet was Rob Parker sent a screenshot that he took
the night before and eleven twenty to me, and it's
a screenshot of the Sunday Night baseball TV ratings. Sunday's
Mets Yankees game average two point five four million viewers,
the most watched in that baseball broadcast since August of
twenty eighteen. That's a big number, that's a long time
(09:53):
great for them. Twenty fifteen, twenty eighteen. The only problem
is also on Sunday, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever
in their season opening against Angel Reese and the Chicago
Sky averaged two point seven million viewers, peaked at three
point one million on ABC, making it the largest w
(10:14):
NBA audience ever on an ESPN network.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
That of course, Now wait a minute, it was on ABC.
It was, but ESPN and ABC partnership.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It was on over the air television. Rob Parker, get
to the point, Kelvin, you know television.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I do know.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Television is spectrum cable, the same as one of the
local stations over the air channels.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
No, you can't say that. I'll give you that. No, no, no,
you can't be And I'm just telling you that's true.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
But I'm gonna give you all numbers because more people
have free TV didn't have.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
But I'm gonna give you here's the difference.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Go ahead, just gonna make I will concede that more
twenty years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
You either have cable or you don't.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Like everybody's watching, there's no such thing as like I
have TV with you have cable.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Everybody doesn't have And you can access everything now through online,
So watching something on two four seven based.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Off it's not the same. Also, your numbers are not
the same as k NBC and LOSS. I don't care
how many people have cable. Your numbers do not match
up with the local TV stations. I'm talking about the
raw numbers of people watching.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I'm convinced that a surprise, don't be surprised, We'll bring
in some numbers, because here's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It ain't just saying cable is never even given the
NFL games.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Gee, this is why this is a great conversation for
the NBA. The fact that he has to go the
semantics of it shows how well this is for the
w n b A that we have to go to
the justifications of the semantic point.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
No, this is part of the point.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So we had the conversation that prior to even this
is prior to those numbers. The impetus was the w
n b A commissioner. She came out and she said,
Haitlyn Clark is the biggest American sports, most popular American
athlete right now. And she later then clarified and said
under thirty. But initially she said that so Carrie Rose
(12:12):
and I had the conversation way. I mean, I know
she's very popular, she top five, and so we came
to she's top five, you got Lebron, you got Steph
you have Patrick Mahomes and then I said she's probably four,
and Rob g brought up Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
So I was like, all right, Aaron Rodgers right there,
and but we had her.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
In the five and I said, it's interesting that neither
of us are any of us Rob GI either put
a baseball player ahead of her in popularity not obviously,
finances not obviously, and the key part being domestically because
show hey, obviously in the continent of Asia is going
crazy with the numbers, but domestically, And that was our point.
And another person called and brought up one other one
(12:48):
and I said, oh wow, I would put this person
above all too, maybe even Brother Caitlin with some own bios.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I said, oh yeah, that some own bios for sure.
I just threw up in my mouth. You don't think
some moan bios. No, don't go ahead, Hold on, I
don't go ahead. I'm not gonna lie. You can't say that,
can or can No, you can't. You can't someone's definitely big. No,
I'm agreeing with you. H you agree with me, Rob,
You can't say that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
You cannot tell me Simone Biles is not bigger than
anyone you'd like to name an MLB. It is not
even a knock on MLB as much as it's a
compliment to to how big.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
That is the point.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Okay, your point that Kaylin Clark when we were having
a conversation and it wasn't even But this.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Is typical, Okay, this is prisoner of the moment she's
in the talking about. Okay, but she's in a league
that averages nine thousand people, nine thousand and Yes, all
the numbers are great this this time around for her
first year, because they were so lousy. They didn't go
up a thousand percent. They went up forty eight percent.
(13:52):
Attendance forty eight When she plays at home or when
she goes she doesn't sell out every game that she
plays at at home today sell out absolutely just still
in the league that has five and six thousand people.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
But I'm talking about her.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
This is what I'm trying to tell you is the
league was so bad that her influence. You think that
everybody in America's watching a WNBA or looking at Caitlin
Clark and the numbers are astronomical.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
They're not.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
There were even some games in the NCAA tournament we
talked about where the women's game had very similar numbers.
She got she bested them, but they were very similar.
So it's not like it was off the charts or whatever.
And when you talk about show, hey, yes, internationally, but
you cannot discount him nationally. And what Joe Theisman, an
(14:48):
NFL MVP, just talked about is true. We're watching something
we've never seen. There's no way Caitlyn Clark is bigger
than shoe Hail Tani international or nationally. There's no way
that Caitlin Clark is bigger than Aaron Judge. I don't
care he that he hasn't won a championship. There's no way.
(15:10):
When you talk about the sales, the ticket sales at
Yankee Stadium, his jersey sales, the numbers. When you talk
about baseball, you always look at the same thing. Well,
a national game of one sixty two. They played forty
WNBA games and still forty four zero.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Compared to one sixty two.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
It's like when people judge a Major League baseball game
against an NFL game. Well, if baseball had sixteen or
seventeen games, not one sixty two. If I don't watch
Tuesday night's Dodger game, I know I can watch Wednesday.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
I know I can watch Thursday.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
If there were sixteen seventeen baseball games a year, you
wouldn't be able to get a Dodger ticket. The reason
that the NFL dropped the blackout rob g When you
were growing up there were blackouts, right, Why did they
drop blackouts?
Speaker 4 (16:02):
They can't sell out the stadium. They can't. They used
to have an eighty five percent.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You grew up in Detroit who used to have to
buy the ticket so that we could see.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
The Lions games? Aren't van? Am I right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
They used to have to buy the tickets because they
couldn't sell out the stadium. And my point is sometimes
I think people get caught up when you look at
Major League Baseball. They sell seventy three million tickets. This
is not people you gotta buy tickets.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Go to the ballpark.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
You got seventy three million during the summer when there's
a million things to go and do. When you talk
about the NFL, you have a captive audience.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's wintertime. Where are we going? Let me see, do.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I want to go to church or do I want
to stay home and watch football?
Speaker 4 (16:51):
What are my options in the summer.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I have so many different, so many different options to
go see and do in the summer, and they still draw.
It's unbelievable. We've we've seen these record numbers April and May.
It's not even the best weather of the year, the
best time to go to baseball.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
I just don't think are you done?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
I'm not done, But I'm just gonna tell you the
idea that she's bigger than Shoe hal Tony is laughable.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Everything just said was about attendance going to a game.
I just said that I don't disagree that people sell
out Dodger State and people sell out Yankee saying you're right.
Aaron Judge can walk around so much of America and
a lot of people wouldn't know who he is.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
And that's just a batch a cop. That's not a compass.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Is he's six foot eighty.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Aaron Gordon? They would think that was Aaron Gordon. Rob rob.
Nobody's questioning nobody. You're taking it personal on it as
an insult on base it's an insult period. Judge is
a star, but you can substitute him, no, Trout, No,
you can substitute him with Bryce Opera.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
No you can't, baseball simply, no you can.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It is a truth when when you talk about white
Caitlyn Clark, everybody.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Knows who she is. If she's walking by, no, they.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Don't, yes her minions, no, no, no, ro Literally the
last two to three years, everyone knows who she is.
Because of the controversy, you got grown men arguing about her.
No argument is not even about her. They would arguing
plenty about her, and so they go past it. But
(18:32):
you got people arguing about her. You got people who
never used to watch watching I'm not questioning does baseball
have a fan base? That's not the argument. Does baseball
have loyalists? Does baseball enjoyable? Absolutely? The question simply was
right now, we're talking about the most popular athletes in America.
I don't think a single baseball player is larger than
obviously Lebron Obviously, Steph you said obviously, Mahomes said, obviously,
(18:56):
can this sound crazy?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
You went to spring training and you saw the crowds
to go show hail tany did you not?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I just told you. Okay, but you're saying most of
them came from No, they did not. Would you stop?
You're gonna say they came from Japan? Rob, I literally
did stories on it. A lot of them. People came.
Everybody came, every live here. No, they flew in from Japan,
first train, and.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
There were literally, like, I'm asking you, how many passports
did you check?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Come on, Calvin, I literally interview people. I mean, how
are you kidding me? How many did you interview? And
they all came from Japan? No?
Speaker 4 (19:31):
How they how did they speak to you? Don't want
to talk to me? Okay? Did they have an interpreter? Actually?
Literally some people did? What are you talking about? Man?
You did? You're kidding yourself? How much everybody was there? See?
This is the word.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Now you're making it personal because now you're saying as
if I wasn't there and talking to people.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
No, I don't believe that everybody was from the percentage
I'm asking you, I'm not American.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I know a lot of people literally telling us all
these signs I came from Japan?
Speaker 4 (19:57):
How many? How many?
Speaker 1 (19:58):
How many people did you see? The song said I
came one hundred and forty people there. You do realize
there's not a lot of people there. It's just instead
of there being twenty, there were one hundred and twenty
rob spring training people there to get ball signed. You
acting like it's a thousand people, there was like one
hundred and fifty two hundred, which normally it's twenty to thirty.
So the idea that show Hey is massive, Yes, especially internationally.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Nobody's nobody arguing that. No, you're trying to be little
him the same. I guess you walk because you're using
the term internationally. It's not just internationally. He is a
huge star in this country. But the conversation is Pateley, No,
he's no.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
But and that's the count nobody's questioning talking about all
you're talking about it.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Oh yeah, internationally because the Asian people like him, so yeah,
and because you have a whole state. He's a huge star.
When the Dodgers go anywhere, they sell out, they you're
naming baseball fans. Nobody's questioning if I buy a ticket
to Kendrick Lamar's tomorrow, guess who else gonna be there?
A bunch of Kendrick Lamar fans. Rob Duh duh.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You're literally telling me the people who are going to
a baseball stadium, why would they not know show hal tany.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
That's not what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
That's exactly what you said. If you say that they
don't know you're going to because they said you see
the game conversation, it's not that's no, that's the point
of popularity. People know Taylor Swift whether they go to
a Taylor Swift concert or not. Exert true rob Gi,
(21:34):
rob Gie, have you ever been to a Taylor Swift concert?
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Negative? Do you know who Taylor Swift is? I do,
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Ask Kelvin rob G. How many Caitlyn Clark games he's taken.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
His kids, his wife and kids. I was on I
just at the spot to ask you see Caitlyn Clark.
Did you guys literally went and saw her play the
Sparks last season?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
How many? Asking me questions when I answered, you don't
want to. How many jerseys have you bought your daughters
for Caitlyn Clark? Who's so I don't have a single
jersey of anything of any sport. She's so popular she.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Is, though I don't even understand this is debatable like
you're making it as if this is an indictment in
baseball is the worst thing.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
This is just a comment baseball.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Baseball has not done a masterful job, a huge totally
within the sport.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Absolutely, I totally disagree. I just don't think that this
is a narrative that people have been saying about baseball forever.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
They've been saying everybody at some point ball twenty five
years or thirty I've been hearing it. Not this, it's
but it's extraordinarily region, it's it's it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
And that's fine. No, it's not, and that's fine. India
and the Indiana fever or whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
No.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Nine Clark, nine thousand people. Caitlin Clark, nine thousand people. Okay,
I don't even know how this is debatable.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
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 1 (23:06):
I mean, first and foremost, let's just go back to
the setup of these two teams matched up last year.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
You and I talked about it. Obviously, Jalen Brunton.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Now kind of changes if you're the Nicks you say,
this is what would have been if he played, and
so on and so forth. But the two teams get here,
we're excited about it. Rivalry renewed. They played like six
times in the nineties, ninety three to two thousand, So
a little bit of hype involved, not to mention Pacer
fan getting beat up by with some garbage backs. So
a little bit of hype going into this one man,
And I mean the biggest thing for me. We'll break
(23:35):
it down, but you jump straight to the headline. And
I'm sure a lot of people either went to bed
rob or woke up today saying that the Knicks choked.
And I completely understand that, and Tyrius Holliburton did the
Regi Miller choke. But to me, this was different than
the Regi Miller one. This to me was an absolute
(23:57):
offensive clinic from the last three minut's in fourteen seconds
into overtime as well from the Indiana Pacers. And every
now and again you have to just tip your cap
to somebody. Every now and again, you just got to
tip your cap to a team. And I think that's
what we saw last night. The Knicks were playing phenomenally.
The Knicks were controlling the game. The Knicks were on fire,
(24:20):
and the Knicks were playing at an offensive rate. They
had not played in the playoffs for the most of
the playoffs this season, so they were doing everything right.
They were keeping them under check, they were getting all
the buckets they needed. Your two duos finally had a
great game together. We have not seen Carlthony Towns ball
heck out and Jaylen Brunson do it at the same
(24:40):
time to the tune of seventy eight points. So to me,
we just saw something historic. I think that's what we witnessed.
We saw something we'd never seen before. When you start
to dive into these numbers, well, what you saw from
Nie Smith you never seen before. Right, he goes six
threes in the four quarter, which is a playoff in
(25:01):
the four quarter, which is playoff record. You have Tyrese
Haliburton setting records when it comes to what he's doing
in the clutch. We'll get to that a little bit
later on in this show. You got a team that
was able to score forty something points from five minutes
left in the game into the overtime as well. That's
just phenomenal. And for nine Smith not to miss a three,
not to miss his free throws. Halliburton hit a couple
(25:24):
buckets as well. To me, I just think we saw
an offensive clinic. We saw a guy get on fire
to the tune of We've Never Seen And I think
the Knicks were gassed without a doubt. But when your
duo gives you seventy eight points, you score a bunch
of points. You even score. It wasn't like it was
a twenty zero run like the Knicks did to the
Pistons in round one.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
They scored the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
They scored eight points in the last several minutes, and
they scored it ended up being twenty four points the
last five minutes in overtime, so they were scoring buckets.
I just simply think we saw something historic. We saw
something we'd literally never seen. And I think that offensive
explosion of what the Pacers are capable of, they put
that on them. So to me, there was a letdown.
They gassed, without a doubt, they got gassed. But the
(26:06):
Pacers flat out won that thing. They stole that thing,
and they did something we never seen offensively, and get
I tipped my cap to them more so than the Knicks.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Choked.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
You're crazy, and nobody's buying that what you're selling because
the guy himself and you even mentioned it. I'm glad
you did. But for the guy himself to make a
choke sign tells you that he believes that what just
took place was a choke job. Everybody else watching except
you and I don't care what they did. The Pacers
(26:36):
and I get it seven for seven and the Knicks
missed twelve free throws.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
You out the game. The Knicks did not do what
they needed to do to seal that game.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And when you talk about seeing something you never saw before,
and you don't think it's a choke. In the previous
nine hundred and ninety four games where somebody led by
fourteen points with two minutes and thirty eight seconds, the
record was nine hundred and ninety four and zero. Oh,
that's an automatic win. I don't care what anybody else
the other team is doing. It's a choke job. No,
(27:07):
it's a choke job. You have to win that game.
The idea that you could call it anything else. The
Pacers would call it a choke, announcers call it a choke,
Nicks call it, nixt call it a choke. They didn't
go there. You're not tipping your cap I don't care
what they did. The Knicks insecure what is almost an
(27:30):
automatic absolute win the almost a thousand games where that
same scenario.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
If it wasn't, you wouldn't look at it that way.
It would have been thought, I'm not I'm glad you
brought it up. No, because that's a history.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
No, it's no.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
But it's the ultimate choke job. This is a game
you were supposed to win. Go look at any other
scenario or circumstance and you can't come up with this
and think, oh yeah, let's just hip hop cap to.
They have to do their part. That's always a case
for any team that chokes. So this is not new
And I get what you're saying, oh, well, they made
(28:08):
this show. Well, we just saw Cleveland choke at the
end right against the Pacers. We saw the Boston's Celtics choke.
But even in the Celtics case, with the Knicks twenty
point lead in the second half, not with two thirty
eight left, there's a big difference. The Celtics choked down
(28:29):
a twenty point lead in the second half. They didn't
choke down a twenty point lead in the last two
minutes and thirty eight seconds.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Now, I'm glad you said all that because that goes
back to my point. If this doesn't happen in a
thousand games, that shows you that this is the anomaly.
This is the thing that never happens before. This being
a team scoring twenty three points in the final three
to fourteen regulation, the most in the regulation of a
playoff game in the play by play era, again never happens.
(28:56):
Nee Smith finished with thirty going eight for nine and three,
including six threes in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
That's what you want, So that's my point.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
That's right, and that's why it's a choke because it
doesn't happen.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
It's you're you're you're looking at it the other.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Way, right, we are a couple of this. No, but
that's not what No one is gonna agree that.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
No one is gonna agree with you because it's a
choke job.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
That's a game you have to win.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Guys, that does not happen.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
But it doesn't matter because if the Knicks would have
done what they should have done, which.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Is not allow them, right, Okay, you just said the
guys hot on it on the threes, then maybe you
have to make sure that you can't give him airspace.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
They were trying. No, they they took.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Their foot off the gas thinking the game was over
and they got burned. And we've seen this teams against
what you want to read a stat there's like five
games that have happened where a team has come back
from a ridiculous amount of points at the end.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Right, I'm gonna get I'm gonna find it.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
But it's like five games and uh, the teams will
come back to like five and one, and the Praises
have done it three times this year. And when you
looked at it, you didn't go, oh, yeah, well, the
idea that Tyrese Halliburton would grab his throat tells you
because he knows deep down.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
He didn't go, oh my god, we just did something
that was never been done. And did you see that?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
No, anybody who played basketball would look at that and go,
they choke.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
And here's what I'm saying, show number one.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
He absolutely was gonna do that because a Reggie Miller's there,
b they stole the game from him.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
But what I'm saying that that's a choke, soign That's not.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
What I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
But what I'm saying explain that it's what I'm saying
is literally because Reggie Miller is sitting there, Rob, what
does that have to do with what I'm saying. They
stole the game for sure, nout a doubt, and he
stole it on so why why would he better? Because
it's a celebration from a comeback that Regi Miller did
and they did and if you want to call the job,
that is the easy thing to do.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I'm not mad at that, duh. I think I think
most of what you're saying is true. Everybody's gonna say
the truth. I viewed it as watching that game, going, man, okay,
you gotta get a stop. The Pacers don't get a stop.
You gotta get a stop. They don't get a stop.
You got okay, you follow them. They make a free throw,
they didn't make one, and the Pacers come down and
all of a sudden three three, and you're like, wait
a minute, they're in this game, and they kept competing
(31:31):
and they stole it. And then to me, they went
out there and took that game. That's all I'm saying.
It wasn't as if the Knicks couldn't score. They did score.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
It wasn't. And if Jalen Brownson had a terrible game
and it.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Only not scor three points, not scoring is not the
way you could choke a game. You could also choke
a game by by not defending and not stopping the
other team from scoring and making the right plays and
making free throws. You even talked about it.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
That free throw.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You don't think that changes the game that But my
point is they only missed a couple. It wasn't like
donad straight dude six threes and he didn't miss. Rob
Halliburton hits a big three knee, they go to overtime,
and then Niem Barber hits a three like they literally
were hitting everything to the tune of Halliburton, who is
now is he the most clutch dude in the NBA?
(32:17):
Did he snatched that title from Jalen Brunton. We'll talk
about that later in the show. And I get the
I get the the choke. I totally get it. I
knew he was gonna do it in a real time.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I don't know how you could look at at Halliburton
who makes a choke sign and then say it wasn't
a choke.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
But because that is an immediate response, No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
You did something that was unbelievable that no one had
ever done.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
You don't have to do a choke thing. It was
a choke game problem. You are a man who loves history.
He's well versed. They know they talked about it.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Again.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You're one of your mentors, Regi Miller. You're in New York.
We literally know what Regi Miller did in Madison Square.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Garden to the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
So what I'm saying is that Reggie Miller was at
a choke job by the Knicks when they lost that game.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
But that was a choke John because there's eight seconds left.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
But but Reggie made all the shots, So why why
is he for it was only eight second doesn't matter
to me? Had right, I had to score a bunch
of points from three minutes. I had to carry into
overtime and continue the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
The Knicks did what Reggie Miller did where he scored
nine points in eight seconds or whatever.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
I know what that was almost to make that was
watching that live was my favorite basketball moments.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Well that's what I'm trying to say. I know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
People are like the Knicks choked and That's what Reggie said,
because he knew that that that shouldn't have happened that
because I'm saying that was an eight seconds you're up
like that with eight seconds, I'm saying this one, the
Pacers literally paced themselves and found a way to come back.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
And make every shot they made.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
It wasn't like they were missing, and they just made
every shot from there on all.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
So to me, they did something history.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
I give them a lot of credit, and the Knicks
had to make blunders that you can't come back without that,
So it's not as if they're inexcusable or there. You know,
there's not any blame on the Knicks without a doubt.
But I'm saying I watched that thing and a large
portion of that, to me was man and the Pacers
went out and stole that game. They took it from them,
and they made historic shots that we've literally never seen
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 3 (00:25):
Can I say this, I'm just gonna I'm gonna pull
a curtain back. I'm just gonna be honest. Okay, And
I'm that serious when I say this, what's going on
with the Caitlin Clark, Angel Reeves or whatever.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
This is the reason not to watch the.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
WNBA because we came there to watch basketball, right Kaitlyn
Clark was doing stuff where we were like, oh my god,
look at the three, the logo threes, Oh my god.
It was about the basketball, and instead, you know where
we are now. It's a bad episode of basketball wives.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
That's what we have. I'm not interested in that. I'm not.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Everything is a big deal. They're supposed to be ready
for prime time. They don't want to be criticized by
the media. Oh my god. They don't want to be foul.
Now I don't know what it is. Are you gonna
play basketball? Or is everything petty and personal? I don't
get it. They've been dying for this stage, dying for
(01:39):
their messiah. She showed up, she moves the needle. The
ratings aren't upticked, the attendance. How many times am I
gonna tell you she's the Harlem Globe trotters by herself
Calvin everywhere she shows up, she's the piper. And it
(02:02):
ain't rats following her mice. It's fans paying fans other
places against five six thousand people. She's selling out the building.
And now it's always something other than basketball? Really, is
that where we are? I'm dead serious. I'm not interested
(02:25):
in it. Soap proper, a basketball soaproper, I'm not. I
came for the basketball, and if it's not gonna be basketball,
why in the world would I be interested in this.
I don't know about you, but I'm out on the
WNBA out out until they get back to basketball.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So I don't mind what Angeur Reese and Caitlyn Clark
have going, right, I think that is absolutely It's what
you need. It's fun. We talk about it in most sports, right, competition.
I don't even care if it's tennis or golf. And
you got you got guys going at it, competing for championships.
Ladies going at it, competing for championships. That's what makes
stuff great, makes it compelling. However, I will say this,
(03:15):
you have to be careful. Somebody told me something a
long time ago that stuck with me. They said, you
gotta be careful because the thing that you can become
known for and liked for can also be the thing
that becomes your demise. And I give you an example
of that. I always use this example. I say, Rob G,
you've been hanging with us Crazy Steve? And Rob G says, yeah,
(03:36):
I love hangling crazy Steve. You never know we're gonna
get into man's wild crazy times. I love crazy Steve,
Steve the Sager. Why I didn't want to put him
out there. I didn't want to put Steve the Saga
out there.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I just called him by other than Steve the Saga.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then you say, hey, man, why don't you hay
with crazy Steve anymore?
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And he says, Man, crazy Steve is too crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Man.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Every time I hang with it, we get in trouble. Man,
stuff's going on, police.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And my fear for the w NBA, or at least
a concern I should say, is that this becomes too gimmicky.
Where now you go hardy know now who's gonna be
this one? Every little file is a thing. So while
I would love the competitiveness, I love the rivalry, I
love kind of the drama. We love that in all sports,
and I think it's a necessity and I think it's
something the NBA missed for quite some time. Just be
(04:21):
careful that it becomes sticky. Oh that's just here's the stick.
That's just what they do. And you want to make
sure it's basketball.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
We have to do our part as media and relax
to take something from your guy, Aaron Rodgers, are e lax,
Relax because that was just simply a hard file from
Caitlin Clark Changel Reese. It was our foul, good, good
basketball file. And for that to be a thing when
if that was in the NBA or college men's college basketball,
it wouldn't be a thing, and maybe even women's college
(04:50):
basketball wouldn't have been a conversation except for the two
would involve. So we have to be careful too, as
a media. We have to be careful too as referees
in the wnbas as missioners in the WBA, to not
blow everything out of proportion.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
They got it, it got chippy.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That should just be oh, they got chippy in a
competitive game, So what who cares?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Happens every night?
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Pick the sport, and so we have to be careful
that we don't dramatize and make everything a thing as well.
But as far as the firiness, the chippiness, uh, and
the competitiveness, I welcome it. I love it, but it
can't become a thing where they're selling me that on
too much, or that we dramatize and making the headlines
everywhere that one simple hard file happened, because the real
headline should have been Kayler Clark went crazy. They won
(05:31):
by the most points they've ever won by, believe, in
their franchise history, and it was a blowout, and she
was hitting threes all over the place, had a triple double.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
That should have been the headline.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
But instead the headline is a hard file, which really
wasn't that heart of a file so well.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
But that's why exactly my point is that.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
That that we came for the basketball, right agree what
is this like? Seriously, and when you do this, you
will turn people off because you'll only reason that they
started watching women's basketball because she was playing it differently
than all the women that played it. It wouldn't be
(06:08):
they ignored the WNBA for thirty years.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Let's up, come on, are you kidding? Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I think it's without a doubt her being the Stephena
Curry if you will, and then you know, yeah, you
know Stephena Curry. And then also because of the injuries
and her and drama and great basketball I was playing
played at the collegiate level that then transferred to the WNBA.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
So I think those are great things. But now you
want to carry it forward.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Have competitive games, right, Actual games that are back and forth,
buzzer beaters or close games or you know, within an
eight point get margin and you feeling like, well, this
is a good game to watch. So if you're angreel
Rees and her crew, we gotta get back to the
drawing board. We can't even getting blown out by thirty
five forty because you know, then all of a sudden,
we were way out of this thing and it's just
Caitlyn Clark dominating. So love the competition. Yes, we like
(06:53):
a little sauce in little drama and are mixed in
their little spice. But that can't become the only thing
that can't become the state. It can't because it will
turn a lot of people off.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
If that's what this is gonna be and everything's a
big deal and everything is personal, it just can't be that.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Let me man this real quick for a break.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Angury specifically is gonna have to watch this because she
she they're both very emotional, they both they they're very fiery.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
But I just don't I think anger rees.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I don't want her to get lost in the sauce
and get back to just playing ball as well, which
I think she tried to do in the second half.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
They just got blue out. But just you know, playball.
Do you be? You can continue to be who you are.
I got you. You don't want that.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I'm with you, and and they're both talented players.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Play play Because then if you're Angur, Oh what's she
gonna do tonight?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Is she gonna push somebody down?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
She's gonna you don't want you don't want that to
where it becomes people watch to see, Oh, is she
gonna have attitude?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Slam? Somebody. You know, you don't.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You don't want that because she's a heck of a
player in her role. Defense, it's rebound aggression, fire up
her team, that's her role.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
It'd be nice for her to make a few more
basket You heard, you heard what I said. You heard,
you heard rebound blocks energy.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Okay, I'm just saying that even I know she's focused
on that.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Okay, I'm just trying. That's highlights around here. You and
you want at.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Least know that I looked at the stat line when
it comes to shots, right, Okay.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
I just wanted to.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Say that that's a little like you got to know
how to like skip that part.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Skip. You gotta do that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
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 3 (08:36):
Kelvin, I'll let you start on this thing here because
this will be one of your low points on The
Odd Couple.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Yeah, just be careful.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I just want you, okay, I want you. You know
you want to have a long career here too. Okay,
So go ahead, Rob g set this up so Kelvin. Yeah,
you you you were where you were going. We had
some conversation, right Roger.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
We already know.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I saw the bad take on that, and I was
glad I didn't work that night.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
That was obviously at night I wasn't working.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Okay, Well, just to give you a pull the curtain
back on what happened in the odd couple group chat,
Rob Parker, of course, you know I'm a.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Reporter, but anything baseball related.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Trying to show I'm going to make sure you act
like a public relations officer.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Wait a minute, do I send you stories? It could
be about any sport? Do I put in the group chat? Yes?
You do?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Okay, So I don't just put baseball no, no, but
you hardcore pr with.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Bad eight fifty seven am.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Quiet was Rob Parker sent a screenshot that he took
the night before and eleven twenty to me, and it's
a screenshot of the Sunday Night baseball TV ratings. Sunday's
Mets Yankees game average two point five four million viewers,
the most watched in that baseball broadcast since August of
twenty eighteen. That's a big number, that's a long time
(09:53):
great for them. Twenty fifteen, twenty eighteen. The only problem
is also on Sunday, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever
in their season opening against Angel Reese and the Chicago
Sky averaged two point seven million viewers, peaked at three
point one million on ABC, making it the largest w
(10:14):
NBA audience ever on an ESPN network.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
That of course, Now wait a minute, it was on ABC.
It was, but ESPN and ABC partnership.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It was on over the air television. Rob Parker, get
to the point, Kelvin, you know television.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I do know.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Television is spectrum cable, the same as one of the
local stations over the air channels.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
No, you can't say that. I'll give you that. No, no, no,
you can't be And I'm just telling you that's true.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
But I'm gonna give you all numbers because more people
have free TV didn't have.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
But I'm gonna give you here's the difference.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Go ahead, just gonna make I will concede that more
twenty years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
You either have cable or you don't.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Like everybody's watching, there's no such thing as like I
have TV with you have cable.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Everybody doesn't have And you can access everything now through online,
So watching something on two four seven based.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Off it's not the same. Also, your numbers are not
the same as k NBC and LOSS. I don't care
how many people have cable. Your numbers do not match
up with the local TV stations. I'm talking about the
raw numbers of people watching.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I'm convinced that a surprise, don't be surprised, We'll bring
in some numbers, because here's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It ain't just saying cable is never even given the
NFL games.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Gee, this is why this is a great conversation for
the NBA. The fact that he has to go the
semantics of it shows how well this is for the
w n b A that we have to go to
the justifications of the semantic point.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
No, this is part of the point.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So we had the conversation that prior to even this
is prior to those numbers. The impetus was the w
n b A commissioner. She came out and she said,
Haitlyn Clark is the biggest American sports, most popular American
athlete right now. And she later then clarified and said
under thirty. But initially she said that so Carrie Rose
(12:12):
and I had the conversation way. I mean, I know
she's very popular, she top five, and so we came
to she's top five, you got Lebron, you got Steph
you have Patrick Mahomes and then I said she's probably four,
and Rob g brought up Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
So I was like, all right, Aaron Rodgers right there,
and but we had her.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
In the five and I said, it's interesting that neither
of us are any of us Rob GI either put
a baseball player ahead of her in popularity not obviously,
finances not obviously, and the key part being domestically because
show hey, obviously in the continent of Asia is going
crazy with the numbers, but domestically, And that was our point.
And another person called and brought up one other one
(12:48):
and I said, oh wow, I would put this person
above all too, maybe even Brother Caitlin with some own bios.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
I said, oh yeah, that some own bios for sure.
I just threw up in my mouth. You don't think
some moan bios. No, don't go ahead, Hold on, I
don't go ahead. I'm not gonna lie. You can't say that,
can or can No, you can't. You can't someone's definitely big. No,
I'm agreeing with you. H you agree with me, Rob,
You can't say that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
You cannot tell me Simone Biles is not bigger than
anyone you'd like to name an MLB. It is not
even a knock on MLB as much as it's a
compliment to to how big.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
That is the point.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Okay, your point that Kaylin Clark when we were having
a conversation and it wasn't even But this.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Is typical, Okay, this is prisoner of the moment she's
in the talking about. Okay, but she's in a league
that averages nine thousand people, nine thousand and Yes, all
the numbers are great this this time around for her
first year, because they were so lousy. They didn't go
up a thousand percent. They went up forty eight percent.
(13:52):
Attendance forty eight When she plays at home or when
she goes she doesn't sell out every game that she
plays at at home today sell out absolutely just still
in the league that has five and six thousand people.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
But I'm talking about her.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
This is what I'm trying to tell you is the
league was so bad that her influence. You think that
everybody in America's watching a WNBA or looking at Caitlin
Clark and the numbers are astronomical.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
They're not.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
There were even some games in the NCAA tournament we
talked about where the women's game had very similar numbers.
She got she bested them, but they were very similar.
So it's not like it was off the charts or whatever.
And when you talk about show, hey, yes, internationally, but
you cannot discount him nationally. And what Joe Theisman, an
(14:48):
NFL MVP, just talked about is true. We're watching something
we've never seen. There's no way Caitlyn Clark is bigger
than shoe Hail Tani international or nationally. There's no way
that Caitlin Clark is bigger than Aaron Judge. I don't
care he that he hasn't won a championship. There's no way.
(15:10):
When you talk about the sales, the ticket sales at
Yankee Stadium, his jersey sales, the numbers. When you talk
about baseball, you always look at the same thing. Well,
a national game of one sixty two. They played forty
WNBA games and still forty four zero.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Compared to one sixty two.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
It's like when people judge a Major League baseball game
against an NFL game. Well, if baseball had sixteen or
seventeen games, not one sixty two. If I don't watch
Tuesday night's Dodger game, I know I can watch Wednesday.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
I know I can watch Thursday.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
If there were sixteen seventeen baseball games a year, you
wouldn't be able to get a Dodger ticket. The reason
that the NFL dropped the blackout rob g When you
were growing up there were blackouts, right, Why did they
drop blackouts?
Speaker 4 (16:02):
They can't sell out the stadium. They can't. They used
to have an eighty five percent.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You grew up in Detroit who used to have to
buy the ticket so that we could see.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
The Lions games? Aren't van? Am I right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
They used to have to buy the tickets because they
couldn't sell out the stadium. And my point is sometimes
I think people get caught up when you look at
Major League Baseball. They sell seventy three million tickets. This
is not people you gotta buy tickets.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Go to the ballpark.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
You got seventy three million during the summer when there's
a million things to go and do. When you talk
about the NFL, you have a captive audience.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's wintertime. Where are we going? Let me see, do.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I want to go to church or do I want
to stay home and watch football?
Speaker 4 (16:51):
What are my options in the summer.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I have so many different, so many different options to
go see and do in the summer, and they still draw.
It's unbelievable. We've we've seen these record numbers April and May.
It's not even the best weather of the year, the
best time to go to baseball.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
I just don't think are you done?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
I'm not done, But I'm just gonna tell you the
idea that she's bigger than Shoe hal Tony is laughable.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Everything just said was about attendance going to a game.
I just said that I don't disagree that people sell
out Dodger State and people sell out Yankee saying you're right.
Aaron Judge can walk around so much of America and
a lot of people wouldn't know who he is.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
And that's just a batch a cop. That's not a compass.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Is he's six foot eighty.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Aaron Gordon? They would think that was Aaron Gordon. Rob rob.
Nobody's questioning nobody. You're taking it personal on it as
an insult on base it's an insult period. Judge is
a star, but you can substitute him, no, Trout, No,
you can substitute him with Bryce Opera.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
No you can't, baseball simply, no you can.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It is a truth when when you talk about white
Caitlyn Clark, everybody.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Knows who she is. If she's walking by, no, they.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Don't, yes her minions, no, no, no, ro Literally the
last two to three years, everyone knows who she is.
Because of the controversy, you got grown men arguing about her.
No argument is not even about her. They would arguing
plenty about her, and so they go past it. But
(18:32):
you got people arguing about her. You got people who
never used to watch watching I'm not questioning does baseball
have a fan base? That's not the argument. Does baseball
have loyalists? Does baseball enjoyable? Absolutely? The question simply was
right now, we're talking about the most popular athletes in America.
I don't think a single baseball player is larger than
obviously Lebron Obviously, Steph you said obviously, Mahomes said, obviously,
(18:56):
can this sound crazy?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
You went to spring training and you saw the crowds
to go show hail tany did you not?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I just told you. Okay, but you're saying most of
them came from No, they did not. Would you stop?
You're gonna say they came from Japan? Rob, I literally
did stories on it. A lot of them. People came.
Everybody came, every live here. No, they flew in from Japan,
first train, and.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
There were literally, like, I'm asking you, how many passports
did you check?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Come on, Calvin, I literally interview people. I mean, how
are you kidding me? How many did you interview? And
they all came from Japan? No?
Speaker 4 (19:31):
How they how did they speak to you? Don't want
to talk to me? Okay? Did they have an interpreter? Actually?
Literally some people did? What are you talking about? Man?
You did? You're kidding yourself? How much everybody was there? See?
This is the word.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Now you're making it personal because now you're saying as
if I wasn't there and talking to people.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
No, I don't believe that everybody was from the percentage
I'm asking you, I'm not American.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I know a lot of people literally telling us all
these signs I came from Japan?
Speaker 4 (19:57):
How many? How many?
Speaker 1 (19:58):
How many people did you see? The song said I
came one hundred and forty people there. You do realize
there's not a lot of people there. It's just instead
of there being twenty, there were one hundred and twenty
rob spring training people there to get ball signed. You
acting like it's a thousand people, there was like one
hundred and fifty two hundred, which normally it's twenty to thirty.
So the idea that show Hey is massive, Yes, especially internationally.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Nobody's nobody arguing that. No, you're trying to be little
him the same. I guess you walk because you're using
the term internationally. It's not just internationally. He is a
huge star in this country. But the conversation is Pateley, No,
he's no.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
But and that's the count nobody's questioning talking about all
you're talking about it.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Oh yeah, internationally because the Asian people like him, so yeah,
and because you have a whole state. He's a huge star.
When the Dodgers go anywhere, they sell out, they you're
naming baseball fans. Nobody's questioning if I buy a ticket
to Kendrick Lamar's tomorrow, guess who else gonna be there?
A bunch of Kendrick Lamar fans. Rob Duh duh.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You're literally telling me the people who are going to
a baseball stadium, why would they not know show hal tany.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
That's not what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
That's exactly what you said. If you say that they
don't know you're going to because they said you see
the game conversation, it's not that's no, that's the point
of popularity. People know Taylor Swift whether they go to
a Taylor Swift concert or not. Exert true rob Gi,
(21:34):
rob Gie, have you ever been to a Taylor Swift concert?
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Negative? Do you know who Taylor Swift is? I do,
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Ask Kelvin rob G. How many Caitlyn Clark games he's taken.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
His kids, his wife and kids. I was on I
just at the spot to ask you see Caitlyn Clark.
Did you guys literally went and saw her play the
Sparks last season?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
How many? Asking me questions when I answered, you don't
want to. How many jerseys have you bought your daughters
for Caitlyn Clark? Who's so I don't have a single
jersey of anything of any sport. She's so popular she.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Is, though I don't even understand this is debatable like
you're making it as if this is an indictment in
baseball is the worst thing.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
This is just a comment baseball.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Baseball has not done a masterful job, a huge totally
within the sport.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Absolutely, I totally disagree. I just don't think that this
is a narrative that people have been saying about baseball forever.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
They've been saying everybody at some point ball twenty five
years or thirty I've been hearing it. Not this, it's
but it's extraordinarily region, it's it's it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
And that's fine. No, it's not, and that's fine. India
and the Indiana fever or whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
No.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Nine Clark, nine thousand people. Caitlin Clark, nine thousand people. Okay,
I don't even know how this is debatable.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
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 1 (23:06):
I mean, first and foremost, let's just go back to
the setup of these two teams matched up last year.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
You and I talked about it. Obviously, Jalen Brunton.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Now kind of changes if you're the Nicks you say,
this is what would have been if he played, and
so on and so forth. But the two teams get here,
we're excited about it. Rivalry renewed. They played like six
times in the nineties, ninety three to two thousand, So
a little bit of hype involved, not to mention Pacer
fan getting beat up by with some garbage backs. So
a little bit of hype going into this one man,
And I mean the biggest thing for me. We'll break
(23:35):
it down, but you jump straight to the headline. And
I'm sure a lot of people either went to bed
rob or woke up today saying that the Knicks choked.
And I completely understand that, and Tyrius Holliburton did the
Regi Miller choke. But to me, this was different than
the Regi Miller one. This to me was an absolute
(23:57):
offensive clinic from the last three minut's in fourteen seconds
into overtime as well from the Indiana Pacers. And every
now and again you have to just tip your cap
to somebody. Every now and again, you just got to
tip your cap to a team. And I think that's
what we saw last night. The Knicks were playing phenomenally.
The Knicks were controlling the game. The Knicks were on fire,
(24:20):
and the Knicks were playing at an offensive rate. They
had not played in the playoffs for the most of
the playoffs this season, so they were doing everything right.
They were keeping them under check, they were getting all
the buckets they needed. Your two duos finally had a
great game together. We have not seen Carlthony Towns ball
heck out and Jaylen Brunson do it at the same
(24:40):
time to the tune of seventy eight points. So to me,
we just saw something historic. I think that's what we witnessed.
We saw something we'd never seen before. When you start
to dive into these numbers, well, what you saw from
Nie Smith you never seen before. Right, he goes six
threes in the four quarter, which is a playoff in
(25:01):
the four quarter, which is playoff record. You have Tyrese
Haliburton setting records when it comes to what he's doing
in the clutch. We'll get to that a little bit
later on in this show. You got a team that
was able to score forty something points from five minutes
left in the game into the overtime as well. That's
just phenomenal. And for nine Smith not to miss a three,
not to miss his free throws. Halliburton hit a couple
(25:24):
buckets as well. To me, I just think we saw
an offensive clinic. We saw a guy get on fire
to the tune of We've Never Seen And I think
the Knicks were gassed without a doubt. But when your
duo gives you seventy eight points, you score a bunch
of points. You even score. It wasn't like it was
a twenty zero run like the Knicks did to the
Pistons in round one.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
They scored the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
They scored eight points in the last several minutes, and
they scored it ended up being twenty four points the
last five minutes in overtime, so they were scoring buckets.
I just simply think we saw something historic. We saw
something we'd literally never seen. And I think that offensive
explosion of what the Pacers are capable of, they put
that on them. So to me, there was a letdown.
They gassed, without a doubt, they got gassed. But the
(26:06):
Pacers flat out won that thing. They stole that thing,
and they did something we never seen offensively, and get
I tipped my cap to them more so than the Knicks.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Choked.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
You're crazy, and nobody's buying that what you're selling because
the guy himself and you even mentioned it. I'm glad
you did. But for the guy himself to make a
choke sign tells you that he believes that what just
took place was a choke job. Everybody else watching except
you and I don't care what they did. The Pacers
(26:36):
and I get it seven for seven and the Knicks
missed twelve free throws.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
You out the game. The Knicks did not do what
they needed to do to seal that game.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And when you talk about seeing something you never saw before,
and you don't think it's a choke. In the previous
nine hundred and ninety four games where somebody led by
fourteen points with two minutes and thirty eight seconds, the
record was nine hundred and ninety four and zero. Oh,
that's an automatic win. I don't care what anybody else
the other team is doing. It's a choke job. No,
(27:07):
it's a choke job. You have to win that game.
The idea that you could call it anything else. The
Pacers would call it a choke, announcers call it a choke,
Nicks call it, nixt call it a choke. They didn't
go there. You're not tipping your cap I don't care
what they did. The Knicks insecure what is almost an
(27:30):
automatic absolute win the almost a thousand games where that
same scenario.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
If it wasn't, you wouldn't look at it that way.
It would have been thought, I'm not I'm glad you
brought it up. No, because that's a history.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
No, it's no.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
But it's the ultimate choke job. This is a game
you were supposed to win. Go look at any other
scenario or circumstance and you can't come up with this
and think, oh yeah, let's just hip hop cap to.
They have to do their part. That's always a case
for any team that chokes. So this is not new
And I get what you're saying, oh, well, they made
(28:08):
this show. Well, we just saw Cleveland choke at the
end right against the Pacers. We saw the Boston's Celtics choke.
But even in the Celtics case, with the Knicks twenty
point lead in the second half, not with two thirty
eight left, there's a big difference. The Celtics choked down
(28:29):
a twenty point lead in the second half. They didn't
choke down a twenty point lead in the last two
minutes and thirty eight seconds.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Now, I'm glad you said all that because that goes
back to my point. If this doesn't happen in a
thousand games, that shows you that this is the anomaly.
This is the thing that never happens before. This being
a team scoring twenty three points in the final three
to fourteen regulation, the most in the regulation of a
playoff game in the play by play era, again never happens.
(28:56):
Nee Smith finished with thirty going eight for nine and three,
including six threes in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
That's what you want, So that's my point.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
That's right, and that's why it's a choke because it
doesn't happen.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
It's you're you're you're looking at it the other.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Way, right, we are a couple of this. No, but
that's not what No one is gonna agree that.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
No one is gonna agree with you because it's a
choke job.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
That's a game you have to win.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Guys, that does not happen.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
But it doesn't matter because if the Knicks would have
done what they should have done, which.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Is not allow them, right, Okay, you just said the
guys hot on it on the threes, then maybe you
have to make sure that you can't give him airspace.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
They were trying. No, they they took.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Their foot off the gas thinking the game was over
and they got burned. And we've seen this teams against
what you want to read a stat there's like five
games that have happened where a team has come back
from a ridiculous amount of points at the end.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Right, I'm gonna get I'm gonna find it.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
But it's like five games and uh, the teams will
come back to like five and one, and the Praises
have done it three times this year. And when you
looked at it, you didn't go, oh, yeah, well, the
idea that Tyrese Halliburton would grab his throat tells you
because he knows deep down.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
He didn't go, oh my god, we just did something
that was never been done. And did you see that?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
No, anybody who played basketball would look at that and go,
they choke.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
And here's what I'm saying, show number one.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
He absolutely was gonna do that because a Reggie Miller's there,
b they stole the game from him.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
I get that.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
But what I'm saying that that's a choke, soign That's not.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
What I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
But what I'm saying explain that it's what I'm saying
is literally because Reggie Miller is sitting there, Rob, what
does that have to do with what I'm saying. They
stole the game for sure, nout a doubt, and he
stole it on so why why would he better? Because
it's a celebration from a comeback that Regi Miller did
and they did and if you want to call the job,
that is the easy thing to do.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I'm not mad at that, duh. I think I think
most of what you're saying is true. Everybody's gonna say
the truth. I viewed it as watching that game, going, man, okay,
you gotta get a stop. The Pacers don't get a stop.
You gotta get a stop. They don't get a stop.
You got okay, you follow them. They make a free throw,
they didn't make one, and the Pacers come down and
all of a sudden three three, and you're like, wait
a minute, they're in this game, and they kept competing
(31:31):
and they stole it. And then to me, they went
out there and took that game. That's all I'm saying.
It wasn't as if the Knicks couldn't score. They did score.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
It wasn't. And if Jalen Brownson had a terrible game
and it.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Only not scor three points, not scoring is not the
way you could choke a game. You could also choke
a game by by not defending and not stopping the
other team from scoring and making the right plays and
making free throws. You even talked about it.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
That free throw.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You don't think that changes the game that But my
point is they only missed a couple. It wasn't like
donad straight dude six threes and he didn't miss. Rob
Halliburton hits a big three knee, they go to overtime,
and then Niem Barber hits a three like they literally
were hitting everything to the tune of Halliburton, who is
now is he the most clutch dude in the NBA?
(32:17):
Did he snatched that title from Jalen Brunton. We'll talk
about that later in the show. And I get the
I get the the choke. I totally get it. I
knew he was gonna do it in a real time.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I don't know how you could look at at Halliburton
who makes a choke sign and then say it wasn't
a choke.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
But because that is an immediate response, No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
You did something that was unbelievable that no one had
ever done.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
You don't have to do a choke thing. It was
a choke game problem. You are a man who loves history.
He's well versed. They know they talked about it.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Again.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You're one of your mentors, Regi Miller. You're in New York.
We literally know what Regi Miller did in Madison Square.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Garden to the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
So what I'm saying is that Reggie Miller was at
a choke job by the Knicks when they lost that game.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
But that was a choke John because there's eight seconds left.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
But but Reggie made all the shots, So why why
is he for it was only eight second doesn't matter
to me? Had right, I had to score a bunch
of points from three minutes. I had to carry into
overtime and continue the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
The Knicks did what Reggie Miller did where he scored
nine points in eight seconds or whatever.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
I know what that was almost to make that was
watching that live was my favorite basketball moments.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Well that's what I'm trying to say. I know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
People are like the Knicks choked and That's what Reggie said,
because he knew that that that shouldn't have happened that
because I'm saying that was an eight seconds you're up
like that with eight seconds, I'm saying this one, the
Pacers literally paced themselves and found a way to come back.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
And make every shot they made.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
It wasn't like they were missing, and they just made
every shot from there on all.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
So to me, they did something history.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
I give them a lot of credit, and the Knicks
had to make blunders that you can't come back without that,
So it's not as if they're inexcusable or there. You know,
there's not any blame on the Knicks without a doubt.
But I'm saying I watched that thing and a large
portion of that, to me was man and the Pacers
went out and stole that game. They took it from them,
and they made historic shots that we've literally never seen
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Rob Parker
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