July 14, 2026 • 34 mins
Former NFL offensive lineman Ephraim Salaam is in for Rob, and he and Kelvin use Jordan Walker’s comments about getting more Black kids into baseball as a backdrop into a conversation about why American athletes refuse to play multiple sports at a young age, and discuss why overseas basketball players are better developed than American-born players.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
List get this putties.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Our number three on the id Cup.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
On a trash talking Tuesday, jovin Washington, Aphrasalim, appreciate you
being here with us four hour three again. Shout out
to ad joined us not too long ago. As always,
we appreciate it still this hour, we got last call,
and we also got a game. I mentioned it, the quilt.
The story just keeps getting weird in weirder. Yeah, I mean,
it's just but there's also a question I have for
(00:56):
you with regard to that, so we'll get to that
a little bit later on as well. Be sure to
check out the YouTube channel. We're on it right now.
Shout out to elijahs got us looking good up there.
Go check it out on YouTube. Just searchia a Couple FSR.
You'll find us there. His subscribe, like, share, comment, all
that good stuff, man, We appreciate it, So go find
us on YouTube. Let's see where we are last I
(01:18):
looked at U three and other. Where are we with
the All Star Game? Let's see what we got. Where
we are with that?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Three zip? Three zip? Still three zips right? Three zip?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Still al up in the All Star Game, which Liz
does lead me to this conversation, Rob G.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Do you have the All Star Game?
Speaker 4 (01:37):
You had the home run derby last night, and Rob
Parker and I have had this conversation a few times.
I'm glad you're here to just kind of get your
thoughts on this where we are where baseball? You have
Jordan Walker, who won the All Star Home run Derby,
and the idea of where we are when it comes
to specifically African Americans, not Afro latinam but at blacks
(02:01):
here in America and where they are when it comes
to baseball. Here's what Jordan Walker, Saint Louis Cardinal, winner
of the twenty twenty six home run Derby, had to
say about this.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
I want to be a role model for the black kids,
you know, and I want more black kids in baseball.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So hopefully this, you know, raises.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Some awareness, you know, I know a lot of them
might playing like basketball football route. I want them to
know the baseball route's opening to them too. There's a
lot of good kids, you're athletic enough and mentally strong enough,
Black kids that can play this game. I don't want
to see them do it.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
And that pleads to a great question, where are the
black kids that play baseball?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Are they coming? You're meaning are they eight, nine, ten,
eleven right now?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
When you look at where they were historically, you're looking
at the era of the obviously took Jackie Robinson and
you know, to get this whole thing rolling. But you
start looking at the sixties, especially the seventies, the eighties
and the nineties, I mean you're looking at eras where
you had eighteen to twenty percent of teams we're black. Yeah,
not teams, but players in the league American And it
(03:01):
was just normal, right to have a few guys on
the team, four, five, six guys, some guys on a team.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
He didn't even think twice about it.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
And you were just looking for the best athletes white,
black and at that point Latino.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
But it didn't matter.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
And then all of a sudden there was a massive decline,
and I mean, when you start to look at the numbers,
it's it's staggering. Like a half full of years ago,
we were down a six percent of the players. I mean,
and it's just it's is it because other sports? And
the only conclusion I've had shot out to no. Mar
Garcia Park had this conversation with him and him speaking
of spectrum. He's with sports that LA obviously all under spectrum.
(03:33):
He came across the hall and joined my show and
he was just talking about so many things, him as
a you know, a local guy here in LA who's
who's involved in baseball, and he was talking about how
one problem baseball is starting to have is the same
thing a lot of sports. You know this as a coach,
it's starting to price people out. Oh yeah, and it's
getting where gone other days. You just played at John
(03:54):
Smith High and you were good there and that's all
that mattered. Now if you aren't on this travel team
that goes here, this club team that travels, there's gonna
cost this. Your parents want to come, so they're gonna
have to pay for this into the room and you
gotta And he was saying how it's getting to where
it's only the only people who have money and that
can be black, doesn't matter, but it's becoming where you're
you're limiting kids. It's expensive, it's expensive. If you don't
(04:16):
have money, you can't play. And again that's not saying
black people don't have money, Clearly, I'm not saying that.
What I'm saying is you're already shrinking a pool that's
already limited as well, just based off population numbers. So
now you're limiting even more. And he was just saying
how it's that and just how we're not highlighting it
to and going to those neighborhoods and kind of spreading
the love and joy baseball. And so I just thought
(04:36):
about that when I when I heard Jordan Walker say that,
I was like, Wow, that's a great point for him
to use this platform, this huge moment to say, Yo,
I'm trying to get some more black kids to play
the game. And I'm like, obviously basketball, football, track, and
then those last kids who maybe are trying to figure
it out. It's between you get a little baseball here,
you get little tennants here, you get you know what
I mean, You're kind of getting those last few kids
(04:58):
that are parts between the handful of other sports. But
the bulk is going to basketball, the bulk is going
to football, the maybe track as well.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And you got young kids who played baseball.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Is this just I'm young and I'm playing now or
is this a passion I want to play throughout my
scholastic career.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So I talk about this a lot.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
And when you talk about the scholastic career and all
of that, one of the things is.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Number one. Baseball back up.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
You know, in the seventies, eighties, early nineties used to
be the most popular sport in the country.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That is no longer the case.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
The strike early in the nineties really took a lot
out of baseball as a whole because it opened up
the door for college football and the NFL, and they
seize that moment, kick the door right, and they're not
giving it back.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
So, my my son who's twelve, played Both of my sons,
the first thing that played was soccer and then baseball.
And my son when he was nine, Elijah, they won
the nine U championship Sherman Oaks Little League. It was
amazing and he played one more year ten and then
(06:15):
after that season we got to the semi finals and
he lost. And after that season, he said, I think
I'm done with baseball. I think I just want to
focus on basketball. And I'm gonna give you guys what
I think is happening and the and the correct assessment
of especially of you know African Americans and in youth sports.
(06:37):
Number one, if you have a multi sport athlete and
they're leaning to one of those sports other than baseball
being their favorite, whether it's football, where there's basketball. The
thing is, my son is a phenomenal basketball player. That's
what he wants to do. He wants to go to
the NBA. He'll have a shot, he's got the DNA,
he's gonna be tall, he can play. It's got to
(07:00):
put the work in right. The problem with leaving for
three months and playing baseball is when you come back
to basketball, those same kids that you were better than
when you left are now better and now you're catching up.
This is a real thing when you step away from
(07:22):
something at that age for that long and try to
come back because these with these reclasses and all of that.
My son is as a real twelve. He turned twelve
three weeks ago. He's in the seventh grade. There is
a fourteen year old in the seventh grade right now,
(07:43):
I'm not lying. I know. So you have a kid
two years older than my son playing in the same
age group. That's the problem with AAU number one. That's
a whole nother tangent that I'll get off on, you know, eventually.
But so now, he doesn't want to take those three
three months away from basketball. He wants to continue to
(08:04):
play and train so he can continually get better and
not be behind the eight ball when it comes to
coming back to a sport. I know a kid who's tremendous,
He's unbelievably talented. Plays he's a pitcher, he's a quarterback,
and he plays basketball.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
He's not getting better at basket.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
Basketball is so technical in terms of your skills have
to increase dramatically. You're ball handling, you're shooting. It has
to increase dramatically because those are the jumps these kids
are showing. Now, fast forward to high school. What's the
number one currency for high school kid? The number one
(08:47):
currency clout? Clout, popular pularity, Yeah, social media. Yeah, what
are the sports that if you're a great pitcher, are
a great point guard, are a great quarterback? Which is
last on that list? Pitcher because the way baseball is
(09:10):
set up. You'll play games during the school during school,
kids will be in class that no one will be
at the games except for the opposing team, parents and
some scouts. That's the only people that go to baseball
games unless it's a night game, and so on and
so forth. Friday night lights, whole town shut down to
(09:30):
come play to watch football. Basketball three times a week.
Gym is packed on Friday night. Right, this is what
you're competing against. These athletes, these African American athletes, who
are good athletes, are now seeing the currency shift with
the other sports. Oh I'm good at baseball, but everybody
(09:51):
wants to see me play football. Everybody wants to see
me play basketball. And Major League Baseball has a marketing problem. Yeah,
best player in Major League Baseball right now? I mean
Aaron Judge or Otani or you know who's the best
player I'm gonna go to because he's pitching it, he's
the best player. He doesn't speak English. How many commercials
(10:16):
have you seen with Otani? I've seen the new balance much.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
They're not tell me the kids who are not even
stars yet those first aj Debonnson just launched his commercial
and with his shoe already, John Moran has the hottest
shelling shoe.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
He don't even play. That's big facts.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
But you understand that's what you're marketing to. These kids
are seeing that. These kids want to be a part
of that. They want to go to the Nike E
ybl they want to go play in three sixty five,
the Adidas circuit.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I mean, I can't see what's happening. Let me give
you another example of this. LaMelo Ball been injured. I've read,
I've read his games per play, per year. It is staggering, staggering,
how few he's played. Choe selling out the guys big
social media. Him and his brother's live streaming everybody like
(11:08):
they're select.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
They're huge. Guess what you don't get as a kid
on social media, a big following doing baseball. That's just
what it is, all right Now, Everything you said, I get,
and I agree.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Let me throw some counterpoints at this though. Who's the
best basketball player of all time? Michael Jordan? He played
baseball Lebron James till his junior After his junior year
he cut because they made hate you going to the league.
You might want to start, but he played football. Alan
Iverson didn't even really like basketball like that. Football was
his favorite sport. For those of you who don't know,
(11:41):
Bubba Chuck is what they call him. Bubba Chuck was
a quarterback. Have you ever seen Randy Moss center field?
Mister basketball, mister football, ran one hundred yards in two
hundred I believe ridiculous. Go look it up center field,
I mean looking like you think Aaron Judge is playing
(12:03):
the center field.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Go watch him.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
My point is some of the people we deemed the
Dion Sanders best athletes ever, bow Jack, so on, and
so forth. They all play multiple sports and we consider
them the goats of their sports.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Wilt Chamberlain running track.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Jackie Robinson with Dagner better at tracking baseball basketball than
he was baseball. So like, why all of a sudden
did history Who's shown us the goats that we all
revere and we look up to, and we say that's
the standard. Now we're like, not, I ain't the standard
no more. You gotta specialize and only do that, Like
when did that happen? So you're telling me, and I'm
(12:39):
not saying you're wrong. Your kids are older than mine.
I'm I'm gonna just be getting into that I got
young girls. But like I'm like, man, so when did
history change when most of these guys John Elway, they
said he could throw a baseball from home play over
out in the center field, Like these guys that we
look at the best quarterbacks, the best this day we
(13:00):
all play multiple sports. I mean, look at all the
Kyler Murray first number one pick in baseball, number one
picking football.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So like, when did all of the change where you have.
Speaker 6 (13:07):
To only play one or you can you know what
I mean, you can't survive now playing multiple sports at
that level. The thing that's really changed the landscape is nil.
Now you don't have to make it to the pros
to get paid. You don't these kids, So think about it.
This is a whole parents are strategizing. They're high school
(13:31):
kids making nil. Money is no longer make it to
the league or bus. So if you have a shot,
if you have a kid who can get drafted in
baseball in the first round, get drafted in football in
the first round, or get drafted in basketball in the
first round, which one are you picking? And you might say, well,
I'm taking baseball because he has a longer career. Guess what,
(13:55):
how many first round draft picks in baseball spend four
years in the minor league before they even get to
the show. That's big facts. It takes so long to
get to the spot. These aj Debanza, Darren Peterson, Peterson,
uh Carlo cam Boozer set, they're all ready nothing else,
(14:18):
household names. And if nothing else happened, they're set. They're
already household names. Who was drafted in the first round
of the Major League Baseball Draft and where are they
right now? That's what I'm talking about. Social media, nil
and popularity you're going to grab. We don't see any
(14:38):
MLB commercials. We're not inundated with these superstars in MLB
like we are in these others. And I thinks also
the infusion of pop culture. There's not a lot of
obviously the stars pop stars. I mean you see not
even just hip hop stars. You see Taylor Swift at
the Knicks game.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
And it's been a whole movement. It's a whole it
is a whole thing. And but so going back to
the original point. So if you're you know, Jordan Walker,
who obviously black player, doing his thing winning the home
run there, it.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Was like him against the world out there in that
home run derby huh like it Literally, the way they
kept flashing back to the I was like, what is.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Happening right now? Saying I was like, hey man, what
is it?
Speaker 6 (15:25):
Literally felt like maybe you know, maybe because it bryce
Harper and Philly and it was a Philly right like
it's it, But it looked it was optically did it
look like the beginning of the Optically it felt a
little I was. I was really looking like, man, they
had the white wigs. Just imagine just imagine the pressure
(15:45):
he was under and to be able to perform like
he did. Shot out to him because that was like, brother,
it is you against the world out here. He had
to hit the home run on the last ball to
get the to get one to break.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's a tie.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah no, And like I said, look credit to him
for doing it. And I credit him for saying, hey man,
it's a good sport. It's a great sport. I love it.
Gets get some more out there. And I just thought
it was interesting because last point, I just like I
mentioned the numbers. I want to reiterate the numbers again.
So throughout I mentioned the seventies, eighties, and nineties kind
of the you know, the run where baseball was still
(16:20):
a big thing, big deal, you had up to nineteen percent,
and sometimes in the seventies in certain cities they got
up to twenty seven percent of teams for the players
we're African American. Then the twenty tens it dropped to
eight percent, and then in the twenty twenties we got
down to six percent. So it's increasingly it's falling. It's
(16:43):
gone lower right now present day, where it's sitting anywhere
between two point six point two six point eight, and
so that's that's where to me is like, wow, it's
got interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Now.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Obviously there's a whole different conversation diaspora. We can start
talking at for Latina, you know, that's a whole nother thing,
but Latino.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
But that was I thought it was a great conversation. Hey,
let's fight players playing.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, you know, so it we could say American
players that period eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox
what do you think?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
And I'm glad you said that too. Just the conversation
of even just maybe American players is is basketball because
of nil because of social media? Obviously, football because it's
king in our sport. Is something else? Is baseball?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Being sneaky right now with the young kids. You know,
I want to hear from you.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Where are we with baseball, specifically with American players, but
even more in particular with African Americans. Is there a
way to get more involved? Maybe you know in your town,
of your area, where you are, what you're seeing, let
us know, we want to hear from you. It's the
occup We'll take some calls on it. Eight seven, seven
ninety nine on Fox on his trash Talking Tuesday eight
from men for Rob kelvin Washington, stick with his Fox
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(17:47):
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Speaker 3 (18:42):
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Speaker 7 (18:54):
Hey, it's Ben, host of a Fifth Hour with Ben
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(19:16):
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Speaker 6 (19:27):
Y'all want to argue about this, Get on the mic.
Rob Let's argue about this. You know what, Let's open
it up. Let's talk about it, Rob Ross will let
me get in there.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
I think they are playing it knowing this ain't what
you're about to do, play man. I think they are
playing it like just from a recreational still use other muscle,
keep you in shape. But I don't think they're focusing
we're talking about because this conversation got really interesting.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
Well, let's let let Rob bring up what. He's got
a lot to get. We gotta get the fuck Okay, Well,
let's just let look and then we'll go do everything.
Come we go on a trash talking Tuesday. He took
over I'm sorry, I took over.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Tire it up.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Kelvin Washington E from Fired Up Salaam and on this
trash talking Tuesday. Shout to everybody on home right now.
We'll get to you here in just a moment. By
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tire rack dot com, and is the way tied buying
should be? All right, let's take a couple of calls
here and we're basically asking it was really interesting Jordan Walker.
He brought up, Hey, I won this home run derby
and I want to do it for more. I want
to get more young African Americans involved in baseball. It's
a great sport and want to get into play. We're saying,
why hasn't been We're only had about six percent of
(20:45):
the players right now are African American, whereas back in
the seventies, eighties, nineties it used to actually be in
the about anywhere from seventeen to twenty seven percent at
one point. It's peaking during the seventies, So what change?
How do you get more?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (20:59):
The emphasis on NIA on the popularity of basketball popularity
of football. Let's take some calls on this eight seven,
seven ninety nine, O Fox, Who we got?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
We got? Josh and Spokane on the odd couple with
Ephim and Kelvin. What you got, hey?
Speaker 8 (21:12):
Man? So I have an eleven year old who plays
clubball year round, but I also throw them in other sports.
And the baseball here is huge, but the amount of
the black kids in that sport is so little here
compared to all the other sports, Like it's insane. I
think his league there is literally I think two wow,
(21:35):
out of like probably hundreds of kids.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Two And you know what, no appreciate the call, thank
you so much, and that weighs on the kid at times.
But I'm gonna tll you this real quick, twenty second
personal story. After basketball freshman year high school, I played
tennis and that was just like I just for some reason,
the basketball court where I left there was a tennis
scourt and I always found myself looking at it. I
started to watch Pete Sanford Zondragon see the whole era
(21:58):
of the nineties, and I was like, man, you know
what I would doing. Me and my mom didn't know much.
Bought a rocket. We didn't even know what the best
to buy? I played, and I just to have all
my boys who ran track run by, Yo, Dub what up?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Stay like you're talking ninety five or whatever? Well, I
don't know. And so.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
It would became lonely. It was the only kid out there,
you know what I mean. All but and it just
where it can wear on you, you like. And so
I can see to his point those two kids, if
his parents, you know, had that stick to it of this.
Now all you're gonna be all keep fighting to keep
doing your thing, keep growing, keep getting better.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It makes you go, man, forget it. I'm out. You know.
Let's take another call. Who we got? We got Dre
and and mass You only our couple with Kelvin and
e from what you got? What's up?
Speaker 6 (22:38):
Dra?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
What up? Dre?
Speaker 9 (22:40):
How you doing? That's taking a call?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Listen.
Speaker 9 (22:43):
I do think that we have participation in baseball, but
I think it's regional, right. I think you have a
high participation in the South right Texas. A lot of
ball players, specifically Kyler Murray, who was drafted by the
NFL and Major League Baseball California. I think where I'm
at here in a or thief, baseball can't be a
year round sport, right, because we got winter coming through,
(23:04):
dumping tons of snow in the area, and so that
I think that is why some players will gravitate towards
basketball things that you can play year round. But I
do feel the victory last year, excuse me, the victory
last night for Jordan was tremendous.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
It was just a great back.
Speaker 9 (23:21):
And forth battle, right and the hometown people were a
little disappointed, but he absolutely put on a show, you know,
in an interview with him and Barry Bonds afterwards was excellent.
And so I just think you have to participations and
it's there. Deion Sanders is another right two sport athlete
played baseball. He's from Florida, right. Bo Jackson another one.
I just think that where you can play it year round,
(23:42):
you're gonna get more buy in from across the spectrum
versus here in the northeast where it's brit Cole and
we got to retreat in the winter.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You can play around on no doubt.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
You can play mostly around out here in California, So
maybe the numbers are a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Let's take this last one real quick.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
No, all right, appreciate all the calls on that you
you got to argue almost couldn't let us do the show?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Why is that Rob g was a angry man? Wow?
So this is a question. You're calling me an angry
black man? You Wow, it's a little bit racist. It
was it hit the racist but.
Speaker 10 (24:14):
Racist no, So Ephraim's initial comment that kind of sparked
this whole offshoot that we had off of the Jordan
Taylor conversation.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Jordan Walker's here.
Speaker 10 (24:23):
Was the reason why players kids are not playing different
sports is because they're being told at a young age
that if you're serious about this, you have to focus
on this one sport or else you're not gonna make it,
And that seems to be the prevailing thought for a
lot of kids, especially in basketball. The problem that I
brought up to him was as a result, and you're
(24:44):
hearing a conversation take place in the professional ranks, Guys
like Lebron James have said this.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Luca Donchez said this.
Speaker 10 (24:50):
That when you only play one sport and you're only
doing the same.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Movements over and over and over.
Speaker 10 (24:57):
When you get to the NBA, your only doing whatever
you've been trained to do. There's no variety to your game.
You're not really learning how to play basketball. You're just
training or you're playing aau ball, which is not to
them real basketball. Right, That's what they say, and that's
part of the reason why there's a narrative that the
world has caught up to us in that regard because
(25:18):
we're not varied in the way that we approach this game.
Ephraim says that there is a very good answer to
that question. He's gonna tell us next he is, I
will tell you all right, answer these messages.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
We'll do that, but right now, USC, Chris is gonna
get you updated.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
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 4 (25:47):
All right, thank you, have a great night as well, Chris.
It's tacam on kelvin Washington for salam all this trash
talking Tuesday. Going back to you, Rob g is quickly
just kind of the synopsis that question, so folks listening
incame remember it.
Speaker 10 (26:00):
Yeah, So what do you say to the people who
say that this idea of focusing on one sport basically
your entire youth so you can get to the next
level is actually hurting us on the global scale, especially
in basketball, and it's why the world has caught up
to us allegedly.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
Well what and my rebuttal to that is all of
the European stars, right Luca and and I mean you
know Jokerke Joker, all of them drafted up, they're going
to basketball academies. Now, yes, they start playing soccer. We
(26:35):
start playing soccer in this country first because it's the
it's the sport you can play first. You can be
the youngest playing soccer.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Roll ball out.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
So most athletes will tell you, yeah, when I was
a kid, I played soccer. The second youngest is baseball,
t ball, Right, you come in t ball and kid
pitch so on, and so then once you get of age,
basketball is right around seven eight, not even seven is
like okay, all right, But once you start getting into nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
(27:08):
then that's when you really start picking up in AAU
like nine U TENU is really when the circuit starts
in terms of AAU programs, very fit if any eight
U seven U programs. So if you want your kids
to be athletic, you're doing soccer, you're doing baseball, until
you get to that age thres threshold. Now overseas, those
(27:33):
players do the same thing, but when they have that
basketball town. Luca was a pro at fourteen, sixteen, sixteen,
but he was already on track to be a pro
at fourteen. He wasn't on the soccer pitch, right, He
wasn't on the soccer pitch. He was in the academy,
(27:55):
the basketball academy, getting ready to go pro and be
one one of the youngest pros. And then it was
the youngest MVP in the league. He was playing Yannis
the same thing. Yeah, they started playing soccer because that's
what everybody was playing. But then at thirteen, Yannis was
sleeping on the floor in the gym working out right,
and it became that's what's happening. So they're really specializing
(28:18):
in basketball because they're training different than we're training. They
don't have an AAU circuit, Like, this is what I
want to say, and this is the real thing. The
number one and I'm not gonna say the kid's name
because I don't want to be disparaging to him. He's
just a kid. The number one seventh grader this year
is a kid. He's fourteen he's in the seventh grade.
(28:41):
He just finished the seventh grade, going into the eighth
grade in January. He'll be fifteen in the eighth grade.
Luca now him almost driving in eighth grade. Luca was
preparing to be a professional basketball player at fifteen and
at sixteen, instead of being a freshman in high school,
(29:02):
he was playing in a professional league. And so when
you say, well, why are they more developed into it?
That's why we're holding kids back so they can feel
like they're getting better and they're pushing them forward and
they're playing professional sports, professional basketball younger, opposed to being
(29:22):
in middle school lamidating the kids who you're supposed to
because that's the problem.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's that's what it is.
Speaker 6 (29:29):
It's the fact that overseas, they don't have a a NCAA,
they don't have that AAU circuit like that. What they
have is you have talent. We're gonna cultivate that talent
and then you're gonna go play professional basketball. The joker
was playing professional basketball as a team. Tony Parker was
sixteen years old, tearing them.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
How do you think the NBA found these kids?
Speaker 4 (29:53):
It's a great documentary on Tony Parker and the French
kind of the French team and the way they do
that in academy.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
To your point, they kind of identify you as oh,
hold up.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
And then they get you and they bring you Winby
was playing against seventh graders at fourteen years old.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
But that's the problem, and it's just not this one kid.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
That's the formula, the whole backs, the double hole backs. Bro,
you can't be You can't be fifteen, sixteen years old
in the eighth grade and expect to go up and
compete against a kid who is playing professional basketball. You
take a freshman sixteen year old, meaning you'll be nineteen
(30:35):
twenty in high school, which is ridiculous going against a
kid who's been playing professional basue.
Speaker 10 (30:43):
Reason they are better at developing talent.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
On one thousand percent because they don't hamper us. They
don't hold the kids back. They push them forward. You
have to learn at a higher rate than well, I'm
gonna let him develop and play against younger kids.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
We still have a system, rob G. You have to
go to middle school, you have to go to high
school and what basketball. You still can't go pro. You
have to do a year of college or be a
year removed. You have to have to have to and
one of the things they do, what's the opposite what
we do with everything else. We always talking about if
you're a singing prodigy Michael Jackson blowing and CET records
(31:19):
Jackson five, he was seven.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You know what I mean. You can be on TV.
You can be doing all these big shows. You can
do that.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
You're an actor. I see dead people. That kid was seven,
eight years old son.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
We can do that.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
It's one thing about sports. We have this formula. You
have to do it this way, you know, And I
think that takes away now. The only thing I'll say
we're putting a little too much dip on that chip
is when we say the world is catching up. I
think we overstate that the world ain't catching up. There
are four, five, six, seven, eight best players. I'll give
you that, but not at the numbers you give what
I mean, Like we're putting in some few guy. If
(31:55):
you all SGA and y'all, I'll give you that, the
best of their best. But if you're just talking pure mass,
not quite there yet, no, no, but what it is?
Speaker 6 (32:02):
You know what I'm saying though, Like hop players in
the NBA aren't from here, that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But I'm saying it's it's easier because they're just like
you said, we cultivated the one. We got the one
for us, it's Luca there, he goes, that's the one.
Whereas we got a bunch of other players who are
going on to be quarterbacks, going on to be this,
and they're going on to the NBA and there, and
they might not be the top four, but they're the
the five through through.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Why though, that's the whole point. Why or why? Where
is the more American born MVP candidate? Candidate?
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Where is that guy? He's in Detroit Unningham, Okay? And
Edward and I and I thought that he was on
his way. I thought he had a hell of a year. Yeah, right,
I thought Jason Wallie, Jason Jaylen Brown had a hell
of a year.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Right. It's but can you can you turn the corner?
Can you lead?
Speaker 6 (32:59):
Can you one of the And Edward said he didn't
want to be the phrase of the league, right like
once you start. But that's what I'm talking about. The
whole mentality is different. The whole mentality is different. If
you're look, if you've been raised to play professional basketball
against like as as a professional basketball player, and you're
playing in these leagues against grown men and across upon
(33:25):
you're a teenager in middle school. That's that is a
You're not only not preparing the kid, you're preparing them
for nil money. You're preparing them to get the bag.
You're preparing them to get on at sixteen, to have
a chance to start on varsity or play varsity, which, okay.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Age wise you should even though you're.
Speaker 6 (33:47):
But the freshman in JV basketball doesn't even count in
this country anymore.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
That's why people are holding people back.
Speaker 6 (33:53):
Well, I'm gonna make him do eighth grade twice so
when he does go to high school he can compete
and try to make the varsity team. I get it.
Sounds like a great thing. I played one year of
high school basketball. Average twenty four points, twelve rebounds. I
had fifty Division one basketball scholarships. Now that was yesteryear.
Things are a lot different now, But I did play AU.
(34:14):
I got a lot of looks at AAU, but now
it's this whole machine. AAU basketball is a trillion dollar business.
They're not going to change it. They're gonna reclash you
to death because all they want is is social media.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
These kids love it and that's all they're doing. They
need commercial money. Let's get that moneyew I'm on my soul.
You are this is I'm in. I've done a million
conversations with you. This is the sea.
Speaker 6 (34:39):
One minute, I have this conversation with Dion and everybody,
all the NBA guys who have sons that are playing.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
This is what we talk about.
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
to check us out 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 Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
List get this putties.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Our number three on the id Cup.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
On a trash talking Tuesday, jovin Washington, Aphrasalim, appreciate you
being here with us four hour three again. Shout out
to ad joined us not too long ago. As always,
we appreciate it still this hour, we got last call,
and we also got a game. I mentioned it, the quilt.
The story just keeps getting weird in weirder. Yeah, I mean,
it's just but there's also a question I have for
(00:56):
you with regard to that, so we'll get to that
a little bit later on as well. Be sure to
check out the YouTube channel. We're on it right now.
Shout out to elijahs got us looking good up there.
Go check it out on YouTube. Just searchia a Couple FSR.
You'll find us there. His subscribe, like, share, comment, all
that good stuff, man, We appreciate it, So go find
us on YouTube. Let's see where we are last I
(01:18):
looked at U three and other. Where are we with
the All Star Game? Let's see what we got. Where
we are with that?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Three zip? Three zip? Still three zips right? Three zip?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Still al up in the All Star Game, which Liz
does lead me to this conversation, Rob G.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Do you have the All Star Game?
Speaker 4 (01:37):
You had the home run derby last night, and Rob
Parker and I have had this conversation a few times.
I'm glad you're here to just kind of get your
thoughts on this where we are where baseball? You have
Jordan Walker, who won the All Star Home run Derby,
and the idea of where we are when it comes
to specifically African Americans, not Afro latinam but at blacks
(02:01):
here in America and where they are when it comes
to baseball. Here's what Jordan Walker, Saint Louis Cardinal, winner
of the twenty twenty six home run Derby, had to
say about this.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
I want to be a role model for the black kids,
you know, and I want more black kids in baseball.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So hopefully this, you know, raises.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Some awareness, you know, I know a lot of them
might playing like basketball football route. I want them to
know the baseball route's opening to them too. There's a
lot of good kids, you're athletic enough and mentally strong enough,
Black kids that can play this game. I don't want
to see them do it.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
And that pleads to a great question, where are the
black kids that play baseball?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Are they coming? You're meaning are they eight, nine, ten,
eleven right now?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
When you look at where they were historically, you're looking
at the era of the obviously took Jackie Robinson and
you know, to get this whole thing rolling. But you
start looking at the sixties, especially the seventies, the eighties
and the nineties, I mean you're looking at eras where
you had eighteen to twenty percent of teams we're black. Yeah,
not teams, but players in the league American And it
(03:01):
was just normal, right to have a few guys on
the team, four, five, six guys, some guys on a team.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
He didn't even think twice about it.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
And you were just looking for the best athletes white,
black and at that point Latino.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
But it didn't matter.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
And then all of a sudden there was a massive decline,
and I mean, when you start to look at the numbers,
it's it's staggering. Like a half full of years ago,
we were down a six percent of the players. I mean,
and it's just it's is it because other sports? And
the only conclusion I've had shot out to no. Mar
Garcia Park had this conversation with him and him speaking
of spectrum. He's with sports that LA obviously all under spectrum.
(03:33):
He came across the hall and joined my show and
he was just talking about so many things, him as
a you know, a local guy here in LA who's
who's involved in baseball, and he was talking about how
one problem baseball is starting to have is the same
thing a lot of sports. You know this as a coach,
it's starting to price people out. Oh yeah, and it's
getting where gone other days. You just played at John
(03:54):
Smith High and you were good there and that's all
that mattered. Now if you aren't on this travel team
that goes here, this club team that travels, there's gonna
cost this. Your parents want to come, so they're gonna
have to pay for this into the room and you
gotta And he was saying how it's getting to where
it's only the only people who have money and that
can be black, doesn't matter, but it's becoming where you're
you're limiting kids. It's expensive, it's expensive. If you don't
(04:16):
have money, you can't play. And again that's not saying
black people don't have money, Clearly, I'm not saying that.
What I'm saying is you're already shrinking a pool that's
already limited as well, just based off population numbers. So
now you're limiting even more. And he was just saying
how it's that and just how we're not highlighting it
to and going to those neighborhoods and kind of spreading
the love and joy baseball. And so I just thought
(04:36):
about that when I when I heard Jordan Walker say that,
I was like, Wow, that's a great point for him
to use this platform, this huge moment to say, Yo,
I'm trying to get some more black kids to play
the game. And I'm like, obviously basketball, football, track, and
then those last kids who maybe are trying to figure
it out. It's between you get a little baseball here,
you get little tennants here, you get you know what
I mean, You're kind of getting those last few kids
(04:58):
that are parts between the handful of other sports. But
the bulk is going to basketball, the bulk is going
to football, the maybe track as well.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And you got young kids who played baseball.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Is this just I'm young and I'm playing now or
is this a passion I want to play throughout my
scholastic career.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So I talk about this a lot.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
And when you talk about the scholastic career and all
of that, one of the things is.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Number one. Baseball back up.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
You know, in the seventies, eighties, early nineties used to
be the most popular sport in the country.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That is no longer the case.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
The strike early in the nineties really took a lot
out of baseball as a whole because it opened up
the door for college football and the NFL, and they
seize that moment, kick the door right, and they're not
giving it back.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
So, my my son who's twelve, played Both of my sons,
the first thing that played was soccer and then baseball.
And my son when he was nine, Elijah, they won
the nine U championship Sherman Oaks Little League. It was
amazing and he played one more year ten and then
(06:15):
after that season we got to the semi finals and
he lost. And after that season, he said, I think
I'm done with baseball. I think I just want to
focus on basketball. And I'm gonna give you guys what
I think is happening and the and the correct assessment
of especially of you know African Americans and in youth sports.
(06:37):
Number one, if you have a multi sport athlete and
they're leaning to one of those sports other than baseball
being their favorite, whether it's football, where there's basketball. The
thing is, my son is a phenomenal basketball player. That's
what he wants to do. He wants to go to
the NBA. He'll have a shot, he's got the DNA,
he's gonna be tall, he can play. It's got to
(07:00):
put the work in right. The problem with leaving for
three months and playing baseball is when you come back
to basketball, those same kids that you were better than
when you left are now better and now you're catching up.
This is a real thing when you step away from
(07:22):
something at that age for that long and try to
come back because these with these reclasses and all of that.
My son is as a real twelve. He turned twelve
three weeks ago. He's in the seventh grade. There is
a fourteen year old in the seventh grade right now,
(07:43):
I'm not lying. I know. So you have a kid
two years older than my son playing in the same
age group. That's the problem with AAU number one. That's
a whole nother tangent that I'll get off on, you know, eventually.
But so now, he doesn't want to take those three
three months away from basketball. He wants to continue to
(08:04):
play and train so he can continually get better and
not be behind the eight ball when it comes to
coming back to a sport. I know a kid who's tremendous,
He's unbelievably talented. Plays he's a pitcher, he's a quarterback,
and he plays basketball.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
He's not getting better at basket.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
Basketball is so technical in terms of your skills have
to increase dramatically. You're ball handling, you're shooting. It has
to increase dramatically because those are the jumps these kids
are showing. Now, fast forward to high school. What's the
number one currency for high school kid? The number one
(08:47):
currency clout? Clout, popular pularity, Yeah, social media. Yeah, what
are the sports that if you're a great pitcher, are
a great point guard, are a great quarterback? Which is
last on that list? Pitcher because the way baseball is
(09:10):
set up. You'll play games during the school during school,
kids will be in class that no one will be
at the games except for the opposing team, parents and
some scouts. That's the only people that go to baseball
games unless it's a night game, and so on and
so forth. Friday night lights, whole town shut down to
(09:30):
come play to watch football. Basketball three times a week.
Gym is packed on Friday night. Right, this is what
you're competing against. These athletes, these African American athletes, who
are good athletes, are now seeing the currency shift with
the other sports. Oh I'm good at baseball, but everybody
(09:51):
wants to see me play football. Everybody wants to see
me play basketball. And Major League Baseball has a marketing problem. Yeah,
best player in Major League Baseball right now? I mean
Aaron Judge or Otani or you know who's the best
player I'm gonna go to because he's pitching it, he's
the best player. He doesn't speak English. How many commercials
(10:16):
have you seen with Otani? I've seen the new balance much.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
They're not tell me the kids who are not even
stars yet those first aj Debonnson just launched his commercial
and with his shoe already, John Moran has the hottest
shelling shoe.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
He don't even play. That's big facts.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
But you understand that's what you're marketing to. These kids
are seeing that. These kids want to be a part
of that. They want to go to the Nike E
ybl they want to go play in three sixty five,
the Adidas circuit.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I mean, I can't see what's happening. Let me give
you another example of this. LaMelo Ball been injured. I've read,
I've read his games per play, per year. It is staggering, staggering,
how few he's played. Choe selling out the guys big
social media. Him and his brother's live streaming everybody like
(11:08):
they're select.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
They're huge. Guess what you don't get as a kid
on social media, a big following doing baseball. That's just
what it is, all right Now, Everything you said, I get,
and I agree.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Let me throw some counterpoints at this though. Who's the
best basketball player of all time? Michael Jordan? He played
baseball Lebron James till his junior After his junior year
he cut because they made hate you going to the league.
You might want to start, but he played football. Alan
Iverson didn't even really like basketball like that. Football was
his favorite sport. For those of you who don't know,
(11:41):
Bubba Chuck is what they call him. Bubba Chuck was
a quarterback. Have you ever seen Randy Moss center field?
Mister basketball, mister football, ran one hundred yards in two
hundred I believe ridiculous. Go look it up center field,
I mean looking like you think Aaron Judge is playing
(12:03):
the center field.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Go watch him.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
My point is some of the people we deemed the
Dion Sanders best athletes ever, bow Jack, so on, and
so forth. They all play multiple sports and we consider
them the goats of their sports.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Wilt Chamberlain running track.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Jackie Robinson with Dagner better at tracking baseball basketball than
he was baseball. So like, why all of a sudden
did history Who's shown us the goats that we all
revere and we look up to, and we say that's
the standard. Now we're like, not, I ain't the standard
no more. You gotta specialize and only do that, Like
when did that happen? So you're telling me, and I'm
(12:39):
not saying you're wrong. Your kids are older than mine.
I'm I'm gonna just be getting into that I got
young girls. But like I'm like, man, so when did
history change when most of these guys John Elway, they
said he could throw a baseball from home play over
out in the center field, Like these guys that we
look at the best quarterbacks, the best this day we
(13:00):
all play multiple sports. I mean, look at all the
Kyler Murray first number one pick in baseball, number one
picking football.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So like, when did all of the change where you have.
Speaker 6 (13:07):
To only play one or you can you know what
I mean, you can't survive now playing multiple sports at
that level. The thing that's really changed the landscape is nil.
Now you don't have to make it to the pros
to get paid. You don't these kids, So think about it.
This is a whole parents are strategizing. They're high school
(13:31):
kids making nil. Money is no longer make it to
the league or bus. So if you have a shot,
if you have a kid who can get drafted in
baseball in the first round, get drafted in football in
the first round, or get drafted in basketball in the
first round, which one are you picking? And you might say, well,
I'm taking baseball because he has a longer career. Guess what,
(13:55):
how many first round draft picks in baseball spend four
years in the minor league before they even get to
the show. That's big facts. It takes so long to
get to the spot. These aj Debanza, Darren Peterson, Peterson,
uh Carlo cam Boozer set, they're all ready nothing else,
(14:18):
household names. And if nothing else happened, they're set. They're
already household names. Who was drafted in the first round
of the Major League Baseball Draft and where are they
right now? That's what I'm talking about. Social media, nil
and popularity you're going to grab. We don't see any
(14:38):
MLB commercials. We're not inundated with these superstars in MLB
like we are in these others. And I thinks also
the infusion of pop culture. There's not a lot of
obviously the stars pop stars. I mean you see not
even just hip hop stars. You see Taylor Swift at
the Knicks game.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
And it's been a whole movement. It's a whole it
is a whole thing. And but so going back to
the original point. So if you're you know, Jordan Walker,
who obviously black player, doing his thing winning the home
run there, it.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Was like him against the world out there in that
home run derby huh like it Literally, the way they
kept flashing back to the I was like, what is.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Happening right now? Saying I was like, hey man, what
is it?
Speaker 6 (15:25):
Literally felt like maybe you know, maybe because it bryce
Harper and Philly and it was a Philly right like
it's it, But it looked it was optically did it
look like the beginning of the Optically it felt a
little I was. I was really looking like, man, they
had the white wigs. Just imagine just imagine the pressure
(15:45):
he was under and to be able to perform like
he did. Shot out to him because that was like, brother,
it is you against the world out here. He had
to hit the home run on the last ball to
get the to get one to break.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's a tie.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah no, And like I said, look credit to him
for doing it. And I credit him for saying, hey man,
it's a good sport. It's a great sport. I love it.
Gets get some more out there. And I just thought
it was interesting because last point, I just like I
mentioned the numbers. I want to reiterate the numbers again.
So throughout I mentioned the seventies, eighties, and nineties kind
of the you know, the run where baseball was still
(16:20):
a big thing, big deal, you had up to nineteen percent,
and sometimes in the seventies in certain cities they got
up to twenty seven percent of teams for the players
we're African American. Then the twenty tens it dropped to
eight percent, and then in the twenty twenties we got
down to six percent. So it's increasingly it's falling. It's
(16:43):
gone lower right now present day, where it's sitting anywhere
between two point six point two six point eight, and
so that's that's where to me is like, wow, it's
got interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Now.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Obviously there's a whole different conversation diaspora. We can start
talking at for Latina, you know, that's a whole nother thing,
but Latino.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
But that was I thought it was a great conversation. Hey,
let's fight players playing.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, you know, so it we could say American
players that period eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox
what do you think?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
And I'm glad you said that too. Just the conversation
of even just maybe American players is is basketball because
of nil because of social media? Obviously, football because it's
king in our sport. Is something else? Is baseball?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Being sneaky right now with the young kids. You know,
I want to hear from you.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Where are we with baseball, specifically with American players, but
even more in particular with African Americans. Is there a
way to get more involved? Maybe you know in your town,
of your area, where you are, what you're seeing, let
us know, we want to hear from you. It's the
occup We'll take some calls on it. Eight seven, seven
ninety nine on Fox on his trash Talking Tuesday eight
from men for Rob kelvin Washington, stick with his Fox
Sports Radio and I gotta tell you about Calshie. Of course,
(17:47):
if you've been keeping up with the tournaments, you know
all about it. Let's talk about it. The tournament's heating
up right now here in the States of the North America.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Cal Sheep.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
You can trade every match from the knockout rounds all
the way to the final. Argentina has been winning these
games by the skin of their teeth.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Have you've been keeping up? You know that's the fact.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
And when you're looking at Egypt and then what they
just did with with Cirlinn, both due to the greatness
of their best player and some very questionable calls going
their favor. A lot of people upset about that. And
the semi final, Argentine is currently trading at forty eight
percent to win the match against England, meaning one hundred
dollars trade pays out two hundred and nine dollars if
they get the win. On Kaalsi, you're trading against peers
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(18:25):
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So for a limited time, download the Calci app and
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on anything.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
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 7 (18:54):
Hey, it's Ben, host of a Fifth Hour with Ben
Maler along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon with mean
a lot to have you join us on our weekly
auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the
Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off of that.
Ben Maler Shaw, a cult hit overnights on fs R.
Why should you listen? Picture if you will? A world
where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports,
(19:16):
and more every week explore some amazing facts about human
nature and more. Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
Y'all want to argue about this, Get on the mic.
Rob Let's argue about this. You know what, Let's open
it up. Let's talk about it, Rob Ross will let
me get in there.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
I think they are playing it knowing this ain't what
you're about to do, play man. I think they are
playing it like just from a recreational still use other muscle,
keep you in shape. But I don't think they're focusing
we're talking about because this conversation got really interesting.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
Well, let's let let Rob bring up what. He's got
a lot to get. We gotta get the fuck Okay, Well,
let's just let look and then we'll go do everything.
Come we go on a trash talking Tuesday. He took
over I'm sorry, I took over.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Tire it up.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Kelvin Washington E from Fired Up Salaam and on this
trash talking Tuesday. Shout to everybody on home right now.
We'll get to you here in just a moment. By
the way, four over forty years, tire Rack's been helping
customers find the right tires for how, for what and
where they drive, ship fast and free back by free road,
has a protection with convenient insulation options like mobile tire installation,
(20:25):
tire rack dot com, and is the way tied buying
should be? All right, let's take a couple of calls
here and we're basically asking it was really interesting Jordan Walker.
He brought up, Hey, I won this home run derby
and I want to do it for more. I want
to get more young African Americans involved in baseball. It's
a great sport and want to get into play. We're saying,
why hasn't been We're only had about six percent of
(20:45):
the players right now are African American, whereas back in
the seventies, eighties, nineties it used to actually be in
the about anywhere from seventeen to twenty seven percent at
one point. It's peaking during the seventies, So what change?
How do you get more?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (20:59):
The emphasis on NIA on the popularity of basketball popularity
of football. Let's take some calls on this eight seven,
seven ninety nine, O Fox, Who we got?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
We got? Josh and Spokane on the odd couple with
Ephim and Kelvin. What you got, hey?
Speaker 8 (21:12):
Man? So I have an eleven year old who plays
clubball year round, but I also throw them in other sports.
And the baseball here is huge, but the amount of
the black kids in that sport is so little here
compared to all the other sports, Like it's insane. I
think his league there is literally I think two wow,
(21:35):
out of like probably hundreds of kids.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Two And you know what, no appreciate the call, thank
you so much, and that weighs on the kid at times.
But I'm gonna tll you this real quick, twenty second
personal story. After basketball freshman year high school, I played
tennis and that was just like I just for some reason,
the basketball court where I left there was a tennis
scourt and I always found myself looking at it. I
started to watch Pete Sanford Zondragon see the whole era
(21:58):
of the nineties, and I was like, man, you know
what I would doing. Me and my mom didn't know much.
Bought a rocket. We didn't even know what the best
to buy? I played, and I just to have all
my boys who ran track run by, Yo, Dub what up?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Stay like you're talking ninety five or whatever? Well, I
don't know. And so.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
It would became lonely. It was the only kid out there,
you know what I mean. All but and it just
where it can wear on you, you like. And so
I can see to his point those two kids, if
his parents, you know, had that stick to it of this.
Now all you're gonna be all keep fighting to keep
doing your thing, keep growing, keep getting better.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It makes you go, man, forget it. I'm out. You know.
Let's take another call. Who we got? We got Dre
and and mass You only our couple with Kelvin and
e from what you got? What's up?
Speaker 6 (22:38):
Dra?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
What up? Dre?
Speaker 9 (22:40):
How you doing? That's taking a call?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Listen.
Speaker 9 (22:43):
I do think that we have participation in baseball, but
I think it's regional, right. I think you have a
high participation in the South right Texas. A lot of
ball players, specifically Kyler Murray, who was drafted by the
NFL and Major League Baseball California. I think where I'm
at here in a or thief, baseball can't be a
year round sport, right, because we got winter coming through,
(23:04):
dumping tons of snow in the area, and so that
I think that is why some players will gravitate towards
basketball things that you can play year round. But I
do feel the victory last year, excuse me, the victory
last night for Jordan was tremendous.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
It was just a great back.
Speaker 9 (23:21):
And forth battle, right and the hometown people were a
little disappointed, but he absolutely put on a show, you know,
in an interview with him and Barry Bonds afterwards was excellent.
And so I just think you have to participations and
it's there. Deion Sanders is another right two sport athlete
played baseball. He's from Florida, right. Bo Jackson another one.
I just think that where you can play it year round,
(23:42):
you're gonna get more buy in from across the spectrum
versus here in the northeast where it's brit Cole and
we got to retreat in the winter.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You can play around on no doubt.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
You can play mostly around out here in California, So
maybe the numbers are a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Let's take this last one real quick.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
No, all right, appreciate all the calls on that you
you got to argue almost couldn't let us do the show?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Why is that Rob g was a angry man? Wow?
So this is a question. You're calling me an angry
black man? You Wow, it's a little bit racist. It
was it hit the racist but.
Speaker 10 (24:14):
Racist no, So Ephraim's initial comment that kind of sparked
this whole offshoot that we had off of the Jordan
Taylor conversation.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Jordan Walker's here.
Speaker 10 (24:23):
Was the reason why players kids are not playing different
sports is because they're being told at a young age
that if you're serious about this, you have to focus
on this one sport or else you're not gonna make it,
And that seems to be the prevailing thought for a
lot of kids, especially in basketball. The problem that I
brought up to him was as a result, and you're
(24:44):
hearing a conversation take place in the professional ranks, Guys
like Lebron James have said this.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Luca Donchez said this.
Speaker 10 (24:50):
That when you only play one sport and you're only
doing the same.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Movements over and over and over.
Speaker 10 (24:57):
When you get to the NBA, your only doing whatever
you've been trained to do. There's no variety to your game.
You're not really learning how to play basketball. You're just
training or you're playing aau ball, which is not to
them real basketball. Right, That's what they say, and that's
part of the reason why there's a narrative that the
world has caught up to us in that regard because
(25:18):
we're not varied in the way that we approach this game.
Ephraim says that there is a very good answer to
that question. He's gonna tell us next he is, I
will tell you all right, answer these messages.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
We'll do that, but right now, USC, Chris is gonna
get you updated.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
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 4 (25:47):
All right, thank you, have a great night as well, Chris.
It's tacam on kelvin Washington for salam all this trash
talking Tuesday. Going back to you, Rob g is quickly
just kind of the synopsis that question, so folks listening
incame remember it.
Speaker 10 (26:00):
Yeah, So what do you say to the people who
say that this idea of focusing on one sport basically
your entire youth so you can get to the next
level is actually hurting us on the global scale, especially
in basketball, and it's why the world has caught up
to us allegedly.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
Well what and my rebuttal to that is all of
the European stars, right Luca and and I mean you
know Jokerke Joker, all of them drafted up, they're going
to basketball academies. Now, yes, they start playing soccer. We
(26:35):
start playing soccer in this country first because it's the
it's the sport you can play first. You can be
the youngest playing soccer.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Roll ball out.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
So most athletes will tell you, yeah, when I was
a kid, I played soccer. The second youngest is baseball,
t ball, Right, you come in t ball and kid
pitch so on, and so then once you get of age,
basketball is right around seven eight, not even seven is
like okay, all right, But once you start getting into nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
(27:08):
then that's when you really start picking up in AAU
like nine U TENU is really when the circuit starts
in terms of AAU programs, very fit if any eight
U seven U programs. So if you want your kids
to be athletic, you're doing soccer, you're doing baseball, until
you get to that age thres threshold. Now overseas, those
(27:33):
players do the same thing, but when they have that
basketball town. Luca was a pro at fourteen, sixteen, sixteen,
but he was already on track to be a pro
at fourteen. He wasn't on the soccer pitch, right, He
wasn't on the soccer pitch. He was in the academy,
(27:55):
the basketball academy, getting ready to go pro and be
one one of the youngest pros. And then it was
the youngest MVP in the league. He was playing Yannis
the same thing. Yeah, they started playing soccer because that's
what everybody was playing. But then at thirteen, Yannis was
sleeping on the floor in the gym working out right,
and it became that's what's happening. So they're really specializing
(28:18):
in basketball because they're training different than we're training. They
don't have an AAU circuit, Like, this is what I
want to say, and this is the real thing. The
number one and I'm not gonna say the kid's name
because I don't want to be disparaging to him. He's
just a kid. The number one seventh grader this year
is a kid. He's fourteen he's in the seventh grade.
(28:41):
He just finished the seventh grade, going into the eighth
grade in January. He'll be fifteen in the eighth grade.
Luca now him almost driving in eighth grade. Luca was
preparing to be a professional basketball player at fifteen and
at sixteen, instead of being a freshman in high school,
(29:02):
he was playing in a professional league. And so when
you say, well, why are they more developed into it?
That's why we're holding kids back so they can feel
like they're getting better and they're pushing them forward and
they're playing professional sports, professional basketball younger, opposed to being
(29:22):
in middle school lamidating the kids who you're supposed to
because that's the problem.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's that's what it is.
Speaker 6 (29:29):
It's the fact that overseas, they don't have a a NCAA,
they don't have that AAU circuit like that. What they
have is you have talent. We're gonna cultivate that talent
and then you're gonna go play professional basketball. The joker
was playing professional basketball as a team. Tony Parker was
sixteen years old, tearing them.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
How do you think the NBA found these kids?
Speaker 4 (29:53):
It's a great documentary on Tony Parker and the French
kind of the French team and the way they do
that in academy.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
To your point, they kind of identify you as oh,
hold up.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
And then they get you and they bring you Winby
was playing against seventh graders at fourteen years old.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
But that's the problem, and it's just not this one kid.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
That's the formula, the whole backs, the double hole backs. Bro,
you can't be You can't be fifteen, sixteen years old
in the eighth grade and expect to go up and
compete against a kid who is playing professional basketball. You
take a freshman sixteen year old, meaning you'll be nineteen
(30:35):
twenty in high school, which is ridiculous going against a
kid who's been playing professional basue.
Speaker 10 (30:43):
Reason they are better at developing talent.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
On one thousand percent because they don't hamper us. They
don't hold the kids back. They push them forward. You
have to learn at a higher rate than well, I'm
gonna let him develop and play against younger kids.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
We still have a system, rob G. You have to
go to middle school, you have to go to high
school and what basketball. You still can't go pro. You
have to do a year of college or be a
year removed. You have to have to have to and
one of the things they do, what's the opposite what
we do with everything else. We always talking about if
you're a singing prodigy Michael Jackson blowing and CET records
(31:19):
Jackson five, he was seven.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You know what I mean. You can be on TV.
You can be doing all these big shows. You can
do that.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
You're an actor. I see dead people. That kid was seven,
eight years old son.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
We can do that.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
It's one thing about sports. We have this formula. You
have to do it this way, you know, And I
think that takes away now. The only thing I'll say
we're putting a little too much dip on that chip
is when we say the world is catching up. I
think we overstate that the world ain't catching up. There
are four, five, six, seven, eight best players. I'll give
you that, but not at the numbers you give what
I mean, Like we're putting in some few guy. If
(31:55):
you all SGA and y'all, I'll give you that, the
best of their best. But if you're just talking pure mass,
not quite there yet, no, no, but what it is?
Speaker 6 (32:02):
You know what I'm saying though, Like hop players in
the NBA aren't from here, that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But I'm saying it's it's easier because they're just like
you said, we cultivated the one. We got the one
for us, it's Luca there, he goes, that's the one.
Whereas we got a bunch of other players who are
going on to be quarterbacks, going on to be this,
and they're going on to the NBA and there, and
they might not be the top four, but they're the
the five through through.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Why though, that's the whole point. Why or why? Where
is the more American born MVP candidate? Candidate?
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Where is that guy? He's in Detroit Unningham, Okay? And
Edward and I and I thought that he was on
his way. I thought he had a hell of a year. Yeah, right,
I thought Jason Wallie, Jason Jaylen Brown had a hell
of a year.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Right. It's but can you can you turn the corner?
Can you lead?
Speaker 6 (32:59):
Can you one of the And Edward said he didn't
want to be the phrase of the league, right like
once you start. But that's what I'm talking about. The
whole mentality is different. The whole mentality is different. If
you're look, if you've been raised to play professional basketball
against like as as a professional basketball player, and you're
playing in these leagues against grown men and across upon
(33:25):
you're a teenager in middle school. That's that is a
You're not only not preparing the kid, you're preparing them
for nil money. You're preparing them to get the bag.
You're preparing them to get on at sixteen, to have
a chance to start on varsity or play varsity, which, okay.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Age wise you should even though you're.
Speaker 6 (33:47):
But the freshman in JV basketball doesn't even count in
this country anymore.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
That's why people are holding people back.
Speaker 6 (33:53):
Well, I'm gonna make him do eighth grade twice so
when he does go to high school he can compete
and try to make the varsity team. I get it.
Sounds like a great thing. I played one year of
high school basketball. Average twenty four points, twelve rebounds. I
had fifty Division one basketball scholarships. Now that was yesteryear.
Things are a lot different now, But I did play AU.
(34:14):
I got a lot of looks at AAU, but now
it's this whole machine. AAU basketball is a trillion dollar business.
They're not going to change it. They're gonna reclash you
to death because all they want is is social media.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
These kids love it and that's all they're doing. They
need commercial money. Let's get that moneyew I'm on my soul.
You are this is I'm in. I've done a million
conversations with you. This is the sea.
Speaker 6 (34:39):
One minute, I have this conversation with Dion and everybody,
all the NBA guys who have sons that are playing.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
This is what we talk about.
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