Episode Transcript
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R party you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Yes, indeed
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will be justin Cooper, a former child star and of
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have it. Let me introduce my guest, who was actually
my second ever partner at Fox Sports Radio. Mark Willard
was first, and then mister Brian Noah's second. Brian, welcome
(01:50):
to the Odd Couple. But hey man, I'm happy to
be your number two guy, right like that's it's an
honor that I carry forth with me. I got a
question for you, Rob Parker, how come you don't do
the r Yeah, that Chris Brusars not that talented. I'm
just not that good. Okay, that's a Chris Brussard thing.
You know. I guess if you worked at the New
York Times you can pull that off. That's true. Now
I heard the Golden Pipes you're showcasing yesterday with the
(02:13):
single long stuff, So I know you have it in you.
You just don't want to take away from your guy Brussard.
I get it, you know. I'll let him have that.
But Brian, we're ready to go. I'm excited to do
the show with you on this funky flashback Friday. Let's
welcome in the Odd Couple crew, because we wouldn't be
able to do this fine radio program without them. Of course,
(02:34):
Rob g is our producer, Alex is our engineer, and
the pros pro one of the best update anchors in
all of radio history, mister Steve de Seger, So I
call him a friend of America, Rob, That's what he is. That.
So there you have it, and we have all of
(02:56):
we're in full effect on this funky flashback Friday. But Brian, know,
give me a little elbow room to unpack this because
this has been boiling in me all day. We already
know what's going on in Minneapolis and the riots and
and and the burning, and people protesting, and protests are
broken out all over the country. Um in wake of
(03:18):
what we all witnessed, the horror of George Floyd who
was killed in the hands of the police, with the
police officers uh knee cutting off his air and and
and in his neck. And people have reacted, and people
have responded. Athletes from all over have also chimed in.
But here's my point, and this is the point I
(03:42):
want to get through. I think people were so far
off base when Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee
to draw attention to what was going on in this country,
which I e was mostly unarmed black males killed by police.
(04:07):
There was an epidemic at one point. It was awful
and we were seeing it. The difference between years ago
and now we had the videotape. We saw it. It
was happening at an alarming rate. That was four years ago.
(04:27):
Think about it, and people pooh poohed him. Take that
somewhere else, Get out of the way of my NFL game.
I don't want to see that. I'm only here for football.
That was a cry. They were so wrong. Colin Kaepernick
(04:50):
was right. He saw the injustice, he saw the crimes
being committed and refused to be silent. The only people
who are worse than the people perpetrating the crimes are
the good people who turn away and don't say anything
(05:13):
and allow it to happen. Those are the bad people
because they know right from wrong. They know it's wrong,
and they don't stand up. You could talk about all
you want, oh, Colin, he couldn't play anymore. He gave
up his career. No big deal, He's a backup. He
gave up his limelight. He gave up his job as
(05:34):
an NFL quarterback who was making millions, who had a
good life. Who could have easily turned and said, I'm
not getting involved. It's easier not to get involved. He
got involved. He was trying to prevent more of what
(05:55):
we continue to see in George Floyd. That's what he
was against, that's what he was trying to stop. And
people condemned him for a non violent protest. He didn't
make anybody else kneel with him. He did it on
(06:15):
his own. I have so much respect for Colin Kaepernick.
When this chapter's over and we write what went on,
he will be on the right side of history. He
was selfless to give himself, give up himself his famous
(06:38):
fortune to help people He didn't even know. They weren't
family members, they were just people who looked like him
or had the same brown skin color. Why are we
so afraid to do the right thing and contempt condemn people.
(07:00):
It was like nineteen sixty eight with John Carlos and
Tommy Smith. That was their moment they won the medals.
They could have just accepted and then gone and gotten
their medals and gone home. They raised those black gloves
in protests, the black Fist, to bring attention to what
(07:22):
was going on back in the States. And the riots
and what was happening the black people. Those are American
heroes and people who don't understand how this country was
put together. You need to do a history lesson because
it is when people take the streets and can't take
it anymore. Go back and read about the Boston tea
(07:46):
party and what was done when they threw the tea
into the harbor and said they won't take taxation without
representation and the king could stick it. That's what they did.
They didn't do anything or write a note and tell
the king, oh, we're sorry, we're not gonna do We're
not gonna pay the tax. That's not what they did.
(08:09):
And I close on this for the athletes and the
other people are prominences who are willing to lend a voice,
and the athletes especially who are now chiming in and
saying this is right. We need to listen to this.
Colin Kaepernick was right to bring attention to this, and
(08:32):
people who have a platform who can help with change
that platform. I get it. You want to sell pizza
and sneakers and soda pop. You're willing to send out
messages to people about that. What about sending out a
message about what's right and wrong, and what's going on
(08:53):
right now is wrong, and thank god there are other
people out there and other athletes who are chiming in
say and enough is enough. You know it's crazy, Rob
is if you watch that video of George Floyd and
the officers around him, if that doesn't hurt your heart,
(09:14):
I don't know how. I don't know how it doesn't
just hurt you to see that. And it's one of
these things, Rob, where if you relate this to the
sports world. We say this all the time in sports,
which is, if you wrote that as a script and
it was a movie, you wouldn't believe it. There have
been some unbelievable things that happened in the sports world.
(09:37):
You could apply that to the George Floyd thing. I
would hope in the year twenty twenty, if someone was
handcuffed and detained on the ground, if you saw that
in a movie, where there was an officer that was
kneeling on that guy's neck on the ground for nearly
nine minutes, you would be like, that's not even realistic,
and it happened. That actually happened. Here's the worst part.
(10:00):
I just wanted to throw this in the worst part
is that this isn't new. We saw Rodney King on tape,
handcuffed and beat like a like a dog. Do you
remember that was nineteen ninety one. There was videotape of it.
Luckily there was some guy on his balcony who caught
(10:20):
it all on tape. And guess what those four officers
got off. They were acquitted with videotape proof that Rodney
King wasn't making a move or being aggressive, he was
just beat like a dog. And here we are in
twenty twenty. Brian, No, it's still going on. Yeah, it is.
(10:43):
It's insane. And that officer Derek Chauvin, he was charged
with third degree murder today in manslaughter in the death
of George Floyd. So, if you're looking for change and
hoping for change, and obviously even if you're not black
in the country, as a white guy, I'm hoping for
massive change where things like this are a thing of
(11:05):
the far distant past. Hopefully this is a step toward
that be interesting to see how the case progresses. But
my heart goes out to his family and anybody else
who is troubled by it, because you talk about something
that's beyond troubling the video of George Floyd and the
guy kneeling on his neck. It's just words can't describe it.
(11:26):
How inhumane, how incomprehensible that whole situation was. Brian, we
got Rob G, and athletes are chiming in. Some athletes
don't want to get involved. You know some people, and
everybody's different. Everybody can't be an activist. Everybody can't stand upfront.
That's why certain people's are leaders and heroes. Right. Everybody
(11:46):
can't be that guy. So I'm not knocking people who
don't want to do it, but there comes to responsibility
sometimes when you have a platform and you can reach
many and and that's the case. And Rob G, you
have a couple, You have some tweets and stuff that
you want to read, and I think these are I
think the first one you're gonna read is pretty strong.
(12:07):
That's right, you talked about earlier in the show you.
I think you opened it up with it. Joe Burrow,
the number one pick in the NFL draft, now the
quarterback with the Bengals. He tweeted us a few hours ago,
said the black community needs our help. They have been
unheard for far too long. Open your ears listen and speak.
This isn't politics, this is human rights. Hold on now, Brian, No,
(12:30):
Burrow has all he could just he didn't get ignore it. Yeah,
he's a white guy from Middle America. Nobody's expecting him
to say anything. He's a first overall pick. He should
just be concerned with football, right, wrong? Yeah, I mean
you got to. You got an applaud a guy like
Joe Burrow to speak up like that, because you're right,
(12:51):
he could just head down, go about his business. And
if an athlete feels comfortable enough to speak on issues
like this, I applaud them for doing so. I really do.
And I'm sure we'll get into this going forward. But
to the athletes who say, look, that's not my comfort zone,
it's getting harder and harder these days because you know
you're gonna be asked about it, and there's only so
much you can say in terms of I'm not comfortable
(13:13):
talking about that. So I find that to be very fascinating.
If it's understandable to expect athletes who might not be
comfortable speaking about issues like this to speak about them,
that's a really interesting topic. And Rob GDR are other
athletes who who rather not get into frame that's right now.
Most famously is Michael Jordan. No, we talked about that.
(13:36):
Chris and I have said that Michael has criticized his
entire career and post career that he didn't that famous
Senate race with Harvey Gant right, and he didn't want
to be involved against Jesse Helms right, and Michael took
a flyer on it. It took a pass on it,
even though his mom asked him to do it. Right now.
(13:58):
One of the more content temporary athletes who've been very
vocal about not wanting to speak out on things is
Deshaun Watson. Now, he said this an interview with the Undefeat.
I thought it was the shop who was actually the undefeated.
He said, politics and religion, I don't talk about it
because you're fighting a battle you're not going to win. Period.
(14:18):
That's his philosophy on this whole thing. My whole thing,
Rob is it's if you tell us, if you explain
why right, if you say, look, I am just I'm
not comfortable. I'm not an activist. Oh okay, but it
always seems like is it tied to something financial? Right?
Do you have that in the back of your head
with the Michael Jordan's situation where Republicans buy sneakers. Also,
(14:42):
it's if you explain it and you break it down
where you put my cynical mind at ease, where I'm thinking,
is there something financial here? That's the only reason why.
Because if you can get me around to thinking that's
not why, I can accept it a lot easier. No, no, no,
no doubt about it. It's hard to think that a
lot of times people aren't talking with their pocketbook because
(15:04):
it's a big part of a lot of people. And
that's the part. That's why I said about Colin Kaepernick.
I have a lot of respect for the guy because
it's he had a pretty good life before that and
could have continued that life without taking on such an
enormous thing of trying to change the world and do
it as a as a former football player or as
(15:25):
a football player. All Right, we want to hear from
you now. Should athletes be feel obligated to use their
platforms to speak out on social issues? Eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six
sixty three sixty nine. We'll continue that conversation with you.
It's the odd couple with Brian no in for Chris Broussard,
(15:48):
Rob Parker, Here you there as Fox Sports Radio stick
and Stay America. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker Weekday,
He Said seven pm Eastern, four pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app a See a
couple on Fox Sports Radio. A funky Flashback Friday, Rob
(16:12):
Parker and Brian no in for Chris Boussar. Chris will
be back on Monday. Vacation will be all over, and
we want to hear from you. Should athletes use their
platforms in these moments, in these times in our lives
when things seem to have gone awry and Uh telephone
(16:33):
number eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox, don't forget.
We're coming to you live from the Geico Fox Sports
Radio studios. It's easy to say fifteen percent of more
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or call eight hundred and nine four seven Auto. The
only hard part figuring out which way is easier. Brian,
Let's hit some phones. Let's do it man, you got them? Oh?
(16:58):
I got okay? Yeah, let's go to UH. We've got Shane.
He's in Vegas. Shane, you're on the odd couple of
Fox Sports Radio. What you got Shane? Hey, guys, I
really appreciate your call, taking my call, Listen, I think
these athletes have a bigger platform than they really think. Um,
you know, if the riots were happening in Cleveland, do
you think Lebron's response would be the same or would
(17:22):
he be pushing for them to stop the rioting? If
Carson Wentz the rioting was happening in South Dakota, do
you think his response would be the same or do
you think that he would be pushing to stop the riots?
You know, That's what I really think. I think these
athletes are just jump at the moment and they really
(17:42):
don't understand what kind of a platform they really have.
Thanks for taking my call, guys, All right, appreciate it.
I think they understand it. It's pretty big. It's whether
or not, Brian, they want to get involved or not. Yeah, yeah,
I would agree with that. We've got Joe, he's in Charlotte. Joe,
you're on the odd couple five Sports Radio. What are
you thinking here? Man? I don't want nobody who don't
(18:04):
have no hard to say anything about something they don't
believe in. Money don't make you have hard hard or
something that you got from the inside that you truly believe.
These guys out here, they got ages in the head
telling them don't do this and don't do that. They're
picking them choosing what they want to do. Either you're
a leader, you're not. Money. Money doesn't put you on
(18:26):
that level because people can see through if you're real
or not. So it ain't buy how much money you
got NFL Pro basketball players. It's totally different, man. You know,
if they didn't come through the struggle like Bill russelling
them dead, have me stay in hotel, che from their team.
You know, it's a different life now. So the struggle
ain't dead for them. So that's why they can't really
(18:49):
speak because they ain't had no struggle like that, right.
But they But but but Kaepernick, and this is my point.
He saw what was going on four years ago. He
was chat four years ago. He wasn't having it, and
it's still happening in twenty twenty. It is. And you
know what's funny, Rob is a lot not funny. But
(19:12):
I think that the question we're throwing out there is
should athletes feel obligated to speak out on the issues
that are going on, such as what just happened with
George Floyd and his death. I think this rob if
you don't feel obligated to speak out, if you don't
feel comfortable, I should say, I think you gotta explain
the why. The why really matters. And if you come
(19:35):
out and explain the reasons why, and okay, I can
digest that a lot better. But if you don't, it
just seems like, especially if you're a big time athlete,
it feels like you don't want to ruffle any feathers
which could hurt your dollars and cents and hit you
in the wallet unless I think why, in this country
we live in, Black athletes and entertainers are our biggest
(19:56):
uh have the biggest platforms in this country. Yeah, they
reach more than just black people. They reach everybody. That's
why the obligation sometimes is put on them more because
they can reach a lot of people. We've got Susan,
she's in Florida. Susan, you're on the odd couple Fox
Sports Radio. What are you thinking here? Why I think
(20:18):
he is they should step forward and they should say
something because when I was growing up back in the
nineteen sixties, and I watched every evening on the news
how black people were being treated in various states, especially
down the Deep cell Ye, and I figure, if you're
obligating black men to serve in the military back then
they were drafted and even before that, if they're enough
(20:39):
to fight for this country, then they should have the
decency and the dignity that to be able to sit
next to a white person at a lunch counter or
I don't have to go to separate bathrooms or separate
water fountains. This country was not built on that mentality.
Thank you so much. Susan McKim squeezing one more, mister, No, Yeah,
let's go to Gary in Florida. You're on the odd
(21:00):
couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's going on? Gary? Hey?
What's going on? Man? How you? Hey? Man? Hey? I
just think people are wired differently. You know, people are
wired differently, and it's like they're gonna be I love you, guys,
I love listen to you. But I think people are
wired definitely. They think they're this. You know, things change,
I mean so, but why it differently? What though? What
(21:21):
are you getting out? Is it is it differently with
with with uh, with right and wrong, or just that
they don't want to say I've grew up. I've grew
up in Florida my whole life. I've grew up in
basically black my friends, I'll play football, we hang out.
I just think people are like, there's this, I'm not
happy what happened with that happened. But it's like it's
(21:44):
just people are like, Okay, we got it, we got
It's it's a difficult topic and difficult situation. It ain't
that easy. All right, We're gonna talk with I from Salam. Uh.
He's coming up. He's going to close and sold. Yeah,
So all right. Former NFL veteran I from Salam is
(22:05):
one of the most opinionated athletes in this country, and
we'll get his thoughts on all of this next. But first,
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. Rob Parker, Brian no in for Chris Broussard.
(22:27):
And we've got former NFL veteran I from Salam coming
up right now on the Discover Cards celebrity hotline. Get
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discover dot com. Slash credit scorecard limitations apply. I from
(22:51):
Welcome to the Odd Couple. Buddy, Yo, welcome to the program.
How are you doing Bud? I'm good brother. How you
doing doing good? Brian no in for Chris Boussard and
uh from We were just talking and we threw out
a question about athletes. Obviously, with all that's happened in
the country and the rioting and uh George Floyd being
(23:12):
killed h for athletes, do you think athletes have some
not all, obligation to speak out. We even heard Joe
Burrow on a tweet today the number one pick, who's going,
Who's going to the Bengals and everything come out and
and and voice his opinion on what's happening in the country.
(23:33):
How how much should players be obligated or feel obligated
to do that? So this is this is when things
like this happens, like the the incident to happen in Minneapolis,
and people automatically are like, well, why are athletes or
why aren't athletes speaking out? To me? It goes past
(23:54):
the sport, right, This is a like this is this
is something that's happening in our country. So as Americans
and as citizens and people who have the right to
you know, be arrested and not killed like whatever that is,
it goes past sports me. Right, I'm not just an athlete,
(24:15):
but I'm a person, right, So if I see something
that I don't agree with, I have the right to
speak out, whether I work in a bank, whether I
work on a football team or basketball team or any
other thing, just like everybody else in this country has
the right to. So I implore not only athletes, but
(24:37):
I implore everyone to speak out when they see injustices,
when this stops becoming about all the black and the
white and starts becoming about us problem. Right, if a
white person sees what happened to this young man and
as appalled, I mean, you speak out, you say something
(25:00):
about it, because it's not just us, it's what's happening
in this country. Right, So if something is right, They
abolished slavery because it was flat out wrong, right, But
it wasn't just black people saying it was wrong. If
that was the case, it would have nothing would have happened.
The same with the civil rights movement. It didn't get
(25:23):
ramped up and intensified. And until white Americans on the
West Coast and in Middle America got to see on
TV what was happening to African Americans in the South
with the dogs, the police, brutality, the waterholders, that's when
they joined the fight. That's when progress was made. Big man,
(25:46):
I'm just curious, since this went down on Monday, just
what has been on your mind, on your heart as
this week has played out. How have you been feeling
just in terms of what transpired on Monday and the
result has been throughout the week as this is played
out it, I don't know how many times my soul, right,
(26:09):
my soul can get chipped away from me. Right. I
didn't know this brother, right, I didn't know him at all.
I didn't know any of the people who have been killed.
But the fact of the matter is this is a
systematic injustice that has been going on in this country
since the founding of this country when you want to
(26:29):
really get down to it. So the fact that I'm
an African American man, I am raising two African American boys,
and I couldn't even imagine them being in a situation
when they get older that something like this can happen
to them. This is my thought when I see things
(26:52):
like this, because over and over again this country and
the judicial system and law enforcement has turned a blind eye.
We're finally getting police officers on social media speaking out
about what they saw. Right. This has been something that
that that you know, you protect your own you know,
you want to talk about the blue wall, or you
(27:17):
want to distance yourself from an all. I don't want
to speak out on it, but enough is enough. And
what I'm telling you, I'm telling you like the fact
that this is happening the way it is now during
a pandemic. We're suffering a pandemic and an epidemic at
the same time, and people are heightened. Their emotions and
empathy are heightened because we've been locked inside for three
(27:41):
and a half months. Right, So all you're doing is
reacting to what you see. That's an injustice. And my
question to the American people is all those people had
the guns and the flags and and and marching because
they wanted haircut and and and go to salm where
are those people because what we saw that happened was
(28:06):
against American people. It wasn't against a black man. It
was against us and our freedom. So where are those people?
Because you can't sit up here and tell me that
that was justified. So where are all those people who
had the A R fifteens? And I just want a
haircut and get my nails done. Where are those people
with those guns at the capitol? That's what I want
(28:29):
to know. His name is I from Salam. He's our
guest here on the Odd Couple, of course, the former
NFL VET and Fox Sports Radio weekend host I from
This is earlier and was we started the show, I
talked about Colin Kaepernick, and I just talked about this
is what he was talking about. This was the injustice
that he had seen when he decided that he was
(28:50):
going to put his football career in jeopardy. Do whatever
he had to do, give up the money, give up
the fame, give up the football, whatever it was to
bring life to this. Here it is four years later,
and the people who condemned him trying to tell him
when you're supposed to protest and how you're supposed to protest.
(29:10):
This was what he was talking about, it hasn't stopped.
Where is the NFL now, Where are all those people
who thought that Colin Colin Kaepernick was being un American? Yes? Right,
like to see, this is what I'm talking about. All
(29:30):
the people who said he shouldn't protest like that, right?
Why has nothing to do with the sports. Yeah, this
is the reason he's protesting on that stage because this
has been an epidemic in this country for us for
(29:52):
decades upon decades. And that is the problem. If Colin
Kaepernick doesn't sacrifice his career to bring awareness, it doesn't
sting as much as it does today at the point.
That is the thing, that's exactly the point. So I've
always said, look, you can't tell a person how to
(30:14):
protest right right right. You can't say, oh, do it
a different way, because protests is supposed to make you
uncomfortable to shine a light on something that needs to
be addressed. It's like Evin, when when you when you
block the four or five, will you get their attention?
Will people figure out what's going on here? Oh? Yeah?
(30:35):
When you disrupt normal a life in the flow of
life with pain and and and in protests, people have
to pay attention right. The world has to pay attention.
They arrested this man so fast. Look they understand it's
it's already lit. The powder cake is lit. Can't put
(30:56):
out the match. What are you going to do now?
That's the point. What are we doing now? Is this
going to be another case for the officer feared for
his life or whatever they want to spend. And look,
I'm not anti police. I'm not anti police. I know
you're not anti police. Rob Your whole family is in
law enforcement. I know, I know, And and when I'm speaking,
(31:22):
I don't want people to think I'm anti police because
I believe we need police. But police also need to
be policed. But where are the people who are supposed
to police them? Those are the people who have been
letting us down. Because hey, if you take five, you
can pick him five random killings of unarmed African Americans
(31:48):
over the past two years. If those penalties for those
officers were handed down and they were severe, this would
change the mentality. That's the problem. Hey, he from one
last question? I want to jump in here. What about God?
You know, Michael Jordan had a long history. As great
(32:09):
of a player as he was, he stayed out of
the Phray despite the big platform, and even DeShawn Watson
said that he's decided not to talk about issues like
that because half the people will be mad at him.
What do you say about people just decide to, you know,
turn their heads or won't talk about socialation. Number one,
(32:29):
it's your right to do that. As an American citizen
in this country, you don't you don't have to speak
out on something like that. But as a black man
in this country's shame on you. Shame on you, a
black man with influence, Shame on you because it could
be you. It could be your cousin, you know, that
could be your nephew. Of course I know that. Just
(32:51):
because I've played in the Super Bowl and I and
I played in the NFL, that doesn't put me above
any of this. It could be me. So how can
I not speak on it? How can Jordan, are Dashaun
or any other person of our skin color sit back
and say I'm just gonna hang back if this amount
(33:13):
of time to hang back, we need those voices, no
doubt about it. Hey, e From we appreciate it, really,
thank you for the knowledge, the passion. We really really
appreciate you. Thank you so much about well, all right,
more of The Odd Couple with Brian No and for
(33:33):
Chris Broussard coming up, Keep it locked on Fox Sports Radio.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeart Radio app. It is the couple of Fox Sports
Radio Funky Flashback Friday, Rob Parker along with Brian No.
(33:58):
Don't you know in for Chris Boussard, who will be
back on Monday from vacation, and Brian let's turn to
a little football. Okay football, yes, uh, you got some
issues going on, right A certain wide receiver, Yeah, yeah.
(34:19):
So DeAndre Hopkins, you know, the Texans wide receiver. He
came out, he said he's the best in football, which
he makes a compelling case he is one of the best,
if not the best. And he said, hey, look at
Michael Thomas with the Saints. He's had Drew Brees his
entire career. Look at Julio Jones, he's had matt Ryan,
Mattie Ice, good NFL quarterback, He's had him his entire career.
(34:42):
And if you look at DeAndre Hopkins what his numbers
would be with a comparable quarterback, they'd be even better.
So it makes all the sense in the world his
position here. I would flip it around and say, how
come we can't say the same thing when a quarterback
has lackluster web Like, I don't know. Some guy in
Foxboro last year named Tom Brady. Oh, he was throwing
(35:05):
to James White out of the backfield, and the law
firm of Jacobe Myers that if you look at his weapons,
you tell me his weapons, his numbers wouldn't better with
better weapons. It's crazy. It only took fifty minutes before
Brian know turned into the Tom Brady apologist that he
has always been. I know who. You blame that pick
(35:25):
sixty in the playoff game on who? Because he had
nobody to throw throw too? So he threw to the
to the Titans, right because there was nobody else to
throw too. Is that okay? We're gonna blame him at
the ass? Really, when there's just seconds remaining in their back,
why didn't matter? Guys can't get open and I hate it.
(35:46):
I can't. I can't stand Hopkins. You don't need to
say it. If you're that guy. I don't. You don't
need to say it. That tells you you're not that guy.
If you need to make a case, dude would have
could have shoota You gotta play with what you got.
If you played it, it would be like Reggie Jackson
or some other baseball Well, if I played at Fenway,
I would have hit eight hundred home runs. No, you
(36:09):
didn't play in Fedway. Sorry, I hear you. But your
quarterback matters. You know this, rob Like Look at his
twenty fifteen season. This is insane. This is one of
the best seasons by a wide receiver in NFL history.
Here are his numbers, DeAndre Hopkins in twenty fifteen, one
hundred and eleven catches for over fifteen hundred yards and
(36:30):
eleven touchdowns. Listen to his starting quarterbacks that year. There
were four guys, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T J. Yates,
and Brandon Whedon And he's still putting up those numbers.
So he's put up numbers with hat quarterbacks throughout half
his career. So you're trying to say what he threw
the ball to himself. It's a cop out. You could
(36:50):
say he had had quarterbacks, but they put up numbers
They got him to football. That's all they have to do.
How in the world are you gonna say, shame one
quarterbacks I have when you put up I popping numbers?
I don't how. How doesn't make sense? Somebody got you
the ball. Yeah, it just speaks to how much of
a beast he is as a wide receiver. He's still
(37:11):
put up numbers. It's not as if he just started
putting up numbers with DeShawn Watson. Show it so it
shows how great he is. You can't say the same
thing about Michael Thomas's greatness. Is Michael Thomas putting up
the same numbers he's put up with Breeze? If he's
if Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett and t J. Yates are
throwing him the fin I don't know. It's funny because
(37:32):
Breeze didn't he miss games last year, So he missed
five games. Okay, So he missed five games, and the
backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater apparently is okay because he put
up a record setting year and didn't even have Drew
Brees the entire year. So that defeat that that negates
that argument. It's about having It's about having this great
(37:54):
quarterback in order to put up numbers. Do you think
that Michael Thomas point blank would he have the same
career numbers if he had Ryan Mallett and t J.
Yates and Brian Hoyer around the way, Like there's no
drop off whatsoever. Bridgewater is better than those guys, by
the way, I just I don't know, because Hopkins put
up good numbers with them, so obviously they were able
(38:15):
to get the ball to him. I just whenever you
want to play this game, what stadium, what your teammates were.
This is what the Lebron minions do all the time.
Niked Jamie. Every time he loses, they go he didn't
have anybody well, and you can't expect him to beat
the Warriors. Look at their team. Are you guys telling
(38:38):
at forty two years old, it doesn't matter who your
weapons are As a quarterback, of course it matters. I'm
just saying playing that game is lame to me. Go out,
put up your numbers, play with the card you're delt.
That's how it goes. Sorry, all right, you say spare
(38:59):
me your excuse? Is I say, spare me your lack
of reason? Rob right? It is the odd couple Fox
Sports Radio our number two coming up, Brian No, Rob Parker,
keep it lock. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
(39:22):
Search f SR to listen live. You know, Rob, I
got a question for you, man. Is it disrespectful for
a fill in host to do the R? Yeah? Is
it barred from the show? Can not be done? Not
at all? Not at all? Okay, what do you think?
Should I do it? Do it? Do it? All right?
Give me some pointers here, give coach me through this thing.
(39:42):
What do you need? What are you looking for with
the R? Yeah? Just give just go just rare back. Okay,
all right. I want you to play this for Chris
Brussard so we can grade it. Crank up the music,
Alex tischert if you will, please? Oh oh yeah, I
(40:07):
don't I go false settle? Was that a little too high?
Should I go on a little more gravel on that?
We think? Rob? I would your great game. I love that.
I love that so much. I'm glad. I want to
know what you love here in terms of the NBA
playoff format, because this is the discussion you've got the
NBA reportedly targeting a July thirty first return, and so
(40:32):
they're hammering out what do we have a play in tournament?
Do we have a World Cup style group play We've
got like pools of different teams section together. Do we
just go straight to the playoffs? Say it's sixteen teams,
we play it off from there. What would be the
first part on your wish list if you had your
(40:52):
way with the NBA postseason format? I think because of
what we're doing and how we're playing it, and I'm
meaning in Orleans, though I'm calling it the Mickey Mouse
Championship anyway, because it is at Disney World, and just
to do a playoff with the top sixteen teams and
whatever teams are there when we stopped playing regular season games, right,
(41:16):
are the teams that make the playoffs. Don't ask teams
that are out of it to show up and get
back in the fray to play a couple of meaningless
games that really don't matter. Just go straight to the playoffs.
There have been enough games played in the regular season.
I think in the sixties, right sixty three, someone played
a little bit more. That's fine. I could live with
(41:37):
that as being an NBA season, if we were at
forty games, then maybe we'd have to play more because
you wouldn't be able to get a true champion out
of that. So I just think they should go straight
to the playoffs and not worry about finishing up the
regular season. What about you? Yeah, man, I think that
(41:59):
the more teams, the more people, the more risk that
things go sideways. Someone catches the virus and then all
of a sudden, the playoffs are in jeopardy, and I
think you got to minimize risk as much as possible.
And I dislike it that there are some teams on
the outside looking in that they might have scratched Claude
and one enough games and got into the eighth seed
(42:20):
in the West. And okay, all right, but why why
are you bending over backwards just out of two reasons
for partially fairness for them and then also the cash aspect,
because you're trying to get to seventy games and appease
the local TV deals. Why would you risk the playoffs
for that? I mean, really think about this, Rob. If
(42:43):
we look back on the season and the playoffs weren't
finished and it was tied to one of these teams
that's currently on the outside of the playoffs looking in
that had a couple of players who caught the virus
and then it discontinu and you the playoffs. Do you
realize how badly that will look for the NBA and
(43:05):
how much money is at stake when it comes to
the TV money with playoff action. It's just to me,
the risk isn't worth the reward. I would say, sorry,
you fourteen teams that aren't currently in the playoffs by
win more games next season. It stinks, but there's a
global pandemic going on. You're not invited to the party, right,
I agree, And here we go. The NBA has to
(43:27):
be careful. I get the Disney World, all right, hit
my reference. Don't make a mockery of the playoffs with
all these like trick funny things and oh we're gonna
do this, and if a guy makes a half court shot,
they make it to the playoffs. You know, if somebody
throws four buckets of confetti in a game, then they
(43:48):
make the playoffs. We don't want that. We don't want
a circus. Do not cheapen the playoffs in any way,
no playing game. This isn't college. Don't do that. Yeah,
I don't. I don't want that, Brian, I really really don't.
I don't either. It's it makes me think of All
Star Weekend with the skills competition where you dribble and
(44:10):
then do the shot at the end. It's it's kind
of like that. If you do that coupled with your
winning percentage in this season, now you might get in
the playoffs. It's turning into a joke here. I think
they're ultimately going to do the play in. I think
that's the way it's going to go, and I just
hope that it doesn't go sideways and derail the season.
I just don't think the risk is worth the reward.
(44:31):
But I'll say this, Rob, the one thing I really
don't want is the World Cup Soccer style group play
format because I dislike teams that haven't earned their way
into the playoffs just being included and you've got a
shot to get hot at the right time. If you're
playing two games against the other four teams in your pool,
(44:54):
if you are one of the two teams with the
best record, you're moving on. You shouldn't even be in
the playoffs, and you can move on to the next stage.
I don't like that at all right, then that's what
I'm talking about. What's cheapen in it? And you just
don't we gotta be real careful. And I know the
NBA they think that they got a mulligan, so we
could just do anything now because of the pandemic, you know, like, oh,
(45:15):
we could just use it, and we'll use this as
an excuse. Let's start the season on Christmas next year.
Let's do this, Let's do that. Be careful, don't mess up,
don't mess with the product just because we're not living
a normal life. Don't Brighten know he is Rob Parker.
We're coming to your life from the Geico Fox Sports
(45:36):
Radio studios. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or
more on car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for a
free rate quote. Okay, how about this, This idea has
been talked about quite a bit. If it's just the
sixteen playoff teams, or even if you do have a
play in tournament, whatever, you get down to the sixteen somehow,
some way. Do you want it to be traditional just
(45:57):
East Eastern Conference, Western Conference best to save or would
you like to see them seated one through sixteen regardless
of conferences? When we started the season. That wasn't the plan,
So why change it now? It makes no sense. Everybody's there, right,
everybody's gonna be in Orlando. So before it was it
(46:17):
was about people were talking about doing that because of
some teams and their records or whatever. All I'm saying
is when we entered this season, that was not on
the table. So why are we adjusting to that. There's
no reason to do that. Keep it the way it is.
In the next CBA or the next thing that you
(46:39):
want to do and you want to change that, do
it then. But that's not what people signed up for
this year. Why why are we doing it? How does
that change anything? How does that affect TV money revenue?
How does that? What does that do? I don't get it.
I wouldn't want to see it be the format going
(46:59):
for and I don't think it ever would be. There's
just too much travel. I mean, goodness, you have right,
you know when the pandemic is the thing of the past,
and eventually it will be at some point. Can you
imagine the heat and the Lakers having a first round
series and then the Lakers advance and they're playing the
seventy six ers or whatever like there's just too much travel.
(47:20):
I don't like that format going forward. I gotta tell you, though, Rob,
I like it for this year alone, because here's how
I think of it. The NBA, and rightfully so understandably,
so they have to take things away. It's like, all right,
we're taking the regular season away due to a pandemic. Hey,
we're taking away regular season games. I think they gotta
(47:41):
give us something. And if they say, hey, we're gonna
do something a little bit different this year, we're gonna
have teams seated one through sixteen, regardless of conference, think
about the fruit it might bear if you've got the
Clippers and Lakers in the finals. I think it serves
as a healthy distraction of this season being so much
different in a bad way than other championship seasons. And
(48:04):
I think it distracts you from this whole. Hey, is
there an asterisk here with the team that eventually wins
the championship. I think it would help get people out
of that mindset a little bit, do something different. It
could be good for your league. I actually like one
through sixteen just for this specific season. Yeah, I'm just
I don't want to say I'm an old man. Hey,
(48:27):
you kids, get off my long kind of guy. Uh huh,
but I am. When it comes to this, I just
think doing too much. It's just not necessary. Actually, during
these this time, it should be doing less. Just just
play the games the way we expect them. People are
gonna watch. You don't have. You have a captive audience. Nobody,
(48:50):
nobody's gonna turn the channel because you're not doing some
new fangled thing that the millennials want. You don't have
to worry about that. You're the ratings for Michael Jordan's documentary, right, everybody,
everything that's on, except for Lance Armstrong's documentary doing well,
all right, everything, Yeah, that thing we couldn't have yelled.
(49:14):
We don't care about cycling any louder than that thing. Bomb.
But but but you got My point is that you
have a captive audience. You don't have. All we need
is games. Yeah, we don't need a whip queen, and
we don't need new fangled clowns coming out of a
mini car. We don't need any of that. Just give
(49:34):
us some good basketball, some good matchups what we're used
to seeing, and we will be there and we'll watch.
I know it, man, it's true. You're right we're starving
right now. If you're starving for a meal and someone
throws you, I don't know, some ramen noodles, which I love.
By the way, it's gonna feel like a five star restaurant, right,
(49:54):
It's gonna seem like a seven Chors meal. That's what
we're at for sports. So yeah, you don't have to
have some crazy new format. There meet enough, even if
it's bad basketball. At least it's sports back on the TV.
You know, I agree, But it feels like they're trying
to put Whip Queen on my fried chicken. I don't
need Whip Queen. The fried chicken taste good just the
(50:14):
way it is. Okay, I'm gonna get you out of
your comfort zone because Woads tweeted this out where you've
got Adam Silver. His final recommendation is expected to be
twenty to twenty two teams invited to resume the season.
So if there is some sort of play in tournament,
or let's just keep it simple, let's say there are
(50:36):
twenty to twenty two teams, that's what they decide. What
do you want them to do from there? In terms
of a play in or a postseason format, that's a
good question. I just don't know. I mean, I don't know.
I don't have the standards in front of me. Are
the teams that are instead of sixteen, or their teams
that are half a game out or one game out
and they feel like it's not fair of those teams
(50:58):
or you know what I mean. That's that's what it
would have to be. But to me, those teams m
I still would just take the top sixteen eight teams
from each conference and it would just have to be
tough luck to the teams that are a few games
out or whatever. That's the That's what it sounds like
to me, is that they're trying to pacify the couple
(51:21):
of teams that might only be a game or two
wild and thought, you know, maybe we could make the playoffs,
like like the Portland Trail Blazers who were in the
Western Conference finals a year ago. Right, Yeah that right now, Brian,
they're on the outside looking in, correct, Yeah, they are.
I agree with you, Rob. I would do just the
top sixteen teams. But if they say, you know what,
we're gonna do twenty teams, what I would do, and
(51:43):
this option has been discussed, I would take the four
bubble teams in the Western Conference because they have better
records than the nine and tenth place teams in the East.
So I would take those teams, the Blazers, the Zions,
I'm sorry, the Pelicans, right because they on Zion. Yeah, sorry,
the Kings and the Spurs. I would take those teams Zion,
(52:05):
Zion and you know that, oh, they absolutely do. I
would take those four Western Conference bubble teams. If they
insist on twenty teams, right, I would have them duke
it out. Whoever emerges from those four teams, then they
would play the Grizzlies best of three series. That's your
eight seed. If they insist on twenty teams. The Grizzlies
have to get some sort of advantage for being the
(52:27):
current eight seed. They shouldn't have to jump through all
the hoops that the teams below them have to jump through.
That's not fair to them. No, they're there. They've played
well enough to be in the top eight when the
season stop, right, I just don't understand why that would
be fair. All right, coming up next to the Geico studios,
we want to hear from you. Are you on board
(52:48):
with the NBA's play in tournament plan. If it's up
to you, what do you want the postseason format to be?
Hit us up eight seven seven ninety nine Box eight
seven seven nine nine six sixty three six nine. We'll
continue the conversation with you next. It's The Odd Couple.
I'm Brian no In for Chris. He's Rob Parker. Keep
(53:11):
it locked right here on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern, four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Brian no In for Chris Brussard. He's Rob Parker.
It is The Odd Couple here on Fox Sports Radio.
Comings here from the Geico Studios. Hey, AutoZone has more
(53:33):
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Get in the zone Auto Zone. I'll tell you what Rob.
I'm happy to be filling in for Chris on a
(53:54):
funky flashback Friday. I am a huge heavy metal fan.
People will know this. I got love for fun too,
you kidding me? Come up? Yeah, And Alex is doing
a job on the ones and twos. I could just
picture him with the h I think he's got the
butterfly open, the chest hair right just and the bow bottoms, yes,
golden pointing, you know, points from Torso to the heavens
(54:17):
right doing that. Don't forget the roller blaze. That's right,
we could see that definitely, all right, eight seven, seven
ninety nine off Fox, Brian, let's check in and see
what people are thinking about the NBA and what style
tournament they want to kind of do, like to wrap
up the season if we get started in late July.
(54:38):
Eric and Oregon, you're on the odd couple, Fox Sports Radio.
What you got? Hey? Good it even Tella's nice to
hear you, you too, but thank you? Yeah. Yeah, so
all right. As much as a Portland Trailblazer fan, as
much as I'd love a tournament because it would give
Dame a chance to get in there, I mean, I
think we're just getting crazy complicated. We need to keep this.
(55:00):
We don't need to overcomplicate things. There's already a product
that everybody wants to see it all. It's already gonna
do well. I am kind of in favor of reseating,
but it's still not going to do anything to make
the first round eighty more watchable. The Lakers are still
gonna roll through Brooklyn or Milwaukee's gonna roll through. So,
like I said, I feel bad for a game, and
(55:20):
I feel bad, you know, for guys that were on
the edge, But at the same time, it's like, well,
teams should have played better in the regular season. That's
right there. You go, there's a there's a there's a
Blazer fan of just being honest, they didn't play well
enough for I don't know how many games did they play,
Brian sixty four or whatever, whatever the number was, they
didn't play well enough. Yeah, they're twenty nine and thirty seven.
(55:42):
I know they've had a lot of injuries, but goodness,
being eight games under five hundred, you shouldn't have a
bleeding heart for the Blazers or a team that's right
around there. And those are those four bubble teams, they're
right around that same area. So yeah, one of the
all time Peter Vessue was a basketball columns for the
New York Post. I think he nicknamed them during the
bad days the jail blazers. But that's another story. Yeah
(56:05):
it is. Yeah, I do think they'll real quick, Rob.
I think that. Look, if you think about the one
through sixteen thing, it wouldn't be for the first round.
It would be the payoff would come later in the
playoffs to do something different where you might get a
couple of Eastern Conference teams matched up in the you know,
the final the conference what would be the conference finals,
(56:26):
the third round, I guess, or maybe you get Lakers
Clippers for the championship. The payoff would be later, it
wouldn't be for the first round. Yeah, all right, Calvin
and san Antonio, you're in the odd couple. Fox Sports Radio.
What's up, Calvin? Eat the guys. How y'all doing doing good? Great? Good? Okay,
this is what I have to say. Although, like you
(56:46):
guys said, I don't think changing it would would create
any more bugs about being able to watch sports again.
But I do like the idea of the one through
sixteen even passed this season for one reason only. I
can't stand and it makes my skin crawl when teams
with losing records make it in the playoffs. If one
through six team would eliminate teams with losing records making
(57:10):
it in the playoffs, then I'm four, here's the problem.
I hate it. Here's the problem when you when you
start to get rid of conferences, and it's it's the
travel part that Brian talked about. And then also imagine
if you had an NBA Playoffs where teams from the
East Coast weren't involved and it was basically I'm just saying,
(57:34):
you had a Western heavy playoffs where twelve of the
sixteen teams came from the West. That's what you also
don't want to be a part of. Yeah, and I do.
I love the tradition of it to rob where goodness,
you can think about the Last Dance where it starts
off even before the nineties Bowls where the Pistons they
(57:55):
couldn't get past the Celtics and then the Bulls they
can't get past the Pistons, and the storylines that come
from that. If you have one through sixteen every year,
you just don't have as good of a chance to
have that same storyline play out, and I think that's unfortunate. Definitely.
Joseph in Virginia you're on the odd couple of Fox
(58:15):
Sports Radio. What's up, Joseph, Good evening, Fellers, Rob, I
see why you be angry all the time? Man, You
the workhorse at a team. Man, I'm always here. Me
and Alex and Steve de Sega, Rob G, Rob G
and Chris Boussard Man they got the life. Hey, I
appreciate you fellas big time, But I gotta say I
(58:37):
would have to go with the twenty two teams. I
feel like if you put those twenty two in, I
mean that extends it out. At least in the Western Conference,
you get teams like Sacramento at New Orleans and Portland.
Those are the young, exciting teams. As far as with
Sacramento in New Orleans, those guys were kind of getting together,
getting it together at the end. I think there's a
(58:57):
lot of There will be a lot more. I guess
you could say narratives that would come out of it
if you you expanded it out. I know it's reaching
for zion, but we're in a pandemic and the NBA
is a hot topic right now. So yeah, this shouldn't
be about one player and trying to squeeze him in.
They should I'm serious. That's the one part that I
don't like it. But you know this is about the Pelicans,
(59:24):
you know it is and Zion. Brian, Am I right? Well,
that's a big part of it, There's no doubt and
that what the plan is that they hit us with,
whatever it is, will tell us what they're truly thinking.
If it's all these teams that are invited there, if
they're playing about eight games, well, it's the TV contracts, right,
they're trying to appease that. If it's hey, we need
(59:45):
uh four bubble teams in the West, that's gonna be Zion, right.
So their plans will tell us what they're thinking. No,
I agree with you, but but I'm always like, I'm
always like suspicious because I think the NBA it's a
little ww E in it and they love that stuff.
All right, Brian and California. You're on the odd couple
(01:00:08):
of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Brian? Okay? What about
Marty in Kentucky? Marty, you're on the odd couple of
Fox Sports Radio? What's up? Rob? Hey, are you doing tonight? Great? Great?
I'm good. I gotta say I'm I'm all for any
changes they can make. This year. I don't want them
to change it for good. I would want to go
(01:00:28):
back to traditional, but for this year, if you can
squeeze zone in, if you can fix it where the
best two teams get in the finals, even possibly a
LA versus LA in the finals, which if you made
the deal right with Disney, you could bring it back
to the Staples Center when it got down to those
two teams. If that happened, I mean a lot of
interesting things can happen. And the NBA is a business
(01:00:49):
and they're hurting like every other businesses, have lost a
ton of revenue, and any ideas they can come up
with to mix this up and make a little more
money and get more viewers, I'm all for it, Marty.
What if they do it right and they do the
uh we we uh uh shuffle the deck right after
(01:01:09):
for the playoffs one to sixteen, and Lebron gets knocked
out in the earlier rounds by a good team, then
they'll be crying bloody murder like that wasn't fair. That
will be that will be the cry, Oh, that wasn't fair.
They made Lebron play what you call in the first
round that Philadelphia, they wrest the bowling him until right.
(01:01:32):
I'm just saying that would be the argument. No, I agree,
But Brian, if he gets knocked out in the first
or second round by an Eastern team, but right, will
that not be the argument. You'll just be like, we
need to do one through sixteen from this point on.
If he got knocked out by an Eastern Conference team,
that's the one way to get you on board with
(01:01:53):
one through sixteen round. I would love it. Then I'm
all in, Yeah, yeah, thanks, party, yes, thank you. Coming
up next from the Geico Studios, we toss it over
to Sean Powell, NBA dot com writer, what's the latest
with all this NBA format business. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
(01:02:14):
of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and
within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live. We're
coming to you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios.
It's easy to say fifteen percent or more on car
insurance with Geico. Go to Geico dot com or call
eight hundred nine four seven Auto. The only hard part
figuring out which way is easier. Go ahead. Think I
(01:02:35):
think that they had a sound bite of that guy's
last words, final words, one hundred and twelve year old.
He looked out a window. He said, hey, you kid,
get off, my lord, and then that was It was
like No. One through sixteen, just do traditional Least versus
West in the NBA playoffs. So like, I'm Brian no
in for Chris Brusard, He's Rob Parker. This is the
(01:02:57):
odd couple. Want to go to the Discus over Cards
Celebrity hotline and welcome in Sean Powell, NBA dot Com writer.
You know, Sean, we're trying to throw on what the
NBA's postseason is gonna be. Like when you go on
shows like this one and we're like, what's it gonna be? Sean,
do you just want to be like, I don't know,
I'm not sure. Yeah. Well, one thing I do know
(01:03:19):
is that Rob Parker probably has underwear one hundred and
seventeen years. As far as the NBA, I mean, look,
anyone who says they know what's going to happen, they're guessing.
I mean, look, you're talking about a lot of moving parts.
You're talking about medical you're talking about the laws in
(01:03:40):
each state or municipality. You're talking about a lot of teams, players, personnel. Media. Well,
I'm not so sure that media's gonna be allowed in.
That's another story. But that's a lot of moving parts
and it's got to happen, I would say somewhat quickly.
So I'm not even so sure the NBA has finalized anything,
(01:04:05):
but they're in the process of doing so, and we'll
all have to sit back and wait to see how
number one, what kind of planner they're gonna come up with.
Number two is science going to participate? And then number three,
how they're going to carry it out? Sean, should we
are we being a little h what's the right word
(01:04:26):
to question the NBA and its integrity when they start
talking about, well, instead of picking the sixteen teams that
would normally be in the playoffs, we're looking at twenty
to twenty two. Are they trying to get Zion and
the Pelicans in the playoffs? You know, that's a great question.
I know, on one end, you have Lebron James, so
(01:04:47):
they don't have to worry about him. He's in the playoffs.
On the other hand, how can you make it interesting
just in terms of adding some pizzazz to this, because
it's going to be a very unique and unpre in
that situation for the NBA. Also, some of those teams
probably had a fighting chance to maybe steal the eighth
(01:05:08):
and final playoff spot in the way, certainly not the East,
but in the West where you know, they were separated
by three three and a half games. And then you
had a team like New Orleans that was on the
rise with Zion. You also had a team Chase and
the Spurs who had what they've got. They've gone to
the playoffs since Rob's last change is underwear this long time,
(01:05:29):
and it had a lot is more like it. Yeah,
So I mean there was a there was a moderate
fight for the eighth spot. Also, you had Portland, which
was starting to get a little bit healthier, um maybe
making a run at that eighth spot. So I think
the NBA might try to have like a little mini
(01:05:53):
tournament for that eighth spot. But if they do that again,
you're talking about inviting two or three more teams to
the So now you're having twenty teams there. Is that
the most prudent and wise thing to do, given that
you're going to have to do constant testing and you know,
having people under wraps and everything. So I think that's
what they're trying to hash out right now. You know,
(01:06:15):
Sean reportedly over half the GMS voted on just going
straight to the playoffs with the current sixteen teams there.
So it gets my mind thinking, is are there more
coaches players that feel the same way as Damian Lillard
where they don't want to restart and play meaningless games
if they're on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
(01:06:37):
I don't think the NBA was ever going to finish
out the regular season. I think so. Adam Silver says
everything was on the table, but I think that's one
of the things that's off the table. I don't think
the league was ever in position to have all thirty
teams play out. You know the schedule, and I know
there are local TV contracts that have to be satisfied
(01:06:59):
and everything, but that is such an undertaking. So I
don't think Damon has anything to worry about. I think
he's going to be sitting at home and watching it
just like the rest of us. And by the way,
and by the way, Damian Lillar is a stand up,
great guy, and I think people probably took what he
said out of context. He's talking about well, look, I mean,
(01:07:20):
if the Blazers were out of the playoffs. In a
normal regular season, of course he'd play out the stretch.
But in this situation, asking him and the team to
fly all the way to say Orlando, to play meaningless
games when the season is essentially over, then that didn't
That probably doesn't make too much sense, so I just
(01:07:41):
wanted to It still came out bad, Sean, just the
idea that people are out of work, and it just
sounded like a guy saying, you know, I'm not playing
in No just it came off the wrong way, you know, Rob,
And I don't disagree with you, Rob, I think, but
text is everything. And you also have to know Damian Lillard.
(01:08:04):
He is a Nobody plays harder, nobody shows up more knights.
This guy doesn't take nights off, doesn't take performances off,
doesn't take possessions off. He loved basketball. Okay, maybe it
didn't come out the right way to people who don't
know him, But if you know Damian Lillard, you know
that he earns his keep and people in Portland he's
(01:08:26):
beloved there, Sean. How how important does the NBA have
to be careful not to tinker too much to the playoffs,
not to tinker too much with changing so much stuff
that you don't devalue the championship and it doesn't turn
into a Mickey Mouse Championship in Orlando because you got
bells and whistles and you're jumping through hoops to change
(01:08:48):
the playoffs. Well, Rob, that's a great question. Look, I mean,
history is gonna say what history is gonna say. And
we all have our opinions about you know, what's a
legitimate championship. I go back to the nineteen eighties, when
you know, the Celtics and Lakers were playing each other
every year. To me, that championship weighs more than say
(01:09:10):
the Lakers beating up on the New Jersey nets back
in the Kobe Shack years, only because when you had
the Lakers and the Celtics playing each other, those were great,
great epic teams. But the bottom line is history should
will probably just reflect our championship as a championship as
a championship. You know. I mean, are we going to
go back and nitpick all of Bill Russells championships and say, ah,
(01:09:32):
you know, the guy only really had six, you know,
because there were teams back then. Well, and that's what
I'm saying, well, look, we all have it our opinions
on that, but aside from that, I don't think there's
really the NBA. Nothing the NBA can do. They're just
trying their best to finish the season and to you know,
just to have some sort of uh, you know, I
(01:09:56):
don't know, just have an ending. Now. The ending is
not going to satisfy everybody. But here's the other thing.
I think a big push just to have this this
to reach a conclusion has to do with Lebron James.
You know, here's a guy who's healthy, who's an MVP candidate,
and he is going to be a ratings uh magnet
for you know, the teav networks who've lost millions of dollars,
(01:10:19):
if not billions of millions of dollars so far. I
think if this was last year and Lebron was hurt
and unable to play, would we would we see this big,
you know, massive push to finish the season. Well, well,
I think they try to finish the season, but it
just seems like right now there's just a much more
meaningful push because you know, you have the game's biggest
(01:10:43):
box office draw, he's healthy and his team is in
position to win a championship. So you know, that's the
elephant in the room that nobody's talking about. They don't
really want to put that out there, but it's playing clear.
Lebron is healthy, his team has a chance to win
the championship, and he is the antidote for situation like
this where the league and a networks need a savior.
(01:11:06):
He's the savior. Sean Powell, NBA dot Com writer. You
can follow him at Powell to the People, which is
easily the best handle in the game. Right now, come on, stop,
that's better than getting Rob. No getting Rob at Tidy Whitey's.
Is that not right? That doesn't work either, Sean, thank
you for your time, Bud, have a good night. We'll
(01:11:26):
catch a thanks guy any time. Guys. There he is
Sean Powell. All right, coming up next from the Geico Studios.
It's our most controversial segment of the day. Shop Talk
is around the Corner. It's The Odd Couple. I'm Brian
no in for Chris Brussard alongside Rob Parker. Keep it
locked right here on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to
(01:11:47):
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. It
is the Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio. I'm Brian
Tho in for Chris Brussard. He is Rob Parker. We're
coming to here from the Geico studios. Hey, although we're
(01:12:07):
apart these days, we're sharing more and Geico sharing more too.
With the Geico Giveback. It's a fifteen percent credit on
car and motorcycle policies for both current and new customers.
That lasts your full policy term. Visit geico dot com
slash giveback for info and eligibility. It's time for controversy.
It's time for shop talk. Ain't Nobody's little been a
(01:12:31):
bomb shop? You know that? Ain't nobody? Isn't it? You
talk about whoever, whatever, whatever you want to It's shop talk, Yes, sir,
it is shop talk the aka. But Fox Sports Radio
we do this every single day at eight forty five
pm Easter and we discuss something that happened outside of
the world of sports. And today's topic is is a
little unique only because it's set up by a mistake
(01:12:52):
on my part. Now I don't know if you guys
know this, but Alyssa Milano and Scott bay are beefing
on Twitter and the ultimately he ended up with them
blocking each other because they have different political beliefs. Whatever
my problem is, I had always thought they were on
the show together, and it turns out I was thinking
to Tony Danza the entire time and not Scott Bayo.
(01:13:13):
But either way, we're gonna do this topic anyways, because
I was really proud of it when I came up
with it. What's one TV sitcom, either friendship or relationship
or family that if you found out in real life
they couldn't stand each other, that it would really bother you.
So let me let me start off with Brian because
he's new to the show. Brian, what do you got? Okay,
(01:13:34):
Now I gotta listen very carefully here. Can it be
a friendship or does it happen to be a friendship?
Give me a friendship? Okay, I got one. This is
gonna be hard to be topped here, all right. If
there was a falling out there was a beast and
both Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff blocked each other
on Twitter, the world might stop revolving. That can't happen.
(01:13:58):
Those guys have to be friends going forward. It's a
perfect match. You put me in a tough spot. I'm
trying to think about a modern show. I don't want
to go to old man on you because you know
what I was gonna say. But but three of the
Golden Girls are dead, like if I found out too soon?
(01:14:19):
You know what I mean, yealy. Betty White is still alive.
So if you've tried out that Betty wife was beef
in with like be Arthur, it would would be there
with bother me, yes, because they are like two TV icons.
Betty White, Betty White has been on TV since nineteen
forty seven, since just started, and be Arthur was tremendous
(01:14:42):
not only in the Golden Girls but on Mard as
well and all in the family. I would hurt me,
rob G. I know you got some show that nobody's watched,
but go ahead let me. What are you talking about?
How dare you say that? Now? It kind of sucks
that I let Brian go first because the one I
was also from Fresh Prince. I grew up on Fresh Prince.
And but for me is if Will Smith and god
(01:15:04):
Rest is so Uncle Phil really had issues off the air. Yeah,
and he like maybe because out after that one scene
we allay talking about when you don't want me? Man,
he gives him a hug. I felt like, man, that's
a really in real life like that, he's him for sure?
About what Uncle Phil bailed out Will Smith as a
pool hustle. Right, that was great too. Now imagine if
(01:15:24):
as soon as that happened off the air he smacks
him across the faces come get some like can you
imagine what that would feel like if you knew? Because
there's people in our business that we know that work together,
they don't really like each other. Rob Parker, Chris bu sorry,
but it's okay. The mask it on the air and
no one knows about it. So if you were to
find out this many years later, I don't know I
(01:15:45):
would deal. What about you, Alex, I got a list,
Rob Ge, I'm glad you asked me. If I found
out the cast of Friends were not actually friends, I
would be distraught if I found out that Seinfeld, Kramer,
and George and Jerry weren't all the three musketo I
thought they were. What do we stand for? If I
found out the Brady Bunch were a bunch of liars?
(01:16:05):
I don't know if I'd be able to live with
myself if family matters is not even important. Where do
we stand, Rob? Where do we stand? Those are some
good ones? Thank you, Rob. It's busty, the Brady Bucks,
a bunch of liars, liars everybody. That's quite the list. Man.
You gotta add some more, but I don't want to
go too far. You did. You did touch on Kramer,
you know, come on after Kramer head That intoed in
(01:16:25):
the comedy club did change things for people. It was
a little weird. Yeah. I don't know if that was
your best example, because I'm pretty sure they're not talking anymore.
Already happened. Yeah, it sounded good in my head. No,
but I think that that did uh okay. Well, Sticking
with the Brady bunch, if you found out that like
Peter Brady and um was it Bobby Brady to leave,
Let's say they want to do a celebrity boxing match
(01:16:47):
and they really went at it. Would you watch it
to though? Or would you be like, watch, I can't
watch it. I'd have to watch that. You would watch
Bobby and Peter go at it? Bobby and Greg? I mean, right, whatever?
For any of the brother they'd say they really were
to throw down with gloves on, you wouldn't watch it.
I would absolutely check that out. Do you know, Rob,
(01:17:07):
do you know the names? All the Brady Bunch people,
they just run together. For me, it's been Yeah, Greg
is the old of Greg, Bobby, Peter, Jan, Marsha, Cindy.
Those are the six kids, Alice and I love that
her Her boyfriend was Sam the butcher, you know what
(01:17:28):
I mean, Like, seriously, jeez, he's handling meat all day.
You know, you know it's another one Rob, I didn't
think of in Liar Liar. If Coop our next celebrity
coming up next hour is not cool with Jim Carrey
after all that he went through, I'd be destroyed. Oh right,
good call, very good. That's a walk off shot right there,
all right. Coming up next to the Geico Studios, we
(01:17:49):
get back to athletes using their platform on social issues
and also athletes using their platform on playoff formats. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports to line up in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR
to listen live. It is the odd couple Fox Sports
(01:18:12):
Radio on a funky Flashback Friday. That's right, Rob Parker
and Brian No, don't you know coming to your live
from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. Good. That's right, Bill,
fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent of more in
your car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for a free
(01:18:35):
rate quote. In about thirty minutes, Celebrity Corner and Justin Cooper,
the former child star and Fox Sports Radio producer. He
will join us for that. If you missed the first
hour of the show, we did talk about athletes and
(01:18:55):
their voices and using their platform to voice things. Brian,
we know what's going on in Minneapolis George Floyd, the death,
what has sparked riots and outrage and all of the
stuff that we're dealing with currently. And you know, there've
(01:19:16):
been stuff all over the country. Different cities have broken
out in riots and looting, in fires and destruction of
police property and cars. People frustrated, mad about what's happened.
And I know a lot of people think, I don't
want my athlete. I just want them to play ball.
(01:19:37):
I just want them to hit home runs for me.
I just want them to run to football. I just
want them to score twenty two points tonight, and that's
all I want from my athletes. I just don't think
it's that simple. And I think when people say that
it's even like the NFL, people say, oh, it's only
about football. Really about football here, Brian? No, can I
(01:20:00):
remind you of a circumstance, And I want you to
tell me if it's football or if it's about social issues? Okay, okay, yep.
In nineteen ninety three, the NFL took away the Super
Bowl from the state of Arizona. Do you remember that, Brian? Yeah?
And the reason they took away the super Bowl and
(01:20:22):
told Arizona that it would never get another super Bowl
if they did not have the Martin Luther King Holiday
as a paid holiday. Do you remember that? Yeah? I
do remember. That was that football, Brian, It was that
social That was definitely not football. It's that's funny. So
(01:20:44):
the NFL went after even though the people of Arizona
voted not for it to be a paid holiday, despite
it being a national holiday, right, they decided that it wasn't,
and the NFL went against the the the vote of
(01:21:05):
the people of that state and threatened them without a
Super Bowl. Guess what happened? Brian, Note things changed real quick. Wow,
next time it was on the ballot, I guess it
got changed. And then they got the Super Bowl back.
What a shocker. And my point in bringing up that
story is there is a moral obligation sometimes from people
(01:21:28):
who have a platform who can help change wrong to right.
I don't want the athletes to go stumping for every
politician and every Senate race and every uh any any
(01:21:50):
kind of a situation where where it's a pitting candidates
against each other. But in big moments where things can
be changed, you can have a positive impact on people.
I salute those people. Yeah, that's why, That's why I
have more respect for Colin Kaepernick today than ever before.
(01:22:15):
Four years ago, he was willing to give up his fame,
his fortune, his job and career in the NFL to
say what was going on was not right, and he
couldn't sit silent, Brian. Most people can't do that. Most
people aren't leaders enough. Most people can't can't can't sacrifice,
(01:22:41):
especially for people that they have no connection to. Colin
Kaepernick didn't know those victims, those unarmed black men who
were being killed by police. He did it because he
thought it wasn't right, and he wanted to bring attention
to it in a peaceful way. All the people who
(01:23:01):
condemned him were wrong. You know why four years later
we saw the death, the murder of George Floyd, the
same thing Colin Kaepernick was protesting about. Indeed, athletes who
(01:23:24):
have a platform and can help cause change in a
positive way should use that platform. I hear you, man,
And really think about it this way too. If you
look at a guy like Joe Burrow, number one overall
pick in the NFL draft, if he's speaking out and
(01:23:44):
saying the black community needs us right now, right, I
don't know how you don't have any opinion whatsoever as
a prominent black athlete when it comes to a situation
like George Floyd being killed. Right, Like the way you
set this up initially, If a media member sticks a
(01:24:04):
mic in front of a player's face and says, hey,
what do you think about the the situation with George Floyd?
If that person says, you know what, I just want
to keep it about football, right, like, that's just never
gonna land. Well, you don't have to be an activist
to the nth degree, and nothing on your time, Yeah,
there's nothing but activism, activism. It doesn't have to go
(01:24:27):
to the nth degree like that. But if they've got
if they're white athletes like JJ Watt Joe bro speaking out,
I think it's a prominent black athlete, you would least
have to offer your two cents instead of saying, hey,
two hot button. I can't touch that. It goes way
deeper than just football. And you know what you just said,
it like hot button, You just saw a guy murdered
(01:24:49):
by the police, unarmed and handcuffs and handcuffs pin. Yeah,
what what? What? What? What is controversial? What can't you
speak on? Brian? Well, tell me you saw that? And
oh I can't talk about that yet. But what How
could you not have an opinion on that? It was
(01:25:09):
horrifying anybody who saw it. How could you watch that
and not think it was horrifying? Yeah? And I think
you can say that and have a reasonable stance and
speak out against injustice and not tick off a ton
of people. Right if you say that was inhumane, it
(01:25:31):
was incomprehensible. What happened to George Floyd? That can't be
the country that we live in. If that offends people,
I don't know what to tell you because that's the truth.
You're offended by the truth at that stage. So if
there's a prominent athlete that has a platform that says
just that, I don't know why you would coward and
say a little too hot. I don't want to get
(01:25:53):
near that. I just think that's wrong to do so.
And Brian, I've said this my whole life. The only
people were than the people committing the crimes and hurting
the people and killing and maiming and Robin and all
that are the good people who know right from wrong,
who turn the other way and don't do anything about it. Yeah,
(01:26:16):
those are the people. Those are the people who How
can you do it? How can you allow yourself to
turn a blind eye to it, even if it's not
happening to anybody you know or your family? Brian, that
doesn't have to be your cousin or your uncle or
your father there to have compassion for that man? Does it?
(01:26:39):
You know? I wanted to pick your brain real quick,
Rob because I think this is important when you think
about what happened to George Floyd and for someone who
isn't black to have an understanding of not only what
that feels like, but also the aftermath. We had from
Salam on the show and he explained it. He's like,
I've got a couple of young boys, I'm thinking, could
(01:27:02):
this be something that they encounter later in life? Right?
And he also brought up when you've got people with
guns outside of you know, state buildings, upset that they
can't go out in public, But we don't have the
same thing after the George Floyd incident. It sends the
message that either people don't care enough or they flat
(01:27:22):
out don't care at all. So when it comes to
those things, as you receive it a member of your race,
and it just seems like people either don't care or
don't care enough, how does that make you feel? And
I think it's important for people that aren't black to
understand what that feeling is like. No, no, no doubt
(01:27:43):
about it. This is just an important issue for a
lot of people, and I think people have to I
really I don't understand Brian as a black guy who's
been stopped by the police to terrifying experience because and
I've told you this before, Brian earlier in the show,
(01:28:06):
I have cousins, family members who New York City cops, detectives,
you know, law enforcements in my family. My brother wasn't
Atlanta cop. He's an FBI agent. So this is not
an anti cop thing, okay, because I know they are
good cops. They're my family. But there are bad cops too.
(01:28:30):
And when you're on that road and there's nobody else there, Brian,
and you get pulled over, its terrifying. I don't know
what's gonna happen. I don't. They don't know I have
a master's degree from Colombia. They don't know I have
a national radio show on Fox Sports Radio. They don't
(01:28:51):
know I Palaai was skipping shotting on that FS one.
They don't know. I write a column for dead Spin.
They don't know. None of that matters on the road
at night, none of it. That's why e From is
fearful for his sons, and black mothers and sisters and
(01:29:16):
brothers are fearful when this stuff happens. If you're doing wrong,
the cops should arrest you. But people shouldn't lose their
lives and be unarmed and not a threat to the police.
That's what we witnessed. How how can you turn a
blind eye? Thank you, Colin Kaepernick, Thank you. He tried.
(01:29:45):
He was condemned. Brian, No, you know what he was
saying four years ago, This is wrong. He was trying
to save George Floyd's life indirectly. No more. How can
people see that? I hear you listen, And here's the
(01:30:08):
thing is, if I get pulled over, I'm not fearful
of my life as a white guy, and I want
people black people to feel the same way. And you
can't feel that way right now, you know, and that's horrible.
But I think it's important for white people, non black
people to understand what that would feel like. You're speeding,
(01:30:28):
you run a red light, whatever, you're fearful for your
life that you're pulled over. You have to really stop talking,
shut up for a second, just listen and really think
what that would feel like, because you got to understand
people what they're feeling, to understand what they're saying. Also,
real quick, rob G. Joe Burrow chimed in, I would
(01:30:51):
love for you. And then we'll hear from the listeners
about athletes getting involved. But Joe Burrow went to Twitter.
You have done to Twitter earlier this afternoon. This is
what he said. He said, quote, the black community needs
our help they have been unheard for far too long.
Open your ears, listen and speak. This isn't politics, this
(01:31:14):
is human rights. That's what it's about. And I get it.
No one's asking everybody to be an activist. Everybody, Brian,
you know, is not gonna stand up and be counted, right,
we know that, but but sometimes you need to. Michael
Jordan got criticized his entire career Brian because he was
(01:31:38):
about selling sneakers and soda pops and T shirts. And
he's done a lot of good stuff behind the scenes,
and I get all that. I'm just saying, there comes
a time and a place where you can't be silent anymore.
Stop being silent when you see wrong being done. All right,
here we go. Should athletes feel obligated to use their
(01:32:01):
platforms to speak out on social issues? We really want
to hear from you. Please answer the question. This is
where we're going. We want you to chime in. Yes,
they should know they shouldn't. And if you do agree
or disagree the reason why eight seven, seven, nine, nine,
six sixty three sixty nine, we'll continue the conversation with you. Next,
(01:32:23):
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(01:32:44):
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eight eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox is the
telephone number we want to hear from you. Should athletes
use their platforms their voices in situations like this when
wrong has happened? And should they just be athletes turn
their head act like it doesn't happen. Or is there
(01:33:47):
an obligation to Sometimes in these situations, Brian speak out,
no doubt about that. Let's go to the phones and
see what the people think we've got Justin in San Antonio.
You're on the odd couple Fox Sports Radio. What do
you have for is Justin? Yeah? Um, Honestly, the thing
about it is they should voice their opinion. They are individuals,
but it's only if they actually feel something about it,
(01:34:10):
not just jumping on a bandwagon. And us not just
people who are in the limelight, but also you and
I we talk about it, and it's there's got to
be a mature discussion about it. You know. There's there's
a lot of people out here that are very immature
about things. Not not on this I'm not talking about
this thing. But when it comes to a certain things,
(01:34:31):
sometimes people say words that are implamatory rather than saying, hey,
this is this is not okay, this is not how
we should be behaving, whether it's America or especially Americas,
if we're supposed to be set in an example for
other countries, if we're trying to say how great we
are compared to other countries. I can't believe this is
(01:34:52):
happening in America. Thanks for to call. Appreciate it. Let's
go to Shoe. He's in Virginia on the odd couple
here on sports radio. Shoe, you take it away, man,
Good evening, Gentleman. Kudo's on a good show. Thank you.
It's got wrenching. Having grown up on the just say
the tracks in Cleveland, Ohio, played sports with all Mexican
(01:35:15):
colored individuals, red, white, and blue. I can say right
now and equivocally yes. But the biggest caveat I think,
and Rob you mentioned it earlier, You're touched on it.
The civil rights movement has never stopped, nor should anybody
look at it in the past tense. My god, we're
not growing as a as a country. And I look
at Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Luel Sindoor and the last
(01:35:39):
name Muhammad Ali sitting at the table in Miami, Florida
coming together and you. I mean, I was a Browns fan.
So that attracted me to the article in Life magazine
and to talk about the civil rights as if it
was something occurred in the sixties and we've advanced. No,
it's never ended. But when I say yes, I think
(01:35:59):
individuals need to speak of it, needs to more so
be the white individuals. They need to get off their
ass and do something now. Joe Burrow said, yes, okay,
and you know what, Bravo to Joe Burrow, who easily
could have turned the other way. He's a rookie coming
into the league, right, he could have just been quiet.
But but let's see what we need to do something mean.
(01:36:22):
And Jim Brown, he'd be involved in this now were
it not for his poor health. I think you would
admit that. Rob. He's always been in there when it
came to the bloods and the crypts and whatever. He's
gone in dangerous territory and right now his help's not
that good. But I look back at what they did.
I believe it was sixty three before the Liston fight.
But at any rate, I don't want people to thanking
(01:36:43):
God forbid, we would think the civil rights movement is over.
Thanks for a call. That was pretty deep right there, Brian.
It was man, but he speaking the truth. We've got
Mark in Sacramento. Should athletes use their platform to speak
out against injustices? Mark, you're on the odd couple, Fox,
it's radio fire away. What's going on, gentlemen? How you
(01:37:03):
doing Mark? I'm doing well. Rob. You and may have
had this conversation many times. You know how I feel
about people's athletes speaking up. I'm from a generation of
the gentleman before me, when athletes weren't making millions of
dollars and didn't have brands and podcasts that they would
had to worry about, so they didn't want to mess
(01:37:23):
up their nice, cushy life that they had and don't
realize that, like the gentleman says, the civil rights movement
is still going on, and when you stop speaking, it
stops moving. It won't move. You have to continue to speak.
When you have a platform, you have to do it.
It's your obligation to those same fans that you want
(01:37:44):
to perform for and they pay to go see you
or buy your shoes. It's your obligation to speak. Hey, Mark,
what would be your reaction if a prominent black player
was asked, Hey, what do you think about this this
George the George Floyd situation? He said, I don't want
to touch that subject. I was just gonna hit I
was just gonna hit that point. I'm disappointed. And Deshaun
(01:38:07):
Watson and and Joe Burrows as a new fan, because
you should up as a man, and I can tell
you why I say that. Certain topics we all should
agree on. Ye when a cop guy is me on
your neck, But eight minutes on film, I think we
all can agree that's wrong. What do you agree with?
(01:38:27):
I agree? I just can't figure it out. What what?
What argument? What other side of your argument? We're watching
it there There is no other side of the argument.
There isn't one, no doubt. Thanks for the call, Mark,
appreciate it. All right, We've got done in Columbus, Ohio.
Let's get to Don here on the odd couple. Fox
(01:38:47):
Sports Radio. What's up? Done? Hey Man? Uh? How you doing?
Rob Man? Hey Man? H what I really wanted to
tell you? No, y'all right man, specifically about athletes speaking up.
But like you always say about Michael Jordan, Rob, you
know what I'm saying. When he came on that documentary
(01:39:09):
and when he said, oh I'm selfish. See it might
be that he was selfish or not speaking out. It
starts like that, man, when when people don't speak out
and they just think, like all it just only affect me.
You know what I'm saying, right, it just don't leave
it don't only affect you because you came before these athletes,
so you're treating them, you're showing them how to treat
(01:39:31):
people and how to treat everything else that they don't
really know how to deal with. And they idolizing these
people and looking up the tool. So that will always
take away from my athlete for me in my mind,
that you didn't speak up, not about black rights, but
about human rights. Absolutely, and and the other part, and
we appreciate that call is if someone's against you, Brian
(01:39:56):
on a call on right and Wrong, I don't. I
don't care if they're following me or they buy myself,
I don't, do you know what I mean. It's not
like picking up candidate or doing something. I'm talking about
right and wrong? Right, No, I can't. I can't get
with that fact. If you don't, if you hate me,
because what I just said and I saw with my
(01:40:17):
own eyes is wrong, I don't care. If you're a
fandom mine, I don't. That's right. You don't need them
in your life if that's the case. We've got VJ
in California here on the odd Couple, Fox Sports Radio.
What's going on? VJ? Nothing much, guys, Thanks for taking
my car. Awesome show. What's going on? Cool? Rob Ski,
what's up? And listen. I'll make it quick. Rob and
I have have have talked about this stuff a lot, man,
(01:40:40):
And the one thing that Rob has said to me
that has been very prominent in my uprising career is
that sometimes you have to upset the alpham card so
or in order for change. And I'm not gonna say
whether I'm against the violence or not. That's that's that's
Nolan Boyd. But these athletes, I'm waiting to hear from Lebron.
I'm waiting to hear from jay Z. I'm waiting to
(01:41:01):
hear from these other prominent black people who can put
on a hoodie that says I can't breathe. But this
is an incident where we really need to hear your voice.
And you are obligated to use your platform. And if
you lose your platform because you spoke out against injustice,
that should tell you how far behind we are as
the black multimillionaire athlete and the billionaire white owners are
(01:41:26):
white network guys or whoever the case may be. If
you lose your spot because you are just basically saying
what is right, then we have a much much bigger
problem and as two gentlemens before me said, we are
way behind the eight ball in civil rights is still
going on, no doubt, well said VJ. Appreciate it, Thank
(01:41:47):
you so much. Thanks for chiming in, guys, we really
appreciate it, right, Brian, good stuff? Absolutely all right, one
of the biggest child stars of the mid nineties joins
the celebrity corner that's coming up next. But FIR Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
(01:42:12):
It is the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio, Rob Parker,
Brian No filling in for Chris Broussard, and and we're
coming to you from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.
Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent of more in
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eight hundred nine for seven auto. The only hard part
(01:42:34):
figuring out which way is easier. Celebrity corner is now,
my god, I know for the odd couple celebrity corners.
All right, let's welcome in our celebrity Justin Cooper, who
is also While he was a child actor, but we'll
(01:42:56):
get all the details. He started acting at age five,
appearing in Domino's pizza commercials, had a guest appearance on
that popular sitcom Full House, had a two year run
on the daytime drama General Hospital, before starring alongside Jim
Carrey in the movie Liar Liar in nineteen ninety seven.
(01:43:18):
He retired from acting in two thousand and three, and
now he's the executive producer for The Ben Mallow Show.
That's right on Fox Sports Radio. Justin, Welcome to Celebrity
Carnal and welcome to the Odd Couple, Rob Brian. Thanks
thanks for having me. I see you guys are getting
liberal with the word celebrity here you are. Come on, man,
(01:43:42):
celebrity you want to John Hospital for two years? Are
you kidding? That's true? That is true. My question, Justin Cooper,
which part of your career hit the fields the most?
Which was it hit the feels the most? Oh, I
see what you're doing and you're making fun of me. Okay,
(01:44:03):
you really want an answer or just trying to do?
I went what hit the fields the most? What was
the high point? Uh? You know, I'd say, um, I'd
say it was the sitcom that I did for your
Brothers Keeper on on ABC? Uh? What was that show?
I never watched it, so I never missed it. What
(01:44:25):
what show is that? Uh? It was on remember back
in the day they had Uh it was TGIF Fridays
and Yeah, Boy Meets World and Mary Kayton Nashale's Show
and Sabrine of the Teenage, which I was. I had
a show that was in that lineup briefly for one season,
(01:44:45):
but I know it was referred to it as full House.
Is there some sort of rivalry there? What full House? Yeah?
Wasn't it right? Or was that what you're talking about?
When not? At No, he was a guest on that
sitcom full House. Yeah, And I was also probably I
don't know five or so when I was on Full House.
Brothers Keeper was a little bit that was Brother's Keeper
(01:45:07):
was after a liar liar and Dennis a mens So.
So as far as acting, you got out of it
in two thousand and three, I mean, was it fun
while you were doing it being a child actor or
was it you know what I mean? Did you really
like say like, oh this is all right, Oh this
is cool? Or I could do this for my entire life?
Or was it just like a phase you went through
(01:45:29):
and thought, Okay, this was cool for right now, but
I don't want to do this the rest of my life.
I loved it. I thought it was a lot of fun,
and at the at the time, it was something that
I definitely thought I wanted to do for the rest
of my life. And then, you know, when I got
close to my teenage years and I started going to
you know, like public school, I don't know, for whatever reason,
(01:45:52):
it started to get to the point where anytime I
was like, you know that I had an audition, I
was like, uh, you know, I'd rather just hang out
with friends and you know, do stuff like that. So
that's kind of when I stopped. It was right when
I right when I started to high school. I'm curious, Coop,
because you're a huge Lakers fan. We've been talking about
the NBA postseason format, what it might be if you
(01:46:14):
were in charge. How would you construct it, what would
it look like? Well, I'm glad you asked me this
because I had a I had a spirited debate with
Ben Maller on the air the other day because we're
right right exactly why there you go? Um, But we
(01:46:37):
were talking about um Damian Lillard kind of you know
beef that he had and about you know, starting back
up the NBA season. And you know, while I kind
of get Ben's take about you know, it's a job,
you got to show up and do your job, I
also feel like you have to admire Damian Lillard because
(01:46:57):
us as fans, we're always looking for our star athlete
to you know, care about the championship and care about
winning and not have it be you know, all about
the money. And here he is. He's not saying that
he doesn't want to come back and play. He just
wants to be able to get into the playoffs. And
what the Blazers were I think three and a half
games back right now, so we were supposed to have
(01:47:19):
what nineteen games left of the season before this all happened.
So it was completely feasible that the Blazers could have
snuck into the playoffs. And it's not like we haven't
seen you know, low seeds succeed before. So I kind
of like the idea that he threw out. Mark Cuban
threw out of a tournament for you know what seeds
(01:47:41):
like seven through twelve to see who gets the last
couple of playoff spots. I liked that idea. His name
is Justin Cooper as celebrity corner here on the odd
couple of Fox Sports Radio. He also Justin was in
the movie Liar liar that that movie was a big
time movie, made three hundred million dollars worldwide against the
(01:48:03):
budget of just forty five million. Are you're still sitting
on some of that cash? I'm living in Some of
that cash helped me, helped me get my house. But yeah, no,
it's cool that it's I still get tiny residual checks
any time at play. So yeah, it definitely was a
(01:48:24):
it was a big deal. How was Jim Carrey? I
always liked him. I mean when he was on what
was that in Living Color? When he first he was
James Carrey back then, Yeah, that that show was a
great show when it first came on. How was he
to work with? And what kind of a guy is he?
It was cool. I mean, you know, I feel like
now people kind of have a different idea of who
(01:48:48):
Jim Carrey is because you know, he's he's gotten a
little you know it eccentric. But yes, you know, back
back in you know, ninety six, ninety seven when when
we were doing that that movie, he was kind of
exactly like you would have thought he would be. He
you know, that whole persona that was him. You know,
(01:49:09):
It's not really like he's just putting on an act
for the camera. He was always even when the camera
wasn't rolling, doing crazy you know, gags and jokes and
so he was. He was a nice guy. Um, you know,
not not exactly like we hung out a lot or anything.
I was, you know, seven and he was forty year
or you know whatever. But uh no, he was. He
(01:49:31):
was really nice. You know, Coop, I have to ask,
and this might be coming from a separate place. You know,
Rob g works on this show as well, and um,
you know we're a little bit more liberal in this
country with the Mary Ja if you will, I want
to know, are you the reason that we'd got legalized
in California? We all hither reason? Yes, you know, I
(01:49:55):
like to think so. I was on the I was
on the airwaves a Fox Sports radio lay early on.
Uh and I think I initiated that that change, not
only in California but the country. So you were sponsing
here for that? No, I mean we were we were
aheaded that way for years. Anyway, it was bound to happen. Well,
(01:50:19):
there it is, celebrity coroner. We appreciate it. And Justin
Cooper along with like I said, the executive producer for
Ben Mallows Show. Ben and I did the show the
other day and it was a lot of fun. We
really week week nights at eleven pm Pacific. Well, we
appreciate you. Thanks so much for stopping by The Odd Couple.
(01:50:41):
All right, have a great day, just for having the guys,
Lex Coop tool sucks. Have a good one, all right,
More Odd Couple, More Odd Couple with Brian Nohan for
christmassor coming up next, keep it locked on Fox Sports Radio.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker days at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
(01:51:04):
iHeart Radio app. Wow, what a great way to finish
up a funky flashback Friday, Alex. Great job, Rob Parker
along with Brian No, don't you know filling in for
Chris Boussar. Brian, this has been fun and uh it
is the Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio. It's been
(01:51:26):
a good time. Rob My old days when we used
to do a show. What days was our show on Sundays?
I don't know. I think it was Saturdays Saturday evening
that is five to nine something like that. I can
see it's it's made a big imprint on your life. No,
come on, man, like Wednesday night was Saturday Saturday? Are
you kidding? I remember my radio partner. You'll always be
(01:51:48):
one of my radio partners, absolutely, the second one at Fox,
Mark Willard first, didn't you that? Chris? Yes, I'll always
be a part of your radio life, Rob Parker always.
I tried to talk some Tom Brady sents into into
you and you were just like, Nope, I'm resisting. That
will not happen. Well, I do want to do you
want to talk about your Jim Harbaugh loo to wrap man,
(01:52:12):
I've picked a shop. Yes, knowing your stance on Harbaugh,
which I happen to agree with, He's getting paid a
ton of money and he's not getting the job done.
So he was being interviewed by the website twenty four
seven Right twenty four seven Sports, and they asked him, Hey,
how close has Michigan come to winning a national championship?
(01:52:33):
While Jim Harbaugh has been there. He's been there for
five years, and he says, quote about as close as
you possibly can be. And it's like, really, Jim, uh
if you go back, Rob, you take the floor for
a second on this one. How close do you think
Michigan has actually been to winning a national championship with
Harbaugh as the head coach? As close says Michigan is
(01:52:55):
to Antarctica. That's how close it is. Stop it, Jim
Harball with that, look at his record against the better teams.
He can't beat his rival Ohio State. His record has
been embarrassing. The only thing he's done is collect money
at Michigan. I always say he's like a pizza delivery guy.
He makes a lot of dough, but he doesn't deliver.
(01:53:18):
I like that. That's true. That's a good one. So
I went back and looked at the twenty sixteen season,
because I remember that was the controversial spot against Ohio State.
Looked like maybe Ohio State was a little short of
the first down line. If they would have won that game,
you tell me how close they were to a national championship.
If Michigan would have made it to the College Football Playoff,
(01:53:38):
they would have been one of the final four teams,
Ohio State. They went on and they got clabored by
Clemson thirty one to nothing. So the team Michigan lost too,
lost to Clemson thirty one nothing. And that was the
year that Clemson with Deshaun Watson beat Alabama. So you
tell me, Rob, could you see Michigan waltzing into the
college football Playoff had they beatn Ohio State eight and
(01:54:00):
not only taking down Alabama but also taking down Clemson.
You think they beat both of those two teams. Oh no,
I do not. I don't either. I just think they're poor,
poor Michigan and Michigan fans, you know what, They're so desperate.
They've always but they've always been delusional because even both Schembeckler,
they're glory, they're you know, God and coach godlike coach
(01:54:24):
never won a national championship. Yeah, it's won a lot
of Big Ten titles and rolls Bowls, right, but but
he didn't win, you know, And and that program has
one shared national championship in about three hundred years. I
just don't get it. Before we get out of here, Rob,
I want to throw something out at you because Forbes
(01:54:45):
has this list of the highest paid athletes in twenty twenty,
and there was something that caught my eyes. So if
you go through this list, Roger Federer, he's number one,
first tennis player to take the number one spot on
this list, and you go through it, you get your
soccer players two through four, Ronaldo Messi, Naymar, You get
the NBA guys. Lebron Staff is sixth, Kevin Durant is seventh.
(01:55:06):
Then you get to Tiger. Then all of a sudden,
you get to nine and ten. Number nine highest paid
athletes in twenty twenty. Kirk Cousins the highest paid NFL guy.
Do you think about that? That's an indictment of the
NFL's players Association because the NFL, all the money that
that league makes, there should be more players on that
on that list. There absolutely should be. Yeah, and your
(01:55:29):
guy Wentz in a lifetime number tens went to Bania. Hey, Brian, No,
thank you so much for filling in for Chris Broussard.
Thanks for having me. Man, Rob, You've got power. If
I don't get invited back, I'm gonna be like Rob
hated this show. Nah, come on, you know it'll be
It'll happen again, all right, we'll hear you this weekend. Right,
that's right. I'll be on tomorrow with George Reister. Check
(01:55:51):
it out, all right, odd couple, have a great weekend. Guys,
we appreciate you. Chris's back on Monday. All right, I'm America.
All