June 17, 2024 • 35 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses why these NBA Finals are lacking the buzz you’d expect heading into a pivotal Game 5 between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks, what – if anything – we can take for the Mavs’ blowout win in Game 4, Angel Reese’s flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark that got the social media world buzzing on Sunday, whether Clark has eclipsed LeBron James and Aaron Rodgers as the most polarizing athlete in America, and how Clark has become so ‘controversial’ without ever actually doing or saying anything herself that one would consider to be controversial.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire? Faam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Monday, June seventeenth. Hope everybody had a
phenomenal Father's Day weekend. Mine was filled with joy and
excitement and youth sports and a dance a dance recital.
(00:33):
And I did watch some sports, a lot of European soccer. Yes,
I saw Caitlin Clarke get closelined by Angel Reese. Oh boy.
We may get to that later if there's time. I
don't know. I did not watch any of the College
World Series, although people I've gotten a few texts, are
you watching the CWS? And I'm like, I do watch
the CW. I watch All American Wait, wait, what is
(00:54):
the S for? I don't even know what was College
World Series? And they're acting like it's super exciting. First
of all, college has been out for over a month
and the College World Series is still happening.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I don't really get it, but at any rate, we
are midway through June at this point it is an
exciting time in the sports calendar because guess what, the
NBA Finals are not done and I don't really know
how to handle this. Game five tonight in Boston. Celtics
obviously big favorites, but we're looking at a series that
has strangely been non competitive. But then it gets weird
(01:27):
because of the Porzingis injury. So he leaves late in
Game two with the injury, the foot issue, doesn't play
in Game three, doesn't play in Game four. You could
argue that the Celtics have won one of the eight
quarters since Porzingis left the series, one of the eight,
and that would be Game three third quarter where they
(01:49):
surged and took a massive lead. They ended up going
up by like nineteen or twenty. I think it was
just twenty one early fourth, Dallas storms back and the forth.
Every other quarter has been equal or Dallas. I just
don't totally know what to do with that, and I
don't even know how to handicap this skame. It has
been a wacky friggin' series. Like, yeah, Boston should close
it out tonight, agreed, But did anybody see Boston being
(02:13):
down like forty eight or whatever the number was Friday night?
It was non competitive for three plus quarters. Kyrie and
Lucas sat down late third up like forty five didn't
even hit their point total. I didn't bet anything in that.
In game three. I thought Game four, sorry, I thought
it was over. They didn't play in the fourth quarter.
Everybody's rested, including Porzingis if he plays. And again, you
(02:36):
don't want to overreact to a tiny sample size. It
is three to one. Boston's expecting a coronation one potential
angle and Rob you can scoff at this, feel free
Porzingis doesn't play. Boston all weekend was worrying about lining
(02:57):
up after party parade route tickets to the after party,
tickets to game five for friends and family. And you
know what Dallas is doing. They're seeing if they maybe
unlock something in the fourth quarter of game three, and
then in early game four, Derek Lively's playing good. Maybe,
just maybe there's a world where Dallas steals an unfocused
(03:22):
steals Game five from an unfocused Boston, and we head
back to Dallas for Game six. I would say slim,
but if you guys remember Jordan's Bulls took a three
to zero lead over Sonics featuring Peyton and Kemp in
the mid nineties, and then Seattle shockingly won two to
force a game six. Then Boston cloth uh, sorry, Chicago
closed him out. Listen, I don't know how you can
(03:43):
go against Boston here. They just haven't looked like other
than that third quarter, the same team without Porzingis, And
I know they've had some moments from Brisett and some
moments from Houser, but by a large Rob, I don't know.
I'm actually I was super pumped at the series beforehand,
and I'm like struggling to get excited for Game five tonight.
(04:05):
I haven't had one person say, hey, were you watching
the game, Like, I don't know now that like the
kids are out of school. I got a bunch of
buddies who are already like we're off to Hawaii, we're
in Mexico, we're checking out Europe before it gets packed.
Like people are like, I'm out. The series feels over
and Rob, I'm trying to muster excitement and energy for
(04:27):
Game five, but it's a bit of a struggle for me.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I could totally see how that would be a struggle
for you, because you know Game four. We joked on
the podcast last week like, Hey, if you're gonna bet
on this game, what part are you betting on? Because
it just does there's no buzz and it's hard to
really get it feel for the market things like that.
And I joked with you, hey, well, if you're really
going to get the heart rate going a little bit,
throw some money down on Jason Tatum for Finals MVP,
(04:51):
because you know, then you can at least have a
rooting interest in Jalen Brown missing some shots and you'll
feel good about it. Well, Jaylen Brown played bad. James
David didn't play much better, so that bet you want
is still on the table. But that's where we were
going into game four, and even though Dallas ended up
winning by what was at thirty eight points, it was
hard for me even still to get super excited heading
(05:15):
into game five because they won by thirty eight points,
Like there was nothing about that game where it made
me feel like, you know what, I think Dallas has
something here. I think they've stumbled upon something that they
can really carry over into game five and six and
potentially at game seven, because when you blow a team
out like that, that immediately and it's so very clear
(05:38):
in the first, like eleven to twelve minutes of the
game that everything Dallas has is working, everything Boston doing
is not working. You almost throw that game out the
window immediately, Like there was nothing you could take from
that game, either on a schematic point or even on
a just efficiency point, because you don't expect either team
(05:59):
to play like that. Again, you don't expect Boston to
shoot thirty six percent from the field in any game.
You don't expect Dallas, given what we've seen in this
playoffs or in this series especially to shoot over fifty
percent and forty percent from three. Like, that's just not
what they've been throughout this series. So it's hard for
me to even get like any kind of mojo heading
(06:22):
into tonight's Game five, because I still feel like we're
just prolonging the inevitable, the inevitable being Boston getting the
eighteen championship.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, and you know, I'm kind of excited for the draft.
Anytime there's like a draft where nobody's like, oh, the
players are just mid and essentially the number one pick,
whether it's Sar or the other kid from France or
one of the Kentucky guards Knicks. In any other year,
those guys are like the six, seven, eight pick, So
you're like the top five picks. You're just not getting
(06:52):
the value that you normally would anytime some people are
all in like that. It's it's essentially the Warren Buffett motto. Hey,
when nobody wants to invest, that's when you should be investing.
And when everybody's investing, that's when you should pause a
little bit. So right now, nobody has any interest in
the NBA draft. They don't think this is a good draft.
There's not a lot of talent. Okay, I'm in that.
(07:13):
The hook, hook line and sinker. NBA free agency, we
will see. I know a lot of people are gonna
make some you know, whatever they want. About the Joel
Embiid stunt that he pulled on. Was it inside the NBA?
The ESPN said, I don't even know. I didn't actually
see it, but Joel Embiid essentially was like hinting at
(07:34):
openly hinting. It was not. It was not. What's it called, uh,
where you're the Atlanta Falcons got penalized for a rob
What is.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That called tampering?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Tampering? Oh, my gosh, struggle. Uh, It's not like Joel
Embiid was tampering with Paul George with his comments and
his like side eye, like, yeah, a lot of people
out there available like that's obvious. Everybody knows that that
Paul George would be a good fit with the Sixers,
and frankly, Rob embiid Paul George and MAXI. If you
can get the bright neck like four, five, six, seven
guys who are going to be role players that fit
(08:05):
in the same way like Derek whitefits and Al Horford
like the same fit, I think Philadelphia could certainly challenge Boston.
All that being said, like, it's just been a weird
finals and I am I'm not ready for him to
be over. I want some excitement, I want some drama,
and there really hasn't been much. I mean, hell, you
guys don't want to hear it. There's more drama on
(08:26):
the w NBA right now. I'm not even capping. Seriously.
Did you guys see my guy, Matt Liner, you know,
as everybody's doing on Father's Day? They I mean, well,
I shouldn't say everybody. I'm sure a lot of guys
are out on golf course, not my jam, but Matt
Liner's watching Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese closed lines,
Caitlin Clark gets called for a foul and Matt Lioner's like,
(08:48):
come on, she should be suspended. There's no place for
that in the league. And all of a sudden people
are coming after him like he started World War six.
You know it was ugly and you know, I like
a nice guy. We could talk about it in a second,
but like it's weird. We like and need drama, trust me.
Kirk Cousins versus Michael Pennox in camp, Oh gosh, I
(09:11):
would love for that to happen. Love it Probably not
gonna get it. Aaron Rodgers is providing drama. I don't
know if we'll find out today where he was for
his unexcused absence last week from Jets camp. But there's reports.
I mean, I don't know if the Daily Mail counts
as a report that he was in an iOS ayahuasca
conference or outing or whatever ayahuasca event that's gonna go for.
(09:39):
I was doing drugs. I was talking about drug use
instead of that NFL mandatory camp. Listen, that's drama. That's good.
That's good. Dak Prescott right now is providing drama, and
that's what that's what it's good for, podcasts, TV, radio,
web clicks. Yeah, do we love drama, Kings, of course,
(10:01):
not like all the time. You don't constantly want drama
in your life. You want what you want. What I
was gonna say, you want what the Chiefs have, but geez,
they had another guy arrested over the weekend. Like Kansas
City Chiefs are drama kings this summer. So like that
stuff is how the sports news cycle, shoulder programming, how
all that stuff has value because of the drama around
(10:24):
the league. Without it, it's not that interesting. Now. I'm
not gonna get into it. But when I texted Rob
a any topic ideas, he was like the Rory McElroy meltdown.
I was like, yeah, I did what. I was like
in my mind, like, what did Roy McElroy did his wife?
Him and his wife split up again. I didn't even
know the US Open was happening. I know that's bad
to say. I'm sorry, apologies, don't send me you're a
(10:46):
sports go ahead that held you guys. Come on. I
had no idea it was Dushambeau versus McElroy at the
US Open. I just I wasn't locked in on that.
I watched a lot of European soccer the Euros twenty
twenty four. Awesome goal from Jude Bellingham who is a
budding superstar. Oh my gosh, if you guys haven't I
put it on the IG. But Adidas did a spot
(11:09):
for Jude Bellingham that was just so good off the
Hey Jude Beatles song. It's really good the guys. He's
got massive star potential. I don't know if he'll be
in BAPE in terms of clout, but he could have next.
Jude Bellingham. Euros twenty twenty four have been awesome so far.
Hopefully Copa America's is as good.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Let's pivot Rob to Kaitlin Clark. We'll come back to
best Bets at the end of the pod. Maybe maybe
something will tickle my fancy as I look at the lines.
But I'm sorry, we got to talk about Kaitlin Clark.
We just have to. First of all, Rob, it looked
I know that Caitlin Clark said it was a basketball play.
Adew Reyes said it was a basketball play. Did it
(12:00):
given their history? Did it look like a basketball play?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I thought it looked like one because all the angles
I saw it looked like Angel Reese who had her
eyes on the basketball when she swung. Now, granted the
wind up doesn't help my case. You know, it looks
like she intentionally thought that if I'm not gonna get
the block, I'm at least gonna get take a hard foul.
But for my money, if I had to say anything,
I'm gonna say it was a basketball play.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yes. So that's two games where Indiana has faced Chicago
and there's been drama surrounding Clark in both of them.
Kennedy Chanity Carter whatever her name is, with like the
body check of Caitlin Clark while the ball was not
even on the court, dirty play. And then you've got
(12:46):
Reese's clothesline attempt, which was upgraded to a flagrant one
after the refs looked at it. And then of course
after the game, Angel Reese is all worked up, and
it's like, listen, I guess some people get what's it,
zach line. Some people get a special whistle, like really,
you closed line someone, Yeah, you were going for the ball,
(13:09):
but you still chop their freaking head off. I don't know.
I was just a little bit disappointed. With Angel Reese.
There by the way, Caitlin Clark twenty three points, nine rebounds,
eight assists, just Yeoman's work for the most exciting player
in the WNBA. I'm looking for the numbers here, as
(13:30):
I guess I don't have it, but I believe Clark
has now is it five or five or six games
of twenty points, five rebounds, five assists for a rookie.
That's too shy of the record by Tamika Catchings. So
for Diana Tarassi and there's rude awakening, Yeah, very rude.
(13:51):
She's Tarassi, by the way, I think had five and
Clark is either tied with her or passing her. But
bottom line is Clark's rookie season has not been that
rude awakening. Sure, there's been a couple of games or struggles,
and the leading the league in turnovers when you're rookie
point guard, that shouldn't be a massive shock. And not
shooting like the expected thirty seven thirty eight percent from three,
(14:14):
that's fine, but let's not act like a rookie season
has been a failure up and the amount of interest
she generates. I'm telling you so, I'm sitting at home
Sunday watching I think the early match or the second
game was like Serbia or Slovenia or Denmark. I think
it was Denmark. And I'm watching that game, and you know,
(14:37):
every like forty five seconds to a minute, I would
switch over just to see what was happening in fever Chicago.
I could swear to you I've never watched more WNBA
than I have this season ever in my life combined.
I don't even know how long the league's been around
fifteen years. And that's not disrespectful to whoever's in the league.
I just haven't been compelled to turn on the channel
(14:59):
and someone And now that Caitlin Clark kind of sort
of owns Angel Reese. She's three and zero head to
head since losing the Natty in twenty three, one win
in the Final four this year and then two wins
in the WNBA Indiana by the net Way, now ahead
of Chicago in the race for a playoff spot. Caitlin
Clark to Bates the WNBA playoffs, it's gonna be It's
gonna be interesting. I again, they probably won't go far,
(15:22):
but it will certainly be a boon to the league. Now,
well that's will that mean that we're gonna see some
questionable calls h in favor of the fever. It's possible,
it's certainly in play. And here's guess what. I'm not
hating on it because in the NFL, I want to
see the star players. In the NBA, I want to
(15:42):
see the star players. You think I want Lebron to
miss the playoffs? Do you think I want Curry to
miss the playoffs? Come on, there's stars. I'm not saying
Clark is on their level in terms of what she's accomplished,
but in terms of stardom, hell yeah she is. So
I don't know rob between the flagrant fowls. By the way,
this is even crazier. This is I'm embarrassed to admit this.
(16:04):
So Sunday, as I'm watching the game on the screen
for the WNBA comes vote for the All Star Game.
Here's a QR code. I was like, the hell, all right,
why not? And I voted for the WNBA All Strung game.
Fun fact, I've never, I don't think, voted for an
NBA All Star Game maybe like twenty years ago. But
I saw it on the screen QR code. It made
it easy. I was like, okay, boom, Kitlin Clark, and
(16:26):
then I had to pick a bunch of.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Other players, and I was like, oh, depth of knowledge
is not that deep in the WNBA, I don't I
just don't know the star players, but they sort them
by points or assists or rebounds or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So and I recognized enough names that have voted, but
Kitlin Clark got me to vote for wnbal strug game
rob Am I losing my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
No, Because, as we talked about before we started recording,
Caitlin Clark is the most polarizing athlete in American sports
right now, and I don't think it's particularly close. What's
interesting though about her as compared to Aaron Rodgers, who
you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Kyrie Irving who's
going to be playing tonight, and Lebron James, who is
(17:10):
in the conversation basically every single day, whether he's playing
or not because he's Lebron James. What's different about Kayln
Clark is she's polarizing and controversial through no fault of
her own. Unlike the other three guys, Lebron, Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie,
she does not do or say anything at all that
(17:30):
makes her controversial. In fact, on Friday, she caused the
controversy by saying I just want to focus on basketball,
and people got upset about that because it's like, how
dare you not use your platform to speak out against
racism and misogyny. It's like, I didn't know that it
was up to a twenty two year old female basketball
player to be an activist for all things going on
(17:50):
in the world, Like or she's responsible somehow for the
unwashed masses, as you alluded to on social media, Like
for whatever reason, she's reached this special place in our
sports society where no matter what she does and what
she says, somebody's gonna have a strong opinion about it,
(18:11):
and someone's gonna have a conflicting opinion about it, and
you're gonna have these needless, aimless discussions, these think pieces,
these these debates about what she did or didn't do,
or what she did or didn't say. Matt Liner's comment
Angelice should be suspended. If that's Draymond Green, it doesn't
(18:33):
get up that kind of legs, right. If that is
Sabrina I and ESQ, it's like, oh, come on, like relax,
and there's maybe fifteen you know.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Reach tweet.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Why why is it for Liner because he said it
about Kaitlin Clark because he's white. People all of a
sudden are like, oh, well, look what you're doing because
Angelice is black and you're trying to protect this white prince.
And it's like, I don't know, Matt Liner like that.
I know you do a little bit. I'm willing to
bet the skin color of these two young ladies had
(19:04):
anything to do with his opinion. I'm willing to bet
his opinion has something to do with Hey, she is
the golden goose. You want to protect the golden goose.
And anytime you're not doing that and you continue to
allow this to happen, you're hurting your product. You're hurting
the chances of keeping her in the league long term.
I'm sure it's somewhere along those lines. But what people
are doing is they're projecting their own beliefs and they're
(19:25):
making it seem like whatever you do and you say
is obviously a microcosm of a bigger issue, and sometimes
it's not really that deep. And it's unfair to her,
Caitlin Clark, that is that she has become a lightning
rod for all of these people when she's not the
(19:45):
one doing or saying anything, and it just really sucks.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know, I think you're hitting on something. It's a
dangerous topic. You got to be careful with some of
these social issues. But I feel like you're probably right
that a white person taking up for Clark is like
you're racist against an overwhelmingly African American league. And I
(20:13):
did give it some you know, after you said if
that was Sabrina I and Escu a liner' stop making
that comment. But b does it look as bad? Probably not,
but because it's Clark who's supposed to be the quote
unquote savior. And my guess, and again I'm guessing, is
that And that's based on the tone of people I
(20:34):
talk to and stuff I see online and reaction I
get online. It feels like the African American community feels
like this has been our league, our fledgling league, and
all of a sudden, all you people now want to
come and pay attentionally because of some white girl who
(20:54):
you all think is better than a bunch of players
who have been here for a long time. You know,
there is a symmetry in the NBA. And I'll never
forget this, Like I don't think Phil Jackson meant it
that way, but when the Warriors were starting to ascend,
I think it was Phil Jackson, maybe someone else, but
(21:15):
somebody made a comment and Barkley obviously picked up on this.
Eventually they framed it as the Warriors are a soft
suburban jump shooting team. Okay, it's not basketball. Well that's
not an exact quote, but that was the gist of it.
These are soft guys from the burbs. You know, basketball
is a tough inner city sport. And not only did
(21:36):
you have to deal with the soft three point shooting,
now you got to deal with all these Europeans coming
and taking over the damn league. And in a sense
like this is our this is quote unquote our league.
And I just wonder if that kind of racial divide exists.
It's weird as a minority who's mixed with a bunch
of things. And you guys know, I've done the twenty
three and me I've posted about it on social thirty
(21:59):
four percent black. I don't view it that. I don't
view it as the same way. Let's just say a
lot of people are using Caitlin Clark to further agendas.
I don't see it that way. The girl Wilson on
Vegas is tremendous. Caitlin Clark, obviously, I root for k
angel Es is a good player. I know who she is.
(22:20):
I don't follow her on social media, but I do
think she's a good player. I don't think she's as
skilled as Kaitlin Clark, but it's not like there's a
racial tone to it. Ayan Escu's a good player, obviously,
Brianna Stewart. There's a lot of good players in this league.
For whatever reason, Clark has become this lightning rod where
(22:44):
everybody has an opinion. Go at, here's a fun one.
You know, you're at the water cooler today at works
and be like, hey, did you see that Caitlin Clark
play over the weekend. If the person has no idea
who Caitlin Clark is, I will be absolutely floored. She
doesn't have Taylor Swift name recognition right now. But I
guarantee you if you told me give me the quarterback
room of the Seattle Seahawks and within five seconds, could
(23:06):
you do that versus you know, tell me where Caitlin
Clark went to college and who she plays for in
the w NBA, I guarantee you more people would know
Caitlin Clark than the Seahawks quarterback depth chart. I don't
know Seahawks. Everybody knows Geno Smith. He's been there for me.
What's that? What's a better one?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I think that's a good one. Actually, Tennessee Titans even
I couldn't give you the Tennessee Titans quarterback room. I
know their starter. That's about it.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Well, that's yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I'm trying to find one because people will know what
they'll know probably one of them for sure. Yeah, and
I think that they'll after you talk about her a
long time. Oh yeah, I totally forgot that. Uh the
guy from Denver is the backup quarterback? Like oh yeah right,
Like I'm sure that they'll wait figure that out.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
This is crazy. I'm not looking no, no, Drew Lockes
with the Giants now.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Oh see, there you go. I would have failed that test.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
So we don't even know.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I would not be shocked. It's an election year, it
won't happen. But I was gonna say, is if like
Times Person of the Year, I mean, Caitlin Clark's going
to be in in a top ten finalists, probably because
they always pick somebody from sports. You want crossover people.
Last year. I'm sure it was Taylor Swift, but you
want like to get the largest audience. And Kitlon Clark
(24:20):
as polarizing as she is, I think you're right, Rob.
I tried to think also of who even Lebron has
been around the block. He has let his political affiliations
be known. He's out there. And who'd you say with second?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I said, Aaron Rodgers and Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Rogers? Yeah, I don't know if Irving has crossed over
to like moms really know who he is? Is there
even anyone else for missing? Patrick Maholmes is not polarizing.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
No, And the thing is, if they are polariz Let's
say you think of someone else here in the next
thirty seconds. I can almost promise you that whoever you
think of is polarizing because they've done or have said
something that has crossed over into the you know, the
social space where you know it transcends sports. And Caitlin
Clark is not that at all. Yeah, Like, what has
(25:11):
she ever done or said that goes beyond Ice? Want
to play basketball? I think Angelice is a great competitor.
You know, I really enjoy this league and I'm paying
homage to the women who came before me, and somehow
whatever she does or said gets twisted up into something
else and it just becomes a big, you know, a
big shit show.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Quite honestly, it's interesting you're onto something else. Rob's on
fire here on Monday. I just I was trying to
think of Kaitlyn Clark takes that I'm aware of of
her own, whether it's politics, movies, TV, like anything. I
feel like I don't know anything about her except she's
really good at basketball. Yet she's the most polarizing athlete,
(25:48):
which is fucking crazy. Like Aaron Rodgers, we know hates
the media, goes on Joe Rogan and talks about politics.
I mean, he's out there. The guy wants he's inviting attention.
When you go on a darkness retreat and announce it,
you're inviting attention. Lebron, I don't I think he can
(26:08):
handle it. Not everybody's built for this man, and that
is we could wrap with this.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
I am a little not concerned for Clark, but I
know angel Re said she's dealing with a lot of stuff,
and he's probably dealing with a bunch of trolls online.
You know, I do wonder if Clark. And I'm sure
she's mentally fit. She had other older brothers who toughened
her up. But like, just this onslaught of hate, that
(26:38):
this torrent that she's getting, this totally unwarranted. Nothing she's
done or said has warranted, at least not that I'm
aware of. And it's just like, at what point does
Caitlin Clark look in the mirror be like, why the
frick does everybody hate me? And obviously everybody's nagtor, but
why is half the country? I don't know if she's
f she that fifty to fifty of a Pollar's No,
I don't know, but not a lot of people feel that.
(27:03):
I think the enmity and the hate for her that
they do say, well, I guess Lebron kind of. Yeah,
Lebron's pissed off it into like half the population right
with his politics for sure and skipping around and super Team,
So yeah, he's probably got that fifty to fifty split
of love and hate him. I don't know that Clark
is technically fifty to fifty do you think she is?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I mean again, social media is not a real place,
but if you are on social media, then you think
it's fifty to fifty because there are just as many
people defending her as there are ripping her to shred.
You go, I mean your show is not a good
example with Colin, you know, because I think you guys
are kind of seed. I will hear a lot of
things with her, But like if you watch Undisputed, if
(27:46):
you watch First Take It, even just on that debate desk,
it's fifty to fifty. They're split down the middle on
whether or not you know she's worthy of the attention
and whether or not this this foulu. I'm sure it's
gonna be a big talking point on Monday, whether I
was a flagrant fact and things like that, and so yeah,
I mean it's it's super divisive. And I saw something
(28:08):
over the weekend. I want to run this by you
real quick. People were saying, you know, with the way
she's being treated and mistreated specific specifically by her peers
in the league, and you you've been mentioning on Twitter
about you know, the Olympic coaches, you know, putting these
hashtag the league is more than one person kind of
a thing, and how it's it seems like she's taking
straight from everybody, including her own teammates. I think it
(28:29):
was something like her her own teammate's girlfriend or friend
was talking stuff about her, and the teammate didn't like.
There's so many different stories about Kaitlyn Clark, but I
saw a few people tweet out. One of them is, hey,
is it too late to call ice cube about the
Big Three? Which apparently ice cube is already. Ice Cubes
already shot that down, saying that she missed her window.
If you want to join the Big geo oh way yeah.
(28:50):
And then the other one, And this was one I
thought was wild at the time, but now I think
about it, maybe not that crazy. Someone said, what's to
stop her from launching her own league, from launching a
four team league or a three on three league where
you don't need as many women to play, Because right
now I think we'd all agree. While she's not the
best player obviously in the league, she certainly is the
(29:11):
most marketable and the one people care to see. So,
if you know, if God forbid, she gets fed up
with all of this slander and all of the hard
fouls she's taking in the w what's the stopper from
doing her own thing? And suddenly she's the only one
getting the charter flights and they're back on commercial.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
That's crazy. I'm leaving your league and go back to
commercial flights. You know that's funny that you said ice cube.
My Weirdly, my first thought was, oh, did ice q
You see a bunch of women rougher up on the
court and they're like, she's got men that could do
way worse than that, and they're like, she can't handle No,
I'm kidding. Yeah, there appears to be a breaking point
(29:52):
for everyone, and I just I hope Clark can handle this.
This nonsense. And by the way, the topic I don't
feel comfortable talk totally talking about up with the girl.
Her teammate is dating the girl. The girl named Carrington.
I forget what team she plays for, but she has
had a couple issues with Clark. And then she tweeted
out on Friday about how Clark she wasn't happy with
(30:15):
the way Clark answered a question to the media. Okay,
she doesn't like Caitlin Clark. That's very obvious from her
actions and words. And Caitlin Clark's teammate is dating this person.
And then she went out and put out you guys
should vote for her for defensive Player of the year. Bro,
what are you doing? And I don't know, Rob, My
(30:39):
first thought was this chicks getting She's totally getting traded
in the off season. I mean, just get her out
of town. Like you're clearly not a Caitlin Clark fan.
She's your teammate. But and this is weird, and this
is territory that you know in no other leagues that
I'm aware of. I really have to deal with this.
You've got one of Caitlin Clark's teammates dating a girl
who's coming for Kitlin Clark's head. This Carrington who and
(31:01):
Charcter is a good player, good defender. She's had a
couple of steals from Caitlin Clark. That's about all I know.
And she seems to move her feet well. But I mean, Rob,
this is territory. I don't. I don't. I have no
idea how the league will will handle this, and really
there's nothing to handle. I think it's just something monitor like,
like kind of it's a oh that's interesting, but like
(31:23):
dating across teams and disliking a superstar, it's just very
new territory.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
No, yeah, I mean the closest thing I can even
think of is when Lebron was out of Lebron still
with the Lakers, but when the Lakers and Rajon Rono
was on the team and they faced off against Chris
Paul and I think he's spitting Chris Paul's face and
it started a little brew higher but yeah, open again,
and everybody got kind of up in arms about Lebron
not defending his teammate, as the first person he grabb
(31:50):
was Chris Paul. Now in that situation, it was a
little bit different because all he did was pull him
ou out of of a fight. It's that's completely different.
And then going on social media and defending or I'm doing.
It's called defending, but going out of your way to
big up the other person and not your teammate. So
I mean that might be the closest and even then
(32:11):
that's complete apples to oranges.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Did Leron get crushed for that?
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I mean, Lebron gets crushed for whatever he does, so
of course he.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Did right.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Again, I don't is that unfair to frame it that way? Now, Listen,
this is one that the media is not totally on yet.
It's on social media. It's being talked about about how
one of Clark's teammates is dating a girl who openly
doesn't like Caitlin Clark that you're telling me that's not weird,
it's not a little strange. I'm sure. Listen, this stuff's happening.
I'm sure around the league, but I just don't know
(32:41):
with someone as high profile, shall we say, as Clark
being involved, I don't know, do you listen? We know
players at least it's out there just being discussed, would
be willing to take less to play with one min Yama.
That's out there. I don't know if it's actually true
or it'll happen, but it's out there. People want to
play with one Byama who looks like a unicorn rob.
(33:03):
Do you think people will want to play with Clark
or say I don't want anything to do with her
because she is, you know, gonna have a massive spotlight,
which can be good and bad. And maybe you think
you're better than Clark and you don't want to I
don't play with her. I want to crush her. I
don't know. Do you think that that that could be
an issue this offseason? Whenever the offseason is for the WNBA.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Oh gosh, I'll tell you what again. I don't know
for a fact, but the general sentiment seems to be
that most players in the league are not fan of
creating Kayln Clark, her opponent and her own teammate. You
can tell by the way when she got fouled by
Angel Reese on Sunday that I don't think any teammates
stepped up to Angel Reese that hey, that's a bullshit
valve bout, Like I didn't see that at all in
(33:44):
the video to watch.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, I saw three of them run over to get
her up when she got decked.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
But when you said that in the NBA, yeah, like,
that's totally If it's in the NBA and a guy
can take the foul like that, especially if it's your
best player, you gotta fight on. I mean, you're not
really fighting the NBA, but you got to get in
their face immediately, and then you worry about your own teammate.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
And without getting a tech in the process.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Right exactly, but but you know, you got to at
least fake tough guy it up there for a minute
and then you know, do what you gotta do. And
so yeah, it definitely feels like most players around or
the overall general sentiment is that. Yeah, we could do
without Kaitlin Clark.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
That's freaking crazy. Anyways, all right, I got I'm not
betting on Game five. I don't think it sucks because
after this I've talked about it. I'm not wagering on
Major League Baseball. It's just no things, and so I
guess I'll be back for football. I could do some euros.
Maybe I did write up wagers for Fox sports dot
(34:40):
com and made a couple futures bets, but I'm not
like game to game. I'm not in the weeds. Maybe
I should be. We'll see. Schedule is good for soccer
all week. I'm gonna be taking some vacation here early June. Shoot,
I might have to do something a little earlier than that.
I will discuss it with the higher and get back
(35:01):
to you. But we are back tomorrow with a big
breakdown of Game five, and I'll just go out and say,
Maverick shock the world and pull off the one o six,
one oh five victory, forcing a Game six. But that's
with my heart over my head. Rob.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
I'll tell you what, you picking the MAVs is not crazy.
You picking the MAVs in a one point win might
be your most hottest take of the year. I mean this,
this game is going to be a blowout one way
or the other. I feel like there's no way it's
within four points.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, it's probably right. All right, We're back tomorrow to see
the
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire? Faam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Monday, June seventeenth. Hope everybody had a
phenomenal Father's Day weekend. Mine was filled with joy and
excitement and youth sports and a dance a dance recital.
(00:33):
And I did watch some sports, a lot of European soccer. Yes,
I saw Caitlin Clarke get closelined by Angel Reese. Oh boy.
We may get to that later if there's time. I
don't know. I did not watch any of the College
World Series, although people I've gotten a few texts, are
you watching the CWS? And I'm like, I do watch
the CW. I watch All American Wait, wait, what is
(00:54):
the S for? I don't even know what was College
World Series? And they're acting like it's super exciting. First
of all, college has been out for over a month
and the College World Series is still happening.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I don't really get it, but at any rate, we
are midway through June at this point it is an
exciting time in the sports calendar because guess what, the
NBA Finals are not done and I don't really know
how to handle this. Game five tonight in Boston. Celtics
obviously big favorites, but we're looking at a series that
has strangely been non competitive. But then it gets weird
(01:27):
because of the Porzingis injury. So he leaves late in
Game two with the injury, the foot issue, doesn't play
in Game three, doesn't play in Game four. You could
argue that the Celtics have won one of the eight
quarters since Porzingis left the series, one of the eight,
and that would be Game three third quarter where they
(01:49):
surged and took a massive lead. They ended up going
up by like nineteen or twenty. I think it was
just twenty one early fourth, Dallas storms back and the forth.
Every other quarter has been equal or Dallas. I just
don't totally know what to do with that, and I
don't even know how to handicap this skame. It has
been a wacky friggin' series. Like, yeah, Boston should close
it out tonight, agreed, But did anybody see Boston being
(02:13):
down like forty eight or whatever the number was Friday night?
It was non competitive for three plus quarters. Kyrie and
Lucas sat down late third up like forty five didn't
even hit their point total. I didn't bet anything in that.
In game three. I thought Game four, sorry, I thought
it was over. They didn't play in the fourth quarter.
Everybody's rested, including Porzingis if he plays. And again, you
(02:36):
don't want to overreact to a tiny sample size. It
is three to one. Boston's expecting a coronation one potential
angle and Rob you can scoff at this, feel free
Porzingis doesn't play. Boston all weekend was worrying about lining
(02:57):
up after party parade route tickets to the after party,
tickets to game five for friends and family. And you
know what Dallas is doing. They're seeing if they maybe
unlock something in the fourth quarter of game three, and
then in early game four, Derek Lively's playing good. Maybe,
just maybe there's a world where Dallas steals an unfocused
(03:22):
steals Game five from an unfocused Boston, and we head
back to Dallas for Game six. I would say slim,
but if you guys remember Jordan's Bulls took a three
to zero lead over Sonics featuring Peyton and Kemp in
the mid nineties, and then Seattle shockingly won two to
force a game six. Then Boston cloth uh, sorry, Chicago
closed him out. Listen, I don't know how you can
(03:43):
go against Boston here. They just haven't looked like other
than that third quarter, the same team without Porzingis, And
I know they've had some moments from Brisett and some
moments from Houser, but by a large Rob, I don't know.
I'm actually I was super pumped at the series beforehand,
and I'm like struggling to get excited for Game five tonight.
(04:05):
I haven't had one person say, hey, were you watching
the game, Like, I don't know now that like the
kids are out of school. I got a bunch of
buddies who are already like we're off to Hawaii, we're
in Mexico, we're checking out Europe before it gets packed.
Like people are like, I'm out. The series feels over
and Rob, I'm trying to muster excitement and energy for
(04:27):
Game five, but it's a bit of a struggle for me.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I could totally see how that would be a struggle
for you, because you know Game four. We joked on
the podcast last week like, Hey, if you're gonna bet
on this game, what part are you betting on? Because
it just does there's no buzz and it's hard to
really get it feel for the market things like that.
And I joked with you, hey, well, if you're really
going to get the heart rate going a little bit,
throw some money down on Jason Tatum for Finals MVP,
(04:51):
because you know, then you can at least have a
rooting interest in Jalen Brown missing some shots and you'll
feel good about it. Well, Jaylen Brown played bad. James
David didn't play much better, so that bet you want
is still on the table. But that's where we were
going into game four, and even though Dallas ended up
winning by what was at thirty eight points, it was
hard for me even still to get super excited heading
(05:15):
into game five because they won by thirty eight points,
Like there was nothing about that game where it made
me feel like, you know what, I think Dallas has
something here. I think they've stumbled upon something that they
can really carry over into game five and six and
potentially at game seven, because when you blow a team
out like that, that immediately and it's so very clear
(05:38):
in the first, like eleven to twelve minutes of the
game that everything Dallas has is working, everything Boston doing
is not working. You almost throw that game out the
window immediately, Like there was nothing you could take from
that game, either on a schematic point or even on
a just efficiency point, because you don't expect either team
(05:59):
to play like that. Again, you don't expect Boston to
shoot thirty six percent from the field in any game.
You don't expect Dallas, given what we've seen in this
playoffs or in this series especially to shoot over fifty
percent and forty percent from three. Like, that's just not
what they've been throughout this series. So it's hard for
me to even get like any kind of mojo heading
(06:22):
into tonight's Game five, because I still feel like we're
just prolonging the inevitable, the inevitable being Boston getting the
eighteen championship.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, and you know, I'm kind of excited for the draft.
Anytime there's like a draft where nobody's like, oh, the
players are just mid and essentially the number one pick,
whether it's Sar or the other kid from France or
one of the Kentucky guards Knicks. In any other year,
those guys are like the six, seven, eight pick, So
you're like the top five picks. You're just not getting
(06:52):
the value that you normally would anytime some people are
all in like that. It's it's essentially the Warren Buffett motto. Hey,
when nobody wants to invest, that's when you should be investing.
And when everybody's investing, that's when you should pause a
little bit. So right now, nobody has any interest in
the NBA draft. They don't think this is a good draft.
There's not a lot of talent. Okay, I'm in that.
(07:13):
The hook, hook line and sinker. NBA free agency, we
will see. I know a lot of people are gonna
make some you know, whatever they want. About the Joel
Embiid stunt that he pulled on. Was it inside the NBA?
The ESPN said, I don't even know. I didn't actually
see it, but Joel Embiid essentially was like hinting at
(07:34):
openly hinting. It was not. It was not. What's it called, uh,
where you're the Atlanta Falcons got penalized for a rob
What is.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That called tampering?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Tampering? Oh, my gosh, struggle. Uh, It's not like Joel
Embiid was tampering with Paul George with his comments and
his like side eye, like, yeah, a lot of people
out there available like that's obvious. Everybody knows that that
Paul George would be a good fit with the Sixers,
and frankly, Rob embiid Paul George and MAXI. If you
can get the bright neck like four, five, six, seven
guys who are going to be role players that fit
(08:05):
in the same way like Derek whitefits and Al Horford
like the same fit, I think Philadelphia could certainly challenge Boston.
All that being said, like, it's just been a weird
finals and I am I'm not ready for him to
be over. I want some excitement, I want some drama,
and there really hasn't been much. I mean, hell, you
guys don't want to hear it. There's more drama on
(08:26):
the w NBA right now. I'm not even capping. Seriously.
Did you guys see my guy, Matt Liner, you know,
as everybody's doing on Father's Day? They I mean, well,
I shouldn't say everybody. I'm sure a lot of guys
are out on golf course, not my jam, but Matt
Liner's watching Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese closed lines,
Caitlin Clark gets called for a foul and Matt Lioner's like,
(08:48):
come on, she should be suspended. There's no place for
that in the league. And all of a sudden people
are coming after him like he started World War six.
You know it was ugly and you know, I like
a nice guy. We could talk about it in a second,
but like it's weird. We like and need drama, trust me.
Kirk Cousins versus Michael Pennox in camp, Oh gosh, I
(09:11):
would love for that to happen. Love it Probably not
gonna get it. Aaron Rodgers is providing drama. I don't
know if we'll find out today where he was for
his unexcused absence last week from Jets camp. But there's reports.
I mean, I don't know if the Daily Mail counts
as a report that he was in an iOS ayahuasca
conference or outing or whatever ayahuasca event that's gonna go for.
(09:39):
I was doing drugs. I was talking about drug use
instead of that NFL mandatory camp. Listen, that's drama. That's good.
That's good. Dak Prescott right now is providing drama, and
that's what that's what it's good for, podcasts, TV, radio,
web clicks. Yeah, do we love drama, Kings, of course,
(10:01):
not like all the time. You don't constantly want drama
in your life. You want what you want. What I
was gonna say, you want what the Chiefs have, but geez,
they had another guy arrested over the weekend. Like Kansas
City Chiefs are drama kings this summer. So like that
stuff is how the sports news cycle, shoulder programming, how
all that stuff has value because of the drama around
(10:24):
the league. Without it, it's not that interesting. Now. I'm
not gonna get into it. But when I texted Rob
a any topic ideas, he was like the Rory McElroy meltdown.
I was like, yeah, I did what. I was like
in my mind, like, what did Roy McElroy did his wife?
Him and his wife split up again. I didn't even
know the US Open was happening. I know that's bad
to say. I'm sorry, apologies, don't send me you're a
(10:46):
sports go ahead that held you guys. Come on. I
had no idea it was Dushambeau versus McElroy at the
US Open. I just I wasn't locked in on that.
I watched a lot of European soccer the Euros twenty
twenty four. Awesome goal from Jude Bellingham who is a
budding superstar. Oh my gosh, if you guys haven't I
put it on the IG. But Adidas did a spot
(11:09):
for Jude Bellingham that was just so good off the
Hey Jude Beatles song. It's really good the guys. He's
got massive star potential. I don't know if he'll be
in BAPE in terms of clout, but he could have next.
Jude Bellingham. Euros twenty twenty four have been awesome so far.
Hopefully Copa America's is as good.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Let's pivot Rob to Kaitlin Clark. We'll come back to
best Bets at the end of the pod. Maybe maybe
something will tickle my fancy as I look at the lines.
But I'm sorry, we got to talk about Kaitlin Clark.
We just have to. First of all, Rob, it looked
I know that Caitlin Clark said it was a basketball play.
Adew Reyes said it was a basketball play. Did it
(12:00):
given their history? Did it look like a basketball play?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I thought it looked like one because all the angles
I saw it looked like Angel Reese who had her
eyes on the basketball when she swung. Now, granted the
wind up doesn't help my case. You know, it looks
like she intentionally thought that if I'm not gonna get
the block, I'm at least gonna get take a hard foul.
But for my money, if I had to say anything,
I'm gonna say it was a basketball play.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yes. So that's two games where Indiana has faced Chicago
and there's been drama surrounding Clark in both of them.
Kennedy Chanity Carter whatever her name is, with like the
body check of Caitlin Clark while the ball was not
even on the court, dirty play. And then you've got
(12:46):
Reese's clothesline attempt, which was upgraded to a flagrant one
after the refs looked at it. And then of course
after the game, Angel Reese is all worked up, and
it's like, listen, I guess some people get what's it,
zach line. Some people get a special whistle, like really,
you closed line someone, Yeah, you were going for the ball,
(13:09):
but you still chop their freaking head off. I don't know.
I was just a little bit disappointed. With Angel Reese.
There by the way, Caitlin Clark twenty three points, nine rebounds,
eight assists, just Yeoman's work for the most exciting player
in the WNBA. I'm looking for the numbers here, as
(13:30):
I guess I don't have it, but I believe Clark
has now is it five or five or six games
of twenty points, five rebounds, five assists for a rookie.
That's too shy of the record by Tamika Catchings. So
for Diana Tarassi and there's rude awakening, Yeah, very rude.
(13:51):
She's Tarassi, by the way, I think had five and
Clark is either tied with her or passing her. But
bottom line is Clark's rookie season has not been that
rude awakening. Sure, there's been a couple of games or struggles,
and the leading the league in turnovers when you're rookie
point guard, that shouldn't be a massive shock. And not
shooting like the expected thirty seven thirty eight percent from three,
(14:14):
that's fine, but let's not act like a rookie season
has been a failure up and the amount of interest
she generates. I'm telling you so, I'm sitting at home
Sunday watching I think the early match or the second
game was like Serbia or Slovenia or Denmark. I think
it was Denmark. And I'm watching that game, and you know,
(14:37):
every like forty five seconds to a minute, I would
switch over just to see what was happening in fever Chicago.
I could swear to you I've never watched more WNBA
than I have this season ever in my life combined.
I don't even know how long the league's been around
fifteen years. And that's not disrespectful to whoever's in the league.
I just haven't been compelled to turn on the channel
(14:59):
and someone And now that Caitlin Clark kind of sort
of owns Angel Reese. She's three and zero head to
head since losing the Natty in twenty three, one win
in the Final four this year and then two wins
in the WNBA Indiana by the net Way, now ahead
of Chicago in the race for a playoff spot. Caitlin
Clark to Bates the WNBA playoffs, it's gonna be It's
gonna be interesting. I again, they probably won't go far,
(15:22):
but it will certainly be a boon to the league. Now,
well that's will that mean that we're gonna see some
questionable calls h in favor of the fever. It's possible,
it's certainly in play. And here's guess what. I'm not
hating on it because in the NFL, I want to
see the star players. In the NBA, I want to
(15:42):
see the star players. You think I want Lebron to
miss the playoffs? Do you think I want Curry to
miss the playoffs? Come on, there's stars. I'm not saying
Clark is on their level in terms of what she's accomplished,
but in terms of stardom, hell yeah she is. So
I don't know rob between the flagrant fowls. By the way,
this is even crazier. This is I'm embarrassed to admit this.
(16:04):
So Sunday, as I'm watching the game on the screen
for the WNBA comes vote for the All Star Game.
Here's a QR code. I was like, the hell, all right,
why not? And I voted for the WNBA All Strung game.
Fun fact, I've never, I don't think, voted for an
NBA All Star Game maybe like twenty years ago. But
I saw it on the screen QR code. It made
it easy. I was like, okay, boom, Kitlin Clark, and
(16:26):
then I had to pick a bunch of.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Other players, and I was like, oh, depth of knowledge
is not that deep in the WNBA, I don't I
just don't know the star players, but they sort them
by points or assists or rebounds or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So and I recognized enough names that have voted, but
Kitlin Clark got me to vote for wnbal strug game
rob Am I losing my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
No, Because, as we talked about before we started recording,
Caitlin Clark is the most polarizing athlete in American sports
right now, and I don't think it's particularly close. What's
interesting though about her as compared to Aaron Rodgers, who
you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Kyrie Irving who's
going to be playing tonight, and Lebron James, who is
(17:10):
in the conversation basically every single day, whether he's playing
or not because he's Lebron James. What's different about Kayln
Clark is she's polarizing and controversial through no fault of
her own. Unlike the other three guys, Lebron, Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie,
she does not do or say anything at all that
(17:30):
makes her controversial. In fact, on Friday, she caused the
controversy by saying I just want to focus on basketball,
and people got upset about that because it's like, how
dare you not use your platform to speak out against
racism and misogyny. It's like, I didn't know that it
was up to a twenty two year old female basketball
player to be an activist for all things going on
(17:50):
in the world, Like or she's responsible somehow for the
unwashed masses, as you alluded to on social media, Like
for whatever reason, she's reached this special place in our
sports society where no matter what she does and what
she says, somebody's gonna have a strong opinion about it,
(18:11):
and someone's gonna have a conflicting opinion about it, and
you're gonna have these needless, aimless discussions, these think pieces,
these these debates about what she did or didn't do,
or what she did or didn't say. Matt Liner's comment
Angelice should be suspended. If that's Draymond Green, it doesn't
(18:33):
get up that kind of legs, right. If that is
Sabrina I and ESQ, it's like, oh, come on, like relax,
and there's maybe fifteen you know.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Reach tweet.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Why why is it for Liner because he said it
about Kaitlin Clark because he's white. People all of a
sudden are like, oh, well, look what you're doing because
Angelice is black and you're trying to protect this white prince.
And it's like, I don't know, Matt Liner like that.
I know you do a little bit. I'm willing to
bet the skin color of these two young ladies had
(19:04):
anything to do with his opinion. I'm willing to bet
his opinion has something to do with Hey, she is
the golden goose. You want to protect the golden goose.
And anytime you're not doing that and you continue to
allow this to happen, you're hurting your product. You're hurting
the chances of keeping her in the league long term.
I'm sure it's somewhere along those lines. But what people
are doing is they're projecting their own beliefs and they're
(19:25):
making it seem like whatever you do and you say
is obviously a microcosm of a bigger issue, and sometimes
it's not really that deep. And it's unfair to her,
Caitlin Clark, that is that she has become a lightning
rod for all of these people when she's not the
(19:45):
one doing or saying anything, and it just really sucks.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know, I think you're hitting on something. It's a
dangerous topic. You got to be careful with some of
these social issues. But I feel like you're probably right
that a white person taking up for Clark is like
you're racist against an overwhelmingly African American league. And I
(20:13):
did give it some you know, after you said if
that was Sabrina I and Escu a liner' stop making
that comment. But b does it look as bad? Probably not,
but because it's Clark who's supposed to be the quote
unquote savior. And my guess, and again I'm guessing, is
that And that's based on the tone of people I
(20:34):
talk to and stuff I see online and reaction I
get online. It feels like the African American community feels
like this has been our league, our fledgling league, and
all of a sudden, all you people now want to
come and pay attentionally because of some white girl who
(20:54):
you all think is better than a bunch of players
who have been here for a long time. You know,
there is a symmetry in the NBA. And I'll never
forget this, Like I don't think Phil Jackson meant it
that way, but when the Warriors were starting to ascend,
I think it was Phil Jackson, maybe someone else, but
(21:15):
somebody made a comment and Barkley obviously picked up on this.
Eventually they framed it as the Warriors are a soft
suburban jump shooting team. Okay, it's not basketball. Well that's
not an exact quote, but that was the gist of it.
These are soft guys from the burbs. You know, basketball
is a tough inner city sport. And not only did
(21:36):
you have to deal with the soft three point shooting,
now you got to deal with all these Europeans coming
and taking over the damn league. And in a sense
like this is our this is quote unquote our league.
And I just wonder if that kind of racial divide exists.
It's weird as a minority who's mixed with a bunch
of things. And you guys know, I've done the twenty
three and me I've posted about it on social thirty
(21:59):
four percent black. I don't view it that. I don't
view it as the same way. Let's just say a
lot of people are using Caitlin Clark to further agendas.
I don't see it that way. The girl Wilson on
Vegas is tremendous. Caitlin Clark, obviously, I root for k
angel Es is a good player. I know who she is.
(22:20):
I don't follow her on social media, but I do
think she's a good player. I don't think she's as
skilled as Kaitlin Clark, but it's not like there's a
racial tone to it. Ayan Escu's a good player, obviously,
Brianna Stewart. There's a lot of good players in this league.
For whatever reason, Clark has become this lightning rod where
(22:44):
everybody has an opinion. Go at, here's a fun one.
You know, you're at the water cooler today at works
and be like, hey, did you see that Caitlin Clark
play over the weekend. If the person has no idea
who Caitlin Clark is, I will be absolutely floored. She
doesn't have Taylor Swift name recognition right now. But I
guarantee you if you told me give me the quarterback
room of the Seattle Seahawks and within five seconds, could
(23:06):
you do that versus you know, tell me where Caitlin
Clark went to college and who she plays for in
the w NBA, I guarantee you more people would know
Caitlin Clark than the Seahawks quarterback depth chart. I don't
know Seahawks. Everybody knows Geno Smith. He's been there for me.
What's that? What's a better one?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I think that's a good one. Actually, Tennessee Titans even
I couldn't give you the Tennessee Titans quarterback room. I
know their starter. That's about it.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Well, that's yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I'm trying to find one because people will know what
they'll know probably one of them for sure. Yeah, and
I think that they'll after you talk about her a
long time. Oh yeah, I totally forgot that. Uh the
guy from Denver is the backup quarterback? Like oh yeah right,
Like I'm sure that they'll wait figure that out.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
This is crazy. I'm not looking no, no, Drew Lockes
with the Giants now.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Oh see, there you go. I would have failed that test.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
So we don't even know.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I would not be shocked. It's an election year, it
won't happen. But I was gonna say, is if like
Times Person of the Year, I mean, Caitlin Clark's going
to be in in a top ten finalists, probably because
they always pick somebody from sports. You want crossover people.
Last year. I'm sure it was Taylor Swift, but you
want like to get the largest audience. And Kitlon Clark
(24:20):
as polarizing as she is, I think you're right, Rob.
I tried to think also of who even Lebron has
been around the block. He has let his political affiliations
be known. He's out there. And who'd you say with second?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I said, Aaron Rodgers and Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Rogers? Yeah, I don't know if Irving has crossed over
to like moms really know who he is? Is there
even anyone else for missing? Patrick Maholmes is not polarizing.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
No, And the thing is, if they are polariz Let's
say you think of someone else here in the next
thirty seconds. I can almost promise you that whoever you
think of is polarizing because they've done or have said
something that has crossed over into the you know, the
social space where you know it transcends sports. And Caitlin
Clark is not that at all. Yeah, Like, what has
(25:11):
she ever done or said that goes beyond Ice? Want
to play basketball? I think Angelice is a great competitor.
You know, I really enjoy this league and I'm paying
homage to the women who came before me, and somehow
whatever she does or said gets twisted up into something
else and it just becomes a big, you know, a
big shit show.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Quite honestly, it's interesting you're onto something else. Rob's on
fire here on Monday. I just I was trying to
think of Kaitlyn Clark takes that I'm aware of of
her own, whether it's politics, movies, TV, like anything. I
feel like I don't know anything about her except she's
really good at basketball. Yet she's the most polarizing athlete,
(25:48):
which is fucking crazy. Like Aaron Rodgers, we know hates
the media, goes on Joe Rogan and talks about politics.
I mean, he's out there. The guy wants he's inviting attention.
When you go on a darkness retreat and announce it,
you're inviting attention. Lebron, I don't I think he can
(26:08):
handle it. Not everybody's built for this man, and that
is we could wrap with this.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
I am a little not concerned for Clark, but I
know angel Re said she's dealing with a lot of stuff,
and he's probably dealing with a bunch of trolls online.
You know, I do wonder if Clark. And I'm sure
she's mentally fit. She had other older brothers who toughened
her up. But like, just this onslaught of hate, that
(26:38):
this torrent that she's getting, this totally unwarranted. Nothing she's
done or said has warranted, at least not that I'm
aware of. And it's just like, at what point does
Caitlin Clark look in the mirror be like, why the
frick does everybody hate me? And obviously everybody's nagtor, but
why is half the country? I don't know if she's
f she that fifty to fifty of a Pollar's No,
I don't know, but not a lot of people feel that.
(27:03):
I think the enmity and the hate for her that
they do say, well, I guess Lebron kind of. Yeah,
Lebron's pissed off it into like half the population right
with his politics for sure and skipping around and super Team,
So yeah, he's probably got that fifty to fifty split
of love and hate him. I don't know that Clark
is technically fifty to fifty do you think she is?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I mean again, social media is not a real place,
but if you are on social media, then you think
it's fifty to fifty because there are just as many
people defending her as there are ripping her to shred.
You go, I mean your show is not a good
example with Colin, you know, because I think you guys
are kind of seed. I will hear a lot of
things with her, But like if you watch Undisputed, if
(27:46):
you watch First Take It, even just on that debate desk,
it's fifty to fifty. They're split down the middle on
whether or not you know she's worthy of the attention
and whether or not this this foulu. I'm sure it's
gonna be a big talking point on Monday, whether I
was a flagrant fact and things like that, and so yeah,
I mean it's it's super divisive. And I saw something
(28:08):
over the weekend. I want to run this by you
real quick. People were saying, you know, with the way
she's being treated and mistreated specific specifically by her peers
in the league, and you you've been mentioning on Twitter
about you know, the Olympic coaches, you know, putting these
hashtag the league is more than one person kind of
a thing, and how it's it seems like she's taking
straight from everybody, including her own teammates. I think it
(28:29):
was something like her her own teammate's girlfriend or friend
was talking stuff about her, and the teammate didn't like.
There's so many different stories about Kaitlyn Clark, but I
saw a few people tweet out. One of them is, hey,
is it too late to call ice cube about the
Big Three? Which apparently ice cube is already. Ice Cubes
already shot that down, saying that she missed her window.
If you want to join the Big geo oh way yeah.
(28:50):
And then the other one, And this was one I
thought was wild at the time, but now I think
about it, maybe not that crazy. Someone said, what's to
stop her from launching her own league, from launching a
four team league or a three on three league where
you don't need as many women to play, Because right
now I think we'd all agree. While she's not the
best player obviously in the league, she certainly is the
(29:11):
most marketable and the one people care to see. So,
if you know, if God forbid, she gets fed up
with all of this slander and all of the hard
fouls she's taking in the w what's the stopper from
doing her own thing? And suddenly she's the only one
getting the charter flights and they're back on commercial.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
That's crazy. I'm leaving your league and go back to
commercial flights. You know that's funny that you said ice cube.
My Weirdly, my first thought was, oh, did ice q
You see a bunch of women rougher up on the
court and they're like, she's got men that could do
way worse than that, and they're like, she can't handle No,
I'm kidding. Yeah, there appears to be a breaking point
(29:52):
for everyone, and I just I hope Clark can handle this.
This nonsense. And by the way, the topic I don't
feel comfortable talk totally talking about up with the girl.
Her teammate is dating the girl. The girl named Carrington.
I forget what team she plays for, but she has
had a couple issues with Clark. And then she tweeted
out on Friday about how Clark she wasn't happy with
(30:15):
the way Clark answered a question to the media. Okay,
she doesn't like Caitlin Clark. That's very obvious from her
actions and words. And Caitlin Clark's teammate is dating this person.
And then she went out and put out you guys
should vote for her for defensive Player of the year. Bro,
what are you doing? And I don't know, Rob, My
(30:39):
first thought was this chicks getting She's totally getting traded
in the off season. I mean, just get her out
of town. Like you're clearly not a Caitlin Clark fan.
She's your teammate. But and this is weird, and this
is territory that you know in no other leagues that
I'm aware of. I really have to deal with this.
You've got one of Caitlin Clark's teammates dating a girl
who's coming for Kitlin Clark's head. This Carrington who and
(31:01):
Charcter is a good player, good defender. She's had a
couple of steals from Caitlin Clark. That's about all I know.
And she seems to move her feet well. But I mean, Rob,
this is territory. I don't. I don't. I have no
idea how the league will will handle this, and really
there's nothing to handle. I think it's just something monitor like,
like kind of it's a oh that's interesting, but like
(31:23):
dating across teams and disliking a superstar, it's just very
new territory.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
No, yeah, I mean the closest thing I can even
think of is when Lebron was out of Lebron still
with the Lakers, but when the Lakers and Rajon Rono
was on the team and they faced off against Chris
Paul and I think he's spitting Chris Paul's face and
it started a little brew higher but yeah, open again,
and everybody got kind of up in arms about Lebron
not defending his teammate, as the first person he grabb
(31:50):
was Chris Paul. Now in that situation, it was a
little bit different because all he did was pull him
ou out of of a fight. It's that's completely different.
And then going on social media and defending or I'm doing.
It's called defending, but going out of your way to
big up the other person and not your teammate. So
I mean that might be the closest and even then
(32:11):
that's complete apples to oranges.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Did Leron get crushed for that?
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I mean, Lebron gets crushed for whatever he does, so
of course he.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Did right.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Again, I don't is that unfair to frame it that way? Now, Listen,
this is one that the media is not totally on yet.
It's on social media. It's being talked about about how
one of Clark's teammates is dating a girl who openly
doesn't like Caitlin Clark that you're telling me that's not weird,
it's not a little strange. I'm sure. Listen, this stuff's happening.
I'm sure around the league, but I just don't know
(32:41):
with someone as high profile, shall we say, as Clark
being involved, I don't know, do you listen? We know
players at least it's out there just being discussed, would
be willing to take less to play with one min Yama.
That's out there. I don't know if it's actually true
or it'll happen, but it's out there. People want to
play with one Byama who looks like a unicorn rob.
(33:03):
Do you think people will want to play with Clark
or say I don't want anything to do with her
because she is, you know, gonna have a massive spotlight,
which can be good and bad. And maybe you think
you're better than Clark and you don't want to I
don't play with her. I want to crush her. I
don't know. Do you think that that that could be
an issue this offseason? Whenever the offseason is for the WNBA.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Oh gosh, I'll tell you what again. I don't know
for a fact, but the general sentiment seems to be
that most players in the league are not fan of
creating Kayln Clark, her opponent and her own teammate. You
can tell by the way when she got fouled by
Angel Reese on Sunday that I don't think any teammates
stepped up to Angel Reese that hey, that's a bullshit
valve bout, Like I didn't see that at all in
(33:44):
the video to watch.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, I saw three of them run over to get
her up when she got decked.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
But when you said that in the NBA, yeah, like,
that's totally If it's in the NBA and a guy
can take the foul like that, especially if it's your
best player, you gotta fight on. I mean, you're not
really fighting the NBA, but you got to get in
their face immediately, and then you worry about your own teammate.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
And without getting a tech in the process.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Right exactly, but but you know, you got to at
least fake tough guy it up there for a minute
and then you know, do what you gotta do. And
so yeah, it definitely feels like most players around or
the overall general sentiment is that. Yeah, we could do
without Kaitlin Clark.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
That's freaking crazy. Anyways, all right, I got I'm not
betting on Game five. I don't think it sucks because
after this I've talked about it. I'm not wagering on
Major League Baseball. It's just no things, and so I
guess I'll be back for football. I could do some euros.
Maybe I did write up wagers for Fox sports dot
(34:40):
com and made a couple futures bets, but I'm not
like game to game. I'm not in the weeds. Maybe
I should be. We'll see. Schedule is good for soccer
all week. I'm gonna be taking some vacation here early June. Shoot,
I might have to do something a little earlier than that.
I will discuss it with the higher and get back
(35:01):
to you. But we are back tomorrow with a big
breakdown of Game five, and I'll just go out and say,
Maverick shock the world and pull off the one o six,
one oh five victory, forcing a Game six. But that's
with my heart over my head. Rob.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
I'll tell you what, you picking the MAVs is not crazy.
You picking the MAVs in a one point win might
be your most hottest take of the year. I mean this,
this game is going to be a blowout one way
or the other. I feel like there's no way it's
within four points.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, it's probably right. All right, We're back tomorrow to see
the
Host
Jason McIntyre
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