Colin’s back from vacation with plenty of fresh takes!
He starts by reacting to the news that USMNT coach Greg Berhalter has been relieved of his duties following an early round exit of the Copa America despite a young roster that hasn’t entered its prime (5:00).
He implores TNT to make an aggressive bid to keep the NBA in order to keep the “Inside the NBA” crew of Shaq, Charles, Kenny and Ernie together AND to keep him as a consumer (9:00).
He pushes back on criticism of USC football and dives into the reasons why NIL will make it difficult for USC to compete with the top teams in college football (21:00), and why Major League Baseball should lower the mound in order to make the game more exciting (27:30).
Finally, he weighs in on the post-debate media firestorm surrounding Joe Biden staying in the presidential race and why the Democrats’ problem isn’t the coverage… it’s the candidate (31:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
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Speaker 2 (01:58):
All right, welcome in. I'm gonna do a solo podcast
for about fifteen or twenty minutes. As you know, I
took a long break for me, a long break, longest
break of my career while I was under contract seventeen days.
A lot of it was FS One. Management came to
me about six months ago and said, there's going to
be You're going to get knocked off the air because
of the Euros and COPA about seventy five percent of
(02:22):
your show, So go take fifteen days off, and I
decided to. I have a place out in Rhode Island,
hung out near the beach with my wife daughter. Was
out there for a while. Good friends from Los Angeles
stop by. We have really good friends out in Rhode Island,
and it's my favorite little hiding place in America. Is
in a small little town in Rhode Island, and I
(02:43):
go on these long walks on the beach every day
by myself. Sometimes I put in a podcast the earbuds,
and sometimes I just talk to myself in the fog
in the morning. Dogs everywhere. So it gave me a
lot of time to think about a lot of things.
First of all, I want to talk about Greg Burhalter
just got relieved of his duties as the coach of
(03:04):
the United States men's national team. You know, I've come
to the realization two things about soccer fans in America.
Number One, they have been ignored right compared to football, basketball,
baseball for years, So they have a little bit of
a chip on their shoulder. They're not really interested in
you joining the club. And for guys like me who
are traditionalists with the main sports, you know, it's very
(03:27):
hard to get the VIP pass code to be let in.
You're always having to prove your worth. Baseball fans become
a little like this since baseball over the last twenty
years has lost so much of its social currency, it's
just not talked about like it used to be at
the water cooler. And so if you ever have an
opinion about soccer, you're an outsider unless you're going to
(03:49):
the matches, and you know you have to prove your
worth constantly. Here's all I know about Greg Burholter sixty
nine percent winning percentage, which is the highest winning percentage
of any United States men's nation team coach that has
coached at least twenty twenty games. And remember, this is
a guy that got a draw in the last World
Cup to the final field of sixteen with none of
(04:10):
his top players in their prime. None he had players
getting close to their prime. Polistic now is just entering
his prime. But people will say, well, he's got more
talent than ever. If you look at every sport, including soccer,
in the world, you win championships when you have an
overwhelming majority of your best players in their prime. Chris Jones, Maholmes,
(04:37):
Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelcey was middle to late prime when
they started this run. That's the way it goes, right Like.
That's not to say you can't have players like a
Brady who is older, a Gronk who is older. They
have playoff experience, but generally sports all work the same way.
I mean the Boston Celtics Tatum and his prime, Jalen
Brown in his prime, Derek White in his prime. Zingis
(05:00):
actually in his prime, although he misses a lot of time,
Drew Holliday out of his prime, Horford out of his prime,
but their top three players are arguably all in their prime.
You know when Denver won their championship. Jokich prime, Murray prime,
Porter prime, Gordon prime, KCP a little out of his prime,
a little older. So the United States men's national team
(05:23):
is the most skillful we've ever had, but this World
Cup will be the first World Cup where we have
a majority of our best players at the beginning of
their prime. It's still a really young team, So go ahead,
get rid of Greg Berholter. But one of the reasons
I've been critical of of the United States men's national
team fans is because they always blame the coach. It
(05:47):
doesn't matter who it is, Jurgen Klansmen, Bruce Arena, It's
always blamed the coach. It's always the coach's fault. And
the reality is this country has played mostly defensive and
safe soccer most of my life because we have to.
If we're hyper aggressive against Argentina or A Germany, the Netherlands, England,
(06:09):
we'd get roasted. I think for the first time ever,
in the next two years, this World Cup team will
have the ability to play top teams England and be
equally aggressive. I think our skill is that good. The
COPA performance was disappointing. I think we're better than most
(06:31):
of the teams in COPA, So I understand the disillusion
fan base. I get it, but just no sixty nine
percent of the matches with a mostly overwhelmingly young roster
just entering their prime, just over the next year to
two entering their prime. I thought he was pretty good.
(06:52):
I did think COPA was disappointing. Two things can be true.
So Greg Burholter is gone. Something else I think about
as the NBA has finalized their deal with ESBN NBC
and Amazon to get seventy six million over eleven years
and listen, it's like people that overreacted to Bronni James
going to the Lakers. You don't like Lebron, I get it.
(07:14):
I'm not looking for you, to be honest. TNT has
five days to match. I think the most interesting part
of the NBA deal is an ESBN, NBC or Amazon.
It's TNT, who has again about a week to match
or their forty year relationship is over. So let me
tell you. Let's say you run TNT. I'm a consumer,
(07:35):
and I think I'm your typical sports consumer. If you
let the NBA go, I can just tell you I'll
never watch TNT again. It'll just be one of those
things I scroll past. That's the only reason I watch
TNT and the Kenny Smith Barklay shack Ernie Show. I
watch an hour before the game start and all off
(07:56):
and stay thirty minutes after the games are over if
I'm not doing a podcast. So no NBA. I'm not
watching for the Western Conference finals of the NHL because
the Stanley Cup. Ill watch ESPN's got that. I'm not
watching for an occasional early round baseball playoff series. Fox
has the World Series. I'm not watching TNT. So if
(08:17):
you ran TNT, would you rather sign the deal keep
me as a consumer, though you lose money on the deal,
but you keep me watching your shoulder programming, your pregame show,
your postgame show, seeing all sorts of ads promotions for
other shows during your NBA coverage, or lose me completely
(08:38):
as a consumer. That's the decision TNT has. They're not
going to make money on this deal, but you sign
the deal to be able to promote other shows. Try
to expand how often I, as a consumer am watching
because I don't. I'm not going to watch DNT, it's over.
I'm not watching for Mountain West Football and Early Round
Baseball playoff series. It's over. I'm done as a consumer.
(09:01):
And so you know, it's very easy to say, well,
they're going to lose money. All these networks are going
to lose money on the NBA. ESPN because they're a
current rights holder, doesn't have to market and promote the NBA.
As a new rights holder, NBC and Amazon have to
go out and spend so much money on marketing, promotion,
(09:21):
hiring remote crews to ramp up like overspend early to
pull in new audience. ESPN's got me. I know where
the NBA is, so they have the benefit of being
a current rights holder, an incumbent, if you will. In
the political business, they're an incumbent, So I know what
to expect. Don't have to love their coverage all the time,
(09:41):
love Mike Brain, don't love most of the coverage. But
I know what to expect, and I know where they're
on my TV or my phone, right and so that's
the decision. That's why it's difficult. So ESPN does it
because it's tonnage. It fills space. They can promote other shows,
other leagues, other whatever, and they can use NBA highlights
and they can put it on Scott van Pelt after
(10:03):
the games and it helps so many ancillary parts of
the coverage. That's an easy one for ESPN, But for TNT,
you know, they don't have me for anything other than that,
and if they don't sign it, they lose me completely
as a consumer. So I think these decisions are much
more difficult than people think. Are you willing to sign
(10:24):
up for something that you know is not going to
be profitable? I at least keep you as a consumer
and maybe over the course of time, I can move
you into another show. I can move you into other
platforms that I'm connected to. That's the trick in it. Listen,
the NBA has challenges. It's getting very European, okay. And
when you're international and you don't introduce consumers to players
(10:48):
until they reach the professional level, it's a disadvantage and
something I've been on for years. And you know this,
if you're honest. I have been banging on Adam Silver
for years, who considers college basketball the enemy The NFL
understands the value of college football is that if you're
only introducing fans to players new players once they arrive
(11:13):
to the NBA, it's a huge, huge disadvantage. College football
introduces you to an Ohio state wide receiver for three
years minimum, Okay, so you have some sort of connection
with the player, some emotional connection. By the time he's
an NFL player, you're buying his jersey. I have never
(11:33):
understood the dogma, the anti college basketball vibe I get
from the NBA. Those of us with a social life
don't watch the G League. We don't watch it. So
the bottom line is like next year, Cooper Flag at Duke.
I can't wait to watch him at Duke goes to
the G League, I don't watch him, goes overseas, I
don't watch him. Most of us have a life. We're
(11:56):
not sitting going on YouTube to watch euro video or
G League video. So Cooper Flag is going to go
to Duke is going to get connected with one of
these shoe companies and is absolutely going to move the
television needle when he comes into the NBA. If he
goes to a reasonable team, you know, like if remember
the worst team in the NBA generally doesn't win the lottery,
if he goes to a team with some promising stars.
(12:18):
The one thing I like, really like about the NIL
in college is that I think it'll help college basketball.
It makes college football just more of a top heavy
bidding war. It used to be a facilities issue. Now
it's an NIL issue for the top teams. Not that
many changes in the last twenty years in college football.
You notice the Ohio States and the Georgia's and the
(12:39):
Texas and the big school they have all the money
to LSU is going to outbid people for top players.
But I do think the NIL and college basketball will
keep the Kansas guy around, the Yukon guy around some
of them for another year, so I have a stronger
emotional connection then going into the NBA. I think it's
(12:59):
a real I mean, that's why Villanova guys are really
may not be stars, but are really powerful in the
NBA because I watched them for three years in college.
I know who Michale Bridges is and Jalen Brunson is
and Dante de Vincenzo. I watched them in college Josh
Hart for years, so like I have a little bit
of a relationship. They don't even have to be stars
(13:19):
in the NBA. I'm familiar with them. So I do think.
I do think that the NBA is going through a
very challenging time with all the European escalation to just
more great players globally. I mean, the draft now is
virtually you know, it's a The w NBA draft has
players that can immediately Caitlin Clark immediately come in and
(13:42):
be productive culture changers. NBA has none of those. It's
just it's crazy. I watched the NBA Draft for thirty minutes.
I'm like, I have no real opinion on any of
these players outside of the Connecticut guys. So hopefully the
NIL keeps a few a handful of five or six
really high end players. I mean Zach Edie, I know
who he is. I'm excited to watch him in the NBA.
(14:04):
I don't know what he's gonna be, but I'll watch him.
Football has always understood that, hopefully the NBA can figure
it out.
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Speaker 2 (15:04):
Something else I thought about on the sports side. So
I recently got an email from a friend who said,
what do you make of Paul Finbaum. He's a radio
broadcaster that covers mostly well the SEC, a lot of
BAMA talk, bashing Lincoln Riley and USC. He said he
doesn't believe that Lincoln Riley it's over, It's a sinking ship. Well,
(15:27):
I think a lot of things about it. First of all,
if I recall, Finebaum was anti Jim Harbaugh until the
very very end. So what I mean, if you're really
really don't think Jim Harbaugh, who had a successful NFL career,
Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier in the SEC, did not
If you don't think Jim Harbaugh can coach, what do
you want me to say? I mean, sorry, he can.
(15:50):
He's great everywhere San Diego, Niners, Stanford, Michigan. He's going
to be great here. I think people forget it took
Harball long time because he inherited such a mess. He
had to change the culture of Brady Hoak. I mean
that I can remember watching games at Michigan there were
thirty thousand empty seats. People forget how bad USC was
(16:14):
when Lincoln Riley took it over. They were foreign eight
and Lincoln Riley told people, I mean it was understood
forty to fifty of the eighty players couldn't play. The
roster was terrible. Now he has the benefit of the
transfer portal which has been energized. But you can't create
chemistry in a year. So if they beat two lane
(16:36):
and they led with about a minute to go, he
would have gone from four and eight to twelve wins
with a really bad defensive staff and a really bad
defensive roster. Pretty impressive because his first two years in
the PAC twelve have been the best the PAC twelve
has been in twenty years, and Kayleb Williams and Lincoln
Riley produced the number one offense in the country without
(16:57):
outside of Kayleb Williams and Jordan Adison, any NFL guys
of NOE like college guys. That's it. That's pretty impressive.
But I think this year's fascinating for USC. They get
a bit of a break. UCLA and Michigan are in
total rebuilds. They don't play the best two teams Oregon
in Ohio State. That's a huge break. LSU's probably a loss,
(17:18):
but they have a capable defensive staff, upgrades in the secondary.
Won't be as good at quarterback, but it'll be a
more Lincoln Riley driven team, less of a Caleb Williams
driven team, which is not all bad. Caleb sort of
his last year morphed and it was a Caleb offense,
not a Lincoln Riley offense. He'll kind of reclaim that.
I think, much like Harbaugh, people didn't understand how big
(17:42):
the rebuild was at Michigan. It took People don't know
how big the rebuild was. For Brian Kelly. It wasn't
until the last two games he played against Georgia. It
wasn't that first time he got to the national championship.
That was fools goal. It took in nine years, eight
nine years. It took Harbaugh seven eight years to really
(18:03):
get the quality of upper class talent where Michigan could
go toe to toe with Ohio State and in Georgia
and in Alabama. This is the beginning for Lincoln Riley,
This is the beginning. We forget Dabo Sweeney at football
Center at Clemson. He needed like three years to get
it going. People forget go to Nick Saban at LSU.
(18:27):
It wasn't They didn't hit it out of the park.
Go to his fourth year at LSU. There are a
lot of losses. Saban at Alabama, the number one football
program in the country, made it look really easy. It's
generally not. Even with the transfer portal, it takes a
lot of time, and USC was a wreck. So I
think Lincoln Riley's going to be fine. The other thing
(18:48):
that doesn't get discussed a lot, and it's totally legal,
is that Phil Knight has basically said, as he ages,
what do you need and organ buys any Southern California
player out of high school they really want they get,
They just buy them. And it's a little icky, but
it's the reality of what Oregon does.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I'm not criticizing him for it, but as Phil Knight
has aged, it's become very clear that he's going to
spend whatever it takes in NIL. And USC's NIL program
is not terrible. They're collective is about twelve million dollars
a year, but that's not what Oregon's spending, or Texas
or Georgia or Ohio State. I don't know if USC
(19:30):
or UCLA, but USC is the bigger brand has the
stomach for the NIL. This is not Norman, Oklahoma, it's
not Auburn Alabama. It doesn't drive discussion. People have lives.
Even if you're a USC fan, you probably like the
Rams and the Lakers and the Dodgers. There's a lot
of options here. This is not a one horse town.
(19:51):
So do you have the stomach? Do the boosters have
the stomach to keep putting millions of dollars into a
program that wins ten and not national championships? When Pete
Carroll was winning Natty's at USC, no NFL. Now there's
two teams. There was no Sofi Stadium. The Dodgers were good,
they weren't this consistently good. The Clippers were a mess.
(20:13):
Now they're viable. MLS is in town, Silicon Valley economy.
People have more money, more options, they bail more quickly.
So it's a different Los Angeles. Now. You not only
until this year pre twelve team playoff. You've got to
win more games to get to the national championship. The
PAC twelve is better now, so it's a much different game.
(20:35):
I think Lincoln Riley is going to be okay, but
this is not an elite NIL program right now. They
have the best athletic director and the best guidance Jen
Cohen they've ever had. I think Lincoln Riley's really smart.
But Oregon swooping in and buying the best players in
the West Coast, not to mention Bam is still a
big name Ohio State, Michigan now seeping in stealing top recruits.
(20:57):
It's a big lift for USC, big lift. I think
they'll be better than people think. But the idea that
Lincoln was going to swoop in and they were going
to win Natties, this program was a tire fire for
an eight with really no great players. First year, the
two best players Caleb Williams Jordan Addison, both transfers. That
(21:18):
just was not anything of note here, battle lines, no interior,
great defensive lineman. It was not USC. I will say this.
I was when I have time to not be on
the treadmill of sports. It gives me more time to read,
which I love, and it gave me And there's something
(21:38):
about baseball where I like reading about baseball more than
I generally like watching baseball, the exception being a great
postseason matchup. But you know, I'll go and get I'll
deep dive on baseball stats and I think it's fascinating.
And I used to be in My first job out
of college was a baseball announcer, so you know, you
just you kind of get into the statistical the math
(22:01):
of baseball, and you know, I always kind of find
it interesting is that baseball, because of its rich history,
tends to be a little paralyzed by it, and they're
slow to make moves. It is remarkable now to watch
how few baseball players can hit. Only twelve current baseball
players at last count, hit over three hundred in the
(22:22):
whole sport. It's insane. It's Otani, it's Aaron Judge, it's
Mokey Betts, you know, big names you'd expect. But I
think there is a solve to the problem, because the
game's faster now, the attendance is up, the ratings are
slightly up, and I think the solve is to lower
the mound, which baseball did in the late sixties, and
that was sort of the Bob Gibson era. You just
(22:44):
couldn't hit Gibson, so they lowered the mound like I
think half a foot. And I think baseball's always been
so reluctant, you know, it took them forever on replay
or the pitch clock. It just takes them a long
time because they're very much tied to their history. The
mound six inches give batters a shot, because I will
tell you, over the course of the seventeen days I
(23:06):
was gone and I flipped on the TV, the game
moves very swiftly, I remember. And this happened when I
lived in Connecticut. So my wife built a workout room downstairs,
and that's where I would go every day, and that's
where I would watch baseball, usually Nessen or the YES Network,
Red Sox or Yankees. I got both on my cable service.
(23:29):
And there was a moment in time. I remember. It
was the Red Sox playing the Blue Jays in Toronto,
and it was like fifth or sixth inning, and I
went down and I usually do about a forty five
to fifty minute lift. That's it. Then I'm gone. And
I remember this day particular. It was like the fifth
or sixth inning and the Blue Jays I think, were
at the plate and I did my workout forty five
(23:51):
minutes and it was like the start of the fifth inning,
and by the time I was done with my workout,
it was just going to like the sixth. It'd been
like an inning in one batter that had lasted like
forty five minutes, and I wouldn't have watched the game
had I not worked out. But I remember thinking at
the time, God, this is agony, this is painful that
you can't and hockey knows this. It's really hard to
(24:14):
have a business with only diehards watching. You need casuals.
I mean, my wife knows a little about the NFL.
She's very much a sports casual, but she understands the NFL.
She can name many of the teams and the star players.
Is that baseball pre pitchclock had no casuals, very few casuals.
(24:36):
It's actually pretty fun to watch now if you get
the right teams in the right matchups. But there are
I mean, the hitters are overwhelmed. There are a lot
of quick at bats now. For me, I don't have
the patience with my iPhone to sit and watch four
hour games, but at the quality and the energy, if
I'm getting action, I'll stick around. No matter how fast
(24:58):
a sport is, there's to be action. You can go
through three innings and see a hit a single. It's
not enough action. And the way to solve it's pretty easy.
Lower of the mound six eight inches. Give the batters
a fighting chance and it won't just be shoheo Tani
and Aaron Judge that can hit something else that jumped
out to me. And I don't talk a ton of politics,
(25:18):
but I mean, Jesus, when I was gone for seventeen days,
all anybody talked about was the debate. You know, one
of the things that is really interesting to me. And
I've been offered political shows before on radio, and it
just it's sort of a joy sapping experience. I like sports.
I like the drama. I like waking up every day
and there's a new game, a new drama, a new storyline,
(25:39):
and you can build a new narrative. The idea of
having to cover the same political story for six months
on end, I just I think is just the thief
of joy. I think it would just it'd be tedious.
I don't want that life. But it was really interesting.
I had this discussion with a friend and I said,
you know, politics and sports and business are all very similar.
(26:00):
I mean, a political race race, it's a business. It's
the minute you're elected, you're raising funds. And in my business,
sports has always been a little political, and it's absolutely
a business. That's why the NFL has pulled away from
the other leagues. It's just understands that is that it
was fascinating to watch the coverage. We know Joe Biden
(26:24):
has struggled, especially the last couple of years, with a
lot of verbal gaffs, the staring, you know, the look
we've seen from grandparents we love, but it's been fascinating
to watch not only the coverage, which I think has
been very fair and even handed, but the outrage by
Democrats with the coverage of CNN, Jonathan Stewart and Brian
(26:48):
Stetler and Chuck Todd and The New York Times. So
my entire life, I've been sort of an independent that
leans right on busines, business and left on social issues.
But I've always understood that over seventy percent of people
in the media are Democrats, and it absolutely bleeds into
(27:09):
the coverage. I think, on average, Democrats get more favorable
coverage than conservatives. Now some of that's earned, like climate
change denial on the right is doing you no favors.
Like every week there's a record in Palm Springs, Vegas. Everywhere,
the storms are getting nasty, or the heat's getting more oppressive.
So sometimes I do look at conservatives and roll my
(27:32):
eyes when they come across often as anti science. Be
that as it may. I do think Democrats get more
favorable coverage, but you can't trust, you know, the White
House doesn't have a lot of credibility right now anytime
they talk about Biden. But what's fascinating has been to
watch the Democrats, the liberal elites react to the coverage.
Once you start complaining about the coverage and not the
(27:56):
content of your politician, which conservatives do a lot of,
you're cooked. And I'm telling you, as an independent, I've
appreciated CNN's coverage, and Brian and Chuck Todd and Jonathan Stewart,
I've actually I've actually appreciated it. I think it's been
(28:17):
right down the middle. It has been appropriately harsh on
Joe Biden. Listen, when you come out and you cover
the White House and you say you're surprised by his
mental lack of mental acuity, I can't take you seriously.
Do you not have an iPhone? I can't take you seriously.
(28:37):
And so watching kind of the liberal elites criticize the
coverage is something that is painful and fatiguing. I've watched
the right do for years, and it makes me think,
as somebody who I view myself as an independent, I
don't like Trump at all, but I view myself mostly
(28:57):
as a political independent. It makes me think, when you
get the favorable coverage, the favorable lean for years, you're overreacting.
You're picking on the wrong people. The media is imperfect.
We know that hasn't been a great year. I don't think,
necessarily for the New York Times, it's not about the coverage.
(29:18):
It's about the candidate and the problems. And listen, Joe Biden.
If he refuses to step down, this is what you get.
I don't think that's very promising. I don't think Donald
Trump with more immunity from the Supreme Court is a
great thing. But it's been fascinating to me to watch
the attack of the coverage, which I view is incredibly
(29:41):
fair given the current state of Joe Biden. It feels
fair to me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't feel
as somebody in the media, and somebody who's mostly moderate
left leaner, social right leaner, fiscal, I don't feel it's
been outrageous. Jake tappers asked hard questions. I do think
the media, feeling they've been lied to, has a little
(30:04):
chip on their shoulder, But that's okay. I can deal
with a little of that. Right. There's been a lot
of chips on the shoulder of media for years. Sometimes
they felt, in my opinion, a little dogmatic, a little
unfair to the right. Now they're bringing the sledgehammer on Biden.
It feels right to me, it feels appropriate. I think
(30:25):
the simple explanation what has happened to the Democrats is
that there is no more pressurized job in America than president.
It ages you. And for an example, go look at
President Barack Obama's inauguration and how youthful he looks, and
look eight years later he has a head of gray hair,
and he was in his prime politically. Joe Biden was always,
(30:48):
by any reasonable measure, a one term president with some
cognitive decline, a parent going in to that one term,
and the Democrats got caught flat footed. You didn't really
start to notice it until about late year two of
(31:09):
his presidency, but the last two years it's ugly and
it's sad, and we've all seen this before. And the
Democrats come off as ill prepared and not prepared and
getting caught flat footed. It's not about the coverage. It's
not about CNN, it's not about Bill Maher, it's about
(31:31):
Joe Bliden. It's a candidate issue, not a coverage issue.
The volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed
the podcast, take a moment, rate and review
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
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Speaker 2 (01:58):
All right, welcome in. I'm gonna do a solo podcast
for about fifteen or twenty minutes. As you know, I
took a long break for me, a long break, longest
break of my career while I was under contract seventeen days.
A lot of it was FS One. Management came to
me about six months ago and said, there's going to
be You're going to get knocked off the air because
of the Euros and COPA about seventy five percent of
(02:22):
your show, So go take fifteen days off, and I
decided to. I have a place out in Rhode Island,
hung out near the beach with my wife daughter. Was
out there for a while. Good friends from Los Angeles
stop by. We have really good friends out in Rhode Island,
and it's my favorite little hiding place in America. Is
in a small little town in Rhode Island, and I
(02:43):
go on these long walks on the beach every day
by myself. Sometimes I put in a podcast the earbuds,
and sometimes I just talk to myself in the fog
in the morning. Dogs everywhere. So it gave me a
lot of time to think about a lot of things.
First of all, I want to talk about Greg Burhalter
just got relieved of his duties as the coach of
(03:04):
the United States men's national team. You know, I've come
to the realization two things about soccer fans in America.
Number One, they have been ignored right compared to football, basketball,
baseball for years, So they have a little bit of
a chip on their shoulder. They're not really interested in
you joining the club. And for guys like me who
are traditionalists with the main sports, you know, it's very
(03:27):
hard to get the VIP pass code to be let in.
You're always having to prove your worth. Baseball fans become
a little like this since baseball over the last twenty
years has lost so much of its social currency, it's
just not talked about like it used to be at
the water cooler. And so if you ever have an
opinion about soccer, you're an outsider unless you're going to
(03:49):
the matches, and you know you have to prove your
worth constantly. Here's all I know about Greg Burholter sixty
nine percent winning percentage, which is the highest winning percentage
of any United States men's nation team coach that has
coached at least twenty twenty games. And remember, this is
a guy that got a draw in the last World
Cup to the final field of sixteen with none of
(04:10):
his top players in their prime. None he had players
getting close to their prime. Polistic now is just entering
his prime. But people will say, well, he's got more
talent than ever. If you look at every sport, including soccer,
in the world, you win championships when you have an
overwhelming majority of your best players in their prime. Chris Jones, Maholmes,
(04:37):
Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelcey was middle to late prime when
they started this run. That's the way it goes, right Like.
That's not to say you can't have players like a
Brady who is older, a Gronk who is older. They
have playoff experience, but generally sports all work the same way.
I mean the Boston Celtics Tatum and his prime, Jalen
Brown in his prime, Derek White in his prime. Zingis
(05:00):
actually in his prime, although he misses a lot of time,
Drew Holliday out of his prime, Horford out of his prime,
but their top three players are arguably all in their prime.
You know when Denver won their championship. Jokich prime, Murray prime,
Porter prime, Gordon prime, KCP a little out of his prime,
a little older. So the United States men's national team
(05:23):
is the most skillful we've ever had, but this World
Cup will be the first World Cup where we have
a majority of our best players at the beginning of
their prime. It's still a really young team, So go ahead,
get rid of Greg Berholter. But one of the reasons
I've been critical of of the United States men's national
team fans is because they always blame the coach. It
(05:47):
doesn't matter who it is, Jurgen Klansmen, Bruce Arena, It's
always blamed the coach. It's always the coach's fault. And
the reality is this country has played mostly defensive and
safe soccer most of my life because we have to.
If we're hyper aggressive against Argentina or A Germany, the Netherlands, England,
(06:09):
we'd get roasted. I think for the first time ever,
in the next two years, this World Cup team will
have the ability to play top teams England and be
equally aggressive. I think our skill is that good. The
COPA performance was disappointing. I think we're better than most
(06:31):
of the teams in COPA, So I understand the disillusion
fan base. I get it, but just no sixty nine
percent of the matches with a mostly overwhelmingly young roster
just entering their prime, just over the next year to
two entering their prime. I thought he was pretty good.
(06:52):
I did think COPA was disappointing. Two things can be true.
So Greg Burholter is gone. Something else I think about
as the NBA has finalized their deal with ESBN NBC
and Amazon to get seventy six million over eleven years
and listen, it's like people that overreacted to Bronni James
going to the Lakers. You don't like Lebron, I get it.
(07:14):
I'm not looking for you, to be honest. TNT has
five days to match. I think the most interesting part
of the NBA deal is an ESBN, NBC or Amazon.
It's TNT, who has again about a week to match
or their forty year relationship is over. So let me
tell you. Let's say you run TNT. I'm a consumer,
(07:35):
and I think I'm your typical sports consumer. If you
let the NBA go, I can just tell you I'll
never watch TNT again. It'll just be one of those
things I scroll past. That's the only reason I watch
TNT and the Kenny Smith Barklay shack Ernie Show. I
watch an hour before the game start and all off
(07:56):
and stay thirty minutes after the games are over if
I'm not doing a podcast. So no NBA. I'm not
watching for the Western Conference finals of the NHL because
the Stanley Cup. Ill watch ESPN's got that. I'm not
watching for an occasional early round baseball playoff series. Fox
has the World Series. I'm not watching TNT. So if
(08:17):
you ran TNT, would you rather sign the deal keep
me as a consumer, though you lose money on the deal,
but you keep me watching your shoulder programming, your pregame show,
your postgame show, seeing all sorts of ads promotions for
other shows during your NBA coverage, or lose me completely
(08:38):
as a consumer. That's the decision TNT has. They're not
going to make money on this deal, but you sign
the deal to be able to promote other shows. Try
to expand how often I, as a consumer am watching
because I don't. I'm not going to watch DNT, it's over.
I'm not watching for Mountain West Football and Early Round
Baseball playoff series. It's over. I'm done as a consumer.
(09:01):
And so you know, it's very easy to say, well,
they're going to lose money. All these networks are going
to lose money on the NBA. ESPN because they're a
current rights holder, doesn't have to market and promote the NBA.
As a new rights holder, NBC and Amazon have to
go out and spend so much money on marketing, promotion,
(09:21):
hiring remote crews to ramp up like overspend early to
pull in new audience. ESPN's got me. I know where
the NBA is, so they have the benefit of being
a current rights holder, an incumbent, if you will. In
the political business, they're an incumbent, So I know what
to expect. Don't have to love their coverage all the time,
(09:41):
love Mike Brain, don't love most of the coverage. But
I know what to expect, and I know where they're
on my TV or my phone, right and so that's
the decision. That's why it's difficult. So ESPN does it
because it's tonnage. It fills space. They can promote other shows,
other leagues, other whatever, and they can use NBA highlights
and they can put it on Scott van Pelt after
(10:03):
the games and it helps so many ancillary parts of
the coverage. That's an easy one for ESPN, But for TNT,
you know, they don't have me for anything other than that,
and if they don't sign it, they lose me completely
as a consumer. So I think these decisions are much
more difficult than people think. Are you willing to sign
(10:24):
up for something that you know is not going to
be profitable? I at least keep you as a consumer
and maybe over the course of time, I can move
you into another show. I can move you into other
platforms that I'm connected to. That's the trick in it. Listen,
the NBA has challenges. It's getting very European, okay. And
when you're international and you don't introduce consumers to players
(10:48):
until they reach the professional level, it's a disadvantage and
something I've been on for years. And you know this,
if you're honest. I have been banging on Adam Silver
for years, who considers college basketball the enemy The NFL
understands the value of college football is that if you're
only introducing fans to players new players once they arrive
(11:13):
to the NBA, it's a huge, huge disadvantage. College football
introduces you to an Ohio state wide receiver for three
years minimum, Okay, so you have some sort of connection
with the player, some emotional connection. By the time he's
an NFL player, you're buying his jersey. I have never
(11:33):
understood the dogma, the anti college basketball vibe I get
from the NBA. Those of us with a social life
don't watch the G League. We don't watch it. So
the bottom line is like next year, Cooper Flag at Duke.
I can't wait to watch him at Duke goes to
the G League, I don't watch him, goes overseas, I
don't watch him. Most of us have a life. We're
(11:56):
not sitting going on YouTube to watch euro video or
G League video. So Cooper Flag is going to go
to Duke is going to get connected with one of
these shoe companies and is absolutely going to move the
television needle when he comes into the NBA. If he
goes to a reasonable team, you know, like if remember
the worst team in the NBA generally doesn't win the lottery,
if he goes to a team with some promising stars.
(12:18):
The one thing I like, really like about the NIL
in college is that I think it'll help college basketball.
It makes college football just more of a top heavy
bidding war. It used to be a facilities issue. Now
it's an NIL issue for the top teams. Not that
many changes in the last twenty years in college football.
You notice the Ohio States and the Georgia's and the
(12:39):
Texas and the big school they have all the money
to LSU is going to outbid people for top players.
But I do think the NIL and college basketball will
keep the Kansas guy around, the Yukon guy around some
of them for another year, so I have a stronger
emotional connection then going into the NBA. I think it's
(12:59):
a real I mean, that's why Villanova guys are really
may not be stars, but are really powerful in the
NBA because I watched them for three years in college.
I know who Michale Bridges is and Jalen Brunson is
and Dante de Vincenzo. I watched them in college Josh
Hart for years, so like I have a little bit
of a relationship. They don't even have to be stars
(13:19):
in the NBA. I'm familiar with them. So I do think.
I do think that the NBA is going through a
very challenging time with all the European escalation to just
more great players globally. I mean, the draft now is
virtually you know, it's a The w NBA draft has
players that can immediately Caitlin Clark immediately come in and
(13:42):
be productive culture changers. NBA has none of those. It's
just it's crazy. I watched the NBA Draft for thirty minutes.
I'm like, I have no real opinion on any of
these players outside of the Connecticut guys. So hopefully the
NIL keeps a few a handful of five or six
really high end players. I mean Zach Edie, I know
who he is. I'm excited to watch him in the NBA.
(14:04):
I don't know what he's gonna be, but I'll watch him.
Football has always understood that, hopefully the NBA can figure
it out.
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Speaker 2 (15:04):
Something else I thought about on the sports side. So
I recently got an email from a friend who said,
what do you make of Paul Finbaum. He's a radio
broadcaster that covers mostly well the SEC, a lot of
BAMA talk, bashing Lincoln Riley and USC. He said he
doesn't believe that Lincoln Riley it's over, It's a sinking ship. Well,
(15:27):
I think a lot of things about it. First of all,
if I recall, Finebaum was anti Jim Harbaugh until the
very very end. So what I mean, if you're really
really don't think Jim Harbaugh, who had a successful NFL career,
Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier in the SEC, did not
If you don't think Jim Harbaugh can coach, what do
you want me to say? I mean, sorry, he can.
(15:50):
He's great everywhere San Diego, Niners, Stanford, Michigan. He's going
to be great here. I think people forget it took
Harball long time because he inherited such a mess. He
had to change the culture of Brady Hoak. I mean
that I can remember watching games at Michigan there were
thirty thousand empty seats. People forget how bad USC was
(16:14):
when Lincoln Riley took it over. They were foreign eight
and Lincoln Riley told people, I mean it was understood
forty to fifty of the eighty players couldn't play. The
roster was terrible. Now he has the benefit of the
transfer portal which has been energized. But you can't create
chemistry in a year. So if they beat two lane
(16:36):
and they led with about a minute to go, he
would have gone from four and eight to twelve wins
with a really bad defensive staff and a really bad
defensive roster. Pretty impressive because his first two years in
the PAC twelve have been the best the PAC twelve
has been in twenty years, and Kayleb Williams and Lincoln
Riley produced the number one offense in the country without
(16:57):
outside of Kayleb Williams and Jordan Adison, any NFL guys
of NOE like college guys. That's it. That's pretty impressive.
But I think this year's fascinating for USC. They get
a bit of a break. UCLA and Michigan are in
total rebuilds. They don't play the best two teams Oregon
in Ohio State. That's a huge break. LSU's probably a loss,
(17:18):
but they have a capable defensive staff, upgrades in the secondary.
Won't be as good at quarterback, but it'll be a
more Lincoln Riley driven team, less of a Caleb Williams
driven team, which is not all bad. Caleb sort of
his last year morphed and it was a Caleb offense,
not a Lincoln Riley offense. He'll kind of reclaim that.
I think, much like Harbaugh, people didn't understand how big
(17:42):
the rebuild was at Michigan. It took People don't know
how big the rebuild was. For Brian Kelly. It wasn't
until the last two games he played against Georgia. It
wasn't that first time he got to the national championship.
That was fools goal. It took in nine years, eight
nine years. It took Harbaugh seven eight years to really
(18:03):
get the quality of upper class talent where Michigan could
go toe to toe with Ohio State and in Georgia
and in Alabama. This is the beginning for Lincoln Riley,
This is the beginning. We forget Dabo Sweeney at football
Center at Clemson. He needed like three years to get
it going. People forget go to Nick Saban at LSU.
(18:27):
It wasn't They didn't hit it out of the park.
Go to his fourth year at LSU. There are a
lot of losses. Saban at Alabama, the number one football
program in the country, made it look really easy. It's
generally not. Even with the transfer portal, it takes a
lot of time, and USC was a wreck. So I
think Lincoln Riley's going to be fine. The other thing
(18:48):
that doesn't get discussed a lot, and it's totally legal,
is that Phil Knight has basically said, as he ages,
what do you need and organ buys any Southern California
player out of high school they really want they get,
They just buy them. And it's a little icky, but
it's the reality of what Oregon does.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I'm not criticizing him for it, but as Phil Knight
has aged, it's become very clear that he's going to
spend whatever it takes in NIL. And USC's NIL program
is not terrible. They're collective is about twelve million dollars
a year, but that's not what Oregon's spending, or Texas
or Georgia or Ohio State. I don't know if USC
(19:30):
or UCLA, but USC is the bigger brand has the
stomach for the NIL. This is not Norman, Oklahoma, it's
not Auburn Alabama. It doesn't drive discussion. People have lives.
Even if you're a USC fan, you probably like the
Rams and the Lakers and the Dodgers. There's a lot
of options here. This is not a one horse town.
(19:51):
So do you have the stomach? Do the boosters have
the stomach to keep putting millions of dollars into a
program that wins ten and not national championships? When Pete
Carroll was winning Natty's at USC, no NFL. Now there's
two teams. There was no Sofi Stadium. The Dodgers were good,
they weren't this consistently good. The Clippers were a mess.
(20:13):
Now they're viable. MLS is in town, Silicon Valley economy.
People have more money, more options, they bail more quickly.
So it's a different Los Angeles. Now. You not only
until this year pre twelve team playoff. You've got to
win more games to get to the national championship. The
PAC twelve is better now, so it's a much different game.
(20:35):
I think Lincoln Riley is going to be okay, but
this is not an elite NIL program right now. They
have the best athletic director and the best guidance Jen
Cohen they've ever had. I think Lincoln Riley's really smart.
But Oregon swooping in and buying the best players in
the West Coast, not to mention Bam is still a
big name Ohio State, Michigan now seeping in stealing top recruits.
(20:57):
It's a big lift for USC, big lift. I think
they'll be better than people think. But the idea that
Lincoln was going to swoop in and they were going
to win Natties, this program was a tire fire for
an eight with really no great players. First year, the
two best players Caleb Williams Jordan Addison, both transfers. That
(21:18):
just was not anything of note here, battle lines, no interior,
great defensive lineman. It was not USC. I will say this.
I was when I have time to not be on
the treadmill of sports. It gives me more time to read,
which I love, and it gave me And there's something
(21:38):
about baseball where I like reading about baseball more than
I generally like watching baseball, the exception being a great
postseason matchup. But you know, I'll go and get I'll
deep dive on baseball stats and I think it's fascinating.
And I used to be in My first job out
of college was a baseball announcer, so you know, you
just you kind of get into the statistical the math
(22:01):
of baseball, and you know, I always kind of find
it interesting is that baseball, because of its rich history,
tends to be a little paralyzed by it, and they're
slow to make moves. It is remarkable now to watch
how few baseball players can hit. Only twelve current baseball
players at last count, hit over three hundred in the
(22:22):
whole sport. It's insane. It's Otani, it's Aaron Judge, it's
Mokey Betts, you know, big names you'd expect. But I
think there is a solve to the problem, because the
game's faster now, the attendance is up, the ratings are
slightly up, and I think the solve is to lower
the mound, which baseball did in the late sixties, and
that was sort of the Bob Gibson era. You just
(22:44):
couldn't hit Gibson, so they lowered the mound like I
think half a foot. And I think baseball's always been
so reluctant, you know, it took them forever on replay
or the pitch clock. It just takes them a long
time because they're very much tied to their history. The
mound six inches give batters a shot, because I will
tell you, over the course of the seventeen days I
(23:06):
was gone and I flipped on the TV, the game
moves very swiftly, I remember. And this happened when I
lived in Connecticut. So my wife built a workout room downstairs,
and that's where I would go every day, and that's
where I would watch baseball, usually Nessen or the YES Network,
Red Sox or Yankees. I got both on my cable service.
(23:29):
And there was a moment in time. I remember. It
was the Red Sox playing the Blue Jays in Toronto,
and it was like fifth or sixth inning, and I
went down and I usually do about a forty five
to fifty minute lift. That's it. Then I'm gone. And
I remember this day particular. It was like the fifth
or sixth inning and the Blue Jays I think, were
at the plate and I did my workout forty five
(23:51):
minutes and it was like the start of the fifth inning,
and by the time I was done with my workout,
it was just going to like the sixth. It'd been
like an inning in one batter that had lasted like
forty five minutes, and I wouldn't have watched the game
had I not worked out. But I remember thinking at
the time, God, this is agony, this is painful that
you can't and hockey knows this. It's really hard to
(24:14):
have a business with only diehards watching. You need casuals.
I mean, my wife knows a little about the NFL.
She's very much a sports casual, but she understands the NFL.
She can name many of the teams and the star players.
Is that baseball pre pitchclock had no casuals, very few casuals.
(24:36):
It's actually pretty fun to watch now if you get
the right teams in the right matchups. But there are
I mean, the hitters are overwhelmed. There are a lot
of quick at bats now. For me, I don't have
the patience with my iPhone to sit and watch four
hour games, but at the quality and the energy, if
I'm getting action, I'll stick around. No matter how fast
(24:58):
a sport is, there's to be action. You can go
through three innings and see a hit a single. It's
not enough action. And the way to solve it's pretty easy.
Lower of the mound six eight inches. Give the batters
a fighting chance and it won't just be shoheo Tani
and Aaron Judge that can hit something else that jumped
out to me. And I don't talk a ton of politics,
(25:18):
but I mean, Jesus, when I was gone for seventeen days,
all anybody talked about was the debate. You know, one
of the things that is really interesting to me. And
I've been offered political shows before on radio, and it
just it's sort of a joy sapping experience. I like sports.
I like the drama. I like waking up every day
and there's a new game, a new drama, a new storyline,
(25:39):
and you can build a new narrative. The idea of
having to cover the same political story for six months
on end, I just I think is just the thief
of joy. I think it would just it'd be tedious.
I don't want that life. But it was really interesting.
I had this discussion with a friend and I said,
you know, politics and sports and business are all very similar.
(26:00):
I mean, a political race race, it's a business. It's
the minute you're elected, you're raising funds. And in my business,
sports has always been a little political, and it's absolutely
a business. That's why the NFL has pulled away from
the other leagues. It's just understands that is that it
was fascinating to watch the coverage. We know Joe Biden
(26:24):
has struggled, especially the last couple of years, with a
lot of verbal gaffs, the staring, you know, the look
we've seen from grandparents we love, but it's been fascinating
to watch not only the coverage, which I think has
been very fair and even handed, but the outrage by
Democrats with the coverage of CNN, Jonathan Stewart and Brian
(26:48):
Stetler and Chuck Todd and The New York Times. So
my entire life, I've been sort of an independent that
leans right on busines, business and left on social issues.
But I've always understood that over seventy percent of people
in the media are Democrats, and it absolutely bleeds into
(27:09):
the coverage. I think, on average, Democrats get more favorable
coverage than conservatives. Now some of that's earned, like climate
change denial on the right is doing you no favors.
Like every week there's a record in Palm Springs, Vegas. Everywhere,
the storms are getting nasty, or the heat's getting more oppressive.
So sometimes I do look at conservatives and roll my
(27:32):
eyes when they come across often as anti science. Be
that as it may. I do think Democrats get more
favorable coverage, but you can't trust, you know, the White
House doesn't have a lot of credibility right now anytime
they talk about Biden. But what's fascinating has been to
watch the Democrats, the liberal elites react to the coverage.
Once you start complaining about the coverage and not the
(27:56):
content of your politician, which conservatives do a lot of,
you're cooked. And I'm telling you, as an independent, I've
appreciated CNN's coverage, and Brian and Chuck Todd and Jonathan Stewart,
I've actually I've actually appreciated it. I think it's been
(28:17):
right down the middle. It has been appropriately harsh on
Joe Biden. Listen, when you come out and you cover
the White House and you say you're surprised by his
mental lack of mental acuity, I can't take you seriously.
Do you not have an iPhone? I can't take you seriously.
(28:37):
And so watching kind of the liberal elites criticize the
coverage is something that is painful and fatiguing. I've watched
the right do for years, and it makes me think,
as somebody who I view myself as an independent, I
don't like Trump at all, but I view myself mostly
(28:57):
as a political independent. It makes me think, when you
get the favorable coverage, the favorable lean for years, you're overreacting.
You're picking on the wrong people. The media is imperfect.
We know that hasn't been a great year. I don't think,
necessarily for the New York Times, it's not about the coverage.
(29:18):
It's about the candidate and the problems. And listen, Joe Biden.
If he refuses to step down, this is what you get.
I don't think that's very promising. I don't think Donald
Trump with more immunity from the Supreme Court is a
great thing. But it's been fascinating to me to watch
the attack of the coverage, which I view is incredibly
(29:41):
fair given the current state of Joe Biden. It feels
fair to me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't feel
as somebody in the media, and somebody who's mostly moderate
left leaner, social right leaner, fiscal, I don't feel it's
been outrageous. Jake tappers asked hard questions. I do think
the media, feeling they've been lied to, has a little
(30:04):
chip on their shoulder, But that's okay. I can deal
with a little of that. Right. There's been a lot
of chips on the shoulder of media for years. Sometimes
they felt, in my opinion, a little dogmatic, a little
unfair to the right. Now they're bringing the sledgehammer on Biden.
It feels right to me, it feels appropriate. I think
(30:25):
the simple explanation what has happened to the Democrats is
that there is no more pressurized job in America than president.
It ages you. And for an example, go look at
President Barack Obama's inauguration and how youthful he looks, and
look eight years later he has a head of gray hair,
and he was in his prime politically. Joe Biden was always,
(30:48):
by any reasonable measure, a one term president with some
cognitive decline, a parent going in to that one term,
and the Democrats got caught flat footed. You didn't really
start to notice it until about late year two of
(31:09):
his presidency, but the last two years it's ugly and
it's sad, and we've all seen this before. And the
Democrats come off as ill prepared and not prepared and
getting caught flat footed. It's not about the coverage. It's
not about CNN, it's not about Bill Maher, it's about
(31:31):
Joe Bliden. It's a candidate issue, not a coverage issue.
The volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed
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Host
Colin Cowherd
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