March 5, 2025 • 46 mins
Dan reacts to LeBron James reaching 50,000 total career points. San Francisco Giants P Justin Verlander describes how he feels about the new ABS system in baseball and shares whether or not he has decided on which hat he will wear on his Hall of Fame plaque. And legendary broadcaster Ian Eagle breaks down how he calls 5 games per week and why he believes Steph Curry's success is more improbable than LeBron's.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Let me start with Lebron going over fifty thousand career points.
We knew it was going to happen. He was at
forty nine, nine hundred and ninety nine. Wasn't a lot
of drama there other than how was he going to
get it? Was it going to be a dunk, a layup,
a free throw or three point shot, which is what
it was. And you start to look at these numbers
and I don't want to dive into the Mike versus Lebron.
(00:27):
I don't, we won't, but he is going to be
statistically the most decorated player in the history of the sport.
And it's not even going to be close. Fifty thousand
points regular season, postseason combined, and he's still one of
the top ten players in the game. Truly remarkable. And
(00:48):
I started to wonder because last year, I remember there
were reports speculation it's starting to slow down a little bit.
I feel like the Luca trade revitalized him. I think
he gets into this. Hey, that guy might be a
future Hall of Famer. He might be one of the
top five players in the game. I want to prove
(01:09):
to him on a nightly basis, I can be great
as well. I can continue to be great. And I'm
not saying they're competing with each other. It's complimenting each other.
And Lebron is so bright at being able to find
what do I need to do to make you better?
Because he came into the sport that way. He was
a pass first guy. I'm ever afraid to take the shot.
(01:32):
He won't take the big shot. Well, if you saw
him in high school, the biggest guy on the floor
was the best passer, and he loved to pass. And
even in the NBA, I think you know, you look
at when he played against Sacramentum when he first started out,
makes a great pass to start his career because that's
what he thought, that's what you need to do. I
(01:54):
think he was more magic than Michael, even though everybody
wanted to emulate Michael. But I see Lebron more as
magic than I do Michael. And he continues to do it,
and last night, you know, they win again. Now granted
they're beating the Pelicans, it goes back to defense.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
For me.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm not worried about the offense because of Luca and
Lebron and Austin Reeves and maybe you know, Dalton connect
will be able to be a little bit more of
a score, you know, come postseason time. I'm worried about defense.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
They let Zion Williamson have his way in the paint,
and that's something that the Lakers have been really good
at preventing points in the paint. They're letting you shoot
the three. They want to make sure that you don't
take advantage of them inside because they're undersized in the paint.
But Zion Williamson has played really well since January. Now,
(02:49):
I know you're gonna go, well, that's not exactly a
large sample size, and you're right, but he has played
really well and more importantly not missing games. This is
going to be a you know, this off season is
going to be tricky, I think for the Pelicans, like,
what are you doing with your franchise? What do you
(03:11):
want to do with your franchise? Can you luck into
Cooper Flag and change your franchise? Is Zion your franchise?
Now Brandon Ingram wasn't their franchise, so you're trying to
figure that out. But I'm watching and I'm going Zion
is doing whatever he wants to do, and he's undersized,
but he's so powerful inside, and the Lakers didn't have
(03:33):
an answer, but Pelicans didn't have an answer for Luca
and Lebron. So Lebron is the first of fifty thousand
career points. We tend to look at numbers and we go,
nobody will ever break that. Well, I remember when Gretzky
set the all time goalscoring record and we all said,
nobody's going to top that, And here we are. Alex
(03:55):
Ovechkin is going to top that. Emmett's with all time
rushing record, Nobody's going to top that eighteen thousand, almost
nineteen thousand, just because running backs trying to stay around,
although maybe a resurgence on running backs getting more carries
now with Saquon Barkley, who just got a two year
(04:16):
contract extension. But you got to be healthy. Like Frank
Gore was just there and ended up with what fifteen thousand, oh,
by the way, fifteen thousand rushing yards, but you can't
remember one of his runs. But he just sort of
stayed healthy, stayed in the lineup, and he was on
a variety of teams. Emmett's rushing record is not going
(04:38):
to be broken Lebron's scoring record. Even though scoring is up,
you still have to be great for over twenty years.
And that's the tricky part. Can you stay healthy? Can
you stay great for twenty years? And Lebron has done that,
and then so Jerry Rice two hundred touchdowns, the number
(05:03):
of catches probably not going to be broken. Seaton, Do
you have a list of unbreakable records, or at least
what we think is unbreakable.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, this list is current, at least until I don't
know about a year ago or so. Right, you have
you mentioned Emmett, you know over eighteen thousand rushing yards.
The next closest is Derrick Henry and he's at about
fifty percent of that. Wilt Chamberlain averaging fifty point four
points per game in a single season. Yeah, nobody's really
(05:35):
even close to that. The closest I could see here
is James Harden at thirty six point one.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You know what happening that when Will scored one hundred
points and we just had the anniversary That was smart
second that week, I think he played four games in
five days, and I think he scored sixty or more
points in four of the games, and scored one hundred
in the other game. I mean, imagine that week for
(06:03):
Wilt Chamberlain. Okay, back to your seton.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Let's see Wayne Gretzky one nine hundred sixty three career assists.
The at least at the time of this the active
leader was Sidney Crosby and he had nine hundred and
seventy two.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's that's not even close. That will never that will never, ever,
ever ever be broken. Cy Young seven hundred and forty
nine complete games. Nobody's touching that. Cal Ripken Junior two
thousand and six hundred and thirty two consecutive games. Nobody's
even people are still he had twenty six hundred, and
(06:42):
people are still at least two thousand short of that,
So that one's pretty safe. Ricky Henderson career stolen bases,
He's at fourteen oh six. Nobody is even remotely close
to that. Elvis Andrews I have it well at the
time of this list. Anyway, this has changed, but three
hundred fifty, that's not even close. Yeah, Michael Phelps twenty
(07:03):
eight Olympic medals the active leader. There is eleven the
next closest to him, So is that Katie Ledecki. Do
we have her total?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Let's see I have Yeah, maybe this needs to be updated.
But and then there's another Olympian on here. But this
is for the World Gymnastics gold medals. Simone Biles has
twenty three of those. The next closest is nine.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Yeah, so that's you know her. Her dominance is a
little not underappreciated, but it's massive.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Is anybody going to approach Barry Bond's all time home
run record? I mean it's still a home run hitting sport.
I just wonder, can you stay healthy enough to hit
that many home runs? You know, five hundred is you know,
that's the Hall of Fame Mark. You get to five
hundred and you know, unless you've used steroids or caught
(08:00):
using steroids, then you're going to go to the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
Point, you need to hit fifty home runs for fourteen
years to be in the neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Think about that.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah point.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
I was thinking about this because you've often said that
Kareem abdul Jabbar is underrated. Kareem abdul Jabbar all this
points records were his until le Brown showed up. Kareem
played four years of college basketball correct. Imagine if he
had a couple more years of professional basketball. He scored
his first couple of years in the Bigs about twenty
four hundred points per season if he could have come
(08:36):
in at age nineteen twenty twenty one. So it doesn't
match up apples to apples with the career scoring.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, if Kareem had come out of high school instead
of going to UCLA, then you get that four year
window that Lebron has, and he has that over just
about everybody on the all time list because Mike stayed
what three years at North Carolina. But yeah, just some
of those records, I'm sure this audience will have other
(09:02):
ones that are unbreakable. Yes, yes, Marvin.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
Joe Dimagio fifty six game hitty streak.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, I don't see that happening. I don't see anybody
breaking that. You know, Pete got to forty four and
that was a big deal. But you know, the specialty
of relievers now that you're going to face somebody, I mean,
everybody's throwing a one hundred and it's not like you're
going to have a tired pitcher that you're facing. You know,
(09:27):
it's five innings and then all of a sudden you
bring in the bullpen. But yeah, fifty six games, even
getting on base in fifty six consecutive games, that's not
going to be. We won't come close to that. I
don't think like we get to thirty and now you
get our attention, But you know, is somebody going to
get to forty one of the They're not contact hitters anymore.
(09:50):
You know, back when Pete Rose was playing, you put
the ball in play and you had Wade Bogs and
Rod Carew you know, some of these great artists here
now even each year Row as great as he was,
as fast as he was, I don't know what his
consecutive games streak was for hits.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yes, yeah, if you look at current you know, active
players home run hitters, you can't even find somebody that
you can put on pace to come close. Even I
think John Carlos Stanton, he's at four to twenty nine,
but if you look at his sort of production rate,
he's not even going to come close to bonds. And
there isn't anybody that you can put anywhere in their
(10:28):
career like a trajectory right now that comes close.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, you're hitting seven hundred and sixty two home runs. Now,
Hank Aaron had seven fifty five, Babe had seven fourteen.
Pouholz is there? What's seven oh three? Yeah, just not
going to happen. By the way, Justin Verlander turned forty
two last month, Is that right to just a couple
of weeks ago. Okay, here's Lebron James talking about fifty k.
Speaker 8 (10:53):
A first thing come to my mind is like where
I'm from, and uh, you know, just picking up the
game when I was like a little kid and just
having a love for the sport and was hoping that
someday I'd be able to play at the highest level.
And I've been able to do that in and and
really enjoy, you know, and really enjoy my career. So
it's definitely honor. It's pretty cool. Should just see that.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, it is. It's remarkable. I feel honored to be
able to have chronicled his entire career and be there
when he was in the NBA finals, be there when
he won an NBA title, a couple of NBA titles.
Was there for all of Michael's NBA titles, And you know,
that's what you want to be part of history. You
(11:37):
want to watch history. And I was able to do both,
and Lebron is an incredible player. No matter what you
say about Lebron, you got it. You have to almost
put a period at the end of the sentence. You
can't put a comma or a semi colon or whatever
you might whatever grammar, because you know the next thing
(11:57):
you're going to say is is he better than Michael?
Could he be Michael? What's he needed to do to
be better than Michael? This is one of those you know,
he reminds us now when you get to a certain level,
you know, like Jannis has to remind us sometimes how
great he is. Even though he's great, he has to
(12:19):
remind us. I think he had a triple double last night,
a joker that you get to that level and you're like, okay,
And Lebron is reminding us almost on a nightly basis.
And the fact that they are now, they're in the mix.
They are truly in the mix to be a championship contender.
And as I said a couple of weeks ago, if
(12:40):
they play defense, and sometimes that's a big If you
stay healthy and you play defense, now you've got everybody's attention.
It's like Golden State has changed because of Jimmy Butler
and watching last night. Jimmy Butler might not have a
great game, but he takes care of the ball, he
(13:01):
shoots free throw like, he does things where you go, okay,
I mean you really have to keep an eye on
what he does because Steph is so charismatic, so dramatic,
and you can't take your eyes off of it. Jimmy Butler,
you do take your eyes off of him, but then
all of a sudden you'll see stats and you'll go, oh, okay,
And he plays defense. These are little things that will
(13:24):
mean a whole lot in a couple of months. Yes, Martin.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
And the thing about Lebron is he's almost like Tiger Woods,
where this was the expectation, Like when we saw him
as a high school junior, you were expected if he
had Joe Johnson's career, we would consider him to be
a bust.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know, crazy that sounds.
Speaker 7 (13:41):
You know, people would kill to have Joe Johnson's career,
But he had to be one of the greatest, if
not the greatest player ever for us to say, all right,
you're worth the hype. Like he's the one guy that
probably probably lived up to the hype more than any
other player.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Well, he put the spotlight on him, on himself, but
then Sports Illustrated put him on the cover as well,
and then all of a sudden things change, Like Bryce
Harper when he was on the cover Sports Illustrated at
what fifteen. Now, you know, I think was it Tom
Berducci who did a cover story on him? And who
did the It was a Grant Wall who did the
(14:16):
cover on Lebron that story. So now all of it's
it's changed. Now all of a sudden, you're part of
the sports world vernacular. Now everybody knows you. Now they're
waiting for you. And what he did in Cleveland with
those teams, just to get to the finals against the
Spurs is to me a herculean effort. There's a there's
(14:38):
a couple of teams like Iverson with the Sixers, like
you just go, how did he get them to hear?
And with Lebron and that team. Now granted the Spurs
were you know, that's an all time team, but just
the fact that he got them there, that that to
me is as impressive as any of his titles that
he wont because he took that team to an NBA finals.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Yeah, Pauli and after Lebron, Sports Illustrated tried it again.
A few times they'd put a high school kid and
say is this next Lebron? Jabari Parker out of Chicago
and others, and it became the measuring stick.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Like you said, 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 9 (15:23):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 10 (15:29):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (15:36):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 10 (15:38):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 9 (15:42):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 10 (15:50):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says something, right.
Speaker 9 (15:55):
So check us out.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We like to get you involved.
Speaker 9 (15:57):
To take your phone calls shop up.
Speaker 10 (16:00):
As they say, I'd say the most interactive show on
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 9 (16:05):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covin on
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
He's Justin Verlander. Just turned forty two years of age.
When do you feel forty two.
Speaker 11 (16:28):
Now?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
When I'm forty two? Apparently I still feel great.
Speaker 11 (16:30):
So I get out of bed in the morning and
I keep expecting these eggs and pains everybody talks about,
But I feel pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I'd like that you gave me a nice backdrop there
at Scottsdale Stadium.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
We thought about it. You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I appreciate that instead of some sterile room there. I
like that you got a career as a cinematographer.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Here.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Let me start with the automated strike zone with you
having done this for so long, and now you see
the younger pitchers who we're going to grow up with
this adapt to this? Is there an upside in your
opinion to an automated strike zone.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, I think there's upside to it.
Speaker 11 (17:10):
I I like the appeal system over the full automated zone,
and the reason being, I think these umpires are are
asked to do a really difficult job and you know,
they're also the best in the world at it, even
though they they're not perfect, but they're you know, that's
that's a that's a tough zone to call, especially when
guys are throwing one hundred miles an hour with.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Nasty, breaking balls.
Speaker 11 (17:30):
So I don't want to take away the part of
the game that I love, which is catcher framing. You know,
the pitcher hitting his spot and getting a call because
everything everything presented correctly and it looks like a strike,
and the umpire calls calls it even though it's maybe
a you know, half an inch off and the batter
doesn't quite know. So in a in a big spot,
in a big spot in the game, maybe he challenges.
(17:51):
But if it's the first, second, third inning, nobody really
knows if it's if it's actually a ballers strike. So
I don't want to take away that part of the game.
But I think, you know, there's obviously opportunities where it's
an egregiously wrong call where you can turn that over,
or late in the game in a big spot where
you know both sides want to make sure we get
it right. Well, I say both sides, but you know
(18:12):
everybody wants to make sure you get it right.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I saw where Max Sure's there's not a in favor
of this, and then I had to laugh because you
guys are veterans. You know, you guys got calls. You know,
the umpire might give you the benefit of the doubt,
you know, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavin, you sure's are you know,
the automated strike zone. They don't know who you are.
Speaker 11 (18:35):
You know, I wish they don't. They don't do that
anymore for us. You know, you go back, you know
when I first came in the game, and you know
you had those guys that you mentioned, Rocket Roger, you know, Maddox, Johnson,
all those guys. You know, you come into a game
and it's like, hey, you're gonna have a little bit
biggerzoned today. These guys have earned it, you know, they
tell all the hitters that. And but with the umpire
(18:56):
is being monitored now, they they get even though it's
not an automated strike zone they get they get graded
on every single game.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
So you know, I'm sure some of these older.
Speaker 11 (19:06):
School umpires would like to give us a little bigger zone,
but we don't get that advantage anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Unfortunately, I would love it.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
How important is three hundred wins to you? You're a
two sixty two?
Speaker 11 (19:15):
Yeah, yeah, Look, I mean i'd be lying if I
said it wasn't it wasn't important. I you know, I
I see pretty clearly that, you know, unless something changes
that I'd probably the last to have a chance to
do it. So it's something that is off in the distance. Uh,
I'm not I'm not saying that. I'm you know, the
only reason I'm playing is he at three hundred, I
(19:36):
still feel good. I still feel like I can be successful,
quite successful. I don't want to go out there and
make a fool of myself just to try to try
to reach that goal. But you know, I think the
injuries that I sustained the last last year particularly actually
I learned a lot from and you know, I I
I think I can be the pitcher that I was
(19:56):
three years ago when I won the cy Young So
you know, if three hundred happens. It happens, but it's
something that like a lot of the things I've I've
been able to achieve in my career, it just happens
because you're out there taking the ball and doing all
the right things and just pitching.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
What's the conversation like when you sit down with Kate
and you go, well, tell me what the conversations like
where you decide you want to play another year?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (20:25):
Yeah, she's super supportive. Man, I'm uh, you know, it's
it's getting harder. Our daughter is six now and in kindergarten,
so you got real school happening where they can't just
pick up and transplant the family for the baseball season.
But you know, she knows how much I care and
how how much passion I have for this, and and
(20:46):
and and my analogy is, you know, I want to
set a good example for my daughter. And you know,
my analogy is, like I've spent my entire life training
for this marathon.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I literally since I'm five years old.
Speaker 11 (20:55):
Since I was five, I picked up at baseball and
told my parents I wanted to be a major League
baseball player. And here I am living my dream and
still feel like I can can play at a high level.
So you know, I've I've trained my entire life to
be in the middle of this marathon. Here I am
running it, and I feel like I'm you know, I
don't know how close I am the finish line, but
I'm damn close. And and you know what a disservice
it would be to me and my you know, my
(21:17):
daughter to to to give up now, So you know,
I'm gonna keep playing and working as hard as I can.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
And and and then talking to my friends, they tell.
Speaker 11 (21:23):
Me, Uh, the guys that are retired, they say, when
you know, you know, And I don't know exactly what
that means yet, so that tells me I'm not there.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
He's justin Verlander. And now with the Giants signed a
one year deal. Uh do you have to hate the
Dodgers more because you're a Giant? Is there a pamphlet
that they give you on disliking the Dodgers?
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Uh?
Speaker 11 (21:44):
No, it's more just a vibe, you know. I think
you can pick up on it. I'm actually excited.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I haven't. Look, I've had some rivalries, but it's it's
it's nothing like this.
Speaker 11 (21:53):
It doesn't have the history it's had some just like
you know in Detroit there were you know, for a
few years the Whites were really good and we were battling,
and then the Indians, and then with Houston, the v
A's were really good and the Rangers were really good.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I haven't had a rivalry.
Speaker 11 (22:07):
Like this, so I think just it just happens when
you start playing the games against each other and you
just feel it and the stadium, you know, has that
atmosphere to it that's just different, feels like a playoff game.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I'm pretty excited about it.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
If you could take one pitch off, and you know
pitchers in your era, So if it's somebody's fastball, somebody's
breaking ball, somebody's slider. Uh give me, give me who
you would you would pick? And which which pitch?
Speaker 11 (22:36):
Geez uh does it have to I mean I would
love Lemons splitter.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
That would be yeah, all right, all right that I
have a hard time.
Speaker 11 (22:47):
Uh, Like, my change up hasn't been a pitch I've
been able to utilize much the last like five or
six years, even though I threw it a lot when
I was younger, I don't have a pitch that really
moves that way.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
So that would be. That would be lovely if I
could use that.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Okay, but what about curveball? What about fast I.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Mean Kersh's Curseh's curveball. You know, uh iconic tea.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Can you teach Kershaw's curveball?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 11 (23:14):
I think this is actually a problem that a lot
of people fall into. It's a trap where everybody with
all of the analytics now you can find out.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
You can watch video.
Speaker 11 (23:22):
You can see exactly how he throws it, and and
the spin that he gets on it, just like any other's,
any other anybody else's pitch. But I think there's something
innate with the way that you throw a baseball. It's
like the gate of a horse, you know, like it's
just so unique to you, and that's what allows you
to be successful at certain things.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You know, you talk about a fastball, I would want.
I want my fastball.
Speaker 11 (23:42):
I think my fastball is one of the one of
the best, if not, you know, it's one of the
best in the history of baseball's it's.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Uh so, I think that's just how I.
Speaker 11 (23:51):
Throw a baseball though. It's just what I was born
to do and and the way my body works. I
can't throw a sinker to save my life, you know,
I I it just it just it just doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
You know.
Speaker 11 (24:01):
But the reason that it doesn't work is because you know,
the way I throw creates such a great beneficent forcing.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
But if you were coming up now, I wonder the
longevity of your career because you would be a different picture.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Very different.
Speaker 11 (24:16):
I I often wonder about this because I mean, it
permeates all the way down now to the to.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Little league level.
Speaker 11 (24:23):
I mean you see all these Instagram famous places where
you go to to learn how to throw harder, and
and you know, I, well, look, they have a place,
they do. But for me, you know, if if I
look back at my my trajectory when I was a
young kid, and I clearly got to the point pretty
(24:43):
quickly where my father was like, uh, you know, you're
you're past my expertise. I don't know what the hell
I'm doing here, you know. So he found me a
local coach and that coach talked baseball back then, you know,
talked about uh mechanics and feel and flow. And his
name was Bob Smith and in Richmond, Virginia, and you know, uh.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
That is gone now.
Speaker 11 (25:07):
I think I think now if my dad were to
be in the same position, he would send me somewhere
that teaches me how to be a little more cookie
cutter and try to throw as try to throw as
hard as you can instead of instead of learning your
own mechanics and cultivating your own movement pattern and and
learning how to pitch a little bit more. And and
I don't know, I don't know where that leads. Yeah,
(25:28):
I I talked about this a lot. I don't know
if I would have been able to have this career
had I came up in today's.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Age, toughest out in your career, Like this guy came
to the plate and you go, all right, let me
just try something totally out of left field.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Salvador Perez has done really well against me in division. Yeah,
I would say.
Speaker 11 (25:51):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
The good thing is.
Speaker 11 (25:52):
Though he didn't have a ton of homers against me,
so in Salvi, sorry Salve, He's not the fastest guy
on the on the face of the earth, so uh,
it didn't bother me so much. But if he came
up with men on base, it was trouble for me.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
But would you rather give up a bomb or one
that trickles right over the left field wall?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Great question. It depends on the situation in the game.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Let's say it's just you know, you're up five to nothing.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Bomb, I'd rather gere up a homer, like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Four hundred and fifty feet. You're okay, I'm completely fine
with it.
Speaker 11 (26:23):
I at least I challenged you, you know, and you
know I can move on from that.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
We're still up for it.
Speaker 11 (26:30):
Not then there's nobody on base, I still feel comfortable,
a little blooper. And then, you know, and then another
guy gets a base hitting out's you know you got
you know, then a guy hits a homer and it's
a you know, chewer run ball game.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
That's a little different.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Greg Maddox said, I said, describe the sound of a
home run. He says, it's like a it's like a
car crash.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, boy, I mean these guys you know it right?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Do you know it right away without even turning around?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Sometimes? Yeah, a lot of times.
Speaker 11 (26:55):
No, it's kind of like, you know, you just had
that reaction where you're like, you know, get down, your
you're in your head the whole you know, you got
a few seconds, so you get down, get down, get down.
You just don't you know it's going to be closed,
and then some of them you're just like, oh boy, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Uh, when you're not pitching in spring training, what's what
do you do?
Speaker 11 (27:13):
I like, you know, I uh, there's been a lot
of guys here playing chess, so that's been fun. We've
been getting some good chess games going on, and we're
gonna start a San Francisco Giants Chess club.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Not in the dugout.
Speaker 11 (27:24):
Not in the dugout, No, no, in spring training you
don't really, I mean, especially especially with my tenure, they
don't make me be in the dugout anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
But it's been fun this year.
Speaker 11 (27:31):
I mean, that's one of the positives of my family
not being out here, which has been difficult.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Is my first spring training in Arizona.
Speaker 11 (27:38):
But I've had more time to connect with the younger
guys and and spend some time at the field.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
So I really, uh enjoy just.
Speaker 11 (27:47):
Taking that, taking that all in, you know, and I
think the perspective of where I'm at in my career,
you know, I think you want to you want to
enjoy it a little bit more and realize that it's
not indefinite that you get to play this game. And
so it's been fun being around hey, around the park lot.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
What happened will you wear when you go into the
Hall of Fame?
Speaker 11 (28:05):
Oh gosh, uh, you know, I I honestly, I I
honestly do not know.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I don't think I would tell you even if I did.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
But it's a good problem to have, justin it is
a good problem to have.
Speaker 11 (28:18):
You're right, you know, who who could have known what
would have happened in Houston when I got traded there
in seventeen you know, like, uh, like how much success
I was able to have? No, like I I couldn't
have forecasted that. You know, no, nobody really could have.
So you just I just have this mentality that, you know,
(28:39):
just head down, I'm working hard and however far this
career takes me, and where it takes me, you know,
when the dust settles, when I sit back and I
look back, that's that's when I'll I'll ask those questions.
But yeah, I mean I get asked. I get asked
a fair amount and and and quite frankly, I just
haven't even try to make that decision yet. It's obviously
(29:03):
been thought of, but I'm trying not to make the decision.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You still have your Tiger uniform, don't you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Of course I did.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, and your tiger had.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I have a lot of a lot of gear every year.
Speaker 11 (29:14):
Every year at the end of the season, I send
it all back to my house and just it's like,
I'm honestly not looking forward to going.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Through all of it.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Could I get the Mets gear? I mean, really, that's nothing.
I mean, yeah, I'll send you something. Okay, I'll send
you something. We'll put it in the man cave here.
That sounds good, I'll send it. Hey, have fun, good
to talk to it. Thank you again, how best to
your wife? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
All right?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Justin Berlin.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Steph Curry last night leading the Golden State Warriors to
another win. They played Brooklyn tomorrow night than a seven
game homestand after that, here is Steph on the magic
of playing at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 12 (30:02):
This massive square garden. It speaks for itself. This is
a place that brings it just naturally, has great, unique,
authentic basketball energy and like the fans are unreal, like
the Who's Who a celebrity rowing on that, but just
everybody's anticipating great basketball, and from my first game here
(30:24):
in college to now, like it's always delivered. So and
for us on the Western Conference, we'll only get one
chance here and I'm trying to take to make the most.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Of it, and they did. Iron Eagle was on the
call TNT Nicks Warriors. What is it about the Garden
and why is it different?
Speaker 13 (30:44):
There is a palpable buzz before the game even starts,
and it's nothing that's being pumped through the speakers. It's
not artificial in any way.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
It's real.
Speaker 13 (30:56):
There is something special and unique about it. Even during
the lean years, you would go into the Garden and
maybe just the way the arena in captures the sound.
It just bounces in a certain manner. So as the
game was about to get going, you could feel it.
You could feel that energy. It's tangible. And I know
(31:19):
what Steph is saying. It is special for him and
he makes it even more special when he's there because
it creates an added layer of electricity.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
How do you know when you've done a good job
doing a game?
Speaker 13 (31:34):
I know, I know if I've covered the storylines, I
know if I've met the moment I know if I've.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Hit the right beats.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
I think it's based on just doing so many games.
There's a way to view it. For me, the amount
of games that I do helps me because it keeps
me in that mindset.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
It keeps me locked in.
Speaker 13 (31:56):
I don't ever drop off because I'm not off for
three weeks and I got to get back into it.
I'm doing sometimes five games in a week, and there's
a certain standard that comes with that.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
You want to do your best.
Speaker 13 (32:08):
It doesn't matter if it's a Wednesday night for a
local Nets Washington game, or a Thursday night for a
big Lakers Boston game, or a Sunday in the NFL,
or a Thursday night on the radio.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 13 (32:23):
You just get to a point where you can gauge
it in the moment if you're doing your job correctly
and you're hitting all the high notes.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
I still find it interesting that when a player or
team plays New York, they're playing the Garden. They're not
playing the Knicks. Yeah, they're playing the Garden. I don't
know if we do that at any other venue or
any other sport. Can you think of anything where you
go now it used to be the Garden, Boston Garden. Yeah,
(32:53):
you know, then it became like the Fleet Center and
TD Bank, and so it kind of lost a little bit,
you know, yeah, playing the Crypt, maybe the Forum. Yeah,
great Western form. But I don't know if there's any
like Fenway. You don't say, oh, you're playing Fenway, you're
playing the Red Sox. Even Yankee Stadium is not the
original Yankee Stadium, even though the Garden's not the original Garden.
(33:15):
But yeah, you're playing the Garden as opposed to it.
It's like you're a musical group. Yeah, we're on tour
and then we play the Garden.
Speaker 13 (33:24):
Yeah, Billy Joel is no longer doing it once a month,
but you're right, Billy Joel is playing the Garden and
the Warriors were playing the Garden. I don't know if
it's an extension of Broadway in some way that you're
in New York and it's this historic venue. You're right
(33:44):
about the ever changing names. That is a part of
it that chips away at the mystique a bit. I
remember I did a game years ago NFL on CBS
game in Oakland, and at that point it was a
revolving door of names, and literally, I'm not exaggerating. Dan
fifteen minutes before kickoff, someone I'm not sure if they
(34:06):
were affiliated with the Raiders or the State, and they
walk in, they hand me a sheet of paper and
they say, hey, just to let you know we're going
by this now. Fifteen minutes before the game, I go
theold dot co What what is this? And that takes
away from from the sense of place and the sense
(34:27):
of history.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
You're right, even with the Boston Garden.
Speaker 13 (34:30):
Once they went down that road, the Boston Garden became
a thing of the past.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
And now you've got to rack your brain and say,
what is it now? Is it TD Garden?
Speaker 11 (34:39):
What?
Speaker 13 (34:39):
It's still Madison Square Garden named after, by the way,
James Madison, the former president.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
That was the connection. I was going to use that.
Speaker 13 (34:50):
Over the weekend in regards to the Saint John's Seen
Hall game and make the point that Bill Raftery was
actually classmates with James Knapson and that he knew quite well.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
But we never got there.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Who is more unexplainable? Steph Curry's successor Lebron's Steph Curry.
Steph Curry, he was the number seven pick in the draft.
There were major questions as to whether or not his
style and approach would translate to the NBA.
Speaker 13 (35:22):
Would he get his shot off, Like, think about that
for a moment. If we go back and check the
scouting reports, it would say great three point shooter, creative
offensive player. But will the NBA be too physical for him?
Is he big enough to handle the wear and tear
of the NBA. Those were questions coming out of Davidson.
That was the other part of it. He was coming
(35:43):
out of Davidson. He was not coming out of Duke.
His brother had gone from Liberty to Duke. So you
saw him on a bigger stage and thought, Okay, he
can do it, it'll translate. And obviously he's had a
nice career. Steph has had an all time career, and
I think at this stage, the rejuvenation that we're seeing
(36:04):
with Jimmy Butler now on the team Dan, I'm sensing
that there's even a greater appreciation for Steph than ever before.
Because as you see these incredible athletes hit the NBA,
these physical specimens, these adonises, Steph, it just feels like
he could be anybody. And he's obviously a terrific athlete
(36:27):
and He's in great shape, but he would blend in
if he didn't know who he was, and that's part of.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
The charm of it.
Speaker 13 (36:36):
This guy is doing it in a manner that I
don't know if we're going.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
To see it again the way he does it.
Speaker 13 (36:43):
And just again Dan my experience, They're playing in Brooklyn,
so I'm going to see this for the second time
this week. I just happened to walk out onto the
court of my broadcast location as he was going through
his warm up and the groundswell of people that I
want to watch him warm up warm up. That to
(37:05):
me says everything you need to know that there is
a special quality and people realize that this is just
something a little different. This is just not a normal
NBA player.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
He's an Eagle. He was on the call last night
TNT Warriors Knicks. He's got the Warriors' nets tomorrow night,
and then Michigan, Michigan State coming up on Sunday. Is
that right? That is right?
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Right? Thank you.
Speaker 13 (37:30):
I didn't know where I was going until you mentioned it,
so I'd better book that flight.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Is there a backup plan in case you can't show
up at a game?
Speaker 13 (37:39):
It's a hologram we've worked that up. They have a
soundboard of all my calls and then they just project
me onto the screen. We're actually trying to do that
with Raff.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
At this point. We don't even need him to be
at the games.
Speaker 13 (37:51):
We just have onions on a loop, double order on
a loop, and then you're good.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
You're good to go for the tournament.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Bill Raftery is and people will find him entertaining on
a game. He's a million times more entertaining when he's
not doing a game. And that's saying a lot. But
the first time I met Raf, I was in Atlanta,
Craig Sager's bar, Jackson Jill, that's right, And I just
got through I was working at CNN and I went
(38:21):
over to Seger's bar. I come in and Raf has
the corner of the bar. As you walk in the
corner of the bar, there had to be twenty five
beers and he had ordered twenty five beers. Yes, And
it was just if you came up to talk to him,
just grab a beer. That's first time I met him,
(38:42):
And I mean, he is a delight.
Speaker 13 (38:47):
So can I interject one thing to him? Because it
just spurred a memory of mine. We were in Seattle
for a net game, and we ended up going to dinner,
large group, and then the group got a little smaller,
went out to a bar afterwards, and we got to
the bar, and literally ten minutes into our stay at
(39:08):
the bar, they call out last call, and I see
like Bill's whole demeanor change in that moment, and he
just leaves the group and he goes to the bar
and he obviously gets in an order for last call,
and normally last call what ends up happening.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
They still let you hang around a little bit. They
did not. They kick us out of this bar. We
spill out into the street.
Speaker 13 (39:36):
It's not even that laid out, and feel's a bit
upset about it, and I understand that they cut off
his evening. So he's wearing a long trench coat and
we get outside now and our director who passed away,
great guy, Dave Hagen. He shows us that he snuck
one beer out to the street and we all laugh like, oh,
(39:59):
that's a mez rap. Opens his trench coat. He has
eight years, but he has snuck out two in each
side pocket, two on the interior in his pants.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
This guy is at another level.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I'm wondering I brought this up when I interviewed Sonny Vaccaro.
I said, I hope that he would get into Basketball
Hall of Fame contributions to the game, And they're certain
like Dick VII tow contributions and Bill Raftery, Yes, you know,
because he was a former college coach, he's in, Yeah,
but to have but Sonny vccaro is not. Yeah, And
(40:37):
I don't know if we look at the shoe business
and the CD under belly of this and that's like
he had contributions to the game. He signed Michael Jordan,
he signed Kobe, almost signed Lebron and you got these
coaches who got paid. I mean, he changed college basketball.
You may say, maybe not for the better, but where
(40:59):
do you stand on contributions to the game and you
know people getting inducted.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
Yeah, he should be in. He should be in.
Speaker 13 (41:08):
He played a large role in the development of the game.
And you're right, there were some things happening that nobody
was completely aware of and it changed the sport. But
it was inevitable. If it wasn't him, it was going
to be somebody else. I do think the fact that
he had a big personality was a big part of
(41:30):
what made college basketball what it was, and I don't
know if that's lost now a little bit, Just like
everything in life, as it goes to a different level financially,
business wise, commerce, you lose a little bit of what
made it so special. But the personalities made college basketball, coaching, personalities,
(41:54):
behind the scenes, broadcasting personality larger than live. Dick Vitale
obviously played a big raff as you mentioned, and I
think it is a little bit of a lost art
now when it comes to sports, because it's much more
corporate and we're not going to have that kind of
viscer rule reaction like we used to have to people
(42:15):
that had the impact that that Sonny had.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
He he belongs in there, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Your thoughts on Rick Patino still make it. It doesn't matter.
He's He's on the short list of greatest basketball coaches
of all time. I mean really, you know the Celtics,
he couldn't control the roster, didn't get Tim Duncan, but
every place, like we plugged him in at Iona and
we thought, oh, that's a cute lot story.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
And he wins anyway, Dan, he wins.
Speaker 13 (42:44):
This is who he is and as the rules have changed, Look,
he's adapted to them. He recognized way back when you
may have to do things in your way in a
certain manner, and maybe you bend it when and.
Speaker 5 (43:00):
The situation calls for it.
Speaker 13 (43:03):
I think that Rick was so far ahead of his
time in the eighties that eventually others picked up on
it and figured it out. But the thing about Rick
that still strikes me to this day is he always adjusts.
He's just a great coach. He's an incredible motivator. He's
(43:24):
a tremendous tactician. His x's and o's are through the roof.
He's smart, he gets it. He understands the media side
of it. He gets all of it, and you could
find great coaches that get some of it. He understands
every aspect of this job and the fact that he's
done it so quickly. At Saint John's, I was at
(43:45):
the garden this past weekend. It was sold out. Dan,
it is a happening again. You have to go back,
really to my youth in the eighties when it felt
like this around New York. They've had good teams, they've
had competitive teams, they haven't had this, they haven't had
this kind of buzz and this kind of chain reaction
(44:09):
in the city and it's Rick that's done.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
It save travels to Brooklyn tomorrow for the thank you
for the nets tilt tree with Golden State, and then
and then just to let you know, on Sunday you
have to do Michigan and Michigan State. Hold on, let
me Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan that is in east Land, Lansing. Okay, yeah, okay.
And they they got a player, you know, Jason Richardson's son, Jase.
(44:35):
He might be a top five pick in the in
the draft.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (44:39):
I had them earlier this season at the Garden against Rutgers.
He was coming off the bench. He is not coming
off the bench.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
How do you explain Rutgers will have two of the
top four players drafted and may not make the tournament.
Speaker 13 (44:51):
Yeah, chemistry means so much. You play basketball growing up,
it was important to you. I'm sure there were years
where you thought, oh, man a great individual talent and
then it didn't fit. Unfortunately, it just doesn't fit or
it doesn't translate into wins. But you're going to hear
about those two guys, Harper and Bailey for a long
(45:12):
time because they're going to play in the NBA for
a long time.
Speaker 5 (45:14):
But they're going to.
Speaker 13 (45:15):
Look back at the fact that they didn't take advantage
of the opportunity in college and there's nothing they can
do about it.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Like Ben Simmons didn't make the tournament at L make
the tournament yep.
Speaker 5 (45:25):
At LSU.
Speaker 13 (45:26):
I actually had a game of his his freshman year.
I was wowed by his skill set. Their team just
wasn't that good.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Tell tom Izzo, I said, alot. I will, Yeah, I will,
He's great. Tell him I sett alone done.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
I will say it.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Tell him it's, you know, getting about that time that
maybe steps down and lets somebody else. I'm not gonna
say that, No, don't don't.
Speaker 5 (45:47):
Hey, Dan Patrick says hello, and maybe it's time to
step aside.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
He would appreciate it, he's got to say. Probably. Of course,
I'm going to deny it when he says, I have said,
he said.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
I will produce.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
You can produce that tape, all right, tape doesn't lie. Alright, thanks,
all right, that's iron Eagle
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Let me start with Lebron going over fifty thousand career points.
We knew it was going to happen. He was at
forty nine, nine hundred and ninety nine. Wasn't a lot
of drama there other than how was he going to
get it? Was it going to be a dunk, a layup,
a free throw or three point shot, which is what
it was. And you start to look at these numbers
and I don't want to dive into the Mike versus Lebron.
(00:27):
I don't, we won't, but he is going to be
statistically the most decorated player in the history of the sport.
And it's not even going to be close. Fifty thousand
points regular season, postseason combined, and he's still one of
the top ten players in the game. Truly remarkable. And
(00:48):
I started to wonder because last year, I remember there
were reports speculation it's starting to slow down a little bit.
I feel like the Luca trade revitalized him. I think
he gets into this. Hey, that guy might be a
future Hall of Famer. He might be one of the
top five players in the game. I want to prove
(01:09):
to him on a nightly basis, I can be great
as well. I can continue to be great. And I'm
not saying they're competing with each other. It's complimenting each other.
And Lebron is so bright at being able to find
what do I need to do to make you better?
Because he came into the sport that way. He was
a pass first guy. I'm ever afraid to take the shot.
(01:32):
He won't take the big shot. Well, if you saw
him in high school, the biggest guy on the floor
was the best passer, and he loved to pass. And
even in the NBA, I think you know, you look
at when he played against Sacramentum when he first started out,
makes a great pass to start his career because that's
what he thought, that's what you need to do. I
(01:54):
think he was more magic than Michael, even though everybody
wanted to emulate Michael. But I see Lebron more as
magic than I do Michael. And he continues to do it,
and last night, you know, they win again. Now granted
they're beating the Pelicans, it goes back to defense.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
For me.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm not worried about the offense because of Luca and
Lebron and Austin Reeves and maybe you know, Dalton connect
will be able to be a little bit more of
a score, you know, come postseason time. I'm worried about defense.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
They let Zion Williamson have his way in the paint,
and that's something that the Lakers have been really good
at preventing points in the paint. They're letting you shoot
the three. They want to make sure that you don't
take advantage of them inside because they're undersized in the paint.
But Zion Williamson has played really well since January. Now,
(02:49):
I know you're gonna go, well, that's not exactly a
large sample size, and you're right, but he has played
really well and more importantly not missing games. This is
going to be a you know, this off season is
going to be tricky, I think for the Pelicans, like,
what are you doing with your franchise? What do you
(03:11):
want to do with your franchise? Can you luck into
Cooper Flag and change your franchise? Is Zion your franchise?
Now Brandon Ingram wasn't their franchise, so you're trying to
figure that out. But I'm watching and I'm going Zion
is doing whatever he wants to do, and he's undersized,
but he's so powerful inside, and the Lakers didn't have
(03:33):
an answer, but Pelicans didn't have an answer for Luca
and Lebron. So Lebron is the first of fifty thousand
career points. We tend to look at numbers and we go,
nobody will ever break that. Well, I remember when Gretzky
set the all time goalscoring record and we all said,
nobody's going to top that, And here we are. Alex
(03:55):
Ovechkin is going to top that. Emmett's with all time
rushing record, Nobody's going to top that eighteen thousand, almost
nineteen thousand, just because running backs trying to stay around,
although maybe a resurgence on running backs getting more carries
now with Saquon Barkley, who just got a two year
(04:16):
contract extension. But you got to be healthy. Like Frank
Gore was just there and ended up with what fifteen thousand, oh,
by the way, fifteen thousand rushing yards, but you can't
remember one of his runs. But he just sort of
stayed healthy, stayed in the lineup, and he was on
a variety of teams. Emmett's rushing record is not going
(04:38):
to be broken Lebron's scoring record. Even though scoring is up,
you still have to be great for over twenty years.
And that's the tricky part. Can you stay healthy? Can
you stay great for twenty years? And Lebron has done that,
and then so Jerry Rice two hundred touchdowns, the number
(05:03):
of catches probably not going to be broken. Seaton, Do
you have a list of unbreakable records, or at least
what we think is unbreakable.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, this list is current, at least until I don't
know about a year ago or so. Right, you have
you mentioned Emmett, you know over eighteen thousand rushing yards.
The next closest is Derrick Henry and he's at about
fifty percent of that. Wilt Chamberlain averaging fifty point four
points per game in a single season. Yeah, nobody's really
(05:35):
even close to that. The closest I could see here
is James Harden at thirty six point one.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You know what happening that when Will scored one hundred
points and we just had the anniversary That was smart
second that week, I think he played four games in
five days, and I think he scored sixty or more
points in four of the games, and scored one hundred
in the other game. I mean, imagine that week for
(06:03):
Wilt Chamberlain. Okay, back to your seton.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Let's see Wayne Gretzky one nine hundred sixty three career assists.
The at least at the time of this the active
leader was Sidney Crosby and he had nine hundred and
seventy two.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's that's not even close. That will never that will never, ever,
ever ever be broken. Cy Young seven hundred and forty
nine complete games. Nobody's touching that. Cal Ripken Junior two
thousand and six hundred and thirty two consecutive games. Nobody's
even people are still he had twenty six hundred, and
(06:42):
people are still at least two thousand short of that,
So that one's pretty safe. Ricky Henderson career stolen bases,
He's at fourteen oh six. Nobody is even remotely close
to that. Elvis Andrews I have it well at the
time of this list. Anyway, this has changed, but three
hundred fifty, that's not even close. Yeah, Michael Phelps twenty
(07:03):
eight Olympic medals the active leader. There is eleven the
next closest to him, So is that Katie Ledecki. Do
we have her total?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Let's see I have Yeah, maybe this needs to be updated.
But and then there's another Olympian on here. But this
is for the World Gymnastics gold medals. Simone Biles has
twenty three of those. The next closest is nine.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Yeah, so that's you know her. Her dominance is a
little not underappreciated, but it's massive.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Is anybody going to approach Barry Bond's all time home
run record? I mean it's still a home run hitting sport.
I just wonder, can you stay healthy enough to hit
that many home runs? You know, five hundred is you know,
that's the Hall of Fame Mark. You get to five
hundred and you know, unless you've used steroids or caught
(08:00):
using steroids, then you're going to go to the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
Point, you need to hit fifty home runs for fourteen
years to be in the neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Think about that.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah point.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
I was thinking about this because you've often said that
Kareem abdul Jabbar is underrated. Kareem abdul Jabbar all this
points records were his until le Brown showed up. Kareem
played four years of college basketball correct. Imagine if he
had a couple more years of professional basketball. He scored
his first couple of years in the Bigs about twenty
four hundred points per season if he could have come
(08:36):
in at age nineteen twenty twenty one. So it doesn't
match up apples to apples with the career scoring.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, if Kareem had come out of high school instead
of going to UCLA, then you get that four year
window that Lebron has, and he has that over just
about everybody on the all time list because Mike stayed
what three years at North Carolina. But yeah, just some
of those records, I'm sure this audience will have other
(09:02):
ones that are unbreakable. Yes, yes, Marvin.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
Joe Dimagio fifty six game hitty streak.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, I don't see that happening. I don't see anybody
breaking that. You know, Pete got to forty four and
that was a big deal. But you know, the specialty
of relievers now that you're going to face somebody, I mean,
everybody's throwing a one hundred and it's not like you're
going to have a tired pitcher that you're facing. You know,
(09:27):
it's five innings and then all of a sudden you
bring in the bullpen. But yeah, fifty six games, even
getting on base in fifty six consecutive games, that's not
going to be. We won't come close to that. I
don't think like we get to thirty and now you
get our attention, But you know, is somebody going to
get to forty one of the They're not contact hitters anymore.
(09:50):
You know, back when Pete Rose was playing, you put
the ball in play and you had Wade Bogs and
Rod Carew you know, some of these great artists here
now even each year Row as great as he was,
as fast as he was, I don't know what his
consecutive games streak was for hits.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yes, yeah, if you look at current you know, active
players home run hitters, you can't even find somebody that
you can put on pace to come close. Even I
think John Carlos Stanton, he's at four to twenty nine,
but if you look at his sort of production rate,
he's not even going to come close to bonds. And
there isn't anybody that you can put anywhere in their
(10:28):
career like a trajectory right now that comes close.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, you're hitting seven hundred and sixty two home runs. Now,
Hank Aaron had seven fifty five, Babe had seven fourteen.
Pouholz is there? What's seven oh three? Yeah, just not
going to happen. By the way, Justin Verlander turned forty
two last month, Is that right to just a couple
of weeks ago. Okay, here's Lebron James talking about fifty k.
Speaker 8 (10:53):
A first thing come to my mind is like where
I'm from, and uh, you know, just picking up the
game when I was like a little kid and just
having a love for the sport and was hoping that
someday I'd be able to play at the highest level.
And I've been able to do that in and and
really enjoy, you know, and really enjoy my career. So
it's definitely honor. It's pretty cool. Should just see that.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, it is. It's remarkable. I feel honored to be
able to have chronicled his entire career and be there
when he was in the NBA finals, be there when
he won an NBA title, a couple of NBA titles.
Was there for all of Michael's NBA titles, And you know,
that's what you want to be part of history. You
(11:37):
want to watch history. And I was able to do both,
and Lebron is an incredible player. No matter what you
say about Lebron, you got it. You have to almost
put a period at the end of the sentence. You
can't put a comma or a semi colon or whatever
you might whatever grammar, because you know the next thing
(11:57):
you're going to say is is he better than Michael?
Could he be Michael? What's he needed to do to
be better than Michael? This is one of those you know,
he reminds us now when you get to a certain level,
you know, like Jannis has to remind us sometimes how
great he is. Even though he's great, he has to
(12:19):
remind us. I think he had a triple double last night,
a joker that you get to that level and you're like, okay,
And Lebron is reminding us almost on a nightly basis.
And the fact that they are now, they're in the mix.
They are truly in the mix to be a championship contender.
And as I said a couple of weeks ago, if
(12:40):
they play defense, and sometimes that's a big If you
stay healthy and you play defense, now you've got everybody's attention.
It's like Golden State has changed because of Jimmy Butler
and watching last night. Jimmy Butler might not have a
great game, but he takes care of the ball, he
(13:01):
shoots free throw like, he does things where you go, okay,
I mean you really have to keep an eye on
what he does because Steph is so charismatic, so dramatic,
and you can't take your eyes off of it. Jimmy Butler,
you do take your eyes off of him, but then
all of a sudden you'll see stats and you'll go, oh, okay,
And he plays defense. These are little things that will
(13:24):
mean a whole lot in a couple of months. Yes, Martin.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
And the thing about Lebron is he's almost like Tiger Woods,
where this was the expectation, Like when we saw him
as a high school junior, you were expected if he
had Joe Johnson's career, we would consider him to be
a bust.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know, crazy that sounds.
Speaker 7 (13:41):
You know, people would kill to have Joe Johnson's career,
But he had to be one of the greatest, if
not the greatest player ever for us to say, all right,
you're worth the hype. Like he's the one guy that
probably probably lived up to the hype more than any
other player.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Well, he put the spotlight on him, on himself, but
then Sports Illustrated put him on the cover as well,
and then all of a sudden things change, Like Bryce
Harper when he was on the cover Sports Illustrated at
what fifteen. Now, you know, I think was it Tom
Berducci who did a cover story on him? And who
did the It was a Grant Wall who did the
(14:16):
cover on Lebron that story. So now all of it's
it's changed. Now all of a sudden, you're part of
the sports world vernacular. Now everybody knows you. Now they're
waiting for you. And what he did in Cleveland with
those teams, just to get to the finals against the
Spurs is to me a herculean effort. There's a there's
(14:38):
a couple of teams like Iverson with the Sixers, like
you just go, how did he get them to hear?
And with Lebron and that team. Now granted the Spurs
were you know, that's an all time team, but just
the fact that he got them there, that that to
me is as impressive as any of his titles that
he wont because he took that team to an NBA finals.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Yeah, Pauli and after Lebron, Sports Illustrated tried it again.
A few times they'd put a high school kid and
say is this next Lebron? Jabari Parker out of Chicago
and others, and it became the measuring stick.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Like you said, 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 9 (15:23):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 10 (15:29):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (15:36):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 10 (15:38):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 9 (15:42):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 10 (15:50):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says something, right.
Speaker 9 (15:55):
So check us out.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We like to get you involved.
Speaker 9 (15:57):
To take your phone calls shop up.
Speaker 10 (16:00):
As they say, I'd say the most interactive show on
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 9 (16:05):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covin on
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
He's Justin Verlander. Just turned forty two years of age.
When do you feel forty two.
Speaker 11 (16:28):
Now?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
When I'm forty two? Apparently I still feel great.
Speaker 11 (16:30):
So I get out of bed in the morning and
I keep expecting these eggs and pains everybody talks about,
But I feel pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I'd like that you gave me a nice backdrop there
at Scottsdale Stadium.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
We thought about it. You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I appreciate that instead of some sterile room there. I
like that you got a career as a cinematographer.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Here.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Let me start with the automated strike zone with you
having done this for so long, and now you see
the younger pitchers who we're going to grow up with
this adapt to this? Is there an upside in your
opinion to an automated strike zone.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, I think there's upside to it.
Speaker 11 (17:10):
I I like the appeal system over the full automated zone,
and the reason being, I think these umpires are are
asked to do a really difficult job and you know,
they're also the best in the world at it, even
though they they're not perfect, but they're you know, that's
that's a that's a tough zone to call, especially when
guys are throwing one hundred miles an hour with.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Nasty, breaking balls.
Speaker 11 (17:30):
So I don't want to take away the part of
the game that I love, which is catcher framing. You know,
the pitcher hitting his spot and getting a call because
everything everything presented correctly and it looks like a strike,
and the umpire calls calls it even though it's maybe
a you know, half an inch off and the batter
doesn't quite know. So in a in a big spot,
in a big spot in the game, maybe he challenges.
(17:51):
But if it's the first, second, third inning, nobody really
knows if it's if it's actually a ballers strike. So
I don't want to take away that part of the game.
But I think, you know, there's obviously opportunities where it's
an egregiously wrong call where you can turn that over,
or late in the game in a big spot where
you know both sides want to make sure we get
it right. Well, I say both sides, but you know
(18:12):
everybody wants to make sure you get it right.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I saw where Max Sure's there's not a in favor
of this, and then I had to laugh because you
guys are veterans. You know, you guys got calls. You know,
the umpire might give you the benefit of the doubt,
you know, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavin, you sure's are you know,
the automated strike zone. They don't know who you are.
Speaker 11 (18:35):
You know, I wish they don't. They don't do that
anymore for us. You know, you go back, you know
when I first came in the game, and you know
you had those guys that you mentioned, Rocket Roger, you know, Maddox, Johnson,
all those guys. You know, you come into a game
and it's like, hey, you're gonna have a little bit
biggerzoned today. These guys have earned it, you know, they
tell all the hitters that. And but with the umpire
(18:56):
is being monitored now, they they get even though it's
not an automated strike zone they get they get graded
on every single game.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
So you know, I'm sure some of these older.
Speaker 11 (19:06):
School umpires would like to give us a little bigger zone,
but we don't get that advantage anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Unfortunately, I would love it.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
How important is three hundred wins to you? You're a
two sixty two?
Speaker 11 (19:15):
Yeah, yeah, Look, I mean i'd be lying if I
said it wasn't it wasn't important. I you know, I
I see pretty clearly that, you know, unless something changes
that I'd probably the last to have a chance to
do it. So it's something that is off in the distance. Uh,
I'm not I'm not saying that. I'm you know, the
only reason I'm playing is he at three hundred, I
(19:36):
still feel good. I still feel like I can be successful,
quite successful. I don't want to go out there and
make a fool of myself just to try to try
to reach that goal. But you know, I think the
injuries that I sustained the last last year particularly actually
I learned a lot from and you know, I I
I think I can be the pitcher that I was
(19:56):
three years ago when I won the cy Young So
you know, if three hundred happens. It happens, but it's
something that like a lot of the things I've I've
been able to achieve in my career, it just happens
because you're out there taking the ball and doing all
the right things and just pitching.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
What's the conversation like when you sit down with Kate
and you go, well, tell me what the conversations like
where you decide you want to play another year?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (20:25):
Yeah, she's super supportive. Man, I'm uh, you know, it's
it's getting harder. Our daughter is six now and in kindergarten,
so you got real school happening where they can't just
pick up and transplant the family for the baseball season.
But you know, she knows how much I care and
how how much passion I have for this, and and
(20:46):
and and my analogy is, you know, I want to
set a good example for my daughter. And you know,
my analogy is, like I've spent my entire life training
for this marathon.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I literally since I'm five years old.
Speaker 11 (20:55):
Since I was five, I picked up at baseball and
told my parents I wanted to be a major League
baseball player. And here I am living my dream and
still feel like I can can play at a high level.
So you know, I've I've trained my entire life to
be in the middle of this marathon. Here I am
running it, and I feel like I'm you know, I
don't know how close I am the finish line, but
I'm damn close. And and you know what a disservice
it would be to me and my you know, my
(21:17):
daughter to to to give up now, So you know,
I'm gonna keep playing and working as hard as I can.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
And and and then talking to my friends, they tell.
Speaker 11 (21:23):
Me, Uh, the guys that are retired, they say, when
you know, you know, And I don't know exactly what
that means yet, so that tells me I'm not there.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
He's justin Verlander. And now with the Giants signed a
one year deal. Uh do you have to hate the
Dodgers more because you're a Giant? Is there a pamphlet
that they give you on disliking the Dodgers?
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Uh?
Speaker 11 (21:44):
No, it's more just a vibe, you know. I think
you can pick up on it. I'm actually excited.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I haven't. Look, I've had some rivalries, but it's it's
it's nothing like this.
Speaker 11 (21:53):
It doesn't have the history it's had some just like
you know in Detroit there were you know, for a
few years the Whites were really good and we were battling,
and then the Indians, and then with Houston, the v
A's were really good and the Rangers were really good.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I haven't had a rivalry.
Speaker 11 (22:07):
Like this, so I think just it just happens when
you start playing the games against each other and you
just feel it and the stadium, you know, has that
atmosphere to it that's just different, feels like a playoff game.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I'm pretty excited about it.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
If you could take one pitch off, and you know
pitchers in your era, So if it's somebody's fastball, somebody's
breaking ball, somebody's slider. Uh give me, give me who
you would you would pick? And which which pitch?
Speaker 11 (22:36):
Geez uh does it have to I mean I would
love Lemons splitter.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
That would be yeah, all right, all right that I
have a hard time.
Speaker 11 (22:47):
Uh, Like, my change up hasn't been a pitch I've
been able to utilize much the last like five or
six years, even though I threw it a lot when
I was younger, I don't have a pitch that really
moves that way.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
So that would be. That would be lovely if I
could use that.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Okay, but what about curveball? What about fast I.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Mean Kersh's Curseh's curveball. You know, uh iconic tea.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Can you teach Kershaw's curveball?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 11 (23:14):
I think this is actually a problem that a lot
of people fall into. It's a trap where everybody with
all of the analytics now you can find out.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
You can watch video.
Speaker 11 (23:22):
You can see exactly how he throws it, and and
the spin that he gets on it, just like any other's,
any other anybody else's pitch. But I think there's something
innate with the way that you throw a baseball. It's
like the gate of a horse, you know, like it's
just so unique to you, and that's what allows you
to be successful at certain things.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You know, you talk about a fastball, I would want.
I want my fastball.
Speaker 11 (23:42):
I think my fastball is one of the one of
the best, if not, you know, it's one of the
best in the history of baseball's it's.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Uh so, I think that's just how I.
Speaker 11 (23:51):
Throw a baseball though. It's just what I was born
to do and and the way my body works. I
can't throw a sinker to save my life, you know,
I I it just it just it just doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
You know.
Speaker 11 (24:01):
But the reason that it doesn't work is because you know,
the way I throw creates such a great beneficent forcing.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
But if you were coming up now, I wonder the
longevity of your career because you would be a different picture.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Very different.
Speaker 11 (24:16):
I I often wonder about this because I mean, it
permeates all the way down now to the to.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Little league level.
Speaker 11 (24:23):
I mean you see all these Instagram famous places where
you go to to learn how to throw harder, and
and you know, I, well, look, they have a place,
they do. But for me, you know, if if I
look back at my my trajectory when I was a
young kid, and I clearly got to the point pretty
(24:43):
quickly where my father was like, uh, you know, you're
you're past my expertise. I don't know what the hell
I'm doing here, you know. So he found me a
local coach and that coach talked baseball back then, you know,
talked about uh mechanics and feel and flow. And his
name was Bob Smith and in Richmond, Virginia, and you know, uh.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
That is gone now.
Speaker 11 (25:07):
I think I think now if my dad were to
be in the same position, he would send me somewhere
that teaches me how to be a little more cookie
cutter and try to throw as try to throw as
hard as you can instead of instead of learning your
own mechanics and cultivating your own movement pattern and and
learning how to pitch a little bit more. And and
I don't know, I don't know where that leads. Yeah,
(25:28):
I I talked about this a lot. I don't know
if I would have been able to have this career
had I came up in today's.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Age, toughest out in your career, Like this guy came
to the plate and you go, all right, let me
just try something totally out of left field.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Salvador Perez has done really well against me in division. Yeah,
I would say.
Speaker 11 (25:51):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
The good thing is.
Speaker 11 (25:52):
Though he didn't have a ton of homers against me,
so in Salvi, sorry Salve, He's not the fastest guy
on the on the face of the earth, so uh,
it didn't bother me so much. But if he came
up with men on base, it was trouble for me.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
But would you rather give up a bomb or one
that trickles right over the left field wall?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Great question. It depends on the situation in the game.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Let's say it's just you know, you're up five to nothing.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Bomb, I'd rather gere up a homer, like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Four hundred and fifty feet. You're okay, I'm completely fine
with it.
Speaker 11 (26:23):
I at least I challenged you, you know, and you
know I can move on from that.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
We're still up for it.
Speaker 11 (26:30):
Not then there's nobody on base, I still feel comfortable,
a little blooper. And then, you know, and then another
guy gets a base hitting out's you know you got
you know, then a guy hits a homer and it's
a you know, chewer run ball game.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
That's a little different.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Greg Maddox said, I said, describe the sound of a
home run. He says, it's like a it's like a
car crash.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, boy, I mean these guys you know it right?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Do you know it right away without even turning around?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Sometimes? Yeah, a lot of times.
Speaker 11 (26:55):
No, it's kind of like, you know, you just had
that reaction where you're like, you know, get down, your
you're in your head the whole you know, you got
a few seconds, so you get down, get down, get down.
You just don't you know it's going to be closed,
and then some of them you're just like, oh boy, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Uh, when you're not pitching in spring training, what's what
do you do?
Speaker 11 (27:13):
I like, you know, I uh, there's been a lot
of guys here playing chess, so that's been fun. We've
been getting some good chess games going on, and we're
gonna start a San Francisco Giants Chess club.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Not in the dugout.
Speaker 11 (27:24):
Not in the dugout, No, no, in spring training you
don't really, I mean, especially especially with my tenure, they
don't make me be in the dugout anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
But it's been fun this year.
Speaker 11 (27:31):
I mean, that's one of the positives of my family
not being out here, which has been difficult.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Is my first spring training in Arizona.
Speaker 11 (27:38):
But I've had more time to connect with the younger
guys and and spend some time at the field.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
So I really, uh enjoy just.
Speaker 11 (27:47):
Taking that, taking that all in, you know, and I
think the perspective of where I'm at in my career,
you know, I think you want to you want to
enjoy it a little bit more and realize that it's
not indefinite that you get to play this game. And
so it's been fun being around hey, around the park lot.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
What happened will you wear when you go into the
Hall of Fame?
Speaker 11 (28:05):
Oh gosh, uh, you know, I I honestly, I I
honestly do not know.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I don't think I would tell you even if I did.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
But it's a good problem to have, justin it is
a good problem to have.
Speaker 11 (28:18):
You're right, you know, who who could have known what
would have happened in Houston when I got traded there
in seventeen you know, like, uh, like how much success
I was able to have? No, like I I couldn't
have forecasted that. You know, no, nobody really could have.
So you just I just have this mentality that, you know,
(28:39):
just head down, I'm working hard and however far this
career takes me, and where it takes me, you know,
when the dust settles, when I sit back and I
look back, that's that's when I'll I'll ask those questions.
But yeah, I mean I get asked. I get asked
a fair amount and and and quite frankly, I just
haven't even try to make that decision yet. It's obviously
(29:03):
been thought of, but I'm trying not to make the decision.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You still have your Tiger uniform, don't you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Of course I did.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, and your tiger had.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I have a lot of a lot of gear every year.
Speaker 11 (29:14):
Every year at the end of the season, I send
it all back to my house and just it's like,
I'm honestly not looking forward to going.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Through all of it.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Could I get the Mets gear? I mean, really, that's nothing.
I mean, yeah, I'll send you something. Okay, I'll send
you something. We'll put it in the man cave here.
That sounds good, I'll send it. Hey, have fun, good
to talk to it. Thank you again, how best to
your wife? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
All right?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Justin Berlin.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Steph Curry last night leading the Golden State Warriors to
another win. They played Brooklyn tomorrow night than a seven
game homestand after that, here is Steph on the magic
of playing at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 12 (30:02):
This massive square garden. It speaks for itself. This is
a place that brings it just naturally, has great, unique,
authentic basketball energy and like the fans are unreal, like
the Who's Who a celebrity rowing on that, but just
everybody's anticipating great basketball, and from my first game here
(30:24):
in college to now, like it's always delivered. So and
for us on the Western Conference, we'll only get one
chance here and I'm trying to take to make the most.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Of it, and they did. Iron Eagle was on the
call TNT Nicks Warriors. What is it about the Garden
and why is it different?
Speaker 13 (30:44):
There is a palpable buzz before the game even starts,
and it's nothing that's being pumped through the speakers. It's
not artificial in any way.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
It's real.
Speaker 13 (30:56):
There is something special and unique about it. Even during
the lean years, you would go into the Garden and
maybe just the way the arena in captures the sound.
It just bounces in a certain manner. So as the
game was about to get going, you could feel it.
You could feel that energy. It's tangible. And I know
(31:19):
what Steph is saying. It is special for him and
he makes it even more special when he's there because
it creates an added layer of electricity.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
How do you know when you've done a good job
doing a game?
Speaker 13 (31:34):
I know, I know if I've covered the storylines, I
know if I've met the moment I know if I've.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Hit the right beats.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
I think it's based on just doing so many games.
There's a way to view it. For me, the amount
of games that I do helps me because it keeps
me in that mindset.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
It keeps me locked in.
Speaker 13 (31:56):
I don't ever drop off because I'm not off for
three weeks and I got to get back into it.
I'm doing sometimes five games in a week, and there's
a certain standard that comes with that.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
You want to do your best.
Speaker 13 (32:08):
It doesn't matter if it's a Wednesday night for a
local Nets Washington game, or a Thursday night for a
big Lakers Boston game, or a Sunday in the NFL,
or a Thursday night on the radio.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 13 (32:23):
You just get to a point where you can gauge
it in the moment if you're doing your job correctly
and you're hitting all the high notes.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
I still find it interesting that when a player or
team plays New York, they're playing the Garden. They're not
playing the Knicks. Yeah, they're playing the Garden. I don't
know if we do that at any other venue or
any other sport. Can you think of anything where you
go now it used to be the Garden, Boston Garden. Yeah,
(32:53):
you know, then it became like the Fleet Center and
TD Bank, and so it kind of lost a little bit,
you know, yeah, playing the Crypt, maybe the Forum. Yeah,
great Western form. But I don't know if there's any
like Fenway. You don't say, oh, you're playing Fenway, you're
playing the Red Sox. Even Yankee Stadium is not the
original Yankee Stadium, even though the Garden's not the original Garden.
(33:15):
But yeah, you're playing the Garden as opposed to it.
It's like you're a musical group. Yeah, we're on tour
and then we play the Garden.
Speaker 13 (33:24):
Yeah, Billy Joel is no longer doing it once a month,
but you're right, Billy Joel is playing the Garden and
the Warriors were playing the Garden. I don't know if
it's an extension of Broadway in some way that you're
in New York and it's this historic venue. You're right
(33:44):
about the ever changing names. That is a part of
it that chips away at the mystique a bit. I
remember I did a game years ago NFL on CBS
game in Oakland, and at that point it was a
revolving door of names, and literally, I'm not exaggerating. Dan
fifteen minutes before kickoff, someone I'm not sure if they
(34:06):
were affiliated with the Raiders or the State, and they
walk in, they hand me a sheet of paper and
they say, hey, just to let you know we're going
by this now. Fifteen minutes before the game, I go
theold dot co What what is this? And that takes
away from from the sense of place and the sense
(34:27):
of history.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
You're right, even with the Boston Garden.
Speaker 13 (34:30):
Once they went down that road, the Boston Garden became
a thing of the past.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
And now you've got to rack your brain and say,
what is it now? Is it TD Garden?
Speaker 11 (34:39):
What?
Speaker 13 (34:39):
It's still Madison Square Garden named after, by the way,
James Madison, the former president.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
That was the connection. I was going to use that.
Speaker 13 (34:50):
Over the weekend in regards to the Saint John's Seen
Hall game and make the point that Bill Raftery was
actually classmates with James Knapson and that he knew quite well.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
But we never got there.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Who is more unexplainable? Steph Curry's successor Lebron's Steph Curry.
Steph Curry, he was the number seven pick in the draft.
There were major questions as to whether or not his
style and approach would translate to the NBA.
Speaker 13 (35:22):
Would he get his shot off, Like, think about that
for a moment. If we go back and check the
scouting reports, it would say great three point shooter, creative
offensive player. But will the NBA be too physical for him?
Is he big enough to handle the wear and tear
of the NBA. Those were questions coming out of Davidson.
That was the other part of it. He was coming
(35:43):
out of Davidson. He was not coming out of Duke.
His brother had gone from Liberty to Duke. So you
saw him on a bigger stage and thought, Okay, he
can do it, it'll translate. And obviously he's had a
nice career. Steph has had an all time career, and
I think at this stage, the rejuvenation that we're seeing
(36:04):
with Jimmy Butler now on the team Dan, I'm sensing
that there's even a greater appreciation for Steph than ever before.
Because as you see these incredible athletes hit the NBA,
these physical specimens, these adonises, Steph, it just feels like
he could be anybody. And he's obviously a terrific athlete
(36:27):
and He's in great shape, but he would blend in
if he didn't know who he was, and that's part of.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
The charm of it.
Speaker 13 (36:36):
This guy is doing it in a manner that I
don't know if we're going.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
To see it again the way he does it.
Speaker 13 (36:43):
And just again Dan my experience, They're playing in Brooklyn,
so I'm going to see this for the second time
this week. I just happened to walk out onto the
court of my broadcast location as he was going through
his warm up and the groundswell of people that I
want to watch him warm up warm up. That to
(37:05):
me says everything you need to know that there is
a special quality and people realize that this is just
something a little different. This is just not a normal
NBA player.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
He's an Eagle. He was on the call last night
TNT Warriors Knicks. He's got the Warriors' nets tomorrow night,
and then Michigan, Michigan State coming up on Sunday. Is
that right? That is right?
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Right? Thank you.
Speaker 13 (37:30):
I didn't know where I was going until you mentioned it,
so I'd better book that flight.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Is there a backup plan in case you can't show
up at a game?
Speaker 13 (37:39):
It's a hologram we've worked that up. They have a
soundboard of all my calls and then they just project
me onto the screen. We're actually trying to do that
with Raff.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
At this point. We don't even need him to be
at the games.
Speaker 13 (37:51):
We just have onions on a loop, double order on
a loop, and then you're good.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
You're good to go for the tournament.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Bill Raftery is and people will find him entertaining on
a game. He's a million times more entertaining when he's
not doing a game. And that's saying a lot. But
the first time I met Raf, I was in Atlanta,
Craig Sager's bar, Jackson Jill, that's right, And I just
got through I was working at CNN and I went
(38:21):
over to Seger's bar. I come in and Raf has
the corner of the bar. As you walk in the
corner of the bar, there had to be twenty five
beers and he had ordered twenty five beers. Yes, And
it was just if you came up to talk to him,
just grab a beer. That's first time I met him,
(38:42):
And I mean, he is a delight.
Speaker 13 (38:47):
So can I interject one thing to him? Because it
just spurred a memory of mine. We were in Seattle
for a net game, and we ended up going to dinner,
large group, and then the group got a little smaller,
went out to a bar afterwards, and we got to
the bar, and literally ten minutes into our stay at
(39:08):
the bar, they call out last call, and I see
like Bill's whole demeanor change in that moment, and he
just leaves the group and he goes to the bar
and he obviously gets in an order for last call,
and normally last call what ends up happening.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
They still let you hang around a little bit. They
did not. They kick us out of this bar. We
spill out into the street.
Speaker 13 (39:36):
It's not even that laid out, and feel's a bit
upset about it, and I understand that they cut off
his evening. So he's wearing a long trench coat and
we get outside now and our director who passed away,
great guy, Dave Hagen. He shows us that he snuck
one beer out to the street and we all laugh like, oh,
(39:59):
that's a mez rap. Opens his trench coat. He has
eight years, but he has snuck out two in each
side pocket, two on the interior in his pants.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
This guy is at another level.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I'm wondering I brought this up when I interviewed Sonny Vaccaro.
I said, I hope that he would get into Basketball
Hall of Fame contributions to the game, And they're certain
like Dick VII tow contributions and Bill Raftery, Yes, you know,
because he was a former college coach, he's in, Yeah,
but to have but Sonny vccaro is not. Yeah, And
(40:37):
I don't know if we look at the shoe business
and the CD under belly of this and that's like
he had contributions to the game. He signed Michael Jordan,
he signed Kobe, almost signed Lebron and you got these
coaches who got paid. I mean, he changed college basketball.
You may say, maybe not for the better, but where
(40:59):
do you stand on contributions to the game and you
know people getting inducted.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
Yeah, he should be in. He should be in.
Speaker 13 (41:08):
He played a large role in the development of the game.
And you're right, there were some things happening that nobody
was completely aware of and it changed the sport. But
it was inevitable. If it wasn't him, it was going
to be somebody else. I do think the fact that
he had a big personality was a big part of
(41:30):
what made college basketball what it was, and I don't
know if that's lost now a little bit, Just like
everything in life, as it goes to a different level financially,
business wise, commerce, you lose a little bit of what
made it so special. But the personalities made college basketball, coaching, personalities,
(41:54):
behind the scenes, broadcasting personality larger than live. Dick Vitale
obviously played a big raff as you mentioned, and I
think it is a little bit of a lost art
now when it comes to sports, because it's much more
corporate and we're not going to have that kind of
viscer rule reaction like we used to have to people
(42:15):
that had the impact that that Sonny had.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
He he belongs in there, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Your thoughts on Rick Patino still make it. It doesn't matter.
He's He's on the short list of greatest basketball coaches
of all time. I mean really, you know the Celtics,
he couldn't control the roster, didn't get Tim Duncan, but
every place, like we plugged him in at Iona and
we thought, oh, that's a cute lot story.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
And he wins anyway, Dan, he wins.
Speaker 13 (42:44):
This is who he is and as the rules have changed, Look,
he's adapted to them. He recognized way back when you
may have to do things in your way in a
certain manner, and maybe you bend it when and.
Speaker 5 (43:00):
The situation calls for it.
Speaker 13 (43:03):
I think that Rick was so far ahead of his
time in the eighties that eventually others picked up on
it and figured it out. But the thing about Rick
that still strikes me to this day is he always adjusts.
He's just a great coach. He's an incredible motivator. He's
(43:24):
a tremendous tactician. His x's and o's are through the roof.
He's smart, he gets it. He understands the media side
of it. He gets all of it, and you could
find great coaches that get some of it. He understands
every aspect of this job and the fact that he's
done it so quickly. At Saint John's, I was at
(43:45):
the garden this past weekend. It was sold out. Dan,
it is a happening again. You have to go back,
really to my youth in the eighties when it felt
like this around New York. They've had good teams, they've
had competitive teams, they haven't had this, they haven't had
this kind of buzz and this kind of chain reaction
(44:09):
in the city and it's Rick that's done.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
It save travels to Brooklyn tomorrow for the thank you
for the nets tilt tree with Golden State, and then
and then just to let you know, on Sunday you
have to do Michigan and Michigan State. Hold on, let
me Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan that is in east Land, Lansing. Okay, yeah, okay.
And they they got a player, you know, Jason Richardson's son, Jase.
(44:35):
He might be a top five pick in the in
the draft.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (44:39):
I had them earlier this season at the Garden against Rutgers.
He was coming off the bench. He is not coming
off the bench.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
How do you explain Rutgers will have two of the
top four players drafted and may not make the tournament.
Speaker 13 (44:51):
Yeah, chemistry means so much. You play basketball growing up,
it was important to you. I'm sure there were years
where you thought, oh, man a great individual talent and
then it didn't fit. Unfortunately, it just doesn't fit or
it doesn't translate into wins. But you're going to hear
about those two guys, Harper and Bailey for a long
(45:12):
time because they're going to play in the NBA for
a long time.
Speaker 5 (45:14):
But they're going to.
Speaker 13 (45:15):
Look back at the fact that they didn't take advantage
of the opportunity in college and there's nothing they can
do about it.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Like Ben Simmons didn't make the tournament at L make
the tournament yep.
Speaker 5 (45:25):
At LSU.
Speaker 13 (45:26):
I actually had a game of his his freshman year.
I was wowed by his skill set. Their team just
wasn't that good.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Tell tom Izzo, I said, alot. I will, Yeah, I will,
He's great. Tell him I sett alone done.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
I will say it.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Tell him it's, you know, getting about that time that
maybe steps down and lets somebody else. I'm not gonna
say that, No, don't don't.
Speaker 5 (45:47):
Hey, Dan Patrick says hello, and maybe it's time to
step aside.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
He would appreciate it, he's got to say. Probably. Of course,
I'm going to deny it when he says, I have said,
he said.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
I will produce.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
You can produce that tape, all right, tape doesn't lie. Alright, thanks,
all right, that's iron Eagle
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.