June 9, 2025 • 36 mins
DP reacts to the Thunder evening up the NBA Finals. Will the Pacers regret this momentum shift heading into game 3? OKC Thunder analyst Michael Cage gives high praise to OKC's depth, and reminisces on what it was like rooming with Michael Jordan and getting torched by Larry Bird. "The Voice of the SEC" Paul Finebaum shares why believes the NIL settlement will widen the gap in college sports and declares the NCAA essentially dead.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio. A few things to go through. The thunder
over the Pacers last night, that series tied to a
game apiece. If I said to a Pacer fan, hey,
you can win game one or you can win game two,
you'd probably say let's win game two and take that
momentum back to Indiana. But you win game one, you
(00:22):
get roughed up in game two. The Panthers and double overtime.
Game three is tonight in Florida. They always say South
Florida because they never want to say where they're actually from,
which is Sunrise Florida, because people go, where is Sunrise Florida,
South Florida. But congratulations to the Panthers in double overtime.
(00:42):
We've had overtime and now double overtime. Interesting results from
the French Open. Cocoa Goff, who has been on the
worldwide radar since she was a teenager, well thirteen or
fourteen years of age. Here she is twenty one years
of age. Winning your second at Major. Carlos Alcarez, who
would have thought you got center with a chance, You
(01:06):
got three championship points and you can't put him away.
That's What always amazes me watching tennis, You're down to
your last point and then all of a sudden you win.
Then all of a sudden you move on to the
next set. Then all of a sudden, you've got the advantage,
you've got the momentum, and it's five hours. There's no clock,
you just play. It felt like every time Michael Chang
(01:29):
played a tennis match it went five sets. He may
lead the I'm going to say lead the league. He
may lead men's tennis in five set matches and maybe
not winning those matches, but it felt like every match
was five sets. But the French Open and Alcarez in center,
hopefully you have, you know, moving into a new generation
(01:52):
of great players, that that's the next wave that they'll
be facing each other for many, many years to come.
A couple of things stood out last night. The Pacers
are the first team in over a decade to not
have a twenty point score in the first two games
of the NBA Finals. Now, I like spreading the wealth,
but this is Oklahoma City's defense here. And another thing
(02:15):
that would concern me if I'm an Indiana Pacer fan
is Tyrese Halliburton.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He did have the big shot.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
In game one, he didn't have a great game, and
last night he was kind of, I don't know, neutral,
he was just okay. He can't be just okay. But
give credit to Okasee the defense that they're playing. And
then you have shay Gilgiss Alexander. The difference in game
two as opposed to game one. He was more economical
(02:43):
with his shooting. And you know, you're taking thirty shots
to get to thirty eight points in game one, and
you're taking what twenty one shots to get to thirty
four points and you throw an eight assists. That's where
they're really dangerous. And you had so many players from
the coming in and contributing. You saw a true OKAC
(03:04):
performance last night. Now that's one game, but is it
habit forming? Does OKAC realize we should have won game one?
We made a mistake. We can't let this team get
any breath of fresh air and think they have a
chance to beat us. And you saw that in game one,
(03:25):
and they should have known that. If you watch the
Pacers when they're down by fifteen, you don't know if
they're down by fifteen or they're up by ten. And
that's what OKAC realized in game one. Now I'm looking
at DraftKings telling me the NBA Finals outcomes as far
as if you're betting, if this is going to go five,
(03:45):
that is the favorite right now, follow by four to two, Thunder,
follow by Thunder four to three, and then it jumps
to the Pacers winning in six, Pacers winning in seven.
You can place a bed at the pay winning the
next three to win this series, but those are long
odds as well. Okay, see is favored. They showed you
(04:07):
why they were favored, and now the series is going
to shift to Indiana.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Let's see seat and you got a poll question for me? Yeah,
we got a couple for you here. Well, let's see.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
You're kind of hitting a bunch of sports. So we
can start with Paul's question that he sent over the
most strenuous sport basketball hockey, tennis. Believe football out of
that basketball because that's clearly the one, but basketball, hockey, tennis.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So we're going with sports that are happening. Now, Yeah,
you could throw boxing in there.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Is that even happening now?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Well?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
It it is?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
They're just yeah, is that even happening? Not even not
marquete matchups?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I think I think sports where you actively like, like,
all right, there's fighting in all sports, but the sport
isn't fighting.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can take those out.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
UFC take that out, can take boxing out, you take
football out.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Okay, So just the ones that are going on now, yeah, okay,
So which one is more strenuous? Well, I guess we're
going to focus on tennis because it went five and
a half hours.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Hockey always.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
To me, I mean, hockey is you're out there for
ninety seconds, go as hard as you can now, you know,
go to the bench and then we're going to do
it again in a couple of minutes and then repeat
and repeat. Tennis is you're out there and it's not
like you can go, can I go sit down for
a little while.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You're going to play?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Now?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Granted, how long do the points last when you're on
the clay, It, you know, lasts a little bit longer
you have rallies on the clay as opposed to when
you're at Wembledon or US Open or Australian Open. But
I'm just amazed that when you're out there for five
and a half hours, and also there's the mental aspect
(05:58):
of that of being out there for five and a
half hours. It's not just athletically, but mentally you have
to be all in out there. And then you see
these guys when they're, you know, in their mid thirties
or late thirties still doing it. That's even more remarkable
that they're able to do that, yes Ton, and not only.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
The duration and the heat or whatever their conditions are,
but just mentally from one game for the next.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Just like yesterday, you just had it, you're about.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
To win a championship, and then you have another chance
and another chance, and how how how you're going to
bounce back from that, How it gets in your head
knowing what's now there could be another knowing in the
back of your mind, could.
Speaker 6 (06:33):
Be another hour and a half of tennesse yet to
be played, to.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Figure out I was going to win this thing, thank Ton,
as opposed to just you know, you're skating around and everything,
but you get those breaks, like you said.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And nobody knows tennis quite like you do.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
Second doubles. I know, once in a while they threw
me out there for a couple of points.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Did you letter in high school in tennis?
Speaker 6 (06:51):
We all got letters. I wouldn't say I lettered as
far as earned it.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Everyone on the team got a jacket, and you got
the little Lincoln l with a lightning bolt through it?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Did you? I think you have to play in a
varsity match the letter?
Speaker 6 (07:02):
I think I.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Played briefly in a couple of varsity matches, but I
wore that satin blue Lincoln tennis jacket like I was
the captain of the team. You would never know the
way I was strutting up and down the hallways off
likekot High School.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
You would think, Wow, this guy must be like the
number one singles guy.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And I'm gonna guess you still have that gibt Oh.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
I sure do. I couldn't. I couldn't fit it at
all around me. It's basically a scarf at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Why don't we bring it in and maybe I.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Frame it and we put it in here with all
the other great jerseys.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
I got my name on it, says Todd and script
on the side. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
What else Seaton are we thinking about?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Man, it's got Todd in script.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It's sweet.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
We haven't really hit this one yet, so I'm guessing
we'll save it for a leader. Okay topic, but Aaron
Rodgers No, oh, okay, okay, will the NCAA settlement shift
college sports dramatically? Question Martin, game changer or not really?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Paul Finbaum from the Mothership, we'll join us a little
bit later on. We'll talk about this. We've talked about this.
I find it fascinating of where we were to where
we are now. You go back to September of twenty thirteen,
Johnny Manziel on the cover of Time magazine and the
article the headline is time to start paying athletes. Well,
we're there, but there's questions. This is fluid once again,
(08:30):
and I don't know what college sports is going to
look like in ten years from now, because right now
it just feels like everybody's trying to figure out, Okay,
how do we navigate this, and they haven't navigated this
very well. Now the NCAA is basically out of the picture,
and maybe you know they're going to be governing the
(08:53):
sports that are on the periphery. But yeah, that I
got more questions than answers have been supplied to me.
And I've talked to people who are part of the
decision makers in this, and even they are kind of
confused by everything or cautious about things. And I think
that's what we have to kind of do a little
(09:15):
deeper dive into what does it really mean for you
the college fan. That's really all that matters now. Athletes
getting paid, they've been paid, they've been paid before, they'll
continue to get paid. But I care about what it
means for us the fan. That's it, because I'm going
to let college athletics deal with whatever this mess is
(09:38):
and hopefully they clean it up. Hopefully they can clean
it up. Hopefully it's defined. But I just think there's
so much gray area here. I got so many questions,
and hopefully Paul Feinbaum can provide some answers. Fritzy just
sent me an article that Tyreese Haliburton was seen limping
from the podium after your Game two loss.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
No further word on how serious it is, but you know,
orways a course of concern. One of your top guys
limping are out?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah yeah, but heading back home.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Hopefully it was just a lost Game two limp mmmm well.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Game three will be Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I always love that when like a dude gets torched
on a play, you know, and all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
They're like, God, you know, I gotta grab the back
of my leg real quick, take a second.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I wouldn't have gotten torched like that if I just
hadn't tweet something.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Okay, No, I'm good, now I'm better.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Okay, this happened all of us. Yeah, dude, you airball
you start checking your hands.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
All on your shoulder is a little funny. That's why
I airballed that. My shoulder just clicked.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
That was weird.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I guess My favorite is when ball goes there's an
error and the guy looks at his glove like man, glove.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
This thing, just rip the heck this thing.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Oh no, it's fine, that's weird.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Or a golfer and missus a putt. There's always something
in his line that then he tamps it down.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
With his power.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
He argues with like the land at Celebrity's like no,
to the right, to the right, the yells at his caddy.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
It's like.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Left and right, And you told.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Us open gets underway in Oakmont. And by the way,
I've played Oakmont, I don't want to play Oakmont again.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I should say it played me.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Do you want to go early in the week poll
who you got at Oakmont?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
OK?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
If I give you Scotty Scheffler or the field is
Scheffler in the Tiger Woods versus the field category?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Now has he graduated to that?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Mm?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That's insulting to the Tiger Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The Tiger ladies and gentlemen, the Tiger Jffler. Rory Bryson, Uh, well,
Rory's got problems with his driver. Like he was terrible
in at the RBC this weekend. We didn't even make
the cut.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Seen it?
Speaker 8 (12:01):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Saving it for next week?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, you had problems.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
They confiscated as driver and then he's still trying to
find a driver.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
He's just hustling everybody.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Oh righta man.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
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That's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Michael Cage Thunder TV analyst and he was in the
NBA for what fourteen years?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
That sound about rain, Paulie, Yeah, I think eighty four
to two thousand.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Oh Okay, that would be sixteen years if my math
would serve me correctly. Also, I believe played college basketball
with Tony Gwyn at San Diego State. Michael Cage joining us,
can we confirm those things.
Speaker 7 (13:44):
Michael, Uh, yeah, let's see check for the years and
check also with my man Tony Gwynn, god rest his
soul was a teammate of mine my freshman year at
San Diego State.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Spot on, do you think Tony Gwinn could have played
in the NBA?
Speaker 7 (14:00):
Yes, I do. And he was a terrific point guard,
great leader on the floor, could shoot the mid range.
And now you got to remember when I was in college,
there was no three point line, so that three point
line wasn't so much of a factor. But I watched
him shoot and practice. He had range, and man, he
(14:21):
never told me. I got to tell you this, Dan,
He never told me that he was that good of
a baseball player until spring of his senior year, which
was spring of my freshman year. He say, why don't
you come watch me play? Yeah, And that was it. Man,
I became a fan.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What was your welcome to the NBA moment?
Speaker 7 (14:41):
You know I was drafted as a San Diego Clipper.
So you just mentioned San Diego State, my alma mata,
and I was like happy as a lark. Hey, I'm
local kid. San Diego State just got drafted by the
San Diego Clippers. And then two weeks later, I got
a phone call, need to move up to LA and
(15:01):
get an apartment somewhere, And I said, well, what does
that mean? Well, the team has moved to Los Angeles.
They're now the Los Angeles Clippers. And I said, okay,
this is what the NBA is like, welcome to it. Michael.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
How much of a rivalry?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Like did you get how lost does the did the
Clippers get in the you know the shadow, that huge
shadow of the Lakers when you're in the same town
but people don't even know that you're there.
Speaker 7 (15:27):
Well, first of all, Dan, the LA's gonna always be
a Laker town. I mean, you know, they've they've been there,
what since fifty five there Minneapolis Days or whatever. And
but when we came there, my you know, rookie year,
I saw some some fans, some Billy Crystal's, Penny Marshall's
(15:50):
at the games.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Hall was probably there, Yeah, he was there.
Speaker 7 (15:57):
And then you know, when they did the infamous Coming
to America movie, the writers came to the Clippers game,
saw my hair and said we're going to do the
soul glow thing off of Michael Cage's hair. I said, okay,
this is kind of cool. I didn't find that out
till ten years fifteen years later.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
But wait, wait, wait, wait wait, because you had a
Jerry Curl, can we keep this moving now? No, you
had hair. We should talk about when you had hair, Michael.
But so you had a Jerry Curl, I did they?
And so they writers looked at that and said we're
going to use that in Coming to America.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
That's what I found out years later from Rolling Stones
magazine that called me and says, hey, we want to
do a story on you with the whole Coming to
America feature. I said, well, what does that have to
do with me? He said, you didn't know. They said, well,
the writers came to a clicker game. I'm sorry, I
can barely get it out. Sometimes you got to have
(16:54):
a sense of humor at my house, and this is
a sense of humor. I tell you a story for me.
I turned around and said, well, tell me more. He said, well,
they came to a clipper game and they were trying
to think up some different scenes or acts for the
movie Coming to America, the original one, and said they
saw your hair, and that was when the whole soul
(17:15):
glow thing came in. You know, with I tell you,
And I said, Okay, that's a big surprise, but I
can give you whatever I can. I said, yeah, I
wore it, but you know, I was kind of I
was kind of like a baptism into the entertainment industry
of Hollywood for me with the hair thing and the
(17:37):
soul glow and the Jerry curl. You know, all that's tough. Man.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
But if you could still have that hair, but you
had to wear it now since you're bald, when'd you
go back? Would you do the Jerry curl?
Speaker 4 (17:52):
You know?
Speaker 7 (17:53):
You know about fashion, you know about style. What goes
around comes around, is coming around. And if I could,
I would because I know I'm seeing the big afro.
When I was in high school, I had a big one. Man.
It was bigger than Michael Jackson's in the seventies. So
that's how big mine was in high school my first
year of college. So I'm assuming yeah, if I to
(18:14):
answer your question, yeah, because I know it's going to
come back around. Man.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We're talking to Michael Cage, the thunder TV analyst and
fourteenth overall pick by the Clippers in nineteen eighty four,
once laid the NBA in rebounding. All right, what we
saw last night felt like that was emblematic of what
you saw all season long with OKC. And I'll start
with SGA because I like the eight assist. It felt
(18:40):
like he was if he wasn't scoring, he would get
into the paint, take the double team and then kick out.
What else stood out for you with what you saw
last night? And if you're telling a Pacer fan get
ready to see more of this, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Well?
Speaker 7 (18:57):
I think what you saw was a total team after
that got this team sixty eight wins last season, because
you know, as much as there's a lead dog in SGA, man,
I dude is special.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Man.
Speaker 7 (19:09):
I've been here. This is my eleventh year as a
broadcaster for the Thunder. And when I got here, we
had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, you know, that whole group,
and that era was kind of you know at this
last year or two run and then we had to
retool this team and get the Chris Paul and then
you know there was an in between of Paul, George Carmelo,
(19:31):
Anthony along with Russell Westbrook, and then came the SGA
story and along with him came you know, a lot
of hope, a lot of promise, a lot of progress,
a lot of painstakingly growth. But what you saw last night,
here's the answer, the bread and butter of your question.
This is this team's identity. What you saw from Aaron
(19:52):
Wiggins coming off the bench getting eighteen points, what you
saw from Alex Caruso, you know, getting twenty points. I mean,
that's what that's the identity of this team. Yeah, you
can pick on SGA and say, look, we're going to
try to stop him, or we're gonna let him score.
If you let him score, he'll score seventy. He'll kill you.
I'm just telling you that now. So you have to
respect you know that, Hey, he's the leading he's the
(20:15):
NBA's leading scorer, NBA's MVP, and he's not afraid of
the moment. But there's a lot of depth to this team.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
And maybe you.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Didn't see, you know, maybe you saw a peekaboo of
that on a couple of nights earlier, in game one
where the thunder led the whole way and then lost
the game at the end on the Halliburtons shot. But
you know the depth of this team. Isaiah Hardenstein shed Holmgren,
I mean lou Dort, Caseen Wallace. You know, I've already
(20:43):
mentioned Ac and Aaron Wiggins. It just goes on and on. Man,
this is what this team is about, and that's what
you're probably gonna expect from for the rest of the series.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Who does SGA remind you of? On the offensive vent?
Speaker 7 (20:58):
You know, and I say this with respect day him.
He reminds me of a Jordan like player. He's not
afraid of contact, he's not afraid to get in the
mid range. He's got the three point shot, you know,
in his pocket, but he pulls it out timely when
he wants to. You know, it is in today's modern NBA,
(21:19):
you know, it's it's offices are based around either the
deep three point shot or the deep paint finish. He's
brought back the mid range, you know, when you talk
about guys that like made a living in the mid range,
like the DeMar Derozans type players. SGA has really made
teams start going, wait a minute, now, maybe we shouldn't
(21:40):
be focusing so much on three point shooters. Yeah, that's important,
that's the important part of the game. Analytically, I believe that,
but that mid range where he dominates, where he is
just fun to watch. That's where he reminds me of Jordan.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, he's Jordan under the rim, you know, because Mike
played at a different level literally and figuratively. But Sga
can get his shot. You watch and you go, how
does he do it. There's certain guys that you go, Okay,
I get you know that they're great scores or they
get their shot. There's other guys where you go, I
(22:14):
don't get it. But he keeps doing it every single night.
And you know, when you look at consistency at leading
the league in scoring, does he want to lead the
league in scoring?
Speaker 7 (22:28):
I don't think so. I think what I've seen in
Shay since he got here after we traded for him
after one season in Los Angeles with the Clippers, I
saw a scrawny kid who was just hungry wanted to win.
And when I've talked to him, when I've seen him,
he's always got that kind of approach to the game.
(22:48):
He's a he's a magnet for friendships. You know. I
heard a story and I knew about it, but I'm
glad it got out about him becoming friends, really close
friends with lou Dort you know, lose, lose first year
with the team as well. Lou didn't have a place
to stay yet, and Shae had just gotten here his
first season. Say, why don't you stay with me. I'm
not married, I don't have any kids. He's married, he has,
(23:09):
you know, beautiful family, now Shaye does. And they they
were roommates for a season, and then he turned around
and when we drafted Jay Dubb, you know who's going
to be a rising star, a tremendous player so far
in this league. He said, look, because you're my rookie,
I want you to pick me up and take me
to the airport every road trip. See that kind of camaraderie.
(23:31):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Man.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Did you have a Jordan moment?
Speaker 7 (23:38):
You know, good question. Here's my Jordan moment. Maybe he
wasn't Jordan to everyone else, but I played with Michael
Jordan on the national team nineteen eighty three Pan Am Games.
We wanted to go and medal down in Caracas, Venezuela.
He was my roommate that whole summer, and he was
my roommate at the village doing the PanAm Games and
(23:58):
the tryouts that we had the year earlier, where there
was Charles Barkley, all these you know, Karl Malone, John Stockton,
you know, all these up and coming names. And there
was this kid that everybody wanted to see over on
court three. Now I'm on court one, there's court two,
court three, and he said, this is Jordan Kidd. You
know he's he's at North Carolina. You gotta go over
(24:19):
there and see him. I said, I already know about him,
but I'm like, going, after my game is over, I'm
going over to court three and see this guy. And
I saw him play, and I just said, man, he
is so far above the rest of us. And I
knew at that moment in nineteen eighty two, at the
tryouts and at the games in eighty three, this guy
(24:39):
was going to be the truth and he certainly was.
Now did we ever think he eclips where he got to. No,
but I'm not surprised because he's handled that kind of
fame and that kind of you know, success really well.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
You seem really mild mannered, nice, cordial. Did you have
any moments with Larry Bird where he would trash talk you.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
He just looked at me my rookie year and just said,
you know, you can't stop me, and I said, I know,
there's there's just nothing else to say. You're Larry Bird
and I and I and I got that kind of
you know, seasoning from Magic Johnson too, because I was
right there in town when I should see him at
(25:24):
grocery stores around l A and you know, at the
gas station sometimes, or we're all going into practice because
we practiced the same practice site at Loyola Marymount back
in those days, and Magic would just come up to
me and talk to me and then turn around and
kick my butt. I said, I don't know which one
I like.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
I like the.
Speaker 7 (25:43):
Quiet bird kick your butt thing, then Magic shaking your hands.
You know, I'm going at you right, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thank you for the stories, Michael, and good luck the
rest of the series there.
Speaker 7 (25:56):
Thanks Dan, great great having me man enjoy the rest
of the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
That's Michael.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
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 app. Big Doings
with College Athletics NCAA settlement opens the door for schools
to pay athletes directly. Paul Finebam, hosts of The Paul
Fine Bomb show, Voice of the SEC joining us on
(26:23):
the program. All right, what does this mean for the fan?
Let me start out. Let's just say college football fan.
What is this going to mean now, five years down,
ten years down the road?
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Dan?
Speaker 10 (26:36):
It means very little really because this is all complicated,
a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. What I think if
it will really mean though, if you're a fan of
a group of five school, if you're a fan of
a school somewhere in the middle, get ready for hard times.
This is only going to help the rich. You heard
that before. The big leagues, the Big ten, the SEC
(27:00):
will more than likely profit because they have so much money.
Women's sports, in my opinion, will be hurt. Olympic sports
will be crushed. Football wins basketball. Other than maybe the
Big East takes a slight back seat.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
What happens to the NCUBA.
Speaker 10 (27:20):
The NCAA is essentially dead, and I know a lot
of people are celebrating, but the damage that has been
done by this organization is incalculable and it's really about time.
What did we grow up thinking about when we thought
of the NCAA, Dan, the enforcement part of it. The
big bad NCUBA is coming to your town. They don't
(27:42):
even have any jurisdiction for that anymore, by the way,
not that they have in about the last five years.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
They've been completely ineffective.
Speaker 10 (27:50):
So if you're the NCAA president who happens to be
Charlie Baker, you get the fly around on a luxury plane,
you work in a taj mahal, you stay at five
star resorts, but essentially you have absolutely nothing to do
but try to look busy.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Is Division one too big?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yes? Right now?
Speaker 10 (28:11):
In college sports. Piggybacking off of what I said in
the preamble, it's really about the top. It's pyramid, and
the idea that a college basketball tournament, which used to
be one of the greatest moments on the calendar, has
now been reduced to a battle of the elite, is
really unfortunate. But there's no way if you're a small
(28:35):
college basketball program like a Butler ten years ago or
some of these other programs that have just been so
exciting Davidson making a run with Steph Curry, you really
don't have a chance. And I know that sounds deflating,
but and even if you are good, if you have
a junior or a sophomore, he's going to one of
(28:56):
the top teams for his final year.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
He's not sticking around.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
A couple of things that came to mind is nil,
the transfer portal, signing contracts that might make it tougher
to transfer, Can schools buy out a player from his
and I mean, I don't. It's the wild while West.
So these are all these questions that I had, So
(29:23):
pick one of those if you've got a juicy answer.
Speaker 10 (29:27):
Yeah, I mean, right now, the biggest issue in college
athletics is the portals. That's what coaches scream about because
they're constantly on the go having to re recruit their roster.
So I think that's really where the action is. I'm
not sure this agreement is going to affect that, and
I don't mean to be one of those guys that
says it's actually going to get worse in some regard,
(29:48):
but there are going to be more lawsuits and I
think you're going to see Title nine lawsuits about where
does I mean, right after we've had the greatest explosion
of women's sports, especially in basketball ball, women's softball, now
it's going to be curtailed. What is really going on,
and it's very much out in the open, is the
commissioners of college sports want federal intervention. It's interesting Dan
(30:12):
that yesterday up in New Jersey, the athletic director and
Notre Dame who used to be in the PGA, so
he knew the president very well from his days there,
and the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Zanki, played
golf with Donald Trump with the idea of trying to
get him to do what Congress has not done in
four or five years. Despite a lot of smoke, and
(30:34):
I'm not a political analyst, this president has quite a
bully pulpit, and he does seem, at least for the
time being, to be very interested in college athletics. And
some of that is because he's a sports fan. He's
gone to a number of games, he likes the arena,
so he could help in the short term. But from
a legal standpoint, almost everything will be challenged at some point.
(30:58):
But the idea of Congress making, you know, giving college
athletics an anti trust exemption, limiting college athletes in terms
of what they can make, I think it still remains
fairly slim.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Paul Fine bamb of the Mothership, The Paul Fine Baumb Show,
The Voice of the SEC also schools are going to
get twenty and a half million dollars to play with.
And where does that money come from.
Speaker 10 (31:25):
It comes from the same place that it's always coming from, donations, boosters.
I mean, that's all I saw Kirby's mart the other day.
He was on his way to a fundraiser. That's all
they do. They recruit and fundraised. They don't do a
lot of coaching in the off season. And ultimately, if
you have fat cats. And in some ways they believe
(31:46):
that this new agreement is going to cut the billionaire
booster like the one in Miami a couple of years ago,
the one that Texas take out.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
I don't think so, Dan, You're never going to cut
those guys out.
Speaker 10 (31:57):
And the idea that they hired an next Major League
Baseball official who is a former US attorney, He's going
to be in charge of enforcements.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Please, that's not going to happen.
Speaker 10 (32:08):
Every school will challenge anything that comes down the pipe
like like we've seen in recent years, and there will
be no enforcement whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
The transfer portal thing is I think what that's what
drives coaches crazy. And I mean, you're poaching guys, you know,
when they were playing in you know, the playoffs college
football playoffs. There were two players that I was told
they're negotiating to play someplace. Having that window we've talked about,
(32:44):
is there a way to make the transfer portal the
window smaller to be fair to those playing in playoff games,
to these coaches as well.
Speaker 10 (32:55):
Yes, I mean there's two transfer portals right now. The
second one is not particularly that's that one just ended
a couple of weeks ago, but the one right after
the season is. And the problem is that where do
you put it right now? It lands right after the
championship games, but before the bowl in playoff games. And
(33:15):
the story is pretty famous about the backup quarterback at
Penn State last year just he decided to leave and
you know they didn't need him, but ultimately it could
have been a disaster. So I don't think there's anywhere
to put that, because nowadays you don't want to wait
to right now to get your your seniors into on
(33:36):
your campus. You will all the great programs get the
best players in December before that's in December of their
senior year, dan not not afterwards, And so the portal
has to be there, and and I don't think they
can do much about it.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
It just feels like we're eventually going to get to
fifty schools, right, and that's where we're headed right.
Speaker 10 (34:02):
Right, And we're also going to get collective bargaining at
some point. I don't know why college administrators just don't
want to admit that they're paying the players. But as
soon as I say this, and we know everything that
has happened, you'll get You'll get an athletic director on
your show next week or a coach and he'll use
this phrase, Dan, you know the student athletes, please don't
because that's the most laughable statement and word, well, not
(34:27):
the most laughable, but at least in the college sports
parlance right now. But they they're stuck on it, and
they just want to act like this isn't really going
on around them. It reminds me of the piano player
in the House of Bill Reputed as people are as
businessmen are walking up and down, they're just playing the piano.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
I think, like they're not seeing a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I want to centralize college football office scheduling.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Good luck, can we? I mean, I like what you're
going where you're going, Dan.
Speaker 10 (34:55):
The problem is that you have these four power four commissioners,
and they are essentially like the bosses of the of
the of the New York families back in the day.
Brooklyn's not giving into Staten Island and Manhattan's not giving
into Queens. They meet twice a year at the best
Italian restaurant in Little Italy and that you hope nobody
(35:16):
gets killed.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
But it's all about money, Paul, and there's more money
to be made. They love making their money. So at
some point in my lifetime, I think we get to
fifty colleges and you are playing, and then there's everybody else.
I just think, and there's going to be some schools
that might go, you know what, We're going to drop football.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
It's, uh, we don't want to spend.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Money or you know, these these these are strange, so
maybe you do, you know, drop divisions.
Speaker 10 (35:49):
But the one thing I'll say, and I'm not a Pollyanna,
but you know, come September on a Saturday night, when
we're watching Ohio State and Texas and our manning has
the ball on fourth and one, the goal on, we
won't care about any of these things. The games are fantastic,
just like everything that you're watching in hockey and basketball,
(36:10):
but the offseason is just brutal.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, but when it's November eighth and it's Georgia versus Mercer,
then I have a problem with that, Paul.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
I agree.
Speaker 10 (36:20):
But nowadays, because the playoffs remains as convoluted as ever,
we're going to get at least three of the two.
Every every program at least and is going to is
going to have at least two of those games. I mean,
look at some of the schedules. Penn State has an
embarrassing non conference schedule this year, and they're one of
the favorites to win the national championship.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Good to talk to you, Paul, as always, thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That's Paul Finbaugh.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio. A few things to go through. The thunder
over the Pacers last night, that series tied to a
game apiece. If I said to a Pacer fan, hey,
you can win game one or you can win game two,
you'd probably say let's win game two and take that
momentum back to Indiana. But you win game one, you
(00:22):
get roughed up in game two. The Panthers and double overtime.
Game three is tonight in Florida. They always say South
Florida because they never want to say where they're actually from,
which is Sunrise Florida, because people go, where is Sunrise Florida,
South Florida. But congratulations to the Panthers in double overtime.
(00:42):
We've had overtime and now double overtime. Interesting results from
the French Open. Cocoa Goff, who has been on the
worldwide radar since she was a teenager, well thirteen or
fourteen years of age. Here she is twenty one years
of age. Winning your second at Major. Carlos Alcarez, who
would have thought you got center with a chance, You
(01:06):
got three championship points and you can't put him away.
That's What always amazes me watching tennis, You're down to
your last point and then all of a sudden you win.
Then all of a sudden you move on to the
next set. Then all of a sudden, you've got the advantage,
you've got the momentum, and it's five hours. There's no clock,
you just play. It felt like every time Michael Chang
(01:29):
played a tennis match it went five sets. He may
lead the I'm going to say lead the league. He
may lead men's tennis in five set matches and maybe
not winning those matches, but it felt like every match
was five sets. But the French Open and Alcarez in center,
hopefully you have, you know, moving into a new generation
(01:52):
of great players, that that's the next wave that they'll
be facing each other for many, many years to come.
A couple of things stood out last night. The Pacers
are the first team in over a decade to not
have a twenty point score in the first two games
of the NBA Finals. Now, I like spreading the wealth,
but this is Oklahoma City's defense here. And another thing
(02:15):
that would concern me if I'm an Indiana Pacer fan
is Tyrese Halliburton.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He did have the big shot.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
In game one, he didn't have a great game, and
last night he was kind of, I don't know, neutral,
he was just okay. He can't be just okay. But
give credit to Okasee the defense that they're playing. And
then you have shay Gilgiss Alexander. The difference in game
two as opposed to game one. He was more economical
(02:43):
with his shooting. And you know, you're taking thirty shots
to get to thirty eight points in game one, and
you're taking what twenty one shots to get to thirty
four points and you throw an eight assists. That's where
they're really dangerous. And you had so many players from
the coming in and contributing. You saw a true OKAC
(03:04):
performance last night. Now that's one game, but is it
habit forming? Does OKAC realize we should have won game one?
We made a mistake. We can't let this team get
any breath of fresh air and think they have a
chance to beat us. And you saw that in game one,
(03:25):
and they should have known that. If you watch the
Pacers when they're down by fifteen, you don't know if
they're down by fifteen or they're up by ten. And
that's what OKAC realized in game one. Now I'm looking
at DraftKings telling me the NBA Finals outcomes as far
as if you're betting, if this is going to go five,
(03:45):
that is the favorite right now, follow by four to two, Thunder,
follow by Thunder four to three, and then it jumps
to the Pacers winning in six, Pacers winning in seven.
You can place a bed at the pay winning the
next three to win this series, but those are long
odds as well. Okay, see is favored. They showed you
(04:07):
why they were favored, and now the series is going
to shift to Indiana.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Let's see seat and you got a poll question for me? Yeah,
we got a couple for you here. Well, let's see.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
You're kind of hitting a bunch of sports. So we
can start with Paul's question that he sent over the
most strenuous sport basketball hockey, tennis. Believe football out of
that basketball because that's clearly the one, but basketball, hockey, tennis.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So we're going with sports that are happening. Now, Yeah,
you could throw boxing in there.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Is that even happening now?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Well?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
It it is?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
They're just yeah, is that even happening? Not even not
marquete matchups?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I think I think sports where you actively like, like,
all right, there's fighting in all sports, but the sport
isn't fighting.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can take those out.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
UFC take that out, can take boxing out, you take
football out.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Okay, So just the ones that are going on now, yeah, okay,
So which one is more strenuous? Well, I guess we're
going to focus on tennis because it went five and
a half hours.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Hockey always.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
To me, I mean, hockey is you're out there for
ninety seconds, go as hard as you can now, you know,
go to the bench and then we're going to do
it again in a couple of minutes and then repeat
and repeat. Tennis is you're out there and it's not
like you can go, can I go sit down for
a little while.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You're going to play?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Now?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Granted, how long do the points last when you're on
the clay, It, you know, lasts a little bit longer
you have rallies on the clay as opposed to when
you're at Wembledon or US Open or Australian Open. But
I'm just amazed that when you're out there for five
and a half hours, and also there's the mental aspect
(05:58):
of that of being out there for five and a
half hours. It's not just athletically, but mentally you have
to be all in out there. And then you see
these guys when they're, you know, in their mid thirties
or late thirties still doing it. That's even more remarkable
that they're able to do that, yes Ton, and not only.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
The duration and the heat or whatever their conditions are,
but just mentally from one game for the next.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Just like yesterday, you just had it, you're about.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
To win a championship, and then you have another chance
and another chance, and how how how you're going to
bounce back from that, How it gets in your head
knowing what's now there could be another knowing in the
back of your mind, could.
Speaker 6 (06:33):
Be another hour and a half of tennesse yet to
be played, to.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Figure out I was going to win this thing, thank Ton,
as opposed to just you know, you're skating around and everything,
but you get those breaks, like you said.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And nobody knows tennis quite like you do.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
Second doubles. I know, once in a while they threw
me out there for a couple of points.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Did you letter in high school in tennis?
Speaker 6 (06:51):
We all got letters. I wouldn't say I lettered as
far as earned it.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Everyone on the team got a jacket, and you got
the little Lincoln l with a lightning bolt through it?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Did you? I think you have to play in a
varsity match the letter?
Speaker 6 (07:02):
I think I.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Played briefly in a couple of varsity matches, but I
wore that satin blue Lincoln tennis jacket like I was
the captain of the team. You would never know the
way I was strutting up and down the hallways off
likekot High School.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
You would think, Wow, this guy must be like the
number one singles guy.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And I'm gonna guess you still have that gibt Oh.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
I sure do. I couldn't. I couldn't fit it at
all around me. It's basically a scarf at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Why don't we bring it in and maybe I.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Frame it and we put it in here with all
the other great jerseys.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
I got my name on it, says Todd and script
on the side. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
What else Seaton are we thinking about?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Man, it's got Todd in script.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It's sweet.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
We haven't really hit this one yet, so I'm guessing
we'll save it for a leader. Okay topic, but Aaron
Rodgers No, oh, okay, okay, will the NCAA settlement shift
college sports dramatically? Question Martin, game changer or not really?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Paul Finbaum from the Mothership, we'll join us a little
bit later on. We'll talk about this. We've talked about this.
I find it fascinating of where we were to where
we are now. You go back to September of twenty thirteen,
Johnny Manziel on the cover of Time magazine and the
article the headline is time to start paying athletes. Well,
we're there, but there's questions. This is fluid once again,
(08:30):
and I don't know what college sports is going to
look like in ten years from now, because right now
it just feels like everybody's trying to figure out, Okay,
how do we navigate this, and they haven't navigated this
very well. Now the NCAA is basically out of the picture,
and maybe you know they're going to be governing the
(08:53):
sports that are on the periphery. But yeah, that I
got more questions than answers have been supplied to me.
And I've talked to people who are part of the
decision makers in this, and even they are kind of
confused by everything or cautious about things. And I think
that's what we have to kind of do a little
(09:15):
deeper dive into what does it really mean for you
the college fan. That's really all that matters now. Athletes
getting paid, they've been paid, they've been paid before, they'll
continue to get paid. But I care about what it
means for us the fan. That's it, because I'm going
to let college athletics deal with whatever this mess is
(09:38):
and hopefully they clean it up. Hopefully they can clean
it up. Hopefully it's defined. But I just think there's
so much gray area here. I got so many questions,
and hopefully Paul Feinbaum can provide some answers. Fritzy just
sent me an article that Tyreese Haliburton was seen limping
from the podium after your Game two loss.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
No further word on how serious it is, but you know,
orways a course of concern. One of your top guys
limping are out?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah yeah, but heading back home.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Hopefully it was just a lost Game two limp mmmm well.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Game three will be Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I always love that when like a dude gets torched
on a play, you know, and all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
They're like, God, you know, I gotta grab the back
of my leg real quick, take a second.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I wouldn't have gotten torched like that if I just
hadn't tweet something.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Okay, No, I'm good, now I'm better.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Okay, this happened all of us. Yeah, dude, you airball
you start checking your hands.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
All on your shoulder is a little funny. That's why
I airballed that. My shoulder just clicked.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
That was weird.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I guess My favorite is when ball goes there's an
error and the guy looks at his glove like man, glove.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
This thing, just rip the heck this thing.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Oh no, it's fine, that's weird.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Or a golfer and missus a putt. There's always something
in his line that then he tamps it down.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
With his power.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
He argues with like the land at Celebrity's like no,
to the right, to the right, the yells at his caddy.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
It's like.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Left and right, And you told.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Us open gets underway in Oakmont. And by the way,
I've played Oakmont, I don't want to play Oakmont again.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I should say it played me.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Do you want to go early in the week poll
who you got at Oakmont?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
OK?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
If I give you Scotty Scheffler or the field is
Scheffler in the Tiger Woods versus the field category?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Now has he graduated to that?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Mm?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That's insulting to the Tiger Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The Tiger ladies and gentlemen, the Tiger Jffler. Rory Bryson, Uh, well,
Rory's got problems with his driver. Like he was terrible
in at the RBC this weekend. We didn't even make
the cut.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Seen it?
Speaker 8 (12:01):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Saving it for next week?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, you had problems.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
They confiscated as driver and then he's still trying to
find a driver.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
He's just hustling everybody.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Oh righta man.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
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Speaker 8 (12:23):
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Speaker 9 (12:28):
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Speaker 9 (12:50):
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Speaker 8 (12:55):
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We like to get you involved, to take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say, the most
interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the.
Speaker 8 (13:03):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 9 (13:05):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (13:09):
From five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
And if you miss any of the live show, just
search kobeen on Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and
of course on social media.
Speaker 8 (13:17):
That's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Michael Cage Thunder TV analyst and he was in the
NBA for what fourteen years?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
That sound about rain, Paulie, Yeah, I think eighty four
to two thousand.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Oh Okay, that would be sixteen years if my math
would serve me correctly. Also, I believe played college basketball
with Tony Gwyn at San Diego State. Michael Cage joining us,
can we confirm those things.
Speaker 7 (13:44):
Michael, Uh, yeah, let's see check for the years and
check also with my man Tony Gwynn, god rest his
soul was a teammate of mine my freshman year at
San Diego State.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Spot on, do you think Tony Gwinn could have played
in the NBA?
Speaker 7 (14:00):
Yes, I do. And he was a terrific point guard,
great leader on the floor, could shoot the mid range.
And now you got to remember when I was in college,
there was no three point line, so that three point
line wasn't so much of a factor. But I watched
him shoot and practice. He had range, and man, he
(14:21):
never told me. I got to tell you this, Dan,
He never told me that he was that good of
a baseball player until spring of his senior year, which
was spring of my freshman year. He say, why don't
you come watch me play? Yeah, And that was it. Man,
I became a fan.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What was your welcome to the NBA moment?
Speaker 7 (14:41):
You know I was drafted as a San Diego Clipper.
So you just mentioned San Diego State, my alma mata,
and I was like happy as a lark. Hey, I'm
local kid. San Diego State just got drafted by the
San Diego Clippers. And then two weeks later, I got
a phone call, need to move up to LA and
(15:01):
get an apartment somewhere, And I said, well, what does
that mean? Well, the team has moved to Los Angeles.
They're now the Los Angeles Clippers. And I said, okay,
this is what the NBA is like, welcome to it. Michael.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
How much of a rivalry?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Like did you get how lost does the did the
Clippers get in the you know the shadow, that huge
shadow of the Lakers when you're in the same town
but people don't even know that you're there.
Speaker 7 (15:27):
Well, first of all, Dan, the LA's gonna always be
a Laker town. I mean, you know, they've they've been there,
what since fifty five there Minneapolis Days or whatever. And
but when we came there, my you know, rookie year,
I saw some some fans, some Billy Crystal's, Penny Marshall's
(15:50):
at the games.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Hall was probably there, Yeah, he was there.
Speaker 7 (15:57):
And then you know, when they did the infamous Coming
to America movie, the writers came to the Clippers game,
saw my hair and said we're going to do the
soul glow thing off of Michael Cage's hair. I said, okay,
this is kind of cool. I didn't find that out
till ten years fifteen years later.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
But wait, wait, wait, wait wait, because you had a
Jerry Curl, can we keep this moving now? No, you
had hair. We should talk about when you had hair, Michael.
But so you had a Jerry Curl, I did they?
And so they writers looked at that and said we're
going to use that in Coming to America.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
That's what I found out years later from Rolling Stones
magazine that called me and says, hey, we want to
do a story on you with the whole Coming to
America feature. I said, well, what does that have to
do with me? He said, you didn't know. They said, well,
the writers came to a clicker game. I'm sorry, I
can barely get it out. Sometimes you got to have
(16:54):
a sense of humor at my house, and this is
a sense of humor. I tell you a story for me.
I turned around and said, well, tell me more. He said, well,
they came to a clipper game and they were trying
to think up some different scenes or acts for the
movie Coming to America, the original one, and said they
saw your hair, and that was when the whole soul
(17:15):
glow thing came in. You know, with I tell you,
And I said, Okay, that's a big surprise, but I
can give you whatever I can. I said, yeah, I
wore it, but you know, I was kind of I
was kind of like a baptism into the entertainment industry
of Hollywood for me with the hair thing and the
(17:37):
soul glow and the Jerry curl. You know, all that's tough. Man.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
But if you could still have that hair, but you
had to wear it now since you're bald, when'd you
go back? Would you do the Jerry curl?
Speaker 4 (17:52):
You know?
Speaker 7 (17:53):
You know about fashion, you know about style. What goes
around comes around, is coming around. And if I could,
I would because I know I'm seeing the big afro.
When I was in high school, I had a big one. Man.
It was bigger than Michael Jackson's in the seventies. So
that's how big mine was in high school my first
year of college. So I'm assuming yeah, if I to
(18:14):
answer your question, yeah, because I know it's going to
come back around. Man.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We're talking to Michael Cage, the thunder TV analyst and
fourteenth overall pick by the Clippers in nineteen eighty four,
once laid the NBA in rebounding. All right, what we
saw last night felt like that was emblematic of what
you saw all season long with OKC. And I'll start
with SGA because I like the eight assist. It felt
(18:40):
like he was if he wasn't scoring, he would get
into the paint, take the double team and then kick out.
What else stood out for you with what you saw
last night? And if you're telling a Pacer fan get
ready to see more of this, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Well?
Speaker 7 (18:57):
I think what you saw was a total team after
that got this team sixty eight wins last season, because
you know, as much as there's a lead dog in SGA, man,
I dude is special.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Man.
Speaker 7 (19:09):
I've been here. This is my eleventh year as a
broadcaster for the Thunder. And when I got here, we
had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, you know, that whole group,
and that era was kind of you know at this
last year or two run and then we had to
retool this team and get the Chris Paul and then
you know there was an in between of Paul, George Carmelo,
(19:31):
Anthony along with Russell Westbrook, and then came the SGA
story and along with him came you know, a lot
of hope, a lot of promise, a lot of progress,
a lot of painstakingly growth. But what you saw last night,
here's the answer, the bread and butter of your question.
This is this team's identity. What you saw from Aaron
(19:52):
Wiggins coming off the bench getting eighteen points, what you
saw from Alex Caruso, you know, getting twenty points. I mean,
that's what that's the identity of this team. Yeah, you
can pick on SGA and say, look, we're going to
try to stop him, or we're gonna let him score.
If you let him score, he'll score seventy. He'll kill you.
I'm just telling you that now. So you have to
respect you know that, Hey, he's the leading he's the
(20:15):
NBA's leading scorer, NBA's MVP, and he's not afraid of
the moment. But there's a lot of depth to this team.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
And maybe you.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Didn't see, you know, maybe you saw a peekaboo of
that on a couple of nights earlier, in game one
where the thunder led the whole way and then lost
the game at the end on the Halliburtons shot. But
you know the depth of this team. Isaiah Hardenstein shed Holmgren,
I mean lou Dort, Caseen Wallace. You know, I've already
(20:43):
mentioned Ac and Aaron Wiggins. It just goes on and on. Man,
this is what this team is about, and that's what
you're probably gonna expect from for the rest of the series.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Who does SGA remind you of? On the offensive vent?
Speaker 7 (20:58):
You know, and I say this with respect day him.
He reminds me of a Jordan like player. He's not
afraid of contact, he's not afraid to get in the
mid range. He's got the three point shot, you know,
in his pocket, but he pulls it out timely when
he wants to. You know, it is in today's modern NBA,
(21:19):
you know, it's it's offices are based around either the
deep three point shot or the deep paint finish. He's
brought back the mid range, you know, when you talk
about guys that like made a living in the mid range,
like the DeMar Derozans type players. SGA has really made
teams start going, wait a minute, now, maybe we shouldn't
(21:40):
be focusing so much on three point shooters. Yeah, that's important,
that's the important part of the game. Analytically, I believe that,
but that mid range where he dominates, where he is
just fun to watch. That's where he reminds me of Jordan.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, he's Jordan under the rim, you know, because Mike
played at a different level literally and figuratively. But Sga
can get his shot. You watch and you go, how
does he do it. There's certain guys that you go, Okay,
I get you know that they're great scores or they
get their shot. There's other guys where you go, I
(22:14):
don't get it. But he keeps doing it every single night.
And you know, when you look at consistency at leading
the league in scoring, does he want to lead the
league in scoring?
Speaker 7 (22:28):
I don't think so. I think what I've seen in
Shay since he got here after we traded for him
after one season in Los Angeles with the Clippers, I
saw a scrawny kid who was just hungry wanted to win.
And when I've talked to him, when I've seen him,
he's always got that kind of approach to the game.
(22:48):
He's a he's a magnet for friendships. You know. I
heard a story and I knew about it, but I'm
glad it got out about him becoming friends, really close
friends with lou Dort you know, lose, lose first year
with the team as well. Lou didn't have a place
to stay yet, and Shae had just gotten here his
first season. Say, why don't you stay with me. I'm
not married, I don't have any kids. He's married, he has,
(23:09):
you know, beautiful family, now Shaye does. And they they
were roommates for a season, and then he turned around
and when we drafted Jay Dubb, you know who's going
to be a rising star, a tremendous player so far
in this league. He said, look, because you're my rookie,
I want you to pick me up and take me
to the airport every road trip. See that kind of camaraderie.
(23:31):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Man.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Did you have a Jordan moment?
Speaker 7 (23:38):
You know, good question. Here's my Jordan moment. Maybe he
wasn't Jordan to everyone else, but I played with Michael
Jordan on the national team nineteen eighty three Pan Am Games.
We wanted to go and medal down in Caracas, Venezuela.
He was my roommate that whole summer, and he was
my roommate at the village doing the PanAm Games and
(23:58):
the tryouts that we had the year earlier, where there
was Charles Barkley, all these you know, Karl Malone, John Stockton,
you know, all these up and coming names. And there
was this kid that everybody wanted to see over on
court three. Now I'm on court one, there's court two,
court three, and he said, this is Jordan Kidd. You
know he's he's at North Carolina. You gotta go over
(24:19):
there and see him. I said, I already know about him,
but I'm like, going, after my game is over, I'm
going over to court three and see this guy. And
I saw him play, and I just said, man, he
is so far above the rest of us. And I
knew at that moment in nineteen eighty two, at the
tryouts and at the games in eighty three, this guy
(24:39):
was going to be the truth and he certainly was.
Now did we ever think he eclips where he got to. No,
but I'm not surprised because he's handled that kind of
fame and that kind of you know, success really well.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
You seem really mild mannered, nice, cordial. Did you have
any moments with Larry Bird where he would trash talk you.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
He just looked at me my rookie year and just said,
you know, you can't stop me, and I said, I know,
there's there's just nothing else to say. You're Larry Bird
and I and I and I got that kind of
you know, seasoning from Magic Johnson too, because I was
right there in town when I should see him at
(25:24):
grocery stores around l A and you know, at the
gas station sometimes, or we're all going into practice because
we practiced the same practice site at Loyola Marymount back
in those days, and Magic would just come up to
me and talk to me and then turn around and
kick my butt. I said, I don't know which one
I like.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
I like the.
Speaker 7 (25:43):
Quiet bird kick your butt thing, then Magic shaking your hands.
You know, I'm going at you right, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thank you for the stories, Michael, and good luck the
rest of the series there.
Speaker 7 (25:56):
Thanks Dan, great great having me man enjoy the rest
of the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
That's Michael.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
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 app. Big Doings
with College Athletics NCAA settlement opens the door for schools
to pay athletes directly. Paul Finebam, hosts of The Paul
Fine Bomb show, Voice of the SEC joining us on
(26:23):
the program. All right, what does this mean for the fan?
Let me start out. Let's just say college football fan.
What is this going to mean now, five years down,
ten years down the road?
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Dan?
Speaker 10 (26:36):
It means very little really because this is all complicated,
a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. What I think if
it will really mean though, if you're a fan of
a group of five school, if you're a fan of
a school somewhere in the middle, get ready for hard times.
This is only going to help the rich. You heard
that before. The big leagues, the Big ten, the SEC
(27:00):
will more than likely profit because they have so much money.
Women's sports, in my opinion, will be hurt. Olympic sports
will be crushed. Football wins basketball. Other than maybe the
Big East takes a slight back seat.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
What happens to the NCUBA.
Speaker 10 (27:20):
The NCAA is essentially dead, and I know a lot
of people are celebrating, but the damage that has been
done by this organization is incalculable and it's really about time.
What did we grow up thinking about when we thought
of the NCAA, Dan, the enforcement part of it. The
big bad NCUBA is coming to your town. They don't
(27:42):
even have any jurisdiction for that anymore, by the way,
not that they have in about the last five years.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
They've been completely ineffective.
Speaker 10 (27:50):
So if you're the NCAA president who happens to be
Charlie Baker, you get the fly around on a luxury plane,
you work in a taj mahal, you stay at five
star resorts, but essentially you have absolutely nothing to do
but try to look busy.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Is Division one too big?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yes? Right now?
Speaker 10 (28:11):
In college sports. Piggybacking off of what I said in
the preamble, it's really about the top. It's pyramid, and
the idea that a college basketball tournament, which used to
be one of the greatest moments on the calendar, has
now been reduced to a battle of the elite, is
really unfortunate. But there's no way if you're a small
(28:35):
college basketball program like a Butler ten years ago or
some of these other programs that have just been so
exciting Davidson making a run with Steph Curry, you really
don't have a chance. And I know that sounds deflating,
but and even if you are good, if you have
a junior or a sophomore, he's going to one of
(28:56):
the top teams for his final year.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
He's not sticking around.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
A couple of things that came to mind is nil,
the transfer portal, signing contracts that might make it tougher
to transfer, Can schools buy out a player from his
and I mean, I don't. It's the wild while West.
So these are all these questions that I had, So
(29:23):
pick one of those if you've got a juicy answer.
Speaker 10 (29:27):
Yeah, I mean, right now, the biggest issue in college
athletics is the portals. That's what coaches scream about because
they're constantly on the go having to re recruit their roster.
So I think that's really where the action is. I'm
not sure this agreement is going to affect that, and
I don't mean to be one of those guys that
says it's actually going to get worse in some regard,
(29:48):
but there are going to be more lawsuits and I
think you're going to see Title nine lawsuits about where
does I mean, right after we've had the greatest explosion
of women's sports, especially in basketball ball, women's softball, now
it's going to be curtailed. What is really going on,
and it's very much out in the open, is the
commissioners of college sports want federal intervention. It's interesting Dan
(30:12):
that yesterday up in New Jersey, the athletic director and
Notre Dame who used to be in the PGA, so
he knew the president very well from his days there,
and the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Zanki, played
golf with Donald Trump with the idea of trying to
get him to do what Congress has not done in
four or five years. Despite a lot of smoke, and
(30:34):
I'm not a political analyst, this president has quite a
bully pulpit, and he does seem, at least for the
time being, to be very interested in college athletics. And
some of that is because he's a sports fan. He's
gone to a number of games, he likes the arena,
so he could help in the short term. But from
a legal standpoint, almost everything will be challenged at some point.
(30:58):
But the idea of Congress making, you know, giving college
athletics an anti trust exemption, limiting college athletes in terms
of what they can make, I think it still remains
fairly slim.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Paul Fine bamb of the Mothership, The Paul Fine Baumb Show,
The Voice of the SEC also schools are going to
get twenty and a half million dollars to play with.
And where does that money come from.
Speaker 10 (31:25):
It comes from the same place that it's always coming from, donations, boosters.
I mean, that's all I saw Kirby's mart the other day.
He was on his way to a fundraiser. That's all
they do. They recruit and fundraised. They don't do a
lot of coaching in the off season. And ultimately, if
you have fat cats. And in some ways they believe
(31:46):
that this new agreement is going to cut the billionaire
booster like the one in Miami a couple of years ago,
the one that Texas take out.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
I don't think so, Dan, You're never going to cut
those guys out.
Speaker 10 (31:57):
And the idea that they hired an next Major League
Baseball official who is a former US attorney, He's going
to be in charge of enforcements.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Please, that's not going to happen.
Speaker 10 (32:08):
Every school will challenge anything that comes down the pipe
like like we've seen in recent years, and there will
be no enforcement whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
The transfer portal thing is I think what that's what
drives coaches crazy. And I mean, you're poaching guys, you know,
when they were playing in you know, the playoffs college
football playoffs. There were two players that I was told
they're negotiating to play someplace. Having that window we've talked about,
(32:44):
is there a way to make the transfer portal the
window smaller to be fair to those playing in playoff games,
to these coaches as well.
Speaker 10 (32:55):
Yes, I mean there's two transfer portals right now. The
second one is not particularly that's that one just ended
a couple of weeks ago, but the one right after
the season is. And the problem is that where do
you put it right now? It lands right after the
championship games, but before the bowl in playoff games. And
(33:15):
the story is pretty famous about the backup quarterback at
Penn State last year just he decided to leave and
you know they didn't need him, but ultimately it could
have been a disaster. So I don't think there's anywhere
to put that, because nowadays you don't want to wait
to right now to get your your seniors into on
(33:36):
your campus. You will all the great programs get the
best players in December before that's in December of their
senior year, dan not not afterwards, And so the portal
has to be there, and and I don't think they
can do much about it.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
It just feels like we're eventually going to get to
fifty schools, right, and that's where we're headed right.
Speaker 10 (34:02):
Right, And we're also going to get collective bargaining at
some point. I don't know why college administrators just don't
want to admit that they're paying the players. But as
soon as I say this, and we know everything that
has happened, you'll get You'll get an athletic director on
your show next week or a coach and he'll use
this phrase, Dan, you know the student athletes, please don't
because that's the most laughable statement and word, well, not
(34:27):
the most laughable, but at least in the college sports
parlance right now. But they they're stuck on it, and
they just want to act like this isn't really going
on around them. It reminds me of the piano player
in the House of Bill Reputed as people are as
businessmen are walking up and down, they're just playing the piano.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
I think, like they're not seeing a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I want to centralize college football office scheduling.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Good luck, can we? I mean, I like what you're
going where you're going, Dan.
Speaker 10 (34:55):
The problem is that you have these four power four commissioners,
and they are essentially like the bosses of the of
the of the New York families back in the day.
Brooklyn's not giving into Staten Island and Manhattan's not giving
into Queens. They meet twice a year at the best
Italian restaurant in Little Italy and that you hope nobody
(35:16):
gets killed.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
But it's all about money, Paul, and there's more money
to be made. They love making their money. So at
some point in my lifetime, I think we get to
fifty colleges and you are playing, and then there's everybody else.
I just think, and there's going to be some schools
that might go, you know what, We're going to drop football.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
It's, uh, we don't want to spend.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Money or you know, these these these are strange, so
maybe you do, you know, drop divisions.
Speaker 10 (35:49):
But the one thing I'll say, and I'm not a Pollyanna,
but you know, come September on a Saturday night, when
we're watching Ohio State and Texas and our manning has
the ball on fourth and one, the goal on, we
won't care about any of these things. The games are fantastic,
just like everything that you're watching in hockey and basketball,
(36:10):
but the offseason is just brutal.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, but when it's November eighth and it's Georgia versus Mercer,
then I have a problem with that, Paul.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
I agree.
Speaker 10 (36:20):
But nowadays, because the playoffs remains as convoluted as ever,
we're going to get at least three of the two.
Every every program at least and is going to is
going to have at least two of those games. I mean,
look at some of the schedules. Penn State has an
embarrassing non conference schedule this year, and they're one of
the favorites to win the national championship.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Good to talk to you, Paul, as always, thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That's Paul Finbaugh.
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