August 7, 2026 • 36 mins
"The Rich Eisen Show" host Rich Eisen gives the scene from Canton and looks back on his favorite memories from Hall of Fame weekend. "Pablo Torre Finds Out" host Pablo Torre discusses his latest report with on Kawhi Leonard situation, sharing how an already complicated situation has yet another wrinkle in the story. Former college football HC and current analyst, Rick Neuheisel gives his thoughts on the Purdue AD's comments about Indiana and looks back on bulletin board material when he was the HC at UCLA.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
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):
He's Rich Eisen, host to the Rich Eisen Show on
ESPN Radio. He'll be hosting the Pro Football Hall of
Fame induction ceremony on Saturday. Rich joins us from Canton.
Actually where are you right now?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I am in the presentation center inside the Pro Football
Hall of Fame Museum in Canton, Ohio.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
I'll be doing my show from here at noon Eastern.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And you know, this is giving you a little behind
the scenes bts and I'm you know, just hold on
a second.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Can you hold all the work please? You know you
taught me to do.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That a long time ago, just to make sure everyone
we're live, you know, like, can you hold the And
they've held the work, Dan, They've held the work.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
And that's the scene. That's the scene set. That's my
scene set.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Are you comfortable saying that's the greatest Hall of Fame
game in NFL history?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well, I mean there aren't many walkoffs, right, we don't
have any walkoffs. Tarico and Collinsworth called it as if
it was the Super Bowl. That was fun, But that
was great, Yeah, I mean, you know, we we saw
deep ball leading to a big, massive hit, So you know,
it definitely allows us all to say football's back.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That that was a fun finish.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
And Haines King preesteing the end zone with no time
left out have been great. If Dave Canalis like, we're
just going to kick the field, let's play for overtime,
you know, that'd been fun.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
But that was that was good. I mean, and the
folks here in Ken deserve it.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Dan Sure, dude, Uh, it feels like, you know, we tried,
we remind ourself, don't over reac, don't over reen. But
if you're a Cardinal fan, can is it okay to
overreact just a little bit that you saw Carson Beck
play really well?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Of course?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Of course, I mean, there's lots to be excited about that.
Carson Beck is possibly the next quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
That they did get their guy.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
That's the renewal of hope that we get every single year,
whether it's at the combine. People watch the combine, they're like,
that guy, that's the guy I need on my team
because he can change the fortunes. And whether it's a
draft or or its preseason and then the realities of
football for many teams unfortunately arrive. One of them could
(02:44):
be you know, Arizona looking around in their neighborhood and
seeing the defending super Bowl champs and the team that
that team beats, that could have been to the super Bowl,
that has the MVP and Miles Garrett and possibly Aaron Donald.
At any moment in time, we could check our watches
and then obviously San Francisco is no pushover. But for
the time being, sure, take take your time, take it in.
(03:06):
You got a new coach, you got a new quarterback
potentially for the future, You've got a new running back.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
You've got a lot to be hopeful for. That's what
this time of year's about.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Foregun conclusion, Aaron Donald's coming back.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Okay, we have a segment on my show Dan we've
called it. Is he back yet? That's what it's called
because I mean, if you're gonna go through the paces,
you're gonna go start doing this now, You're gonna start
practicing in a helmet unless he just decides, you know what,
(03:41):
I just I'm not ready for the riggers.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I don't I don't know. I don't foresee that. I
think he is absolutely coming back. I think that is
going to be one of the greatest handful of history
of the game. You know, I'm no I'm speaking from
a spot where there's many busts of handfuls, but there'll be.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Spots across the hall.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I'm wipe down the hallway from the bus gallery, Donald
and Garrett are going to be there. And the great
thing about it is the more you and I or
everyone else in our industry talks about it, the more
Seattle gets pissed, the more Dallas gets pissed.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
The more the chiefs that name anybody.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
That's on your list of Super Bowl contenders, they get
pissed because they know football is more than just two
of fifty three. I can't wait to watch it play out.
Don't you think he's coming back?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Dan? Like it's a foregone conclusion.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I would have said if he wanted to play home games,
I was fine with that. He didn't have to travel
in my opinion. You know, if he doesn't want to
show up to camp until the last week of camp,
as long as he's ready to go, when he's ready
to go on his schedule, then yes, I think he's
going to play. And this is one of those I
liken it to Jalen Brown goes to the Sixers. I
(04:56):
don't think Lebron goes to the Sixers. If Jalen Brown
doesn't there, Miles Garrett goes to the Ram one hundred percent,
I don't think Aaron Donald comes back to play unless
they get Miles Garrett one.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
He's he's sitting at home getting ready for kids drop off,
you know what I mean? Like that, that's what he
would be doing if Miles Garrett was still a Cleveland
Brown or he went somewhere else. And that's pretty damn
exciting too, you know so. I also like in what
you just said, to name your schedule, Aaron, you name it.
We'll be open to anything or any any idea in
(05:34):
the same way that the sexers are. Like you want
to live in New York and take a helicopter, Lebron,
you know, sure, go for it. You know that that
that is one hundred percent the analogy And I can't
wait to watch a playoff for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Rich Eisen Show coming up at noon Eastern on ESPN Radio,
hosting the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Saturday.
What is your role as the host?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Uh oh, I'm hosting the ESPN coverage.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Actually with ESPN now having NFL Network and it's fold
I'll be on the set Nooneaster with Kurt Warner and
Lewis Ridick simulcasting the Saturday coverage.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
The official role I've got here at the.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Hall is tonight for the Jacket Dinner, which is just
the jewel of the weekend that nobody really sees. It
is the first tangible item a Hall of Famer receives
to make the reality of their football immortality.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Dawn on them.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It is a highly emotionally charged event where they're all
introduced one by one. They walk through a gauntlet of
all the returning Hall of Famers to the center stage
where they receive their jacket.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
In the past, this.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Is when Sterling and Shannon Sharp hugged it out and
we're crying as Sterling slipped the jacket on Shannon. Or
the other year where Shannon did it to Sterling, the
year that Sterling did it for Shannon. I'll never forget
that one because it was again highly emotional, and the
two of them hugging it out and crying wound up
on the front page of the Canton Repository newspaper, And
(07:10):
the next morning I walked into the hotel where all
the Hall of famers were Dan and I walked in
to the lobby and there were only three people Jannon
and Sterling getting an earful from the guy who was
holding their photograph up at the from the previous night
(07:30):
of them crying in the newspaper, and it was Deacon
Jones telling them in the most profane manner that there's
no crying in football and how.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Dare you do this the night before?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Like today's the day the drug induction, Today's the day
you're allowed to cry, but even for a second, And
he was f bombing them, and it was one of.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
The greatest things I've ever witnessed.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's one of those moments you turn around like anybody
else seeing this, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
So that's what the night's about.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
But they have given it a new twist here with
h They don't have your presenter slip the jacket on
your induction presenter. You now choose somebody who's returning from
the Hall of Fame. It could be anybody to put
the jacket on you, and it makes for some interesting combinations.
Joe Thomas asked for Jerome Bettis to put the jacket
(08:20):
on him and many Browns fans who.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Are here stat.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Actual Cleveland brown going into the Hall of Fame, like
you're choosing a steeler, Like what gives? It's just that
Joe respected Jerome and and and it's a neat thing.
It's just and that's tonight and then tomorrow's the ceremony itself.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Great to talk to you, have fun and uh, I'll
see you in a week.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
That's right, Dan? How how is the how's everything going
for that? Where are we? So do I get to
finally reverse the question to you? Are you nervous?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I will be nervous, Yes, I will be I'll be nervous.
Uh yeah, I'm on a need to know basis. Okay,
I just take direction. I got one thing to do,
and that's get through the speech. The father daughter dance.
I'm not worried about that. Just once the speech is done,
probably do a shot and then uh we'll fly me
(09:21):
to the moon and go out there and dominate on
the dance floor.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
So is that the song? Is that the song? Okay?
Speaker 6 (09:30):
For you?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
You know?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Yeah? I could do it.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
You know I can sing it for you if you
need any any you know to insert myself into your
father the moment, you know, but I'm going to serve.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Uh Dan, Dan Hicks of NBC can sing Sinatra pretty well.
I don't know if you can sing Sinatra.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Well. Is this are you creating sort of a ron
Bergen d type moment where we're gonna have a fight.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Is that what you're saying. We're gonna step outside for
the right.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I don't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
But the walking down the aisle, that moment is going
to be the there's.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Gonna be moment, isn't it. That'll be bad.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, great, Yes, that'll be just trying not to make
eye contact.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Try not to make eye contact with anybody.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I can't wait. It's gonna be great, Penny asked Susan.
I will be honored to be there to watch watch
it all go down, Dan, We'll be there.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
This bar reception will probably be a little livelier than yours.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
In the see I was waiting, I was, I saw
the wheels turn there, I was waiting. We were taking
family pictures, Dan, But you got behind the bar and
started handing out drinks to everybody.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
So that's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
But I understand, okay, I was. I was busy wife.
I went to a friend of ours wedding, Bill Fairweather,
and Billy is a festive guy. Yeah, Billy, Billy fn Fairweather.
And at one point I thought the party was lame,
(11:12):
the reception, and I started ripping the sleeves off of guys' shirts.
Don't ask me why, but a guy had his tuxedo
shirt on it. I said, did you buy that or
rent it? He said, I own it? And I we
started tearing off sleeves and we were we were drinking
shots of seagrums and I'm going, what is going on here?
Speaker 5 (11:36):
This is sad, sad, So this will be faster.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
For you to run the show. I look forward to it, Dan,
I look forward to it.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Thank Thank you, Rich, Thank you Rich. That's Rich Eisen,
host of The Rich Iison Show.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fuck Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Hey, It's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio we are
excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
That's right, you can now watch the Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Pablo Tory uncovers Kawhi Leonard's other hidden secret spon sponsorship.
Here tonight, Pablo Tory finds out releases its latest installment
of the saga that continues to linger here over the
Clippers and the NBA. All right, so what's the update
here and what does that mean? Bigger picture?
Speaker 6 (12:55):
Pablo Hi Dan, we are brought together once again by
an alleged secret sponsorship deal for Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Always good to see you like this.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
What we're reporting is that two days after I published
part one of my now thirteen part investigation, which I say,
knowing how ridiculous that sounds, I'll fully cop to it.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
This is a thirteen part serialized novel.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
At this point, but it's actually an investigation right as
an investigative series. And two days after we dropped part one,
what happened was I got a tip saying that there
is another secret sponsorship for Kawhi Leonard that was one
thousand percent. That is a quote, one thousand percent designed
to circumvent the salary cap. And I've spent the last
eleven months trying to fact check that, confirm it, further
(13:42):
report the story of why that would be, how it
would be, And it turns out that yes, according to
our reporting, we have two sources, two high level sources,
one who was under contract with the Clippers into a
don't project, the other a former Clippers high level source.
They both say that the jump tron manufacturer, Daktronics, which
(14:03):
you may not know by name, but you certainly know
by sight. Then why are you laughing? Jumbo tron manufacturers
are very very famous. Obviously this one, this one is
the one that built the Halo board. This is the
one hundred million dollar project that Steve Baumer built to
create the greatest JumboTron and human history. And Kawhi Leonard,
(14:24):
according to our reporting, had a secret, unannounced, no evidence
that he did anything for it, multimillion dollar sponsorship for
that company, which and I'll just beg one more bit
of time here, because Daktronics had never hired a celebrity
spokesperson or sponsor or endorser or partner like this before
(14:46):
or since, and so hard to explain Otherwise, I would.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Say, given these sponsorship deals and his salary, how much
money was Kawhi Leonard making a year?
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Well, it is.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
It's a number that we're constantly chasing, and that is
constantly changing, which is why we chase it. Look, he was,
of course a max player in the NBA. What's interesting though,
in that this timeframe we're talking about is actually after
Aspiration collapses. So we're looking at twenty twenty three and
Aspiration is going bankrupt. It's under federal investigation by the
(15:24):
end of that year. And so that deal, I'll just
remind people, was twenty eight million dollars under contract for
a no show endorsement deal that was never announced. If
this is it's sounding familiar, let me know. And also
a twenty million dollar equity deal in the company that
was guaranteed to him. So that's forty eight million dollars
in total value that was guaranteed to Kawhi Leonard on
top of his NBA contract.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
And that's just that.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
But Aspiration, according to our reporting, is struggling to make
the payments in twenty twenty three, of course, and what
happens next is the story of these last two.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Episodes we've now done.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
And what's so interesting Dan answer your question in this context,
January twenty twenty four comes around and Kawhi Leonard does
something shocking to NBA media. Certainly he takes less than
the max. And so if you just put this all together, right,
a guy who truly is here to earn as much
as he possibly can and beyond, decides to take less
(16:22):
from the Clippers to extend in January of twenty twenty four,
while also still being owed money from this team sponsor, Aspiration,
which according to the bankruptcy filing we obtained, owes him
at least seven million dollars. And so why and how
does he do that? Is what leads me to the
story of Daktronics. And so we don't know how many
millions of dollars we're in the Daktronics deal. We are actively,
(16:44):
of course, interested in finding that number. But when you're
talking about what was he paid beyond the cap, we're
talking about the largest alleged salary caps or convention scheme
in the history of sports, right, We're talking about something
that ranges into the fifty plus million dollars if that
would be a reasonable projection beyond what he was allowed
to be paid.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
That's just based on inferences on our reporting.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Which brings me to when you request to speak to
the Clippers owner Steve Balmer, the response is what.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
The Clippers have stopped responding to our request for comment.
We tell them what it's going to be in the episodes.
For months now they've stopped responding. They used to say
stuff like this is all provably false. And I've learned
in the story Dan that words are very carefully chosen
by lawyers.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
I didn't go to law school.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
I didn't make it to that point, but I've been
told that words are important in legal proceedings. Provably false
is a big claim, and it's been it's August seventh,
I believe, and it's been eleven to twelve months, right,
a year almost that we've been waiting to show how
this is provably false. What I started reporting with aspiration,
(17:53):
that's now into a second hidden sponsorship. And so we
always ask, and what's so interesting about this story? Because
request for comment is really important to us to get
it right. We went to Daktronics. We went to the
company itself and asked all of these questions, and what
our colleague and collaborator, Sam Koppleman learned is that Daktronics
(18:16):
wanted a The first response was, here's our general counsel
talk to them. And Kawhi Leonard had not even been
mentioned yet, So I was like, okay, so something already,
They're on alert. Then they send us to a crisis
comms firm, and you love when those enter the room
because apparently there's now a crisis, and we still are
wondering what do they think the crisis is, because we
(18:37):
have a sense, but we haven't even started talking about
that yet. And that crisis comes firm, and this is
really important. They say two things that I want to
quote for you here. One is quote my understanding is
Daktronics doesn't have a deal with Kawhi right now, and
I think the tense of right now is a useful
thing to handing the lantern on for a second. Here,
(18:59):
right now is the tense that they stand behind on
the record. The second sentence they say is, quote, I
don't know what the company this is.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
The crisis comes firm.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
I don't know what the company Daktronics wants to say
or can say given the walk Tell investigation.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
End quote, and that is the crisis.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
Comms firm volunteering the name of the law firm that
the NBA hired to investigate the Clippers for secret no
show sponsorships for Kawhi Leonard. And so at this point
you're like, Okay, you're realizing this is of great interest
to Dectronics.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
They're familiar with this investigation.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
In fact, they've been managing the crisis of it before
we called. And so now when it comes to getting
questions and responses about did you have any proof that
Kui did anything, how much was the deal for, when
did it start, there is no further comment or response.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I'm wondering, though, how this plays out if these things
are true the NBA. You start with, Steve, I don't
know what you can do with Kawhi Leonard, but give
me the scenario or scenarios that you think that how
this plays out.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Yeah, so all of this got phenomenally I think concrete
and tangible. When the trade Kawhi Leonard is traded from
the Clippers to the Raptors to the team. By the way,
that originally alleged in twenty nineteen that Kawhi Leonard and
Dennis Roberts and his uncle unlicensed agent, had requested benefits
beyond the salary cap in violation of the CBA. These
(20:31):
include no show jobs. These include equity in the companies
that they were hoping to get in business with through
the team. So the Raptors, I say that to say,
the Raptors know the backstage of this with unusual clarity
as that timeline twenty nineteen is concerned, and so they
want to trade for Kawhi Leonard. But what happens is,
(20:51):
of course the trade is frozen. And what I've been
told and what has now been reported, is that the
change is that the NBA puts in front of the
Raptors a piece of paper effectively indemnifies the NBA, the
league itself, and the Clippers from any legal resource or
negotiation if there are punishments specific to Kawhi Leonard, because
those punishments will travel with the player to Toronto. If
(21:14):
you pay X, you're getting whatever Kawhi ends up being
post punishment. And the Raptors, in their perhaps eternal wisdom
and this backdrop, say then we're not signing this, and
therefore the trade is not proceeding, and so that trade
has been frozen for weeks obviously, and so the question
of what happens next is when is this ruling gonna
(21:36):
come down? Will this ruling speak to the things that
I've been publicly reporting that have been vetted by now,
of course months of careful investigation in multiple sources. Will
that ruling speak to those things? Will there be a punishment,
Will the raptors want to proceed.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
With this deal?
Speaker 6 (21:55):
And if there is a punishment beyond Kawhi Leonard, because
again that's specific to Kauhi alone, how does this possibly
avoid touching the richest owner in American sports? Steve Bouber,
the guy who was across every bit of this, and Dan,
perhaps in the superlative I gave him, you can detect
some of the cynicism and the concern that when you're
the richest owner in American sports, the game you're playing,
(22:17):
even in legal recourse and certainly punishment, it is different
from even the normal billionaires that you might have to
deal with as commissioner.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Has the NBA's investigators talked to you, They reached out
months ago.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
I met with them, I handed them a bunch of paperwork,
particular to aspiration, signed contracts, financial documents, and I encouraged
them to take all of it as seriously as they can,
because I think there's a lot more here. Even then
I can get to as a guy who has you know,
(22:57):
Dan Lebtard as his bleeping boss and one lawyer helping me.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
So we don't exactly.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Have the resources of a multinational enterprise. But I think
that Wachtel, in listening to the podcast, has a lot
to go on, and my hope is that they're doing
exactly that.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Any chance Steve Baumer is in jeopardy of losing the
Clippers being able to own them.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
I think the question is an Adam Silver question, right,
And this is what's so interesting. Adam Silver is not
his mentor, David Stern. Adam Silver is actually the guy
who welcomes Steve balmer in in replacement of Donald Sterling
and was hailed as this almost Aristotelian, brilliant progressive leader
in comparison to all the other commissioners Roger Goodell namely
(23:49):
at that time. And so now he is bookending perhaps
his tenure with the same guy being an even.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
Bigger problem a complicated problem.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
And so if you're Adam Silver and in twenty nineteen
when you cleared the Clippers and Steve Balmer of cap
cir convention after investigating the Raptors claims and the Lakers claims,
what you've done, by the way on the record to
say salary caps or convention is the cardinal rule of
the NBA.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And I think.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Underpinning all of this dand the moment we're in with
sports gambling as the NBA balances a gambling scandal, an
investigation that we've been covering on the show as well,
when they're balancing all of the other caps are convention
theories out there, Gary prent Junior as being the latest
hypothesis someone has is the question of whether the rules
matter and if you break the rules as have been
(24:37):
alleged by multiple episodes here of my show and now elsewhere,
the question is how do you possibly make it so
that the cardinal rule is actually treated like it and
so by any standard of fake NBA law because these
are all fake laws. These are all collectively bargain rules
that you got to enforce. I think everything should be
(25:00):
on the table realistically in terms of the money and
if you follow it. I think there's a very real
chance that Steve Ballmer emerges relatively unscathed, which is kind
of insane to me according to my reporting.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Great stuff, Pablo, thanks for joining us as always, and
good luck with Dan Levittard.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
I'm going to need all of it Dan, as you
know with him.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
So appreciated.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Pablo Tory finds out with meadow Lark Media.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
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 spring in.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Rick Neuheisel, former college coach at UCLA and Washington and Colorado,
now a CBS analyst, how would you feel if your
produce head coach Barry Odom after you hear that from
your athletic director.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
I feel exactly like I did. What I was at
UCLA and Pete Carroll had things going at sc and
they put out a full page ad the La Times
that monopoly is over. I was like, hey, easy, now,
easy now, Yeah, he is a one way to start.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Tommy's not afraid.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
But were you told about the ad in the La
Times the monopoly?
Speaker 8 (26:23):
Oh? I was actually I was actually apologized to We
don't need to put that kind of heat on you.
I said, hey, let's own it. Let's go, but let's
get the resources. Don't take a knife to a gunfight.
Let's so we'll see how Barry Odam does, hopefully better
than he did when he was aboard that bowl when
he was in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
How how did UCLA do against USC that year? Not well,
twenty eight seven got stuffed. Yeah, it was unfortunate. We
didn't exactly have the resources. I called out the coaches
earlier this week. You know you have the Coach's poll,
and I said, the people who watch the least amount
(27:05):
of college football are coaches, because you can't. You only
care about the opponent you had and the opponent coming up.
Who voted when you were at UCLA, Washington, Colorado? Who
voted in the coaches poll for you? It was always
our sports information guy. It was Dave Platty at Colorado,
Mark Dellen's at UCLA, Jim Daves at Washington, those guys
(27:32):
you know, keeping track hit. They'd bring me a list.
I'd say, well, move these guys one spot and away
we go. Because you're right, there is no time to
spend surveying everybody else in the country. You've got to
just look after your own, Yeah, because you don't want
to walk into a press conference and have somebody blindside
(27:52):
you and say why did this school get a first
place vote.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
From you and you not be aware of it.
Speaker 8 (27:59):
No, exactly right, And now that they put your name
on it at the end, maybe you better know exactly
what the hell went on that list. But yeah, you
don't have time for that. That is absolutely correct.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Let me go back to Indiana and the run that
they had. How sustainable is this?
Speaker 8 (28:19):
Well, I'm not gonna put anything past Kurt Signetti because
what he's done has been incredible.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
The Church of Signetti is full.
Speaker 8 (28:29):
Parishioners come from far and wide now to watch what
is taking place there. The Mendoza story is one for
the ages. The sixteen and o story is one for
the ages. I can't remember a more surprising something happening
in sport than that that was in my lifetime. That
(28:51):
was just incredible. You know, the Indiana program that was worse,
had more losses than anybody else in the history of
college football. To go sixteen and oh and in against
the formidable teams that they just and to beat Alabama
thirty eight to three. I actually said thirty five to
three when I had Signetti in the chair at the
(29:11):
Big Ten Media Days, and he corrected me, thirty eight
to three. Yeah, don't take that field goal from me.
Oregon and then Miami in Miami, it is a run
for the age is remarkable, to say the least brought.
I think they I think I think Hoover's, you know,
reasonable replacement for Mendoza. We'll see if he can keep
(29:33):
from having the the errant you know, turnover. If he
if he if he cleans that up, they're gonna be
They're gonna be good again.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Talking to former coach Rick newhisl CBS Sports College Football analyst,
I was mentioning the coaches top ten and I was
putting price tags their roster next to their ranking. Right,
you got to be spending at least forty million some
next year we're going to be knocking on the door
going past fifty million dollars. The return on investment, Like,
(30:04):
how sustainable is this for these schools to be spending
this kind of money.
Speaker 8 (30:10):
Well, that's a fascinating question. I think we're going to
be in a survival of the fittest until the new
television contracts come up, which is around twenty thirty. I
think we're just in an era where we're just.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Dealing with that.
Speaker 8 (30:23):
You can see that private equity is kind of sniffing around.
You see the stories out of LSU and what they're
talking about doing down there. I think everybody's having these conversations.
We can't go very much longer. The numbers are going crazy.
Brian Kelly just joined us at CBS. He says the
numbers at noted aimert fifty million, so and he's sitting
(30:45):
there going I couldn't get a penny out of them
for a long time while I was sitting there trying
to get facilities built. But it is a wild wild West,
as it's been dubbed many times.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
It's crazy out there.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, the President urging Congress to pass the Protect College
Sports Act before recess here, how important is that act
to pass?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
I think it's a huge deal.
Speaker 8 (31:15):
And now that the big ten in the SEC have
put their endorsement on the bill, it would be wonderful
to get that done. But it has to happen today
because they go on recess this afternoon, and if they
don't get that done. There's going to be other things
that are more important when they come back. With the
(31:35):
midterms coming up.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
I saw where you were working with Brendan Soorsby, the
former quarterback of Texas Tech. Now I don't know what
working means. I know that your former college quarterback and
you coach quarterbacks in the NFL. How are you or
were you working with Brendan Soorsby.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
All I did then is I reached out to them.
Speaker 8 (31:57):
I felt terribly for how he had become in the
eye of the storm, you know, the kind of the
focal point.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
I think the.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
Bigger issue obviously he did something that was wrong.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Can't bet on your own team. He didn't do it
while he was playing.
Speaker 8 (32:14):
He had a phone where he got into it and
you know, started betting on balls and strikes, and you
know it got away from it and hopefully that's behind him.
But I remember having been kind of put into the
public scorn for having been in a basketball pool, and
I became very bitter about who would you know, throw
(32:35):
me to the Wolves for doing something that's so commonplace.
And I just wanted to tell Brennan and his father
that bitterness only impacts you.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Just just just move on.
Speaker 8 (32:49):
There'll be a better day, and you just got to
be confident that that day will come. And I'm hoping
that he can get to the Senior Bowl a year
from now, that he can get to you know, the
combine and show his wares. And obviously I'm coaching in
that UFL if it were a place that he wanted
to go. Remember, Hunter Decker's the kid who couldn't play
(33:11):
at Iowa State any longer for a similar deal, ended
up being a quarterback in Houston for Kevin Someone. And
now I think he's in the New Orleans Saints camp,
so there's going to be a better day for him.
I just wanted to reach out and say, you know,
this isn't so much about you.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
It was about all that was going on.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
There was a little bit of a jealousy about how
much money Texas Tech had, and so it became a
big story that he just happened to be the target.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
And I just wanted him to know there'll be better days.
Don't get caught up and who got you? Just move on.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, I suggested, just like I did to Pete Rose,
if you want to give back, you want to show
an act of contrition. Volunteer to go around to colleges
and even high schools and just say and have people
film it, like you can make this something positive if
you want to. Pete never did that, and I believe
if he had done that, falling on his sword, he
(34:08):
probably would have gotten on the ballot to go into
the Hall of Fame. And maybe maybe Soresby gets a chance,
you know, to prove that he can still play football.
Speaker 8 (34:16):
He's a nice kid. I enjoyed talking to him. His
father is a nice guy. I'm hopeful that that can
be the case. And you know, he actually wanted to
stay for a time at Texas Tech and be the
scout team quarterback, but it felt like he was going
to be too much of a distraction. So he's just
working out and fingers crossed that something good happens for
(34:37):
him here down alone. And if it was a gambling addiction,
that that's behind him.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
The most pressure to win this year? Which college coach
would you say, I'm looking at you.
Speaker 8 (34:50):
Oh, there's a lot of pressure on Lincoln Riley because
the Trojans have never been to the college Football Playoff
and they feel like they've got all the pieces this year.
You know, they have to get back into the elite
category where I think the Trojan fans believe they should
be a lot of pressure on in my mind, Steve Sarkeesian,
(35:11):
because Texas has everything. I would say the same at
for Dan Lanning with Dante Moore coming back, But maybe
the most pressure given the schedule, given what is going on,
is Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman has it all. He's got
this CJ. Carr, who everybody said at the Manning Passing
(35:31):
Academy was the best guy there. And he's got a
schedule that might be as ready made. I mean, he's
supposed to be like a double digit favorite until November
Miami comes to town.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
That's going to be an epic game.
Speaker 8 (35:46):
If you beat him in front of the home crowd,
then you go to BYU and then you have SMU
coming to town. We'll wait and see what the Mustangs
look like. But that's a schedule that's manageable. It'll be
interesting to see and if Marcus Freeman manages it, keeps
that Northern Illinois game from happening. Uh, the Irish are
going to be right there.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I'd say, Lane Kiffin, you know that game against Old
Miss Now I know, Oh, my.
Speaker 8 (36:09):
Goodness, don't you want to just walk in with him
to the grove.
Speaker 5 (36:13):
No, I don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
When I'm going to steer clear, I'm going to be
as far away from Lane when he wants in.
Speaker 8 (36:20):
That That is going to be the most anticipated pregame
in the history of football.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
He'll eat it up.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
He'll eat it up. We'll talk soon. Thanks about the
all the best, buddy,
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's Rich Eisen, host to the Rich Eisen Show on
ESPN Radio. He'll be hosting the Pro Football Hall of
Fame induction ceremony on Saturday. Rich joins us from Canton.
Actually where are you right now?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I am in the presentation center inside the Pro Football
Hall of Fame Museum in Canton, Ohio.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
I'll be doing my show from here at noon Eastern.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And you know, this is giving you a little behind
the scenes bts and I'm you know, just hold on
a second.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Can you hold all the work please? You know you
taught me to do.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That a long time ago, just to make sure everyone
we're live, you know, like, can you hold the And
they've held the work, Dan, They've held the work.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
And that's the scene. That's the scene set. That's my
scene set.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Are you comfortable saying that's the greatest Hall of Fame
game in NFL history?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well, I mean there aren't many walkoffs, right, we don't
have any walkoffs. Tarico and Collinsworth called it as if
it was the Super Bowl. That was fun, But that
was great, Yeah, I mean, you know, we we saw
deep ball leading to a big, massive hit, So you know,
it definitely allows us all to say football's back.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That that was a fun finish.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
And Haines King preesteing the end zone with no time
left out have been great. If Dave Canalis like, we're
just going to kick the field, let's play for overtime,
you know, that'd been fun.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
But that was that was good. I mean, and the
folks here in Ken deserve it.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Dan Sure, dude, Uh, it feels like, you know, we tried,
we remind ourself, don't over reac, don't over reen. But
if you're a Cardinal fan, can is it okay to
overreact just a little bit that you saw Carson Beck
play really well?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Of course?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Of course, I mean, there's lots to be excited about that.
Carson Beck is possibly the next quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
That they did get their guy.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
That's the renewal of hope that we get every single year,
whether it's at the combine. People watch the combine, they're like,
that guy, that's the guy I need on my team
because he can change the fortunes. And whether it's a
draft or or its preseason and then the realities of
football for many teams unfortunately arrive. One of them could
(02:44):
be you know, Arizona looking around in their neighborhood and
seeing the defending super Bowl champs and the team that
that team beats, that could have been to the super Bowl,
that has the MVP and Miles Garrett and possibly Aaron Donald.
At any moment in time, we could check our watches
and then obviously San Francisco is no pushover. But for
the time being, sure, take take your time, take it in.
(03:06):
You got a new coach, you got a new quarterback
potentially for the future, You've got a new running back.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
You've got a lot to be hopeful for. That's what
this time of year's about.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Foregun conclusion, Aaron Donald's coming back.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Okay, we have a segment on my show Dan we've
called it. Is he back yet? That's what it's called
because I mean, if you're gonna go through the paces,
you're gonna go start doing this now, You're gonna start
practicing in a helmet unless he just decides, you know what,
(03:41):
I just I'm not ready for the riggers.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I don't I don't know. I don't foresee that. I
think he is absolutely coming back. I think that is
going to be one of the greatest handful of history
of the game. You know, I'm no I'm speaking from
a spot where there's many busts of handfuls, but there'll be.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Spots across the hall.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I'm wipe down the hallway from the bus gallery, Donald
and Garrett are going to be there. And the great
thing about it is the more you and I or
everyone else in our industry talks about it, the more
Seattle gets pissed, the more Dallas gets pissed.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
The more the chiefs that name anybody.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
That's on your list of Super Bowl contenders, they get
pissed because they know football is more than just two
of fifty three. I can't wait to watch it play out.
Don't you think he's coming back?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Dan? Like it's a foregone conclusion.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I would have said if he wanted to play home games,
I was fine with that. He didn't have to travel
in my opinion. You know, if he doesn't want to
show up to camp until the last week of camp,
as long as he's ready to go, when he's ready
to go on his schedule, then yes, I think he's
going to play. And this is one of those I
liken it to Jalen Brown goes to the Sixers. I
(04:56):
don't think Lebron goes to the Sixers. If Jalen Brown
doesn't there, Miles Garrett goes to the Ram one hundred percent,
I don't think Aaron Donald comes back to play unless
they get Miles Garrett one.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
He's he's sitting at home getting ready for kids drop off,
you know what I mean? Like that, that's what he
would be doing if Miles Garrett was still a Cleveland
Brown or he went somewhere else. And that's pretty damn
exciting too, you know so. I also like in what
you just said, to name your schedule, Aaron, you name it.
We'll be open to anything or any any idea in
(05:34):
the same way that the sexers are. Like you want
to live in New York and take a helicopter, Lebron,
you know, sure, go for it. You know that that
that is one hundred percent the analogy And I can't
wait to watch a playoff for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Rich Eisen Show coming up at noon Eastern on ESPN Radio,
hosting the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Saturday.
What is your role as the host?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Uh oh, I'm hosting the ESPN coverage.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Actually with ESPN now having NFL Network and it's fold
I'll be on the set Nooneaster with Kurt Warner and
Lewis Ridick simulcasting the Saturday coverage.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
The official role I've got here at the.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Hall is tonight for the Jacket Dinner, which is just
the jewel of the weekend that nobody really sees. It
is the first tangible item a Hall of Famer receives
to make the reality of their football immortality.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Dawn on them.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It is a highly emotionally charged event where they're all
introduced one by one. They walk through a gauntlet of
all the returning Hall of Famers to the center stage
where they receive their jacket.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
In the past, this.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Is when Sterling and Shannon Sharp hugged it out and
we're crying as Sterling slipped the jacket on Shannon. Or
the other year where Shannon did it to Sterling, the
year that Sterling did it for Shannon. I'll never forget
that one because it was again highly emotional, and the
two of them hugging it out and crying wound up
on the front page of the Canton Repository newspaper, And
(07:10):
the next morning I walked into the hotel where all
the Hall of famers were Dan and I walked in
to the lobby and there were only three people Jannon
and Sterling getting an earful from the guy who was
holding their photograph up at the from the previous night
(07:30):
of them crying in the newspaper, and it was Deacon
Jones telling them in the most profane manner that there's
no crying in football and how.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Dare you do this the night before?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Like today's the day the drug induction, Today's the day
you're allowed to cry, but even for a second, And
he was f bombing them, and it was one of.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
The greatest things I've ever witnessed.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's one of those moments you turn around like anybody
else seeing this, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
So that's what the night's about.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
But they have given it a new twist here with
h They don't have your presenter slip the jacket on
your induction presenter. You now choose somebody who's returning from
the Hall of Fame. It could be anybody to put
the jacket on you, and it makes for some interesting combinations.
Joe Thomas asked for Jerome Bettis to put the jacket
(08:20):
on him and many Browns fans who.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Are here stat.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Actual Cleveland brown going into the Hall of Fame, like
you're choosing a steeler, Like what gives? It's just that
Joe respected Jerome and and and it's a neat thing.
It's just and that's tonight and then tomorrow's the ceremony itself.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Great to talk to you, have fun and uh, I'll
see you in a week.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
That's right, Dan? How how is the how's everything going
for that? Where are we? So do I get to
finally reverse the question to you? Are you nervous?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I will be nervous, Yes, I will be I'll be nervous.
Uh yeah, I'm on a need to know basis. Okay,
I just take direction. I got one thing to do,
and that's get through the speech. The father daughter dance.
I'm not worried about that. Just once the speech is done,
probably do a shot and then uh we'll fly me
(09:21):
to the moon and go out there and dominate on
the dance floor.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
So is that the song? Is that the song? Okay?
Speaker 6 (09:30):
For you?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
You know?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Yeah? I could do it.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
You know I can sing it for you if you
need any any you know to insert myself into your
father the moment, you know, but I'm going to serve.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Uh Dan, Dan Hicks of NBC can sing Sinatra pretty well.
I don't know if you can sing Sinatra.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Well. Is this are you creating sort of a ron
Bergen d type moment where we're gonna have a fight.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Is that what you're saying. We're gonna step outside for
the right.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I don't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
But the walking down the aisle, that moment is going
to be the there's.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Gonna be moment, isn't it. That'll be bad.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, great, Yes, that'll be just trying not to make
eye contact.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Try not to make eye contact with anybody.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I can't wait. It's gonna be great, Penny asked Susan.
I will be honored to be there to watch watch
it all go down, Dan, We'll be there.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
This bar reception will probably be a little livelier than yours.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
In the see I was waiting, I was, I saw
the wheels turn there, I was waiting. We were taking
family pictures, Dan, But you got behind the bar and
started handing out drinks to everybody.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
So that's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
But I understand, okay, I was. I was busy wife.
I went to a friend of ours wedding, Bill Fairweather,
and Billy is a festive guy. Yeah, Billy, Billy fn Fairweather.
And at one point I thought the party was lame,
(11:12):
the reception, and I started ripping the sleeves off of guys' shirts.
Don't ask me why, but a guy had his tuxedo
shirt on it. I said, did you buy that or
rent it? He said, I own it? And I we
started tearing off sleeves and we were we were drinking
shots of seagrums and I'm going, what is going on here?
Speaker 5 (11:36):
This is sad, sad, So this will be faster.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
For you to run the show. I look forward to it, Dan,
I look forward to it.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Thank Thank you, Rich, Thank you Rich. That's Rich Eisen,
host of The Rich Iison Show.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fuck Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Hey, It's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio we are
excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
That's right, you can now watch the Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Pablo Tory uncovers Kawhi Leonard's other hidden secret spon sponsorship.
Here tonight, Pablo Tory finds out releases its latest installment
of the saga that continues to linger here over the
Clippers and the NBA. All right, so what's the update
here and what does that mean? Bigger picture?
Speaker 6 (12:55):
Pablo Hi Dan, we are brought together once again by
an alleged secret sponsorship deal for Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Always good to see you like this.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
What we're reporting is that two days after I published
part one of my now thirteen part investigation, which I say,
knowing how ridiculous that sounds, I'll fully cop to it.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
This is a thirteen part serialized novel.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
At this point, but it's actually an investigation right as
an investigative series. And two days after we dropped part one,
what happened was I got a tip saying that there
is another secret sponsorship for Kawhi Leonard that was one
thousand percent. That is a quote, one thousand percent designed
to circumvent the salary cap. And I've spent the last
eleven months trying to fact check that, confirm it, further
(13:42):
report the story of why that would be, how it
would be, And it turns out that yes, according to
our reporting, we have two sources, two high level sources,
one who was under contract with the Clippers into a
don't project, the other a former Clippers high level source.
They both say that the jump tron manufacturer, Daktronics, which
(14:03):
you may not know by name, but you certainly know
by sight. Then why are you laughing? Jumbo tron manufacturers
are very very famous. Obviously this one, this one is
the one that built the Halo board. This is the
one hundred million dollar project that Steve Baumer built to
create the greatest JumboTron and human history. And Kawhi Leonard,
(14:24):
according to our reporting, had a secret, unannounced, no evidence
that he did anything for it, multimillion dollar sponsorship for
that company, which and I'll just beg one more bit
of time here, because Daktronics had never hired a celebrity
spokesperson or sponsor or endorser or partner like this before
(14:46):
or since, and so hard to explain Otherwise, I would.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Say, given these sponsorship deals and his salary, how much
money was Kawhi Leonard making a year?
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Well, it is.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
It's a number that we're constantly chasing, and that is
constantly changing, which is why we chase it. Look, he was,
of course a max player in the NBA. What's interesting though,
in that this timeframe we're talking about is actually after
Aspiration collapses. So we're looking at twenty twenty three and
Aspiration is going bankrupt. It's under federal investigation by the
(15:24):
end of that year. And so that deal, I'll just
remind people, was twenty eight million dollars under contract for
a no show endorsement deal that was never announced. If
this is it's sounding familiar, let me know. And also
a twenty million dollar equity deal in the company that
was guaranteed to him. So that's forty eight million dollars
in total value that was guaranteed to Kawhi Leonard on
top of his NBA contract.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
And that's just that.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
But Aspiration, according to our reporting, is struggling to make
the payments in twenty twenty three, of course, and what
happens next is the story of these last two.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Episodes we've now done.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
And what's so interesting Dan answer your question in this context,
January twenty twenty four comes around and Kawhi Leonard does
something shocking to NBA media. Certainly he takes less than
the max. And so if you just put this all together, right,
a guy who truly is here to earn as much
as he possibly can and beyond, decides to take less
(16:22):
from the Clippers to extend in January of twenty twenty four,
while also still being owed money from this team sponsor, Aspiration,
which according to the bankruptcy filing we obtained, owes him
at least seven million dollars. And so why and how
does he do that? Is what leads me to the
story of Daktronics. And so we don't know how many
millions of dollars we're in the Daktronics deal. We are actively,
(16:44):
of course, interested in finding that number. But when you're
talking about what was he paid beyond the cap, we're
talking about the largest alleged salary caps or convention scheme
in the history of sports, right, We're talking about something
that ranges into the fifty plus million dollars if that
would be a reasonable projection beyond what he was allowed
to be paid.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
That's just based on inferences on our reporting.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Which brings me to when you request to speak to
the Clippers owner Steve Balmer, the response is what.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
The Clippers have stopped responding to our request for comment.
We tell them what it's going to be in the episodes.
For months now they've stopped responding. They used to say
stuff like this is all provably false. And I've learned
in the story Dan that words are very carefully chosen
by lawyers.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
I didn't go to law school.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
I didn't make it to that point, but I've been
told that words are important in legal proceedings. Provably false
is a big claim, and it's been it's August seventh,
I believe, and it's been eleven to twelve months, right,
a year almost that we've been waiting to show how
this is provably false. What I started reporting with aspiration,
(17:53):
that's now into a second hidden sponsorship. And so we
always ask, and what's so interesting about this story? Because
request for comment is really important to us to get
it right. We went to Daktronics. We went to the
company itself and asked all of these questions, and what
our colleague and collaborator, Sam Koppleman learned is that Daktronics
(18:16):
wanted a The first response was, here's our general counsel
talk to them. And Kawhi Leonard had not even been
mentioned yet, So I was like, okay, so something already,
They're on alert. Then they send us to a crisis
comms firm, and you love when those enter the room
because apparently there's now a crisis, and we still are
wondering what do they think the crisis is, because we
(18:37):
have a sense, but we haven't even started talking about
that yet. And that crisis comes firm, and this is
really important. They say two things that I want to
quote for you here. One is quote my understanding is
Daktronics doesn't have a deal with Kawhi right now, and
I think the tense of right now is a useful
thing to handing the lantern on for a second. Here,
(18:59):
right now is the tense that they stand behind on
the record. The second sentence they say is, quote, I
don't know what the company this is.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
The crisis comes firm.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
I don't know what the company Daktronics wants to say
or can say given the walk Tell investigation.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
End quote, and that is the crisis.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
Comms firm volunteering the name of the law firm that
the NBA hired to investigate the Clippers for secret no
show sponsorships for Kawhi Leonard. And so at this point
you're like, Okay, you're realizing this is of great interest
to Dectronics.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
They're familiar with this investigation.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
In fact, they've been managing the crisis of it before
we called. And so now when it comes to getting
questions and responses about did you have any proof that
Kui did anything, how much was the deal for, when
did it start, there is no further comment or response.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I'm wondering, though, how this plays out if these things
are true the NBA. You start with, Steve, I don't
know what you can do with Kawhi Leonard, but give
me the scenario or scenarios that you think that how
this plays out.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Yeah, so all of this got phenomenally I think concrete
and tangible. When the trade Kawhi Leonard is traded from
the Clippers to the Raptors to the team. By the way,
that originally alleged in twenty nineteen that Kawhi Leonard and
Dennis Roberts and his uncle unlicensed agent, had requested benefits
beyond the salary cap in violation of the CBA. These
(20:31):
include no show jobs. These include equity in the companies
that they were hoping to get in business with through
the team. So the Raptors, I say that to say,
the Raptors know the backstage of this with unusual clarity
as that timeline twenty nineteen is concerned, and so they
want to trade for Kawhi Leonard. But what happens is,
(20:51):
of course the trade is frozen. And what I've been
told and what has now been reported, is that the
change is that the NBA puts in front of the
Raptors a piece of paper effectively indemnifies the NBA, the
league itself, and the Clippers from any legal resource or
negotiation if there are punishments specific to Kawhi Leonard, because
those punishments will travel with the player to Toronto. If
(21:14):
you pay X, you're getting whatever Kawhi ends up being
post punishment. And the Raptors, in their perhaps eternal wisdom
and this backdrop, say then we're not signing this, and
therefore the trade is not proceeding, and so that trade
has been frozen for weeks obviously, and so the question
of what happens next is when is this ruling gonna
(21:36):
come down? Will this ruling speak to the things that
I've been publicly reporting that have been vetted by now,
of course months of careful investigation in multiple sources. Will
that ruling speak to those things? Will there be a punishment,
Will the raptors want to proceed.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
With this deal?
Speaker 6 (21:55):
And if there is a punishment beyond Kawhi Leonard, because
again that's specific to Kauhi alone, how does this possibly
avoid touching the richest owner in American sports? Steve Bouber,
the guy who was across every bit of this, and Dan,
perhaps in the superlative I gave him, you can detect
some of the cynicism and the concern that when you're
the richest owner in American sports, the game you're playing,
(22:17):
even in legal recourse and certainly punishment, it is different
from even the normal billionaires that you might have to
deal with as commissioner.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Has the NBA's investigators talked to you, They reached out
months ago.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
I met with them, I handed them a bunch of paperwork,
particular to aspiration, signed contracts, financial documents, and I encouraged
them to take all of it as seriously as they can,
because I think there's a lot more here. Even then
I can get to as a guy who has you know,
(22:57):
Dan Lebtard as his bleeping boss and one lawyer helping me.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
So we don't exactly.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Have the resources of a multinational enterprise. But I think
that Wachtel, in listening to the podcast, has a lot
to go on, and my hope is that they're doing
exactly that.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Any chance Steve Baumer is in jeopardy of losing the
Clippers being able to own them.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
I think the question is an Adam Silver question, right,
And this is what's so interesting. Adam Silver is not
his mentor, David Stern. Adam Silver is actually the guy
who welcomes Steve balmer in in replacement of Donald Sterling
and was hailed as this almost Aristotelian, brilliant progressive leader
in comparison to all the other commissioners Roger Goodell namely
(23:49):
at that time. And so now he is bookending perhaps
his tenure with the same guy being an even.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
Bigger problem a complicated problem.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
And so if you're Adam Silver and in twenty nineteen
when you cleared the Clippers and Steve Balmer of cap
cir convention after investigating the Raptors claims and the Lakers claims,
what you've done, by the way on the record to
say salary caps or convention is the cardinal rule of
the NBA.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And I think.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Underpinning all of this dand the moment we're in with
sports gambling as the NBA balances a gambling scandal, an
investigation that we've been covering on the show as well,
when they're balancing all of the other caps are convention
theories out there, Gary prent Junior as being the latest
hypothesis someone has is the question of whether the rules
matter and if you break the rules as have been
(24:37):
alleged by multiple episodes here of my show and now elsewhere,
the question is how do you possibly make it so
that the cardinal rule is actually treated like it and
so by any standard of fake NBA law because these
are all fake laws. These are all collectively bargain rules
that you got to enforce. I think everything should be
(25:00):
on the table realistically in terms of the money and
if you follow it. I think there's a very real
chance that Steve Ballmer emerges relatively unscathed, which is kind
of insane to me according to my reporting.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Great stuff, Pablo, thanks for joining us as always, and
good luck with Dan Levittard.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
I'm going to need all of it Dan, as you
know with him.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
So appreciated.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Pablo Tory finds out with meadow Lark Media.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
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 spring in.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Rick Neuheisel, former college coach at UCLA and Washington and Colorado,
now a CBS analyst, how would you feel if your
produce head coach Barry Odom after you hear that from
your athletic director.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
I feel exactly like I did. What I was at
UCLA and Pete Carroll had things going at sc and
they put out a full page ad the La Times
that monopoly is over. I was like, hey, easy, now,
easy now, Yeah, he is a one way to start.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Tommy's not afraid.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
But were you told about the ad in the La
Times the monopoly?
Speaker 8 (26:23):
Oh? I was actually I was actually apologized to We
don't need to put that kind of heat on you.
I said, hey, let's own it. Let's go, but let's
get the resources. Don't take a knife to a gunfight.
Let's so we'll see how Barry Odam does, hopefully better
than he did when he was aboard that bowl when
he was in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
How how did UCLA do against USC that year? Not well,
twenty eight seven got stuffed. Yeah, it was unfortunate. We
didn't exactly have the resources. I called out the coaches
earlier this week. You know you have the Coach's poll,
and I said, the people who watch the least amount
(27:05):
of college football are coaches, because you can't. You only
care about the opponent you had and the opponent coming up.
Who voted when you were at UCLA, Washington, Colorado? Who
voted in the coaches poll for you? It was always
our sports information guy. It was Dave Platty at Colorado,
Mark Dellen's at UCLA, Jim Daves at Washington, those guys
(27:32):
you know, keeping track hit. They'd bring me a list.
I'd say, well, move these guys one spot and away
we go. Because you're right, there is no time to
spend surveying everybody else in the country. You've got to
just look after your own, Yeah, because you don't want
to walk into a press conference and have somebody blindside
(27:52):
you and say why did this school get a first
place vote.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
From you and you not be aware of it.
Speaker 8 (27:59):
No, exactly right, And now that they put your name
on it at the end, maybe you better know exactly
what the hell went on that list. But yeah, you
don't have time for that. That is absolutely correct.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Let me go back to Indiana and the run that
they had. How sustainable is this?
Speaker 8 (28:19):
Well, I'm not gonna put anything past Kurt Signetti because
what he's done has been incredible.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
The Church of Signetti is full.
Speaker 8 (28:29):
Parishioners come from far and wide now to watch what
is taking place there. The Mendoza story is one for
the ages. The sixteen and o story is one for
the ages. I can't remember a more surprising something happening
in sport than that that was in my lifetime. That
(28:51):
was just incredible. You know, the Indiana program that was worse,
had more losses than anybody else in the history of
college football. To go sixteen and oh and in against
the formidable teams that they just and to beat Alabama
thirty eight to three. I actually said thirty five to
three when I had Signetti in the chair at the
(29:11):
Big Ten Media Days, and he corrected me, thirty eight
to three. Yeah, don't take that field goal from me.
Oregon and then Miami in Miami, it is a run
for the age is remarkable, to say the least brought.
I think they I think I think Hoover's, you know,
reasonable replacement for Mendoza. We'll see if he can keep
(29:33):
from having the the errant you know, turnover. If he
if he if he cleans that up, they're gonna be
They're gonna be good again.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Talking to former coach Rick newhisl CBS Sports College Football analyst,
I was mentioning the coaches top ten and I was
putting price tags their roster next to their ranking. Right,
you got to be spending at least forty million some
next year we're going to be knocking on the door
going past fifty million dollars. The return on investment, Like,
(30:04):
how sustainable is this for these schools to be spending
this kind of money.
Speaker 8 (30:10):
Well, that's a fascinating question. I think we're going to
be in a survival of the fittest until the new
television contracts come up, which is around twenty thirty. I
think we're just in an era where we're just.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Dealing with that.
Speaker 8 (30:23):
You can see that private equity is kind of sniffing around.
You see the stories out of LSU and what they're
talking about doing down there. I think everybody's having these conversations.
We can't go very much longer. The numbers are going crazy.
Brian Kelly just joined us at CBS. He says the
numbers at noted aimert fifty million, so and he's sitting
(30:45):
there going I couldn't get a penny out of them
for a long time while I was sitting there trying
to get facilities built. But it is a wild wild West,
as it's been dubbed many times.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
It's crazy out there.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, the President urging Congress to pass the Protect College
Sports Act before recess here, how important is that act
to pass?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
I think it's a huge deal.
Speaker 8 (31:15):
And now that the big ten in the SEC have
put their endorsement on the bill, it would be wonderful
to get that done. But it has to happen today
because they go on recess this afternoon, and if they
don't get that done. There's going to be other things
that are more important when they come back. With the
(31:35):
midterms coming up.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
I saw where you were working with Brendan Soorsby, the
former quarterback of Texas Tech. Now I don't know what
working means. I know that your former college quarterback and
you coach quarterbacks in the NFL. How are you or
were you working with Brendan Soorsby.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
All I did then is I reached out to them.
Speaker 8 (31:57):
I felt terribly for how he had become in the
eye of the storm, you know, the kind of the
focal point.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
I think the.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
Bigger issue obviously he did something that was wrong.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Can't bet on your own team. He didn't do it
while he was playing.
Speaker 8 (32:14):
He had a phone where he got into it and
you know, started betting on balls and strikes, and you
know it got away from it and hopefully that's behind him.
But I remember having been kind of put into the
public scorn for having been in a basketball pool, and
I became very bitter about who would you know, throw
(32:35):
me to the Wolves for doing something that's so commonplace.
And I just wanted to tell Brennan and his father
that bitterness only impacts you.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Just just just move on.
Speaker 8 (32:49):
There'll be a better day, and you just got to
be confident that that day will come. And I'm hoping
that he can get to the Senior Bowl a year
from now, that he can get to you know, the
combine and show his wares. And obviously I'm coaching in
that UFL if it were a place that he wanted
to go. Remember, Hunter Decker's the kid who couldn't play
(33:11):
at Iowa State any longer for a similar deal, ended
up being a quarterback in Houston for Kevin Someone. And
now I think he's in the New Orleans Saints camp,
so there's going to be a better day for him.
I just wanted to reach out and say, you know,
this isn't so much about you.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
It was about all that was going on.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
There was a little bit of a jealousy about how
much money Texas Tech had, and so it became a
big story that he just happened to be the target.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
And I just wanted him to know there'll be better days.
Don't get caught up and who got you? Just move on.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, I suggested, just like I did to Pete Rose,
if you want to give back, you want to show
an act of contrition. Volunteer to go around to colleges
and even high schools and just say and have people
film it, like you can make this something positive if
you want to. Pete never did that, and I believe
if he had done that, falling on his sword, he
(34:08):
probably would have gotten on the ballot to go into
the Hall of Fame. And maybe maybe Soresby gets a chance,
you know, to prove that he can still play football.
Speaker 8 (34:16):
He's a nice kid. I enjoyed talking to him. His
father is a nice guy. I'm hopeful that that can
be the case. And you know, he actually wanted to
stay for a time at Texas Tech and be the
scout team quarterback, but it felt like he was going
to be too much of a distraction. So he's just
working out and fingers crossed that something good happens for
(34:37):
him here down alone. And if it was a gambling addiction,
that that's behind him.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
The most pressure to win this year? Which college coach
would you say, I'm looking at you.
Speaker 8 (34:50):
Oh, there's a lot of pressure on Lincoln Riley because
the Trojans have never been to the college Football Playoff
and they feel like they've got all the pieces this year.
You know, they have to get back into the elite
category where I think the Trojan fans believe they should
be a lot of pressure on in my mind, Steve Sarkeesian,
(35:11):
because Texas has everything. I would say the same at
for Dan Lanning with Dante Moore coming back, But maybe
the most pressure given the schedule, given what is going on,
is Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman has it all. He's got
this CJ. Carr, who everybody said at the Manning Passing
(35:31):
Academy was the best guy there. And he's got a
schedule that might be as ready made. I mean, he's
supposed to be like a double digit favorite until November
Miami comes to town.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
That's going to be an epic game.
Speaker 8 (35:46):
If you beat him in front of the home crowd,
then you go to BYU and then you have SMU
coming to town. We'll wait and see what the Mustangs
look like. But that's a schedule that's manageable. It'll be
interesting to see and if Marcus Freeman manages it, keeps
that Northern Illinois game from happening. Uh, the Irish are
going to be right there.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I'd say, Lane Kiffin, you know that game against Old
Miss Now I know, Oh, my.
Speaker 8 (36:09):
Goodness, don't you want to just walk in with him
to the grove.
Speaker 5 (36:13):
No, I don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
When I'm going to steer clear, I'm going to be
as far away from Lane when he wants in.
Speaker 8 (36:20):
That That is going to be the most anticipated pregame
in the history of football.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
He'll eat it up.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
He'll eat it up. We'll talk soon. Thanks about the
all the best, buddy,
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
Popular Podcasts
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.
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com