03/04/2021 - Hour 1 - Big Ben Will Be Worst in the AFC North

Jason Smith and Mike Harmon react to the Knicks heading into the All-Star break on a high note. Big Ben signs with the Steeler for another season at reduced price but he'll be the worst QB in the AFC North and the Jazz get slighted when Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are picked last for the NBA All-Star Game.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside
the Jason Smith Show with my base friend Mike Harmon.
Oh live from the Farmers Insurance studios, and you switched
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triple eight farmers, get a quote. Today we are farmers.

(00:50):
They said it couldn't be done. They said it was
an impossible task. They laughed when it was brought up. Oh,
there's no way that's happening. It was deemed impossible. A
feat that you may as well. Think about going to
the moon again in a little kid's toy car. Maybe

(01:12):
think about getting through the Cosmos. Maybe finding Nettavalire and
get Peter Tinklich to make your big acts. That's about
the probability it was that this would happen. Mike Harmon,
they said, norm breaker for all Baby, they said it
couldn't happen. They said, no, that there they were supposed
to protect us. That's what taking the power of a

(01:33):
star means. That's what it's what killing you means when
I when I say that, but that doesn't matter. Not,
let's let's not let's not lose focus here. There are
impossible tests. There are things. You put something in front
of somebody, you put something in front of a team,
and they say, well, there's no way we can do them,
and I say, no, do not go gentle in to that.

(01:54):
Good night, you can achieve because it's happened. At the
All Star Break, the New York Knicks are over five hundred. Wow,
right next to Walt Frazier's jersey and MSG. They're gonna
hang that over five hundred at the All Star Break
banner two thousand twenty, two thousand twenty one. It's gonna

(02:17):
be a great day when they unveil that second half,
when fans are coming all the time. You can see,
remember we were over five hundred the first you top them.
Look at us, Look at us up there yeah, but
you just put it in the past tense, possible monumental
collapse to occur. They say reach for the stars, and

(02:37):
I say, when you reach your mediocrity, you can hang
a banner. At eighteen and seventeen at the All Star break,
the Knicks do it. They beat the Pistons one fourteen
and one o four and clearly playing the Pistons like
eleven times in the first half. Helt but nineteen and
eighteen at the All Star break, it's happened. I tell
you kids, Hey, if you think you can't do something,

(02:59):
just look at the Knicks barely eking something that's a
medium task out and you can do the same thing.
Just eat it right out. You can do it. This
is this is a lesson that everybody can take from today.
The Nicks are over five at the All Star break.
Fantastic effort tonight against the Pistons. Great balance from Detroit.

(03:19):
Eight guys in double figures. Not enough Ellington, Uh. The
Duke had seventeen and that's what we're just gonna call him.
He had seventeen to lead all scores there. But your
guy Julius Randall, R. J. Barrett and Peyton all three
finished with at least twenty points in this game out
for Peyton, uh having himself a solid year twelve four

(03:42):
four four per game. So yeah, impressive for you. The
way you spoke was like it was done. The next
task is over. No, no no, no, now we're onto the
next the next This is what we spend the rest
of the hour going through the schedule to figure out
how you stay in the four seat. We're gonna pick
each and every one of these games. You can dial

(04:04):
it in as well at how about of Frescot Hunt Twitter,
find me over at Swollen Dome. Now we beat the Wizards, right,
then we lose to the net site. That makes us
nineteen and nineteen and night to be careful about the
Whiz because nobody beats him. Uh. First things first, Uh,
you made a big error in the last thirty seconds.
Uh when you mentioned those Knicks players. You did not

(04:25):
stay say all star Julius Randall. You just said Julius
Randall like he was a jag, like he was just
a guy. All star. Yeah, put some respect there now,
No seriously, Uh, look, we're getting into the All Star
break now. Tonight's the last night of games that we're
gonna have. The next few nights gonna get looked back

(04:46):
at the first half of the NBA with different things.
And last night we talked about Joel Embiid being the
m v P and clearly the when you talk about
who the coach of the year is the first half
of the NBA. And this is not me being Jason's
with Nicks fan. This is me being who has had
the biggest impact as a coach on his new team.

(05:06):
Now stop with that. Do you come on? You get that?
Come on, man, you have Devin Booker, you have one
of the best players in the NBA. You ever in
the West, You're supposed to be okay in the West?
Well against Look give it. Look everybody stinks, right, there's
six good teams in the NBA. Everybody else thinks. The

(05:27):
fact that the Knicks are one of those teams that
stinks and not like one level below the teams that stink,
that's a bigger accomplishments ashment. Look, look, Doc Rivers has
a couple of all stars on his team when he's building.
He's got Joel Embiid. Okay, all these guys have had
big impacts. I'm not saying m v P. I mean,
I'm not saying. I'm not saying they didn't. They just
diminished Julius Randall. I'm telling you, man, well, because Julie

(05:50):
was Julius Randall. This good. Before Tom Tibodeau showed up,
he was not Laker. It's a long hag day. It's
all about finding his way back to l A But no,
but what I told you this from the beginning of
this season. I'll throw the tweet out there. Tom Thibodeaux
has a great chance to be the coach of the
Year in the NBA because he's got a storyline that
cuts through the clutter. Can he make the Knicks good?

(06:13):
The Knicks are over five hundred. I mean, they've been
a doormat for the past decade. They've been terrible, and
finally here they are, and they're there. It's a great complement.
They're one of just many teams in the NBA now
that are around five hundred. They're not the Pistons, They're
not that you know, they're not at the bottom of
the conference and not oh there's nowhere they can go. Thibodeaux, seriously,

(06:33):
he is the coach of the Year in the NBA
and he's done exactly what I thought he was going
to do. He's actually ahead of time with the winds
because I thought they would play close, but they would
lose more in the first half, and they would win
more as they got into things and and and got
more chemistry. In the second half of the season. They've
won way more than I thought they would, I mean,
being over five hundred. I didn't think they'd be over
five hundred at this point. This is a great it's

(06:54):
even better than I thought. But I told you he's
going to find two or three guys that are going
to be cornerstones and the Knicks, because the Knicks haven't
had that right And now what what has he done?
You've identified Randall and Barrett and probably quickly as the
three guys that now they're cornerstones of of this team.
And you have other players that have bought in defensively
to what he's doing. And this is why the Knicks

(07:15):
are winning. I knew he was going to make them
good defensively, and here they are the fewest points per
game in the NBA. Really, you talk, you can talk
about achievements, and it's great. Look the Sons and and
the and the sixers, they're both great. I get it.
But they both have fantastic phenomenal long time, you know,
at least for a couple of years now really good
all star NBA players. Thibodeau has taken the Knicks from

(07:35):
being a team that you know usually at this point
there seven and thirty and and here they are now
nineteen and eighteen. He's the coach of the Year, not
even close. Okay, so he gets the halftime Award, Yes, exactly,
it's good. And then when these guys are falling apart,
it just gave me one, let's give me a little
class ty shirt. You couldn't back that up with like
a little like a couple of golf claps or something.

(07:57):
And that was that was improvisation right there. I mean,
I applaud him. It's a it's a fantastic No. You're
purposefully clapping away from the microphone. That's what you're doing.
You know, I can tell what you do. You're not
clapping close like this. Hey, look that was my guy
for years in Chicago, Tom Tomto. I celebrate the catalog.

(08:18):
But I've seen this act before. Everybody plays hard, everybody
buys in, and then the minutes add up, the effort
adds up, and then they drag asked the final four
weeks of the season. So take your halftime award and
be excited, because unless somebody comes in as part of
a big move, this is as good as it gets.
This is Jack Nicholson getting licked by the dog on

(08:41):
the movie poster. Because that's it. Uh. The rest of
the half is going to be rough. And we mentioned
the Wizards. You kind of mocked them. Well, they beat
the Clippers and they've not been healthy, and they've been
in protocols and everything else. They're coming for you. The
Heat at the number seven Sea right now, a seven
point lead over New Orleans here in about eight minutes

(09:01):
left in the third. Uh, they're all healthy. They're coming
for you. The Toronto Raptors, they'll figure things out. Uh.
The Knicks now, it's all eyes on the Knicks to collapse.
Even LaMelo balls coming for you, buddy. It's a fine
so celebrated as you will. I just hope the guys
get through the season unscathed. Like I always say, listen, listen.

(09:23):
Like I always say, I will deal with the problems
that most everybody else has, which is, boy, we gotta
worry about minutes for the playoffs and certain things that
are just foreign concepts to me. I'll worry about that
when it happens. I'll worry about Tom Thibodeaux burning the
knicks out in a year and a half. I want
to enjoy life, and it's not quite the fast lane.
We're kind of just in the car pool lane a
little bit. I would say, so, I want to enjoy

(09:44):
life in the car pool lane for a little bit here,
and it's it's nice being able to not be stuck
behind everybody and going a nice little pace. I'm gonna
it's okay. I'll worry about that later on. That's a
that's a that's a worry for another day. I'll kick
that can down the road. I get any more anymore
I can throw out there anymore like that? No, I
get it. Why don't you throw in the one that
we used in radio? The show is today, okay, and

(10:06):
we're looking at the standings right now. Thanks, buddy, I
appreciate that. I said that emphatically just for you. Oh wait,
so he gets golf claps. I don't get golf. Rise up,
let's go. I was even clapping as far as I
could away from my microphone just for that. Hey, Welcome
to Harmonville population. This guy, right? Is that that would

(10:28):
have been a great line? Is that what we used
in college? Was that a good line? Hey? Welcome to
Harmonville population. This guy worked like a charm Okay, all right,
very good? Why is everything purple in this room? Just
is just his baby royalty? Get excited, Twitter? And how
about a fresco Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smith
Show with my bast friend Mike Harmon live from the

(10:50):
Farmer's Insurance Studio. So again, big night in the NBA,
and also, hey, we just found out a pretty big
night in TV as Look, you and I and our
family are both getting ready for the finale of One Division.
You know it's going to drop in a few hours
and it's exciting. I can't wait. Uh, but coming to
America too. They've decided, you know, we could really get

(11:12):
boat raced by and caught up in the Wan Division finale.
Why don't we release it a day early? So apparently
you can see the new coming to America. Now they've
they've all, they've already released it. It's out. They put
it out a day early. Was supposed to be out tomorrow,
it's out today. I feel cheated. I would have spent
part of my afternoon watching and trying. Well, I think
I think it just came out like I think it
came out. Yeah, you know, yeah, I think they they decided,

(11:35):
you know, we we gotta, we gotta put this thing
out there. Okay, let's let's let's get people watching it
before One Division comes. All right, I'm not trying to
cross over those audiences are, but either way it works. Yeah. No,
And here's the thing is is I am Look, I'm
incredibly excited for One Division. I can't wait. You know,
it's it's just a few hours away. I am excited

(11:56):
and nervous for coming to America. I'm excited. I'm excited
and because I know there's gonna be some drop dead funny,
laugh out loud woman just by seeing the trailer, you know,
they when they showed the uh, you know, the barbershop
scene again, I said, oh my god, that's gonna be hilarious.
But I you know, look, it's coming to America to
it's thirty years later, is it? Is? It really gonna

(12:19):
be great? I'm so nervous that it's gonna be one
of those movies where people go, oh, Wow, and then
it kind of takes over as I remember when they
did Coming to America too. I I mean, I don't know,
you know, Eddie Eddie Murphy doesn't really have a great
UH track record when it comes to UH sequels. So
I'm kind of nervous. And even though this is thirty

(12:40):
years later, I'm excited and nervous. And I think that's okay.
I think it can be both for Coming to America too.
You can be excited and you can be nervous. You
didn't get excited about the clumps. Uh. You know, I
thought the clumps, just like Nutty Professor, the first fifteen
minutes when it was the family and the last fifteen
minutes when it was the family were hysterical. I didn't

(13:00):
need the hour plus in the middle of just non funny.
I mean I you could just put out a half
hour and and made, you know, made some kind of
segue of just Eddie Murphy and his family eating dinner
and just had that for a half hour, and that
would have been great. I would have gone and spent
ten bucks the movies just to see that for a
half hour. There you go, see two picks. Look at
a half hour of a good movie anymore is a

(13:21):
big deal. I would like to note, as I'm texts
or just flying in if I had my notifications on
you just be hearing bing bing bing Nicks question Mark,
Yeah baby, yeah baby. How about the Knicks and Tom
Thibodeaux Coach of the Year When they say things can't
be done, kids just realized, Look at what Tom Thibodeaux did.

(13:42):
He got the Knicks to just one game above being mediocre.
Keep dreaming. That's how it goes. What an incredible, incredible achievement.
It is that kind of night, Twitter at how about
a fresco Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show
with my bast friend Mike Harmon live from the Farmer's
Insurance Studios called one trip like Farmers to switch, you
could save a bundle on your auto insurance. Well, coming

(14:04):
up next, boy, do we have some hot take theater
coming your way. Big quarterback news in the NFL. One
future Hall of Famer says he's coming back, but is
his team really gonna want him back? After what we're
gonna tell you. That's coming up next right here on
Fox Sports Radio with Jason, Mike and Mr Rendy Watson,

(14:26):
be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time
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announce a new podcast called Up on Game? What is
up on Game? You asked, along with my fellow pro

(14:48):
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Plexico Burds. You can only name a show with that
type of talent on it. Up on Game We're going
to be shared our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments.
Listen to Up on Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J.
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(15:11):
Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast from.
Call one eight eight Farmers, and you could save on
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(15:31):
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get greatest love of all bi sexual chocolate. I really did.
I thought we were ore. They're going to get that couch.
Young baby night is young a. Well, he's good. He's good.
He's good. He's good. Fox Sports Radio that Jason Smith
Show with my bast friend Mike Harmen live from the

(15:52):
Farmers Insurance Studio. It's called Farmers Today for a quote, Um,
we'll get to Baker Mayfield in the UFO. We'll get body,
but we're we're gonna get there. Because that has been
my favorite story all day. It actually came out less.
Oh there this is audio of Baker Mayfield meeting an alien.
There it was. That was it right there? We actually
got the audio for it. Did a baby dinosaur coume

(16:18):
out of the alien ship? Well? This was pretty cool
because yeah, clearly, look, the the Baker Mayfield UFO stories
is just too good. But big news today we got
we got a couple of rare and hot takes coming.
You're here for the biggest story in the NFL today,
and that was that Ben Roethlisberger will officially return to

(16:41):
this dealers this year for one more season. And that's it.
For one more season as Dealers quarterback. They have agreed
to reduce his pay to fourteen million from nineteen million
the final year of his contract. That lowers the team's
salary cap hit by more than fifteen million dollars. And
of course Roethlisberger is trying to make it seem like

(17:04):
he's leading the way. Of course, I'll take less money.
I've made money. I want to win. Yeah, when the
reality was you're not coming back at we're not doing it. No, no,
but it's but but but but it's gonna be my idea.
Uh we thought Roethlisberger was coming back. And before we
get into two hot takes, I just want to say
this once again. Think about this. You're an NFL team.

(17:25):
If a quarterback, you're starting quarterback returning to the team
to start hinges on him taking less money. Is he
still really your guy? Alright, your quarterback? If it hinges
on him taking less money, and then he can come
back and start. If not, we're gonna start over. This
is not we're letting a defensive back go because he

(17:46):
makes too much money, or we're letting a middle linebacker go,
or we're gonna let a right guard go. No, you
could you say, hey, you coming back, you gotta take
less money. You have to take it or you're not
coming back. Um, is he really the guy? Is he
really the guy? Uh So, just know that that That's
one thing when you realize where we're going with these
with these next couple of things. As far as Roethlisberger

(18:08):
and the Steelers, he's got about a thirty percent chance
to finish the season as starter. They have Dwayne Haskins.
They'll go get one more quarterback. You know that's going
to happen because they're there. There's a chance to get
guys now in free agency and via trade. They're not
gonna wait. And if Roethlisberger stinks during the season, then
they will go to that next quarterback, whether it's Haskins
or somebody else. But I will tell you this this season,

(18:31):
here's hot take number one. Got you got the flames ready?
Get flames ready, Get ready, get the flames ready. Here's
a hot take number one. Ben Roethlisberger will be the
worst quarterback in his division this season. Lamar Jackson, of course,
will be better. Baker Mayfield's already better. Joe Burrow will

(18:53):
show hey, this is why I'm the number one pick.
I'm better. Roethlisberger will be the worst quarterback or the
fourth best how you want to say it, depending on
how you want to look at life and look at football.
He's either the worst or the fourth best quarterback in
the a f C North. He clearly is someone that
lost a lot towards the end of last year and
to think that suddenly he's gonna come back and be

(19:14):
better they could. The Steelers really couldn't throw the football
more than five yards downfield the last month of the season.
All the big plays they made were because they're athletic.
Wide receivers are able to get the ball five or
seven yards, pass a line of scrimmage and fight their
way down field for another eight or ten yards because
the Steelers wide outs are no joke man, they are
incredibly talented. Once a game, he'd throw the ball thirty

(19:35):
yards at Deonte Johnson or Chase Claypool and that was
about it. This season, he will be the fourth best
quarterback in the a f C North. It'll go Lamar,
Baker Burrow, and then Roethlisberger. That's how it's gonna go.
Coming off a thirty three touchdown ten interception season, when
he completed nearly sixty six percent of his past his

(19:57):
thirty eight hundred yards while throwing the surgically repaired right pin.
I mean he didn't get the Winter Soldier's arm. I
mean Rocket is still working on that in the Marvel series,
but maybe a year removed. I see. I still say,
if you've got something left in the tank. And the

(20:18):
thing I don't want to agree with is the financials
of it. Of Hey, let's spread this out over a
couple of years. It's like, if you're going to take
the medicine, you don't take half the spoon now and
then say, you know what, I'll come back three or
four hours later. The idea is you're taking that dosage,
which means if you're in for Ben Roethlisberger, then you
know what, take your castor oil and and and get

(20:38):
what you need to right now. Uh, and don't hamper
yourself for when he truly is gone and done from
playing with your squad. So I can't say that that
move necessarily worked. As for your is he the worst
quarterback in the division, He's coming off an injury and
he's still want to get bludgeoned behind a bad offensive line.

(21:00):
So uh, While he may be more exciting with a
better arm to wing the ball down field, I'll still say, uh,
number one Joe is behind him at Banker Mayfield. We
don't know what the events of yet the last couple
of days are gonna do his resolve potential for greatness.
I mean, we'll get into it in full, because I
mean everybody's chiming in and there's a great conspiracy theory

(21:23):
coming out of that one. Uh wait, wait now wait yeah.
Do you think like something happened like space jam, where
you know, these aliens are coming down and they meant
to go get Tom Brady, but somehow they grab Baker
Mayfield's Now someone has his talent on another planet and
Baker Mayfield's walking around with an alien's body. All I'm
saying is it's no coincidence that Tom Brady raised his

(21:44):
hand on social media and say, well, you know, how
do you know I haven't seen any aliens in response
to Colin Cowherd's rant a little bit earlier today. It's like,
you know, I said, you know, he named all the
greats and said, well, they never said anything, and Brady
was like, well, how do you know I didn't see
any it's like, so, I mean, there there might be
a whole alien thing on top of TeV twelve already
going down about that hot take her for you. But

(22:07):
but Joe Burrow, you can't throw from your ass. Uh.
And unless they rapidly uh in improved that offensive line,
he's fourth. Uh. You know what, the team was really
bad last year and he was fantastic. So I'm gonna
buy that as the team will be a little bit
better this year. I mean, he was terrific last year.
I mean, we forget how good he was. He had.

(22:28):
He had a four hundred yard game, he had five
yard games. He was fantastic last year until he got hurt.
His quarterback rating was really good, especially what you know,
once once he got a couple of games into his
uh into a system, he was fantastic. You know, had
a better quarterback rating the old guy you say, can't
throw boom take that. Okay, that was that was last year,

(22:49):
and and Roethlisberger clearly was awful at the he was diminished.
Question Row just he's not done yet. I think he's done.
I think you're you're gonna see it. Look, he was
done the end of last year, and only because he
had this money due to him is the only reason
he is back. If he was not do any money,
it was the last year of his contract, the Steelers

(23:10):
would have said, thanks, if you want to try to
play one more year, someplacels you could go. They would
easily have done that. That The only reason he's back
is because he had that extra year in his contract.
And this is why he's back one more season for Pittsburgh. Yeah. No,
I don't know if it's loyalty is more of it's like,
oh man, if we had just signed him for one

(23:30):
less year, things would have been fantastic. Now they want
to move on from him, they do. They told listen,
these are the these are the the things you need
to be okay with if you're going to come back
and play for us this year. And he had to
abide by all of them. They're already stocking to replace him.
And and if you think it's at throw when you're
thirty nine, you're coming off the end of a bad

(23:52):
season with a lot of weapons, and you're gonna come
back to a team that maybe doesn't have as many weapons. Uh,
next year, you're gonna be better. Yeah, I don't see it.
I don't see that for Ben Roethlisberger at all. Uh
time has come for him. We saw it the last
six weeks of the season. You will see it into
this year and Joe Burrow will clear clearly but he
made g make jump over Baker Mayfield this year. As

(24:14):
far as quarterbacks in that division go, the Lamar is
still gonna be the gold standard because he's that good.
Baker Mayfield had a really good year. Man. I mean
they they have they have found their quarterback. Whether he
sees UFOs or not, Man, he is their guy. And
maybe he got some extra power in his arm. And
then you know the alien he saw last night was
able to give him some kind of power. Who knows,
maybe maybe maybe game and infinity stone and he came

(24:36):
out handed to him. And that's why why is Baker
wearing that glove on his left hand? Why does he
have that yellow stone in the middle? Is that legal? Well, O'Nell,
how to watch last year? We could do this. Baker
was terrific last year and he clearly has become the
right head of the snake for the Cleveland Browns. But
Joe Burrow, I mean, this guy right away, you could
tell how special he was man, he'll be back and

(24:56):
the Bengals will be better. And whenever you have a
franchise quarterback, everything gets better pretty easy. Watch out. Joe
Burrow may wind up being the second best, but I
know he'll be ahead of Roethlisberger, and Roethlisberger will be
at the bottom. And I got news for you. Here's
another hot take. Steelers could finish last in that division
next year. As good as they've been for the longest time,
they don't finish under five hundred their team. Look, they

(25:18):
were eleven and oh this year they were thirteen and three.
They could take a big fall behind all of those
teams for next year because when your quarterback camp play,
you're not gonna win games. And I already know how
good that the Ravens and the Browns are gonna be.
They're gonna be better than the Steelers. So it's really
just the Steelers are gonna be fighting the Bengals to
stay out of the seller in the a f C North.
Steelers could finish last next year. That is a real

(25:40):
possibility that Steelers fans gotta be getting ready with because
that day is coming. You know, it's been been you
have had the fast lane. Now for thirty years, you know,
being able to finish over five hundred winning and winning. Uh,
it may come. They could turn into a big, ugly
mess really fast this year because they're gonna losing free agency.
They already know they're not bringing back Juju Smith Schuster,

(26:01):
and so how are they going to figure things out?
How are they would bring somebody in when clearly everybody
knows that team is going to be starting over a
quarterback and who knows who that's going to be. Good
luck there, I'll tell him, you Bengals fans, I'll never
have to pay for a drink in Cincinnati again. You'll
finish ahead of the Steelers next year, Steelers finished last
in the a f C North. I just really enjoy
this because you're clearly a man scorned because you picked

(26:23):
the Steelers to go to the Super Bowl and this
is all just pent up rege going on back to
their elimination from consideration. Then you tried to hitch to
my bandwagon. Oh I didn't know that they were my
Steelers until they weren't. No, listen, this is what I do.
You're my team until I want to drop you, and
then then I'm onto something else. Then I'm not hey

(26:45):
if you don't, If you look, i'll back you up.
But the minute you stopped backing me up, I'm gone. Man,
I'm going. I'm going to somebody else. You obviously don't
care about me. The Steelers didn't care about me. I
picked them to go to the super Bowl. He started
eleven and other then they started losing, losing, losing. You
don't care. I mean, I'm going to somebody else. That's
just how it works, man. I don't have time for
teams that don't play well. I don't have time for
people that don't live up to the lofty expectations I

(27:06):
placed on them. If you can't live up to that,
I'm moving on. That's why I put very low expectations
on the Nicks, because they can then leap over it.
But a team like the Steelers, I mean, it's the Steelers.
You expect them to be. You know, with twelve thirteen games,
no no, no, time has come for the Steelers. This
is gonna be a year where they go, wow, we
it's now it's time for us to completely restart, and
and and and hit the reset button because they're gonna

(27:27):
be behind all other the other three teams in the
division this season. Joe Burrow, Baby, Joe Burrow boot begins. Hey,
I got nothing against Joe Burrow. I just always caution folks,
you know, against burying a guy too fast, especially coming
off a D thirty three and ten season. Okay, a

(27:49):
lot of that stuff was in the first eleven twelve weeks,
A lot of that stuff with that funny, they lost
several guys on their defense that couldn't hold up either. Jason,
you're conveniently forgetting that part of the equation. Go ahead,
bring up the guy you always bring up. Bring up
the guy you always bring up. Bring bring him up.
Go ahead. I don't want to ruin I'm nervous that
pounce he retired. Look I'm nervous for because, well, which

(28:14):
guy do I always bring up? You's got nothing to
do with the Steelers. I don't want it. I don't
want to ruin it for you. I don't want to
rut if you didn't. All right, we'll wait, wall wait,
It's okay, Well we'll wait. I want where do you
always bring him up? What the two linebackers? That's yeah,
those are big deal. Come on, you bring up Bud
Dupree all the time. Come on, player, you bring him
up all the time. But waiting for you to say

(28:34):
bud Dupree, Now, I thought you were going Costanzo and
I was gonna check your sanity as to what team
we were talking about. That's why I wanted to do
a reset, asking about the Steelers. You're gonna bring up
You're right on there. We always bring you, always bring
up bud Dupree. Bud Dupree, Isle and Devin Bush were gone.
That those are two pretty big misses in your defense.
But do what your team was for the back end

(28:55):
of that schedule. He's the new trade Burton. As much
as you bring up bud Dupree. Now, look he hopefully
he's ready for training camp. The Steelers did lose, guys.
But when your quarterback has trouble making plays, guess what,
you're not gonna win games. You're not gonna win games.
That that's you can have a lot of things around.
You can surround your team a lot when your quarterback
has trouble. And Roethlisberger, we have seen it. He is

(29:16):
at the end. You know, I I feel pretty comfortable
with this because it's it's only really one team. Well
can they can they get up over the Bengals. Why
do I like the Bengals because I like Joe Burrow.
I like the Bengals going forward as being a team
on the rise and and potentially you could see him
being a huge take a huge leap at quarterback this year.
I don't see Roethlisberger taking a big leap. Steelers want

(29:37):
a lot of those games last year there by the
skin of their teeth, like where they're more talented than this.
What's happening here telling you when your quarterback can't do it?
And if they have to change quarterbacks middle of the season,
something else happens. I mean, if the Steelers can turn
into a really big mess very soon. But do pre
you're not Trey Burton or not Trey Burton's got nothing
to do with them. Be sure to catch live editions

(29:58):
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike arm in weekdays
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Call one eight
eight Farmers and you could save on your auto insurance.
It's better than using your phone to see if your
post got any likes. Again, call one eight eight eight
Farmers to get a quote. We are farmers and written
my farmers refine insurance changes parts on available every state

(30:19):
Fox Sports Radio that Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon live from the Farmers Insurance Studios. Hey
call Farmers. You can save a whole lot of something
on auto insurance. One triple eight Farmers is the number.
So if you were ever picked last for a sport
and dodgeball or kickball or softball, and look, I'll tell

(30:39):
you the kid was never picked last. Just so you know,
I has never picked last. But you know, I understand
people that that get get picked last. I understand. Well,
you have something in common now with two of the
best players in the NBA as the All Star teams
were picked today. Uh, Lebron taking Janice first overall in
the draft. Kevin Durant is the other captain. Uh So

(31:01):
they went back and forth with their picks and and look,
it's it's a lot of fun. Lebron said he picked
the honest. He wanted to find guys who could play
well together. Uh, you know, obviously this is kind of
a fun thing. The final two players on the board
that got chosen Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Mitchell got
picked by k D. Lebron. James took Rudy Gobert, and

(31:24):
if you remember last night, the two were unhappy going, Uh, hey,
the Utah Jazz, we don't get calls. The reps don't
help us out because we're not some of the big
teams across the league. We just don't get the calls
other teams do. They were hopping mad and now here
they are the last two picked for the All Star Game.
Clearly that sentiment is echoed throughout the NBA. Nobody else

(31:45):
thinks the Utah Jazz are good either because they were
safe for last for the All Star Game. Oh, there's
a lot to unwrap here with the commentary and just
the selections themselves. Uh, looky, when you're going through the
the entirety of the All Stars, Uh, it's no, no,
someone's got to be last. Unfortunately, and well for Donovan

(32:06):
Mitchell and for Rudy Gobert, maybe there's some personal beef.
Maybe you know there was a handshake deal with Shack
that they do everything they could to see how mad
Donovan Mitchell would get and thinks everybody hates him. Yeah,
well that's going on a whole year. Though there's a
lot going on there. This does a lot to push

(32:28):
that narrative of Hey, you know, no, nobody likes the jazz. No.
But seriously, even though, and I'm being a completely serious
when I say this, you know how much NBA players
care about their image and what people think about how
good they are sports you do, but in no sport
to players outwardly care as much as NBA players do. Right,

(32:52):
NBA players care so much about what's written, what is said,
what the other players think about them outwardly. They wear
that on their sleeve. You know, nobody wants to be
the last pick in the All starme You go back
to Kevin Love, who was the first last pick in
the All Star Game a couple of years ago. And
that's embarrassing even because it's still you're still the last pick.
Yeah but I'm an All Star, but you're still the

(33:12):
last pick. And you know they get made fun of it.
You know, they see everything on social media. You know, here,
here's the two guys they could have picked over him,
and it's a picture of Woody Harrilson and Wesley Snipes
from White Men Can't Jump, and it's all, look at this,
We're the last two guys picked in the All Star Game.
You know, they're piste off. And you know, nobody wants
to be the last pick. Guys can sit here and
and and try to make it seem like they don't,

(33:32):
but they all care. Nobody wants to be that last pick.
And I guarantee you guys are piste off. They weren't
picked higher than other guys. Wait why did Janice go
over me? I don't understand? Wait wait wait wait wait
wait wait wait Zach Lavine went over me? How does
Zach Levine go ahead of me? It's all the whole
big thing. It's the it's the game at the top
one tenth of one percent play that. It's that that
you just have to sit back and watch and go wow.

(33:53):
Even they have petty stuff going on, No, there's no
question about it. But now they'll use it as fuel.
That's the other hot take comes out of this. They
are now more motivated than ever to show America, show
the rest of the NBA what they're made of. Did
I sell that well enough? No? You did? You saw
that was pretty good? Buddy? I like that. You did that? Okay,
it's pretty good. Like no, no, no, no, no, you

(34:16):
hit it, you hit it just fine? Trust me. All
these played they're all looking who got picked ahead of
them and who got picked by and they are really
mad and they're mad at the ones that got picked
ahead of them. They're mad, and especially Donovan, Mitch and
Rudy Gobert because you know, they're so upset because they're
just gonna see everything on social media and they're gonna
be pissed. It's how it goes Twitter at How about
a Fresca Mike and swollen dome coming up next? Okay,

(34:38):
it's Baker and the UFO. This is Fox