March 6, 2021 • 38 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon open up the hour by discussing California's new health and safety guidelines allowing fans back in the stands. NFL Insider and Editor-In-Chief at Fansided.com Jason Cole joins the show to talk NFL Draft and how good Zach Wilson really is and can be. Jason and Mike also discuss which team Blake Griffin would benefit from the most.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R. You're
(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. I hate that song. Greetings,
Happy Friday. Welcome inside The Jason Smith Show with my
bas friend Mike Harmon Today Friday, Live from the Farmers
Insurance Studios, Call one triple eight Farmers to switch. You
could save on your auto insurance. What else are you
gonna do with your phone for the next few minutes?
(00:46):
Look at pictures of food your friends eight again Call
one eight eight Farmers. That's one triple eight Farmers for
a quote. We are farmers. Well, happy beginning of All
Star We again in the NBA. We got a big
fun night, we got a great story. We're gonna kick
(01:06):
things off within a second. But you know, before we
get to something great, I want to you know, we
gotta kind of balance out a little bit. I have
gone from last night Mike, uh, I was tepidly and
I would say tepid that's a bad word. I was
optimistically excited about coming to America and now I'm just
flat out nervous. Now now after what did I tell you,
(01:28):
after seeing the full reviews that have come in today,
I mean, because last night it was kind of mixed.
I was like, Okay, then you burst my balloon by
saying my timeline. Everybody says it sucks. I was like,
all right, And then I was looking at the reviews
today and more and more, and I'm like, oh, oh no, no, no,
So now I'm just nervous. Now I'm gonna have to
(01:50):
bask on the on the in the afterglow of the
WandaVision finale, which was terrific. And now I'm gonna just
now I feel like I have to watch coming to
a work. I tell you what you like. Even while
we were on Area yesterday, I started seeing because it
released early, just like One Division did. Laon Division was
up a few minutes earlier than midnight. So Maddie and
(02:12):
I were playing uh an online game of pool, and
I go, hey, wait a minute, it says play. She goes,
wait what, and so we kept playing pool while we
watched the opening. She kicked my ass. But you're gonna say,
we're playing online poker and Maddy's up with a big
stat Yeah no, no no, no, I'm gonna teach you that
the next break. Okay, go a couple of days to
(02:32):
really work on it. There's not much, but you know,
I just had started seeing friends whose opinions I trust,
and and people in our larger media speer that we're
just saying I need mouthwash. Oh that was it was
very disappointing. That was hashtag c t A and I'm like,
(02:53):
what the hell's the Chicago Transit Authority got to? And
then I know things have been a bit rough in
Chicago and the weather was miserable and and and they're
kind of mirroring a lot of what's going on here
in terms of how open and available things are. But
uh yeah, well, which is the original name of Chicago too,
(03:14):
So if we want to get into a little bit
of great music with horns, you can talk about Chicago
as well. Yeah. I mean way before, no doubt, I
mean they were like way way way before that. Yeah,
it made me. I I went from being that way
to now I feel like, I gotta watch it just
because I gotta watch it, Right, that's kind of where
I met. Well, you know, now I kind of have
(03:34):
to see it. I can't not see it, and I'm
just hoping that there's I'm hoping that it's not just
the one scene in the trailer with them in the
barbershop that they show, because that scene is hilarious in
the trailer, And now I'm thinking, is that like the
only funny part of the movie. Is that gonna be
the only funny part because that's the only funny Probably
really disappointed. Yeah, no, nobody was. There wasn't a lot
(03:54):
of specifics because people didn't want to do the spoiler
thing and we're trying to avoid potentially ruining it. But
just kind of saying, all right, if you want the
nostalgia of it, you know, you'll you'll appreciate that all
the characters are back. Yeah, just just enjoy that they're
all here. Okay, Just let's not think that whether it's
funny or not. Let's just enjoy. Oh, look, like you
get to see old friends. The story I saw, the
(04:18):
headline that I had to click on was the sad
reason Louis Anderson was in the first Coming to America.
I'm like, oh yeah, I saw that. Yeah, that was
big clickbait earlier this and and then I clicked it. Yeah,
spoiler alert, it ain't. I'm just hoping, like really, like
my hope is that, Okay, the McDowell stuff is really funny,
(04:40):
Like I can't wait to see what the new menu
items are gonna be on McDowell's. You know, thirty years later.
You know McDonald's has the Shamrock shake. We have the
Shamrocks steak sandwich. Our meat is green, the green meat
that we give to everybody and they eat it. They're
looking for that color. Like I really, I'm hoping that
the new menu items are gonna be really funny, But
I don't, like I said it, just crossing my finger
is now and going, yeah, okay, I know we're gonna
(05:02):
Now we're just gonna kind of piecemeal it and watch
it from beginning to end, bit by bit man, It's okay,
It'll be okay if at worst it's two hours of
your life. It is true. Then you celebrated our Senia Hall.
You know, I interviewed him once on the red carpet
at the sps UH and like, why was our Senio
(05:23):
Hall at the SPS. I'm like, our Senio Hall because
you know, the Red Carpet goes. This is probably about
ten years ago, and you know in Arsenio Hall wasn't
doing anything, and the Red Carpet just you know, people
walk on the Red carpets, all athletes and stars, and
there's our Senio Hall. And I'm like, oh my god.
I'm like, is anybody talking Arsenio Hall? I grew up
watching Arsenio. Oh, I'm gonna call him over. Arsenio, come
on over. He walks right over. Hey, how you do it? Yeah?
(05:44):
Jason Smith the ESPN radio, we're on, you know for yeah, yeah,
what do you want to talk about? Man? When you
talk about them? Here you go, Hey, why are you here?
He goes, I don't know, it felt like coming I said, really, yeah, yes,
I knew what happened. I just felt like coming down.
It's at least I talked to him for like ten minutes.
Usually usually interviews on the Red Carpet the SPS are
like ninety seconds, right, everybody everybody's going right on. Yeah,
(06:06):
you don't have a lot of time, right, and it's
just okay, here it isn't. It's great. He's there for
like ten minutes and I'm talking and I'm watching like
other stars just walking right by me. And I'm sitting
there going I'm having fun. But um, you know, there
there goes you know, and there goes Vince Young. Not
gonna get Vince Young. Okay, there goes Chris Johnson. Not
gonna get Chris Johnson. There all these people walking by,
but you know, hey, I talked to hers Sending Hall
for like ten minutes and and we were just talking
(06:28):
about his career, about life and sports. I'm like, this
is awesome. He just decided, Yeah, I decided to come down.
I'm just gonna walk the red carpet. And that's just
just walk the red carpet from beginning. Then I'll tell
you what I did. Once it was like a hundred
and five degrees. I came out tremendously sunburned, and the
story that ended up being the big thing of that day.
There were a couple of near fights, but that was
(06:50):
after a Mari Stotomyer had signed his massive deal. Oh yeah,
he's walking up. I started doing like a w W
E like intro and he walked past like ten people
and came straight to me stressed like a million bucks
or in that that at that moment, He's like, my, man, o,
my you won today, man, twitter At how about a fresca?
(07:15):
Mike gets swollen down the Jason Smithcer with Mike Harmen
live from the Farmers Insurance Studios. Call Farmers Today for
a quote. Now. Meanwhile, Uh, look, it's Friday night, and
we always look, we love positivity every night. And if
the nervousness of coming to America, okay, I get it.
But if you want a really good story, and and
this is one of those really good stories we if
(07:38):
you remember we told you about a month ago as
things started to turn with COVID wise here in the
country with the vaccine rollout happening and cases decreasing, and
people were still practicing good behavior, you know, still wearing
masks and everything else. And I know now that you know,
that's starting to lose its way a little bit throughout
the country. Uh hopefully you know, I got fingers crossed.
(07:59):
The key is getting better, but COVID has been getting better.
And now that the country is really opening up, and
I don't want to sit back and say, where was
this six months ago? Let's just celebrate. We're here right now,
and we told you that the real official beginning, when
we're gonna feel like things are back to normal or
or or they're almost back to normal, is going to
(08:19):
be the beginning of baseball season. Right. Whenever something big
happens in this country, sports is always at the at
the front, forefront of it. This is why sports and
politics and sports and pop culture and sports and and
anything else that goes on, why it's hand in hand
because usually it is sports that leads a discussion or
sports leads away in their actions, and everybody looks to
(08:40):
sports to saying, hey, al right, uh, tell us everything
is okay, or tell us what we need to do now? Right.
You think all the leaders we have in this country,
and they all to go, what's the NBA gonna do here? What?
What's what's the NFL gonna do here? Hey, what's major
League Baseball gonna do here? Let's take a look at
see and we get it that way, and sometimes it's
it's rough. The end be a led the way last
(09:01):
year for the club, I remember the closing down to COVID.
What once Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID nineteen. That
was it, right, the NBA shut down within a couple
of days, everything else shutdown. We're coming up on the
year anniversary of that happening, uh in a few days.
But baseball is going to lead us out of it.
And and with open air stadiums and baseball being a
(09:22):
sport that clearly is one of those sports that is
very conducive to playing in the shadow of COVID nineteen,
We get this news today that California is lifting COVID
restrictions on outdoor sports and entertainment venues, clearing the way
for fans to attend games on opening day and theme
parks like Disneyland to reopen for the first time in
(09:45):
more than a year. This is not something I expected
to see right now, But here we are. Right now.
We're gonna you can go to games and Disneyland's going
to reopen. Now. Does this mean you're gonna get to
go to Disneyland. No, But it's this is more a
symbol of hey, now I get it. Now, I get
that we're doing better. Now, We're we're making big decisions
that are positive that where people are allowed to go
(10:07):
to games. Look, MLS is going to start soon people
are gonna tell MLS games. But can you imagine what
it's gonna be like the excitement for opening Day where California,
who if we have been one of the most conservative
states for COVID nineteen and we still had the huge
uh you know, we were the epicenter of it for
about a month or so. But California is one of
the most conservative states and here they are with ay,
we're going to allow people to go to games, We're
(10:28):
gonna reopen theme parks. It's happening, and we still have
to be doing a good job. Right. We still can't
just think, Okay, it's done. But now you're seeing that, hey,
it's not only light at the end of the tunnel.
We're getting to the end of the tunnel and and
the beginning of the baseball season, trust me. And we
get to that first week of April coming up in
about two and a half weeks, and so we're gonna,
you know, with more vaccines that keep coming out, and
(10:50):
we're hearing that maybe everybody can get vaccinated by the
beginning of the summer, which would be incredible. Uh, that's
when it's really going to feel like, hey, we're out
of this it's gonna be a about a year because
you know, from March thirteenth, I think was the last
our last day of school, I think before they shut
things down. So in the end it's going to be
about a year. But boy, at the year mark here,
(11:12):
we're really going to feel like we are over the
other side of the mountain on it, and and we
are coming downhill, and we are gathering speed, and and
by the time we get later in the spring into
the summer, we're gonna be back to life kind of
like we knew it before, which is gonna be something.
And trust me, that first week, the the visuals of
Major League Baseball, what people are gonna get to see,
the celebrations of people in line at the ballpark, even
(11:34):
though they're gonna be social distance and sitting apart from
each other, seeing that and and and feeling like, okay,
here's baseball starting. It's a right of spring, you know,
it's it's something that's hope springs eternal in baseball, and
the beginning of the season signal always signals something new.
It's a new year for everybody, right, everybody goes back
to zero and zero and hope starts a new whether
it's for baseball or for an allegory in life, and
(11:57):
the beginning of baseball season is going to do that.
And especially now you see in this in California, we're
almost there. I almost heard James Earl Jones voice in
my head as you started to speak. Uh, Purple Tier
outdoor sports limited to a hundred people, limits increased to
twenties percent capacity in the Red tiert, Orange Tier, sixtent
(12:17):
and the Yellow Tier. Obviously, nationwide you've heard a lot
of uh, collegiate entities coming forward said we're gonna have
a hundred percent in these seats, the city of Atlanta
saying we were gonna have a hundred percent by Baseball's
All Star Game. All of those things big benchmarks here
in California. You mentioned the politics. I'd be remiss if
(12:37):
I didn't remind folks nationwide that there is a recall
effort on the governor, so getting things open helps his case. Uh,
just to kind of throw a one liner out there.
Obviously a lot of positivity the vaccines and and numbers
and everything that you do, but you know, sometimes you
need that little extra jolt to keep pushing things and
(12:57):
reevaluating and getting a better understanding handle and movement on
these type of things. I can tell you right now,
I'm gonna be off the first Uh, not because I
am an April fool, but I'm gonna go be trying
to be one of those people in the ballpark. Baby dude, Angels,
White Sox, are you kidding you? Of course you're getting
(13:18):
it to get things started, but it's pretty normal. It's
a normal time for us. This is a normal ticket sales.
Oh sorry too soon, No and that and that's hey,
you can do that. But those are the meaningful bats
that Trout and and Wolves will have this season. So
I mean it might have as some extra demand as
we go. One of the things that is going to
(13:39):
be kind of interesting to watch. Uh. And the wording
has been nebulous at this point of in state visitors
is a term being used. So the question of hey,
you're you're gonna open up the ballpark. And this is
particular to me as I have family all back in
Chicago saying I'd be nice to go to California come
(14:00):
see the White Sox and cheer them on. But whether
you're gonna have to show I D and proof of
residents or something, there may still be some some data
to flow from there. But the larger point is, yes,
there there's a step forward, there's positivity, and we we
can do all those hope springs eternal and the even
(14:20):
the Mets have a chance right now and all the stops.
We're going to the NLCS. We're gonna play the Dodgers.
It's it's happening, alright. I told you it's gonna happen.
It's and Taylor's gonna hit another Grand Slam and send
Twitter into a whole other world. But the the idea
of just being that you can put something on a
map right one of the big important things they talk
about psychologically when you're at work, because let's face it,
(14:42):
a lot of folks don't have the the luxury of
their work day being one of the highlights of their day.
We get to come in, yell at each other, try
to inform, entertain. That doesn't mean there are hard days
where you've got stories that are just like, man, this
is this is difficult, you know, real if stuff to
talk about. But we like our jobs. A lot of
(15:03):
folks don't. So what do they say to do? Always
have something on the calendar right, Always have an event,
Always having a vacation. Always have some goal. And now
when you start moving the lines and you start actually
getting some concrete plans of all right on this date,
you should be able to do it. And and maybe
you are one of the twenty or whatever that gets
to go to Disneyland as they open. I mean all
(15:26):
of those big things. Those are big momentous occasions. We've
got schools reopening here. I know my next door neighbor
breathed a big sigh of relief because two of the
the older kids went back to school. Uh. And today
so I was like, hey, my house was kind of
quiet in the morning. I go just think all next
week you're gonna have that quiet. So you know, there's
there's little milestones, but always you know, look at the calendar,
(15:48):
try to put something out there for yourself. Uh and
and find that ray of sunshine. Find those wins people
they're coming Twitter at how about a fresc up Mike
at Swollen Dome. We are close and is a big
day today. But keep being smart, right, keep being smart.
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dot com today to start your job fast getting the
zone auto Zone Well, coming up next, the reason that
Russell Wilson is going to get traded that no one's
really mentioned. And after the news of the last twenty
four hours, if you need any more evidence than what
we're gonna say next, well that I can't do much
more to help you with. But it's coming up next
(16:53):
right here. Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Easter and seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Hey what's up, everybody?
It's me three time pro bowler La Barrington and I
couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called
Up on Game. What is up on Game? You asked,
(17:15):
along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hutchman's Atta
and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Burds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent on it.
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgmansatta and Plexico
(17:38):
Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast from. Joining us now on
the hotline. He is the editor in chief at fansided
dot com, longtime NFL Insider, Pro Football Hall of Fame voter,
and author of the new book Joe Douglas, A Relentless
(17:58):
Life in Pursuit of Zach Wilson. It is Jason Cole,
Ja Coble. What's happening all right? Life is beautiful? Yes,
exceedingly beautiful. You are full of positivity on this Friday
as well. My friend else, Well, it's a Friday night.
(18:19):
Why wouldn't you be positive? Well? Up with people a
kind of moment. Yes, you get to talk with us.
You're gonna make some fun jokes, we're gonna have You're
gonna have the best fifteen minutes of your week now
with us. Um, that's quite entirely possible, though it would
be a lot better of airing can work here, Wow,
worked with he usually worked with Harvin, just saying Okay, listen, Yeah,
(18:52):
you crack yourself up, don't you. Yeah, here, here, you're hilarious. Sorry,
you walked right into it, you know, listen, Just so
you know, every time we have you on, it's because
Jay Glazer doesn't pick up his phone, all right, just
so you know, Okay, Yeah, let's just say that based
on what I know, Jame's not picking up the phone
very often these days, yeah, saying saying, uh, he's on
(19:18):
his big vacation right now. He told us that the
other week. Hey, listen, let's let's start here. Yes, I
mentioned Zack Wilson. Uh, he's getting all kinds of love
right now. Oh boy, it's close between him and Trevor Lawrence.
And you'll clearly look, the Jaguars are going with Lawrence
at number one. But is Zach Wilson really that that good?
I mean, I know he's good. I've seen him play,
But is he suddenly that good. Look. I think this
(19:42):
is just the we'll love a fair time with quarterback.
I talked to you about five people, and there's a
handful of people in that group who say three or
four who say, you know, Wilson might be better than him, right, Um,
he might be the better player. And that's kind of
a typical argument you get between prospects. You know, sometimes
(20:05):
people just have different opinions. But I think the consensus
is that Lawrence is clearly the better player, the better pedigree.
So I just think there's just there are some people
in that group who are just contrarians to be contrarians
because just on the off chance that Wilson becomes the
better player, they can say that they were right. Um.
(20:25):
But I think, look when I see Trevor Lawrence, and
I'm not a scout, so and I didn't. I haven't
seen Zach Wilson play very much, so I saw justin Fields.
I think justin Field is like, you know, kind of
your more mobile version or your typical Buck eyes quarterback
or typical quarterback that you get in an Urban Meyer
(20:48):
type offense. And I know Urban's not coaching there now,
but it's still his offense, right, So I think Trevor
Lawrence looks like next the second Coming of Joe Namath.
It just has that look about him. And when you
see like old film of Nameth Planet Alabama, you're just
looking and go, man, those they're just spitting images of
(21:11):
each other, absolutely one. So I love I love Trevor Lawrence,
and Zach Wilson I think is good, but not not
in that range. Now, if only we get one of them,
you walk around in a fur coat, we are the
winners of it all. But have you imagined Trebert Lawrence
and in the fur coat with that hair, Yeah, like
(21:33):
not be almost It would be a cross between Nameth
and Charo. I was gonna give him a little rick flair,
but sure Charo to Charo, really char Well, that's what
we get. We get. We do the Deep pools here
on a Friday nights like it's the Deep Martin Celebrity Rose,
(21:55):
I mean, my childhood is coming back. We're gonna have
We're gonna doon have all sorts of really ridiculous off
color jokes by Don Rickles that when you look at
the repeats, you go, man, that's some racist craft. It
really is. And you probably own all the DVDs, and
that's what brought it up. Right there, I like television
(22:16):
right there. The library is full, baby, it is absolutely full.
As Rickles and Richard Pryor go at it all. Right, Well, yeah,
we'll Seattle Seahawks fans be invoking a lot of angry terminology,
not necessarily that which you described there. But with Russell
Wilson and the Seahawks on the outs, will he return
(22:39):
to Seattle or will the Bears actually make a big play? Well,
I mean, I think the Bears are gonna make a
big play, and and they're gonna offer up everything I can,
but I don't think it's I don't think they have
a good enough pick that's number one, number two. And
then somebody at some point in time gonna walk into
Pete Carroll's office and go, dude, what are you doing?
Like this is the best quarterback we've had forty five years,
(23:02):
and the next bet is passleback. And after we get
past hassleback, HiT's Jim Zorn, right, So just keep him,
make him happy, do whatever you have to do. Like
this is stupid, like Deshar Watson saying, I understand because
Houston doesn't want to get rid of him. But they
(23:23):
you know, they come bumbled their way through with this
whold Jack Easter b crap. But this is and he's
and Easter. He's not a football guy, but he's a
he's not a football guy pretending to be a football guy,
and that creates a bigger problem. Pete Carroll is actually
a football guy. He has got gone out and got
quarterbacks over the course of his career. He knows how
hard it is to find these guys. And he's sitting
(23:46):
here and saying, now it's time to part way sort of.
Russell Wilson, you just went twelve and four. If your
defense had been halfway decent all season, you might have
been playing for a Super Bowl. But your defense, you
never got it together. Wilson is not the problem. Russell
Walson is a solution in the Seattle and I just like,
(24:07):
where's John Schneider? Just walk in go you know, dude, like, no,
don't do this, don't do this. I mean, even you know,
Paul Allen's sister whatever her name is, Like, even she
should have the sense to walk in and say, I
don't really understand what you're attempting to do here, Pete,
(24:27):
because like it seems like he's good. You know who
else is good that you ignored? Was Dave Craig again.
I mean, what what you know when you talk about
best Seahawks quarterback, you completely that's part. That's the best
part about that is that you actually looked that up
online and you went and go, what's the history of
(24:47):
Seahawks quarterbacks? Did you actually care about? We had we
had Dave Craig on the show a couple of years ago. Yeah, yeah, now, no,
I don't know what just right now now we had
Dave Craig on the show. Um, I'm so impressed. Uh
(25:11):
wait till next week when you come on and we
do one of those TV ambush shows where you come
on and you're talking and then Dave Craig is gonna
be on the line listening and he just jumps right
in and it's all it's ambush time, and then you
guys are gonna go after on that list. Yeah, you
had small hands. Dave Craig used to come playing about
(25:35):
you all the time, That's legit. He would go in,
he would tell John Clayton, Craig is gonna fumble the
ball because he's got those tiny little hands, you know,
that's that's literally true. I feel like I need to
have a joke there, but we'll move on. Hey, Pittsburgh
came to terms with Ben Roethlisberger. Why can he still
(25:57):
work or are they just nostalgic? Yeah? No, I think
that's Look, I thought that towards the end of the
season they started attacking more. I didn't understand their whole
offensive phlosophy for the first twelve games in the season,
I was working. You know, they were at eleven and
oh at one point in time, so there was hard
it was hard to complain about. But when the roof
came in, there was some isssues. Now they got some
(26:20):
they gotta pick some things on the offensive line, and
they just got to decide. You know, James Conner is okay,
but he's not great. But they got to get a
real running game. But you know, look, I think Roethlisberger
is is good enough to to make them a super Bowl.
You know, a team that can compete for a Super Bowl.
(26:41):
I don't. I you know, are his death days and
I'm sure? But I mean I thought he overall, he
had a pretty good year last year coming back from
that injury. Right, I mean, it's like that's not an
easy thing to get get, you know, you get back
from And I thought he was pretty good overall. You know,
(27:05):
did he look have some yips in the pocket once
in a while, Sure, but that connection was awful. So
like they've got some tweaking they've gotta do. And my
thing is, don't change out the quarterback when you're defense
is pretty loaded, you know, like they're they're really good.
So if you're that loaded your for bear on defense, Um,
(27:26):
don't toy with a quarterback right now, even if he's
not quite quite what he was three years ago. There's
a subtle dig at Dave Craig right there at the end.
He is Jason Cole. You can find Roethlisberger has normal sizes.
He doesn't have little kitty pause, you know, or whatever
(27:48):
it was that Dave Craig had. He's on Twitter at
Jason Cole sixty two, editor in chief at fans side
dot com. I'm going to be blindsided next by Dave Craig,
Like most of your listeners don't even know who Dave Craig.
That's that's the genius. Except you'll read, Yeah, you'll replay,
(28:10):
You'll replay the interview from two years ago or whatever
it was. I think more people know who Dave Craig is.
I know who you are. They stood something, somebody was
like LaVar. He started with LaVar. And now you're blocking
our interview. Okay, here we come. I'm not letting that go. Okay,
(28:36):
I'll remember the Lafar Areason move. Okay, al right, way
to go Smith the entire interview. But you got your revenge.
You're the best call. Always fun stuff with Jason Colla
(28:58):
and of course his book l A Relentless Life available
right now at Amazon. Uh, great stuff on on his
life and career. You can grab it there. That is
the real title of the book. It is. It is
l Way A Relentless Life. It's not about you know,
Joe Douglass, although it was. Zach Wilson does turn into
Joe Montana. They will write books about Joe Douglas. Oh,
I have no doubt. Well, I'll have to drop you
my my copy of the book. Though it's it's quite good.
(29:21):
I think it's for those that uh follow the NFL
during that that period or just want a sense of
the history of what was going on in the league
at that point. There's some killer stories and all the
stuff from his mom is great. Yeah. And the Teabow
stuff is great too, you know. And you know, unfortunately
the f C Championship game against the Jets is in
there too. Yeah. No, no, he loves all the bases
on those because all the stuff, yea, all the stuff
(29:43):
I don't want to read about. I'm gonna get to
read about the episode. But you know, just really quick,
you know, we we talked about Ben Roethlisberger and and
and where things are going now with the Pittsburgh Steelers
and how you know, look, they have a lot of
things to do. You know, we talked about last night
that look, Roethlisberg will be the worst quarterback in the
Vision this year and the Steelers could finish last in
the division. They're one of those teams that it's not
(30:06):
one of those well they go from you know, thirteen
and three to eleven and five to nine and seven. No,
this is one of those they go thirteen and three
and suddenly they're six and ten and you're like, what
just happened? What what just happened to this team? So
it can happen that fast with them, and it really
is all about Roethlisberger. They have decided to go all
in that he's still going to be the guy. And
(30:26):
and the first the first six seven weeks are gonna
tell us everything, and it's gonna get It's gonna be
not a great season for him if he starts playing poorly.
And then suddenly, hey, guess what Dwayne Haskins or whoever
they get in the draft is gonna be in their
week eight, Week nine? Watch out? Look at you. You're
just called doom and gloom. Watch out. I call it
like I see it, Michael. I said great things about
(30:48):
three other teams, great things about the Bengals, great things
about the Browns, great things about the Ravens. But I
say not good things about the Steelers. And suddenly, now
look what you're doing. You love Good to Bed was
three to one. No, that was pretty good, especially when
you're talking about the Browns and the Bengals. Is those
three that that is pretty impressive? Look, the Bengals need
to wear the white tiger helmets at own point. I
(31:11):
mean those are killer. Oh that would be nice, like
like white Vision right now, White Vision? Okay, alright, very good? Well,
like the Tigers that were hanging out with Sike Freed
and Roy sure or Baker Mayfield and in the photo
shoot before last season, this is true Twitter and out
about a frescup. Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smiths
with Mike Carmen live from the Farmer's Insurance Studios called
(31:31):
one Triple Light Farmers save a whole lot of something
on auto insurance. We got more NFL coming up in
a few minutes, but straight ahead, uh, the first domino
has fallen in the what's a player that could get
added to an NBA team that could make a big difference?
Blake Griffin is now available. Should you go out and
get him? Where should he end up? We'll tell you
(31:51):
coming up next right here. Fox. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Acific. 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
(32:13):
by Farmerstok Refine Insurance to changes are parts on available
every state Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
My Base Friend, My Car I'm live from the Farmers
Insurance studios. Call one Triple eight Farmers, see how much
you could save on auto insurance. Well, the beginning of
the big buyouts are here as we get into trade
(32:34):
season in the NBA. Like what players are going to
be available as Victor Oladipo gonna be a guy that
goes somewhere, but the buyouts are gonna be a big deal.
To Andre Drummond probably is going to get bought out
in Cleveland. He's going to be a huge edition somewhere.
Is an All Star center who's twenty seven years old,
and today kind of kick things off when Blake Griffin
and the Pistons agreed to a contract buyout. The six
(32:56):
time All Star is now free to sign with any team. Uh,
he was magan way too much money for anybody to
trade for him. So the Pistons buy him out and
now he is free to go anywhere. He has been
linked right away with the Brooklyn Nets, and I get that, Hey,
you can go there, potentially win a championship. He could
play with DeAndre Jordan's and he provide depth for the Nets.
(33:16):
Look at makes sense. The Warriors are another team that
could be their for him. So are the Heat and
the Blazers. This according to ESPN, those are the four
teams that are expected to be among the running for
Blake Griffin. Now, Mike, I get the nets. I completely
get it from his perspective. Hey, listen, I can go win.
But he's a different player than he was even you know,
(33:36):
a year or so ago. I mean, the Blake Griffin
hasn't dunk since thing is just incredible. Um, he's more
a point forward now and he's not gonna score twenty
points a game. He's not gonna play all those minutes.
He's someone that look this year has has has fallen
into being like a thirteen and eight and four guy.
And yes, is he valuable. Yes, he'll be good with
(33:57):
the nets. He'll be a guy that provides depth and
and and take some of the onus off the big three,
especially when they all can't play, you know, because Kevin
Durant's going through injury histories and we'll see what happens.
But I'll tell you what, man, the Lakers seem like
the right fit for him for more than a couple
of reasons. First, if he goes, he would play a
(34:17):
bigger role because the Lakers need to save wear and
tear on Lebron On Anthony Davis, he would step in
with a little bit bigger of a role. Do you
have a little bit more chance to do his thing
and be able to put the ball in the basket.
And that's something that I don't think you can ignore
if you're Blake Griffin, because you still want a big role.
You still want to be a guy that can contribute
(34:38):
your thirty one. You know you're not thirty eight. You
don't want to sit back and go, yeah, whatever, I'll
play like eight minutes ago. No, you still want a
big role. You're not gonna have that in in in Brooklyn.
You'll have it in in Los Angeles. And they will
go out of their way to make sure they make
you part of the team because clearly in their front
court when when there's injury issues they're dealing with, Hey,
they could use somebody that can play out of minutes
(35:00):
like that. Plus, he comes back to l a where
he enjoyed the the best parts of his career. You
know with the other team. Hey, I'll show you Clippers.
You watch all right, you watch from the other side
of the arena while we go in and I help
this team win a championship. I think the Lakers are
a better fit because he'd be able to accomplish more.
He'd be a bigger piece for them than he would
be for the Nets. Yeah. I think the biggest point,
(35:22):
as you say, is taking Lebron and you can get
him off the court and you got a guy with
the size and the skill of still moving the ball.
Now trying to compare him to Lebron in that respect,
obviously that's a foolhardy expedition. But a guy who's averaging
about for assists the game doesn't have to be the
the number one score, right, and just being a body
(35:45):
to distribute and maybe give Lebron a couple of extra
minutes in the second half to sit and rest and
be kg uh and come back out for that final flourish,
especially once you get to the playoffs. Absolutely uh. And
look you're you're looking to win. Uh. If you're Blake Griffin, right,
you've made a lot of money, you've had a lot
(36:06):
of notoriety, you've got a good stand up career. When
you're ready to go back to that, he's pretty good
actually on stage, good comedic timing. So he's got that
second career all set. Uh, now he just needs a
title and coming back and winning as part of the lakership.
Let's face it, to go and potentially run through the
Clippers en route to a title. Don't tell me that
(36:27):
wouldn't have an extra bit of satisfaction. And uh, that
would be the nice way to end your career. I
think this is just how I win. I'm out looking
and and and and don't and and look when you're
talking about for this year, it's hard to make emotion
something that keeps somebody going and sustains it because you
have to be able to want to succeed and do
(36:48):
well if you're going to have a career. But you're
talking about the rest of this year. You're talking about
thirty five games in the playoffs. Oh yeah, you can
live off emotion and hate And I want to show
you something and and this is gonna this is gonna
burn my fire for the rest of this year. That's
all the Lakers would care about. Whatever happens this year,
you can do. You can live emotionally for a short
period of time. Now you're not gonna be able to
(37:09):
do it for two, three and four years, But for
right now, that's a big part of it. And and
and to think it's not is being naive about it.
Back in l A, where he still had a great light,
where he loved being in l A, love being a star.
But now I can stick it to the Clippers. Oh yeah,
that's a real valuable part of the conversation. Absolutely. And
and the fact that you've been in Detroit since Man,
you've played no meaningful basketball really in a long time.
(37:33):
So the the idea to get the juices flowing, and
that that Clipper motivation and Balmer and everybody else, uh,
Paul George to squash them. How satisfying would that be? Listen,
I'm telling you, Blake and I have a lot in common.
L A Detroit, l A Detroit. We both vacation there.
Man's kind of how it works. I don't think he's
gonna vacation there though. No, we know he'll never go back. No,
(37:54):
that's that's true. I'll never go back. Twitter at how
about a fresca Mike gets swollen him coming up next. Hey,
we got a big take on the potential big quarterback trade.
This is Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
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(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. I hate that song. Greetings,
Happy Friday. Welcome inside The Jason Smith Show with my
bas friend Mike Harmon Today Friday, Live from the Farmers
Insurance Studios, Call one triple eight Farmers to switch. You
could save on your auto insurance. What else are you
gonna do with your phone for the next few minutes?
(00:46):
Look at pictures of food your friends eight again Call
one eight eight Farmers. That's one triple eight Farmers for
a quote. We are farmers. Well, happy beginning of All
Star We again in the NBA. We got a big
fun night, we got a great story. We're gonna kick
(01:06):
things off within a second. But you know, before we
get to something great, I want to you know, we
gotta kind of balance out a little bit. I have
gone from last night Mike, uh, I was tepidly and
I would say tepid that's a bad word. I was
optimistically excited about coming to America and now I'm just
flat out nervous. Now now after what did I tell you,
(01:28):
after seeing the full reviews that have come in today,
I mean, because last night it was kind of mixed.
I was like, Okay, then you burst my balloon by
saying my timeline. Everybody says it sucks. I was like,
all right, And then I was looking at the reviews
today and more and more, and I'm like, oh, oh no, no, no,
So now I'm just nervous. Now I'm gonna have to
(01:50):
bask on the on the in the afterglow of the
WandaVision finale, which was terrific. And now I'm gonna just
now I feel like I have to watch coming to
a work. I tell you what you like. Even while
we were on Area yesterday, I started seeing because it
released early, just like One Division did. Laon Division was
up a few minutes earlier than midnight. So Maddie and
(02:12):
I were playing uh an online game of pool, and
I go, hey, wait a minute, it says play. She goes,
wait what, and so we kept playing pool while we
watched the opening. She kicked my ass. But you're gonna say,
we're playing online poker and Maddy's up with a big
stat Yeah no, no no, no, I'm gonna teach you that
the next break. Okay, go a couple of days to
(02:32):
really work on it. There's not much, but you know,
I just had started seeing friends whose opinions I trust,
and and people in our larger media speer that we're
just saying I need mouthwash. Oh that was it was
very disappointing. That was hashtag c t A and I'm like,
(02:53):
what the hell's the Chicago Transit Authority got to? And
then I know things have been a bit rough in
Chicago and the weather was miserable and and and they're
kind of mirroring a lot of what's going on here
in terms of how open and available things are. But
uh yeah, well, which is the original name of Chicago too,
(03:14):
So if we want to get into a little bit
of great music with horns, you can talk about Chicago
as well. Yeah. I mean way before, no doubt, I
mean they were like way way way before that. Yeah,
it made me. I I went from being that way
to now I feel like, I gotta watch it just
because I gotta watch it, Right, that's kind of where
I met. Well, you know, now I kind of have
(03:34):
to see it. I can't not see it, and I'm
just hoping that there's I'm hoping that it's not just
the one scene in the trailer with them in the
barbershop that they show, because that scene is hilarious in
the trailer, And now I'm thinking, is that like the
only funny part of the movie. Is that gonna be
the only funny part because that's the only funny Probably
really disappointed. Yeah, no, nobody was. There wasn't a lot
(03:54):
of specifics because people didn't want to do the spoiler
thing and we're trying to avoid potentially ruining it. But
just kind of saying, all right, if you want the
nostalgia of it, you know, you'll you'll appreciate that all
the characters are back. Yeah, just just enjoy that they're
all here. Okay, Just let's not think that whether it's
funny or not. Let's just enjoy. Oh, look, like you
get to see old friends. The story I saw, the
(04:18):
headline that I had to click on was the sad
reason Louis Anderson was in the first Coming to America.
I'm like, oh yeah, I saw that. Yeah, that was
big clickbait earlier this and and then I clicked it. Yeah,
spoiler alert, it ain't. I'm just hoping, like really, like
my hope is that, Okay, the McDowell stuff is really funny,
(04:40):
Like I can't wait to see what the new menu
items are gonna be on McDowell's. You know, thirty years later.
You know McDonald's has the Shamrock shake. We have the
Shamrocks steak sandwich. Our meat is green, the green meat
that we give to everybody and they eat it. They're
looking for that color. Like I really, I'm hoping that
the new menu items are gonna be really funny, But
I don't, like I said it, just crossing my finger
is now and going, yeah, okay, I know we're gonna
(05:02):
Now we're just gonna kind of piecemeal it and watch
it from beginning to end, bit by bit man, It's okay,
It'll be okay if at worst it's two hours of
your life. It is true. Then you celebrated our Senia Hall.
You know, I interviewed him once on the red carpet
at the sps UH and like, why was our Senio
(05:23):
Hall at the SPS. I'm like, our Senio Hall because
you know, the Red Carpet goes. This is probably about
ten years ago, and you know in Arsenio Hall wasn't
doing anything, and the Red Carpet just you know, people
walk on the Red carpets, all athletes and stars, and
there's our Senio Hall. And I'm like, oh my god.
I'm like, is anybody talking Arsenio Hall? I grew up
watching Arsenio. Oh, I'm gonna call him over. Arsenio, come
on over. He walks right over. Hey, how you do it? Yeah?
(05:44):
Jason Smith the ESPN radio, we're on, you know for yeah, yeah,
what do you want to talk about? Man? When you
talk about them? Here you go, Hey, why are you here?
He goes, I don't know, it felt like coming I said, really, yeah, yes,
I knew what happened. I just felt like coming down.
It's at least I talked to him for like ten minutes.
Usually usually interviews on the Red Carpet the SPS are
like ninety seconds, right, everybody everybody's going right on. Yeah,
(06:06):
you don't have a lot of time, right, and it's
just okay, here it isn't. It's great. He's there for
like ten minutes and I'm talking and I'm watching like
other stars just walking right by me. And I'm sitting
there going I'm having fun. But um, you know, there
there goes you know, and there goes Vince Young. Not
gonna get Vince Young. Okay, there goes Chris Johnson. Not
gonna get Chris Johnson. There all these people walking by,
but you know, hey, I talked to hers Sending Hall
for like ten minutes and and we were just talking
(06:28):
about his career, about life and sports. I'm like, this
is awesome. He just decided, Yeah, I decided to come down.
I'm just gonna walk the red carpet. And that's just
just walk the red carpet from beginning. Then I'll tell
you what I did. Once it was like a hundred
and five degrees. I came out tremendously sunburned, and the
story that ended up being the big thing of that day.
There were a couple of near fights, but that was
(06:50):
after a Mari Stotomyer had signed his massive deal. Oh yeah,
he's walking up. I started doing like a w W
E like intro and he walked past like ten people
and came straight to me stressed like a million bucks
or in that that at that moment, He's like, my, man, o,
my you won today, man, twitter At how about a fresca?
(07:15):
Mike gets swollen down the Jason Smithcer with Mike Harmen
live from the Farmers Insurance Studios. Call Farmers Today for
a quote. Now. Meanwhile, Uh, look, it's Friday night, and
we always look, we love positivity every night. And if
the nervousness of coming to America, okay, I get it.
But if you want a really good story, and and
this is one of those really good stories we if
(07:38):
you remember we told you about a month ago as
things started to turn with COVID wise here in the
country with the vaccine rollout happening and cases decreasing, and
people were still practicing good behavior, you know, still wearing
masks and everything else. And I know now that you know,
that's starting to lose its way a little bit throughout
the country. Uh hopefully you know, I got fingers crossed.
(07:59):
The key is getting better, but COVID has been getting better.
And now that the country is really opening up, and
I don't want to sit back and say, where was
this six months ago? Let's just celebrate. We're here right now,
and we told you that the real official beginning, when
we're gonna feel like things are back to normal or
or or they're almost back to normal, is going to
(08:19):
be the beginning of baseball season. Right. Whenever something big
happens in this country, sports is always at the at
the front, forefront of it. This is why sports and
politics and sports and pop culture and sports and and
anything else that goes on, why it's hand in hand
because usually it is sports that leads a discussion or
sports leads away in their actions, and everybody looks to
(08:40):
sports to saying, hey, al right, uh, tell us everything
is okay, or tell us what we need to do now? Right.
You think all the leaders we have in this country,
and they all to go, what's the NBA gonna do here? What?
What's what's the NFL gonna do here? Hey, what's major
League Baseball gonna do here? Let's take a look at
see and we get it that way, and sometimes it's
it's rough. The end be a led the way last
(09:01):
year for the club, I remember the closing down to COVID.
What once Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID nineteen. That
was it, right, the NBA shut down within a couple
of days, everything else shutdown. We're coming up on the
year anniversary of that happening, uh in a few days.
But baseball is going to lead us out of it.
And and with open air stadiums and baseball being a
(09:22):
sport that clearly is one of those sports that is
very conducive to playing in the shadow of COVID nineteen,
We get this news today that California is lifting COVID
restrictions on outdoor sports and entertainment venues, clearing the way
for fans to attend games on opening day and theme
parks like Disneyland to reopen for the first time in
(09:45):
more than a year. This is not something I expected
to see right now, But here we are. Right now.
We're gonna you can go to games and Disneyland's going
to reopen. Now. Does this mean you're gonna get to
go to Disneyland. No, But it's this is more a
symbol of hey, now I get it. Now, I get
that we're doing better. Now, We're we're making big decisions
that are positive that where people are allowed to go
(10:07):
to games. Look, MLS is going to start soon people
are gonna tell MLS games. But can you imagine what
it's gonna be like the excitement for opening Day where California,
who if we have been one of the most conservative
states for COVID nineteen and we still had the huge
uh you know, we were the epicenter of it for
about a month or so. But California is one of
the most conservative states and here they are with ay,
we're going to allow people to go to games, We're
(10:28):
gonna reopen theme parks. It's happening, and we still have
to be doing a good job. Right. We still can't
just think, Okay, it's done. But now you're seeing that, hey,
it's not only light at the end of the tunnel.
We're getting to the end of the tunnel and and
the beginning of the baseball season, trust me. And we
get to that first week of April coming up in
about two and a half weeks, and so we're gonna,
you know, with more vaccines that keep coming out, and
(10:50):
we're hearing that maybe everybody can get vaccinated by the
beginning of the summer, which would be incredible. Uh, that's
when it's really going to feel like, hey, we're out
of this it's gonna be a about a year because
you know, from March thirteenth, I think was the last
our last day of school, I think before they shut
things down. So in the end it's going to be
about a year. But boy, at the year mark here,
(11:12):
we're really going to feel like we are over the
other side of the mountain on it, and and we
are coming downhill, and we are gathering speed, and and
by the time we get later in the spring into
the summer, we're gonna be back to life kind of
like we knew it before, which is gonna be something.
And trust me, that first week, the the visuals of
Major League Baseball, what people are gonna get to see,
the celebrations of people in line at the ballpark, even
(11:34):
though they're gonna be social distance and sitting apart from
each other, seeing that and and and feeling like, okay,
here's baseball starting. It's a right of spring, you know,
it's it's something that's hope springs eternal in baseball, and
the beginning of the season signal always signals something new.
It's a new year for everybody, right, everybody goes back
to zero and zero and hope starts a new whether
it's for baseball or for an allegory in life, and
(11:57):
the beginning of baseball season is going to do that.
And especially now you see in this in California, we're
almost there. I almost heard James Earl Jones voice in
my head as you started to speak. Uh, Purple Tier
outdoor sports limited to a hundred people, limits increased to
twenties percent capacity in the Red tiert, Orange Tier, sixtent
(12:17):
and the Yellow Tier. Obviously, nationwide you've heard a lot
of uh, collegiate entities coming forward said we're gonna have
a hundred percent in these seats, the city of Atlanta
saying we were gonna have a hundred percent by Baseball's
All Star Game. All of those things big benchmarks here
in California. You mentioned the politics. I'd be remiss if
(12:37):
I didn't remind folks nationwide that there is a recall
effort on the governor, so getting things open helps his case. Uh,
just to kind of throw a one liner out there.
Obviously a lot of positivity the vaccines and and numbers
and everything that you do, but you know, sometimes you
need that little extra jolt to keep pushing things and
(12:57):
reevaluating and getting a better understanding handle and movement on
these type of things. I can tell you right now,
I'm gonna be off the first Uh, not because I
am an April fool, but I'm gonna go be trying
to be one of those people in the ballpark. Baby dude, Angels,
White Sox, are you kidding you? Of course you're getting
(13:18):
it to get things started, but it's pretty normal. It's
a normal time for us. This is a normal ticket sales.
Oh sorry too soon, No and that and that's hey,
you can do that. But those are the meaningful bats
that Trout and and Wolves will have this season. So
I mean it might have as some extra demand as
we go. One of the things that is going to
(13:39):
be kind of interesting to watch. Uh. And the wording
has been nebulous at this point of in state visitors
is a term being used. So the question of hey,
you're you're gonna open up the ballpark. And this is
particular to me as I have family all back in
Chicago saying I'd be nice to go to California come
(14:00):
see the White Sox and cheer them on. But whether
you're gonna have to show I D and proof of
residents or something, there may still be some some data
to flow from there. But the larger point is, yes,
there there's a step forward, there's positivity, and we we
can do all those hope springs eternal and the even
(14:20):
the Mets have a chance right now and all the stops.
We're going to the NLCS. We're gonna play the Dodgers.
It's it's happening, alright. I told you it's gonna happen.
It's and Taylor's gonna hit another Grand Slam and send
Twitter into a whole other world. But the the idea
of just being that you can put something on a
map right one of the big important things they talk
about psychologically when you're at work, because let's face it,
(14:42):
a lot of folks don't have the the luxury of
their work day being one of the highlights of their day.
We get to come in, yell at each other, try
to inform, entertain. That doesn't mean there are hard days
where you've got stories that are just like, man, this
is this is difficult, you know, real if stuff to
talk about. But we like our jobs. A lot of
(15:03):
folks don't. So what do they say to do? Always
have something on the calendar right, Always have an event,
Always having a vacation. Always have some goal. And now
when you start moving the lines and you start actually
getting some concrete plans of all right on this date,
you should be able to do it. And and maybe
you are one of the twenty or whatever that gets
to go to Disneyland as they open. I mean all
(15:26):
of those big things. Those are big momentous occasions. We've
got schools reopening here. I know my next door neighbor
breathed a big sigh of relief because two of the
the older kids went back to school. Uh. And today
so I was like, hey, my house was kind of
quiet in the morning. I go just think all next
week you're gonna have that quiet. So you know, there's
there's little milestones, but always you know, look at the calendar,
(15:48):
try to put something out there for yourself. Uh and
and find that ray of sunshine. Find those wins people
they're coming Twitter at how about a fresc up Mike
at Swollen Dome. We are close and is a big
day today. But keep being smart, right, keep being smart.
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dot com today to start your job fast getting the
zone auto Zone Well, coming up next, the reason that
Russell Wilson is going to get traded that no one's
really mentioned. And after the news of the last twenty
four hours, if you need any more evidence than what
we're gonna say next, well that I can't do much
more to help you with. But it's coming up next
(16:53):
right here. Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Easter and seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Hey what's up, everybody?
It's me three time pro bowler La Barrington and I
couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called
Up on Game. What is up on Game? You asked,
(17:15):
along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hutchman's Atta
and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Burds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent on it.
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgmansatta and Plexico
(17:38):
Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast from. Joining us now on
the hotline. He is the editor in chief at fansided
dot com, longtime NFL Insider, Pro Football Hall of Fame voter,
and author of the new book Joe Douglas, A Relentless
(17:58):
Life in Pursuit of Zach Wilson. It is Jason Cole,
Ja Coble. What's happening all right? Life is beautiful? Yes,
exceedingly beautiful. You are full of positivity on this Friday
as well. My friend else, Well, it's a Friday night.
(18:19):
Why wouldn't you be positive? Well? Up with people a
kind of moment. Yes, you get to talk with us.
You're gonna make some fun jokes, we're gonna have You're
gonna have the best fifteen minutes of your week now
with us. Um, that's quite entirely possible, though it would
be a lot better of airing can work here, Wow,
worked with he usually worked with Harvin, just saying Okay, listen, Yeah,
(18:52):
you crack yourself up, don't you. Yeah, here, here, you're hilarious. Sorry,
you walked right into it, you know, listen, Just so
you know, every time we have you on, it's because
Jay Glazer doesn't pick up his phone, all right, just
so you know, Okay, Yeah, let's just say that based
on what I know, Jame's not picking up the phone
very often these days, yeah, saying saying, uh, he's on
(19:18):
his big vacation right now. He told us that the
other week. Hey, listen, let's let's start here. Yes, I
mentioned Zack Wilson. Uh, he's getting all kinds of love
right now. Oh boy, it's close between him and Trevor Lawrence.
And you'll clearly look, the Jaguars are going with Lawrence
at number one. But is Zach Wilson really that that good?
I mean, I know he's good. I've seen him play,
But is he suddenly that good. Look. I think this
(19:42):
is just the we'll love a fair time with quarterback.
I talked to you about five people, and there's a
handful of people in that group who say three or
four who say, you know, Wilson might be better than him, right, Um,
he might be the better player. And that's kind of
a typical argument you get between prospects. You know, sometimes
(20:05):
people just have different opinions. But I think the consensus
is that Lawrence is clearly the better player, the better pedigree.
So I just think there's just there are some people
in that group who are just contrarians to be contrarians
because just on the off chance that Wilson becomes the
better player, they can say that they were right. Um.
(20:25):
But I think, look when I see Trevor Lawrence, and
I'm not a scout, so and I didn't. I haven't
seen Zach Wilson play very much, so I saw justin Fields.
I think justin Field is like, you know, kind of
your more mobile version or your typical Buck eyes quarterback
or typical quarterback that you get in an Urban Meyer
(20:48):
type offense. And I know Urban's not coaching there now,
but it's still his offense, right, So I think Trevor
Lawrence looks like next the second Coming of Joe Namath.
It just has that look about him. And when you
see like old film of Nameth Planet Alabama, you're just
looking and go, man, those they're just spitting images of
(21:11):
each other, absolutely one. So I love I love Trevor Lawrence,
and Zach Wilson I think is good, but not not
in that range. Now, if only we get one of them,
you walk around in a fur coat, we are the
winners of it all. But have you imagined Trebert Lawrence
and in the fur coat with that hair, Yeah, like
(21:33):
not be almost It would be a cross between Nameth
and Charo. I was gonna give him a little rick flair,
but sure Charo to Charo, really char Well, that's what
we get. We get. We do the Deep pools here
on a Friday nights like it's the Deep Martin Celebrity Rose,
(21:55):
I mean, my childhood is coming back. We're gonna have
We're gonna doon have all sorts of really ridiculous off
color jokes by Don Rickles that when you look at
the repeats, you go, man, that's some racist craft. It
really is. And you probably own all the DVDs, and
that's what brought it up. Right there, I like television
(22:16):
right there. The library is full, baby, it is absolutely full.
As Rickles and Richard Pryor go at it all. Right, Well, yeah,
we'll Seattle Seahawks fans be invoking a lot of angry terminology,
not necessarily that which you described there. But with Russell
Wilson and the Seahawks on the outs, will he return
(22:39):
to Seattle or will the Bears actually make a big play? Well,
I mean, I think the Bears are gonna make a
big play, and and they're gonna offer up everything I can,
but I don't think it's I don't think they have
a good enough pick that's number one, number two. And
then somebody at some point in time gonna walk into
Pete Carroll's office and go, dude, what are you doing?
Like this is the best quarterback we've had forty five years,
(23:02):
and the next bet is passleback. And after we get
past hassleback, HiT's Jim Zorn, right, So just keep him,
make him happy, do whatever you have to do. Like
this is stupid, like Deshar Watson saying, I understand because
Houston doesn't want to get rid of him. But they
(23:23):
you know, they come bumbled their way through with this
whold Jack Easter b crap. But this is and he's
and Easter. He's not a football guy, but he's a
he's not a football guy pretending to be a football guy,
and that creates a bigger problem. Pete Carroll is actually
a football guy. He has got gone out and got
quarterbacks over the course of his career. He knows how
hard it is to find these guys. And he's sitting
(23:46):
here and saying, now it's time to part way sort of.
Russell Wilson, you just went twelve and four. If your
defense had been halfway decent all season, you might have
been playing for a Super Bowl. But your defense, you
never got it together. Wilson is not the problem. Russell
Walson is a solution in the Seattle and I just like,
(24:07):
where's John Schneider? Just walk in go you know, dude, like, no,
don't do this, don't do this. I mean, even you know,
Paul Allen's sister whatever her name is, Like, even she
should have the sense to walk in and say, I
don't really understand what you're attempting to do here, Pete,
(24:27):
because like it seems like he's good. You know who
else is good that you ignored? Was Dave Craig again.
I mean, what what you know when you talk about
best Seahawks quarterback, you completely that's part. That's the best
part about that is that you actually looked that up
online and you went and go, what's the history of
(24:47):
Seahawks quarterbacks? Did you actually care about? We had we
had Dave Craig on the show a couple of years ago. Yeah, yeah, now, no,
I don't know what just right now now we had
Dave Craig on the show. Um, I'm so impressed. Uh
(25:11):
wait till next week when you come on and we
do one of those TV ambush shows where you come
on and you're talking and then Dave Craig is gonna
be on the line listening and he just jumps right
in and it's all it's ambush time, and then you
guys are gonna go after on that list. Yeah, you
had small hands. Dave Craig used to come playing about
(25:35):
you all the time, That's legit. He would go in,
he would tell John Clayton, Craig is gonna fumble the
ball because he's got those tiny little hands, you know,
that's that's literally true. I feel like I need to
have a joke there, but we'll move on. Hey, Pittsburgh
came to terms with Ben Roethlisberger. Why can he still
(25:57):
work or are they just nostalgic? Yeah? No, I think
that's Look, I thought that towards the end of the
season they started attacking more. I didn't understand their whole
offensive phlosophy for the first twelve games in the season,
I was working. You know, they were at eleven and
oh at one point in time, so there was hard
it was hard to complain about. But when the roof
came in, there was some isssues. Now they got some
(26:20):
they gotta pick some things on the offensive line, and
they just got to decide. You know, James Conner is okay,
but he's not great. But they got to get a
real running game. But you know, look, I think Roethlisberger
is is good enough to to make them a super Bowl.
You know, a team that can compete for a Super Bowl.
(26:41):
I don't. I you know, are his death days and
I'm sure? But I mean I thought he overall, he
had a pretty good year last year coming back from
that injury. Right, I mean, it's like that's not an
easy thing to get get, you know, you get back
from And I thought he was pretty good overall. You know,
(27:05):
did he look have some yips in the pocket once
in a while, Sure, but that connection was awful. So
like they've got some tweaking they've gotta do. And my
thing is, don't change out the quarterback when you're defense
is pretty loaded, you know, like they're they're really good.
So if you're that loaded your for bear on defense, Um,
(27:26):
don't toy with a quarterback right now, even if he's
not quite quite what he was three years ago. There's
a subtle dig at Dave Craig right there at the end.
He is Jason Cole. You can find Roethlisberger has normal sizes.
He doesn't have little kitty pause, you know, or whatever
(27:48):
it was that Dave Craig had. He's on Twitter at
Jason Cole sixty two, editor in chief at fans side
dot com. I'm going to be blindsided next by Dave Craig,
Like most of your listeners don't even know who Dave Craig.
That's that's the genius. Except you'll read, Yeah, you'll replay,
(28:10):
You'll replay the interview from two years ago or whatever
it was. I think more people know who Dave Craig is.
I know who you are. They stood something, somebody was
like LaVar. He started with LaVar. And now you're blocking
our interview. Okay, here we come. I'm not letting that go. Okay,
(28:36):
I'll remember the Lafar Areason move. Okay, al right, way
to go Smith the entire interview. But you got your revenge.
You're the best call. Always fun stuff with Jason Colla
(28:58):
and of course his book l A Relentless Life available
right now at Amazon. Uh, great stuff on on his
life and career. You can grab it there. That is
the real title of the book. It is. It is
l Way A Relentless Life. It's not about you know,
Joe Douglass, although it was. Zach Wilson does turn into
Joe Montana. They will write books about Joe Douglas. Oh,
I have no doubt. Well, I'll have to drop you
my my copy of the book. Though it's it's quite good.
(29:21):
I think it's for those that uh follow the NFL
during that that period or just want a sense of
the history of what was going on in the league
at that point. There's some killer stories and all the
stuff from his mom is great. Yeah. And the Teabow
stuff is great too, you know. And you know, unfortunately
the f C Championship game against the Jets is in
there too. Yeah. No, no, he loves all the bases
on those because all the stuff, yea, all the stuff
(29:43):
I don't want to read about. I'm gonna get to
read about the episode. But you know, just really quick,
you know, we we talked about Ben Roethlisberger and and
and where things are going now with the Pittsburgh Steelers
and how you know, look, they have a lot of
things to do. You know, we talked about last night
that look, Roethlisberg will be the worst quarterback in the
Vision this year and the Steelers could finish last in
the division. They're one of those teams that it's not
(30:06):
one of those well they go from you know, thirteen
and three to eleven and five to nine and seven. No,
this is one of those they go thirteen and three
and suddenly they're six and ten and you're like, what
just happened? What what just happened to this team? So
it can happen that fast with them, and it really
is all about Roethlisberger. They have decided to go all
in that he's still going to be the guy. And
(30:26):
and the first the first six seven weeks are gonna
tell us everything, and it's gonna get It's gonna be
not a great season for him if he starts playing poorly.
And then suddenly, hey, guess what Dwayne Haskins or whoever
they get in the draft is gonna be in their
week eight, Week nine? Watch out? Look at you. You're
just called doom and gloom. Watch out. I call it
like I see it, Michael. I said great things about
(30:48):
three other teams, great things about the Bengals, great things
about the Browns, great things about the Ravens. But I
say not good things about the Steelers. And suddenly, now
look what you're doing. You love Good to Bed was
three to one. No, that was pretty good, especially when
you're talking about the Browns and the Bengals. Is those
three that that is pretty impressive? Look, the Bengals need
to wear the white tiger helmets at own point. I
(31:11):
mean those are killer. Oh that would be nice, like
like white Vision right now, White Vision? Okay, alright, very good? Well,
like the Tigers that were hanging out with Sike Freed
and Roy sure or Baker Mayfield and in the photo
shoot before last season, this is true Twitter and out
about a frescup. Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smiths
with Mike Carmen live from the Farmer's Insurance Studios called
(31:31):
one Triple Light Farmers save a whole lot of something
on auto insurance. We got more NFL coming up in
a few minutes, but straight ahead, uh, the first domino
has fallen in the what's a player that could get
added to an NBA team that could make a big difference?
Blake Griffin is now available. Should you go out and
get him? Where should he end up? We'll tell you
(31:51):
coming up next right here. Fox. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Acific. 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
(32:13):
by Farmerstok Refine Insurance to changes are parts on available
every state Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
My Base Friend, My Car I'm live from the Farmers
Insurance studios. Call one Triple eight Farmers, see how much
you could save on auto insurance. Well, the beginning of
the big buyouts are here as we get into trade
(32:34):
season in the NBA. Like what players are going to
be available as Victor Oladipo gonna be a guy that
goes somewhere, but the buyouts are gonna be a big deal.
To Andre Drummond probably is going to get bought out
in Cleveland. He's going to be a huge edition somewhere.
Is an All Star center who's twenty seven years old,
and today kind of kick things off when Blake Griffin
and the Pistons agreed to a contract buyout. The six
(32:56):
time All Star is now free to sign with any team. Uh,
he was magan way too much money for anybody to
trade for him. So the Pistons buy him out and
now he is free to go anywhere. He has been
linked right away with the Brooklyn Nets, and I get that, Hey,
you can go there, potentially win a championship. He could
play with DeAndre Jordan's and he provide depth for the Nets.
(33:16):
Look at makes sense. The Warriors are another team that
could be their for him. So are the Heat and
the Blazers. This according to ESPN, those are the four
teams that are expected to be among the running for
Blake Griffin. Now, Mike, I get the nets. I completely
get it from his perspective. Hey, listen, I can go win.
But he's a different player than he was even you know,
(33:36):
a year or so ago. I mean, the Blake Griffin
hasn't dunk since thing is just incredible. Um, he's more
a point forward now and he's not gonna score twenty
points a game. He's not gonna play all those minutes.
He's someone that look this year has has has fallen
into being like a thirteen and eight and four guy.
And yes, is he valuable. Yes, he'll be good with
(33:57):
the nets. He'll be a guy that provides depth and
and and take some of the onus off the big three,
especially when they all can't play, you know, because Kevin
Durant's going through injury histories and we'll see what happens.
But I'll tell you what, man, the Lakers seem like
the right fit for him for more than a couple
of reasons. First, if he goes, he would play a
(34:17):
bigger role because the Lakers need to save wear and
tear on Lebron On Anthony Davis, he would step in
with a little bit bigger of a role. Do you
have a little bit more chance to do his thing
and be able to put the ball in the basket.
And that's something that I don't think you can ignore
if you're Blake Griffin, because you still want a big role.
You still want to be a guy that can contribute
(34:38):
your thirty one. You know you're not thirty eight. You
don't want to sit back and go, yeah, whatever, I'll
play like eight minutes ago. No, you still want a
big role. You're not gonna have that in in in Brooklyn.
You'll have it in in Los Angeles. And they will
go out of their way to make sure they make
you part of the team because clearly in their front
court when when there's injury issues they're dealing with, Hey,
they could use somebody that can play out of minutes
(35:00):
like that. Plus, he comes back to l a where
he enjoyed the the best parts of his career. You
know with the other team. Hey, I'll show you Clippers.
You watch all right, you watch from the other side
of the arena while we go in and I help
this team win a championship. I think the Lakers are
a better fit because he'd be able to accomplish more.
He'd be a bigger piece for them than he would
be for the Nets. Yeah. I think the biggest point,
(35:22):
as you say, is taking Lebron and you can get
him off the court and you got a guy with
the size and the skill of still moving the ball.
Now trying to compare him to Lebron in that respect,
obviously that's a foolhardy expedition. But a guy who's averaging
about for assists the game doesn't have to be the
the number one score, right, and just being a body
(35:45):
to distribute and maybe give Lebron a couple of extra
minutes in the second half to sit and rest and
be kg uh and come back out for that final flourish,
especially once you get to the playoffs. Absolutely uh. And
look you're you're looking to win. Uh. If you're Blake Griffin, right,
you've made a lot of money, you've had a lot
(36:06):
of notoriety, you've got a good stand up career. When
you're ready to go back to that, he's pretty good
actually on stage, good comedic timing. So he's got that
second career all set. Uh, now he just needs a
title and coming back and winning as part of the lakership.
Let's face it, to go and potentially run through the
Clippers en route to a title. Don't tell me that
(36:27):
wouldn't have an extra bit of satisfaction. And uh, that
would be the nice way to end your career. I
think this is just how I win. I'm out looking
and and and and don't and and look when you're
talking about for this year, it's hard to make emotion
something that keeps somebody going and sustains it because you
have to be able to want to succeed and do
(36:48):
well if you're going to have a career. But you're
talking about the rest of this year. You're talking about
thirty five games in the playoffs. Oh yeah, you can
live off emotion and hate And I want to show
you something and and this is gonna this is gonna
burn my fire for the rest of this year. That's
all the Lakers would care about. Whatever happens this year,
you can do. You can live emotionally for a short
period of time. Now you're not gonna be able to
(37:09):
do it for two, three and four years, But for
right now, that's a big part of it. And and
and to think it's not is being naive about it.
Back in l A, where he still had a great light,
where he loved being in l A, love being a star.
But now I can stick it to the Clippers. Oh yeah,
that's a real valuable part of the conversation. Absolutely. And
and the fact that you've been in Detroit since Man,
you've played no meaningful basketball really in a long time.
(37:33):
So the the idea to get the juices flowing, and
that that Clipper motivation and Balmer and everybody else, uh,
Paul George to squash them. How satisfying would that be? Listen,
I'm telling you, Blake and I have a lot in common.
L A Detroit, l A Detroit. We both vacation there.
Man's kind of how it works. I don't think he's
gonna vacation there though. No, we know he'll never go back. No,
(37:54):
that's that's true. I'll never go back. Twitter at how
about a fresca Mike gets swollen him coming up next. Hey,
we got a big take on the potential big quarterback trade.
This is Fox Sports Radio.
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Mike Harmon
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