September 17, 2025 • 32 mins
Rob and Kelvin debate whether it's fair to question if JJ McCarthy will automatically be re-inserted as the Minnesota Vikings QB1 as soon as he's fully healthy again, argue whether the Los Angeles Clippers need to get out of the Kawhi Leonard business as soon as possible, and debate if Dave Roberts was wrong to pull Shohei Ohtani last night during a no-hitter.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Rob g Let's jump in.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We already know JJ McCarthy got hurt for the Vikings
and now Carson Wentz will start in his stead, but long.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Term, because you're gonna miss a number of weeks. It's
not just this week.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Yeah, Well, first off, up to five starters could be
out in week three. Joe Burrow we already know is out.
JJ McCarthy starting QBS starting QB Onece Rock Perty to
be determined, Justin Fields out, Jaden Daniels to be determined.
But based on the early leanings, it's looking like all
five of those guys will be out. But you mentioned
JJ McCarthy, ESPN NFL insiders, Jeremy Fowler, Dan Graziano do
(01:04):
great work.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
They published their weekly buzzed them for like a million years.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Publish their weekly Buzz column earlier on Wednesday, and in
it they talked about JJ McCarthy on what's going on
with Minnesota. In it, they floated the idea about, hey,
what happens if Carson Wentz is good?
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
What if he's good and JJ's he's hurt more than
we think, or wait, we'll just send him out.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
So here's what Graziano said in the piece quote.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I think the team really believes he's at the stage
of his development talking about j where he needs to play,
and I would expect him to get the job back
once he's healthy. But if Carson Wentz has them humming,
it'd be worth wondering whether or not they would stick
with him. Talking about Wentz moving forward.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
To me, this is a pretty simple cut and draw.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And if Wentz is playing outrageous and they're winning and
they got a street going, then Carson Wentz will stayed
a quarterback for now, and you'll bring along JJ McCarthy,
who's a young quarterback. You got time, you're not gonna win.
How many games could he miss? Rob Ge?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
The lean is three to four, okay, And so so
Carson Wentz lights it up for four games they went
all four, they're feeling good, they're rolling. There's a chance
that you're gonna stick with a guy like that who
almost won an MVP, had really some good times in
the NFL and all that, and lost his job because
he got hurt, right basically, and then when he got healthy,
(02:30):
he got it back. So that's not to say that
they're moving off of or Carson Wentz is the long term.
If it's just two and two and average play and
JJ's ready, he'll go back. In the only way that
to me, Wentce, you know, Wennsylvania Wentz in a lifetime
or something of that ILK would continue is if it's
lights out, four and oh twelve touchdowns, no picks. You know,
(02:56):
you don't pull that guy out if somebody's playing well.
But if it's it's just standard regular, you know, two
and two, five hundred, he's doing all right, then as
soon as your starter's back, I'm ready, you put him in.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We are in the JJ McCarthy experiment at this point.
Speaker 6 (03:11):
To your point, Carson Wentz would have to be playing
at a Lamar Jackson level bites out where they would go,
all right, this is incredible.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Nobody saw this coming. Let's roll the dice. And see
where it takes us.
Speaker 6 (03:22):
See if we can pull something like the Philadelphia Eagles
did with Nick Foles, right, See if we can pull
something like that off, which I don't expect to happen.
I expected to be find he's a good backup in
the sense that he's been in the league. He can
win your game or two, or at least not look horrible,
keep you in some games, especially with a defense like that.
So that's what I expect from him. But they're in
the JJ McCarthy business. They traded to get the tenth pick,
They moved up to get him tenth pick. And you know,
(03:44):
I go back to again watching probably ninety percent of
his snaps at Michigan and thinking he was perfectly fine
and everything, but not thinking I think it would be
a you know, a late first, early second and even
maybe your third round pick, because he didn't do a
lot and when you look at a couple of things, Rob,
this is why again I scratched my head with JJ.
So one of the things that I think we're seeing
right now is JJ McCarthy didn't look great or have
(04:08):
huge games per se regularly against great teams in college,
and some of it was just opportunity. He wasn't asked
to do that, so he didn't really have to play
out of his mind verse Penn State versus Wisconsin, versus
Ohio State, so on and so forth. He had to
just make a play or two, lean on that defense,
lean on the run, and he did any want to
the tune of twenty seven and one as a starter.
(04:30):
But what made the pick interesting is when you look
at rob the production or lackterof for JJ McCarthy. So
you look at some of the other guys that you
know recently have been drafted around him, whether it be
guys who drafted ahead of him in that same draft.
Jaden Daniels is somebody who you might look at. Well,
he was putting up around three hundred and fifty seven
yards per game and three touchdowns a game, right cam Ward,
(04:52):
three fifty nine three touchdowns of defense though, But it's
what I'm saying, well, hear me out, So all I'm
saying is you got JJ McCarthy. He only putting up
about twenty two two hundred and twenty yards a game
in less than two touchdowns a game. So what I'm
saying is he didn't have that production to then automatically
carry over to the NFL. So him losing a year
not playing because he was injured. This is what this
(05:15):
is to me. He's in that rookie growing through the
growing pains. But already start.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Think anything that has to do with the stats from college.
And I'm just saying because of the type of offense
he was then, those guys weren't in that route. Those
guys weren't in it. I know you watched, but but
you couldn't even make a judgment making crazy throws like
but you couldn't even like even when I asked you,
could you watch? That's your team. You grew up in
that area. You really couldn't give a real assessment of
(05:41):
him because you didn't watch him throw the ball that often.
So after the second half and he lit it up
and had three touchdowns, whatever, people's tune changed a little bit.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Would you admit that, I think back to the original
point of why they got him twenty seven to one,
a winner more so than pure talent.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, but Buddy threw two touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Okay, So so I'm just saying people, Oh, wait a minute,
you know people trashed him in the first half.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Oh, he can't play and were ready to dismiss him.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Oh I don't.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
They made a mistake. That's how quick it was. And
all I'm saying is I don't blame his college numbers
on him. It wasn't like he passed the ball a
million times and had two hundred and twenty yards. They
were a running team, that's what they did. And I
think he made the throws and made you know what
he needed to do without eye popping numbers.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And I just.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Believe to me that this is more about They wouldn't
have made the move if they really didn't believe that
they can do something with him and get what they
need out of him. They run the football, they have
a good defense, they right receivers, and they're just saying
to themselves, don't make the big mistake, you know what
I mean? And do we want you to do similar
(06:52):
to what you were able to do at Mischig.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
This is what makes it weird, though, Ron, that they
got him at tenth, twenty eighth. Cool okay, but they
thought he won twenty fife you know, Lamar Jackson thirty
second or something makes sense. Okay, cool guy, a winner,
national champion, I get it. But man, he went so
at the tenth spot. And also to me, going back
to what we said, you could have franchised Sam Darnold,
(07:17):
had him for another year running back, see what happens,
and then won him.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I get it.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
Damn got Aaron Rodgers and say hey with another year Tutelitch,
one more year for JJ to learn up under this.
They had other options. That's why I know they're in
the JJ McCarthy business. I don't care if Carson wins
looks really good. He has to look like the return
of Joe Montana for them to get out of the
J J McCarty.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Four and oh and he has twelve touchdowns and no picks.
They're not going that's insane. But like what you're asking
is insane, right, But they're not gonna put JJ McCarthy
real quick.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I'm gonna throw these numbers.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Aside from that one quarter where he looked spectacular, right
we talked about, he's six for eight, two touchdowns in
a rushing touchdown.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
The other seven quarters, he has two hundred and thirteen yards.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
Total, almost only barely fit fifty percent completion, zero touchdowns,
three interceptions in a fumble. His QBR is twenty point four,
twenty point four, not his age twenty point four, which
has him thirty second of thirty three qualified quarterbacks. So
he's got a lot of learning to do and it
is gonna be brutal. He still has games versus the Packers,
he still has two games versus them, versus the Lions.
(08:20):
He's got and the interest of their schedule, so he's
got a it's gonna be a tough season, tough go
for him.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (08:36):
Hey, it's me Rock Parker.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
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Speaker 3 (09:00):
Parker with Rob Parker on.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
The iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Baxter Holmes does a great job over there.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
He's one of the few guys who still does long
form investigative journalism for ESPN and.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
It's great work.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
So we know that this Kawhi Leonard situation has been
percolating now for a few weeks, the whole situation with
Aspiration and the under the table deals to circumvent the
salary cap. While Baxter did a deep dive into the
whole situation with the Clippers, and here's the lead paragraph
and I'll get to a quote later just to give
you some context, because he wrote a hell of like
five thousand words on this whole.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Thing during the six season.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Is the clippers blockbuster twenty nineteen acquisition of Kawhi Leonard.
The team has won just three playoff series and Leonard
has played only fifty eight percent of its games. But
that failure extends further because from nearly since the moment
Leonard signed in Los Angeles, Steve Balmer and the team
have also drawn unprecedented and serious scrutiny from the NBA
League Office and the rest of the NBA. Since twenty
(09:59):
nine team, the Clippers have faced two separate lawsuits alleging tampering,
one of which is ongoing. They've been fined at least
twice by the NBA for violations of leagues involving Kawhi Leonard.
They've also had at least three separate investigations, one of
which just began into the Clippers involving Kawhi Leonard. So basically,
he doesn't play, he's always injured, and on top of that,
(10:22):
he's brought all kinds of the FEDS all around the
Clippers organization. So much so that a anonymous former Clippers
staffer went on record and said.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Another jealous former employee go ahead in the article. Quote
it wasn't a current employee, right for who's not working
there anymore.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I mean, if you read the article here, a lot
of people out allegedly because Kawhi was so difficult.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Here's what he said. Quote.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
This last investigation, talking about the aspiration one is different.
This one directly calls into question Steve Balmer's character. At
some point, Steve has got to get out of the
Kawhi business.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
They're done building around him. They know that he knows that.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
A quote.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
So guys, really easy question right off the rip. If
you're Steve Bamer and the opportunity presents itself, whether because
you're forced to do it or because the heat gets
so high, you feel like you have to do it.
Should the Clippers get out of the Kawhi business closed?
Speaker 6 (11:23):
Shot, closed, out of business, grant opening, grand closing. For me,
I've had enough. If I'm Steve Bamer, we gave it
a shot. We gave it a shot.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
We did everything he wanted.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Uncle Dennis wanted, Uncle Bob, uncle Jim, uncle Auntie, whoever.
We did everything the family wanted. And what did we get?
What's the ROI? What is our return on investment? That
would be my thing. Sometimes things just hey, it's worn out,
it's welcome, it's time to move on.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You just mentioned I think.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
You might be spotting him a percentage when you say
fifty eight percent of the games he played.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I don't think he's playing.
Speaker 7 (11:56):
No.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Fifty eight. He played thirty one games last season. There
he's this way.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
He didn't play but nine games. He's hurt, just doing
it on himself, you know, choosing to be hurt. Whatever
it is, it doesn't matter. The point is he's not playing.
And when you look at some other things as well,
it's not as if you've got any trophies for it.
It's not as if he's got any MVPs for it.
He's gotten any notoriety, any fame, anymore lights, anymore bright.
(12:22):
He doesn't bread go about the organization. If you read
further into that story, he doesn't want to be mentioned.
He tells them, you can't bring my name up, you
can't talk about me, so you can't even like pump
him up, and he can't be this person.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
That's raw.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
Rod makes everybody want to come watch the team and
invest in the team and be about it. And so
to me, he didn't bring any bright lights. The only
lives he brought with the spotlight now into this he
is a heck of a player, one of the best
I've ever seen.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Went healthy.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
But it's time to move on. I have nothing new
game from it. If I'm Steve Baumber, I'm invested. I've
done things. There's alleged things that may have, may not happen.
We'll have see whatever happens in the investigation. I've done
all I can do. I got a new arena over here.
I didn't sign brought play you wanted Paul George, he
got Paul George. Here, got rid of SGA, who's not
got an MVP, who's got a championship.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It's time to move on.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
This version of the Clippers ain't even wasn't even more
entertaining than Love City. Love City at least was more entertaining,
and we talked about him more, and we had big
aspirations for the Love City Clippers. So Kawhi Leonard heck
of a player, heck of a talent, And it's okay
to cut ties and move on, cutting ties like I'm
cutting his car rolls. I'm moving on, So I'm out
(13:32):
of it. I've tried it. I need to move on.
If I'm Steve Bomer, if I'm Tylu, we gotta move on.
I don't even know what if you read further into
that story, you just never know. He never tells you information.
He doesn't talk to you. He tells you, in fact,
don't worry about this, don't do this. I have the
right to not do this. I have to right to
not do that. Too many stipulations. I'm good, I'm moving on.
(13:53):
Thank you, God, bless you. I'll holla.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Couldn't disagree more? Are you kidding me? Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Steve Balmer understands there's a he didn't have to win
eight championships.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
He didn't have to win.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
He is banking on the idea that he can just
get one, that's all. He has one, less than Lebron
who's been here. The Lakers have given Lebron everything, made
all these trades, brought in Luca. They couldn't even get
out of the first round. Right that's when Luca what
a twenty five year old all All NBA player, and
(14:27):
Lebron couldn't even get out of first round. Everybody had
them going to the Western Conference finals. It's only about
winning one. That's all that Steve Balmer wants to win.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I'm telling you that takes his one, and if he
can get one and for once the stars aligned and
somehow he can be healthy and play. You got a
great coach in ty Lou. You got James hard who
has acquiesced and was able to fit into what you
know works here and not have to be the same
(14:59):
player and some other players. There's nothing here that you
wouldn't want to run it back and hope that maybe
just one day, your luck is going to be in
your favor because you have a guy who win healthy
is one of the best players in the league. And
I get it, He's not healthy all the time. And
(15:19):
that's what's been the big Bugg a boo. But when
he's healthy and you watch this guy play in certain situations,
he's tremendous. He's worth the price of admission. He's that
good and he's worth it. And the Clippers have to
feel good if you're Steve Balmer, that you were able
to get a guy who won two championships to come,
not team up with Lebron, not go to the big brother,
(15:41):
but to go to the little brother, no matter what
it is. And you could you could not cohie for
whatever the late the Clippers were the ones who broke
the rules if they did, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And all that other thing.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You could ask for the moon, Okay, you could have
asked for the moon coming here, and if Fox Sports
decides to give it to you, that's on them or
or you know, or whatever it is it is. You
can ask for whatever. The company is the one that
has to decide that they're going to bend the rules
or do whatever it is to get you or to
pacify you. I just kawhi to me. I can't criticize
(16:14):
a guy who's injured. That's not his fault. Do I
believe that he doesn't want to play? I don't believe that.
I think people are ludicrous to think that he doesn't
want to play or doesn't want to win. This guy's
been a winner his whole life. This is where he's
been a winner. This is where I challenge you. I
don't think he doesn't want to win. I think he
wants to win his own way. And if you read this,
(16:35):
I tell you what that means. He comes with too
many stipulations.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
No, I'm not being heard, but that's elation. So yeah,
in this piece, he Rodan talking about I only want
to play this. I'm not playing backspack. I'm not doing this.
Too many knots when I'm trying to win. It's too
many knots because when I have to win, I have
to count on this. I have to be you have
to be open that I might have to play you
this not a minute, or might have to play you
these games. It's too much that comes into try to
(17:00):
win a championship. You said a couple of things. I
don't like the fact that you're if I'm baking on
James Harden, who ain't ever showed up in the postseason,
and I'm baking on Kawhi who's hardly ever healthy and
I'm baking on Bradley Beal. No deal, it ain't happening,
that's what this is absolutely not happening. And I know
you just talked about, well, you know, at least they
(17:20):
got Lebron. You can look at the Brett crumble with Lebron.
You got a championship with Lester, which is questionable.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You got a championship, you got you got, that's the
one that he got.
Speaker 6 (17:30):
You got it years when Lebron would even make the
watch watch this, and and I've got you that watch this.
I got a championship. I got all types of more
notoriety and just fame. We're talking about the Lakers. They're
talking about without saying the Lakers have always an absolutely
one of the best franchises D And part of that
(17:51):
because they know who they do, they know how to
do business.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
That's getting stars.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
And then because of Lebron, I get a D and
because of a D I now have Luca. So the
ripple effect of it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I still had Lebron's performance here, this is what you
expected that he get one bubble bubble championship when he
came at least two.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
But you got the one. If you're the Lakers, and
if you're the Clippers, that was the whole point.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
The Clippers won, all they need is won. They're not
even close to getting it.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
And now the guy that you gave up to get
them look like he might win another one with his team,
and that's g A.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
And so my thing is, I can't separate the tay.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
That you have them winning another championship is far fetch.
That's not it's far fetched to me. I don't doubt,
don't think that.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
If you said it, don't I cool with that far fetches?
Come on, that's not crazy. No, that's not crazy. It
is because teams.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Don't win back to back. But that's not teams don't
win bought back to back. The Clippers winning felt teams
don't win back to back. That's my point.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Just like somebody would have told you, okay, se winning
was far fetch, you didn't have okay, see winning five
years ago when they made the trade, or three years ago.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
What I mean, I'm already that many years. I'm in
the Kawhi years now, since twenty nineteen yet.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
But he hasn't been fully healthy and he won't rod
That's the possibly my issue.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
He hasn't been fully high can separate.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
All I need is one year of a fully healthy
Kawhi with a great coaching Todd Luis.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
That ain't Nothing you just said is that he's never
been fully healthy.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
That's not even like I would love for that. Yeah,
we'll never fully healthy.
Speaker 6 (19:22):
I mean to play like a full James Harden never
shows up when you need him. Bradley Beal hadn't done
anything really outstairs and started scoring in his career, and
and then a bunch of other pieces around Like what that?
That to me is not Warren, especially when you look
at the Red Denver got better. Okay, see you got
all their Greek, kept all their young guys. You know,
you got all these other teams in the East who
look like they're gonna improve. I just don't see how
(19:44):
they're a part of this up. The Houston Rockets got KD.
They look like they're improving. Minnesota still out there. I mean,
I just don't see where they fit into this. And
I can't keep going along. I gave it's been long enough.
It's okay to we have knowing.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
You have no plan, man, You know you can't you
selling ticket sponsorships? What are you talking about? What did
the idea. You don't know if you're gonna see the
idea that you're gonna get out of the kawhipe. I
see Kawhi today, roll these dice. Here we go. Oh,
crapped out. He's not playing.
Speaker 8 (20:13):
That's called the NBA. You don't know what who started it?
You don't know who's the picture of it. Kawhi Leonards
he hurt. I don't know, Yeah I do. When I
look at load management, I see Kawhi some corn. That's
what I see. What is load's management?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Is me and the fun guy that is load management? No,
it's not. The load management did not start there where
they start. It didn't start with cars with him, No,
it did not. It was Tim Duncan and those other guy.
Wasn't let me get that. No, that's not me. No, no,
it wasn't let me become the poster child for one
old man. It was once he got hurt.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (21:04):
Hey Rob g uh. There was some Dodger fans baseball
fans who were not happy with Dave Roberts last night.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Not just because the Dodgers blew up what early four
nothing lead against the Phillies they lose at home uh
to Philadelphia. But Shohy was pitching and he had something
nice going to start the game. He had an't no
hitter going, no, no, no. He had only thrown sixty
(21:35):
eight pitches. Now, Otani since he's started this season, has
never gone beyond five innings.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
I think that's been like a rule that they've had in.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So that was it.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
He was behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
So according to Roberts himself, he has show in between
the fifth and sixth and he's like, hey, how you feeling,
and no, Tony said, I I'm good. We would assume
then that would mean he got out for the sixth inning. No,
nothing like that at all. Here's Dave Roberts after the
game explaining the decision to keep o Tani glued to
the pine in the fifth.
Speaker 7 (22:04):
Well, he wasn't going to go back out. We haven't.
We've been very steadfast in every situation as far as
inning for his usage from one inning to two innings
to three to four to five. We haven't deviated from that.
So I was trying to get his pulse on for
going forward where he's at continuing to go to the
sixth inning, and he says, be okay, and so that
(22:27):
was good, But I'm not going to have a you know,
plan for five innings and then he pitches well and say, hey,
now you're going to go six innings and then you know,
he's too important and if something does happen, then that's
on me for changing and we haven't done that all year,
So I'm not going to do that right now. So yeah,
I would have loved to have him go out there.
But if the conversation was if he's efficient, he can
(22:50):
go to the sixth inning, that's a different conversation. But
it was a hard five innings and that's just the
way it goes, and guys have got to do their jobs.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I'm sorry, Like this is where, you know, can we stop?
Like do you remember a few years back Clayton Kershaw
had a perfect game going okay in the seventh through
seven innings and I think he only threw eighty pitches.
It was unbelievable, and the idea was, oh no, you know,
(23:19):
we don't want him to get hurt. They took him
out a perfect game, eighty pitchers through seven? Can he
start the eighth inning? Can he walk somebody? Can he
give up a head and then gladly he.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Can come out?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay, yeah, why are you doing this? You're playing your
whole idea.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
They took Kershaw out because they didn't want him to
get They said they you know, they were monitoring him.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
They don't want to get hurt. Guess what.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Kershaw still got hurt that year cause because him pitching
another at batter or another inning is not going to determine.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Whether or not he's going to get hurt.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
It's the same thing with Otani the other day when
they gave up the no hitter in Baltimore. Yamamoto, Right,
he had thrown the most pitches he had thrown since
since joining the Dodgers. Why did they let he had
a no hitter? Let him finish it. Okay, gave up
the home run, he blew it. Whatever. The Dodgers wind
(24:16):
up actually losing that game. But my point is they
did go against what they were doing because he had
pitched the most pitches he had ever done. Right, could
you allow him to do something that's special? Even if
you let show a come out in the sixth inning
and he gives up a head or he walks somebody,
then I have no problem with you coming out saying, Okay,
he's done.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
He could be doing something magical. I've been covering baseball
for thirty nine years. I think I've seen two no hit,
one perfect game, like that's that's it. In thirty nine years.
It doesn't happen very often. It's still a magical special thing.
Is this the NBA?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Now? Everything is about, Oh we can get heart. You
gotta be ready for the playoff.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Dude, stop it. If he's gonna get hurt, he's gonna
get heard. It's not gonna be whether or not he
pitched another inning or two or gave up a hit
because he pitched into the seventh inning. This guy's the
starting pitcher in the big leagues. They've been babying he
didn't pitch at all last year. He didn't start the
year pitching. He'd been babying him for almost a year
and a half. Come on, now, okay, enough is enough.
(25:23):
Why can't he pitch more? And we keep cheating the
baseball fans, stop taking our special moments from us.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
That's what they don't get.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I just told you, I go to a ballpark a
million times thirty nine years of covering, and I saw
one perfect game David Wells against the Minnesota Twins on
a Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I'll never forget it. You remember that that was That
was It was awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
And that's all I'm saying is why why are we
getting cheated as fans? If someone's doing something unique or special,
that's it. So I'm gonna answer that question on the
back end. I'm gonna start with this specifically. I'm gonna
start specifically with the Dodgers. The Dodgers are a victim
of their own success. That is the issue that they're
dealing with.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
They've been so successful over the last ten years, as
far as winning the division, getting in the postseason, getting
into what full World Series in the last you know,
eight years or so, and winning to and in the
most recent So I think the challenge with them is
they're a victim of their own success, where now they're
at that place where if it ain't a World Series,
(26:31):
it don't even matter. You get, oh wow, you made
to a Walker, don't even matter you made the divisional
series don't even Championship series don't. Did we win the
World Series? So they're now at that place where they're
just at a victim of their own success. So which
makes you start to do things based on that, based
on getting you back to the World Series. So now
let me go back to your question or your statement
(26:52):
of robbing fans. This is what happens when you have
analytics in the games. Analytics is a machine, It is
a AI, It is a chat GPT, CPT Compton I on.
That's something and what it is is it has what.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Is what time I get to the Stewish station have
to do with anything? I just don't understand you right now.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
You can't say stuff like that right now. Okay, so
you can't say that like that right now? We have
some sensitive times, right rob g Yeah, we could say
CP time. I can't say M time. No, right, no,
you can't. Well, I get in trouble if I say that, no,
because you're talking about mountain time. Yeah, that's why I'm mad.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
A mountain time. I got your back. Look, give me some,
give me some, give me some THATAP I got your
back Mountain time. Now Alex is just shaking it Alex,
are you all right over there? He's got over there
and make nervous for you. Now, I bring up the
analytics to say, that's just where we are. Now, rob
where everything look at. This is what happens. They put
the sheet already out. Here's every scenario. Here's what you're
(27:46):
gonna do, Skipper, fill in the blank, Dave, Robbers, anybody,
Here's what we're gonna do. This is the game plan.
Don't deviate, don't do this. Gone of the days when
you've been covering this, when I had a hunch, my
gut told me this. I had an inkling something told me,
you know, I felt it intwitter, my intuition said, no,
here's the sheet, here's what we're gonna do. Stick by
(28:07):
this because analytics say if X, Y and Z, this
will happen. Analytics say X Y Z, and it's robbed
us of those moments where you say, you know what, hey, hey, hey, hey, Skipper,
and you say, nah, let him go, let them go.
Let's enjoy these moments, because that's what sports is about.
The time you saw a guy get four home runs
in the game, the guy you saw, you saw, you
(28:30):
know so and so. Brett Farthrow five touchdowns in the
first half for his father passed. The time you saw
Michael Jordan with the fluga they can he looked too sick.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Pull him out exactly, you know, don't play him, Michael Joan,
Come sit down. You get these magical moments.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
Hey, Isaiah Thomas, your ankle is broken and you're playing
against the Lakers. You put up twenty five in the
third quarter, could have no sit them down. We get
robbed of these moments because of dagone machines and a
bunch of nerds that happened to leave the business sector
in the IT sector and jump into sports.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Dan, you you nerds, right of amazing moments. I agree
as Revenge of the Nerds, like the movie in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
It just doesn't make any sense to me, Like like you,
with all that we talked about it earlier, even with
low management.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Guess what, guys still get hurt.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Right with all this idea, I'm not playing people and
all that, and it had that hadn't stopped Kawhi from
being injured again or stop other players, Kyrie, like like,
the whole notion of it doesn't even make sense. There
isn't any data to or to justify the actions. There's
no data. Just like I told you about Clayton Kershaw.
(29:40):
Oh yeah, well, seventh thinning. We don't want him to
get hurt. We know we want him to the whole year.
He still got hurt that year, even though you took
him out after the seventh inning with a with a
perfect game and eighty eighty pitches like he wasn't over
like you're overdoing.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Nowadays.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Eighty eighty easy eighty. I mean he was mowing him
down a perfect game. No, let me walk the first
guy to seventh in the eighth and then you could take.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Me back, let me give up a hit. Seventies, eighties,
nineties pictures, you would have had to. You had to
fight for that ball down. The manager wouldn't even come out.
He gave hey man right now and nowadays again, it's
just a system.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It's systematic. We already know we're gonna do.
Speaker 6 (30:23):
Once you get here, You're not going over sixty picture
because technically, and this is your fifth week of the
DA DA and our plan is this, and our plan
is that. And the only thing I will say specifically
specifically for the show, hey conversation, one thing I do
agree with is that when it comes to him, if
he were to get hurt, you don't just lose a
picture for a week, two weeks, a month. You lose
(30:44):
a potential dh a pitcher, and a potential outfielder because
they've talked about through how to rules and if he pitches, well,
he can't come out the game, so you have to
put them put him on the defensive, so you pose
the potential that with him. So I'm only using him
different than any other guy because he's multi layered.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I get, but you could be heard under any short
he got hurt last year in the World Series, like
you could get heard. This whole notion that you're gonna
prevent someone from getting heard by because he didn't pitch
the seventh inning.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
He goes running hard the first and choices. That's all
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Like that happens, Like you can't There is no magic
formula to say if you don't pitch him in the
sixth inning of a no hitter or a seventh inning,
he'll be healthy the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
If you could give me that, that's different. But that's
not what he happened. That's where I'm agreeing with you.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
The problem is the nerds are doing the mathematical equations
and they say, if he has x amount of pitches
per inning of the nine starts of the tenth, then
they do all the math and then they come up
with a formula and it's formulaic. And you know what
comes with formula boring? And you know what baseball became
halfull of years ago, boring because it was strikeout or
home run, that's all it was. Nobody was trying to
(31:54):
do advanced runners. Nobody was still in bases. No guys
were just you know, you know who I sit next
to when I do Dodger games, And sitting next to
Nomar and Adrian and Zalaz and Jerry Harrison, hearing these
guys talk about just just put ball, but barrel on
ball and just get and get in there, you never
know what happened. Quit swinging for the fences every time,
and it got boring. Thankfully, it's changing the brand of
(32:14):
baseball's gotten a little bit better. And you know what happy, Well,
technically running hurts. So you can have multiple running backs,
you can have three running backs. You don't have to
do it doesn't matter if you have a star running
back and you could just pass it. Football got a
little boring. Now it's mixed up again. You got runners again,
Derrick Kennedy, McCaffrey, Jacobs, Barkley, you're getting runners again and
Taylor and so to me, it just gott formulated.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Just pass it, because technically a pass is better than
a run.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
Stop putting too much to remember there's an entertainment value
in sports, and I think we've forgotten that.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
No, there you go, and you've forgotten that part of swathing.
It ain't just about wahall. Let's wait till the postseason.
People are paying money to go to game to be entertained,
and you're taking away these moments
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Rob g Let's jump in.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We already know JJ McCarthy got hurt for the Vikings
and now Carson Wentz will start in his stead, but long.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Term, because you're gonna miss a number of weeks. It's
not just this week.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Yeah, Well, first off, up to five starters could be
out in week three. Joe Burrow we already know is out.
JJ McCarthy starting QBS starting QB Onece Rock Perty to
be determined, Justin Fields out, Jaden Daniels to be determined.
But based on the early leanings, it's looking like all
five of those guys will be out. But you mentioned
JJ McCarthy, ESPN NFL insiders, Jeremy Fowler, Dan Graziano do
(01:04):
great work.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
They published their weekly buzzed them for like a million years.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Publish their weekly Buzz column earlier on Wednesday, and in
it they talked about JJ McCarthy on what's going on
with Minnesota. In it, they floated the idea about, hey,
what happens if Carson Wentz is good?
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
What if he's good and JJ's he's hurt more than
we think, or wait, we'll just send him out.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
So here's what Graziano said in the piece quote.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I think the team really believes he's at the stage
of his development talking about j where he needs to play,
and I would expect him to get the job back
once he's healthy. But if Carson Wentz has them humming,
it'd be worth wondering whether or not they would stick
with him. Talking about Wentz moving forward.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
To me, this is a pretty simple cut and draw.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And if Wentz is playing outrageous and they're winning and
they got a street going, then Carson Wentz will stayed
a quarterback for now, and you'll bring along JJ McCarthy,
who's a young quarterback. You got time, you're not gonna win.
How many games could he miss? Rob Ge?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
The lean is three to four, okay, And so so
Carson Wentz lights it up for four games they went
all four, they're feeling good, they're rolling. There's a chance
that you're gonna stick with a guy like that who
almost won an MVP, had really some good times in
the NFL and all that, and lost his job because
he got hurt, right basically, and then when he got healthy,
(02:30):
he got it back. So that's not to say that
they're moving off of or Carson Wentz is the long term.
If it's just two and two and average play and
JJ's ready, he'll go back. In the only way that
to me, Wentce, you know, Wennsylvania Wentz in a lifetime
or something of that ILK would continue is if it's
lights out, four and oh twelve touchdowns, no picks. You know,
(02:56):
you don't pull that guy out if somebody's playing well.
But if it's it's just standard regular, you know, two
and two, five hundred, he's doing all right, then as
soon as your starter's back, I'm ready, you put him in.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We are in the JJ McCarthy experiment at this point.
Speaker 6 (03:11):
To your point, Carson Wentz would have to be playing
at a Lamar Jackson level bites out where they would go,
all right, this is incredible.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Nobody saw this coming. Let's roll the dice. And see
where it takes us.
Speaker 6 (03:22):
See if we can pull something like the Philadelphia Eagles
did with Nick Foles, right, See if we can pull
something like that off, which I don't expect to happen.
I expected to be find he's a good backup in
the sense that he's been in the league. He can
win your game or two, or at least not look horrible,
keep you in some games, especially with a defense like that.
So that's what I expect from him. But they're in
the JJ McCarthy business. They traded to get the tenth pick,
They moved up to get him tenth pick. And you know,
(03:44):
I go back to again watching probably ninety percent of
his snaps at Michigan and thinking he was perfectly fine
and everything, but not thinking I think it would be
a you know, a late first, early second and even
maybe your third round pick, because he didn't do a
lot and when you look at a couple of things, Rob,
this is why again I scratched my head with JJ.
So one of the things that I think we're seeing
right now is JJ McCarthy didn't look great or have
(04:08):
huge games per se regularly against great teams in college,
and some of it was just opportunity. He wasn't asked
to do that, so he didn't really have to play
out of his mind verse Penn State versus Wisconsin, versus
Ohio State, so on and so forth. He had to
just make a play or two, lean on that defense,
lean on the run, and he did any want to
the tune of twenty seven and one as a starter.
(04:30):
But what made the pick interesting is when you look
at rob the production or lackterof for JJ McCarthy. So
you look at some of the other guys that you
know recently have been drafted around him, whether it be
guys who drafted ahead of him in that same draft.
Jaden Daniels is somebody who you might look at. Well,
he was putting up around three hundred and fifty seven
yards per game and three touchdowns a game, right cam Ward,
(04:52):
three fifty nine three touchdowns of defense though, But it's
what I'm saying, well, hear me out, So all I'm
saying is you got JJ McCarthy. He only putting up
about twenty two two hundred and twenty yards a game
in less than two touchdowns a game. So what I'm
saying is he didn't have that production to then automatically
carry over to the NFL. So him losing a year
not playing because he was injured. This is what this
(05:15):
is to me. He's in that rookie growing through the
growing pains. But already start.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Think anything that has to do with the stats from college.
And I'm just saying because of the type of offense
he was then, those guys weren't in that route. Those
guys weren't in it. I know you watched, but but
you couldn't even make a judgment making crazy throws like
but you couldn't even like even when I asked you,
could you watch? That's your team. You grew up in
that area. You really couldn't give a real assessment of
(05:41):
him because you didn't watch him throw the ball that often.
So after the second half and he lit it up
and had three touchdowns, whatever, people's tune changed a little bit.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Would you admit that, I think back to the original
point of why they got him twenty seven to one,
a winner more so than pure talent.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, but Buddy threw two touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Okay, So so I'm just saying people, Oh, wait a minute,
you know people trashed him in the first half.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Oh, he can't play and were ready to dismiss him.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Oh I don't.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
They made a mistake. That's how quick it was. And
all I'm saying is I don't blame his college numbers
on him. It wasn't like he passed the ball a
million times and had two hundred and twenty yards. They
were a running team, that's what they did. And I
think he made the throws and made you know what
he needed to do without eye popping numbers.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And I just.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Believe to me that this is more about They wouldn't
have made the move if they really didn't believe that
they can do something with him and get what they
need out of him. They run the football, they have
a good defense, they right receivers, and they're just saying
to themselves, don't make the big mistake, you know what
I mean? And do we want you to do similar
(06:52):
to what you were able to do at Mischig.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
This is what makes it weird, though, Ron, that they
got him at tenth, twenty eighth. Cool okay, but they
thought he won twenty fife you know, Lamar Jackson thirty
second or something makes sense. Okay, cool guy, a winner,
national champion, I get it. But man, he went so
at the tenth spot. And also to me, going back
to what we said, you could have franchised Sam Darnold,
(07:17):
had him for another year running back, see what happens,
and then won him.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I get it.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
Damn got Aaron Rodgers and say hey with another year Tutelitch,
one more year for JJ to learn up under this.
They had other options. That's why I know they're in
the JJ McCarthy business. I don't care if Carson wins
looks really good. He has to look like the return
of Joe Montana for them to get out of the
J J McCarty.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Four and oh and he has twelve touchdowns and no picks.
They're not going that's insane. But like what you're asking
is insane, right, But they're not gonna put JJ McCarthy
real quick.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I'm gonna throw these numbers.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Aside from that one quarter where he looked spectacular, right
we talked about, he's six for eight, two touchdowns in
a rushing touchdown.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
The other seven quarters, he has two hundred and thirteen yards.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
Total, almost only barely fit fifty percent completion, zero touchdowns,
three interceptions in a fumble. His QBR is twenty point four,
twenty point four, not his age twenty point four, which
has him thirty second of thirty three qualified quarterbacks. So
he's got a lot of learning to do and it
is gonna be brutal. He still has games versus the Packers,
he still has two games versus them, versus the Lions.
(08:20):
He's got and the interest of their schedule, so he's
got a it's gonna be a tough season, tough go
for him.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Hey, it's me Rock Parker.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the
biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the I test, We've got all the
bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do yourself
a favor and listen to Inside the.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Parker with Rob Parker on.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
The iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Baxter Holmes does a great job over there.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
He's one of the few guys who still does long
form investigative journalism for ESPN and.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
It's great work.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
So we know that this Kawhi Leonard situation has been
percolating now for a few weeks, the whole situation with
Aspiration and the under the table deals to circumvent the
salary cap. While Baxter did a deep dive into the
whole situation with the Clippers, and here's the lead paragraph
and I'll get to a quote later just to give
you some context, because he wrote a hell of like
five thousand words on this whole.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Thing during the six season.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Is the clippers blockbuster twenty nineteen acquisition of Kawhi Leonard.
The team has won just three playoff series and Leonard
has played only fifty eight percent of its games. But
that failure extends further because from nearly since the moment
Leonard signed in Los Angeles, Steve Balmer and the team
have also drawn unprecedented and serious scrutiny from the NBA
League Office and the rest of the NBA. Since twenty
(09:59):
nine team, the Clippers have faced two separate lawsuits alleging tampering,
one of which is ongoing. They've been fined at least
twice by the NBA for violations of leagues involving Kawhi Leonard.
They've also had at least three separate investigations, one of
which just began into the Clippers involving Kawhi Leonard. So basically,
he doesn't play, he's always injured, and on top of that,
(10:22):
he's brought all kinds of the FEDS all around the
Clippers organization. So much so that a anonymous former Clippers
staffer went on record and said.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Another jealous former employee go ahead in the article. Quote
it wasn't a current employee, right for who's not working
there anymore.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I mean, if you read the article here, a lot
of people out allegedly because Kawhi was so difficult.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Here's what he said. Quote.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
This last investigation, talking about the aspiration one is different.
This one directly calls into question Steve Balmer's character. At
some point, Steve has got to get out of the
Kawhi business.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
They're done building around him. They know that he knows that.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
A quote.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
So guys, really easy question right off the rip. If
you're Steve Bamer and the opportunity presents itself, whether because
you're forced to do it or because the heat gets
so high, you feel like you have to do it.
Should the Clippers get out of the Kawhi business closed?
Speaker 6 (11:23):
Shot, closed, out of business, grant opening, grand closing. For me,
I've had enough. If I'm Steve Bamer, we gave it
a shot. We gave it a shot.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
We did everything he wanted.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Uncle Dennis wanted, Uncle Bob, uncle Jim, uncle Auntie, whoever.
We did everything the family wanted. And what did we get?
What's the ROI? What is our return on investment? That
would be my thing. Sometimes things just hey, it's worn out,
it's welcome, it's time to move on.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You just mentioned I think.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
You might be spotting him a percentage when you say
fifty eight percent of the games he played.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I don't think he's playing.
Speaker 7 (11:56):
No.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Fifty eight. He played thirty one games last season. There
he's this way.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
He didn't play but nine games. He's hurt, just doing
it on himself, you know, choosing to be hurt. Whatever
it is, it doesn't matter. The point is he's not playing.
And when you look at some other things as well,
it's not as if you've got any trophies for it.
It's not as if he's got any MVPs for it.
He's gotten any notoriety, any fame, anymore lights, anymore bright.
(12:22):
He doesn't bread go about the organization. If you read
further into that story, he doesn't want to be mentioned.
He tells them, you can't bring my name up, you
can't talk about me, so you can't even like pump
him up, and he can't be this person.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
That's raw.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
Rod makes everybody want to come watch the team and
invest in the team and be about it. And so
to me, he didn't bring any bright lights. The only
lives he brought with the spotlight now into this he
is a heck of a player, one of the best
I've ever seen.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Went healthy.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
But it's time to move on. I have nothing new
game from it. If I'm Steve Baumber, I'm invested. I've
done things. There's alleged things that may have, may not happen.
We'll have see whatever happens in the investigation. I've done
all I can do. I got a new arena over here.
I didn't sign brought play you wanted Paul George, he
got Paul George. Here, got rid of SGA, who's not
got an MVP, who's got a championship.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It's time to move on.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
This version of the Clippers ain't even wasn't even more
entertaining than Love City. Love City at least was more entertaining,
and we talked about him more, and we had big
aspirations for the Love City Clippers. So Kawhi Leonard heck
of a player, heck of a talent, And it's okay
to cut ties and move on, cutting ties like I'm
cutting his car rolls. I'm moving on, So I'm out
(13:32):
of it. I've tried it. I need to move on.
If I'm Steve Bomer, if I'm Tylu, we gotta move on.
I don't even know what if you read further into
that story, you just never know. He never tells you information.
He doesn't talk to you. He tells you, in fact,
don't worry about this, don't do this. I have the
right to not do this. I have to right to
not do that. Too many stipulations. I'm good, I'm moving on.
(13:53):
Thank you, God, bless you. I'll holla.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Couldn't disagree more? Are you kidding me? Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Steve Balmer understands there's a he didn't have to win
eight championships.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
He didn't have to win.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
He is banking on the idea that he can just
get one, that's all. He has one, less than Lebron
who's been here. The Lakers have given Lebron everything, made
all these trades, brought in Luca. They couldn't even get
out of the first round. Right that's when Luca what
a twenty five year old all All NBA player, and
(14:27):
Lebron couldn't even get out of first round. Everybody had
them going to the Western Conference finals. It's only about
winning one. That's all that Steve Balmer wants to win.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I'm telling you that takes his one, and if he
can get one and for once the stars aligned and
somehow he can be healthy and play. You got a
great coach in ty Lou. You got James hard who
has acquiesced and was able to fit into what you
know works here and not have to be the same
(14:59):
player and some other players. There's nothing here that you
wouldn't want to run it back and hope that maybe
just one day, your luck is going to be in
your favor because you have a guy who win healthy
is one of the best players in the league. And
I get it, He's not healthy all the time. And
(15:19):
that's what's been the big Bugg a boo. But when
he's healthy and you watch this guy play in certain situations,
he's tremendous. He's worth the price of admission. He's that
good and he's worth it. And the Clippers have to
feel good if you're Steve Balmer, that you were able
to get a guy who won two championships to come,
not team up with Lebron, not go to the big brother,
(15:41):
but to go to the little brother, no matter what
it is. And you could you could not cohie for
whatever the late the Clippers were the ones who broke
the rules if they did, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And all that other thing.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You could ask for the moon, Okay, you could have
asked for the moon coming here, and if Fox Sports
decides to give it to you, that's on them or
or you know, or whatever it is it is. You
can ask for whatever. The company is the one that
has to decide that they're going to bend the rules
or do whatever it is to get you or to
pacify you. I just kawhi to me. I can't criticize
(16:14):
a guy who's injured. That's not his fault. Do I
believe that he doesn't want to play? I don't believe that.
I think people are ludicrous to think that he doesn't
want to play or doesn't want to win. This guy's
been a winner his whole life. This is where he's
been a winner. This is where I challenge you. I
don't think he doesn't want to win. I think he
wants to win his own way. And if you read this,
(16:35):
I tell you what that means. He comes with too
many stipulations.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
No, I'm not being heard, but that's elation. So yeah,
in this piece, he Rodan talking about I only want
to play this. I'm not playing backspack. I'm not doing this.
Too many knots when I'm trying to win. It's too
many knots because when I have to win, I have
to count on this. I have to be you have
to be open that I might have to play you
this not a minute, or might have to play you
these games. It's too much that comes into try to
(17:00):
win a championship. You said a couple of things. I
don't like the fact that you're if I'm baking on
James Harden, who ain't ever showed up in the postseason,
and I'm baking on Kawhi who's hardly ever healthy and
I'm baking on Bradley Beal. No deal, it ain't happening,
that's what this is absolutely not happening. And I know
you just talked about, well, you know, at least they
(17:20):
got Lebron. You can look at the Brett crumble with Lebron.
You got a championship with Lester, which is questionable.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You got a championship, you got you got, that's the
one that he got.
Speaker 6 (17:30):
You got it years when Lebron would even make the
watch watch this, and and I've got you that watch this.
I got a championship. I got all types of more
notoriety and just fame. We're talking about the Lakers. They're
talking about without saying the Lakers have always an absolutely
one of the best franchises D And part of that
(17:51):
because they know who they do, they know how to
do business.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
That's getting stars.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
And then because of Lebron, I get a D and
because of a D I now have Luca. So the
ripple effect of it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I still had Lebron's performance here, this is what you
expected that he get one bubble bubble championship when he
came at least two.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
But you got the one. If you're the Lakers, and
if you're the Clippers, that was the whole point.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
The Clippers won, all they need is won. They're not
even close to getting it.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
And now the guy that you gave up to get
them look like he might win another one with his team,
and that's g A.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
And so my thing is, I can't separate the tay.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
That you have them winning another championship is far fetch.
That's not it's far fetched to me. I don't doubt,
don't think that.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
If you said it, don't I cool with that far fetches?
Come on, that's not crazy. No, that's not crazy. It
is because teams.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Don't win back to back. But that's not teams don't
win bought back to back. The Clippers winning felt teams
don't win back to back. That's my point.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Just like somebody would have told you, okay, se winning
was far fetch, you didn't have okay, see winning five
years ago when they made the trade, or three years ago.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
What I mean, I'm already that many years. I'm in
the Kawhi years now, since twenty nineteen yet.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
But he hasn't been fully healthy and he won't rod
That's the possibly my issue.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
He hasn't been fully high can separate.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
All I need is one year of a fully healthy
Kawhi with a great coaching Todd Luis.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
That ain't Nothing you just said is that he's never
been fully healthy.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
That's not even like I would love for that. Yeah,
we'll never fully healthy.
Speaker 6 (19:22):
I mean to play like a full James Harden never
shows up when you need him. Bradley Beal hadn't done
anything really outstairs and started scoring in his career, and
and then a bunch of other pieces around Like what that?
That to me is not Warren, especially when you look
at the Red Denver got better. Okay, see you got
all their Greek, kept all their young guys. You know,
you got all these other teams in the East who
look like they're gonna improve. I just don't see how
(19:44):
they're a part of this up. The Houston Rockets got KD.
They look like they're improving. Minnesota still out there. I mean,
I just don't see where they fit into this. And
I can't keep going along. I gave it's been long enough.
It's okay to we have knowing.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
You have no plan, man, You know you can't you
selling ticket sponsorships? What are you talking about? What did
the idea. You don't know if you're gonna see the
idea that you're gonna get out of the kawhipe. I
see Kawhi today, roll these dice. Here we go. Oh,
crapped out. He's not playing.
Speaker 8 (20:13):
That's called the NBA. You don't know what who started it?
You don't know who's the picture of it. Kawhi Leonards
he hurt. I don't know, Yeah I do. When I
look at load management, I see Kawhi some corn. That's
what I see. What is load's management?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Is me and the fun guy that is load management? No,
it's not. The load management did not start there where
they start. It didn't start with cars with him, No,
it did not. It was Tim Duncan and those other guy.
Wasn't let me get that. No, that's not me. No, no,
it wasn't let me become the poster child for one
old man. It was once he got hurt.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the eye Hearts Radio apps. Search
FSR to listen live.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Hey Rob g uh. There was some Dodger fans baseball
fans who were not happy with Dave Roberts last night.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Not just because the Dodgers blew up what early four
nothing lead against the Phillies they lose at home uh
to Philadelphia. But Shohy was pitching and he had something
nice going to start the game. He had an't no
hitter going, no, no, no. He had only thrown sixty
(21:35):
eight pitches. Now, Otani since he's started this season, has
never gone beyond five innings.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
I think that's been like a rule that they've had in.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So that was it.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
He was behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
So according to Roberts himself, he has show in between
the fifth and sixth and he's like, hey, how you feeling,
and no, Tony said, I I'm good. We would assume
then that would mean he got out for the sixth inning. No,
nothing like that at all. Here's Dave Roberts after the
game explaining the decision to keep o Tani glued to
the pine in the fifth.
Speaker 7 (22:04):
Well, he wasn't going to go back out. We haven't.
We've been very steadfast in every situation as far as
inning for his usage from one inning to two innings
to three to four to five. We haven't deviated from that.
So I was trying to get his pulse on for
going forward where he's at continuing to go to the
sixth inning, and he says, be okay, and so that
(22:27):
was good, But I'm not going to have a you know,
plan for five innings and then he pitches well and say, hey,
now you're going to go six innings and then you know,
he's too important and if something does happen, then that's
on me for changing and we haven't done that all year,
So I'm not going to do that right now. So yeah,
I would have loved to have him go out there.
But if the conversation was if he's efficient, he can
(22:50):
go to the sixth inning, that's a different conversation. But
it was a hard five innings and that's just the
way it goes, and guys have got to do their jobs.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I'm sorry, Like this is where, you know, can we stop?
Like do you remember a few years back Clayton Kershaw
had a perfect game going okay in the seventh through
seven innings and I think he only threw eighty pitches.
It was unbelievable, and the idea was, oh no, you know,
(23:19):
we don't want him to get hurt. They took him
out a perfect game, eighty pitchers through seven? Can he
start the eighth inning? Can he walk somebody? Can he
give up a head and then gladly he.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Can come out?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay, yeah, why are you doing this? You're playing your
whole idea.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
They took Kershaw out because they didn't want him to
get They said they you know, they were monitoring him.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
They don't want to get hurt. Guess what.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Kershaw still got hurt that year cause because him pitching
another at batter or another inning is not going to determine.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Whether or not he's going to get hurt.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
It's the same thing with Otani the other day when
they gave up the no hitter in Baltimore. Yamamoto, Right,
he had thrown the most pitches he had thrown since
since joining the Dodgers. Why did they let he had
a no hitter? Let him finish it. Okay, gave up
the home run, he blew it. Whatever. The Dodgers wind
(24:16):
up actually losing that game. But my point is they
did go against what they were doing because he had
pitched the most pitches he had ever done. Right, could
you allow him to do something that's special? Even if
you let show a come out in the sixth inning
and he gives up a head or he walks somebody,
then I have no problem with you coming out saying, Okay,
he's done.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
He could be doing something magical. I've been covering baseball
for thirty nine years. I think I've seen two no hit,
one perfect game, like that's that's it. In thirty nine years.
It doesn't happen very often. It's still a magical special thing.
Is this the NBA?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Now? Everything is about, Oh we can get heart. You
gotta be ready for the playoff.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Dude, stop it. If he's gonna get hurt, he's gonna
get heard. It's not gonna be whether or not he
pitched another inning or two or gave up a hit
because he pitched into the seventh inning. This guy's the
starting pitcher in the big leagues. They've been babying he
didn't pitch at all last year. He didn't start the
year pitching. He'd been babying him for almost a year
and a half. Come on, now, okay, enough is enough.
(25:23):
Why can't he pitch more? And we keep cheating the
baseball fans, stop taking our special moments from us.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
That's what they don't get.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I just told you, I go to a ballpark a
million times thirty nine years of covering, and I saw
one perfect game David Wells against the Minnesota Twins on
a Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I'll never forget it. You remember that that was That
was It was awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
And that's all I'm saying is why why are we
getting cheated as fans? If someone's doing something unique or special,
that's it. So I'm gonna answer that question on the
back end. I'm gonna start with this specifically. I'm gonna
start specifically with the Dodgers. The Dodgers are a victim
of their own success. That is the issue that they're
dealing with.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
They've been so successful over the last ten years, as
far as winning the division, getting in the postseason, getting
into what full World Series in the last you know,
eight years or so, and winning to and in the
most recent So I think the challenge with them is
they're a victim of their own success, where now they're
at that place where if it ain't a World Series,
(26:31):
it don't even matter. You get, oh wow, you made
to a Walker, don't even matter you made the divisional
series don't even Championship series don't. Did we win the
World Series? So they're now at that place where they're
just at a victim of their own success. So which
makes you start to do things based on that, based
on getting you back to the World Series. So now
let me go back to your question or your statement
(26:52):
of robbing fans. This is what happens when you have
analytics in the games. Analytics is a machine, It is
a AI, It is a chat GPT, CPT Compton I on.
That's something and what it is is it has what.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Is what time I get to the Stewish station have
to do with anything? I just don't understand you right now.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
You can't say stuff like that right now. Okay, so
you can't say that like that right now? We have
some sensitive times, right rob g Yeah, we could say
CP time. I can't say M time. No, right, no,
you can't. Well, I get in trouble if I say that, no,
because you're talking about mountain time. Yeah, that's why I'm mad.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
A mountain time. I got your back. Look, give me some,
give me some, give me some THATAP I got your
back Mountain time. Now Alex is just shaking it Alex,
are you all right over there? He's got over there
and make nervous for you. Now, I bring up the
analytics to say, that's just where we are. Now, rob
where everything look at. This is what happens. They put
the sheet already out. Here's every scenario. Here's what you're
(27:46):
gonna do, Skipper, fill in the blank, Dave, Robbers, anybody,
Here's what we're gonna do. This is the game plan.
Don't deviate, don't do this. Gone of the days when
you've been covering this, when I had a hunch, my
gut told me this. I had an inkling something told me,
you know, I felt it intwitter, my intuition said, no,
here's the sheet, here's what we're gonna do. Stick by
(28:07):
this because analytics say if X, Y and Z, this
will happen. Analytics say X Y Z, and it's robbed
us of those moments where you say, you know what, hey, hey, hey, hey, Skipper,
and you say, nah, let him go, let them go.
Let's enjoy these moments, because that's what sports is about.
The time you saw a guy get four home runs
in the game, the guy you saw, you saw, you
(28:30):
know so and so. Brett Farthrow five touchdowns in the
first half for his father passed. The time you saw
Michael Jordan with the fluga they can he looked too sick.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Pull him out exactly, you know, don't play him, Michael Joan,
Come sit down. You get these magical moments.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
Hey, Isaiah Thomas, your ankle is broken and you're playing
against the Lakers. You put up twenty five in the
third quarter, could have no sit them down. We get
robbed of these moments because of dagone machines and a
bunch of nerds that happened to leave the business sector
in the IT sector and jump into sports.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Dan, you you nerds, right of amazing moments. I agree
as Revenge of the Nerds, like the movie in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
It just doesn't make any sense to me, Like like you,
with all that we talked about it earlier, even with
low management.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Guess what, guys still get hurt.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Right with all this idea, I'm not playing people and
all that, and it had that hadn't stopped Kawhi from
being injured again or stop other players, Kyrie, like like,
the whole notion of it doesn't even make sense. There
isn't any data to or to justify the actions. There's
no data. Just like I told you about Clayton Kershaw.
(29:40):
Oh yeah, well, seventh thinning. We don't want him to
get hurt. We know we want him to the whole year.
He still got hurt that year, even though you took
him out after the seventh inning with a with a
perfect game and eighty eighty pitches like he wasn't over
like you're overdoing.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Nowadays.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Eighty eighty easy eighty. I mean he was mowing him
down a perfect game. No, let me walk the first
guy to seventh in the eighth and then you could take.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Me back, let me give up a hit. Seventies, eighties,
nineties pictures, you would have had to. You had to
fight for that ball down. The manager wouldn't even come out.
He gave hey man right now and nowadays again, it's
just a system.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It's systematic. We already know we're gonna do.
Speaker 6 (30:23):
Once you get here, You're not going over sixty picture
because technically, and this is your fifth week of the
DA DA and our plan is this, and our plan
is that. And the only thing I will say specifically
specifically for the show, hey conversation, one thing I do
agree with is that when it comes to him, if
he were to get hurt, you don't just lose a
picture for a week, two weeks, a month. You lose
(30:44):
a potential dh a pitcher, and a potential outfielder because
they've talked about through how to rules and if he pitches, well,
he can't come out the game, so you have to
put them put him on the defensive, so you pose
the potential that with him. So I'm only using him
different than any other guy because he's multi layered.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I get, but you could be heard under any short
he got hurt last year in the World Series, like
you could get heard. This whole notion that you're gonna
prevent someone from getting heard by because he didn't pitch
the seventh inning.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
He goes running hard the first and choices. That's all
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Like that happens, Like you can't There is no magic
formula to say if you don't pitch him in the
sixth inning of a no hitter or a seventh inning,
he'll be healthy the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
If you could give me that, that's different. But that's
not what he happened. That's where I'm agreeing with you.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
The problem is the nerds are doing the mathematical equations
and they say, if he has x amount of pitches
per inning of the nine starts of the tenth, then
they do all the math and then they come up
with a formula and it's formulaic. And you know what
comes with formula boring? And you know what baseball became
halfull of years ago, boring because it was strikeout or
home run, that's all it was. Nobody was trying to
(31:54):
do advanced runners. Nobody was still in bases. No guys
were just you know, you know who I sit next
to when I do Dodger games, And sitting next to
Nomar and Adrian and Zalaz and Jerry Harrison, hearing these
guys talk about just just put ball, but barrel on
ball and just get and get in there, you never
know what happened. Quit swinging for the fences every time,
and it got boring. Thankfully, it's changing the brand of
(32:14):
baseball's gotten a little bit better. And you know what happy, Well,
technically running hurts. So you can have multiple running backs,
you can have three running backs. You don't have to
do it doesn't matter if you have a star running
back and you could just pass it. Football got a
little boring. Now it's mixed up again. You got runners again,
Derrick Kennedy, McCaffrey, Jacobs, Barkley, you're getting runners again and
Taylor and so to me, it just gott formulated.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Just pass it, because technically a pass is better than
a run.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
Stop putting too much to remember there's an entertainment value
in sports, and I think we've forgotten that.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
No, there you go, and you've forgotten that part of swathing.
It ain't just about wahall. Let's wait till the postseason.
People are paying money to go to game to be entertained,
and you're taking away these moments
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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