October 3, 2019 • 27 mins
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker debate what’s best for the Dodgers legacy- to reach the World Series for a third straight year and lose or to not even get there at all. The guys explain why the doubt that LeBron James can mimic Michael Jordan and win another title and FOX Sports NFL Analyst Greg Jennings stops by with his biggest surprise of the NFL season. Finally, the guys take a seat during "Shop Talk" to talk about the greatest surprise gift they've ever received!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
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 Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. It's World Series
or Bust for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who they begin
their quest tonight against the Washington Nationals and the Nlds.
(00:41):
So here's the thing I want to hear from you, though, Rob,
do you think it's best like if they don't win it? Okay,
if they don't win the World Series, and I have
a sneaking suspicion they won't, all right, because they haven't
the last two years. I Mean, it's hard to do
(01:02):
and they keep failing. So if they don't win the
World Series this year, is it better to get to
the World Series and lose or and I'm talking better
for their legacy, better for it, you know, just the
general narrative for around these Dodgers. Or would it be
better to bow out in either the divisional round or
(01:25):
the League Channelship. Right. Yeah, it's a good question. And
you know what, I could tell you the answer from
Lebron James fans. They'd rather go and lose, and they
like to use that as going is better than losing earlier,
even though you're gonna lose. You know, he's lost six
(01:47):
Lebron fans. Lebron fans will embrace the losing in the
championship and wear it as a badge. I totally disagree.
I think if I was a Buffalo Bill, I would
rather go to one Super Bowl Chris and win that
rather than go to fair Stroke. Okay, I hear you,
but that's not what I'm getting at. No, I know
(02:08):
you have not that you could, you know less say
they lose this year, but they ultimately win one, which no,
let they lose this year. They don't say. I'm just saying, like,
like to uh, going three years in a row and
(02:29):
losing would be heartbreaking and the Dodgers would officially be
the Buffalo Bills a Major League Baseball. If I'm a
Dodger fan, I'd rather get out before that. I remember,
I would rather not go to yet another World Series
and be dubious. You know, you know how hard it
is and you can't win one. That would be dubious
(02:50):
for me. But you know that's against everything in the
nature of a sports I get an athlete a fan
right now, But if you're telling me that I'm to lose,
want your team to get as far as possible, to
win as much as possible. I agree under normal circumstances.
But in this case, they've already done that. It's not
(03:10):
like my team never got there. If I know that
they're gonna lose again, I'm talking about right, I know
that they're going to lose. I don't want to sit
through that. I don't want to feel that pain. I
don't want to go. Oh my god. We won seven
straight National League West titles and we got nothing to
show for it, and we went to the World Series
(03:31):
and got embarrassed again. Last year they got embarrassed. And
the year before it was a seven game series and
it was a good one, right against Houston, yep, yep.
Last year against Boston Chris was a five game and
it was really never a series. No what they had
the extra with the eighteen game Any was that last year? Yeah?
That was the That was then inter exciting. I was
(03:55):
in Vegas watching that right. That game went on forever,
right late night. But you're right here. Look, I'll give
you this. You made an interesting point when you brought
up Lebron, because I'm sure he and the fans of
Lebron would rather he be say three and three finals
(04:18):
then three and five. I totally I give that's a
good Yeah, I'm sorry. Three is it three and six? Yeah? Straight? Yeah? Six?
So three and three or three and four? Three and
three is ray better? Right, I'll give you that. However,
if you step back and I'm gonna take that Lebron,
(04:39):
I'm not gonna go there right now. I'm gonna go
to your your Bills, your Buffalo Bills, who has four
straight super Bowls, which is an unbelievable eighty to ninety three, right,
lost them all. We could even throw in the Minnesota Vikings,
remember them in the seventy four They made it three
out of four years, lost everyone and had lost one
before that, so they had lost four straight or four
super Bowl super Bowls in a row, right right. Um,
(05:02):
here's the thing, though, we remember those teams, Rob we
you you dropped the Buffalo Bills probably what once every
three or four weeks on the show because because right.
But but we remember them, and we remember them as great.
You you always say it, Marv Levy, he's in the
(05:23):
Hall of Fame. You shouldn't be. Jim Kelly, Andre Reid,
Thurman Thomas. They had a squad them. If they had
not gotten the four straight, right, if they had gotten
the one, we wouldn't remember them, not like we do now.
Those Vikings, Fran Targeting, Chuck Form and Alan Page, Carl Leller,
(05:44):
the Purple People Eaters, we remember them. Even though they lost.
They still were champions on a smaller level because they
won their conference. And so I again, the Lebron one
was a good one. But when I look back at
those NFL teams, I remember them as great teams even
(06:05):
though they didn't win. And had it been one, had
it been two in the span of six years, but
they didn't win, we wouldn't recall them like that. Yeah,
but if if theyse Dodgers, if they get their rob
if they get to the World Series and lose again,
historically they still will be remembered. And yeah, there'll be
(06:27):
a punchline and people say, oh, you don't want to
be the Dodgers, you know of that era. But we'll
remember Bellinger and and all these great players that they have,
and a lot of them will make the Hall of Fame,
and that we'll we'll remember that as a great team.
So when you remember to say the opposite of what
you said, I think it's better if they at least
(06:47):
get there, even if they lose. You remember the Atlanta Braves.
They won like fifteen out of sixteen NL least titles, right,
fifteen out of sixteen and only won one World Series, Chris,
They are dubious, Bobby Cox in that group though. Yeah,
when you remember Greg, when you think of Greg Maddox,
do you think of he couldn't win the big one?
(07:09):
I mean they, like you said, they won one, But
we generally don't think of that one, am I right? No,
we don't. You think we think of all the losses.
And because remember that team had three Hall of Fame
pictures on the same staff, Chris, for a decade. Do
you know how many teams have had three Hall of
Famers pitched together? It's almost never happened, right, But again, Rob,
(07:32):
think about when you think of that team, Yeah, you
think of they You know they didn't get it done
except once, but you also recognize their greatness in a
way that I don't think we would if they didn't
have that long stretch. I would rather not go if
I know that my team is going to lose again,
(07:56):
and I'm serious, I just I don't want to feel
the pain to get there and know you can't you
can't win a championship. I just think that that's the
ultimate and it's one thing if you go there once, Chris,
you have a great team to have a great year.
You're cool with that, Okay, you know my teammate it
we didn't we didn't win or whatever. But but to
be that good as they have been year after year
(08:18):
after year and not be able to win after after
three years and seven straight division titles, which is ridiculous
because think about that, even when they were winning division titles,
the Giants still went to the World Series and won.
Do you know what I mean? Like as a wild card,
what I'll give you is this as well. If they
get to the World Series and lose, it would be
(08:42):
harder to come back next year. Then for those players
and Dave Roberts, then if they get bounced in this round,
or the next right, because because if you get bounced early,
then now you're like, there's that builty and motivation. Right,
we gotta get back right, we didn't get that. Okay,
we need to do some off We need to add
you know what I mean? Told right. Thanks for listening
(09:03):
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 Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R. Let's go
(09:25):
to some NBA talk. There was an interesting story in
The Ringer a couple of days ago, and it talked
about Lebron James and Michael Jordan. Not the typical goat
discussion and goat comparison and so on and so forth,
but it talked about how this season Lebrin is really
(09:50):
at least in the off season, and the way last
season ended to some degree, and where he's at in
his career. It's a lot like Mike called Jordan and
both when in the summer when they filmed Space Jam.
Remember Jordan film Space Jam Back in the summer of
ninety three. No, No, he retired in ninety three was
(10:14):
the summer he had lost to the Orlando Magic or
that season, so it was what ninety six, I believe
ninety five. So he's filming Space Jam that summer. He's
coming off a bad loss, right, he just returned from baseball.
That I was gonna say. He came and thought he'd
(10:34):
be able to just jump in and be ready for playoffs,
and it didn't happen. And he would look if people
hold that, if some people hold it against him, I don't.
I mean the step in after a year and a
half of not playing basketball, playing baseball in fact, and
remember he had the double nickel, the fifty five point
game in Madison Square Guarden against those tough Knicks defenses,
(10:57):
and he averaged twenty six points a game. But he
wasn't him Jay. Shooting percentage was low. I took a
lot of shots, missed a lot of shots. And then
in the playoffs, he got stripped at the end of
the game by I think Nick Anderson, right, the shock
penny hardaway Orlando Magic. That was actually from the standpoint
(11:20):
for him, no good for the NBA agreed do you
know what I mean, like like you just can't show
up and do you know what and then take over
the league. He had done that, right, especially with him
looking not as good as he was, right, and Penny
and Shock they would had that thing going seriously like
like Penny had, Penny was a star and Shock was
(11:43):
a star if Penny Hardaway hadn't gotten hurt, and and
obviously if Shack hadn't Check and Shock. I asked Shock once,
of all the players, now, he played with great wing
men Penny. Then he gets it's Kobe, then he gets
Duayane Wade. Right, that's not even to mention Steve Nash
(12:05):
and Lebron who he wasn't the same Shock by then,
But he played with all those guys. Asked him which
one would he, you know, most want to play with
or did he enjoy playing with the most? He said, Penny. Wow.
And if they had stayed together, I mean, honest, look,
I'm not I'm never betting against Jordan Rob you agether,
(12:28):
I mean potentially, potentially it could have been history changing
if they stayed together and Penny didn't get hurt. You know,
I say the same thing about Ralph Sampson and Hakim Elijuan.
If Sampson doesn't get hurt, maybe the Showtime Lakers aren't
the Showtime Lakers because those Houston Rockets with the twin
(12:49):
towers of Sampson and Elijuan has swept believe they swept
the Lakers. Maybe they beat him in five, but they
they beat the Lakers soundly in the playoffs and then
to the Bird Celtics in the finals. So but anyway,
the point I'm trying to make is Jordan was coming
off this year. He's filming Space Jam in the summer.
(13:10):
He's coming off a disappointing playoff loss to the Magic.
He's no longer viewed as the best player in the
world because everybody was saying, how Kim Elijuan was right.
He had won two straight championships. Now, so it was
Elijahan's world. Okay, look at Lebron James, and I'm not
this isn't my brain. I'm glad. I'm glad it's not yours,
(13:33):
because I'm just saying it's the three. Okay, here's what
they're saying. This is the summer Lebron is filming Space Jam.
This is the summer Lebron's coming off a disappointing season.
He didn't even get to the playoffs like Jordan did.
But he didn't make the playoffs. His worst season team wise,
at least since he was about twenty years old, and
(13:56):
then he is no longer recognized as the best player
in the world. ESPN said it was who Jannis. I
didn't even see the Sports Illustrated list, but Lebron wasn't
number one, and so those similarities a stretch, maybe, but
those similarities. So what does Jordan go out and do
(14:16):
in that summer? He goes out works his tail off
while he's filming Space Jam and comes back arguably better
than ever. They go on to three peak. We know,
we know the history Ken Lebron. I'm of course I'm
not expecting a three peak. Lebron at his best with
(14:36):
Wade and Bosh couldn't deliver a three peak, so I'm
not expecting that. But cann he deliver one now? In
Anthony Davis, I'd say, I'm gonna say it, Rob, Anthony
Davis is better than Scottie Pippott, So you got the
great teammate. Whether you agree with that or not, Anthony
(14:57):
Davis is superb So Ken Lebron I'm not I'm not
buying that. You don't think he's not not what Scottie
Pippen was able to accomplish, not knowing what I know
he was able to do with Michael Jordan, I can't
say that for a guy who has has had marginal
success in the postseason. I don't know how many big
games he's played you could put up in fill statuets.
(15:19):
He hasn't played in any big games yet. So I
can't say that, Chris, I'll give you. Let's see what happens.
I'll give you that. Okay, that's all I'm saying. I test.
I'm not saying he's not a great player, but I can't.
I can't him over Scottie. He's not, okay, in a
historical ranking, would you that's a good That's that's arguable,
(15:40):
And I obviously he's nowhere near as accomplished to Scottie Pippen.
But I think Jess in a vacuum, looking at what
Anthony Davis does and can do and what Scottie Pipman
did and could do, you I think most people would
say a d. Now again, you're writing a historical ranking
because Scotti to accomplish maybe you put pitm in ahead
(16:03):
of me. But a D is phenomenal. But like you said,
he's got to back it up. He's got to get
some hardware or something. But the point is he's a
great second player for Lebron. He's a great one day
or Lebron saying we're gonna run through him. Maybe he's
won now whatever, So can Lebron. I'm even gonna say,
(16:24):
duplicate what Jordan did just one. And the hard thing
is the differences too. It ain't like there's some cakewalk
going on with the other teams and you know, the
other duos and the other and the Western Conference and
what's already happened with Kyle Kuzma and Boogie Cousins. I'm
just I'm not saying that that night. It ain't, do
(16:46):
you know what I mean? Like, already it's stacked up
that this year could be harder than than we even
thought it was to start from, do you know what
I mean? So you're already cutting into maybe a year. Wow,
that's just we look historically with Lebron and his superstar teammates,
it's taken a year. It's taken a year. It took
(17:08):
him in Kyrie a year to win it. It took
him and Duane Way the year to win it, so
that could be the case. However, does he have a year?
I mean, we don't know. Excuse me, we don't know
what Lebron's gonna look like this year. I mean we
assume we don't know. But heck, father time, you know
(17:31):
the brass. We talk about it all the time. I mean,
everybody thinks, and it happens. Chris is not gradual. One
day you can't get to the spot. One day, that
shot doesn't go to hell. One day you follow that
pitch off that they used to hit out the park.
It happens overnight. Yep, it comes for everybody. Everybody. Lebron
(17:52):
will always be great, just like Jordan. Jordan was still
great in Washington, but he wasn't the same and he
couldn't even lead him to the playoffs. So I don't.
I mean, look, I'm I'm gonna say this. I do agree.
I saw ESPN's power rankings today and most people, you
and I included, the Clippers are the favorite. They should be.
(18:14):
They should be the favorite, right However, I think it's
so close between It's a bunch of teams. As you mentioned,
I think the Lakers got a good shot. Like I
wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they win it.
I would be totally shocked, uh, flabbergasted, dumbfounded, whatever. I
(18:35):
do not win it. If they would have winned the
Todd Chap Wow, I do not. I just don't believe
that that group put together is going to be better
than some of these other teams. I think that there's
a chance they could get knocked out easily in the
second round by a team unless Lebron is totally different.
Because last year he didn't play defense. I don't know.
(18:56):
I'm he's gonna be that bad on defense, but he
was bad, right, I'm just now you were okay. I
don't know about Anthony David Ship. He's missed fourteen and
more games five of his first seven NBA seasons. Is
he gonna be available Chris the whole year? Where does
he fit in? How does him and Lebron coexist? I
don't know. I just I would be surprised if they
(19:18):
were to win. I just don't look at them. I think,
are they in to make sure they're in the mix
and make the playoffs. Sure, they should make the playoffs.
But I don't believe that it's just a foregone conclusion.
They're in the Weston Conference finals and they're playing for
a chance to win a champion. I don't see that.
I don't I don't agree as a foregone conclusion either.
But I am shocked that you would be shocked, shocked
(19:43):
if they won the championship. Fly again, You're right, there
are a lot of question marks, and that's why I
put the Clippers ahead of them, because I don't see
nearly as many question marks with the Clippers as I
do with the Lakers. But the talent Lebron, if he's
ninety five percent of himself, yes, seven team, okay, But
let's say Lebron he's still Lebron. He's still great a
(20:05):
d If he's got half of the heart that I'm
giving him credit for, he should be great. You got Rondo,
you got Avery Bradley, who's a sticky defender. You got
Kyle Kuzman when he gets back. You got JaVale McGee
who laughed and and mock him and shocked shocked in
(20:26):
the Fool him all you want, But the dude is
a good role player. Now, Dwight Howard as a role player.
I'm not asking for much from him, but a tough
role player. Jared Dudley, a nice locker room guy, can
shoot the three, A good intangible guy. Danny Greene. I
mean they got talent, question marks, good lord, but and
(20:51):
I actually think they got a good coaches that but
the West has a lot of talent, and teams have
gotten better from a year ago. Some teams. You look
get where Denver was as a young team A game away,
the Rockets made a big change. I'm just so right, Okay,
you right, That's all I'm saying. But in a seven
game series, there is no way. I will bet you
(21:16):
a room full of wings that there is no way
you would take the Denver Nuggets over the Lakers in
a seven game series. I don't know what I have
to see why I like where the season played out,
I can't say that right now. Just like I said,
everyone might win more games, right I'm Regulus, that could happen.
And just like I said last year, when you and
(21:37):
we you know, we we've seen the clip where you
guys all attack me on undisputed when I said that
they wouldn't make the playoffs, he got lucky. But what
I'm just saying they were hurt, but they didn't make
the playoffs. Christ And even at that point, you guys
looked at me like I was crazy, Like you were No,
I wasn't. You got lucky that they got hurt. Thanks
(21:57):
for listening to the best of The Odd Couple podcast as.
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 Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(22:18):
s R. Any second, Now we didn't you wire talking
about whoever? Whatever? Whatever you want to wait, it's shop too,
all right, guys, if you follow me on Instagram, I
know Rob does. I think I'm still waiting for that
Chris follow I was at a long time to follow me.
(22:43):
I don't stop. I'm just kidding. I was at Disneyland
on Monday celebrating my girlfriend's birthday. Now, we got a
special little gift though. Her client, let's call him Vegas George.
He gifted us a VIP tour guy that New Land.
And what they do is they hang out with you
all day and take you to the front of every
(23:04):
single line. And if you've ever been to Disneyland, you're
saving a lot of time. I think we hit over
fifteen rides that day. Wow, it was absolutely amazing. I
saw the price and it was up there. So I
want to know from you guys, what is the greatest
like surprise gift you've ever gotten? Well, I can go first,
of you need to think because because mine was pretty simple.
(23:26):
When I heard this. When I was in high school,
my oldest sister, Mary Anne, she's five years older than me.
She had a job and she have a younger sister
named Ginger no Robin well Ginger I didn't know yet,
named mary Ann. Yeah, mary Anne? Wow? And uh, she
(23:49):
came home from work on a Friday, Chris, and she
bought me my first pair of leather sneakers, the Adidas
Kareem Abdul Jabbars. Oh yeah, those are high. Oh Mike,
I was so sweet on the front. Yelp, you know
which ones I'm talking about. I was so pumped. I
could not believe it at back then, at that time,
we were all wearing pro kads and and uh, what
(24:11):
was the other one, Chuck Taylor's whatever. You know when
nobody spent and there were twenty nine ninety nine. It
was a lot of money for a pair of sneakers.
And it wasn't my birthday. It wasn't anything. She just
got paid and decided to buy me a pair of
sneakers out of just out of love. That is great.
Now did you follow up by going out on the
(24:32):
playground and destroying people? Well, I knocked out a couple.
Did you dunk on her after that? And I do
want to fast forward the story to life later on,
later on, I did buy my sister car. Oh wow,
I did. I would a car. Well, my wife, My
wife gave me a great fiftieth birthday president last year.
(24:54):
She came to visit in LA and surprised me with
a trip to Vegas. So that was fun. We spent
the weekend in Vegas. That was great. But I'm gonna
go with this. It's an interesting story for just a gift.
So this must have been I don't know, two thousand
and eight somewhere around there. Seven eight. So the Nike
(25:17):
invites me and several other journalists sports journalists, but a
lot of guys from like you Gotta bubble Let Selle
and the Source and shoe magazines and all that. They
tell us meet them at a building in Manhattan on
a Sunday night. So we all get there. I'm res
(25:37):
at the New York Times at this time, so maybe
it was before two thousand and seven, two thousand and
four or something. Anyway, they pick us up in a
party bus. We don't know where we're going. They drive
us to Madison Square Garden. They tell us going to
the visitors locker room. We go in there, each of us,
our names are on the locker stopping. They got a
(25:59):
unifor forms. They got a huge duffel bag with a
pair of Kobe Bryant sneakers and like an arm sleeve,
all this stuff. They say, get dressed and meet us
out on the court. So we put on our uniforms.
Some of them are white, some of them are purple.
We go out on the court. They got the scoreboard ready,
the Nick City Dancers, Walt Frasier's in the game. We
(26:23):
play a forty minute game oy Madison Square Gardens court
and then in the Kobe sneakers and all that. Then
afterwards we go back into the locker room and they
got another duffel bag with Penny Hardaway Nikes, all these
different nikes and shorts and junk. It was awesome. I'm
just going I mean, even though I screwed up on
(26:45):
the last play of the game, it was awesome. You
customed the game, tried to close. This dude out there,
the oldest dude out there. Believe me, I actually played
a good game to that last play. But but yeah,
I was. I mean, I was awesome. Wow, it was awesome.
You know you can't accept that, Chris. You worked for
the New York Times. You know, if I could go
(27:08):
back in time, I wouldn't accept I accepted it back then.
We don't accept that. 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
(27:30):
local station for The Odd Couple at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching f s R
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
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 Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. It's World Series
or Bust for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who they begin
their quest tonight against the Washington Nationals and the Nlds.
(00:41):
So here's the thing I want to hear from you, though, Rob,
do you think it's best like if they don't win it? Okay,
if they don't win the World Series, and I have
a sneaking suspicion they won't, all right, because they haven't
the last two years. I Mean, it's hard to do
(01:02):
and they keep failing. So if they don't win the
World Series this year, is it better to get to
the World Series and lose or and I'm talking better
for their legacy, better for it, you know, just the
general narrative for around these Dodgers. Or would it be
better to bow out in either the divisional round or
(01:25):
the League Channelship. Right. Yeah, it's a good question. And
you know what, I could tell you the answer from
Lebron James fans. They'd rather go and lose, and they
like to use that as going is better than losing earlier,
even though you're gonna lose. You know, he's lost six
(01:47):
Lebron fans. Lebron fans will embrace the losing in the
championship and wear it as a badge. I totally disagree.
I think if I was a Buffalo Bill, I would
rather go to one Super Bowl Chris and win that
rather than go to fair Stroke. Okay, I hear you,
but that's not what I'm getting at. No, I know
(02:08):
you have not that you could, you know less say
they lose this year, but they ultimately win one, which no,
let they lose this year. They don't say. I'm just saying, like,
like to uh, going three years in a row and
(02:29):
losing would be heartbreaking and the Dodgers would officially be
the Buffalo Bills a Major League Baseball. If I'm a
Dodger fan, I'd rather get out before that. I remember,
I would rather not go to yet another World Series
and be dubious. You know, you know how hard it
is and you can't win one. That would be dubious
(02:50):
for me. But you know that's against everything in the
nature of a sports I get an athlete a fan
right now, But if you're telling me that I'm to lose,
want your team to get as far as possible, to
win as much as possible. I agree under normal circumstances.
But in this case, they've already done that. It's not
(03:10):
like my team never got there. If I know that
they're gonna lose again, I'm talking about right, I know
that they're going to lose. I don't want to sit
through that. I don't want to feel that pain. I
don't want to go. Oh my god. We won seven
straight National League West titles and we got nothing to
show for it, and we went to the World Series
(03:31):
and got embarrassed again. Last year they got embarrassed. And
the year before it was a seven game series and
it was a good one, right against Houston, yep, yep.
Last year against Boston Chris was a five game and
it was really never a series. No what they had
the extra with the eighteen game Any was that last year? Yeah?
That was the That was then inter exciting. I was
(03:55):
in Vegas watching that right. That game went on forever,
right late night. But you're right here. Look, I'll give
you this. You made an interesting point when you brought
up Lebron, because I'm sure he and the fans of
Lebron would rather he be say three and three finals
(04:18):
then three and five. I totally I give that's a
good Yeah, I'm sorry. Three is it three and six? Yeah? Straight? Yeah? Six?
So three and three or three and four? Three and
three is ray better? Right, I'll give you that. However,
if you step back and I'm gonna take that Lebron,
(04:39):
I'm not gonna go there right now. I'm gonna go
to your your Bills, your Buffalo Bills, who has four
straight super Bowls, which is an unbelievable eighty to ninety three, right,
lost them all. We could even throw in the Minnesota Vikings,
remember them in the seventy four They made it three
out of four years, lost everyone and had lost one
before that, so they had lost four straight or four
super Bowl super Bowls in a row, right right. Um,
(05:02):
here's the thing, though, we remember those teams, Rob we
you you dropped the Buffalo Bills probably what once every
three or four weeks on the show because because right.
But but we remember them, and we remember them as great.
You you always say it, Marv Levy, he's in the
(05:23):
Hall of Fame. You shouldn't be. Jim Kelly, Andre Reid,
Thurman Thomas. They had a squad them. If they had
not gotten the four straight, right, if they had gotten
the one, we wouldn't remember them, not like we do now.
Those Vikings, Fran Targeting, Chuck Form and Alan Page, Carl Leller,
(05:44):
the Purple People Eaters, we remember them. Even though they lost.
They still were champions on a smaller level because they
won their conference. And so I again, the Lebron one
was a good one. But when I look back at
those NFL teams, I remember them as great teams even
(06:05):
though they didn't win. And had it been one, had
it been two in the span of six years, but
they didn't win, we wouldn't recall them like that. Yeah,
but if if theyse Dodgers, if they get their rob
if they get to the World Series and lose again,
historically they still will be remembered. And yeah, there'll be
(06:27):
a punchline and people say, oh, you don't want to
be the Dodgers, you know of that era. But we'll
remember Bellinger and and all these great players that they have,
and a lot of them will make the Hall of Fame,
and that we'll we'll remember that as a great team.
So when you remember to say the opposite of what
you said, I think it's better if they at least
(06:47):
get there, even if they lose. You remember the Atlanta Braves.
They won like fifteen out of sixteen NL least titles, right,
fifteen out of sixteen and only won one World Series, Chris,
They are dubious, Bobby Cox in that group though. Yeah,
when you remember Greg, when you think of Greg Maddox,
do you think of he couldn't win the big one?
(07:09):
I mean they, like you said, they won one, But
we generally don't think of that one, am I right? No,
we don't. You think we think of all the losses.
And because remember that team had three Hall of Fame
pictures on the same staff, Chris, for a decade. Do
you know how many teams have had three Hall of
Famers pitched together? It's almost never happened, right, But again, Rob,
(07:32):
think about when you think of that team, Yeah, you
think of they You know they didn't get it done
except once, but you also recognize their greatness in a
way that I don't think we would if they didn't
have that long stretch. I would rather not go if
I know that my team is going to lose again,
(07:56):
and I'm serious, I just I don't want to feel
the pain to get there and know you can't you
can't win a championship. I just think that that's the
ultimate and it's one thing if you go there once, Chris,
you have a great team to have a great year.
You're cool with that, Okay, you know my teammate it
we didn't we didn't win or whatever. But but to
be that good as they have been year after year
(08:18):
after year and not be able to win after after
three years and seven straight division titles, which is ridiculous
because think about that, even when they were winning division titles,
the Giants still went to the World Series and won.
Do you know what I mean? Like as a wild card,
what I'll give you is this as well. If they
get to the World Series and lose, it would be
(08:42):
harder to come back next year. Then for those players
and Dave Roberts, then if they get bounced in this round,
or the next right, because because if you get bounced early,
then now you're like, there's that builty and motivation. Right,
we gotta get back right, we didn't get that. Okay,
we need to do some off We need to add
you know what I mean? Told right. Thanks for listening
(09:03):
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 Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R. Let's go
(09:25):
to some NBA talk. There was an interesting story in
The Ringer a couple of days ago, and it talked
about Lebron James and Michael Jordan. Not the typical goat
discussion and goat comparison and so on and so forth,
but it talked about how this season Lebrin is really
(09:50):
at least in the off season, and the way last
season ended to some degree, and where he's at in
his career. It's a lot like Mike called Jordan and
both when in the summer when they filmed Space Jam.
Remember Jordan film Space Jam Back in the summer of
ninety three. No, No, he retired in ninety three was
(10:14):
the summer he had lost to the Orlando Magic or
that season, so it was what ninety six, I believe
ninety five. So he's filming Space Jam that summer. He's
coming off a bad loss, right, he just returned from baseball.
That I was gonna say. He came and thought he'd
(10:34):
be able to just jump in and be ready for playoffs,
and it didn't happen. And he would look if people
hold that, if some people hold it against him, I don't.
I mean the step in after a year and a
half of not playing basketball, playing baseball in fact, and
remember he had the double nickel, the fifty five point
game in Madison Square Guarden against those tough Knicks defenses,
(10:57):
and he averaged twenty six points a game. But he
wasn't him Jay. Shooting percentage was low. I took a
lot of shots, missed a lot of shots. And then
in the playoffs, he got stripped at the end of
the game by I think Nick Anderson, right, the shock
penny hardaway Orlando Magic. That was actually from the standpoint
(11:20):
for him, no good for the NBA agreed do you
know what I mean, like like you just can't show
up and do you know what and then take over
the league. He had done that, right, especially with him
looking not as good as he was, right, and Penny
and Shock they would had that thing going seriously like
like Penny had, Penny was a star and Shock was
(11:43):
a star if Penny Hardaway hadn't gotten hurt, and and
obviously if Shack hadn't Check and Shock. I asked Shock once,
of all the players, now, he played with great wing
men Penny. Then he gets it's Kobe, then he gets
Duayane Wade. Right, that's not even to mention Steve Nash
(12:05):
and Lebron who he wasn't the same Shock by then,
But he played with all those guys. Asked him which
one would he, you know, most want to play with
or did he enjoy playing with the most? He said, Penny. Wow.
And if they had stayed together, I mean, honest, look,
I'm not I'm never betting against Jordan Rob you agether,
(12:28):
I mean potentially, potentially it could have been history changing
if they stayed together and Penny didn't get hurt. You know,
I say the same thing about Ralph Sampson and Hakim Elijuan.
If Sampson doesn't get hurt, maybe the Showtime Lakers aren't
the Showtime Lakers because those Houston Rockets with the twin
(12:49):
towers of Sampson and Elijuan has swept believe they swept
the Lakers. Maybe they beat him in five, but they
they beat the Lakers soundly in the playoffs and then
to the Bird Celtics in the finals. So but anyway,
the point I'm trying to make is Jordan was coming
off this year. He's filming Space Jam in the summer.
(13:10):
He's coming off a disappointing playoff loss to the Magic.
He's no longer viewed as the best player in the
world because everybody was saying, how Kim Elijuan was right.
He had won two straight championships. Now, so it was
Elijahan's world. Okay, look at Lebron James, and I'm not
this isn't my brain. I'm glad. I'm glad it's not yours,
(13:33):
because I'm just saying it's the three. Okay, here's what
they're saying. This is the summer Lebron is filming Space Jam.
This is the summer Lebron's coming off a disappointing season.
He didn't even get to the playoffs like Jordan did.
But he didn't make the playoffs. His worst season team wise,
at least since he was about twenty years old, and
(13:56):
then he is no longer recognized as the best player
in the world. ESPN said it was who Jannis. I
didn't even see the Sports Illustrated list, but Lebron wasn't
number one, and so those similarities a stretch, maybe, but
those similarities. So what does Jordan go out and do
(14:16):
in that summer? He goes out works his tail off
while he's filming Space Jam and comes back arguably better
than ever. They go on to three peak. We know,
we know the history Ken Lebron. I'm of course I'm
not expecting a three peak. Lebron at his best with
(14:36):
Wade and Bosh couldn't deliver a three peak, so I'm
not expecting that. But cann he deliver one now? In
Anthony Davis, I'd say, I'm gonna say it, Rob, Anthony
Davis is better than Scottie Pippott, So you got the
great teammate. Whether you agree with that or not, Anthony
(14:57):
Davis is superb So Ken Lebron I'm not I'm not
buying that. You don't think he's not not what Scottie
Pippen was able to accomplish, not knowing what I know
he was able to do with Michael Jordan, I can't
say that for a guy who has has had marginal
success in the postseason. I don't know how many big
games he's played you could put up in fill statuets.
(15:19):
He hasn't played in any big games yet. So I
can't say that, Chris, I'll give you. Let's see what happens.
I'll give you that. Okay, that's all I'm saying. I test.
I'm not saying he's not a great player, but I can't.
I can't him over Scottie. He's not, okay, in a
historical ranking, would you that's a good That's that's arguable,
(15:40):
And I obviously he's nowhere near as accomplished to Scottie Pippen.
But I think Jess in a vacuum, looking at what
Anthony Davis does and can do and what Scottie Pipman
did and could do, you I think most people would
say a d. Now again, you're writing a historical ranking
because Scotti to accomplish maybe you put pitm in ahead
(16:03):
of me. But a D is phenomenal. But like you said,
he's got to back it up. He's got to get
some hardware or something. But the point is he's a
great second player for Lebron. He's a great one day
or Lebron saying we're gonna run through him. Maybe he's
won now whatever, So can Lebron. I'm even gonna say,
(16:24):
duplicate what Jordan did just one. And the hard thing
is the differences too. It ain't like there's some cakewalk
going on with the other teams and you know, the
other duos and the other and the Western Conference and
what's already happened with Kyle Kuzma and Boogie Cousins. I'm
just I'm not saying that that night. It ain't, do
(16:46):
you know what I mean? Like, already it's stacked up
that this year could be harder than than we even
thought it was to start from, do you know what
I mean? So you're already cutting into maybe a year. Wow,
that's just we look historically with Lebron and his superstar teammates,
it's taken a year. It's taken a year. It took
(17:08):
him in Kyrie a year to win it. It took
him and Duane Way the year to win it, so
that could be the case. However, does he have a year?
I mean, we don't know. Excuse me, we don't know
what Lebron's gonna look like this year. I mean we
assume we don't know. But heck, father time, you know
(17:31):
the brass. We talk about it all the time. I mean,
everybody thinks, and it happens. Chris is not gradual. One
day you can't get to the spot. One day, that
shot doesn't go to hell. One day you follow that
pitch off that they used to hit out the park.
It happens overnight. Yep, it comes for everybody. Everybody. Lebron
(17:52):
will always be great, just like Jordan. Jordan was still
great in Washington, but he wasn't the same and he
couldn't even lead him to the playoffs. So I don't.
I mean, look, I'm I'm gonna say this. I do agree.
I saw ESPN's power rankings today and most people, you
and I included, the Clippers are the favorite. They should be.
(18:14):
They should be the favorite, right However, I think it's
so close between It's a bunch of teams. As you mentioned,
I think the Lakers got a good shot. Like I
wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they win it.
I would be totally shocked, uh, flabbergasted, dumbfounded, whatever. I
(18:35):
do not win it. If they would have winned the
Todd Chap Wow, I do not. I just don't believe
that that group put together is going to be better
than some of these other teams. I think that there's
a chance they could get knocked out easily in the
second round by a team unless Lebron is totally different.
Because last year he didn't play defense. I don't know.
(18:56):
I'm he's gonna be that bad on defense, but he
was bad, right, I'm just now you were okay. I
don't know about Anthony David Ship. He's missed fourteen and
more games five of his first seven NBA seasons. Is
he gonna be available Chris the whole year? Where does
he fit in? How does him and Lebron coexist? I
don't know. I just I would be surprised if they
(19:18):
were to win. I just don't look at them. I think,
are they in to make sure they're in the mix
and make the playoffs. Sure, they should make the playoffs.
But I don't believe that it's just a foregone conclusion.
They're in the Weston Conference finals and they're playing for
a chance to win a champion. I don't see that.
I don't I don't agree as a foregone conclusion either.
But I am shocked that you would be shocked, shocked
(19:43):
if they won the championship. Fly again, You're right, there
are a lot of question marks, and that's why I
put the Clippers ahead of them, because I don't see
nearly as many question marks with the Clippers as I
do with the Lakers. But the talent Lebron, if he's
ninety five percent of himself, yes, seven team, okay, But
let's say Lebron he's still Lebron. He's still great a
(20:05):
d If he's got half of the heart that I'm
giving him credit for, he should be great. You got Rondo,
you got Avery Bradley, who's a sticky defender. You got
Kyle Kuzman when he gets back. You got JaVale McGee
who laughed and and mock him and shocked shocked in
(20:26):
the Fool him all you want, But the dude is
a good role player. Now, Dwight Howard as a role player.
I'm not asking for much from him, but a tough
role player. Jared Dudley, a nice locker room guy, can
shoot the three, A good intangible guy. Danny Greene. I
mean they got talent, question marks, good lord, but and
(20:51):
I actually think they got a good coaches that but
the West has a lot of talent, and teams have
gotten better from a year ago. Some teams. You look
get where Denver was as a young team A game away,
the Rockets made a big change. I'm just so right, Okay,
you right, That's all I'm saying. But in a seven
game series, there is no way. I will bet you
(21:16):
a room full of wings that there is no way
you would take the Denver Nuggets over the Lakers in
a seven game series. I don't know what I have
to see why I like where the season played out,
I can't say that right now. Just like I said,
everyone might win more games, right I'm Regulus, that could happen.
And just like I said last year, when you and
(21:37):
we you know, we we've seen the clip where you
guys all attack me on undisputed when I said that
they wouldn't make the playoffs, he got lucky. But what
I'm just saying they were hurt, but they didn't make
the playoffs. Christ And even at that point, you guys
looked at me like I was crazy, Like you were No,
I wasn't. You got lucky that they got hurt. Thanks
(21:57):
for listening to the best of The Odd Couple podcast as.
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 Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(22:18):
s R. Any second, Now we didn't you wire talking
about whoever? Whatever? Whatever you want to wait, it's shop too,
all right, guys, if you follow me on Instagram, I
know Rob does. I think I'm still waiting for that
Chris follow I was at a long time to follow me.
(22:43):
I don't stop. I'm just kidding. I was at Disneyland
on Monday celebrating my girlfriend's birthday. Now, we got a
special little gift though. Her client, let's call him Vegas George.
He gifted us a VIP tour guy that New Land.
And what they do is they hang out with you
all day and take you to the front of every
(23:04):
single line. And if you've ever been to Disneyland, you're
saving a lot of time. I think we hit over
fifteen rides that day. Wow, it was absolutely amazing. I
saw the price and it was up there. So I
want to know from you guys, what is the greatest
like surprise gift you've ever gotten? Well, I can go first,
of you need to think because because mine was pretty simple.
(23:26):
When I heard this. When I was in high school,
my oldest sister, Mary Anne, she's five years older than me.
She had a job and she have a younger sister
named Ginger no Robin well Ginger I didn't know yet,
named mary Ann. Yeah, mary Anne? Wow? And uh, she
(23:49):
came home from work on a Friday, Chris, and she
bought me my first pair of leather sneakers, the Adidas
Kareem Abdul Jabbars. Oh yeah, those are high. Oh Mike,
I was so sweet on the front. Yelp, you know
which ones I'm talking about. I was so pumped. I
could not believe it at back then, at that time,
we were all wearing pro kads and and uh, what
(24:11):
was the other one, Chuck Taylor's whatever. You know when
nobody spent and there were twenty nine ninety nine. It
was a lot of money for a pair of sneakers.
And it wasn't my birthday. It wasn't anything. She just
got paid and decided to buy me a pair of
sneakers out of just out of love. That is great.
Now did you follow up by going out on the
(24:32):
playground and destroying people? Well, I knocked out a couple.
Did you dunk on her after that? And I do
want to fast forward the story to life later on,
later on, I did buy my sister car. Oh wow,
I did. I would a car. Well, my wife, My
wife gave me a great fiftieth birthday president last year.
(24:54):
She came to visit in LA and surprised me with
a trip to Vegas. So that was fun. We spent
the weekend in Vegas. That was great. But I'm gonna
go with this. It's an interesting story for just a gift.
So this must have been I don't know, two thousand
and eight somewhere around there. Seven eight. So the Nike
(25:17):
invites me and several other journalists sports journalists, but a
lot of guys from like you Gotta bubble Let Selle
and the Source and shoe magazines and all that. They
tell us meet them at a building in Manhattan on
a Sunday night. So we all get there. I'm res
(25:37):
at the New York Times at this time, so maybe
it was before two thousand and seven, two thousand and
four or something. Anyway, they pick us up in a
party bus. We don't know where we're going. They drive
us to Madison Square Garden. They tell us going to
the visitors locker room. We go in there, each of us,
our names are on the locker stopping. They got a
(25:59):
unifor forms. They got a huge duffel bag with a
pair of Kobe Bryant sneakers and like an arm sleeve,
all this stuff. They say, get dressed and meet us
out on the court. So we put on our uniforms.
Some of them are white, some of them are purple.
We go out on the court. They got the scoreboard ready,
the Nick City Dancers, Walt Frasier's in the game. We
(26:23):
play a forty minute game oy Madison Square Gardens court
and then in the Kobe sneakers and all that. Then
afterwards we go back into the locker room and they
got another duffel bag with Penny Hardaway Nikes, all these
different nikes and shorts and junk. It was awesome. I'm
just going I mean, even though I screwed up on
(26:45):
the last play of the game, it was awesome. You
customed the game, tried to close. This dude out there,
the oldest dude out there. Believe me, I actually played
a good game to that last play. But but yeah,
I was. I mean, I was awesome. Wow, it was awesome.
You know you can't accept that, Chris. You worked for
the New York Times. You know, if I could go
(27:08):
back in time, I wouldn't accept I accepted it back then.
We don't accept that. 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
(27:30):
local station for The Odd Couple at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching f s R
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Rob Parker
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