Michael Jordan Can't Admit When He's Wrong

Episode Transcript
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(00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh yeah, it is
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(00:48):
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up man? How are you doing great? How are you
mister Chris Buszard. I'm well, I am well. It was
a nice day. It was almost eighty degrees here in
Jersey today. Yeah, and it's of course beautiful here in
Los Angeles. Did you get outside? You get out a

(01:32):
little bit to get a little lunch, you know, um
after getting back in town. So I'm good man, I'm
really yeah you were? Were you in in the east
on the East Coast? Yeah? I came to New York
for thirty six hours or something. But how what was
it like flying? Uh? You know, there was people on
a flight and sitting next to each other set there
was the middle seat for once, we didn't have to

(01:54):
nobody sat in the middle seat, and uh, everybody had
a mask on, and so did the flight attendants. It
was pretty status quo. You know. People were just in
their own world, not doing anything, trying not to you
know what I mean. So it was fine airport. When
I flew into JFK, I think there were only three
flight night flights that came into JFK. Can you imagine that, Chris,

(02:16):
Three flights? Wow? Like it was like la Yeah, I
mean those are two very crowded airports. Yeah, I mean
it was. It was. It was eerie because there was
just nothing going on. But wow, all good, well we
celebrating my daughter's graduation. Well we're doing that next this

(02:37):
Saturday coming up. Because you know, I've got the one.
The other one from Penn graduating in two weeks, so
we're gonna kind of mess weight. Yeah, but everything went well.
We had a good, good time, good celebration at home.
All right, So let's introduce the I Couple crew and
get rolling. We ask you, of course, to keep it
locked right here on Fox Sports Radio. The iHeartRadio app

(02:59):
or series is XM channel eighty three. However, you may
be listening for the next three hours. We don't have
a lot of fun. We got some great guests. Jack McCallum,
the author of the Dream Team book rib I read that.
I went to the Cayman Islands with my wife a
few years ago, maybe a decade ago. Read that book.
It was fantastic, great book, Jack McCallum, great author, great

(03:21):
writer for Sports Illustrated and big time NBA guy. Yes Yes.
And Craig Hodges, two time NBA champion who joined us recently.
But he's back and played with Michael Jordan, so we'll
get into a lot of good things with him. The
Eye Couple go ahead. I want to say one other
thing real quick too. I do want to announce I
got a new writing home. Chris and today was my

(03:44):
debut on Deadspin dot com and I'm very excited. You know,
I worked for the Shadow League, Chris for seven years.
So are you still gonna be writing for the Shadow League? No?
Just okay, just moved on. Okay, I just moved on.
And you know Keith clink Scales, who you used to
work at the old place with us. He's the founder
of the Shadow League and was great to me and

(04:06):
I just had a good time there. Just sometimes it's
time to move on to the next spot. Ran. They
got new management over there at a dead Spin and
people are a little bit of a rebranding, right, yes,
a rebranding. And tomorrow we're gonna have the sports editor on,
Eric Barrow, Chris, and he'll kind of talk about what
dead Spin is now because he comes from a journalism background.

(04:27):
He used to be the sports editor at the Daily
News in New York, you know what I mean. That's
what that's what attracted me to that place. So there
we go. So now, if you want to read my
columns at a weekly column the first one is about
Michael Jordan. We'll talk about that in the third hour
Chris today. All right, well, congratulations on that. That's great
for you, and all right, let's bring in the Eye

(04:48):
Couple crew. We got USC Chris on the ones and
twos filling in for DJ Alex Tyshon. Of course, the
super producer rib G is here running things and on
the updates main man mister Ralph Irvin. Ralph is great
to have you on, brother as always. All right, let's
get into it, rob. Of course, the thing everyone's talking about,

(05:12):
it's just amazing and obviously a lot of it is
due to the pandemic, but Michael Jordan has recaptured the
imagination of the sports world again, you know. I mean
he's always a topic of discussion occasionally when you're talking
about the goat and this and that and comparing today's
players to him. But it's almost like he's playing, you know,

(05:36):
like it's just like everybody's talking to him. And I
do think it's fun because this younger generation is getting
to really get an in depth look at this guy
that you know, they've heard so much about, seeing highlights about.
So I'm really enjoying it from that perspective. I thought
last night's episodes five and six were very good and

(05:57):
what there were many takeaways, you know, many different things
we could address. But one that I thought was very interesting,
Rob was Jordan talking about the price of fame and
how he clearly did not enjoy it. I mean, he
said himself, this is not a life that you would envy.

(06:18):
He said, he was ready to move on from It's
still the best player in the world in nineteen ninety eight,
but he was ready to move on, would have no
regrets about doing so, or no reservations about doing so.
And it got me to thinking. And I've talked about
this before. I've said, you know, the scrutiny to that
today's athletes are under is far more than what even

(06:42):
a Michael Jordan went through back in the nineties, just
because of technology, social media, the debate shows, you know,
on television, radio shows like this. You remember, Rob, it
was hard to have a national radio show back then
because you just couldn't keep up to date with all
of the detailed information about teams all over the country.

(07:04):
You know, we have the internet right. When we used
to do prep like what, we just didn't have the
all the access right and we had to go into
the office you know what I mean, to get on
a computer to get some information. Seriously, now, were you
were you doing radio in the nineties problem, Yeah, okay,
so I started in nineteen ninety four. Nineteen ninety four,

(07:26):
it was mostly local, right, because that's what most shows,
you know, in the eighties and nineties more most were local. Well,
when they first started The Fan, they did it national,
a national sports radio show, and then they realized people
in New York aren't interested in Alabama football, do you
know what I mean? Like like if you're don't going
to get the Mets or the Yankees, of the Giants

(07:47):
of the Jets. Okay, but then I trying to hear
like all these other teams and whatnot. And that's where
I think it became more local. Even to this day,
national shows don't do that well in New York, not
because they don't want to hear about their local teams,
but but anyway, it got me to thinking that how
would Jordan handle because for whether you know, they got

(08:09):
into the gambling a little bit last night, and whether
or not that had anything to do with his retirement
in nineteen ninety three is first of two retirements, you know,
or three retirements you know. I don't know if they'll
address it in the next episode, but that's not clear,
but I believed. I believed at the time and I

(08:29):
still believe today that a large part of why he retired,
whether it was the main reason or not, was that
he was burnt out. He was simply burnt out from
the media coverage, the intensity of it and everything just
being you know, having to be on at all times,

(08:50):
having to be on your game, and every time he
stepped out of his hotel room, there's throngs of people,
you know, wanting an autograph, wanting camera, you know, camera
time in an interview, whatever it may have been. And
I think he was worn out by it and he
stepped away. But like I said, that got me to wonder, Rob,
how do you think Jordan would handle today's situation with

(09:14):
the intense and increased scrutiny, even criticism and at tension
that these athletes get. Well, I think these kids have
grown up with it, so it's a part of who
they are to their DNA, and I think that if
Jordan had grown up with what you have now, people
just expect this stuff going back at each other, you

(09:35):
know what I mean, saying stuff. But now Lebron's older,
I mean, not many people have been in the league
seventeen years, but he didn't really grow up now. He
grew up as a young superstar. Right when I'm talking
about now you know, but I'm saying social media, no,
I get that, but I'm saying it just depends on
when you're talking about it, because I don't think Lebron

(09:57):
had all of that early on, you know what I mean.
People w just starting to get into that. So his
early years, he wasn't a part of that of being
attacked online or you know what I mean, or on
social media, and it came later on. So but I
think that Jordan would have adapted. Obviously, he loved all
the good stuff because the first few years he was

(10:18):
the best dealing with the media talking and then when
it wasn't so pretty, you know, you start to squirm
a little, right, right, right, right right. Yeah. I think
one thing that should be becoming clear to people is
that like Lebron handles it now, he gets criticized. And
Lebron is more polarizing than Michael Jordan, even though we

(10:38):
saw some of the challenges and scandals if you will,
that Jordan had, you know, the gambling, going to Atlantic City,
then not speaking out about social issues and things like
that he was, he still wasn't as polarizing as Lebron
because most people still loved Jordan, you know, of all

(10:58):
races and Brian, you know, it's not race base, but
he gets you know, he's got those that love him
and knows that are very critical of him. But Lebron
handles it well, I think, and I think what's clear
as their different personalities very much. So you know, Lebron
seems to enjoy it, thrive on it. You know, he

(11:20):
brings his family on his social media and you know,
he just really seems to thrive in this. And maybe
it's because since he was fifteen, he was under the
public eye. You know, he's on Sports Illustrate its cover
when he was sixteen, so he's kind of grown up
living with the attention and I think adjusted to it
and now he handles it well. Whereas Jordan was kind

(11:42):
of a late bloomer in terms, you know, college, He
wasn't you know, viewed as the best player in the
country when he entered North Carolina, and some people thought
he made a mistake by even going there. So I
think he, you know, didn't have that attention earlier in
his life as Lebron did. I think the other thing
robbed It's important is that Michael Jordan and you were there,

(12:05):
and we were both there. He was. When we say
face of the NBA, that doesn't do justice to what
Jordan was. Lebron is the face of the NBA today, Okay,
we get it, but Jordan, I would say, was the face,
the torso, the legs, the arms, the everything of the NBA.

(12:28):
Even though yeah, Barkley and Elijah Whine and all these
other great players Drexler, Jordan defined the NBA unlike any
player has probably defined a league in our lifetime. I
totally agree. I totally agree. And you know why when
they showed that commercial, I got goosebumps. I'm gonna be

(12:50):
honest about be like Mike yes, because that was a
big turning point. I remember that commercial and kids wanting
to be I still say that that was like a
turning point too, where black kids looked at basketball more
because of Michael Jordan. I really do, Chris. I mean,
I grew up and the year I grew up, we

(13:11):
played all of sports. Basketball wasn't wasn't at the top
of the list. It just wasn't. It was there people
liked it, But Michael Jordan, it wasn't right the Blacks.
It wasn't baseball. I mean, I grew up playing on
all three of the major sports Baseball was viewed. You know,
Blacks would play that absolutely nothing more black stars. If

(13:33):
you go back to the seventies and look at all
the black baseball players who were star players. Right now,
that's a good point. That's a good point. I never
thought of it that way, but that's interesting. But what
I think with him being such such the defining figure
of the NBA, all of the scrutiny came on him,

(13:54):
most of it. You know, Barkley had his issues and
his incidents, but for the most part, all of the
screw me came on Michael Jordan, whereas today it doesn't
all fall on Lebron most of it because he's the
biggest star. But Jordan kind of had to carry that
load by himself, you see what I'm saying, And nobody

(14:15):
else was carrying it like a Michael Jordan. It just was.
And that's why Chris he did the dunk contest, he
did everything. He was the league and he played every
game he knew people would coming to seem it was
and I use this term a circus, but you know
what I mean, Like, that's what it was. Michael Jordan's
coming to town. Gotta get tickets, gotta get to the game,

(14:39):
gotta see him live. Yes, it was like that. And
I think that he obviously would have been able to
perform greatly under the pressure, because you know, we saw
last night how much scrutiny and criticism he was getting
and he went out and balled and played great. But
you know, what do you have been able to ask

(15:00):
fifteen seventeen, twenty years under this? It would have been interesting,
But maybe he would have just adjusted as you had
you have to today, you know. So it's it's an
interesting thing to think about. All right, We want to
get your thoughts on this eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox eight seven, seven nine nine six sixty three
sixty nine. How would Michael Jordan have handled plane in

(15:23):
today's media climate. We'll continue the conversation with you. Next,
it's The Eye Couple Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard
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(15:46):
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All right, eight seven seven ninety nine. On Fox, Let's
get to the cause. How would Jordan stand up under
the scrutiny that today's technology has created for modern day athletes?

(16:51):
All right, let's start with a Jeff and Boise. You're
on the Odd Couple, Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Jeff? Hey,
what's up? Long time? First time to fan guys. Thank you,
Jeff Man. I think the big difference is that it's
a much wider scope of sports media today. Back then,

(17:11):
Jordan was the face and torso and arms and legs
of the league. Because you only had so much bandwidth
to give to him. He had to be the front
page of the sports page when you got your morning newspaper.
Today you go to foxsports dot com there's literally millions
of words of coverage of every sport from horse racing
to basketball. And that's during a quarantine. So I don't

(17:33):
think he would have got the same level of focus
that he got back then, just because that's it's it's
a twenty four hour news cycle. People are moving on
to the next thing and the next thing and the
next thing, whereas with him, it was you focused on
Jordan and that was a week's worth of news when
something happened. No, that's a good point because you're, yeah,
like when you when you were going through something, it

(17:54):
lasted a while, right, And nowadays it might last twenty
four hours, forty eight hours, but it's so quickly, right,
something else bumps it off, and it is a news cycle. Chris,
before you like you knew you'd have to wait. Okay,
the game happen. You have to wait twenty four hours
to wait, yeah, for the next day, right, right, like that,
you have the right wait okay, rod To commentated that

(18:17):
and then okay you responded. Then we gotta wait twenty
four hours to get that. Then were reading that response
and right, it was like that, all right, Nick in
South Carolina, you're on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio.
What you got hey, guys, what's it going well? Good
heat man? How are you okay? Guys? I just want
to make a quick point before a quick thing before
I get to my point my healthcare worker. Listen to

(18:38):
you guys when I drive on the way home. You
guys provided very much need of service to make my
day more relaxing. So I appreciate you guys. Thank you, man,
We appreciate your service. Yeah, you're on the front lines, man,
so we support everything you're doing. And thank you for
what Thank you, thank you, thank you. Um quick point. So,
I do think Jordan would absolutely be fine in today's era.

(18:59):
He's proving time and time again he's one of the
most help mentally toughest athletes. Ali la Bron maybe not
you know, but um, I mean just thinking about the
fact that you know, he's using a guy in New
York who's on the radio saying he's going to Atlantic City.
And then and then the next game he's he's dominating
just because he's he's fed up with the fact that

(19:20):
they're saying gambling is getting in the way of his performance.
It might just result in more winning today if it's
if it's on the national level. So honestly, I think
a lot of him retiring was more due to the
fact that he was just burnt out. It's really hard
to win two two three row. Oh yeah, it's question.
And remember at that time, no like the Lakers when

(19:43):
they won back to back in eighty seven and eighty eight,
that was the first time in twenty years anybody going
back to back. Remember what pat Riley saying, We're gonna
come back and repeat at the parade, and everybody was like,
is this dude crazy? Like what was that first trade?
You got to trade more? Repeat? Right? Right, he got
a trade when he got three feet trademark, maybe before

(20:05):
anybody done it, or you know, he has he has
a trade. He has a trade, even though his teams
never did it. Right, But I was the one who
but you're thinking that they were winning three straight is
tough because you gotta fight off, you know, complacency, Right,
you get satisfied, you know what I mean, you're pot
you know it. I always say this, Chris. You love

(20:27):
ice cream, right, eat ice cream like crazy? Then you
start working at the ice cream factory and guess what, right,
just it just doesn't you know, like out well, you
don't have to say it's right there, you can eat
all you want. It changes you look at it, and
you know, it's hard to go through an eighty two
games season, what is it four or five months whatever

(20:49):
it is when it doesn't matter. I mean really it's
about right, It's like it's all about May and June
for you. And so that's mental challenging as well. So yeah,
I he was burned out for sure, no doubt. Isaiah
and Baltimore. You're on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio.
What's up Isaiah? Hey you guys, how are you doing today? Um? Well,

(21:11):
I didn't know we were talking about, you know, healthcare workers.
I'm a healthcare worker too. When you're and I do
look forward to you guys show every day. Thank you
and again, um, thank you for all you're doing that
and your service. We appreciate it. Oh yeah, no, no problem,
no problem at all. But I want to say this now,
I feel like Jordan retiring has a lot more to

(21:33):
do with him winning three straight where he felt like
he was in position where he can say I gave
him my I retired. I just won three straight. I
coup he was bought and today's are I'm being very serious.
I just don't see it's possible for him doing that
with uh the air we have today if he had
to go against lebron kd Kauai all right now as

(21:57):
we speak, I just don't see that happening. So I
think he would three right from the competitive nature to
continue to play and get through or pick him to win,
because I think it would be much part of for
him to three feet Humilia Championship. It sounds like your
your thing is not so much the media climate, but
just the competition and rob we've you know, he felt
like the best, knew he was the best he was,

(22:19):
and he'd be the best today. Ll get We're gonna
do a let's do a topic on this, you know,
this week, maybe tomorrow, but you know what I mean, like,
would he have had this success today against these players,
because a lot the millennials, mostly including are mad millennial
rob g. They don't think so well. The difference is

(22:41):
and this is where they missed the boat. What rules
are we playing by, Chris? Are we playing by the
video that we saw him and the paint getting poverized
by the Pistons video video? Right? What rules are we playing?
If you can't touch Michael Jordan, you tell me how
in the world you're gonna stop him? Tell me, because

(23:02):
I don't believe you could. Right, Let's squeeze in one more,
Mark and Sacramento. You're in the eye a couple of
Fox Sports Radio. What you got, Mark, what's going on, gentlemen,
let's up. I think he would have adjusted. I think
he's got the natural personality to know how to disappear.
I give you the one guy. I think he would
have patted himself after. I think Derek Jeter found a

(23:23):
way to live his life and not say anything to
anybody unless you know what Mark that took. That's an
excellent point. And guess what, Derek Jeter never got into
any scandals in New York. He was in New York,
messing around with all these women, all this stuff, Chris,
When do we see headlines about Jeter? One time early

(23:43):
in his career, remember, Steinbrenner was mad that he was
out in the nightclubs or whatever, and they even wound
up making a TV commercial about it. That was it.
We never heard about Derek Jeter. And you're right about Jeter,
no question, no, no, you're absolutely right. My thing, I
just don't see Jordan being like like Jordan was so
much more. As much as Jeter was out there and

(24:05):
as popular as he was, and as much as he
was one of the faces of baseball, Jordan, I don't
see him being like Jeter, do you, Rob you? I mean,
you've been around like he just seems enough. But even
just you know, I don't sing being that kind of
away from the the spotlight. If you will, Lord, I

(24:29):
don't know. I just I guess the point is somehow
Jeter did his thing, Chris right, but never really was
out there was never headline for the tabloids because they
just didn't get have anything he was smart about. It
didn't mean he didn't, he didn't. He was a bachelor
his whole time as a player. You know, right, if

(24:50):
you don't get if it never becomes newsworthy as far
as it's something impact in the game, you know, like
remember with Tiger Woods, what what ended up happening? His wife?
What hit him with a clara with a golf club,
and you had to report that. So that's when it's
everything lay to all the revelations about his you know,

(25:12):
his adultery and stuff. So that's a good point, you know,
unless something newsworthy comes of the Philander and it's not
gonna be out there all right. Kobe Bryant was the
closest thing we ever saw to Michael Jordan, but there's
a reason he's routinely left out of the Goat conversation.
We'll get into that next, but first, be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussar

(25:35):
then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app.
We're coming to you live from the Geico Fox Sports
Radio Studios, robing Chris. It's easy to say fifteen percent
or more on your car and shorts with Geico, So
go to Geico dot com or call eight hundred nine
four seven Auto. The only horror part is figuring out

(25:58):
which way is easier. I was thinking, obviously, the last
dance got me to thinking a lot. And one of
the things I was thinking is we watched the beginning
last night and how Kobe. It was nice, you know,
considering all that's gone on in the last several months,
it was nice to see Kobe in there and then

(26:19):
to learn because most people did not know, including most
media people know about his how close his relationship was
with Michael Jordan. We got a glimpse of it when
Jordan spoke it the you know, the memorial for Kobe
and now Moore has come out, and they were very close.
And so it got me to thinking, Rob we most

(26:42):
of us say Jordan is the goat, and we also
say that Kobe is the closest thing we've ever seen
them Michael Jordan, and his game was patterned after Jordan.
He played very similar to Jordan, you know, mainly a
score good passer, but mainly a score killer, mentality, killer instinct,

(27:03):
you know, the whole nine yards great defender as well,
two way player one championships. You know, just one feword
than Michael. If Kobe is the closest thing we've ever
seen to Michael Jordan. Then why isn't he more in
the gold conversation? And why isn't he ahead of Lebron

(27:24):
in the typical gold conversation? That's probably the bigger question. Well,
do you want me to go first? Yeah, yeah, I gotta.
I got a couple of things, And I really believe
this number one is the shock factor. I just I
don't think you could shake that. Um. You know, Shack

(27:44):
was a dominant player for a number of years. It
doesn't mean that Kobe was a bum Chris Or was
riding his coattail. No, no, because he was who kept
number he was, But who cast the biggest shadow. It
was he cololutely dominated those three finals, right you could
You could say, go look at the numbers, and it
doesn't mean that Kobe didn't put up numbers, but go

(28:07):
look at Shack's numbers. They will I pop in. Remember
that three years, rob those three years of finals, not
the whole playoffs, but the finals. Right the final, I
think it was thirty five points and sixteen rebounds aging.
Those are ridiculous numbers, you know what I'm saying. So
I think part of it was that, and I think

(28:27):
the the other part um when you and a lot
of players who we talked to, Chris, they love Kobe
because they love that killer instinct, They love all that
that that goes in, and they know like he modeled
himself out to Michael Jordan and just had that. Whether
the numbers bear it out, it doesn't matter, you know,

(28:48):
like there's a reality, Chris. You could go and crunch
the numbers, but then there's a look or eye test
where you go, dude, I want to give that dude
the ball. I don't care what the numbers say. I
still would rather him with the ball than somebody else
who has better numbers. That's the players we've talked to,
and it's a good sample size. They put Kobe ahead

(29:09):
of leburn That's what I'm saying. Now here's the reason
that it's hard for me not to put him number two.
And and you know me and my criticism of Lebron,
but I have an eye test as well, and when
you look at the numbers that he's a mask, it's

(29:29):
hard to ignore. Chris. It's just you cannot pooh pool
Lebron's numbers. So when you put that together, and whether
you like the way he put together as teams or not.
That's another thing. I get it. But he did win
three championships. He did go to eight straight finals, even
though we have a great and nine overall. I watched

(29:52):
I covered the game. You covered it two in Detroit
when he scored twenty six in a row or whatever,
it was twenty five straight we covered. I come against
a tremendous defensive team. That team was supposed to go
to finals. Again, that's how good that team was. And
I'll never forget the shot that just baffled me because

(30:12):
you'll remember it. I think Chris Webber had just completed
he's playing for the Pistons, a three point play. Lebron
comes down, I don't know, I want to say almost
just past half court and banks into three to tie
the game. Because he had just taken a three point
lead on a three point play by Chris Webber. It

(30:32):
was some ridiculous shot. Had they had he missed that shot,
the Capitalists probably were lost. I mean that, that's how
big that shot was in that moment, because it was
in overtime. But anyway, when you add up all those things,
it's hard to discount when this guy's on pace to
pass Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the greatest score in NBA history

(30:55):
and all these other things. So that's why I put
him ahead, and it's hard for me to look at
Kolbe as number two. No, those are great points. And
first the Shock, I agree with you on that, and
for those that might you know, laugh and taking, you know,
not put that as in high regard as you did.

(31:16):
Here's the reality. If Jordan had played with the Shock,
rob he probably isn't viewed as the go just because
you'd be sharing some of that that dominance, no doubt
about it. You know, I totally agree with that now
or something that's maybe that's a little different, But maybe

(31:38):
Shock would have been just because of his size and
the style of playback then, because Jordan could play with
without being the dominant scores he showed in North Carolina.
He could play fundamental basketball and I'm sure he would
have a fan Shock. But but for the most part,
I do think that had Jordan had a dominant big

(31:58):
man star like that, he might not be viewed as
the goal just because he would have had to share
in his numbers wouldn't have been as huge. Secondly, I
think when you look back at a lot of the
players who were considered either the best in the game
or kind of are. In that Gold conversation, most of
them robbed they were like the first of a kind, right,

(32:21):
And we said that Kobe is like a fac simile
of Jordan. We'd seen it before, and I we think
even at a higher level. And so as great as
Kobe was, I mean, Will Chamberlain was the first, you know,
athletic seven footer scoring tons of points. Then Kareem comes along.
He's got the silky smooth sky hook and had dominated college.

(32:43):
We hadn't seen anything like him. Then Magic Wow, a
six to eight point guard, what you know, passing the ball,
making passing cool or bird, this white guy who can
do everything and it's winning championships. We hadn't seen that
in a while, you know. And then Jordan obviously ultra athletic,
fundamentally sound, no one can stop him, you know, can

(33:05):
do it all. Now he's winning championships. You go to shock, humongous,
twice as big as Will, you know, body wise, and
you know, just doing all that he did. And then Lebron,
a six to eight guy size the size of Carl
Malone who does everything, can be a point guard, yet
maybe the all time leading score. So these all those

(33:27):
guys were something new. There's no precursor to you know,
you can say magic to Lebron, but Magic didn't do
everything Lebron's done and does on the court. So I
just think that may be a part of it. And
a big thing for me is that Kobe was not
nearly as efficient as as Jordan and Lebron obviously as well.

(33:50):
But he's more of the same size as Jordan, you know,
so Lebron should be more efficient because he's bigger. But
Jordan was basically a fifty percent shooter his entire career.
It dipped slightly under fifty percent because he went to
Washington as an old man and now it's like forty
nine point seven. But it was incredible, right right for

(34:10):
a six six two guard, that's incredible who shot as
much as he did. It's incredible. Kobe's below forty five
percent for his career. So that's a big thing for me,
is that he wasn't nearly as efficient and you had
a big guy like Shack drawing all that attention, so
you should have been a little more efficient. But it's
an interesting discussion and one that obviously will not go anywhere,

(34:35):
and we'll have it again, all right. The NFL just
lost one of its favorite sons. We'll discuss next. It's
The Odd Couple of Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app
STEI Couple of Christ and Rob on The Magic City

(34:56):
Monday and Rob, we had the passing of a legend,
Don Shuler passed away at ninety years old. Sound like
a good life to me, Man ninth man? Right? Would
you take ninety and all of his success? And you know,
I don't know. They said natural causes. Chris, he died

(35:18):
peacefully at his home. They said, come on, don't you
want I mean, most people would love to go that one, right, kid,
that's the best way to go. You live right old age?
Yea yea yea, no, no question about it. That's great,
That's a blessing. So let me ask you this. You
don't have to give a number, but you know, just
among the all time great coaches you always hear about

(35:39):
Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noel Bill Walsh, obviously Bill Belichick. Where
do you kind of put Shula? Do you put him
in that class? How do you look at him? All time?
Shula stands out obviously because of the undefeated season by
the Dolphins, and he also with is Bob Greasy missing

(36:02):
half the season, which exactly, No, that's an incredible job
there and no one's been able to do it, and um,
you know, complete the job. The Patriots were undefeated, but
they didn't want to stay lost, right exactly. M So,
I think when I look at his career and Chris

(36:22):
we talked earlier, he's what two and four in the
Super Bowl, yep. And the one that I think hurts
Don Shuler and why Obviously two and four not that great.
But I think the reason he's really hurt is he
gave up one of the biggest upsets in the history

(36:43):
of the National Football League and that was when the
upstart AFL New York Jets beat the powerhouse Baltimore Colts
Chris in nineteen sixty nine. That's when Joe namitth You
know why, Joe Namath, if you go look at his numbers,
you ain't prey not that great. He was the first

(37:03):
guy to throw for four thousand yards because it was
a passing league, the AFL. But his numbers aren't that great.
But Chris then winning that Super Bowl helped the merger
chained football with AFL and NFL getting together, and he
predicted it. I mean for him to say he guaranteed
to win against that Baltimore Colts team and then pull

(37:26):
it off is what what made Joe Namath the name
that he is. And I think that loss hurt Don Shula.
I really do, because now do you know what I'm saying,
And now you're three and three, but you didn't give
up the biggest lopsided UM points champion beat NFL champion

(37:52):
back in the day, because it was they were if
they were able to complete his jets with sixteen point
underdog sixteen points. No, I think that's fair. I know
off the top of my head. The guys I mentioned, Belichick, Lombardi,
Bill Walsh, Chuck Nole probably the only ones I put

(38:13):
ahead of him. So he might be top five, you know,
because he, like you said, two and four in the
Super Bowl winning. This coach of all time as far
as wins regular season wins, he had coached thirty three seasons,
only had two losing seasons. Rob That's incredible. That is incredible.

(38:33):
That is awesome. And then he did it different ways
when he had Marino, obviously it was all in the air,
and when he was winning his Super Bowls with Larry
Zanka as the you know, bell cow the running back,
carrying the ball all the time, so they didn't throw
it a lot. So I actually think he's it's in
a funny way, he's similar to a Lebron in that Lebron,

(38:55):
the longevity is gonna be there. The finals record isn't
great three and six of the point, but he's got
He's gonna have tons of records like Shula does. Like
you said, the only undefeated season, Lebron, you know, eight
straight finals may end up being the TI right there,
you go back from three one, may may be the

(39:17):
all time leading scorer when it's all said and done,
the only player in the top five in points, top
ten and assist in history when he's done. So it's uh,
I just think there's a interesting similarity there. But Shoela,
of course, Lebron doesn't kind of get left out of
the conversation like Shula. That's a big difference. But at

(39:38):
bottom line, Rob phenomenal coach, and Miami used to be
a powerhouse, and now I viewed almost as a laughing stock.
So that's how great he was, all Right, I couple
keep it locked. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the Heart

(40:00):
Radio app search f SR to listen live. It is
the Eye Couple. I'm Chris, He's Rob. We're coming to
you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. Fifteen
minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on your
car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for a free rate quote,
and you can follow robbing myself on social media. Rob

(40:22):
is at Rob Parker FS one on both Twitter and Instagram.
I'm at Chris Underscore Bruce Art on Twitter, Chris brus
Art sixty eight on The Graham. At the bottom of
this hour, we will be joined by Jack McCallum, the
celebrated columnists for Sports Illustrated and the author of the

(40:43):
book The Dream Team, which I read and is a
terrific book. And we will get into all of that
with Jack in about twenty eight minutes. You'll definitely enjoy that,
So stay tuned and keep it locked all right. Before
we go there, though, let's get to the NFL interesting
move over the weekend by the Dallas Cowboys. They signed

(41:05):
Andy Dalton. Raise some eyebrows and signed Andy Dalton to
a one year contract for three million dollars, could get
up to seven million if he reaches certain incentives. And
everybody's in a tizzy. Oh is Dak Dunnan Dallas. Oh

(41:28):
there's a threat to Dak. All of the writers that
cover the team are saying, no, We've been told by
sources in the organization that this is nothing. They need
a good backup, that's all this is. But yet Joe
Public thinks there's a quarterback controversy in Dallas. And I'm

(41:55):
here to tell you all you Cowboys fans out there,
all you Dak fans out there, relax, rest easy. This
is nothing. Yeah, Jerry thinks he's making some noise. Oh,
it's it's it's a poor ploy. It's a bit of
a threat. He thinks he might have Dak's sweating a

(42:19):
little bit. Oh, Andy Dalton. He's made the Pro Bowl before,
I think three of them. He's been to the playoffs
several times. We could win without Dak. Folks, Relax, this
is nothing different than what we saw at the beginning

(42:43):
of last season. Tony Potter, Wow, he's running the football
very well. He looks great out of Memphis, the young rookie.
We may not need Zeke Heck the beginning of our
schedules easy Washington, Miami Me bunch of chumps the Giants.

(43:03):
We can win without Zeke. And at the last moment,
what does Jerry do? He caves and gives Ezekiel Elliott
what he wants. And I'm telling you the same thing
is on the horizon with Dak Prescott. Jerry wants to

(43:24):
win now. And while Andy Dalton is a decent quarterback.
While Andy Dalton has had some degree of success, Andy
Dalton is not winning you a Super Bowl. Andy Dalton
at this stage of his career, is not as good

(43:45):
as Dak Prescott. Jerry spent all this money in the offseason.
You think he spent it to turn it over to
a backup quarterback, a guy that lost the starting job
last year to a rookie named Ryan Finley. You really
think that. No, if that doesn't cave Jerry will mark

(44:10):
a brother's words sounds nice. Don't buy a bit of it.
Chris Broussard, you know, all the way over in Jersey
on exit nine, your panties are in a bunch. Is
that the right exit? Now? No? Not bad though off

(44:30):
two eighties like eleven? Okay, close, close, coming, yes, all right,
I know it's an old joke. You live in Jersey
with exit but but but my point is, here's the difference, Chris.
And I'm not saying that DA's not going to be
the quarterback of whatnot. But where Jerry made his mistake

(44:51):
last time with Ezekiel Elliott, he didn't have a replacement.
I mean, he talked about Pola that one preseason game,
but that wasn't really it. And now at this point,
Andy Dalton isn't a bum off the street. Hello? Is
this microphone working? He's not a bum off the street.

(45:12):
I know they didn't win any playoff games, but Andy,
don't play some good football in Cincinnati's history. No, but
he did. So it's not like he didn't do it,
or you're hoping that this guy you get catch lightning
in a bottle, or you know, he's hungry and he's
gonna prove that the Bengals are wrong about him. No,
he's been to the playoffs. No, he's put up numbers.

(45:35):
And if Dad and his people are really concerned, I
don't know what the deal is. We've heard all kinds
of stuff to haggling over the years, and it's not money.
It's just a year and it'll make him the rich
all that stuff, but it ain't happen, and you don't
have to go out and pay three. Dak is gonna
play every down, Chris, unless he gets hurt. It's not

(45:56):
he's a young guy. You're not looking for anybody else
to supplement or work with him. So when you go
out and get Andy Dalton, you're saying, if Dak wants
to play a little game and demands forty million, to think,
he has me over a barrel, and I'm gonna fred
we haven't won a super Bowl in twenty five years
and I'm I'm you know, six months away from my

(46:19):
ninety fifth birthday or whatever it is. He doesn't have
to panic. You can win a super Bowl with Andy
Dalton and the talent that the Dallas Cowboys have, because
yes you can. Just because your Eagles didn't need your
boys Wentz in a lifetime doesn't mean it's happening elsewhere.

(46:42):
Yes you can. You're just hoping because it wouldn't make
Carson Wentz look better. They could have. In fact, you
might even be pulling for the Cowboys if Dalton starts
the season. They could have not. They could have not
made the playoffs with or without Dak, or with or
without stop Andy Don't could have done the same thing,

(47:03):
not make the playoffs with all that feed out Ryan Finley,
with all that talented well yft going in a different direction.
My only point is, Chris, be very careful. If you're
Dak Prescott. I still believe that they view him as
a fourth round pick. They don't. Everybody else from that
draft class got paid. All the other Cowboys on the

(47:24):
team got paid. There's no reason he shouldn't have a
contract sign If it is about a year, Chris, A
difference between a year. This makes no sense to me
for the Cowboys to spend unnecessary money or supposedly a
guy who's not gonna play. I don't buy it. I
don't buy it. If I'm Dak, I'm talking to my

(47:47):
representation and saying, really, what is the the what's the
hold up here? What are we trying to do, and
is it worth it? Is it really worth it? Is
it worth for me going on a franchise tag laying
this year, maybe getting heard, maybe not having a good year,
as it really worth it? Is it worth it? Because

(48:08):
you will? You stop it? I mean, you're talking about
Andy Dalton like he's the second coming to Damn Marina
win the Super Bowl with him. Trust me me. While
he got bitched last year, you know what his record
is over the last four years, Rob Parker, this guy
who's praises you are singing, mister short menu. How conveniently

(48:34):
you always dismiss the short menu when it doesn't fit
your narrative. Because here's the short menu on Andy Dalton
the last four years, twenty wins, thirty five losses and
a tie. I get that he's in Cincinnati. I get
that he didn't have a lot of help, but still

(48:55):
don't tell me this guy's about to resurrect the star.
He was twenty seventh in the league last year and
QBR he had no players. QBR supposed to weed out
all of that stuff and get to what you did,
and he was twenty seventh in the league. He's always

(49:15):
been a guy that throws a decent number of interceptions.
That's not Dak. That's not Dak. That they'll stop it.
He's made two and four years. That's good for a
cowboy quarterback nowadays. And so look, and I like Andy Dalton,
I mean for a backup. But this notion that Jerry

(49:40):
should feel comfortable putting his Zekiel and Amari and now
CD and Gallop and the defense and the offensive line
in the hands of a guy who was struggling in
the Natty last year? Are you seriou when you got

(50:01):
dat Prescott who has won more games? Yeah, I'm gonna
say it again. Rob Parker, you need to hear it.
Maybe it'll get through one of these days. Who's won
more regular season games the last four years? Then everybody
not named Tom Brady or Russell Wilson who didn't make
the playoffs two of the last two of those four years.

(50:25):
That wasn't all his fault. He didn't make playoffs two
of these when he was you from singing Carson when
he was piling up. But he's piling up all these wins. No,
they couldn't even go to Philadelphia and beato broken down
Eagles too well. He lost his running back for six games.
One of those years had no touchdown. Probably have he'd

(50:46):
be second only to Brady. No touchdown, very nice showing.
He showed up. See when he won but didn't have
the humongous numbers, people said, oh, he's just a game manager.
He's just you know, that's all you and you and
you and you would you know, they they they And

(51:09):
when he went this year, when he put up numbers,
they said, oh he didn't win. Which is it? He
can do both. And you'll say, I'm telling you, you know, Rob,
you know, you talked about it last year. Jerry, you know,
wants to win a Super Bowl. You think he's really
trusting Andy Dalton to deliver him a Super Bowl ring.

(51:29):
I'm just saying, maybe he believes that he's not gonna
he just he's not going to pay uh Dak Prescott
forty million dollars. Well, I'm just saying, Chris, if Dak look,
I'm gonna be on. I say, if that's people don't
back down from that. And you're Jerry Jones, what would
you do? Chris? I'm asking you, I wouldn't pay him

(51:52):
forty I would let him play on the you know,
assuming he'll play on the franchise tag and you know,
if he plays well, we have a great year, do
you get your forty? But I don't know if that's
what it is, because you know, we can only go
off the reports we've seen, and the reports are that
they're ready to make him the highest paid quarterback in

(52:14):
the league, and you know, in various ways. But supposedly
they want to do it for five years, and Dak
wants to do it for four And I get it
if I'm dad, because he can re up after four
more years and get more money. And I just don't
think that rob at the end of the day. If
that's what it is, Yeah, if that's got these astronomical

(52:34):
Patrick Mahons type numbers in his mind, that may be
a little different. But I haven't seen that. If it's
just then I think they'll Jerry old Buckle. This will
be interesting to see. But I do believe it is
a threat, like this is not this whole notion they
could tell the Dallas writers. I get it, you know,
they don't want to upset Dak and make it. But

(52:57):
when you bring in a guy like that in camp,
and you're a young guy like Dak who's had the
success to the head. It's a slap in your face.
It just is they didn't get him because um Or
gave him like a veterans minimum or whatever. They gave
him a decent contract that if he plays, he would
make could make seven million dollars. That's a that's a

(53:17):
decent contract. Well, I didn't think they backup contract. Yeah.
I think they think they're gonna put a scare in
the Dak am I right, Yeah, I think yeah, I
think they think that. But I think if push comes
to shove, if Dak holds out, I think they'll buckle,
just like they did with Zeke. Remember all that stuff
they were talking, Oh the running back? You know then

(53:39):
they're not that important nowadays, you know, like you said,
he talked about Tony Pollard, how Grady looked, had me food,
had me food. I won't go for it anymore though,
all right, eight seven seven ninety nine on Fix eight
seven seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. Should
Dak Prescott be worried about the Cowboys edition of Andy Dalton?

(54:02):
You'll turned away in as we continue the conversation with you. Next,
it's the I Couple, Christ and Rob Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeart Radio app search
FSR to listen live. It's the I Couple, Christ and
Rob on The Magic City Monday. And although we're a

(54:26):
part these days, we're sharing more and Geico sharing more too,
with the Geico Giveback a fifteen percent credit on car
and motorcycle policies for both current and new customers. It
lasts your full policy term, folks, It's great, so visit
Geico dot com slash Giveback for information and eligibility eight

(54:48):
seven and on Fox A seven seven nine nine, six
sixty three sixty nine. Andy Dalton's in Dallas. Should dak
be worried, you'll turn away in see what they think?
Rab I'm here, Chris ready to go. Yep, let's do it.
Let's do it. Can't wait. We got called on my phone? Yeah,

(55:12):
we got called. It's my phone. You need to get
rid of that though. Something that motiva snow, the motivole.
It's because the iPhone, but it's been like hacked it up,
like it doesn't automatically go to my squad. You try
to always make it cute. Gucci and Google whatever. Flying,
Why you're gonna put my business out? Just get you?

(55:32):
Why you gotta be all special with it? All right,
let's hold it Jason much Jason in Orlando. You're in
the couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up, Jason? What's up?
How are you doing? Great? Man? How are you good? Man?
Just driving home? Man? Rob? I think you I think
you're onto something. Are you an Eagles fan? You said no,

(55:53):
I'm not an Eagles fan, but I know I like
went to the lifetime once in a lifetime whatever. Well, listen, hey, hey,
don't be fooled by this. This is not like a um.
We've got Andy Dalton just in case Dak's thinking about
not signing. We'll start Annie and win with Andy. I've
been how much. Listen, listen, listen. We got Zeke, you know,

(56:19):
Paulock back there with that gallup ceedee lamb Amari Cooper.
All he's gotta do is game managed that that offense
will win games for you. I've been watching football since
eighty four. I'm forty one. I watched Steve Palore, Greg Hogeboom,
Danny White work out for you. Not very well one

(56:41):
game against the Riskins, But my point is this. I
wanted to throw a little credibility at you before I
explain what I'm telling you. But I've watched Dak for
three years. He is good, but he is not great
that I'll keep you should you should give me that
because I'm right letting the route. He's in the route

(57:01):
to being great. And you know what, the Cowboys just
threw up um some cones and they just said, you
go ahead and keep playing your little game, money game,
and we'll see what happens. But we we definitely appreciate
that call. Um, I'm sorry, Chris Amir in Philadelphia Fox

(57:23):
Sports Radio air a miror what's up? Brother? What's the
bold gut? What's happening? A mirror? Been learning? I've been
liking the mirror. Later he got he continues on the
path I always I'm always lived with you guys. But
um certainly disappoint you, Chris. But I think Jerry has

(57:43):
done everything right there all season. He hit it out
of the park and like it's just I would be
sick if I was Jerry too, because last year you
gave the guy like he had two thousand yard receivers,
a running back that had top five, top five rest
of yards and the defense that don't he gave up
thirty or more puts twice and you would eight and eight.

(58:04):
I wouldn't give I wouldn't give him the contract you on,
so you ring in the backup like Andy Dalton, and
if he doesn't, can't you let Andy Dalton going there?
It's just as simple as this guy. That's what it is.
I agree. If if he said, like, I'm a whole dout,
I'm not playing for that, then they'll be like, Okay,
that's fine. You can see that happening. Look, and some

(58:26):
of it depends on what Dack's asking for. If he
is indeed asking for forty million, then I wouldn't pay
him that as much as I like him. But if
it's just the years, five years, four years, I think
Jerry old Buckle, or if it's just a little I
don't even think Rob it is a little bit of money,
because they they paid Dalton three million, maybe seven million,

(58:46):
right right, I think it's really money. I think it's
more years. Well, all right, Jeremy and Texas, you're on
the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up, Jeremy,
what's up? Guys? Hey, here's the old man. Two things.
One is don't is a great backup. You know the
reason they did it as if like everybody's saying, you know,
if he holds out, he holds out, who they gonna
go with? Benda Nucci car At the time, it was

(59:09):
Cooper Rush. Really nice. You gotta get up, you gotta
pick up Andy Dalton. That's one. Two is Andy Dalton.
You gotta remember he had a horrible old line and
a horrible defense in Cincinnati. You if you're playing from
behind all the time, what happens you're run the game
buzz away or pass game picks up? Well, defensive figure
that out. So yeah, he's gonna throw picks because he
has to throw the ball because they're always behind, because

(59:30):
the defense can't stop nobody. So you know what, I
agree with Rob on this one. Go for it, Rob.
You know, Andy Dalton's a great pickup. You know, there's
a lot of things with that old line that we
have in the defense now that we have in Dallas.
Andy Dalton, even if he goes in, it's gonna have
a chance to actually throw the ball and run the
ball at the same time. And Jeremy, here's the other part.
I agree with that everybody had him air Mark to

(59:52):
go to the Patriots. Right, Oh, Bill Belichicker gets something
out of him. All he could do something that would
put them right back in the mix of that. Andy
Dalton Dallas jumped in and scooped him up and said,
we're not chanting this. We have enough talent. We should
have made We had a chance to go to the
super Bowl last year, Chris, it didn't happen. We didn't
make the playoffs. The talent is there. Wait, you're talking

(01:00:13):
like they think it's almost an upgrade. Could be I stop,
it could be stopped. All you that I agree with Rob,
You just heard it. He thinks is an upgrade. He's
viewing this through the eyes of the Philadelphia Eagles. That's why,
that's why the problem is there. He doesn't want wins

(01:00:33):
because Nick Foles is a backup could win the super Bowl.
He wants Dak's back up to win the super Bowl.
So he'll have that on Dak. All right, Max and Georgia,
you think of everything. Max to Georgia, you're in the
eye a couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Two
callers to get the Max, you know, I had to
get it on this sellers. Listen's right, this is this

(01:00:54):
is big. I gotta get props from Jerry and then
the Cowboys. This is a big move. I say that
because whether Dak holds out or whether he decides to
come back and has four performance, Andy Dalton's gonna be
right there. The red rifle is relatively accurate. He is
getting older, but I look at twenty and eighteen, he
was twenty one eleven. I look at Dak twenty and eighteen,

(01:01:14):
he was twenty two and eight. Not much different. Is
Dak a better quarterback? Yes he is. But if Dak
decides will go to Dak route and he wants to
think this is all about Dak. Hey, Dak, your best
performances last year resulted in losses in terms of staff.
So it's the team. The team is much better with
a guy like a Dalton or a guy who's not
gonna be about him. The team COG is just moving

(01:01:37):
down and that's their best result to get to through Bowl.
All right, and no surprise there. Max from Georgia, all right,
why you say that? I think you got him on
the payroll man, No, Max, they don't no payroll. You
need to stop paying Max and pay your phone bills,
and we all I gotta get it together. Fox Sports

(01:01:57):
Radio has the best sports talk lineup the nation. Catch
all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and
within the iHeart Radio app search FSR to listen live.
It is the I Couple, and we got coming up
the Sports Illustrated columnist Jack McCallum. Coming up shortly on

(01:02:18):
the Discover Card celebrity hotline. Get your free credit scorecard today,
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your credit. Learn more at discover dot com. Slash credit
scorecard limitations do apply. Rob I thought something that was

(01:02:38):
interesting last night from the the episodes that that really
hadn't been talked about a lot was the trash talk.
I loved the scrimmaging and the trash talk between you know,
Jordan and Michael I'm sorry, Jordan and Magic and all
of that, and it seemed to me like watching that. Remember,

(01:03:00):
Jordan only had two rings at that time, and he
had been in the league for eight years and or
seven or eight or eight years. He had two rings.
Magic of course, had five rings, had been to the
finals just about every year of his career. I think
from watching that and the trash talk, that Magic thought
he was the better player, and then by the end

(01:03:22):
of that game he knew he Wasn't I get that
at that point Yep, Magic was at one point. Yep, yep,
all right. Let's bring in the man who is the
expert on the Dream Team, a great NBA colonists for
Sports Illustrated, author of the great book The Dream Team.
I really enjoyed it, mister Jack McCallum, Josh, It's like, man,

(01:03:44):
what's up, Jack Man? It's up a reunion here. I know.
I think it's been the last time I may have
seen you were yet Jordan's last game in Philadelphia when
he was playing for the Wizards. Hell, I can't even
remember that. I may have, but it's been a long
term since. By saying, either you guys all right, I
know and in the old days, Jack deal old, I

(01:04:07):
was saying before I was there when Jordan made that
shot over Craig Gillow. I was there for the Migraine game.
Those were the days we remember. We used to be
in Chicago every Memorial Day for a big playoff game.
Remember you guys, you guys were you guys were young.
I remember that. I wasn't even I wasn't even that

(01:04:28):
young then, but I remember well. I mean, if you
if you forget those days, you're not gonna remember anything.
Because we were pretty lucky we were around during that
whole Lakers of Celtics Pistons, Bulls thing. We were. I
think back and how really fortunate it was to have

(01:04:48):
been around during that time, no no question about it.
And there's so much to get to. Let's start here.
You know, Isaiah Times has really taking a beating in
these last few episode. Um, what do you what is
the I guess the genesis of Jordan's dislike or hatred.
I guess for Isaiah Time, it's was it the freeze out?

(01:05:11):
And did that really happen in the All Star Game?
Was it to walk off or something else? I was
never able to determine the freeze out. I couldn't you
know whether or not people have deconstructed that whole game
and watched it. I you know, when they show a clip,
they do show once when Michael's on the wing, he
probably clearly should have got it, you know, and and

(01:05:34):
Isaiah didn't give it to him. I have not been
able to honestly pin that down. So I just think
a lot of it had to do with the you
know these you know, the incredible physical told that the
Pistons put on him. And I do feel I do
feel bad for Isaiah in this whole thing, because it

(01:05:59):
does after all these years, thirty years later, it still
seems to be the big question about him and the
Dream Team, And you know, it does make me feel
bad if it was gone just by basketball. If you
ask me, should Isaiah be on the Dream Team? Was
he better than John Stockton? I would say that Isaiah

(01:06:20):
at his best was better than John Stockton. Now, Bill
Lambier told me something really interesting about that, and he said,
had that team been selected a year or two years earlier,
let's say eighty nine ninety, now the Pistons are the
two time you know, champions, or they're going for their
second championship, they're kings of the world. Jordan isn't there yet.

(01:06:44):
That would have been a lot harder to leave Iday
off that team. But the selection was made right around
that time. The Bulls were taken over, Michael was gonna win,
the Pistons walked off the court. That's not the whole reason.
Isaiah is not a team that factored in. So had
the timing been different for Isaiah, it could have been
a different outcome. Jack. Here, here's the issue that I have.

(01:07:10):
I get people have personality issues. We work with people
every day we really don't like or wouldn't have dinner with,
and you know or don't think much of everybody does.
But to take away from the greatness of that team
and not put Isaiah on that roster and then to
me where he had Chuck Day as the coach. We

(01:07:34):
know Jack McCloskey resigned in protest of what was going
on there. I still find it hard to believe. And
I know Isaiah wasn't a likable guy from some guys,
but didn't they have to respect his basketball? Here's a
guy who be Bird Magic and and Michael in their primes.

(01:07:56):
How in the world could they throw that US side
and act like it didn't matter when you're talking about basketball.
That's what I can't get over. Well, uh they did, No,
I don't know, but how you know you know what? How? Like? Like?
What the reason I say that Jack is think about

(01:08:16):
this for a second. I mean the coach of that
team that Chuck Daly was selected on Valentine's Day nineteen
ninety one. Before this is the Pistons are the defending champions,
although as you guys remember probably currently Rob does, it
was clear they probably weren't going to repeat. You know,
they were getting old. Jordan was coming alive and you know,

(01:08:38):
look out. So Chuck becomes the coach of the of
the team, um when they are the two time defending
champions with his captain, uh you know, still Isaiah was
getting a little bit old and was injured if I'm
not mistaken, but not in not in a major way.
Chuck is the coach of that team and he can't

(01:09:01):
get Isaiah on the team. So to me, one of
the people that really skated on the whole issue was Chuck. Yeah.
I mean, my best, my best information, and I loved Chuck.
I'm sure you've got you guys dealt with him. He
was one of the great Debbie who one of the
all time, one of the Alzheimers. But did Chuck ever

(01:09:21):
have a moment when he went to the committee and said, Hey,
I'm the coach. You know I'm going to ask you
coach He had a wish list of five guys Chuck,
did I know that for a fact. I'm not completely
sure the guys I know it was Jordan Tippin, David
Robinson pretty sure about Mullen because he wanted a shoot her.

(01:09:44):
And it's my best information that Chuck never went to
the committee and said I got to have my captain.
So there was a lot more people than Jordan, uh,
you know, involved in this decision. And mclaus he as
you alluded to, was a powerful member of that committee ran.

(01:10:05):
You know, he said that he was sucked. I mean
Jack said that, you know, he resigned because Isaiah wasn't
on there. But my information is that there wasn't a
lot of table pounding by the two Piston people that
were in the best position to get Isaiah on the team.
Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated Columnists, author of The Dream Team,

(01:10:28):
Joining the Odd Couple. Do you think Chuck, because I've
heard the same thing as you. I obviously read it
in your book, but he heard stuff from people around
the NBA as well that Chuck didn't push for Isaiah.
Do you think Chuck, knowing Jordan's feelings about Isaiah, could

(01:10:48):
he have I definitely think he should have pushed harder
for him. Could he have maybe do you think he
could have talked Jordan into it, maybe even try to
set up a meeting with those two that may have
been successful in getting Jordan to play with Isaiah. Or
was it just a lost cause have you seen Jordan
the last six hours. He's still angry like he's thirty

(01:11:11):
years ago. You know, I had, I haven't been I
was around Michael a lot. I haven't been around him
obviously in the last few years. I was. I almost
I was laughing so hard last night when he started
in on Dan Marley. I'm going to Yes, you're pissed
at Dan Marley. So so that's a good question. I

(01:11:34):
never really thought of that question, to tell you the truth,
But I just I just don't think so, particularly since
you know, I don't know how strongly if you asked
me to put a percentage on this. But there were
other voices beside uh Michael. Also, I mean Scotty. Obviously,
I don't think Scotty had much you know, his opinion

(01:11:54):
didn't that much. Sway, Look, George's right, but yeah, you
know Matt, Look, hey, we know how confused the magic
response is, right? I mean, you know, magic gave a
statement right after. On the September and ninety one, when
they were announced, Magic gave a statement that said, I
truly hope that the team adds Isaiah. He's one of

(01:12:18):
the next two guys to be added. Remember that they
named ten guys and then they added later on who
turned out to be Clyde and Christian Latner. But even
at that point we found out that Magic was not
being completely truthful about his feelings about Isaiah. Back then.
It's a complicated mess, and Isaiah and I had our problem.

(01:12:40):
Isaiah probably looked at me. I know he did because
he told me as one of those two pro Jordan guys.
But I do feel badly about how this whole thing
came down and how he has to constantly has been
in the crossfairs during this documentary. I just feel bad
about that. Jack. How surprised are you? You know, whenever

(01:13:02):
it's somebody's baby, this is Jordan's baby, and he has
control sometimes, you know, you could skip over the flaws
and the and the not so good moments in somebody's career.
And I was interested in how big of a thing
they did with the gambling and also even bringing up
the whole Harvey Gant Jesse Helms episode as well. What

(01:13:27):
did you make of that that that was included? Well,
you know, I'm glad they didn't apparently. You know, Jordan
said at the beginning, Hey, you can ask me anything
you want. And I thought Michael, I thought he missed
kind of an opportunity. I mean, you could argue that
in nineteen ninety, how old Michael in twenty eight whatever

(01:13:48):
he is, and you could argue that said, Hey, I
didn't want to get involved in politics back then. I
didn't want to come out on that side of it. Okay,
you could argue that, I don't quite agree with it.
It's thirty years later. Can't he now look into the
camera and say thank you and say, as a human being,

(01:14:09):
Jesse Helms was a virulent, sane on America, thank you.
You don't have to be black to proclaim that, you know,
put that idiot out to rest. Jordan could have said
that on this documentary and I couldn't believe that he
missed a chance to do that. I really, I really
couldn't believe it. You know, that's funny, Jack, And that's

(01:14:31):
what I wrote on my column or Desmond today exact
that moment because he just was uncomfortable, even thirty years
later to just say I blew it. I should have
done it. Jesse Helms was a bad guy. Didn't do it? Yeah,
I mean, you know you have to it. And then
he said he compounded it by saying, hey, I wrote

(01:14:52):
him a check. I wrote, Harvey began a check. I
mean we've all been you know, I suppose I've been
in that situation when I should have said something and
instead wrote somebody at check quietly. But this was such
an ideal opportunity for Michael to do that, and I

(01:15:13):
was I was a little bit surprised that it came
down the way it did. Jack McCallum Sports Illustrated. Colum
is great stuff. Jack. We really appreciate the time. It
was great to reconnect. Yes, why are you guys called
the odd couple? Well, you know, Chris doesn't know anything
about sports and I do, so that's the odd couple. Jack.
Just remember this. I'm Oscar Felix. That's all all right,

(01:15:38):
I got it. Get another anchor next time from Chris.
But see Jack more more. I couple coming your way.
Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox Sports Radio dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Search f SR to listen live. All right, it's the

(01:16:00):
odd couple Chris and Rob on a Magic City Monday.
We just had Uck Jack McCallum, who wrote a great
book about the dream Team called The Dream Team. I
read it on the beach in the Cayman Islands. It
was great. It's great. Um, Rob, Yeah, yeah, well, yeah,
we should get him back on too. Good guy to

(01:16:23):
you cover games with him? My cover games with him?
Great guy. Uh. I thought something else that was interesting, Rob,
like the Nike thing. Now, I gotta give Nike credit.
Converse wasn't prepared, right, they had everybody had Magic, they
had Doctor Jay, they had Isaiah, they had Bird. They

(01:16:45):
thought they had it made. Hey, you know, we grew
up and Chuck Taylor's are still popular. But obviously everybody
was wearing Chuck's back then, you know, or before that,
and then in basketball, Converse was even dominating, dominating. You
just heard the list. If they had gotten Jordan, who
wore Converts, I believe in North Carolina, it would have

(01:17:08):
been over. And they weren't ready. Adidas wasn't ready at all.
You saw that last night in the documentary and Nike,
you know, they took a risk because you know it's
it's important sometimes to take risks. They took a risk
and boy died it pay off. I mean, Rob, they

(01:17:29):
have an eighty six percent share now of basketball performance
shoes and the ninety six percent share of leisure basketball shoes.
Like you know, people wearing the air Jordan's around. Think
about that. And you know at that time you had Pony, Converse, Adidas,
Spaulding right ea, Tonic Patrick Ewing had a pair of

(01:17:51):
his own shoes. Everybody sneakers. I mean, it wasn't dominated
by night. That's hard for millennials to understand. I remember
when one of my friends, Mark Ball, who are Greenback,
he had a pair of Nikes. He was the first
person I ever saw with those. I'm telling you, he
was like, what are those? And he's like, he's a Nike.

(01:18:12):
They should call him Nikes back then? Nikes right right.
Plumas were big, Ponies were like, they had so many
different brands and largely, let's face it, because of Jordans.
They blew up. So all right, we got one hour left.
Chris and Rob the Eye Couple, y'all know what to do.
Lock it. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk

(01:18:35):
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the iHeart Radio app.
Search f SR to listen live. It is the Eye Couple.
I am Chris, he is robbing. We're coming to you
live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. Fifteen minutes
could save you fifteen percent or more on your car insurance.

(01:18:55):
Visit Geico dot com for a free rate quote. We
have got Craig Hodges coming on at the bottom of
the hour or two time NBA champion one those two
titles with Michael Jordan playing alongside him, was one of
the best three point shooters in the league at that time.
Actually won three three point shootouts at the All Star weekend.

(01:19:17):
So yeah, he can knock it down. Oh yeah, yeah.
And you know, and in fact is rob He's he's
an example of a guy that you know, he was
a role player. He'd be better today, you know, because
that was his specialty, shooting the three. And so um,
he's coming up at the bottom of the hour. So
that'll be a lot of fun. About twenty eight minutes,

(01:19:39):
all right, let's get back to the last dance, and
we talked briefly with Jack McCallum about, you know, Jordan's
the fact that he just didn't stand up for social
issues period. And you know, Jesse Hamles, that was an
easy one and I do think, you know, Jack kind
of alluded to it, Jordan being what what was he

(01:19:59):
at that age, maybe twenty eight, you know, young obviously
wasn't you know, just wasn't a stute on political issues,
and to be honest, may not be now, but you
know that the only thing I'm not saying it's an excuse.
I'm just saying that. No. I think that's a big
part of why he you know, didn't get involved, because
he just wasn't into that stuff. It may not even

(01:20:20):
be at this point. I get that, Chris, here's the
only reason why have an issue. Whether he said it
in jest or not. On the bus, it was conscious
about the Republicans buying sneakers, that that that meant something oil.
But that's but it's not right like there are black
Republicans now. Man, I'm not with the camp that just

(01:20:43):
you know, brushes them all off, its sellouts. I'm not
using because I've said this before, back in nineteen sixty
eight black people were Republicans. So so I get the
hist Luther King and okay, I gets but then you
leave a party when when when they don't have your
best interests at hard So so here's my point. I

(01:21:05):
get it. You could use it as an excuse. But
when you're talking about a guy like Jesse Helms, who's
a card carrying bigot, not not like you know, just
because you don't like him, Chris, or what this is
a card carrying, proud bigot who had no problem talking
down to black people. That that that to me is

(01:21:28):
a layup. And your own mother ask you to do
this for her, your own mother. And here's the other part.
I don't know what episode it was, Chris. Was it
two or three where he talked about Wilmington, North Carolina,
how it was racist and he wanted nothing more than
to get out of that town. Do you remember that? Yeah?

(01:21:51):
I was surprised. Jordan said that he could have left
his hometown out of it without putting it out there
like that, but he said it. So that's for me.
I agree with you that he should have spoken out.
I'm just saying I don't think at that time. And
I don't want to say this with certainty today, but

(01:22:12):
it looks like it from the fact that, as you said,
he didn't speak out. You know, he didn't even say
I made a mistake. I think he's almost oblivious to
that stuff as far as politics. Now, granted, somebody probably
told him I would think what Jesse Halls was about,
I would hope so right, But I just think he

(01:22:32):
was just oblivious to that. But it's no excuse. And
let's say this, So I have a new writing gig.
I want to announce that here on the Odd Couple.
So you know, I've been writing for the Shadow League
for seven years, Chris and moved on. You know, I
got a nice opportunity with deadspend dot com. They got
new people in management, people with journalistic background or I respect.

(01:22:56):
So I wrote my first column today for dead spend
dot com and it was about Michael Jordan. And it's
funny even Jack brought up the same exact point which
I brought up that even thirty years later, Jordan still
couldn't do it. Even last night, right, there was the
opportunity to Chris to just say, you know what I

(01:23:17):
was young, I was immature. I was all about me,
and thinking back, I wish I would have said, I
wish I would have endorsed Harvey Gant or I made
a mistake or whatever. You know what I mean. If
I think about it now as an older guy, knowing
the ramifications, knowing what Jesse Helms meant to black people
in North Carolina and all of that, that's all he

(01:23:39):
had to say. That's that's all the others And he
couldn't even say that last night. What did you make
of that? I agree? I think he should have apologized. Now.
The closest he got was when he said, was that selfish? Right? Yeah?
Probably or probably, but that was where my energy was at.
So he I guess you could say, maybe you could

(01:23:59):
reach say acknowledge it was wrong, but he should have.
He should have apologized. And that's why again I don't think.
I'm not trying to make an excuse for him. I
just understand that some people, Yeah, some people just do
not you know, some people just don't know what's going
on in those types of realms. But you're right, it

(01:24:19):
was I I just wonder if people let him know, Look,
you don't know what this dude's about. You know what
I'm saying, because your own mother like some black group
that came out of nowhere. I don't know these people, right,
I don't know these people, and they're telling you, Mike.
Come on, Mike, his mother was involved in Kant's campaign.

(01:24:41):
You got forty seven percent of the vote without Michael
Jordan's she was involved. I didn't know she was involved
in his like she was like having a fun. She
was like a big proponent of this guy. And and
I looked it up today. He ran against Helme twice.
He had forty seven percent of the vote QUI in
ninety and then what was it ninety six he had

(01:25:04):
forty six percent. So it wasn't like he had he
was no competition or he was gonna get won over.
That's what al Michael Jordan's. No, I didn't know his
mind was involved in the campaign. Wow. That that that
makes it even more um glaring. But I was surprised
that he turned his mom down. I am. You know

(01:25:26):
what I'm saying that you know we talked about, is
anything we're seeing surprising us? That shocked me. I was like, Wow,
it was that that much? You know what I mean?
Down right? Your mom comes to you and says Chris,
I want you to do me a favor, and I
think he's involved with it. Yes, yeah, that was that
was surprising. But anyway, here's what I You mentioned something

(01:25:48):
else and again, congratulations on your your new gig with
dad Spend and I read your collar today. It was
very good. Um. Surprised me, No, it was good. Um.
But we're happy with the first one. If you get
a chance, please go to deatspend dot com and look
up my name and read that first one. One thing
you mentioned was that Ali is viewed as the goat,

(01:26:12):
not because he was necessarily the greatest boxer we've ever seen,
although I think that's arguable. But he lost, he lost
four five times, five times, I believe so. But he's
viewed is the greatest because of what he did outside
of the ring. So here's what I again got me thinking.

(01:26:33):
Isaiah Thomas has said this, and obviously we know Isaiah's
got his you know, acts to grind with Jordan and
it goes both ways clearly, but he believes Lebron is
the greatest and he has said what you just said.
In fact, a friend of mine, you know, Ving Rains,
we're friends. Ving says the same thing. He says, Look,
Ali is the goat because of what he did both

(01:26:56):
in the ring and outside of the ring. So I'm
throwing to you, Rober, why can't Lebron be the goat
for what he's done outside of the off the court.
You know, what he's done on the ring in the
court on the court is good, not quite as good
as Jordan, but what he's done off the court is

(01:27:16):
obviously tremendous and arguably you know, I'm off the top
of my head, but what basketball player ever has done
that much? I mean, you know, we saw guys in
the sixties stand up Oscar Robinson for free agency and stuff,
but all for the court. You know, so what, um,
you know, I'm throwing that out to you. My biggest

(01:27:37):
thing is Jordan is such through the stratosphere about what
he accomplished on the court. That that and and and ultimately, Chris,
it is about your basketball. If Jordan was I don't know,
four and two and one three MVPs in the in
the finals instead of all, do you know what I mean?

(01:27:58):
Like like, then you could take a look at and
I think Lebron would have a case. I do. But
when a guy is heading shoulders above everybody and denied
ten Hall of famers just by account, we probably could
find more Chris if we took our time right, denied
those guys from winning dominated date the way he did offensively, defensively,

(01:28:23):
what he went through, how he battled seven years without winning,
People ripping him he'll never win, He's just a dunker,
all the other stuff that went on, and for him
to persevere go away from the game for almost two years,
come back and pick up where he left off winning again.
I don't know if anybody's stories as compelling or as

(01:28:44):
complete on the court to be able to have somebody's
off the court knocked him off that pedestal. Now, it's
a good solid answer, and I do think. I mean,
obviously Jordan, once he started winning, he was spotless on
the court. But I also think it's this. I think
that Ali conquered even though he lost, he conquered every

(01:29:09):
opponent in the ring. Sunny list and a lot of
them were shocks, right, surprising, Right, he wasn't supposed to
people get demolished by Sunny Listen. Sunny Listen was like Tyson,
you know, forget Deonte Wada. He was like Mike Tyson
that was his rep. And here goes this thin, you know,

(01:29:31):
heavyweight who's fast and doesn't hit his hard as listening
and he's talking all this trash and people think he's
gonna get demolished, and he beats Listing. Then he starts
dominating the heavyweights. Then he loses the Frasier but regains
the beat Foreman, like Foreman was. People in Ali's camp
thought he might get seriously and permanently hurt in that fight,

(01:29:57):
and he beats Foreman. Then he go go back and
Avengers is lost to Frasier, you know, then he loses
it later to Leon Speaks, but comes back in Avengeance.
So he conquered like everything in the ring. It's kind
of like when Lebron came back against Golden State and won,
you know, from the three one deficit. But it was

(01:30:19):
like Ali did that multiple times where you think he's
not gonna win and he wins, you know. So I
think that's a big part of it as well, that
you know, when Lebron won his two in Miami, I
mean they're supposed to win it two, three four right
in Miami, right, So it didn't feel as good and
it wasn't like an upset. It wasn't like you weren't

(01:30:41):
supposed to win. And Lebron's been in positions to pull
off upsets but hadn't been able to do it other
than the three one, And so I think that that
has a lot to do with it. Remember, Ali was
the first heavyweight to regain the title three times, three times,
so again, he conquered every single foe in the ring.

(01:31:05):
Whereas Lebron, while obviously tremendous and what he's done is incredible,
he hasn't conquered every fault. He hasn't conquered every fault.
He didn't conquer Durant and the and the Warriors. He
obviously conquered him without Durant, but you know, he conquered
San Antonio once, but then they came back and took it.

(01:31:25):
So I think that's what it is. Rob No, I
get that. I get that. I think it's a Lebron
has done so many good things and he's compiled so
many numbers, but boy, that winnings. It's just so hard
to shake that, Chris, you know what I mean, and
especially when you're perfect. And I also think this, and

(01:31:50):
here's what people, A lot of people don't understand this
about Ali. We know that he refused to go fight
in Vietnam and he was exiled from boxing for three years.
People nowadays kind of look at that like like, oh, okay,
he had to sit out three years. He knew he'd
be back. No, no, for all, he knew he was

(01:32:13):
giving up everything he had fought his whole life for
since he was twelve years old and started boxing to
be heavyweight champ. He was willing to give that up.
We didn't know if he was ever gonna fight again,
so he was willing to give that up his career.
And obviously a lot of America's people look at him now,

(01:32:35):
Oh everybody loved Ali. He lit the Olympic torch Man. No,
at least half of more than half of America probably
hated Ali. Don't you remember? People hated that Howard Coachell
talked to him. You remember that Howard Coachell had backlash
that they would give him some one to call him
Muhammed Ali. Yes, they wouldn't even call him by his

(01:32:55):
name because they were so you know, against the whole movement.
It was more like Cassius Clay, I'm not calling them that.
I mean that that's what it was. Black Muhammad was
calling him clay right insistent on it. But but the
thing that was great too, I think is um for

(01:33:16):
Ali to go from that to lighting the Olympic torch
in nineteen Chris, that is a from a draft dodger,
stripping you of your right, stripping you of your title
took two. That's like one of the biggest honors. And
for a country for you to like to torch on
the Olympics, I mean, and Muhammad Ali was the guy

(01:33:37):
who got to do it. That's incredible, No, it really was.
And um, so that that's an interesting conversation and discussion.
I'll be interested to see what the listeners think eight
seven seven ninety nine or fix eight seven seven nine
nine six sixty three sixty nine. There's Michael Jordan's refusal
to comment on social issues open the door for Lebron James,

(01:34:02):
who one day eclipse them as the goat the greatest
of all times. We'll continue the conversation with you. Next
is Robbing Chris The Eye Couple. Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

(01:34:23):
It's the couple, Chris and Rob and we're coming to
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(01:34:45):
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dot com today and start your job fast. Getting the
zone all those zoned. Ken Lebron, on the strength of
his mighty work off the court, businesses all over the place,

(01:35:10):
speaking out on social issues, getting things done for his community.
Can he eclipse Michael as the goat on the strength
of that stuff? Eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox
You'll turn away in all right, Craig in Houston, You're
on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Craig,
not much, guys, thanks for taking McCall. I hope you

(01:35:30):
guys are stay in safe man and keeping your family safe.
Thank you. Man. Yeah, I uh man. I think it's
an insult to Muhammed Ali. Man for anyone to start
comparing these guys. I was sick when they would, you know,
the whole Kaepernick thing and they started talking about Ali.
You know, these guys, man, these jungsters. What Ali did?

(01:35:52):
I mean, he put his life on the line. You know,
we used to send Muhammed Ali, the United States government
would send Ali around the world to bring hostage at home,
you know, to speak on behalf of world peace, you know.
I mean, it's just completely different level from these Johnsons.
I mean, lebron has thrown some money at to miss you,
some charter schools here and there. You know, they did

(01:36:12):
the hoodie thing with Trayvon Martin. But man, nothing compared.
You Remember when Ali came back from the Olympics and
went to try to get a burger in Kentucky and
they wouldn't give it to him and he threw the
metal in the water. Well, I think the thing is
that that back then, in the sixties and seventies, just
speaking out was huge. Oh yeah, because in the sixties

(01:36:35):
you could really be putting your life in danger, you know,
and people killed and assassinated and whatnot. It was definitely
a different time. So like when we look at that
iconic photo of Ali and Jim Brown and Kareem lu
Alsinder at the time, and although you know it's about
ten black athletes from all the different sports standing together

(01:36:56):
with Ali, that that group didn't come together to do anything.
Rob Like, they didn't Jim Brown wanted to start economic
empowerment for black people, but they never did. They supported Ola,
they came to talk to him, but it was iconic
because at that time, just speaking out was huge. Now,

(01:37:21):
just speaking out it's nice, but we need more than
speaking out. You know, it's a different time. You need
economic empowerment and lebron in building schools and things like that.
That's big because it's a new day. We need businesses,
we need schools and all that. Just speaking out it's
not enough, as nice as that might be, no doubt.
Let's go to mo in San Diego. You're on the

(01:37:43):
odd couple Fox Sports Radio. What's up, mo, Hey, Chris Broussard,
Rod Parker. I am just really excited about being on
the show with you guys. Thank you. I listened to
you guys show all the time. You guys are outstanding.
Thanks man. I just want to say that, um, Lebron

(01:38:03):
tries too hard to be the greatest. You can't annoyant
yourself the greatest of all times. That has to come
from other people. But hold on, I get what you said.
Ali did that though, come on, he did it farboard
than Lebron. But I don't. I don't look at it

(01:38:23):
the same way. I know we aargue about this all
the time. I don't look at it the same but
that you how you look at it. That doesn't change
the saying that bothered by Ali doing it. I was
fine with it. But we can't sit here and say
Lebron that criticize Lebron for saying he's the goat when
at was actually part of Muhammad Ali's whole persona. And

(01:38:46):
back then boxers weren't talking like that. We can't be like, oh,
that's boxing. No, he was like one of the first
to talk like that. I don't I don't look at it.
I just don't look at it the same way. I
really I really don't want to. When Lebron sits there
on this Arbishop show sits in and goes, oh yeah.
When when we came back from three to one, that's
when I knew I was to go. I just I
don't look at that. How different? Same way it just

(01:39:07):
do one to me was more of a marketing. I'm
gonna put myself out there. I'm telling everybody this. That's
the way I took it. I really did like it
like an act right and like it. I'm just telling
you that's how I watching you because it was funny.
A lot of it was funny. He was so clever
and and all that and charismatic, but let's keep it real.

(01:39:28):
And the rhymes and all that, but let's again, let's
keep it real. If an athlete came out today in
whatever sport and was talking like that, I'm the greatest,
I'm the prettiest and kept doing it over and over again,
people would be aggravated. When they were aggravated with Ali

(01:39:49):
before he beat Listed. A lot of people hated Ali.
Who was right? What does he do crazy? They wanted
him to get his block in block locked off right,
kind of like I think it's look I I liked it.
I mean, like you said, I it was kind of
an act, but it was it was funny. It was
fun but I think he also meant it. Yeah, people,

(01:40:12):
people want to see Floyd get his block knocked off
as well. Andre in Massachusetts, you're on the odd couple
of Fox Sports Radio. What's up? Not too much? Thanks
for taking Mike call listen. Lebron cannot surpass Michael on
a on the basis of social justice activism because Michael Jordan,
in his own right has been very active. Lebron more
extra extroverted, Michael Moore introverted. My point of fact is

(01:40:35):
in twenty sixteen, when we had the rash of police
shooting unarmed black man, Michael Jordan gave a million dollars
to vote Vote Police Associations excuse me, and the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund. So he's done thing. He just does
it more quietly. Yeah. Yeah years. That was twenty sixteen

(01:40:55):
and my last will be listening. You know over time.
You know, when Spike Lee wanted to make the Malcolm
Next film and he knew he needed to make that,
the studio wouldn't give him the necessary funds. You know
who did he reach out to them, the Michael Jordan's
and Maddie Johnson to the world, you know, to get
that funding, you know, so he could produce the picture
that he needs to do. She does things. It's just
more behind the scene. But he's understanding and supportive of

(01:41:15):
many causes. No, and I think that's fair that you know,
in this film he has done some things. There's no
doubt and I mentioned that in my column that he
did right, and it's all been post retirement. That's the difference.
Not that he didn't. I'm sure he did good das
when he was playing, but as as far as racial situations,

(01:41:36):
it's been post retirement and and and again him being
a black owner Rob that says something too. I mean,
it's business, but it's also a definite step forward for
African American people. All Right, we'll have Jordan's teammates speaking
to him. Coming up next, Greg Craig Hodges, two time
NBA champion. He's joining us on in the Geico Fox

(01:41:58):
Sports Radio Studios. But first, Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the iHeart Radio app. Search f SR to listen. Live.
If it is the Eye Couple coming you live from
the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. It's easy to say
fifteen percent or more on your car insurance with Geico.

(01:42:19):
Go to Geico dot com or call eight hundred and
nine four seven Auto. The only hard part is figuring
out which way is easier our next guys. I have
a lot of respect for him, both as a basketball
player and as a man and all he's done as
far as speaking out and doing things for his community.
He's a two time NBA champion, three time All Star,

(01:42:40):
three point shootout champion. Craig Hodges. Craig, welcome to the Eye.
What's up, buddy, and oh, I appreciate the opportunity and
hopefully everybody that's listening is doing well while we're under
this virus situation. Yes, thank you for that, and let's
get right to it. Um. I had read this recently.
I honestly didn't know this but before the ninety one finals,

(01:43:05):
and that was obviously after you know, the whole Rodney
King incident with the LAPD. You would approached you were
playing for the Bulls, you would approach your teammate Michael
Jordan and Magic Johnson, who was on the Lakers, who
you guys were playing about boycotting the finals, you know
as a statement, So tell us what was your thought

(01:43:27):
process and how did they respond. Well, you know, for me,
as you know, I'm blessed man to have had great
two let's coming up in as far as studying the
game and knowing that port in order for me to
play sports, my uncle's made it first set. I looked
and studied the athletes and what was going on during
that time. So for me, one of my record elections

(01:43:50):
was the nineteen sixty three All Star Game with Jerry
West and al Jin Baylor said they were going to
boycott to All Star Game and through that movement they
were able to create a junior So you need so
the need president of the SIFT as far as people
our brothers speaking up and this is what we do
as athletes because we understand that as far as negotiations,

(01:44:13):
the level is not a love of playing film that
you know, you have a board of governors who control
the league and they have the ability and the power
to shut us down at a given time, whether it
be training camp, whether it be during the season, blak
in lockouts in the past. So for me. I was
saying at that point in nineteen ninety one, one of

(01:44:35):
the issues where we don't have enough black ownership, black
general managers, black executives, and like my position was twenty
one or the twenty four athletes or black and that
if we have any type of you know, work stoppage,
we know how the game works. If the Lakers and
the Bulls are getting ready to come out for the

(01:44:56):
first game and we are not out there by nineteen
minutes on the clock, somebody he's gonna have a problem
with that. Fifteen minutes, somebody's coming to the locker room,
ten minutes, Hey, what's what he's going on? Because a
billion people are about to watch. So, like right now,
I looked at how the league is scrambling because you know,
salvage this season sports in general. My position is once again,

(01:45:16):
all the time players have say so, it's all Star
weekend and playoffs. And that's why I asked us to
make that move. And Magic and Michael's responses that that
that was a bit too extreme. Whatever extreme is to
me at that point in time, when we're talking about extreme,
is players having a possibility to take care of their

(01:45:39):
families after the game. Everybody's not a superstar and got
superstar paint, right, did you know what understand? Sorry, Rob?
Did they at least understand your perspective or were they
just like man that that's crazy? Man? Come on, you
know and see, let me share something with your brother.
For me, I'm not I'm not I give information. They

(01:46:00):
get you let it long. I'm not in a position
in hindsight. She did it by myself. But this is
I mean, I'm in the hunt for this dream just
like all my other colleagues. So for me, I see,
you know, like where we are today, this whole Last
Dance thing, the magnitude and the draw of the star

(01:46:20):
and the impact of what Michael brought to the game.
But my position was, when you got Michael Jordan and
Magic Johnson, the two icons within black sports and Black
hero ship, I think that when we should take to
the models of the nineteen sixty three brothers that got
together in the nineteen sixty eight Olympic Challenges and all

(01:46:41):
those type of things, I thought I was blessed to
have that as the foundation of my sports and background
for the politics of it, I don't really consider politics
as much as to consider the spiritual and cultural imperative. Craig.
I've always admired your willingness to sacrifice to make things happen,

(01:47:02):
to change that everything in the world comes with sacrifice,
and I think so many people are too comfortable that
they don't understand it. And you did. What you talked
about was the All Star Game. I think it was
in New Orleans, Chris that they wanted the players to
stay in the Black Hotel or whatever. They couldn't stay
where the white stars would stand, and they were like,
this is ridiculous. This is an All Star game. Why

(01:47:23):
why can't we stay? You know? And you know, like
for me, it's one of those things where we've glossed
over so much, and we've glossed over so much, you know,
And I look at I look at MJ. I look
at the last dance, and I was I was hurt.
I'm with the brothers. I'm with the brothers. Where we

(01:47:44):
when the pitchers is kicking our ass all right right now?
We put ourselves together. We pulled ourselves together as a
spiritual group. I under fields too legs on spirituality to
get to some brothers were falling to sleep during the
then sessions doing the fleat checks that day was still
getting on the same heartbeat, you know what I'm saying.

(01:48:04):
That was experience that we all channeled together and it
might have been a fleet time for others, but it
brought us together on something that other teams weren't doing
at the time. And along with the system that texts
winner Lord Blessed Soul put us in that. It was
a perfect storm at a time when you know, the
mass whippings to put you in a position where at

(01:48:26):
some point in time you're gonna grow up or we're
gonna split up. And I think we had a person
and personage of Michael Jordan that was gonna not gonna
let us lose down the stretch. Now, how we were
going to stay with our game plan during the game,
and that was you know, it was just a compilation
of things, man. So when I'm watching throughout the thing,

(01:48:47):
one of the things is players. We called us a fraternity.
So I'm watching, Okay, the first episode, I was upset
about the cocaine circuits. That bothered me because I'm thinking
of the brothers who are on that picture with you,
who have to explain to the family members that they're
getting ready to watch this Michael Jordan's great documentary event.

(01:49:09):
And they know that you are on the kinghood and
now you got to explain that to a twelve year
old boy, some Scottie pippin cart Scotty was selfish. Come on, man,
come home. And then last night, then last night, then
Sharton last night with Horse that hurt that hurt me.
And I'm letting them Jay know, Man, that ain't right, dude,

(01:49:31):
Not tell them your mother's things. Okay, but horse Or
has been deserved, Horgs been deserved to take the fall
for Jordan. Rules Now meam, Jay may know something else.
And if you know Horse loaded, tell us how Horse
did it for my say, because I'm your teammate brother,
just like they are. And I'm kind of salty about
how everybody got interviewed. But me let me also ask you.

(01:49:55):
Go ahead. Christian Craig had just two times NBA Championshi
Chicago Bulls joining the accable Craig. The thing that jumped
out on a lot of people as well last night
was the whole situation where Joan's mom asked him to
endorse Harvey Gann, who was running for Senate in North
Carolina against Jesse Right there, stop right there. Yep, if

(01:50:19):
your mama asked you to do it, if your mama
asked you to do it, if your mama asked you
to do it, enough shit is that? And even thirty
years later, he can't even acknowledge that that he made
a mistake, that he didn't do the right thing at
this once again. And that's that's why I'm telling my
people who are watching, it's economics in this, it's finances

(01:50:47):
in this, it's money in this. Entertainment is sixth seven,
eight nine down the road. You know what I'm saying,
there's so much Rogers. Then we're checking so I heard
before check this out. I didn't know nothing about the
last dance. My son told me about the last dance

(01:51:09):
a week before it came out, and I'm like, well,
tell about the last nance. And then I've heard about
what Teal put together as a natural for the team. Okay,
then I got it. But I was saying, wow, how
long to go did they do this? And it's coming
out right now? Just the timing, it's impeccable. As a marketer,

(01:51:29):
Oh yeah, you could have another time when you got
everybody sitting at the crib, you got number one icon
in America at a time, at a time when black
people are dying, that untold numbers. Why now? Why now?
Somebody got to explain that to me. That's why one.
That's that question. That question, Okay, m J. I understand

(01:51:50):
you the man, you the golden horse, shoe, everything you touched, time,
the gold I get it. Why did you say that
people ain't gonna like you after this? And then last
night it looked to me like Horse was totally surprised.
Maybe that's real reality TV is something I don't know
about Hollywood or whatever, but Horse seems to be surprised
that when Jay said that he was the one that

(01:52:10):
told about Jordan rules Craig were great stuff. We could
we could have you on it. We might. We have
to get you on a given we know, but we
need you on for an hour because one like I said, Man,
you know Chris, you know when we met in the
airport that time, Man, we've been brothers ever saying you
know what I'm saying, and I and like I told

(01:52:31):
you then that I appreciated your work from a far
where you know you keep it fair and balanced from
this standpoint, you know, we understand, like right now, I'm
trying to show. I'm teaching my my my sons. You
know how sport works where there's no sports right now.
So MJ is the sport for everything. So the sport
comes out on Sunday night and that's all we talk about.

(01:52:53):
All we got. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So
we have to understand the magnitude of the brother and
like you, you give it, you give it's clear. You
give the other an opportunity to platform is to speak
this side of it. And y'all keep on with that
man because people need it. And if our generation I'm
fifty nine, if we don't get it, that generation that's
fifteen through twenty five, they're getting the man and they're

(01:53:15):
actually changing the world right right, Well, thank you, thank
you man again all the time. Man, Thank y'all. Yeah,
Peace and blessing to your listeners again, brothers, thank you.
We'll see you. That's Craig Higers, two time NBA champion
with the Chicago Bulls. More I couple coming your way
in the Mad Millennial. Rob g will be back Fox

(01:53:39):
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox Sports Radio. Dot Com and within the iHeart Radio
app search f s R to listen live the couple
Chris and Rob on The Magic City Monday. We're wrapping
it up with the Millennial Minute. You know, I wasn't
ready for that, Christlin fair for you to toss me

(01:53:59):
when I'm glad, I'm glad to open for you. Right
he opened without seconds? No, no, we should have to
open for thirty seconds and then Rob you for thirty seconds. Now,
dere you all right, let's get started Millennial Minute for
episode guess I'm gonna can I guess what you're gonna say?
Go for you get one second? Go ahead, I'm just
going Okay, you're gonna rip the Knicks all day, Marting

(01:54:20):
good Lago Jordan was going against and Dann Marley. Okay,
fifty percent from the field. Chris not bad. So let's
get started the Millennial Minute Episodes five and six of
The Last Dance Number One. I got an issue with
Michael Jordan being up on Magic Johnson to the Dream
Team practice. Michael Jordan does does matter? Does he not
recall that Magic who's out of the league for eighteen months?
So you feel real good about being up on an

(01:54:41):
old guy who's out of shape. Yeah, good for you.
Michael Jordan's that's a bad look for you. That's number one.
Number two. Everyone talks about how physical the NBA was
back in the day. Everybody was foul and tough. Magic
Johnson and Larry Bird put Michael Jordan on Front Street
in that Dream Team photo shoot when they said, hey,
we can't get too close to Michael Lacolo foul. So yeah,
even though he was getting failed hard, I'll agree to

(01:55:02):
that part. It's not like he wasn't getting the calls
going to the freethro line all the time either. So
that's number two and last, but not lease. I don't
want to bring up too much about John Starks and
Danny Ange being small could do it last week as well.
Thunder Dan Martley, who was the apparently the big nemesis.
He had a face in the finals against Phoenix. He
could sue. I was so dis is I was told

(01:55:25):
in the documentary off Dan Marley's a great defender. You
know he might get Michael Jordan's the issue, so when
he lit him up, it was a big deal. You
know what. Dan Marley's career defensive winshared was thirty four
point zero, which is lower than noted Lockdown defender Carmelo
Anthony and men o'core and Antoine Walker and Keith Van
Horne out a year with this Michael Jordan fanboy that

(01:55:48):
he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. He's very good.
He's probably the best player ever. But stop it with
the hero worship. Look at see. That's why it's a
millennial minute and not a millennium two minutes, because this garbage.
Dann Marley, they caught him thunder, Dan Dan he was
he was making threes from down under and Rob I'm looking.

(01:56:12):
I'm gonna keep it real because I think millennials of
all races, all right, millennials of all races. You know
what they're doing, right, they're looking at all looking at
all those white dudes on the court when he tore
sixty three on Boston, Bill Walton, Kevin mcale, Larry Bird,
Danny Ainge, all these white guys. They're looking at Danny

(01:56:33):
Ainge again in Phoenix, Dann Marley and Phos. I'm that's
what it is. And don't sleep. Some of those dudes
could have hooped. That Boston team was one of the
greatest teams of all time. So don't don't don't hold
their skin color against them. We're seeing white guys that
dayball and they just from Europe. Danny Aingel was a

(01:56:53):
two was a Major League baseball player, Anna player played
third base for the Toronto Blue Jay. That's how good
of an athlete he was. Yes, Yes, And Magic was
talking trash. Magic. Magic was talking like he still thought
he was the best player in the world. He really was,
and Jordan had to show him. And you know, Magic
was working out. Magic was probably an nbah he was

(01:57:16):
in mid season four. Why are you lying, Chris, he
was Rod Parker. You Magic was working out, getting ready
for the Olympics. There was nothing else going on. What
else was he doing? Right? What else was he doing?
And for the record, I did not bring up the
white players, you guys did, no, But I know, I know,
I know what's going on in these millenni and again,

(01:57:36):
black white Mexican his fanic asia. All these millennials are
looking at it like that. I know y'all, not all,
but a lot of y'all. And so I'm just saying,
don't don't sleep because of that, because dud dudes were
balling dudes were balling. M J Goldness couple, See you

(01:57:57):
tomorrow

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Michael Jordan Can't Admit When He's Wrong