June 8, 2020 • 28 mins
It's The Best of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker! Chris and Rob have a spirited discussion about whether or not the NFL would be better served by getting rid of the national anthem before games altogether, and explain why they think it's entirely possible for NBA players to return to play this summer while still keeping America focused on the social justice movement currently sweeping the country. Plus, 2x World Series champion Kevin Youkilis stops by to explain why he's trying to get Marge Schott's name removed from the University of Cincinnati baseball field.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. We spoke Friday.
Friday was a big day. Big day for the NFL. Obviously,
several of their star players, including Patrick Mahomes, say Kwan Barkley,
Odell Beckham Junior, and many others Ezekiel Elliott, they put
(00:46):
together a video demanding that the NFL I E Commissioner
Roger Goodell would make a statement supporting Black Lives Matter,
saying they apologie eyes for you know, going against squelching
the peaceful protests of the players, and saying that they
(01:07):
condemned systemic racism, racism and systemic racism. So the league
get it. Roger Goodell did it, and not surprisingly, you
knew it was coming. Rob He got the President's attention.
And this is important because we know, according to a
deposition that the owners admittedly were intimidated by President Donald
(01:34):
Trump when he turned it and changed the narrative and
made it not about Kaepernick protesting injustice and protesting the
killing of unarmed American citizens. Trump changed the whole narrative
to it was about the flag and that these football
(01:57):
players were disrespecting the flag, when if the reality is that,
don't let the facts get in the way. Right, The
reality is that Kaepernick went out of his way to
be respectful of the flag meeting with Nate Boyer, the
Army Green Beret and right, and Boyer suggested kneeling, because
(02:19):
kneeling in America, at least has never been viewed as
anything disrespectful. You go to church, you kneel down, you pray,
you kneel down, you know. So he said that would
actually be a sign of art, honoring the flag and
the veterans and so and still getting your point across.
And so Kaepernick did that, and yet President Trump changed
(02:40):
the narrative and many fell for it. And now Donald
Trump is continuing that. And here's what he posted on Twitter,
rob just several hours ago, around noon this morning. Could
it be even remotely possible? This is the quote from
(03:00):
President Trump that in Roger Goodell's rather interesting statement of
peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now
be okay for the players to kneel or to or
not to stand for the national anthem, thereby disrespecting our
(03:22):
country and our flag. Rob This is gonna be interesting
to see how the NFL handles this, and you seem
to have. I saw your column was very good column
or dead spend today? Is that your answer to it?
But go ahead and share yep, my answer. The headline
on the column was NFL should drop national anthem, embrace
(03:46):
change and Chris. In that column, they asked Adrian Peterson,
who of course plays for Washington, if he would be
kneeling this season, and he said, without a doubt, I
think it won't be the idea or or of who's
not who's who's kneeling? Chris, The question will be who's
(04:09):
not kneeling? Do you know what I mean? As we
go forward, because of where we are and because of
this movement. So my point was if the NFL one
of the great ladies in the country, and I'm just
talking about uh iconic businesses, right, one of those institutions
that go back a long way. If they could make
(04:32):
a change, it might lead others into understanding that, yes,
Chris uh, the NFL can change. The NFL is willing
to make some concessions and change things. So my thing
is they should eliminate the national anthem. Nobody else in
(04:54):
the country has to do. Then has to stand up
for the national anthem before they work. Nobody garbage Man,
radio talk show host, Baker's Chris, Butcher's anybody else? Everybody
else gets up takes you didn't say Baker's Butcher's candlestick.
I was gonna do that close, but nobody but nobody
(05:18):
else does it. It doesn't make you less less important
or less of an American, Chris. When we go to
the movie theater, do you stand up for the national
anthem before the movie or the event? Did you go to? No?
And remember, Chris, when we were in school and the
pledge of allegiance used to stand up at your desk
(05:40):
put your hand on your heart. Do you remember that. Ye,
schools don't do that anymore. I'm not saying all don't,
but most don't. So that's gone by the wayside. And
two things that could come out of this for the
NFL A, you show that change can happen and that
it's not the end of the world. By making a
(06:02):
change and being you take the pressure off the players
to allow them to be stay focused on the message
and not have the pushback, because there still will be pushback,
Chris from where we are, and maybe some NFL fans
and some people who who aren't down for the cause,
who still don't understand what's going on, doesn't like it,
(06:24):
and we'll have a hard time seeing all these black
players kneeling down come, you know, prior to football games.
So just eliminate the whole thing, and then, Chris, not forever.
If there comes a time when we feel like this
country's in the right direction, people feel together, there's some
(06:45):
real unity, there's some fairness for everybody. Not perfect and
everybody's gonna be treated exactly the same, but improvement to
where we feel good and we're not a divided country,
and you want to bring that back and all people
feel cool about standing up and doing that, then you
could always reintroduce it. There's nothing wrong with it. Up
(07:08):
until two thousand and nine, NFL players were not not
required Chris to come out of the locker room for
the national anthem. It was only after the NFL started
collecting money, and I'm talking about individual teams in two
twenty fifteen, No, I mean after twenty two thousand and
(07:29):
nine they started getting teams got like six point nine
million dollars from the US Defense Department and also from
the National Guard. Then the flags came out. Then all
the players have to be standing out, then all the displays,
because it was used as a recruiting tool for young
(07:52):
guys to look at it and say, man, that's wow,
that's awesome. Look at the display and all that to
try to get young people to be interested in the
armed services. So my point is just this, we don't
need all that. The NFL could do a lot of
things if they just decide to step aside from the
national anthem. I hear what your your intention is, and
(08:14):
I think what you're saying is you would save players
the decision of whether or not to kneel or stand
for the national anthem. And let's face it, most of
us black, white, whatever our race or ethnicity may be,
you know we're not You don't think a lot about
(08:35):
the national anthem. When you're at a game, you know,
like you stand out of respect generally. But if they
if I went to a game and there was no
national anthem, I wouldn't really think twice, you know, not
just I just don't you know, you wouldn't think really
think about it. Here's the problem nor that I see
(08:58):
two of them in doing what, in your view would
be actually an act of trying to keep the peace.
On the one hand, you would take away the player's
vehicle for protest, even though it's not about the flag
or the anthem, it is the best opportunity they have
(09:22):
to protest to attention to this issue. That's fine, but
it's still part of that. And we're gonna get to
this later. But Snoop Dogg came out well. Matt Barnes
said he talked to Snoop Dogg and they both have
heard from players, NBA players who are and I talk
to some people today and heard the same thing. Some
(09:44):
NBA players they want to play, many of them want
to play July thirty first and onward, but they are
concerned that if they come back and play, they will
take away from all the attention that is focused on
the racial situation in this country, and you know, they'll
(10:06):
be what does everybody say we need a distraction. They
don't want to just be a distraction. Black Americans are
looking at this as a potential sea change in America,
including the great athletes, and so that is the attention.
We You don't want it to wane, you don't want
(10:27):
it to go away, and so you take away that opportunity. Yeah,
they could wear a black band on their arm or
you know, something like that. Yeah, but that that, you know,
it's not gonna be as strong in my view as
if they kneel during the anthems. See, And so I
think I think that's one thing. And I think the
(10:49):
second problem is that you will upset a lot of
fans who, like we said, they at this moment in time,
there's somewhat indifferent to the anthem, but they are they
view themselves as American patriots. Some of them even black
(11:09):
like that, but mostly white who if you take away
the national anthem, they are going to be upset. Donald
Trump will play it and he'll say the NFL has
sold out America, the NFL has taken away the national anthem.
They are unpatriotic. And those fans who will go watch
(11:32):
these players play, even as mad and upset as they
will be that they're kneeling for the anthem. They'll still
go watch them play, they'll still bet money on them
and all that, but they will be highly upset. I
believe if you take away there, they'll get used to
the dude's kneeling. But if you take it away altogether,
(11:54):
I think you could end up upsetting both sides. Now,
Black people might be like, oh, that's how you do it,
so now you take it away, because we were going
to protest, now you take it away. And white's on
the other side who are on the other side will
be like, oh, really, so now you're not patriotic NFL.
(12:15):
Now you don't care about the anthem, and so I
think you could upset both sides. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussar then
Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio Whip. All right,
let's get to Kevin Eucolus. Kevin, welcome to The Odd Couple.
(12:37):
We're good, great to have you on UM. I want
to ask you about your supporting your fellow alum from
the University of Cincinnati. That's where you played baseball, and
he's calling for the stadium to rename itself, take it,
take down March SHOT's name and rename it. What led
you to go ahead and support this young man? Yeah,
(13:01):
you know, first and foremost, I kind of keep a
low profile on a lot of things out there, And
you know, I think one of the things that people
talk about now was using your platform to do good,
and that's never my intent. I go out there and
then speak about things when I feel like it's the
right time to speak up. And the young players, you know,
(13:24):
young men at the Universe Cincinnati have got this petition
going and it's all based on what they've done to
research what the name March Shot means and her path
and different things she believed in. And you know, me personally,
I for many years have let's be like so people understand.
(13:46):
When I was at Universe Cincinnati, I played at Johnny
Benchfield and then they got this brand new stadium, that
state of the art and they funded it through the
March Shot Foundation. And I never was comfortable with that
name at the university that I love so much. That
taught me so much about different races, ifin ethnicities, different religions.
(14:08):
I have so many great friends that I made along
the way from there. And I'm a Jewish guy, and
if you do any research into the background of March
shot and thinks she believed in it went against my
values and my family's values of being part of the
Jewish community. So it was just hard to see that
name on there. And I said things to the powers
(14:31):
that be, and it's just complicated. You know, when people
give a lot of money to certain things, it's hard
to take away those donations and rename. So this is
the right time, and there's no better time than now
to to do this. And I'm just super proud of,
you know, the guys at Universe Cincinnati that has stepped
up and done their part. And Kevin, what you said
(14:55):
is so true when you see what's going on in
the country and all the young people out in the street,
and the different ethnic groups and different colors and all
kinds of people coming together saying, Okay, enough is enough.
We have to have changed what is it? Because sometimes
I'm watching and I just can't believe what I'm watching
(15:18):
and the number of people out there who really look
like they've had enough and they want to make some
real change in this world. Yeah, I think first and
first and foremost about the timing of all this. You know,
there's never a good time, right and the COVID and
just mentally people are just just going crazy because of COVID,
(15:40):
and then you know, the whole thing with George Floyd
that happened. I think the tensions of the country have
just risen so high for many different reasons. But you know,
for me personally, it's the things that I've witnessed, It's
things I've washed in my life. I've just seen so
many things. I've heard so many things. I mean, I
remember when I got told. I mean, I've been told
(16:00):
I'm going to hell for being Jewish to my face,
I've been I've been called different names, and you know,
I once punched somebody. I'm not proud of it because
I was called a derogatory name being Jewish. And you know,
it's one of those things that I was young, I
was dumb, I was a teenager, and it probably wasn't
the right way to handle this situation. And I've learned
(16:23):
from that. But I just I'm just super proud of
you know, I grew up in the nineties and I
tell people this the nineties were an amazing generation of
change and reform and ways where I remember like, just
you know, you get NWA, you know, you're getting Doctor Dre,
You're getting Tupac, You're getting Biggie and you know, Boys
(16:43):
in the Hood was so powerful, and you know, white
kids in the suburbs we got to like see this.
I mean, we were the first generation that got to
see this, and it was powerful in connecting. And I'll
tell you what my college experience and the friendships I made.
You know, my senior year, my roommate was black and
we had riots that year in Cincinnati, and we just
(17:05):
you know, sat around and shared stories of growing up,
being Jewish, growing up and being black, and I learned
a lot about that. And I just think that now
that I'm a father and I had children, and my
daughter's mixed, So you know, for me, is I want
them to grow up in a better world where people
don't care about their skin color, don't care about the religion,
don't care where they come from, you know, and it's
(17:27):
usually the parents where they come from. You know, most
of these kids are second generation. But I think it's
just one of those things where we just need to
break bread more. We need to sit down and have
dinner and talk about things and and not to and
not get defensive. You know, I think a lot of
people are getting really defensive and just listen. It's time
to listen and just and hear people out. Kevin, you
(17:47):
obviously play the majority of your career with the Red
Sox in Boston. You won two World Series there. You
probably saw the Communist by Tory Hunter where he said,
you know you more than a hun your times and
you know, just he actually had a no trade plause
in his contracts, so he wouldn't be traded to Boston
because of the races treatment he got there. What are
(18:10):
your thoughts on that? Well, you know, it hurts me.
You know, I know Tory as a person. I've always
had the utmost respect for him. It's probably one of
my favorite hitters that hits a high fastball, does a
lot of damage with that high heater. I would joke
around and say, if Tory Hunter played in the game today,
he's hit fifty home runs a year because everyone's thrown
(18:30):
up in the zone. So Tory man, he missed her
calling Man, you were born too soon, buddy, you would
have killed it, you know, even more. I mean, he
killed it then he would have been even better today.
But you know, Boston was tough, you know it, you know,
being a fan of favorite there being a white guy
being you know, Jewish, and Brookline right down the street
(18:51):
is a very Jewish neighborhood. I was lucky, you know,
they loved me. But I did see some tension with
even my own teammates. And there was one incident where
a fan came running down and was being extra harsh
towards one of our black players, and I just got
fed up and I stood up and I told him
to shut that up and if he doesn't like, to
(19:11):
get the hell out of here. And I'll never forget
that moment because I was boiling because you could just
see that it was this tension and it wasn't the
same tension that was towards a white player. But you know,
for the most part, I'd like to say too though,
the Red Sox fans, you know, it's not the majority,
it's a minority of people that act like that. But
(19:34):
you know, the minority is too big and you have
to eliminate that, and there's no place for that and
hatred towards you know, the black players that are on
the field, and I just I just feel awful. I've
always felt awful about it, and I wish I could
have done more to help those guys during that time. Hey, Kevin,
he got a new podcast. Can you tell people about
(19:55):
it real quickly? Yeah. So it's the Greek Got a
Hops podcast. It's it's on all your Spotify, your Apples
and thirty other different I think, various forms of a
tuning into. But I'm just sitting down with a bunch
of people. I got a group of Loma Brain Company
and Loma Coffee Company, a coffee roasting company, and I'm
(20:15):
gonna have various guests from baseball to beer, a coffee
to you know, all different types of people, and just
trying to sit down and get to talk to people
and learn about their professions and some of their success
stories they're some of their failures along the way too,
and just getting to know people and try to learn
and teach people that want to listen to some success
(20:36):
stories that might help them out in life. All right, Kevin,
great stuff, man, appreciating, Yeah, coming on and on real doing. Yeah,
definitely good luck with the podcast and thanks for the stories. Yeah,
thank you. Guys, 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
(20:58):
app search f SR to listen and live. You and
I have talked about it, We mentioned it earlier too.
This is could be a watershed moment in the history
of this country. Let's just face it, man, there has
been the problem, the biggest problem in this country since
(21:18):
before it was even you know, it's an independent country.
Before it was you know, the United States of America.
As far as being independent, racism has been the biggest
problem and as far as African Americans have come robbed.
And you know this, You're very successful. I'm very successful.
We know many there's many successful individual African Americans. But
(21:40):
even no matter how successful you are, there is still
a tension between you and your country. Right. We still
in our country that we have defended and fought, you know,
to protect. Like everyone else that we built, we still
will have to tell, you know, people in our family
(22:04):
how to watch out for the police, how to behave
yourself right when you get stopped. We still have to
tell them You're gonna have to be better than your
white American counterparts. We still have to tell them that
we still have to go out of our way to
affirm their greatness because you get so many signs outside
(22:26):
of your home and outside of the black community that
you're less than in our country. So there's always this
tension always, and this could be a moment if the
right things are done, where maybe that changes for good,
because I think we all, including many whites, would love
(22:47):
to just be able to move past this racial problem.
It's gonna take a lot, but I think it's a chance.
Some of those millennials thought at it. I think we
have mentioned this before, right, which was Obama was elected.
I remember like debating my nephew Alvin about this, who's
about thirty one years old. Chris and I always post racial,
(23:08):
that's that's what you Yes? He thought, Wow, yes, because
they had a black president. What do you You can't
tell us anything, do you know what I mean? Like seriously,
they were like, look, they voted for him. They didn't vote,
they didn't say, oh, they're not gonna vote for him
just because he's black. They voted for him and it
was and it was big time and he got elected again,
right right, But this still was a lot of things
(23:31):
that a lot of bad things happened during the time.
This is not just after, this is not just under
Trump that this stuff is going on. This was going
on for him a long time. Right. Well, basketball players
rib in the NBA they see this too. They feel
they see the potential that you and I and and
(23:53):
many around America, not just black, but many of us see.
And Matt Barnes, who's got the great podcast All the
Smoke with Stephen Jackson, he was on another podcast, The
Dunk Bait with Josiah Johnson recently, and he was saying
that he and Snoop Dogg the Rapper had heard from
(24:14):
players around the league that and Matt mentioned guys from
the Lakers and the Clippers that there are whispers about
some teams not being comfortable coming back and playing. I
did a little digging talk to some people around the league,
and what I've been told, Rob is that players, like
(24:39):
I've been told the Lakers flat out really want to
play because they Lebron is working out and he's working
out with some teammates and they are getting ready, James
Harden and Russell Westbrook putting in hard work. Like so players,
a lot of players want to play. But players are
a bit They don't want to come back and distract
(25:02):
the nation from what they see as real, legitimate possibility
for change. They don't want to take away from the
focus on George Floyd and combating systemic racism and combating
the social injustice and things like that. They you know, Rob,
(25:22):
we hear it. People say, what we need a distraction.
Sports is a distraction. We need baseball, we need football,
we need basketball to just distract us from the negative
stuff that's happening. Well, these players don't want to be
a distraction. They want people to focus. They look under
(25:43):
We all understand, Rob, because the nation was on lockdown
because there are no sports going on right now. I'm
not saying there wouldn't have been any attention on George Floyd,
but it wouldn't have been like this, And so I
think I think it gets would have got a lot
of attention. But I people are right, it wouldn't have
been like this because people are going to work there
(26:05):
at least, you know, now you're at your house all day,
even if you're working. Yeah, it's a lot easier only
because so many people are at home, right And so
that's what some players are feeling they don't want to
distract from this moment. Do you think they have And
I'm not saying they're not gonna play, but do you
think they have a legitimate concern? I'm not so sure
(26:28):
that them not playing people are going to up the
whole country's gonna be like, oh, okay, the playoffs are
going on in Orlando. Now I'm gonna drop this to
the side. There are a lot of people in the
grassroots out there working on this, Chris, and I don't
think they're gonna let this moment. Not that there's anything
wrong with having basketball as well, and I don't think
it's going to derail it's it's it's two things. I
(26:54):
understand maybe not wanting to h you know, derail this thing,
and like the thought process, but it's also a little
like like the country's gonna stop because they're playing basketball again.
I think that's a little night night. Yeah. Look, I
(27:14):
think they're going to play, but I think their concerns
are legitimate. Um And I'm not saying there'll be no
attention on this, but we see this all the time.
I mean, this isn't new. I mean how many it
started at least recently with Trey Von Martin, And I mean,
how many more have happened since then? And this is
(27:36):
the one that has resonated, And I agree with you
that I think it will continue to resonate. Why can't
they swear Black Lives Matter h stuff or T shirts
or you know, like even when they're playing, or armband, Chris,
maybe that's your so that as you watch the game,
what about that? Because put on Black Lives Matter? So
(28:00):
every time we watch Lebron and we watch Anthony Davis,
so Kawhi Leonard, you see that every single time. That's
the way of making a statement and still being you
know what I mean, keeping people's focused on it. I
do think from what I was told that that is
the way the Lakers are looking at it. Like they
do want to make some type of statement, but they
want to play and so and they know that's a
(28:22):
big platform, right, That's gonna be a huge platform for
them to make a statement on it. And I'm sure
they're not the only team. The Lakers might have a
lot of time anyway after the first round, so they
might be losing it in the first round. I'm just saying,
stop it, stop it.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. We spoke Friday.
Friday was a big day. Big day for the NFL. Obviously,
several of their star players, including Patrick Mahomes, say Kwan Barkley,
Odell Beckham Junior, and many others Ezekiel Elliott, they put
(00:46):
together a video demanding that the NFL I E Commissioner
Roger Goodell would make a statement supporting Black Lives Matter,
saying they apologie eyes for you know, going against squelching
the peaceful protests of the players, and saying that they
(01:07):
condemned systemic racism, racism and systemic racism. So the league
get it. Roger Goodell did it, and not surprisingly, you
knew it was coming. Rob He got the President's attention.
And this is important because we know, according to a
deposition that the owners admittedly were intimidated by President Donald
(01:34):
Trump when he turned it and changed the narrative and
made it not about Kaepernick protesting injustice and protesting the
killing of unarmed American citizens. Trump changed the whole narrative
to it was about the flag and that these football
(01:57):
players were disrespecting the flag, when if the reality is that,
don't let the facts get in the way. Right, The
reality is that Kaepernick went out of his way to
be respectful of the flag meeting with Nate Boyer, the
Army Green Beret and right, and Boyer suggested kneeling, because
(02:19):
kneeling in America, at least has never been viewed as
anything disrespectful. You go to church, you kneel down, you pray,
you kneel down, you know. So he said that would
actually be a sign of art, honoring the flag and
the veterans and so and still getting your point across.
And so Kaepernick did that, and yet President Trump changed
(02:40):
the narrative and many fell for it. And now Donald
Trump is continuing that. And here's what he posted on Twitter,
rob just several hours ago, around noon this morning. Could
it be even remotely possible? This is the quote from
(03:00):
President Trump that in Roger Goodell's rather interesting statement of
peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now
be okay for the players to kneel or to or
not to stand for the national anthem, thereby disrespecting our
(03:22):
country and our flag. Rob This is gonna be interesting
to see how the NFL handles this, and you seem
to have. I saw your column was very good column
or dead spend today? Is that your answer to it?
But go ahead and share yep, my answer. The headline
on the column was NFL should drop national anthem, embrace
(03:46):
change and Chris. In that column, they asked Adrian Peterson,
who of course plays for Washington, if he would be
kneeling this season, and he said, without a doubt, I
think it won't be the idea or or of who's
not who's who's kneeling? Chris, The question will be who's
(04:09):
not kneeling? Do you know what I mean? As we
go forward, because of where we are and because of
this movement. So my point was if the NFL one
of the great ladies in the country, and I'm just
talking about uh iconic businesses, right, one of those institutions
that go back a long way. If they could make
(04:32):
a change, it might lead others into understanding that, yes,
Chris uh, the NFL can change. The NFL is willing
to make some concessions and change things. So my thing
is they should eliminate the national anthem. Nobody else in
(04:54):
the country has to do. Then has to stand up
for the national anthem before they work. Nobody garbage Man,
radio talk show host, Baker's Chris, Butcher's anybody else? Everybody
else gets up takes you didn't say Baker's Butcher's candlestick.
I was gonna do that close, but nobody but nobody
(05:18):
else does it. It doesn't make you less less important
or less of an American, Chris. When we go to
the movie theater, do you stand up for the national
anthem before the movie or the event? Did you go to? No?
And remember, Chris, when we were in school and the
pledge of allegiance used to stand up at your desk
(05:40):
put your hand on your heart. Do you remember that. Ye,
schools don't do that anymore. I'm not saying all don't,
but most don't. So that's gone by the wayside. And
two things that could come out of this for the
NFL A, you show that change can happen and that
it's not the end of the world. By making a
(06:02):
change and being you take the pressure off the players
to allow them to be stay focused on the message
and not have the pushback, because there still will be pushback,
Chris from where we are, and maybe some NFL fans
and some people who who aren't down for the cause,
who still don't understand what's going on, doesn't like it,
(06:24):
and we'll have a hard time seeing all these black
players kneeling down come, you know, prior to football games.
So just eliminate the whole thing, and then, Chris, not forever.
If there comes a time when we feel like this
country's in the right direction, people feel together, there's some
(06:45):
real unity, there's some fairness for everybody. Not perfect and
everybody's gonna be treated exactly the same, but improvement to
where we feel good and we're not a divided country,
and you want to bring that back and all people
feel cool about standing up and doing that, then you
could always reintroduce it. There's nothing wrong with it. Up
(07:08):
until two thousand and nine, NFL players were not not
required Chris to come out of the locker room for
the national anthem. It was only after the NFL started
collecting money, and I'm talking about individual teams in two
twenty fifteen, No, I mean after twenty two thousand and
(07:29):
nine they started getting teams got like six point nine
million dollars from the US Defense Department and also from
the National Guard. Then the flags came out. Then all
the players have to be standing out, then all the displays,
because it was used as a recruiting tool for young
(07:52):
guys to look at it and say, man, that's wow,
that's awesome. Look at the display and all that to
try to get young people to be interested in the
armed services. So my point is just this, we don't
need all that. The NFL could do a lot of
things if they just decide to step aside from the
national anthem. I hear what your your intention is, and
(08:14):
I think what you're saying is you would save players
the decision of whether or not to kneel or stand
for the national anthem. And let's face it, most of
us black, white, whatever our race or ethnicity may be,
you know we're not You don't think a lot about
(08:35):
the national anthem. When you're at a game, you know,
like you stand out of respect generally. But if they
if I went to a game and there was no
national anthem, I wouldn't really think twice, you know, not
just I just don't you know, you wouldn't think really
think about it. Here's the problem nor that I see
(08:58):
two of them in doing what, in your view would
be actually an act of trying to keep the peace.
On the one hand, you would take away the player's
vehicle for protest, even though it's not about the flag
or the anthem, it is the best opportunity they have
(09:22):
to protest to attention to this issue. That's fine, but
it's still part of that. And we're gonna get to
this later. But Snoop Dogg came out well. Matt Barnes
said he talked to Snoop Dogg and they both have
heard from players, NBA players who are and I talk
to some people today and heard the same thing. Some
(09:44):
NBA players they want to play, many of them want
to play July thirty first and onward, but they are
concerned that if they come back and play, they will
take away from all the attention that is focused on
the racial situation in this country, and you know, they'll
(10:06):
be what does everybody say we need a distraction. They
don't want to just be a distraction. Black Americans are
looking at this as a potential sea change in America,
including the great athletes, and so that is the attention.
We You don't want it to wane, you don't want
(10:27):
it to go away, and so you take away that opportunity. Yeah,
they could wear a black band on their arm or
you know, something like that. Yeah, but that that, you know,
it's not gonna be as strong in my view as
if they kneel during the anthems. See, And so I
think I think that's one thing. And I think the
(10:49):
second problem is that you will upset a lot of
fans who, like we said, they at this moment in time,
there's somewhat indifferent to the anthem, but they are they
view themselves as American patriots. Some of them even black
(11:09):
like that, but mostly white who if you take away
the national anthem, they are going to be upset. Donald
Trump will play it and he'll say the NFL has
sold out America, the NFL has taken away the national anthem.
They are unpatriotic. And those fans who will go watch
(11:32):
these players play, even as mad and upset as they
will be that they're kneeling for the anthem. They'll still
go watch them play, they'll still bet money on them
and all that, but they will be highly upset. I
believe if you take away there, they'll get used to
the dude's kneeling. But if you take it away altogether,
(11:54):
I think you could end up upsetting both sides. Now,
Black people might be like, oh, that's how you do it,
so now you take it away, because we were going
to protest, now you take it away. And white's on
the other side who are on the other side will
be like, oh, really, so now you're not patriotic NFL.
(12:15):
Now you don't care about the anthem, and so I
think you could upset both sides. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussar then
Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio Whip. All right,
let's get to Kevin Eucolus. Kevin, welcome to The Odd Couple.
(12:37):
We're good, great to have you on UM. I want
to ask you about your supporting your fellow alum from
the University of Cincinnati. That's where you played baseball, and
he's calling for the stadium to rename itself, take it,
take down March SHOT's name and rename it. What led
you to go ahead and support this young man? Yeah,
(13:01):
you know, first and foremost, I kind of keep a
low profile on a lot of things out there, And
you know, I think one of the things that people
talk about now was using your platform to do good,
and that's never my intent. I go out there and
then speak about things when I feel like it's the
right time to speak up. And the young players, you know,
(13:24):
young men at the Universe Cincinnati have got this petition
going and it's all based on what they've done to
research what the name March Shot means and her path
and different things she believed in. And you know, me personally,
I for many years have let's be like so people understand.
(13:46):
When I was at Universe Cincinnati, I played at Johnny
Benchfield and then they got this brand new stadium, that
state of the art and they funded it through the
March Shot Foundation. And I never was comfortable with that
name at the university that I love so much. That
taught me so much about different races, ifin ethnicities, different religions.
(14:08):
I have so many great friends that I made along
the way from there. And I'm a Jewish guy, and
if you do any research into the background of March
shot and thinks she believed in it went against my
values and my family's values of being part of the
Jewish community. So it was just hard to see that
name on there. And I said things to the powers
(14:31):
that be, and it's just complicated. You know, when people
give a lot of money to certain things, it's hard
to take away those donations and rename. So this is
the right time, and there's no better time than now
to to do this. And I'm just super proud of,
you know, the guys at Universe Cincinnati that has stepped
up and done their part. And Kevin, what you said
(14:55):
is so true when you see what's going on in
the country and all the young people out in the street,
and the different ethnic groups and different colors and all
kinds of people coming together saying, Okay, enough is enough.
We have to have changed what is it? Because sometimes
I'm watching and I just can't believe what I'm watching
(15:18):
and the number of people out there who really look
like they've had enough and they want to make some
real change in this world. Yeah, I think first and
first and foremost about the timing of all this. You know,
there's never a good time, right and the COVID and
just mentally people are just just going crazy because of COVID,
(15:40):
and then you know, the whole thing with George Floyd
that happened. I think the tensions of the country have
just risen so high for many different reasons. But you know,
for me personally, it's the things that I've witnessed, It's
things I've washed in my life. I've just seen so
many things. I've heard so many things. I mean, I
remember when I got told. I mean, I've been told
(16:00):
I'm going to hell for being Jewish to my face,
I've been I've been called different names, and you know,
I once punched somebody. I'm not proud of it because
I was called a derogatory name being Jewish. And you know,
it's one of those things that I was young, I
was dumb, I was a teenager, and it probably wasn't
the right way to handle this situation. And I've learned
(16:23):
from that. But I just I'm just super proud of
you know, I grew up in the nineties and I
tell people this the nineties were an amazing generation of
change and reform and ways where I remember like, just
you know, you get NWA, you know, you're getting Doctor Dre,
You're getting Tupac, You're getting Biggie and you know, Boys
(16:43):
in the Hood was so powerful, and you know, white
kids in the suburbs we got to like see this.
I mean, we were the first generation that got to
see this, and it was powerful in connecting. And I'll
tell you what my college experience and the friendships I made.
You know, my senior year, my roommate was black and
we had riots that year in Cincinnati, and we just
(17:05):
you know, sat around and shared stories of growing up,
being Jewish, growing up and being black, and I learned
a lot about that. And I just think that now
that I'm a father and I had children, and my
daughter's mixed, So you know, for me, is I want
them to grow up in a better world where people
don't care about their skin color, don't care about the religion,
don't care where they come from, you know, and it's
(17:27):
usually the parents where they come from. You know, most
of these kids are second generation. But I think it's
just one of those things where we just need to
break bread more. We need to sit down and have
dinner and talk about things and and not to and
not get defensive. You know, I think a lot of
people are getting really defensive and just listen. It's time
to listen and just and hear people out. Kevin, you
(17:47):
obviously play the majority of your career with the Red
Sox in Boston. You won two World Series there. You
probably saw the Communist by Tory Hunter where he said,
you know you more than a hun your times and
you know, just he actually had a no trade plause
in his contracts, so he wouldn't be traded to Boston
because of the races treatment he got there. What are
(18:10):
your thoughts on that? Well, you know, it hurts me.
You know, I know Tory as a person. I've always
had the utmost respect for him. It's probably one of
my favorite hitters that hits a high fastball, does a
lot of damage with that high heater. I would joke
around and say, if Tory Hunter played in the game today,
he's hit fifty home runs a year because everyone's thrown
(18:30):
up in the zone. So Tory man, he missed her
calling Man, you were born too soon, buddy, you would
have killed it, you know, even more. I mean, he
killed it then he would have been even better today.
But you know, Boston was tough, you know it, you know,
being a fan of favorite there being a white guy
being you know, Jewish, and Brookline right down the street
(18:51):
is a very Jewish neighborhood. I was lucky, you know,
they loved me. But I did see some tension with
even my own teammates. And there was one incident where
a fan came running down and was being extra harsh
towards one of our black players, and I just got
fed up and I stood up and I told him
to shut that up and if he doesn't like, to
(19:11):
get the hell out of here. And I'll never forget
that moment because I was boiling because you could just
see that it was this tension and it wasn't the
same tension that was towards a white player. But you know,
for the most part, I'd like to say too though,
the Red Sox fans, you know, it's not the majority,
it's a minority of people that act like that. But
(19:34):
you know, the minority is too big and you have
to eliminate that, and there's no place for that and
hatred towards you know, the black players that are on
the field, and I just I just feel awful. I've
always felt awful about it, and I wish I could
have done more to help those guys during that time. Hey, Kevin,
he got a new podcast. Can you tell people about
(19:55):
it real quickly? Yeah. So it's the Greek Got a
Hops podcast. It's it's on all your Spotify, your Apples
and thirty other different I think, various forms of a
tuning into. But I'm just sitting down with a bunch
of people. I got a group of Loma Brain Company
and Loma Coffee Company, a coffee roasting company, and I'm
(20:15):
gonna have various guests from baseball to beer, a coffee
to you know, all different types of people, and just
trying to sit down and get to talk to people
and learn about their professions and some of their success
stories they're some of their failures along the way too,
and just getting to know people and try to learn
and teach people that want to listen to some success
(20:36):
stories that might help them out in life. All right, Kevin,
great stuff, man, appreciating, Yeah, coming on and on real doing. Yeah,
definitely good luck with the podcast and thanks for the stories. Yeah,
thank you. Guys, 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
(20:58):
app search f SR to listen and live. You and
I have talked about it, We mentioned it earlier too.
This is could be a watershed moment in the history
of this country. Let's just face it, man, there has
been the problem, the biggest problem in this country since
(21:18):
before it was even you know, it's an independent country.
Before it was you know, the United States of America.
As far as being independent, racism has been the biggest
problem and as far as African Americans have come robbed.
And you know this, You're very successful. I'm very successful.
We know many there's many successful individual African Americans. But
(21:40):
even no matter how successful you are, there is still
a tension between you and your country. Right. We still
in our country that we have defended and fought, you know,
to protect. Like everyone else that we built, we still
will have to tell, you know, people in our family
(22:04):
how to watch out for the police, how to behave
yourself right when you get stopped. We still have to
tell them You're gonna have to be better than your
white American counterparts. We still have to tell them that
we still have to go out of our way to
affirm their greatness because you get so many signs outside
(22:26):
of your home and outside of the black community that
you're less than in our country. So there's always this
tension always, and this could be a moment if the
right things are done, where maybe that changes for good,
because I think we all, including many whites, would love
(22:47):
to just be able to move past this racial problem.
It's gonna take a lot, but I think it's a chance.
Some of those millennials thought at it. I think we
have mentioned this before, right, which was Obama was elected.
I remember like debating my nephew Alvin about this, who's
about thirty one years old. Chris and I always post racial,
(23:08):
that's that's what you Yes? He thought, Wow, yes, because
they had a black president. What do you You can't
tell us anything, do you know what I mean? Like seriously,
they were like, look, they voted for him. They didn't vote,
they didn't say, oh, they're not gonna vote for him
just because he's black. They voted for him and it
was and it was big time and he got elected again,
right right, But this still was a lot of things
(23:31):
that a lot of bad things happened during the time.
This is not just after, this is not just under
Trump that this stuff is going on. This was going
on for him a long time. Right. Well, basketball players
rib in the NBA they see this too. They feel
they see the potential that you and I and and
(23:53):
many around America, not just black, but many of us see.
And Matt Barnes, who's got the great podcast All the
Smoke with Stephen Jackson, he was on another podcast, The
Dunk Bait with Josiah Johnson recently, and he was saying
that he and Snoop Dogg the Rapper had heard from
(24:14):
players around the league that and Matt mentioned guys from
the Lakers and the Clippers that there are whispers about
some teams not being comfortable coming back and playing. I
did a little digging talk to some people around the league,
and what I've been told, Rob is that players, like
(24:39):
I've been told the Lakers flat out really want to
play because they Lebron is working out and he's working
out with some teammates and they are getting ready, James
Harden and Russell Westbrook putting in hard work. Like so players,
a lot of players want to play. But players are
a bit They don't want to come back and distract
(25:02):
the nation from what they see as real, legitimate possibility
for change. They don't want to take away from the
focus on George Floyd and combating systemic racism and combating
the social injustice and things like that. They you know, Rob,
(25:22):
we hear it. People say, what we need a distraction.
Sports is a distraction. We need baseball, we need football,
we need basketball to just distract us from the negative
stuff that's happening. Well, these players don't want to be
a distraction. They want people to focus. They look under
(25:43):
We all understand, Rob, because the nation was on lockdown
because there are no sports going on right now. I'm
not saying there wouldn't have been any attention on George Floyd,
but it wouldn't have been like this, And so I
think I think it gets would have got a lot
of attention. But I people are right, it wouldn't have
been like this because people are going to work there
(26:05):
at least, you know, now you're at your house all day,
even if you're working. Yeah, it's a lot easier only
because so many people are at home, right And so
that's what some players are feeling they don't want to
distract from this moment. Do you think they have And
I'm not saying they're not gonna play, but do you
think they have a legitimate concern? I'm not so sure
(26:28):
that them not playing people are going to up the
whole country's gonna be like, oh, okay, the playoffs are
going on in Orlando. Now I'm gonna drop this to
the side. There are a lot of people in the
grassroots out there working on this, Chris, and I don't
think they're gonna let this moment. Not that there's anything
wrong with having basketball as well, and I don't think
it's going to derail it's it's it's two things. I
(26:54):
understand maybe not wanting to h you know, derail this thing,
and like the thought process, but it's also a little
like like the country's gonna stop because they're playing basketball again.
I think that's a little night night. Yeah. Look, I
(27:14):
think they're going to play, but I think their concerns
are legitimate. Um And I'm not saying there'll be no
attention on this, but we see this all the time.
I mean, this isn't new. I mean how many it
started at least recently with Trey Von Martin, And I mean,
how many more have happened since then? And this is
(27:36):
the one that has resonated, And I agree with you
that I think it will continue to resonate. Why can't
they swear Black Lives Matter h stuff or T shirts
or you know, like even when they're playing, or armband, Chris,
maybe that's your so that as you watch the game,
what about that? Because put on Black Lives Matter? So
(28:00):
every time we watch Lebron and we watch Anthony Davis,
so Kawhi Leonard, you see that every single time. That's
the way of making a statement and still being you
know what I mean, keeping people's focused on it. I
do think from what I was told that that is
the way the Lakers are looking at it. Like they
do want to make some type of statement, but they
want to play and so and they know that's a
(28:22):
big platform, right, That's gonna be a huge platform for
them to make a statement on it. And I'm sure
they're not the only team. The Lakers might have a
lot of time anyway after the first round, so they
might be losing it in the first round. I'm just saying,
stop it, stop it.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.