June 15, 2020 • 44 mins
Chris Broussard and Rob Park talk about the Kyrie Irving player’s call on whether the league should return or not this season. Howard Beck joins the show to discuss how the coronavirus will impact the contracts of players entering free agency and the season resuming. Chris and Rob wonder if sports should return in 2020 amid coronavirus concerns and if they do, whether they can keep people safe. Plus, Bill Plaschke says despite being terrible Rob Manfred’s job is not in jeopardy, that Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley speak for more players than we think and why it is still possible we won’t see sports in 2020.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the best of the Odd
Cup Off with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. Kyrie Irving
on Friday led a conference call with roughly eighty players
eighty plus players from the NBA someone from the w
(00:41):
NBA as well, and they talked about should they play
this upcoming season. Now it's been widely reported that, you know,
Kyrie is pushing everybody not to play. I talked to
somebody on the call and they said, this is what
they told me. They said, because we know Rober we couldgo.
(01:02):
Kyrie voted, you know, to play this season, right, And
then in conversations after that with other players, he began
hearing from other guys that they weren't happy because they
felt like their voices weren't being hurt, like they didn't
really have a say in this vote, and people didn't
take into consideration their thoughts. So that's why he called
(01:23):
this call on Friday, I'm told, was to let everybody
share their views so everybody could feel included. Now, he
definitely does not feel like the players should play, and
he shared that in no uncertain terms that he feels
like because of the racial unrest, because it feels like
(01:43):
it could be a seminal moment in terms of racial
relations in this country, that he feels like the players
should sit it out and just I guess focus on
the social injustice. And he let that be known, made
this case, but also said, look, but whatever you guys
want to do, I'm with it. This is just my opinion.
Heard there were a few other players we've seen reports,
(02:06):
Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley, I heard other players also shared
Kyrie's view. Who else but right, Well, Mitchell was more, yeah,
and that's the thing, Like everybody, it wasn't completely about
the racial situation. That was the main thing. And then
play right the COVID nineteen Donovan Mitchell feels like they'll
be out of shape and then that increases the you know,
(02:28):
the chances of getting hurt the bubble. As you said,
so where are you kind of add on all of this, robe,
I guess, I mean, I think we we've made it
clear you think they should play, but kind of what
are your thoughts on what what transpired? No, I think
that uh. And I wrote a column for deat Spend
basically saying, you know, I know people want to discount
(02:49):
Kyrie Irving because he said the Earth is flat and
he doesn't think Christmas is a holiday, and he said
some stuff. But in this case, I think he's right
on from the stand point of I think he has
a legitimate concern about missing a golden opportunity, and I
think he's speaking for some people. And what people don't
(03:10):
know and I've noticed on Twitter and social media Chris
is they don't know he's the VP of the union,
so they yes, So so he's a mouthpiece. He should
be out there like this whole thing. Oh, he's just
trying to derail Lebron. I just like, dude, stop, come on, man.
He's a union rep. He's one of the guys, right,
(03:32):
so when people come to him and say, hey, I
don't feel that comfortable, and even a Dwight Howard, I
think that that that says a lot. Dwight Howard has
a chance to win his first championship after all these
years in the league, and for him to say that
he'd rather have a big win for his community rather
than a championship. That's real talk. I mean, who stop
(03:54):
with the Lebron. It's about Lebron. It's not I think
that that's that's ridiculous. It's about It's ridiculous that ain't
even a guarantee that Lebron's gonna bring. They're not the favorite, right,
So I don't even get why people think because some
people don't want to play, it's it's it's them trying
(04:14):
to derail Lebron. I mean, I think that's so ridiculous,
especially given the climate Chris, what's going on. I think
Kyrie and the and the and the uh, the people
who are saying that maybe they don't want to play Chris,
all I'm saying is they are legit in their in
their claim. I don't think it's off the wall, That's
(04:35):
all I'm saying. I'm with you. Look, I actually like
Kyrie's sentiment because to me, this is a sign that
African American athletes are recognizing finally the power they have. Yes,
I believe Rob, I don't know if you agree or not.
I believe African American athletes have more power to change
(04:59):
society than any other group of African Americans in the country,
including politicians. No, I agree that politicians. We saw we Sawara,
we got black mayors all over the place. We saw
Barack Obama and couldn't get much done right, and this
stuff was going on under him. But you don't remember
they stonewalled him. He tried, right. It's not it's not
(05:21):
that it's not a dictatorship. But the athletes because of
their popularity, because of their wealth, because of their connections
to corporate America through endorsements and marketing, and because of
their unique skill set where nobody else can do what
they do at the level they do it. They are
(05:41):
irreplaceable and that's why I think they can. They should
use that leverage to push for things, not so much
for themselves because obviously they've got pretty much everything, but
for the Black community as a whole, and now do
I I haven't heard a plan. All I've heard is
(06:02):
we should sit out. Sitting out just to sit out,
I don't think accomplishes anything. But what I say they
should do is, first of all, they need to come
up with some asks from the NBA. Adam Silver's a
player's commissioner. He's got a good relationship with the stars.
Put some asks together. Rock the NFL, who we all
(06:24):
know is not as progressive as the NBA, but they've
committed two hundred and fifty million dollars to fight systemic
races now over ten years with the money they make
is at a ton No. But it doesn't when and
I'm not knocking it right, it's not when you when
you talk about two hundred and fifty million dollars over
ten years, it just doesn't have the same no. But
(06:47):
my point is this something and the top on top
of the ninety million they gave a couple of years,
so three hundred and fifty million roughly. Again, I get
it over ten years, only twenty five million a year.
It's less than a million per teen per year. But
it's something I'm saying the NBA hasn't committed to that.
I think the players should make asks of Adam Silver.
(07:12):
Seems like ask of the owners. I think they should,
you know, I think they should make it a requirement
that every NBA owner in his corporations outside of the
NBA that he has management trainee programs for black college
graduates because the number of black people in management and
(07:33):
executive positions in this country is way low, as half
as low as it should be or half as high
as it should be. And so this is how you
make systemic change. And people can talk about, well, wait
a minute, that's not fair. That's that's automatically given a
position to an African American. We just talked about Kyle Shanahan, Rob,
(08:00):
we just talked to Joe Judge, a special teams coach,
to keep talking about it. Eric being to me ten
years running back coach, two years offensive coordinator, wins the
Super Bowl as an OC no job, but a special
team coach get a job. Kyle Shanahan, you you pick,
pointed out his his foibles and he gets a six
(08:20):
year extension. Uh yeah, Gruden gets ten years, one hundred million.
Cliff Kingsbury couldn't even win, have three losing seasons and
in college and he gets a big deal. So stop,
they don't when you're white in this country, it's seventy
percent white. You don't have to put white on it.
(08:44):
But there's a quota system, believe it. And so yeah,
that's what I'm saying the players need to ask demands
like that, get these owners to make major the contributions
to HBCUs. Rob. We see players now open to going
top basketball players. We've seen to them. It's Chris, make
(09:05):
these owners or the league or both donate to HBCUs
so they can get their facilities up right, build it
up so that these places are definitely and then also
where they can get better TV deals Chris and have
ESPN could be in it or Fox stuff right, that's
(09:26):
what you got to do because people, right, people are
dying for programming. So there you go, put the league together,
start getting some players like as they're getting. Yeah, but
we need to hear about this because I think the
people have really the Kyrie Irvin thing. I think people
have really, whether you agree or disagree, the notion that
(09:48):
you could just discount him like like it doesn't have
any validity. That's the problem I'm having. You could disagree
Chris or agree with you know what I mean, But
to think that it has no validity. Look, he's right.
I don't know if they think the notion that players
she couldn't play it doesn't have validity or shouldn't play,
(10:08):
or if they're just trying to write off Kyrie. But
I agree with you, he shouldn't be written off. He
is a smart guy. The earth being flat notwithstanding, right, Right,
But but you know what I wrote that that's gonna
you know that, right, I mean, you understand in this case. Here,
in this case, I think you got you gotta listen
(10:30):
to what he's saying. Well, the problem is there's no plan.
And that's the problem I'm starting to see with the protests.
And I'm not I think I like the protests, but
at some point you have to have some strategy and defunding.
I know they're calling for defunding the police or reallocating
the funds. That's not all this is about. We keep
(10:51):
talking about this about systemic racism, that includes the economy,
that includes education, and where what what are the talking points?
Where's the organism? The civil rights movement was very organized
and strategic and so and it's the same thing with
the players. They need to strategize and I think get
with people outside of them themselves, educators, economists who can
(11:14):
really help them come up with some asks, realistic ask
of the NBA. And it may not be time, they
may not have enough time to do it, but get
your act together. Play this, you know, in the next
month or two, and then down the road. Get your
stuff together and you'll be able to make some ask
and or demands of the NBA. And you and I
(11:35):
Rob have both talked about sometimes the players may need
to threaten not to play. Yeah, sometimes sometimes that that
has to be in play in order to get things changed.
I mean, sometimes you just have to do it. Thanks
for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to
check us out live every weekday from seven pm to
ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
(11:59):
Find your low Cool station for The Odd Couple at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
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We got Howard Beck coming up right now. In the
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(12:23):
Learn more Discover dot com. Slash credit scorecard limitations apply. Howard,
Welcome to the Eye Couple, Buddy, gentlemen, How are you
doing good? How are you? How are you doing well,
doing well, thank you, good good, Well, let's let's get
right to it um any chance. I've talked to people
around the league and doesn't seem like there's any stopping
(12:44):
the momentum toward playing, at least at this moment. Do
you think the car that they had with Kyrie Irving
and other players, COVID, whatever, any of this, done anything to,
you know, lessen the chances of them playing. I don't
think anything is likely to derail d NBA restart in Orlando,
(13:06):
other than the possibility of some major surge in cases
of COVID, which is not impossible. I mean, it's not
on the table at all. In fact, the numbers keep
climbing in Orange County, Florida, where Orlando is located, and
that has to be a serious concern for the NBA. Now,
(13:28):
as I've said, no matter what the context is of
this whole plan for the last few weeks, and we'll
continue to say it to anybody who will listen, we're
still like six weeks out from the first games that
are scheduled to be played, and a lot can change,
And as we have all seen in the last few
months in this country and in this world, things have
changed dramatically in ways that we never could have imagined,
both with the virus, with social unrest and the movement
(13:51):
that is ongoing right now are there is no way
to anticipate where any of this goes or what other
new things may arise between now and July thirtieth. So um,
I think it'll probably happen. I think that the chances
are very high that the NBA season will resume as scheduled.
If it doesn't happen, it probably won't be because of
(14:13):
player concerns. But that said, it may happen without some
of those players, Like I don't know what what percentage
it will be, but there's a very good chance and
almost a certainty that some players won't go. Howard, what
do you make of if obviously Lebron wants to play,
(14:34):
a chance to win a championship and whatnot. But then
when Dwight Howard and Abe Bradley were like, well, we're
not that, you know, keen on playing, do you see
that being an issue? Could it be? Could there be
a situation where maybe some guys don't play and they
have to be replaced if they don't, you know, like
(14:54):
if they don't want to be a part of the
Orlando thing. Would that be a possibility. Yes, absolutely, I
think that is absolutely on the table. Talked to to
a high ranking team official last week when some of
the stuff was bubbling up, who said, we have to
be prepared for the possibility that they're going to be
replacement players that you're fifteen man roster or I think
(15:15):
they're preparing to bring seventeen per team to have that
buffer just in case of the virus or anything else
that comes up that there. The expectation is, yeah, we
may have to replace a couple of guys before we go,
and maybe you're going to have teams that lose significant
rotation players either out of concern. Listen, there's a whole
(15:36):
list of things here right. Some guys may not want
to go because they would prefer to focus on Black
Lives Matter on this moment, this movement, and they believe
that that it's best to put their energy there. There
are some who may not want to go because they
are concerned for their health, whether it's because of the
virus and exposure, or whether it's because of the rush
back to play and maybe feeling more vulnerable and that
(15:57):
it could endanger their longngevity in the yeah, and then
on the almost kind of the opposite side of that,
there are plenty of guys, and I think there's a
lot more of this than we know, that are concerned
with the restrictions of the bubble, that they don't want
to live in isolation and with all the rules that
are going to be imposed upon them for anywhere from
seven to seventeen weeks, and so any number of those
(16:18):
things could cause guys to withdraw. They won't get paid,
but there's no penalty either. Do they get paid anyway? Howard?
I thought they don't get paid through in the playoffs, right,
it's just the well but well so the playoffs is
a different thing, right, right, But if if you're you're
losing a portion of your paycheck, there's those eight uh
(16:41):
seeding games. Is that they're referring to them, these these
regular season games, those eight games. If you're remember of
the Phoenix Suns and you're probably playing only those eight
games because you're not making the playoffs and you didn't
show up, you're losing eight eight paychecks or not, right,
but but you don't make it, but you don't get
paid for the playoffs. There's a pool that depending on
(17:02):
how far you go, you get a check each player.
But that's why I try to tell people think that
they're losing their salaries by not playing in the postseason ahead,
because I just want to if and I have I've
heard all the stars, you know, Kauhi and Paul, George,
Harden and Westbrook, obviously lebron A d that they want
to play. But let's say hypothetically a few superstars didn't
(17:26):
want to play. Then do you think the league might
rethink this? Because do you talk about an asterisk? I mean,
if some of the superstars decide not to play, I
think the league would need to maybe rethink it. It
would depend on the star, right, I mean there's all
different levels of star in this league, and some are
(17:47):
bound for the playoffs and some are not. You know, um,
I don't want to pick on anybody, but I mean
there are certain guys who I don't think would superstar. Yeah, yeah, stars,
They're like five to ten guys who are really full
into that description. Um. I will just say this, I
think the league is prepared to play regardless of who
shows or who doesn't. I think that they're determined to
(18:11):
get these games in and to recoup that nine hundred
million to a billion dollars that they can get by
having these games on TV. And they'll do it no
matter what it takes. It would be a lot different
if it were Lebron and Kauhi and Dame Lillard and
some of the like the guys, the really high profile guys,
Anthony Davis, James Harden. If those guys decided not to
(18:35):
go or just took a stand and said to the NBA,
we don't think this is right for whatever reason, then
the league would have to reconsider. But I don't I
don't think that that's going to happen. I don't think
we're anywhere near that. I agree with you on that. Quickly,
we got about a minute left. These young players Jason Tatum,
de Aaron Fox, Yeah, wanting the insurance because they're in
(18:57):
life of Max deal's. Do you think there's any chance
they get that or would it be a maybe half
and half or what? I don't know how to address that.
I mean, it's that's that's a that's a that's a
complicated issue. And but this is part of the peril
of bringing back teams, especially the guys on teams that
are not going anywhere like Daron Fox, where the Kings
aren't making it and you're bringing them back to train
(19:18):
so they can play eight exhibition games. Essentially they're going
to count the standings but they're not really worth anything
and then tell them to go home again. Um, you
know it's these guys have to make that decision for themselves.
What they can do to try to ensure against that,
I don't know. Yeah, that's good, all right, Howard, Thank
you so much for now. Will you be going to Orlando?
(19:40):
Did you know anything about with the with a few
seconds we have left. I don't know if I can
fully explain, but I'm gonna say chances are no. Okay,
all right, man, Well stay I don't want to cover
that Mickey Mouse Championship anyway. All right, thanks fellas. All right, Howard.
That's Howard Beck does a great job of covering the
league for bleacher Report. Also check out his podcast is
(20:01):
called The Full forty eight. 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 app. I'm gonna run
it down First, we have, as we just said, baseball,
(20:22):
the players and the owners can agree on the money.
And Rob Manfred, the commissioner, said today after last week
saying he's one hundred percent certain well baseball. He goes
on ESPN today and says, I AM not confident about
us playing baseball now. And then Tony Clark, the president
(20:48):
of the Players Association, pulling his best Malcolm x impersonation. Rob,
did you see that statement he released just a little
while ago, hardcore or fire he throws at Manfred and
so well. But Jeff Passing from ESPN say he hasn't
seen these two sides this far apart since nineteen ninety four.
(21:12):
But the only thing I don't get here is twenty
six years of labor piece Chris right, which is unbelievable
for baseball. They're just on the verge. They just signed
a big deal with Turner TBS. And the only thing, Dude,
I'm not Look. Look, the players are fought for their union.
They have the strongest union in the country. But Chris,
(21:34):
I just have a little bit of a problem with
the idea that baseball players don't think that they should
give up anything when everybody else in the country's given up.
So I agree you and have given up money, right
and we and we and now we have guaranteed contracts,
don't you have one? We both have a guaranteed contract
(21:54):
And why we give it up? Because you understand what's
going on? People, more people in the company could get paid. Yeah,
honestly it was here FS at FS Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Certain people did that. They gave up
parts of their salary. Do you know what everybody else
(22:14):
could stay employed? And so willingly like, that's fine, right,
I know what you could have Chris, you could have
a right, you have a gara. Well they say it
was voluntary, right, it has to be voluntary. It was voluntary,
so yeah, but nobody and everybody fought it. No willingly
And we're not making what the baseball players are made.
(22:35):
We don't know the money. And I'm not you know, typically,
I think both of us are always on the side
of the players in general, always Chris always yeah, but
I'm just saying for them, not with no fans, no concession,
no part I'm sorry. I can't stand with them on this.
I just can't. It's and Tony Clark is mad because
(22:57):
what could happen Chris is not on. Only do none
of those players make any money this year? Okay, no money?
Can you imagine if you're if you're a Trout or
Harper making thirty five and you get make no money?
And do you think you're gonna make money next year? Like?
Like what free agents are you signing? Seriously like the
(23:17):
sportsmanly damaged and then guys that would have been free
agents right there looms a season right it permanently Mookie
Bets was in line to be the four hundred million
dollars player. Chris, you think he's getting four hundred million
next year? No, it's the same deal with basketball, And
say so that's one situation, right. We of course have
(23:39):
the NBA, which we already talked about. Kyrie and some
other players don't want to play for various reasons. So
you got that, and you have COVID surgeon in Florida
where they're they're supposed to play. Then you had today
the news broke that several Cowboys and Texans in looting
(24:00):
the Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, the superstar they have COVID.
And then John Harbaugh and I commend him on just
telling it like it is at least it seems to
be like it is to me. On the radio, he
broke it down on what the NFL the rules they
gave these teams. Robbed for coming back as as an
(24:24):
NFL team. When you have your two A days and
you're ready to practice. Here's what John Hardball said about it.
Nobody knows, and the experts don't know, and you know,
everybody wants to CYA at two. So I've seen I've
seen all the memos on that, and to be quite
honest with you, it's impossible what they're asking us to do,
humanly impossible. So we're gonna do everything we can do.
We're gonna we're gonna space, we're gonna have masks. But
(24:46):
you know, it's a communication support. So we want to
get out there and actually have any idea about what
we're doing on the field. We've got to be able
to communicate with each other in person. We have to practice,
and I'm pretty sure the huddle's not gonna be six
feet space and we see it in college. But the
players getting COVID last week Houston, I think in Iowa State,
I believe it was. But Rob at this point, I'm
(25:09):
just starting Alabama to us. Yeah, are experts, and we
don't know what you know, it's going on with the virus,
what's going on with you know, any of this other stuff.
But do you think at this point those are just
four examples we could have had more? Are they being like,
should the leagues just scrap the seasons or you know,
(25:35):
not think about playing playing right now? Or what I mean?
Because this is you heard horrible. How in the world
are you gonna play football when they're and essentially other
than the game, they're asking you to social distance. It
doesn't make sense, Chris. You're gonna be on top of
each other, and I don't know how in the world
you're gonna keep people safe. I just let's just be honest.
(25:58):
We all want sports, man, this is what we do
for a living. We our whole lives have been changed
upside down. Chris. It sucks. I don't even know what
other word to use, Chris, Okay, but I don't understand
how they are going to keep people safe. Uh you
just see it. Uh. Zekiel Elliot is not even playing
(26:18):
now and he got it. I mean, same thing. You
go into the bubble, Chris, all the people who are working,
the other people in Disney. They're not quarantine. They're going
out into Orlando, into the society and going home to
their families and whatnot. How and they come in the
back in the bubble and serving people food and drinks.
(26:39):
And and if I was a you know, a person
working in a restaurant, you think I'm trying to be
cooped up in a bubble for three months. You know, No,
they're not, because they're not willing to pay you enough
to make you be cooped up so so so you're
not gonna pay them to be away from their family.
I just I don't know, Chris. It just seems like
(27:00):
it's getting away from us. Yeah, it does. And like
I said, and again we're not experts, but I'm just
looking at what they're saying, the doctors and epidemiologists that
a surge is already underfoot and in the southern parts
of the United States. And so that makes you wonder.
I do, rob I do think that there are a
(27:23):
number of people out there who are like, just play,
let's just do whatever we normally do, and if you
get it, you get it, and thinking it's not you know,
it's not gonna be fatal to most people that I
think that's where a lot of people are at and
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the athletes are
(27:45):
like that. Obviously others are not, and they're very concerned
about it. And you brought up the bubble rob. I
talked to a player yesterday about this NBA player and
he said, look, some of these guys wives are pregnant,
Like they don't want to be away from their wife
and their child in a bubble Christian. They don't want
(28:06):
to bring them in because if you know what I mean,
like it's you know, I certainly don't want your pregnant
wife or a child getting it. Do you remember the
Remember when they first came up with the idea and
I said, guys are really going to be away from them,
not make love to their wives for three months, Chris,
and not hug their kids for three months. I just
you're asking somebody to do something that during a pandemic
(28:28):
and during what's going on in the country, you're asking
people to do a lot. That's it really is. And
again you see so many obstacles, I mean, beyond the
obstacles of figuring out how we're gonna play, where we're
gonna play, will we be in one spot, two spots.
Will we travel beyond that? Now, you the people in
(28:49):
the actual sports right now, they're raising concerns. It just
seems Look again, I don't know. I'm not the expert.
And part of the problem. You want sports, I want
sports nice to talk about some actual sports. Yeah, I'm dying,
other than what everybody's saying, you know, and to watch them,
(29:12):
as you said, like no question, and I mean you
talk about if they do come back. I mean you
talk about being in for a treat. You have high
intensity baseball games because there's so few of them, a
basketball will be playoff intensity, and football always is that
because there's so few games. So I mean, you're talking
(29:34):
about it being a tremendous fall for sports, but is
it wise? Is it worth it for the players? And
this is where beyond the racial unrest rob this is
where the players, and I'm sure some of them feel it.
You begin feeling like is it a guinea pig or
(29:58):
just you know what I mean, like everybody else's is,
you know, working from home for the most part, but
we're brought out here under these bizarre circumstances to entertain everybody. Yep,
And that is that's what some athletes have to have
an issue with. I get it. I mean this is
(30:20):
a such a slippery slope. Chris wee one on one
standpoint a month or six weeks ago, Chris, we would
have died for some games just to because we will
what stuck in the house right with the pandemic going on,
and we watched the Michael Jordan documentary because man, we
look forward to it. Even though the episodes were out there,
(30:41):
you could have watched them all at once. You kind
of wanted to watch them every Sunday to have something
to die. I didn't. You got him right, because I
had him, but I didn't watch him. No. I got
word to that Sunday night me too. I was like,
I watch him. Now what am I? What am I
gonna the rest of the weekend? Right right? But it's
I you know, we all, as you said, we all
(31:05):
want sports, but we also want these guys to you know,
not put their health in danger, and we don't want
it to also you know, bleed into the next seasons,
because I guess that's a possibility too. Thanks for listening
to the Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to catch us
live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm Eastern
(31:28):
four to seven pm 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 s R. He's a
friend of the show. He's a sensational columnist on the
(31:48):
La Times, the great Bill Plashki joining the Eye Couple.
What's up? Man? What's up going on? I just want
to tell you guys, I'm not Rob Man will be
on the show today. Oh hey, I just saw you
a tweet where you took the commissioner to task and
(32:12):
this is what Bill Platsky just tweeted. Uh. The MLB
owners are fools, the players are shortsighted. But Man doesn't
individual look more incompetent in all this than Rob manfred
um As. Anybody who was affected by a Dodger TV
blackout already knows the dude is one lousy commissioner. Bill,
(32:34):
real quick, I'm just gonna look, I'm gonna put two
things out. Yes, this is no way we should be
in this spot, considering where we are. People looking for
baseball this summer. Did the players, though, Chris and I
are agreement with this, everybody else has had to be furloughed,
taking pay cuts. Uh unemployments forty million people, all the
(32:56):
other stuff. And the players don't feel like they they
should not be take more of a hit than than
they're willing to give. It. Just something I'm missing with
the players are not No. I think the players. Initially,
I think they were both wrong, and I ripped both
them in the LA Times. There were both idiots and
they should have agreed one time ago. But as time
(33:16):
went on and the owners kept kept trying to change,
you know, the rules of what they had agreed upon,
the air promated salaries, the games kept getting less and
less and less and less. So the players in a
brilliant move, but I think it's I think it was effective.
They came out yesterday and said, will play tell us
where it tell us when they're already taken if they
started the season, you know, if they got this season
(33:37):
going in the next month or so, they're already taken
a fifty to seventy percent pay cut. So and so,
which is fine? Which is which is I mean? I mean,
I'm taking a pay cut, dude. We all we're taking
pay cuts everybody. So I just think the owners at
some point have got to say, let's just start the season.
(33:58):
Let's just start the season, go with what we agreed
upon back in March with the players, get it started
for you know, they're they're they're they're they're trying to
save pennies here, so they're now they're talking about stalling.
So basically I think they're stalling the owners because they
won a forty eight game season, which would be complete
sham because that would be cheaper for them. Yea, but change,
(34:19):
But then things change when they're no when when you
talk about no fans, no parking, no concessions, no stadium merchandise,
that that's a big hit. That's not a big hit.
It seems like a big hit with that. Well, but
they're getting all this TV money on the back end.
They just signed a billion dollars deal with with what
(34:41):
TB GBS. Yeah, so they I just don't in this battle.
And then I'm generally even even on both sides in
this battle, I'm going with the billionaires instead of the billionaires.
I'm blaming the billionaires. I just think the owners and
maybe I'm burned because of what happened here in La
how the ownership let the Dodgers go six years being
on TV because they want to make some money. I
(35:02):
just think the ownership in this case, at this point,
right now in negotiations, you were players are ready to
play pam pam per game. They've already missed again, They've
already so they're already taking a fifty and seventy percent
pay cut, just paying out for the rest of the season.
I just think that's silly, not to suicide, not to
Bill Plaska, the La Times, joining the eye couple. You
(35:22):
mentioned Manfred earlier, and you know he's had gaff after gaff.
I mean, calling the trophy a piece of metal, the cheating, scandals,
all this stuff, and that's only a little bit of it.
He doesn't like. They don't I don't like. I don't
think he likes baseball. Well, they don't play Bill or
maybe even if they do his could his job be
(35:45):
in jeopardy No, because he's doing the owners one. I
think he's doing what the owners like, he's being their mouthpiece.
But he's terrible the owners because the owners are so stupid.
They've got to realize what a bad representative of this is.
And he should have taken more control and save the
game and talk to the owners into this. He should have,
you know, steered them in the right direction. So I
(36:05):
blame him, but the owners hired him. I think the
owners are probably probably doing their biddings, so he's probably
you know, but I like confront. I wish he was stronger.
So he'll go down as employed, but he'll go down
as a week week commissioner. Now let's switch over to
the NBA, And what do you make of like Dwight
Howard and Avery Bradley saying we kind of aside with
(36:27):
ky we about not playing. Do you see that as
as could that be a potential or an issue as
we go forward with playing in the bubble and Lebron
and the Lakers or no, I think it should be.
And I'm I'm upset that everybody because because Lebron wants
us to happen and all the stars when went this
to happen, everybody's discounting Kylerie or discounting Dwight, or discounting
(36:49):
every Bradley. I think these players speak for more players
than you think. And I agree, I think it's an issue,
and I get tired. I am tired of people with
a financial investment in this thing. Where pushing to get
this done at the expense of what What is the
real concerns about players? I think the coronavirus is a
huge concern. The cases in the Orange County, Florida, Orlando
(37:12):
is are spiking every day down there. That's long term
houstons are and I think they would the whole optics
of this are bad. The optics could be bad if
these players putting themselves at risk. For these billionaire owners
to be quarantined for three months to provide us entertainment,
that takes away from the narrative that these guys are
human beings with lives that we've ignored for too long,
(37:32):
with wives and kids in the pandemic. It makes me mad.
Do you think that Lebron and his cronies are trying
to strong arm this thing through? That's what it seems
like to me. On again, I know they have a
lot of say with Adam Silver, I know that for sure.
Um have you heard Bill? Everything I've heard from around
(37:55):
the league and out with the LA teams too, is
that the stars we want to play obviously, the Brown
and A d Kawhi and Paul George and Houston Harden
and Westbrook. Have you heard anything to the contrary, like
maybe some Clippers are are weird leery of it, more
Lakers than just the white nag or anything like that. No,
(38:16):
I've heard the Stars want to play this players where
the good teams want to play. Lebron wants Lebron's legacies
at stage here. He meant, this is his best last chance, right, Yeah, yeah,
but I would hate to see the league go down there,
and who knows if they get started and if you
even been able to finish. Right, So, if they put
if they put players at risk, I mean, I don't
know what y'all think about it, but if they put play,
(38:36):
I think these are real concerns that I'm upset or
being ignored by the mainstream. A lot of media's ignoring him,
they're discounting and all Kyrie's and idis. He's a platist guy.
What does he know? Uh, he's also very socially conscious
and you have to listen to him. I agree with
and we're not. Yeah, it's dangerous. It's it's leading the
(38:57):
NBA's leading the dangerous to play the dangerous game year game.
We were asking earlier, Bill, because you got the NBA,
and obviously the doubts of several players, many players, dozens
of players. You've got football today, just several Texans and
Cowboys came down with the virus. You got John Hardball
saying the rules they've given us are impossible to follow.
(39:21):
You got the baseball problems and getting on the field.
We were wondering, should they just kind of scrap this
this season, these seasons that they're talking about playing, because
you know, like you said, the virus is spiking in
a lot of places, and they're just seemed to be
obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. You think these leagues are
(39:42):
being are wrong for pushing through the way they appear
to be trying to do well. That's a great question.
I wrote in the column about two months ago. I
wrote there could there might not be any sports at
all in twenty twenty. And I think that's still possible.
But I think they I can see them trying, and
they're planning it out and everything like that. But let's
see what happens. Let's see what happens if the NBA
(40:02):
actually goes down here, what happens once they get there?
I guess, I guess I don't blame them for scheduling
and trying to make it happen, but shame on them
if if if a player gets because this disease. I
know that the young people get over it quickly, but
if it can affect you the rest of your life,
have shown that let me. I think I think that
(40:24):
they should try, but I think they should be willing
to cut the cord at the first sign of trouble.
They should be willing to get out of that bubble
at the first sign of trouble. Here's another thing that
that potentially could happen. We already know. We've heard some
big time quarterbacks are saying, uh and big time NFL
players that they're going to kneel during the national anthem
(40:44):
if the NFL season kicks off. What about the NBA,
which has in their CBA that players can't protest during
the can't I supposed to be so woke, but I'm
trying to figure out what's going to happen here. Um,
if they do play these games in the bubble in Orlando. Well,
I want to come on this earlier about things that
(41:06):
needed to change in the sports world. There are a
lot of racist things, including you know, the Redskins a
tomahawk job, and I wanted to write, NBA. I was
going to write this that the NBA needs to let
these players kneel. But I talk certa people from the NBA,
and they're like, the players feel like they've already got
a good voice there. They're able to wear T shirts,
They're able to protest, They're able to to to uh,
(41:29):
you know, say their piece and and say who they
are and and be real. And I think they're so
they don't fight the NBA on that. They give the
NBA that, but it's so Unamerican bill when you really
think about it. No, I agree, and I agree, But
the players are the NBA players themselves, who are the
most socially aware, you know, athletes on we have on
(41:50):
a lot of planet, are not upset by because they
feel Adam Silver lets them where that I cannot breathe
T shirts. He let the they're back. They have their
backs at the difference in the other sports. So I
don't think we'll see that we saw remember when the
Clippers put the entire warm up jerseys in the middle
of a Florida you got rid of Donald Sterling. Repeat. Yeah,
(42:11):
So they feel like they're they're heard. So no, But
I asked the exact same question, I said, does this
need to change? And several people representing players said no,
the players are okay because they do feel like they
are heard. Bill, we got about a minute left. You
wrote a great column about how you know, if the
NFL is serious about all this talk about, you know,
systemic racism and up, you know, apologizing for squelching the
(42:35):
player protests last year or in the past few years,
they should put Kaepernick on the team. Do you think
he has a legitimate chance of ending up on a roster. Yes.
I think somebody will sign him. I think they have to.
They cannot get by. He started this whole movement, repeat's sake.
They cannot continue to blackball him. He'll be second string,
(42:57):
he'll be a backup, and the team's him, you know,
and heck, he may get cut. He may not even
make it because he didn't played in three years. Somebody's
gonna sign him. Somebody's gonna have to sign him. They
just have to. I can't imagine the league, and I
can't managining Goodell. At the end of the day, Goodell
finally really putting on the adel said today you know,
he's he's elbow at these teams to do it. I
(43:17):
can't believe he wouldn't put the hammer down and call
in a favor from somebody to do this. I can't
believe he wouldn't do this. I agree. I hope you
know right. You know he look at the Rams in
twenty fifteen. I think it was the last round. Who
did they take in the draft? Michael Sam's first open
league gay player, And that's because the league said, you
know what, do this for us. So I think so
(43:39):
Kaepernick and I think God bless him. I hope he
makes the Stars and wins the Super Bowl. I hope
he goes back to Super Bowl. But he needs a chance,
and I think I think he will get one. I
think the league is just too smart now and too
savvy not to give him a chance. I hope so.
But that would be so ignorant if they didn't. It
would be so reprehensible if they didn't. That's our man,
Bill Plaski LA time. Yes, sir, thank you knowledge man.
(44:03):
We appreciate We'll do see you. Fox Sports Radio has
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Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at 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
Cup Off with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. Kyrie Irving
on Friday led a conference call with roughly eighty players
eighty plus players from the NBA someone from the w
(00:41):
NBA as well, and they talked about should they play
this upcoming season. Now it's been widely reported that, you know,
Kyrie is pushing everybody not to play. I talked to
somebody on the call and they said, this is what
they told me. They said, because we know Rober we couldgo.
(01:02):
Kyrie voted, you know, to play this season, right, And
then in conversations after that with other players, he began
hearing from other guys that they weren't happy because they
felt like their voices weren't being hurt, like they didn't
really have a say in this vote, and people didn't
take into consideration their thoughts. So that's why he called
(01:23):
this call on Friday, I'm told, was to let everybody
share their views so everybody could feel included. Now, he
definitely does not feel like the players should play, and
he shared that in no uncertain terms that he feels
like because of the racial unrest, because it feels like
(01:43):
it could be a seminal moment in terms of racial
relations in this country, that he feels like the players
should sit it out and just I guess focus on
the social injustice. And he let that be known, made
this case, but also said, look, but whatever you guys
want to do, I'm with it. This is just my opinion.
Heard there were a few other players we've seen reports,
(02:06):
Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley, I heard other players also shared
Kyrie's view. Who else but right, Well, Mitchell was more, yeah,
and that's the thing, Like everybody, it wasn't completely about
the racial situation. That was the main thing. And then
play right the COVID nineteen Donovan Mitchell feels like they'll
be out of shape and then that increases the you know,
(02:28):
the chances of getting hurt the bubble. As you said,
so where are you kind of add on all of this, robe,
I guess, I mean, I think we we've made it
clear you think they should play, but kind of what
are your thoughts on what what transpired? No, I think
that uh. And I wrote a column for deat Spend
basically saying, you know, I know people want to discount
(02:49):
Kyrie Irving because he said the Earth is flat and
he doesn't think Christmas is a holiday, and he said
some stuff. But in this case, I think he's right
on from the stand point of I think he has
a legitimate concern about missing a golden opportunity, and I
think he's speaking for some people. And what people don't
(03:10):
know and I've noticed on Twitter and social media Chris
is they don't know he's the VP of the union,
so they yes, So so he's a mouthpiece. He should
be out there like this whole thing. Oh, he's just
trying to derail Lebron. I just like, dude, stop, come on, man.
He's a union rep. He's one of the guys, right,
(03:32):
so when people come to him and say, hey, I
don't feel that comfortable, and even a Dwight Howard, I
think that that that says a lot. Dwight Howard has
a chance to win his first championship after all these
years in the league, and for him to say that
he'd rather have a big win for his community rather
than a championship. That's real talk. I mean, who stop
(03:54):
with the Lebron. It's about Lebron. It's not I think
that that's that's ridiculous. It's about It's ridiculous that ain't
even a guarantee that Lebron's gonna bring. They're not the favorite, right,
So I don't even get why people think because some
people don't want to play, it's it's it's them trying
(04:14):
to derail Lebron. I mean, I think that's so ridiculous,
especially given the climate Chris, what's going on. I think
Kyrie and the and the and the uh, the people
who are saying that maybe they don't want to play Chris,
all I'm saying is they are legit in their in
their claim. I don't think it's off the wall, That's
(04:35):
all I'm saying. I'm with you. Look, I actually like
Kyrie's sentiment because to me, this is a sign that
African American athletes are recognizing finally the power they have. Yes,
I believe Rob, I don't know if you agree or not.
I believe African American athletes have more power to change
(04:59):
society than any other group of African Americans in the country,
including politicians. No, I agree that politicians. We saw we Sawara,
we got black mayors all over the place. We saw
Barack Obama and couldn't get much done right, and this
stuff was going on under him. But you don't remember
they stonewalled him. He tried, right. It's not it's not
(05:21):
that it's not a dictatorship. But the athletes because of
their popularity, because of their wealth, because of their connections
to corporate America through endorsements and marketing, and because of
their unique skill set where nobody else can do what
they do at the level they do it. They are
(05:41):
irreplaceable and that's why I think they can. They should
use that leverage to push for things, not so much
for themselves because obviously they've got pretty much everything, but
for the Black community as a whole, and now do
I I haven't heard a plan. All I've heard is
(06:02):
we should sit out. Sitting out just to sit out,
I don't think accomplishes anything. But what I say they
should do is, first of all, they need to come
up with some asks from the NBA. Adam Silver's a
player's commissioner. He's got a good relationship with the stars.
Put some asks together. Rock the NFL, who we all
(06:24):
know is not as progressive as the NBA, but they've
committed two hundred and fifty million dollars to fight systemic
races now over ten years with the money they make
is at a ton No. But it doesn't when and
I'm not knocking it right, it's not when you when
you talk about two hundred and fifty million dollars over
ten years, it just doesn't have the same no. But
(06:47):
my point is this something and the top on top
of the ninety million they gave a couple of years,
so three hundred and fifty million roughly. Again, I get
it over ten years, only twenty five million a year.
It's less than a million per teen per year. But
it's something I'm saying the NBA hasn't committed to that.
I think the players should make asks of Adam Silver.
(07:12):
Seems like ask of the owners. I think they should,
you know, I think they should make it a requirement
that every NBA owner in his corporations outside of the
NBA that he has management trainee programs for black college
graduates because the number of black people in management and
(07:33):
executive positions in this country is way low, as half
as low as it should be or half as high
as it should be. And so this is how you
make systemic change. And people can talk about, well, wait
a minute, that's not fair. That's that's automatically given a
position to an African American. We just talked about Kyle Shanahan, Rob,
(08:00):
we just talked to Joe Judge, a special teams coach,
to keep talking about it. Eric being to me ten
years running back coach, two years offensive coordinator, wins the
Super Bowl as an OC no job, but a special
team coach get a job. Kyle Shanahan, you you pick,
pointed out his his foibles and he gets a six
(08:20):
year extension. Uh yeah, Gruden gets ten years, one hundred million.
Cliff Kingsbury couldn't even win, have three losing seasons and
in college and he gets a big deal. So stop,
they don't when you're white in this country, it's seventy
percent white. You don't have to put white on it.
(08:44):
But there's a quota system, believe it. And so yeah,
that's what I'm saying the players need to ask demands
like that, get these owners to make major the contributions
to HBCUs. Rob. We see players now open to going
top basketball players. We've seen to them. It's Chris, make
(09:05):
these owners or the league or both donate to HBCUs
so they can get their facilities up right, build it
up so that these places are definitely and then also
where they can get better TV deals Chris and have
ESPN could be in it or Fox stuff right, that's
(09:26):
what you got to do because people, right, people are
dying for programming. So there you go, put the league together,
start getting some players like as they're getting. Yeah, but
we need to hear about this because I think the
people have really the Kyrie Irvin thing. I think people
have really, whether you agree or disagree, the notion that
(09:48):
you could just discount him like like it doesn't have
any validity. That's the problem I'm having. You could disagree
Chris or agree with you know what I mean, But
to think that it has no validity. Look, he's right.
I don't know if they think the notion that players
she couldn't play it doesn't have validity or shouldn't play,
(10:08):
or if they're just trying to write off Kyrie. But
I agree with you, he shouldn't be written off. He
is a smart guy. The earth being flat notwithstanding, right, Right,
But but you know what I wrote that that's gonna
you know that, right, I mean, you understand in this case. Here,
in this case, I think you got you gotta listen
(10:30):
to what he's saying. Well, the problem is there's no plan.
And that's the problem I'm starting to see with the protests.
And I'm not I think I like the protests, but
at some point you have to have some strategy and defunding.
I know they're calling for defunding the police or reallocating
the funds. That's not all this is about. We keep
(10:51):
talking about this about systemic racism, that includes the economy,
that includes education, and where what what are the talking points?
Where's the organism? The civil rights movement was very organized
and strategic and so and it's the same thing with
the players. They need to strategize and I think get
with people outside of them themselves, educators, economists who can
(11:14):
really help them come up with some asks, realistic ask
of the NBA. And it may not be time, they
may not have enough time to do it, but get
your act together. Play this, you know, in the next
month or two, and then down the road. Get your
stuff together and you'll be able to make some ask
and or demands of the NBA. And you and I
(11:35):
Rob have both talked about sometimes the players may need
to threaten not to play. Yeah, sometimes sometimes that that
has to be in play in order to get things changed.
I mean, sometimes you just have to do it. Thanks
for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to
check us out live every weekday from seven pm to
ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
(11:59):
Find your low Cool station for The Odd Couple at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f s R.
We got Howard Beck coming up right now. In the
Discover Card Celebrity Hotline. Get your free credit scorecard today,
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(12:23):
Learn more Discover dot com. Slash credit scorecard limitations apply. Howard,
Welcome to the Eye Couple, Buddy, gentlemen, How are you
doing good? How are you? How are you doing well,
doing well, thank you, good good, Well, let's let's get
right to it um any chance. I've talked to people
around the league and doesn't seem like there's any stopping
(12:44):
the momentum toward playing, at least at this moment. Do
you think the car that they had with Kyrie Irving
and other players, COVID, whatever, any of this, done anything to,
you know, lessen the chances of them playing. I don't
think anything is likely to derail d NBA restart in Orlando,
(13:06):
other than the possibility of some major surge in cases
of COVID, which is not impossible. I mean, it's not
on the table at all. In fact, the numbers keep
climbing in Orange County, Florida, where Orlando is located, and
that has to be a serious concern for the NBA. Now,
(13:28):
as I've said, no matter what the context is of
this whole plan for the last few weeks, and we'll
continue to say it to anybody who will listen, we're
still like six weeks out from the first games that
are scheduled to be played, and a lot can change,
And as we have all seen in the last few
months in this country and in this world, things have
changed dramatically in ways that we never could have imagined,
both with the virus, with social unrest and the movement
(13:51):
that is ongoing right now are there is no way
to anticipate where any of this goes or what other
new things may arise between now and July thirtieth. So um,
I think it'll probably happen. I think that the chances
are very high that the NBA season will resume as scheduled.
If it doesn't happen, it probably won't be because of
(14:13):
player concerns. But that said, it may happen without some
of those players, Like I don't know what what percentage
it will be, but there's a very good chance and
almost a certainty that some players won't go. Howard, what
do you make of if obviously Lebron wants to play,
(14:34):
a chance to win a championship and whatnot. But then
when Dwight Howard and Abe Bradley were like, well, we're
not that, you know, keen on playing, do you see
that being an issue? Could it be? Could there be
a situation where maybe some guys don't play and they
have to be replaced if they don't, you know, like
(14:54):
if they don't want to be a part of the
Orlando thing. Would that be a possibility. Yes, absolutely, I
think that is absolutely on the table. Talked to to
a high ranking team official last week when some of
the stuff was bubbling up, who said, we have to
be prepared for the possibility that they're going to be
replacement players that you're fifteen man roster or I think
(15:15):
they're preparing to bring seventeen per team to have that
buffer just in case of the virus or anything else
that comes up that there. The expectation is, yeah, we
may have to replace a couple of guys before we go,
and maybe you're going to have teams that lose significant
rotation players either out of concern. Listen, there's a whole
(15:36):
list of things here right. Some guys may not want
to go because they would prefer to focus on Black
Lives Matter on this moment, this movement, and they believe
that that it's best to put their energy there. There
are some who may not want to go because they
are concerned for their health, whether it's because of the
virus and exposure, or whether it's because of the rush
back to play and maybe feeling more vulnerable and that
(15:57):
it could endanger their longngevity in the yeah, and then
on the almost kind of the opposite side of that,
there are plenty of guys, and I think there's a
lot more of this than we know, that are concerned
with the restrictions of the bubble, that they don't want
to live in isolation and with all the rules that
are going to be imposed upon them for anywhere from
seven to seventeen weeks, and so any number of those
(16:18):
things could cause guys to withdraw. They won't get paid,
but there's no penalty either. Do they get paid anyway? Howard?
I thought they don't get paid through in the playoffs, right,
it's just the well but well so the playoffs is
a different thing, right, right, But if if you're you're
losing a portion of your paycheck, there's those eight uh
(16:41):
seeding games. Is that they're referring to them, these these
regular season games, those eight games. If you're remember of
the Phoenix Suns and you're probably playing only those eight
games because you're not making the playoffs and you didn't
show up, you're losing eight eight paychecks or not, right,
but but you don't make it, but you don't get
paid for the playoffs. There's a pool that depending on
(17:02):
how far you go, you get a check each player.
But that's why I try to tell people think that
they're losing their salaries by not playing in the postseason ahead,
because I just want to if and I have I've
heard all the stars, you know, Kauhi and Paul, George,
Harden and Westbrook, obviously lebron A d that they want
to play. But let's say hypothetically a few superstars didn't
(17:26):
want to play. Then do you think the league might
rethink this? Because do you talk about an asterisk? I mean,
if some of the superstars decide not to play, I
think the league would need to maybe rethink it. It
would depend on the star, right, I mean there's all
different levels of star in this league, and some are
(17:47):
bound for the playoffs and some are not. You know, um,
I don't want to pick on anybody, but I mean
there are certain guys who I don't think would superstar. Yeah, yeah, stars,
They're like five to ten guys who are really full
into that description. Um. I will just say this, I
think the league is prepared to play regardless of who
shows or who doesn't. I think that they're determined to
(18:11):
get these games in and to recoup that nine hundred
million to a billion dollars that they can get by
having these games on TV. And they'll do it no
matter what it takes. It would be a lot different
if it were Lebron and Kauhi and Dame Lillard and
some of the like the guys, the really high profile guys,
Anthony Davis, James Harden. If those guys decided not to
(18:35):
go or just took a stand and said to the NBA,
we don't think this is right for whatever reason, then
the league would have to reconsider. But I don't I
don't think that that's going to happen. I don't think
we're anywhere near that. I agree with you on that. Quickly,
we got about a minute left. These young players Jason Tatum,
de Aaron Fox, Yeah, wanting the insurance because they're in
(18:57):
life of Max deal's. Do you think there's any chance
they get that or would it be a maybe half
and half or what? I don't know how to address that.
I mean, it's that's that's a that's a that's a
complicated issue. And but this is part of the peril
of bringing back teams, especially the guys on teams that
are not going anywhere like Daron Fox, where the Kings
aren't making it and you're bringing them back to train
(19:18):
so they can play eight exhibition games. Essentially they're going
to count the standings but they're not really worth anything
and then tell them to go home again. Um, you
know it's these guys have to make that decision for themselves.
What they can do to try to ensure against that,
I don't know. Yeah, that's good, all right, Howard, Thank
you so much for now. Will you be going to Orlando?
(19:40):
Did you know anything about with the with a few
seconds we have left. I don't know if I can
fully explain, but I'm gonna say chances are no. Okay,
all right, man, Well stay I don't want to cover
that Mickey Mouse Championship anyway. All right, thanks fellas. All right, Howard.
That's Howard Beck does a great job of covering the
league for bleacher Report. Also check out his podcast is
(20:01):
called The Full forty eight. 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 app. I'm gonna run
it down First, we have, as we just said, baseball,
(20:22):
the players and the owners can agree on the money.
And Rob Manfred, the commissioner, said today after last week
saying he's one hundred percent certain well baseball. He goes
on ESPN today and says, I AM not confident about
us playing baseball now. And then Tony Clark, the president
(20:48):
of the Players Association, pulling his best Malcolm x impersonation. Rob,
did you see that statement he released just a little
while ago, hardcore or fire he throws at Manfred and
so well. But Jeff Passing from ESPN say he hasn't
seen these two sides this far apart since nineteen ninety four.
(21:12):
But the only thing I don't get here is twenty
six years of labor piece Chris right, which is unbelievable
for baseball. They're just on the verge. They just signed
a big deal with Turner TBS. And the only thing, Dude,
I'm not Look. Look, the players are fought for their union.
They have the strongest union in the country. But Chris,
(21:34):
I just have a little bit of a problem with
the idea that baseball players don't think that they should
give up anything when everybody else in the country's given up.
So I agree you and have given up money, right
and we and we and now we have guaranteed contracts,
don't you have one? We both have a guaranteed contract
(21:54):
And why we give it up? Because you understand what's
going on? People, more people in the company could get paid. Yeah,
honestly it was here FS at FS Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Certain people did that. They gave up
parts of their salary. Do you know what everybody else
(22:14):
could stay employed? And so willingly like, that's fine, right,
I know what you could have Chris, you could have
a right, you have a gara. Well they say it
was voluntary, right, it has to be voluntary. It was voluntary,
so yeah, but nobody and everybody fought it. No willingly
And we're not making what the baseball players are made.
(22:35):
We don't know the money. And I'm not you know, typically,
I think both of us are always on the side
of the players in general, always Chris always yeah, but
I'm just saying for them, not with no fans, no concession,
no part I'm sorry. I can't stand with them on this.
I just can't. It's and Tony Clark is mad because
(22:57):
what could happen Chris is not on. Only do none
of those players make any money this year? Okay, no money?
Can you imagine if you're if you're a Trout or
Harper making thirty five and you get make no money?
And do you think you're gonna make money next year? Like?
Like what free agents are you signing? Seriously like the
(23:17):
sportsmanly damaged and then guys that would have been free
agents right there looms a season right it permanently Mookie
Bets was in line to be the four hundred million
dollars player. Chris, you think he's getting four hundred million
next year? No, it's the same deal with basketball, And
say so that's one situation, right. We of course have
(23:39):
the NBA, which we already talked about. Kyrie and some
other players don't want to play for various reasons. So
you got that, and you have COVID surgeon in Florida
where they're they're supposed to play. Then you had today
the news broke that several Cowboys and Texans in looting
(24:00):
the Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, the superstar they have COVID.
And then John Harbaugh and I commend him on just
telling it like it is at least it seems to
be like it is to me. On the radio, he
broke it down on what the NFL the rules they
gave these teams. Robbed for coming back as as an
(24:24):
NFL team. When you have your two A days and
you're ready to practice. Here's what John Hardball said about it.
Nobody knows, and the experts don't know, and you know,
everybody wants to CYA at two. So I've seen I've
seen all the memos on that, and to be quite
honest with you, it's impossible what they're asking us to do,
humanly impossible. So we're gonna do everything we can do.
We're gonna we're gonna space, we're gonna have masks. But
(24:46):
you know, it's a communication support. So we want to
get out there and actually have any idea about what
we're doing on the field. We've got to be able
to communicate with each other in person. We have to practice,
and I'm pretty sure the huddle's not gonna be six
feet space and we see it in college. But the
players getting COVID last week Houston, I think in Iowa State,
I believe it was. But Rob at this point, I'm
(25:09):
just starting Alabama to us. Yeah, are experts, and we
don't know what you know, it's going on with the virus,
what's going on with you know, any of this other stuff.
But do you think at this point those are just
four examples we could have had more? Are they being like,
should the leagues just scrap the seasons or you know,
(25:35):
not think about playing playing right now? Or what I mean?
Because this is you heard horrible. How in the world
are you gonna play football when they're and essentially other
than the game, they're asking you to social distance. It
doesn't make sense, Chris. You're gonna be on top of
each other, and I don't know how in the world
you're gonna keep people safe. I just let's just be honest.
(25:58):
We all want sports, man, this is what we do
for a living. We our whole lives have been changed
upside down. Chris. It sucks. I don't even know what
other word to use, Chris, Okay, but I don't understand
how they are going to keep people safe. Uh you
just see it. Uh. Zekiel Elliot is not even playing
(26:18):
now and he got it. I mean, same thing. You
go into the bubble, Chris, all the people who are working,
the other people in Disney. They're not quarantine. They're going
out into Orlando, into the society and going home to
their families and whatnot. How and they come in the
back in the bubble and serving people food and drinks.
(26:39):
And and if I was a you know, a person
working in a restaurant, you think I'm trying to be
cooped up in a bubble for three months. You know, No,
they're not, because they're not willing to pay you enough
to make you be cooped up so so so you're
not gonna pay them to be away from their family.
I just I don't know, Chris. It just seems like
(27:00):
it's getting away from us. Yeah, it does. And like
I said, and again we're not experts, but I'm just
looking at what they're saying, the doctors and epidemiologists that
a surge is already underfoot and in the southern parts
of the United States. And so that makes you wonder.
I do, rob I do think that there are a
(27:23):
number of people out there who are like, just play,
let's just do whatever we normally do, and if you
get it, you get it, and thinking it's not you know,
it's not gonna be fatal to most people that I
think that's where a lot of people are at and
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the athletes are
(27:45):
like that. Obviously others are not, and they're very concerned
about it. And you brought up the bubble rob. I
talked to a player yesterday about this NBA player and
he said, look, some of these guys wives are pregnant,
Like they don't want to be away from their wife
and their child in a bubble Christian. They don't want
(28:06):
to bring them in because if you know what I mean,
like it's you know, I certainly don't want your pregnant
wife or a child getting it. Do you remember the
Remember when they first came up with the idea and
I said, guys are really going to be away from them,
not make love to their wives for three months, Chris,
and not hug their kids for three months. I just
you're asking somebody to do something that during a pandemic
(28:28):
and during what's going on in the country, you're asking
people to do a lot. That's it really is. And
again you see so many obstacles, I mean, beyond the
obstacles of figuring out how we're gonna play, where we're
gonna play, will we be in one spot, two spots.
Will we travel beyond that? Now, you the people in
(28:49):
the actual sports right now, they're raising concerns. It just
seems Look again, I don't know. I'm not the expert.
And part of the problem. You want sports, I want
sports nice to talk about some actual sports. Yeah, I'm dying,
other than what everybody's saying, you know, and to watch them,
(29:12):
as you said, like no question, and I mean you
talk about if they do come back. I mean you
talk about being in for a treat. You have high
intensity baseball games because there's so few of them, a
basketball will be playoff intensity, and football always is that
because there's so few games. So I mean, you're talking
(29:34):
about it being a tremendous fall for sports, but is
it wise? Is it worth it for the players? And
this is where beyond the racial unrest rob this is
where the players, and I'm sure some of them feel it.
You begin feeling like is it a guinea pig or
(29:58):
just you know what I mean, like everybody else's is,
you know, working from home for the most part, but
we're brought out here under these bizarre circumstances to entertain everybody. Yep,
And that is that's what some athletes have to have
an issue with. I get it. I mean this is
(30:20):
a such a slippery slope. Chris wee one on one
standpoint a month or six weeks ago, Chris, we would
have died for some games just to because we will
what stuck in the house right with the pandemic going on,
and we watched the Michael Jordan documentary because man, we
look forward to it. Even though the episodes were out there,
(30:41):
you could have watched them all at once. You kind
of wanted to watch them every Sunday to have something
to die. I didn't. You got him right, because I
had him, but I didn't watch him. No. I got
word to that Sunday night me too. I was like,
I watch him. Now what am I? What am I
gonna the rest of the weekend? Right right? But it's
I you know, we all, as you said, we all
(31:05):
want sports, but we also want these guys to you know,
not put their health in danger, and we don't want
it to also you know, bleed into the next seasons,
because I guess that's a possibility too. Thanks for listening
to the Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to catch us
live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm Eastern
(31:28):
four to seven pm 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 s R. He's a
friend of the show. He's a sensational columnist on the
(31:48):
La Times, the great Bill Plashki joining the Eye Couple.
What's up? Man? What's up going on? I just want
to tell you guys, I'm not Rob Man will be
on the show today. Oh hey, I just saw you
a tweet where you took the commissioner to task and
(32:12):
this is what Bill Platsky just tweeted. Uh. The MLB
owners are fools, the players are shortsighted. But Man doesn't
individual look more incompetent in all this than Rob manfred
um As. Anybody who was affected by a Dodger TV
blackout already knows the dude is one lousy commissioner. Bill,
(32:34):
real quick, I'm just gonna look, I'm gonna put two
things out. Yes, this is no way we should be
in this spot, considering where we are. People looking for
baseball this summer. Did the players, though, Chris and I
are agreement with this, everybody else has had to be furloughed,
taking pay cuts. Uh unemployments forty million people, all the
(32:56):
other stuff. And the players don't feel like they they
should not be take more of a hit than than
they're willing to give. It. Just something I'm missing with
the players are not No. I think the players. Initially,
I think they were both wrong, and I ripped both
them in the LA Times. There were both idiots and
they should have agreed one time ago. But as time
(33:16):
went on and the owners kept kept trying to change,
you know, the rules of what they had agreed upon,
the air promated salaries, the games kept getting less and
less and less and less. So the players in a
brilliant move, but I think it's I think it was effective.
They came out yesterday and said, will play tell us
where it tell us when they're already taken if they
started the season, you know, if they got this season
(33:37):
going in the next month or so, they're already taken
a fifty to seventy percent pay cut. So and so,
which is fine? Which is which is I mean? I mean,
I'm taking a pay cut, dude. We all we're taking
pay cuts everybody. So I just think the owners at
some point have got to say, let's just start the season.
(33:58):
Let's just start the season, go with what we agreed
upon back in March with the players, get it started
for you know, they're they're they're they're they're trying to
save pennies here, so they're now they're talking about stalling.
So basically I think they're stalling the owners because they
won a forty eight game season, which would be complete
sham because that would be cheaper for them. Yea, but change,
(34:19):
But then things change when they're no when when you
talk about no fans, no parking, no concessions, no stadium merchandise,
that that's a big hit. That's not a big hit.
It seems like a big hit with that. Well, but
they're getting all this TV money on the back end.
They just signed a billion dollars deal with with what
(34:41):
TB GBS. Yeah, so they I just don't in this battle.
And then I'm generally even even on both sides in
this battle, I'm going with the billionaires instead of the billionaires.
I'm blaming the billionaires. I just think the owners and
maybe I'm burned because of what happened here in La
how the ownership let the Dodgers go six years being
on TV because they want to make some money. I
(35:02):
just think the ownership in this case, at this point,
right now in negotiations, you were players are ready to
play pam pam per game. They've already missed again, They've
already so they're already taking a fifty and seventy percent
pay cut, just paying out for the rest of the season.
I just think that's silly, not to suicide, not to
Bill Plaska, the La Times, joining the eye couple. You
(35:22):
mentioned Manfred earlier, and you know he's had gaff after gaff.
I mean, calling the trophy a piece of metal, the cheating, scandals,
all this stuff, and that's only a little bit of it.
He doesn't like. They don't I don't like. I don't
think he likes baseball. Well, they don't play Bill or
maybe even if they do his could his job be
(35:45):
in jeopardy No, because he's doing the owners one. I
think he's doing what the owners like, he's being their mouthpiece.
But he's terrible the owners because the owners are so stupid.
They've got to realize what a bad representative of this is.
And he should have taken more control and save the
game and talk to the owners into this. He should have,
you know, steered them in the right direction. So I
(36:05):
blame him, but the owners hired him. I think the
owners are probably probably doing their biddings, so he's probably
you know, but I like confront. I wish he was stronger.
So he'll go down as employed, but he'll go down
as a week week commissioner. Now let's switch over to
the NBA, And what do you make of like Dwight
Howard and Avery Bradley saying we kind of aside with
(36:27):
ky we about not playing. Do you see that as
as could that be a potential or an issue as
we go forward with playing in the bubble and Lebron
and the Lakers or no, I think it should be.
And I'm I'm upset that everybody because because Lebron wants
us to happen and all the stars when went this
to happen, everybody's discounting Kylerie or discounting Dwight, or discounting
(36:49):
every Bradley. I think these players speak for more players
than you think. And I agree, I think it's an issue,
and I get tired. I am tired of people with
a financial investment in this thing. Where pushing to get
this done at the expense of what What is the
real concerns about players? I think the coronavirus is a
huge concern. The cases in the Orange County, Florida, Orlando
(37:12):
is are spiking every day down there. That's long term
houstons are and I think they would the whole optics
of this are bad. The optics could be bad if
these players putting themselves at risk. For these billionaire owners
to be quarantined for three months to provide us entertainment,
that takes away from the narrative that these guys are
human beings with lives that we've ignored for too long,
(37:32):
with wives and kids in the pandemic. It makes me mad.
Do you think that Lebron and his cronies are trying
to strong arm this thing through? That's what it seems
like to me. On again, I know they have a
lot of say with Adam Silver, I know that for sure.
Um have you heard Bill? Everything I've heard from around
(37:55):
the league and out with the LA teams too, is
that the stars we want to play obviously, the Brown
and A d Kawhi and Paul George and Houston Harden
and Westbrook. Have you heard anything to the contrary, like
maybe some Clippers are are weird leery of it, more
Lakers than just the white nag or anything like that. No,
(38:16):
I've heard the Stars want to play this players where
the good teams want to play. Lebron wants Lebron's legacies
at stage here. He meant, this is his best last chance, right, Yeah, yeah,
but I would hate to see the league go down there,
and who knows if they get started and if you
even been able to finish. Right, So, if they put
if they put players at risk, I mean, I don't
know what y'all think about it, but if they put play,
(38:36):
I think these are real concerns that I'm upset or
being ignored by the mainstream. A lot of media's ignoring him,
they're discounting and all Kyrie's and idis. He's a platist guy.
What does he know? Uh, he's also very socially conscious
and you have to listen to him. I agree with
and we're not. Yeah, it's dangerous. It's it's leading the
(38:57):
NBA's leading the dangerous to play the dangerous game year game.
We were asking earlier, Bill, because you got the NBA,
and obviously the doubts of several players, many players, dozens
of players. You've got football today, just several Texans and
Cowboys came down with the virus. You got John Hardball
saying the rules they've given us are impossible to follow.
(39:21):
You got the baseball problems and getting on the field.
We were wondering, should they just kind of scrap this
this season, these seasons that they're talking about playing, because
you know, like you said, the virus is spiking in
a lot of places, and they're just seemed to be
obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. You think these leagues are
(39:42):
being are wrong for pushing through the way they appear
to be trying to do well. That's a great question.
I wrote in the column about two months ago. I
wrote there could there might not be any sports at
all in twenty twenty. And I think that's still possible.
But I think they I can see them trying, and
they're planning it out and everything like that. But let's
see what happens. Let's see what happens if the NBA
(40:02):
actually goes down here, what happens once they get there?
I guess, I guess I don't blame them for scheduling
and trying to make it happen, but shame on them
if if if a player gets because this disease. I
know that the young people get over it quickly, but
if it can affect you the rest of your life,
have shown that let me. I think I think that
(40:24):
they should try, but I think they should be willing
to cut the cord at the first sign of trouble.
They should be willing to get out of that bubble
at the first sign of trouble. Here's another thing that
that potentially could happen. We already know. We've heard some
big time quarterbacks are saying, uh and big time NFL
players that they're going to kneel during the national anthem
(40:44):
if the NFL season kicks off. What about the NBA,
which has in their CBA that players can't protest during
the can't I supposed to be so woke, but I'm
trying to figure out what's going to happen here. Um,
if they do play these games in the bubble in Orlando. Well,
I want to come on this earlier about things that
(41:06):
needed to change in the sports world. There are a
lot of racist things, including you know, the Redskins a
tomahawk job, and I wanted to write, NBA. I was
going to write this that the NBA needs to let
these players kneel. But I talk certa people from the NBA,
and they're like, the players feel like they've already got
a good voice there. They're able to wear T shirts,
They're able to protest, They're able to to to uh,
(41:29):
you know, say their piece and and say who they
are and and be real. And I think they're so
they don't fight the NBA on that. They give the
NBA that, but it's so Unamerican bill when you really
think about it. No, I agree, and I agree, But
the players are the NBA players themselves, who are the
most socially aware, you know, athletes on we have on
(41:50):
a lot of planet, are not upset by because they
feel Adam Silver lets them where that I cannot breathe
T shirts. He let the they're back. They have their
backs at the difference in the other sports. So I
don't think we'll see that we saw remember when the
Clippers put the entire warm up jerseys in the middle
of a Florida you got rid of Donald Sterling. Repeat. Yeah,
(42:11):
So they feel like they're they're heard. So no, But
I asked the exact same question, I said, does this
need to change? And several people representing players said no,
the players are okay because they do feel like they
are heard. Bill, we got about a minute left. You
wrote a great column about how you know, if the
NFL is serious about all this talk about, you know,
systemic racism and up, you know, apologizing for squelching the
(42:35):
player protests last year or in the past few years,
they should put Kaepernick on the team. Do you think
he has a legitimate chance of ending up on a roster. Yes.
I think somebody will sign him. I think they have to.
They cannot get by. He started this whole movement, repeat's sake.
They cannot continue to blackball him. He'll be second string,
(42:57):
he'll be a backup, and the team's him, you know,
and heck, he may get cut. He may not even
make it because he didn't played in three years. Somebody's
gonna sign him. Somebody's gonna have to sign him. They
just have to. I can't imagine the league, and I
can't managining Goodell. At the end of the day, Goodell
finally really putting on the adel said today you know,
he's he's elbow at these teams to do it. I
(43:17):
can't believe he wouldn't put the hammer down and call
in a favor from somebody to do this. I can't
believe he wouldn't do this. I agree. I hope you
know right. You know he look at the Rams in
twenty fifteen. I think it was the last round. Who
did they take in the draft? Michael Sam's first open
league gay player, And that's because the league said, you
know what, do this for us. So I think so
(43:39):
Kaepernick and I think God bless him. I hope he
makes the Stars and wins the Super Bowl. I hope
he goes back to Super Bowl. But he needs a chance,
and I think I think he will get one. I
think the league is just too smart now and too
savvy not to give him a chance. I hope so.
But that would be so ignorant if they didn't. It
would be so reprehensible if they didn't. That's our man,
Bill Plaski LA time. Yes, sir, thank you knowledge man.
(44:03):
We appreciate We'll do see you. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at foxsports radio dot com. And within
the iHeartRadio app search F s R to listen live
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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!