August 27, 2020 • 34 mins
It's The Best Of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker! Chris and Rob explain why they feel like the NBA players' boycott was a great achievement - even if it only lasted 24 hours, discuss if LeBron James is going to go down in history alongside great athlete activists like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell, and debate if the audio suggesting that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred didn't want Mets players boycotting today because it would causing scheduling issues is proof that he's the wrong man for the job.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rob Harker. Everyone interested in
the NBA and really sports in general, knows that the
players in the NBA players have decided that they're going
(00:42):
to resume play. Yesterday, of course, the boycott, we didn't
know if they were going to boycott the rest of
the playoffs or start playing again. And they are going
to play. They've met with the owners today or radio
believe at four pm Eastern they're going to meet a
g in and they've decided they're gonna resume play. It
(01:03):
looks like either tomorrow or a Saturday. And there we are, Rob,
where are you at? Where are your thoughts? I think
that's the only thing that would make sense, is the
way they're going about it. I never believe that the
season was over. I'd have any inside information but I
(01:24):
just didn't think that that. You can't say we're not
gonna play until they're changes in the world, and things
just don't work like that. So basically you would be
saying you're not playing for a couple of years, and
we know that that doesn't make any sense. So this
all makes sense. They made their statement, They made people
aware that they mean business and that they're looking to
(01:45):
make some things happen and change what's been going on
in this country. And then they're just not here to entertain.
And I applaud them. I just I just think that
it was a statement that needed to be made, and
you saw how the rest of sports responded with a
lot with the even the NHL today and the WNBA
(02:06):
and MLS and even baseball that has a small you
know African American uh community relation. Yeah, in in the
sport responded. So so I think that they made their point,
and you could see if things don't change or or
or get better, that you'll get more of this. So
(02:26):
I think owners are on notice and they know they
mean business. People know. I've been on TV all day
on a Fox Sports one and I was saying it
last night on the show. I'm very proud of the players.
I've never been more proud of African American athletes in
my life, and and the white athletes as well who've
been supporting them. Um, I am, and I said, whether
(02:50):
they resume play or decide to boycott the rest of
the season, I'm with them and I support them, and
I can see both sides. So had they decided not
to play, I would have been I think there is
an argument to make that you could do that. Now.
They would be sacrificing a ton of money, tons of thousands,
(03:13):
and it doesn't have to be we won't play until
this or that. Right, Well, that's what I'm saying. Right
they said, we're not playing this season, and let's see
what changes can come in America over the next several
months before next season. But we're not playing this season.
They If they had said that, I would have been
fine with it. I think that would have been powerful.
(03:35):
I think that you would have I think the question
would have been what does the NFL do, because I
think there would have been pressure on the African American
players in the league, being that, like the NBA, it
is overwhelmingly black. The players have been outspoken. They did
the Great Black lives matter, video and sawing and so forth.
(03:57):
So I think this may have reverberated into football, and
who knows about baseball and hockey. Obviously they're not as
populated with African Americans, so it wouldn't have been as
big of much pressure on them at all. But if
it had, if they had gotten football in this, now
(04:18):
you're talking about a whole different level. So I agree
with you, Rob. I still those that want to say
they didn't achieve anything. Oh, they're playing back. They they
came out, you know, and talked the big game, and
then they backed up. No, they did achieve. So number one,
(04:38):
they let the owners, the corporate sponsors, the TV networks, no,
we will go there if we have to. I mean honestly,
and we God forbid. We hope we don't see anything
else like George Floyd or Brianna Taylor or any of these,
Jacob Blake, any of these in the next through the
(04:59):
rest to the season at least. Obviously we don't want
a period, but if we do, I would not be
surprised if the players say enough no, and so I
think they let it be known to those power brokers
we'll go there if we have to. Let this be
a warning we will go there. And so I think
(05:19):
that in and of itself is an achievement. And there's
more I'm gonna say about what I think they achieved
or could achieve. But go ahead, Rob, people say that
nothing was achieved. Doing nothing, you know, nothing's gonna happen.
So I just don't buy into that. I really don't.
I think that there was a statement made. Yeah, of
(05:40):
course I'm hearing it because all they ran right back.
What's one game they could have just played if they're
just gonna be out one game or whatever. No, I
think I think it's what they what you say a
lot of times Christian, you know, I mean people say
shots fired like like hello, right, like this is a
warning shot, Like we're letting you know that we're serious
(06:02):
and we're not going to just sit here time and
time again and talk about the same thing that Colin
Kaepernick was talking about four years ago, and people were
getting shot before Colin Kaepernick did something four years ago. Right,
for him to even do it four years ago means
that it was a problem back then, and yet it's
still happening. So they're always gonna be naysayers in the crowd.
(06:27):
They're always gonna be people who are trying to derail
a movement. There were people did that as far back
as Martin Luther King telling him he was wrong and
washing him Washington, d C. And the bus boycott, and
in Alabama there's always those people on the sidelines who
(06:48):
are telling you, what is that gonna prove? Not taking
a bus to work? Why would you walk to work?
You know what I mean? When you can get on
the bus, that's what you hear. You know, Rob, you
make a great point, and I think this is very
appropriate because maybe people don't know this. You know, we
romanticize the past. Heck, you even got white people, right
(07:09):
wing people, you know, talking about Martin Luther King and
his quotes and and things like that. And so the
fact of the matter is not only were most whites
against Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement, but
many African Americans were against it, and they were like, Oh,
(07:30):
don't make trouble. It's just gonna get worse for us
if we do this. You know, those people are always
in the crowd, right. And my point is today you
see African Americans here and there who will come out
and all things. We're tripping. We just need to pull
up our pants. We just want well, I mean literally,
(07:53):
we just need to stop sagging. That's our problem. We're
sagging our genes. And if we listen to and if
we listen to the thing, if we listen to the cops,
you won't have these problems. Then, you know how many
times we're gonna hear that, don't somebody's get unruly with
the cops, give me a bass number. What's your name
I'm calling? I would call the police department or you
you know it happens. I'm not even mad at you.
(08:16):
I'm just saying, don't get up here in front like
y'all following the laws all everything exactly. You know that
famous family school every weekend, all the white kids were
getting drunk. That's against the law every weekend. And the
facts have shown that that white kids drink way more
(08:37):
alcohol than black kids. So if y'all really want to
compare wrongdoings, stop it, because everybody's doing some wrong exactly
that should be treated the same. We all are innocent,
you have proven guilty, and nobody the judge injury. And
right there on the pavement, you know where you you're
gonna kill somebody. No, let's just come on, right and
(09:00):
then and then it's like, oh, well, what about his background,
Like as if you have to be Chris squeaky clean clean,
you got right, and you gotta be like, oh, he
had a six figure job and he had a college
degree and he wasn't working in corporate America. It's a
shame they shot that guy. That's the guy. Well, that's
(09:21):
the only way we can feel empathy for somebody is
that you gotta be perfect. That dude. Don't have to
be perfect, you know what to be poked the law
put him in custody. You don't need to shoot somebody
in the back or do something that you wouldn't do
to other people. And that's the point. Stop with the
character assassination after the fact, right, I know, that's all
(09:43):
You'll love this one. Didn't the owner of the New
England Patriots break the lawgers? Yeah, I'm still waiting. I
talk still, we talk still, And I'm not even trying
to get political. No you're not. We're the president of
the United States on the one record as talking about
how he has sexually massed harassed women or stop. I
(10:05):
know I just saw this. Come on, don't even go
there keeping like Jesus said, lay him who who's without
sin cast the first stone. It's just ridiculous that what
happened should not have happened to anybody to shoot somebody
in the back unarmed. Stop it. Fox Sports Radio has
(10:26):
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the iHeart Radio app. Search f SR to listen live.
Lebron James is at the forefront of any league wide
social justice talk and so the question I think, um,
(10:49):
that's appropriate, you know, I think it's it did Tell
me if you disagree with me, Rob, I think there
is no doubt that Lebron James is the most outspoken
I mean outside of obviously Colin Kaepernick, who's not in
(11:11):
the league now it hasn't been for the past four years,
but he's the you can even say if you want,
he and Kaepernick are the athletes who have most defined
this generation in terms of, you know, off the field,
off the court, social issues. Would you agree with that? Yeah,
(11:35):
only because Lebron has a platform and he has been
vocal on most things, not everything. He's not perfect at
all as far as you know, just always being out front,
and I get that nobody is perfect, right, Colin Kaepernick's
had a bigger impact. I think because he gave up
Lebron knows he's not giving up anything. And that's not
(11:56):
a knock on him, Chris, because he's a star player,
the face of a league sneaker company, has his own company.
Do you know what I mean? Like like he's a bulletproof.
Kaepernick was more vulnerable. Lebron hasn't done anything as great,
and he's done great things, but he hasn't made a sacrifice.
(12:18):
How about that? That's what I'm saying. I guess you
could say, if you want to, say, by him speaking out,
he may be sacrificing, you know, people who might buy
his sneakers or whatever. I guess if you want to,
I wouldn't really call that a huge sacrifice at this
point in time, but what he's done is tremendous. The
(12:39):
question now that some are asking, where does he like
historically does he does he belong in the aligue category
or does he belong in the Bill Russell Jim Brown category? Kareem,
I'll do a jabbar? Or where where are you thinking,
Jim Brown? Where do you think I have my thoughts,
(13:01):
but I want to hear yours first. Unless you just
want me to share, you can go ahead. I'll listen
to you and play off of that. I think that
Lebron and and and here's really what I think. Ali
is by himself. And Kaepernick may move up toward that,
you know, get closer to close to Ali, because again,
(13:24):
he made the ultimate sacrifice. He gave up his career,
and you know, ultimate sacrifice in an athletic sense. He
gave up his career for other people. That's a great sacrifice. Obviously,
you got Pat Tillman, you know, who gave up his life,
you know, for um to go fight for America. So
he certainly has his own place, but we're primarily talking
(13:47):
about African American athletes who have had to fight for
social justices, justice issues here in America. UM. But Ali
is by himself because he The thing about Ali that
most people just don't seem to understand is when he
made that stand not to go to war to fight
(14:11):
in Vietnam. He didn't. They weren't even gonna have him fight,
but they were gonna put him in the in the army,
in the military. He when he said no, and he'll
go to jail instead of going over there. He did
not know that he would never that he would fight again.
And this is a guy who since he was twelve
years old and we know the story, got his bike stolen,
(14:31):
had become a boxer and was you know, his life's
dream was to become the heavyweight champion of the world.
He had it and he was willing to give it up.
And I think today we think and you know, well,
it was a three year hiatus. He knew he was
going back. No, no, he was done right. And not
(14:52):
the temperature of the country. You gotta remember right back then,
you know, the idea of being a draft dodger was
not anything that people were proud of, you know what
I mean. It was a tough tag to shake. Chris
So so I agree, I don't think. I don't think
he knew where was gonna turn. He didn't think he
(15:13):
was going to be in Atlanta lighting the Olympic torch
for the United States. Did. Here's no way he could
have thought that, No way, no none. And now let
me say this, so Ali is just you know, mythical, really,
he's mythical, and and a lot of it's been romanticized.
(15:36):
So I don't think Lebron will ever get there unless
you know, he does something else going forward that that
just blows our minds. But I think Lebron has done
more and will do more practical things for the advancement
of African Americans. Practical things. Then, I ela, Lebron has
(16:01):
started a school where all the a thousand kids are
gonna get scholarships if they get through his program, they
get scholarships to college. Lebron has just his high school friends.
He's turned two of them into absolute business moguls. You know,
he obviously has his own production company and media wise,
(16:24):
he's been at the forefront the cutting edge of changing
the way that athletes, you know, share their stories. You know,
he's not the only one. You got the Players Tribune,
you got social media in and of itself, but through
his uninterrupted company, they don't need to go through the media.
They can do it themselves. So he has done so
many tremendous things, tangibly more than Ali did. And while
(16:49):
I am critical or was critical of him, as were
you for not speaking out against China and Ali, I guess,
to my knowledge made out of been asked about it.
But Ali fought in nations that word dictatorships. I mean
the Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman was in Zaire,
(17:11):
which was a black, independent black country by then. But
Bootu Sasa Soko who ran the country. Yeah, he was
a dictator and was was, you know, hoarding the money
from his country and you know what did did terrible
things to some of his people, and Ali didn't say
(17:32):
anything about that. So that's why, I mean, some of
it's become mythical with Ali, and that will keep him
ahead of Lebron again unless Lebron does something incredible going
forward now. But if he wanted to, he could become
I think he could become president. If he did that,
(17:52):
I think you'd have to put him above Ali. But
I think he's done more tangible things than Ali, but
he hasn't reached that status and may never reach that status.
But I also think that the reason and here's the
other part, and I'm not just trying to nitpick or whatever,
but the China thing that you just talked about, that
(18:15):
was a situation where it wasn't going to be good
for him because he has sneakers and he has business
over there, and he chose to act like he didn't
know what was going on. I think that's where you
lose some points. And that's where this whole thing about
being conscious and being woken all that you could say, Chris,
you don't want you know, like like you don't want
to get involved or whatever, but to act like you
(18:36):
didn't know what was going on, and you and and
and I just thought that that was convenient because of
his business interests. And that's what happens when you're in
these things now, is it's very difficult to be true
and honest because there's so many relationships and issues that come.
And it's not just Lebron, Chris, I'm just talking about
(18:59):
in general. This This is its conflicts everywhere. They're just
are you talk about Lebron saying something? Why why are
we Why is the NBA in China? Then you know
what I mean. If what they're doing with Hong Kong,
why is why is Amazon there? Or why? We could
go on and on and on, but I'm just saying yes.
(19:20):
But but when Lebron had the chance, is all I'm saying.
And you said it. I think at the time he
swung and miss because he acted as if he didn't
know and yeah, and then the reality and yeah, and
then we actually it took this took the third strike
because he knew and as people said, don't say anything.
You know, your sneakers over there. You go over there
for a tour every off season. You know what I mean.
(19:42):
There's millions of dollars that come from there. There are
more Chinese people than the other people on the on
the planet, do you know what I mean? Like like
that stuff starts to count. Well, I think that, and
I I agree, And like I said, I was critical
of Lebron and he should have spoken up um to
be that would have been on brand for sure. Yeah,
(20:04):
And you didn't have to go it was just about
the selection, you know, it was about democracy. Was critical
of Daryl, Right, That's what I'm saying that that was
the part that it was weird. And my thing is,
and this goes for Lebron, and this goes for the
NBA as well. While I and again I criticize both
(20:25):
while they should have spoken out, I would have liked
to see them spoken out or speak out. I'm not
just going to kill them. No, because so many American
corporations are doing the same thing, turning a blind eye
to what's going on over there, and so we can.
I'll be critical of the NBA and Lebron for not
(20:47):
speaking up against about it, but I'll be critical of
the all the American corporations that are doing the same thing.
And what I said at the time, and I do
believe this, that could have been Lebron's Ali moment, And
to be honest, that may have put him ahead of
Ali because that would have been so I mean, Ali
(21:08):
obviously is an international figure, but that would have been
standing up like Ali was known for standing up for
Black Americans and Lebron is known for standing up for
black Americans. Had he went in on China, then you
go to a whole other level where you are speaking
(21:29):
on behalf of all oppressed people in the world. You
know what I'm saying, And that have been his Ali moment.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussar and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
We want to go to baseball now. It's gonna be
(21:50):
along the same lines, but interesting development there. Mets GM
Brodie Van wagoning a video surface of him talking about
the commissioner, Rob Manfred, and um really put Manfred in
a bad light. And and look if he's on the
(22:12):
video and he said it, it's his fault, but it
got out, and um, here's what what happened. Here's the
basic un come up with the solution saying, oh, you know,
gonna be super powerful. Three of us here, can't leave
the really great. Just have them all tap the fields,
then they need the field and then they come back
and played. I was like, roars, that's not happening with reality.
(22:43):
They're not played. But that's Rob's staying Rob not exactly,
he doesn't get it. He just doesn't get it. Wow,
now and Rob, I want Rob G to explain the
whole thing. And apparently now Brody van wagon and is
(23:03):
trying to walk it back. Well we just heard. I
don't see how you walk that back. There's no walking
that back though he may try. But Rob G put
the whole thing in context. Yes, sir Chris. Now, I
don't know if our listeners were able to catch all
of it, because again it was a hot mic, it
wasn't really a microphone in his face, so it might
(23:25):
not be able to hear all of it, But what
was going to happen where the Mets were going to
boycott tonight's game, which they end up doing and not
play at all, And what the hot mic cott was
Van Wagon and saying that once Rob Manfred heard about it,
he was like, nah, let's just have him come out
at seven ten, you know, walk off the field together
as like a protest, but then we'll come back and
(23:45):
play at eight ten because it'd be too hard to
reschedule all this down the road. So obviously he was
missing the point of the boycott. Obviously, this one viral
became a big old issue. So Van Wagon had to
put out a separate statement, maybe about an hour ago
or so, and this is what he said. Jeff Wilpon,
who's the owner or the COO of the Mets and
(24:07):
that are actually trying to sell the team right now,
called Commissioner Manfred this afternoon notify them that our players
voted not to play, and they discussed the challenges of
rescheduling the game. Jeff proposed an idea of playing game
now later, so not Manfred, and I misunderstood this was
the commissioner's idea. In actuality, this was Jeff's suggestion. Rob,
(24:30):
you're the baseball expert. I want to hear from you first. Um. Yeah,
I don't know if he can really walk that back.
It's on tape. It's not the greatest quality, but you
do hear him talking, so so that's a part that's
that's kind of murky. But the commissioner has to understand,
or whoever Jeff Wilpon, whoever put the idea, you can't.
(24:54):
You can't legistrate or organize, being management what the players
should do for a protest or a boycott. It kind
of defeats the purpose. And it's not authentic. It's not authentic.
It's it's it's stress rehearsal, or it's a Broadway show
without the music. I mean that that that's what it
turns into. So I think that's just a bad look.
(25:17):
I think you just gotta let it be again. I
understand from this standpoint of the commissioner, where you're only
trying to play Chris sixty games and sixty seven days.
I get it, because it's gonna be so many double
headers at the end. Everybody's not gonna play sixty games.
And the more games you miss, and the mets of
miss games already right with the COVID because two people,
(25:39):
a player, I think, a player and a executive had
it and thank god no more players. But they like
wiped out a series against the Yankees, and I think
they might have missed a couple of games against the Marlins.
So I do get the logistics of trying to make
up all these games where where you're not playing the
last seven games of the year all doubleheaders, you know
(26:01):
what I mean. That's just not gonna work for a
baseball team. It's just too much baseball and too little
of a time. So that part I get, But I
think it's ill advised to try to orchestrate or do
anything like that. It's just a bad idea. It's a
bad look. I like what baseball did on its own.
It wasn't uniform, Chris. Everybody didn't boycott yesterday. Some boycotted today.
(26:26):
Let people do their own thing and we'll figure it out.
This whole thing is fluid, and I'm good with that.
It doesn't have to be perfect. Let people embrace the
moment that they want, let them legislat or organize under
their free time and will, and we'll we'll just make
(26:46):
it all fit at the end, because I think we're all,
you know, writing this without training wheels. We don't know
which way it's gonna go. Yeah, look, I agree with
you and that I understand a commissioner trying to save
the game, you know, like, well we gotta play. But
I think he put the game and it's the He's
(27:08):
not unique to this, but he was putting it ahead
of what this is really all about with the protest,
and props to the players who were not putting it
ahead of it, right and not con go along with it, right, right?
And Brodie van Waggen and he comes off, you know,
he comes off well, like imagine if he had been
on that hot Mike saying, man, look I get it, Rob,
(27:30):
I know where he's coming from. This is some bs,
but we just got it, you know what I mean.
Like he could have really looked bad, but it shows
that he really it seems like he really gets what
the players are talking about and what this whole protest
is about. Um, and I'm just robbed And I don't
know where you're at on this, but I've said it
before and to me, this is just the latest straw
(27:53):
or the latest example of why I just think Rob
Manfred is in over his head as the commissioner of
Major League Baseball. I mean, it just seems to be
misstep after misstep after misstep. And you know, you can
go back to the Astros cheating scandal, and I think
(28:17):
I get it, given the players immunity, and I get it,
you don't want to vacate the title. But to me,
that was the only answer to this situation because people
always want justice, and that's why the other the opponents
of the Astros, a lot of the fans are so
(28:39):
upset because there's a sense that justice was not served.
And if you had taken away the championship rings and
the championship from the Astros, that would have been a
round about way of punishing the players, even as they
continue to have their individual immunity. So I thought that
was a misstep. Start calling the championship trophy a hunk
(29:03):
of metal. I guess, I get it. I mean, you're
trying to be literal, but come on, you be little
the very thing. I know they played for the history
and the legacy and it's more than just a trophy,
of course, but still that was a misstep. I mean,
(29:24):
I think not going into bubbles was a miss Bubbles,
not bubble, I get that, but bubbles was a misstep.
The seven inning doubleheaders, even after you're already played nine
in at least one nine inning doubleheader. You know, I
just think, you know, it's been issue after issue with
Rob Manfred, and then Major League Baseball attendance has declined
(29:50):
every year under his watch. And I'm I don't know
what they can do with him, or we'll do with
him or whatever. But to me, Rob, this is just
the latest exa example of how I think Rob Manfred
is in over his head. And this is in time
with the pandemic, with all the racial strife, with the
(30:11):
challenges that all sports are facing, pretty much outside of football,
the NFL, they need a powerhouse to be their commissioner,
and I just I just haven't seen any evidence that
Manfred's up to the challenge. Yeah, I'm not as down
on him as you are. I think a lot of
times the other commissioners don't have to fight with the
(30:35):
most powerful union in the in the country and maybe
the world, which puts the Baseball commissioner at a little
bit of a disadvantage. It just it is what it is.
It's not as easy to maneuver around because the players
won't stand for it. They're gonna have a voice, and
everything has to run through them in order to make
it work. So I just think he's out of disadvanta.
(30:57):
Today's thing is dumb. There's no excuse for that. But
I've seen Roger Goodell do way more gaffs. And just
the way that the NFL has handled stuff, Uh, you
want to talk about being over your head, going back
to Ray Rice and and and and the initial punishment
and some of the other things, even the Colin Kaepernick
and where the NFL put themselves in on that and
(31:20):
now saying that, oh he wished he would have listened,
and and and and some of the other stuff that's
gone on. So so is he a perfect commissioner for baseball? No?
Is it a tough job missioner. I think he's an
adequate commissioner. I'm not saying so. I'm not saying because
I would be like, is he bad? I don't think
(31:40):
he's bad. And the health you talked about the attendance,
but baseball's uh, just so they've they've had seventeen years
of economic growth in a row and they just had
their their largest revenue ever in the history of the game,
which is at eleven billion dollars. So so I hear
you about some of his misstaffs. I mean, I'm just
(32:01):
every sport is inflation and all that, every sport not
not every sport, no, not every sports set a record
all the major revenue. I'm just I'm just saying, it's
seventeen years of growth. Also, Chris, one of the things
that we haven't had that we had is uh what
is it twenty two years of uh no, what was
it nineteen ninety five? So how many years is that seven? Yeah,
(32:25):
labor piece in baseball, we've never had that. We've never
We've never had that. And I say we baseball as
a whole, he's had very little. You know, how long
has he been commissioner? Four or five years? I don't
know what he's got little to do with him, But
I'm just saying there's there's a lot of things that
that have moved forward. So is he the perfect commissioner. No.
(32:46):
Has he bumped his head and made some mistakes, yes,
But I don't think he's the worst commissioner in sports.
I think, um, what he what he might have said
or did say, or try to convey today. What was
one of those dumb head scratching moments because you don't
want to try to stage a protest and make it
(33:06):
a choreograph. I think that was. Let me let me
ask you this, Rob, because we've seen players go at him,
you know, during the the lockout or to shut down.
You know, you saw some players go at him on
social media. Do you think this will you know, worsen
his reputation among players. I don't know. I still think
(33:30):
it still comes down. I think his day and the
sun Chris will come with the next labor agreement after
next season. I think that's going to define him as
a commissioner. Is there a work stoppage? Did they get
a deal done? You know what I mean? And continue
the labor piece. I think that's what people when you're
in a pandemic and what's going on, you're done. And
(33:51):
I'm not going to praise him because they got a
deal done. No, but it's not automatic that you're gonna
get a deal done. And I'm just saying like I'm
not gonna get on, you know, clap my hands because
he got a deal done. I mean, and the other
part two I know you you know you're talking about
the astros. It's just very difficult. And again that comes
with the union. You can say, oh, do this and
(34:14):
and make them talk and all that. It just doesn't
work like that in baseball. I think that's the problem
and being given immunity. My only problem with that was
just not vacating the title.
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 Rob Harker. Everyone interested in
the NBA and really sports in general, knows that the
players in the NBA players have decided that they're going
(00:42):
to resume play. Yesterday, of course, the boycott, we didn't
know if they were going to boycott the rest of
the playoffs or start playing again. And they are going
to play. They've met with the owners today or radio
believe at four pm Eastern they're going to meet a
g in and they've decided they're gonna resume play. It
(01:03):
looks like either tomorrow or a Saturday. And there we are, Rob,
where are you at? Where are your thoughts? I think
that's the only thing that would make sense, is the
way they're going about it. I never believe that the
season was over. I'd have any inside information but I
(01:24):
just didn't think that that. You can't say we're not
gonna play until they're changes in the world, and things
just don't work like that. So basically you would be
saying you're not playing for a couple of years, and
we know that that doesn't make any sense. So this
all makes sense. They made their statement, They made people
aware that they mean business and that they're looking to
(01:45):
make some things happen and change what's been going on
in this country. And then they're just not here to entertain.
And I applaud them. I just I just think that
it was a statement that needed to be made, and
you saw how the rest of sports responded with a
lot with the even the NHL today and the WNBA
(02:06):
and MLS and even baseball that has a small you
know African American uh community relation. Yeah, in in the
sport responded. So so I think that they made their point,
and you could see if things don't change or or
or get better, that you'll get more of this. So
(02:26):
I think owners are on notice and they know they
mean business. People know. I've been on TV all day
on a Fox Sports one and I was saying it
last night on the show. I'm very proud of the players.
I've never been more proud of African American athletes in
my life, and and the white athletes as well who've
been supporting them. Um, I am, and I said, whether
(02:50):
they resume play or decide to boycott the rest of
the season, I'm with them and I support them, and
I can see both sides. So had they decided not
to play, I would have been I think there is
an argument to make that you could do that. Now.
They would be sacrificing a ton of money, tons of thousands,
(03:13):
and it doesn't have to be we won't play until
this or that. Right, Well, that's what I'm saying. Right
they said, we're not playing this season, and let's see
what changes can come in America over the next several
months before next season. But we're not playing this season.
They If they had said that, I would have been
fine with it. I think that would have been powerful.
(03:35):
I think that you would have I think the question
would have been what does the NFL do, because I
think there would have been pressure on the African American
players in the league, being that, like the NBA, it
is overwhelmingly black. The players have been outspoken. They did
the Great Black lives matter, video and sawing and so forth.
(03:57):
So I think this may have reverberated into football, and
who knows about baseball and hockey. Obviously they're not as
populated with African Americans, so it wouldn't have been as
big of much pressure on them at all. But if
it had, if they had gotten football in this, now
(04:18):
you're talking about a whole different level. So I agree
with you, Rob. I still those that want to say
they didn't achieve anything. Oh, they're playing back. They they
came out, you know, and talked the big game, and
then they backed up. No, they did achieve. So number one,
(04:38):
they let the owners, the corporate sponsors, the TV networks, no,
we will go there if we have to. I mean honestly,
and we God forbid. We hope we don't see anything
else like George Floyd or Brianna Taylor or any of these,
Jacob Blake, any of these in the next through the
(04:59):
rest to the season at least. Obviously we don't want
a period, but if we do, I would not be
surprised if the players say enough no, and so I
think they let it be known to those power brokers
we'll go there if we have to. Let this be
a warning we will go there. And so I think
(05:19):
that in and of itself is an achievement. And there's
more I'm gonna say about what I think they achieved
or could achieve. But go ahead, Rob, people say that
nothing was achieved. Doing nothing, you know, nothing's gonna happen.
So I just don't buy into that. I really don't.
I think that there was a statement made. Yeah, of
(05:40):
course I'm hearing it because all they ran right back.
What's one game they could have just played if they're
just gonna be out one game or whatever. No, I
think I think it's what they what you say a
lot of times Christian, you know, I mean people say
shots fired like like hello, right, like this is a
warning shot, Like we're letting you know that we're serious
(06:02):
and we're not going to just sit here time and
time again and talk about the same thing that Colin
Kaepernick was talking about four years ago, and people were
getting shot before Colin Kaepernick did something four years ago. Right,
for him to even do it four years ago means
that it was a problem back then, and yet it's
still happening. So they're always gonna be naysayers in the crowd.
(06:27):
They're always gonna be people who are trying to derail
a movement. There were people did that as far back
as Martin Luther King telling him he was wrong and
washing him Washington, d C. And the bus boycott, and
in Alabama there's always those people on the sidelines who
(06:48):
are telling you, what is that gonna prove? Not taking
a bus to work? Why would you walk to work?
You know what I mean? When you can get on
the bus, that's what you hear. You know, Rob, you
make a great point, and I think this is very
appropriate because maybe people don't know this. You know, we
romanticize the past. Heck, you even got white people, right
(07:09):
wing people, you know, talking about Martin Luther King and
his quotes and and things like that. And so the
fact of the matter is not only were most whites
against Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement, but
many African Americans were against it, and they were like, Oh,
(07:30):
don't make trouble. It's just gonna get worse for us
if we do this. You know, those people are always
in the crowd, right. And my point is today you
see African Americans here and there who will come out
and all things. We're tripping. We just need to pull
up our pants. We just want well, I mean literally,
(07:53):
we just need to stop sagging. That's our problem. We're
sagging our genes. And if we listen to and if
we listen to the thing, if we listen to the cops,
you won't have these problems. Then, you know how many
times we're gonna hear that, don't somebody's get unruly with
the cops, give me a bass number. What's your name
I'm calling? I would call the police department or you
you know it happens. I'm not even mad at you.
(08:16):
I'm just saying, don't get up here in front like
y'all following the laws all everything exactly. You know that
famous family school every weekend, all the white kids were
getting drunk. That's against the law every weekend. And the
facts have shown that that white kids drink way more
(08:37):
alcohol than black kids. So if y'all really want to
compare wrongdoings, stop it, because everybody's doing some wrong exactly
that should be treated the same. We all are innocent,
you have proven guilty, and nobody the judge injury. And
right there on the pavement, you know where you you're
gonna kill somebody. No, let's just come on, right and
(09:00):
then and then it's like, oh, well, what about his background,
Like as if you have to be Chris squeaky clean clean,
you got right, and you gotta be like, oh, he
had a six figure job and he had a college
degree and he wasn't working in corporate America. It's a
shame they shot that guy. That's the guy. Well, that's
(09:21):
the only way we can feel empathy for somebody is
that you gotta be perfect. That dude. Don't have to
be perfect, you know what to be poked the law
put him in custody. You don't need to shoot somebody
in the back or do something that you wouldn't do
to other people. And that's the point. Stop with the
character assassination after the fact, right, I know, that's all
(09:43):
You'll love this one. Didn't the owner of the New
England Patriots break the lawgers? Yeah, I'm still waiting. I
talk still, we talk still, And I'm not even trying
to get political. No you're not. We're the president of
the United States on the one record as talking about
how he has sexually massed harassed women or stop. I
(10:05):
know I just saw this. Come on, don't even go
there keeping like Jesus said, lay him who who's without
sin cast the first stone. It's just ridiculous that what
happened should not have happened to anybody to shoot somebody
in the back unarmed. Stop it. Fox Sports Radio has
(10:26):
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the iHeart Radio app. Search f SR to listen live.
Lebron James is at the forefront of any league wide
social justice talk and so the question I think, um,
(10:49):
that's appropriate, you know, I think it's it did Tell
me if you disagree with me, Rob, I think there
is no doubt that Lebron James is the most outspoken
I mean outside of obviously Colin Kaepernick, who's not in
(11:11):
the league now it hasn't been for the past four years,
but he's the you can even say if you want,
he and Kaepernick are the athletes who have most defined
this generation in terms of, you know, off the field,
off the court, social issues. Would you agree with that? Yeah,
(11:35):
only because Lebron has a platform and he has been
vocal on most things, not everything. He's not perfect at
all as far as you know, just always being out front,
and I get that nobody is perfect, right, Colin Kaepernick's
had a bigger impact. I think because he gave up
Lebron knows he's not giving up anything. And that's not
(11:56):
a knock on him, Chris, because he's a star player,
the face of a league sneaker company, has his own company.
Do you know what I mean? Like like he's a bulletproof.
Kaepernick was more vulnerable. Lebron hasn't done anything as great,
and he's done great things, but he hasn't made a sacrifice.
(12:18):
How about that? That's what I'm saying. I guess you
could say, if you want to, say, by him speaking out,
he may be sacrificing, you know, people who might buy
his sneakers or whatever. I guess if you want to,
I wouldn't really call that a huge sacrifice at this
point in time, but what he's done is tremendous. The
(12:39):
question now that some are asking, where does he like
historically does he does he belong in the aligue category
or does he belong in the Bill Russell Jim Brown category? Kareem,
I'll do a jabbar? Or where where are you thinking,
Jim Brown? Where do you think I have my thoughts,
(13:01):
but I want to hear yours first. Unless you just
want me to share, you can go ahead. I'll listen
to you and play off of that. I think that
Lebron and and and here's really what I think. Ali
is by himself. And Kaepernick may move up toward that,
you know, get closer to close to Ali, because again,
(13:24):
he made the ultimate sacrifice. He gave up his career,
and you know, ultimate sacrifice in an athletic sense. He
gave up his career for other people. That's a great sacrifice. Obviously,
you got Pat Tillman, you know, who gave up his life,
you know, for um to go fight for America. So
he certainly has his own place, but we're primarily talking
(13:47):
about African American athletes who have had to fight for
social justices, justice issues here in America. UM. But Ali
is by himself because he The thing about Ali that
most people just don't seem to understand is when he
made that stand not to go to war to fight
(14:11):
in Vietnam. He didn't. They weren't even gonna have him fight,
but they were gonna put him in the in the army,
in the military. He when he said no, and he'll
go to jail instead of going over there. He did
not know that he would never that he would fight again.
And this is a guy who since he was twelve
years old and we know the story, got his bike stolen,
(14:31):
had become a boxer and was you know, his life's
dream was to become the heavyweight champion of the world.
He had it and he was willing to give it up.
And I think today we think and you know, well,
it was a three year hiatus. He knew he was
going back. No, no, he was done right. And not
(14:52):
the temperature of the country. You gotta remember right back then,
you know, the idea of being a draft dodger was
not anything that people were proud of, you know what
I mean. It was a tough tag to shake. Chris
So so I agree, I don't think. I don't think
he knew where was gonna turn. He didn't think he
(15:13):
was going to be in Atlanta lighting the Olympic torch
for the United States. Did. Here's no way he could
have thought that, No way, no none. And now let
me say this, so Ali is just you know, mythical, really,
he's mythical, and and a lot of it's been romanticized.
(15:36):
So I don't think Lebron will ever get there unless
you know, he does something else going forward that that
just blows our minds. But I think Lebron has done
more and will do more practical things for the advancement
of African Americans. Practical things. Then, I ela, Lebron has
(16:01):
started a school where all the a thousand kids are
gonna get scholarships if they get through his program, they
get scholarships to college. Lebron has just his high school friends.
He's turned two of them into absolute business moguls. You know,
he obviously has his own production company and media wise,
(16:24):
he's been at the forefront the cutting edge of changing
the way that athletes, you know, share their stories. You know,
he's not the only one. You got the Players Tribune,
you got social media in and of itself, but through
his uninterrupted company, they don't need to go through the media.
They can do it themselves. So he has done so
many tremendous things, tangibly more than Ali did. And while
(16:49):
I am critical or was critical of him, as were
you for not speaking out against China and Ali, I guess,
to my knowledge made out of been asked about it.
But Ali fought in nations that word dictatorships. I mean
the Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman was in Zaire,
(17:11):
which was a black, independent black country by then. But
Bootu Sasa Soko who ran the country. Yeah, he was
a dictator and was was, you know, hoarding the money
from his country and you know what did did terrible
things to some of his people, and Ali didn't say
(17:32):
anything about that. So that's why, I mean, some of
it's become mythical with Ali, and that will keep him
ahead of Lebron again unless Lebron does something incredible going
forward now. But if he wanted to, he could become
I think he could become president. If he did that,
(17:52):
I think you'd have to put him above Ali. But
I think he's done more tangible things than Ali, but
he hasn't reached that status and may never reach that status.
But I also think that the reason and here's the
other part, and I'm not just trying to nitpick or whatever,
but the China thing that you just talked about, that
(18:15):
was a situation where it wasn't going to be good
for him because he has sneakers and he has business
over there, and he chose to act like he didn't
know what was going on. I think that's where you
lose some points. And that's where this whole thing about
being conscious and being woken all that you could say, Chris,
you don't want you know, like like you don't want
to get involved or whatever, but to act like you
(18:36):
didn't know what was going on, and you and and
and I just thought that that was convenient because of
his business interests. And that's what happens when you're in
these things now, is it's very difficult to be true
and honest because there's so many relationships and issues that come.
And it's not just Lebron, Chris, I'm just talking about
(18:59):
in general. This This is its conflicts everywhere. They're just
are you talk about Lebron saying something? Why why are
we Why is the NBA in China? Then you know
what I mean. If what they're doing with Hong Kong,
why is why is Amazon there? Or why? We could
go on and on and on, but I'm just saying yes.
(19:20):
But but when Lebron had the chance, is all I'm saying.
And you said it. I think at the time he
swung and miss because he acted as if he didn't
know and yeah, and then the reality and yeah, and
then we actually it took this took the third strike
because he knew and as people said, don't say anything.
You know, your sneakers over there. You go over there
for a tour every off season. You know what I mean.
(19:42):
There's millions of dollars that come from there. There are
more Chinese people than the other people on the on
the planet, do you know what I mean? Like like
that stuff starts to count. Well, I think that, and
I I agree, And like I said, I was critical
of Lebron and he should have spoken up um to
be that would have been on brand for sure. Yeah,
(20:04):
And you didn't have to go it was just about
the selection, you know, it was about democracy. Was critical
of Daryl, Right, That's what I'm saying that that was
the part that it was weird. And my thing is,
and this goes for Lebron, and this goes for the
NBA as well. While I and again I criticize both
(20:25):
while they should have spoken out, I would have liked
to see them spoken out or speak out. I'm not
just going to kill them. No, because so many American
corporations are doing the same thing, turning a blind eye
to what's going on over there, and so we can.
I'll be critical of the NBA and Lebron for not
(20:47):
speaking up against about it, but I'll be critical of
the all the American corporations that are doing the same thing.
And what I said at the time, and I do
believe this, that could have been Lebron's Ali moment, And
to be honest, that may have put him ahead of
Ali because that would have been so I mean, Ali
(21:08):
obviously is an international figure, but that would have been
standing up like Ali was known for standing up for
Black Americans and Lebron is known for standing up for
black Americans. Had he went in on China, then you
go to a whole other level where you are speaking
(21:29):
on behalf of all oppressed people in the world. You
know what I'm saying, And that have been his Ali moment.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussar and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
We want to go to baseball now. It's gonna be
(21:50):
along the same lines, but interesting development there. Mets GM
Brodie Van wagoning a video surface of him talking about
the commissioner, Rob Manfred, and um really put Manfred in
a bad light. And and look if he's on the
(22:12):
video and he said it, it's his fault, but it
got out, and um, here's what what happened. Here's the
basic un come up with the solution saying, oh, you know,
gonna be super powerful. Three of us here, can't leave
the really great. Just have them all tap the fields,
then they need the field and then they come back
and played. I was like, roars, that's not happening with reality.
(22:43):
They're not played. But that's Rob's staying Rob not exactly,
he doesn't get it. He just doesn't get it. Wow,
now and Rob, I want Rob G to explain the
whole thing. And apparently now Brody van wagon and is
(23:03):
trying to walk it back. Well we just heard. I
don't see how you walk that back. There's no walking
that back though he may try. But Rob G put
the whole thing in context. Yes, sir Chris. Now, I
don't know if our listeners were able to catch all
of it, because again it was a hot mic, it
wasn't really a microphone in his face, so it might
(23:25):
not be able to hear all of it, But what
was going to happen where the Mets were going to
boycott tonight's game, which they end up doing and not
play at all, And what the hot mic cott was
Van Wagon and saying that once Rob Manfred heard about it,
he was like, nah, let's just have him come out
at seven ten, you know, walk off the field together
as like a protest, but then we'll come back and
(23:45):
play at eight ten because it'd be too hard to
reschedule all this down the road. So obviously he was
missing the point of the boycott. Obviously, this one viral
became a big old issue. So Van Wagon had to
put out a separate statement, maybe about an hour ago
or so, and this is what he said. Jeff Wilpon,
who's the owner or the COO of the Mets and
(24:07):
that are actually trying to sell the team right now,
called Commissioner Manfred this afternoon notify them that our players
voted not to play, and they discussed the challenges of
rescheduling the game. Jeff proposed an idea of playing game
now later, so not Manfred, and I misunderstood this was
the commissioner's idea. In actuality, this was Jeff's suggestion. Rob,
(24:30):
you're the baseball expert. I want to hear from you first. Um. Yeah,
I don't know if he can really walk that back.
It's on tape. It's not the greatest quality, but you
do hear him talking, so so that's a part that's
that's kind of murky. But the commissioner has to understand,
or whoever Jeff Wilpon, whoever put the idea, you can't.
(24:54):
You can't legistrate or organize, being management what the players
should do for a protest or a boycott. It kind
of defeats the purpose. And it's not authentic. It's not authentic.
It's it's it's stress rehearsal, or it's a Broadway show
without the music. I mean that that that's what it
turns into. So I think that's just a bad look.
(25:17):
I think you just gotta let it be again. I
understand from this standpoint of the commissioner, where you're only
trying to play Chris sixty games and sixty seven days.
I get it, because it's gonna be so many double
headers at the end. Everybody's not gonna play sixty games.
And the more games you miss, and the mets of
miss games already right with the COVID because two people,
(25:39):
a player, I think, a player and a executive had
it and thank god no more players. But they like
wiped out a series against the Yankees, and I think
they might have missed a couple of games against the Marlins.
So I do get the logistics of trying to make
up all these games where where you're not playing the
last seven games of the year all doubleheaders, you know
(26:01):
what I mean. That's just not gonna work for a
baseball team. It's just too much baseball and too little
of a time. So that part I get, But I
think it's ill advised to try to orchestrate or do
anything like that. It's just a bad idea. It's a
bad look. I like what baseball did on its own.
It wasn't uniform, Chris. Everybody didn't boycott yesterday. Some boycotted today.
(26:26):
Let people do their own thing and we'll figure it out.
This whole thing is fluid, and I'm good with that.
It doesn't have to be perfect. Let people embrace the
moment that they want, let them legislat or organize under
their free time and will, and we'll we'll just make
(26:46):
it all fit at the end, because I think we're all,
you know, writing this without training wheels. We don't know
which way it's gonna go. Yeah, look, I agree with
you and that I understand a commissioner trying to save
the game, you know, like, well we gotta play. But
I think he put the game and it's the He's
(27:08):
not unique to this, but he was putting it ahead
of what this is really all about with the protest,
and props to the players who were not putting it
ahead of it, right and not con go along with it, right, right?
And Brodie van Waggen and he comes off, you know,
he comes off well, like imagine if he had been
on that hot Mike saying, man, look I get it, Rob,
(27:30):
I know where he's coming from. This is some bs,
but we just got it, you know what I mean.
Like he could have really looked bad, but it shows
that he really it seems like he really gets what
the players are talking about and what this whole protest
is about. Um, and I'm just robbed And I don't
know where you're at on this, but I've said it
before and to me, this is just the latest straw
(27:53):
or the latest example of why I just think Rob
Manfred is in over his head as the commissioner of
Major League Baseball. I mean, it just seems to be
misstep after misstep after misstep. And you know, you can
go back to the Astros cheating scandal, and I think
(28:17):
I get it, given the players immunity, and I get it,
you don't want to vacate the title. But to me,
that was the only answer to this situation because people
always want justice, and that's why the other the opponents
of the Astros, a lot of the fans are so
(28:39):
upset because there's a sense that justice was not served.
And if you had taken away the championship rings and
the championship from the Astros, that would have been a
round about way of punishing the players, even as they
continue to have their individual immunity. So I thought that
was a misstep. Start calling the championship trophy a hunk
(29:03):
of metal. I guess, I get it. I mean, you're
trying to be literal, but come on, you be little
the very thing. I know they played for the history
and the legacy and it's more than just a trophy,
of course, but still that was a misstep. I mean,
(29:24):
I think not going into bubbles was a miss Bubbles,
not bubble, I get that, but bubbles was a misstep.
The seven inning doubleheaders, even after you're already played nine
in at least one nine inning doubleheader. You know, I
just think, you know, it's been issue after issue with
Rob Manfred, and then Major League Baseball attendance has declined
(29:50):
every year under his watch. And I'm I don't know
what they can do with him, or we'll do with
him or whatever. But to me, Rob, this is just
the latest exa example of how I think Rob Manfred
is in over his head. And this is in time
with the pandemic, with all the racial strife, with the
(30:11):
challenges that all sports are facing, pretty much outside of football,
the NFL, they need a powerhouse to be their commissioner,
and I just I just haven't seen any evidence that
Manfred's up to the challenge. Yeah, I'm not as down
on him as you are. I think a lot of
times the other commissioners don't have to fight with the
(30:35):
most powerful union in the in the country and maybe
the world, which puts the Baseball commissioner at a little
bit of a disadvantage. It just it is what it is.
It's not as easy to maneuver around because the players
won't stand for it. They're gonna have a voice, and
everything has to run through them in order to make
it work. So I just think he's out of disadvanta.
(30:57):
Today's thing is dumb. There's no excuse for that. But
I've seen Roger Goodell do way more gaffs. And just
the way that the NFL has handled stuff, Uh, you
want to talk about being over your head, going back
to Ray Rice and and and and the initial punishment
and some of the other things, even the Colin Kaepernick
and where the NFL put themselves in on that and
(31:20):
now saying that, oh he wished he would have listened,
and and and and some of the other stuff that's
gone on. So so is he a perfect commissioner for baseball? No?
Is it a tough job missioner. I think he's an
adequate commissioner. I'm not saying so. I'm not saying because
I would be like, is he bad? I don't think
(31:40):
he's bad. And the health you talked about the attendance,
but baseball's uh, just so they've they've had seventeen years
of economic growth in a row and they just had
their their largest revenue ever in the history of the game,
which is at eleven billion dollars. So so I hear
you about some of his misstaffs. I mean, I'm just
(32:01):
every sport is inflation and all that, every sport not
not every sport, no, not every sports set a record
all the major revenue. I'm just I'm just saying, it's
seventeen years of growth. Also, Chris, one of the things
that we haven't had that we had is uh what
is it twenty two years of uh no, what was
it nineteen ninety five? So how many years is that seven? Yeah,
(32:25):
labor piece in baseball, we've never had that. We've never
We've never had that. And I say we baseball as
a whole, he's had very little. You know, how long
has he been commissioner? Four or five years? I don't
know what he's got little to do with him, But
I'm just saying there's there's a lot of things that
that have moved forward. So is he the perfect commissioner. No.
(32:46):
Has he bumped his head and made some mistakes, yes,
But I don't think he's the worst commissioner in sports.
I think, um, what he what he might have said
or did say, or try to convey today. What was
one of those dumb head scratching moments because you don't
want to try to stage a protest and make it
(33:06):
a choreograph. I think that was. Let me let me
ask you this, Rob, because we've seen players go at him,
you know, during the the lockout or to shut down.
You know, you saw some players go at him on
social media. Do you think this will you know, worsen
his reputation among players. I don't know. I still think
(33:30):
it still comes down. I think his day and the
sun Chris will come with the next labor agreement after
next season. I think that's going to define him as
a commissioner. Is there a work stoppage? Did they get
a deal done? You know what I mean? And continue
the labor piece. I think that's what people when you're
in a pandemic and what's going on, you're done. And
(33:51):
I'm not going to praise him because they got a
deal done. No, but it's not automatic that you're gonna
get a deal done. And I'm just saying like I'm
not gonna get on, you know, clap my hands because
he got a deal done. I mean, and the other
part two I know you you know you're talking about
the astros. It's just very difficult. And again that comes
with the union. You can say, oh, do this and
(34:14):
and make them talk and all that. It just doesn't
work like that in baseball. I think that's the problem
and being given immunity. My only problem with that was
just not vacating the title.
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Rob Parker
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