August 31, 2020 • 35 mins
It's The Best Of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker! Chris and Rob discuss whether or not we're living now in the Golden Age of guard play in the NBA and tell us why they'd still rather have a great wing player than a great guard, and explain why the Ja'Marr Chase situation is further proof that college football needs its stars more than the stars need college football. Plus, BET Now host and activist Marc Lamont Hill swings by to explain why NBA players were only able to boycott games last week because great men like John Thompson helped pave the wave, why he hopes the players keep social justice at the forefront long after they leave the NBA Bubble, and much more!
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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 Rod Harker. The Guard Play
and I tweeted about it, The Guard play in the
Bubble especially. I mean, you know, it's been going this
way for years, but Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell are
(00:46):
putting on an absolute show, an absolute show, and neither
one of them was you know, Jamal Murray wasn't even
viewed as a star. Are entering the bubble and this
guy scores fifty points for the second time in three games,
(01:07):
second time in the series. Over the last three games
for Denver Utah, he is averaging forty seven point three points,
shooting sixty four percent from the field and sixty three
percent from strain. And then on the other side, Donovan
(01:28):
Mitchell went for I believe forty four himself. He's obviously
put on the show at fifty seven in one of
the games, and it is just it just struck me.
I had to tweet out, you know, I'm the king
of the You kids just don't know videos. But I
(01:49):
had to give props to the youngsters, these young guards.
I mean, we could throw in Damian Lillard and you
can go on and on. I mean Kyrie Irving and
Steph Curry and I mean the perimeter play. And I'm
not saying I'm not you know, I think there are
a lot of reasons, and some of them are these
(02:11):
these guys handles are better than ever. There's no question
about that. A little bit. They let him carry something too.
That helps. I'm glad you mentioned that. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
I gotta keep it real. I once I once covered
if you could believe this a Knicks Bulls playoff game
(02:33):
where they called, uh, carry on Michael Jordan three times
in one game. Why do you believe that was he?
I mean, he was a star from day one. Was
he winning championships yet? And I mean that's incredible. It
was incredible, incredible because they all carried the ball, you
know what I mean. So it was a playoff, it
(02:55):
was a playoff game. At Madison Squigg you know it was.
It always sticks with me though, you know what I'm saying,
because the idea that you would call it on Michael
Jordan like three times in one game and was shot, no,
no question. I mean, because guys carry the ball coming
up court, That's what I'm saying. Toldment, they put their
hand under the ball. You know, Robin, when we grew up,
(03:15):
you learn how to dribble. You're supposed to keep your
hand on top of the ball, right And you know
who was that side to put it under his arm
and walked across the half court. Yeah, remember that. He
just even think it's crazy. But but my point is,
and we can go even back. Carris Laverte was putting
on his show. Um heck t J from the Indiana Pacers, TJ. Warren.
(03:43):
I couldn't even remember his name. He's is all the
people you're talking about it all at home or going home.
But at home, I'm not saying they wasn't any champions.
I'm not saying that all up to saying this, isn't
it weird that all those guys are either home or
on their way home. That's the that's the part that
(04:03):
I get what you're saying. I mean, there's no one
when you see this, what is your thought. I don't
know if it's something with uh the bubble from the
standpoint Chris of maybe for the first time some guys
are and I'm not saying it's just them, but focus.
There's nothing else going on, do you know what I mean?
Like like this, there's no crowd, noise, there's no nothing
(04:28):
else to take away from your attention, and maybe you're
spending more time on your craft. And there's not a
lot of defense being played in the bubble either, So
let's just be honest. Well, I think the Lakers are
playing really good defense in the playoffs, but for the
most part, and the Clippers at times when they want to,
but it's for the most Here's what I say, Rob,
(04:50):
I just said one of them. The skills of these
guys are fantastic. The ball handling is otherworldly. The they
got the step back three, I mean that was obviously
not even a thing when I was coming up playing,
when Michael Jordan even was playing. No, you know, even
(05:10):
more recently than that, nobody was doing step back jumpers.
That's a heck of a move. And they're shooting range
is incredible. So I give these guards that, but I
think there are a lot of other things that are
contributing to them being, you know, putting up these numbers.
One of which Rob is there very few bigs that
(05:34):
score that you have to give the ball to you.
I mean, you look at Magic Johnson's down right, and
he was always throwing the entry pass to the post player. Kareem,
I'm due a jabar because that's what you would do
if you had a big man, you utilize them. And
now that there's not they have the ball in their
hands all the time, there's nobody to really pass it
(05:54):
off to, and they feel comfortable with just take the
shot and defensively, I'm just saying, and they give you
a little space. Everybody's playing. They can't you can't hand
check because because I can't touch you, right, So I
think that opens it up for you to be able
to know that and if I touch you, I'm going
to the line or at least there's a foul, you know,
or whatever it is. So that I think that allows
(06:17):
you to, uh, you know, feel like you can put
up shots like like never before. And that's what they're doing.
And that doesn't mean automatical. You're gonna make it, you
know what I mean. But but they have been, and
it's been at a record pace. You hit on several
points one. These guys have the ball in their hands
a ton, much more than guards back in the day
(06:40):
used to guards back in the day Magic Isaiah Thomas
the Great. They would come down and pass it you.
Whether it was into the post or on the wing,
you pass it and you might cut through and go through.
I remember Chauncey Billers told me once this was maybe
eight years ago, right right around after he retired, and
he said, look, if I had the ball in my hands,
(07:04):
if I dribbled it for fifteen to twenty seconds and
then I either was gonna take the shot or pass
it to the guy that was gonna take the shot,
my numbers would be off the charts too. And that
is a big part of it. A guy's dominating the ball.
And that goes for Lebron and Luca and Westbrook and all.
(07:24):
You know, when one guy creates everything for his team,
your numbers are going to be through the roof. I
think you said it. You can't hand check, so you
can't get physical, you know, I mean when you talking
about Jordan earlier, you could really try to move him
with hand checking back in the day, big time, big time,
(07:44):
you could touch him and that at least gives you
something a little bit on defense here if I can't
even touch you or control you Christian before and you know,
I've seen the NBA with at first to hand and
then you had to use your elboard had right, Ben,
You know it went from the hand on your on
your back to the elbow to nothing. Yeah, we saw
(08:07):
and was Dwayne Wade coming out party when he took
a million feet throws in the finals. You remember that
when they couldn't you couldn't touch him. Everything was a foul.
Was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. And now
people know they have space and they're using it well.
And then you that's the thing space with the floor
spread again, Rob. Youngsters who watched the last Dance were
(08:31):
probably astounded at the way the game was focused around
the paint. When Michael Jordan drove, when Dominique Wilkins drove
to the basket, there were six seven guys in the paint,
no doubt, right, and you just had to finish in
traffic and it wasn't like oh we can't drive. You
(08:53):
just had to finish in traffic and you felt it
like you know, remember that no layups, it would make
it would make you feel it if you were going
in there. You saw the video on Last Dance, So
Michael Jordan getting pounded clown the paint Clappert and it
was like a no. And it was no um flagrant
fouls or anything. It wasn't like that. It was just
(09:13):
the foul, right, And that was like, So now the
floor is so spread it makes it easier to get
to the basket. Because teams won they want to run
you off the three point line. Two they can't touch you,
and then three, once you get into the paint, there's
really there may be one or two people there and
(09:33):
one that might be your guy and one might be
the defender. And then you just gotta finish over that.
So all of those things I think are conspiring. And
I'll say this still, I still would take of all
that and all the wing, all the guards Chris, and
all the numbers they're putting up. The three teams that
(09:54):
most people think have a shot to win are still
the three teams right with the wings. I'm talking about
Kauai Lebron Jannis. They're not guard. It's not guard, right,
one of them, Jason Tatum, it's Tatum right. I mean
those are the those who are who you're talking about.
It's not a guard. It's not these guys guards putting
(10:15):
up big numbers. So so, while the game has changed,
and even if you want to go back and say,
well what about Steph Curry. Steph Curry won his one championship.
I'll give you that, Chris, but the other two try
to be but the other two, step Curry won the champion.
I give my job. I'll give you that one. I'll
give you that. Say it slowly, no, no, no champions
(10:39):
three games. But then Kevin Duran came, another guy on
the wing. They would have won it. They would have
won it, won it without. No, they would not because
they choked down a three. They would have won it
without He did too, he choked it down. No, not
in the But I'll give you, I will give you that.
I'd rather have a great aide transcended wing than the
(11:01):
transcendent point guard because history has just proven there's only
been three that led their teams to championship. Is that Thomas,
Steph Curry and remembered gust the Wizard Williams Seattle, and
that was a team. Yeah, he was their best player,
but they were you know, they were very balanced. Had
Dennis Johnson Jack sickma. No, that was a really good Yeah,
(11:22):
they were very balanced team. So he wasn't a superstar,
but yeah, I'm with you on that. My My thing,
Rob is just is this the golden era of guards
even if they're not you know, and that's a good point.
They're not necessarily gonna win championships. But are they better
necessarily than what they used to be or are they
just getting more opportunities? Because I did, you know, I
(11:43):
filled out my all NBA ballot, Rob, it got difficult
to put to find forwards and biggs to put on
the like my third team forwards were Chris Middleton. He
was one of my third team forwards because it got
that tight, or I gotta find another forward to put
on here. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(12:05):
Odd Couple with Chris Brussar then Rob Parker week days
at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Rob. You wrote a
column actually about this, but Jamar Chase the tremendous wide
receiver from LSU. And when we know LSU and SEC
are playing even as COVID is running rampant on the
(12:29):
campus of Alabama. I don't know if you saw that, now,
Rad and did you see that an Auburn has sixteen
players not at practice? Yep, they have God, I mean, Chris,
I mean, granted, Alabama's got a ton of students, but
there are in the what five hundred got it? Nearly
five hundred came down with it over a three day
period and stuff. And you know, like Rob, we we
(12:52):
talked about this, and we don't claim to be doctors,
and we know there's different views out there, but one
thing that does seem to be you're you know, and
this is one reason the Big ten and the Pac
twelve decided not to play, is that they are saying
there could be long term effects on the heart. Right.
(13:12):
That's what I almost would get it. If people want
to be like, well, for young people, it's not as bad.
They may get it, but it's not gonna be as bad.
But we don't know because of these these potential long
term ramifications. So anyway, they are playing at LSU and
in the SEC. Of course, but Jamar Chase is not. Now,
this is a guy that was the Bulitinic Coff Award
(13:35):
winner last year. Of course that goes to the best
wide receiver in the land, unanimous first team All American,
and I mean set conference records and stuff, catches the
steven yard everything right, going to be a top ten
pick and maybe high up in that top ten. And
he's not playing. And you wrote a column about it today, Rob,
(13:58):
I'm gonna let you share what you're sent him. It
was just just basically was he's smart, he gets it.
There's no h The risk isn't worth the reward, Chris
of coming back playing maybe getting something and it could
be twofold, not just the COVID, but maybe getting injured
(14:19):
in the league. Right, you're playing a fraudulent college football season.
Maybe somebody's trying to make a name for themselves, do
you know what I mean? Because it's it's not all
the way like it normally is. So maybe and you
put yourself in harm's way when you don't have to.
And I and college football needs those guys more than
(14:41):
they need college football. You can't tell me that a
scout is gonna say, oh no, we can't draft him.
He didn't play during COVID, you know what I mean, Like,
he didn't play the twenty twenty season. They're not even
gonna be like, we got the resume, we got the
highlight reel, Chris, We're good, We're good. And if he
doesn't play, we know this guy can play. And that's
(15:03):
why I think war players are in his status should
opt out. And then it was a running back, you
all purpose back. I just forgot his name from Auburn. No,
not Auburn, but another guy also opted out. I'll get
his name in a minute. And and that was the
other thing, Chris. He also he lost four family members
(15:28):
to COVID nineteen. Yeah four in your story. I can't
remember his name. I just forgot his name. But but
he's another kid who decided that he uh from Memphis. Yeah,
that's it, Memphis. I'm sorry. And I was thinking of
Auburn because of the sixteen cases or whatever that they have.
(15:50):
That's what's gonna be thinking Auburn, but from Memphis. And
his dad basically just said he doesn't want to take
the chance, take a risk, bring it back to his family,
to his brother. You know what I mean, kids themselves, right,
And that is the other part that we keep talking about.
People keep saying that, oh, they're young, they'll be able
(16:10):
to bounce back. What if there's a grandma at home, Chris,
or an uncle or somebody else in the family, you
have to look out for them. And I could imagine
that kid at Memphis, you know, losing four people, including
his uncle whose funeral was last weekend. He's like, I'm out.
And here's the other part. You think that the NFL
(16:31):
draft will not include any players from the Pac twelve
or Big ten, Chris, They're not gonna get drafted next
year because they didn't play, right. They play. Look, college
athletes at in the major sports are no different than
any other college student in this respect. They all go
(16:52):
to college to prepare themselves for a career after college. Right,
That's why you go with that yes, right, And once
you know that you're going to like if you establish
yourself as a freshman or a sophomore or both years
as one of the greatest players in the country, a
(17:14):
guy that is definitely going to the NFL if you
stay healthy. Honestly, and I love college football, but why
why why should you play? Like? Why should your Mark
Chase play, And even if COVID wasn't a factor, why
should he play? He knows he's going pro and in
(17:36):
a sport like football. If you want to say basketball,
obviously you can still get injured in that. But if
you want to say basketball or baseball, where the chances
are of injury are much less, football you could get
injured any play every right, And so I think rob
(17:59):
one of the things it could come of this if
more players do this. And you got the kid Micah Parsons,
the linebacker from Penn State who's sitting out like as
more players do this, Nick Bosa essentially sat out right,
I mean it's essentially you know, he got hurt in
his third game and it never came trying to come back. Yeah,
(18:21):
I'm just gonna get ready for the draft. He already
knew where he was going to be in the draft.
That loved him, and he was smart. And in this
case too, I think people, uh, you know, because that's
what the coaches are talking about. Well, could improve your
value if you play this for some and I get it,
but I'm talking about for the stars. Right. There's dude,
(18:42):
people know your resume, Chris, and and you have more
chance of getting hurt or doing something to actually hurt yourself. Well,
what could come out of this if more players do it,
is that they they start allowing players to go to
the NFL after two years of play, you know, two
years removed from your high school graduation versus the three years.
(19:04):
I mean, there's a lot of things we've we've talked
about players getting paid and all that, but that is
one situation that could change, because again I can understand
maybe you need two years to establish you you really don't.
There are guys obviously didn't have done it in one
Joe Burrow, even though he wasn't a freshman, he basically
had one tremendous year. It certainly happens, but you know,
(19:26):
you get to watch the guy for two years he's
a stud, or for a year and a half of
that he's a stud whatever, you got a good, you know,
barometer of who he is. Um, I could see this
happening because does Trevor Lawrence need a third year? No? Really,
you know, no, all he risks. And look, some of
(19:48):
the players will rare, but some players would stay just
because they liked the college experience. And I'm sure you
know at remember Matt Lynar did that, Chris, Yeah, and
he from being the first overall pick to the tenth
or left or whatever you draw. That's another thing. The
longer you stay, and we see that in basketball, if
(20:08):
you stay longer, it works against you because people scrutinize
your game more and more. You played great as a
freshman and then people are like expecting the expectations or
through the roof your second year. It wasn't like Kye
came back and said, I need to play another year
at Duke even though he what he played thirteen it
was eight games. It was a game that was a
(20:29):
number one pick or for eight college games. That hello
the basketball. Remember you got high school kids you know
obviously who've been drafted. But yeah, it is um. I
think Jamar Chase is doing the right thing. Um And
I can't fall to these kids because at the end
of the day, if they get hurt, and I know
they can have some insurance. But if you get hurt
(20:52):
in college and you can, then you know, it's just
horrible for you. If you know you could have went
to the NFL and been a top ten ten pick
and changed your family's future, change your present and your
future generational wealth and so um, something's got to be done.
(21:12):
And it's just salute to Jamar Chase. No. I think
he was very smart. I think it's a smart decision.
I think, uh some of the other players will look
at that and say, he's not even playing. What am
I doing? I bet you there's a lot of reevaluation
going on. Chris Well, one of his teammates already did
join him, you know. And so I remember Rob. A
(21:33):
few years ago we began to see players kind of
sit out these uh Bowl games? You know, would we
fully agreed with because who was a player at Michigan
who got hurt in that Bowl game? Oh? I can't
remember his name, but it was a it was a
player who got hurt and uh, well who was it again?
(21:56):
End Jake? But do you remember that? And he was
in a meaningless game that didn't matter. And that that's
why I think you have to take a little at
a Smith. He's come back from it. But remember Jalen Smith,
that's right. And it's not like if a guy would
have opt out of playing in the National Championship game.
All right, I got a problem with that, do you
know what I mean? Like you don't want to win
(22:17):
the title. But if you're telling me we're going to
the Outback Bowl or whatever, or the Tidy Bowls still
from Tostitos, the Fiesta Bowl, you know what I mean,
just a bowl game that doesn't matter in the grand
scheme of it. I'm not interested. Sorry, I hear. I'll
take the goodie bag, but I'm not playing. Fox Sports
(22:38):
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
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And got a little bit of game. He played in
one of my celebrity games a few years ago. Got
(22:59):
got a little bit of game. Hustles. He's a hustler,
my man, Mark Lemone. He can't make any shots. When
you call him a hustler, you're gonna let him through that. Mark. Hey,
I didn't say that, Mark, Yes, he did more. He's
a hospital I retired a long time ago, Man, you
brought me out of retirement. I was a solid Division
(23:22):
two player, man, I could live with. That brought me
about ten years too late. That's like when they tell
you about the girl that they set you up with.
You has a great personality, you know what I mean. No, Mark,
we wanted, we definitely want to get your thoughts on
the player boycott, but I think you may want to
(23:42):
tie it in and just share. I mean the passing
the day of John Thompson, the legendary Georgetown coach. Maybe
how in some way he paved away from for this,
you know, decades ago. Oh? Absolutely, man. You know, there's
always been a long tradition of black athletes who have
stood up. Whether we look at the Olympics, look if
we just look at basketball though, I mean, if we
(24:02):
look at Oscar Robertson, if we look at Bill Russell,
that the mine would have do our oof and our time,
Craig Hodges. There have been these moments. But it's one
thing to speak up and speak out and use your
voice and platform, which I always admire. It takes a
lot to do that. But when you're willing to walk
away from the game, when you're willing to walk off
the court, when you willing to say I'm not gonna
play or I'm not gonna coach, that's something else. When
(24:25):
you're willing to leave all this. I mean when you
say there's something bigger than the game, that sends a
different message. And what John Thompson did, the great John Thompson,
may he rest in peace, is that you know, when
he was protesting Prop forty eight and ultimately Prop forty two,
which just made the conditions harder for black athletes, black
college athletes. He when he said I'm not gonna coach
(24:45):
this game, it was a symbolic gesture, but he made
it clear that there was something bigger at stake for
black folk than the game itself. And so when I
watched the Milwaukee Bucks willing to not just lose, I
mean not just not just not play, but actually they
willing the ford the game. Right, when I look at that,
I'm like, man, that's the John Thompson tradition. That's and
I'm willing to walk away from all of this. It's
(25:07):
something more at stakes. So John Thompson is the forefather
of a lot of this man. He's a legend, and
I don't think we've ever fully given him his flower.
I'm with you. I have happened to be covering the
Big East during that time, and I was telling Chris
just a big man, but he really cared. He wasn't
just about college basketball. So many of these coaches only
(25:27):
care about what they're doing. He really cared about the
kids and all the kids he touched. So I couldn't
agree with you more. And maybe we didn't really endorse
him as much as we should have. But I think
now people are reading more and finding out more about him.
When we talk about the boycott, though some people were
(25:48):
quick only one or two days, what is that gonna do?
Or whatever? But I think the message to me was
and Chris and I we talked about this, was sent
that we will shut this down if you guys don't
get it and don't get on board with what we're trying.
They couldn't have just stopped playing all together, Mark, but
I love you know and say we're not going to
(26:10):
play again until things get changed. You know that could
be four years now. I like what they did, and
I think they sent a strong message to sports America.
You know, I've been an activist in an organizer since
since my teenage years. And one of the things that
I always talk about, because you want to say, what
is marching gonna do, what is protesting gonna do? Is
(26:30):
boycotting gonna do. In general, our resistance efforts are designed
to draw attention to the problem, to put a spotlight on.
It's like you in the hood and you got roaches
in the crib. Right, The roaches do whatever they want
when when the lights are off, they will eat your food,
they'll sit on the couch, they'll they'll program the DVR.
But it's help calling Chris's mouth. But turn that light on, right,
(26:55):
You turn that light on, and they act very, very different,
And that's the goal. I don't like the language of boycott,
and I think the NBA players kind of have to
use language of boycott because it's a whole lot of
regulations around striking and what it would mean to have
a strike. But really it reality, it wasn't the boycott.
Boycotts are intended to do harm to the people you're boycotting,
like the Montgomery bus boycott was designed to harm the
public accommodations until they responded. This wasn't about hurting the NBA.
(27:19):
This is about drawing attention to the problem. And so
while technically it's a boycott in certain ways, for me,
it was more about saying we want to draw attention
and dramatize the situation away Martin King talked about in
sixty three. So we didn't need a ten game boycott
necessarily because they weren't protesting the NBA. They weren't trying
to bring the NBA to its kneed. They're trying to
draw attention to it. And so that's why it made
(27:39):
sense to me. Mark. I've said, and I've long felt
this way that you know, I've wanted our athletes as
a whole to use their platform and use their power
on behalf of the masses of African American people, because
I feel like our athletes are they they are the
(28:01):
most beloved African Americans in the country. They're the most
well connected, buying large to you know, corporate America through
endorsements and the like. They are the wealthiest buying large,
and they are the most irreplaceable in terms of you know,
mainstream America's view, like you can't replace a Lebron James,
(28:23):
you can't replace a Pat Mahomes and so on and
so forth. And I feel like they have so much
leverage that they can use on behalf of our people,
and I was glad to see them do it, and
I think they could do much more going forward. I'm
not criticizing them, but I think there's just almost I
don't want to say no limit, but there's a ton
(28:44):
they could do on our behalf. Do you agree with
that because of the status that they hold in this society. Yeah,
it's because it's a few things. It's the it's the
it's the power they have in the platform they have
When Lebron speaks, people listen. I own a bookstore in Philadelphia,
and I can tell you just for Lebron holding the
autobiography of Malcolm X, whether he had read it or
not at that point, didn't even matter him holding it
(29:05):
in the locker room. Last week, my book sales went up. Right,
people say, if Lebron's reading Malcolm X, I need to
read Malcolm X. And these a young black men and
women doing and white boys in the suburbs were saying, look, Lebron,
I don't know no black people, but I love Lebron
and if he's reading that, maybe I should so. So
I see the direct influence of those guys. So it's
the platform, it's the power. But like you said, it's
(29:25):
also a certain amount of leverage. Right, Companies don't have feelings,
they have interests, corporations and governments don't have feelings, they
have interests, and so these leagues in regards with the
owners think privately they will concede to our demands if
it's in their best financial interests to do so. And
that's why, Just to give you one example, if you
look at Craig Hodges, Craig Hodges brings it, delivers that
(29:49):
letter to George, the original George Bush, George H. W.
Bush right where the dartschiki right, And he's one of
the best shooters in the NBA at that moment. You
could argue the best to your shooter in the NBA
debate or not. He certainly, he certainly deserved a job
in the NBA, but he was disposable. They weren't willing.
It wasn't in their interest to hold onto a Craig Hodges.
(30:10):
But what if Michael Jordan delivers that letter. What if
Scottie Pippen delivers that letter. Hell, what if even Horace
Grant delivers that letter. It's a different conversation. And so
part of what it is is not just who the
athletes are, but which athletes. What makes this moment so
special is that some of the biggest faces some of
the most prominent athletes, right because no disrepected Craig Hodgess,
(30:30):
but Craig Hodges was disposed, was a player, right, You
could win without him, You get your Steve Kerr. But
when you have a Chris Paul and a Lebron James
and the last I'm touch someone of the last ten
years of Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony speaking out, now you
can't just throw them away. And so now now you
have the critical mass, and now people have the courage
to be able to say I'm standing up and speaking
(30:54):
out too, because you can't get rid of all of it.
You can't fire all of them. And that, for me
is what makes this era of athletes not only have
a great responsibility but also be doing a much better
job in my estimation of of of of carrying out
that legacy again of Oscar Robertson, of Bill Russell, of
Colin Kappering. The fact that that all Kappas might be
a coincidence, I don't think it is. But this this
(31:15):
legacy of extraordinary athletes who are speaking the truth to
power and seen something shout out to Kappa Alpha side
the breast fraternity in the world of which Mark and
I belong as grad rook at that now I don't
need I'm good. I'm good. I'd have made it this long.
I'm all right, I'm not bad at all. Yeah, I'm
(31:39):
gonna say long term. With the players in this newfound
power that they have, it's it's pretty amazing. And then
to get other sports, Baseball joined in, even NASCAR, who's
going against their their customers when they banned the Confederate flag.
I mean, these are the NHL US stop playoff games
(32:01):
for Black lives matter. This has been pretty powerful when
you really think about it. There's a commercial running on
Fox Sports Radio and Colin Calherd to spot on. He says,
to the people who keep still trying to run from it,
they go, well, I'm not gonna watch the NBA. Well,
you're not gonna watch Major League Baseball. You're not gonna
watch the NFL. Like you're running out of spots to hide,
(32:22):
do you know what I mean? Like like you can't
do that anymore. That's how powerful this has been, right,
and that's why solidarity is so important. Again. We can
never don't let the owners trick you into believing that
they care not and I'm not saying they do it.
They don't. I'm saying it ain't the point. Right, you
got billionaire owners. If you've got a billion dollars, I
would saying earlier, you probably made some choices that I'm
(32:42):
gonna disagree with. You probably invested in something that I
don't that I don't agree with. So many of those
owners will vote for folks that we might not want
to vote for, and so I can't I ever believe
that they're going to do the right thing just because
it's the right thing. I mean, I think an example,
I'm in Philadelphia, you know, and when everything shut down.
It wasn't until Joe ellen Beach stood up and said,
you know what, I'm going to pay the salary or
(33:04):
something of these arena workers. That's suddenly, you know. Didn't
the owners step up, right because they don't want to
look crazy? Right? At first, they wanted us to pay
for it. They didn't want to give enough money back.
I'm a courtside season ticket holder. I'll pay a whole
lot of money, you know what I mean, And they
will try to hold my money so that these billionaires
wouldn't wouldn't do it. My point is never trust that
that's going to work out. We have to keep the
(33:24):
pressure on. That means the celebrities, the superstars gotta keep
speaking out. That means that every sport has to speak
out everybody and everybody ain't gotta agree. But there are
some fundamental things that we can't agree on. That players
need to be safe during COVID, That players shouldn't be
only people safe to being safe to do on COVID.
That people are dying in the street unnecessarily, and we
got to stop it. That we have to find ways
(33:44):
of reimagining the social the social arrangement. And even if
we don't agree on every detail, we have to at
least start there. And as long as the owners know
that the players are willing to leave this thing Rosie
Wallace style, like like forget y'all, I'm off, I'll leave.
You ain't got to kick me out you. I need
that kind of energy at the social level from these players.
And if you do that, then I think we can
(34:05):
get somewhere. But as soon as the players get comfortable
and black Lives Matters becomes a hashtag and and and
in the in the cool slogans on the back of
the jersey become the only thing they do. The owners
can smell that, and they will know that it's over,
and then they can go back to business as usual,
and business as usually. Want to hurt Lebron James. They
won't hurt Carmelo Anthony, it won't hurt Ben Simmons. It
will hurt the people who are dying in the streets
(34:26):
of Minnesota and and in Philadelphia and New York and
Cleveland and everywhere else. And that's why we got to
keep our attention. Great stuff from Mark Lemont hill Till
the University Professor. You can also check him out on
the Coffee and News podcast. He's also a host of
b ET News. I know you want to talk about
your woeful sixers, but we gotta take a break. We're
(34:46):
gonna get you back on because because they got me coach. Yeah,
I got man, I got thoughts, man, I got a
new coach. I'm feeling good next year, like we said
the Philly every year. Next year, I'm with you on
that they need a new code. They you know that's
I like Brett Brown, nice guy, but it was time.
But we're gonna and seriously, we'll do it soon because
(35:07):
I know you did want to talk about that, So
thank you man for the knowledge. This was just important
to get your valuable thoughts on this topic for sure.
Safe all right, brother,
Thanks for listening to the Best of The Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. The Guard Play
and I tweeted about it, The Guard play in the
Bubble especially. I mean, you know, it's been going this
way for years, but Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell are
(00:46):
putting on an absolute show, an absolute show, and neither
one of them was you know, Jamal Murray wasn't even
viewed as a star. Are entering the bubble and this
guy scores fifty points for the second time in three games,
(01:07):
second time in the series. Over the last three games
for Denver Utah, he is averaging forty seven point three points,
shooting sixty four percent from the field and sixty three
percent from strain. And then on the other side, Donovan
(01:28):
Mitchell went for I believe forty four himself. He's obviously
put on the show at fifty seven in one of
the games, and it is just it just struck me.
I had to tweet out, you know, I'm the king
of the You kids just don't know videos. But I
(01:49):
had to give props to the youngsters, these young guards.
I mean, we could throw in Damian Lillard and you
can go on and on. I mean Kyrie Irving and
Steph Curry and I mean the perimeter play. And I'm
not saying I'm not you know, I think there are
a lot of reasons, and some of them are these
(02:11):
these guys handles are better than ever. There's no question
about that. A little bit. They let him carry something too.
That helps. I'm glad you mentioned that. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
I gotta keep it real. I once I once covered
if you could believe this a Knicks Bulls playoff game
(02:33):
where they called, uh, carry on Michael Jordan three times
in one game. Why do you believe that was he?
I mean, he was a star from day one. Was
he winning championships yet? And I mean that's incredible. It
was incredible, incredible because they all carried the ball, you
know what I mean. So it was a playoff, it
(02:55):
was a playoff game. At Madison Squigg you know it was.
It always sticks with me though, you know what I'm saying,
because the idea that you would call it on Michael
Jordan like three times in one game and was shot, no,
no question. I mean, because guys carry the ball coming
up court, That's what I'm saying. Toldment, they put their
hand under the ball. You know, Robin, when we grew up,
(03:15):
you learn how to dribble. You're supposed to keep your
hand on top of the ball, right And you know
who was that side to put it under his arm
and walked across the half court. Yeah, remember that. He
just even think it's crazy. But but my point is,
and we can go even back. Carris Laverte was putting
on his show. Um heck t J from the Indiana Pacers, TJ. Warren.
(03:43):
I couldn't even remember his name. He's is all the
people you're talking about it all at home or going home.
But at home, I'm not saying they wasn't any champions.
I'm not saying that all up to saying this, isn't
it weird that all those guys are either home or
on their way home. That's the that's the part that
(04:03):
I get what you're saying. I mean, there's no one
when you see this, what is your thought. I don't
know if it's something with uh the bubble from the
standpoint Chris of maybe for the first time some guys
are and I'm not saying it's just them, but focus.
There's nothing else going on, do you know what I mean?
Like like this, there's no crowd, noise, there's no nothing
(04:28):
else to take away from your attention, and maybe you're
spending more time on your craft. And there's not a
lot of defense being played in the bubble either, So
let's just be honest. Well, I think the Lakers are
playing really good defense in the playoffs, but for the
most part, and the Clippers at times when they want to,
but it's for the most Here's what I say, Rob,
(04:50):
I just said one of them. The skills of these
guys are fantastic. The ball handling is otherworldly. The they
got the step back three, I mean that was obviously
not even a thing when I was coming up playing,
when Michael Jordan even was playing. No, you know, even
(05:10):
more recently than that, nobody was doing step back jumpers.
That's a heck of a move. And they're shooting range
is incredible. So I give these guards that, but I
think there are a lot of other things that are
contributing to them being, you know, putting up these numbers.
One of which Rob is there very few bigs that
(05:34):
score that you have to give the ball to you.
I mean, you look at Magic Johnson's down right, and
he was always throwing the entry pass to the post player. Kareem,
I'm due a jabar because that's what you would do
if you had a big man, you utilize them. And
now that there's not they have the ball in their
hands all the time, there's nobody to really pass it
(05:54):
off to, and they feel comfortable with just take the
shot and defensively, I'm just saying, and they give you
a little space. Everybody's playing. They can't you can't hand
check because because I can't touch you, right, So I
think that opens it up for you to be able
to know that and if I touch you, I'm going
to the line or at least there's a foul, you know,
or whatever it is. So that I think that allows
(06:17):
you to, uh, you know, feel like you can put
up shots like like never before. And that's what they're doing.
And that doesn't mean automatical. You're gonna make it, you
know what I mean. But but they have been, and
it's been at a record pace. You hit on several
points one. These guys have the ball in their hands
a ton, much more than guards back in the day
(06:40):
used to guards back in the day Magic Isaiah Thomas
the Great. They would come down and pass it you.
Whether it was into the post or on the wing,
you pass it and you might cut through and go through.
I remember Chauncey Billers told me once this was maybe
eight years ago, right right around after he retired, and
he said, look, if I had the ball in my hands,
(07:04):
if I dribbled it for fifteen to twenty seconds and
then I either was gonna take the shot or pass
it to the guy that was gonna take the shot,
my numbers would be off the charts too. And that
is a big part of it. A guy's dominating the ball.
And that goes for Lebron and Luca and Westbrook and all.
(07:24):
You know, when one guy creates everything for his team,
your numbers are going to be through the roof. I
think you said it. You can't hand check, so you
can't get physical, you know, I mean when you talking
about Jordan earlier, you could really try to move him
with hand checking back in the day, big time, big time,
(07:44):
you could touch him and that at least gives you
something a little bit on defense here if I can't
even touch you or control you Christian before and you know,
I've seen the NBA with at first to hand and
then you had to use your elboard had right, Ben,
You know it went from the hand on your on
your back to the elbow to nothing. Yeah, we saw
(08:07):
and was Dwayne Wade coming out party when he took
a million feet throws in the finals. You remember that
when they couldn't you couldn't touch him. Everything was a foul.
Was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. And now
people know they have space and they're using it well.
And then you that's the thing space with the floor
spread again, Rob. Youngsters who watched the last Dance were
(08:31):
probably astounded at the way the game was focused around
the paint. When Michael Jordan drove, when Dominique Wilkins drove
to the basket, there were six seven guys in the paint,
no doubt, right, and you just had to finish in
traffic and it wasn't like oh we can't drive. You
(08:53):
just had to finish in traffic and you felt it
like you know, remember that no layups, it would make
it would make you feel it if you were going
in there. You saw the video on Last Dance, So
Michael Jordan getting pounded clown the paint Clappert and it
was like a no. And it was no um flagrant
fouls or anything. It wasn't like that. It was just
(09:13):
the foul, right, And that was like, So now the
floor is so spread it makes it easier to get
to the basket. Because teams won they want to run
you off the three point line. Two they can't touch you,
and then three, once you get into the paint, there's
really there may be one or two people there and
(09:33):
one that might be your guy and one might be
the defender. And then you just gotta finish over that.
So all of those things I think are conspiring. And
I'll say this still, I still would take of all
that and all the wing, all the guards Chris, and
all the numbers they're putting up. The three teams that
(09:54):
most people think have a shot to win are still
the three teams right with the wings. I'm talking about
Kauai Lebron Jannis. They're not guard. It's not guard, right,
one of them, Jason Tatum, it's Tatum right. I mean
those are the those who are who you're talking about.
It's not a guard. It's not these guys guards putting
(10:15):
up big numbers. So so, while the game has changed,
and even if you want to go back and say,
well what about Steph Curry. Steph Curry won his one championship.
I'll give you that, Chris, but the other two try
to be but the other two, step Curry won the champion.
I give my job. I'll give you that one. I'll
give you that. Say it slowly, no, no, no champions
(10:39):
three games. But then Kevin Duran came, another guy on
the wing. They would have won it. They would have
won it, won it without. No, they would not because
they choked down a three. They would have won it
without He did too, he choked it down. No, not
in the But I'll give you, I will give you that.
I'd rather have a great aide transcended wing than the
(11:01):
transcendent point guard because history has just proven there's only
been three that led their teams to championship. Is that Thomas,
Steph Curry and remembered gust the Wizard Williams Seattle, and
that was a team. Yeah, he was their best player,
but they were you know, they were very balanced. Had
Dennis Johnson Jack sickma. No, that was a really good Yeah,
(11:22):
they were very balanced team. So he wasn't a superstar,
but yeah, I'm with you on that. My My thing,
Rob is just is this the golden era of guards
even if they're not you know, and that's a good point.
They're not necessarily gonna win championships. But are they better
necessarily than what they used to be or are they
just getting more opportunities? Because I did, you know, I
(11:43):
filled out my all NBA ballot, Rob, it got difficult
to put to find forwards and biggs to put on
the like my third team forwards were Chris Middleton. He
was one of my third team forwards because it got
that tight, or I gotta find another forward to put
on here. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(12:05):
Odd Couple with Chris Brussar then Rob Parker week days
at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Rob. You wrote a
column actually about this, but Jamar Chase the tremendous wide
receiver from LSU. And when we know LSU and SEC
are playing even as COVID is running rampant on the
(12:29):
campus of Alabama. I don't know if you saw that, now,
Rad and did you see that an Auburn has sixteen
players not at practice? Yep, they have God, I mean, Chris,
I mean, granted, Alabama's got a ton of students, but
there are in the what five hundred got it? Nearly
five hundred came down with it over a three day
period and stuff. And you know, like Rob, we we
(12:52):
talked about this, and we don't claim to be doctors,
and we know there's different views out there, but one
thing that does seem to be you're you know, and
this is one reason the Big ten and the Pac
twelve decided not to play, is that they are saying
there could be long term effects on the heart. Right.
(13:12):
That's what I almost would get it. If people want
to be like, well, for young people, it's not as bad.
They may get it, but it's not gonna be as bad.
But we don't know because of these these potential long
term ramifications. So anyway, they are playing at LSU and
in the SEC. Of course, but Jamar Chase is not. Now,
this is a guy that was the Bulitinic Coff Award
(13:35):
winner last year. Of course that goes to the best
wide receiver in the land, unanimous first team All American,
and I mean set conference records and stuff, catches the
steven yard everything right, going to be a top ten
pick and maybe high up in that top ten. And
he's not playing. And you wrote a column about it today, Rob,
(13:58):
I'm gonna let you share what you're sent him. It
was just just basically was he's smart, he gets it.
There's no h The risk isn't worth the reward, Chris
of coming back playing maybe getting something and it could
be twofold, not just the COVID, but maybe getting injured
(14:19):
in the league. Right, you're playing a fraudulent college football season.
Maybe somebody's trying to make a name for themselves, do
you know what I mean? Because it's it's not all
the way like it normally is. So maybe and you
put yourself in harm's way when you don't have to.
And I and college football needs those guys more than
(14:41):
they need college football. You can't tell me that a
scout is gonna say, oh no, we can't draft him.
He didn't play during COVID, you know what I mean, Like,
he didn't play the twenty twenty season. They're not even
gonna be like, we got the resume, we got the
highlight reel, Chris, We're good, We're good. And if he
doesn't play, we know this guy can play. And that's
(15:03):
why I think war players are in his status should
opt out. And then it was a running back, you
all purpose back. I just forgot his name from Auburn. No,
not Auburn, but another guy also opted out. I'll get
his name in a minute. And and that was the
other thing, Chris. He also he lost four family members
(15:28):
to COVID nineteen. Yeah four in your story. I can't
remember his name. I just forgot his name. But but
he's another kid who decided that he uh from Memphis. Yeah,
that's it, Memphis. I'm sorry. And I was thinking of
Auburn because of the sixteen cases or whatever that they have.
(15:50):
That's what's gonna be thinking Auburn, but from Memphis. And
his dad basically just said he doesn't want to take
the chance, take a risk, bring it back to his family,
to his brother. You know what I mean, kids themselves, right,
And that is the other part that we keep talking about.
People keep saying that, oh, they're young, they'll be able
(16:10):
to bounce back. What if there's a grandma at home, Chris,
or an uncle or somebody else in the family, you
have to look out for them. And I could imagine
that kid at Memphis, you know, losing four people, including
his uncle whose funeral was last weekend. He's like, I'm out.
And here's the other part. You think that the NFL
(16:31):
draft will not include any players from the Pac twelve
or Big ten, Chris, They're not gonna get drafted next
year because they didn't play, right. They play. Look, college
athletes at in the major sports are no different than
any other college student in this respect. They all go
(16:52):
to college to prepare themselves for a career after college. Right,
That's why you go with that yes, right, And once
you know that you're going to like if you establish
yourself as a freshman or a sophomore or both years
as one of the greatest players in the country, a
(17:14):
guy that is definitely going to the NFL if you
stay healthy. Honestly, and I love college football, but why
why why should you play? Like? Why should your Mark
Chase play, And even if COVID wasn't a factor, why
should he play? He knows he's going pro and in
(17:36):
a sport like football. If you want to say basketball,
obviously you can still get injured in that. But if
you want to say basketball or baseball, where the chances
are of injury are much less, football you could get
injured any play every right, And so I think rob
(17:59):
one of the things it could come of this if
more players do this. And you got the kid Micah Parsons,
the linebacker from Penn State who's sitting out like as
more players do this, Nick Bosa essentially sat out right,
I mean it's essentially you know, he got hurt in
his third game and it never came trying to come back. Yeah,
(18:21):
I'm just gonna get ready for the draft. He already
knew where he was going to be in the draft.
That loved him, and he was smart. And in this
case too, I think people, uh, you know, because that's
what the coaches are talking about. Well, could improve your
value if you play this for some and I get it,
but I'm talking about for the stars. Right. There's dude,
(18:42):
people know your resume, Chris, and and you have more
chance of getting hurt or doing something to actually hurt yourself. Well,
what could come out of this if more players do it,
is that they they start allowing players to go to
the NFL after two years of play, you know, two
years removed from your high school graduation versus the three years.
(19:04):
I mean, there's a lot of things we've we've talked
about players getting paid and all that, but that is
one situation that could change, because again I can understand
maybe you need two years to establish you you really don't.
There are guys obviously didn't have done it in one
Joe Burrow, even though he wasn't a freshman, he basically
had one tremendous year. It certainly happens, but you know,
(19:26):
you get to watch the guy for two years he's
a stud, or for a year and a half of
that he's a stud whatever, you got a good, you know,
barometer of who he is. Um, I could see this
happening because does Trevor Lawrence need a third year? No? Really,
you know, no, all he risks. And look, some of
(19:48):
the players will rare, but some players would stay just
because they liked the college experience. And I'm sure you
know at remember Matt Lynar did that, Chris, Yeah, and
he from being the first overall pick to the tenth
or left or whatever you draw. That's another thing. The
longer you stay, and we see that in basketball, if
(20:08):
you stay longer, it works against you because people scrutinize
your game more and more. You played great as a
freshman and then people are like expecting the expectations or
through the roof your second year. It wasn't like Kye
came back and said, I need to play another year
at Duke even though he what he played thirteen it
was eight games. It was a game that was a
(20:29):
number one pick or for eight college games. That hello
the basketball. Remember you got high school kids you know
obviously who've been drafted. But yeah, it is um. I
think Jamar Chase is doing the right thing. Um And
I can't fall to these kids because at the end
of the day, if they get hurt, and I know
they can have some insurance. But if you get hurt
(20:52):
in college and you can, then you know, it's just
horrible for you. If you know you could have went
to the NFL and been a top ten ten pick
and changed your family's future, change your present and your
future generational wealth and so um, something's got to be done.
(21:12):
And it's just salute to Jamar Chase. No. I think
he was very smart. I think it's a smart decision.
I think, uh some of the other players will look
at that and say, he's not even playing. What am
I doing? I bet you there's a lot of reevaluation
going on. Chris Well, one of his teammates already did
join him, you know. And so I remember Rob. A
(21:33):
few years ago we began to see players kind of
sit out these uh Bowl games? You know, would we
fully agreed with because who was a player at Michigan
who got hurt in that Bowl game? Oh? I can't
remember his name, but it was a it was a
player who got hurt and uh, well who was it again?
(21:56):
End Jake? But do you remember that? And he was
in a meaningless game that didn't matter. And that that's
why I think you have to take a little at
a Smith. He's come back from it. But remember Jalen Smith,
that's right. And it's not like if a guy would
have opt out of playing in the National Championship game.
All right, I got a problem with that, do you
know what I mean? Like you don't want to win
(22:17):
the title. But if you're telling me we're going to
the Outback Bowl or whatever, or the Tidy Bowls still
from Tostitos, the Fiesta Bowl, you know what I mean,
just a bowl game that doesn't matter in the grand
scheme of it. I'm not interested. Sorry, I hear. I'll
take the goodie bag, but I'm not playing. Fox Sports
(22:38):
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
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to listen live. Host of b ET News and the
Coffee and News podcast, and the Frat Brother of Mine.
And got a little bit of game. He played in
one of my celebrity games a few years ago. Got
(22:59):
got a little bit of game. Hustles. He's a hustler,
my man, Mark Lemone. He can't make any shots. When
you call him a hustler, you're gonna let him through that. Mark. Hey,
I didn't say that, Mark, Yes, he did more. He's
a hospital I retired a long time ago, Man, you
brought me out of retirement. I was a solid Division
(23:22):
two player, man, I could live with. That brought me
about ten years too late. That's like when they tell
you about the girl that they set you up with.
You has a great personality, you know what I mean. No, Mark,
we wanted, we definitely want to get your thoughts on
the player boycott, but I think you may want to
(23:42):
tie it in and just share. I mean the passing
the day of John Thompson, the legendary Georgetown coach. Maybe
how in some way he paved away from for this,
you know, decades ago. Oh? Absolutely, man. You know, there's
always been a long tradition of black athletes who have
stood up. Whether we look at the Olympics, look if
we just look at basketball though, I mean, if we
(24:02):
look at Oscar Robertson, if we look at Bill Russell,
that the mine would have do our oof and our time,
Craig Hodges. There have been these moments. But it's one
thing to speak up and speak out and use your
voice and platform, which I always admire. It takes a
lot to do that. But when you're willing to walk
away from the game, when you're willing to walk off
the court, when you willing to say I'm not gonna
play or I'm not gonna coach, that's something else. When
(24:25):
you're willing to leave all this. I mean when you
say there's something bigger than the game, that sends a
different message. And what John Thompson did, the great John Thompson,
may he rest in peace, is that you know, when
he was protesting Prop forty eight and ultimately Prop forty two,
which just made the conditions harder for black athletes, black
college athletes. He when he said I'm not gonna coach
(24:45):
this game, it was a symbolic gesture, but he made
it clear that there was something bigger at stake for
black folk than the game itself. And so when I
watched the Milwaukee Bucks willing to not just lose, I
mean not just not just not play, but actually they
willing the ford the game. Right, when I look at that,
I'm like, man, that's the John Thompson tradition. That's and
I'm willing to walk away from all of this. It's
(25:07):
something more at stakes. So John Thompson is the forefather
of a lot of this man. He's a legend, and
I don't think we've ever fully given him his flower.
I'm with you. I have happened to be covering the
Big East during that time, and I was telling Chris
just a big man, but he really cared. He wasn't
just about college basketball. So many of these coaches only
(25:27):
care about what they're doing. He really cared about the
kids and all the kids he touched. So I couldn't
agree with you more. And maybe we didn't really endorse
him as much as we should have. But I think
now people are reading more and finding out more about him.
When we talk about the boycott, though some people were
(25:48):
quick only one or two days, what is that gonna do?
Or whatever? But I think the message to me was
and Chris and I we talked about this, was sent
that we will shut this down if you guys don't
get it and don't get on board with what we're trying.
They couldn't have just stopped playing all together, Mark, but
I love you know and say we're not going to
(26:10):
play again until things get changed. You know that could
be four years now. I like what they did, and
I think they sent a strong message to sports America.
You know, I've been an activist in an organizer since
since my teenage years. And one of the things that
I always talk about, because you want to say, what
is marching gonna do, what is protesting gonna do? Is
(26:30):
boycotting gonna do. In general, our resistance efforts are designed
to draw attention to the problem, to put a spotlight on.
It's like you in the hood and you got roaches
in the crib. Right, The roaches do whatever they want
when when the lights are off, they will eat your food,
they'll sit on the couch, they'll they'll program the DVR.
But it's help calling Chris's mouth. But turn that light on, right,
(26:55):
You turn that light on, and they act very, very different,
And that's the goal. I don't like the language of boycott,
and I think the NBA players kind of have to
use language of boycott because it's a whole lot of
regulations around striking and what it would mean to have
a strike. But really it reality, it wasn't the boycott.
Boycotts are intended to do harm to the people you're boycotting,
like the Montgomery bus boycott was designed to harm the
public accommodations until they responded. This wasn't about hurting the NBA.
(27:19):
This is about drawing attention to the problem. And so
while technically it's a boycott in certain ways, for me,
it was more about saying we want to draw attention
and dramatize the situation away Martin King talked about in
sixty three. So we didn't need a ten game boycott
necessarily because they weren't protesting the NBA. They weren't trying
to bring the NBA to its kneed. They're trying to
draw attention to it. And so that's why it made
(27:39):
sense to me. Mark. I've said, and I've long felt
this way that you know, I've wanted our athletes as
a whole to use their platform and use their power
on behalf of the masses of African American people, because
I feel like our athletes are they they are the
(28:01):
most beloved African Americans in the country. They're the most
well connected, buying large to you know, corporate America through
endorsements and the like. They are the wealthiest buying large,
and they are the most irreplaceable in terms of you know,
mainstream America's view, like you can't replace a Lebron James,
(28:23):
you can't replace a Pat Mahomes and so on and
so forth. And I feel like they have so much
leverage that they can use on behalf of our people,
and I was glad to see them do it, and
I think they could do much more going forward. I'm
not criticizing them, but I think there's just almost I
don't want to say no limit, but there's a ton
(28:44):
they could do on our behalf. Do you agree with
that because of the status that they hold in this society. Yeah,
it's because it's a few things. It's the it's the
it's the power they have in the platform they have
When Lebron speaks, people listen. I own a bookstore in Philadelphia,
and I can tell you just for Lebron holding the
autobiography of Malcolm X, whether he had read it or
not at that point, didn't even matter him holding it
(29:05):
in the locker room. Last week, my book sales went up. Right,
people say, if Lebron's reading Malcolm X, I need to
read Malcolm X. And these a young black men and
women doing and white boys in the suburbs were saying, look, Lebron,
I don't know no black people, but I love Lebron
and if he's reading that, maybe I should so. So
I see the direct influence of those guys. So it's
the platform, it's the power. But like you said, it's
(29:25):
also a certain amount of leverage. Right, Companies don't have feelings,
they have interests, corporations and governments don't have feelings, they
have interests, and so these leagues in regards with the
owners think privately they will concede to our demands if
it's in their best financial interests to do so. And
that's why, Just to give you one example, if you
look at Craig Hodges, Craig Hodges brings it, delivers that
(29:49):
letter to George, the original George Bush, George H. W.
Bush right where the dartschiki right, And he's one of
the best shooters in the NBA at that moment. You
could argue the best to your shooter in the NBA
debate or not. He certainly, he certainly deserved a job
in the NBA, but he was disposable. They weren't willing.
It wasn't in their interest to hold onto a Craig Hodges.
(30:10):
But what if Michael Jordan delivers that letter. What if
Scottie Pippen delivers that letter. Hell, what if even Horace
Grant delivers that letter. It's a different conversation. And so
part of what it is is not just who the
athletes are, but which athletes. What makes this moment so
special is that some of the biggest faces some of
the most prominent athletes, right because no disrepected Craig Hodgess,
(30:30):
but Craig Hodges was disposed, was a player, right, You
could win without him, You get your Steve Kerr. But
when you have a Chris Paul and a Lebron James
and the last I'm touch someone of the last ten
years of Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony speaking out, now you
can't just throw them away. And so now now you
have the critical mass, and now people have the courage
to be able to say I'm standing up and speaking
(30:54):
out too, because you can't get rid of all of it.
You can't fire all of them. And that, for me
is what makes this era of athletes not only have
a great responsibility but also be doing a much better
job in my estimation of of of of carrying out
that legacy again of Oscar Robertson, of Bill Russell, of
Colin Kappering. The fact that that all Kappas might be
a coincidence, I don't think it is. But this this
(31:15):
legacy of extraordinary athletes who are speaking the truth to
power and seen something shout out to Kappa Alpha side
the breast fraternity in the world of which Mark and
I belong as grad rook at that now I don't
need I'm good. I'm good. I'd have made it this long.
I'm all right, I'm not bad at all. Yeah, I'm
(31:39):
gonna say long term. With the players in this newfound
power that they have, it's it's pretty amazing. And then
to get other sports, Baseball joined in, even NASCAR, who's
going against their their customers when they banned the Confederate flag.
I mean, these are the NHL US stop playoff games
(32:01):
for Black lives matter. This has been pretty powerful when
you really think about it. There's a commercial running on
Fox Sports Radio and Colin Calherd to spot on. He says,
to the people who keep still trying to run from it,
they go, well, I'm not gonna watch the NBA. Well,
you're not gonna watch Major League Baseball. You're not gonna
watch the NFL. Like you're running out of spots to hide,
(32:22):
do you know what I mean? Like like you can't
do that anymore. That's how powerful this has been, right,
and that's why solidarity is so important. Again. We can
never don't let the owners trick you into believing that
they care not and I'm not saying they do it.
They don't. I'm saying it ain't the point. Right, you
got billionaire owners. If you've got a billion dollars, I
would saying earlier, you probably made some choices that I'm
(32:42):
gonna disagree with. You probably invested in something that I
don't that I don't agree with. So many of those
owners will vote for folks that we might not want
to vote for, and so I can't I ever believe
that they're going to do the right thing just because
it's the right thing. I mean, I think an example,
I'm in Philadelphia, you know, and when everything shut down.
It wasn't until Joe ellen Beach stood up and said,
you know what, I'm going to pay the salary or
(33:04):
something of these arena workers. That's suddenly, you know. Didn't
the owners step up, right because they don't want to
look crazy? Right? At first, they wanted us to pay
for it. They didn't want to give enough money back.
I'm a courtside season ticket holder. I'll pay a whole
lot of money, you know what I mean, And they
will try to hold my money so that these billionaires
wouldn't wouldn't do it. My point is never trust that
that's going to work out. We have to keep the
(33:24):
pressure on. That means the celebrities, the superstars gotta keep
speaking out. That means that every sport has to speak
out everybody and everybody ain't gotta agree. But there are
some fundamental things that we can't agree on. That players
need to be safe during COVID, That players shouldn't be
only people safe to being safe to do on COVID.
That people are dying in the street unnecessarily, and we
got to stop it. That we have to find ways
(33:44):
of reimagining the social the social arrangement. And even if
we don't agree on every detail, we have to at
least start there. And as long as the owners know
that the players are willing to leave this thing Rosie
Wallace style, like like forget y'all, I'm off, I'll leave.
You ain't got to kick me out you. I need
that kind of energy at the social level from these players.
And if you do that, then I think we can
(34:05):
get somewhere. But as soon as the players get comfortable
and black Lives Matters becomes a hashtag and and and
in the in the cool slogans on the back of
the jersey become the only thing they do. The owners
can smell that, and they will know that it's over,
and then they can go back to business as usual,
and business as usually. Want to hurt Lebron James. They
won't hurt Carmelo Anthony, it won't hurt Ben Simmons. It
will hurt the people who are dying in the streets
(34:26):
of Minnesota and and in Philadelphia and New York and
Cleveland and everywhere else. And that's why we got to
keep our attention. Great stuff from Mark Lemont hill Till
the University Professor. You can also check him out on
the Coffee and News podcast. He's also a host of
b ET News. I know you want to talk about
your woeful sixers, but we gotta take a break. We're
(34:46):
gonna get you back on because because they got me coach. Yeah,
I got man, I got thoughts, man, I got a
new coach. I'm feeling good next year, like we said
the Philly every year. Next year, I'm with you on
that they need a new code. They you know that's
I like Brett Brown, nice guy, but it was time.
But we're gonna and seriously, we'll do it soon because
(35:07):
I know you did want to talk about that, So
thank you man for the knowledge. This was just important
to get your valuable thoughts on this topic for sure.
Safe all right, brother,
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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