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December 31, 2020 36 mins

Rob Parker and Jonas Knox, in for Chris Broussard, react to Bruce Arians saying it is “Super Bowl or bust” for the Buccaneers and if it is a failure for Tom Brady and the team if they don’t make the big game. Chris Mannix joins the show to share his thoughts on the start of the NBA season. Plus, the guys discuss whether OTA’s are necessary in the NFL.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
to catch us live every weekday from seven pm to
ten pm Eastern four to seven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f s R.

(00:26):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, what is up
on a New Year's zeve? Oh my goodness, it is
The Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio. Rob Parker and

(00:46):
Jonas Knox in for Chris Bussar. We're coming to you
live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. Fifteen minutes
could save you fifteen percent of more in your car insurance.
Visit Geico dot com for a free ray quote. And
for people don't live in Los Angeles, Jonas Knox and

(01:08):
I were filling in on AM five seventy here in
Los Angeles for a couple of days on the Rogan
and Rodney Show. Jonas, is that show is still on
the air? They Are they okay? Or did they cancel
that show? Yeah, we made a quick work of that show.
I don't know that I don't know what it's gonna
look like in the new year. But after what we
did left it, it just it looks it's a burial

(01:31):
ground now after what we did to it, just complete
and total destruction of a three hour fine radio program
that was perfectly normal. Everything was fine until we got there,
and then once we left yesterday, we left it to
Ashes knows both of us, no doubt about it. And
there's nothing better than Chris, of course is on vacation

(01:53):
and to have the official Odd Couple side piece Jonas
Knox in on a New Year's Eve. This is just
meant to be, right, me and you New Year's Eve.
We don't even need any drinks yet. It will be
a party, not yet, but but I do like how
you did, even though in the midst of everything, even
though you're probably not gonna drink it, you did want

(02:15):
to make sure that you took a picture of a
very expensive bottle of champagne that you own. It doesn't
mean you're gonna drink it. I just want to show
what you got. I'm drinking it tonight, I am. I'm
gonna have dinner after the show and then I'm gonna
pop that bottle. I'm gonna drink it all and enjoy
what are you and a wife doing to night? Who cares? Yeah,
it doesn't even you're an old married couple already mess

(02:38):
in the year it did New Year. New Year's is
the most over hyped, over celebrated and planned for holiday
that there is. It's everybody gets all dressed up, they
get all excited, they have a few drinks, they count,
they count the ball dropping at midnight and uh and
the next thing you know, everybody looks around and goes, okay, Uh,

(02:58):
same party before we left, just a different year. Technically,
let's go ahead. And by the way, all of that
stuff is done on the East coast, so you're just
watching a taped episode of a ball dropping. You don't
even get it in real time. Can't they do something
real time so we can feel like we're a part
of it as opposed to watching some tape to a crap.
I get that. I always wondered before I lived on

(03:19):
the West Coast what that was like. It is a
little bit weird. Hey, real quick, before we get started,
and we got a lot to get to, including your
guy Tom Brady Chris Mannix from Sports Illustrated. We'll get
to him in the first hour. Also, Greg Jennings and
our number two of course, the former Super Bowl champ

(03:39):
and Fox NFL analyst and LeVar Arrington, also an NFL
analyst who has a new radio show here on Fox
Sports Radio called Up on Game with TJ. Housman, Zada
and Plaxico Burst. But New Year's Day we had a tradition,
my late mom, we had a tradition we ate a

(04:00):
particular food for good luck on New Year's Day. You're
talking about Betty Crocker. Yeah, that's right. That was my
mom's nickname, Betty Crocker, because she's such a She baked
all the kids' birthday cake in the neighborhood. But we
ate something I kind of missed this, you know, not
at my mom's gone, and and I don't do it anymore,

(04:23):
but we always ate on New Year's Day, Jonas pig
feet and potato and potato salad. Have you ever had pigs? No?
I haven't. Yeh, it's not you know. I'll be honest
with you. When I'm looking around or something to eat
and I'm feeling like, you know, what's gonna really set
the move? The last thing I want to eat is

(04:44):
a pig's foot, Like I'm not interested, by the way.
You know who I also heard as a big fan
of pigs feet. That Rex Ryan, you know right, that's right,
he's a big fan of anything. I thought his wife lost.
Come come on, I was talking about the foot fetish.

(05:04):
Oh my god. Here see this is this is exactly
what happens. All right. We can't be in the same
room together because somebody makes a joke and somebody's gotta
one up the other joke and take it to a
dark place. I'm sorry, all right, all right, let's welcome
in the odd couple of cool. We wouldn't be able
to do this five radio program without him. Vince is
our producer who's done a great job all week filling

(05:25):
him for Rob g Don is our engineer, and for
Alex And of course it's a holiday, so that means
that Jonas, Rob and Steve Desagra working guys, and Steve
de Saga Uh is at the Anko desk. He'll keep
us updated throughout the program and uh Jonas um oh,

(05:46):
I want to Don Don can you crack your mic
real quick? Engineer? Don? Did you got your family eat
pig feed on or a New Year's Day or no,
it wasn't so much a New Year's Day, but Thanksgiving
and Christmas, one of one of those two holidays, you
can definitely find a pig feet or chitlands, right, hitlands.

(06:08):
I don't do the pig feet. I do, okay, which
is which one is chit lands because that sounds familiar.
The pig intestines that people eat they stay. But but
the pig fee Just think about how nasty a pig
is already in slop and all that, and now we're
eating his feet. But anyway, yeah, that's that's the point.

(06:29):
I'm not eating something that I've seen walking somebody else's
yearine by Hay at a county fair. I'm not hitting.
I'm not eating that. I have no interest in that.
All right, well we will, you know what, as we
go on and take calls, if you've ever had pigs feet,
please chime in and let us know before you get
to your topic, before you get to your response. But anyway,

(06:49):
let's do this. Uh. Bruce Area is the coach of
the Tampa Bay Bucks. He said, Jonas is super Bowl
or bust. And you know what, let's I'm saying for himself,
that's super Bowl or bust. That's the goal every year,
and you can't get to the super Bowl if you
don't get in the playoffs. So getting into the playoffs
was huge for us. It's been it's been a fun year.

(07:10):
It's a lot a lot of football left and we're
really excited to be playing. He's right, Jonas, you know
why Tom Brady is eighty nine years old and not
getting any younger. There's no five year plan. They brought
Tom Brady for one reason, and one reason only, not
to make the playoffs, but to have a chance to

(07:31):
win the super Bowl. If they don't get to the
super Bowl, the whole thing has been a failure. As nonsense,
it's been a waste of time. Tom Brady could have
stayed in New England if he's not getting to the
super Bowl. Let's just face it. They went out, they
got him all the weapons and the toys. They talked

(07:52):
Gronk out of retirement and phony wrestling. They brought in
uh Antonio O'Brien, They coaxed him back into the league.
They went out and get Leonard Fournette, Shady McCoy. They
just rounded up anybody and everybody. This was supposed to
be about Tom Brady winning a super Bowl in Tampa

(08:14):
Bay not winning two or three more games than Jamis
Winston did. That's not what this is supposed to be about.
And Jonas, if you let Brady off the hook and
act like he's already succeeded because they made the playoffs
and they hadn't made it in twelve years and Tom
Brady's already at success, I'm gonna be very disappointed on

(08:35):
this New Year's Eve. All right, this is the problem
with Rob Parker. You like to put in qualifiers for stuff.
You're like the guy who when everybody asked him, Hey,
why don't you go up and talk to that girl? Nah,
I don't talk to anybody that carries their purse strap
on the right side and not the last not my thing. Nah.
I don't like you put in these qualify Nah. You know,
I don't like anybody wears a red she's got the

(08:56):
red shoes on. I don't like that outfit. And also
they've had tilted a certain way like you you put
in these built It's more like there's that too, that
that you was Standing of the Year next year, But
there's also it's it's it's you put in these qualifiers
as to what counts is successful and what doesn't and

(09:18):
everything for you because you do your whole sports as
a short menu. It's about wins and losses, which were
stolen for me. By the way, you think that because
they don't want a super Bowl that it's been a failure,
I totally disagree. There was no guarantees they were gonna
win a super Bowl. Nobody was talking Tampa Bay was
going to win a super Bowl automatically because Tom Brady

(09:38):
got there. And if you were, then your expectations need
to be addressed. Because the Tom Brady that I've been watching,
and I don't know what you've been watching, the one
that I've been watching isn't the same guy that was there,
even back just a couple of years ago in twenty
seventeen when he threw for five hundred yards in the
Super Bowl against Philly. They're gonna make the playoffs. They're
gonna be an eleven win team. Would I like to

(10:00):
see them win a playoff game. Absolutely, But to say
that their season's a failure because they're not gonna win
a super Bowl, I totally disagree with. That's the wrong
expectation anybody should have had coming into this scene. No,
it's not when you sign a Tom Brady, the goal
is for him. Tom Brady's goal when he came to
Tampa Bay was to have a chance to push it,

(10:21):
to further his legacy and to separate it from Bill Belichick,
for him to go to Tampa Bay, win a Super
Bowl and go. You see, it was me, It wasn't
Bill Belichick, it wasn't the Patriots. If Tom Brady winds
up like Michael Jordan, not winning anything and with the Wizards,

(10:43):
it won't be anything. It'll be a side story about
him going down to Tampa Bay for the Early Bird
Special and for a chest X ray, because that's all
it will wind up being. That's it. I I just
totally disagree. I don't think I ever went into this sea.
And this is because maybe my expectations were different than

(11:03):
everybody else's. Rob You've seen this and have talked about
this before, so this is coming from you. Has he
or has he not? Tom Brady been on a steady
decline over the past several seasons. Yes, okay, did you
see the playoff game last night? Ole bit the Titans. People.
He didn't make the Pro Bowl this year. You know

(11:24):
why because he was very inconsistent and struggled against good teams. Yes,
now you're playing bad teams in the playoffs. It's gonna
rip the Lions apart? Or is he gonna play good
teams like the Saints and the Packers and the and
the Seahawks. I totally agree with you, and that's why
I didn't look at this as all they've got to
win a Super Bowl. I mean, he was the missing ingredient.

(11:46):
I didn't feel that way. I felt like, you do
your best, you try and build the best team, You
take your chances, and you see what you got. And
there's thirty one losers if we're using that rationale in
the NFL every single season, and then unless you want
a Super Bowl, your season is considered a failure. So
there's thirty one other failures in the league, which would
make Tom Brady in the Bucks just as good as

(12:08):
the Jaguars using your rationale. I looked at the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers and I said, okay, hold on a second,
You've got a bunch of talent there. I get it,
but you're not getting the same guy that was there three,
four or five years ago. He's a different quarterback now.
And when he got to the NFC South. I even
I also said this hands down, and it's not even close.

(12:31):
This is the best division and the best division of
quarterbacks he's ever played against. You can't even argue that
if you go back to all his years in the
ANFC East, it's not even arguable. So yes, so this
idea that they were going to walk in and dominate
the division and dominate the NFCC season agreed, And there

(12:54):
were times they looked bad. I think that getting to
the postseason in a game, if you can win two, you,
as a Bucks fan, coming from where you came from,
you've got to feel at least better about things. But
if your thought was, hey, he's got to win a
Super Bowler's this whole thing's a failure, then get ready
to fail because I don't think this team is a
super Bowl team. I don't know about you, but what

(13:15):
I've seen, they don't look like a super Bowl team
to me. All Right, we want to hear from you
eight seven, seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine
eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. Uh, you know
where are you on this? If Tom Brady doesn't get
the Bucks to the super Bowl, failure isn't a failure.

(13:36):
It's a total failure. And also, if you've ever had
pigs feet, we want you to chime in and tell us.
I'm telling you, Jonas is good stuff. Pigs I'm telling
it got to be cleaned properly. Okay, but it is
good stuff. Why does it need to be cleaned properly?
Because they walk around and crap. They're all crap. That's

(13:58):
the words, barn. But yes, it is the I Couple
on a TV Theme Song Thursday. That's right here on
Fox Sports Radio. Stick and stay, pigs feet. Thanks for
listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure to check
us out live every weekday from seven pm to ten
pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.

(14:20):
Find your local station for The Odd Couple at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching f s R. It
is the I Couple on Fox Sports Radio on a
TV Theme Song Thursday. Rob Parker and Jonas Knox in
for Chris Broussard. We're coming to your live from the

(14:43):
Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. We now have some breaking news,
breaking news from Fox Sports guys, bad news for Green
Bay Packers. Fans. His NFL Network reports starting left tackle
and All Pro David Back. He already suffered a season
ending knee injury today in practice, believed to be a

(15:04):
torn ACL. He just last month signed a rich, four
year contract. The Packers can clinch their first round by
with a win in the finale Sunday or Seattle. Aspect
to you, boy, that stinks. That's something else. He's one
of the one of the better tackles in the league.
All pro. I've been to three I think three Pro Bowls.
Was an All Pro coum. Yeah, No, he's a he's

(15:24):
a he's a he's a player, no doubt about it.
Lost for them, yep, eight seven, seven, nine nine, six
sixty three, sixty nine. We want to hear from you.
Is it super Bowl or bust? Uh? Jonas Knox says no,
that's what Bruce Arians said, And I agree with Bruce Arians.
If the Bucks don't get to the super Bowl, it's
been a failure of a season. All right, Jonas, Let's

(15:46):
hear what the people have to say, and let's go
to market Sacramento. Listening here on Fox Sports Radio. Mark,
You're on the O couple. What's happening what's going on? Jonian?
Happy New Year's man again, it robbed two weeks ago.
You said that you needed your callers, man, so we
got you here. Happy New Year Man. You don't have
much family out there, so the callers and the listeners

(16:08):
we were your family the last two weeks. And so
make sure you look that barman. Chris, Uh No, we
had you back, Mark rob Ass family. It's just right
now working at Magic City. Leave and leave my nieces alone.
They got to go to school too, nice Rob quick

(16:32):
on on the on the thing, my mother was My
mother was Ray Ray born and raised in Texas. So yes, Rob,
I've had them. I've had them pickle pick feet, pickle
but pig feet always ate on New Year's Day and
my family don't pretty peanut butter on it night. Yeah,
pretty much. On the Brady thing, tell me it's a

(16:55):
super Bowl bus with all the hoop rob him coming
down there, all the moves that they made, all this
Tom Brady six rings. That's Chris would say radio. I'm like, yeah,
he'd better get his butt there. So I can see
why uh why arians are saying maybe maybe arias are
putting a little fire under into a little pressure to say,

(17:16):
just ye made the playoffs and you're coming out and
win one game or lose in the first round. That
ain't good enough. That's not why I came down here. Yeah, no, no,
I agree. I not not good enough at all. So
that that's my take on it. And they got to
get there, man, This is what Chris called the goat
and all that stuff. But if you don't get there,
how can you be called the goat? No doubt. Happy
New Year, Mark, same as you, Rob, You take care, brother,

(17:39):
appreciate it. Unbelievable. Just the row of kiss asses for
Rob Parker. They call into this show, They wait until
Chris is con because Chris is the governor of things
and Chris, Chris likes to keep things at an even
keel level, and then they wait till he's gone, and
then they just race in to take whatever opinion you
got and run with it. Unbelievable. Kyle is in Las

(18:01):
Vegas listening here on Fox Sports Radio. Kyle, what's happening, well, Jonas,
what's up? Rob? Hey? Rob? Real quick? My cousin is Rolex,
Mike the Wonderful I was calling into the show. Yeah,
all right, that's what's up. So Yeah, he wanted me
to tell you that whenever you come back down to Vegas,
this time, link up with him. He got something nice

(18:23):
for you. You know, I'm coming from our birthday next month,
so I'll let you. Okay, yeah, all right, what Jonas, Jonas,
I'm one hundred percent and agree uce with you. Brother.
A few years ago, a few years ago, before the
Cubs won the World Series, it was, you know, everybody
was on the bandwagon saying, oh, it's it's championship or

(18:44):
bus for them. They didn't win. The first year, they
came back and won. The second year, Lakers got the
Lebron quarterback pitch rob Rob wait which with the Lakers,
Lakers got Lebron. They got bounced out of the playoffs
right away. They came back in one. One. No, no playoffs.
They didn't make the playoffs. You mean once they still large,

(19:06):
but they came back to one. But they came back
in one. So the same thing with Thomas. He doesn't
make the Super Bowl this year. Okay. The rest of
these teams in the NFC, and to Jonas's credit, they
have one thing and one thing over Tom Brady. They've
been jelling together for at least a season or two,
they're gonna be able to play against these three, play
against Tom and do some things to him that he's

(19:30):
not particularly uh, you know, articulated with. When it comes
down to reading these NFC defenses, he was able to
do it and the AFC all day long. These are
teams that you're beating up on year in and year outside.
When you come across and again, it's easier for you.
I think we're appreciated, Kyle, Kyle, you tell a Rolex Jose,
I'll be in Vegas too, set me up with something nice.

(19:52):
I wouldn't mind it. You. Well, look at you getting
free watches here. You're a aculous Mark is in Virginia.
Here on Fox Sports Radio, Mark, you're on the odd Couple.
Jonas knocks in for Chris Brussart alongside Rob Parker. What's happening,
Jonah's Kudo's good job, Rob, Rob. I'm enjoying the flip

(20:15):
plumps you set me. But your comments tonight, your hatred
has no damn bounds. Let me let me first address
a pig the pig beach stuff here in Virginia. Anytime
I peruse a menu that has feet or pig on it,
I exclude automatically. And I know why your family ate
it on New Year because it took the whole damn
three hundred and sixty four days afterwards to get it

(20:37):
out of your system. Okay, to football. Let me see
who's that quarterback in Green Bay, who's that quarterback in Baltimore?
Who's our quarterback in Seattle? The or all losers because
they didn't win a Super Bowl? Right? Your hatred has
no bounds except for one thing. I can always tell
when you're getting wound up like a rock song. Your

(20:57):
decibel's increased by about one hundred and ten and then
you let it have it with the baby talk. Dude, Jonas,
you're spot on. Okay, that's all I have to say.
God bless you both. Have a happy New Year. Hey,
sending those flip flops back? Yeah, I got a picture
of them. I got a picture of them. They're high chops.

(21:17):
I created a high top one. I gotta email it
to you on my head out. Yes, you can't go on.
You can't go in the sand with those things if
you get bad knees and ankles. Anyway, you guys have
a great New ye Yeah, man, appreciate it. One more
in on Jonas. Yeah, Yeah, let's do one more Marco,
Marco and North Carolina here on Fox Sports Radio. Marco,
what's happening? Hey, fella's how y'all? Doe want to say

(21:38):
Happy New Year to y'all to the greatest show on
the radio. Man, thank you, Marco. He was talking about
He was talking about my overnight show. Rob. No, he
never misses your overnight show. Right, well, I gotta start
with Rob Man. The goal in the NFL, NBA, Major
League whatever is to win a championship, right, yes, you

(22:01):
play and win the championship all day. As soon as
Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay, I heard plenty of
people say, oh, well, Tampa Bay is gonna win the
Super Bowl. They got Antonio Brown, blah blah blah. Their
offense is gonna be unstoppable. What people fail to realize
is you still have to play the game. They did

(22:22):
not address any issues on the offensive line. You gotta
have the offensive line to block for you. Because Tom
Brady is one hundred and five years old. Man moved
out the pocket. Hold on. Didn't Rob Parker say on
this program that Tampa Bay wouldn't make the playoffs. We
don't have time for that. He Marco, Marco, Marcael. Have

(22:44):
you ever had pigs feet? That's the last thing we
need for My mom used to cook pigs feet, but
I stayed one hundred one hundred, so you never had
pigs fee, never never had it and probably not. All right,
all right, happy change, Thanks for having my back. We

(23:07):
don't have time for it. We don't. We don't have
time for that. All right, let's squeeze one in out
of the pace feed. All right, we're gonna we're gonna
switch gears and head over to the NBA, which has
been basically unwatchable so far this season, and we'll welcome
in Chris Mannox to share his thoughts on the start
of the season and some other stuff. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard

(23:29):
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. We
now bring in a guy who knows the NBA like
the back of his own hand, mister Chris Mannix, a
senior writer for Sports Illustrated. What's up, Chris? Happy New Years?
Having a Chris? What what's going on? Guys? All good man,

(23:51):
help us out. Jonas and I've been talking about this
the NBA and what's happened the first two weeks, all
the blowouts, twenty five percent of the games Chris have
been decided by twenty or more points. We almost saw
two fifty point losses in the first week. The NBA
only had two fifty point losses all of last year.

(24:14):
Why for the uneven uncompetitive play here, Well, I think
a lot of it has to do with how the
NBA came back and how these teams are, you know,
returning with various challenges. I mean, some teams, nine of
them haven't played since March and their official training camps

(24:40):
preseason began less than a month ago. They had four
preseason games or three preseason games, or some of them
limited training camp before being kind of thrust back into
the fray. The flip side of it is you have
you know, like a half a dozen teams that were
you know, just kind of finished up like two two

(25:01):
and a half months ago and are not kind of
fully invested in the season. Again, I'm talking about the
Lakers and maybe to a degree of the Clippers. I mean,
it's just you have just teams that plus look free
agencies shook up the edge of sketch a lot. I mean,
you know, Washington added a key player in Russell Westbrook.
I mean Atlanta added nine new pieces. I mean, you

(25:23):
just can't create chemistry on the fly, and that's why
it led to some strange Maybe Milwaukee had one of
the more bizarre weeks I've ever seen where they get
smacked by the Knicks by twenty. They beat Miami by
like forty seven, and then it los to Miami, you know,
two nights later by double digits. So I think it's
gonna be a while before we get any before you know,
we get any kind of consistency and we start to

(25:45):
see what these teams really are. Chris, were there players
or at least anybody you talked to you, how many
did you get a sense from that just weren't ready
to come back, Meaning they didn't want to come back
this early. They were they were against having a turn
back around and come back and start when they did,
and it almost felt like it just crept up on
them out of nowhere. Now, I mean, I don't think

(26:06):
that's an issue for the vast majority of players, the
ones I've talked to, especially the ones that have been
inactive for so long. Yeah, they were chopping at the
bit to get back, and they've been playing pickup games
and staying as in shape as you possibly can while
not being with your teams and try and take as
many precautions as you can because of the coronavirus. I mean, really,

(26:27):
the team that was most upset is the team in
the nine two one zip code. I mean, the Lakers
are the ones that basically didn't, you know, wanted more time.
The heat, don't give a damn like they'll play like
every week. The Celtics are all young. I mean, you
don't up and down the NBA. You've got teams that
wanted to come back. Now, would they have preferred an

(26:49):
extra couple of weeks of training camp, Probably, I mean
probably to shake off some of the rust and get
yourself going. But you know, the NBA was held bent
on getting a seventy two games schedule in and you know,
the players understood that they didn't bend to this NBA desire,
they'd lose money as a result of it. There's already
going to be some money lost regardless because of the
fan revenue that's just not there. So I think guys

(27:10):
wanted to far more guys that I talked to you
wanted to play and wanted to play as soon as
possible than the ones that didn't. Our guests Chris Mannox,
senior writer for Sports Illustrated here on the odd couple
of Fox Sports Radio. Chris and you heard me called
Washington NBA Siberia. I'm not blaming it all on Russell Westbrook,

(27:30):
but but the organization is just is not good. They
haven't been good for a while. I know he's there.
I think they're winless now and five this could be
pretty ugly. What do you make of Washington? Where they're
going and can they turn this around? But it's a
disappointing start. I mean, I don't know how. There's no
other way to describe it. I mean when you take,

(27:53):
you know, big leads into the fourth quarter like the
Wizards have in their first few games and blow them,
you know, blowing to to the Orlando Magic. Um, there's
really no excuse for it. Um. Yeah, I don't. I
don't know. I don't know how you explain it. Now.
There are little things there. I mean, Westbrook missed a game,
Ruy Hashimore has been out, but none of that really justifies,

(28:16):
you know, coughing up double digit leads latent games, and
I think you, I think you look at this team
and say, ah, you and five or whatever they're going
to be after the night is certainly not great. But
let's give it till the end of January to see
kind of where they are and see if Westbrook and
Beal can get some chemistry, if Hashimore, who was a
big part of what they did last year, add something

(28:36):
that mix. Um, I don't know where they go. I mean,
the really, the big, the big question is what happens
to Bradley Beale. I mean, Westbrook is still very much untradeable.
I mean you can only trade him for the distressed
asset that was John Wall. But the question becomes like,
is Beal do you start talking about a Bradley Beal
trade while his value is at its highest? I can

(28:56):
tell you from talking to people in the Wizards organization
there nowhere near that win just yet. But if these
losses start to stack up, you know you have to
believe they might get there. Chris, it's early, so I
don't want to go total hyperbole here, but I've been
blown away with Kevin Durant so far. I mean, I
can't even believe this is a guy coming off the
injury that he suffered. How impressed have you been with
his performance early on? Impressed, but not the least bit surprised.

(29:19):
And I was writing this back in round Thanksgiving, like
guys that were in his workouts. And I wrote a
profile of John Wall in last month's issue, and part
of that reporting of that was the workouts that Wall
had in California with Durant and with several members of
the Nets, and everyone that watched that workout and watched
those pickup games said, he's not just back post surgery.

(29:41):
He's all the way back. And you can see it.
You can see it in the way he's played. I mean, offensively,
he's been great. You kind of expect that. But I
watched this guy defensively, and before the injury, he was
one of the better front court defenders in the league.
I mean, he was that good on the defensive end.
He has been that guy for most the first part
of this season. So look, I think he's getting like

(30:04):
he took a rest day off the other night, and
there's going to be many more of them along the ways.
They don't take many chances with him in this weird season.
But if he gets enough games in, he can win
the MVP this year. Like he I think he's that
he's that far back from his injury. And I think
Durant and to a lesser degree, Wall, we haven't really
seen him play yet in a game, but Durant Wall

(30:26):
might change the perception of the Achilles injury in the
way that the ACL injury has been changed. I mean,
it was fifteen twenty years ago an ACL injury was
a death sentence for an NBA player. Now it's an
Achilles injury that used to be at death says. Remember
Kobe and Wesley Matthews and Chalkie Billups and all those guys.
It used to be you never got it all the
way back. If Durant and to a Lestury Wall get

(30:49):
it all the way back, it could change the feeling
of what Achilles injuries mean to players. Hey, Chris real quick,
I bet Plaxico Buris a pair of He has a
show called The up on Game here on Fox Sports Radio.
We bet a pair of Jordans off Whites, and he
bet me that the Nets would not make it to

(31:10):
the Eastern Conference Finals. How good should I feel about that, bet.
I think you should feel good. The din Winnie injury
makes me wonder a little bit because he was a
big part of their depth. But when you get to
the playoffs, if you have two straight up assassins on offense,
and that's Durant and Kyrie Irving, you can beat anybody.

(31:30):
It's as simple as bat. If you have those two guys,
there's not a team in the league you should look
at and say why we can't beat them? There you go.
Chris Manni from Sports Illustrate. I'm feeling good now. I'm
gonna go try him on. Chris, Happy New Year, Thanks
for the knowledge. My man came to you. Guys. Appreciate
it all right, Like he gives a crap about you,

(31:51):
you know, my bet, He's like, okay, you're bragging. Okay,
hang up on he wanted to hang up on me
right there? All right? Jonas our OTA's done in the NFL.
We'll talk about that next. It is The Odd Couple.
Fox Sports Radio sticking Stay America. Thanks for listening to
The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to catch us live

(32:11):
every weekday from seven pm to ten pm Eastern four
to seven pm Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio. Find your
local station for the Odd Couple at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching f s R. It is the

(32:32):
Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio Robe No Seford and Son,
Rob Parker and Jonas Knox in for christ Rossard and
we're coming to you live from the Geico Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Jonas, you know how much you love football
in the NFL. Love And I've always been saying, like,

(32:54):
as popular and as much money as that league makes,
the union is very weak and they don't have a
great deal. Uh, they don't have great pensions, all kinds
of medical insurance. Just all that their fault. It is
their fault because they're not willing to fight for Jonas
and for all the people that badmouth baseball. You wish

(33:14):
you had their union, Yes, I wish you did, no
doubt about it. Uh. You play like one day in
the major leagues and you're you're in the pension and healthcare.
It's not even that you you can literally cheat in
a World Series using trash cans and electronic devices. And
because your union is so strong, you don't have to
talk about it. It's amazing. But the NFL the uh

(33:41):
uh today Jonas Uh. There was a story about the
union president who basically said that because players this year
have kind of gone with it without the OTAs because
of COVID and the off season stuff that they did
right through Zoom and through meetings like that, that they

(34:03):
don't want to have OTAs and offseason training that NFL
players have always done. When you look at the other
sports when the NBA season is over there you don't
come back. When baseball is over, you don't come back.
And how we'll get together for a week once a month,
you know what I mean in the off season to
go over stuff. None of that has done anywhere else,

(34:24):
same thing in the NHL, the only places football. What
do you think do you think the players because of
the quality of play and what went on this year?
I don't think Aaron Rodgers looked like he missed any anything.
I mean, did Mahomes miss out? Do the Chiefs not?
Did they stumble because they didn't have those OTAs and

(34:44):
those meetings? Jonas? The quality of play has gotten worse
in the NFL ever since they lower the number of
practices already so and you can go to offensive line
player or whatever you want, and that gets into the
minutia of things and whatnot. But the quality of play
has diminished in the NFL, and this has been talked
about by a lot of people over the past several

(35:07):
years because of the new CBA, the amount of practice time,
the NFLPA, they negotiated less practices and all of this stuff.
So that was already. If you do it more, the
quality of play is just going to continue to get worse. Now,
I would agree that maybe they don't need to be
there as much as they have been. You do need
an off season program, though, I absolutely believe you need

(35:29):
an off season Why can't you do it on zoom
and do it and do it like that? No, I'm
asking you seriously, how come no other sport do you
have to come in in the offseason. I just don't.
I'm not so sure. Why isn't that stuff worked out
during the year when you're playing. Get your ass, get
your ass ready to go for the season. All right,
you're you're one of these mailed in guys. I'm not.

(35:50):
I'm a grinder. Rob Parker. Oh yeah, I'm okay, you
know this. I've done three practice shows today, in preparation
of this show. All right, well, to practice to go
against me? You better to practice show like I just
read an entire encyclopedia Britannic. I think that's what they
call it on pigs feet to get ready for this show.

(36:10):
I'm a grinder. You may not be, but I'm a
damn grinder. That's prep right there. Taste any pigs feet?
I hope you did die. I'm wait, wait till after midnight? Yes,
all right, our number two of the program coming up.
It is the Odd Couple. Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

(36:31):
Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com
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