05/22/2021 - FOX Sports Saturday with Brian Noe and Ephraim Salaam - Fox Sports Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports. Oh what's going on everybody?
Hope you're enjoying your Saturday evening. I would assume you're
in a fantastic mood here, big man, because Lebron is
not gonna be suspended for being a naughty boy, naughty
boy not adhering to COVID protocols. And then the Clippers,
the crosstown rival. If you want to call him that

(00:21):
they lose Game one, I would imagine you are elated
right now, is that true? Look, man, I'm I'm excited
that NBA basketball and playoff basketball is here. That's what
I'm giddy about. This is a good time of year.
You know, Bill Micholson's leading the p GH championship, had

(00:44):
two great games earlier. And yeah, I'm happy Lebron is
not gonna be suspended. I mean that goes in there
with a list of things that you know, I'm making
me smile today. That's right, It's gotta be on the
list for sure. Well, let's start with the Clippers. How
about this. I mean, look, if you're orchestrating your path

(01:06):
and you lose at the end of the regular season
to the Rockets and then to the Oklahoma City thunder
and comes just rest. We're just resting, that's all that's
and we're all looking sideways like it seems like you're
trying to avoid the Lakers until the conference finals. It
just it really seems like that. And then all of

(01:27):
a sudden they come out and they kick game one
against the Dallas Mavericks. That's just hilarious right there. I'm sorry,
I'm not a Clippers hater, but that's just hilarious that
you try to orchestrate your path, this is the best
formula for success, and then you lose game one. The
problem is, and I hate overreactions either way after you know,

(01:49):
game one of any series, any sport. But the problem
is when you're watching the games, you can you can
figure out and determine, Okay, is the does the favorite?
Are they in trouble, do they have a problem, is
it closed? Did they just have an off game? So

(02:10):
you can kind of you know, go down the line
and and and be like, okay, well they can they
can get better. And watching the Clippers Kauai at nine
Paul George eight for eighteen. The problem is that Dallas

(02:35):
is not one of those teams where you should blow
out right there. It's not like it's not a huge
discrepancy in talent because Luca Donte showed you what he
could do alone last year against the Clippers. Remember that
in the bubble he was by himself. Borzoncas got hurt
and so he was by himself. Um and given the

(02:59):
clip fits. So you add Porzinga's back in that mix,
and I mean he was five for six, fourteen points.
That's a very Draymond Green like shooting total right there,
in terms of attempts from the field. You know, Yeah,
is so effective though, you know, and then you you

(03:23):
have Tim Hardaway Jr. Who just doesn't care. Those guys
have no conscience, they don't care. It's a good formula. Offensively,
I hate Dallas's defense, Yeah, that's gonna bite him in
this series. But with Luca setting the table being a
scoring point guard and you surround him with shooters that
just don't care, they're like, oh, open shot, it's going

(03:45):
up man. And they hit of their threes today. That's
not gonna carry on throughout this series. But on a
game by game basis, they can get red hot from three,
no problems. And that's the problem, right because the Clippers
are still trying to to exercise ghosts of playoff pass right.

(04:11):
They need this year to be an exorcism of failure
from yesteryear. And they're not starting out the right way.
And like you said, they orchestrated their own path. They
picked this road to ride down, fearing playing the Lakers

(04:31):
too early, so they decided this is what we're gonna do.
We're gonna hate that. We talked about that last week, right,
this idea of let's avoid this team or let's orchestrate this.
I would much rather you said, bring everybody on. We
don't even care. But as soon as you start saying, well,

(04:52):
maybe this is better, I just don't like how you
go into the playoffs that way. Dallas and Luca aren't
a fraid of them. They weren't afraid of them last year,
but they're not afraid of them, and that's a problem. Yeah,
and Lord George is not scaring anyone I know. Luca
with the triple double today thirty one points, ten rebounds,

(05:14):
eleven assists. That's his third career playoff triple double. And
like you said, big Man, we can't overreact to Game one.
I'm not saying Clippers are doomed, they're not gonna win
the series. I still have them winning the series. I
just think it's hilarious that they orchestrated their path and
it's still lost game one. But you look at what
is going to remain consistent the Clippers from three today

(05:36):
they were eleven of forty. That's that they're not gonna
be that bad going forward. Remember when the Lakers were
terrible shooting the ball in Game one against the Blazers
last year and people freaked like, oh gosh, look out,
Lakers going down. It's like, they're not gonna be that
bad consistently going forward. And I look at the same

(05:58):
the Maps aren't gonna be this good shooting the three
going forward. The Clippers are going to be that bad
shooting the ball from three, and in general they sucks
from the field. Also, Yeah, they just didn't have any
continuity in their offense. They didn't. They had no continuity.
And outside of Rondo coming in and adding some some

(06:19):
flow to it when he's not on the floor, it's
you know, anybody can do anything. And I don't know
if that's the right recipe to uh to win a
playoff series. Not he gets a good team now you
can get away with that. You can get away with that,
you know, playing a lower seed, a team just trying
to Yeah, you know, progress from last year. But like

(06:43):
I said, mentality is everything. They came in to the
playoffs with a different mentality than the Dallas Mavericks. Yeah.
I wouldn't go as far as let's say the Jazz
lost to Memphis in Game one. I would. I would
much more shrug my shoulders, like of deal, right, But
I don't look at this Clippers win and say a

(07:03):
big deal. Who cares? It's closer than that. I still
fully expect the Clippers to win the series. I just
don't know how though. Like defense, better defense, they I mean,
they don't play that good a defense. They're better than Dallas.
Dallas is just Dallas is bad at defense. Yeah, yeah,
just don't bring it on the defensive end. How about

(07:26):
the other game today, big man, what did you think
about the box surviving against the heat? Jimmy Butler with
a huge shot to send the game into overtime, and
then the game ends. You glance down at the box
scort Jimmy Butler. Fo Yeah, the books they got a
problem on their hands. The same type of problem they

(07:47):
had last year. Uh, people keep forgetting to tell in, uh,
the Miami Heat did. They shouldn't be good and they are.
They aren't good. People keep forgetting to let them know that. Yeah,
and and so they're they're going out there and they're
playing like Jimmy didn't have a great game. He did
not have a great game. He won't have another one

(08:09):
of the he won't have another. He won't he will
not have another four for twenty two games. Yeah, eighteen
percent from the field for Jimmy Butler. That's the lowest
shooting percentage in his playoff career. So right, you're not
You're not gonna see eighteen percent going forward. But with
all that being said, you could look at it both ways.
You had Jimmy shooting eighteen percent, Miami is a team

(08:31):
only shot thirty six percent from the field. Yet the
game still goes into overtime. It's a one possession game.
So you could look at this glass half fall and
be like, we were right there, but the box. They
could look at it and say, yeah, but we were
five for thirty one from three. That's six. That's not
gonna happen either going forward. No, it's not. They gott

(08:53):
to just have better shot selection, right, and you know,
the only this and this is honest team this thing.
Having Drew Holiday there, that's gonna help a lot, takes
the pressure off Middleton. But I mean, you look at that,
they're starting four outside of DiVincenzo, they all had you know,

(09:17):
twenty plus games except for Brook Lopez who had eighteen.
Outside of those four players, no one gave them anything else. Yeah,
the Box just seemed like the anti Robert Oori, you
know what, Robert Oury and those big moments, he's like,
bring it on, and the Box just you could just

(09:39):
sense the tight sphincters going on over there. You know.
I know, Chris Middleton hit the huge shot, but with
Janice missing a free throw towards the end of regulation,
it's stuff like that. It's just it's almost like they
don't trust themselves in these moments. Most of the time,
they got fifteen points from the bench. That's hard to
sustain in the playoff. You need a punch from the

(10:02):
bench just to get that second unit going, you know.
On the flip side of that, um Miami had almost
they had thirty nine points from the bench, almost had
forty points from the bench. So when you look at
the the length of a series, you have to take
all these things into account. Right, can you get your

(10:25):
guys some rest and not lose any footing? And you
hear this a lot too, that a team takes on
the personality of its star player. If you compare Jimmy
Butler to Janice. Look, Janice is a fantastic player, but
when the game is on the line, when it's going
down the stretch. You saw Jimmy Butler, he was four

(10:46):
for two, ended up four for twenty two. He didn't care.
He's like, game on the line, I'm going against the
honest and I'm scoring on him. I just don't feel
the same way when Janice is out there, and I
think there's a trickled down effect. Yeah, I mean the
reason Lebron James teams have done so well is because

(11:09):
of that sentiment you just brought up. Their teams are
gonna go where their leader goes, saying with Jordan's Kobe,
you know, Tim Duncan, all of the greats chimalize you
on your team is going to adopt your personality, and
the teams that don't know what their personality is. I e.

(11:33):
In my opinion the Clippers, who's whose personality or who
are we following? Rondot He comes off the bench, he
plays fourteen minutes a game. That's the rating of Kauai
has drastically gone down, right, Like what questioning is leadership?
But he's a guy, he's never been that guy to

(11:57):
galvanize he I mean, he's a tremendous player, has everything,
and you you're wanting a player. But when you're talking
about leadership and command, when I wasn't the leader of
the Spurs wau I wasn't the leader of the Raptors, right,
Lowry was at the at the Raptors, Like that's the
guy they follow at the Spurs, the whole Spurs, right

(12:22):
Tim and manure all of those guys. So when you
talk about an alpha dog and and taking a team,
taking on you know, the mentality of of set player
that that we don't know what that is at the Clippers.
We don't know what that is at in in in

(12:43):
in Brooklyn. Who's the whose personality are we taking on?
And when it comes to the playoffs, when it comes
down to crunch time, who are we following? Yeah, we'll
find out as they're about to tip it up against
the assaults in Game one. We'll get to this coming
up next. Embarrassing comments and an embarrassing approach to the playoffs.

(13:08):
I guess we'll just title this next segment embarrassment, you know.
But there are a couple of stories that we absolutely
have to hit on. That's on the way. I'm Brian
no Heasy from salam This is Fox Sports Radio. I'm
Brian no Easy from Salam. Here on Fox Sports Radio.
Discover matches all the cash back you earn on your
credit card at the end of your first year. It's
amazing because discovers accepted at places in the US that

(13:31):
take credit cards. Learn more at discover dot com. Slash Yes.
Nielsen report limitations apply. By the way, Big man, our
guy Roberto is in with us today. Lakers guy said,
what's your prediction? Huh, Lakers in five against the Suns?
He goes four. Four, what's your your purple and gold?

(13:53):
There you go? Five? Okay, all right, you know I
thought you would, uh maybe go bold like Roberto. I
try not to let my you know, my fandom cloud reality. Okay,

(14:14):
so you're saying Roberto's unrealistic. No, no, no, no, I'm
saying Roberto's has a right to his opinion. For me
as some questions about the Lakers that I need them
to answer, and you know, in these games, what's your
biggest question about the Lakers? My biggest question is down

(14:35):
the stretch, the Lakers go on tremendous scoring droughts, which
allows a team to get back in. Now they're being there.
They've been rectifying that a little bit, but reality is
you can't go three minutes in the fourth quarter and

(14:56):
not be able to score. Also, they're arry careless with
the ball most of the time. Real talented teams give
possessions away with turnovers because they know they have the
talent to always be in the game, and that's dangerous

(15:16):
in the playoffs. By the way, with the Lakers beating
the Warriors, great game where Lebron hit that deep shot
and all of that, there was a lot made after
that game about Steph Curry resting at the beginning of
the fourth quarter, where Steve Curry kept him on the
bench and the Lakers go on this run. Did you

(15:36):
see that Steph Curry last night played forty seven minutes.
What sense does that make? Why would you rest Steph
Curry for a couple of minutes against the Lakers, and
then that game goes south and you play him for
forty seven minutes, Doesn't it make more sense to play
him a couple of extra minutes against the Lakers, so
you don't have to do that going forward. Yeah, that

(16:00):
did not work out. What he's resting now, he's yeah, okay.
So we've got the Celtics and Nets starting their series
Game one underway right now. You talk about embarrassing big
man now Celtics head coach Brad Stephens, he was telling

(16:20):
the truth. But I'm sure you remember when Dave Chappelle
did when keeping it real goes wrong, Sometimes keeping it
truthful can go wrong. Also, listen to what Brad Stevens
had to say about the Celtics facing the Nets in
this series, and those guys are, um, the best of
the best, and uh, you know, going into that if

(16:42):
if I'm a fan of you know, and just a
general fan of the NBA, and I have the hard
time seeing him lose. So we're gonna have to play great.
We're gonna have to play great together, and um, you know,
we're gonna have to be really really sound on both
ends of the floor. I have a hort time seeing
them lose. What how can you say that publicly? Is

(17:06):
it just me? Or is that the anti win one
for the gipper? Can you imagine al Pacino in any
given Sunday instead of we got a claw with our
fingernails and he's giving a speech. Is like, honestly, I
don't see us beating them? What kind of what is that?
Why would you say that out loud even if you're
thinking it? I don't, I really don't know. You know,

(17:30):
coaches have a certain way of trying to um, you know,
throw people off the sind, you know, very complimentary. Nobody
wants to hear that. Step up like, look, they're a
good team, we're a good team. Yeah, it's gonna be

(17:53):
a fight, right, no one tended a championship. You gotta
earn it, and they're gonna make us earn it, and
we're gonna make them earn it. Next question, Yeah, like
for real, Like let's come on now. I mean at
this point in the playoffs, I don't want my coach

(18:14):
to be unsure. Yes, I don't want my team to
be unsure. I don't I want to look, look, let's
go do this. Yeah, it's us against them. They is
one basketball out there. Yeah, bring it on. What they
don't have holes, what they have a I don't know,

(18:37):
a Chicago Bulls like defense out there from the nineties,
or like they could be scored on. Bring them on.
I would much rather he had that message instead of
as a fan, I to have a hard time seeing
him lose. To be honest, he basically said, not only
are they really good, have you seen us play? We've
been five hundred throughout the entire season, and we don't

(19:00):
of Jaylen Brown. He's saying all of those things through
his his words right there. I was bad. I didn't
like that. I'll give you another comment here, big man.
This is Janice Deata Kombo, two time m v P
heading into a rematch against the Miami Heat. Here's what
he said leading up to the series. I don't know.

(19:21):
This is gonna be different team. I'm not gonna let
you you said that it might be the same. Who knows.
I watched that and I was like what it said.
You know what, I come from a different era, so
I guess it's different. You know, when I played professional

(19:43):
sports growing up, watching my favorite you know, athletes and
favorite teams, it was just a different mentality. Remember I'm
the one who's always arguing with you about teams not
caring who they play because they just gotta go out

(20:05):
and play, no matter if somebody has heard or not. Like,
I come from that era of I don't care who
you have over there. We have a chance to beat you.
That's the era I come from. So that's the energy
I need in the locker room and on the court
or on the field, on the pitch. I need that energy.

(20:26):
I think if I'm reading you right, I think if
we're looking at say, uh U c l A taking
on Gonzaga, Yes, right. You look at it from the
athletes point of view, which is if I'm a member
of U c l A, bring it on. We got
a chance over here, which is fine. I totally applaud that.
I look at it more from the non athletes point

(20:48):
of view, if I'm looking at it as a fan
or I'm like, yeah, the chances aren't in your favor,
they're bruins like. But you shouldn't have that mentality as
an athlete. You've got to believe you can go out
and win. You have to, and if you don't, didn't
you don't even need to be out there as a
coach leading a team in Brad Stephens or the reigning

(21:10):
two time m v P and Janice years what better
not be? We paid you two hundred forty million dollars,
That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking it like it was
the last two years period, and there was a lot

(21:31):
of reaction of Hey, I gotta applaud Janice's honesty. The
hell you don't. You don't say that? Not what you say? Yeah,
or just if it isn't good, if it isn't gonna land,
well just leave it out. Don't even talk about that.
It was hilarious because he was wearing a hoodie that
said be different, and he was saying, I don't know

(21:55):
if it's going to be different in the playoffs this season.
I thought that was a funny twist as well, but
not the message you want out there. It's one thing
to think it, it is way worse to say it.
You're supposed to be the leader and you're unsure, come on,
you know what? And that brings me to this point.
The one thing I know for a fact is our

(22:16):
team leader. I know he's sure there's not an unsure
bone in his body. When we talk about Stephen as
the saker as is for sure. I mean, there's no

(22:38):
question we get confidence from his confidence. You know, I
agree with what you guys are saying. He shouldn't have
said it out loud. Aren't we all saying the same thing?
Did you see Boston this year? It's like though they
had games that get coaches fired. I'm just expecting the
other shooter drop with this franchise. There's no way injuries

(22:58):
are not that this should be a thirty six and
thirty six team this season. Celtics record the last month
is five and ten, just for the record, and yet
Jayson Tatum started three for three shooting tonight and at Brooklyn.
By five minutes to go in the first quarter of
their playoff opener, the Celtics are leading eighteen ten against
the Nets. Brand You mentioned earlier that Luca don Sitch

(23:20):
and the win over the Clippers today had his third
career triple double. He's only played seven playoff games in
his career, and this is already his third. He had
thirty one points today. By the way, no other MAVs
player in their history has a playoff triple double. This
is three out of seven games for him. In his
postseason life one thirteen, one oh three over the Clippers.

(23:40):
The final Clips Gonna Clip. The MAVs outscored I'm thirteen
to three in the last three minutes of this game.
Milwaukee and overtime edged Miami because of this. In the
final seconds, lifting shooting Shotgard five tenths of a second
to play one oh nine one O seven Bucks, and

(24:03):
that wound up the final That was Bucks Radio Network
Chris Middleton twenty seven points including that last second jumper.
Janis Tenecumpo twenty six points, eighteen rebounds. The first round
of the NBA Playoffs continues tomorrow with more game ones
in best of seven series starting with Sunday one pm
Eastern Time, the seventy sixers hosting Washington in the NHL

(24:24):
Playoffs in progress right now at Toronto, Maple Leafs lead
to one over Montreal in the second period. Tampa Bay
and the Islanders each with wins today. Islanders are tied
in their first round series with Pittsburgh two games apiece,
while Tampa Bay is up three games to one now
over Florida. Phil Mickelson leads by one stroke. At the
p g A Championship, Brooks kept gooes, one back Louis

(24:44):
Eustas and two back Bryson deshambo Is tied for seventh place.
Five back Phil Mickelson, at age fifty, would become the
oldest to ever win a major Tomorrow's NASCAR Race will
be on FS one again to thirty pm Eastern time.
There is a chance of reign there in Austin, Texas,
oh Bush one Today's Exfinity Race his career win in
that series. In Major League Baseball, It's regional coverage right

(25:07):
now on Fox TV. Part of the country is seeing
Cubs at Cardinals. Miles Michaelis, with his season debut after
the shoulder injury. Did not pitch for the Cardinals last year,
went four innings, one run allowed. Tonight's they're down one
nothing to the Cubbies in the top of the fifth
the Dodgers. The Dodgers have a couple of solo home
runs from Max Munsey into the water at San Francisco,

(25:28):
and Austin Barnes has hit one out so bottom of
the fifth l a to nothing over the Giants. A
Dodger win would put each team's record at twenty eight
and eighteen. Dodgers going for a sixth straight victory. Also
on Fox TV for part of the country. Red Sox
lead to nothing at Philadelphia in the top of the fourth.
Yankees already won their fifth straight today seven nothing over

(25:49):
the White Sox. The starting pitching staff has been incredible
this past week. Garrett Cole was on the mound today.
He's six and two e r A one point eight
one for the Yankees so far, and Colorado eat Arizona
and Madison bumgardnder seven six. Arizona has lost seven games
in a row. Atlanta and Texas each one at home.
Back to you, Thank you, fearless leader, Steve the Seger.

(26:11):
Appreciate all you do here. I'm probably no he is.
He from Salam on Fox Sports Radio. So let's get
to the king here, Lebron James. He's not gonna be
suspended by the league, but he was a naughty boy.
He from Salam. He was not following the NBA's COVID
nineteen health and safety protocols. So this week he attended
a promotional event for his tequila. There was a photo

(26:34):
shoot alongside Drake and Michael B. Jordan's, among others. This
was before the play in game against the Golden State Warriors.
So obviously it wasn't suspended for that. He's good to
go for Game one tomorrow against the Phoenix Suns and
the NBA as they've done before. You go way back
when when James Harden was violating the safety protocols. He's

(26:58):
showing up maskless and atlant Ana and Vegas and yeah,
Adam Silver say, it's Christmas. You know, we'll let it slide.
So not a shocker that they're gonna let it slide
with the one of the best players i've arguably the
face of the NBA and Lebron he's good to go
for tomorrow. Yeah, And you know, looking at that, I

(27:20):
was just like, why would she do that? Yeah? Like
what Like it's I just don't get it. You know.
The thing that is different now than when James and
others were doing it is there's a vaccination mhm. So
if you are vaccinated, I get it. But still they're

(27:47):
still protocols in place. The NBA still has protocols and
we should adhere to those protocols, especially on the cusp
of the playoffs. Right, what happened to zero dark thirty, Right,
that's what he calls when the playoffs happened, Right, he
turns everything off and it's the Lebron just on the

(28:09):
mission championship or bus Well, that playing game was the
beginning of the playoffs for the Lakers. So I mean,
I don't mean if you're gonna be about to be
about it, hey, I hear you. It was. It was
a silly thing for him to do, because here's the deal.
We're making a lot of progress, but it isn't over

(28:32):
just yet. It's I know it's baseball, but the Seattle
Mariners are having some issues with COVID and they have
what like four relievers on the shelf. And even in
the NBA, Carris Laverte he missed the playing games for
the Pacers. He was in health and safety protocols that
he had to enter. That so we're not out of

(28:52):
the woods yet. And so to your point, for Lebron
to do something like that, it's just not a smart move.
And he could have been who knows if the NBA
wanted to. I would imagine that they could have shut
him down for violating these protocols. They have elected not to.
But even if he's like, I'm Lebron, They're not gonna

(29:12):
shut me down. He's not COVID proof. It's not like
I'm lebron. COVID doesn't apply to me. If you do
something that you're not supposed to, you could contract it.
That's just the risk not worth taking. Yeah, and you
know it. Actually he has he been vaccinated, and he
didn't want to give a clear answer, and like that's

(29:33):
when you've been like, yeah, I've been vaccinated, right, Like, yes,
I have been. We've taken every measure of of of
of caution and responsibility and yes, myself and my family
has been vaccinated. All right, that's what you if that's

(29:54):
where you if that's where you're going, if that's what
you're gonna do, if you're gonna if you're gonna be
out and about like your vaccinated, then okay, let us know. Mhm. Yeah,
he's definitely kept that close to the vest. Also, I
guess on a side note related to it, the NBA
has told head coaches, and we're watching right now, Brad

(30:15):
Stevens doesn't have a mask. Jason U or um Steve
Nash I believe is not wearing a mask right now.
The NBA has told head coaches that have been vaccinated,
fully vaccinated, that they can ditch their masks during these games,
so I can hear the Lebron faithful saying, oh, look
at this like it's different. The NBA hasn't said to

(30:38):
all of its players, hey, ditch your masks and the
protocols if you're fully vaccinated. They haven't said that yet,
so until they do, you're in violation if you don't
adhere to the protocols. Just just focusing him, man, I
need Lebron to focus in are they don't get beat

(30:59):
in the first round? You gotta focus I would, And
you know, I know your reaction if, instead of this
story going down the way it did, he didn't follow
the protocols. And there are a lot of people that
roll their eyes and say, who cares. The reason you
care is because what would the reaction be if, instead,
I said, Lebron is entered into the health and safety protocols.

(31:24):
He's contracted COVID. Right, It's a completely different ball game then,
And the point is you're taking a risk of that
being the outcome if you don't go about your business
the right way. I don't want to sound high and mighty,
it's just common sense, that's all. Yeah. Look, man, nobody
is above reproach, reproach or the law are guidelines. I'm

(31:44):
not playing. I'm not playing that, you know what I mean?
Like I got on people here, work who work here?
Oh yeah. Think about Lebron's own teammate, Dennis Truman Man.
He was twelve day, fourteen days, yeah, and came back
and couldn't hit a shot, couldn't hit a shot, and

(32:05):
couldn't guard anybody. Yeah, sometimes it takes a little bit
to work out the kinks. There's been a lot of
players like that. They have not come back hitting the
ground running. So it's the time that you miss being out.
It's the time it takes to work back to form.
It's a whole thing. It's the whole thing. So I
just wouldn't, you know, shrug your shoulders like big deal,

(32:28):
Who cares? You're just being negative for no good reason
about Lebron. It's no all right, he violated the protocols.
He took a chance that wasn't worth taking. That's all
all right. Coming up next, it's an odd choice for
what I would say is an embarrassing promotion. We'll see
what the big man has to say as well. I'm
Brian no easy from salam This is Fox Sports Radio.

(32:50):
I'm Brian, No, he is. He from salam on Fox
Sports Radio. So I think this is an embarrassing promotion here,
big man. This is so the promotion involving James Harden
of the Brooklyn Nets, and he had tweeted just the
other day had to come through Brooklyn get fifty off

(33:11):
your tickets for games one and two using the code
Harden vaccinated sections only while supplies last. And it included
a video of Harden making a promotional pitch. If you
will check this out, what's up next? Fans of James
Harden For a limited time, I'll cover half of your tickets.

(33:32):
We gotta get barcladies in a rocket, all right, we'll
get your tickets now use the coal hardend. Okay, yeah.
How embarrassing is it that you have to have a
promotion where a player is picking up of the tab
to see games one and two. I've just let that

(33:55):
sink in for a second. These are we've got limited
cheering sections, right, these arenas aren't at full capacity. We've
got playoff basketball finally in Brooklyn, and you have to
have a promotion picking up half the tab. What is that?
It's embarrassing? Um? I think it's because a lot of

(34:16):
people aren't coming out because of the pandemic, and the
tickets are ridiculously expensive, even more so when you know
there was no pandemic. So they're trying to entice people

(34:37):
to number one step away from their comfort zones and
number two, you know, we'll help you with this, you know,
is probably what the normal ticket would be. So you know,
I think it's more so like that, then nobody wants

(34:58):
to come see the game because a little more incentive. Look,
there have been no fans. People are starved to go
to these games. Almost went to the playing game. I
really did. I almost went, I really did. I just
look at say Knicks fans, same things apply. It's an

(35:20):
expensive ticket. You gotta get over this. Uh if you
have fear of going out in public and getting back
to you know, normal and all of that stuff, Okay,
I understood, But I don't see any videos with Julius Randall. Hey,
Knicks fans, playoffs are finally here. I'll pick up half
your tickets. Come on out and support us, please, Like,

(35:40):
if they're not having to do anything like that, you'd
have to fend those fans off from going in there
and paying top dollar. Well, that's a different situation. The
Nets have been in the playoffs. The Knicks have not.
It's been what decade and a half, No, it's been
like even years. But still one time, seven years leave

(36:03):
Robert de Lato four, I'm telling you, Anthony was back.
There's time the Knicks where have been have been in
the playoffs. You're not gonna listen to your boy over
here Mellow plays for the Blazers. Of course, I'm gonna
look that up here and right like they had a
seven year drought bucket. Okay, I believe you. It sounds

(36:28):
like it. It sounds like you're absolutely taking my word.
That's a long seven years. It has. It's felt like
a decade and a half because it's the Knicks and
they have a loyal fan base and they've just been
screwing the pooch. It just seems like they just can't

(36:49):
get right. I like the Knicks. I like how hard
they play. I love teams that don't have legitimate, like
bona fide name superstars and they play hard. Then it
used to be like that. That's why I was always
I always liked how hard the Nets played. The Suns
were like that. Last year we talked about it on

(37:09):
the show. I said, look the Suns. Next year, you
had to watch out for the Suns. They went eight.
Knowing that bubble well, I thought that the Nets and
the Clippers were carbon copies. Where before they got their
star players, before the Clippers got Kauai and Paul George,
they took on the k D Warriors and won two games.

(37:32):
They just played hard. That was with the Lou Williams
and all those dudes. They had like a B minus
team and they just played hard. They grinded. It was
the same thing last season with the Nets. And the
thing with the Clippers is when you talk about identity
and and the reason it didn't work for them was
because their identity m HM was was held by Beverly

(38:04):
uh Montrese, Lou Williams. These are all bench players. These
are all guys who came off the bench. They had
the best bench in the NBA. What you can't do
is in the playoffs when having your bench better than
you're you're you're starting guys just doesn't work. That's too

(38:26):
much pressure to put on your backups. And that's what
happened to them in the playoff. The Clippers in the playoffs.
They needed Montrese to come in and get twenty five points.
They needed Lou Williams to come in and get twenty five.
That's fifty points. But two guys who don't even start
on your team? How would how would? How can you
be successful with that? Think about that? You need fifty

(38:47):
points from two guys off your bench for you to
have a shot. What formula is that? That's a p
for a disaster? Do you need a formula to get
Laker fans there? Does Lebron have to say hey games
and to please support us? No, no, no no, no, no,
we don't have to do that. We have a history
of of winning. The Brooklyn Nets have never won an

(39:09):
NBA championship. They've won an A B A championship, well
not the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets have won an A
B A championship, but Brooklyn has never won anything. It's
seventeen banners hanging up in the stables center. How about
also James Harden being the guy with that promotion, the

(39:30):
guy who just got there, just got there and also
wasn't following protocols, so this is for only vaccinated sections.
And he's the one that's like, hey, I'll pick up
fifty for I thought it was just odd. Get k D,
get Kyrie, get somebody like that. I don't know, but
it was just an odd deal over there. How about this.
They also showed the graphic with the game going on

(39:52):
right now, Celtics leading the Nets in the early going
of the second quarter. Um big threes to win a
championship in the first season, and they just showed, like
Pip and Rodman, how many games they had played together.
Those guys played forty two games together the season they
won a championship. You've got the Big three in the

(40:13):
with the Nets only playing eight games together. You don't
even have James Harden playing a night big Man. He
is out there, They're all out there. But it's the
ninth game they've played this entire season. I don't care
how talented you are. That is difficult to do. That

(40:33):
is tough. That's why Brad Stevens is picking them to win.
It's fine of that he's still picking them to win. Nuts, unbelievable, crazy, alright,
plenty to get to. Coming up next, it's officially a
crazy idea. We'll explain. Fox Sports Radio has the best

(40:55):
sports talk lineup in the Nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Hey,
what's up everybody? It's me three time pro bowler Lavarrington
and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new
podcast called Up on Game? What is Up on Game?

(41:16):
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J.
Hudshman's Otta and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Birds.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J

(41:38):
Hudgmans Otta, and Plexico Birds on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast from. Ah. Yes,
I hope you enjoying your Saturday evening. You know what,
big Man, we talked about it last week. We talked
about the possibility of Tim Tebow signing with Jacksonville. It's

(42:00):
official now and it's embarrassing, Yes, in your opinion of embarrassing.
In my opinion, it is a crazy idea. I think
it's ridiculous, And go ahead before you go on like,
I got a lot of you know, people reaching out
on Twitter and you know, T Bow fans and and

(42:24):
you asking me, you know, how could I be so
hard on t Bow and and people? They don't understand, right,
So I get a guy he messages me and says,
you know, t Bow won a national champion, national championships,
he won the Heisman. He's a great leader. H I said,

(42:45):
when's the last time Tim Tebow played in the NFL. Oh,
what was it? Two thou soil the last time he
played an actual NFL game. Yeah, it's two thousand and one.

(43:06):
They're like, but he's a great leader. He will be
great in the locker room. I said, at no point
in the history of professional sports has the nineties player
on a camp roster been a leader or as expected
to lead anybody. And it's always gonna be that way.

(43:31):
He's got a lot of heart and will I said, yeah,
but he's missing the talent portion of that. Everybody in
an NFL locker room and training camp has a lot
of heart and a lot of will or they wouldn't
be in an NFL training camp. That is a fact.

(43:54):
And people just refuse. They refused two listen, like, look,
I don't have a problem with Tebow. Like I don't.
I'm not anti Teebo. I was hoping he made it
as a quarterback. But you can't sit here and tell

(44:15):
me that his leadership is important to an NFL locker room.
I've never seen anything like it. Just the utter disregard
for reason and logic. You could say all of those

(44:36):
things that are reasonable and it doesn't matter to a
blind Tebow fanatic. That's like, you're wrong. He's a leader,
but it's not gonna matter when he's not producing. Yeah,
it does. Okay, Like we can't have a conversation if
it's gonna be like that, you know, and look, they'll
do stuff like this. So they sent me a clip

(44:57):
about Kelvin Benjamin trying out for the Giant right in See,
do you have a problem with Kelvin Benjamin doing it?
I said, okay, I said, here we go. So what
position to Kelvin Benjamin play? Wide receiver? White receiver? I said, okay.
What does a white receiver do? Catches the ball? What else?
Blocks occasionally? What else? Run routes all those things? What

(45:23):
what does a tight end do? Same thing? Check? Check check, Okay,
what position to Tebow play? Quarterback? What do quarterbacks do?
Throw the ball? Read the defense? At any moment in
any game, is the quarterback we're required to block, run

(45:48):
a route, or catch a ball? No, m hm, so right,
So I have to have I have to but I
have to break these conversations down like this. So people
are answering. Answering my singular questions, it starts to resonate
because once you give it to all to them at once,

(46:08):
they're just ready to pick it apart. So I just
I need ones. I need to walk you through a
one step at a time so as you're answering, it
can click like you're like, oh, okay, I get it.
The last question was when's the last time Covin Benjamin played?
It wasn't that long. When's the last time Tim Tebo played? Right?

(46:36):
Just in that alone, Yeah, that's enough information for you
to be like, Okay, I get it. Yeah, yeah, I
would hope you would hope. So, But again, still not
a guarantee that someone's gonna say I see what you're saying. Yeah,
maybe maybe I am a little far fetched on this
tebow thing working out. It typically doesn't go down like that.

(46:58):
It is just teflon. You're throwing logic and it boom,
It just bounces off. It's like someone just wax their car,
you know, the water just it doesn't even stick, just
like it flows right off. Yeah, it's amazingly I've never
seen anything like this, just the other disregard for logic
and reason. But like when we're saying all these things,

(47:20):
big man, what I hate the most is, Oh, you're
anti Tebow? You hate him? What do you have against Tebow?
Why are you offended by this? It's nothing like that.
It's just not gonna work, that's all. I don't have
anything against the guy. How could you. He's a great dude.
I believe his heart and toughness will win him the
third tight end spot. That's the These are the messages

(47:42):
I'm getting. And you know what my reply to that was,
that's not how the NFL works. Yeah, No, one would
be good if it did. We'd all make the team
if all it took was our heart and our toughness
to be third drink. That's right. It just doesn't. And

(48:06):
and it's hard for me to it's hard for me
to to to quantify it for people because it's such
a unique situation. It's such a rarefied air to actually
be even invited into training camp, let alone make a team.
I didn't realize how hard it was to make an

(48:28):
NFL team until I retired and watched Hard Knocks. That's
God's honest truth. I didn't realize it because I was
in it, and to me, I'm just it's my job.
I'm going to work every year in training camp, fighting forward.
No matter if I was a starter or not, I

(48:49):
always took the approach of I'm fighting for my my
my position. Not until I retired and watched Hard Knocks,
was I like, Man, how the hell did I make
it too long? Because it's so if you listen to
the way the coaches and the scouts and the g
MS talk about players, there's no emotion there, right, there's

(49:12):
no emotion, and it could be one player, could be
one practice, could be one thing, and they're like, Okay,
we're gonna go with the other guy, or you know,
we need more of that position, so we're gonna get
rid of that. Like it's it's such a fine line.
But what never comes up is, yeah, this guy isn't talented,
he doesn't quite run good routes, he doesn't have the hands,

(49:37):
but he's spirited, he's you know, he has leadership abilities.
We're going to pick him over the guy who actually
can catch and run and block that you don't have
spots to waste. Now, it's it's crazy. It's gotten to

(50:01):
this point. But to go to the next realm of craziness,
which is making the team for everything you're explaining, if
the jackson if Tebow makes the team, then it's not
for his football ability. It's because he had the number
one selling merchandise in the NFL since that signing. It's
completely um uh, it's not a football player. It's not

(50:28):
just which is going to lead me to believe that
the Jacksonville's Jacksonville Jacks have no idea what they're doing
and they're going to be garbage for quite some time.
If those decisions, if you're making those decisions for your
team instead of keeping the best talent, then you do
you have no business in this business. Like that's that's

(50:51):
the God's truth. It is the truth. It's absolutely the case.
I'm probably no, he's from salam here on Fox Sports Radio.
One other layer on this. I wanted to run it
by you. I'm curious what you think about it, because
there's been a lot made about this being white privilege.
I hear this quite a bit, and my take on
it is this, There are examples of white privilege in
this country. This is not one of them. This is

(51:14):
nothing but urban Meyer under the false impression that he
can recreate some magic of the past. You see this
all the time. How many times have the Raiders tried
to recreate the vertical passing attack with Cliff Branch. It's
like you run a four three, sign him up, Let's
let's draft him. Let's recreate the magic of the past.
You had Steve Spurrier when he coached in the NFL.

(51:37):
He signed a bunch of ex Florida players. Trying to
recreate the magic of the past. That's what urban Meyer
is trying to do. He's trying to look at a
guy and say, hey, he was a leader. Hopefully we
can re established this on our team. He's doing the
same thing with Travis e Tn, trying to slot him
into a hybrid role. That's the Percy Harvin role that

(51:57):
he had at Florida. That's what's going on here. This
is not urban Meyer looking at the roster and saying
we need more white guys. Oh Tebow, he's white, perfect,
sign them up. Like that's not what it is. This
is not an example of white privile And I don't
think when people say white privilege, I'm I'm I don't
think they're saying, Okay, Urban Myers is like, let's get

(52:18):
another white guy in here. What they're saying is the opportunity, right,
the opportunity seems to be because of white privilege, because
there's a myriad of African American like the one we're
all thinking about right now, right when you when you

(52:38):
think of something like this, it was obviously Colin Kaepernick, right,
obviously both quarterbacks. Um one was actually a you know,
a pretty decent quarterback. The other one is not. And
they just pulled Tebow out of the farm League of
the Mets and give him an opportunity. Not so much that, oh,

(53:02):
we gotta get more white guys. And it's not that
it's just having the opportunity. Like I don't even know
football was on Tebow's mind, you know what I mean.
Like Miners probably called him, was like, hey, how about
you you think about you know, coming back and playing
tight in That's what they mean by the privilege of it. Right,

(53:23):
it just so happens Urban Myers white, Tebow's white, that
opportunity has presented itself, right, But that's like to me,
it's why is that opportunity presenting itself for anyone who
says it's white privilege and you call him and say
so Tebow, Urban Myers looking at the roster like we
need white guys here, and it's like no, no no, no no,

(53:44):
it's no, no, no, no. A relationship. It's a relationship,
absolutely right, And it's a false impression that you can
recreate the magic of the past, which is ridiculous, Like
they'd be better off offering Vernon dave Is who just retired.
Absolutely you know he could make the team, right, Like,

(54:06):
you know Vernon Davis can come out and and and
give and be serviceable. I know for a fact he
could give more than Tebow can. And so I think
that's what people are saying, Okay, so why Tebow? Right,
that's the privileged people were talking like, it's like that
makes no sense, it makes no sense. It's but it's

(54:27):
the relationship that those two have exactly exactly, and those
relationships happen because of right, So if I'm a GM
and I say, hey, I wanna I'm an African American GM,
and I go to the owner and I say, hey,
I want to bring back a guy who hasn't played
football in nine years or eight years at a completely

(54:52):
different position. What do you think the GM would Let's
say to me, like, honestly, I think with what are
you talking about? Right? Are you nuts? But I also
think this too, so that there's the disconnect, right like,
and we don't know if that's it just seems what

(55:13):
I'm saying is it seems like that because it's so
unheard of. It's like, no one would. I would never
be able to get away with that. Like Rick Smith
when he was at the Texans, he would never be
able to get away with with bringing a guy who
had been out of football for eight years and another
it's not you get fired. And this just went through

(55:34):
without a hitch. It was just like, hey, I was
thinking about this, and next thing you know, they're selling
his merchandise in the NFL store already. Well, and you
know that's part of the reason why he's getting an opportunity.
Of course, that's the privileged people were talking about, because
there's a million players out there like, yo, wait, what, well,
not all those million players half a relationship Urban right, fact,

(56:02):
the Urban Meyer was allowed to do that, right, That's
now we're getting into it, right, like how was he
even allowed to do that? Okay, But again, that's the
difference to me between white privilege and some other type
of privilege that you're talking. African Americans know they could
never go in there and do that because that their

(56:23):
job would be online. If we can't, we can't get
that coach. Let's keep it with a head coach, because
that's what Urban Meyer is. That's this guy, Tim Tebow's
former guy. So let's say there's an African American head coach.
He had great success in the college ranks, won three
national championships, highly saw it off after as an NFL
head coach. Now of a sudden, he's getting he got

(56:44):
he got the gig, and he's got this great relationship
with this uber popular player who won the two championships
and a Heisman Trophy, and he says, let's try him
at a different position. We can sell some jerseys. At
the very least I'm supposed to believe, there's like, no way,
no chance, no how I need it all equal, all
across the board, except except skin color. Look, it's not

(57:07):
gonna I will. I'm telling you, there's so few African
American g ms. There's a certain like, you know, you
can't do or get away with things like that. You know,
because when it turns out in a disaster, which it will,
it will, absolutely it will. Your neck is on the line.

(57:30):
But herbet Meyer is gonna be fine. He's gonna be
locked in, He's gonna be This is a disaster. This
is not gonna work. Okay, So you're looking at it
with Trent Balky the like Kevin Stlan couldn't be the
head coach of of of the of the Jaguars and
do something like this. It's not gonna happen. Look at
it with the Dolphins after Actually, let's let's bring this

(57:52):
back up. I think the Dolphins would be an interesting,
uh example with this discussion here, right, we'll look at
it from that point of you could you possibly see
this ever happening if it was a little bit of
a different scenario. So we'll do that coming up next. Also,
a head coach backtracking, Do you buy what he's selling

(58:13):
over here? I'm Brian no he'sy from Salam This is
Fox Sports Radio. I'm Brian. No, he'sy from Salam. Here
on Fox Sports Radio. Discover matches all the cash back
you earn on your credit card at the end of
your first year. It's amazing because discovers accepted at places
in the US that take credit cards. Learn more at
discover dot com. Slash Yes, Nielsen Report limitations apply. Have

(58:38):
you gotten any crazy Tebow tweets since we started talking
about that? Let me look, let me just pull this up. Man.
You know, I try to stay off to it at
people crazy. Yeah, if a black coach and Gem brings
in the black player, is that black privilege? Would you
be okay with that being the assumption? See now, when
we when we talk about why privilege, you know, people

(59:02):
think you're being racist. And I was just having a
conversation with Lee, who's white, and white privilege doesn't mean
you're racist, right, It doesn't mean people white people in
this country benefit from white privilege every day and don't

(59:24):
even know it. They don't even know it because the
system had been set up for that. I mean, that's
what everyone That's what the that's what everything was about, right,
The fact that we both live in the same country,
me and you, Brian, we have the same job, but

(59:45):
I'm looked at differently in the eyes of people with authority.
That's just what it is. If you get pulled over
for the same thing I get pulled over for. If
you cut at the police officer, what's gonna happen to you? Right, Honestly,
if you cuss at the officer who's pulling you over,

(01:00:07):
you get a ticket. If I cuss at the officer
who pulls me over, same officer, his response will be different. Now,
these are hypotheticals, and I'm just going off a history
that I've experienced myself. Okay, And so that's you're not racist,

(01:00:33):
b You didn't like you, just like, why are you
pulling me over? Right? But you benefit from what your
skin color. That's just that's what it is, that that
does exist. And that's why I prefaced this whole thing with, Yeah,
there are numerous examples of white privilege being the case,

(01:00:57):
but Tim Tebow getting a camp invite or mining his
deal is not that that. We could come up with
a ton of examples. What I was saying was the
fact that urban meyers, once again, what was one of
the first things he did when he got the job,
he hired his buddy who was what what was his
buddy Chris Doyle? Well, right, okay, right, we we knew.

(01:01:19):
We talked about him like, how could you even think
to do that, that that was gonna be okay? Do
you know why? Well, that was a stupid idea. But
do you know why he felt he can get it.
He can get away with that because he's Urban Meyer,
and he's won three titles, and he's brand new. That's
why he thought it would be okay. But the fact

(01:01:39):
that he has lived and grown in one and worked
in this society that garners him privilege. Right. We just
talked about the individual privilege in the case of both
of us getting pulled over. That that's just one aspect

(01:02:00):
of it. It that goes from any job you want
to do, coaching being one of them, right. That's why
they're very few African American head coaches, very few African
American gms. That's the privilege, the fact that you have
been able to be successful in a system and in

(01:02:21):
a way to where you feel that you can bring somebody,
you can hire them to the NFL who's had a
history because he's your friend who's had a history like
he's had and you think it's okay, Like, what's the
big deal, Well that was a stupid idea, But I
trace it back to something different. I don't trace it

(01:02:43):
back to privilege. Like, let's go into the season. What
if Urban Meyer makes a stupid coaching decision. What if
the Jags are leading. Let's say they've got a lead
by ten points and he calls a passing play and
it's like and it backs fires, Trevor Lawrence throws a
pick six, They're going to lose the game. If we're like, dude,
what the hell were you doing, it's just because it

(01:03:05):
was a bad call. It stuff because he grew up
in a world of privilege. You know, not everything traces
back to privilege. Sometimes bad ideas are just bad ideas.
And the funny thing is, like I mentioned Colin Kaepernick
at one time. Did any moment did I say Colin
Kaepernick should be in the league or he deserves it? No,
that ship is sailed. Right. I used it as an

(01:03:28):
example of someone who actually played quarterback and was in
the league, you know, less less than eight years ago. Right,
I just used that as an example just like we
used Kelvin Benjamin as an example. He's no longer a
wide receiver. He's trying to be a tight end to
extend his NFL career. He's only been out of the

(01:03:50):
league for three years. Tim Timbow. Tim Tebow has been
out of league for eight years, almost nine years, trying
to play a position that aren't comparable to each other
at all. It's crazy, but I used that, and then
you know the replies on Twitter are, oh, to stop
race baiting and and Tim Tebow won two championships with

(01:04:12):
Urban Myers, not a million guys like Tebow. All lives matter.
Quit playing the race card. Like just off of that
simple statement, you get people going down these rabbit holes.
Tim Tebow one two national championships win. Please tell me
the date, the year in the date the Tim Tebow

(01:04:34):
won these championship national championships. Does anybody know van long
time ago we're talking, you know, did he win Super
Bowls or did he win college championships? Oh? Sir, yeah,
this is all the success he's had, oh six oh eight.
How does that correlate to anything going on in the NFL.

(01:05:00):
It doesn't I'm talking about Please make it, make it
make it make sense. It doesn't make sense. That's the
whole thing. But where where we split her off is
where we're together, like we're on a team, we're tag
team partners, like we're in w W E. Like this
is just ridiculous, it makes no sense whatsoever. Where we

(01:05:20):
split her off a little bit is when it comes
to the privilege, like how did this go through? That's
where I look at it and I say, it's just
a silly idea. It's not realistic whatso all whatsoever thinking privilege.
But the privilege is being able to having the balls
to actually do it. That's the privilege because he's never

(01:05:44):
had to be under that scrutiny. That's what I'm talking about,
the scrutiny African American coaches deal with. You have to
almost be perfect, especially new coaches coming from college to
the NFL. I just what I'm talking about. I hear you.
But I think it's different because all things have to

(01:06:04):
be equal outside of skin color. Right, if we're doing
this white privileged thing, I need a black head coach
who has three national championships, who has the the resume
Urban Meyer has to a t he gets a brand
new job in the NFL. He had this player who
won two championships while he was there, wanna Heisman Trophy.

(01:06:27):
He is super popular. It's his first year on the job,
and I'm supposed to believe if he goes to the
GM and says, hey, Yo, there's this guy, I want
to sign him. You know, let's get him in camp.
The worst thing that happens he doesn't make the team.
Who cares. I'm supposed to believe that. No, No, that's
just it's too much of a chance. So it's it's
totally different with black a black head coach and a

(01:06:48):
black star player. I don't believe that. You answered your
own thing. You said everything has to be the same, right,
how many black head coaches have won national championships in
college football? Well that's the Well look now we get
down to that whole thing. But but this is what
this is what I'm talking about. Right, But that's what
I'm saying too. It's not just skin colors, not just

(01:07:11):
it's opportunity. That's what we're talking about, the opportunity to
do something like that, right, to be able to have
a losing season, and and like it's the opportunity that
presents itself, right, and what you do with that opportunity
moving forward and being judged equally when given said opportunity.

(01:07:36):
That's the privileged part of it because it's Look, I'm
not saying anything anyone with with with a mind and
and and and aware and conscious, uh, it doesn't know
about opportunities for African American head coaches and football and
and the NFL and college. This is this is this

(01:07:56):
is a topic that that's been going on for that gates. Right,
I'm not bringing I'm not shining a light on something
that people don't know about. Right, there's less opportunities for
African Americans as head coaches in in both leagues. That's
what I'm talking about. When you say, give me a
black head coach with the same record as Urban Meyers,

(01:08:17):
show me a level playing field with comportunities. Okay, well
let's take let's look at white head coaches. Do I
think that, say Matt Rule going over to the Carolina Panthers,
who had some success in the college ranks, he didn't
win three titles, He's not nearly as well decorated as
Urban Meyer. Do you think that Matt Rule could get
away with doing something like this? There are a lot

(01:08:39):
of white head coaches that don't have the resume of
Urban Meyer. That's why it gets to resume. It's not
just color skin, our skin, of your color, the color
of your skin, and it's like I'm white, so good
Like it doesn't work like that. You know, there's a
member of our team who is white. But when you

(01:09:03):
talk about privilege, it's our privilege to have him part
of our team. And that's one Stephen p. P He said. Professionals.
Don't try this at home. Boy, don't try this at home,
will you? You don't try it at all. By the way,

(01:09:24):
Cardinal fan Albert Poohles with an RBI single for the Dodgers.
They take a five one lead at the Giants at
the top of the eighth. I believe the Cardinals are
visiting Dodger Stadium in the next week or two. Just
for the record, go Cards. You and I Roberto Mortal
enemies that week and Cardinals on Fox TV. This is
regional coverage tonight. Okay, So we've got the Dodgers ahead

(01:09:47):
in the eighth. And by the way, starter Walker Bueller
great again, not only seven great innings, but a hundred
five pitches thrown, and the way they left the last
night starter Trevor Bower, and who knows, maybe Buller is
not done. But the Cardinals are hosting the Cubs and
Yadira Meleda Homers in the bottom of the seventh for
a two one lead. They go to the eighth inting

(01:10:07):
now to one St. Louis over the rival Cubs. The
other game that's in regional coverage is the Red Sox
lead four to at Philadelphia in the top of the seventh.
Mariners are tied one one at the Padres top of
the third. More on the Mariners in a couple of minutes.
We'll start with the NBA before we get to philm
Michols at NBA playoff openers. There are a couple tonight.
Right now, it's halftime at Brooklyn and the Celtics League

(01:10:31):
Game one at the break fifty three seven. The Brooklyn
Nets from three point range are one for thirteen, the
Celtics from long distance nine for seventeen. In the late
game will be Portland at Denver about an hour from now.
Dallas beat the Clippers one thirteen to one oh three.
Luca don Sets a triple double in the last three minutes.
The MAVs outscored the Clips thirteen to three. Milwaukee in

(01:10:55):
overtime defeated Miami one oh nine one oh seven on
the last second jumper from Chris Middle to twenty seven points.
Milwaukee's arena up to fifty percent capacity about nine thousand
fans today. The Heat will have a capacity of seventeen thousand,
they say for their home playoff games. Speaking of capacity,
the Dodgers Angels padres All announced last night they're back
to full capacity for fans in mid June when California

(01:11:19):
reopens in the NHL. It's now Toronto four one over
Montreal with four minutes to go at late second period.
Vegas now a three nothing leader at Minnesota. Tampa Bay
is ahead in its first round series three games to
one after whipping Florida six to two, and the Islanders
have tied Pittsburgh two games apiece after beating the Penguins
four to one. Now Phil Mickelson, at age fifty, would

(01:11:41):
become the oldest to ever win a major. He is
leading the p g A Championship still by one stroke,
briefly led by five early in today's round, Brooks kept
get his one back Louis Eustas and two back Master's
Champa Decki Matsuyama shot seventy six today and failed to
a tie for twenty three. Rory McElroy shot seventy four.
He's tied for five the first place at five over par.

(01:12:02):
Today in baseball, Yankees won their fifth in a row
Atlanta and Miami with wins. Cleveland got a Tenthenning homer
to win. You guys had briefly mentioned the Seattle Mariners situation,
and because it's the Mariners, I think people may not
know about it this weekend. But the Mariners yesterday had
to put four pictures on the COVID list. They're dealing
with one potential positive test and the rest with contact tracing.

(01:12:25):
But as the manager said, it is concerning. There's no
question about it. COVID is real. He said before yesterday's
game to start the series in San Diego that yes,
guys can make their own decisions on getting vaccinated or not,
but they do need to realize that their decisions have
effects on other people, and so they have had to
call up a number of people just to start this

(01:12:46):
weekend series, especially out of the pen. The Mariners are
one of the big league teams that has yet to
reach the vaccination threshold for the so called Tier one
employees like players, and the general manager had said this
past week to the athletic I'm disappointed. Essentially, we're playing
with fire with this because the rules are in baseball.

(01:13:08):
Even if you're not the one who tested positive. If
you're not a vaccinated player and you're part of the
contact tracing, guess what minimum seven days you're out even
if you test negative. And so while in downtown San Diego,
the Mariners are playing this weekend series, guess what when
the weekend series is over, the rest of the team
is leaving and continuing the road trip. You might be

(01:13:29):
aware there's a hotel literally right next door to the
Padres Ballpark. There's a walkway that goes from the hotel
to the ballpark. These four guys are staying in their
rooms all weekend and for seven days at least, and
gonna stay there in downtown into next week while the
team leaves town. That's the ramifications of all of this.

(01:13:50):
The Mariners are one of the problem teams as far
as getting up to that threshold. Back to you, by
the way, I like watching k D play defense, big man.
It's one of the NETS players who actually it. Well, yeah,
he you know, he dealt with a lot of criticism
and his early in his career about being a complete player,
and he, to his credit, you know, he's taking that challenge.

(01:14:11):
And we saw that a lot in in in Golden State.
When he went to the Warriors, he decided that he
was going to put the effort on defense. Lay Thompson
as well, and that's why they were as formidable as
they were. Not only just his um, his offensive acumen,
but it just his defensive attempt right, Like he's seven

(01:14:35):
feet tall. Put you put your hand up. I say,
I say, k D is the most important NETS player
because he plays both ends right without it that he's
the only of the three who plays both ends. Yes,
he's the only one. You can make an argument for
Harden because he's running the show. He's running point. But
when you don't bring it on the defensive end even

(01:14:56):
close to how kay D does, I gotta go with
k D is their most important player. They've they're gonna
have to get some stops in the playoffs. They can't
just out offense everybody. Yeah, because they could they still
have a chance of coming out of the East. If
one if either James or Kyrie aren't there, but if
kds not there, it's no shot. There's no shot. And
that's that's that's real. That's a real talk. I like it,

(01:15:19):
and and we do. And just just to be clear, right,
white Americans, and I'm not saying all, but some get
very agitated when you bring up white privilege. I'm not
saying that with you. I'm just responding off you know
some of the tweets and stuff. They get very agitated.

(01:15:40):
They it's uncomfortable for them because they think it's alluding
to the fact that they may be racist or that's
not what that is. White privilege is just benefiting in
a system that was built for you to benefit in.
That's all it is. That's it. There's no argument about that.

(01:16:07):
In the system being the American culture, there's no argument.
I mean you can't. I mean, there was a civil
rights movement for a reason, right, There was slavery, there
was the abolishment of saving, there was a Civil war.
So when you when you try to start arguing white privilege,
just go look at history. Well that's the whole thing.

(01:16:32):
That's where we get into a discussion. If anybody sits
here and says white privilege, it is never a thing
that that's just what's actually wrong. But that's the sentiment
because they feel like if they've benefited in white privilege
at any time in their lives, that they're copying to
being racist. What I said was, you can benefit from

(01:16:54):
white privilege and not even know you're benefiting from it.
That is your life, what it's turning into. There are
so many examples that are mis applied. That's the problem.
That's when we get into, Oh Tebow is getting a
job because of white privilege. No the hell he isn't.
It's a stupid statement there. He's not on a roster

(01:17:15):
because he's white. Nurban Meyer said we need more white
guys over here. That never happened, and that's what people crazy.
I was trying to explain to you. That's not what
they mean by white privilege. It's not that we need
more white guys. Those white guys gonna hire this white guy,
and that's not what That's not what that was meant.
And I was trying to explain it to you. But

(01:17:37):
you know, most of the time you don't listen, You
just wait to talk. But that it's right, that's fight
and you know I'm messing with you. Be We've we've
and I'll tell you this, We've come a long way, Brian,
Okay from when we first started. I'll say that just
in how we interact, how we you know, appreciate each

(01:17:57):
other's ideas and and and pointing, how we argue him.
That's why this show is good. There you go, all right?
Coming up next, we got a coach. He is trying
to wiggle off the hook. Are you buying the reason
that he's given while wiggling? I'm Brian though. He is
he from salamis his Fox Sports Radio Brian, No, he's

(01:18:18):
he from salam here on Fox Sports Radio. Alright, So
I love this story with Atlanta Hawks interim head coach
Nate McMillan. He was fine dollars, big man. He says
his comments were a quote taken out of context end quote.
So what did he say to get in hot water? Well,
this goes back to Wednesday. Of course, the Hawks are

(01:18:39):
facing the Knicks in the first round of the NBA playoffs,
So on Wednesday, McMillan said, there's going to be a
lot of calls that probably won't go our way. I've
gone as far as saying the league wants this, they
need this New York. This is a big market for
the league in New York has been out of the
playoffs for a number of years. End quote. And so

(01:19:03):
Adam Silver comes out and says he knows better than this.
Come on, Nate's a veteran coach. Can't be saying stuff
like this. And so Nate comes out, He's like, my
comments were taken out of context. No, man, that's a
direct quote. You're saying that New York is gonna get
the calls because they're New York. You can't call Shenanigans
and say you were taken out of context. We're directly

(01:19:25):
quoting you, right, Yeah, that is. That is a direct quote.
And um, there's no light there. It is what it is. Uh.
The NBA is ecstatic that New York Knicks are a
viable uh playoff you know Canada and not even you know,
squeaking in you know, they had a very impressive record. Um,

(01:19:48):
and I the league is gonna benefit the Lakers, Celtics,
and Nicks are in the playoffs. I mean that's the
old days, right, Yeah, that's the old days. I thought
it made all the sense in the world for Nate
to say this initially, it's the cost of doing business.

(01:20:11):
What's right, So if you say, oh, we might not
get the calls. This is like Phil Jackson. He always
negotiated with the refs through the media and it's the
cost of doing business. I like that he put it
out there. I hate that he took it back and
on top of it said his comments were taken out

(01:20:32):
of context. It's like, just say it with your chest,
say I said it, or just let it be because
it's gonna benefit him now right. The officials will be,
you know, very cognizant of how this game is called
because the world is looking. That's why I thought it

(01:20:54):
was smart to put it out. It's that smart to
take it back. I would love to know the conversations
behind the scenes, because I would bet that someone very
high in the league office contact that Nate McMillan and said, dude,
what are you doing to us? We got gambling is
getting more and more popular. The last thing we want

(01:21:15):
is for conspiracy theories that things aren't on the up
and up right, like help us out over here. Uh.
I would imagine I would assume something like that did
take place, because it just doesn't make sense for Nate
McMillan to reverse course and go to the extent of
saying my comments were taken out of context. I just

(01:21:35):
don't think he does a one eighty like that. You
say the statement, but the statements out there, it's there.
You just let it be. Yeah, But for it to
be a one eighty, I I would imagine there was
a conversation behind the scenes, you know. By the way,

(01:21:55):
before we get to the top of the hour here,
big man, I just want to say, Evan Fornier of
the Austin Celtics, he's the new school Alex Caruso. You
know how Caruso had the the balding hair. You know, Caruso,
he's taking it down. He's got a monstrous headband. We
need Fournier to go down that road. We either need

(01:22:15):
him to go bald or go monstrous headband and hide
that thing. Man, it's bad right here, is he not?
Every time I see his hair, I'm like, that's how
Caruso used to be? Yeah, alright, come it up next,
the top five players with the most at steak in

(01:22:36):
the NBA playoffs. We compare notes I have in front
of me, big man, I have a list of players
in the NBA postseason with the most at steak. I
believe it can't be argued with, but of course some
people can make a well recent argument. I'm gonna give
you my list over here, and I want you to

(01:22:58):
tell me if you would swap the order with any
of these players. Okay, most at steak, Most on the
line right, what's to gain if they went, what's to
lose if they fall short? All those things. I'll go
rapid fire here, big man, because I don't want to
bow guard the air time, so I'll go quickly. First off,

(01:23:18):
honorable mention most at steak. I'd go to Kola Yokich.
He's gonna win m v P as he should. It's
never a great look if the m v P gets
bounced in the first round and then I gets might
against the Blazers. But I don't think he's gonna get
just crushed. This isn't Dirk losing to the Warriors as
a one seed. Remember when Dallas did that. They don't

(01:23:40):
have Jamal Murray. I don't think you would get crushed
if they don't win even a first round series. So
I go honorable mention with with Yokich. With me so
far on that one. What do you think about that?
You're good with that? Okay, most at steak moving forward.
Number five on the list, I go Kauai. We're starting
to question his leader ship ability. If you lose again,

(01:24:04):
now we're really crushing you. And then also when you're
orchestrating your path, if that doesn't work out, we're gonna
line up and it's gonna be negative city. And also
the load management when you're taking a bunch of games
off and then it doesn't pay dividends in the postseason,
We're probably gonna beat you up for that too. So
I think Kauai should be on the list. I'm gonna
put him at fifth. Number four on the list. I'm

(01:24:28):
gonna go with your boy, Lebron. Now he's Jason Jordan's
the goat debate all of that. So winning another ring
is huge for Lebron. The reason I don't slot him
highers because it's not as if his legacy is put
if he doesn't win a championship this season. He still
is a four time m v P, four time champion,
so he's got some cushion to fall on if he

(01:24:50):
doesn't win a championship. Number three, I go Janice most
at stake two time m v P. It is time,
it is go time. We need team success and if
he doesn't get it, he's gonna get crushed. Number two,
I'm gonna go James Harden if the Nets don't win
at all, as a really bad look for Harden, who

(01:25:11):
forced his way out of Houston. Is the one guy
of the Big three that doesn't have a championship, and
of course if he falters while the Nets are getting bounced,
that's gonna be really bad for him. Number one on
the list most at steak I go Paul George. Paul
George easily has the worst playoff reputation of any star
player by miles, and if they falter again, he most

(01:25:35):
likely will have a hand in it, and he will
be crushed, and most likely deservedly so, because nobody else
we don't roll our eyes and go playoff hardened, right,
We don't do that with anybody to the same extent
that we do with Paul George. I think he has
the most at stake. What do you think about that list?
But I do think Paul George has the most at

(01:25:55):
steak um. The press sures on him to just be
good in the playoffs are great, which was evident by
his first half today. I think he started off one
for eight, one for nine, like you can see it
affecting him, which doesn't bolde well for him. His legacy

(01:26:20):
are the Clippers um and James Harden has that same
stink on him when it comes to playoffs and performances
and how you can be great all year, leads the
league in scoring m vps through all of that, but

(01:26:40):
when it really counts, when it really matters, you don't
show up over and over again. That becomes your legacy.
And those two individuals are fighting those legacies right now
because they have not won championships. Yeah, I think it's
you could even include Janison that mex You. We're looking

(01:27:03):
at great regular season success, great individual success, but man,
if you wet yourself in the playoffs and the team's
success just isn't there, you're gonna get crushed for it,
and rightfully so that's just the way it goes. Yeah,
and I think you know to throw an honorable mention
in there, not just for players, but I think Steve Kerr,

(01:27:26):
I mean not Steve Kerr, but um, Steve Nash. Yeah,
that's a good one. I like that, right, because you
can't have a team like this and you know, yeah, right,
like your first time out the gate though, right, no

(01:27:49):
one knew you were gonna be a coach. All of
a sudden you're announced as the head coach. You you
hit the trifecta. You got these guys now through no
part of your own. They only played together eight eight
times this year, which is crazy. But as a new
coach not to take this talented bunch and when the championship,

(01:28:15):
oh no, Steve Kerr did it. Yeah, and heaven forbid,
there's a bad coaching decision along the way. And now
we're like, Okay, if you can't do it with this talent,
you're not gonna be able to do it with anybody else.
That is a big, big thing for Steve Nash to realize.

(01:28:41):
If they don't get to the finals or even win
the East with this talented group, what does that say
for the trajectory of his coaching career, Because he's not
going if he plans to me and a coach for
twenty years, he's not going to have this level of
talent elsewhere. Yea. And really it comes down to how

(01:29:02):
it's a matter of how Let's say they make it
to the finals and they lose game seven. Now, hard
fought against the Lakers. We're not crushing Steve now, no
no no, no, no no no. But if it's the
second round and they get bounced, we don't get out
of the East, there's a there's a problem, right, Like okay,

(01:29:25):
whoa a team will move off of you fast? Right?
If I will say this, if the Brooklyn Nets don't
win the East, Steve nas should be fired one and done.
Hot take as management, as a GM, as an owner,

(01:29:49):
how do you convince anybody to bring him back? Tell
me give me your argument. Well, I said, it comes
back to how in my mind if this is let's
say it's filly in the Nets in the Eastern Conference finals.
This is game seven. This is like a kauai for
bouncing off the rim shine you know, right? Are we

(01:30:12):
firing Nash because of that? No? It all. It's all
a matter of how it goes down in my mind,
Like if they get bounced in the second round all
of a sudden, I'm listening a lot closer. But if
it's it depends on how they go out. I would say,
if they go seven with the Celtics. You gotta dust
the Celtics. If they go seven with the Celtics, they

(01:30:34):
squally gotta win and they lose in the second round. Bro,
it's it's over. It's over. Yeah, we'll just cross that
bridge if we get to it. I don't think we're
getting there with the Nets. If we do, then yeah,
I hear you. I just don't think that's the way
it's gonna go down with them. But you get it right, like,
oh yeah, that guy, you're setting a precedent for yourself
that you're not gonna be able to come back from.

(01:30:57):
You can't do it with this group. You can't do it.
And it's it's not the same thing, but it's close.
Doc Doc Rivers only got one year with the Clippers
with Kawai Leonard and Paul George and he was gone.
Now that wasn't his only year with the Clippers, but
that was his only year with the star studded Clippers, right, yeah, yep,

(01:31:21):
So yeah, there are there are some franchises that get
itchy trigger fingers. Now Doc had stars. Now remember he
had Chris, Paul and Blake, And that's true that that
was the previous they were supposed to do it. They
were supposed to do it. Man, I'll tell you what.

(01:31:41):
For Nash to get fired, it would take a gentleman
sweeping round two or losing to the Celtics in round
one for that to realistically be on the table. I
just don't see them doing that. How far do you
have the nets going? By the way, what's your prediction?
And for them, I don't know. I don't know, Like

(01:32:03):
I don't know who they are. I really don't. I
don't know who they are. It is. It's such a
hard team because you can make a great argument either way.
It's like they've got a big three who else does
no one right? But they don't play defense, and they've
played eight games together, so you can make a great
argument either way. I think I've got them winning the title,

(01:32:25):
big man, I've got them winning it all. But you
can make a well reasoned argument that they won't even
come close to doing that. Yeah, I don't think they
win at all. I don't think they've played together long
enough because if the further they go, the tougher these
games are gonna get. And once they get to the West,

(01:32:46):
whoever comes out of the West, it's gonna be a
dog fight. I was thinking about this too. Let me
throw it out at you. I'm Brian though easy from
salam here on Fox Sports Radio. The best and worst
case when it comes to who wins the championship. Now,
try to take your rooting allegiance out of it a

(01:33:07):
little bit, I know, but like, if you're a Lakers fan,
of course you're gonna say best cases Lakers win at all, Right, Like,
kind of put that to the side. Just think of
the aftermath. If the Clippers win it, we have to
hear a bunch of oh, it's because a load management.
This is the way of the future, and I don't
want to hear that. Right If the Nets win, do

(01:33:30):
we go back to the era of super teams? Are
their teams trying to get three stars like the Nets have.
I don't want that to be the outcome Lakers. I'm
good on the m J Lebron debates. You know, I've
had about six million of them. I don't need anymore,
and you're gonna get a heavy dose of that if
the Lakers win at all. What do you think would

(01:33:52):
be the worst case scenario? Just in terms of what
would follow if one certain team won it? All? Um
for me, the worst case scenario will be the Clippers. Yes, understood,
you live in l A. I just can't. I can't

(01:34:12):
because they're in the mind of Clipper fans, they're one
championship surpasses all seventeen of the Lakers, which is irrational, right,
It makes no sense whatsoever. I gotta be honest with you.
I'm a little torn about the Clippers because, on one hand,

(01:34:34):
just to watch the theater play out, if you Clipper fans,
just striving Laker fans insane, would be a great soap
opera to watch if you don't have a dog in
the fight. But I don't want to hear all this
stuff about load management. And that's why Kauai takes a

(01:34:56):
bunch of games off, and that's why your star player
needs to do the same thing. Don't want to go
down that road at all. That's a terrible road to
be on. It's hideous road. It really is, all right,
fl any more to get to coming up next. The
more you accomplish, the more you get away with also

(01:35:17):
one team picking up the tab and the other team benefiting.
I'm Brian no easy from Salam. This is Fox Sports Radio.
I'm probably no easy from salam here on Fox Sports Radio.
For a hot water that never runs out, go Tankless
with Navy and Navy and Tankless Water Heaters provide endless
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(01:35:40):
com and save hundreds with local rebates Tankless made Simple
dot Com. How about the Celtics actually hanging tough only
down by five about six minutes to go, respectable effort,
Jlen Brown, big loss. That's a huge loss. That would

(01:36:04):
that would help your fire Nash stance. If the Celtics
were to win the series with no jail in Brown,
the next day he's gone. The next day he's gone.
What's your prediction in this series? Do you have it
as a sweep? I think, um, I think, uh, Brooklyn

(01:36:26):
in in in five, Okay, you go, gentlemen's gentlemen, I'm
gonna go four. I'm gonna go straight sweeping this one. Now.
I think they'll be able to pull one out at home.
You might be right, Brooklyn scoofy enough where. Yeah, I
think they'll they'll think they'll be able to pull one
out at home. Yeah, they could just yawn their way
to a loss easily. In this one. We mentioned this.

(01:36:49):
We called it a couple of weeks ago when Albert
pooh Holes signed with the Dodgers, we weren't saying pooh
Holes is gonna be the same guy was in St. Louis,
where he's averaging a batting average of three hundred thirty
home runs hundred RBIs not that guy anymore. But how
annoying would it be to Angels fans who are still

(01:37:09):
paying the bulk of his thirty million dollar salary this season.
They're paying him close to thirty mill and they released him.
You've got Albert Poolholes latching on with the Dodgers. The
Dodgers are paying him four hundred and twenty thousand dollars
and oh, by the way, what do you know? Albert
Poolholes is performing better with the Dodgers. Not star started

(01:37:33):
right and not crushing it, but at least he's doing
better than he was with the Angels. Man, that's all
we need. That's all they need. RBI singles. Ed he
had one today, right? They don't need doubles, RBI singles.
It's more than enough. That's kind of drive Angels fans crazy.

(01:37:54):
Every fan can relate to that. It stinks when your
team is paying a guy top dollar. He isn't doing
anything for you, he leaves, goes somewhere else, and then
it's more productive. It's the worst. Yeah, I mean it's
it makes you sick as a fan, right Like, it's like,
come on, don't do that and don't go to you know,

(01:38:19):
across town rivals, right like, yeah, I hate that Rondo's
and the Clippers, right, just like Clipper fans hate that
montres Is on the Lakers. That's right, Yeah, like you
hate that you want to see them fail. Yeah, you're
better as a fan. That's how it goes. Yeah, As like,

(01:38:41):
if we're being honest here, if you break up with someone,
unless you are in a really good situation yourself, it's
not the greatest news ever that they're doing awesome. You know,
oh yeah I met somebody else. Things are absolutely great,
much better than they were with you. Right Like that
just thinks and divorce and breakups and all of that.

(01:39:05):
Hate it you leave a team to go to the
super Bowl, right like, yeah, you hate it. It is
and yeah it's petty, but so what, it's human, right,
it's human nature. Nobody wants to see their ex girlfriend
looking good and with the guy who it's got more

(01:39:29):
going on in you. I know it. I know you
might might not want her to be miserable, but you
don't want her to be excellent. Yeah, you don't want
her to be elated every day of her life to
a point, right to a degree. And then it's just
we're piling on at this point if everything's great. You know,

(01:39:52):
I wanted to bring this back in because I was
thinking a little bit more about it with urban Meyer
and with Tim Tebow. Tebow is a fish lee Remember
the Jacksonville Jaguars right now? Um to recap, both you
and I think it's absurd. He's not gonna make the team.
He's not gonna make a difference, although he was an
excellent leader, one of the best ever in college football

(01:40:12):
that was in college. You're not following the lead of
the ninetie guy on your roster. That's just that's indisputable.
Were you and I differ a little bit? Is this
notion of white privilege? And I was just thinking about
this with urban Meyer. If you look at his credentials,
that's what gets him a longer leash to make crazy

(01:40:36):
moves like this. Do you think honestly that Brandon Staley
he's the new head coach with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Do you think they're allowing him to do what urban
Meyer is doing with Tebow? Or Nick Sirianni and Philly
or kneecap biter Dan Campbell in Detroit? Do you think

(01:40:57):
they're allowing Dan Campbell to do the same thing urban
Meyer just did with Tebow? There's no way. And so
the point is with urban Meyer having three championships and
having this well decorated resume that allows him to get
away with more stuff, and you just go along with
all Right, urban wants to do this, We'll we'll do it.

(01:41:19):
It's not happening with other dudes that are the same
skin color I did. I think, Um, I think it's
a bad move. I think it's a waste of a
roster spot are a waste of an opportunity for someone
who actually can help him, And I think, um, there

(01:41:46):
have been a series of decisions made by urban Meyer
that don't make sense to me, and that lends to
you know, he he obviously is you know, playing to
the tune of his own drum. Hm. Yeah, unaware. You

(01:42:06):
get no argument from me as far as that goes,
because he's lacking foresight I completely questioned his decision making
ability with bringing on Chris Doyle, you had to know
that was never gonna fly, and also with Tebow. I
just doesn't make sense to me. I have a question
is judgment for sure? So all we can do is

(01:42:28):
the other thing plays out. I you know, I have
a feeling how it's gonna play out. We know how
it's gonna play out. But you know, I don't know
how Tim Tebow helps your team. You're the worst team
in the league. I don't know how signing Tim Tebow
hopes your team. I don't know how the notion of
signing Tim Tebow hopes your team. I don't know how

(01:42:50):
you have the goal to even want to sign Tim
Tebow or even to approach the g M and ownership
just like I don't like. To me, that's ridiculous. I agree.
I think it's about the wrong thing. I would put
all my eggs in the Trevor Lawrence basket. Let's sign

(01:43:13):
let's sell Lawrence Jerseys. You know there's an expiration date
with TIBO. They're gonna make the roster and be productive
and be a leader and all. You're just not being
realistic here. You're not being honest with yourself, So why
are you investing in that investing Trevor Lawrence put all
the eggs in that basket. He's the guy with ability here. Yeah,

(01:43:36):
So I mean they're a dumpster fire. They're still a
dumpster fire, and the only way you cannot be a
dumpster fire is to put the fire out. It was
the best comment you made on this whole thing, because
someone was hitting us up and like, well, tight end
is their weakest position. You go, it still is still

(01:44:00):
it still iss like literally it still is. It actually
got worse, that's right. And and people, I think I'm
coming from a place of hatred for Tim Teops. I
played professional sports. I was on an NFL roster for

(01:44:20):
thirteen years. I know how valuable a spot is. I
know how valuable an invitation to training camp or mini
camp is. I know how important depth is. So that's

(01:44:41):
where I'm speaking from. Sure, And you know this. NFL
rosters are littered with undrafted free agent yea seventh I'm
a seventh on draft pick. Undrafted free agent guys who
are would do anything right, I promise you. Teaboarding called

(01:45:02):
urban Meyer and say hey, can I go Look, I
don't I don't even know where it came from, but
the fact that it's there, that's the thing that bothers me,
because what are you doing? Like literally, what are you doing?
You know? To put a happy spin on this? Someone
who is here that doesn't bother you whatsoever. He actually

(01:45:26):
enhances your life. That would be a friend of America,
a man by the name of Steve Sager. He for enhanced.
Is that going to be the middle initial this time? Seven?
We have about three minutes to go in the NBA
playoff opener at Brooklyn, and then it's lead over the Celtics,

(01:45:50):
even though from three point range and that's started over
ten and from long distance. You look at the statuet tonight,
Kevin Durant from three point range one for eight, Kyrie
Irving two for eights, James Harden two for eights, and
yet it's a lead of double digits for the home
team in Game one, Kevin Durant leading the way with
thirty two points. The late game starts up in roughly

(01:46:10):
ten minutes with Portland at Denver. Dallas beat the Clippers
in a game one in l A. This was how
it sounded on Mavericks Radio today. The Mavericks, for the
first time since the Western Conference Finals, have grabbed the
first game of a playoff series, as they go in
to Los Angeles and beat the Clippers one, one oh three.

(01:46:31):
Luka don such a triple double, including thirty one points,
and Milwaukee won in overtime against Miami one oh nine
one oh seven on the last second jumper by Chris Middleton,
who had twenty seven points in the NHL Playoffs. Vegas
leads three nothing at Minnesota about four minutes left in
the game. Earlier wins for Toronto and Tampa Bay and
the Islanders are tied in their first round series with
Pittsburgh two games apiece after beating the Penguins four to

(01:46:54):
one today. Phil Mickelson leads by one stroke at the
p g A Championship and Brooks kept go we use
Tayson is two back. Notable because Phil Mickelson is fifty
years old. He's the oldest with a fifty four whole
lead in any major since Tom Watson over I don't
see it happening, but then again, I didn't see him
up five briefly, which was what happened in today's round

(01:47:16):
as well. Bryson Deshambo tied for seventh place at five back.
But yeah, Michelson would become the oldest ever to win
a major. And they've been playing major golf tournaments for
a hundred sixty one years and he's had success in
majors five victories. He's been a runner up in each
of the majors. This is only the third time he's
held the fifty four whole lead oddly enough, so some

(01:47:39):
things are in his favor going into the finale at
what it was for the first couple of rounds. Very
windy key Wylands, South Carolina. Reminder that tomorrow's NASCAR race
will be on FS one again to thirty pm Eastern time.
Kyle Busch one Today's Xfinity Race. There is a chance
of rain there in Austin, Texas tomorrow too. Major League Baseball,
you mentioned Albert pools Now a Dodger r single in

(01:48:00):
a six three win at San Francisco. Pooh Holes has
had one hit in five of his six games as
a Dodger this week. And while the Angels had the
late game and the Asier had one nothing in Anaheim,
top of the second ninth inning, Red Sox holding on
to a four three lead at the Phillies. Tampa Bay
has just won its ninth straight game, three to one
against Toronto, and the Padres are winning again. It looks

(01:48:22):
like the Padres might be taking over first place in
the NL West. They're up six one on the Mariners
in the top of the sixth inning. St. Louis got
a Yatta your Molina solo homer in the seventh to
beat the Cubs two to one, and the save to
closer Alex Reus of the Cardinals save of the season
for the year twenty four innings of work, one run allowed.

(01:48:46):
Cleveland got a tenth inning homer to beat Minnesota five
to three. Miami on a homer bottom of the ninth
beat the Mets three to one. Atlanta's Ronald to Kuna
with his fifteenth home run to lead the Major's Braves
beat Pittsburgh six to one, and the Yankees and Garrett
Cole out to the White Sox seven nothing. Yankees have
won five in a row and update, the Brooklyn Nets
now lead two with about two minutes to go against Boston,

(01:49:09):
so it looks like game one to the Nets. I
don't know if you guys have looked at the schedule
for the Western Conference playoffs. But come Tuesday night, both
the Lakers and the Clippers have a game to tipping
off at about the same time. Now it's TNT nationally
for Lakers at Phoenix game to Tuesday night, NBA TV
is taking the Clippers home game against Dallas. They will

(01:49:32):
tip off about a half hour apart. Now, one notable thing,
and I wish I knew local TV ratings. These are
going to be available on the Clippers channel in Los
Angeles and the Lakers channel in Los Angeles. Can you
imagine what the Lakers channel is going to get opposite
a Clipper playoff game come Tuesday night in the Los

(01:49:53):
Angeles Bin. Well, now Lee has some homework. We shall
have those numbers when we go back up on SAT
next Saturday. Yeah, I don't have anything to go offer.
I'm just saying I wish I knew the number. We
will know, We will know the numbers. Is that right?
You agree it'll probably be lopsided. And this has nothing

(01:50:15):
to do with NBA TV not being available nationally. I'm
talking about the local channels. Yeah, exactly two to one.
What are you calling, Steve? Yeah, yeah, that sounds exactly
logical to me. By a two to one margin. Yeah,
that's a weird thing to put the Lakers and Clippers
almost at the same time. Yeah, like next weekend, they're
gonna have a Sunday game four the same day, but

(01:50:37):
the Lakers will be daytime and the Clippers will be nighttime.
Not so this Tuesday. Yeah, that's one of the arguments
of the complaints every single NBA playoff season. It takes
so long. Who cares. I'd rather they spaced it out
the first round where we're seeing the Lakers and the
Clippers at standalone times instead of playing almost at the

(01:50:58):
same time. The Lakers series, it's Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and
then Sunday Tuesday Thursday the next week. Yeah, thank you, Steve.
I'm Brian No. He is e from salam here on
Fox Sports Radio. How about it's uh Clark Kellogg who
used to say this about college basketball at the time,
spurtability that was his word. You look at the nets.

(01:51:22):
They have it certainly in this series because the Celtics
as their opponent. But I was just saying to Lee,
Robert Lap the fourth are trusted producer, and Roberto who's
in with us tonight. I'm like, man Celtics are hanging
tough here, and you take a couple of blinks and
oh wow, they're down by sixteen points. It's weird with

(01:51:43):
the Nets, right, Like, I don't know how sometimes a
team like the Nets, they were going through the motions
to some degree tonight in a playoff game. You know,
they just get bored easily. So I think that we
haven't seen their true potential when they're engaged and they're

(01:52:04):
going up against the team that is a legitimate threat
to take them down, right Like, we're just seeing them
kind of screw around in the regular season. But if
they're facing the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals and
they're facing take your pick, the Lakers the Clippers in
the finals, I want to see how good they can
be when they're completely locked in and focused. Because we

(01:52:27):
haven't seen anything close to that yet and they completely
locked in, be focused, that's a that's a legitimate question
too for a full seven game series. What we're gonna
find out, Yeah, we're gonna find out that that question
will be answered. Who's your finals matchup? Um? I got

(01:52:50):
Lakers and Nets. I would like to see the Lakers
in the Nets, but you know, Lakers and whoever I do.
You could bundle two teams from East either way Lakers
and six Lakers in six versus the Eastern Conference All Stars.
How many games for the Lakers against the Suns? Five?

(01:53:16):
Five a gentleman's sweep. Hunh. You might be right, it's possible.
That's the one thing about the Lakers. They played as
bad of a first half against the Warriors. They scored
forty two points and still locked them down and won
the game. It's just that they had a lot of
talent on the team and you don't when Lebron and

(01:53:38):
it's just a it's a difference, right, It's a difference
when you you know what that's gonna be, right, You
know that at some point they're gonna lock in. I'd
like it to not take so long. But you know,
I think two things about the Lakers that completely conflict
with each other. Right, So, on one hand, on the

(01:54:00):
positive side, for Lebron and a d to miss as
much time as they did and to still remain number
one in defense, yeah it says a lot. But on
the other hand, I think that the Lakers credentials are
greatly boosted because they wanted all last season. I think

(01:54:22):
we're looking at the Lakers like, oh man, you gotta
be almost perfect to be No, you don't, No, you
don't look at their path last year. I take nothing
away from their title last year. Big man. True, I'm
not doing that. Well, it's the Blazers, Rockets, Nuggets heat
that wasn't exactly a gauntlet and they earned their championship.

(01:54:44):
That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, based on
that road, why are we putting the Lakers on a pedestal.
I'm just not doing that. I think that their potentials
are there. Yeah, it is because of Lebron, but I
think winning a title last year, I think that it
it's gone too far with believing in the Lakers. And
I think it's gone too far with not believing in

(01:55:04):
the Clippers because they crashed in Burke. You have no
faith in the Clippers whatsoever. Nothing that they've done are
doing gives you faith, including today's game. So that's why
there's no belief in the Clippers, because they are what
did Danny Green say? They are who we thought they were?
That they are who we thought they were. That's it.

(01:55:27):
That's what it is, and until you prove otherwise, that's
what it's going to be period. I get that the
Clippers are in that. Believe it when you see it
territory for a lot of people. They've been there for decades.
But they got talent finally, they had talent CEP. They
had three All Stars, sure, and they should have done

(01:55:49):
more in Love. So we keep saying they have talent finally.
That's not the case. Well, what I'm saying is the
fifty year history. Most of those years they have not
had great talent at all. It's just this era in
Lob City, right, It's just the present Clippers in Lob City.
That's it. Same results. By the way, do you think

(01:56:17):
that matters at all? There's a legitimate question. Do you
think that plays into it for the Clippers at all?
They're fighting their own history. I don't buy it. I don't.
Some disagree with me. But it's like the Cubs. The
Cubs didn't win for a hundred and eight years. They

(01:56:37):
got good players. They want shocking how that happens, you know,
I don't believe in curses or history or if you
think that. The Clippers, they absolutely they did and they
took their foot off the gas. That's what happened against
the Nuggets. When you don't have leadership, you get what
you get. Remember, we talked about what what personality? Right?

(01:56:58):
Who who are they following? What demeanor are they gonna?
You don't have it. They still don't have it. It's
still not there. But the Raptors had it and the
Spurs had it because they had leaders. Weary was a leader.
He is he was and is right. No one was

(01:57:19):
looking for Kauai to lead the team. They needed him
to be Kauai. On the Spurs, no one was. They
weren't looking for Kauai to lead them. They were not,
So he didn't have to lead him. He just had
to beat him. Yeah, it's just that we're on the Clippers,
Lou Lou Williams, Livon Pepper, Lou Right, it's Rondo coming

(01:57:44):
off the bench playing fourteen minutes. Is that the lead? Like,
there's no identity there. They'll be fine. They lost Game one,
got a lot of talent. Like I said, I'm not overreacting,
but it was. It's not like they're playing a team
that that is that much worse than them. They're not sure.
It's not a guarante either. No, it's not. The Dallas

(01:58:06):
Mavericks are a good team. That's why they were fifth
in the in the in the UM in the conference. Yeah,
that's a four or five matchup. That's a coin flip, Nah,
Clippers taking it Clippers and six. I would beat Candy Bars,
but I still haven't been paid for the other one.
So I'll report back to you on that coming up.
We'll close the show on that note. Also, it's time

(01:58:29):
to officially stop the madness. When it comes to one debate,
it should be case closed at this stage. I'm Brian
No Easy from Salam. This is Fox Sports Radio. I'm
Brian No. He'sy from Salam on Fox Sports Radio, Top
of the Hour, Arnie Span your Aaron Torres, keep it

(01:58:51):
locked right here on fs ARE. How about this with
the play in tournament. The final game was last night.
Big Man and Memphis beat Golden State. After the game,
John Morant he tweeted, definitely my favor matchup by far.
Now give him that m v P award. He was
talking obviously about Steph Curry. It's time to stop the

(01:59:14):
madness over here. Steph Curry had a great year, his
team didn't make the playoffs. He's not winning m v P,
nor should he can I get an amen on that.
You're with me on that one. Yeah, but he had
it from mendous year he did. I give him props.
There are Look, there are a lot of athletes that

(01:59:37):
if they were a three time champion and they lost
their running mate in Clay Thompson, they would have just
gone through the motions. And that's not what Steph Curry did.
I really I gained a lot of respect for Steph
Curry the way he attacked this season, So I'm not
short changing what he did. But you gotta at least
make the playoffs to be a legit m VP candidate.

(01:59:59):
Come on, I know he's a fine analist, but a
none playoff team like that, guy's that the best player
of that team is not winning m v P. It's not.
It's hard to do that. But um, he had a
great year. And that was hypercritical of him at the
beginning of the year, saying, hey, look, if you're that,
if you're the m v P, right, then you have

(02:00:20):
to carry your team no matter who's out there and
who's on the team. And he picked it up. He
picked it up. He did. Yeah, he put him in
position to possibly make the playoffs about him alone alone,
though he did that alone. Yeah, it's funny too write
because the m v P award, it's meant to honor someone,

(02:00:43):
to really give one person the most props. But the
problem is it turns into this debate and I think
we do more. I think it tends to make us
talk trash about someone not being the m v P
than it does to give roses to the dude who
we think is m v P. Does that make sense.
I think Jeff Van Gundhi said that comparison is the

(02:01:05):
thief of all joy. That's what happens. I hate saying
Steph Curry is not the mv but he isn't. But
it takes away from the special season he had. It's
weird how it works out like that. But that's a
big thing for Memphis. You know, it's baby steps. We
talked about it all the time. Yeah, Joe was out
of his mind. He played great, and you gotta guard

(02:01:26):
that guy. He's allowing him to shoot wide open threes.
We saw that last year in the bubble with him
and uh and Murray going back and back and forth.
I mean that was fun to watch. Yeah, So they missed.
Memphis missed out in the playoffs. Last year they squeak
in This year it's baby steps. You know you're growing
a little bit. How about this too, um Bama to

(02:01:50):
Bio his reaction to not being a Defensive Player of
the Year finalist, he just simply tweeted, ha ha, I
have a great response by him. I love that. I
think that's fantastic. How about this too, rapid fire, big Man,
Julio Jones? Maybe on the trading block? What would be
the most interesting place, the most interesting team? You go,

(02:02:14):
Green Bay. They have to move a lot around to
make that happen. How about the Chargers? Are you more
interested in the Chargers, the Ravens or the Niners? For
Julio Jones, Um the Niners, San fran High. The Niners

(02:02:39):
they have to adjust a literally got about eleven million available,
and Julio's right at fifteen mills. They have to do
a few things, but they could make it happen if
they really wanted him. I'd be cool with That'd be fun.
By the way, big Man, I hate to close on
a sour note here, but I've looked every where for

(02:03:00):
your TwixT. We figured it out. It's on Amazon. All
you donna do is click. You can deliver it right
to my Here's the thing. I can't find the right TwixT.
Doesn't matter. Just send me my twixtes. Alright. I've tried
get the right TwixT. You are a liar. I am

(02:03:22):
not a liar. That's unfair. I've looked everywhere. If you
send me a link of twixts, right right, privilege,

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05/22/2021 - FOX Sports Saturday with Brian Noe and Ephraim Salaam

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