06/05/2021 - FOX Sports Saturday with Steve Hartman and Geoff Schwartz - Fox Sports Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports for you. Oh yes, living
the dream once again on a fabulous Saturday, Harbor and
Schwartz with you. You know, Father's Day is coming up.
Father's Day's coming up here a couple of weeks. Is
that a big day for you, Jeff? Do you get
the full star treatment from your fabulous family on Father's Day?

(00:23):
Or is it an afterthought? I don't what is that
day day? In my house? I don't know. I don't
know what it is. My birthday, my Sonday. I shared birthday,
so that's eating up, which again I'm on a birthday,
got in with care, but we share birthday, so that's
eating up. And Father's Day. I don't think I'll even
be in town this year for Father's Day. So um, yeah, no,

(00:43):
you know his Father's Day was that afterthought because Mother's
Day is such a huge holiday for you know, the
mom's out there. I don't know for your wife. And
I always remember, like there's five major holidays when you're
married with children. You have an anniversary of Valentine's Day,
you have Christmas Hanuko, whatever you're s alebrating at that
time in the year. You have, you know, an anniversary,
but Mother's Day is the key day. Once they become

(01:06):
a mom, you better better deliver on Mother's Day. And then,
of course it was sort of like that afterthought. All right, well,
if you have a Mother's Day, you have Father's Day. No,
not really, however, however, I do want to mention something special.
If you're looking for that something on Father's Day, get
him something new. A D s C six blade razor,
perfect for an extra close, precise shave. Get one now

(01:29):
to store near you or as part of a gift
set at dollar Shaved Club dot com slash Breakfast Club.
That's Dollars Shaved Club dot com slash Breakfast Club. All right,
so here we are on another beautiful Saturday right now. Beautiful,
of course, unless you're the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. Jeff,
this is unbelievable, how this flip. We were sitting here

(01:53):
last Saturday, exactly one week ago today, and it appeared
like the Lakers had completely turned the corner. Remember, they
lose the first game against Phoenix, they come back, they
win game two, and they look dynamite in game three,
and already there there. You know the odds, and you
follow the odds. The odds of the of them winning

(02:14):
the series basically where you're off the charts, and then
to go on to win the Western Conference where you
know they were the overwhelming favorites. They were right there
with the nets to win the NBA Championship, and just
like that, a week later, they're done. I mean, I
I can't quite remember such a dramatic fall during a

(02:35):
playoff run as with this Los Angeles Lakers team. Yeah,
they fell fast, and they fell fast because Anthony Davis
got hurt. Right, I think that's it's very clear. And look,
I think a lot of Laker fans, including myself, who
watched them play this year, um, I think had some
faulty assumptions right that one um the team would be
able to turn on in the posts. We saw last

(02:56):
year that they weren't able to shoot very well. But
they shot enough in the postseason, right, They made enough threes,
man enough shots, kind of did enough to get by
when Lebron wasn't putting up all the numbers they did
right at a d last year was was healthy, which
makes a big difference. But I think we we overlooked
a lot of the flaws they had this season in
their shooting and their ability to score outside of Lebron

(03:17):
and Anthony Davis. And as soon as a D went down,
there was no chance for them to win. They did
not have anyone reliable to get them a bucket outside Lebron,
not a single person on the team. You have, you know,
a pivotal game five k CP over one. He took
one exact shot in that game as a guard and
Shrewder was over nine. Like so, they no reliable pieces,

(03:41):
and so I think a lot of us, again clean myself,
Lakers fan, overlooked it because we thought a D and
Lebron could do enough. And without a D there whether
this is Lebron being hurt still with his ankle, there
was some you could see him driving the way a
little bit, some explosive issues. Wasn't able to finish at
the rim quite as well. Outside of that, you know,
really the third or fourth quarter of Game three, you know, Steve,

(04:02):
I think it's fair to say Lebron probably can't do
it all anymore. Not probably he can't do it anymore.
He's in year eighteen, He's played two hundred and thirty
something playoff games. On top of all the games he's
had to play carrying his teams over the years. He
just key. He can't put up forty seventeen and eight
in elimination game anymore. That's not what he is. And

(04:23):
I think we have to accept that as as an NBA,
as Lebron fans, as Laker fans see, that's not what
he is anymore. And it's okay to say that. It's
not a knock on him. He's old man, He's played
a lot of basketball, and the Lakers cannot win if
it's just Lebron anymore. Well, there are a lot of
layers to this right now, and I agree with everything
you're talking about, especially with the Lebron situation, but you

(04:46):
look at what I always like to look at, all right,
what do you got locked up in contracts? And where
are you going with some of the free agents after
this season? And if I were a Laker fan, and
I am, but if I were a Laker fan, I'd
be a little concerned on some of the comments made
by Rob Holenka after yesterday, after the uh, you know,

(05:07):
the downfall against the Phoenix Suns, and when you look
at some of the guys that they brought in, whether
or not they're going to actually come after them, uh
and bring it back. You have Dennis Shrewder. You obviously
have a guy Andre Drummond. I mean, are you gonna
give guys like that twenty million dollars a year? You can?

(05:27):
I agree with you. Here's the thing about it. Shrewder
might be really good right like and and I don't
doubt he's a good player, But in the biggest moments
of this series, he was nowhere to be found. Even
in Game six he had at seventeen points, but a
lot of those were the second half kind of that
third quarter scramble. Right, Um, he was a no show
in the in the moment, by the way, when the

(05:48):
Lakers need him the most. No show. Now, you could
argue come back from injury maybe, But Steve my concerned
with the Lakers roster building. Is our players scided to
play with Lebron still? And who's coming to Los Angeles
to play with an aging Lebron who has a lot
of control over the roster? And is this a fun

(06:11):
team to play for? If you're a young player looking
to win a championship, or or a mid level player
made a little bit of an older player, are are
you excited to come play for the Lakers right now,
and I don't know if people will be thrilled to
come play for Lebron at the age. Oh I got,
I got. I'll take this a step further right now.
So in front of me, I'm looking at all the

(06:33):
possible available free agents. And by the way, the number
one guy in this list we're gonna get into and
his name is Kauie Leonard. People forgot that you can
opt out of his contract after this season. But I'm
not so worried about the Lebron James session position moving forward.
I have a bigger concern with Anthony Davis. So I
remember in the last couple of years of Kobe when

(06:56):
his body was finally breaking down, where he just wasn't
gonna get out there. They couldn't sign a free agents
because if you are because we all recognize that what
we have going on the NBA and something else are
gonna get into the power of the player in the
NBA that is unmatched any other sport. But as the
teams try to assemble, you know, two superstars together, a

(07:17):
nucleus to build off of, and then if you get
a third superstar, all the better. But just just the
idea of being a top level Grade five NBA player
to team up in another grade five. If you're looking
at the Anthony Davis situation, now, he has a Grade
five talent, but injury after injury, he has missed twenty

(07:38):
percent of his games during the course of his NBA career.
That's over nine seasons. So if Lebron is gone, I mean,
I look at this way with Anthony as he looks
like an old twenty eight year old, like that body
is literally falling apart. But when Lebron leaves and you have,
let's say, a thirty thirty one year old Anthony Davis,
how many free agents want to hook their wagon Thannye

(08:00):
Davis saying, hey, yeah, that's a guy. I think if
I hook up with him, we begin the nucleus of
a championship team. My guess is not many, because you
can't guarantee that he actually is going to be on
the court. It's a great point, and you know, for
a while Laker fans and people are on the NBA
used to always point to Los Angeles as a destination

(08:21):
because of the ability to be around other celebrities, the
ability to grow your business, the ability to be seen
more often than than other places. But with social media,
with NBA TV, with with all the attention you know
on ESPN that has t n T played to n
b A, you don't have to play in Los Angeles
anymore to get, you know, the the attention that you need.

(08:45):
And so I don't know if players look at it
the same way where they have to be in l
A to go be with celebrities, have to be in
l A to to get those endorsement deals. You know,
they might want to play in l A because a
bigger city and the weather is great and all those
other advantages, I think, but the idea of going there
and kind of teaming up, it's not as enticing as
his young players as it used to be. And so
you have the A D injury you have playing with Lebron,

(09:06):
aging at Lebron, you have, you know, probably not get
paid a lot of money because they have they a
lot of money to other players, and you're in a
tough car. I just don't think it's that appealing as
it used to be. So I'm looking right now at
a list on one website ranking the free agents. Now
some of these guys are you know free agents? Were
you don't have to worry other protective free agents that

(09:27):
may very well resigned with the current team. Obviously, a
situation like that with Kawhi Leonard where Kauai has the
option to opt out of his deal, which he assuredly
will do knowing again, oh yeah, because oh he wants
more money, absolutely so. And remember the Clippers can pay
him more money than anyone else, So if he were
to actually leave the Clippers to go into their team,

(09:50):
this is what happened. And uh and to compo, remember
last year there was all the speculation that you honest
was gonna leave, but ultimately he stayed with Milwaukee because
he makes more any staying in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform. Um,
and same thing with Kauai Leonard. But that's why. And
when we look at this series and what happened last
night with Kawhi Leonard, I want to get to this

(10:11):
on the other side, because there's there's a domino effect
going on right now in the NBA based on how
one player can create a whole series of reaction around
the NBA and how the piece's actual fall. We're gonna
start with Kawai Leonard and why this series and Game
seven tomorrow for the Clippers against Dallas. Is such a

(10:35):
must win for this Clippers organization will explain coming up next,
Steve Hartman and Jeff Schwartz. By the way, I went
to see A Quiet Place to last night, Jeff, did
you see the first movie Quiet Place? Steve? Mike's son
is almost seven. Yeah, I think since he's born, I've

(10:57):
seen I've seen two fifty shades of gray movies in
the theater, right. I saw one other movie when I
was I think it was right along when I had
broke my leg in New Jersey. I remembers I was
scooting in my little scooty wheelie thing. I've seen Peter
Rabbit in the theater with my kids start and that's
probably yeah. You know, I remember when my kids were young.

(11:18):
I remember watching the Academy Awards one year and the
only category I had seen every movie was Best Animated Film.
I remember that. Well. That's when I was like, wow, Okay,
that's all I'm doing these days is taking my kids
to see movies that most of them were good. It's
just that wouldn't see my cup of tea. But I
would highly recommend if you've seen the first Quiet Place,

(11:38):
you definitely want to see Quiet Place too. They did
a great job. It's not easy, but it's you have
to see the first one to see the second one.
Was not a movie person either. She doesn't have the
movie theater. It's too cold for her. You don't you
don't need see I I go. I yeah, last night.
Here's the problem I have now, Jeffy. As you get older,
as you popular, everyone notices you. What's not about about

(11:59):
the popular? Already? I get more. I'm adding on people
because you know, I have my three kids and then
denise my acts. You know, we have a we have
a very unique relationship for an unmarried couple. We're very
we're good friends, you know, and we share three kids.
But they're all in their twenties. And my oldest has
a girl friend for a while. Now my youngest she
has a boyfriend. So I don't have three kids anymore.

(12:21):
It's like I have five kids. I mean, they just
keep adding on layers too. You know, Dad, here's you know,
pay for the movies. Let's go out to dinner and
stuff like this. So I am the father. Everyone calls
me daddy. That's what's going on right now, all right,
So let's let's get back to this NBA situation. Okay,
So here, here's where we stand. A lot of people
don't know this, but so Kawhi Leonard when he joined

(12:44):
the Clippers only agreed to a short term deal similar
to what Lebron James has been doing, very similar to
what Kevin Durant has been doing. And as we know what,
Durandi left Oklahoma City, then he left Golden State, we
saw Lebrawn, he left Miami, he left Cleveland. So Kauai
felt like, I don't want to be in a situation
like I was in San Antonio, and he ends up

(13:06):
with Toronto wins a championship, but he wanted to keep
his options open. So the Clippers survived last night for
one reason. And that's not one reason because Reggie Jackson
played well, Paul George wasn't terrible, but Kawhi Leonard was
just off the charts. I mean, you put a forty
five last night. So they get to a game seven.
This is the first series, by the way, in which

(13:26):
the road team has won all six games in the
first six games of a best of seven series. So
you know, based on that, who knows the Mavericks might
win and if Dallas wins tomorrow, if the Clippers are
eliminated in the first round, even though it's not likely,
it's on the table, the Kawhi Leonard may decide, you
know what, maybe this isn't quite the right situation for me.

(13:49):
And imagine where that would put the Clippers because they
had to give up just about everything they had to
get Paul George, because Paul George is the guy that
Kawhi Leonard wanted to have as a he made with
the Clippers. How deep are they in with Jeff George.
How about this, at the end of his contract season,
they owe him forty eight million dollars that year and

(14:11):
they gave up all their draft picks. They don't have
a first round pick until seven. So can you imagine
if Kawhi Leonard said, you know what, it was nice,
but I think I have a better chance of winning
a championship elsewhere, like maybe down the hall with the Lakers.
Who wouldn't that be a nice twist? But anyway, if
you're a Laker fan, but that's where the Clippers are
right now, well, this is why this postseason is so

(14:35):
critical for the Clippers to do something to convince Kawai
Leonard that he has the right nucleus of players to
win a championship, because that's what he's about. He did
it in San Antonio and he did in Toronto. He's
about winning titles. Yes, of course he is. I mean
that's that's why he you know, he does the load
of managements, why he's went to the Clippers to build

(14:56):
the roster that he wanted. UM. Look, besides Kauai, if
the Clippers do not win, Steve Bombers firing everybody, like
there's no doubt about it, right, I mean, this is
now two years in a row of underachievement, and you
brought in Kauai to win, to win series, right, and
to make it past the summits, which aren't even obviously
if they lose this year, they're not even doing that. Mean,
the Clippers have never been to a Western Conference final

(15:19):
and the history of their franchise. UM, and obviously Steve
Bombers don't spend two billion dollars on that franchise to
not to not go to not go to Western Conference
finals and not go to the you know, not win championships.
And you're right, the domino effect could be pretty swift
because we're seeing the NBA, and I look, I think
this is the climate where the NBA. And it makes

(15:40):
sense if you're running a team to try to go
all in right now on veterans, right that cause we
know that you know one thing about this league, unlike
the NFL. You know the NFL you can win with
you know, really second year starting Pat Mahomes, right, you
can win with Big Ben in a second year, you
could get the super Bowl, not super Bowl, I guess
it wasn't really the Carson Wentz right in year two,
you can Russell Wilson on a rookie contract, right, you

(16:02):
can get there with young Quarterbacks are the most important position.
And argue in all sports, Stephen, the NBA, you need
to be nine. You need to have to Hall of
famers most often, like you need so I get white
teams go all in on these veteran guys. But if
it doesn't work out, you're screwed. And and that's the
trade off is if you go all in on veterans,
you go all in trading assets, you go all in

(16:23):
on salary. If it doesn't happen or Kauai leaves after
two years for the Clippers, you're screwed for years, but
the risk I think is maybe worth the reward of
winning the championship. Well, and this gets back to something
I want to get into today, and that is the
power of the player in the NBA, unlike any other sport,

(16:43):
this is a fine line if you're running an organization
and I'm talking about an owner, but more specifically about
general managers and coaches, because if you adhere to your
SuperStar's wishes on who are the right players to bring in?
And this I know, if I have this guy and
this guy, it's gonna work. And the Clippers are a

(17:03):
prime example where they mortgaged everything to get Paul George
to make Kawhi Leonard happy. But here's the problem. If
it doesn't work, you're not gonna fire the player. The
general manager will be held accountable, the head coach will
be accountable, and they could look at ownerships saying, wait

(17:24):
a second, we didn't make the decision to do this.
You wanted to listen to your star player. We had
our doubts whether this was gonna work, but you gave
into the player and our heads are rolling. That is
that is the difference between the NBA and let's say
the NFL, we're like, I mean, we're we're watching what
Green Bay is doing right now with the Aaron Rodgers situation.

(17:47):
Right green Bay is not doing anything. They're calling his bluff.
You don't want to play, fine, we'll we'll we'll get
all that cap money back this year. We'll use it
on Stumbad House and give us a chance to see
what Jordan loves all of about. The power remains with
the Shield in the NFL. But the NBA, under the
leadership of Adam Silver, who has become obviously a player favorite,

(18:11):
this is I mean, sometimes it works, but many times
it doesn't work. And who ultimately is accountable It's gonna
be the coach and general managers. So this this is
a fine line, and it seems to be gaining momentum
every year in the NBA, more and more power to
the players. And that's not necessarily good for some of
these franchises. It's not good for these franchises. But the NBA,

(18:33):
we know, we said often as a players league, and
I think the reason why is one or two players
can have such a difference on the winning than in
any of their sport. Right, So look at the Angels
right now, that the Angels arguably have what too of
the three best players in all of baseball, and Mike
trying to know he's not playing because he's hurt and
show Heyo Tani. They're terrible good. You know, Jacob deGrom

(18:58):
my best picture in Major League Baseball, it's guaranteed. First
five under. If you're a gambler, first five under, you
bet every single time with the Mets. Can't hit when
he when he starts. By the way you playing him tonight,
he's going against the potteries tonight, Jacob first five under, Yes, um,
so I take it every time. Look clan kershar right.

(19:18):
He couldn't do it at all and then finally got you,
finally got a bunch of help and was able to
do it. So you know, in the NFL, you could
be a great quarterback. If you don't have an offensive
long you don't have help on defense, you can't win
a title. But n b A, you pair two superstars together,
boom title. Right, So I get why ownership says, hey, okay, Lebron,
we bring you in, will sign a D, will sign KCP,

(19:40):
will sign me, whatever else, because you're you know, you
vouch for them, and we want you to come to
our team, Kauai. You want to come to the Clippers, Okay,
you want Paul George. We'll get Paul George for you.
Because in the end, those two guys in theory can
take you over the hump and win a championship. And
it's not gonna change anytime soon. So that's a structure
that is the NBA. I don't know how they would

(20:01):
change it if they wanted to want honestly, Um, and
so you mortgage your future for current championships and you
get superstars and until players don't ask for this anymore,
or until general managers say we don't care. But then again,
if you hear general managers not listening to the superstar,
he's probably out to right. So I it's tough for

(20:23):
them to build their rosters around what I think ownership
wants to do because players have so much control in
how good you can be with just an addition of
two players. Yeah, it's it's a situation where again the
NBA they make concessions though, and the idea was sort
of the Larry Bird rules they originally called it, where

(20:44):
once you have control of a player, you then have
control over the amount of money you can pay that
player ultimately. Uh And as we mentioned with answer the
compo and with the Bucks, ultimately he said, fine, I can't.
I'm gonna make more money staying with the Bucks and
any other team I signed with, I'm gonna go there.
But we've seen Kevin Durant leave, We've seen Lebron James leave.

(21:05):
It depends on the mindset of the player. And that's
why this whole Kauai Leonard situation, to me is very
interesting because if Kauahi Leonard, if they lose tomorrow and
go out in the first round, and he's gonna opt
out of his contract, he's already made that clear. Again,
the Clippers can resign him for more money than any
other team. Could you possibly seen him move down the

(21:28):
hall to the Lakers. I mean, remember all that there
was a lot of before he signed with the Clippers
that maybe he was gonna end up with the Lakers,
even after the Lakers got Anthony Davis in that deal.
Could you see that possibility or as Kauai want to
be the guy because obviously if he's with Lebron, it's
Lebron's team. But I could make the argument that Lebron

(21:52):
and Kawai could work out very well. Oh, I think too,
because Lebron again in this stage of his career, he can,
like Kauai do the thirty five point game stuff. He
can let Kauai be the guy. Lebron could just do
what he loves to do, pass the ball, makes some
big play, go shoot space jam in the offseason, and
he doesn't. And look and the knock on Kauai is

(22:15):
the leadership, right, quiet, kind of quirky, not firing you up.
That's not Lebron's knock, right. Lebron can lead. We've seen
him lead quite often. And so you pair the outspoken
Lebron with the quieter Kauai, like Kauai be the assassin
and let Lebron set him up right, Let let let
let him make the plans and let Kauai execute the

(22:36):
plan right. And that to me it does feel a
perfect pair. Now, obviously salary cap and what you do
that with with Davis, well, I mean, with the three
of them, you would take up pretty much everything, and
you just have to throw a couple other guys on
the point. And you have the luxury tax to deal with.
But again, the Lakers I think would be fine paying
attacks if they want to champion. However, there are ways
around these deals where you would sign him to a
shorter term deal and then based on the eventual eggs

(23:00):
it you would imagine of Lebron James, then he could
redo the deals down the road. So correct, So if
Kauai wants stay in l A, Yeah, right, that that
parent I think would work if Kauai and Lebron come
to understanding of how to kind of delicate delegate delegate
those roles in the franchise. Again, this could be a

(23:20):
mood point. Maybe he has no intention of ever doing that.
And as I mentioned, even though he will opt out
of his contract, he'll make a lot more money if
he resigns with the Clippers. All right, we got much
more on the other side, but first we gotta find
out what his trending. Right now, Jeff is welcome in
The One the Only Ralph and by the way, essentially
made the show according to LaVar Arrington and the show

(23:44):
that preceded us. You know, it's it's unbelievable. I are
you like the executive producer with LaVar and t J
and Xico, not at all? That is the great Ryan
Burr singer. Yeah, I don't know Ryan. There seemed to
be Ryan's gunn never heard of him. How are you today, Ralph?

(24:04):
I'm just thinking about taking a lot less money so
I can take all the blame when Lebron's body fall
falls apart? Are you let me ask you that? Can
I ask you a question? Rob? Yes? Are you a
Lebron James fan? Do you root for Lebron James or
against Lebron James? Any guy who gives himself his own
nicknames and does it when he's a teenager, I don't
have really time. Well, Kobe gave himself his own nickname

(24:25):
black Mamba, not when he was a teenager, but he
gave himself his own nickname. Okay. And what I thought
about Kobe too, Wow? A lot of hate him, a
lot of hate I know. All I know is why
would why would? Why? Why would Kawhi Leonard go to
a team with less talent so he could take all
the blame when the other guy's bodies are broken? Do

(24:46):
they have less talent? I mean, I don't like exactly
the Clipper makeup right now, To be honest with you,
they still have more talent, Steve, they do? Who zoobots?
Patrick Beverley. I'm looking who else? Who else is Reggie
Jackson versus Okay, Reggie had Yeah, but Reggie doesn't bring
it every game. I mean, is there a difference between

(25:08):
Reggie Jackson and Dennis Shrewder. Dennis Shrewder. People are lauding,
Oh my god, Dennis Shrewder people. People, Laker fans are
begging to have Region Rondo right now. You see where
this is going. Jeff, he hates Laron James. I can
tell by his first All I know is that Laker
fans sold their soul to the devil for their title,
but they want a title. The Clippers sold their soul

(25:30):
as well, but they have won a title. Are you
Clippers guys? That's what it is. No, not at all. Well,
I grew up a Lakers fan. Yeah, most Clipper fans, yep,
you know this was all I do. Our Laker haters.
That's where the basic fan base of the Clippers grew
was from, those that hate the Lakers. But you just
have to recognize that if you're going to the Lakers,
you're going there to take all the blame. If you

(25:52):
go there, that's that's your job, is to take the
blame for everything. That goes wrong. Okay, they won a championship,
so they're good. Everything else is great. He won the championship,
he promise, Okay, so so so right now they're like
Kevin Garnett and Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers with the Celtics.
They've won the title. Celtics. Another story. They also don't
have three They don't have three of them together. They

(26:14):
had three superstars together and maybe they're still playing right now.
Sure they did. They had Mickey Mouse. Yeah, oh god,
here we go with the alright, let him loose, snatcheff,
let him hey. You know, sometimes makes a difference plan
on the road or home. We we go to Major
League Baseball, where there are three games right now. Detroit
living off of Verra Cassi has two home runs driven

(26:36):
in three and they have a three one lead at
the Chicago White Sox. That is in the top of
the fifth inning. Cincinnati puts to a cross Jonathan India
home run in the third, Tucker Barnhardt and RBI in
the fourth. They have a two one lead over St.
Louis in the fourth inning, still scoreless. Houston playing Toronto.
That game in Buffalo, and it's in the second inning,
Steve Clifford parts ways with the Orlando Magic after three seasons.

(27:00):
He actually took the Magic to the playoffs is the
first two years, and then the team decided they didn't
want to keep the current talent and they started sending
it everywhere across the league, and he decided he didn't
want to be a part of the rebuild, so they
went their separate ways. The Blazers letting go of Terry
Stotts Friday night after dropping out of the playoffs in
the first round for the last five seasons. Guys, we

(27:23):
do have NBA Second Round action coming up at seven
thirty Eastern tonight, Brooklyn hosting the Bucks in Game one
of their series. And one last note because it matters
so much now to to the new golfer in Jeff
Schwartz John rom leading at the Memorial at twelve under
through nine holes. Good job in the ninety yesterday, Jeff, So,

(27:45):
I'm I so pumped, I'm like ready to go back
on the course here seven yesterday. Um, and like it
was legit, Like legit, I was closer. You put it
out every thing. When you say legit, I mean were
you putting out the one footers and everything else. Okay,
that's what I'm looking at. But but I just like

(28:07):
I three. I'm just the worst part of all time.
If I spent like an ounce of practice getting better
at golf, it would be it would be a lot
more fun. Well, this is this is the problem again
for most golfers in the putting. It's not the long puts,
because those are long shots anyway, and if you get
a sense of speed, maybe you can lag it up.
But you got to hit those three foots, those four footers.

(28:28):
I mean, I I I'm with you at this point
in my life playing golf. I stand over a three
ft put I have no chance none. I mean, it's
like it's like a moving target to me. Like I
I cannot the idea of just I mean, like you're
looking at the hole and you're looking at your club.
If I just just hit it straight, it's gonna roll

(28:48):
right in. But then I I can't. I can't. I
can't do it. Golf terrible. I'm not that bad at putting, um,
but I just miss. I just kind of loose shots
here and there. But I love it funny. Yesterday, I
just like being outside for like four or five hours.
It's hard to play. But you're like Mark Twain. See
Mark Twain called golf a good walk spoiled. It's a

(29:11):
good walk spoiled. It's it's really a chance for we
to have a cigar without Yeah, that's really what you do.
You enjoy adult beverages on the course. I do not.
My buddy yesterday who I went with, um, he got
a six pack of beer. He shot his he shot
his best round by eight holes, eight strokes. I should say.

(29:32):
He didn't even touch his beer. He was going so well.
I don't want to drink himself, so he had he
at the end of the day. We had it's six
warm beers in the back of our golf cornet to
do that. But it was, you know, just like fun
to get out and hit some ball. It was. It
was a municipal courts like just giant fairways. So if
you if even if you you don't even strike the
ball that well off the off the tea, you can't

(29:53):
really miss the fairway. I miss it, I really do.
I mean before I got married with kids, I played
quite a bit, you know, I played a lot, at
least once a week where I get out in the
golf course, went to the range, a lot. But you know,
you started getting all those responsibilities and everything else, and
it takes a lot of time out of your schedule,
you know, four or five hours. I don't always have
four or five hours to kill in my day. So

(30:15):
that's why I don't golf from like August one to
the end of the Super Bowl, and we don't have
time for that. So I just try to get it
in the summer. And it's the only problem is it
is viciously hot in the summer months well where you are,
and the humidity must be. By the way, speaking of
your neck of the woods, what's the reaction been on
Mike Schefsky. In fact, I want to I want to.
I want to give something to you here on a

(30:37):
contrast of big announcements that came from the same state
in the same year, and that's the retirement of two
Hall of Fame coaches, Roy Williams and Mike Schowsky, both
of them coming off bad seasons. Okay, and Roy Williams,
by the way, his career winning percentage I believe is
actually better than she Chefsk. I'm not sure, but a

(31:00):
be because obviously with Kansas and North Carolina, a lot
of winning teams, but they're they're very similar. I mean,
Showski is coach longer, so he has more championships, he
has five. Roy Williams has three. But Roy Williams ultimately
deciding to walk away immediately like I am retired today,
as opposed to Mike Sachowski. And look, I'm not in

(31:23):
any way diminishing what Coach K has done as a coach,
but it really tells you the difference in personalities the
coach like Roy Williams just walking away right, Oh, you're leaving,
as opposed to Coach K, who needs the farewell tour,
who needs that one extra year for everyone to acknowledge
you are the greatest. Coach K, you are the greatest.

(31:46):
People don't understand this about Coach K, and again takes
nothing away from him as a coach. He is on
the Mount Rushmore of college basketball coaches. But he's an egomaniac.
He loves the attention well to some degree. But Roy
Williams is a different beast by far than Coach K.
So he could walk away and call it a career,
but not Coach K. He wants to make sure that

(32:08):
everyone gives him his proper do. It's one of the
all time grades farewell tour. You know, I want gifts
along the way. I want acknowledgement everywhere I go. That
is the difference between a Roy Williams and Mike Schevsky.
So what's the reaction of this big, new, complete overhaul
and the Caroline is seen with the two biggest basketball

(32:29):
programs there. Well, I don't know what the reaction is.
You know, in Charlotte, I'm not listening to local sports
talk radio. Um, but my action was was two fold.
One is that I kind of agree with you with
the with the long retirement. Right, so he's gonna get
as much as possible, you know, a farewell tour, right.
I mean North Carolina is not gonna get my farewell tour.
But you know we saw with the Derrek Jeter, Mario Rivera,

(32:52):
Kobe Bryant, right every place you go to give you
a little you know, a little plaque, a little donation
to your charity, uh, you know, a signed basketball in
this case. And so he'll get a lot of that
this season. Right. He won't get it obviously again in
North Carolina, but he'll get it most places he goes.
The preseason tournaments, he gets and I'll talk to him
about retiring, but too, I think this is a bigger

(33:12):
trend that we're gonna see Steve, with the changes in
college sports. I know Mike Stowski has talked about need change, right,
name image and likeness transferring kind of being more open
to those things. And look, I'm glad he said those
things publicly. I don't know how he feels privately. I
know a lot of coaches say those things because it

(33:33):
helps recruiting, but don't actually want there to be less control. Right,
Everything that's happening in college sports is coming down to
the coaches having less control. And for a hundred years now,
Dave had all the control, right, And now it's changing
with transferring, which means that if you get a player
to come to your school, instead of just saying okay,
he's here for five years or four years or three

(33:53):
years of really one year, at some point in college basketball, um,
now you have to keep recruiting those players, You keep
stroking their e You have to keep telling them they're
gonna player, find time for them to play your Your
job is a little different now, right, they have more control,
and what's gonna happen? Name image of likeness which is
gonna come into effect July one around the country. They're
gonna have ways to make money now off their name,

(34:15):
image and likeness because of the program they're playing at.
And I know that he's been a proponent of of this,
at least publicly, but a lot of these coaches, steve
they don't like it. They don't like losing control. And
we're seeing coaches retire, old older coaches retire because now
again he might be for it, but just doesn't want
to deal at his age with the changing environment even

(34:36):
more than it has been. Right, So again, I think
this is this another sign that the old guards kind
of moving out a little bit, and the new coaches
who kind of get it, who understand, who have the
energy to deal with all the changes, they're gonna be
present for for the change of college sports al right.
By the way, Roy Williams does have a higher career

(34:57):
winning person. It's seven seventy four to coach k seven
sixty four. Of course, that also includes coach case five
years at Army as the head coach before he took
over the duke program. Um. The other the other advantage
Mike Sachowski has had, and there's always been this argument.
Mike Sachowski five national championships second old time to John
Wooden's ten, and people say, well, the ten was a

(35:20):
different era and everything else, it was a different era.
I'll tell you how it was different back in John
Wooden's day. In order to get into the n c
A tournament, you have to win your conference. Didn't have
a second or third place teams in the in the tournament.
You had to actually win your conference in order to
get into the tournament. Um. The other thing about coach K,
he was a throwback early in his career. They had

(35:42):
a run of seven Final four's in a nine year
span between the eighties six season and and if you
look at every star player he had during that run,
whether it was Johnny Dawkins, Mark Allery, Danny Ferry, Christian Laylor,
Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, you know what they all have
a common. They all played four full years a duke.

(36:03):
None of them opted out, not one, And that was
a huge advantage for coach K. While other schools saw
their stars opt out for the NBA early, none of
his guys did during that run. But you're right, as
times change and eventually coach K and he'll do it
again this year. They got the number one recruiting class
in just he had with Zion and and that grew

(36:26):
Barrett a couple of years ago. He's gonna have the
same situation this year, and he's not comfortable with that.
He likes teams that have been in the program for
a couple of years. He finally had a cave into
the one and dunes. We'll see how to plays outright.
Got a lot more to cover. We just getting started here.
A lot more to cover here, including strategy by one
NFL team with one of the most famous names in

(36:48):
the game. An update on Aaron Rodgers is coming up next.
Steve Hartman and Josh Schwartz. By the way, very quick
no follow up on the Mike Sachowski story. So when Pattern,
Pat O'Brien and I were doing the National Show Monday
through Friday here for Fox Sports Radio, Pat was really
a close friend of Mike Saschewsky Like he could he

(37:10):
could call him Jeff on a whim and say, hey,
do you want to come on the show right now?
And Coach k would drop whatever he's doing and come
on the show with us, and it was amazing, right,
And so he called him. One day, Coach K was
about to break Bob Knight's record for most wins ever
by a Division one basketball coach, and he comes on

(37:32):
and I asked a question, and his reaction to its
spoke volumes. So I said, coach, now that you're about
to break coach knights record for most wins by a
Division one basketball coach, you think you can catch Pat
Summits record for most wins by an nca basketball coach
because she held the record at Tennessee at the time.

(37:55):
And there was a painful silence on Coach kse in
like there was that moment like did you really ask
me that question? And then he came back with the
well thought out I don't know, And it was so
obvious that he was annoyed by that. What's curious the

(38:15):
reason I bring it up is Coach K has one thousand,
one d seventy wins. That is the most in n
c a A history. Gino R. E. M a, Yukon
women's basketball coach, has one thousand, one hundred and nineteen
wins in his career. So Coach K steps down do
the math. Within a couple of years, R. E. M

(38:35):
A should break the all time record, and we'll see that.
You know that, they'll publicize that that R. E. M.
A passes Coach Saschowski most wins n c A record
by a basketball coach. Does that annoy you or do
you have no problem with that? How many wins he

(38:55):
has one thousand, one nine and coach is at one thousand,
one hundred and seventies. So there's a difference of fifty
one wins. So Tara Vanderverett Stanford actually has more wins
she does than does, so she's actually the all time leader. Yea,
So Tara might catch Coach k before Gino does the
way Stanford just coming off a tunnel the way they've

(39:16):
been playing obviously for so many years. How do you feel?
I mean, my my feeling is this, and I have
a healthy respect. I was there in the very beginning,
and Myers, one of the great basketball players of all
time at U c l A going back to the
nineteen seventies, is a very dear friend of mine, and
I respect the women's game immensely. And my feeling has
always been this, like when they when the Yukon women

(39:39):
won ninety in a row and they said broke John
Wooden's record of eight. To me, that was that was
a cheap shot, not at U c l A, but
at Yukon. Like, the only way we can legitimize these
women's records is that if we put them alongside the
men's records, and I say that is completely unfair to
the women. They can stand on their own. They don't
have to have some kind of relevance to men's records

(40:01):
to make their records legit. I think you can make
a parallel saying, oh, look, Wooden teams one eight and
a row g r M is one ninety. I don't
think you have to say they broke you know, John Wooden,
d right, you can paral level two of those accomplishments
because they're both incredible. I don't care what what level
of sport you're in. Doing ninety games in a row
is incredible, and so they can do both. I think

(40:22):
I agree with all Right. On the other side, Aaron Rodgers,
will he be a Packer? Will tell you next. Fox
Sports Radio has the best 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, it's me Rob Parker.

(40:45):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring
the biggest name the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics for the I test, We've got all
all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So
do yourself of favor and listen to Inside the Parker

(41:07):
with Rob Parker on the I Heart Radio app or
wherever you get your podcast. Hi. Yes, a beautiful Saturday.
Once again, Hartman and Schwartz with you. By the way.
For hot water that never runs out, go Tankles and Navy.
Navy and Tankless water heaters provide endless hot water for
spa like comfort. Visit Tankless made Simple dot com. Save

(41:29):
hundreds with local rebates Tankless made Simple dot Com. All right,
here we are on this Saturday. We are sort of
rounding at the end of the first round of the NBA.
Pluffs will have one more game to go and that
is a game seven tomorrow between the Clips in the MAVs.
And of course that's been a crazy series in which
the road game has won. Road team has won every
single game that has never happened in the best of

(41:51):
seven series in the history of the NBA postseason, so
I guess that would favor the Mavericks, although as we
mentioned earlier, that is a must win for the Clippers.
They cannot go down the first round could jeopardize a
relationship with Kawhi Leonard. But I want to switch gears
for a second. Hear Jeff Gett to the NFL. We
haven't talked much nfls but rather quiet right now, o T.

(42:12):
As you know, coming gone and not a whole lot
of noise. But it's one thing about the Aaron Rodgers situation,
and again when we're talking about the reigning m VP,
that remains a huge story, and it seems like we're
now pretty well settled in into what the strategy is

(42:33):
now and will remain for the Green Bay Packers, and
that is they're not trading him, They're not going to
do anything. They're going to call his bluff and guess
that he's not gonna walk away from thirty million dollars
of guaranteed salaries over the course of the upcoming season.
And if he does decide to sit it out, then

(42:56):
the Packers are like fine, you know, the bottom line
is is that we save ourselves a lot of money.
We do get an opportunity then to take a look
at our young quarterback. Maybe they're confident that we might
not win thirteen games, but maybe we win ten. Maybe
we can still sneak into the playoffs with a lesser quarterback,
and then if Rogers decides to come back, they could

(43:18):
still trade him down the road. So is this is
this a good strategy by the Packers or do you
think they should be more actively seeking a trade with
the thought that he's not going to ever play again
in a Packer uniform. It's a good strategy because they
have the leverature. I think people look at Aaron Rodgers
and think, well, he's so good, he has a leveratary. No,

(43:39):
the Packers of the leboratary because they have his contract rights. Right. Um,
ef you were to retire and come back next year,
guess what, they still have his rights right And you
mentioned the money part of this. Um. Players are willing
to sacrifice some money for a greater good right, but
not their their deal in this Learn this yesterday hosting

(44:00):
out Kick with with with Jon's Albert Breun in the
New cb A, it was negotiated that training camp find
our mandatory. In the past, players would skip training camp,
they'd be fined, and when they came back to work,
they would relieve those fines from the player so they
would not have to pay those fines might anymore. The

(44:23):
new cb A, it was negotiated the fines will stick.
So rogers will we find thousands of dollars, multiple thousands.
I think it's like ninety thollars a day of training
camp he misses, he will have to pay the pack
He'll have to write the packers a check for that money.
I just I know he has his principles. I know
he wants to stick to them. I know he doesn't

(44:45):
like the general manager there. He doesn't like the people there.
Well guess so I don't look everyone I work with either.
But I'll tell you one story that's gonna piss him off.
Did you see this Tom Brady? Um, it wasn't. It
was Bruce Arians, his coach, said that Tom Brady got
to help scout college wide receivers for the draft. And
why that's important here is Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson. A

(45:08):
couple of these quarterbacks have made it a point to say, hey,
we want more roster control, right, we want more say
in in how our team was built. And I would
argue that players should not have a say in that, right,
It's not our job. Um, we watch film on the
current players were playing, and we can give suggestions, but
in the end, we're not dealing with the sour cap.
We're we're not dealing with you know, player personnel and

(45:29):
movement all that stuff. But when I saw that Tampa
Bay did that for Tom, it's it's an example of
a way a team like the Packers can can play
nights with Rogers but not actually make him make the
personal decisions. Right, So you can say to Aaron, Hey, Aaron,
if you would like to watch college wide receivers, be

(45:50):
my guest, and you tell us who you liked, who
who you like out of these guys. Aaron, if you
want to watch the freeing offensive lineman you know want, Aaron,
go ahead, you tell us you like, we'll we'll we'll
talk you through it. We'll walk you through. And again,
the Packers don't even have to draft or pick up
any of the guys that Rogers wants them to sign.
He just feels part of the process now and maybe

(46:10):
maybe Steve. The same guy the Packers like is the
same guy Rogers likes, so they want to sign him anyways,
and Rogers happy because he was part of the discussion
and they signed the guy he likes. Right, So there's
ways I think the teams can be a little less
rigid here and help kind of stroke the ego of
a quarterback with not actually doing what they want him

(46:32):
to do. Right. So, to me, that's an example of
of the Bucks being smart about it. Hey, all right, Tom,
you want to help us out here, you go go
watch college haide receivers and let us know what you think. Again,
I don't think they drafted anyone that he suggested. I
don't think. I don't think they drafted a wide receiver
early anyways. Um, but doesn't feel like I think the
Packers can do to make Rogers feel like he's part

(46:52):
of the discussion. Well, I think that that's fair, absolutely.
I mean, but again, when we get back to the
control of the NBA players, have the star NBA players
over their franchises, be hesitant though. Again, if if you're
if you're gonna base, if you're a general manager or
head coach and you're trying to figure out personnel decisions
to make your team better, and you're just gonna ask
the quarterback to make the decisions for you. If they

(47:15):
don't work, he's not going anywhere. You're the ones they're
gonna pay the price for the incorrect decisions, and no
general manager, head coach wants to do that. They can
confer and say, hey, what do you think of this guy?
I like him? Okay, or I don't like him, but
they're not gonna make the final decision. Look at if
I'm If I'm in a position like that, I want
to have the call, I'm gonna I'm gonna trust my

(47:37):
own judgment for my fate. If I make the wrong call, fine,
I made the wrong choice, then then I could be
facing the firing squad. But otherwise no so I By
the way, there's one other thing I wanted to bring
up quickly here on Aaron Rodgers, and that is so
so in Green Bay right now. He might be a
little distressed knowing that he doesn't have a dent of

(47:59):
Packer fans behind him. It is a house divided, and
he should know that this because he visited this back
in the day, where it was a house divided between
Brett Farve and him back in the day. You know,
the Aaron Rodgers to me, has never been a great
fit with Green Bay. He is a California cool type guy,
you know how he is. He he doesn't really fit

(48:20):
green Bay. The only thing that fits Green Bay is
that he's a great quarterback and he wins a lot
of games. But I never really felt like he is
one of them, you know, the old cheese hats and
all everything else. I've always felt that. And and it's
interesting that and then this is not like a choice
between Brett Farve and Aaron Rodgers. This is like Aaron
Rodgers and Jordan's love. And yet there's amazing they do

(48:43):
all these poles in Green Bay and essentially it's a
city that owns their team. How many people are not
with Aaron Rodgers in this situation. Welling Rodgers cares with
the fans of Green Bay thing honestly, Well that might
be a problem, right, yes, problem, Well, it's a problem
if you don't win. If you're winning, the fans don't care, right,

(49:08):
The fans just want you to win. But one more
championships than anyone over the course of the NFL with
Farvin Rogers so I look, I think that again. If
Rogers pisses off, if Rogers comes down and says, you
know what, I just hate Green Bay, I hate playing,
I hate the city, I hate the food, I hate

(49:29):
whatever else, I hate the weather. And he comes back
next year it went to championship, all's forgotten. He might
get boot a week one, boot a week two, he
might have boot all season. But if they win a championship,
all's forgiven. So and it's personally doesn't struct me. Someone
who cares very much. If the Packers fans like him
or dislike him. He thinks he's doing what's best for him.

(49:52):
And I think he in his mind he thinks if
I can force the Packers to do the things I
want to do, it'll make the team better in the end, right,
and that I'll help the fans out too. That only cares.
I agree with you that I've seen the polls I've seen,
I've seen the articles I've seen that talk about it.
My delie Rogers cares. Yeah, I I agree with he

(50:15):
doesn't care, but it's got to be a little bit.
I mean, he's a pretty sensitive guy to a lot
of things. He really is. Definitely, and if he doesn't
feel like again, this wasn't a choice between he and
far where he was a former first round pick, although
Jordan's Love was the same. But I don't think that
we went into the beginning of Roger's career with the

(50:35):
same level of expectations as we have for Jordan's Love.
I think Rogers was expected to do more. It wasn't
so outlandish at the time. Of course, that was two
or three years into it, not just a year later. Um,
But right now, apparently amongst Packer fans, it's very much
a house divided on whether or not to side with
Aaron Rodgers or you know what, this guy hasn't won

(50:56):
anything as far as we're concerned in terms of a
championship and more than a decade. Maybe we need something new,
which just sounds crazy. But but the question is, though,
is that do they do they really want the new? Um?
The new to be Jordan's Love or the new to
be just someone who's not Rogers, Because I'm concerned that

(51:18):
Jordan's Love is not going to be the guy, you know,
And the reason why there's some concern there for for
me is that you know, the Packers wide receivers, not
Trump's o t a s maybe in solidarity with Rogers,
but also thing because the only Jordan love is that good.
And if Rogers thought Jordan's love was this good, he
wouldn't be making a stick about it. If Packers thought

(51:41):
he was this good Jordan loves, they would trade Aaron Rodgers. Right.
We saw it with Alex Smith and Pam so a
much different degree, right because Alex but is not Aaron Rodgers.
But I think if they thought Jordan's love was the
guy right now, they would move on from Rogers again
as much as they can, because the headache is not
worth it. If if Jordan's love is good enough, right,
a is a top eight player, I would take the

(52:02):
best player. Obviously that's not gonna be what he is,
but top eight to ten player, Steve, I think he'd
be gone already. Rogers would be Yeah. And and again
when we talk about all these possibility of trades out there,
if the Packers are going to be sticking with the
asking price that's been reported about three number ones, two twos,
three players, it's just not gonna happen. It's just not

(52:25):
gonna happen. Yeah, it's a lot for an older player, right,
thirty seven going on thirty eight, and no guarantee that
just Aaron Rodgers alone, I get. I keep getting back
to two dynamics on the whole Broncos scenario. Does that
really put you over the top to beat the Chiefs
in your own division? And secondly, if you're Aaron Rodgers,

(52:46):
is Denver right now a better team personnel wise in
the Green Bay Packers? Are you going to a better
situation leaving green Bay to join the Broncos? But no?
But I think for him it seems like a lot
of this anger is directed at the front office. He

(53:08):
doesn't like the front office of the Packers. He might
go to Denver because he likes what they're doing there
as far as the front office. And maybe again they
give him more control whatever that that control as that
being right, um, And so that might be appeal to
him more than the chance to win. Now again, Denver's

(53:30):
roster is not bad, especially offensively, right, Judy and Fant
and their offensive long got much better last year. Um.
You know they have the two running backs, vic Fan
Joe on defense right knows what he's doing on the defense.
But you're right, the division is very tough with Mahomes
and with Justin Herbert. You know the Raiders have have
a decent quarterback. Um, but I could see him saying

(53:50):
the trade off is greater for me to have Being
a bill, I should say where I liked the staff,
where I trust the staff, they have my back, rather
than being Green Bay, where they don't have my back,
at least perceived he perceives it that way. I think
they do have us back. Um, he perceives it that way.
That's my that's my my guests on why he might

(54:11):
think the grass is greener in Denver. All right, I
want to get into a subject that happened early in
the week Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open. I
want to get into this with you, Jeff and talking
about the mental health of athletes when you are on
the brightest spotlight, especially in this day and age of
social media, where so many people are coming after and

(54:33):
so many different directions, how much should that be accounted for.
What kind of concessions, if any, should be made to
athletes bent or be made on their mental health. It's
a big story happening right now in sports. We're gonna
get into it. Coming up next, Steve Roman and Jeff Schwartz,

(54:54):
All right, Jeff, I want to switch gears once again.
And I do this on Jeff all the time. He
knows that. But this was a story that happened. And
the reason I'm bringing this up right now is that
it seems to be very much a house divided, and
these are the most interesting subjects where it seems like
there's there's good arguments on both sides on why this

(55:15):
is a problem. So Naomi Osaka, who is in many
people's opinion the air Apparent to Serena Williams, is the
queen of women's tennis. She's already won four Grand Slam
tournaments to Australian's two US Opens. And as Serena begins
to wind down her career and obviously has been several
years now since she won her Rust Grand Slam tournament,

(55:37):
it would seem Naomi Osaka would be the air Apparent
to become the new stars star of the women's tennis circuit.
And that matters because in women's tennis, unlike any other sport,
they're making equal money at the Grand Slams. So the
winner at Wimbledon for the men's and women's they make
the same amount of money, So the money in women's

(55:58):
tennis is laps over all the other women's sports combined. Uh,
and that's why women's tennis players have the highest profile
of any female athletes on the planet. So she said
going into the French Open that she didn't want to
attend a news conference because she had high levels of
anxiety facing the media, and so she knows showed and

(56:21):
immediately they sanctioned her. You know, find her fifteen thousand
dollars whatever, not a big amount of money, but what
they make clear to her was contractually she is obligated
to meet the media. That doesn't mean you have to
tell him anything. I mean, you could ignore their questions,
but you do have to sit down with the media
after her matches. And she withdrew from the French Open,

(56:42):
saying I'm not gonna do it. I'm concerned about her
mental health. And so there's two sides of this story.
There are a lot of people obviously coming to her defense,
including Nike, one of her major sponsors, paying her millions
and millions of dollars, But there was also the argument
from the controlling body of tennis saying, look, we can't

(57:04):
make an exception for you and say, well, we have
one rules for Naomi Osaka and there are rules for
everyone else. Because you know how this works. You if
you open that Pandora's box and you say, all right, well,
if you don't feel comfortable with the media, then everybody
else like, well, I don't feel comfortable with the media.
Why what? I don't want to have to answer all
their questions, and all of a sudden, a key component

(57:27):
to promoting your sport is eliminated. So this gets back
to the bigger question, and that is the mental health
of athletes. And I hear this all the time when
athletes are complaining about things and the average fans like,
you know what, if I was making that kind of money,
I wouldn't complain. Believe me, I I you could throw

(57:50):
anything at me, but if you're paying me five million
a year, ten million a year, I would not complain.
And this is always that fine line of people not
quite understanding that when you are blessed with certain physical gifts,
God giving gifts that enable you to play a sport
at the highest level, and the rewards are millions of
dollars and all kinds of adulation and everything else. Physically,

(58:15):
you can do it on the court she doesn't have anxiety.
She's getting it done. But the person, the actual person
Naomi Osaka, is not that she was always very shy.
She has anxiety around others. And so this, to me
is that balancing act that unless you've been an athlete
at that level, which obviously you've been at the highest level,

(58:38):
the people don't really understand the idea of how an
athlete balances what they can do physically and how they
handle it mentally. There's so many things to talk about here, right, Um,
I want to start with with something did you know
you did? Mention? But I want to dig and do
the The thing that I was not most pleased to see,

(59:03):
but the thing that I appreciate her addressing was her anxiety.
And believe she talked about her depression. Right. I feel
like athletes for so long have had to hide any
sort of mental health concerns or issues. Right now, I
saw a sports psychologist for twelve years, right. I was
in college and um, it was after my sophomore year.
I was like tired talking to my dad about things

(59:25):
that were going on in my life in football and whatnot,
and he found me a sports psychologist. It was a
psychologist you know, but whatever, it worked great for me, right,
a song for years and it really helped me out.
And I advise anyone who who's thinking about to go
find themselves. I'm gonna talk to you. I think it's great.
But we'll never talking about that, right we It's not
talked about in sports. We don't and and for a

(59:46):
long time, teams did not even hire people to help
players mentally prepared to play sports. Right, we're seeing now.
I mean, the Washington football team is the first to
hire a full talk clinician like someone to help help
these players out. And so I'm very glad she addressed that, right.
I hope she she gets the help she needs and

(01:00:08):
she starts feeling better and all that. Um. But the
other part of this is the media, right is the
is the media engagements that she has. And look, it's
it's very easy to to your point too, if you're
on the outside looking and being like, oh, just just
just do it, just like not gonna you play your support,
but but not just do it well. Look, a lot
of people can can do a lot of things really

(01:00:30):
well then not do other things very well. Right like
that that doesn't seem very complicated to me. But but
there needs to be a fine not a fine line,
but there needs to be somewhere in the middle of
all interviews are bad and players doing all the interviews possible, right, Like,
there needs to be a middle ground there somewhere, And
maybe it is working with not only know soccer, any
other athlete who does have social anxieties, who does have depression,

(01:00:52):
are dealing with some sort of mental health issue, to
put them in a place where in where interviews because look,
I'm in the media. Now you're in the media. You've
done it much longer than I have. But look, talking
to players it's important. It's part of the job. It's
part of how you get to know players. It's one
of the reasons why I think I got in the media. Now,
took me a while to get to this point, but
the fact is I started talking to media members, start

(01:01:13):
doing some more interviews in New York, started doing more
things through the media, and you get her name out there, right,
And part of that it's not press conferences, it's the
locker room interactions, right, which are going to be limited.
I think this year again in the NFL, which I
I don't understand and understand it frustrates m reporters and
journalist who cover the sport. Um. But I think there
can be a way to you know, okay, Naomi, how

(01:01:36):
can we do this with you, to make it to
where we can do our job and you can do
your job and we cannot make it so stressful for you.
I think there there's a way to make that happen, right.
I don't think it has to be nothing where she
doesn't talk to media or she has to do it right.
But again, until players are willing to admit that they

(01:01:56):
have some sort of social anxiety or somehow to depression,
you can never have that discussion, right because until a
player can say, hey I need look you know again
x X person on the team or someone on the
on the the agent maybe or maybe it's the agent. Tennis,
I don't think they have a union. I'm trying to
use a football example to for tennis. But you know

(01:02:17):
you have a union rapp or you have your agent,
and maybe you say it has to be documented, right
because a player might say, hey, I have anxiety, I
don't want to talk to media today, and you can say, well,
you know, it's hard to prove that, right. Obviously, if
a player says that, or someone says that, you take
them at their word. So maybe it has to be
documented that you have depression or anxiety or or whatever

(01:02:37):
it is. And then you can work with your your
media team, your agent, whoever else to to work our
way to talk to media. Still right, I think there again,
there is some value for a lot of players that
have those interactions, but also for us. I like to
hear players talk postgame press conferences. I don't care about those,
but I think and a lot of what we do
is players talk to you and we react off of that. Right,

(01:02:58):
we'd like to know what they're feeling, know what they're saying,
know what they're thinking. And elimiting that altogether is not good,
Nor is I think, um, you know athletes never talking
to the media. So I think there is a way
to work to have it where hey, you know me,
how can we work with you to talk to you
about your sports, to talk to you about yourself, but

(01:03:18):
not make it to where you dread having to talk
to the media. Yeah, yeah, and again there there. I
will give them this. Originally they took a hard stand like, no,
we're not gonna make any exceptions for anyone because that
could really open a Pandora's box. Now, I believe they're
backing off a little bit here because sponsorships that are
a big part of this as well. Not only is
Nike draining a lot of money into her, they're draining

(01:03:40):
a lot of money into the sport itself. So they
want to make sure that they're doing the right thing.
So discussions are going on right now, obviously something that
will be addressed by the time we get to Wimbledon,
which will be next month. Remember there was no Wimbledon
last year. This is gonna be a big hoop lot
Wimbledon this year, having been eliminated last year due to
the pandemic, and a lot of spotlight is gonna be

(01:04:01):
on Naomi Osaka. So I again, I think that from
a fan standpoint, they have to remember when we say,
no matter what kind of physical gifts, these athletes have
their human and some of them have the same human
frailties that we all have. They're no different than anyone else.
Some can handle it and some can't, and those that can't,
if they need help somehow, they should be given some help,

(01:04:23):
all right. So on the other side, get a little
bit more into that also, I want to get an
update on the Julio Jones situation, and yes, the NBA
playoffs without Lebron James. But first let's check in and
find out what's trending right now. As we turn to
you know who, Ralph Irvin, Lebron hater, thank you for

(01:04:45):
how about this guy's Yeah, you take away the Lakers,
the Warriors, the Miami Heat, and the San Antonio Spurs.
This is gonna be the first NBA Finals without those teams.
Since that is a great stat Oh, thank you that
it's wow. Uh, well, it's and that's a good question.

(01:05:07):
And not only that, and we all said this when
they were in the play in game, your two most
marketable stars in this game or Lebron James and Steph Curry.
And now you have to proceed without them. You would
have had too any ways because they weren't gonna win
first round series. Well, but both of them out after
the first round. Yeah, I mean, Utah would have smoked

(01:05:29):
Golden State. And who who? The Lakers were the overwhelming
favorites because right, let me ask you, Jeff, Well, after
the Lakers won game two games to one against Phoenix,
there were favorites to win the to win. The Portland
would have wanted, would have won a world championship with
Sam Bowie, but they didn't because most favorites exactly, the

(01:05:55):
Lakers won the championship. Have you got And by the way,
can I say one thing while Rolph's listening right now
talking about his dismissal the bubble, he can say, well,
you know, the Lakers didn't have to deal with a
single road crowd last year. Yeah, but they also never
had a home crowd behind them. It's not about winning
at home, it's about winning on the road. You know what.
The bottom line is. They had to play under the
same rules as every other team last year, and they won.

(01:06:20):
I'm worried. I'm willing to to to downgrade the Lakers
a little bit, and we can also downgrade the Dodgers
even more about I'm with you, he's a Dodger, a
Giants fan. I am not a Giants fan. Jeff is
a Giants fanking. The trade off here is that I
will do a little professional analysts even more he hates

(01:06:45):
the Dodgers's correct, Yes, there it is. That's kind of
how you gonna take it over. Okay, We've got plenty
of baseball action going on right now, Detroit with his
four three lead over Chicago. There in the seventh inning,
Cincinnati gets a to run homer from may Jukino Suarez.
They take a four to lead over St. Louis. In
the seventh inning, Toronto gets a three run over from

(01:07:08):
Joe Panic, capping off of four run inning. They lead
Houston now for one. In the fifth Tampa Bay gets
a two run single from Austin Meadows. They have a
two nothing leading Texas there. In the second inning, Josh
Rojasa solo homer for Arizona and one nothing lead for
the Diamondbacks in Milwaukee in the second inning and Cleveland
gets first sitting home runs from Caesar Hernandez and Harold Ramirez.

(01:07:31):
They have a two nothing lead up Baltimore. That is
in the first inning. And of course, the NBA returns
to the court tonight second Round action Game number one,
Brooklyn hosting the Milwaukee Bucks that will be at seven
thirty Eastern time, and the Orlando Magic parting ways with
their head coach Steve Clifford after three seasons. His record
there nineties and one one, and yet he made it

(01:07:53):
to the playoffs two out of three years we sent
it back. Now it is Steve Hartman and Jess Quartz.
All right, thank you very much. Ralph, all right, I
want to look at the Western Conference without Lebron James
right now. So obviously we're waiting on game seven tomorrow
between the Clippers and Dallas. Um and I was from
a star power Kauai. I'm looking at these four teams

(01:08:16):
right now. So you got Denver and you got your Ki,
you got Phoenix and you got Devin Booker, Chris Paul,
you got Utah with Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, and you
got either Dallas with Don chich or you got the
Clippers with Kauai and Paul George. So, of those five
teams right now, projecting one of them into the NBA Finals,

(01:08:41):
which one, Jeff, would you say would have the most
universal appeal in terms of eyeballs watching saying I want
to see that team in the NBA Finals. Oh, that team.
And I think that that Luca would be the biggest
individual draw right really more than Hawaii, I think. So

(01:09:02):
it played different style, I mean his size and just
his the way he trash talks everyone, like you know,
Kauai is much better defensively obviously, but I don't know
how many fans watch for for defense. Um, I don't
think Dallas will get that far, right, So I don't
I don't know. I don't think it matters if I
want to watch Luca player or not. Um, it's either

(01:09:23):
rest of the crew. Who I mean, let's go, let's go.
Let's go to this Denver Phoenix series which is gonna
get started on Monday, the two seed Phoenix against the
three seed Denver. Moving forward, if you're the NBA right
now and you're on your wish list, if one of
those teams was to get to the NBA Finals, which

(01:09:43):
team would you prefer between Phoenix and Denver? Probably Phoenix
because you have Chris Paul and you have kind of
young up and coming booker, even he's like in a
sixth year. Like, you have a great story in the sons, right, Um,
Denver might have the m v P. Oh, he will

(01:10:06):
be the m v P. Okay, he will be the
m Because you have the m v P. I think
the signs the story is better. Right if Chris Paul
can finally get to you know, can get a ring. Um.
You know, the way they play kind of run up
and down the court, big three pointers, big swings, emotion.
I think the Sons, I think, right, I mean, the

(01:10:28):
the the team that took down the Mighty Lakers. I
think it's I think it's the Sons barely. Yeah, and
and then he got Utah, right, Number one scene. Is
there any buzz for Utah? Seriously? If you had Utah
and the NBA Finals And this is no knock on
Donovan Mitchell. Rudy Gobert obviously has been one of the
top defensive centers in the league. But boy, you talk

(01:10:50):
about a team lacking sex appeal. Y. Yeah, My um
my radio co host is lives in the city from
my Patrol show, and we've been talking all year about this,
like just they just they're just not on the NBA
radar at all. Right, Um, it's not Malone in Stockton.
You're not playing the Jordan Bulls. Um. Now, I guess

(01:11:11):
you could make a argument you're playing the Nets maybe right,
and so there's a draw there. But yeah, I mean,
as much as people dislike Lebron, and there's a lot
of those people, he's been a big draw for the NBA.
And I'm curious to see how the ratings which again
people always say when I say things like the ratings, like, oh,
fans care about the ratings. That's not that's not That's

(01:11:31):
not like what I'm saying. I'm saying that that gives
us an idea how many people are watching and caring, right,
And I'm not saying fans care about the races. If
you're already watching the game, you're probably fan of the NBA. Yes,
you do not care about the ratings. But the rest
of us who talk about whether or not a sport
is being watched or how much like this conversation, how
much will people care? The rains are important? So I

(01:11:52):
haven't seen the ratings for from the NBA so far
in the playoffs are way up from last year. Obviously
a weird year. Um, I don't. I think Brooklyn's gotta
be in it and then out West. I think the
Sons are probably the best draw for people to have
eyes to the TV. I even though I'm not a
fan of all social media, at the very least, I

(01:12:15):
have to concede this fact, Jeff, that when we talk
about I mean, we're old school here, right, we talked
about TV ratings. At least I'm old old school where
TV ratings were the barometer that we set on the
interest in anything, because that was it. You had ratings,
whether it was radio ratings, Arbitronz, Nielsen ratings, and television.

(01:12:36):
That was the only measure in which we could gauge
the interest in something that is no longer the case.
Probably the most accurate barometer to judge how much interest
is in the NBA playoffs is the talk on social media?
Is there a lot of buzz going on right now?
We're you know, where people are taking sides and and

(01:12:57):
just talking about it. Because if people are not talking
about something, even I'm not saying they're making outrageous comments
or whatever, because I mean from a political standpoint, I mean,
obviously we're at such a complete off the rails as
far as our politics on both sides are concerned these days.
But there's a lot of buzz about it, and so

(01:13:18):
obviously there's a lot of interest. Um and I look
at sports the same way, like who are people talking about?
I mean, who are people interested in? And I'll be
very curious because Lebron's a lightning rod. As long as
Lebron was involved, you're gonna have the haters, You're gonna
have people that are fans of his. People are going
to talk about Lebron James. I'm just looking ahead right
now without Lebron, how much buzz there's going to be

(01:13:43):
on social media pertaining to these NBA playoffs. I'm telling
you about social media. I'm a heavy user social media, yes, um,
But I think that the last research I had read
on this was that two of the populace and drive
of the social media interactions. So when you look at

(01:14:04):
social media, it's not always reflective of society, right, which
we know, especially when you mentioned politics, right, non as
reflective of of Really it's not. And you look, if
you use social media a lot, like I do, have
a very strong understanding of what social media is, um.
And so I would say that even if there is

(01:14:24):
a lot of excitement about people tweeting about it, and
we often see their sporting events and sports and life
things that happen in life, whether it's a strong social
media like of that event, but then you look at
the ratings and no one watched their no one cared, right,
Because again that's a tiny percent intends to be a
certain age group, lean a certain way, like a certain thing,

(01:14:46):
and so I'm not sure we can judge whereout these
finals are exciting or people looking forward to it based
on social media. But are they talking about it? Um?
I guess I don't. I don't follow like MBA's fans
on social media. I mean no, I think the the
the No. I mean, look, Lebron, it's such a lightning

(01:15:06):
rod for whether or not everything right, whether he's the goat,
whether he's he's I see the lobamba was trending after
he lost that game. Everybody seems to have an opinion
about Lebron James right, and look there have been for
eight years now, nine years now. All the morning shows
on sports right have always talked about the Warriors or

(01:15:26):
Lebron Warriors or Lebron Super Team, Steph Curry Lebron And
they don't have that this year. So I'm curious. I'm
not even worried about the ratings or what social mean.
I'm curious about, like, when I turn on the TV
in the morning, what is undisputed? First thing starts? What
are they what are they talking about? When it comes
to NBA? What is what is? Um? Was the first

(01:15:46):
first take? What are they talking about about the NBA?
What is sports talk radio doing in the morning during
the NBA PLA. I guarantee this as soon as the
Lakers loss, it was all Lebron all starting next week.
Though it's probably Brooklyn, I guess, but I don't think
Brooklyn is that. Um, they're not because Durant and Kyrie

(01:16:07):
Irving and James Harden are not Lebron. James or Steph Curry.
They're not. They don't move the needle like the same
that Lebron or Steph Curry does. So I just I'm curious.
I mean, look, we'll be on next week, Um, you know,
we'll have will being around two. Uh. The NFL's moved
pretty slowly recently, kind of lately, like there might not

(01:16:28):
be any any Julio news and Rogers news, and I'm
curious what we're gonna do for NBA talk. I mean,
I guess we'll find out our answer about whether or
not or how important Lebron is um next weekend when
we have our show with no Lebron in the playoffs
and no no Warriors in the playoffs. All right, Well,
I'll tell you what. We don't even have to wait
till next weekend because coming up we do have an
update on Julio Jones situation. Also, Jeff will give his

(01:16:51):
pick of the weekend for these NBA playoffs. Coming up next,
Steve hartban at Geoff Schwartz. Is your dad's razor older
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clothes for side shape. Get one now at a store
near you or as part of a gift set at

(01:17:13):
dollar Shaved Club dot com slash Breakfast Club. That's dollars
Shaved Club dots com slash Breakfast Club. Want to thank
the guys today, I walk in today. Iowa Sam is
watching Iowa a niyowait annihilate Illinois in a football game
that was played in nine Nobody else does that where
you watch old football games? Yeah, that would be me,

(01:17:35):
not like not like Today Sports on. Yeah it was.
I'm serious. I'm watching. I'm like, okay, this looks like
it was played a while ago. And then I saw
Nick Bell was running back for Iowa. I go Nick Bell,
he played for the Raiders. So that's what he was
watching today in Iowa domination of Illinois. I gotta flip

(01:17:57):
on the Big Ten network here and there just see
what's on. You know, that's that's good that they got
some timely programming going on. Ralph Irvan doing a great job.
It's always great to see Ralph every once in all
jumping on in he go, Ralphie. I don't know if
ralphiel Yeah, exactly. And then of course Leta lapp Lee
was happy to hear that I saw a quiet place too.

(01:18:20):
We talked movies. I can't do that with Jeff because well,
he has young kids and he can't see the movies.
I get it. His wife's not into a great sequel.
Um very quickly here, Jeff, I want to mention Julio
Jones was still a waiting word on what that would
seem to be in much likelier scenario that he is
going to be traded by the Falcons than the situation
with Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers. A little intrigue here

(01:18:43):
when Tyreek Hill, of all people with the Chiefs said
he was very intrigued, Like he said, I was in
high school and Julio was at Alabama and his physical dominance.
He goes, yeah, can you imagine if we were like
on the same team. Yeah, I mean, Tyree Hill has
been paid, he's won a super Bowl like he's not
at this point the kind of the stat padding and

(01:19:06):
wanted to be the only wide receiver. Now it's about
winning for him, right exactly Julio and then whoo wants
to win? Julio said that he wants to play for
a quarterback with a strong arm and a team who
has a chance to win. Well, I mean, I'd love
to have a six pack two like I just I mean,
you can't everything you want. If you want to be traded,
it's not always gonna be to the team you want.
So I'm kind of curious what happened if they say, hey,

(01:19:27):
we're gonna trade you to the Ravens, um who don't
really have that quarterback? Right? I think let me ask
you this. If you're the Chiefs right now, you you
lost Watkins, but he wasn't doing much for you anyway.
You have Hardman Obviously he has been very good. I mean,
they it's not like they have a shortage of talent
at wide receiver. Is this someone that you would make

(01:19:48):
a deal for. I was surprised they did not address
the number two wide receiver position in the draft. Um,
you know, they don't really have a reliable too they
have he, they have Kelsey, but they don't have a
rival number two wide receiver. Maybe it's maybe Robinson makes
that jump this year, but Cole Hardman kind of never

(01:20:08):
never materialized. He's also like the DeMarcus Robinson there. I
mean when you when you passed over Kelsey, I mean
Kelsey said an NFL right tight end, that's your number two.
But well he's actually the number one. In my opinion.
I think he's the engine that makes that that that
that car go um no. I think that they would

(01:20:29):
love to have Julio on the roster, but I don't
know if they're gonna pay for Remember, guys, the thing
about Julio is that you have to sign him to
an extension if you if you trade for him, right,
if you give me up any premium picks. All right,
So that's the problem. Alright, clock has taken right now,
we need your best pick of the day. Give us
your best pick for the NBA. Plass what he got

(01:20:50):
going on. So I like the Under tonight, but I
would take the Nets if you press me to take
a side. If MB's not playing tomorrow. The Hawks are
played by Are plus three and the Under and Clippers
and um and and uh Maths has said four or
six times, I looked at the under in the game
seven tomorrow. So you're looking for an under tomorrow. So

(01:21:11):
is that your best play? Yeah? I think so, So
take the under in tomorrow's Game seven matchup between the
Clips and the Mavericks. Where does the time go? Jeff,
It's unbelievable. We're in, We're out.

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06/05/2021 - FOX Sports Saturday with Steve Hartman and Geoff Schwartz

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