September 22, 2022 • 35 mins
Jason and Mike react to the breaking news of Celtics HC Ime Udoka facing disciplinary action by the Celtics for having an improper consensual relationship with a female member of the organization, violating organizational guidelines. Jason and Mike explain and discuss the severity of Udoka’s situation and its optics, yet the situation leaves Udoka’s job seemingly not in jeopardy, according to major NBA insiders.
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You're listening to Fox sports radio. Hello, welcome inside our
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Protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Ti IRACT DOT
com the way tire buying should be. Well, hold onto
your hats, because we have the latest breakdown of the
email U Dooka Story and, Oh boy, there's a couple
of layers to this. First of all, uh, let's take
you back to a couple of hours ago, when Adrian
(01:06):
Mordorowski on ESPN UH put out the following report involving
the Celtics head coach, that is, that the coaches facing
a disciplinary action including a significant suspension for an unspecified
violation of organizational guidelines. Discussions ongoing within the Celtics on
a final determination. So this was something that was bad
(01:28):
enough that it was a team violation and the Celtics
are determining just exactly what the punishment's going to be. Now.
We told you legally, was this going to be something?
Probably not, because the story would be different. This was
a team violation and that we were correct about. We
thought maybe tomorrow we'd find out Celtics would have a statement.
(01:48):
Oh No, no, no, no, Sham's Charania of Yahoo. Oh,
I see your Adrian Morjorowski Emayo Doka report and I
raised you the reason why. According to Shams, who put
this out a little bit less than ten minutes ago email,
Adoka had an improper, intimate and consensual relationship with a
(02:12):
female member of the team's staff. Sources telling the athletic
and stadium it's been deemed a violation of the franchise's
code of conduct, improper intimate and consensual relationship with a
female member of the team staff. So this is where
he is facing a suspension and, according to woj his
(02:36):
job is not in jeopardy. So I asked what could
possibly fall within the guidelines of something warranting a big
time suspension? Get to keep your job? Is One of
the things we brought up. And this is it, man.
I'll tell you what I got a problem with. What
I have an issue with is the wording. You know,
(02:56):
is very careful. What Shams Trania put out on twitter
and what woes put out on twitter. The wording is
very specific. You had significant suspension, unspecified violation, you you
had all of this and then you had Shams Arania
saying that this is going to be uh a, a
story at involving IMUDOCA and involves the phrases of improper,
(03:22):
intimate and consensual relationship. Um, I got a problem with.
It's improper, yet it's consensual. I have. I have an
issue with that because I go back to the compliance
training that we do in a lot of jobs. You
do compliance training every year, right you every year. You
have to sit in front. You either do it in person,
you do it on zoom or in a class where
(03:44):
you are told about various forms of sexual harassment, uh,
improper workplace behavior. This is what you can't abide by.
This is what's acceptable in the workplace. This is what's
not acceptable the workplace. You take a quiz at the
end and your pass and you get your compliance training
degree in your it for a year. Right, we do
it every year and and I feel like we do
it like three times a year. Uh Yeah, and and
(04:07):
so we do it. Yeah, it's baby and everybody does it.
And one of the big things they bring up, because now,
having done this training is as often as I have,
one of the big things they bring up is how
dicey it is and how to deal with the relationship
between someone who is in a position of power over
(04:28):
someone else, someone who is in a relationship with someone
who reports to them. And this is a female member
of the team's staff. So if you're on the team staff,
you kind of report to email Doka, right, this is
not this is female member of the organization. Well, this
is someone in public relations, this is someone who could
be on the on the road team or the street team.
This could be someone who works in the office, someone
(04:49):
who works but female member of the team staff. This
seems like it would fall under that category. So that
might be the improper but to say improper and consensual,
because a lot of what's implied and when we learn
about these relationships is that, hey, you have power over
somebody and you're dating something. That's that's not cool. And
(05:11):
there's many different avenues that you have to deal with this. Hey,
if you're in a late where your relationship over someone,
you need to disclose this to the organization or you
need to Uh be be have a solution where this
person is no longer reporting to you. There's all these
things that, hey, if you want to get in, if
you're in a relationship with somebody at at at work, yeah,
(05:31):
we're not saying you can't do that, but you can't
have it where someone's or in a position where they
could be reporting to you, and that's got to be
disclosed or it's got to be uh figured out a
way around it, so that that's kind of what I
have a problem with here, is that improper and consensual
kind of don't go together, and and not for consensual
where it's all that this was what you think about
(05:51):
when you think about non consensual. This is Canna say, Hey,
both of them are adults and both of them were together,
but the fact that's in the workplace like this, with
with this type of of of description of it yeah,
like I said, I'm I'm not cool with that whole improper,
intimate and yet consensual relationship and team staff not cool
with that. Yeah, I think that that's exactly where my
(06:12):
brain immediately went to. He's like, all right, who is
this in the organization, reporting directly to Adoca, working with Udoka?
And yes, the compliance training is a big deal and
all of you out there, wherever you may be, you
probably have some form of this in your office. Is,
unless you're an independent contractor that maybe you don't go
through the same paces. But if you own a business,
(06:35):
if you're working for a larger company, you've got some
form of this disclosure arrangements and things of that nature,
and the business wants to know because the potential for
legal liability is immense, and I think that's kind of
where we get to with UDOKA. I don't know how
much more will get in terms of specificity short term,
(06:57):
but I'm sure most folks are trying to see if
they can't get an organizational grid of the Celtics now
to try to pinpoint exactly who, what, where, how and why.
Right that's the next of the investigative reporters for our purposes. Yeah,
you talk about it in the business construct and what
it means organizationally and the liabilities that are there, not
(07:22):
to mention look the personal relationship. We stipulated to that earlier.
Obviously we don't want any of the salationous stuff. We
want people to have happiness in their lives, personal lives,
in the locker rooms, whatever else. But we realize that's
not reality and in this particular case it's now come
at least through Sham's report. The Athletic Uh, you know,
(07:43):
celebrating his uh new agreements and re upping with his
people at Stadium, in the athletic uh, coming back over
the top on woes, with the specificity, at least to
this point, of the improper relations chip and consensual like
you said. Hey, that means exactly what you think it means.
(08:05):
I like you, you like me. Blah, blah, blah. We've
got plenty of songs UH and movies and television shows
uh to pick from, but the reality is in the
terms of a power structure. Uh, this is bad business
in any organization, and and the NIA long aspect of
it is going to be part of this as well,
because he's been with Nia long, actress for the last
(08:27):
few years. They've not gotten married, but they've been together,
and so now this is gonna be a part of
it and it's you talk about people's personalized playing out
in public, this is what we're gonna get. What's the
relationship been been like between Emo Doka and Nia long?
What was this relationship with the staff or how was it?
Was The staff or married? Is that why it was
improper according to team laws, because maybe the celtics have
(08:50):
something where, Hey, married people can't get involved in the
relationship thing out of the military right? Yeah, it could
be anything. I mean where you know, this is where
this story is now going to have so many different
angles to it. But the fact that you know to
hear about this a relationship with a female, with a
female staffer. He's the biggest guy on the staff, right.
(09:11):
I mean yes, you go up above him. You know,
Brad Stevens above him, but basketball staff, that's email Adoka,
it's the assistant coaches, it's it's the coaches who are helping,
it's the part time the fact that it says staff
tells me this is someone that works with him on
a pretty regular basis, not employee, because they would have
said employee, because these words are very specific. I I
(09:33):
would I would be surprised when you when you want
to tweet out something like this. If that's why, if
I was an inside and my hands would be shaking
right like I want to make sure I get it
all right, I want to make sure I get the hey,
these are the words I'm going to use, and I
would see this. And and you know, female staffer, that's
a big word. Not Female employee, not not office worker,
not anything else, not somebody WHO's a vice president somewhere
(09:55):
else in the organization, but a female staffer. That that
that's what it comes down to for me. And and
when the phrase improper comes about, like is that it?
Because that's that's going to be a big topic of conversation.
If that's the case, it's you are in a position
of power over someone else and when you have that
relationship it gets difficult. Right like when when Pam and
(10:16):
I started dating, right at ESPN, uh, the O, ESPN's
got a thing where they would like you two, or
that they did. I mean this is this a long
time ago, because Pam and I started dating in the
mid nineties, but they had a thing where if you
had a relationship and it was a situation where that
was the case, they wanted you to tell them. They
wanted you to say, Hey, you know this relation. Now,
Pam and I were in two completely different departments. I
(10:39):
was in production, she was an engineering. I took an
elevator to the tenth floor, she took it to the
fifteenth floor. I stayed on five extra levels just to
say hi. So we never had to do that. We
never had to worry about disclosing a relationship because we
worked together that I was never in a position of
authority over her, although there were times where I was
in an Edit Bay with her and I was the
(10:59):
production person editing a story and she was actually doing
the editing on the machine. But you know, I mean,
I don't know. was that a I don't know. Was
that a violation? I don't know. Should I have not
gone into her edit bay to work with her on
I don't Sir, this is a Wendy's between that and
the mailbox. I mean, I tell you, yeah, so, I
mean I never, I never thought about it that way.
(11:21):
But because we weren't in a in a in a
WHO's higher than somebody else, because they they always made
it morning and all. Yeah, they always made it when,
when you know you're working together, because you are right,
production is working with engineering and engineering is working with production,
and sometimes the chemistry between the two sides is great.
Sometimes that's it's not great. But like when I go
(11:41):
in there to work with Pam, when I went in
there to work with Pam and edit, it was never where, okay,
I'm in charge of this, you know it's why. Okay,
here's what I want to do, let's do this. She
would say. Okay, she would do it, and there was
no position really of power. I mean, I guess I could.
I could have walked in and said this is what
I'm doing and you do this right now, and I'd say,
but that's not kind of how it was. But you
can see where it could get dicey in that type
(12:03):
of situation where, you know, me going in there and
and editing with her. Well, wait a minute, if something
happens they get in a fight over this, like, is
is that legit? Is that? Is that something that's improper?
Is that something that could happen? I mean, it never did,
because I would idle lost the argument, because I always do. Um.
But uh, because that's where I do my losing. Yeah, Um,
but you know that that could have been a thing
(12:24):
like that, could have been a dicey thing with with people,
with working together well, and that's where where the speculation
and obviously people are gonna start going to the rage chart,
like I said, uh, and screenshotting and guessing and speculating.
We'll see if we get direct information. But how many
times do you scroll your Instagram, Tiktok or whatever else
(12:48):
and there's the P s a don't do this at work. Right,
I hit that. I haven't seen that all the time. Hey, fellas,
here's a piece of advice, and then it'll be one
of like three or four things. It's something about underwear
matching or something about don't do this at work because
bad things are gonna happen. And then there's a clip
(13:08):
of a movie. Uh, that follows UH. And you know,
sometimes it's fatal attraction, sometimes it's something else, but in
this particular case, I mean we we don't know all
the particulars, but it just speaks to the larger corporate
world of again, team businesses are going to look to
limit liability where they can. They're gonna look to limit
(13:31):
negative stories where they can. We did have Nesta on Instagram,
who sent us a note Jason, speculating that this was
dropped at this time because the red sox play the Yankees,
so it would take all the shine and attention away
from Aaron judge. No, no, no, I'M gonna go with
WHO's the happiest person in the world right now that
(13:51):
this story is out. I don't know who's happy. Robert? No, Wow,
Adam being oh yeah, Adam Levine. Yeah, yeah, he's popping
some bottles right now. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I forgot about I saw that referenced a few times.
(14:12):
I didn't get deep into it, M I was too
busy taking my medication and trying not to speak, laugh
or really interact with anybody so as did not just
sound silly, and here I am. Be Sure to catch
live editions of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon
weekdays at ten PM Eastern, seven PM Pacific on Fox
sports radio and the I heart radio AP Fox sports
(14:35):
radio the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Any first responder will tell you never try to beat
a train after breaking can take a mile for a
train to completely stop. So when you come to a
rail crossing stop because trains can't. Well, Mike Harmon, I
gotta tell you something. My family has made it. Okay, okay.
(14:56):
So right now on fs one, all right, fs one,
who's been carrying NFL films presents for the last couple
of years. They are chronicling the story of Vernon Turner, who,
maybe you heard that name your memories. Great bit of
NFL Trivia. First player in Tampa Bay buccaneers history to
return a kick for a touchdown. Right. It was a
(15:18):
big start. No one that nineteen, seventy six, no one
had ever done it and then Vernon did it when
he played for the bucks, I think it was when
he did it. Now, Vernon went to my high school.
He was two years ahead of me, right, so I
knew on my play. I mean he was he was unbelievable.
He was so fast, Um, and his journey to the
(15:40):
NFL is what they're chronicling right now. And they just
showed a lot of his high school video, which is
my high school, which I'm sure I'm in some of
that video somewhere on the sideline, and they interviewed my uncle,
my blood uncle, who was the head coach of the team, Jason,
I was. Yeah, that was me, if only kept that box. Yeah,
(16:05):
and my uncle who I grew up with, who I
went to baseball games with, everything else I had spent
all time. They just interviewed they interviewed him because he
coached Vernon in high school and helped helped him get
to college and helped him get a scholarship. He went
to Carson Newman, which was an n a I a school,
and then he made it to the NFL from there.
So I just want to go uncle Fred, my uncle's
on TV. I just watched my uncle getting interviewed on
(16:26):
NFL films presents my family has made at Mike Carmon. No,
that's fantastic. The question was, how did you help him
get to the next level? Well, I just stayed out
of the way. N We had a lot of talent
raw ability and I just said, all right, here's your
here's your helmet, son and stayed the hell out of
his way. I mean, you know, the thing is is
that he made him, my nephew, away from him. Yeah, no, no,
(16:49):
he know, Vernon gave me cleats once. He gave me
guys said, Oh my God, I got Vernon. I think Vere.
He was a superstar. He was. Yeah, I wish I
wouldn't think transfer. He was so fast and he played
quarterback and he didn't want to play quarterback, but he
was such a good athlete and he had a great
arm that they said, okay, you gotta play quarterback. And
he was why, I want to play running back. And
(17:10):
it was and my uncle, my uncle saying, I told
him you're gonna run the football all the time. We're
just gonna snap it to you first, cut out the middleman.
That's not a bad strategy. He wasn't less transfer. That
leads to potential turnovers. I can't fault that strategy. If
that works. He was like, Oh okay. It's like yeah,
that's kind of how we do it because, you know,
back in the mid to late eighties in high school,
(17:32):
no one was throwing the football all over the field. Yeah,
he was so fast, he was so good and he
was such a big success story out of our high
school because because we thought, oh, he's gonna go someplace
huge and he went to an n Ai School. was
like okay, and he talked to my uncle. My uncle
still talks to him, like they talked a lot and
and and and uh, my uncle went to his wedding,
(17:54):
when he got married and and everything and, you know,
following his career all the way through. When I went
back to New York a few years ago and he
wrote a book about his NFL career, we all we
had we all had dinner together and and and, you know,
we talked about stuff and my uncle was really excited, uh,
for Vernon. And then of course, when we read the
kick back for a touchdown, uh, you know, that was
(18:15):
that was something. Oh, Oh, I got a great story
for you. Oh, I got a great story about Vernon's
kick return for story time because it involves Burman. It
involves Burman, it involved great story. That's a great story. Alright,
so vernon runs this kick baby again. You're really going
to do it? Oh, dude, this is a great story.
This is great because because, you know, we have talking
(18:35):
about it. It shows it shows you Burman being a
really nice guy. I'll tell you this, Burman being a
really nice guy. So it was when primetime was the
big show on the air, obviously right, and I knew
Vernon was in the NFL and his first he was
with the with the lions, and then he went to
the then he went to the buccaneers. So he returns
this punch for a touchdown and we're up in the
(18:57):
prime time room where everybody is watching full there's this
big room where Berman and Tom Jackson everybody else would watch,
would watch the Games. All the producers and the people
working on the show would watch the end. You know,
it's like, you know, fifteen TVs with all the games
on it so they could see what's going on and
talk about it. So I'm up in the room because
I'm working on the show and he that day he
(19:17):
had picked the lions to win that game and it
was something big where he would have gone like six
and Oh if the Lions won that game, right, and
Vernon runs that kickoff back for a touchdown, right, and
then they wind up winning the game and everybody's like Oh,
and Burman Goes Oh, I just needed that to happen,
and then it's silence. I go and then somebody says,
(19:39):
who the hell is that guy that ran that kickback?
And no one said and I go as Vernon Turner,
I went to high school with him. He graduated UH
Curtis High School in six he played at Carson Newman
Division One, a he was with the lions before this.
He was with the bills a couple of years before that.
And everybody looked at me like I was rain man
and they were like how the hell? I said, I
went to high school with M I know him, I said.
(20:00):
I I said that's who, that's who it is. And
then and then Berman looks at me and I'm going, Oh,
he's gonna be so mad because he was just mad that,
you know, this game blew his perfect day of picking.
And he looks at me. He says, so your buddy
returned that kick for a touchdown and I said yeah,
and he goes, that's awesome, congratulations, but that that that's
a great what a great moment, and I was like yeah, it's.
(20:22):
And then Turner overdrive and then he said never get
excited when I lose a game. Again. No, he didn't
do that, uh, but but he was like really. I said, well,
that's that's awesome. That's awesome. And he says, Hey, you
got a nickname for him and I said, Oh my God,
I don't know, because you know, Berman had the nicknames.
I'm like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know,
I said, I said I don't know. He returned the
(20:44):
kick for a touchdown. I don't know, and he was
like all right, well, we'll think, we'll think of it.
And then when he ran it back, he called him
Vernon returner because he returned the kick for a touch
was Vernon, stumbling and bumbling and no, no, no, very
he went right down the sideline. He danced into the
end zone. Oh it was and it was awesome. It
was a great game and everything was going well, but
you ain't seen nothing yet. And then I got to
(21:06):
see I get to see Uncle Fred. Uncle Fred is
getting interviewed on TV. Nothing yet. It's the Vernon Turner overdrive.
He could go. Oh wait, my uncle who went somewhere
to get interviewed, who never wants to go any further
than McDonald's on Forest Avenue in Staten Island, and he's
and he's yea runs in the family. You know, it's
(21:32):
it's a family thing right there. I I couldn't believe it.
I'm like, because I knew it was coming. I didn't
know it was on, like okay, it's on here at
ten o'clock. It did a whole big thing on coridarrel Patterson.
I'm like all right, that's great. And Uh, I said
I knew Vernon story was coming up and they started
showing it, because he had this real, really rough upbringing
and and and had a very difficult life and to
make it past and get past all the obstacles is
(21:54):
a great story, Um, and I think he's I think
it actually might be making a movie out of it.
I think he's he's got a greenplay on it. Um.
It's a great story. I mean it ends with a
great hey here. It is like it's a it's a
you know, it's like it's like Vince Papali. It's like
the invincible that that's the kind of story they would tell.
And so he had this really difficult life and and
it was great because him and my uncle had this
great relationship and he trusted him so much and, you know,
(22:17):
my uncle helped him get into college everything else, and
and stayed in contact with him and he was like
the first guy that went to college and suddenly other
players are going to play for my uncle after I graduated,
and then they turned into a football power and they
won city championships and guys are going to college and
and he had Steve Gregory, who went to Syracuse and
then was the guy that recovered the butt fumble and
(22:37):
ran into the end zone for a touchdown. So, yes,
so here's my my high school, Curtis High School, is
all over the place. Newsman, Steve. No, no, no, no,
different Steve Gregor. Sorry, that was the Los Angeles joke
for the rest of the country. Right, all right, so
you're you're when they do the casting at this movie.
(22:58):
This is important. FROSTBURN UM, is he more a Greg caneer,
Dennis Quaid or will Patton kind of figure? No, no, no,
you know who would be great, even though he's too old.
You can't cast, you can't. It's your family. We have
but but I I don't know what he looks like.
He's like no, no, no, no, no, and he went
for a minute. Whatever is the mandalone Vogel Back? He
(23:25):
wouldn't look like you're insane. He wouldn't look like him.
But Ed Harris would be a great guy to play
my uncle. Now he's too old because he's older than
my uncle, but Ed Harris would be pretty good. He'd
be pretty good guy to play. I will not give
that order one more time. That would be pretty good. Yeah,
he said what what the Hell Are you trying to do?
What kind of block are you trying to throw? Hey,
(23:46):
come here, come here, come here, come here, come that's
that was my uncle when he was coaching. Come here,
come correct, come come here. What are you doing? What
are you doing? Oh, no, Ed Harris would be great.
That would be like, yeah, it's expensive, though he should be.
He would be. No, but if he's he'd be in
it for a certain part of the movie and then,
you know, because it would end with Vernon's touchdown. Sorry, spoiler,
it would end with his touchdown return for the bucks.
(24:07):
So that that's where the movie that's where the movie
would end. I dig that. No, that's good. My uncle
Fred on, my uncle Fred wearing a curtis, uh a
t shirt, sweatshirt. Oh my God, it was. I can't
a going. My uncle Fred is on national television, but
I mean we're gonna have to go as a Bruder
film style at some point. Well, side t shirt. This
(24:28):
task to see if you can spot a young Jason Smith.
If it was junior year for Vernon, then I'm on
the sideline because I'm a freshman. I'm on the JV
and likely I'm either holding the footballs or on the
water boy, because that's what they would have all the
J v kids do stuff before and I couldn not,
(24:49):
I could not help my uncle. I was like, Hey,
can I do the footballs and stuff? Don't maybe do
the water? Can I do footballs or can I do
kicking tea or whatever it is? So I'm sure if
from his junior year I'm on this. Oddly you can
just see me like because I don't have a helmet
on or anything. I'm just there with a, you know,
my big affrow that I had when I was when
I was in high school. Oh, sure, I saw a
kid handing out hats to people. That's a classic reference
(25:14):
for the show right there. You nicely done. I'm the kid,
you know, my favorite shirt that set. The kid has hairs.
I don't know, it's definitely that's harder to investigate that.
My favorite job was actually, uh, going out to get
the tea after the kickoff, because you had to run
out and get it and run off the field before
(25:36):
the kick came back up your way. But how did
you make it in time? I was, I was, I was,
I wasn't step ran over and running off. No, no, no,
I I got that t well, I got that tea
and I ran off. That's how it was. I got
us a first down once going out to uh bring
water out, though. This is a good story, ready for
this is a good story. Another good story involved in
(25:57):
this one way better than all that Celtic crap anymore.
I wasn't equal to get to EMODKA. I wasn't even
playing in the game right, and it was a time out.
It was in the fourth quarter and it was a
big third down for the other team, like it was
a close game. So I go out with the water.
There's a time out because they're measuring for a first
down and I'm like okay. So they come out and
they measure the first down and you know, they have
(26:17):
the link of the chain. How they do it? As
they put the link of the chain on the closest
five yard marker, right. So let's say they had the
chain on the the link of the chain on the
thirty five yard line and they were measuring and for
some reason they brought the they only brought the chain
part way out and they had it going straight but
then when they pulled the chain the rest of the way,
they didn't put it like straight on with the ball.
(26:38):
They made it so the chain had to like move
to the left. So picture like a like a y
without without the right side. Like that's how the that's
how they measured. They had the chain go out five
yards and then the last five yards they cut it
to the left to get to the ball. And they're
looking at it and they're going all it looks like
a first down and I'm going and I say to
the captain and I go you can't measure like this.
(27:00):
You got they gotta do it straight, because if they
measure it straight, they're short for the first down. He
Goes Huh, and he looks and he sees how they're
measuring and he goes uh and he looks like he's
not sure I'm right about this, but I'm like yeah,
you cut the angle on this down, because I know Mathico.
You cut the angle on it down. They got to
measure the straight across and and captain said, okay, Hey,
we gotta measure this straight. And for some reason that
(27:21):
the referees were measuring. I don't know why they were
measuring that way. It didn't make any sense. Then the
rest go oh, okay, yeah, why don't you bring them?
Want to bring the chain down this as I brought
it down a sure enough, they were short and had
to punt and I was like, I just gotta Punt.
I said, Uncle Fred, I just gotta Punt. They just
punted it because I told him. I told him how
to measure the right way. Look at you. That was
my big accomplishment right there. You made it. That's fantastic.
(27:46):
I like that story time with Jason Smith. Hero on
the Jason Smith Show with be sure to catch live
editions of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten PM Eastern, seven PM Pacific on Fox sports
radio and they I heart radio. App He's Mike Carmen.
I'm Dan buyer. Do we have a brand new fantasy
football podcast called I want your flex twice a week,
(28:09):
every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes
to not only look back at what happened, what you
need to do at that minute, and also look ahead
of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan.
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sits starts.
Fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
(28:32):
the competition? Listen to I want your flex with Mike
Carmen and me, Dan buyer, on the I heart radio,
APP apple podcast and wherever you get your podcasts, Fox
sports radio, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, whoa. Hey, you want some
(28:52):
good and bad news for tomorrow, Jason, give me some.
Give me some good and bad. Go ahead, the browns play.
So here we go. So if you're a better any
line the last three years that was under thirty nine.
Is the under seven. and Oh that's the bad news,
because the line for tomorrow is thirty eight and a half.
(29:14):
The good news there's seven million people approximately have subscriptions
to Amazon Prime, which means half the country literally can
see it by logging in, let alone inviting friends and
family over to see such a monumental game when Mitchell
drabinsky rules the earth. Okay, we'll see about that Mitchell
(29:35):
drabinsky thing. Well, we'll see. We'll see if that actually happens.
I told you he has a bad first half. Guess what?
Can he pick it in the second half? Buddy, canny picket,
you couldn't be more wrong. Get Ready. Um Now, the
big story tonight obviously has been the Emayo Doka story,
the Celtics head coach who was going to be facing
a lengthy suspension by the team for violating organizational guideline.
(30:00):
We found out in the last forty five minutes that
those organizational guidelines that were violated was that Udoka had
an improper, intimate and consensual relationship with a female member
of the team staff. Adrian Warnarowski reporting a couple of
minutes ago that on the table could be a suspension
that is a year long for UDOKA. Now there's all
(30:22):
the Knia long stuff going on. Anybody to a cheat
on Nia long? Oh my goodness are but from this
story there's a couple of things that that have stood
out since we got the details. One is improper and consensual.
You know, like we do compliance training all the time
here at Fox and then it's a very big deal
when you are having a relationship with someone that you
are a direct report for. And this was not a
(30:45):
female employee of female employees. This is a member of
the team's staff, which WHO, in theory, would report to Udoka.
I am not cool with that. The other part of
it is this, and this is what I don't get, Mike,
is that this is such a big deal for the
Celtics that what's on the table is a year suspension.
How do you bring the guy back? How do you
(31:06):
not just fire him? You're really gonna suspend him for
a year and then he's gonna come back as the
head coach? What? What? What? What? What are you doing?
What are you doing? It sounds like people who are
just I've been up for, you know, thirteen hours talking
about this. It's one thirty in the morning. And Yeah,
we'll suspend him for a year and that'll be it.
If you're suspending a guy for a year, I think
you can let him go if you if you're deeming
(31:27):
that it's that beat again. We're waiting for all the
details of this relationship to come out. Um, but it's
but the big word was improper. If you can suspend
him for a year, you may as well let him go.
Is He really gonna come back after year? You'RE gonna
go through a year where you're gonna have a guy
just caretaking the team that went to the bleep in
NBA finals last year and you're gonna then he's gonna
come back and he's gonna come back in disgrace and
(31:49):
he's always gonna be that coach who had an affair
with someone on the staff that was deemed improper. How
do you not just fire him if that? I mean,
I don't understand how he comes back. Robert SARVER was
suspended for a year. How is he going to really
come back after year? Now Robert Sarver's selling the team.
Two different stories. But if you're talking about suspending someone
for that kind of that amount of time, because that's
what it's about, the year suspension, you do that for
(32:11):
a year? Uh, yeah, you can. It's time to say,
all right, maybe we just move on and we go
on to another coach. I get it's tough because he
just brought you to the NBA finals. Brad Stevens, as
good a job as he did, did not, and UDOKA
did in his first year. But if you're deeming this
that bad, then yeah, it's time to move on and
you go to another head coach. Yeah, I mean to
(32:32):
address the server really quick. When you suspend the guy
for a year, does that mean he doesn't get any
of the revenue share from the TV deals and whatever? Right,
I mean what's what's really the Pedaly, Hey, you have
to watch it at home instead of sitting in the box.
Don't get the same juice. But you're still owing the team. Okay,
moving on, but decided to start the process of selling
(32:52):
the sons in the mercury. Will get more details is
that evolves. As with this story, we'll get more details
and more specificity. Of sure. And the season long suspension,
to your point, is huge. Right, you've got a team
ready to win, you've had a team that's been embroiled
at a lot of controversy is the wrong word, but
speculation of what the next iteration is, where seemingly any
(33:16):
number of players could have been dealt in the off season,
and now you come back and for whatever portion of
the season, perhaps the full season, your coach isn't there,
the one that for half a year you battled to
get chemistry, found your stride and got to the NBA finals.
Now he's gonna be gone. Would seem that you just
(33:37):
exercise Uh and move on, Uh and find your next coach,
whoever that may be, whether it's Stevens returning to that
post or somebody else. But the the larger point of
the conduct and the relationship doesn't need to be, you know, hierarchical,
the up down corporate structure laterally, in other to heart mins.
(34:00):
It's it. Depending on the organization. They may have more
rigid rules and I think one of the lines of
this uh as it relates to things right now in
a very nebulous standpoint, just like the original Wozarowski tweet.
Jason is Boston's a big city. Do that stuff somewhere else,
(34:23):
not in the building, right. I mean they could just
have a pretty rigid policy there, again to be argued
about at a later date. But keeping him and retaining
if he's literally getting a full season suspension makes no
sense unless you're just convinced he's the next Steve Kerr
or Phil Jackson. I mean he I mean it's it's
(34:44):
so much to keep a guy like that. Sure keep
him around with that. It's really, really difficult. Now that
for me. The next part of what I want to
see is, okay, do the Celtics have different kind of
rules on relationships? Do they have something that's not the norm? Like, Hey,
the Celtics are the only team to have this as
part of their relationship rules and regulations, as opposed to
(35:06):
the other twenty nine teams in the NBA. That's gonna
because as these as these details get out, that's going
to to paint the entire story. So that, to me,
that's what is. Are the Celtics? Is it different? Or
is this just boilerplate hey, improper relationship, in which case,
then how do you keep the guy? The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen, our best of PODCAST, goes up
(35:27):
in about ten minutes on Itunes, wherever you listen to podcasts,
you can get it all the latest on the email.
Doka story is there. Subscribe, rate us. We'll love you
forever and ever and ever. Coming up next my buddy
Ben Malloy. You are listening to Fox sports radio.
Thanks for listening to the Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch US live every weeknight,
ten pm to two a M Eastern, seven to eleven
pm Pacific on Fox sports radio. Find your local station
for the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox
sports radio DOT COM, or stream us live every night
on the I heart radio APP by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox sports radio. Hello, welcome inside our
four of the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon. We are live from the TI IRACT DOT
COM studios. Ti IRACT DOT COM. We'll help you get
there and unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, Free Road Hazard
(00:44):
Protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Ti IRACT DOT
com the way tire buying should be. Well, hold onto
your hats, because we have the latest breakdown of the
email U Dooka Story and, Oh boy, there's a couple
of layers to this. First of all, uh, let's take
you back to a couple of hours ago, when Adrian
(01:06):
Mordorowski on ESPN UH put out the following report involving
the Celtics head coach, that is, that the coaches facing
a disciplinary action including a significant suspension for an unspecified
violation of organizational guidelines. Discussions ongoing within the Celtics on
a final determination. So this was something that was bad
(01:28):
enough that it was a team violation and the Celtics
are determining just exactly what the punishment's going to be. Now.
We told you legally, was this going to be something?
Probably not, because the story would be different. This was
a team violation and that we were correct about. We
thought maybe tomorrow we'd find out Celtics would have a statement.
(01:48):
Oh No, no, no, no, Sham's Charania of Yahoo. Oh,
I see your Adrian Morjorowski Emayo Doka report and I
raised you the reason why. According to Shams, who put
this out a little bit less than ten minutes ago email,
Adoka had an improper, intimate and consensual relationship with a
(02:12):
female member of the team's staff. Sources telling the athletic
and stadium it's been deemed a violation of the franchise's
code of conduct, improper intimate and consensual relationship with a
female member of the team staff. So this is where
he is facing a suspension and, according to woj his
(02:36):
job is not in jeopardy. So I asked what could
possibly fall within the guidelines of something warranting a big
time suspension? Get to keep your job? Is One of
the things we brought up. And this is it, man.
I'll tell you what I got a problem with. What
I have an issue with is the wording. You know,
(02:56):
is very careful. What Shams Trania put out on twitter
and what woes put out on twitter. The wording is
very specific. You had significant suspension, unspecified violation, you you
had all of this and then you had Shams Arania
saying that this is going to be uh a, a
story at involving IMUDOCA and involves the phrases of improper,
(03:22):
intimate and consensual relationship. Um, I got a problem with.
It's improper, yet it's consensual. I have. I have an
issue with that because I go back to the compliance
training that we do in a lot of jobs. You
do compliance training every year, right you every year. You
have to sit in front. You either do it in person,
you do it on zoom or in a class where
(03:44):
you are told about various forms of sexual harassment, uh,
improper workplace behavior. This is what you can't abide by.
This is what's acceptable in the workplace. This is what's
not acceptable the workplace. You take a quiz at the
end and your pass and you get your compliance training
degree in your it for a year. Right, we do
it every year and and I feel like we do
it like three times a year. Uh Yeah, and and
(04:07):
so we do it. Yeah, it's baby and everybody does it.
And one of the big things they bring up, because now,
having done this training is as often as I have,
one of the big things they bring up is how
dicey it is and how to deal with the relationship
between someone who is in a position of power over
(04:28):
someone else, someone who is in a relationship with someone
who reports to them. And this is a female member
of the team's staff. So if you're on the team staff,
you kind of report to email Doka, right, this is
not this is female member of the organization. Well, this
is someone in public relations, this is someone who could
be on the on the road team or the street team.
This could be someone who works in the office, someone
(04:49):
who works but female member of the team staff. This
seems like it would fall under that category. So that
might be the improper but to say improper and consensual,
because a lot of what's implied and when we learn
about these relationships is that, hey, you have power over
somebody and you're dating something. That's that's not cool. And
(05:11):
there's many different avenues that you have to deal with this. Hey,
if you're in a late where your relationship over someone,
you need to disclose this to the organization or you
need to Uh be be have a solution where this
person is no longer reporting to you. There's all these
things that, hey, if you want to get in, if
you're in a relationship with somebody at at at work, yeah,
(05:31):
we're not saying you can't do that, but you can't
have it where someone's or in a position where they
could be reporting to you, and that's got to be
disclosed or it's got to be uh figured out a
way around it, so that that's kind of what I
have a problem with here, is that improper and consensual
kind of don't go together, and and not for consensual
where it's all that this was what you think about
(05:51):
when you think about non consensual. This is Canna say, Hey,
both of them are adults and both of them were together,
but the fact that's in the workplace like this, with
with this type of of of description of it yeah,
like I said, I'm I'm not cool with that whole improper,
intimate and yet consensual relationship and team staff not cool
with that. Yeah, I think that that's exactly where my
(06:12):
brain immediately went to. He's like, all right, who is
this in the organization, reporting directly to Adoca, working with Udoka?
And yes, the compliance training is a big deal and
all of you out there, wherever you may be, you
probably have some form of this in your office. Is,
unless you're an independent contractor that maybe you don't go
through the same paces. But if you own a business,
(06:35):
if you're working for a larger company, you've got some
form of this disclosure arrangements and things of that nature,
and the business wants to know because the potential for
legal liability is immense, and I think that's kind of
where we get to with UDOKA. I don't know how
much more will get in terms of specificity short term,
(06:57):
but I'm sure most folks are trying to see if
they can't get an organizational grid of the Celtics now
to try to pinpoint exactly who, what, where, how and why.
Right that's the next of the investigative reporters for our purposes. Yeah,
you talk about it in the business construct and what
it means organizationally and the liabilities that are there, not
(07:22):
to mention look the personal relationship. We stipulated to that earlier.
Obviously we don't want any of the salationous stuff. We
want people to have happiness in their lives, personal lives,
in the locker rooms, whatever else. But we realize that's
not reality and in this particular case it's now come
at least through Sham's report. The Athletic Uh, you know,
(07:43):
celebrating his uh new agreements and re upping with his
people at Stadium, in the athletic uh, coming back over
the top on woes, with the specificity, at least to
this point, of the improper relations chip and consensual like
you said. Hey, that means exactly what you think it means.
(08:05):
I like you, you like me. Blah, blah, blah. We've
got plenty of songs UH and movies and television shows
uh to pick from, but the reality is in the
terms of a power structure. Uh, this is bad business
in any organization, and and the NIA long aspect of
it is going to be part of this as well,
because he's been with Nia long, actress for the last
(08:27):
few years. They've not gotten married, but they've been together,
and so now this is gonna be a part of
it and it's you talk about people's personalized playing out
in public, this is what we're gonna get. What's the
relationship been been like between Emo Doka and Nia long?
What was this relationship with the staff or how was it?
Was The staff or married? Is that why it was
improper according to team laws, because maybe the celtics have
(08:50):
something where, Hey, married people can't get involved in the
relationship thing out of the military right? Yeah, it could
be anything. I mean where you know, this is where
this story is now going to have so many different
angles to it. But the fact that you know to
hear about this a relationship with a female, with a
female staffer. He's the biggest guy on the staff, right.
(09:11):
I mean yes, you go up above him. You know,
Brad Stevens above him, but basketball staff, that's email Adoka,
it's the assistant coaches, it's it's the coaches who are helping,
it's the part time the fact that it says staff
tells me this is someone that works with him on
a pretty regular basis, not employee, because they would have
said employee, because these words are very specific. I I
(09:33):
would I would be surprised when you when you want
to tweet out something like this. If that's why, if
I was an inside and my hands would be shaking
right like I want to make sure I get it
all right, I want to make sure I get the hey,
these are the words I'm going to use, and I
would see this. And and you know, female staffer, that's
a big word. Not Female employee, not not office worker,
not anything else, not somebody WHO's a vice president somewhere
(09:55):
else in the organization, but a female staffer. That that
that's what it comes down to for me. And and
when the phrase improper comes about, like is that it?
Because that's that's going to be a big topic of conversation.
If that's the case, it's you are in a position
of power over someone else and when you have that
relationship it gets difficult. Right like when when Pam and
(10:16):
I started dating, right at ESPN, uh, the O, ESPN's
got a thing where they would like you two, or
that they did. I mean this is this a long
time ago, because Pam and I started dating in the
mid nineties, but they had a thing where if you
had a relationship and it was a situation where that
was the case, they wanted you to tell them. They
wanted you to say, Hey, you know this relation. Now,
Pam and I were in two completely different departments. I
(10:39):
was in production, she was an engineering. I took an
elevator to the tenth floor, she took it to the
fifteenth floor. I stayed on five extra levels just to
say hi. So we never had to do that. We
never had to worry about disclosing a relationship because we
worked together that I was never in a position of
authority over her, although there were times where I was
in an Edit Bay with her and I was the
(10:59):
production person editing a story and she was actually doing
the editing on the machine. But you know, I mean,
I don't know. was that a I don't know. Was
that a violation? I don't know. Should I have not
gone into her edit bay to work with her on
I don't Sir, this is a Wendy's between that and
the mailbox. I mean, I tell you, yeah, so, I
mean I never, I never thought about it that way.
(11:21):
But because we weren't in a in a in a
WHO's higher than somebody else, because they they always made
it morning and all. Yeah, they always made it when,
when you know you're working together, because you are right,
production is working with engineering and engineering is working with production,
and sometimes the chemistry between the two sides is great.
Sometimes that's it's not great. But like when I go
(11:41):
in there to work with Pam, when I went in
there to work with Pam and edit, it was never where, okay,
I'm in charge of this, you know it's why. Okay,
here's what I want to do, let's do this. She
would say. Okay, she would do it, and there was
no position really of power. I mean, I guess I could.
I could have walked in and said this is what
I'm doing and you do this right now, and I'd say,
but that's not kind of how it was. But you
can see where it could get dicey in that type
(12:03):
of situation where, you know, me going in there and
and editing with her. Well, wait a minute, if something
happens they get in a fight over this, like, is
is that legit? Is that? Is that something that's improper?
Is that something that could happen? I mean, it never did,
because I would idle lost the argument, because I always do. Um.
But uh, because that's where I do my losing. Yeah, Um,
but you know that that could have been a thing
(12:24):
like that, could have been a dicey thing with with people,
with working together well, and that's where where the speculation
and obviously people are gonna start going to the rage chart,
like I said, uh, and screenshotting and guessing and speculating.
We'll see if we get direct information. But how many
times do you scroll your Instagram, Tiktok or whatever else
(12:48):
and there's the P s a don't do this at work. Right,
I hit that. I haven't seen that all the time. Hey, fellas,
here's a piece of advice, and then it'll be one
of like three or four things. It's something about underwear
matching or something about don't do this at work because
bad things are gonna happen. And then there's a clip
(13:08):
of a movie. Uh, that follows UH. And you know,
sometimes it's fatal attraction, sometimes it's something else, but in
this particular case, I mean we we don't know all
the particulars, but it just speaks to the larger corporate
world of again, team businesses are going to look to
limit liability where they can. They're gonna look to limit
(13:31):
negative stories where they can. We did have Nesta on Instagram,
who sent us a note Jason, speculating that this was
dropped at this time because the red sox play the Yankees,
so it would take all the shine and attention away
from Aaron judge. No, no, no, I'M gonna go with
WHO's the happiest person in the world right now that
(13:51):
this story is out. I don't know who's happy. Robert? No, Wow,
Adam being oh yeah, Adam Levine. Yeah, yeah, he's popping
some bottles right now. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I forgot about I saw that referenced a few times.
(14:12):
I didn't get deep into it, M I was too
busy taking my medication and trying not to speak, laugh
or really interact with anybody so as did not just
sound silly, and here I am. Be Sure to catch
live editions of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon
weekdays at ten PM Eastern, seven PM Pacific on Fox
sports radio and the I heart radio AP Fox sports
(14:35):
radio the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Any first responder will tell you never try to beat
a train after breaking can take a mile for a
train to completely stop. So when you come to a
rail crossing stop because trains can't. Well, Mike Harmon, I
gotta tell you something. My family has made it. Okay, okay.
(14:56):
So right now on fs one, all right, fs one,
who's been carrying NFL films presents for the last couple
of years. They are chronicling the story of Vernon Turner, who,
maybe you heard that name your memories. Great bit of
NFL Trivia. First player in Tampa Bay buccaneers history to
return a kick for a touchdown. Right. It was a
(15:18):
big start. No one that nineteen, seventy six, no one
had ever done it and then Vernon did it when
he played for the bucks, I think it was when
he did it. Now, Vernon went to my high school.
He was two years ahead of me, right, so I
knew on my play. I mean he was he was unbelievable.
He was so fast, Um, and his journey to the
(15:40):
NFL is what they're chronicling right now. And they just
showed a lot of his high school video, which is
my high school, which I'm sure I'm in some of
that video somewhere on the sideline, and they interviewed my uncle,
my blood uncle, who was the head coach of the team, Jason,
I was. Yeah, that was me, if only kept that box. Yeah,
(16:05):
and my uncle who I grew up with, who I
went to baseball games with, everything else I had spent
all time. They just interviewed they interviewed him because he
coached Vernon in high school and helped helped him get
to college and helped him get a scholarship. He went
to Carson Newman, which was an n a I a school,
and then he made it to the NFL from there.
So I just want to go uncle Fred, my uncle's
on TV. I just watched my uncle getting interviewed on
(16:26):
NFL films presents my family has made at Mike Carmon. No,
that's fantastic. The question was, how did you help him
get to the next level? Well, I just stayed out
of the way. N We had a lot of talent
raw ability and I just said, all right, here's your
here's your helmet, son and stayed the hell out of
his way. I mean, you know, the thing is is
that he made him, my nephew, away from him. Yeah, no, no,
(16:49):
he know, Vernon gave me cleats once. He gave me
guys said, Oh my God, I got Vernon. I think Vere.
He was a superstar. He was. Yeah, I wish I
wouldn't think transfer. He was so fast and he played
quarterback and he didn't want to play quarterback, but he
was such a good athlete and he had a great
arm that they said, okay, you gotta play quarterback. And
he was why, I want to play running back. And
(17:10):
it was and my uncle, my uncle saying, I told
him you're gonna run the football all the time. We're
just gonna snap it to you first, cut out the middleman.
That's not a bad strategy. He wasn't less transfer. That
leads to potential turnovers. I can't fault that strategy. If
that works. He was like, Oh okay. It's like yeah,
that's kind of how we do it because, you know,
back in the mid to late eighties in high school,
(17:32):
no one was throwing the football all over the field. Yeah,
he was so fast, he was so good and he
was such a big success story out of our high
school because because we thought, oh, he's gonna go someplace
huge and he went to an n Ai School. was
like okay, and he talked to my uncle. My uncle
still talks to him, like they talked a lot and
and and and uh, my uncle went to his wedding,
(17:54):
when he got married and and everything and, you know,
following his career all the way through. When I went
back to New York a few years ago and he
wrote a book about his NFL career, we all we
had we all had dinner together and and and, you know,
we talked about stuff and my uncle was really excited, uh,
for Vernon. And then of course, when we read the
kick back for a touchdown, uh, you know, that was
(18:15):
that was something. Oh, Oh, I got a great story
for you. Oh, I got a great story about Vernon's
kick return for story time because it involves Burman. It
involves Burman, it involved great story. That's a great story. Alright,
so vernon runs this kick baby again. You're really going
to do it? Oh, dude, this is a great story.
This is great because because, you know, we have talking
(18:35):
about it. It shows it shows you Burman being a
really nice guy. I'll tell you this, Burman being a
really nice guy. So it was when primetime was the
big show on the air, obviously right, and I knew
Vernon was in the NFL and his first he was
with the with the lions, and then he went to
the then he went to the buccaneers. So he returns
this punch for a touchdown and we're up in the
(18:57):
prime time room where everybody is watching full there's this
big room where Berman and Tom Jackson everybody else would watch,
would watch the Games. All the producers and the people
working on the show would watch the end. You know,
it's like, you know, fifteen TVs with all the games
on it so they could see what's going on and
talk about it. So I'm up in the room because
I'm working on the show and he that day he
(19:17):
had picked the lions to win that game and it
was something big where he would have gone like six
and Oh if the Lions won that game, right, and
Vernon runs that kickoff back for a touchdown, right, and
then they wind up winning the game and everybody's like Oh,
and Burman Goes Oh, I just needed that to happen,
and then it's silence. I go and then somebody says,
(19:39):
who the hell is that guy that ran that kickback?
And no one said and I go as Vernon Turner,
I went to high school with him. He graduated UH
Curtis High School in six he played at Carson Newman
Division One, a he was with the lions before this.
He was with the bills a couple of years before that.
And everybody looked at me like I was rain man
and they were like how the hell? I said, I
went to high school with M I know him, I said.
(20:00):
I I said that's who, that's who it is. And
then and then Berman looks at me and I'm going, Oh,
he's gonna be so mad because he was just mad that,
you know, this game blew his perfect day of picking.
And he looks at me. He says, so your buddy
returned that kick for a touchdown and I said yeah,
and he goes, that's awesome, congratulations, but that that that's
a great what a great moment, and I was like yeah, it's.
(20:22):
And then Turner overdrive and then he said never get
excited when I lose a game. Again. No, he didn't
do that, uh, but but he was like really. I said, well,
that's that's awesome. That's awesome. And he says, Hey, you
got a nickname for him and I said, Oh my God,
I don't know, because you know, Berman had the nicknames.
I'm like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know,
I said, I said I don't know. He returned the
(20:44):
kick for a touchdown. I don't know, and he was
like all right, well, we'll think, we'll think of it.
And then when he ran it back, he called him
Vernon returner because he returned the kick for a touch
was Vernon, stumbling and bumbling and no, no, no, very
he went right down the sideline. He danced into the
end zone. Oh it was and it was awesome. It
was a great game and everything was going well, but
you ain't seen nothing yet. And then I got to
(21:06):
see I get to see Uncle Fred. Uncle Fred is
getting interviewed on TV. Nothing yet. It's the Vernon Turner overdrive.
He could go. Oh wait, my uncle who went somewhere
to get interviewed, who never wants to go any further
than McDonald's on Forest Avenue in Staten Island, and he's
and he's yea runs in the family. You know, it's
(21:32):
it's a family thing right there. I I couldn't believe it.
I'm like, because I knew it was coming. I didn't
know it was on, like okay, it's on here at
ten o'clock. It did a whole big thing on coridarrel Patterson.
I'm like all right, that's great. And Uh, I said
I knew Vernon story was coming up and they started
showing it, because he had this real, really rough upbringing
and and and had a very difficult life and to
make it past and get past all the obstacles is
(21:54):
a great story, Um, and I think he's I think
it actually might be making a movie out of it.
I think he's he's got a greenplay on it. Um.
It's a great story. I mean it ends with a
great hey here. It is like it's a it's a
you know, it's like it's like Vince Papali. It's like
the invincible that that's the kind of story they would tell.
And so he had this really difficult life and and
it was great because him and my uncle had this
great relationship and he trusted him so much and, you know,
(22:17):
my uncle helped him get into college everything else, and
and stayed in contact with him and he was like
the first guy that went to college and suddenly other
players are going to play for my uncle after I graduated,
and then they turned into a football power and they
won city championships and guys are going to college and
and he had Steve Gregory, who went to Syracuse and
then was the guy that recovered the butt fumble and
(22:37):
ran into the end zone for a touchdown. So, yes,
so here's my my high school, Curtis High School, is
all over the place. Newsman, Steve. No, no, no, no,
different Steve Gregor. Sorry, that was the Los Angeles joke
for the rest of the country. Right, all right, so
you're you're when they do the casting at this movie.
(22:58):
This is important. FROSTBURN UM, is he more a Greg caneer,
Dennis Quaid or will Patton kind of figure? No, no, no,
you know who would be great, even though he's too old.
You can't cast, you can't. It's your family. We have
but but I I don't know what he looks like.
He's like no, no, no, no, no, and he went
for a minute. Whatever is the mandalone Vogel Back? He
(23:25):
wouldn't look like you're insane. He wouldn't look like him.
But Ed Harris would be a great guy to play
my uncle. Now he's too old because he's older than
my uncle, but Ed Harris would be pretty good. He'd
be pretty good guy to play. I will not give
that order one more time. That would be pretty good. Yeah,
he said what what the Hell Are you trying to do?
What kind of block are you trying to throw? Hey,
(23:46):
come here, come here, come here, come here, come that's
that was my uncle when he was coaching. Come here,
come correct, come come here. What are you doing? What
are you doing? Oh, no, Ed Harris would be great.
That would be like, yeah, it's expensive, though he should be.
He would be. No, but if he's he'd be in
it for a certain part of the movie and then,
you know, because it would end with Vernon's touchdown. Sorry, spoiler,
it would end with his touchdown return for the bucks.
(24:07):
So that that's where the movie that's where the movie
would end. I dig that. No, that's good. My uncle
Fred on, my uncle Fred wearing a curtis, uh a
t shirt, sweatshirt. Oh my God, it was. I can't
a going. My uncle Fred is on national television, but
I mean we're gonna have to go as a Bruder
film style at some point. Well, side t shirt. This
(24:28):
task to see if you can spot a young Jason Smith.
If it was junior year for Vernon, then I'm on
the sideline because I'm a freshman. I'm on the JV
and likely I'm either holding the footballs or on the
water boy, because that's what they would have all the
J v kids do stuff before and I couldn not,
(24:49):
I could not help my uncle. I was like, Hey,
can I do the footballs and stuff? Don't maybe do
the water? Can I do footballs or can I do
kicking tea or whatever it is? So I'm sure if
from his junior year I'm on this. Oddly you can
just see me like because I don't have a helmet
on or anything. I'm just there with a, you know,
my big affrow that I had when I was when
I was in high school. Oh, sure, I saw a
kid handing out hats to people. That's a classic reference
(25:14):
for the show right there. You nicely done. I'm the kid,
you know, my favorite shirt that set. The kid has hairs.
I don't know, it's definitely that's harder to investigate that.
My favorite job was actually, uh, going out to get
the tea after the kickoff, because you had to run
out and get it and run off the field before
(25:36):
the kick came back up your way. But how did
you make it in time? I was, I was, I was,
I wasn't step ran over and running off. No, no, no,
I I got that t well, I got that tea
and I ran off. That's how it was. I got
us a first down once going out to uh bring
water out, though. This is a good story, ready for
this is a good story. Another good story involved in
(25:57):
this one way better than all that Celtic crap anymore.
I wasn't equal to get to EMODKA. I wasn't even
playing in the game right, and it was a time out.
It was in the fourth quarter and it was a
big third down for the other team, like it was
a close game. So I go out with the water.
There's a time out because they're measuring for a first
down and I'm like okay. So they come out and
they measure the first down and you know, they have
(26:17):
the link of the chain. How they do it? As
they put the link of the chain on the closest
five yard marker, right. So let's say they had the
chain on the the link of the chain on the
thirty five yard line and they were measuring and for
some reason they brought the they only brought the chain
part way out and they had it going straight but
then when they pulled the chain the rest of the way,
they didn't put it like straight on with the ball.
(26:38):
They made it so the chain had to like move
to the left. So picture like a like a y
without without the right side. Like that's how the that's
how they measured. They had the chain go out five
yards and then the last five yards they cut it
to the left to get to the ball. And they're
looking at it and they're going all it looks like
a first down and I'm going and I say to
the captain and I go you can't measure like this.
(27:00):
You got they gotta do it straight, because if they
measure it straight, they're short for the first down. He
Goes Huh, and he looks and he sees how they're
measuring and he goes uh and he looks like he's
not sure I'm right about this, but I'm like yeah,
you cut the angle on this down, because I know Mathico.
You cut the angle on it down. They got to
measure the straight across and and captain said, okay, Hey,
we gotta measure this straight. And for some reason that
(27:21):
the referees were measuring. I don't know why they were
measuring that way. It didn't make any sense. Then the
rest go oh, okay, yeah, why don't you bring them?
Want to bring the chain down this as I brought
it down a sure enough, they were short and had
to punt and I was like, I just gotta Punt.
I said, Uncle Fred, I just gotta Punt. They just
punted it because I told him. I told him how
to measure the right way. Look at you. That was
my big accomplishment right there. You made it. That's fantastic.
(27:46):
I like that story time with Jason Smith. Hero on
the Jason Smith Show with be sure to catch live
editions of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten PM Eastern, seven PM Pacific on Fox sports
radio and they I heart radio. App He's Mike Carmen.
I'm Dan buyer. Do we have a brand new fantasy
football podcast called I want your flex twice a week,
(28:09):
every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes
to not only look back at what happened, what you
need to do at that minute, and also look ahead
of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan.
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sits starts.
Fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
(28:32):
the competition? Listen to I want your flex with Mike
Carmen and me, Dan buyer, on the I heart radio,
APP apple podcast and wherever you get your podcasts, Fox
sports radio, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, whoa. Hey, you want some
(28:52):
good and bad news for tomorrow, Jason, give me some.
Give me some good and bad. Go ahead, the browns play.
So here we go. So if you're a better any
line the last three years that was under thirty nine.
Is the under seven. and Oh that's the bad news,
because the line for tomorrow is thirty eight and a half.
(29:14):
The good news there's seven million people approximately have subscriptions
to Amazon Prime, which means half the country literally can
see it by logging in, let alone inviting friends and
family over to see such a monumental game when Mitchell
drabinsky rules the earth. Okay, we'll see about that Mitchell
(29:35):
drabinsky thing. Well, we'll see. We'll see if that actually happens.
I told you he has a bad first half. Guess what?
Can he pick it in the second half? Buddy, canny picket,
you couldn't be more wrong. Get Ready. Um Now, the
big story tonight obviously has been the Emayo Doka story,
the Celtics head coach who was going to be facing
a lengthy suspension by the team for violating organizational guideline.
(30:00):
We found out in the last forty five minutes that
those organizational guidelines that were violated was that Udoka had
an improper, intimate and consensual relationship with a female member
of the team staff. Adrian Warnarowski reporting a couple of
minutes ago that on the table could be a suspension
that is a year long for UDOKA. Now there's all
(30:22):
the Knia long stuff going on. Anybody to a cheat
on Nia long? Oh my goodness are but from this
story there's a couple of things that that have stood
out since we got the details. One is improper and consensual.
You know, like we do compliance training all the time
here at Fox and then it's a very big deal
when you are having a relationship with someone that you
are a direct report for. And this was not a
(30:45):
female employee of female employees. This is a member of
the team's staff, which WHO, in theory, would report to Udoka.
I am not cool with that. The other part of
it is this, and this is what I don't get, Mike,
is that this is such a big deal for the
Celtics that what's on the table is a year suspension.
How do you bring the guy back? How do you
(31:06):
not just fire him? You're really gonna suspend him for
a year and then he's gonna come back as the
head coach? What? What? What? What? What are you doing?
What are you doing? It sounds like people who are
just I've been up for, you know, thirteen hours talking
about this. It's one thirty in the morning. And Yeah,
we'll suspend him for a year and that'll be it.
If you're suspending a guy for a year, I think
you can let him go if you if you're deeming
(31:27):
that it's that beat again. We're waiting for all the
details of this relationship to come out. Um, but it's
but the big word was improper. If you can suspend
him for a year, you may as well let him go.
Is He really gonna come back after year? You'RE gonna
go through a year where you're gonna have a guy
just caretaking the team that went to the bleep in
NBA finals last year and you're gonna then he's gonna
come back and he's gonna come back in disgrace and
(31:49):
he's always gonna be that coach who had an affair
with someone on the staff that was deemed improper. How
do you not just fire him if that? I mean,
I don't understand how he comes back. Robert SARVER was
suspended for a year. How is he going to really
come back after year? Now Robert Sarver's selling the team.
Two different stories. But if you're talking about suspending someone
for that kind of that amount of time, because that's
what it's about, the year suspension, you do that for
(32:11):
a year? Uh, yeah, you can. It's time to say,
all right, maybe we just move on and we go
on to another coach. I get it's tough because he
just brought you to the NBA finals. Brad Stevens, as
good a job as he did, did not, and UDOKA
did in his first year. But if you're deeming this
that bad, then yeah, it's time to move on and
you go to another head coach. Yeah, I mean to
(32:32):
address the server really quick. When you suspend the guy
for a year, does that mean he doesn't get any
of the revenue share from the TV deals and whatever? Right,
I mean what's what's really the Pedaly, Hey, you have
to watch it at home instead of sitting in the box.
Don't get the same juice. But you're still owing the team. Okay,
moving on, but decided to start the process of selling
(32:52):
the sons in the mercury. Will get more details is
that evolves. As with this story, we'll get more details
and more specificity. Of sure. And the season long suspension,
to your point, is huge. Right, you've got a team
ready to win, you've had a team that's been embroiled
at a lot of controversy is the wrong word, but
speculation of what the next iteration is, where seemingly any
(33:16):
number of players could have been dealt in the off season,
and now you come back and for whatever portion of
the season, perhaps the full season, your coach isn't there,
the one that for half a year you battled to
get chemistry, found your stride and got to the NBA finals.
Now he's gonna be gone. Would seem that you just
(33:37):
exercise Uh and move on, Uh and find your next coach,
whoever that may be, whether it's Stevens returning to that
post or somebody else. But the the larger point of
the conduct and the relationship doesn't need to be, you know, hierarchical,
the up down corporate structure laterally, in other to heart mins.
(34:00):
It's it. Depending on the organization. They may have more
rigid rules and I think one of the lines of
this uh as it relates to things right now in
a very nebulous standpoint, just like the original Wozarowski tweet.
Jason is Boston's a big city. Do that stuff somewhere else,
(34:23):
not in the building, right. I mean they could just
have a pretty rigid policy there, again to be argued
about at a later date. But keeping him and retaining
if he's literally getting a full season suspension makes no
sense unless you're just convinced he's the next Steve Kerr
or Phil Jackson. I mean he I mean it's it's
(34:44):
so much to keep a guy like that. Sure keep
him around with that. It's really, really difficult. Now that
for me. The next part of what I want to
see is, okay, do the Celtics have different kind of
rules on relationships? Do they have something that's not the norm? Like, Hey,
the Celtics are the only team to have this as
part of their relationship rules and regulations, as opposed to
(35:06):
the other twenty nine teams in the NBA. That's gonna
because as these as these details get out, that's going
to to paint the entire story. So that, to me,
that's what is. Are the Celtics? Is it different? Or
is this just boilerplate hey, improper relationship, in which case,
then how do you keep the guy? The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen, our best of PODCAST, goes up
(35:27):
in about ten minutes on Itunes, wherever you listen to podcasts,
you can get it all the latest on the email.
Doka story is there. Subscribe, rate us. We'll love you
forever and ever and ever. Coming up next my buddy
Ben Malloy. You are listening to Fox sports radio.
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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