April 7, 2023 • 34 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon circle back to the Sergio Garcia media incident and it evolves into a larger discussion because Jason thinks the PGA bosses should embrace the LIV controversy. How many losses has Kevin Durant had since Thanksgiving weekend?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:24):
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome inside our three, The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harman, live
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(00:46):
dot com the way tire buying should be. Now, you know,
before we get into before we get into a couple
of things. You know, we talked about Freddie Couples a
few minutes ago and after day one of the Masters,
one of the big stories, uh sixty three years old.
He shot one under part today, been very outspoken his
criticism of Phil Mickelson and Sergei Vercia, and and I
(01:09):
forgot that Freddie Couples had a big impact on my
career when I was just starting out of the ESPN.
You great Freddie couple, big impact on your career. Great
Freddie couple stories. This is a great if you want
to guess, guess how this ends. So uh So, I
(01:29):
graduated college in ninety two and then I started as
a production assistant at ESPN. And one of the jobs
when you're a production assistant they give you is you
edit highlights for sporting events. You sit in front of
a big television screen and you watch a game and
you record it and you mark down the time where
a big play happens and when something you see something okay, great,
(01:49):
and then when the game is over, you take the recordings.
Back then it was on tapes. Now it's just on computers,
and you would go into an edit bay. You put
the highlight together and the highlight would air, and you know,
Dan and Keith would voice over your highlight. You'd give
them what's called a shot sheet with everything on it.
You would say something funny or describe the action. It
was a lot of fun. So when I first started
it at at ESPN, my shift was as a production
(02:13):
system was I would come in at like, you know,
one thirty two o'clock in the afternoon to work till
like ten or eleven at night. Right, that was a shift.
And when I came in, that was about the time
when a lot of golf tournaments were starting, just regular
golf tournaments that were on during the summer. And so
I'm there because I'm the product. Systn't there. Like the
first like one of my first days there, they said, here, Jason,
(02:34):
you're gonna watch you know, the Buick Open. I can't
remember what it was. You're gonna watch a Buick Open.
You're gonna cut the highlights for the six thirty show.
And I'm going, okay, and I'm going I've spent the
last four years drinking beer. I don't know any I
don't know any golfers. What are you kidding me? I
didn't know anybody, but I knew Freddie Couples, right because
he had just won the Masters. He was the you know,
(02:55):
the best that he was a golf for the year
and like ninety one ninety two something like that. He's
the only guy I knew, right, So I'm like, okay,
I don't know who to put in this highlight. I
don't know a lot, But when when Freddie Couples does something,
He's gonna go in the highlight, right, So it's so
it goes so happens that he has a day where
it's really frustrating for him, and he he had he
had a couple of really bad like two and three punts,
(03:16):
and he had a couple of great reactions where he
banged the club the clubhead against his forehead and everything.
And I'm like, this is gonna be a lot. And
the thing is, for the six thirty Sports Center, there
weren't a lot of games going on and say say, hey,
take like two minutes with your highlight right, like like
usually golf and like the late night sports there's like
thirty seconds second yet but because it's the only thing
(03:37):
going on, it's like, yeah, you go like two minutes
of going, I'm gonna show a minute Highland, but golf,
what am I gonna do? So I put Freddie Couples
in this highlight like all the way through and I'm going,
this is gonna be And it's not like he was
even doing well, but he was, you know, because it
was I think it was still he was coming off
winning the Masters. We hadn't had another major yet and
so Couples was this huge name, and like there'd been
(03:58):
a bunch of turns, but I got him all through
the highlight not playing well. So my highlight runs everything
else and it runs and I'm going, Okay. At the
end of the day, your boss sits down with you
and tells you about how how they thought you did today.
And my boss he goes, hey, are you a big
golf fan? And I just kind of I'd go, oh,
oh yeah, absolutely, So I just so, here's this kid,
he's gonna come up. His name is gonna be Tigers.
(04:21):
He was a little kid. He was playing on you
just Wait wait five years from this guy that was
on the Mike Ducklings show, You Just Wait, all right.
Uh So I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and
I go, ah, he goes, because everybody loved your highlight,
that was awesome. I said, oh, thanks, just you had
a great narrative with Freddy Couples and that was great.
And he's telling me all these things. I'm going, oh
(04:42):
my god, I had no idea what I was doing,
but okay, great, So what do you think that happened?
I became the golf pa nice whatever it would come
in and there was a comment give it to Chase
that I'm going, I don't know it. I'm going to
keep putting Freddy couples in this highlight so and I'm
so nervous every single time because I I'm like, yeah, oh,
Jason's kind of give him like two and a half minutes,
(05:03):
give him like two and a half minutes wherever he's
got for this cop I'm going, oh, yeah, you're yelling
it golf, stop man. So they'll be doing that, and
then it was only part of my day because then
I would go to a baseball game that night or
nbaing it, whatever it was, and I have to edit that.
It's like, okay, that's more my wheelhouse. But every time
there was goffence, right, Jason's doing the golf, you would
(05:23):
I'm like, oh my god, come on. Then it got
to the point where I was I was putting features together,
like they would send them in from sight and they
would say, hey, Jimmy Roberts has this feature on VJ
sing or whatever it was, You're gonna put it together
into Jason. Why am I putting it? Why am I
doing this? They channeled Walton when you said that you
why am I why am I doing this. I'm not
(05:46):
a big golf fan, but it was like the entire
summer was all I was like the golf p Yeah,
let Jason do it. I'm going this is I'm so
stressed every single thing. And it's not like I could
sit there and get on the computer right away and
look up how good a guy was. Now I could
still do research on it, but it was like, you know,
(06:06):
and I would have like the Golf Guide with me
so I could look up somebody if I needed to
look them up. And and apparently they thought, well, that's
why he does so well. He doesn't know somebody looks
something up. I'm like, I'm just looking up to see
who this guy is. Like, is this guy any good?
If he has a birdie on thirteen? Do I have
to put him in the highlight or no, doesn't matter
where he's finishing. Like I knew nothing. And it was
(06:27):
so I was stressed out so much every single time
when they gave me so much golf, And I was
so happy when we got into the end of the
summer and we got into you know, baseball got to
the playoffs and everything else and football started in college football,
I'm like, oh, thank got seconds here, right, I gotta
get out. I gotta get out. But the guy it
(06:47):
was so stressful. And then there was times where producer
would come down and saying, Andy, Hey, did they show
when when Phil Mickelson did this on seven? I'm going, oh, no,
they were all they were commercial? Yeah, I think so,
I'm going I don't no, I have no idea. I
was watching the Mets alone. I was watching the Mets.
Did they show Norman when he blasted out of the
(07:09):
sandtrap on sixteen and the sand went everywhere? I'm like, oh, yeah,
but I mean I didn't put it because yeah, I
guess you had a lot of other good stuff. Yeah yeah,
I'm like, okay, okay. I mean every single time they
would give me golf, I was so stressed. I was
so stressed out because that also just so happened to
be the sport because you know, the golf is has
long had this opinion golf is popular with older people,
(07:30):
and so all the producers and the coordinating producers, who
were all in their forties and fifties all loved golf, right.
They all they did was watched the golf. Like during
the day, they didn't watch day, baseball or anything else. No, no, no,
they watched golf, and so they were like I felt like,
oh my god, No, I got the experts that are
gradingly on my golf highlights. Okay, okay, did you do this?
(07:51):
Did you do this? I'm like, oh, why are you
spending so much time on this? This is a deposit guarantee,
this is the greater Artford Open. What was so much stressed?
But Freddie Couples, I mean, I gotta say thanks, I
guess because they knew who I was and they gave
me important stuff to do. So I thank Freddie Couples
for that. But at the same time, I'm like, if
I don't do that Freddie Couples highlight, maybe I'm not
(08:13):
as stressed. My first four or five months there as
a production assistant. Wow, that is fantastic. Oh look at that.
And then little victories along the way, and you became
the golf guy. I know. I still remember the one
reaction shot I put in where where he missed like
a like a one like a one footer and he
just banged his head with his club hit with clubface,
(08:33):
and I still remember him doing it, and they put
it in the teas they put it in the teas
for the live like, oh, that's a great shot. How
did you see that? That was awesome? I'm like, yeah,
because it was. They said Freddy Couples, and I have
Freddie Couples. Freddy Couples. I mean, that's how I can
still remember that. I still remember that shot and they
put it. It It was such a big deal. Oh my goodness.
I was so much so stressed. So but hey, then
(08:53):
I started to really appreciate liking golf, really loving it,
enjoying it. Now I play it. I played with my
dad a lot, you know, I've played with my friends
for a long time, so so it's great. But I'll
never forget that. Every time I hear Freddie Couples, I
think I think of that run of highlights where I
just had to cut, Like you ever send him a
thank you note? You probably should. If it wasn't for you,
I would have been noticed. However, Hey, hey, thanks Freddy
(09:15):
for that really bad around you had when you went
home at the Buick on Friday. Because I was able
to do really well at ESPN because of that, Thanks Freddie. Freddy,
I was so nervous. I can't tell you that I'm
sitting in front of people would come by and watch,
like over my shoulder because they wanted to watch golf
for a few minutes. I'm like, you got just leave
(09:36):
me alone, just let me look at this and figure
out what the hell I'm doing. Come on, you can't
do this to me. So that's why today I could
celebrate Freddie Couples being sixty three and shooting one under
without having to stress about it. And I guarantee you
whoever the production assistant was was watching day one of
the matches like how much do I have to put
Freddie Couples and do I have to put it into it?
(09:57):
Was a young smith. I don't know, I don't know.
You know, back in nineteen ninety three when I was here,
let me tell you, there was this young pa. You
can hear him on the radio now on Fox Sports right.
He was here for a while too at ESPN, and
uh he came down. He cut a Freddie Couple's highlight
that really turned him into a star production assistant here
(10:17):
at ESPN. You could be that guy. So just keep
an eye out for everything you need to know here. Um,
does that mean fred Couples has to be in the highlight?
Or or no, I don't understand. What do I do?
How many live golfers do I put in the highlight?
I don't I want to know, you know what, that
would be an interesting discussion to have with your bosses though.
(10:37):
How much do we use the live guys in the
top five or top ten? Yeah? Or are we following
the name guys? What are we doing here? Is it
a shot of the day? Are they make it in
the highlight? Do they not? Do they get an is
so shot? Or are they just part of them ontage?
I mean, what kind of statement do we make it here?
What are we looking to do? Are we editorializing in
the highlights? Were showing we're only showing peach tour golfers.
(11:01):
You want the live highlight, you turn into the CW.
All right, we're just showing it. Is this guy blurred out?
When you're showing this shot, we're just blurring about. It
doesn't look like a dementur, you know. But you bring
up a really good point when when it comes to
the masters and this is not this is not blood
lust me saying I want blood No, but oh I'll
(11:24):
be that guy. Go ahead. What you have seen and
what I thought we would get today for Day one
of the Masters and what we wound up actually getting
are two completely different things because this was the first
time that you are seeing the PGA Tour golfers and
the live golfers all have to coexist after having a
little bit of time to get through leaving for the
(11:46):
live tour. How upset or people when they're first going
the slow exodus of people who kept going. Now after
an off season and people have had time to think
about it. This is the first time they've all really
gotten together after the dust and settled and when all right,
let me tell me, catch your breath. Am I really
mad at these guys for going? Am I mad at there?
Am I jealous? They were getting money? Am I pissed
(12:07):
at the PGA Tour might suffer, but this was going
to be the first time you were going to see
them all together and this was where and I'm sorry,
but golf has to understand that. You know, you can
ask yourself all you want, how do we move past
the Tiger Woods era and golf Because we haven't found
a way to do it. This PGA Tour live golf
rivalry is huge. People don't watch a live tour, but
(12:29):
it doesn't matter. We talk about it. We talk about
what is said between PGA Tour golfers and Live tour golfers.
I mentioned Freddie Couple's blowtorching Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia,
and Sergio Garcia getting mad today at the press conference
when he's asked about the Live Tour. We need these
guys to continue to unload on each other and speak
their minds, because that is a really big deal. We
(12:53):
love rivalries in sports, we love feuds. And this doesn't
mean I want something to get physical or anything like that. No,
what I'm saying is, hey, I get that. Hey, you
know we want to just kind of concentrate on the
golf right now. Um no, you really want to get eyeballs.
You want more people to watch, you want people to continue.
This is the time to say, hey, you know what, Yeah,
I don't I don't like to live guys playing on
(13:14):
this tour, and I don't think they should be here
at the Masters. You know it's not my call, but
I wouldn't want them here. And if I'm the Live
Tour guys, I want to say, you know, I'm sick
of being you know, putting a hole here and said
to hey, you know, you shouldn't even be in this tournament.
You know what, we're independent contractors. They need to kind
of foster this a little bit because this is really interesting.
We've talked more golf in the last year because of
(13:35):
this Live Tour then we've said anything else besides Tiger
Woods of the past twenty years. And so yeah, this
is one of those rivalries that you kind of need
to embrace it a little bit. And if I'm the
PGA Tour, I'm encouraging my guys speak your mind about
the Live Tour, say whatever you want to. And if
I'm Greg Norman, I'm telling the guys the Live Tour
speak your mind about the PGA Tour because no matter what,
(13:56):
this is good for golf, and it's good. Everybody's out here.
Everybody's picking sides, everybody's using sites. Yes, it's polarizing, but
it doesn't matter. Maybe it's gonna get more people to
watch live golf than than the the fifty five people
that watch them the CW one Sunday afternoon. So it's
it's a real missed opportunity right now, because hey, we
want to go gentlemanly. No, keep the gloves off, you
talk to earthier, you take shots to do it when
(14:16):
you're at the event with them, do it. That's where
you should be doing it. When they're right there and
you can do it face to face. Well, that's just it, right.
Everybody can talk from one hundreds of miles away. It's
the classic athlete coach gm argument of it's easy to
do it from your mom's basement or a studio, or
when you don't have to face folks. When you know
you're a columnist, but you're you're and you're covering a beat,
(14:39):
but you don't go to the locker room things of
that nature. You work in a you know, in a
city as part of the local media, and you don't
get around the ballpark and such. Sometimes the day part
that you're on doesn't allow it a ton, but there's
got to be some effort made there to just say, look,
I'll own it. Likewise, here, guys chirp in the media,
(14:59):
you take your backhanded comments to whoever you're doing an
interview with or in your social media or whatever. Here's
your chance to have it out. As you say, rivalry,
get some heat, get some folks excited. And it's not
that you're going to dismiss the Masters, but it's the
larger PGA tour and these big events coming up that
(15:23):
you want to make sure you've got the eyeballs. Look,
Tiger Woods may not be around beyond tomorrow, right, plus
two your leaders were seven under today, tied three away
tie for first place, and you've got a couple of
live guys up near the top. So it's going to
be part of the conversation that swells. So you might
as well embrace it off the jump and see if
(15:44):
you can't generate a little bit of heat there. Smack
talk always wins, didn't We just learn that from the
NZ doable a women's tournament, even if it got into
really silly and nonsensical pieces, it got tongues wagon, it
sold a lot of jerseys and t shirts and Iowas
had to suspend their season ticket sales. Guess what price
(16:05):
of coffee just went up? Twitter at How about a fresca?
Mike gets swollen down the Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Harmon. Don't leave opportunities like this on
the floor coming up next? Hey, um, something that's gonna
make the rest of the NBA really afraid for the Playoffs.
After what just went down, keep it right here, that's
(16:28):
next in the tireract dot Com Studios Jason and Mike Fox.
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 iHeartRadio app
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon Live from the Tireract dot Com Studios.
(16:50):
Tonight show brought to my Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling
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in one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. Well,
we just watched the Suns having a little bit more
trouble than they should have with the Denver Nuggets, but
(17:10):
it doesn't matter. The Sun's come away with a victory
you thought the Suns would win. Is a bit big,
but No. One nineteen one fifteen is your final. Uh,
Kevin Durant A big night, twenty nine points for the Suns.
And we're gonna get into something really big here for
a second. But I have a big pop quiz. I'm
gonna ask a question. Get Monty blogs on here, Ty
(17:32):
Shirt and Ricky harmon you guys. I got a quick
young may TJ. He had a heart of stone. I'm
gonna give you a question. I want you to give
me what you think is the is the right answer?
You guys already I don't know. This is gonna slay you.
I mean this is really you're gonna go no way, absolutely,
(17:52):
because it's gonna absolutely slay you are. We gonna go
see Dungeons and Dragons now we should, let's go. Let's go. Okay, Okay,
there's only certain movies we'll go. We're gonna get that tonight.
Hang on, hang on, there's only certain movies. I will
stay up until three o'clock in the morning to go
see John. This one's not three and a half hours long.
It doesn't matter. You can see this Jay and I'll
go see it. But I'm not gonna go with I'm
(18:12):
not gonna go with. You know, eleven thirty at night,
if I pulled the friend card, you won't do it. Wow,
you're gonna do that to me? I said. If I
didn't say I would, Okay, you can pull the friend
card now. I don't know now I'm worried. I know
I want to uh like one good friend card in
five years. I think I would. I would say, you
(18:34):
really want to play that when you win, when you
really want to play that one time, when you know
that you can wind up winning this all It'd be
a tough one to win. Tough. I'll just go with Mike.
All right, you guys ready, let's go. There's your question?
Were ready? All right? Here we go and no, no,
look out, I will trust you all that. None of
you look at your computer, b Ben, Ben, Let's go.
(18:55):
How many games has Kevin Durant lost since Thanksgiving weekend?
How many games has Kevin Durant lost since Thanksgiving weekend? Oh?
How many games? He lost? Games? And he's played in
not his team, he hasn't lost any in his How
many games has Kevin Durant played in and lost since
(19:18):
Thanksgiving weekend? You're gonna go one? Okay, tight shirt, I'm
saying twenty two. He's lost everyone, Okay, serious question. How
many has he played? Uh? Hang on, he's twenty seven? Okay, five? Okay,
(19:44):
you get five, Ricky? How many are you going with?
I'm going zero? Zero? Okay, Monsey? What do you got
how many? I'll go at three three. All of you
are wrong. However, all of you you are around it.
So it's a two the correct answer. What if it
(20:04):
was for it could be four. Well, you said we
were around it. I went one. There was a three,
there was a zero, one of three and of five
and tie shirts twenty two. You're not around them. There's
a zero one of three out of five. Since Thanksgiving weekend,
Kevin Durant has played in and lost two games. Two
(20:26):
games on Sunday, December fourth, when he was with the Nets,
they lost to Boston and then on Wednesday, January fourth,
they lost to the Bulls, which I mean, come on,
that's it. Those are the only games Kevin Durant has
lost since Thanksgiving weekend. That's a stat. That's a stat. Yeah,
(20:49):
that's a stat. And that's a homebook stat because I said,
I don't think he's lost a lot of because I'm sing,
they're going I know, I know he's undefeated, and that's
what we're gonna get too, coming up in a couple
of seconds. He hasn't lost with with with with the Sun,
but they had that big long wind streak. I don't
think he's lost like it two games and Thanksgiving weekend?
Two games? Two games? You guys manage, are all around it.
(21:09):
You congratulate you guys were all around it. Stay very nice,
very couldn't rope but dope me. Very nice, Monsey, Monsey,
I expect you to lead with that in what's trying
to get a few minutes? Well, all right, very good?
You sent me only lost two Yeah, tight shirt, just
getting this? Uh yeah, two games? I think had two?
(21:30):
New Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?
Who is he doing this the whole time? What's next?
The dollars falling? It can't handle all this? White rib
doesn't exist year round? Now you're crazy? Wait, don't we
don't use the Euro? I thought the entire world uses
the Euro. I don't have any gold. I don't know. No,
(21:52):
I don't have bags of grain in my basement. So
why it is it good or bad that I have crypto?
I don't understand even on it for is my spoil
it overflowing? I got a plunger. K D has lost
two games since Thanksgiving weekend, undefeated with the Suns. Now,
I said the suns are gonna start blowing if you
remember when the Sun's got him. I said, this is
(22:14):
a game changer because as long as Kevin Durant is healthy,
watch the Suns just start blowing teams out. Now, the
big thing was him being healthy, right because we talked
last night about this Western Conference. You feel like boy
Denver's got the big advantage, and they do. The big
question is ken Kevin Durant stay healthy throughout the playoffs
(22:35):
because that's the only thing. He can still be the
dominant guy. He can still wind up being someone to
take the team on their shoulders. It's a great fit
with him in Phoenix where Devin Booker is still young. Okay,
Kad's gonna come in. I understand, I'll do my thing
most nights. It's gonna be me Sun nights, It'll be KD.
It takes a little bit of pressure off of Chris
(22:55):
Paul and we know that we're not configured to win
the way it is right now because Chris Paul is
older and we're just not. But they go get Kevin
Durant and I said, watch, they're gonna start blowing teams out. Well,
they haven't won every game and a blowout, but they
are unbeaten since Kevin Durant started playing with them after
getting traded at the end of February. That's why this is.
(23:18):
They were so dangerous, and I say, they're gonna start
blitzing through teams and watch out because the Suns are
gonna be your big time trendy NBA Finals picks, and
they're probably gonna be my NBA Finals pick. As long
as he's healthy, maybe I'll go and give an examination
for them to be a doctor going. So I want
to make sure you're okay before he picking guys to
win the NBA title. So don't want to. I don't
want to fall for this again, because like Kevin Durant,
(23:38):
I feel like either needs to be either to go
all in on Durant and the Suns or on the
never again list, like I can't. I can't pick Durant again.
He hasn't done it. But you know, look, I'm old
enough to remember when he won the NBA Finals MVPs
a couple of times, and how he was still the
best player on the planet until he got hurt and
he's still one of the top five players in the
game now when he is healthy. I mean, they are
(23:59):
beating everybody. They beat Denver twice. You know they've They've
won games that by fifteen points, by twenty points, and
won games by five points. He's averaging about thirty a
game or twenty seven a game. Since he's coming to
the Suns. I mean, people are sleeping on them. It's like, yeah,
maybe no, this is like that team that's jumping right
in the mix with Milwaukee and Boston and Denver and Memphis.
(24:22):
It's like, okay, there, these are the teams that can
win the NBA title, right and now you got you
gotta throw them in there. And I'm telling you, as
long as he's healthy, we get to the end of
the season and Kevin Durant is healthy, I know I'm
gonna pick the Suns to win the NBA title because
they're just that dangerous with him. They're a completely different team.
A little more difficult tonight than it should have been.
But I's gonna say, yeah, but you can't just dismiss
(24:44):
these he just game. Then a home game, Bruce Brown
comes through with his thirty one A guy averaging eleven
points a game for the Nuggets, thrust into the spotlight
with everybody else sitting down, and they win by four.
Come on. You're selling me this bill of goods. I'd
see yea barely escaped. But at the same time, you're
locked into the fourth spot. You're not you're not getting
(25:05):
up to three and you're not dropping out of well
cos you play you want well. You want they what
they've won every game with Durant, they want everyone has laws.
It's going to become a son. I mean, people are
sleeping on the suns and how good they can be
as long as he is healthy. And yes it is
a caveat, but you have to because Durant is shown
he's not someone that can be reliable and relied on.
When when it comes to guys like Durant and Lebron
(25:29):
and Harden and even in Bed to an extent, although
he's been healthier than you know the last couple of years,
when it comes to certain players that have missed all
kinds of time, you just have to hope that we're
timing it where he's going to be healthy for the
for the bulk of the playoffs, for all the way through.
Can you get your injury out of the way, because
you know you're gonna get injured, Can you get it
(25:50):
out of the way, And can you be strong and
that marathon playoffs, uh sprint that we have that's over
two months that you've got to win four rounds of
playoffs and it's best seven every time. Can you just
time it right, because if you time it where well,
the injury happens into the regular season, then you're stuck. Right.
So you got to be able to time it to
make sure that and hope and hope you luck into
(26:11):
the fact that, well, hey, Katie's got his injury out
of the way. He got his yearly injury out of
the way. Like he was hurt, he came back a
couple of games ago, he's playing great. Now he's going
to be good the rest of the way. I mean,
it's a big gamble to gamble with the Lakers to
hope that Lebron is going to be healthy. But now
it looks like maybe he's gotten his injury out of
the way and they can maybe do a little bit
of damage in the playoffs. Same thing with some of
these other guys that just get to keep getting hurt
(26:32):
and hurt and hurt. You got to hope that well,
we just get the right timing one year, because most
years it might not happen for us. Well with Lebron
I mean, as you invoke his name, did he have
smelling salts at halftime? Was it just a changing of
the shoes? Like look glenthargink and disinterested in the first half,
and then all of a sudden he played like a
man with his hair on fire. I was waiting for
(26:55):
the old NBA jam he's on fire as we start
getting into that. But but that is the detail of
NBA Playoffs twenty three is we've got a lot of
top notch players that we get excited about and think, Okay,
they could go on a run dot dot dot if
(27:16):
And that's where we're at the Lakers. It's both Davis
and James Yokich and his band of merryman not necessarily
that you're looking at him, although he's a bit banged
up from all the weary miles he's had to carry
this squad with Porter Junior and Murray not always available,
and you know, are they gonna be fully ready to
(27:36):
go for a playoff run? Don't know. Kevin Durant great
what he plays, great for everybody, great for business. Will
he play Chris Paul? You invoked him, so let's talk
about him a second, right, I mean, all these guys,
like pretty much every one of our principles has missed time,
(27:57):
or you've got guys like Giannis, it's like, hey, if
you're a little bit sorry, you can take another night
off because we don't need you to play. So you've
had those circumstances. But there's just so many questions and
in the Western Conference, as we've chronicled a lot on
the show these last couple of weeks, coming down the
wire as we get playoffs seating set and still seeing
what Golden State and the final slots of the play
(28:20):
and become. It's it's good theater and it's exactly what
the NBA would hope it would be. Now, if we
can just get guys to start chirping and john at
each other like the Warriors and Grizzlies do and go
through a full shoot interview and calling out cities and
calling out names, that would be good for business. Twitter
shot type of a guy ripping a sign. Sure, an
(28:43):
that'll work because I could make that into a gift too.
That'll work. That'll work for you. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon
weekdays at ten pm. Eastern seven pm Pacific Fox Sports
Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike
Harmony from the tirerac dot Com studio. Tonight shoe brought
you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
(29:06):
Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection in one place. Bundle
and say vat Progressive dot Com. Well, earlier tonight, we
had NBA dot com insider Mark Medina on the show
of US longtime friend of the show, so I was
bothered this every week and talk basketball. We had some
fun with the latest MVP situation. Oh mbiad wins it
(29:28):
last night, but they lose tonight. Can and beat still
be the MVP? And he let drop a nugget about
how often he gets canvassed about who he's going to
vote for for MVP And apparently, yeah, it's very regular
that representatives of players call to try to convince him
(29:50):
to vote for their clients. With presidential polls, right, it's
always by the day. I guess we'll have to do
the same thing with MVP. And I think to extend
that political election analogy, I'm getting calls from people from
different teams, you know, representing the different MVP candidates, trying
to pitch their case. It's really amusing. But the bottom
(30:13):
line is, heay, really you are You're getting phone calls,
but really it's like, are you getting the robot calls?
You answer your It's not a robot call, it's an
actual live person. But it's amusing. It's like, all right,
like stay your case, beyond the obvious that that players,
what's your team? It is funny though, but the bottom
line is there's no such thing as a wrong vote.
(30:35):
This year. I'm getting calls from people, like different teams
trying to pitch their candidates for MVP. I mean that's
just I mean, I really I pitched your answer the
phone going Hello, this is James Dolan. I gave Jalen
Brunson a lot of money, but he's come through with
highlights like this, and then they play a bunch of
(30:55):
high exactly. It's like a full on political ad paid
to me. Do you elect Brunson as MVP? Oh? I mean,
I can't imagine. He's got an answer the phone going hey,
hay that oh it's Embad's agent and he turned honey
I'm gonna be on the phone for a while. It's
it's it's it's Embad's agent. He's gonna keep talking about
how he should be the MVP. I'm gonna be out
(31:15):
at leasa and at LEAs an hour. Go do whatever
you want to do. If you need to run to
the store, that's fine. I'll still be on the phone
when you get back. We now have to pick team
songs for all these guys, so they have to so
the song starts playing when you pick up the phone,
so you know who. It is. Kind of like a
WWE entrance all right. Here it comes to highlights, and
then they have to do a voiceover. Right, here's thirty
to sixty seconds of them selling or it's like all
(31:39):
of the Hall of Fame induction speech where someone's now
doing the hyping for them. Really, I can't imagine. I
can't imagine having to put up with phone calls from
I'm saying, hey, how about you vote from my client,
what do you think about about my guy for MVP? Yes,
Yokich I vote I for Yes twice last year. I
(32:00):
just wanted to make sure to want to make sure
he's out there. I'm gonna make sure. I can't imagine
making those phone calls, like I can't believe it's the
person's agent, but it's got to be somebody working with
them in their pr side or something else going. Hey,
you want to call and make sure that everybody knows
what a big night in my client had the other night.
I gotta get you the MVP. A lot of people
at work. This MVP just doesn't happen because you go
on the court and play well, you know, I gotta
(32:21):
make phone calls making sure people know exactly what you
did last night. No, I did that every day. And
you know I told you the story. Once upon a time,
you know, as a as a youngster, before my body
started to break, I was recruiting, getting recruited for football,
and I can tell you at six o'clock every day,
phone was gonna ring. He's gonna take the entrance exam
with us, and they'd have some The coach was on
(32:43):
the line, and he always have something he wanted to
sell me on about the school. I can count on it,
like clockworks. Same thing. Here Medina's phone sitting next to him.
Seven oh five. Hey, here we are live in Denver.
Let me tell you about Nicole Yogi and why he
should be your m DV for the third straight year. Hey, Mark,
(33:03):
it's Jim Jim, Jim Jim, just to ask, just to
ask you. You have you haven't You haven't heard from
Jannis's people today? Have You Just want to make sure
that they called you because I want it okay, because
you know, you didn't really have a big game. You know,
I don't want to talk out of school. But you
know Yannis only had twenty tonight, So I mean, I
don't know what you're saying, but boy, did you watch
MB Did I started talking down? Did you see his
body language at the end of the scure He's gonna
(33:26):
slug that guy before the season adds. You know, I'm
not saying I heard Yannis if he won the MVP,
he would actually uh not accept it, So I wouldn't
vote for him because that's pretty embarrassing. Joel Embad he'll
accept it, you know, Jalen Brunson will accept it. I
I this has this has become my favorite story of
the night. Just picture him having to listen people pitch
(33:46):
their clients for how well they are and how that
you would envy those billable hours who do you feel
it for the course of course, are you kidding? Of course,
this is where a player goes. Where does all my
money go to trying to get you? MVP got a
big story out of the National A Pauli coming up next,
Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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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
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(00:24):
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome inside our three, The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harman, live
from the tirerac dot Com studios tiract dot com. I'll
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free road hazard protection, over ten thousand recommended installers, tireract
(00:46):
dot com the way tire buying should be. Now, you know,
before we get into before we get into a couple
of things. You know, we talked about Freddie Couples a
few minutes ago and after day one of the Masters,
one of the big stories, uh sixty three years old.
He shot one under part today, been very outspoken his
criticism of Phil Mickelson and Sergei Vercia, and and I
(01:09):
forgot that Freddie Couples had a big impact on my
career when I was just starting out of the ESPN.
You great Freddie couple, big impact on your career. Great
Freddie couple stories. This is a great if you want
to guess, guess how this ends. So uh So, I
(01:29):
graduated college in ninety two and then I started as
a production assistant at ESPN. And one of the jobs
when you're a production assistant they give you is you
edit highlights for sporting events. You sit in front of
a big television screen and you watch a game and
you record it and you mark down the time where
a big play happens and when something you see something okay, great,
(01:49):
and then when the game is over, you take the recordings.
Back then it was on tapes. Now it's just on computers,
and you would go into an edit bay. You put
the highlight together and the highlight would air, and you know,
Dan and Keith would voice over your highlight. You'd give
them what's called a shot sheet with everything on it.
You would say something funny or describe the action. It
was a lot of fun. So when I first started
it at at ESPN, my shift was as a production
(02:13):
system was I would come in at like, you know,
one thirty two o'clock in the afternoon to work till
like ten or eleven at night. Right, that was a shift.
And when I came in, that was about the time
when a lot of golf tournaments were starting, just regular
golf tournaments that were on during the summer. And so
I'm there because I'm the product. Systn't there. Like the
first like one of my first days there, they said, here, Jason,
(02:34):
you're gonna watch you know, the Buick Open. I can't
remember what it was. You're gonna watch a Buick Open.
You're gonna cut the highlights for the six thirty show.
And I'm going, okay, and I'm going I've spent the
last four years drinking beer. I don't know any I
don't know any golfers. What are you kidding me? I
didn't know anybody, but I knew Freddie Couples, right because
he had just won the Masters. He was the you know,
(02:55):
the best that he was a golf for the year
and like ninety one ninety two something like that. He's
the only guy I knew, right, So I'm like, okay,
I don't know who to put in this highlight. I
don't know a lot, But when when Freddie Couples does something,
He's gonna go in the highlight, right, So it's so
it goes so happens that he has a day where
it's really frustrating for him, and he he had he
had a couple of really bad like two and three punts,
(03:16):
and he had a couple of great reactions where he
banged the club the clubhead against his forehead and everything.
And I'm like, this is gonna be a lot. And
the thing is, for the six thirty Sports Center, there
weren't a lot of games going on and say say, hey,
take like two minutes with your highlight right, like like
usually golf and like the late night sports there's like
thirty seconds second yet but because it's the only thing
(03:37):
going on, it's like, yeah, you go like two minutes
of going, I'm gonna show a minute Highland, but golf,
what am I gonna do? So I put Freddie Couples
in this highlight like all the way through and I'm going,
this is gonna be And it's not like he was
even doing well, but he was, you know, because it
was I think it was still he was coming off
winning the Masters. We hadn't had another major yet and
so Couples was this huge name, and like there'd been
(03:58):
a bunch of turns, but I got him all through
the highlight not playing well. So my highlight runs everything
else and it runs and I'm going, Okay. At the
end of the day, your boss sits down with you
and tells you about how how they thought you did today.
And my boss he goes, hey, are you a big
golf fan? And I just kind of I'd go, oh,
oh yeah, absolutely, So I just so, here's this kid,
he's gonna come up. His name is gonna be Tigers.
(04:21):
He was a little kid. He was playing on you
just Wait wait five years from this guy that was
on the Mike Ducklings show, You Just Wait, all right.
Uh So I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and
I go, ah, he goes, because everybody loved your highlight,
that was awesome. I said, oh, thanks, just you had
a great narrative with Freddy Couples and that was great.
And he's telling me all these things. I'm going, oh
(04:42):
my god, I had no idea what I was doing,
but okay, great, So what do you think that happened?
I became the golf pa nice whatever it would come
in and there was a comment give it to Chase
that I'm going, I don't know it. I'm going to
keep putting Freddy couples in this highlight so and I'm
so nervous every single time because I I'm like, yeah, oh,
Jason's kind of give him like two and a half minutes,
(05:03):
give him like two and a half minutes wherever he's
got for this cop I'm going, oh, yeah, you're yelling
it golf, stop man. So they'll be doing that, and
then it was only part of my day because then
I would go to a baseball game that night or
nbaing it, whatever it was, and I have to edit that.
It's like, okay, that's more my wheelhouse. But every time
there was goffence, right, Jason's doing the golf, you would
(05:23):
I'm like, oh my god, come on. Then it got
to the point where I was I was putting features together,
like they would send them in from sight and they
would say, hey, Jimmy Roberts has this feature on VJ
sing or whatever it was, You're gonna put it together
into Jason. Why am I putting it? Why am I
doing this? They channeled Walton when you said that you
why am I why am I doing this. I'm not
(05:46):
a big golf fan, but it was like the entire
summer was all I was like the golf p Yeah,
let Jason do it. I'm going this is I'm so
stressed every single thing. And it's not like I could
sit there and get on the computer right away and
look up how good a guy was. Now I could
still do research on it, but it was like, you know,
(06:06):
and I would have like the Golf Guide with me
so I could look up somebody if I needed to
look them up. And and apparently they thought, well, that's
why he does so well. He doesn't know somebody looks
something up. I'm like, I'm just looking up to see
who this guy is. Like, is this guy any good?
If he has a birdie on thirteen? Do I have
to put him in the highlight or no, doesn't matter
where he's finishing. Like I knew nothing. And it was
(06:27):
so I was stressed out so much every single time
when they gave me so much golf, And I was
so happy when we got into the end of the
summer and we got into you know, baseball got to
the playoffs and everything else and football started in college football,
I'm like, oh, thank got seconds here, right, I gotta
get out. I gotta get out. But the guy it
(06:47):
was so stressful. And then there was times where producer
would come down and saying, Andy, Hey, did they show
when when Phil Mickelson did this on seven? I'm going, oh, no,
they were all they were commercial? Yeah, I think so,
I'm going I don't no, I have no idea. I
was watching the Mets alone. I was watching the Mets.
Did they show Norman when he blasted out of the
(07:09):
sandtrap on sixteen and the sand went everywhere? I'm like, oh, yeah,
but I mean I didn't put it because yeah, I
guess you had a lot of other good stuff. Yeah yeah,
I'm like, okay, okay. I mean every single time they
would give me golf, I was so stressed. I was
so stressed out because that also just so happened to
be the sport because you know, the golf is has
long had this opinion golf is popular with older people,
(07:30):
and so all the producers and the coordinating producers, who
were all in their forties and fifties all loved golf, right.
They all they did was watched the golf. Like during
the day, they didn't watch day, baseball or anything else. No, no, no,
they watched golf, and so they were like I felt like,
oh my god, No, I got the experts that are
gradingly on my golf highlights. Okay, okay, did you do this?
(07:51):
Did you do this? I'm like, oh, why are you
spending so much time on this? This is a deposit guarantee,
this is the greater Artford Open. What was so much stressed?
But Freddie Couples, I mean, I gotta say thanks, I
guess because they knew who I was and they gave
me important stuff to do. So I thank Freddie Couples
for that. But at the same time, I'm like, if
I don't do that Freddie Couples highlight, maybe I'm not
(08:13):
as stressed. My first four or five months there as
a production assistant. Wow, that is fantastic. Oh look at that.
And then little victories along the way, and you became
the golf guy. I know. I still remember the one
reaction shot I put in where where he missed like
a like a one like a one footer and he
just banged his head with his club hit with clubface,
(08:33):
and I still remember him doing it, and they put
it in the teas they put it in the teas
for the live like, oh, that's a great shot. How
did you see that? That was awesome? I'm like, yeah,
because it was. They said Freddy Couples, and I have
Freddie Couples. Freddy Couples. I mean, that's how I can
still remember that. I still remember that shot and they
put it. It It was such a big deal. Oh my goodness.
I was so much so stressed. So but hey, then
(08:53):
I started to really appreciate liking golf, really loving it,
enjoying it. Now I play it. I played with my
dad a lot, you know, I've played with my friends
for a long time, so so it's great. But I'll
never forget that. Every time I hear Freddie Couples, I
think I think of that run of highlights where I
just had to cut, Like you ever send him a
thank you note? You probably should. If it wasn't for you,
I would have been noticed. However, Hey, hey, thanks Freddy
(09:15):
for that really bad around you had when you went
home at the Buick on Friday. Because I was able
to do really well at ESPN because of that, Thanks Freddie. Freddy,
I was so nervous. I can't tell you that I'm
sitting in front of people would come by and watch,
like over my shoulder because they wanted to watch golf
for a few minutes. I'm like, you got just leave
(09:36):
me alone, just let me look at this and figure
out what the hell I'm doing. Come on, you can't
do this to me. So that's why today I could
celebrate Freddie Couples being sixty three and shooting one under
without having to stress about it. And I guarantee you
whoever the production assistant was was watching day one of
the matches like how much do I have to put
Freddie Couples and do I have to put it into it?
(09:57):
Was a young smith. I don't know, I don't know.
You know, back in nineteen ninety three when I was here,
let me tell you, there was this young pa. You
can hear him on the radio now on Fox Sports right.
He was here for a while too at ESPN, and
uh he came down. He cut a Freddie Couple's highlight
that really turned him into a star production assistant here
(10:17):
at ESPN. You could be that guy. So just keep
an eye out for everything you need to know here. Um,
does that mean fred Couples has to be in the highlight?
Or or no, I don't understand. What do I do?
How many live golfers do I put in the highlight?
I don't I want to know, you know what, that
would be an interesting discussion to have with your bosses though.
(10:37):
How much do we use the live guys in the
top five or top ten? Yeah? Or are we following
the name guys? What are we doing here? Is it
a shot of the day? Are they make it in
the highlight? Do they not? Do they get an is
so shot? Or are they just part of them ontage?
I mean, what kind of statement do we make it here?
What are we looking to do? Are we editorializing in
the highlights? Were showing we're only showing peach tour golfers.
(11:01):
You want the live highlight, you turn into the CW.
All right, we're just showing it. Is this guy blurred out?
When you're showing this shot, we're just blurring about. It
doesn't look like a dementur, you know. But you bring
up a really good point when when it comes to
the masters and this is not this is not blood
lust me saying I want blood No, but oh I'll
(11:24):
be that guy. Go ahead. What you have seen and
what I thought we would get today for Day one
of the Masters and what we wound up actually getting
are two completely different things because this was the first
time that you are seeing the PGA Tour golfers and
the live golfers all have to coexist after having a
little bit of time to get through leaving for the
(11:46):
live tour. How upset or people when they're first going
the slow exodus of people who kept going. Now after
an off season and people have had time to think
about it. This is the first time they've all really
gotten together after the dust and settled and when all right,
let me tell me, catch your breath. Am I really
mad at these guys for going? Am I mad at there?
Am I jealous? They were getting money? Am I pissed
(12:07):
at the PGA Tour might suffer, but this was going
to be the first time you were going to see
them all together and this was where and I'm sorry,
but golf has to understand that. You know, you can
ask yourself all you want, how do we move past
the Tiger Woods era and golf Because we haven't found
a way to do it. This PGA Tour live golf
rivalry is huge. People don't watch a live tour, but
(12:29):
it doesn't matter. We talk about it. We talk about
what is said between PGA Tour golfers and Live tour golfers.
I mentioned Freddie Couple's blowtorching Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia,
and Sergio Garcia getting mad today at the press conference
when he's asked about the Live Tour. We need these
guys to continue to unload on each other and speak
their minds, because that is a really big deal. We
(12:53):
love rivalries in sports, we love feuds. And this doesn't
mean I want something to get physical or anything like that. No,
what I'm saying is, hey, I get that. Hey, you
know we want to just kind of concentrate on the
golf right now. Um no, you really want to get eyeballs.
You want more people to watch, you want people to continue.
This is the time to say, hey, you know what, Yeah,
I don't I don't like to live guys playing on
(13:14):
this tour, and I don't think they should be here
at the Masters. You know it's not my call, but
I wouldn't want them here. And if I'm the Live
Tour guys, I want to say, you know, I'm sick
of being you know, putting a hole here and said
to hey, you know, you shouldn't even be in this tournament.
You know what, we're independent contractors. They need to kind
of foster this a little bit because this is really interesting.
We've talked more golf in the last year because of
(13:35):
this Live Tour then we've said anything else besides Tiger
Woods of the past twenty years. And so yeah, this
is one of those rivalries that you kind of need
to embrace it a little bit. And if I'm the
PGA Tour, I'm encouraging my guys speak your mind about
the Live Tour, say whatever you want to. And if
I'm Greg Norman, I'm telling the guys the Live Tour
speak your mind about the PGA Tour because no matter what,
(13:56):
this is good for golf, and it's good. Everybody's out here.
Everybody's picking sides, everybody's using sites. Yes, it's polarizing, but
it doesn't matter. Maybe it's gonna get more people to
watch live golf than than the the fifty five people
that watch them the CW one Sunday afternoon. So it's
it's a real missed opportunity right now, because hey, we
want to go gentlemanly. No, keep the gloves off, you
talk to earthier, you take shots to do it when
(14:16):
you're at the event with them, do it. That's where
you should be doing it. When they're right there and
you can do it face to face. Well, that's just it, right.
Everybody can talk from one hundreds of miles away. It's
the classic athlete coach gm argument of it's easy to
do it from your mom's basement or a studio, or
when you don't have to face folks. When you know
you're a columnist, but you're you're and you're covering a beat,
(14:39):
but you don't go to the locker room things of
that nature. You work in a you know, in a
city as part of the local media, and you don't
get around the ballpark and such. Sometimes the day part
that you're on doesn't allow it a ton, but there's
got to be some effort made there to just say, look,
I'll own it. Likewise, here, guys chirp in the media,
(14:59):
you take your backhanded comments to whoever you're doing an
interview with or in your social media or whatever. Here's
your chance to have it out. As you say, rivalry,
get some heat, get some folks excited. And it's not
that you're going to dismiss the Masters, but it's the
larger PGA tour and these big events coming up that
(15:23):
you want to make sure you've got the eyeballs. Look,
Tiger Woods may not be around beyond tomorrow, right, plus
two your leaders were seven under today, tied three away
tie for first place, and you've got a couple of
live guys up near the top. So it's going to
be part of the conversation that swells. So you might
as well embrace it off the jump and see if
(15:44):
you can't generate a little bit of heat there. Smack
talk always wins, didn't We just learn that from the
NZ doable a women's tournament, even if it got into
really silly and nonsensical pieces, it got tongues wagon, it
sold a lot of jerseys and t shirts and Iowas
had to suspend their season ticket sales. Guess what price
(16:05):
of coffee just went up? Twitter at How about a fresca?
Mike gets swollen down the Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Harmon. Don't leave opportunities like this on
the floor coming up next? Hey, um, something that's gonna
make the rest of the NBA really afraid for the Playoffs.
After what just went down, keep it right here, that's
(16:28):
next in the tireract dot Com Studios Jason and Mike Fox.
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 iHeartRadio app
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon Live from the Tireract dot Com Studios.
(16:50):
Tonight show brought to my Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling
easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining
your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection
in one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. Well,
we just watched the Suns having a little bit more
trouble than they should have with the Denver Nuggets, but
(17:10):
it doesn't matter. The Sun's come away with a victory
you thought the Suns would win. Is a bit big,
but No. One nineteen one fifteen is your final. Uh,
Kevin Durant A big night, twenty nine points for the Suns.
And we're gonna get into something really big here for
a second. But I have a big pop quiz. I'm
gonna ask a question. Get Monty blogs on here, Ty
(17:32):
Shirt and Ricky harmon you guys. I got a quick
young may TJ. He had a heart of stone. I'm
gonna give you a question. I want you to give
me what you think is the is the right answer?
You guys already I don't know. This is gonna slay you.
I mean this is really you're gonna go no way, absolutely,
(17:52):
because it's gonna absolutely slay you are. We gonna go
see Dungeons and Dragons now we should, let's go. Let's go. Okay, Okay,
there's only certain movies we'll go. We're gonna get that tonight.
Hang on, hang on, there's only certain movies. I will
stay up until three o'clock in the morning to go
see John. This one's not three and a half hours long.
It doesn't matter. You can see this Jay and I'll
go see it. But I'm not gonna go with I'm
(18:12):
not gonna go with. You know, eleven thirty at night,
if I pulled the friend card, you won't do it. Wow,
you're gonna do that to me? I said. If I
didn't say I would, Okay, you can pull the friend
card now. I don't know now I'm worried. I know
I want to uh like one good friend card in
five years. I think I would. I would say, you
(18:34):
really want to play that when you win, when you
really want to play that one time, when you know
that you can wind up winning this all It'd be
a tough one to win. Tough. I'll just go with Mike.
All right, you guys ready, let's go. There's your question?
Were ready? All right? Here we go and no, no,
look out, I will trust you all that. None of
you look at your computer, b Ben, Ben, Let's go.
(18:55):
How many games has Kevin Durant lost since Thanksgiving weekend?
How many games has Kevin Durant lost since Thanksgiving weekend? Oh?
How many games? He lost? Games? And he's played in
not his team, he hasn't lost any in his How
many games has Kevin Durant played in and lost since
(19:18):
Thanksgiving weekend? You're gonna go one? Okay, tight shirt, I'm
saying twenty two. He's lost everyone, Okay, serious question. How
many has he played? Uh? Hang on, he's twenty seven? Okay, five? Okay,
(19:44):
you get five, Ricky? How many are you going with?
I'm going zero? Zero? Okay, Monsey? What do you got
how many? I'll go at three three. All of you
are wrong. However, all of you you are around it.
So it's a two the correct answer. What if it
(20:04):
was for it could be four. Well, you said we
were around it. I went one. There was a three,
there was a zero, one of three and of five
and tie shirts twenty two. You're not around them. There's
a zero one of three out of five. Since Thanksgiving weekend,
Kevin Durant has played in and lost two games. Two
(20:26):
games on Sunday, December fourth, when he was with the Nets,
they lost to Boston and then on Wednesday, January fourth,
they lost to the Bulls, which I mean, come on,
that's it. Those are the only games Kevin Durant has
lost since Thanksgiving weekend. That's a stat. That's a stat. Yeah,
(20:49):
that's a stat. And that's a homebook stat because I said,
I don't think he's lost a lot of because I'm sing,
they're going I know, I know he's undefeated, and that's
what we're gonna get too, coming up in a couple
of seconds. He hasn't lost with with with with the Sun,
but they had that big long wind streak. I don't
think he's lost like it two games and Thanksgiving weekend?
Two games? Two games? You guys manage, are all around it.
(21:09):
You congratulate you guys were all around it. Stay very nice,
very couldn't rope but dope me. Very nice, Monsey, Monsey,
I expect you to lead with that in what's trying
to get a few minutes? Well, all right, very good?
You sent me only lost two Yeah, tight shirt, just
getting this? Uh yeah, two games? I think had two?
(21:30):
New Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?
Who is he doing this the whole time? What's next?
The dollars falling? It can't handle all this? White rib
doesn't exist year round? Now you're crazy? Wait, don't we
don't use the Euro? I thought the entire world uses
the Euro. I don't have any gold. I don't know. No,
(21:52):
I don't have bags of grain in my basement. So
why it is it good or bad that I have crypto?
I don't understand even on it for is my spoil
it overflowing? I got a plunger. K D has lost
two games since Thanksgiving weekend, undefeated with the Suns. Now,
I said the suns are gonna start blowing if you
remember when the Sun's got him. I said, this is
(22:14):
a game changer because as long as Kevin Durant is healthy,
watch the Suns just start blowing teams out. Now, the
big thing was him being healthy, right because we talked
last night about this Western Conference. You feel like boy
Denver's got the big advantage, and they do. The big
question is ken Kevin Durant stay healthy throughout the playoffs
(22:35):
because that's the only thing. He can still be the
dominant guy. He can still wind up being someone to
take the team on their shoulders. It's a great fit
with him in Phoenix where Devin Booker is still young. Okay,
Kad's gonna come in. I understand, I'll do my thing
most nights. It's gonna be me Sun nights, It'll be KD.
It takes a little bit of pressure off of Chris
(22:55):
Paul and we know that we're not configured to win
the way it is right now because Chris Paul is
older and we're just not. But they go get Kevin
Durant and I said, watch, they're gonna start blowing teams out. Well,
they haven't won every game and a blowout, but they
are unbeaten since Kevin Durant started playing with them after
getting traded at the end of February. That's why this is.
(23:18):
They were so dangerous, and I say, they're gonna start
blitzing through teams and watch out because the Suns are
gonna be your big time trendy NBA Finals picks, and
they're probably gonna be my NBA Finals pick. As long
as he's healthy, maybe I'll go and give an examination
for them to be a doctor going. So I want
to make sure you're okay before he picking guys to
win the NBA title. So don't want to. I don't
want to fall for this again, because like Kevin Durant,
(23:38):
I feel like either needs to be either to go
all in on Durant and the Suns or on the
never again list, like I can't. I can't pick Durant again.
He hasn't done it. But you know, look, I'm old
enough to remember when he won the NBA Finals MVPs
a couple of times, and how he was still the
best player on the planet until he got hurt and
he's still one of the top five players in the
game now when he is healthy. I mean, they are
(23:59):
beating everybody. They beat Denver twice. You know they've They've
won games that by fifteen points, by twenty points, and
won games by five points. He's averaging about thirty a
game or twenty seven a game. Since he's coming to
the Suns. I mean, people are sleeping on them. It's like, yeah,
maybe no, this is like that team that's jumping right
in the mix with Milwaukee and Boston and Denver and Memphis.
(24:22):
It's like, okay, there, these are the teams that can
win the NBA title, right and now you got you
gotta throw them in there. And I'm telling you, as
long as he's healthy, we get to the end of
the season and Kevin Durant is healthy, I know I'm
gonna pick the Suns to win the NBA title because
they're just that dangerous with him. They're a completely different team.
A little more difficult tonight than it should have been.
But I's gonna say, yeah, but you can't just dismiss
(24:44):
these he just game. Then a home game, Bruce Brown
comes through with his thirty one A guy averaging eleven
points a game for the Nuggets, thrust into the spotlight
with everybody else sitting down, and they win by four.
Come on. You're selling me this bill of goods. I'd
see yea barely escaped. But at the same time, you're
locked into the fourth spot. You're not you're not getting
(25:05):
up to three and you're not dropping out of well
cos you play you want well. You want they what
they've won every game with Durant, they want everyone has laws.
It's going to become a son. I mean, people are
sleeping on the suns and how good they can be
as long as he is healthy. And yes it is
a caveat, but you have to because Durant is shown
he's not someone that can be reliable and relied on.
When when it comes to guys like Durant and Lebron
(25:29):
and Harden and even in Bed to an extent, although
he's been healthier than you know the last couple of years,
when it comes to certain players that have missed all
kinds of time, you just have to hope that we're
timing it where he's going to be healthy for the
for the bulk of the playoffs, for all the way through.
Can you get your injury out of the way, because
you know you're gonna get injured, Can you get it
(25:50):
out of the way, And can you be strong and
that marathon playoffs, uh sprint that we have that's over
two months that you've got to win four rounds of
playoffs and it's best seven every time. Can you just
time it right, because if you time it where well,
the injury happens into the regular season, then you're stuck. Right.
So you got to be able to time it to
make sure that and hope and hope you luck into
(26:11):
the fact that, well, hey, Katie's got his injury out
of the way. He got his yearly injury out of
the way. Like he was hurt, he came back a
couple of games ago, he's playing great. Now he's going
to be good the rest of the way. I mean,
it's a big gamble to gamble with the Lakers to
hope that Lebron is going to be healthy. But now
it looks like maybe he's gotten his injury out of
the way and they can maybe do a little bit
of damage in the playoffs. Same thing with some of
these other guys that just get to keep getting hurt
(26:32):
and hurt and hurt. You got to hope that well,
we just get the right timing one year, because most
years it might not happen for us. Well with Lebron
I mean, as you invoke his name, did he have
smelling salts at halftime? Was it just a changing of
the shoes? Like look glenthargink and disinterested in the first half,
and then all of a sudden he played like a
man with his hair on fire. I was waiting for
(26:55):
the old NBA jam he's on fire as we start
getting into that. But but that is the detail of
NBA Playoffs twenty three is we've got a lot of
top notch players that we get excited about and think, Okay,
they could go on a run dot dot dot if
(27:16):
And that's where we're at the Lakers. It's both Davis
and James Yokich and his band of merryman not necessarily
that you're looking at him, although he's a bit banged
up from all the weary miles he's had to carry
this squad with Porter Junior and Murray not always available,
and you know, are they gonna be fully ready to
(27:36):
go for a playoff run? Don't know. Kevin Durant great
what he plays, great for everybody, great for business. Will
he play Chris Paul? You invoked him, so let's talk
about him a second, right, I mean, all these guys,
like pretty much every one of our principles has missed time,
(27:57):
or you've got guys like Giannis, it's like, hey, if
you're a little bit sorry, you can take another night
off because we don't need you to play. So you've
had those circumstances. But there's just so many questions and
in the Western Conference, as we've chronicled a lot on
the show these last couple of weeks, coming down the
wire as we get playoffs seating set and still seeing
what Golden State and the final slots of the play
(28:20):
and become. It's it's good theater and it's exactly what
the NBA would hope it would be. Now, if we
can just get guys to start chirping and john at
each other like the Warriors and Grizzlies do and go
through a full shoot interview and calling out cities and
calling out names, that would be good for business. Twitter
shot type of a guy ripping a sign. Sure, an
(28:43):
that'll work because I could make that into a gift too.
That'll work. That'll work for you. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon
weekdays at ten pm. Eastern seven pm Pacific Fox Sports
Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike
Harmony from the tirerac dot Com studio. Tonight shoe brought
you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
(29:06):
Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection in one place. Bundle
and say vat Progressive dot Com. Well, earlier tonight, we
had NBA dot com insider Mark Medina on the show
of US longtime friend of the show, so I was
bothered this every week and talk basketball. We had some
fun with the latest MVP situation. Oh mbiad wins it
(29:28):
last night, but they lose tonight. Can and beat still
be the MVP? And he let drop a nugget about
how often he gets canvassed about who he's going to
vote for for MVP And apparently, yeah, it's very regular
that representatives of players call to try to convince him
(29:50):
to vote for their clients. With presidential polls, right, it's
always by the day. I guess we'll have to do
the same thing with MVP. And I think to extend
that political election analogy, I'm getting calls from people from
different teams, you know, representing the different MVP candidates, trying
to pitch their case. It's really amusing. But the bottom
(30:13):
line is, heay, really you are You're getting phone calls,
but really it's like, are you getting the robot calls?
You answer your It's not a robot call, it's an
actual live person. But it's amusing. It's like, all right,
like stay your case, beyond the obvious that that players,
what's your team? It is funny though, but the bottom
line is there's no such thing as a wrong vote.
(30:35):
This year. I'm getting calls from people, like different teams
trying to pitch their candidates for MVP. I mean that's
just I mean, I really I pitched your answer the
phone going Hello, this is James Dolan. I gave Jalen
Brunson a lot of money, but he's come through with
highlights like this, and then they play a bunch of
(30:55):
high exactly. It's like a full on political ad paid
to me. Do you elect Brunson as MVP? Oh? I mean,
I can't imagine. He's got an answer the phone going hey,
hay that oh it's Embad's agent and he turned honey
I'm gonna be on the phone for a while. It's
it's it's it's Embad's agent. He's gonna keep talking about
how he should be the MVP. I'm gonna be out
(31:15):
at leasa and at LEAs an hour. Go do whatever
you want to do. If you need to run to
the store, that's fine. I'll still be on the phone
when you get back. We now have to pick team
songs for all these guys, so they have to so
the song starts playing when you pick up the phone,
so you know who. It is. Kind of like a
WWE entrance all right. Here it comes to highlights, and
then they have to do a voiceover. Right, here's thirty
to sixty seconds of them selling or it's like all
(31:39):
of the Hall of Fame induction speech where someone's now
doing the hyping for them. Really, I can't imagine. I
can't imagine having to put up with phone calls from
I'm saying, hey, how about you vote from my client,
what do you think about about my guy for MVP? Yes,
Yokich I vote I for Yes twice last year. I
(32:00):
just wanted to make sure to want to make sure
he's out there. I'm gonna make sure. I can't imagine
making those phone calls, like I can't believe it's the
person's agent, but it's got to be somebody working with
them in their pr side or something else going. Hey,
you want to call and make sure that everybody knows
what a big night in my client had the other night.
I gotta get you the MVP. A lot of people
at work. This MVP just doesn't happen because you go
on the court and play well, you know, I gotta
(32:21):
make phone calls making sure people know exactly what you
did last night. No, I did that every day. And
you know I told you the story. Once upon a time,
you know, as a as a youngster, before my body
started to break, I was recruiting, getting recruited for football,
and I can tell you at six o'clock every day,
phone was gonna ring. He's gonna take the entrance exam
with us, and they'd have some The coach was on
(32:43):
the line, and he always have something he wanted to
sell me on about the school. I can count on it,
like clockworks. Same thing. Here Medina's phone sitting next to him.
Seven oh five. Hey, here we are live in Denver.
Let me tell you about Nicole Yogi and why he
should be your m DV for the third straight year. Hey, Mark,
(33:03):
it's Jim Jim, Jim Jim, just to ask, just to
ask you. You have you haven't You haven't heard from
Jannis's people today? Have You Just want to make sure
that they called you because I want it okay, because
you know, you didn't really have a big game. You know,
I don't want to talk out of school. But you
know Yannis only had twenty tonight, So I mean, I
don't know what you're saying, but boy, did you watch
MB Did I started talking down? Did you see his
body language at the end of the scure He's gonna
(33:26):
slug that guy before the season adds. You know, I'm
not saying I heard Yannis if he won the MVP,
he would actually uh not accept it, So I wouldn't
vote for him because that's pretty embarrassing. Joel Embad he'll
accept it, you know, Jalen Brunson will accept it. I
I this has this has become my favorite story of
the night. Just picture him having to listen people pitch
(33:46):
their clients for how well they are and how that
you would envy those billable hours who do you feel
it for the course of course, are you kidding? Of course,
this is where a player goes. Where does all my
money go to trying to get you? MVP got a
big story out of the National A Pauli coming up next,
Fox
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Mike Harmon
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