June 1, 2024 • 36 mins
Jason and Mike debate if there has ever/will there ever be a retirement more universally celebrated by fans than Angel Hernandez. As expected; Bronny James will keep his name in the NBA Draft. We have a big appreciation moment for Tarik Cohen. And all charges have been dropped against Scottie Scheffler!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon, and a Memorial Day shocker. Angel Hernandez
is retiring as a Major League Baseball umpire. Holy cow,
this right now? Uh, Fox Sports Radio. We have our
(00:52):
cameras across cities in the country where fans have joined
hands singing yeb nab but like at the end of
Return of the Jedi, because that's the party going on
that Angel Hernandez has retired from the game. That they're
all young fans. They're all young kids that were told
about the kids said it brought along, brought along to
(01:14):
the game. Yeah, the from Major League Baseball. Uh, there
there is no.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Retirement more widely celebrated I think than Angel Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
No, I don't know if you, I don't know if
you can find a bunch more that everybody is all
in on right, Like if it's a star player from
a team, maybe the other teams across the league are
happy because, Wow, this guy was beating us for our
whole career. If you're the guy retiring the team, the
fan of the team that he's retiring from, you're upset
because a great player is leaving. No, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
But but universally, I don't think there's anybody saying, boy,
which Angel Hernandez would keep umpiring. I don't think there's
one person who's who's saying that, not one.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know what, I'll be that guy. I like the variability.
Oh stop, you're you never knew you knew it was coming.
You knew it was coming. It's like a m night, Shallama.
There's gonna be a twist. It's gonna be a twist,
Angel Hernandez, there's gonna be a screw up, just a
matter of when and how, how costly to your team
or that of the opponent.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You know what, Mike, just for you taking that ridiculous stance,
just because you're looking for attention.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
We're gonna play this for you right now. I can't
get him.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
He who he was safe with no no, Well, Angel
Hernandez blew the call and the infield being back should
have cost him the game.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It didn't. Right there, he's safe.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
He is sat the ball and another boone call by Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Boy, I tell you, I tell you whoa MLB Productions
hawk Carolson. I love how he's yelling no, no, no, no,
this is Angel Hernandez. Everybody's got he.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
He was safe so great, it's now gonna be my
ring tone.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
No happy to see this guy go.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
You know, it's it's not even just that he was
a bad umpire who missed calls like it's not no.
He he umpired with an agenda. He umpired he wanted
to punch guys out for whatever reason he wanted to
make calls he did.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean, really, he he was one of those guys.
He's the first guy when you say the phrase, oh,
everybody comes to the game to watch me umpire, like
I need to show everybody I'm the real star of
this game. Like these guys are all playing the game,
but this is my game and I'm gonna show you
that this is my game, because.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
This is how I think umpiring needs to go.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Umpires need to keep these these players in line.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
These players do whatever the hell they want to on
the field, swinging the bats and throwing the balls and
sliding on the bases. I'm gonna show them just exactly
how they can't do stuff like that. And I'm gonna
make my presence known. I'm gonna announce my presence with authority. Now.
You know, we can always get into the advanced metrics,
and I know there's plenty of sites that that start
(04:21):
diving into consistency issues with umpires and balls and strikes whatever.
But Angel Hernandez is the poster child for why we
we've had any kind of push towards robot umpires right
right in just in terms of consistency, at least in
that part of the game. Now, there's always gonna be
problems along the base paths right that we'll have to adjudicate.
(04:45):
And you know, infield fly rules that something I would
have loved to hear Hawk call that one you want
in that Orioles White Times game. But you know, when
it comes down to it, if you can eliminate a
big part of the problem, which is arguing balls and strikes,
and take the human.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Element out of it.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
There, you know you're you're that much closer to your
your utopia from me a umpire and player and manager
relations side of things.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I mean, really, he made it all about himself. He
would umpire with an agenda, and there's nobody that's not
happy about this.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And just think about this. Do you really think it's
a coincidence?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Okay, because remember, because this is something it's a memorial day,
it's a holiday, and people now doing different things today,
and obviously the basketball is a big deal. We'll talk
we'll get back into Bill Walton. The people are talking
about that. But a story broken major League Baseball today
that the automatic balls and strikes, the robot umpires we've
been hearing about for so long have been running trials
and the minor leagues the last few years been working
(05:53):
pretty well. The automatic balls and strike system will be
coming to Major League Baseball, not for next year, but
for the year after.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
So not for next year, okay, but the year after.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
H do you really think there's a coincidence that this
story gets announced today and Angel Hernandez retires.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Wait a minute, let me call balls and strikes anymore? Well, blank,
you man, I'm quitting. I'm not gonna stand out there
and not make any calls. Well, something behind me is
gonna and I gotta get a buzzer in my head
when a team wants to challenge a call.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Oh no, no, not gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Not gonna do it, man, not gonna do it. I'm leaving.
I don't think there's any coincidence that we got this
story today and now this story today from Bob Nightingale
at Angel hann is retiring. No way no. I also
appreciate the u The Lasic twitter account taken to it
like they'd offered him services and he missed the call,
and there were a lot of and he missed the
(06:44):
call jokes that went on and on. It's too bad
that the naked gun the original was nineteen eighty eight.
Otherwise you could have really just done the one to
one correlations can't get him. He was safe for no.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
W Well, Angel Hernandez blew the call, and the infield
being back should have cost him the game.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It didn't. He's so good right there, he's safe.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
He is sat have the ball another Pope call by Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Another that's just the best man, that is just the best.
I can't.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
And he's retiring now and Adelais is walking away. He's not.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I mean normally I would say the guy had a
good run. I mean he was for thirty years. But
he's been thirty years of when's this guy either getting demoted,
fired or forced into retirement?
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Yeah, and that that didn't really happen. Look, I mean
I get the whole.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I understand that this has never been a tougher time
for officials in sports, right because it's it's the worst now.
And when you think about what's coming from me major
League Baseball umpires with the balls and strike calls that
are going to be automated, Like, what is it gonna
be to be a Major League Baseball umpire?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Now?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Basically, it's just as long as a play is obvious,
it's fine, and you can call it on the field.
But when there's a question, we're gonna go look at
the replay. And that's really what's gonna tell us whether
we're gonna challenge a call because we see it go
the wrong way or not challenge because oh okay, yeah
they got it right. I mean you're basically just out
(08:30):
there to make the easy calls and that anybody can
do it. Like, I don't know what the training is
gonna be for a major league baseball umpire, because clearly
you go through games.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I don't know all the rules.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
Oh hey sorry, yeah that rule where the pop.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Up thing with the orioles.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
Yeah, sorry, we screwed that up. I mean, like you
sell us out.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
The accage is gonna be they're gonna show Angel Hernandez
stuff and they're gonna say, don't do that whatever. It's
like in the Simpsons when Mahomer's got in his face
what Bart says, do opposite? Like, like you think about it,
You're you're a major league small umpire. You go out
and umpire first base and what what what? What's your job?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
You're umpiring the plays at first base and you make
the calls as long as it's not close. But when
it's close, it's going to be looked at and it's
going to be decided that a team wants to challenge. Right,
So your authority has been taken away, and now home
plate umpire their authority has been taken away because with
automatic ball strikes, it's gonna be still. Hey, we get
(09:26):
the the umpire gets the note from the from the
ball strikes calls the play like now there's nothing. Now
you're gonna make Yeah, you make the outsafe calls at
home plate. Yeah, but guess what that's gonna be reviewed
as well. If you if if it's if it's a
close play, somebody else is going to do it. It's
like you're just you're just you're just taking up a suit.
You're just taking up an umpire's outfits, an empty suit.
Look at that, Look at you.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
So I understand. I understand that were coaching Lebron James.
No suit, So I.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So I understand the the the how how tough it
is to be an umpire now, but you still Angel
Hernandez is a guy like dude, you took being an umpire.
Speaker 6 (10:03):
You took it to a to a proactive and combative level.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
You know, I mean, let's can't get him here. He
was safe with no he spoke for all of us.
But yeah, it really is difficult, right, we have these
conversations all the time trying to adjudicate you know, fast
(10:29):
moving plays the NFL. Yeah, we get to watch it
from fifteen different angles. These guys have to try to
call it live while running backwards or trying to keep
up with guys that do four three, five forties right
playing in the NBA? All right, where's the line between
there's a little bit of physicality and contact versus all right,
that's a fall or beyond that? Did the elbow graze
(10:52):
the guy's temple as he went to block a shot?
Trying to do that live versus all right? We gotta
go to review, whereas us at home we have it
clipped off and on Twitter. In thirty two seconds, the
boom calls, which is where we get to that. You know,
it's it's really not an enviable position. I mean, really mean,
(11:18):
I don't everybody it's like a universal celebration tonight, like
everybody's popping Champagne's going, let me talk. This is what
Angel Hernandez did to me in twenty nineteen. Here's what
Angel Hanna did to me in twenty twenty one, and
everybody got the story across Major League Baseball, everybody's got
the stories.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I really I want to find one person that can
really say, hey, this is where Angel Hernan.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Losing Angel Hernandez is a blow.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Good luck, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I don't know where you're gonna get that one of
my and there Look, there's thirty five forty years of
material from Rick Flair interviews, some of which are like
he said, but my favorite was there was a referee
named Tommy Young and you know it was controversial, dude.
But at one point Flair's doing his best, you know, sell,
and he goes, look, I don't like this guy, but
(12:04):
he calls him like he sees them. Hey, nobody step
into a microphone in front and for Angel Hernandez tonight
exit out about a friend.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
He will go unless maybe you know, maybe he he
would lend people a lot of money. Maybe that's what
I'm going to miss him, because hey, if I didn't
have my per diem or whatever, he would always buy
dinner out on the road.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Or something like that. I don't know, I don't I.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Really isn't that what Andy Chubb? And there was a
guy you saw that story, right, lending a team made
a million dollars. Bad move man.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You know, maybe maybe now Angel Hernandez is gonna go
do a podcast that's gonna be so amazingly entertaining, like
it's saving in Belichick, right, suddenly he's gonna have all
these great, amazing insights. Oh, it's see Angel Hernandez Joe
West podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
It's fantastic. Just let's can can he get hired to
be one of the guys in the in the booth?
Can we bring him to Fox? Oh? I really liked
to hear.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Hey, uh now bad for the not bad for the Dodgers.
Mookie Bets, Hey, Angel, what was Mookie Bets liked?
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Umpire?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Let me tell you about this blake. We tell you
about this dude. He thinks he's so blake. He thinks
he's so great. Mama. I love calling the inside strike
on him. We changed the game with Mike Pereira. Now
let's go now, Jordan.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
If it was four inches off the plate, I always
called it a strike because Mooie would give me like
the side. I like it was really mad and I
like that and I wanted to see it again, so
I always call it. If I gave the I gave
the opposing picture four inches on either side of the
plate because I just didn't like Mookie bets.
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Oh that's great. See look at the cat.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
He's gonna get a home run here because he's gonna
get umpired fairly, but me no, I like to make
that strike zone really really.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
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.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Today was a big day for the NBA and it
was probably the biggest day non game day for a
while because we found out today that Bronni James is
staying in the NBA Draft.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Now why today a big day? This is this is
where I zag when you think I'm gonna zig, like
I still believe what's going on with Bronni, and I'm
speaking of triple down, tripling down on things. Will the
Lakers draft Bronnie in the second round of fifty five? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Maybe, but maybe they get him as an undrafted free agent.
You see Rich Paul and Clutch Sports saying things like
he's starting to work out, but he's only gonna work.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Out for a couple of teams.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
He's only gonna do a one way, not gonna do
a two way contract, which is very popular with second
round players. Not gonna do a two way deal's gotta
be an NBA deal. Trying to scare everybody away, so
Bronny can get to his preferred destination, which is of course,
with Lebron with the Lakers. Now, how much he's gonna
play there, probably just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
They'll go through training camp together, they'll play a couple
of preseas games together.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
It'll be fun video to see Lebron play with Bronni.
Lebron will get to answer questions about it, and then
Bronny will go play in the G League for the
next couple of years until he's really ready to contribute.
So I'm tripling down on that. But that's why this
is good and it's great for the NBA draft because
this is a buzzless draft. Man, there is no buzz.
There is no excitement about who's getting taken. There's no
(15:22):
conversation who should go number one? Who's who are the
big players in this draft. I think that we think
are gonna be impact players right away from the beginnings
to Fon Castle's my guy, He's a guy.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Take number one overall.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I know how great an NBA player he's gonna be,
and people are crazy if they take him anywhere lower
than number one. But still there's not a lot of
buzz around him, not a buzz around anybody. But now
you have Bronni James in the draft, and no matter what,
he's a conversation and it's gonna be a conversation for
the next month. Who's he working out for? Does this
mean if he works out for the Suns, Lebron will
(15:55):
go to the Suns. If he works out for the
Celtics and go to the Celtics, it will be the conversation. Right,
It'll be the NBA version of the quarterbacks we talk
about going into the NFL draft. You need something with
buzz that people are gonna talk about. And Lebron James's
kid in the most average of NBA fans, the most
casual of NBA fans. Oh, Lebron's kid's gonna get drafted.
Who's gonna take him? It will be a bigger story
(16:17):
as we get closer to the draft. And here's even
better part of it. Normally, when the NBA Draft comes,
the big players get taken early overall. And that's it, right,
you see viewership fall off a cliff because, Okay, I've
seen the guys get taken, and I see the guys
I've heard about. Now it's a bunch of guys I
don't know. I don't need to watch a draft anymore.
I can just check in right now.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
There's a bunch of guys that play in Europe and
guys from small colleges I haven't seen play.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It doesn't matter. I'm done. But Bronni is not gonna
get taken. If he does get taken until the second
round of the draft, which means you're watching this draft
from the beginning. Now the draft is must see because
it's where does Brony end up? Does Greg Popovich say, blank,
you Lakers, We're taking Bronny here, and I'm gonna team
him up with Wemby and we're gonna win championship after
(17:01):
championship for the next fifteen years, right like, we gotta see,
how is that gonna go? Is another team gonna draft Bronny?
Are the Lakers gonna draft Brownie in the second round?
If he doesn't get drafted, the news will break right
after the draft that he signs as an undrafted free
agent with somebody. So this story becomes what the draft
is all about, and the draft needs it, and it's
(17:22):
a story that plays out over the course of the
entire broadcast and the entire night, not something that builds
up to the announcement of the first picket at eight
oh seven and then everybody turns their TV off.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
No, this has become a musty event. It's given juice
to the month before it. This is the best news
the NBA has had in a while for a kid
who is a middling prospect that we don't know how
good he's gonna be. He has potential, but look, you're
throwing a dart when you get to the second round
of the NBA Draft. Anyway, who knows how good he's
gonna be. But for the next month and then the
night of the draft. This is an absolute gift. The
(17:56):
NBA got an absolute gift today with Bronnie staying in
the draft. Just remember a couple of weeks ago they
had the draft lottery. I think we mentioned it once
outside of an update, right, I mean, it just doesn't matter.
It's not registering the same way. I mean, part of
it is you've got a lot of foreign players coming in,
(18:17):
so we could say their name, but you can't speak
to having done your due diligence at this point and
watched a bunch of well, what's gonna be grainy footage
from a lot of these guys or stuff that's been
pieced together on a YouTube video. It was like, all right,
all what's gonna be is highlights, so you know what
versus college we see the ebb and flow of things.
(18:37):
You got the guys from Kentucky that'll be up there
and a few others. Your guy Castle top ten pick
by most mock drafts. But beyond that, there's just not
the fever for it this year. There's just not that
guy that's bringing everybody to the table except for Brownie James,
because everybody has an opinion regardless of how many of
(19:00):
the minutes he played at USC they actually saw right,
whether it's whether it's I met well, because if we
think about it, it's packing, you're dark and it's model season.
You're right? How many people really watched any of this
except for I saw the box score In a couple
of points he had, they say he plays pretty good defense. Oh,
(19:21):
by the way, he measured in it, you know, two
and a half inches tall, shorter than what he was
listed at and you know he still does have the
wingspan and maybe you get a growth spurt. Maybe they
were projecting forward hoping if he stuck around another year. Uh,
he'd get to six four. But you get my point, like,
there's there's a lot that flows out right because you
then have all of the Lebron James conversations because at
(19:43):
that point he won't have had to exercise you know,
the player option or opted out, you know, much like
Rich Paul had already said, well he's a free agent.
Well we have to anticipate that, because then you can
go back and sign your two or three year deal
at sixty million or whatever that that math becomes. But
it's all the different storylines that fall off of Bronnie
(20:06):
James that are gonna fill the gaps between Yeah, this
guy's six ' eight. What do you think. I don't know,
got any comps, No, but you know what James, no idea,
couldn't even tell you no idea. Yeah, it says here
on my sheet that he picked up big minutes for
(20:26):
his national team. Uh, you know, his national uh U
eight team team last year. I mean that's kind of
the gona gonna be the initial part of the draft.
And then immediately, what can you talk about the Lakers
and if Lebron stays and a d's there, who do
they pair them with? And if you draft Brownie, is
he gonna play blah blah blah. I mean all of that.
(20:47):
I mean it serves that whole night, and it serves
this the next month. Yeah, and look, it's you know,
you want to win.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
And the other the other part of this is you
hit on something that's a pretty big deal, is that
it's hard for anybody to really project Brownie James because
he's a second round pick.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You're throwing a dart.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
You can't really there's no comp to say, hey, this
is a guy we've watched and evaluated and we think
this is what his ceiling is in the NBA.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Nobody knows what his ceiling is.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Nobody knows what his floor is, Nobody knows what kind
of player he's going to be, Nobody knows what kind
of skills that he's gonna have. Because he's nineteen, he
hasn't had a lot of minutes, hasn't had a lot
of exposure, and we're gonna get to see developmentally what
he is in the next couple of years.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
But yeah, it's hard. It's hard for for.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
When when you're talking about a guy that even the
even the most seasoned of experts and analysts and drafts
experts are gonna go, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
I mean, I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
That looks like you even had you even had Jay
Wright when he was asked about Jalen Brunts his success
is playoffs, saying, you know, I knew he'd be a
good player in the NBA. I didn't think he'd be
this This is the guy's coach has won two national
championships that has seen him every day and said, I
didn't think he'd be this good. I mean, it's such
a it's such a but at least with the players
earlier in the draft that have the better pedigree that
(22:04):
you've seen, Okay, I feel that this guy is. So
it's really difficult to talk about broddy James because you
just don't know he's going to be well.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I think the other thing, and we've talked about this
a lot, but to reiterate, audience always changing, Welcome in,
if you're new to the show, Welcome to the family.
You can go back and find ten years of content
in the iHeartRadio vault wherever you get podcasts. But just
the idea that because he's Lebron James Son, are you
getting honest evaluations from anybody, either those that are putting
(22:34):
their name and face in front of a camera or
on a podcast or on a radio show, or writing
columns whatever. Are you not to mention the anonymous ones?
Are you getting a real evaluation of what they truly
believe this player is going to be? And I hate
to say it, because I hope great things for the kid.
He's unfortunately the collateral he gets, the collateral damage of
(22:57):
all of this, you know, the love or hate of
his father in the empire he's built in the NBA
and Rich Paul and all of that that he that
he wears a bunch of it and it's not his fault.
But are we honestly getting true evaluations from many of
these people that it's not lip service because they don't
want to lose access, They don't want to be on
(23:18):
the outs with Paul and all of the players represented
from Clutch and everything else.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
No, I hear you on that.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
But when when you think about how analysts talk about
players that are that are are you know that could
make it or not? No one says this guy stinks,
you know, No, it says he stinks doesn't listen, Yeah,
he could wind up being good.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
He might not.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
So you normally see players. Do we get more soft
shoe here than we would normally they've stopped, but I
mean including some of the before they they backed off.
I mean, think about some of the early mock drafts.
Think about some of this. And we talked with Dan
Wake earlier. The number of references to I don't know,
first round maybe maybe really is that real evaluation or
(24:01):
is it just a well, I don't know. We'll take
him and then see what falls out from there. That's
not a strategy. We'll see what happens. Is not a strategy.
I don't think he really fits in our you know,
fifteen men rotation, at least not for a year or two.
But but you never know. Yeah, I mean you're drafting. Look,
(24:22):
an NBA draft has been this for a long time, right,
we before they included the one and done rule and
ever after it's the well, we saw him for a year,
and now we're projecting forward that in two to three
years he becomes a beast, whether it means he grows,
whether he's a better in the post game, whether he's
gonna put on thirty pounds to work in the low post,
all of those things through the year, developing an outside
(24:45):
jump shot. We've wished and wanted and hoped for all
these guys, and right now we're in even even a
worse spot because who are these guys that are getting drafted,
don't know.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Now, speaking of the Jets, this is a positive and
it's not just about the Jets. It's about the player.
And this is a great story because this talks about
this is this is perseverance for a player who was
one of the most exciting young players in the game
and then couldn't stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
After four years away and three injuries that could have
ended his career, the Jets signed former Bears running back
to Ricohen and this is, oh, this is this is
exactly a little bit faster than you though he's a
little bit fatter, just a little bit even with multiple surgeries,
(25:39):
just a little little bit faster. But look, but let's
have an appreciation moment for him, just first of all,
being and he's a guy everybody knows because everybody plays
fantasy knows Tarikohen when he when he came on the scene.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
How many leagues are.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You in where people used all their free agent money
to get him, right, because what his first game he
had like a seventy three yard touchdown or something like
that his very first game.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
That in the passing game. Yet, oh, the guy that
suddenly had some great value.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
He was someone who was a great PPR running back
flex for like three years, like he was a solid
ten part. He wasn't someone that you had that suddenly all, man,
he's my RB two or he could be in RB one. No,
but he was someone who he's in my flex position.
I could play him during bye weeks because he caught
a ton of passes out of the backfield. He was
an exciting player. He was going to be one of
(26:26):
the next great players for the Bears. And and again,
I know the world is filled with a lot of
those guys. But then he just couldn't stay healthy. You know,
three different injuries. Tried to come back. After twenty twenty,
he couldn't try to come back. After twenty twenty one,
he couldn't try to come back. After twenty twenty two,
he got hurt again. I think that's when he tore
his achilles in a workout, and he finally made it
back to the NFL last year, but he never got
(26:47):
on the field. He's never activated for a game, and
now here he is as a guy who could potentially
contribute for the Jets, because look, you're looking for a
third down running back. I mean, you drafted a thousand guys,
which I don't really get, but okay, you know Brees,
someone that's gonna need to breathe. You want somebody who
can return kicks now that things are a little bit
different with the kicking rules, and now Turi Cohen may
(27:07):
have a little bit of value, but it's really fun
to root for him because again, four years go by.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
If you don't do something for four years, do you
really have that desire to really say I still can
make it happen.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
I mean, at some point you say I did it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
I went as far as I could, and I went
further and it's just not gonna happen. So I gotta
give up. I got to move on to something else.
And instead, here's Tarik Cohen, now in his late twenties,
trying to get back on the field after three bad injuries,
and here he is with a chance to make the Jets.
Not only that, but have a pretty decent role as
a third down back, you know, sort of a kick returner.
(27:43):
I mean, this is just a phenomenal story for this kid. Yeah,
I think some of it comes down to and anything
you're doing, you got that last ditch effort, right, all right,
I'm gonna give it one more go. And if you
a football player, basketball player, I mean, how many guys
do you talk to that still get a little bit
of that thirst when training camp comes around. Now they
(28:04):
realize physically that's long gone in the past and whatever,
but there's still that camaraderie, the locker room, all those
things that players say. It's hard to leave that life
and right and transition to the next thing. So if
you're treat going and you see how much the running
back position gets cycled through guys that get shots, guys
that we have questions, why did they never right? Why
(28:27):
did this guy coming out of college get a cup
of coffee and never be seen again. It's a position
that if you can just find one staff, one general manager,
one scout that believes in you, and you get a
puncher's chance to make your mark. And yeah, root for
him as we get into training camp and everything else,
(28:49):
and no guarantees in that business, no matter how good
you may be. Right, A lot of head scratching roster
decisions through the years, but you always want to see
a guy be able to at least go out quasi
on their own terms, you know what I mean, as
opposed to all right, injuries just failed him, Like if
physically he's just not there anymore, then you'll find out
(29:10):
pretty quiet quick for your Jets because you've got running
backs on the roster, but an opportunity to potentially be
a part of a team that could be pretty good.
And I say could be because everybody else is anointing them.
And you know, I don't want to build your hope
hope up, buddy, particularly because we've been talking about the
demise of your other team home. I know, I know,
(29:31):
so I can't go on the other way and start
building up for this one.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
But look, but here's the thing is that this is
what it's going to be for the Jets this year.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Last year, they were the talk of the offseason with
Aaron Rodgers right, and the build up to the season
was immense. I mean, I thought the root that the
earth was gonna split in half. He's carrying the flag
out for the game against the Bills, and oh my god,
this is what we've been building for for the last
five or six months since Rogers got traded. Finally and
then it's over after four plays. Right, So it's going
(30:01):
to be a summer where there are more storylines than
just rot because Rogers overwhelmed everybody last year, right with
with it? It just what He's overwhelmed everybody the last
three years with all this Oh should I leave Green Bay?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Do I not do? What do I do? Do I stay?
Do I don't know?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And it overwhelmed everybody. But now you're gonna have other
big storylines that you follow. Yes, Rogers with the Jets
is going to be a big storyline, but all the
new quarterbacks and new places are gonna be big stories
because they're all going to get a chance to start.
Kirk Cousins is going to be a story. The Cowboys
will always be a story, right, Russell Wilson. There's gonna
be so much attention there. But when the season begins
(30:38):
and Aaron Rodgers is healthy, that will become the number
one story in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Again.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It's like we gotta hold our breath a little bit
and wait and say, Okay, let's let him get to
the season. Let's let him get through a game and
see where we're at. But once he's on the field
and he's playing and he's not injured, you don't knock wood.
Then the Jets will take over as the biggest story
and all these other stories out of it. I'll still
be big, but Jets and Rogers will move past them.
But until then, it's going to be part of the
(31:03):
other stuff, just because we got burned on it last year.
It was so much looking forward to it, and then
he was hurt. So it's gonna be that's the way
the summer is going to go. But then in the
fall he's healthy, he's playing. Because whether if the Jets
are great, it's an unbelievable story. If the Jets stink,
it's an unbelievable story now, or if the Jets are
if they're middle of the road, it's an unbelievable story.
Because this is it for Aaron Rodgers. So you just
got to wait. As long as he is playing, they
(31:25):
will ascend to be that story.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I gotta say, last year, the only person that really
looked forward to it was you exactly we we we
were both I'll speak for Frostburg here we were. We
were kind of done before that first or fifth snap.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Okay, you guys might have been, but but but you know,
remember we do the show for everybody else.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
We don't do the show for you guy. I don't
show for you.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Well, they were kind of I think America was kind
of done with it too. He is a real thing.
So you know you got that with the Russian flag
this year, that would be uh heal turn he could
make he.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Nikolai Volkoff's He grabs the microphone and starts singing the Russian.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
National IEA but you know what, but I want to
see it. But when he goes to sing it in
week two, does he use the same lyrics or does
he get creative like Volkoff did? Yah vein.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
A story that we've talked about for the last week
that's been a pretty notorious one, is finally at an end.
Charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dropped. Remember he was
arrested charge of the felony after trying to get into
the PGA Championship a couple of weeks ago. Driving in
for his round early in the morning, there was an
unfortunate fatality that they were trying to clear. A horrible story.
(32:51):
Your heart goes out to the family the worker who
was trying to work the tournament and got hit by
a bus. The police were trying to clear the scene
and Chef Fler there was some kind of misunderstanding and
when he drove away from a police officer. The video
gets out. The officer runs to the to the cab
of the car. The chef that Scheffler's in leans into
(33:12):
the window and really treating him like he caught him
stealing the car or he caught him at a crime. Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
This video gets out and it doesn't look good. Compounded
with the fact that the officer in question didn't turn
on his body cam. We told you a week ago,
charges are getting dropped. I mean, I'm not a lie,
only no law on something else.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah. Yeah, these these are getting dropped because these are
just really bad optics.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
And when the officer couldn't you you couldn't corroborate the
conversation you had with Scheffler, where supposedly the officer said
don't go anywhere and he decided to drive away when
you couldn't corroborate, and and there's no body cam, and
the video that gets out makes you look like the
police officer was out of control.
Speaker 6 (33:57):
Of course, it's of course his charges are.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Gonna get dropped. And anybody I didn't even need to
watch all the TV. I coulda stop watching law shows
with La law in nineteen ninety one and I still
would have known these are gonna get dropped. And it
was just a matter of time. And I'm sure they
waited as long as they could to have put as
much distance between this story as they could. And now
today the chargers get dropped. And Scheffler has a pretty
good statement out there when he says, hey, I hold
(34:20):
no ill. Will police do a very difficult job, and
they try to do it. It's a very classy statement. And
now this ends. But we knew a few days ago
this story wasn't going anywhere. Yeah, from the jump. Misunderstanding
was the term he used. And his lawyer very assertive
in the claims and saying, look, we're not taking any deals,
we're not pleading out like, we'll take this to its end.
(34:42):
And no further video came out to help corroborate any
of the officers' claims, right, Gillis, His track record came
to surface, which did not help matters in any way,
shape or form, and the two clips of video you
had didn't help his case. Right, And still wondering about
(35:02):
the eighty dollars pants. Oh yeah, sure, so, I mean
all of that comes to say there's nothing on video
to where he was thrown violently or that Scheffler was
belligerent on his side. So it gets to this point
of all right, we can pursue it, but it's flimsy
at best. And I know the old line is you
(35:24):
can indict a ham sandwich, but in this case, better
to uh, you know, learn learn lessons about communications and
being forthright and everything else, and calmer heads prevail, and
new policies and procedures probably for the PGA tour eventually
as well about guys driving themselves in and all too.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
You would think, you would think, and because there are
other ways to also, there are other ways to.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Get in, and it could have been avoided. But now
it's over and now he can go back to really
doing our most, our most I would say that one
of the best things we do, and that is being
able to give legal advice without harm and I ever
taking a law class. So we're going to have a
new podcast or radio show, Handle on the Law on Saturdays.
(36:08):
What do you got, Frostburg Matzio
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am 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 iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon, and a Memorial Day shocker. Angel Hernandez
is retiring as a Major League Baseball umpire. Holy cow,
this right now? Uh, Fox Sports Radio. We have our
(00:52):
cameras across cities in the country where fans have joined
hands singing yeb nab but like at the end of
Return of the Jedi, because that's the party going on
that Angel Hernandez has retired from the game. That they're
all young fans. They're all young kids that were told
about the kids said it brought along, brought along to
(01:14):
the game. Yeah, the from Major League Baseball. Uh, there
there is no.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Retirement more widely celebrated I think than Angel Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
No, I don't know if you, I don't know if
you can find a bunch more that everybody is all
in on right, Like if it's a star player from
a team, maybe the other teams across the league are
happy because, Wow, this guy was beating us for our
whole career. If you're the guy retiring the team, the
fan of the team that he's retiring from, you're upset
because a great player is leaving. No, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
But but universally, I don't think there's anybody saying, boy,
which Angel Hernandez would keep umpiring. I don't think there's
one person who's who's saying that, not one.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know what, I'll be that guy. I like the variability.
Oh stop, you're you never knew you knew it was coming.
You knew it was coming. It's like a m night, Shallama.
There's gonna be a twist. It's gonna be a twist,
Angel Hernandez, there's gonna be a screw up, just a
matter of when and how, how costly to your team
or that of the opponent.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You know what, Mike, just for you taking that ridiculous stance,
just because you're looking for attention.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
We're gonna play this for you right now. I can't
get him.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
He who he was safe with no no, Well, Angel
Hernandez blew the call and the infield being back should
have cost him the game.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It didn't. Right there, he's safe.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
He is sat the ball and another boone call by Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Boy, I tell you, I tell you whoa MLB Productions
hawk Carolson. I love how he's yelling no, no, no, no,
this is Angel Hernandez. Everybody's got he.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
He was safe so great, it's now gonna be my
ring tone.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
No happy to see this guy go.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
You know, it's it's not even just that he was
a bad umpire who missed calls like it's not no.
He he umpired with an agenda. He umpired he wanted
to punch guys out for whatever reason he wanted to
make calls he did.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean, really, he he was one of those guys.
He's the first guy when you say the phrase, oh,
everybody comes to the game to watch me umpire, like
I need to show everybody I'm the real star of
this game. Like these guys are all playing the game,
but this is my game and I'm gonna show you
that this is my game, because.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
This is how I think umpiring needs to go.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Umpires need to keep these these players in line.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
These players do whatever the hell they want to on
the field, swinging the bats and throwing the balls and
sliding on the bases. I'm gonna show them just exactly
how they can't do stuff like that. And I'm gonna
make my presence known. I'm gonna announce my presence with authority. Now.
You know, we can always get into the advanced metrics,
and I know there's plenty of sites that that start
(04:21):
diving into consistency issues with umpires and balls and strikes whatever.
But Angel Hernandez is the poster child for why we
we've had any kind of push towards robot umpires right
right in just in terms of consistency, at least in
that part of the game. Now, there's always gonna be
problems along the base paths right that we'll have to adjudicate.
(04:45):
And you know, infield fly rules that something I would
have loved to hear Hawk call that one you want
in that Orioles White Times game. But you know, when
it comes down to it, if you can eliminate a
big part of the problem, which is arguing balls and strikes,
and take the human.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Element out of it.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
There, you know you're you're that much closer to your
your utopia from me a umpire and player and manager
relations side of things.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I mean, really, he made it all about himself. He
would umpire with an agenda, and there's nobody that's not
happy about this.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And just think about this. Do you really think it's
a coincidence?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Okay, because remember, because this is something it's a memorial day,
it's a holiday, and people now doing different things today,
and obviously the basketball is a big deal. We'll talk
we'll get back into Bill Walton. The people are talking
about that. But a story broken major League Baseball today
that the automatic balls and strikes, the robot umpires we've
been hearing about for so long have been running trials
and the minor leagues the last few years been working
(05:53):
pretty well. The automatic balls and strike system will be
coming to Major League Baseball, not for next year, but
for the year after.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
So not for next year, okay, but the year after.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
H do you really think there's a coincidence that this
story gets announced today and Angel Hernandez retires.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Wait a minute, let me call balls and strikes anymore? Well, blank,
you man, I'm quitting. I'm not gonna stand out there
and not make any calls. Well, something behind me is
gonna and I gotta get a buzzer in my head
when a team wants to challenge a call.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Oh no, no, not gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Not gonna do it, man, not gonna do it. I'm leaving.
I don't think there's any coincidence that we got this
story today and now this story today from Bob Nightingale
at Angel hann is retiring. No way no. I also
appreciate the u The Lasic twitter account taken to it
like they'd offered him services and he missed the call,
and there were a lot of and he missed the
(06:44):
call jokes that went on and on. It's too bad
that the naked gun the original was nineteen eighty eight.
Otherwise you could have really just done the one to
one correlations can't get him. He was safe for no.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
W Well, Angel Hernandez blew the call, and the infield
being back should have cost him the game.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It didn't. He's so good right there, he's safe.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
He is sat have the ball another Pope call by Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Another that's just the best man, that is just the best.
I can't.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
And he's retiring now and Adelais is walking away. He's not.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I mean normally I would say the guy had a
good run. I mean he was for thirty years. But
he's been thirty years of when's this guy either getting demoted,
fired or forced into retirement?
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Yeah, and that that didn't really happen. Look, I mean
I get the whole.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I understand that this has never been a tougher time
for officials in sports, right because it's it's the worst now.
And when you think about what's coming from me major
League Baseball umpires with the balls and strike calls that
are going to be automated, Like, what is it gonna
be to be a Major League Baseball umpire?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Now?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Basically, it's just as long as a play is obvious,
it's fine, and you can call it on the field.
But when there's a question, we're gonna go look at
the replay. And that's really what's gonna tell us whether
we're gonna challenge a call because we see it go
the wrong way or not challenge because oh okay, yeah
they got it right. I mean you're basically just out
(08:30):
there to make the easy calls and that anybody can
do it. Like, I don't know what the training is
gonna be for a major league baseball umpire, because clearly
you go through games.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I don't know all the rules.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
Oh hey sorry, yeah that rule where the pop.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Up thing with the orioles.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
Yeah, sorry, we screwed that up. I mean, like you
sell us out.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
The accage is gonna be they're gonna show Angel Hernandez
stuff and they're gonna say, don't do that whatever. It's
like in the Simpsons when Mahomer's got in his face
what Bart says, do opposite? Like, like you think about it,
You're you're a major league small umpire. You go out
and umpire first base and what what what? What's your job?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
You're umpiring the plays at first base and you make
the calls as long as it's not close. But when
it's close, it's going to be looked at and it's
going to be decided that a team wants to challenge. Right,
So your authority has been taken away, and now home
plate umpire their authority has been taken away because with
automatic ball strikes, it's gonna be still. Hey, we get
(09:26):
the the umpire gets the note from the from the
ball strikes calls the play like now there's nothing. Now
you're gonna make Yeah, you make the outsafe calls at
home plate. Yeah, but guess what that's gonna be reviewed
as well. If you if if it's if it's a
close play, somebody else is going to do it. It's
like you're just you're just you're just taking up a suit.
You're just taking up an umpire's outfits, an empty suit.
Look at that, Look at you.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
So I understand. I understand that were coaching Lebron James.
No suit, So I.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So I understand the the the how how tough it
is to be an umpire now, but you still Angel
Hernandez is a guy like dude, you took being an umpire.
Speaker 6 (10:03):
You took it to a to a proactive and combative level.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
You know, I mean, let's can't get him here. He
was safe with no he spoke for all of us.
But yeah, it really is difficult, right, we have these
conversations all the time trying to adjudicate you know, fast
(10:29):
moving plays the NFL. Yeah, we get to watch it
from fifteen different angles. These guys have to try to
call it live while running backwards or trying to keep
up with guys that do four three, five forties right
playing in the NBA? All right, where's the line between
there's a little bit of physicality and contact versus all right,
that's a fall or beyond that? Did the elbow graze
(10:52):
the guy's temple as he went to block a shot?
Trying to do that live versus all right? We gotta
go to review, whereas us at home we have it
clipped off and on Twitter. In thirty two seconds, the
boom calls, which is where we get to that. You know,
it's it's really not an enviable position. I mean, really mean,
(11:18):
I don't everybody it's like a universal celebration tonight, like
everybody's popping Champagne's going, let me talk. This is what
Angel Hernandez did to me in twenty nineteen. Here's what
Angel Hanna did to me in twenty twenty one, and
everybody got the story across Major League Baseball, everybody's got
the stories.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I really I want to find one person that can
really say, hey, this is where Angel Hernan.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Losing Angel Hernandez is a blow.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Good luck, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I don't know where you're gonna get that one of
my and there Look, there's thirty five forty years of
material from Rick Flair interviews, some of which are like
he said, but my favorite was there was a referee
named Tommy Young and you know it was controversial, dude.
But at one point Flair's doing his best, you know, sell,
and he goes, look, I don't like this guy, but
(12:04):
he calls him like he sees them. Hey, nobody step
into a microphone in front and for Angel Hernandez tonight
exit out about a friend.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
He will go unless maybe you know, maybe he he
would lend people a lot of money. Maybe that's what
I'm going to miss him, because hey, if I didn't
have my per diem or whatever, he would always buy
dinner out on the road.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Or something like that. I don't know, I don't I.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Really isn't that what Andy Chubb? And there was a
guy you saw that story, right, lending a team made
a million dollars. Bad move man.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You know, maybe maybe now Angel Hernandez is gonna go
do a podcast that's gonna be so amazingly entertaining, like
it's saving in Belichick, right, suddenly he's gonna have all
these great, amazing insights. Oh, it's see Angel Hernandez Joe
West podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
It's fantastic. Just let's can can he get hired to
be one of the guys in the in the booth?
Can we bring him to Fox? Oh? I really liked
to hear.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Hey, uh now bad for the not bad for the Dodgers.
Mookie Bets, Hey, Angel, what was Mookie Bets liked?
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Umpire?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Let me tell you about this blake. We tell you
about this dude. He thinks he's so blake. He thinks
he's so great. Mama. I love calling the inside strike
on him. We changed the game with Mike Pereira. Now
let's go now, Jordan.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
If it was four inches off the plate, I always
called it a strike because Mooie would give me like
the side. I like it was really mad and I
like that and I wanted to see it again, so
I always call it. If I gave the I gave
the opposing picture four inches on either side of the
plate because I just didn't like Mookie bets.
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Oh that's great. See look at the cat.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
He's gonna get a home run here because he's gonna
get umpired fairly, but me no, I like to make
that strike zone really really.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
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.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Today was a big day for the NBA and it
was probably the biggest day non game day for a
while because we found out today that Bronni James is
staying in the NBA Draft.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Now why today a big day? This is this is
where I zag when you think I'm gonna zig, like
I still believe what's going on with Bronni, and I'm
speaking of triple down, tripling down on things. Will the
Lakers draft Bronnie in the second round of fifty five? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Maybe, but maybe they get him as an undrafted free agent.
You see Rich Paul and Clutch Sports saying things like
he's starting to work out, but he's only gonna work.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Out for a couple of teams.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
He's only gonna do a one way, not gonna do
a two way contract, which is very popular with second
round players. Not gonna do a two way deal's gotta
be an NBA deal. Trying to scare everybody away, so
Bronny can get to his preferred destination, which is of course,
with Lebron with the Lakers. Now, how much he's gonna
play there, probably just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
They'll go through training camp together, they'll play a couple
of preseas games together.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
It'll be fun video to see Lebron play with Bronni.
Lebron will get to answer questions about it, and then
Bronny will go play in the G League for the
next couple of years until he's really ready to contribute.
So I'm tripling down on that. But that's why this
is good and it's great for the NBA draft because
this is a buzzless draft. Man, there is no buzz.
There is no excitement about who's getting taken. There's no
(15:22):
conversation who should go number one? Who's who are the
big players in this draft. I think that we think
are gonna be impact players right away from the beginnings
to Fon Castle's my guy, He's a guy.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Take number one overall.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I know how great an NBA player he's gonna be,
and people are crazy if they take him anywhere lower
than number one. But still there's not a lot of
buzz around him, not a buzz around anybody. But now
you have Bronni James in the draft, and no matter what,
he's a conversation and it's gonna be a conversation for
the next month. Who's he working out for? Does this
mean if he works out for the Suns, Lebron will
(15:55):
go to the Suns. If he works out for the
Celtics and go to the Celtics, it will be the conversation. Right,
It'll be the NBA version of the quarterbacks we talk
about going into the NFL draft. You need something with
buzz that people are gonna talk about. And Lebron James's
kid in the most average of NBA fans, the most
casual of NBA fans. Oh, Lebron's kid's gonna get drafted.
Who's gonna take him? It will be a bigger story
(16:17):
as we get closer to the draft. And here's even
better part of it. Normally, when the NBA Draft comes,
the big players get taken early overall. And that's it, right,
you see viewership fall off a cliff because, Okay, I've
seen the guys get taken, and I see the guys
I've heard about. Now it's a bunch of guys I
don't know. I don't need to watch a draft anymore.
I can just check in right now.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
There's a bunch of guys that play in Europe and
guys from small colleges I haven't seen play.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It doesn't matter. I'm done. But Bronni is not gonna
get taken. If he does get taken until the second
round of the draft, which means you're watching this draft
from the beginning. Now the draft is must see because
it's where does Brony end up? Does Greg Popovich say, blank,
you Lakers, We're taking Bronny here, and I'm gonna team
him up with Wemby and we're gonna win championship after
(17:01):
championship for the next fifteen years, right like, we gotta see,
how is that gonna go? Is another team gonna draft Bronny?
Are the Lakers gonna draft Brownie in the second round?
If he doesn't get drafted, the news will break right
after the draft that he signs as an undrafted free
agent with somebody. So this story becomes what the draft
is all about, and the draft needs it, and it's
(17:22):
a story that plays out over the course of the
entire broadcast and the entire night, not something that builds
up to the announcement of the first picket at eight
oh seven and then everybody turns their TV off.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
No, this has become a musty event. It's given juice
to the month before it. This is the best news
the NBA has had in a while for a kid
who is a middling prospect that we don't know how
good he's gonna be. He has potential, but look, you're
throwing a dart when you get to the second round
of the NBA Draft. Anyway, who knows how good he's
gonna be. But for the next month and then the
night of the draft. This is an absolute gift. The
(17:56):
NBA got an absolute gift today with Bronnie staying in
the draft. Just remember a couple of weeks ago they
had the draft lottery. I think we mentioned it once
outside of an update, right, I mean, it just doesn't matter.
It's not registering the same way. I mean, part of
it is you've got a lot of foreign players coming in,
(18:17):
so we could say their name, but you can't speak
to having done your due diligence at this point and
watched a bunch of well, what's gonna be grainy footage
from a lot of these guys or stuff that's been
pieced together on a YouTube video. It was like, all right,
all what's gonna be is highlights, so you know what
versus college we see the ebb and flow of things.
(18:37):
You got the guys from Kentucky that'll be up there
and a few others. Your guy Castle top ten pick
by most mock drafts. But beyond that, there's just not
the fever for it this year. There's just not that
guy that's bringing everybody to the table except for Brownie James,
because everybody has an opinion regardless of how many of
(19:00):
the minutes he played at USC they actually saw right,
whether it's whether it's I met well, because if we
think about it, it's packing, you're dark and it's model season.
You're right? How many people really watched any of this
except for I saw the box score In a couple
of points he had, they say he plays pretty good defense. Oh,
(19:21):
by the way, he measured in it, you know, two
and a half inches tall, shorter than what he was
listed at and you know he still does have the
wingspan and maybe you get a growth spurt. Maybe they
were projecting forward hoping if he stuck around another year. Uh,
he'd get to six four. But you get my point, like,
there's there's a lot that flows out right because you
then have all of the Lebron James conversations because at
(19:43):
that point he won't have had to exercise you know,
the player option or opted out, you know, much like
Rich Paul had already said, well he's a free agent.
Well we have to anticipate that, because then you can
go back and sign your two or three year deal
at sixty million or whatever that that math becomes. But
it's all the different storylines that fall off of Bronnie
(20:06):
James that are gonna fill the gaps between Yeah, this
guy's six ' eight. What do you think. I don't know,
got any comps, No, but you know what James, no idea,
couldn't even tell you no idea. Yeah, it says here
on my sheet that he picked up big minutes for
(20:26):
his national team. Uh, you know, his national uh U
eight team team last year. I mean that's kind of
the gona gonna be the initial part of the draft.
And then immediately, what can you talk about the Lakers
and if Lebron stays and a d's there, who do
they pair them with? And if you draft Brownie, is
he gonna play blah blah blah. I mean all of that.
(20:47):
I mean it serves that whole night, and it serves
this the next month. Yeah, and look, it's you know,
you want to win.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
And the other the other part of this is you
hit on something that's a pretty big deal, is that
it's hard for anybody to really project Brownie James because
he's a second round pick.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You're throwing a dart.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
You can't really there's no comp to say, hey, this
is a guy we've watched and evaluated and we think
this is what his ceiling is in the NBA.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Nobody knows what his ceiling is.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Nobody knows what his floor is, Nobody knows what kind
of player he's going to be, Nobody knows what kind
of skills that he's gonna have. Because he's nineteen, he
hasn't had a lot of minutes, hasn't had a lot
of exposure, and we're gonna get to see developmentally what
he is in the next couple of years.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
But yeah, it's hard. It's hard for for.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
When when you're talking about a guy that even the
even the most seasoned of experts and analysts and drafts
experts are gonna go, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
I mean, I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
That looks like you even had you even had Jay
Wright when he was asked about Jalen Brunts his success
is playoffs, saying, you know, I knew he'd be a
good player in the NBA. I didn't think he'd be
this This is the guy's coach has won two national
championships that has seen him every day and said, I
didn't think he'd be this good. I mean, it's such
a it's such a but at least with the players
earlier in the draft that have the better pedigree that
(22:04):
you've seen, Okay, I feel that this guy is. So
it's really difficult to talk about broddy James because you
just don't know he's going to be well.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I think the other thing, and we've talked about this
a lot, but to reiterate, audience always changing, Welcome in,
if you're new to the show, Welcome to the family.
You can go back and find ten years of content
in the iHeartRadio vault wherever you get podcasts. But just
the idea that because he's Lebron James Son, are you
getting honest evaluations from anybody, either those that are putting
(22:34):
their name and face in front of a camera or
on a podcast or on a radio show, or writing
columns whatever. Are you not to mention the anonymous ones?
Are you getting a real evaluation of what they truly
believe this player is going to be? And I hate
to say it, because I hope great things for the kid.
He's unfortunately the collateral he gets, the collateral damage of
(22:57):
all of this, you know, the love or hate of
his father in the empire he's built in the NBA
and Rich Paul and all of that that he that
he wears a bunch of it and it's not his fault.
But are we honestly getting true evaluations from many of
these people that it's not lip service because they don't
want to lose access, They don't want to be on
(23:18):
the outs with Paul and all of the players represented
from Clutch and everything else.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
No, I hear you on that.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
But when when you think about how analysts talk about
players that are that are are you know that could
make it or not? No one says this guy stinks,
you know, No, it says he stinks doesn't listen, Yeah,
he could wind up being good.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
He might not.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
So you normally see players. Do we get more soft
shoe here than we would normally they've stopped, but I
mean including some of the before they they backed off.
I mean, think about some of the early mock drafts.
Think about some of this. And we talked with Dan
Wake earlier. The number of references to I don't know,
first round maybe maybe really is that real evaluation or
(24:01):
is it just a well, I don't know. We'll take
him and then see what falls out from there. That's
not a strategy. We'll see what happens. Is not a strategy.
I don't think he really fits in our you know,
fifteen men rotation, at least not for a year or two.
But but you never know. Yeah, I mean you're drafting. Look,
(24:22):
an NBA draft has been this for a long time, right,
we before they included the one and done rule and
ever after it's the well, we saw him for a year,
and now we're projecting forward that in two to three
years he becomes a beast, whether it means he grows,
whether he's a better in the post game, whether he's
gonna put on thirty pounds to work in the low post,
all of those things through the year, developing an outside
(24:45):
jump shot. We've wished and wanted and hoped for all
these guys, and right now we're in even even a
worse spot because who are these guys that are getting drafted,
don't know.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Now, speaking of the Jets, this is a positive and
it's not just about the Jets. It's about the player.
And this is a great story because this talks about
this is this is perseverance for a player who was
one of the most exciting young players in the game
and then couldn't stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
After four years away and three injuries that could have
ended his career, the Jets signed former Bears running back
to Ricohen and this is, oh, this is this is
exactly a little bit faster than you though he's a
little bit fatter, just a little bit even with multiple surgeries,
(25:39):
just a little little bit faster. But look, but let's
have an appreciation moment for him, just first of all,
being and he's a guy everybody knows because everybody plays
fantasy knows Tarikohen when he when he came on the scene.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
How many leagues are.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You in where people used all their free agent money
to get him, right, because what his first game he
had like a seventy three yard touchdown or something like
that his very first game.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
That in the passing game. Yet, oh, the guy that
suddenly had some great value.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
He was someone who was a great PPR running back
flex for like three years, like he was a solid
ten part. He wasn't someone that you had that suddenly all, man,
he's my RB two or he could be in RB one. No,
but he was someone who he's in my flex position.
I could play him during bye weeks because he caught
a ton of passes out of the backfield. He was
an exciting player. He was going to be one of
(26:26):
the next great players for the Bears. And and again,
I know the world is filled with a lot of
those guys. But then he just couldn't stay healthy. You know,
three different injuries. Tried to come back. After twenty twenty,
he couldn't try to come back. After twenty twenty one,
he couldn't try to come back. After twenty twenty two,
he got hurt again. I think that's when he tore
his achilles in a workout, and he finally made it
back to the NFL last year, but he never got
(26:47):
on the field. He's never activated for a game, and
now here he is as a guy who could potentially
contribute for the Jets, because look, you're looking for a
third down running back. I mean, you drafted a thousand guys,
which I don't really get, but okay, you know Brees,
someone that's gonna need to breathe. You want somebody who
can return kicks now that things are a little bit
different with the kicking rules, and now Turi Cohen may
(27:07):
have a little bit of value, but it's really fun
to root for him because again, four years go by.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
If you don't do something for four years, do you
really have that desire to really say I still can
make it happen.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
I mean, at some point you say I did it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
I went as far as I could, and I went
further and it's just not gonna happen. So I gotta
give up. I got to move on to something else.
And instead, here's Tarik Cohen, now in his late twenties,
trying to get back on the field after three bad injuries,
and here he is with a chance to make the Jets.
Not only that, but have a pretty decent role as
a third down back, you know, sort of a kick returner.
(27:43):
I mean, this is just a phenomenal story for this kid. Yeah,
I think some of it comes down to and anything
you're doing, you got that last ditch effort, right, all right,
I'm gonna give it one more go. And if you
a football player, basketball player, I mean, how many guys
do you talk to that still get a little bit
of that thirst when training camp comes around. Now they
(28:04):
realize physically that's long gone in the past and whatever,
but there's still that camaraderie, the locker room, all those
things that players say. It's hard to leave that life
and right and transition to the next thing. So if
you're treat going and you see how much the running
back position gets cycled through guys that get shots, guys
that we have questions, why did they never right? Why
(28:27):
did this guy coming out of college get a cup
of coffee and never be seen again. It's a position
that if you can just find one staff, one general manager,
one scout that believes in you, and you get a
puncher's chance to make your mark. And yeah, root for
him as we get into training camp and everything else,
(28:49):
and no guarantees in that business, no matter how good
you may be. Right, A lot of head scratching roster
decisions through the years, but you always want to see
a guy be able to at least go out quasi
on their own terms, you know what I mean, as
opposed to all right, injuries just failed him, Like if
physically he's just not there anymore, then you'll find out
(29:10):
pretty quiet quick for your Jets because you've got running
backs on the roster, but an opportunity to potentially be
a part of a team that could be pretty good.
And I say could be because everybody else is anointing them.
And you know, I don't want to build your hope
hope up, buddy, particularly because we've been talking about the
demise of your other team home. I know, I know,
(29:31):
so I can't go on the other way and start
building up for this one.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
But look, but here's the thing is that this is
what it's going to be for the Jets this year.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Last year, they were the talk of the offseason with
Aaron Rodgers right, and the build up to the season
was immense. I mean, I thought the root that the
earth was gonna split in half. He's carrying the flag
out for the game against the Bills, and oh my god,
this is what we've been building for for the last
five or six months since Rogers got traded. Finally and
then it's over after four plays. Right, So it's going
(30:01):
to be a summer where there are more storylines than
just rot because Rogers overwhelmed everybody last year, right with
with it? It just what He's overwhelmed everybody the last
three years with all this Oh should I leave Green Bay?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Do I not do? What do I do? Do I stay?
Do I don't know?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And it overwhelmed everybody. But now you're gonna have other
big storylines that you follow. Yes, Rogers with the Jets
is going to be a big storyline, but all the
new quarterbacks and new places are gonna be big stories
because they're all going to get a chance to start.
Kirk Cousins is going to be a story. The Cowboys
will always be a story, right, Russell Wilson. There's gonna
be so much attention there. But when the season begins
(30:38):
and Aaron Rodgers is healthy, that will become the number
one story in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Again.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It's like we gotta hold our breath a little bit
and wait and say, Okay, let's let him get to
the season. Let's let him get through a game and
see where we're at. But once he's on the field
and he's playing and he's not injured, you don't knock wood.
Then the Jets will take over as the biggest story
and all these other stories out of it. I'll still
be big, but Jets and Rogers will move past them.
But until then, it's going to be part of the
(31:03):
other stuff, just because we got burned on it last year.
It was so much looking forward to it, and then
he was hurt. So it's gonna be that's the way
the summer is going to go. But then in the
fall he's healthy, he's playing. Because whether if the Jets
are great, it's an unbelievable story. If the Jets stink,
it's an unbelievable story now, or if the Jets are
if they're middle of the road, it's an unbelievable story.
Because this is it for Aaron Rodgers. So you just
got to wait. As long as he is playing, they
(31:25):
will ascend to be that story.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I gotta say, last year, the only person that really
looked forward to it was you exactly we we we
were both I'll speak for Frostburg here we were. We
were kind of done before that first or fifth snap.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Okay, you guys might have been, but but but you know,
remember we do the show for everybody else.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
We don't do the show for you guy. I don't
show for you.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Well, they were kind of I think America was kind
of done with it too. He is a real thing.
So you know you got that with the Russian flag
this year, that would be uh heal turn he could
make he.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Nikolai Volkoff's He grabs the microphone and starts singing the Russian.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
National IEA but you know what, but I want to
see it. But when he goes to sing it in
week two, does he use the same lyrics or does
he get creative like Volkoff did? Yah vein.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
A story that we've talked about for the last week
that's been a pretty notorious one, is finally at an end.
Charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dropped. Remember he was
arrested charge of the felony after trying to get into
the PGA Championship a couple of weeks ago. Driving in
for his round early in the morning, there was an
unfortunate fatality that they were trying to clear. A horrible story.
(32:51):
Your heart goes out to the family the worker who
was trying to work the tournament and got hit by
a bus. The police were trying to clear the scene
and Chef Fler there was some kind of misunderstanding and
when he drove away from a police officer. The video
gets out. The officer runs to the to the cab
of the car. The chef that Scheffler's in leans into
(33:12):
the window and really treating him like he caught him
stealing the car or he caught him at a crime. Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
This video gets out and it doesn't look good. Compounded
with the fact that the officer in question didn't turn
on his body cam. We told you a week ago,
charges are getting dropped. I mean, I'm not a lie,
only no law on something else.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah. Yeah, these these are getting dropped because these are
just really bad optics.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
And when the officer couldn't you you couldn't corroborate the
conversation you had with Scheffler, where supposedly the officer said
don't go anywhere and he decided to drive away when
you couldn't corroborate, and and there's no body cam, and
the video that gets out makes you look like the
police officer was out of control.
Speaker 6 (33:57):
Of course, it's of course his charges are.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Gonna get dropped. And anybody I didn't even need to
watch all the TV. I coulda stop watching law shows
with La law in nineteen ninety one and I still
would have known these are gonna get dropped. And it
was just a matter of time. And I'm sure they
waited as long as they could to have put as
much distance between this story as they could. And now
today the chargers get dropped. And Scheffler has a pretty
good statement out there when he says, hey, I hold
(34:20):
no ill. Will police do a very difficult job, and
they try to do it. It's a very classy statement. And
now this ends. But we knew a few days ago
this story wasn't going anywhere. Yeah, from the jump. Misunderstanding
was the term he used. And his lawyer very assertive
in the claims and saying, look, we're not taking any deals,
we're not pleading out like, we'll take this to its end.
(34:42):
And no further video came out to help corroborate any
of the officers' claims, right, Gillis, His track record came
to surface, which did not help matters in any way,
shape or form, and the two clips of video you
had didn't help his case. Right, And still wondering about
(35:02):
the eighty dollars pants. Oh yeah, sure, so, I mean
all of that comes to say there's nothing on video
to where he was thrown violently or that Scheffler was
belligerent on his side. So it gets to this point
of all right, we can pursue it, but it's flimsy
at best. And I know the old line is you
(35:24):
can indict a ham sandwich, but in this case, better
to uh, you know, learn learn lessons about communications and
being forthright and everything else, and calmer heads prevail, and
new policies and procedures probably for the PGA tour eventually
as well about guys driving themselves in and all too.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
You would think, you would think, and because there are
other ways to also, there are other ways to.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Get in, and it could have been avoided. But now
it's over and now he can go back to really
doing our most, our most I would say that one
of the best things we do, and that is being
able to give legal advice without harm and I ever
taking a law class. So we're going to have a
new podcast or radio show, Handle on the Law on Saturdays.
(36:08):
What do you got, Frostburg Matzio
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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