Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason Smith explains how the door is open for LeBron to finish his career with Cleveland - and that's how his career will end in a few years. Cavs need someone who can take playoff pressure off their core, and Lakers are already heavily planning the post-LeBron era. Plus, a visit from Jon Paul Morosi!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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 Foxsports Radio
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Cleave greetings, Welcome inside, Happy Tuesday, at least outside of
the greater Cleveland area The Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Harmon. For over forty years, Tirerack's been
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(00:53):
Tirerac dot Com is the way tire buying should be.
So the NBA is coming back to NBC. Michael Jordan
is coming back to do stuff for NBC. The Nicks
and the Pacers are going to be in the East
Conference Finals. It really is the nineties again. Mike Harmon,
Get ready celebrate parachute pants, really bold colors. Then you

(01:16):
segue into the grunge. Okay, that's fine, but it is
then I love the nineties. It is the nineties again
when we peaked as a species in the world. The
nineteen nineties are coming back and they are in your face.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
In rewind, we go back and turn back the clock
to all the music and TV. I mean about watching
ed YPD Blues.

Speaker 4 (01:34):
So it's only appropriate in a rewatch that we've got
that Reggie.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Miller is on calling games. Oh yeah, so he'll be
part of the action and the nineties talking about all
of those Nicks and Pacers battles and whatever. Michael Jordan's
role is. If nothing else, it gets people up in
arms for a minute, remembering simpler times, no cell phones,
you'd have to.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
The internet things. The internet was new, some people had
the Internet. You mean, I can talk to people and
it's really just okay.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well there you were an elitist at that point though,
in the early in the early nineties. I mean, that's
that's where you're talking your high rank government, you know, employee.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, that's that's where people started to have, like the
messaging systems at work. We're like, oh, I could just
send you a quick message on the computer.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Oh okay, yeah, A lot of bad things happen to
that at the end of the nineties at Yahoo because
we had super IDs, so people would start screwing with employee,
you know, fellow employees. They did not like you said
what I swear I didn't. Oh no, it was them on.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
This conterminal supercomputer.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Want to watch Nick Pacers tonight? Yes, Rick Smith's will
have a big night for the Pacers.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Nobody was texting or messaging about the dunkin Dutchman.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yes, I don't know how the Knicks are going to stop,
either Anthony or Dale Davis.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yes, send the Davis' is No, that's good. I like that.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
It's the nineties, man, get ready, you knew what was happening.
And oh, by the way, before we go any further,
it was about ten days ago people said, oh, you're Jason,
You're just crazy. It's a hot take. You looking for attention. Yeah, okay.
When I said Knicks Pacers East Finals, no, wait a minute.
And then a few days later was it's nice Nicks
and the Pacers. Yeah they well, Cat's great. Still it's

(03:17):
Celtics and the Cabs. Yeah, okay, okay, now Nick pays
about but the two of those things can and then
are not mutually exclusive. And then then a few days
went by, and then a week ago we said, Smith,
what am I going to wish for? Us to lose
what you wish for? I have no choice. We're gonna
play the pacers. If we move on, they're destined to
lose to the pace. We're sweeping the pacers. Okay, we'll

(03:39):
see you soon, Indiana. We got something.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
Sorry, we'll talk about that a minute. We got some
for But going back to.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Your point about hot takes and and needing a hug
and all of those things that those that's not necessarily untrue.
The fever dream that you had to try to arrive
at this moment. Yeah, the voodoo doll you've been carrying
of Jason Tatum, God.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Stop, that's no, that's not stop. That's bad. That's that's
dirty pool right.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
There, coin clips that the bulls don't win at draft lotteries.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
All of these things are things you've been trying to
bring into existence, and suddenly the universe has smiled down
upon you in this moment, normally hitting you in the
back of the head, uh, you know, kind of bringing
you towards the crossroads. And then just saying no, no, no,
you're not ready for this stuff yet. Now you're actually there.

(04:28):
Now all the things you've been wishing for are coming
to this moment, festering building to this Eastern Conference Finals.
Just maybe tomorrow, maybe it gets put off a couple
of days, but it seems.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
And I can see the Nick showing up tomorrow going yeah, whatever, hey,
Celtics have another game shop where they shoot the lights out?
How losing this game with no Jason Ted I can absolutely,
I'm all, I already seeing that this game where suddenly
he doesn't look like he's heard show. But then there'll
be the game six, anointment of the Knicks into the
Eastern Conference. I look, because I'll clear up. I'll be

(05:07):
clear with you. Like my brain like during the day
now and and and times when I when I think
about the Knicks, it's it's like my brain is like
the the beginning guitar solo of Mammoths, the end that
just came out about a week, A little bit of that,
a little bit of that, a little bit of in
the end. Yeah, right here, this is my brain. Nixt next, next, next, yes,

(05:31):
the next, We're going to the finals. We're beating the Celtics.
We're gonna sweep the pacers. Here come the drums. Way
too many brain cells. Brain's still going, brains still going. Now,
is he?

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Is he gonna always Dad's estate? Anything for kind of
going towards eruption. Uh No, I think Wolfgang van Halen
is good.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
He'll be everything.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yeah, I think or is he actually at this point
what he wants?

Speaker 1 (05:56):
I think he can that's ja Roth gets pissed off.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
No, I don't.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
I don't think. I don't think Diamond Dave can get
him on the stage again. I don't think smiling like
a ches cat happened like his dad on the on
the solo. But that's my brain now, okay with it.
I mean it really is is insane. But this is
what's happening. And I said, look, I said, hey, Knicks,
pacers X pay no no no. Then a week ago,
let's revisit. Yeah, okay, maybe a tiny bit, Jason, maybe

(06:22):
a tiny bit now like oh wait a minute, well
Nick Pacer, Oh wait that's happening. Oh oh oh wait
a minute, that's really really happen. Oh my goodness. He
was right all along, he was right about everything. What's happening.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
I might be laid down some money on some futures. Yeah,
or maybe parlayd all of that good fortune.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
Maybe he've been treating your family a little better. Maybe
a little longer walk with the dog.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Maybe I bought a Knicks car. Maybe I bought a
Knicks card. It wrapped wrapped in Nicks Patrick Ewings.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Patrick Ewing's face on one side of it, Jill Jackson's
face on the other. Thought you were saving up for
the mobile McDonald's. I got, well, well that's that's when
we get to the finals, then I'll be able to
buy the mobile McDonald's.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Son, can we buy get in on a franchise and
actually just making a food truck. I wanted McDonald's mobile McDonald's.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
I don't know if today, Mike, you know, yeah, the
mobile McDonald's because you know, Trump is meeting in Saudi
probably getting another plane, and uh they they had a
mobile McDonald's there to bring him food, and I'm like,
I want to go to there. I want a mobile McDonald's.
I want like the bookmobile used to drive on my
street when I was a kid. Hey, come get books
every Wednesday from the bookmobile. That is great. I want

(07:33):
that mobile mcdonaldbile. Oh dude, I wanted to drive McDonald's.
I mean, look like ice cream man was great. That
was one thing. I mean, that was awesome, But man,
a mobile McDonald's to drive up and just stop and go, hey, hey,
you go, what do you want, Big Mac?

Speaker 4 (07:46):
How many ice was a menace?

Speaker 1 (07:48):
How many you want? Yeah? And what else you want? Fries?
And what else? Shake? And what else? More? Shakes? And
what else? And a gallon of coffee and and and
you know what? Here, just take my credit card. It'll
be like James Earld Jones says in Field of Dreams. Uh,
they'll fork over twenty dollars a piece without even thinking
about it. They'll give you there, They'll give you their cash.
They could be washing the memories. I'll get whatever you need.

(08:09):
Just give me stuff off this mult McDonald's truck and
then I'll follow you around the city so that because
I can't you know, look, you can't stop in my
neighborhood the whole time. You gotta go out of the place.
But I'll follow you. Just don't go too fast. I
could follow you and stop when I'm done. I'm ready
to have something damn pied Piper. Yeah, yeah, buddy, Well.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
They have the molten lava apple pie available.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
I think they're gonna have everything, Mike except the ice
cream obviously. Yeah, that the ice cream will never be
worth broke. Yeah, machines broke.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
Sorry, seems like you could have parlay that into your
own trade school.

Speaker 5 (08:38):
What do you do?

Speaker 4 (08:39):
We just fixed McDonald's ice creamsh what else?

Speaker 1 (08:42):
What else can I learn here? Nothing?

Speaker 4 (08:43):
No, that's it. That's all you got.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
I don't know. I just think maybe that all that
when the McDonald's has decided listen, when the when the machine,
when the ice cream machines break, we're not going to
fix them. Just tell people they're down. It's not worth it.
We don't make enough money on it. We're not gonna
kind of like how uh uh the story that uh,
Disney didn't want to do season two of Hawkeye because
it was too much money, so they low ball Jeremy Renner.
So because they knew he would say, no, okay, we
don't want to do the season. That we don't want

(09:06):
to do the season at all, So we're gonna low
ball Jeremy Renner. He says no, and we don't do
Hawkeye too. That that's kind of what's happening to Bedison.
Just tell me more some Hailey Steinfeld in my life.
It takes it takes way too much money to fix
the ice cream machines. Just gonna just tell people we
were just not here is half the man he used
to be. We're not gonna fix him. He's got a
new back out. He's back now. Jeremy Renner is back. Now,
he's back. He's back. He's back like the Knixer back.

(09:28):
He's back.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
That Nix in the nineties is grooved, that little pose
trying to save the world.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, oh everything good? What everything old is new again?
We are back in the nineties. And look, let me
just say this right because here here's the Cavaliers, who
it's just a stunning loss for them, uh, falling to
the Pacers. Pacers win at one fourteen, one oh five,
a game they once led by nineteen. Clearly, yes, regular
season success and postseason success are two completely different things.

(09:58):
But to go a little bit deeper than that, the
Pacers are pretty good. This is an Eastern Conference Finals
team from last year. And if you want to go
back and look when the calendar change at twenty twenty five.
Not many teams have won more games on the pay left.
I think the Pacers are when the second or third
most games in the NBA since the calendar turned to January. Right,

(10:20):
this is it that they almost look like a mirror
image of the Knicks, where you talk about a strong
starting five with guys that have very similar roles. The
bench is somewhat okay, but these are two really similar teams.
I'm already previewing the Knicks of the basin.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
You've been watching a lot of Andrew nemhard people.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
People don't give the Pacers credit because and look in
Pascal Siakim is such a huge addition to them. The
clutch shots he made down the stretch, Halliburton figuring out,
okay again I need to get to the rack, and
he once again took control of the game again a
little bit too inconsistent for my taste. He has too
many games where you say, what was that all about?
But this Pacers team, people don't really they were really good. Yes,

(10:59):
they had a bad start to the season, but it's
a bad first couple of months. You say bad start,
it's it's November December, Okay, the season is just getting going.
But since January again second or third best record in
the NBA. And so for them to come in here,
and we already told you when the seat when the
series started, the Pacers are a bad matchup for the
for the Cavaliers, because the NBA preis is all about

(11:19):
match up, they are a bad matchup. So when you
saw the sea the series start, Yes, could the Cavaliers
maybe have had a better beginning if they were healthy. Yes,
a lot of things went against them, but this is
not as surprising because of those things, the Pacers were good.
They match up really well. We've seen them do it before.
We've seen the Pacers get to the Eastern Conference finals.
Haven't seen Don and Mitchell get out of the first round.

(11:41):
So when you when you're comparing the two teams and
you think about, all what a shot with it, you
think back and go, well, maybe not as much as
you thought it was going to be, because this wasn't
even a seven game thriller and escape with a ball
that bounced off the rim three times. This was for
to one. This was a beatdown. This was you don't
deserve to be on the same floor as the Pacers.
Despite the fact he won sixty four games in the

(12:02):
regular season.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
I just didn't finish the job, right.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
You look at Donovan Mitchell tonight that I don't know
that I expected to see him play, but give it
the old college try. But he does, and he puts
up twenty five shots. Well, he hits eight of them.
As a team, they shoot thirty nine percent owing to
the length and the switching abilities. And what Carlisle's done
with this Pacers squad. You know, Haliburton didn't put up
a ton of shots, but he's ten to fifteen from

(12:26):
the field, hits six three point shots for the what
the game high, well second to Mitchell, of course, but
what comes down with thirty one points? You get good balance,
your guy Nemhard. All five starters in double digits.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
And here's the stat of it.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
All home field in home court advantage. We talk about
it in all sports, but certainly basketball in these playoffs
hasn't mattered.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Right.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
You look at the Cavaliers for the year, thirty six
and five at home against teams not from Indiana, oh
and five against the Pacers on their home court matchup
time and again, and the Pacers good enough to claw
back and to wait you out and come up with
the big stop when it mattered.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
And that's exactly what happened here. It looked like they
were going to get back into it, Calves clawed back.
You had the three pointer from Mitchell making it a
three point game, but that was it. Pacers end up
distancing themselves and winning the series. And now they wait,
Well the winner of Boston and New York.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Well, here we go, and already I've watched Rick Carlisle
is already complaining about the East Finals officiating in his
post game. Now, he's already very upset about how the
East Finals officiated. He's very upset. He's already trying. He's
very up to just crown you king. He's really mad
last year, He's really mad about the officiating. Already celebrate

(13:47):
the table.

Speaker 4 (13:47):
He actually really a series and get there.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Really upset for small market teams not getting a big run.
I mean he's really he is really mad about this.
He's really mad about the East Finals officiating.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
Justin this make you want to sell come back any
of this talk?

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Coll Hell though, Okay, ready for a new job. Let
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coming up next, we have more on this shocking departure
from the playoffs of the Cleveland Cavaliers. We'll tell you

(14:23):
what reality the Cavaliers just stepped really close to not
stepped in step close to. Coming up next, Plus, we
have that big reinstatement story from Major League Baseball Jason
and Mike Fox Sports Radio. Forty five is a big number.
You think about those big plates when you go lift weights,

(14:43):
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(16:09):
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Speaker 2 (16:16):
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 (16:27):
Ty shir, we're gonna need songs from the nineties tonight,
unless you want to save the ninety songs until the
Knicks eliminate the Celtics. Yes, you want to do that, Okay,
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(16:50):
That's m y phdweightloss dot com. So we'll get to
the reinstatement of Pete Rose and Shoeless, Joe Jackson and
Buck and Chick Gandal and Eddie Scott you know all
the way.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Did you like seeing Chick Gandal's name in the list?

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, just freaking. My dad actually said today when I
tell you says Chick Gandal was gonna go Dad, come on,
it was nineteen nineteen. He didn't even play in the
majors the year after the World Series. Okay, he didn't
even play it in the minor leagues. And my dad
was like, how do you know that? I go Dad,
there's very little I don't know about the nineteen nineteen
White Sox like eight Men honestly of in my movie them,
of all the movies that I'll have this crazy encyclopedic

(17:27):
knowledge of, you know, to a Caddy shack and cars,
eight Men Out is and die Hard like Top Gun,
eight Men Out is right there? Like that's like one
like you, that's such an outline. You say, Okay, well
I get ad Jason, you know, to all the but
eight Men Out. Yeah, I know I've seen eight Men
Out at least one hundred times. I like the number
of lines I'm gonna get to run tonight on eight
Men Out is gonna be amazing.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah, that one shows up on PBS every now and again.
It's like I gotta watch it.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
But eight Men Out on PBS really?

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, they started showing movies, remember, because you can't you
can't produce a lot of the TV show.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
No, that is true.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, you go to things that are educational, historic nineteen nineteen.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
And that, and that counts at this point. But yeah,
I actually have a an old uh eight Men Out,
uh first edition signed.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Poster uh book. Oh okay, yeah, oh, a very actual novel. Wow,
geared and whatever. But it's beautiful signed by by by
by shoeless.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Joe, do you have an X on there? Sign by?

Speaker 5 (18:24):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (18:24):
I added that, and so it's suspect you gotta sign
to be a witness, Joe. Everybody signed the ink. The
ink test might fast, might fail. It's like that kind
of that didn't exist.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Just an X. That's something that's like a scam. My
dad would try to pull. What shureless? Joe's an X,
you know? Is an X right there? He's not sign
his confession with an X.

Speaker 5 (18:42):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (18:43):
How come when I when I when I when I
put my thumb over the penned streaks? All right, I
don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe here's
one of those long lasting pens or a quill from
nineteen I don't know.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
Its signed in blue sharpie. So it's I've replicated this
signature one hundred times.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
It's signing an outliner pen that didn't come around until
he early nineteen nineties. Strangely enough, when the Knicks and
the Pacers would face off in the Eastern Conference finals.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
See how it all comes back, Jason, who's that guy
that scored against the Knicks?

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Like nine points in three seconds. The guy that's on
the air now, broadcaster, we did celebrate that anniversary, not
Marv Albert. Yes, yes, look at this and your face.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
Larry Johnson didn't say how many backbites?

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Oh hey, you know there's no stop with the backbiting.
Think we don't need that. Here we come on. This
is Nick's Pacers ninety ankle bite happening. What else was
going on there? That was Jeff Van Gundy grabbing grabbing
the ankles of a lions all morning. Now, Look, yes,
we will continue to preview the Nicks Pacers Eastern Cup.

(19:47):
But the guy who won one more game? Yeah, yeah, details,
But the Cavaliers go home and there's there's a huge
reality that they're close to Wait till I tell you
what it is. You want a great hot take for
the night. But the most stunning thing watching what what
represents the fall of the Calves, who're the best team
in the NBA for most of the year. Look, you

(20:07):
want to split hairs between them and the Celtics and
the Thunder and at least two of those teams look
like they're going down in the second round, maybe all three.
Nothing is more. What happened to the Calves than the
end of this game, when they're coming back and they
cut it to three, one oh six, one hundred, and
Donovan Mitchell gets fouled shooting a three. He's eighty percent
from the free throw line, eighty percent, and he goes

(20:31):
to the free throw line. This is with a minute
left to go, and he misses all three free throws,
all three of them, and then comes back after in
the next possession and it's a three to make it
a three point game. Right this is the Cavaliers basketball.
Mitchell is hot, bringing them back all by himself. And
then when the gummea happens, when okay, well at least

(20:52):
get two out of three, we'll cut it to four.
He misses all three. If he was a bad free
throw shooter, I get it. But you miss all three,
you're eighty percent. If something doesn't tell you playoff basketball
is not your friend and changes need to be made.
That's the that's the instance, right there. Hey the cat, Look,
we told you Pacers are really good to get a

(21:13):
top three NBA record. Since January first, there'd been a
bad matchup for the Cavs for a while. Mike told
you what the records were, how how many how often
the Indiana Pacers win in Cleveland? It's a bad matchup.
But you talk about playoffs and pressure and putting and
putting games away. How does an eighty percent free throw
shooter miss three free throws and he missed the last

(21:34):
one horribly. He missed that last one. When is Mitchel
Robinson Well, no, no, no, yeah, there's a little bit
more art well, I mean a little a little more style,
and he didn't miss any under the basket, like because
Mitchell Robinson finds a way to miss them actually under
the basket, which I've never seen before, like on a
line drive that misses the rim and like bounces into

(21:54):
the first row. I mean this last the last one
was way off the back of the iron high and
they're like it got worse for him as it went on,
and you can tell he had bad body language and
and and it was stunning. I mean, just again eighty
Like watching the other night when when Chet Holmgren cast
him a game missing two free throws. He's a seventy
five percent free throw shooter and he misses two at
the end of the game opens a door for the

(22:16):
for the Nuggets to win Game one, I mean eighty percent.
You're the big star and you missed three free throws.
This is the Cavaliers playoff cry for help that you
didn't know they needed. You thought they were fine. Oh
they got nine guys, they go deep, they got all
their guys back. No, they need something, and I'll tell
you what it's gonna be. You ready for this? This
is what's opened the door tonight with the Calves losing

(22:38):
in such a shocking fashion the Pacers moving on to
the Eastern Conference Finals. He missed six free throws overall
by the Yeah, twenty shot twenty one made a ton
of them.

Speaker 4 (22:46):
In the fourth court. H yeah, yeah, and then that sequence.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, someone in the fifth row must have had a
cool sign or something, and the curtain of distraction came
to came to their home court.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
We are close to this result happening probably in a year,
and if the boy, I'd love to see the Lakers
get aggressive on this, because boy, that would be something.
But the door is open for Lebron to finish his
career back in Cleveland. Okay, Cleveland obviously needs something, right.

(23:18):
You saw another first round playoff flame out. Donovan Mitchell
is a terrific player, and I love him. He's a
Mets fan, but not been out of the first round.
If you can't get out of the first round, when
you're a sixty four win team, you need something. But
you have a lot of good young players. They put,
what do you need? You need someone that's going to
take the pressure off of your team. Because that's what

(23:38):
I saw is a team that wasn't up for the pressure. Again,
three missed free throws in the final minute. That tells
you we are not ready. They were gassed. They didn't.
It looked like the Cavaliers. They broke down. They were
playing too much ISO basketball and Mitchell and Garland started
taking too many shots in the middle of the game
and allowing this comeback by the Pacers. Because their offense
Scott stagnant. They need something and someone to take that

(24:00):
pressure off of them. Enter Lebron James, who can finish
his career exactly how he wants to. I can go
back to Cleveland and maybe win another championship because the Lakers,
clearly they have kind of one foot one arm on
Lebron's shoulder. He is at arm's length with them. It
is now Luca's team. You saw what happened in this playoffs.

(24:23):
They now are rebuilding a round. Look a look when
they traded Anthony Davis away, you could tell this is
the beginning of we're moving away from the blonde Lebron
James era. The fact of that he and Anthony Davis
had so much control over the team and Rich Paul
and clutch sports and maneuvers they wanted to make and
players they wanted to bring in that didn't work. They
are pushing Lebron. You can just see. You can just
tell they are embracing Luca and we're gonna give Luca what.

(24:45):
They're gonna get a center in the offseason so we
can have a room runner up and down the floor
with It'll make things much different for him. But Lebron
is kind of on the outside of that circle now,
and this year is the big year because if they don't,
they don't make it out of the first round again,
Lebron has definitively gone. He's got one more year, fifty
million dollars left. He's not gonna opt out of his
and to give money for the Lakers to sign anybody.
Forget it. That's out what Lebron does, because you know,

(25:08):
to win. I really want to win, but I'm not
gonna give money back. It's you know, how can I win?
Ricky by Yeah, if you would, if you would. So
they drafted Browny for him, They did everything for him,
and he's not gonna do that. The best thing that's
gonna happen, and this is how it's. Guy can see
it happening now. Him finishing in Cleveland, Olive branches all around.
You'll see a little bit of hey, oh, I never

(25:28):
know where I thought about where I might finish, but
I want to finish at home. Who That's how things
are going to go, and this loss by Cleveland open
things up to it because who else you're gonna have
to come in. You're gonna trade away part of your
your core. It's gonna be difficult to do. But Lebron, hey,
I'll go back and finish because he's got another cup,
two three good years left. We see the level he's

(25:48):
playing at right now. But the Lakers want to move on.
They're gonna give it this year. I'd love to see
him get aggressive and do it now. That'd be fantastic,
but they want to give it this year. So it
doesn't look like they pushed him out too early. But
this is the door is open now for Lebron to
finish as a Cleveland Cavalier. In fact, if I was
going to Vegas with money and you said to me,
how the next couple of years is going to go.

(26:09):
This year Lebron in La then the next two years
Lebron and Cleveland, and that's how he finishes. Look at you.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
I love the conspiratorial part of it, right coming off
of the draft lottery yesterday and all the chaos. And
to those that said anybody talking about that was dumb,
get away from the keyboard, go do something else with
your life. There's too many circumstances, including Lebron James showing
up in Cleveland back in the two thousand and three draft,

(26:37):
for people to not at least raise their eyebrows and
to say something is hard, you know, like the Lakers
or Clippers winning a title.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
At this point is it's not impossible. You can still
make a run.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
But for Lebron, you're looking at what he's left. He's
got the twenty four to twenty five into the player
option this year, which again he's not leaving fifty two million,
But then he's an unders free agent, so I don't
even have to trade him. He can just play this
year out and just say, all right, I'm gonna go
home now. For the Cavaliers, you got a good deep roster,
clearly playoff well. Just stay away from Indiana that would help,

(27:13):
and don't let them play on your home court. That
seemed to be a recipe for disaster. But Lebron James
did everything he could to distance himself from everybody.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
Else this year too. Right, as much as the Lakers
may be.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Pushing, you got Lebron pushing his you know, helping propel
himself as well. Going all right, look, these ten guys
weren't good enoughs Me and Luca against the world. Basically
all right, you didn't exactly play particularly well in that series.
Austin Reeves gave you what he had. He's got his
limitations defensively. Lebron's got his limitations at his health. Whatever

(27:46):
you believe about the knee injury, I'm a skeptic.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
What can I say?

Speaker 1 (27:51):
It became a convenient thing to walk away, and Frostbrook's
already working on a trade. He likes my idea of
doing it now instead of instead, does drive Lebron in lax.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah, I mean you gotta you gotta hear right? So
again into fifty two million dollars. That's where it gets in.
Do I think he's worth fifty two million dollars if
I'm the Calves?

Speaker 1 (28:10):
The Calves are no. Oh but that but that's a
typical blank you moved to make where Oh, I'll take
less money for the Calves. But you wouldn't take less
money for the Lakers. Nope, wouldn't do it. Who do
you want, Frostburg? What do you want the deal to be?
Who you take for for Lebron from the Calves? Yeah?
Mitchell and Mobley? Oh wow, okay, I don't know. You're
getting Mitchell Mobile. Okay, you get more. The salaries matchup?

(28:30):
What do we look at? I don't know. You're gonna
get to Land and Mobley. Okay, Mobley makes a lot
of money. He does. He does makes you can make
You can make the money work, right, Absolutely want him.
You can make the money work with that. Okay, all right, Wow,
there we go. So it's gonna be Lebron mobiley and
the free don't forget the free ride to the airport.
Oh yeah, that's true, that's true. Free ride to the airport. Yes,

(28:50):
and you'll play whatever music he wants right now, you're
not gonna play, you know you and maybe get him
a drink or something. I'll beat it by Michael Jackson
the whole.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, Mobley was on the last year of his deal.
He's up to thirty eight million on the books for
next year.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Hi, Yeah, you can make that work. You can make
that work.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Mitchell at forty eight million, Garland at thirty nine for Yeah,
I mean there's there's there's.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
A lot of hot take. I'm telling you that. That's
how it's good at Lebron is going to you know,
the way the season ended and how really the perception
of Lebron and and the the weight that is put
on having Lebron in LA that the Lakers for the
last year is like, well, we have to have a star.
We got to have them. That's why they kept Lebron
for so long. The Lakers have always all Lakers always

(29:30):
had a center. No, the Lakers have always had a superstar. Sure,
and so they if they were going to move on
from Lebron after the championship or a couple of years after,
well we don't have a superstar. We need to have
a superstar. Now they have one. So Lebron has become
a little bit more expendable. And you can tell he
is on the outside. He is outside the circle of trust.
Like if you're he is, you know he's outside where

(29:52):
de Niro and everybody else is in Terry Polo and
he's outside the circle.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
That was just your way to jam Ben Stiller Nicks
fan right into the conversation.

Speaker 5 (30:00):
How dare you.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
To say?

Speaker 3 (30:03):
It's like, if you're the Cavaliers bringing in Lebron James,
does that solve chemistry issues?

Speaker 1 (30:09):
I know no, I think it does. I think you're
bringing in someone who's gonna be your a guy who's
gonna throw you under the bus at every term. Is
going to take pressure off of a group that clearly
can't handle it. Lebron will take all the pressure. All
everything will be about Lebron. Hey, everything is great, everything's great.
You got a young core. He could teach you how
to win. We'd get through the playoffs. You're talking about

(30:31):
adding a guy and if you don't trade for him,
adding a guy for nothing in a year, and this
is what's happening Cavaliers. If I said I would go
I would go to Vegas and say Lebron finish his
career at least two years with the Cavaliers. That's always
got to do it right. He's got I'm gonna go home.
He started, he started with his hometown team. He left,
he went back, he left, He's going to go back

(30:52):
to finish to take a run with him. That could happen.
I could see yea one hundred percent. Who else do
you want? Then? Who else do you want? If if
Bron he's got to go with Lebron, you may not
get anybody, then yes, I believe you can't get Anderson Verajew.
You can still get it. That's great.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
I gotta find the odds of Lebron's next team.

Speaker 5 (31:15):
Get right in.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Larry Nance is good Lebron. Sure, Larry Nance Jr. Both
you get, You get both. Nancy's you can get both.
They'll be fine. Mark Price, you'll get him to junior.
He wasn't that good. Craig elw I'm sure he can
still hit some threes. No, you need his other guy
hit a three especial if you want up trade Dawson reeves, Oh,
you do that, But get right, Lebron will finish with
the Calves. It'll happen. Jason Smith Mike Harmon live from

(31:36):
the Fox Sports Radio studios. Coming up next, we got
the Play of the day and why today were Pete
Rose and Shoeless, Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver and Eddie
Seacott Eddy ten thousand in cash before the first game?
What you heard me? Why today? Were they reinstated in

(31:57):
the Major League Baseball We got that next right here,
Jayson to Mike Fox.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. Yeah, got more NBA coming up in
a few minutes, but right now, it's time for the
Play of the Day. Brought to you by tire rect
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Speaker 5 (32:36):
Well.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
When you put away the number one seed in the
Eastern Conference with the biggest shot of your season. You
get to be the play of the day.

Speaker 5 (32:44):
You don't have to.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Foul here, but you have got to come up with
a sock by to shoot Turner.

Speaker 5 (32:51):
He puts it down, Miles Turner with the biggest shut
up his season, and Indiana.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
He's up nine and they get tasty spirit. Dnastnt on
the call. No matter what the Cavaliers that the Pacers
still find again, so eerily similar they are to the
Knicks and end of game situations and the starting five
how much they rely on them. Real it's almost like
mirror images of each other. And you know it's gonna

(33:22):
be the Eastern Conference Finals. So I'm okay with that.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Twenty one points off the bench for the Pacers, but
Turner ten points on the game, seven boards, just three
to seven from the field that comes up, plus twelve
thirty three minutes played in a big spot to your point, Yeah,
very much a squad where let's just give the benches,
you know, rally towels and you just sit and watch
the starting five beat each other down until one man

(33:45):
is left standing. I just runts it and Halliburton. It's
changing Haymakers.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Obi Toppen, who was once a first round pick of
the next look at the game he's having off the.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Bench twelve minutes playing Yeah, minus eight but five and
three for him.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
So more basketball coming up. But today was a huge
day in Major League Baseball. Half hour we got John
Paul Morosi stopping by with us as Commissioner Rob Manfred
has reinstated Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, many of the
other black socks from nineteen nineteen, and a total of
seventeen players who were banned from the game. Manford's saying

(34:21):
in a statement today that because they are dead, they're
no longer a threat, so we can reinstate them, which,
how ridiculously. Look, you know, stupid things are going to
be a theme the next tew minutes. Just let you know.
I mean, how stupid is that for Rob Manford to say, Oh,
because you're not dead, we can because you're dead, we
can celebrate you. Wait here, you're a threat anymore, so
we can celebrate here. Oh you stink, you stink he's dead. Hey,

(34:44):
I what a great guy. Let's have a party. Like
how stupid is that? Here's the sentence.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that
has more deterred effect than one that lasts a lifetime
with no reprieve.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yeah, we'll tell you that. Hey guess what, now, anybody else,
you get banned from baseball for life, We'll let you
back in when you're dead. Like what, Rob Manford, this is?
I can't believe that's in a statement. I can't believe
he put that in a statement. Hey, because you're not
alive anymore, you're not a threat, so we can celebrate
you no longer. You were a big threat right up

(35:19):
until you died, and now you're not a threat anymore.
So now we can celebrate you. Like I really want
the descendants of all the White Sox players who are like,
you know, all the great grandchildren to tell him to
stick it, you know, stick it just because now they're
because honestly, why he's doing this. And look, we've talked
about this before. I don't think there's any coincidence that
President Trump has a meeting with him. Hey, we'd like

(35:41):
to reinstate some guys and what have we seen in sports? Sports? Say,
you know what, this is a situation where we're kind
of running a little scared right now because a lot
of commute, a lot a lot of different entities. Hey,
they're kind of scared of of of the the Trump
agenda and what's going on, and if hey, if they
if they're coming for us, Hey, we want to make
sure that we're not in the crosshairs and because we

(36:02):
don't know what's gonna happen. And you know, Trump has
been governing like this and since he took over, and
like you saw the Eagles go to the Soup go
to the White House when half the team didn't want
to go, and it was like, oh, the reports they
weren't gonna go. But hey, it's easier if they go
because now they're not a daily story and they're not
a story about, oh, you wouldn't go to the White
House for whatever reason. And now here's Pete Rose who

(36:22):
could have been reinstated. You lit, you could have been reinstated.
But President Trump meets with Rob Manford a month ago
and suddenly now here, Hey, guess what, you guys are
back in major You guys are back and eligible to
be voted into the Hall of Fame. Like, I think
there's no surprise that you had this meeting. And sports
leagues are saying, it's a lot easier if we don't
get entangled in politics, So let's just do this to

(36:43):
get along. And this is how you're seeing a lot
of things get solved, at least from the sports angle
up well.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
And some of this, though, it just goes to just
pure logic. Right now, President Trump is one that's going
to comment if you don't show up as opposed to
perhaps other presidents whom not of since it's not really
a well tested and fortio. We've got some outliers, right, Brady,
And and you've been a couple of guys didn't like,
didn't like Obama, didn't like Biden, or in general, just

(37:11):
had other things they were done with their years, Like wait,
I got to interrupt whatever I was doing.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
No, I'm done.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Because it's also kind of a recent invention that you
go fairly quickly thereafter. Right, what's about a time it was, Hey,
we'll see you in a couple of months, like I'm
on vacation, right, I'm go off with.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
My family across the globe.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Or I've already changed teams all right, Jim McMahon famously
showing up as a member. But like all of that
to say, yeah, I mean, but some of it is logic, right,
it's like, all right, do we need this to be
a story?

Speaker 4 (37:44):
Oh, guys go or go.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
I'm sorry in this case, like this is like the
logic of it holds for.

Speaker 4 (37:49):
Me, Like, all right, put it up to a vote.

Speaker 5 (37:51):
Now.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Is it stupid that you're waiting for these guys to
be dead? And this is the most tone deaf statement.
This is worse than the hunk of metal.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
I mean, I don't day.

Speaker 4 (38:00):
At least you can marry, you can say you might
or might not have been inebriated.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
I mean, here, you have all your faculties on the
official letter, and that's the statement you want to put ounce.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Hey, this guy, this guy is the commissioner of baseball,
and this is a statement that he puts out. It's
a great deterrent. I mean, look, because I agree these
guys have done their time. They should have been reinstated.
I'm with President Trump on Hey, these guys have done
their time. It should be reinstated. But like, okay, this
is what you needed to do this and this is
the statement you put out to make it work and saying, hey,

(38:29):
they're dead, so we don't need to Hey we can
celebrate you now because you know you were really bad,
but then you died and that was a change. Death
is a career move. WHOA, what a great movie said
to beat Really, that's kind of what's going on here.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Just an unbelievable statement.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
We have more on this and a big story out
of the NBA. Next, This is Fox.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
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.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Late in the third quarter, that's it. I
guess no more heaven in hell No. The Nuggets lead
the Oklahoma City Thunder eighty to seventy three. Nuggets looking
to take a three games to two lead and going
home for the closer. Boy, All of a sudden, is

(39:21):
that really paid to be one of the top three
seeds in the NBA playoffs? Fire the coach. We'll have
more NBA on the way, but an incredibly large day
in Major League Baseball as Commissioner Rob Manfred reinstating Pete Rose, Shulis,
Joe Jackson, Eddie Seacott, Chick handle Buck Weaver, Buck Weaver

(39:42):
a host of players, ruling that now that these players
have passed away, they no longer represent a threat to
the game, so we can be celebrated and we can
celebrate that, which makes absolutely no sense. But our Pete
Rose and julis Joe Jackson getting in the Hall of Fame.
No body better to talk to than EMMIBE net work
insider extraordinaire, longtime friend of the show. He is on

(40:04):
Twitter at John Morosi, host of the morning show Sternsy
and the Pope, which is sweeping the nation. It is
John Paul Morosi. What's happening, man, Jason and Mike.

Speaker 5 (40:14):
Good evening, my friends. Yes, it has been quite a
news day in the baseball world, and I am here
to answer your question.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
All right, Well, first one is this, John Paul, is
that you know, I didn't think we could get a
more tone deaf statement from Rob Manford than you know,
the World Series Trophy is just a hunk of metal.
But wow, when he says today, hey, Pete Rose and
players like him no longer represent a threat to the
integrity of the game, So your suspension ends when you die,
like like, I can't believe he's the commissioner of the

(40:45):
game and he puts out a tone depth statement like that.
I could not believe that was in the official release
of why Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson reinstated.

Speaker 5 (40:55):
It is a it is a complicated day, and say
the very least, let's start there. The point that you're making,
I think is a fair one. And yet I suppose
the logic by the Commissioner's office is as follows that
it is actually not MLB's business. And this is correct.

(41:19):
It's not MLB's business to decide who is eligible for
the Hall of Fame, who gets into the Hall of Fame,
separate entity, separate process. They'll respect what the Hall decides
to do with their business, but MLB's decision. This is
the question of policies that he Rose's family said to LB.

(41:40):
We believe that the permanent and eligible list should not
apply to someone once they have passed away. And I
understand why MLB ruled the way they did because basically,
in this case, the question is is the person who
is on the ineligible list does he or she meet
the criteria to be involved in the game, to be

(42:03):
able to have employment impact the outcome of games. Coach
manage be An executive, et cetera. And in this case
the answer is well, no in this case because when
the person has passed away, they're no longer able to be,
by definition, proximate to impacting Major League Baseball events. And

(42:24):
so this basically is saying that that MLB is is
putting the question of his Hall of Fame worthiness in
that process back to the Hall of Fame, and that
the status of being permanently ineligible ends with death. And
the question had never quite been put before every commissioner

(42:46):
before because obviously when Rose had been his reinstatement, he
was obviously still alive and he was still signing a
bunch of autographs in Vegas. There's a lot of different
elements of his work that MLB just wasn't comfortable with,
and so they never allowed him back in. In this case, posthumously,
he could be allowed quote unquote back in, But the

(43:09):
matter before the Hall of Fame is indeed a separate one,
and he will be considered by the screening committee in
two years time. So it's a while from now, but
at this point in time that least his family has
that potential avenue to have him in shrine and Coopers
down it's a long journey, but at least there's a
pass now.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
So all these years JP we've had the theoretical Rubbert
now meets the road in terms of people actually having
to vote on p Rose and for the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
How do you think that comes out?

Speaker 5 (43:42):
Well, it's really interesting. And here's what I would say
that as two massive obstacles in front of him, his
candidacy does Because what's gonna happen in twenty twenty seven,
like two years from right now, there will be a
meeting of screening committee that will and discuss if p

(44:04):
Rose's name should actually be on the ballot by the
Era committee that considers players who made their greatest impact
before nineteen eighty and that committee will meet at the
winter meetings in December of twenty twenty seven. And if
you for any of us as follow prudent's courtroom dramas, movies,

(44:26):
actual trials, we know this, We've learned this how many
times that the jury selection is of paramount importance, and
so I won't be able to really give much of
an opinion on how the committee will vote lesson until
you see the composition of that sixteen member committee. Assuming

(44:50):
he actually gets put on the ballots against screening committee
will meet, and then the sixteen member committee meets. The
separate group of people will meet at the winter meetings
in twenty twenty seven. And if that group of people
Johnny Bench and Tony Perez and a lot of his
contemporaries that played with him and have great things to
say about b Rose, then there's a decent chance will

(45:11):
get in. But if it's comprised of people that are
a little bit more hardliners when it comes to Rule
twenty one and how they feel about gambling in the game,
et cetera, you will probably not see him get in.
So it is a very theoretical within a theoretical question.
I still tend to think that the chances are less

(45:34):
than fifty to fifty that he'll get in in December
of twenty twenty seven, simply because it is hard to
get agreement on on anyone above a seventy five percent
threshold by the Veterans Committee. It took Dave Parker forever
to get in, George Steinbrenner still hasn't gotten and it
took Marvin Miller ballot after ballot after ballot to get in.

(45:55):
Despite his impact on the game, and so I just
think there's going to be a lot of resistance from
enough people that are involved in the process that probably
still less than if they fifty that he gets in.
But again, the composition of the committee two and a
half years from now will ultimately give us the answer
on that.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Well, I'm gonna agree with you to a point, John Paul,
and follow me on this. So I agree that when
it first comes up, there are going to be people
who are going to say, you know, because we see
this in voters who vote for MVP or Rookie of
the Year and Hall of famers. You know, people tend
to vote I want to stand up and I want
to take a stand. I believe so and so is
too old to be considered for Rookie of the Year,

(46:34):
so I'm not voting for him. I think this guy
should be in the Hall of Fame. We see that,
we see people stand up on principles, whether it's for
peds or something else. So the first time around, I
agree with you. I think Pete's going to fall short
because hey, I want to have a principled thing, and
I'm going to say I'm not voting for him the
first year. But I think he absolutely gets in ABBS
one hundred percent gets in a year after because look

(46:56):
at where baseball is now with gambling. There's gambling ads
every when you watch a Major League Baseball game, there's
over unders, and there's the there's so much in game gambling.
Sports now is so in bed with it's become such
a part of it now that I can't believe players
are going to say, well, if it happened now and
Pete was caught gambling, and what would he get a

(47:17):
year suspension? Maybe he'd got a six month suspension if
he was gambling when he shouldn't have. Look at what
happens to players who gamble when they're not supposed to now.
So they would get a season or half a season,
and they'd move on, and they will think Pete's done
his time, and because of the where baseball is with
gambling right now, he's going to get in the Hall
of Fame.

Speaker 5 (47:34):
Well, it's there's no question that that gambling has become
a massive source of revenue for a lot of leagues
around North America. That's that is that is clear, But
there is also clarity on or a person who is
affiliated with baseball working capacity you cannot bet on baseball period. Now,

(48:00):
remember there was the issue a year ago to Kapita Marcano,
the player from the Pittsburgh Pirates, was placed on the
permanent and eligible list for him in his case because
he had placed bets on games in which he had
a duty to perform. Now they I believe at the
time it was found to be part of a parlay,

(48:22):
and likely it may have been a not a deliberate wager,
but it was still a wager nonetheless, and players are
schooled and instructed on this bring training every year. I
walked by the sign, the rule twenty one sign in
the clubhouse last week. It is there. It is. It
is in big bold letters. The current players know what

(48:46):
the rules are. And remember the people that are going
to be voting on this and the sixteen member committee
are not the modern player. They are going to be
guys that played in the seventies in the eighties and
were under a bit more of a conservative stance towards
gambling and the involvement of betting in the sport. So

(49:08):
it's it is you're right, since sensibilities have changed, but
rule twenty one has not changed. And that is something
that if you are involved in the game, you are
intimately familiar with what the rule says, what it very
clearly prohibits. And while society has broadly accepted sports gambling

(49:29):
as part of the infrastructure of the sport, it is
very different than forgiving, which is what I think this
would be, forgiving what Rose had done. Now, I want
to make one really clear point, and we could certainly
talk We'll talk about this for an hour if you
want to, but one before I go any further, one
really still point that here, when it comes to the

(49:53):
Hall of famp Rows or Clemens or Bonds or anybody
else that is out for reasons that are not perchanged
to of their playing ability, that the statement has made
well at the museum, it needs to tell the history
of the game, warts and all, and it does. There
are Pete Rose artifacts in Cooperstown. If you walk if

(50:13):
you walk in the front door on Main Street tomorrow
and you walk in and you say, I want to
see something of Pete Rose's name on it, go upstairs,
second floor. There's a display with Peter Rose artifacts in there.
He's there. He just doesn't have a plaque in the
gallery of the players that are honored and bestowed upon
the greatest honor that you've gotten baseball, and so his

(50:36):
career is noted there. It's not like he's been pushed
out of the place where you can't see him. He's there,
and I think that's an important distinction to where telling
the story of the game is important and then honoring
the absolute greatest of the greats who fulfilled their obligations
in both playing record and sportsmanship is a separate conversation.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
Ah the old words sport. It's been shipped JP.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
It's a good one, and this is the discussion that'll
keep going because there's a lot of others waiting to
knock on the door of the hall as well. Shot
Palmrosi with us at John Morosie where you find him
on Twitter j O N M O R O S.
I leave out the h because Mom said so Hi Mom,
MLB Network, NHL Network.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
He's watching everything. He's our guy.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
He's a Michigander and he's still excited that the Pope
is a White Sox Fank Layton Kershaw comes back this weekend.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
What do we expect.

Speaker 5 (51:30):
They need him now? With with Roki Sosaki going on
the IL a rotation that has had to really rely
on a lot of different people just because of the
amount of days of rest they've needed and different adversity
than they have they have encountered. Clayton is going to
have to fitch through pain. This is not going to
be perfect vintage Kershaw, and the game can be very

(51:52):
unforgiving the players who are later on in their in
their careers.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
It's I think his.

Speaker 5 (51:57):
Results in the minor leagues have then good enough, not perfect,
but good enough to give this a go, especially when
you consider where the Dodger rotation is. So I think
Clayton realizes he's got a certain amount of throws left
in that arm. And and I would imagine, and this
this is my reading of the Tea leaves here. The

(52:21):
expectation is not going to be that he's gonna start
every fifth day between now and the end of the season.
He's gonna need probably to be backed off again. The toe.
Different things that have been issues with him will probably
start barking again between now and October. I think the
idea is get this team through this period of time
where you've got some injuries. Invariably something else will will

(52:42):
go on that will require him to go in the
I l late in the year and then hopefully he
comes back and as an option for the postseason. But
now the injury situation there glass that as well. They're
they're going through it. So I think Clayton says, Okay,
these guys are down, it's my turn. I'm gonna step
up and I'm gonna give it what my body's got
for as long as I can go. And then and

(53:03):
then see what happens in the second half. But it's
it's gonna be a Mattic return. It's gonna be a
very heartfelt return. He's beloved in la as you both
know well. And uh I just heard just coming on
the show, Justin's excitement about what's what what it means
for Dodger fans. So it's it's gonna be a lot
of fun to see him back on the mountain this weekend.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
And they'll be network inside of John Paul Morosi now
speaking of the Dodgers. The A's lead the Dodgers right
now six to one in the fifth inning. No, I'm
gonna put you on the spot here, John Paul, but
I know you're gonna come through for me here if
the Dodgers loose a night and again, down six to
one in the fifth inning. The Tigers are tied for
the best record in baseball with who.

Speaker 5 (53:45):
The New York.

Speaker 4 (53:48):
John's cutting out, Guys, I don't think you can hear you.

Speaker 5 (53:52):
There's another team in New York that were blue and orange,
that has basically been unstoppable ever since I visited Madison Square. Guards.
I'm waiting for my my honorary court side seats next
to Spike, you know, all the Kardashian family. I'm basically

(54:12):
as far as I'm concerned, i should be front row
based on the great mits for that I've done for
for the Knicks, so uh, it's to me they've been
really impressive. I think at this point in time. Now, now,
how are you gonna feel if by the end of this,
if there's a bread down the canyon of Heroes and

(54:33):
and you're gonna call me up and say, hey, John,
the Detroit Pistons were the toughest team that we paid.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
Hey, I'm okay with that. I'll absolutely be okay with that,
And I'll try to get your tickets next to like
Timothy Shalomye give us our.

Speaker 5 (54:50):
Flowers and then listen, I think, and again, even in
that series. If a couple calls go differently, it's could
have easily been the Pistons triumphing, and and and now
you've got at the Nova Knicks who are doing great work.
You've got a Villanova graduate who's the Pope. And and
by the way, I have I have already submitted this
will not surprise either of you at all, nor will

(55:11):
surprise Justin. I have already interview requests to the Vatican
Press Office to discuss the Chicago White Sox with the
Pope this this year. I'm not sure if they're going
to answer, but the requests, the requests are in, and
my understanding is they communicate a lot over over the
written text, so uh there is. There are two letters

(55:33):
currently on their way to the Vatican from me requesting
an audience with the Pope. We'll see where it goes.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
As long as you made sure your your name is
probably displayed that your name is John Paul Morosi, I'm
pretty sure they'll get back to you and say, yeah,
we got to talk to John Paul absolute hundred PC.
We have talked about Pope John Paul.

Speaker 5 (55:51):
Guys, this guy sounds authentic. I was named after the Pope,
while John Paul. The second was on the paper prone Uh, listen.
If I can't get an interview, I'm not sure who can.
Because I can say to the I can say of
the Vattican Press Office that we will, uh, we will
happily do forces of this interview in Spanish, Italian and

(56:11):
English to communicate broadly the message of community through sports
and how we can all understand each other better in this,
in this beautiful, diverse world of sports. I think that
there's a there's a great message should be had there.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
He's on Twitter at John Morosi, that is at John Morossi.
Pope is always buddy, appreciate it, man, We'll talk to
you next week. Have fine, Oh.

Speaker 5 (56:36):
The grand That's basically what I'm gonna say. I'm already
HEARDing it right now.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
Nicely done. Thursday MLB Showcase. Check out John Paul, Rangers
and the Astros again Thursday MLB Showcase. Maybe a little
bit of Italian, a little bit of Spanish.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
Do you ever know he's a global entity? From John
Palmer rosay, Yeah,