May 25, 2022 • 33 mins
On the Best of Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Jason and Mike discuss Game 4 between the Warriors and Mavericks taking place in Dallas tonight, the guys discuss if Steph Curry, Draymond Green and company are ready for their 6th Finals Appearance. Roger Goodell discusses some changes for the NFL Pro Bowl and MLB Insider Jon Paul Morosi join the fellas to discuss a busy day in the MLB!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
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by searching fs. This is the best of the Jason
(00:23):
Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. As
we have a night tonight where we could see the
Golden State Warriors head to the NBA Finals, we also
could see setting to another game as right now the
Mavericks lead Golden States sixty five. Jumping right in with
(00:46):
the NBA as it sits right now, and of course
we're gonna hear from Steve Kerr coming up in a
couple of minutes. As you know, certain things are bigger
than basketball. But as we as we pay the bills
right now this game, Mike, you know, you look and say,
right maybe the Warriors are just kind of hanging around
a little bit. Get that little patented runs somewhere early
in the third quarter, and suddenly they're back in it.
(01:07):
We've seen the Warriors do this many times before. But
Clay Thompson is gonna have to have more than three
points if that's gonna happen. I think it doesn't want
a little bit more than that. Yeah, one of five
from the field, one of four from three point range.
As far as a team there three of sixteen, uh
from three point range. Uh. And we watched this lead
(01:27):
bulge because watching the first quarter they couldn't hit the
broadside of the bar and either uh. And we're only
down four, right, you do the breakdown of the stats
from that they were eighty one overall, one of seven
from three point range, and we're down four points to
a Dallas team that had shot seven of twelve from
three point range. Uh. So shows you how much worse
(01:49):
everything else went for them in the second quarter. To
watch this swell a bit. Luca four of twelve from
the field, thirteen points. Uh. He and Bronson both leading
away with thirteen and Phinney Smith uh and Bullock, Like
guys are hitting three point shots right x X Nick
Reggie Bullock. You have to say, you have to say that.
(02:09):
And Nilikina had at three as well. Yes, he's in
the game. Well, he checked in and even on radio,
it's like, wow, here here comes Frank nil Nilikina early
what's um, what do you think Jason kids thinking here? So,
you know, some activity up the bench, but they've already
got sixteen bench points? Do the Mavericks to this point
(02:32):
in the game, and look it's the you've got one
final big punch. We've talked a lot about the way
the Mavericks have spoken in post games and Luco with
the I've got a lot to learn, which is the
all right? We know this series is all but done,
but we we've got to come out swinging. We've got
to learn some things and try to just play as
(02:54):
best we can one game, you know, the old one
game at a time and chip away kind of thing.
And for the Warriors, you're up three. Oh I I don't,
I don't know you know any But there's there's the
two theories of the all right, you want to stop
them out because you get the extra days of rest.
And then there's also the human tendency to relax play.
(03:14):
I mean not that you're going to give up the game,
uh and concede it, but certainly looking around what at
some point and going all right, well, we've got plenty
of opportunities to close this out, so let's not do
anything dumb with our effort or extending ourselves too much tonight.
You know, this is why I always say and we
tell We talked about this a little bit last night
(03:35):
because we are on the cusp of what could be
another record breaking uh time in the NBA playoffs, where
there's already been twenty two games this year that has
been a twenty point victory by a team in the playoffs. Right,
We've had twenty two games decided by twenty points, which
that's not good for anybody. Well, the team that wins,
it's good for, but it's not good for instance. I mean,
(03:56):
it might encourage a lot of live live betting. Oh okay, okay,
Mr smart guy. What is not going to encourage live
betting during a game? Only? Not playing the game is
gonna not encourage live bet No, find something. But when
there's but when there's a blowout, it's the all right,
they gotta be better than them down the stretch, right,
I mean they'll they'll have to score some gimme points late, right,
(04:19):
and thinks where you start, you know, just buying in
where they goed you into maybe adding to your previously
laid and losing action. Right, you start chasing in game.
That's the beauty of in game wagering. But this is
where we could be headed for another one of those games.
It's a fifteen point bulge at the break, seven Mavericks
(04:40):
over the Warriors. And look, that's why it's it's not
it's okay if the game is not great. I'm okay
with that. Right, many many times we we confuse great
games with close games. I don't really care. I don't
really I can find the beauty in a lot of
games even if the game stink, right, I can. I
can find beauty. And I can find beauty in the
ten seven football game of my team's got tent. What
(05:01):
a clutch field goal in the third quarter from thirty
one yards and start talking about and look at the
game plan that they put forth to stop the opponent. Yeah, no, absolutely,
I don't care if NBA games are fifty eight fifty seven.
You gotta give me something close. And that that's what's
really hurting the It's not the level of playing you
(05:23):
hear analysts talk about all the time, Well, the level
of playing the NBA playoffs. You know, teams put it
away and they don't they don't always come out with
the same energy, and they're content getting blown out and
the wild swings from game to game. Uh yeah, okay, yeah,
I understand all of that, but and the you just
need to just need the games to be close. Just
give me a club. If it's a bad game, it's
(05:45):
a bad game. I don't really care. I don't care
if Steph Curry shoots three for thirty three from the floor,
if it's a three in the final thirty seconds, what
a clutch three? Look awx siting it is because the
more games like this, right, this is what happens you
want to talk about ratings and and the NBA and
and everything else goes along with it. The more games
like this that are sixty seven and a half time,
(06:07):
who's turning in for the second half right out? Unless
you're a Mavericks or Warriors fan, are you really going crazying?
I gotta watch all the second half now at this point,
now seven o'clock here on in Los Angeles and ten
o'clock on the East Coast, you're either saying I'm gonna
start getting ready for bed because I got work tomorrow,
and I'll check in on the score in like a
half hour or forty five minutes. But I'm gonna start
(06:27):
getting ready. I got a couple of emails to send.
I'm gonna get my clothes ready. I gotta make the
kids lunch. All of this here now, you know. For me,
I'm like, I gonna I would have a sandwich. Maybe
I'd have two sandwiches because I like sandwiches. Maybe I
have a third sandwich, and Okay, I'll check in on
the game and that. And that's kind of where you're
at the NBA is becoming a check in sport in
the playoffs? Do I need to watch the whole game?
(06:48):
Or can I just check in even close games? Do
I have to watch this from the beginning or can
I check in the fourth Hey it's close, I'll watch
the fourth quarter. That's the That's the real danger is
that you don't want to become a check in sport.
And that's one thing. Look, the NFL has never had
to worry about that. They will never have to worry
about being a check in sport because you can win
or lose a game at any time in in in
the NFL, you can win the game in the first
(07:09):
Oh my god, it I went out to get a sandwich.
In two sandwiches, I came back. It's twenty eight nothing.
Zach Wilson throw three picks on the first quarter? What
the hell is happening? Um, the NFL is that, But
Major League Baseball and the NBA especially, they become check
in sports. And that's a really difficult thing to to
get past when you have playoffs. And now the record
was set in twenty six here's gonna be another playoff
(07:30):
of twenty twenty point wins by by teams in the playoffs,
and you're on that way. You're becoming a check in
sport and and and that's what the NBA's gotta really
worry about, because that's where viewing habits are gonna go.
People aren't gonna sit and watch NBA games forever. If
they're fifteen twenty points, gonna be Okay, I'm done, I'm
gonna watch something else. I'm gonna go watch Barry. You
know I'm gonna go. Oh, I got the last twenty
(07:52):
minutes a better call, Saul, I didn't. I didn't get
it from last night. That's what's gonna happen see you've
already got your viewing plans for the rest of the night.
But it has always been that way though, Like with
the NBA, the running joke used to be check in,
you know, two hours in from the official UH television
windows start time, right, because usually there'd be four to
(08:13):
six minutes left and then you'd see what the score
was and decide whether you were gonna stay or not. Playoffs,
appointment viewing to see how things start, watch the early
carnage and then walk away, and then make sure all
your alerts are set on your phone, tablet or television
to remind you if the game gets back within ten
(08:34):
to come back. That's where technology has to be your friend, Jason.
So it's time for you to start adding all sorts
of apps and other things to your view and and
for anybody else out there, if you decide that you're
gonna tap out of a blowout, see, I think that's
where you there's some entertainment, because this is where the
announcers are gonna get earned their pay with the great
(08:54):
stories of triumph and the growth of some of those
secondary players that suddenly it to play. Yeah, I know
you don't care, and I've mocked this incessantly in the past. Uh.
You know, there's no way to to really dress up
terrible basketball or terrible baseball or the Jets, uh parenthetical
(09:15):
bad football, et cetera. So it's it's unfortunately the price
of doing business. Some old bemoan the oh you extended
expanded the playoffs. Well know, these two teams would have
been in the playoffs regardless. So miss me with all
the wow, this is what happens when you allow twenty
teams to compete for a title. No uh, if you
want to shrink the playoffs and and just make it
(09:37):
four or six teams, I'm not gonna argue against it.
But I'm sure everybody in their pocketbooks, both on the
players side and on the team side, are gonna say
I'll see you in hell before we go down that road.
I mean one of the stories that's circulating his NBA
expansion room for aggressive expansion. Uh, like Heath Ledger told
(09:57):
us in the Dark Night. Uh, So it's it's the
unfortunate uh. System. Also of the seven game series. We
touched on it a little bit last night, Jason, where
you're gonna have teams that are going to decide I'll
live to play another day, and we already see it
in the ad two game regular season when it comes
to the load management style of things, or an injury
(10:20):
that you know you could probably play on taking another
game or two off quote to be sure right, things
of that nature. There's are already a number of things
built into schedules, not to mention some teams that just
can't get out of their own way that should probably
have the stewardship of the league or just let Jerry
West operate them all Twitter and how about a Fresco
(10:42):
Mike gets swollen dolt The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
If you're a valued customer, you deserve a simple gesture
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As I said the very beginning, Uh, there are things
(11:02):
obviously more important than basketball and all our thoughts, all
our tension with the people of val Day, Texas. Uh.
With the mass shooting today. Twenty one people, including eighteen children,
were killed in the shooting at rob elementary school, and
more stats are coming out right now about how the
eighteen year old shooter who was killed bought two assault
weapons for his eighteenth birthday. And it's just another shocking
(11:27):
day with another mass shooting here in the United States,
and and eighteen children are never gonna go home again.
And there's many things that any all of us could
say about what happens when things like this still occur
in the United States, But instead of us talking about it,
we're gonna play you. Steve Kerr, this is what the
(11:47):
Warriors head coach had to say before the game tonight.
I mean, I don't know how he's coaching the game
tonight after this. Uh. This is Steve Kerr before the
game talking to his in his media availability, uh, spending
this couple of and it's talking about what happened since
we left shoot around fourteen children were killed four miles
from here and and a teacher. And in the last
(12:12):
ten days, we've had elderly black people killed in a
supermarket in Buffalo, We've had Asian churchgoers killed in southern California,
and now we have children murdered at school. When are
we gonna do something? I'm tired I'm I'm so tired
(12:35):
of getting up here and offering condolences to to the
devastated families that are out there, and I'm so tired
of the excuse me, I'm sorry. I'm tired of the
moments of silence. Enough. There's fifty senators right now who
refused to vote on HR eight, which is a background
(12:57):
check rule that the House passed a couple of years ago.
It's been sitting there for two years, and there's a
reason they won't vote on it to hold on to power.
So I ask you, Mitch McConnell asked all of you
senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and
school shootings and supermarket shootings. I ask you, are you
going to put your own desire for power ahead of
(13:20):
the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers,
Because that's what it looks like, it's what we do
every week. So I'm fed up. I've had enough. We're
gonna play the game tonight, but I want every person here,
(13:40):
every person listening to this, to think about your own
child or grandchild, or mother or father or sister, brother.
How would you feel if this happened to you today?
We can't get numb to this. We can't sit here
and just read about it and go, well, it's at
a moment of silence. Yeah, go dubs, you know, come on, Maths,
(14:01):
let's go. That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go
play a basketball game. And in fifty senators in Washington
are gonna hold us hostage. You realize that Americans, regardless
of political party, want background check, universal background us. We
are being held hostage by fifty senators in Washington who
(14:23):
refused to even put it to a vote. Despite what
we the American people want, they won't vote on it
because they want to hold onto their own power. It's pathetic,
how to not That was Steve Kerr before the shoot
around today the game between the Mavericks and the Warriors,
(14:43):
and he says a lot right in there. He has
always been very outspoken. His father was killed by two
gunmen back and uh, Steve Kerr. You can hear the emotion,
You can hear how honest he is about it. You
can hear what he means, and he stands for all
(15:04):
of us when he says, when is this going to stop?
Steve Kerr again from earlier today, Fox Sports Radio The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen live from the Fox
Sports Radio Studios. UH. Quick reminder here that if you're
dealing with the dead battery, you can add to auto Zone,
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(15:26):
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head to auto Zone your battery solution in America's number
one battery destination. Uh, we'll have more. Well, you know,
(15:47):
if you missed any of the Steve Kerr will play
it back a couple of times with the show tonight again.
You hear the emotion in him before the basketball game
that is going on right now at halftime, but coming
up next we have this. We have a big traversy
in sports that you think is going to kind of
go away, but it's still kind to hear and we're
wondering how big a deal is it? That's coming up
(16:09):
next right here, Jason Smith, Mike Harman, This is Fox
Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. John palm ROSSI agree or disagree your
m vps right now, Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso analysis, good evening.
(16:31):
I would disagree a little bit. In the National League,
how about Manny Matiado. He is leading all players in
Major League Baseball in wins above replacement, and to me,
the eye test agrees with that. I love the way
Manny is playing right now without Tati's I look at
the Mets as having a great lineup top to bottom.
(16:54):
I think, Pete, I'm actually not fully convinced that I
would vote for him had a Brandonimo because of how
important he has been. Um, but I so I'm gonna
go with Michado right now. But I would have Alonzo
in my top five. Again, as I said before you
came on, you may have trouble hearing me tonight because
(17:15):
I'm all the way up in first place with an
eight game league, and because I'm really high up, so
if you can hear me, just let me know. I listen.
I fully understand Pete Alonso does lead the National League
and RBI. That is a true statement. And he's playing
for a team that is dynamic right now and and
maybe on the way to the World Series. I understand
all of those things. I really do. But uh, it
(17:38):
is crowded there for me. And also we saw Paul Goldschmidt,
the resurgent Paul gold Schmidt. He may be heard from
as well, so it's early. But but listen, you can't
have all the awards, Jason Smith. You cannot have all
of them. You are first right now in the National
League East, although not first in the entire National League
(17:58):
because the Dodgers are one. And I do have to
let you know. The Padres do have a better record
than the Mets do, and the Mets have the benefit
of a division in which they are the only team
that's above five, so I do have to be fair
about that. Yeah, but I don't care all those things.
I don't care. I got a game. I don't care
(18:18):
what the records that as long as they're But I'm
looking at magic numbers right now, John Paul Magic, and
you should and in fairness, the Mets do have the
largest and most comfortable lead of any team in Major
League Baseball. So you are correct on that score, my friend,
major League Baseball. We're talking about a bit as my
beloved White Sox two games that they took against the
(18:41):
Yankees and then right now getting shellacked at home by
the lowly Boston Red Sox. I just I often don't
don't get to call them low. They're playing better of late,
Like they're playing better of late. I know which you
means you catch them on the upswing. So there you
have it. But obviously the story of the weekend Josh Donaldson,
Tim Anderson. Donaldson tried to couch it in the we
(19:02):
have a relationship, and he knew what I meant when
I called him Jackie. Uh Anderson his team UH come
the other way, LaRussa going so far as to call
it racist. Uh he get a one game suspension. Uh
message sent going forward in terms of language and and
how players addressed each other. Was it too light? You know?
(19:23):
Determining intent? Uh seems to be where it gets hung
up JP. Like it's obviously a nuanced issue, and I
think a couple of lessons from this. Number one, it
is not for any of the three of us to
decide what Tim Anderson should or should not have taken
offense to. That's that's up to him. That that is
(19:43):
his own um emotion in the moment he was there.
We weren't, and I do think that his experience here
has to be respected and and validated. I think the
way that MLB handled their um their investigation into the
matter was was appropriate. It's it's it's two things can
(20:04):
be true here. It could be possible that Josh did
not knowingly say something that he believed was malicious. That
can be true. It also can be true that it
was inappropriate and insensitive and in poor taste and offensive
to Tim Anderson. Both of those things can exist in
the same universe, which I think is why we saw
Aaron Boone say it was inappropriate. He shouldn't have said it. Uh.
(20:29):
In his case, Aaron thought that the suspension was not warranted.
But we're at a spot where I think everybody around
the game realizes, really should realize now that what was
said was inappropriate and it was clearly. I think this
to me is where the suspension comes in and where
the on field disciplinary action is warranted. Listen, the reality
(20:51):
is the way in which Tim received what Josh said
set off a bench just clearing incident at Yank Stadium
on full view of everybody in the game. And so
that right there is is not okay in general, when
when a word is taken as an insult and touches
(21:13):
off a bench's clearing situation, that is not an outcome
that Baseball can support. Clearly, something was wrong there, and
and at the very least, Josh Donaldson said something that
that had a very strong connotation to Tim at a
time when honestly tensions were high between the two teams.
(21:35):
It's entirely possible that the reaction would have been different
if this We're not happening in the midst of their
being tensions and then there was an issue even the
previous weekend in Chicago. This had been building. This had
been building. And I think at the very least, um,
even if Josh's own intentions were benign, which it's impossible
for me to say that because I'm not Josh, I
(21:58):
think he he didn't properly read the situation. To say
the very least, And I think this is certainly a
reminder of everybody that communications a two way street, and
what you think is a joke is not necessarily interpreted
as a joke. And I think we all have to
be I think aware of our words, the weight of
our words, and how they're received by the people that
(22:19):
were speaking with John Paul Morosey, MLB Network, Fox Sports
Radio Baseball Insider, our guest here the Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmon. All Right, JP, so we're sitting here
at the first you know, thirty games of the season.
We're at a good were our first forty games are
at a good quarter point here to look at some things, um,
now outside well, listen, you knew the Mets were gonna
be good. Outside of that, what's your one or two
(22:41):
biggest surprises so far that that you've seen during during
the year. To me, the Angels being for real is
is significant. Um, the Twins being in first place still
with the witting percentage above six hundred. I did not
think that was going to happen. Uh. They of course
had a pretty good season in UH and then last
(23:04):
year not at all, and they have bounced back with
a ferocity that I simply did not expect to see.
So that that, to me is is I think surprising
the positive end, the Blue Jay's offense. On the negative side,
just really being quiet for a long time. Of course,
up until tonight they scored eight runs against St. Louis.
But up until tonight they had scored the fewest runs
(23:24):
of any team in baseball this month, which is surprising
given their brand. This is the team of lad and
bashette In te Oscar and Springer. That was a big
surprise for me. The Orioles fight sceness, to me is
is significant. Playing another tough ball game there uh Yankee Stadium.
So I do think that if you had told me
at the outset of the year that the Mets would
(23:47):
be the only team above in the East, I would
have been surprised by that. You've got the Phillies where
they are a quality team, the Braves of the defending
World Series champs, the Marlins. I always love the pitching
they have, so I think those are probably the big surprise.
And I think on the positive side, I know I
mentioned Machado already, but if on the day Tatis was injured,
we had all said, hey, they're gonna be right there,
(24:09):
second best record in the league after the after the
Dodgers this deep in the season without Tati's playing an inning.
That's a pretty good job by their manager, Bob Melvin.
And they're superstar cast led by many Machado. Al Right,
since we've seen pool holes tow It, Molina a bunch
of others, are we gonna legislate that everybody has to
pitch at least once in a major league season? Now?
(24:30):
Let's I think, next up Nelson Cruz? Right, I think
Nelson Cruz has to be next. I mean you go
to that group of guys who were in their late
thirties early forties, the group that helps me feel young.
I think that those guys they have to pitch, and
then once Nellie pitches, I think probably I'm the next one,
right me. Yeah, let's let's get after it. Career concluded
(24:55):
at twelve year old Little league. But I will hey
at for that. It was it was go to second
base where you can do as little damage defensively as possible. Um,
and so I will try. I guess I'll say that
I'm going this weekend to the Hall of Fame Classic
in Cooperstown, where recently retired players who are again largely
(25:17):
my age, are going to get back on the field
and play. And I was at one point in time
vocalizing that, hey, you know, maybe I could need somebody.
You know. I'm I'm, you know, forty years old. I
can do this. Basically, the recommendation was John, do not
bring your glove. Just just think just in case, John,
(25:38):
don't bring it. I was like, you know what, You're
probably right, I'm not going to They want you to
be like Ogilvie and bad news bearers. You come with,
you have the stats and you have the stories in
the interviews, right, but getting on the field that maybe
that's passed you by very very different skill set. I'm
i am the last I'd like the manager in Hoosiers, right,
(25:58):
that guy, there's there's no need to put me in
the game. He had a couple of big free throws,
you know, to win again he had all right, wasn't
all in his name? I think that was there you go.
I love, by the way, we can do a whole
segment on ted Lasso at some point in time. But
I loved when they were playing in the f A
Cup Final they had to talk about how it's all
(26:20):
measured the same way as it is back in Richmond.
It was you know that that Hoosier's reference I had.
I did turn to my wife while we were watching
against it that that's the that's the Hooters references. I
had to make sure that I got that at there.
So yeah, and then and then they come back with it. No,
actually it's not. It's five square feet bigger, huge advantage
for Man City. It is right, right, right, exactly right.
(26:42):
That that is a great show I watched. This will
actually kind of sound a little awkward. I actually don't
watch that much television For someone who works in TV,
I don't watch that much of it. But Ted Lasso
I I watch. He is on Twitter at Coach Beard.
He is on Twitter at John John Bull. Full segment.
(27:02):
I'm telling you we're gonna do a full segment of
episode one of season three. We'll break it down. Call
me back, all right, Footballers, Live Football, Thank you very much.
You gotta bunny. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's Ben, host of
the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallory along with my Trustees
(27:23):
sidekick David Gascon would mean a lot to have you
join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one
in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you
it's a spin off of the Ben Maller Show. Cold
Hit Overnights on FS are Why should you listen? Picture
if you will a world will we chat with captains
of industry in media, sports and more every week explorer
some amazing facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten
(27:46):
to the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
As you see this, this is another game where people
have most likely tuned off in wide swaths. Right, this
is a blowout at halftime. Did you really need to
watch the third quarter into the fourth quarter? This is
the danger of that that the NBA has got to
worry about in the playoffs. Right, because you have had
(28:08):
a league now that in the past couple of years
your main concerns were stars not playing in enough games
and and not being and not satisfying your television partner. Okay,
that's something you can fix, right, Because you can you
can make some kind of incentive. Look, Adam Silver was
talking about having some kind of incentive to play in
a certain number of games to be eligible for postseason awards,
(28:29):
which is, you know, every NBA player wants to win
a postseason award. Uh, And you can do stuff about that.
But the blowouts in the playoffs, what are you gonna do?
But this is where we're at now in the NBA
playoffs where in two thousand sixteen the record was set
twenty four games decided by twenty or more points. Right,
that's twenty four games that people tuned out at some
(28:51):
point and didn't turn back on. Right. And because when
you talk about, oh, you know NBA ratings or down
ratings going down, that's a big deal. Because of the
game's not good, people aren't gonna watch. It doesn't matter. Right,
Like as big a Jets fan as I if I'm
not a radio host Jets fan, if the Jets are
losing twenty four three and a half, time, I can
find something else to do for a while my Sunday afternoon.
(29:12):
You know what about said, Well, I gotta get ready
for the second half. If we score and get a
stop and score and get a stop and score and
get a stop and score and get a stop. Hey,
we have the lead. Now there's other things you can do,
and now here we are again just a couple of
years later. You had the bed uh viewership of the
playoffs in in in the in the bubble a couple
of years ago, and then the ratings went back up
(29:32):
last year. But now you're looking at a playoff where
that record of twenty three games decided by twenty or
more points. That's gonna get that's gonna get blown away
now because right now we're gonna have a game that's
probably it's been a twenty point game. We're right on
the cusp of it. And you're talking about the twenty
third game. That's that kind of blow and it doesn't
even need to be twenty points, fifteen points, twelve points,
(29:54):
big blowout games. People aren't the television viewers they even
were five years ago, right that that's the thing people
are looking as. You know, if you watch Barry, algorithms
decide everything. We're gonna, we're gonna gonna, we're gonna cancel it.
We got our ninety eight had rotten tomatoes. Yeah, and
that doesn't matter, that doesn't We're on the front page
(30:15):
of Netflix. Stop taking down now, uh. People don't have
the same viewing habits that even did five years ago,
and it's a very cluttered landscape. And live sports, as
we have said many times, is the last bastion of entertainment. Hey,
people spend money because live sports is a big deal. Right,
You can't. It's too tough to watch later, it's too
tough to pick up. But when the games aren't good,
(30:37):
people are gonna watch. And the more times this happened,
you're gonna lose viewers. And the NBA is going to
become a sport because when something happens for so long,
you get in that mode of it. Right. And this
doesn't mean that anybody's gonna be less of an NBA fan,
But the more games that are decided like this, the
more fans are gonna say, do I really need to
(30:59):
watch the first quarter? First half? Do I really need
to do that? I can? I can tune in in
the second half of it's close, right, So a game
that I normally would have watched a couple of years ago,
maybe I won't. Why because most of the games are blowouts,
So if it's good, I'll check in on it later.
But the NBA is gonna become that check in sport
where it's not going to be about watching from the beginning.
(31:20):
It's gonna be about checking in and saying, Okay, everybody
makes a run, and if they don't make a run,
I don't need to watch, and I'll turn on the
game and in the fourth quarter. The more that happens,
and you get into that habit as as a fan,
you're not gonna turn on the beginning of an NBA
playoff game anymore. You're gonna tune in at some point
if it's a close game. Right. I use this as
analogy if you're the fan of a football team and
(31:43):
your NFL team is bad for years. Right, let's just
use I don't know the Jets, uh, if you're the
fan of If you're a Jets fan and this is
now the longest playoff drought in in the NFL, Right,
you're going on a decade of not making the play
my entire bleep in forties, my team has not made
the playoffs, right, and I'm in my fifties now, we
still have made it. So if if that happens, how
(32:03):
long do you keep watching until you decide they just stink?
I don't need to watch the games anymore, how long
do you go two years before it was always I
just watched every game every year. Why because it's what
I did, Because it's what it's what was on television.
It weren't as many choices, not as many things. That
was my viewership habit. My habit was to watch the
Jets every Sunday or Monday night when they were on
(32:26):
all sixteen weeks out of the season. That's not viewer
habits anymore. If the team stinks for three years and
they start out oh and four in the fourth year,
do I need to watch a game the rest of
the way Now, if they're winning, I can check in
on it later, or if it's, oh it's seventeen thirty,
I'll watch a little bit. But that's two and a
half quarters of not watching commercials, not watching the game,
not getting ratings, not be able to charge advertising rates.
(32:47):
That's a really big issue. And that's what's that's the
problem that that's facing the NBA is that as these
habits become more normal, you're never gonna get back those
people who are watching games from the beginning. They're just
they're simply not okay, what times a game tonight? Six? Okay,
so if we go out to dinner, I get back
for seven thirty. Just want to check on the game
a little bit if I wanted, Yeah, yeah, we could
(33:09):
be back for seven thirty. Okay, great. And then someone
he used to watch my person used to watch the
games now is not watching the entire first half or
the second half, or if it's a blow up, they
need to watch it at all. Yeah. I can just
look at the box score and go, oh man, it's
one oh one seventy nine. What happened? Oh man? Yeah,
Luca had a big he was twenty one and fourteen.
Oh man, they shot great from three point range. That's
all I need. That's all I need from the game,
right there, that's it. Everything I needed from that game,
(33:31):
which is a three hour extravaganza or three and a
half hours because you had the leak. Uh, can now
be just summed up in four seconds on the internet. Wow,
here's the score. Luca was and seven. He was great.
They shot fifty from three point range. That's about four
seconds worth of being on the internet. An entire NBA industry,
an entire night programming built around this. It can be
(33:53):
condensed into a four second click on the Internet,
Thanks for listening to the best of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs. This is the best of the Jason
(00:23):
Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. As
we have a night tonight where we could see the
Golden State Warriors head to the NBA Finals, we also
could see setting to another game as right now the
Mavericks lead Golden States sixty five. Jumping right in with
(00:46):
the NBA as it sits right now, and of course
we're gonna hear from Steve Kerr coming up in a
couple of minutes. As you know, certain things are bigger
than basketball. But as we as we pay the bills
right now this game, Mike, you know, you look and say,
right maybe the Warriors are just kind of hanging around
a little bit. Get that little patented runs somewhere early
in the third quarter, and suddenly they're back in it.
(01:07):
We've seen the Warriors do this many times before. But
Clay Thompson is gonna have to have more than three
points if that's gonna happen. I think it doesn't want
a little bit more than that. Yeah, one of five
from the field, one of four from three point range.
As far as a team there three of sixteen, uh
from three point range. Uh. And we watched this lead
(01:27):
bulge because watching the first quarter they couldn't hit the
broadside of the bar and either uh. And we're only
down four, right, you do the breakdown of the stats
from that they were eighty one overall, one of seven
from three point range, and we're down four points to
a Dallas team that had shot seven of twelve from
three point range. Uh. So shows you how much worse
(01:49):
everything else went for them in the second quarter. To
watch this swell a bit. Luca four of twelve from
the field, thirteen points. Uh. He and Bronson both leading
away with thirteen and Phinney Smith uh and Bullock, Like
guys are hitting three point shots right x X Nick
Reggie Bullock. You have to say, you have to say that.
(02:09):
And Nilikina had at three as well. Yes, he's in
the game. Well, he checked in and even on radio,
it's like, wow, here here comes Frank nil Nilikina early
what's um, what do you think Jason kids thinking here? So,
you know, some activity up the bench, but they've already
got sixteen bench points? Do the Mavericks to this point
(02:32):
in the game, and look it's the you've got one
final big punch. We've talked a lot about the way
the Mavericks have spoken in post games and Luco with
the I've got a lot to learn, which is the
all right? We know this series is all but done,
but we we've got to come out swinging. We've got
to learn some things and try to just play as
(02:54):
best we can one game, you know, the old one
game at a time and chip away kind of thing.
And for the Warriors, you're up three. Oh I I don't,
I don't know you know any But there's there's the
two theories of the all right, you want to stop
them out because you get the extra days of rest.
And then there's also the human tendency to relax play.
(03:14):
I mean not that you're going to give up the game,
uh and concede it, but certainly looking around what at
some point and going all right, well, we've got plenty
of opportunities to close this out, so let's not do
anything dumb with our effort or extending ourselves too much tonight.
You know, this is why I always say and we
tell We talked about this a little bit last night
(03:35):
because we are on the cusp of what could be
another record breaking uh time in the NBA playoffs, where
there's already been twenty two games this year that has
been a twenty point victory by a team in the playoffs. Right,
We've had twenty two games decided by twenty points, which
that's not good for anybody. Well, the team that wins,
it's good for, but it's not good for instance. I mean,
(03:56):
it might encourage a lot of live live betting. Oh okay, okay,
Mr smart guy. What is not going to encourage live
betting during a game? Only? Not playing the game is
gonna not encourage live bet No, find something. But when
there's but when there's a blowout, it's the all right,
they gotta be better than them down the stretch, right,
I mean they'll they'll have to score some gimme points late, right,
(04:19):
and thinks where you start, you know, just buying in
where they goed you into maybe adding to your previously
laid and losing action. Right, you start chasing in game.
That's the beauty of in game wagering. But this is
where we could be headed for another one of those games.
It's a fifteen point bulge at the break, seven Mavericks
(04:40):
over the Warriors. And look, that's why it's it's not
it's okay if the game is not great. I'm okay
with that. Right, many many times we we confuse great
games with close games. I don't really care. I don't
really I can find the beauty in a lot of
games even if the game stink, right, I can. I
can find beauty. And I can find beauty in the
ten seven football game of my team's got tent. What
(05:01):
a clutch field goal in the third quarter from thirty
one yards and start talking about and look at the
game plan that they put forth to stop the opponent. Yeah, no, absolutely,
I don't care if NBA games are fifty eight fifty seven.
You gotta give me something close. And that that's what's
really hurting the It's not the level of playing you
(05:23):
hear analysts talk about all the time, Well, the level
of playing the NBA playoffs. You know, teams put it
away and they don't they don't always come out with
the same energy, and they're content getting blown out and
the wild swings from game to game. Uh yeah, okay, yeah,
I understand all of that, but and the you just
need to just need the games to be close. Just
give me a club. If it's a bad game, it's
(05:45):
a bad game. I don't really care. I don't care
if Steph Curry shoots three for thirty three from the floor,
if it's a three in the final thirty seconds, what
a clutch three? Look awx siting it is because the
more games like this, right, this is what happens you
want to talk about ratings and and the NBA and
and everything else goes along with it. The more games
like this that are sixty seven and a half time,
(06:07):
who's turning in for the second half right out? Unless
you're a Mavericks or Warriors fan, are you really going crazying?
I gotta watch all the second half now at this point,
now seven o'clock here on in Los Angeles and ten
o'clock on the East Coast, you're either saying I'm gonna
start getting ready for bed because I got work tomorrow,
and I'll check in on the score in like a
half hour or forty five minutes. But I'm gonna start
(06:27):
getting ready. I got a couple of emails to send.
I'm gonna get my clothes ready. I gotta make the
kids lunch. All of this here now, you know. For me,
I'm like, I gonna I would have a sandwich. Maybe
I'd have two sandwiches because I like sandwiches. Maybe I
have a third sandwich, and Okay, I'll check in on
the game and that. And that's kind of where you're
at the NBA is becoming a check in sport in
the playoffs? Do I need to watch the whole game?
(06:48):
Or can I just check in even close games? Do
I have to watch this from the beginning or can
I check in the fourth Hey it's close, I'll watch
the fourth quarter. That's the That's the real danger is
that you don't want to become a check in sport.
And that's one thing. Look, the NFL has never had
to worry about that. They will never have to worry
about being a check in sport because you can win
or lose a game at any time in in in
the NFL, you can win the game in the first
(07:09):
Oh my god, it I went out to get a sandwich.
In two sandwiches, I came back. It's twenty eight nothing.
Zach Wilson throw three picks on the first quarter? What
the hell is happening? Um, the NFL is that, But
Major League Baseball and the NBA especially, they become check
in sports. And that's a really difficult thing to to
get past when you have playoffs. And now the record
was set in twenty six here's gonna be another playoff
(07:30):
of twenty twenty point wins by by teams in the playoffs,
and you're on that way. You're becoming a check in
sport and and and that's what the NBA's gotta really
worry about, because that's where viewing habits are gonna go.
People aren't gonna sit and watch NBA games forever. If
they're fifteen twenty points, gonna be Okay, I'm done, I'm
gonna watch something else. I'm gonna go watch Barry. You
know I'm gonna go. Oh, I got the last twenty
(07:52):
minutes a better call, Saul, I didn't. I didn't get
it from last night. That's what's gonna happen see you've
already got your viewing plans for the rest of the night.
But it has always been that way though, Like with
the NBA, the running joke used to be check in,
you know, two hours in from the official UH television
windows start time, right, because usually there'd be four to
(08:13):
six minutes left and then you'd see what the score
was and decide whether you were gonna stay or not. Playoffs,
appointment viewing to see how things start, watch the early
carnage and then walk away, and then make sure all
your alerts are set on your phone, tablet or television
to remind you if the game gets back within ten
(08:34):
to come back. That's where technology has to be your friend, Jason.
So it's time for you to start adding all sorts
of apps and other things to your view and and
for anybody else out there, if you decide that you're
gonna tap out of a blowout, see, I think that's
where you there's some entertainment, because this is where the
announcers are gonna get earned their pay with the great
(08:54):
stories of triumph and the growth of some of those
secondary players that suddenly it to play. Yeah, I know
you don't care, and I've mocked this incessantly in the past. Uh.
You know, there's no way to to really dress up
terrible basketball or terrible baseball or the Jets, uh parenthetical
(09:15):
bad football, et cetera. So it's it's unfortunately the price
of doing business. Some old bemoan the oh you extended
expanded the playoffs. Well know, these two teams would have
been in the playoffs regardless. So miss me with all
the wow, this is what happens when you allow twenty
teams to compete for a title. No uh, if you
want to shrink the playoffs and and just make it
(09:37):
four or six teams, I'm not gonna argue against it.
But I'm sure everybody in their pocketbooks, both on the
players side and on the team side, are gonna say
I'll see you in hell before we go down that road.
I mean one of the stories that's circulating his NBA
expansion room for aggressive expansion. Uh, like Heath Ledger told
(09:57):
us in the Dark Night. Uh, So it's it's the
unfortunate uh. System. Also of the seven game series. We
touched on it a little bit last night, Jason, where
you're gonna have teams that are going to decide I'll
live to play another day, and we already see it
in the ad two game regular season when it comes
to the load management style of things, or an injury
(10:20):
that you know you could probably play on taking another
game or two off quote to be sure right, things
of that nature. There's are already a number of things
built into schedules, not to mention some teams that just
can't get out of their own way that should probably
have the stewardship of the league or just let Jerry
West operate them all Twitter and how about a Fresco
(10:42):
Mike gets swollen dolt The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
If you're a valued customer, you deserve a simple gesture
of appreciation from your credit card company. That's why Discover
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As I said the very beginning, Uh, there are things
(11:02):
obviously more important than basketball and all our thoughts, all
our tension with the people of val Day, Texas. Uh.
With the mass shooting today. Twenty one people, including eighteen children,
were killed in the shooting at rob elementary school, and
more stats are coming out right now about how the
eighteen year old shooter who was killed bought two assault
weapons for his eighteenth birthday. And it's just another shocking
(11:27):
day with another mass shooting here in the United States,
and and eighteen children are never gonna go home again.
And there's many things that any all of us could
say about what happens when things like this still occur
in the United States, But instead of us talking about it,
we're gonna play you. Steve Kerr, this is what the
(11:47):
Warriors head coach had to say before the game tonight.
I mean, I don't know how he's coaching the game
tonight after this. Uh. This is Steve Kerr before the
game talking to his in his media availability, uh, spending
this couple of and it's talking about what happened since
we left shoot around fourteen children were killed four miles
from here and and a teacher. And in the last
(12:12):
ten days, we've had elderly black people killed in a
supermarket in Buffalo, We've had Asian churchgoers killed in southern California,
and now we have children murdered at school. When are
we gonna do something? I'm tired I'm I'm so tired
(12:35):
of getting up here and offering condolences to to the
devastated families that are out there, and I'm so tired
of the excuse me, I'm sorry. I'm tired of the
moments of silence. Enough. There's fifty senators right now who
refused to vote on HR eight, which is a background
(12:57):
check rule that the House passed a couple of years ago.
It's been sitting there for two years, and there's a
reason they won't vote on it to hold on to power.
So I ask you, Mitch McConnell asked all of you
senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and
school shootings and supermarket shootings. I ask you, are you
going to put your own desire for power ahead of
(13:20):
the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers,
Because that's what it looks like, it's what we do
every week. So I'm fed up. I've had enough. We're
gonna play the game tonight, but I want every person here,
(13:40):
every person listening to this, to think about your own
child or grandchild, or mother or father or sister, brother.
How would you feel if this happened to you today?
We can't get numb to this. We can't sit here
and just read about it and go, well, it's at
a moment of silence. Yeah, go dubs, you know, come on, Maths,
(14:01):
let's go. That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go
play a basketball game. And in fifty senators in Washington
are gonna hold us hostage. You realize that Americans, regardless
of political party, want background check, universal background us. We
are being held hostage by fifty senators in Washington who
(14:23):
refused to even put it to a vote. Despite what
we the American people want, they won't vote on it
because they want to hold onto their own power. It's pathetic,
how to not That was Steve Kerr before the shoot
around today the game between the Mavericks and the Warriors,
(14:43):
and he says a lot right in there. He has
always been very outspoken. His father was killed by two
gunmen back and uh, Steve Kerr. You can hear the emotion,
You can hear how honest he is about it. You
can hear what he means, and he stands for all
(15:04):
of us when he says, when is this going to stop?
Steve Kerr again from earlier today, Fox Sports Radio The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen live from the Fox
Sports Radio Studios. UH. Quick reminder here that if you're
dealing with the dead battery, you can add to auto Zone,
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like free battery testing and free battery charging. Their free
(15:26):
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They've got reliable replacement battery starting at just and they're
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head to auto Zone your battery solution in America's number
one battery destination. Uh, we'll have more. Well, you know,
(15:47):
if you missed any of the Steve Kerr will play
it back a couple of times with the show tonight again.
You hear the emotion in him before the basketball game
that is going on right now at halftime, but coming
up next we have this. We have a big traversy
in sports that you think is going to kind of
go away, but it's still kind to hear and we're
wondering how big a deal is it? That's coming up
(16:09):
next right here, Jason Smith, Mike Harman, This is Fox
Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. John palm ROSSI agree or disagree your
m vps right now, Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso analysis, good evening.
(16:31):
I would disagree a little bit. In the National League,
how about Manny Matiado. He is leading all players in
Major League Baseball in wins above replacement, and to me,
the eye test agrees with that. I love the way
Manny is playing right now without Tati's I look at
the Mets as having a great lineup top to bottom.
(16:54):
I think, Pete, I'm actually not fully convinced that I
would vote for him had a Brandonimo because of how
important he has been. Um, but I so I'm gonna
go with Michado right now. But I would have Alonzo
in my top five. Again, as I said before you
came on, you may have trouble hearing me tonight because
(17:15):
I'm all the way up in first place with an
eight game league, and because I'm really high up, so
if you can hear me, just let me know. I listen.
I fully understand Pete Alonso does lead the National League
and RBI. That is a true statement. And he's playing
for a team that is dynamic right now and and
maybe on the way to the World Series. I understand
all of those things. I really do. But uh, it
(17:38):
is crowded there for me. And also we saw Paul Goldschmidt,
the resurgent Paul gold Schmidt. He may be heard from
as well, so it's early. But but listen, you can't
have all the awards, Jason Smith. You cannot have all
of them. You are first right now in the National
League East, although not first in the entire National League
(17:58):
because the Dodgers are one. And I do have to
let you know. The Padres do have a better record
than the Mets do, and the Mets have the benefit
of a division in which they are the only team
that's above five, so I do have to be fair
about that. Yeah, but I don't care all those things.
I don't care. I got a game. I don't care
(18:18):
what the records that as long as they're But I'm
looking at magic numbers right now, John Paul Magic, and
you should and in fairness, the Mets do have the
largest and most comfortable lead of any team in Major
League Baseball. So you are correct on that score, my friend,
major League Baseball. We're talking about a bit as my
beloved White Sox two games that they took against the
(18:41):
Yankees and then right now getting shellacked at home by
the lowly Boston Red Sox. I just I often don't
don't get to call them low. They're playing better of late,
Like they're playing better of late. I know which you
means you catch them on the upswing. So there you
have it. But obviously the story of the weekend Josh Donaldson,
Tim Anderson. Donaldson tried to couch it in the we
(19:02):
have a relationship, and he knew what I meant when
I called him Jackie. Uh Anderson his team UH come
the other way, LaRussa going so far as to call
it racist. Uh he get a one game suspension. Uh
message sent going forward in terms of language and and
how players addressed each other. Was it too light? You know?
(19:23):
Determining intent? Uh seems to be where it gets hung
up JP. Like it's obviously a nuanced issue, and I
think a couple of lessons from this. Number one, it
is not for any of the three of us to
decide what Tim Anderson should or should not have taken
offense to. That's that's up to him. That that is
(19:43):
his own um emotion in the moment he was there.
We weren't, and I do think that his experience here
has to be respected and and validated. I think the
way that MLB handled their um their investigation into the
matter was was appropriate. It's it's it's two things can
(20:04):
be true here. It could be possible that Josh did
not knowingly say something that he believed was malicious. That
can be true. It also can be true that it
was inappropriate and insensitive and in poor taste and offensive
to Tim Anderson. Both of those things can exist in
the same universe, which I think is why we saw
Aaron Boone say it was inappropriate. He shouldn't have said it. Uh.
(20:29):
In his case, Aaron thought that the suspension was not warranted.
But we're at a spot where I think everybody around
the game realizes, really should realize now that what was
said was inappropriate and it was clearly. I think this
to me is where the suspension comes in and where
the on field disciplinary action is warranted. Listen, the reality
(20:51):
is the way in which Tim received what Josh said
set off a bench just clearing incident at Yank Stadium
on full view of everybody in the game. And so
that right there is is not okay in general, when
when a word is taken as an insult and touches
(21:13):
off a bench's clearing situation, that is not an outcome
that Baseball can support. Clearly, something was wrong there, and
and at the very least, Josh Donaldson said something that
that had a very strong connotation to Tim at a
time when honestly tensions were high between the two teams.
(21:35):
It's entirely possible that the reaction would have been different
if this We're not happening in the midst of their
being tensions and then there was an issue even the
previous weekend in Chicago. This had been building. This had
been building. And I think at the very least, um,
even if Josh's own intentions were benign, which it's impossible
for me to say that because I'm not Josh, I
(21:58):
think he he didn't properly read the situation. To say
the very least, And I think this is certainly a
reminder of everybody that communications a two way street, and
what you think is a joke is not necessarily interpreted
as a joke. And I think we all have to
be I think aware of our words, the weight of
our words, and how they're received by the people that
(22:19):
were speaking with John Paul Morosey, MLB Network, Fox Sports
Radio Baseball Insider, our guest here the Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmon. All Right, JP, so we're sitting here
at the first you know, thirty games of the season.
We're at a good were our first forty games are
at a good quarter point here to look at some things, um,
now outside well, listen, you knew the Mets were gonna
be good. Outside of that, what's your one or two
(22:41):
biggest surprises so far that that you've seen during during
the year. To me, the Angels being for real is
is significant. Um, the Twins being in first place still
with the witting percentage above six hundred. I did not
think that was going to happen. Uh. They of course
had a pretty good season in UH and then last
(23:04):
year not at all, and they have bounced back with
a ferocity that I simply did not expect to see.
So that that, to me is is I think surprising
the positive end, the Blue Jay's offense. On the negative side,
just really being quiet for a long time. Of course,
up until tonight they scored eight runs against St. Louis.
But up until tonight they had scored the fewest runs
(23:24):
of any team in baseball this month, which is surprising
given their brand. This is the team of lad and
bashette In te Oscar and Springer. That was a big
surprise for me. The Orioles fight sceness, to me is
is significant. Playing another tough ball game there uh Yankee Stadium.
So I do think that if you had told me
at the outset of the year that the Mets would
(23:47):
be the only team above in the East, I would
have been surprised by that. You've got the Phillies where
they are a quality team, the Braves of the defending
World Series champs, the Marlins. I always love the pitching
they have, so I think those are probably the big surprise.
And I think on the positive side, I know I
mentioned Machado already, but if on the day Tatis was injured,
we had all said, hey, they're gonna be right there,
(24:09):
second best record in the league after the after the
Dodgers this deep in the season without Tati's playing an inning.
That's a pretty good job by their manager, Bob Melvin.
And they're superstar cast led by many Machado. Al Right,
since we've seen pool holes tow It, Molina a bunch
of others, are we gonna legislate that everybody has to
pitch at least once in a major league season? Now?
(24:30):
Let's I think, next up Nelson Cruz? Right, I think
Nelson Cruz has to be next. I mean you go
to that group of guys who were in their late
thirties early forties, the group that helps me feel young.
I think that those guys they have to pitch, and
then once Nellie pitches, I think probably I'm the next one,
right me. Yeah, let's let's get after it. Career concluded
(24:55):
at twelve year old Little league. But I will hey
at for that. It was it was go to second
base where you can do as little damage defensively as possible. Um,
and so I will try. I guess I'll say that
I'm going this weekend to the Hall of Fame Classic
in Cooperstown, where recently retired players who are again largely
(25:17):
my age, are going to get back on the field
and play. And I was at one point in time
vocalizing that, hey, you know, maybe I could need somebody.
You know. I'm I'm, you know, forty years old. I
can do this. Basically, the recommendation was John, do not
bring your glove. Just just think just in case, John,
(25:38):
don't bring it. I was like, you know what, You're
probably right, I'm not going to They want you to
be like Ogilvie and bad news bearers. You come with,
you have the stats and you have the stories in
the interviews, right, but getting on the field that maybe
that's passed you by very very different skill set. I'm
i am the last I'd like the manager in Hoosiers, right,
(25:58):
that guy, there's there's no need to put me in
the game. He had a couple of big free throws,
you know, to win again he had all right, wasn't
all in his name? I think that was there you go.
I love, by the way, we can do a whole
segment on ted Lasso at some point in time. But
I loved when they were playing in the f A
Cup Final they had to talk about how it's all
(26:20):
measured the same way as it is back in Richmond.
It was you know that that Hoosier's reference I had.
I did turn to my wife while we were watching
against it that that's the that's the Hooters references. I
had to make sure that I got that at there.
So yeah, and then and then they come back with it. No,
actually it's not. It's five square feet bigger, huge advantage
for Man City. It is right, right, right, exactly right.
(26:42):
That that is a great show I watched. This will
actually kind of sound a little awkward. I actually don't
watch that much television For someone who works in TV,
I don't watch that much of it. But Ted Lasso
I I watch. He is on Twitter at Coach Beard.
He is on Twitter at John John Bull. Full segment.
(27:02):
I'm telling you we're gonna do a full segment of
episode one of season three. We'll break it down. Call
me back, all right, Footballers, Live Football, Thank you very much.
You gotta bunny. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's Ben, host of
the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallory along with my Trustees
(27:23):
sidekick David Gascon would mean a lot to have you
join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one
in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you
it's a spin off of the Ben Maller Show. Cold
Hit Overnights on FS are Why should you listen? Picture
if you will a world will we chat with captains
of industry in media, sports and more every week explorer
some amazing facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten
(27:46):
to the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
As you see this, this is another game where people
have most likely tuned off in wide swaths. Right, this
is a blowout at halftime. Did you really need to
watch the third quarter into the fourth quarter? This is
the danger of that that the NBA has got to
worry about in the playoffs. Right, because you have had
(28:08):
a league now that in the past couple of years
your main concerns were stars not playing in enough games
and and not being and not satisfying your television partner. Okay,
that's something you can fix, right, Because you can you
can make some kind of incentive. Look, Adam Silver was
talking about having some kind of incentive to play in
a certain number of games to be eligible for postseason awards,
(28:29):
which is, you know, every NBA player wants to win
a postseason award. Uh, And you can do stuff about that.
But the blowouts in the playoffs, what are you gonna do?
But this is where we're at now in the NBA
playoffs where in two thousand sixteen the record was set
twenty four games decided by twenty or more points. Right,
that's twenty four games that people tuned out at some
(28:51):
point and didn't turn back on. Right. And because when
you talk about, oh, you know NBA ratings or down
ratings going down, that's a big deal. Because of the
game's not good, people aren't gonna watch. It doesn't matter. Right,
Like as big a Jets fan as I if I'm
not a radio host Jets fan, if the Jets are
losing twenty four three and a half, time, I can
find something else to do for a while my Sunday afternoon.
(29:12):
You know what about said, Well, I gotta get ready
for the second half. If we score and get a
stop and score and get a stop and score and
get a stop and score and get a stop. Hey,
we have the lead. Now there's other things you can do,
and now here we are again just a couple of
years later. You had the bed uh viewership of the
playoffs in in in the in the bubble a couple
of years ago, and then the ratings went back up
(29:32):
last year. But now you're looking at a playoff where
that record of twenty three games decided by twenty or
more points. That's gonna get that's gonna get blown away
now because right now we're gonna have a game that's
probably it's been a twenty point game. We're right on
the cusp of it. And you're talking about the twenty
third game. That's that kind of blow and it doesn't
even need to be twenty points, fifteen points, twelve points,
(29:54):
big blowout games. People aren't the television viewers they even
were five years ago, right that that's the thing people
are looking as. You know, if you watch Barry, algorithms
decide everything. We're gonna, we're gonna gonna, we're gonna cancel it.
We got our ninety eight had rotten tomatoes. Yeah, and
that doesn't matter, that doesn't We're on the front page
(30:15):
of Netflix. Stop taking down now, uh. People don't have
the same viewing habits that even did five years ago,
and it's a very cluttered landscape. And live sports, as
we have said many times, is the last bastion of entertainment. Hey,
people spend money because live sports is a big deal. Right,
You can't. It's too tough to watch later, it's too
tough to pick up. But when the games aren't good,
(30:37):
people are gonna watch. And the more times this happened,
you're gonna lose viewers. And the NBA is going to
become a sport because when something happens for so long,
you get in that mode of it. Right. And this
doesn't mean that anybody's gonna be less of an NBA fan,
But the more games that are decided like this, the
more fans are gonna say, do I really need to
(30:59):
watch the first quarter? First half? Do I really need
to do that? I can? I can tune in in
the second half of it's close, right, So a game
that I normally would have watched a couple of years ago,
maybe I won't. Why because most of the games are blowouts,
So if it's good, I'll check in on it later.
But the NBA is gonna become that check in sport
where it's not going to be about watching from the beginning.
(31:20):
It's gonna be about checking in and saying, Okay, everybody
makes a run, and if they don't make a run,
I don't need to watch, and I'll turn on the
game and in the fourth quarter. The more that happens,
and you get into that habit as as a fan,
you're not gonna turn on the beginning of an NBA
playoff game anymore. You're gonna tune in at some point
if it's a close game. Right. I use this as
analogy if you're the fan of a football team and
(31:43):
your NFL team is bad for years. Right, let's just
use I don't know the Jets, uh, if you're the
fan of If you're a Jets fan and this is
now the longest playoff drought in in the NFL, Right,
you're going on a decade of not making the play
my entire bleep in forties, my team has not made
the playoffs, right, and I'm in my fifties now, we
still have made it. So if if that happens, how
(32:03):
long do you keep watching until you decide they just stink?
I don't need to watch the games anymore, how long
do you go two years before it was always I
just watched every game every year. Why because it's what
I did, Because it's what it's what was on television.
It weren't as many choices, not as many things. That
was my viewership habit. My habit was to watch the
Jets every Sunday or Monday night when they were on
(32:26):
all sixteen weeks out of the season. That's not viewer
habits anymore. If the team stinks for three years and
they start out oh and four in the fourth year,
do I need to watch a game the rest of
the way Now, if they're winning, I can check in
on it later, or if it's, oh it's seventeen thirty,
I'll watch a little bit. But that's two and a
half quarters of not watching commercials, not watching the game,
not getting ratings, not be able to charge advertising rates.
(32:47):
That's a really big issue. And that's what's that's the
problem that that's facing the NBA is that as these
habits become more normal, you're never gonna get back those
people who are watching games from the beginning. They're just
they're simply not okay, what times a game tonight? Six? Okay,
so if we go out to dinner, I get back
for seven thirty. Just want to check on the game
a little bit if I wanted, Yeah, yeah, we could
(33:09):
be back for seven thirty. Okay, great. And then someone
he used to watch my person used to watch the
games now is not watching the entire first half or
the second half, or if it's a blow up, they
need to watch it at all. Yeah. I can just
look at the box score and go, oh man, it's
one oh one seventy nine. What happened? Oh man? Yeah,
Luca had a big he was twenty one and fourteen.
Oh man, they shot great from three point range. That's
all I need. That's all I need from the game,
right there, that's it. Everything I needed from that game,
(33:31):
which is a three hour extravaganza or three and a
half hours because you had the leak. Uh, can now
be just summed up in four seconds on the internet. Wow,
here's the score. Luca was and seven. He was great.
They shot fifty from three point range. That's about four
seconds worth of being on the internet. An entire NBA industry,
an entire night programming built around this. It can be
(33:53):
condensed into a four second click on the Internet,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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