Hour 2 - Looking at the ratings

Colin takes a look at the sport ratings in the regular season and in the playoffs

Why playoff basketball simply looks and feels different

 

Guest: Nick Nurse

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Welcome in our two live in Los Angeles. It's The
Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your day. Jordan Schultz
filling in for Jmac, Who's back on Monday. Caleb Williams,
you heard it, Schreger said, it has met twice with
Chicago Bears Brass, once in La at a hipster spot,

(00:50):
once in Chicago at kind of a Burbs take place.
Hit it out of the park both times. Not surprised,
I imagine.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Not at all.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
I think there's a misconception about Caleb Williams calling you
talked about earlier. He's charismatic, he cares, and not only that,
he's such a creative guy. And sometimes when you're creative
and different, you can be mislabeled as a malcoltid someone
that's tough to deal with. That's not the case at
all with Caleb Williams. And I spoke at length with
Cliff Kingsbury, who was with him all year in sc

(01:19):
and he say he's a great kid and he is misunderstood.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, I mean, when it could be Angel Rees, it's
Caleb Williams. Twenty four hours in a day, you get
a snapshot of trash talking and it's like she's not cool,
that lacks class. Guys trash talk and it's part of
the game. I go to NBA games, I'm going to
one Friday, They'll be a trash talker. Guys can do it,
women can do it. Doesn't define who you are. You

(01:43):
jump into the crowd, Caleb Williams, to hug your mom,
get emotional, doesn't define who you are. If you took
the average person, look how stupid our politicians look. And
they're adults forty to fifty sixty year old. They're misstepped.
They're stepping in it constantly saying ridiculous stuff like don't
define somebody, especially a young person. Because of a moment
at a game in competition, Tom Brady's screaming at coaches

(02:05):
during games, Peyton Manning's barking at Jeff Saturday. Angel Reese
can complain to Caitlin Clark are getting her face. It's competitions.
Anybody out there sweat before the way, that's competition. It's
what you do. You talk, You're building up your hubris
and your confidence. So Caleb, the times I've met Caleb,
I think he's great. I don't know Angel Reese, but

(02:26):
you know, it's amazing that we take these snapshots of
twenty one year old people and go, that's who she is.
That's it that you don't see her at home. You
don't see her with friends, you don't see her at practice,
you don't know if she's coachable. Well, there she is.
I mean, you can judge me. I've got notes here.
I've been doing this a long time. Make a judgment
of me. But a snapshot of an athlete who's twenty

(02:47):
one collegiate, you're not getting anything. You don't see him
in class, you don't see him in film study. You
don't see they could be the best teammate, they could be.
You don't see him on the plane. Somebody. I've seen
young people on a plane. Somebody's a nervous flyer. They
come over, hold their hand. You don't know what Angel
Reese is all about. You don't know what Caleb Williams
all about. Now there are people that make you know.

(03:07):
Johnny Manziel gave us four or five or six or
seven different opportunities to go. I don't love that judgment.
That's different than a snapshot of somebody jumping into the
crowd to meet a parent. By the way Lebron James
was talking about this, I think it's interesting. He has
a podcast with JJ Reddick, a couple of smart guys,
and they were talking about this during the podcast. Lebron

(03:29):
likes he can tell very early if a young player
is going to be successful in the NBA.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
Coaches and veterans being able to get on them and
there's no snickering, there's no backtop. They almost look like,
just keep on coming with it because I want to
see it how much I can.

Speaker 6 (03:56):
I want to see how much Just keep on keep on.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Because I'm a m Ever since I have said this,
when you know.

Speaker 6 (04:05):
He's going to be in this league for a long.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Time, most great players want to be coached hard. By
the way, I've said this about college football and the
culture of it. Every kid that signed up for Nick
Saban was going to get screamed at for four years.
They all knew it. Everybody that signed up for hardball
was going to be hard coached like our football coacher,
high school coaches, college coaches, NFL coaches. They bark. Our

(04:28):
basketball culture is different. AU feels different, but the European
model young guys playing against older guys. You got to
beat out older guys. That's why I'm a big fan
of college basketball. You go to Yukon, you got to
beat out an NBA guy who's a junior. And I
think that You know, that hardens a player, makes him
more use to heavy coaching. Draymond Green, why can he

(04:49):
take the hard coaching tom Izzo. That's why Steph Curry bark.
Steph Curry and Draymond have been at each other multiple
times for ten years. He had tom Izzo. I think
it matters. Nick Nurse coach, the Philadelphia seventy six ers
only coach to everyone who NBA title in a G
League championship is now joining US Live. You know, Lebron
does talk about that. Nick. And that's not to say

(05:11):
that AAU doesn't have a space, but I do. If
you look at that Warriors dynasty and that Spurs dynasty.
You know, Parker's playing overseas man who's playing. They're playing
against the older guys. Tim Duncan four years of college,
Steph College, Clay College, Draymond, you're and you've been in
the G League. Is there value in that European college

(05:33):
model that maybe we don't appreciate sometimes as they transition
to the pros.

Speaker 7 (05:39):
Well, I think what you're talking about, Colin is culture.
You know the word everybody uses as culture, And I
think that the seriousness of learning, seriousness of wanting to
get better. I know you had coach early on the
other day, and you know he talks about you know,
you come here, we're going to be demanding and you
got to you gotta know it before we get you.
And I think they they the right guys, And I

(06:01):
think that's what culture is.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, you know it's so when Embid is gone, your
other players have to play without him. But you all
know we're a better team with embiid. So what what
what was the transition? Like knowing guys will want you
to grow, but we got the big fella coming back
and we're gonna change. Did you experiment more with a

(06:26):
MAXI did you do other things?

Speaker 6 (06:29):
Yeah, I mean I think that couple of things.

Speaker 7 (06:31):
I think a lot of the a lot of the
team was put together as role or pieces to play
around Embiid and then obviously when he's not there, they've
got to step outside those roles. That's that's okay, and
we needed him to do that. I think the biggest
thing that I hope we've learned and I think we
have is is the compete level, like raising the compete

(06:52):
level up. And we had to fight like heck to
just be able every night we went out there. We
had to fight like hek just to be in these games.
And I think that our defense has gotten better, our
effort has, our attention to detail has with a lot
of those guys, and some of them have made some
progress in those areas and that should help us.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Now you got heat, grizzly Spurs, pistons, magic nets. You
don't have a lot left. And I was saying I
think I said yesterday on the show, I think it
takes twelve to fifteen games for a big to get
back in shape. I've just spitballing here. I don't know.
It feels like in the NFL, they always say you
need three exhibition games to get that metal in the
calluses is embiid going to be in playoff shape by

(07:32):
the time it comes around? Can he get there?

Speaker 6 (07:36):
Well?

Speaker 7 (07:37):
I hope so, I mean, I think if you're thinking
about it positively or hoping he gets there, and then
you're going to say he's probably the freshest he's ever
been going into playoffs ever, really, so he conditions quick,
and he gets rhythm quick too, Like it's pretty interesting
to watch him when he's coming back from this stuff.

Speaker 6 (07:57):
So right now, we just want to get him out.

Speaker 7 (08:00):
We've played one game a little close to thirty minutes,
and let's just see how we can keep progressing.

Speaker 6 (08:06):
It and go from there.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
You know, I said the other day, nobody can stop
Jokic and beat her Yannis, So why not draft Zach Edie,
give somebody else a try. I mean, Draymond Green will
acknowledge I can't stop Jokis, I can't do anything you
coached Edie on Team Canada, coach, there's got to be
a space for him. Size matters, right.

Speaker 8 (08:28):
Well.

Speaker 6 (08:28):
I love him Colin.

Speaker 7 (08:30):
First of all, I had him, I almost he was
eighteen years old, and we were in our first training
camp and we needed some of our young kids there
and we had about four or.

Speaker 6 (08:40):
Five of them, and we couldn't.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
We couldn't.

Speaker 6 (08:43):
Our guys didn't know what to do with them. I'm
forget this kid.

Speaker 7 (08:48):
Going to play in the under eighteen World Championship. Let's
take him with our team. We didn't do that that year,
but I said, listen, this guy's got to be part
of our program. Like he's a certainly a problem, and
you know what else, he's super competitive, colony, really super hard. Yes,
like like there's some he's out there every day work

(09:10):
and he's out there every day playing.

Speaker 6 (09:11):
Like like, there's a lot to like about this guy,
for sure.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, you know, Caitlin Clark's fascinating. And I know you're
a proud Iowan and hey, everybody I know from Iowa's proud.
Anybody that's gone to the University of Iowa is proud.
And you should be. You're hot, guys, you should be.
But you know, everybody was banging on Kim Mulky the
other day and I said, folks, you understand everybody tried
to stop Kobe and Jordan and Lebron forever Gretzky, the

(09:37):
great one. See the trap coming before it's there. Stephen
Draymond doing that two man game. They've been lobbing that thing.
Nobody stops it. If you could just trap Steph and
get him out of the ball, everybody would do it.
And I watched Caitlyn Clark and you're a basketball coach,
can you defend her at that level? To me, she's
just too perceptive, she's too intuitive to trap. That's my

(10:00):
take away. What what do you make of her as
a talent?

Speaker 6 (10:03):
Yeah, So first of all, I was at the game
the other night.

Speaker 7 (10:05):
Man am I glad I went to that that was
that was really like as an being there live was
really something to see.

Speaker 6 (10:11):
And I had to do it.

Speaker 7 (10:12):
I hadn't been able to get there and close enough
there in the Albany the other night, and that was
really something to see. Listen, I agree with you, she
really has some some get rid of an early vision.
I think she her passing is the most fun thing
for me to watch. I think she's leading people to baskets. Yeah,
and they aren't even going there, something like she's sending
them there because of the past. And she really has

(10:36):
the kind of escape dribble to get away and and
create the space she needs, you know, like like some
other great players that we know in the NBA do.
But yeah, it was and it was something to see
and hopefully they got a couple more to try to win.
But really amazing to watch that, that whole program. I'm
so happy for coach Bluetter and everybody there.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, let's finally the NBA playoffs are coming up. And
I've been saying this about Okay, see, I know they're good.
But outside of the bubble year, which which I always
felt all the married guys and the guys with kids
were struggling with it because they were away from their
family for sake, and the young guys loved it. They
go play video games, they played basketball. The bubble, the
young teams kind of beat up on some of the

(11:17):
old teams. But in the playoffs, in my life Nick,
mostly the veterans who have been in NBA weight rooms
for years, they manipulate refs. There's just something about age.
You've got a team whi's got some years on it. Now,
do you use that as an advantage if you face
a younger team in the East that those playoff games

(11:38):
that metal there's a certain you know, these guys have
been in a pro weight room, pro nutrition for years.
Do you use that in the playoffs?

Speaker 7 (11:46):
Well, I think that experience always matters, especially in the playoffs.
I mean, Lebron just said it, like the playoffs is
a whole other thing. The prep, playing the same team
over and over, the toughness, the grind that you have
to go through like it, and I've heard but he said,
it's almost another sport, you know that once the playoffs starts.
So the guys that have been through it, the guys
that can that can physically handle the grind of it,

(12:10):
they can mentally handle all the prep and all the
adjustments and the changes and stuff's happening out there fast.
Sometimes the adjustments. Uh, certainly, you know, the guys that
have been through it should have an advantage.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah. Well, I'm going to the Knicks Bulls Friday in Chicago. Nick,
if you need me to do some scouting, I am
always at your disposal. And you know that, Nick, I'm
a loyal guy. If you need me, I'll send you
any notes you need on that. Okay, Okay, with that.

Speaker 7 (12:34):
Okay, I will I will take anything I can get.
Come on I know, Hey, listen, you're you are almost
a coach.

Speaker 6 (12:40):
I know how you talk about coaches a lot. I
listened a lot. You know, I listen all the time.
So you got your coaching. You're more of a GM,
but you know coaches.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, I'd rather do the firing than be fired. But
my owner would probably fire me because I talk too much.
Nick Nurse sixers easy, got to root for a good
seeing your coach, all right, all right, you bet so.
I've been saying this. The Philadelphia team to me is
more dangerous than Milwaukee to me because I think it
fits better. He said it when they got Embiid. You know,

(13:13):
they've been trying to figure out Hardened Simmons, Maxie and
Maxi's the one that fits with him and Tobias hair.
They've been trying. So now he comes back, we don't
know if Dame like Bam and Butler, Now we all
acknowledge that works. You didn't know it three years ago.
Stuff doesn't. I mean they almost got you know, Tyler,
Hero worked and he had a bad year. Then he worked.

(13:34):
Boston works. We know that Kyrie and Luca. Now it
didn't work initially, Now it works. Paul George Kawhi can
work a D and Lebron worked then it didn't feel
like a D was committed. Now it works again. So
they're to me the most dangerous team outside of Boston.
And if I was Philadelphia and I'm going up against
Boston and I'm a massive underdog, that is maybe just

(13:55):
the juice Philadelphia needs to extend that stories and possibly
beat him. I don't think anybody can beat Boston. I
watched the Celtics last night, hammer a good thunder team.
Porzingis was money last night.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
There you go one more. Heard. The Herd streams twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week within the
iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand
whenever you like.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
This was a story yesterday that was at the Athletic
Andrew Marsham. The NFL is working with college presidents to
form a super league in college football. So I've been
saying for years, privatize college football. Just take it away
from universities. School presidents are over their skis. Athletic directors
can't handle it. It's just, you know, bringing venture capitalists,

(14:39):
the NFL TV networks. Let's get adults in the room
and business people it's too big of a business. They
don't have a schedule maker, they don't have a CEO.
It's what killed boxing. The product was good, the organizational
skills were awful. College football is a disorganized mess. The
product is fantastic, but it's every man for themselves. So,
in my opinion, Fox, nbcesb Engines step in with the aid,

(15:01):
financial aid or guidance of the NFL. Some venture capitalists
take college football over. Unionize the workforce, pay the players,
and so you're going to avoid all these land mines
and lawsuits which are going to bankrupt the NCAA. The
NCAA is toothless now it's dead. So in the end,
a story came out that the NFL is working with
school presidents. I called a couple of executives in my business.

(15:24):
They're not sure if it's just this iteration is going
to work, or it's a negotiation to eventually get players
a union, more money. Whatever it is, we are on
our way to doing what should have been done years ago,
which is organizing a billion dollar a year business with
grown ups. School presidents are not equipped to deal with this.
Athletic directors can't do it. They don't have the budgets.

(15:47):
Football pays for everything, so I don't care. Apparently this
super league would have eight ten team divisions, the winners
all go to sixteen team playoffs, and then some at
large teams. I don't know if this is gonna work perfectly,
but it's time the NCAA. Now it looks like school
presidents are acknowledging white flag. We give up, We don't

(16:09):
we can't do anything, nil transfer portal. We're just chasing
stuff down a hill now. So for that, I like it.
I don't know if some super league is gonna happen.
I got some pushback on that this morning from people
inside the sport inside networks. Here's Jordan with the news.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
No no, no turn news.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
This is the Herdline News.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
All right, Colin, let's start in the NFL. We are
officially three weeks away from the draft. Michael Pennocks Junior
has been visiting with teams this week. I've been told
he's already met with Denver, he has the Raiders today,
he has upcoming visits with the Falcons and Commanders. And
I was also told by multiple sources calling that Pennix
had a private workout in Seattle with the Vikings, who

(16:53):
flew out their entire staff, including the GM.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Quacy, the head coach koc.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
You've talked about Minnesota be a dream landing spot.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
How about for Michael Pennix.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
What I'm finding out with Pennix. I talked to somebody
last night in the league. You either really like him
or you don't. So if Sean Payton, now maybe he's bluffing,
but I don't necessarily think that is a good fit.
There are other people that think his ability to throw
the ball down the field, if you have multiple receivers

(17:27):
that can separate, you know there'd beat Mike McDaniel may
look at him and think, oh, that works for me,
because my quarterback doesn't throw a great deep ball to
has limitations. So there are there are offenses and coaches
who liked this. It was highly effective, highly effective against
everybody the last two years in college football not named Michigan,

(17:48):
but Michigan beat everybody. So there's definitely a divided room
on him. But I think everybody agrees with this really
good athlete. He can move much better than people think,
and a beautiful deep ball thrower, which I think you
can teach underneath stuff you're not going to teach to

(18:10):
it to be bigger and stronger. So but there it's
a divided room on him. There are some that really
like him, an executive told me last night, and there
are some that just just don't think he's a first
round player.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Wow, so divided, you're either all in or all that.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Like Jayden Daniels, everybody likes him, it's just the fifth.
Like Jaden Daniels. I talk to the same executive and
that executive says everybody likes him to a degree. Everybody
likes Caleb. You know, they may be turned off by
this or that. Nobody says, yeah, I couldn't do that.
He can do everything. Jaden Daniels is somebody else that

(18:45):
can move a little like Lamar and throws a pretty ball.
And he's tall, little spind to leave, but tall. So
everybody everybody likes Jayden Daniels. It's just some don't need him,
or it's not. They don't think he's quite ready and
would need certain pieces around owned him.

Speaker 9 (19:01):
Pennix's dependent on you know what I'm in. I like
Daniels too, but I think Pennix is special. I think
Penix gets the ball in a way that's just different. Yeah,
I think he spins it and I think he has
the best.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Arm, pure armed in the draft.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
Sticking with the NFL, Justin Herbert is entering his first
season with new head coach John Jim Harbaugh and OC
Greg Roman. Hardboss teams have always been known for their physicality,
and new Chargers tight end Hayden Hurst talked about his
expectation for Herbert in this offense.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
He's deadly.

Speaker 10 (19:33):
I mean, you give him a run game and he's
gonna be able to throw it all over the place.
I think that's the one thing, you know, outside looking in,
that's the one thing he hasn't had. He's just a
consistent run game. I mean, man, we all see what
he can do through the air. I mean you pair
up a run game with that, I mean, I think
the sky's a limit for this place.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Colin.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
Here's what's interesting too, is Greg Roman coached Lamar Jackson
pretty well in Baltimore, but the last season wasn't great.
Two years ag they end up going with Todd Munkin.
Justin Herbert is one of the most talented players in
the NFL. This offense could be deadly, but could it
takes some time?

Speaker 1 (20:11):
I mean they don't have a center. They need two
more receivers. They need to get in. They got a back,
they need another back so that they're the elements are
in place. If they hit on about four if you
told me they hit on two receivers, a center, a
defensive tackle in a corner, and you'd like they And

(20:31):
by the way, they're gonna try to accumulate ten to
eleven twelve picks, then I would say they're gonna win
a lot of games. There'll be a nine to ten
win team next year. But my guess is generally, I mean,
Houston's kind of the exception. It generally takes a in
a slight rebuild. This is it's not a rebuild, it's
a reboot. They're gonna have to hit on draft picks.
The good news is harbosched as the draft. I mean,

(20:54):
ninety percent of the guys they'll draft in the first
three rounds he recruited or played against or played for him.
So they just have to hit. They have two fours.
I think they want to move down and get two
ones two twos. If they can, they'll be good this
year because they'll solve It's a great year for some
of the things they need.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
I totally agree with you. And here's why.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
I had another GM tell me last night. Look who
their GM is now. Dortis from Baltimore. What does Baltimore
do better than anyone and more than anyone?

Speaker 3 (21:22):
A trade back?

Speaker 4 (21:23):
So to your point, the Chargers can accumulate a lot
of picks and probably hit pretty early and be competitive
this year quickly.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
What's a good reason good season for the Chargers? Playoffs?
Eight wins?

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Ten is a good season. I think eleven's realistic.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Okay, that'd be really good.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
Now to the other Beel team right here in Los Angeles,
Cooper Cup's early season hamstring injury helped pave the way
for Pooka and the Kua to have a historic rookie season.
On a recent podcast, the Coup has said that the
duo him and Cup have been working out together this
offseason and that Cup is quote on a revenge tour.

(22:01):
Is this the best wide receiver won two punch in
the NFL?

Speaker 1 (22:05):
No, but it's really close, Jamar Chase T. Higgins. I
take it's good, and I you know again, would poo
could be this good without McVeigh and Stafford? Like? He's good?
But I think a lot of this is this. This
is something I've talked about with a friend of mine,
John middlecop NFL scout. I've talked about this. If you're
a general manager and you have an offensive coach and

(22:27):
Andy Reid a Shanahan, you can't make everything work. I mean,
John Lynch has missed on a couple of third round
running backs. Not everything works, but it for job preservation.
Basically every running back they have drafted kind of feels
like McVeigh gets the most out of them. He's done

(22:49):
a great job McVeigh has done with offensive linemen, tight ends,
quarterback play, running backs, wide Receiver's been a little hit
and miss, but very few busts since he's been there.
Alan Robinson work at all. But you know, my my
take is with the Rams, just give McVeigh a lot
of draft picks. He'll give him a he'll he kind

(23:09):
of figures stuff out. And you know Shanahan's career, he
elevates every quarterback every I would draft a quarterback almost
every year. If I ran the forty nine ers, I
would draft the court. They all work with Kyle. Running Backs,
tight ends almost all work with McVeigh. I mean, it's Williams,

(23:30):
the kid from Notre Dame. I think was a fourth
or fifth round fourth fifth round guy. And there were
times last year you're like, is he the second third
best running back in the elite? I mean, if there's
four running backs a team and a roster and there's
one hundred and twenty running backs active in the NFL,
and he's the third best team with a fourth rounder.
Some of that's just McVeigh.

Speaker 4 (23:48):
Yeah, quick story on Pooka Nakua. So, Trent mcduffy, the
dominant young corner in Kansas City, already a superstar, told
me that when Nakua was at Washington with him this
is two this is three years ago, during pro day.
He said, I'm telling you there's a kid at BYU,
not that fast, not that big. He's going to be
a big time NFL wide receiver. That was Trt mcduffy

(24:11):
at his pro day telling me about pooking the cool
because I said, Trey, you're gonna be a star of
the NFL. Everyone knows it. Who's the best receiver you've seen?
And he said, there's there's this kid in Nakool and
he couldn't stop talking about him. And now we saw it.
So Pooking Nikoua is just getting started. Yeah, finally calling.
This is a This is a fun one. Mike Tyson
Jake Paul fight is just what's fascinating. The fifty seven

(24:33):
year old Mike Tyson is boxing against YouTuber Jake Paul
in July. In an interview this week, Tyson discussed the
fight and his upcoming opponent.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Oh on hear this.

Speaker 8 (24:43):
This is called the exhibition.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
But if you look up exhibition, you.

Speaker 8 (24:48):
Will not see any of the laws that we're fighting under.
This is a fight. I don't I don't think he's
faster than me. I've seen a YouTube of him at
sixteen doing weird dances.

Speaker 6 (24:59):
That's not the I'm gonna be fighting.

Speaker 8 (25:01):
This guy's gonna come and them trying to hurt me,
which I'm accustomed to, and he's gonna be greatly mistaken.

Speaker 11 (25:08):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
You know, I had the great fortune out of college.
I was very lucky. I got a job in Las Vegas.
Uh worked for a baseball team that ended up getting
a TV job and it was the rise of Mike Tyson.
So I went to a lot of top ranked Jim
Johnny Toco's Jim in Vegas. I went to a lot
of Tyson. When he had dust, tomato and really good

(25:31):
training and coaching in his corner, he I thought he
was gonna be the greatest fighter of all time, maybe
second to Ali, But you know he things went sideways
and don king and he got a little used, and
you know, his personal life, it was a lot. It's
a lot. I mean, he was It's hard to explain
what Tyson was like. If you saw him in Las Vegas.
He was bigger than Tom Cruise at that. I saw
Tom Cruise in public at the Barbary Coast one time

(25:54):
and people left him alone at a restaurant. You saw
Tyson at a restaurant. It was insane, and so I
think think it was just a kind of life that
would have been a lot of people would have gone
off the rails. But I'll say this about great athletes.
Brett Farr to the very end could sling it. Sure
could sling it. Kobe's last game, he got sixty. You're

(26:16):
not asking Mike Tyson to go on a tour. You know,
you two at seventy five years old. Guys, can you
perform one show on Christmas? They'd be great? You know,
isn't the who's still touring.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Who's still doing it.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, like Mike Tyson for a fight for four rounds.
I want no part of it.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
I mean, I'm just looking at the odds.

Speaker 4 (26:37):
Jake Paul's minus three sixty, so that's a massive favorite.
Tyson's plus three hundred. There's a thirty year age gap.
I'll tell you this about Jake Paul, like and love him,
hate him to get in the ring, the same ring
as Mike Tyson, who looks like he's in phenomenal shape.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
That seems that's impressive. I don't care who you talk to.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
It's crazy to do now Jake, Jake is six ' five.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
I think he's sixty three.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Okay, he look he's got to reach it. So everybody
Larry Holmes had a reach advantage.

Speaker 6 (27:07):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
I can't get it out of my head. Like the
fact that Paul's the big favorite to me.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
At thirty fifty seven.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
That's why I.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Watched George Foreman twenty five years old. I think than
some of the fighters. It didn't matter. I mean, George
Foreman is known for two things. His grill, the George
Foreman grill, and the comeback. His comeback it felt bigger.
I mean lost to a lean Zi year that was
a huge fight, but his comeback felt bigger than his

(27:35):
career and then the George Foreman grill. But during the
comeback he was fighting like kids and knocking him out.
How much does age matter? If I'm asked to fight
you for three rounds and land two punches.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
How much do I have to pay you? Colin to
get in this?

Speaker 1 (27:51):
I would never like I'm not a skydive guy. I've
got no interest in that. Like non zero with Great
White sharks, No, not ever gonna happen. Live a nice life,
want to keep continuing to live? Jordan with the news.

Speaker 12 (28:05):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herdline News. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and noone Easter nine am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
Hey it's me Rob Parker.

Speaker 13 (28:21):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk, featuring the
biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the iast, We've got all the bases covered.
New episodes drop every Thursday, So do your sofa favor

(28:41):
and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Spring Football is back.

Speaker 6 (28:51):
It's the best of the best going ahead to head
in the perth of the UFL.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
Let's ballout, Baby.

Speaker 14 (28:59):
Go todown, all about the offense now singing and.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Sagging, hint of the ins the UFO.

Speaker 12 (29:15):
Listen to did we get this time?

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Sixty four yard trive A score is born in the UFL.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
Sunday on Fox.

Speaker 4 (29:32):
It's Week two of the United Football League as the
Houston Roughnecks take on the DC Defenders.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Spring just got stronger.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
The hard hitting action continue Sunday at for Eastern on Fox.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
You know, it's interesting the ratings for that they were
getting over. I was told a million persons watching, which
for a brand new league, that's like an NBA regular
season game. And I was I was talking to a
friend about this. I said, if you look at the
power and the influence of iPhones in America, it is
affecting TV ratings. And here's what I mean is that
one of the reasons streaming everybody's on streaming is it's

(30:06):
very easy to access from your phone. I watch almost
everything streaming on my phone. When I'm traveling, I'll watch
like three Netflix shows and it's more consistent than getting
a TV to work on a plane. Mine's always that
order and doesn't work. And by the way, many airlines
are taking TVs out, So your iPad, your phone. And
I was talking about sports with a buddy. I said,
if you look at what is working in ratings, so

(30:27):
obviously Caitlin Clark, big ratings, NFL big ratings, college football,
big ratings, World Cup, big ratings, big UFC, three hundred
in Vegas next weekend, massive numbers. What's happening because of
the iPhone. It's the unintended benefit or consequences of a
great invention. And I told a friend, I said, what

(30:47):
isn't working in America because we're all distracted by our phones.
What is working is big events and urgency college football, up, NFL, UP,
World Cup, up UFC, crushing, madness, crushing. Now, a lot
of that's Caitlin Clark, but the men's march madness and
men's college basketball has like one star, Zach Edie. It's

(31:10):
not that talented, and their numbers are good because it's
special To get us off our phones, you've got to
present special. Hockey regular season ratings flat forever are going down.
Baseball regular season ratings. ESPN announced recently they don't want
to go into there. They're tired of baseball NBA regular

(31:32):
season numbers up, down, flat. They've lost a big audience
for years. This is just my take is that the
phone has changed it. You have to create special. By
the way, Fox did a good job of creating special
in baseball. When that game in Iowa game? What gets
ratings in baseball? The home run derby an event, the

(31:54):
baseball game in Iowa, the All Star Game an event.
The World Series can get a rating an event. We
are so distracted even with streaming. If you look at
streaming numbers, people leave streaming big chunks during the football season.
They're distracted, right, Oh, I'll get to the streaming when

(32:17):
football ends. I mean, me and my buddies are all
like now, for the next five months, all I do
is watch streaming. And so when you look at March's Madness,
Caitlin Clark explains the women's growth, But the guys games
are getting numbers and it's not a lot of household names.
I mean, Zach Eaedie is kind of it. But the

(32:37):
NC State game do get getting big, big numbers. So
it's just interesting when people bang on the NBA. I
think it's a problem when you have these long regular seasons,
you have to and I think Fox Sports went to baseball.
This network did. I don't need to get into the
weeds on this, but they basically said, you're not creating special.
You should always have Yankees, Red Sox, Dodger Giants as

(33:01):
much as you can weekend or whoever the you know, Braves,
Dodgers player, Yankees, red Socks, get those on the weekend,
create special, all star special, home runs fan. The NFL
makes their draft special, it gets a rating. The NFL
makes their combine feel special. Their free agency, the NFL
moved it so it had more freedom, less competition to
feel special. By the way, the NBA on Christmas always

(33:24):
felt special, and the NFL said, no, we're gonna muddy
the waters. We're gonna put NFL on Christmas. People have
a choice, right, Yeah, So you want to feel special
because the iPhone is so distracting that if you don't,
if you're just mundane. You're talking about you need casuals.
In any business, you got to have can You can't

(33:45):
just be like Beyonce is gonna do some country music
and she'd got some album. I haven't heard it yet,
but it's like she's gonna bring in casuals, so it'll
probably work. You don't have to be a die hard
country Western fan. I haven't heard it yet. I just
read about this morning. But that's kind of my take
on what is happening in our world. The UFL numbers,
from what I heard, were good, and I'm like, yeah,

(34:07):
but there's only like eight ten games, so if you
want to watch it, you got to watch it now.
By the way, these Celtics, I watched this game last night.
I'm traveling today, so I went to bed early. I
watched the Celtics Porzingis was great. They beat the Thunder
by thirty five points. What is interesting about Boston is that,
and I think they're really great team. They don't have
a ring yet. So once teams like the Warriors got

(34:30):
a ring, and the Spurs and Shaq and Kobe, once
they get the trophy, the regular season just means less.
It's human nature, you know, Shaq and Kobe before that. Oh,
but then all of a sudden, like the Spurs with
Duncan weren't a number one seed, And so the Celtics
are the classic example of their good enough to win
a title, but they don't have the trophy yet and

(34:52):
they are just flying through the regular season. It's Derek
Rose's bulls. Oh, the regular game felt like it mattered.
Then once you got a trophy, you pick your spots.
Boston's not picking much spots right now. They're just clobbering people.
What is interesting, the Lakers are the best clutch team
in the NBA clutch time games, They're twenty three to nine.

(35:14):
So Lakers are another team that picks their spots now.
Right now, they have to win games because you know,
they got some momentum they need. Boston doesn't for the playoffs.
But it's interesting about that is basketball to me has
always been a unique sport where you can kind of
flip a switch. Yukon last year was fourth in the
Big East and flew through the tournament. I mean Yukon

(35:36):
this year had some close games in the Big East.
They are flying through the tournament. They flip a switch,
and so I don't necessarily look at the Denver Nuggets
I don't care what their seating is. I don't really
care what the Lakers seating is, and frankly, I don't
care what the Celtic seating is. I think what Boston

(35:56):
is is the classic, really a good NBA team without
a ring. If Boston won the title this year, I
guarantee you their margin of victory would go down. Next year,
their point differential would go down, and their record would
go down because they would rest people. So Denver's in
that space a little bit where you get Oklahoma City

(36:17):
charging in Minnesota, which Denver's got the trophy. Denver wants
to make sure Yokich is rested, Gordon's got his legs
for playing defense, Jamal Murray is healthy. So as I
watched Boston last night, I'm like, what's fascinating about him
is they are they have as many losses as they do,
They have as many twenty point wins in against the

(36:38):
East as they do losses all year against the East.
If just blown through the East, can't beat Denver one
on one against the Lakers. So my question is if
they blow through the playoffs as they've blown through the East,
what's it going to be like when they get in
five six close games with Denver or the Lakers, because

(36:59):
the Lake have been on fire since January. They were
ninth in the West and January they've won eight of
nine eighty to ten. They're still ninth because it's the West,
you're just in more close games. So I mean the
Lakers are eleven games about five hundred. They're still not separating.
I mean, they'll get into the playing game, and I
think they're built for the I think they're they're very

(37:20):
much built for a singular game with Lebron's age. But
Jalen Brown on hitting the sixty win mark as they
head to the postseason.

Speaker 11 (37:30):
It's honor so blessed him to be on a sixty
one team. It's a lot of hard work that went
into that, especially after you know, coming up short last season,
you know, responding coming back in and not skipping any steps.
So I think we're on track. Sixty one is when
the playoffs start. Is back to square one.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
I think Philadelphia is interesting with Boston. They won't beat them,
but it's interesting. I'm not sure if Milwaukee is. I
can see some athleticism and length with Philly matt up
against Boston. I don't think Milwaukee. I don't think Milwaukee.
I think Boston in the West would be in several
five and six game series, maybe a seven gamer with
Denver Lakers. I kind of think they're gonna fly through it.

(38:11):
In fact, I think Philadelphia is the one team that
I think could give problems.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
Jalen Brown got paid over three hundred million dollars. Everyone
said this is crazy. He's had a better year, he's
been bad. I would argue that he's not better than
Jason Tatum, but you could say he's more important because
he guards everyone. His handle's gotten better, he makes big shots.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
He's also so very aggressive. There are times you watch
them play that he's almost demanding the ball more than Tatum.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
But I and that's where I was gonna go is
I do give Tatum credit because he's finally he's comfortable
enough in his own skin to defer to Jalen Brown
some nights in some big possessions.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yeah, and that's the beauty of that one too.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Yeah, there's only two absolute truths when it comes to
duos in the East. Bam and Butler works. Sure, Brown
and Butler works. I like MAXI MBD, but at this
point I'm not sure if MB is going to be
in great shape for the playoffs. I think Dame and
Yannis are individually great, but I got to see him

(39:09):
in the playoffs. Like this is one thing about the NBA,
and again it's just part of it. In baseball, you know,
if a pitcher is going out, he didn't want to
get shelled. You get his best effort. If a batter
is going to the plate, he's got bonuses, he doesn't
want to get embarrassed. So in baseball the dynamic between
pitcher and hitter. Guys don't mail it in. In hockey, you

(39:30):
can't mail it in. You have to have your head
in a swivel. You'll get hurt. In football it's one
game a week. You can't mail it in. You get
into basketball and the sport these guys are so gifted.
You understand why the playoffs feel different. I'm not just
defending the NBA, but baseball, nobody goes to the plate
thinking I want to look like an idiot. You got

(39:52):
money tied to that. At bat pitchers eras again, every
batter count. So nobody's mailing it in base and you
can't in hockey or football. But in basketball, you know
it's Hammy's a little sore tonight. Like if you're the
Celtics are a top team, you just want to be
rested for the postseason. But what I love about playoff

(40:13):
basketball in college basketball, you get a truer effort every game,
regular season, March Madness. Playoff basketball looks different. It is
a different sport. It looks different. Guys are way more physical.
The refs seeing that, back off on the whistle. That's
why it benefits older stronger players. The young guys don't

(40:35):
get the whistle, the older stronger players do. In April,
May and June