July 15, 2025 • 41 mins
Thoughts on the All-Star Game tonight and people who are upset with Jacob Misiorowski being on the roster
Colin discusses the LeBron James trade rumors
The WNBA wasn't ready for the Caitlin Clark hype
Guest: Alex Rodriguez
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sportsradio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Here we go.
(00:21):
It is a Tuesday. It is great to be here again.
A little cesta, a little sabbatical. Jmax filling in more
than capably and appreciate that we are ready to go.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The All Star Game is tonight. We have Cal Rawley.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I grew up a Mariners fan. I wanted to be
the voice of the Mariners. At some point the organization
did not agree, so I ended up doing this. A
Rod joins us as well tonight. So it's All Star
Game night, home run derby NBA stuff. NFL camps are
getting quick to open very soon.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Around the corner. Jmat, good to be back, Good to
see you.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, great to have you back, big fellow excited for today.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
All right, So here's a story that's been simmering and
sort of hovering, like those like those upas those UFOs.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Over New Jersey were.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Remember that for about a three week trial, kind of
hovering over what are they?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's what I feel.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
The Lebron trade rumors are like nobody's quite sure what
they are, what they mean, they're out there. I think
maybe it's a plane. I don't buy them. I do
not buy the Lebron trade rumors. Here's why. The best
contract you can have in professional basketball is a superstar
in his prime. Sga, Jokisch, Luca. Those are the guys
(01:36):
that win in May and June. Rookie contracts are nice.
Best contract, superstar in his prime. Sga wins a title,
Yokich wins the title. The second best contract to me
is a highly productive player with a lot of seasoning
who is still good, probably out of his prime, and
(01:57):
he has an expiring contract.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And that's Lebron. This is it.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
They can play with it. Leverage to the Lakers. They
can move him with the trade deadline. They could move
him now I wouldn't, So why would you get rid
of that? I mean, he was twenty four eight and
eight last year. He was All NBA Second Team. He
was sixth in MVP voting. That's the highest in years.
He's highly productive and he's capable of helping you in
a playoff series.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I'm not trading that away.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
And by the way, his agent Rich Paul has acknowledged publicly. Yeah,
Lebron knows it's Lucas team, So there's no real angst
with Lebron James. He knows it's Lucas team. They're going
to take care of him first, he'll get a new deal.
So I don't buy the trade talks. Also, you know
this is the time of the year, it's hey, how
do I fill my three hour show? How do I
(02:46):
fill my column? I don't buy it now. I do
believe they will transition out of this potentially if things
go south, But why now and why today? Remember the
Lakers got better. There's a lot of reasons to be hopeful.
I do not believe they are going to be as
good as Houston. I don't think they're Oklahoma City. I
(03:08):
don't think they were as good as Dallas. But JJ
Reddicks in year two, he'll be better. Browny's had a
good summer league. He may contribute. Luca's gonna be in
great shape, and they're better at center. I don't love
DeAndre Ayton. He's allergic to defense. Always sees himself as
a one. He's more of a three to a four,
and a championship level team. He'll probably be a three
or a four for the Lakers. We'll see. But that
(03:28):
team's not a very good defensive team. And to win
a championship, Oklahoma City just proved you can do it
with defense. So the Lakers are going to be very
interesting this upcoming season, and they're gonna be very good.
They're not gonna win a title. They're not going to
hoist a trophy. They're not gonna be great. Lebron's passed
his prime, Austin Reeves can be picked on defensively, DeAndre
(03:51):
Ayton's moody, never happy and doesn't defend, and Luca he'll
be in good shape. But but you know you're not
getting much defense there either. But in Kobe's last year,
they were uninteresting and won seventeen games. They were awful.
So this is not a bad place to be very
good and very interesting. So I don't buy the trade rumors.
(04:13):
Hosts have to fill space. I think at the trade deadline,
as Chris Brussard said yesterday, things could be interesting if
it goes south.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I think he starts the season with the Lakers Now,
if for some reason it goes terrible, would they try
to move him at the deadline, maybe get him to
a team with a chance to do something in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yeah, something like that. But I don't see it going terrible.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
They weren't playing good basketball, and that was on the fly, right,
That was when a roster.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Not built around Luca. It was on the fly.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Lebron had to all of a sudden adjust to be
in the second guy offensively, and they still played good basketball.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
So you would expect them to be better.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
They will be better. They won't be great, but they'll
be good and interesting. Why move off that now?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
All right?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Tonight's the All Star Game home run derby Champ from
the Mariners. Cal Rawley will be joining us one hour
from now, a rod bottom of the hour. So Baseball
made a decision which I totally agree with. Actually two
they're going to have. He's only had five appearances, He's
four and one, he's six seven. The kid throws absolute
heat from the Milwaukee Brewers Jacob Mizerowski, they call him
(05:26):
miss and they decided only five appearances, Hey, we're getting
him into the All Star Game. And the purists have grumbled,
but they always take themselves way too seriously. Baseball's also
going to use the ABS system in the All Star
Game tonight. They used it in spring training, it's being
used in the minor leagues, and they're going to experiment
(05:47):
with it.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
It's very quick.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
When I initially heard about it, I didn't like it,
but it actually is fast, succinct, not a huge replay fan.
I understand. In football, with only seventeen games, she got
to get it right. But they're gonna do both. Baseball strange.
So when I was a kid growing up, it had
all sorts of personality. Al Roboski, Mark Fiedrich, Pete Rose,
(06:10):
Mickey Rivers. It was all sorts of personality. Then it
went through this weird twenty year span where it took
itself way too seriously, way too rigid, way too beholden.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
The writers, broadcasters.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Everybody took it so seriously and the sport got really dull,
and you heard about unwritten rules, and there was a
way to play the game, those two unwritten rules. Rob
Manfred is unwriting the unwritten rules. He's getting rid of them.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
He's going to.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Experiment with a kid tonight the ABS system, and I'm
sure purists don't like it, but he's called a phenom.
You know what gets me to a television A phenom
not statistically superior player for the Phillies. Phenom gets me
to a television set. I don't care if it's a
phenom golf Caitlin Clark came into the league. Phenom gets
(07:03):
me to a TV set. I don't care if it's
a musical artist. The kid is six seven averages ninety
nine miles an hour on his fastball. He's probably gonna
go in middle innings, and I can't wait. Those unwritten
rules never made any sense, Like there are certain unwritten
rules in society we all understand, like when you go
to the bathroom, wash your hands before you come out,
(07:23):
or if you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth. But
you can't bunt to break up a no hitter.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
My job has not put you in the record books.
My job is to not elevate your legacy. It's a
two nothing game, three nothing game. You lead, guy in
front of me walk steal second. I'm bunning to get
him on eighth inning. I don't care. That's a you problem.
Remember the other one in baseball. You can't steal a
base leading big. I mean, I guess if it's fourteen
(07:53):
nothing or you can't stare at a home run, why
not you couldn't get me out? Throw be more wicked,
get the splitty over what evs? Rob Manfred's like, no,
let's have fun. It's baseball. This is called an All
Star game. And this kid's a star, he's a phenom.
(08:14):
He gets us to a television. Baseball got into real
trouble when it got really precious and really beholden to history. Guys,
we used to memorize baseball cards. That's what we did
at seventeen. Kids don't collect them. They don't collect them.
They don't run to the drug store in your local
town to get that piece of gum and you know
(08:37):
that baseball card.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It's all over.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I mean even the industry of trading baseball cards, with
few exceptions, nobody cares anymore. So I love what they're doing.
Rob Manfred said, speed the game up. Every swing he's
taken has worked everyone. You don't have to love them.
All Star game, not all stats, not all superior production.
(09:01):
For a guy that's not getting us to a TV.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I love it. I think it's great. And here's Dave Roberts.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
The All Star Game should be the best the game's
best players. It's about the fans and what the fans
want to see. So for this young kid to be
named All Star, I couldn't be more excited for him.
He is thrilled to be here. I'm gonna get him
in there probably the fifth of the sixth inning, something
like that, the seventh, and it's going to be electric.
(09:30):
So the fans, the media, you're gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Tonight.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Is a celebration. It's not determining home field advantage. Don't
be precious, don't be pious. Baseball did that for about
twenty years. They got really weird. And by the way,
the Savannah bananas right, like that thing is on fire right,
Why it's selling out? The fans are telling you, Yeah,
(09:55):
we go to the ballpark to have a beer with
friends and have fun. This kid is not in this
All Star Game tonight. If they don't put mis in,
what's getting me there? It matters six seven throws heat
I want to watch all right. J mac nick Saban
rumored to be headed back another roomor I don't buy
(10:16):
the college football will address that. The NFL execs came
out with a quarterback list yesterday that I absolutely loved.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
That probably drove you crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Of course you love it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Of course no Rock Perty in the top ten, of
course you love it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I gotta look at eleven through fifteen. I didn't see
him there either, but whatever, I don't want to rub
it in this morning.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Oh boy, oh he robbing grenades early, okay.
Speaker 8 (10:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Eastern n a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio Appy.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's me Rock Parker.
Speaker 9 (10:51):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the
biggest name the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the Ie test, We've got all the
bases covered. New episodes dropped every Thursday, So do yourself
a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob
(11:13):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
All right, welcome back, Alex Rodriguez joining us in about
ten minutes. All Star Game tonight on Fox.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So you know I'll be honest. I golfed a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I hung out, biked, walked, hung out with the dogs,
did not read a lot or watch a lot of
sports some but one of the things that jumped out
to me over the last ten to eleven days was
that NFL executives, coaches and scouts, many of them through
the years have been very helpful to me and learning
(11:52):
this game and sourcing this game, released their top ten
quarterback So this is the people that draft them, the
people that coach them, the people that select them, the
people that scout them.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And it went in this order.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Mahomes, Allen Burrow, Lamar, Jayden Daniels, Matt Stafford, Justin, Herbert Goff,
Jalen Hurds, Baker Mayfield, and I almost reached out to Jmack,
but I didn't want to get him all riled up.
That's about as close to my list as you can get. Now,
believe it or not, you're probably saying, well, what about
Baker Mayfield. Well, after a second good year in Tampa,
he's closer to ten than fifteen. I probably go CJ.
(12:29):
Stroud at ten because his size and accuracy.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But he didn't have a great year.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
A lot of that was his receivers all got hurt,
his left tackle didn't play well. But none of this
bothers me.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Now. The reaction on Jalen Hurtz.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Who you know, wins the Super Bowl being nine, was
predictable by his coach, Nick Seriani that said, you know,
this is a bunch of nonsense. I can't believe it,
and that's what a coach should do. But here are
three undeniable truths. Take a deep breath. According to PFF,
the Eagles offense was top ten in everything pass blocking,
run blocking, rushing, receiving, yet they were twenty first and
(13:09):
actually passing.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Jalen Hurts is responsible for that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Oh. By the way, eleven of us thirty two total
touchdowns came on rushes of one or fewer yards. Take
out the tush push. He had the same number of
touchdowns as Bryce Young and number three. After a week
five by and a philosophical reset by the OC, they
passed the ball less than any team in the NFL
at twenty four times a game. So you know, if
(13:35):
your company, you know, goes to one of those off
site weekend retreats and has a philosophical reset and they
come back and they decide, listen, employee, we're going to
use you less and they're more successful. That seems to
be a pretty striking correlation. So bottom line, the organization
(13:58):
literally had a philosophical Brady and Tampa and Bruce Arians
had this. Remember like late in the season, they never lost.
After that, they had a reset and Tom was going
to take more control of the offense than Bruce Arians.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
They didn't lose.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Again, They beat Atlanta a couple times, they won all
their playoff games, and Tom hoisted another trophy. So the
Eagles basically they had one of those philosophical resets, and
what they decided was, this offense is great as long
as we passed the ball fewer times.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
That's a correlation.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Now, I don't have a problem putting in Jalen Hurts
to my top ten. I think he has great moments,
great character, great leadership, great power. I think pound for pound,
he's the strongest player in the NFL, certainly strongest quarterback.
I like him a lot, but I don't think any
GM sees him as an elite passer. I don't think
any GM saw Lamar Jackson initially as an elite passer,
(14:50):
but he has really developed. I still think Jalen Hurts
on third and seven from the pocket. I don't have
great vibes all the time. I really don't, but I
I do think he has great moments character and leadership
and toughness and durability. Here here's Matt Hasselbeck on the
show yesterday saying he's undervalued by the league.
Speaker 10 (15:11):
I think he's definitely in that six to ten, but
you could make the argument that he should be at
number six. And I think why I say that, You know,
people don't give him enough credit for the quarterback sneak,
Like they just don't like they think, like, oh, it's
just a quarterback sneak. It doesn't count as just like
a free play. We should make it illegal. That is
a real weapon that he uses. And like so like
(15:32):
sometimes it's maybe easy to gloss over some of some
of the other stuff because he's not you know, he's
staying in the pocket. He's not bolting. A lot of
young quarterbacks just bolt outside the pocket. He stays in
the pocket, he doesn't flinch.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You're not gonna get a ton of credit for a
quarterback sneak, like he's the best at it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
But it's like giving.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
A baseball hitter a lot of credit because he's the
league's best bunter.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
That's not getting into the hof. You got to do
more than that each year.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Rod could do that, but he had a great arm,
hit for power and was uniquely gifted. He could also
bunts if you wanted him to. That's not really the point.
And so my thing what Jalen Hurts is he is
viewed fairly. And in my career doing this, I have
found that athletes after they've been in a professional sport
for five years are all fairly judged. By the time
(16:22):
you've been in it ten years, and Hurts isn't there yet.
Everybody knows your brand very early in Aaron Rodgers' career,
super talented, a little aloof can be prickly, great talent.
Is he a great leader? I think that's fair. It's
not a criticism, it's what he is. Even at a
golf tournament. Oh prickly Aaron and Aaron that's okay. But
(16:45):
the idea that after all these years in Philly, you know,
people just don't understand what he is.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think we all know what he is.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Great kid, great leader, great talent, strong as strong gets
for that position. But he's not a top five guy,
all right, J Mack. He's got the news.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
No, no, this is the herdline news.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Oh good to have you back, Cowhard.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Let's start with the Golden State Warriors, Colin. They've been
very quiet this offseason, like literally nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
They haven't done anything.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
They've been linked to al Orford, linked to another guard.
But despite the lack of moves, Steph Curry talked this
weekend about how confident he is in the team's ability
to build a contender.
Speaker 11 (17:30):
The narrative alzheimers, since I might not always be the same,
so right, like I said, we have, we talked, we
have communication, like I know what's going on, and to
the point, I have a lot of confidence and our
ability to put together a winning team next year.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
That's all.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
That's all I want.
Speaker 11 (17:46):
Every year it presents new challenges and you got to
solve that puzzle. We did a really good job of
it towards you know they ended last year. Got to
roll it back and everybody has to be their best
sellers in every role throughout the organization.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
How about this Cowherd.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
They we have the same odds to win the NBA
title plus twenty five hundred as the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
That's reasonable, that's really good. Wells Steph Kurry, Tommy Butler.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, well because of the West. If you put the
Atlanta Hawks in the West with Golden State, they'd have
lower odds. I think a lot of that is just
the Western Conference. So I you know, it's the difference
between the SEC and the Big twelve. Like what are
your odds to get, you know, to get to a
major Bowl. It's just harder in the SEC or the
Big ten these days. So I think Butler and Draymond
(18:32):
and Curry make you viable, they make you interesting, but
they're gonna trade Kaminga. Like I always say, if you
can't play with Steph Curry and Lebron, you've got a
hole in your game, Like like and Kaminga. I mean,
like Lebron. Everybody can play with Lebron. I mean, I
mean seriously, when Dalton connects on the floor with Lebron,
he's pretty good. Dalton connect without Lebron, You're like, he's
(18:52):
not a first round pick. So like, if you can't
play with Curry, I just don't see as a via future.
So are they going to move him at the deadline?
He can be I think he's a guy that you
could put on a bad team and he could give
you twenty one a night. He's long, he runs the
cur We saw we saw him play without Curry late
in the year. It was actually pretty interesting player.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
Yeah, no, it's gonna be itsy.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I don't know that anybody wants to pay him, Like
are you paying Jonathan kaminga Colin? If you watch it
he could not work with Steve curR and Steph Curry.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Well no, again, I think not every player can play
with Lebron James and Steph Curry. Like not every player can,
and the guys that can't are not going to play
for the Lakers or Golden State. But I do think
he has value somewhere in the league at twenty two
a game. I mean, you do see him flourish without
Curry in that Steph ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
You see him flourish well with Curry.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Though, this is a contender in the West, a fringe contender.
If he goes down for any stretch, they're dead. And
what they got dat nothing behind Curry. One of the
oldest teams in the league. Next up on TJ Watt.
We've been talking about him for about a month now.
Colin the Steelers pass rusher. He wants a new deal
and he's holding out with Pittsburgh.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
Well, trading camp is.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Rapidly approaching, and reports are emerging Pittsburgh is inquiring about
Watt's potential trade value, although they don't want to actually
trade him. This is a tough spot because he's a
fan favorite. He's clearly their number one jersey seller, but
he hasn't translated the postseason wins. He's getting up there
in age. Do you get off of him before he
(20:24):
gets old? And you know is a bad contract?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Listen, I think this.
Speaker 8 (20:28):
Is a right.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
When I suggested a year ago they should explore trading him.
What was the reaction when I suggested it a year ago?
It was outrage. I can't believe it. The Steelers are
doing it, folks. It's easy to sit there as a
troll and react to stuff that happens, but actually the
truth is in sports, what's fascinating is when you can
(20:51):
see stuff before it happens.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And I said this a year ago.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
They're not paying big money yet and they are really
reluctant to move off a lot of these big contracts.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You have to explore it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
They've led the NFL and defensive spending for four years.
And they're not paying TJ want the big money yet,
so you could if you could get two second round picks,
you can two things are possible. You can love what
a guy's done for your organization, but thirty plus as
an edge rusher, want to get value for the move.
So I can see them getting another player and a
(21:24):
second round pick. But when I suggested this a year ago,
it was outrageous. This is what general managers do outside
of star quarterbacks and star left tackles. Almost everybody, including
a Jamar Chase. You take phone calls.
Speaker 8 (21:37):
On yeah, Colin.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
As a minority owner of a sports team, I can
tell you you always move off guys before it's too late.
And again we've talked about Giannest with the Bucks. You
better trade him now because that price is gonna go
down come the All Star Break, and it's gonna go
down next year.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
And for TJ.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Watt, if they had traded him last summer, I think
you probably could have got it first and a third,
a first and.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
A fourth maybe yep. Now you've got to pay him
a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
He wants to be one of the highest paid guys.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You can't give up this.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
I don't know you get two two's Colin.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I don't think there are thirty players in the NFL.
You take a phone call on everybody. You don't take
it on Burrow. You know, there's the top seven eight
quarterbacks you don't take the phone call on, and the
top six or seven left tackles you don't. There's just
not many left tackles. But even a star wide receiver,
I mean Devonte Adams was not that far removed from
(22:30):
his prime. He was moving to the Raiders, he's moving
to the Jets, he's moving to the Rams. I mean,
there's there's maybe thirty guys in the NFL tops that
a GM just is not going to take a phone
call for.
Speaker 8 (22:40):
Even Miles Garrett. By the way, with the Brown.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Now, I wouldn't take a phone call on Miles Garrett.
I wouldn't. I think he's the best pass rusher.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Okay, so great, You've got a Limborghini and you live
in a shack with like no garage roofs. Like that's
what the Browns are. They're draft picks. They're getting arrested
in trouble with the law. They have no quarterback, They're
going nowhere. Why are are you paying Lyles Garrett. I
would have just got whatever I could and start.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Over well, because he's by far and away your best player,
and I think it ruins a locker room if you don't.
If you draft a guy and then don't reward him,
what is the signal that's a bad And I think
he's so much better than I think Jared Verse by
the end of this coming season will look at him
as possibly the second best pass rusher. I think he's
that good. Michael Garrett Garrett is in another class.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
And Michael Parsons is still pretty we'll see final story
column to my Jets. Been a quiet offseason, but they
just locked up Garrett Wilson four years, one hundred and
thirty million dollar extension. Again, some of that's funny money
ninety mil guaranteed is not. With the new deal, Wilson
slots in as the fifth highest paid wide receiver per year,
(23:47):
and he's had a really good.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Start to his career with no good quarterbacks. I don't
know that he's.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Going to make justin fields that much better, but he's
a great player.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
His numbers so far have been incredible. I don't think
this is a bad deal at all. No, I don't
think it's an overpay, and if you look at the
average per year, I like the Garrett Wilson deal more
than DK Metcalf, who's got a lot of treader and
his tires and is a bit of a locker room issue.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
The Jets have five or six really elite players.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
He's one of them. Pay him.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I have no problem with this. I don't none. And
by the way, Justin Fields, you don't want him having
a moody wide receiver. Something you got to pay a guy,
get it done. Garrett's happy. So if his numbers go down,
let's say, Justin Fields isn't the answer. Garrett's not moody.
Garrett got his He'll be good in the locker room.
(24:36):
You need him actually to be a leader right now
because the Jets have a new quarterback and a new
coach and a new quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
So I'm good with it. Jmck of a news, Well.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
That's the news, and thanks for stopping back the herd
line News.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
A fourteen time All Star, a three time MVP twenty
two years, an icon absolutely beginning to end. Alex Rodriguez
at the All Star Game is now joining us live. Okay,
so you made your All Star debut. You were twenty
years old. I read you know, you obviously would not
remember this. I remember being in the Mariner locker room
years and years and years ago, and you were, you know,
(25:10):
you talk of the team, and I was.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Like, he's like fourteen years old. Look at that kid.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
He's a kid. So you go, let's talk about miss so.
I have no problem putting him in the All Star Game.
He's a phenom. Let's not get precious. I want to
see a phenom. The kid six seven throws heat. I'm
for it. I am all for it. Go back to
you being an All Star at twenty were you overwhelmed
by it?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (25:33):
My god, Colin and hello, I was so overwhelmed that
when I when I saw Kyle Ridkin for the first time,
my childhood hero. You know, he was like he was
like a statue. He was tall, he had like little
gray hair, he had these blue eyes, and I was like,
oh my god, that's my hero and I'm his teammate.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
And that was the neatest part.
Speaker 12 (25:54):
It was in the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and
it was it was quite fun.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, all Star games are interesting. You're facing the best
of the best. A lot of it is where are
the shadows? Who do you face your second at bat?
Your mindset there is there's not a time you're almost
like on Broadway. You're kind of performing like it's a
really different environment. Go go to your bats? Is the
all like like you face some like peer pressure, but
(26:22):
you don't face outcome pressure. Did you like All Star Games?
Speaker 6 (26:26):
I love them?
Speaker 12 (26:27):
And look, this was a celebration of all your hard work,
dedication one thing has made to the major leagues. But
to be one of sixty or sixty five guys that
are the best players in the world, in the best
league in the world, it was a treat and it
was an honor. I remember coming in two thousand, we
were playing right here in Atlanta for the All Star Game.
I had hurt my knee and I didn't make it,
(26:49):
and Derek went in my to replace me and he
won the MVP.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
But I remember stating at home so bummed and sad
that I couldn't be at the All Star Game.
Speaker 12 (26:59):
Look, if you don't in the World Series, that's the
most exposure you're going to get, and you're showing off
for the national fans, for the global front fans, and
also for the community of baseball, but especially your colleagues
and the other seven hundred and forty nine players.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
So there's a lot of interesting stories about this season.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
One of the ones that's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I've always said it's hard to go into prolonged slumps.
With hockey and basketball. The game, the game moves too quickly.
You don't have time to overthink a misshot. You get
another shot in fourteen seconds. But in baseball and golf,
you got a lot of downtime to think about that
seven iron that went sideways, or your you know that
that at bat where you got fooled. And so Raffie
(27:40):
Devers goes from the Red Sox they suddenly they're on fire.
He goes to San Francisco. He is punching out like
he is struggling. And I think a lot of it
is when you when you're called like, oh he's the savior,
he is what I think it's in his head. Take
me to that because you had a one slump in
(28:01):
your career. I remember in the playoffs, not many, but some.
I think this get in San Francisco's I think it's
upstairs with him.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
What do you see, Well.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
First, it suggress Boston.
Speaker 12 (28:12):
Sometimes when you clear what's perceived as a stressful situation
and you clear the Big Brother, then it puts the
owners and responsibilities on the other twenty five guys in
that locker room, and everyone says, all right, there's a
sigh of relief.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
We've cleared the deck. Now is on us. Big Brother's gone.
Speaker 12 (28:28):
So I mean, I remember when Griffy left, We went
on the next year to the playoffs, when we brought
in Mike Cameron and Freddie Garcia and Seattle.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
You remember those years, and then I left and they
got even better. Right, So it's not normal.
Speaker 12 (28:42):
But you have a Rod and Griffy leaving back to
back years and the team keeps getting better and better.
So there's something that's happening with the Red Sox on
the Devers. Remember he started the year really slow. In
his first twenty five at bats, he had like twenty
punch outs and it takes him a little bit to go.
He's also a streaky hitter, but he's a guy that's
been his whole career basically from Dominica Republic to fur
(29:04):
Myers to Boston. Now he goes all the way west,
so he's going from east to West adjustment Number one,
He's going from American League eest that he spent his
whole career in to nationally West, and instead of being
hot and in Boston in the summer, is a little
bit cooler San Francisco.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
So there's a lot of adjustments you get used to.
The ballpark is going to take him a minute.
Speaker 12 (29:23):
I think he's going to hit, but hopefully this could
be a win win for both of them. But right now, Colin,
you're right, it's more mental than anything else when you
think about an adjustment.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So you know, the Dodgers have done this over the
last several years. They have like a June or July.
They I don't know if it's distracted. They often it
feels like they're setting up their pitching for August and September.
And they've had a ton of injuries. In fact, part
of their payroll the advantages they've gone out and acquired
guy guys on the mound with some pitching injuries that
(29:54):
they don't need the volume in the regular season they're
looking for, you know, in the postseason. So some of
what they're going through I think is fairly predictable. Two
and seven in their last nine go to the most
talented team you ever played for. Did you ever have
a two and seven streak? What are the players talking about?
Because you have all stars everywhere?
Speaker 12 (30:14):
Yeah, I mean, the Dodgers are such an anomaly and
they're such a unicorn. They're really the best run franchise
in the sport today. Two thousand and nine we won
the title the New York Yankees when we beat the Phillies.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
We got off to a horrific start that year.
Speaker 12 (30:29):
In April we were actually in last place and then
somewhere around I came back from a hip surgery, somewhere
in early May and Colin we probably played seven hundred baseball,
not seven to fifty.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
We were almost unbeatable, but we were really bad in April.
Speaker 12 (30:45):
The Dodgers play a different game, right. They have more
resources than everybody, They have more talent. They're Amazon, they're Google,
their Apple, They're there top of their game, and they're
signing as many people as possible, leaning on their resources,
and they're making a bet, whether that's sotanic anybody as
they ramp them up, or they're hoping that of the
twenty five pictures they have that eight or nine good
(31:06):
pitchers are healthy October first, and that's really the only
thing they're playing for.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Uh, you know, I I think Rob Manfred deserves credit.
I said this earlier. When I was a kid growing up,
baseball had wild personalities. Pete Rose and Mark Fidrich and
Al Raboski and Mickey Rivers. I mean there was just
there were It was wild. There was just all sorts
of personalities, and then they went through a period some
(31:31):
of it you dealt with where there's a way to
play the game. It got a little precious, a little
beholden the history. It's like, guys, the reason we all
love Ken Griffy.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
The hats on backwards, it's fun, and I think baseball
is doing that again. One of the I've been very
pro Rob Manfred. I didn't initially like the idea of
the ABS system. I'm like, okay, I can barely tolerate
NFL replay.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I just like, keep the game movie. But then I've.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Watched it and it's pretty quick, so I'm kind of
like begrudgingly moving toward Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
How do you land on it? If you talk to
players about it?
Speaker 6 (32:13):
Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 12 (32:14):
I'm a big Rob man for fan, and I think
he deserves a lot of credit little single handily. I mean,
with the changes he's made the last two or three
years to really save our game. He probably belongs in Cooperstown.
But the reason why I like this colin technology has
made the game better. Anytime you make players and umpires
more accountable, it's a great thing. Going back ten years
(32:36):
that strike you see right there on the screen, eighty
three percent of the time, the umpires will getting it
right ten years ago. Today that numbers balloon to ninety
seven percent. So is a much better quality, much better game,
much better accuracy. All those things are good. Now the
application of it, we have to go see how it works.
I know he's been They've been doing it in the
minor leagues. I am really looking forward to tonight to
(32:59):
see how that plays out because I'm a little bit
on the fence, but I'm more pro because I think
Rob Manford deserves some credit. He's built some equity here
of the last three or four years with his changes,
and I think the game has a guess the curse
of being so married to their history. I think some
of the other leagues have really pushed the envelope and look,
I'll give you one example, because this one bothers me.
(33:19):
I love the kid from Milwaukee being there as we
started this conversation.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
He's only had five stars fined.
Speaker 12 (33:25):
But if this is a game of stars and entertainment
and you have partners like Fox, Juan Soda needs to
be in Atlanta because there's no one I'd rather have
on the set.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
And you can't tell.
Speaker 12 (33:35):
Me there's sixty players or sixty stories more compelling than
Juan Soda, who's had a phenomena June.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
He was a player of the Month back in the day.
I watched Larry burdon Magic.
Speaker 12 (33:45):
I could care less if they had a bad first
half or an average progession. I want to see Burd
and Magic in the All Star Game every year a year,
and then you're out.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, you and I agree.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Finally, having been in Major League Baseball, a former number
one pick Texas, it's the Yankees, it's a broadcaster, it's
the Mariners. Now you're a co owner of an NBA team,
the cultures are totally different. Whereas the NFL is all
about the shield, baseball is all about the ten year contract,
the NBA is kind of all about the superstar just
(34:17):
tell me, having watched the NBA now a co owner,
is there anything that surprised you about it? Is there
anything as somebody that knows sports about as well as
anybody I know as a former player, that is the
cultures different, more fun, more interesting, captivating.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Where are you with that?
Speaker 6 (34:33):
Well, the history's much different, Comlin, It's been.
Speaker 12 (34:36):
I've been part of Major League Baseball now for over
thirty years, and I've had some highs and I've had
some lows, but I've learned a lot of lessons along
the way. What's interesting about the biggest difference is that,
you know, we had Marvin Miller as a players union,
then we had Don fear as Ahead, then we had
Michael Wiener, how we have Tony Clark. You know, from
(34:56):
the minute you come into the big leagues, enemy has
been owners. Players and owners have really had a really long,
tough relationship. Where in the NBA owners love love the players.
The players have a really good relationshp with the owners.
And that's been the biggest difference that I've seen firsthand.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, Alex Rodriguez Fox, major League Baseball analyst. Tonight the
All Star Game in Atlanta. Great seniors always appreciate you
giving us some time.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
You got it, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
His point on Juan Soto is my on on on
miss to some degree, which is it's an All Star game,
and if you're going to be flexible, this is the
time to be flexible. People want to see stars. Story
on Caitlin Clark, is the w NBA coming around, Nick
Saban back to college football. We'll address those and more. Next,
(35:46):
it's The Hurt.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Neon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Tonight, it's the Midsummer Classic.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
As judge of show Hey and Baseball's the Biggest Stars
head to Atlanta for the MLB All Star Game. Coverage
begins at seven Eastern, fourth Pacific only on Fox.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
So.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
In a stunning development, w NBA players are acknowledging Caitlin
Clark's really good. I saw this week that the coach
of Yukon gino Oriema acknowledging Yeah, I missed on that
he lets Ukon bias get in the way of it.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
But I saw a poll.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
WNBA players were pulled on who's going to be the
face of the league in five years, and in a
runaway vote, it was Caitlin Clark with about fifty five
percent of the vote. Juju Watkins and Pagebackers, really really
good young players. Dynamic players were second and third. And
I do think this is fair to say for any
employee base in any industry, in any company, for the
(36:55):
employees to go from ignored to widely discussed and criticized
is really difficult. It was a tsunami of attention. The league,
the commissioner wasn't ready for it. The arenas, the ticket salesman,
they weren't ready for it. So you went from in
(37:15):
the shadows to in the spotlight, and it was a microscope.
It's almost like I remember when I was a young broadcaster.
I moved to Vegas and Mike Tyson came out, and
a legendary old trainer said, you can't prepare for a
Mike Tyson left hook. It doesn't matter who your sparring
partners are, it doesn't matter how many fights you've had
at twenty four years old. If Tyson delivers a left hook,
(37:37):
you're not ready for it. And I don't think I
mean I Taylor Swift had been in music several years
before the Eras tour, but I think that even caught
people a little off guard where it sold out Sofi
Stadium seven straight nights. And I just don't think the
league was ready for Caitlin Clark, and so I said, listen,
(37:59):
I'm gonna give the league should be ready. You knew
her sophomore year at Michigan she's dropping forty plus, or
sophomore year at Iowa, she's dropping forty plus against Michigan.
If you go read Christine Brennan's book, there were a
lot of signs she was going to be a superstar
in the league and sell a lot of tickets and
shoes and merchandise. So I'm gonna be punitive on the league.
(38:19):
But the players, I get six to nine months to
kind of get your arms around it. So it's like
my kids when they went to college. Freshman year, you're
gonna have fun, sophomore year, hit the books, grow up,
and I kind of feel like the players, now, this
poll is encouraging, it's you know, it's progress, and I
do think it was hard. I mean, there's nobody's quite ready.
(38:42):
Like everybody knew. I remember when everybody was talking about
Tiger Woods when he was winning the juniors and I
was in Oregon, and people at Nike were saying, this kid, man,
this kid is really good. I don't think anybody thought
he was going to literally change course design because he
was so long off the tee and dominant. I mean
(39:03):
he was ahead of golf equipment. Golf equipment over the
last five to ten years. Even hacks like me can
hit the ball a little bit. I mean he was
a mile ahead of golf equipment. He was ahead of
the sport, and we all knew he was great. I
don't think anybody could have predicted Lebron James would rival
Michael Jordan is the best player ever.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Nobody really thought that.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
There were people that thought you should have drafted Carmelo
Anthony over and I think, Caitlin Clark, what do you do?
How do you prepare? I think the league should have
been more prepared. But I will mostly defend players in
that first nine months of kind of like.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Being juvenile and not getting it. Now.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
I think they have to grow up now and get
their feet beneath them. But this is an encouraging sign
that they're acknowledging. Yeah, she's the face of the league.
And also there are members of the media that're going
to pick and choose isolated insulent incidents and kind of
stoke the fire of what's happening in the league. But
I think the fairest criticism the w n B A
is to the commissioner and the league really not getting
(40:04):
it when she broke into the league and they had
her playing like the most road games and the worst
hardest schedule of any w NBA team in the first month.
That's just not having enough foresight. But this is encouraging jmack.
Here's the by the way, her head coach Stephanie White
on Caitlin going up against Paige Becker's last weekend.
Speaker 13 (40:25):
I mean, everybody wants to see star players. You think
about when who who's who tunes in to watch Lebron
and Steph Right, it's it's those kinds of matchups, And
I think, to watch these guys for the first time,
you going against each other and then their w NBA careers,
is going to be special. In my day, it's watching
you know, Chryl Swoops and Lisa Leslie, you know, and
(40:45):
in their day it's it's watching Kaitlyn and Page.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Do you realize J Mack, I was thinking about this
when I was flying back By next Monday and Tuesday,
camps will be open in the NFL. We're getting really,
really close. I was thinking, I was watching some shows
and watching some stuff and reading a lot flying back,
and I'm thinking, Okay, the silly season's almost over.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The let's make up big stories.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Lebron's getting traded, Nick Saban's coming back to college football,
all the nonsense. I'll address that top of next hour.
But yeah, I mean, I think we're at point now
this time next week, camps are open.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
We're ready to roll. Baby.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Obviously, you're going to meet me in Vegas in August,
right to lay down some futures bets for the upcoming season.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Right, I got six new playoff teams. I'm ready for it.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Six Yeah, I got six hour two on a Tuesday
next
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sportsradio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Here we go.
(00:21):
It is a Tuesday. It is great to be here again.
A little cesta, a little sabbatical. Jmax filling in more
than capably and appreciate that we are ready to go.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The All Star Game is tonight. We have Cal Rawley.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I grew up a Mariners fan. I wanted to be
the voice of the Mariners. At some point the organization
did not agree, so I ended up doing this. A
Rod joins us as well tonight. So it's All Star
Game night, home run derby NBA stuff. NFL camps are
getting quick to open very soon.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Around the corner. Jmat, good to be back, Good to
see you.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, great to have you back, big fellow excited for today.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
All right, So here's a story that's been simmering and
sort of hovering, like those like those upas those UFOs.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Over New Jersey were.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Remember that for about a three week trial, kind of
hovering over what are they?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's what I feel.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
The Lebron trade rumors are like nobody's quite sure what
they are, what they mean, they're out there. I think
maybe it's a plane. I don't buy them. I do
not buy the Lebron trade rumors. Here's why. The best
contract you can have in professional basketball is a superstar
in his prime. Sga, Jokisch, Luca. Those are the guys
(01:36):
that win in May and June. Rookie contracts are nice.
Best contract, superstar in his prime. Sga wins a title,
Yokich wins the title. The second best contract to me
is a highly productive player with a lot of seasoning
who is still good, probably out of his prime, and
(01:57):
he has an expiring contract.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And that's Lebron. This is it.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
They can play with it. Leverage to the Lakers. They
can move him with the trade deadline. They could move
him now I wouldn't, So why would you get rid
of that? I mean, he was twenty four eight and
eight last year. He was All NBA Second Team. He
was sixth in MVP voting. That's the highest in years.
He's highly productive and he's capable of helping you in
a playoff series.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I'm not trading that away.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
And by the way, his agent Rich Paul has acknowledged publicly. Yeah,
Lebron knows it's Lucas team, So there's no real angst
with Lebron James. He knows it's Lucas team. They're going
to take care of him first, he'll get a new deal.
So I don't buy the trade talks. Also, you know
this is the time of the year, it's hey, how
do I fill my three hour show? How do I
(02:46):
fill my column? I don't buy it now. I do
believe they will transition out of this potentially if things
go south, But why now and why today? Remember the
Lakers got better. There's a lot of reasons to be hopeful.
I do not believe they are going to be as
good as Houston. I don't think they're Oklahoma City. I
(03:08):
don't think they were as good as Dallas. But JJ
Reddicks in year two, he'll be better. Browny's had a
good summer league. He may contribute. Luca's gonna be in
great shape, and they're better at center. I don't love
DeAndre Ayton. He's allergic to defense. Always sees himself as
a one. He's more of a three to a four,
and a championship level team. He'll probably be a three
or a four for the Lakers. We'll see. But that
(03:28):
team's not a very good defensive team. And to win
a championship, Oklahoma City just proved you can do it
with defense. So the Lakers are going to be very
interesting this upcoming season, and they're gonna be very good.
They're not gonna win a title. They're not going to
hoist a trophy. They're not gonna be great. Lebron's passed
his prime, Austin Reeves can be picked on defensively, DeAndre
(03:51):
Ayton's moody, never happy and doesn't defend, and Luca he'll
be in good shape. But but you know you're not
getting much defense there either. But in Kobe's last year,
they were uninteresting and won seventeen games. They were awful.
So this is not a bad place to be very
good and very interesting. So I don't buy the trade rumors.
(04:13):
Hosts have to fill space. I think at the trade deadline,
as Chris Brussard said yesterday, things could be interesting if
it goes south.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I think he starts the season with the Lakers Now,
if for some reason it goes terrible, would they try
to move him at the deadline, maybe get him to
a team with a chance to do something in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yeah, something like that. But I don't see it going terrible.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
They weren't playing good basketball, and that was on the fly, right,
That was when a roster.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Not built around Luca. It was on the fly.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Lebron had to all of a sudden adjust to be
in the second guy offensively, and they still played good basketball.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
So you would expect them to be better.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
They will be better. They won't be great, but they'll
be good and interesting. Why move off that now?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
All right?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Tonight's the All Star Game home run derby Champ from
the Mariners. Cal Rawley will be joining us one hour
from now, a rod bottom of the hour. So Baseball
made a decision which I totally agree with. Actually two
they're going to have. He's only had five appearances, He's
four and one, he's six seven. The kid throws absolute
heat from the Milwaukee Brewers Jacob Mizerowski, they call him
(05:26):
miss and they decided only five appearances, Hey, we're getting
him into the All Star Game. And the purists have grumbled,
but they always take themselves way too seriously. Baseball's also
going to use the ABS system in the All Star
Game tonight. They used it in spring training, it's being
used in the minor leagues, and they're going to experiment
(05:47):
with it.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
It's very quick.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
When I initially heard about it, I didn't like it,
but it actually is fast, succinct, not a huge replay fan.
I understand. In football, with only seventeen games, she got
to get it right. But they're gonna do both. Baseball strange.
So when I was a kid growing up, it had
all sorts of personality. Al Roboski, Mark Fiedrich, Pete Rose,
(06:10):
Mickey Rivers. It was all sorts of personality. Then it
went through this weird twenty year span where it took
itself way too seriously, way too rigid, way too beholden.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
The writers, broadcasters.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Everybody took it so seriously and the sport got really dull,
and you heard about unwritten rules, and there was a
way to play the game, those two unwritten rules. Rob
Manfred is unwriting the unwritten rules. He's getting rid of them.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
He's going to.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Experiment with a kid tonight the ABS system, and I'm
sure purists don't like it, but he's called a phenom.
You know what gets me to a television A phenom
not statistically superior player for the Phillies. Phenom gets me
to a television set. I don't care if it's a
phenom golf Caitlin Clark came into the league. Phenom gets
(07:03):
me to a TV set. I don't care if it's
a musical artist. The kid is six seven averages ninety
nine miles an hour on his fastball. He's probably gonna
go in middle innings, and I can't wait. Those unwritten
rules never made any sense, Like there are certain unwritten
rules in society we all understand, like when you go
to the bathroom, wash your hands before you come out,
(07:23):
or if you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth. But
you can't bunt to break up a no hitter.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
My job has not put you in the record books.
My job is to not elevate your legacy. It's a
two nothing game, three nothing game. You lead, guy in
front of me walk steal second. I'm bunning to get
him on eighth inning. I don't care. That's a you problem.
Remember the other one in baseball. You can't steal a
base leading big. I mean, I guess if it's fourteen
(07:53):
nothing or you can't stare at a home run, why
not you couldn't get me out? Throw be more wicked,
get the splitty over what evs? Rob Manfred's like, no,
let's have fun. It's baseball. This is called an All
Star game. And this kid's a star, he's a phenom.
(08:14):
He gets us to a television. Baseball got into real
trouble when it got really precious and really beholden to history. Guys,
we used to memorize baseball cards. That's what we did
at seventeen. Kids don't collect them. They don't collect them.
They don't run to the drug store in your local
town to get that piece of gum and you know
(08:37):
that baseball card.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It's all over.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I mean even the industry of trading baseball cards, with
few exceptions, nobody cares anymore. So I love what they're doing.
Rob Manfred said, speed the game up. Every swing he's
taken has worked everyone. You don't have to love them.
All Star game, not all stats, not all superior production.
(09:01):
For a guy that's not getting us to a TV.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I love it. I think it's great. And here's Dave Roberts.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
The All Star Game should be the best the game's
best players. It's about the fans and what the fans
want to see. So for this young kid to be
named All Star, I couldn't be more excited for him.
He is thrilled to be here. I'm gonna get him
in there probably the fifth of the sixth inning, something
like that, the seventh, and it's going to be electric.
(09:30):
So the fans, the media, you're gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Tonight.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Is a celebration. It's not determining home field advantage. Don't
be precious, don't be pious. Baseball did that for about
twenty years. They got really weird. And by the way,
the Savannah bananas right, like that thing is on fire right,
Why it's selling out? The fans are telling you, Yeah,
(09:55):
we go to the ballpark to have a beer with
friends and have fun. This kid is not in this
All Star Game tonight. If they don't put mis in,
what's getting me there? It matters six seven throws heat
I want to watch all right. J mac nick Saban
rumored to be headed back another roomor I don't buy
(10:16):
the college football will address that. The NFL execs came
out with a quarterback list yesterday that I absolutely loved.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
That probably drove you crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Of course you love it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Of course no Rock Perty in the top ten, of
course you love it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I gotta look at eleven through fifteen. I didn't see
him there either, but whatever, I don't want to rub
it in this morning.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Oh boy, oh he robbing grenades early, okay.
Speaker 8 (10:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Eastern n a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio Appy.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's me Rock Parker.
Speaker 9 (10:51):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the
biggest name the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the Ie test, We've got all the
bases covered. New episodes dropped every Thursday, So do yourself
a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob
(11:13):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
All right, welcome back, Alex Rodriguez joining us in about
ten minutes. All Star Game tonight on Fox.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So you know I'll be honest. I golfed a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I hung out, biked, walked, hung out with the dogs,
did not read a lot or watch a lot of
sports some but one of the things that jumped out
to me over the last ten to eleven days was
that NFL executives, coaches and scouts, many of them through
the years have been very helpful to me and learning
(11:52):
this game and sourcing this game, released their top ten
quarterback So this is the people that draft them, the
people that coach them, the people that select them, the
people that scout them.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And it went in this order.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Mahomes, Allen Burrow, Lamar, Jayden Daniels, Matt Stafford, Justin, Herbert Goff,
Jalen Hurds, Baker Mayfield, and I almost reached out to Jmack,
but I didn't want to get him all riled up.
That's about as close to my list as you can get. Now,
believe it or not, you're probably saying, well, what about
Baker Mayfield. Well, after a second good year in Tampa,
he's closer to ten than fifteen. I probably go CJ.
(12:29):
Stroud at ten because his size and accuracy.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But he didn't have a great year.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
A lot of that was his receivers all got hurt,
his left tackle didn't play well. But none of this
bothers me.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Now. The reaction on Jalen Hurtz.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Who you know, wins the Super Bowl being nine, was
predictable by his coach, Nick Seriani that said, you know,
this is a bunch of nonsense. I can't believe it,
and that's what a coach should do. But here are
three undeniable truths. Take a deep breath. According to PFF,
the Eagles offense was top ten in everything pass blocking,
run blocking, rushing, receiving, yet they were twenty first and
(13:09):
actually passing.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Jalen Hurts is responsible for that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Oh. By the way, eleven of us thirty two total
touchdowns came on rushes of one or fewer yards. Take
out the tush push. He had the same number of
touchdowns as Bryce Young and number three. After a week
five by and a philosophical reset by the OC, they
passed the ball less than any team in the NFL
at twenty four times a game. So you know, if
(13:35):
your company, you know, goes to one of those off
site weekend retreats and has a philosophical reset and they
come back and they decide, listen, employee, we're going to
use you less and they're more successful. That seems to
be a pretty striking correlation. So bottom line, the organization
(13:58):
literally had a philosophical Brady and Tampa and Bruce Arians
had this. Remember like late in the season, they never lost.
After that, they had a reset and Tom was going
to take more control of the offense than Bruce Arians.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
They didn't lose.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Again, They beat Atlanta a couple times, they won all
their playoff games, and Tom hoisted another trophy. So the
Eagles basically they had one of those philosophical resets, and
what they decided was, this offense is great as long
as we passed the ball fewer times.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
That's a correlation.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Now, I don't have a problem putting in Jalen Hurts
to my top ten. I think he has great moments,
great character, great leadership, great power. I think pound for pound,
he's the strongest player in the NFL, certainly strongest quarterback.
I like him a lot, but I don't think any
GM sees him as an elite passer. I don't think
any GM saw Lamar Jackson initially as an elite passer,
(14:50):
but he has really developed. I still think Jalen Hurts
on third and seven from the pocket. I don't have
great vibes all the time. I really don't, but I
I do think he has great moments character and leadership
and toughness and durability. Here here's Matt Hasselbeck on the
show yesterday saying he's undervalued by the league.
Speaker 10 (15:11):
I think he's definitely in that six to ten, but
you could make the argument that he should be at
number six. And I think why I say that, You know,
people don't give him enough credit for the quarterback sneak,
Like they just don't like they think, like, oh, it's
just a quarterback sneak. It doesn't count as just like
a free play. We should make it illegal. That is
a real weapon that he uses. And like so like
(15:32):
sometimes it's maybe easy to gloss over some of some
of the other stuff because he's not you know, he's
staying in the pocket. He's not bolting. A lot of
young quarterbacks just bolt outside the pocket. He stays in
the pocket, he doesn't flinch.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You're not gonna get a ton of credit for a
quarterback sneak, like he's the best at it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
But it's like giving.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
A baseball hitter a lot of credit because he's the
league's best bunter.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
That's not getting into the hof. You got to do
more than that each year.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Rod could do that, but he had a great arm,
hit for power and was uniquely gifted. He could also
bunts if you wanted him to. That's not really the point.
And so my thing what Jalen Hurts is he is
viewed fairly. And in my career doing this, I have
found that athletes after they've been in a professional sport
for five years are all fairly judged. By the time
(16:22):
you've been in it ten years, and Hurts isn't there yet.
Everybody knows your brand very early in Aaron Rodgers' career,
super talented, a little aloof can be prickly, great talent.
Is he a great leader? I think that's fair. It's
not a criticism, it's what he is. Even at a
golf tournament. Oh prickly Aaron and Aaron that's okay. But
(16:45):
the idea that after all these years in Philly, you know,
people just don't understand what he is.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think we all know what he is.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Great kid, great leader, great talent, strong as strong gets
for that position. But he's not a top five guy,
all right, J Mack. He's got the news.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
No, no, this is the herdline news.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Oh good to have you back, Cowhard.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Let's start with the Golden State Warriors, Colin. They've been
very quiet this offseason, like literally nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
They haven't done anything.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
They've been linked to al Orford, linked to another guard.
But despite the lack of moves, Steph Curry talked this
weekend about how confident he is in the team's ability
to build a contender.
Speaker 11 (17:30):
The narrative alzheimers, since I might not always be the same,
so right, like I said, we have, we talked, we
have communication, like I know what's going on, and to
the point, I have a lot of confidence and our
ability to put together a winning team next year.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
That's all.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
That's all I want.
Speaker 11 (17:46):
Every year it presents new challenges and you got to
solve that puzzle. We did a really good job of
it towards you know they ended last year. Got to
roll it back and everybody has to be their best
sellers in every role throughout the organization.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
How about this Cowherd.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
They we have the same odds to win the NBA
title plus twenty five hundred as the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
That's reasonable, that's really good. Wells Steph Kurry, Tommy Butler.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, well because of the West. If you put the
Atlanta Hawks in the West with Golden State, they'd have
lower odds. I think a lot of that is just
the Western Conference. So I you know, it's the difference
between the SEC and the Big twelve. Like what are
your odds to get, you know, to get to a
major Bowl. It's just harder in the SEC or the
Big ten these days. So I think Butler and Draymond
(18:32):
and Curry make you viable, they make you interesting, but
they're gonna trade Kaminga. Like I always say, if you
can't play with Steph Curry and Lebron, you've got a
hole in your game, Like like and Kaminga. I mean,
like Lebron. Everybody can play with Lebron. I mean, I
mean seriously, when Dalton connects on the floor with Lebron,
he's pretty good. Dalton connect without Lebron, You're like, he's
(18:52):
not a first round pick. So like, if you can't
play with Curry, I just don't see as a via future.
So are they going to move him at the deadline?
He can be I think he's a guy that you
could put on a bad team and he could give
you twenty one a night. He's long, he runs the
cur We saw we saw him play without Curry late
in the year. It was actually pretty interesting player.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
Yeah, no, it's gonna be itsy.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I don't know that anybody wants to pay him, Like
are you paying Jonathan kaminga Colin? If you watch it
he could not work with Steve curR and Steph Curry.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Well no, again, I think not every player can play
with Lebron James and Steph Curry. Like not every player can,
and the guys that can't are not going to play
for the Lakers or Golden State. But I do think
he has value somewhere in the league at twenty two
a game. I mean, you do see him flourish without
Curry in that Steph ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
You see him flourish well with Curry.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Though, this is a contender in the West, a fringe contender.
If he goes down for any stretch, they're dead. And
what they got dat nothing behind Curry. One of the
oldest teams in the league. Next up on TJ Watt.
We've been talking about him for about a month now.
Colin the Steelers pass rusher. He wants a new deal
and he's holding out with Pittsburgh.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
Well, trading camp is.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Rapidly approaching, and reports are emerging Pittsburgh is inquiring about
Watt's potential trade value, although they don't want to actually
trade him. This is a tough spot because he's a
fan favorite. He's clearly their number one jersey seller, but
he hasn't translated the postseason wins. He's getting up there
in age. Do you get off of him before he
(20:24):
gets old? And you know is a bad contract?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Listen, I think this.
Speaker 8 (20:28):
Is a right.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
When I suggested a year ago they should explore trading him.
What was the reaction when I suggested it a year ago?
It was outrage. I can't believe it. The Steelers are
doing it, folks. It's easy to sit there as a
troll and react to stuff that happens, but actually the
truth is in sports, what's fascinating is when you can
(20:51):
see stuff before it happens.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And I said this a year ago.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
They're not paying big money yet and they are really
reluctant to move off a lot of these big contracts.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You have to explore it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
They've led the NFL and defensive spending for four years.
And they're not paying TJ want the big money yet,
so you could if you could get two second round picks,
you can two things are possible. You can love what
a guy's done for your organization, but thirty plus as
an edge rusher, want to get value for the move.
So I can see them getting another player and a
(21:24):
second round pick. But when I suggested this a year ago,
it was outrageous. This is what general managers do outside
of star quarterbacks and star left tackles. Almost everybody, including
a Jamar Chase. You take phone calls.
Speaker 8 (21:37):
On yeah, Colin.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
As a minority owner of a sports team, I can
tell you you always move off guys before it's too late.
And again we've talked about Giannest with the Bucks. You
better trade him now because that price is gonna go
down come the All Star Break, and it's gonna go
down next year.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
And for TJ.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Watt, if they had traded him last summer, I think
you probably could have got it first and a third,
a first and.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
A fourth maybe yep. Now you've got to pay him
a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
He wants to be one of the highest paid guys.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You can't give up this.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
I don't know you get two two's Colin.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I don't think there are thirty players in the NFL.
You take a phone call on everybody. You don't take
it on Burrow. You know, there's the top seven eight
quarterbacks you don't take the phone call on, and the
top six or seven left tackles you don't. There's just
not many left tackles. But even a star wide receiver,
I mean Devonte Adams was not that far removed from
(22:30):
his prime. He was moving to the Raiders, he's moving
to the Jets, he's moving to the Rams. I mean,
there's there's maybe thirty guys in the NFL tops that
a GM just is not going to take a phone
call for.
Speaker 8 (22:40):
Even Miles Garrett. By the way, with the Brown.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Now, I wouldn't take a phone call on Miles Garrett.
I wouldn't. I think he's the best pass rusher.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Okay, so great, You've got a Limborghini and you live
in a shack with like no garage roofs. Like that's
what the Browns are. They're draft picks. They're getting arrested
in trouble with the law. They have no quarterback, They're
going nowhere. Why are are you paying Lyles Garrett. I
would have just got whatever I could and start.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Over well, because he's by far and away your best player,
and I think it ruins a locker room if you don't.
If you draft a guy and then don't reward him,
what is the signal that's a bad And I think
he's so much better than I think Jared Verse by
the end of this coming season will look at him
as possibly the second best pass rusher. I think he's
that good. Michael Garrett Garrett is in another class.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
And Michael Parsons is still pretty we'll see final story
column to my Jets. Been a quiet offseason, but they
just locked up Garrett Wilson four years, one hundred and
thirty million dollar extension. Again, some of that's funny money
ninety mil guaranteed is not. With the new deal, Wilson
slots in as the fifth highest paid wide receiver per year,
(23:47):
and he's had a really good.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Start to his career with no good quarterbacks. I don't
know that he's.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Going to make justin fields that much better, but he's
a great player.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
His numbers so far have been incredible. I don't think
this is a bad deal at all. No, I don't
think it's an overpay, and if you look at the
average per year, I like the Garrett Wilson deal more
than DK Metcalf, who's got a lot of treader and
his tires and is a bit of a locker room issue.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
The Jets have five or six really elite players.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
He's one of them. Pay him.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I have no problem with this. I don't none. And
by the way, Justin Fields, you don't want him having
a moody wide receiver. Something you got to pay a guy,
get it done. Garrett's happy. So if his numbers go down,
let's say, Justin Fields isn't the answer. Garrett's not moody.
Garrett got his He'll be good in the locker room.
(24:36):
You need him actually to be a leader right now
because the Jets have a new quarterback and a new
coach and a new quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
So I'm good with it. Jmck of a news, Well.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
That's the news, and thanks for stopping back the herd
line News.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
A fourteen time All Star, a three time MVP twenty
two years, an icon absolutely beginning to end. Alex Rodriguez
at the All Star Game is now joining us live. Okay,
so you made your All Star debut. You were twenty
years old. I read you know, you obviously would not
remember this. I remember being in the Mariner locker room
years and years and years ago, and you were, you know,
(25:10):
you talk of the team, and I was.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Like, he's like fourteen years old. Look at that kid.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
He's a kid. So you go, let's talk about miss so.
I have no problem putting him in the All Star Game.
He's a phenom. Let's not get precious. I want to
see a phenom. The kid six seven throws heat. I'm
for it. I am all for it. Go back to
you being an All Star at twenty were you overwhelmed
by it?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (25:33):
My god, Colin and hello, I was so overwhelmed that
when I when I saw Kyle Ridkin for the first time,
my childhood hero. You know, he was like he was
like a statue. He was tall, he had like little
gray hair, he had these blue eyes, and I was like,
oh my god, that's my hero and I'm his teammate.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
And that was the neatest part.
Speaker 12 (25:54):
It was in the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and
it was it was quite fun.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, all Star games are interesting. You're facing the best
of the best. A lot of it is where are
the shadows? Who do you face your second at bat?
Your mindset there is there's not a time you're almost
like on Broadway. You're kind of performing like it's a
really different environment. Go go to your bats? Is the
all like like you face some like peer pressure, but
(26:22):
you don't face outcome pressure. Did you like All Star Games?
Speaker 6 (26:26):
I love them?
Speaker 12 (26:27):
And look, this was a celebration of all your hard work,
dedication one thing has made to the major leagues. But
to be one of sixty or sixty five guys that
are the best players in the world, in the best
league in the world, it was a treat and it
was an honor. I remember coming in two thousand, we
were playing right here in Atlanta for the All Star Game.
I had hurt my knee and I didn't make it,
(26:49):
and Derek went in my to replace me and he
won the MVP.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
But I remember stating at home so bummed and sad
that I couldn't be at the All Star Game.
Speaker 12 (26:59):
Look, if you don't in the World Series, that's the
most exposure you're going to get, and you're showing off
for the national fans, for the global front fans, and
also for the community of baseball, but especially your colleagues
and the other seven hundred and forty nine players.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
So there's a lot of interesting stories about this season.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
One of the ones that's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I've always said it's hard to go into prolonged slumps.
With hockey and basketball. The game, the game moves too quickly.
You don't have time to overthink a misshot. You get
another shot in fourteen seconds. But in baseball and golf,
you got a lot of downtime to think about that
seven iron that went sideways, or your you know that
that at bat where you got fooled. And so Raffie
(27:40):
Devers goes from the Red Sox they suddenly they're on fire.
He goes to San Francisco. He is punching out like
he is struggling. And I think a lot of it
is when you when you're called like, oh he's the savior,
he is what I think it's in his head. Take
me to that because you had a one slump in
(28:01):
your career. I remember in the playoffs, not many, but some.
I think this get in San Francisco's I think it's
upstairs with him.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
What do you see, Well.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
First, it suggress Boston.
Speaker 12 (28:12):
Sometimes when you clear what's perceived as a stressful situation
and you clear the Big Brother, then it puts the
owners and responsibilities on the other twenty five guys in
that locker room, and everyone says, all right, there's a
sigh of relief.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
We've cleared the deck. Now is on us. Big Brother's gone.
Speaker 12 (28:28):
So I mean, I remember when Griffy left, We went
on the next year to the playoffs, when we brought
in Mike Cameron and Freddie Garcia and Seattle.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
You remember those years, and then I left and they
got even better. Right, So it's not normal.
Speaker 12 (28:42):
But you have a Rod and Griffy leaving back to
back years and the team keeps getting better and better.
So there's something that's happening with the Red Sox on
the Devers. Remember he started the year really slow. In
his first twenty five at bats, he had like twenty
punch outs and it takes him a little bit to go.
He's also a streaky hitter, but he's a guy that's
been his whole career basically from Dominica Republic to fur
(29:04):
Myers to Boston. Now he goes all the way west,
so he's going from east to West adjustment Number one,
He's going from American League eest that he spent his
whole career in to nationally West, and instead of being
hot and in Boston in the summer, is a little
bit cooler San Francisco.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
So there's a lot of adjustments you get used to.
The ballpark is going to take him a minute.
Speaker 12 (29:23):
I think he's going to hit, but hopefully this could
be a win win for both of them. But right now, Colin,
you're right, it's more mental than anything else when you
think about an adjustment.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So you know, the Dodgers have done this over the
last several years. They have like a June or July.
They I don't know if it's distracted. They often it
feels like they're setting up their pitching for August and September.
And they've had a ton of injuries. In fact, part
of their payroll the advantages they've gone out and acquired
guy guys on the mound with some pitching injuries that
(29:54):
they don't need the volume in the regular season they're
looking for, you know, in the postseason. So some of
what they're going through I think is fairly predictable. Two
and seven in their last nine go to the most
talented team you ever played for. Did you ever have
a two and seven streak? What are the players talking about?
Because you have all stars everywhere?
Speaker 12 (30:14):
Yeah, I mean, the Dodgers are such an anomaly and
they're such a unicorn. They're really the best run franchise
in the sport today. Two thousand and nine we won
the title the New York Yankees when we beat the Phillies.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
We got off to a horrific start that year.
Speaker 12 (30:29):
In April we were actually in last place and then
somewhere around I came back from a hip surgery, somewhere
in early May and Colin we probably played seven hundred baseball,
not seven to fifty.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
We were almost unbeatable, but we were really bad in April.
Speaker 12 (30:45):
The Dodgers play a different game, right. They have more
resources than everybody, They have more talent. They're Amazon, they're Google,
their Apple, They're there top of their game, and they're
signing as many people as possible, leaning on their resources,
and they're making a bet, whether that's sotanic anybody as
they ramp them up, or they're hoping that of the
twenty five pictures they have that eight or nine good
(31:06):
pitchers are healthy October first, and that's really the only
thing they're playing for.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Uh, you know, I I think Rob Manfred deserves credit.
I said this earlier. When I was a kid growing up,
baseball had wild personalities. Pete Rose and Mark Fidrich and
Al Raboski and Mickey Rivers. I mean there was just
there were It was wild. There was just all sorts
of personalities, and then they went through a period some
(31:31):
of it you dealt with where there's a way to
play the game. It got a little precious, a little
beholden the history. It's like, guys, the reason we all
love Ken Griffy.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
The hats on backwards, it's fun, and I think baseball
is doing that again. One of the I've been very
pro Rob Manfred. I didn't initially like the idea of
the ABS system. I'm like, okay, I can barely tolerate
NFL replay.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I just like, keep the game movie. But then I've.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Watched it and it's pretty quick, so I'm kind of
like begrudgingly moving toward Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
How do you land on it? If you talk to
players about it?
Speaker 6 (32:13):
Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 12 (32:14):
I'm a big Rob man for fan, and I think
he deserves a lot of credit little single handily. I mean,
with the changes he's made the last two or three
years to really save our game. He probably belongs in Cooperstown.
But the reason why I like this colin technology has
made the game better. Anytime you make players and umpires
more accountable, it's a great thing. Going back ten years
(32:36):
that strike you see right there on the screen, eighty
three percent of the time, the umpires will getting it
right ten years ago. Today that numbers balloon to ninety
seven percent. So is a much better quality, much better game,
much better accuracy. All those things are good. Now the
application of it, we have to go see how it works.
I know he's been They've been doing it in the
minor leagues. I am really looking forward to tonight to
(32:59):
see how that plays out because I'm a little bit
on the fence, but I'm more pro because I think
Rob Manford deserves some credit. He's built some equity here
of the last three or four years with his changes,
and I think the game has a guess the curse
of being so married to their history. I think some
of the other leagues have really pushed the envelope and look,
I'll give you one example, because this one bothers me.
(33:19):
I love the kid from Milwaukee being there as we
started this conversation.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
He's only had five stars fined.
Speaker 12 (33:25):
But if this is a game of stars and entertainment
and you have partners like Fox, Juan Soda needs to
be in Atlanta because there's no one I'd rather have
on the set.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
And you can't tell.
Speaker 12 (33:35):
Me there's sixty players or sixty stories more compelling than
Juan Soda, who's had a phenomena June.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
He was a player of the Month back in the day.
I watched Larry burdon Magic.
Speaker 12 (33:45):
I could care less if they had a bad first
half or an average progession. I want to see Burd
and Magic in the All Star Game every year a year,
and then you're out.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, you and I agree.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Finally, having been in Major League Baseball, a former number
one pick Texas, it's the Yankees, it's a broadcaster, it's
the Mariners. Now you're a co owner of an NBA team,
the cultures are totally different. Whereas the NFL is all
about the shield, baseball is all about the ten year contract,
the NBA is kind of all about the superstar just
(34:17):
tell me, having watched the NBA now a co owner,
is there anything that surprised you about it? Is there
anything as somebody that knows sports about as well as
anybody I know as a former player, that is the
cultures different, more fun, more interesting, captivating.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Where are you with that?
Speaker 6 (34:33):
Well, the history's much different, Comlin, It's been.
Speaker 12 (34:36):
I've been part of Major League Baseball now for over
thirty years, and I've had some highs and I've had
some lows, but I've learned a lot of lessons along
the way. What's interesting about the biggest difference is that,
you know, we had Marvin Miller as a players union,
then we had Don fear as Ahead, then we had
Michael Wiener, how we have Tony Clark. You know, from
(34:56):
the minute you come into the big leagues, enemy has
been owners. Players and owners have really had a really long,
tough relationship. Where in the NBA owners love love the players.
The players have a really good relationshp with the owners.
And that's been the biggest difference that I've seen firsthand.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, Alex Rodriguez Fox, major League Baseball analyst. Tonight the
All Star Game in Atlanta. Great seniors always appreciate you
giving us some time.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
You got it, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
His point on Juan Soto is my on on on
miss to some degree, which is it's an All Star game,
and if you're going to be flexible, this is the
time to be flexible. People want to see stars. Story
on Caitlin Clark, is the w NBA coming around, Nick
Saban back to college football. We'll address those and more. Next,
(35:46):
it's The Hurt.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Neon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Tonight, it's the Midsummer Classic.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
As judge of show Hey and Baseball's the Biggest Stars
head to Atlanta for the MLB All Star Game. Coverage
begins at seven Eastern, fourth Pacific only on Fox.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
So.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
In a stunning development, w NBA players are acknowledging Caitlin
Clark's really good. I saw this week that the coach
of Yukon gino Oriema acknowledging Yeah, I missed on that
he lets Ukon bias get in the way of it.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
But I saw a poll.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
WNBA players were pulled on who's going to be the
face of the league in five years, and in a
runaway vote, it was Caitlin Clark with about fifty five
percent of the vote. Juju Watkins and Pagebackers, really really
good young players. Dynamic players were second and third. And
I do think this is fair to say for any
employee base in any industry, in any company, for the
(36:55):
employees to go from ignored to widely discussed and criticized
is really difficult. It was a tsunami of attention. The league,
the commissioner wasn't ready for it. The arenas, the ticket salesman,
they weren't ready for it. So you went from in
(37:15):
the shadows to in the spotlight, and it was a microscope.
It's almost like I remember when I was a young broadcaster.
I moved to Vegas and Mike Tyson came out, and
a legendary old trainer said, you can't prepare for a
Mike Tyson left hook. It doesn't matter who your sparring
partners are, it doesn't matter how many fights you've had
at twenty four years old. If Tyson delivers a left hook,
(37:37):
you're not ready for it. And I don't think I
mean I Taylor Swift had been in music several years
before the Eras tour, but I think that even caught
people a little off guard where it sold out Sofi
Stadium seven straight nights. And I just don't think the
league was ready for Caitlin Clark, and so I said, listen,
(37:59):
I'm gonna give the league should be ready. You knew
her sophomore year at Michigan she's dropping forty plus, or
sophomore year at Iowa, she's dropping forty plus against Michigan.
If you go read Christine Brennan's book, there were a
lot of signs she was going to be a superstar
in the league and sell a lot of tickets and
shoes and merchandise. So I'm gonna be punitive on the league.
(38:19):
But the players, I get six to nine months to
kind of get your arms around it. So it's like
my kids when they went to college. Freshman year, you're
gonna have fun, sophomore year, hit the books, grow up,
and I kind of feel like the players, now, this
poll is encouraging, it's you know, it's progress, and I
do think it was hard. I mean, there's nobody's quite ready.
(38:42):
Like everybody knew. I remember when everybody was talking about
Tiger Woods when he was winning the juniors and I
was in Oregon, and people at Nike were saying, this kid, man,
this kid is really good. I don't think anybody thought
he was going to literally change course design because he
was so long off the tee and dominant. I mean
(39:03):
he was ahead of golf equipment. Golf equipment over the
last five to ten years. Even hacks like me can
hit the ball a little bit. I mean he was
a mile ahead of golf equipment. He was ahead of
the sport, and we all knew he was great. I
don't think anybody could have predicted Lebron James would rival
Michael Jordan is the best player ever.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Nobody really thought that.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
There were people that thought you should have drafted Carmelo
Anthony over and I think, Caitlin Clark, what do you do?
How do you prepare? I think the league should have
been more prepared. But I will mostly defend players in
that first nine months of kind of like.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Being juvenile and not getting it. Now.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
I think they have to grow up now and get
their feet beneath them. But this is an encouraging sign
that they're acknowledging. Yeah, she's the face of the league.
And also there are members of the media that're going
to pick and choose isolated insulent incidents and kind of
stoke the fire of what's happening in the league. But
I think the fairest criticism the w n B A
is to the commissioner and the league really not getting
(40:04):
it when she broke into the league and they had
her playing like the most road games and the worst
hardest schedule of any w NBA team in the first month.
That's just not having enough foresight. But this is encouraging jmack.
Here's the by the way, her head coach Stephanie White
on Caitlin going up against Paige Becker's last weekend.
Speaker 13 (40:25):
I mean, everybody wants to see star players. You think
about when who who's who tunes in to watch Lebron
and Steph Right, it's it's those kinds of matchups, And
I think, to watch these guys for the first time,
you going against each other and then their w NBA careers,
is going to be special. In my day, it's watching
you know, Chryl Swoops and Lisa Leslie, you know, and
(40:45):
in their day it's it's watching Kaitlyn and Page.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Do you realize J Mack, I was thinking about this
when I was flying back By next Monday and Tuesday,
camps will be open in the NFL. We're getting really,
really close. I was thinking, I was watching some shows
and watching some stuff and reading a lot flying back,
and I'm thinking, Okay, the silly season's almost over.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The let's make up big stories.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Lebron's getting traded, Nick Saban's coming back to college football,
all the nonsense. I'll address that top of next hour.
But yeah, I mean, I think we're at point now
this time next week, camps are open.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
We're ready to roll. Baby.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Obviously, you're going to meet me in Vegas in August,
right to lay down some futures bets for the upcoming season.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Right, I got six new playoff teams. I'm ready for it.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Six Yeah, I got six hour two on a Tuesday
next
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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