05/11/2021 - The Best of Outkick the Coverage

Clay Travis is joined by FOX’s Shannon Spake to talk about the return of normalcy with fan attendance, Aaron Rodgers’ mindset, Bob Baffert, DK Metcalf, and homefield advantage. Outkick 360's Chad Withrow joins the show to talk Braves' packed house, Vaccines, challenges of Mother's Day with younger kids, and home Covid advantage. Plus, Petros of AM 570 LA Sports is here to react to the Outkick archive from 3/24/20, when he scoffed at Clay's sports bubble idea. The fellas also discuss normalcy with sports crowds, weirdness at Staples Center, P's brother knocking out kids on the football field, Dodgers' lack of effort, and LeBron.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio, joined now by Shannon Spake NASCAR as well
as the NFL, and we have talked a decent amount
Shannon so far this week about how with Darlington's going
on in NASCAR and it looking pretty normal, uh in
your hometown or town that you live in now, I

(00:43):
should say Charlotte with Quel Hollow Rory McElroy winning, big
crowd there, the Atlanta Braves. Uh have a huge home
court home field advantage now and over seventy thousand people
the largest indoor boxing match crowd in United States history
going on down in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It feels

(01:03):
like we've sort of crossed the rubicon, so to speak.
A form of normalcy as it pertains to sports feels
like it's coming back. You buying in. Yeah. Absolutely, And
I think you know whether you're for vaccines or not
for a vaccine, but I do really think that that
has had a lot to do with it. You know
the fact that so many people have gone out and
been vaccinated. I really think that that's dropping everything was

(01:25):
when I'm not a doctor, right, but I know that
a lot of people are are going out and getting vaccinated.
And that's why I did right because I wanted to
be able to kind of move forward and do these
things without worrying about getting COVID. But I agree with
you on it was really interesting for us at Darling
tom this weekend, which, by the way, I'm out of
the gambling business for you because I've lost you money
two weeks in a row, so I am officially done.
I'm no longer making pick for you guys. M But

(01:48):
you know, we um we came back to uh sports,
to sports really because NASCAR was the first thing that
came back last year, and it was right around this time,
and it was May seven, Peth and it was at
Darlington and we were talking to Kevin Harvick who won
that race before the race this weekend, and he talked
about how it was like, I mean, he said, it

(02:09):
was like boot camp. Right he walked in. There was
no music over the intercom. You know, nobody was talking.
They had their back with them that they had to,
you know, roll onto pit road. They called drivers to
their cars, they got in their cars. He said during
the race he forgot, you know, because it's so loud
inside the cars and he was so involved in racing
and he gets out and there's no one there. There's
no energy, there's no any anyone screaming. And it was

(02:32):
such a different theme this weekend at Darlington's. Bravo Right, Bravo.
It's been a year of hell. I know a lot
of people are still going through it, but I absolutely
am so happy that we're moving in this positive direction.
How many days in a row do you think we'll
talk about Aaron Rodgers on this show if you were
seeking me over if you were setting the over runner,

(02:53):
because right now, I mean, think about it. We've got
a little bit of a lag before we have the
NBA and the NHL Playoffs starting. Major League Baseball. All
I understand a lot of people are Major League Baseball fans,
but we are only at like game thirty five out
of a hundred and sixty two. The NFL uh now
has had its draft. I know they've got the schedule
coming out on Wednesday. And by the way, you know,

(03:14):
the NFL is just the king of the sports universe
when the release of the order in which the games
are played, Channon, not the games, because we already know
every game that is going to be played, just the
order in which they will be played is a massive
schedule event on NFL Network. And I guarantee you on

(03:38):
Thursday when we come on this program, we're gonna be like, hey,
let's talk about the order in which the games are
gonna be played. What game are you most excited about.
I mean, they have us, you know, sort of like, uh,
we're we're we're sort of being held hostage. I feel
like like puppets that they can just dance around on
the strings and kind of take advantage of. Again, it's
not that if if we didn't know any of the games,

(04:00):
I'd be like, Okay, this is kind of a big deal.
All we find out on Wednesday is the order of
the games, and it's a primetime special and will probably
outrate everything else in the world of sports. I love
it because I I can't wait. Listen, we play this game.
We don't find out for for our crew and for
most of the crews in in um at NFL, and
when I was doing college sports at ESPN, the same thing.

(04:21):
You wouldn't find out where you were going until Sunday,
Monday sometime. And so you have you know, you're sitting
there looking at the schedule and going, where are we
gonna go? Where are we going to go? That's the
game I play all season long, and my entire crew
we pretend that we don't. We try to say that
we don't really care. We're gonna go where we're gonna go.
It's gonna be a good game, but we do. And
so I can't wait to start playing that game as
soon as this week. I was talking to my producer,

(04:44):
my NFL producer, and he's like, it's Christmas morning and
in my house when when that schedule comes out. So
I can't believe it. As far as the Aaron Rodgers
saying you're gonna leave, Like, do you think he's gonna
leave Green Bay? I hope this is what I hope.
I hope Aaron Rodgers so plays. So that's what I
hope because I've told Aaron this before, and I think

(05:04):
I've maybe has shared this on on your show. I
have this unique perspective down there to see these players
in their element and see everything that they do that
the TV cameras don't don't catch. There is nobody in
the NFL that celebrates a touchdown the way that Aaron
Rodgers celebrates a touchdown. It's like it's his first and

(05:24):
his last wrapped into one. He gets so excited, he
celebrates with his guys. I love those moments, and not
to mention he is. I mean, he's a fall of famer.
He's one of the best to ever do it. Watching
him operate when he's down on the sideline. If we
don't get that, I think that's the sports as a
whole and the NFL is missing out and certainly fans.

(05:45):
So I hope that he is playing. I yeah, I
absolutely think there's a good chance that he could go
somewhere else. Do you think that that ultimately this comes
down to a stair down contest because Aaron Rodgers thirty
eight years old ish. He's not a young guy, right.
We could talk before all the Deshaun Watson mess blew up.
He was twenty five years old. So if Deshaun Watson

(06:08):
set out for a year, if anything, when he comes
back at twenty six years old or twenty seven years
old or whatever, it was gonna be. Given how long
the career paths of quarterbacks can be, it wasn't gonna
be that substantial of a storyline. But when you look
at the way that this is set up right now,
to me, it turns into an intriguing stair down because

(06:29):
I just don't buy the idea that Aaron Rodgers is
willing to ride off into the sunset and go work
at Jeopardy and if he never plays again. I understand
he can argue that, but if he sits out a year,
a year at thirty eight is difference than a year
at twenty five or twenty six. Does that make sense?
I feel like ultimately the Packers can call his bluff
here because I don't think he's willing to retire. He's

(06:52):
not willing to retire, they own I really don't. I
I just the more I sit around and think about it,
I mean, we have rarely, if ever, seen a guy
who was willing to step away coming off of an
m v P season. It just almost never happens. And
I think that Aaron Rodgers in particular, and this is
me kind of psychoanalyzing him. No wife, no kids, what

(07:15):
does he do if he's not playing football? It fulfills
so much of his time and his energy and his effort.
That's a big life change to go from putting all
of your heart and soul into playing football to suddenly
stepping off into a void. And a lot of athletes
aren't ready for that. You know, I've talked to a
lot of athletes. I'm sure you have to, particularly in

(07:37):
the NFL. A lot of these guys compare the way
that they are scheduled, in the way that they work
out to a military like precision in both college in
the NFL, where you're a part of a group, you're
expected to be somewhere every time, every set time, on
every single day. They've lay out your entire schedule. It's regimented.
You know what your day to day existence is. That

(08:00):
routine becomes a part of your ability to perform. And
when you pull that routine, and I've talked to a
lot of people who are in the military too, suddenly
that absence. It's it's not that you know, you just
don't know how to fill all that time. And I
feel like it's difficult for a lot of former athletes,
but for a guy like Aaron Rodgers with no wife,

(08:20):
no kids, I would think it would be even more challenging.
So I just I don't buy into the idea that
he's really legitimately willing to retire. I don't think he
wants to. I agree with you. I think that this
is I mean, he loves this more than anything, right,
this is his life. But I mean here, so I'm
kind of like, what's going through my mind right now
is is I think I remember a time when you
stepped away. Just remember you telling the story, and you

(08:43):
took a gamble on yourself, right, and you like left
a high paying job in order to do something that
you really loved because you want happy, right. And so
if he's not happy, the amount of time that he
has to spend in that facility with those coaches with
that a good point. People. If you are not happy
and you are more miserable, then I mean it's your

(09:03):
and you only have a like a small amount of
time left, you know that, right, I mean, he's not
going to be able to play for another ten or
fifteen years, He's got a handful of years. If he
thinks he can't win there, if he thinks he can't
do what he needs to do and he's not happy,
then I got to think that that that's going to
override everything, because you know what it's like to work
at a place where you're not happy. It's miserable, and

(09:24):
that's certainly not what he I don't think that's what
he wants at this portin's career. Okay, so would you
advise him as someone who works in the mod if
that's true? Does he benefit by coming out and just
saying that as opposed to using all these different sources,
you know, talking behind the scenes to the Adam Schefter's

(09:45):
and the un rapp reports that Jay Glazers, all these
guys who break big NFL stories. Is it more valuable
in terms of getting his freedom? If Aaron Rodgers comes
out and just says, I've loved my time in Green Bay,
I am ready to turn the page. I'm asking the
packers to trade me and allow me to finish my

(10:06):
career somewhere else, or I should he or should he
continue to just kind of I mean, look, the reality
is he's providing his story without putting his own name
behind it through agents. We know how this game is played, right,
But would it work to his favor if he just
came out and said that publicly? How would that play?

(10:29):
And I think he will because I mean you saw
with the Pat McAfee when he went on Pat McAfee
show and he was completely honest and they said, this
is where I come to that I can so that
you know, the people that talk on the radio can't
tell my story for me. And I mean I think
that that's I think that he'll do that. But yes,
I think that that's the way to go because then
you're going to have the support of everybody, including the
Green Bay Packer fans that you don't want to alienate

(10:50):
because they think that you're leaving them, which you know
that how how I mean, this is one of the
most loyal fan bases that there is. I mean, they
sit out there in negative fourteen degree weather and I
mean it's it's one of its, if not the most loyal, right.
So I absolutely believe honestly is always the best policy
when it comes to stuff like that, because you're gonna
have people in your corner because everybody can relate to

(11:11):
these types of stories. I mean, listen, we can't relate
to how much Aaron makes right. We can't relate to
plane in the NFL and doing things that he does.
But we can relate to being unhappy and just wanting
something different, and we can relate to being honest about
that and just telling. But I think he will just
based on what I what I've seen him doing the
past on the Pat McAfee show, I think is he
uses that as a platform. And yeah, he's friends with him,

(11:32):
but I think he uses that as a platform, and
I think that that's where he'll do it. Do you
think if the Packers went back to Aaron Rodgers up
the Packers clearly got it wrong. I mean, people can
say that Aaron Rodgers is to blame for the way
he's handled this and the mess that is ensued and
everything else, but clearly the Packers didn't think thirty seven
year old Aaron Rodgers was capable of still being an

(11:53):
m v P. They didn't think he could play at
the level that he did, or else they wouldn't have
been drafting a replacement for in Rodgers when he's still
playing at the absolute apex of his ability. The Packers
go to Aaron Rodgers say, hey, we blew it. We're
willing to trade away Jordan's love to make it clear
that you still have three maybe four years left. I mean,

(12:15):
that's not a crazy idea if you look at forty
three soon to be forty four year old Tom Brady.
Drew Brees obviously has had a lot of success as
he's gotten to forty and beyond. I don't think it's
crazy to think that Aaron Rodgers could have three or
four years of left and if they offered him to
be the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, is that

(12:35):
a solution to this impasse? Or in your mind, are
we to the point now with everything that's gone public
where it's almost impossible for these two guys to be
able to rectify their relationship. And guys I mean, I
mean the team and Aaron, but the you know, the
the GM, the head coach, the management of the Green

(12:55):
Bay Packers. You gotta think if he thinks he can
win there, that's where he wants to be in. That's
his home, and those are his that's his team, and
those are his I mean, those players are his family.
I don't know who The problem is though, like, is
it Jordan's love? Is it GM? Is that you know what?
I don't. I don't because again we don't really know
what's going on behind the scenes. But I think I
think if you gave him what he wanted, just put

(13:17):
just me kind of I don't know anything. Again, I
don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Um, I
think that it sounds to me like that's just what
he wants, right. He just wants to be heard, and
he wants to feel like he's he's the one that's
that's that's the making or or part of some of
these decisions. I think so, I hope. So it would
be fun to see him. It'd be fun to see
him retire there and be with that team one more year.
And you know, Packer fans love him and and he's that.

(13:40):
But as far as when, how how much longer we're
gonna be talking about him? Listen, if he changes team,
we will be talking about him up until day one
and beyond, right, every single day will show him showing
up at that facility, having the first practice, having this,
the first whatever. If he retires, I think that we
might that conversation might end until he resurfaces again. But

(14:01):
we're gonna be talking about him until we know what's
going on, until there's some kind of resolution, because it's
the biggest story out there. Absolutely, and I I love it.
I think it's I mean, it's something that we're talking
about and it's it's um, it's it's soap opery, right
we we You and I talked about this all the time,
the drama and then this is certainly some drama in
the off season. Do you care at all? Shifting gears

(14:23):
about the Kentucky Derby and horse racing and like the
test positives for whether or not the horse was had
inappropriate substances, Like we had that ridiculous Bob Bafford explanation
that's coming out, Um, you know where I think I
you know, screenshotted yesterday the quote that came out because
it just looked so crazy. One of Bob Bafford's excuses

(14:45):
is that a there was a urination in the stall
after the group had been taking cough medicine and the
horse ate some of the hay, I mean, some of
these exclamations X X X explanations feeling that X exclamation points. Uh,
I mean, is this like I don't even know at

(15:05):
this point on the testing on the horses. It just sucks,
you know, I mean, you're you're all in. I mean,
it's the same in NASCAR when a when a team
wins and they celebrate victory lane and they get the trophy.
And thankfully we haven't had a situation that often where
they have to take away to win. But it just
it just sucks, Clay, because you're you're, we're all in.
I sat there and watched that horse run around there.

(15:27):
You know, you pulled for that little guy, and and
and we're excited, and people bet a lot of money,
and you spend the whole day invested in this, and
and then this happens. It's just it's just is a
It just sucks, you know, because that's not what you
want to see. You want to be celebrating. And then
you think about all the people, I mean, the game
I heard that, like the gambling is like locked in, right,
So what about the people that are like, well, hey,
I mean what I should be getting some money my

(15:48):
horse really won. I just think it's stinks. I'm not
really like I'm not a big horse racing person. I mean,
obviously I spent a ton of time in Lexington with
you know, covering the wildcats in Kentucky, so I know
that world from sort of being in that world a
little bit. But I don't really care. I don't really
have I don't really have a horse in the game. Yeah,

(16:08):
it's just wild. I don't know how long this story
is going to continue to play out, but there was
a massive amount of people who were watching it and
then uh now the excuses coming out. I mean, it's
it's kind of crazy. We didn't talk a lot about
this on Monday, but I wanted to ask you about this.
DK Metcalf trained for a couple of months. He's way
bigger than all of the sprinters, and he wasn't able
to qualify for the next level of sprinting. But it's

(16:31):
pretty incredible that a guy of his size and strength,
who really hadn't run in a long time could go
against some of the best sprinters in the United States
and not embarrass himself. Right now, this is a story
I was following, okay because to me, Dk Metcalf, and
I think I may have told you this once before,
tetched you once before. I certainly tweeted it out when

(16:54):
I saw this human being in person for the very
first time. I have never seen a person that is
so perfectly sculpted. His he had like a tanktop on
that was kind of pulled above his stomach, and his
back muscles were like more defined than anything that I mean,
like anything. He's such an incredible When he gets hit,

(17:16):
the only thing I can kind of explain, like he
falls down, he's kind of like have you seen those
movies where someone stands up and they like have a
broken arm, and all of a sudden, like their arm
just like stixes itself. Like That's how I feel. DK
metcalf is like he's just super human. So I was
I was all in on this story. I was watching
because I I think that he is just an incredible
um athlete and just an incredible specimen of a human right.

(17:39):
He was sculpted and um and I think it's I mean,
you look at I watched the video. He's obviously taller
and bigger than all of those guys that were running,
and I thought it was really cool that he went
out and did that. I wish that he would have qualified.
I wish that we could have seen this. I know
that it's a different sport, and those guys are completely trained.
But I thought it was really really cool to see
him go and do that. And I just think such

(18:00):
an incredible athlete and against some of the best track
plates in the United States, which means some of the
best track athletes in the world. And uh, and look,
he he lost in his in his race, but it
wasn't like you know, he was ten yards behind them
at the finish line. I mean, it was a tiny
difference between him and everybody else. And I think probably

(18:21):
for everybody who's seen him move as big and strong
and fast on the football field as they have. I
mean I I kind of selfishly sitting there looking at
how big and strong he was. I would be curious
to see if everybody in that race had to wear
shoulder pads and a helmet, way, he might actually be
able to win it, right, because he can carry that
extra weight, I bet in a way that those sprinters

(18:44):
can't because his body is bigger, uh, and he's more
used to it. I would just be curious to see
that as well, because I I just don't buy in
that that many of those sprinters could run very much
faster than he could. And and this is by the
way after his body taking a lot of hits over
the years at wide receiver in a way that those uh,
those guys running track frankly or not getting hit at

(19:08):
full speed, you would think that would probably impact him
in a little bit in a negative way. I just
thought it was a pretty cool story for sure. Yeah,
when people ask me what what I like the do
you miss college sports? Do you miss doing this? Do
you miss doing that? I Mean my number one go
to answer about covering the NFL is just the ability
to see these these human these superhumans, and these these
athletes that are just at the I mean, there are

(19:31):
above anything else. And I mentioned, you know, Julio Jones
Stefon Diggs, like even during practice just seeing him catch
a pass and at the you know, in the end
zone and and how far he can jump to get
some of these passes. Julio Jones watching um, you know,
and any of these guys run across the field just
in in practice alone. And DK mac haalf is one

(19:53):
of those guys that really kind of makes me stop
in my just stop exactly right where I am and
just marvel in his in his athleticism. It's it's truly incredible.
One of the last questions. Let's be the last question
for you, and I appreciate the time Shannon Spake waking
up early with us here on the Tuesday edition of
out Kick. Can follow her on Twitter at Shannon Spake.
We've been talking some during the course of the show

(20:15):
over the past couple of days about the difference between
some venues being able to have a lot of fans
present others not. How much of a story do you
think that can become in the NBA and the NHL playoffs? Now?
Given how much in an indoor setting for both hockey,
as you know and for basketball, the home crowd can

(20:36):
make a massive impact. And we're looking and I'll use
the NBA for an example, We're looking at places like Dallas,
UH and maybe Utah in the West, for lack of
a better way of describing it, that may have pretty
substantial crowds, whereas let's say l A and Portland's may
not have very much crowds at all inside of their arenas.
Does that seem fair or should there be one policy?

(20:59):
And that going to push quickly towards everybody being able
to go back sooner rather than later, because people are
going to look around at their teams and think, man,
it's really not fair for us to be playing in,
for instance, the Staples Center without any crowd present, and
then they're playing uh, I don't know, in Utah and
they have almost full crowds. That's a pretty substantial impact
in the NBA playoffs. Yeah, I mean, I think that

(21:23):
outside of just like the stadiums, that and the rules,
I mean, I think you've got to take into consideration
what's going on in those communities. I think that's like
the biggest thing, right. But for me, uh, it's it's
not even just outside it being the like a home
field advantage. What about like the people who work there
and that's their job and they rely on that for
their income to put their kids in school or to
new stuff, and and like they look at another stadium

(21:45):
that's back at full capacity and all of those people
are back to work and they can't go back to work.
Yet that to me is where I would that's that's
where I kind of draw the line, like we've got
to have if we can go back to work, we
go back to work where everybody can can go back
and provide for their family. And I think that's the
biggest thing for me is just and that has been
a whole time, like just consistency. I think I told
you that I've been to places where hotels during the

(22:07):
football season where I walk into um walk into the
hotel and the bars packed and nobody's wearing a mask
because they're quote unquote eating. And then I go to
the gym on a Sunday morning and there's one other
person in the gym with me all the way across
the room, and someone comes in three times to tell
me I have to put my mask on, And to me,
it's just like, I just want consistency. And I'm not
anti mask. I'm one hundred percent for mask, percent for

(22:30):
whatever the rule of the place is, I'll follow that rule.
But when there's lack of consistency, that's where I get
really aggravated. Outstanding stuff is always Shannon Spake. This is
Outkicked the Coverage with Clay Travis. We are joined now
by Chad with Row of the OutKick three sixty with Row.

(22:52):
As you know, we kind of continue to unpack what
happened over the weekend. Obviously, um, how much enjoyment did
you get out of watching the Braves with a full
stadium Friday Saturday Sunday in that series against against the Phillies.
I loved it. And it was funny, Clay because on
Friday afternoon I happen to be flipping into the channels

(23:14):
and I think there was like an old classic NBA
game on on one of the espn uh well, actually
maybe it was on the NBA TV, but anyway, it
was from like two thousand fifteen, and it was a
Chris Paul Clippers game and I'm looking in the crowd
and it was, you know, everyone elbow to elbow in
the crowd, and it was it was one of the
first times I'm looking up and I'm thinking, man, that

(23:34):
looks really good. That looks cool to see a game
in an arena that's completely packed like that. And then
fast forward to that Friday night and watching the Braves
and Phillies at Trewes's Park in Atlanta and seeing a
packed house like that. I mean, it's it's magical to witness.
I mean, this is this is one of the reasons
we love sports, and we love sports for a million reasons,

(23:56):
but a big part of that is atmosphere, and the
biggest part of atmosphere are humans being allowed to go
to the games, and when you get to see that again,
it makes you know. Saturday Nights game, for the people
that stayed until after midnight in Atlanta to watch that
comeback in the twelfth inning, it makes it all the
more special. And even watching on television and seeing an

(24:16):
atmosphere and hearing noise like that, it was really cool
to witness all weekend in Atlanta with that series. Yeah,
I don't think there's any doubt. And there was a
lot of debate, and I made the argument on this
show for a long time. Hey, if you have to
give up fans being present, that's a that's something I'm
happy to give up. Right in the grand scheme of things,

(24:36):
it doesn't really matter to me. But I do think
just watching the boxing match that happened on Saturday, the
Canelo Albarez fight against Billy Joe Saunders, and then also
seeing the way that the Braves came back on that
Saturday night, the Pablo Saunaval home run in the bottom
of the ninth to put the game into extra innings
and then to score four and effectively have a walk off,

(24:58):
and what might be you know, it's ear least still
in Major League baseball season. They're still whatever the math is,
you know, a hundred and thirty ish games left for
most teams, so there's a lot of different things that
can still happen kind of going forward, but it does
feel like the NL East is gonna be wide open
and that that game may end up looming large in
UH in the overall season standings, particularly because we already

(25:21):
saw the Philly steel one with the errant call at
home played even after it was even after it was reviewed.
But it definitely felt different than it would have in
an empty stadium when a player hits a big hits
a big home run like that. Yeah, it felt that
game felt sort of like an early season turning point
for the Braves who have struggled so far um to

(25:43):
UH to fall behind three runs and then score four
in the bottom of the twelfth and win it. It
felt bigger than just one out of one sixty two games.
And going back to the point about just fans in
the crowd, and I'll take this to it to an
earlier Braves moment. I try to go back and think
about the biggest sports moments of my life, and I
can remember being ten years old in when Sid Bream

(26:08):
scored to beat the Pirates in Game seven in the
old Atlanta Folton County Stadium. And one of the things
that I always remember about that the Tomahawk shop and
how loud it was even on television when the Braid's
got a rally going in that inning and uh in
the crowd, you know, David Justice telling him to get
down and slide, and then the crowd when you hear

(26:31):
McDonough say safe, Braves win. Um. But think about and
even for your audience, just think about your favorite sports
moment and then really think about how big was the
crowd in that moment. It's clearly a supporting actor in
the biggest moment of your sports life. But it's a
big deal, right, I mean, I think of Tennessee football

(26:54):
versus Arkansas and the clint S Turner fumble in every play,
every run by Travis Henry on that dry just got
louder and louder in the rain and knocks though, and
how loud that was just watching on television, And that's
something I'm really you know, it's starting to capture me
again just seeing crowds returned to ballparks and now this
fall returning to football stadiums. It's it's it's something that

(27:16):
you know when it went away, you realized it. But
I'm with you, Clay. I'd rather have sports with no
fans that no sports at all. So that's a that's
the sacrifice I'm willing to make to have sports being played.
But now that it's coming back, I realized how much
I've missed it, and I really missed it. When I
start thinking about it, some of those biggest sports moments
in my life. And I'm sure for your audience and

(27:37):
they think back on it. Also, again, while it's a
supporting character, it's a pretty big character in those moments,
is what the crowd sounded like. I don't think there's
any doubt. And also I feel like we're rapidly evolving
into Remember we had this discussion with you a while back.
It's probably been a couple of months and we're talking
to Chad with Row from the OutKick three sixty. You
can see them New Knistern, eleven, Central, ten ten in

(28:00):
Mountain and nine am on the West Coast every day.
So I remember we had this discussion about, hey, when
should every stadium be back or every arena be back
open at like a percent capacity, and early on the
talk was, Hey, by the end of May, let's hope
that we could have anybody who wants to get the

(28:21):
vaccine be able to get the vaccine. Well at that
Atlanta Brave Stadium capacity. Anybody can go get the vaccine
at the game. You can go get no matter who
you are, where you're listening to me. If you want
to go get a COVID vaccine, you can go get
it anywhere. At this point in time, now that over
half of all adults have been vaccinated, isn't it time

(28:41):
to allow every stadium and arena to be back open,
no matter where it is in the country, Because we've
now been open for uh And I'm just gonna keep
hammering this on my show because I think I'm one
of the few people that will say it. But I
do think it's significant. We've now been open for over
a month in Texas with Rangers games happening. Cases have
continued to go down all around the Dallas area. We

(29:02):
now are back open with Atlanta. Somebody has to take
the risk and be willing to try to get back
to normalcy. When you watch a nationally televised Braves game
on Friday on Fox FS one Saturday on ESPN. If
you're living in other parts of the country and then
you watch the Canel Alvarez fight on on Saturday in Dallas,
don't you think to yourself, wait a minute, like, why

(29:25):
is this not occurring everywhere? At this point? Absolutely? Maybe
I think it's pastime now, especially with more and more
people being vaccinated, that that you open everything up. And
I'll also, you know, when you go back to the
beginning of the pandemic, and uh, the thought was, you know,
we have to protect Americans from themselves. You have to

(29:48):
shut everything down. You have to close everything down. You
have to force people to stay inside and not intermingle
with each other to try to stop the virus. Right. Well, now,
like you said, over half of all adults America have
had the vaccine. At what point do you start bringing
back the freedom to make a choice and take a

(30:08):
calculated risk. Every time you leave your house, you're taking
a calculated risk. But if Americans want to go to
a ballgame and they want to take that risk. Anytime
you go around a large group of people, there's a
chance you're gonna leave with an illness of some sort.
But we've never stopped that you want from doing that
in the past, right, Well, now this happens, but then

(30:30):
the vaccination start coming, everybody starts. It's just I don't
want I don't know where it is is because at
some point, and I think initially Clay, when we first
had this conversation, you said July fourth, with start of
your target day, you thought by July four every and
and for people who didn't hear that my my belief then.

(30:51):
And I think we had that conversation back in maybe March.
It was like, hey, when will there be a vaccine
for anyone who wants it? And I was like, I
think the Biden administration had said by the end of
June anybody who wanted the vaccine would be able to
get it. Well, basically it was by the end of April.
You know, easily pretty much anybody who wanted it could
have had it, right And so to me, once you

(31:14):
have created a situation where the vaccine is available to
anyone who wants it, there's no argument out there about
whether or not you need to have uh, you know,
full stadiums or not. You can right like, that's where
we are. And so that seems to me like an
easy call. And I give credit to the Rangers and

(31:34):
to the Braves into Jerry Jones for opening up his stadium.
Somebody has to be willing to do that and to
you know, sort of take the slings and arrows from
the media for making that choice. But once it occurs
and we have the data to reflect that it's not
creating super spreader events, I don't see how everybody doesn't
follow that data. If science matters, then we should be

(31:55):
following it everywhere now, and that means that everything should
be open for the world of sports. I think the
science obviously matters, and I know you've been talking a
lot about the science with it, but but I think,
just uh, the theory of American freedom matters. And I
think that in the beginning, you know, the line that
I would hear from the CDC and politicians and and

(32:18):
news media and everyone was, well, even if you're not
going to be overly affected by this virus, you want
to save your granddad or your grand lam or you're
a great aunt, right, So you've got to protect the innocent,
and you've got to do your part as an American
citizen to protect those that are vulnerable to the disease. Well,
now it's available to every American and over half of
America has the virus. Then at what point have to

(32:42):
say people, Well, people can live their lives. If they're
choosing not to get the vaccine, then they're deciding to
take the risk that either that they're saying one or
two things. They don't think COVID is gonna affect them
that much, but they don't care. And at some point,
I mean, we we give people the right to do
whatever they want. If you want to eat fast food
for every meal you can in America, and that's gonna
be bad to your health. But if this is no

(33:04):
longer about the health of everyone, it's about the health
of people that choose not to get the vaccine, and
that's their right as an American to decide not to
do it. And if they're doing it, they're the one
taking on the risk. So when is it a municipalities
decision to make on what people do with their own
inherent risk when they leave their house to go to
a sporting event. So I look, I'm with you on this.

(33:26):
I think it's pastime to open everything up and give
people the choice of what they want to do. If
they want to stay home great. If they're afraid to
get out, that's their decision. But if people want to
go to a ball game, let them go to a
ball game. Yeah, I agree. We're talking to Chad with
Row at the Chad with Row on Twitter. You just
got through Mother's Day? How much more challenging is Mother's

(33:48):
Day with young children? It's it's very challenging, and it's all.
Here's one of the most challenging elements of it is
the most underrated part. If you're if you're a young
dad and you have young children, you're not only on
the hook for your own self, you have to be
on the hook for them too. And I didn't I

(34:08):
didn't ever think about this till I became a parent.
But my kids are not old enough. They're starting to
become a little bit older, where like you're like, hey,
you gotta carry some weight here, right, Like I've got
a thirteen year old, a ten year old, and a
six year old. But you know, for Mother's Day when
you have really young kids, you're on the hook for
those kids being good for Mother's Day too, Like you

(34:29):
gotta give presents on their behalf. Like it's just a
total cluster. So I've got an almost six year old
going to be six in a week, and then an
almost two year old. So I took the almost six
year old to the store and let her pick use
she she knew what she wanted to get her mom
the whole time, and I let her pick out the
gifts for the younger daughter, what she thinks, Lucy are

(34:51):
our youngest would get for her mom. Um. So this
was a challenge of having the veto some of the
things that she wanted to get to try to, you know,
get more speci sithic in a in a section that
I knew that Angie would want. So we we finally
got the right gift there. It's very challenging, very difficult
to pull off. Then you have to worry about your
own gifts. And here's the under raged element of it,
Clay Um, and I'm sure you experience this is your parents.

(35:14):
It's not like, if your mother is still alive, you
gotta get do something for her, right, you gotta get
the family together, you gotta do something. And what's great
about older dad's is once their kids are out of
the house, they don't care. It's not like they're looking
around that they're wise, that they've been with forty five
fifty years and saying, well, she's not my mom, I'm
not doing anything. So I'm the one. I've got four

(35:35):
brothers and sisters. I'm the youngest, but I'm the more
organized in the family. So I'm organizing the Mother's Day
brunch for fifteen people with spouses and everyone, and you know,
getting my mom and I'm making sure I have a
gift for her, or at least buying her brunch. And
my dad just along for the ride at this point,
you know, he's like, hey, I had a young family
at one point and I had to get all these gifts.

(35:55):
But now this is on you. So you're flying completely
solo on multiple ends, right, just the wife that you
got to take care of for the kids. Then you've
got your own mother you gotta worry about. You don't
mother in law. You got the mother in law out
there too. Yeah, And I didn't even fry with that.
I mean that that's one I didn't even There are

(36:17):
so many different angles that I never really thought about,
because when you get married, you know, you basically are
responsible for your own mom, right, and then you get
married and you have kids and you're like, oh wait
a moment. Now my wife is you know, she's not
my mom, but I'm responsible for all these kids that
are too young to do anything for right, Like the
Mother's Day is really just a potential disaster for there's all.

(36:39):
There's a lot of dad's out there that are nodding
their heads as they drive along right now, and they're like, yeah,
I just it was never something that I conceived of
and recognition and recognition of what a danger I had. Uh,
what's funny about all this is you know, one day
your your three boys will be grown out of the house,
they'll have families of their own, and you're gonna do

(37:00):
nothing for your wife on Mother's Day, right And it's
gonna be on your boys to do something for their
mom on Mother's Day and then will be in the
same place as our fathers. Right now, Well, we're just
along for the ride. But here's another factor of this
that I don't know about. Are they hearing about it
from their wives? Are they mad when their sons or
daughters don't do enough for them? And then you know

(37:22):
the older husband has to hear about it. So many
layers to these dilemmas that I'm sure a lot of
Dad's out there. You know that they experienced us recently. Uh.
We talked about this a little bit yesterday with Todd Ferman.
But um, with some of these NBA and NHL playoff
games in series getting closer and closer, and you're seeing
it now in Major League Baseball. But I don't think

(37:43):
it matters that much in the regular season in the
grand scheme of things. But some of these NHL teams
could have monstrous home ice advantages compared to other teams
that don't. I saw where, uh where the Portland Trailblazers,
who I think have this smallest crowd imaginable, and Damian
Lillard basically came out and he said like, hey, you know,

(38:05):
we're going to Utah and they basically got a full arena,
right And this could turn into like a big deal
because I could see, for instance, down in Dallas with
the MAVs. Right like, if you look at the MAVs
and presume that they already are having full stadiums with
the Rangers, Uh, Jerry Jones just had a full stadium
for the UH, for the UH, for the big fight,

(38:27):
the Canella fight. I could see how the Dallas Mavericks
could end up with a monster crowd, right, a home
court advantage that's really substantial in basketball, and then they're
going up against somebody that, like let's say they're playing
the Clippers or somebody like that who basically has nobody
back home in Staples Center. I could see this turning
into a big storyline. Am I crazy? Or do you

(38:48):
see it in the NHL and in the NBA potentially
becoming an issue as well. I think this is the
one issue that will get the NBA on OutKick side
and on your side. I think they're all gonna be
in full agreement with you. They go to Utah where
they go to Dallas for a series and they see
packed crowds, they're gonna think, man, you know, like like

(39:08):
like quite Travis a smart guy, they really need to
open things up. What a terrific atmosphere in this arena
to night, and they're gonna want the same thing we're look.
We're seeing this now across college baseball. Tim Corbett Vanderbilt
went on a rant after he went to Knoxville. Louisville's
head coach. After Vanderbilt went to Louisville. Louisville actually won
the game, but I mean he just he went on

(39:29):
a rant saying he's ridiculous that we don't have full
attendance for an outdoor game at this this time with
everything going on. So that's gonna bleed over into all
sports where you're gonna hear. You're gonna hear some coaches
and players who have had enough and they want to
have the exact same advantages of another team. I think
you're gonna hear more of it. I think you're gonna
hear a lot less of it in the n b

(39:50):
A if I had to guess, um, maybe some more
in NHL, who knows, But yeah, I mean I think
it's Look, it's not just human nature, but a competitive
spirit would want you to to drive you to think
if they have that, we should have that also, especially
when you're talking about an end of season scenario in
one of these playoffs series. Yeah, I don't think there's

(40:11):
any doubt at all. And I think it's gonna become
a bigger and bigger issue. I talked about it a
little bit on the show on Monday, but I think
you're starting to see it sort of right raise its
head as a potential monster issue again going forward. Chad
with Row congrats on surviving father Mother's Day. I hope
you make it the Father's Day. Uh and uh. And
we'll talk to you again next week. It's gonna be

(40:33):
a tricky month and a half or so or whatever
it does. Father's Dyal. I hopefully I'll survive. Hopefully everyone
else out there survives and always fun joining the show.
Thanks for having me. This is outkicked the coverage with
Clay Traffics. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Joined me every

(40:54):
weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
This isn't your pickles sports pod, pushing the same tired
narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you
honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats
to help you win big at the sports book, and
all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen
to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the I Heart Radio,

(41:18):
Apple Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. It's
the Man, the mid the Legend, Petro's Papadakis. We have
got a lot to get to with him. But Danny
g has gone back into the archives from last year.
Maybe the twinkling dust sound of the OutKick archives. And

(41:41):
we were just laughing about this yesterday on the program,
the idea of the bubble and everything else, as we
were talking about the NBA being a little bit different.
This is from all the way back on March the
and this was me talking about the idea of there
being a bowl in uh in the in the NBA

(42:04):
and the NHL. And this was Petros on his weekly
hit deriding the very idea of it. Enjoy my idea,
and I want to hear whether you think this is crazy.
Is you would have to create like a campus style environment,
maybe take over a college campus, put the athletes in

(42:27):
dorms like it's uh, you know, like training for football
or whatever else it is, and then play them inside
of like you have to quarantine them for two weeks,
and then you play the games inside of like this bubble,
this college campus, which is safe? Are you talking? That's
the only way I can imagine, because here's the thing,

(42:47):
I have no idea what you're saying. It's like you're
a child who's drawing something. No, tell no, They're not
going to build a super league dorm for you. You
know that you're saying their college campuses. If you into play,
what happens when one of the quarantined officials sneak same
escort and oh, that's that's one of the coronavirus. That

(43:08):
would be one of the greatest thirty for thirties ever.
Would be everybody trying to smuggle girls in, everybody trying
to smuggle all different sorts of stuff into the sport bubble. Yes,
the Clay Travis Sports Complex bubble. Say in the NHL,
you know you have like a quad of four teams
on one campus that are gonna play a best of four.

(43:30):
You have four different college campuses, uh, and you have
an ice skating rink in the middle. You put four
teams in there for two weeks. One team emerges as
the winner or whatever it is of the four team
knocks it down to four. In the NHL, you can
do the same thing in the NFL, NBA. It's like
the pod system. I'm sorry for being a genius just
tossing it out there, four different pods. Yeah, I nominate

(43:54):
Sarah Lawrence for one of the campuses. Uh, maybe MoU Holyoake.
Although whatever, the safest place is where there's the least
amount of virus boom. You play the sports right there.
I'm gonna talk about this tomorrow. I'm sorry for being
a genius. We bring him back in now. Uh, this
is uh, you know, I wasn't perfect. I was talking

(44:14):
about the idea of the bubble on a college campus.
But I'm glad that Danny g went back and got that.
I mean, March was not very long right after everything
shut down. I mean I was already trying to find
a way to figure out how to play this thing,
and it ended up taking a couple of more months.
But I got a lot of things wrong. This may
be one that I got right. You were prophetic in nature,

(44:38):
I like Isaiah the first profit of the Old Testament.
You were very, very impactful. And I came off sounding
like a wanker and a clown, and I appreciate you
digging that up. I mean, I'm sure there's some footage
out there of me saying that Patrick Mahomes has terrible footwork,

(44:58):
which is true. On mean, there's all kinds of stuff
out there, But I remember that moment, and I remember
thinking in the moment, like, well, they won't even let
us eat at a restaurant. How are we going to
do you know, And the truth is what I should
have considered is that if there's a way to make money,

(45:19):
people like you will figure out how people that make money,
people that make money will figure out how to make
money if there's a way to make money. I mean, look,
I don't understand doge coin or anything, but I hear
people talking about it, and it just seems like another
way for people that make money to figure out how
to make more money. And look, I got no issue

(45:40):
with that. If it helps other people make money and
it helps other people work, than great. Uh. One thing
that is interesting looking back to that time, and like
you said, it took a couple of months to get
it together with the NBA, and there's a lot to
talk about and unwrap when it comes to that bubble
and a lot of the choices the NBA made that

(46:03):
we've talked about. But we had Jeff van Gundhi on
last week, which doesn't happen often on our platforms for
the listeners to know because he's an ESPN ABC person
and generally, unless those people have some kind of personal relationship,
they're not allowed to go on non ESPN property shows.
Did you know the esp ESPN has not allowed anybody

(46:29):
that is an ESPN employee to come on my show
for five years basically, and that is trying to immediately
shoot everybody down. And that's the general rule though, like
with everybody, like we just don't often get that kind
of those guys, even if we're friends or have relationships,
because they're just not allowed to do it. But Van
gundys on a certain level and he doesn't care. But

(46:51):
he came on and the interesting part of it is
that he just said, look, let's call it what it is.
That bubble was miserable. It was the most serable thing
for everybody involved. That the NBA bubble was an absolute
death march, you know, like uh, it was a really
really rough thing for the people involved. And the Lakers

(47:14):
were the least miserable of the most miserable people because
they wanted all uh. And that was his point. You know,
he was there. I we none of us, you know,
all we saw was you know, ray Jon Rondo's brother
yelling at people and stuff. We didn't we didn't really
know what it was like all day for everybody. And
I don't care how rich you are. I mean that sucked.

(47:34):
But they got they got it done. They got paid,
they got their TV deal, uh basically fulfilled, so they
could catch those checks. And as long as there's people
out there that know how to make money, they will
make money through anything not that. And there's a whole
argument about what should or shouldn't have been done during
the pandemic, but you nailed that one right on the head, Clay,

(47:57):
and you were very forward thinking. And that is why
despite your gigantic nipples, you make the big, big money.
We're talking to Petro's babbadekis uh speaking of uh not
my jack Nick nipples, but the gigantic crowds that were
going on into the weekend with everything out there, over

(48:17):
seventy thousand for a boxing match. The Braves have forty
fans present for their series against the Phillies. The golf
tournament in Charlotte, Roy McElroy wins, huge crowds there Darlington,
South Carolina with the h with NASCAR, and obviously the
fact that the Texas Rangers continue to have crowds present.

(48:38):
I'm looking at the NBA and the NHL playoffs, and
this kind of builds off of the bubble question. But
it's the next year now. There aren't very many people
I think you could speak to it that are getting
allowed to go into staples and watch games. And the
rules if you go in there are not exactly like
relaxing fun. This is not like have a popcorn and
here kind of environment. How much of an impact does

(49:01):
this have going forward? Let's just like use l A
as an example. The Lakers may or may not end
up in this whatever this ridiculous playing round is for
the NBA, but they may or may not end up there.
But even if they even if they are advancing beyond that,
going into the playoffs everything else, it's possible that they
could be on the road. Let's use the Jazz as

(49:23):
an example. Where Utah, which is not that far away
Salt Lake City, they have a pretty wide open jazz
arena type setting. How much conversation are we going to
get about the impact of a home court advantage and
a team like Utah or a team like the Dallas
Mavericks in the West getting a home court advantage and
a team like the Lakers or the Clippers or the

(49:44):
Portland Trailblazers where really there's no advantage at all, and
they're restricting the amount of fans that can be there
that seems like a fundamental lack of fairness when it
comes to home court advantage, which is obviously theoretically what
you play the entire your season four. Yeah, you're not
the first to mention that. That was Van Gundy's point

(50:06):
last week on the show as well, And that will
be something that I think a lot more people will
look at as the playoffs approach. And I think a
lot more people are gonna look at how interested people
are in the NBA playoffs, like if that interest is
going to kick up a notch when the actual things start.

(50:27):
But I think what you said about some places having
full crowds and what a great celebration that is for
everybody there after what everybody's been through, and you see that,
and then you see the kind of draconian it just feels.
It feels not as miserable as the bubble, But watching

(50:49):
those people in the stands at Staples, they look pretty miserable.
I mean there's eight seats between you know, every person.
You've got to go to a different area to eat,
like you're a cow and drink. I mean, they literally
treat you like you're part of the audience. In American Idol,
which is the most dehumanizing thing in the history of

(51:11):
the world, I can tell you, And that's not that's
not a cool way to treat somebody who is your customer.
So it just doesn't It's just I don't know. I
see it changing rapidly as the tears keep changing in California,
and I think there's a lot of rich people, despite
their political proclivities, that see these full crowds everywhere and

(51:36):
are licking their chops and miss that revenue. So I
think it will change. But I just I think it's, uh,
it's magnifying glass on just how divided we are as people.
And you saw it just with the Pac twelves and
the SEC and the difference in how we handled college

(51:57):
football so long ago. Now it's I mean, all of
those things are glaring kind of reminders that we are really,
really divided. And I do think though, that the amount
of money being made in the places that are open
is going to eventually just cave the rest of us in. Um.

(52:20):
I think that's right. I think ultimately, looking at all
these different sporting events that are going on anybody, everybody's
going to end up with roughly the same rules. I'm
gonna ask you. But there are people they just aren't
they you know, they don't want to quit the lockdown.
You know, there are people they just you know, they
could be like I know, people that have had COVID,
that have antibodies, that run around and telling telling people

(52:41):
to stay five yards away from them, and you know,
it's like, ok okay, Like I mean, I get it.
You know, people are weird and everybody's got their interesting
little idio sncracies and and god knows, I'm not alone,
but I just noticed that around California that there's a
lot of people like me who are vaccinated and want

(53:04):
you know, I'm not It's not like I'm licking handrails,
but I'm certainly you know, trying to show my kids
that like, hey, you know, I'm gonna go to your
baseball game. I'm gonna sit in the launch air and
outside I'm not going to wear a mask. Like you know,
We're okay. But there's a lot of people it just
feels like they don't they don't want to go back,
you know, or for whatever reason. And I think that's

(53:27):
more prevalent here, uh than it is you know, maybe
in a place where you are and you know, what's
interesting about this, And I don't know if you've talked
about this on your show, but this is kind of
a crazy stat California lost population in for the first
time as a state since eighteen fifty. That's a pretty

(53:49):
wild statistic to think about, isn't it. Yeah. I know
a lot of people, a lot that are just fed up.
I mean there, I think that was, yeah, And I
know a lot of other people that say, like, hey,
when kid graduates high school, I'm going to do this,
and some people do it and regret it, you know.
I mean a lot of people in my neighborhood have
moved to places in Texas and then they say, well,

(54:11):
you know, it's cheaper and this and that, but the
people are less interesting, you know. Uh. Look, I'm from here.
My family has been here since nineteen twelve. As as
Greek immigrants, we've not always enjoyed the politics. It's not
always been but this is our home and to me,

(54:33):
I don't know, running to Idaho and trying to act
like that's your culture and that's who you are is
a bit of a cop out too. By the way,
I met one of your high school classmates who also
went to s C. At a neighborhood. Alistair, Yes, Alistair,
the jazz singer. Yeah, he used to sing in your
dad's restaurant. Um, he's doing a they're doing an event

(54:55):
here in in my town, of my little neighborhood of
the nat Ville area. But but he and his wife
had moved here. I was crazy, like I was in
this in this house party gathering, uh and uh. And
he came up and the first thing he says is,
you know I went to high school with Petro's Uh.
And he was talking about what an incredible well connection

(55:16):
in California. You know, you only go as far as
I take you in this state play. He was talking
about how high school football player you were, and how
good of a high school football player your brother was.
That was the initial part of our conversation. Then I
took a picture and send it to you. Remember the
movie h Johnny be Good? Oh yeah, I remember. There

(55:38):
was a character in the movie Johnny be Good called
meat and Dropolis like he was one of the big
national recruits. Yes, that was based on my brother Tasso Papadakis,
who was just the most gigantic muscular. His traps were
so big, his head looked like a tent uh could

(55:59):
not ape over the top or run sideline to sideline.
But if you found him in the A gap or
B gap, you were done. Oh he knocked your head.
I remember, remember Jason Kendall, the great catcher for the
Pittsburgh Pirates all those years. Well, he was also the
quarterback at Torrents High School. Torrents High Schools where they
shot nine O two one Oh. She's all that. Every
show you've ever seen is shot at a Buffy the

(56:21):
Vampire Slayer. It's a great, old, beautiful l a High school.
It's supposed to be West Beverly High for for all
of us, for all those years that nine O two
one oh was on, and Jason Kendall was their quarterback
and catcher and one of the great athletes in the
history of the South Bay. And they do bring it
on there too, great film, bring it on. No, I
think that's a more of an Orange County vibe, like

(56:44):
the movie Brick Down in San Clemente. But I remember
Jason Kendall picked off a ball playing safety and Tossa
was playing fullback wearing the number sixty seven, and I
thought he'd killed. Like the only other time I thought
a guy got killed on the field. Was when Troy
Polamalo hit lock it upont returner USC versus in the state.

(57:08):
I was like, he killed him. That guy's dead and
I was down on the field and I thought my
brother killed Jason Kendall. He and that was before you know,
they put you on a stretcher and secure your neck.
You know, in those days, they just grabbed you on
the How well do you think Jason Kendall remembers that hit.
I probably not too well. Like they literally like dragged
his carcass off the field. Uh, my older brother was

(57:31):
a bit of a he's now an artist that lives
in the desert. But he knocked out three straight defensive
ends like kicking out of blocking. Uh the kickout blocks
like a off tackle, running plays from the fullback position.
And he knocked three straight guys out at Marracasta High
which is at Mountain Manhattan Beach area, and they turned

(57:53):
the sprinklers on. It's not the game. They turned the
sprinklers cleared the field for like twenty minutes. Those four
kids from Manhattan Beach probably didn't know what they were
signing up for when they were trying to take on
the fullback. There he was. And you know it's fun
to talk about this stuff. And there's way more famous

(58:15):
football players, of course, like Curtis Conway that we all
watched play now. Uh. Curtis Conway was a quarterback at
Hawthorn High ended up as a receiver in the NFL
for ten twelve years. But he ran the option at
Hawthorn High School. And he was also the fastest guy
in the state. And he would run the option like
tron I mean he would literally did take it right

(58:36):
to the corner and just turn it was it was
nobody good. Yeah. Yeah. And it was before the internet
and before tape, and you know, it was really widely distributed,
and you talked about these guys like they were legends,
you know, like they farted thunder and spit fire. And
you know that's why college football Clay became famous because

(59:01):
all of those East Coast riders went to Illinois and
they wrote about Red Grange. They see it on television.
You couldn't see it yourself. They had to paint the picture. Yeah,
they wrote these tales of these great conquerors and really
they're just kids. I mean we're talking about fifteen year
old kids, right, now, but it's like that was kind
of I mean, it was a time gone by, and

(59:22):
I think, you know, it's we've come to a point
where there's so much information out there that we only
confuse ourselves, and I kind of missed, Like, it's great
that you ran into alistair because I kind of missed
those days of talking about high school football players in
the nineties and in late eighties, you know, before before
everything was already everybody's can watch everybody's highlight tape on YouTube, huddle. Yeah,

(59:49):
I mean it is true. You can go and watch
and you can compare them. And obviously they have all
of the different camps now that are far more significant
than they used to be in terms of being able
to assess different players. But at in and of itself
is pretty wild speaking of sort of an incredible physical specimen,
DK Metcalf, Did you watch his video of him? Really

(01:00:11):
you were talking about how how fast some of the
guys were in high school. I mean, that's a pretty
incredible accomplishment for him to be, you know, thirty or
forty pounds more than a lot of those sprinters and
be able to be at least in some way respectable
with him. Yeah, well, on a much lower level. You
know that was me in high school, uh, running track.
You know, I was fifty pounds heavier than everybody, and

(01:00:33):
and I was winning hundreds. And you see that a
lot with football players, uh in college and the high
school level, and more and more guys are running track,
and more and more guys are being encouraged by recruiting
experts and college coaches to run track. Uh because track
as a if you're a runner or any kind of athlete,

(01:00:54):
track teaches you to relax while you sprint yep. And
that's a really hard thing to do and learn as
a football player, because you're always all tensed up and
ready for somebody to hit you, right, But when you
get into the open field or these moments that you're
not going to get hit, you need to relax your
face and bring your shoulders down. And you know, that's

(01:01:14):
how you can separate from people, uh at that level.
You know, I always think about Usain Bolt and Marvel
and because I just think that that's the pinnacle of
sprinting and we're probably never going to see it again
in our lifetimes. That good, because just to think of
how good he was when he was within the hundred

(01:01:36):
and two hundred by ten. I mean he's racing against
the best. Yeah, he racing against me, you and Danny
g you know. I mean, and to be that much
better than those people is I don't think something that
that Most people that are even really hardcore sports fans,

(01:01:58):
sports fans can understand what what his feat of domination
for like a decade. Uh, those feats weren't track and field,
they were I mean from Beijing on, he's the best
athlete I think we're ever going to see in our lives.
And seeing a big, long guy like d K get
a good start, you know for a big guy, and

(01:02:19):
and run respectively is uh, it's fun to see, you know,
it's it's always great to watch. But then it makes
me think of us saying Bolt, that's just like, damn,
can you come back? Close out five more minutes with us?
Come on? This is outkicked. The coverage with Clay Travis.
The question that I was gonna ask you, you were

(01:02:39):
talking about you saying bold, how fast he was, how
dominant he was. I think it was particularly yet Beijing,
if I'm not mistaken Petros, where he ran ran like
a nine five nine or whatever. The heck it was uh,
and basically you kind of turned to pose at the
finish line when he crushed everybody. How much faster do
you think mankind can get? I mean, you were a
fast guy. You want to buy? I mean, I'm just

(01:03:00):
kind of curious. I mean, like, will we ever think
of that movie Gatica where uh, where Jude Law was
getting like his legs elongated with metal and all that, Right,
I mean there are certainly things that can occur from
a you know, like non traditional biological sense, right, like

(01:03:21):
human humanity could get refined in ways we can't imagine
in the years and years ahead, and we could all
end up running as fast as Usain Bold. But just
in terms of the sheer body mechanics, we have to
be approaching the edge of human accomplishment. I would think,
I don't know, I'm sure they said that, you know,
a hundred years ago too, and Jesse Ellen seemed pretty fast,

(01:03:43):
you know, back in Berlin. Yeah, and that was the
Roger bannisterurban breaking the four minute mile as well, Like
those were things that people said would never happen. Obviously,
we think you should get a physicist on and really
get deep on the just pure biomechanics of what the
human body is accomplished in. Yeah, remember sports science and
all that stuff. I don't think people don't do those

(01:04:06):
shows as much anymore because they cost a bunch of
money to make, but uh, yeah, people are into that
kind of stuff. I don't know, I don't know. I
think you say Bolt might be the pinnacle of it
because of his height and I'm not I'm not really sure,
and the lengths you know, down the stretch, but the
fact that he could start and keep up and then
go beat people was really a marvel And it'll be

(01:04:27):
hard to imagine another guy like that, but I'm sure
it'll happen. We're talking to Petros Papadakis. The Lakers are
in well. First of all, the Dodgers have been awful, right, like,
I mean, very mediocre and lack of effort, just a
real lack of effort out there, Like they're really playing
like bloated, kind of tired, fat cats. And it's not

(01:04:49):
supposed to be alarming because of the length of the
baseball season and this isn't like the sixty game season
and apparently they're built to last, but it's certainly an
alarming effort. I think that people are seeing out there.
I think they're sitting basically around five D eighteen and
seventeen if I'm not mistaken. The Lakers also, we don't

(01:05:09):
know exactly when Lebron is going to officially be back,
but there's only a few games left in the season,
and right now they would not be in the regular playoffs.
They've got this play in realm Um, how much interest
is there right now in the city of Los Angeles
in the Lakers playoff quest. I feel like it's percolating.

(01:05:32):
I mean, there's always going to be people that support
the Lakers that are into it, but I think it's
more polarizing than it's ever been. I think that's fair
to say, And I think Lebron is more polarizing maybe
even he's ever been in his career. And that's a
lot to say because he's had some pretty goofy things

(01:05:53):
happen so and he's one of the most scrutinized people
on Earth. So I don't really know. I don't know
if they're going to avoid the play and I heard
him talking on T and T that they can avoid
the playoffs altogether. I don't think that's going to happen,
and I know that they won on Sunday night and
they beat a very good Phoenix team without Lebron. So

(01:06:15):
I just I don't know. I don't know where the
interest is going to be. I don't know if people
are going to really wake up for the NBA playoffs.
For the Clippers are in town. They're also very good
and playing at a very high level. Uh, that story
just kind of feels like it's disappeared, right like pre COVID,
because I was there for that first game of the
season when the Lakers and the Clippers played. There was

(01:06:37):
all this excitement about l A Kauai against Lebron, Anthony
Davis against Paul George, so much excitement over them playing
in the same arena, and then COVID happened, and last
year's Bubble playoffs I think it's fair to say did
not really resonate with a large population. And partly that's
because they're going head to head against the football and

(01:06:58):
everything else. But even this year, now, you know, like
with a more traditional season, not a complete season, but
close to it. I just I don't hear much discussion
about Kauai and Paul George and Anthony Davis and Lebron
James and the Battle for Los Angeles Like it felt
as if we were going to be hearing if that
makes sense. Yeah, No, we do it on the air.

(01:07:20):
I mean, we have our guests that we paid James Worthy,
it's sponsored to come on once a week. We paid
Don McLean one of the dearest friends of the show,
the best friend of the show since we started, since
I had a show. Don mccleans come on every week
as our basketball guys. So we honor it in that way.
But beyond that, we don't really do a lot of

(01:07:41):
stories about it. I gotta be honest, and I don't
know what that tells you. Maybe it'll change from the
playoffs start. It is interesting to think about um. And
then I guess last question this asking for a prediction.
There's zero doubt at this point, just based on the
way Atlanta is going, based on the way the state
of Texas is going. Florida. You know, there's been a
lot of discussion about, Hey, what's football gonna look like?

(01:08:02):
I know you love college football like I do that
basically all the SEC stadiums are going to be a
hundred full. How confident are you that football stadiums will
be a hundred percent full. I don't know. I mean,
we've got to figure out who the commissioner is going
to be. There's been that they're going to hire Oliver luck,
which would be I think great. And you know, I mean,

(01:08:25):
I know people in Washington and Oregon kind of feel
like they're going backwards right now, and that's really unfortunate
and it's upsetting to hear about. Things are pretty positive
here in Los Angeles. I think things in California changed
a lot when the recall thing became more of a threaction. Yes,

(01:08:47):
suddenly they have to have to make people happy by
starting to open things back up. It does definitely seems
like those things are connected. It became tangible. Yeah, not that,
I mean, it's just just the timing of it and
all that seemed pretty convenience. So I'm not sure, but
I really do think that kicking and screaming the West

(01:09:08):
Coast is going to be dragged with everybody else in
this country because whether you feel safe or you don't
feel safety, the Almighty dollar is gonna you're gonna ultimately
kick the people that are able to perpetuate all of
these kind of arbitrary rules and the nuts. Petros Papadecus,

(01:09:29):
that is a fantastic line to finish on. We will
talk to you next week. Appreciate the time, a man
uh and thanks for getting up early with us. Yes, yes,
have a great day. We will many of you will
be hearing Petros Papadecus on many of the same AM
five seventy l A Sports sections stations to finish his day.
I encourage you go download the podcast. We had a
loaded program. Shannon Spake in the first hour, my buddy

(01:09:51):
Chad with throw in the second, Petro's Papadakis, all of
that and more. Download my name Clay Travis, search out
to OutKick. Make sure that you find into this program
wherever you may be. I will be out tomorrow running
around doing ad sales for Fox. I'll be back on
Thursday and Friday. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us.
This is OutKick on Fox Sports Radio.