December 11, 2024 • 48 mins
On a Wednesday edition of The Best Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug reacts to the report that the University of North Carolina is finalizing a deal with Bill Belichick to be their head football coach, and lays out what would be in store for the Hall Of Fame coach.
Doug and the crew share their favorite NFL receiver diva moments in this week's version of "The Midway".
Doug gives his take on an answer Caitlin Clark gave after accepting Time Magazine's Athlete Of The Year award. Doug welcomes Jim Rooney on to talk about his book about father Dan Rooney and the impact he had on the NFL.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:24):
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away tire buying should be welcome in No, No, you're
you're too kind. You're too kind. So we're gonna get
(00:50):
to I think what's the story of the day, but
it is not a finalized story today. Would you want
to be just very very cautious where it is looks
it feels like Bill Belichick's can be the head coach
of the North Carolina tar Heels. And I'll tell you
what I think that means in just a moment. I
do want to personal update right that tonight, My Green
(01:13):
Bay Phoenix returned to the basketball floor in our whole marine.
It's called the Rest Center. It's a it's a dan
Byer drive from lambeau Field, and our arch rival UW
Milwaukee travels up I forty three to play us. Of course,
if you know anything about my personal history, my dad
(01:34):
when I was born, was the head coach of the Panthers.
So a lot going on, and we're really focused. If
you want to watch the game tonight at six Central
time on ESPN Plus, and of course if you're listening
to us on our new affiliate in Appleton, back up
the car, wear some green, you'll come see some good hoop.
All right, let's get to the story of the day.
(01:55):
Bill Belichick, who's the most successful head coach in the
history of the sport, is they're working on finalizing the
deal to become the head coach at North Carolina. And
there's a lot of things that it signifies. And I've
told you before that I occupy a chair once occupied
(02:18):
by the great Dick Bennett. Dick Bennett did this exact
same thing. He was the head coach of Wisconsin. They
went to the frontal four, he retired, and then he
came out of retirement to take over Washington State so
that his son Tony could ultimately take over. That was
part of the plan, which is essentially what Belichick is doing,
so his son Steven, who's the defensive coordinator at the
(02:39):
University of Washington, can do the same thing in North Carolina.
It's been done many times over and the success rate's
about fifty to fifty, which is kind of about the
success rate of anybody, right. Pat Knight's a very good
friend of mine. He took over for his dad, Bob Knight.
It was sort of part of the plan, but of
course coach Knight retired mid season and it wasn't as
(03:00):
planned out and it didn't work out well. Sean Sutton
took over for my coach, Eddie Sutton, but of course
he took over after coach Sutton at a DUI, so
it wasn't a smooth transition in a smooth handoff. But
for Dick and Tony Bennett, I mean, obviously that is
the that's the signature way of doing it. And while
(03:21):
Tom Izzo isn't the son of jud Heathcote, I remember
being recruited at a high school by Tom Izzo, who
was the head coach designate and my freshman year would
have coincided with his freshman year. So handing it off
to an assistant when it's all planned deal does work.
Tom Mizzo is the perfect example. Tony Bennett's the perfect example.
I don't know what works in North Carolina. We'll see,
(03:42):
but what it signifies to me. To me, what it
signifies is the professionalization of college football. I think that
if North Carolina pulls this thing off it again, it
doesn't guarantee success, but it does signify how dramatic the
(04:05):
change is in college sports. And yeah, okay, they're paying
players now. We talked about Ajdabansa, who's the number one
recruit in the class of twenty twenty five. The reports are,
I don't know if it's accurate, seven million dollars in
an ail yes or yesterday. He committed to playing at BYU.
(04:25):
By the way, we're in talks to play BYU next year.
We'd love that. We'd love that. We'd love that, just
because again, I want my players to see what the
best of the best of the best look like. So
I think that what North Carolina understands is not just
(04:46):
the professionalization in terms of paying players, but how it
actually works is about evaluating based upon film, based upon background,
talking to coaches, talking to mentors, talking to people in
a program. In many ways, it is as much or
more like the NFL Draft and the waiver wire than
(05:11):
it is anything else. Now, there are some things that
work against it, that work against Bill Belichick being a
quality head coach. It's that all of the players that
he's evaluating out of the portal, all he has is
that film, and he has to hire a staff that
can provide him all of the background on all of
(05:33):
these players and all the connections. Because the truth is
that you have to be able to evaluate, but you
also have to know what you're getting as a person.
Have to know what you're getting as a player, more
so than just what am I not seeing on tape.
North Carolina is a big time academic institution, and by
(05:54):
the way, Bill Belichick, you can brush off the idea
of academics in college football. You'd be fair to do so,
because academics don't play a part in so many of
these decisions. But it's always been important for Belichick and
the Patriot Way to get college graduates. Remember the Patriots
and then the Jets when they were coached by Eric
Mangini had the highest percentage of college graduates on their roster.
(06:17):
Why they valued guys that valued education because they felt
like they had guys that had their lives together, guys
that are a little bit more intelligent, and guys that
would do the little things it took to get through school,
just like you'll do the little things it takes to
study up and get ready for a Sunday of football.
But it's really hard in short order to dive into
(06:40):
the portal. Yes, you can evaluate on tape, but there's
a lot of background details you need, much like when
you're in the NFL draft, right you need to know
everything about a kid. And I'll give you the example
I got when I received this job, which is on
May fifteenth. My best player is Anthony Roy. Okay, and
(07:04):
obviously I've you been following the news. He's been in
news a ton. We've been in the news because I
didn't play him in Saturday's loss at home to Cleveland State.
He leads the country in scoring, he leads the country
in effective field goal percentage as well. But Anthony Roy,
this is his sixth school, Okay, so I had to
(07:25):
make a quick decision, But I had to fully educate myself.
And if not for the fact that I know, I'm
trying to think of all of his coaches, right. I
knew his academic advisor in New Mexico State. I knew
his head coach at Langston, which was last year he
(07:46):
was in Naia basketball. He's the best player in Naia basketball.
Chris Wright does his name. I knew someone on every
one of the staffs that he had that he had
played for. You go back to San Francisco. Other people
who had recruited him as well. I talked to everybody
(08:08):
because I wanted to know what I'm getting, because scatter
reports on people, not just players, exist for a reason.
And you know what, Anthony Roy has been a slightly
better version of everything everybody told me. There have been
no surprises because I talked to people. I know people
in Oakland. I know a guy named Lou Ritchie. Lou
(08:30):
is a coach of bishopau Dowd High School. Lou was
a star at Clemson. He was actually a walk on
at UCLA, beat out my brother at UCLA to make
the team as a walk on, then transferred to Clemson,
was their starting point guard on scholarship, and then he's
been a really talented head coach in Oakland. I've talked
to everybody, because that's what you have to do for
the job. But remember, in college football, you're bringing in
(08:51):
eighty new guys, sixty new guys, fifty new guys. It
doesn't matter. You have to do that level of background.
And there just isn't the time if you don't already
have the connections. And while Bill Belichick knows everybody in
the NFL and everybody will take his call, does he
know the high school coaches, the other college assistants. And
by the way, that's probably not his job. He's got
(09:13):
to hire people who do that. But there's what this
hire signifies is not just the professionalization, but the reality
that college football is. It's not just about free agency.
It's about being a waiver wire pickups. It's about evaluating
in short order and understanding what you're going to get
(09:34):
for just a one year plan. And there has never been, okay,
never been a coaching staff or an NFL team that's
done a better job on the waiver wire than Bill
Belichick's New England Patriots. They've whipped on draft picks, everybody has.
They obviously struggled to replace Tom Brady, but remember they
(09:56):
did find Tom Brady to begin with and made the
decision to stick with him when Drew Bledsoe came back. Obviously,
wide receivers was they were never able to draft wide receivers.
It's not flawless, but in this landscape, I actually think
it makes sense. And oh yeah, by the way, if
(10:17):
you keep trying to do the same thing the same way,
you're gonna have the same results. North Carolina tried to
go to the wayback machine and bring back Mac Brown,
who was their last incredibly successful head coach. That didn't work.
So they're trying something different and it just happens to
appears to be it's not finalized. It appears to be
(10:37):
Bill Belichick. And for people who say, well, the Belichick
handing off to his son won't work, I did give
you a couple of examples. There's a couple more.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
This is the best of the Done dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Put you Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Hope you
having a great day. We're broadcasting love from the tyret
dot com studios tyrat dot Com. Well you get there.
Unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road ass protection over
ten thousand recommended stallars tyrat dot com. It's the way
(11:18):
tire buying should be. I would guys, you can go
to your cell phones for just a second. Well, I
know it hasn't gone through yet. Yeah, now it's gone
through and you can see what we're dealing with. We
say welcome to the Tundra, and tonight at the Rest Center,
(11:41):
which is our home arena in the heart of Green Bay, Wisconsin,
we take on our art tribal Milwaukee, and the tundra
is frozen. What do you think that picture? Jay se
Sammy Sami? You want to get on that plane and
head to Dan Byer's home state.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
It looks like it would be fun for maybe forty
eight hours and then I would want to return home.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Uh yeah, next forty eight hours is gonna be rather cold,
rather cold.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I didn't get the picture. It's not showing up here.
I mean lost in the ether.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
I guess I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
I mean buyer. Did you get the picture?
Speaker 5 (12:18):
I did? Yeah, bays frozen over huh by you?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Uh yeah, it was. What's interesting was we had a
couple of bombing fifty plus degrees days and it went
from it was it was lightly frozen, then it was, uh,
there was just a couple of spots and there's probably about,
you know, two thousand Canadian geese in the water outside
of my home. And then last night a cold front
(12:43):
went through. It got a little dusting of snow and
now the base back frozen over.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Yeah, not safe to walk down yet.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
No, do not walk on that. Say it is not
ready to be walked on.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
But that's going to make for some badass ice fishing.
Have you gotten any gear yet? Your little cabin, your
little mobile tent thing? You gonna do any of that
at some point?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah? Maybe do people know? Like I had no idea
about some of these things. Frozen pizza is huge in Wisconsin,
but it's huge and Wisconsant goes. Who you do is
you get a frozen pizza and in the summer you
put it on a grill outside. In the winter you
actually cook it on a little grill inside one of
those one of those huts. Like that's i'd be wait. Yeah,
(13:20):
so no, I have not gotten any gear. I do
not tend to get any gear. I just think that
with the best course of action for me is somebody
wants to invite me. I'll go with them. I'll go
with them. Hey, it is Wednesday, which is middle of
the week. It's what is it one oh three on
the West Coast? Yeah, one o three on the West Coast,
(13:42):
roughly middle of the day, roughly middle of the show.
Let's get to the midway. It's not getting the middle.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
It's time for dug in the middle.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The midway, what but Snug Outlab show, Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
So what we do for the midway generally is we uh,
we had We've had a couple of different discussions and
I'll give you guys too, and this is your show
as much as its mind. Jay Stu proposed one of
(14:15):
the best wide receiver Diva moments situations ever. It does
feel like we talked a little bit about this, but okay,
or the one that Jay Su and I discussed before
the show, which is we're gonna wrap our heads around
something one Soto signed for it was it seven twenty six,
so within I don't know, five five, seven sixty five, Okay,
(14:39):
seven sixty five. He's offered seven to twenty six or
something I think from the Yankees, right, one more year
more money from from the Mets. We're getting close to
a billion dollar baseball player. It's I'll give me a
billion dollar athlete, billion dollar contract. Who will that be?
(14:59):
Dan bar Which which topic would you prefer in the
mid one?
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Well, I like the one that I knew about, So
I'm going with the DIVA wide receivers PARVA wide receivers,
is my answer.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I was him, Yeah, I thought that's what we were
going to get into. But I don't. I can't see
into the future, so I don't know who these these
billion dollar stars might be.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Okay, hey, this is a democracy.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
It actually felt like a coup that Doug was trying
to take over with his no no, no, not constituents.
Jason and I was eased.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was Jason. I. We did discuss this at length,
but we didn't really come I came up with Jackson
Curio is the only guy I could come up with.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
And I think that that that might be, uh the
inherent issue with that topic, because I think it goes
to like, it's probably someone that we don't know about yet.
Holiday it's one of those two. So that's the midway.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So the midway. The midway is the midway is best
DIVA wide receiver moments. Since you prepared for it and
you are a walking history book in the Nation Football League,
Dan Barr, why don't you begin?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
It's funny because I think that there's an obvious number
one in the variety of issues. But I'm going to
go in a different direction. Ooh yes, I think Antonio
Brown walking off the field with his shirt off in
a game against the New York Jets all timer. It
truly is like, I know we're going to get into
(16:31):
the other player, and I don't want to steal it.
But of all the things that have happened leading up
to it, and Antonio Brown thought to be that Tom
Brady would get him right, the visual of him prancing
off the field in his football pants with no shoulder
pads or jersey and saying goodbye to the game is
(16:53):
one I just cannot get out of my mind. I
think it is the number one diva moment of any
wide receiver in the history of the National Footballoon.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I think we just had an anniversary of that. Does
that make sense? Is that what four years?
Speaker 5 (17:12):
It was later in the year to year on that
there's his bone.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I think the reason I thought about the topic is
because of you know, Deebo Samuel is having some drama
in San Francisco right now. AJ Brown's having drama in Philadelphia.
But the Deebo Samuel thing that I want to talk
about happened two years ago. So you remember the first
time before he didn't get his contract extension and he
(17:41):
was leveraging the forty nine ers and Jeff Darlington came
out and he tweeted out the following I just spoke
with receiver Deebo Samuel and he told me that he
has asked for the forty nine ers for a trade.
So Deebo takes to social media and he's like, don't
believe every thing you read on the internet. Don't believe reports.
(18:04):
Dar was like, I spoke directly to you, and that's
what you told me.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I got one that I don't think is on the list.
I mean, I think the guy that Dan's talking about
is Tara Owens, right, the ultimate EVA wide receivers, which
is which is amazing that there's so many you could
talk about.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
There was the standing on the Star, then he becomes
a cowboy. Uh, there's the sit ups and curls in
the in the driveway when he's a Philadelphi Eagle.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
There was the the so are saving him and you're
listing all of the things that he's done. We're moving
him for later. But you've just rattled off three of
the top diva moments. More that Tara Owens has done.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
There's so many more, so many more, but look, here's
I'll just give you one which probably does it. Not
top diva moments, but a guy who no one thought
was a diva late in his career became a little
bit of a diva. But do you remember when Andre
Johnson kicked the crap out of Courtland Sutton?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I don't know why I just thought of that one.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Courtland Finnegan, Sorry, Courtland Finnigan. Do you remember when he
kicked the crap out of Courtland Finnigan? And Courtland Finnigan
was the diva cornerback and Andre Johnson was like a
guy out of Miami, but he didn't celebrate like all
those guys in the U. I don't know that one
just jumped out to me. But of course I'm gonna
take too, right, there's so many t os. There's the
remember he showed up he was a bill and like
(19:31):
the people in Buffalo greeted him at the at the airport. Right,
that thing didn't last. There was he did something against
the Giants when he was a Niner, when he had
like twenty catches against the Giants. There was obviously that
that's my quarterback thing. There was the throwing. Yeah, there
(19:52):
was also the throwing. The throwing down a McNab under
the bus after they lost in the Super Bowl. I
wasn't the one who threw up in the trash can.
I wasn't the one who was scared. Right, So many
t o moments and probably the culmination is he had
his own Hall of Fame ceremony instead of going to
the actual Hall of Fame. So like, you can't make
(20:13):
that up. Yeah, you can't make that one up.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Uh, remember we remember this to you a moment, right,
is really fair.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
It's my quarterback.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
And if you guys do that, man, it's fair. We
lost with the team.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You give that man an Academy award.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
I mean, listen, but it up against I mean, he
is attacking Donovan McNabb this week like he's he's taken
shots at Donovan McNabb within the last couple of days
for Donovan McNabb's take on the A. J. Brown Jalen
Hurts thing so so tl giving and showing Tony Romo
(20:57):
tons of grace, and Donovan McNabb is still feeling it.
As of December tenth, twenty twenty four. I know it's
the eleventh, but at least as of yesterday, I don't
think he tweeted at Donovan McNabb today. It truly is
like it's somebody and even like the crying of Remember
(21:18):
when he cut the touchdown pass against the Packers that
was very Wisconsin accent that came out, but and he
was crying off the fielders, Yeah, against the Packers with it.
Do you remember that the wild card game? He caught
it at the goal line, Steve Young right at the
box end. Craig t O's crying and bawling it. I
don't know that's diva, but it's the many different ways
(21:39):
of Arrell Owens. You get chipopcorn?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Ready, Sam, did you have one?
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Well?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I did think of another Cowboy wide receiver who was
kind of looked at as a diva during his time
in Dallas would be former Oklahoma State Cowboy Des Bryant.
Maybe not to the degree of t O and probably
not to the success of Teo, but he caused some
mostly throwing me the ball kind of stuff, you know,
your typical complaints. But I mean I also think about
(22:05):
Antonio Brown, you know, not even playing for the Raiders,
burning his feet in the cold cryoud chamber, had the
helmet issue, you know, he did, went on social media
like a live stream in the locker room for the Steelers.
I mean this, the list goes on and on. He
had his failed venture into arena football being like an owner.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
I mean, the.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Guy's got there could be book written about. I'm sure
there will be at some point.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Right, guys, there's a bunch that we haven't hit on though. Okay,
you have Steve Smith, oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, you
have Steve Smith. Does it going right? You have Chad
Ocho Cinco with once Chad Johnson, who, as we discussed
a couple weeks ago, that he actually had a yellow
jacket Hall of Fame jacket made for him. Yeah, on
the sideline.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
And just the fact that he changed his name.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yes nothing, yes, you're right, nothing, says diva wide receiver,
much like changing your name to the Mexican word for your.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Number, which is actually just eighty five. It's not eighty five.
But yeah, I get the picture.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yes, Tenti Cincoe.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I think the shadow Cinco thing though, I think what
the great thing about him being a diva was how
it didn't work in New Orleans or I'm sorry, New
England because he was a diva. So I guess you're figuring, well,
the day that he was cut from the Patriots would
be that would be a great culmination of why exactly
(23:29):
did that ever even start in the first place. Ocho
Cinco and Bill Belichick our buddy here at Andy here
at Fox Sports Radio. Andy Furman was behind the whole
o Chio Cinco racing a horse.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Thanks, he raced a horse.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Yeah, yeah, Andy Furman was a part of the man
verse beast.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Oh wait, CoA, we're forgetting one of the initial one
of the original Diva wide receivers preceded to preceded all
these guys, the playmaker, Michael Irvin. Yes, you know, he
had the White House. I mean he was he was
the first with the obnoxious constant first down point right,
(24:16):
and you go back to when he was at the
U and they came out the plane and the fatigues,
like if there's ever been a guy that says diva
wide receiver it's the playmaker, Mike orv.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
He was. He was the start of it. Randy Moss
as well. Sure like he's well beloved now as a
media member, and his skills were undeniable. But there were
diva moments, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
When he went to Oakland, right, yeah, I really want
to give effort.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
No, that's my play when I want to right, that
was in Oakland and he comes doing what people forget
about New England. Everybody now just remembers the fact that
he had how many touchdown receptions that year when they
had had Brady had fifteen twenty one or I thought
it was twenty maybe twenty three, twenty one, something like that.
But people forget it ended really poorly, like he was done,
They were done with him. They kind of me went
(25:08):
to They traded him to Tennessee for like a bag of.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Football's defloid footballs.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Remember, Keishawn Johnson wrote a.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Book Shawn Johnson, Sewn Johnson.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Throw me the damn ball, thrown ball.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Key Shawn Johnson. That's a good one and the others.
There's got to be something that were missing.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
DeShawn Jackson was Jacksoneah, he was a showbold I think
you can put him in the Diva thing. He was
infamous for the dropping the ball before the goal line.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Hold on, hold on, hold on, Can I get the
Dan buyer? Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,
hold on, there you go. I have a question here,
Dan and your knowledge of football. Hold on, hold on,
superseds mine. Did Dion ever play wide receiver?
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Yeah? Yeah, it did for the Cowboys in their Super
Bowl year Super Bowl thirty.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
And when Dion would get a touchdown there was I
mean it was. He did the Dion dance. He had
the Prime Time he would walk down the sidelines. He
would check his hair while he was still running with
the football. He didn't drop it early like d Jacks.
But let's be honest, prime time was was was a
Diva wide receiver, cornerback kick return.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Would you guys also say Odell Beckham Junior?
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, yep, the Odell Sweepstakes.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Andre Risen got his.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
House at Moon Rising, but before he.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Got his house burned down. I think he was. He
was one of those quote unquote misunderstood players.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, by the way, it is, Andre Risen to it now.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not sure. I would just pulled
up Dion's staff. You talked about him being a wide
receiver and he played it in Atlanta and you know
a little bit in San Francisco. But in that nineteen
ninety six season for the Cowboys, he had sixty seven targets.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
That's incredible.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Yeah, I think that was the year after they won
the Super Bowl, because I think it was the ninety
five season heading into ninety six. But yeah, his second
season he had sixty seven targets, thirty six catches, four
hundred and seventy five yards that year as a receiver.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I'm going to say something which I only say when
I mean it. I was wrong. You guys are right,
much better topic than the one I came up with.
That's the Midway.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
The Midway. Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
It's the Dog Gottlieb Show. It's Fox Sports Radio. So
these two things can be both true, right, Caitlin Clark
is Times Sportsperson of the Year, and in the United States,
I don't think there's even despite the fact that Shoe
(28:19):
heey O Tony is the first fifty to fifty player
in the history of Major League Baseball, and they won
the World Series and he got the first seven hundred
plus million dollar contract. It's not really close, right, I Mean,
the perfect example is I've been doing this job for
over twenty one years on the national radio landscape, and
(28:41):
without any question, it is the first time ever, ever
that we have talked about women's basketball, with exception of well,
last year, previous year and when you had the I
miss deal with Rutgers. This is going back, I don't know,
(29:04):
fifteen sixteen years ago, and I actually called the championship
game on ESPN two. Was called the Full Circle Broadcast.
Carolyn Peck was my analyst and I was like a host,
sort of play by play sort of thing. It was
in Cleveland, Ohio. But even that lasted three four days.
Cayln Clark has completely changed anyone's reasonable perception of women's
(29:29):
college basketball, ceiling and the WNBA. So she's the sports
person of the Year that said I I feel like
she's been put in a situation where there is no
win and the only way to survive is to fall
(29:56):
on the sword for white people everywhere, because that's the
perception the perception of women's basketball is we only care
about Caitlin Clark because she's a straight white girl. And look,
(30:18):
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that's not
at least a factor. But you you can't make people
like something they don't like, right, And the perfect example
of it is who's the best college women's player today?
(30:45):
Iowa sam Our, resident women's basketball analyst and scout, who's
the best women's college basketblayer? It's truly down to two players.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Right, Yeah?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I would say one of them is probably Juju Watkins
of USA.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yep. And the other one, let me think, let me
Page Becker's.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Oh of course, yeah, Page Beckers, Yeah, ok.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Page Beckers is white as you not yep? Okay? Is
she anywhere near as popular as Caitlin Clark?
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
I would say no, but she's She's pretty popular, especially
on the Yukon community, but not as close as not
as Clark.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
It's not. She's not in the same solar system of popularity.
And before injury, you can make the case and she
still may be considered a better all around player like
Page Beckers is. She's legit. She can really play Kelsey
Plumb is someone whose records Caitlyn Clark broke. Is her
(31:42):
popularity or was her popularity anywhere near that of Caitlin Clark. No, no, yes,
it's a rhetorical question. Yes, Sabria Sabrina in sq same
thing sabrinian Escu was actually and her shoe is the
(32:05):
I believe the number one selling shoe that Nike has.
Now part of it is Nike kind of dolls up
the numbers by making that their team shoe, meaning anybody
who's a Nike team automatically gets those shoes. And they're
really either the Kyrie I think they're actually the Kobe's.
They're planning to be Kobe's. Kobe tragically died and those
same molds were used for Sabrinas. And why do I
(32:28):
bring it up that it's about skin color when I
don't think it actually is, Caitlin Clark said in the
Time magazine interview where she is the sports Person of
the Year. I want to say that I've earned every
single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege.
A lot of those players in the league have been
really good, but they've been black players. This league is
kind of built on them. The more we can appreciate
(32:50):
that highlight that talk about that, then continue to have
brands and companies invest in those players that have made
this league incredible. I think it's very important I continue
to try and change that. The more we elevate black women,
it's going to be a beautiful thing. Now, look, I'm
not against the elevation of beautiful black women, white women,
straight women, gay women, I don't care. But what are
(33:15):
we actually talking about? Elena Dela Don one of the
greatest players ever by the way, she walked away from
basketball for a portion of time to take care of
her special needs sister. She's an amazing story and an amazing
human being. She's white. The league's built on her incredible success.
Go through it. It's about fifty to fifty. But the
(33:40):
social media pressure for Caitlin Clark to feel bad about
the attention that she's earned and say that she has
some sort of privilege is sad, like she can't even
enjoy the fact that there is no sportsperson in the
United States and frankly out of the United States that
(34:00):
can reasonably compare to the year that she had. And
a response has to be it's great. I want to
say I earned it. But it's white privilege and that's
not really what this league is about. I mean, what
are we actually doing? And look, I know her boyfriend
(34:25):
is Patrick McCaffrey. I mean, see me Connor McCaffrey. Sorry,
Patrick is the start at Butler. Connor is his brother
who's on staff. Just full disclosure, fran is one of
my mentors. Friend is the head coach at Iowa. He
recruited me and signed me at Notre Dame. Like I'm
close to the family. They are they're you know, Franny's
(34:47):
from Philadelphia and they are They are real people. They
are comfortable in their skin around white people, black people.
I would, you know, if you want to label them
like I would say that if friand you'd label them
is a fair the liberal person. But we're making her
basically apologize for her success and the fandom of her
(35:07):
success and saying it's only because she's white. That's what
we're doing, and that's embarrassing, that's humiliating. I don't she's
done nothing wrong. All she's done is go out and
hoop and hoop in a way which most people say, like, well,
(35:29):
she's the closest thing to Steph Curry, right, I don't
know anybody goes well, yeah, I like her, but I
like her only because she's white. Like, what are we doing?
We've had white basketball players, women's basket players that are
great before, they haven't gotten this tension. We've had black
basketball players that are great before, they haven't got this tension.
(35:56):
Cheryl Miller to make a hole's claw, uh, I'd mentioned
Elena Della don like you go kind of go through it.
It's like women's basketball. It's like a fifty fifty split
white and black and who's a really good player. And
now we're like making her apologize, which actually gives credence
to what Jay Stu tweeted when I tweeted out, hey,
(36:17):
there's no one even a close second for her to
be sports person in the year. Jay Stu, what was
your tweet?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
I said that Angel rees better be a close second. Yeah, yeah,
better be or else?
Speaker 1 (36:30):
How why are we still doing this? Why are we
still doing this? We're like, I'm basically that's what she's doing. Like, hey,
I'm great mentioned it. I gotta mention Angel Reees because
Angel Reese isn't close. Why are we doing this? Why
are we all this does is make people who do
(36:53):
have negative thoughts about other races feel more empowered. And
I understand that all Kaitlyn Clarkson do is like, look,
I just want to hoop, and what's the best way
to hope? Oh, talk about elevating black women? Great? How
about just elevating all women? Hey, I want to use
this incredible platform to honor all the women that came
(37:16):
before me, all the women that came after me. Gay, straight, white, black,
mixed race, American or foreign, doesn't matter to me. Doesn't
that sound better? Isn't that more real? So I'm not
being critical of Caitlin because she wouldn't do this, as
she's tried to take the political neutral Switzerland high road
(37:38):
throughout the entire last two years. I would be critical
of whomever is her advisor telling her to say these
things that, well, this will make all of those girls
like you, like m Here's the thing. They still don't
like you. They don't like anybody. They don't even realize
that you are the golden goose're trying to kill the
(38:00):
golden Goose, and they're trying to make their league. They're
trying to make their league so incredibly woke that you're
going to push away many of the fans that have
now come to enjoy the sport. Like, I don't know
how to tell you this, but people are worn out
by politics. Worn out. They're worn out by by people
(38:24):
making everything into something racial or something political. We're done,
We're cooked. These last three elections have completely beaten the
politics out of me. You know, it just is and
(38:45):
making something political, which is just really a tip of
the cap to an incredible year. I mean, think about it, right,
she played great, they get to a championship game, they lose.
She's number one draft pick. She struggles early on, she
doesn't get to the Olympic team. And what does she do.
She leads her team to a complete seasonal turnaround and
leads them to the playoffs or ultimately they lose, right,
(39:08):
and the popularity drops off as soon as they lose.
And she handles just about everything with a supreme amount
of class and dignity, representing all women her sport and
other women's sports as well as anyone could possibly hope.
And her reward is sports Person of the Year. But
(39:28):
you got to make sure you say you're privileged and
the only reason you're getting this attention is because You're
white sad state of affairs Stug Gottlieb Show. You're on
Fox Sports Radio, and there's a book written in twenty
nineteen which is fascinating and there's a new audio version
of it which includes some of the biggest names in
(39:49):
all of the National Football League, names like Roger Goodell
and Franco Harris and Paul Tagliabu. Even the great Bill
Kauer is on there. The book is authored by g Rooney.
He takes listeners and share stories of his father Dan.
Of course, Dan's life and accomplishments are amazing inside outside
the world of the Nation Football League. Jim's kind of
(40:11):
to spend some time of this year on the Doug
Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Jim, how are you, Doug.
Speaker 6 (40:16):
It's great to be with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Why this book? To tell me what was the impetus
behind writing this book.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
Yeah, So we actually started the book while my father
was still alive and then he passes, and we were
originally going to do a sort of a journal article
for the Harvard Business Review about the Rooney Rule, the
NFL's diversity hiring policy, and when he passed, Commissioner Tagliaboo
is actually the one who said to me, you know,
(40:44):
we have so much good material here, we should turn
this into a book. And we did that, and we
talked about the Rooney Rule, We talked about my father's
work in the NFL, with labor, with TV and then
obviously with the Steelers. So we thought we'd put together
a good story about, you know, management leadership that had
a lot of fun, fun aspects than rather than some
(41:06):
of the textbooks you get on some of those subjects.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Well, well, here we are again, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Of course, your father's team is you know, no one
been coached by three coaches, and Mike Tomlin continues to
amaze with his consistency. Take me through your dad and
what he saw in Mike Tomlin so many years ago
that has found such an incredible leader for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
Yeah, my dad. You know, as you know, Doug, he
hired coach Noel in sixty eight, He hired Bill Kower
ninety two, and then Mike in two thousand and eight,
and no other coaches in his lifetime. His father hired
all the ones before that, and you know, I think
in each of them he was looking for people who
were authentic. Each of them are very different in terms
(41:51):
of personality. They're all great with x'es and o's, but
they're also original. They relate to people in a way
that is, you know, for lack a better word, real,
And I think when you look at our players today,
you know there's a connection that Mike Commlin is able
to make with them because he's so genuine, because he's
so straightforward, because he's you know, has such a strong
(42:13):
character and personality that it gets guys to do things that,
you know, I think, I think go above and beyond
maybe what some others can do.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
The Rooney rule. Obviously you look at the numbers and
we're not where I think your father intended us to be.
What was the intent? Give me the sense of the
true intent of the rule?
Speaker 6 (42:38):
Yep? And you know this so so in well you
may not have the exact date, but in sixty eight
we heard Bill nont He was the third black scout
in the NFL history. And from that point to nineteen eighty,
the Steelers draft more players from the HBCUs than any
other team historically black colleges, any other team in the NFL.
(42:58):
And you know, you know the record in the seven
these they go on to just dominate. And from that
point on, my father really understood that you know, diversity,
you know, giving people opportunities who weren't otherwise getting them
not only was the right thing to do, which I
think and his hardy really believed it was the right thing,
but it was also a business advantage. And he always
(43:19):
made that argument to the NFL that this is, this
is not only we're doing something wrong by not providing
these opportunities, but we're doing something stupid. You know, why
would we not create more opportunities with folks that have
a chance to make us more successful. So that was
the spirit of the Ruoney rule. In terms of the mechanisms,
you know, I think there's a whole bunch of issues
(43:41):
in the early days that had had more to do
with the pipeline, you know, than than you know, you know,
there's there were only so many candidates because so many
folks weren't getting chances to be coordinators, et cetera. And
so I think you had that problem. You still have
that problem frankly with the offensive coordinator, which which is
something that needs to be addressed. But but I think
(44:02):
we're moving forward. You know this past season, as you know,
we started the season with with nine minority coaches, and
I hope folks see you know that that you know,
it is a pathway to success, and then we provide
opportunities to topos to have achieved.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
What what is the what is the most surprising thing
a reader or a listener in the audiobook, we'll find
out about your father.
Speaker 6 (44:27):
Well, I really think that, you know, there was just
this care between he and his players that you know,
kind of went beyond the ordinary. You know. I have
a conversation with Rocky Blyer and as you know, Rocky
was a was in Vietnam and came back wounded and
actually gets cut by the Steelers because he, you know,
he didn't perform well his first camp. And my father
(44:48):
was in New York that day, I think, at an
NFL meeting, a league meeting, and he comes back and says, wait, wait,
wait a minute, We're not cutting Rocky. We're going to
put him on injured reserve, and we put him on
i R. And you know, comes back and you know,
becomes one of the greatest players of Steeler history. Is
our player rep during some of the early strikes and
you know, over and over again, Rocky talked about this
(45:09):
intimate connection he had with my father, who looked out
for him, who really tried to make a difference in
his life. And even when he was on the other
side of the table in player you owner negotiations, my
father was always willing to listen to the other point
of view. And I think you get some real deep
(45:30):
and intimate stories from players and from Commissioner Goodell, from
other folks as well about how this man was able
to manage successfully but also you know, kind of be
genuine and authentic in his care for them.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
You have all these incredible names of people now on
this newly produced produced audiobook. And remember, for people who
don't know that the book was written in twenty nineteen,
obviously COVID changed so many things, but this is new.
This is more voices. Who's the one that you're most
honored to have on this audiobook?
Speaker 6 (46:04):
So you know, that's unfair. It was great of all
of them, But we got Franco before he passed, and
obviously we had no idea he was going to path away,
and Franco ends up sort of interviewing me and talking
to me about what it was like for my family
during the amaclat or right after the Immaculate Reception and
to get to share with him just the smiles and
(46:26):
the joy. And you know, the Steelers were a bad
team before that play, and you know since then we've
we've been pretty successful. And we always talk about that
as this transformational point. And for me to be sort
of it was over zoom. You know, it was during
COVID when we did this interview. But for me to
sort of be able to tell these stories to Franco
and just see the smile on his face and the
(46:49):
way he was kind of touched by how how important
that moment was, not just for all of the Steeler fans,
but you know, for folks in my family had been
involved for the team since its beginning. That was really special.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
If your father were alive today. And this Steelers team
is kind of amazing, right. So many questions about quarterbacks
Russell Wilson hurt to start the year, A lot of questions.
I'll just be honest, I didn't know if he still
had it in them to see what they've evolved into.
What would you think of this current group of men
of steel.
Speaker 6 (47:19):
Well, you know, I think he'd be really proud of
of Mike and you know Mike, Tomlin, Omar Cohn or
GM my brother Frankly Art the president. I think he
would feel that, you know, they they stuck to the process.
You know, the Steelers don't make rash decisions hopefully in
our best when we do things best, they take their time,
they think things through and and you know, they evaluate
(47:40):
on on you know, qualities that they they really see
in practice and have a faith that someone's going to
be able to perform. And I think a lot of
people felt that way about Russ and it's it's really
fun to watch him, you know, uh show that the
show that he has a lot more left in the tank.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
It's called a Different Way to Win. It's available on
audiobooks and it is absolutely fabulous. Jim Rooney, of course,
the author, is joining us here on the Doug Gottlieb
Show on Fox Sports. Trady share stories of Dan Rooney's
life and achievements, and there are so many of them. Jim,
thank you so much for taking some time and joining
us on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (48:17):
Doug. I really appreciate the time. Have a great day.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug Gottlieb Show at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR up America. Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from the
(00:24):
tyrat dot com studios tyrat dot com. Let we get there.
Unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free e wote as production
over ten thousand recommended stallars ti rat dot com. It's
away tire buying should be welcome in No, No, you're
you're too kind. You're too kind. So we're gonna get
(00:50):
to I think what's the story of the day, but
it is not a finalized story today. Would you want
to be just very very cautious where it is looks
it feels like Bill Belichick's can be the head coach
of the North Carolina tar Heels. And I'll tell you
what I think that means in just a moment. I
do want to personal update right that tonight, My Green
(01:13):
Bay Phoenix returned to the basketball floor in our whole marine.
It's called the Rest Center. It's a it's a dan
Byer drive from lambeau Field, and our arch rival UW
Milwaukee travels up I forty three to play us. Of course,
if you know anything about my personal history, my dad
(01:34):
when I was born, was the head coach of the Panthers.
So a lot going on, and we're really focused. If
you want to watch the game tonight at six Central
time on ESPN Plus, and of course if you're listening
to us on our new affiliate in Appleton, back up
the car, wear some green, you'll come see some good hoop.
All right, let's get to the story of the day.
(01:55):
Bill Belichick, who's the most successful head coach in the
history of the sport, is they're working on finalizing the
deal to become the head coach at North Carolina. And
there's a lot of things that it signifies. And I've
told you before that I occupy a chair once occupied
(02:18):
by the great Dick Bennett. Dick Bennett did this exact
same thing. He was the head coach of Wisconsin. They
went to the frontal four, he retired, and then he
came out of retirement to take over Washington State so
that his son Tony could ultimately take over. That was
part of the plan, which is essentially what Belichick is doing,
so his son Steven, who's the defensive coordinator at the
(02:39):
University of Washington, can do the same thing in North Carolina.
It's been done many times over and the success rate's
about fifty to fifty, which is kind of about the
success rate of anybody, right. Pat Knight's a very good
friend of mine. He took over for his dad, Bob Knight.
It was sort of part of the plan, but of
course coach Knight retired mid season and it wasn't as
(03:00):
planned out and it didn't work out well. Sean Sutton
took over for my coach, Eddie Sutton, but of course
he took over after coach Sutton at a DUI, so
it wasn't a smooth transition in a smooth handoff. But
for Dick and Tony Bennett, I mean, obviously that is
the that's the signature way of doing it. And while
(03:21):
Tom Izzo isn't the son of jud Heathcote, I remember
being recruited at a high school by Tom Izzo, who
was the head coach designate and my freshman year would
have coincided with his freshman year. So handing it off
to an assistant when it's all planned deal does work.
Tom Mizzo is the perfect example. Tony Bennett's the perfect example.
I don't know what works in North Carolina. We'll see,
(03:42):
but what it signifies to me. To me, what it
signifies is the professionalization of college football. I think that
if North Carolina pulls this thing off it again, it
doesn't guarantee success, but it does signify how dramatic the
(04:05):
change is in college sports. And yeah, okay, they're paying
players now. We talked about Ajdabansa, who's the number one
recruit in the class of twenty twenty five. The reports are,
I don't know if it's accurate, seven million dollars in
an ail yes or yesterday. He committed to playing at BYU.
(04:25):
By the way, we're in talks to play BYU next year.
We'd love that. We'd love that. We'd love that, just
because again, I want my players to see what the
best of the best of the best look like. So
I think that what North Carolina understands is not just
(04:46):
the professionalization in terms of paying players, but how it
actually works is about evaluating based upon film, based upon background,
talking to coaches, talking to mentors, talking to people in
a program. In many ways, it is as much or
more like the NFL Draft and the waiver wire than
(05:11):
it is anything else. Now, there are some things that
work against it, that work against Bill Belichick being a
quality head coach. It's that all of the players that
he's evaluating out of the portal, all he has is
that film, and he has to hire a staff that
can provide him all of the background on all of
(05:33):
these players and all the connections. Because the truth is
that you have to be able to evaluate, but you
also have to know what you're getting as a person.
Have to know what you're getting as a player, more
so than just what am I not seeing on tape.
North Carolina is a big time academic institution, and by
(05:54):
the way, Bill Belichick, you can brush off the idea
of academics in college football. You'd be fair to do so,
because academics don't play a part in so many of
these decisions. But it's always been important for Belichick and
the Patriot Way to get college graduates. Remember the Patriots
and then the Jets when they were coached by Eric
Mangini had the highest percentage of college graduates on their roster.
(06:17):
Why they valued guys that valued education because they felt
like they had guys that had their lives together, guys
that are a little bit more intelligent, and guys that
would do the little things it took to get through school,
just like you'll do the little things it takes to
study up and get ready for a Sunday of football.
But it's really hard in short order to dive into
(06:40):
the portal. Yes, you can evaluate on tape, but there's
a lot of background details you need, much like when
you're in the NFL draft, right you need to know
everything about a kid. And I'll give you the example
I got when I received this job, which is on
May fifteenth. My best player is Anthony Roy. Okay, and
(07:04):
obviously I've you been following the news. He's been in
news a ton. We've been in the news because I
didn't play him in Saturday's loss at home to Cleveland State.
He leads the country in scoring, he leads the country
in effective field goal percentage as well. But Anthony Roy,
this is his sixth school, Okay, so I had to
(07:25):
make a quick decision, But I had to fully educate myself.
And if not for the fact that I know, I'm
trying to think of all of his coaches, right. I
knew his academic advisor in New Mexico State. I knew
his head coach at Langston, which was last year he
(07:46):
was in Naia basketball. He's the best player in Naia basketball.
Chris Wright does his name. I knew someone on every
one of the staffs that he had that he had
played for. You go back to San Francisco. Other people
who had recruited him as well. I talked to everybody
(08:08):
because I wanted to know what I'm getting, because scatter
reports on people, not just players, exist for a reason.
And you know what, Anthony Roy has been a slightly
better version of everything everybody told me. There have been
no surprises because I talked to people. I know people
in Oakland. I know a guy named Lou Ritchie. Lou
(08:30):
is a coach of bishopau Dowd High School. Lou was
a star at Clemson. He was actually a walk on
at UCLA, beat out my brother at UCLA to make
the team as a walk on, then transferred to Clemson,
was their starting point guard on scholarship, and then he's
been a really talented head coach in Oakland. I've talked
to everybody, because that's what you have to do for
the job. But remember, in college football, you're bringing in
(08:51):
eighty new guys, sixty new guys, fifty new guys. It
doesn't matter. You have to do that level of background.
And there just isn't the time if you don't already
have the connections. And while Bill Belichick knows everybody in
the NFL and everybody will take his call, does he
know the high school coaches, the other college assistants. And
by the way, that's probably not his job. He's got
(09:13):
to hire people who do that. But there's what this
hire signifies is not just the professionalization, but the reality
that college football is. It's not just about free agency.
It's about being a waiver wire pickups. It's about evaluating
in short order and understanding what you're going to get
(09:34):
for just a one year plan. And there has never been, okay,
never been a coaching staff or an NFL team that's
done a better job on the waiver wire than Bill
Belichick's New England Patriots. They've whipped on draft picks, everybody has.
They obviously struggled to replace Tom Brady, but remember they
(09:56):
did find Tom Brady to begin with and made the
decision to stick with him when Drew Bledsoe came back. Obviously,
wide receivers was they were never able to draft wide receivers.
It's not flawless, but in this landscape, I actually think
it makes sense. And oh yeah, by the way, if
(10:17):
you keep trying to do the same thing the same way,
you're gonna have the same results. North Carolina tried to
go to the wayback machine and bring back Mac Brown,
who was their last incredibly successful head coach. That didn't work.
So they're trying something different and it just happens to
appears to be it's not finalized. It appears to be
(10:37):
Bill Belichick. And for people who say, well, the Belichick
handing off to his son won't work, I did give
you a couple of examples. There's a couple more.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
This is the best of the Done dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Put you Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Hope you
having a great day. We're broadcasting love from the tyret
dot com studios tyrat dot Com. Well you get there.
Unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road ass protection over
ten thousand recommended stallars tyrat dot com. It's the way
(11:18):
tire buying should be. I would guys, you can go
to your cell phones for just a second. Well, I
know it hasn't gone through yet. Yeah, now it's gone
through and you can see what we're dealing with. We
say welcome to the Tundra, and tonight at the Rest Center,
(11:41):
which is our home arena in the heart of Green Bay, Wisconsin,
we take on our art tribal Milwaukee, and the tundra
is frozen. What do you think that picture? Jay se
Sammy Sami? You want to get on that plane and
head to Dan Byer's home state.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
It looks like it would be fun for maybe forty
eight hours and then I would want to return home.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Uh yeah, next forty eight hours is gonna be rather cold,
rather cold.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I didn't get the picture. It's not showing up here.
I mean lost in the ether.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
I guess I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
I mean buyer. Did you get the picture?
Speaker 5 (12:18):
I did? Yeah, bays frozen over huh by you?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Uh yeah, it was. What's interesting was we had a
couple of bombing fifty plus degrees days and it went
from it was it was lightly frozen, then it was, uh,
there was just a couple of spots and there's probably about,
you know, two thousand Canadian geese in the water outside
of my home. And then last night a cold front
(12:43):
went through. It got a little dusting of snow and
now the base back frozen over.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Yeah, not safe to walk down yet.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
No, do not walk on that. Say it is not
ready to be walked on.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
But that's going to make for some badass ice fishing.
Have you gotten any gear yet? Your little cabin, your
little mobile tent thing? You gonna do any of that
at some point?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah? Maybe do people know? Like I had no idea
about some of these things. Frozen pizza is huge in Wisconsin,
but it's huge and Wisconsant goes. Who you do is
you get a frozen pizza and in the summer you
put it on a grill outside. In the winter you
actually cook it on a little grill inside one of
those one of those huts. Like that's i'd be wait. Yeah,
(13:20):
so no, I have not gotten any gear. I do
not tend to get any gear. I just think that
with the best course of action for me is somebody
wants to invite me. I'll go with them. I'll go
with them. Hey, it is Wednesday, which is middle of
the week. It's what is it one oh three on
the West Coast? Yeah, one o three on the West Coast,
(13:42):
roughly middle of the day, roughly middle of the show.
Let's get to the midway. It's not getting the middle.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
It's time for dug in the middle.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The midway, what but Snug Outlab show, Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
So what we do for the midway generally is we uh,
we had We've had a couple of different discussions and
I'll give you guys too, and this is your show
as much as its mind. Jay Stu proposed one of
(14:15):
the best wide receiver Diva moments situations ever. It does
feel like we talked a little bit about this, but okay,
or the one that Jay Su and I discussed before
the show, which is we're gonna wrap our heads around
something one Soto signed for it was it seven twenty six,
so within I don't know, five five, seven sixty five, Okay,
(14:39):
seven sixty five. He's offered seven to twenty six or
something I think from the Yankees, right, one more year
more money from from the Mets. We're getting close to
a billion dollar baseball player. It's I'll give me a
billion dollar athlete, billion dollar contract. Who will that be?
(14:59):
Dan bar Which which topic would you prefer in the
mid one?
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Well, I like the one that I knew about, So
I'm going with the DIVA wide receivers PARVA wide receivers,
is my answer.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I was him, Yeah, I thought that's what we were
going to get into. But I don't. I can't see
into the future, so I don't know who these these
billion dollar stars might be.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Okay, hey, this is a democracy.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
It actually felt like a coup that Doug was trying
to take over with his no no, no, not constituents.
Jason and I was eased.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was Jason. I. We did discuss this at length,
but we didn't really come I came up with Jackson
Curio is the only guy I could come up with.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
And I think that that that might be, uh the
inherent issue with that topic, because I think it goes
to like, it's probably someone that we don't know about yet.
Holiday it's one of those two. So that's the midway.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So the midway. The midway is the midway is best
DIVA wide receiver moments. Since you prepared for it and
you are a walking history book in the Nation Football League,
Dan Barr, why don't you begin?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
It's funny because I think that there's an obvious number
one in the variety of issues. But I'm going to
go in a different direction. Ooh yes, I think Antonio
Brown walking off the field with his shirt off in
a game against the New York Jets all timer. It
truly is like, I know we're going to get into
(16:31):
the other player, and I don't want to steal it.
But of all the things that have happened leading up
to it, and Antonio Brown thought to be that Tom
Brady would get him right, the visual of him prancing
off the field in his football pants with no shoulder
pads or jersey and saying goodbye to the game is
(16:53):
one I just cannot get out of my mind. I
think it is the number one diva moment of any
wide receiver in the history of the National Footballoon.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I think we just had an anniversary of that. Does
that make sense? Is that what four years?
Speaker 5 (17:12):
It was later in the year to year on that
there's his bone.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I think the reason I thought about the topic is
because of you know, Deebo Samuel is having some drama
in San Francisco right now. AJ Brown's having drama in Philadelphia.
But the Deebo Samuel thing that I want to talk
about happened two years ago. So you remember the first
time before he didn't get his contract extension and he
(17:41):
was leveraging the forty nine ers and Jeff Darlington came
out and he tweeted out the following I just spoke
with receiver Deebo Samuel and he told me that he
has asked for the forty nine ers for a trade.
So Deebo takes to social media and he's like, don't
believe every thing you read on the internet. Don't believe reports.
(18:04):
Dar was like, I spoke directly to you, and that's
what you told me.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I got one that I don't think is on the list.
I mean, I think the guy that Dan's talking about
is Tara Owens, right, the ultimate EVA wide receivers, which
is which is amazing that there's so many you could
talk about.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
There was the standing on the Star, then he becomes
a cowboy. Uh, there's the sit ups and curls in
the in the driveway when he's a Philadelphi Eagle.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
There was the the so are saving him and you're
listing all of the things that he's done. We're moving
him for later. But you've just rattled off three of
the top diva moments. More that Tara Owens has done.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
There's so many more, so many more, but look, here's
I'll just give you one which probably does it. Not
top diva moments, but a guy who no one thought
was a diva late in his career became a little
bit of a diva. But do you remember when Andre
Johnson kicked the crap out of Courtland Sutton?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I don't know why I just thought of that one.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Courtland Finnegan, Sorry, Courtland Finnigan. Do you remember when he
kicked the crap out of Courtland Finnigan? And Courtland Finnigan
was the diva cornerback and Andre Johnson was like a
guy out of Miami, but he didn't celebrate like all
those guys in the U. I don't know that one
just jumped out to me. But of course I'm gonna
take too, right, there's so many t os. There's the
remember he showed up he was a bill and like
(19:31):
the people in Buffalo greeted him at the at the airport. Right,
that thing didn't last. There was he did something against
the Giants when he was a Niner, when he had
like twenty catches against the Giants. There was obviously that
that's my quarterback thing. There was the throwing. Yeah, there
(19:52):
was also the throwing. The throwing down a McNab under
the bus after they lost in the Super Bowl. I
wasn't the one who threw up in the trash can.
I wasn't the one who was scared. Right, So many
t o moments and probably the culmination is he had
his own Hall of Fame ceremony instead of going to
the actual Hall of Fame. So like, you can't make
(20:13):
that up. Yeah, you can't make that one up.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Uh, remember we remember this to you a moment, right,
is really fair.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
It's my quarterback.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
And if you guys do that, man, it's fair. We
lost with the team.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You give that man an Academy award.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
I mean, listen, but it up against I mean, he
is attacking Donovan McNabb this week like he's he's taken
shots at Donovan McNabb within the last couple of days
for Donovan McNabb's take on the A. J. Brown Jalen
Hurts thing so so tl giving and showing Tony Romo
(20:57):
tons of grace, and Donovan McNabb is still feeling it.
As of December tenth, twenty twenty four. I know it's
the eleventh, but at least as of yesterday, I don't
think he tweeted at Donovan McNabb today. It truly is
like it's somebody and even like the crying of Remember
(21:18):
when he cut the touchdown pass against the Packers that
was very Wisconsin accent that came out, but and he
was crying off the fielders, Yeah, against the Packers with it.
Do you remember that the wild card game? He caught
it at the goal line, Steve Young right at the
box end. Craig t O's crying and bawling it. I
don't know that's diva, but it's the many different ways
(21:39):
of Arrell Owens. You get chipopcorn?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Ready, Sam, did you have one?
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Well?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I did think of another Cowboy wide receiver who was
kind of looked at as a diva during his time
in Dallas would be former Oklahoma State Cowboy Des Bryant.
Maybe not to the degree of t O and probably
not to the success of Teo, but he caused some
mostly throwing me the ball kind of stuff, you know,
your typical complaints. But I mean I also think about
(22:05):
Antonio Brown, you know, not even playing for the Raiders,
burning his feet in the cold cryoud chamber, had the
helmet issue, you know, he did, went on social media
like a live stream in the locker room for the Steelers.
I mean this, the list goes on and on. He
had his failed venture into arena football being like an owner.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
I mean, the.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Guy's got there could be book written about. I'm sure
there will be at some point.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Right, guys, there's a bunch that we haven't hit on though. Okay,
you have Steve Smith, oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, you
have Steve Smith. Does it going right? You have Chad
Ocho Cinco with once Chad Johnson, who, as we discussed
a couple weeks ago, that he actually had a yellow
jacket Hall of Fame jacket made for him. Yeah, on
the sideline.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
And just the fact that he changed his name.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yes nothing, yes, you're right, nothing, says diva wide receiver,
much like changing your name to the Mexican word for your.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Number, which is actually just eighty five. It's not eighty five.
But yeah, I get the picture.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yes, Tenti Cincoe.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I think the shadow Cinco thing though, I think what
the great thing about him being a diva was how
it didn't work in New Orleans or I'm sorry, New
England because he was a diva. So I guess you're figuring, well,
the day that he was cut from the Patriots would
be that would be a great culmination of why exactly
(23:29):
did that ever even start in the first place. Ocho
Cinco and Bill Belichick our buddy here at Andy here
at Fox Sports Radio. Andy Furman was behind the whole
o Chio Cinco racing a horse.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Thanks, he raced a horse.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Yeah, yeah, Andy Furman was a part of the man
verse beast.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Oh wait, CoA, we're forgetting one of the initial one
of the original Diva wide receivers preceded to preceded all
these guys, the playmaker, Michael Irvin. Yes, you know, he
had the White House. I mean he was he was
the first with the obnoxious constant first down point right,
(24:16):
and you go back to when he was at the
U and they came out the plane and the fatigues,
like if there's ever been a guy that says diva
wide receiver it's the playmaker, Mike orv.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
He was. He was the start of it. Randy Moss
as well. Sure like he's well beloved now as a
media member, and his skills were undeniable. But there were
diva moments, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
When he went to Oakland, right, yeah, I really want
to give effort.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
No, that's my play when I want to right, that
was in Oakland and he comes doing what people forget
about New England. Everybody now just remembers the fact that
he had how many touchdown receptions that year when they
had had Brady had fifteen twenty one or I thought
it was twenty maybe twenty three, twenty one, something like that.
But people forget it ended really poorly, like he was done,
They were done with him. They kind of me went
(25:08):
to They traded him to Tennessee for like a bag of.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Football's defloid footballs.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Remember, Keishawn Johnson wrote a.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Book Shawn Johnson, Sewn Johnson.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Throw me the damn ball, thrown ball.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Key Shawn Johnson. That's a good one and the others.
There's got to be something that were missing.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
DeShawn Jackson was Jacksoneah, he was a showbold I think
you can put him in the Diva thing. He was
infamous for the dropping the ball before the goal line.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Hold on, hold on, hold on, Can I get the
Dan buyer? Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,
hold on, there you go. I have a question here,
Dan and your knowledge of football. Hold on, hold on,
superseds mine. Did Dion ever play wide receiver?
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Yeah? Yeah, it did for the Cowboys in their Super
Bowl year Super Bowl thirty.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
And when Dion would get a touchdown there was I
mean it was. He did the Dion dance. He had
the Prime Time he would walk down the sidelines. He
would check his hair while he was still running with
the football. He didn't drop it early like d Jacks.
But let's be honest, prime time was was was a
Diva wide receiver, cornerback kick return.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Would you guys also say Odell Beckham Junior?
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, yep, the Odell Sweepstakes.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Andre Risen got his.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
House at Moon Rising, but before he.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Got his house burned down. I think he was. He
was one of those quote unquote misunderstood players.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, by the way, it is, Andre Risen to it now.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not sure. I would just pulled
up Dion's staff. You talked about him being a wide
receiver and he played it in Atlanta and you know
a little bit in San Francisco. But in that nineteen
ninety six season for the Cowboys, he had sixty seven targets.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
That's incredible.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Yeah, I think that was the year after they won
the Super Bowl, because I think it was the ninety
five season heading into ninety six. But yeah, his second
season he had sixty seven targets, thirty six catches, four
hundred and seventy five yards that year as a receiver.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I'm going to say something which I only say when
I mean it. I was wrong. You guys are right,
much better topic than the one I came up with.
That's the Midway.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
The Midway. Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
It's the Dog Gottlieb Show. It's Fox Sports Radio. So
these two things can be both true, right, Caitlin Clark
is Times Sportsperson of the Year, and in the United States,
I don't think there's even despite the fact that Shoe
(28:19):
heey O Tony is the first fifty to fifty player
in the history of Major League Baseball, and they won
the World Series and he got the first seven hundred
plus million dollar contract. It's not really close, right, I Mean,
the perfect example is I've been doing this job for
over twenty one years on the national radio landscape, and
(28:41):
without any question, it is the first time ever, ever
that we have talked about women's basketball, with exception of well,
last year, previous year and when you had the I
miss deal with Rutgers. This is going back, I don't know,
(29:04):
fifteen sixteen years ago, and I actually called the championship
game on ESPN two. Was called the Full Circle Broadcast.
Carolyn Peck was my analyst and I was like a host,
sort of play by play sort of thing. It was
in Cleveland, Ohio. But even that lasted three four days.
Cayln Clark has completely changed anyone's reasonable perception of women's
(29:29):
college basketball, ceiling and the WNBA. So she's the sports
person of the Year that said I I feel like
she's been put in a situation where there is no
win and the only way to survive is to fall
(29:56):
on the sword for white people everywhere, because that's the
perception the perception of women's basketball is we only care
about Caitlin Clark because she's a straight white girl. And look,
(30:18):
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that's not
at least a factor. But you you can't make people
like something they don't like, right, And the perfect example
of it is who's the best college women's player today?
(30:45):
Iowa sam Our, resident women's basketball analyst and scout, who's
the best women's college basketblayer? It's truly down to two players.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Right, Yeah?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I would say one of them is probably Juju Watkins
of USA.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yep. And the other one, let me think, let me
Page Becker's.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Oh of course, yeah, Page Beckers, Yeah, ok.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Page Beckers is white as you not yep? Okay? Is
she anywhere near as popular as Caitlin Clark?
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
I would say no, but she's She's pretty popular, especially
on the Yukon community, but not as close as not
as Clark.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
It's not. She's not in the same solar system of popularity.
And before injury, you can make the case and she
still may be considered a better all around player like
Page Beckers is. She's legit. She can really play Kelsey
Plumb is someone whose records Caitlyn Clark broke. Is her
(31:42):
popularity or was her popularity anywhere near that of Caitlin Clark. No, no, yes,
it's a rhetorical question. Yes, Sabria Sabrina in sq same
thing sabrinian Escu was actually and her shoe is the
(32:05):
I believe the number one selling shoe that Nike has.
Now part of it is Nike kind of dolls up
the numbers by making that their team shoe, meaning anybody
who's a Nike team automatically gets those shoes. And they're
really either the Kyrie I think they're actually the Kobe's.
They're planning to be Kobe's. Kobe tragically died and those
same molds were used for Sabrinas. And why do I
(32:28):
bring it up that it's about skin color when I
don't think it actually is, Caitlin Clark said in the
Time magazine interview where she is the sports Person of
the Year. I want to say that I've earned every
single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege.
A lot of those players in the league have been
really good, but they've been black players. This league is
kind of built on them. The more we can appreciate
(32:50):
that highlight that talk about that, then continue to have
brands and companies invest in those players that have made
this league incredible. I think it's very important I continue
to try and change that. The more we elevate black women,
it's going to be a beautiful thing. Now, look, I'm
not against the elevation of beautiful black women, white women,
straight women, gay women, I don't care. But what are
(33:15):
we actually talking about? Elena Dela Don one of the
greatest players ever by the way, she walked away from
basketball for a portion of time to take care of
her special needs sister. She's an amazing story and an amazing
human being. She's white. The league's built on her incredible success.
Go through it. It's about fifty to fifty. But the
(33:40):
social media pressure for Caitlin Clark to feel bad about
the attention that she's earned and say that she has
some sort of privilege is sad, like she can't even
enjoy the fact that there is no sportsperson in the
United States and frankly out of the United States that
(34:00):
can reasonably compare to the year that she had. And
a response has to be it's great. I want to
say I earned it. But it's white privilege and that's
not really what this league is about. I mean, what
are we actually doing? And look, I know her boyfriend
(34:25):
is Patrick McCaffrey. I mean, see me Connor McCaffrey. Sorry,
Patrick is the start at Butler. Connor is his brother
who's on staff. Just full disclosure, fran is one of
my mentors. Friend is the head coach at Iowa. He
recruited me and signed me at Notre Dame. Like I'm
close to the family. They are they're you know, Franny's
(34:47):
from Philadelphia and they are They are real people. They
are comfortable in their skin around white people, black people.
I would, you know, if you want to label them
like I would say that if friand you'd label them
is a fair the liberal person. But we're making her
basically apologize for her success and the fandom of her
(35:07):
success and saying it's only because she's white. That's what
we're doing, and that's embarrassing, that's humiliating. I don't she's
done nothing wrong. All she's done is go out and
hoop and hoop in a way which most people say, like, well,
(35:29):
she's the closest thing to Steph Curry, right, I don't
know anybody goes well, yeah, I like her, but I
like her only because she's white. Like, what are we doing?
We've had white basketball players, women's basket players that are
great before, they haven't gotten this tension. We've had black
basketball players that are great before, they haven't got this tension.
(35:56):
Cheryl Miller to make a hole's claw, uh, I'd mentioned
Elena Della don like you go kind of go through it.
It's like women's basketball. It's like a fifty fifty split
white and black and who's a really good player. And
now we're like making her apologize, which actually gives credence
to what Jay Stu tweeted when I tweeted out, hey,
(36:17):
there's no one even a close second for her to
be sports person in the year. Jay Stu, what was
your tweet?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
I said that Angel rees better be a close second. Yeah, yeah,
better be or else?
Speaker 1 (36:30):
How why are we still doing this? Why are we
still doing this? We're like, I'm basically that's what she's doing. Like, hey,
I'm great mentioned it. I gotta mention Angel Reees because
Angel Reese isn't close. Why are we doing this? Why
are we all this does is make people who do
(36:53):
have negative thoughts about other races feel more empowered. And
I understand that all Kaitlyn Clarkson do is like, look,
I just want to hoop, and what's the best way
to hope? Oh, talk about elevating black women? Great? How
about just elevating all women? Hey, I want to use
this incredible platform to honor all the women that came
(37:16):
before me, all the women that came after me. Gay, straight, white, black,
mixed race, American or foreign, doesn't matter to me. Doesn't
that sound better? Isn't that more real? So I'm not
being critical of Caitlin because she wouldn't do this, as
she's tried to take the political neutral Switzerland high road
(37:38):
throughout the entire last two years. I would be critical
of whomever is her advisor telling her to say these
things that, well, this will make all of those girls
like you, like m Here's the thing. They still don't
like you. They don't like anybody. They don't even realize
that you are the golden goose're trying to kill the
(38:00):
golden Goose, and they're trying to make their league. They're
trying to make their league so incredibly woke that you're
going to push away many of the fans that have
now come to enjoy the sport. Like, I don't know
how to tell you this, but people are worn out
by politics. Worn out. They're worn out by by people
(38:24):
making everything into something racial or something political. We're done,
We're cooked. These last three elections have completely beaten the
politics out of me. You know, it just is and
(38:45):
making something political, which is just really a tip of
the cap to an incredible year. I mean, think about it, right,
she played great, they get to a championship game, they lose.
She's number one draft pick. She struggles early on, she
doesn't get to the Olympic team. And what does she do.
She leads her team to a complete seasonal turnaround and
leads them to the playoffs or ultimately they lose, right,
(39:08):
and the popularity drops off as soon as they lose.
And she handles just about everything with a supreme amount
of class and dignity, representing all women her sport and
other women's sports as well as anyone could possibly hope.
And her reward is sports Person of the Year. But
(39:28):
you got to make sure you say you're privileged and
the only reason you're getting this attention is because You're
white sad state of affairs Stug Gottlieb Show. You're on
Fox Sports Radio, and there's a book written in twenty
nineteen which is fascinating and there's a new audio version
of it which includes some of the biggest names in
(39:49):
all of the National Football League, names like Roger Goodell
and Franco Harris and Paul Tagliabu. Even the great Bill
Kauer is on there. The book is authored by g Rooney.
He takes listeners and share stories of his father Dan.
Of course, Dan's life and accomplishments are amazing inside outside
the world of the Nation Football League. Jim's kind of
(40:11):
to spend some time of this year on the Doug
Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Jim, how are you, Doug.
Speaker 6 (40:16):
It's great to be with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Why this book? To tell me what was the impetus
behind writing this book.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
Yeah, So we actually started the book while my father
was still alive and then he passes, and we were
originally going to do a sort of a journal article
for the Harvard Business Review about the Rooney Rule, the
NFL's diversity hiring policy, and when he passed, Commissioner Tagliaboo
is actually the one who said to me, you know,
(40:44):
we have so much good material here, we should turn
this into a book. And we did that, and we
talked about the Rooney Rule, We talked about my father's
work in the NFL, with labor, with TV and then
obviously with the Steelers. So we thought we'd put together
a good story about, you know, management leadership that had
a lot of fun, fun aspects than rather than some
(41:06):
of the textbooks you get on some of those subjects.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Well, well, here we are again, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Of course, your father's team is you know, no one
been coached by three coaches, and Mike Tomlin continues to
amaze with his consistency. Take me through your dad and
what he saw in Mike Tomlin so many years ago
that has found such an incredible leader for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
Yeah, my dad. You know, as you know, Doug, he
hired coach Noel in sixty eight, He hired Bill Kower
ninety two, and then Mike in two thousand and eight,
and no other coaches in his lifetime. His father hired
all the ones before that, and you know, I think
in each of them he was looking for people who
were authentic. Each of them are very different in terms
(41:51):
of personality. They're all great with x'es and o's, but
they're also original. They relate to people in a way
that is, you know, for lack a better word, real,
And I think when you look at our players today,
you know there's a connection that Mike Commlin is able
to make with them because he's so genuine, because he's
so straightforward, because he's you know, has such a strong
(42:13):
character and personality that it gets guys to do things that,
you know, I think, I think go above and beyond
maybe what some others can do.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
The Rooney rule. Obviously you look at the numbers and
we're not where I think your father intended us to be.
What was the intent? Give me the sense of the
true intent of the rule?
Speaker 6 (42:38):
Yep? And you know this so so in well you
may not have the exact date, but in sixty eight
we heard Bill nont He was the third black scout
in the NFL history. And from that point to nineteen eighty,
the Steelers draft more players from the HBCUs than any
other team historically black colleges, any other team in the NFL.
(42:58):
And you know, you know the record in the seven
these they go on to just dominate. And from that
point on, my father really understood that you know, diversity,
you know, giving people opportunities who weren't otherwise getting them
not only was the right thing to do, which I
think and his hardy really believed it was the right thing,
but it was also a business advantage. And he always
(43:19):
made that argument to the NFL that this is, this
is not only we're doing something wrong by not providing
these opportunities, but we're doing something stupid. You know, why
would we not create more opportunities with folks that have
a chance to make us more successful. So that was
the spirit of the Ruoney rule. In terms of the mechanisms,
you know, I think there's a whole bunch of issues
(43:41):
in the early days that had had more to do
with the pipeline, you know, than than you know, you know,
there's there were only so many candidates because so many
folks weren't getting chances to be coordinators, et cetera. And
so I think you had that problem. You still have
that problem frankly with the offensive coordinator, which which is
something that needs to be addressed. But but I think
(44:02):
we're moving forward. You know this past season, as you know,
we started the season with with nine minority coaches, and
I hope folks see you know that that you know,
it is a pathway to success, and then we provide
opportunities to topos to have achieved.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
What what is the what is the most surprising thing
a reader or a listener in the audiobook, we'll find
out about your father.
Speaker 6 (44:27):
Well, I really think that, you know, there was just
this care between he and his players that you know,
kind of went beyond the ordinary. You know. I have
a conversation with Rocky Blyer and as you know, Rocky
was a was in Vietnam and came back wounded and
actually gets cut by the Steelers because he, you know,
he didn't perform well his first camp. And my father
(44:48):
was in New York that day, I think, at an
NFL meeting, a league meeting, and he comes back and says, wait, wait,
wait a minute, We're not cutting Rocky. We're going to
put him on injured reserve, and we put him on
i R. And you know, comes back and you know,
becomes one of the greatest players of Steeler history. Is
our player rep during some of the early strikes and
you know, over and over again, Rocky talked about this
(45:09):
intimate connection he had with my father, who looked out
for him, who really tried to make a difference in
his life. And even when he was on the other
side of the table in player you owner negotiations, my
father was always willing to listen to the other point
of view. And I think you get some real deep
(45:30):
and intimate stories from players and from Commissioner Goodell, from
other folks as well about how this man was able
to manage successfully but also you know, kind of be
genuine and authentic in his care for them.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
You have all these incredible names of people now on
this newly produced produced audiobook. And remember, for people who
don't know that the book was written in twenty nineteen,
obviously COVID changed so many things, but this is new.
This is more voices. Who's the one that you're most
honored to have on this audiobook?
Speaker 6 (46:04):
So you know, that's unfair. It was great of all
of them, But we got Franco before he passed, and
obviously we had no idea he was going to path away,
and Franco ends up sort of interviewing me and talking
to me about what it was like for my family
during the amaclat or right after the Immaculate Reception and
to get to share with him just the smiles and
(46:26):
the joy. And you know, the Steelers were a bad
team before that play, and you know since then we've
we've been pretty successful. And we always talk about that
as this transformational point. And for me to be sort
of it was over zoom. You know, it was during
COVID when we did this interview. But for me to
sort of be able to tell these stories to Franco
and just see the smile on his face and the
(46:49):
way he was kind of touched by how how important
that moment was, not just for all of the Steeler fans,
but you know, for folks in my family had been
involved for the team since its beginning. That was really special.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
If your father were alive today. And this Steelers team
is kind of amazing, right. So many questions about quarterbacks
Russell Wilson hurt to start the year, A lot of questions.
I'll just be honest, I didn't know if he still
had it in them to see what they've evolved into.
What would you think of this current group of men
of steel.
Speaker 6 (47:19):
Well, you know, I think he'd be really proud of
of Mike and you know Mike, Tomlin, Omar Cohn or
GM my brother Frankly Art the president. I think he
would feel that, you know, they they stuck to the process.
You know, the Steelers don't make rash decisions hopefully in
our best when we do things best, they take their time,
they think things through and and you know, they evaluate
(47:40):
on on you know, qualities that they they really see
in practice and have a faith that someone's going to
be able to perform. And I think a lot of
people felt that way about Russ and it's it's really
fun to watch him, you know, uh show that the
show that he has a lot more left in the tank.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
It's called a Different Way to Win. It's available on
audiobooks and it is absolutely fabulous. Jim Rooney, of course,
the author, is joining us here on the Doug Gottlieb
Show on Fox Sports. Trady share stories of Dan Rooney's
life and achievements, and there are so many of them. Jim,
thank you so much for taking some time and joining
us on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (48:17):
Doug. I really appreciate the time. Have a great day.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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