January 7, 2026 • 50 mins
On a Monday edition of the Best of the show: Dan Beyer and Kerry Rhodes discuss John Harbaugh's firing in Baltimore as the Ravens are looking for a new coach.
On this installment of The Midway: Dan, Kerry and the crew talk birthdays as Tiger Woods recently hit 50 and Lamar Jackson turns 29 today.
Dan and Kerry welcome FSR NBA Insider Ric Bucher onto the show to talk about Lebron James, Trae Young and all of the headlines around the NBA.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app All right.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Way to go.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
You made it to the middle of the week and
we'll get to Carry Roads in a second. He's just
taking victory laps around this day as year at Fox
Sports Radio. How many do you want to take in
calling that John Harbaugh would be out as the Baltimore
Ravens head coach.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
You know what, Nan, I'm a humble guy. Yeah, you are, definitely,
and i Am not going to take any praise. I'm
just gonna let the conversation go where it may.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Is this Carry Rhodes? We sure? Are we sure? This
is carry? You didn't you did?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
You've been calling this for a while. Yeah, that John
Harball would not return as the Ravens head coach. Carry
and our team up on Sundays on Fox Sports Radio
in our end Zone Radio show, bringing you all the
action from the late window of the NFL schedule. We
sign off right before Sunday night football kicks off, and
as we signed off on Sunday, I gave him three
(01:02):
options on who would be back next year. It was
Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. And when I
asked about John Harbaugh, you said that he would not
be back. Was this your gut? Was this intel? What
let you know on Sunday that Sunday Nights game in
Pittsburgh would ultimately be John Harbaugh's last with the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
It's one of those things where it's a gut felling
for sure, but also being in the locker room and
being around guys, and you know, you know, guys have
their own agendas. People are trying to reach certain milestones.
You have coaches that are trying to coach for their jobs.
You have other coaches that are seeking jobs. You have
all these things that are happening in a locker room.
(01:46):
Right where are you supposed to be on one accord?
So when that all too common, praise comes out like
we're all in together. Yeah, we're all in together when
things are good. Because when things aren't good, people have
you know, it's human people have thoughts and of their
agendas and other things that creep in. And when you
watch the Ravens this year and not even just this year,
(02:07):
but the last couple of years, when things are good,
you don't hear a thing come out of there. You
don't You don't hear you hear the coach openly praising
their star quarterback and their star players. You hear the
players being complementary to the coach all the time. And
you know it's just certain factors and certain like talking
points and key points come out when things are good.
(02:29):
This year hasn't been that at all. I mean from
the start of the season, the expectations were high. And
when the expectations are high, and especially for a coach
that's been there for a long time, if you don't
meet those expectations, there are ramifications. Now if there's not
going to be coordinator's gone or players gone, somebody's somebody's
going to be gone. And you think about their situation.
The GM is set as many players as he's brought in,
(02:51):
and the type of caliber players he brought in, they're good, right,
the players have they underachieved for the Ravens a thousand percent.
But if you're not gonna get if you're not gonna
get rid of some of those key players, then where's
that fall to Dan? And so it's just like it's
almost like the process of elimination, gut and also just
(03:12):
being in the locker room and knowing how the factory
works well.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
And I want to get to that because it felt
that a lot of the comments from Harball were reactionary
to comments that were made instead of being proactive.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Throughout the season where you talked about the leaks that
we would never hear, then we started to hear leaks,
and then it was in response to the leaks that
Harball would have to say what he had to say. Well,
then there was the Mike Preston article that was criticizing Lamar.
I felt that there was more of a campaign that
Harball was on his way out, and I felt that
the Preston piece in the Baltimore Sun about Lamar was
(03:50):
in response to all of the Harball stuff. Whether that
was the way it actually went or not, the fact
is this stuff was getting out to people that we
hadn't seen in the last eighteen years with the Ravens.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yes, and that's the tail tale sign man. When the cracks,
when when the fisher start, fisher starts to widen, you
know there's trouble.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
There's there. It's bigger than the fisher.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
It's a chasm at that point and so once you
get to that point and then all these things start
to leak out, and then the performance goes down, and
then we start to do our own research and like
have our data points on this team, specifically in the
Lamar years, and you see all the years that they've
had and they've been really good in the regular season,
there's still be doubts of you know, is Harbball making
(04:33):
the right decisions?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is Harbball being a little bit too lenient?
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Is Horrball Like those things would still kind of come out,
but they would get swept under the rug. But when
you're not winning, there's nowhere to hide those things, and
so that's where it comes out to.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I just I compare it.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I think it's very difficult to compare it to Pittsburgh
because of Pittsburgh's ownership with the Rooney family and how
they've always treated head coaches. The Ravens a newer franchise
in the world of the NFL. Plus you have Steve Bashatti,
the owner took over from Art Modell and the Modell family,
so Bashadi's there, but there seems to be quite a
(05:07):
bit of loyalty to Harbaugh. I compare it to I
compare it to what happened in Seattle with Pete Carroll.
And I think a lot of these long tenured coaches
and the Saints are different. The Saints were different as well,
because I felt that Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis were
kind of running the Saints when Tom Benson ended up
passing away, then Gail Benson took over, so the people
(05:29):
that she knew best were Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis.
So maybe their stay and Mickey Loomis is still in
New Orleans, but their stays were longer because of the
ownership situation in Seattle. Maybe it could have been like
that because of the passing of Paul Allen, it ends
up going to you know, through the estate and his
sisters running the team. But the point I bring up
(05:51):
is this is it's probably better to do it sooner
rather than later. Okay, So for Baltimore in this case,
Seattle waited a long time to let go of Pete Cary.
And we see where Seattle is now with a new
head coach and a new energy, and it probably should
have happened sooner. But the timing for them now to
have Mike McDonald as their head coach. Probably that's the
way that it had to go. I just I don't
(06:14):
see the ultimate reason carry when we look at all
these other head coaching changes on the surface and on paper,
to be like hardball's the one that needs to go.
And I'm not saying Lamar needs to go either, but
I'm just saying two years ago this team was in
an AFC championship game. Last year they lost a playoff
game in Buffalo. Like there's Mark Andrews drop. What happens
(06:35):
to me ends up catches, you know, catching the pass,
and things change. And so this year you're on a
year where Lamar has been hurt. You haven't been afraid
to change coordinators. They've had to go through many whether
the defensive coordinator, whether it be Mike McDonald Leving or
whether a b Rex Ryan Leving or whoever, of all
of the coaches that have been in Baltimore, at least
(06:57):
at one point or another, they've been able to turn
over that. And they've turned over the offensive coordinator position before.
I just was surprised that this was it. And so
that's why when you're talking about the messaging coming out,
it seems like it was a lot more on the table,
and after a long discussion yesterday, the move was ultimately made.
But I just never felt that the Ravens were at
(07:20):
this point to let go of John Harbaugh because of
what we've seen throughout the NFL and what we've seen
in other places. And so now that he's out, I
think that it's simple, like Lamar Jackson, if this is
Lamar Jackson aided, it's got to be careful for what
he wished for, oh for sure, because the gress isn't
necessarily greener on the other side. And as I used
(07:42):
two cliches, he's also lost his shield. John Harball was
a great shield because if things went wrong, yes, let's
blame it on John Harbaugh, it's his fault. It's his
fault for bringing in this coordinator. It's his fault for
this and that Now Lamar wins this back, and with
that becomes a lot of responsibility. So now Lamar, now
(08:06):
Lamar has to produce. If you're the Ravens quarterback and
it's his birthday today, is Chris Prophett mentioned the theme
threw out the show. But now all of this is
on Lamar, and that's why I just say, be careful
what you wish for because you may want hardball out,
but that may not be better for you as a player.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah, And I think the angle that it's solely Lamar
wanted them out, I don't think that would be the
main reason he's gone now. I say that because, yes,
he is the franchise player. We've seen quarterbacks have that
ability to you know, get the man they want or
get rid of the man they don't want.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Right.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
You made a great point, like it is it is
on him now, and I think it was going to
be on him now anyway. And I think they were
kind of step in tow they were locked together, you know,
like you have the head coaches and gms that are
kind of locked together and one goal with the other
has to go in this situation, you can't get rid
of both of them, right, And so all right, if
you're gonna choose a two time MVP, somebody that you
(09:04):
still believe in that can get the job done, where
you had a head coach that got the job done before,
but as of that moment hasn't gotten back there yet, right,
and had ample opportunities to get back there. Where in
a player you talked about it, We've named and we've
seen plenty emphasis and plenty instances where you know it
wasn't Lamar's fault. Now, he's been at fault at times
(09:27):
as well, But in these last couple of years, there's
been other guys who you know, he's gotten the ball
to and they fumbled or they've dropped the ball. Right,
So you have that evidence. In the last couple of
years where this team has been good and they have
had their shortcomings, the players on the field have determined
determined also why they haven't gotten there. But these past
(09:47):
few years it hasn't been Lamar, and so we can
remove that part of the you know, the big equation
here right, Like, he hasn't come up short in those moments.
So now if we put him with the right person,
the person that can press the buttons to where you know,
things matter, the small details matter. For us to win,
it has to come from the head coach. If the
head coach isn't giving them the right to obviously he
(10:10):
can't get the new hands to catch the ball, but
like make them understand that there are consequences, consequences if
you don't show up in the spot. And I don't
think that was the case in the last couple of
years with the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Do you do you find it an appealing job if
you were a head coaching candidate.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Is it appealing because of Lamar? Or is it appealing
because of the franchise's structure and stability that they've shown throughout.
I guess it's inception both both, and you don't you
got it? You don't think, so go ahead. I just
think with Lamar, who turns twenty nine today, that you're
now coming off of another injury season.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yep. And it's not about I think the standard.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Of Super Bowls gets overblown, but it's the world that
we live in, so we end up dealing with it.
But there is good to come a time like this
season where we saw Lamar couldn't run as well as
he did when he was twenty three and twenty four. Absolutely,
and so now how does that affect everything else that happens,
Like the threat of Lamar Jackson was sometimes worse than
(11:13):
what he would actually do because of all of the
stuff that he could do on a football field, and
he had one of the not this past year, but
the year before was maybe I think it's top three,
top two best passer season that we've seen I know
it's top five for sure. Yeah, for what we've seen.
So but that everything comes with that. So Lamar's ability
(11:34):
to move the weapons that they have, Derrick Henry, that's there,
All of that works out. All of that now is
kind of erased because it's now just all on Lamar.
And so now, at twenty nine years old, which I
think he's an older twenty nine than a younger twenty nine,
I'm not sure that the second half of Lamar's career,
which is maybe at the point we're at right now,
is going to be better at the first half. And
(11:56):
so that's the only thing that I would question, Like,
if I'm Baltimore, there's I'm not taking anybody on the
defensive side. I am hiring an offensive head coach.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I don't care.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, you have to be locked in and Harbaugh, I
guess to his defense, he was more of CEO right
because he comes over as a special teams coach. Let
the offense do that, let the defense do that. But
you have to hire an offensive coach, and you've got
to make it work because if it doesn't work, I
don't think it's going to be the fall of the
offensive head coach. It's going to go on the shoulders
of Lamar because now we're going to say, look, we
(12:27):
fired John Harball after eighteen seasons and one season where
sure they finished below five hundred and eight to nine,
but that was after you know, back to back playoff
appearances and almost a bid to the Super Bowl. So
now that's all on Lamar. So that's I just I
find it appealing with the stability, and I find it
appealing with the talent. But you better win right away,
(12:49):
you better win next year, you better win the next
year after that, because I just don't think that Lamar
is going to continue to get better as a quarterback.
There is going to be a slide in his career.
And why do you feel that way, Dan, He feels
going to be a slide. I know, I know the
obvious thing about them because he is probably top three
the most dynamic quarterback that we have seen in the NFL.
(13:09):
Michael Vick is I think I would put I would
put up there. He put me out skates, yeah right, right.
So so just the threat of running the football right
like that ability, it's going to happen with Josh Allen
at some point where Josh Allen is not going to
be able to run as effectively as he has, and
you've got to figure out a way to make that
(13:32):
make your game be just as dangerous without that. And
so that's the point that I look at with Lamar.
There are no questions about passing, there are no questions
about running, there are no questions about reading defenses, just
none of that. But your athletic ability, which made him
so dangerous, is not going to be there in your
thirties like it was in your twenties, for sure. So
(13:53):
that is the reason why. So if defenses don't have
to worry about Lamar running and breaking off.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
For they're always have to worry about him running, but.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
They're not gonna have to worry about a sixty five
yard run, no right, no, no, of course not. But
then they're still gonna have to worry about it. It
doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I mean, we saw him in this game last week
eighty five what eighty seventy five percent whatever, he is
always going to be a threat. Like if you don't
game plan for him, and you play man and man
coverage and you turn your back on Lamar Jackson at
seventy five percent, he's still going to be a threat.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And so that's and that's the thing. So it just
depends on what length we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
And he's healthy next year, so like like he's got
the offseason, so that threat. My point is that threat
is there, and that's why it's so important for next
year for there to be success because there are now
no more excuses because John Harbaugh isn't there. So all
of that pressure and everything that's on Lamar is is
now on his shoulders because of this decision. And I
(14:47):
think it's ultimately the decision that they make, Like the
Seahawks chose Pete Carroll ultimately over Russell Wilson, but it
really wasn't that. It was they just knew Russell Wilson
probably was towards the end of his career. They didn't
want to pay him the money that he was going
to demand in his next contract, and they shipped him
out when they felt that they needed to, and it
worked out great for him.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I got a question that part.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So in that situation, you thought you thought Pete Carroll's
voice got I guess old end, and you would rather
have had Pete Carroll than Russell Wilson at that point.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I I don't think that they were tied together like
they were with the Ravens. I think that they understood
John Schneider and Pete Carroll understood that Russell Wilson was
not the same quarterback that he once was. And so
at the time, honestly, like when you looked at like
when they should have traded Wilson or could have traded him,
they maybe could have waited a season to do it,
(15:38):
but they did it at the time that they did
and were able to get the package that they got
from from the Broncos, which was a very very healthy
package because I think that they knew that he was
going to be damaged to goods after that.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And what, Russell Wilson's older than Lamar Jackson as well,
So like at the end, at the time of the trade,
like it wasn't Russell Wilson was twenty nine years old.
Russell Wilson was an older quarterback. But that's the Seahawks
made that decision. I think you could still look at
Lamar Jackson and say, all right, if he's healthy, he'll
he'll be fine, He'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, But it's also as.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
The whole of the next five years and what is
going on with the Ravens that you look at and say,
all right, where are we going to be now? Where
we're going to be with the next five years, where
you hope that the next coach that you hire is
going to be there for that span and you're not
hiring somebody new in two years, sure, because if you are,
then it was a complete mess in Baltimore. He called
it from the get go. How did you have some
(16:33):
Louisville insights on there?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I will not tell.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
He will not reveal his sources. He is Carrier Oads,
I'm Dan Byer. Jason Stewart is here Iowa. Sam Chris
Perfetz at the news desk keeping us updated of what's
going on today.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Fox Sports Radio has 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 3 (16:55):
Happy Wednesday to you, kind of happy Birthdays and Lamar
Jackson the Big Carrie and I talking about the responsibilities
now on Jackson's shoulders that are there now that John
Harbaugh isn't HM and I was checking out on the podcast.
Want to also let you know with the iHeartRadio app,
you can stream us wherever you happen to be catch
us and all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
(17:18):
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sure to select Fox Sports Radio is one of your
presets in the iHeart app, so it will always pop
up at the top of your screen. It is a
Wednesday hit. Carry up a carry twenty five roads. You
can find me at Dan Byer on Fox. Chris Purfettes here,
Jason Stewart's here, our executive producer, Iowa Sam our technical producer,
(17:41):
and what we do every Wednesday at this time, carry rhoads.
You've heard it before, it's not getting.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
It's time for.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
The Midway.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Handing it off to our executive producer, creator of this segment, Jason.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
St Dan I'll take it from here. I'll tell you
what that was a bit of a throwback. Now, what
I just did was a throwback. I don't expect Sam
to be prepared for.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I'll take it there.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
Yeah, there's a lot of things going on right now, right,
A lot of things going on, a lot of things
going on now. Today's installment of The Midway includes birthdays
now Lamar Jackson's birthdays today and for his birthday, he
got his coach fired. It's a great present. And then
(18:32):
Tiger Woods recently turned fifty and I shared with you
guys details of tiger Woods fiftieth and Dan Byer most
appreciates it because it takes place on a famous golf
course and it's got a bunch of golf related stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Well, and you know the Breakers in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Would you know the Breakers?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
No? Oh, it's a very very high end club. I once.
I have been to the Breakers before. It sounds like
a pop grew from the eighties.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I was invited, I was invited. This is this is quite.
This is quite the party that I was invited to
years ago. He's smiling right now. I swear, I swear
to you this is true. This was in two thousand
and three or two thousand and four, around this time.
(19:23):
It was the holiday season. It was earlier in December.
I was at the Breakers because I got invited to
a gala, a party put on by former Today Show
host Matt Lawer. Yes, it was a Matt Lower Foundation.
Because I was visiting a buddy who worked in radio.
His radio station was tied up with this foundation. I
(19:47):
was not dressed for it. I looked like I actually
was underdressed as a waiter. But the likes of Brian
Gumbel was there. I remember that other celebs. Chris Tucker
was there. Yes, so I've been to the Breakers before
in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
A dropper. How about that? It's Matt Lower been up chill.
I didn't see him spotted by some paparazzi.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
Lately he's trying to rebuild his good name.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Or good luck for that, good luck for that.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I think the last thing we heard from Matt was
that the truth will come out. And it's been like
nine years. I haven't no way to mat. So what
do you like best about this birthday bash? Do you
like the fact that John bon Jovi himself is going
to perform that the dress code you have to wear,
a touch of red, a touch of red anywhere on
(20:41):
your on your person, or the Masters themed dinner menu.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
D What I love is how it's got a title sponsor.
Oh yeah, Tiger Wood's Birthday brought to you by Bridgestone.
Like that would be like that? It's true it does
have a title option. I don't like. I don't mind
dress code. What I don't like is, hey, nineteen twenties party.
I hate crap like that. Like I'm just like just yeah,
(21:10):
I hate it. I cannot stand it. So and especially
for a birthday when you're turning fifty for Tiger and
Red and what red is meant.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
For Sunday Red, the Sunday Red yeacific Sunday Red well and.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
His company is now Sunday Red. Like I understand the
red portion of it. I have no problems doing that
because you can be creative in how you want to.
I thought it was interesting that it's John bon Jovi
and not like bon Jovi, like he didn't get sam Bora.
I know him and bon Jovi and sam boro were
not on the same page, but he just wants John
(21:46):
bon Jovi and doesn't care who the backing band is is.
I thought that that was interesting, But ultimately I think
it's the title sponsor that just has me. I mean,
I've got a birthday in two weeks. It is presented
by no one, but it does make me think of
when you have a when you have a December birthday
(22:07):
or a January birthday, what you don't realize is is
when you live in a colder portion of the country,
which Florida is not, you are very limited. So growing up,
I was always my town was about nine thousand, ninety
five hundred people. We had a bowling alley. There were
(22:28):
about seven bowling parties a year that you would go
to at any point between October and March, because it
really was the only Yes, Really, I honestly had a
flashback to birthday cakes, whether it be mine, whether it
be someone else's. You load the kids in the car,
maybe another parent takes another group of kids. You go
(22:48):
to the bowling alley because it's eight degrees outside, and
that's how you would spend your day. So instead of
having John bon Jovi or everybody wearing red, when I
was a kid, we would row up or growing up,
we would go to a bowling alley because it was
indoors and really one of the only activities that you
could actually do.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah, that sounds like my childhood too, Dan. My my
town was small and same thing like. There was always
like instead of the bowling alley, it would probably be
like a little this little pizza joint that was around
the corner from our house, and all the kids would
just kind of go there by default for their birthday,
arcade games, all that.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, all that stuff was there.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Yeah, it's one of those spots, and it was I
mean as a kid, you're like, man, this is the
best thing ever. And you get older and you're like,
wait a minute, I want to go to Italy and
I want my friends to come there. So when you
start having those type of I guess that kind of
pizza disruptor, it's kind of hard to go back and
enjoy the pizza party.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
As much I love the pizza party. We never had
laser tag at our pizza place. No, you did have
a pizza We had a pizza Hut.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Maybe that's more millennial. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I
think that became more of a thing.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
But that pizza was always like rubber was good though,
good for a kid who doesn't have a good palace.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
The pizza hut, the pizza that we had as a kid,
to me was delicious. Oh yeah, magnificence walking in because
it would put you at a long table and then
all the gifts were at the end of the table.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
There was nothing better than that.
Speaker 7 (24:15):
That pan pizza when it came out of the oven
would scald the roof of your mouth.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
But it was the best thing. Yes, it was worth it, right,
totally worth it.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
But you guys remember that like actually going to the
pizza huts and sitting down and having like a night out.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That was so fun. Though, Yes, my generation had what
was it?
Speaker 7 (24:32):
The what was the reading thing? The reading club they
had for I I don't remember it at all, but
like my elementary had an element like a reading club.
Book it, book it, Yes, and if you read enough books,
you got a free personal pizza and that was always
a chance to go out to the lunch buffet at pizza.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I thought. True story.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
When I first accomplished book it for the month, I
thought I got.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
A large Oh.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Completely, I read five pages for this like what are you?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
What are you doing? Why are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Like I thought, like I thought, feed the whole family,
like guess what I'll share? That's what Dad and night's
dinners on me? And it was smaller than a catcher's
mitt like I was. So I was so ticked off
because not only was the pizza I'm big enough. I
thought it was such a scam. I thought like this
is this is you're smarter for it. Now you're a
better man for I remember one book I read during
(25:25):
book it Damn with the Giver, and Dan was in
the back yard and he put a little trash can
outside and burned all the book of things and put it.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
In the middle book.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
It was like fourth grade, fifth grade stuff, Like none
of that stuff is not even the Giver is like
in that reading category.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
After I saw that, I had my new club. It
was called fet No I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm just kidding.
But book it was a scam. It was a scam everybody.
Then if everybody in your class reached their reading goal,
they'd get a pizza party. That was impossible, Like you
knew that there were some kids who were just never
going to read the books, just never going to happen.
I think they gave out about four pizza parties in
(26:01):
its entire time because he knew there was just someone
who was just like, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Didn't read it. Steven wanted reading that book. No, not
at all. Can't have a pizza party without Steve here, exactly,
can't do it.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
Jason Sam, I remember my sixteenth birthday, and this will
date me, so my sixteenth birthday happens. You know, you
turn sixteen, a lot of cool things happen. And my
birthday's on the sixteenth of October always fallows around the
World Series. Now, on October fifteenth, nineteen eighty eight, I
turned sixteen and I had a party. And that was
(26:38):
also the night that Kurt Gibson hit the most memorable
home run in World Series history for my team Wonderful.
I'll never not think of that moment associated with my birthday.
And there was a story that I'm going to tell
for the first time. So my mother, God bless her.
She was always thoughtful and trying to think of everything.
(26:59):
She put my Dodger's pennant above the TV. So there
was a bunch of us buddies watching TV Dodger's pennant
above the TV. Just a great touch, right Dodger theme party.
And every time something went right in that ninth inning,
whether it be Mike Davis drawing a walk from Eckersley,
the pennant would drop. It would just drop, and we
(27:21):
would put it back up, and then the pennant drops
right before Kurt Gibson's home run.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Again.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
I know I'm triggering something with Sam. Very superstitious but
I will never forget the pennant, the birthday my mother
and all that stuff. It's a great memory. It's got
to be like one of the best days of your life. Yeah,
it's absolutely Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You always talk about like the birth of you know,
child or marriage or whatever the case is, but that
would be up there, Chris.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Yeah, I want to talk about the last birthday I
just had. So first off, on my birthday September twenty first,
so I have the earth, wind and fire birthday, right,
so get to celebrate that. I always like to pretend
everyone posting the September videos on TikTok or Twitter, it's
all for me. That's all because of me. Yeah, right there.
But this last one, I took about a week away
(28:13):
from work here and one of the things I had
always wanted to do is there is an island off
Los Angeles called Catalina Islands. And yes, I know, you
can play the Lina wine mixer drops all you want.
It's a fun little island out there. My plan to
go out there was to see the bison. There is
a bison herd that's been out there since the nineteen twenties.
(28:34):
They were put out there for a Western movie that
was shot on the island and just left out there,
and this bison herd has been out there for over
one hundred years and now finally they're slowly dying off.
I think most of them are infertile by now. So
I wanted to go see the buffalo out on a
trop out on a Pacific island. It was the coolest thing,
and I got there. It rained the night before. I
(28:55):
talked to the woman as we were boarding up on
this like rigged up jeep to go out there, and
it's like, yeah, don't get your hopes up. The herd
hasn't been seen in three weeks, not only been heard
from Yeah, not only not only We got out in
the turn and it's the back of Catalina's very hilly
and very kind of bad landy. But out of the
(29:16):
first turn, not only did I see a bison, it
was thirty feet away from me, mulching on on on grass.
And that was one of three different bison individually I saw.
And then we saw the whole herd from the from
there's like a hill where they've got an airport out there,
and we saw the whole herd from up there as well.
So I saw all these majestic creatures. It was awesome.
(29:39):
It was breathtaking. And then I went back to Avalon
and I got drunk watching football that same day.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
See, you could do that because you're in southern California.
You could also do that because it's September. Harry's got
a summer birthday, yep. So you can do a lot
of stuff outside. Jason's in the fall. Sam's not too
far after Jason a couple of days, agater, but you
could do fall like these. I don't know what it
was like in Iowa, but there's still time to do
outside stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
October in Iowa's is mixed bag.
Speaker 6 (30:06):
It could be cold, it could be seventy degrees in
sunny with no leaves on the trees. But my mom
grew up on a farm in eastern Iowa, and in
the nineties when my grandfather retired as a farmer, they
bought the property from my grandparents, just like the five
acres where the house and the barns are. So I
would have a lot of friends out there and stuff.
(30:27):
And I think at least two or three times I
had a birthday out there, probably my twelfth birthday, I'd say,
like nineteen ninety eight ish, I had maybe six six
five or six friends, maybe select friends.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I was about to say something else. I'm just gonna
avoid that.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
I had a very popular term my elite group of friends,
my inner circle, would come out and we would do
like paintball guns. We would do pellet guns, show off fireworks. Yeah,
we had a couple. We had a go cart and
we borrowed my neighbor's go carts, so we like had
paintball guns on the go carts. Oh, my grandma had
a golf cart. She lived right next door. So it
was just like it was like what was it in
(31:05):
Pinocchio Those kids go to like that, like that Pleasure Island,
Pleasure Island, Fantasy Land, and there's like just they're all
smoking cigars, like drinking you know, beer and stuff and
all like eight year old boys and and this was
like our version of that, Like, you know, we were
blowing stuff up, we were shooting pellet guns, shooting paintball guns.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
You know.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
It was And then we went to like uh Jim's
rib Haven in the in Moline in the Quad Cities
and just it was just the best and sleepover all
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I'll tell you, I love a birthday at Jim's rib Haven.
That sounds like the place to be. We had a
we had a pizza hut that was bit basically one
of the only spots that you could sit down that
kids would want to in my hometown.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
What was the pizza spot you were at? I can't think.
Speaker 7 (31:49):
No, no, not in Alabama, Inkies for us in Toledo,
in Great Inkys, great name.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
What did they do on the East coast or in
cold weather U States? When the phenomenon happened right around
the time my kid was like two or three, it
became like a neighborhood competition for who could have the
best bouncy house you and you It wasn't an option
not to have a bouncy house at the at the
birthday party. I think that's still going now in southern California?
(32:19):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Does that also happen in the in the colder cities,
not in the winter obviously in the summer.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I think that, Yeah, you could have outside and events
like that where you would do that, but it wouldn't happen.
It wouldn't have happened around my birthday. But yeah, I
think it's been commonplace around.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Has Brody had a bouncy house. No, he is not,
not yet.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
This does remind me of some My grandfather always told
me that he had to He lived in Florida for
a time and one of his birthdays they had to
do it from a shelter because the hurricane was coming through. Oh,
it's like had the cake, had the cake basically in
a save area, away from all the windows, boarding up
at everything.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Like Jason up to the point too of like of
is it is it a competition? Is it just what
the kid wants? You know, I liked I liked bowling.
I liked bowling. I think it was fun. I think
it was a fun time. So I didn't mind going.
And it was just it it works out that way,
like let's get everybody together and go bowling. Our our
(33:19):
high school at the time had an indoor pool, so
you could do like a swimming sort of thing. But
there I know that there were parties like where it
would be like, hey, the town Wasasa was like the
big city bias, Like there was an indoor pool at
a hotel at Watsa.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
We did BA birthdays like that, So you would go
to the indoor pool over Yeah, you'd have cake, you
go to the pool.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, some places would even just you could just use
the pool, like you didn't have to like you would
have to pay for it, yeah, but because that would
be a way that they would get income, Like that
would be another option.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
But isn't that funny though?
Speaker 4 (33:49):
As kids, these these nominal things, these things that are
kind of frowned upon now where the crown jewels of
our time and our lives at that time. And so
you have those moments as kids, and then you become
adults and you become jaded by all of that, and
then you get to a point where you get a
little bit older and you still have to appreciate that's
those smaller things again, Like that's the bookend of our
(34:12):
lives and how those things happen for us.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
It's just so crazy.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
And I think that's kind of like the metaphor for life, right,
Like we have these highs and lows, and we have
these expectations of how great things are supposed to be
all the time. But if you really scale back and
go back to the simpler times and the simple things,
those are things we appreciate the most. And so that's
what I love about this this segment and hearing everybody's
story about the good times they had in those moments.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I think I've told it. I know I've told this
story on the air. I don't know if i've told
it with you guys before. When I am one of
the few people that does make a big deal about
my own birthday, I think ninety eight percent of grown
adults don't make a big deal out of theirs. Yeah,
but I do. And there half birthday guy too. Yeah, yeah,
that's yeah, that's kind of a joke. It's kind of
a running joke. But yeah, some people's July sixteenth the
(34:56):
birth thing a right. January sixteenth is my birthday. One
of the reasons I truly do make a big deal
out of it. I was driving, I was riding the
school because it wasn't driving. Mom made the radio on.
You dropped my sister off at Junior High and we're
listening to the radio on my birthday, and the radio
host goes, guess what today is? It's National Nothing Day. No,
(35:17):
because nothing important happened on this day. It's my birthday.
I'm like in first grade. Okay, imagine that. Seriously, I'm
just gonna search look at what National Nothing Day is.
So it's January sixteenth. Yes, it's my birthday, and so
just completely gutted by Maybe that's my revenge. Maybe that's
(35:39):
why I got into radio to get back at the
radio host who said this. The only thing to then
make up for it was the Gulf War ended up
starting on my birthday a couple of years after that.
Then like that was then it's like, well see, you know,
now there is something.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
It's a war.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
But at least something happened on my birthday. Aside from wow,
yeah that was that. That one scarred me. I still
remember and I type it in and show you.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Dan, something great has happened on January sixteenth. You know
what it is?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
That it's Dan Bayer's.
Speaker 8 (36:10):
Birthday, all right, and and al and shaw Day, and
Ronnie millsap and the late a lot and many more.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yes, and a former Baywatch star David Chokichi.
Speaker 6 (36:24):
David Chokichi, I haven't heard that name in a long time.
It's a great name, all right. That's the Midway, the Midway,
all right. A good birthday celebration. By the way, that
birthday that I told you about, what they called the
National Nothing Day. My birthday was presented by Coca Cola
that day. No, it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
The Tiger Woods title sponsor is just absurd.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Fox Sports Radio has 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 3 (36:56):
Fox Sports Radio. He's the all pro Kerry Roads. I'm
Dan Byer. Not only can you hear carry on myself now,
you can hear a Sunday's five Eastern two Pacific here
on Fox Sports Radio. Wild Card coming up this weekend,
so we smack dab in the during our show, we'll
get a majority of our show will be about forty
nine Ers Eagles joining us now to talk NBA our
(37:18):
Fox Sports Radio NBA Insider, FS one NBA analyst that
you can find on x at Rick Buker also finding
the Seams, teaming up with Brendon Aywood on their podcast.
Rick Buker joins us here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, Rick,
how are you?
Speaker 9 (37:32):
I am well? How are you?
Speaker 3 (37:34):
I'm doing great? It sounds like the Lakers are doing great.
I mean they're third in the West. Win last night,
Lebron and Lucas celebrating on the court. Lebron afterwards saying
I don't have to Luca doesn't have to do anything
around me.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
I'm the one that needs to bend around the big superstar.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Is everything as great as it seems right now for
the Lakers in.
Speaker 10 (37:56):
La La Land, well for now it is.
Speaker 9 (37:59):
For now it is sure winning Winning certainly makes everybody
feel good about themselves. The question is going to be,
and we've seen it, when they when they struggle, or
they when they play the better teams and uh and
and they lose a few or their their complete lack
of defense or having so many defensive holes is exposed,
then things get a little rough. I don't know that.
(38:22):
The all of the chatter outside of it, whether it's
Rich Paul or Lebron James himself, all of that raises
some questions in terms of when and when and how
it's going to infiltrate the team uh and and the
dynamics there. But the reality is they're they're not a
(38:43):
good defensive team. They're not going to be a good
defensive team, and uh and they have two guys that
are ball dominant at their best in Lebron and uh
and Luca. If you're winning, everybody's everybody can go along
with it. When you start losing. That's that's when the
questions are raised. So I'll put it this way in
(39:05):
short order, the mellow drama that is the Los Angeles
Lakers this year has just begun and it will have
sequels over the course of the year. It's going to
get very, very interesting because they're not going to continue
to win at the same level once they play the
better teams.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Rick and then you throw in an Austin Reeves to
that case as well, who needs the ball as well.
So it's going to be interesting for sure. But I
want to talk about Trey Young a little bit. I mean,
obviously this seems like the wheels have fallen off there
in Atlanta with him and the organization. Has this been
going on for a while, because obviously Tray's has some
great moments in Atlanta, but his shortcomings have really been
on display as far as his defense goes and maybe
(39:47):
even his shot selection and what he and how he
handles the game.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Can you talk about that and what his future holds
for Trey Young?
Speaker 10 (39:55):
Well?
Speaker 9 (39:55):
The Eastern getting to the Eastern Conference Finals in twenty
one certainly extended the shelf life and the belief. Along
with Tony Wrestler, the son of the of the owner
being really close with Trey. And so when there were
guys who got tired of playing with Trey because he
dominates the ball and does not defend, they were like, Okay,
(40:18):
well we just need to get guys who are good
with that. So that they they moved out the Bugdanovic's
and the andre uh Hunters and and DeAndre Hunters, and
and then they got a new group, the Jalen Johnson's
and the Dyson Daniels. And they're like, well, these guys
are pretty good and they don't really like doing it playing.
Speaker 10 (40:37):
So maybe maybe maybe we need to.
Speaker 9 (40:40):
Change something else here. And and so I think that's
that's where they are there, and and I and I
do believe in in part it's also like I look
at the you know, whether it's Zachary Risha say or
or or some of the other pieces they have, like
there's there's some really good young talent on that team,
(41:02):
but I just don't know as good as Trey is.
And this is this is the real riddle with him.
I mean, when it comes to playing pick and roll,
scoring off the pick and roll, he's as good as
anybody in the league. But he just hasn't evolved in
any other way. And now when you're looking at Okay,
(41:22):
he's coming up for a contract where he's going to
expect the max super Max, something along those lines of like,
is this what we want to invest in? And by
all indications, Atlanta Hawks are saying no, it's not.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
This may be unfair. Rick Buker joining us here on
Fox Sports Radio to hold this against Trey Young. I've
never been a Tray Young fan. He's Carrier Roads. I'm
Dan Byer. But I even go back Rick to his
days at Oklahoma, like I remember because he took college
basketball by storm in the first part of the only
season he was in Norman. But there is a game
where he probably took thirty shots for the Sooners and
(41:58):
he came down the stretch and obviously he got double
teamed and the clock's winding down, end of the game,
and he passes to a guy and guys like, well,
I haven't shot all game because you've been shooting all
the time. Misses the shot and then there's like, oh man,
why did you miss the shot?
Speaker 2 (42:13):
And it's never changed.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
It feels like with that with Trey Young, like it's
always just been his way. Or the highway. So I
find it interesting now. I think you laid it out
perfectly of why the timing is now, But it just
seems like it's always been about Tray Young more than
anything else.
Speaker 9 (42:29):
Yeah, and you know, we can be sort of deceived
because the numbers can look good, including the assists that
can look good. There's been plenty of guys who have
averaged a high number of assists, and yet it's deceptive.
(42:53):
You think, oh, well, he's an unselfish guy, he's setting
other guys up. But the reality is it's either it's
when you're when those assists are happening. And are there
are there any hockey assists in there? Is it?
Speaker 2 (43:06):
Is it?
Speaker 9 (43:06):
I'm giving the ball up to allow other guys to
make plays. And if you have a team that's capable
of being a making a deep run in the playoffs,
you're gonna have multiple guys who can do something with
the ball and and and if they don't get the
opportunity to do that and the team is struggling, at
some point, they're gonna go, hey, we could could could
(43:26):
we share the ball a little bit, or you know,
send me someplace else? And I will say Ron Kruger
deserves a tremendous amount of respect because I believe it's
Trey Young and I believe he also had Austin Reeves
like those guys in their ability to make the most
out of their physical limitations and manipulate the game through
(43:49):
the pick and roll. Ron Kruger did a tremendous job
of teaching both of those guys. But when we talk
about like franchise players and dominating the ball, that only
goes so far.
Speaker 4 (44:01):
Well records funny because the other guy who's always going
to be linked to him has that same issue, but nobody.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I mean, well, I.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Guess he did get traded too, so I guess all's
fair at the end of the day, between Luke and Trey, right,
they both got traded for each other, and they both
kind of played the game similarly. But you know, Luca's obviously,
you know, in a in a different situation, in a
better situation now in LA. But I want to ask
you one more question about the OKC thunder And obviously,
you know, the beginning of the season was on they
were on the record record setting pace, and obviously people
(44:31):
started talking about being you know, the best team ever
and having the best record ever. What's happened, what's happened
in Oka See. I know Jalen Williams has come back,
and maybe that's thrown off a little bit of their chemistry.
I'm not sure that's what it kind of feels like.
But what's your assessment of OKC right now?
Speaker 9 (44:45):
It's December January and the level at which they were
playing so much of it was just their defensive energy.
You know, they were suffocating teams, and you know, it's
at some point you just feel like, hey, if we're
going to play for a title, we're gonna play for
(45:07):
another title. We've got to be good to go in
May and June and the and then, and it generally
happens against the lesser teams, which I think is what
we've seen here for the most part. They've been surprising
losses because they've let go of rope against teams that
they thought they at this point they could just go
(45:27):
out and right and and roll over. And so I
think the combination of that that that's the biggest element.
I just the combination of that and the way we
started to talk about them at the start of the season.
You know that the one of the all time greats
and they're gonna take.
Speaker 10 (45:48):
You know, they're going eighty and two. Okay, this overreaction,
like what are we doing here? Like you've played in
the league, you know how it goes like maintas I mean, honestly,
it wouldn't make any sense for them to maintain that
(46:13):
kind of intensity at this point in the season, because
winning back to back championships is a grind and it.
Speaker 9 (46:22):
Does take uh, you know, the game goes to another
level and you're already getting everybody's best shots because it's
a feather in their cap to uh to knock off
the defending champs. And then I would also say that
I think that that that teams have also taken something
from the San Antonio Spurs and their dominance. There's now
(46:45):
tape there that shows if you can if you can
meet okay, sees physicality, You're like, that's that's where you
need to go. Meet their physicality. Don't be, don't be,
don't take a step back, get the way they come
at you. And then when you're defending them, be honest,
(47:05):
keep them off the line. And so I think the
com I think the other part here is that the
San Antonio Spurs have given everybody the blueprint for making
the game more competitive when they're when they're paying playing
the Thunder, and now the Thunder are going to have
to adjust. They have the talent, they have the coaching,
(47:26):
they have everything to do that, but it may take
a beat for them to respond.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
All right, I got one last one for you, because
they talked about it earlier. This week, Steve Kerr gets
ejected from the game against the Clippers, his first dejection
in about three or four years. We had the Draymond interaction.
It's final year of his contract, their eighth in the West. Like,
are we starting to see the beginning of the end
with Steve Kerr and Golden States? I just got the
sense that this is all building up and that maybe
(47:54):
that this is this is the end of the line.
What do you see in Golden State?
Speaker 9 (47:58):
He sure looks worn at and and you know, I
just look at Bob Meyer stepping off, and there there're
what people don't know who aren't around the franchise on
a regular basis. I live in the Bay Area, so
I am is that Joe Laka has been a great owner,
no doubt about it. But his attachment to reality when
(48:23):
it comes to the NBA. I think it's loose because
you don't remain a dynasty forever. And with the apron
and reducing not only the money that he wants to
spend on this team, but the ability to continue to
replenish it, there's you're going to fall off. You can't
(48:46):
be a contender forever, no matter you know how Steph
Curry is playing, because it's it's not just one guy,
and so especially a thirty eight about to turn thirty
eight year old six and eighty pounds. So I think
Bob Myers just got to a point where it was like,
the returns are not worth what I have to go
(49:10):
through in terms of what the expectation is and the pressure.
And Steve I think I don't think it's any accident
that he came out and said, hey, look, the dynasty
days are over. Like the idea that we're going to
knock off the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder,
that we're built to be a championship team right now
(49:35):
is not realistic. And I just wonder how much of
that was not just a message to the world at large,
but to his owner Joe Lacob to say, let's be realistic.
About where we are and what we have if we're
if we're making the playoffs, that is still a wild
(49:56):
success for this team when you look at the roster overall.
Speaker 3 (50:00):
FSR Insider, Fox Sports One Insider Finding the Scenes with
Brendan Haywood, Rick Buker joining us here on Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks Rick, Love, talking to you have next week.
Speaker 9 (50:09):
Hi, pleasure guys.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app All right.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Way to go.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
You made it to the middle of the week and
we'll get to Carry Roads in a second. He's just
taking victory laps around this day as year at Fox
Sports Radio. How many do you want to take in
calling that John Harbaugh would be out as the Baltimore
Ravens head coach.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
You know what, Nan, I'm a humble guy. Yeah, you are, definitely,
and i Am not going to take any praise. I'm
just gonna let the conversation go where it may.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Is this Carry Rhodes? We sure? Are we sure? This
is carry? You didn't you did?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
You've been calling this for a while. Yeah, that John
Harball would not return as the Ravens head coach. Carry
and our team up on Sundays on Fox Sports Radio
in our end Zone Radio show, bringing you all the
action from the late window of the NFL schedule. We
sign off right before Sunday night football kicks off, and
as we signed off on Sunday, I gave him three
(01:02):
options on who would be back next year. It was
Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. And when I
asked about John Harbaugh, you said that he would not
be back. Was this your gut? Was this intel? What
let you know on Sunday that Sunday Nights game in
Pittsburgh would ultimately be John Harbaugh's last with the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
It's one of those things where it's a gut felling
for sure, but also being in the locker room and
being around guys, and you know, you know, guys have
their own agendas. People are trying to reach certain milestones.
You have coaches that are trying to coach for their jobs.
You have other coaches that are seeking jobs. You have
all these things that are happening in a locker room.
(01:46):
Right where are you supposed to be on one accord?
So when that all too common, praise comes out like
we're all in together. Yeah, we're all in together when
things are good. Because when things aren't good, people have
you know, it's human people have thoughts and of their
agendas and other things that creep in. And when you
watch the Ravens this year and not even just this year,
(02:07):
but the last couple of years, when things are good,
you don't hear a thing come out of there. You
don't You don't hear you hear the coach openly praising
their star quarterback and their star players. You hear the
players being complementary to the coach all the time. And
you know it's just certain factors and certain like talking
points and key points come out when things are good.
(02:29):
This year hasn't been that at all. I mean from
the start of the season, the expectations were high. And
when the expectations are high, and especially for a coach
that's been there for a long time, if you don't
meet those expectations, there are ramifications. Now if there's not
going to be coordinator's gone or players gone, somebody's somebody's
going to be gone. And you think about their situation.
The GM is set as many players as he's brought in,
(02:51):
and the type of caliber players he brought in, they're good, right,
the players have they underachieved for the Ravens a thousand percent.
But if you're not gonna get if you're not gonna
get rid of some of those key players, then where's
that fall to Dan? And so it's just like it's
almost like the process of elimination, gut and also just
(03:12):
being in the locker room and knowing how the factory
works well.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
And I want to get to that because it felt
that a lot of the comments from Harball were reactionary
to comments that were made instead of being proactive.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Throughout the season where you talked about the leaks that
we would never hear, then we started to hear leaks,
and then it was in response to the leaks that
Harball would have to say what he had to say. Well,
then there was the Mike Preston article that was criticizing Lamar.
I felt that there was more of a campaign that
Harball was on his way out, and I felt that
the Preston piece in the Baltimore Sun about Lamar was
(03:50):
in response to all of the Harball stuff. Whether that
was the way it actually went or not, the fact
is this stuff was getting out to people that we
hadn't seen in the last eighteen years with the Ravens.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yes, and that's the tail tale sign man. When the cracks,
when when the fisher start, fisher starts to widen, you
know there's trouble.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
There's there. It's bigger than the fisher.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
It's a chasm at that point and so once you
get to that point and then all these things start
to leak out, and then the performance goes down, and
then we start to do our own research and like
have our data points on this team, specifically in the
Lamar years, and you see all the years that they've
had and they've been really good in the regular season,
there's still be doubts of you know, is Harbball making
(04:33):
the right decisions?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is Harbball being a little bit too lenient?
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Is Horrball Like those things would still kind of come out,
but they would get swept under the rug. But when
you're not winning, there's nowhere to hide those things, and
so that's where it comes out to.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I just I compare it.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I think it's very difficult to compare it to Pittsburgh
because of Pittsburgh's ownership with the Rooney family and how
they've always treated head coaches. The Ravens a newer franchise
in the world of the NFL. Plus you have Steve Bashatti,
the owner took over from Art Modell and the Modell family,
so Bashadi's there, but there seems to be quite a
(05:07):
bit of loyalty to Harbaugh. I compare it to I
compare it to what happened in Seattle with Pete Carroll.
And I think a lot of these long tenured coaches
and the Saints are different. The Saints were different as well,
because I felt that Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis were
kind of running the Saints when Tom Benson ended up
passing away, then Gail Benson took over, so the people
(05:29):
that she knew best were Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis.
So maybe their stay and Mickey Loomis is still in
New Orleans, but their stays were longer because of the
ownership situation in Seattle. Maybe it could have been like
that because of the passing of Paul Allen, it ends
up going to you know, through the estate and his
sisters running the team. But the point I bring up
(05:51):
is this is it's probably better to do it sooner
rather than later. Okay, So for Baltimore in this case,
Seattle waited a long time to let go of Pete Cary.
And we see where Seattle is now with a new
head coach and a new energy, and it probably should
have happened sooner. But the timing for them now to
have Mike McDonald as their head coach. Probably that's the
way that it had to go. I just I don't
(06:14):
see the ultimate reason carry when we look at all
these other head coaching changes on the surface and on paper,
to be like hardball's the one that needs to go.
And I'm not saying Lamar needs to go either, but
I'm just saying two years ago this team was in
an AFC championship game. Last year they lost a playoff
game in Buffalo. Like there's Mark Andrews drop. What happens
(06:35):
to me ends up catches, you know, catching the pass,
and things change. And so this year you're on a
year where Lamar has been hurt. You haven't been afraid
to change coordinators. They've had to go through many whether
the defensive coordinator, whether it be Mike McDonald Leving or
whether a b Rex Ryan Leving or whoever, of all
of the coaches that have been in Baltimore, at least
(06:57):
at one point or another, they've been able to turn
over that. And they've turned over the offensive coordinator position before.
I just was surprised that this was it. And so
that's why when you're talking about the messaging coming out,
it seems like it was a lot more on the table,
and after a long discussion yesterday, the move was ultimately made.
But I just never felt that the Ravens were at
(07:20):
this point to let go of John Harbaugh because of
what we've seen throughout the NFL and what we've seen
in other places. And so now that he's out, I
think that it's simple, like Lamar Jackson, if this is
Lamar Jackson aided, it's got to be careful for what
he wished for, oh for sure, because the gress isn't
necessarily greener on the other side. And as I used
(07:42):
two cliches, he's also lost his shield. John Harball was
a great shield because if things went wrong, yes, let's
blame it on John Harbaugh, it's his fault. It's his
fault for bringing in this coordinator. It's his fault for
this and that Now Lamar wins this back, and with
that becomes a lot of responsibility. So now Lamar, now
(08:06):
Lamar has to produce. If you're the Ravens quarterback and
it's his birthday today, is Chris Prophett mentioned the theme
threw out the show. But now all of this is
on Lamar, and that's why I just say, be careful
what you wish for because you may want hardball out,
but that may not be better for you as a player.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah, And I think the angle that it's solely Lamar
wanted them out, I don't think that would be the
main reason he's gone now. I say that because, yes,
he is the franchise player. We've seen quarterbacks have that
ability to you know, get the man they want or
get rid of the man they don't want.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Right.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
You made a great point, like it is it is
on him now, and I think it was going to
be on him now anyway. And I think they were
kind of step in tow they were locked together, you know,
like you have the head coaches and gms that are
kind of locked together and one goal with the other
has to go in this situation, you can't get rid
of both of them, right, And so all right, if
you're gonna choose a two time MVP, somebody that you
(09:04):
still believe in that can get the job done, where
you had a head coach that got the job done before,
but as of that moment hasn't gotten back there yet, right,
and had ample opportunities to get back there. Where in
a player you talked about it, We've named and we've
seen plenty emphasis and plenty instances where you know it
wasn't Lamar's fault. Now, he's been at fault at times
(09:27):
as well, But in these last couple of years, there's
been other guys who you know, he's gotten the ball
to and they fumbled or they've dropped the ball. Right,
So you have that evidence. In the last couple of
years where this team has been good and they have
had their shortcomings, the players on the field have determined
determined also why they haven't gotten there. But these past
(09:47):
few years it hasn't been Lamar, and so we can
remove that part of the you know, the big equation
here right, Like, he hasn't come up short in those moments.
So now if we put him with the right person,
the person that can press the buttons to where you know,
things matter, the small details matter. For us to win,
it has to come from the head coach. If the
head coach isn't giving them the right to obviously he
(10:10):
can't get the new hands to catch the ball, but
like make them understand that there are consequences, consequences if
you don't show up in the spot. And I don't
think that was the case in the last couple of
years with the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Do you do you find it an appealing job if
you were a head coaching candidate.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Is it appealing because of Lamar? Or is it appealing
because of the franchise's structure and stability that they've shown throughout.
I guess it's inception both both, and you don't you
got it? You don't think, so go ahead. I just
think with Lamar, who turns twenty nine today, that you're
now coming off of another injury season.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yep. And it's not about I think the standard.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Of Super Bowls gets overblown, but it's the world that
we live in, so we end up dealing with it.
But there is good to come a time like this
season where we saw Lamar couldn't run as well as
he did when he was twenty three and twenty four. Absolutely,
and so now how does that affect everything else that happens,
Like the threat of Lamar Jackson was sometimes worse than
(11:13):
what he would actually do because of all of the
stuff that he could do on a football field, and
he had one of the not this past year, but
the year before was maybe I think it's top three,
top two best passer season that we've seen I know
it's top five for sure. Yeah, for what we've seen.
So but that everything comes with that. So Lamar's ability
(11:34):
to move the weapons that they have, Derrick Henry, that's there,
All of that works out. All of that now is
kind of erased because it's now just all on Lamar.
And so now, at twenty nine years old, which I
think he's an older twenty nine than a younger twenty nine,
I'm not sure that the second half of Lamar's career,
which is maybe at the point we're at right now,
is going to be better at the first half. And
(11:56):
so that's the only thing that I would question, Like,
if I'm Baltimore, there's I'm not taking anybody on the
defensive side. I am hiring an offensive head coach.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I don't care.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, you have to be locked in and Harbaugh, I
guess to his defense, he was more of CEO right
because he comes over as a special teams coach. Let
the offense do that, let the defense do that. But
you have to hire an offensive coach, and you've got
to make it work because if it doesn't work, I
don't think it's going to be the fall of the
offensive head coach. It's going to go on the shoulders
of Lamar because now we're going to say, look, we
(12:27):
fired John Harball after eighteen seasons and one season where
sure they finished below five hundred and eight to nine,
but that was after you know, back to back playoff
appearances and almost a bid to the Super Bowl. So
now that's all on Lamar. So that's I just I
find it appealing with the stability, and I find it
appealing with the talent. But you better win right away,
(12:49):
you better win next year, you better win the next
year after that, because I just don't think that Lamar
is going to continue to get better as a quarterback.
There is going to be a slide in his career.
And why do you feel that way, Dan, He feels
going to be a slide. I know, I know the
obvious thing about them because he is probably top three
the most dynamic quarterback that we have seen in the NFL.
(13:09):
Michael Vick is I think I would put I would
put up there. He put me out skates, yeah right, right.
So so just the threat of running the football right
like that ability, it's going to happen with Josh Allen
at some point where Josh Allen is not going to
be able to run as effectively as he has, and
you've got to figure out a way to make that
(13:32):
make your game be just as dangerous without that. And
so that's the point that I look at with Lamar.
There are no questions about passing, there are no questions
about running, there are no questions about reading defenses, just
none of that. But your athletic ability, which made him
so dangerous, is not going to be there in your
thirties like it was in your twenties, for sure. So
(13:53):
that is the reason why. So if defenses don't have
to worry about Lamar running and breaking off.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
For they're always have to worry about him running, but.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
They're not gonna have to worry about a sixty five
yard run, no right, no, no, of course not. But
then they're still gonna have to worry about it. It
doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I mean, we saw him in this game last week
eighty five what eighty seventy five percent whatever, he is
always going to be a threat. Like if you don't
game plan for him, and you play man and man
coverage and you turn your back on Lamar Jackson at
seventy five percent, he's still going to be a threat.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And so that's and that's the thing. So it just
depends on what length we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
And he's healthy next year, so like like he's got
the offseason, so that threat. My point is that threat
is there, and that's why it's so important for next
year for there to be success because there are now
no more excuses because John Harbaugh isn't there. So all
of that pressure and everything that's on Lamar is is
now on his shoulders because of this decision. And I
(14:47):
think it's ultimately the decision that they make, Like the
Seahawks chose Pete Carroll ultimately over Russell Wilson, but it
really wasn't that. It was they just knew Russell Wilson
probably was towards the end of his career. They didn't
want to pay him the money that he was going
to demand in his next contract, and they shipped him
out when they felt that they needed to, and it
worked out great for him.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I got a question that part.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So in that situation, you thought you thought Pete Carroll's
voice got I guess old end, and you would rather
have had Pete Carroll than Russell Wilson at that point.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I I don't think that they were tied together like
they were with the Ravens. I think that they understood
John Schneider and Pete Carroll understood that Russell Wilson was
not the same quarterback that he once was. And so
at the time, honestly, like when you looked at like
when they should have traded Wilson or could have traded him,
they maybe could have waited a season to do it,
(15:38):
but they did it at the time that they did
and were able to get the package that they got
from from the Broncos, which was a very very healthy
package because I think that they knew that he was
going to be damaged to goods after that.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And what, Russell Wilson's older than Lamar Jackson as well,
So like at the end, at the time of the trade,
like it wasn't Russell Wilson was twenty nine years old.
Russell Wilson was an older quarterback. But that's the Seahawks
made that decision. I think you could still look at
Lamar Jackson and say, all right, if he's healthy, he'll
he'll be fine, He'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, But it's also as.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
The whole of the next five years and what is
going on with the Ravens that you look at and say,
all right, where are we going to be now? Where
we're going to be with the next five years, where
you hope that the next coach that you hire is
going to be there for that span and you're not
hiring somebody new in two years, sure, because if you are,
then it was a complete mess in Baltimore. He called
it from the get go. How did you have some
(16:33):
Louisville insights on there?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I will not tell.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
He will not reveal his sources. He is Carrier Oads,
I'm Dan Byer. Jason Stewart is here Iowa. Sam Chris
Perfetz at the news desk keeping us updated of what's
going on today.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Fox Sports Radio has 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 3 (16:55):
Happy Wednesday to you, kind of happy Birthdays and Lamar
Jackson the Big Carrie and I talking about the responsibilities
now on Jackson's shoulders that are there now that John
Harbaugh isn't HM and I was checking out on the podcast.
Want to also let you know with the iHeartRadio app,
you can stream us wherever you happen to be catch
us and all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
(17:18):
twenty four to seven and the new and approved iHeart
Radio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app
to stream us live all day and every day. Be
sure to select Fox Sports Radio is one of your
presets in the iHeart app, so it will always pop
up at the top of your screen. It is a
Wednesday hit. Carry up a carry twenty five roads. You
can find me at Dan Byer on Fox. Chris Purfettes here,
Jason Stewart's here, our executive producer, Iowa Sam our technical producer,
(17:41):
and what we do every Wednesday at this time, carry rhoads.
You've heard it before, it's not getting.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
It's time for.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
The Midway.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Handing it off to our executive producer, creator of this segment, Jason.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
St Dan I'll take it from here. I'll tell you
what that was a bit of a throwback. Now, what
I just did was a throwback. I don't expect Sam
to be prepared for.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I'll take it there.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
Yeah, there's a lot of things going on right now, right,
A lot of things going on, a lot of things
going on now. Today's installment of The Midway includes birthdays
now Lamar Jackson's birthdays today and for his birthday, he
got his coach fired. It's a great present. And then
(18:32):
Tiger Woods recently turned fifty and I shared with you
guys details of tiger Woods fiftieth and Dan Byer most
appreciates it because it takes place on a famous golf
course and it's got a bunch of golf related stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Well, and you know the Breakers in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Would you know the Breakers?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
No? Oh, it's a very very high end club. I once.
I have been to the Breakers before. It sounds like
a pop grew from the eighties.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I was invited, I was invited. This is this is quite.
This is quite the party that I was invited to
years ago. He's smiling right now. I swear, I swear
to you this is true. This was in two thousand
and three or two thousand and four, around this time.
(19:23):
It was the holiday season. It was earlier in December.
I was at the Breakers because I got invited to
a gala, a party put on by former Today Show
host Matt Lawer. Yes, it was a Matt Lower Foundation.
Because I was visiting a buddy who worked in radio.
His radio station was tied up with this foundation. I
(19:47):
was not dressed for it. I looked like I actually
was underdressed as a waiter. But the likes of Brian
Gumbel was there. I remember that other celebs. Chris Tucker
was there. Yes, so I've been to the Breakers before
in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
A dropper. How about that? It's Matt Lower been up chill.
I didn't see him spotted by some paparazzi.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
Lately he's trying to rebuild his good name.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Or good luck for that, good luck for that.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I think the last thing we heard from Matt was
that the truth will come out. And it's been like
nine years. I haven't no way to mat. So what
do you like best about this birthday bash? Do you
like the fact that John bon Jovi himself is going
to perform that the dress code you have to wear,
a touch of red, a touch of red anywhere on
(20:41):
your on your person, or the Masters themed dinner menu.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
D What I love is how it's got a title sponsor.
Oh yeah, Tiger Wood's Birthday brought to you by Bridgestone.
Like that would be like that? It's true it does
have a title option. I don't like. I don't mind
dress code. What I don't like is, hey, nineteen twenties party.
I hate crap like that. Like I'm just like just yeah,
(21:10):
I hate it. I cannot stand it. So and especially
for a birthday when you're turning fifty for Tiger and
Red and what red is meant.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
For Sunday Red, the Sunday Red yeacific Sunday Red well and.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
His company is now Sunday Red. Like I understand the
red portion of it. I have no problems doing that
because you can be creative in how you want to.
I thought it was interesting that it's John bon Jovi
and not like bon Jovi, like he didn't get sam Bora.
I know him and bon Jovi and sam boro were
not on the same page, but he just wants John
(21:46):
bon Jovi and doesn't care who the backing band is is.
I thought that that was interesting, But ultimately I think
it's the title sponsor that just has me. I mean,
I've got a birthday in two weeks. It is presented
by no one, but it does make me think of
when you have a when you have a December birthday
(22:07):
or a January birthday, what you don't realize is is
when you live in a colder portion of the country,
which Florida is not, you are very limited. So growing up,
I was always my town was about nine thousand, ninety
five hundred people. We had a bowling alley. There were
(22:28):
about seven bowling parties a year that you would go
to at any point between October and March, because it
really was the only Yes, Really, I honestly had a
flashback to birthday cakes, whether it be mine, whether it
be someone else's. You load the kids in the car,
maybe another parent takes another group of kids. You go
(22:48):
to the bowling alley because it's eight degrees outside, and
that's how you would spend your day. So instead of
having John bon Jovi or everybody wearing red, when I
was a kid, we would row up or growing up,
we would go to a bowling alley because it was
indoors and really one of the only activities that you
could actually do.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah, that sounds like my childhood too, Dan. My my
town was small and same thing like. There was always
like instead of the bowling alley, it would probably be
like a little this little pizza joint that was around
the corner from our house, and all the kids would
just kind of go there by default for their birthday,
arcade games, all that.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, all that stuff was there.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Yeah, it's one of those spots, and it was I
mean as a kid, you're like, man, this is the
best thing ever. And you get older and you're like,
wait a minute, I want to go to Italy and
I want my friends to come there. So when you
start having those type of I guess that kind of
pizza disruptor, it's kind of hard to go back and
enjoy the pizza party.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
As much I love the pizza party. We never had
laser tag at our pizza place. No, you did have
a pizza We had a pizza Hut.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Maybe that's more millennial. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I
think that became more of a thing.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
But that pizza was always like rubber was good though,
good for a kid who doesn't have a good palace.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
The pizza hut, the pizza that we had as a kid,
to me was delicious. Oh yeah, magnificence walking in because
it would put you at a long table and then
all the gifts were at the end of the table.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
There was nothing better than that.
Speaker 7 (24:15):
That pan pizza when it came out of the oven
would scald the roof of your mouth.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
But it was the best thing. Yes, it was worth it, right,
totally worth it.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
But you guys remember that like actually going to the
pizza huts and sitting down and having like a night out.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That was so fun. Though, Yes, my generation had what
was it?
Speaker 7 (24:32):
The what was the reading thing? The reading club they
had for I I don't remember it at all, but
like my elementary had an element like a reading club.
Book it, book it, Yes, and if you read enough books,
you got a free personal pizza and that was always
a chance to go out to the lunch buffet at pizza.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I thought. True story.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
When I first accomplished book it for the month, I
thought I got.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
A large Oh.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Completely, I read five pages for this like what are you?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
What are you doing? Why are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Like I thought, like I thought, feed the whole family,
like guess what I'll share? That's what Dad and night's
dinners on me? And it was smaller than a catcher's
mitt like I was. So I was so ticked off
because not only was the pizza I'm big enough. I
thought it was such a scam. I thought like this
is this is you're smarter for it. Now you're a
better man for I remember one book I read during
(25:25):
book it Damn with the Giver, and Dan was in
the back yard and he put a little trash can
outside and burned all the book of things and put it.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
In the middle book.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
It was like fourth grade, fifth grade stuff, Like none
of that stuff is not even the Giver is like
in that reading category.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
After I saw that, I had my new club. It
was called fet No I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm just kidding.
But book it was a scam. It was a scam everybody.
Then if everybody in your class reached their reading goal,
they'd get a pizza party. That was impossible, Like you
knew that there were some kids who were just never
going to read the books, just never going to happen.
I think they gave out about four pizza parties in
(26:01):
its entire time because he knew there was just someone
who was just like, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Didn't read it. Steven wanted reading that book. No, not
at all. Can't have a pizza party without Steve here, exactly,
can't do it.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
Jason Sam, I remember my sixteenth birthday, and this will
date me, so my sixteenth birthday happens. You know, you
turn sixteen, a lot of cool things happen. And my
birthday's on the sixteenth of October always fallows around the
World Series. Now, on October fifteenth, nineteen eighty eight, I
turned sixteen and I had a party. And that was
(26:38):
also the night that Kurt Gibson hit the most memorable
home run in World Series history for my team Wonderful.
I'll never not think of that moment associated with my birthday.
And there was a story that I'm going to tell
for the first time. So my mother, God bless her.
She was always thoughtful and trying to think of everything.
(26:59):
She put my Dodger's pennant above the TV. So there
was a bunch of us buddies watching TV Dodger's pennant
above the TV. Just a great touch, right Dodger theme party.
And every time something went right in that ninth inning,
whether it be Mike Davis drawing a walk from Eckersley,
the pennant would drop. It would just drop, and we
(27:21):
would put it back up, and then the pennant drops
right before Kurt Gibson's home run.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Again.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
I know I'm triggering something with Sam. Very superstitious but
I will never forget the pennant, the birthday my mother
and all that stuff. It's a great memory. It's got
to be like one of the best days of your life. Yeah,
it's absolutely Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You always talk about like the birth of you know,
child or marriage or whatever the case is, but that
would be up there, Chris.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Yeah, I want to talk about the last birthday I
just had. So first off, on my birthday September twenty first,
so I have the earth, wind and fire birthday, right,
so get to celebrate that. I always like to pretend
everyone posting the September videos on TikTok or Twitter, it's
all for me. That's all because of me. Yeah, right there.
But this last one, I took about a week away
(28:13):
from work here and one of the things I had
always wanted to do is there is an island off
Los Angeles called Catalina Islands. And yes, I know, you
can play the Lina wine mixer drops all you want.
It's a fun little island out there. My plan to
go out there was to see the bison. There is
a bison herd that's been out there since the nineteen twenties.
(28:34):
They were put out there for a Western movie that
was shot on the island and just left out there,
and this bison herd has been out there for over
one hundred years and now finally they're slowly dying off.
I think most of them are infertile by now. So
I wanted to go see the buffalo out on a
trop out on a Pacific island. It was the coolest thing,
and I got there. It rained the night before. I
(28:55):
talked to the woman as we were boarding up on
this like rigged up jeep to go out there, and
it's like, yeah, don't get your hopes up. The herd
hasn't been seen in three weeks, not only been heard
from Yeah, not only not only We got out in
the turn and it's the back of Catalina's very hilly
and very kind of bad landy. But out of the
(29:16):
first turn, not only did I see a bison, it
was thirty feet away from me, mulching on on on grass.
And that was one of three different bison individually I saw.
And then we saw the whole herd from the from
there's like a hill where they've got an airport out there,
and we saw the whole herd from up there as well.
So I saw all these majestic creatures. It was awesome.
(29:39):
It was breathtaking. And then I went back to Avalon
and I got drunk watching football that same day.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
See, you could do that because you're in southern California.
You could also do that because it's September. Harry's got
a summer birthday, yep. So you can do a lot
of stuff outside. Jason's in the fall. Sam's not too
far after Jason a couple of days, agater, but you
could do fall like these. I don't know what it
was like in Iowa, but there's still time to do
outside stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
October in Iowa's is mixed bag.
Speaker 6 (30:06):
It could be cold, it could be seventy degrees in
sunny with no leaves on the trees. But my mom
grew up on a farm in eastern Iowa, and in
the nineties when my grandfather retired as a farmer, they
bought the property from my grandparents, just like the five
acres where the house and the barns are. So I
would have a lot of friends out there and stuff.
(30:27):
And I think at least two or three times I
had a birthday out there, probably my twelfth birthday, I'd say,
like nineteen ninety eight ish, I had maybe six six
five or six friends, maybe select friends.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I was about to say something else. I'm just gonna
avoid that.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
I had a very popular term my elite group of friends,
my inner circle, would come out and we would do
like paintball guns. We would do pellet guns, show off fireworks. Yeah,
we had a couple. We had a go cart and
we borrowed my neighbor's go carts, so we like had
paintball guns on the go carts. Oh, my grandma had
a golf cart. She lived right next door. So it
was just like it was like what was it in
(31:05):
Pinocchio Those kids go to like that, like that Pleasure Island,
Pleasure Island, Fantasy Land, and there's like just they're all
smoking cigars, like drinking you know, beer and stuff and
all like eight year old boys and and this was
like our version of that, Like, you know, we were
blowing stuff up, we were shooting pellet guns, shooting paintball guns.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
You know.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
It was And then we went to like uh Jim's
rib Haven in the in Moline in the Quad Cities
and just it was just the best and sleepover all
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I'll tell you, I love a birthday at Jim's rib Haven.
That sounds like the place to be. We had a
we had a pizza hut that was bit basically one
of the only spots that you could sit down that
kids would want to in my hometown.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
What was the pizza spot you were at? I can't think.
Speaker 7 (31:49):
No, no, not in Alabama, Inkies for us in Toledo,
in Great Inkys, great name.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
What did they do on the East coast or in
cold weather U States? When the phenomenon happened right around
the time my kid was like two or three, it
became like a neighborhood competition for who could have the
best bouncy house you and you It wasn't an option
not to have a bouncy house at the at the
birthday party. I think that's still going now in southern California?
(32:19):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Does that also happen in the in the colder cities,
not in the winter obviously in the summer.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I think that, Yeah, you could have outside and events
like that where you would do that, but it wouldn't happen.
It wouldn't have happened around my birthday. But yeah, I
think it's been commonplace around.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Has Brody had a bouncy house. No, he is not,
not yet.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
This does remind me of some My grandfather always told
me that he had to He lived in Florida for
a time and one of his birthdays they had to
do it from a shelter because the hurricane was coming through. Oh,
it's like had the cake, had the cake basically in
a save area, away from all the windows, boarding up
at everything.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Like Jason up to the point too of like of
is it is it a competition? Is it just what
the kid wants? You know, I liked I liked bowling.
I liked bowling. I think it was fun. I think
it was a fun time. So I didn't mind going.
And it was just it it works out that way,
like let's get everybody together and go bowling. Our our
(33:19):
high school at the time had an indoor pool, so
you could do like a swimming sort of thing. But
there I know that there were parties like where it
would be like, hey, the town Wasasa was like the
big city bias, Like there was an indoor pool at
a hotel at Watsa.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
We did BA birthdays like that, So you would go
to the indoor pool over Yeah, you'd have cake, you
go to the pool.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, some places would even just you could just use
the pool, like you didn't have to like you would
have to pay for it, yeah, but because that would
be a way that they would get income, Like that
would be another option.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
But isn't that funny though?
Speaker 4 (33:49):
As kids, these these nominal things, these things that are
kind of frowned upon now where the crown jewels of
our time and our lives at that time. And so
you have those moments as kids, and then you become
adults and you become jaded by all of that, and
then you get to a point where you get a
little bit older and you still have to appreciate that's
those smaller things again, Like that's the bookend of our
(34:12):
lives and how those things happen for us.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
It's just so crazy.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
And I think that's kind of like the metaphor for life, right,
Like we have these highs and lows, and we have
these expectations of how great things are supposed to be
all the time. But if you really scale back and
go back to the simpler times and the simple things,
those are things we appreciate the most. And so that's
what I love about this this segment and hearing everybody's
story about the good times they had in those moments.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I think I've told it. I know I've told this
story on the air. I don't know if i've told
it with you guys before. When I am one of
the few people that does make a big deal about
my own birthday, I think ninety eight percent of grown
adults don't make a big deal out of theirs. Yeah,
but I do. And there half birthday guy too. Yeah, yeah,
that's yeah, that's kind of a joke. It's kind of
a running joke. But yeah, some people's July sixteenth the
(34:56):
birth thing a right. January sixteenth is my birthday. One
of the reasons I truly do make a big deal
out of it. I was driving, I was riding the
school because it wasn't driving. Mom made the radio on.
You dropped my sister off at Junior High and we're
listening to the radio on my birthday, and the radio
host goes, guess what today is? It's National Nothing Day. No,
(35:17):
because nothing important happened on this day. It's my birthday.
I'm like in first grade. Okay, imagine that. Seriously, I'm
just gonna search look at what National Nothing Day is.
So it's January sixteenth. Yes, it's my birthday, and so
just completely gutted by Maybe that's my revenge. Maybe that's
(35:39):
why I got into radio to get back at the
radio host who said this. The only thing to then
make up for it was the Gulf War ended up
starting on my birthday a couple of years after that.
Then like that was then it's like, well see, you know,
now there is something.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
It's a war.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
But at least something happened on my birthday. Aside from wow,
yeah that was that. That one scarred me. I still
remember and I type it in and show you.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Dan, something great has happened on January sixteenth. You know
what it is?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
That it's Dan Bayer's.
Speaker 8 (36:10):
Birthday, all right, and and al and shaw Day, and
Ronnie millsap and the late a lot and many more.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yes, and a former Baywatch star David Chokichi.
Speaker 6 (36:24):
David Chokichi, I haven't heard that name in a long time.
It's a great name, all right. That's the Midway, the Midway,
all right. A good birthday celebration. By the way, that
birthday that I told you about, what they called the
National Nothing Day. My birthday was presented by Coca Cola
that day. No, it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
The Tiger Woods title sponsor is just absurd.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Fox Sports Radio has 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 3 (36:56):
Fox Sports Radio. He's the all pro Kerry Roads. I'm
Dan Byer. Not only can you hear carry on myself now,
you can hear a Sunday's five Eastern two Pacific here
on Fox Sports Radio. Wild Card coming up this weekend,
so we smack dab in the during our show, we'll
get a majority of our show will be about forty
nine Ers Eagles joining us now to talk NBA our
(37:18):
Fox Sports Radio NBA Insider, FS one NBA analyst that
you can find on x at Rick Buker also finding
the Seams, teaming up with Brendon Aywood on their podcast.
Rick Buker joins us here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, Rick,
how are you?
Speaker 9 (37:32):
I am well? How are you?
Speaker 3 (37:34):
I'm doing great? It sounds like the Lakers are doing great.
I mean they're third in the West. Win last night,
Lebron and Lucas celebrating on the court. Lebron afterwards saying
I don't have to Luca doesn't have to do anything
around me.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
I'm the one that needs to bend around the big superstar.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Is everything as great as it seems right now for
the Lakers in.
Speaker 10 (37:56):
La La Land, well for now it is.
Speaker 9 (37:59):
For now it is sure winning Winning certainly makes everybody
feel good about themselves. The question is going to be,
and we've seen it, when they when they struggle, or
they when they play the better teams and uh and
and they lose a few or their their complete lack
of defense or having so many defensive holes is exposed,
then things get a little rough. I don't know that.
(38:22):
The all of the chatter outside of it, whether it's
Rich Paul or Lebron James himself, all of that raises
some questions in terms of when and when and how
it's going to infiltrate the team uh and and the
dynamics there. But the reality is they're they're not a
(38:43):
good defensive team. They're not going to be a good
defensive team, and uh and they have two guys that
are ball dominant at their best in Lebron and uh
and Luca. If you're winning, everybody's everybody can go along
with it. When you start losing. That's that's when the
questions are raised. So I'll put it this way in
(39:05):
short order, the mellow drama that is the Los Angeles
Lakers this year has just begun and it will have
sequels over the course of the year. It's going to
get very, very interesting because they're not going to continue
to win at the same level once they play the
better teams.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Rick and then you throw in an Austin Reeves to
that case as well, who needs the ball as well.
So it's going to be interesting for sure. But I
want to talk about Trey Young a little bit. I mean,
obviously this seems like the wheels have fallen off there
in Atlanta with him and the organization. Has this been
going on for a while, because obviously Tray's has some
great moments in Atlanta, but his shortcomings have really been
on display as far as his defense goes and maybe
(39:47):
even his shot selection and what he and how he
handles the game.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Can you talk about that and what his future holds
for Trey Young?
Speaker 10 (39:55):
Well?
Speaker 9 (39:55):
The Eastern getting to the Eastern Conference Finals in twenty
one certainly extended the shelf life and the belief. Along
with Tony Wrestler, the son of the of the owner
being really close with Trey. And so when there were
guys who got tired of playing with Trey because he
dominates the ball and does not defend, they were like, Okay,
(40:18):
well we just need to get guys who are good
with that. So that they they moved out the Bugdanovic's
and the andre uh Hunters and and DeAndre Hunters, and
and then they got a new group, the Jalen Johnson's
and the Dyson Daniels. And they're like, well, these guys
are pretty good and they don't really like doing it playing.
Speaker 10 (40:37):
So maybe maybe maybe we need to.
Speaker 9 (40:40):
Change something else here. And and so I think that's
that's where they are there, and and I and I
do believe in in part it's also like I look
at the you know, whether it's Zachary Risha say or
or or some of the other pieces they have, like
there's there's some really good young talent on that team,
(41:02):
but I just don't know as good as Trey is.
And this is this is the real riddle with him.
I mean, when it comes to playing pick and roll,
scoring off the pick and roll, he's as good as
anybody in the league. But he just hasn't evolved in
any other way. And now when you're looking at Okay,
(41:22):
he's coming up for a contract where he's going to
expect the max super Max, something along those lines of like,
is this what we want to invest in? And by
all indications, Atlanta Hawks are saying no, it's not.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
This may be unfair. Rick Buker joining us here on
Fox Sports Radio to hold this against Trey Young. I've
never been a Tray Young fan. He's Carrier Roads. I'm
Dan Byer. But I even go back Rick to his
days at Oklahoma, like I remember because he took college
basketball by storm in the first part of the only
season he was in Norman. But there is a game
where he probably took thirty shots for the Sooners and
(41:58):
he came down the stretch and obviously he got double
teamed and the clock's winding down, end of the game,
and he passes to a guy and guys like, well,
I haven't shot all game because you've been shooting all
the time. Misses the shot and then there's like, oh man,
why did you miss the shot?
Speaker 2 (42:13):
And it's never changed.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
It feels like with that with Trey Young, like it's
always just been his way. Or the highway. So I
find it interesting now. I think you laid it out
perfectly of why the timing is now, But it just
seems like it's always been about Tray Young more than
anything else.
Speaker 9 (42:29):
Yeah, and you know, we can be sort of deceived
because the numbers can look good, including the assists that
can look good. There's been plenty of guys who have
averaged a high number of assists, and yet it's deceptive.
(42:53):
You think, oh, well, he's an unselfish guy, he's setting
other guys up. But the reality is it's either it's
when you're when those assists are happening. And are there
are there any hockey assists in there? Is it?
Speaker 2 (43:06):
Is it?
Speaker 9 (43:06):
I'm giving the ball up to allow other guys to
make plays. And if you have a team that's capable
of being a making a deep run in the playoffs,
you're gonna have multiple guys who can do something with
the ball and and and if they don't get the
opportunity to do that and the team is struggling, at
some point, they're gonna go, hey, we could could could
(43:26):
we share the ball a little bit, or you know,
send me someplace else? And I will say Ron Kruger
deserves a tremendous amount of respect because I believe it's
Trey Young and I believe he also had Austin Reeves
like those guys in their ability to make the most
out of their physical limitations and manipulate the game through
(43:49):
the pick and roll. Ron Kruger did a tremendous job
of teaching both of those guys. But when we talk
about like franchise players and dominating the ball, that only
goes so far.
Speaker 4 (44:01):
Well records funny because the other guy who's always going
to be linked to him has that same issue, but nobody.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I mean, well, I.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Guess he did get traded too, so I guess all's
fair at the end of the day, between Luke and Trey, right,
they both got traded for each other, and they both
kind of played the game similarly. But you know, Luca's obviously,
you know, in a in a different situation, in a
better situation now in LA. But I want to ask
you one more question about the OKC thunder And obviously,
you know, the beginning of the season was on they
were on the record record setting pace, and obviously people
(44:31):
started talking about being you know, the best team ever
and having the best record ever. What's happened, what's happened
in Oka See. I know Jalen Williams has come back,
and maybe that's thrown off a little bit of their chemistry.
I'm not sure that's what it kind of feels like.
But what's your assessment of OKC right now?
Speaker 9 (44:45):
It's December January and the level at which they were
playing so much of it was just their defensive energy.
You know, they were suffocating teams, and you know, it's
at some point you just feel like, hey, if we're
going to play for a title, we're gonna play for
(45:07):
another title. We've got to be good to go in
May and June and the and then, and it generally
happens against the lesser teams, which I think is what
we've seen here for the most part. They've been surprising
losses because they've let go of rope against teams that
they thought they at this point they could just go
(45:27):
out and right and and roll over. And so I
think the combination of that that that's the biggest element.
I just the combination of that and the way we
started to talk about them at the start of the season.
You know that the one of the all time greats
and they're gonna take.
Speaker 10 (45:48):
You know, they're going eighty and two. Okay, this overreaction,
like what are we doing here? Like you've played in
the league, you know how it goes like maintas I mean, honestly,
it wouldn't make any sense for them to maintain that
(46:13):
kind of intensity at this point in the season, because
winning back to back championships is a grind and it.
Speaker 9 (46:22):
Does take uh, you know, the game goes to another
level and you're already getting everybody's best shots because it's
a feather in their cap to uh to knock off
the defending champs. And then I would also say that
I think that that that teams have also taken something
from the San Antonio Spurs and their dominance. There's now
(46:45):
tape there that shows if you can if you can
meet okay, sees physicality, You're like, that's that's where you
need to go. Meet their physicality. Don't be, don't be,
don't take a step back, get the way they come
at you. And then when you're defending them, be honest,
(47:05):
keep them off the line. And so I think the
com I think the other part here is that the
San Antonio Spurs have given everybody the blueprint for making
the game more competitive when they're when they're paying playing
the Thunder, and now the Thunder are going to have
to adjust. They have the talent, they have the coaching,
(47:26):
they have everything to do that, but it may take
a beat for them to respond.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
All right, I got one last one for you, because
they talked about it earlier. This week, Steve Kerr gets
ejected from the game against the Clippers, his first dejection
in about three or four years. We had the Draymond interaction.
It's final year of his contract, their eighth in the West. Like,
are we starting to see the beginning of the end
with Steve Kerr and Golden States? I just got the
sense that this is all building up and that maybe
(47:54):
that this is this is the end of the line.
What do you see in Golden State?
Speaker 9 (47:58):
He sure looks worn at and and you know, I
just look at Bob Meyer stepping off, and there there're
what people don't know who aren't around the franchise on
a regular basis. I live in the Bay Area, so
I am is that Joe Laka has been a great owner,
no doubt about it. But his attachment to reality when
(48:23):
it comes to the NBA. I think it's loose because
you don't remain a dynasty forever. And with the apron
and reducing not only the money that he wants to
spend on this team, but the ability to continue to
replenish it, there's you're going to fall off. You can't
(48:46):
be a contender forever, no matter you know how Steph
Curry is playing, because it's it's not just one guy,
and so especially a thirty eight about to turn thirty
eight year old six and eighty pounds. So I think
Bob Myers just got to a point where it was like,
the returns are not worth what I have to go
(49:10):
through in terms of what the expectation is and the pressure.
And Steve I think I don't think it's any accident
that he came out and said, hey, look, the dynasty
days are over. Like the idea that we're going to
knock off the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder,
that we're built to be a championship team right now
(49:35):
is not realistic. And I just wonder how much of
that was not just a message to the world at large,
but to his owner Joe Lacob to say, let's be realistic.
About where we are and what we have if we're
if we're making the playoffs, that is still a wild
(49:56):
success for this team when you look at the roster overall.
Speaker 3 (50:00):
FSR Insider, Fox Sports One Insider Finding the Scenes with
Brendan Haywood, Rick Buker joining us here on Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks Rick, Love, talking to you have next week.
Speaker 9 (50:09):
Hi, pleasure guys.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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