Kobe Bryant is the Most Fascinating Figure in Modern Sports History

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Doug got Leave Show podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every week day three
to six Eastern twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug got Leave Show
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the I Heart Radio app by searching
fs are you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hey, welcome

(00:27):
in to the Monday Podcast. We have some football to
get to, maybe a little bit on Philip Rivers, a
little bit on some other stuff, but a lot of
Kobe Bryant, including how I kind of got to know
Kobe Um, some stories of friendships, some stories about why
I think this one affects me a little bit more
than others. And we'll talk some historical relevance and wait

(00:51):
to hear the stat about how many former great NBA
players are still alive and maybe that's why, maybe that's
why the shock has not worn off. All right, let's
get after it. Boom Up, America. Doug Gottlive Show, Fox
Sports Radio, coming to you live from Miami, where the

(01:15):
cliche is supposed to be right. Sunny South beach, women
in thongs, You now dancing to the salsa guys wearing
Miami Vice gear. Right, everybody tan and sunny and happy, right,
because all these New York sports writer mooks are getting
out of the cold and coming down to beautiful Florida. Right,

(01:36):
that's the cliche. It's kind of overcast outside, it's not
freezing cold. Have you come from California? Like get him
as l a. But but there's a there's not as
much of a pale over this city as there one
the one that I call home in Los Angeles, southern California.
But we're all kind of off our game a little bit.

(01:57):
And that's because yesterday, um about this time, maybe a
little bit earlier, whether you're on Twitter, You've got a
text and you thought, okay, it's not even funny, right, Like,
you know, you remember jokes he used to have, like
your mama jokes your mom about being fat, mom being ugly,

(02:18):
Like those are funny. And then somebody say you know
something about cancer, Like, yo, whoa not cool? My mom
had cancer or has cancer. There are certain jokes in
certain places you can go that are just not funny.
And when somebody sends you a hey, Kobe died, you're like,
do the same funny? Then then you see the story
and you're like, that's fake news. And then you see

(02:40):
it's t MZ. You're like, wait, they don't always get
it wrong. And then you start to see it other
places that I think would deem traditional or more reputable,
and you start to see a pattern. You see the
police making statements, and all of a sudden, all of
the energy leaves your body and you realize that one

(03:05):
of the most complex sports figures, sports icons in the
history of American sports is dead at the age of
forty one. Now full disclosure, it struck me a little
bit differently. This is the Doug Otlup Show here on
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you alive from South Beach
where we will eventually we will eventually uh cover the

(03:30):
Super Bowl. The Doug Otlands Show is brought to you
by Farmers Farmers Insurance. There's a thing or two about
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we we had a great week. We're down at the
Farmers Insurance Invitation the f I O, and we come

(03:51):
back up and I had a game Saturday night in Lubbock, Texas.
A lot of fun. Kentucky taken on Texas Tech goes
to overtime. I'm Kentucky wins. Chris Beard's a friend of
the show, a friend of me personally hung out with him,
broke down tape with his staff. For a guy who's
like a just a basketball junkie, that's like a personal

(04:12):
Christmas to me. I had some water Burger, listen to
Pat Green, I did all the Texas things that I
got on a plane. I flew back home because one
of my daughters rides horses competitively, and she hasn't been
in a show in a while, gonna be gone for
this whole week. So I thought, you know, I'll sneak in.
I'll surprise her. I'll see your show. So she wrote

(04:32):
and she rode beautifully, and she's walking back with her friend.
And by then I had gotten and my mother was
actually sitting next to me. I was like, is this
thing real? We've gotten text from friends and we're looking
on social media. So I saw my daughter break into
tears and I walk over to her and I said,

(04:52):
I call her booker. I said, hey, booger, what what's
what's wrong? You did great? She's like my She said,
my friend died in a helicopter crash. And I said, well,
hold on, because my daughter had gone to school with
Gianna Bryant two different times two years, and they were friendly.
I wouldn't consider them friends, right, like they'd be on
text chains and on followed each other on Instagram, but

(05:15):
not like super close friends. So she said, now that
not Gianna, my friend Ashley. So my daughter goes to
a middle school and there's kids there, but every day
you drop her off and she has a small friend group,
and each girl none of their sports conflict, like once
Ashley Alta Belly who passed away in the in the

(05:39):
and her parents. Her dad's like a legendary junior college
baseball coach. She was the basketball player. And her friend
Harper is a dancer. My daughter's name is Harper and
she's the horseback writer. And then you know, she's the
question writer. And then there's another one who's a I
think Peyton, who's a soccer star. They all have their
one kind of discipline that they do and they hang
out at school and very occasionally outside of school, and

(06:02):
that's it. That's their that's their group, and you know
that's your little girl. She's thirteen years old. And I
don't know how you are with your kids, but my
soul and you it's impossible to do. My soul charge
as a dad has always been like, how can I
minimize or even eliminate the anguish of adulthood for my kids? Right,

(06:28):
they shouldn't have to worry about money. They shouldn't have
They should learn a value of money, but learn they
shouldn't worry about heartache and pain and death. You know,
it's one thing to die. My father died when they
were little, but he was seventy three years old. It's
a long life. Could have been longer, sure, but it's
a long life when you're thirteen, you're not you know,

(06:50):
I'm I'm incredibly sad for Kobe Bryant. I want to
get into that in eight seven, seven, nine nine Foxes.
The phone number will take couple of your calls. We'll talk. Well,
I got some really interesting story, reason perspective. But three
girls at thirteen years old, and then you know Vanessa Brant,
she's at home, she's got two little ones and an
older one and lost her husband, and and Gianna. I

(07:13):
just it's so very sad. So I people asked me
all day, like how did you react? Well, my reaction
was like I was stunned, and then I was crestfallen
for my daughter. And you go into parent mode where
you're like, Okay, how can I How am I supposed
to be? What am I supposed to say? You know,
how much do you get into what happens after you die?

(07:34):
Like all these things that you call it adult ing?
You're like, man, I could use a drink because I've
been adulting all day. I'll say this. I believe Kobe
Bryant will go down as the most fascinating, absolutely fascinating

(07:55):
character in modern sports history. Me let me pitch it
to you for a second. Okay. He didn't grow up
in the States. He grew up Chase. His dad was
playing basketball overseas. He grew up in Italy, came to
the States and went to a private school mostly why
private school in Philadelphia, so look, he had he was multilingual,

(08:17):
he has incredible background. Then he goes to a tough
city of Philly, but he's playing in a private school
in kind of a street game, and yet he always
had a kind of confidence to the point of arrogance,
way of of playing the game, and a kind of
a regal look. He gets the NBA at seventeen years old,
hands selected by Jerry West and by the way, to

(08:38):
people who say, well, they traded for him, like draft
a trades in the NBA, means some the Hornets drafted
him for the Lakers because that trade was already done,
regardless of which he pulls off the draft day trade
and people thought you're crazy. And a year in it
looked like he was crazy when Kobe selfishly took bad
shots against the Jazz and the play house, and then

(09:01):
you know, combined him with Shaquille O'Neil, but they couldn't
ever breakthrough. Del Harris was not the guy. So they
went to for their with their young star player who
wanted to be Michael Jordan's talk like Mike, walked like Mike,
tried to play like Mike. They went and got Michael
Jordan's coach in Phil Jackson, and damn if it didn't work.
And then there was Colorado, and then there was the

(09:23):
breakup of Shack and Kobe, and then there was the
dark times where uh, you know, he switched numbers. But
what was his persona. It was black hat Kobe. He
quit on his team in the playoffs. He didn't like
his teammates. He wanted to be traded, ultimately get Pau Gasol.
They went two championships, nearly got Chris Paul as well,

(09:44):
might have won a couple more. To end your career
and frankly end your life. If you were to pull
NBA players before the tragic event yesterday in Calabasa, US,
before that and said who's your favorite NBA player of
all time? I guarantee Kobe Bryant would have been number one.

(10:08):
Because most of these cats that they want to lie
for Michael Jordan, Jordan's just a legend them. They've seen
the highlights. They didn't live through it. Kobe was there
Jordan's And we all see a portion of ourselves, or
we project what we think we would be like when
we see stars, like look a lot of this. This
was a little bit like Behind the Music. You know

(10:31):
are our big boss of I Heart Radio is get
named Bob Pittman. Bob Pittman got his start, broke through
in the in the business with behind the Music. He
remember Behind the Musics on v H one and they
were all the same young band you know, full of talent,
had a different sound, made it start playing the club's
first record, right, then the women, then the drugs Okay,

(10:55):
then the lead singer leaves the banner wants to lead
the bang, the in fighting the down fall, and now
they're coming back with a comeback album. Right. Some of
them have inc many of them don't drink. They're all
married or divorced, and they're trying to find that second life. Right.
That's this is that's Kobe Bryant. He went from fighting

(11:17):
for his freedom and Eagle Count of Colorado to breaking
up the greatest tosome of the two thousand's with Shaquille
O'Neil and receiving a good portion of blame, to wanting
to be traded, to winning a championship, winning a gold
medal with the Radeem team, and then winning a freaking
Academy award like are you kidding? And then becoming like

(11:39):
the super dad coaching his daughter, taking her to came
sitting courtside and being, uh, you know, a true bastion
of goodwill for the sport of basketball. Like he had said,
remarkable tale and the one thing that's interesting, maybe fascinating,

(12:00):
I heard Colin Coward saying, and I thought the same thing.
What what what made Kobe great was his confidence, was
at times his arrogance, his will, his desire, his mamba mentality,
I'm gonna do it. That that imploded team after team,
and it kept other stars from wanting to play with him.
What what makes you can in fact break you? And

(12:23):
Kobe's insistence on living, frankly, in my neighborhood are actually
in a nicerhood obviously even further from where the Lakers play,
was what generated the idea of the Mamba Chopper, and
the Mama Chopper ultimately is what led to his demise.
So there is a certain aspect to the things that
make us will in fact break us. It's what makes

(12:44):
us great will also break us. His indomitable will. But
what does desire to be a little bit of recluse,
do his own thing, carver his own path and be
all the way in Newport Coast, which is past Newport Beach,
like this is a slap to get there, to get
that Staples Center to elsa Gunda with Lakers used to practice.
That is what led to the Bamba Chopper and the

(13:04):
Mama Chopper went down yesterday, and it's one of those
where were you moments? All right? Fourth grade, Mrs Sally
when Challenger went down, remember that. I remember where I
was working at ESPN when Barack Obama was elected as
a first African American president. And I remember I was

(13:24):
San Juan Capistrano, a blue ridge barn at a horse
show when Kobe Bryant, who had become a friend of mine,
died at the age of forty one, along with eight
other people, including his lovely young daughter Gianna. Just a
sad day, sad day. All right here, here's what we're
gonna do up coming next? Um I did have there

(13:48):
are there are dinners and drinks in your life that
you are not going to forget. I would hope, um
Ryan music and Attest. He wasn't there, But I think
we've I think I've given him the blow by blow.
I had a three hour just me and Kobe drinks
and guak night about a year and a half ago.

(14:10):
The stuff I can share, I'll share it with you next.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart radio
app Doug Gotlip Show, Fox Sports Radio live in Miami
here at the Miami Convention Center where we're getting ready

(14:31):
for Super Bowl fifty four, Super Bowl fifty super Bowl
fifty four. Um, anyway, we're here, so so here here's
the story. Dan Buyer. Of course you'll hear him on updates.
He's got his own show on Sunday's Ryan Music Car Producer.
So musical was just like a year and a half ago.
I was. It was in the summer, wasn't it. Yeah,

(14:52):
it was spring. I would say about a year and
a half ago because it wasn't this past summer was
the one before that. Yeah, So Kobe and I became
came like text buddies. And it was right when my
daughter was leaving Harbor Day, which is the school the
school that um Christina Mauser was a pe teacher at.
She passedway in the in the crash as well as uh,

(15:15):
that's where Gianna goes to school, went to school whatever,
it's a k through a private school anyway. So my
daughters both came out of Harvard Day that year and
he was like, yeah, we gotta get together Harvard Day
dads or whatever you know, and we became basketball friends
on text, and so he'd asked me to come grab
drinks one time and I was out of town. I

(15:36):
had asked him, and he was out of town and
he had to get up. So finally one night, all
of a sudden, it's like, you know, like I don't know,
I'm gonna guess five at night. He's like, xavier'sn So
you know, Solby Briant said, if he wants to have
a drink of you, I mean trying not to smile.

(15:59):
I might, I might Like what are you gonna do? Right?
Is there like a flutter in your stomach when that
text come across your and you're like, oh wow, this
is actually gonna happen because you're like sitting at home.
I'm sure. Yeah. So I get in my car and
I drive. So Javier's is it's down. You go down
pc H and you go down towards like you're going
down in Laguna Beach, and right before you get to

(16:20):
there's this Crystal Cove, which is a state beach um
and on the left hand side there's Mastros on the beach,
which is, uh, it was really cool, and there's Javier.
So this is like Jim Rome has kind of made
it famous. There's Javiers down in downtown in l a
couple of them. There's one in Vegas. I think this
is the original. So they're going there, like I was

(16:41):
like looking for Kobe, like he's in the back. So
I this. I thought this was a smart move. I
went to the bathroom first because like, I don't want
to be the guy. I'm at the table and Kobe
Bryant in the midle story like, oh, I gotta pee, right,
So I go to bathroom first, watching hands come back.
He's back there and he's just like I thought I would.

(17:03):
I would. I just thought he would roll deep right
like most guys don't go like some guy they've never met,
son of a Texas guy, have a drink. They're sitting
at a two man table, just me and him. So
it's just me and Kobe, and it was one of
the most fascinating. I shared a plane ride in a

(17:24):
snowstorm with Penny Hardaway. I shared a plane ride with
Grant Hill and the stories that they told, the things
that they tell. You know, you shared a plane ride
with the guy, have a drink. They started telling you stuff. Um,
Kobe was amazing. It's really interesting, you know, the all
the books, in the movies and the podcast that stuff.

(17:44):
Like he could go on and on and on people,
because I do I talk a lot of not just
for a living but in real life. I talk a
great deal. But I was just kind of using my
interview techniques and setting him up and just listening. Um.
He struck me as ridiculously a little on the super
creative side to where, you know, he started going into

(18:04):
places that I don't care about. You know about the
you know, let me just tell you about this. You
know this podcast are doing it for little kids and
you know, the target demo and how I found these
podcasts people, how I found these writers, and about how
the story all kind of comes together, and like, look,
he was as into those stories as he was talking
about the great teams with the Lakers and all all

(18:26):
of those stuff. Um, but I mean he has strong
He had really strong, smart opinions on how basketball should
be taught and how it's not being taught in the
United States and about how the world's catching up to
us because how we're not teaching it. I thought that
was interesting. He told me that he could. I've said
this early on Fox Sports Radio he knows he could

(18:47):
launch full scale psychological war on Michael Jordan. He believes
Michael Jordan's uh, he'd get in his headspace. Um. You know,
we talked a little bit about Lebron and I think
he's and glowing and the things he said publicly about Lebron,
I don't it wasn't necessarily negative, but he knows that,
like here's here's the way I would deem it. Tie

(19:10):
me uh um. Kobe Bryant was a like a a mercenary,
a killer, a sociopath in the basketball floor, right, Whereas
Lebron James is the type has the type of arsenal wear,
like if you die, you die, that's on you. But
I'm just gonna have I'm just gonna paint the most
amazing picture, you know, Whereas Kobe Bryant's singular goal was

(19:32):
to take the ball and put in the basket and
if you were in the way, even better, right, And
that was kind of how he described himself with his
mamba mentality. But we talked about Colorado. We talked about
Phil because we both knew Phil really well. I knew
text Winter really well. And it was one of those
nights of my life. Where I'd like. I wish I
could write. I wish I could write everything that he
told me, and but I there are certain things to

(19:55):
which I'm gonna have to take with me the grave.
It was just chips and drinks, only guawk and drinks.
I might have had Sevich at some point. And and Kobe,
he does this thing. It's like, you're just such a jerk, dude,
Like all of a sudden, everybody, all the wait staff
news knows him, and he knows who speaks English and
who speaks Spanish, and he just flips to Spanish all

(20:17):
the sudden. And then somebody comes up and they're speaking
French and he's speaking French like, you're a jerk. You know,
you're richer than me. You you're really good looking, you know,
and now send your multilingual so if you buddy, he
told me the where the so the mamba drink um?
He he said, they were losing to Houston. You could

(20:39):
have to go back and look at the year. Maybe
you know, they were losing to Houston in a playoff series.
And they're losing to Houston a playoff series. And he
called Hobby when the place had just opened and said, hey, man,
I need. I need a drink, but I like my
drinks kind of sweet, and he mixed together this mamba drink.
You know, we were like six seven drinks later. I
end up ubering home and then having to go do

(21:01):
cowherd and leave the house of like five six in
the morning the next morning. Oh man, it was cool.
It was really cool. I walked away because I didn't
like Kobe when he was a player. I wasn't a
Kobe guy. Yeah, I wasn't a Kobe guy. I just wasn't.
And I walked away going like, yeah, I mean it,

(21:21):
it does all become about Kobe because these guys are
just such mega stars. But I walked away going like, man,
that guy's really smart. He's lived an incredible life. He
seems to have figured out what he wants to do next,
and he seems to be kind of super jacked about it.
Like it was the energy, as you pointed out about
coaching women's basketball, but also it was the energy that
he displayed for his new projects, and it wasn't like

(21:45):
he was rubber stamping somebody else's idea. Yeah. I didn't
think that there was there was gonna be any failure
for him in post basketball life. And remember when he
played his last game. The thing was he was in
the office at eight am the next morning working on
his next movie project or media project that he had.
So like that that was you know, part of all

(22:05):
of this was the success that he was going to
have in the future. Uh. There was no doubt, there
was there was no game to win or lose. He
was going to win whatever he did. And I mean
just your story there of of having an hour and
a half, good on you for asking questions, by the way,
and because I would have just sat there and probably stared,
you know, like I told some stories too. I mean

(22:28):
we started talking about Europe and playing and coaching. Um,
it was just it was it was one of those
nights where you're like, this is a really really cool night.
You know. I've had one of those. I've had a
couple of those with Barkley, Uh, where they just talk
and you just kind of keep keep keep them going,
keep them talking, because you never know what they're gonna say. Next.
Doug Olive Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Longtime NBA

(22:51):
uh NBA player Course a college Basketball's National Player of
the Year, number three pick in the draft, and a
former Laker won a championship with Kobe Bryant. Adam Morrison
kind of kind of have to spend some time with
this here on Fox Sports Radio. Emma, where were you
when you heard the news? I was driving getting some tea,
something to eat, my sisters, semi text and you know,
just like everybody else, I couldn't believe it. Had a

(23:13):
pull over and uh obviously on Portuna news and you
know made me reflecting. So yeah, it was a tough
day and obviously a tough morning to heavy heart. How
has this happen? Though? I mean, like, look, you played
with Kobe during the height of his powers, but he
also he was he was not beloved. He just wasn't

(23:34):
you know he was. He's always been a very polarizing figure.
But you fast forward to this, these last twenty four hours,
and I mean, look, anyone who dies as a great
player is gonna but I mean there's even preceding that
he'd become the most popular former player in the NBA

(23:54):
for current NBA players. What what what changed you do
you think in terms of the perception l Well, I
think he opened himself up a little bit, and then
if you got behind the veil, you kind of knew
him differently than what he allowed the public to see
earlier in his career. Um. So when I was you know,

(24:15):
when I was there, UM, I had some you know,
obviously some good interactions with him, and UM, you know,
actually my first interaction was with him was that Phoenix game.
I was going to be a rookie. Um, I was
going to the drafter of that season, that one where
he hit that buzzer beater off that jump ball. And
I'm waiting down in the you know, the tunnels with

(24:39):
my agent, and he pulls up his car and you know,
it says something to any more, so, welcome to the NBA,
you know, exchange Pleasant Street, And I said, you know,
good stuff tonight, and puts the sunglasses on and rolls
up his Lexus and drives off. So it was kind
of a cool experience for a young player too to
get there, and then you know, obviously to be his
teammate later on. You know, I got to see a

(25:00):
side of him that a lot of people didn't. Um.
He was always so good to me and my family. UM,
I would say that if it unfortunate tragedy didn't happen yesterday.
I remember when I was in Oklahoma City. Um, during
a practice, I was visibly frustrated with my role on
the team, and he took the time to pull me

(25:23):
aside after practice when there's a million media people and
you know, kind of give me that tape. You can
still help this team. UM, we need you to remain focused.
Give us what you got in practice. UM. You know,
he just was one of those guys that UM it was.
He was a smart He was a smart man. Obviously,
he was a thinker, and he could sense when when

(25:45):
people were real and when they weren't. And UM, I
don't know, I was very emotional because he always stuck
up for me personally. I did it publicly a few times. UM.
I remember when I was out of the league, he
sent me something out of nowhere from he went to
a soccer match and got my my favorite players autograph

(26:07):
and send me a note. And at that time of
my life, it was really difficult, um, basketball wise, life wise,
family wise, and I was just so thankful that he
was thinking of me. Um. And actually yesterday it was
really difficult because I didn't know that he U UM UM,

(26:29):
you know, went out of his way to get a
personally autographed for me, and I've seen it on another
page at a Chelsea FC and it just really hit
home because I thought, he, you know, it's still special.
But I thought he just made a phone call. But he,
you know, he went out of his way for me
to send me something and wrote me a little note
about you know, um, your basketball journey is not open

(26:49):
with and you know it's tough. Yesterday it was tough
man for a lot of guys. You can see why
the emotion was high because you know, if you got
to really know him news, he was really a special
person and I was always grateful how Adam Morrison, former Laker,
won a championship with the Lakers, of course, third overall
pick of the NBA Draft, National Player of the uroinan

(27:11):
political and Zacha joining us and the Doug gotlip Show
here on Fox Sports, Trader were reflecting on his friend
and former teammate Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in a
helicopter accident, killing all nine people board yesterday in Calabasas, California.
Doug Gotlip Shaw on Fox Sport Trade in the I
Heart Radio app Um, one of the things that I
find most fascinating about him is he he had a

(27:33):
good first step, he wasn't Jordan's with his first step.
He had a good body, but he he wasn't Lebron
in terms of just pure strength, right and speed like
he was. You know, he was a good shooter, but
he he wasn't Steph Curry, right, and yet he was
third all time again, kind of the whole remarkable thing
was Lebron passed him in his hometown of Philadelphia on

(27:56):
Saturday night. He dies on Sunday morning, right, But but
as a plasic guy who was guarded him, his guy
was guard him in practice. How how was he able
to be so incredibly effective for so long as a
score because, as you know, because you were a scorer, dude,
there's a lot of things that are hard to do
in basketball. But the hardest thing to do is to

(28:18):
be a guy who is top of this guy report
and gets the ball and has to go and do
it eighty two nights a year, and damnit, he did it.
How was he able to do it considering he wasn't
the greatest shooter, the greatest passer, the greatest athlete that
we had ever seen. I think it was this. You know,
everybody's talked about his work, work ethic, and it was
so true. Um. You know, one thing that always stood

(28:39):
out for me was, you know, when he would be
on the sidelines for practice and he would do his
normal routine, he would always be pivoting slowly, doing multiple pivots,
reverse pivot, front pivot. He would do pivots where he
would travel, but he knew he would get away with it. Um.
He was just a guy that was a self made player.

(29:02):
And Doug, you've been around the game and you can
appreciate when you can tell when there's guys that are
athletically gifted and then there's guys that squeeze the last
two or three out and he was exactly that. Um.
He's just as will to win. His mentality was amazing. Um,
it's just really sad, it really is. You know, I

(29:24):
was lucky enough, you know, to be a part of
just being on his team and being around him. He
was a savant. He was a brilliant man. Um. It
was just really awful news yesterday because he's, like I mentioned,
he touched my life and made me feel welcome and
made me feel it brought me up and in times

(29:45):
when it was dark for me. Um, so I was
lucky enough to be at his last game, and I
was lucky enough that I had the courage to tell
him that, and um, I know he appreciated it, but
it was such horrible news yesterday. I really couldn't believe
it because I was I got to see the side
of Cope that a lot of people didn't. And he's

(30:06):
touched so many former teammates live. So I think it's
just his willingness to squeeze that two to three percent out.
And you know how it is, You know it is.
It's it's like an orange. You know, some people they
just squeeze it, and some people they get everything. They
get all the way down to the white stuff. You know,
that was him. He would get all the way down
to the white stuff. Um. The greatest individual basketball performance

(30:29):
you saw Kobe put on in person was when well
he had fifty eight on us when I was a
rookie in Charlotte. Um, and I mean we put everybody on.
We had Gerald Wallace on that team, who was a
tremendous athlete and defender with double Teamdomum, that was probably
one of the craziest things I've ever seen. He took

(30:50):
over that Denver series, that first playoff run that we
had um as well, when that Denver team was really
good with Mellow. Didn't that win the first two games?
Didn't Denver the first two games? Yes, we got lucky
on one of the games too at home they threw
up I believe it was j R. Smith threw a
bad pass out of bounds and we got to steal
and it was one of those games that we felt

(31:10):
like we probably should have lost. But he took over
that series, especially in Denver um and there was a
lot of motion you know obviously what he had prior
in that city. So um, he was just such a
he had an aura about him. You've been around him
and it's hard to explain, but he was just such
a unbelievable man and player. And like I said, I'm

(31:34):
so thankful that took the time to make me feel
part of something and and lift me up. And when
I wasn't even in the league, he took the time
to make sure you know, I was okay and did
a little jesture that went a long way. So it's
just it's awful news. Obviously, yesterday it was so I
woke up with a heavy heart today. Yeah, we take

(31:57):
care of your family and I appreciate you join us,
give us your thoughts. Has been good to us and
appreciate you being our guest on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks,
it's the best. Adam Morrison ammo as everyone knows him
in the sport for the number three pick of the
NBA Draft, I mean fifty eight points, Like I know
he scored anyone, but just I mean I had a

(32:17):
guy who got himed. Johnny Gardener was the first team
All American. You drop forty six on me in in
high school when I was a junior, and that just
it was like, that's like a high school total. That
just to see a guy do that feels like they
never ever ever miss. Just remarkable stuff. All right, Coming
up next, we'll do some game time. I'm guessing guessing
that's probably a little bit of Kobe Bryant element to it. Next,

(32:40):
be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific.
Doug Gottlip Show, Fox Sports Radio, coming to you from
the wonderful City Miami. Let's get to a game on

(33:07):
the Doug Gottlieb Show. Make your your year. You could
start your new life as an I T pro and
his little his four months go to my computer career
dot e du and take free career evaluation today. It's
not rocket science, it's my computer career dot e du.
What he got, Doug? The game today is big deal,
little deal, no deal? All right, hopefully we can lighten

(33:30):
things up a little bit, A big deal, a little
deal or no deal. That former Cleveland Brown's head coach
Freddy Kitchens will join Joe Judge's staff with the Giants
as their ten ends coach. Um, I think it's a
little deal, although like, look, this is Joe jug has
never been a head coach, and he's already hired two
former head coaches on his offensive staff. So maybe a

(33:52):
a little deal, a little deal, big deal, a little
deal or no deal. By the way, I will say,
I thought today everything could be a little deal. Goods
sidering what we're talking about. But so well, we'll try
to figure out how to how to maneuver through this.
But big deal, little deal or no deal. Former Nebraska
head coach and current Youngstown stated coach Bopolini is expected
to become the new defensive coordinator at l s U.

(34:13):
It's a big deal. They pay, they pay, They pay
so much more to be a defensive coordinat that you
do as a head coach in college, Like, that's kind
of remarkable. And of course bo Polini did a great
job for Bob Stops when he was at Oklahoma. Then
he got the Nebraska job for a while they had
it going um and Nebraska struggled to recoverage since they
fired him. But I think that's a big deal to

(34:33):
follow David Rando was the highest paid guy and did
an incredible job. Yeah, money is one thing. I also
think paths like if Bopolini wants back in, he feels
that this is the best path for him to become
an FBS head coach once again, big deal, a little
deal or no deal? That forty wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders
said that his bridge was Dealer's quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was

(34:54):
quote burnt end quote when asked by The Athletic if
there could be a Pittsburgh reunion this offseason, saying that, yeah,
he and Big Ben didn't get along. Is that a
big deal, little deal or no deal? I think that's
a big deal. You know. Look, I think Big Ben
has done a lot of image rehab. But you know
you're gonna have to do some rehab with guys that
you actually work with and guys you want to work

(35:15):
with in the in the future if you want to
be successful. Here for one more run. Sanders said as
much that he's said that Big Ben has changed, but
when he left there, things just weren't good, calling Big
Ben a quote jerk, big deal, a little deal or
no deal that TMZ reports and open vodka bottle was
found in the vehicle of Brown's running back Kareem Hunt
when he was pulled over for speeding and charged with
marijuana possession earlier this month. That's a big deal. I'm

(35:39):
gonna explain why, um there was weed in there that
he didn't get arrested for. But it's one thing to
have an open beer bottle, which is against the law.
You can get a d U I for having open
beer bottle, Okay, but you open beer bottle. Maybe it's
just one beer and you were just drinking like I
wouldn't do it. It's pretty dumb. If you're drinking vodka

(36:03):
straight while driving, I believe there's a better chance than
not that you have a drinking problem. I think it's
a big deal. Finally, Doug, No, you're dead on And
there was a lot to that. The video of Kareem
Hunt realizing the cop was like, Hey, I'm a Bronze fan.
How are you going to do this? You know? I mean,
how are you messing this up? Big deal? Little deal,
and no deal. Finally that eight of the twelve fifty

(36:26):
point games in the NBA this season have been scored
by either James Harden or Damian Lillard. Dame had another
fifty pointer last night. I think it's a little deal.
I think their over alliance on those guys is the
bigger deal. And this is game time on the Dug
Gotli Show. Um By, are you a Kobe guy? When

(36:50):
Kobe was head it wrong? No, I was not. Yeah,
it's it's weird. It's like so many of my friends,
like I didn't really like Kobe. I have friends that
loved Obie. I wasn't one of them. But then you know,
like he kind of grew on mean poster time, he's
a it's a little bit like president, right, Like, uh,
if you didn't like Clinton, now you're like, man, I

(37:10):
kind of like Clinton. He was cool. He's kind of cool.
And then and then if it was George Bush. George Bush,
like George Bush is super popular. I mean part of
it now is that, um, what's the name Obama's wife
is Obama? Michelle Obama, you know made him so popular.
But uh, you know there's a portion of it that

(37:31):
there's a portion of it that just time does heal
wounds and you start to see people a little bit
differently as as you move on. It's absolutely fascinating. All right. Um,
something I think really interesting to remember about the life
and career of Kobe Bryant. I'll share that with you
next to the Doug Gallip Show. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all

(37:53):
of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot Com and
within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
to send live what Up Tug Got Leave show Fox
Sports Radio That Got shows brought you by Farmers at
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in Atto because the Farmers dot Com are called one
Farmers to get a quote today. Farmers. So many things

(38:17):
that we want to get to with you. But uh,
instead of talking about the Super Bowl, I think we'd
be remissing we didn't talk about Kobe Bean Bryant, of course,
died yesterday along with eight other seven other passengers in
the pilot on the Mama Chopper that went down on
the way to practice. I think it was actually a
game in thousand Oks. There's a big Mamba Series tournament

(38:39):
taking place at the facility they were going to, So
it's been reported as practice. Has been reported as a game.
My guests would be as a game. But I don't
really I don't really know that. Um. I've shared throughout
my day here on Fox Sports Radio and Fox Sports
One that I got a chance to to meet and
know and consider him a bit of a friend, right

(39:01):
Like we weren't I'm gonna see here say we're boys
texting each other every day and having a secret handshake
or anything like that. But there was a hang It
was a hangout. There was a friendship, and there was
the exchanging of various texts and videos, uh, pertaining almost
all two basketball. Matter of fact, I had a a

(39:21):
place set that I he send me stuff that he
liked to run with his girls, and I add one
that I ran from my son and I sent that
to him. That was like two weeks ago, so it
kind of interesting. Um, yeah, today's a weird day. It's
a yeah, like yesterday was a where were you moment? Music?
Where Ryan music? Where were you yesterday? When you found out?

(39:42):
I was sitting in the airport at l A X
and in the terminal waiting to board the flight to
come here to Miami. And I'm sitting there and I
was on the same flight as a lot of people
who work in media from l A getting out here
to Miami. And I happened to see t J houshman
Zada and LaVar Arrington. We're both on my same flight,

(40:06):
so we're already sitting there hanging out. I said hey
to them. We chatted a little bit, they went and
did their thing. I'm sitting there. I was on the
phone with someone coordinating guest stuff for our show. I
literally hang up the phone, look up, and t J.
Houshman Zatta goes, Kobe Bryant died. And I just look
at him and I go, what, like, your only reaction

(40:27):
is just like, did I just hear that correctly out
of his mouth? And he goes, Kobe Bryant just died.
You're you're kidding me? He's like, yeah, TMZ. And so
one of my really good friends works at t MC.
So my first reaction is like, okay, I gotta just
call him. So I called my friend Davin, and I'm like, dude,
He's like, literally, my phone has been blowing up and

(40:50):
the only thing I can tell you is that it's real.
And I was just in total shock. And then it's
just crazy because then then there's people, And this is
when you know someone truly transcends sports. You have people
sitting next to you in the terminal who who knows
how big as sports fans they may or may not be,
but now they hear you say it, and then they go, hey,

(41:10):
like did you just say Kobe died? And we're like yeah,
and then so all of a sudden, what's their reaction.
They grabbed their phone and they're scrolling through whatever their
news sources, and then it's just it was. It was
a surreal scene to be sitting in an airport and
all of a sudden, it just grew and grew and grew,
and then you hear people and other terminals next to

(41:31):
you like, oh, Kobe Bryantly, and it was it was
a surreal experience and then all of a sudden, you know, selfishly,
you start finding out like oh, it's a helicopter crash,
and I know it's totally different, but you're like, hey,
I guess I just gotta get on this plane now
and act like everything's okay and it's gonna go fine,
just like I'm sure they did, you know, And it was.
It was a weird feeling, okay. So uh And and Buyer, Um,

(41:55):
you could get into this as well, because Buyer is
a little bit older. Is this Do you have other
Like I remember, I'll tell you the where were used?
I had nine eleven Okay, I remember where I was
nine eleven? Um, I have some sports where where where
was I? As well? Right? Like I have a couple
of Final four ones. When Mario Chalmers hit the shot,
I was running out because our place at ESPN to

(42:18):
cover the post game was like so far away from
the dome, Like I'm literally running out. I just got
there in time. I thought the game was over. And
then Mario Chalmers hits the shot to center overtime. I
remember where I was when Chris Jenkins hit the shot
for Villanova to win national championship. Um. And in sports,
you know I remember where I was when the Patriots
came back and beat the Falcons. A couple of years ago.

(42:40):
We tucked my kids in. I was watching in bed,
and I was trying not to make a bunch of
noise or whatever. You know, you're going, oh my god,
Oh I don't wake everybody up. But in Life nine eleven,
I remember where I was. I was filling in Oklahoma City. Um,
the Challenger, the First Challenge, the Challenger Disaster. I was
in fourth grade. I remember who I was when the

(43:01):
last was the Enterprise was the one that blew up
over Dallas or whatever. Yeah, I was. I was getting
ready to call a game, call a game, and I
was actually watching. I think it was Troy Bell have
his last game, Troy Bell's all time lean and scoring
the Big East. But here's what I remember about it. Um,
there was a woman calling the game as a color analyst,

(43:23):
and a guy named Dance Here was my boss who
hired me. And I said, listen, I think I'm really
good at this, but I gotta tell you there's a
woman doing the Boston College game and she's really good,
you guys. Yeah, her name is Doris Burke. She's actually
she's she's terrific. I go, oh, she's awesome anyway, Um, yeah,
So this was and I when Magic Johnson announced the

(43:44):
the two easiest parallels for me in how an entire
area of the country suddenly was sad. Was um when
Magic announced he had HIV. I was in high stoo
was freshman high school. And I just remember, like it
was You're like in a fog for a couple of days,

(44:05):
and then this is a hoste. When Trump got elected,
I was in New York City and that's what it
was like in New York City for like two days
because they it was supposed to be a celebration and
Hillary and she lived in Chappaqua and they had nobody
like Trump there or whatever, and it was like it
was like somebody had died. That that's the equipment. So
I those are where do you were? You? Do you

(44:26):
remember where you were? Moments where even the one with
Kobe that I was trying to compare it, and it's
narrow minded in the sense because he tried to think
sports world. So you remember when Payne Stewart was in
his crash, But that one was weird because if you remember,
because so payin Stuart had just won with the Master's
US open, and um, they were tracking his plane, but

(44:50):
it was it was basically pilotless. So there was a
there was a leak in the in the fuselage or
there was there was a leak where they had an
air pressure issue, so they were all dead and yet
the plane was still flying until it ran out of gas. Yeah,
and and tracking the plane it was really morbid. Yeah,
And I thought, yeah that you know, there were there

(45:10):
were planes by it that were shut down into like
a major there was. There was that. And then there's
Dale Earnhardt's death of of at the top of I mean,
there's no one bigger than NASCAR than Dale Earnhardt, and
so when that happened, But that was that was different

(45:32):
because it was in the competition, you know, where not
that you saw the crash and thought okay, but it
was the levels of of wow. But those are the
two parallels that I thought of, just of when you
are like, waw, wait what you know? We had landed.
We had just landed. Elijah and myself were at baggage
claim and actually I had a buddy texted me the

(45:54):
first one usually your phone lights up with alerts. My
buddy Simon. Yeah, and was is it? Do you do
you say is this true? Or do you say, yeah,
Kobe Bryant died in the helicopter crash and yeah, so
that was that was you know then all and you
go to the TMZ link and it crashed, right, so

(46:15):
you're like fake, you know, that's what it's somebody knocked in.
It's fake. And that was about thirty seconds because then
all of a sudden that you saw it was like
other places ABC. You saw the place and you're like, man,
this is real, you really really sure? Yeah. I was
never a Kobe guy. You know, we never saw him

(46:37):
against Lebron the finals. We never had that, you know,
just just to something to the edge of that. I
don't know if you guys are like this, but I'm like,
I don't want to say like eternal optimist, but like
I remember when when there were reports that like Prince
was like an ambulance was called Paisley Park in Minneapolis,
and I'm naive or hopeful enough to think it's maybe

(46:59):
somebody else, you know, but then you have to think
of it of like why would there be an ambulance
there that would make the news? You know, like this
that it that it happened. So like with the Kobe thing,
you like, maybe it was just his helicopter and somebody
else was using it, you know, but that just unfortunately
never happens. So I find that Doug, you were saying
you're not a Kobe guy. I was, yeah, or you

(47:22):
weren't a Kobe guys still not that wasn't copy guys player.
So I find that interesting because I grew up from
l A was always a Laker fan, not that you weren't,
but it was just I wasn't really a Laker fan.
My favorite Laker teams were the ones after Magic Retire
when it was Nick Van Exel, Anthony Anthony Pee and um,
what was the uh Sedale three? Eddie Jones Sadales three,

(47:44):
Eddie Jones A Jones, a bad boy. I liked him.
So what was it about Kobe that you didn't like?
Because I grew up into okay selfish, I want to
be Jordan's. Yeah, I was a Jordan guy. He was
want to be Jordan's. It was like, look, I've never
been a Miami guy because Miamis want to be l
A right, Okay, that was that was always my thing?
Is he don't want to be Jordan's interesting, okay, because

(48:06):
I grew up in the heart of like my dad
was a Laker fan, and so we were like Kobe
and Shack, and then it was like it. I guess
for some people, I could understand why they felt like
Kobe ran off Shack, But as young as I was
at the time, it felt more like Shack left. So

(48:29):
that's why it was always like you were a Kobe guy.
That's how it was for me. What you did have
to pick Shack or Kobe, right, but it Kobe was
the yokode to this deal. You know, No, I'm sure
that's how it was. But I mean, again, this was
I was in middle school, so you're not busting out
the l A Times, reading daily reports. You're just like, oh,

(48:51):
Shocks leaving, Well, then I gotta be with Kobe and
this type of thing. Like That's why it felt like
it was more. To be honest, it's easier to fall
on the with the backcourt guy than the front court guy.
You know, like you're gonna like, you're gonna love the
guard more than the guy who plays the five, right,
I mean nine times out of ten, it's just the

(49:12):
fact of the matter. Yeah, it was just it's I mean,
you always felt like and again this was probably just
looking at it from a fan's perspective, but because you
talk about the trade requests and things of that nature,
But it always felt like, no matter what happened, he
was never really gonna leave like he may have wanted to,

(49:35):
but there was always that can you can you imagine though,
had they trade him to the Bulls? He imagined if
he had signed with the Clippers, like he imagine all
of these different things that that could have could have happened. Um,
you know, like, look, imagine if that they had won
that series they had they had a bunch of injuries
and that lost when they lost the Pistons in that series, right,
imagine that they beat in the Pistons. Could they have

(49:55):
found a way to just keep it together and like,
all right, you know we won four a row, let's
just kind of keep it together. Could they have? Does
winning cure all ills? And it? It didn't? But um,
you know what would have happened if they Chris Paul
trade had gone through? You know that Chris Paul trade
had gone through? Would they won a championship? Had he
had not, he might not have gotten hurt because he

(50:16):
might have been able to dial back to his workload
at that point in his career. Is like a lot
of what ifs and all we're all we're left with
is these indelements. I also like, again, this has always
been my thing. I know he had the one great
game in the finals against the Indiana Pacers. Like the
what was limited was lacking is not just the six
finals and six wins like Jordan had, but there was

(50:38):
also the idea of um um. There's also the idea
that what were his finals moments, Like if you go
back through Jordan's Jordans had the six threes and a
half against the Portland Trailblazers. Jordan had the up and
under against the Lakers. Jordans had um first a game

(51:00):
winner against Seattle and then the game winning assist to
Steve Kerr where Steve Kurr said he'd be open right.
There was a bunch of different Jordan's moments in the final.
Part of it was he was the only guy and
Pippen goes down as one of the But Pippen wasn't
the level of dominance as you saw Shack in comparison
to copy right Um, Kobe did kind of lack that, right.

(51:22):
That was one of the things that he had to
sacrifice in giving up and and playing with Shack. On
the other hand, here, here's one of the things he
told me that his you know, people always said he
would He's it burned in him that people thought he
wasn't a good teammate, that he didn't get the most
out of his guys. And he's like, what was the
m O on Pal before he played with me? That

(51:43):
he was too soft to win with? And then he wasn't,
and then he wasn't, you know, and he's one of
my best friends. And it was a pretty good point,
right because Pal was seeing as soft and then he
played with Kobe won a championship, and we can talk
about miss off anymore. Hey, he had to sit there
and watch the Celtics for a half run over them
in two thousand and eight in that game six, and

(52:03):
then you come back, and then you win back to
back and you get your revenge two years later. I
know it's not just a moment because that game seven
shooting Watse wasn't his best, but to do that, I
was in the garden for that game six. It was
an hour long party that entire second half, and you
had to sit there and watch it and deal with it,
and then you get back to back after that. The

(52:26):
way Kobe played and the way we'll remember him, that's next.
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(53:32):
Doug Otlip Show, Fox Sports Radio. There are certain things
in sports which are not coming back. Okay, there's certain
things in life which are not coming back. Um, the
hummer H two. Do you remember when you in the
early two thousand's relating to the hummers? A? Right, somebody
had a hummer. It was a status symbol. You have
big old twenty two inch rims and you had a
hummer and that was cool. And those days are gone

(53:55):
because you know, fourteen fourteen miles a gallon and some
big s u V like that just doesn't make any sense.
We have in in automobiles. It's become about efficiency, right
the I mean there's there's all kinds of inefficiencies which
we have eliminated. I remember, you know when you used

(54:16):
to call a sorority house in college. You know, you'd
call and somebody would have to sit there and answer
the phone and then plug you through to the room
for the girl you want to call? That Like, this
isn't that wasn't that long ago for me? Not? Now
have you got everybody's cell phone number? Right? Um? Do
you remember like a phone book. I used to have

(54:38):
a big old phone book, hold on need I eating air,
hunts eating airs. And then you did, you know, you
get the A's that a triple A or whatever? And
you looked at it like it looks like whatever the
big ad was, Like, it looks pretty good coup on
in there. Let's take that right. Phone Books are not
coming back. They're just not newspapers, not coming back books. Um,

(55:02):
Kobe Bryant is the type of player we're not going
to see again. We're just not like the inefficient you know,
ball stopper who uh yeah, just again is he's an
anti analytics guy. Now his competitiveness is what everybody's um

(55:25):
raving about today, which is which is right? You know,
like look, just some dudes are not wired like he was.
Many of them like he was as a competitor. He
was almost a sociopathic killer. But the way in which
he played was it's a lot like a Ford Mustang,
you know, like Ford Mustang used to be the jam
and now it's just really not. It used to be

(55:45):
super cool and it's now like look, if you go
to my son's favorite memory of any travels he's had
with me's like Hey, remember we went to the final
fournors only renting a Mustang. That was cool, Like, yeah,
I thought seeing the National Championship game and watching Gonzaga
take it to the wire, I thought that was like, Now,
the Mustangs cool, Kobe. That's what Kobe Bryant is, right,
Kobe Bryants and old Mustangs, Like yeah, I mean, in truth,

(56:08):
he didn't shoot a good percentage. It wasn't a great
three point shooter. He was a good defender, but you know,
I thought he was the world's greatest defender. Um, he
took a lot of game winning shots. Some he made,
many he did not. Like all of those things, I
almost feel like those are not coming back. Things like
his style of basketball is probably not coming back. Mid range,
mid range, mid range, master the mid range, it's not there.

(56:32):
So I've done this job for nationally since two thousand
and two, I believe, I'm gonna say two thousand two, sure,
so by my math, i'd be eighteen years. Maybe it
was two thousand three, I don't know. And at the
time we started having Rick Bukaran a bunch and I

(56:52):
used to tease him and I would say Buker was
our Kobe Bryant apologist and um, he was the one
that Kobe went to with the trade demands. He had
unique insight into all that was going on with the Lakers.
And in full disclosure, once upon a time, I had
a tweet that did not go over well and it
was regards to Kobe Bryant, And when I wanted to

(57:14):
reach out to Kobe, I went through Rick and that
was actually what kind of spawned my friendship with with
Kobe Bryant. Rick Baker joins his Bleacher Report Fox Sports
one here on the Dug out Lip Show on Fox
Sports Radio. First time you met Kobe was when where
at the Summer League at Long Beat State in the Pyramid.

(57:34):
It was his first game with the Lakers summer league team.
It was a different completely different times. There were no
metal detectors. I think there was a sign that said
no firearms. That was that was the level of security.
And there wasn't a guard or anybody. You walked into
the locker room. You talked to whoever you wanted to

(57:55):
talk to. And I was just curious about the the
new high school kids that the Lakers had drafted, and
he was there was literally still wearing like athletic supporters
like jock. He was sticking a jock and his his
hoops shoes into like your standard high school backpack. And

(58:17):
that's where I first met him, and uh, from then
on just was around him on a on a regular basis,
got to know him fairly intimately for a variety of reasons,
but that's where it started. And I think in some
ways the reason that I looked at Kobe as I
did is because I saw him in that first moment

(58:38):
of this. He was a high school kid, and yet
he had a confidence and a belief that a high
school kid had no business having, and was completely undaunted
that he was among men and entering the professional fray.
He he played that first Summer League game as if

(58:59):
he was the ask player on the floor and everybody
should just know it. And that's pretty much how he's
he he approached his entire career. Um, what when when
they acquired Shack, what was that relationship initially? Like it
was there? It was great. I mean there I've done

(59:24):
of its great. There weren't. I don't know if there
were any initial problems. It was the as their personalities unfolded.
I mean, keep in mind when Kobe first got there,
and this was one of the challenges for him. He
was not viewed the way Lebron James was coming out.

(59:45):
I'm not even sure that he was viewed the way
Kevin Garnett was. He was thought to be or going
to be a very good player, but he was on
a veteran Lakers team. He was coming off the bench.
There was a lot the people thought that he had
to develop, particularly playing at the two guard position, which

(01:00:06):
was just chock full of great talent at that time.
People weren't weren't anticipating that he was going to be great.
And meanwhile, Shack was the guy that they went and
got from Orlando, had already been to the finals, was
already a superstar in full so there weren't issues. It
was as Kobe got better and as he grew and

(01:00:30):
the scale scale shifted, that's when their disparate personalities began
to show themselves. Then the the power struggle for the
team began. Um, why do you think they kept him
and not check because they recognized that Kobe still had

(01:00:54):
his best years in front of him. That Kobe was
because of his work pick and his approach, the belief
that we can continue to win. I mean it really
was while while Phil Jackson was there, and some of
that was the change in who was coaching the team.

(01:01:16):
Phil always made Shock the centerpiece. He always he was
critical of Kobe in some ways put Kobe down um,
but he knew that Shock, from an emotional standpoint, was
the centerpiece of the team. And then Phil was probably
doing the right thing. There were more, There were far
more players on that team that rallied around Shock and

(01:01:38):
looked to Shock as their leader than they did Kobe.
Kobe did it by brunt of force. And but but
they got to a point where they knew who had
more left in front of them and whose work ethic
ultimately gave them a better chance. And so I honestly
people have said, you know, Kobe ran Shock out of town.

(01:02:04):
From my conversations with him at that time, I don't
believe he would have had a problem. He he wanted
to prove that Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Penny Hard, all
the guys that people allen iverson, that all of them
could do what he did if they had been playing
with Shaq. He wanted to prove that different. That was

(01:02:24):
his great motivation doing it. With Shack as the second banana.
I believe Kobe was would have been okay with that
if it had gone that road. It never got there
because there was no way in hell that Shaq was
willing to take that role. Rick Buker blitzch Report, Fox
Sports one longtime NBA insider joining us Doug Gottlieb show

(01:02:45):
here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, so Shack leaves and
people forget like this is where it's complex, right. I
mean there was the series where he kind of quit
on the team against the Sons and wouldn't shoot the basketball.
He did a little bit against the the thunder one
one year as well. Um, and of course there was

(01:03:05):
the trade request, which remind me, didn't he go through you?
Didn't he make it? It wasn't that how it it
got out. I believe that's where it started. He then
I think he did something with Stephen A. He he
spoke at a couple of different times. Um, and I'd

(01:03:28):
have to go back and see, but I yeah, I
was the first one who knew that he wanted to
go to Chicago unless they hired Jerry West, that they
got somebody else. He basically lost his faith that the
front office was capable of building another championship team, and
he wanted some indication from them that they were going

(01:03:51):
to do that. And he was a pending free agent
at the time, and so you know, this was where he,
I mean, he and I had conversations about this, where
it was I said, what if they call you bluff?
What if they don't hire Jerry, what if they don't
make like, don't make a deal. What if they don't

(01:04:13):
address any of your concerns? Are you still going to
show up? Are you still going to sign that deal?
And he said, I'm not playing for them again, and
you know, unless and so you know, when I was
asked about it, that's what I was asked what I
expected to happen. I said, well, that's I don't think

(01:04:35):
he's gonna show up. I don't think he's gonna play.
And sure enough, he showed up, he signed it, and
then they made not let long after they made the
deal for Pau Gassoul and they were on their way.
But um, it was he held a lot of leverage
at that point and the Bulls were very much interested,

(01:04:57):
and he loved the idea of going and seeing that
was that was a franchise that had demonstrated with Michael
Jordan that they could win championships, and Kobe never had
any uh any concerns that he couldn't fill what Michael
couldn't fill Michael's shoes, that he could go to Chicago
and do exactly what Michael did, And so that was

(01:05:17):
that was why the Bulls were number one on his list.
Rick Buker from Fox Sports One covering the NBA, joining
us on the dug out Lip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Where were you when you find out? Yesterday? I was
on my couch with my daughter and she was the
one who first saw it and I couldn't believe it,

(01:05:40):
and we then investigated it together to find out whether
it was true or not. And it was personal for
her because Toby and I had had conversations about our
respective daughters playing and at one point there was supposed
to be a one on one game between my daughter

(01:06:02):
and his and he saw a clip of my daughter
working on a move and said, she belongs in the
Momba Academy. You guys need to move down here. So
that was, you know, I never forget my daughter saying
I was supposed to play her one on one and

(01:06:22):
um the you know, going through that discovery together with
my daughter and knowing that Kobe and his daughter went
down together. It just that's what made this very personal
and something that I'm still I'm still trying to process. Yep.

(01:06:44):
Now it's uh, it's a really really hard one. Yes,
she was a hard day. Why why do you think
people's people have changed on Kobe? I mean, obviously, somebody dies,
but the change had occurred before that. Why do you
think because I mean, you tell me if I'm wrong, Buke,
but I felt like he was He's always been an
incredibly polarizing guy. Um, why do you think people had

(01:07:08):
softened and changed? I mean, again, you cover the league
and they've done so for twenty years. Isn't he the
most popular former player? Like because those guys didn't grow
up with Jordan. They grew up with Kobe. He's their guy.
But why has it changed so much nationally where he's
He was beloved even before he died. I think because

(01:07:30):
he he found a grace. You know, there was there
was the Kobe that was battling everyone and anyone, and
I was gonna stomp on anybody that got in his
way and let you know that. And as in his
last few years, I believe honestly that he turned to

(01:07:52):
mentoring the young players coming up and sharing with them
his approach to the game and all that he you
because his ability to chase championships was over and he
recognized that there was there was the different eras there
was where Kobe thought he could do it all by himself,

(01:08:13):
and then losing to the Celtics, realized no, I need
help and I need to be able to uh, I
need to be able to utilize the players around me
and and trust them. And so he went through that,
and then he got to a point where physically just
started breaking down, to the point where he knew that

(01:08:34):
he couldn't do it anymore. And so now it was
let me hand the keys over to the next generation
and let me share with them. Because there was a
point where I suggest that we do a book about
all of his you know what made Kobe great, And
he was like, I'm not giving away my secrets. I'm
not like, I'm not sharing that with anybody. And then
when he got to a point where it wasn't him anymore,
you know, he he couldn't go get it anymore. It

(01:08:56):
was like, Okay, let me let me pass this on.
So there were that, and I think it was all.
And then you know, seeing him so comfortable as a father,
that was all the things that you would get on
him about the Colorado incident, uh, being a bad teammate,
being self centered, like he transformed himself. So you had

(01:09:20):
the greatness of him and accomplishments as a player, and
then you had him becoming a complete, thoughtful, compassionate human being.
And we got to see it all, and we got
to see him transform before our very eyes and I
and I feel as if on in some way it
was captured by Lebron passing him on the scoring list

(01:09:45):
and Kobe tweeting out his congratulations. That to me crystallized
the new Kobe Bryant that he had moved on and
he could acknowledge the next guy in line, whereas four
it was I gotta catch the guy in front of me,
and I can't let the guy behind me catch me.

(01:10:07):
And he'd come to peace with where he stood as
a player, and I think it allowed him to become
a human being that we could all embrace. Awesome stuff
to be a great perspective. Obviously, when it's somebody that
you grow to become a friend with it it and
you know with with Gianna, it really hits you in

(01:10:30):
the heart. So um, we're all kind of going through
a kind of similar stuff. We appreciate you. Join us
on Fox Sports Radio. All right. That's Rick Buker of
course rightes for Bleach Report and he covers all things
basketball for Fox Sports. One interesting idea from Chris Brussard
and how they can honor Kobe Bryant. We'll discuss it next.
Be sure to catch the live edition of the Doug

(01:10:50):
gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon
Pacific Doug Gotlip Show, Fox Sports Radio every day. This
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(01:11:10):
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This is Chris bruce harton First Things First, discussing the
NBA and what they can do to honor Kobe Bryant.
I have full faith that the NBA will handle this
the right way and whatever they do will be great,

(01:11:33):
and I will not be critical of them if they
don't do this. I would love to see them retire
both number eight and number twenty four. And I haven't
talked to anybody with the NBA about this. I don't
know if they're thinking about it or it hasn't crossed
their mind, but league wide, I would like to see
them retired number eight and number twenty four. Major League
Baseball retired Jackie Robinson's number, which obviously he for a

(01:11:56):
different reason, but we haven't seen an NBA superstar pass
away like this in the prime of his life. UM. Yeah,
I think it's a bit much, you know, I think
it's a bit much, especially when you get to the
heart of why you switch from eight to I don't
know if that story needs to be told, Like even

(01:12:17):
they having two numbers retired is a is a bit
much for for me. The only one I'm aware of
in the NBA. Um, you know, if you're not, if
you're are you going to retire Lebron's number throughout the
are we? We didn't do that? For Jordan's I don't know.
I think that's a little bit overreacting to um to

(01:12:40):
the tragic event, right and to just you know, the
wound is very very much open. And he's incredibly popular.
But the idea of retiring like you're tired, Jackie Robinson's
number of baseball is because he's Jackie freaking Robinson who
broke the color barrier in baseball, right, Like that's a
little bit more uh historically significant then Kobe Bryant, no

(01:13:04):
disrespect to Kobe, is a great player. So yeah, I
think it's lots of little my opinion a little much.
I do know he's super popular and if there's one
thing that could be stated about his popularity, which is interesting,
I almost feel bad for Lebron James today because if
Lebron thought he was gonna ever win over a Laker fans,
now he never will. No matter what, there is no

(01:13:26):
topping Kobe Bryant, this after he just topped Kobe Bryant
on Saturday night in the all time scoring list. That's
what the Fox said. So yeah, it's interesting. I mean
Los Angeles become every everybody's wearing purple and gold, which
is really Laker blue and gold. But that's you have
to be old school, no chick hearn when you STI

(01:13:47):
announce them as Laker blue and gold, which goes back
to the jack Kin Cook days. But nonetheless, everybody's wearing
Laker blue and gold purple in gold, and it's such
a big story that it is really like, no one's
talking about the super Bowl, and I guess it's one
of those things you're like, oh, the media, Like we
are part of the media, so it's our fault. But

(01:14:08):
what what storyline for the NFL changes between now and then?
Which one? Nothing? That's but that's how big Kobe is, Like,
we're talking about the super Bowl, and I wonder. I
would guess by Thursday we'll be back to talking mostly
super Bowl, although at some point they'll announce some sort

(01:14:30):
of memorial service at Staples which will arrival that of
of when um Michael Jackson had his memorial there and
even more talent. It would be more, even more vivid
because you know the two jerseys and all the banners
that hang in that building. What an interesting that. I
I have a high a bit of a hypothesies on Kobe.

(01:14:55):
So you were music, you were always a Kobe guy.
That microphone doesn't work. What's the purpose that you having
your headset on? That? You just you need headphones on,
not a headset. Okay, So you were always a Kobe guy.
That Doug that was one of those special microphones that

(01:15:15):
only you can hear me on. I got it, so okay.
So yeah, always a Kobe guy always. But you're not
old enough to remember Magic, right he was more he
was a little bit before my time. Like I always
knew who Magic was, but it wasn't like I was
watching his games thoroughly following it in depth. That's interesting,

(01:15:35):
super interesting. Um, I would say, okay, so you were
you were You were a big Kobe guy, Kobe Shock,
that that era was. That's why I said earlier you
know it to me, it didn't feel like you had
to choose Kobe because it felt like Shock left. So
you were obviously going to stick with Kobe, right, Well,

(01:15:56):
there's no question that that Shack, Yeah, Shack want a
new contract. Shack colleges complain about money. Shack was never
in shape. And I do think the Lakers chose the
right guy when they chose to stick with Kobe Bryant,
Like I think historically that they were proven correct, you know,
in their in their decision um. It always felt like,

(01:16:17):
you know, obviously we know it now as the MoMA mentality,
but it always felt like Kobe was willing to do
whatever it took to make sure that the team that
you cared about, the Lakers, would win the game. Whereas
Shock never came across that way. Shack just always came
across as like a great player. Yeah, Shack just want
to be Shock. Kobe wanted to kill you and watch
you die. Right that That that's really the maybe that's

(01:16:40):
why they was such a great combination. Alright, Coming up next,
I think I know why people have embraced Kobe so much.
I'll share with you next to the Dout Got the Show,
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Search f s are to listen live. What Up Doug

(01:17:02):
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio coming to you from the
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(01:17:25):
one eight hundred Farmers and get a quote today, Farmers.
I have a hypotheses and I'd like to run and
buy you guys. Dan Buyer's here, Ryan mus My, producer,
Jonas Knox, you can hear him straight in Vegas. I
have I have a hypothesis on Kobe Bryant and how
and why he's become so wildly popular even before he

(01:17:48):
passed away yesterday. Okay, So what was what was our
president's mantra when he ran for president first time? Right?
Make America great again with the virtues of America. We've
gotta get back to our core of what makes us Okay.

(01:18:08):
So look, I think that especially within the NBA and
maybe within in fans, like we like slightly selfish dudes.
We just do, we just do the The European influence
to the NBA has brought us a prettier game, a

(01:18:31):
lot of passing movement, you know, the eurostep, but also
flopping right and who strikes you as a guy that
didn't flop Kobe Bryant come ready and flop. He didn't
even flinch when Matt Barnes acted like he was gonna
throw the ball at him, didn't flinch. You know. He
was a sheer force of will guy. And there's a

(01:18:53):
little bit of that nostalgia in how he operated that
I think is embraced by people. It's it's the old
it's the old. Hey, you know what's the mantra for
the Baltimore evens nobody cares work harder? That was Kobe Bryant.
He believed in himself to a point of confidence, not

(01:19:15):
even bordering it was arrogance, but he he put in
the hard work in order to be able to make
it happen. And I think that's something that you know,
many believe is missing with today's athletes. Not right, it's not.
I mean, these guys NBA players stay currently are I
think more skilled. Maybe not as tough as as Kobe

(01:19:37):
and some guys, but but maybe more skilled. And they've
put in. You don't just magically become Kevin Durant seven.
He talk, doesnt imagine you become a great shoot unless
Vin Durrant works at it, you know, I mean, I
don't love how James Harden plays, But James Harden is
an unbelievable offense weapon. How does he get there from
working at it? You know, Steph Curry, like, you don't
become the greatest shooter we've ever seen it. You know,

(01:19:59):
just because you're an shoot doesn't mean you can automatically shoot.
You gotta put in the work. But there is something
to creating an image of a guy who will outwork you.
Who I tell you who, I'll I'll believe you. That's
kind of an American ideal. That's who we are. We
think of us ourselves as the best, just like Kobe
thought of himself as the best. And we'll prove it

(01:20:20):
to you. And and you know, was a penny saved
as a penny earned, And we're gonna work for every
penny that we have. And I think there's a certain
kind of americanism to how Kobe played, and we kind
of like it. We're like, yeah, it wasn't always pretty,
he didn't always take the right shot, but he always

(01:20:41):
thought he was awesome, and we think we're awesome. I
kind of feel like that's that's one of the reasons
he's so well respected. Because Kobe wasn't always this well.
He was not well liked by his peers. I think
he's always respected by his peers. They always thought he's
that duds a bucket, he's can really to go. But
I don't think he was liked by his peers for

(01:21:03):
a long time until late in his career, and there
were guys that just watched him get buckets that hadn't
dealt with him that you know, we're just in awe
of him. I mean, the Kobe Bryant tail is nothing
short of like a mini series from being drafted the
high son of a pro but his dad, jelly Bean Joe,

(01:21:26):
was not seen as a guy who got everything out
of his own potential, which is the opposite of Kobe.
Kobe got everything out of his body and then something
that was not jelly Bean Joe, so son of a
pro private school in Philadelphia, straight to the NBA Draft,
to the l A Lakers of all places. He partners
with Shaquille O'Neil del Harris challenges him and they could

(01:21:49):
never really get over the hump. And then Phil Jackson
arrives and they start winning championships, and then Shock departs.
Phil Jackson departs, Kobe almost a hearts, they get filled back,
they get the Palkasal trade, they win two more championships.
They tried to get to Chris Paul trade and could not.
Like there's a lot there, there's also Colorado. There's the

(01:22:11):
quitting on the team mid mid series when they're taking
on Arizona. He's down Arizona Phoenix. There's the one desire
to be traded. There's the late contract after he tours
Achilles Tendant. Plus there's the Achilles Tendant tear, which people
forget that year he single handedly carried them to the
playoffs and then his body just gave up and he
he towards Chillies Tendant. Then he sat out for a

(01:22:33):
year and had nothing left when he came back. Then
he had sixty in his last game, sixty. The whole
thing is a mini series, and sadly the last what
felt like the next chapter, you know, which could have
been several different really could have been several different movies.

(01:22:54):
If it's like the Star Wars spinoffs could have been
several different movies, ends up getting cut short. The dug
gotlip shows brought to you by Farmers. Farmers Insurance knows
a thing or two about how to save a buck
or two when you bundle home and auto. So visit
Farmers dot comic, call one eight hundred auto and get
a quote. Today we are music. I have a question

(01:23:15):
for you. What's going on? Doug okay um Kobe told
me his five favorite movies. Yes, and I can't remember
him and I told you the next morning. Yeah, I
think we've narrowed it down to three, so I do
think he It started off with, well, the obvious one
is Godfather, and then I know another one of them.

(01:23:36):
I thought it was the Turn of the Jedi. No, no,
Harry Potter was definitely on that list. Oh, I know
which will? I know they look good? And then the
surprising one was Steel Magnolia's Did he say Temple of Doom? Yeah,
it was Indiana, John, I think it was Indianians Temple
of Doom, which is always the wrong pick. That's like
saying I like the Jar Jar Binks character, but I

(01:23:58):
had to just let him go, and I can't go
it was the other one. I can't remember the fifth one. Wow,
I only told a couple of people that one. Oh,
I think I know it was. It wasn't it The
Dark Night? Because I think it was a Christopher Nolan film.
Was it? Uh no, his inception? Okay, that's what it was.

(01:24:18):
And I don't think it was. I don't think it was.
It might have been tambled to and might not. I
felt like there was another one. There's another one, which
was a weird one, you know, like Citizen Kane or
something like that. I don't know, interesting fellow, but it is.
I feel like with Kobe We've talked about this with

(01:24:41):
Steph Curry, where his sort of stature and how great
he became in the NBA sort of presents this like, hey,
maybe that could be me. Because he wasn't uh seven footer,
and he wasn't the guy who had unbelievable hops, you know,
this natural ability. It sort of felt like, hey, that
could be me. Is that sort of why fans now

(01:25:04):
have gravitated towards Kobe in the sense of I think
it's pretty clear, you know, Kobe six six, like you
couldn't ever be that, but this mamba mentality of hey,
if I just work harder than everyone else, then maybe
I could achieve greatness as well. Yeah, I think so.
I think so, um and and maybe and they just

(01:25:27):
this is the big thing is some people's bodies aren't
capable of the greatness that he achieved. But get the
most out of yourself that you absolutely can. Like I
will tell you this, Like I know people like he's
a great game dunker, Like he was not a freak athlete.
He was not. He did not have the spring of
Vince Carter or definitely not the first step or jumping
of Michael Jordan's, but he did have some great dunks.

(01:25:49):
Like he was a master of footwork, master of for work, um,
a decent pastor, not a great pastor not totally willing past,
but he could pass um. And he the other parts
of the Jordan's thing that's really interesting and is that
Jordan's did not shoot with a ton of arch, and
neither did Kobe Bryant. They're just you gotta be yet
to be so good and so skilled to do it

(01:26:10):
in that way at that level. You know, I told
people earlier that this one strikes a little closer to
home because my daughter and a couple of her friends
were all friends with the girls that died that played
for Mamba, And you know, the parents all leave behind
other children, which is just just terrible, terrible news in

(01:26:33):
addition the fact that you have an absolute icon and
superstar who's killed way well before his time. You know,
I don't know what the over under is on all
of us in this earth, but Kobe Bryant should still
be here at forty one. He was the picture of health.
You know, he did not have he did not have vices.
You know that that could lead to this happening, but

(01:26:54):
it does happen. One of the things with airlines, which
I know we but we've all flown here recently to
get here, or especially with helicopters, where it seems it
seems I don't know the numbers for helicopters, but boy,
they seem a lot more dangerous. It does seem that way,
you know. The another interesting thing was, you know, there
was a video of Tiger Woods after completing his round

(01:27:14):
at Tory Pines yesterday and being asked about Tiger and
sorry Tiger being asked about Kobe. You know, it sort
of feels like there's a lot of similarities there between
the two of them, just in terms of that sort
of mindset Tiger and Kobe, the sort of the approach
that how they they both in their respective sports, but

(01:27:37):
then also sort of like there who they were always
seemed larger than life, but now the later that they've
gotten in their careers, it's almost like they're becoming much
more relatable. Yeah, yeah, of course, you know, split up,
his wife, got back together with her, had a couple

(01:27:57):
of kids late in his in his marriage. Searcher for
a second thing now becoming the coach of his of
his daughter's team, absolutely became became a real human being,
which is all we ever really want, you know, as fans,
because show us a little bit of reality. Well, and
that's like when you think about a lot of these
other you know, super mega stars on the on the

(01:28:20):
level of a Kobe Bryant Tom Brady, there is nothing
relatable about Tom Brady. Nothing. I mean I I struggle
to find the thing that Tom Brady does or has
ever done, or projected to have done that you could
ever be like, you know, that could be me one day.

(01:28:40):
The same thing with the closest thing to Lebron James's
he married his high school sweetheart, right and I mean
Michael Brady Brady, I think that the photo is kind
of a dork and the photo of him when he
was at the combine, I think would be the human.
But that was that was so long ago that now
he gets better. Look at old, he's he's almost getting

(01:29:03):
less relatable. Yes, no, he's married to a supermodel. He
lives in a house. It was so big, like he
probably there's rooms he hadn't even been in. Now he's selling,
you know. And so you have him, you have Brady,
you have Lebron. I mean, Jordan's Jordan's again. Other than
you know the story about how he started. He was
like cut from his high school team or whatever. I

(01:29:23):
guess that's as close as you can come to ever
feeling like you like, hey, I was cut once or
I was fired once, but like, there's nothing about MJ
that you feel like you can relate to. And then
the only other one I could think of was Derek
je Derek Jeter. Nothing about Derek Jeter makes you feel like, hey,
that could have been me, or hey, I know where
he's coming from, Like no way. But in Tiger and Kobe,

(01:29:47):
they do feel like the later it got in their career.
For Kobe, and as Tiger continues to hit the end
of his professional career, you do start to feel this
sort of like wow, I feel more connected to them.
Than I ever have before. Yeah, but I mean, like
that happened to Phil Michelson. He wasn't really he was
always been more like by the fans but by players,

(01:30:09):
you know. I think it happened even to Brett Farve.
I think he became people always liked him, but people
did did kind of associate with them a little bit more,
I think, nationally, more than just Packer fans. I don't know.
Maybe he was always always likable, but you're right, but
you know, I mean, but likable is one thing. It's
the relatability. Well, and that's why the relatability is is
the likability is the likability. But Peyton man someone like

(01:30:32):
Peyton Manning and even like Eli Manning, even though in
reality they're not, they're not, but the perception is there.
But that's yeah, that's always how they presented themselves. Uh Okay,
So what I what I want to do is this,
Um this is kind of an interesting way of looking
at it is coming up next. Alright, we're gonna we're

(01:30:55):
gonna do the athlete thing that I find to be fascinating,
which is, um, well, we'll talk about how this is
so different from football. Wait, do you hear this? Stat
about why I think so many people were so stunned, alarmed,
saddened by not just Kobe's passing, but the age at

(01:31:16):
which he passed. We'll discuss that up coming next. For first,
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(01:32:18):
slash vpn Doug terms ofply. Be sure to catch the
live edition of the Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at
three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app Doug Otlive Show Fox
Sports Radio. I got a kind of thought here on
on Kobe. See the difference with view sonics new four

(01:32:42):
K curve monitors from home, office, work and play. They
They've decked out our South Beach set with these monitors,
making the Fox Sports Radio set the best one as
always in Miami. Check out these four K monitors at
view Sonic dot Com. Doug Gottli back in Miami, be
here all week. Um. Okay, so just a thought here.

(01:33:05):
We're used to, uh, we're used to football players aging badly, right.
Quarterbacks are a little bit different because they're usually commentators
and they are a little bit better looking. Okay, but
quarterbacks are the exception most football players. They just look
like a wreck. Right. Their fingers are gnarly, I gotta

(01:33:27):
walk with walk slowly. Their knees are screwed up and
then of course, unfortunately some have that that the that
that head trauma. Basketball players are different, right, there's a
certain amount of elegance to them, and even though many
of them are far taller than the average man. Did
you realize that there are only now three m vps

(01:33:48):
in the history of the NBA that you know, the
last fifty years that aren't alive. Now Will Chamberlaine mos
Malone and died in sleep, and now Kobe Ryant. So
you're just so used to, like, you know, Bill Russell,
I don't even know how now eventually Bill Russell will
in fact, I you know, but Bill Russell, who's the
most accomplished player in the history of the sport, he's

(01:34:08):
still alive. You know Jordan's I don't think Jordan's looks
like he's in the greatest shape in the world like
you used to. But like Jordan ain't anywhere, Larry Bird
ain't go anywhere, like these guys Barkley's on TV. It's
really interesting, isn't it. So when we see a guy
who Kobe still looks like he could play, you're just like,
Koby's gonna be around forever. How do I know that
all these other guys are here forever. What do you think,

(01:34:31):
Uh yeah, I think that there's something to that. I
would say wide receivers and cornerbacks to also have an
opportunity to They're not out of the trenches where you know,
you are hit on every single play, So maybe their
life after football is a little bit easier. Maybe some
of those packs catchers with fingers could be a different story.
But um, I don't know if it has anything with mortality. Um,

(01:34:56):
I it's it's uh yeah, I mean, you know, it's
a tough one to to answer for the simple fact
of um, you know, sometimes guys who are of large
size don't live as long. You know. Yeah, but in

(01:35:17):
in but NBA guys do. That's kind of my point, dude,
do they do well? Right? Yeah? But but what I
mean like if you're I don't want to wish you know,
bad on anybody, but you know seven you know, the
guys who are seven three or seven four, sometimes your
question maybe there you know health, But I understand, I

(01:35:41):
don't listen. I understand. I'm just telling you look and
you tell you tell me if I'm wrong. Well, yeah,
they're just they'ren't of the rigors of what you would
have for the NFL. I would say that would would
beat their body up. Yeah, I agree with you that
that you shouldn't be that tall. But those guys are
still alive, whereas um whereas football players not. Let's get

(01:36:04):
you damn buy or find out what else going on
the world Sports TV? What he got, Doug, A bunch
of stuff going on in the National Football League National
A war of insiders U V. J Glazer because Jig
Glazers saying that the Chargers have moved on from Philip
Rivers as their quarterback. You say information that you have
tells you otherwise. But Rivers didn't recently move his family

(01:36:24):
from southern California to Florida, which could signal a change.
The Browns have made a change, while they've actually made
an addition. They've hired the youngest now GM in the
National Football League. Andrew Berry comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles.
He's hired by Cleveland to be their GM and executive
vice president of football Operations. Previously with the Philadelphia Eagles.

(01:36:45):
Freddie Kitchens now an assistant on Joe Judge's staff with
the Giants. The former Brown's head coach will coach the
tight ends. Both Polini's back at LSU. The former Nebraska
head coaches left Youngstown State to become the new defensive
coordinator at Louis Sianna State University under ed or Zeron,
taking over for dave A. Randall was the defensive coordinator

(01:37:06):
when LSU won a national championship some thirteen seasons ago,
and it was right before he became the full time
head coach at Nebraska College Hoops. Baylor remains number one
in this week's AP Top twenty five pull. The entire
top ten is basically the same from a week ago,
except a flip flop at eight and nine. L s
U and Penn State did crack the top twenty five.
Cincinnati Reads and outfielder Nick Castianos have come to terms

(01:37:28):
on a four year deal with sixty four million dollars. Well,
the Pirates traded out through the Starling Martet to the
Arizona Domonbacks, and baseball umpires would be miked up for
the season, allowing them to tell fans, viewers, and listeners
sorry if a replay call is upheld or overturned. Oh yeah, yes,
We'll be back to the Dug Gottlieb Show in ted seconds.

(01:37:50):
But first st Award from our friends at Farmers. Bundle
home and Auto with Farmers Insurance and you could save
an average of seen it covered it bundled it Farmers
to get a quote today Nation White average savings under
read my Farmer Store. Fire Insurance Exchanges and affiliates PROCs
not available in every state. Doug Gottlieb Show here on

(01:38:11):
Fox Sports Radio, and um we've had Rick bucheron. You
can download the podcast afterwards. Check out Buke's thoughts. He
was really he was really broken up Adam Morrison, former
Laker teammate of Kobe Bryant, And um, I thought he was.
He was great. So um, let's uh, let's let's continue

(01:38:34):
to talk shop here on the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. And I think, um, um, I think
there's there's a bunch of interesting elements to it, a
bunch of interesting elements to it. One in terms of Kobe,
when do we switch, you know, when do we switch

(01:38:54):
and become focused on the actual football game? When when
is that? When does that moment begin? I would guess
that's not until Thursday. Right, We're still Today's the first
day everybody gets stuff off their chest. Tomorrow they'll be
more kind of perspective stuff. I think Wednesday will start
to get into football mode and by Thursday we'll be there.
Let's welcome in r J. Bell. Who are we going

(01:39:15):
to Vegas with? R J? Give my money right? Are
you tired of losing money every week? Do you want
to be in the notes? Well we might not know,
but Vegas always knows. R J Bell. Pregame dot com
is the website at r J and Vegas is the

(01:39:35):
Twitter handle or Straight out of Vegas, the show that
follows ours. It's winning awards, selling out. It's pretty awesome, now, Doug,
you should know. Yeah, the switch to handicapping the game
is six thirty right here on Fox Sports Radio. That's
when you guys start a half the show for code. Okay, um,
what is the line as of now? You know what's funny?
Since Kobe I haven't checked it was what one between

(01:39:56):
one and one and a half. I can pull it up.
As we're talking Kansas City favor It feels like San
Francisco st your favorite, doesn't I like Kansas City? What
I think that Kansas City is certain they have a
super good offense. Maybe it's one May two three in
the league. But it's certainly up there, and they've got

(01:40:17):
a defense now that consistently sense to buy. And even
if you go back a few games and start after
the Tennessee the first Tennessee game against them, the d
v o A on the defense for Kansas City to
end the regular season was eight. They played two playoff
games since and they actually were better in those games

(01:40:38):
considering the competition. So it's fair to say now we've
got about a eight ten games sample that Kansas City's
defense is eight ninth ten. Now, if Kansas City's defense
or offense is that great, we know San Francisco's offense
isn't great. So the real question is how good is

(01:40:58):
San Francisco's d fence? Because the first seven games of
the year, San franz defense was right up there with
New England best in the league. They both played a
soft schedule to start. Yes, last nine games they gave
up twenty six points a game. Now there's been two
playoff games, they looked really good. I think when you
dig into it, there's questions about which defense is the truth.

(01:41:21):
If it's the first seven in the last two, then
this should be an even game. But if San Francis
anything like it was the second half of the year,
then I believe Kansas City should be favored by three
or three and a half. And I'm not saying that,
I'm sure the San France defense isn't good. I'm saying
there's a real question. R J. Bell Jonius at r
J in Vegas is the Twitter handle. What's the over under?
Fifty four and a half? How do you feel about it?

(01:41:45):
I think the first half under is massive. I was
listening to Colin uh he had the attack one from
the Rams last year, the Bengal Whitworth, and he said
he didn't remember the first quarter the Super Bowl. Stress.
I hear that all the time. I didn't remember the quarter.

(01:42:06):
The scoring in the first quarter is so low. Now
you might think, well, isn't that part of the halftime line. No,
the over under for the first quarter is ten, and
based upon the game, it should be thirteen. So you're saying, oh,
the adjustments being made. But the over under for the
first half is twenty seven, which is about what it
should be with fifty four and a half. So it's

(01:42:27):
weird they've made an adjustment the first quarter. They haven't
adjusted the first half and I believe in the playoffs
there's a lot of scoring in the second half because
teams don't give up. If you're down thirty, you're still throwing.
Because look at the Patriots what they did. So in general,
if I had to make one bet on the total
would be under twenty seven first half. I kind of
like it's interesting because the the Chiefs that have gotten

(01:42:48):
behind big both the best two games, which would but
there were a lot of points scored by the other team.
And I do think that the Niners with the scripted
players early will look really, really good. So I don't
know if it's gonna be as low scoring early, maybe
lower scoring overall. R J Bell joining us um here
are j Okay. So let's get a couple of props. Uh. First,

(01:43:08):
Tom Brady, where is he most likely to play next year?
Based upon the props? You know, I was talking with
our Fox A Philly and Boston the Hub, their producer
over there, and he's saying, there's so many rumors. I mean,
they're so connected to that team, and he's saying, we're
hearing things that are so contradictory. I believe strongly that

(01:43:29):
he'll be back with the Patriots. Brady. And here's why, Brady,
It's almost like Michael Coleon. Let's say you were the
number two of Michael Coleon and you saw him kill people,
his brother in law, his brother. Now, when you are
ready to get be on the chopping block yourself, what
do you do? You know this guy's ruthless. Now, by
the way, Belichick is Michael collant in this cause you

(01:43:52):
know he's ruthless. What do you do? You gotta show strength?
So my thought is Brady shown he has other options
because he wants strength going against Belichick and everyone says,
why did he renegotiate that deal for the you know,
that makes it look like he wants his to be
his last year. I think he wants two years. That's
the strength he wants. He wants to sign a deal
not that makes him. And I heard you when you
were hosting on calling show. You were talking about you

(01:44:15):
think he wants paid Now I disagree. I think he
wants two years. He'll take the discount, but he wants
the years. That's still money though. Yeah, eff actively, But
but he wants to get to forty five because how
much does that help his brand? At TB twelve brand?
I could be billions in the long term unless he stinks.
But even if he does, he's on the field Peyton Manning.

(01:44:38):
How much better is Brady last year than Peyton Manning?
Was his last year better? A right? So when does
that end? I don't know. It seems to be getting
closer to it seems to be getting closer to the end.
Who's the favorite to be the m v P of
this game? It's always about the quarterback, So in this case,
Mahomes is a small favorite because Kansas City is a
small favorite. Now you could envision San Francisco winning the

(01:45:00):
AIM and Jimmy G not being the m v P.
Who would you get if I said San fran wins,
Jimmy G is not the m v P. Who who
do you guess? Nick Bosa? You think they get wild
going defense? I don't know. He gets a strip SEC
fumble touchdown is the only thing I can think of. Yeah,
So you can't see a running back just happen. It
could be you just don't know which one, right, they
have three of them. Here's a great tip on the props.

(01:45:22):
You cannot bet the props unless you have an opinion
on the game this year because San Francisco if they
win or if the game's very competitive, will not throw much.
Shane has shown he'd rather not put Jimmy G in
that spot, right, But if they get behind, they can't
help but throw, so to it's logical. Yes, so like

(01:45:46):
over under Jimmy G passing yards is two forty. You
cannot even think about that bat unless you have an
opinion on the game. The opinion of the game is
Cancity wins, canc City covers, yes by or where are
you in the game? Um? I like San Francisco, but
I'm not the expert. Yeah, vampires. Breaking news, go ahead,

(01:46:06):
Dan Uh. Breaking news from Fox Sports. The NBA is
postponed tomorrow's Lakers Clippers game in Los Angeles on the
heels of Kobe Bryant's death yesterday. Two sides supposed to
be in at Staples Center. Obviously that will not happen.
So that just in with the NBA postponing Lakers and
Clippers for tomorrow. There's one other element to it, Uh,

(01:46:29):
is that you know, I would say Kauai is the
most like that same type of player that the the Kobe,
the Jordans, etcetera. But there's also a group of players
that are all from Los Angeles that grew up with
the Lakers and Kobe and Shack and the and the
to two dynasties you know that are some of the

(01:46:51):
best players in the NBA. Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kauahi Leonard,
these guys are all l A guys or Southern California guys,
and so it affects them a little bit differently. Even
if uh Kobe wasn't there, got their guy in terms
of working out with them in the off season and
being being their boy. Um, wait, so by you like
you like San Francisco, My first bush to San Francisco

(01:47:11):
as well, like Pat Mahomes, has to be spectacular in
order for the win. Doesn't defense always win in these games?
It does, and it's and Richard Sherman knows that they
don't call a lot of penalties on the defense. They
don't call all the penalties period. And they'll be super
super physical because they're not very fast. Do you think
the youth of the d line for the forty nine ers,

(01:47:32):
Because it's not so much about having a good rush
against my Homes, it's having a controlled rush. And if
Mahomes had so much success running the ball. I think
he's gonna be quick to run, and I think that
the youth and wildness excitement of that d line in
San France could be a big problem. All right. The
show is called Straight a Vegas. It follows ours every

(01:47:53):
day right here on Fox Sports Radio. The website is
pregame dot coms to the official odds provider for the
Associated Press. Of course, you fall him on Twitter at
r J in Vegas. R J. Great to see, great
sty We gotta we still gotta finish sometime in February
when it's slow, We'll finish the top ten quarterbacks. Yeah,
it didn't look so. I mean it was curious a
wh Why did I miss the first hit of the

(01:48:15):
year the week after a lot of questions about that
he did? He did not look good and did not
look good. That's our r J belt. Doug Gotlip Show
rolls on here on Fox Sports Radio more than the
Lakers Clippers game getting postponed, plus everything else you need
to know to get to you about your day and
get you onto r J show straa Vegas. Next to
the Doug Gotlip Show, be sure to catch the live
edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m.

(01:48:38):
Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio a app Doug Gotlip Show, Fox Sports Radio.
Do Do Do Do. Let's get to the press, the press.

(01:48:59):
Damn BI is on the set. We broke the news
about ten minutes ago, the NBA postponing tomorrow's Lakers Clippers game. Uh,
the game will obviously be rescheduled at a later date.
Easier to do when you have two teams in the
same town to do something like that. But it just
doesn't seem like you can really have a game, you know,
to have the Laker girls out there make it. It

(01:49:21):
just doesn't seem right that you could do that as
soon as tomorrow. So postponed. Yeah, you don't agree with that.
I mean, it's gonna hurt whenever you play. Yeah, but now,
and I get there's some Lakers people. There's this quote
here and said, you know, these guys are not in
no condition to play basketball or whatever. Um, I don't,

(01:49:43):
you know. I haven't even talked to Miles Simon, who's
you know, my my best friend, and um um he's
a huge Kobe's his favorite player, So I'm sure he's
just devastating. I'm sure, but I don't know. I got
play at some point time, and it would be cathartic
kind of for I think the city wasn't it at

(01:50:06):
some point. I I just I still think I don't
know how many fans would want to go right now,
they open the doors, open the doors people, Yeah, but
they're not there for a basketball game that they're because
of Kobe, you know, and they're their love of him.
I mean, so you'd rather the first game back be
Sacramento versus the Clippers, and right like the first game

(01:50:27):
in that building or Portland's coming in better when the
Clippers Lakers. But it this way, that's a mistake if
you want to be callous about it and look at
it this way. Lakers Clippers is such a marquee matchup
that they may not want it over. My will get
a huge number. It's gonna get a huge number when

(01:50:48):
they play, whenever they play. If it's not gonna matter
that the Lakers are playing the Clippers, the Lakers could
be playing in the Washington Generals Lakers Lakers Clippers the
first game two days after Kobe Bryant dies. Who's not
gonna watch there's nothing else on the then without every jottel.

(01:51:10):
But I just I think I think that it's this
was a good move by the NBA. I disagree, bad move,
all right. Well, Jack Nicholson has spoken to Jim Hill
of uh CBS l A, telling him quote with the
Devil by the pale moon light. This on Kobe Bryant.
My reaction is the same as almost all of l A.

(01:51:33):
You just suddenly where everything was solid, there's a big
hole in the wall. I was so used to seeing
him talking to Kobe that you know, it kills you.
It's just a terrible event. End quote that from Jack Nicholson.
It's a terrible event. I don't have a Jack imitation.
Pascal Siakum and Damian Lillard your NBA players of the

(01:51:53):
week for the Eastern and Western Conferences. Just the Pascal
Sakum show continuing in Toronto. You know, an all star
starter now player of the week and Damian Lillard doing
his thing, although ye know no c J. McCollum. Tough
times in Portland right now. Michigan is suspended point guard
Davier Simpson for tomorrow's game against Nebraska for a violation

(01:52:15):
of team rules. Juwan Howard laying down the law. Big
ten the best conference in the country. Xavier Simpson point guard.
Where do you like Big East? Right? Uh? They Michigan
kind of stinks. Joan Howard struggling in his first year.
It's a tough conference. It is very much so, outside

(01:52:36):
of maybe Lincoln and Evanston. But by the way, it's
been a tough day for NFL teams. Their Twitter accounts
have been hacked. Yes, there's official Twitter pages have been
hacked by a company claiming that they can fix security issues.
The messages have been we told you you could hack
into anything. Now. I don't know if I should give

(01:52:57):
the company the pub but the official Twitter pages of
various NFL teams, the Buffalo Bills, the Green Bay Packers,
Chicago Bears have all been hacked. So let's all change
our passwords today one, two, three, four or five. You
can no longer be my past. We're gonna go with that.

(01:53:17):
Password also does not count. I got everybody who's on me.
They're like, man, you went down that golf tournament. You
posted a picture on Instagram. I was like, you know,
I'm not the only one with access to my Instagram.
I had to have a conversation. Wait, somebody was on
your case for posting pictures of too many pictures, like
why you're super you're your Mr Golfer. Now there's like
five pictures. I was like, Yeah, I have Elijah who's

(01:53:38):
like a Protestional professional photog, and he knows he has
access to my Instagram. Duh, jeez. I thought that's what
Instagram's four over sharing. Yeah, I had no idea. Jay
Glazer says that Taysom Hill remains the era apparent to
Drew Brees in New Orleans. YEA, correct, Where's Tador Bridge

(01:53:59):
of Barre be a free agent? Right? He can go
a lot of different places. I I wasn't as an
abored with the Teddy Bridgewater era as many were with
New Orleans. I mean they kept on winning and Teddy
Bridgewater did fine, but I wasn't as enamored as somewhere.
So yeah, I mean he's solid. I mean, like, look,

(01:54:21):
he was just a game manager when he was in Minnesota.
He was better than that this year, um, and people
like him. I think he'll get a shot to be
a starter, But I think he's more of a Jacoby
Brissette guy than a would taste him. Hill last if
he became the starter of the Saints, which uh, yeah, well,
well you have a bunch of guys or just no,

(01:54:41):
you have a running quarterback. That, yeah, you have to
have a bunch of guys. Yeah, you know, you'd have
to have probably two more. And I think I think
the answer is yes. I think that's that's the way
which you do it. You go all into that style.
Grand Valley State is suspended offensive coordinator Morris Burger after
the newly hired assistant told the student newspaper he'd like
to sit down to dinner with Adolph Hitler. It was

(01:55:03):
part of an answer to a question of who were
the three people he'd like to have dinner with. I
mean I read the whole thing, and you know, it
was probably a stupid remark, you know, but probably well
he can He contextualized him, saying, you know, like he

(01:55:23):
did have great leadership, that how did you get people
to follow you? But who thinks like he I'd really
like to talk to Hitler? Yeah, I mean maybe he
was a diabolical. He was diabolical, and he did get
millions of people to follow him. I don't know. Just
mentioning the name Adolf Hitler he didn't say he supported Hitler.
It is out of note. No, But but the things

(01:55:43):
that he did say afterwards sure didn't make it. How
he rallied a group and following I don't know how
he did that bad intended. Of course, you can't deny
he was a great leader. Yeah, you kind of can't.
It's like on curb your enthusiasm having said that, Like,
that's what that's what this was. Uh, you want some
Super Bowl prop bets bet online dot com? Okay, receiving

(01:56:05):
yards total by George Kittle and Travis Kelsey getting ten
and a half against the Georgetown St. John's total points
in their game. So the total points of Georgetown and St.
John's or the total receiving yards of Travis Kelsey and
George Kittle combined. There, well there, that's what I thought too.

(01:56:29):
But they're getting ten and a half. Final round Birdie's
at the waste management opened this Sunday at Ricky Fowler
versus the number of receptions from to Travis Kelsey. By
the way, did you see what happened to our guy? Yes?
Knee and knee issue, Yeah, yeah, knee and back. He
blamed he blamed your ma hands. Absolutely, he said, he said,

(01:56:53):
I was buyer, gave me some tips, and all of
a sudden I went back to the range hit a while,
and look what happened to me? I was, I was
that was saddened to see that Marc Leishman by the
way one with a fifteen under by the way, John
rom who I think you picked a win, didn't you?
I didn't pick a winner. I oh, that was just
you picking your nose. I thought you were uh uh

(01:57:18):
the uh. I probably would have picked Rory, but uh
final one final propet Patrick Mahomes passing yards against the
career number of home runs hit by George Brett, which
is three seventeen. So my home's passing yards in Super
Bowl fifty four versus another casey icon. Wow, that's a
tough one. What would you take on that? I would

(01:57:38):
take George Brett went to I think I would too.
All right, get out there and pressed. That was the press.
A lasting thought on Kobe Music favorite basketball player of
all time? Yeah, definitely, Wow, not my least, not my favorite,
but I think he went from somebody that I respected too,

(01:58:00):
I really liked, and now I'm really sad that he's gone,
as well as those other eight people on the on
the fight This is doug Outlive show. Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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