September 2, 2020 • 51 mins
Dan Beyer and George Wrighster, sitting in for Doug Gottlieb, talk about college football’s lack of a plan for the 2020 season and speak with CBS reporter Dennis Dodd about the Big Ten’s efforts to play in the fall. Plus, they break down the crazy ending to Game 7 between the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz! They defend Kirk Cousins’ controversial comments regarding the coronavirus pandemic and discuss Jimmy Butler’s comments regarding ‘The Greek Freak’!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
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(00:22):
of the Doug Gottli Show on Fox Sports Radio. George.
We starts with college football, as it seems to always
be on our mind, and we thought at one point
that maybe tomorrow was gonna be the day that Ohio
State would be taking on Illinois when the Big Ten
had their revamp schedule. Obviously that is not gonna happen.
(00:43):
We still don't know what's happening in the Big Ten.
And even though some other conferences around the country are
playing football, like the SEC, like the Big Twelve, like
the a SEC, like the American or the Conference USA
or the Sun Belt, we still don't know everything that
is going to happen with college football. And that's where
we start today. While the conferences seemingly that are playing
(01:04):
football all seem to be on the same page, doesn't
seem like people aren't on are on the same page
or maybe even in the same book when it comes
to having to deal with coronavirus. It's it's absolute chaos
with college football, even though games are happening this weekend. Dude,
this is a minute by minute thing. A tweet just
came out from Carol Cummings, who covers uh Iowa State
(01:27):
government in politics for our Iowa News Now, just said
that Iowa State had planned on having twenty five thousand
fans at their September twelfth game. Now no fans will
be allowed. So this is a continuously moving target that
we find out new information for from every day. And
(01:50):
the probably the most troubling thing to to me was
when I read an article in The Athletic today and
and after reading it, I was just I was just
flabbergasted and surprised that the Big ten did not have
a plan. I'm sorry, the the Big twelve and the
(02:12):
A c C specifically that they did not have a
plan like that was the scariest thing is that there
isn't a plan surrounding um, how many COVID tests it
would take for a game to be canceled, how many uh,
like any of these things, how few that it can
(02:35):
have at each position group before playing becomes unsafe and
you know when WOLED games need to be canceled or rescheduled.
I just don't understand what they've been doing the last
few months there. Well, I I look at it, and
the Big Twelve assumingly handling it different than some of
the other conference like the American or like Conference USA,
(02:56):
or like the A C C. And the word in
the athletic piece is nuanced where you would have a
lot of moving parts and you kind of have to
get a feel for how things are going on whether
you're going to have a game. But the whole piece
in the athletic started with a question post to Manny Dias,
the coach at Miami, on what it would take for
(03:17):
a game to be postponed in college football, and he
didn't even have the answer. And he's the head coach
of the Hurricane football program. So that tells you, I
just kind of how crazy this is. But I'm not
a big fan of the Big Twelve trying to say
we need to have fifty three players available, like this
isn't this is not Yeah, this is not one of
(03:37):
those situations, you really do have to feel it out.
Last week in the FCS game, they felt it out
between Central Arkansas and Austin p and ended up playing
that football game. That's what I think that you're going
to need. And it just basically comes down to the
premise of this is it safe to play the game
or not? And you and I have had this conversation
(03:57):
for the last week. We've talked about how games actually
seemed to be the easiest to maybe pull off when
it comes to dealing with this pandemic as opposed to
what goes on on college life in college in college
campuses on a day to day basis. But I just
don't think that there's any way that you could sit
there and say, all right, we've got fifty three guys
we have to play when it seems like everything is
(04:18):
gravy in this fall where everything is a bonus, and
so if you if you can't really put a number
on it, it's just more of like, all right, is
it safe to play? Are we good to play or not?
That I would hope that both schools, if one school
doesn't have all of their offensive lineman or of any
of their offensive lineman, that the other school wouldn't be like,
you know, tough beans, you gotta play anyway. I think
(04:39):
that we're all kind of in the in the same
boat on this, and that's why I don't like what
the Big twelve is doing, and I actually like how
the other conferences are seemingly feeling this out. Here's the okay,
regardless of whether you are a person that believes that
college football should not be played, that it's unsafe to play,
or whether you are a person that says we should
(04:59):
be at least trying stomping along and that it can
be done. Regardless of where you sit in that equation,
the fact that they don't have a uniform set of
protocols for each league is troubling. It should not be
for each individual school to decide that this is part
(05:20):
of the My my biggest problem with the way college
football has handled the coronavirus to to date is the
fact that there hasn't been a universal plan because there
are so many varying beliefs from school to school or
on those campuses on how things should be handled. So
the conferences, the A, C, C, Big twelve, sec should
(05:42):
all have uniform set of standards. Okay, if you don't
have at least nine offensive linemen, then you can't play.
Or or if you don't have at least because people
get hurt during games. People um like they cramp up,
they're not playing well. All of this like if you
don't have a certain number at a position, particularly the
(06:03):
offensive line, because there's a lot of people who would
point to a quarterback, so well, if you don't have
a quarterback, well, there are wide receivers who've played quarterback
at different times. People have had to put other people
at quarterback, and while it's sub optimal, you can technically
still play the game. But without offensive linemen who protect
the running backs, they protect each other, it then becomes
(06:26):
significantly more dangerous. Imagine putting a true freshman left tackle
out against Alabama's top edge rusher or Florida's top edge
rusher or the top edge rusher from any conference and
expecting things or a walk on and expecting things to
go well. So I think that there needs to be
(06:48):
a uniform set of Okay, yes you need fifty three players,
but you need certain amounts at each position group which
they have not set out, or or what percentage of
the team if they're quarantined what like. It's just troubling
the fact that they've had all this time and have
not come up with any uniform procedures. And like you said,
(07:10):
many d s being the coach of Miami being out
in the dark, Well, these athletic directors are the ones
that are going to be making the decisions on if
a game is going to be played or not. And
I think that is that is an interesting aspect of it.
For the simple fact, George, I would love to give
coaches the benefit of the doubt and all of this
(07:30):
and say that they would understand that if a team
was decimated at a position or was down to their
fourth string quarterback, that the other team would be like,
all right, I understand the situation. Let's see if we
can move this baby into you know, late November or
whatever the case is. But I hate to say that.
I don't know if I should give the coaches enough
(07:50):
credit to do that, because then they would say, well, hey,
they may want to take that that competitive advantage of
being able to play in that situation. So that's why
I think it's good that it's in athletic director's hands.
But also with that, I mean fifty three fifty three
guys is not a lot of guys from the National
Football League, you know. And I know that you're not
saying that that's the number. I know you're trying to
say that they need to they need to set a number.
(08:13):
But that's you know, like when you're looking at and
trying to figure it out and trying to navigate and
you have no way to tell on how injuries are
going to take place during the game. That's where I
just I could just go back to the nuanced thing
like entering a football game with the roster that you have,
you should be able to determine if it is safe
or it is not safe. And it reminds me of
(08:35):
when small high schools throughout the country have a small
enrollment of their football program in numbers, maybe they have
I don't know, thirty two guys, but my high school,
I think we had thirty five to forty guys go
out for football. And so if you lose twelve guys
and now you're down to that, you know, that's that's
(08:55):
pretty difficult. And you'd see certain schools being like, hey,
we're losing seventy to seven. You know, we we've we've
only got twenty four, it is not safe for us
to play. We're gonna call off this season. I think
that decision is reasonable. I don't know why you can't
do that with college football and just get a field
to be like, hey, we we we don't have any
offensive lineman or we're down to six guys. We just
(09:17):
don't think it would be great to take the field
and I and I would hope that both athletic directors
would understand that. I just don't know why you can
set a number if you were these schools. It's such
a crazy situation, and I know trusting someone else doesn't
seem the thing to do these days, but I think
that's the way that you have to navigate this in
college football. Okay, so who do you think should be
(09:38):
in charge of making those choices? Do you think the
coaches should be involved? You think it should be the
athletic directors presidents? Yeah, that the athletic directors, because I,
as I said that, I think I would love to
give the coaches enough credit to be like, hey, we
can't do this, but I also think that they would
maybe they would try to. All Right, if if you
(10:00):
don't even you know, you know the answer to this.
You know the answer to this. Coaches want, That's just
what it is. I know. And if the other their
own no, and if the other team is down to
their fourth string quarterback, I can understand why that team
would be like, yeah, no, we want to play them.
We're good, our numbers are good. But you have to
(10:22):
figure out you have to figure out a way of
what is safe and what isn't safe. And that's why
I think it's up to the athletic directors to do so.
Even though they aren't impartial, I don't think that they
have as much invested in that sixty minutes of game
time as opposed to the players and coaches that are
actually on the field. Well, and we won't even know
(10:43):
till Friday's once they're doing the end the antid test,
whether Friday afternoons, whether the Saturday games will be played
or not. But I'm cool with that. I'm totally fine
with that for the for the simple reason of if
if you don't have if you test the negative George
and I test the negative George, we could go and
we can sit in the car and we can cruise
across the country together not have to worry about it
(11:05):
as you know. And so that's the case with these guys,
Like as long as they're testing on Friday and they
don't have those tests are not at the game, that
I'm not worried about the game at all. So so
I have no problems with the testing on Friday. It's like,
you know, when a storm comes through, you have lightning
in the area, you gotta call the game. Yet stinks,
but it's for everyone's safety. That's what I think that
this sort of plan is as well, and that that
(11:27):
part of the plan I don't mind. I don't mind that.
I just look at it like that. The biggest problem
with returning to two sports, which in college, which the
pro leagues were able to do because they had representation
for their players, they collectively bargained how many, how often
(11:49):
that they were gonna do tests, the protocols under which
games would be canceled or would not be canceled, the
season would not be canceled, um, how medical bills would
be hand eligibility, scholarship numbers, all of this, and the
n C double A has not in the conferences, have
not put forth a plan. So then these these kids
(12:10):
who all these people said let them play, they want
to play all of this. They can't make objective decisions
without all of this information. And you've had a bunch
of kids opt out, particularly at l s U. There
are eighty five allowed scholarship players on each football team
uh in in college football in FBS football, and l
(12:33):
s U is down to seventies scholarship players seven zero.
That's fifteen players that would ordinarily be on your roster,
who are some of the most elite athletes in the country.
They're now gone for for whatever reason. You've had a
couple of them opt out to the NFL draft, and
(12:54):
edred Oderon said he may expect more. So now you're
dealing with a potentially dangerous situation because there are injuries
during the season, you can't count on walk ons, and
now having players playing against some of the highest tier talent.
That doesn't sound like a good idea to to me.
But like I've said, I pray that these things go
(13:17):
go well. I want them to go well. It's just
hard to paint a rosy forecast when there is a potential,
like you said, for lightning. 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. So you can read
(13:39):
our next guest at CBS sports dot com and covering
college football for a while. You can find him on
Twitter at Dennis Dodd CBS. Dennis Dodd joins us to
talk some college football here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey Dennis,
how's your Wednesday going? Really good? How are you guys?
We are we are doing magnificent. Now. I know that
there were preseason rankings put out. There were preseason rankings
with schools that aren't gonna be playing football. But I
(14:01):
want you to do this for me. Can you rank
the three options that are seemingly on the table for
the Big Ten to start their season the October tenth
that we heard from Dan Patrick yesterday, there was the
late Thanksgiving rumor, there's the January start. If you could
rank those in the likelihood of them happening, what order
would you put those in. I'll just tell you what
(14:22):
my reporting has right now. While I Thanksgiving start has
been discussed and is possible, most of the modeling now
is around the January or later dates. Um, it just
looks like it's going to be too hard to do
it in the fall that the October tenth thing from
(14:43):
Dan Patrick was immediately shot down by Nebraska A D.
Bill Moose. He said, quote, there's nothing to that. Obviously,
all this can change, but I think that's where it
is right now. The story got out Friday that uh,
the thanks getting weeks thaying had been discussed and then
it just caught on by caught on like wildfire to
(15:05):
the point to President got involved. So um, I think
it's a more conservative estimate right now, especially with spiking
case is an, Iowa and some other big ten states.
So I wouldn't look too forward to a fall start
right now. Dennis Dot joining us here on Fox Sports Radio.
Do we have George? Is George still connected with us? Yes? Okay,
(15:28):
all right, there we go. All right, Dennis, I had
a question for you, so the uh we we read
in the Athletic today that essentially the A, C, C
and the Big Twelve are on the no plan plan
in terms of how many tests positive tests or how
many of a position group need to be available to
(15:51):
play a game like or is this something that's going
to be worked out prior to games being played? And
I think this is a terrible idea. Where do you stand, well, Uh,
the Big Twelve, I guess it's kind of taken the
lead on this, and you're right. It is, you know,
kind of dangerously close to the season beginning for them
to keep just to be talking about postponement protocols. But
(16:13):
it is what it is. Yeah, the Big Twelve is
looking at a model where it would be a fifty
three man roster, and that fifty three man roster would
be made up of different position groups. In other words,
six offensive lineman, I don't know, five receivers. I'm just
making this up, two quarterbacks, and if you lost any
(16:37):
of those out of those position groups, then that would
be the thwreshold. It would be a postponement. None of
this is finalized. It's still being discussed. I think whatever
the Big Ten, the Big Twelve decides, maybe as soon
as Friday, but maybe over the week, and then becomes
the template for other conferences. All the conferences have committee
studying postponement protocols. But it's names to me that the
(17:00):
Big Twelve is just just farther along. Right now, Dennis
dot A CBS Sports joining us here on Fox Sports Radio.
It's the Doug Otlip Show. He's George Rice George Rice
to the six year NFL VET. I'm Dan Buyer in
for Doug today, Dennis, did did any of these conferences
take anything away from what happened Saturday night with Central
Arkansas and Austin p Was there any info intel gathered
(17:23):
from that or was that kind of view it as
just a one off game too? Maybe bigger issues they
may have to face, Oh, in terms of dealing with
the virus. Yeah, just on how you know the game
under you know, took place and those sort of things. Yeah,
I mean, I didn't see any crowd shots, but I
you know, I'm pretty sure it was a limited attendance.
(17:44):
It would have been anyway for those two FCS schools
and the I thought that I think I saw most
of the time the head coaches had their masks on.
It's gonna be different in every conference. One thing for
sure is that you're gonna see less people on the sidelines.
(18:04):
The teams are going to be more spread out to
observe that six court fool um. It from game to game,
school to school, attendance is going to change. We just
saw it. What State changed today. Uh, two days after
saying saying they were going to have what twenty five
in the stadium, and now I'm not going to have
any because of an outbreak in Iowa City. So uh no,
(18:24):
I gosh, one game. I don't think we could learn
anything from at one game in FCS, which was kind
of played in a neutral site in Montgomery, Alabama. So
what's that going to look like when people want to
tailgate at L s U or Alabama? And can't you
know that's going to be outlawed of theos Dennis we
(18:47):
just uh so the news is broken about ten you
U CF players that are opting out. Ed O Geron
has had two players opted out and said he expects
more L s U players and they're already down to
seventies scholarship players. What what is kind of the sense
of surrounding some of these players opting out? And is
(19:07):
this something that could really get in the get in
the way of college football, particularly in the SEC or
some of these other conferences starting up, which are is
supposed to happen in just a matter of days. Well,
there's two ways of kind of thinking about this. Um.
You know, there's the UCS situation where ten guys opted out.
(19:27):
I can't tell you why they all did it. At once,
but there was maybe one NFL prospect among that ten.
The other part of this is if you look at
certain draft boards right now, seven of the top twenty
players that they are projected to go in the top
twenty and next year's draft to be either opted out
or are highly rated prospects in the big ten and
(19:50):
past twelve, and you would just assume that they wouldn't play,
and why would they put their bodies at risk months
before the draft that are a top twenty prospects. And
then you got the L s U situation and with
Jamar Chase, where COVID gave cover to agents to go
in and lobby for him to come out of that
makes sense. In other words, they couldn't have touched him.
(20:12):
He would have had to play football this year, his
third year of football, to get to the NFL. But
what they were saying to him, you're a top five choice.
If you play, you could only go down. In other words,
you get infected with COVID, you blow out your knee
and your career. You've got enough on film, come on out.
And he agreed with that. I know the ls L
(20:33):
s U folks were upset because his dad had said
earlier in August that he was definitely coming back. So
something kind of changed in a three week periods and
they were doubly surprised and hurt because it's going to
cost him an APR point academic progress because school has started.
He was enrolled, and that's gonna hurt their overall a
PR scores at a school I'm told which has quietly
(20:54):
struggled with that. You know, in the in the bottom
line on a p R is if you get low enough,
you can get a post season band. Do I expect
LLS got a postseason band? No, but it's a concern
at l s U. So he was was he working
out with them? And then the outbreak is and then
he decided to opt out? Was that the or do
I have it wrong? He was l Yeah, I told them,
(21:20):
I broke the story Sunday, but has been some days
before that that he had told coach O and the
team that he was opting out. So no, he was
right there. Yeah, that's that's you know. And so the
points that you made and and and I guess to
the points that they got in his ear, there was
there was a lot there too. I mean, you lose
(21:41):
your Highsman Trophy winning quarterback you know from from your
from your season. So it's not that it was it
was one of those head scratchers because you know, you
could see it was a very you know, good point.
But yeah, to your point, I thought he was in
and I honestly just felt it was a pure COVID
thing where he's like, all right, I don't want to
risk this, but it's just more interesting that may be
what it wasn't COVID per se. In other words, you
(22:03):
see app with COVID per se. They were concerned, concerned
about hell chased on opening um and wanted the preserving party.
Let me just I just want to follow up George
quickly on ANALYSU think and then I'll let you dive
in with their outbreak on their offensive line. Is is
that that was one of the things that we had
talked about when we didn't know if there was a
college going to be a college football season or not,
(22:25):
when we talked about in the spring in the summer
of what happens when a whole position unit gets affected, Well,
how is this being dealt with? And and our other
school is going to be looking to l s U
at how they do this or or where does that
stand now? Where where it was? Fourteen of the eighteen
scholarship players that they believe it tested positive. How is
that working on in Baton Rouge. I don't know how
that is working out in l s U right now.
(22:47):
I can only assume it's gotten better. They're practicing. All
I knew was what you guys do. They were down
to four offensive linemen because they were either quarantine or
had tested positive. I don't know where that stands. That's
a two week quarantine, you would think, but those the
tested positives. So I don't know what I do know.
And it just came across Jamie Newman at Georgia. Is
(23:10):
something out, you know, projected starting quarterback? There's a whole
new debate. So uh so I I have been a
person that has said that I that I thought that
after the Big ten and the Pack twelve opted out,
I thought that the one conference that seemed to be
the most trying to be the most responsible and the
(23:33):
most prudent about its decision making seem to be the SEC.
And Greg Sinky has been kind of conspicuously quiet the
last week about things, especially with the l s U outbreak,
what's going on in Alabama South Carolina's campuses having to
cancel practice, And now you hear this about Jamie Jamie Newman, Like,
(23:53):
is there, like what circumstances would lead to the SEC
canceling And do you think that that is a possible ability? Oh?
I think it's a possibility all over. I mean that's
that's why I tell people. And they asked me about
the season, I say, I think they'll be college football games.
I don't know if they'll complete the season, just just
because of everything we're talking about. And I think they've
(24:14):
done a great job in the SEC. Frankly, now that
we can stand back and compare and look overall, he's uh, great,
thank You's in very upfront with a lot of candors.
Um He's basically said, if you read between the lines,
if we have to cample, don't blame us. You know, you,
you idiot that didn't wear your mask and and had
these outbreaks, are preventing us from having a season. He
(24:37):
got said that out loud, obviously, But what he's doing
is he's building a cushion where he can't be criticized
in the league, can't be criticized because there will be
you know the law who's who will go crazy under
any circumstances that that's sec football is canceled. But I
thought he's been a very a very a calming voice
(24:58):
and a storm. They've gone about it the right way
in steps they're testing three times a week, in other words,
telling the populace if it shuts down, we've done everything
we can, um two to mitigate this, So don't blame us.
As a Big ten guy and talking to a lot
(25:19):
of my Big Ten fans and friends or family, I
think that's what they wanted from their conference and they
didn't get. And I think that they're little jealous of
the S A C. For that matter, whether there's a
season or not. I think that's what the Big Ten wanted. Dennis.
We appreciate the time. I know the stuff changes every day,
by the hour, by the minute, so we appreciate it.
We know your time is precious, but thanks for coming
on today so much. Be sure to catch the live
(25:42):
edition of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Easter noon Pacific. Great conversations about what college
football could look like this weekend, and for the rest
of you'll want to go to Fox Sports Radio dot
Com and click on podcast to check that out. Speaking
of podcasts, George rice Stir, Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota
(26:03):
Vikings was on a podcast recently and had a lot
to say about COVID nineteen wearing masks and how Key
and other players in the Minnesota Vikings are dealing with that.
We are going to hear from Kirk Cousins in that podcast,
and just a bit, I do want to tell you
you could get George on Twitter at George rice Stir.
(26:23):
I'm at Dan Buyer on Fox. But this was a
this was a situation today, George, when Kirk Cousins, the
Vikings QB goes on the podcast on the Ringer the
Ten Questions with Kyle Brandt podcast. Of course, you can
see Kyle Brandt on Good Morning Football in the NFL
network every morning. The point being is there are a
lot of headlines that came out from what Kirk Cousins said,
(26:46):
and you're gonna hear them, but I'm not sure if
that was the let me let me put it this way.
I think that we learned a good lesson of when
things are taken out of context because there were some
com munch made by Kirk Cousins that can grab headlines,
but when you hear the overall conversation, I think it's
(27:07):
actually more refreshing than people would want to believe when
they read those headlines. Is that fair? Yeah, I don't
think that people read the actual stories, that the headline
was the story to them. And kirk Cousins was not
being a Karen. He just said like, albeit I don't
(27:28):
agree with his assessment of the coronavirus. I also appreciate
the fact that the man is like, all right, look
if if like like Drago, if he dies, he dies,
you know, like, but he's saying he still wears a
mask out of respect for other people, his craft, his teammates,
(27:49):
all of all of that, and to get football going
that there's nothing to not respect about that, even if
you disagree, at least do the right thing by other people. Well,
this is this is what I wanted to do. And
we have some longer cuts for the simple fact of
I believe that kirk Cousins had comments that were taken
out of context or the content the the comments that
(28:09):
were used as headlines were did not tell the whole
story of the conversation. So this is part of the
Kirk Cousins interview that again he had on the Ten
Questions with Kyle Brandt podcast. This is the first part
about it and Kirk Cousins weighing in on coronavirus and
COVID nineteen. I want to respect what other people's concerns are.
(28:30):
But for me personally, if you're just talking, no one
else can get the virus, what is your concern if
you could get it, I would say, I'm gonna go
about my daily life. If I get it, I'm gonna
write it out. I'm gonna let nature do its course. Uh,
survival of the fittest kind of an approach, and just
say if it knocks me out, it knocks me out,
I'm gonna be okay. Uh, you know even if I die.
(28:51):
If I die, I kind of have peace about that.
So that's that's really what I fall on it. So
my opinion wearing a mask and and is really about
being and respectful to other people. It really has nothing
to do with my own personal personal thoughts and what
has happened, at least with that comment you heard. You
heard a good portion of it. You heard that last line,
(29:11):
But what was taking out was the and and you
made reference to Rocky four. It's the you know, if
I die, I die sort of aspect, and that's what
was was brought up by Kirk Cousins. And also the
the headline was taken out of um, you know, he's
he's at peace with he's good with having it. But
what really should have been brought out is that last part,
(29:33):
because I think we all look at the virus in
a different way. George. I think you and I have
a lot of similar thoughts and feelings about COVID nineteen,
but I'm not sure if every single thing that we,
you know, believe in is the same. And I'm sure
that we disagree on some things and they're there are
things that people just have different disagreements, whether it be
on a small scale like maybe on ours, or even
(29:55):
on a larger scale. But the point is is the
respect factor that Kirk Cousins mentioned at the end. I
just think it was a really, really big part and
I was actually glad to see other people coming to
his defense, even though they might not have shared this
belief on how on what the virus does. Yeah, Okay,
the biggest thing is the respect for other people. I
(30:18):
think that that is the part that has to be
harped on. But if you have ever you know, read
about Kirk Cousins, his faith is a big thing for him,
and I think that that was the underlying thing about
him saying if I die, I die. I think it
was saying that he has peace surrounding his faith and
where he believes that he's going if he dies. So
(30:40):
so so I think that it's that element of that
idea with a lot of people of faith, including myself,
is that you don't have to necessarily fear death because
you because you have an expectation of what's going to happen.
And I think that that's what not to put words
in his mouth, but if hearing Kirk Cousin to talk
about his faith in previous occasions, I think that that's
(31:03):
what It's more surrounding than just a cavalier attitude surrounding
the coronavirus, and that's what allows him to be respectful
of others, which if other people have been doing for
for months, then it's possible that we would not be
in the same situation and we wouldn't have as much
(31:26):
you know, tension out in the world and divisiveness as
it relates to it. If it's like, hold up, let
me just be respectful of other people. This too shall
pass and then we'll we'll get back to normal. Agreed,
and and that is and there's a big part of it.
And that's why, you know, the headlines that we saw
on Twitter are a reason for the divide because here,
(31:47):
you know, the in the term fake news has become
so popular over the last four years. This is where
stuff like that happens, where you do really want to
listen to the whole thing. I want to play more
of what Kirk Cousins said with Kyle Brandt, because he
went even further in talking about dealing with his teammates.
This was Kirk Cousins on The Ringer Podcast Ten Questions
with Kyle Brandt. I want to respect what other people's
(32:09):
concerns are. But for me personally, if you're just talking,
no one else can get the virus, what is your
concern if you could get it? I would say, I'm
I'm gonna go about my daily life. And Kyler think
posed him the question of, like, on a scale of
one to ten, where are you on you know, the
safety and he said, and I may have left a
(32:29):
couple of zeros out zero zero zero one percent. He
is he is not worried at all. But he was
also then uh posed another question about dealing with the
huddle or what is happening with other teammates who may
have uh some of those same feelings or different feelings.
Excuse me. He was asking the huddle, if there's somebody
who's you know, afraid of of sneezing or afraid of
(32:51):
COVID and if if you know, if he sneezes, or
if somebody sneezes, how would everybody end up you know,
be responding to it? And and and this was this
was Kirk in dealing with a situation like that. I
even think within the building there's gonna be a dichotomy
of people who couldn't care less about the virus, have
no concern about it, have never lost a minute of
(33:12):
sleep about it. And then you get people on the
other satisfactrum who every second of every day they're consumed
with fear about it. There's it's we talk about this world,
George and Kirk Cousins is saying, hey, on this football team,
you know, like in this little, small, little sample, we
are having those sort of things. But again goes back
to the point of kirk Cousins saying, Hey, I'm gonna
(33:32):
wear the mask because I respect the other people and
how they feel. I mean, I believe this, or I
don't feel that I'm at risk, or I don't feel
it's as big of an issue as as maybe other
people do. But out of respect for them, I'm going
to wear the mask. And I think that is a huge,
huge message to anybody who wants to listen to the
whole thing that kirk Cousin said. It's not if I die.
If I die, or that I hardly I don't believe
(33:54):
in any of this, or I'm good with this and
if I have to deal with it, it's the whole
respect matter that ends up getting lost. All this yep, yep.
I mean, it's just basic human decency and and I
think a lot of times we get caught up in
in selfish attitudes. And if you are a and if
you are an athlete, particularly a quarterback, you have to
(34:18):
lead your team through this situation because there are going
to be guys on an NFL roster when you're dealing
with fifty three plus that for fifty three active plus
the guys on the who aren't active that week, you're
up to sixty plus the practice squad guys are up
to seventy guys. Everybody's not gonna be happy with their
(34:39):
role on the team. And when you get people who
drink uh smoke, they're uh upset or bothered. You know,
people don't make great decisions when they're emotionally heightened. They're
not happy about their playing time, they get in a
fight with their wife, they get, you know, argument with
family members, somebody sick. You know, you go through regular
(35:01):
things that emotional that that that people go through, and
then that can affect some of your decision making where
you're saying, I just need to get away for a minute,
let me cope. And if you don't have and if
you're not responsible in those moments, then then you can
take down your whole team by getting the virus and
spreading it and potentially mess up the entire season. So
(35:24):
as the quarterback, especially, you have to lead your team
through it. You have to say, look, I don't care
what your beliefs are. I believe X, Y and Z,
but I'm wearing a mask because that's the right thing
to do in this moment. For everybody else so we
can play ball. And that's all it's about. We are
we are, we are workmates, some of us are friends,
(35:46):
but we all have a collective goal, which is to
get our checks and maybe win a championship if we
get that far. But let's do the right thing for
each other. And the quarterback has to lead the way.
He's George, I'm Dan Higher. This is the Doug Gottlieb
Show here on Fox Sports Radio. H just the the
whole podcast was an hour long that he did, but
(36:08):
it's those two minutes that end up grabbing the headlines.
And I wish more people would follow Kirk cousins lead
no matter what you believe, because it isn't it isn't
as cut and dry of just two sides of everything.
And I I'll tell you I go to I go
to the you know, driving range where I like to
play golf in in in our area here, George, and
(36:29):
there's about seven stalls. They're they're spaced out more than
they were prior to the pandemic. But there are places
where in times when there's one person out of the
seven there that's wearing a mask, and it's me, you know,
And so I'm I'm the one that's got to look
that different. But I would hope that people there's we
(36:49):
talk about masks, shaming and how you feel about all
these things. It's odd. It's odd when when you're like
I get that, you get that. But I think if
we all at least had had the the wherewithal that
Kirk Cousins does and in the respect of other people
in doing it, no matter what you believe, I think
to your point, we wouldn't have this sort of angst
and the drama that we end up having. Whene you're
(37:12):
when you're trying to enter stores or not trying to
enter stores, That's all it is. It's always been about respect,
but it always seems to get covered in other different places.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app
in about ninety minutes or so. It's Game two of
(37:32):
the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Milwaukee Bucks and
the Miami Heat. Heat grabbed game one just a couple
of days ago on Monday. I honestly had to remember
what day it was again, Like you would think that
We would get used to not knowing what day it was,
but I had to. I had the double check and
(37:53):
make sure that that was actually on Monday. Today is Wednesday.
That's when Game one was. Tonight, it's Game two between
the Heat and Bucks, and then after that it's Game
seven between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets.
Winner gets the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals and
the loser will be in for an interesting offseason, especially
(38:17):
if that loser is the Houston Rockets. Will dive into
that in about twenty minutes or so. I do want
to start though, with this Bucks Heat series, because we
didn't really get a chance to talk about it yesterday,
even after the game won win by Miami, but George
Jimmy Butler was magnificent in Game one for the Miami Heat.
There was some questions about the Bucks defense and Janis
(38:40):
Antenna compo. I don't know if he didn't take kindly
to it, but just basically, when asked if he wanted
to guard, Jimmy Butler says, I do what the coach
tells me to do. That could be something that we
could see change tonight in Game two, is those teams
will do battle. But it's so so feels like if
there was ever a must win game for the Milwaukee
(39:02):
Box after the little drama with Jannice, after how things
played out with Jimmy Butler took over. Tonight's SERL feels
like a must win game even though we're early in
the series. Absolutely, because if the reigning mv well, if
the m v P, yeah, the reigning MVP of the
league gonna be two time likely two time MVP of
(39:23):
the League, Defensive Player of the Year, So by that
metric of winning the award twice, all of that, he
should be one of the most unstoppable forces in the league,
right that he should be able to will his team
to win, particularly in the playoffs. That should be what happens. However,
(39:48):
there's gonna be a huge indictment on Janice's style of
play if he can't get out of the second round
this year two time MVP, because if look at the
past m vps, you have had James James Harden who
has had a failure to get even too the Western
Conference finals. You have had uh Steph Curry, well actually
(40:12):
before that, Russell Westbrook, Yeah, hasn't gotten hasn't gotten to
where he needed to be either. So you've had guys
accumulate great stats without having to have that playoff success.
But then when you go back previous, the previous ones
before that, you have Steph Curry, you have Kevin Durant,
(40:34):
you have Lebron James, like these are the people that
have been winning the awards and they have had that
playoff success. So it may be looking at, Okay, how
do we rethink these awards? Because if you are this
devastatingly good in the regular season, you should, in theory
(40:54):
be able to have that sort of devastating effect in
the playoffs. And if you can't, then there it needs
to be something rethought about your style of play and
if it can win and translate in the playoffs. I
think it also translates to Mike translates to Mike Budenholzer
as well, because this was the same exact argument when
he was in Atlanta and they would won sixty games
(41:17):
and with the top seed in the East, and they
really weren't thought of as a contender and then proved that,
uh proved that when they lost the Cleveland Cavaliers. I
believe it was in twenty fifteen. I believe that was
the season that it was. The point being is that
both the Honesty and Mike Budenholzer have a lot to
prove in Game two. Jimmy Butler spoke after his Game
(41:38):
one win on Monday. This conversation took place on Tuesday
with Sam Amock of The Athletic Jimmy Butler weighing in
on his forty point effort, what he was able to
do at the end of the game. And I want
you to hear this conversation as we look ahead to
tonight's game too. This was Jimmy Butler with Sam Amick
last night. No, I'm not surprised. I'm looking at it
(42:00):
like this is uh one of the best outside defenders
that the league, and that'sn't been doing audio at all.
And I think you can't you can't get stuck on
what we do. I think you really just gotta bus
in on what you do. You've been doing it all
years now. I'm not too proud. If he spits out
(42:21):
on me in he guard me, then we're gonna do
what we have to leave it still win. But I'm
gonna tell you, like, you're not gonna be able to
leave me, So then they're taking away that we side defense.
So either way it goes, we're gonna be in a
good point. We got we got way more guys. I
can do what I just did last night better than
I can do, so well, we'll pay. He's wrong about that.
(42:42):
I agreed to in the first part and disagreed on
the last part. Correct. You know, they've got very many
people can go give forty Yeah. Yeah, And and to
his point, the Bucks are gonna do what they're going
to do. Do I think we'll see Jannas and Jimmy Butler, Yeah,
I do. I think actually at some point you will
see that. I'm not sure on what adjustments Mike BuNos
(43:03):
will make uh in that forty eight hours span leading
up to tonight's Game two, but I think that you
will see that. But there isn't another Jimmy Butler even
closer the Miami Heat team. And it actually is one
of the reason why I think that he thrives that
because Jimmy Butler it seems to be his own guy
and and has been his own guy and a lot
of his different spots, you know, stops in the NBA,
(43:26):
whether it be in Chicago or Minnesota or in Philadelphia.
Jimmy Butler is his own guy, and no Gore and
Draga at twenty seven points and came one. But Gore
and Drag can't do what Jimmy Butler did. Jimmy Butler
took over that game, scoring against Chris Middleton, Pat Connaton
and whoever was guarding him. And so if you're Milwaukee,
if you can take that away, I think that helps.
(43:46):
Put it in drag his hands. Put it in you know, uh,
Andre Igo Dollar, make Tyler hero hit a big three
like he did again. Like that's the way that you
gotta do it. You can't have you can't have Jimmy
Butler having forty points again in game two. Just can't happen.
Cannot happen due if that happens and Janie isn't on
him due there may there may start a petition to
(44:07):
take his leave the bubble. You should leave the bubble,
like if that happened, Like if this happens again, there's
no reason for Budenholzer to be there in games three
and four. By the way, a storyline during the pandemic
that may have only gotten headlines in the state of
Wisconsin or just even in Milwaukee was that Mike Budenholzer
did put his house up for sale, uh in July
(44:28):
in Milwaukee. Now, I'm not saying anything and I'm not
trying to reb be between the lines here, but there's
you know, hey, when real estate gets involved, who knows.
But if they if they allow Jimmy Butler to forty
points tonight, I mean it's over. I will say this
for the Bucks though. What is more concerning to me
than a guy and the other team going hot is
(44:49):
what you alluded to at the beginning of this segment
in talking about Janice, But it's more of the team effort.
This team scored forty points of the first quarter of
that game on Monday and scored are you one points
in the second half. That to me is a huge
issue that you can't adjust like they maybe, you know,
maybe Miami just didn't have their feet, maybe they were
caught up in it. Allowing the Bucks to score forty points.
(45:11):
Forty points in an NBA quarter, even in this NBA
is a lot for them to only have one more
point in the entire second half, that's more about Milwaukee
and what they were doing. And yeah, Chris Middleton was
able to do his thing, but You've got to figure
out your offense in those situations as opposed to what
you did, uh defensively in that game. Because if that's
(45:32):
your honest that is one yeah, no, I know he
can't shoot with it. In terms of I I would
say that Chris steps poor poor zingis that you have
uh yo kids you have. I mean, these are big
man who are better shooters than I mean even bam
(45:55):
At of Bio it's probably uh competent a comparable shooter
with Janice. I mean, there is a tremendous issue when
you have one of your primary ball handlers and guys
that is going to be distributing the basketball and they're
daring him to shoot three pointers. Like um NBA coaches
(46:19):
they always tell players, They're like, you're open for a reason,
and so they build the wall the way he'll get
offensive files and they're like, if if Yannis can knock
down enough three pointers that he beats us, then we
will live with it. Because there's no way over the
course of a seven game series, even if he gets
as hot as he can possibly get, that he can
(46:40):
make enough three pointers that that it's going to be
able to to damage the score that to where you
can't win. You're always in Janice entire NBA career. Teams
will will want him to shoot the three. There's never
going to be a point where you let him get
to the basket. I don't know, it's it's never going
(47:01):
to happen. You would always rather him shoot the three.
The heat at times should have three if he can
knock it down. He was two or five from three
point range now, and I know it's on a small scale,
but the point being is, even if he was five
for five, you're still gonna let him shoot that like
like you are. Like that. You would much rather than
(47:22):
him take one dribble and then pick up the ball
from twenty ft away and glide in for a layup
or a dunk, because that's that's who he is. What
I see the problem with him, And there's a bit
of Russell Westbrook in it is. You know, Russell goes
a hundred and twenty miles per hour, but he threw
some atrocious passes that uh in their game six. And
when he when he gets out of control, be honest,
(47:44):
I think it's a really difficult time when he starts
to get out of control or his momentum is stopped
or altered. I don't think that he is there yet
in his development to get the basketball into the places
that it needs needs to be if his option A,
which is going to the basket, is shut down, and
I think that that's a big He was also fourth
twelve for the free throw line, which hurt them. Um
(48:07):
Bucks actually shot the three pretty well in Game one,
but there's offensively they's he's got to not panic because
I think that the heat will let him shoot that
three to your point all day long. But I think
that's gonna be just what you have to deal with
in his career because there's no way that you want
him to get that head start where he could just
go to the basket like a running back and dump it.
(48:28):
That's what makes him so, you know, so unstoppable to guard.
In the regular season six turnovers, he hadn't gave one. Yeah,
But I'm I'm saying is that if he were able
to make himself a legitimate three point shooter, then a
knockdown shooter, then that would actually open up the offense
(48:48):
so much because people would actually have to guard him closer,
and then that creates easier pass to the basket because
they can't build a wall when somebody's standing right in
front of you. Yeah, I know what you're saying. I
just don't think that that is ever going to be
to pick your poison with him, because but I mean,
it is Lebron. Now, Lebron wasn't a good shooter when
(49:10):
he first came, but I would I would argue that
you would still rather have Lebron take his twenty five
footers as opposed to getting a head start and going
to the basket. And that's where I think of, and
that's what I think of, like like ten times out
of ten you want him to shoot, and that's you know,
not to bring in Ben Simmons in all of this.
But that's what was so absurd about everybody going crazy
(49:32):
when Ben Simmons hit one three pointer like that, you know,
I mean just where it's like, oh my goodness, this
could open it. Like you gotta guard him now. Yeah,
you don't have to gut him for the next five years,
you know, let him, let him do that, Like you
just have to worry about him go into the basket.
That's until he makes enough that that you are legitimately scared. Yeah,
(49:54):
that's just it doesn't it you would always when you're
trying to figure out what is going to hurt you more,
you know, with Lebron, with Janice, with Ben Simmonka to
the basket in in in the playoffs, we have seen
some bad three point shooters have some big games and
make some big shots. Notably in the last Oklahoma City game,
(50:17):
you had Lulu Dort, So I'm gonna I'm gonna give
you four guys that you would rather shoot a clutch
three point shot. The only one of them is a superstar. Uh,
would would you rather have in the end of the game,
game running down, you need a clutch shot in the
fourth quarter three point shot? Would you rather Yanna shoot it,
(50:39):
Lu Dort shoot it, Draymond Green or Igua Dolla? I
would I would probably go. I would go IgA Dolla, Draymond,
Janice dort So, IgA Dolla one Draymond to Janice three,
Dort four. I think that that's the perfect but can't
(51:01):
even argue with it. But the fact that you would
rather have Draymond Green, who's a terrible three point shooter,
and Iguadala. But Iguadoala has a knack for Robert orrying
you too, like he's a guy who just makes a
big shot when you need it. So he's got a
resume of that, and Janice doesn't have that, which is
troubling because he is an m v P, a two
(51:24):
time m VP. Likely that that's that's weird, man. It's
still it's still there. He can still hit those shots.
You just can't do it consistently, can't do it when
he's guarded. But nobody's gonna be guarding that shot. By
the way, that was a game of Limo Uber bike Walk,
something that we could do on Sundays on our show
here on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch the
(51:44):
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.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific un Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlib Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:22):
of the Doug Gottli Show on Fox Sports Radio. George.
We starts with college football, as it seems to always
be on our mind, and we thought at one point
that maybe tomorrow was gonna be the day that Ohio
State would be taking on Illinois when the Big Ten
had their revamp schedule. Obviously that is not gonna happen.
(00:43):
We still don't know what's happening in the Big Ten.
And even though some other conferences around the country are
playing football, like the SEC, like the Big Twelve, like
the a SEC, like the American or the Conference USA
or the Sun Belt, we still don't know everything that
is going to happen with college football. And that's where
we start today. While the conferences seemingly that are playing
(01:04):
football all seem to be on the same page, doesn't
seem like people aren't on are on the same page
or maybe even in the same book when it comes
to having to deal with coronavirus. It's it's absolute chaos
with college football, even though games are happening this weekend. Dude,
this is a minute by minute thing. A tweet just
came out from Carol Cummings, who covers uh Iowa State
(01:27):
government in politics for our Iowa News Now, just said
that Iowa State had planned on having twenty five thousand
fans at their September twelfth game. Now no fans will
be allowed. So this is a continuously moving target that
we find out new information for from every day. And
(01:50):
the probably the most troubling thing to to me was
when I read an article in The Athletic today and
and after reading it, I was just I was just
flabbergasted and surprised that the Big ten did not have
a plan. I'm sorry, the the Big twelve and the
(02:12):
A c C specifically that they did not have a
plan like that was the scariest thing is that there
isn't a plan surrounding um, how many COVID tests it
would take for a game to be canceled, how many uh,
like any of these things, how few that it can
(02:35):
have at each position group before playing becomes unsafe and
you know when WOLED games need to be canceled or rescheduled.
I just don't understand what they've been doing the last
few months there. Well, I I look at it, and
the Big Twelve assumingly handling it different than some of
the other conference like the American or like Conference USA,
(02:56):
or like the A C C. And the word in
the athletic piece is nuanced where you would have a
lot of moving parts and you kind of have to
get a feel for how things are going on whether
you're going to have a game. But the whole piece
in the athletic started with a question post to Manny Dias,
the coach at Miami, on what it would take for
(03:17):
a game to be postponed in college football, and he
didn't even have the answer. And he's the head coach
of the Hurricane football program. So that tells you, I
just kind of how crazy this is. But I'm not
a big fan of the Big Twelve trying to say
we need to have fifty three players available, like this
isn't this is not Yeah, this is not one of
(03:37):
those situations, you really do have to feel it out.
Last week in the FCS game, they felt it out
between Central Arkansas and Austin p and ended up playing
that football game. That's what I think that you're going
to need. And it just basically comes down to the
premise of this is it safe to play the game
or not? And you and I have had this conversation
(03:57):
for the last week. We've talked about how games actually
seemed to be the easiest to maybe pull off when
it comes to dealing with this pandemic as opposed to
what goes on on college life in college in college
campuses on a day to day basis. But I just
don't think that there's any way that you could sit
there and say, all right, we've got fifty three guys
we have to play when it seems like everything is
(04:18):
gravy in this fall where everything is a bonus, and
so if you if you can't really put a number
on it, it's just more of like, all right, is
it safe to play? Are we good to play or not?
That I would hope that both schools, if one school
doesn't have all of their offensive lineman or of any
of their offensive lineman, that the other school wouldn't be like,
you know, tough beans, you gotta play anyway. I think
(04:39):
that we're all kind of in the in the same
boat on this, and that's why I don't like what
the Big twelve is doing, and I actually like how
the other conferences are seemingly feeling this out. Here's the okay,
regardless of whether you are a person that believes that
college football should not be played, that it's unsafe to play,
or whether you are a person that says we should
(04:59):
be at least trying stomping along and that it can
be done. Regardless of where you sit in that equation,
the fact that they don't have a uniform set of
protocols for each league is troubling. It should not be
for each individual school to decide that this is part
(05:20):
of the My my biggest problem with the way college
football has handled the coronavirus to to date is the
fact that there hasn't been a universal plan because there
are so many varying beliefs from school to school or
on those campuses on how things should be handled. So
the conferences, the A, C, C, Big twelve, sec should
(05:42):
all have uniform set of standards. Okay, if you don't
have at least nine offensive linemen, then you can't play.
Or or if you don't have at least because people
get hurt during games. People um like they cramp up,
they're not playing well. All of this like if you
don't have a certain number at a position, particularly the
(06:03):
offensive line, because there's a lot of people who would
point to a quarterback, so well, if you don't have
a quarterback, well, there are wide receivers who've played quarterback
at different times. People have had to put other people
at quarterback, and while it's sub optimal, you can technically
still play the game. But without offensive linemen who protect
the running backs, they protect each other, it then becomes
(06:26):
significantly more dangerous. Imagine putting a true freshman left tackle
out against Alabama's top edge rusher or Florida's top edge
rusher or the top edge rusher from any conference and
expecting things or a walk on and expecting things to
go well. So I think that there needs to be
(06:48):
a uniform set of Okay, yes you need fifty three players,
but you need certain amounts at each position group which
they have not set out, or or what percentage of
the team if they're quarantined what like. It's just troubling
the fact that they've had all this time and have
not come up with any uniform procedures. And like you said,
(07:10):
many d s being the coach of Miami being out
in the dark, Well, these athletic directors are the ones
that are going to be making the decisions on if
a game is going to be played or not. And
I think that is that is an interesting aspect of it.
For the simple fact, George, I would love to give
coaches the benefit of the doubt and all of this
(07:30):
and say that they would understand that if a team
was decimated at a position or was down to their
fourth string quarterback, that the other team would be like,
all right, I understand the situation. Let's see if we
can move this baby into you know, late November or
whatever the case is. But I hate to say that.
I don't know if I should give the coaches enough
(07:50):
credit to do that, because then they would say, well, hey,
they may want to take that that competitive advantage of
being able to play in that situation. So that's why
I think it's good that it's in athletic director's hands.
But also with that, I mean fifty three fifty three
guys is not a lot of guys from the National
Football League, you know. And I know that you're not
saying that that's the number. I know you're trying to
say that they need to they need to set a number.
(08:13):
But that's you know, like when you're looking at and
trying to figure it out and trying to navigate and
you have no way to tell on how injuries are
going to take place during the game. That's where I
just I could just go back to the nuanced thing
like entering a football game with the roster that you have,
you should be able to determine if it is safe
or it is not safe. And it reminds me of
(08:35):
when small high schools throughout the country have a small
enrollment of their football program in numbers, maybe they have
I don't know, thirty two guys, but my high school,
I think we had thirty five to forty guys go
out for football. And so if you lose twelve guys
and now you're down to that, you know, that's that's
(08:55):
pretty difficult. And you'd see certain schools being like, hey,
we're losing seventy to seven. You know, we we've we've
only got twenty four, it is not safe for us
to play. We're gonna call off this season. I think
that decision is reasonable. I don't know why you can't
do that with college football and just get a field
to be like, hey, we we we don't have any
offensive lineman or we're down to six guys. We just
(09:17):
don't think it would be great to take the field
and I and I would hope that both athletic directors
would understand that. I just don't know why you can
set a number if you were these schools. It's such
a crazy situation, and I know trusting someone else doesn't
seem the thing to do these days, but I think
that's the way that you have to navigate this in
college football. Okay, so who do you think should be
(09:38):
in charge of making those choices? Do you think the
coaches should be involved? You think it should be the
athletic directors presidents? Yeah, that the athletic directors, because I,
as I said that, I think I would love to
give the coaches enough credit to be like, hey, we
can't do this, but I also think that they would
maybe they would try to. All Right, if if you
(10:00):
don't even you know, you know the answer to this.
You know the answer to this. Coaches want, That's just
what it is. I know. And if the other their
own no, and if the other team is down to
their fourth string quarterback, I can understand why that team
would be like, yeah, no, we want to play them.
We're good, our numbers are good. But you have to
(10:22):
figure out you have to figure out a way of
what is safe and what isn't safe. And that's why
I think it's up to the athletic directors to do so.
Even though they aren't impartial, I don't think that they
have as much invested in that sixty minutes of game
time as opposed to the players and coaches that are
actually on the field. Well, and we won't even know
(10:43):
till Friday's once they're doing the end the antid test,
whether Friday afternoons, whether the Saturday games will be played
or not. But I'm cool with that. I'm totally fine
with that for the for the simple reason of if
if you don't have if you test the negative George
and I test the negative George, we could go and
we can sit in the car and we can cruise
across the country together not have to worry about it
(11:05):
as you know. And so that's the case with these guys,
Like as long as they're testing on Friday and they
don't have those tests are not at the game, that
I'm not worried about the game at all. So so
I have no problems with the testing on Friday. It's like,
you know, when a storm comes through, you have lightning
in the area, you gotta call the game. Yet stinks,
but it's for everyone's safety. That's what I think that
this sort of plan is as well, and that that
(11:27):
part of the plan I don't mind. I don't mind that.
I just look at it like that. The biggest problem
with returning to two sports, which in college, which the
pro leagues were able to do because they had representation
for their players, they collectively bargained how many, how often
(11:49):
that they were gonna do tests, the protocols under which
games would be canceled or would not be canceled, the
season would not be canceled, um, how medical bills would
be hand eligibility, scholarship numbers, all of this, and the
n C double A has not in the conferences, have
not put forth a plan. So then these these kids
(12:10):
who all these people said let them play, they want
to play all of this. They can't make objective decisions
without all of this information. And you've had a bunch
of kids opt out, particularly at l s U. There
are eighty five allowed scholarship players on each football team
uh in in college football in FBS football, and l
(12:33):
s U is down to seventies scholarship players seven zero.
That's fifteen players that would ordinarily be on your roster,
who are some of the most elite athletes in the country.
They're now gone for for whatever reason. You've had a
couple of them opt out to the NFL draft, and
(12:54):
edred Oderon said he may expect more. So now you're
dealing with a potentially dangerous situation because there are injuries
during the season, you can't count on walk ons, and
now having players playing against some of the highest tier talent.
That doesn't sound like a good idea to to me.
But like I've said, I pray that these things go
(13:17):
go well. I want them to go well. It's just
hard to paint a rosy forecast when there is a potential,
like you said, for lightning. 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. So you can read
(13:39):
our next guest at CBS sports dot com and covering
college football for a while. You can find him on
Twitter at Dennis Dodd CBS. Dennis Dodd joins us to
talk some college football here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey Dennis,
how's your Wednesday going? Really good? How are you guys?
We are we are doing magnificent. Now. I know that
there were preseason rankings put out. There were preseason rankings
with schools that aren't gonna be playing football. But I
(14:01):
want you to do this for me. Can you rank
the three options that are seemingly on the table for
the Big Ten to start their season the October tenth
that we heard from Dan Patrick yesterday, there was the
late Thanksgiving rumor, there's the January start. If you could
rank those in the likelihood of them happening, what order
would you put those in. I'll just tell you what
(14:22):
my reporting has right now. While I Thanksgiving start has
been discussed and is possible, most of the modeling now
is around the January or later dates. Um, it just
looks like it's going to be too hard to do
it in the fall that the October tenth thing from
(14:43):
Dan Patrick was immediately shot down by Nebraska A D.
Bill Moose. He said, quote, there's nothing to that. Obviously,
all this can change, but I think that's where it
is right now. The story got out Friday that uh,
the thanks getting weeks thaying had been discussed and then
it just caught on by caught on like wildfire to
(15:05):
the point to President got involved. So um, I think
it's a more conservative estimate right now, especially with spiking
case is an, Iowa and some other big ten states.
So I wouldn't look too forward to a fall start
right now. Dennis Dot joining us here on Fox Sports Radio.
Do we have George? Is George still connected with us? Yes? Okay,
(15:28):
all right, there we go. All right, Dennis, I had
a question for you, so the uh we we read
in the Athletic today that essentially the A, C, C
and the Big Twelve are on the no plan plan
in terms of how many tests positive tests or how
many of a position group need to be available to
(15:51):
play a game like or is this something that's going
to be worked out prior to games being played? And
I think this is a terrible idea. Where do you stand, well, Uh,
the Big Twelve, I guess it's kind of taken the
lead on this, and you're right. It is, you know,
kind of dangerously close to the season beginning for them
to keep just to be talking about postponement protocols. But
(16:13):
it is what it is. Yeah, the Big Twelve is
looking at a model where it would be a fifty
three man roster, and that fifty three man roster would
be made up of different position groups. In other words,
six offensive lineman, I don't know, five receivers. I'm just
making this up, two quarterbacks, and if you lost any
(16:37):
of those out of those position groups, then that would
be the thwreshold. It would be a postponement. None of
this is finalized. It's still being discussed. I think whatever
the Big Ten, the Big Twelve decides, maybe as soon
as Friday, but maybe over the week, and then becomes
the template for other conferences. All the conferences have committee
studying postponement protocols. But it's names to me that the
(17:00):
Big Twelve is just just farther along. Right now, Dennis
dot A CBS Sports joining us here on Fox Sports Radio.
It's the Doug Otlip Show. He's George Rice George Rice
to the six year NFL VET. I'm Dan Buyer in
for Doug today, Dennis, did did any of these conferences
take anything away from what happened Saturday night with Central
Arkansas and Austin p Was there any info intel gathered
(17:23):
from that or was that kind of view it as
just a one off game too? Maybe bigger issues they
may have to face, Oh, in terms of dealing with
the virus. Yeah, just on how you know the game
under you know, took place and those sort of things. Yeah,
I mean, I didn't see any crowd shots, but I
you know, I'm pretty sure it was a limited attendance.
(17:44):
It would have been anyway for those two FCS schools
and the I thought that I think I saw most
of the time the head coaches had their masks on.
It's gonna be different in every conference. One thing for
sure is that you're gonna see less people on the sidelines.
(18:04):
The teams are going to be more spread out to
observe that six court fool um. It from game to game,
school to school, attendance is going to change. We just
saw it. What State changed today. Uh, two days after
saying saying they were going to have what twenty five
in the stadium, and now I'm not going to have
any because of an outbreak in Iowa City. So uh no,
(18:24):
I gosh, one game. I don't think we could learn
anything from at one game in FCS, which was kind
of played in a neutral site in Montgomery, Alabama. So
what's that going to look like when people want to
tailgate at L s U or Alabama? And can't you
know that's going to be outlawed of theos Dennis we
(18:47):
just uh so the news is broken about ten you
U CF players that are opting out. Ed O Geron
has had two players opted out and said he expects
more L s U players and they're already down to
seventies scholarship players. What what is kind of the sense
of surrounding some of these players opting out? And is
(19:07):
this something that could really get in the get in
the way of college football, particularly in the SEC or
some of these other conferences starting up, which are is
supposed to happen in just a matter of days. Well,
there's two ways of kind of thinking about this. Um.
You know, there's the UCS situation where ten guys opted out.
(19:27):
I can't tell you why they all did it. At once,
but there was maybe one NFL prospect among that ten.
The other part of this is if you look at
certain draft boards right now, seven of the top twenty
players that they are projected to go in the top
twenty and next year's draft to be either opted out
or are highly rated prospects in the big ten and
(19:50):
past twelve, and you would just assume that they wouldn't play,
and why would they put their bodies at risk months
before the draft that are a top twenty prospects. And
then you got the L s U situation and with
Jamar Chase, where COVID gave cover to agents to go
in and lobby for him to come out of that
makes sense. In other words, they couldn't have touched him.
(20:12):
He would have had to play football this year, his
third year of football, to get to the NFL. But
what they were saying to him, you're a top five choice.
If you play, you could only go down. In other words,
you get infected with COVID, you blow out your knee
and your career. You've got enough on film, come on out.
And he agreed with that. I know the ls L
(20:33):
s U folks were upset because his dad had said
earlier in August that he was definitely coming back. So
something kind of changed in a three week periods and
they were doubly surprised and hurt because it's going to
cost him an APR point academic progress because school has started.
He was enrolled, and that's gonna hurt their overall a
PR scores at a school I'm told which has quietly
(20:54):
struggled with that. You know, in the in the bottom
line on a p R is if you get low enough,
you can get a post season band. Do I expect
LLS got a postseason band? No, but it's a concern
at l s U. So he was was he working
out with them? And then the outbreak is and then
he decided to opt out? Was that the or do
I have it wrong? He was l Yeah, I told them,
(21:20):
I broke the story Sunday, but has been some days
before that that he had told coach O and the
team that he was opting out. So no, he was
right there. Yeah, that's that's you know. And so the
points that you made and and and I guess to
the points that they got in his ear, there was
there was a lot there too. I mean, you lose
(21:41):
your Highsman Trophy winning quarterback you know from from your
from your season. So it's not that it was it
was one of those head scratchers because you know, you
could see it was a very you know, good point.
But yeah, to your point, I thought he was in
and I honestly just felt it was a pure COVID
thing where he's like, all right, I don't want to
risk this, but it's just more interesting that may be
what it wasn't COVID per se. In other words, you
(22:03):
see app with COVID per se. They were concerned, concerned
about hell chased on opening um and wanted the preserving party.
Let me just I just want to follow up George
quickly on ANALYSU think and then I'll let you dive
in with their outbreak on their offensive line. Is is
that that was one of the things that we had
talked about when we didn't know if there was a
college going to be a college football season or not,
(22:25):
when we talked about in the spring in the summer
of what happens when a whole position unit gets affected, Well,
how is this being dealt with? And and our other
school is going to be looking to l s U
at how they do this or or where does that
stand now? Where where it was? Fourteen of the eighteen
scholarship players that they believe it tested positive. How is
that working on in Baton Rouge. I don't know how
that is working out in l s U right now.
(22:47):
I can only assume it's gotten better. They're practicing. All
I knew was what you guys do. They were down
to four offensive linemen because they were either quarantine or
had tested positive. I don't know where that stands. That's
a two week quarantine, you would think, but those the
tested positives. So I don't know what I do know.
And it just came across Jamie Newman at Georgia. Is
(23:10):
something out, you know, projected starting quarterback? There's a whole
new debate. So uh so I I have been a
person that has said that I that I thought that
after the Big ten and the Pack twelve opted out,
I thought that the one conference that seemed to be
the most trying to be the most responsible and the
(23:33):
most prudent about its decision making seem to be the SEC.
And Greg Sinky has been kind of conspicuously quiet the
last week about things, especially with the l s U outbreak,
what's going on in Alabama South Carolina's campuses having to
cancel practice, And now you hear this about Jamie Jamie Newman, Like,
(23:53):
is there, like what circumstances would lead to the SEC
canceling And do you think that that is a possible ability? Oh?
I think it's a possibility all over. I mean that's
that's why I tell people. And they asked me about
the season, I say, I think they'll be college football games.
I don't know if they'll complete the season, just just
because of everything we're talking about. And I think they've
(24:14):
done a great job in the SEC. Frankly, now that
we can stand back and compare and look overall, he's uh, great,
thank You's in very upfront with a lot of candors.
Um He's basically said, if you read between the lines,
if we have to cample, don't blame us. You know, you,
you idiot that didn't wear your mask and and had
these outbreaks, are preventing us from having a season. He
(24:37):
got said that out loud, obviously, But what he's doing
is he's building a cushion where he can't be criticized
in the league, can't be criticized because there will be
you know the law who's who will go crazy under
any circumstances that that's sec football is canceled. But I
thought he's been a very a very a calming voice
(24:58):
and a storm. They've gone about it the right way
in steps they're testing three times a week, in other words,
telling the populace if it shuts down, we've done everything
we can, um two to mitigate this, So don't blame us.
As a Big ten guy and talking to a lot
(25:19):
of my Big Ten fans and friends or family, I
think that's what they wanted from their conference and they
didn't get. And I think that they're little jealous of
the S A C. For that matter, whether there's a
season or not. I think that's what the Big Ten wanted. Dennis.
We appreciate the time. I know the stuff changes every day,
by the hour, by the minute, so we appreciate it.
We know your time is precious, but thanks for coming
on today so much. Be sure to catch the live
(25:42):
edition of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Easter noon Pacific. Great conversations about what college
football could look like this weekend, and for the rest
of you'll want to go to Fox Sports Radio dot
Com and click on podcast to check that out. Speaking
of podcasts, George rice Stir, Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota
(26:03):
Vikings was on a podcast recently and had a lot
to say about COVID nineteen wearing masks and how Key
and other players in the Minnesota Vikings are dealing with that.
We are going to hear from Kirk Cousins in that podcast,
and just a bit, I do want to tell you
you could get George on Twitter at George rice Stir.
(26:23):
I'm at Dan Buyer on Fox. But this was a
this was a situation today, George, when Kirk Cousins, the
Vikings QB goes on the podcast on the Ringer the
Ten Questions with Kyle Brandt podcast. Of course, you can
see Kyle Brandt on Good Morning Football in the NFL
network every morning. The point being is there are a
lot of headlines that came out from what Kirk Cousins said,
(26:46):
and you're gonna hear them, but I'm not sure if
that was the let me let me put it this way.
I think that we learned a good lesson of when
things are taken out of context because there were some
com munch made by Kirk Cousins that can grab headlines,
but when you hear the overall conversation, I think it's
(27:07):
actually more refreshing than people would want to believe when
they read those headlines. Is that fair? Yeah, I don't
think that people read the actual stories, that the headline
was the story to them. And kirk Cousins was not
being a Karen. He just said like, albeit I don't
(27:28):
agree with his assessment of the coronavirus. I also appreciate
the fact that the man is like, all right, look
if if like like Drago, if he dies, he dies,
you know, like, but he's saying he still wears a
mask out of respect for other people, his craft, his teammates,
(27:49):
all of all of that, and to get football going
that there's nothing to not respect about that, even if
you disagree, at least do the right thing by other people. Well,
this is this is what I wanted to do. And
we have some longer cuts for the simple fact of
I believe that kirk Cousins had comments that were taken
out of context or the content the the comments that
(28:09):
were used as headlines were did not tell the whole
story of the conversation. So this is part of the
Kirk Cousins interview that again he had on the Ten
Questions with Kyle Brandt podcast. This is the first part
about it and Kirk Cousins weighing in on coronavirus and
COVID nineteen. I want to respect what other people's concerns are.
(28:30):
But for me personally, if you're just talking, no one
else can get the virus, what is your concern if
you could get it, I would say, I'm gonna go
about my daily life. If I get it, I'm gonna
write it out. I'm gonna let nature do its course. Uh,
survival of the fittest kind of an approach, and just
say if it knocks me out, it knocks me out,
I'm gonna be okay. Uh, you know even if I die.
(28:51):
If I die, I kind of have peace about that.
So that's that's really what I fall on it. So
my opinion wearing a mask and and is really about
being and respectful to other people. It really has nothing
to do with my own personal personal thoughts and what
has happened, at least with that comment you heard. You
heard a good portion of it. You heard that last line,
(29:11):
But what was taking out was the and and you
made reference to Rocky four. It's the you know, if
I die, I die sort of aspect, and that's what
was was brought up by Kirk Cousins. And also the
the headline was taken out of um, you know, he's
he's at peace with he's good with having it. But
what really should have been brought out is that last part,
(29:33):
because I think we all look at the virus in
a different way. George. I think you and I have
a lot of similar thoughts and feelings about COVID nineteen,
but I'm not sure if every single thing that we,
you know, believe in is the same. And I'm sure
that we disagree on some things and they're there are
things that people just have different disagreements, whether it be
on a small scale like maybe on ours, or even
(29:55):
on a larger scale. But the point is is the
respect factor that Kirk Cousins mentioned at the end. I
just think it was a really, really big part and
I was actually glad to see other people coming to
his defense, even though they might not have shared this
belief on how on what the virus does. Yeah, Okay,
the biggest thing is the respect for other people. I
(30:18):
think that that is the part that has to be
harped on. But if you have ever you know, read
about Kirk Cousins, his faith is a big thing for him,
and I think that that was the underlying thing about
him saying if I die, I die. I think it
was saying that he has peace surrounding his faith and
where he believes that he's going if he dies. So
(30:40):
so so I think that it's that element of that
idea with a lot of people of faith, including myself,
is that you don't have to necessarily fear death because
you because you have an expectation of what's going to happen.
And I think that that's what not to put words
in his mouth, but if hearing Kirk Cousin to talk
about his faith in previous occasions, I think that that's
(31:03):
what It's more surrounding than just a cavalier attitude surrounding
the coronavirus, and that's what allows him to be respectful
of others, which if other people have been doing for
for months, then it's possible that we would not be
in the same situation and we wouldn't have as much
(31:26):
you know, tension out in the world and divisiveness as
it relates to it. If it's like, hold up, let
me just be respectful of other people. This too shall
pass and then we'll we'll get back to normal. Agreed,
and and that is and there's a big part of it.
And that's why, you know, the headlines that we saw
on Twitter are a reason for the divide because here,
(31:47):
you know, the in the term fake news has become
so popular over the last four years. This is where
stuff like that happens, where you do really want to
listen to the whole thing. I want to play more
of what Kirk Cousins said with Kyle Brandt, because he
went even further in talking about dealing with his teammates.
This was Kirk Cousins on The Ringer Podcast Ten Questions
with Kyle Brandt. I want to respect what other people's
(32:09):
concerns are. But for me personally, if you're just talking,
no one else can get the virus, what is your
concern if you could get it? I would say, I'm
I'm gonna go about my daily life. And Kyler think
posed him the question of, like, on a scale of
one to ten, where are you on you know, the
safety and he said, and I may have left a
(32:29):
couple of zeros out zero zero zero one percent. He
is he is not worried at all. But he was
also then uh posed another question about dealing with the
huddle or what is happening with other teammates who may
have uh some of those same feelings or different feelings.
Excuse me. He was asking the huddle, if there's somebody
who's you know, afraid of of sneezing or afraid of
(32:51):
COVID and if if you know, if he sneezes, or
if somebody sneezes, how would everybody end up you know,
be responding to it? And and and this was this
was Kirk in dealing with a situation like that. I
even think within the building there's gonna be a dichotomy
of people who couldn't care less about the virus, have
no concern about it, have never lost a minute of
(33:12):
sleep about it. And then you get people on the
other satisfactrum who every second of every day they're consumed
with fear about it. There's it's we talk about this world,
George and Kirk Cousins is saying, hey, on this football team,
you know, like in this little, small, little sample, we
are having those sort of things. But again goes back
to the point of kirk Cousins saying, Hey, I'm gonna
(33:32):
wear the mask because I respect the other people and
how they feel. I mean, I believe this, or I
don't feel that I'm at risk, or I don't feel
it's as big of an issue as as maybe other
people do. But out of respect for them, I'm going
to wear the mask. And I think that is a huge,
huge message to anybody who wants to listen to the
whole thing that kirk Cousin said. It's not if I die.
If I die, or that I hardly I don't believe
(33:54):
in any of this, or I'm good with this and
if I have to deal with it, it's the whole
respect matter that ends up getting lost. All this yep, yep.
I mean, it's just basic human decency and and I
think a lot of times we get caught up in
in selfish attitudes. And if you are a and if
you are an athlete, particularly a quarterback, you have to
(34:18):
lead your team through this situation because there are going
to be guys on an NFL roster when you're dealing
with fifty three plus that for fifty three active plus
the guys on the who aren't active that week, you're
up to sixty plus the practice squad guys are up
to seventy guys. Everybody's not gonna be happy with their
(34:39):
role on the team. And when you get people who
drink uh smoke, they're uh upset or bothered. You know,
people don't make great decisions when they're emotionally heightened. They're
not happy about their playing time, they get in a
fight with their wife, they get, you know, argument with
family members, somebody sick. You know, you go through regular
(35:01):
things that emotional that that that people go through, and
then that can affect some of your decision making where
you're saying, I just need to get away for a minute,
let me cope. And if you don't have and if
you're not responsible in those moments, then then you can
take down your whole team by getting the virus and
spreading it and potentially mess up the entire season. So
(35:24):
as the quarterback, especially, you have to lead your team
through it. You have to say, look, I don't care
what your beliefs are. I believe X, Y and Z,
but I'm wearing a mask because that's the right thing
to do in this moment. For everybody else so we
can play ball. And that's all it's about. We are
we are, we are workmates, some of us are friends,
(35:46):
but we all have a collective goal, which is to
get our checks and maybe win a championship if we
get that far. But let's do the right thing for
each other. And the quarterback has to lead the way.
He's George, I'm Dan Higher. This is the Doug Gottlieb
Show here on Fox Sports Radio. H just the the
whole podcast was an hour long that he did, but
(36:08):
it's those two minutes that end up grabbing the headlines.
And I wish more people would follow Kirk cousins lead
no matter what you believe, because it isn't it isn't
as cut and dry of just two sides of everything.
And I I'll tell you I go to I go
to the you know, driving range where I like to
play golf in in in our area here, George, and
(36:29):
there's about seven stalls. They're they're spaced out more than
they were prior to the pandemic. But there are places
where in times when there's one person out of the
seven there that's wearing a mask, and it's me, you know,
And so I'm I'm the one that's got to look
that different. But I would hope that people there's we
(36:49):
talk about masks, shaming and how you feel about all
these things. It's odd. It's odd when when you're like
I get that, you get that. But I think if
we all at least had had the the wherewithal that
Kirk Cousins does and in the respect of other people
in doing it, no matter what you believe, I think
to your point, we wouldn't have this sort of angst
and the drama that we end up having. Whene you're
(37:12):
when you're trying to enter stores or not trying to
enter stores, That's all it is. It's always been about respect,
but it always seems to get covered in other different places.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app
in about ninety minutes or so. It's Game two of
(37:32):
the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Milwaukee Bucks and
the Miami Heat. Heat grabbed game one just a couple
of days ago on Monday. I honestly had to remember
what day it was again, Like you would think that
We would get used to not knowing what day it was,
but I had to. I had the double check and
(37:53):
make sure that that was actually on Monday. Today is Wednesday.
That's when Game one was. Tonight, it's Game two between
the Heat and Bucks, and then after that it's Game
seven between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets.
Winner gets the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals and
the loser will be in for an interesting offseason, especially
(38:17):
if that loser is the Houston Rockets. Will dive into
that in about twenty minutes or so. I do want
to start though, with this Bucks Heat series, because we
didn't really get a chance to talk about it yesterday,
even after the game won win by Miami, but George
Jimmy Butler was magnificent in Game one for the Miami Heat.
There was some questions about the Bucks defense and Janis
(38:40):
Antenna compo. I don't know if he didn't take kindly
to it, but just basically, when asked if he wanted
to guard, Jimmy Butler says, I do what the coach
tells me to do. That could be something that we
could see change tonight in Game two, is those teams
will do battle. But it's so so feels like if
there was ever a must win game for the Milwaukee
(39:02):
Box after the little drama with Jannice, after how things
played out with Jimmy Butler took over. Tonight's SERL feels
like a must win game even though we're early in
the series. Absolutely, because if the reigning mv well, if
the m v P, yeah, the reigning MVP of the
league gonna be two time likely two time MVP of
(39:23):
the League, Defensive Player of the Year, So by that
metric of winning the award twice, all of that, he
should be one of the most unstoppable forces in the league,
right that he should be able to will his team
to win, particularly in the playoffs. That should be what happens. However,
(39:48):
there's gonna be a huge indictment on Janice's style of
play if he can't get out of the second round
this year two time MVP, because if look at the
past m vps, you have had James James Harden who
has had a failure to get even too the Western
Conference finals. You have had uh Steph Curry, well actually
(40:12):
before that, Russell Westbrook, Yeah, hasn't gotten hasn't gotten to
where he needed to be either. So you've had guys
accumulate great stats without having to have that playoff success.
But then when you go back previous, the previous ones
before that, you have Steph Curry, you have Kevin Durant,
(40:34):
you have Lebron James, like these are the people that
have been winning the awards and they have had that
playoff success. So it may be looking at, Okay, how
do we rethink these awards? Because if you are this
devastatingly good in the regular season, you should, in theory
(40:54):
be able to have that sort of devastating effect in
the playoffs. And if you can't, then there it needs
to be something rethought about your style of play and
if it can win and translate in the playoffs. I
think it also translates to Mike translates to Mike Budenholzer
as well, because this was the same exact argument when
he was in Atlanta and they would won sixty games
(41:17):
and with the top seed in the East, and they
really weren't thought of as a contender and then proved that,
uh proved that when they lost the Cleveland Cavaliers. I
believe it was in twenty fifteen. I believe that was
the season that it was. The point being is that
both the Honesty and Mike Budenholzer have a lot to
prove in Game two. Jimmy Butler spoke after his Game
(41:38):
one win on Monday. This conversation took place on Tuesday
with Sam Amock of The Athletic Jimmy Butler weighing in
on his forty point effort, what he was able to
do at the end of the game. And I want
you to hear this conversation as we look ahead to
tonight's game too. This was Jimmy Butler with Sam Amick
last night. No, I'm not surprised. I'm looking at it
(42:00):
like this is uh one of the best outside defenders
that the league, and that'sn't been doing audio at all.
And I think you can't you can't get stuck on
what we do. I think you really just gotta bus
in on what you do. You've been doing it all
years now. I'm not too proud. If he spits out
(42:21):
on me in he guard me, then we're gonna do
what we have to leave it still win. But I'm
gonna tell you, like, you're not gonna be able to
leave me, So then they're taking away that we side defense.
So either way it goes, we're gonna be in a
good point. We got we got way more guys. I
can do what I just did last night better than
I can do, so well, we'll pay. He's wrong about that.
(42:42):
I agreed to in the first part and disagreed on
the last part. Correct. You know, they've got very many
people can go give forty Yeah. Yeah, And and to
his point, the Bucks are gonna do what they're going
to do. Do I think we'll see Jannas and Jimmy Butler, Yeah,
I do. I think actually at some point you will
see that. I'm not sure on what adjustments Mike BuNos
(43:03):
will make uh in that forty eight hours span leading
up to tonight's Game two, but I think that you
will see that. But there isn't another Jimmy Butler even
closer the Miami Heat team. And it actually is one
of the reason why I think that he thrives that
because Jimmy Butler it seems to be his own guy
and and has been his own guy and a lot
of his different spots, you know, stops in the NBA,
(43:26):
whether it be in Chicago or Minnesota or in Philadelphia.
Jimmy Butler is his own guy, and no Gore and
Draga at twenty seven points and came one. But Gore
and Drag can't do what Jimmy Butler did. Jimmy Butler
took over that game, scoring against Chris Middleton, Pat Connaton
and whoever was guarding him. And so if you're Milwaukee,
if you can take that away, I think that helps.
(43:46):
Put it in drag his hands. Put it in you know, uh,
Andre Igo Dollar, make Tyler hero hit a big three
like he did again. Like that's the way that you
gotta do it. You can't have you can't have Jimmy
Butler having forty points again in game two. Just can't happen.
Cannot happen due if that happens and Janie isn't on
him due there may there may start a petition to
(44:07):
take his leave the bubble. You should leave the bubble,
like if that happened, Like if this happens again, there's
no reason for Budenholzer to be there in games three
and four. By the way, a storyline during the pandemic
that may have only gotten headlines in the state of
Wisconsin or just even in Milwaukee was that Mike Budenholzer
did put his house up for sale, uh in July
(44:28):
in Milwaukee. Now, I'm not saying anything and I'm not
trying to reb be between the lines here, but there's
you know, hey, when real estate gets involved, who knows.
But if they if they allow Jimmy Butler to forty
points tonight, I mean it's over. I will say this
for the Bucks though. What is more concerning to me
than a guy and the other team going hot is
(44:49):
what you alluded to at the beginning of this segment
in talking about Janice, But it's more of the team effort.
This team scored forty points of the first quarter of
that game on Monday and scored are you one points
in the second half. That to me is a huge
issue that you can't adjust like they maybe, you know,
maybe Miami just didn't have their feet, maybe they were
caught up in it. Allowing the Bucks to score forty points.
(45:11):
Forty points in an NBA quarter, even in this NBA
is a lot for them to only have one more
point in the entire second half, that's more about Milwaukee
and what they were doing. And yeah, Chris Middleton was
able to do his thing, but You've got to figure
out your offense in those situations as opposed to what
you did, uh defensively in that game. Because if that's
(45:32):
your honest that is one yeah, no, I know he
can't shoot with it. In terms of I I would
say that Chris steps poor poor zingis that you have
uh yo kids you have. I mean, these are big
man who are better shooters than I mean even bam
(45:55):
At of Bio it's probably uh competent a comparable shooter
with Janice. I mean, there is a tremendous issue when
you have one of your primary ball handlers and guys
that is going to be distributing the basketball and they're
daring him to shoot three pointers. Like um NBA coaches
(46:19):
they always tell players, They're like, you're open for a reason,
and so they build the wall the way he'll get
offensive files and they're like, if if Yannis can knock
down enough three pointers that he beats us, then we
will live with it. Because there's no way over the
course of a seven game series, even if he gets
as hot as he can possibly get, that he can
(46:40):
make enough three pointers that that it's going to be
able to to damage the score that to where you
can't win. You're always in Janice entire NBA career. Teams
will will want him to shoot the three. There's never
going to be a point where you let him get
to the basket. I don't know, it's it's never going
(47:01):
to happen. You would always rather him shoot the three.
The heat at times should have three if he can
knock it down. He was two or five from three
point range now, and I know it's on a small scale,
but the point being is, even if he was five
for five, you're still gonna let him shoot that like
like you are. Like that. You would much rather than
(47:22):
him take one dribble and then pick up the ball
from twenty ft away and glide in for a layup
or a dunk, because that's that's who he is. What
I see the problem with him, And there's a bit
of Russell Westbrook in it is. You know, Russell goes
a hundred and twenty miles per hour, but he threw
some atrocious passes that uh in their game six. And
when he when he gets out of control, be honest,
(47:44):
I think it's a really difficult time when he starts
to get out of control or his momentum is stopped
or altered. I don't think that he is there yet
in his development to get the basketball into the places
that it needs needs to be if his option A,
which is going to the basket, is shut down, and
I think that that's a big He was also fourth
twelve for the free throw line, which hurt them. Um
(48:07):
Bucks actually shot the three pretty well in Game one,
but there's offensively they's he's got to not panic because
I think that the heat will let him shoot that
three to your point all day long. But I think
that's gonna be just what you have to deal with
in his career because there's no way that you want
him to get that head start where he could just
go to the basket like a running back and dump it.
(48:28):
That's what makes him so, you know, so unstoppable to guard.
In the regular season six turnovers, he hadn't gave one. Yeah,
But I'm I'm saying is that if he were able
to make himself a legitimate three point shooter, then a
knockdown shooter, then that would actually open up the offense
(48:48):
so much because people would actually have to guard him closer,
and then that creates easier pass to the basket because
they can't build a wall when somebody's standing right in
front of you. Yeah, I know what you're saying. I
just don't think that that is ever going to be
to pick your poison with him, because but I mean,
it is Lebron. Now, Lebron wasn't a good shooter when
(49:10):
he first came, but I would I would argue that
you would still rather have Lebron take his twenty five
footers as opposed to getting a head start and going
to the basket. And that's where I think of, and
that's what I think of, like like ten times out
of ten you want him to shoot, and that's you know,
not to bring in Ben Simmons in all of this.
But that's what was so absurd about everybody going crazy
(49:32):
when Ben Simmons hit one three pointer like that, you know,
I mean just where it's like, oh my goodness, this
could open it. Like you gotta guard him now. Yeah,
you don't have to gut him for the next five years,
you know, let him, let him do that, Like you
just have to worry about him go into the basket.
That's until he makes enough that that you are legitimately scared. Yeah,
(49:54):
that's just it doesn't it you would always when you're
trying to figure out what is going to hurt you more,
you know, with Lebron, with Janice, with Ben Simmonka to
the basket in in in the playoffs, we have seen
some bad three point shooters have some big games and
make some big shots. Notably in the last Oklahoma City game,
(50:17):
you had Lulu Dort, So I'm gonna I'm gonna give
you four guys that you would rather shoot a clutch
three point shot. The only one of them is a superstar. Uh,
would would you rather have in the end of the game,
game running down, you need a clutch shot in the
fourth quarter three point shot? Would you rather Yanna shoot it,
(50:39):
Lu Dort shoot it, Draymond Green or Igua Dolla? I
would I would probably go. I would go IgA Dolla, Draymond,
Janice dort So, IgA Dolla one Draymond to Janice three,
Dort four. I think that that's the perfect but can't
(51:01):
even argue with it. But the fact that you would
rather have Draymond Green, who's a terrible three point shooter,
and Iguadala. But Iguadoala has a knack for Robert orrying
you too, like he's a guy who just makes a
big shot when you need it. So he's got a
resume of that, and Janice doesn't have that, which is
troubling because he is an m v P, a two
(51:24):
time m VP. Likely that that's that's weird, man. It's
still it's still there. He can still hit those shots.
You just can't do it consistently, can't do it when
he's guarded. But nobody's gonna be guarding that shot. By
the way, that was a game of Limo Uber bike Walk,
something that we could do on Sundays on our show
here on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch the
(51:44):
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.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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