June 3, 2025 • 54 mins
Vinny Bonsignore talks NFL OTA's and more. Inside the NBA is moving to ESPN - will it lose its soul? Lebron says that specialization is ruining youth sports.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh yes, and we continue on Jonas Knox is in
for Fred Rogan. Don't forget this hour. We have two
tickets to tomorrow night's Dodgers Mets game, and we will
be giving them away some point this hour. Also, don't
forget this Friday, June sixth, we will be at Sketchers
(00:24):
in Torrance. It's at pch and Prinshaw. We'll be there
from noon to two, joined by clipperstar Norman Powell. Also,
we are giving away ten pairs, yes, ten pairs of
Dodger tickets to an upcoming game. So please come see
us at Sketchers and Torrents noon to two on Friday.
(00:45):
All right, let's bring on our NFL inside of the
man that knows it all, our man, BEVINNYE Bonce and
you or Vinnie, How you doing, brother? What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm doing good. I don't know it all because I
STI don't know whether Edon Rodgers are gonna play for
the Pittsburgh Killers. But I don't know if Aaron Rodgers
knows that either. I'm not. I'm gonna cut myself a
little bit of slack on that one.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Oh, come on, all right, then it started right there Vinnie,
then what do you know about the situation, because it
was a foregone conclusion that he was just waiting either
for the schedule first of me, was waiting for the draft,
then for the schedule to come out, and then I
don't know what else he was waiting for, maybe the
Minnesota Vikings to see what they were going to do.
Where does it stand with Aaron Rodgers now that he's
(01:23):
now continuing to play these games with everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I am starting to wonder if he just doesn't want
to do OTAs right now and is waiting until after
that to finally make it, make a decision. And I also,
I don't know, part of me also thinks, Rodney, maybe
I'm crazy to think this. I still think he might
be holding out a little bit of hope for the Vikings,
and maybe after OTAs in Mini Caamp, the Vikings decide like, hey,
(01:50):
we love JJ McCarthy, we're just not ready if he's
we don't know if he's ready for this year, So
maybe we should make a call to Aaron Rodgers for
at least one more year with him as the quarterback
for this you know, obviously a really good football team
around him. I don't think that that's going to happen.
I don't think that that you know that that that's
possible at this point. I think I think the Vikings
are full boar ahead with JJ McCarthy, but maybe he's
(02:12):
holding out a little bit of hope that that that
still might be available to him.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Vinny, what does it say about the fact that the
Steelers let Russell Wilson walk for the chance that Rogers
might sign. There, Like, that's that feels like a pretty
damning thing for Russell Wilson that it went so poorly
or awkwardly there, either behind the scenes or on the field,
(02:37):
whatever you whatever you want to call it, that the
Steelers are like, no, we're good here. We'll take the
chance that maybe Rogers likes the situation we can get
him to sign.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And I think there's there's also this, uh, there's a
there's that new term. It's called quiet quitting, where you know,
you just kind of go to your job and and
uh and and sort of quiet quit. You're not you're
not trying to you're not trying to do too much.
You're you know, you do you're just doing enough to
kind of hang on to your job, but you're not
going to go above and beyond. And I do wonder
(03:09):
if the Pittsburgh Steelers are thinking along these lines, like, Okay,
it would be great if Aaron Rodgers said said yes
and we'll try to make something of this season. But
even if he doesn't, based on what they did at
quarterback who they let go and it wasn't just it
wasn't just Russell, it was also justin fields, maybe they're
also thinking like, if if Aaron Rodgers isn't going to
(03:29):
come to us, is it really bad if we're not
that good next year? When there's a whole bunch of
other possibly good quarterbacks that are coming in to this
year's draft. You know, whether it's the penn State quarterback
who plays right up the street from them or not
too far from them over in penn State, you know,
Pennsylvania kind of legend quarterback right now. Maybe that's what
they're thinking. Or maybe it's you know, the Texas quarterback,
(03:52):
the Manning you know, Offspring, or maybe it's the South
Carolina quarterback who a lot of people think is the
bestquarterback in this draft coming up obviously the season that's
the play out. So I'm wondering if they're like all right,
Aaron would be great, But if not, we're going to
clear the decks and lose as many games as possible,
not necessarily announce it or tell anybody, and and hope
(04:13):
that they get their quarterback of the future in this
draft coming up next April.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, it's just a it's just a roll of the dice.
As you mentioned, it's a it's a dangerous game to play, Vinnie,
because especially if you're Mike Tomlin. I know he hasn't
had a losing record, but they haven't really progressed past
the first round in the playoffs since Big Ben left.
Is he willing to play that game with his with
his career and if they do tank it, is he
(04:39):
even going to be around to say, get an arts
manning and let him develop.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah. I think. I think one of the things that
the Pittsburgh Steelers always do is is and they do
a great job of this. They're problem solvers rather than blamers.
So I would imagine, you know, if if you know,
and again this is this is the They obviously can't
come out and say this that they're actually doing this,
but I think I think if if they were going
(05:05):
to go down that path of all right, it's Mason Rudolph.
We're going to make the most of this season, and
whatever happens happens. But wouldn't be the worst thing if
you've got a top ten or twelve pick, because this
is this is a draft that has multiple quarterbacks in it.
So even if you don't get the number one pick,
even if you if you have a top ten pick
or a top twelve pick, you might end up with
(05:25):
a pretty darn good quarterback. And that's kind of what
they did to get Roethlisberger back in the day. And
I think Mike Tomlin would be the first to if
you injected some truth serum and yeah, we haven't won,
we haven't had a losing season. We make the playoffs,
but the fact of the matter is not having been
That explains at all their lack of playoffs success is
because they haven't had that really good quarterback since Big
(05:47):
Ben left the scene. So I think I think the
Pittsburgh Steelers understand it's one thing to be competitive and
make the playoffs, but if you want to win championships,
which they were known to do, you have to have
that great quarterback. So organizationally, I don't think that they
would blame Mike Tomlin for what might happen this year
because of their lack of quarterback, and would they would
be a team I believe that would want him to
(06:10):
be part of the thing moving forward, the rebuild moving
forward with a really good young quarterback in the fold.
And so for that reason, I would think that he
would survive anything along those lines, because they know that
what a great coach they have in him. They also
understand they just haven't had a great quarterback since Big
Ben left the scene.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Benny, you're obviously there in Vegas. You're around the team,
you cover the team. All I've heard is rave reviews
about Geno Smith and sort of what he's done for
the building there from whether it's Chip Kelly, whether it's
Pete Carroll. What have you heard about Gino's time there
as the Raiders quarterback?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And you start talking
to some of some of the teammates and some of
the players, you have to understand, you know, when they
moved on from Derek Carr, these last two years has
been quarterback purgatory for them. I mean this time two
years ago, Jimmy Garoppolo hadn't even been cleared to come
to you return to practice. He had to have that
foot surgery in March, and that kind of wipe that
(07:10):
he was never the same. He was never truly healthy
in twenty twenty three, so that was a wasted year
at quarterback. And then last year. This time last year,
you were talking about Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell in
a quarterback battle, and I remember watching them in OTAs
and quite frankly, it didn't look good and it never
looked good in training camp, and you knew that this
(07:33):
thing was going to be held back because the quarterback level,
the play of the quarterbacks just wasn't that good at
a start. Contrast to what we're seeing out there so
far this year. And I don't make too much of
OTA's but I can honestly say this, the quarterback situation
looks a thousand percent better with Geno Smith out there
in OTAs than it did at any time two years
ago when it was Brian Horror and Aidan O'Connell, or
(07:54):
last year when it was Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell.
So the calming effect and the stability that he brings
to that building can be felt by the team, the players.
They knew what they were dealing with. The players, the
Jacoby Myers, the Dehante Adams, they knew what they were
up against. From a quarterback perspective. Last year you talked
to the same guys. Now, obviously DeVante is not here,
(08:15):
But if you were to talk to Brock Bauers, if
you were talked to Jacoby Myers, they know the difference
and what they're seeing in Gino Smith, and they understand
that he gives you an opportunity to win football games.
They won ten games last year with the Seattle Seahawks
with no offensive line and no run game. He was
basically the reason why they were in a tiebreaker that
(08:36):
denied them the playoffs at the end of last season.
He has pretty decent talent around him. He had an
Ashton Gent and a Chip Kelly, and so a lot
of things are possible for them. Not talking about a
super Bowl, but nine or ten wins. If he could
do what he did with Seattle last year in the
last three years, there should be no reason why that
can't be replicated from a quarterback perspective with the Raiders,
(08:57):
and with better talent around him, you never know what
might be possible.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Isn't that amazing? But about Geno Smith, you mentioned what
he did for Seattle and then now coming to the
Raiders as the guy when a lot of people wrote
him off. What is that? First of all, that says
a great deal about him and his resiliency, But what
did they say about the Jets? I mean, seriously, what
is it about the Jets? You got him doing what
(09:23):
he did. You know, Sam Darnold leaves there and goes
and lights it up for Minnesota, gets the big deal
to go to Seattle is just QB purgatory in New
York with the Jets, man, It's I just I don't
get it, and I don't know. I really don't know
if Aaron Glenn can change it, because they've still got
(09:44):
the ownership structure there.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I agree, And I mean, maybe we throw Zach Wilson
in there too, you know, who knows. You know, we
blame it on Zach Wilson, or maybe maybe it was
on him. But the track record of the New York
Jets really isn't that good. And I wanted I've been
meeting actually to ask you this question. Rodney. You know,
people sleep on Gino Smith and I'm as guilty as
(10:09):
anybody because when the Raiders, when I started hearing that
Friday morning that they were close to trading for Gino Smith,
I was like, Gino, Okay, all right, how much sense
does that make? And you know, is that really that
big of an upgrade? And then I went back and
looked at the statistics and watched the tape, and I
was like, holy cow. You know, Geo Smith's been a
damn good quarterback the last three years. Like, I'm not
(10:30):
talking about a decent quarterback. I'm talking about a really
good quarterback, borderline top ten, and in every statistical category,
including wins, over the last three years, he's got the
sixth most wins in the league the last three years.
He's the most accurate passer the last three years. And
so my question to you is why did we all
fall asleep on how good Gino Smith was actually playing
in Seattle. Is it because of what happened in New
(10:53):
York and we're going to always hold that against him,
or is it because he played up there in the
Pacific Northwest. I don't know what it is, Rodney, but
this guy's a pretty good quarterback in every statistical in
every statistical way and won a lot of football games
over the last few years.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, no, I think I think it's a combination of both.
I think it's a combination of you know, his his
time with the Jets, and especially nowadays, you know, it's
it's hard to get second and third chances, especially as
a quarterback. It's not like it used to where you
could get those chances. But now you know, once once
(11:29):
a team or organization, or the league for that matter,
gets an opinion on you, it's hard to break past that.
And I think you're you're right that everybody formed that
opinion when he left the Jets because it was such
a horrible experience, and even what he did in Seattle,
the success he had in suc Sattle in Seattle, I
think people kind of look past it and say, well,
(11:50):
you know, maybe you know, he is lucky because we
saw who he really was when he was when he
came out and played for the Jets, and he's continuously
had to had to prove himself. But I'm with you.
I liked him at West Virginia and I liked him
coming out. I just hated him going to the Jets.
And now he's got his opportunity. I think the same thing.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, I'll add this too. This is a guy who
completed I mean he's he's quotse to seventy percent the
last three years, right, So you automatically think it might
be a too too Tugo Iyola situation in Miami where
it's a lot of dumpoffs. There were there's no dump offs.
This guy is driving the ball down the field, he
takes chances, he throws deep. It's it's not a dump
(12:31):
off offense that he was playing at, So even that
is not distorted. It's a legitimate seventy percent completion percentage
because he's spraying the ball all over the field. So again,
I was shocked when I actually, you know, took the
time to really watch and pay attention. You know, I
cover the Raiders, so admittedly I'm not paying attention to
what the Seattle Seahawks are doing on a game to
(12:51):
game basis. But I was pleasantly surprised how good of
a quarterback Gino Smith really is. And it'll be interesting
now with Pete here in Las Vegas, Chips Ellie, you
know the talent that he has. Jacoby Myers is a
really good wide receiver. Buck Bowers.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
That speaks for a.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
South ash and genty. This offense has a chance to
be to be much better than it was last year.
And I do wonder now playing on this kind of
a stage with the Raiders, if he's finally going to
get the flowers that he truly deserves.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Brady Quinn always told me because he was with the
Jets for that offseason when Gino Smith was there, and
he said, loves the dude and could always spin it
like he like, so he's not, to your point, He's
not one of these checkdown guys we can throw the football.
And to see that and to see him and Pete Carroll,
I think it does add a different if there's a
different energy level and a different buzz with just Pete Carroll.
(13:42):
But the fact that Gino Smith, his guy, is there
and the respect they have for each other just makes
them that much more fun to watch this year.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, I completely agree. And if if somehow, some way
the Raiders can can be an exciting competitive football team
and win some football games, and they got some national
stage games this year, you know like like these these
are the type of guys and and you know, I
haven't havn't talked to him now a few times, and
(14:10):
how exceptional he is as a human being, you know,
and and in all those regards, these these are the
type of guys that are pretty easy to root for,
especially knowing the story and the resiliency. This guy was
at backup quarterback with the Chargers with Justin Herbert. He
was a backup quarterback with Russell Wilson for three years
I think it was at least two years, and finally
got it. Never gave up, never, never gave in to
(14:31):
the fact that, well, this is my plight. I'm a
backup quarterback, prepared every every day as if he was
the starter. And then when he finally did get his
opportunity when Russell Wilson got traded, he didn't just see that.
He grabbed a hold of it and went running down
the field in a way nobody could have predicted. And
again has been one of the really good quarterbacks in
this league since then.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Thinny, I was going to ask you about you know,
Geno Smith's X the Seattle Seahawks. I mean, you know,
who knows what the plan is there? Sam Darnold's there,
and maybe Jalen Milroe gets an opportunity at some point.
But looking at that division, we've seen the Niners resign
Fred Warner, they resigned Brock Purty, George Kittle gets an extension,
they trade for Bryce Huff He's back and reunited with
(15:13):
Robert Sala. It does feel like the NFC West is
a two team race. It's either going to be the
Niners or the Rams. Do you see it the same way?
And what concern should the Rams have maybe outside of
San Francisco going into this year.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, you know, first and foremost, you know, making sure
Matthew Stafford is healthy from beginning to end. He's still
when he is healthy and protected, one of the best
quarterbacks in the NFL. To talk about a guy that
can sling it, he slings it like no other, and
he gives them an opportunity. I really think this is
a This year sets up pretty darn well for the
(15:51):
Rams to do some special things and what I still
think is a wide open you know, NFC. The Rams
had a chance to beat the Rams closest team to
beating Philadelphia, and probably if they hold onto the ball,
uh in the in the snowy conditions, probably beat the
Philadelphia Eagles. And that's not a stretch That's that's reality.
They had that game they had or they had the
(16:11):
lead and controlling their marching down the field, you know,
a couple of errors and the next thing you know,
the Eagles are coming back on them. But but they
showed just going in there and playing that competitive football game.
They can compete with the best team in this league
in this league, the Philadelphia Eagles. So keeping keeping their
quarterback and and their overall team healthy I think is
(16:32):
their biggest concern. I think they are the class of
the of the NFC West. I don't know what to
make of Seattle. You know, you lose DK Metcalf, you know,
they lost their other veteran wide receiver. It's hard to
get out of my mind what Sam Donald did the
last two games of the year, the game against the
Detroit Lions and again against the Rams. Was he exposed
(16:53):
a little bit in those two games?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Now?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Is he did? Do he kind of fall back to
being more more of the Sam Donald that we remember
in New York? Or can he bounce back and be
the guy that was a really good quarterback for the
for the Vikings for fifteen games last year. I don't
know that that remains to be seen. But I think
if you're if you're progress or talked thinking about and
projecting forward. Right now, it's hard to see a team
(17:16):
in the AFC West or NFC West, uh that that's
going to beat the Rams. Obviously, the forty nine ers,
you know, they're always going to be in it, but
they've they've they've lost some players since since last year,
and I feel like this is almost a regroup year
a little bit for them. But they're so well coached
and I'm a believer and party, so they'll give themselves
an opportunity. I just don't know if it's going to
(17:37):
be enough to beat the Rams.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, we will see, it'll be I think I think
you're right. I think it's a two team race. Vinnie
Chip Kelly leeds Ohio State, after helping them win a
national title, goes to the Raiders. Is he is he going?
Is he going to be content there any or is
he looking for another gig to be a head coach
in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, he's not ruling anything out, but but I think
he I think he likes this kind of life, being
you know, the the offensive guru, somebody that just has
to worry about about putting this offense together. And you know,
I know that he and he and Pete Carroll are
biden in a in a big way. And I know
(18:20):
Pete has the overall vision of what he wants the
offense to look like, you know, and and it is
gonna it's gonna make sure Chip is on the same
page with him. But he's basically giving Chip a lot
of carte blanche to do what he feels whatever works,
whatever whatever he feels he needs to do to make
it work. In Pete's vision, go for it, Go do it,
you know, and and and be aggressive and uh and
(18:41):
then do all your tricks. And I'm supporting it. So
I think he's found a really good situation here in
the NFL, and I think this is his niche. You know,
it felt like he kind of with everything that was
going on at u C l A and the n
I L and the transfer portal, you could you could
obviously tell that he just kind of threw up his
head and said, I don't want this anymore. I don't
(19:01):
need all that. I just want to go coach offense
and be content doing that and obviously did it at
a high level at Ohio State. Could that be what
he ends up feeling is his niche now in the NFL.
I think he's going to give it a few years
for sure, and then we'll see after that. You know,
Pete's going to be around at least three years, but
we all know how old he is and and he
(19:22):
might have to, you know, move on here fairly soon,
does Chip Kelly? Is he the coach in waiting after that?
That's a little bit down down the line, but I
could see maybe after two or three years him saying,
you know what, I've got one more chance to be
a head coach proved to here with the Raiders at
his offense of you know, turning this offense around and
maybe another team. We'll see the wisdom and giving him
(19:44):
another chance as a head coach. But as of right now,
it feels like this is what This is what he
feels his life is and what he does best, and
he feels pretty satisfied in that.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Vinnie. Before I let you go, I got to ask
you about this crazy story and Stefan Diggs on the boat,
that whole situation man with the interesting substance as he's
talking to some females, what do you know about that?
As the NFL is the NFL investigating that because they
kind of brushing it a little bit under the rug.
In New England. It's like, oh, you know, nice to
(20:15):
see you guys, and not even really talking about it,
and uh, you know, we'll you know, we'll deal with
it later.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, you know, I guess this is one of those
situations unless somebody came forward or said something or make
it made an accusation, you know, uh, what can they
really do at this point? Obviously not a good luck
for digs. And I mean, do you not see somebody
filming you right there? You know, like how does he
(20:44):
even let that happen? Unpresumably his own boat, you know,
that's his whole show right there, And so that was
a little bit that that showed some recklessness on his part.
I'm sure the New England Patriots and the NFL kind
of wanted this to just just just you know, fall
off in the middle of the ocean wherever they were
and never never come back. But you never know nowadays,
(21:06):
and you know, somebody might see an opportunity we all
know what I'm talking about, and and make something of it.
So I don't know, I don't know that the I
don't think the NFL is doing anything about it unless
somebody came forward with some sort of you know, accusation.
But I'm sure everybody kind of wants this thing to
uh to move on and move on from it. But
(21:26):
Diggs has got to be more responsible than that, for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
I mean, we were heralding you as our two C
expert Vinee.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Nobody calls me daddy anymore. I'll tell you that except
for my Uh, I don't even think my daughter even
says that anymore. So, Yeah, that's uh, that was a
whole other thing. If you listen to the audio that
that was. That was pretty wild. Does you have a girlfriend?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Now?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Isn't he going out with Cardi B? Isn't that so?
I just you know, I hate that we even have
to get into these types of stories. But but when
it's so, when when they throw it into your lap
as much much as they have, this is a prominent
NFL wide receiver going into a prominent team, there's no
there's no getting around having to comment on it or
(22:09):
write about it.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, you know, and you know Mike Rabel, who's he's
a nonsense guy. You know, he's sick when he saw
that and had to deal with that and answer questions
about it. You know, he's just like, what that. I
gotta deal with this guy for it?
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Man?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
What am I doing? What are we doing?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I would imagine that he gave him an ear fall.
I can only I would. I would have hate to
have been whether it was in person or on the
other end of the phone, because Babel had every right
to read him the Riot Act on that one and say, look,
you're already down one here. Let's not get down by
two because if you get down by two you might
be looking for a job someplace else.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, Vinnie, thanks so much, man, you are always the
best brother. Appreciate you joining us and be safe.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
All right, take care of you guys. Thanks for having
me on.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Thanks any yeah, many thanks to our man Vinnie Bots
and your listen. Well, it's end of an era on
one network, in the beginning of the same era on
another one. Let's get into it on the other side.
Jonahs knocks in for Fred Rogan AM five seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Hello Rogan and Robbie listener, did you know AM five
seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA sports podcasts,
shows like Petros in Money. We are streaming Matt Dodger
Talk with David Vasse, the Dodger Podcast of Record, Clipper
Talk with Adam Moss, follow us all and many more.
Just go to Am five seventy LA Sports on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
App Roddy Bet Jonas Knox on a beautiful Tuesday. Check
this out before I forget and you don't forget. We
will be at the All New Sketchers in Torrents on Friday,
June sixth PHT. Crenshaw. We will be there from twelve
to two with clipperstar Norman Powell. Will also be giving
(23:51):
away ten pairs, yes, ten pairs of Dodger tickets to
an upcoming game. Make sure you join us twelve to two.
It'll be a lot of fun. We also have another
special guests and other prizes as well. Also in this hour,
we will give away two tickets to tomorrow Night's Dodgers
Mets game as well. So stay tuned. All right, Uh,
(24:12):
it's it's one of the if not the best sports
television shows out there, Jonas. I don't know if you
agree with that, but Inside the NBA with with Ernie
and and and Shaq and Kenny and and Charles Barkley
has been running for what over twenty years now, and
it's and it's always good, always good. They are candidates,
(24:35):
they are real. They let their hair down. Those that
do have hair, they let it down. Even if you don't,
they let it down. But it's just a great show.
But now the show is moving from tn T to
ESPN and Charles is kind of like of the broadcast world.
Charles is kind of like the Aaron Rodgers now of
(24:56):
the broadcast world, where you know, he's talking about retiring,
he's talk talked about that. A few years ago. He
didn't he wasn't sure if he wanted to make the
move to ESPN because I guess ESPN notoriously as you
work for forty different shows once you signed a contract there.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, they called the car wash. You go through the
ESPN car wash. You're appearing on all these different shows.
And it's like, I just saw him on ESPN two.
Now he's on ESPN News and then ESPN.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah. Not a fan, right, but you're a fan of
the show, right.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
I think it's the best. And you know Barkley is
you know, he was on with Dan Patrick yesterday on
A five seventy and he was talking about well, you know,
I've got a seven year contract, but I'm going to
give it two more years. Then he's doing it out
of you know, his commitment and loyalty and his love
for the guys he works with, both on camera and
the people behind the scenes. And everybody is saying, it's
(25:52):
going to be the same show. It's just going to
be on another network that they're going to still do
it out of Atlanta. It's going to be all the
production people, it's going to be the on air pole,
they're on camera guys. Everything is going to be the same.
It's just going to be elsewhere. And I want to
believe that, but.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
You know how this works.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Egos get involved, you're at a new place. Maybe somebody
wants to put their spin on it because they want
a little bit of credit for, you know, the success
of the show. If they just leave it alone and
let it do what it's always done, it's still going
to be a success because the most important ingredients are there.
I'm just a little skeptical that somebody's not going to
(26:35):
want to get involved or add a little bit of
a twist or a wrinkle into things, and then it's
not the same show that we've loved and watch for
all these years.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
It's inevitable, right, it's going to happen. You don't have
a bohemoth like you know, Disney, ABCESPN buy and spend
the money that they spent on the NBA and that
they're going to spend going forward and to get this
show without them putting their own tweaks on it. And
(27:05):
that's just something that it's going to take every effort
or those in charge, especially the guys coming over from
tn T that rand this show for a number of years,
to really try to put their foot down and not
allow that to happen. And on the flip side of that,
Charles is such a big personality and such a you know,
more likable guy than hate hate able guy that people
(27:29):
want to see him and they want to see more
of them and ESPN knows this, and and there there
are going to be I think several fights with him
or them wanting him to go on shows like First
Take and and Get Up and some of the other
shows that they've got or or do some of the
other you know, promotional things that they have going. And
(27:52):
it's going to be you know, and I'm sure that's
why it took so long for him to to sign
the deal to come on is that he did not
want to do that. And later years of his of
his of his contract, and as he winds down and
gets ready to retire, he's he's got other interest that
he wants to do as opposed to living at ESPN
all day.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
And by the way, Barkley was also saying something along
the lines of, you know, they they tried to do
a like a test show because they're thinking of, Okay,
well we'll have another show on the but we won't
have games or highlights, but it'll be another show. And
he said, you know, I don't know that anybody wants
to watch us as opposed to a real basketball game,
(28:33):
an actual basketball game on another platform. And I hear
him say that, and I go, man, I don't know.
I don't know either, because there's a lot of really
bad basketball teams. Like there's a lot of teams in
the NBA that nobody wants to watch.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, I mean you've got a game between you know,
you got your watching Orlando versus Charlotte, you know, and
you've got these guys you know, doing their stick. I mean,
what are most people gonna want to watch?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Like somebody throws on wizard's hornets at a bar, you know,
or you can have you know that. It's like, so
I hear what he's saying, but I think his concerns
is maybe because he's also cautious about what is this
going to look like. We've had such a great run
because we've done it our way, because we decided to
(29:24):
go bold and take chances to do a show different
from what the standard format was. And you can feel
it if you watch, you know, when they take turns,
because you know, somebody's got the Eastern Conference Finals, somebody's
got the Western Conference Finals. The different in quality and
entertainment from one pre and postgame show to the next
(29:44):
is night and day. It's just it's not even you.
You can't compete with that. And so yeah, they bring
them on, but I just don't touch it, don't mess
with it, don't don't do anything. Let them do what
they do and just in enjoy the ride. Don't put
your stamp on it. Don't try and infuse some other
faces onto the show. Don't let those four run rough
(30:08):
shot on you if they need to, because it's better content,
it's a better show, and that's why the show's always
worked the way it happens.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
At least at least for a couple of years. Right.
You know, if they're if they want to tweak it
and they say we're going to analyze this, sit back
and just let it happen and let them do what
they they've done for over twenty years. And then you know,
after a couple of those years, you can say, well,
I'd like to add this or do this and make
(30:37):
the minor changes or whatever. But don't come out of
the gates and oh now it's ours and we're gonna
run it the way we run it, because that will
kill the show. And Charles will walk from that show,
regardless if he's got a contract or not. He's walking.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Oh yeah, I mean listen, he's not like he needs
the money. I mean you know, he's like he's he's there, yeah,
and he's for his great And what's amazing about Barkley
is that, for as great as he was as a player,
I think most people just think of him as the broadcaster.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Now.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, I mean he was like, he's the guy's a
Hall of famer. He was really really good and he's
been so great as a broadcast and I've wondered next
to him, who's the greatest athlete turned broadcaster And the
only guy I could think of and he wasn't even
an athlete, was what John Madden.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, like as far as like it's got all that
charisma and package and knows of stuff. Yeah, yeah Madden.
Madden was incredible. But yeah, I can't think of someone
that's that that people absolutely love to listen to and
want to tune into on a regular basis. I mean
a lot of people don't don't even love Basketball Watch
(31:49):
inside the NBA. Yeah, but just because of that show,
and mainly because of Charles.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
And also it was the first time that you heard
broadcasters actually say their sports sucked. Like they would come
on and say, yeah, this game sucks, like there's nothing,
like there's these teams aren't good. Like they have a
segment called who he played for something like that where
they they don't know who these players are, right then
(32:16):
they'll just pop up random players in the league and
they have no idea who they are. So yeah, the
other show people would kill him for it. Oh my god,
you guys, don't you know who who does who's producing this?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
To say?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
It's like no, we're just gonna call it as is.
We don't know who these guys are. Sorry, and and
you can't really question him. Kenny Smith, a multiple time champion,
was a really good player. Charles Barkley is a Hall
of Famer, Shacks a Hall of Famer. And Ernie Johnson's
one of the best broadcasters when he calls baseball when
he when he calls baseball games. Ernie Johnson's fantastic for TBS.
(32:51):
So yeah, I just hopefully, hopefully they don't mess it up.
John give away some of these these Dodger tickets? Man,
what call her number?
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You got?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
You know, I'm thinking of a great number. And when
I think of Rodney Pete, I think of a great number. Okay,
that number is number nine. Okay, then let's do it,
number nine. Call her nine, all right? A sixty six?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
What is there? Number, Kevin? I forgot nine? Eight, seven, two,
five seventy is the number? Call her number nine? Call
it now, all right? Jonas NOx and for Fred Rogan
am five seventy LA sports? All right? Should you let
your kids play multiple sports or should they focus on
just one thing and one sport and really try to
(33:33):
be good at that. We'll get into that.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Next make AM five to seventy LA Sports so preset
before you plug in your phone. Presets in the iHeartRadio
app now available with Apple car Play and Android autom
Just another easy way to listen to LA's best sports talk.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Oh, congratulations to Rodolfo and Van Eyes. Radolfo and Van Eyes,
you are going to the Dodger game tomorrow night versus
the Mets. You've won the two tickets. Congratulations with d'lfhau
right Ago uh all right, Jonas Lebron James as a
U does a podcast with Steve Nash and they were
(34:17):
talking about kids and youth sports nowadays, and and he
was talking about he doesn't like it or he hates
it basically when you know, kids are forced to play
only one sports, whether it be baseball, basketball, football, and
they're not allowed and not encouraged to play other sports.
(34:38):
And I gotta tell you, I absolutely agree with him,
you know, And I know it's different nowadays all kids,
especially when they get a certain age, if they've got
any kind of talent, then they're gonna they start to
get their own coaches, and they've got their own trainers,
and they've got all these things. And and I felt
more the uh, the coaches at you know, at these
(35:01):
travel ball levels and these high school levels that basically
put the pressure on the kids that if you're not here,
or you don't show up for this, or you're not
playing baseball in the fall, you're not going to have
a spot in the spring. And and so kids are
discouraged from playing football in the fall if they are
also baseball players, and vice versa. Same thing with basketball
or even track. Whereas it used to be. I was
(35:26):
lucky because I had coaches that encouraged me to play
other sports, and they thought that playing other sports was
going to help me in their particular sport, which I
think it did. Playing basketball helped me to play and
go into baseball, and baseball helped my football and all
of those things. And I think, and I don't know,
you know, the stats or if it's a direct reflection,
(35:48):
but it feels like the amount of injuries that are happening,
especially kids with their arms and baseball, kids that are
playing baseball now twelve months out of the year, and
we're seeing more and more injuries to arms and to
to kids younger and younger. I think as a result
of them playing year round. I mean, what do you think.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, I mean, my son is four years old, and
I didn't know just the world that he loves baseball.
I was talking to Kevin about this during the braid.
He loves baseball. He seems like he's got pretty decent skills.
No idea where the hell he got that from. Definitely
not for me. So that's probably a conversation I got
(36:26):
to have with the missus after hours at some point.
But and so I'm you know, like looking at all, right,
well there's you know, T ball, and then somebody goes, yeah,
well you start off at T ball, but then there's
little league, and then there's pony ball, and then there's
fall ball. And I'm looking at and going wait what.
And I remember having a conversation with LeVar Arrington and
he was like, Hey, you're gonna find out that if
(36:49):
he continues to want to play that there's a tournament
every holiday. Oh yes, okay, there's a Memorial Day tournament.
There's an Easter weekend tournament. There's a Fourth of July tournament,
there's this, there's a Labor Day, there's and and I
start to he goes, you're just gonna if you have
kids that play sports. Your vacations are surrounding whatever event
(37:13):
they're traveling to to go compete in.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
By the way, they're not all in the same town.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
No, yeah, and so and so I've heard like some
of the prices that some of these leagues charge, and
you know, to Lebron's point, he was like, yeah, you know,
like you've got these specialists now, and these specialist coaches
who want to make it more about them than And
the one thing I always try and tell my son
is the most important thing is to have fun. Because
(37:40):
if you do get to a point to where you're
burnt out, and I can kind of sense it where
if he doesn't want to play, he's still the age
where he wants to play every day and that's all
he wants to do. He doesn't care about your iPads,
he doesn't care like you have no interest whatsoever. He
just wants to play ball. But if you do get
to that, you've got to be able to listen to
what the kid is saying and not what your intro
because you can burn kids out. I could see it.
(38:03):
I could see just one sport year round. Well, I
kind of want to go shoot hoops. No, no, no, no, no, no, No,
you've got batting You got to go to the batting
cages at this time. So I get his point, and
I do wonder how much of that is the kids
doing or if it's the parents who want it more
than the kids. This surreal problem.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yeah, I tend to think it's it's the latter and
the parents that that's at a certain age, or even
doesn't even have to be a certain age, but at
young ages. And I did. I coached my middle guy
in baseball when he was eleven and twelve. I coached
his team, and we then coach the All Star team.
(38:44):
And I would have to deal with some of these
parents that already had their kids the number one pick
in the draft, you know, at seventeen eighteen years old,
and these kids were only eleven and twelve, and just
I mean, they would beat me up or I want
him to do this, and I want him to do that.
I say, is he having fun? Is he having fun?
(39:07):
Because that's the number one thing first of all. Is
he having fun? Well, he seems to be having And
I say, either you know you don't? Yeah, right, And
and a lot of times it is the parents that
are trying to live their life through their kids for
whatever reason that they got to a certain point and
they see this in their son and now I'm gonna
push him. And that's the way you've got to do it.
(39:27):
And they got to do it year round, where well,
you don't have to. You don't have to. I played
three sports until and until I was through high school,
and then in college I played two, you know, and
and so you don't have to necessarily just focus on
one thing. I think it's a great thing. Like you said,
sometimes you know, your buddies are out going to play
hoops or you just want to, you know, and and
(39:49):
you go to the gym or go to the park
and play hoops with them, and there are these parents.
Is no like you said, no, we're going you got
you got uh you got a five o'clock batting practice
with h coach Alvarez over here and he's gonna he's
gonna take you. And then you got fielding practice with
coach Jacobs right after that, and then then you got
to hit the gym, you know, and get your weight
(40:10):
training in. And this kid is eleven years old.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Right, It's like he's still not potty trained. Like man
man that that kid bat's four eighty and uh, you
know he's got power to boat from both sides of
the plate and he's got to he's got gold glove potential.
Still not potty trained at eleven years old, it's like yeah,
at some point, like like too too much can wear
like too much of anything. Moderation's key for most things
(40:36):
in life, and it could just wear you down. What
did your calendar look like though, Like, so if we're
talking from football season, which would start what like around
late July early on.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
I would start late July early August, so I you know,
I would you know, start that, but also I would
I would you know, play on the on whatever team.
But baseball would kind of overlap that a little bit
because you know, certain baseball leagues if you played in
the summertime and you went to did playoffs or whatever
(41:06):
that and I played American Legion and I played some
other stuff along the way, so you played a little bit.
But once football and two A days started, then it
was all football from August all the way until end
of November early December, if you if you went that far,
and then you know, by that time basketball had already
started practicing, and then you were you were late to
(41:28):
start the basketball practice, so you oftentimes I didn't even
have more than two days off from the last game
of football until jumping right into basketball. And then basketball
went until March, and again baseball would had already started
because they they were and I would. I grew up
in Arizona, so you could do that all year round,
(41:49):
so you know, baseball guys were out there in January
getting ready to play and doing practice games and all
that stuff, and I would join them in March and
we'd play all the way through the end of the year.
So it was definitely a NonStop but I didn't get
burned out because I wasn't stayed playing football, get done
with football, and then have to go back and go
(42:09):
to a football camp in January, and then in the
spring you do another passing clinic that you do in football.
It was a change of sports that kept my interest
because by the time football was over, I was looking
forward to basketball, and then when basketball was over, I
look forward to, Oh, I'm joining the baseball team. Now
it's a different sport. Now it's gonna be cool as
(42:32):
opposed to, man, I gotta go throw the football again,
I gotta go. You know, it's January. Football season's over.
Everybody else is playing basketball. I want to go play bath.
I didn't have that, so I was always looking forward
to the next sports, which allowed me to kind of
have that anticipation, which was great.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
I mean, I just think lesson is like, if you're
a parent, just come to terms with the fact that
the reason why your grooming your kid to play is
because you probably sucked. Okay, Like, let's just like I
just came to terms with that a long time ago,
and this is not about me. I just want him
to have a good time. I've got my my other interest.
(43:11):
I figured out pretty quickly. Oh yeah, Like you know,
I was fast when I want a jogathon in fourth
grade and then all of a sudden, I got to
middle school and I was like, why am I finishing thirtieth?
What happened here? There was there was a significant leap
that I didn't make that other kids made, And if
you just come to terms with that, just enjoy the
ride and and go watch, Like I can't wait to
(43:32):
watch him play littlely like he plays t ball, but
I can't wait to be there and experience that because
everything I hear from parents is it's one of the great.
It's one of the things you enjoy and look forward
to is getting to watch your kids play the sports.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
That's all you need to do is be a fan.
All right, I'm man from the ballpark. David Vassey is
going to join us on the other side to talk
to Dodgers as they get ready to play Game two
against the New York Mets. Stay tuned. Oh, congratulations to
(44:17):
Rodolpho and Van Eyes. Rodolfo and Van Eyes, you are
going to the Dodger game tomorrow night versus the Mets.
You won the two tickets. Congratulations Radelfho right ago uh
all right? Jonas Lebron James as Ah does a podcast
with Steve Nash and they were talking about kids and
(44:37):
youth sports nowadays, and and he was talking about he
doesn't like it or he hates it basically, when you know,
kids are forced to play only one sports, whether it
be baseball, basketball, football, and they're not allowed and not
encouraged to play other sports. And I gotta tell you,
(44:58):
I I absolutely agree with them, you know, And I
know it's different nowadays. All kids, especially when they get
a certain age, if they got any kind of talent,
then they're gonna they start to get their own coaches,
and they've got their own trainers, and they've got all
these things. And I felt more the coaches at you know,
(45:20):
at these travel ball levels and these high school levels,
that that basically put the pressure on the kids that
if you're not here, or you don't show up for this,
or you're not playing baseball in the fall, you're not
gonna have a spot in the spring. And and so
kids are discouraged from playing football in the fall if
they are also baseball players, and vice versa. Same thing
with basketball or even track. Whereas it used to be,
(45:44):
I was lucky because I had coaches that encouraged me
to play other sports, and they thought that playing other
sports was gonna help me and their particular sport, which
I think it did. Play a basketball helped me to
play and go into baseball, and baseball helped my football
and all of those things. And I think, and I
don't know, you know, the stats or if it's a
(46:05):
direct reflection, but it feels like the amount of injuries
that are happening, especially kids with their arms and baseball,
kids that are playing baseball now twelve months out of
the year, and we're seeing more and more injuries to
arms and to kids younger and younger, I think as
a result of them playing year round. I mean, what
do you think?
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Yeah, I mean my son is four years old and
I didn't know just the world that he loves baseball.
I was talking to Kevin about this during the break.
He loves baseball. He seems like he's got pretty decent skills.
No idea where the hell he got that from? Definitely
not for me. Come So that's that's probably a conversation
(46:45):
I gotta have with the missus after hours at some point.
But and so I'm, you know, like looking at all, right,
well there's you know, T ball, and then somebody goes, yeah,
well you start off a T ball, but then there's
little league, and then there's pony ball, and then there's
fall ball. And I'm looking at and go wait what.
And I remember having a conversation with LeVar Arrington and
he was like, hey, you're going to find out that
(47:08):
if he continues to want to play that there's a
tournament every holiday. Yes, okay, there's a Memorial Day tournament.
There's an Easter weekend tournament. There's a Fourth of July tournament.
There's this there's a labor day, there's and and I
start to he goes, you're just gonna if you have
kids that play sports, your vacations are surrounding whatever event
(47:32):
they're traveling to to go compete in.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
By the way, they're not all in the same town.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
So I've heard like some of the prices that some
of these leagues charge, and you know, to Lebron's point,
he was like, yeah, you know, like you've got these
specialists now, and these specialist coaches who want to make
it more about them than And the one thing I
always try and tell my son is the most important
thing is to have fun because if you do to
a point to where you burn out, and I can
(48:01):
kind of sense it where if he doesn't want to play,
he's still the age where he wants to play every
day and that's all he wants to do. He doesn't
care about your iPads, he doesn't care like he had
no interest whatsoever. He just wants to play ball. But
if you do get to that, you've got to be
able to listen to what the kid is saying and
not what your interests are, because you can burn kids out.
I could see it. I could see just one sport
(48:24):
year round. Well, I kind of want to go shoot hoops. No no, no, no, no, no, no,
you've got batting. You got to go to the batting
cages at this time. So I get his point, and
I do wonder how much of that is the kids doing,
or if it's the parents who want it more than
the kids it's.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
The real problem. Yeah, I tend to think it's it's
the latter and the parents that that's at a certain age,
or even doesn't even have to be a certain age,
but at young ages. And I did. I coached my
middle guy in baseball when he was eleven and twelve.
I coach his team, and we then coach the all
(49:01):
Star team, and would have to deal with some of
these parents that already had their kids the number one
pick in the draft, you know, at seventeen eighteen years old,
and these kids were only eleven and twelve, and and
just I mean, they would beat me up or I
want him to do this, and I want him to
(49:22):
do that. I say, is he having fun? Is he
having fun? Because that's the number one thing first of all.
Is he having fun? Well, he seems to be having
And I say, either you know, you don't, yeah, right,
And a lot of times it is the parents that
are trying to live their life through their kids for
whatever reason that they got to a certain point and
(49:42):
they see this in their son and now I'm going
to push him. And that's the way you've got to
do it. And they got to do it year round,
where well, you don't have to. You don't have to.
I played three sports and until I was through high school,
and then in college I played two, you know, and
and so you don't have to necessarily just focus on
on one thing. I think it's a great thing. Like
you said, sometimes you know, your buddies are out going
(50:04):
to play hoops or you just want to, you know,
and and you go to the gym or go to
the park and play hoops with them, and there are
these parents. Is no, like you said, No, we're going
you got you got uh you got a five o'clock
batting practice with UH coach Alvarez over here and he's
gonna he's gonna take you. And then you got fielding
practice with coach Jacobs right after that, and then then
(50:27):
you got to hit the gym, you know, and get
your weight training in. And it's kid is eleven years.
Speaker 3 (50:31):
Old, right, it's like he's still not potty trained, like
man man that that kid bat's four eighty and uh,
you know he's got power to boat from both sides
of the plate and he's got he's got gold glove potential.
Still not potty trained at eleven.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Years old, it's like dud.
Speaker 4 (50:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
At some point, like like too too much can wear
like too much of anything. Moderation's key for most things
in life, and it could just wear you down. What
did your calendar look like though, Like so if we're
talking from football season, which would start what like around
late July early on, I.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Would start late July early August, so I you know,
I would you know, start that, but also I would
I would you know, play on the on whatever team.
But baseball would kind of overlap that a little bit
because you know, certain baseball leagues. If you played in
the summertime and you went to did playoffs or whatever
(51:25):
that and I played American Legion and played some other
stuff along the way, so you played a little bit.
But once football and two A days started, then it
was all football from August all the way until uh
end of November early December. If you if you went
that far, and then you know, by that time basketball
had already started practicing, and then you were you were
(51:46):
late to start the basketball practice, so you oftentimes I
didn't even have more than two days off from the
last game of football until jumping right into basketball. And
then basketball went until March, and again baseball would had
already started because they they were, and I would. I
grew up in Arizona, so you could do that all
(52:07):
year round, so you know, baseball guys were out there
in January getting ready to play and doing practice games
and all that stuff, and I would join them in
March and we'd play all the way through the end
of the year. So it was it was definitely a
NonStop but I didn't get burned out because I wasn't
stayed playing football, get done with football and then have
to go back and go to a football camp in January,
(52:30):
and then in the spring you do another passing clinic
that you do in football. It was a change of
sports that kept my interest because by the time football
was over, I was looking forward to basketball, and then
when basketball was over, I'd look forward to, Oh, I'm
joining the baseball team. Now it's a different sport now
it's gonna be cool as opposed to, Man, I gotta
(52:53):
go throw the football again. I gotta go. You know,
it's January. Football season's over. Everybody else is playing basketball.
I want to go play bath. I didn't have that,
so I was I was always looking forward to the
next sports, which allowed me to kind of have that anticipation,
which was great.
Speaker 3 (53:08):
I mean, I just think Lesson is like, if you're
a parent, just come to terms with the fact that
the reason why you're grooming your kid to play is
because you probably sucked. Okay, Like, let's just like I
just came to terms with that a long time ago,
and this is not about me. I just want him
to have a good time. I've got my other interest.
(53:30):
I figured out pretty quickly. Oh yeah, Like you know,
I was fast when I want a jogathon in fourth
grade and then all of a sudden, I got to
middle school and I was like, why am I finishing thirtieth?
What happened here? There was there was a significant leap
that I didn't make that other kids made, And if
you just come to terms with that, just enjoy the
ride and and go watch, Like I can't wait to
(53:51):
watch him play littlely like he plays t ball. But
I can't wait to be there and experience that because
everything I hear from parents is it's one of the
great It's one of the things you enjoy and look
forward to, is getting to watch your kids play the sport.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
That's all you need to do is be a fan.
Speaker 3 (54:12):
Sports.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
All right, I'm man from the ballpark. David Vassi is
going to join us on the other side to talk
to Dodgers as they get ready to play Game two
against the New York Mets. Stay tuned
Oh yes, and we continue on Jonas Knox is in
for Fred Rogan. Don't forget this hour. We have two
tickets to tomorrow night's Dodgers Mets game, and we will
be giving them away some point this hour. Also, don't
forget this Friday, June sixth, we will be at Sketchers
(00:24):
in Torrance. It's at pch and Prinshaw. We'll be there
from noon to two, joined by clipperstar Norman Powell. Also,
we are giving away ten pairs, yes, ten pairs of
Dodger tickets to an upcoming game. So please come see
us at Sketchers and Torrents noon to two on Friday.
(00:45):
All right, let's bring on our NFL inside of the
man that knows it all, our man, BEVINNYE Bonce and
you or Vinnie, How you doing, brother? What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm doing good. I don't know it all because I
STI don't know whether Edon Rodgers are gonna play for
the Pittsburgh Killers. But I don't know if Aaron Rodgers
knows that either. I'm not. I'm gonna cut myself a
little bit of slack on that one.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Oh, come on, all right, then it started right there Vinnie,
then what do you know about the situation, because it
was a foregone conclusion that he was just waiting either
for the schedule first of me, was waiting for the draft,
then for the schedule to come out, and then I
don't know what else he was waiting for, maybe the
Minnesota Vikings to see what they were going to do.
Where does it stand with Aaron Rodgers now that he's
(01:23):
now continuing to play these games with everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I am starting to wonder if he just doesn't want
to do OTAs right now and is waiting until after
that to finally make it, make a decision. And I also,
I don't know, part of me also thinks, Rodney, maybe
I'm crazy to think this. I still think he might
be holding out a little bit of hope for the Vikings,
and maybe after OTAs in Mini Caamp, the Vikings decide like, hey,
(01:50):
we love JJ McCarthy, we're just not ready if he's
we don't know if he's ready for this year, So
maybe we should make a call to Aaron Rodgers for
at least one more year with him as the quarterback
for this you know, obviously a really good football team
around him. I don't think that that's going to happen.
I don't think that that you know that that that's
possible at this point. I think I think the Vikings
are full boar ahead with JJ McCarthy, but maybe he's
(02:12):
holding out a little bit of hope that that that
still might be available to him.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Vinny, what does it say about the fact that the
Steelers let Russell Wilson walk for the chance that Rogers
might sign. There, Like, that's that feels like a pretty
damning thing for Russell Wilson that it went so poorly
or awkwardly there, either behind the scenes or on the field,
(02:37):
whatever you whatever you want to call it, that the
Steelers are like, no, we're good here. We'll take the
chance that maybe Rogers likes the situation we can get
him to sign.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And I think there's there's also this, uh, there's a
there's that new term. It's called quiet quitting, where you know,
you just kind of go to your job and and
uh and and sort of quiet quit. You're not you're
not trying to you're not trying to do too much.
You're you know, you do you're just doing enough to
kind of hang on to your job, but you're not
going to go above and beyond. And I do wonder
(03:09):
if the Pittsburgh Steelers are thinking along these lines, like, Okay,
it would be great if Aaron Rodgers said said yes
and we'll try to make something of this season. But
even if he doesn't, based on what they did at
quarterback who they let go and it wasn't just it
wasn't just Russell, it was also justin fields, maybe they're
also thinking like, if if Aaron Rodgers isn't going to
(03:29):
come to us, is it really bad if we're not
that good next year? When there's a whole bunch of
other possibly good quarterbacks that are coming in to this
year's draft. You know, whether it's the penn State quarterback
who plays right up the street from them or not
too far from them over in penn State, you know,
Pennsylvania kind of legend quarterback right now. Maybe that's what
they're thinking. Or maybe it's you know, the Texas quarterback,
(03:52):
the Manning you know, Offspring, or maybe it's the South
Carolina quarterback who a lot of people think is the
bestquarterback in this draft coming up obviously the season that's
the play out. So I'm wondering if they're like all right,
Aaron would be great, But if not, we're going to
clear the decks and lose as many games as possible,
not necessarily announce it or tell anybody, and and hope
(04:13):
that they get their quarterback of the future in this
draft coming up next April.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, it's just a it's just a roll of the dice.
As you mentioned, it's a it's a dangerous game to play, Vinnie,
because especially if you're Mike Tomlin. I know he hasn't
had a losing record, but they haven't really progressed past
the first round in the playoffs since Big Ben left.
Is he willing to play that game with his with
his career and if they do tank it, is he
(04:39):
even going to be around to say, get an arts
manning and let him develop.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah. I think. I think one of the things that
the Pittsburgh Steelers always do is is and they do
a great job of this. They're problem solvers rather than blamers.
So I would imagine, you know, if if you know,
and again this is this is the They obviously can't
come out and say this that they're actually doing this,
but I think I think if if they were going
(05:05):
to go down that path of all right, it's Mason Rudolph.
We're going to make the most of this season, and
whatever happens happens. But wouldn't be the worst thing if
you've got a top ten or twelve pick, because this
is this is a draft that has multiple quarterbacks in it.
So even if you don't get the number one pick,
even if you if you have a top ten pick
or a top twelve pick, you might end up with
(05:25):
a pretty darn good quarterback. And that's kind of what
they did to get Roethlisberger back in the day. And
I think Mike Tomlin would be the first to if
you injected some truth serum and yeah, we haven't won,
we haven't had a losing season. We make the playoffs,
but the fact of the matter is not having been
That explains at all their lack of playoffs success is
because they haven't had that really good quarterback since Big
(05:47):
Ben left the scene. So I think I think the
Pittsburgh Steelers understand it's one thing to be competitive and
make the playoffs, but if you want to win championships,
which they were known to do, you have to have
that great quarterback. So organizationally, I don't think that they
would blame Mike Tomlin for what might happen this year
because of their lack of quarterback, and would they would
be a team I believe that would want him to
(06:10):
be part of the thing moving forward, the rebuild moving
forward with a really good young quarterback in the fold.
And so for that reason, I would think that he
would survive anything along those lines, because they know that
what a great coach they have in him. They also
understand they just haven't had a great quarterback since Big
Ben left the scene.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Benny, you're obviously there in Vegas. You're around the team,
you cover the team. All I've heard is rave reviews
about Geno Smith and sort of what he's done for
the building there from whether it's Chip Kelly, whether it's
Pete Carroll. What have you heard about Gino's time there
as the Raiders quarterback?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And you start talking
to some of some of the teammates and some of
the players, you have to understand, you know, when they
moved on from Derek Carr, these last two years has
been quarterback purgatory for them. I mean this time two
years ago, Jimmy Garoppolo hadn't even been cleared to come
to you return to practice. He had to have that
foot surgery in March, and that kind of wipe that
(07:10):
he was never the same. He was never truly healthy
in twenty twenty three, so that was a wasted year
at quarterback. And then last year. This time last year,
you were talking about Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell in
a quarterback battle, and I remember watching them in OTAs
and quite frankly, it didn't look good and it never
looked good in training camp, and you knew that this
(07:33):
thing was going to be held back because the quarterback level,
the play of the quarterbacks just wasn't that good at
a start. Contrast to what we're seeing out there so
far this year. And I don't make too much of
OTA's but I can honestly say this, the quarterback situation
looks a thousand percent better with Geno Smith out there
in OTAs than it did at any time two years
ago when it was Brian Horror and Aidan O'Connell, or
(07:54):
last year when it was Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell.
So the calming effect and the stability that he brings
to that building can be felt by the team, the players.
They knew what they were dealing with. The players, the
Jacoby Myers, the Dehante Adams, they knew what they were
up against. From a quarterback perspective. Last year you talked
to the same guys. Now, obviously DeVante is not here,
(08:15):
But if you were to talk to Brock Bauers, if
you were talked to Jacoby Myers, they know the difference
and what they're seeing in Gino Smith, and they understand
that he gives you an opportunity to win football games.
They won ten games last year with the Seattle Seahawks
with no offensive line and no run game. He was
basically the reason why they were in a tiebreaker that
(08:36):
denied them the playoffs at the end of last season.
He has pretty decent talent around him. He had an
Ashton Gent and a Chip Kelly, and so a lot
of things are possible for them. Not talking about a
super Bowl, but nine or ten wins. If he could
do what he did with Seattle last year in the
last three years, there should be no reason why that
can't be replicated from a quarterback perspective with the Raiders,
(08:57):
and with better talent around him, you never know what
might be possible.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Isn't that amazing? But about Geno Smith, you mentioned what
he did for Seattle and then now coming to the
Raiders as the guy when a lot of people wrote
him off. What is that? First of all, that says
a great deal about him and his resiliency, But what
did they say about the Jets? I mean, seriously, what
is it about the Jets? You got him doing what
(09:23):
he did. You know, Sam Darnold leaves there and goes
and lights it up for Minnesota, gets the big deal
to go to Seattle is just QB purgatory in New
York with the Jets, man, It's I just I don't
get it, and I don't know. I really don't know
if Aaron Glenn can change it, because they've still got
(09:44):
the ownership structure there.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I agree, And I mean, maybe we throw Zach Wilson
in there too, you know, who knows. You know, we
blame it on Zach Wilson, or maybe maybe it was
on him. But the track record of the New York
Jets really isn't that good. And I wanted I've been
meeting actually to ask you this question. Rodney. You know,
people sleep on Gino Smith and I'm as guilty as
(10:09):
anybody because when the Raiders, when I started hearing that
Friday morning that they were close to trading for Gino Smith,
I was like, Gino, Okay, all right, how much sense
does that make? And you know, is that really that
big of an upgrade? And then I went back and
looked at the statistics and watched the tape, and I
was like, holy cow. You know, Geo Smith's been a
damn good quarterback the last three years. Like, I'm not
(10:30):
talking about a decent quarterback. I'm talking about a really
good quarterback, borderline top ten, and in every statistical category,
including wins, over the last three years, he's got the
sixth most wins in the league the last three years.
He's the most accurate passer the last three years. And
so my question to you is why did we all
fall asleep on how good Gino Smith was actually playing
in Seattle. Is it because of what happened in New
(10:53):
York and we're going to always hold that against him,
or is it because he played up there in the
Pacific Northwest. I don't know what it is, Rodney, but
this guy's a pretty good quarterback in every statistical in
every statistical way and won a lot of football games
over the last few years.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, no, I think I think it's a combination of both.
I think it's a combination of you know, his his
time with the Jets, and especially nowadays, you know, it's
it's hard to get second and third chances, especially as
a quarterback. It's not like it used to where you
could get those chances. But now you know, once once
(11:29):
a team or organization, or the league for that matter,
gets an opinion on you, it's hard to break past that.
And I think you're you're right that everybody formed that
opinion when he left the Jets because it was such
a horrible experience, and even what he did in Seattle,
the success he had in suc Sattle in Seattle, I
think people kind of look past it and say, well,
(11:50):
you know, maybe you know, he is lucky because we
saw who he really was when he was when he
came out and played for the Jets, and he's continuously
had to had to prove himself. But I'm with you.
I liked him at West Virginia and I liked him
coming out. I just hated him going to the Jets.
And now he's got his opportunity. I think the same thing.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, I'll add this too. This is a guy who
completed I mean he's he's quotse to seventy percent the
last three years, right, So you automatically think it might
be a too too Tugo Iyola situation in Miami where
it's a lot of dumpoffs. There were there's no dump offs.
This guy is driving the ball down the field, he
takes chances, he throws deep. It's it's not a dump
(12:31):
off offense that he was playing at, So even that
is not distorted. It's a legitimate seventy percent completion percentage
because he's spraying the ball all over the field. So again,
I was shocked when I actually, you know, took the
time to really watch and pay attention. You know, I
cover the Raiders, so admittedly I'm not paying attention to
what the Seattle Seahawks are doing on a game to
(12:51):
game basis. But I was pleasantly surprised how good of
a quarterback Gino Smith really is. And it'll be interesting
now with Pete here in Las Vegas, Chips Ellie, you
know the talent that he has. Jacoby Myers is a
really good wide receiver. Buck Bowers.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
That speaks for a.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
South ash and genty. This offense has a chance to
be to be much better than it was last year.
And I do wonder now playing on this kind of
a stage with the Raiders, if he's finally going to
get the flowers that he truly deserves.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Brady Quinn always told me because he was with the
Jets for that offseason when Gino Smith was there, and
he said, loves the dude and could always spin it
like he like, so he's not, to your point, He's
not one of these checkdown guys we can throw the football.
And to see that and to see him and Pete Carroll,
I think it does add a different if there's a
different energy level and a different buzz with just Pete Carroll.
(13:42):
But the fact that Gino Smith, his guy, is there
and the respect they have for each other just makes
them that much more fun to watch this year.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, I completely agree. And if if somehow, some way
the Raiders can can be an exciting competitive football team
and win some football games, and they got some national
stage games this year, you know like like these these
are the type of guys and and you know, I
haven't havn't talked to him now a few times, and
(14:10):
how exceptional he is as a human being, you know,
and and in all those regards, these these are the
type of guys that are pretty easy to root for,
especially knowing the story and the resiliency. This guy was
at backup quarterback with the Chargers with Justin Herbert. He
was a backup quarterback with Russell Wilson for three years
I think it was at least two years, and finally
got it. Never gave up, never, never gave in to
(14:31):
the fact that, well, this is my plight. I'm a
backup quarterback, prepared every every day as if he was
the starter. And then when he finally did get his
opportunity when Russell Wilson got traded, he didn't just see that.
He grabbed a hold of it and went running down
the field in a way nobody could have predicted. And
again has been one of the really good quarterbacks in
this league since then.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Thinny, I was going to ask you about you know,
Geno Smith's X the Seattle Seahawks. I mean, you know,
who knows what the plan is there? Sam Darnold's there,
and maybe Jalen Milroe gets an opportunity at some point.
But looking at that division, we've seen the Niners resign
Fred Warner, they resigned Brock Purty, George Kittle gets an extension,
they trade for Bryce Huff He's back and reunited with
(15:13):
Robert Sala. It does feel like the NFC West is
a two team race. It's either going to be the
Niners or the Rams. Do you see it the same way?
And what concern should the Rams have maybe outside of
San Francisco going into this year.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, you know, first and foremost, you know, making sure
Matthew Stafford is healthy from beginning to end. He's still
when he is healthy and protected, one of the best
quarterbacks in the NFL. To talk about a guy that
can sling it, he slings it like no other, and
he gives them an opportunity. I really think this is
a This year sets up pretty darn well for the
(15:51):
Rams to do some special things and what I still
think is a wide open you know, NFC. The Rams
had a chance to beat the Rams closest team to
beating Philadelphia, and probably if they hold onto the ball,
uh in the in the snowy conditions, probably beat the
Philadelphia Eagles. And that's not a stretch That's that's reality.
They had that game they had or they had the
(16:11):
lead and controlling their marching down the field, you know,
a couple of errors and the next thing you know,
the Eagles are coming back on them. But but they
showed just going in there and playing that competitive football game.
They can compete with the best team in this league
in this league, the Philadelphia Eagles. So keeping keeping their
quarterback and and their overall team healthy I think is
(16:32):
their biggest concern. I think they are the class of
the of the NFC West. I don't know what to
make of Seattle. You know, you lose DK Metcalf, you know,
they lost their other veteran wide receiver. It's hard to
get out of my mind what Sam Donald did the
last two games of the year, the game against the
Detroit Lions and again against the Rams. Was he exposed
(16:53):
a little bit in those two games?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Now?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Is he did? Do he kind of fall back to
being more more of the Sam Donald that we remember
in New York? Or can he bounce back and be
the guy that was a really good quarterback for the
for the Vikings for fifteen games last year. I don't
know that that remains to be seen. But I think
if you're if you're progress or talked thinking about and
projecting forward. Right now, it's hard to see a team
(17:16):
in the AFC West or NFC West, uh that that's
going to beat the Rams. Obviously, the forty nine ers,
you know, they're always going to be in it, but
they've they've they've lost some players since since last year,
and I feel like this is almost a regroup year
a little bit for them. But they're so well coached
and I'm a believer and party, so they'll give themselves
an opportunity. I just don't know if it's going to
(17:37):
be enough to beat the Rams.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, we will see, it'll be I think I think
you're right. I think it's a two team race. Vinnie
Chip Kelly leeds Ohio State, after helping them win a
national title, goes to the Raiders. Is he is he going?
Is he going to be content there any or is
he looking for another gig to be a head coach
in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, he's not ruling anything out, but but I think
he I think he likes this kind of life, being
you know, the the offensive guru, somebody that just has
to worry about about putting this offense together. And you know,
I know that he and he and Pete Carroll are
biden in a in a big way. And I know
(18:20):
Pete has the overall vision of what he wants the
offense to look like, you know, and and it is
gonna it's gonna make sure Chip is on the same
page with him. But he's basically giving Chip a lot
of carte blanche to do what he feels whatever works,
whatever whatever he feels he needs to do to make
it work. In Pete's vision, go for it, Go do it,
you know, and and and be aggressive and uh and
(18:41):
then do all your tricks. And I'm supporting it. So
I think he's found a really good situation here in
the NFL, and I think this is his niche. You know,
it felt like he kind of with everything that was
going on at u C l A and the n
I L and the transfer portal, you could you could
obviously tell that he just kind of threw up his
head and said, I don't want this anymore. I don't
(19:01):
need all that. I just want to go coach offense
and be content doing that and obviously did it at
a high level at Ohio State. Could that be what
he ends up feeling is his niche now in the NFL.
I think he's going to give it a few years
for sure, and then we'll see after that. You know,
Pete's going to be around at least three years, but
we all know how old he is and and he
(19:22):
might have to, you know, move on here fairly soon,
does Chip Kelly? Is he the coach in waiting after that?
That's a little bit down down the line, but I
could see maybe after two or three years him saying,
you know what, I've got one more chance to be
a head coach proved to here with the Raiders at
his offense of you know, turning this offense around and
maybe another team. We'll see the wisdom and giving him
(19:44):
another chance as a head coach. But as of right now,
it feels like this is what This is what he
feels his life is and what he does best, and
he feels pretty satisfied in that.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Vinnie. Before I let you go, I got to ask
you about this crazy story and Stefan Diggs on the boat,
that whole situation man with the interesting substance as he's
talking to some females, what do you know about that?
As the NFL is the NFL investigating that because they
kind of brushing it a little bit under the rug.
In New England. It's like, oh, you know, nice to
(20:15):
see you guys, and not even really talking about it,
and uh, you know, we'll you know, we'll deal with
it later.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, you know, I guess this is one of those
situations unless somebody came forward or said something or make
it made an accusation, you know, uh, what can they
really do at this point? Obviously not a good luck
for digs. And I mean, do you not see somebody
filming you right there? You know, like how does he
(20:44):
even let that happen? Unpresumably his own boat, you know,
that's his whole show right there, And so that was
a little bit that that showed some recklessness on his part.
I'm sure the New England Patriots and the NFL kind
of wanted this to just just just you know, fall
off in the middle of the ocean wherever they were
and never never come back. But you never know nowadays,
(21:06):
and you know, somebody might see an opportunity we all
know what I'm talking about, and and make something of it.
So I don't know, I don't know that the I
don't think the NFL is doing anything about it unless
somebody came forward with some sort of you know, accusation.
But I'm sure everybody kind of wants this thing to
uh to move on and move on from it. But
(21:26):
Diggs has got to be more responsible than that, for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
I mean, we were heralding you as our two C
expert Vinee.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Nobody calls me daddy anymore. I'll tell you that except
for my Uh, I don't even think my daughter even
says that anymore. So, Yeah, that's uh, that was a
whole other thing. If you listen to the audio that
that was. That was pretty wild. Does you have a girlfriend?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Now?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Isn't he going out with Cardi B? Isn't that so?
I just you know, I hate that we even have
to get into these types of stories. But but when
it's so, when when they throw it into your lap
as much much as they have, this is a prominent
NFL wide receiver going into a prominent team, there's no
there's no getting around having to comment on it or
(22:09):
write about it.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, you know, and you know Mike Rabel, who's he's
a nonsense guy. You know, he's sick when he saw
that and had to deal with that and answer questions
about it. You know, he's just like, what that. I
gotta deal with this guy for it?
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Man?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
What am I doing? What are we doing?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I would imagine that he gave him an ear fall.
I can only I would. I would have hate to
have been whether it was in person or on the
other end of the phone, because Babel had every right
to read him the Riot Act on that one and say, look,
you're already down one here. Let's not get down by
two because if you get down by two you might
be looking for a job someplace else.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, Vinnie, thanks so much, man, you are always the
best brother. Appreciate you joining us and be safe.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
All right, take care of you guys. Thanks for having
me on.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Thanks any yeah, many thanks to our man Vinnie Bots
and your listen. Well, it's end of an era on
one network, in the beginning of the same era on
another one. Let's get into it on the other side.
Jonahs knocks in for Fred Rogan AM five seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Hello Rogan and Robbie listener, did you know AM five
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Just go to Am five seventy LA Sports on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
App Roddy Bet Jonas Knox on a beautiful Tuesday. Check
this out before I forget and you don't forget. We
will be at the All New Sketchers in Torrents on Friday,
June sixth PHT. Crenshaw. We will be there from twelve
to two with clipperstar Norman Powell. Will also be giving
(23:51):
away ten pairs, yes, ten pairs of Dodger tickets to
an upcoming game. Make sure you join us twelve to two.
It'll be a lot of fun. We also have another
special guests and other prizes as well. Also in this hour,
we will give away two tickets to tomorrow Night's Dodgers
Mets game as well. So stay tuned. All right, Uh,
(24:12):
it's it's one of the if not the best sports
television shows out there, Jonas. I don't know if you
agree with that, but Inside the NBA with with Ernie
and and and Shaq and Kenny and and Charles Barkley
has been running for what over twenty years now, and
it's and it's always good, always good. They are candidates,
(24:35):
they are real. They let their hair down. Those that
do have hair, they let it down. Even if you don't,
they let it down. But it's just a great show.
But now the show is moving from tn T to
ESPN and Charles is kind of like of the broadcast world.
Charles is kind of like the Aaron Rodgers now of
(24:56):
the broadcast world, where you know, he's talking about retiring,
he's talk talked about that. A few years ago. He
didn't he wasn't sure if he wanted to make the
move to ESPN because I guess ESPN notoriously as you
work for forty different shows once you signed a contract there.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, they called the car wash. You go through the
ESPN car wash. You're appearing on all these different shows.
And it's like, I just saw him on ESPN two.
Now he's on ESPN News and then ESPN.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah. Not a fan, right, but you're a fan of
the show, right.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
I think it's the best. And you know Barkley is
you know, he was on with Dan Patrick yesterday on
A five seventy and he was talking about well, you know,
I've got a seven year contract, but I'm going to
give it two more years. Then he's doing it out
of you know, his commitment and loyalty and his love
for the guys he works with, both on camera and
the people behind the scenes. And everybody is saying, it's
(25:52):
going to be the same show. It's just going to
be on another network that they're going to still do
it out of Atlanta. It's going to be all the
production people, it's going to be the on air pole,
they're on camera guys. Everything is going to be the same.
It's just going to be elsewhere. And I want to
believe that, but.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
You know how this works.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Egos get involved, you're at a new place. Maybe somebody
wants to put their spin on it because they want
a little bit of credit for, you know, the success
of the show. If they just leave it alone and
let it do what it's always done, it's still going
to be a success because the most important ingredients are there.
I'm just a little skeptical that somebody's not going to
(26:35):
want to get involved or add a little bit of
a twist or a wrinkle into things, and then it's
not the same show that we've loved and watch for
all these years.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
It's inevitable, right, it's going to happen. You don't have
a bohemoth like you know, Disney, ABCESPN buy and spend
the money that they spent on the NBA and that
they're going to spend going forward and to get this
show without them putting their own tweaks on it. And
(27:05):
that's just something that it's going to take every effort
or those in charge, especially the guys coming over from
tn T that rand this show for a number of years,
to really try to put their foot down and not
allow that to happen. And on the flip side of that,
Charles is such a big personality and such a you know,
more likable guy than hate hate able guy that people
(27:29):
want to see him and they want to see more
of them and ESPN knows this, and and there there
are going to be I think several fights with him
or them wanting him to go on shows like First
Take and and Get Up and some of the other
shows that they've got or or do some of the
other you know, promotional things that they have going. And
(27:52):
it's going to be you know, and I'm sure that's
why it took so long for him to to sign
the deal to come on is that he did not
want to do that. And later years of his of
his of his contract, and as he winds down and
gets ready to retire, he's he's got other interest that
he wants to do as opposed to living at ESPN
all day.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
And by the way, Barkley was also saying something along
the lines of, you know, they they tried to do
a like a test show because they're thinking of, Okay,
well we'll have another show on the but we won't
have games or highlights, but it'll be another show. And
he said, you know, I don't know that anybody wants
to watch us as opposed to a real basketball game,
(28:33):
an actual basketball game on another platform. And I hear
him say that, and I go, man, I don't know.
I don't know either, because there's a lot of really
bad basketball teams. Like there's a lot of teams in
the NBA that nobody wants to watch.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, I mean you've got a game between you know,
you got your watching Orlando versus Charlotte, you know, and
you've got these guys you know, doing their stick. I mean,
what are most people gonna want to watch?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Like somebody throws on wizard's hornets at a bar, you know,
or you can have you know that. It's like, so
I hear what he's saying, but I think his concerns
is maybe because he's also cautious about what is this
going to look like. We've had such a great run
because we've done it our way, because we decided to
(29:24):
go bold and take chances to do a show different
from what the standard format was. And you can feel
it if you watch, you know, when they take turns,
because you know, somebody's got the Eastern Conference Finals, somebody's
got the Western Conference Finals. The different in quality and
entertainment from one pre and postgame show to the next
(29:44):
is night and day. It's just it's not even you.
You can't compete with that. And so yeah, they bring
them on, but I just don't touch it, don't mess
with it, don't don't do anything. Let them do what
they do and just in enjoy the ride. Don't put
your stamp on it. Don't try and infuse some other
faces onto the show. Don't let those four run rough
(30:08):
shot on you if they need to, because it's better content,
it's a better show, and that's why the show's always
worked the way it happens.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
At least at least for a couple of years. Right.
You know, if they're if they want to tweak it
and they say we're going to analyze this, sit back
and just let it happen and let them do what
they they've done for over twenty years. And then you know,
after a couple of those years, you can say, well,
I'd like to add this or do this and make
(30:37):
the minor changes or whatever. But don't come out of
the gates and oh now it's ours and we're gonna
run it the way we run it, because that will
kill the show. And Charles will walk from that show,
regardless if he's got a contract or not. He's walking.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Oh yeah, I mean listen, he's not like he needs
the money. I mean you know, he's like he's he's there, yeah,
and he's for his great And what's amazing about Barkley
is that, for as great as he was as a player,
I think most people just think of him as the broadcaster.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Now.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, I mean he was like, he's the guy's a
Hall of famer. He was really really good and he's
been so great as a broadcast and I've wondered next
to him, who's the greatest athlete turned broadcaster And the
only guy I could think of and he wasn't even
an athlete, was what John Madden.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, like as far as like it's got all that
charisma and package and knows of stuff. Yeah, yeah Madden.
Madden was incredible. But yeah, I can't think of someone
that's that that people absolutely love to listen to and
want to tune into on a regular basis. I mean
a lot of people don't don't even love Basketball Watch
(31:49):
inside the NBA. Yeah, but just because of that show,
and mainly because of Charles.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
And also it was the first time that you heard
broadcasters actually say their sports sucked. Like they would come
on and say, yeah, this game sucks, like there's nothing,
like there's these teams aren't good. Like they have a
segment called who he played for something like that where
they they don't know who these players are, right then
(32:16):
they'll just pop up random players in the league and
they have no idea who they are. So yeah, the
other show people would kill him for it. Oh my god,
you guys, don't you know who who does who's producing this?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
To say?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
It's like no, we're just gonna call it as is.
We don't know who these guys are. Sorry, and and
you can't really question him. Kenny Smith, a multiple time champion,
was a really good player. Charles Barkley is a Hall
of Famer, Shacks a Hall of Famer. And Ernie Johnson's
one of the best broadcasters when he calls baseball when
he when he calls baseball games. Ernie Johnson's fantastic for TBS.
(32:51):
So yeah, I just hopefully, hopefully they don't mess it up.
John give away some of these these Dodger tickets? Man,
what call her number?
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You got?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
You know, I'm thinking of a great number. And when
I think of Rodney Pete, I think of a great number. Okay,
that number is number nine. Okay, then let's do it,
number nine. Call her nine, all right? A sixty six?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
What is there? Number, Kevin? I forgot nine? Eight, seven, two,
five seventy is the number? Call her number nine? Call
it now, all right? Jonas NOx and for Fred Rogan
am five seventy LA sports? All right? Should you let
your kids play multiple sports or should they focus on
just one thing and one sport and really try to
(33:33):
be good at that. We'll get into that.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Next make AM five to seventy LA Sports so preset
before you plug in your phone. Presets in the iHeartRadio
app now available with Apple car Play and Android autom
Just another easy way to listen to LA's best sports talk.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Oh, congratulations to Rodolfo and Van Eyes. Radolfo and Van Eyes,
you are going to the Dodger game tomorrow night versus
the Mets. You've won the two tickets. Congratulations with d'lfhau
right Ago uh all right, Jonas Lebron James as a
U does a podcast with Steve Nash and they were
(34:17):
talking about kids and youth sports nowadays, and and he
was talking about he doesn't like it or he hates
it basically when you know, kids are forced to play
only one sports, whether it be baseball, basketball, football, and
they're not allowed and not encouraged to play other sports.
(34:38):
And I gotta tell you, I absolutely agree with him,
you know, And I know it's different nowadays all kids,
especially when they get a certain age, if they've got
any kind of talent, then they're gonna they start to
get their own coaches, and they've got their own trainers,
and they've got all these things. And and I felt
more the uh, the coaches at you know, at these
(35:01):
travel ball levels and these high school levels that basically
put the pressure on the kids that if you're not here,
or you don't show up for this, or you're not
playing baseball in the fall, you're not going to have
a spot in the spring. And and so kids are
discouraged from playing football in the fall if they are
also baseball players, and vice versa. Same thing with basketball
or even track. Whereas it used to be. I was
(35:26):
lucky because I had coaches that encouraged me to play
other sports, and they thought that playing other sports was
going to help me in their particular sport, which I
think it did. Playing basketball helped me to play and
go into baseball, and baseball helped my football and all
of those things. And I think, and I don't know,
you know, the stats or if it's a direct reflection,
(35:48):
but it feels like the amount of injuries that are happening,
especially kids with their arms and baseball, kids that are
playing baseball now twelve months out of the year, and
we're seeing more and more injuries to arms and to
to kids younger and younger. I think as a result
of them playing year round. I mean, what do you think.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, I mean, my son is four years old, and
I didn't know just the world that he loves baseball.
I was talking to Kevin about this during the braid.
He loves baseball. He seems like he's got pretty decent skills.
No idea where the hell he got that from. Definitely
not for me. So that's probably a conversation I got
(36:26):
to have with the missus after hours at some point.
But and so I'm you know, like looking at all, right,
well there's you know, T ball, and then somebody goes, yeah,
well you start off at T ball, but then there's
little league, and then there's pony ball, and then there's
fall ball. And I'm looking at and going wait what.
And I remember having a conversation with LeVar Arrington and
he was like, Hey, you're gonna find out that if
(36:49):
he continues to want to play that there's a tournament
every holiday. Oh yes, okay, there's a Memorial Day tournament.
There's an Easter weekend tournament. There's a Fourth of July tournament,
there's this, there's a Labor Day, there's and and I
start to he goes, you're just gonna if you have
kids that play sports. Your vacations are surrounding whatever event
(37:13):
they're traveling to to go compete in.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
By the way, they're not all in the same town.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
No, yeah, and so and so I've heard like some
of the prices that some of these leagues charge, and
you know, to Lebron's point, he was like, yeah, you know,
like you've got these specialists now, and these specialist coaches
who want to make it more about them than And
the one thing I always try and tell my son
is the most important thing is to have fun. Because
(37:40):
if you do get to a point to where you're
burnt out, and I can kind of sense it where
if he doesn't want to play, he's still the age
where he wants to play every day and that's all
he wants to do. He doesn't care about your iPads,
he doesn't care like you have no interest whatsoever. He
just wants to play ball. But if you do get
to that, you've got to be able to listen to
what the kid is saying and not what your intro
because you can burn kids out. I could see it.
(38:03):
I could see just one sport year round. Well, I
kind of want to go shoot hoops. No, no, no, no, no, no, No,
you've got batting You got to go to the batting
cages at this time. So I get his point, and
I do wonder how much of that is the kids
doing or if it's the parents who want it more
than the kids. This surreal problem.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yeah, I tend to think it's it's the latter and
the parents that that's at a certain age, or even
doesn't even have to be a certain age, but at
young ages. And I did. I coached my middle guy
in baseball when he was eleven and twelve. I coached
his team, and we then coach the All Star team.
(38:44):
And I would have to deal with some of these
parents that already had their kids the number one pick
in the draft, you know, at seventeen eighteen years old,
and these kids were only eleven and twelve, and just
I mean, they would beat me up or I want
him to do this, and I want him to do that.
I say, is he having fun? Is he having fun?
(39:07):
Because that's the number one thing first of all. Is
he having fun? Well, he seems to be having And
I say, either you know you don't? Yeah, right, And
and a lot of times it is the parents that
are trying to live their life through their kids for
whatever reason that they got to a certain point and
they see this in their son and now I'm gonna
push him. And that's the way you've got to do it.
(39:27):
And they got to do it year round, where well,
you don't have to. You don't have to. I played
three sports until and until I was through high school,
and then in college I played two, you know, and
and so you don't have to necessarily just focus on
one thing. I think it's a great thing. Like you said,
sometimes you know, your buddies are out going to play
hoops or you just want to, you know, and and
(39:49):
you go to the gym or go to the park
and play hoops with them, and there are these parents.
Is no like you said, no, we're going you got
you got uh you got a five o'clock batting practice
with h coach Alvarez over here and he's gonna he's
gonna take you. And then you got fielding practice with
coach Jacobs right after that, and then then you got
to hit the gym, you know, and get your weight
(40:10):
training in. And this kid is eleven years old.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Right, It's like he's still not potty trained. Like man
man that that kid bat's four eighty and uh, you
know he's got power to boat from both sides of
the plate and he's got to he's got gold glove potential.
Still not potty trained at eleven years old, it's like yeah,
at some point, like like too too much can wear
like too much of anything. Moderation's key for most things
(40:36):
in life, and it could just wear you down. What
did your calendar look like though, Like, so if we're
talking from football season, which would start what like around
late July early on.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
I would start late July early August, so I you know,
I would you know, start that, but also I would
I would you know, play on the on whatever team.
But baseball would kind of overlap that a little bit
because you know, certain baseball leagues if you played in
the summertime and you went to did playoffs or whatever
(41:06):
that and I played American Legion and I played some
other stuff along the way, so you played a little bit.
But once football and two A days started, then it
was all football from August all the way until end
of November early December, if you if you went that far,
and then you know, by that time basketball had already
started practicing, and then you were you were late to
(41:28):
start the basketball practice, so you oftentimes I didn't even
have more than two days off from the last game
of football until jumping right into basketball. And then basketball
went until March, and again baseball would had already started
because they they were and I would. I grew up
in Arizona, so you could do that all year round,
(41:49):
so you know, baseball guys were out there in January
getting ready to play and doing practice games and all
that stuff, and I would join them in March and
we'd play all the way through the end of the year.
So it was definitely a NonStop but I didn't get
burned out because I wasn't stayed playing football, get done
with football, and then have to go back and go
(42:09):
to a football camp in January, and then in the
spring you do another passing clinic that you do in football.
It was a change of sports that kept my interest
because by the time football was over, I was looking
forward to basketball, and then when basketball was over, I
look forward to, Oh, I'm joining the baseball team. Now
it's a different sport. Now it's gonna be cool as
(42:32):
opposed to, man, I gotta go throw the football again,
I gotta go. You know, it's January. Football season's over.
Everybody else is playing basketball. I want to go play bath.
I didn't have that, so I was always looking forward
to the next sports, which allowed me to kind of
have that anticipation, which was great.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
I mean, I just think lesson is like, if you're
a parent, just come to terms with the fact that
the reason why your grooming your kid to play is
because you probably sucked. Okay, Like, let's just like I
just came to terms with that a long time ago,
and this is not about me. I just want him
to have a good time. I've got my my other interest.
(43:11):
I figured out pretty quickly. Oh yeah, Like you know,
I was fast when I want a jogathon in fourth
grade and then all of a sudden, I got to
middle school and I was like, why am I finishing thirtieth?
What happened here? There was there was a significant leap
that I didn't make that other kids made, And if
you just come to terms with that, just enjoy the
ride and and go watch, Like I can't wait to
(43:32):
watch him play littlely like he plays t ball, but
I can't wait to be there and experience that because
everything I hear from parents is it's one of the great.
It's one of the things you enjoy and look forward
to is getting to watch your kids play the sports.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
That's all you need to do is be a fan.
All right, I'm man from the ballpark. David Vassey is
going to join us on the other side to talk
to Dodgers as they get ready to play Game two
against the New York Mets. Stay tuned. Oh, congratulations to
(44:17):
Rodolpho and Van Eyes. Rodolfo and Van Eyes, you are
going to the Dodger game tomorrow night versus the Mets.
You won the two tickets. Congratulations Radelfho right ago uh
all right? Jonas Lebron James as Ah does a podcast
with Steve Nash and they were talking about kids and
(44:37):
youth sports nowadays, and and he was talking about he
doesn't like it or he hates it basically, when you know,
kids are forced to play only one sports, whether it
be baseball, basketball, football, and they're not allowed and not
encouraged to play other sports. And I gotta tell you,
(44:58):
I I absolutely agree with them, you know, And I
know it's different nowadays. All kids, especially when they get
a certain age, if they got any kind of talent,
then they're gonna they start to get their own coaches,
and they've got their own trainers, and they've got all
these things. And I felt more the coaches at you know,
(45:20):
at these travel ball levels and these high school levels,
that that basically put the pressure on the kids that
if you're not here, or you don't show up for this,
or you're not playing baseball in the fall, you're not
gonna have a spot in the spring. And and so
kids are discouraged from playing football in the fall if
they are also baseball players, and vice versa. Same thing
with basketball or even track. Whereas it used to be,
(45:44):
I was lucky because I had coaches that encouraged me
to play other sports, and they thought that playing other
sports was gonna help me and their particular sport, which
I think it did. Play a basketball helped me to
play and go into baseball, and baseball helped my football
and all of those things. And I think, and I
don't know, you know, the stats or if it's a
(46:05):
direct reflection, but it feels like the amount of injuries
that are happening, especially kids with their arms and baseball,
kids that are playing baseball now twelve months out of
the year, and we're seeing more and more injuries to
arms and to kids younger and younger, I think as
a result of them playing year round. I mean, what
do you think?
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Yeah, I mean my son is four years old and
I didn't know just the world that he loves baseball.
I was talking to Kevin about this during the break.
He loves baseball. He seems like he's got pretty decent skills.
No idea where the hell he got that from? Definitely
not for me. Come So that's that's probably a conversation
(46:45):
I gotta have with the missus after hours at some point.
But and so I'm, you know, like looking at all, right,
well there's you know, T ball, and then somebody goes, yeah,
well you start off a T ball, but then there's
little league, and then there's pony ball, and then there's
fall ball. And I'm looking at and go wait what.
And I remember having a conversation with LeVar Arrington and
he was like, hey, you're going to find out that
(47:08):
if he continues to want to play that there's a
tournament every holiday. Yes, okay, there's a Memorial Day tournament.
There's an Easter weekend tournament. There's a Fourth of July tournament.
There's this there's a labor day, there's and and I
start to he goes, you're just gonna if you have
kids that play sports, your vacations are surrounding whatever event
(47:32):
they're traveling to to go compete in.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
By the way, they're not all in the same town.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
So I've heard like some of the prices that some
of these leagues charge, and you know, to Lebron's point,
he was like, yeah, you know, like you've got these
specialists now, and these specialist coaches who want to make
it more about them than And the one thing I
always try and tell my son is the most important
thing is to have fun because if you do to
a point to where you burn out, and I can
(48:01):
kind of sense it where if he doesn't want to play,
he's still the age where he wants to play every
day and that's all he wants to do. He doesn't
care about your iPads, he doesn't care like he had
no interest whatsoever. He just wants to play ball. But
if you do get to that, you've got to be
able to listen to what the kid is saying and
not what your interests are, because you can burn kids out.
I could see it. I could see just one sport
(48:24):
year round. Well, I kind of want to go shoot hoops. No no, no, no, no, no, no,
you've got batting. You got to go to the batting
cages at this time. So I get his point, and
I do wonder how much of that is the kids doing,
or if it's the parents who want it more than
the kids it's.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
The real problem. Yeah, I tend to think it's it's
the latter and the parents that that's at a certain age,
or even doesn't even have to be a certain age,
but at young ages. And I did. I coached my
middle guy in baseball when he was eleven and twelve.
I coach his team, and we then coach the all
(49:01):
Star team, and would have to deal with some of
these parents that already had their kids the number one
pick in the draft, you know, at seventeen eighteen years old,
and these kids were only eleven and twelve, and and
just I mean, they would beat me up or I
want him to do this, and I want him to
(49:22):
do that. I say, is he having fun? Is he
having fun? Because that's the number one thing first of all.
Is he having fun? Well, he seems to be having
And I say, either you know, you don't, yeah, right,
And a lot of times it is the parents that
are trying to live their life through their kids for
whatever reason that they got to a certain point and
(49:42):
they see this in their son and now I'm going
to push him. And that's the way you've got to
do it. And they got to do it year round,
where well, you don't have to. You don't have to.
I played three sports and until I was through high school,
and then in college I played two, you know, and
and so you don't have to necessarily just focus on
on one thing. I think it's a great thing. Like
you said, sometimes you know, your buddies are out going
(50:04):
to play hoops or you just want to, you know,
and and you go to the gym or go to
the park and play hoops with them, and there are
these parents. Is no, like you said, No, we're going
you got you got uh you got a five o'clock
batting practice with UH coach Alvarez over here and he's
gonna he's gonna take you. And then you got fielding
practice with coach Jacobs right after that, and then then
(50:27):
you got to hit the gym, you know, and get
your weight training in. And it's kid is eleven years.
Speaker 3 (50:31):
Old, right, it's like he's still not potty trained, like
man man that that kid bat's four eighty and uh,
you know he's got power to boat from both sides
of the plate and he's got he's got gold glove potential.
Still not potty trained at eleven.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Years old, it's like dud.
Speaker 4 (50:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
At some point, like like too too much can wear
like too much of anything. Moderation's key for most things
in life, and it could just wear you down. What
did your calendar look like though, Like so if we're
talking from football season, which would start what like around
late July early on, I.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Would start late July early August, so I you know,
I would you know, start that, but also I would
I would you know, play on the on whatever team.
But baseball would kind of overlap that a little bit
because you know, certain baseball leagues. If you played in
the summertime and you went to did playoffs or whatever
(51:25):
that and I played American Legion and played some other
stuff along the way, so you played a little bit.
But once football and two A days started, then it
was all football from August all the way until uh
end of November early December. If you if you went
that far, and then you know, by that time basketball
had already started practicing, and then you were you were
(51:46):
late to start the basketball practice, so you oftentimes I
didn't even have more than two days off from the
last game of football until jumping right into basketball. And
then basketball went until March, and again baseball would had
already started because they they were, and I would. I
grew up in Arizona, so you could do that all
(52:07):
year round, so you know, baseball guys were out there
in January getting ready to play and doing practice games
and all that stuff, and I would join them in
March and we'd play all the way through the end
of the year. So it was it was definitely a
NonStop but I didn't get burned out because I wasn't
stayed playing football, get done with football and then have
to go back and go to a football camp in January,
(52:30):
and then in the spring you do another passing clinic
that you do in football. It was a change of
sports that kept my interest because by the time football
was over, I was looking forward to basketball, and then
when basketball was over, I'd look forward to, Oh, I'm
joining the baseball team. Now it's a different sport now
it's gonna be cool as opposed to, Man, I gotta
(52:53):
go throw the football again. I gotta go. You know,
it's January. Football season's over. Everybody else is playing basketball.
I want to go play bath. I didn't have that,
so I was I was always looking forward to the
next sports, which allowed me to kind of have that anticipation,
which was great.
Speaker 3 (53:08):
I mean, I just think Lesson is like, if you're
a parent, just come to terms with the fact that
the reason why you're grooming your kid to play is
because you probably sucked. Okay, Like, let's just like I
just came to terms with that a long time ago,
and this is not about me. I just want him
to have a good time. I've got my other interest.
(53:30):
I figured out pretty quickly. Oh yeah, Like you know,
I was fast when I want a jogathon in fourth
grade and then all of a sudden, I got to
middle school and I was like, why am I finishing thirtieth?
What happened here? There was there was a significant leap
that I didn't make that other kids made, And if
you just come to terms with that, just enjoy the
ride and and go watch, Like I can't wait to
(53:51):
watch him play littlely like he plays t ball. But
I can't wait to be there and experience that because
everything I hear from parents is it's one of the
great It's one of the things you enjoy and look
forward to, is getting to watch your kids play the sport.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
That's all you need to do is be a fan.
Speaker 3 (54:12):
Sports.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
All right, I'm man from the ballpark. David Vassi is
going to join us on the other side to talk
to Dodgers as they get ready to play Game two
against the New York Mets. Stay tuned
Roggin And Rodney News
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