September 5, 2025 • 41 mins
The Dodgers were swept by the Pirates and Miguel Rojas has had enough of it. Will things turn around in Baltimore this weekend? Steve Ballmer spoke on the record about the accusations that he and the Clippers attempted to circumvent the salary cap by hooking up Kawhi Leonard with a company that created a false endorsement deal for him.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, here we go with the big Friday show.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yes, another one hour sprint for us today, as the
Dodgers are still on the road and I know they
hope they get off the road soon because it has
not been kind to the boys in blue. Got to
get that thing back going. Let's talk about though. In
his first hour and it's only hour that we're on today,
(00:25):
we got to talk some Dodgers. Also, we got some
audio of Steve Balmer and can we hear him? Kind
of interesting, Rodney, I gotta tell you something. I gotta
be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah. By the way, good afternoon, Rodney, Good afternoon. For
a couple of things off the top. First, thanks to
everybody that came down to BJ's yesterday in Irvine. That
was a fun time, great time. Really appreciate everybody coming
down being a part of the show. I thought Lennelle
performed exceptionally well. Annoy your squad. Hey finished strong, he started.
See here's the thing. Lennelle listens all the time. He's
(01:02):
probably listening right now, and we have great admiration for Lonell.
And remember when we play one of the games. We
haven't played a game of a year, but when we
play one of the games. What are the requirements when
we play the game is for you to talk. That's
very important. So when we ask the question, you have
(01:23):
to answer. If you don't answer, then you don't have
much of a chance to win. Lenell did finish strongly,
so we have to give him credit, and we did
give him the prize. I think he got the Bjay's
gift card, which is terrific. But remember, if we play
the games again, it is very important for you to answer.
(01:45):
Just wanted to say that, and thanks to everybody. What
a great time. Really nice people down there too, good crowd,
nice people.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Rodney. Yeah, it was great, great time there. It was
much better than to drive down and back. I'll tell
you that, Gred.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Listen, let's just talk about that for a second. First,
Orange County is beautiful. It really, it's just spectacular, and
we probably none of us get down there enough. And
one of the reasons is, oh my god, I cannot
remember a time I've seen traffic like that. And we
came from different places, which was even funnier. I started
in a different spot than you did this time, because
(02:21):
I thought, oh no, it'll be a lot faster if
I come from this direction. It was about the same time.
So for those of you who came down, you all
get hazardous duty pay because it wasn't easy beating the
traffic yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
You pay it.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
They didn't. Oh no, you mean they didn't get the
checks before they left. Oh so we're sorry, d next time.
Next time, we'll have to make that Freddy, Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That was bad.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Okay, let's do the Dodgers. Miguel Rojas pressure frustration. It's
happening within the team. You knew they would struggle yesterday
against schemes they did. He outdueled Blake Snell. Uh Mickey.
Rojas said, we know what we're capable of. We're playing
under the threshold the goal that we have. But at
the end of the day, we got to put all
that aside. We have to find a way to find
(03:14):
some joy and motivation to come to the ballpark. Not
just I gotta go do my job. We have to
come here and enjoy ourselves around the clubhouse, regardless of
the situation. So there you go. Now it's real. Now
they're openly admitting it. Oh now it's real. Now, Well
when the players are starting that, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
They've been saying that all season, you know, not like that. Yeah,
what else can you say when you're asking a million
questions about why you guys are struggling?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
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Speaker 1 (04:10):
All right, so the positive news seen because there's always
a silver lining, Rodney, nothing is ever really that dire.
There's always a silver lining. And here's the silver lining
they're on in Pittsburgh seeing.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The Mighty Pirates, they looked like the Pirates of nineteen
seventy nine, for it had Dave Parker and Willie Stargell,
the mad Dog. I mean really, Bill Garner, I remember
that whole lineup. Yeah, they made him look like it
was the Pirates World Series and they swept the Dodgers. Boy,
(04:46):
it did not look pretty. Those three games were as
ugly as the Dodgers have played.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
For whatever reason, and maybe it's supposed to work out
this way. They're still in first place. But if we're
to be honest, and again, it's how you finish, So
there's time to finish here. Tonight could be the night
where everything falls into place. But as a first place
team right now, they are the worst first place team
(05:13):
in baseball. They're the worst. Think about that.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, I couldn't argue with that because you look around
the Phillies. Phillies are they're not this bad. Certainly the
Brewers aren't. You know it just woof, it is ugly
with the capital you right now, with the Dodgers, there's nothing,
there's nothing they can say. There's no more talk, there's
(05:42):
no more reasoning, there's no more oh this, we gotta
do this, we gotta it's gotta go do it. You
can't talk your way out of this, right you gotta
just go do it. And it happens, It happens. O.
If it doesn't, it doesn't. But you know what else
is got our guys gonna gonna say after a series
that you know, now they got Baltimore. Baltimore who just
(06:04):
you know, played pretty well against the Padres. Now you know,
facing the Dodgers. It will be up It'll be their
World series facing the Dodgers now, so you know this
is gonna be interesting, Roague. For the rest of September
for the Dodgers and see where they are. I think
we can probably resign to the fact that they are
(06:24):
going to be playing that three game series.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I don't even know what to say after that, to
be honest with you. I mean, I'm still hope against hope.
I'm still of the belief that somehow, some way they
can catch fire. But boy, if we really believe that
they are going to be in that three game series,
then things are even more wrong than we thought they were.
(06:53):
And maybe a three game series will mean nothing, and
maybe they'll they'll just light it up and go on
that run, and there's a possibility they and maybe at
the end of the day, all of this won't matter.
Like I said, the regular season really doesn't because all
that matters is the playoffs. So maybe in that one stretch,
maybe they will finish the year as they began the
year when they were red hot. Maybe that will happen
(07:16):
for whatever reason, maybe will be very different. But if
you look at the body of work at this point
in time. There is something seriously wrong here, and I
don't know what the manager does. I don't know what
Dave Roberts should say. What are you gonna start yelling
at guys? These are men, they are champions, they're well paid,
(07:39):
they're veterans. They know what to do, but for whatever reason,
they can't just kick it into gear. They can't build
any momentum. And it's that same thing about body language schemes.
(08:00):
Yesterday looked like he was gonna mow him down. He
just looked that way. He did.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
It always looks that way. I mean, he's used to it.
You know, he's he's playing for the Pirates, so it's
not like he's you know, his record before yesterday was
nine and nine. Nine and nine leads the league in
era and his record is nine and nine. That's that's unbelievable.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves in Pittsburgh to
(08:31):
let that be a waste. A guy that's giving up
barely two runs every time he goes out and he's
nine and nine. But yeah, you said it. There's there's
there's no more talk, there's nothing to do. It's just
there's there's it's not a lack of effort or want to.
It's just they're not doing it. And sometimes sometimes it's
(08:53):
just sports and that's the way it happens. There's no
magic crystal ball or anything like that they can snap
you out of it or anything.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
It is.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Sometimes you just got to go through it, dig yourself out,
and hopefully turn it around in time to get, like
you say, get hot as the playoffs roll around. But
you know, we can say the same thing you think
we're We're sitting here, you know, scratching our heads and
pissed off and mad and wondering what's going on? What
(09:25):
do you think they're doing down in San Diego. I mean,
you talk about a golden opportunity for them to make
up some ground, and they lost four straight, you know,
and you know who's one four straight? San Francisco, San Francisco.
(09:47):
If the Padres don't watch out, San Francisco could pass them.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
If I'm the Padres, I am on the brink of
hysteria now, yeah, because as bad as it's been for
the Dodgers, man, it has been bad. When you've got
them in your sights, the Padres have them in their sights.
They see them, They got them, They got them and
they can't. Now they've picked this time to start losing.
(10:17):
They've got them. Let's be honest here, they got them
and they can't catch them. Maybe that should give encouragement
to the Dodgers. They're behind us, they can see us.
We've been battling all year and they really, at a
critical juncture, could get us, and quite frankly, by all accounts,
(10:40):
they should and they can't.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, they were playing at home. They were playing at home.
And you think about it, You think about the golden
opportunity of the way the Dodgers. They could be three
games up on the Dodgers, they could be more than
that up on the Dodgers, and they've squandered the opportunity.
(11:06):
I don't you know. It's again, it goes back. It's sports.
Sometimes it doesn't go the way you want it to go.
And you know, the thing you can't do is overthink it.
And that's it's hard. It's easy to say and hard
to do because you you want to overanalyze why you're
not winning, why you're not playing consistency, consistency when you've
(11:26):
done it in the past, as you mentioned, these are pros.
They've done it. We've seen them do it, and why
why can't it be done again? Why can't we consistently
be the juggernaut that we are? But sometimes there's no
real answer to it because it's collective. It's not just
one guy. It's as a team. They have been bad,
(11:48):
and they've been bad since that eight and no start,
bad meaning inconsistent since that eight and no start. Yeah,
now you would say, I would think as a guy
that played, this is when the veterans step up. This
is when the veterans talk. They you know, guys, come on,
this is the night. You don't need a closed door meeting,
(12:08):
but this is when the veterans step up. You don't
think that happens, and I think it has. That's my point.
And it's still this way. It's still this way. I
said before the trade deadline, they need hitting.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You said that. As a matter of fact, if I
remember correctly, you said it as well, they need hitting, hitting, hitting.
So they traded. They acquired Alex call and brock Stewart.
Brock Stewart immediately got hurt, which somewhat is traditional. The
guy comes in, he s heart immediately, he'll be back
(12:46):
soon in the bullpen and that will help. But they
need hitting. I can't remember, Rodney, And you think back
in the last five years years. Sure, the club has
gone through ups and downs, right, and there have been
periods of wins and then they've gone on a losing street. Acknowledged,
(13:10):
But when were they this inconsistent. It's like if they
were bad, they were bad, but then they were great,
right then they were really good. It's kind of like
they're in a malaise. They're just so inconsistent, and that's
why you can't you can't put your finger on it.
You'll tell me a Dodger team in the last five years,
(13:31):
six years that has had the kind of season they've
had defensively this year. Think back is Dave Roberts that
say play clean baseball. You tell me a year in
the last seven where they have had these kinds of
problems on defense. I can't are as many. I honestly
(13:54):
can't tell you. I can't think of one.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, I can't, I can't. But I also can't remember
in the last five years how many different players have
played different positions either as much as I mean, I'm
talking about second base and third base, Mookie and Freddie's
been there pretty much all year. But you know, left
(14:22):
field has been mainly comfortable. Call has played out there,
you know, obviously had the issues with Tail, and right
Piez has moved since Edmund has been down, been moved
to center pretty much full time. But now you've got
yet Kim in there playing second base. So I mean,
it's been adjustments. So now I can't but main thing,
(14:45):
I can't remember the Dodgers' bats being cold like this
pretty much all season. Now we can say it's it's
been pretty much all season where they their offense has
not been what it's been in the past in the
past five years, at least.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Fair. And look at the guys in the lineup. Max
Muntzy being out hurts.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
You know, got immune to struggling because he struggled before
he got hurt.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, but you really see just his presence there, You
really see what that means. But even look at the lineup, Otani, Mookie, Freddy,
Tail has not had a great year. He's been hurt. Uh.
Will Smith has had a very good year, cool, tough,
got hot again. Now he's fine. Confordo has been a problem,
(15:35):
not that he hasn't tried, but he just hasn't hid. Uh.
Tommy Edmund went out. That's a problem. Key K's not
going to kill the ball in the regular season. Whether
he's injured, hurt, it doesn't matter it. Don't be deluded,
he's not. He doesn't. So he's key K and he
wouldn't be the missing bat. Uh who else? Rowhouse he's
(16:01):
hid well when he's played, he's Okay. Mcgah had a
bad year. Yeah, right, that absolutely, and so then it
comes down to, Okay, you're not getting the hits when
you need them. Bases loaded, nobody out, nothing, nothing in
the last five years, that would never have happened. They
(16:23):
had twice in the again two days ago. Yeah, you
would never have seen that with the with the Dodger
potent offense that we've seen over the last five years,
at them have bases loaded, nobody out and come away
with nothing. Series before they had bases loaded and nobody
(16:44):
out and they only got one run out of it.
That that really hurt them, you know, in those time
of games. He told me, that's a team that.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
We always have known the Dodgers as a team that
takes advantage of situations like that. And when they got
somebody down, as we'd like to say, you put your
foot on their throat and you knock them out. They
have not had a knockout punch this year. They have
not had that knockout blow in their arsenal this year.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Have they won some big They've won some games by
a lot of runs. Don't get us wrong. Yeah, they've
had some games or they've scored a lot of runs.
But in those games, what did you feel You thought
that was the exception, not the rule. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we scored twelve on them. Okay, when is that going
(17:37):
to happen again when in past years? Okay, we scored
twelve on them, Well, Tom will score fifteen.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
It's like everything that is right is an aberration. It's
the exception. When in the past, when something went wrong,
that was the exception or the aberration. Somebody makes a
mistake on defense, Well you don't see that very often.
Nobody saw that one coming. Okay, this year, oh my god,
(18:09):
another mistake on defense. It's like it's opposite. It's an
opposite season of what you expect. Now, to their credit, again,
they're in first place.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Do you feel good about that first place?
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Do I feel good that they're in first place?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah? You're comfortable with them where they are now first place.
I guess you have to be because the Padres are
just as are worse than the Dodgers, right, the team
that's closest to them, that can really only team that
can really catch them. I don't see even know San Francisco.
They won nine out of last ten. I mean, things
(18:48):
keep going like this, we might be talking about them
in a mix with twenty games left. They got a
chance if.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It goes like this.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
But really, the Padres are the team, and again, like
we said, they have not taken advantage of this opportunity,
which it's got to be driving them and their fans
crazy that they haven't been able to take advantage of it.
But again, I don't know what you say. You can't
say anything, and then all of a sudden, Fred, something clicks,
something happens, a game happens, a play happens, someone else
(19:20):
gets hot, and it becomes contiguous. This is like a
lot of things, and unfortunately in sports, you can't put
your finger on it. There's not a speech you can give.
There's not a talk you can give. You mentioned the veterans.
They can talk all they want, and I'm sure they have,
but you got to apply it to the field and
make it happen collectively. And they know they're a good team.
(19:43):
They know they can beat anybody when they're at their best.
They just haven't been at their best.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Most have you heard about this new grooming shop in
Los Angeles? It is called Hammer and Nails. It's a
booth of the Sata Monica Classics. So here's the deal.
We have a gift card to Hammer and Nails and
this place is pretty cool for male grooming. A six
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Speaker 3 (20:08):
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Speaker 1 (20:33):
All Right, who's ready for her haircuts, hot shaves, hand
and foot care? Who's ready? Eight six, six nine eighty
seven two five seventy Rodney? What call her number number six?
Rare number six?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
The La Dodgers are on the road in Baltimore to
take on the Orioles.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Welcome to September. The faosa reproaching Dodgers want to win
the West. Sporadically, they're show game. Don't miss a game,
do not miss it here.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
That's right. You know the song. It's Friday.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Don't care, don't care for even if it's for one hour.
We don't care. Freddy damn right. I'll tell you who
does care? Phil Mortonson. You know why he's done it.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
He's about to give card to Hammer and Nails, the
newest men's grooming shop in La Stop by the Hammer
and Nails booth at the Santa Monica Classic tomorrow for
your chance to want a gift card to Hammer and Nails.
It's a new destination for men who are ready to
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hand and foot care, all delivered and relax like a
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Speaker 2 (21:55):
Ooh, nothing like a hot shave.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
You like that? I do you ever get the straight razor?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Straight razor hot shave and the barbershop? Yeah, that's very nice.
Then it's scared you when they used to the straight razor. Oh,
you gotta look the guy in the eyes first. Yeah,
the bomber in the eye. You gotta you gotta test
him out, but uh no, when to get it really
fine and really close, use that straight razor. You don't
(22:23):
like the straight razor, friends, I don't like the straight racer.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't like it. I see that thing coming. I'm like,
I'm thinking scalpel and I'm not on prople fall. I
don't need that, you know what I mean. I like
a clochet, but I'll just go to thank you.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
I'll get especially scare one. Like the barber is like
telling the story to monsters.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Another thing.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
I told that mofo and he's here trying to get
a straight raiser, like, hey, man, can we calm that down?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
The next four minutes he's on your he's on your
neck or or john.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
He keeps raising it off and talking and using it,
using it to talk with Yeah, he's like, come on, man,
focus folks. Focus kind of thing is in your hand.
The guy's got a weapon in his hand.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
At least he could pay attention, you know what I mean,
maybe like a doctor in an operating room with a
scalpel waving it around, going yeah, so I told this
guy that's how sharp it is.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I mean, if you're under you haven't. You're none the
wiser anyway at that point, right, Yeah, you don't know
what they do there. You have no idea what I'm
not even gonna start thinking about that. They might have
lost a ring or bring your nail in there or
something like that. Okay, still in your body before sold up?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Oh? God? Like the Old Side Fell episode where uh,
where Kramer lost a junior mint. He was observing the
surgery and a junior mint fell into the patient and
they sewed him up. He had a junior mint inside
him and said, you.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Think happened that junior mint? Does it dissolve? It stays
junior mint? That's a good question, Kevin. What do you
think you know this?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Kevin?
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Well, my you know background as an MD uh, clearly
it dissolves there you go there you are.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Dissolves or I read at one point it becomes part
of your liver. Oh, I think that's what happens.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
What do you mean it becomes part of it? Like
confuses together.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yes, it attaches infuses. I think if somebody loses something
inside you, it attaches to your liver. Have you ever
heard that?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Well, of course not. I made it up. So all right,
We talked about the Steve Bamber situation earlier in the week,
and it created quite a ster nationally. Pablo Torre had
the story. There was a company, Aspiration, in which Steve
Bamber invested fifty million dollars Aspiration and also Aspiration was
a partner of the Clippers. Aspiration signed Kawhi Leonard to
(24:41):
an endorsement deal seven million a year for four years.
Twenty eight million dollars. Aspiration goes bankrupt and it turns
out that Kawhi Leonard got paid for doing nothing. He
didn't have to show up for anything, he didn't have
to tell anybody anything.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
He just got paid.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
So the suspicion was that the Clipper, Steve Baumer, invested
in this company, who then hired Kawhi Leonard as an
endorser so the Clippers could circumvent the salary cap and
Kawhi could be paid more money, which is expressly against
(25:20):
NBA rules. So that was the report. We talked about
it here on the show. I said, I don't believe that, now,
That's what I said. I said, I don't think Steve
Balmer would do that anyway. He now has to make
some public statements and he went on with Ramona Shelburn
and Kevin clipped some of the bites from Steve Balmer.
(25:43):
So let's start with his relationship with the failed company
and how Kawhi got involved.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
Cut one, we made an investment in the company, so
all fine. I had no control over this company. That
is important. Actually under the salary cap rules, I owned
less than three center of the company. There were investors
who put in a lot more money than I did.
I had no board seat, I had no control. We
(26:08):
had already signed our deal with Kawhi Leonard. We signed
that in August of twenty one, fourth year at his option.
It was the most that we could pay him. That
was the most we could do it under the rules,
if you will, that would have been August. In September.
We got the deal done for sponsorship and investment. We
announced that and at that time we hadn't even introduced
(26:31):
the aspiration, hadn't asked or we hadn't introduced for sure
Kauhi to Aspiration. We were done. They were done all
the We were done with Kauhi. We were done with Aspiration.
The deals were all locked and loaded. Then they did
request to be introduced to Kauai under the rules. We
(26:51):
can introduce our sponsors to our athletes, we just can't
be involved. We made an introduction that was in early November,
well passed. When all of this happens.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Okay, where do you think so far? Rodney I didn't
say anything with else? What did he say that we
didn't know? He just explained, well, he said he owns
three for less than three percent or whatever he owns.
But to suggest that he had no involvement and they didn't.
(27:28):
They didn't run it by him that they were going
to sign Kawhi to this is that what he said.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
No, he said they had the right to introduce them,
which they did, but that's where it stopped.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And he had no idea that they were signing him
to an endorsement deal.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Well, let's find out cut two. Balmer says, these claims
are provably false.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
We had a chance recently to go through all of
our relations with Aspiration. This is this is where you
get to kind of how you prove this stuff. We
as a part of our cooperation with the Department of
Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, we had produced
text emails. We'd already gone through all this stuff because
(28:11):
it was part of document production. In their investigations, and
we even found the email that makes the first introduction.
It was early November. I won't remember the exact date.
So where could any of this circumvention have happened? It didn't,
It couldn't have. The introduction got made, and then they
(28:33):
were off to the races on their own.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
All right. He says it's one hundred percent falls Rodney.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
That's what he says.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Okay. Then he was asked, you know, Steve, this looks
fishy to the fans, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 7 (28:54):
We signed that deal with Kawhi before any of this,
before any of this, before Kui even knows these people.
We've signed our deal. That's my integrity. We made our
deal with Aspiration. Literally I had no control over the company. Literally,
even when I invested, I think there was somebody put
(29:16):
in six times as much money as as I did.
No control, And that's okay. The average fan should understand that.
And they went off and made a deal. I don't
know what the deal is. I know what the reports
are with the speculation, I don't know what the deal
is or was, And frankly, I can't even tell you
whether it's this much different, that much different or not
(29:38):
different at all from some of the other endorsement contracts
that athletes do. In terms of amount, I don't know.
I actually don't know the amounts of most endorsement deals.
But when you look at Forbes magazine and they talked
about the highest paid athletes, many of those top athletes,
as Kawhi was a top athlete, is a top athlete.
You read those things, so they say they make up
(30:01):
more off endorsements than they do their very large salaries.
So I don't know what to expect, but I think
the average fan may not either. But we did things
by the book, and I don't know what those deals
should look like, nor do I know what this one
looked like specific All.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Right, I'll say this. I'm sure that the owner of
a professional team does not know what the endorsement deal
of players have with other companies. I'm sure they don't
run it by the owner of the team. Does that
make sense? Somebody in an organization knows.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Somebody does because it may be something that goes against
policy or some company that has done something fishy or wrong,
So it oftentimes is run by someone in the organization. Hey,
he's about to do this deal with Gillette or somebody
else overseas company, and somebody should do their due diligence
(31:06):
on it because it may be a company that you
want to at least help your athlete make a good decision.
If this is a company that is engaged in some
bad behavior, do you want your player to endorse that company?
So oftentimes it is revealed to them. The only problem
I have is that this is not a typical endorsement deal.
(31:29):
This is an endorsement deal with a company that he
is a part owner in regardless of his three percent
or not, he still owns a piece of this company.
So someone should have alerted him. Someone should have told him,
Kawhi is about to sign an endorsement deal with Aspirations
(31:50):
and you know you own three percent of this company.
How is that going to play out? How is that
going to look? You would think somebody would run that
by him, whether it be Kauhi's people, Aspirations people. Hey,
we're about to sign Kawhi to a deal. Is this okay?
Is this coach here now that because you're an owner,
is this going to be all right? That's the problem
(32:11):
I have with a one hundred billion dollar guy that
crosses every T and dots every I and is astute
businessman and has probably ten different law firms handling his business,
big time ones that look over everything. How this didn't
get mentioned?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
He was asked, why do you think this company signed
Kawhi to this type of deal?
Speaker 7 (32:38):
I don't know why they did what they did, and
I don't know how different it is. I really I
really don't And frankly, any speculation would be crazy. These
are guys who committed fraud. How would I be able
to look they conned me.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
They coned me.
Speaker 7 (32:54):
I made an investment in these guys thinking it was
on the up and up, and they conned me. At
this stage, I have no ability to predict why they
might have done anything they did, let alone this specific
contract with Kawhi.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Your answer as to why they didn't run it by
him because they were a bunch of con men?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
What she didn't know? You gotta remember he lost fifty
million dollars.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yeah, yeah, But I'm just I still go back to
you own a piece of this. They're going to do
an endorsement deal. How's that going to look? And at
the same time, I understand that you don't look at
every detail, every endorsement deal your players do because theyre
(33:44):
out there doing trying to make the money on the
side as much as they can. I'm wondering if can
anyone in the Clippers do a deal with Microsoft. I mean,
I'm sure he still got stock and stake in Microsoft.
Could anyone do a deal with Microsoft? Knowing that he
used to be the president and had a very big
(34:06):
influence over there, that he can make a phone call
and say he listen, we can only pay so and so,
you know, one hundred million dollars. Can you do one
hundred million dollar deal with him? Endorsement deal? Highly possible?
Would that be off limits?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That's a great point, that really is, Hey, do me
a solid you know what we signed him for what
we could sign him for the max. But honestly, it'd
be great if you could do a deal with him too.
And it's not in writing. It's not writing. I'm asking you,
(34:45):
you know, reach out to him. Can you do a
fifty million dollar deal with them? Make it over five
years call to day. Yeah, is an endorser and I'll
owe you one. Yeah, I'll take care of you. Wait.
By the way, nothing's unwriting, nothing's in writing. We've never discussed.
(35:05):
This never really came up in the negotiations with him.
I just got a feeling it'd be a nice gesture. Yeah,
great guy will represent the company. Well hook me up here,
I got you. Yeah, that is so nefarious. I didn't
(35:27):
think that way. That never crossed my mind, to be
honest with you, I said her and said, well, yeah,
of course it's fake. It's false. That would never happen.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Yeah, And I think that it would be different if
he was like a majority owner of that company Aspirations, right,
And the fact that we broke it down is like
I only owned three percent and I don't I'm not
involved in the day to day, which doesn't really matter
because you're a part owner. But the fact that he
owns so little of it, you know, you do you
do believe him? Hey, I'm not getting into all of that. Look, Hey,
(36:01):
I I there was a couple of years I did
a deal with with Ford in Detroit, like an endorsement
deal with Ford for a vehicle and some other commercials
and stuff like that. And the Lions are owned by
the Ford family, So would that be considered a similar thing? Now?
(36:24):
I certainly wouldn't. The same money we're talking about today,
but would that be considering adding or going around the
salary cap.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
That's fair. Cut six, Ronnie. We'll go to cut six
and wrap it up. What message does Steve Baumber have
or Clipper.
Speaker 7 (36:39):
Fans that we've been on the up and up since
the day I want the team and you know the circumstances.
We're definitely tough. We've really emphasized doing things the right way,
doing things the right way, whether it's the way we
treat our fans, our players, our staff, the rules, do
things the right way, and I want our fans to
(37:00):
really understand that they've aligned themselves, that they support an
organization that does things the right way. That's fundamental. We
welcome the league investigation. We have nothing to hide, and
in fact, you know, we're glad for that opportunity also
to tell our story because we think it's important.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
All Right, you know, we're gonna do one more cut, Rodney,
one more cut. Now. Remember when Kawhi signed with the Clippers,
Uncle Dennis, his representative, was asking for an awful lot
of stuff to be thrown into the deal. What you
couldn't do right, use of a plane, this and that.
(37:43):
So Steve Balmer was asked, has uncle Dennis asked you
for any improper benefits?
Speaker 7 (37:50):
They know the rules, they meaning Kawhi and his representatives,
including his uncle. We know the rules, and if anything's
not clear, we remind ourselves what the rules are, and
we make absolutely clear we're going to abide by those rules.
And they understand them as well, and it's important for
(38:10):
them to abide by them, which they.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Have kind of nebulence. Yeah, But here to me, at
the bottom line is that you look at the guy,
right and when you hear the name Steve Bomber, you
talk about Steve Bomber, the first thing comes to my
mind is he's a He's a stand up guy, honest man,
(38:33):
you know, treats loves his team, and treats everybody fairly.
I don't look at him as a guy that's trying
to go around corners. I really don't. And so based
on that my you know, just knowing not knowing him personally,
but knowing of him in the way he's been outward
and talking about himself and his team and his family
(38:54):
and his businesses and things like that, I tend to
lean that he's he he's telling the truth. Now that
this is Donald Stirling trying to tell this story. Then
then you lean the other way, like, yeah, he knew
all about this. He was trying to go around the rules.
But for Steve Balmer and you know, you know guys
out there, you're like, nah, he's he's he's a straight shooter.
(39:14):
He's a straight up guy. So I believe him.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
M all right, just an hour for us today, so
we'll get back and get out of here real quick.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
So Petro some money can jump in. Oh oh you
know what that means, Fred, that's the panic siren. Sure,
that's the panic siren. That's the Dodgers head to Baltimore. Oh.
(39:50):
Ronnie then sounded along, Oh my.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
God, look look at it like this. And we've done
this number of times this year, so much'll be easy
for you. It's the start of a new season. It
all begins tonight. Look at it like that. What's in
the past, which is true in baseball more than any
sports in the past. And now we begin anew a
(40:16):
fresh start, a two game lead. Tonight's the night you
catch fire. It's gonna be Tyler Glass now going for
the Dodgers tonight. So you gotta like that against Dean Kramer.
Dean Kramer can be very good or Dean Kramer can
be very bad. Wasn't he an animal House? That's what
I was gonna say. So he's an older guy. Yeah,
(40:38):
because Dean Kramer was an animal house. He's older coming
back as a baseball player. Now, Kramer can be good,
but more often than not, you can get to him.
Speaker 6 (40:47):
You want some Dean Kramer trivia? Do you know how
he got to Baltimore? He got to Baltimore, because how
do you get to Baltimore? He was traded from the
Dodgers to Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
For Manny Machado.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Was he really? He was?
Speaker 6 (41:09):
He was one of the and I think it was
only three players, maybe four players that were sent as
part of that trade for Manny Machado. And I think
he's really the only one who stuck of the players
they sent there.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, And like I said, he can be really good
or he can be pretty mediocre. So the Dodgers are
hoping he's mediocre. The podres by the way at Colorado
tonight and the Giants are at Saint Louis. So they
start the weekend two games up. Let's see, are there
where they sit on Monday Ronnie, thank you so much. Kevin,
(41:41):
have a great weekend. Rodney will talk Monday.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Ret
Oh, here we go with the big Friday show.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yes, another one hour sprint for us today, as the
Dodgers are still on the road and I know they
hope they get off the road soon because it has
not been kind to the boys in blue. Got to
get that thing back going. Let's talk about though. In
his first hour and it's only hour that we're on today,
(00:25):
we got to talk some Dodgers. Also, we got some
audio of Steve Balmer and can we hear him? Kind
of interesting, Rodney, I gotta tell you something. I gotta
be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah. By the way, good afternoon, Rodney, Good afternoon. For
a couple of things off the top. First, thanks to
everybody that came down to BJ's yesterday in Irvine. That
was a fun time, great time. Really appreciate everybody coming
down being a part of the show. I thought Lennelle
performed exceptionally well. Annoy your squad. Hey finished strong, he started.
See here's the thing. Lennelle listens all the time. He's
(01:02):
probably listening right now, and we have great admiration for Lonell.
And remember when we play one of the games. We
haven't played a game of a year, but when we
play one of the games. What are the requirements when
we play the game is for you to talk. That's
very important. So when we ask the question, you have
(01:23):
to answer. If you don't answer, then you don't have
much of a chance to win. Lenell did finish strongly,
so we have to give him credit, and we did
give him the prize. I think he got the Bjay's
gift card, which is terrific. But remember, if we play
the games again, it is very important for you to answer.
(01:45):
Just wanted to say that, and thanks to everybody. What
a great time. Really nice people down there too, good crowd,
nice people.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Rodney. Yeah, it was great, great time there. It was
much better than to drive down and back. I'll tell
you that, Gred.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Listen, let's just talk about that for a second. First,
Orange County is beautiful. It really, it's just spectacular, and
we probably none of us get down there enough. And
one of the reasons is, oh my god, I cannot
remember a time I've seen traffic like that. And we
came from different places, which was even funnier. I started
in a different spot than you did this time, because
(02:21):
I thought, oh no, it'll be a lot faster if
I come from this direction. It was about the same time.
So for those of you who came down, you all
get hazardous duty pay because it wasn't easy beating the
traffic yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
You pay it.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
They didn't. Oh no, you mean they didn't get the
checks before they left. Oh so we're sorry, d next time.
Next time, we'll have to make that Freddy, Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That was bad.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Okay, let's do the Dodgers. Miguel Rojas pressure frustration. It's
happening within the team. You knew they would struggle yesterday
against schemes they did. He outdueled Blake Snell. Uh Mickey.
Rojas said, we know what we're capable of. We're playing
under the threshold the goal that we have. But at
the end of the day, we got to put all
that aside. We have to find a way to find
(03:14):
some joy and motivation to come to the ballpark. Not
just I gotta go do my job. We have to
come here and enjoy ourselves around the clubhouse, regardless of
the situation. So there you go. Now it's real. Now
they're openly admitting it. Oh now it's real. Now, Well
when the players are starting that, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
They've been saying that all season, you know, not like that. Yeah,
what else can you say when you're asking a million
questions about why you guys are struggling?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
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Speaker 1 (04:10):
All right, so the positive news seen because there's always
a silver lining, Rodney, nothing is ever really that dire.
There's always a silver lining. And here's the silver lining
they're on in Pittsburgh seeing.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The Mighty Pirates, they looked like the Pirates of nineteen
seventy nine, for it had Dave Parker and Willie Stargell,
the mad Dog. I mean really, Bill Garner, I remember
that whole lineup. Yeah, they made him look like it
was the Pirates World Series and they swept the Dodgers. Boy,
(04:46):
it did not look pretty. Those three games were as
ugly as the Dodgers have played.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
For whatever reason, and maybe it's supposed to work out
this way. They're still in first place. But if we're
to be honest, and again, it's how you finish, So
there's time to finish here. Tonight could be the night
where everything falls into place. But as a first place
team right now, they are the worst first place team
(05:13):
in baseball. They're the worst. Think about that.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, I couldn't argue with that because you look around
the Phillies. Phillies are they're not this bad. Certainly the
Brewers aren't. You know it just woof, it is ugly
with the capital you right now, with the Dodgers, there's nothing,
there's nothing they can say. There's no more talk, there's
(05:42):
no more reasoning, there's no more oh this, we gotta
do this, we gotta it's gotta go do it. You
can't talk your way out of this, right you gotta
just go do it. And it happens, It happens. O.
If it doesn't, it doesn't. But you know what else
is got our guys gonna gonna say after a series
that you know, now they got Baltimore. Baltimore who just
(06:04):
you know, played pretty well against the Padres. Now you know,
facing the Dodgers. It will be up It'll be their
World series facing the Dodgers now, so you know this
is gonna be interesting, Roague. For the rest of September
for the Dodgers and see where they are. I think
we can probably resign to the fact that they are
(06:24):
going to be playing that three game series.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I don't even know what to say after that, to
be honest with you. I mean, I'm still hope against hope.
I'm still of the belief that somehow, some way they
can catch fire. But boy, if we really believe that
they are going to be in that three game series,
then things are even more wrong than we thought they were.
(06:53):
And maybe a three game series will mean nothing, and
maybe they'll they'll just light it up and go on
that run, and there's a possibility they and maybe at
the end of the day, all of this won't matter.
Like I said, the regular season really doesn't because all
that matters is the playoffs. So maybe in that one stretch,
maybe they will finish the year as they began the
year when they were red hot. Maybe that will happen
(07:16):
for whatever reason, maybe will be very different. But if
you look at the body of work at this point
in time. There is something seriously wrong here, and I
don't know what the manager does. I don't know what
Dave Roberts should say. What are you gonna start yelling
at guys? These are men, they are champions, they're well paid,
(07:39):
they're veterans. They know what to do, but for whatever reason,
they can't just kick it into gear. They can't build
any momentum. And it's that same thing about body language schemes.
(08:00):
Yesterday looked like he was gonna mow him down. He
just looked that way. He did.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
It always looks that way. I mean, he's used to it.
You know, he's he's playing for the Pirates, so it's
not like he's you know, his record before yesterday was
nine and nine. Nine and nine leads the league in
era and his record is nine and nine. That's that's unbelievable.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves in Pittsburgh to
(08:31):
let that be a waste. A guy that's giving up
barely two runs every time he goes out and he's
nine and nine. But yeah, you said it. There's there's
there's no more talk, there's nothing to do. It's just
there's there's it's not a lack of effort or want to.
It's just they're not doing it. And sometimes sometimes it's
(08:53):
just sports and that's the way it happens. There's no
magic crystal ball or anything like that they can snap
you out of it or anything.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
It is.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Sometimes you just got to go through it, dig yourself out,
and hopefully turn it around in time to get, like
you say, get hot as the playoffs roll around. But
you know, we can say the same thing you think
we're We're sitting here, you know, scratching our heads and
pissed off and mad and wondering what's going on? What
(09:25):
do you think they're doing down in San Diego. I mean,
you talk about a golden opportunity for them to make
up some ground, and they lost four straight, you know,
and you know who's one four straight? San Francisco, San Francisco.
(09:47):
If the Padres don't watch out, San Francisco could pass them.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
If I'm the Padres, I am on the brink of
hysteria now, yeah, because as bad as it's been for
the Dodgers, man, it has been bad. When you've got
them in your sights, the Padres have them in their sights.
They see them, They got them, They got them and
they can't. Now they've picked this time to start losing.
(10:17):
They've got them. Let's be honest here, they got them
and they can't catch them. Maybe that should give encouragement
to the Dodgers. They're behind us, they can see us.
We've been battling all year and they really, at a
critical juncture, could get us, and quite frankly, by all accounts,
(10:40):
they should and they can't.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, they were playing at home. They were playing at home.
And you think about it, You think about the golden
opportunity of the way the Dodgers. They could be three
games up on the Dodgers, they could be more than
that up on the Dodgers, and they've squandered the opportunity.
(11:06):
I don't you know. It's again, it goes back. It's sports.
Sometimes it doesn't go the way you want it to go.
And you know, the thing you can't do is overthink it.
And that's it's hard. It's easy to say and hard
to do because you you want to overanalyze why you're
not winning, why you're not playing consistency, consistency when you've
(11:26):
done it in the past, as you mentioned, these are pros.
They've done it. We've seen them do it, and why
why can't it be done again? Why can't we consistently
be the juggernaut that we are? But sometimes there's no
real answer to it because it's collective. It's not just
one guy. It's as a team. They have been bad,
(11:48):
and they've been bad since that eight and no start,
bad meaning inconsistent since that eight and no start. Yeah,
now you would say, I would think as a guy
that played, this is when the veterans step up. This
is when the veterans talk. They you know, guys, come on,
this is the night. You don't need a closed door meeting,
(12:08):
but this is when the veterans step up. You don't
think that happens, and I think it has. That's my point.
And it's still this way. It's still this way. I
said before the trade deadline, they need hitting.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You said that. As a matter of fact, if I
remember correctly, you said it as well, they need hitting, hitting, hitting.
So they traded. They acquired Alex call and brock Stewart.
Brock Stewart immediately got hurt, which somewhat is traditional. The
guy comes in, he s heart immediately, he'll be back
(12:46):
soon in the bullpen and that will help. But they
need hitting. I can't remember, Rodney, And you think back
in the last five years years. Sure, the club has
gone through ups and downs, right, and there have been
periods of wins and then they've gone on a losing street. Acknowledged,
(13:10):
But when were they this inconsistent. It's like if they
were bad, they were bad, but then they were great,
right then they were really good. It's kind of like
they're in a malaise. They're just so inconsistent, and that's
why you can't you can't put your finger on it.
You'll tell me a Dodger team in the last five years,
(13:31):
six years that has had the kind of season they've
had defensively this year. Think back is Dave Roberts that
say play clean baseball. You tell me a year in
the last seven where they have had these kinds of
problems on defense. I can't are as many. I honestly
(13:54):
can't tell you. I can't think of one.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, I can't, I can't. But I also can't remember
in the last five years how many different players have
played different positions either as much as I mean, I'm
talking about second base and third base, Mookie and Freddie's
been there pretty much all year. But you know, left
(14:22):
field has been mainly comfortable. Call has played out there,
you know, obviously had the issues with Tail, and right
Piez has moved since Edmund has been down, been moved
to center pretty much full time. But now you've got
yet Kim in there playing second base. So I mean,
it's been adjustments. So now I can't but main thing,
(14:45):
I can't remember the Dodgers' bats being cold like this
pretty much all season. Now we can say it's it's
been pretty much all season where they their offense has
not been what it's been in the past in the
past five years, at least.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Fair. And look at the guys in the lineup. Max
Muntzy being out hurts.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
You know, got immune to struggling because he struggled before
he got hurt.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, but you really see just his presence there, You
really see what that means. But even look at the lineup, Otani, Mookie, Freddy,
Tail has not had a great year. He's been hurt. Uh.
Will Smith has had a very good year, cool, tough,
got hot again. Now he's fine. Confordo has been a problem,
(15:35):
not that he hasn't tried, but he just hasn't hid. Uh.
Tommy Edmund went out. That's a problem. Key K's not
going to kill the ball in the regular season. Whether
he's injured, hurt, it doesn't matter it. Don't be deluded,
he's not. He doesn't. So he's key K and he
wouldn't be the missing bat. Uh who else? Rowhouse he's
(16:01):
hid well when he's played, he's Okay. Mcgah had a
bad year. Yeah, right, that absolutely, and so then it
comes down to, Okay, you're not getting the hits when
you need them. Bases loaded, nobody out, nothing, nothing in
the last five years, that would never have happened. They
(16:23):
had twice in the again two days ago. Yeah, you
would never have seen that with the with the Dodger
potent offense that we've seen over the last five years,
at them have bases loaded, nobody out and come away
with nothing. Series before they had bases loaded and nobody
(16:44):
out and they only got one run out of it.
That that really hurt them, you know, in those time
of games. He told me, that's a team that.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
We always have known the Dodgers as a team that
takes advantage of situations like that. And when they got
somebody down, as we'd like to say, you put your
foot on their throat and you knock them out. They
have not had a knockout punch this year. They have
not had that knockout blow in their arsenal this year.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Have they won some big They've won some games by
a lot of runs. Don't get us wrong. Yeah, they've
had some games or they've scored a lot of runs.
But in those games, what did you feel You thought
that was the exception, not the rule. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we scored twelve on them. Okay, when is that going
(17:37):
to happen again when in past years? Okay, we scored
twelve on them, Well, Tom will score fifteen.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
It's like everything that is right is an aberration. It's
the exception. When in the past, when something went wrong,
that was the exception or the aberration. Somebody makes a
mistake on defense, Well you don't see that very often.
Nobody saw that one coming. Okay, this year, oh my god,
(18:09):
another mistake on defense. It's like it's opposite. It's an
opposite season of what you expect. Now, to their credit, again,
they're in first place.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Do you feel good about that first place?
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Do I feel good that they're in first place?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah? You're comfortable with them where they are now first place.
I guess you have to be because the Padres are
just as are worse than the Dodgers, right, the team
that's closest to them, that can really only team that
can really catch them. I don't see even know San Francisco.
They won nine out of last ten. I mean, things
(18:48):
keep going like this, we might be talking about them
in a mix with twenty games left. They got a
chance if.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It goes like this.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
But really, the Padres are the team, and again, like
we said, they have not taken advantage of this opportunity,
which it's got to be driving them and their fans
crazy that they haven't been able to take advantage of it.
But again, I don't know what you say. You can't
say anything, and then all of a sudden, Fred, something clicks,
something happens, a game happens, a play happens, someone else
(19:20):
gets hot, and it becomes contiguous. This is like a
lot of things, and unfortunately in sports, you can't put
your finger on it. There's not a speech you can give.
There's not a talk you can give. You mentioned the veterans.
They can talk all they want, and I'm sure they have,
but you got to apply it to the field and
make it happen collectively. And they know they're a good team.
(19:43):
They know they can beat anybody when they're at their best.
They just haven't been at their best.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Most have you heard about this new grooming shop in
Los Angeles? It is called Hammer and Nails. It's a
booth of the Sata Monica Classics. So here's the deal.
We have a gift card to Hammer and Nails and
this place is pretty cool for male grooming. A six
six nine eight seven seventy Ronnie Roll the.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Clothes Spotlet on Blue presented by Spotlight twenty nine Casino.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's my favorite spot.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Check out Spotlight twenty nine dot com for upcoming shows
from world class entertainers.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Spotlight twenty nine Coachella Valley's Best Bet. Brogan and Rodney
am five seventy seventy.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Seventy LA Sports, LA Sports.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
All Right, who's ready for her haircuts, hot shaves, hand
and foot care? Who's ready? Eight six, six nine eighty
seven two five seventy Rodney? What call her number number six?
Rare number six?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
The La Dodgers are on the road in Baltimore to
take on the Orioles.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Welcome to September. The faosa reproaching Dodgers want to win
the West. Sporadically, they're show game. Don't miss a game,
do not miss it here.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
That's right. You know the song. It's Friday.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Don't care, don't care for even if it's for one hour.
We don't care. Freddy damn right. I'll tell you who
does care? Phil Mortonson. You know why he's done it.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
He's about to give card to Hammer and Nails, the
newest men's grooming shop in La Stop by the Hammer
and Nails booth at the Santa Monica Classic tomorrow for
your chance to want a gift card to Hammer and Nails.
It's a new destination for men who are ready to
elevate their self care with luxury services including haircuts, hot shaves,
hand and foot care, all delivered and relax like a
hot masculine atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Ooh, nothing like a hot shave.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
You like that? I do you ever get the straight razor?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Straight razor hot shave and the barbershop? Yeah, that's very nice.
Then it's scared you when they used to the straight razor. Oh,
you gotta look the guy in the eyes first. Yeah,
the bomber in the eye. You gotta you gotta test
him out, but uh no, when to get it really
fine and really close, use that straight razor. You don't
(22:23):
like the straight razor, friends, I don't like the straight racer.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't like it. I see that thing coming. I'm like,
I'm thinking scalpel and I'm not on prople fall. I
don't need that, you know what I mean. I like
a clochet, but I'll just go to thank you.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
I'll get especially scare one. Like the barber is like
telling the story to monsters.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Another thing.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
I told that mofo and he's here trying to get
a straight raiser, like, hey, man, can we calm that down?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
The next four minutes he's on your he's on your
neck or or john.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
He keeps raising it off and talking and using it,
using it to talk with Yeah, he's like, come on, man,
focus folks. Focus kind of thing is in your hand.
The guy's got a weapon in his hand.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
At least he could pay attention, you know what I mean,
maybe like a doctor in an operating room with a
scalpel waving it around, going yeah, so I told this
guy that's how sharp it is.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I mean, if you're under you haven't. You're none the
wiser anyway at that point, right, Yeah, you don't know
what they do there. You have no idea what I'm
not even gonna start thinking about that. They might have
lost a ring or bring your nail in there or
something like that. Okay, still in your body before sold up?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Oh? God? Like the Old Side Fell episode where uh,
where Kramer lost a junior mint. He was observing the
surgery and a junior mint fell into the patient and
they sewed him up. He had a junior mint inside
him and said, you.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Think happened that junior mint? Does it dissolve? It stays
junior mint? That's a good question, Kevin. What do you
think you know this?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Kevin?
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Well, my you know background as an MD uh, clearly
it dissolves there you go there you are.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Dissolves or I read at one point it becomes part
of your liver. Oh, I think that's what happens.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
What do you mean it becomes part of it? Like
confuses together.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yes, it attaches infuses. I think if somebody loses something
inside you, it attaches to your liver. Have you ever
heard that?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Well, of course not. I made it up. So all right,
We talked about the Steve Bamber situation earlier in the week,
and it created quite a ster nationally. Pablo Torre had
the story. There was a company, Aspiration, in which Steve
Bamber invested fifty million dollars Aspiration and also Aspiration was
a partner of the Clippers. Aspiration signed Kawhi Leonard to
(24:41):
an endorsement deal seven million a year for four years.
Twenty eight million dollars. Aspiration goes bankrupt and it turns
out that Kawhi Leonard got paid for doing nothing. He
didn't have to show up for anything, he didn't have
to tell anybody anything.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
He just got paid.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
So the suspicion was that the Clipper, Steve Baumer, invested
in this company, who then hired Kawhi Leonard as an
endorser so the Clippers could circumvent the salary cap and
Kawhi could be paid more money, which is expressly against
(25:20):
NBA rules. So that was the report. We talked about
it here on the show. I said, I don't believe that, now,
That's what I said. I said, I don't think Steve
Balmer would do that anyway. He now has to make
some public statements and he went on with Ramona Shelburn
and Kevin clipped some of the bites from Steve Balmer.
(25:43):
So let's start with his relationship with the failed company
and how Kawhi got involved.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
Cut one, we made an investment in the company, so
all fine. I had no control over this company. That
is important. Actually under the salary cap rules, I owned
less than three center of the company. There were investors
who put in a lot more money than I did.
I had no board seat, I had no control. We
(26:08):
had already signed our deal with Kawhi Leonard. We signed
that in August of twenty one, fourth year at his option.
It was the most that we could pay him. That
was the most we could do it under the rules,
if you will, that would have been August. In September.
We got the deal done for sponsorship and investment. We
announced that and at that time we hadn't even introduced
(26:31):
the aspiration, hadn't asked or we hadn't introduced for sure
Kauhi to Aspiration. We were done. They were done all
the We were done with Kauhi. We were done with Aspiration.
The deals were all locked and loaded. Then they did
request to be introduced to Kauai under the rules. We
(26:51):
can introduce our sponsors to our athletes, we just can't
be involved. We made an introduction that was in early November,
well passed. When all of this happens.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Okay, where do you think so far? Rodney I didn't
say anything with else? What did he say that we
didn't know? He just explained, well, he said he owns
three for less than three percent or whatever he owns.
But to suggest that he had no involvement and they didn't.
(27:28):
They didn't run it by him that they were going
to sign Kawhi to this is that what he said.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
No, he said they had the right to introduce them,
which they did, but that's where it stopped.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And he had no idea that they were signing him
to an endorsement deal.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Well, let's find out cut two. Balmer says, these claims
are provably false.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
We had a chance recently to go through all of
our relations with Aspiration. This is this is where you
get to kind of how you prove this stuff. We
as a part of our cooperation with the Department of
Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, we had produced
text emails. We'd already gone through all this stuff because
(28:11):
it was part of document production. In their investigations, and
we even found the email that makes the first introduction.
It was early November. I won't remember the exact date.
So where could any of this circumvention have happened? It didn't,
It couldn't have. The introduction got made, and then they
(28:33):
were off to the races on their own.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
All right. He says it's one hundred percent falls Rodney.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
That's what he says.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Okay. Then he was asked, you know, Steve, this looks
fishy to the fans, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 7 (28:54):
We signed that deal with Kawhi before any of this,
before any of this, before Kui even knows these people.
We've signed our deal. That's my integrity. We made our
deal with Aspiration. Literally I had no control over the company. Literally,
even when I invested, I think there was somebody put
(29:16):
in six times as much money as as I did.
No control, And that's okay. The average fan should understand that.
And they went off and made a deal. I don't
know what the deal is. I know what the reports
are with the speculation, I don't know what the deal
is or was, And frankly, I can't even tell you
whether it's this much different, that much different or not
(29:38):
different at all from some of the other endorsement contracts
that athletes do. In terms of amount, I don't know.
I actually don't know the amounts of most endorsement deals.
But when you look at Forbes magazine and they talked
about the highest paid athletes, many of those top athletes,
as Kawhi was a top athlete, is a top athlete.
You read those things, so they say they make up
(30:01):
more off endorsements than they do their very large salaries.
So I don't know what to expect, but I think
the average fan may not either. But we did things
by the book, and I don't know what those deals
should look like, nor do I know what this one
looked like specific All.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Right, I'll say this. I'm sure that the owner of
a professional team does not know what the endorsement deal
of players have with other companies. I'm sure they don't
run it by the owner of the team. Does that
make sense? Somebody in an organization knows.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Somebody does because it may be something that goes against
policy or some company that has done something fishy or wrong,
So it oftentimes is run by someone in the organization. Hey,
he's about to do this deal with Gillette or somebody
else overseas company, and somebody should do their due diligence
(31:06):
on it because it may be a company that you
want to at least help your athlete make a good decision.
If this is a company that is engaged in some
bad behavior, do you want your player to endorse that company?
So oftentimes it is revealed to them. The only problem
I have is that this is not a typical endorsement deal.
(31:29):
This is an endorsement deal with a company that he
is a part owner in regardless of his three percent
or not, he still owns a piece of this company.
So someone should have alerted him. Someone should have told him,
Kawhi is about to sign an endorsement deal with Aspirations
(31:50):
and you know you own three percent of this company.
How is that going to play out? How is that
going to look? You would think somebody would run that
by him, whether it be Kauhi's people, Aspirations people. Hey,
we're about to sign Kawhi to a deal. Is this okay?
Is this coach here now that because you're an owner,
is this going to be all right? That's the problem
(32:11):
I have with a one hundred billion dollar guy that
crosses every T and dots every I and is astute
businessman and has probably ten different law firms handling his business,
big time ones that look over everything. How this didn't
get mentioned?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
He was asked, why do you think this company signed
Kawhi to this type of deal?
Speaker 7 (32:38):
I don't know why they did what they did, and
I don't know how different it is. I really I
really don't And frankly, any speculation would be crazy. These
are guys who committed fraud. How would I be able
to look they conned me.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
They coned me.
Speaker 7 (32:54):
I made an investment in these guys thinking it was
on the up and up, and they conned me. At
this stage, I have no ability to predict why they
might have done anything they did, let alone this specific
contract with Kawhi.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Your answer as to why they didn't run it by
him because they were a bunch of con men?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
What she didn't know? You gotta remember he lost fifty
million dollars.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yeah, yeah, But I'm just I still go back to
you own a piece of this. They're going to do
an endorsement deal. How's that going to look? And at
the same time, I understand that you don't look at
every detail, every endorsement deal your players do because theyre
(33:44):
out there doing trying to make the money on the
side as much as they can. I'm wondering if can
anyone in the Clippers do a deal with Microsoft. I mean,
I'm sure he still got stock and stake in Microsoft.
Could anyone do a deal with Microsoft? Knowing that he
used to be the president and had a very big
(34:06):
influence over there, that he can make a phone call
and say he listen, we can only pay so and so,
you know, one hundred million dollars. Can you do one
hundred million dollar deal with him? Endorsement deal? Highly possible?
Would that be off limits?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That's a great point, that really is, Hey, do me
a solid you know what we signed him for what
we could sign him for the max. But honestly, it'd
be great if you could do a deal with him too.
And it's not in writing. It's not writing. I'm asking you,
(34:45):
you know, reach out to him. Can you do a
fifty million dollar deal with them? Make it over five
years call to day. Yeah, is an endorser and I'll
owe you one. Yeah, I'll take care of you. Wait.
By the way, nothing's unwriting, nothing's in writing. We've never discussed.
(35:05):
This never really came up in the negotiations with him.
I just got a feeling it'd be a nice gesture. Yeah,
great guy will represent the company. Well hook me up here,
I got you. Yeah, that is so nefarious. I didn't
(35:27):
think that way. That never crossed my mind, to be
honest with you, I said her and said, well, yeah,
of course it's fake. It's false. That would never happen.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Yeah, And I think that it would be different if
he was like a majority owner of that company Aspirations, right,
And the fact that we broke it down is like
I only owned three percent and I don't I'm not
involved in the day to day, which doesn't really matter
because you're a part owner. But the fact that he
owns so little of it, you know, you do you
do believe him? Hey, I'm not getting into all of that. Look, Hey,
(36:01):
I I there was a couple of years I did
a deal with with Ford in Detroit, like an endorsement
deal with Ford for a vehicle and some other commercials
and stuff like that. And the Lions are owned by
the Ford family, So would that be considered a similar thing? Now?
(36:24):
I certainly wouldn't. The same money we're talking about today,
but would that be considering adding or going around the
salary cap.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
That's fair. Cut six, Ronnie. We'll go to cut six
and wrap it up. What message does Steve Baumber have
or Clipper.
Speaker 7 (36:39):
Fans that we've been on the up and up since
the day I want the team and you know the circumstances.
We're definitely tough. We've really emphasized doing things the right way,
doing things the right way, whether it's the way we
treat our fans, our players, our staff, the rules, do
things the right way, and I want our fans to
(37:00):
really understand that they've aligned themselves, that they support an
organization that does things the right way. That's fundamental. We
welcome the league investigation. We have nothing to hide, and
in fact, you know, we're glad for that opportunity also
to tell our story because we think it's important.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
All Right, you know, we're gonna do one more cut, Rodney,
one more cut. Now. Remember when Kawhi signed with the Clippers,
Uncle Dennis, his representative, was asking for an awful lot
of stuff to be thrown into the deal. What you
couldn't do right, use of a plane, this and that.
(37:43):
So Steve Balmer was asked, has uncle Dennis asked you
for any improper benefits?
Speaker 7 (37:50):
They know the rules, they meaning Kawhi and his representatives,
including his uncle. We know the rules, and if anything's
not clear, we remind ourselves what the rules are, and
we make absolutely clear we're going to abide by those rules.
And they understand them as well, and it's important for
(38:10):
them to abide by them, which they.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Have kind of nebulence. Yeah, But here to me, at
the bottom line is that you look at the guy,
right and when you hear the name Steve Bomber, you
talk about Steve Bomber, the first thing comes to my
mind is he's a He's a stand up guy, honest man,
(38:33):
you know, treats loves his team, and treats everybody fairly.
I don't look at him as a guy that's trying
to go around corners. I really don't. And so based
on that my you know, just knowing not knowing him personally,
but knowing of him in the way he's been outward
and talking about himself and his team and his family
(38:54):
and his businesses and things like that, I tend to
lean that he's he he's telling the truth. Now that
this is Donald Stirling trying to tell this story. Then
then you lean the other way, like, yeah, he knew
all about this. He was trying to go around the rules.
But for Steve Balmer and you know, you know guys
out there, you're like, nah, he's he's he's a straight shooter.
(39:14):
He's a straight up guy. So I believe him.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
M all right, just an hour for us today, so
we'll get back and get out of here real quick.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
So Petro some money can jump in. Oh oh you
know what that means, Fred, that's the panic siren. Sure,
that's the panic siren. That's the Dodgers head to Baltimore. Oh.
(39:50):
Ronnie then sounded along, Oh my.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
God, look look at it like this. And we've done
this number of times this year, so much'll be easy
for you. It's the start of a new season. It
all begins tonight. Look at it like that. What's in
the past, which is true in baseball more than any
sports in the past. And now we begin anew a
(40:16):
fresh start, a two game lead. Tonight's the night you
catch fire. It's gonna be Tyler Glass now going for
the Dodgers tonight. So you gotta like that against Dean Kramer.
Dean Kramer can be very good or Dean Kramer can
be very bad. Wasn't he an animal House? That's what
I was gonna say. So he's an older guy. Yeah,
(40:38):
because Dean Kramer was an animal house. He's older coming
back as a baseball player. Now, Kramer can be good,
but more often than not, you can get to him.
Speaker 6 (40:47):
You want some Dean Kramer trivia? Do you know how
he got to Baltimore? He got to Baltimore, because how
do you get to Baltimore? He was traded from the
Dodgers to Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
For Manny Machado.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Was he really? He was?
Speaker 6 (41:09):
He was one of the and I think it was
only three players, maybe four players that were sent as
part of that trade for Manny Machado. And I think
he's really the only one who stuck of the players
they sent there.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, And like I said, he can be really good
or he can be pretty mediocre. So the Dodgers are
hoping he's mediocre. The podres by the way at Colorado
tonight and the Giants are at Saint Louis. So they
start the weekend two games up. Let's see, are there
where they sit on Monday Ronnie, thank you so much. Kevin,
(41:41):
have a great weekend. Rodney will talk Monday.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Ret
Roggin And Rodney News
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