February 11, 2020 • 42 mins
Colin doesn't care about Tua's injury history, hes the best QB available in the NFL Draft. He says the Patriots and Brady are stuck with each other even though the relationship has turned contentious. Colin's favorite guest ever Charlotte Flair of the WWE comes in studio and talks about the chaotic life of a professional wrestler. Plus, Fox Sports NBA Analyst Ric Bucher talks with Colin about the one player in the NBA who will dictate the next dynasty.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching herde is
the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a loaded Tuesday,
(00:26):
live in Los Angeles. This is the Herd, wherever you
may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox
Sports Rudio on f F one, The Queen Charlotte Flair
in forty five minutes, Brady Papanga, Rick Bucher, Mark Medina,
who does a great job covering the NBA, and Joy
Taylor joining me. Joy, how are you? I'm Graha. I'm
very excited for you. You've been talking about getting Charlotte
(00:47):
Fla on the show for a long time now. Charlotte
Flair owns the Internet. She is a radiant beauty. She
is the star of the WWE, and I used to
make fun of forever I watched it as a kid
growing up. I made fun of their fans. He's a
rock star, so she's gotta stopped by our show. I've
been trying for a year to get her on the show,
So she's coming on the show today. Be fun, so
I want to start joy. I don't with this. One
(01:08):
of the things that a lot of people use the
term woke, and I prefer the term purity. I think
Twitter and social media is kind of a BS twenty
four seven purity test. None of us are perfect. All
of us are flawed. Get over it. Stop rushing to
social media because somebody else had a bad tweet. If
you only have one bad tweet in your life, you've
(01:30):
lived the hell of a life. We have bad days.
I've had bad segments. I've had bad sentences. I've had
bad Life isn't perfect. It's not a purity test. Be nice.
Treat people like you'd like to be treated. The rest
of the Bible's commentary. I don't care about it. Just
be a nice person. None of us are perfect. And
I saw yesterday tah he's the quarterback of the Alabama's
(01:51):
got some medical issues. Well, what do you know? His
three month CT scan on his fractured hip was positive.
He's got a he old hip. Now, he still has
to wait another month to get cleared for football activities.
But the first test for Tuah, who's been banged up
in college, is good. His hip is good. I would
(02:12):
take him number one. But let's not talk about number one.
Let's talk about this. I hear a lot of this
about Tuah. Well, college guys that get hurt, they always
get hurt in the NFL. Let me ask you, do
you think the Philadelphia Eagles regret signing Carson Wentz, who
was hurt in college? Do you think the Houston Texans
(02:33):
regret drafting Deshaun Watson, who was hurt in college? I don't, Well,
what about RG three? He was cruddy. It wasn't his injuries.
It was his injuries and he wasn't very good. That's
why he's a backup. The injuries didn't end RG three.
He wasn't any good. He's a backup. He's probably a
star in the XFL. It wasn't the injuries. Kurtson Wentz
(02:56):
has hurt, Deshaun Watson's hurt, Mahomes has been hurt, Aaron
Rodgers is hurt, Matt Stafford's hurt. This idea, you're looking
for a perfect quarterback. They don't exist. They don't exist.
Aaron Rodgers, You've been telling me for a decade. He's
the best thing since sliced bread. He got a coach fired.
(03:17):
He's had one great season. It's been massive drama. He
can be a tenuous leader. Green Bay's relevant, aren't they?
Every time I look at the Vegas Super bowlods, green
Bay's top five. You think they regret drafting Aaron Rodgers.
Do you think Houston regrets drafting Deshaun Watson? You think
Philadelphia regrets drafting Carson Wentz? The reason RG three and
(03:39):
Sam Bradford, it wasn't the injuries. They weren't good enough.
They were just guys. Bradford was fine, but he's a guy.
He's not carrying a team. RGI three, he's not carrying
a team. I would if you're the Chargers, if you're
the Dolphins, if you're the Colts, let me ask you them.
Is two a better than the guy you got? Boom?
(03:59):
I'm in. I draft him, I go three four years
on him. By year two or three, if he's all
banged up, I draft somebody else. But this kid's a
once in a life. Have you ever seen his college stats?
Twenty two and two. Well that's Alabama. Eighty seven touchdowns,
eleven picks, sixty nine completion rate. He got better every year,
(04:20):
leadership coachable. I've never seen college stats like this. Eighty
seven touchdowns and eleven picks. That's like video game crap.
And that's in the SEC, which easily has the best
defenses in college football. I mean, it's the only conference
where you got seven NFL guys every Saturday on defense.
He ate it a live. He got better every year.
(04:44):
And let me let me tell you something. Let's say
I'm the Chargers and I draft two wherever you draft
him or Miami, and I know going in he's only
going to start twelve to thirteen games a year for
five years. I'd still take him because I think I
think he's special enough to win eight or nine of
those twelve or thirteen. So all I need is a
(05:05):
competent backup to win one more game. Boom, I win
my division if he wins nine out of thirteen games
a year and misses three games a year, I just
need a competent backup, which, by the way, in twenty
twenty in the NFL, there's a ton of competent backups.
I mean, Gardner Minshew came out of nowhere. The guys
all over the country playing quarterback. Now, it's just this
(05:29):
purity BS twenty four seven stuff. You're all looking for perfection.
It doesn't exist. Andrew Luck and John Elway are the
only college quarterbacks of my life that came out and
I couldn't I couldn't nitpick him. I mean about the
only two guys who are like smart, big arm work, hard, coachable,
can move a little bit. That's it. Two guys. History
(05:52):
of my life, four decades of watching the NFL draft,
Who quarterbacks? Who gives a rip? If a guy is
hurt in college, is he gonna add juice to your franchise? Is?
What do the Chargers need today? They need energy, They
need juice. What's Carolina need juice? They got a new owner,
he wants juice. He wants to sell tickets. What's Indianapolis
(06:14):
need energy? They're kind of flat. Jacobe Percent's a nice kid.
It's just kind of boring. So I when I whenever
I hear about this, well, you know he got hurt
in college. It's football. After Week four, everybody's banged up.
All I know is if Tuoa could start twelve games
a year. For me. If I'm the Chargers the Colts
(06:36):
Caroline in Miami, I get twelve to thirteen starts. That
kid's winning eight to nine. Give me a competent backup
who can win one more game, and I'm winning my
division nine out of ten years. As long as you know.
Patrick Mahomes may screwed up a little bit, but hey,
you're telling me the Chargers two is not going to
change the franchise. I think you're nuts. He got cleared yesterday.
(06:57):
He's my number one pick. He's special. I've never seen
a college quarterback with numbers like his ever, and he
did it in the SEC Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Florida. I mean,
everybody just defense, defense, defense, every week. All right, let
me shift to this, you know, I just, I just
(07:18):
I just read a story this morning where if you
have an optimistic partner in life, that it's you live longer.
So cynicism is not great for long life. If you
have an optimistic husband optimistic wife, it can even take
a cranky person and extend life. Listen, in sports, a
(07:44):
lifetime is like fifteen years. Brady and Belichick have lived
like two lifetimes by NFL standards. One of the signs
you can tell that this puppy now is not great
is they're both privately complaining about each other. So there's
a story that Robert Kraft wants the Patriots and Tom
(08:06):
Brady to quote, see what's out there in free agency.
There's another story that says, Robert Kraft quote, you know
what I want. You know. What's happened here is that
Robert Kraft was in Brady's corner, and Robert Craft has
gone back to being a businessman, which means he's sort
of in Belichick's corner because Belichick's got ten more years
(08:27):
to coach and Brady's got about two years to play.
But what's really happened in this relationship is what you
don't want to happen in non football relationships. Both Belichick
and New England are privately complaining about Brady, and Brady,
i've been told, is privately complaining about New England. This
is how you and I don't want to end. It's
(08:50):
sixty seventy years old, privately complaining about our partner, which
is why this puppy's got about a year left. I
know New England's complaining about Brady. How do I know
it Because I saw an article two years ago with
Seth Wickersham on ESPN the magazine where there were multiple
anonymous quotes saying Brady's a system quarterback and the coaches
in New England think many guys could win here. That
(09:13):
was not exactly a subtle shot at Brady inside the room.
And then I also know that the New England people
are banging on Brady because Tom's wife and Tom let
this end up in the documentary, and he could have
edited it out. Tom's saying to his wife, I don't
feel respect here. Why Because New England's privately complaining about him,
and some of it's getting to Tom. And how do
(09:34):
I know Tom's complaining about New England. I'll write a
book about it someday, but I've got it well sourced.
He's complaining about New England. And also because Tom Kerran,
the most connected writer in Boston, was on our show
yesterday and talked about things that I'm hearing. And I
don't know if Tom and I are hearing him from
the same people, but he's the most well connected patriot
(09:55):
guy I know, and he's hearing what I'm hearing about
Brady and his misgivings of out in New England. It's
about this very simply calling. He wants to get to
the line, be under center or in shotgun in twenty twenty,
and look across at the defense and say, you know what,
I got an app for that. I got a guy here,
I got a guy there. I know we can execute
on this play that's going to work. And he hasn't
(10:16):
really felt that way the last two years. So it
hasn't been a lot of fun offensively. So it's not
about the money. It's about the opportunity to enjoy the football,
to enjoy the offensive side of things, to not have
to throw it away six times a game, or run
for his life, or not know exactly where his receivers
are going to be. So that is the surrounding cast
is as important or more important than the money. Okay,
(10:38):
so that's exactly what I'm hearing Tom's complaining. But my
point is is that what you want to end up
in life is that you're optimistic. Your go home every night,
you have a good dinner, you have good laughs. Optimism
extends life. This is now officially in New England, a
relationship where both parties are privately naggy about the other,
(11:01):
meaning ideally they should break up, but realistically there's not
a great market for either. New England doesn't have a
backup plan and Brady on the free agent market is
not a hot commodity outside of maybe one or two teams.
It's an ugly, cranky relationship. This is not the way
(11:22):
you and I want to end. But it's the reality
of this. Even Bob Kraft, Brady's biggest supporter, is quoted
now twice saying you know what I want, You know
what I want, but it's probably best Tom tests the
free agent market. Listen, they've been this is two lifetimes
in the NFL. It's two different dynasties. This is not
(11:45):
where you want to be. Robert Craft has removed himself.
It's back to business. They're both privately bickering. Tom's not
a hot free agent. New England would rather replace him,
but has no plan. Welcome to a good football team
going forward, but no longer a Super Bowl contender. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in
noon Easter nine am Pacific. Nostalgia is a very powerful thing.
(12:11):
Years and years ago, I think I can tell this
story now and get nobody in trouble. Urban Meyer was
a young football coach and he had coached under Lou
Holtz at Notre Dame, and then urban Meyer left Notre
Dame and he went to Bowling Green and then he
went to Utah and he was he was the hot
coach in the country. And Notre Dame wanted to hire
urban Meyer, and Florida, the Gators wanted to hire urban Meyer. Now,
(12:35):
urban is of my age when Florida was irrelevant in football,
when we were growing up, and Notre Dame was everything.
And nostalgia is really powerful. You know, the sports you
like at nine are the ones you mostly like the
rest of your life, you know what I mean. So
urban Meyer was now up for the Notre Dame job
and the Florida job, but Lou Holtz. So he called
(12:57):
Lou Holtz and he said, Lou, what should I do?
And lou Holtz said, take Florida. You can't get anybody
into Florida. That's just a factory of football guys. Notre Dame.
You got academic, she got the weather. It's a small town.
It turned some recruits off. Nostalgia wouldn't make you believe
Notre Dame is the better job. But Urban knew and
(13:18):
lou knew in college football in the last ten years,
you gotta get players. You in Florida, Florida against players,
and so Urban took the Florida job and won a
national title because he didn't let a nostalgia overwhelm him.
And let me talk about joelm beat. If you look
at most guys running NBA teams, they're forty five, eight
(13:41):
forty nine. They grew up in a league with Jabbar
and Kareem and Shack and a team, and they grew
up in an era of centers. And so every time
they do that anonymous poll, that executive poll in the
NBA every year, who would you build your franchise around? You?
Ever notice it's all centers? Oh yeah, I love centers.
(14:05):
Why do we Why do we keep talking about centers?
It's over. There's only one center in the league I like.
It's in Denver. And he's a point center because he passes.
Eighteen NBA teams played last night. You know who had
the most assists? The center for Denver Jokovic. He's the
one guy I like because he's not a true center.
He passes. He makes everybody better. Yokich makes everybody better.
(14:28):
That's the center. I like. The reality is Embiid gets
way too much press. If you go back to the
last Shack title with the Lakers, the eighteen years since then,
there is no true center that is won a title.
You could say Tim Duncan won three. Tim Duncan's considered
(14:49):
the greatest power forward of all time. Kevin Garnett won
with Boston, but he was a forward. Dirk Nevitski six
to eleven. He may look like a center, but he's
a three. It's a Kawhi League, a Lebron League, it's
a Staph League, it's a Durant League, it was a
the late Kobe League. Is everybody watching what's happening into
(15:11):
the NBA right now? Don't get me I like there's
a difference between size and centers. Yannis. I love Yannis.
He's not a center. I love Anthony Davis. He has
said publicly, I hate playing center. Don't get me wrong.
Size matters, but a lot of these guys now, and
BID's a good free throw shooter, so you can have
(15:33):
him late in games. A lot of these centers aren't.
But we spend so much time talking about and bead.
Philadelphia did something called the process, and if it was
rebuilding their franchise. If you go look at what the
process was, essentially, We're going to draft the tallest guy available.
It was built on size. They haven't done anything. By
(15:54):
the way, the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors
are the last two dynasties in this league. They didn't
have real centers Cavon Looney, Joel Anthony You, Donnas Haslam.
It just they were they were big, they had size.
They weren't really back to back centers, back to the
basket centers. I mean, I like him beat, I think
(16:14):
he's fun. I think he's you know, a baby shock talented.
But the league is changing. Damian Lillard now can control
the game. Steph Curry controls the game. Look at John Morant.
John Morant in an hour has turned around Memphis. Why
he's got the ball in his hands. He's creating for himself,
he's creating for others. Jahn Morant has taken a bad
(16:36):
roster and overnight in the West they're a playoff team today.
So it's nothing again. I can I can acknowledge, I
can acknowledge Joe Allen VID's talent. But the center in
the league, to me, that's the future is the kid
(16:58):
in Denver who's got a bad body. Last night took like,
you know, eight shots and ended up with thirteen assists
and ten rebounds and fifteen points. Highly efficient, elevates everybody.
You just don't watch the Denver Nuggets. I don't watch
much of the Denver Nuggets. You know, you get into
that Mountain time zone, Albuquerque, Salt Lake, Denver, and the
(17:19):
TV schedules all messed up. I watch a lot of
Jazz games because I ski a lot. I don't see
a lot of Denver. Last year I watched him seven times,
seven quarters before the playoffs started. But we're all in
this mbid thing. I'm sorry. That's not the future of
the league. It's not winning championships. We're gonna have at
the end of this year, we're gonna have two forwards,
(17:42):
Kawai and Paula George. With the Clippers, we're gonna have
Jannis a forward and Chris Middleton a forward. For Milwaukee,
we're gonna have a four and Anthony Davis and whatever
Lebron is. He could be a point guard, he can
be a three. Whatever you want to call Lebron controlling
the playoffs. That's the NBA Wings. In guard, we spend
way too much time talking about Joe Lmbad's right now.
(18:05):
He would open up the best pure center in the league.
Y'all tell me at Timbad he would open up on
the road in the Eastern Conference. That's your franchise. That's
the guy you want to keep wasting time on set
at the all I've set at the trading deadline. Get
a haul for him, build around Ben Simmons. I just
I cannot believe how much time it's all nostalgia. Nostalgia
is powerful. I'm done with back to back centers. I'm
(18:28):
back to the basket. Dudes. If you can't pass, if
you can't elevate others, I'm not interested one more Herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
live or on demand whenever you'd like. Our next guest
is officially and there is no argument, the busiest person
(18:49):
internationally in sports. Charlotte Flair is a ten time w
WE champion, works fifty two weeks a year. Let's bring
the queen out. This is an interview we've been working
on now for nine months. Look at this. Do you
(19:09):
know how lucky we are today? We love having you
on the show. Obviously, the daughter of the legendary Rick Flair,
you are a rock star. People have no idea how
the hours you put Joy yesterday, I told Joy you
were on the show today. She's like, you gotta be
kidding me. I have five guests a day. Seriously, the
(19:33):
I go to your event, I cannot believe the production.
I can't believe your travel schedule. Just give somebody an
average day. For Charlotte Flair, an average day. So I'm
not shy about talking about our travel schedule. When I
hear people say, oh, I have a flight, I'm like,
I fly almost every single day. I'm usually on the
(19:56):
road five days a week, and if I don't have
appearances during the middle of the week, we fly into
a city either on a Friday or a Saturday. We
do a one hour to four hour drive to the
next town live event, live event, TV's Monday, or a
pay per view, And internationally, we do about fourteen shows
in a row and that's all year round. There is
no off season unless you're injured, so knock on wood.
(20:18):
And you are married to a professional wrestler, not married
yet engaged? Okay, so still that's why I missed your
birthday video. I just got an engaged MINSI message me
and was like, can you send a happy birthday video
to Colin? I was like, I missed it a week later, sorry,
happy late birthday. Well, thank you and as long as
(20:38):
he treats you great, that's all we care about. Charlotte.
So you are a rock star in a male dominated sport. Okay,
that's not easy. So you were you were, you were
really breaking ground. Go back to your first year. Did
you sense pushback when you were being promoted? You were
selling more tickets, You're getting much more social media play.
(21:00):
Did you ever sense resentment? No, I didn't sense resentment.
If anything, I think we raised the bar for the
men as well, like having competition. But since I was
never raised to think that, okay, I couldn't do what
you know what men could do. So when I started
(21:21):
at WW, I just wanted to prove how athletic I was.
It was more the chip on my shoulder being Rick
Flair's daughter. It's just okay, I have to work harder
than everyone male or female. And then I think the boys, actually,
we're like, wow, the girls are really doing it. And
then the guys that have little girls were like, okay,
we want to bring our little girls to the show
and see what you can do. So I didn't I
(21:42):
didn't sense resentment you, by the way, we're a volleyball player.
I was. You didn't initially. It's not that you didn't
embrace it, but you chose athletics. Give me the day,
Charlotte the moment you said this wrestling thing is kind
of interesting. Well, I didn't grow up wanting to wrestle
my brothers, you know, wanted to be just like my dad.
(22:03):
I just never saw myself as a diva or a model.
And actually it wasn't untill WrestleMania in Miami when the
Four Horsemen were inducted in twenty and twelve. One of
the producers was trying to get my little brother in
the business and get him motivated. So he looked at
me at dinner and was like, why aren't you doing this?
And I was just kind of like, I don't know,
And I wasn't really doing a lot with my life.
(22:25):
I'd already graduated from college. I was a little lost,
and three months later I reported to an XT in
Tampa at July twenty and twelve, and the rest is history.
And when did you know? And I think I've I've asked.
I asked Hulk Hogan this once. I said, when did
you know you hit with the consumers? And he talked
about he goes, you know I was popular? And then
(22:45):
I went to Madison Square Garden. He guess I couldn't
walk down the street. When did you know? Charlotte? Wow?
The audience, because it should be noted that the consumer,
the wrestling fans, about seventy five percent of the stars
don't pop you open? Did you know? I think it
was in two thy fifteen when I debuted on RAW.
(23:08):
I think people were like, wow, she's she's just a
good wrestler. She wasn't known for her looks, I mean,
or I wasn't known for my looks. Yeah no, but
it was like, here is this woman that like when
you watch her, you're not going, wow, she's just good
for a female. You're like, no, she's just that good.
(23:28):
And then I think I had this presence about me
because I actually debuted with my dad as my manager,
so I'm like, Okay, I'm either going to sink or swim,
and having Rick Flair beside you as one of the
greatest of all time, like I wanted the attention on me.
So I'm like, how am I going to ooze that
confidence in charisma for people to go Actually, she's standing out,
(23:49):
not her dad. And that was either you know, it
was probably the greatest learning experience having my dad out there,
because either he was gonna overshadow me or not. And um,
I think people were just like, wow, she's just you
either have the it factor or you don't. And when
I first started, I did not have the it factor.
Who takes you know, you remind me of Rock because
(24:10):
I've met Rock about three times, you know, you really do.
So I met Rock behind the scenes years ago at
the place I used to work ESPN that it was
about eight nine years ago, and I did an interview
with him and he wasn't he I think he would
just he was just getting into Hollywood. And I remember
telling my producer, I'm like, boy, that guy's got it.
I said, you know, it's the look, it's the smile,
(24:33):
it's now. And by the way, so when you walk
through a room, I see you before you come on
the air, I'm like, you have an IT quality, but
there's a difference between at some point you had to
buy into I had to buy into that. So my
dad always told me the most important part of your
segment is the minute you walk through the curtain. If
you don't believe in yourself, the audience isn't going to
(24:55):
believe in your grade advice. And even when I'd be
sitting backstage, I'm like, i don't know how to do this.
I feel like I'm gonna fay. I don't remember my match,
I don't know, like how do you be the queen?
And like sometimes I still go, gosh, how am I
going to be that badass that walks through the current,
Because I don't feel like that every single day, but
it's just when that music hits and I walk through,
I'm like, I know I'm that good, and I just
(25:16):
that grew with me and having that confidence. What I
did was like, Okay, I created this character and this
woman that I wanted to be like in my personal
life and I never forgot that. And so like, here
is this queen that's confident, that's independent, that you know
is standing out in a male dominated world, and that
was just the message I want to descend to everyone.
(25:38):
So I just like play that over and over in
my mind. Now, what's your current relationship with Becky Lynch?
Number one doesn't talk about number two. That's what I
thought it was, So there is clearly now she is
an antagonizer. She likes to get under your skin. Is
that fair to say? Yeah, that's fair to say. Yeah,
(26:00):
and you are the current champion and the number two
is like, well, she's the champion right now. Okay, but
you're viewed as it's fair to see I'm a champion,
whether I have the title or not. Well, I would
say there's a quality to you. No, I mean I
would say there's a quality to you as Hulk wasn't
always the champion. Yeah, but he was always the Hulk. Yes.
(26:20):
Do you feel that she is jealous of you? Okay?
Are we talking on script or off script? Both? All
it all melts into one. So Becky and I call
ourselves Sellman louise Um. This roller coaster that we've been
(26:42):
on professionally and personally makes us who we are today.
I needed the man to be the queen, and she
needed the queen to be the man and I don't
want to use the word jealousy, but there is such
a competitive nature to both of us. I want to
be the best. She wants to be the best. And
that's very important to have in this business because once
(27:05):
you're at that point where okay, well I don't want
to be on top anymore. If you don't want to
be on top, then you're in the wrong place. By
the way, next, the next WrestleMania is WrestleMania what thirty
What is the next wrestle many thirty six? Well, wait,
Tampa or LA? Which one? Which LA is next? Isn't it? An?
We have Tampa in April and then LA that we
(27:25):
just announced next year now that will be at the stadium. Yes,
it's so fi, it's so far. That is our fourth
year to LA. So that'll be eighty thousand people. Yes,
that is unbelievable. Like I just I watched the movie
lot not long ago, Bohemian Rhapsody. It was about the
movie of Queen, speaking of the Queen, and they were
showing they were showing Freddie Mercury performing at Wembley Stadium
(27:48):
and they had the camera from behind him. I watched
that and I thought, Oh my god, I talked to Joy,
I get nervous. This is so has there ever been
a moment in your career so far? And you walked
out what has been the most electrifying arena? So my
first WrestleMania was at well, the first one I performed
(28:09):
acause I was actually in Triple H's entrance two years
prior at the San Jose Stadium. But at and T
Stadium one hundred and one thousand people. What is it
like to be able to control the emotions of one
hundred and one thousand people. I mean, there's nothing like
it like now. You know, I was really hard on
(28:30):
my dad when he went through that period when he
retired from WWE. He just couldn't, you know, hang up
the boots of co he you know, energy, made some
different choices came out of retirement, and I'm just like,
what are you doing? Like I just I did not
get it. I'm like, you have spent your entire life
dedicating and sacrificing yourself to this industry. Just quit, liked Dad,
(28:52):
just like, take the time off, be a dad, be
a husband, just do something, get a hobby. So now
that I'm in his shoes, I get it. Like, I
can't imagine the day comes where they say that I
can't perform and be the Queen again, because like when
you're in that ring and whether you're the good guy
or the bad guy, it's there's nothing like it. And
(29:12):
like I will say this though, it's like harder to
speak in front of ten people than it is to
wrestle in front of that mini And that's a perfect out.
It is Charlotte Flair the Queen. Thank you so much.
This was worth every second. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart
Radio app. Rick Buker joining us sponsored by Mercedes Benz,
(29:37):
the Best or Nothing. Bukes has been covering the NBA
since the early nineties. He's my buddy. All right, here
we go. This is a really good time in the
NBA because now it's your trading deadlines done. You know, players,
you're stuck with where you're at. So you got the
bottom line the tape, don't lie. You gotta play hard.
Everybody's stuck with everybody now right, you know, before the
trading deadline you can call out the coach, there's a
(29:59):
lot of a lot of game main pieces. There's still
there's still potential for a buy out here or there.
You could add a piece, but as far as the core,
you are correct. Okay, So let's let's go. I had
Martin Medina on earlier and he said something interesting. He said, listen,
because I like the Clippers the way they're the construct
of the Clippers. But he said, listen, they're not practicing
(30:20):
a lot together, the load management. He said, Now you
got Marcus Morris another piece. He goes, they really haven't
played together very much, whereas the Lakers, by not moving Kuzma,
have really found a nice chemistry. When I size up
the Clippers and Lakers to you today, who you got
in the series and why today? If they played today today,
(30:43):
today would be the Lakers' best chance of making it happen.
I still don't think that they would win, and we've
seen that from the two times that they've played each other.
The Clippers have the wherewithal that when they decide to
play and they put everybody out there, they're just a
better team. They're a deeper team. The work that Anthony
Davis has to do and the number of bodies that
(31:05):
the Clippers can throw at him and and Lebron is
going to wear them down. They just they match up
with what the Lakers have as well or better than
anybody else in the league. And that's they have the cryptonite.
They have the antidote. Most people don't have the requisite
size and athleticism and defensive mentality to match up with
(31:28):
both Anthony Davis and Lebron James's I think Utah is
the Clippers do. Yeah, Utah's got everything. They can't match
up with exactly if you exactly you have to have.
You have to have a dominant small forward. It's why
the Warriors fell off so precipitously and why they were
so good before because against the small forwards, the best
(31:48):
small forwards, we can throw Kevin Durant at you. We
can throw Andrea Goodal at you, we can throw Clay
Thompson at you, we can throw multiple quality defenders at
the heart of what you do. That's what made them special.
And when all those guys are gone, now you don't
have that thing. It's why you go get Andrew Wiggins
because he at least fits the prototype. He's an athletic
(32:10):
queen who can defend at that position at the small
for Yeah, it's interesting. So the Marcus Morris deal, I
didn't know if the Lakers wanted him, but I knew
they didn't want him with the Clippers. It felt like
to me, the Lakers are like, Okay, you got Patrick Beverley,
you got Kawhi and Paul. You got a bunch of
guys you can throw at Lebron. The Lakers are smart
enough to go, I don't we don't need another guy
you could throw at Lebron. Yeah. And so to me,
(32:31):
did the Lakers want Marcus Morris or do they just
not want him on the Clippers? They wanted him, and
they did not believe that the Clippers were going to
get him. Wow, Because and they didn't think that they
had to give up Kyle Kuzuma to get him. Because
there is a beef between Jim Dolan and Steve Balmer
(32:52):
about the building of the arena that Steve Balmer wants
to build a mile away from the Forum, and they
who guess who owns the Forum James Dolan, James Dolan.
So they've been Dolan has filed lawsuits, He's doing everything
he can to stop that. The Lakers were convinced, oh,
the Knicks aren't trading Marcus Morris to the Clippers. That
(33:15):
they're not dealing with them. They've got a beef going on.
They don't want to They're not going to help the Clippers.
Jim Dolan doesn't want to help the Clippers. We know
how the personal vendettas that Jim Dolan has, right, I mean,
it's understandable that the Lakers would think that way, So
they didn't. I don't know if they ever really intended
to put Kyle Kuzma in the deal. My thought is
probably not. But they let the Knicks believe until the
(33:38):
eleventh hour that they would put Kuzma in the deal,
and then last second they said we'll give you Danny
Green in two seconds, thinking there's no way they're going
to the Clippers. This is all they got. They're not
going to go anywhere now. And Dolan wants to move Morris,
and the Knicks said, no, we'll go do a deal
(33:59):
with the Clippers. So Clippers did want to get another
body in that rotation because, honestly, if you're playing against
Javal McGee and Lebron James and Anthony Davis adding there,
I mean, look, they don't want to leave anything to chance.
They want to make sure that they have everything that
(34:19):
they need in their arsenal, no matter who they face.
And Marcus Morris. Look, and for me, if I was
the Lakers, I would have given up Kyle Kuzma because no, Look,
I understand how talented he is and what his potential is,
but you don't know what he is as a playoff player.
Marcus Morris has been in the playoffs three of the
(34:41):
last four years. He's played thirty minutes. He's averaged thirty
minutes in thirty two games. He shoots over forty percent
from three in the playoffs. And oh, by the way,
he's played alongside stars in those playoff games. So he's
been that efficient and effective. Not being a central piece.
He knows how to fill this role. He would have
(35:02):
been the ideal piece in my mind, if you're really
going forward, if the Lakers are really going for it,
here's the problem. If you get Marcus Morris, and I
keep saying this, almost everybody I respect you included, doesn't
think the Lakers could beat the Bucks or the Clippers.
I agree. I think they're probably third, and I think
they would struggle. I think there are certain teams that
could give them. You know, I do think Denver could
(35:24):
be a matchup problem. I think you talk can be problematic.
Struct him to six games in the playoff series if
they don't win this year, Yeah, what are they next year?
If they trade Kuzma? They're just old and expensive. I mean,
this is what happens with Lebron. Like Doug Gottlieboa says this,
there's always that kid in the neighborhood. You fight through
with the party and all the kids loving me, leaves.
The house is a mess, lamps are broken, everybody is sick.
(35:46):
Lebron leaves a franchise. He demands you get old and expensive. Yes,
and then Lebron leaves yes, and you're done. I understand that,
And I understand where if you're playing a slightly longer
game and you're waiting for Kuzma to dell up and
he gets some playoff experience and he shows you what
you can be, maybe that's the case. But there's there
(36:06):
is the assumption then that Anthony Davis isn't going anywhere,
or that what you do this year isn't going to
impact his decision. If they get knocked out early, does
Anthony Davis look at it and say, well, Okay, so
we're waiting on Kuzma to get better. For everything that
(36:28):
I've seen with his relationship with Lebron, again, I would
tend to think not, yes, the relationship is great, But
I also know that there are people in Anthony Davis's
camp who believe that he should be the star, and
that he should be the star in a big market.
And they're going to be a couple of teams in
really big markets that are going to afford him that
opportunity should he so choose to go that direction. Okay,
(36:50):
here we talked about this yesterday. So the key, the
key I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you the key to
the next dynasty in the NBA. Okay, is Chris Middleton. Okay,
now let's listen. You think this is crazy, Look at
your reaction. Joy Okay, I agree, because I know where
he's going. Okay, now, acknowledge this. Acknowledge this that if
(37:12):
Yannis goes to the Warriors with Stephen Clay and Draymond, yes,
they are winning this title. They are going to be
an unbelievable basketball team. Okay, Okay, Yannis is going to
stay in Milwaukee, I agree if he goes to the finals,
because they're eventually going to win. But Chris Middleton disappeared
about every third playoff game last year. And if they
(37:35):
get to the Eastern Conference Finals and Middleton doesn't deliver
and they can't get past a veteran, long well coached
Toronto or a younger, but more I think a little
more athletic Boston team with Brad Stevens. And it's because
Jannis is dropping thirty eight and seventeen rebounds and Middleton
disappears in two games, I'm Yannis, I am out. I'm done.
(38:00):
I'm not waiting on a Texas A and M's second
round guy to become Kauhi. If Middleton doesn't deliver in
these plays, because last year you guys kept telling me,
oh its Middleton, I'm like every third game he pops, right,
he disappeared. If Chris Middleton disappears in the Eastern Conference
Finals and yannist is dropping thirty eight and seventeen, he's
(38:21):
not sticking around. I can get Clay Staff Draymond in me.
I'm not losing a series for four years. I was not.
First of all, don't put me in with you guys
because I wasn't telling I was not singing Chris Middleton's
praises to you. We can go back and check the tape.
That's no. I like your theory, I believe that it
(38:44):
is misguided when it comes to janis Onto Tucumpo. I
feel as if he is one of those guys who
feels beholden to Milwaukee because he feels they built him
as much as he built them. I'm saying, I just
I don't believe that he's just going to go running
(39:04):
to the most ideal spot. He didn't come up in
the AAU culture, he didn't come up in the US culture.
He's not built that way, So I don't expect that
to be the difference. And this is the one other
issue that I have because this reminds me of all
the talk with Lebron in Cleveland. Oh, they can't get
Lebron any help in Cleveland. Oh he could only if
(39:26):
they'd only get some players around around him. In Cleveland,
Lebron wasn't everything that he could be in Cleveland. That
was as much a factor. And if the Bucks fall short,
it won't be all on Chris Middleton. It will be
at least in part because janis Ante Tecumpo wasn't able
(39:46):
to do everything that his physical ability should allow him
to do. His game will not have matured to the
point where he understands how to win. Because whether it's
Chris Middleton or anybody else, he has enough around him
that if he is everything that he can, they can
win a championship. I'm just not sure he's at that
point yet. So you think they play Boston wouldn't be
(40:07):
able to stop him, so he would drop, He would
go thirty six and sixteen. Yeah, but Boston's too good
that that alone will beat them. So Middleton has to
drop twenty four four times in a series. He can't
just because we know Yannis is not going to be
stopped by Boston. They don't have the personnel in the
front court to stop it. Correct. So he's gonna put
(40:29):
up great MVP series numbers, right, But that alone is
not beating Boston. By the way, that alone's not beating Toronto.
But I think they'll defend him more arduously than Boston.
Could they have more length Toronto. Toronto is the real
kryptonite for Yannis in the Eastern Conference. I think I
just blew your mind that Chris Middleton is the key
(40:51):
to the next five year dynasty. In this league, you
routinely blow my mind. I don't know if this rises
to that level that this one does. By the way,
you know, I had Charlotte Flair on earlier. Yeah, when
she walks into the studio. Yeah, the temperature changed. Yeah,
you should watch that ww stuff. I'm not kidding yet.
I'm all over it. I also watched the XFL. What
(41:12):
did you make of it? I was duly impressed. I
was really impressed. And I gotta tell you, I think
they're going to be disruptors. Hearing the plays, hearing everybody
miked up, hearing that exchange, Like the NFL has always
had a closed gait when it comes to all that.
I found that fascinating. How about the transparency on the replay? Yes,
right behind the guys, Yes, look at that. Go to
(41:34):
that good. In fact, there was a later I think
they had a technical difficulty because there was a later game,
the Guardians game. Yeah, where you couldn't hear everything. I
was like, hey, where is it? I was impressed too, Yeah, No,
I thought it was well done. Look, I thought the
AAF was good football. They it just drove me crazy.
I didn't know where to find it. The beauty of
this is it's all over the place Saturday and Sunday,
(41:55):
Major networks, well done. Can you imagine if Chris Middleton
ever watched this show be like, who's that jerk? I mean,
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching herde is
the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a loaded Tuesday,
(00:26):
live in Los Angeles. This is the Herd, wherever you
may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox
Sports Rudio on f F one, The Queen Charlotte Flair
in forty five minutes, Brady Papanga, Rick Bucher, Mark Medina,
who does a great job covering the NBA, and Joy
Taylor joining me. Joy, how are you? I'm Graha. I'm
very excited for you. You've been talking about getting Charlotte
(00:47):
Fla on the show for a long time now. Charlotte
Flair owns the Internet. She is a radiant beauty. She
is the star of the WWE, and I used to
make fun of forever I watched it as a kid
growing up. I made fun of their fans. He's a
rock star, so she's gotta stopped by our show. I've
been trying for a year to get her on the show,
So she's coming on the show today. Be fun, so
I want to start joy. I don't with this. One
(01:08):
of the things that a lot of people use the
term woke, and I prefer the term purity. I think
Twitter and social media is kind of a BS twenty
four seven purity test. None of us are perfect. All
of us are flawed. Get over it. Stop rushing to
social media because somebody else had a bad tweet. If
you only have one bad tweet in your life, you've
(01:30):
lived the hell of a life. We have bad days.
I've had bad segments. I've had bad sentences. I've had
bad Life isn't perfect. It's not a purity test. Be nice.
Treat people like you'd like to be treated. The rest
of the Bible's commentary. I don't care about it. Just
be a nice person. None of us are perfect. And
I saw yesterday tah he's the quarterback of the Alabama's
(01:51):
got some medical issues. Well, what do you know? His
three month CT scan on his fractured hip was positive.
He's got a he old hip. Now, he still has
to wait another month to get cleared for football activities.
But the first test for Tuah, who's been banged up
in college, is good. His hip is good. I would
(02:12):
take him number one. But let's not talk about number one.
Let's talk about this. I hear a lot of this
about Tuah. Well, college guys that get hurt, they always
get hurt in the NFL. Let me ask you, do
you think the Philadelphia Eagles regret signing Carson Wentz, who
was hurt in college? Do you think the Houston Texans
(02:33):
regret drafting Deshaun Watson, who was hurt in college? I don't, Well,
what about RG three? He was cruddy. It wasn't his injuries.
It was his injuries and he wasn't very good. That's
why he's a backup. The injuries didn't end RG three.
He wasn't any good. He's a backup. He's probably a
star in the XFL. It wasn't the injuries. Kurtson Wentz
(02:56):
has hurt, Deshaun Watson's hurt, Mahomes has been hurt, Aaron
Rodgers is hurt, Matt Stafford's hurt. This idea, you're looking
for a perfect quarterback. They don't exist. They don't exist.
Aaron Rodgers, You've been telling me for a decade. He's
the best thing since sliced bread. He got a coach fired.
(03:17):
He's had one great season. It's been massive drama. He
can be a tenuous leader. Green Bay's relevant, aren't they?
Every time I look at the Vegas Super bowlods, green
Bay's top five. You think they regret drafting Aaron Rodgers.
Do you think Houston regrets drafting Deshaun Watson? You think
Philadelphia regrets drafting Carson Wentz? The reason RG three and
(03:39):
Sam Bradford, it wasn't the injuries. They weren't good enough.
They were just guys. Bradford was fine, but he's a guy.
He's not carrying a team. RGI three, he's not carrying
a team. I would if you're the Chargers, if you're
the Dolphins, if you're the Colts, let me ask you them.
Is two a better than the guy you got? Boom?
(03:59):
I'm in. I draft him, I go three four years
on him. By year two or three, if he's all
banged up, I draft somebody else. But this kid's a
once in a life. Have you ever seen his college stats?
Twenty two and two. Well that's Alabama. Eighty seven touchdowns,
eleven picks, sixty nine completion rate. He got better every year,
(04:20):
leadership coachable. I've never seen college stats like this. Eighty
seven touchdowns and eleven picks. That's like video game crap.
And that's in the SEC, which easily has the best
defenses in college football. I mean, it's the only conference
where you got seven NFL guys every Saturday on defense.
He ate it a live. He got better every year.
(04:44):
And let me let me tell you something. Let's say
I'm the Chargers and I draft two wherever you draft
him or Miami, and I know going in he's only
going to start twelve to thirteen games a year for
five years. I'd still take him because I think I
think he's special enough to win eight or nine of
those twelve or thirteen. So all I need is a
(05:05):
competent backup to win one more game. Boom, I win
my division if he wins nine out of thirteen games
a year and misses three games a year, I just
need a competent backup, which, by the way, in twenty
twenty in the NFL, there's a ton of competent backups.
I mean, Gardner Minshew came out of nowhere. The guys
all over the country playing quarterback. Now, it's just this
(05:29):
purity BS twenty four seven stuff. You're all looking for perfection.
It doesn't exist. Andrew Luck and John Elway are the
only college quarterbacks of my life that came out and
I couldn't I couldn't nitpick him. I mean about the
only two guys who are like smart, big arm work, hard, coachable,
can move a little bit. That's it. Two guys. History
(05:52):
of my life, four decades of watching the NFL draft,
Who quarterbacks? Who gives a rip? If a guy is
hurt in college, is he gonna add juice to your franchise? Is?
What do the Chargers need today? They need energy, They
need juice. What's Carolina need juice? They got a new owner,
he wants juice. He wants to sell tickets. What's Indianapolis
(06:14):
need energy? They're kind of flat. Jacobe Percent's a nice kid.
It's just kind of boring. So I when I whenever
I hear about this, well, you know he got hurt
in college. It's football. After Week four, everybody's banged up.
All I know is if Tuoa could start twelve games
a year. For me. If I'm the Chargers the Colts
(06:36):
Caroline in Miami, I get twelve to thirteen starts. That
kid's winning eight to nine. Give me a competent backup
who can win one more game, and I'm winning my
division nine out of ten years. As long as you know.
Patrick Mahomes may screwed up a little bit, but hey,
you're telling me the Chargers two is not going to
change the franchise. I think you're nuts. He got cleared yesterday.
(06:57):
He's my number one pick. He's special. I've never seen
a college quarterback with numbers like his ever, and he
did it in the SEC Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Florida. I mean,
everybody just defense, defense, defense, every week. All right, let
me shift to this, you know, I just, I just
(07:18):
I just read a story this morning where if you
have an optimistic partner in life, that it's you live longer.
So cynicism is not great for long life. If you
have an optimistic husband optimistic wife, it can even take
a cranky person and extend life. Listen, in sports, a
(07:44):
lifetime is like fifteen years. Brady and Belichick have lived
like two lifetimes by NFL standards. One of the signs
you can tell that this puppy now is not great
is they're both privately complaining about each other. So there's
a story that Robert Kraft wants the Patriots and Tom
(08:06):
Brady to quote, see what's out there in free agency.
There's another story that says, Robert Kraft quote, you know
what I want. You know. What's happened here is that
Robert Kraft was in Brady's corner, and Robert Craft has
gone back to being a businessman, which means he's sort
of in Belichick's corner because Belichick's got ten more years
(08:27):
to coach and Brady's got about two years to play.
But what's really happened in this relationship is what you
don't want to happen in non football relationships. Both Belichick
and New England are privately complaining about Brady, and Brady,
i've been told, is privately complaining about New England. This
is how you and I don't want to end. It's
(08:50):
sixty seventy years old, privately complaining about our partner, which
is why this puppy's got about a year left. I
know New England's complaining about Brady. How do I know
it Because I saw an article two years ago with
Seth Wickersham on ESPN the magazine where there were multiple
anonymous quotes saying Brady's a system quarterback and the coaches
in New England think many guys could win here. That
(09:13):
was not exactly a subtle shot at Brady inside the room.
And then I also know that the New England people
are banging on Brady because Tom's wife and Tom let
this end up in the documentary, and he could have
edited it out. Tom's saying to his wife, I don't
feel respect here. Why Because New England's privately complaining about him,
and some of it's getting to Tom. And how do
(09:34):
I know Tom's complaining about New England. I'll write a
book about it someday, but I've got it well sourced.
He's complaining about New England. And also because Tom Kerran,
the most connected writer in Boston, was on our show
yesterday and talked about things that I'm hearing. And I
don't know if Tom and I are hearing him from
the same people, but he's the most well connected patriot
(09:55):
guy I know, and he's hearing what I'm hearing about
Brady and his misgivings of out in New England. It's
about this very simply calling. He wants to get to
the line, be under center or in shotgun in twenty twenty,
and look across at the defense and say, you know what,
I got an app for that. I got a guy here,
I got a guy there. I know we can execute
on this play that's going to work. And he hasn't
(10:16):
really felt that way the last two years. So it
hasn't been a lot of fun offensively. So it's not
about the money. It's about the opportunity to enjoy the football,
to enjoy the offensive side of things, to not have
to throw it away six times a game, or run
for his life, or not know exactly where his receivers
are going to be. So that is the surrounding cast
is as important or more important than the money. Okay,
(10:38):
so that's exactly what I'm hearing Tom's complaining. But my
point is is that what you want to end up
in life is that you're optimistic. Your go home every night,
you have a good dinner, you have good laughs. Optimism
extends life. This is now officially in New England, a
relationship where both parties are privately naggy about the other,
(11:01):
meaning ideally they should break up, but realistically there's not
a great market for either. New England doesn't have a
backup plan and Brady on the free agent market is
not a hot commodity outside of maybe one or two teams.
It's an ugly, cranky relationship. This is not the way
(11:22):
you and I want to end. But it's the reality
of this. Even Bob Kraft, Brady's biggest supporter, is quoted
now twice saying you know what I want, You know
what I want, but it's probably best Tom tests the
free agent market. Listen, they've been this is two lifetimes
in the NFL. It's two different dynasties. This is not
(11:45):
where you want to be. Robert Craft has removed himself.
It's back to business. They're both privately bickering. Tom's not
a hot free agent. New England would rather replace him,
but has no plan. Welcome to a good football team
going forward, but no longer a Super Bowl contender. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in
noon Easter nine am Pacific. Nostalgia is a very powerful thing.
(12:11):
Years and years ago, I think I can tell this
story now and get nobody in trouble. Urban Meyer was
a young football coach and he had coached under Lou
Holtz at Notre Dame, and then urban Meyer left Notre
Dame and he went to Bowling Green and then he
went to Utah and he was he was the hot
coach in the country. And Notre Dame wanted to hire
urban Meyer, and Florida, the Gators wanted to hire urban Meyer. Now,
(12:35):
urban is of my age when Florida was irrelevant in football,
when we were growing up, and Notre Dame was everything.
And nostalgia is really powerful. You know, the sports you
like at nine are the ones you mostly like the
rest of your life, you know what I mean. So
urban Meyer was now up for the Notre Dame job
and the Florida job, but Lou Holtz. So he called
(12:57):
Lou Holtz and he said, Lou, what should I do?
And lou Holtz said, take Florida. You can't get anybody
into Florida. That's just a factory of football guys. Notre Dame.
You got academic, she got the weather. It's a small town.
It turned some recruits off. Nostalgia wouldn't make you believe
Notre Dame is the better job. But Urban knew and
(13:18):
lou knew in college football in the last ten years,
you gotta get players. You in Florida, Florida against players,
and so Urban took the Florida job and won a
national title because he didn't let a nostalgia overwhelm him.
And let me talk about joelm beat. If you look
at most guys running NBA teams, they're forty five, eight
(13:41):
forty nine. They grew up in a league with Jabbar
and Kareem and Shack and a team, and they grew
up in an era of centers. And so every time
they do that anonymous poll, that executive poll in the
NBA every year, who would you build your franchise around? You?
Ever notice it's all centers? Oh yeah, I love centers.
(14:05):
Why do we Why do we keep talking about centers?
It's over. There's only one center in the league I like.
It's in Denver. And he's a point center because he passes.
Eighteen NBA teams played last night. You know who had
the most assists? The center for Denver Jokovic. He's the
one guy I like because he's not a true center.
He passes. He makes everybody better. Yokich makes everybody better.
(14:28):
That's the center. I like. The reality is Embiid gets
way too much press. If you go back to the
last Shack title with the Lakers, the eighteen years since then,
there is no true center that is won a title.
You could say Tim Duncan won three. Tim Duncan's considered
(14:49):
the greatest power forward of all time. Kevin Garnett won
with Boston, but he was a forward. Dirk Nevitski six
to eleven. He may look like a center, but he's
a three. It's a Kawhi League, a Lebron League, it's
a Staph League, it's a Durant League, it was a
the late Kobe League. Is everybody watching what's happening into
(15:11):
the NBA right now? Don't get me I like there's
a difference between size and centers. Yannis. I love Yannis.
He's not a center. I love Anthony Davis. He has
said publicly, I hate playing center. Don't get me wrong.
Size matters, but a lot of these guys now, and
BID's a good free throw shooter, so you can have
(15:33):
him late in games. A lot of these centers aren't.
But we spend so much time talking about and bead.
Philadelphia did something called the process, and if it was
rebuilding their franchise. If you go look at what the
process was, essentially, We're going to draft the tallest guy available.
It was built on size. They haven't done anything. By
(15:54):
the way, the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors
are the last two dynasties in this league. They didn't
have real centers Cavon Looney, Joel Anthony You, Donnas Haslam.
It just they were they were big, they had size.
They weren't really back to back centers, back to the
basket centers. I mean, I like him beat, I think
(16:14):
he's fun. I think he's you know, a baby shock talented.
But the league is changing. Damian Lillard now can control
the game. Steph Curry controls the game. Look at John Morant.
John Morant in an hour has turned around Memphis. Why
he's got the ball in his hands. He's creating for himself,
he's creating for others. Jahn Morant has taken a bad
(16:36):
roster and overnight in the West they're a playoff team today.
So it's nothing again. I can I can acknowledge, I
can acknowledge Joe Allen VID's talent. But the center in
the league, to me, that's the future is the kid
(16:58):
in Denver who's got a bad body. Last night took like,
you know, eight shots and ended up with thirteen assists
and ten rebounds and fifteen points. Highly efficient, elevates everybody.
You just don't watch the Denver Nuggets. I don't watch
much of the Denver Nuggets. You know, you get into
that Mountain time zone, Albuquerque, Salt Lake, Denver, and the
(17:19):
TV schedules all messed up. I watch a lot of
Jazz games because I ski a lot. I don't see
a lot of Denver. Last year I watched him seven times,
seven quarters before the playoffs started. But we're all in
this mbid thing. I'm sorry. That's not the future of
the league. It's not winning championships. We're gonna have at
the end of this year, we're gonna have two forwards,
(17:42):
Kawai and Paula George. With the Clippers, we're gonna have
Jannis a forward and Chris Middleton a forward. For Milwaukee,
we're gonna have a four and Anthony Davis and whatever
Lebron is. He could be a point guard, he can
be a three. Whatever you want to call Lebron controlling
the playoffs. That's the NBA Wings. In guard, we spend
way too much time talking about Joe Lmbad's right now.
(18:05):
He would open up the best pure center in the league.
Y'all tell me at Timbad he would open up on
the road in the Eastern Conference. That's your franchise. That's
the guy you want to keep wasting time on set
at the all I've set at the trading deadline. Get
a haul for him, build around Ben Simmons. I just
I cannot believe how much time it's all nostalgia. Nostalgia
is powerful. I'm done with back to back centers. I'm
(18:28):
back to the basket. Dudes. If you can't pass, if
you can't elevate others, I'm not interested one more Herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
live or on demand whenever you'd like. Our next guest
is officially and there is no argument, the busiest person
(18:49):
internationally in sports. Charlotte Flair is a ten time w
WE champion, works fifty two weeks a year. Let's bring
the queen out. This is an interview we've been working
on now for nine months. Look at this. Do you
(19:09):
know how lucky we are today? We love having you
on the show. Obviously, the daughter of the legendary Rick Flair,
you are a rock star. People have no idea how
the hours you put Joy yesterday, I told Joy you
were on the show today. She's like, you gotta be
kidding me. I have five guests a day. Seriously, the
(19:33):
I go to your event, I cannot believe the production.
I can't believe your travel schedule. Just give somebody an
average day. For Charlotte Flair, an average day. So I'm
not shy about talking about our travel schedule. When I
hear people say, oh, I have a flight, I'm like,
I fly almost every single day. I'm usually on the
(19:56):
road five days a week, and if I don't have
appearances during the middle of the week, we fly into
a city either on a Friday or a Saturday. We
do a one hour to four hour drive to the
next town live event, live event, TV's Monday, or a
pay per view, And internationally, we do about fourteen shows
in a row and that's all year round. There is
no off season unless you're injured, so knock on wood.
(20:18):
And you are married to a professional wrestler, not married
yet engaged? Okay, so still that's why I missed your
birthday video. I just got an engaged MINSI message me
and was like, can you send a happy birthday video
to Colin? I was like, I missed it a week later, sorry,
happy late birthday. Well, thank you and as long as
(20:38):
he treats you great, that's all we care about. Charlotte.
So you are a rock star in a male dominated sport. Okay,
that's not easy. So you were you were, you were
really breaking ground. Go back to your first year. Did
you sense pushback when you were being promoted? You were
selling more tickets, You're getting much more social media play.
(21:00):
Did you ever sense resentment? No, I didn't sense resentment.
If anything, I think we raised the bar for the
men as well, like having competition. But since I was
never raised to think that, okay, I couldn't do what
you know what men could do. So when I started
(21:21):
at WW, I just wanted to prove how athletic I was.
It was more the chip on my shoulder being Rick
Flair's daughter. It's just okay, I have to work harder
than everyone male or female. And then I think the boys, actually,
we're like, wow, the girls are really doing it. And
then the guys that have little girls were like, okay,
we want to bring our little girls to the show
and see what you can do. So I didn't I
(21:42):
didn't sense resentment you, by the way, we're a volleyball player.
I was. You didn't initially. It's not that you didn't
embrace it, but you chose athletics. Give me the day,
Charlotte the moment you said this wrestling thing is kind
of interesting. Well, I didn't grow up wanting to wrestle
my brothers, you know, wanted to be just like my dad.
(22:03):
I just never saw myself as a diva or a model.
And actually it wasn't untill WrestleMania in Miami when the
Four Horsemen were inducted in twenty and twelve. One of
the producers was trying to get my little brother in
the business and get him motivated. So he looked at
me at dinner and was like, why aren't you doing this?
And I was just kind of like, I don't know,
And I wasn't really doing a lot with my life.
(22:25):
I'd already graduated from college. I was a little lost,
and three months later I reported to an XT in
Tampa at July twenty and twelve, and the rest is history.
And when did you know? And I think I've I've asked.
I asked Hulk Hogan this once. I said, when did
you know you hit with the consumers? And he talked
about he goes, you know I was popular? And then
(22:45):
I went to Madison Square Garden. He guess I couldn't
walk down the street. When did you know? Charlotte? Wow?
The audience, because it should be noted that the consumer,
the wrestling fans, about seventy five percent of the stars
don't pop you open? Did you know? I think it
was in two thy fifteen when I debuted on RAW.
(23:08):
I think people were like, wow, she's she's just a
good wrestler. She wasn't known for her looks, I mean,
or I wasn't known for my looks. Yeah no, but
it was like, here is this woman that like when
you watch her, you're not going, wow, she's just good
for a female. You're like, no, she's just that good.
(23:28):
And then I think I had this presence about me
because I actually debuted with my dad as my manager,
so I'm like, Okay, I'm either going to sink or swim,
and having Rick Flair beside you as one of the
greatest of all time, like I wanted the attention on me.
So I'm like, how am I going to ooze that
confidence in charisma for people to go Actually, she's standing out,
(23:49):
not her dad. And that was either you know, it
was probably the greatest learning experience having my dad out there,
because either he was gonna overshadow me or not. And um,
I think people were just like, wow, she's just you
either have the it factor or you don't. And when
I first started, I did not have the it factor.
Who takes you know, you remind me of Rock because
(24:10):
I've met Rock about three times, you know, you really do.
So I met Rock behind the scenes years ago at
the place I used to work ESPN that it was
about eight nine years ago, and I did an interview
with him and he wasn't he I think he would
just he was just getting into Hollywood. And I remember
telling my producer, I'm like, boy, that guy's got it.
I said, you know, it's the look, it's the smile,
(24:33):
it's now. And by the way, so when you walk
through a room, I see you before you come on
the air, I'm like, you have an IT quality, but
there's a difference between at some point you had to
buy into I had to buy into that. So my
dad always told me the most important part of your
segment is the minute you walk through the curtain. If
you don't believe in yourself, the audience isn't going to
(24:55):
believe in your grade advice. And even when I'd be
sitting backstage, I'm like, i don't know how to do this.
I feel like I'm gonna fay. I don't remember my match,
I don't know, like how do you be the queen?
And like sometimes I still go, gosh, how am I
going to be that badass that walks through the current,
Because I don't feel like that every single day, but
it's just when that music hits and I walk through,
I'm like, I know I'm that good, and I just
(25:16):
that grew with me and having that confidence. What I
did was like, Okay, I created this character and this
woman that I wanted to be like in my personal
life and I never forgot that. And so like, here
is this queen that's confident, that's independent, that you know
is standing out in a male dominated world, and that
was just the message I want to descend to everyone.
(25:38):
So I just like play that over and over in
my mind. Now, what's your current relationship with Becky Lynch?
Number one doesn't talk about number two. That's what I
thought it was, So there is clearly now she is
an antagonizer. She likes to get under your skin. Is
that fair to say? Yeah, that's fair to say. Yeah,
(26:00):
and you are the current champion and the number two
is like, well, she's the champion right now. Okay, but
you're viewed as it's fair to see I'm a champion,
whether I have the title or not. Well, I would
say there's a quality to you. No, I mean I
would say there's a quality to you as Hulk wasn't
always the champion. Yeah, but he was always the Hulk. Yes.
(26:20):
Do you feel that she is jealous of you? Okay?
Are we talking on script or off script? Both? All
it all melts into one. So Becky and I call
ourselves Sellman louise Um. This roller coaster that we've been
(26:42):
on professionally and personally makes us who we are today.
I needed the man to be the queen, and she
needed the queen to be the man and I don't
want to use the word jealousy, but there is such
a competitive nature to both of us. I want to
be the best. She wants to be the best. And
that's very important to have in this business because once
(27:05):
you're at that point where okay, well I don't want
to be on top anymore. If you don't want to
be on top, then you're in the wrong place. By
the way, next, the next WrestleMania is WrestleMania what thirty
What is the next wrestle many thirty six? Well, wait,
Tampa or LA? Which one? Which LA is next? Isn't it? An?
We have Tampa in April and then LA that we
(27:25):
just announced next year now that will be at the stadium. Yes,
it's so fi, it's so far. That is our fourth
year to LA. So that'll be eighty thousand people. Yes,
that is unbelievable. Like I just I watched the movie
lot not long ago, Bohemian Rhapsody. It was about the
movie of Queen, speaking of the Queen, and they were
showing they were showing Freddie Mercury performing at Wembley Stadium
(27:48):
and they had the camera from behind him. I watched
that and I thought, Oh my god, I talked to Joy,
I get nervous. This is so has there ever been
a moment in your career so far? And you walked
out what has been the most electrifying arena? So my
first WrestleMania was at well, the first one I performed
(28:09):
acause I was actually in Triple H's entrance two years
prior at the San Jose Stadium. But at and T
Stadium one hundred and one thousand people. What is it
like to be able to control the emotions of one
hundred and one thousand people. I mean, there's nothing like
it like now. You know, I was really hard on
(28:30):
my dad when he went through that period when he
retired from WWE. He just couldn't, you know, hang up
the boots of co he you know, energy, made some
different choices came out of retirement, and I'm just like,
what are you doing? Like I just I did not
get it. I'm like, you have spent your entire life
dedicating and sacrificing yourself to this industry. Just quit, liked Dad,
(28:52):
just like, take the time off, be a dad, be
a husband, just do something, get a hobby. So now
that I'm in his shoes, I get it. Like, I
can't imagine the day comes where they say that I
can't perform and be the Queen again, because like when
you're in that ring and whether you're the good guy
or the bad guy, it's there's nothing like it. And
(29:12):
like I will say this though, it's like harder to
speak in front of ten people than it is to
wrestle in front of that mini And that's a perfect out.
It is Charlotte Flair the Queen. Thank you so much.
This was worth every second. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart
Radio app. Rick Buker joining us sponsored by Mercedes Benz,
(29:37):
the Best or Nothing. Bukes has been covering the NBA
since the early nineties. He's my buddy. All right, here
we go. This is a really good time in the
NBA because now it's your trading deadlines done. You know, players,
you're stuck with where you're at. So you got the
bottom line the tape, don't lie. You gotta play hard.
Everybody's stuck with everybody now right, you know, before the
trading deadline you can call out the coach, there's a
(29:59):
lot of a lot of game main pieces. There's still
there's still potential for a buy out here or there.
You could add a piece, but as far as the core,
you are correct. Okay, So let's let's go. I had
Martin Medina on earlier and he said something interesting. He said, listen,
because I like the Clippers the way they're the construct
of the Clippers. But he said, listen, they're not practicing
(30:20):
a lot together, the load management. He said, Now you
got Marcus Morris another piece. He goes, they really haven't
played together very much, whereas the Lakers, by not moving Kuzma,
have really found a nice chemistry. When I size up
the Clippers and Lakers to you today, who you got
in the series and why today? If they played today today,
(30:43):
today would be the Lakers' best chance of making it happen.
I still don't think that they would win, and we've
seen that from the two times that they've played each other.
The Clippers have the wherewithal that when they decide to
play and they put everybody out there, they're just a
better team. They're a deeper team. The work that Anthony
Davis has to do and the number of bodies that
(31:05):
the Clippers can throw at him and and Lebron is
going to wear them down. They just they match up
with what the Lakers have as well or better than
anybody else in the league. And that's they have the cryptonite.
They have the antidote. Most people don't have the requisite
size and athleticism and defensive mentality to match up with
(31:28):
both Anthony Davis and Lebron James's I think Utah is
the Clippers do. Yeah, Utah's got everything. They can't match
up with exactly if you exactly you have to have.
You have to have a dominant small forward. It's why
the Warriors fell off so precipitously and why they were
so good before because against the small forwards, the best
(31:48):
small forwards, we can throw Kevin Durant at you. We
can throw Andrea Goodal at you, we can throw Clay
Thompson at you, we can throw multiple quality defenders at
the heart of what you do. That's what made them special.
And when all those guys are gone, now you don't
have that thing. It's why you go get Andrew Wiggins
because he at least fits the prototype. He's an athletic
(32:10):
queen who can defend at that position at the small
for Yeah, it's interesting. So the Marcus Morris deal, I
didn't know if the Lakers wanted him, but I knew
they didn't want him with the Clippers. It felt like
to me, the Lakers are like, Okay, you got Patrick Beverley,
you got Kawhi and Paul. You got a bunch of
guys you can throw at Lebron. The Lakers are smart
enough to go, I don't we don't need another guy
you could throw at Lebron. Yeah. And so to me,
(32:31):
did the Lakers want Marcus Morris or do they just
not want him on the Clippers? They wanted him, and
they did not believe that the Clippers were going to
get him. Wow, Because and they didn't think that they
had to give up Kyle Kuzuma to get him. Because
there is a beef between Jim Dolan and Steve Balmer
(32:52):
about the building of the arena that Steve Balmer wants
to build a mile away from the Forum, and they
who guess who owns the Forum James Dolan, James Dolan.
So they've been Dolan has filed lawsuits, He's doing everything
he can to stop that. The Lakers were convinced, oh,
the Knicks aren't trading Marcus Morris to the Clippers. That
(33:15):
they're not dealing with them. They've got a beef going on.
They don't want to They're not going to help the Clippers.
Jim Dolan doesn't want to help the Clippers. We know
how the personal vendettas that Jim Dolan has, right, I mean,
it's understandable that the Lakers would think that way, So
they didn't. I don't know if they ever really intended
to put Kyle Kuzma in the deal. My thought is
probably not. But they let the Knicks believe until the
(33:38):
eleventh hour that they would put Kuzma in the deal,
and then last second they said we'll give you Danny
Green in two seconds, thinking there's no way they're going
to the Clippers. This is all they got. They're not
going to go anywhere now. And Dolan wants to move Morris,
and the Knicks said, no, we'll go do a deal
(33:59):
with the Clippers. So Clippers did want to get another
body in that rotation because, honestly, if you're playing against
Javal McGee and Lebron James and Anthony Davis adding there,
I mean, look, they don't want to leave anything to chance.
They want to make sure that they have everything that
(34:19):
they need in their arsenal, no matter who they face.
And Marcus Morris. Look, and for me, if I was
the Lakers, I would have given up Kyle Kuzma because no, Look,
I understand how talented he is and what his potential is,
but you don't know what he is as a playoff player.
Marcus Morris has been in the playoffs three of the
(34:41):
last four years. He's played thirty minutes. He's averaged thirty
minutes in thirty two games. He shoots over forty percent
from three in the playoffs. And oh, by the way,
he's played alongside stars in those playoff games. So he's
been that efficient and effective. Not being a central piece.
He knows how to fill this role. He would have
(35:02):
been the ideal piece in my mind, if you're really
going forward, if the Lakers are really going for it,
here's the problem. If you get Marcus Morris, and I
keep saying this, almost everybody I respect you included, doesn't
think the Lakers could beat the Bucks or the Clippers.
I agree. I think they're probably third, and I think
they would struggle. I think there are certain teams that
could give them. You know, I do think Denver could
(35:24):
be a matchup problem. I think you talk can be problematic.
Struct him to six games in the playoff series if
they don't win this year, Yeah, what are they next year?
If they trade Kuzma? They're just old and expensive. I mean,
this is what happens with Lebron. Like Doug Gottlieboa says this,
there's always that kid in the neighborhood. You fight through
with the party and all the kids loving me, leaves.
The house is a mess, lamps are broken, everybody is sick.
(35:46):
Lebron leaves a franchise. He demands you get old and expensive. Yes,
and then Lebron leaves yes, and you're done. I understand that,
And I understand where if you're playing a slightly longer
game and you're waiting for Kuzma to dell up and
he gets some playoff experience and he shows you what
you can be, maybe that's the case. But there's there
(36:06):
is the assumption then that Anthony Davis isn't going anywhere,
or that what you do this year isn't going to
impact his decision. If they get knocked out early, does
Anthony Davis look at it and say, well, Okay, so
we're waiting on Kuzma to get better. For everything that
(36:28):
I've seen with his relationship with Lebron, again, I would
tend to think not, yes, the relationship is great, But
I also know that there are people in Anthony Davis's
camp who believe that he should be the star, and
that he should be the star in a big market.
And they're going to be a couple of teams in
really big markets that are going to afford him that
opportunity should he so choose to go that direction. Okay,
(36:50):
here we talked about this yesterday. So the key, the
key I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you the key to
the next dynasty in the NBA. Okay, is Chris Middleton. Okay,
now let's listen. You think this is crazy, Look at
your reaction. Joy Okay, I agree, because I know where
he's going. Okay, now, acknowledge this. Acknowledge this that if
(37:12):
Yannis goes to the Warriors with Stephen Clay and Draymond, yes,
they are winning this title. They are going to be
an unbelievable basketball team. Okay, Okay, Yannis is going to
stay in Milwaukee, I agree if he goes to the finals,
because they're eventually going to win. But Chris Middleton disappeared
about every third playoff game last year. And if they
(37:35):
get to the Eastern Conference Finals and Middleton doesn't deliver
and they can't get past a veteran, long well coached
Toronto or a younger, but more I think a little
more athletic Boston team with Brad Stevens. And it's because
Jannis is dropping thirty eight and seventeen rebounds and Middleton
disappears in two games, I'm Yannis, I am out. I'm done.
(38:00):
I'm not waiting on a Texas A and M's second
round guy to become Kauhi. If Middleton doesn't deliver in
these plays, because last year you guys kept telling me,
oh its Middleton, I'm like every third game he pops, right,
he disappeared. If Chris Middleton disappears in the Eastern Conference
Finals and yannist is dropping thirty eight and seventeen, he's
(38:21):
not sticking around. I can get Clay Staff Draymond in me.
I'm not losing a series for four years. I was not.
First of all, don't put me in with you guys
because I wasn't telling I was not singing Chris Middleton's
praises to you. We can go back and check the tape.
That's no. I like your theory, I believe that it
(38:44):
is misguided when it comes to janis Onto Tucumpo. I
feel as if he is one of those guys who
feels beholden to Milwaukee because he feels they built him
as much as he built them. I'm saying, I just
I don't believe that he's just going to go running
(39:04):
to the most ideal spot. He didn't come up in
the AAU culture, he didn't come up in the US culture.
He's not built that way, So I don't expect that
to be the difference. And this is the one other
issue that I have because this reminds me of all
the talk with Lebron in Cleveland. Oh, they can't get
Lebron any help in Cleveland. Oh he could only if
(39:26):
they'd only get some players around around him. In Cleveland,
Lebron wasn't everything that he could be in Cleveland. That
was as much a factor. And if the Bucks fall short,
it won't be all on Chris Middleton. It will be
at least in part because janis Ante Tecumpo wasn't able
(39:46):
to do everything that his physical ability should allow him
to do. His game will not have matured to the
point where he understands how to win. Because whether it's
Chris Middleton or anybody else, he has enough around him
that if he is everything that he can, they can
win a championship. I'm just not sure he's at that
point yet. So you think they play Boston wouldn't be
(40:07):
able to stop him, so he would drop, He would
go thirty six and sixteen. Yeah, but Boston's too good
that that alone will beat them. So Middleton has to
drop twenty four four times in a series. He can't
just because we know Yannis is not going to be
stopped by Boston. They don't have the personnel in the
front court to stop it. Correct. So he's gonna put
(40:29):
up great MVP series numbers, right, But that alone is
not beating Boston. By the way, that alone's not beating Toronto.
But I think they'll defend him more arduously than Boston.
Could they have more length Toronto. Toronto is the real
kryptonite for Yannis in the Eastern Conference. I think I
just blew your mind that Chris Middleton is the key
(40:51):
to the next five year dynasty. In this league, you
routinely blow my mind. I don't know if this rises
to that level that this one does. By the way,
you know, I had Charlotte Flair on earlier. Yeah, when
she walks into the studio. Yeah, the temperature changed. Yeah,
you should watch that ww stuff. I'm not kidding yet.
I'm all over it. I also watched the XFL. What
(41:12):
did you make of it? I was duly impressed. I
was really impressed. And I gotta tell you, I think
they're going to be disruptors. Hearing the plays, hearing everybody
miked up, hearing that exchange, Like the NFL has always
had a closed gait when it comes to all that.
I found that fascinating. How about the transparency on the replay? Yes,
right behind the guys, Yes, look at that. Go to
(41:34):
that good. In fact, there was a later I think
they had a technical difficulty because there was a later game,
the Guardians game. Yeah, where you couldn't hear everything. I
was like, hey, where is it? I was impressed too, Yeah, No,
I thought it was well done. Look, I thought the
AAF was good football. They it just drove me crazy.
I didn't know where to find it. The beauty of
this is it's all over the place Saturday and Sunday,
(41:55):
Major networks, well done. Can you imagine if Chris Middleton
ever watched this show be like, who's that jerk? I mean,
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Colin Cowherd
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