Colin Cowherd Podcast - NBA All-Star Game, SNL 50th Anniversary, Rodgers Begged Jets To Keep Him, Kevin Durant’s Legacy

with this one, and it's an annual tradition. The All Star Game in the NBA is fairly unwatchable. It has been for most of the last half decade. And you know, people lament what is wrong with the league. I would say two things. First, all Star games, except maybe Baseball's, are all kind of dying. We see all these teams every night, these players. There is no special ooh a National League guy faces an American League guy, you know, interleague play. The second thing, and I would defend the

NBA here. And I've been critical of the league. I think it's become a kind of a monotonous three point shooting gallery. And that will end somewhere in the playoffs because mid range games and situational basketball and get a bucket really becomes playoff basketball because much more half court. It's not on the treadmill. People are defending at a higher level. You just sometimes need a mid range jumper

to win the game. But the NBA eleven year, seventy six billion dollars owners are happy, players are happy, commissioners happy. It's not their responsibility if the broadcast partners overreached. So my take is a lot of the complainers don't like the NBA anyway, But the NBA its owners, players and employees should be overjoyed right now with a new contract. And the All Star Game is a rain drop in an eleven year in rainstorm, it doesn't mean anything.

All Star Game. I love gambling on the dunk contest. I love the dunk contest. I loved Vince Carter. I loved Zach Levine against Aaron Gordon. Like I always said, it was like my guilty pleasure. The celebrity, the pomp, the circumstance, the ridiculousness of it, And there was a social contract that existed between the players and the fans. Those of us that did love it, it was ridiculous, It was silly. There was you know, Shaq would try to cross someone up and pull up for three we

did not expect high level basketball for four quarters. Go out and do your fun, don't get injured. We got all of it, but there was a social contract that basically then said keep it close and give us twelve minutes of basketball, give us, give us twelve minutes at the end. And in twenty twenty they upheld that social contract. The NBA All Star Game in Chicago. It was right after Kobe Bryant died Teamianus against Team Lebron. Half the

team was wearing Kobe's jersey number. Half the guys were wearing Gianna's number, and I think because of that they also did the elam ending in maybe some of the history of Chicago matter. And I have no idea. The game was one fifty seven, one fifty five and the fourth quarter was entertaining. That's all we want, Like, I don't think I'm asking for a lot? Did I hear these guys on all of their podcasts, including Draymond's. He will talk about unbelievable pickup run that it's organized in

LA in the offseason. I see it on YouTube, Kevin Durant showing up at the Drew League or at Rucker Park and just bawling out with not NBA players and trying and playing hard. So I don't think it is too much to ask does it matter? Does it affect the ratings or the drop in the bucket as you call it. No, But somewhere along the way, the social contract was broken of just try for twelve minutes and manipulate the game to be close and play competitive pickup basketball.

I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to ask of gazillionaire athletes. You know, I really don't.

And I think Luca and Yeah and Luca and Lebron will connect and the Lakers will get to the Western Conference Finals and nobody will care. How much of this is Listen, It's just the league's always been driven by aesthetics, and right now the aesthetics aren't good. The game's a little monotonous. The NBA All Star Game was ugly and boring. Some of this is just bad pr It may not have no effect long term, but companies go through this. Nike's gone through it where just like bad comes in three.

How much of it's that?

billions of dollars like the league is healthy. That is the left parallel track, and then the right parallel track is those of us that watch that love the NBA can acknowledge regular season doesn't really matter. It's one of eighty two. Playoffs are a completely different sport. I just did the numbers on the show today on Breakfast Ball. There are five more threes being attempted this year than

last year. And it's that's just just one year now, where at seventy four point seven threeze attempted per game on average. And you know what, that has led to more blowouts, results that have been decided by twenty or more points than any other time in an history. Before the All Star Break, there've already been one hundred and sixty eight NBA games that have been decided by twenty or more points, and that makes sense. You're taking a

high variance shot. One team is a good shooting night, one team is a bad shooting night, but three is worth more than two. So everyone is trying to hit threes. You have a hot night, the other team is a bad night. You get a blowout. That's not an entertaining product. So I feel like two things can be true. The product is healthy and the product is not at its best. Why are those two things necessarily a conflict?

a lot of kids in college one more year. A kid can make four million bucks at Duke or Carolina. Why go to a crappy team, you know, live on a college campus. I think that'll help because the one thing the NFL has always realized and lean into is college football is free marketing. I've said this before, like waters free medicine, college football is free marketing. For the NFL, Adam Silver got into office and there was almost they

tried to marginalize college basketball. The players weren't getting paid. College football players pay for three or four years and they get tackled. It's okay, like that's I don't pay my interns on my show. That's just part of you know, sixteen to twenty years old or nineteen years old. So I do think that will help the NBA, don't. I think the NBA the quality of basketball is good. I think the league is making a lot of money. I think NBC, probably out of somewhat desperation, overshot the runway

a little bit on that contract. I don't know how they make that work. But you know, they're trying to make Peacock grow against Amazon and Netflix and Disney and all that stuff. So but that's not an NBA issue. I do think college basketball is an ally march madness. I mean, good God, Caitlin Clark comes into the WNBA. Her and Angel Reeser arguably the two most popular players.

had this conversation on air and off air. When he ran the Cubs, his job was to exploit the rules in the interest of winning. His job was not to put the most entertaining product on the field, was to win. So strikeouts were okay. If you got a lot of walks and home runs, three true outcome and it was objectively not as entertaining of a product. The ball was in play less, there was more time between pitches. The

games were interminably long. You would change pitchers every batter, seven eight, nine pitchers would get into a game per team, but that was what the numbers said gave them the best chance to win, the same thing has happened in basketball. With three is worth more than two, but I bring up the baseball point was because who's spearheaded all of

the rules changes. Yeah, theo Epstein. As soon as he left the Cubs, he's like, well, I care about baseball, so I'm going to close the loopholes that I exploited. Three batter, minimum pitch clock, bigger bases, things to incentivize the things that he had. And if he gets a job running the Nashville expansion team or a Vegas who, he will then go right back to exploiting the rules to try to win. So someone should get in the league office and try to figure out because we've talked

about it before. I don't know if it's making threes worth four and twos worth three. I don't know if it's making dunks worth three. I don't know if it's expanding the courts and making the three point line twenty five feet twenty seven feet. I don't know what the solution is. But as long as three is fifty percent more than two and teams are trying to win, as long as those two things exist, you're not going to get less three pointers in the game unless you chase

the moddle or two or three. So that is just like the fundamental.

their Division two hockey, trying to get eyeballs. They will change rule and I think they'll change rules. I mean the Super Bowl with the Eagles and the Patriots, they changed the catch role. The Super Bowl suddenly juggled things. It was six, it was a touchdown. It's like, well, right, no off season needed, would they just changed it?

leagues take it out. But I do think that when it comes to the NFL, we look at it and we go, well, it's popular because it's once a week.

and then they changed it right back. And now, listen, NFL players don't like their commissioner, they don't trust their owners, they don't have guaranteed contracts, they kind of get ruled under an iron fist, and so there is a trade off to like, we're gonna slow play some of these changes, we're gonna empower players to have a voice in it and all that. The NFL does not care about any of that. They're like, no, no, no, you're doing it

our way. These are the rules. And if you want to collectively bargain for let's practice in July, go right ahead. We care about television product, but no, the NFL is king for a ton of reasons, and I'm with you that is one of them. Again, you and I have talked about this before. You've got an n season tournament. They are changing the jerseys in the court, change some rules, just just experiment with it. It's okay. I know they counted the regular season for the standings, but it's okay.

It's one of eighty two. Like, let's just see what it would look like for five games per team with no quarter free just see it. Wait, I don't know what will happen, Let's just see it. Let's four has always been ninety six feet, Let's make it one hundred and six feet and make the three point line twenty five feet. Let's just see it for two weeks.

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or or moves. And I feel like sometimes like when Baseball, for instance, when Fox sold the Regional Sports Networks, the Murdock sold it, It's one of the smartest moves in the history of television. It was literally worth half as much the next day and basically worth nothing a month later, so they made like twenty billion. But in a weird way, you look at it and think, man, it's really it's really hurt the small market teams Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

What it did though, it's separated small from big teams and now the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers, that Houston, the Braves. If you're not good as a big market team, you're just poorly runner, poorly owned. Is that in the weird way Baseball just had a great two years. Ratings up, attendance up, and everybody's like, oh though, and so like when you make moves and there's mergers and their sales,

there's a winner, there's a loser. But if you're baseball, if I'm Fox, I do not care about Kansas City. What I care about is.

But like a one b of that is that what do you think twenty eight of thirty two teams when they report for training can't believe at the very least they can make the playoffs, right, right, right if the right thing bounces their way and they can name ten to seven, Like, yeah, baseball is not like baseball has a serious problem in my opinion, where a third of the league has no chance not only of being competitive, but of even like being relevant when school is out,

when kids could go to the game. And then like, if you're Pittsburgh, okay, you got Paul Skeins, your chances of signing him are almost zero. So like I do think that the haves and have nots of baseball has gotten two out of whack. I know you and I just disagree. Stars, big markets, TV ratings on the biggest games. I get all of that. And this is a juvenile argument. It's just lame that the Dodgers get everybody, Like it's

just it's it's just it's just lime. Like it's like they get everybody because they happened to sign the last great rsn TV contract before the bubble burst, and like, don't get me wrong. They're run exceptionally well and they're a good organization, maybe the best organization. But it's just it flies in the face of competitive spirit that they just get everybody because they wucked into a television contract based on timing. So I you will disagree on that.

I think the reality of sports is we spend I read this recently, somebody said the NBA worries about problems that don't exist, Like they said, let's cut the length of quarters. It's like nobody's really nobody cares. It's I think sometimes in sports one of the things we really worry about is we're too caught up on parody. There is no parody in the AFC. Josh Allen Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are going to keep winning their division because

they have stable ownership and good enough coaches. And if Joe Brow didn't have the cheapest owner in sports, he'd be in that group too. So the reality is, I mean this year, I predict almost and I'll do again next year. I can predict the AFC for the next four or five years. It's just easy. NFC is more of a who's hot, who's less injured. But I think in baseball the bigger danger when you have parody is ESPN's like dropping out of baseball, like we're not interested.

Apple contract was ridiculous. Roku things a mess, I mean, just nothing. If the big dogs are crushing, then the big network sign and then that filters down to a some degree to Kansas City or Cleveland.

That's the great gatest thing ever for a fan. So revenue sharing exists in baseball, right the Yankees and the Red Sox and the Mets and the Dodgers. They share money with the Pirates and the Rays and the Twins

or whatever. And what is very frustrating to owners and business executives of teams like the Yankees and the Cubs is like they spend the money, like you know, like the Pirates will just lay in the cut, take their revenue sharing money and profit every year, as opposed to like reinvesting into the business, break even and having your franchise value go up. That's at a minimum, what should be required of these billionaires.

down the road. I mean, it's not like the Yankees are going to go dry in the next twelve years. The Dodgers are saying, basically, we'll push it down the road. We'll give you the money. By the way, we'll do all star teams will win more, it'll help build our brand. We're always going to fill this stadium. So I guess, I guess this is my conservative side, my Republican side

coming out. Domination is unavoidable. There are just people that are more driven, more willful, more aspirational, hungrier, meaner, whatever it is like, you just have to come to terms with it. Where this is not Evergreen State College, you know, where it's the whimsical, idealistic professors dot the campus. We're dealing with billionaires, and so some of them just have bigger egos and care more, and some of them are like, it's a toy. It's a toy to you know, at

a convention they can brag. And so I've come to terms with and maybe it's because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where I've lost my NBA team, my baseball team never competitive, and the Huskies are good when they have the perfect coach. I've just come to terms with, you have to be satisfied if you can, if you have good coaching, decent ownership, and you're viable, that may be as good as it's going to be. Because a third, no, a quarter of all these pro leagues have expanded to

cities that can't compete. Memphis can't compete with La Boston or New York or Philly. They can't and everybody in the league knows it. But those owners wanted the expansion fee.

I'm good. I'll just I'll just live and work in Oklahoma City. When any team in the league if he was like, I want to come work for you would give him a gazillion dollars and a penthouse apartment because he's clearly the best, and he's like, no, no, no, I'm good here. Like so, like, Oklahoma City's got a shot as long as they've got that guy. But yes, most teams have a real equity.

just take that. We were all exact well. I mean I remember that year, like Harbaugh basically shut down Michigan football. They were just egregiously bad. Belichick said, screw this, I don't care. Take that out. They hit rate on quarterbacks has gone up noticeably over the last six or seven years. And that's the hardest position for me because so much of its soul and toughness and leadership and intangible stuff. It's hard to quantify. But these NBA execs, I mean,

you're going off You're going off nothing. I mean, you can't do high school. You get basically you not only get like one year of college often, but the first twelve games are against like directional schools. You may in your conference, he may only face one other NBA power forward the whole year and oh yeah, he's nineteen. Some players aren't emotionally equipped at that point. I'm amazed at the hit rate in the NBA draft, which isn't very high. I think it's one of the things that we just

don't understand. Like what if you said, what's the hardest thing to do for any executive in any sport? NBA general managers are drafting eighteen and nineteen year olds. You ever thought about that?

ninety seconds, Well, you know who it is. I do think that there is that's one thing to the because there because there are so many people play basketball and so few play in the NBA, and then even the guys that are in the NBA, obviously there are guys that you ride the bench like. To be a standout basketball player, you have to be so unbelievably good. And I'm in football it's like, oh, is that receiver the

best deep ball receiver? But his offensive line sucked so his quarterback never had time for the deep ball routes to develop or did the quarterback not have an arm to get it to him? Like for the receiver to produce on the deep ball, the line has to do its job, the quarterback has to do its job. Like a lot of things have to happen. It's it's very difficult to isolate and evaluate the individual performance within the

concept of a team game. In basketball, it's not that difficult to be like, oh, that's the best athlete, that's the best shooter, and then obviously you start separating degrees. But I think, I think that that is a part of basketball that is just inherently.

like like what is happening? Like, but it's like there's all there aren't There are not enough good players because it is so hard to be as good as these NBA guys that you do really get to the point where you're drafting this fact, which is why, by the way, though, that a guy like Presty is truly amazing, like to be able to differentiate at that level and has hit

after hit after hit, hit after it. Even if they were top five picks, it is he still picked the I mean, he still drafted James Harden, but a lot of teams didn't. He still drafted Russell Westbrook teams didn't. He still took SGA teams didn't. Like there's a team out there that took Markel Foltz over Jason Tatum with you know what I mean. Like, so even at the very top of the draft, teams do still mess up. So they deserve credit when they consistently get it right.

But I think that that is the thing about basketball, is that there is just a there's an inherent he's faster than everybody, jump higher.

seventeen year old. But I think the harder part and you really never know this, and I mean you wouldn't know this unless you room with somebody in college. You don't know the personality. I don't think Zach Lavine necessarily wins games. I think a possession by possession late in game sequence. He does things that drive me nuts. But

he's also productive. I think that's something that not even Sam Presty knows is does that talent manifest itself into being a great teammate, working hard, being great in circumstantial basketball Like that's for SGA is just a bucket, like it's just whatever it is. His temperature lowers, like his heartbeat lowers, he's better. Whereas there are guys out there. Westbrook's a classic example you have to draft him. He's just too talented. I'm not sure he's a winning player,

but he is an audaciously gifted player. That's some of that I think comes down to luck. Like there's certain you know, it was obvious, like Kobe Bryant apparently had the best workout Jerry west had ever seen. Jason Tatum was another kid that very early on, he was way more mature than kids his age. Everybody was like, he just felt like a thirty two year old man when

he was like nineteen, a duke. But I do think there's a lot of these kids that you you know, Jalen Green, I watched him when he came in to Houston. The first year, I'm like, yeah, he's talented, but he doesn't even understand how to play basketball. And then the second year You're like, oh, okay, that part. I think it takes great coaching, good jamming. That's where a good organization can help a guy.

like he doesn't assert himself. So Damar was like, I'm gonna take him under my wing. I'm bringing him out to California for an offseason. He's doing my three workouts a day. He's going through like Damar boot camp, and he's gonna come back a changed guy. And apparently he went, he did the workouts, and he came back and he was the same guy. Well he's just like it just he's not an assertive guy. But he's so down he

got he signed a ninety million dollar contract. Patrick Williams will probably make two hundred million dollars playing basketball and never really make an impact or be dominant in any way. Failure, I don't know. He made two hundred'll make two hundred million dollars, but you don't have it. You don't have that dog thing. Zach Levine unbelievably efficient offensive basketball player.

He was an eighteen year old kid in Minnesota with nobody to like teach him how to be pro, and then he went to Chicago where there was no one to really teach him how to be a pro. And he's like, I don't know. I'm making hundreds of millions of dollars. I signed the Supermax, I've won the dunk Contest, I've been in the three point kind of this, but I've got a thirty million dollar house in LA Like, White's pretty good, right if you're Zach lavive, Like, how

much does he really need to change? Because he's not Kobe Bryant. You know, I think that there is just something too these guys have. There's a there's a little they're all crazy talented, they all make an insane amount of money, and then there's just that like psychotic gene that they don't all possess. And some organizations can scout it and some organizations can cultivate it, but most can't. And so that's the difference between the best and the other ones.

it on my pizzas. I love that Danny wants to talk about this, so I want to bring it up. So about a month ago I read the New Yorker and about one out of every three or four articles just sticks with me. Yes, it's very left leaning, blah blah blah whatever. It's just some of the best magazine writing ever. And so they have a Lorne Michael's article about those last month of the month before. It was fascinating. So as a kid who grew up on Saturday night, was it was just just I engulfed myself to it.

It takes about an hour to get through, but it is just a great read with a glass of bourbon next to a fireplace and is taking you to John Belushi and the Betty Murphy's and dan Aykroyd's Chevy Chase. So they did their fiftieth and again I did.

on things stripped from you. It was a remarkable accomplishment, just the sheer amount of talent in the room trying stuff people like, oh, that wasn't a funny sketch, it's sketch comedy. It's live sketch comedy. Like bands get to rehearse songs and then perform them. Stand up comedians get to rehearse material and then perform it. This is you get one shot to do it live. So they're not all going to be home runs, they're not all going

to be the iconic bits. So anybody whoever is like that was a bad episode or that was a bad sketch, you are inherently missing the point. Like it's not about one hundred percent success rate, It's it's about shot attempts. It's about you know, Lord Michael's He's like, the show's never ready, it's just it's eleven thirty. But that's the ethos of the show. So I think that like that, any criticism of it just strikes me as like not

understanding what they are attempting to do. And then the cultivation, like we just thought about Sam Presty, Like what is even close in terms of an incubator of talent for second place to SNL Maybe The Daily Show, like their run is pretty remarkable of people that came through under John Stewart, it's pretty incredible. But like the number of people over fifty years that the Shaper Stars, Maggots, mephis stars is Lauren Michaels is like the greatest general manager

in the history of general managers. I can't even think of anyone that is even close to him, and that should just carry such reverences. And I know people say Will Ferrell would have been Will Ferrell even without SNL. Fine, maybe the talent was there, but like, would the Blues Brothers have happened? I don't know. They did a sketch Lucy and Ackroy.

I did song. It was so good, it was so beautiful and there is something too And this isn't kissing your ass or whatever I guess it is, but like you're kind of like this, Like you are at the top of the mountain. You have success, companies, radio, TV, money, fame and all of it. You could just retire to an island and stop, but you still do two hundred something shows a year and are creative and churning out a bunch of stuff. Adam Sandler is worth a zillion dollars.

He's worth a gazillion dollars, and so people are like, oh, he makes dumb movies. He also makes like there's probably no one comedically in my life more influential than Adam Sandler. His comedy albums were unbelievable, and then his first four comedies are Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, and I'm Blanking on another absolute Mega one whatever it was, Bob Barker Golfing, Yeah, Happy Gilmore. If I didn't say Happy Gilmore, Yeah,

Happy Gilmore. He's just it's an unbelievable thing. And I went and saw him do a stand up show eighteen months ago when he sold out the United Center fifteen new songs. They weren't all hits, but like Adam Saylor, that means that that guy is grinding and writing fifteen new songs. He doesn't need to be doing that. And are they all hits? No, But his Chris Farley song is one of the most beautiful comedic things I've seen

in the last ten years. His phone Wallet Keys song, You think about it every time you look for your phone wallet and keys. Like that song at SNL fifty is going to resonate. His song that he did for his monologue after getting fired was iconic and has like a gazillion views on YouTube. These guys and women obviously are so one percent of one percent talented and still given that that any criticism and I know I'm rambled,

but it just it really bothers me. Instead of just appreciating and marveling the greatness.

on a fumble. Do you understand how hard it is to say three hundred things each twelve seconds and they all be brilliant. If you can hit eighty percent, you're just you know, Troy Aikman. Troy Aikman hits on seventy eighty percent. That is as good as you can do. And he's been doing it for twenty years. He's great at it, and so it's and I think one of the things about art. People forget this about Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando had a He had like seven legendary movies

and all sorts of bombs. That's the spirit of being an artist. One of the I mean, I think most comedians think Norm McDonald is one of the truest, most authentic stand up acts of our lifetime. I mean revered when he passed away, like it really and I think Gary Shandling had that as well. Shandling if you go look at Shann's diary. He had so much self doubt. Sometimes maybe it was self loathing. Whatever it is in therapy forever. And I think the great comedians, I mean

Will Ferrell. I've watched five or six of his movies. I think he's probably the most dynamic, even more so than Belushi. I think he's the most dynamic comedic presence on Saturday Night Live. And I think even his stuff like people don't give the hot tub when he's a college professor, it's one of the grossest, cringiest things. And one of my wife and I used to talk in that language for about two years, could not stop laughing. It was so gross and cringey. That doesn't even get

talked about. It's Jeopardy. It's the cheerleader. So and I think one of the things what you appreciate about it is, I think what most writers who cover comedy. John mulaney performed at the United Center. I read the next day the newspaper article a little too critical for my taste, but he took you through a journey of what it all meant and the rehab stories. I think comedy critics mostly land on your side, which you you owe it

to the industry to take just audacious swings. And I mean Norm MacDonald bombed regularly at the laugh Factory in La Joya. It just all the time, loved it.

five billion annually. When you're an industry leader, when you're Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey in his prime, you owe it almost not just to yourself, to the industry to take big ethan swings.

there are. I don't have my preferences or the bits don't miss or whatever like and like you said, everyone has a right to an opinion, but I just don't know how you could watch a three hour show that opens with Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon like bridging that level of time, and then goes into Steve Martin and John Mulaney doing a co model, then having Bill Murray sit at the weekend update desk and have Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis Dreyfus in the crowd with Larry David,

and then watching Eddie Murphy do Tracy Morgan next to Tracy Morgan. It is so goddamn funny, and then just be like sitting there on your couch being like not good enough. It's just insane. It's an insane opinion to have, And I just I just they should be revered, it should be revied, and I know it is, so I'm this isn't like some sort of like wild stance that I'm taking, but there's just nothing else like it. And

the the sheer volume of swings. It almost doesn't matter how many hits or misses they have, it's just the vine. I think I think.

than a fifty to fifty shot. If you and I talked about that at the bar, people would lean in like, really, that's fascinating, that's interesting. And so I think, and maybe this has happened my entire life, or maybe I just hope that artists aren't dissuaded from doing great work because the criticism now is so urgent, it's so vile, and it's so accessible, and it's like, folks, you don't understand. Like I went and watched John mullenny in Chicago, Sebastian Manakowsko,

those nights are one offs. I mean, my wife bought me seats to John Mullaney. I will remember that until I die. It was that that due to the show, and don't dissuade artists from taking swings. I think that this goes back to the very the very point is, you know, I wish Jim Carrey would do more. I wish he wasn't so reclusive. I wish he would do more.

like immersed himself in becoming Andy Kaufman. That is ninety minutes well spent, like talk about creative genius and artists. But yeah, these guys. And by the way, like we were talking about the ratings of the NBA, the ratings of SNL are still remarkable, like it for Saturday Night that thing. I haven't seen it yet, maybe they're out. I probably could have figured it out. My guess is that will be the most watched thing on American television in twenty

twenty five. That isn't football, Like some football will beat it, But my guess is that SML fifty will outrate any World Series game, any political speech, any NBA Finals game, college football National Championship will beat it. Obviously a bunch of NFL will beat it. But my guess is that that rating will be the biggest non football event of the year. And for them to still have that kind of cultural influence fifty years in.

in a bottle today. You know, I thought, I know we've talked about this before, but speaking of artists, I think if you took any NFL quarterback and said he was more artists, it would be Aaron Rodgers. Aaron's very unique, and I tend to believe that people make mistakes, but most NFL reporters are very very good, So I'm gonna I'm gonna trust the NFL reporter who broke this story that basically Aaron begged the Jets to keep him. And it's interesting because I think we both acknowledge Aaron smart.

You know, he's a he's a bright guy, better than average intelligence. But he's had two franchise is catch him off guard, letting him go. And it's an interesting thing with Aaron. Generally, these two things coincide intelligence and self awareness, and we think Aaron's smart. And twice he's knocked on the door of the franchise and they're like they do the Vegas Dealer, Yeah, we're out, and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa whoa. What I find interesting about Aaron, if this story is true that he begged to stay, is that he doesn't get like, he doesn't get his brand, and it's like, Aaron, you're not some dullard, You're not a dim bold. You're a lot of work and you're not nearly as good as you used to be. This, whether you're a talk show host or a quarterback, never ends well. Are When I read that he was begging to stay or he really wanted to stay, part of it to me was it's like, Aaron, how do you not get this?

Does that land anyway for you? So?

gallows and referencing ayahuasca. It was like very New York posted, and so I was like, I took it with a little bit of a grain of salt. What I do think is true is that Rogers probably went to that meeting and stayed at his case. I was heard at the beginning of the year, I played much better at the end of the year, and what's your plan? If not me, then who? And they probably don't have a great answer for that right now. So I bet he stated his case. I still struggle to find a team

that makes more sense for Rogers than Pittsburgh. People keep saying Minnesota, aren't they gonna try JJ McCarthy. The are it traded up in the first round to draft in And if they think that if they got a great season seasons out of Kirk Cousins and then a great season out of Sam Darnold, I would have to imagine that they think that the guy that they picked they can get a great season out of.

That's probably it. The idea of going from Stan Kronk and Sean McVay and indoor football to the Giants facing Philadelphia twice a year and Jaden Daniels does not feel appealing to me. Just chaos to non chaos. The Rams are a really well run ship. But it was interesting. So when I proposed that, it was amazing. And again it's fans. So how many people said you cannot give up a first round pick for Matt Stafford And I'm like,

time out, You're definitely it is a week draft. You've been unwatchable for a decade, like you're the GM of the Giants. I press you into a corner. What would you give up for Matt Stafford in a week draft.

though Jayden's amazing. So yeah, I think that if the Rams were open for business, they would get a first round pick from miss Stafford, even.

a first round pick. He's awesome. He's awesome. I don't really get why the Rams would want to be out of the Matt Stafford business though, Like I watched your segment so and I personally would put up with his wife saying, goofy things.

Is Aaron Rodgers. I think Aaron. If you go to Aaron's last ten games in New York with at that point arguably the worst coaching staff not in Chicago in the league, it was the worst coaching staff, and he put up like really decent numbers the last ten games. My take is with McVeigh, if you could hold those numbers for a year, two year deal, we draft a quarterback. And I also think Aaron has been humbled. I think I think he'd come live in Malibu and be like, this is a gift. I'm taking this gift.

But I just I get to me all these teams that people are throwing out for Rogers, like the Nighters, the Vikings, the Rams, is like, yeah, that all sounds great for Aaron. I think it's much more likely that it's gonna be like Vegas, Tennessee. Nobody like I think that that that's where it's gonna be. Like is he gonna just play to play and grind out six wins or I don't. I don't believe that a Super Bowl contender is calling Aaron Rodgers. Maybe I'll be proven wrong,

but I don't. I don't believe that a Super Bowl contenders ready for him.

this was my theory. I said, you know, Americans don't like change. Forty percent of Americans never leave their zip code and they don't like sudden change. I said, so what Trump and Musk are doing. It may play well to the wealthy, to the status of the top of the Republican Party, but for most Americans, they don't like change. It's just too much, too soon, too fast. We don't like change. I've moved all over the country. I'm comfortable. I think I'm an outlier. Nobody else in my family

likes it. Nobody in my sister's family likes it, or my wife's family likes it. People don't like change. So we're going through a lot of change, and I think eventually you do too much of it, and people it's a turn off. But I said, I said, I've been watching now for several months, since the inauguration and since the win by Trump, and I said, you would think the Democrats lost by twelve million votes and didn't get a state. But I'll throw a theory at you, I

told my wife driving back. I said, on average, usually the Democrats have more women than Republicans, generally, more African Americans, more kids who are bullied, more gay, lesbian, more, more people that have needed assistance. And I said, those people, when they lose, are more prone to believe the sky is falling. I said, when conservative lose, they're like, all right,

we just need a better candidate. You know, Let's face it, most of us grew up Conservatives were everybody's rich dad was a conservative, right, That's kind of the way it worked. And so I said, I said, if you listen over the last two months to Democrats, you would think, forget the electoral College. You would have thought it was Walter Mondale. You would think that literally it was a thirteen million

vote difference. And I said, because I think Democrats, if you look at the base of the Democratic Party, it is often people who have had real struggles, not that Republicans haven't, but there are women have not been in as much power as men have, minorities have not been

in power, and that Democrats are overthinking it. If they got a really dynamic, vibrant candidate in two years, it would change everything, and you'd be like, we are number one, this is the Party of genius, and that people when they lose an election, Democrats when they lose the election are just inherently more negative and neurotic about it than conservatives.

go forget Steven A. Smith. No, Colin Coward twenty eight bring analogies to the White House.

And that's the that's the point of it. He's not he's not really making a bunch of discernments of like this person in this government agency happened to vote for me. Like there's just this story I was first reading that was like they had to undo some firings because there was a bunch of people who worked at like a nuclear test site. They're like, we can't fire the safety guy at the nuclear test Good. I'm glad that you

caught that one. So so yeah, I'm not I'm not interested in this next wave of stories of like I voted for Donald Trump and then I lost my job. Like he doesn't give a shit. He won, he he won.

I don't know, let's just bulldoz. Like you know, that's that's like an overly simplistic, reductive way of looking at it. But like, yeah, they could probably just be like we just need a better candidate and Democrats are like, who did we offend? Who's the Joe Rogan of the left, and like they're out, should should we have? Should we have done? Call her daddy? It's like shut out. Just get a better candidate, Get a better candidate.

other side. There's two types of artists, and that Lebron is very much in the Gordon Ramsey, jay Z Bono, Mick Jagger. I'm not a businessman. I'm a business man. Kevin Durant is sort of the wandering artist independent to a fault. It's not about championships, it's about being the best you and I don't. In a way, I think he somewhat tanked his career because at thirty there was an argument he was better than Lebron, and now he's viewed as somebody who just can make baskets and that's

about it. Your thought, where do you? How do you? Because I really love watching KD and I think he's such a unique all time player. I've argued if you did a one on one tournament in league history, I'd take him over Michael. I think he's unstoppable at six to eleven, just literally unstoppable. Michael would miss just one if it was make it, take it, Mike would miss once, and d would just keep scoring. How do you view Durant?

We talk about rings and championships, transactions, trades, free agency, guys forcing their way out, the disgruntled superstar, and then the social media drama beef stuff. We're not doing a lot of like how a team defends the pick and roll, right, that's not like a lot of mainstream basketball conversations. So like that media criticism, I think is a valid one, and he decries it, but there is also just some

truth that not all rings are created equal. That guy didn't have any rings, and then he did a thing that is allowed that you could say that we bear some responsibility for because we said, if you don't win a ring, you're Charles Barkley or your Dan Marino, and we mock you for it, and then we moved the goalpost on him, and then we mocked them for what he did. But joining up with that Warriors team was weak. It was just it just flew in the face of competitiveness.

It goes back to my Dodger's point from earlier. I understand why it happens. I get that it's a have and a have not world. It doesn't mean that I have to like it, like Yannis's one in Milwaukee means a hell of a lot more than Durant's two in Golden State. Sorry, it just does. And so if Durant would have won in Oklahoma City, we would look at

him so different. Even if he just had the one, we would look at him as Joker or Yannis, these guys that were singular entity forces of nature who didn't have the institutional advantage of the historic franchise and the warm weather market and the free agent destination and built the team the quote unquote right way, and his legac see would be beyond reproach. It would. It'd be perfect

if he would have won in Oklahoma City. But as soon as he went to Golden State and won these titles that fell cheap and that they flew in the face of competitive spirit pined his legacy. Okay, he would hate that phrase, but I can't really have a problem with it because it was a it was a move that just flew in the face of competitiveness.

not just the money grab for the best players. It's like, I want to go to a team that's already.

got drafted by Seattle. Now I'm playing in Oklahoma City and you you you have a point guard who can't get me the ball until the end of the shot clock. And so if I'm gonna move, I'm not moving to a crappy team and a crappy city. I'm going to the Bay Joe lacub and Steph Curry.

sports pure than Lebron in the Heat. Doesn't mean Lebron in the Heat isn't a better team, doesn't mean it wasn't more exciting, doesn't mean it wasn't better business, doesn't mean I would not want to go to South Beach and play with my friends. But like Yannis's title in Milwaukee, is just it's special. It just means a little bit more in history, jokers in Denver, it just means a little bit more.

offensively just attacks Carl Anthony Towns and Brunson. But I think one of the reasons that the Knicks are so likable is that you know, Carl Anthony Towns has had a lot of failures and Jalen Brunts it's a nova guy, a second rounder there. I think there is value too. There are certain teams that are much easier to root for, and I don't think the Heatls or most Laker teams are terribly easy to root for.