Tony Kornheiser (3:07)

You're lucky the quad God wasn't on today' cause I'd be talking about that. I did watch a lot of that thing that they call the half pipe. And whoever does a commentary, I don't know, I can't tell the difference. I can't tell the difference between what's good and what's not good. I really don't, I don't know the sport, but when somebody screams out, it's a double switchback 1080 or it's a triple cork, I don't know what that means. So if you don't fall down, and many of them fall down, I think it's great if you don't fall down. I wanna go back to the Ukrainian situation because I am confused and conflicted by it. I have great sympathy for what he is trying to do or the message that he is trying to put out there, but free speech, you know, I don't know if you want to open up that can. The NFL does not. The NFL fined a player last month for putting a political message on his eye black. And today the IOC president was moved to tears as she tried to reach a compromise with the Ukrainian. Finally, you know, the offer was you can wear the helmet off the ice, but not during the competition. And he rejected that. And I understood. I'm going to talk for a while. I understood why he rejected that. Because these are his countrymen and they are fallen, you know. But you know, I also understand when the IOC says not during the competition, cuz you can get 50 helmets for 50 different causes that might enrage 50 different people. You have to decide is this, is this an athletic competition or is this a political convention? I think that's a hard one to maneuver. I did watch the women's cross country skiing today, which is a grueling race. The American, Jesse Diggins went out there with bruised ribs. She finished third, she got the bronze medal, she lay on the ground, writhing in pain, like almost screaming, rubbing at her wrist. It's just the effort that goes into this with these athletes, something that should be marveled at all of them, courage. One of the Austrian women crosses the line and immediately throws up. You go, whoa, whoa. Anyway, anyway, all right, let's move to the upcoming All Star Weekend. Cooper Flag will miss the Rising Stars game because of a foot injury. The Bucks officially ruled out Giannis from the All Star Game. Luka Doncic will not play tonight because of a hamstring injury. Hopes to be able to make an appearance in Sunday's contest. Steph Curry out with an injury. Kevin Durant questioned how hard the Europeans would play in the All Star Game after being questioned about how hard the older American players would play in the All Star Game. Wilbon Is this game taking on a Pro bowl like direction?

Mike Wilbon (5:39)

TONY maybe, but I think the one major difference, and it would take years before we figure out whether this is true or not. Ultimately, in the Pro bowl, the players didn't want to go anymore. It wasn't just the fear of injury. And there was legitimately that players said, you know, I don't even want to go to Hawaii anymore. I don't want to go. Now, the NBA All Star, they have not gotten to that point yet. Don't know if they will. But we've gotten to a point, Tony, where the weekend was used to be a joyous thing. I mean, I got I used to get as much joy out of going to cover NBA All Star Weekend as anything on the sports calendar. Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, Final Four included. And Tony, you know, now I want to be as far away as I can. And my reaction is the reaction of a lot of players. I talked to two NBA personnel today, and they're like, I'm not going anywhere near that. And Tony, you know what? The culture moves. Things don't always trend in a certain direction. We've gotten to that point with the NBA All Star Game, which the commissioners had a bunch of chances to fix and make a spectacular product and, and for his own reasons won't or hasn't. And so here we are.

Tony Kornheiser (6:52)

Yeah, so I agree with a lot of that. It used to be very celebratory and now it feels like a burden. Players really don't want to play hard. They don't want to go through it. And the other part of that is that all it leads to is a lot of questions for the league and for the commissioner. And I'm going to use one of your words, this is what happened with the NFL in the Pro bowl, which was, in your words, hocus pocus junk. It was. It was nonsense. It was terrible. And so they dumped it. They dumped it, and I think they're better off for it. It may end up that the NBA has to do that as well. The NBA, the All Star Game is. It's a bad product. It's a bad product in every sport but baseball. It's great in baseball. It doesn't work anywhere else. And I understand it. I understand why they don't want to play. These are the greatest basketball players in the world. They have contracts. They don't want to get hurt. You can't just fix this by making it the United States against the world. Maybe not, because there's no gold medal involved. It's an invented game. You know, I just think it's a difficult sell at this point to the players. And everybody knows it's a difficult sell to the players. So it is to the public. I thought what Kevin Durant said was very interesting. You know where he said, what are you asking me? Why don't you go ask about the Europeans and how they do it? And he specified Doncic and Jokic, and he said, they just lay on the ground. And the video was, they don't care at all. The subtext of that. The subtext of that was clear to me. The subtext was about race. And I think everybody understands it when they watch it. Last night in the NBA, to piggyback on what we said yesterday, last night in the NBA, Utah won a game Jaren Jackson Jr. I believe had 23 points in 22 minutes. And you wake up this morning to find out he's out for the rest of the year.

Mike Wilbon (8:34)

He has a knee operation for the.

Tony Kornheiser (8:36)

Rest of the year. So what does that tell you? It says, utah, we don't want to win. We don't want to win.

Mike Wilbon (8:41)

That's on next year maybe. Next year, maybe. You know what? We're gonna revisit this again because you raised something with Kevin Durant I hadn't thought of, except I would say to Kevin Durant, let me. Let me pile on your doorstep all of the video of the old heads, as he calls them, all the American old heads not playing worth a damn either. And I got a video of that. I got video of all of them not playing Equal opportunity. But you.

Tony Kornheiser (9:06)

Nobody wants to play in it.

Mike Wilbon (9:07)

Raise the fast.

Tony Kornheiser (9:08)

Nobody wants to play it. They don't.

Mike Wilbon (9:10)

And now to the harangue from Jerome Tang. The Kansas State coach let his team have it. After losing by 29 at home to Cincinnati last night, Tony, this is.

Jerome Tang (quoted coach) (9:22)

This was embarrassing. These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. It means something. To wear a K state uniform means something. To put on this purple, man. Like everything this university is about and all that, it's been about why I love this place, man. Like, they don't. They don't love this place, so they don't deserve to be here.

Tony Kornheiser (9:45)

What did you make of the student section? Paper bags have been in it, so.

Jerome Tang (quoted coach) (9:49)

Yeah, I'd wear a paper bag, too, if I was them. Thanks a lot, fellas. God bless.

Mike Wilbon (9:55)

Whoa, Tony, isn't this too tough on a college team?

Tony Kornheiser (10:01)

Well, let's review for a second. Let's go to the Bomber quotes. These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. They don't love this place, so they don't deserve to be here. Can I ask the relevant question? Who recruited these people? Didn't Tang recruit these people? Because he's been there. He's in his fourth season, so he didn't inherit any of these people. So if mistakes are made, errors of judgment, they are his errors of judgment. I'm not saying he's a bad coach. I'm saying I was told he won 26 games in his first year and made the Elite Eight. He may have inherited some players on that team, but the team he's got now, he clearly hates. Look, this is college basketball right now with, you know, nil and with the.

Mike Wilbon (10:46)

Transfer portal straight up selling.

Tony Kornheiser (10:47)

Coaches make a lot of money. Players make a lot of money. Everybody's a pro. Nobody's sweating out a chem final anymore. Well, nobody's. Nobody's cared about that. So if you want to get rid of this guy Tang, you got to pay him an $18.5 million buyout. It's probably. It's probably cheaper to get rid of the players. Probably cheap.

Mike Wilbon (11:05)

Tony, here's the deal. And look, you understand the frustration of any coach at any level. And the tough thing now, Tone, is coaches rationally can go back into their meeting, slam the door with their staff and say, these kids are getting paid. Maybe not as much as James Harden and Luka, who. But they're getting paid.

Tony Kornheiser (11:24)

That's right.

Mike Wilbon (11:24)

And so there's going to be a certain resentment, if you will, but, Tony, you can't go that far. And if I was the athletic director. No, if I was the president of Kansas State University, And I do like when people wear the purple and call themselves Wildcats. But if I was the president of the university, I would call Coach Tang and I'd say, so you've got until the TV trucks get here at 5 o' clock for local news to get down in something purple in a logo and walk this back. That's how long you got. Because I will also terminate you for cause. And there may not be a buyout of 16 to 18 million dollars. And I think he's probably a really good coach, too. But you can't go this far. These are. And now I'm sounding like John Thompson. I'm stealing a phrase from the coach I probably admired most in my life, from coach, the dear late great John Thompson, who. Who would often say to me when I got ready to criticize somebody in the Washington Post, hey, these are somebody's children. They still are, whether they get a paycheck or not. So Tang has to remember that or he might have to go.

Tony Kornheiser (12:34)

This is his last quote, which I thought was the bomber quote. I have no answers and no words. Well, that's not true. You had words.

Mike Wilbon (12:41)

You had words.

Tony Kornheiser (12:41)

You had very harsh words. And your job is to have answers. That's your job. You're the coach. We're paying you. Let's take a break. Coming up, Joey Porter goes after Ben Roethlisberger as a teammate. What's the word for that?

Mike Wilbon (12:54)

And how best to describe James Harden's contention that loyalty is overrated? I love the way you describe language in the Olympics when they talk about it gets so technical. It's like this guy was the Dan Orlovsky of the Olympics, the 900 so and so. It's like the two deep zone.

Tony Kornheiser (13:14)

Yeah, I'm just going wild. You know what a double cork 1080 is right now.

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Tony Kornheiser (15:13)

Time for a little word play with Wilbon. What's first?

Mike Wilbon (15:16)

The criticisms that Joey Porter has of Ben Roethlisberger are blank.

Tony Kornheiser (15:21)

My word is seismic. You do not hear hear this from teammate to teammate. I mean, you know Porter is a guy who was the captain of the team, right? He was the captain of the team at one point and he was a Pro bowl player at one point. He's a worthy guy. He actually said of Roethlisberger, quote, he's not a good teammate. Is he a good person? No. He said this on a podcast, probably answering what Roethlisberger said on his own podcast months before about their coach, Mike Tomlin, who Porter is still very close with. Roethlisberger was the first one, I think, to come out and say maybe it's time for a change of scene. So he's obviously still angry. He said Porter said he respected and rooted for Roethlisberger when he was the quarterback, but about his captain skills, he said he had no captain quality. One other quote stands out, Mike. The blank that he did is foul of all foul. This is a teammate. How do you think the plans for that reunion are going in Pittsburgh?

Mike Wilbon (16:17)

Yeah, I won't mention any other championship teams that have those similar things going on. I'll just say my word is intramural. And Tony, it is that because you're dealing with like half the modern history of the Steelers here. I mean, you're not going back to Lynn Swan and Franco Harris, but you're dealing with Cower and Tomlin and James Harrison and Cam Hayward and everybody, of course, Porter and Roethlisberger. And everybody's got a podcast and everybody seems to just Sort of rip somebody or defend somebody on their podcast. You are the podcast ringmaster in my life. So I defer to you on this in a mural because it's like, I don't know the outside there has any resonance. You know what I mean? Outside Steeler Nation. I don't know that it matters.

Tony Kornheiser (17:07)

I just thought it was a bomber quote. Maybe not in the Tang quality, but close. What's next?

Unidentified Guest or Contributor (17:13)

James Harden is blank when he says loyalty is overrated.

Tony Kornheiser (17:19)

Self serving. Of course he says this because he has no loyalty to anyone or anything but himself. Absolutely none. Didn't he force Houston to trade him to the Nets? And didn't he force the 76ers to trade him to the Clippers? And then last week he woke up one morning and said, I'm sick of the Clippers, and forced them to trade him to Cleveland. He will tell you that players can be caught, you know, and that players, you know, don't have any guarantees except the ones that have guarantees. But he has guarantees because he's a great player and he makes $40 million a year. And he will tell you, you know, that the NBA is a business. It is a business. And he uses his clout as a great player to destroy the business whenever he wants to. I'm sure he's very, very happy in Cleveland right now. What is it, 5:45? Let's see how he is at 8:00'.

Rich Eisen (18:08)

Clock.

Mike Wilbon (18:08)

And that's why, Tony, my word is justifying. That's all he's doing is justifying all the moves he has forced. And I, like you wrote down Houston, Brooklyn, Philly, Los Angeles, I'm not counting Oklahoma City, because he didn't force that. That was early in his career when he wasn't as great yet and he had no clout. But every stop since then, he hasn't. And if you, if you ask James about these things and he's very approachable and very affable to talk about a lot of things, he would just sort of look at you like, what are you, are you sure you know what you're talking about? And it's like, I'm sorry these places actually exist. And by the way, by the way, I'm not even saying I blame him, but it is justified.

Tony Kornheiser (18:55)

I think he's a great player, but it's obvious what he does. Yes, that's the final word. Let's take one last break. Still to come, the latest sign that Serena Williams could return to competition.

Mike Wilbon (19:07)

And North Carolina gets some bad news about a big star.

Tony Kornheiser (19:12)

I mean, he uses his clout. It's the Kevin Durant does the same thing. This is the way it works. LeBron James does the same thing.

Mike Wilbon (19:19)

Yes they do.

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Tony Kornheiser (21:05)

Happy time people. Happy 63rd birthday. Brent Jones Jones was the 49ers tight end during their glory years of Joe Montana and Steve Young. He went to four Pro Bowls, won three Super Bowls. While he was not as accomplished as Jerry Rice, when Jones retired in 2000, he had caught more passes for more yards and more touchdowns than any other 49ers tight end ever. Jones played all of his football in the Bay Area, having gone to Santa Clara, which no longer has a football team, and playing 11 seasons with the 49ers. Jones played in 143 games with the 49ers. He won 110. Jones two daughters were D1 soccer players and Courtney was on two NCAA champions at North Carolina.

Mike Wilbon (21:45)

If you went up and down the rosters. Tony of those great Niners teams, the great Patriots teams, the great Steelers teams, the great Cowboys teams, I would say that the Niners had more individually great players. We don't even talk about Brent Jones. It was great, like you just outlined. I think the Niners apologies to the others, but that's the way I'd be going.

Tony Kornheiser (22:08)

I might go Steelers. I might Happy anniversary. Jordan Spieth on this day nine years ago, Spieth won the Pebble Beach Pro Am. With this win, Spieth became just the second man, along with Tiger woods to win nine times on the PGA Tour before the age of 24 since World War II. Later in 2017, Spieth won the British Open for his third major, and at that point, comparisons to Tiger woods seemed reasonable. But since that British Open, Spieth has only won twice the Valero Texas Open in his home state in 2021 and the RBC Heritage in 2022. Now, Spieth had a T3 and a T4 at the Masters and a runner up at the British, but He was number one in the world for 26 weeks at his apex, and now he's 89th.

Mike Wilbon (22:52)

Tony his greatest beef was during that run. It was always too soon to invoke the name Tiger Woods. And you know, I go crazy about this, even with Scotty Scheffler. Scheffler's been better longer, but it's still too soon to start mentioning Tiger Woods. It makes me be crazy. And yet, you know, people will do it anyway.

Tony Kornheiser (23:15)

Well, wait till they ask you about Chris Goddard up in Tiger woods next week. Happy trails. Nick Castellanos. The Phillies are releasing the outfielder with one year left on his deal after failing to find a trade partner. Philly hadn't even bothered to invite Castellanos to spring training after his production fell last season. At one point, he got benched for making an inappropriate remark toward manager Rob Thompson. It came after Castellanos had been pulled from the game for defensive purposes and while he was holding a beer in the dugout during play. The Phillies signed Adoles Garcia in the off season to replace the 33 year old in Wright Wilbourne. Something tells me you can suggest a landing spot for Castellanos.

Mike Wilbon (23:53)

He's got some pop in that bat still, and he knows his way around right field in the Ivy. And Wrigley, because he's been there before, Tony So I'm just saying, as the, as the, as the unofficial sort of an analyst of the Cubs roster, we need a little bite. We need Some dog in that roster. I nominee Castellanos.

Tony Kornheiser (24:13)

Let's go to the big finish. Jeremy Sochin joined the Knicks after being released by the Spurs. Is that a big ad?

Mike Wilbon (24:18)

It could be. He asked for his release. They gave it to him. The spurs are loaded. This is. I'm very curious. North Carolina says Caleb Wilson, not Williams. Caleb Wilson is out indefinitely with a fractured hand. Is that a big deal?

Tony Kornheiser (24:34)

It is. He's nearly 20 and 10 in college.

Mike Wilbon (24:37)

That is a big deal. It is a big deal.

Tony Kornheiser (24:38)

Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday will have hammet bone surgery and miss the season opener. What do you make of this?

Mike Wilbon (24:44)

Every single person has this injury now. This is insane. I hope that's not what Caleb Wilson has. Serena Williams has been cleared to return to play by a tennis anti doping agency. You think she will?

Tony Kornheiser (24:59)

I do. I think she'll play occasionally like her sister Venus does. Maybe they'll even play doubles together. I think it's possible. Last one. Suns forward Dillon Brooks got an automatic one game suspension after earning his 16th deck last night. Your thoughts?

Mike Wilbon (25:11)

There'll be more suspensions coming. He can't help himself, but he's had one hell of a season for the surprising Suns.

Tony Kornheiser (25:18)

Don't you find him annoying, though? Don't you find him annoying?

Mike Wilbon (25:20)

We're out of time.

Celsius Energy Advertiser (25:21)

Time.

Tony Kornheiser (25:21)

Try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Korenheiser.

Mike Wilbon (25:24)

And I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.

Sponsor Announcer (Indeed/Grainger) (25:28)

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