← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Jalen Ramsey TRADED to the Steelers, Patrick Reed WINS in Dallas, Best drinking weekend
00:50:55
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- [00:00]
Katie Couric
This is an iHeart podcast.
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John Midkoff
On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric. I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas. She's holding down the fort for her party in one of the most conservative states in the union. I think that ultimately who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone that has been out there and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be punched and just say thank you like they will punch back. Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Katie Couric
The Volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Midkoff, three and out podcast. What is the good word, my people? Here's the plan. Today I was just going to do a golf podcast because we had a lot of stuff going on. Patrick Reed, is he in the mix for the Ryder cup? We had the 20 year old win a PGA tournament. He hits it about 9 million miles. Patty Harrington, former major champ, wins the Senior Open. I actually watched that at the gym on Sunday morning and thought I'd rank some golf beers, just beers, in terms of fourth of July because this is just, I mean, it's a great drinking week, let's be honest and do a little, we will also do a little mailbag reaction from the golf mailbag. Lopod Olopod is the Instagram firing those dms. So we'll react a little bit to the NFL trade, we'll do some golf content and we'll get, we'll get you out of here on a, on a Monday of, you know, let's face it, a lot of you guys, including myself, I don't want to call this a mail in week, but this is a week where you're just ready for the pool, the lake and some cocktails. But before we dive into sports, you know, I got to tell you about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast, Game time. Listen, do you guys want to go to an event? Do you want to go to a concert? Do you want to go to a comedy show? You want to go to a baseball game this summer? If you want to go to a major league baseball game, want to go see the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Giants, the Cubs, you name it, we got you covered. Obviously, concert season is in full swing. The amount of times that I see highlights from a, from a cool concert on Instagram, it always makes me a little jealous. You know, comedy shows, if you want to go enjoy yourself, get a little laugh, we Actually have a comedy like Little Cellar right down the street from my house, probably 10 minutes away. I haven't been yet, but I know a couple people that go, they say it's a good time. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account and use the code JOHN for $20 off. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem the code johan for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Let's dive into the trade and let's just dive in. I mean, it's no way around it. We knew Jalen Ramsey was going to get traded to the Steelers. Maybe not, but we knew that Jalen Ramsey was not going to be on the Miami Dolphins. We knew the Steelers, because of Arthur Smith's history with the tight end, was sniffing around John New Smith, I do think the Minka Fitzpatrick curveball kind of came out of nowhere. And now you have the Pittsburgh Steelers that come into this, you know, training camp in a month, adding a lot of different people, right? I mean, Jalen Ramsey, I don't want to say a huge personality, but has been traded from a couple different places. And I would say that the Rams was probably more financial. This one was a little more personality. You bring in DK Metcalf, which gets a personal foul every other. Every other game. You got Aaron Rodgers, who, like I talked about on the podcast the other day, I just watched Enigma. I don't recommend it, but if you want a weird cat, 41 years old, a lot of moving parts. Now, in fairness to the Steelers, you go, well, look at what we've been doing. We haven't been anywhere close, even though we've been making the playoffs. I've been saying this for a while. You have the Chiefs who are in their own little world, right? They go to the super bowl, it feels like every year. Then you have this next group of teams, one of them being in their division, their rival, the Ravens, and the Bills, who we've seen them play in the playoffs the last couple of years and didn't come within you know, single digits in those playoff games. And this year against the Ravens was a fucking shellacking. And if you look at the way they played down the stretch, they were getting worked. You know, even the Bengals, who missed the playoffs, there's no one that would have argued by the end of the season the Bengals were a much better team than the Steelers, and obviously they beat him at the end of the year. So sometimes you got to mix it up. I got to be honest though, doing this and after OTAS feels a little weird, feels pretty dramatic. I do think from a financial standpoint Minka Fitzpatrick essentially has two years left on his deal, but really this is the last deal and maybe they looked at it like this a little bit like the Houston Texans with Laramie Tunzel. We don't plan on giving him another big contract. Now obviously Tunzels number at left tackle is enormous. Minka because of the position he plays is smaller. But in a weird way this move was more big picture. Even though in theory I guess it helps them in the short term getting two guys, especially one in the secondary. And I just think it was pretty crazy because I start texting around the league. My take is and I'm not banging the film like the old days. So I text my buddies and they go. I go, is Jalen still good? And I got multiple guys that work in pro department say declining starter. I mean his days of just locking down the best wide receiver are over now. He's still a solid player. He will tackle and maybe the Steelers bet on you. Come to our culture like you were with the Rams, you're going to be an all in guy. You still got. You're not that. I mean, how old is Jalen Ramsey? 30, 31 years old. So technically he has a big year. Maybe he continues to play for a while. Yeah, he's 30 years old. He feels older than he actually is. And listen, they traded for a declining player. And I go, what about Minka? To me he's pretty good player. Like, yeah, high end starter. Now this is where we get to the hierarchy of positions. And I would say safety's near the bottom. You could argue down with guards and centers making so much money and their importance, given how many interior pass rushers are good, that guards and centers have jumped safeties. And you know, I think linebackers, I mean if you get a good one, they are extremely important. You could argue that safety is last on the list of importance. Now I think Minka, Fitzpatrick and guys like that can our game changing players. But the Pittsburgh Steelers just told you what they think. They think his value despite being a high end player is a little bit overrated because you see it on paper, like what did they just do? And I saw on the Internet, like it's not like the Steelers defense was that good last year. Right. I think, you know, their past defense was near the bottom of the league. And I do think if you look historically at the Steelers, you know, whenever you see clips of like the Late coward days or the early Tomlin days, they had a lot of tall corners. Like they have an organizational philosophy that comes from the owner. They want to run the ball. Arthur Smith, Caleb Johnson. They want big corners and pass rushers. And they add Darius Slay and they add Jalen Ramsey. Two guys who you would say their arrow is pointing down. But given the way they want to play, maybe they think that, you know, based on we're losing a safety, it's not like he's matching up with, you know, Jamar Chase or, you know, the Ravens bet Zay Flowers. So one of those guys and Jalen has before you can move them around a little bit, put over if you're playing a really, really good tight end. I'd say overall it just shows you. I mean, the Steelers are just like going for broke. Fuck it. And in a weird way, clearing their books for the future and getting rid of a guy, getting short term value. Right now I think it's pretty risky because the other thing, and this is what assistant GM told me, Mick as a tangibles are pretty elite. Like what he brings you, you know, in terms of leadership, in terms of practice habits, in terms of just focus. Pretty special. Like he's a check all the boxes. You know, sometimes when these teams do their draft content and we get like an inside look of like he was a star player, he was a horseshoe player, he was a gold star player. Like that's what this type guy is. And that's hard to quantify sometimes. So just like, well, he only had one interception. Well he just. It's like, well, what he's bringing to the table, Jalen Ramsey's not exactly bringing to the table. And maybe they think that like that's a little overrated. We have other guys that can fill that role. I mean, that's why we pay TJ all this money. And Cam Hayward still around like they can run it. Because statistically, like at the end of the day, this is a production based business and we need to be better. Like what we've seen the last couple of years. And this is why I'm out on. I have been out on them. It's like it's just not good enough. Like I've seen you with these players in these biggest moments and you're just not good enough. I still don't think they're good enough. But like, listen, they did it last year, take a big swing at quarterback with a couple guys who they technically got for cheap in Russell and Justin Fields. Hopefully it upgraded them from the Kenny Pickett, Mason, Rudolph situation. And now they're doing it again with Aaron Rodgers. They're hoping that upgrades and they go, actually maybe this helps our defense a little bit, getting these tall long corners. I still think it's crazy ever trading a player like Minka Fitzpatrick who has lived up to you trading for and then brings all that stuff. But like this is a business and this is not one of those worlds where you just pay everybody. That's not how it works. And they have some high priced guys, I would imagine they have to double down over the course of the next month or 2 on TJ Watt, giving him that Miles Garrett, that Max Crosby, like a hundred plus million dollars. And maybe they want some wiggle room. They also gave DK Metcalfe a ton of money and they're bringing in, you know, Mike Tomlin gets a lot of credit and rightfully so. His ability to manage personalities is really, you'd argue like his leadership, his ability to manage the team and some crazy motherfuckers is his best attribute. Because you wouldn't call him like, you know, some genius scheme guy. Right. Hell, their best defense has been when Dick LeBeau ran the defense. Right. He definitely is not an offensive guy. So you go, hey, hey, Mike Godspeed. Here's Rogers, here's dk, here's Jalen. Go get him. Because it's unfair. And I know coaches and executives love to say this is like our best teams are when our locker room runs the team. And that's true. But it's also pretty easy to do that. Like I've seen some of the good Niner teams, like where a locker room handles it. Yeah, you got a bunch of high level guys like no one's really fucking around. It's much harder when you got all these different personalities. You know, it's hard to be, I mean, who is more famous than Aaron Rodgers in the NFL? Maybe Mahomes, maybe. And you'd argue, I mean honestly, if you just asked, they're probably equal. Like you asked someone's grandma, you asked someone's wife. Like you have the most famous player in the league on your team who's a little bit of a lightning rod and from a playing standpoint is all over the map. Because to me, if you're the, this is the easiest trade the Dolphins ever are going to make. We're trading Jalen Ramsey, like he's not going to be on the team. He clearly wasn't showing up to meetings on time. Our organization was over him and we're going to get Mika Fitzpatrick back. Who? Listen, who else are we going to pay? Tyreek Hill's probably not going to be on this team in a year. We will just get a guy that we originally drafted back in the building and we'll just keep him around. Now, as someone in the league told me, middle cuff, check out the Dolphins cornerback depth chart. Doesn't look great. And then I started thinking like, obviously the Bills, they haven't beat the bills in like 10 years. So they're not beating the Josh Allen Bills. But when you look at the Jets, Justin Fields, their quarterback, last time I checked, he's not exactly Chad Pennington picking you apart. So from a past game standpoint, I don't know if the jets scare you. And then the Patriots from a personnel standpoints, not great. And if you look their offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, I mean, I don't want to call him a dink and dunk offensive coordinator, but the most success they had in New England, especially over his second kind of run post, Randy Moss, was Edelman over the middle Gronka tight end and throwing to the running backs. And if you look at their personnel, it's clearly not as good as those teams. So it's like they're not going to be the most explosive offense. Maybe things can get by for a little bit. Now you guys know where I stand on the Miami Dolphins. I think they're going to be terrible. And there's already been a lot of buzz about Mike McDaniel getting fired at the end of this year. I just think their team just has a lot going on. Don't blame them for getting rid of Jalen Ramsey. Obviously, if a team was going to take a Jalen Ramsey, it was going to be, I would say, a big name, big personality coach. It would have to be a guy like John Harbaugh and Andy Reid. You know, Mike Tomlin, you weren't sending him to like Liam Cohen, you know, you weren't sending him Jonathan Gannon, a coach feeling comfortable that I can handle this was going to be. Mike Tomlin was clearly on the short list. And if you told me at the beginning of the off season they're going to get back Minka Fitzpatrick in a trade for an older tight end and Jalen Ramsey, like that's the. And I think they one team gave a fifth, one team gave a seventh, whatever. But that's a, that's a very, very easy deal for Miami. And I think if you're Pittsburgh, you needed to fucking change things up. I think sometimes too in this, you know, Football, I've said forever football is like Wall street on grass. It's very cutthroat. And sometimes you need to let everyone know because people. And I've asked this question, like, I thought the standard was the standard. I thought, this is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not even just the Lombardi's, but like, we're going to compete every year at the highest level. And for a long time with Roethlisberger, even though when they weren't winning it, they were right there in the mix. If an injury doesn't go their way, they couldn't beat the Patriots, but everyone else they could play with and they could beat anybody. This team is not the case. And I think sometimes an organization like, hey, listen, everyone better fucking have their head on a swivel. This shit ain't acceptable. It's not Minka's fault, but it kind of shows the locker room. Like, anyone can be traded. It's almost. It's not out. I'm not comparing Minka to Luka, but sometimes those moments, remember when Luka got traded? Everyone in the NBA is like, I think Anthony Edwards is like, well, shit, if they trade Luka Doncic, Minnesota could trade me. And I just think everyone in the locker room, like, your off season, this next four or five weeks before you show up to training camp better not just be fucking slamming Coors Lights, you know, smoking weed, needing pizza. Your ass better be training, because we will get rid of your ass if your name ain't TJ Watt or DK Metcalf. Head better be on a swivel because this ain't gonna fly anymore. And I, I do wonder if there's an element of that just to kind of keep everyone like, damn, you know, kind of wakes you up, I think, especially any young person. And I remember this in the NFL and even when I started in radio and like, ratings were a big part, sometimes when you have a tough conversation and you're 25, you're 28, you're 30. Especially when you get a little cocky and you start feeling yourself, it can humble you really quick or there'd be a situation in your building where they just fired that guy. What if they fired that guy? Sorry, I'm sweating. I just got done working out and showering. It just. It was a wow moment. So I. Where I commend the Pittsburgh Steelers is we crush them so often for being too conservative. Well, they're never willing to do anything. They just, they're just cool with winning nine or 10 games. And they keep telling us standard is the Standard championships or bust. It was like this bullshit. Like, at least they're like, fuck it, like, this ain't working. Let's try something else now. Is it going to work? Baltimore is in a different league, but like I've been saying for a while, like, I don't feel great about Cincinnati. Their offense was awesome last year and they won nine games. They have a new defensive coordinator. Their star defensive end hates the organization. They're the guy they drafted to replace that guy thinks he's getting, you know, rat in the, in the contract negotiations. He just left ota. So a lot of moving parts in Cincinnati. Obviously, Cleveland's going to suck. The AFC is really good. We know the Chiefs ain't going anywhere. The Broncos and the Chargers are going to be better. The Bills are going to be awesome. If the Patriots look at their schedule, they could be solid. So maybe the Steelers are like, we need to mix something up. Like, what do we got to lose seven games again? I mean, that's, what are we doing here? So I've kind of come around like, I get it. What the hell? Why not? And like I said, the ramifications in the locker room, like, this ain't good enough. And if we can trade Minka, team captain baller, we can trade anyone in this room not named TJ Watt. Pro golfers drive for show, but they put for dough. The easiest shot for you to make some dough betting on this week's tournament at DraftKings Sportsbook. From the opening round through Sunday, DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered with live betting, player props, and so much more. I bet on golf every single week. Couple guys I like. 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John Midkoff
I'm Jemele Hill, host of the sports and politics podcast Spolitics. On this week's episode, I'm joined by basketball legend Candace Parker, who stops by to discuss her candid new book, the Can Do Mindset, in which she shares why she waited two years into marriage to come out.
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Katie Couric
Like when I close my eyes at night, every night, I was like, I need to find my prince charming. Like, it was never a princess. Like that never entered into my mind.
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John Midkoff
But you know, as I learned, sometimes.
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Katie Couric
Life gives you things wrapped in a package that you didn't expect it. And that was just, you know. And honestly, it took me a long time to be okay with myself.
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John Midkoff
Make sure to listen to this week's episode of spalatix on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
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Katie Couric
Okay, let's, let's dive into a little go low and talk some Patrick Reed, who, you know, I would say over the course of his career has been one of the more controversial guys on the PGA Tour. And I've said this forever. One thing that happened when the Live and the PGA Tour split happened is the PGA Tour had too many nice guys. They lost all their villains. Now, Bryson is no longer a villain. He's a big fan favorite. But you need guys like Dennis Rodman and Draymond Green in your league. You need Ndama can sue stomping on people's legs. That is good for business. This is entertainment. In an individual sport, you only got so many crazy guys. John Daly carried the sport for a long period of time, you know, and losing Patrick Reed, who what made him so fascinating? He is a really good player. He's not just a major champ. He has one of the best short games in the history of the sport. And he wins this week at Lyft, which, listen, I've been fully transparent. I don't put too much in winning and losing these tournaments. Even Jon Rahm said his top 10 streak forever. It's, you know, it is what it is. He's playing against a smaller field. But this individual tournament was extremely difficult. I mean Bryce DeChambeau was even through the first two weeks and Patrick Reed had a three shot lead going into Sunday. He had shot four and five under. He was nine under. He actually didn't play that well on Sunday. Like if he played like this. We've been talking about Keegan Bradley winning like Keegan Bradley's on the team. I'm sorry. Look at our squad. It is not very good. Xander has not had a good year. Obviously Scottie Scheffler is a stud. Colin Morikawa was just fucking had a bizarre year. Like good player. He's obviously a lock. I mean the species of the world who's having a kid who's injured, like sorry we got talking about like Ben Griffins and Andrew Novaks. You're telling me that Patrick Reed can't be on the team and the pushback will be like John, don't you remember last time he was on the team? It was weird. I think we're over that because last time we played a Ryder cup it was all about the vibes. We, it was like making sure everyone's friend was on the team. How did that work out for us? Not great. And in this individual tournament he's literally beating guys who are going to be in the Ryder Cup. Bryson is, you could argue behind Scotty, the second best player on our team. I think I would argue that I would feel more comfortable taking Bryson in that moment than Colin Morikawa. And Colin Morikawa has been good in the Ryder cup but he played for a long time with DJ and, and obviously DJ is not going to be on the team but like I would have no problem at least putting him in the discussion. And to me, if he plays well at the Open and if he continues to play well these last couple events at live, I think it's more than a discussion. Here's the other thing. Like this is a home event in New York. It is going to be a bunch of young dudes, a bunch of people boozing. It's going to be bananas. The crowd is going to be behind Patrick Reed. Obviously Bryson changed the narrative a couple years ago. If we were going overseas, I would say it could get a little weird. Hell, Patrick Reed and one of his playing partners just got into it with a fan on Sunday. But I kind of think this team needs a little juice. We just talked about it with the Tomlin Pittsburgh Steelers trade. Sometimes you need to mix shit up. And I'm sorry, I think we need to mix it up a little bit. Keegan on the team. Patrick Reed plays well the last couple months. I have no problem bringing him on the team. He just won a tournament because you're like, well, it's going to be a bunch of long rough. It's a long course, the Ryder Cup. Well, what did he just play a course with extremely long rough? Where does that benefit him? He's got a great short game, so especially around the green, he can get up and down. I have no problem entertaining that. And, like, especially based on who else is going to be in the mix. Like, what are we talking about? It is not like we have some. A couple years ago, it was like, we go, like, 20 deep as the Americans. Now it's flipped. It feels like their team goes 20 deep. Like, two of the best players on the international Ryder cup team are literally Jon Rahm and Terrell Hatton. And obviously, Terrell Haddon was one shot off at live, you know, missing the playoff where Patrick Reed ended up winning. But, like, he is going to be a guy that's going to be on that team for a decade plus. Jon Rahm, when it's all said and done, will go down as probably one of the great European players not named Sevy Ballesteros or Sergio Garcia. Like, he's going to be one of their better players right there with Rory in the history of the event. So, listen, Bryson's on the team now. Bryson's a better player than Patrick Reed. But, like, to me, Patrick Reed winning in Dallas, I think he has thrown his hat in the discussion. And here's the other thing. This is an entertainment product. This is an exhibition right during football season. So, like, back in the day. And I love golf. I mean, I love it. I listened to probably more. I definitely listen to more golf podcasts in golf content than I do football content. I do think back in the heyday of the Ryder cup, like, before the Internet, going up against other sports was a little different. Now, obviously, the TV element, you. There is no disputing that. Like, when I have it on my TV in a room with, like, three TVs, either on Saturday or Sunday of the fall, it's like, it's hard for me to give it all my. All my attention. When you got fucking the Chiefs playing the Bills or you got Texas playing Georgia, it gets lost in the shuffle. And I do think adding Bryson, adding Patrick Reed, there has to be some sort of element. And I understand Keegan is Not factoring in television ratings, but, like, from a standpoint of, like, this guy's really good, and he's playing really well. He's also played really well over the course of his career in some big moments. And you can say, John, what about the Ryder Cup? Yeah, it's like, I've seen Jordan Spieth have rough moments at the Ryder Cup. I've seen Rory McIlroy cry at the Ryder cup for playing like crap. Ryder Cup's Hard Tiger and Phil, notoriously, aren't, like, great Ryder cup players. It's difficult. So listen, if guys on that team are cool and we'll vouch for them and who knows? I have no problem putting Patrick Reed on that team because. And listen, I think Patrick Reed being. And I'm not just saying that because they bought ad space, I think Patrick Reed was more interesting than anything that happened at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Now, in fairness, the Rocket Mortgage Classic is probably one of the worst events on the calendar. When you factor in the field, when you factor in its time of year, you know, you could argue this week John Deere, but at least John Deere, like, knows its place. Like, no one expects, like Morikawa. There's some big names in the Rocket Mortgage. There aren't many big names playing this week. Most people take the week off, go enjoy their families. That was a pretty boring tournament. Now I give Pot Pot Gator props for winning it. He was close to winning in Mexico earlier this year. His ball speed was ranging between, like, 192 and 196. For those of you. You know, they use this term a lot. I think the average golfer is not on the track. Man, the first time I've ever been on, truly on the trackman was earlier this year when I bought, like, a little Bushnell contraption. I swing pretty hard, you know, for an amateur golfer. And I, you know, got to swing really, really hard to hit 170. And listening to people talk about it, like, once you get to a certain number, usually like 165, 170, gaining a couple miles an hour of ball speed from from then on out is really, really difficult to gain. Cruising in the 190s is insane. I mean, this guy blasts the ball. He's hitting driver iron like 310. His driver goes like 350. I think there's a lot of question marks with the short game, but when you hit it that far, you know, I had a wise man tell me years ago, the most overrated thing in golf is putting. Like, most people are average. To below average putters. And we always say, driving the ball doesn't matter. No hitting fairways. If I take a seven handicap or I take a scratch handicap, or I take a 15 handicap, and for 90% of the par fours and par fives, I put them in the middle of the fairway. Relative to how far you hit it, 250 to 280 to 300, you are going to play dramatically better than if I say, hey, you're going to make some putts, but every single hole, I'm going to put you in the trees or where I live in the cactus. It's really difficult to play. So when you hit it far and you hit it straight, the game gets relatively easier. So props to that kid. He won $1.7 million. It is really, really lucrative to win these golf tournaments. Now. I saw the list of all the. You know, Scottie Scheffler currently has made the most money this year. But, like, every guy in the top 10 just on the course has made, like 7 million plus. I mean, it is crazy, the amount of money that at the end of the year, all these guys, like, every guy in the top 10 will be probably 12 million minimum. And obviously, some of these guys are going to be 20 plus. And then whoever wins the FedEx, you know, especially if it's Scotty or Rory, will probably be close to, like, 40 or $50 million. So the amount of money Patrick Reed just won, $4 million. I've said it forever. It's like, it was funny about Florio. Doesn't understand why no one cares about the NFL collusion case. It's because Florio, everyone's getting filthy rich. It's like, Kyler Murray got screwed. Did he? He's made every penny of his contract. He's banked $150 million. So, like, did he get screwed? Like, I don't see him out on the street. I see that guy printing money. Same thing with golf. Everyone involved in pro golf, you know, people always said it was the best time to ever play was when Tiger was in his prime. And relatively speaking, if you were a guy out on the PGA tour before Tiger got there, the money ballooned. So you went from winning $500,000 in a golf tournament to winning a million dollars. It's a huge difference, especially in 2002 or 2005. But when you're talking about guys that are going to make, like, solid years, might not win a tournament and make $15 million just on the course. I told Colin this the other day, like, Maria's in this world. Now she works for this luxury real estate company that is pretty ingrained with a lot of golfers because one of the main guys that works there, former big time golfer, multiple guys that are ingrained in the PGA Tour scene, they're caddies. They're caddies. And these aren't, you know, Scotty Scheffler's caddies or, you know, these are. I'm not going to put any guy on blast. I'm not allowed to. But it's guys that are way down the money list looking at homes two, three, four million dollars. So it's, there's never been a time to be associated with this sport. The money is flowing and it's why it's become so competitive. And it'll be fascinating to watch how this plays out over the next couple years. Is this sustainable? Because, like, should the Rocket mortgage be paying 1.7 to the winner? I'll be, I'll be fascinated to see the, you know, the television ratings on that one. I know the PGA Tour is rated really well this season and I get it, like the Travelers or the Players or some of these tournaments. But that was the first time I was like, yeah, it's kind of boring. Like, Marie, you want to go for a walk? She's like, no, it's 110 degrees. I'm like, yeah, good point. So I'll watch golf. And I watched both the golf tournaments and I do think live for the first time. And I'm not saying this because they are paying. I promise you this. I had them both on. I just thought it was more interesting watching Bryson and Patrick Reed play golf than Chris Kirk in Pot Meter. Now, again, part of that, if you tell me it was Scotty and Colin Morikawa, I changed my tune. But just for the first time going up against that event. And it's where Liv can like @ least enter the conversation when they get a big name guy going up against a shitty event. And the Rocket Mortgage is now, I would say, a pretty low level event. One event that was pretty impressive was I watched the last five holes of Padra Carrington and Stuart Sink. Stuart Sink probably could have won this tournament. He missed two birdies on 16 and 17 from within, I don't know, seven, eight feet. I mean, he stuck it close on 17 and he just pushed it, right? And even Patty Harrington admitted, like, like, I feel pretty fortunate Sink could have buried one of those birdies. But I noticed like the Senior Open I found more interesting than the Rocket Mortgage because, like, I've watched Stuart Sink and Potty Harrington play Tiger and Phil. When I was young, it was actually really good. Sometimes a scene. And again, I'm a golf sicko. Like, I understand, like, I'm not expecting this to be for the masses. It's like recruiting guy. Like, I love football. I don't get into recruiting. I totally get if you don't like golf. I say it all the time. Like, listen, I respect ufc. I don't watch it, but that was a fantastic three or four, whole stretch with those two guys. These are two major champions. Stuart Sink a couple years ago, one of the PGA Tour, I think twice. I love the body types on the Senior tour. They're all just fucking big. Even guys that Potty Harrington talks about, like he lifts weights. If you ever want to go to a good YouTube channel for just a golf Sitko or Instagram, I think Potty Harrington and Rocco, you just. These guys are golf sickos like Peyton Manning with football. They just, they eat, breathe and sleep it. They love talking about it. They love giving tips. I think Rocco and Potty Harrington are just two guys. I say this all the time about like the Andy Reid and Belichick generation. I put when I worked for Pat Hill in the same thing. These guys got involved in football back in the 60s or the 70s. There was no money or the 80s. It wasn't. You weren't getting involved to coaching to get rich. Like Rocco and Potty Harrington and Stuart Sink when they first got into golf, you weren't going to be flying private jets everywhere unless your name was Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus. And now everyone's filthy rich, you know. So it was very, very enjoyable. Blending Vice's signature dynamic storytelling with the high octane world of sports, Vice Sports brings an exciting and diverse range of programming that goes beyond the game, catch action packed live events and exclusive sports documentaries and profiles only on Vice tv.
- [33:36]
John Midkoff
I'm Jemele Hill, host of the sports and politics podcast Politics. And on the latest episode of Politics, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joins me for a candid conversation about the state of the Democratic Party. What do Republicans say to you privately that they won't say publicly? Many of them are in fear of their political lives and that's been part of the challenge. But we continue to say to them, you were elected to defend your constituents, to stand up for your constituents, and there's life after Congress and you should be willing to actually want to be able to look back on your time in the House of Representatives knowing that you can keep your head held high because you did the right thing. Donald Trump is gone in three and a half years. But their legacy or their failure to stand up to the extremism and the unprecedented assault on America as we know it will be with them forever. Make sure to listen to Spolitics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [34:37]
Katie Couric
I do think with the Fourth of July, I'm going to Tahoe and Nevada for 10 days. Got someone, I gotta clear out the house. We got someone coming over here to watch the dog and take care of this. It's a, it's a big. I say I have a lot of respect, respects the wrong word, jealousy. I'm just, I'm legitimately jealous of people that have, like, their, their parents live down the street from them where they can just. It's, it is more difficult to find somewhere where you're comfortable dropping your dog off or having someone come watch your dog. It's actually a more difficult task than you would think. But when you live in, I don't want to say a foreign land, but an area where you just, you know, I've only been for a couple years I don't have. And a lot of people leave anyway in the summer because it's 150 degrees. But we'll see. We got a, we got a new person taking care of her, so we'll see how that goes. But I was thinking about this because this is just. Is a great drinking week. Fourth of July, as I've gotten older, is easily my favorite holiday. I mean, I don't even think, honestly, there's not a close second. The only close second would be. And maybe this changes, you know, for those of you parents, when you have kids, you know, Christmas is really cool, giving presents to someone else. But like in my state right now, Christmas is down on the list. Thanksgiving would be up there. But I always regret how much I eat fourth of July. I just never have a bad time, even if I'm not doing that much because it always involves the sun, it always involves some water, sometimes some golf. And I think I was thinking about this. Where does the golf beer or the golf cocktail rank going into this week? Because listen, there's nothing like the summer playing golf with some friends, having a cocktail in the cart, maybe two, maybe five. And then obviously the beer or cocktail after the round, I think is the best. I do think if you had to go number one overall, the ranking, that there's nothing like the Fourth of July cocktail beer on the lake, at the pool by the body of water. That is easily the best. I think that is the best drink of the year. The fourth of July drink by the pool or by the lake. And I'll be by the lake this week. I can't wait. I would probably put ahead of the golf beer would be the vacation. So if any of you guys that are on vacation this week or going on vacation and vacation could just be like not having to work, screwing around, you can just have a drink whenever you want. I saw this on Instagram. It's like 10am Shit. Beer me. That's a special feeling. I also think golf, you can incorporate that mindset. So I. You. You could argue those two are tied. I'd put the vacation beer above the golf beer, though. They would basically be the same thing. Because I think you can approach it, especially during the summer. Like if you're teeing off at 8 o' clock in the morning on a Friday, on a Saturday, you can get drinks before you tee off. And don't feel any, and I mean any hesitation doing it, right? You don't sometimes if you're playing even if it's new, not this week, but during the week, and you're like, you know, I'm going to play in the morning, but I still got work to do in the afternoon. Someone's like, hey, should we get some transfusions on hole three? And you look, it's like 8:45 in the morning. Like, ah, should I. You know, you kind of have hesitation. You have no hesitation this week. This is just an incredible week to drink. I mean, it really is. Before we get out of here, I did want to bang out a couple of your questions from the, from the golf mailbag. So we will start with this. We'll start with Bryce. This is @golopod. Atgolopod is the Instagram fire in those DMs? Get your questions answered here on the show. Hey, John. The last five years I've used my grandfather's clubs because he's physically unable to play anymore. Feel for your grandpa. They are a good, reliable set and they're around 20 years old and I'm saving up for my own set. I currently have one hybrid in my bag and it's one of my favorite clubs. Don't have any woods. What is the difference between a hybrid and a wood? What should I get for my new set? One hybrid, one wood, two hybrids. Since I like them so much, I wouldn't consider a hybrid a wood, to me, a hybrid. Back when I started playing golf in like the 90s hybrids did not exist. So you would get to like a three, a four, three, two iron. Those clubs are very difficult to hit. Honestly, once you get to like a 6, 5 iron, these are tough clubs to hit, right? So a hybrid is technically, depending on the loft, it can be a four iron, it can be a three iron, it can be a two iron, it can operate closer to a five wood. It's just a very, very, I would say player friendly club because a three wood can be a difficult club to hit. Obviously the driver, depending on who you are, is not easy to hit even with the technology. I would say there is not an easier club to hit than the hybrid. Just in terms of a club that you can hit far and flush and somewhat control. I would say if you like the hybrid, I think Freddie Couples is a guy with ton of hybrids. You could hybrid up. I mean you're relatively new to golf. You could do a hybrid version of like a three iron, a hybrid version of a four iron, a hybrid version of a five iron. You can, you know, you can be shameless. Who cares? Hot take. Keegan is fine as a playing captain. The importance of the captain. The Ryder cup is overblown. In the end it comes down to pairing guys together who get along and whose ball matches. All the planning in the world won't mean shit if the players suck like Scheffler did at the Ryder cup or the other team shoots low 60s. Ryder cup is not the Super Bowl. Let's talk golf. Miss putt for doe, drive for show is wrong. It's the opposite. I totally agree. I mean Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler. Obviously Brooks isn't playing well now, but a couple years ago when he played with Scotty, they got beat in like 10 holes. They got, I forget, were they playing? Was it Victor Hovland and Ludwig or Victor Hovland and Rom? I forget the exact. It was Hovland and somebody. They beat the living shit out of those two. Those two have a combined what? Scotty has three majors, Koepka has five. They have eight majors and they, they lost like 10 and eight or something. I mean it was, it has to be one of the worst losses in the history of the Ryder Cup. So I'm completely with you. If your top guys, like, if you bring Ben Griffin and he plays bad, you're going to get smoked. It's why I would entertain. Bring Patrick Reed over Ben Griffin, right? I would entertain. You know, like you said, the pairings are very important. And who's Playing well is really, really important. I totally agree from you. Hitting the fairway, unless you are playing like some of these PGA Tour events, I will take my chances hitting the fairway then, because how good are you ever going to putt? Like, are most people going to bang out a bunch of 12 footers? No. Even if you're like a. I'm a three handicap. Actually played my best round of the year, shot 77 at TPC on Saturday. Three birdies, no big deal. Actually didn't hit the driver that well, but. But I actually made putts. And I think sometimes. Listen, ideally you want to do both. You want to hit fairways. Now the thing at tpc, you can spray it a little bit and it's fine. But if I would have played at a tighter course, I would have been in some trouble. But when I hit fairways, even when I'm putting like shit, I shoot anywhere between 78 and 82. I mean, if I miss every fairway, I'm probably going to shoot 88. Totally agree with you. I had someone tell me this years ago. Unless you're playing the Masters, driving the ball straight and hitting fairways is much more important than you're not going to be. Brad Thaxton with a putter in your hand. Are Colin and Rory competing this year to be the soft, softest golfer of the year? Both have been handling the media terribly. It kind of feels like they're both trying to be tough guys and treat the media like shit, but don't realize how they come off. I'm going to give Rory a little grace in the sense that, who knows, maybe he's got the divorce is back on. Who knows what's going on. I don't even want to speculate, but I thought Brandle had a good point. He's like, listen, if you have a good friend in life that has done everything right, treated you well, and then starts acting weird for a month, you don't just kick him to the curb. Like, Rory for like three years has been pretty important to the media and golf and handled himself pretty well. Got a little weird after the Masters. I'm giving him a little Collins, acted weird for a while now. This notion that, like Colin, I don't owe you any Colin, you're not fucking Joe Montana here, buddy. If you disappeared tomorrow, honestly, if Colin Morikawa, If Rory disappeared tomorrow, we'd have problems. If Colin Morikawa disappeared tomorrow, and I like the guy as a player, no one would care his importance to the business of golf relative to how much he makes. Like, if Josh Allen disappeared from the NFL, it would be a problem. If Lamar Jackson disappeared, it would be a problem. Colin Morikawa, unlike the rankings and where he stands from like a status standpoint is like that. Yet his importance to the business model of the cash that everyone's making, including himself, who's filthy rich, he's kind of irrelevant. He's an irrelevant great player. He's much closer like Patrick Cantlay than he is Rory Bryson or Scotty in terms of importance to the business model of the sport. And then when he starts acting like he's running through caddies like, you know, you would bottled waters at a party, it's crazy how often he's going through guys. Someone told me last week that they had heard that there was like an incident, maybe like the second time, you know, because Max home is caddy jumped to Colin whatever a couple months ago. And I don't know if it was either their second or third tournament. There was like, they butted heads and it was clearly fractured since. And now they broke up. Firing, broke up, quit. Who knows the exact term? But, like, the home Griner thing was clear. Like, it was just time for a split. They were good friends. The con, Mort, like, Colin, can you work with anybody? Like, can you work with anybody? What would you. What's your deal, bro? Like, seriously, what's. You're not like a. Big enough like a hole to be a villain. You're just kind of in no man's land where people just don't like you. You just kind of turn people off. So I think Morikawa, the situation he just had with Alan Shipnock, who I talk some shit about Big J's, but I also appreciate a good Big J moment and him and Chip not getting into it. I just think that Morikawa feels pretty exhausting right now. So I would say he's in a different Rory at the end of the day, Rory's extremely important to the business of golf. Golf needs him more than he needs them. At this point, Morikawa needs golf way more than golf needs him. Promise you that. Big fan of both your pods. I know you're big on the top dogs and majors, but wanted to see your opinion change post JJ Spawn winning the US Open. Was Oakmont just an outlier? I know for the most part he's been a mess post Masters, but I think Rory has a big chance at the Open, especially since his home area. I also would love to see Scotty win because it's such a great player. I want him to. To win a lot of majors. And solidify his greatness. I do think there's going to be a couple majors over the course of five, six years, depending on the courses that bring other people in play. Oakmont, they all said, toughest course we've ever played. They called it the toughest and most difficult course in the entire world. So anytime you put people on that scenario, there probably is going to be more variables, right? Bryson missed the cut. All these guys got ejected. So I thought Bryson was one of the favorites. I bet, I bet like $500 on him to top five to top 10 to win. And he didn't even get close to making the cut. So I think anytime you go to a difficult course, which doesn't happen, that we don't see these guys get tested that often. So you kind of forget. And I think Oakmont, you know, Shinnecock next year, I think falls under that category. Even you could say Pinehurst is difficult, but look who dominated at Pinehurst. All the best players. So I think anytime they go to Oakmont, I think Shinnecock is going to fall into that next year. It might just be like, I don't know, you could take some flyers. I think the Masters, the top dogs are going to dominate. I think at the Open is a good example because weather comes into play, you get a lot of variety. Like last year, it was Justin Rose, Billy Horschel and Xander, right? I think the Masters moving forward, it's going to be five, six of the group of ten, right? Scotty Morkowa, Rory Ludwig, Rom, you know, it's a Xander, if he's healthy, it's a top guy. Hatton now is an elite player. I watched the live Dallas Day 3. What an ending question. Is there anything that the new commissioner with the PGA can model from live to enhance the viewer experience? The PGA TV experience has become painful. Too many commercials and too many spotlights of sponsors in the booth. Meanwhile, Live showed the best players and the favorites over and over. Well, the business model is a little different, right? I mean, the contract with Fox for Live, there aren't many requirements. It's not like a huge lucrative business proposition. The PGA Tour took a ton of money from CBS and NBC. So for them to make their money back, given that one thing unique about the PGA Tour consumer, and the same consumer would watch Live to the golf consumer, same thing. Senior US Open. The audience is much smaller than all these other major sports, right? It's a big deal for a PGA tournament to get what, 5 million people is a massive day for a non major 3. And a half, 4 million people is a big deal. But that percentage of a consumer, like the NBA final consumer, let's say beside game seven, they were getting like 8 million people watching. So double a PGA Tour event. The PGA Tour consumer, their demo is like 50% have, like, they have more money than the NBA or NFL consumer. So while the audience is smaller, from an advertiser perspective, you are getting the richest sports consumer. It's a huge advantage for golf. So, like, they have to find a way to, like, your consumer's unique. But you just, you know, hit them over the head with these ads. It is pretty boring to watch. It's easier for Fox to do the live because the financial situation is different. I also think if. If you get a huge sponsor, Rocket Mortgage, Wells Fargo, Chevy, whatever, whatever the Coca Cola, part of the package to get that guy to give you $50 million for the year, to be the official bank and then to host a tournament is you got to throw him some bones. And I think they are big. Clearly on getting that. Sit down with Nance during the tournament, it's one thing. If it's Tiger and Jack's tournament and those guys are in the booth, no one cares. But when it's like, let's go to the CEO of Barclays, like, can I just watch Scotty Scheffler and Rom hit these shots? But I don't think that's going away. So I. I don't know what he does because the television contract was signed before he got there. Now his job at the NFL was to deal with these contracts. So maybe he could. I don't know. I don't expect anything to change. In the past three years. I've become a big golf fan, not only playing, but watching it. I heard you and Colin talking the other day about Rory and Koepka and how they have lost motivation. I'm a huge Hovland fan. He's my favorite golfer since I started watching the sport. He had this to say during the US Open. We'd all like to win. There is also a deep passion in me that I want to hit the shots. I want to stand on the tee and hit the shots that I'm envisioning. Do you think his first major win is on the. In the horizon? And with this mentality of quote unquote, hitting the shots, what it can open the floodgates to multiple major wins. I do think it's a little unfair to, I would say, compare, like, Rory situation to Hovland in the sense of, like, he's one of the best quotes in the sport. But he's obviously chasing, you know, he hasn't won a major. And I think why people root for him is how open he is. You know, that's stuff like Tiger and Phil would say. They're like, I want to be the best. I know when I'm hitting the shots, I'm going to win. When Hovland's playing his best, he can beat anybody in the world. I mean, two years ago, he was the best player in the world. Essentially at the end of the year when he won the FedEx Cup, I mean, he was fucking dominating. So I would say he's a lock. Do you know where I see Victor Hovland, his career ending? I don't know how many majors, like, you convinced me, only wins one. You could convince me he wins four. I think he's going to win a US Open and maybe multiple US Open. I think he's tailor made for the US Open. I think that's his tournament. He obviously can compete if he's playing well at the Masters and the pga. But like, I envision that guy winning a US Open at a really, really tough track. And I think, listen, it was like a draft class. It was three guys came out of his class that were like, can't miss prospects. It'd be like, Cooper flag Trevor Lawrence and Zion Williamson. It was Victor Hovland, Colin Morikawa, and Matt Wolf. And Matt Wolf looked like the best version right off the bat and then clearly fell off a cliff. And Morikawa and Hovland have just, I mean, are high level players. And I think Hovland, the difference of Hovland and Morocco is like, Hovland's just likable. It's just, it's just easy to watch Victor Hovland and go, I'm rooting for this guy. And that, that's what Morikawa lacks. So I'm with you. I think Hovland, I think he's destined to win a major for sure. The volume.
- [53:30]
John Midkoff
On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric. I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas. She's holding down the fort for her party in one of the most conservative states in the union. I think that ultimately who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone that has been out there and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be punched and just say thank you. Like, they will punch back. Listen to Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.