Colin Cowherd (0:00)

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Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. It is a Thursday and a very different Thursday than we predicted. The Lakers exit stage right. They are. How did Minnesota lose a game in this series? It's over JMac. Humble pie. But you know what? We always bring Chris Finch on the show. The T Wolves coach during the season. I think next time we call him, he will be available. But once again, I mean that was impressive. Very, very crazy ending to three straight games for the Lakers. Great. Okay, here we go. Simplest explanation. Chris Finch and his staff worked. J.J. redick and his staff and Minnesota's best players outplayed the Lakers best players. I mean Austin Reeves a no show. LeBron last couple of games looked tired and Luca's worst qualities were exposed. There was a late sequence in this game with about 245 left. It was a late sequence where Julius Randle blew by Luca and scored. Okay, so he blows by Luca. It's right here, just blows by him and scores. On the other end, Luka misses a layup and then complains about it to the referee. And while he's complaining, the T Wolves in transition ant scores on the other end from a two point game to ball game. Luka Daisical. And by the way, I'm not saying the Mavs won the trade with the Lakers, but Nico Collison slept very well last night. Harrison. Excuse me, Nico Harrison slept very, very well last night. Listen, LeBron in the fourth quarter, the last two games, you saw it. He was tired, he was gassed two for nine from the floor. And the Lakers in this series, in the fourth quarter, they got worked. And that was about a tired LeBron and a coaching staff in Minnesota that pulled all the right levers. The lakers in the fourth quarter scored 17, 13, 20, 19, 16 and JJ Redick's insistence got very stubborn. His insistence to play only five guys the entire second half of game four, which Is bizarrely. I mean, it's historically bizarre. That's the only thing I can say. I'm not a coach. It's just historically, I've never seen it. I've never thought it would be discussed. This is a small ball team that was already outsized the entire series and out rebounded the entire series. So you're the smaller, less physical team and you're going to play your guys the entire second half. And one of them is in his 40s. Okay. And J.J. redick, before the game, got very defensive about this. Is there an assistant or someone maybe that you'll lean on tonight? Maybe to try to get, you know, some other guys involved if that opportunity presents? Are you saying that because I'm. I'm inexperienced and that was an inexperienced decision that I made. Do you think I don't talk to my assistants about substitutions every single time out? No, I just think there's a lot of coaches lean on their assistance in those situations. As do I, every single time. That's a weird assumption, bro. It's not the moment to be the coolest, smartest guy in the room. You went heavy small ball with the oldest star in the league. You didn't sub him. And LeBron looked tired in Game 4 of the end, and he looked tired last night. Plus Minnesota, which was already a bigger team, leaned into their size. Rudy Gobert, a defensive player, might as well have been Wilt Chamberlain last night. He was unstoppable. That's on coaching. And by the way, J.J. what is maxi Kleber doing on the floor late? This was a coaching mismatch. Julius Randle, Ant McDaniels, Gobert, they outplayed the Lakers players and the T Wolves own the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is not just the stars quarter, it's the coaching quarter. This is not a complicated breakdown. Better coach, better decisions, a more complete roster, and better fourth quarters. I mean, LeBron wasn't terrible in the fourth. He was clearly exhausted. Probably not going to play him an entire second half when you're already the smaller team. And by the way, Chris Finch and his, his, his guys, his staff, they, they were already bigger. They made an adjustment to make Rudy go bear the centerpiece last night. And you're playing late. Maxi Kleber, what are we doing here? So in the playoffs, let's be honest about it, their truth serum, Austin Reaves, y'all love him. But in the playoffs, when it's the same teams playing the same guys night after night after night, Austin Reaves moves into town, you're tired. You played last night. He drops 22. Wow. He's undrafted and Minnesota exposed him. They sent their drafted, better athletes at Austin Reeves and he didn't do anything. The playoffs are truth serum. And the truth is this Laker roster is incomplete. J.J. redick made a bad decision in game four and got defensive about it. And the fourth quarters t wolves players, we're better than the Lakers stars. It's not a shot at LeBron or even Luka. Although can we now all be honest about Luca's conditioning and defense. They're going after him regularly. Here was Charles Barkley on JJ Redick's pushback anger and rigidity. He just is a little sensitive now because, listen, one of the things that people say, they never watch television. We all lie. All jocks watch television. And he's been getting criticized the last 48 hours for playing those guys. And he's just sensitive. Just say, hey, you know what? If I had. Everybody's afraid to say I was wrong. All he had to do is say, hey, you know what? I shouldn't have played those guys the whole second half. And. And that's it. Then. Then it would have been over. We always consider in America football to be the coaches sport. But you get into the playoffs and I watched this series and I'm not just saying this because I don't know JJ Redick, I know Chris Finch a little. But there was one coaching staff pulling all the right levers on this. And Minnesota, I mean, it was so obvious last night. Remember we talked about this yesterday. They were a six and a half point underdog. I'm like, are the Laker players getting taller? Is LeBron getting younger? Like they were bigger and they leaned in to Rudy Gobert. So they clearly, as a staff said, guys, we got an edge here. Size doesn't get smaller fast. Guys can get slower over a series, but size doesn't get smaller. And they just went all in on Gobert and he was unstoppable. Rudy Gobert, his entire career has been stoppable, completely stoppable. Last night he was unstoppable. I mean, Maxi Cleaver playing guys in the entire second half. I'm sorry, coaching better players, better levers, pulled better roster. Okay, here's another thing. So I have been on this topic. The warriors got smoked and I mean, they waved the white flag eight minutes in. Good for Houston. I'm going to be wrong on this series. Golden State is going to go back home and probably win it. But I've been on this forever. You don't need seven games in the first round. When this league was at its Most popular with MJ, first round was 5 games. League was never more popular. It's all greed. I mean, you all told me Florida's going to win the national championship in a sudden death tournament in March. They did okay. Four number one seeds made the final four. Okay. You don't need seven games to learn. Water's wet. So what happened last night is it was an embarrassment for the NBA. I mean, it was a white flag. Raise it three minutes into the game. The other thing that happened is Houston, the bigger, longer, more physical team with a lot of energy and a lot of good young players, they went after Steph Curry's hand, or at least that's what people are claiming, that they were grabbing him and banging on it. And I got to be honest, I'm not sure it's. It's a bad strategy. I mean, if you know that a team is already mailed it in, it'd be one thing if the game was close. You couldn't worry about that. You'd have to worry about the game. But Houston's like, yeah, the game's over. All right, let's. Let's leave a little bit of damage here, and let's grab and clust and push and bang on Steph Curry. And whether they did it purposefully or not, when you're playing games where one team has decided, hey, let's just take the flight home and wrap it up, you gave Houston an opportunity to think about some things, not have to worry about game strategy to maybe make this one a little more interesting when you go home. So this is why I've said before, first round should be three games. Well, what if Blankety Blank loses? Yeah, what if they do? College basketball has significantly inferior basketball to the NBA. Yet March Madness gets big ratings because you have to watch the games. You have to watch the games. But yet the number one seeds all show up. Florida, you told me they were going to win. Does. Why you don't need. You don't need seven games first round. You don't need. I don't think you need five. I'd go three games into five finals only for historical purposes. We can play seven. I would have no problem with the Finals being five. But World Series, NBA Finals, it's been seven. Let's just do it that way. But I thought this was a bad look for the NBA. And I'm looking at stats this morning is the average margin of victory in these playoffs. And there have been great Games and great series. It's the second highest ever. There's been too many unwatchable blowout games. And I mean wave the flag, four minutes in games which gave the Rockets a chance to go step hunting. And here, here was Steve Kerr after. Players are going to do whatever they're allowed to do. And so after every, on every release, you know, Steph's getting, getting hit, but it's basically within the rules. So this is how the league wants it right now. And you know, I know we got 30 coaches who all think it's, it's just idiotic that we allow this. So players all over the league are just taking shots at guys shooting hands after release because they know it's not going to be a foul. Yeah. Here's the other thing. Why I do not like a seven game series until the finals. One of the things all leagues want, I mean, if you were Major League Baseball, if you're Rob Manfred. I want Aaron Judge playing for the next 15 years. I hope he's wobbling out to the field. He's a star attraction in the NFL. I want Patrick Mahomes playing forever. That's why the NFL doesn't let you hit the quarterbacks. Keep your icons forever. You want all your stars playing in the Brady years. In the basketball world, you want to extend Steph. The way to extend him isn't have him play meaningless games which your entire staff and organization acknowledges. Let's just get back home. I mean, Stefan Butler did not have a point. Between the two of them in the second quarter, a decision had been made. I'm not knocking the decision by Kerr. I'm not knocking the decision by the Warriors. They don't have the length, the size, the dexterity and frankly, they don't have the youth. They can't give you a great game and a loss. They're like saving the energy. I would do it too. Draymond, 30s, Butler, 30s, Curry, 30s. Pod's the only young guy they can count on. But I thought this was another example of what are we doing here. No reason this should be a seven game series. And it was. And Houston said, all right, you're going to mail it in. We can mess around a little. And whether they did or not, it's not illegal. All right, J. Mac, we by the way, for those wondering about Steph, we have a picture of his thumb. It was bad going in. It's probably worse this morning. And you know, Steve Kerr was speaking for a lot of coaches when he said, you know, you're letting all this physicality happen again. I I am for physicality. You're against it. You know, you're more finesse, I'm more power. I'm not against it. I just think too much is too much. You want Curry getting hurt? You want Tatum getting hurt? I mean, geez, you lose Anthony Edwards or something to a goonish foul next round, it's like, come on, what are we doing? I just don't love the big time physical play. I'm sorry I'm not a huge fan. Okay, we got good stuff today. Rachel Nichols will have more about this coming up. Just a fun day. The Lakers are done and and I've mostly been a LeBron defender, but oh boy, here we go. Will he retire Willie? Will he not? We'll talk about that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the iHeartRadio app hey, so we all make mistakes, but owning up is the right thing to do. You know A Degree Cool Rush deodorant? Well, last year they changed the formula and it did not go well with their fans. Degree's whole thing is it turns up the sweat and odor protection when you turn up the effort. 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Refresh Optave Mega 3 is safe to use as often as needed. Find your Refresh online or in the eye drop aisle at your favorite drugstore grocery, Walmart, or Target. All right, welcome back. You're now entering the no Bull Zone, sponsored by Credible Great Rates. None of the bull. For the record, just to tell you, and I think it's fair to say I'm not somebody that bangs on NBA coaches a lot, but Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert last night are out playing LeBron and Luca. That's coaching. Like, right? That. That is coaching. Part of that is playing Luca and LeBron in game for the entire second half. I know they have a couple of days off, but they also had to fly cross country or, you know, Minneapolis to la. Three and a half hours. You know, you get in late, you got to shoot around the day of the game like. Like LeBron needs time off. That's why LeBron was more effective early in this series and in first halfs than late. So it's just a coaching decision I don't agree with, but the fact that Julius Randle, who had never been a great playoff guy, had a tremendous series. That's Chris Finch and the staff. And he. It was game one. It was like, guys, they don't match up with him. And then Rudy Gobert looking like Wilt Chamberlain last night. That's the best playoff game he's ever played. Why? That's. That's matchups. That. That's matchups. So, I mean, and we don't. We don't talk a lot of coaching. We talk about MJ this, MJ that. Michael Jordan was in Chicago and was really good, but he wasn't winning big titles in fourth quarters until Phil Jackson showed up. Coaching matters in this sport. So, listen, I've been a LeBron defender. I mean, 99% of the stuff, a little bit of the too much brawny kind of manufacturing stuff there, I don't love, but it's his son. I get it. But. But this is where LeBron's critics, you know, they've always said, oh, he plays the victim, he extends drama. And I, you know, whatever. He's a superstar in America. It happens. But he was asked last night if he's coming back. We all know the answer to this. Here was. Here was his thoughts. I don't know. I don't have the answer to that. Something I sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it. And see what happens and then just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. It's a business, too. So you don't know what the roster will look like next year, besides the guys that's locked into contracts. So we don't. I mean, I got a lot to think about myself, so I don't. I don't know what the roster will look like. I don't know what I'm. You know where I stand right now. I do. As one of the 10 best players. You're coming back. This is what he said last year after the loss to Denver. There's been a lot of comps to Tom Brady for LeBron, and they make sense. Totally committed, winning late in their career, bizarrely good for their age. But this is where he's got a little Brett Favre kind of seeking, you know, assurance drama. Please come back. Stop. LeBron against the Timberwolves, struggled in fourth quarters. He should for his age, but he did average 25 and 9. That was second on the team and first on the team, by the way. His last 15 playoff games, he's averaged 278 and shooting 54%. He's a top 10 player in the game. He looked tired in this series. Yeah. Game four, second half, had a lot to do with the last two fourth quarters. Sorry, that's on J.J. redick. I don't care if you asked LeBron, hey, man, can you play the entire second half? You don't play LeBron the entire second half. What you saw at the end of Game 4, in the end of Game 5, is LeBron basically losing his legs. Doing a great job defensively, but he didn't have his jumper, and he didn't have quite the burst, which is totally explainable. So, LeBron, you're coming back. Just ask yourself this. If LeBron announced his retirement in a week, would it not be shocking? Of course it would. If LeBron announced in a week he's coming back, would you be shocked? No. And that's why we don't need the drama. We all know the answer here. He's got another son he enjoys. I mean, listen, Luca was disappointing, but you're gonna tell me he's not gonna come back for Luca, who will probably be in, if not great shape, better shape. LeBron's coming back. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline news. I think you might have just given me my lead for tomorrow, big guy. Yes. Anyways, let's go to Ton. How about this Pistons, Knicks. Colin, big one from Detroit. Knicks are hoping to polish off Detroit. Cade Cunningham. Kid's been on fire in his first playoff series. He all but guaranteed Detroit will be back at MSG for game seven. Bold words from a pretty mild mannered guy. However, Detroit is.02 at home in the series against the Knicks. Two tough late losses. Colin, who you got tonight, by the way? You want to guess the line? I was surprised by this. Okay, don't let me think. Detroit minus one and a half. Oh, come on. Somebody told you. Damn, you nailed that. No, you didn't tell. You guys didn't tell me nothing. Okay, I was surprised, honestly. Now maybe Brunson and Hart are not 100%. They went down late in game five. Well, I mean, I mean, we're watching this. Thing is there's an argument late in games. Cade Cunningham's the best player on the floor and, well, I think he's the best athlete on the floor. Best athlete. Okay. Jalen Brunson was like the clutch time winner in the NBA this year for points. No, no, I like Jalen Brunson. But home teams can get a friendly whistle. What if Jalen doesn't get that fourth quarter whistle because Kate Cunningham probably will. Kate, we got Cade stats here in the first round. Listen, man, 25, 8 and 8, 1.6 deals, 1.4 blocks. I don't know why you don't. When you, when you watch him, how do you not see him as the best player in the series? Well, he's a little younger than Brunson, not as experienced. Brunson's been in these battles in college, in the NBA. I would take Brunson now going forward. Like who you want the next five years? Cade Cunningham. Obviously this would do a lot for the Cunningham Ja Morant debate. Is there one, by the way? No, I just thought of this. If Detroit wins tonight, you know all those nerds that are always like, the games are rigged. Oh, God, can you imagine the NBA if it was rigged? Saying, okay, I want the T Wolves to knock the Lakers and LeBron out quickly. I want the Knicks to get dusted off by the Pistons and somebody hurt Steph Curry. Also, also Adam Silver. I want Rudy Gobert to look like Wilt. I mean, literally what is happening is the OO and Oklahoma City and Cleveland. I want them to be the best for all the good ratings hype. And they've had a great playoff run so far. Colin, I'm a little nervous going forward for the NBA because, you know, all these ratings watchers look the ratings are down. They're down. Oh, the legs eliminate the corner 3. Eventually, eventually a Boston and Cleveland play that will be one for the ages. You're going to have like nine elite players, like 9Aminus up players on the floor. That's going to be an insane series. Yeah. To go back to your American basketball players list, Donovan Mitchell has to be top five. If we're a young basketball, we're eliminating Curry, Durant, LeBron. Donovan Mitchell's awesome. And you're right, they got to get by the Pacers first. Colin, I don't think that's a lock, but we'll have plenty of time to talk about that. Let's move to the NFL and it's Shador Sanders time. We're still talking about him. The embers are still burning. But it's because Travis Kelce is coming out in defense of Shador Sanders. He's upset about all this bashing of Shador in pre draft interviews. I think whoever's anonymous person that's saying they should come out and say who they were and with your chest, like, what is that about? Like, if you're going to leak that type of. Be the one that says that. Yeah, it just didn't go well for us, you know, don't say that we're anonymous, you know, that's so lame. Like, like, I don't know, I just feel like there's no validity to it. This is going to be such a fresh start for him and, and now it's, it's going to feel. I can see him working his ass off and becoming the starting quarterback in Cleveland at some point for sure. Okay, two things are true. I think he's going to become the starter too. But in my world, let me defend anonymous sources. The reason I'm going to dinner tonight with a really good source, the reason anonymous sources are great, because people are willing to be harsher and more honest. If it's anonymous. I'll give you an example. Nobody wants to humiliate Shador and put their name on it. Because if you're a scout who I have as a source, you're going back to Colorado. So you don't have to love anonymous sources. But you, the audience, if you watch this show, are rewarded by that anonymity because I get more brutally honest takes. So this idea that every anonymous source is bad, I want in my job, I'm a conduit to the audience. I talk to sources, then I talk to the audience. You want that you deserve and want the best stuff. You're not getting it with quotes. You're going to get cliched stuff. Oh, he's a terrific player. Listen, the New York Giants interview was bad, okay? Brian Dabel won't publicly hammer him. But the people that are saying it was bad are people I trust and have for years. One of them a friend of Brian Babel. So it went really poorly. It's important for the audience and us to know that, right? Like it. It validates why stuff. Especially when somebody drops precipitously. Historically, you're like, what in the. We want an answer, okay? I don't. The government doesn't always get us an answer. Usually in sports we get finality and an. And I've also said this, the draft. J. Mac, more than anything we cover. We get lied to before the draft. More than anything we cover. I've said that for as long as I've been on radio. That's why I rely on like four guys. I know. I don't bring any stragglers in because you can just get manipulated as a media member. So my only pushback. And again, anonymous sources work. They're fine. Why is it that 90% of anonymous sources are negative? Why don't we get the opposite end of the spectrum? This guy crushed every interview. He's going to dominate. Why? Because you could just put your name on that. You're not afraid. Why are 90% of things you say to your wife positive? Because you don't look good in that dress. Ruins the night, right? 90% of the things I say to Ann are positive. Occasionally, with great discretion, I'll be critical. And she's probably the same for me. So the bottom line is, if you have friends, you ever had a great friend and you're positive around him, you may once a year say, bro, that doesn't work. But you know how rigid guys are. You don't keep banging on. Sometimes you don't say the harshest truth to people because A, it's mean, B, there's no payoff for you, but you'll dog cuss your buddy to another buddy and say, dude, Jim's a nutcase. I love this idea that honesty is always the great answer. Our presidents aren't always honest. Our governors, our senators, our CEOs also gets. That's what's getting the White House in all this trouble. When you surround yourself with yes men. I want the brutal honesty. Listen, when we talk Colin off air and I. If I ever step out of pocket, I want you to check me. I don't want you to go complaining to Management come to me, be like J. Mac. You can't do that. You can't say that you haven't done that. So I think we're rolling right, But I want the honesty. If that was the rule, I'd be doing that six times a day to you. This guy. This guy guy. All right, final story is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now this is a great pick we both love. Abuka out of Ohio state. He went 19th. Just a great offensive weapon. Now Jason liked your boy. The GM talked about how he was a top 10 player on the Tampa board and essentially this is kind of insurance for Chris Godwin. Hey buddy, don't rush back. We just got a Buca. So I kind of like this pick for Tampa. They've still got three really good receivers, good quarterback. They've had some changes with the OC because their OC kids getting plucked. I, I, I'm not sure what I have on Tampa this year. Where are you on them? Well, I think they're, I think they're the most talented team. I think Atlanta's got some really interesting pieces but I don't know what Michael Penix is going to be. But I will say this about Ibuka and Jason Light's a great gm. I've been, I bragged about him for several years. He is one of the great all time scouts in the league. He became a gm. He was such a profound scout. But the true truth is in a draft that didn't have a lot of stars we, I said this before the draft of the three people I asked about and Mechagmuco there was not even a but great kid, great character, great routes, great work ethic mostly slot could play side. There wasn't even a criticism. Now people said you're not going to run a 4:2:9, but I, there wasn't a single but every and you get players like that in great drafts. But I, everybody I talked to was like oh no, this, this kid is absolutely can't miss. We generally look at a can't miss player. J. Mack. Yeah. As a five star. Like, like, like Aiden Hutchison at Michigan is like can't miss. Okay, that's obvious because he's just so dominant. Or a Reggie White out of Tennessee or Charles Woodson out of Michigan. You're like that's a can't miss. This was a can't miss based on some athleticism. But you, there are certain football players, GM once told me this, you can tell their work ethic by their game and one of those positions is wide receiver. Another one of those positions is offensive tackle. You can see the work they've put into it. The great ones have better hands. They're more coachable. This kid's going to be a stud for Tampa. I totally agree. Like him a lot. I was looking to see if they played Dallas because a lot of Dallas fans are ticked off. They didn't get golden or a book because they need a receiver. Colin, I'm looking at the Tampa schedule and I'm sure we'll do this when the schedule comes out, but holy hell. This, these. Are these the road games for your division winning bucks? At the Rams, that's a loss. At Seattle Outdoors, we don't know. At Miami, we'll see if it's in the heat or not. At Buffalo, definite loss. At Detroit, loss at. At Houston, division winner, loss. Dude, that is a tough schedule, my friend. No, you got it. First of all, Easy division. And with Baker Mayfield and the Weapons, they're going to win one of those games. We'll go head to head. I got Falcons, you got Tampa Bay. I haven't made my call yet. What do you mean? You just did. What are you talking about? J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the Herd lie news. I. It's not that anonymous sources can't be abused, but the idea there's nothing from them. You get better information if you like this show or any show. It could be Dan Patrick's. It could be. It could be anybody's. It could be Stephen A. Smith. You're getting your best information when it's anonymous. I mean, I'm sorry. My entire career, the harshest comments, the most real comments are often, listen, I'm not gonna put my name on it and get crushed, but especially with social media now in the Avalanche. You don't want any part of that stuff. But I get told stuff every other day. It's like, hey, man, just keep your eyes up on this. And occasionally I quote GMs. I mean, I told you Les Snead said, like, probably not the year we're going to get a starting quarterback. I. I'm honest with that. He was up. He was. They. They looked at Jackson Dart, but they were upfront about it. And you can see what they're getting a pick next year. They're trying. They're going big game hunting next year, which they should, by the way. Coming up next, J. Mac, you're not going to like this. The Niners playing a little hardball with Brock Purdy next. Be sure to Catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. Hey, it's Steve Covino and I'm Rich Davis, and together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio. And of course, the iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich? We talk about everything. Life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world. We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture. Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved, too. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports radio and the iHeartradio app from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast. And of course, on social media, that's Covino and Rich. Hey, so we all make mistakes, but owning up is the right thing to do. You know a Degree Cool Rush deodorant? Well, last year they changed the formula and it did not go well with their fans. 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Well, there's only one electric SUV worthy of the title. The ultimate. The all electric BMW ix. What I love about the IX is that it delivers legendary BMW performance while its sleek design exudes innovative style from the inside out. Not to mention how much space and utility it provides. Over 75 cubic feet of cargo space, the IX is completely changing the game with an all electric suv. The greatest legends of sports never compromise any part of the game, so why would you settle for anything less from your suv? After all, there's only one ultimate the BMW ix. Everything you love about the ultimate driving machine Electrified first of all, Tom Pelissaro was on the Rich Eisen show yesterday and said the Niners and Brock Purdy are not close he thinks it'll get them, but he said, hey, they're not close. And my take on that is, if brock Purdy wants $57 million a year and his agent, not necessarily a well known agent, want 57 million a year, it should not be close. Now, do not cave. He's got a year left on his contract and there are people like a Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. I will pay early. Max Crosby. Oh, you can identify certain players after a year and a camp. Oh, yeah, he's beating all of our tackles. Yeah, he's got 11 sacks. Let's sign him early and get a better deal. That's not Brock Purdy. But let's be brutally honest about here. The Niners biggest rival is in their division, the Rams. And it felt like three or four years ago the Niners had the edge. The Rams have passed them and blown by them. McVeigh eight years, missed the playoff once and he's got a trophy. Shanahan eight years, missed the playoffs four times. Last year was bad, no trophy. And by the way, the rosters right now, the Rams have far more good, young, inexpensive players. And that's why, that's why you can keep Matt Stafford. So I'm looking. One of the primary reasons I think the Rams have blown by him. The niners pay Christian McCaffrey, Patreon Williams, I get George Kittle. You gotta, you gotta start making decisions here on safeties and linebackers and right tackles and. And you can't pay every receiver. You can't pay Debo and Iuk. Right. And so the Rams have a much better defense and they're paying nobody on that side. They have the better quarterback, I think they have the better coach. Arguably they have the better offensive line. You have to use discretion on this stuff. And I think this is a classic example, is that, you know, the Rams are a little like McVeigh is a little like the Godfather. It's not personal, it's business. And they've told Von Miller that, and they've told Jalen Ramsey that, and they told Jared Goff that, and they've told multiple people that. They told Matt Stafford that, we really like you. It's not personal. But this is the number. I'm not letting Brock Purdy push me around. And I say this all the time, you know, like, your sports, love your family. Don't run onto the court like Halliburton's dad, you know, Shador, hire an agent, right? Like, like love your family, like your sports. And this is the way, when I look at The Rams and McVeigh and Les need. They like their players, but they move off Todd Gurley and Cooper cup and Jalen Ramsey very quickly. The Niners fall in love with players. Yeah, maybe Trent Williams in his prime. What? Just send me the check, I'll sign it. But I. You go look at the Dallas Cowboys. They're the example here. Dallas Cowboys pay a good quarterback A plus money. And look at that roster right now. Once you do that, you cannot whiff on draft picks. And it looks like last year, Cowboys may have whiffed on a first round pick. And this year people are saying they overdrafted another offensive lineman. You start paying your big stars. The Niners have missed on some draft picks and the Rams have missed on like one interior lineman a couple years ago. So the Rams are drafting, they're hitting on more draft picks, they're using more discretion and they're not top heavy. And so when I hear this story on Brock Purdy, people think, I don't like Brock Purdy. No, I don't like paying Brock Purdy 57 million. I like, I love Brock Purdy at 31. I like him at 41. I'm not caving at 53. So. Okay, the Bill Belichick Jordan Hudson story has taken an interesting turn. So I had two strong opinions on this story. I now have three. My first opinion was bit cringy. He's 70 plus, she's 24. Then I watched the CBS interview, which she stepped in front of and like a professional, said, you're not talking about our private relationship. My second opinion was, it's still age wise, a little creepy. But in college football, old Bill needs this. He just happens to be dating it too, but he needs this. Then another story came out and skeletons are starting to be unearthed and reporters are starting to report. There was a story in the New York Post yesterday that Jordan Hudson has amassed $8 million in real estate, multiple homes, starting at the time she started dating Bill. Who am I to pry? Another part of this story is looking back at her family who had a fishing business that went bankrupt. Her mother moved to Cape Cod. And now I'll only say this once. Manages as sex toy shop and museum. Didn't know they existed. The museum part doesn't sound like the Smithsonian, but who am I to be snarky? The family's a little different. It does appear now I'll have a third opinion, which is they are both benefiting in multiple ways from each other. Whatevs. It's gone from cringy to crucial to Crypto. I don't know what the hell I'm gonna get tomorrow. That's why I don't invest in it. And here's the thing. She is providing a service. Take your mind out of the gutter. She is providing a service as his social media director, and she'd like to be compensated for it. That's, I think, where we are. But let's go back to the beginning and my skepticism when this happened. What was my first opinion like, the day it happened? Bill doesn't even watch much college football. I can tell from his drafts he's terrible. Bill's an NFL guy. He's not spending Saturdays on the couch like his contacts. Like he'd call Urban Meyer or Nick Saban. What do you got for him? Herm Edwards. But I never thought of him as a college football guy. College football coaches. Nick Saban may seem grumpy. Nick Saban's funny. Nick Saban's social. Nick Saban's personal. I've been around Nick once or twice. He lights up a room. Nick is funny. He's a good storyteller. He can laugh at himself. That's not Bill. Bill's a pro football coach, and that's not a bad thing. But Bill never had this. Like Urban Meyer to me, always been a college football coach. Urban Meyer told me years ago, I love Urban. He's a friend. He told me years ago, I don't watch pro football on Sunday. I watch Ohio State game tape. Like, Urban took the job, made his money. He was always a college football coach. The NFL thing didn't fit. Bill was always an NFL coach. Then he brings Mike Lombardi, who I know he brought him over. Lombardi's an NFL guy. And I said this when it happened. I said, you think Bill Belichick had no patience for Robert Kraft? He had no patience for NFL owners. You think he's going to sit around and have an SID run the show or an athletic director or some goofy donor? Or that this was always an uneven relationship the minute UNC gave him $10 million a year to a guy who'd never coached college football. Yeah, his dad coached at Navy, but he never showed any great inclination for it. In fact, the only reason this thing makes sense is because of nil, where Bill can now buy players and doesn't have to hop in a jet every 15 minutes and recruit guys. So I do think it potentially could work through nil, but this was an uneven relationship. Carolina was desperate, and Bill's like, all right, I want 10 million bucks. And, oh, by the way, if I want to leave in a year, I can. No other college contract is paying a guy 10 large a year plus, and he can just leave whatever he wants to. It was always an uneven relationship. So Bill's gonna do what he wants. And again, I do think Jordan Hudson. I mean, these stories, I don't know what to make of it. I just. They're both. They're. They're both benefiting. And, you know, my wife does. You know. You know, she's. You know, I. I get a lot of. This is just inappropriate. Yeah, I get that crowd. Like. Like. But this, you know, people get into relationships, whatever. I'm not here to judge. I do think she is providing something that he would not tolerate. Having some SID chase him around the field telling him he's got to talk to this radio station and that it's not going to work with Bill. That's just not his personality. And that was always my question. I'm like Mike Lombardi and Belichick. These are NFL dudes. Remember when Charlie Weiss came to Notre Dame and everybody was like, he's an NFL guy. He's a little gruff. And my take was Charlie tried. Charlie would go on shows. Charlie played the game. If Charlie Weiss was in the Nil era, maybe it works better. He could just buy players. I think this. This model now can work for NFL guys. But this stuff that's coming out now, it's. Okay, I'll say it one more time. I don't know what a sex shop slash museum is. It doesn't sound like the Guggenheim. I don't know what it is. I. And. And here's the other thing. I don't. I don't want to know what it is. I. If I go to that town, I'm not stopping for red lights. If I. I'm just driving straight through that town on Cape Cod. This thing's getting weird. It is. It is Bitcoin. Nobody knows what's happening tomorrow. Don't listen to anybody. There could be six other stories cooking on this. Congrats to the journalists. Can you imagine the New York Times, New York Post journalist. Guys, come here. You won't believe what I found. Hour two next. Okay, have you heard about this? Last year, Degree changed the formula for their Cool Rush deodorant. Their fans rebelled and wanted the old Sim back. And Degree listened. That doesn't happen often. They admitted that they effed up and are bringing the original Cool Rush scent back. And it's exactly how you remember it. Cool, crisp, and fresh. There's a reason it's the number one men's antiperspirant and it's back in Walmart, Target and other stores for under $4. So try it and see what the fuss is about. Head to your local stores to try the OG Cool rush for yourself. Interested in investing in Bitcoin but not sure how to get started? Well, with the Gemini Credit card you can dip your toes into Bitcoin without even trying. Just spend like you normally do groceries, gas or a night out and instantly earn up to 4% back in Bitcoin or one of over 50 other cryptos straight to your account now with no annual fee, the Gemini Credit Card is pretty much a no brainer. And right now you can grab a $200 bitcoin intro bonus. So go to gemini.com card to learn more and start earning today. Terms apply. Again, go to gemini.com card start building your Bitcoin stash now. Terms apply. The Gemini Credit Card is issued by Web bank. In order to qualify for the intro $200 crypto bonus, your application must be approved by June 30, 2025 and spend $3,000 in your first 90 days. Terms apply. Some exclusions apply to instant rewards, in which rewards are deposited when the transaction posts this content is not investment advice and trading. Crypto involves risk. For more details on rates, fees and other Gemini Credit Card terms, see Rates and Fees. Did you know? 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