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Colin Cowherd
This is an I Heart Podcast.
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Colin Cowherd
It's smart to always have a few
J. Mack
financial goals and a really smart one.
Colin Cowherd
You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day.
J. Mack
And with Discover, you can get this Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year.
Colin Cowherd
Seriously, all of it.
J. Mack
And we trust you to make smart decisions. I mean, after all, you listen to this show.
Colin Cowherd
See terms@discover.com credit card hey, it's Erin
J. Mack
Andrews from Calm down with Erin and Karissa. I don't know about your house, but at my house everybody's online. They're streaming, gaming, shopping, zoom calls, you name it. That's why having fast, reliable Internet that can keep up really matters and why you need Optimum's famously fast fiber Internet. It blows flaky 5G home Internet out of the water. It has the fastest and most reliable Internet speeds and doesn't slow down when everyone's online. Which, let's be honest, is all the time. Right now they have a deal that's tough to beat, just $25 a month for five years. So don't wait. Call 888 for Optimum. Visit Optimum.com or stop by your local Optimum store today. Famously fast fiber for $25 a month for 5 years. That's a no brainer. Terms apply. See Optimum.com for details. Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern 9am to find your local station for the herd at foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. World Cup Week kicking off today in the Herd. We're live. Wherever you may be, however, and wherever you're listening, thanks for making us part of your day. A lot of choices out there. We appreciate it. Starting today, second hour, top of next hour, we'll give you great moments in the history of our best players. The World cup, the greatest moments, the greatest saves staff. Put it together. It's great. So tonight's Game three of the NBA Finals. Spurs have led the first two games by double figures and have lost both. And so New York, I think, is going to win the series. You know, you go on the road when the first two. But it's interesting. The ratings have been unbelievable. 90% over the 2025 NBA Finals opener. And we all know in America, whose playing matters. Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers in a World Series. Big ratings. Rory McIlroy down the stretch on a Sunday at the Masters. Big ratings. Duke in the Final Four, the championship game, big numbers. But this New York team is different. They're not hype. It's not mega stars everywhere. Yet they're incredibly great television. They didn't buy this championship. Jalen Brunson's on a rare NBA team friendly deal. It's a roster of complementary stars that play very well together, very cohesive. And New York fans may be obnoxious, but the team isn't. I mean, the Knicks front office built a group of players, three from Villanova, high iq, high eq, Not a lot of temperamental players. Some guys playing a little over their skis. I mean, I like Cat. He's dominating Wemby, that's a little bit of a surprise. But Josh Hart, og, Mikhail Bridges, high character. Guys, to me this is the easiest New York City championship level team to root forever. I like the Jeter Yankees, but I understood where a lot of people weren't rooting for them. This team's hard to root against. It's also really fun basketball. A lot of motion, a lot of passing. They're unbelievable in the fourth again, they fall behind. They take all the body blows. They're never out of games. Yes, the winning streak makes it even more compelling. But you go back to the Jeff Van Gundy, Pat Riley teams, which we were told were fascinating. Those teams were awful offensively and they were boring to watch unless you were from New York. I mean, those teams, by the way, were 25th in offensive rating, bad in the fourth quarter. I got all the numbers, fights. They tackled better than the Jets. Those weren't great watches. You were. I mean, Spike Lee was more interesting than half the players. This team's different. They're the best fourth quarter team ever. Their unbelievable offensive net rating. They do everything well. They don't shoot a ton of threes, but when they shoot them, they hit them. They don't like Mikhail Bridges, rarely misses a free throw. They're creative, they're great late, they're clutch. The passing, the motion. This is fun to watch. We were force fed the Van Gundy Riley teams and told, oh, unbelievable television. No Jordan Bulls. Unbelievable tv. Shaq and Kobe. That's unbelievable tv. The Knicks were. It was like bringing out the blocking sleds. It just wasn't that. That fun. So. And this is a really cohesive team and cohesive teams are fun to watch. It's got a collegiate feel to it. So I gotta tell you, great offense, great late, underappreciated star. They're gonna win this series. Even though they've trailed by double digits in both games, they. They're clearly getting more quality looks offensively and more quality looks without as much effort. They look old and stable, experienced and stable and wise. And the spurs look and feel in big moments really young because you know, they are. Here's Jalen Brunson on what it's like to be part of this Knicks team. The amount of love I've gotten from this fan base and from the city since. Since day one. I think it's grown over the years, but I'm so thankful. I'm so honored to be able to put New York across my chest 27 years since the last Finals game in this building. I know our fan base is really excited, as it should be, but as a team, as us inside the locker room, we have more work to do.
Colin Cowherd
All right.
J. Mack
World Cup, Our first game. United States men's national team. It's Friday against Paraguay. Cannot wait. Over the weekend. Saturday, team friendly in Chicago. A city that doesn't get a World cup game. But what an environment. And we lost to Germany 2:1. And listen, soccer fans in America are in two groups, delusional to the point they think they're going to win every World cup or the most negative people in the entire world. I'm neither. I'm always cautiously optimistic. I'm not. Sky is falling. I'm not. Sky's the limit. My take is sunny day, blue skies, there's some clouds over there. And about 30% chance to rain. So Saturday, two minutes in, we give up a really ugly goal to Germany. Germany, seventh. Best odds to win the World Cup. They're better than us. And it was a bad goal, and we looked disorganized on the back, and it was two minutes in and we fell behind. And it was tentative goalkeeping. But here's the thing. All that avalanche and negativity was kind of ridiculous because for the rest of the game, we actually went toe to toe. We won the possession battle, which we almost never do against elite European teams. 54% possession to 46. That's like time of possession in football. It matters. It tells you a story. We had more shots. We had five times as many corners, 10 to 2 than Germany. We had opportunities. We had a great goal. We went toe to toe after the first two minutes and again by intermission, by break, there's some substitutions, but I know what I saw, and it was, oh, we had a spectacular goal. Got close two other times. I worry about the back end. It was a really, really ugly goal. But if you look at the box score of this, it would be like a football game where we lost the turnover battle in the game, but we won yards in time of possession. And I was very, very encouraged my entire life. When we played teams like Germany, we only counterattack. It's cautious, conservative, and try to sneak out a late win. And the goaltender has to be Superman. Bring the cape. Yeah. Our goalkeeping is okay by our standards, poor. We got all sorts of talent, though, and I thought it was the most aggressive we've been. You know, you can tell a lot of times we always say, styles make fights. You know, you can tell sometimes if you watch Conor McGregor in his prime, he was the best fighter, and he knew he was the best fighter. You were trying to get to the next round against him. We're aggressive and we should be. And we don't have to be conservative. So my takeaway, Tyler Adams said it after is we can go toe to toe with teams like Germany. I really believe that it's the moment of the game, you know, to concede that early in a game like this is always going to make it difficult. But the character we show, the, the energy, the resilience.
Colin Cowherd
I mean, guys were going at it
J. Mack
like it was a World cup final and I think that's what we wanted to see. I'm not going to go Kenny Atkinson of the Cavs and say we analytically won this thing. But there were signs we weren't just counterattacking. We had a. It's like we gave up a really early touchdown. We got beat on the back end. It looked a little disorganized. You clean it up, you play again in less than a week. Paraguay on Friday. J Mac, I am staying positive. I want to be glass half full guy because I watched it and I thought that's a pretty good outing. That's a pretty good performance.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I texted you. I was kind of disappointed early with the giving up the goal in the first two minutes. But the response to me said a lot about the character and grit of this team. I love what I saw from Robinson and Dest. I think those might have been our best two players on Saturday. Yeah, overall, Colin, I'm very optimistic about Paraguay. I will be betting the game here. In short order, we're going to win that game. It's worst case draw. But I like what I saw from our team and I feel pretty good.
J. Mack
All right, so game three is tonight and it is a chance. I actually think it's going to be really competitive again. The spurs have led by double digits in the first two games. Alexi Lawless is joining us one hour from now. His thoughts on what he watched over the weekend. Live in Chicago, it's the Herd. 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, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from the Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from 7 to 10pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio. We are excited excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show. That's right.
Colin Cowherd
You can now watch the Odd couple
J. Mack
live on YouTube every day. All you got to do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube again. YouTube. Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out on YouTube and subscribe.
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Being there for Those we love can be so hard for people with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botox Onobotulinum toxin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It Prevents on average 8 to 9 headache days a month versus 6 to 7 for placebo. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Botox effects may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as trouble swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Those with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions like rash, breathing problems, dizziness, neck and injection site pain and headache. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions like als, myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome and medicines like botulinum toxins, which may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait? Ask your doctor about Botox. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-844-botox.
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OnPlus nicotine pouches present comfort chronicles a 10 o' clock tee time, how comfortable you show up in stretchy shorts, a breathable tee and maybe no socks. Let the dogs breathe while other sweat and pleated khakis. You're in your comfort zone. Bombing drives and in your pocket ON plus Nicotine pouches the softest pouch on the planet. Buy a can@onnicotine.com Products for tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older. Warning this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
J. Mack
It's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one.
Colin Cowherd
You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day.
J. Mack
And with Discover, you can get this Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year.
Colin Cowherd
Seriously, all of it.
J. Mack
And we trust you to make smart decisions. I mean, after all, you listen to this show.
Colin Cowherd
See terms@discover.com credit card I turned off news altogether.
J. Mack
I hate to say it, but I
Colin Cowherd
don't trust much of anything.
J. Mack
It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we can calm down a little.
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NBC News brings you clear reporting.
J. Mack
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there.
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NBC News reporting for America.
J. Mack
All right, WEMBY season on the line tonight. Here's what's interesting about our how patient we are with our football culture and how impatient we are with our basketball culture. Take Fernando Mendoza. He's older than Wemby and he's yet to play a pro football game. Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos, I think he got drafted the year. Was it after Wemby or before? After Wemby. He's four years older and we're still like, give Bo Nix time. Let's be patient. Wemby's 22. Our football culture, you have to go to college for three years. Most of the guys go for four years. Some guys go five, especially with nil. Yet we're really patient when they're rookies or second year players. Basketball culture is, let's get them into the association. Let's go one and done. Let's go. So don't be surprised if Magic Johnson has a final so bad. At one point in his early career, he was called Tragic Johnson or Jordan. Couldn't get refined enough for the right coach, didn't win until year seven. Or LeBron James. I mean, he, he went to a finals, got swept by San Antonio, went to Miami and got humiliated as a favorite by Dallas and then added layers to his game. We said this all year about Wemby. You said it, I said it. Offensively, he's not there yet. He's not refined yet. Defensively, he's unbelievable. I would have voted him mvp. He's, I mean, even in this series, he's average at 27 a game. And we're crushing him because he's had bad turnovers. He's looked young. But it should be noted, many of the Great Sinners, he's 7 foot 4 and his body isn't fully developed yet. Many of the great sinners, Jokic, Shaq, Russell, Akeem, Moses Malone was a two time mvp. They were moving people with their body. I mean, they may have been seven, seven foot one. They were massive physical men. Wemby's a little more Ralph Sampson, a little more Sam Bowie, that you can get under him. And if you beat him to a spot, you can even be the size of OG or a Josh Hart or somebody that's 6, 5, 6 8, 6 9. And you can give him trouble. You can move him off his spot. So it's just. The reality is we're not terribly patient with our young basketball prodigies. And you know, Even in the NBA, MJ was a prodigy, right? Like LeBron was. Magic was. They had massive failures for many years, folks. Beethoven was a child prodigy. His first, his best symphony was his fifth. He got Swept in a couple of the first four. I mean, he couldn't. He was bad. Top of the key. I mean, he just. Beethoven. You couldn't trust him with the ball up top. Take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. Wemby's great. Look at his numbers in the series. And he's getting. Everybody's like, oh, he is a liability. He's had some really bad moments late in these games. 22. Next best player is 21. Dylan Harper's 20. They look young because they are young. And the Knicks are old and experienced, and these guys have been playing together for years. And Cats playing the greatest series of his life. Here's Wemby over the weekend on these finals. We need to capitalize and actually use all the efforts we did because it felt like we did a lot. We did a lot of things wrong. But we also were relentless and kept pushing, but kind of like wasted that effort, even though I know it's not wasted, because all lessons are learned. And I know we're not going to make the mistakes of the past again. But in a moment like this, we need to make these things better. Yeah, they. That game over the. You know, this game, when you watched it Friday, the takeaway was, oh, they got them. Oh, they don't. That's why this is the youngest finals team since the Blazers. And that Blazers team fell behind two nothing as well. It's a big stage, you know, at least in basketball, unlike football, you know, hockey, basketball, baseball, you can have some do overs, seven games scheduled. So I think the spurs will play really well tonight. But I was watching in the second quarter of game two, and I mean, San Antonio was given. I mean, it was everything they had. They were playing well, they were shooting better. And you look up and you're like, yeah, Nick's Knicks lead or trail by one. It's like, yeah, it kind of feels like a Knick series. It kind of feels like a Knick series. They're just a bit wiser, more intense, little more physical. Never look frenetic. That's how it looks to me. J. Mac with the news. No, no, no, no. Heard on the news.
Colin Cowherd
This is the Herd line news. All right, Colin, start with the Dallas Cowboys. Obviously revamped defense in the off season, adding Caleb Downs. Listen, the group couldn't get any worse last year. Dead last in the NFL, allowing over 30 points per game. But, hey, CD Lamb, he's seen these guys live here. He has. Here's what he has to say about the new Cowboys defense.
J. Mack
It's annoying.
Colin Cowherd
It's been annoying to, to prepare against, but obviously seeing in the practice every day, I mean it's kind of unique just seeing different guys communicate and being
J. Mack
able to understand and take what they
Colin Cowherd
learned from the, from the meeting room and being able to easily translate it on the field. I mean, it's good to go against. It's very tricky. Interesting that they stole the defensive coordinator from the Philadelphia Eagles, Christian Parker. He was their secondary coach. Remember the secondary was amazing in Philly. So you steal a division rivals defensive coach draft, maybe the best secondary prospect in the draft. And Caleb Downs, you spent two other picks on defenders. You bolster Rashan Gary in the offseason college. I mean there's a world where we're sleeping on Dallas.
J. Mack
Well, yeah, and I think, I mean if you look at some of the analytic mavens, they, they have Dallas as a top 10, 11 team. One of the great things about the NFL because again, you draft older, more experienced players. I felt two years, I, I felt when I was watching Caleb Downs as a true sophomore at Ohio State, I'm like, he's a top five draft pick and yet he comes back for another year. Has to. And my takeaway is when you in the NFL, when you draft, you can turn around. It's hard. Like if you're a bad franchise, I've always said it takes. You can turn around one side of the ball in an off season. You can't turn around both sides of the ball in an off season. Like when the, when the Patriots, they, they go get Vrabel, Josh McDaniels, Drake May and they went and got the Eagles interior defensive lineman. They had good corners and you're like, oh, this defense for New England's real. But the offensive line, the receiving core. Then New England attacks it again. Like New England will be a better team this year, but I don't think they'll reach the Super Bowl. They got some breaks last year. So I mean the reality is in football there's Dallas didn't need to fix the offense. Absolutely. And did you notice during the draft Dallas was clearly telling you we're, we're more than satisfied with one side of the ball. We like our coach, we like our staff. Mostly we like our offense, we like our kicker. We're going to put all of our draft capital, almost all of it goes to defense. And we've seen this time and time again. It takes one off season to completely overhaul one side of the ball. So I think there's a real argument if they're Healthy, we know they'll score points with Dak. They're going to be a good playoff viable team in week 16. 17. That's fair.
Colin Cowherd
Remember at the draft when the schedule came out, the one team that had a big tick up in the win total was the Dallas Cowboys from eight and a half to nine and a half. That usually doesn't happen because we know the opponents. Why? Because the schedule is pretty favorable for Dallas. Now, Colin, listen, you got a new defense with maybe five or six new starters, but look who you face out of the gate. Jackson Dart. He's not going to kill you. Okay, so there's a world where you beat the Giants in week one, then it's Washington, they're going to be favored in that game at home. And then it's Lamar Jackson and Houston. If they could come out and win three of those first four, I think we're looking at honestly an 11 win team because the schedule is very favorable.
J. Mack
Colin? Yeah, for a new defense, they don't face a lot of elite offenses. Houston's good. Not offensively, no. I think there's an argument. It gets really, really tough about Week 12. Eagles, Seahawks, Rams, Jags. Now, now Jackson Dart's got another 15 starts end of the year. It's pretty interesting. Then you're at the Commanders if Jaden Daniels is healthy. So basically the way the NFL scheduled it is. We'd like to give the Cowboys a little bit of an early break, but we're going to make it big TV games against quality opponents late.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I know you were hot on the Giants, but this could be one of those, you know, you were on the whiff of a team that's gonna pop the right division, just maybe the wrong one. Dallas could be that squad, Colin. All right, let's go to the afc. And Drake May, coming off an unbelievable second year, nearly won the mvp, led the league in completion percentage and Passer rating. Josh McDaniels very fired up to get Drake May for his third year in the NFL. This offseason is different than last, last offseason. We are just getting to know the language and learning how to operate within a system of offensive football, you know, and this year we're trying to take
J. Mack
that and then go to the next phase of that, the next level of
Colin Cowherd
that in his case, which is obviously
J. Mack
playing the position of quarterback.
Colin Cowherd
So he knows a hell of a lot more than he did last year at this time. I, I'm, I'm sniffing a little regression here. Colin. Remember last year we saw the schedule was extremely Favorable for the.
J. Mack
Now, it's just, it's just a landmine of tough road games. I mean, just say this out loud. Just say this. The quarterbacks you face at Sam Darnold, at Trevor Lawrence with a great offensive coach, at Josh Allen, at Caleb Williams, at Justin Herbert, at Patrick Mahomes, I mean, it's like just, just the quarterbacks and the quality of coaching they'll face in road games at some point. Last year, weren't they favored in like, I don't remember the number 11 or 12 games? They'll be an underdog in a third of their schedule.
Colin Cowherd
The problem last year or the good fortune last year was that they faced a lot of backup quarterbacks or young quarterbacks.
J. Mack
Yeah, right.
Colin Cowherd
And VRA's a great defensive guy, right. He got his AG. He knows defense. And so they just steamrolled the competition. Now you step up in class and it's like, holy cow. And I know they added AJ Brown and Romeo Dobs, right? Those are good receivers. So I, I get the big question, Colin. We're going to find out about that offensive line. Remember, Campbell got destroyed in the Super Bowl. He got humiliated on the outside. He was a rookie. Is he going to start at left tackle? I don't know. I mean, they're going to run it back against Seattle. It's going to be interesting to watch because I, I just don't know about this team, man.
J. Mack
Neither do I. Yeah. All right, final story.
Colin Cowherd
Let's go to Miles Garrett, Colin. Now he is on the Rams. They are the super bowl favorites and wouldn't you know it, Miles Garrett, who threw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium this weekend. He is the betting favorite to win dpoy. Yeah, I don't know that I can advocate betting this, Colin.
J. Mack
Come on.
Colin Cowherd
Are they going to give him another one? Now he is going to face probably fewer double teams because that defensive line is so stacked. But I don't, I mean, listen, I'm bullish on Garrett. I don't know that he's going to win another dpo. Why? He's won, I believe, two of the last three.
J. Mack
I would say this. It's going to be hard to double him. You got Puna Ford, number one rated nose tackle, Kobe Turner, Braden Fisk, Young on the outside. It's going to be really hard to double him. Who knows? Aaron Donald may slide back. I don't think he will, but I. One of the reasons Aaron Donald retired, there's literally video of him being triple team. That's why he left at 32, the advantage miles Garrett has. He's going to be a hard double. I mean you could cut him with a back, but that, that's pretty ineffective with Miles Garrett. So I think he's going to. If you go back to last year, remember the something we've talked about. The Rams will lead a majority of their games in the fourth quarter. The Browns trailed games meaning teams played Cleveland in the last couple of drives. Three step drops, run the football churn, eat up the clock, get out of Cleveland with a win. That's you're going to be playing teams that are down 8 to 10 points. 8 minutes left in the game, giving you another 5, 6, 7 opportunities for a sack. I think he's going to be incredibly
Colin Cowherd
productive and that's a good point. What if the Rams, who are loaded, are blowing teams out? Is he sitting in the fourth quarter a lot?
J. Mack
No.
Colin Cowherd
Are they resting him?
J. Mack
Well, what are his bonuses? I mean, I don't think you rest players. They don't rest. Stafford play. It's football. It's one game a week. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news. So a story that broke Friday on our show, we brought the governor of Indiana on Mike Braun. He was great. Is that the board of directors for the Chicago Bears has said, yeah, I think we're going to move this thing right across the border to Hammond, Indiana. It's not ideal and it's not totally done. Remember, the bears own 326 acres in an area called Arlington Heights, which is, you know, it's north of town. So just remember Jerry Jones, one of the richest owners in the Dallas Cowboys. Stadium is somewhere between Dallas and Fort Worth. In Arlington, which has all the charm of a strip mall, Kansas City's moving to a new state. The Niners play in nondescript Santa Clara. That is the world. You know, this is the latest litmus test on how people, sports fans deal with change. And change is almost always good. It really is. Baseball's made six or seven tweaks. They've all worked. That doesn't mean all change is good. I think March madness going to 76 teams is nonsense. It's nonsense. I think when the NFL decided we want to make pass interference reviewable was an all time NFL blunder. The NBA had a new ball that was ridiculous. Didn't give the players a heads up when baseball tied home field advantage in the World Series to the All Star Game winner Bud Selig. That's an all time blunder and it Was that way for years. It made no sense. So my takeaway is change usually works. It's not always great. But what you're finding time and time again, pro teams and pro owners making better deals, right? Making better deals for real estate, for zoning, for traffic, and for retail outlets around the stadium. That's hard to do in metro areas. It's hard to do. I mean, in Los Angeles, Stan Kroenke, he got lucky. They've turned that area clippers into it. The forums now a music venue, SoFi, that's rare. I mean, both New York teams play over in Jersey and it's not a good site. Like, I mean, you've got. Look at the commanders. They've moved. So this is just the reality of it. You get into these big cities in these urban areas, lands of fortune. And frankly, I mean, this isn't, you know, like F1 Monaco, where you can shut down the city and, you know, nobody really cares. It's a tax haven anyway, full of rich people that don't have to work. That's not Chicago. The governor of Indiana, Mike Braun, last week on the Bears potentially moving to Indiana. Think about how much more stadium you're going to get built for the money in a place that's got a much lower cost of living and an economy that's on fire. It's still a Chicago Bears and people are freaking out here. You're not changing the name, right? No, no, I would be. Yeah. That would be obtuse to think it would be the Hammond Bears.
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It's the Chicago Bears, yeah.
J. Mack
The Patriots play in Foxborough. The Arizona Cardinals play 30 minutes out of town in Glendale, which there's not a lot in Glendale. It'd be great if it was in Scottsdale. It'd be great if it was downtown Phoenix. Like, it's just the. You have these, you know, in Philadelphia. They've all got him in one part of town. Maybe that's ideal. I don't know. But this is just the reality of it. By the way, there's no World cup games in Chicago, which is crazy, right? You've got them in. In the summer. You've got them in Houston and Dallas, you know, like these sweltering cities. You got one in Seattle. How come not Chicago? Because Rahm Emanuel, the mayor at the time of Chicago, said, I'm not writing a blank check to FIFA. I'm not doing it. And J.B. pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is like, listen, we're not going to be held hostage by NFL teams. So. And for the record. Not only is this happening everywhere, but a big chunk of Chicago is closer to Hammond. Where I sit right now in Chicago is closer to Hammond than Arlington Heights. Arlington Heights is by my house. It makes Sundays much easier. But you know, you got to remember Steve Ballmer was so rich when he built a stadium, he put it wherever he wants. All of that came out of his own pocket. Stan Kroenke, you're like, well, how did Stan Kroenke get that great spot in la? He paid for it out of his pocket. And by the way, he was so rich there was like a four billion dollar cost overrun. And Cronky's paying for the, you know, he's paying the bill. Cronky's much richer than the Johnson family or the Mara family in New York. So he could do it and he got say. So it's going to be okay. It's not ideal, you know, Santa Clara is not ideal for Niner fans. Coming up next, we told you, I swear to God, it's not great. It's not the end of the world. But if you want to win an NBA championship, there's almost one rule with the new cba. That rule is you can't play pay like a number three starter, number one or two money. You can't pay a number two starter, second best player, number one money. Or suddenly you go from Oklahoma City champion to should we move Chet Holgren, Austin Reaves and the Lakers. Oh, here is the latest coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. This message is brought to you by Apple Card.
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See terms@discover.com credit card three days and counting the biggest World cup ever comes to America. Christian pulisic and the U.S. men's National Team kick off their World cup dream on a huge Friday of music stars and celebration in LA. Coverage begins at 6pm Eastern with the match at 9pm Eastern Friday on Fox.
J. Mack
I've never watched a World cup game by myself, ever. And I'm trying to figure out who I'm gonna watch Friday's game with. You know, they for years and years, there was a rating system in television which everybody, myself included in tv, always knew was complete garbage because they didn't count out of home viewing. You know, it's like, you ever gone to a sports bar? Who's ever watched, you know, like a World cup match by themselves or a Super Bowl? Well, now it's finally an appropriately measured industry. So you're seeing all these numbers and it's like, yes, people are watching in droves. Sports. It's the only thing anybody watches on, you know, your terrestrial tv. So linear tv. All right, so this is out of the LA Times, a recent Report indicates Austin Reeves is going to command on the free agent market. Now that's what his agent wants you to think. But I think his agent here is right. Over $40 million a year, that's a lot of lettuce. Now Reeves has averaged 23 and 5 during the regular season, but in the playoffs and in the regular season, he's sometimes hurt a lot. So the way I look at Austin reaves is for 25 of the 30 teams in the NBA. I may sign him, but the Lakers are different. They've got 17 banners. They remain the biggest brand in the league. You don't have to always pay top of the market. Pro athletes love the LA weather and love what la, the entertainment capital of the world does for their net worth. Go ask LeBron's. His has doubled since he's been in LA and he was winning more consistently in Cleveland and in Miami. He's not even winning as much and he's past his prime and he's doubled his net worth. So there's two things that Austin Reaves has working against him because mostly it's working for him. But the two things working against him are team and timing. Team being it's the Lakers, they're not paying top of the market for Austin Reaves and they shouldn't maybe go sign and trade and then timing, which is the new cba. And I'll give you two teams as an example. The Celtics, we thought the Celtics were an ascending dynasty. And then they pay both Tatum and Jaylen Brown and they have to get rid of their experience, front line. And now they don't look at enough with their bigs. And you're starting to question their cap sheet. Oklahoma City, a year ago they're a dynasty. How many titles? Eight or nine. And now you look at Chet Holmgren's contract and say, should we move him? That's the new CBA from in great shape to oh, you cannot overpay for players. And the standard in LA isn't the regular season where Austin Reaves numbers are pretty darn good. Let's go to his last three postseasons. The Lakers are 3 and 13. He averages 17 a game. He shoots 28% from 3 point and he's a disaster. Plus minus. Oh yeah, he is a defensive liability. Both his body and his body of work are not good. So do you want to pay that 46, 47, 48 million annually? Don't be a fanboy. Take off your Laker jersey. Jalen Brunson this year and next is going to make on average 36 million. You're going to pay this guy 8 million more annually. He's not in Jalen Brunson's class. And Jalen Brunson has more defensive players protecting him. The Lakers have no elite defensive players after Marcus Smart. So if you get past Austin, you score and you know you're getting past Luka. I mean, there was a point late in the season that LeBron may have been their best defensive player, which is shameful if you're a teammate. There's no way in the world LeBron. LeBron was playing great defense. It may have been in spurs, but he was really good. So the Lakers are trapped. And that's what happens when you have a mediocre front office. Jason Timp from the Volume Hoops Tonight podcaster talked about this recently. I think that number kind of lands in that 40 to 45 million annually. The truth of the matter is you start looking around at guards around the league, there's a lot of pretty mediocre bad guards that are making like 30, 35 million, like Tyler Hero or like Emmanuel Quickley. Like if I'm Austin Reeves agent, I'm being like, look, I understand you guys want to stay flexible, but like, my guy's just better than all those dudes you need. You need to pay him. Austin is unfortunately going to get blamed, his contract is going to get blamed for mistakes that Rob Pelinka made elsewhere in their team building over the course of the last few years. Absolutely right. I don't blame Austin Reaves most teams. I'd pay him, but there are certain places. I remember when I used to be in local tv, the Phoenix market was known as not paying very well. They paid in sunshine. That was the cliche. A lot of people as they got older in my business, they wanted to go live in Phoenix. You know, they were in Minneapolis or a cold weather city and they're like, yeah, I'm going to be a weather guy in Phoenix. They paid you in sunshine. Well, the Lakers pay you in legacy. Like they're not going to go top of the market unless you're, you know, like a Luca or an Anthony Davis in his prime or a LeBron that had a lot of options. They're just not going to do it. Nor should they. So there you go, World cup week. So it is J. Mac's got a little, I guess he's got a little ownership on a soccer franchise. I tried to years ago buy like half of 1% into the MLS, but I was going up against Tony Robbins and Magic Johnson. So that didn't go well for me. But I will say, the game against Germany, we gave up a really bad early goal. And I know I sound like such a novice because I am, and I'm not trying to be a soccer expert, but one of the things that is very clear to me is that we can win time of possession. That is not something we've historically done very well. You know, this goal we gave up. Awful. It's like a bad turnover in football, just awful. We look disorganized, but this goal by Anthony Robinson, this is not a goal. Historically, we've scored against an elite team. Here it is. The outswinger from Pulisic Tar heads it away. Oh, my word. What a strike from Anthony Robinson. The game tied up with a moment of absolute magic. I only have one comment. You cannot hit a ball any sweeter than this. My word. I mean, maybe I'm being cynical, but previous teams sky that ball six feet over the net. They just don't. We don't take advantage of that opportunity. That's what Spain does and I'm not saying we're Spain. That's what Argentina does. A one timer. That's what the greats do. They don't waste opportunities. And Germany's for real. I don't think Germany's going to win the Cup. They'll compete for it. And again, I've said before, can we seize this World Cup? That doesn't mean win it, but can we really win two knockout stage games and look the part and be aggressive? I absolutely think so. I think we're going to get out of the group stage. I think we're going to win Friday. If we lose, I'm going to go in hiding. So don't even try to get ahold of me. But I don't think I'm being unrealistic. Generally speaking, soccer fans in America are either the most miserable people in the world and think we're terrible and wake me when it's over, or they're a little bit delusional. I am neither. But I think we're going to get out of the group stage and I don't. I think it will be clear we're the best team in the group stage and I think we have a chance to win two knockout stage matchups. That's. That's rare company J Mac does that seem unfocused? Unfounded?
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. Yeah. I've got him. I know this is a little too bullish. I've got him beating Paraguay, Australia and either a draw with Turkey to advance is the number one or a win, honestly. And this is not homerism. And then I'm kind of with you in the round of 32. I think we should be good. Colin. Yes. I've run. I've looked at some of the simulations that have been run.
J. Mack
Oh, what are they saying? Opponents, what are they saying?
Colin Cowherd
It's not going to be that bad in the round of 32. If you want to go to, like, the quarterfinals, that's going to be difficult.
J. Mack
Different ballgame.
Colin Cowherd
16. We'll see. But this is very manageable. Right. When you host the World cup, you get a favorable draw.
J. Mack
Also, they've added teams.
Colin Cowherd
Yes. Weak teams, by the way.
J. Mack
Yes, they've added, you know, it's. It's like the NCAA tournament, adding going from 68 to 76. It's not like they're adding Duke in Kansas.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
J. Mack
So they've added very, very mediocre teams.
Colin Cowherd
And we seem to be pretty healthy across the board. I'm sure Alexi can talk more to that.
J. Mack
We beat. We beat Senegal 3 to 2, and Senegal is. Is rated as like a top 18.
Colin Cowherd
Senegal very good and dangerous. Okay.
J. Mack
Yeah.
Colin Cowherd
Some dudes. Yeah. So I love our chances here. You don't want to go overboard, but, you know, this is probably the best team we've ever had. The best collection of talent come in
J. Mack
terms of creative talent offensively, no question. I don't even think it's close. And I don't think. I don't think Matt Turner. I don't think we're a disaster in goal. I don't think we're elite. I don't think we're as good as Tim Howard, but I think we're fine. I mean, I don't have the numbers in front of me. Is every World cup champion, every elite team, always great and goal? I don't remember. I don't. It just seems to me we're good enough.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. I mean, obviously you'd like an improvement, a confident goalie. You know, I don't think it's, you know, the biggest issue we have. I still think it's our back line, the confidence in the middle. I'm not going to take, you know, say anything about Tim Ream. I know he's a captain. I'll let Lawless, who actually played defense central back, talk about that. But I just think our defense can get a little wonky and wobbly. And you said it on the free kick, like, that's inexplicable. I don't care if it's two minutes in, like and it was raining. Big deal. Colin, that was awful.
J. Mack
I will say this, the environment at Soldier Field. It is a shame they're not hosting a World cup match because it was insane. I mean, you wouldn't have known. Is that Germany? Is that Spain? Is it Chicago? It was. The fans came out. Tip of the cap to the Chicago area. Fans. Hi, it's Colin Coward. If you're looking for the best blend of durability and affordability in decking, trust Summit decking from Deckorators Summit features Deckorators patented surestone technology so the boards won't splinter, sag, chalk or crack over time. And the colors. Three great options that really capture the rich textures of natural wood. Honestly, it's the best decking you didn't know you could afford. Order a sample before peak build season. Order a sample today. Visit deckorators.com herd to get your free sample. That's decorators with a k again. Decorators.com herd onplus nicotine pouches present comfort
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Episode Title: Hour 1 - These Knicks Are Different
Date: June 8, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume
In this episode, Colin Cowherd analyzes why the 2026 New York Knicks stand apart from previous Knicks and other big-market teams, especially as they lead the NBA Finals. The discussion delves into the Knicks’ unique team construction, their playing style, and the cultural transformation they represent. Colin also turns his attention to U.S. Soccer’s recent performance and expectations for the upcoming World Cup, while later in the show, the NFL off-season and other sports business news are examined. Insightful comparisons, engaging banter with co-host J. Mack, and candid assessments of sports culture run throughout.
[02:16–08:27]
Main Point: Colin makes the case that this year’s Knicks are unique — not only for their on-court success but for how they were built and how they play.
Contrast to Past Knicks Teams:
Team Composition and Culture:
Playing Style:
Watchability:
Prediction:
Memorable Moment – Jalen Brunson’s Perspective:
[08:27–12:44, 38:19–49:30]
Recent Game vs. Germany
World Cup Preview & U.S. Hopes
Notable Audio Highlight:
[16:29–21:27]
Colin contrasts NFL and NBA cultures on player development, emphasizing the media’s impatience with Victor Wembanyama and young basketball stars:
On Wemby’s development:
Wembanyama’s Response (Clip):
[21:27–29:48]
[29:48–36:11]
Board is considering a move to Hammond, Indiana.
“This is the latest litmus test on how people, sports fans deal with change. And change is almost always good. It really is.” (31:12)
Comparison to other teams building in suburbs or nearby cities: “Both New York teams play over in Jersey and it’s not a good site. The Patriots play in Foxborough. The Arizona Cardinals play 30 minutes out of town in Glendale.” (33:15)
“The reality is... you get into these big cities in these urban areas; land’s a fortune.” (33:49)
Laments loss of traditions but emphasizes that adaptability is key in modern pro sports.
[38:44–46:17]
Colin’s signature blend of confident, opinion-driven analysis and wry humor shapes the episode. There’s a clear focus on larger trends, not just scores, while Colin often draws on history, analogies, and personal experience (sports and media). The banter with J. Mack adds punch, and the tone is lively—skeptical but fair, cautiously optimistic about U.S. Soccer, and unapologetically enthusiastic about these “different” Knicks.
Hour 1 of The Herd offers not just a breakdown of current sports events, but a thoughtful meditation on what it means for a team, a league, or even a fanbase to evolve. Whether it’s the Knicks’ refreshing new identity, the maturation (or lack thereof) of young superstars, or the future of stadium deals, this episode provides valuable context and sharp insight for any sports fan.