Colin Cowherd (1:57)

I'm an alcoholic, and without this trope, I'm a die.

Greg Rosenthal (2:01)

Listen to Cino's show on the iHeartRadio

Daniel Jeremiah (2:03)

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Greg Rosenthal (2:07)

On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dickenpole show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers, but there are certain things that we don't necessarily understand better version of

Colin Cowherd (2:20)

Play stupid games, win stupid prize. Yes, which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was I got that wrong.

Greg Rosenthal (2:27)

But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close though.

Daniel Jeremiah (2:30)

Listen to the Nick, Dick and Paul

Greg Rosenthal (2:32)

show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Daniel Jeremiah (2:37)

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 noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started.

Colin Cowherd (2:59)

You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Daniel Jeremiah (3:03)

Here we go. It's hour two. We're in Chicago. 73 degrees today. Breakout, short sleeve shirts and the volleyball games. It is beautiful here. We're getting into, you know, it's honestly, it's like a Midwest, Malibu everywhere. All right, Ryan Rossillo, Barstool Sports is going to be joining us in about five minutes. Every Monday at this time. Where Colin was right. Where Colin was wrong. Had a pretty good week. Here we go. Where Colin was right. Well, Michigan. I had Michigan getting to the final four and winning it and right now they look as good as anybody. You know, let's be honest, the Big Ten is on fire. But when you watch Michigan, they are the only team that checks every box. Dominant defensive center, NBA guys, elite passing, three point shooting, best passing team in college basketball in a long time and the hottest coach on the market. Michigan, probably an easy call. Where Colin was wrong. You know, I love the old school coaches. Well, they got kicked to the curb in the elite eight. They left for the early bracket special. Now it's the young guys. Dan Hurley I guess qualifies as a bit older, but Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May in one of the matchups. I love my old coaches but the truth is Dusty May and Tommy Lloyd are elite recruiters and it has paid off. Where Colin was right. I said when the nil came out, the big tens got more money and I think they've got better coaching. The SEC was.06 against the Big Ten in the tournament and a lot of the games weren't close. When Iowa beat Florida, to me that was a real eye opener because Iowa doesn't even have big nil money. They were like 15th of the sweet 16 teams in spending on nil between the three straight natties in football and six and oh in this tournament against the SEC there is a new sheriff in town where Colin was right. I've said tanking is not the number one concern for the NBA but Commissioners freak out when you say the word. And I was reading a column this morning, none of the NBA's three anti tanking proposals would actually create a full stop for tanking. And my take has always been if you're not going to allow other ways to acquire Wemby, then people are going to tank and people are going to take the find. NBA owners are billionaires. That is, that is glove compartment money. If you're going to get an all time great player. I mean look at this draft. The BYU, AJ DeBonte, you got Peterson, you got Boozer. This draft goes like nine guys deep. Darius Acuff out of Arkansas, that guy's gonna pop immediately. If you're not gonna allow like the NFL the ability to trade anybody anytime. Tanking's not going anywhere. Where Colin was wrong, I can't get A.J. brown figured out. I, I would have traded him two years ago. It's a run team but Howie Roseman came out this weekend and said, you know what, he's a member of the Eagles, we love him. Is he just trying to use that as leverage? I don't know. But it's a run team. He's reading books on the sidelines. I mean he, I think he's under, he's not undervalued, he's underused. Jalen hurts. You know you've got a quarterback. The Eagles self admit they would like to throw less than 27 times a game. But every time you ask him, every time you ask them, they tell you he's here for the long term. Where Colin was right. Well I said two games ago the Knicks are not a championship team. The Celtics are going to win the East. It's either the Celtics. The spurs are okay seeing the Knicks are 02 since I said that they're 05 against Detroit and OKC. They've got two big issues at the end of games. Their two best players, Cat and Brunson. You can hunt them defensively and they're a bit of a finesse team where if you're a physical team like Detroit is, even without Cade Cunningham, you can give them big problems. So I like the Knicks but I do think they have to take a big swing in the off season. Probably moving Cat because I would never move Jalen Brunson where Colin was right. I've been a defender of Rob Manfred. He gets a lot of flack but he nailed it with a new ABS system. It has created a game show feel with the reveal. It's fun to watch. It doesn't pick on the Umpires half the time with the challenges, the umpires get it right. But the sport now moves quickly. The APS ABS system moves quickly. You do have to bat your helmet very quickly or you'll have a situation yesterday like you saw. But I think it's a home run and I think the unintended benefit, it's created a new level of strategy that's really fun. Where Colin was right. Aaron Glenn said Geno Smith is our guy. We've got 100% confidence. Oh, give me a break. There's not a Jet fan alive who thinks that led the NFL in interceptions last season, has led the NFL in interceptions since 2022. I feel that Aaron Glenn and I said this eight months ago. I would prefer offensive coaches. I do think there's some great young defensive coaches. D', Ameco, Ryan's Mike McDonald. We'll see what Jesse Min does. But man, they, they can be tone deaf to offense. Colin, right? Colin wrong. So Ryan Ro is going to be joining us in a second. Do we have the. Do we have the radio call of. Of Yukon beating Duke? Do we have that by chance? Guys, let. Let's play this just. I haven't heard this. SAR gets it into Cam Boozer. Boo Boozer. Back to SAR now ahead to Kaden Boozer. And Yukon got a steal. Caravan for Mullins. Long three. Oh, he got it. He hit. He hit the long three pointer from the logo with 3.10of a second left to go. I don't believe it. Yukon has taken the lead. Oh, man. Well, somebody that knows stores Connecticut in the state of Connecticut in the Yukon program now with barstool sports, our friend Ryan Ricillo is joining us. And you know, it's just right. You know, you can appreciate this. I tell people you have no idea. UConn is the center of basketball universe. At one point their football team was also going to a fiesta bowl and they're in a cow pasture. If you've never been there, it's hard to explain. What do you think is when you talk to your NBA guys because he was offered the Laker gig. Ryan, what do you make of Dan Hurley? Like his secret sauce? Is it schemes? Is it recruiting? Is it intensity? They just don't lose in March. What is it?

Colin Cowherd (10:03)

Yeah, this run is ridiculous. I mean the last time they lost when they made it to a final force 2009, they're 180 from the sweet 16 on. And that's what happens. You win a couple titles. So it's one on one last year and then four wins this Year. So, you know, I've had early on, I'm sure you've had them on as well. I mean, the thing all started with Calhoun, maybe the 88 NIT, and then 90, they were the 1 seed when Laitner beat them in the regional final, you know, and that sent Duke to the Final Four. So like from 90 on, they didn't make it to a Final Four until 1999. So there was this Calhoun moment that almost like a decade goes by, which is easy to forget before they actually won the first title that, that set them on this path. But there's, you know, you could go to Calhoun's intensity and it's always important to remember Kevin Ollie's intensity. But you know, we talk about culture all the time in sports and every guy that's introduced at the press conference, he's behind the table, in front of the logo, maybe elector, and he's like, oh, we're gonna have this culture, we're gonna have this culture. And usually all these guys are completely lying to them. So like they don't know how to do it. They know what to say, but they don't know how to execute it. We see it all the time. And with Hurley, I just. When you watch these games and you see teams get back, get down big, you can see with the kids where it's like, well, we weren't supposed to win this thing anyway. And for Yukon, they came out in the half and they're like, hey, maybe if we just play tougher defense. They played with such defensive intensity because they still never made any shots until the last couple threes. They were still abysmal from three point range. And there was this also this moment too where there was a sideline report from Tracy Wilson where you heard Hurley say, hey, the momentum has changed. The momentum is changing. I was kind of like, I don't really know that it's changed. We're just in the second half and that was four minutes into the second half. So whatever it is, as crazy as he can be on the sideline, I think part of that crazy, that good crazy is being so delusional and getting every single kid to believe you.

Daniel Jeremiah (12:03)

You know, it's interesting and I, I don't like banging on coaches. I think John Shire is very good with schemes and very good recruiting. The downside to being a great brand like Duke, which has a beautiful campus and is legendary, is your teams get young. I mean, they're, they're, they get five star guys and whereas Michigan and Yukon, they can go get, they, they're great programs, but Duke has this, you know, Lakers feel to it where I'm watching them yesterday. And again, I think Shire is a good coach. But when you have a young team, Ryan, you got to call timeouts. Like there was the Boozers had seven turnovers. It was, it felt a little bit like it was a missed moment. When you got a team that young, you and I know that Phil Jackson used to believe, let your team play through it. Well, you can't do that with 18 year olds. Like in March. I thought Shire didn't have a great moment. Is that too critical or is it fair?

Colin Cowherd (12:57)

I probably was more frustrated with them last year just not being able to inbound the ball against Houston that many times now. I think there was a laxness to them. There was certain things that they were doing at the top where they're looking at it as like, hey, I'm going to be out here, then I'm going to swing it back to the top and that's how we're going to start our offense. And when the defense knows you're going to do it, like there has to be some intention, there has to be a better angle on that. And that's on players. And in this spot with Kaden Boozer like he's a freshman, he sees two open teammates down there. All I have to do is get the ball to them. So, you know, even though they're younger players, I still look at a lot of stuff that happens with the players and go, like, how is this some fundamental flaw with John Shire's approach? You could say that maybe it'd be nice to have a senior out there. I'm sure he would love to have a senior out there. But Shire is not a good coach. He is a great coach. He's got to win a national championship at Duke. It's just to have these two losses on this stage. And on top of that, Colin, I'd ask you, like, what seems to rally people more in sports than a Duke loss? People seem to love Duke losing in a tournament more than anything else that I can think it might have the highest approval rating. Like if you ran for office, Colin, because I know you're not going to let Stephen A. Be the only guy that thinks about being president. I just wonder if you would say, hey, I don't know about. I don't know about this, I don't know about that. But what I can tell you is as long as Duke keeps losing in the tournament, you know, can I get your vote? And I think you would Win.

Daniel Jeremiah (14:23)

I think I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave Stephen A. Smith. All the political aspirations, the. So I went and watched Michigan play yesterday and I watched it from, you know, a corporate suite, blah, blah. I went with a cousin. I wasn't my call. I, I like to be with the people. Anyway, I'm upstairs.

Colin Cowherd (14:39)

Yeah, I know that doesn't sound like you at all.

Daniel Jeremiah (14:43)

Michigan passes the ball like an NBA team and I'm not joking. Their half court ball movement. They lead the tournament in assists by a long margin. They're shooting over 40% on threes. And I think they've used the, I like the nil because I think Cinderella wasn't winning this thing anyway. It's, it's, it's given teams like Michigan another great NBA player or a UConn. I'm, I'm telling you from a half court offense, I mean, I think Michigan's the team. Do you? Do you? I know they're not even favored against Arizona. I'm like, I don't know how you defend them collegiately with their bigs.

Colin Cowherd (15:21)

I love the way they're passing. I think you're right on with that. And they can invert, like they can bring out their big guys. Mara's passing is terrific. Lenin Borg. I didn't really love their guards and I get to college basketball late. You know, it's hard for me to do both every single night. But when I got into it late, you're like, all right, I don't know that I really like their guards that much. And Lindenberg, you know, if he were 19, he'd be the number one draft pick. But he's going to be 24. It's just not the way that stuff works. Works. His perimeter play has been so spectacular on top of his slashing his shot, making all this different, different stuff. Like they can play, they can start their offense with huge players where, you know, some of the guard stuff that they do at times could go like has been really good. But maybe I'm emphasizing too much of the regular season Duke game where I thought there was some shot selection in there that I didn't really like. So I think Michigan's terrific. I'd agree with everything you said except for the part about Arizona. Arizona has seven guys that every single game you watch Arizona, it can be any of the seven guys having a six, seven minute stretch where it feels like they're taking over the game. Multiple ball handlers to close you out with. Koh Pete comes out, it just dominates. As a freshman, Krivos has a ton of size. Karchenkov has been around, and Bradley's the conference player of the year, and sometimes you don't even notice him. And it's not because of his approach to the game. It's because they have all these other things. So, look, certainly Michigan is good enough to win this game, but I don't know that I've seen a team that can attack in so many different ways as Arizona.

Daniel Jeremiah (16:51)

So, you know, I've asked people about this. It is such a good draft. I mean, the kid from Arkansas, Darius Acuff, he's small, not much of a defender. But if you, you know, again, you bring him to the right NBA team that's got a rim protector and wings and three Andes, he's an automatic. I mean, catch and shoot, drive and shoot pass. He's just a glorious player offensively. But the story is going to be Peterson, because earlier in the year, I was told to watch him, and, I mean, three times up the floor, you're like, oh, that's what Kobe probably looked like at 18 years old. Like, it was just crazy. But he's got durability issues. He admits it got into his head. He plays a little bit in a silo. You don't get a lot of assists. He kind of. He's playing for himself today. If I'm a gm, I lose sleep with all the durability stuff. Or is this just overplayed? He's young. Where do you land on it with him?

Colin Cowherd (17:45)

Yeah, I think the league. And, like, I talk to everybody, but it seems like the league is less fascinated or worried by the whole thing because it, like, it was a media thing where, hey, it's number one pick. I think a lot of us do come by late to college basketball, drop in and you go, what's going on with that guy? Like, yeah, he's. He's tapping out. He doesn't seem to want to play in games. I think the more alarming thing, or maybe it's not even alarming, it's just that when he finally started playing regularly to close the season, he wasn't playing as well. But I would. I'd offer up, like, there's a shot that he hits against St. John's in the very beginning of the game. Like, he comes around, he has this catch and shoot three where it just looks exactly like what an NBA star is supposed to do, where you. You can't help but go, oh, my God. Like, that's. That's why this guy is being talked about on top of like the 60 points going up against AJ in a high school showcase game, which is what all the draft guys appointed be like. If you would watch that game, you wouldn't even be talking about this kind of stuff. I also think it's important to look at, like, scores, young scorers, like, do they default to just scoring every single time to try to figure out a way to solve the game? And I don't think Peterson shows that at all. I don't. I don't think he's a selfish player. I think he's somebody who wants to move the ball. He looks at the defense and goes, they're loaded up against me. I'm going to swing it and let somebody else going. I'm going to move around. So I think there's some understanding stuff from Peterson that's really good. But you're totally right, like, with AJ's size and his output, with Boozer's efficiency being like, historically off the charts, and Acuff looking exactly like an NBA guard, where you go, okay, so nobody can stay in front of him, and he's super strong, and he can change his hands at the rim to deal with taller guys, which is usually the thing that, like, sends you to Europe or makes you NBA All Star. Acuff has those kinds of things. You do wonder, and I mean, this is almost like a segment idea, but you go, like, would a team, if they were being totally honest, be like, I'd rather have like the second or third pick. Just like, somebody else has to take the Peterson problem. I mean, the answer is no. But in a moment of honesty, I wonder if somebody would ever just go, like, I thought about that.

Daniel Jeremiah (19:54)

J Mac. I'll give J. Mac credit. He said that last week. He goes, I guarantee you there's a GM that's like, just give me the second pick, I'll take him. I don't want the pressure. So I want to ask you this. I think three teams can win the title. I think it's the Celtics. I think their culture, their coaching. Missoula's become very good. They've got veterans. They, you know, they got old at the post, now they're younger in the front line. I think OKC Wemby's ridiculous. I think he helps the offense more than people think. He's obviously great defensively. And okc, the team that people fall in love with, it's the Lakers. And I've made this argument, is that the guy I always throw out. I said, if you just had Jaden McDaniels from Minnesota, a catch and shoot guy who can defend. I would give them credit. They don't have outside of market smart. Their top six guys are all lopsided. They either can't defend or they don't want to defend. But I think you can get away with that in the regular season. When you come into town, I don't, you know, I don't get a practice. You got Austin having a great year and LeBron and Rui and Luke, they're in Ayton. They're hard to defend on a Tuesday night when you're playing a back to back. But I don't think they translate to a playoff team because they have three guys I can hunt and a Chris Finch is going to say, you know, sga. And when you force Luca to defend, I don't think they're a guaranteed. I don't think they're guaranteed to win one series in the West. I think the first series will be tough. Where are you in the Lakers?

Colin Cowherd (21:18)

If they play Houston, I'm picking the Lakers. Or they're playing Denver or Minnesota, I'm picking the other teams. It's that simple. I think we agree for the most part. I think this run has been great. I mean, Lucas stepped it up. It's the reason why everybody freaks out. And anybody would even be traded, be like, hey, I don't know if he's going to age well. It's like, like, okay, all right. He's. He's one of the most unstoppable players that we've ever seen. I still think, like, I'll think of playoff games and going, Hey, 17 seconds left, score tied, whatever score you want to come up with. But like a close game, like, get me a really good look. I don't know. I don't know if anyone's ahead of Luca. I really think he's that special at getting his own space, using his body. He doesn't have to go fast. He doesn't need a screen. And then he has the passing on top of everything else. But I think the LeBron thing has been really interesting, Colin, because it's almost this praise of like, he's accepted his role. And it's like, well, he's accepted this role because he's. He's finally. It finally happened. Yeah. Where the decline is here now, maybe with more days off, maybe with more specific game planning. But like LeBron, at this point, I, I think there'll be like the huge playoff game, but then there'll also be a playoff game where it feels like the diminishing Athleticism and him being hunted, hunted defensively is going to show up in certain matchups. I mean if we're like what are we doing? I could still be respectful of the greatness while also breaking down what I think the 2026 NBA playoffs are going to look like. Yeah, and I, I don't. I'm worried about that. You know, I'm worried about that with the collection of all the other guys. I mean Ayton's been a little bit better but he's not somebody that I necessarily want to bank on. I think Houston's closing offense is still such a mess. Like I do not trust them at all that I picked the Lakers in that one. The size Minnesota stuff. Sure Ayton there now but I think that'd be another problem. And look, Denver is better this year despite the defensive numbers, despite the terrible clutch numbers that don't make any sense. They're always one of the best clutch teams in the league. They've been abysmal. But if you're telling me like a seven game series against the Lakers and what the Denver Nuggets did last year to OKC when we weren't even that excited about him a year ago and Gordon's hamstring and they take OKC to seven. I'm cooler on Denver than say last summer, Colin. But I think it'd be a shock for the majority of people out there to pick the Lakers against them even if the seeds are off.

Daniel Jeremiah (23:34)

By the way, you're either got your arm in a sling because you bench too much or you've got a camera and you're just sightseeing Manhattan Beach. What is that thing there?

Colin Cowherd (23:45)

Well, I don't know if you saw that the Louis Vuitton summer line dropped. I'm sure you get the alerts too but no, it's. It's a sling. We did some weighted wide grip pull ups yesterday at our Our Equinox out here and the very top. I felt something I've never felt before. But we're going to be back and shout out to Mike Greenberg back in better than ever. I'll be fine.

Daniel Jeremiah (24:10)

I mean, you know, you're not a young guy. Stuff breaks, trust me. 55 stuff starts breaking. Priscilla. It's great seeing a barstool Sports. He's on fire at Ryan Rosillo. Ryan Abrasillo. Good seeing you buddy.

Colin Cowherd (24:24)

Yeah, good to see you Colin. Thanks man.

Daniel Jeremiah (24:26)

He does great work. Does great stuff. Somebody whose opinion I trust always see J. Mac. You're out there hooping it and wearing a Sling. And you're always limping into work. I'm out here having red striped beers in the best shape of my life. Living life to the fullest.

Greg Rosenthal (24:44)

I can't believe. So he's doing pull ups and he threw out his shoulder. Poor guy. By the way, he used to go to my gym. I'm going to text him here in a sec. He's jacked, obviously. You know, I'm just cut up. You like to think I'm ripped. He's actually jacked. That guy lifts a lot of weights. I can't believe he got hurt.

Daniel Jeremiah (25:00)

I have seen Ryan.

Greg Rosenthal (25:01)

You don't want to stand next to him in like the team picture when you win the championship because he just dwarfs you.

Daniel Jeremiah (25:06)

Yeah, yeah, totally. Well, a lot of guys dwarf you, but that's not. That's another segment.

Greg Rosenthal (25:11)

You love taking jabs at me, buddy.

Daniel Jeremiah (25:13)

You're the Brock Purdy of talk show.

Colin Cowherd (25:15)

Oh.

Daniel Jeremiah (25:16)

You know, you get on heaters, but you get dinged up a lot.

Greg Rosenthal (25:18)

So I get to the show and then we go to the Super Bowl. Is that what you're saying?

Daniel Jeremiah (25:24)

All right. Great stuff. Ryan Day, Ohio State coach who? What do they have? 13 guys going to get drafted in the first three rounds will be joining us. We're live in Chicago. It's the Herd. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport.

Greg Rosenthal (26:01)

Whether you believe in analytics or the

Daniel Jeremiah (26:03)

eye test, we've got all the bases covered.

Greg Rosenthal (26:06)

New episodes drop every Thursday, so do

Daniel Jeremiah (26:09)

yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

Colin Cowherd (26:18)

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Daniel Jeremiah (26:46)

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, and I'm kicking off A brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance and everywhere in between. This season of Math and Magic I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death Mike Cesario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken Take two Interactive CEO Straus Zelnick.

Colin Cowherd (27:16)

If you're unable to take meaningful creative risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't play in this business.

Daniel Jeremiah (27:25)

Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and our own Chief Business Officer Lisa Coffey.

Greg Rosenthal (27:30)

Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guarantee human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.

Daniel Jeremiah (27:40)

Listen to Math and Magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

Greg Rosenthal (27:47)

A ambitious, well intentioned, ferocious and wealthy mother looks like in the Black community this Women's History Month. The podcast Keep It Positive Sweetie celebrates the power of women choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy, love is not a destination. You have to work on it every day. Keep It Positive Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth and navigating life with grace and grit led by women who uplift, inspire and tell the truth out loud. I have several conversations with God and I know why it took 20 years to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Positive sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Podcast I'm John Green.

Colin Cowherd (28:32)

You may know me as the author of the Fault in Our Stars and now I guess also as the co host of the Away End, a brand new world Soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, the Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football all the leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us. Soccer Football is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak and above all its beauty. Together we'll find out why. Of all the unimportant things football, football, soccer is the most Important listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John green on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Greg Rosenthal (29:32)

It's the new me and it's the old them. Everybody's on their journey and your journey's different to theirs. This Women's History Month. The podcast if youf Knew Better with Amber Grimes spotlights women who turn missteps into momentum and lessons into power. I think coming out of where I came from, I'm from the Bronx.

Daniel Jeremiah (29:48)

I think I grew up really poor.

Greg Rosenthal (29:50)

I didn't know that then cuz I very much use my creativity to romanticize life and I'm like, my mom did a really good job of like you step back and you're like whoa. We. I don't know how we made it.

Daniel Jeremiah (30:02)

So a lot of my life was

Greg Rosenthal (30:03)

like built out of like survival to get to the next place. Like my drive, my like tunnel vision of like, I got to be better,

Daniel Jeremiah (30:12)

I got to achieve this was off the strengths of like, I want to

Greg Rosenthal (30:15)

make a better life for everybody, us. If you knew Better brings real talk from women who've lived it, unpacking career pivots, relationship lessons, and the mindset shifts that changed everything.

Colin Cowherd (30:25)

Listen to if you Knew Better with

Greg Rosenthal (30:27)

Amber grimes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

Daniel Jeremiah (30:34)

Now. I'm telling you, I've talked more college basketball in the last two years and I've always said this. It's not my job to cover your team or your, your sport. It's your job to be interesting. I've covered more baseball in the last three years. I've covered more college basketball and college football. I thought last year's college football season, this is what the nil's done. That I love is that we had about a 15 year stretch in college basketball. If you were any good, you were a freshman. If you stayed in college three years, you weren't an NBA player. Maybe you go play overseas. Now Michigan's got five star guys, young guys, old guys and the quality of the team, basketball. But watch Michigan pass and shoot. I mean again you go back, you go back to Duke Butler was that 15 years ago Duke Butler shot 39% and then, then Butler played Yukon. The next year they shot 31%. Nobody could hit open jumpers. It was awful. It was unwatchable. It was garbage. Now the ratings are exploding because the quality is better. I said this with college football. Watching Indiana and Miami, like the ability to go and get for a good Program with a great coach, a really high end quarterback. I mean college football's issue was always it was as fun to watch as the quarterback play was. Well now all these big brands can have young five star players, but they can go get a four star quarterback from a mid major. I mean I thought Indiana and the Miami Hurricanes, I thought that was the closest I'd ever watched a college football game that looked like an NFL game. The play calling much more sophisticated, more motion, more sets. I like college, but I like high end college. And nil is jet fueled, the biggest program. I mean you're watching Illinois and their pace, that's an NBA pace. You watch Michigan's passing, that's NBA passing. So I know a lot of you are like, oh, I love college. I like excellent. I got nothing against public golf courses but if you're giving me a choice, I'd take Augusta. Right. That's why I don't mind dynasties. I want great athletes playing alongside other great athletes. I'm watching Ohio State's defense last year you got like five NFL guys first, second round. J. Mac with the news.

Colin Cowherd (32:56)

No, no, no, turn on the news.

Daniel Jeremiah (32:59)

This is the Herd line news.

Greg Rosenthal (33:02)

All right, let's look at some NFL draft quickly. Colin Fernando Mendoza, presumptive number one pick, less than four weeks away from the draft and according to Daniel Jeremiah, Mendoza has been getting to work with Brian Griesy to install Clint Kubiak's offense. And Jeremiah added that Mendoza is full speed ahead on making sure he's up to speed when he's eventually drafted by the Raiders. I'm sure some of this is just Mendoza geeking out on being a pro, but I think some of it is probably this nonsense that oh yeah, maybe they go get Kirk Cousins to start and Mendoza will come in when he's ready, which I think is total nonsense. But I like Mendoza, he's ready to go. This is not some young kid who's inexperienced three year college starter. Let's go get him Under Center Week 1.

Daniel Jeremiah (33:48)

Yeah, I mean this is why I think he is. I think a lot of times we play pay so much attention to the physical part of quarterback play. But I'll give an example. Aaron Rodgers no longer runs. Aaron Rodgers isn't that committed in the off season. But Aaron Rodgers just on intellect and situational excellence goes to the Steelers and they went from an awful red zone offense to one of the top 5 or 6 in the league. How they didn't have a top 5o line. They didn't have a top 5 receiving core so much of this sport is above the shoulders. And yes, it's great to have, you know, a big arm and be able to move, but Lamar Jackson's not winning playoff games. You know, I'm not blaming anybody, but if you start looking at what works in this league, it's great offensive coaching. It's total commitment. It is, you know, it's just doing stuff off the field. And we, I mean, again, Drake May's got great physical tools. Mahomes has great physical tools. But even a Mahomes, if you give him no run game and a bad offensive line can get walloped. And I. So when I look at Mendoza, everybody's like, well, he's a little stiff. He's not that mobile. All I know is he's big, has great ball placement and is like Brady obsessed with the sport. I'm good. That's a Pro bowl level quarterback if he gets any coaching.

Greg Rosenthal (35:10)

Totally agree. And I'm sure some people's heads exploded when you said Lamar Jackson's not winning playoff games. I just did a quick check. Three and five in the playoffs. So. No, you're right. Lamar doesn't win in the playoffs.

Daniel Jeremiah (35:21)

I love him and he's the most mobile quarterback in the history of the sport. Yes, that's great. But my whole point is Josh Allen never been to a Super Bowl. He's the greatest athlete that's ever played. Quarterback John Elway, before he had a run game was getting blown out. In Super Bowls. You can talk about all the physical gifts. Are you obsessed by football? Do you have the right offensive coach who lets you play but has structured. So much of this sport is before the game starts and, and that's not to say that Lamar and Josh Allen and John Elway weren't committed, but it. They're all ridiculously hyper athletic and, and Josh can't even. Josh and Lamar can't get the Super Bowls. And I would argue they're the two most talented quarterbacks in the last 10 years.

Greg Rosenthal (36:10)

You know who did get to a Super Bowl? Small guy, brainiac, athletic brock Purdy, who's 5 and 2 in the playoffs. Just thought I'd toss that in there since you love dinging him. All right, let's move on to a quarterback who's won a Super Bowl, Matthew Stafford. Colin, I feel like we have this discussion every year. Is Stafford going to come back? How long is he going to stay? So as of right now, he's very excited about this Rams team and people are saying, well, maybe Safra could stay for multiple years or does he walk away after winning the Super bowl at SoFi this year? Here's McVeigh talking about all things Stafford and the Rams. That's always the great challenge is, is you want to make sure that you're

Daniel Jeremiah (36:47)

maximizing the opportunity you have with him while also not being naive to AI. I'm hopeful to be with the Rams for a long time and, you know,

Greg Rosenthal (36:54)

he's going to be able to play

Daniel Jeremiah (36:55)

as long as he's able to.

Greg Rosenthal (36:56)

Whether that's one, two more, who knows?

Daniel Jeremiah (36:58)

He might, you know, be one of

Greg Rosenthal (36:59)

those guys that plays late into his 40s, and I wouldn't have a problem with that. But those are dialogues and discussions that

Daniel Jeremiah (37:04)

we have a lot. And it's always figuring out that balance of, you know, continuing to build and

Greg Rosenthal (37:08)

take advantage of what a unique player

Daniel Jeremiah (37:10)

you have while also not being naive to.

Greg Rosenthal (37:13)

Eventually, we are not going to have

Daniel Jeremiah (37:15)

the luxury of having him as our guy. Well, I think when they made the Trent McDuffie move and had to give up multiple draft picks, they told you. Because I thought they would draft the backup quarterback in this draft, but the Trent McDuffie move told you we're going all in. That that tells me Stafford's coming back for two more years minimum. When the Trent McDuffie move, because if he wasn't, what you would do is you would keep your draft capital. You would, like, build a fortress around Stafford, but build a team ready to move on from Stafford. You're giving up draft capital, you know, you're going to have to pay stafford a lot. McDuffie is a super bowl getter. That, that to me, tells you Stafford's around for years.

Greg Rosenthal (37:53)

Look at, look at those stats on the screen. Stafford aging like fine wine. Then again, in his 20s, he was in the Detroit Lions, one of the most losing organizations in professional sports history. You go to the Rams and McVeigh and all of a sudden you're cooking seven and three in the playoffs. They are. They have the best team. Super Bowls at SoFi. Well, I mean, listen, everything's lining up for the Rams this year.

Daniel Jeremiah (38:13)

Look at, look at. Go look ahead. This is an interesting think piece. Stafford wins a Super Bowl. Aaron Rodgers, Stafford, who had the best career all time.

Greg Rosenthal (38:25)

Oh, you go Stafford.

Daniel Jeremiah (38:26)

Yeah, okay, but, but that, I, I think your opinion. Because Roger Aaron didn't start well and hasn't necessarily finished well. Stafford went to a losing organization, but he could end up, if he plays this year and next, he could end up with the last eight years of his career being Pro bowl every single One of them with a great playoff record, better than Aaron and more Super Bowls than Aaron. I keep saying this. No player in pro football outside of maybe Sam Darnold, but no great quarterback in my lifetime can literally flip the narrative and go from the 20th best ever to like top 10 with the super bowl. Because we all know we've said this for years, he may throw the best ball in the league.

Greg Rosenthal (39:13)

Yeah, that's interesting. So Roger's peak, where he was collecting MVPs was amazing. But Stafford's been more consistent and I think this matters, Colin, the whole locker room stuff. Stafford is beloved everywhere he goes. People like him, he's a nice guy. Rodgers is a little less of that. I don't think if Rodgers is watching this, he's probably like dammit, I'm coming back. But you're not winning. You're not winning a Super bowl with the Steelers. You're not even contending. So yeah, I would probably agree with you. Sounds like you're sharpening some off season takes there, huh? Final story to the ufl. Colin, Week one in the books. How about this one? We had our first four point field goal, a 60 yarder. Here's the call from defenders Blackhawks.

Colin Cowherd (39:56)

This is going to be a 60

Daniel Jeremiah (39:57)

yard field goal, folks.

Colin Cowherd (39:59)

It'll be for four points. As part of the new rules in the UFL. McCrane got it up. They score four. The defenders take a four nothing lead on the league's first 60 yard field goal for four points.

Daniel Jeremiah (40:19)

Well, it'd be hard to do that in the NFL because so many guys can now 57 become. It's. I don't know what happened. Maybe it's. They changed the football a little bit. I think that's what it is. 56 yard field goals, they don't feel automatic. Well, they do for the Cowboys. Yeah, but a 56 yard field goals feel like. Well he won't be short, I know that for sure. He may be wide left or right, but you won't be short at 56 yards.

Greg Rosenthal (40:45)

So you talk about this all the time about baseball's changing things and making exciting and why doesn't the NFL just go to this. This is exciting. 60 yards. So it's interesting. The quarterback took the sack the play before this and they got knocked back a few yards. So it went from like 57 were 3 to 60 verse 4. And, and, and it's almost like it's not the you take a sack on third down and field goal race.

Daniel Jeremiah (41:11)

What is interesting is that the strategy. What if you. What if it's a three point game late ufl and you really, you, you, you, you feel like, listen, we got a couple guys banged up the only way we got to win this thing now and you take a four yard loss to have a potential four point kick. So you're literally in trouble. You don't do this. You are planning a play to go backwards. That, that will absolutely happen this season.

Greg Rosenthal (41:44)

I mean, I think that's cool. Anyways, congrats to the, the Battle Hawks. I'm sorry. Battle Hawks defeat 12.

Daniel Jeremiah (41:51)

Is this in the NFL? 12 field goals last year in the NFL made of 60 plus yards. I can remember forever. Tom Dempsey of the Saints. I mean it was in the Guinness Book of World Records my parents gave me when I was a kid. I swear to God. He held that record for, it seemed like decades.

Greg Rosenthal (42:09)

Wasn't he a toe kicker?

Daniel Jeremiah (42:11)

Yeah, well, yeah, he.

Greg Rosenthal (42:12)

Yeah, the Straight ahead. Yeah, yeah.

Daniel Jeremiah (42:14)

J Mac with the news.

Colin Cowherd (42:16)

Well, that's the news and thanks for

Daniel Jeremiah (42:18)

stopping by the Herd LIE news. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.

Greg Rosenthal (42:29)

We got a huge baseball doubleheader coming your way on FS1. First at 6 Eastern, catch Ellie De La Cruz in the Reds versus the Pirates. Then at 9:30, it's the Giants and Padres in an NL west showdown. Catch it all tonight on FS1.

Daniel Jeremiah (42:45)

Speaking of the Reds, umpire CB Buckner did not have a particularly great Red Sox Reds game. The ABS system has been introduced by baseball now. One of the great advantages baseball has, they can experiment with stuff as all of you know, in the, you know, in the minor leagues, they did it with a pitch clock for years. I tell the story. I sat on a Delta flight once next to a general manager of the Richmond baseball team and we talked pitch clock for like two hours. And I remember he said it's gonna, it's gonna shave 20 minutes off a game. And it shaved just about 20, 25 minutes off a game. Well, the ABS system gives you a lot of things. It gives you the challenge, it gives you the reveal and it gives you this crazy reaction from the fans. And so I want to play. And we didn't have to do a lot of editing here. I want to play you what happened during a Red Sox Reds game. Suarez is the batter for Cincinnati. And let's play it. Got him looking.

Colin Cowherd (43:49)

Challenge. Immediate tap of the helmet. The red edge runners all hold.

Daniel Jeremiah (43:54)

Batters challenging the pitch.

Colin Cowherd (44:00)

ABS Powered by T mobile knocks out of the Zone. The AB continues. Now the two. Two hold. Strike three.

Daniel Jeremiah (44:12)

Tap the helmet again.

Colin Cowherd (44:13)

He says it's off the plate. Away Batter's challenging the pitch. Here we go.

Daniel Jeremiah (44:20)

Go.

Colin Cowherd (44:25)

Outside. The loudest cheers of the game.

Daniel Jeremiah (44:30)

The Reds have been two homers.

Colin Cowherd (44:32)

Come out back to their challenges.

Daniel Jeremiah (44:35)

You know, it, it's so funny watching baseball, the old stodgy sport, and their commissioner, like any business, you would tweak it. It doesn't matter if you own a tech company, it doesn't matter what. You could own a feed store, you got to listen to the consumer. Ratings were down, attendance was down. The game was too plotting. Like great baseball people like Tom Verducci a few years ago is like, the game is hard to watch and I do this for a living. And you know, you've always got your kind of old school people that don't want changes. But baseball has made about six changes. And yet the NBA, which is viewed as the progressive league, won't make like really strong changes to load management. The repetition, the kind of homogenous three point game where everybody shoots threes. You get 70 a game. So I mean baseball is a great example of you have this great sport that America loves and the numbers and the attendance told you it was just increasingly plotting and difficult to watch. And it's just pitch clock, ABS system, ban the defensive shift, same great game, much more quickly. College football, and I love college football, it got to a point about five years ago, games were lasting four and a half hours. And you're like, guys, you stop the clock too much. Speed it up, people. You may want to watch your Buckeyes for four and a half hours, but if you don't have an allegiance, you're not going to get casual fans. You can't ask people to watch two football games and it takes nine and a half hours. So I think this is great. I and it really, you know, people like, it'll make the umpires look unqualified. It's the opposite. First of all, they're right half the time on the challenges, half the time they're right. And when they're wrong, very infrequently, is it ever more than an inch? It's, it's just on the edge. So it makes me think, first of all, major league hitters have an unbelievably keen understanding of the plate and the dimensions of it. I mean they can feel it like that just. That's missing. And that was rare where one batter, one umpire, you got, you know, back to back. But it shows me how skilled the batters are. And it shows me that, by and large, the average umpire is really good. And the other thing is, one of the things that legalized gambling is done in the country, and it was, you know, I think it was pretty predictable, is that anytime somebody loses a game, now it's the officials. I saw Tennessee fans yesterday. Oh, Tennessee could not beat Michigan if they played a dozen times. You're not in the same class. The coach is better at Michigan, a much better passing team. They've got better NBA bigs. Michigan is 20 points better than Tennessee if they played in Knoxville. Like, they're just better. But it's like baseball is eliminating this because the one thing you always complained about was the balls and strikes. That's over now. It's on you. If you don't pat your head, that's on you. That's your. Don't blame the umpire. That's your batter not being quick. So, tech. Learn it, live it, love it. Tech. Now we're going to have a 38% unemployment rate with AI so we're going to have a lot more time to watch baseball is the way I look at it. J. Mac may buy package to the guardians.

Greg Rosenthal (48:09)

That's what the 38% unemployment rate is. Terrifying. We are in a depression if that's happening.

Daniel Jeremiah (48:14)

Dystopian outcomes, here they come.

Greg Rosenthal (48:17)

Boy, this. This show turned dark real quick as we head into the power hour on a Monday.

Daniel Jeremiah (48:22)

Holy hell.

Greg Rosenthal (48:23)

Oh, my God. I don't even.

Daniel Jeremiah (48:25)

United States men's National team. J. Mac.

Greg Rosenthal (48:27)

Oh, my God. We got to talk about the Belgium game.

Daniel Jeremiah (48:30)

Oh, my. How about we talk about the ridiculous uniforms?

Colin Cowherd (48:38)

This is an iHeart podcast.

Greg Rosenthal (48:40)

Guaranteed Human.