2 Pros and a Cup of JoeWednesday on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, the Knicks relieve Tom Thibodeau after he got them to the Eastern Conference Finals. Saquon Barkley is living his best life, gracing the cover of Madden, so don’t believe him when he says he would walk away early. And The Old P, Petros Papadakis praises the Dodgers, rips James Dolan for firing "Thibs," explains uphill battles for freshman in CFB and Kylie Jenner’s horse head vs Timothee Chalamet.
This is the best of two pros and a couple Joe with Lamar Arings had rating win and Jonas Knox on Fox four Radio.
We continue the conversation here in the waiting game for the NBA Finals, because the NBA Finals tip off tomorrow night, and apparently the NBA Finals and the NBA itself couldn't wait.
They couldn't wait any longer.
They had to get some news out there, and that news was Tom Thibodeau. He gone as the head coach of the New York Knicks. That is a rap for his time as a New York Knicks coach, even though despite the fact the New York Knicks did something they hadn't done in twenty five years and he was the head coach in charge of the team as they did it, Tom Thibodeaux finds himself on the outside looking in with the Knicks now moving on and looking for a brand new head coach there to take over the reins at Madison Square Garden.
You know, Uh Brunson was very very offended when he was asked about if Tibadeaux, what's the right guy for the job? You want to hear it?
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, let's hear there is a little Jalen Brunson talking about coach Tibbs following their loss.
You talked about the confidence. Obviously, I feel like nobody takes more criticism than Tom and this team obviously has turned around during his tenure. Do you kind of feel that going forward he's the same guy if t you guys the rest of the way that next level this is?
Is that a real question right now? You just asked me him. I believe that if he's the right guy. Yes, thanks guys.
Fun probably should ask James Dolean that maybe he would have been the better guy to asked about that question. Look, I think it's a clown show. I think it's disguised as an Eastern Conference Finals team. But I think if you just looked hard enough, Madison Square Gardens not actually an arena. I think it's a circus tent. I think you got people juggling bowling pins. I think there's tigers flying through hula hoops with flames coming off the sides of them. I think the entire thing is a circus. And this whole idea that the Knicks should be taken seriously as a legitimate franchise. When you see the behavior of their fan base after just getting past the second round. This is part for the course. I mean, it would like we could do an entire show on just the fan base and their behavior and all that being said. But I feel like this was already in the works, and Tom Thibodeau, barring an NBA Finals appearance, was probably going to lose his job because there's no other explanation for why exactly he would you would move on from the guy other than you had this in your mind and he needed to get to an NBA Finals or eutes.
He was going to get cleft. You know, there's already people throwing their hat into the ring to become the new head coach of the New York Knickerbockers. Who's that? Let me read it for you. I want every bit of the smoke in New York, NYC. I'm one hundred ready to head coach the great New York Knicks. Queen's Brad dominated my high school era three championships at the Rucker and never lost one at the Rucker three championships at the real Gershwin when there was no security. Lots more on the NYC front. Had a Nick practice shirt and short on at nineteen ninety nine draft NBA accolades speak for themselves. I basically locked up tons of Hall of famers. Sorry, but light work Meta is ready for the city. Let's look. I mean, why not listen? And I'm not saying this to be you know kind of yeah I am. I am saying it to be funny. Thibodeaux is not. That was the firing was in my estimation. That's a bad move. It's a bad move. Your you're one series away from from playing in the NBA finals. They have been, they have been competitive and seemingly very close to taking that next step. So if you feel like, ah, we've done pretty good with you, you have. You have done well for us, but we just don't feel like you could get us over the hump. I feel like that really only comes if the players have lost faith and belief in you. You know what this firing does, Jonas makes players lose faith and trust in what's going on with the New York Knicks. So now you run the potential of by firing Thibodeaux as the head coach, knowing how those players feel about them, knowing the success that they've been able to have, and it's been sustainable success since he's been there. You now disrupt the culture. It's the funniest thing. I look at our So I look at the social media. I read social media. People are so gullible. And I hate to do it. I hate, I hate to say it, but people really are very, very gullible. And I say that to say when when when I posted about the Brian Schottenheimer and how he handled things, and and that possibly him doing what he did with the lockers could possibly create discord and could create dissension, and and and maybe you know, start start a bad culture. Start start off with bringing your culture in, and it could create a toxic culture. It's possible people were losing their ass, especially if they were Dallas fans, right, So I'll say the same thing could possibly exist here. I don't know for certain how how New York Knicks fans will react to the firing, but I would also I would urge, and I would caution that when you're looking at a culture being built, it takes time. When that culture, it takes time to be built, and it takes hold to the point of where you had one of the premiere you know, strong point guards in Jalen Brunson. You have you bring a guy that you feel is though can can really maybe be the difference maker if he would just play a little bit more physically, you know, physically driven versus just being a set shooter. Well, Anthony Towns and hey, I mean listen, a lot of people have been piling on him. He's a he's a fine ball player. In fact, he was fine enough for them to knock out the defending champions, right they knocked out the Celtics. They they get to the game the series prior to the finals, and and a lot of it had to do with the way Carl Anthony Towns played. So it's it's it's strange that people lose their s to go after him when in a series where they lost, when he's been actually a catalyst with Jalen Brunson to be able to get as far as they did. Now, that's what comes with success. But I think when you're one game away from the NBA Finals, you would have to say the coach has you in the right direction. You're closer to success than you are the failure. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I don't know why this would be the decision that they would make is there a coaching candidate other than metal World Peace album better, a better, better recipient, a better prospect than than him? Like, what are they? What are they doing from here?
So Mike Malone, his name is out there. The guy who uh coach the Denver Nuggets to a title was fired.
And he probably I mean, but he It sounds as though there was some mixed feelings on him in the locker room. He would and by the way, they kind of recovered, you know, after they he left. It seemed as though they may have wanted him out. But that was a fine coach. They were winning.
And and so so Mike Malone's name's been thrown out there. I've seen Jay Wright, the Villanova coach because of the Villanova connection out there. I don't know how believable that is. But you know, Mike Malone, for that market would be a good time. He does not hold back, especially if he's drinking at a championship parade. If he's been in the elbow a little bit, he will fire off. But you won't have to worry about that because they're not going to win a title. But I just I don't know why anybody would want any part of a job that is NBA head coach because we laid out during the course of the season, even after Mike Malone was fired. And this goes you know, Adrian, whether it was Mike Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin and Milwaukee like just you see all of these guys, Frank Vogel, like, all these guys get clipped after just winning a title not that long ago. If you're Joe Mizoula of the Celtics, you're probably looking around going uh oh uh oh if that could happen to him, I mean, like, what could happen to me? Based on what's happened in the postseas I just I don't know why anybody would want.
Any part of that job.
You are, ultimately, as Chris Carter said it best, the fall guy when something goes wrong and it's all about the superstars. And if you have one issue with the superstar or you get an owner who feels like, well, we underperformed, even though some would say you probably overperformed based on the fact you haven't done it in a quarter century like they did. You're on your ass and you're looking for a new gig because they decide, well, you know, we'll go in a different direction and see if somebody else can get us over the hump.
Okay, good luck with that. Good good luck. Why would you want any parts of it? I got on average annual eleven million reasons.
So that's why Doc Rivers always comes back.
You can fire me, Doc comes back. Let's see Doc Rivers eleven million finally annual average salary. You know, it's great about Thibodeaux getting fired.
They just gave him an extension last last summer, so he just got an extension. He then overachieves the following year after just getting an extension, and they fire him. Yeah all right, man, yeah, okay.
You know, when I talked to everybody, I don't want to put people out there, but you know, one of my close friends was a head coach. I never thought i'd have a super super close friend, like a best friend, become a head coach, and he did. And when I heard of the perks and all the things that are connected to being a head coach, it's like you have to deal with, Yeah, you have to deal with you have to deal with something you don't like to deal with as a competitor, which is you you didn't win enough to your job, and you lost enough to lose your job, but dang the compensation. When he told me what he was getting compensated for as long as he just you know, laid back and didn't do anything, It's crazy. It's crazy you could get at It's like a heist. That's why you coach, and that's probably why it's so hard. It's so hard to get it. And if you do have longevity, then the perks that go along with that crazy, The benefits that are connected to being a head coach, a long tenured head coach, crazy, it's crazy. When he started breaking it down for me, I said, I looked in the mirror later on that evening. I didn't do it in front of him because I didn't want to embarrass myself, Like I didn't want to sit there and be like, are you being serious? I looked at my mirror when I was brushing my teeth. Later on, I was like, damn, I should have just kept going, Like I should have just kept I broke off. You know. He got me into coaching shots out, Shots Out. You know. I went to Long Beach Polly, we did well. It led to him going to ASU. I went and coached a private in here, in La in Pasadena, we were successful. I should have just kept going. In my mind, I should have because because once he became a head coach, radio stopped.
Radio is too much fun. You have you can play grab ass so much more on the radio.
Radio is fun, man, Radio is fun. But God dang, Like, can can radio give us a fraction? Can they give us a fraction of what these coaches are making? God dang, I mean listen, I mean, there's less of us than it is to them. Can we get a fraction? I like to talk about all them coaches. I'd like to think that you are.
You've got a little bit of that radio scumbag in you like the rest of us. And it was just too enticing, just too enticing. You know, there's nothing wrong with being a radio guy until you see the paychecks as some of these coaches are get for just not coaching anymore.
Look at mine, I'm like, wait, I'm not even the point part of it. Eight point nine point, I'm not even the number after the decimal point. Hey man, that's all good man. You don't have to put in the type of time that they do either. I mean, that's a lot of time. It's a lot of things that you have to manage, and that's why I got out of coaching, And that's something to be said about all of this too. Imagine you're paying someone to come in and have to deal with being a coach in the New York market, especially for one of the more popular teams. That's tough, man. You got to pay them to be able to be just as good of a facilitator in the community and with the businesses and with the people that are in and around that sports community as much as you have to be that person to the team and those that sometimes is the biggest downfall for some of these guys. You know, it's it's it's a very very rewarding job when you can be a head coach because of the impact that you can have on young men, older men, and you know even I mean obviously with other sports you could be that to women. But it's also a very unforgiving job in terms of how you're treated, how you're measured, how you're judged. There is no as you mentioned earlier, there is no comfort zone, There is no pocket of peace. It is a very very turbulent and chaotic industry and job. You know, a job to have, so I don't I think they earned their money because it's it's it's not for long. You know, you are destined to get fired, which what coach has never been fired? Has has pat Phil? Did Phil Jackson walk away or did he get fired? I think he might have walked walk He might have walked away. Did pat Riley walk away or did he get fired?
I think they because what's interesting about it is pat Riley. I was listening to an interview with Mark Kriegel. He was on with Ariel hawanis my guy, and Mark Mark Kriegel was making the point that he thinks the Knicks franchise took a turn for the worst when they decided to move on from pat Riley, because afterwards you see what pat Riley did with Miami, and that's one of the more stable organizations. And by stability, I mean man Eric Spolster hasn't won a title in a long ass time. You don't hear any conversations about that movie it off from him because there's stability there, Like it feels like a high functioning operation there as opposed to some of these other places that are just turn and burn on these guys. I mean if you're coach Tims, do you just whatever money you're making from the Knicks, do you just reinvest it in some season tickets. You imagine him court side next year. Just take the year off and sit courtside and watch the circus.
I mean, or he could just go sit on the couch or at a you know, cigar bar or whatever with Big Oak, you know what I mean. Yeah, they still ain't made things right with Big Oak, you know what I mean. So maybe you go hang out with Charles Oakley and you know, watch the Knicks be the Knicks.
I mean, now we know why Tracy Morgan was blowing chunks on the court.
Now we know because he needs his old spice. Now we know why because he needs spice, my old spice, Lee Lee. You said pat Riley retired via fax.
Yeah, well from he resigned from the Knicks via fax.
Yeah, via fax. Yeah, they stand up.
You know, it seems like an honest way to do it, the old Fax machine.
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
It's been a big week for Saquon Barkley. Tell us why, Well, first and foremost, he's on the Madden cover. That is true, So he is on the Madden cover. Congratulations of Saquon too. Was there the steak che Steak plays what are they called steak won Kwon boy, that's cool.
Kwon Yeah out at Geno's right. Yeah, that's like where the legendary ones are. That's that's a legendary spot. And they like came in and decked it out and oh there. Yeah, but they like cheese whiz. That's a weird. It's a weird deal for me, Like, I can't get into a cheese whiz. Philly cheese.
Steak and cheese was used to be that I remember, gets so unhealthy to think about, but that was one of the sandwiches my mom would make us when we were kids. Is we would do uh miracle whipping cheese whiz.
That sound.
You'd think it was. I'm telling you it ain't bad.
The consistency of what that would create with yeah, I would.
I'm sure it took years off our lives like that.
That's I'm not I'm not talking about the health aspects of it. I'm just saying, cheese whiz comes out of of a can, and then and sometimes didn't cheese whiz come out of a jar? Sometimes? Maybe? Yeah, was there a charge?
Like you might be thinking of the cheese that you spray out of the can, that's cheese.
But cheese whiz comes out of a can.
Yeah, we edit out of the jar like it was out of the jar.
And you that understand on a say, all I'm gonna say is that's disgusting. That's just it comes in a can. It comes like it comes in a spray can, aerosol, whatever kind of can it comes out of like a like a miracle whip or what's the what's the whipped cream? Whipped cream type of container. It's different containers. All I know is yeah, it's it's disgusting. Yeah, it's a different container. It's disgusting. Bruh, like like mayonnaise, mayo and and cheese. Wi did you miracle? Did you toast the did you toast the bread?
I don't.
If you the bread, there's a possibility I could get on board with you. There's a possibility I would say I would have added baloney like coming up, because I know what what you're getting at with a cheese whiz and miracle whip sandwich, like like, that's a that's what you call a humble beginning sandwich, right. I would have added blooney, I don't know, baloney seemed like or even spamtros for all I know back then that was just was what it was. And there would have had to have been toasted bread. We we did do the we did do.
The baloney was the boloneyan cheese, and uh there would be mayo and mustard.
Yeah I could do that. Yeah, I could do that. And if you even added a tomato and some let us to it, like if you had it, Yeah I could you could do that. Yeah, I'm okay with that. Did you ever did you ever fry your bologna before you put it on yourself? God? No, no, I never. I used to fry to BOLOGNAE we do.
We just trusted whatever the supermarket gave to us. No, I didn't need to be cooked, even though even though you had it and it was like, huh, what does why does the inside of my mouth feel like weird? You know what, What's what's going on there? So you just you just trusted whatever the expiration.
Date was on the on the blowney packaging. You got so well anyways, shouts out to Saquan. Yes, he did get honored and in one of the most historical areas in Philadelphia. Well deserved a lot of a lot of adversity that he's overcome. Couldn't be happier for him as as an alumni and and obviously a fellow letterman and and all American. Couldn't be happier for him. He is. He has what any of us would, what dream of or hope for, is to find yourself in a situation before it's too late to be able to have success. And you know, so I'm happy for him, and I'm glad, you know it's this kind of cool he's getting the cover.
I got a couple of questions about Well want A concern first being can the giants get a break? I mean, can can we like, can the giants just stop being reminded of what they what they lost? Can they can they stop be I mean? The guy went from I want to be here, I gotta be here. I'm a giant. I love this place too. In what feels like less than a year, two thousand yard rusher, Super Bowl Champion on the cover of Madden name on a Philly Cheese steak restaurant, like should have been the VP and a new contract. Yeah so, I mean, and.
Beloved by the ownership and by the community. Obviously being a Penn Stater, I mean, he's in his market. But and he had a fellow Penn State or walking him around when he was at the Philly Cheese steak spot. Did you see that? Yeah, Big Dom was walking him around. Of course he was. That was pretty cool. Yeah, of course he was.
So you know what, you know, can the Giants ever catch a break? The other thing I have the other question I have when it comes to the Madden cover, and I think this is the kind of a general question when it comes to posters. Is Jerry and Jones? Who is the guy who is being leaped over backwards on the Jaguars, which is the picture being used on the cover of Madden. Does he get any sort of residuals for also being on the cover of Madden? Like, does he get any sort of is there any sort of paid lead? Does this guy get any sort of cash for this?
No, he doesn't.
And note this sa one doesn't get any cash either. EA Sports plays it pays the nfl PA for licensing agreement, so it's all name, image, image and likeness. Has to basically go do these photo shoots on his own, doesn't get any payment for it.
Okay, So what about the guys in posters that are getting dunked on? That's not the actual guy doing the dunking, but the guy getting dunked on. Does he get any sort of does he get anything other than just the embarrassment of getting getting posterized and being on some kid's bedroom wall growing up, it feels like if I'm going to be involved in this, it's like a you know, a guy that loses a fight. He still gets paid. It's not like he's you know, you lose and you lose everything. He still gets some sort of a paycheck.
From what I'm seeing.
No, the people who are quote unquote poster ized do not get it paid.
Yeah, that sucks. I'm certain Saquon gets paid for the appearances that he makes though, like he probably got a grip to go down into Philly and do what he did. He didn't do that. That's not for free. That's like the promotional deals that are created out of him getting on the cover. That's not that's not in the collective bargaining agreement. They got to pay him for that. Yet that that promo dip, that promo dip surely hit.
Can you guys guess the one player who's turned down being a Madden cover Deshaun Watson?
Dang?
Okay, I don't think he turned it down.
Okay, fine, I'm fine, Aaron Hernandez, Sorry, it's actually La Danian Tomlinson.
Turned it down. Yea, you know there was a yeah, well there was.
There was a curse, but he said it wasn't because of that.
He said they didn't.
Value him and they weren't going to be paying him, so he said it wasn't worth his time to go to those those photo shoots and what really?
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how you pass up a man that that's like, that's a cool honor to.
The value him and they weren't going to be paying him to go do all that stuff. I can't. I cannot believe that they would not be paying them for their time. That makes app That makes that makes absolutely zero sense. Well, who got the cover if it wasn't La Danian Tomlinson. Hmmm, I'm trying. I'm trying to think what year that would be.
He said it was oh seven, but he wasn't sure.
It might have been Shawn Alexander.
That might have been the Shawn Alexander here and oh seven, Yeah.
I don't know. Yeah, that seems late for Shawn Alexander, doesn't it.
Well that that was yeah, and then the year after that was Vince Young O eight, wow.
And uh, you know what Vince Young did with whatever money he made there, He took it all to uh cheesecakes, yeah, and Applebee's. So the other aspect of Saquon Barkley's big week is his appearance that he made on The Green Light with Chris Long, in which he talked about, you know, maybe while they're celebrating me at this at the Philly Cheese Steak Spots and I'm on the cover of the video game and I'm a super Bowl champion and I got this new contract, maybe I won't be around here all that long.
One of my favorite players of all time is probably my favorit play all time, is Barry Sanders, So probably similar to that, maybe one day, like he'll be out of nowhere I'll probably balling and just be like, yeah, call it.
Quits, all right, you know, Saquan is that the move he just kind of does. He send the picture like Marshawn Lynch did where he throws the sneakers up on the telephone wires and just says, I'm out.
And that's around. I mean, Barry Sanders is a very very differently wired dude. Like he is. He is so like he's just gotten comfortable with getting attention, like and it still kind of pains him to get attention. I think Saquon enjoys the attention, but at the same time, he is one of them. Like when I say, and I'm not saying it's just because he went to Penn State, I'm saying because I've been around him since he was a kid, like like early days, since his freshman year of college. He's just always been a good dude. Like you know, how you walk away from somebody, you'd be like, that's just a good person, Like that is just a really, really really good person. Yeah. In general, yeah, I'll tell you, I'll be fanboying out sometimes. Like so, I was on a visit with with man Man and at Penn State, he was going on his official We were on his official and Sakua was there. He was there to talk to talk to the guys, and he gave the whole entire team his signature sneaker the year before, and I was like, dang, I saw the sneakers in like a presentation dip you know, around the facility. I said, y'all got any of them left? So just so happens coincidentally, I get my sneakers, like, I get some Saquon Barkley sneakers right and then he's there. So I was like, man, you gotta sign these for me. And that's last year. So I got a pair of Saquon Barkley signed sneakers the year before. He goes and has basically an MVP season in the National Football League. But a lot of guys would like one. They'd be like, you know, like I don't want to sign you know, I don't want to sign autographs. A lot of guys would do that. A lot of guys would not be as humble when they meet older guys, you know, when they're around. It's just like it just all depends on, you know, just the personality makeup of the person. But he's always engaging. I've always said one of the best skills and best qualities a person can possess is the ability to make somebody that you don't even know like they've known you your entire life. And that's how Saquon is. And to anyone who's ever met him, you feel like you're important to him, and I really appreciate. I appreciate that more about Saquon Barkley than I do anything he's ever done on the football field, because there's always going to be guys that can do phenomenal things on the football field. So to answer your question, he's such a good dude, and he has positioned himself so well, and there are so many people that think so highly of him that if he ever decided to just walk away from the game, it's not like he's just walking away to not have any other opportunities. There will be a plethora of things for him to be able to do and people that will want to be associated with him and attach their brands to Saquon if he were to decide to walk away. So if he did it, it's possible he could. But I'll say this, while this team is constructed the way that they are, if all things given, if they don't change anything about what they got going on, there would be no reason for him to retire early, because go ahead, just keep enjoying it.
Because the Barry Sanders decision to retire was because the organization was a mess, and he was like.
Man, they couldn't win it, and they were close. He was getting him close. They were getting closed. They just couldn't get over to home.
And so if you're sa Kuon Barkley, you're looking at this going man, I could just keep stacking up, you know, fifteen hundred yard seasons for as long as my body can do it, or you know, a thousand yard season, just keep you know, putting the stats together. To your point on him being said, which is why you go back to the decision by the Giants not to retain him even though he wanted to be there.
He said it.
He fits the bill of everything you would want to build.
Around with your organization.
You drafted him, he had success.
He's a good dude.
He represents the organization well, and you let him walk it to.
Your our tribal and I'm going to have trouble sleeping if one of our most beloved and well liked players goes to Philly.
So.
And he did.
It's crazy, and he won a Super Bowl.
Yeah, and he should have been the MVP. And if you compare stats to him and his historic run, let this past season to Eric Dickerson's historic run when he broke the record, it's I think sa Quon had a better season. Man. He didn't have more he didn't have more rushing yards. But I think if you look at the comparisons of what their numbers were down the line, like I think I think Eric Dickerson had like eleven or thirteen fumbles that year, like Saquan had like two or three, you know what I mean. Like that was the most glaring of the stats. And I you know, I love ed to death, so I ain't I ain't gonna say too much more on that, But Sakwon Barkley may have solidified a Hall of Fame campaign in one season. Yeah, the one season.
It's and unfortunately it's one of those moves. Like Seth Greenberg, who's the college basketball analyst for ESPN, he coached at Virginia Tech. What he's going to be known for in his coaching career is the fact that he didn't offer Steph Curry a scholarship, even though Steph Curry's dad went to Virginia Tech. Joe Shane, the GM of the Giants, is going to be known.
For the fact that he lets sa Quon Barkley walk.
And what made it worse is that as you pointed out Jones and paid Daniel Jones, and on top of that, it was featured one like we got to see it all on time.
We got to see it. Man. That's that's the worst part. And at least the owner gets to say, dang, like I really said it, like I really like, how do you move forward with positive trust in the person making decisions for you at the GM position when you knew in your gut this is the wrong decision. Just pay the man and let's move on. Sad thing about it is this is how this plays out, Jonas, and it plays out way too often. More often than not, the owner does break down and pay that player. But he was getting tore out the frame because they didn't have the type of players that they have in Philadelphia. So you would have saw Saquon continue to work his ass off the other teams beat the hell out of him because that's really all they had and their quarterback wasn't doing as for them to pull the defenses off of Saquon, he would have probably kept getting injured and you know what, he would have dead Jonas retire early. It would have taken It's like Verry sad.
Yes, and it would have taken him two years to accomplish what he did in Philly in one year. From a yard you would endpoint. From a production standpoint, yeah, you would have never had the comps. Like, it's crazy how that exposes.
The comp right, Like in terms of when a really really gifted player goes to a wasteland of an organization and people are like, oh, he's a bus. You're a bus. You're a bus. He's a bus, You're a bus. You're just mad that you didn't have a great career, la la lah lah lah lah. Like the point is is that more often than not, if you're as gifted and as talented as Saquon Barkley is, you're going to a crappy organization. You don't get to choose. So if he were, if this was like college and you get recruited and it's like yeah, I'm gonna take visits here, here, here, and here I'm gonna go play for this team. I'm gonna go play for that team. Imagine if Saquon Barkley was able to choose what team he was going to play for and he goes to the Kansas City Chiefs or he goes to the Baltimore Ravens. Like, that's not how it works. So you're up, You're You're at the expense of whatever organization is going to take you, like cam Ward this year, like you got to go to a seller dweller team and on a bad team, you got to be the one that makes it better. I just I'm happy that for once, justice was served in the right way, where a guy gets out of a crappy situation and goes into an ideal situation and it actually played out the way that it was supposed to play out. I'm loving the fact that Sakwon Barkley represents the comp of what so many of us have had to deal with and have to live with in our lives. That he was able to show that it does indeed make a difference where you go and who you're playing for.
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn LeVar Errington and Jonas Knox weekdays It's Am Eastern three am Pacific.
He is the great Petro Spopaegas. He is the co host of the Petros and Money Show, which you can hear on the Blowtorch AM five to seven, the LA Sports Fox College football Analysts, and you can get him on X at the Old p P.
Good morning, how are we feeling?
Good morning, guys, Good morning, great to hear from everybody. Hello, Hello, Hello.
So Petro's another walk off win for the LA Dodgers last night.
Well, last night, you know, they didn't walk it off. They were at home and they lost. It's hard to walk it off on the road.
What do you mean, It's.
Just really hard to walk it off on the road.
Well, I'm saying yeah, but they walked it off last night last night.
Yeah.
It just reminds me of a question that a reporter asked Dave Roberts. Oh years, what's the question they asked Dave Roberts because it was after like another Dodger walk off and they were having a real exciting season. I think this year's Dodger team is really a droit at coming back in games that they were down and They almost in it two nights ago against the Mets, who are in town with Juan Soto who's not doing his special dance because he's bummed out in his family. He's like Freddie Freeman when he left Atlanta. He's like super bummed out. But anyway, yeah, it's uh, what were we talking about?
Right?
This guy asked Dave Roberts, like, Hey, how come all your walk offs are at home? Is there something about this home crowd that really gets you going? That really gets his team going? And Dave Roberts had a very nice answer. He said, well, he's very difficult to walk it off on the road.
So who asked the question best?
I don't remember. It was something No, it was like a younger reporter, so everybody was trying to be cool about it. It wasn't like a kid though, But yeah, you can't walk it off on the road. Dodgers are at home and they walked it off last night against the Mets and show spectacular. He's still not pitching. They have a lot of bullpen problems. They paid Tanner Scott, this guy who was supposed to be like a baseball assassin, as the number one closer, and I think He's already blown six saves and it's early June, so that's a problem. They have some bullpen issues, but the Dodger problems are first world problems. They're doing quite well, and they won last night against the Mets, and I did stay up to watch it. Hell yeah, which is why I forgot my points. Short term memory loss from.
Blackout from a bull in the ring back in the day.
Well that yeah, that too. I've aggravated a lot of old football injuries every time somebody just taps my forehead with a pencil.
Damn. Speaking of bull in the ring, Petros, how many like when you played how many different locker rooms did you play in? In terms of like I guess, high level, like whether it was did you have the same coach the entire time when you were he was okay, so you had a different coach. Now.
When I arrived at SC, it was John Robinson, and then Paul Hackett took over Paul Hackett, and then it was Pete Carroll, who I did not play for. A lot of the guys I played for played for Pete Carroll. And the year two thousand and one was Pete Carroll's first year, and that was my first year in the media, and I kind of got to know Pete and USC took off and Pete Carroll took off, and I kind of was hanging on for the ride, starting out doing radio and TV here in town. So that's kind of my story. But it is interesting, you know because back in my time and our time, I should say that when there was a coaching change, which I don't believe you experienced at the college level, I did not know spring football was a bloodbath like spring football, you know, where we really put on pads and really got after each other and really had like thirty to forty play run drills every day. That was like you have to show out for the new coaching staff. One thing that was very interesting that a lot of people didn't realize and maybe they don't realize it now, was that Ed Ojeron was on the Paul Hackett staff. He was not hired by Pete Carrell. Well, he was re hired by Pete Carroll, but he was already at SC when Pete Carroll took over and had that very important piece already in his defensive room. But yeah, that was my experience. I was in kind of two different locker rooms. John Robinson a much more player friendly coach.
I guess you'd say.
With a lot more lenient, especially with star players. Paul Hackett, on the other hand, miss a class, get up at five in the morning and roll like a long to you barf kind of coach. Well, you know, both of those coaching styles have their benefits.
Well, so that's why I was I was asking in terms of culture speaking because again I don't feel like in a lot of ways the regular workforce people tend to look at how an employer versus an employee, what that relationship looks like, and the dynamic of it, and how the culture plays a part. And while I say in regular society, culture in the business place is everything, but it's different than the culture being everything. And sports, especially at higher levels college pro, it's it's very the culture has to have a very unique mix and the blend of like what the respect factor is, the understanding of what the coach wants versus what the collective feelings of what the players want. We just saw Tim Thibodeau, you know, get get fired from Tom. Tom, Yeah, Tom, get fired from the mix.
The Christian better looking version of Tom Thibodeau. Tim Tibadeau.
Tim Tibadeau, Yeah, you like that. That's funny, my bet. Anyway, It's interesting because I'm curious. I feel like when you have players that love the coach, which it seems like all the players are really into Thibodeaux and they yet they get rid of them. You know, how does that play a part? Because when you have a coaching change, just like you got to impress the coaches, like you said, in those practices, those coaches have to impress the players as well, because there has to be a belief in winning. Like what's your what's your kind of you know, your perspective on culture.
When I played college football, as you know, there was not the same kind of boundary yeah today right like we we we couldn't go anywhere if I transferred in college football, and that was a terrible stigma that I still carry today that I signed a letter of intent and wasn't able to complete it, wasn't able to honor the contract. And that bothers me. It really does. But it's a very different it's a very different time in college and pro athletics. That being said, the dynamics of a pro basketball team is hard for me to understand. I mean, we're talking about guys that have really, really proven it at the highest level. I mean, it's one thing to make an NFL team. It's one thing to make an MLB Baseball team or have a cup of coffee in the major leagues. It's a whole other thing to make an NBA team consistently. I mean, because there's so few guys, so that dynamic has always been fascinating, and it's very difficult, I think, to be a head coach at any level of any kind of sport. But the NBA has got to be the toughest because and you know, football is like this now too. It didn't really used to be when we were younger, and everybody had the same football coach who looked a hundred years old for like fifteen years, thirty years yea, yeah, Chuck Knock, Bud Grant, Yeah, you know, Chuck Nole, Marv Levy. You know, it goes on and on. All the coaches kind of look like that. And now the coaches are the first guy on the chopping block, unless you know John Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh or somebody more celebrated like that, Generally your coach is the first guy to get fired at the NFL or NBA level, and it proved out with the Tim Tebadeaux situation even though he ran a sweet option. Tom Thibodeau known as a great defensive coach and a lot of people love him. I think the X factor with the Knick situation that I'm not super familiar with other than the fact that you know, I watched all the New Yorkers freak out in the NBA freak out hoping that the Knicks were going to make it into the final and they could play the concrete Jungle where dreams were made of song over and over and over again until your brain MUSHes and bleeds out of your ears. But I think it's a more a more delicate situation. Also, their owner is like a legit crazy man JB in the Straight jd in the Straight Shot, Jim Dolan. That's the name of his sweet ass band, his blues band, where he hired like a bunch of really really famous or reputable studio musicians and tours around with him like he belongs on stage. So it's a whole it's a whole wild situation. But look, I mean, but you look at like Mi Alma mater and these and these different stories that are unfolding over the years in modern sports, and at USC it's like they'd fire Lincoln Riley if he didn't have such a big buyout and and at a certain point the money does matter, and maybe not for JD in the straight shop. But I don't know, I don't know what direction you go in from there, like who you hire from there to to ignite the team. Was it Thibodeau that was really fueling their success or was he holding them back and holding back their star players? Obviously somebody thought that. But a sad situation for the guy with not a lot of hair who kind of looks.
Like the penguin.
Uh.
Petros Pamadegus joined us.
I've been compared to the penguin in the past too, Jonas.
Look, I don't think so. I would.
I would disagree with that comparison.
I mean, how many times do you say that Fox Sports Radio, Jonas. I know I'm on the radio right.
I am resetting it for them, trying to be a broadcast professional. But it is when you mentioned sort of what direction you go in here, and was it Tom Thibodeau's fault and all that that's why whenever there.
Was people that call them TIBs like they're friends with him. Yeah, like, oh, you know how TIBs is, It's like, you know what, Actually, no, I don't.
I don't not at all.
I live on another.
Side of a little bit.
Well, it's like we've even been in Madison, scar it's like golf blowhards who called the golfers by the first name.
Hey, Scotty.
Do you see what Scotty did on the seventeen? No, what a douche do on the seventeenth. But when that's why whenever the conversation was being had about Dave Roberts when the Dodgers would come off short in the postseason, and it was like, well, Dave Roberts should be fired, And my thought on it.
The whole time was, yeah, but is he the one that's, you know.
Going one for eighteen like Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman in the playoffs?
Is that him? Like at some point, don't players up here accountable?
But you can't get rid of those guys, right, you can get rid of Dave Roberts and it's cheaper, and it's even worse. I mean, I've seen this over the years and you can track it. There's like baseball or football franchises that aren't doing well and they don't really know what to do to make a change, so they like fire the play by play guy. That happened to Steve PHISIOK, with the Angels, I mean that really, yeah, I mean that, you know that, well, let's change it up, will fire the play by play guy. And it's like, you know, obviously it has to be somebody that I don't know, maybe they don't care as much about. That's not fair to say about Steve because he's such a wonderful guy.
I thought you were going to say Roger Lodge.
Well, you know, I mean sometimes they pull the trigger on a guy's just just for a breath of fresh air because the team's not doing well and that guy has nothing to do with the lack of success of the team, but the other people are getting paid too much to touch them. Same situation with the USC and the GM. You know, they can't fire the head coach, but they made him fire his good old boy bff who was the GM at USC that wasn't really doing GM work, and they went and hired a real GM, and now that's their big talking point for the offseason and a recruiting class that may or may not come in twenty twenty six. I'm sorry to keep harkening back to USC but you did ask me about the culture cheages when I was there, so it's always it's always a unique situation. It's always interesting. The chemistry of a team is one of the more complex things. I mean, just going back to thinking about how you prepare for a bowl game at the college level with young people. After you've been playing weekly for months and months, suddenly you're not playing games and you have to find a way to play your best game after not playing for two or three weeks or four weeks in some occasions. That's crazy too, Like the chemistry of a football team is a mystery that cannot be solved by the wisest scientists that ever lived. Basketball, where there's fewer people. You know, maybe you do pull one little string and things change. But I think anybody trusting Jim Dolan and his Blues Band to make the right decision with his basketball team, one of the most recognized franchises in the history of sport, is I mean, very in trouble.
I would say my last question for you I know we're up against the breaker last. I mean, you know it is what it is. We just do radio you we you mentioned.
He got it.
I could dig it.
Bro.
You guys have a top five recruiting class for twenty six right now.
I can't wait to see them freshman in twenty twenty six.
I mean you mentioned if you know, if the coach is still there, do you think he will survive to see the top five class come in? And do you think that maybe it is just he just needs a little bit more time, because I mean that that's a very highly you know, that's a highly rated I think five I saw was what they were, were rated four or five. I mean, that's that's a pretty high high mark in today's recruiting. Uh, you know, climate it's very difficult to get in the top five where we are right now in the NIL space.
It's something, Yeah, it is something to consider. But I would I would rebut by asking you this in today's day and age, with NIL being what it is, and the transfer portal being wide open, and teams being generally older because of that, and we see it in college basketball too, how many freshmen do you think can contribute even on a normal team, even on a team like you and I would have played on back in the day. Like even if you have a great recruiting class, so maybe question, maybe two or three of those guys help you that year, maybe seven.
Or that's what. But when'd you say that's why having such a highly recruited class is all that really matters.
It's really it's a stalling technique for pr because you don't really know if they're coming or not. I mean, they're just.
Verbally that's true, that's true.
I mean that's like saying, this girl said she was going to go to the problem with me next year. I can't wait. You know, women are fickle, and so are college football players.
I would say they look at the stars, which I don't know how much people should put into how many stars a guy has, but that is what these these universities do as well, I would say, to the point of older guys being taken into portal and transfers that way. I still think that when you see a four star, five star come into your program, they have the opportunity to make an immediate impact.
Yeah, you're right, you know, you know they're supposed to. And if they don't make it usually if they don't make an immediate impact, if they're that big of a recruit, usually you find them in.
The transfer portal into portal.
A little bit later. And we've seen a lot of that too. I would say this LeVar to answer all of it. I think us he's finally doing, recruiting wise, what they should have been doing for years under Lincoln Riley or Clay Helton or anybody, which is build a very very serious and very very formidable fence around the area, recruit it and live and die with it. And that's what the new GM, Chad Boden that they hired was kind of tasked to do. I don't have faith in Lincoln Riley's ability to develop those guys anyway. He hasn't proven it to me and I've not seen it so and I don't know if they're coming. It's just if us he's standing on the twenty twenty six recruiting class for hey, don't worry about us, then they're standing on jello in my opinion. But it's better than not having a great twenty twenty six recruiting class, I suppose. But it is something like people stop me in the street and they're like can you believe this class right, you know in twenty twenty six that may or may not come that could you know half of them could verbally decommit when one of them goes sure, but you're standing on You're standing on Jello. I did find some interesting fact that I came across the other day in regards to the Knicks that I think you guys might enjoy. Oh yeah, are you ready?
Yeah?
Do you know the etymology of the name Knickerbocker?
N We did, no, No, well, yes we do. It was they said it was something about like clothing or something like that.
Yeah, well, yes, you're right. It's because of the way that Yeah, we talked about it the other week. Yeah, the pants style. But the reason that came out, the reason that word became popular was Washington Irving, who's a really famous writer and the guy that really kind of wrote and put New York on the map as a writer, same guy that wrote Sleepy Hollow, you know, with Thinkabod Crane and the Headless Horse. Yeah, Washington Irving wrote a very very significant book called The History of New York, which he wrote under a pseudonym of a guy named Dietrich Knickerbocker. Which is popularized. The name knickerbocker used to be the way that a Dutch guy would dress, you know, with his pants way up walking around New York and a lot of Dutch immigrants there in that time, and that's how they would wear their pants, so they got called knickerbocker's. And then this guy wrote the History of New York with the with the Dietrich Knickerbocker name, and that popularized the name knickerbocker in relation to New York and anybody from New York after a while, no matter how you wore your pants, cross colors, Ze Cavariici's, those tight jeans, skinny jeans, you're you're a knickerbocker regardless. Now, Damn Washington.
Irving and all these years later Tracy Morgan throwing up on the floor there.
At mass right that all these years later, Kylie Jenner swallowing Timothy Shaumet's little pebble head.
By the way, how big, how big is Timothy Champagne or whatever that guy's name is.
How big is he's? Is he smaller than her? Is he shorter than.
Yeah, she's a big horse. And I think she just mounts him and just rides him into oblivion.
Right, the Belmont Stakes. You're supposed to ride the.
Longer race too. You know she's been with a lot of guys. There's an extra furlong in that race.
Could you imagine a horse ride Jackie and he's like a little jockey.
He's like, he's like, he's like shoemaker. He jumps on that big boy, Bob.
Baff got her, got her on the gas like she's a wash the milkshake.
Yes, Larry David's ground.
Yeah, that's right, Petros, we appreciate it.
You can get him on the old p He's the cost of the Petros Money Show, which you can hear on at the Blow or a M. Five seventy l a sports later on this afternoon, also a Fox College football analyst and a Wednesday tradition here on the show.
We are so listen. Yeah, you know.
You start, you start with the Dodgers, you end with Kylie Jenner as a as a horse. That's how goes bar So we do here a whole damn all right coming up next here though, on two Crows and a Cup of Joe
